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Joe Quinn
Sott.net 2015-02-19 21:14:00
In late November 2013, the 'Euromaidan' in Kiev began as a popular protest against a generalized state of corruption and cronyism in Ukraine. The spark that ostensibly ignited the protests was the inability of then President Yanukovych to sign an EU Association Agreement that would cut Ukraine's economic and military ties to Russia in favor of a closer relationship with the EU and NATO. The EU had made the release of former Ukrainian prime minister and "gas princess" Tymoshenko a precondition for signing the agreement. But the fact that Tymoshenko was/is a convicted embezzler of state funds, combined with the rather severe economic impact the EU Association Agreement would have had on the Ukrainian economy, made it impossible for a consensus in the Ukrainian government to be reached, despite the fact that Yanukovych urged Parliament to put aside their differences and ratify the agreement. In fact, the EU's insistence that Tymoshenko be released appears now to have been designed to ensure the EU-Ukraine Association agreement failed and Yanukovych blamed for that failure and removed from office. Whatever the case, when the agreement was not signed, Ukrainians took to the streets in protest right on cue. | |
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| Puppet Masters |
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Patrick Henningsen
21st Century Wire 2015-02-17 19:45:00
What's happened this week in Libya should come as no surprise to anyone who has been paying attention over the last four years. Geopolitically speaking and considering its proximity to Europe, this viper's nest has the potential to be even more perilous than Syria. At the beginning of the new year, we predicted that Libya would be the next major ISIS theater, paving the way for an eventual US or NATO intervention. 21WIRE's end-of-year feature article Game Changers: 2015 Predictions explains: From the onset, coverage of Libya has been riddled with misdirection and obfuscation. The warning signs have been visible since late 2011 (below). | |
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RT
2015-02-19 22:40:00
Russia's prime minister has ordered the Energy Ministry and state-owned corporation Gazprom to prepare for natural gas deliveries to the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk Republics after the Kiev regime stopped selling fuel to the regions. "There is a problem related to natural gas deliveries, caused by the decision of Ukrainian authorities that has not yet been canceled. The situation is that natural gas is not delivered to a number of settlements," Dmitry Medvedev told ministers at a cabinet meeting on Thursday. "I would like the Energy Ministry and Gazprom to prepare their suggestions on rendering aid to these regions in the form of natural gas supplies. Of course this will be needed only if Kiev does not take urgent measures to resume gas supplies under the usual scheme." "In any case, people must not freeze there. Prepare the necessary suggestions and report on what is done," Medvedev said. Medvedev's press secretary Natalya Timakova told Interfax that Gazprom would send natural gas to Donetsk and Lugansk "on a commercial basis," but noted that the sources of financing were yet to be determined. The agency also quoted an unnamed source "acquainted with the situation" as saying that the possible scheme could include a bank credit. | |
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RT
2015-02-20 22:33:00
The Russian Defense Ministry's TV channel has released video footage taken from a Tu-95 strategic bomber as it was shadowed by RAF Fighter Typhoon jets. The video features engines that appear to be stalling. The video compilation published on Wednesday by the Zvezda channel was shot from one of the Tupolev Tu-95 "Bear" bombers as it was flying on a mission in international airspace close to the United Kingdom. The turboprop bomber is seen being escorted closely by several NATO fighter jets scrambled to intercept it. One is easily identified by its tail code "FB" as an RAF Eurofigher Typhoon from the Lossiemouth airbase.
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Harrison Koehli
Sott.net 2015-02-20 20:57:00
It's looking like the Ukrainians accidentally left behind some of their stuff during their "planned and organized" withdrawal from the Debaltsevo
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RT
2015-02-20 21:51:00
Tony Blair has signed a contract to advise Serbia's prime minister, 16 years after the two were on opposite sides of the Balkan conflict. Former British PM Blair was instrumental in NATO airstrikes against Belgrade. Blair will work for PM Aleksandar Vucic, Slobodan Milosevic's information minister at the time of the Kosovo conflict. Vucic had previously been an outspoken critic of Blair. He was listed as an editor of the 2005 book 'English Gay Fart Tony Blair'.
