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“With what moral authority can they speak of human rights — the rulers of a nation in which the millionaire and beggar coexist; the Indian is exterminated; the black man is discriminated against; the woman is prostituted; and the great masses of Chicanos, Puerto Ricans, and Latin Americans are scorned, exploited, and humiliated? How can they do this — the bosses of an empire where the mafia, gambling, and child prostitution are imposed; where the CIA organizes plans of global subversion and espionage, and the Pentagon creates neutron bombs capable of preserving material assets and wiping out human beings; an empire that supports reaction and counter-revolution all over the world; that protects and promotes the exploitation by monopolies of the wealth and the human resources of whole continents, unequal exchange, a protectionist policy, an incredible waste of natural resources, and a system of hunger for the world?”

-- Fidel Castro

News and Opinion

Fake news site Washington Post scores a viral hit with its latest propaganda.

Washington Post Disgracefully Promotes a McCarthyite Blacklist From a New, Hidden, and Very Shady Group

The Washington Post on Thursday night promoted the claims of a new, shadowy organization that smears dozens of U.S. news sites that are critical of U.S. foreign policy as being “routine peddlers of Russian propaganda.” The article by reporter Craig Timberg — headlined “Russian propaganda effort helped spread ‘fake news’ during election, experts say” — cites a report by an anonymous website calling itself PropOrNot, which claims that millions of Americans have been deceived this year in a massive Russian “misinformation campaign.”

The group’s list of Russian disinformation outlets includes WikiLeaks and the Drudge Report, as well as Clinton-critical left-wing websites such as Truthout, Black Agenda Report, Truthdig, and Naked Capitalism, as well as libertarian venues such as Antiwar.com and the Ron Paul Institute.

This Post report was one of the most widely circulated political news articles on social media over the last 48 hours, with dozens, perhaps hundreds, of U.S. journalists and pundits with large platforms hailing it as an earth-shattering exposé. It was the most-read piece on the entire Post website on Friday after it was published.

Yet the article is rife with obviously reckless and unproven allegations, and fundamentally shaped by shoddy, slothful journalistic tactics. It was not surprising to learn that, as BuzzFeed’s Sheera Frenkel noted, “a lot of reporters passed on this story.” Its huge flaws are self-evident. ...

In casting the group behind this website as “experts,” the Post described PropOrNot simply as “a nonpartisan collection of researchers with foreign policy, military and technology backgrounds.” Not one individual at the organization is named. The executive director is quoted, but only on the condition of anonymity, which the Post said it was providing the group “to avoid being targeted by Russia’s legions of skilled hackers.”

How can we spot fake news stories when the real ones beggar belief?

It is believed that fake news stories may have influenced the US general election, which sounds like a fake news story itself when you actually read some of the examples: Pope Francis endorses Donald Trump, for instance, or Wikileaks reveals Hillary Clinton sold weapons to Isis. Come on, who believes this rubbish? But, then, are any of them more far-out than these news stories: Britain plans to tackle Brexit by selling jam and biscuits; Russian hackers suspected of tampering the vote in Wisconsin; millennials gather in Washington to shout “heil Trump”.

Because those are all “real” news stories. They might make literally no sense (other than to explain why Jeremy Corbyn spends so much of his time stewing strawberries), but they’re not invented by some internet lurker. ...

We’re advised to avoid unverified news sources, but whenever I open some of the verified ones, they seem to be filled with people whose chief qualification for airing their alarmingly authoritarian views is being the sixth person to get fired from the fourth series of the Apprentice. Why are we supposed to trust them over whatever some crackpot conspiricist has posted on Facebook? ...

We’ve stepped so far through the looking glass at this point that fake news is struggling to stay loopy enough to keep up with the real stuff. If anything, reading that “Ru Paul claimed he was groped by Trump” seems a little bit tame compared to reality. So, it’s no surprise that one study found that students were no longer able to distinguish what was a credible news source, nor that the researchers found it easier to train marmosets to distinguish between the two, thanks to their lack of pre-existing prejudices. And yes, the fact that you’re not entirely sure whether that last bit is true is why we’re clearly all heading for oblivion.

