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Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features soul singer Eddie Floyd. Enjoy!

^{Eddie Floyd - Knock On Wood}

“We ought not to speak only about the economics of globalization, but about the psychology of globalization. It's like the psychology of a battered woman being faced with her husband again and being asked to trust him again. That's what is happening. We are being asked by the countries that invented nuclear weapons and chemical weapons and apartheid and modern slavery and racism - countries that have perfected the gentle art of genocide, that colonized other people for centuries - to trust them when they say that they believe in a level playing field and the equitable distribution of resources and in a better world. It seems comical that we should even consider that they really mean what they say.”

-- Arundhati Roy

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News and Opinion

The Empire Goes Galactic! Squabbling Senators agree that anything within US Empire's reach should not elude its grasp. Anything which is not nailed down belongs to The Empire, that which can be pried up is not nailed down.

Congress claims space resource rights for Americans to exploit 'new frontier'

In a rare bipartisan moment US lawmakers opened up the possibility of mining on other worlds despite an international treaty barring sovereign claims in space

Asteroid platinum and the briny water on Mars may soon be available for plunder, Republicans and Democrats have agreed, advancing a bill that would grant “space resource rights” and could challenge an international treaty on outer space.

The US Senate passed the Space Act of 2015 this week, sending its revisions of the bill back to the House for an expected approval, after which it would land on the president’s desk. The bill has a slew of provisions to encourage commercial companies that want to explore space and exploit its resources, granting “asteroid resource” and “space resource” rights to US citizens who managed to acquire the resource themselves.

The lawmakers defined “space resource” as “an abiotic resource in situ in outer space” that would include water and minerals but not life. ...

Aside from the daunting logistics, the largest earthbound obstacle to space mining is an 1967 international treaty known as the Outer Space Treaty, to which the US is a signatory. The treaty holds that no “celestial body” is subject to “national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means”.

Senate lawmakers were careful to add in their bill that they grant rights only to citizens who act under the law, “including the international obligations of the United States”.

They also added a “disclaimer of extraterritorial sovereignty”, saying the US does not thereby assert ownership, exclusive rights or jurisdiction “of any celestial body”.

So although the bill asserts certain rights for US citizens, it disavows any national claim – sending a mixed message on asteroid rights, space lawyer Michael Listner told the Guardian.

"Tomorrow's Battlefield": As U.S. Special Ops Enter Syria, Growing Presence in Africa Goes Unnoticed

'Boots on the ground' and other military jargon are designed to confuse

When it comes to describing our military engagements across the world, Orwellian seems to be the language of choice for the US government. They consistently use the alchemy of bureaucratic language to transform words with clear meaning into jargon. This baffles any attempt to truly inform the public and keeps our national defense insidery and anti-democratic.

Take the phrase “boots on the ground”. The literal meaning of the words seems clear enough, and the colloquial use of the phrase – defined as “American forces deployed to a foreign country” – is unambiguous. So why was there such an awkward debate over this phrase after Barack Obama’s announcement last month that special forces advisers would be deployed to Syria?

It’s important to remember that if American “boots on the ground” was defined by actual boots on real ground, then it would be safe to say that we’re currently engaged in a worldwide deployment. ... So when White House press secretary Josh Earnest was asked to explain why Obama had gone back on his 2013 promise to not put “boots on the ground” in Syria, Earnest was forced to redefine the phrase to mean “large-scale, long-term ground combat operations in either Syria or Iraq”.

Obama then doubled-down on the idea that “boots on the ground” can only refer to a large-scale ground war in the Middle East by telling NBC’s Lester Holt: “Really, this is just an extension of what we were continuing to do … We are not putting US troops on the frontlines fighting firefights with Isil”. ...

Instead of defending the merits of sending Special Forces into Syria, the White House instead spends its time arguing with reporters about how they’re using words wrong. ...

One suspects that an influx of even more American ground troops would come fit with jargon-laden explanations of events meant to confuse public perceptions about what is actually happening. At what phase of “major combat operations” are boots actually considered to be on the ground? When we’ve already fully committed to a ground war and it’s too late to turn back the clock?

