Welcome to European Tribune. It's gone a bit quiet around here these days, but it's still going.

11 - 17 June 2018

by Bjinse Tue Jun 12th, 2018 at 11:07:27 AM EST

Your take on this week's news


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by Bjinse on Tue Jun 12th, 2018 at 11:10:53 AM EST
Boing Boing
There's one week to go until an EU committee votes on a plan to "transform the internet into a tool for surveillance and control," that will permanently cement the place of American internet giants like Google and Facebook, freezing out smaller internet companies (and even large nonprofits like Wikipedia) who lack the tens of millions of dollars that complying with the rule will require.
by generic on Tue Jun 12th, 2018 at 03:05:26 PM EST
[ Parent ]
DMC-concern, now?
< wipes tears >
sorry. The actual headlines are funny enough. But I just traveled
one: "the filtering systems can easily be abused by rightsholders"

two: "the worst internet proposal I've seen outside of China/North Korea/Iran and if the committee votes in favour of it, the European Parliament is extremely likely to pass it into THE LAW OF 28 COUNTRIES ..."

three: "And since every member state will get to make its OWN RULES for quotation and linking ..."

four: links deep to the punchline: EPP.org | "Scholars also doubt the legality of Article 13; for example, the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition ..."
and no sign of the text of Art 13, amended. PLUS I was expecting, yanno, oppo to surveillance tech export to CHINA/NORTH KOREA/IRAN, maybe Israel.

archived
"As I mentioned, the concept of sovereignty is not well understood."

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Tue Jun 12th, 2018 at 04:37:39 PM EST
[ Parent ]
on the other hand, state of NY contemplates A08155
Establishes the right of privacy and the right of publicity for both living and deceased individuals; provides that an individual's persona is the personal property of the individual and is freely transferable and descendible; provides for the registration with the department of state of such rights of a deceased individual; and that the use of a digital replica for purposes of trade within an expressive work shall be a violation.
Disney, NBCUniversal, MPAA say the new bill is potentially unconstitutional
A letter written by Lisa Pitney, vice president of government relations at Disney to the New York State Senators, said: "If adopted, this legislation would interfere with the right and ability of companies like ours to tell stories about real people and events. The public has an interest in those stories, and the First Amendment protects those who tell them."
Forget them. This path takes a simple photo release to a level of liability ... that could freeze several social media platforms overnight.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Wed Jun 13th, 2018 at 04:56:41 AM EST
[ Parent ]
former MI-5 officer Annie Machon explains "Stasi-like methods"

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Tue Jun 12th, 2018 at 04:47:42 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Even [!] Lithuania Thinks the UK has Gone Too Far with its Good ol' Slavery
The public prosecutors office in Klaipeda has recently finished an investigation of numerous instances of human trafficking slavery and filled all related documents to the Lithuanian court, notes BaltNews Among the accused one can come across a married couple from the United Kingdom and a Lithuanian resident, who deceived into believing that he could assist them in emigrating to the UK, only to sell them latter on into slavery to his above mentioned English accomplices.

Those successfully tricked were smuggled to the UK, without any command of English and no resources to support themselves with. With no social guarantees, long night shifts, with no rest to enjoy, had wages than were far inferior to those that are described as minimal in Britain. Kept in slams [sic], with no medical assistance to right [sic] home about, some of those modern slaves received no pay at all.

UK to EU, SOS
The New Poverty - How austerity worked to impoverish millions and leave millions more close to crisis by Padraic X. Scanlan, author of Freedom's Debtors: British Antislavery in Sierra Leone in the Age of Revolution

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Tue Jun 12th, 2018 at 06:00:36 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Gib resolution in US Congress continues to garner support
A resolution tabled before the United States House of Representatives recognising the right of the people of Gibraltar to determine their own future now has 47 supporters
[...]
Congressman and long-time friend of Gibraltar, George Holding [R-NC], tabled the Resolution before the lower chamber of the US Congress, and states that the views and rights of Gibraltarians should always be imperative in any discussion of Gibraltar's status as a British Overseas Territory.
[...]
"The members of the Gibraltar-American Council deeply believe in Gibraltar's right to self-determination, they believe in the special relationship between the United Kingdom and the US, they understand how significant Gibraltar's role is and contributions are to that special relationship."
< wipes tears >

Take a number, laddies!


H.Res.199 - Recognizing the self determination of Gibraltar to determine its status as a British Overseas Territory.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Thu Jun 14th, 2018 at 09:38:29 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Must be some great lobby group getting all the attention ... who is paying for the Gib legislation and write-up?

Hasbara is a dead language
by Oui (Oui) on Thu Jun 14th, 2018 at 10:20:40 PM EST
[ Parent ]
apart from "Chairman of the Armed Services Committee, the Chairman of the Intelligence Committee, and the Chairman of the Homeland Security Committee and a Tobie Roosevelt"?

tsk.

The story mentions the "Gibraltar-American Council in New York" as if a harmless look [2017], [2015], [2011] for a neighborhood civics club.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Thu Jun 14th, 2018 at 10:43:48 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Self-determination ... so after Brexit we'll refer to Gibraltar simply as the Rock? Hard border with Spain as Gibraltar remains a British Overseas Territory in the interest of the United States.

Government welcomes US Resolution supporting and thanking Gibraltar - Dec. 2014

The Resolution is sponsored by Republican George Holding and it is signed by seven other Congressmen from the Republican and the Democratic parties.The title of the Resolution is "Recognizing the self-determination of Gibraltar to determine its status as a British Overseas Territory". It acknowledges Gibraltar's status as a British Overseas Territory and the two referenda in 1967 and 2002 where the people of Gibraltar voted overwhelmingly to retain their links with the United Kingdom.

The Resolution (H. RES. 738) also highlights the value of Gibraltar to the military interests of the western world and it refers to the fact that the United States made use of Gibraltar during its first military intervention in 1801 against the Barbary States. There is special mention made of the role that Gibraltar played during the Second World War when General Dwight Eisenhower used Gibraltar as his headquarters to plan the liberation of North Africa.

"The United States honours the contribution that Gibraltar has made to advancing United States security interests in the Mediterranean region since 1801 and extends its deepest appreciation and thanks to the Government of Gibraltar and its citizens," declares the Resolution.

It adds that the views and rights of the Gibraltarians should always be imperative in any discussion of Gibraltar's status as a British Overseas Territory.

Gibraltar - The Principle of Self-determination | Sept. 2013 |

Gibraltar has its own democratically elected Government, fully independent from UK Government, and Gibraltar's 2006 Constitution affords Gibraltar full autonomy for its internal affairs.  The people of Gibraltar are proud British citizens, with their own uniquely Gibraltarian identity and culture - and their own language.

They have repeatedly and overwhelmingly expressed their wish to remain British, most recently in the 2002 referendum where over 98% of people voted in favour of remaining British.  The UK respects that.  We will not enter into negotiations on British sovereignty over Gibraltar without their consent.

With the Government of Gibraltar we have worked throughout to maintain good neighbourly relations with Spain.  We know that thousands of Spanish workers commute to Gibraltar every day for work.  In fact Gibraltar contributes one in six jobs in the local region.  Spain's actions are affecting the daily lives of its own citizens as well as Gibraltarians.

