Welcome! "The Evening Blues - Weekend Edition" is a casual community diary (published Saturday & Sunday, 8:00 PM Eastern) where we hang out, share and talk about news, music, photography and other things of interest to the community.
Just about anything goes, but attacks and pie fights are not welcome here. This is a community diary and a friendly, peaceful, supportive place for people to interact.
Everyone who wants to join in peaceful interaction is very welcome here.
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Hey! Good Evening!
This evening's music is brought to you by guest VJ NCTim and features blues, blues rock and jam band extraordinaire The Derek Trucks Band starring the slide guitar phenom, Derek Trucks. Enjoy!
The Derek Trucks Band - For My Brother
From Wakan-Tanka, the Great Mystery, comes all power. It is from Wakan-Tanka that the holy man has wisdom and the power to heal and make holy charms. Man knows that all healing plants are given by Wakan-Tanka, therefore they are holy. So too is the buffalo holy, because it is the gift of Wakan-Tanka.
Flat-Iron, Maza Blaska Oglala Sioux Chief
News and Opinion
Ukraine fears spread of war after blast in eastern city
(Reuters) - Ukraine said on Sunday it feared unrest could spread beyond territory held by pro-Russian separatists, after an explosion killed two people at a memorial rally in an eastern city far from the front line.
Kiev said it arrested four people who had been armed and trained in Russia after the blast, which killed a policeman and a demonstrator at the rally in Kharkiv, the biggest city in the east, 200 km (125 miles) from the war zone.
A week after a ceasefire agreement that Moscow-backed rebels ignored to capture a strategic town, Kiev and its Western allies are trying to determine whether the separatists will now halt, or advance deeper into territory the Kremlin calls "New Russia".
Germany and France mediated the peace deal that came into effect a week ago, and say they still hope it can be resurrected, even though the rebels ignored it to inflict one of the worst defeats of the war, seizing the town of Debaltseve after encircling thousands of Ukrainian troops.
Al-Shabaab mall threat 'all the more reason' to avoid shutdown, says homeland security chief
*Somali terror group releases video threatening US, Canada and UK malls
*DHS funding will end Friday if immigration impasse is not solved
The US homeland security secretary on Sunday seized on a new threat of attacks against western shopping centres by Islamist terrorists to pressure Congress to avert a partial shutdown of his department and agree to a funding deal.
Jeh Johnson said a propaganda video released by al-Shabaab on Saturday calling for strikes on the Mall of America in Minnesota, Oxford Street and two Westfield malls in London, and Canada’s West Edmonton Mall, showed “all the more reason why I need a budget”.
“It’s absurd that we’re even having this conversation about Congress’s inability to fund homeland security in these challenging times,” Johnson told CNN. On ABC, he said “it’s imperative that we get it resolved”, adding that senators and members of the House were each blaming those in the other chamber for the impasse.
Conservative Republicans in Congress are refusing to pass a budget for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) unless it includes measures to roll back President Obama’s executive actions that would protect millions of undocumented immigrants from being deported. Last week, House Speaker John Boehner said he was prepared to let DHS funding lapse.
New Defense Secretary hosts U.S. gathering on Islamic State strategy
(Reuters) - New U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter is gathering top U.S. military commanders and diplomats for talks in Kuwait on Monday about the battle against Islamic State, as America's military effort approaches major hurdles in both Iraq and Syria.
Carter says he hopes the roughly six hours of largely unscripted discussions will help assess the war that he is inheriting after swearing-in on Tuesday as President Barack Obama's fourth defense secretary.
"I'm trying to assess the situation in Iraq, Syria and the region more generally," Carter told reporters during his first trip abroad as defense secretary.
Carter's meeting at a U.S. Army camp in Kuwait comes against the backdrop of a fierce debate inside the United States about the U.S. strategy, which Obama's Republican critics say is far too limited militarily to succeed.
Egypt president says need growing for joint Arab force
Abdel Fattah el-Sisi says need for "unified" regional force is growing daily to counter threat of armed groups.
Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has said that the need for a joint Arab military force is growing every day as the region faces the escalating threat of armed factions.
Sisi also said on Sunday in a recorded address aired by state television that Egypt's military has no interest in invading or attacking other nations, but will defend Egypt as well as the region "if required and in coordination with our Arab brothers".
"The need for a unified Arab force is growing and becoming more pressing every day,'' the president said.
The soldier-turned-politician said both Jordan and the United Arab Emirates have offered to dispatch military forces to aid Egypt following last week's beheading in Libya of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians by fighters pledging allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group (ISIL).
Syria: Turkish incursion is 'flagrant aggression'
Syrian government says Turkey informed Syria about operation in northern Syria but did not await its agreement.
The Syrian government has said that Turkey informed Syria ahead of a major overnight military incursion but did not await Syrian agreement to the action.
Turkish soldiers guarding the tomb of Suleyman Shah in Syria were successfully evacuated to Turkey in the military operation early on Saturday, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said.
Davutoglu said the remains of Suleyman Shah, grandfather of the founder of the Ottoman Empire, would be moved to a different area of Syria which has been brought under Turkish military control.
Syrian State TV described the incursion as "flagrant agression".
"Turkey goes beyond supporting ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist gangs to launch a blatant aggression on Syrian territory," state-run SANA news said, referring to the alternate name of ISIL.
3 British teen ‘jihadi brides’ already crossed into Syria – report
An International search and intercept effort for British teenage ‘jihadi brides’ has been in vain, as the trio have apparently made their way from Turkey to Syria to join the Islamic State caliphate's cause.
The three girls, all students at Bethnal Green Academy in London, were reported to have flown from Gatwick to Istanbul on Tuesday during their half-term break.
Intelligence sources in Turkey now told the Telegraph that Amira Abase, 15, Shamima Begum, 15, and Kadiza Sultana, 16, crossed into Syria on Friday by car and are presumed to be in the ISIS-run town of Tal Abyad.
“They were seen in Tal Abyad on Friday. They were traveling with a Syrian male in a private car. They were using Syrian identity cards,” the source told the publication, claiming the girls stayed in Turkey two days before traveling to Syria.
In Gesture of Solidarity, Norwegian Muslims Form 'Ring of Peace' Around Oslo Synagogue
There are many more peace mongers than war mongers,' an organizer said.
More than 1,000 Muslims in Norway joinedtogether in sub-zero temperatures on Saturday to form a protective circle around Oslo's sole functioning synagogue as a gesture of solidarity with the city's Jewish community following last week's attacks on a synagogue in neighboring Denmark.
Chanting "No to anti-Semitism, no to Islamophobia," the group, made up of both Muslim and Jewish participants, stood in what they called a "ring of peace" around the building. The gesture comes shortly after the attacks on Charlie Hebdo magazine headquarters in Paris, which left 17 people dead, as well as the more recent shootingat a free speech event at a Copenhagen synagogue.
"There are many more peace mongers than war mongers," Zeeshan Abdullah, one of the organizers of the event, said on Saturday. "There's still hope for humanity, for peace and love, across religious differences and backgrounds."
Another organizer, Hajrah Arshad, saidthe gathering also shows that "Islam is about love and unity."
Ervin Kohn, one of the leaders of the country's small Jewish community, saidthe vigil "fills us with hope... particularly as it's a grassroots movement of young Muslims." He added, "Working against fear alone is difficult and it is good that we are so many here together."
Greece debt deal: Reforms will 'combat tax evasion'
Greece will crack down on tax evasion and streamline its civil service in its bid to secure a bailout extension, minister of state Nikos Pappas says.
The government is working on a package of reforms that it must submit to international creditors on Monday.
If the reforms are approved, Greece will be granted a vital four-month extension on its debt repayments.
Mr Pappas said the reforms being proposed would take the Greek economy "out of sedation".
"We are compiling a list of measures to make the Greek civil service more effective and to combat tax evasion," he told Greece's Mega Channel.