US May Be Condemned to Fight ISIS Forever

Interviewed on CNN today, retired Gen. John Allen, recently replaced as the US Special Envoy to the war against ISIS, offered an extremely pessimistic assessment of the war, saying that the US needs to address the causes of “symptoms” like ISIS and al-Qaeda, and failing that will be “condemned to fight forever.”

Historically, the US hasn’t been particularly good at even identifying the causes of insurgencies against US-backed governments, let alone making any credible efforts to address those problems. Notably, Gen. Allen didn’t make any real effort to identify the causes he thought the US needs to address either.

Rather, Allen simply insisted that the locals “understand the region better” and that the US should “work closely with them” to resolve the underlying conditions which are fueling growing recruitment to such Islamist factions.

Gulf States Slip Out of War on ISIS

With little notice and no fanfare, although the New York Times mentioned it the other day, the Gulf Arab states have withdrawn from significant participation in the war in Syria. This move involves in particular the air forces of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. These are some of the same Arab governments that screamed long and loud about the need to do more in Syria. They are so exercised over the conflict in Syria that they are willing to fight there to the last American.

The Saudis and their colleagues are shifting most of their own air power to their armed intervention in Yemen. That intervention does nothing to advance U.S. interests, even though Washington managed to get itself maneuvered into supporting that expedition, too, through means short of direct U.S. military involvement. ...

Back in Syria, it’s not as if the departure of the Gulf Arab forces makes much of a dent in what the United States is trying to do militarily. There has always been a big disconnect in the priorities and objectives that each government has had there.

The Saudis have seemed even less interested in countering ISIS, as distinct from being fixated on the fate of the Assad regime, than the Russians have been, although they and the Russians are, of course, on opposite sides regarding the status of that regime. ...

Participation of other Western powers already was lukewarm, and the U.S. role will get lonelier still with the promise by the new Trudeau government in Ottawa to end Canadian participation in military operations in Syria.

All of this makes the United States that much more of a salient target for anger over the no-good-solution Syria situation and for related reprisals, including those of the terrorist variety.

[For some very interesting analysis of what is going on with Saudi Arabia, see this well-worth-reading article: Saudi Arabia: a Kingdom Stumbles - js]

Beirut Bombings: Dozens Killed as ISIL Continues Attacks on Foes Outside Its Territory

IS video threatens attacks in Russia

Islamic State has released a video threatening attacks in Russia "very soon" in revenge for Russian bombing in Syria, the SITE monitoring group said on Thursday, and the Kremlin said Russian state security services would study the material.

Al-Hayat Media Center, the militant group's foreign language media division, released a video in Russian with chants of "Soon, very soon, the blood will spill like an ocean", SITE reported.

Islamic State has previously called for attacks on Russia and the United States in revenge for strikes by their warplanes on its fighters in Syria.

Islamic State 'Defeated and On the Run' From Sinjar

Kurdish fighters say they have taken back the key city of Sinjar from the Islamic State, though there are arguments about which group is responsible for the claimed victory.

"ISIL defeated and on the run," the Kurdistan regional security council said in a tweet, using an acronym for Islamic State

It said troops had secured Sinjar's silo, cement factory, hospital and several other public buildings.

Kurdish fighters were seen walking in the town amidst destroyed buildings and vehicles; others were showing victory sign while standing by the main road leading to the town. ...

Hundreds of peshmerga vehicles and tanks amassed, avoiding craters left by exploded IEDs. Smoke rose from a few houses burning in the villages nearby that had been cleared of IS fighters the previous day.

Netanyahu wants to steal another chunk of Arab land:

White House official: U.S. won't recognize Israeli sovereignty in Golan

Washington rejects Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s suggestion to U.S. President Barack Obama at the White House on Monday to discuss the possibility of U.S. recognition of Israeli rule over the Golan Heights, a senior White House official said.

In making the suggestion, Netanyahu pointed to Syria’s growing destabilization from civil war. But the White House official said the U.S. position, which objects to Israel annexing the Golan Heights, remains unchanged, adding that Netanyahu’s proposal was unjustified and could even harm U.S.-backed Syrian opposition forces.

