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International Developments
❖ President Obama and Afghanistan leader Hamid Karzai “have agreed . . . [that] US troops in Afghanistan will end ‘most’ combat operations this spring”.
❖ One Syrian rebel group that the US considers an al Qaida affiliate in Iraq seems “to be on the verge of overrunning a governmental air base that’s used to launch helicopter strikes against rebel-held areas in Syria’s north.” Update: The base has been overrun.
❖ “President Francois Hollande says French troops are taking part in operations against Islamists in northern Mali” and will be there “as long as necessary”.
International Finance
❖ World Bank President Jim Yong Kim “hopes to elevate the international development institution’s climate change role.”
❖ 5,400 jobs are being cut worldwide by American Express, primarily in its travel business.
Money Matters USA
❖ The Reuters article on “Rise of the zombie title: How thousands of homeowners finding themselves legally liable for houses that were seized by banks but never foreclosed” laying out the stats and presenting families caught in and damaged by the banksters’ foreclosure trap.
❖ The Securities & Exchange Commission is working on a rule which “would compel publicly traded corporations to disclose much of their political spending to investors”. Lobbyists for “Walmart, Chevron and major Fortune 100 companies” are blasting the proposed rule on the SEC’s website–but supporters of the rule outnumber them.
❖ There’s a war going on between “the petroleum industry and several big manufacturing companies” over a potential “major expansion of liquefied natural-gas exports”.
Politics USA
❖ CA Democratic House member Xavier Becerra, head of the House Democratic Caucus, has announced “that he’ll oppose any budget package that includes Social Security cuts.” He’s at odds with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on this.
❖ Treasury Secretary nominee, Jack Lew, was working at Citigroup from 2006-08, “a top executive in the Citigroup unit that housed many of the bank’s riskiest operations, incuding its hedge funds and private equity investments.” That unit experienced “massive losses” which resulted in a $45bn federal bailout. What was Lew’s role?
❖ According to KY Democratic Representative John Yarmuth, Ashley Judd is “very interested” in political office.
❖ Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) has announced he won’t seek re-election in 2014. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is “confident” that an “independent-minded Democrat” will replace Rockefeller. Republicans are saying they’ll run a candidate as an “effective check-and-balance” on Democrats who aim “to kill West Virginia’s coal industry and bankrupt our country”.
❖ Newark, NJ Democratic Mayor Cory Booker has filed “organizing papers” with the Federal Election Commission as he intends to run for Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ)’s seat.
❖ Remember that Secret Service/local prostitute scandal from President Obama’s visit to Colombia last year? Seems two Drug Enforcement Administration agents were also involved, having “‘facilitated a sexual encounter’ between a prostitute and SS agent.
❖ LA Republican Gov Bobby Jindal wants to eliminate the state’s income and corporate taxes and go with increased sales taxes instead.
❖ On Jerry Brown’s CA budget: “A solid California budget, but still a shaky fiscal foundation”
Gun Corner
❖ After appearing on YouTube threatening to kill people if certain gun control measures were approved, TN’s Tactical Response’s founder, James Yeager, has had his handgun carry permit suspended by the TN Dept of Safety & Homeland Security”.
❖ Chart, using UN and CIA World Factbook as sources, on gun-related homicides in the US compared to “other large and affluent countries.”
❖ Montpelier Exempted Village Schools Board of Education in OH has voted to let its janitors carry handguns. The janitors will be “trained to carry handguns around the county’s K-12 campus.” No word on safeguards against making janitors potential targets. Link-through to responsibility and liability concerns.
❖ “Somewhat controversial”? Maricopa County, AZ Sheriff Joe Arpaio plans to post volunteer posses around schools, including posse members with “criminal pasts”.
❖ Two 22-year-old males walked around Portland, OR with assault rifles strapped on their backs. They were “educating” the public, you see.
❖ Oh, the irony! Gun control in the US, and the Black Panthers.
Women & Children
❖ Déjà-vu all over again. As in 2012, so 2013--Republicans have “spouted off about women lying about rape and our bodies shutting down pregnancy. States are at it again, and the US House has kicked off the legislative session by trying to defund Planned Parenthood.”
❖ GA Republican House member Phil Gingery, OB/GYN, took up the causes of Todd “Legitimate Rape” Akin and Richard “God intended” Mourdock recently before the Cobb [County,GA] Chamber of Commerce breakfast. Afterwards, Gingery was asked for clarification of pro-Akin and -Mourdock comments he made–with a predictable response.
❖ “Republican Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant says that there is one abortion clinic in the state and ‘of course’ his goal is to ‘shut it down’.”
❖ If they’ll only follow through! VA Republican Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli thinks “opponents of a federal mandate for contraception coverage should be willing to ‘go to jail’ to fight the law.” On a more mature note, Planned Parenthood responded “by saying Cuccinelli does not care about women’s health or economic security.”
Working for A Living
❖ “Hundreds of job seekers arriving in the oil boomtown of Williston, N.D., are being sent back to where they came from after ending up homeless.” Since the jobs they hoped for are not there, the homeless can appeal to the Salvation Army for 1-way bus tickets out of town.
❖ Ford is adding 2,200 jobs in 2013–white-collar jobs in “product development, manufacturing and information technology”, full-time, with benefits. Link to jobs website in article.
Heads Up!
❖ Talks between First Nation chiefs, Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper have been thrown into a tailspin. Some chiefs, including Chief Spence, refuse to meet unless the Governor General David Johnson is also present, and they want more chiefs’ participation in the talks, too. Update: Some chiefs did meet with Prime Minister Stephen Harper, though Chief Spence and others did not. There is now a split in First Nations leadership. Video here and here
❖ The US and the EU will be sharing “more data on cross-border cybercriminals” very soon.