Kalashnikov looking into drones and boats production
The company renowned for making the legendry AK-47 assault rifle is branching out to make drones. In a diversification effort, the group is even looking into rockets… and pleasure boats.
"Our main product here will be intelligence-gathering unmanned planes, helicopters and aerostats,” Aleksey Krivoruchko, the CEO of Kalashnikov Concern, said at the International Defense Exhibition in Abu Dhabi.
The drones would be used to help with border control, reconnaissance and rescue missions.
With the UAV market one of the biggest expanding markets in the defense industry, the company believes it is time for them to enter production. The acquisition of the Russian ZALA Aero Company, which specializes in making unmanned aircraft, will help provide the Kalashnikov group with expertise.
“The decision to purchase a controlling stake in ZALA Aero was made to widen our product line. This is part of the strategy of the Kalashnikov Concern’s development through to the year 2020 and also part of the process of developing new sectors of our market,” Krivoruchko said.
Prominent Climate Change Denier Funded by Koch Brothers, Energy Companies: Reports
Willie Soon received $1.25 million over 14 years to write academic research stating climate change is not caused by human activity, newly released documents show
A prominent climate change denier and researcher quietly took more than $1.2 million in payouts from the energy industry, including the Koch brothers and other oil lobbyists, for the past 14 years, newly released documents have shown.
Wei-Hock "Willie" Soon, a researcher at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, accumulated a total of $1.25 million from Exxon Mobile, the American Petroleum Institute, Southern Company, and a Koch brothers foundation, according to documents obtained by Greenpeace through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) filings.
For years, Soon's work has been a go-to source for politicians angling to block climate change legislation, such as Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK), who has called climate change a hoax. Soon has also testified before the U.S. Congress and appeared on numerous conservative news shows to claim that greenhouse gases are not harmful and that recent global warming trends are not caused by human activity, but by variations in the sun's energy.
Soon's acceptance of oil lobby money was previously known, although he has denied that it influences his work. However, the documents reveal the full extent of his ties to the industry, which was not public knowledge. His single biggest funder was Southern Company, an electricity provider which relies on coal-burning power plants and has lobbied heavily against climate legislation. Southern Company gave Soon a total of $409,000.
Bill O'Reilly twisted truth on 'war zone' account, says former CBS colleague
Six other CBS journalists challenge Argentina claims as Fox News host calls allegations ‘garbage’ and says he will show footage to support his reporting
Former colleagues of Bill O’Reilly who worked alongside the Fox News anchorman in Argentina as the Falklands War ended more than 30 years ago have contradicted his claims to have encountered a perilous situation in a “war zone”.
Eric Engberg, a fellow CBS News correspondent who was in Buenos Aires with O’Reilly in 1982, said the situation there “was not a war zone or even close” and that he and other colleagues did not recall a dangerous incident O’Reilly describes involving an injured cameraman.
“He has displayed a willingness to twist the truth in a way that seeks to invent a battlefield that did not exist,” Engberg wrote in a Facebook post. “He also ought to be ashamed of himself.”
Six other CBS journalists also challenge O’Reilly’s claims, CNN reported on Sunday, adding further pressure on the 65-year-old host of the O’Reilly Factor.
Details from O’Reilly’s account of covering the war between the UK and Argentina as a young correspondent for CBS were sharply questioned on Friday in an article on the website of Mother Jones, a liberal magazine.
Biggest US refinery joins nationwide strike stretching into 4th week
Workers at three refineries, one them the largest in the US, have joined a mass nationwide strike affecting some 20 percent of US refining capacity. The USW union strike has hit its fourth week, after failing to reach an agreement with Royal Dutch Shell.
The mass walkout of refinery workers – the first since 1980 – which started on February 1, has now expanded to four more plants. The union, which represents more than 30,000 American oil workers at more than 200 refineries, urged workers at the Motive refinery in Port Arthur, Texas to join the nationwide strike.