NYT Advocates Internet Censorship

As this mainstream campaign against “fake news” quickly has gained momentum in the past week, two false items get cited repeatedly, a claim that Pope Francis endorsed Donald Trump and an assertion that Trump was prevailing in the popular vote over Hillary Clinton. I could add another election-related falsehood, a hoax spread by Trump supporters that liberal documentarian Michael Moore was endorsing Trump when he actually was backing Clinton.

But I also know that Clinton supporters were privately pushing some salacious and unsubstantiated charges about Trump’s sex life, and Clinton personally charged that Trump was under the control of Russian President Vladimir Putin although there was no evidence presented to support that McCarthyistic accusation.

The simple reality is that lots of dubious accusations get flung around during the heat of a campaign – nothing new there – and it is always a challenge for professional journalists to swat them down the best we can. What’s different now is that the Times envisions some structure (or algorithm) for eliminating what it calls “fake news.”

But, with a stunning lack of self-awareness, the Times fails to acknowledge the many times that it has published “fake news,” such as reporting in 2002 that Iraq’s purchase of aluminum tubes meant that it was reconstituting its nuclear weapons program; its bogus analysis tracing the firing location of a Syrian sarin-laden rocket in 2013 back to a Syrian military base that turned out to be four times outside the rocket’s range; or its publication of photos supposedly showing Russian soldiers inside Russia and then inside Ukraine in 2014 when it turned out that the “inside-Russia” photo was also taken inside Ukraine, destroying the premise of the story.

These are just three examples among many of the Times publishing “fake news” – and all three appeared on Page One before being grudgingly or partially retracted, usually far inside the newspaper under opaque headlines so most readers wouldn’t notice. Much of the Times’ “fake news” continued to reverberate in support of U.S. government propaganda even after the partial retractions.

So, should Zuckerberg prevent Facebook users from circulating New York Times stories? Obviously, the Times would not favor that solution to the problem of “fake news.” Instead, the Times expects to be one of the arbiters deciding which Internet outlets get banned and which ones get gold seals of approval.

Heh, so the leading "real news" outlet, the New York Times, interviewed the Donald and couldn't be bothered to hold him accountable on important issues.

Then lots of other "real news" outlets misreported what was in the interview.

Donald Trump Makes the New York Times Great Again!

All of the Times’ top editors and reporters together, given a golden opportunity, found themselves unable to perform basic journalism. They let Trump skate on literally everything.

Even worse, other outlets then took the useless Times interview and misreported what Trump said. ...

Here’s the headline on the Los Angeles Times story about the New York Times interview: “Trump shifts on at least 3 prominent issues: Climate, torture and prosecution of Clinton.”

Other headlines have included, “Donald Trump changes his mind on climate change, Clinton, the press in meeting with The New York Times“, In Stunning Reversal, Trump Scraps His Calls to Bring Back Torture, Trump Reverses Course on Clinton, and many others like them. ...

Trump did not actually say he’d changed his mind on any of these issues.

In fact, on torture he made that explicit — that while Retired Marine Corps Gen. James Mattis, his potential defense secretary, had told him torture was a terrible idea, “I’m not saying it changed my mind.”

When he was asked about prosecuting Clinton, and whether he was “taking that off the table,” he specifically said he was not doing so.

On global warming, he merely said, “I have a totally open mind” and that “I think there is some connectivity” between human activity and the climate.

Arrests of Journalists at Standing Rock Test the Boundaries of the First Amendment

Pat Boyle, a Denver-based journalist, was shot in the abdomen last Sunday by a rubber bullet as he reported from North Dakota on a clash between demonstrators and police that would end with 26 protesters sent to hospitals and 300 requiring other medical treatment. ... The rubber bullet that hit Boyle tore right through his press pass, leaving a jagged hole through the words “Unicorn Riot,” his news organization’s name.