The deal was paid for by the United Arab Emirates, according to Serbian officials, which has raised doubts over Blair's ability to operate as a neutral envoy in the Middle East for the Quartet - the UN, US, EU and Russia. | ||
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RT
2015-02-20 21:11:00
US search engine giant Google has warned against increasing the government's powers for infiltrating computer systems around the world, saying it would open a number of "monumental" constitutional issues. Google released a tough-sounding statement against the Department Justice (DoJ) proposal to make it easier for the courts to issue search warrants to seize electronic data 'remotely' from anywhere in the world. Efforts to rewrite federal regulations, presently encoded in a government provision known as Rule 41,"raises a number of monumental and highly complex constitutional, legal, and geopolitical concerns that should be left to Congress to decide," wrote Richard Salgado, Google's director for law enforcement and information security. Under Rule 41, the judge that authorizes the computer tap must be situated in the same district as the computer under investigation. The new proposal would allow the FBI to operate beyond the immediate judicial area of the presiding judge. Google: FBI's Plan To Expand Hacking Power a "Monumental" Constitutional Threathttp://t.co/jl8B4tYEiwGoogle warned in its statement that if the DoJ gets its way, the FBI will be authorized to hack into servers regardless of their geopolitical location, thus giving the US government unrestrained access to endless amounts of personal data around the globe. As Google explains it, such covert invasions of privacy, "may take place anywhere in the world. This concern is not theoretical. ... [T]he nature of today's technology is such that warrants issued under the proposed amendment will in many cases end up authorizing the government to conduct searches outside the United States." | |
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Elizabeth Harrington
Washington Free Beacon 2015-02-20 18:58:00
The federal committee responsible for nutrition guidelines is calling for the adoption of "plant-based" diets, taxes on dessert, trained obesity "interventionists" at worksites, and electronic monitoring of how long Americans sit in front of the television. The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC) released its far-reaching 571-page report of recommendations to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Thursday, which detailed its plans to "transform the food system." The report is open for public comment for 45 days, and will be used as the basis by the government agencies to develop the 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The guidelines are used as the basis for government food assistance programs, nutrition education efforts, and for making "decisions about national health objectives." DGAC proposed a variety of solutions to address obesity, and its promotion of what it calls the "culture of health." "The persistent high levels of overweight and obesity require urgent population- and individual-level strategies across multiple settings, including health care, communities, schools, worksites, and families," they said. Comment: If the government had any clue about nutrition, they would not be pushing for a plant-based diet and at the same time look for solutions to obesity. It is the consumption of large amounts of carbohydrates, along with high amounts of sugar and its derivatives such as high-fructose corn syrup, that obesity begins. There are more and more people who are finding the best method for both weight loss and health improvement is in the adoption of a low carb, high fat ketogenic diet. That the government is pushing to adopt the exact opposite, a high carb, low fat diet, should give one pause. | |
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RT
2015-02-20 18:33:00
Just after Bill O'Reilly excoriated NBC's Brian Williams for fabricating his experiences during the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, O'Reilly is now on the defensive himself after a publication questioned his claims of reporting during the Falklands war. The left-leaning US magazine, Mother Jones, has bomb shelled Fox News by publishing an article that claims talk-show host Bill O'Reilly's heroic tales of war reporting "don't withstand scrutiny - even claiming he acted heroically in a war zone that he apparently never set foot in." The article, entitled Bill O'Reilly Has His Own Brian Williams Problem, went on to produce a list of seemingly self-incriminating quotes from the notoriously outspoken Fox host, who has boasted on more than one occasion that he "experienced combat" during the 1982 conflict between England and Argentina. | |
Comment: And people actually listen to this O'Reilly character as if he has anything newsworthy to say. But he sure gets paid well for what he spews.
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RT
2015-02-20 18:01:00
Fisticuffs broke out in the Turkish parliament on Thursday night between members of the ruling party and Kurdish opposition deputies. The altercation was over a bill they say will turn the country into an "authoritarian state." The fight broke out after an increasingly fraught three-hour discussion of the mooted Homeland Security Reform, advocated by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his AKP party, which enjoys a recently renewed majority in the country's legislative assembly.
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Comment: Looks like filibusters in Turkey involve fighting.