The administration official said Netanyahu raised the issue of the Golan Heights’ status as part of a wider discussion with Obama about Israel’s interests in Syria and Jerusalem’s fears of growing Iranian control in the war-torn country.

“We were talking about Syria and Netanyahu said he had nothing to do with the domestic situation in the country, and that he cared about [preventing] the transfer of weapons to Hezbollah and [the creation] of a second front in the Golan by Iran and Hezbollah,” the official said.

“And then he [Netanyahu] said almost in passing that one way to do it would be to recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan … because under these conditions Israel will not give it back to Syria,” he said.

McCain threatens court battle if Obama bypasses Congress on Guantanamo

Senate Armed Services Chairman John McCain is threatening a court battle if President Barack Obama tries to go around Congress in a last-ditch attempt to achieve his campaign pledge of closing the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

And the White House is doing little to squelch rumors that Obama might be preparing to do exactly that in order to remove what many have come to believe is a symbol of American overreach in confronting the terrorist threat, fueling militant recruiting.

Both sides are jockeying for leverage ahead of a possible constitutional showdown that could have a major impact on the legacy of a president nearing his final year in office.

The White House has suggested all options are on the table — leading the president’s GOP critics to believe Obama could be gearing up to use his authority as commander in chief to shutter the prison if lawmakers refuse to go along with a plan due out as soon as this week for clearing out the remaining 112 detainees.

It appears to be to the White House’s advantage to leave that possibility open. The prospect of Obama going around Congress could goad reluctant lawmakers into working with the president to come up with a legislative compromise for shuttering the military prison and transferring the inmates to the U.S. mainland.

ICC cites evidence of international forces abusing Afghanistan detainees

U.N. prosecutors said on Thursday they had evidence suggesting international forces in Afghanistan had caused serious harm to detainees by subjecting them to physical and psychological abuse.

The court has been investigating alleged crimes committed since 2003 by all parties to the conflict in Afghanistan, but in previous reports on the status of its inquiry it has been far more circumspect about alleged crimes and the harm caused.

In its latest report on the many preliminary examinations it has open, the court's Office of the Prosecutor said U.S. investigations of alleged crimes by its soldiers had not yielded convictions or risen high up the chain of command.

The determination marks a significant escalation of the court's long-running investigation and could prove controversial in the U.S., which is not a member of the court and has in the past opposed it vociferously.

"The infliction of 'enhanced interrogation' techniques' ... would have caused serious physical and psychological injury," prosecutors wrote.

Battered By Civil War and Historic Cyclones, Yemen Now Faces Swarms of Locusts

As Yemen's bloody conflict continues into its eighth month and residents recover from two unprecedented cyclones in the span of weeks, the United Nations is now warning the country faces another ticking time bomb — hordes of locusts.

Desert locusts are intermittently present in large numbers in Yemen, where they await sufficiently moist soil to breed. ...

Cyclone Chapala, which hit southern Yemen with exceptional intensity on November 3, left close to 200mm of rain in certain areas, enough to possibly keep the soil moist enough for female locust to deposit eggs for six months, said the UN Food and Agricultural Organization's senior locust forecasting officer, Keith Cressman.

Female desert locusts can lay eggs on three occasions within their lifetime, each time dropping roughly 100 eggs into the soil. The vast majority of offspring die either before hatching or in their wingless "hopper" stage. But the rate of reproduction still can lead to a 20-fold increase for each subsequent generation, said Cressman, meaning Yemen could be beset by locust swarms of biblical proportions by Spring 2016. ...

According the FAO, just a small swarm of locusts is capable of devouring enough food in one day to feed 35,000 people.

Code Name for U.K. Probe of Snowden Reporting Revealed: “Operation Curable”

A secretive British police investigation focusing on journalists working with Edward Snowden’s leaked documents has been designated the code name “Operation Curable,” according to details newly obtained by The Intercept under the U.K.’s Freedom of Information Act.

The counterterrorism unit within the London Metropolitan Police’s Specialist Operations division has been conducting the criminal probe for more than two years. ...