This wasn’t Unicorn Riot’s first run-in with police while covering the pipeline conflict, nor was it the media collective’s most serious. Reporters for Unicorn Riot have been arrested three times in North Dakota and twice while covering Dakota Access pipeline protests in Iowa. ... The arrests of journalists and filmmakers covering the front lines of the Dakota Access pipeline fight highlight the limits of press protections and the central role of police, prosecutor, and court discretion in deciding whether or not members of the press should face legal consequences when covering protests. The arrests and violent crowd suppression tactics also reflect the refusal of police to discriminate between peaceful protesters, aggressive agitators, and journalists.

On Friday, the Army Corps of Engineers issued the Standing Rock Sioux tribe an eviction notice, demanding that thousands of people clear out of a second camp, known as Oceti Sakowin, located on land the Corps controls. ... If nothing else, the eviction notice is likely to amplify tensions between pipeline opponents and police. The dynamic will play out on the front lines of protest actions, a space Unicorn Riot specializes in covering. It’s a space that can be legally precarious for journalists, where citizens with grievances meet publicly funded police straining (or failing) to balance law and order with constitutional speech rights. These situations often test the limits of the First Amendment, so video dispatches from the front lines provide distinct information about public life and the use of force to control a dissenting citizenry.

For example, video published by Unicorn Riot and others of tear gas canisters and water cannons sprayed directly into crowds of protesters last Sunday night, when temperatures stood well below freezing, countered police claims that the water was being used primarily to protect people from fire.

Unicorn Riot’s coverage is sympathetic to the pipeline opponents and is rarely favorable to the police, and its members are often mistaken for activists. They can be counted on to provide live-streams of pipeline protests that are later edited into more easily digestible short pieces. More immersive than mainstream media and more polished than the work of most activist documentarians, the collective’s coverage has been essential to understanding the events in North Dakota.

Police have repeatedly questioned the press status of Unicorn Riot reporters, and during mass arrests, they and other journalists have often been swooped up with protesters. “I’m not participating. I’m not building the barricade. I’m not pushing off against the police. I’m not going to pray at the water ceremony. I’m literally there observing,” said Lorenzo Serna, another Unicorn Riot reporter. ...

Unicorn Riot reporters carry cards identifying them as members of the press, but the bullet hole in the card Boyle carried is a pretty good metaphor for how police view the IDs.

Obama Expands Global War on Terror to Somalia

With just over a month left in office, President Obama has once again expanded America’s global war on terror, announcing that he has formally added Somali militant faction al-Shabaab into the “perpetrators of 9/11” war authorization from back in 2001. ...

The AUMF authorized war against any nations or organizations involved in 9/11. Al-Shabaab didn’t exist until years later, with the group forming in 2007 and becoming a US-listed terror group in 2008. President Obama, however, seems comfortable continuing to abuse the AUMF for any war that strikes his fancy.

The timing is particularly unusual, with Obama previously said to be loathe to start any new wars this late in his term to leave for the next president. While Obama has been attacking al-Shabaab for years anyhow, the reason behind the official declaration is unknown.

Syria war: Thousands flee east Aleppo

Syrian rebel forces in Aleppo suffer 'biggest defeat since 2012'

Rebel forces in Aleppo have lost control of a key district that threatens to split the remaining opposition-held area in two, according to activists.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said pro-government forces seized the strategic Sakhour district in a wider advance that in recent days has driven rebels from a third of the areas they held.

One rebel official denied the report that Sakhour had fallen, an advance that would cut the rebel-held eastern districts of Aleppo in two, while another said the situation was not yet clear.

“It is the biggest defeat for the opposition in Aleppo since 2012,” Rami Abdulrahman, the observatory’s director, said. “The opposition has lost more than a third of the area it controlled in Aleppo city during the big advance.”

In a major breakthrough in their push to retake the city, troops supporting the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, captured the Masaken Hanano and Jabal Badra districts over the weekend, driving a wedge through the middle of the rebel-held enclave in the east of the city.

A fighter on the government side in Aleppo said it had left a small corridor for rebels to leave the northern part for the south. “In the coming hours, the rest of the northern sector will be taken,” he told Reuters.

Rebels Hand in Weapons in Evacuation Deals Near Syrian Capital

As the Syrian military continues to push its offensive around Damascus, surrounding rebel-held suburbs and sieging them, two new deals were made this weekend to see rebels evacuated out of those areas and given passage further north.

