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This evening's music features soul singer Sam Cooke. Enjoy!

“The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution, intact for over 200 years, guaranteed that the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath of affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. After September 11th, 2001, those were just words on an old piece of paper, no longer a restriction of the Government’s overreaching power to shake down its subjects.”

-- Kenneth Eade

News and Opinion

'Shameful': Yahoo Spied on Email Customers at Government's Request

In an astounding and "unprecedented" new account of U.S. government surveillance, Reuters reported Tuesday that Yahoo secretly scanned all of its customer's incoming emails for a specific set of characters, per request of the National Security Agency (NSA) or FBI.

The news agency broke the investigation after speaking with "two former employees and a third person apprised of the events," who described how the email giant complied with the vast government directive and built a custom software program to scan hundreds of millions of accounts for a "specific set of characters."

The classified directive was reportedly sent to the company's legal team last year. "It is not known what information intelligence officials were looking for, only that they wanted Yahoo to search for a set of characters," Reuters reported. "That could mean a phrase in an email or an attachment, said the sources, who did not want to be identified."

Reporter Joseph Menn said that he was "unable to confirm whether the 2015 demand went to other companies, or if any complied." Further, it is not known "what data Yahoo may have handed over, if any."

Heads up: Any major email service not clearly, categorically denying this tomorrow -- without careful phrasing -- is as guilty as Yahoo. https://t.co/cZSDqi4a49

— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) October 4, 2016

Delete Your Yahoo Account

There's no good reason to have a Yahoo account these days. But after Tuesday’s bombshell report by Reuters, indicating the enormous, faltering web company designed a bespoke email-wiretap service for the U.S. government, we now know that a Yahoo account is a toxic surveillance liability.

It remains unclear what form the directive took, though according to Andrew Crocker, an attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the best guess is that it invoked Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which permits the bulk collection of communications for the purpose of targeting a foreign individual.

But this Yahoo program doesn’t appear to have had even an ostensibly non-U.S. target. Rather, literally every single person with a Yahoo email inbox was evidently placed under surveillance, regardless of citizenship.

Crocker said the Yahoo program seems “in some ways more problematic and broader” than previously revealed NSA bulk surveillance programs like PRISM or Upstream collection efforts. “It’s hard to think of an interpretation” of the Reuters report, he explained, “that doesn’t mean Yahoo isn’t being asked to scan all domestic communications without a warrant” or probable cause.

“The Fourth Amendment implications of that are pretty staggering,” Crocker said. ...

Here is how to delete your Yahoo account.

Can somebody ask the President to read today's news? https://t.co/0iwpo9gcPE

— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) October 4, 2016

Yahoo may have let the government spy on emails. Now will we embrace encryption?

Much of the discussion about Edward Snowden’s 2013 revelations has focused on the NSA’s mass phone spying program that the courts later ruled illegal. But many people forget that the New York Times also reported, in 2013, based on previously published Snowden documents, that the NSA had been scanning countless emails going into and out of the US for years, looking for certain keywords.

This Yahoo story seems to be an escalation of this type of “about” or “upstream” surveillance, which was once done by the NSA by secretly wiretapping internet cables owned by AT&T and others. Since many email companies have started encrypting their emails in transit since that story came out, the NSA probably can’t do that type of surveillance unilaterally (or with the help of AT&T) anymore. The US government now seems to be moving to force internet companies to do this type of mass surveillance for them, on the companies’ servers, where the data remains accessible. ...

Incredibly, Yahoo apparently built this backdoor into its email system without even telling its then security chief, Alex Stamos. “The sources said the program was discovered by Yahoo’s security team in May 2015, within weeks of its installation,” Menn reported. “The security team initially thought hackers had broken in.”

Stamos was reportedly furious and resigned in protest. “Due to a programming flaw [in the software], he told [Yahoo executives] hackers could have accessed the stored emails,” Menn explained. Security experts have been highlighting for years how backdoors not only give access to the “good guys” but also could let other criminals or foreign governments into our communications systems. ...

