Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features North Mississippi blues musician and juke joint owner Junior Kimbrough. Enjoy!

“All obstructions to the execution of the laws, all combinations and associations, under whatever plausible character, with the real design to direct, control, counteract, or awe the regular deliberation and action of the constituted authorities, are destructive of this fundamental principle, and of fatal tendency. They serve to organize faction, to give it an artificial and extraordinary force; to put, in the place of the delegated will of the nation the will of a party, often a small but artful and enterprising minority of the community; and, according to the alternate triumphs of different parties, to make the public administration the mirror of the ill-concerted and incongruous projects of faction, rather than the organ of consistent and wholesome plans digested by common counsels and modified by mutual interests.”

-- George Washington

News and Opinion

Pentagon Deliberately Thwarting Efforts to Close Guantanamo

President Obama's repeated pledges to close the Guantánamo Bay detention center have been routinely and deliberately undermined by his own Department of Defense, according to a damning new investigation published on Monday.

[Um, and just who is the Commander-in-Chief? - js]

Citing numerous administration officials, Reuters exposed a "pattern" of bureaucratic obstacles imposed by the U.S. Pentagon which have successfully thwarted efforts to transfer cleared detainees from the notorious offshore prison.

[Oh, they're bureaucratic obstacles. I guess those sorts of things are insurmountable. - js]

"Pentagon officials have refused to provide photographs, complete medical records and other basic documentation to foreign governments willing to take detainees, administration officials said," according to the Reuters excluive. "They have made it increasingly difficult for foreign delegations to visit Guantánamo, limited the time foreign officials can interview detainees and barred delegations from spending the night at Guantánamo."

... Spokespeople for both the White House and Pentagon denied any "discord" over efforts to close the prison.

[The lack of evidence of firings of bureaucrats or courts martial for failures to follow orders would seem to support the conclusion that the Pentagon is doing exactly what Mr. Obama wants it to. - js]

However, Reuters notes that the "Bush administration faced no political opposition on transfers and was able to move 532 detainees out of Guantanamo over six years." During Obama's seven years in office, 131 detainees have been transferred while 107 still remain.

[Are we to conclude that Obama is such a milquetoast that he refuses to challenge his underlings for failure to execute his orders? Surely there are those who would prefer that we do, perhaps even including members of the Obama administration. Perhaps some of his Opologists would probably prefer that we conclude that Obama is beset by a racist institutional infrastructure that obstructs him at every turn, leaving Obama powerless to act.

Twaddle.

Dog - not barking. - js]

[See also: Guantánamo Bay lawyers call bluff on Obama's promise to close prison - js]

The Misinformation Mess

As Americans approach Election Year 2016, the crisis of misinformation is growing more and more dangerous. On issues from foreign policy to the economy, almost none of the candidates in the race appears to be addressing the real world,

The media’s obsession with Donald Trump’s off-the-cuff candidacy “has in one way worked to the G.O.P. establishment’s advantage: it has distracted pundits and the press from the hard right turn even conventional Republican candidates have taken, a turn whose radicalism would have seemed implausible not long ago,” Krugman wrote on Monday. ...

It would be fair to say that the Democrats are suffering from a similar disconnect from the lessons of the last quarter century, with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton bristling with hawkish rhetoric toward Syria and Russia while sending fawning salutations to Israel despite its contribution to the Mideast crisis by repressing the Palestinian people.

Even Clinton’s chief rival, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, can’t formulate a rational policy toward the Middle East, although – to his credit – he did oppose Bush’s bogus case for invading Iraq and favors prioritizing cooperation with Russia in defeating the Islamic State over demanding another “regime change” in Syria.

But Sanders simply wants to postpone the U.S. removal of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and he encourages Saudi Arabia to throw its military weight around more across the region, not noticing that the Saudis are backing many of the Sunni jihadists who have helped turn the Middle East into a killing field. Nor does Sanders note that Saudi Arabia’s air force is currently pulverizing Yemen because a Shiite rebel group, the Houthis, gained power in that impoverished nation.

In a rational world, Saudi Arabia would be viewed as a major part of the problem, not part of any solution.

But is it really possible to expect that the American people (as propagandized and misinformed as they are) could effect significant change through the electoral process, which is itself deeply compromised by vast sums of dark money from American oligarchs, while other super-rich Americans own the major media companies.