The evacuations saw rebels agreeing to hand in their heavy weapons to the government before getting passage to the north. The larger of the two areas was the Palestinian refugee camp of Khan al-Shih, in which an estimated 12,000 people live.

Perhaps the more unique deal was in al-Tal, however, as while the deal will see the armed rebels all evacuated from the area, the military has agreed not to enter the town even after this so long as the area remains free of heavy weapons in the future.

The first U.S. service member has been killed in Syria

The U.S. military suffered its first death in Syria on Thursday when a soldier was killed by an explosive device planted by retreating Islamic State militants.

The improvised explosive device (IED) killed an unnamed soldier who was taking part in Operation Inherent Resolve, the U.S. military operation combating IS in Syria and northern Iraq. The incident occurred near the town of Ayn Issa, half way between Raqqa and the Turkish border, where several groups have been active recently, including Syrian Kurds, IS and most recently local tribal fighters who oppose the Kurds.

Threats between Erdogan and the European Union ring hollow – they need each other

There is an element of shadow boxing in the latest EU-Turkey row. It probably was not a good idea to link the refugee crisis with progress on Turkey’s faltering decades-old bid to join the EU because it wrapped two insoluble problems into one. It raised hopes in Turkey that were never going to be fulfilled and inevitably brought disappointment. On the other hand, it is not in the interests of the EU or Turkey to escalate their dispute beyond a certain level, even though relations are becoming more antagonistic. Both need each other.

All sides are paying a price for letting the wars in Syria and Iraq go on for so long and doing so little to bring them to an end. The EU and Turkey both made critical mistakes, which could have been avoided, and neither have come up with realistic policies. Turkey was for long the sanctuary and transit point for the extreme Islamist armed opposition flooding into Syria. Erdogan and his government were convinced that President Bashar al-Assad's government was always on the verge of being overthrown though the evidence was much against this.

After 2011 the leaders of the main EU states – notably Britain and France – have had a Syrian policy based on wishful thinking and a belief that their vital interests were not affected by the conflict. They wanted to keep in with their traditional arms-buying allies in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf. It was only as Syrian immigrants poured into Europe in 2015 and Isis launched a series of devastating terrorist attacks in France and Belgium that the results of their folly became apparent. Real progress in ending the immigrant crisis means ending the war in Syria.

Iran considers naval bases in Yemen, Syria

Iran's chief of staff of the armed forces said Saturday that Tehran may be interested in setting up naval bases in both Syria and Yemen, the semi-official Tasnim reported.

The report by Tasnim, close to military, quoted Gen. Mohammad Hossein Bagheri as saying, "Maybe, at some point we will need bases on the shores of Yemen and Syria."

He said "Having naval bases in remote distances is not less than nuclear power. It is ten times more important and creates deterrence."

Gen. Bagheri added that setting up naval platforms off the shores of those countries requires "infrastructures there first."

He said Iran is also able to set up permanent platforms for military purposes in the Persian Gulf and roving ones in other places.

“Not even surprising anymore” - U.S.-backed coalition kills 12 more civilians in Yemen

The war in Yemen has reached a point where an apparently unlawful airstrike by a U.S.-backed coalition is “not even surprising anymore.” So says Human Rights Watch, the campaign group calling on the international community to create a credible and transparent mechanism to investigate what may amount to war crimes. ...

“I’m not surprised [at the latest attack],” Kristine Beckerle, Yemen researcher for Human Rights Watch told VICE News. “I’m sad and I’m frustrated, because I wish that governments across the globe would take action at this point, but it is following a pattern of bad behaviour on the Saudi-led coalition’s part that we have been seeing since March 2015.” ...

At the end of October, the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Samantha Power called on the Saudi-led coalition to end airstrikes in Yemen. Critics pointed out that Washington was complicit in these attacks as the U.S. supplies weapons to the Saudi government, but Beckerle says U.S. involvement goes way beyond just the supply of weapons.

“The US itself is a party to the conflict,” Beckerle said. “What we have been saying since the first months of fighting is that United States is also providing in-air refuelling to the coalition [and] there is U.S. staff in the Riyadh planning cell.”