"This refinery, a 50-50 joint venture between Shell Oil Company (American subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell) and Saudi Refining, Inc. (subsidiary of Saudi Aramco), produces more than 600,000 barrels per day (BPD),” the union said in its call to action.
USW also issued notices for three other plants in Louisiana to go on strike. They include two of Motiva’s Louisiana refineries and a Shell chemical plant in Norco.
We must not fear old white men: Here’s how we get past the John McCain/Fox News problem
Avoiding another disastrous Middle East war requires voicing our convictions bravely -- then trusting in democracy
America has forgotten how to talk about important things. Instead we talk about politics, and mostly just the personalities. It’s worse on the left than on the right. For six years, debate among Democrats centered on Obama. Was he everything he seemed? Had he done all he could? Was it wise to criticize him? Now all the talk is of the next set of contestants: Hillary Clinton and Elizabeth Warren, perhaps Sanders or O’Malley or Webb.
Electoral politics devours all other politics. It consumes three of every four calendar years. Its debates are empty but entertaining. Signing on to a presidential campaign is like running off to join the circus. Crafting an agenda or building a movement is like doing your chores. Caught up in horse-race politics, we neglect other vital duties.
But if you go too long without a fight, you forget how to challenge the conventional wisdom, a political establishment — or even yourself. You lose track of your own bottom line, as well as the nerve and skill to defend it. You dream of elections and miss opportunities to engage the nation in vital debates. It’s a terrible waste. And it’s happening right now.
After 12 years of chaos and bloodshed, first in Iraq, then throughout the Middle East, President Obama seeks a declaration of war, which he chooses to call an “authorization for use of military force.” It is a chance to challenge the first premise of our failed foreign policy, that our military interventions can ever make us safe or bring democracy, prosperity or safety to others. It’s a debate we didn’t have before we entered Afghanistan or invaded Iraq on a lie; it’s a debate we’ve not had since the end of the Vietnam War.
Internal report: Dems have lost their way
WASHINGTON — Democrats have become a confused political party with a muddled message and an inability to turn out enough of its loyal voters, a party task force charged with how to revive the embattled party said Saturday.
“I am here to tell you the Democratic Party has lost its way,” said Gov. Steve Beshear of Kentucky, who presented the report to the Democratic National Committee WINTER.
The report, an effort to dissect the party’s crushing losses in last year’s congressional and gubernatorial elections, found “the circumstances that led to the series of devastating electoral losses did not develop overnight.” Republicans have done a better job adapting to the rapidly changing electoral landscape, it said, particularly in the area of fundraising.
Democrats have lagged in wooing its own, most supportive constituencies, while losing others.
Obama’s War-Policies Show a Pattern
On the First Anniversary of Ukraine’s Maidan Coup:
Obama’s War-Policies Show a Pattern
U.S. President Barack Obama has repeatedly employed a tactic of attacking Russia by using fundamentalist and other conservative extremists in a given Russia-allied nation, so as to turn that Russia-allied nation away from Russia, and toward America, and then of trying to crush these very same right-wing extremists who have been so effective in defeating (or at least weakening) the pro-Russian leader in that Russia-allied country. This tactic leaves civil war and enormous bloodshed in the given formerly (or still) Russia-allied nation.