So, while there may be some logical responses to this combination of crises, the media/political system prevents them from being considered in any coherent way. ...

The central challenge for a possible political transformation in America rests on reliable information getting to the people, especially given all the sources of misinformation and the many barriers to the truth. That battle – restoring the life-blood of democracy, an informed electorate – remains the challenge of our time.

US pursuing regime change in Iraq, Syria, aiming for Iran - Pres. Candidate Jill Stein

US military drafting 'new narrative' for ISIS war

The U.S. military is seeking to craft a “new narrative” for the war against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), in part to push back on the growing perception that President Obama does not have a strategy.

Military officials on the Operation Inherent Resolve task force have recently formed a working group to formulate the narrative, defense officials told The Hill. Separately, the Joint Staff has drafted its own messaging document.

The steps are preliminary and are part of a larger effort to better communicate the United States's military strategy amid heavy criticism from Republican presidential candidates who say Obama is losing the battle against the terrorist group. ...

Obama earlier this week in an interview with NPR suggested that the administration has not done enough to publicize progress in the ISIS war.

Of course Obama has a strategy, look, the market share claimed by US arms manufacturers has increased mightily in a flat market!

U.S. Foreign Arms Deals Increased Nearly $10 Billion in 2014

Foreign arms sales by the United States jumped by almost $10 billion in 2014, about 35 percent, even as the global weapons market remained flat and competition among suppliers increased, a new congressional study has found.

American weapons receipts rose to $36.2 billion in 2014 from $26.7 billion the year before, bolstered by multibillion-dollar agreements with Qatar, Saudi Arabia and South Korea. Those deals and others ensured that the United States remained the single largest provider of arms around the world last year, controlling just over 50 percent of the market.

[See, we're winning! - js]

Russia followed the United States as the top weapons supplier, completing $10.2 billion in sales, compared with $10.3 billion in 2013. Sweden was third, with roughly $5.5 billion in sales, followed by France with $4.4 billion and China with $2.2 billion.

Syria and Iraq: Ethnic cleansing by Sunni and Shia jihadis is leading to a partition of the Middle East

Sectarian and ethnic cleansing by all sides in Syria and Iraq is becoming more intense, ensuring that there are few mixed areas left in the two countries and, even if the war ends, many refugees will find it too dangerous to return to their homes.

Communities which once lived together in peace are today so frightened of each other after years of savage warfare that the more powerful sect or ethnic group is forcing out the weaker one. This pattern is repeating itself everywhere from the Sunni towns captured by Shia militiamen in provinces around Baghdad to Christian enclaves in central Syria under threat from Isis, and in Turkmen villages just south of the Syrian-Turkish border being bombed by Russian aircraft.

The inability of Syrians and Iraqis to return home in safety means that Europe and the Middle East will have to cope for decades to come with an irreversible refugee crisis brought on by the war. ...

Mercy is scarce in the war in Syria and Iraq. Shia in Iraq say that since 2003 Isis and its al-Qaeda-type predecessors have systematically targeted Shia mosques, marketplaces, bus queues and pilgrimages, killing thousands of civilians. When Isis took northern and western Iraq last year its fighters filmed themselves executing 1,700 young Shia military recruits near Tikrit. Last August Isis raped, murdered and enslaved members of the Yazidi minority. Captured Syrian soldiers were ritually decapitated. In June an Isis suicide squad killed 220 Syrian Kurdish men, women and children in Kobani.

Terror and counter-terror created by these atrocities determine how different communities in Iraq and Syria perceive each other and may make it impossible for them to live together ever again.

US-Backed Kurds Claim to Have Seized Syrian Dam From ISIS

US-backed Kurdish rebels, dominated by the YPG, have claimed a significant gain over the weekend in Syria, saying they captured the Tishrin Dam on the Euphrates river, and effectively cutting off the supply route between ISIS capital of Raqqa and its Aleppo possessions.

US airstrikes were involved in the attack, and the Kurds claimed an offensive involving thousands of fighters. It’s unclear if this means they captured the entirety of the dam complex, or simply some of it, as the dams tend to be a bit isolated, and amid fighting the actual status is often hard to discern. ...

The dams are important both because they allow forces to control the flow of water into important cities, and because in some cases they are major generators of electricity.

