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 English rock band Ten Years After. Enjoy!
Ten Years After - Woodchopper's Ball
Note: We here at the Evening Blues Weekend Edition often step beyond the boundries of traditional blues music. Joe shikspack so adeptly covers the blues genre in his weekday series that we at the Weekend Edition would find most trad blues offerings we could serve up as being redundant. Therefore Joe, in magnanimous manner has allowed us to color outside of the lines and we appreciate and thank him for that. Almost all modern American music has it's roots in traditional blues music anyway, so ultimately we do not stray far from the mother language. As Muddy Waters sang:
The Blues Had a Baby and They Named It Rock and Roll, let us add to that list (jazz, country, bluegrass, ragtime, folk, gospel, soul, swing and rhythm and blues) and all subsets thereof. -- JtC
It was our belief that the love of possessions is a weakness to be overcome. Its appeal is to the material part, and if allowed its way, it will in time disturb one's spiritual balance. Therefore, children must early learn the beauty of generosity. They are taught to give what they prize most, that they may taste the happiness of giving.
If a child is inclined to be grasping, or to cling to any of his or her little possessions, legends are related about contempt and disgrace falling upon the ungenerous and mean person ...
The Indians in theor simplicity literally give away all that they have - to relatives, to guests of other tribes or clans, but above all to the poor and the aged, from whom they can hope for no return.
Charles Alexander Eastman (Ohiyesa)
News and Opinion
The Evening Blues
We dig up what the MSM buries.
Contributors:
enhydra lutris
Funkygal
NCTim
Anti-torture reforms opposed within psychology group after damning report
Tempers rise within American Psychological Association, which independent review recently found was complicit in brutal military and CIA interrogation
Opposition is building to intended anti-torture reforms within the largest professional organization of psychologists in the US, which faces a crossroads over what a recent report described as its past support for brutal military and CIA interrogations.
Before the American Psychological Association (APA) meets in Toronto next Thursday for what all expect will be a fraught convention that reckons with an independent review that last month found the APA complicit in torture, former military voices within the profession are urging the organization not to participate in what they describe as a witch hunt.
Reformers consider the pushback to represent entrenched opposition to cleaving the APA from a decade’s worth of professional cooperation with controversial detentions and interrogations. The APA listserv has become a key debating forum, with tempers rising on both sides.
A recent letter from the president of the APA’s military-focused wing warns that proposed ethics changes, likely to be discussed in Toronto, represent pandering to a “politically motivated, anti-government and anti-military stance”. A retired army colonel called David Hoffman, a former federal prosecutor whose scathing inquiry described APA “collusion” with US torture, an “executioner”.
Turkish military denies targeting civilians in Iraq
Claims civilians were hit in northern Iraq rejected while attack blamed on Kurdish fighters kills two Turkish soldiers.
Turkey's military has denied allegations that it hit civilians in the village of Zargala in northern Iraq during air strikes, saying that the target was a shelter for Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighters.
Turkey launched the offensive against PKK about a week ago, which effectively ended the fragile peace talks between the PKK and the Ankara government, following a rise in deadly violence in the country.
"The targets in northern Iraq and inside Turkey are being identified by qualified personnel, based on confirmed visual data and as a result of a very meticulous and detailed study," the military said on Sunday.
It also said that an investigation regarding the village in question returned no findings of civilian residential areas within the impact range of the bombardment.
Migrant flow to Europe is result of US, EU military ops in Middle East – Czech president
The flow of immigrants to Europe stems from the Western states’ military interventions in Iraq, Libya and Syria, which have contributed to the emergence of terrorist groups in the Middle East, Czech President Milosh Zeman told local media.
“The current wave of migration [to Europe] is rooted in the crazy [US] idea to launch an intervention in Iraq, which allegedly had weapons of mass destruction, but nothing was found,” Zeman said in a video interview with the Czech Repubic’s Blesk newspaper publishedon Sunday.
On top of this, the US’ desire to “restore order” in Libya and Syria only resulted in the escalation of conflicts in both countries and the emergence of terrorist organizations, prompting people to flee the area, Zeman said.
He added that not only the US was to blame for the migrant chaos, but its Western allies that helped to “coordinate operations in Libya” as well.
Reshuffling Eurasia’s energy deck — Iran, China and Pipelineistan
Link Submitted by: enhydra lutris
By Pepe Escobar
Pipelineistan – the prime Eurasian energy chessboard — never sleeps. Recently, it’s Russia that has scored big on all fronts; two monster gas deals sealed with China last year; the launch of Turk Stream replacing South Stream; and the doubling of Nord Stream to Germany.