One example of this anti-Russian tactic, of relying upon far-right extremists and then of trying to defeat them (in order for Obama to maintain the secular fig-leaf that he is seeking to advance ‘freedom’, rather than to weaken both Russia and Islamic extremists), has been Russia’s ally Syria, where Obama joined with fundamentalist-Muslim extremists, by bombing the armed forces of Syria’s Russia-allied leader, Bashar al-Assad, but then Obama turned to bombing also fundamentalist-Muslim extremists, including the ones, such as al-Nusra, whom his Administration had actually helped to supply the sarin which was used in the infamous gas attack that Obama said was perpetrated by Assad’s forces. Theodore Postal of MIT studied the detailed evidence regarding the sarin gas attack that the Administration was citing as its basis for justifying a U.S. invasion of Syria, and he said that, though insufficient evidence was available on the basis of which to determine precisely who was to blame for that gas attack, “The administration narrative was not even close to reality. Our intelligence cannot possibly be correct.” In order for the gas-delivery rocket to have come from Assad-held territory (instead of from territory controlled by the anti-Government rebels), it would have needed to fly at least 3.6 miles, but the actual rocket that was determined to have delivered the sarin was incapable of flying more than 2 or 3 miles at the very most. One thing that was clear from all of the evidence was that the Obama Administration were lying. Another was that they were eager to replace the pro-Russian dictator of Syria with an anti-Russian dictator. Obama (unlike the discredited George W. Bush regarding his similar lies about Saddam Hussein and Iraq) was not saying that his objective was to build a democratic state in Syria. Instead of democracy, Obama was talking about ending Syria’s alliance with Russia. He was presenting this as a strategic issue, against Russia — which it is: to replace Assad so that natural gas from Qatar can be pipelined through Syria to Turkey to Greece and Europe, and thereby to reduce Russia’s now-dominant position as being the chief supplier of gas to the EU.
Another example of this anti-Russian tactic — and an example which displays it outside the Middle East and the Islamic world — is currently occurring in Russia’s neighboring country of Ukraine, which is Russia’s main pipeline transit route supplying Russia’s gas to Europe. Furthermore, it’s on Russia’s very doorstep, and thus a prime location for a nuclear missile base from which to hit Moscow within only ten minutes from an American President’s button-push. (Ukraine could be, to Russia, even worse than Cuba was to the United States in 1962’s Cuban Missile Crisis.) Finally, Ukraine has a religiously anti-Russian nationalist and Roman Catholic population around Lviv and western Ukraine, which can already serve effectively as religiously fanatical enemies of Russia. Ukraine is thus an ideal anti-Russian play. As will be documented here, the rabidly anti-Russian Obama has been taking advantage of it.
Robert Reich: Obama Shouldn't Just Halt the Keystone Pipeline -- He Should Toss It in the Trash
The former labor secretary isn't mincing words
The President says he’ll veto the Keystone XL pipeline. He should do more, and put an end to the project altogether. He has the authority. Oil from Alberta’s tar sands is the dirtiest in the world – causing not just serious environmental damage when it’s extracted but also when and if it leaks out along its route from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. Please tell the White House to veto it permanently.
Hellraiser Preview
Sherman, set the time machine for tomorrow's Hellraisers Journal, which will feature a report of West Virginia miners who battle with deputies and send for Mother Jones as they attempt to join the United Mine Workers of America.
Tune in at 2pm!
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Bill Nye and Bill Maher Slam ‘Feces-Throwers and Flat-Earthers’ who Still Deny Climate Change
"Science Guy” Bill Nye and Real Time host Bill Maher ripped climate change deniers on Friday.
"Science Guy” Bill Nye and Real Time host Bill Maher ripped climate change deniers on Friday, with Maher denouncing data showing that the phenomenon is “not a top issue” for either major political party.
“It’s not an issue for the feces-throwers and flat-earthers who you’re talking about who vote in the primary,” Maher said.
“You can’t shoot it down,” author Fran Lebowitz chimed in.
“Actually, there is a plan to pump sulfur dioxide into the air and reflect sunlight into the sky,” Nye told her. “Are you high? You can’t engineer a planet like that.”
Remembering Malcolm X, 50 years on
African-American Muslim activist remains enduring reminder of a rights struggle that many believe is still not won.
There was an air of excitement in the hall. A heat generated by expectation which belied the chill February wind outside.
Four hundred wooden chairs were laid out in the Audubon Ballroom high up in Manhattan, and every one of them was taken.
The weekly meetings of the Organisation of Afro American Unity were drawing large crowds, mainly to hear the group's founder speak.
"Electrifying" and "inspirational" were words they used to describe him.
As he was introduced, the tall and slim, reddish-haired man walked forward and gave the traditional Arab greeting "salaam aleikum" [peace be upon you] and the crowd responded "aleikum salaam".