The investigation — Operation Curable, as it’s called — is currently being carried out under the direction of Mark Rowley, the head of the Specialist Operations unit. In the 1990s, Rowley pioneered the development of British police covert surveillance methods as a detective superintendent with the National Criminal Intelligence Service. Recently, Rowley has accused Snowden of undermining the police’s ability to “protect the public and save lives.” He has also asserted that he has no problem monitoring journalists’ communications if he deems it necessary to “chase down criminals.”

FBI Spied on School of Americas Watch

FBI accused of paying researchers $1M to unmask Web users without warrant

The team behind the world’s largest anonymous online network is accusing the FBI of paying security researchers at least $1 million to uncover the identities of its users as part of a sweeping criminal investigation.

If true, the payment would represent a concerning collaboration that may be illegal if the FBI didn’t obtain a warrant, according to the Tor Project, which oversees the online anonymity software Tor.

In a late Wednesday blog post, Tor Project Director Roger Dingledine said the FBI directed researchers at Carnegie Mellon University to find out the personal details of a wide swath of Tor users.

“Apparently these researchers were paid by the FBI to attack hidden services users in a broad sweep, and then sift through their data to find people whom they could accuse of crimes,” Dingledine said. “There is no indication yet that they had a warrant or any institutional oversight by Carnegie Mellon's Institutional Review Board.”

“We think it's unlikely they could have gotten a valid warrant for CMU's attack as conducted, since it was not narrowly tailored to target criminals or criminal activity, but instead appears to have indiscriminately targeted many users at once,” he added.

Policeman who shot dead Tamir Rice acted 'reasonably', says expert

Victim’s family angry as county prosecutor accused of dripping expert opinions before grand jury investigation into Cleveland killing completed

The prosecutor investigating the fatal police shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice has released another expert opinion which describes the actions of the officer involved as “objectively reasonable”.

The new expert opinion, written by W Ken Katsaris, a veteran law enforcement trainer from Florida, also argues that while Rice’s death in November 2014 was a “tragedy”, it would “also be a tragedy” if officer Timothy Loehmann lost his job. ...

The Katsaris opinion is the third to be released by Cuyahoga county attorney Timothy McGinty. All three opinions have argued that Loehmann was justified in using lethal lethal force against Rice, but questions about the impartiality of the first two experts have subsequently been raised. ...

Lawyers for the Rice family told the Guardian that McGinty’s decision to continue to drip feed expert opinions before the grand jury process was completed was a “complete evil misuse” of the process.

“It’s apparent that these efforts are to justify his [McGinty’s] true intent; to inoculate the public and brace them for the ultimate decision, which is that there’s not going to be any indictment out of the grand jury,” said attorney Walter Madison, who represents Rice’s father Leonard Warner.

“I believe it is a complete evil misuse of a grand jury process he’s converted into a private, secret trial designed to exonerate these officers.

Eurozone recovery loses steam as Germany slows

The eurozone’s economy lost steam in the latest quarter as Portugal stalled, Germany slowed and debt-stricken Greece contracted.

Gross domestic product (GDP) across the 19 countries in the single currency bloc rose just 0.3% in the third quarter, according to Eurostat.

Euro area GDP +0.3% in Q3 2015, +1.6% compared with Q3 2014 #Eurostat - https://t.co/t83KcLWq89 pic.twitter.com/zwRG0uzVJh

— EU_Eurostat (@EU_Eurostat) November 13, 2015

The July to September figures mark a slowdown from eurozone GDP growth of 0.4% in the second quarter and 0.5% in the first quarter and come as the European Central Bank (ECB) hints that it is planning to inject further funds into the eurozone economy to maintain recovery.

Germany, the eurozone’s biggest economy, grew 0.3% as expected, but that was a notch down from 0.4% growth in the previous quarter. France’s economy grew 0.3%, a rebound from no growth in the second quarter.

But Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal and Finland all undershot market expectations. Greece swung from growing 0.4% in the second quarter to shrinking 0.5%.

"A Very Big Mistake": Joseph Stiglitz Slams Obama for Pushing the TPP

WHO Head Joins Chorus Denouncing TPP's Blow to Public Health, Boon to Big Pharma

Adding to the chorus of voices sounding alarm on the impacts of the pending TransPacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said Thursday that there were "some very serious concerns" regarding the 12-nation pact. 