Newly Released Documents Confirm Bureau of Prisons Visit to CIA Torture Site in Afghanistan

One of the many alarming facts that came to light with the release of the executive summary of the Senate Torture Report in 2014 was that the Justice Department’s Bureau of Prisons had sent a “delegation of several officers” to Afghanistan to conduct an assessment an infamous CIA detention site and concluded the CIA “did not mistreat the detainees.” ...

In April, the ACLU filed suit to obtain documents related to the visit, which the Bureau of Prisons initially claimed did not exist.

The bureau has now turned over several emails mentioning the visit — along with a written declaration by a senior Bureau of Prisons lawyer explaining the attempted cover-up. That declaration states that the officers were tasked orally, so that there was no record of their travel, and that the CIA forbade the two officers from producing records of or about the visit. ...

The declaration says that due to the lack of records, searches for documents based on keywords like “CIA, Afghanistan, and COBALT” initially turned up no documents. After the ACLU filed suit, the bureau conducted a more thorough search, identifying the individuals who traveled to Afghanistan and searching their communications.

Trump and the Deep State

Thomas Drake tells Paul Jay the deep state would've been more comfortable with Clinton; and while they'll do what they're told, many will be concerned that Pence is the new Cheney.

Trump CIA Pick Mike Pompeo Depicted War on Terror as Islamic Battle Against Christianity

Mike Pompeo, Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Central Intelligence Agency, has at times depicted the fight against terrorism as a war between radical Muslims, on one side, and the Christian faith on the other.

“This threat to America,” Pompeo told a church group in Wichita in 2014, is from a minority of Muslims “who deeply believe that Islam is the way and the light and the only answer.”

“They abhor Christians,” Pompeo said, “and will continue to press against us until we make sure that we pray and stand and fight and make sure that we know that Jesus Christ is our savior is truly the only solution for our world.” ...

At an evangelical church in his district that specializes in addressing “Satanism and paranormal activity” — and standing in front of a Christian flag — Pompeo in 2015  spoke of the “struggle against radical Islam, the kind of struggle this country has not faced since its great wars.” He warned that “evil is all around us,” citing reports of terror plots, and cautioned the congregation not to be deterred by those who might call them “Islamophobes or bigots.”

[There's lots more detail about the activities of this knuckle-dragger at the link. - js]

Denmark urged to clean up US military waste in Greenland

Greenland is calling on Denmark to clean up an abandoned under-ice missile project and other U.S. military installations left to rust in the pristine landscape after the Cold War.

The 1951 deal under which NATO member Denmark allowed the U.S. to build 33 bases and radar stations in the former Danish province doesn’t specify who’s responsible for any cleanup.

Tired of waiting, Greenland’s local leaders are now urging Denmark to remove the junk that the Americans left behind, including Camp Century, a never-completed launch site for nuclear missiles under the surface of the massive ice cap.

“Unless Denmark has entered other agreements with the United States about Camp Century, the responsibility for investigation and cleanup lies with Denmark alone,” said Vittus Qujaukitsoq, Greenland’s minister in charge of foreign affairs.

Camp Century was built in 1959-60 in northwestern Greenland, officially to test sub-ice construction techniques. The real plan was top secret: creating a hidden launch site for ballistic missiles that could reach the Soviet Union.

The project was abandoned in 1966 because the ice cap began to crush the camp. The U.S. removed a portable nuclear reactor that had supplied heat and electricity, but left an estimated 200,000 liters of diesel oil and sewage, according to an international study published in August.

Fidel Castro Dies at 90, Surviving 600 Assassination Attempts & Outlasting 11 US Presidents

In Brazil, Major New Corruption Scandals Engulf the Faction that Impeached Dilma

In his short time in office, President Michel Temer has already lost five ministers to scandal, but these new controversies are the most serious yet. One major scandal involves an effort in Congress – led by the very parties that impeached Dilma, with the support of some in Dilma’s party – to pass a law that vests themselves full legal amnesty for their crimes involving election financing. ... Many of Brazil’s most powerful politicians – including its Foreign Minister, a majority of members of the lower House, and installed President Michel Temer himself are implicated in this scheme and are thus threatened with the possibility of prosecution. ... The dominant group in the Congress is the one that led the impeachment battle and is now loyal to Temer, and they ... can ensure that this amnesty will pass. Temer himself has signaled that he will not veto it. ...