Now, with the possibility of sanctions on Iran finally vanishing by late 2015/early 2016, all elements will be in place for the revival of one of Pipelineistan’s most spectacular soap operas, which I have been following for years; the competition between the IP (Iran-Pakistan) and TAPI (Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India) gas pipelines.
The $7.5-billion IP had hit a wall for years now – a casualty of hardcore geopolitical power play. IP was initially IPI – connected to India; both India and Pakistan badly need Iranian energy. And yet relentless pressure from successive Bush and Obama administrations scared India out of the project. And then sanctions stalled it for good.
Now, Pakistan’s Minister of Petroleum and Natural Resources Shahid Khaqan Abbasi swears IP is a go. The Iranian stretch of the 1,800-kilometer pipeline has already been built. IP originates in the massive South Pars gas fields – the largest in the world – and ends in the Pakistani city of Nawabshah, close to Karachi. The geopolitical significance of this steel umbilical cord linking Iran and Pakistan couldn’t be more graphic.
How One Safari Nut, the CIA and Neoliberal Environmentalists Plotted to Destroy Mozambique
Link Submitted by: Funkygal
With the global moral outrage sparked by a demented dentist’s sadistic murder of Cecil the Lion in Zimbabwe, one would think this kind of thing was an aberration. But no, these kinds of slaughter trips were actually part of a neocolonial strategy for the “economic salvation” of sub-Saharan Africa. More grotesquely, big “game” hunting in Africa was supported by various “free-market” environmental groups as a way to “monetize” wildlife and other “non-market” resources. Here’s part of a chapter from my book Been Brown So Long It Looked Like Green to Me which describes a bizarre scheme for a theme-park for gun-slinging executive tourist types in Mozambique. Read it and weep…
It’s hard rank these ghastly affairs, but of all the dirty wars of the past 25 years, the U.S.-funded Renamo guerrilla campaign in Mozambique was one of the worst. As a former Portuguese property, decolonized Mozambique was regarded in the late 1970s and 1980s as a Soviet beachhead in Southeast Africa. CIA dollars poured out to a group of thugs created as a mercenary force by the white-settler regime in Rhodesia.
With the white settlers no longer in control, and Rhodesia now known as Zimbabwe, the Renamo leaders turned increasingly to South Africa for local support beneath the overall patronage of Washington. The war was pitiless. At least 800,000 Mozambicans died. More than half the victims were children. Out of the population of 16 million, 6 million were displaced. Renamo gangs put to death as many as 100,000 civilians. In one infamous episode, Renamo attacked a hamlet inhabited mostly by women and children, all 425 of whom were slaughtered, their bodies hacked by machetes.
Another lion was illegally killed by an American in April, Zimbabwe says
Though Cecil the lion’s brother Jericho remains alive – despite reports to the contrary – parks officials say American illegally bow-hunted another animal
Amid an international outcry over a US hunter accused of illegally killing a well-known lion named Cecil in early July, authorities in Zimbabwe alleged that a second American killed a lion in an illegal hunt with a bow and arrow several months ago.
The National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (NPWMA) issued a statement on Sunday saying the second American was involved in an illegal bow and arrow hunt of a lion around the Hwange National Park in April. The American was named as Jan Casimir Seski of Murrysville, Pennsylvania.
Seski is a gynecological oncologist who directs the Center for Bloodless Medicine and Surgery at Allegheny General Hospital.
He is also an active big-game hunter, according to safari outfitters and bow-hunting sites that have posted pictures of kills identifying “Dr Jan Seski” as the man standing next to slain animals including elephants, an impala, a kudu, a nyala, a hippo and an ostrich. Those images match the doctor’s appearance in pictures on his medical practice’s website, where Seski’s information in turn matches that of Jan Seski in Murrysville.
The Fake War on ISIS: US and Turkey Escalate in Syria
It is late July 2015, and the media is abuzz with the news that Turkey will allow US jets to use its bases to bomb Islamic State (ISIS) targets in Syria. There is much talk about how this development is a “game-changer,” and how this is a clear escalation of the much ballyhooed, but more fictional than real, US war on ISIS: the terror organization that US intelligence welcomed as a positive development in 2012 in their continued attempts to instigate regime change against the Syrian government led by Bashar al-Assad.
