This evening's music features jazz composer Duke Ellington. Enjoy!

^{Duke Ellington - Blues In Orbit}

"Justice will only exist where those not affected by injustice are filled with the same amount of indignation as those offended."

-– Plato

News and Opinion

Canada Charges Syrian Officer with Torture in Rendition Case — Despite U.S. Silence

Canada has charged a Syrian intelligence officer with torturing Maher Arar, the Canadian whose 2002 rendition to Syria by U.S. authorities became a cause célèbre.

The criminal charge against Col. George Salloum is reportedly the first of its kind in Canada and marks a formal acknowledgment that Arar was tortured after the U.S. handed him over on suspicion of terrorist links. An earlier official Canadian inquiry declared Arar innocent of any such links.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police, who brought the charge against Salloum, are calling for him to be extradited to Canada. Salloum allegedly oversaw Arar’s torture in Syria’s notorious Sednaya prison.

Arar’s wife, Monia Mazigh, who has acted as the family’s public representative, praised the move in an interview, calling the charges “a big step in the right direction… We need to see more accountability happening in Canada, in the U.S., in Jordan and in Syria. The ones who tortured and the ones who helped these horrible acts to happen should face justice.”

“My husband and my family suffered tremendously all these years,” she added. “Extraordinary rendition is a horrible tool that has been used by the U.S. government in an attempt to make torture legal and acceptable.”

With a Record Backing Coups, Secret War & Genocide, Is Kissinger an Elder Statesman or War Criminal?

Emails Show the FBI and JSOC Discussing an American Blogger Later Killed by the US

Four months before a radicalized Charlotte, North Carolina blogger named Samir Khan left the United States for Yemen to edit al Qaeda's official magazine, two FBI special agents looped in the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) liaison who worked at the bureau's counterterrorism division on an email. ...

The FBI's communication with JSOC about Khan — he was known to write incendiary blog posts about jihad, his desire to see an Islamic caliphate, and his hopes for the deaths of Americans — is significant. Khan and the radical preacher Anwar al-Awlaki, central figures in Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, were killed in a drone strike in Yemen in September 2011 in an operation jointly conducted by the CIA and JSOC. The Obama administration said Khan was not an intended target of the drone strike. ...

Another email exchange between FBI personnel two days prior to the JSOC email discussed a "joint operation" that had been in the works for at least two months that an FBI agent wanted to "push forward." But details about it were redacted.

Khan had been on the FBI's radar for more than three years by the time the FBI agent sent the email to the bureau's JSOC liaison. Previous FBI files turned over to VICE News showed that the bureau discussed an "end game" for Khan, the details of which were redacted. The email the FBI agent sent looping in JSOC underscores the bureau's growing concerns that Khan was not just a blogger who proclaimed loyalty to al Qaeda, but was possibly turning into a recruiter for the terrorist group.

Potential for 'Guantánamo North' Could Keep Indefinite Detention Alive

As the administration of President Barack Obama publicly floats the possibility of opening a "Guantánamo North" on U.S. soil, rights campaigners warn that a mere transfer of the men and boys to another prison across national borders will not rectify the grave human rights violations committed against them.

"The Obama administration has its priorities in the wrong place," Omar Shakir, a Center for Constitutional Rights fellow and attorney who represents detainees, told Common Dreams.

"Out of the 116 men and boys in Guantánamo, nearly 100 have either been approved for transfer or are waiting for a periodic review board to review their status for clearance," Shakir continued. "They need to be released or charged and afforded full due process rights in a U.S. federal court."

The administration, which has so far failed to deliver on Obama's 2008 pledge to shutter the notorious facility, is now weighing the possibility of moving some of those men to U.S. prisons, or—as Carol Rosenberg of the Miami Herald reported Thursday—potentially building an entirely new detention center. ...

"Guantánamo is not simply the location of a prison," said Shakir. "It speaks to a larger set of unlawful practices over 14 years, including holding men and boys in arbitrary detention year after year, holding many in solitary confinement even though they have been cleared for release. That is really the bottom line. If you simply transfer to another facility but continue to hold them arbitrarily and indefinitely, it really isn't getting us very far."

