Stuart Jeanne Bramhall's Blog: The Most Revolutionary Act , page 1229
December 4, 2016
Veterans Build Barracks For #NoDAPL Protesters.
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U.S. military veterans were building barracks on Friday at a protest camp in North Dakota to support thousands of activists who have squared off against authorities in frigid conditions to oppose a multibillion-dollar pipeline project near a Native American reservation.
Veterans have a demonstration on Backwater bridge during a protest against plans to pass the Dakota Access pipeline near the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, near Cannon Ball, North Dakota, U.S., December 1, 2016. REUTERS/Stephanie Keith
From Reuters.com:
U.S. veterans build barracks for pipeline protesters in cold
By Ernest Scheyder and Terray Sylvester| CANNON BALL, N.D
Children sled down a hill inside of the Oceti Sakowin camp as “water protectors” continue to demonstrate against plans to pass the Dakota Access pipeline near the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, near Cannon Ball, North Dakota, U.S., December 2, 2016. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson
U.S. military veterans were building barracks on Friday at a protest camp in North Dakota to support thousands of activists who have squared off against authorities in frigid conditions to oppose a multibillion-dollar pipeline project near a Native American reservation.
Veterans volunteering to be human shields have been…
View original post 1,319 more words
Pirate Party asked to form new government in Iceland: here’s what they want to achieve
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Iceland’s president Guðni Th. Jóhannesson has announced he has given the Pirate Party ‘captain’, Birgitta Jónsdóttir, the mandate to form the country’s next ruling coalition. Informal talks between the Pirate Party, the Social Democrats, the Reform Party, the Left-Greens and Bright Future will commence immediately
Birgitta Jónsdóttir.
Iceland’s president Guðni Th. Jóhannesson has announced he has given the Pirate Party ‘captain’, Birgitta Jónsdóttir, the mandate to form the country’s next ruling coalition. Informal talks between the Pirate Party, the Social Democrats, the Reform Party, the Left-Greens and Bright Future will commence immediately. Birgitta met with reporters shortly after the announcement. She said she hopes that all parties already involved in informal talks, with the inclusion of the Left-Greens, will lead to a harmonious result.
Pirate Party manifesto
In the meantime, here is the Icelandic Pirate Party’s manifesto for the October 2016 parliamentary elections. The original text can be found here in Icelandic.
The Icelandic Pirate Party wants to …
1. Adopt the New Constitution
Icelandic Pirates believe that adopting the Constitutional Council’s new constitution is a basic precondition for improving Icelandic society.
The new constitution updates Iceland’s obsolete structure of government. It contains new clauses…
View original post 1,195 more words
Wisconsin Recount Observers Discover Vote Counting Machine Tampering
As reported by Bill Palmer in The Palmer Report, Wisconsin recount observers have discovered vote counting machines in St Croix County with tampered seals.
There has as of yet been no explanation from Wisconsin officials or St. Croix County officials as to why the majority of vote counting machines in the county have been visibly tampered with, and no one noticed during the original vote tally. It’s possible that these seals could have been broken by a hacker who was reprogramming them to produce rigged or false vote totals, and it’s also possible that an election worker could have simply pried open the seals for some unknown reason that didn’t involve malicious intent. But in any case, the broken tamper seals stand out as alarming – and could serve as legal fodder for expanding the scope of the recount.
Palmer reports that 60 of 72 Wisconsin counties have voluntarily agreed to do hand recounts despite last week’s court ruling that there is insufficient evidence to compel hand recounts. According to Palmer, the tampered seals could be sufficient to convince the judge to do hand recounts in the other 12 counties.
Read more at The Palmer Report
The Negro Motorist Green Book
Victor H. Green, a post office employee and activist in Harlem, published the first Green Book in 1936 for the New York area. The next year, it expanded to cover the whole country. The book listed “hotels, boarding houses, restaurants, beauty shops, barber shops, and various other services” where Black people would be served. 15,000 copies were produced each year (until 1964) and sold to market Black-owned businesses and more friendly White ones like Esso, one of the few gas stations that would sell to Black people.
