Category Archives: planetkillers

H5N8 appears in Nigeria, South Korea | CIDRAP

Does anyone really need a doctorate in agronomy to understand that H5N8 influenza among “turkeys” in Nigeria explains why avian influenza is a global poultry killer and one of the most probably future sources for a killing human influenza that will make the 1918 flu looks like child’s play?

If someone talked about the turkey industry in Russia, China, Nigeria and India 30 years ago, you’d still be laughing and gasping for breath. Now because the race for profit from the industrialized poultry market knows no boundaries and has no understanding of how pandemic viruses develop, we may all soon be gasping for breath!

H5N8 appears in Nigeria, South KoreaFiled Under: Avian Influenza (Bird Flu)Stephanie Soucheray | News Reporter | CIDRAP News  | Dec 19, 2016Share Tweet LinkedIn Email Print & PDFturkeyfarm.jpgLauren M./ Flickr ccNigeria and South Korea report the first cases of highly pathogenic H5N8 avian influenza, as the strain continues to infect European poultry after first emerging in wild waterfowl populations.Nigeria reports H5N8 in mixed free-range birdsNigeria reported H5N8 in a collection of guinea fowls, turkeys and pigeons in Danbare, located in Kano state in the north-central part of the country, according to a report to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE).Fifteen birds died from the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), and another 235 were culled in an attempt to prevent the virus from spreading. The outbreak occurred on Nov 19 and is considered resolved.The report said the bird owner purchased the live birds from a market. Nigeria is also battling outbreaks involving highly pathogenic H5N1, which is endemic in a handful of African nations.

Source: H5N8 appears in Nigeria, South Korea | CIDRAP

Boomtown, Flood Town

For Louise Hansen, the story has been the same every time she’s flooded: The water starts to creep into her house in the middle of the night.In 2009 — the first time her west Houston home flooded after she moved into it about a decade earlier — she figured it was an anomaly. Then it happened again in 2015. And again in 2016.Three times in less than 10 years — for a home that’s not in any floodplain identified by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. “It’s actually paralyzed me,” said Hansen, who grew up in the area and is now selling her house just for the lot value. “I just don’t think I can go through another flood.”Many of Hansen’s neighbors, who live in an area of Houston known as Memorial City, have had the same experience. They’ve flooded in 2009, 2015 and 2016, and none of them live in any known floodplain.

Source: Boomtown, Flood Town

Danish People’s Party MP: ‘Shoot at migrants’ – The Local – Trump thinking about offering him a job?

In one exchange, Berth said that migrants who try to reach Europe by boat should be shot.  “The only way you can do it effectively is simply to turn the boats away and say ‘You can’t sail into this territorial border, if you do you will either be shot or you will be turned around and sailed back’,” he said.  The debate’s host, Ole Stephensen, gave Berth the opportunity to clarify himself by asking if he really believed boats of migrants should be fired upon. Berth said it was “an example” of what could be done to protect the EU’s borders.  “We need to do what is necessary to ensure that the border is not violated,” he added.  His debate opponent Bosse seemed to hardly be able to believe what she had just heard.  “You cannot stand here and say that they be shot in the Mediterranean. I simply refuse to believe it,” she said.  As the clip of his comments began to circulate, Berth took to Facebook in an attempt to “address a coming press storm”.  “I of course don’t mean that a ship under the command of Nato or Frontex should shoot at migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean. What I mean is that warning shots should be fired at a vessel that is crossing into European territorial waters!” he said.  A lawmaker for the ruling Venstre party, Jakob Ellemann-Jensen, said on Twitter that the remarks were “not okay” and that “warning shots are… a warning of what is to follow.”

Source: Danish People’s Party MP: ‘Shoot at migrants’ – The Local

Army will deny easement, halting work on Dakota Access Pipeline – The Washington Post Not entirely over – keep eye on prize.