You know, every now and then after reading about the horrible things that governments do in our names, that can roughly be described as brutal expressions of man's inhumanity to man, somebody goes and does something that affirms humanity and gives one hope that maybe, one day, the decent people of the earth could shake off the chains of sociopathic elites and refuse to allow them to continue in their greed and conquest-driven adventures.

Some folks in Europe are doing something so fundamentally decent, that it's almost hard to believe that it's happening.

'Refugees Welcome': As EU Slams Door on War Survivors, People Show Another Way

In response to the worst refugee crisis since World War II, European governments are tightening their borders and preparing to escalate military targeting of so-called human smugglers. But many people within the European Union are modeling a different approach by holding rallies and opening their homes to welcome refugees of war and poverty who survive the perilous journey across the Mediterranean Sea.

Over 20,000 people marched through Vienna on Monday to protest the horrific treatment of refugees, the week after the bodies of 71 people were found in a truck on a highway between the Hungarian border and Vienna. In what was billed as a welcome rally, marchers carried signs which read: "I don't want Europe to be a mass grave." The crowd included numerous parents carrying children and erupted into Austrian pop songs as they were cheered by enthusiastic passersby.

According to media reports, trains carrying refugees from Budapest and Hegyeshalom to Vienna were met Monday with hundreds of people applauding and carrying a banner that read: "Refugees Welcome: Open Borders." Many of the people who greeted the travelers reportedly brought water, bread, and diapers.

Meanwhile, in Iceland, thousands of people have offered their homes to Syrian refugees in response to the Facebook group "Syria is calling," which was started by professor and writer Bryndis Bjorgvinsdottir. "Refugees are our future spouses, best friends, our next soul mate, the drummer in our children’s band, our next colleague, Miss Iceland 2022, the carpenter who finally fixes our bathroom, the chef in the cafeteria, the fireman, the hacker and the television host," states the plea to the government. "People who we'll never be able to say to: 'Your life is worth less than mine.'"

The Berlin-based organization Refugees Welcome is also working to connect people willing to share their homes with refugees in need of shelter. As of Tuesday, over 780 Germans had reportedly signed up and 26 people had been placed. In late August, thousands of people attended a rally to welcome immigrants and refugees in the German city of Dresden, organized by the Anti-Nazi Alliance following violent attacks on asylum seekers. ...

As many have pointed out, wealthy nations including the United States play a disproportionate role in driving war, conflict, and global inequality, yet turn their backs on those who are displaced. Observers have argued that the refugee crisis, in fact, is a creation of the West, given the role of the U.S. and NATO in destabilizing North Africa and the Middle East.

David Petraeus' bright idea: give terrorists weapons to beat terrorists

The latest brilliant plan to curtail Isis in the Middle East? Give more weapons to current members of al-Qaida. The Daily Beast reported that former CIA director David Petraeus, still somehow entrenched in the DC Beltway power circles despite leaking highly classified secrets, is now advocating arming members of the al-Nusra Front in Syria, an offshoot of al-Qaida and a designated terrorist organization. Could there be a more dangerous and crazy idea?

Petraeus was forced to respond on Tuesday, the day after his article provoked a firestorm, telling CNN’s Jake Tapper that he doesn’t want to arm al-Nusra itself, just “some individual fighters, and perhaps some elements, within Nusra”. He thinks the US could somehow “peel off” these fighters and convince to join the much weaker rebel army that al-Nusra recently decimated. Oh okay, then. He’s in favor of arming only the “moderate” members of al-Qaida: that sounds so much better. ...

History could not matter less to war planners, as the dangerous cycle of arming dangerous factions in the Middle East and escalating US involvement is about to start anew. The CIA armed the Mujahideen in the 1980s in their guerilla fight against the Soviets, many members of the Mujahideen would end up forming the core of al-Qaida in the 1990s.

