Sunday, June 19, 2016

19 June - My Feedly! II

WHAT IS SUSTAINABLE2 unread articles  //  actions

How Did Things Get To Be This Way?
Here’s a new creature provided for your amusement by the wonderful folks at Dark Mountain:  How Did Things Get To Be This Way?   
The Myth of Human Supremacy
 When an unlucky person has been swept away by the brainwashing of a wacko cult, concerned friends or family members sometimes seek the assistance of a skilled deprogrammer to exorcize the demons.  It’s a painful process.  The scrambled soul is blasted with a fire-hose of strong rational arguments, hour after hour, hammering away at the many contradictions in the cult’s beliefs.  Ideally, the shi
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GEEZERPOWER1 unread article  //  actions

As part of the thirtieth anniversary of the death of Che Guevara, the National Security Archive's Cuba Documentation Pro...
As part of the thirtieth anniversary of the death of Che Guevara, the National Security Archive's Cuba Documentation Project is posting a selection of key CIA, State Department, and Pentagon documentation relating to Guevara and his death. This electronic documents book is compiled from declassified records obtained by the National Security Archive, and by authors of two new books on Guevara: Jorg
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THE RULES OF EXPOSITION1 unread article  //  actions

Formatting HTML, a detail
On the econ blog I'm complaining about Martin Feldstein. Yeah you should have heard of him // I'm not gonna say who he is // It doesn't matter anyway.I looked him up on Wikipedia. Copied the first paragraph & pasted into my blog. Pasted it in the "compose" view. That way the links and HTML formatting gets pasted in, along with the text. So I get to see how (in this case) Wikipedi
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KILLING MOTHER2 unread articles  //  actions

The Great North American Mid-life Baseline Assessment
North America and I have reached mid-life. My doctor tells me that at 52, I am actually not in mid-life, but old, and I suppose the same is true for the United States and to a lesser extent, Canada. We have enjoyed the exuberance and productivity of youth, fueled by abundant energy. We reached our peak, thinking it would last, but now decline seems unavoidable and inevitable. I have spent the past
Suffer the Children
In his epic new work Half-Earth, renowned biologist Edward O. Wilson opens with the most poignant description of humanity I have ever seen:Storyteller, mythmaker and destroyer of the living world. Thinking with a gabble of reason, emotion and religion. Lucky accident of primate evolution during the late Pleistocene. Mind of the biosphere. Magnificent in imaginative power and exploratory drive, yet
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VAGABOND SCHOLAR1 unread article  //  actions

Memorial Day 2016
Memorial Day is meant for remembering those who died in military service (a worthy commemoration). It's also a holiday that naturally spurs thoughts of civilians killed in war, of living veterans and how they're treated, and how war is discussed in our country. It's only right to pause and remember the dead. And perhaps the best way to honor them the other days of the year is by challenging the
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LILITH NEWS2 unread articles  //  actions

Our Official Position on Global Warming Vs Global Cooling and what is causing Climate Change
By Suzanne MacNevin and Charles Moffat.We are writing this together because both of us have changed our minds about what we think is causing climate change.Up until now we were stern advocates that carbon dioxide (CO2) was causing global warming and climate change. We are here now because we are not officially changing our opinions on the topic. We are changing our opinions because we have both be
Federal Prison Rehab Program Reduces Sentences
Federal Prison Rehab Program Reduces SentencesAccording to studies and statistics, a large portion of the federal prison population suffers from alcohol and drug dependency. Many offenders have major alcohol and drug problems before they are arrested and convicted for their crimes. To address these problems and help rehabilitate inmates, the Bureau of Prisons initiated a drug treatment program ove
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MIDDLE CLASS POLITICAL ECONOMIST1 unread article  //  actions

Subsidy Tracker Reaches Major Milestones
Subsidy Tracker, the free subsidy database created in 2010 by Good Jobs First, has reached major milestones in its coverage of state, local, and federal subsidies.This month's enhancements to the database bring it to a once-unimaginable 500,000 individual incentive awards with a cumulative nominal subsidy value of $250 billion! That's starting to add up to real money!I explained two years ago how
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MORTON'S MUSINGS6 unread articles  //  actions