We want to see any disputes over Gibraltar with Spain tackled through dialogue.  But the Spanish Government rejected the Trilateral Forum for Dialogue, which had been successful for a number of years and had led to benefits for communities on both sides of the border. The UK and Gibraltar remain strongly committed to trilateral talks in the long term. We have made the offer of ad hoc talks, involving all relevant parties without getting hung up on formats, but this must be with the involvement and consent of the Government of Gibraltar.

The people of Gibraltar, like the people of the Falklands, have repeatedly and overwhelmingly expressed their wish to remain under British sovereignty and we will respect their right of self determination - a right enshrined in the United Nations Charter.

For the people of Gibraltar, day by day, this is not about sovereignty, however - it is about free movement.  The free movement of persons within the territory of the European Union Member States is a fundamental right guaranteed to EU citizens and their family members by the Treaties.

David G. Liston partner at Lewis Baach Kaufmann Middlemiss, PLLC.

Related post ...

US Marines On the Shore of 'Montezuma and Tripoli'

Hasbara is a dead language

by Oui (Oui) on Fri Jun 15th, 2018 at 07:23:00 AM EST
[ Parent ]
The people of Gibraltar, like the people of the Falklands, have repeatedly and overwhelmingly expressed their wish to remain under British sovereignty and we will respect their right of self determination

They also voted overwhelmingly to remain in the EU. Will they respect that?

by gk (gk (gk quattro due due sette @gmail.com)) on Fri Jun 15th, 2018 at 07:46:11 AM EST
[ Parent ]
There is this joke about self-determination: "They" is a Gibraltar gov organist named the Chronicle.

For the past 2 years Gib gov PR presented itself as UK unionist, DUP-lite talking points. All the "same-deal or no-deal" shadow boxing without a "sovereign" gov, just one part-time MP, and none of the idiotic belligerence about border surveillance.

No common cause with UK "devolved" gov and disrespected constituent Remainers -- not even in NI!

No GFA-like wedge dividing Tory gov and Gib gov. Gib gov rejects EU member patron ES (substitute threat of ES hostile "annex" and ritual allegiance to US piracy for bi-lateral "state-craft").

No invisible UK-EU border for the "too wee" pennisula.

No US AID. No EU aid.

So. Gib delegations for "recognition" are left agitating UK for special travel reimbursements.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Fri Jun 15th, 2018 at 01:27:10 PM EST
[ Parent ]
This passage attributed to Gibraltar functionaries affords lessons in literacy, psychology, and public policy.

Did the US Congress pass H.Res. 738, introduced by Mr Holding, 2014? No.

Did the US Congress pass H.Res. 110, introduced by Mr Holding, 2015? No.

Has the US Congress passed H.Res. 199  with significant revision of the earlier drafts introduced by Mr Holding, 2018? No.

  1. govtrack.us is an unreliable reference. This URL does not retain complete records of US federal business. Recording is the function of the Library of Congress (thomas.gov or congress.gov), National Archive and Federal Register(archive.gov).
  2. Do not rely on Gibraltar's politicians to read, interpret, or translate any document for you. Reportedly several have relied on Tory functionaries --no matter where they are stationed-- to translate, propound, or restate documents such as binding contracts into summaries.
  3. The US federal government is neither a political division of the UK nor signatory to European Union binding treaties. EU gov does not recognize "pirate guidelines" in the statutory body governing member-states' duties and obligations. Ergo, resolutions offered by any representative of US constituency yet enacted convey neither color no force of law on the EU (absent surety no less than USD 5M, five and twenty stacks, until further notice, perhaps).

archive
wut, April
Spanish financial services blacklists, March
"no other EU jurisdiction at all can boast such a clear and unequivocal statement of continued market access post Brexit" - Picardo
brave-face-hedge-mode
EC Draft Withdrawal Agreement (pdf) FEB 2018
1. Unless otherwise provided in this Agreement or in Union law made applicable by this Agreement, any reference in this Agreement to the United Kingdom or its territory, shall be understood as referring to:
(a) the United Kingdom;
(b) the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man, Gibraltar and the Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia in Cyprus to the extent that Union law was applicable to them before the date of entry into force of this Agreement;
(c) the overseas countries and territories listed in Annex II to the TFEU having special relations with the United Kingdom3 , where the provisions of this Agreement relate to the special arrangements for the association of the overseas countries and territories with the Union.


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Fri Jun 15th, 2018 at 05:21:04 PM EST
[ Parent ]
yanno, I just can't think of a proper song of jubilation to commemorate this event. Halp me.
Greece and Macedonia strike deal on name dispute
"Republic of Northern Macedonia"

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Tue Jun 12th, 2018 at 08:29:48 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Shouldn't that be "Greece and Northern Macedonia strike deal"?
by gk (gk (gk quattro due due sette @gmail.com)) on Wed Jun 13th, 2018 at 07:35:24 PM EST
[ Parent ]
No, that should be "Greece and the republic formerly known as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia strike deal"

It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue - Queen Elizabeth II
by eurogreen on Thu Jun 14th, 2018 at 09:28:09 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Or rather "The Hellenic Republic and the republic formerly known as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia strike deal".

What will a Macedonia salad now be called?

by gk (gk (gk quattro due due sette @gmail.com)) on Thu Jun 14th, 2018 at 09:32:08 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Am just reading Macedonian president Gjorge Ivanov won't sign off the deal with Greece. The Greek government faces troubles of its own. Time for Putin to step in.

Hasbara is a dead language
by Oui (Oui) on Wed Jun 13th, 2018 at 09:15:24 PM EST
[ Parent ]


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Thu Jun 14th, 2018 at 03:34:01 PM EST
[ Parent ]
#SupportYoungFathers#FreeSpeech #HumanRights
The Ruhrtriennale festival is threatening to cancel the 18 August performance by the Scotland-based band Young Fathers unless they publicly renounce the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement for Palestinian rights.
[...]
It appears that Young Fathers is being targeted because it is one of a number of acts that withdrew from last year's Pop-Kultur Festival in Berlin, over that festival's acceptance of sponsorship from the Israeli embassy.


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Tue Jun 12th, 2018 at 10:18:04 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Italy sends migrant convoy to Spain, has words with France
"There is a degree of cynicism and irresponsibility in the Italian government's behavior with regard to this dramatic humanitarian situation," government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux quoted Macron as telling his cabinet.

Gabriel Attal, a spokesman for Macron's party, went further, telling Public Senat TV: "The Italian position makes me vomit."

France approves controversial immigration bill
The bill shortens asylum application deadlines, doubles the time for which illegal migrants can be detained, and introduces a one-year prison sentence for entering France illegally. ... The bill passed by 228 votes to 139, with 24 abstentions, after more than 60 hours of debate over the weekend and hundreds of amendments. ... One of the most significant changes is that failed asylum seekers awaiting deportation can be [detained] up to 90 days, double the existing period of 45 days. The government had initially aimed for a 135-day period.


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Tue Jun 12th, 2018 at 11:05:04 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Meanwhile, the Spanish government and the city of Valencia agreed to receive the ship, while the French government sat on its hands.