Isis, which was originated inside squalid US prison camps from George W Bush’s invasion of Iraq, and which also has billions of dollars in US weapons and armored vehicles thanks to a series of embarrassing mistakes and battlefield routes of all the foreign militaries we arm, eventually turned on al-Qaida. So now an ex-CIA director is suggesting that we also arm a part of al-Qaida directly, since they are now the enemy of our (larger) enemy. ...

Continually ignored in the debate over arming Syrian rebels, is that the CIA itself produced a study that concluded that arming any rebel force, whether they are a notorious terrorist group or not, is generally a bad idea. The study found that most of the time such attempts either fail spectacularly or backfire in the face of the US, even if they initially succeed. This study, which is still classified, was apparently disregarded by the Obama administration and there’s no proof Congress even saw it when voted to arm the “moderate” rebels in the first place.

Ex-CIA chief wants to use Al-Qaeda to fight ISIS

CIA Running Anti-ISIS Drone Campaign in Syria

US officials are adding more details to their confirmation last week that a British hacker was killed in a drone strike in Syria, saying that the strike was part of an ongoing assassination campaign against ISIS being run by the CIA, and is totally separate from the US war on ISIS in Syria.

The CIA campaign is going to be exclusively drone strikes, according to officials familiar with the situation, and it was described as a “significant escalation” of the CIA’s campaign against ISIS. They say the assassinations are aimed exclusively at “high-value targets.” ...

The CIA has been involved in various operations against ISIS for years, of course, and has also been doing all sorts of different things in Syria, mostly arming dubious rebel factions. That they are escalating this to a drone war concurrent with an actual war must inevitably raise eyebrows, as previously the US has been very careful to keep CIA drone wars distinct from Pentagon-run wars. ...

But officials say that the CIA war, at least in Syria, is comparatively small, and that they’ve launched relatively few strikes compared to the military. That the two are both launching strikes in the same theater will only add to complications about investigating civilian casualties, as it will allow each side to deny being the one behind a particular incident.

US Special Forces May Have Gone On a Murder Spree in Afghanistan—Did the Army Cover It Up?

Turkey raids critical media group after arresting Vice News reporters

The raids on "Koza-Ipek Media" sparked fresh concern about deteriorating press freedom in Turkey, as the country
prepares for a snap general election in November - its second in five months. The swoop came a day after a court in Turkey's predominantely Kurdish southeast had ordered two British journalists working for US-based Vice News to be remanded in custody on "terror charges." ...

On Tuesday, masked police broke into a number of offices belonging to Koza-Ipek Media, the Dogan news agency reported. The group owns several newspapers and two television channels and is close to Erdogan's political adversary Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish Islamic cleric based in the United States. ...

The raids followed hours after the Koza-Ipek publication Bugun printed photographs that allegedly showed the clandestine shipment of military materials from Turkey to the self-styled "Islamic State" (IS) in Syria.

It was not clear if the police operation was related to the claims.

The authenticity of the images could not be verified; Turkey has repeatedly denied accusations that it has aided the IS group.

Is Erdogan Creating a Perfect Storm to Get His Party in Power?

Obama secures Iran victory as 34th senator endorses nuclear deal

Support from Democrat Barbara Mikulski ensures Obama veto will be upheld if Congress rejects deal, in clear defeat for Republicans and Israeli government

Democrat Barbara Mikulski has become the 34th senator to support the Iran nuclear deal, ensuring a landmark victory for the Obama administration’s efforts to prevent it being derailed.

Mikulski’s support for the agreement means that Obama has enough votes in the Senate to uphold his veto if Congress rejects the July deal as expected.

Making her announcement an hour before the US secretary of state, John Kerry, was due to defend the deal in a speech in Philadelphia, the senator for Maryland said she was convinced that the agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), blocked all four possible pathways to a nuclear bomb, and created “the most robust and extensive verification system ever provided” by the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Veolia Pulls Out of Israel

UN: Gaza could become 'uninhabitable' by 2020

The Gaza Strip, ravaged by successive wars and nearly a decade of Israeli blockade, could become uninhabitable for residents within just five years, the United Nations development agency said Tuesday.