Pith and Substance
In Canadian constitutional law the division of jurisdictions is based on legislative power being exercised within limited heads of power - for example property and civil rights.  But to determine where legislation properly falls the court must consider the pith and substance of the legislation. The Supreme Court rules in Rogers Communications Inc. v.Châteauguay (City) 2016 SCC 23 as follows:[36]  
Dismissal for delay
Sickinger v. Krek, 2016 ONCA 459: [29]        The principles that apply on a motion to dismiss an action for delay were set out by this court in Langenecker v. Sauvé, 2011 ONCA 803, 286 O.A.C. 268.  As noted in paras. 6-7 of that decision, an action may be dismissed for delay where the delay is (1) inordinate; (2) inexcusable; and (3) such that it gives rise to a substantial risk that a fair trial
Constitutional Protection of Solicitor Client Privilege
Canada (Attorney General) v. Chambre des notaires du Québec, 2016 SCC 20: [35] In our view, therefore, it is well established that a client of a notary or a lawyer has a reasonable expectation of privacy for information and documents that are in the possession of the notary or lawyer and in respect of which a requirement is issued. Indeed, the Court wrote in Lavallee that "[a] client has a r
Stay pending leave to appeal to SCC in a civil matter
Livent Inc. v. Deloitte & Touche, 2016 ONCA 395:[4]            This court discussed considerations on this kind of motion in Yaiguaje v. Chevron Corporation, 2014 ONCA 40. They are those set out in RJR-MacDonald Inc. v. Canada (Attorney General), [1994] 1 S.C.R. 311 at 334: (1) whether there is a serious question to be determined on the proposed appeal; (2) whether the moving party will suffer
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@ THE CHALK FACE6 unread articles  //  actions

The experience of school choice as a teacher
A massive story on school choice in NYC is in the NY Times magazine. Many of these issues are local matters, but many are also part and parcel of the false promises of school choice, which all evidence underscores the fact that schools have become more, not less, segregated as a result. Moreover, choice benefits families […]
Yet another march and conference. Is this what we really need?
The short answer is no. The longer answer is still no. Actually, I thought Save Our Schools was defunct. But since their initial march in 2011, which arrived with some very high profile speakers and great fanfare from those of us already embedded in various movements on behalf of public schools, things have been pretty quiet […]
We lost an amazing teacher and person this week
Here’s the obituary for a young man and teacher who left us too soon, Mr. Kaylor Keck. It’s been several days now, and as I type these words, I can’t believe it. But in our time of mourning, for those of us that knew Kaylor, this is when we share what was best about him. […]
Principals should be elected to four year rotations
Like a lot of things in today’s pubic schools, the principal is a position that harks back to factory models of schooling. The building principal is a middle-level manager, a waypoint between the rank and file teacher and central management. In highly centralized and hierarchical school systems, perhaps in many urban school districts with highly […]
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THWAP'S SCHOOLYARD2 unread articles  //  actions

June Post
I've had five days straight off of work and a lot's been happening in the world. Blogging is a waste of time but I've got time to waste today so ..."Elbow-gate": - Ramming through legislation without debate is icky. NDP working with the Conservatives for any purpose is icky. The delaying tactics were silly. But Liberals do them too. Trudeau's choice of words showed that he lost his tempe
Brief Return On harper's Departure
So, stephen harper is retiring and plans to open a consulting group that dispenses foreign policy "expertise" (which is really just a polite fiction whereupon his corporate masters reward him for his services to keep him quiet until such a time, if ever, when they can kill him and whatever secrets he has on them go with him to his grave).**[Unlike most other things, it's impossible to go
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THE STRAIGHT GOODS4 unread articles  //  actions