Planet Earth News
❖ How much more can Australia take? Raging wildfires, tropical cyclone in-coming and a “monster red dust storm”.
❖ Arctic sea ice continues to decrease. Map and chart.
❖ “Video and charts make clear the planet is still warming–and there’s only one way to stop it.”
Mixed Bag
❖ Yes! The US Marine Corps has ordered that all spouses clubs at Marine bases either admit same-sex spouses or leave the bases.
❖ Silbo gomero, the whistling language (audio included, with translation).
Break Time
❖ End-of-the-week song
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About FDL News Desk
Regarding Hollande, French troops, Mali. . .
It may seem like the ends of the earth, but might Mali today have anything in common with the rest of North Africa in the 1960s or even Indo China in the ’50s?
France didn’t do too well in either case, nor did we in SE Asia, and I wonder what lessons learned may on Hollande’s platter now. But then we in the US also have a habit of repeating our mistakes. It’s not so much about a malicious goal, but rather miscalculation. Hubris plus the cocksure technology. . . what can ever go wrong?
Greetings, great and mighty Fatster. I thank you for your roundup today. While I have no links, I do come with intrigue.
While I am laughing at the idiot who lost his gun license for being an idiot, I am quite concerned that no body was arrested in the Portland case. Brandishing assault weapons downtown should be considered threatening under the legal definition. There was no legal reason to be walking with them strapped to their backs. It was a deliberate act of intimidation, which is the legal statute of a threat under the law.
Regarding the Republican/Democratic attempts at restricting abortion and women’s rights, has anyone ever tried a civilian legal action against these politicians? What they are doing has been declared illegal by the Supreme Court. For a moment, put aside the legalities of this as a legislative action.
Their first amendment rights should not be guaranteed on this. They are public officials, the physical embodiment of our government. Shouldn’t what they say be held to a higher standard, placed under a stricter scrutiny by the law and courts? As the ‘voice of the people’ they hold power and sway over our country. What constitutes a legal definition of threatening or hate speech for them should be more rigid than it is for a civilian.
Now, back to their attempts at legislating an already decided legal battle. These laws were voided before they were even put forth as a bill after the Supreme Court decision. Isn’t there a legal or punitive damage that can be brought against these politicians? I know about recalls and elections, but there has to be another way to make someone who is deliberately trying to do something illegal such as this pay for their crimes.
Oh, great Gothrykke, those politicians, if elected to Congress, are the ones who make the laws. Once that’s done, then the legal battles over whether the laws are Constitutional commence. The “higher standard” to which they are held is “we the people”, I suppose. Sad to say, not all of the “we” vote the way you and I might wish.
It’s a seemingly never-ending battle, replete with frustrations such as what you are experiencing now. I wish I were wise and learned and could expound at length and with great profundity, but, alas, I’m just a novice at such weighty issues, though I do find them fascinating.
The fruits of European colonialism will, apparently, be with us for many generations more, huh, maa8722? And that miscalculation-hubris-technology brew you refer to is a bitter concoction indeed.
Fund-Raising Is Lagging, So Far, for Inaugural Plans
So sad.
Indeed, allan. I’m just crying my eyes out even as I type.
Many thnx.
❖ World Bank President Jim Yong Kim “hopes to elevate the international development institution’s climate change role.”
“Most new coal-fired plants will be built by Chinese or Indian companies. But new plants have largely been financed by both commercial banks and development banks. JP Morgan Chase has provided more than $16.5bn (£10.3bn) for new coal plants over the past six years, followed by Citi ($13.8bn). Barclays ($11.5bn) comes in as the fifth biggest coal backer and the Royal Bank of Scotland ($10.9bn) as the seventh.
The Japan Bank for International Co-operation was the biggest development bank ($8.1bn), with the World Bank ($5.3bn) second.”
The Guardian Nov. 20 /2012 http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/nov/20/coal-plants-world-resources-institute
❖ “Hundreds of job seekers arriving in the oil boomtown of Williston, N.D., are being sent back to where they came from after ending up homeless.
“According to the World Bank, the oil boom in North Dakota has made the U.S. one of the top-10 gas flaring countries in the world.
Boosted by the fracking boom that has opened up fossil fuel reserves trapped under the Bakken Shale, North Dakota is now the second-largest oil producing state in America. But the state has a dirty little secret: drilling companies are wasting a lot of natural gas to get to that oil.
How much natural gas is getting wasted in North Dakota? Producers are flaring roughly one third of gas reserves in the state — enough natural gas each day to heat half a million homes. The flaring is so widespread, North Dakota is starting to rival some of America’s biggest cities in light pollution. ”
(satellite photo of light from gas flaring in North Dakota.)
climateprogress
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/issue/
” Some chiefs, including Chief Spence, refuse to meet unless the Governor General David Johnson is also present”
This position is silly. The Governor General is a for the most part a figurehead, the representative in Canada, of the Queen of England;
I am quite sure that this would lose, not gain, public support.
Landfill harmonic (la orquesta reciclada)
1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCiN17lwxno
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFHTIhyNdhk
A another cultural tip-off about the huge–and widening–divide between us and them:
http://editorial.autos.msn.com/blogs/autosblog.aspx?feat=12d89d64-e455-4749-b0e0-dd4c01223ca9
Thanks ever so much for the two links to that orchestra, mafr. Must inspiring and just beautiful.
In regard to the climate and oil/fracking/etc., there’s a major report I’ve seen mentioned today that’s just come out which they’re saying might move Obama and other DC denizens to do something. What will it take?
Anyway, just love that orchestra and have sent your links everywhere. Thanks so much . . . and Good Evening!
Another rich harvest of news to work with. Thanks so much, fatster. I’ll have to read and comment tomorrow.