"The social, health and security-related ramifications of the high population density and overcrowding are among the factors that may render Gaza unliveable by 2020," the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) wrote in its annual report.

Gaza, a tiny enclave of about 225 square miles squeezed between Israel, Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea, is home to about 1.8 million Palestinians, making it one of the most densely populated territories in the world.

While the high density is not new, the situation has been exacerbated by three Israeli military operations in the past six years and nearly a decade-long economic blockade.

The blockade had "ravaged the already debilitated infrastructure of Gaza, shattered its productive base, left no time for meaningful reconstruction or economic recovery and impoverished the Palestinian population in Gaza," the report said.

"Short of ending the blockade, donor aid... will not reverse the ongoing de-development and impoverishment in Gaza," it added.

Three Dead After Clashes at Ukraine Parliament

The toll from yesterday’s massive clash at the Ukrainian parliament between police and ultra-nationalists continues to rise, with two more members of the national guard dying from injuries sustained in the clashes, when a protester threw a grenade at them. ...

The demonstrations were organized by Svoboda and the Radical Party to protest a deal made to grant some autonomy to the ethnic Russian east, an effort to resolve the ongoing civil war. The far-right parties, which dominate the west of the country, oppose any concessions and similarly oppose any resolution of the war that isn’t military in nature.

Nationality in the cloud: US clashes with Microsoft over seizing data from abroad

Does cloud computing have a nationality? That’s the question posed by Microsoft’s lawyers and the counsel in a closely watched case whose oral arguments begin in Manhattan on Wednesday morning. The case scrutinizes the ability of the US government to seize information outside its own borders.

Microsoft and the US government are facing off in the second circuit court of appeals over the tech giant’s continuing refusal to hand over emails related to a narcotics case from a Hotmail account hosted in Ireland in 2013. ...

The government argues that because Microsoft is an American corporation, all data controlled in its facilities anywhere on earth can be subpoenaed lawfully because the tech giant is headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Because of that, US government lawyers say, officials have the right to repatriate records and the search warrant acts as a subpoena.

In a recent study, underwritten by Microsoft, European thinktank the Center for European Policy Studies wrote: “Microsoft has contested the decision on the grounds that the records are stored in a data centre in foreign country, not owned by Microsoft but rather by the email user, and that the order entails a conflict of laws and the impermissible exercise of extraterritorial authority.”

Microsoft declined to comment on the record, citing active legislation, but last year Brad Smith, Microsoft’s top lawyer, told the Guardian tech companies would be forced to encrypt more of their data, defeating government efforts, if the company loses. “It will force companies to look for more ways to encrypt data and not retain the keys. Partner with non-US companies so that non-US companies have the servers. None of which will be helpful to the US,” he said.

Is Guatemala’s President Going to Jail? Legislature Strips Pérez Molina of Immunity After Protests

Guatemala’s President Could Face Corruption Charges After Congress Strips Him of Immunity

Guatemala's Congress voted unanimously on Tuesday to strip President Otto Perez Molina of his immunity from criminal prosecution, a move that clears the way for him to face charges in connection with a corruption scandal that has rocked the Central American country's government.

As president, Perez Molina was previously exempt from criminal prosecution. A similar to vote to remove that protection was held just two weeks ago, but failed to muster enough support to pass. The tide has turned dramatically since then, however, and 132 lawmakers voted against Perez Molina on Tuesday in a resounding condemnation of the embattled leader.

Thousands of protesters have taken to the streets since April, when a crime ring dubbed "La Linea" — The Line — was revealed by a joint investigation by the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), and the Guatemalan Public Ministry. The customs fraud network stole an estimated $120 million dollars from taxpayers, according to local reports.

Hat tip JayRaye:

Tens Of Thousands Protest In Ireland Against Water Charges

Tens of thousands of people took part in the anti-water charges protest in Ireland on Saturday, marching through the capital of Dublin to show their dissatisfaction with the government’s policy.

