Category Archives: Profiteering

AMAZON WATCH » New Witch Hunt in Ecuador Against Indigenous and Environment Defenders

The Shuar situation about which Acción Ecológica had been sounding the alarm involved the escalation of the conflict between the Shuar community of Nankints, the government, and a Chinese mining conglomerate Explorcobres S.A. (EXSA). The government had granted EXSA rights to mine for copper in the area of San Carlos Panantza, which overlaps with Shuar ancestral territory, without seeking the consent of – let alone properly consulting with – the Shuar, despite the fact that international and Ecuadorian law require such consultation. As the mining project moved forward, the Shuar tried to engage various government entities in dialogue.Those attempts at dialogue were brutally interrupted in August when military and police forces forcibly evicted Shuar families from land the company needed for the mine. After a lack of adequate response from the government, in late November the Shuar attempted to return to those lands and were met with heavy police and military presence, including air assaults. When the vice president of FICSH tried to mediate, he was arrested. Instead of heading calls from regional and national indigenous federations for mediated dialogue, the government continued its heavy-handed approach, and the conflict escalated. Last week those protests turned violent, resulting in several injuries and the death of one policeman. The government then declared a 30-day “state of emergency” – essentially the suspension of rights and due process – and sent in the military, complete with armored tanks. President Rafael Correa wasted no time in taking to the airwaves and Twitter to defame the Shuar, calling them “semi-delinquents” and implying that they’re using extortion for material gain.

Source: AMAZON WATCH » New Witch Hunt in Ecuador Against Indigenous and Environment Defenders

Israeli judges order grandchildren out of Jerusalem family’s home – How can anyone defend this shameful act?

The Ghaith-Sub Laban family’s six-year legal battle to remain in their home of six decades has come to an end, as the Israeli high court made a final ruling in the family’s eviction case on Wednesday.After Jewish settlers rejected the court’s proposed compromise on Tuesday, the Israeli judges returned a more favorable verdict to the settlers: allowing the Ghaith-Sub Laban family to remain in their home for only 10 more years, and at that point terminating their protected tenancy.Without protected tenancy, the settler organization that owns the building can evict the family.But the court has ordered the descendants of Mustafa Sub Laban and Nora Ghaith, whose mother first moved into their house in the Muslim Quarter of the Old City in East Jerusalem in 1953, to leave their home.Nora and Mustafa currently live in the house with a daughter, two sons, a daughter-in-law and two grandchildren aged 4 and 9.

Source: Israeli judges order grandchildren out of Jerusalem family’s home | The Electronic Intifada

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

Siri Hustvedt: ‘Trump was elected because misogyny is alive and well’ | Books | The Guardian

“He was elected because his exploitation of the big lie technique worked, because misogyny is alive and well among women and men,” she says. “He was elected because, as a study at Yale demonstrated, when faced with an identical description of an ambitious politician, both men and women respond to a female candidate with feelings of ‘moral outrage’, but have no such feelings for a power seeking male candidate.” It goes back to what she has been saying about the science of perception, the kinds of expectations we have for men versus those for women. “If she’s emotional, then she’s like a woman. If she’s not emotional, then she’s cold and heartless,” she says of Clinton. “Whereas Trump actually has played the female role: the out of control, angry hysteric. And yet, he has been perceived as a robust, masculine figure by a large portion of the US public. The possibilities for a woman are infinitely more narrow.”

Source: Siri Hustvedt: ‘Trump was elected because misogyny is alive and well’ | Books | The Guardian

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

FBI covered up Russian influence on Trump’s election win, Harry Reid claims | US news | The Guardian

Harry Reid, outgoing Senate minority leader, compared FBI director James Comey to the agency’s notorious founder, J Edgar Hoover, and called for his resignation. A secret CIA analysis found that people with connections to the Russian government provided emails, hacked from the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s campaign, to the whistleblower website WikiLeaks in the final months of the election, according to a Washington Post report published late Friday.“ The FBI had this material for a long time but Comey, who is of course a Republican, refused to divulge specific information about Russia and the presidental election,” Reid told MSNBC’s AM Joy on Saturday.  Comey testified to Congress in July that he was no longer a registered Republican, though he belonged to the party most of his life. “Everyone should know WikiLeaks was involved from the very beginning,” Reid continued. “They leaked the information as if it was run by one of the great political operatives in America when in fact it was run by the political operatives in Russia. “Russia has a pretty good way of cheating. Look at what they did with athletes,” he added, alluding to the long-running doping scandal of Russian Olympic athletes.Pressed on whether he believed Comey had information on Russia’s influence and sat on it, Reid replied: “That’s right, that is true.”Advertisement“I am so disappointed in Comey. He has let the country down for partisan purposes and that’s why I call him the new J Edgar Hoover, because I believe that,” Reid added, calling for the director’s resignation.

Source: FBI covered up Russian influence on Trump’s election win, Harry Reid claims | US news | The Guardian

The Rolling Stones. sympathy for the devil. (powerful images) – YouTube Deja vu too 1968-2016

warning: this video contains images that may cause upset.I put up some of the most powerful photographs we have all more than likely seen at some point in our lives.the things we humans do to each other!they all seemed to fit with the music.

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

Bowe Bergdahl asks Obama for pardon before Donald Trump takes office | US news | The Guardian

Throughout his presidential campaign, Trump was Bergdahl’s most vocal critic, saying repeatedly the soldier is a traitor who would have been executed in the “old days”. In a July speech in Indiana, Trump lamented that Bergdahl could wind up with a light punishment.“Remember the old days? A deserter, what happened?” he said before pantomiming pulling a trigger and adding: “Bang.”Bergdahl’s lead defense lawyer, Eugene Fidell, declined to comment on the pardon request. But Fidell said he plans to file a motion seeking dismissal of the charges against Bergdahl shortly after the January inauguration, arguing Trump violated Bergdahl’s constitutional due-process rights.The defense has been noting Trump’s comments about Bergdahl in what they have called the “Trump Defamation Log”. A version included in the court record lists 40 such instances as of August.“All of these things put together and repeated rally upon rally for basically a year have a cumulative effect that I think is totally at odds with the right to a fair trial,” Fidell said in a phone interview.A spokeswoman for Trump did not respond to emails seeking comment.There is precedent for a military judge to decide a president’s comments have tainted a military prosecution.

Source: Bowe Bergdahl asks Obama for pardon before Donald Trump takes office | US news | The Guardian