British Columbia's Legislative reporters and Columnists go silent on Christy Clark's Epic Failures and LNG Broken Dream
Perhaps you wondered why I reposted this LNG article..http://powellriverpersuader.blogspot.ca/2015/08/british-columbia-and-lngs-last-gaspa.htmlThe answer is obvious...For several years now I have been calling out the LNG industry, and calling out the BC Liberal government...been warning everyone who will listen that British Columbia arrived too late to the LNG game, very similar to those dupes who
Another Made In British Columbia LNG Tale
Written by Grant G Unfortunately I can't believe a word Christy Clark blathers, on anything.....Christy Clark through her entire youth and adult life has used every opportunity to advance her career, and she does it using the crudest of political smears...As a longtime watcher of question period and legislative proceedings... Christy Clark snickers, smirks and responds with nothing but smarmy lowb
Christy Clark's Golden LNG Road....(Funny how I remember)
"......I awoke last night to the sound of thunder, how far off I sat and wondered, started humming a song from 1962, ain't it funny how the night moves ,when you just don't seem to have as much to lose, strange how the night moves with autumn closing in......"Silk road riches and the fountain of youth, fleeting, mythical, shrouded in greener pasture aspirations...Can you picture it in yo
The Trans Pacific Partnership. Canada And Imperial Globalization. Part I
The Trans Pacific Partnership.  Canada And Imperial Globalization.  Part IWritten by Robin MathewsA characteristic of Imperial Globalization is criminal manipulation of people and events for the profit of a few. It includes massive ‘disinformation’ about equality, benefits, social development, law,  improved standards of living, etc.  The disinformation is spread by “authoritative” news sources. 
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THE HIGH-FAT HEP C DIET2 unread articles  //  actions

Atkins, ketones, methylglyoxal and cancer
What you lose on the swings you make up for on the roundabouts. Recently this study enjoyed a bit a revival as it was used in a presentation at a DAA meet. I'm not sure of the exact context but the Dietitians Association of Australia has been outstandingly fossilised in its attitude to low carb diets.Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2005 Jun;1043:201-10. Ketosis leads to increased methylglyoxal production on
#Context - Butter, eggs, and the epidemiology of cardiovascular disease and diabetes
When Ancel Keys started work on his hypothesis, in 1955, he reported that butter only accounted for 4.8% of fats consumed in the USA.[1] Remember that. It’s well-known that eggs are associated with type 2 diabetes in the USA, but there’s no such association in the rest of the world, and in Finland eggs have protective association with type 2 diabetes. “When stratified by geographic area, th
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REAL HISTORY BLOG1 unread article  //  actions

When you say #ImWithHer, this is what I hear, and it isn't pretty
I just want you to understand what I hear when you say "I'm with her." I hear: You support fracking. You support lying to people routinely. You support allowing government officials to deliberately circumvent Freedom of Information Act statutes for the preservation and accessibilty of records. You support wars against people who never attacked us and had no means to attack us. You are ok
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THE GALLOPING BEAVER2 unread articles  //  actions

Threats? Oh dear.
Often, people who issue threats are betraying the precarity of the own position. As a major potential F-35 customer, a lack of or continued postponement a Canadian order likely increases the cost of the F-35 for other customers, perhaps prohibitively. This could be terminal to the program as it would also impact US orders. More to the point, Canadians generally find naked threats terribly
Events unfold, the centre cannot hold
Sometimes things just happen. In the UK just a short time ago, prime minister David Cameron created a monster in the form of a suggestion that, despite being publicly pro-EU, he would open a conversation, and later a referendum about Britain's withdrawal from it. Lord knows just what he was thinking (my own view is that he thinks very hard but finds thinking very hard). Fear of UKIP's fear of
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SCREW YOU GUYS, I'M GOING HOME1 unread article  //  actions

10 Things Every Teen And Young Adult Should Know About Workplace Rights
If you're in high school or college, odds are you're looking for or starting a summer job or internship. Maybe you're even working during the school year. Of course, your school gave you detailed preparation on what your legal rights are when you work. Right? Ha. Not a chance. Schools do roughly zip to prepare teens for the real world workplace. You have to figure this stuff out on your own.If you
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SYRIA COMMENT8 unread articles  //  actions

