All posts by nedhamson

Activist, writer, researcher, addicted to sharing information and facts.

Pompeo Defends Firing of Inspector General, Denying It Was Retaliation – The New York Times

Congressional officials said the inspector general was examining several areas of policy and potential misuse of government resources that had raised concerns about Mr. Pompeo’s actions.
— Read on www.nytimes.com/2020/05/20/us/politics/mike-pompeo-state-inspector-general.html

Liar! Big time liar!🤬

‘We give you 30 minutes’: Malta turns migrant boat away with directions to Italy | Global development | The Guardian

Survivors say an armed forces’ patrol vessel intercepted an overloaded dinghy, giving the refugees fuel and GPS coordinates for Sicily
— Read on www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/may/20/we-give-you-30-minutes-malta-turns-migrant-boat-away-with-directions-to-italy

Uncivilized behavior

He joked about killing endangered species. Trump gave him a top environment job

Despicable is not strong enough to describe this person’s beliefs and actions.

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Under the leadership of William Perry Pendley, the Bureau of Land Management is failing to fulfill its most basic duties of safeguarding America’s public lands, his critics say

In July 2017, William Perry Pendley, a crusading conservative attorney, delivered a speech to a group of rightwing activists in North Carolina in which he was completely candid about his ideological commitments.

He accused “the media” of selling “their soul to the greens”. And after criticizing the Endangered Species Act, he made light of killing endangered species.

Continue reading…

Survey finds 87% of America’s nurses are forced to reuse protective equipment | World news | The Guardian

The vast majority of America’s nurses say they have not been tested for Covid-19, are reusing personal protective equipment (PPE), or have exposed skin or clothing while caring for Covid-19 patients, a new survey has shown. The nationally representative survey finds that “dangerous healthcare workplace conditions have become the norm” since Covid-19 spread widely in the US, said the union which conducted the survey. More than 100 nurses have died since the beginning of the pandemic.

Source: Survey finds 87% of America’s nurses are forced to reuse protective equipment | World news | The Guardian

Mercenaries To The Right…Mercenaries To The Left

I have written many times about the modern use of mercenaries. I do not approve of using mercs to fight wars. If the war is necessary and for the right reason then man up and use the military…….do not use thugs masquerading as “security specialists”.

Like I stated I have lots to say about the use of mercs……pick on or read them all…..

https://lobotero.com/2018/02/13/the-dogs-of-war/

https://lobotero.com/2017/01/03/rise-of-the-american-mercenary-2/

https://lobotero.com/2016/03/11/those-security-contractors/

https://www.your-poc.com/the-private-military-industrial-complex-extending-conflict-duration-and-quality-the-cost-of-using-private-military-contractors/

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/outsourcing-war/

https://lobotero.com/2019/11/27/curb-your-mercenaries/

Now you know how and why I feel that way about the use of mercs in today’s world.

Occasionally I get to read some of the papers that grad students are writing on international relations and conflict management…..this one is very interesting…..

The roots of the mercenarism can be traced back to the sixteenth century, argues Janice Thomson in one of the most comprehensive studies dedicated to this issue, in her book entitled “Mercenaries, Pirates, and Sovereigns: State-Building and Extraterritorial Violence in Early Modern Europe”. Countries like Switzerland were the main suppliers and France, one of the main beneficiaries of mercenary troops in the 16th and 17th century. By the 18th century, armies could be considered truly multinational. “Frederick the Great recruited all over the Holy Roman Empire (…) At the onset of the Seven Years War he attempted to incorporate the entire Saxon army into his own”, argues Thomson. Large scale mercenarism began to fade in the 19th century, and by the 20th century the citizen-army became the norm with the employment of foreign fighters beginning to be regarded as an anomaly, representing either the remnants of imperialism or an ad-hoc response to a shortage in fighting forces. Janice Thomson argues, and her view is consistent with Barry Posen’s, the fading of this practice can be seen as a corollary of the evolution of state authority claims.