Yahoo’s possible betrayal of its users is another example of why whistleblowers and leaks to the press are so important. The US government considers this type of surveillance “legal” even though it shocks the conscience of many ordinary Americans and dozens of civil liberties groups have been attempting to have courts rule it illegal for years.

Security experts urge clients to stop using Yahoo Mail after spying report

Civil and human rights groups issued denunciations and some cybersecurity experts urged their clients to stop using the popular Yahoo Mail service after a news agency reported Tuesday that the internet service provider had secretly scanned hundreds of millions of clients’ emails at the behest of U.S. intelligence agencies. ...

“Enough is enough. It’s time to close your Yahoo account,” Graham Cluley, a British cybersecurity expert, tweeted following the report. ...

Amnesty International, a London-based rights group, lamented what it called the eroding privacy of internet users and efforts by the U.S. government to “indiscriminately vacuum up the world’s data.”

“This is a clear sign that people can trust neither their government nor their service providers to respect their privacy: Only end-to-end encryption that keeps their communications away from prying eyes will do,” said Amnesty’s Sherif Elsayed-Ali, the head of technology and human rights.

Clinton: 'I don't recall any joke' about droning WikiLeaks founder

Hillary Clinton on Tuesday said she doesn't remember ever commenting -- joking or otherwise -- about using a drone strike against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

“I don't recall any joke,” Clinton said, when asked Tuesday at a press conference in Pennsylvania.

“It would have been a joke, if it had been said, but I don't recall that.”

The website TruePundit posted a report Sunday that alleged Clinton had in 2010 spoken of a drone strike against Assange.

The report cited State Department sources and claimed Clinton had said: "Can't we just drone this guy?"

US considers military strikes against Assad's troops

State Dept: US Considering ‘Military, Other Options’ Against Russia in Syria

Once again focusing on escalations of tensions with Russia, State Department spokesman Mark Toner today said that in addition to the “diplomatic” efforts the US is making in Syria, they are also considering conducting “military or other options.” ...

Adding to the uncomfortable talk about military possibilities, Toner also declared the US to “always consider unilateral options when looking at a situation like Syria,” and while he insisted the US prefers to work with its coalition, it’s unlikely much of the coalition will eagerly follow them into a war with Russia.

After US Suspends Talks, Russia Deploys Defensive Missiles in Syria

In response to the high-profile US announcement that they are suspending all discussions with Russia related to Syria, and that moreover they are considering “military and other options,” Russia is adding to their defensive systems in the country in the form of new S-300 missile systems.

The S-300 is an advanced anti-aircraft system, which is being deployed in the area near the Russian naval base at Tartus. Russian Defense Ministry officials say it is intended to ensure the safety of the base, and that they are “unclear” why the US and its allies are expressing such alarm. ...

That Russia is making that deployment at all suggests they think it’s at least a possibility they need to be prepared to counter, while the US reaction suggests that they feel as though they’re really losing a strategic option with Russia shoring up the defenses around this base.

An excellent article, worth reading in full. In a portion of the article not abstracted here, Parry chronicles the new propaganda-catapulting exploits of our old friends Tom Friedman and Fred Hiatt - two nitwits laying the groundwork for the nuclear destruction of humanity.

New ‘Group Think’ for War with Syria/Russia

Not since the eve of the U.S. invasion of Iraq has Official Washington’s political/punditry class clamored more single-mindedly – and openly – for the U.S. government to commit a gross violation of international law, now urging a major military assault on the government of Syria while also escalating tensions with nuclear-armed Russia.

And, like the frenzied war fever of 2002-2003, today’s lawless consensus is operating on a mix of selective, dubious and false information – while excluding from the public debate voices that might dare challenge the prevailing “group think.” It’s as if nothing was learned from the previous disaster in Iraq.

Most notably, there are two key facts about Syria that Americans are not being told: one, U.S. regional “allies” have been funding and arming radical jihadist groups, including Al Qaeda terrorists, there almost since the conflict began in 2011 and, two, the claim about “moderate” Syrian rebels is a fraud; the “moderates” have served essentially as a P.R. cut-out for the U.S. and its “allies” to supply Al Qaeda and its allies with sophisticated weapons while pretending not to. ...