“Why the Islamic State Is Losing, and Why It Still Hopes to Win”
I have just published a new paper on the war against the so-called Islamic State over at The Century Foundation, arguing that the group is now clearly losing the war on the ground in Syria and Iraq. But the tide may turn, depending on what happens in the Syrian Civil War, among the rival Kurdish factions in northern Iraq, and with the increasingly tense situation in Baghdad. The introduction is be
“The Asad Petition of 1936: Bashar’s Grandfather Was Pro-Unionist,” By Stefan Winter
The Asad Petition of 1936: Bashar’s Grandfather Was Pro-Unionist By Stefan Winter For Syria Comment, June 14, 2016 This week marks the 80th anniversary of a now famous petition, supposedly addressed by six ‘Alawi notables from the Latakia region—including Hafiz al-Asad’s grandfather Sulayman al-Asad—to French prime minister Léon Blum on 15 June 1936. The six ‘Alawi notables criticize the negotiati
Dealing with Syria’s Foreign Fighters: A Liberal Conundrum
The Case of Mirsad Bectašević and Amer al-Hasani by Tam Hussein @tamhussein For Syria Comment, June 14, 2016 As a result of Syria’s bloody conflict Europe is at a turning point. The threat of terrorism, the fear of lone wolf attacks, of independent cells operating with in Europe has changed the political landscape. Europe is wrestling with a liberal conundrum. But whilst policy makers and intellig
The ‘Martyrs’ of Liwa al-Sayyida Ruqayya (The Ja’afari Force)
By Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi Current emblem of Liwa al-Sayyida Ruqayya. Top: “If God supports you, no one can overcome you” [Qur’an 3:160]. Centre: “The Ja’afari Force: Liwa al-Sayyida Ruqayya.” Bottom: “The Islamic Resistance in Syria.” Readers may be familiar with the previous post on this site about Liwa al-Sayyida Ruqayya (Sayyida Ruqayya Brigade, named for the Sayyida Ruqayya shrine in Damascus
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THE EXISTENTIALIST COWBOY2 unread articles  //  actions

A Genius, A Saint, and SCOTUS Agree: Conspiracies Exist! by Len HartThe right wing spent the 1950s trying to convince th...
A Genius, A Saint, and SCOTUS Agree: Conspiracies Exist! by Len HartThe right wing spent the 1950s trying to convince the nation that it was threatened by a vast world wide communist conspiracy. Now the right wing is trying to convince the nation that conspiracies don't exist at all! Right wingers have targeted Tin Foil Hatters for ridicule when it was not so long ago that the term applied better
Rush Limbaugh and Trump: Will our nation survive it?
Although Rush Limbaugh has never explicitly described himself as a creationist, he does bypass a few facts like the fossil record that supports evolution. Limbaugh claims that both creationism and evolution are based on faith. In Darwin there is no mention of "faith". That's why Darwin's work has passed every hurdle; most hurdles are the work of idiots. LIMBAUGH is among them! In Darwin
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NEWS FROM ATLANTIS.3 unread articles  //  actions

Jo Cox snuffed out to boost EU Remain campaign
Jo Cox is dead.  She was killed in Batley by a man who it is claimed is a neo-nazi.  The motive? Why, because she was campaigning for the UK to remain trapped in the EU concentration camp! Seriously - we are supposed to believe that some lunatic nazi shot her dead because killing a puppet politician would change things in the UK!But would killing an MP have an impact upon public life?  Well, if th
The invasion of Europe as a weapon to smash sovereignty world-wide
Alex Jones and David Icke have been working in the 'conspiracy' arena for decades.  Jones was infamous for his 'Germanic Death Cults' disinfo, Icke for his 'Shape-shifting Interdimensional Reptilians.  Jones was at the forefront of exposing the Saudi role in the 11th September 2001 massacre at the New York World Trade Centre, Icke propelled the Rothschilds beyond fringe politics and into the publi
The Sanity of Anti-Globalism versus the Lunacy of Nationalist Supremacism
I have been active politically for longer than I care to think about!  I have seen groups come, I have seen them go.  It is an unspoken rule amongst Nationalists to be generous to a fault when dealing with anyone who appears to be against the globalist agenda.  This has seen serious scum tolerated just because they happen to have a few points of ideology which are useful in confronting the forces
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THE ERGOSPHERE7 unread articles  //  actions