Erdogan: Turkish Troops Will Remain in Iraq

Following last week’s condemnation of Turkish military deployments into Iraq, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan seems to be digging in even more, insisting that Turkey will leave those troops in Iraq no matter what. ...

The Arab League insisted the deployment is a threat to Iraqi sovereignty, even if the troops are sent into Iraqi Kurdistan, while Erdogan says the troops are vital to preparing the Kurds to fight against ISIS.

Turkey's Kurds call for self-rule amid violence in southeast

Kurdish groups meeting in southeastern Turkey called for self-rule on Sunday amid heavy fighting in the region as the army pushed ahead with a security operation in which it says more than 200 Kurdish militants have been killed.

The Democratic People's Congress (DTK), made up of Kurdish non-governmental organizations, made the call after a two-day meeting in Diyarbakir. ...

The declaration called for the formation of autonomous regions including several neighboring provinces of Diyarbakir to take account of cultural, economic and geographic affinities.

President Tayyip Erdogan said in a speech late on Saturday that Turkey would never allow the formation of another state within its borders. ...

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu canceled a planned meeting with the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) on Saturday, saying its politics were rooted in violence, as government forces pursued a security operation in the mainly Kurdish southeast.

Iraqi forces close in on Ramadi as Isis digs in

The Iraqi military has said it still has work to do defeating Isis in Ramadi as it retracted claims it had liberated the embattled capital of Anbar province from the militants.

Gen Ismail al-Mahlawi, head of military operations in Anbar, confirmed that government forces had retaken a strategic government complex but significant parts of the city remained under Isis control.

He said the militants had retreated from about 70% of the city, but still controlled the rest, and government forces were not fully in control of many of the districts from which Isis had retreated.

News of progress in the battle came as the British military said it had conducted airstrikes to aid the advance into the Sunni heartland city, which was conquered by Isis last summer and is now besieged by the Iraqi army.

Saudi Arabia reveals cuts plan to shrink £66bn budget deficit

Saudi Arabia has announced plans to cut government spending and reform its finances after plunging oil prices resulted in a record annual budget deficit of nearly $98bn (£66bn). ...

The 2016 budget, released by the finance ministry on Monday, marked the biggest shake-up to economic policy in the world’s top crude exporter for more than a decade, and includes politically sensitive reforms from which authorities previously shied away.

The plan suggests the kingdom is not counting on a major recovery of oil prices any time soon but is instead preparing for a multi-year period of cheap oil. The International Monetary Fund warned in October that Riyadh would run out of money within five years if it did not tighten its belt.

Law to curb power of top court 'is end of democracy in Poland'

The leader of Poland’s new pro-democracy movement said the government has “broken the country” after the president, Andrzej Duda, enacted a measure critics say could open the path to authoritarian rule.

The amendment radically changes how rulings are made by the highest legislative court, the constitutional tribunal, and its signing by Duda follows warnings from the European Union and nationwide street protests.

“This is the end of democracy in Poland. They have broken the country,” Mateusz Kijowski told the Guardian. The figurehead of Komitet Obrony Demokracji – whose demonstrations in the past three weeks have drawn tens of thousands of people on to the streets – called for international condemnation of the conservative nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) government, which was elected in October. ...

Poland’s crisis began last month when the government appointed five judges to the 15-member tribunal.

The amendment, passed through parliament and the senate over Christmas, requires the court to adopt rulings by a two-thirds majority with at least 13 judges present. Critics say the move will slow down the court and is intended to force it to include the five new judges, who are seen as close to PiS, or leave it unable to pass rulings.

PiS gained an absolute majority in the 25 October parliamentary elections, five months after Duda, who is also from the party, was elected. It is the first time since the end of communism that Poland has been ruled by a single party.

Don't worry China, those are just sour grapes from jealous western authoritarians on the make.

Our New Anti-Terror Law Is No Worse Than Yours, Says China

China has passed a controversial new anti-terrorism law that critics say will legitimize and worsen the persecution of dissidents and religious minorities.

The law, passed on Sunday, creates a new counter-terrorism agency, requires technology firms to help decrypt information, and allows the military to venture overseas on counter-terror operations.

It also bans anybody other than pre-approved media outlets from reporting on terrorism or the authorities' response.