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Mike Whitney
CounterPunch 2015-02-19 17:48:00
"The ongoing dispute between the German and Greek governments is nothing less than a democratic revolution against German hegemony and the attempt of the Germans and their paladins in the EU to dictate Greek domestic policy."If you haven't been following developments in the Greek-EU standoff, you're really missing out. This might be the best story of the year. And what makes it so riveting, is that no one thought that little Greece could face off with the powerful leaders of the EU and make them blink. But that's exactly what's happened. On Monday, members of the Eurogroup met with Greece's finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis, to decide whether they would accept Greece's terms for an extension of the current loan agreement. There were no real changes to the agreement. The only difference was semantics, that is, the loan would not be seen as a bailout but as "a transitional stage to a new contract for growth for Greece". In other words, a bridge to a different program altogether. | |
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Pat Buchanan
Townhall.com 2015-02-17 17:38:00
Hopefully, the shaky truce between Vladimir Putin and Ukraine's Petro Poroshenko, brokered in Minsk by Angela Merkel, will hold. For nothing good, but much evil, could come of broadening and lengthening this war that has cost the lives of 5,400 Ukrainians. The longer it goes on, the greater the casualties, the more land Ukraine will lose, and the greater the likelihood Kiev will end up an amputated and bankrupt republic, a dependency the size of France on the doorstep of Europe. Had no truce been achieved, 8,000 Ukrainian troops trapped in the Debaltseve pocket could have been forced to surrender or wiped out, causing a regime crisis in Kiev. U.S. weapons could have begun flowing in, setting the stage for a collision between Russia and the United States. Comment: Many were forced to surrender, and many were wiped out. Some managed to escape, albeit with less than 2 battalions' worth of heavy weaponry. Everything else was either captured or destroyed. | |
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Prof Michel Chossudovsky
Global Research 2015-02-19 17:28:00
Since August 2014, the US Air Force with the support of a coalition of 19 countries has relentlessly waged an intensified air campaign against Syria and Iraq allegedly targeting the Islamic State brigades. According to Defense News, over 16,000 airstrikes were carried out from August 2014 to mid January 2015. Sixty percent of the air strikes were conducted by the US Air Force using advanced jet fighter and bombing capabilities (Aaron Mehta, "A-10 Performing 11 Percent of Anti-ISIS Sorties". Defense News, January 19, 2015.) The airstrikes have been casually described by the media as part of a "soft" counter-terrorism operation, rather than an act of all out war directed against Syria and Iraq. This large scale air campaign which has resulted in countless civilian casualties has been routinely misreported by the mainstream media. According to Max Boot, senior fellow in national security at the Council on Foreign Relations. "Obama's strategy in Syria and Iraq is not working... [ because] the U.S. bombing campaign against ISIS has been remarkably restrained". (Newsweek,February 17, 2015, emphasis added). Americans are led to believe that the Islamic State constitutes a formidable force confronting the US military and threatening Western Civilization. | |
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Pepe Escobar
Sputnik 2015-02-19 17:16:00
Minsk 2.0 agreement de facto shows that Germany and France, the leading European powers are trying to break away from the "American Chaos project." Washington has certainly succeeded in permeating an already embattled EU with a little extra - what else - chaos, by pitting the "West" against Russia. The Obama administration - infested with neo-con cells, those ghosts inside the machine - have always believed that a package of Western sanctions plus a Saudi-unleashed oil price war would be enough to bring down the Russian economy, thus "changing its behavior" on Ukraine, and in the best scenario provoking regime change in Moscow. Well, it's not working. Minsk 2.0 - as fragile an agreement as it is - de facto shows Germany (assisted by France), the leading European powers, trying to break away from the American Chaos project. | |
Comment: The US needs chaos elsewhere to avoid shinning a light on it's own impending collapse.