During the shameful Jim Crow period, when many businesses all over the US refused to serve black people (even in emergencies), the information allowed black families to travel to parts of the US they had only heard of. In the South, knowledge of safe and unsafe areas could be life saving.
Free PDF (1949 edition): The Green Book
December 3, 2016
Cuba-Trained Doctors Head to Standing Rock
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A delegation of doctors trained at the Latin American School of Medicine in Cuba announced they will head to Standing Rock to “serve in solidarity.”
A delegation of doctors trained at the Latin American School of Medicine in Cuba announced they will head to Standing Rock to “serve in solidarity.”
In a late Thursday Facebook post, a group of U.S.-based medical professionals trained at Cuba’s famous Latin American School of Medicine, or ELAM, announced they will head to Standing Rock “to humbly serve in solidarity with the Sacred Water Protectors on the front lines of the current human rights and ecological crisis occurring right now in North Dakota.”
Dr. Revery P. Barnes, a graduate of ELAM, said in a post on Facebook, “We answer the call to serve in alignment with the mission and core principles of our alma mater and dedication to our commitment to serve underserved communities in our HOME country.” The delegation will work in collaboration with the Standing Rock Medic and Healer Council.
“While Cuba instilled in us an unwavering commitment…
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US Congress Quietly Passes Bill Targeting “Russian Propaganda” Websites
On November 30, one week after the Washington Post launched its witch hunt against “Russian propaganda fake news”, with 390 votes for, the House quietly passed “H.R. 6393, Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017“, sponsored by California Republican Devin Nunes (whose third largest donor in 2016 is Google parent Alphabet, Inc), a bill which deals with a number of intelligence-related issues, including Russian propaganda, or what the government calls propaganda, and hints at a potential crackdown on “offenders.”
A quick skim of the bill reveals “Title V—Matters relating to foreign countries”, whose Section 501 calls for the government to “counter active measures by Russia to exert covert influence … carried out in coordination with, or at the behest of, political leaders or the security services of the Russian Federation and the role of the Russian Federation has been hidden or not acknowledged publicly.”
The section lists the following definitions of media manipulation:
Establishment or funding of a front group.
Covert broadcasting.
Media manipulation.
Disinformation and forgeries.
Funding agents of influence.
Incitement and offensive counterintelligence.
Assassinations.
Terrorist acts.
As ActivistPost correctly notes, it is easy to see how this law, if passed by the Senate and signed by the president, could be used to target, threaten, or eliminate so-called “fake news” websites, a list which has been used to arbitrarily define any website, or blog, that does not share the mainstream media’s proclivity to serve as the Public Relations arm of a given administration. …
Source: US Congress Quietly Passes Bill Targeting “Russian Propaganda” Websites
Finland and Norway to Resume Relations with Russia*
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Finland and Norway plan to unfreeze trade and economic relations with Russia despite the sanctions imposed on it because of Crimea. Both countries are increasingly less willing to comply with the sanctions that are actually affecting their economic interests
Finland and Norway to Resume Relations with Russia*
Originally appeared at A-specto, translated by Valentina Tzoneva
Finland and Norway plan to unfreeze trade and economic relations with Russia despite the sanctions imposed on it because of Crimea. Both countries are increasingly less willing to comply with the sanctions that are actually affecting their economic interests. Financial Times notes that these are signs of warming up of relations. Last week, Norwegian officials met with Russian Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology, Sergei Donskoy. The two sides agreed on the exchange of seismic data for exploration of oil and gas deposits on the Arctic shelf along their common border. The Press Service of the Government of Norway reported that the two sides also discussed the possible resumption of the dialogue on trade and the economy.