The law has attracted deep concern in Western capitals, not only because of worries it could violate human rights such as freedom of speech, but because of the cyber provisions. US President Barack Obama has said that he had raised concerns about the law directly with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

But the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Monday that the new law was no different to similar legislation in Western countries.

"I only want to point out two things. One is that (the law) was rolled out in accordance with the current situation's development and the needs of reality. Second, if you have a serious study on it, the relevant rule is no different to the relevant laws in Western countries. I believe there are no double standards on this issue," Lu Kang, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said at a daily briefing in Beijing.

Is America Becoming a Garrison State?

Recently Bought a Windows Computer? Microsoft Probably Has Your Encryption Key

One of the excellent features of new Windows devices is that disk encryption is built-in and turned on by default, protecting your data in case your device is lost or stolen. But what is less well-known is that, if you are like most users and login to Windows 10 using your Microsoft account, your computer automatically uploaded a copy of your recovery key – which can be used to unlock your encrypted disk – to Microsoft’s servers, probably without your knowledge and without an option to opt-out.

During the “crypto wars” of the nineties, the National Security Agency developed an encryption backdoor technology – endorsed and promoted by the Clinton administration – called the Clipper chip, which they hoped telecom companies would use to sell backdoored crypto phones. Essentially, every phone with a Clipper chip would come with an encryption key, but the government would also get a copy of that key – this is  known as key escrow – with the promise to only use it in response to a valid warrant. But due to public outcry and the availability of encryption tools like PGP, which the government didn’t control, the Clipper chip program ceased to be relevant by 1996.

The fact that new Windows devices require users to backup their recovery key on Microsoft’s servers is remarkably similar to a key escrow system, but with an important difference. Users can choose to delete recovery keys from their Microsoft accounts [see article to learn how] – something that people never had the option to do with the Clipper chip system. But they can only delete it after they’ve already uploaded it to the cloud. ...

As soon as your recovery key leaves your computer, you have no way of knowing its fate. A hacker could have already hacked your Microsoft account and can make a copy of your recovery key before you have time to delete it. Or Microsoft itself could get hacked, or could have hired a rogue employee with access to user data. Or a law enforcement or spy agency could send Microsoft a request for all data in your account, which would legally compel them to hand over your recovery key, which they could do even if the first thing you do after setting up your computer is delete it.

NSA Helped British Spies Find Security Holes In Juniper Firewalls

A top-secret document dated February 2011 reveals that British spy agency GCHQ, with the knowledge and apparent cooperation of the NSA, acquired the capability to covertly exploit security vulnerabilities in 13 different models of firewalls made by Juniper Networks, a leading provider of networking and Internet security gear.

The six-page document, titled “Assessment of Intelligence Opportunity – Juniper,” raises questions about whether the intelligence agencies were responsible for or culpable in the creation of security holes disclosed by Juniper last week. While it does not establish a certain link between GCHQ, NSA, and the Juniper hacks, it does make clear that, like the unidentified parties behind those hacks, the agencies found ways to penetrate the “NetScreen” line of security products, which help companies create online firewalls and virtual private networks, or VPNs. It further indicates that, also like the hackers, GCHQ’s capabilities clustered around an operating system called “ScreenOS,” which powers only a subset of products sold by Juniper, including the NetScreen line. Juniper’s other products, which include high-volume Internet routers, run a different operating system called JUNOS.

The possibility of links between the security holes and the intelligence agencies is particularly important given an ongoing debate in the U.S. and the U.K. over whether governments should have backdoors allowing access to encrypted data. Cryptographers and security researchers have raised the possibility that one of the newly discovered Juniper vulnerabilities stemmed from an encryption backdoor engineered by the NSA and co-opted by someone else. Meanwhile, U.S. officials are reviewing how the Juniper hacks could affect their own networks, putting them in the awkward position of scrambling to shore up their own encryption even as they criticize the growing use of encryption by others.

This is a pretty amazing art project:

Art That Lets You Talk Back to NSA Spies

Japan and South Korea Have Reached a Historic Deal on 'Comfort Women'

South Korea and Japan reached a landmark agreement on Monday to provide compensation to the women who were forced to work as sex slaves, or "comfort women," for Japan's Imperial Army during the World War II.

About one billion yen ($8.3 million) will be taken from Japan's budget and given to a fund that will help the former comfort women. Japan has pledged to apologize and will also coordinate with South Korea on "projects for recovering the honor and dignity and healing the psychological wounds" of the women.