Radiophobia continues to keep people from their homes - NOT Japan either!
In the Marshall Islands.  Here's the money quote from the abstract of a paper on the continued "unsafety" of living on the former nuclear test site: Measurable excess radiation could be expected from the decay of 137Cs produced by the US nuclear testing program there from 1946 to 1958. These recordings are of relevance to safety of human habitation and resettlement...  and relatively hig
Getting steamed by nuclear power
District heating has been big in the Big Apple since the eighties... that is, the 1880's.  The whole island of Manhattan is cris-crossed with steam pipes which occasionally make the news. On a whim, I tried to find the price of steam in Manhattan.  I was somewhat surprised when I found it.  Steam goes for about $31 per thousand pounds, and each pound carries about 1200 BTU of energy.  This comes
Watts Bar Unit 2 synced to the grid and generating power
Short item at Nuclear Street.
Where to find scientific illiterates? Physicians for Social Responsibility, that's where.
The BAS just published a guest piece by one Steven Starr, among whose howlers I pulled this gem: many individual pools contain more cesium-137 than was released by all atmospheric nuclear weapons tests combined. These utterly lethal radionuclides will require some form of supervision for hundreds of thousands of years.... Clue for you, Steven:  Cs-137 has a half-life of 30.17 years.  Roughly 90%
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THE EARTH AND MAN: SETTING THE STAGE5 unread articles  //  actions

No Getting Around It
The notrickszone site has a post debunking an AGW alarmist's theory about a slowdown in the Atlantic ocean circulation, to which I responded: Yet this article (quoting from climatecentral.org) still says: "...greenhouse gas pollution causes ice sheets to melt, which prior research has shown is causing the circulation to slow overall." So it doesn't even touch the core delusion, that ther
Responding to a Believer in False Science
I have just responded to a comment on the jonova site, from a skeptic who wanted to know how to respond to an AGW (anthropogenic global warming) believer, who claimed that skeptics "conflated natural with anthropogenic" factors in pointing out the infamous "global warming pause" since 1997, and so lacked mental acuity, or words to that effect. I responded by referring to a rece
The Greater Meaning of Deflategate for Science Today
The climateaudit site has a post on the "Deflategate controversy is due to scientist error" (about the claim that the Patriots football team was deflating their footballs to give themselves an edge in games). My response to Stephen McIntyre: "Information for Colt balls reconcile almost exactly, but there is a discrepancy of about 0.38 psi for Patriot balls. This discrepancy is almos
Six Categories: A Lukewarmer's Biased Take on the Climate Debate
The masterresource site has a post on "six categories" of positions in the climate debate, according to Richard Mueller of UC Berkeley, who, the article says, should be an "important voice" in the debate. My response: Bottom line: Mueller's categories are not valid, and he should not be "an important voice" for anyone looking for the truth. To say as he does that &quo
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GREG MANKIW'S BLOG9 unread articles  //  actions

What's wrong with the economy?
Click here to read my column in Sunday's NY Times.
Bad ideas never die
In the Silicon Valley suburbs, activists are pushing for laws that limit rents, even though, as the article says, "economists have an almost universally dim view of rent control."
Summers on Trump
Larry says the Donald would be a disaster.
Elinor Ostrom in the news (sort of)
A friend emails me:This article in the today's NY Times discusses how musicians who play near the site where John Lennon died have had trouble managing the common resource of a strategically placed park bench. Currently, however, they have worked out an informal arrangement that appears to work well. The article reminded me of the work of Elinor Ostrom, who was awarded  the Nobel Prize in part for
What I am doing today
Sachs on Sanders
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CRAIG MURRAY14 unread articles  //  actions

Only Muslims Are Terrorists. It Is Now Official
The “anti-semitism” witch-hunt that accused so many human rights advocates for supporting Palestine, has weirdly come to a dead halt when confronted with an actual anti-semite. Thomas Mair has been judged competent to be charged by two doctors, yet the right throughout both new and old media still hide behind his mental illness as an excuse to avoid the issues of right wing terrorism. As a bipola
Moderation Rules for Commenters
I am reposting the rules for commenting, as they were last set out exactly a year ago. I have been most disappointed by the degree of personal insult flying around the comments thread in recent weeks. In general, there is no need at all to address other commenters in your remarks. You can address their arguments, but that is different. Avoid referring to the person of other commenters, whether by
The Sad Death of Jo Cox, and What is Terrorism?
Obviously the human tragedy of the death of Jo Cox, a mother of young children, is rightly uppermost in our mind after today’s appalling murder. There has been much random killing lately that appears broadly “terrorist” in nature, including in Orlando and Tel Aviv, and the human stories are always tragic; every violent death carries a dreadful freight of grief and loss. But the Jo Cox death has ca
Clement Freud, My Part in his Downfall
Commenters on this blog directly caused the exposure of Clement Freud in the ITV story. I published an anodyne obituary in 2009 giving my memories of Freud. One commenter wrote: He was a notorious old goat and his pursuit of young women could verge on the sinister. I met one of his young ‘victims’ who told me about a job interview with him turning into a very traumatic experience. And a second wr
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ADRIENNE'S CORNER36 unread articles  //  actions

