For the past few months, a smoke plume has shifted with the winds over northern Iraq. In recent years, periodic oil fires have cast a dark pall over this arid landscape. They are one consequence of ongoing war in the region.On August 17, 2016, the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8 acquired an image (above) of dense smoke plumes roughly 50 kilometers (30 miles) south of Mosul. There appear to be multiple sources of fire, most likely oil wells from the Qayyarah oil field. The images in the grid below show the plumes changing direction and thickness since they were first spotted by Landsat 8 on June 14.
Category Archives: human rights
Kurds Fear the U.S. Will Again Betray Them, in Syria – The New York Times AKA: TIK, TOK – trust in Kurds, trust only Kurds.
So, many Kurds shuddered when Turkish tanks and soldiers recently rolled into northern Syria, with American support, to push back against Kurdish gains. They saw it, perhaps prematurely, as a replay of a century of betrayal by world powers, going back to the end of World War I, when they were promised, then denied, their own state in the postwar settlement.“The Kurds are going to scream betrayal at every turn when they think things are not going to go their way, because they’ve had a century of it,” said Joost Hiltermann, the program director for the Middle East and North Africa at the International Crisis Group, and a longtime expert on the Kurds.The Syrian Kurds say their aim is to establish an autonomous region, not their own state, where their rights are protected, in whatever settlement comes from the long Syrian civil war. And they say they hope that the United States will support them in that desire.To accomplish that, though, they need to connect two of their territories: Afrin, in the west, and Kobani, in the east, an effort that Turkey sees as a national security threat to be thwarted at virtually any cost.
Source: Kurds Fear the U.S. Will Again Betray Them, in Syria – The New York Times
Outbreak: 200 under observation in Madrid over hemorrhagic fever | In English | EL PAÍS
According to the World Health Organization, the Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) virus causes severe viral hemorrhagic fever outbreaks, with a case fatality rate of up to 40%. “The virus is primarily transmitted to people from ticks and livestock animals,” the WHO website explains. “Human-to-human transmission can occur resulting from close contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected persons.”The illness, the WHO states, is endemic in Africa, the Balkans, the Middle East and Asia, “in countries south of the 50th parallel north.” There is currently no vaccine available for either people or animals.
Source: Outbreak: 200 under observation in Madrid over hemorrhagic fever | In English | EL PAÍS
Airborne flu detection at bird markets hints at human exposure risk | CIDRAP – Duh! Virus is passed on in feces, urine, and saliva, so how can you not walk in it, breathe it, move it from place to place?
Viable avian flu virus is easily detectable in the air of live-poultry markets, which may explain why those who visit markets but don’t have direct contact with the birds become infected, according to air sampling from sites in China and Hong Kong.
Source: Airborne flu detection at bird markets hints at human exposure risk | CIDRAP
Study: Zika could reach 2.6 billion people | CIDRAP How have people helped this risk grow?
Two new studies published today present an alarming picture of the potential reach of Zika virus and its complex clinical presentation, while researchers reporting in the latest issue of Eurosurveillance said that Culex mosquitos aren’t likely to transmit the virus.Global at-risk populationsIn a study published in the Lancet Infectious Diseases, researchers from the University of Toronto used modeling to identify the areas around the world most at risk for Zika virus. After considering mosquito activity, air travel data and climate information, the researchers said potentially 2.6 billion people living in low-resource parts of Africa and the Asia-Pacific region could be sickened by Zika virus.
Madagascar: The Blue Gold Rush | UNICEF USA
Tsihombe district, Madagascar, August 2016 – Under a blazing sun, men, women and children are digging in the sand. Holes are scattered everywhere in what used to be a river, suggesting a kind of gold rush. And indeed, it is a rush for something more precious than gold: liquid blue gold! In the dried up Manambovo riverbed in Madagascar’s southernmost Tsihombe district, people and cattle share the water, for drinking, showering, washing laundry and doing the dishes.