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PressTV
2015-02-19 21:56:00
With sanctions being used as a political weapon of choice by the West, Iran is turning the tables on Europe, pledging to withhold on gas supplies. The pledge made by Leader of the Islamic Republic Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, who has the final say on all major decisions, comes at a crucial time. Iran is heading to a decisive round of nuclear negotiations, with sanctions being at the heart of contention. "If sanctions are supposed to be the way, it is the Iranian nation which will sanction them (Europe) in the future," Ayatollah Khamenei has said. "The hapless Europe needs gas and based on existing explorations, we possess the biggest share of the world's gas reserves," he added. Political analysts say Ayatollah Khamenei's statements serve as a warning to the West, signaling that Iran will not accept any dictate in the talks. Europe and the US have been using the weapon of sanctions to twist Iran's arm over its nuclear program. Ayatollah Khamenei said, "Iran holds the world's largest oil and reserves combined and when the time comes we will sanction them and the Islamic Republic is capable of doing that." According to statistical energy reviews, Iran holds the world's largest proven natural gas reserves, at 33.8 trillion cubic meters or 18.2% of the total proven reserves. The country's proven oil deposit is estimated 157 billion barrels, the fourth-biggest after Venezuela, Saudi Arabia and, Canada. | |
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RT
2015-02-19 02:55:00
Germany rejected Greece's 6-month bailout extension request, according to German Finance Ministry spokesman. The two sides have until Friday to agree on a deal, otherwise, Greece runs out of money. German Finance Ministry spokesman Martin Jaeger told Bloomberg News in an emailed statement that the terms proposed by Greece do not meet the earlier agreed conditions of providing financial aid. However, the European Commission sees the request as a good omen showing the Greek government's willingness to reach a compromise on stabilizing the economic situation in the eurozone. "President Juncker sees this letter as a positive sign, which, in his assessment, could pave the way for a reasonable compromise in the interest of the financial stability in the euro area as a whole," Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas told a news briefing. | |
Comment: We'll see what kind of 'compromise' will be reached. Varoufakis has made clear what Greece is willing to do. And he's not bluffing. See: Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis: No more games in Greece
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| Society's Child |
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Scott Mitchell
Vice 2015-02-18 21:49:00
A one-year-old albino boy, abducted from his home in northwestern Tanzania over the weekend, was found murdered on Tuesday with his "arms and legs hacked off," according to the local police chief. This gruesome discovery shows that despite new laws banning the witch doctors who prey upon them, people with albinism are still vulnerable in the East African nation. In Tanzania the body parts of albinos are prized by witch doctors and their superstitious followers as they are said to bring wealth and luck when used in charms. A complete set of body parts can be sold for as much as $75,000, according to the Red Cross. Comment: The question here is who is paying that kind of money for albino body parts. This victim, Yohana Bahati, was kidnapped from his family home in the Geita region by an armed gang. Police said his mother, Esther, was struck with a machete as she tried to protect him. "Unfortunately this family resides in a protected forest area," Joseph Konyo, the regional police commander, told Reuters. "It was extremely difficult for the police to immediately arrest the suspected robbers." Two other albino children who were in the house were not taken. Comment: And it seems that the practice is protected by local law enforcement. Yohana's mutilated body was discovered a few miles from his home, according to the BBC. Fueled by superstition, people are violently attacking albinos in Tanzania. Albinism, a hereditary condition that prevents people from producing pigment in their skin, hair, and eyes, is much more common in parts of Africa than the rest of the world. While an estimated one in 20,000 people are affected globally, this figure rises to one in every 1,400 Tanzanians. Abductions and killings have become common in Tanzania — over 72 albinos have been murdered in the country since 2000. And the practice is showing no signs of stopping. VICE News recently traveled to Tanzania to meet with Josephat Torner, an activist fighting for the rights and safety of albinos in his country. | |
Comment: Unfortunately, if there's a lot of money involved, you can be assured that the government won't move mountains to stop the practice. There may even be some high strangeness involved.
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Phillip Weiss
Mondo Weiss 2015-02-19 21:26:00
We have picked up news about the sexual allegations against Alan Dershowitz because Dershowitz is such an outspoken defender of Israel and the matter has inevitably affected his influence in the foreign-policy arena. And Dershowitz will surely always get a forum, this piece on the case in the Harvard Law Record that came out yesterday, titled "Harvard Law Professor Blames Victim in Child Trafficking Case," is another sign that the Harvard Law professor emeritus is being criticized in venues that he might once have considered home turf. An excerpt from the article by Kerry Richards and Anna Joseph: | |
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Sputnik
2015-02-20 19:06:00
An attorney in Turkey has caused widespread outrage after suggesting single men should be given a government pension to pay for sex with prostitutes. Yazuv Balkan put forward the plans to pay single men a 'sexual necessity credit' of 75 Turkish lira (£19) per week as part of an attempt to curb the levels of rape and violence against women in Turkey.
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Comment: Some twisted psychopathic thinking here!
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Jonathan O'Callaghan
Daily Mail 2015-02-19 18:14:00
Professor Stephen Hawking believes the future of the human race depends on our abilities to explore space. During a tour of London's Science Museum, the 73-year-old said that landing on the moon gave us new perspectives of life on Earth, and this outlook must develop if we are to survive. He also said aggression should be weeded out of the human race and replaced by empathy to avoid a major nuclear war ending civilisation as we know it. Professor Hawking made the comments while escorting an American visitor around the museum as part of a 'Guest of Honour' prize. | |
Comment: Moving to another planet will not help us learn to overcome the psychopathic nature of society but only bring it along with us.
