All posts by nedhamson

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

Trump’s tweets run far ahead of US military’s readiness to hit Syria | Peter Beaumont

ROTFLMAO

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Pentagon not tactically prepared to back up president’s bellicose language with US firepower

Despite Donald Trump’s tweet suggesting that a US strike on Syria was imminent – and warning Russia to “get ready” – the US naval and other forces in the region suggest his rhetoric may have outpaced military readiness for anything but the most limited action.

Trump’s tweetwhich he appeared to row back on on Thursday – appears to have given Syrian forces ample warning to move key assets, suggesting that any strike now would be largely symbolic and have little meaningful impact on the conduct of the war in Syria.

Continue reading…

How world’s first electrified road charges moving vehicles – video

Sweden has opened the world’s first electrified road. The 1.2-mile route, between Stockholm Arlanda airport and a logistics site, will now actively charge cars and lorries as they travel along it using an innovative energy transfer system 

World’s first electrified road for charging vehicles opens in Sweden

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Secret rightwing strategy to discredit teacher strikes revealed

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  • Manual provides ‘dos and don’ts’ for how to smear the strikes
  • Top of the list: ‘teacher strikes hurt kids and low-income families’

A nationwide network of rightwing thinktanks is launching a PR counteroffensive against the teachers’ strikes that are sweeping the country, circulating a “messaging guide” for anti-union activists that portrays the walkouts as harmful to low-income parents and their children.

The new rightwing strategy to discredit the strikes that have erupted in protest against cuts in education funding and poor teacher pay is contained in a three-page document obtained by the Guardian. Titled “How to talk about teacher strikes”, it provides a “dos and don’ts” manual for how to smear the strikers.

Continue reading…

Silent Tongues is one of the most wonderful live solo piano recordings ever. I once dragged a brilliant…

Silent Tongues is one of the most wonderful live solo piano recordings ever. I once dragged a brilliant biochemistry friend (who had zero training in music) into the music library and sat him down in front of a turntable – yes, we had turntables in the school library back in my days when Harrison was president). I said, “listen to this passage here…this is Louisiana boogie-woogie right here. And this passage here, there’s Bach, which is the skeleton of Bebop. This passage here….listen to the sweaty grind, it’s the furious groove of chain gang blues. There’s concurrent streams of classical, blues, and jazz history intertwined throughout.”

And just to see his face develop from furrowed confusion into a glowing bulb of recognition made it one of the most memorable achievements in my life.

Silent Tongues Full Album: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VglEXrmLoC0

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/06/obituaries/cecil-taylor-dead.html

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Thursday Open Thread | Ben Carson Tells Homeless Woman To Get Married

This came across my Twitter Feed, and I got so mad reading it, I had to share.

Ben Carson Tells A Black Woman To Escape Poverty She Needs To Get Married

The former doctor spit out an offensive talking point that comes straight from Fox News.

Written By Parker Riley

Posted 9 hours ago

Ben Carson is doing his best to make people forget he is unqualified to be the secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). From the beginning, his mission appears to be to prevent low-income people from obtaining fair housing. For example, Carson has blocked an Obama-era Small Area Fair Market Rent rule, which would give low-income people better access to schools and jobs, a mandate that was supposed to go into effect on January 1st. He also wants to kick people out of HUD if they don’t work a requirement of 32 hours per week. Regardless of if there are little-to-no jobs in an area, if the jobs are paying a starvation wage or if the job is only 20 hours a week. Of course, he famously said people are “too comfortable” in poverty. Carson appears too comfortable at HUD with a $31,000 office dining room set, his family’s allegedly too involved in HUD and employees filing lawsuits against him.

That said, in a clear effort to clean up his heartless image, on Tuesday Carson visited Winridge Elementary in Memphis, Tennessee. He met with a woman named Shakila Boyd who was once homeless with her child and was saved because of HUD programs (more than likely, the HUD programs under the Obama administration). According to Fox 13 in Memphis, she said, “I’m going back to school now and everything,” Boyd said through tears while holding her daughter, K’Yanna. “I have a house. They helped me get a job and I’m doing better now.”