It's Miller Time at a Trump Rally...
do you anti-Trumpers really understand what you oppose?Stephen Miller is a senior advisor to Trump.  Word is that the Energizer Bunny weeps quietly in a corner every time he witnesses Miller speaking  What exactly is unconstitutional about anything he is saying?For that matter, what has Trump ever said that was unconstitutional?Stephen Miller Pointing out Hillary's Corruption, Special Interest at
One Shooter? Something is off about the Pulse nightclub shooting...
and I'm not buying what they're trying to sell.I find it hard to believe that one man can enter an establishment with 300 people in three separate rooms, and kill 49 people and wound 53 others.  Any of my readers who have been in combat would see this as an astonishing feat.  He did not use a military grade gun.  His gun was semi-automatic, which means the trigger must be pulled for each bullet fi
LIVE Stream: Donald Trump Election Night Press Conference (6-7-16)
 Mr. Trump will be making post-election remarks at Trump National Golf Club Westchester in Westchester, NY. Remarks will begin at 9:00 PM EDT.  6:00pm PDTLive Stream Link – Alternate Live Stream
How many Trump supporters are laying in the weeds?...
probably a whole bunch.Yesterday, while shopping at Walmart, I ran into my favorite library lady who is a good number of years younger than I am.The subject of this never ending primary season arose, as it is wont to do when two or more are gathered together.I blurted out that I like Trump and had since day one. She immediately said she did too, and that she had never said that to anyone before. 
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MAJIA'S BLOG33 unread articles  //  actions

21st Century Cyberwar Risks Escalating
NATO officially expands cyber-operations, in a move that can be construed as a de jure recognition of this new form of warfare:Lolita C. Baldor. (June 14, 2016). Air, land, sea, cyber: NATO adds cyber to operation areas http://bigstory.ap.org/article/b7a8330df0114498a1611257d4cb5d58/air-land-sea-cyber-nato-adds-cyber-operation-areas BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO agreed Tuesday to make cyber operations part
Fukushima Daiichi June 19 1:30 AM
Fukushima's common spent fuel pool is looking rather steamy this morning and the area near unit 3 continues to produce visible emissions:  
EPA's Proposed New Protective Action Guidelines for Drinking Water (Post II): Radiation Risks Described by Japanese Physicist
In pursuing research on radiation risks, I found this excellent article published in the Asia-Pacific Journal that I had somehow missed previously. I strongly recommend reading it:Sawada Shoji. 2013. Scientists and Research on the Effects of Radiation Exposure: From Hiroshima to Fukushima. The Asia-Pacific Journal, Vol. 11, Issue 23, No. 2. June 10, 2013. Professor Emeritus Sawada Shoji is a phys
Outside Investigation Team Concludes TEPCO Censored Use of Word "Meltdown"
This "news" just reported:AP (2016, June 16). Utility head blamed for late mention of Fukushima 'meltdown.' Fox News, http://www.foxnews.com/world/2016/06/16/utility-head-blamed-for-late-mention-fukushima-meltdown.html TOKYO – An outside investigation team appointed by the operator of Japan's damaged Fukushima nuclear plant said Thursday that an instruction from then-company president to
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WWF - LATEST NEWS13 unread articles  //  actions