“We are positive about resumption of political dialogue on trade and economic cooperation with Russia, which is already…
View original post 437 more words
December 2, 2016
Gaza Teen Uses Candle Heat to Generate Electricity*
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A sixteen year old girl in Gaza has discovered a way to overcome chronic power shortages, by constructing a device that can generate electricity from the heat of candles.
Gaza Teen Uses Candle Heat to Generate Electricity*
A sixteen year old girl in Gaza has discovered a way to overcome chronic power shortages, by constructing a device that can generate electricity from the heat of candles.
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA ) said that electricity blackouts were triggered when the Gaza Power Plant (GPP) shut down completely in April, having exhausted its fuel reserves due to a shortage of funds. The OCHA said that the blackouts lasted for 18-30 hours a day.
RT reports:
Faced with regular blackouts, Shahd Abu Lebda, 16, told New China TV that she
“depends on the principle that ‘a person in need will find a way’ – which pushed me towards inventing a device that generates electric charges for smart mobile phones from the energy of heat that comes from candles.”
The teen started the project after attending a course…
View original post 294 more words
Poisoning Workers and Consumers for Profit
The Toxins Return
Directed by Inge Altmeier and Reinhard Hornung (2009)
Film Review
The Toxins Return is a German documentary about the failure of western governments to regulate the toxic chemicals present in their imports from third world countries.
Most of the film focuses on textiles. Textile manufacturing has virtually collapsed in the developed world, with most multinational corporations moving their factories to Asian countries that pay sweat shop wages. Unsurprisingly these third world countries also make no effort to regulate the toxic chemicals used to bleach, “soften” and dye these textiles – nor the toxic pesticides used to protect them from insect pests during their long journey to the industrialized world.
Organophosphates, organochlorine compounds and methyl bromide*, toxic chemicals long banned in the EU (but not in the US), are used routinely in China and India, where 90% of European textiles are produced. Most third world textile workers survive at most two years in the industry before they become too ill with work.
Meanwhile German workers who come in direct contact with the shipping containers and/or textiles are also at high risk of developing chronic occupational illnesses.
One-fifth of shipping containers that enter through the Hamburg port are found to contain toxic gasses. In Hamburg, customs workers have special instruments to detect toxic gasses before the containers are opened. Yet only a minority of textile containers are opened in Hamburg. Most on on-shipped by train to the Czech Republic for opening and redistribution of the goods they contain.
The Czech Republic has no protocol in place to protect their workers from toxic shipping containers. Although the EU has laws regulating toxic imports, there is virtually no mechanism in place for enforcing them.
The last third of the documentary examines the toxic chemicals Chinese companies use in children’s toys. Although phthalates (chemicals used to soften plastic toys) have been banned in the EU for more than a decade, all German children tested in a three year study continued to excrete phthalates in their urine (from exposure to imported toys). Phthalates are known to cause reproductive cancers and low sperm counts.
Update: Although the film is eight years, there seems to be little progress in regulating the toxins we are exposed to in imported textiles. See Health Risks in International Container and Bulk Cargo Transport Due to Volatile Toxic Compounds
Progress seems to be somewhat better in terms of phthalates. Last year the US banned six phthalates in toys (including imports) children are likely to put in their month (though the enforcement mechanism is unclear) – see Phalates Information
The EU, meanwhile is proposing a total ban on all phthalates.
*The US ban on methyl bromide only extends to indoor use.
Bombshell: UN Orders immediate release of Julian Assange – Mirrorspectrum
Julian Assange could be a free man soon as it was reported that the United Nations rejected UK appeal.
The United Nations has dealt a bitter blow to the UK government, ordering them to immediately release Julian Assange from his “illegal detention”.
The UN rejected a UK appeal against its previous ruling in favor of Assange as “inadmissible,” which means that both the UK and Sweden will be forced to free the WikiLeaks founder with immediate effect.
“Now that all appeals are exhausted, I expect that the UK and Sweden will comply with their international obligations and set me free,” Julian Assange said in a statement.
Source: Bombshell: UN Orders immediate release of Julian Assange – Mirrorspectrum
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