Many of these calls for a U.S. military intervention against the Syrian government (and the Russians) are coming from the same advocates for war who created the misguided consensus for invading Iraq in 2002-2003, voices such as Sen. John McCain, Washington Post editorial-page editor Fred Hiatt, and New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman. And, much like the Iraq example, these esteemed opinion-leaders pile up their propaganda arguments in a one-sided fashion designed to silence the few voices that dare raise doubts.

This new “group think” has prevented Americans from looking at the Syrian situation with more nuance and objectivity. Indeed, if you mix in some of the other facts, the on-the-ground reality could be seen as the U.S. and its “allies” stoking the fire in Syria for five years and, now, as the Syrian military and Russian air power take drastic measures to finally get the blaze under some control, the U.S. government may bomb the firefighters and destroy their equipment.

Beyond the illegality of that action, how the U.S. military intervention is supposed to fix things in Syria is never discussed. By strengthening Al Qaeda and its “moderate” front men, the prospects for a longer and bloodier conflict are increased, not decreased.

The new McCarthyism, Entertainment Division:

Russians outraged by 'crude stereotyping' in Robbie Williams video

It was not reports from the war in Syria or the investigation into the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 that outraged Russians at the weekend, but a new music video by Robbie Williams.

Released to accompany the song Party Like a Russian, from his new album, Heavy Entertainment Show, the video outraged viewers for its crude stereotyping of Russian culture, with some tabloids suggesting the singer would never be able to perform in Russia again.

In the video, Williams sings about a leader who “alleviates the cash from a whole entire nation, takes loose change and builds his own space station,” and adds: “Ain’t no refutin’ or disputin’ - I’m a modern Rasputin”, while women dressed as ballerinas dance around him.

Singing to the tune of Dance of the Knights from Sergey Prokofiev’s ballet Romeo and Juliet, some viewers suggested the level of stereotyping displayed in the video could be interpreted as borderline racist.

Iraqi parliament rejects ‘occupying’ Turkish military mandate in N.Iraq

The Iraqi parliament, in a majority vote, has rejected an extension of the mandate of Turkish troops in Iraq and called for a review of relations with Turkey.

The lawmakers also asked for the government of Iraq to file a complaint against Turkey at the United Nations and the UN Security Council. They want the government to formally describe Turkish troops as an “occupying” force.

In addition, the parliament demanded the Turkish ambassador be summoned to receive a letter critical of Turkey’s presence in Iraq.

Iraq: Mosul battle against Islamic State group looms as US, France & Kurdish militias gather troops

More than 10,000 refugees rescued in two days in Mediterranean

More than 10,000 refugees bound for Italy have been rescued in the Mediterranean in the last 48 hours in a series of more than 70 operations led by the Italian coastguard and navy. ...

Earlier this week 6,055 people were rescued over a 24-hour period as the coastguard, navy and humanitarian groups came to the aid of 32 rubber dinghies, five large wooden boats and two rafts that were spotted 30 miles (48km) north of Libya.

Italy’s neighbours to the north – Austria, France and Switzerland – have essentially closed off their borders to new migrants, creating political tensions and forcing Italy to process and possibly relocate asylum seekers on its own.

Previously, the vast majority of migrants landing in Italy chose not to stay in and traveled north, often with Germany as a final destination.

Ten countries host half of world's refugees

Ten countries - which account for just 2.5 percent of the global economy - are hosting more than half the world's refugees, a rights group has said, accusing wealthy countries of leaving poorer nations to bear the brunt of a worsening crisis.

In a report published on Tuesday, Amnesty International said the unequal share was exacerbating the global refugee problem, as inadequate conditions in the main countries of shelter pushed many to embark on dangerous journeys to Europe and Australia.

The London-based group said 56 percent of the world's 21 million refugees are being hosted by just 10 countries - all in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia.