Dan Nanamkin, of the Colville Nez Perce Native American tribe in Nespelem, Wash., right, drums after it was announced Sunday that the Army Corps won’t grant an easement for the Dakota Access Pipeline. (David Goldman/Associated Press)

The Army said Sunday that it will not approve an easement necessary for the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline to cross under Lake Oahe in North Dakota, marking a monumental victory for the Native American tribes and thousands of others who have flocked in recent months to protest the pipeline.Officials in November had delayed the key decision, saying more discussion was necessary about the proposed crossing, given that it would pass very near the reservation of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, whose leaders have repeatedly expressed fears that a spill could threaten the water supplies of its people.“Although we have had continuing discussion and exchanges of new information with the Standing Rock Sioux and Dakota Access, it’s clear that there’s more work to do,” Jo-Ellen Darcy, the Army’s assistant secretary for civil works, said in a statement Sunday. “The best way to complete that work responsibly and expeditiously is to explore alternate routes for the pipeline crossing.”What started as a small but fierce protest in a remote spot along the Missouri River months ago has evolved into an epic standoff involving hundreds of tribes, various celebrities and activists from around the country. It has involved heated confrontations — police have sometimes employed water canons, pepper spray and rubber bullets — and has carried on through the swelter of summer into the snowy cold of winter.

On Sunday, news of the Army’s decision triggered a wave of celebration and relief among those who have fought to stop the 1,170-mile-long pipeline’s progress.“We wholeheartedly support the decision of the administration and commend with the utmost gratitude the courage it took on the part of President Obama, the Army Corps, the Department of Justice and the Department of the Interior to take steps to correct the course of history and to do the right thing,” Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Chairman Dave Archambault II said in a statement. “With this decision we look forward to being able to return home and spend the winter with our families and loved ones, many of whom have sacrificed as well.”

Source: Army will deny easement, halting work on Dakota Access Pipeline – The Washington Post

Zika brain damage can evolve after birth, study finds | CIDRAP

Babies exposed to Zika virus before birth can go on to develop microcephaly and other complications after they are born, according to a study today from Brazil.In other research news, Chinese scientists who did experiments in mice found more evidence that the virus may damage the male reproductive system.

Source: Zika brain damage can evolve after birth, study finds | CIDRAP

The Arizona Tribe That Knows How to Stop a Trump Wall – Intercontinental Cry – Not Really but they hope so.

President-elect Donald Trump says that he will build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. It will stop undocumented immigrants from entering the country. It will stop drugs from entering the country. It will be 50 feet tall. It will be nearly a thousand miles long. And it will cut the traditional lands of the […]

Source: The Arizona Tribe That Knows How to Stop a Trump Wall – Intercontinental Cry

In the short term, when it comes to securing the border, there are no easy answers or solutions. But when it comes to working with tribal nations on the issue, in the eyes of the Tohono O’odham, Trump’s proposed wall represents either gross ignorance or blatant disregard for tribal sovereignty. And if construction begins, it could signal the winding back of clocks on U.S.-tribal relations on the border.

“I can’t even imagine how far it would set us back,” says Tatum. “More than a hundred years.”

{I cannot imagine that Mr. Trump could care a whit about tribal law, or the wishes of the Tohono O’odham – he cares about Trump and that is about as far as his caring goes.}

WHO scales back Zika public health emergency | CIDRAP

(Becoming clearer and clearer – to me – releases such as this one, are overly influenced by political and economic considerations rather than health concerns)

 

Based on a recommendation from its emergency committee today, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Zika virus infections and related microcephaly cases no longer constitute a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC), and efforts to battle and research the disease will now be folded into the WHO’s regular work, where it will receive high-level attention and more sustained funding.

Source: WHO scales back Zika public health emergency | CIDRAP

US elections: The end of a dream | In English | EL PAÍS

Electing Hillary Clinton would not only have put a woman in charge of the most important country in the world, along with other great nations like Germany (Angela Merkel), the United Kingdom (Theresa May and before her, Margaret Thatcher) and Brazil (Dilma Rousseff until she was impeached). More importantly it would have allowed the United States to make two symbolic moves in two back-to-back revolutions: racial equality and gender equality. And if it were on a roll, why not imagine a Hispanic man or woman in the White House?Instead, the United States has elected the enemy of minorities, women, immigrants, Muslims and the political correctness that has made coexistence possible in democracies. The dream fades and, in its place, a nightmare begins.