The western public is told that “This is a significant shift…It’s a big deal,” as a US military official told the Wall Street Journal. What the corporate media fail to mention, however, is the fact that Turkey has been, and continues to be, a central actor in the war in Syria and, consequently, in the development and maintenance of ISIS. So, while Washington waxes poetic about stepping up the fight against the terror group, and lauds the participation of its allies in Ankara, the barely concealed fact is that Turkey is merely further entrenching itself in a war that it has fomented.
Of equal importance is the simple fact that a “war on ISIS” is merely a pretext for Turkey’s military engagement in Syria and throughout the region. Not only does Turkey’s neo-Ottoman revanchist President Erdogan want to flex his military muscles in order to further the regime change agenda in Syria, he also is using recent tragic events as political and diplomatic cover for waging a new aggressive war against the region’s Kurds, especially Turkey’s longtime foe the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK).
US and Egypt resume formal security talks amid human rights concerns
- Strategic dialogue’ put on hold in 2009 in wake of Arab Spring
- Obama administration boosts aid to counter Egypt’s increased terror threat
- Link Submitted by: enhydra lutris
Despite persistent human rights concerns, the US on Sunday resumed formal security talks with Egypt that were last held six years ago. The talks were kept on hiatus amid the political unrest that swept the country in the wake of the Arab Spring.
Two days after the US delivered eight F-16 warplanes as part of a military support package that the Obama administration is boosting to help Egypt counter an increasing terrorist threat, Secretary of State John Kerry restarted the so-called “strategic dialogue” with Egyptian officials in Cairo. The dialogue was last held in 2009 and did not occur following the ouster of Egypt’s authoritarian leader Hosni Mubarak in 2011.
Kerry said the administration was committed to working with Egypt to enhance its military capabilities as it confronts growing threats from extremists, particularly in the Sinai Peninsula. That aid had been on hold until earlier this year due to human rights and democracy concerns in the wake of the military overthrow of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013.
In talks with Egyptian foreign minister Sameh Shoukry, Kerry said the US would “continue to provide robust training to the Egyptian military, as the military seeks it and desires it, in an effort to build capacity, and also to meet the highest expectations of your military for its professionalism”. He noted that in addition to the F-16s, the US had provided Egypt with Apache helicopters, attack boats, armored vehicles and other weapons systems this year. More is on the way, he said.
U.S. Tries to Stir Ethnic Division in Crimea
On Saturday, August 1st, Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko (who now acknowledges that his government is illegitimate and that his predecessor Viktor Yanukovych was overthrown in a February 2014 coup), sent greetings to an international conference of supporters of Tatars in Crimea, at the Second World Congress of the Crimean Tatars. He charged the current Crimean government (the government that Crimeans elected on 16 March 2014, rejoining Russia) of discriminating against Tatars. His message attacked the “torn imperial policies of the Kremlin,” and the “temporary occupation of Crimea by Russia.” He said that, “The Crimean Tatar people are again experiencing terror, and tens of thousands are thus forced to flee.” He thanked America’s Sunni ally Turkey for hosting this conference of pro-Saudi, Sunni Muslim, Crimeans.
According to polls, the 12% to 15% of Crimeans who are Tatars (most of whom are Sunni Muslims, and thus oriented toward Saudi Arabia) are overwhelmingly in support of Crimea’s having severed its ties with Ukraine and of having become instead a province of Russia, as Crimea had been part of Russia for centuries until the Soviet dictator Nikita Khrushchev transferred Crimea to Ukraine in 1954.
That linked poll there was taken in January 2015, but its findings were similar to earlier ones. For example, it showed that 82% of Crimeans said that they “endorse Russia’s annexation of Crimea.” Another 11% said they “mostly endorse” it. That’s overall 93% approval. By comparison, an April 2014 Gallup poll of Crimeans showed that 82.8% said that, “The results of the referendum on Crimea’s status likely reflect the views of most people here.” Only 6.7% did not agree. So, those two polls seem to have agreed: both showed overwhelming acceptance by Crimeans of the referendum’s result: Crimea’s becoming again a part of Russia.
Armed American Soldiers to be Deployed in Ukraine: Arrested in Vienna Airport
Link Submitted by: NCTim
The soldiers carried assault rifles in their luggage, but had no approval, Kurier reported.
A few days ago, a group of American soldiers caused a security alert at Vienna’s Schwechat airport. The men were stopped while trying to travel with army weapons to Ukraine without any necessary permits, the newspaper wrote.
The Austrian police had to intervene and remove the weapons. An investigation into the case was launched.
The nine US soldiers were on their way from Washington to Ukraine, where they were to be deployed.