Jordan, which has taken in more than 2.7 million people, was named as the top refugee hosting country, followed by Turkey, over 2.5 million; Pakistan, 1.6 million; and Lebanon, more than 1.5 million.

The other top six nations were Iran, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo and Chad.

Israeli Navy Intercepts Women's Flotilla on Way to Break Gaza Blockade

The Israeli navy intercepted a flotilla aiming to break the blockade on the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, about 35 nautical miles from the Israeli coast.

According to a high-ranking officer, passengers on board the Zaytouna-Olivia offered no resistance when the troops took over the boat. The boat was redirected to the Israeli port city of Ashdod.

The Women’s Boat to Gaza, an initiative of the International Freedom Flotilla Coalition, which had set out from Barcelona, was scheduled to arrive at the port of Gaza on Wednesday night, according to its website.

Among the Zaytouna-Olivia's 13 passengers are several parliamentarians, an Olympic athlete, a retired U.S. army colonel and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Mairead Maguire of Northern Ireland. The boat was sailing under a Dutch flag.

Another boat, the Amal 2, was forced to turn back to Barcelona due to a technical malfunction. However, organizers have voiced suspicions that the boat was sabotaged.

Colombian Right Gains Upper Hand Following Defeat of FARC Peace Deal

Colombia's ex-president spent years trying to thwart FARC peace deal

Former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe spent his eight years in office, between 2002 and 2010, waging a bruising military campaign against the country's largest rebel group, FARC. He spent the last three years trying to torpedo the historic peace deal between them and his successor and former political ally turned foe, President Juan Manuel Santos.

On Sunday, Uribe's hard work paid off when Colombians voted "no" to peace and handed Santos a razor-thin defeat. Now, Uribe is seeking to dictate the terms of a new deal that's tougher on the rebel protagonists of a 52-year civil war that has killed over 220,000 and displaced nearly 7 million.

President Santos had made it clear in the weeks leading up to Sunday's referendum that there would be "no Plan B" on his deal with the FARC. Now, the president has no choice but to accept the idea of a new negotiation if he has any hope of salvaging the historic deal — and his political legacy — which he had pinned on the vote.

The government's chief negotiator and two members of the cabinet are due to meet leaders closely linked to Uribe this Tuesday to start the new process.

No politician is so naive as to think it wil be easy for these sworn political enemies to find common ground, let alone give Colombia a second shot at securing peace after so many bloody decades.

And that's before taking the FARC into account.

The immediate aftermath saw Timochenko, hurrying to promise that the FARC remains committed to an unlimited ceasefire currently in place. But will he really be willing to lead the rebels back to the table and negotiate away at least some of the gains made over four long, hard years of talks?

Did Human Rights Watch Sabotage Colombia’s Peace Agreement?

The campaign to keep Colombia’s war going had an unlikely ally: Human Rights Watch. José Miguel Vivanco, the head of HRW’s Americas Watch division, emerged as an unexpected player in Colombian politics when he came out strongly against the “justice” provisions of the peace agreement. Vivanco agreed with Uribe by offering the most dire reading of the agreement possible, saying that perpetrators—in the FARC and the military—of human-rights violations would receive immunity. Vivanco was all over the press in Colombia, with his comments used to build opposition to the accords. Once it became clear that he was lining up too closely with Uribe, he staged a mock public dispute with the former para-president, even while continuing to basically support Uribe’s position (h/t Alejandro Velasco). Vivanco has tried to fudge his position with a false “even-handedness,” complaining that the accord let both the FARC and the military off the hook. But as the always insightful and usually temperate Adam Isacson, from the Washington Office on Latin America, described Vivanco’s bizarre proxy campaign on behalf of Uribe: “not everyone in Colombia is reading Human Rights Watch’s detailed ten-page analysis. What they hear are the large quotes like ‘piñata de impunidad’…or “checkmate against justice’ and believing as a result that Human Rights Watch opposes the entire process. It is a question more of tone, of supportiveness, and of urging creativity at a very key moment.” “Blows like this”—that is, Vivanco’s extremely dire analysis of a necessarily vague political agreement—“can do real damage.” They did.