Source: US elections: The end of a dream | In English | EL PAÍS

Hearts Open, Fists Up | Race Files

In the long term, we will need a different kind of politics fueled not by rage but by a deep-seated belief that the future belongs to us. A younger, more progressive, more inclusive, and more diverse generation is already here. The path forward will require a truly and deeply feminist vision that goes beyond simply electing female bodies to office, and instead reaches past the logic of brutal domination and rivalry toward interdependence, humanity, compassion, and respect for the earth. This feminism has its roots in Black feminist traditions and Indigenous world views, and has no meaning without race at the center.We will need to draw on all of our resources – the deep knowledge of survival in queer and trans communities, in Indigenous communities, in criminalized Black and Brown communities – to build the alternative services and systems we will need in this coming period as access to existing services gets dismantled. We will need the humanity of whites who want to live in a different world, one shaped not by the rivalries of race but by the wholeness of justice. We will need to forge a vision for a new economy and society. This will take work, but I know we have the immense talent and fortitude we need in our movements to achieve it.When we do this, we will have arrived not as Asian Americans, not as immigrants, not as people of color, but as a nation that finally acknowledges that society functions best and security can only exist when we all have what we need: home, health, family, education, culture, community, creativity, and spiritual growth. We will have arrived as a people who understands that you are not me and I am not you, and because of this, we need each other. We will understand that our collective survival hinges upon understanding, confronting, and dismantling race.The future is ours. But for now, we must build the unity and genuine capacity we need to declare clearly: No one comes for any of us without going through all of us. Hearts open, fists up.

Source: Hearts Open, Fists Up | Race Files

It’s the End of the World as We Know It, and I Don’t Feel Fine. | Rebelle Society

Here’s the problem, folks…She doesn’t have a penis.Oh, I can feel your eyes rolling. Your brain is screaming about her f*cking emails, and how oily and polished she comes across. Like a typical politician. To you, I say: I don’t give a !@#$ about her emails. I like oily and polished. In this case, it meant the candidate had equilibrium because she knew what she talking about.Say what you want to say about Hillary Clinton’s off-putting demeanor, her lack of charisma, and her distrustful air. There’s no debating that she’s brilliant. Something Donald Trump isn’t.And see, Trump hates everything I am. Despises what I believe in. He has offended me as a woman. A Latina. And as a person who believes in a God by many names. Any time he offends people who lead with their faith, he is offending me.Before now, when I did not see eye to eye with a candidate and he was elected, I did not feel despair, thrown away, or less of an American because none of those men attacked me personally. None of them told me that the way I showed up in the world was intrinsically less-than. They had not assaulted me with their words and their hatred.Inside my body, in my heart, what I carry is rejection by my country. The country that I love. If this nation could elect Donald Trump to be our leader, I am a disposable American. Everything I am is being tossed in the bin.As Van Jones stated on CNN, “This was a White-lash.” The Men and the Whites rallied to elect Trump because they detest the changes that have occurred in America — what I consider progress.Plainly speaking, I’m terrified for my country. What does this election say about our path? Our legacy? What will the world think, and how will it affect international affairs and the economy throughout the next four years?There is a small part of me still clinging to hope that one day a woman will lead the United States. Another part of me wonders, if it does happen while I breathe, whether it will be a nation I recognize. Or if it will recognize me.The faith I have always held sacred, that has carried me through painful moments, wavers. On this day, I pray God sees us through the next four years. I’m too anxious to focus on my chores and my work.I just don’t know if it will ever happen for us.I haven’t got high hopes to see it in my lifetime.But then again, a racist, xenophobic misogynist with the temper of a hangry lab monkey got elected as the President of the United States.I suppose anything is possible.

Source: It’s the End of the World as We Know It, and I Don’t Feel Fine. | Rebelle Society