Russia's ruble extends its slide, reviving economic concerns
Link Submitted by: enhydra lutris
MOSCOW (AP) — The Russian ruble is falling under the pressure of cheaper oil, reviving concerns over the country's economic outlook, particularly the perniciously high inflation rate.
The ruble was down 0.9 percent in Moscow trading on Thursday, at 59.2 rubles against the dollar.
The decline comes a day after the Russian central bank halted daily purchases of foreign currency in an attempt to stop a week-long slide in the national currency. The ruble on Tuesday hit 60 rubles to the dollar, its lowest point in more than four months.
The currency took a battering in 2014 because of a slump in global prices for oil — the country's biggest source of revenue — and recovered somewhat early this year before falling again. A weaker ruble threatens the government's plans to curb inflation, which was 15 percent in June.
Top Wall Street Journal Editor Plots with Pro-Israel Group to Thwart Iran Deal
Link Submitted by: NCTim
In a leaked conversation with a U.S. pro-Israeli group, the right-wing pro-war journalist said he favored war with Iran over the diplomatic Iran deal
A U.S.-based organization called Christians United for Israel and the Wall Street Journal’s longtime foreign affairs columnist and deputy editorial page editor Bret Stephens were discussing over the phone strategies to defeat the Iran deal set for a vote in the U.S. Congress soon.
A recording of the conversation that lasted for 30 minutes was leaked to the Intercept website Thursday.
During the phone call, Stephens said that a vote in favor of the Iran deal would be similar to the vote in favor of the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
Puerto Rico too? Island misses debt payment deadline, signaling default
Puerto Rico Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla shocked investors in June when he said the island's debt, totaling $72 billion, was unpayable and required restructuring.
Link Submitted by: enhydra lutris
New York — Puerto Rico will miss a payment on debt due Aug. 1, the governor's chief of staff said on Friday, an event that will be considered a default by investors as the commonwealth lurches towards what could be one of the largest U.S. municipal debt restructurings in history.
The missed payment will mark the first default by the commonwealth and shows the depth of the island's economic and cashflow problems. Puerto Rico Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla shocked investors in June when he said the island's debt, totaling $72 billion, was unpayable and required restructuring.
According to a 2014 bond offering statement, Puerto Rico has never defaulted on the payment of principal or interest of debt.
"Tomorrow is Aug. 1 and we don't have the money," Victor Suarez, chief of staff for Puerto Rico's governor, told journalists in San Juan, referring to a $58 million payment due on Public Finance Corporation (PFC) bonds.
Placating Israel Over Iran Nuclear Deal By Releasing Convicted Spy Pollard?
Link Submitted by: NCTim
Electronic Intifada's Ali Abunimah says those arguing for Pollard's release after serving 30 years of a life sentence should also demand the release of others, including Palestinian prisoners who are serving much greater sentences for questionable convictions
Transcript here.
China Builds World's Largest Aircraft Carrier Dock in South China Sea
Link Submitted by: enhydra lutris
China has built the world’s largest aircraft carrier dock in its naval base in the South China Sea.
This week the Canadian-based Asian security magazine, Kanwa Asian Defence, reported that China had completed work on a 700 meter-long dock at its sprawling Sanya naval complex in Hainan province in the South China Sea. According to the report, the dock is able to service ships on both sides, allowing it to accommodate two aircraft carriers or other large ships at the same time.
That would make the new dock the longest in the world. Indeed, the report noted that America’s aircraft carrier docks in Norfolk, Virginia, as well as its carrier base in Japan, were between 400 and 430 meters long.
A Chinese defense official confirmed the reports during a press briefing on Friday. In response to a question about the Western report, Yang Yujun, a spokesperson for China’s Defense Ministry, said that “The onshore support facilities includes docking ports for the aircraft carriers, airports, training facilities and so on.”
One year after filming Eric Garner's confrontation with police, Ramsey Orta's life has been upended
Link Submitted by: Funkygal
Ramsey Orta’s footage of Eric Garner’s final moments—a seemingly routine confrontation with police that in a flash turned deadly–ricocheted around the world, turning a local tragedy into a seminal moment in what became the Black Lives Matter movement. But Orta has virtually nothing to do with the protests and social justice organizations that have sprung up since. And today, one year after Garner’s death on July 17, 2014, he occasionally wishes he hadn’t been a part of it all.
“Sometimes I regret just not minding my business,” Orta tells TIME. “Because it just put me in a messed-up predicament.”