That Human Rights Watch played useful idiot to Colombia’s far right was confirmed by its executive director, Kenneth Roth, who on Sunday night gloated about the outcome of the vote on Twitter: “Looks like Colombians aren’t so eager to premise ‘peace’ on effective impunity for FARC’s and military’s war crimes.”

Now what, Ken? What are you going to tweet at these victims of the FARC who came together to urge a “yes” vote? According to the Colombian weekly Semana, those regions that suffered the most deaths at the hands of the FARC were the most supportive of the peace talks. A “paradox,” Semana said. Enough was enough, victims and their families said. They are painfully aware—in ways that Roth and Vivanco, with their unaccountable Twitter broadsides against the peace process apparently aren’t—of consequences. And they prove more capable of understanding something that the leaders of Human Rights Watch can’t: that you don’t end a half-century war, with its nearly incomprehensible political history and ever-shifting alliances, by applying legal absolutes. You rather end it by political compromise.

'Where Is Justice'? Top UN Court Rejects Marshall Islands Nuke Case

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Wednesday rejected three nuclear disarmament cases filed by the Marshall Islands against the United Kingdom, Pakistan, and India, on the grounds that the court does not have the jurisdiction to handle them.

The ICJ, the United Nations' highest court, ruled 9-8 the plaintiffs did not prove that a legal argument existed between the island country and the three nuclear nations before the case was filed in 2014. The Marshall Islands said the states had failed to fulfill their disarmament obligations under the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). ...

"The U.K. signed the NPT almost fifty years ago, committing to enter negotiations to get rid of its nuclear weapons. Instead, the government is in the process of spending at least £205 billion on new nuclear weapons—with the metal cutting tragically starting today," Kate Hudson, general secretary of the U.K.-based Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament [said]. "A mechanism is needed to ensure compliance with this international treaty, as currently the U.K. is dodging its obligations."

The initial case was filed against nine states in total—the U.K., India, and Pakistan, as well as the U.S., France, Russia, China, North Korea, and Israel—but the other six never made it to the preliminary hearings. ...

The Marshall Islands has vested interest in disarmament because the tiny Pacific nation served as an unwilling nuclear testing ground for the U.S. from 1946 to 1958. The so-called "Bravo" hydrogen bomb, tested at Bikini Atoll, was estimated to be 1,000 times bigger than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

Many native residents were forced to flee their lands and thousands were exposed to radioactive material as a result of these tests.

Big Business Declares TPP the Winner in Vice Presidential Debate

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has already picked the winner in Tuesday night’s vice presidential debate between Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., and Gov. Mike Pence, R-Ind.

It’s free trade! (Or, more accurately, corporate-friendly trade agreements.)

Previewing the debate Tuesday morning, the Chamber tweeted merrily that both candidates have a “great track record on trade.”

Their running mates are both on the record opposing the hugely controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, but as the Chamber notes so happily, Kaine and Pence both have a long history of siding with big business. Both have praised the TPP and backed similar deals in the past.

Police Raid Indiana’s Largest Voter Registration Office Following Fraud Accusations From GOP

State police raided the offices of Indiana’s largest voter registration operation Tuesday morning, a dramatic step in a fast-developing investigation that police say is about voter fraud and election activists say amounts to a Republican-backed attack on access to the ballot in the Hoosier state.

According to organizers, nearly a dozen police entered the Indianapolis offices of the Indiana Voter Registration Project (IVRP) with a search warrant and seized multiple computers, the personal cellphones of employees and paperwork relating to the group’s get-out-the-vote operations in the state. ... The Washington, D.C.-based liberal-leaning Patriot Majority oversees the Indiana voting drive. ...

The state’s investigation into the IVRP went public in mid-September when Indiana’s Republican Secretary of State Connie Lawson announced that at least 10 of the group’s voter registration applications had been forged. ... The group retorted that it had already submitted tens of thousands of registrations in Indiana this year and that by zeroing in on just a handful of problematic applications the state appeared to be criminalizing a basic feature of voter registration itself, which inevitably involves submitting paperwork that contains imperfections.