Carson’s response to Shakila’s story? He believes the way to stop poverty is for more peopleto get married. “Number one: finish high school. Number two: get married. Number three: wait until you get married to have children,” Carson said. “Just those three things, and you’re two percent less likely to live in poverty.” Obviously, getting your education and waiting to have children until you are ready to have children will reduce poverty. But the deeply misinformed Ben Carson is completely wrong about marriage reducing poverty. Countless studies have proven you cannot marry yourself out of poverty. This is a recycled talking point from the conservative right that Carson has the nerve to spit out in front of a woman who poured her heart out. As Kristi Williams of the Ohio State University told The New York Times in 2015, “It isn’t that having a lasting and successful marriage is a cure for living in poverty. Living in poverty is a barrier to having a lasting and successful marriage.”

I’ve told you numerous times why I can’t stand Carson. Man grew up getting every Government program that there was, back when it actually meant something. If he grew up in these times, nobody would overlook his ‘ youthful indiscretions’. He’d have been solidly in the school-to-prison pipeline.

Then, he takes a job that he’s completely unqualified for and proceeds to try and grift – him and his entire family. He absolutely disgusts me, and is turning away from the FAIR HOUSING goal that is the core of HUD’s mission. I can’t wait for when he’s measured for his orange jumpsuit.

The GOP Move to Overturning Brown is Lovely

This is just great.

WATCH: During her confirmation hearing this morning (yes, this morning – in 2018), judicial nominee Wendy Vitter refused to say whether she agreed with the result in Brown v. Board of Education. #UnfitToJudge pic.twitter.com/RWroh0XUIC

— The Leadership Conference (@civilrightsorg) April 11, 2018

I assume overturning Brown will be on the Republican platform by 2024.

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Open Source Survey of Alleged Chemical Attacks in Douma on 7th April 2018

On April 7th 2018 reports began emerging of alleged chemical attacks on the city of Douma, in the rebel held pocket of Eastern Ghouta, Syria. Reports indicated that a significant number of people, including children, had been killed by these attacks. This report will assess and verify the open source information regarding these attacks, and draw conclusions from the available evidence.

All times are local.

Summary

  1. A large compressed gas cylinder of a type used in previous aerial chlorine attacks was filmed on top of the building where a large number of fatalities were documented.
  2. The number of dead bodies that can be established through open source data is 34+.
  3. Aircraft spotters reported two Mi-8 Hip helicopters heading southwest from Dumayr Airbase, in the direction of Douma, 30 minutes before the chemical attack in Douma, and two Hip helicopters were observed above Douma shortly before the attack.
  4. The Syrian Government has previously been identified as using Mi-8 Hip helicopters to drop chlorine cylinders on opposition held areas.

Reports of a Chemical Attack

Reports from the documentation group the Syrian Network for Human Rights indicated that there were at least two separate attacks involving chemical agents on the 7th April: one at 4pm near Sa’da bakery in Omar ben al Khattab St, which injured 15 people, and a second attack at around 1930 near al-Shuhada Square in Nu’man that killed 55 people and injured 860.

The Violations Documentation Center also reported two chemical attacks took place on April 7th 2018. As with the Syrian Network for Human Rights reports, the first attack was reported at 4pm near Sa’da bakery, with the VDC reporting claims from witnesses that chlorine was used. The VDC also reported the second attack at 1930 near al-Shuhada Square, and reported witness statements on the symptoms:

Dr. Jamal Rafie (pseudonym), told the VDC that the symptoms that he saw on patients “do not resemble chlorine attack symptoms. Chlorine alone cannot induce such symptoms because while it does cause suffocation, it does not affect the nerves. There were symptoms indicative of organic phosphorus compounds in the sarin gas category. But the smell of chlorine was also present in the place.”

Dr. Mohammed Kuttoub from the Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS) told the VDC that his colleagues in Eastern Ghouta saw symptoms on people that include: “pinpoint pupils, slow heartbeat, slow breathing, heavy foaming from the mouth and nose, and the burning of the cornea in some cases.”

The VDC also published the following graphic showing the locations of the attacks:

VDC map of attacks in Douma on April 7th 2018 (source)

Syrian Civil Defence, also known as the White Helmets, reported that a chemical attack at 1945 on the 7th April killed more than 43 people and injured over 500. They reported the dead victims displayed signs of cyanosis (a bluish discolouration of the skin), excessive oral foaming and corneal burns. Six living casualties were reported to have pinpoint pupils and convulsions. The report concluded the casualties had been exposed to “toxic chemicals; most likely an organophosphate element”.

Footage and Images


Footage and images posted on social media after the 1930 attack appear to depict a significant number of casualties, with many dead bodies located in a single building. Many of these bodies displayed symptoms consistent with the claims made in the Syrian Civil Defence statement and the VDC report.