Orta no longer resides in Staten Island. Instead, he lives in a small, narrow apartment with his mother and brother in the New York City area and has asked that more detailed information about the location not be published because of what he claims is a pattern of harassment by police since the Garner video was published. The doorknob on the building’s main entrance is broken. Its halls smell of urine. Inside, Orta sleeps on a mattress on the floor. When he’s not in court fighting a series of drugs and weapons charges, Orta’s usually here, watching TV or on his phone. Sometimes he pays attention to the latest high-profile incident involving police and unarmed black men. Sometimes he tunes them out.
It’s likely that no one outside of Staten Island would ever know the name of Eric Garner without Orta’s video, which became the first in a wave of recordings of African-Americans in violent confrontations with white police officers to command national attention. A month later came Ferguson and Michael Brown, then Cleveland and Tamir Rice, Baltimore and Freddie Gray, North Charleston and Walter Scott, McKinney, Texas, and the pool party. At least a dozen incidents, some recorded, some not, have made national headlines since Garner’s death. And the phrase “I can’t breathe,” which Garner can be heard repeating in Orta’s video as police held him down, has been adopted as a primary rallying cry of the movement.
Pocahontas' tribe, the Pamunkey of Virginia, finally recognized by U.S.
Link Submitted by: enhydra lutris
The tidal river that surrounds this spit of scrubby land has long functioned like a moat that rises and falls through the day.
A single road connects the reservation's sycamore, poplars and modest houses with miles of cornfields that separate the tribe from large retail stores and suburban office parks of eastern Virginia.
The Pamunkey have lived on and around these 1,200 acres for centuries, since before their most famous ancestor, Pocahontas, made contact with English colonists in 1607.
"We call this downtown Pamunkey," said Kim Cook, the 50-year-old granddaughter of Chief Tecumseh Deerfoot Cook.
Boston out as United States bid city to host 2024 Olympics
Link Submitted by: Funkygal
Boston will not apply to host the 2024 Olympics, a decision reached Monday by the U.S. Olympic Committee and Boston 2024 organizers that ends the city’s beleaguered bid after seven months in which it failed to gain substantial support.
The announcement came hours after Boston Mayor Marty Walsh said he could not back the bid if that meant signing a host city contract now that would obligate the city to cover any cost overruns, as he has been asked to do by the USOC.
A statement from USOC CEO Scott Blackmun said, in part, “When we made the decision to bid for the 2024 Olympic Games, one of the guiding principles that we adopted was that we would only submit a bit that we believed could win.
“Notwithstanding the promise of the original vision for the bid, and the soundness of the plan developed under (Boston 2024 chairman) Steve Pagliuca, we have not been able to get a majority of citizens to support hosting the 2024 Olympics and Paralympic Games. Therefore, the USOC does not think the level of support enjoyed by Boston’s bid would allow it to prevail over great bids from Paris, Rome, Hamburg, Budapest or Toronto.”
Hellraiser Preview
Sherman, set the time machine for tomorrow's Hellraisers Journal, which will feature news from the Harvest Fields: "Harvesters join the Agricultural Workers Organization, #400 of the I. W. W."
Tune in at 2pm!
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Black Rock – Decolonising Rock Music
Link Submitted by: Funkygal
Rock music is one of America’s most influential cultural exports, associated closely with white bands and white artists, we’re seldom informed of rock music’s true origins. Whilst the explosion of rock music took place in the 1950s and 1960s, the creation of rock music had already taken place in the rural South some many years before, even before Black bodies had been forced into bondage.
To add context, the economic and cultural backdrop of America was catastrophic in the 1930s. The supposed American Dream was a mere fallacy as the Great Depression had hit working-class Americans hard, and African-Americans even harder. Many of whom were only one generation removed from The Emancipation. Work was extremely hard to come by and with racial tensions rife across the country, jobs that were available were reserved for whites. It’s often said that hardship cultivates the best art. Alongside that, collective joy can also be had which is why Black music was so infectious. In music, Black people could find solace and refuge, a sanctuary from the oppressive lives they had to endure.
During this period, The Great Migration had already begun and with it, American Black music culture as we know it was born. The Great Migration saw some six million African Americans move from the rural South to urban areas such as New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Detroit and Los Angeles. Therefore, It’s no surprise that these cities are the epicentres of Black culture. In the South, although slavery had ended, lynchings and racial attacks against Black bodies were still widespread. The South was notorious for severe physical aggression and terror against Black people, pushing them to make moves to the North, Midwest and West Coast. The Great Migration, and later the Harlem Renaissance, would change the landscape of music forever and would begin to influence the music we now know. It’s important to note that whilst these urban cities were far more liberal in attitude than the South, the role of the KKK had been replaced by police forces as Black aggressors. Nevertheless, Black creativity flourished despite the violence.