 Foreign minister Le Drian stuck his neck out by claiming Valencia was the closest and safest port...

Actual distances from the Aquarius :
Ajaccio (Corsica) : 538 nautical miles
Marseille (France) : 670 nm
Valencia (Spain) : 762 nm

The territorial government of Corsica offered save harbour (as had Naples and several other Italian port cities). The crew of the Aquarius knew they would be turned away by the Italian coastguard, in violation of international law; they apparently didn't want to test the French coastgard. Valencia it is.

It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue - Queen Elizabeth II

by eurogreen on Wed Jun 13th, 2018 at 10:48:03 AM EST
[ Parent ]
What are the distances to Palma di Maiorca and Piraeus?
by gk (gk (gk quattro due due sette @gmail.com)) on Wed Jun 13th, 2018 at 10:56:21 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Palma is out of the question. It's full up with German refugees at this time of year.

It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue - Queen Elizabeth II
by eurogreen on Thu Jun 14th, 2018 at 09:29:53 AM EST
[ Parent ]
With all the brouhaha in the French media about the Aquarius being pushed away from Italy by Salvini, and the complete silence of the French government - until Spain agreed to receive the ship, you could almost have forgotten the existence of a European country, located somewhere between Spain and Italy, with an extensive Mediterranean seaboard. Funny that.
by Bernard (bernard) on Wed Jun 13th, 2018 at 06:55:22 PM EST
[ Parent ]
as had Naples and several other Italian port cities

One  of which was Palermo. With good reason.

There was a time when the door to Ruben's store had to stay permanently shut, even during opening hours.

Originally from Bangladesh, in 2002 he opened a money-wiring store on Maqueda street, one of the main arteries in Palermo's city's historic center and one of its most diverse. Amid crumbling facades and historical palaces tourists stop to admire, in this stretch of the road the omnipresent souvenirs are sold alongside Asian saris and North African spices.

It is here that 11 shop owners, 10 Bangladeshi and one Tunisian, decided to challenge a system of street crime and extortion against them and other local merchants by a local mafia group by breaking the silence on what was happening.

by gk (gk (gk quattro due due sette @gmail.com)) on Thu Jun 14th, 2018 at 01:06:58 PM EST
[ Parent ]
"We have always encouraged collective efforts to report, because more people means fewer risks."

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Thu Jun 14th, 2018 at 06:40:36 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Occupied
"There are no American bases on Norwegian soil," she said, adding the decision had broad parliamentary support.

Oslo will ask Washington to send 700 Marines from 2019, compared with 330 presently. The additional numbers will be based closer to the border with Russia in the Inner Troms region in the Norwegian Arctic, rather than in central Norway. ... In addition the U.S. want to build infrastructure that could accommodate up to four U.S. fighter jets at a base 65 km (40 miles) south of Oslo, as part of a European deterrence initiative launched after Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014.



Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Tue Jun 12th, 2018 at 11:09:28 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Having been completely silent during the Aquarius crisis (lest someone suggest to send the ship to Marseille?), the French government, and Macron, now have a brilliant idea: trading barbs with the Italian government and its Lega Minister:

EU migration row boils over as Italy and France trade insults

France and Italy have traded insults, rifts have widened in Germany's ruling coalition and Austria has called for an "axis of the willing" to take action as a simmering row over how Europe should handle irregular migration finally boiled over.

Angrily rejecting French criticism of its immigration policies, Italy summoned the French ambassador on Wednesday and cancelled a planned meeting between the Italian economy minister and his counterpart in Paris.

A day after the French president, Emmanuel Macron, said Rome had acted with "cynicism and irresponsibility" in turning away a migrant rescue ship, Italy's hardline new interior minister, Matteo Salvini, said it had "nothing to learn from anyone about generosity, voluntarism, welcoming and solidarity."

Living in glass houses, and all that...

by Bernard (bernard) on Wed Jun 13th, 2018 at 08:27:30 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Italy threatens to block CETA ratification
"It is not just a position of the sovereignist Lega party, doubts about this agreement are common to many of my European colleagues," underlined Centinaio, who belongs to Lega.

The European Citizen's Initiative Stop TTIP-CETA managed to collect more than 3 million signatures against both free trade agreements and thousands took to the streets to protest the deal around Europe.



Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Thu Jun 14th, 2018 at 06:24:59 PM EST
[ Parent ]
The M5S have claimed that they are neither left nor right, something that made me immediately think of Mussolini. They've made that very clear now, by voting to name a street in Rome after Giorgio Almirante. (The mayor has vetoed the decision)
by gk (gk (gk quattro due due sette @gmail.com)) on Fri Jun 15th, 2018 at 08:40:01 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Stack the logs high.

Rupture or Deliverance - Three Scenarios - Spiegel Online

Separate meetings of CDU and CSU MPs, verbal attacks on Merkel... CDU MPs gave Merkel a 14 day deadline to find a solution until the EU council meeting.

Everything that had been boiling since the refugee crisis in 2015 is breaking out four months ahead of the elections in Bavaria.

Scenario 1: Rupture

If there is no agreement between Merkel and Seehofer then there could be a showdown next week. Seehofer could give order to reject refugees at the border... [Merkel] would fire her minister, the CSU ministers would leave the cabinet. The coalition would no longer have a majority. ... Or maybe the Greens replace the CSU? ... the most unlikely scenario. Seehofer and Merkel will do everything to avoid it.

Scenario 2: Compromise buys Time

Seehofer will order to start preparing for rejections. Preparations would not be completed until the 28th when the EU summit will start. That's just the two week deadline... A compromise would only stabilize the coalition for the short term. ... hardly last until 2021.

Scenario 3: Deliverance

unrealistic... Merkel and Seehofer find a way to compromise and deescalate.

This has been brewing for a long time. I don't see how Merkel will last the whole term. CDU chancellors have always been deposed or overstayed their welcome.

Schengen is toast!
by epochepoque on Sat Jun 16th, 2018 at 12:55:47 AM EST
[ Parent ]
by Bjinse on Tue Jun 12th, 2018 at 11:10:56 AM EST
Seattle City Council votes to repeal 'head tax' weeks after enactment
Amazon.com (AMZN.O), the city's largest employer, was at the forefront of a coalition of businesses running a well-financed campaign to place a repeal referendum on the ballot for the November elections.

As passed on May 14, the measure would have levied a new tax of roughly 14 cents per employee per hour to raise $45 million over five years, with revenue earmarked to build more affordable housing and support services for the homeless.



Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Tue Jun 12th, 2018 at 10:55:17 PM EST
[ Parent ]
AT&T wins court approval to buy Time Warner over Trump opposition
"This will be a blockbuster summer for media mergers!" said Mary Ann Halford, senior adviser to OC&C Strategy Consultants.

related
DMCA-concern
British Government OKs Comcast Bid for Sky and Fox Bid With Conditions, Setting Up Showdown

archived
Fox deal for Sky not in public interest - UK regulator
Consolidation has accelerated


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Tue Jun 12th, 2018 at 11:38:00 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Unilever says its shares are 'unlikely' to remain in the FTSE 100
Anglo-Dutch food to detergent group Unilever said on Thursday the plan to end its dual headquarters structure and relocate to Rotterdam mean its shares are `extremely unlikely' to stay in the British FTSE 100 index.
[...]
Unilever's shares were likely to have an increased weighting in pan-European indices, while the group would also maintain a premium listing in London, [CFO Graeme] Pitkethly is quoted as saying due in part to strikes by lorry drivers in Brazil.