It was the first mass rally in the last six months to protest the water charges imposed by the government. Organized by the Right2Water campaign group, it was the fifth major demonstration since the controversial utility fee was levied. ...

According to Right2Water spokesman David Gibney, the protest was held in order to remind the government that the problem had not “gone away.”

“We’re saying very firmly that it hasn’t and this will be the biggest issue when it comes to the next general election,” David Gibney said, as quoted by the Irish Times.

“This is not what the Irish people want. We want to continue paying for our water through progressive general taxation. The key thing today we want is to get rid of both water charges and Irish Water. We want change in this policy,” he added.

After the demonstration, the Right2Water spokesman said the campaign would continue.

Public indignation leading to the mass demonstrations was caused by a decision by the Irish government in 2014 to levy a new water charge from the beginning of 2015 that would cost households several hundred euros a year. With this measure becoming increasingly unpopular among the people, trade unions, anti-austerity groups and opposition parties organized the Right2Water Campaign, calling for the new water charges to be abolished.

After Mass Hunger Strikes & Lawsuits, Prisoners Force California to Scale Back Solitary Confinement

Video ​shows Texas officers shooting man who appears to have his hands up

A Texas sheriff’s department is coming under pressure from civil rights groups following the release of the full version of a video that shows two officers shooting and killing a man who appears to have his hands up.

Gilbert Flores was killed on Friday after deputies Greg Vasquez and Robert Sanchez responded to a domestic disturbance call at 11.30am, according to the Bexar county sheriff Susan Pamerleau, who said they found a woman who had suffered a cut on her hand “and a baby … who appeared to have possibly been injured”. It is unclear when and under what circumstances the officers encountered Flores.

In a press conference on Friday, Pamerleau said the two deputies “tried to use non-lethal weapons” to detain Flores, and that following a lengthy confrontation both deputies “fired shots, causing the man’s death”.

Video footage was provided to local news network KSAT by a student, Michael Thomas, who witnessed the shooting. In the video, which was first released in redacted form on Friday and then in full on Monday, there is no visible attempt by the deputies to use non-lethal force, and it appears that Flores has his hands in the air when he is shot, although one arm is partially obscured by a pole.

One Day Soon, That Drone Overhead May Be Pointing a Taser at You

North Dakota has just become the first state to legalize police use of drones equipped with “less than lethal” weapons, including rubber bullets, Tasers, tear gas, pepper spray and sound cannons. Now, police will be able to remotely fire on people in North Dakota from drones, much as the CIA fires on people in other countries.

Although drones in North Dakota will be limited to “less than lethal” weapons, some of these devices can cause injury or even death, according to Christof Heyns, United Nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions. He reported that rubber bullets, water cannons and tear gas have resulted in injury and death. “The danger is that law enforcement officials may argue that the weapons that they use are labeled ‘less lethal’ and then fail to assess whether the level of force is not beyond that required,” Heyns wrote. The Guardian reports that at least 39 people have been killed by Tasers as far in 2015.

Heyns warned the U.N. General Assembly that the use of armed drones by law enforcement could threaten human rights. “An armed drone, controlled by a human from a distance, can hardly do what police officers are supposed to do—use the minimum force required by the circumstances,” he said.

Drone manufacturers in North Dakota lobbied hard to stymie efforts that would have required police to obtain warrants before using drones. Al Frazier, a sheriff’s deputy who pilots drones, revealed their motivation. He told The Daily Beast, “I think when you’re trying to stimulate an industry in your state, you don’t want things that would potentially have a chilling effect on [drone] manufacturers.”

'Dr Evil' says a $15 minimum wage will create high school dropouts

“What? I get $30,000 a year with no experience or skill?” asks a billboard in New York’s Times Square, the self-styled crossroads of the world.

The poster, featuring a louche young man in sunglasses smiling smugly as he lifts one ear pad of his headphones off his baseball-capped head, is the work of a rightwing thinktank headed by Richard Berman, a man known to friends and enemies alike as “Dr Evil”, a scourge of liberal politics, friend of indoor smokers and now a sworn enemy of the fight for a $15 minimum wage.