5 Muslim Comedians Weigh In on Islamophobia
Link Submitted by: Funkygal
Muslims aren’t usually synonymous with laughter (fear is more their thing), but thanks to the Muslim Funny Fest all that is about to change.
The three day festival, running from July 21 until 23, includes stand-up by the funniest Muslim comedians around, guaranteed to shatter any preconceived notions about the stoic followers of Islam.
Flavorpill caught up with five Muslim Funny Festcomedians: Daily Beast contributor and Axis of Evil star Dean Obeidallah; Maysoon Zayid, who performs at the country’s top comedy clubs and appeared on Adam Sandler’s You Don’t Mess with the Zohan; star of Nickelodeon’s See Dad Run Ramy Youssef; New York comedian, poet, and mama’s boy Gibran Saleem; and Preacher Moss, a renowned anti-racism advocate.
Hormones influence unethical behavior, experts say
Link Submitted by: enhydra lutris
Hormones play a two-part role in encouraging and reinforcing cheating and other unethical behavior, according to research from Harvard University and The University of Texas at Austin.
With cheating scandals a persistent threat on college campuses and financial fraud costing businesses more than $3.7 trillion annually, UT Austin and Harvard researchers looked to hormones for more answers, specifically the reproductive hormone testosterone and the stress hormone cortisol.
According to the study, the endocrine system plays a dual role in unethical acts. First, elevated hormone levels predict likelihood of cheating. Then, a change of hormone levels during the act reinforces the behavior.
"Although the science of hormones and behavior dates back to the early 19th century, only recently has research revealed just how powerful and pervasive the influence of the endocrine system is on human behavior," said the corresponding author and UT Austin professor of psychology Robert Josephs.
Planes, guns and automobiles: 5 scariest hacking targets
Almost 5 billion non-communication devices – from watches to CT-scanners to airplanes – are connected to the internet worldwide, providing criminals, terrorists and governments with ever more opportunities to cause damage and sow chaos. Here are 5 of the most dangerous objects that can be hacked today.
The 5 billion figure comes from Gartner, the world’s leading information technology research and advisory company, which says that more than 300 million cars and over 2,800 million consumer devices are already online. By 2020, the number of objects connected to the Internet of Things (IoT) is expected to top 25 billion – not an unrealistic estimate considering that many household appliances now come with rudimentary online functions.
“One of the things we’re constantly seeing is functionality absolutely being considered first, and security implications not being considered at all,” Ted Harrington, who is organizing an IoT “theme park” at DEF CON, a leading hacker conference in August, told tech site Informationweek.
At DEF CON, hackers will be encouraged to take control of baby monitors, fridges, garage doors, and security cameras. While it’s tempting to conjure up scenarios of doors being hacked by high-tech burglars, or vengeful exes exploding their former spouses’ coffee-makers, the dangers are likely more subtle – and pervasive.
Obama Touts 'Historic' Climate Plan, But Will It Go Far Enough?
The president's Clean Power Plan includes deeper emissions cuts but also numerous concessions to the industry
President Barack Obama declared Sunday that his administration is poised to unroll greater-than-expected cuts to greenhouse gas emissions from U.S. power plants, in what he called "the biggest, most important steps we've ever taken to combat climate change."
However, as leaked details of the plan circulate ahead of Monday's slated unveiling, some climate campaigners say the measures, in fact, fall short of the president's pledge to take aggressive action to curb the global warming crisis.
In a White House video released Sunday, Obama acknowledged this crisis—emphasizing that scientific data shows that climate change is real, and it already poses a threat to human and environmental health. "Climate change is not a problem for another generation," Obama said. "Not anymore. That's why on Monday my administration will release a final version of America's Clean Power Plan."
The plan is an update to a draft version released by the Environmental Protection Agency last summer. While the contents have not been officially released, they have been reported by numerous media outlets, including the Washington Post and New York Times, who cited unnamed sources in the Obama administration in articles published Saturday.
California wildfire burns nearly 46,000 acres as two highways forced to close
Rocky fire north of San Francisco is only 5% contained after destroying 24 homes and threatening more than 6,000 other structures, authorities say
A wildfire along northern California’s inland coastal range has now burned nearly 46,000 acres and forced the closure of two highways, officials said on Sunday, after a second blaze near the Oregon border killed a firefighter.
The Rocky fire in Lake County, north of San Francisco, had grown in size by about 20,000 acres since Saturday, according to Cal Fire, a state website for fire information.