Patriot Majority head Craig Varoga said that in Indiana, members of a voter registration drive cannot legally choose to discard applications; even if something appears faulty, the group must submit the application for the state to review.

No, Hillary, young voters aren't naive. The system doesn't work for them

As Emmett Rensin ably enumerated for Newsweek, young people did not support Sanders because they are, in Clinton’s recorded words, “new to politics”. They flocked to him because they have very different politics than she does. Clinton’s comments remind us just how different, and suggest her rhetorical commitments to parts of the Sanders platform won’t find reflection in her appointments.

And at bottom, they reveal a politician who still holds to the old Thatcher motto that defined the neoliberal era’s boost phase: there is no alternative. The impacts of deregulation and free trade are real, Clinton says in the tape, but organizing for radical change is just role-play fantasy politics. As she brushed it off in Virginia, it reflects “a deep desire to believe that we can have free college, free healthcare … you know, Scandinavia, whatever that means.”

Clinton’s comments also belie an incapacity to get her head around the full meaning of Sanders’ campaign. The political revolution Sanders invoked was not just a plan to get college graduates out of America’s basements and into sweet lofts. In reducing the campaign to crude economism, Clinton sounds like someone who doesn’t understand that many Sanders supporters don’t just want a bigger piece of the pie, they want a fundamentally different kind of society. Clinton’s message to her donor audience was essentially one of patience, of letting capitalism work its magic: as soon as these kids start making good money, they’ll fall in line behind center-right candidates. It’s perfectly natural that Clinton and her audience would think this, and that “everybody”, as Clinton described the political class in Virginia, would be “quite bewildered” in the meantime.

You can see a similar economism in media attempts to disentangle the motivations of Trump supporters. In August, much was made of a Gallup poll showing that Trump’s base was statistically no worse off than other voters. For many, this was the ultimate ballast for the argument that they couldn’t possibly be motivated by distress over inequality or the economic and social dislocations of free trade agreements.

This conclusion is as wrong, and for similar reasons, as Clinton’s supposition that Sanders supporters would Be With Her if only they’d gotten a cushy marketing gig after graduation.

With Dakota Access Back in Court, Activists Ask (Again): Where's Clinton?

As Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) protesters head back to court on Wednesday, U.S. presidential candidates' positions on the project (or lack thereof) are being thrust into the spotlight.

The three-judge panel at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is being asked to keep in place a temporary halt to construction while the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe appeals a lower-court ruling from September. The hearing was scheduled to begin at 9:30am Eastern, and Native News Online reports that it "may ultimately decide if the pipeline project moves forward."

"The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe will not back down from this fight," said Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Chairman Dave Archambault II, who will speak in D.C. following the hearing. "We are guided by prayer, and we will continue to fight for our people. We will not rest until our lands, people, waters and sacred sites are permanently protected from this destructive pipeline."

Meanwhile, Indigenous and environmental activists are looking to Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton for a sign of where she stands on the controversial project. Clinton has yet to state publicly whether or not she supports the four-state, $3.8 billion pipeline—despite longstanding calls for her to do so.

"We definitely need Secretary Clinton to make a statement on it," Bold Alliance president Jane Kleeb told The Hill on Wednesday. "We don't know where she stands, and we don't know where she stands on the general build-out of pipelines." ...

350.org co-founder Bill McKibben said last week on Democracy Now!: "She has so far refused to say anything about it. Let's hope that that changes, because this is not only a practical challenge, at this point it's a clear moral test."

Fracking Industry's New Plan? Prosecute Those Who Push Drilling Bans

"Drained" from taking local municipalities to court over fracking bans, a fossil fuel industry group is now considering charging local officials who suggest such prohibitions with criminal prosecution, new reporting by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette revealed Tuesday.

In the face of federal governmental inaction, more and more local municipalities have passed bans on fracking to address the mounting public health and environmental problems caused by the toxic drilling process. In fact, according to the Post-Gazette, since Pittsburgh passed its ordinance in 2010, more than 100 other localities have followed suit.