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Thu Jun 14th, 2018 at 08:54:48 PM EST
[ Parent ]
ECB to keep rates at record lows until summer 2019, cuts economic outlook
"Uncertainties related to global factors, including the threat of increased protectionism, have become more prominent, the risk of persistent heightened financial market volatility warrants monitoring," ECB chief Mario Draghi said.
[...]
The spending plans of Italy's new populist government have also revived concerns over the country's huge debt pile < wipes tears >.
All hands! Mystery solved!
"The Governing Council expects the key ECB interest rates to remain at their present levels at least through the summer of 2019, and in any case for as long as necessary to ensure that the evolution of inflation remains aligned with the current expectations of a sustained adjustment path," the ECB said.

The biggest complication for the process of normalisation could be a murky economic outlook, muddied by a developing trade war with the US, a populist challenge from Italy's new government and softening [!] export demand [REVENUE].
[...]
The euro's 5% fall against the dollar since April is also helping* the ECB as the weaker currency is increasing the cost [PRICES] of imports and boosting inflation.

*helping to disabuse int'l FX and "euro" bond speculators

archived
'whatever it takes'
26 July 2012,  Global Investment Conference, London, UK.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Thu Jun 14th, 2018 at 09:14:56 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Troublesome advanced engines for Boeing, Airbus jets have disrupted airlines and shaken travelers | Seattle Times |

A slew of technical problems with the three most advanced models of jet aircraft engines is widely disrupting operations at airlines, bleeding cash from the engine makers and grounding significant numbers of Airbus and Boeing jets.
The most difficult of the issues has this month left almost 50 Boeing 787 Dreamliners sold to some of the world's top airlines sitting powerless on the ground, waiting for engines before they can fly again.

And if the problem isn't contained, it could derail Boeing's plan to raise the 787 production rate next year.

British engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce has been inspecting its Trent 1000 engines on the Dreamliners for cracked turbine blades deep inside, and taking off those with cracks for repair.



Hasbara is a dead language
by Oui (Oui) on Sat Jun 16th, 2018 at 06:37:31 PM EST
[ Parent ]
by Bjinse on Tue Jun 12th, 2018 at 11:10:59 AM EST
by generic on Tue Jun 12th, 2018 at 12:55:09 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Trump has managed to reach a less strict version of the previous agreement and to demonstrate that regional powers must develop nuclear weapons if they want the US to take them seriously. This is better than him triggering a nuclear war, but I can't think of a lower bar.
by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Tue Jun 12th, 2018 at 01:53:45 PM EST
[ Parent ]
It is also better than the status quo. If he really suspends the military exercises the North might get extra agricultural production in since not having to call in your conscripts in harvest season might alleviate some suffering in a low fuel economy. The only other thing I want is for him to spend more time with his loot so Moon can do his thing.
Also, while I take no pleasure in having to defend the orange one, everyone who hadn't learned under Bush that you should work on your Doomsday machines if you don't want to get murdered on a whim got that lesson under Obama. Same for the worth of US guarantees compared with the half-life of US grudges.
by generic on Tue Jun 12th, 2018 at 02:10:56 PM EST
[ Parent ]
by generic on Tue Jun 12th, 2018 at 02:48:35 PM EST
[ Parent ]
That's pretty lame --to "forget" a couple of years' popular protest, investigation, arrests, and conviction of Moon's predecessor this.empowerment(Park Geun-hye).

But it does neatly illustrate common US America respect for events which have not been dramatized for TV audiences.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Tue Jun 12th, 2018 at 03:17:31 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Don't think he forgot about the popular protests. Rather he remembers this:

Despite high expectations in the beginning,[17] his presidency encountered strong opposition from the conservative Grand National Party and media. They constantly accused him of incompetence, and insulting criticism was frequently published in the media.[18] As a result, many of Roh's policies, including a plan to move the capital, and a plan to form a coalition with the opposition, were also attacked and made little progress.

After leaving office, Roh returned to his hometown of Bongha Maeul. He ran a duck farm and lived an ordinary life, sharing it through his blog. He also ran a website called "Democracy 2.0" to promote healthy online discussions.[19] The constantly growing numbers of visits by his political supporters[20] were seen as a threat to the Grand National Party. Fourteen months later, Roh was suspected of bribery by prosecutors, and the subsequent investigations attracted public attention. Roh committed suicide on 23 May 2009 by jumping from a mountain cliff behind his home, after saying that "there are too many people suffering because of me" on a suicide note on his PC.[21] About 4 million people visited Roh's hometown Bongha Village in the week following his death. His suicide was confirmed by police.[22]

by generic on Wed Jun 13th, 2018 at 01:17:58 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Hark! The Method of His Madness
When it comes to the international chess game, Trump is a master
Then there is the summit with Kim. The president's mastery in bringing Kim to the table, while right out of "The Art of the Deal," is potentially a move toward what every beauty pageant contestant wants -- world peace. The moves he has made in this effort impact China, Iran and every other nation on the globe. We will see where it goes but whatever comes of this meeting, the president is always playing a long game. That long game is restoring America's position as the global leader.
## Mental disorder is a communicable disease.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Tue Jun 12th, 2018 at 03:42:40 PM EST
[ Parent ]
hmm, Schwartz has a personal connection? 'Cause GNP-survivor fear of Trump seems like a reach to me.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Wed Jun 13th, 2018 at 03:27:45 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Democrats turn to Hollywood for messaging advertising help
"One of the first things we were at least talking about in the beginning meetings was how to improve upon the message advertising as to what does the Democratic Party stand for, what does that represent," said Andrew Marcus, who owns the television and film company Apiary Entertainment. "When the Republican Party or [President Donald] Trump is able to say `Make America great again' and nobody that I know can tell you what the DNC or any of the leading candidates' slogans [are], I think that's a marketing advertising problem."
[...]
"I was looking for something to do that didn't involve giving money," Gregory said. "What I like about this thing is it's not transactional."
GOTV! Dem leaders embrace pay-go

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Tue Jun 12th, 2018 at 02:15:35 PM EST
[ Parent ]
it's about time.  The Democratic Party PR and Messaging has been Ad Hoc Amateur Hour


She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre
by ATinNM on Wed Jun 13th, 2018 at 03:43:44 PM EST
[ Parent ]

There's an old ad industry tactic called "borrowed interest" to "add value" to brand ID by, say, hiring a celeb to flog the product. The DNC needs to evaluate the "assets" their working with.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Wed Jun 13th, 2018 at 06:27:19 PM EST
[ Parent ]
by generic on Wed Jun 13th, 2018 at 07:09:51 AM EST
[ Parent ]
White House aide apologizes for 'special place in hell' comment
"My mission was to send a strong signal of strength," Navarro said. "The problem is that in conveying that message I used language that was inappropriate."