The fire closed parts of Highway 20 and Highway 16, destroyed 24 homes and 26 more outbuildings, and threatened an additional 6,301 structures, according to Cal Fire.
Nearly 2,000 firefighters were battling the fire, which broke out on Wednesday and by Sunday was only 5% contained, the same percentage as on Saturday, according to the website. About 12,000 people had been evacuated or were under evacuation advisories.
The Evening Greens
The Evening Greens Weekend Editor: enhydra lutris
As a killer fungus looms, scientists call for a ban on salamander imports
If it makes its way to our shores, a newly discovered fungus from Asia could wipe out large numbers of salamander species and spark a major North American biodiversity crisis, scientists are warning.
Writing Thursday in the journal Science, scientists from San Francisco State University, UC Berkeley and UCLA pinpointed regions of the U.S. where native salamanders, a key part of forest ecosystems, are at particular risk. They asked the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to place an immediate ban on live salamander imports until controls are in place to prevent the spread of the deadly fungus.
"This is an imminent threat, and a place where policy could have a very positive effect," Vance Vredenburg, a biologist at San Francisco State University and a coauthor of the piece in Science, said in a statement. "We actually have a decent chance of preventing a major catastrophe."
The new pathogen, Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (also known as Bsal) is similar to another killer fungus, Batrachochytrium dendrobatitidis (known as Bd), which since 1999 has wiped out more than 200 species of amphibians worldwide. Bd, which in some regions has killed as many as 40% of amphibian species, offs its victims by hardening the animals' skin, interfering with their electrolyte regulation and ultimately causing cardiac arrest.
Central Valley board allows wastewater disposal to continue despite contamination
Despite a finding that unlined wastewater pits near Kern County's Edison oil field have contaminated groundwater, officials on Thursday delayed shutting down some operations.
The Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board ignored its own staff recommendation and voted to let Valley Water Management Co. continue disposing of excess wastewater by spraying it on hillsides for another 21/2 years.
The company takes in nearly half a million gallons of oil field wastewater each day for dozens of drillers in the region. The cheapest way to dispose of it is in long, narrow pits gouged in the ground. Most of the wastewater evaporates or seeps into the dirt.
But Valley Water's operations include an unorthodox method: "irrigation" using high-powered sprinklers.
Monitoring wildlife may shed light on spread of antibiotic resistance in humans
Antibiotics are a blessing but may also be an empty promise of health when microbes develop resistance to our pharmacological arsenal. Globally, the emergence of antibiotic resistance is an important threat to both human and animal health.
The lifestyle differences among species can provide critical insight into the mechanisms of antibiotic resistance spread and the potential for improved monitoring and control, Virginia Tech scientists reported today (July 29) in the online first preprint of the Journal of Wildlife Diseases. Kathleen Alexander, an associate professor of wildlife in the College of Natural Resources and Environment at Virginia Tech, and Sarah Jobbins, a former postdoctoral associate in wildlife now studying veterinary medicine at the University of Sydney, used the common intestinal bacteria Escherichia coli to evaluate the spread of antibiotic resistance among humans, domestic animals, and wildlife in the Chobe district of northern Botswana.
The researchers tested for resistance to 10 antibiotics among cattle and 18 wildlife species to explore key attributes and behaviors that may increase exposure and allow resistance to move among humans, animals, and ecosystems.
Results were compared with 193 human samples from healthy and clinically ill patients at the local hospital and 12 environmental sources of human fecal waste.
Tracking the retreat of Arctic ice
Not so long ago, skeleton staff overwintering at the Ny-Alesund research centre could walk on the Arctic town's frozen bay and race their snow mobiles across its surface.
Now there is liquid water even in the coldest months, the glaciers are retreating at a rate of hundreds of metres per year, and alien species from warmer climes are making the bay their home, say longtime residents of the sparsely-populated town on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen.
"In the 1990s, we could cross the bay in snow mobiles," recalled Juergen Graeser, a technician at the Franco-German Awipev research station which collects weather, atmospheric and chemical data.
"The last time we could walk on it was in the winter of 2003-04."
Greenhouse Gas Emissions from US Corn Belt have been Underestimated
Estimates of how much nitrous oxide, a significant greenhouse gas and stratospheric ozone-depleting substance, is being emitted in the central United States have been too low by as much as 40 percent, a new study led by University of Minnesota scientists shows.
The study, published today in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, measured how much nitrous oxide is emitted from streams in an agriculturally dense area in southern Minnesota. Agriculture, and specifically nitrogen fertilizers used in row-crop farming, is a major contributor to nitrous oxide emissions from streams, the paper notes.