The Employment Policy Institute bought the $100,000 ad in response to New York governor Andrew Cuomo’s decision to pay the state’s fast-food workers $15 an hour by 2018. “Who needs an education or hard work when Gov Cuomo is raising the minimum wage to 15 dollars an hour?” the billboard reads. ...

“The billboard has two messages: 1) A $15 minimum wage is unfair to more-experienced employees who have already worked their way up to that wage; and 2) it has the potential to discourage people from seeking further education,” Michael Saltsman, research direction of the Employment Policy Institute told the Guardian. He pointed to a 2003 study to support the institute’s claims about enrollment rates. “At the $15 level, we’d expect this risk to be magnified."

Hillary Clinton's 'Bleak Week': Emails Show Response to WikiLeaks Revelations

It was a "bleak week."

That's how US State Department director of policy planning Anne-Marie Slaughter described it in a November 2010 email to Hillary Clinton, one day after WikiLeaks caused an international diplomatic crisis when it released more than 250,000 classified cables from US foreign embassies around the world.

Clinton, who was serving as US secretary of state at the time, was implicated in the WikiLeaks revelations of signing off on a secret intelligence campaign targeting United Nations officials, including Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. The campaign called for the collection of UN officials' biometric information, as well as their credit card details, email addresses, phone numbers, and frequent flyer-account numbers.

The emails show that Clinton and her advisers worked to do damage control in the lead-up to and aftermath of the WikiLeaks revelations. ... Judith McHale, then undersecretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs, wrote to Clinton on November 27, the day before the cables were released, saying that she had been "monitoring the Wikipedia [sic] situation" in an effort to be as "prepared as we can." McHale also underscored the importance of ensuring "good relations in all sectors" to "help us weather inevitable storms." ...

Though the leaks were a significant blow to Clinton and US diplomatic relations, the storm appeared to be waning within a week. On December 2, Mills forwarded Clinton an email with the subject line "Special International Media Report on WikiLeaks."

"Media coverage in many countries of WikiLeaks releases is decreasing," the email read. "Governments and many commentators assert US relationships will not be significantly damages [sic], and there are frequent observations that the releases have not revealed 'anything new.' Anti-US writers and media continue to use the opportunity to skewer the United States."

Report: Extravagant CEO Pay Packages Are Fostering Planet's Destruction

Pay incentives for the chief executives of the biggest publicly-held fossil fuel companies in the U.S. are worsening climate change by encouraging recklessness from management teams and rewarding companies' strongholds over oil, gas, and coal reserves, according to a new report published Wednesday by the Institute for Policy Studies.

Money to Burn: How CEO Pay is Accelerating Climate Change (pdf), an annual analysis of executive excess, outlines the complex cycle in which corporate bosses are given "enormous personal financial incentive" to promote the development of fossil fuels, which in turn allows them to donate ever-increasing funds to lobbyists and lawmakers who promote climate denial policies.

In addition, corporations "lower the performance bar by super sizing the number of equity-based rewards they grant executives during stock slumps," the report states. That's the same kind of high-stakes gambling that contributed to the 2008 economic crash and set up bankers for enormous windfalls if shares increased even slightly after the recovery began.

"Our perverse executive pay system encouraged the recklessness that led to the 2008 financial crisis," co-author and IPS Global Economy Project director Sarah Anderson said on Wednesday. "These same misplaced incentives are encouraging the recklessness of fossil fuel executives that is putting the entire world at risk."

CEOs of the 30 largest publicly-held fossil fuel companies averaged $14.7 million in total compensation in 2014, while their management teams took home roughly $6 billion over the past five years. That's twice the size of the country's recent $3 billion pledge to the Green Climate Fund, a United Nations body that redistributes wealth to developing countries in order to help them stave off the effects of global warming.

Global warming intensified the record floods in Texas and Oklahoma

We know that as humans emit greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, it causes the Earth to warm. But it also causes other climate changes that are less obvious. ...