Video 1, which is extremely graphic, was posted at 0020 on 8th April titled “#2018-4-7 Al Assad is shelling Duma with Chemicals. Horrifying massacre against civilians in Duma”. It depicts a large number of dead bodies spread across several rooms in what appears to be the ground (first) floor of a residential building.

Video 2, which is extremely graphic, was posted at 0346 on 8th April titled “2018-4-7 Witness the foaming from the mouth of the injured due to the exposure of civilians to sarin gas”. It documents more dead bodies spread across the second floor and stairwell of the same building as Video 1, as well as what appears to be a hole in the roof of the third floor.

Certain distinctive commonalities can be seen between Video 1 and Video 2, indicating they are filmed in the same building.

A bicycle with a white pannier – Top: Video 1, bottom: Video 2

A old woman with a single sock pulled down, sprawled near the entrance to the building – Top: Video 1, bottom: Video 2

A doorway and the body of a child wearing a distinctive red and white striped top. Faces obscured – Left: Video 2, right: Video 1

Multiple other videos and images posted on social media appear to show the same building and the same casualties.

In total, at least 34 unique bodies appear across the two videos: 23 on the ground floor, 10 on the second floor and one on the landing of the stairs between the second and third floors.

Geolocation

Video 3, which is extremely graphic, was posted at 1748 on 8th April by the SMART new agency, an opposition media network. It shows bodies being removed from the same building that Videos 1 & 2 were filmed in, and taken out into the street during daytime.

The same doorway seen in Video 1 & 2 can also be seen in Video 3. Faces obscured. – Left: Video 3, Right: Video 1

A window cage next to the doorway can be seen in both Video 1 and Video 3 – Left: Video 1, right: Video 3

A doorway with the same design can also be seen in both Video 1 and Video 3 – Left: Video 1, Right: Video 3

Video 4, filmed by a local activist and posted on Youtube by Aljazeera at 2044 on 9th April, depicts what seems to be Russian military personnel visiting and entering this building. This event appears to be corroborated by a statement from the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) which claimed “representatives of the Russian Reconciliation Centre have explored areas of Douma… Results of inspection refuted all reports of chemical weapons use in the city” (archived)

The same doorway the Russian personnel enter can be seen in both Video 3 and Video 4 – Top: Video 4, Bottom: Video 3

By analysing Video 4 and Video 5, which both depict Russian personnel entering the same block, we can geolocate this building to 33.573878, 36.404793. This location is immediately South West of al-Shuhada Square, which matches with the reports from the Syrian Network for Human Rights and VDC.

Geolocation of video 4 and video 5

Video 6, posted by Syrian Civil Defence at 2106 on 10th April, claims to show a “chemical gas canister… Same location as video of casualties”.

Important: video from 9 April, 7:02pm showing presence of chemical gas canister in Douma. Same location as video of casualties. Also same location that Russia visited reporting ‘no sign of chemical weapons’. pic.twitter.com/Sbz64cPi4w

— The White Helmets (@SyriaCivilDef) April 10, 2018

Taken from the top of a building, it shows a hole in the roof with a yellow compressed gas cylinder. The cameraman then swings the camera around, allowing the position to be geolocated, identifying it as the roof of the building at 33.573878, 36.404793.

A still from video 6 (bottom) compared to satellite imagery of the location, demonstrating the viewpoint is from the roof of the building at 33.573878, 36.404793

A distinctive building can also be identified in both Video 6 and Video 5

We can therefore conclude that Videos 1-6 were all filmed in the same area. All videos featured the same building which contained the large group of bodies depicted in Videos 1-2. Video 6 shows that this same building appears to have been hit by a compressed gas cylinder which broke through the roof.