Leading consumer goods companies slow to deliver on sustainable sourcing
Gland, Switzerland - New WWF research published today indicates that only a handful of leading consumer goods companies and retailers have taken meaningful action to source sustainably produced soft commodities derived from forestry, farming and fisheries despite commitments.The report "Slow Road to Sustainability" released ahead of the Annual Summit of the Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) in
Top brands failing on cotton sustainability
The majority of international companies using most cotton globally are failing to deliver on cotton sustainability according to new independent research published today by Pesticide Action Network (PAN) UK, Solidaridad and WWF.Just eight companies out of 37 made it out of the red zone in the ranking research conducted by Rank a Brand, one of Europe's largest brand-comparison sites on sustainabilit
This World Environment Day, can the sum of our actions be ZERO?
Over the past 40 years, World Environment Day has inspired millions to take action to help protect our planet. This year, together with our partners, WWF is urging everyone to join the fight against illegal wildlife trade. Poaching and illegal trade represent grave threats to the world's wildlife and wild places. Increasingly driven by international organized crime, they also constitute a major da
Elephants could disappear from Tanzania World Heritage site within six years
One of Africa's oldest reserves could see its elephant population decimated by 2022 if urgent measures are not taken to stem industrial-scale poaching, according to a new analysis by WWF. Selous Game Reserve, Tanzania's largest protected area, was home to one of the greatest concentrations of African elephants on the continent, but rampant ivory poaching has seen the population reduced by 90 per c
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CATHARSIS OURS31 unread articles  //  actions

Economic News & Views ...... June 18 , 2016...... Quicks Hits for Saturday 1. UK Referendum News & Views - The Ipsos MORI Poll For The Evening Standard Has Leave In Front By 6% , Different Perspectives On Leave , IMF Assessment States Recession Not Inevitable If Brexit Occurs , Additional Information To Consider . 2.Top News From Elsewhere In Europe -Terror Arrests This Morning In Belgium , ECB Item On Unemployment Wores Of Southern Europe , Greece Firing Independent Appeals Board For Doing Its Job. 3.MENA Updates - Iraq , Syria & Libya In Focus. )
Brexit......fred walton ‏@fredwalton216  14s14 seconds agofred walton Retweeted Louise MenschEU referendum: Poll reveals 10-point swing towards Brexit as campaigns enter final stagesfred walton added,Louise Mensch @LouiseMenschThe independent reports as a ten point swing to #Brexit what i think is a 20 point swing to #VoteLeave http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/eu-referendum-poll-brexi
Economic News , Data & Views ..... June 17 , 2016 ....... Quicks Hits 1. Markets : Central Banks Impotence ; Commodities Surging vs Stocks ; Crude News De Jour ; Brexit Impacting Flows - 1.1 BN Pulled From UK Equity Funds In Past Week ; Additional Items Of Note. 2. Spanish Political Watch - General Election Poll Data. 3. Italy - Recent Polling. 4. UK Referendum News. 5. Greece Items De Jour.)
Markets......fred walton ‏@fredwalton216  24s24 seconds agofred walton Retweeted zerohedgeFile under "None of the CBers now what the heck is going on ..."fred walton added,zerohedge @zerohedgeWeekend Reading: The Fed Loses Control (And What Comes Next) http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-06-17/weekend-reading-fed-loses-control-and-what-comes-next …Charlie Bilello, CMT ‏@MktOutperform  27m
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MUSINGS ON IRAQ29 unread articles  //  actions

8 Year Anniversary Of Musings On Iraq
I got interested in Iraq completely by chance. On 9/11 I was watching TV when former CIA chief James Woolsey got interviewed on TV and said that the U.S. needed to attack Iraq even if it wasn’t involved in the assaults on New York City and Washington D.C. I thought that was an odd comment since everyone had already seemed to agree that Al Qaeda was responsible. As 2001 turned into 2002 there were
Abuses Of Iraq’s Hashd In Fallujah Operation
One of the major worries when the offensive to retake Fallujah began in the middle of May 2016 was how the Shiite elements of the Hashd al-Shaabi would act. In previous campaigns in Salahaddinand Diyalathey had been accused of abusing and killing civilians, destroying property, clearingout populations and not allowing them to return, and carrying out revengeattacksafter bombings. Quickly after th
How Iraq’s Fallujah Fell To The Islamic State
As the Iraqi government is currently trying to free Fallujah it’s important to remember how the city originally fell to insurgents. Fallujah joined the protests that started in December 2012 against Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. It quickly became one of the more radical sites in the country highlighted by the preponderance of Saddam era Iraq flags and banners of the Islamic State of Iraq with d
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NEW ORLEANS LADDER13 unread articles  //  actions