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Tue Jun 12th, 2018 at 10:32:31 PM EST
[ Parent ]
The "horror" summit finally happened.
< eybrows >
"If Democrats fail to impeach him, depending on the results of Robert Mueller's investigation into the Russian affair, worse things could come in the next two years and a half."

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Wed Jun 13th, 2018 at 12:52:50 AM EST
[ Parent ]
America's Constitutional Crisis Is Here, Now
Our system was conceived as a means of promoting the public interest, but Trump wants to promote only his own interest.

Well, I Don't Know About That

UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, 2017

Successive administrations, including the present one, have determinedly rejected the idea that economic and social rights are full-fledged human rights, despite their clear recognition not only in key treaties that the US has ratified (such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination), and in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which the US has long insisted other countries must respect. But denial does not eliminate responsibility, nor does it negate obligations. ... A state official pointed to apathy, which he explained by saying that "when people are poor they just give up on the electoral system."  If this is the case, as seems likely, some political elites have a strong self-interest in keeping people in poverty.  

UN Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent, 2016

During this country visit, the experts observed the excessive control and supervision targeting all levels of their life. This control since September 2001, has been reinforced by the introduction of the Patriot Act. We heard testimonies from African Americans based on their experience that people of African descent are treated by the State as a dangerous criminal group and face a presumption of guilt rather than innocence.

The only legal way to constrain Trump is to vote for a Congress, this November, that will stand up to him. And then, in November 2020, vote him and his regime out of office.

If he refuses to accept the results of that election, as he threatened to do if he lost the 2016 election, he will have to be forcefully removed from office.



Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Wed Jun 13th, 2018 at 01:32:02 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Latest in legitimate Human Rights Abuses by the gov that reportedly sets the standard for DPRK.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Wed Jun 13th, 2018 at 07:02:51 PM EST
[ Parent ]
How Andrew McCabe is spending his GoFund Me bank

## Sociopaths teaching sociopaths manners.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Wed Jun 13th, 2018 at 04:12:39 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Varoufakis' piece in the Guardian:

If Trump wants to blow up the world order, who will stop him?

There is, of course, little doubt that with Trump in the White House there is an awful lot we should be angst-ridden about. However, the establishment's reaction to the president's shenanigans, in the United States and in Europe, is perhaps an even greater worry for progressives, replete as it is with dangerous wishful thinking and copious miscalculation.

Some put their faith in the Mueller investigation, assuming that Mike Pence would be kinder to them as president. Others are holding their breath until 2020, refusing to consider the possibility of a second term. What they all fail to grasp is the very real tectonic shifts underpinning Trump's uncouth antics.

Then, there is this:

Behind the scenes, Trump astonished Nancy Pelosi, the Democrat's leader in the House of Representatives, by approving every single social program that she asked of him. As a result, the federal government is running the largest budget deficit in America's history when the rate of unemployment is less than 4%.

Whatever one thinks of this president, he is giving money away not only to the richest, who of course get the most, but also to many poor people. With demonstrably strong employment, especially among African American workers, inflation under control and the stock market still buoyant, Donald Trump has his home front covered as he travels to foreign lands to confront friends and foes.


[my emphasis]

[citation needed] : I haven't followed the US politics (or economics) very closely, but are there any facts and figures to support the above?

by Bernard (bernard) on Wed Jun 13th, 2018 at 08:21:15 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Trump is running enormous deficits - These are aimed at the rich, but on this scale, some of it does bleed through into demand. The Fed is, of course, moving to pull this money back out of circulation to guarantee that a situation with full employment comes about does not happen.

.. Which means Trump would have to also take on the fed to actually accomplish anything on this front.

by Thomas on Sun Jun 17th, 2018 at 09:15:03 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Fed Raises Interest Rates and Signals 2 More Increases Are Coming -> "malinvestment"

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sun Jun 17th, 2018 at 12:26:43 PM EST
[ Parent ]
US department of justice model of "flight risks" for the w/e 16 June 2018

An alleged unregistered agent of a foreign state, Paul Manafort, bankrolled by Ukrainian oligarchs;

an alleged slave trader, Keith Raniere, bankrolled by a pair of Seagram's Liquor heirs;

an alleged fugitive from vacated warrant for arrest, Julian Assange, bankrolled by the Republic of Ecuador.


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Fri Jun 15th, 2018 at 09:17:18 PM EST
[ Parent ]
California primary voters considered a ballot question to be added to the general election for referendum. That is, more or less, Should the state be divided in three, creating three separate sovereign states?

Since then I have read of much excitement over the prospect of adding (4) four US senators and (3) three representatives ("for Dems") to the US House. Why? Because ##Mental disorder is a communicable disease.

Article IV, Sec. 3

New states may be admitted by the Congress into this union; but no new states shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any other state; nor any state be formed by the junction of two or more states, or parts of states, without the consent of the legislatures of the states concerned as well as of the Congress.
The Permanent Apportionment Act of 1929 June 11
On this date, the House passed the Permanent Apportionment Act of 1929, fixing the number of Representatives at 435.
Franklin vs Massachusettes (91-1502), 505 U.S. 788 (1992)
Not so fast, Mr President
When these um "structural" hurdles are vanquished with the assistance of the States assembled, if am alive, I will look forward with interest to re-calculation of electors to teh college wut robbed Who?

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sat Jun 16th, 2018 at 10:00:48 PM EST
[ Parent ]
by Bjinse on Tue Jun 12th, 2018 at 11:11:02 AM EST
Peanut Gallery Prompt
[-]Antipodes1 -4 points 10 hours ago
Seriously, when does the US remove all their military bases from South Korea?

[-]EngineerJim 3 points 9 hours ago
when does the US remove all their military bases from South Korea?
Probably when North Korea gives up on their illusion of taking over South Korea.

Correct Answer
S. Korea "annexes" DPRK as agreed by referendum of N. Korean constituents (100% participation, 100% affirmative, of course) to surrender armament to the homeland. Or vice versa.

< wipes tears >

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Tue Jun 12th, 2018 at 01:55:41 PM EST
[ Parent ]
USAToday: "U.S. will suspend military drills with South Korea. What does that Mean?"

< wipes tears >

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Tue Jun 12th, 2018 at 05:05:35 PM EST
[ Parent ]
"Why did Kim look taller?"

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Tue Jun 12th, 2018 at 05:07:48 PM EST
[ Parent ]
It means that Trump thinks that he's Clinton (who suspended them for a few years).
by gk (gk (gk quattro due due sette @gmail.com)) on Tue Jun 12th, 2018 at 05:08:18 PM EST
[ Parent ]
um, not a "good look" these days.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Tue Jun 12th, 2018 at 06:03:14 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Nigeria's 2019 election: Background and setting
Going through these sketches again, we may make to the following provisional conclusion: Political party mutations in Nigeria's ruling classes--from 1999 to 2018--have essentially been quantitative movements of association and dissociation, combination and separation. In other words, Nigeria's ruling classes have not been able to produce qualitative changes, that is, ideological ruptures or breakthroughs since the beginning of the Fourth Republic.
familiar territory

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Thu Jun 14th, 2018 at 06:56:05 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Until something big happens, some major social event--like a Great Depression--that creates the opportunity for an insurrection or a series of insurrections, I don't see much changing. Society is stuck in a cul-de-sac, for now. Cosmetic changes may happen as the biennial cycle of elections grinds on, but nothing thoroughgoing is in the cards.