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Nora Barrows-Friedman
The Electronic Intifada 2015-02-19 02:35:00
After several hours of debate on Tuesday night, the student government at the University of Toledo inOhio shut down a hearing on a resolution to divest from firms abetting Israel's crimes. Just before the vote was to take place by the student senate, the university's Student Judicial Council, part of the student government, announced that it had ruled a resolution calling for divestment "unconstitutional" on the grounds that it was "discriminatory" and "one-sided." The ruling allowed no recourse or debate and the entire vote was then scrapped. Comment: Thats democracy for you! As The Electronic Intifada reported, the university administration had insisted that discussions relating to the resolution be conducted in a secretive manner. | |
Comment: Any criticism or opposition "of that shitty little country" as French diplomat Daniel Bernard said, will be met with dirty tricks.
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Matt Agorist
Free Thought Project 2015-02-19 17:25:00
Dustin Theoharis was asleep in his bed when a Department of Corrections officer, and King County Sherriff's deputy rushed into his house on February 11, 2012. The two cops busted into his bedroom and began to unload their pistols on this unarmed man. It is estimated that the two officers fired over 20 rounds of which 16 landed in Mr. Theoharis. According to Theoharis's attorney, Erik Heipt, "Theoharis suffered "a broken shoulder, 2 broken arms, broken legs, he had a compression fracture to his spine, damage to his liver and spleen." To add insult to attempted murder, Theoharis was not the guy the police were after. According toKing 5 News Seattle, the King County Sheriff's deputy and Washington Department of Corrections officer who shot him were at the house to arrest a man who'd violated his parole. | |
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Last year's huge coal ash spill in North Carolina may cost Duke Energy $100M or the cost of a permit
RT
2015-02-19 02:04:00
Duke Energy, the largest utility company in the United States, has set aside $100 million in order to settle a federal grand jury investigation into last year's huge coal ash spill in North Carolina. The electric utility made the announcement in its earnings report on Wednesday, according to theLos Angeles Times. A federal grand jury has been looking into the way Duke Energy manages the disposal and storage of the waste created at its coal-fired power plants ever since the coal ash spill occurred in February 2014. The spill, which unloaded up to 39,000 tons of coal ash and some 27 million gallons of coal ash slurry into the Dan River, was the third-largest coal ash spill in US history. Comment: In a SOTT article from last year, estimates of 50,000 to 82,000 tons of coal ash and up to 27M gallons of water were released from the 27-acre storage pond. Danville, Virginia, takes its water from the Dan River only 6 miles downstream of the pond. With 14 coal-fired plants in N. Carolina, Duke dumps its toxic metals into landfills, storage ponds or old mines - all subject to bursting dams and other environmental hazards. "The company expects a proposed agreement could be reached and filed in the next several days for consideration by the court," Duke Energy said in its earnings report. "If approved, the proposed agreement would resolve the ongoing grand jury investigation of the company's coal ash basin management." Coal ash is waste left after burning coal that contains arsenic, mercury, lead, and over a dozen other heavy metals, many of which are toxic.
While Duke is currently involved in settlement negotiations, it's unclear what charges the grand jury is considering, and US Attorney Thomas Walker has declined to discuss the issue. Even if Duke resolves the issue, it's still facing charges from North Carolina's Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and activist groups for potentially violating state laws by contaminating groundwater. | ||
Comment: How nice. Retroactive pollution amnesty. Well, there is some mighty fine leaky thinkinggoing on here! It would be a travesty to allow the company to "Duke it out" with a slap on the wrist and the cost of a permit. Obviously this does NOTHING to solve the problem, stop the leaks or rectify the ongoing damage to humanity and the environment. It is looking like Duke is part of the good-ol'-boys club after all. Justice? My Ash!
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Liz Sly
The Washington Post 2015-02-17 23:54:00
Perhaps nothing illuminates more starkly the transformation underway in Iraq than the billboard depicting the late Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini erected recently on the edge of Baghdad's Firdaus Square. The portrait obscures the view of the plinth where a giant statue of Saddam Hussein once stood, until U.S. Marines pulled it down in 2003. The 2003 event was a profoundly symbolic moment that seemed to capture the swift triumph of American troops over Hussein's crumbling army. It also signaled the start of Iraq's steady drift into the orbit of Iranian influence, a trend that has accelerated dramatically since the surge into northern Iraq by the Islamic State last summer. | |
Comment: Just goes to show how popular the US is in Iraq.