But now an entirely new scandal directly threatens Temer himself. Last week, Temer’s Minister of Culture, Marcelo Calero, flamboyantly resigned, announcing he was doing so because one of Temer’s closest allies, the Minster of Government Geddel Vieira Lima, had been aggressively pressuring Calero to take action to benefit a construction project in which Geddel had a personal interest. ... Yesterday, Calero, the minister-turned-whistleblower, gave a sworn statement to the Federal Police in which he said that not only was he pressured by Geddel to secure approval for this construction project, but that Temer himself spoke with him on two occasions and similarly pressured him. As a result, the front page of every major newspaper this morning has screaming headlines that Temer himself is now implicated in this scandal, and opposition parties have already instituted impeachment proceedings against Temer himself for this. ...

To Brazil’s oligarchical class, served (as always) by its media, it does not much matter what happens to Temer. ... Temer has served his purpose: he just oversaw passage of a radical austerity measure that – in the face of Brazil’s negative growth – literally amended the Constitution to bar spending increases beyond the rate of inflation for 20 years. Since entering office, he has overseen an orgy of privatization, austerity and spending freezes that Brazil’s oligarchical class has long craved. ... Temer himself, when speaking in New York in September to foreign investors and foreign policy elites, admitted that Dilma’s impeachment was due in large part to her refusal to accept his party’s austerity program, a stunning admission which Brazil’s big media completely ignored. Whether he is impeached in favor of new elections or is permitted to stumble through the remainder of his term as a widely despised figure matters little to them. They got what they wanted.

What could push the French Left to support a Thatcherite Conservative?

Cornering Trump on Jobs, Sanders Announces Anti-Outsourcing Bill

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has introduced legislation to ensure that a key campaign promise of President-elect Donald Trump comes to pass—keeping American jobs in America.

In a statement issued Saturday, the former Democratic presidential candidate took a stand against the air conditioner manufacturer United Technologies (UTX), which is planning to move 2,100 jobs to Mexico to maximize profits, as he announced legislation to prevent the outsourcing of U.S. factory jobs—and demanded that Trump follow through on his own vows to keep the company from going overseas.

"I call on Mr. Trump to make it clear to the CEO of United Technologies that if his firm wants to receive another defense contract from the taxpayers of this country, it must not move these plants to Mexico," Sanders said. "We need to send a very loud and very clear message to corporate America: the era of outsourcing is over. Instead of offshoring jobs, the time has come for you to start bringing good-paying jobs back to the United States of America."

Sanders' legislation, the Outsourcing Prevention Act, would prevent companies sending jobs overseas from receiving federal contracts, tax breaks, or other financial assistance; claw back federal subsidies that outsourcing companies received over the past decade; impose a tax of either 35 percent of the company's profits or an amount that equals the money saved by moving jobs overseas, whichever is higher; and imposing stiff tariffs on executive bonuses like golden parachutes, stock options, and other gratuities.

Members of Donald Trump's inner circle are criticizing his consideration of Mitt Romney

Donald Trump’s top advisor Kellyanne Conway trash-talked the president-elect’s consideration of Mitt Romney for the coveted cabinet position of Secretary of State on CNN Sunday.

Two other Trump loyalists, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, have also spoken openly about their view that Romney is untrustworthy.

Conway told CNN’s Dana Bash on State of the Union Sunday that many of the president-elect’s supporters feel “betrayed” by the decision to consider Romney, who called called Trump a “phony, a fraud.” ...

Behind the scenes, Romney has been going head-to-head with Trump surrogate and former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani for the position. Former General David Petraeus and Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker are also reportedly in the running.

SolarCity-Tesla is now running almost an entire island on solar power

Elon Musk has hyped his acquisition of SolarCity by Tesla as an opportunity to create the world’s most advanced and audacious clean energy company. And a recently revealed project on a Samoan island might be his best case for it yet.