Speaking to a conference in Geneva, Margaret Chan mentioned concern "about interference by powerful economic operators," and said, "I have been hearing some serious concerns that the TransPacific Partnership, the biggest trade agreement ever, may adversely affect the market for generics and biosimilars and increase the cost of medicines."

Repeating a comment she made in 2014, Chan asked, "If these agreements open trade yet close the door to affordable medicines we have to ask the question: is this really progress at all?" ...

Tim Fernholz reported for Quartz Monday that the U.S., through the TPP, was exporting Big Pharma-friendly policies that keep drug prices high:

"Though the US in the end relented on some of its demands to protect its drug makers from competition—to the point where some US trade boosters threatened to pull their backing for the deal—the TPP still obliges signatory countries to accept many of the patent rules that help drug firms keep prices high in the US." [. . . ]

While the final agreement was significantly less restrictive than some advocates feared, trade lawyers who reviewed the intellectual property chapter (pdf) say it protects pharmaceutical patents more than previous trade deals do—in particular the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), a global floor on patent rules that has loopholes to ensure cheap access to medicines.

Our Economy Is Not Working: Joseph Stiglitz on Widening Income Inequality & the Fight for $15

Nominee to Oversee Wall Street Works at Think Tank Dedicated to Blocking Regulation

President Barack Obama recently nominated Hester Maria Peirce to fill a Republican seat on the Securities and Exchange Commission.

His announcement included her formal title — senior research fellow and director of the Financial Markets Working Group at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University — which sounds a lot like an academic post.

But Peirce, new disclosures show, received 98 percent of her salary directly from the Mercatus Center, a “think tank” that provides an academic façade to a radical anti-regulatory agenda. The Center’s so-called research reflects the lobbying priorities of its corporate funders — chief among them, Koch Industries. ...

The Mercatus Center has been described by the Wall Street Journal “as a coordinating center for lobbyists trying to block a flurry of regulations.” Congressional records show the think tank routinely cited in over a dozen hearings over the last two years by lawmakers seeking to roll back regulations on business interests. 

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If Wall Street Reform Becomes 2016 'Litmus Test,' Clinton Will Have Lots of Explaining To Do

Hillary Clinton's opposition to reinstating banking firewall makes it clear where she stands in the fight against the industry's powerful influence

As Thursday marked the 16th anniversary of the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act, which erected a firewall between investment and commercial banking, some are assessing if new measures to break up large banks will become a litmus test in the 2016 presidential race. ...

But Clinton is opposed to the idea, putting her at odds on the issue with not only Warren and Sanders, but also Republicans like John McCain and Mike Huckabee.

As the only Democrat who has opposed reinstating a law similar to Glass-Steagall—and has been criticized for her longstanding ties to big banks—Clinton holds a singular position in the presidential race. Her plan to take on Wall Street's unchecked power, unveiled last month, promises to crack down on financial crimes and risky trading—but, as financial reform advocates cautioned, was "far less bold" than Warren's and Sanders' agendas. As CNN Money summed up at the time, "The reaction [to Clinton's plan] from the banking community was a shrug, if not relief."

TruthDig's Robert Scheer noted last month that Clinton has benefited from her husband's repeal of Glass-Steagal even as she built her own record regarding Wall Street.

When it comes to the economic policies driving the 2016 election, wrote Scheer, "Hillary Clinton seems to be even less conflicted than her husband in serving the super rich at the expense of the middle class."

Stiglitz: Sanders is Right - Everybody Has the Right to Healthcare, Sick Days and Family Leave

“I don’t think she can call herself a feminist”: Palestinian blasts Hillary Clinton for “selective” feminism

“There are millions of women and girls like me. What about us? According to [Hillary Clinton], we do not exist. We are invisible, like women have been treated throughout history,” wrote Layali Awwad, a young Palestinian feminist and human rights activist, in an open letter to Hillary Clinton.