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New York Post
2015-02-17 00:00:00
At least 16 people were killed early Tuesday in the Haitian capital after a man on top of a musical group's Carnival float was shocked by high-voltage wires above the street, setting off a panic in whichdozens of people were trampled, officials said. The accident occurred as thousands of people filled the streets of downtown Port-au-Prince for the raucous annual celebration. Video from the scene showed sparks coursing from the wire after a singer from the Haitian hip-hop group Barikad Crew was jolted by the overhead power line as the float passed beneath it. The cable appeared to have shocked several others as well. Prime Minister Evans Paul said 16 people were confirmed dead and 78 were injured. His statement conflicted with earlier reports on the number of casualties. Nadia Lochard, a coordinator for the Department of Civil Protection, had said at least 20 people were killed.
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Comment: Seems like this tragedy could have been prevented or avoided. Odd that a similar tragedy happened in a Carnival parade on the same day in Rio de Janeiro.
Three Brazilian revelers died after being electrocuted early on Tuesday while standing atop a Carnival float that hit a power line, officials said. The Light power company confirmed the deaths that happened during a Carnival celebration in Nova Iguacu, a city of 800,000 people on the northern outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. Firefighters said at least one other person was taken to hospital and three others were aided on the scene. None appear to have life-threatening injuries. Police are investigating the incident. During Brazil's 2011 Carnival, 16 people were killed at a packed street party in Minas Gerais state when a power line fell atop the crowd. | ||
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| Secret History |
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Nick Romeo
National Geographic 2015-02-20 18:26:00
Strange and surprising findings have been reported from ongoing excavations at Alepotrypa Cave, a site in the Peloponnesus that one archaeologist called "a Neolithic Pompeii," the Greek Ministry of Culture, Education, and Religious Affairs announced. The most striking discovery was a burial from roughly 5,800 years ago containing two well-preserved adult human skeletons, one male and one female, with arms and legs interlocked in an embrace. Archaeologists also found bones from two other Neolithic double burials, as well as a roughly 3,300-year-old Mycenaean ossuary holding bone fragments from dozens of individuals and numerous expensive grave goods, including a bronze dagger, agate beads, and ivory likely sourced from Lebanon. "Like most things in Greece, it's complicated," said Bill Parkinson, associate curator of Eurasian anthropology at Chicago's Field Museum and one of the archaeologists working at the site. The Alepotrypa—or "foxhole"—Cave represents one of the largest Neolithic burial sites known in all of Europe. Its enormous interior chambers reach more than half a kilometer into a mountain above Diros Bay, and burials in the cave span the entire Neolithic period in Greece, from 6000 to 3200 B.C. There are bones from at least 170 individuals inside the cave. | |
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Brittney Cooper
Salon 2015-02-18 17:43:00
Ruth Bader Ginsburg has emerged as the liberal hero of a hopelessly right-wing Supreme Court, a ram in the bush for those of us who look on in horror as the court presides over the dismantling of key pieces of legislation like the Voting Rights Act, anti-discrimination law and affirmative action policy, which have been so critical to African-American advancement since the 1960s. In a recent interview at Georgetown University, Ginsburg reflected on the history behind one of her key legal accomplishments, the 1971 case of Reed v. Reed. After an estranged couple lost their son, his mother, Sally Reed, petitioned to administer his estate. But Idaho law maintained that "males must be preferred to females," in such matters. Ginsburg authored the plaintiff's brief for the case when it reached the Supreme Court, arguing that the 14th amendment protected against discrimination based upon sex. When the court ruled in Sally Reed's favor, it was the first time that the Equal Protection Clause had been applied to a case of sex discrimination. But much of the legal groundwork for that argument can be attributed to Dr. Pauli Murray, a Howard University-trained lawyer, who began to argue in the 1960s, that the Equal Protection Clause should be applied to cases of sex discrimination in much the same way that it had been applied to cases of racial discrimination. Murray's argument constituted what legal historian Serena Mayeri termed "reasoning from race," in which race analogies were used to make clear the subordinate status of women. Though today we speak of these matters in the language of intersections, a term gleaned from legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw, it is Pauli Murray's initial invocation of the race-sex analogy for black women's positionality within the law that is the most direct precursor to Crenshaw's theory of intersectionality. | |
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| Science & Technology |
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U.S. Geological Survey
2015-02-19 13:51:00
A paper published today in Science provides a case for increasing transparency and data collection to enable strategies for mitigating the effects of human-induced earthquakes caused by wastewater injection associated with oil and gas production in the United States. The paper is the result of a series of workshops led by scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey in collaboration with the University of Colorado, Oklahoma Geological Survey and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, suggests that it is possible to reduce the hazard of induced seismicity through management of injection activities. Large areas of the United States that used to experience few or no earthquakes have, in recent years, experienced a remarkable increase in earthquake activity that has caused considerable public concern as well as damage to structures. This rise in seismic activity, especially in the central United States, is not the result of natural processes. | |
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Mac Slavo
SHTFplan.com 2015-02-18 14:16:00
For now, the technology is in "crude" form undergoing R&D through animal testing, specifically with the neural connections of a zebrafish. In the longer term, DARPA researchers (the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) believes the gene modifying optical technology will be able to restore vision to the blind and impaired, and replaced current conceptions of virtual reality, with an internal display that will provide vital stats and more about the target, err, object in view. According to CNET, the DARPA boffins are reportedly working on a device known as a 'cortical modem' that plugs directly into a person's DNA and visual cortex. Not only does this unique device help someone overcome blindness or poor eyesight, it generates a built-in heads-up display (HUD) that appears right in before their very eyes. | |
Comment: Entrusting the military-industrial complex with access to our bodies is folly in the extreme.