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sun Jun 17th, 2018 at 02:18:33 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Trump
Russian state TV is celebrating after seeing the recent report that Trump told G7 leaders that Crimea belongs to Russia because the people there speak Russian.
What about Brighton Beach?
by gk (gk (gk quattro due due sette @gmail.com)) on Sun Jun 17th, 2018 at 06:40:37 PM EST
[ Parent ]
by Bjinse on Tue Jun 12th, 2018 at 11:11:48 AM EST

post-colonial cash crops
As part of the transport objective, the European Parliament also managed to clinch an agreement that will lead to a phase out of palm oil by 2030, starting with a freeze on existing quantities of imported palm, Turmes told EURACTIV.

That is likely to anger Malaysia and Indonesia, the world's two biggest producers of palm oil, which have threatened of trade retaliation measures in case a ban is agreed.

The biofuels part of the deal also includes a freeze on so-called first generation biofuels like ethanol, which are produced domestically, at the levels of production reached by each EU member state in 2020. A corresponding 3.5% target was set for so-called second generation biofuels coming from non-food crops, like wood residues.

France: Farmers Block Refineries to Protest Palm Oil Import, 11 JUNE
"This blockade cannot be the solution to the discussion that we are going to have. This blockade is illegal. It is not by blocking refineries that we are going to find adequate solutions," Travert told RTL Radio.

Last month, authorities gave Total permission to use palm oil as a feedstock. The farmers are strongly opposed to the importation of the product which, they say, will likely cut into the profits of locally produced rapeseed oil. Palm oil is cheaper than rapeseed oil.

"Our target is the state," Lambert said, adding that Total's decision on palm oil was "the last straw."

Environmentalists have blamed palm oil cultivation for deforestation in southeast Asia [BUT NOT AFRICA]. Some European lawmakers are pushing for a ban on palm oil use in biofuel, citing its effect on the environment.

New EU 'Peace fund' [EPF] could buy weapons for Africa

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Thu Jun 14th, 2018 at 06:19:01 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Key words: Indonesia deforestation palm oil survival Orangutan

The Future of the Bornean Orangutan: Impacts of Change in Land Cove  

Orangutans face complete extinction within 10 years, animal rescue charity warns | The Independent - 2016 |

Orangutans will be extinct from the planet within 10 years unless action is taken to preserve forests in Indonesia and Malaysia where they live, a conservation charity has warned.

The Bornean orangutan was officially listed as critically endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) last month, joining the only other kind, the Sumatran orangutan, in that classification.

In just 25 years, more than a quarter of Indonesia's forests - 76 million acres, an area almost the size of Germany - have disappeared.

One of the main reasons is to clear land to make way for palm oil plantations. The oil is used to make a vast array of different consumer products from crisps, pizza, noodles and donuts to toothpaste, shampoo and biodiesel.

Leading brands such as Pepsico, Johnson & Johnson and Colgate-Palmolive fail to track origin of palm oil | Greenpeace |

Indonesia: Tribe attacked in palm oil plantation

Members of the nomadic Orang Rimba tribe in Indonesia have been attacked and their possessions burned as part of an eviction from a palm oil plantation on their ancestral land.

The Orang Rimba are a nomadic hunter-gatherer tribe who have been dependent on and managed their forest home in Sumatra for generations. Although a national park was created to protect local wildlife and - unprecedented in Indonesia - the tribe, the Indonesian government has signed over most of their ancestral lands to palm oil, timber and other plantation companies.

As a result many Orang Rimba are forced to live in plantations, collecting palm oil seeds and hunting wild boar. For collecting the seeds, the tribe have been accused of theft by the company operating in the area, even though the oil palm is on Orang Rimba ancestral land and the tribe do not regard such foraging as theft.

One Orang Rimba man said: "That is our ancestral land. Our life and death are in that land. How can it be that we are forbidden? It's forbidden for children to take the seeds which have fallen from the palm oil trees. How can it be forbidden? They planted palm oil trees all over our land."

The palm oil company PT Bahana Karya Semestra (BKS), which is owned by Sinar Mas, has recently ordered the Orang Rimba to leave. Members of the tribe have reported that they were already preparing to go when they were attacked, beaten and stabbed by security staff from BKS.

Understanding the Impacts of Land-Use Policies on a Threatened Species: Is There a Future for the Bornean Orang-utan?

Hasbara is a dead language

by Oui (Oui) on Thu Jun 14th, 2018 at 06:42:45 PM EST
[ Parent ]
possibly weed.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Thu Jun 14th, 2018 at 06:53:54 PM EST
[ Parent ]
under the radar

Defense Bills Seek to Protect U.S. Energy at Base in Germany

Congress may be moving toward reinstating a protected market for U.S. energy companies at a huge Army base in Germany -- an echo of a bygone earmark that cost the government an estimated $2 billion-plus over the last half century.
[...]
Nebraska Republican Don Bacon, the author of the authorization bill provision, says he's interested in making sure the U.S. military facility in Germany is not dependent on Russian gas.
[...]
From 1961 until 2015, appropriators [SIC] required to one degree or another that U.S. bases abroad be powered by Pennsylvania's anthracite coal. The Buy America energy directive [SIC] applied to all European bases until it was narrowed in the early 1990s to cover only energy that powered a base in Kaiserslautern, Germany, according to a history of the issue by Taxpayers for Common Sense.
[...]
The language would require the Pentagon to give preference to U.S. energy sources, including but not limited to coal, in powering a nearly $1 billion hospital being built near Kaiserslautern.
As I mentioned, the concept of sovereignty is not well understood.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Thu Jun 14th, 2018 at 08:12:35 PM EST
[ Parent ]
The Buy American Act is US public law since 1933.
41 U.S. Code Chapter 83 - BUY AMERICAN

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Thu Jun 14th, 2018 at 08:21:41 PM EST
[ Parent ]
by Bjinse on Tue Jun 12th, 2018 at 11:11:50 AM EST
Direct evidence of a large Northern European Roman period martial event and postbattle corpse manipulation
The attempt to push the boundaries toward the Elbe in Northern Germany ended in catastrophic defeat in the Teutoburg Forest in AD 9, with the loss of three legions (4, 5). This historic turning point was followed by continuing Roman punitive campaigns into Germania until AD 16. In the centuries that followed, military relations between the Roman world and the Northern European areas beyond it became a central aspect of political development in Europe. The ferocity of the Germanic tribes and peoples and their extremely violent and ritualized behavior in the aftermath of warfare became a trope in the Roman accounts of their barbaric northern neighbors (6).


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Wed Jun 13th, 2018 at 12:42:51 AM EST
[ Parent ]
About the Italian years of lead interview they did:

by generic on Wed Jun 13th, 2018 at 07:43:08 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Sorry, I'm not even close to his IQ. Can't get my brain around this guy, AVAIK a conspiracy peddler and novelist. Crossed the thin line ...