The practice of mercenarism is sanctioned under Humanitarian and Public International Law, under Article 47 of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions, the 1989 International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries and under a regional convention sponsored by the African Union. The 1989 Convention describes a mercenary as “any person who is especially recruited locally or abroad in order to fight an armed conflict” who is “motivated to take part in the hostilities essentially by the desire for private gain”. The convention entered into force in 2001 and was signed only by 36 countries – with notable absentees like the US, Russia, Turkey or the UK. Arguably, these states have not ratified it because they use Private Military Contractors (PMC), who are of a different kind from mercenaries. However, the distinctions are more often hard to make – it is hard to find out whether foreign fighters are hired in a registered organization – which is what defines a PMC.

Opinion – The Rise of Mercenarism: Avoiding International Accountability

Let’s not forget that failed merc operation to kidnap Venezuela’s Maudro…..of course this was not in any way sanctioned by the DoD.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Trump Just Removed the IG Investigating Elaine Chao. Chao’s Husband, Mitch McConnell, Already Vetted the Replacement. – CREW

In yet another assault on checks and balances, President Trump abruptly removed the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) independent watchdog late Friday – the same night he announced plans to fire the State Department Inspector General (IG). At DOT, the acting IG was overseeing a high profile investigation of Secretary Chao’s alleged favoritism benefiting her husband Senator Mitch McConnell’s political prospects, but has now been replaced with a political appointee from within the agency. The acting IG’s ouster calls into question the future of the Chao-McConnell investigation, other critical oversight, and whether the watchdog was dismissed for unearthing damaging information.

Source: Trump Just Removed the IG Investigating Elaine Chao. Chao’s Husband, Mitch McConnell, Already Vetted the Replacement. – CREW

Pompeo Declined Interview Request From Inspector General About Saudi Arms Sales – The New York Times

…secretary of state was aware of Mr. Linick’s investigation and the specific lines of questioning about Mr. Pompeo’s decision last year to resume the sales of bombs and other weapons, which had been stalled since 2017. Saudi Arabia has led Persian Gulf nations in an air war in Yemen that has resulted in large numbers of civilian deaths.

It is still not clear why Mr. Linick was dismissed. He was also pursuing inquiries into whether Mr. Pompeo was improperly asking a State Department employee to run errands for him and his wife. And a senior department official and longtime friend of the secretary, Brian Bulatao, told The Washington Post that Mr. Pompeo was concerned that Mr. Linick was not aggressively tracking down past leaks to news organizations about what he was investigating.

 

Chinese lab testing new drug that could stop Covid-19

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BEIJING • A Chinese laboratory has been developing a drug it believes has the power to bring the corona-virus pandemic to a halt.

The outbreak was first reported in China late last year before spreading across the world, prompting an international race to find treatments and vaccines.

Researchers say a drug being tested by scientists at the prestigious Peking University can not only shorten recovery time for those infected, but also offer short-term immunity from the virus.

Dr Sunney Xie, director of the university’s Beijing Advanced Innovation Centre for Genomics, said the drug has been successful at the animal testing stage.

“When we injected neutralising antibodies into infected mice, after five days, the viral load was reduced by a factor of 2,500,” he said. “That means this potential drug has a therapeutic effect.”

The drug uses neutralising antibodies – produced by the human immune system to prevent the virus from infecting cells – which were isolated from the blood of 60 recovered patients.

A study on the research, published on Sunday in the scientific journal Cell, suggests that using the antibodies provides a potential “cure” and shortens recovery time.

Dr Xie said his team’s “expertise is in single-cell genomics rather than immunology or virology. When we realised the single-cell genomic approach can effectively find the neutralising antibody, we were thrilled”.

He said the drug should be ready for use later this year and in time for any potential winter outbreak of the virus, which has infected 4.9 million people around the world and killed more than 320,000.

Planning for the clinical trial has started, said Dr Xie, adding that it will be carried out in Australia and other countries since cases have dwindled in China, offering fewer humans for testing.

“The hope is that these neutralised antibodies can become a specialised drug that would stop the pandemic,” he said.

China already has five potential coronavirus vaccines at the human trial stage, a health official said last week.

But the World Health Organisation has warned that developing a vaccine could take 12 to 18 months.

Scientists have also pointed to the potential benefits of plasma – a blood fluid – from patients who have recovered and developed antibodies to the virus, enabling the body’s defences to attack it.

More than 700 patients have had plasma therapy in China, a process which the authorities said showed “very good therapeutic effects”.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

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