Following a meeting in Seoul, the foreign ministers of both countries said the consensus means the issue has now been "finally and irreversibly resolved."

Reacting to the announcement, former comfort woman Lee Yong-soo, 88, was not so definite, telling reporters: "I will ignore it completely." Lee said the deal still didn't show Japan was taking full "legal responsibility" or offering formal reparations.

Hiroka Shoji, East Asia Researcher at Amnesty International, agreed, saying: "The women were missing from the negotiation table, and they must not be sold short in a deal that is more about political expediency than justice."

Israel warns Brazil faces diplomatic downgrade unless it accepts settler as ambassador

Brazil’s reluctance to accept an Israeli ambassador who is a West Bank settler has led to a standoff with Israel now warning it could downgrade diplomatic relations.

The appointment four months ago of Dani Dayan, a former head of the Jewish settlement movement, did not go down well with Brazil’s left-leaning government, which has supported Palestinian statehood in recent years.

Most world powers deem the Jewish settlements illegal.

Israel’s previous ambassador, Reda Mansour, left Brasilia last week and the Israeli government said on Sunday Brazil risked degrading bilateral relations if Dayan were not allowed to succeed him.

Grief & Outrage as Chicago Police Shoot Dead 2 More Unarmed African Americans

Autopsy Reveals Chicago Police Shot 'Mentally Ill' Teen Multiple Times

Preliminary autopsy results for two people fatally shot by Chicago police over the Christmas weekend reveal that Bettie Jones, 55, received a gunshot wound to the chest, while 19-year-old Quintonio LeGrier died from multiple bullet wounds.

The Cook County medical examiner's office, which conducted the postmortems, listed both deaths as homicides. The report did not reveal the exact number of gunshots the teen sustained, although family said they had been told he had been shot seven times, according to the New York Times.

The shootings come as Chicago still reels from protests over the fatal police shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, with calls for the resignation of Mayor Rahm Emanuel persisting throughout the week. In the wake of that death and other accusations leveled at the Chicago Police Department, including the CPD's alleged detention and abuse of suspects at a "black site" warehouse in the city, the Justice Department launched a probe into the department to determine if its officers systematically violate residents' constitutional rights.

The latest double shooting occurred as police were responding to reports of a domestic disturbance on Saturday. Family members said police were called after LeGrier threatened his father with a metal baseball bat. LeGrier, a sophomore at Northern Illinois University, was home for Christmas. His father is the landlord of the two-story wooden frame building where the shooting occurred.

Sanders Would Dominate Money Race With Small Donor Matching Funds

Bernie Sanders would now have raised almost $100 million more than Democratic rival Hillary Clinton if the U.S. electoral system provided public matching funds for small donors, according to a report by U.S. PIRG, a federation of the state-level activist groups founded by Ralph Nader in the 1970s.

The report examines how 2016 presidential candidates would fare under a campaign financing system similar to that of New York City, which matches small donations to local candidates with additional public money at a six-to-one ratio. For example, if someone gives $10 to a candidate for the New York City Council, the city provides an additional $60, so the candidate receives $70 total.

Sanders’ presidential campaign has raised $40 million through the third quarter of 2015. However, with a six-to-one match of public funds for small donations, Sanders would receive an additional $203.7 million, for a total of $243.7 million. Clinton has raised $76.1 million under the current system — but because a far larger percentage of her contributions has been from large donors, she would receive only $73.1 million in matching funds, for a total of $149.2 million.

The Democratic Party has recently coalesced in support of a such a system for congressional elections, with endorsements from 157 of the 188 Democrats in the House of Representatives and 19 of the 44 Democratic senators plus Sanders. Clinton has made it part of her presidential campaign platform.

Donald Trump and Liberal Media: The Joke's On You

After Sanders criticism, Donald Trump flip-flops: US wages 'are too low'

Donald Trump, billionaire Republican presidential frontrunner, has changed his mind about wages: Americans aren’t earning enough. He’s also not keen on Wall Street. The shift has Trump on a collision course with Democrat Bernie Sanders – while oddly agreeing with many of his points. ...