Nitrous oxide emissions are measured at the University of Minnesota Tall Tower Trace Gas Observatory -providing a top-down constraint on the regional emissions. Estimates of nitrous oxide emissions also are calculated by combining on-the-ground (bottom-up) measurements within the region. These measurements are used to keep track of emissions and help inform strategies for reducing nitrous oxide loss from agricultural lands. However, very large differences have been observed between these top-down and bottom-up approaches, indicating large uncertainties, and undermining the development and assessment of mitigation practices.
Adriatic oil, gas exploration raises concerns for Croatia tourism
As Croatia gears up for exploration of oil and gas in the Adriatic sea, green groups have raised concerns about the environment and economy of the tourism-dependant country's islands and pristine coastline.
The government in September is set to sign contracts with two energy groups which have been granted the right to explore and drill for oil and gas in the Adriatic for a period of up to 30 years.
"It is a very important project for Croatia," Barbara Doric, head of the hydrocarbon agency told AFP.
By exploiting additional resources "which we assume we have in the Adriatic, it will enable the country to become energy independent and, when it comes to gas, even to become an exporter," she said.
Obama to unveil tougher climate plan with his legacy in mind
WASHINGTON - In the strongest action ever taken in the United States to combat climate change, President Barack Obama will unveil on Monday a set of environmental regulations devised to sharply cut planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions from the nation’s power plants and ultimately transform America’s electricity industry.
The rules are the final, tougher versions of proposed regulations that the Environmental Protection Agency announced in 2012 and 2014. If they withstand the expected legal challenges, the regulations will set in motion sweeping changes that could shut down hundreds of coal-fired power plants, freeze construction of new coal plants and create a boom in the production of wind and solar power and other renewable energy sources.
As the president came to see the fight against climate change as central to his legacy, as important as the Affordable Care Act, he moved to strengthen the energy proposals, advisers said. The health law became the dominant political issue of the 2010 congressional elections and faced dozens of legislative assaults before surviving two Supreme Court challenges largely intact.
“Climate change is not a problem for another generation, not anymore,” Obama said in a video prepared for posting on Facebook at midnight Saturday. He called the new rules “the biggest, most important step we’ve ever taken to combat climate change.”
Squeezed By Drought, California Farmers Switch To Less Thirsty Crops
Water scarcity is driving California farmers to plant different crops. Growers are switching to more profitable, less-thirsty fruits, vegetables and nuts.
Nowhere is this truer than San Diego County, where water prices are some of the highest in the state.
Grapefruit trees shade the entrance to Triple B Ranches winery in northern San Diego County. The tasting room is a converted kitchen festooned with country knick knacks.
Debbie Broomell runs the boutique winery with her father, Gary. Their quaint vineyard is only a few years old. For three generations, the Broomells have grown citrus. But, it's been hard to stay in the black growing oranges.
Blog Posts of Interest
Here are diaries and selected blog posts of interest on DailyKos and other blogs.
The Movement To Stop Food From Being Wasted Is Booming
Robert Reich: Worker Pay Is Rising at the Slowest Rate Ever Recorded
The Greek Coup: Liquidity as a Weapon of Coercion
Global Warming at Halfway Point of Safety Limit, Research Shows
Pesticides Are Killing Greece's Bees: Honey Industry Suffers Amid Broader Economic Turmoil
The largest muni bond default in U.S. history is happening right now
A Deserving Community Member (and Good Guy) Could Use a Helping Hand
US Intel: ISIS No Weaker After Year of US Bombings
Hellraisers Journal: "There is always a summer rush of thousands of men who come from east & west."
Joe Biden Said No Before. Why Run Now?
Why all Americans should support Bernie Sanders - UPDATED
A Lovely Poem For Cecil
Massively Ironic
A Little Night Music
Ten Years After - Rock You Mama
Ten Years After - Love Like A Man
Ten Years After - I Woke Up This Morning
Ten Years After - I'm Coming On
Ten Years After - Standing At The Station
Ten Years After - Tomorrow I'll Be Out Of Town
Ten Years After - One Of These Days
Ten Years After - Me And My Baby
Ten Years After - Choo Choo Mama
Ten Years After - I Can't Keep From Crying, Sometimes
Ten Years After - Extension On One Chord
Ten Years After - You Give Me Loving
Ten Years Later - Help Me
Ten Years After - I'd Love to Change the World
Ten Years After - I'm Going Home