Obama Crusade remarks spark firestorm of debate
US president's attempt to point out hypocrisy of people linking all Muslims to ISIL and al-Qaeda violence backfires.
US President Barack Obama ignited a firestorm of debate this month when he told a prayer breakfast in Washington, DC that Christians have committed atrocities throughout history. "Remember that during the Crusades and the Inquisition, people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ," Obama told the audience in a not-so-subtle attempt to point out the hypocrisy of some Christians who too often link all Muslims to the violence of ISIL and al-Qaeda.
The reference to the Crusades - the 11th century battles between Roman Catholic knights and Muslim moors for territory and dominance in Europe - has particularly irked people leading to a wave of public criticism from conservative radio talk show hosts and politicians who disagree there is a moral equivalent.
The latest volley came from former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, a Catholic, who reportedly told a gathering of Republicans in New York on Wednesday: "The Crusades were kind of an equal battle between two groups of barbarians. The Muslims and the crusading barbarians."
The latest volley came from former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, a Catholic, who reportedly told a gathering of Republicans in New York on Wednesday: "The Crusades were kind of an equal battle between two groups of barbarians. The Muslims and the crusading barbarians."
Chelyabinsk mystery zone: Blue snow, three Suns, meteorite explosion
From a giant meteorite unexpectedly falling from the sky to a three Suns optical illusion - the Russian city of Chelyabinsk has become the world’s premier place for truly out of the blue OMG! moments. RT gives some insight into the recent madness.
For centuries, Russia’s Chelyabinsk Region, located on the border between Europe and Asia, has been a defense powerhouse, arming the Tsars’ forces and establishing the Soviet Union's formidable nuclear arsenal. But the region’s rep for military muscle is not what’s been turning heads as of late.
No, when it comes to packing in as many ‘oh my God! Did you see that?’ moments into one place, Chelyabinsk is the undisputed champ.
Fresh leak at Fukushima nuclear plant sees 70-fold radiation spike
Another radioactive water leak in the sea has been detected at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, the facility’s operator TEPCO announced. Contamination levels in the gutter reportedly spiked up 70 times over regular readings.
The sensors are connected to the gutter that pours rain and ground water from the plant to a bay adjacent to the facility.
The levels of contamination were between 50 and 70 times higher than Fukushima’s already elevated radioactive status, and were detected at about 10 am local time (1.00 am GMT), AFP reported.
After the discovery, the gutter was blocked to prevent leaks to the Pacific Ocean.
Throughout Sunday, contamination levels fell, but still measured 10 to 20 times more than prior to the leak.
"We are currently monitoring the sensors at the gutter and seeing the trend," a company spokesman said.
The Evening Greens
The Evening Greens Weekend Editor: enhydra lutris
Megascale Desalination
The world’s largest and cheapest reverse-osmosis desalination plant is up and running in Israel.
On a Mediterranean beach 10 miles south of Tel Aviv, Israel, a vast new industrial facility hums around the clock. It is the world’s largest modern seawater desalination plant, providing 20 percent of the water consumed by the country’s households. Built for the Israeli government by Israel Desalination Enterprises, or IDE Technologies, at a cost of around $500 million, it uses a conventional desalination technology called reverse osmosis (RO). Thanks to a series of engineering and materials advances, however, it produces clean water from the sea cheaply and at a scale never before achieved.
Worldwide, some 700 million people don’t have access to enough clean water. In 10 years the number is expected to explode to 1.8 billion. In many places, squeezing fresh water from the ocean might be the only viable way to increase the supply.
The new plant in Israel, called Sorek, was finished in late 2013 but is just now ramping up to its full capacity; it will produce 627,000 cubic meters of water daily, providing evidence that such large desalination facilities are practical. Indeed, desalinated seawater is now a mainstay of the Israeli water supply. Whereas in 2004 the country relied entirely on groundwater and rain, it now has four seawater desalination plants running; Sorek is the largest. Those plants account for 40 percent of Israel’s water supply. By 2016, when additional plants will be running, some 50 percent of the country’s water is expected to come from desalination.