Wages in are country are too low, good jobs are too few, and people have lost faith in our leaders.We need smart and strong leadership now!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 28, 2015

The opinion appeared to reverse what the Republican frontrunner said in November during the fourth Republican debate. Asked if he was sympathetic to the protesters demanding a $15-an-hour minimum wage, Trump said: “I can’t be.”

“[T]axes too high, wages too high, we’re not going to be able to compete against the world. I hate to say it, but we have to leave [the minimum wage] the way it is,” Trump said at the time. “People have to go out, they have to work really hard and have to get into that upper stratum. But we cannot do this if we are going to compete with the rest of the world. We just can’t do it.”

Sanders, a senator from Vermont and self-described socialist, used those comments to criticize Trump while appearing on CBS Face the Nation on Sunday.

“This is a guy who does not want to raise minimum wage,” he said of Trump. “In fact, he has said that wages in America are too high.”

Trump lashed back at Sanders, tweeting:

.@BernieSanders-who blew his campaign when he gave Hillary a pass on her e-mail crime, said that I feel wages in America are too high. Lie!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 27, 2015

Happy Holidays, Super PACs: FEC Removes Yet Another Block Against Dark Money

Little-noticed rule allows candidates to solicit money for super PACs as long as it's done in a small meeting

The Federal Elections Commission (FEC) has quietly released a new advisory opinion that will make it even easier for candidates and their staffers to solicit for super PACs donations.

The opinion states that candidates can ask for funds from donors as long as they are meeting in small groups—as small as three people, according to the Washington Post, which first reported on the story Thursday.

In addition, campaign staffers and consultants will be allowed to solicit large donations for a super PAC as long as they make clear they were not directed to do so by the candidate, the Post's Matea Gold reports.

Gold continues:

Federal candidates are still not permitted to explicitly ask a donor to give more than $5,000 to a super PAC. But the latest decision means that an elected official or candidate can meet privately with just one wealthy donor and one super PAC operative to discuss fundraising for the group, said Ellen Weintraub, one of two Democrats on the six-member panel who opposed loosening the rules.

All that is required under the guidelines is a written invitation, a formal program and a disclaimer that the candidate is appearing as a “special guest” who is not soliciting large checks.

Thanks, Climate Change. Extreme Weather Wreaking Havoc Across Globe

From "unprecedented" flooding in the UK and South America to deadly tornadoes in the U.S. to record-breaking heat in Australia, the effect of man-made climate change on extreme weather is on display across the globe as 2015 draws to a close.

Scientists have long warned that human-caused climate change increases both the likelihood and intensity of so-called extreme weather events, which include torrential rainfall, superstorms, and droughts.

This year, the natural phenomenon known as El Niño is making the effects of man-made climate change worse, according to experts. And in reverse, climate change is exacerbating El Niño. As Common Dreams reported earlier this year, temporary warming of surface waters in the Pacific, known as El Niño, drives dramatic shifts in rainfall, temperature, and wind patterns worldwide, and can last for months or even years. In fact, Oxfam has warned, the warming of the oceans as a result of climate change may double the frequency of the most powerful El Niños.

"The specifics of what’s happening where El Niño, Arctic dynamics, and underlying warming meet are, in a word, complex, and scientists are actively discussing how things might play out," wrote Erika Spanger-Siegfried of the Union of Concerned Scientists last week. "But the collective bottom line recognizes that global warming plays a role."

On the ground across the world, the effects have been dire.

Is it idiocy or malice? Hameron mouths platitudes about climate change, but does nothing to protect the people he is elected to serve.

Flood defences row: UK paying price for David Cameron's broken promises

“There are always lessons to be learned and I will make sure they are learned,” said David Cameron after severe flooding affected thousands of people across the country. But that was in February 2014, when the prime minister was visiting the submerged Somerset Levels. No systematic review of flood protection ever happened.

On Sunday, as terrible floods hit Yorkshire and Lancashire, Cameron said: “Whenever these things happen, you should look at what you spend, what you’ve built … clearly we should look again at whether there’s more we can do.”

The people living in the 5m properties that are at risk of flooding can only hope he means it this time. For the thousands currently condemned to months away from their ruined homes it is a case of closing the floodgates after the rivers have overflowed.
Cameron cannot say he was not warned: he has ignored red flag after red flag, right from the start of his premiership. In the first year of the coalition, he cut capital spending on flood defences by 27% year-on-year. That was despite the 2008 Pitt Review – a systematic analysis of major floods in 2007 – concluding that much more funding was needed. Funding had risen quickly under the Labour government, only to be slashed by Cameron.