In Pennsylvania, which is the second largest producer of fracked gas in the nation, as well as elsewhere, the drilling industry has aggressively challenged these bans—but, according to Kevin Moody, general counsel for the Pennsylvania Independent Oil & Gas Association, that "fight is draining and doesn't seem to be deterring municipal officials from attempting to block oil and gas development."

Alternately, Moody told the Post-Gazette that he's been "exploring" the concept of criminal prosecution for years but finally found a fitting statute to test it out.

"It's called official oppression," the newspaper explained, "and makes it a second degree misdemeanor for a public official to deny or impede someone's rights or privileges with the knowledge such actions are illegal. The penalty is up to two years in prison and a fine of up to $5,000."

Moody specifically cited the recent action taken by Grant Township as an "egregious example" that should be challenged. In the face of ongoing litigation over its fracking ban, the Pennsylvania community last spring adopted the country's first municipal charter establishing a local bill of rights codifying environmental and democratic rights. ...

But Moody claims that the charter, which was drafted by the Franklin County-based nonprofit Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF), is illegal. If a judge agrees with him, Moody could use that decision "to say municipal officials know what they're doing is not legal when they deny gas companies the right to operate within their borders. From there, other options could surface," such as filing a private criminal complaint against or impeaching local officials, the Post-Gazette reported.

'Historic' global climate deal could go into effect within days

In a move that's being called "historic," the European Parliament has approved the ratification of the first ever legally binding worldwide climate deal, putting the agreement within days of going into effect.

The approval comes only two days after one of the world's biggest greenhouse-gas emitters, India, ratified the Paris climate deal and one week after the planet passed a major atmospheric-carbon milestone of 400 parts per million.

The move follows an agreement by EU leaders in mid-September that they speed up the ratification process. With the parliament's approval, the 28 EU member states are now expected to individually ratify the agreement. ...

The EU's approval is a huge step because the climate deal needs a minimum of 55 countries, representing at least 55 percent of global emissions, in order to become legally binding. As of today, 62 countries representing 52 percent of global emissions are on board.

Hurricanes will worsen as planet warms and sea levels rise, scientists warn

Major storms such as Hurricane Matthew, which has slammed into Haiti and is now headed towards the US, will grow in menace as the world warms and sea levels rise, scientists have warned.

Hurricane Matthew is already feared to have caused seven deaths after it hit Haiti and the Dominican Republic on Tuesday, bringing 145mph winds, pounding rain and storm surges to coastal communities.

The category 4 storm, the strongest hurricane to hit Haiti in 50 years, is expected to surge northwards towards Florida’s east coast and up the south-eastern US coast by the weekend. It follows September’s Hurricane Hermine, which was the first hurricane to hit Florida in nearly 11 years. ...

There was previously far more certainty among climate scientists over the increase of temperatures than trends in hurricanes, but government officials are now confident enough to say there has been a “substantial increase” in Atlantic hurricane activity since the 1980s, with the destruction set to ratchet up further as the world warms.

“We expect to see more high-intensity events, category 4 and 5 events, that are around 13% of total hurricanes but do a disproportionate amount of damage,” said Kerry Emanuel, a climate scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “The theory is robust and there are hints that we are already beginning to see it in nature.”

Also of Interest

Here are some articles of interest, some which defied fair-use abstraction.

Tim Kaine, John Negroponte and the Priest Who Was Thrown From a Helicopter

The Dreadful Chronology of Gaddafi’s Murder

Did I Say That? State Department Official Admits Ties to Terrorist Groups

Canada Accused of Complicity in Mining Companies' Abuse of Women and Girls

Is music an answer to the epidemic of loneliness?

More savage than Caravaggio: the woman who took revenge in oil

A Little Night Music

Sam Cooke - Chain Gang

Sam Cooke - Having A Party

Sam Cooke - Twisting The Night Away

Sam Cooke - A Change Is Gonna Come

Sam Cooke - Shake

Sam Cooke - Little Red Rooster

Sam Cooke - Another Saturday Night

Sam Cooke - That's It, I Quit, I'm Moving On