The traditional criticism of reverse-osmosis technology is that it costs too much. The process uses a great deal of energy to force salt water against polymer membranes that have pores small enough to let fresh water through while holding salt ions back. However, Sorek will profitably sell water to the Israeli water authority for 58 U.S. cents per cubic meter (1,000 liters, or about what one person in Israel uses per week), which is a lower price than today’s conventional desalination plants can manage. What’s more, its energy consumption is among the lowest in the world for large-scale desalination plants.
Biodiversity may reduce threat of disease
Biodiversity level changes can have consequences for species and habitats around the world. A new study published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, reaffirms previous findings that higher diversity in ecological communities may lead to reduced disease threat. The study concludes that higher amphibian diversity in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest is linked to a lower infection rate of a fungus that is devastating amphibian populations around the world.
According to the new study, biodiversity reduces the risk of the water-born fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), also referred to as chytrid fungus. Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis infection can lead to the disease chytridiomycosis in amphibians. Scientists believe it is transmitted both through direct contact among frogs and contact with infected water. The main symptom of the chytrid fungus is a thickening of the frog’s skin, which prevents the intake of nutrients and the release of toxins and may lead to death.
The geographic range of Bd is very widespread and has been found in Australia, Africa, the Americas, Europe, New Zealand and Oceania. The fungus is found even in pristine forests and high elevations, and scientists currently don't understand how it was spread. Some believe it may have been distributed with the trade of African clawed frogs (Xenopus laevis), which are common in labs around the world, while others think bullfrogs – which can carry Bd but aren't susceptible to infection – may be to blame. Still others think researchers themselves may have spread it while working in the field.
Amphibian populations are crashing around the world. Since the 1980s, declines have been ramping up, and species are going extinct at a pace at least 200 times the "background extinction rate," which is the rate at which extinction would naturally occur (some estimates place this rate much higher – at 25,000 to 45,000 times the background extinction rate). While scientists aren't sure exactly why this is happening, they suspect many factors may be to blame, from habitat destruction and out-competition by introduced species to exposure to ultraviolet radiation and pesticides. Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis is one of these suspects, and scientists have linked it to many amphibian declines and local mass extinctions.
Filthy India air cutting 660 million lives short by 3 years
NEW DELHI (AP) — India's filthy air is cutting 660 million lives short by about three years, according to research published Saturday that underlines the hidden costs of the country's heavy reliance on fossil fuels to power its economic growth with little regard for the environment.
While New Delhi last year earned the dubious title of being the world's most polluted city, India's air pollution problem is extensive, with 13 Indian cities now on the World Health Organization's list of the 20 most polluted.
That nationwide pollution burden is estimated to be costing more than half of India's population at least 3.2 years of their lives, according to the study, led by Michael Greenstone of the University of Chicago and involving environmental economists from Harvard and Yale universities. It estimates that 99.5 percent of India's 1.2 billion people are breathing in pollution levels above what the WHO deems as safe.
"The extent of the problem is actually much larger than what we normally understand," said one of the study's co-authors, Anant Sudarshan, the India director of the Energy Policy Institute of Chicago. "We think of it as an urban problem, but the rural dimension has been ignored."
Scientists announce anti-HIV agent so powerful it can work in a vaccine
In a remarkable new advance against the virus that causes AIDS, scientists from the Jupiter, Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have announced the creation of a novel drug candidate that is so potent and universally effective, it might work as part of an unconventional vaccine.
The research, which involved scientists from more than a dozen research institutions, was published February 18 online ahead of print by the journal Nature.
The study shows that the new drug candidate blocks every strain of HIV-1, HIV-2 and SIV (simian immunodeficiency virus) that has been isolated from humans or rhesus macaques, including the hardest-to-stop variants. It also protects against much-higher doses of virus than occur in most human transmission and does so for at least eight months after injection.
"Our compound is the broadest and most potent entry inhibitor described so far," said Michael Farzan, a TSRI professor who led the effort. "Unlike antibodies, which fail to neutralize a large fraction of HIV-1 strains, our protein has been effective against all strains tested, raising the possibility it could offer an effective HIV vaccine alternative."