At End of Hottest Year Ever, Massive U.S. Storm Kills At Least 43 With More Extreme Weather to Come

More Than 100,000 Flee Devastating Floods in South America

More than 100,000 people have been evacuated throughout the bordering areas of Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina, and Brazil as severe flooding continued to batter the South American region this weekend.

According to new figures released Sunday by the Municipal Emergencies office, as many as 160,000 people have had to flee their homes due to the flooding that began December 18—a devastating result of this season's El Niño storms.

Many of those impacted are low-income families living along the River Paraguay.

"[The flooding] was directly influenced by the El Niño phenomenon which has intensified the frequency and intensity of rains," the office said.

No end in sight as repair work on California's sinking land costs billions

A canal that delivers vital water supplies from northern California to southern California is sinking in places. So are stretches of a riverbed undergoing historic restoration. On farms, well casings pop up like mushrooms as the ground around them drops.

Four years of drought and heavy reliance on pumping of groundwater have made the land sink faster than ever up and down the Central Valley, requiring repairs to infrastructure that experts say are costing billions of dollars.

This slow motion land subsidence – more than one foot a year in some places – is not expected to stop any time soon, experts say, nor will the expensive repairs.

“It’s shocking how a huge area is affected, but how little you can tell with your eye,” said James Borchers, a hydrogeologist, who studies subsidence and says careful monitoring is necessary to detect and address sinking before it can do major damage to costly infrastructure such as bridges and pipelines.

Land subsidence is largely the result of pumping water from the ground. As aquifers are depleted, the ground sags.

Polar Bears Are Now Eating Dolphins in the Arctic

Scientists studying bears on the Arctic shores of Norway found several of the white-coated predators feasting on the remains of white-beaked dolphins, which appeared to have become trapped under the ice of a fjord.

"This is the first record of this species as polar bear prey," the team recounted in a study published in the scientific journal Polar Research. "White-beaked dolphins are frequent visitors to Svalbard waters in summer, but have not previously been reported this far north in early spring."

The discovery occurred in April 2014 at a site just below 80 degrees north latitude. Scientists took several photos of the bears with the remains of the dolphins. At least one of the bears was notably skinny, with his ribs visible through his fur; he had finished off one carcass and buried a second one to save for later, said Jon Aars, a biologist with the Norwegian Polar Institute and the lead author on the study. A return trip in July found the remains of seven more dolphins in the area. ...

The bears are struggling with the same problem that's bringing the dolphins to the nearly 80-degree latitudes where Aars and his colleagues conduct their surveys: a warming climate that's making it harder for the thousand-pound predators to get enough to eat. The presence of the dolphins in the fjord where the photos were taken is itself a bit of a fluke, he said.

"Before we saw this, there was almost no ice," Aars said. Then a cold snap in late March and early April caused new ice to form, and the ice blew into the fjord. The dolphins had only a small hole through which they could surface to breathe, allowing the bear to catch them when they did, he said.

Also of Interest

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

Homeless people not welcome in airports as officials tighten rules

Endless War, Undeclared and Undebated

Chris Hedges: The Illusion of Freedom

If a Close US Ally Backdoored Juniper, Would NSA Tell Congress?

Cruz’s Smearing of Syrian Refugees Echoes Attacks on Cuban Refugees During His Father’s Era

The Latest Excuse for Curbing Free Speech? ISIS.

There's A Way to Save Our Future. So Why Aren't More People Talking About It?

2015: the top news stories of the year in numbers

A Little Night Music

Junior Kimbrough - Sad Days, Lonely Nights

Junior Kimbrough - Most Things havent Worked Out

Junior Kimbrough - I'm leaving you baby

Junior Kimbrough - Meet Me in the City

Junior Kimbrough - I Gotta Try You Girl

Junior Kimbrough - Old Black Mattie

Junior Kimbrough - Feels So Good

Jr Kimbrough - Done Got Old

Junior Kimbrough - Pull your clothes off

Junior Kimbrough - My Mind is Ramblin

Junior Kimbrough - Do the Rump!

The Black Keys - Do the Rump

Junior Kimbrough - My Mama Done Told Me