Examination of munition

Following the attack, the remains of two yellow compressed gas cylinders were filmed and photographed. As described above, one gas cylinder was filmed on the roof of the building where a large number of fatalities were documented. A second gas cylinder was also filmed at a yet unidentified location:

The external modifications on the above cylinder are particularly interesting as they are consistent with modifications seen on other gas cylinders used in other reported aerial chlorine attacks. Very similar modifications can been seen in the following video from August 2017 in Khan al-Assal:

Yellow gas cylinders of the same type, with and without external structures, have been documented at the site of alleged aerial chlorine attacks since 2014, and were used on multiple occasions during the siege of Aleppo:

Human Rights Watch graphic showing yellow gas cylinders used in multiple attacks in Aleppo in late 2016 (source)

The most recent attack where yellow gas cylinders were documented following a reported aerial chlorine gas attack was the February 4th 2018 Saraqib attack, where two cylinders were photographed after being recovered from the attack site:

The two gas cylinders used in the Saraqib attack. Source SN4HR

The OPCW has also investigated some of the attacks where yellow gas cylinders were used in aerial chlorine attacks, confirming they were dropped from helicopters. Aircraft observers that are part of the Sentry Syria network observed two Hip helicopters heading southwest from Dumayr Airbase, northeast of Damascus, in the direction of Douma, 30 minutes before the chemical attack in Douma, and two Hip helicopters were observed above Douma shortly before the attack. Hip transport helicopters have also been linked to previous aerial chlorine attacks.

With allegations of Sarin use, it is important to note that these yellow gas cylinders are not associated with the use of Sarin, and as Sarin is a liquid a compressed gas cylinder seems an unlikely method of delivery for Sarin. Possible explanations for the allegations of Sarin use may be a result of the severity of the symptoms presented, of an undocumented munition being used, or another chemical agent being used that presents symptoms that could be confused with Sarin use.

Conclusion

Based on the available evidence, it is highly likely the 34+ victims killed in the 1930 attack on the apartment building near al-Shuhada Square were killed as a result of a gas cylinder filled with what is most likely chlorine gas being dropped from a Hip helicopter originating from Dumayr Airbase.

The post Open Source Survey of Alleged Chemical Attacks in Douma on 7th April 2018 appeared first on bellingcat.

Dolores Huerta Sigue Abogando e Inspirando

Por Andrea López-Villafaña

La legendaria activista Dolores Huerta a sus 88 años no solo sigue abogando por las comunidades marginadas, sino que también está creando una nueva generación de activistas.

El jueves 5 de abril, Huerta se presentó en la Universidad de California, San Diego y frente a cientos de estudiantes, profesores, y exalumnos ella resaltó la importancia de estar involucrados en sus comunidades y de participar más en la política.

“Lo principal que pedimos es que la gente regale su tiempo”, dijo Huerta a La Prensa San Diego.

Huerta compartió que el modo de llamarles la atención a congresistas es a través de que la gente se tome el tiempo de hacer activismo, hacer llamadas telefónicas a sus oficinas, y mandarles correos electrónicos.

“Se trata de pensar en maneras de presionar a los políticos a que le pongan atención a las necesidades de las comunidades, pero si la comunidad no usa sus voces entonces los políticos no se enteran de las necesidades”, dijo Huerta.

Después de años de abogar por los derechos de los trabajadores de campo y sus familias al lado de otro legendario activista, César Chávez, Huerta sigue dedicando su tiempo a abogar por los derechos de las mujeres, el medio ambiente, y los trabajadores a través de su organización la Dolores Huerta Foundation.

La fundación se enfoca en ayudar a las comunidades a aprender cómo organizarse para abogar por sus necesidades.

Huerta compartió con los cientos de personas en asistencia que los problemas sociales más grandes que están enfrentando las comunidades son la falta de hogares y las personas sin hogares que no tienen acceso a recursos, y las injusticias al medio ambiente.

Pero según Huerta, la solución a esos problemas es simple.

“La estrategia más importante que necesitamos usar, y se que parece simple, es votar”, Huerta dijo.

Huerta también habló de sus experiencias durante el tiempo que se dedicó a abogar por los derechos de los trabajadores de campo.

Por mucho tiempo, la mayoría de gente vio a Huerta como la asistente de Chávez, aunque en realidad eran socios, pero ahora ella está compartiendo su labor en la lucha por los derechos civiles de los trabajadores de campo.

En un documental titulado “Dolores”, que se estrenó el martes 27 de marzo en PBS se enfoca en el labor de Huerta y los sacrificios personales que tuvo que hacer para abogar por los derechos de los trabajadore de campo.

Huerta decidió dejar su vida “normal” y mudarse a los campos para poder tener acceso a los trabajadores y para poder ayudarles a crear una unión.

Ella sacrifico tiempo con sus hijos, sus pasiones personales como su amor por la música y el baile pero después de enterarse de las condiciones en las que muchos trabajaban se le hizo imposible no ser parte del movimiento por sus derechos.

El documental se puede ver en pbs.org hasta el 24 de abril.