The two companies, which shareholders last week voted to merge, are now running almost the entire island of Ta’u, the largest in the U.S. territory of American Samoa, on solar, showing the reach of their energy system.

“Ta’u now hosts a solar power and battery storage-enabled microgrid that can supply nearly 100 percent of the island’s power needs from renewable energy,” SolarCity-Tesla wrote in a blog post. “The system is expected to offset the use of more than 109,500 gallons of diesel per year.”

This island in American Samoa now runs on nearly 100% solar energy thanks to 5,300+ solar panels & 60 Tesla Powerpacks pic.twitter.com/65Jm8rvXs9

— Tesla (@TeslaMotors) November 22, 2016

Standing Rock protesters won't budge after Army Corps tells them to leave

Standing Rock’s main camp is growing, and its leaders say they won’t be moved.

The day after the Army Corps of Engineers warned thousands of people to vacate their encampment near a disputed pipeline route in North Dakota by Dec. 5, a group of Native American leaders held a press conference to send the message: we’re not leaving.

“We will no longer give you what you want. When rocks stand together, the river goes around them. We will never be moved by you.”

“The Army Corps of Engineers — they aren’t our landlords,” Isaac Weston of the Sioux Nation told media in the main Oceti Sakowin camp. “This is our land. They can’t remove us. They need to respect our treaties and respect our rights.”

Standing Rock Resistance

Dakota Access pipeline: sheriff will not 'allow people to become unlawful'

The North Dakota sheriff leading the response to the Dakota Access oil pipeline protests has rejected criticism of action taken against demonstrators who he believes have become increasingly aggressive.

“We are just not going to allow people to become unlawful,” said Morton County sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier, a veteran of the North Dakota highway patrol and national guard who was elected to his first term as sheriff about two years ago. ...

More than 525 people from across the country have been arrested in months of protests over the four-state, $3.8bn pipeline, in support of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe that is fighting the project because it believes it threatens drinking water and cultural sites on its nearby reservation.

Kirchmeier’s job of policing the protesters – the vast majority of whom have been camping on federal land that the US army corps of engineers says it will close in December over safety concerns – has cost the county more than $8m, even with help from the highway patrol and officers from other states. ...

Standing Rock Sioux chairman Dave Archambault said he and Kirchmeier had met many times and each meeting had been tense and unproductive.

“I don’t think aggressive force is necessary and he thinks it’s necessary,” Archambault said.

'The Coral Was Cooked': 2016 Deadliest Year on Record for Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier Reef suffered through the worst coral die-off in recorded history this year, scientists found, with unusually warm ocean water and record-setting bleaching events killing a stunning 90 percent of all coral in the worst-hit area.

Those were the conclusions of a study published Monday by the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies.

"One of the worst-hit areas is around Lizard Island in Far North Queensland, where around 90 percent of the coral has died," reports the BBC. "Dr. Andrew Hoey, whose team charted the area, said the impact was far worse than feared after an initial survey in April."

Also of Interest

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

Washington Post’s ‘Fake News’ Guilt

Some Fake News Publishers Just Happen to Be Donald Trump’s Cronies

Still More Myths About Clinton’s Defeat in Election 2016 Debunked

A Closer Look at Donald Trump’s Chief Strategist, Stephen K. Bannon

Reporter Who Laughed at Keith Ellison’s Trump Prediction Gives Platform to His Anonymous Critics

Reflections on the ‘Dispossessed’

Scientists rate Canadian climate policies

Did the EPA Prosecute and Jail a Mississippi Lab Owner Because of Her Activism?

Bill Black: Howard Dean Wants to Continue Austerity’s Assault on the Working Class

Photos of historical England 'challenge Downton Abbey myth'

A Little Night Music

Otis Clay - That's How It Is (When You're In Love)

Otis Clay - I Can't take it

Otis Clay - A Nickel And A Nail

Otis Clay - I Don't Know What To Do

Otis Clay - Love And Happiness/Soul Man

Otis Clay - Pouring Water on a Drowning Man

Otis Clay - Cry Cry Cry

Otis Clay - I Didn't Know The Meaning Of Pain

Otis Clay - Too Many Hands