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| Earth Changes |
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Steven Goddard
There is four times as much ice on the Great Lakes as there was 20 years ago. Experts say that global warming is to blame.Real Science 2015-02-20 21:56:00
The EPA wants to ban fossil fuels, because they are making lake ice disappear in the US | ||
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I went up to Ulster County, NY to see the Gyrfalcon that has around for a few weeks. The bird, which depending on the day has been easy to find or hard to find, was very cooperative today. In addition to the Gyrfalcon, I was able to photograph a Short-eared Owl. Definitely worth driving for four hours!
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Taylor Piephoff
Charlotte Observer 2015-02-19 20:43:00
A big part of finding birds is being in the right place at the right time. When the birds show up, you have to be there. Last Friday, local birder John Brammer looked out his window and saw a large yellow bird that he did not recognize. He had the presence of mind to snap off a series of great photos for the next 15 minutes. Then the bird departed. Local birders pored over online photos of immature male orioles (there are not all that many, by the way), and identified it as a hooded oriole, a bird native to the Southwest and Pacific coast. | |
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Sally Lee and Emily Crane
Daily Mail 2015-02-20 19:24:00
Parts of homes on an island off the coast of central Queensland have started breaking off into the ocean and another 10,000 across the state are without power as the full force of Cyclone Marcia sets in. Dramatic pictures show the ground eroding away on Great Keppel Island, just east of Queensland's coast, causing three entire homes to collapse as the barricades holding up the structures are swept away. Winds of up to 200km per hour tore roofs and doors off buildings in the coastal town of Yeppoon as the storm continues to tear down the coast. At least 10,000 homes in Yeppoon have lost power, and while the Bureau of Meteorology downgraded the cyclone's category, they warned of 'very destructive winds still expected near the centre'. But as of 5pm on Friday, the weather bureau downgraded Cyclone Marcia to a category 2 system and expected to turn to the south-southeast. It will weaken below cyclone strength on Saturday morning. Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk warned the damage could be extremely destructive as she said residents would experience a very 'harrowing and terrifying' couple of hours.