Awwad was responding to an article Clinton published in The Forward on Nov. 4, in which the Democratic presidential candidate reaffirmed her “unbreakable bond” with hard-line right-wing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“When you chose to speak about my homeland, not once did you mention Israel’s human rights violations against Palestinian women and children,” Awwad wrote to Clinton. “Even worse, you described us as lurking terrorists motivated only by ‘incitement,’ as if the Israeli military occupation does not exist.”

Layali Awwad grew up in the city of Ramallah, in the West Bank, which has been under illegal Israeli military occupation since 1967. It was under this brutal military occupation that she has lived virtually all of her life. Awwad says her childhood was taken away from her. Since age five, she has had to trek through Israeli military checkpoints to go to school. She recalls being “searched and humiliated on a daily basis,” having dogs sicced on her, and being shot at by Israeli occupation soldiers.

Now a freshman at Kenyon College, in Ohio, Awwad is pursuing a career in human rights advocacy.

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Some chunky food for thought, here. There's way too much here to fairly extract, so here's a bit to get you started:

Capitalism’s Dead Zones: Pipelines, Profits and Resistance

The case for reforming existing political economy is easy to understand but increasingly difficult to support. On the side of reform are the large, complex and interrelated political and economic relations that are now critical to feeding, clothing and housing hundreds of millions of people. Against reform are the institutions that support social irresolution in favor of a political economy of mass suicide. The Keystone XL pipeline that was recently ‘killed’ (temporarily set aside) to much self-congratulation by the long-suffering green-left is the near perfect project for resurrection under the ISDS (Investor-State Dispute Resolution) mechanism central to the TTP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) and TTIP (Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership) ‘trade’ agreements being promoted by pipeline killer Barack Obama.

In his role as political leader Mr. Obama made the political proclamation regarding Keystone XL while undermining it through expansion of supra-national judicial authority with the ISDS. The ISDS is a civil shakedown mechanism adjudicated by corporate lawyers that supersedes civil governance through making awards for ‘lost’ corporate profits. Profits are ‘lost’ when governments act in the public interest through prohibiting destructive, but potentially profitable, behavior by corporations. ...

The position of the reform-oriented left appears to be that future outcomes will be mediated through political activism designed to sway a ‘rational’ political center. Left unconsidered is that there is no straightforwardly rational center to sway. The political challenge of reform is to tie local rationalities like collecting campaign contributions and serving powerful constituencies to preventing wholesale irrationalities like global warming. The political paradox in need of resolution is that these very-same powerful constituencies benefit from environmentally destructive economic production. The goal of pending ‘trade’ agreements is to resolve this paradox by granting corporations the power to be paid whether they pollute (through profits) or don’t (through economic awards for ‘foregone’ profits).

The current conundrum is economics posed as politics— ‘soft’ political solutions to growing social and environmental catastrophes that assuage fears without resolving their underlying facts. Pending ‘trade’ agreements are explicitly designed to subvert political resolution of the toxic consequences of capitalist production. This is accomplished through political sleights-of-hand; through policies proposed in one sphere while undermined in another. ...

The public function of reform has been to sell implausible local victories as an alternative to the constructive despondency that might lead to more substantive outcomes. ... In the time since forces were first rallied to stop Keystone XL 8,000 miles of pipeline have been built. Efforts to sway the rational political center in this case led to an overwhelming victory for the oil and gas industry, not for the green-left. Furthermore, by giving credit for these victory-hoaxes to the political establishment the misleading notion is perpetuated that reform will lead to meaningful resolution of social and environmental crises when misdirection is the only proven outcome.

'The Tides Are Turning': Portland Passes Landmark Resolution Against Fossil Fuel Infrastructure

In what climate activists are celebrating as a "landmark" win, the Portland City Council on Thursday unanimously voted to pass a resolution opposing the expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure in the city and its adjacent waterways.

"This is a huge victory for the movement and for climate stability," stated Mia Reback, climate organizer for 350PDX, which joined groups including Rising Tide, Columbia Riverkeeper, and Portland Audubon Society in supporting the resolution.