Steve Pieczenik - WikiPedia

    Pieczenik was born in Cuba of Jewish parents from Russia and Poland and was raised in France. His father, a doctor from Dombrovicz who studied and worked in Toulouse, France, fled Poland before World War II. His mother, a Russian Jew from Białystok, Poland, fled Europe after many of her family members were killed. The couple met in Portugal, where both had fled ahead of the Nazi invaders. Pieczenik was born in Cuba in 1943. After living in Toulouse for six years, Pieczenik's family migrated to the United States, where they settled in the Harlem area of New York City, New York. Steve Pieczenik was 8 years old when his parents received their entry visa to the United States.

    Pieczenik is a classical pianist and wrote a full-length musical at the age of 8.

    Pieczenik is a Harvard University-trained psychiatrist and has a doctorate in international relations from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). After being drafted, Pieczenik says the navy assigned him to St. Elizabeth's Hospital insane asylum where he oversaw several wards of criminally insane patients.

Pieczenik: We Did the Intelligence Counter Coup to Defeat Clinton
U.S. Negotiating Behavior | USIP Report - 2002 |

Another author from that CIA breed (MKULTRA?) ...

    Ellis Washington, since his intellectual apotheosis embracing a Conservative and `America First' worldview (Christmas Day, 1982), has been a Blacklisted Black Intellectual in America--his promising academic career all but destroyed by the Marxist Academy and liberal hegemony through invidious discrimination, nevertheless his Credo--Lex iniusta non est lex--`An unjust law is no law at all,' and his Manifesto chronicles his existential struggles against Liberal Fascism that continues to this day for me, and against hundreds of thousands of other minority academics who reject Globalism, Progressivism, Liberal Fascism, and Socialism Slavery in all of its surreptitious guises.

Genius or Insanity? | NY Times - 2013 |

    "Here's to the crazy ones -- the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently -- they're not fond of rules, and they have no respect for the status quo. ..." -- Steve Jobs


Hasbara is a dead language
by Oui (Oui) on Wed Jun 13th, 2018 at 10:01:36 AM EST
[ Parent ]
"One parent described the idea as 'demented' while another commented: 'Until now they've probably never thought about it, and then suddenly this fear is raised, even though the chances of it happening in this country are very small. This isn't America.'"
IQ scores are falling and have been for decades, new study finds
"The causes in IQ increases over time and now the decline is due to environmental factors," said Rogeburg, who believes the change is not due to genetics. "It's not that dumb people are having more kids than smart people, to put it crudely. It's something to do with the environment, because we're seeing the same differences within families," he said.
"How is that even legal? To operate an educational institution on grounds which are seriously toxic."

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Thu Jun 14th, 2018 at 11:50:58 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Or possibly we've stopped spending so much time training kids to do IQ tests.
by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Fri Jun 15th, 2018 at 11:36:42 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Everything started to go wrong when they invented browser tabs.
by generic on Fri Jun 15th, 2018 at 12:23:13 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I dunno about that. I've recently become acquainted with twitter's "story-telling" tools development and marketing.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Fri Jun 15th, 2018 at 05:34:25 PM EST
[ Parent ]
It actually shows that Norwegian IQ is falling. Maybe that's why Trump wants more immigration from Norway?
by gk (gk (gk quattro due due sette @gmail.com)) on Fri Jun 15th, 2018 at 11:50:02 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Binet-Standford IQ test is pseudo-science.  First, we do not have a consensual scientific definition of "intelligence;" people researching the phenomena use various grades and shades of "I'll Know It When I See It."  Second, the test was developed in the 1920s by racists and eugenicists and - surprise!  Surprise! - "proved" (sic) the darker a person's skin the lower their "intelligence" (sic.)  

See: The Making of Intelligence for more.


She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre

by ATinNM on Fri Jun 15th, 2018 at 04:08:21 PM EST
[ Parent ]
active shooter simulation: Nature or Nurture???

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Fri Jun 15th, 2018 at 05:38:30 PM EST
[ Parent ]
More often than not cop bullshit their way out of blatant murder by claiming "active shooter."  

She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre
by ATinNM on Sat Jun 16th, 2018 at 02:17:39 PM EST
[ Parent ]
by Bjinse on Tue Jun 12th, 2018 at 11:11:53 AM EST
Today -100: June 12, 1918: This is a time when kings must stick together


Evacuate to Port Lesne

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Wed Jun 13th, 2018 at 12:05:39 AM EST
[ Parent ]
I'll bet not one American in ten thousand knows about the Black Panthers tank battalion in WW 2.



She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre

by ATinNM on Fri Jun 15th, 2018 at 04:29:49 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I wonder how many Americans even know what WW 2 was. And of these, how many think that America won it on their own.
by gk (gk (gk quattro due due sette @gmail.com)) on Fri Jun 15th, 2018 at 05:21:58 PM EST
[ Parent ]

"The Way to Leave it, (A City Destroyed) Homeless People Enachna Germany."See World War II through the lens of an African American soldier

Happy Black History Y3 D166. The amount of historical tragedy that has been glossed by conventional, self-serving "Atlanticist" historians is astounding actually, because something like pride got between them destroying the whole paper trail. They hoard it. Now some people can't cope with contradictions only lately coming into light from the tombs

Images like this will always remind me how big my "family" is, of little known events like how my uncle Hugh met his 17-year-old bride Heddy in Berlin. He intervened in a um sexual assault scenario instigated by a posse of US soldiers. Her parents were grateful. He settled with her in Philly, raised 5. Frying pan, frying pan.

I mentioned elsewhere, in the context of Syrian rubble and property rights, all of my uncles were drafted and survived: 3 WWII (Europe, N. Africa), 1 Korea. They corresponded from the fronts to my dad, the youngest, at home. So he was able to convey to me their own impressions of segregated units, detached units in Allied batallions, neglect by US command long after they stopped talking about it.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Fri Jun 15th, 2018 at 07:06:53 PM EST
[ Parent ]
The history of African-American men in the US armed forces during the first fifty years of the 20th Century is completely unknown to 99% Euro-Americans.  Example, white Americans, especially southern whites, were driven stark raving bonkers when they found "colored troops" were preferred by Brit women during World War II.  Another, the same group had the same reaction when the French refused to enforce Jim Crow segregation laws in Paris during World War I.  

She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre
by ATinNM on Sat Jun 16th, 2018 at 02:44:16 PM EST
[ Parent ]
calculating memory loss

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Fri Jun 15th, 2018 at 07:12:14 PM EST
[ Parent ]
When I tell people here the simple fact: WW 2 was won on the ground by the Red Army, their brains melt.  Americans are aware the Brits had something to do with WW 2 ... and Canadians?  (Maybe?)  The rest have been erased in popular memory by the standard American functional psychosis.

She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre
by ATinNM on Sat Jun 16th, 2018 at 02:33:20 PM EST
[ Parent ]
WWII - The Segregated US Armed Forces

In the First World War the Black Battalions of the US Army fought under French command ...