As an example, an El Niño, which is the appearance of a warm water pool in the Pacific Ocean, can influence weather across the globe. Human-caused warming of the oceans adds to the El Niño cycles, which in turn affect the atmosphere. The real scientific question is, do human greenhouse gases influence a specific flood or drought event? A growing body of science is finding that the answer to this question is yes.

A paper just published in Geophysical Research Letters looked at the May 2015 floods in Texas and Oklahoma in the USA, which resulted from the wettest single month on record in both states. The lead author, Dr. Wang from Utah State and his colleagues examined the role of strengthened El Niño teleconnections on the flood event.

Dr. Wang and his authors recognized that in a warming world, the way El Niño intensifies rainfall patterns would change. That is, today’s El Niños may be more potent than prior El Niños. In particular, they compared the El Niño influence from 1948–1980 with the influence after 1980. They used a wide collection of measurements and modeling tools and concluded,

The record precipitation that occurred over Texas and Oklahoma during the month of May 2015 was the results of a series of climate interactions and anomalies. Foremost is the role that El Niño played. A developing ENSO (El Niño/Southern Oscillation) has a tendency to increase spring precipitation over the southern Great Plains and this effect was found to have intensified since 1980; this intensification was concomitant with a warmer atmosphere due to anthropogenic (human) greenhouse gases.

Specifically, the intensified ENSO teleconnection appears to be triggered by enhanced latent heat in the equatorial central Pacific, and is associated with a broad sea surface temperature warming in the tropics. In essence, there was a detectable effect of anthropogenic global warming in the teleconnection and moisture transport leading to Mays 2015’s high precipitation.

Obama plans to announce climate change strategy on last day in Alaska

Fact sheet outlining initiatives, including community grants and systems to counteract effects of global warming in Arctic, did not address oil drilling

On the final day of his trip to Alaska, President Obama was set to announce a slate of initiatives to help remote Arctic communities beset by the effects of climate change.

The announcement also included measures to fight climate change, which is happening twice as quickly in Alaska as in the continental US.

In a visit to the small north-west Alaskan village of Kotzebue, Obama was set to announce a federal coordinator for response efforts in the region, myriad grants to increase community resources and systems to address the regional impact of climate change.

A fact sheet outlining the plans did not address the role or impact of oil drilling or shipping in the Arctic. This is particularly important for villages like Kotzebue, which is proximate to the Bering Strait, where melting ice has increased shipping and resulting jobs for Arctic residents.

Melting ice, however, has also left remote villages exposed to powerful storms; degrading permafrost has led to sinkholes.

Onion Farmers’ Support of Arctic Drilling Copies and Pastes Language From Oil Lobby Group

The National Onion Association — which is “the official organization representing growers, shippers, brokers, and commercial representatives of the U.S. onion industry” — wrote to government officials earlier this year to resolutely support Shell Oil’s bid to drill for oil in the remote wilderness of the Arctic.

The letter does not list any direct benefits for the onion industry. Almost all of the letter consists of language lifted directly from the Consumer Energy Alliance, an “astroturf” group funded by the oil industry, including Shell Oil. Consumer Energy Alliance is managed by HBW Resources, a lobbying firm that represents a drilling trade association that includes Shell Oil as a dues-paying member. ...

HBW Resources has helped to manufacture support for drilling initiatives in the past. Metadata from a letter signed by several governors associated with the Outer Continental Shelf Governors Association, which backs increased oil and gas drilling in the Atlantic Ocean, revealed HBW Resources had produced the documents. HBW and the Consumer Energy Alliance, using money from oil refiners and drilling companies, also helped create “grassroots” efforts to build public support for the Keystone XL pipeline.

Also of interest:

The future is grim, insists our culture — so why build a brighter one?

Mama Merkel: the ‘compassionate mother’ of Syrian refugees

Missing From Reports of Yemeni Carnage: Washington’s Responsibility

The coming war with Russia

Dick Cheney defends America's use of torture, again, in new book

Israel asks Egypt: Stop move to monitor our nuclear facilities