Milwaukee Police Forcibly Arrested Two Men Last Night for Doing Nothing Wrong. They Got a Surprise When One Was A State Rep and the Other Was From the ACLU. | American Civil Liberties Union
At about 9:30 p.m., a handful of people, including Mr. English and Rep. Brostoff, stood on the northeast corner of Sherman Boulevard and Auer Avenue, observing a large contingent of police officers who had blocked off Auer on the west side of Sherman. The street has been the gathering place for community members since the fatal police shooting of Sylville Smith on August 13.Numerous officers then forcibly arrested Mr. English as he was walking away as instructed. He was handcuffed, forced to the ground, involuntarily searched, and placed in a paddy wagon with Rep. Brostoff. After officials became aware that they had arrested a state legislator, the two were released without charges.When I had the chance of speaking with Jarrett, he told me this:“The situation was confusing, because I really did not know what I was being arrested for. It was embarrassing and dehumanizing, and I did not feel that I was being treated with the dignity and respect that should be afforded any individual. But I was mostly thinking about all of the young people this happens to every day who don’t have anyone to call to get free. We cannot continue doing this to our people.
The Milwaukee Police Department has once again demonstrated its preference for occupation, excessive force, and belligerence over genuine engagement, civil dialog, and de-escalation. People have a right to stand on a street corner – to observe and record the police, as Jarrett was doing, or for any other reason. Unfortunately, rather than protecting people and their rights, law enforcement in this community all too often engages in the sort of destructive behavior to which Jarrett and Jonathan were subjected to last night.
The metamorphosis of a Jewish supremacist | +972 Magazine

Jerusalem is divided between different people – leftists and rightists, secular and religious – these definitions erect walls and restrict our humanity. At the end of the day, when you talk to someone on the level and do it genuinely you realize that we all have a lot in common, even when we disagree with each other, which is fine. They look different and they think different, but we must respect each other, we are all the sons of one god.
I then shed all my prejudice and the preconceptions that I had, having grown up in Jerusalem during the Second Intifada, having seen blown-up buses and thought every Arab was a terrorist. Many times in my life I incited and acted against Arabs.
And today, three years on, I’m coming full circle. I’m going to meet with Mohammed Ghadir, shake his hand talk to him. I’m the happiest man alive.
I’ve recently started speaking against racism and for love and tolerance. Many eyebrows were raised. I was harassed along the way, and many are still annoyed with me.
But when I see kids that thanks to me choose love over hate, I couldn’t be happier. I have made lovely Arab, religious, secular, ultra-Orthodox friends, really of all kinds. I’m trying to shed my prejudices and be sensitive, empathetic, loving and accepting. I’ve shed all the fears that I had. I’ve won.”Later, after he met with Ghadir, he wrote another post describing the meeting as “one of the most emotional moments of my life.”
Source: The metamorphosis of a Jewish supremacist | +972 Magazine
More Than 50 Pregnant New Yorkers Have Been Infected With Zika: Gothamist Duh!?! If 500 with it get bitten by a local mosquito – they pass it on because that skeeter passes it to the next person it bites!
More than 500 New Yorkers have been infected with the Zika virus, including 56 pregnant women, according to the NYC Health Department. Although no Zika-carrying mosquitos have been found in New York (yet), health officials are urging New Yorkers—particularly pregnant women and their partners—to refrain from traveling to Zika-infested parts of the world for the next year.
Source: More Than 50 Pregnant New Yorkers Have Been Infected With Zika: Gothamist
Wednesday Open Thread | #VeteransForKaepernick Exploded On Twitter | 3CHICSPOLITICO
Colin Kaepernick’s refusal to stand during the national anthem has taken over the news cycle. It seems almost everyone has weighed in on the issue except one, extremely important group: American co…
Source: Wednesday Open Thread | #VeteransForKaepernick Exploded On Twitter | 3CHICSPOLITICO











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