"A Double Victory?" Revisiting the Black Struggle for Equality during World War Two

In his 1944 landmark study An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy, Gunnar Myrdal predicted that "there is bound to be a redefinition of the Negro's status in America as a result of this war" (Myrdal 997). Historians have largely agreed with this assessment, considering the Second World War not only as a major turning point in the long African American struggle for justice and equality, but also as the starting point of the modern civil rights movement (see Dalfiume; Polenberg; Dittmer; Biondi). Such an interpretation of the heritage of the war can still be found today in some of the country's most commonly used textbooks (see in particular Brinkley). There are, to be sure, a number of facts to support such an interpretation. Pressed to answer increasing calls from black leaders for equal treatment and determined to maintain peaceful race relations in the name of keeping the war production industries running at full capacity, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed Executive Order No. 8802 on June 25, 1941, ordering an end to discrimination in defense industry jobs and creating the Fair Employment Practices Committee (FEPC) as an enforcement agency. This constituted the federal government's first substantive act in support of the cause of racial equality since Reconstruction.

African Americans In World War II: A Legacy Of Patriotism And Valor (1997)

World War II and the American Home Front

Hasbara is a dead language

by Oui (Oui) on Fri Jun 15th, 2018 at 07:05:26 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I just <expletive deleted> love it was phrased as "a Negro problem" when the fact was - and is - "a racist Caucasian problem."  

She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre
by ATinNM on Sat Jun 16th, 2018 at 02:22:05 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Who I have to deal with.
A few months ago I called out premiere of the Black Panther (Disney) franchise. And for several weeks thereafter surveyed US-Eng. language txt and video reviewers' critiques to gauge the depth of cultural references informing those opinions. The most startling, invidious assumption about African Americans' struggle to exercise their civil rights --1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 8th, 9th, 13th, 14th, 26th, CRA, VRA at "home" and abroad-- I found was this derogatory note from one of the most inane sites on the planet, syndicating "mainstream" culture to collect ad revenue and visitors.

Even so, the film's political themes may prove problematic. Reviewers have written that the movie is "alt-right" (perhaps oblivious of the racial undertones of such a statement) and others have noted that it pays a homage to the political terrorist group the Black Panthers.
O'Neil goes on to furnishe Perez's shallow command ("Perez did not mean anything racist ") of illegitimate "black nationalism" without an iota of irony.
With any luck, this should extend to the brief scene devoted to the Revolutionary Black Panther Party, a far-Left black nationalist socialist group founded in 1992 [!] that claims continuity [!] with the Black Panther Party of the 1960s. The FBI has categorized the original [!] group as militantly subversive for attempting to overthrow the U.S. government by force of arms. ... Despite this homage to the Black Panthers, the movie seems rather politically reactionary. ...Perhaps Perez was more right than he suspected. Even if the movie rejects Wakanda's "alt-right" isolationism, it seems to embrace hereditary monarchy -- something even more conservative than the alt-right.
Now, extrapolate the stupid to world, ppl.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sat Jun 16th, 2018 at 08:43:10 PM EST
[ Parent ]
PJ Media is well known to be the internet home of the moronically stupid and there's no fixing stupid.  


She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre
by ATinNM on Mon Jun 18th, 2018 at 02:39:42 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Today -100: June 14, 1918: Better at gas!

Carl Alsberg, head of the Bureau of Chemistry, tells the Senate Agriculture Committee that the Allies are now better at gas warfare than the Germans. The US will start making mustard gas soon.
They not only have more gas at their disposal and are applying it more effectively than the Germans, he said, but in defensive warefare they have more improved gas masks. He predicted that a preventive against mustard gas woon would be found. "We believe we are on the right track but we haven't yet got it," he declared, referring to experiments now being conducted by his department in conjuction with the Bureau of Mines.
June 14, 2018: US Army Resumes Destroying Remaining Mustard Gas Stockpile in Colorado
June 14, 2018: US Resumes Destroying Obsolete Chemical Weapons in Colorado
The plant is destroying 780,000 decades-old shells containing 2,500 U.S. tons (2,270 metric tons) of mustard agent. Although it's often called a gas, the chemical is a liquid under most conditions.

"whataboutism"
History and Analysis of Mustard Agent and Lewisite Research Programs in the United States

CWS carried out three basic types of experiments with human subjects. According to Cochrane, these testing programs involved the use of approximately 60,000 human subjects. ... It is important to note that CWS personnel were exposed to a variety of toxic materials. For example, in addition to mustard agents, gases such as phosgene (a choking agent), hydrogen cyanide and cyanogen chloride (blood poisoning agents), and chloroacetophenone (tear gas) were also produced at the arsenals. Other personnel were involved in biological warfare research and production, in locations such as Fort Detrick, Maryland, and a civilian plant in Terre Haute, Indiana (Brophy and Fisher, 1959). Chemicals including napalm and white phosphorus were also stored and packed into bombs by CWS personnel. Even the production and testing of gas masks and filter canisters involved the use of toxic chemicals such as asbestos.4 Finally, many people, including women, were assigned duties in the preparation of impregnated clothing, the most common method of which involved the use of two extremely toxic chemicals, chloroamide and acetylene tetrachloride.
Chemical Munitions Destruction Progress as of October 27, 2017

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Thu Jun 14th, 2018 at 11:26:07 PM EST
[ Parent ]
by Bjinse on Tue Jun 12th, 2018 at 11:11:56 AM EST
moar clay feet

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Tue Jun 12th, 2018 at 06:12:58 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Another Reason Young Americans Don't Revolt Against Being Screwed
"Millenials have educated me on the various divides among the 99% that have been created and perpetuated on the Internet."

I get that, too, from my associate.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Thu Jun 14th, 2018 at 04:24:19 PM EST
[ Parent ]
History which keeps alive the memory of people's resistance suggests new definitions of power. By traditional definitions, whoever possesses military strength, wealth, command of official ideology, cultural control, has power. Measured by these standards, popular rebellion never looks strong enough to survive.

However, the unexpected victories--even temporary ones--of insurgents show the vulnerability of the supposedly powerful. In a highly developed society, the Establishment cannot survive without the obedience and loyalty of millions of people who are given small rewards to keep the system going: the soldiers and police, teachers and ministers, administrators and social workers, technicians and production workers, doctors, lawyers, nurses, transport and communications workers, garbage men and firemen. These people--the employed, the somewhat privileged--are drawn into alliance with the elite. They become the guards of the system, buffers between the upper and lower classes. If they stop obeying, the system falls.

That will happen, I think, only when all of us who are slightly privileged and slightly uneasy begin to see that we are like the guards in the prison uprising at Attica--expendable; that the Establishment, whatever rewards it gives us, will also, if necessary to maintain its control, kill us.

archive
The Lifespan of a Lie

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Thu Jun 14th, 2018 at 04:36:32 PM EST
[ Parent ]
DMCA Frivolous Suit

I own a hardbound edition and used to read aloud parts of it at bedtime to my Militant Electrician.

this.empowerment(A People's History of the United States)
"UH, OH. WE MIGHT BE IN TROUBLE" - An Emergency Message from History Is A Weapon (please click)


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Thu Jun 14th, 2018 at 04:51:10 PM EST
[ Parent ]


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