BP says CO2 emissions unsustainable, warns on global warming
In its Energy Outlook 2035, BP predicts that CO2 emissions will exceed levels which scientists says pose a threat to climate change unless coordinated action is taken
BP has warned that carbon dioxide emission levels from burning fossil fuels are unsustainable unless the international community unilaterally introduces tougher binding regulations on atmospheric pollution.
The stark warning from the UK’s second-largest oil company came with the publication on Tuesday of its closely-watched long-term outlook for global energy markets, which predicts that CO2 emissions will increase by 1pc per year, or 25pc in total, through to 2035.
This rise in pollution would be worse than the current rate, which scientists have said would have a negative effect on climate change. The United Nations is seeking to limit the increase of the average global surface temperature to no more than 2C, compared with pre-industrial levels, to avoid "dangerous" climate change, and will hold a major conference in Paris in December to agree on a firm system for restricting emissions.
Bob Dudley, BP chief executive, said: “The most likely path for carbon emissions, despite current government policies and intentions, does not appear sustainable. The projections highlight the scale of the challenge facing policy makers at this year’s UN-led discussions in Paris. No single change or policy is likely to be sufficient on its own.”
California’s snowless winter worsening; Oregon also in trouble
WASHINGTON — California’s unusually high temperatures and shortage of precipitation — especially snow — will probably continue into the spring, federal scientists said Thursday.
And it isn’t just California that is experiencing growing problems, the scientists said: An unusually warm winter in Oregon is creating alarm there about the lack of snowpack to fill reservoirs.
The California drought, now in its fourth year, is “likely to persist or even intensify over a large portion of the Far West,” said Anthony Artusa, seasonal forecaster for the Climate Prediction Center at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The “ridiculously resilient ridge” of high pressure off California that has been blocking winter storms for three years is reinforcing California’s record-high temperatures, including “very warm sea surface temperatures off the coast of California,” added Jake Crouch, a climate scientist at NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center.
Crouch said it was “unprecedented that two of California’s winters are back-to-back this warm.” San Francisco saw its driest January on record, with no precipitation in what is historically its wettest month, and temperatures in January hit record warm levels for the second consecutive year.
Blog Posts of Interest
Here are diaries and selected blog posts of interest on DailyKos and other blogs.
What's Happenin' Is On Hiatus
Scourge of the Greeks: German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble
New Ideas Give an Energy Boost to Wave Power
Addressing Population Growth - Through Freedom, Not Control - Is Crucial to Confronting Climate Disruption
Without Social Security, Income Inequality Would Be Even Worse for Seniors
Pyrawebs: Paraguayans Rise Up Against Mandatory Data Retention
The basic insanity of the War against Daesh
The Path We've Chosen, No End in Sight
A Book and a Beverage: Fear And Loathing: On the Campaign Trail ’72
Weaving Reality
Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones tells how women hammer on the union doors until allowed to enter.
A Little Night Music
The Derek Trucks Band - Days Is Almost Gone
The Derek Trucks Band - Gonna Move
The Derek Trucks Band - Down Don't Bother Me
The Derek Trucks Band - Mr. PC
The Derek Trucks Band - All I Do
The Derek Trucks Band - Something To Make You Happy
The Derek Trucks Band - I'd Rather Be Blind, Crippled And Crazy
The Derek Trucks Band - Sweet Inspiration
The Derek Trucks Band - Look Ka Py Py
The Derek Trucks Band - I Wish I Knew (How It Would Be Free)
The Derek Trucks Band - Revolution
The Derek Trucks Band - Joyful Noise
The Derek Trucks Band - Leaving Trunk
The Derek Trucks Band - Afro Blue
The Derek Trucks Band -Volunteered Slavery
The Derek Trucks Band - Get What You Deserve
The Derek Trucks Band - So Close, So Far Away
The Derek Trucks Band - Freddie's Dead