Brett VandenHeuvel, Executive Director of Columbia Riverkeeper, writes (pdf) that the resolution "takes a strong stand against this fossil fuel infrastructure and has the teeth to succeed." Explaining the specifics, he adds:

Due to federal preemption, Portland cannot block all fossil fuel transport. Federal law, for example, limits city regulations of trains and interstate pipelines. Portland is taking a smart approach by asking city planners to do everything they can, within the law, to stop fossil fuel transport and infrastructure. Example: While Portland cannot block all oil trains, Portland does have the authority to deny an oil shipping terminal if the project violates land use zoning or fire codes. This would have the effect of preventing all the oil trains needed to serve the terminal. The resolution, therefore, is not just symbolic.

Portland Mayor Charlie Hales, as well as climate campaigners, said the city's stand showed it taking exactly the kind of approach needed in this moment of climate crisis.

Declining Snowpack Threatens Water Supply for Billions Worldwide

Vast areas of the northern hemisphere that are home to nearly two billion people face dangerous water shortages due to shrinking snowpacks, according to a new study released Thursday.

Less snowfall and earlier melting over the next century, coupled with the current trajectory of greenhouse gas emissions, means that people living in nearly a hundred watershed basins worldwide which rely on melting snow for water supply face a 67 percent chance of decline by 2060. That figure remains true even if present demand does not increase.

"Snow is important because it forms its own reservoir," said lead author Justin Mankin of Columbia University. "But the consequences of reduced snowpack are not the same for all places—it is also a function of where and when people demand water. Water managers in a lot of places may need to prepare for a world where the snow reservoir no longer exists."

The most at-risk basins lie in the American West and South, southern Europe, the Middle East, and central Asia, according to the report, published in Environmental Research Letters.

World’s largest ocean cleanup operation one step closer to launch

A crowdfunded 100km-long boom to clean up a vast expanse of plastic rubbish in the Pacific is one step closer to reality after successful tests of a scaled-down prototype in the Netherlands last week.

Further trials off the Dutch and Japanese coasts are now slated to begin in the new year. If they are successful, the world’s largest ever ocean cleanup operation will go live in 2020, using a gigantic V-shaped array, the like of which has never been seen before.

The so-called ‘Great Pacific garbage patch’, made up largely of tiny bits of plastic trapped by ocean currents, is estimated to be bigger than Texas and reaching anything up to 5.8m sq miles (15 sq km). It is growing so fast that, like the Great Wall of China, it is beginning to be seen from outer space, according to Jacqueline McGlade, the chief scientist of the UN environmental programme (Unep). ...

Sea currents and winds will be used to passively funnel plastic debris into an elbow made of vulcanised rubber where it can be concentrated for periodic collection by vessels.

Sub-sea buoys at depths of up to 30 metres would anchor the contraption in depths of up to 4.5km. Sea currents flowing beneath its booms would allow fish to escape, while hoovering up 42% of the Pacific’s plastic soup. At least, that is the plan. ...

Around half the scheme’s initial €30m (£20m) budget has now been raised through online donations and wealthy sponsors. In the long term, the project plans to finance itself with a major retail line of ocean plastic fashion wear.

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Also of Interest

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

Edward Snowden Explains How To Reclaim Your Privacy

It’s a $cam!: The American Way of War in the Twenty-First Century

See Jerusalem through Palestinian eyes

NSA whistleblower Thomas Drake: ‘I’ve had to create a whole new life’

The “New Democrats” Confront a New Reality

Will Obama Give Israel Even More American Weapons and Dollars to Kill Palestinians?

Life in Post-Constitutional America: the Obama Factor

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A Little Night Music

Eddie Floyd - 634-5789

Eddie Floyd - Something You Got

Eddie Floyd - Holding on with both hands

Eddie Floyd - Bring It On Home To Me

Eddie Floyd - Good Love, Bad Love

Eddie Floyd - Big Bird

Eddie Floyd - On A Saturday Night

Eddie Floyd - Raise Your Hand

Eddie Floyd - Girl I Love You

Eddie Floyd - I've Never Found A Girl

Eddie Floyd - Woodman

Eddie Floyd - Get It Together

Eddie Floyd - Too Much Is Too Little for Me

Eddie Floyd - Set my soul on fire

Eddie Floyd - Make Up Your Mind

Eddie Floyd - Got To Make A Comeback

Eddie Floyd - Things Get Better

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