State says it’s still waiting on Gusman to prove deputies should get extra pay ~Charles Maldonado, The Lens
State says it’s still waiting on Gusman to prove deputies should get extra pay ~Charles Maldonado, The Lens
The Maps are not the Problem: In Perpetuating a Myth, Horowitz Misses the Key Point ~Dr. Ezra Boyd, DisasterMap.net~Andy...
The Maps are not the Problem: In Perpetuating a Myth, Horowitz Misses the Key Point ~Dr. Ezra Boyd, DisasterMap.net~Andy Horowitz’s recent New York Times opinion piece on the new flood insurance rate maps for New Orleans contains a number of inaccurate statements, fails to address the fundamental issue, and amounts to nothing more than picking on the “cash-strapped New Orleanians” as they continue
Beasts of the Southern Wild casting crew looks to Lafayette for movie talent ~Kris Wartell, The Advertiser
Beasts of the Southern Wild casting crew looks to Lafayette for movie talent ~Kris Wartell, The Advertiser
New surfaces absorb rain, helping property owners, drivers and environment ~Bob Marshall, The Lens
New surfaces absorb rain, helping property owners, drivers and environment ~Bob Marshall, The Lens
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FORT MCMURRAY ADVENTURES10 unread articles  //  actions

Heading Back to Normal
Yesterday was my first official day back to work after being evacuated because of the forest fire.  The events of May led to the biggest work disruption in the history of the oil patch.  Slowly we are getting back to the work that has slowly been piling up, held in a state of suspended animation.  Six weeks is a long time to be off from work and I am slowly rediscovering muscles and tendons that w
At Least I Still Have A Roof
To say it was a wee bit gusty today would be an understatement.  The forecast was calling for winds of up to 70 km/hour.  The area I have been working in at my job this week is particularly sandy and dusty on a good day so the winds we got made it feel rather uncomfortable at times.  I think I now understand what it feels like to be sand-blasted.  At one point I took refuge in a work truck along w
Signs
I'm not sure at this point how many people have made their return to Fort McMurray but signs of the community coming back to life have been everywhere.  The biggest auditory hint of that is no doubt the sound of the countless lawnmowers and trimmers I've been hearing the past couple of days and they continue now even now as I type this.   It's also hard not to miss the many visual signs expressing
The Nature of the Beast
I suspect that this will be the last post I make before my hoped-for scheduled return to Fort McMurray on Saturday.  I'm trying my best to prepare myself mentally for the next few days though I've seen enough video online to help calm my nerves.  The one thing video can't show is odour which I suspect will be the one thing that will hit me once I unlock my front door.  In my mind, I have an idea o
Paratus
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NORTHERN REFLECTIONS31 unread articles  //  actions

Making Three Point Shots
Justin Trudeau is changing the rules about how to do politics. Evan Solomon writes:“We were perhaps behaving in a way that was resembling more the previous government,” Trudeau told stunned reporters as he explained that he would cede to opposition requests to more fairly distribute seats on his electoral reform committee—a sudden and surprising climbdown. Did Trudeau just compare himself to Steph
Until It Has Had Its Say
Chantal Hebert writes this morning that the Battle over Bill C-14 signals a new source of opposition for any Canadian government -- the Senate:The legislative discussion over bill C-14 is over but the debate over the role of a more independent Senate in the larger parliamentary scheme of things has only just begun. It is already eliciting some diametrically opposed views as to the way forward.Ther
When Politics Becomes Reality TV
Kevin O'Leary wants to lead the Conservative Party of Canada. But, before they hand him the keys to the kingdom, the Conservatives would do well to examine the fate of another star of reality television -- who is spontaneously combusting. Micheal Harris writes:Frothing-at-the-mouth populism is face-planting south of the border. The Donald is not only getting the big “F— you Donald Trump” from rock
No Referendum
There is a lot of chatter -- particularly from the Conservatives -- about holding a referendum on electoral reform. Gerry Caplan doesn't think a referendum is a good idea. He writes:To raise issues related to democracy is to raise the question of referendums (or referenda), which are favoured by the Conservatives. They insist only a referendum can legitimize something as fundamental to our democra

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