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If the hole keeps growing bigger, it could affect more than 1,000 families living in the area Residents here who have resisted relocation for more than 30 years now are left with no other choice but to leave the shores where many of them practically lived all their lives. 43-year-old Reynante Desidorio said he was born in Purok Tinago, a community of informal settlers in Barangay South Dadiangas, and has not known any other work but to supervise the loading and unloading of copra and other agricultural products from Balut Island in a makeshift wooden jetty near his house. But even that quay will soon disappear if the underwater hole continues to eat into the shores and gobble their homes. | |
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Eleven people—most of them women—were killed and around 30 injured in North Korea when earth they were plowing collapsed beneath them, according to a source inside the country. The workers had been mobilized to plow at the October 18 Jonghap Farm in Yanggang province, along the border with China, on Feb. 3 as part of an annual bid by the Kim Jong Un regime to improve acidic soil for farming, an area resident told RFA's Korean Service on condition of anonymity. Due to low temperatures during the winter, much of the earth had been turned to ice, and the workers—from the Baek-du Youth Team, and the Baek-am Tile Works and Rural Construction Unit—had been ordered to dig until they found unfrozen soil, the source said. However, a sinkhole had developed beneath the ice and when the workers pierced through the frozen layer of soil, the ground collapsed, burying them alive, according to the source. | |
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hungarytoday.hu
2015-02-19 17:42:00
A snowy owl (Bubo scandiacus) has been photographed in Hungary's southern Baranya county for the second time since records began, the Hungarian Ornithological and Nature Conservation Society has said. The only previous occasion the cold-loving animal has been spotted in Hungarywas in 1891. The owl was photographed at the settlement of Bóly in Baranya county, after which bird-watchers from the ornithological society travelled to the scene to verify the sighting. Subsequently, several observers arrived to the area and a large number of good-quality photographs were taken. | |
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Tom Wilkinson
Daily Mirror, UK 2015-02-19 16:36:00
At least 20 swans have died mysteriously of illness or poison on the river Wear in Chester-le-Street, Co Durham, in the last month. The RSPCA has asked the public to be vigilant after swans died on a stretch of river in the past few weeks. It is unclear whether the birds that live on the River Wear in Chester-le-Street, County Durham, have been being deliberately or accidentally poisoned, or if they have succumbed to natural illness. There are about 100 swans on that section of the Wear which passes through Riverside Park, and it is popular for children to feed the inquisitive swans. | |
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What started as a few reports of dead trumpeter swans in the Snoqualmie Valley has turned into much more. Dozens of birds are dead and many more are terminally ill in an area near Carnation along the Snoqualmie River. Experts believe it to be a massive case of lead poisoning. A lone trumpeter swan appears perfectly fine as it floats in a Snoqualmie River side channel, but it's in serious trouble. "The only good news is, it's not raining," said Martha Jordan, coordinator with Washington Swan Stewards. Jordan is going after that swan like she has dozens more just like it since a lead poisoning die off began late last month.
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Odisha Sun Times
2015-02-19 15:23:00
The Gahirmatha marine sanctuary in Odisha's Kendrapara district, considered to be the largest rookery of the endangered Oliver Ridley turtles, has turned into a mass graveyard of these endangered species as hundreds of carcasses were spotted ashore. Around 800 Olive Ridley turtles were found dead along Barunei, Pentha, Satabhaya, Gahirmatha, Babubali river mouth and other places during the ongoing mass nesting season by February 15, a forest department official said. However, unofficial estimates put the toll over 5000, raising concern among environmentalists. | |
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| Fire in the Sky |
No new articles.
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| Health & Wellness |
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Catherine J. Frompovich
Activist Post 2015-02-20 19:10:00
U.S. HHS is Going for More Vaccinations during Pregnancy, Employer-enforced adult vaccination requirements, and, probably, Faith-based groups to uptake vaccinations The U.S. Health and Human Services published a 46-page draft proposal and notice in the Federal Register recently regarding more mandated vaccines for adults, and especially pregnant females; employer-enforced adult vaccinations; and probably for getting faith-based groups to uptake and not oppose vaccines/vaccinations. There is an open public comment period that ends March 9, 2015, for consumers to register their comments, etc. per instructions at this website. | |
Comment: Are you thinking this is not possible? Think again: What happened to freedom of choice? Right to Vaccinate Vs. Medical Tyranny
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RT
2015-02-19 23:01:00
At least two people have died and a further seven exposed to a deadly strain of drug-resistant superbug bacteria at a hospital on the UCLA campus. Authorities are notifying 179 more people that have potentially been exposed. The enterobacteriaceae (CRE) can be fatal in as many as half of all cases if the bacteria reach the bloodstream. The university discovered the outbreak last month, while running tests on a patient. It will now test the other 179 people it believes to be infected. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention are currently assisting the LA County Department of Public Health in investigating further effects. Doctors at the Ronald Reagan Medical Center, where the outbreak occurred, believe the moment of infection happened "during complex endoscopic procedures that took place between October 2014 and January 2015," according to CBS. "These outbreaks at UCLA and other hospitals could collectively be the most significant instance of disease transmission ever linked to a contaminated reusable medical instrument," believes Larence Muscarella, a safety consultant at Ronald Reagan. Although the scopes were sterilized in accordance with standard procedure, their very construction carries with it a risk of bacterial buildup. It turns out the scope could have transmitted the infection during a procedure "to diagnose and treat pancreaticobiliary diseases," at least that is the working theory at this time. Over 500,000 people annually have scopes inserted into their bodies to treat infections and diseases occurring in the digestive system. The clinic is receiving high praise for spotting the infection early and enabling treatment. But there is ongoing debate about proper disinfection of the scopes, with some saying that conventional techniques aren't suited to the scopes' design. | |
