Welcome to the Overnight News Digest (OND) for Tuesday, February 16, 2015
OND is a regular community feature on Daily Kos, consisting of news stories from around the world, sometimes coupled with a daily theme, original research or commentary. Editors of OND impart their own presentation styles and content choices, typically publishing near 12:00AM Eastern Time. Creation and early water-bearing of the OND concept came from our very own Magnifico - respect is due.
This diary is named for its "Hump Point" video: Easy by The Commodores
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Top News |
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US remains reluctantly tied to global security role
By Mark Urban
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. . .
America's military finds itself pulled in several directions - and even the $582bn (£403bn) defence budget rolled out earlier this month will not be enough to satisfy all of its needs.
New challenges - from Russia and the so-called Islamic State (IS) group - are forcing the Pentagon to change its plans, and reopening old arguments about whether its allies are doing enough.
. . .
America's reinvestment, it's only fair to say, also contrasts with many European allies who, so far at least, show little sign of living up to promises to raise their defence spending to 2% of GDP.
. . .
Russia and China by comparison may spend considerably less, but their budgets are rising (rapidly), they buy a lot more (manpower is cheaper for them), and their forces focus on their immediate periphery.
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This database could help end animal testing — if only scientists had access to it
By Suzanne Jacobs
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Chances are you don’t spend a lot of time thinking about the potential health impacts of the roughly 85,000 untested chemicals lurking in your consumer products, because, well, you enjoy your sanity. But what if I told you that you had access to an easily searchable database detailing the known health impacts of nearly 10,000 of those chemicals?
. . .
The index is built from a mountain of safety data collected over the past decade by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) in Helsinki, under a 2006 law known as REACH (registration, evaluation, authorization and restriction of chemicals). The information is already public . . .
But the ECHA says that it has exclusive rights to the information, and that Hartung did not gain the specific permission he needed from the agency in order to duplicate it. . .
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Deconstructing the Westminster Dog Show
By Victor Mather
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A German short-haired pointer won the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show on Tuesday night.
The winner, known formally as Vjk-Myst Garbonita’s California Journey, and informally as CJ, is the first of his breed to win at Westminster since 2005, and the third overall. He was the first dog from the Sporting Group to win since 2009.
. . .
In that complicated math, dogs are compared on how many dogs they defeat. So if you beat 20 German Shepherds to win Best in Breed, that’s 20. If you win the group, that might be 175 more. Win Best in Show in a field of 600? That more and more and more.
. . .
The handlers often bite into the pieces of meat themselves while in the ring so as to cut it into snack-sized pieces. One handler said he stores the meat in his mouth, for efficiency.
Why not biscuits?
“Do you like biscuits?” one handler asked me.
. . . “The judges want you to be nice, conservative and attractive,” she said. “I need something so I can bend over, squat and kneel and not flash anyone. If I can bend over without flashing the goods, then it’s okay.”
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International |
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Anger as UK moves to ban Israeli settlement boycott
By (Al Jazeera)
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As part of the measure, all publicly-funded institutions will be barred from boycotting goods or services by companies complicit in weapons trade, tobacco products or Jewish-only settlements in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, according to UK newspaper The Independent.
. . .
BDS is a campaign that demands Israel give equal rights to its Palestinian citizens, allows the return of Palestinian refugees to their homes and ends the occupation of Palestinian and other Arab territories, including the Syrian Golan Heights.
"Rather than working to hold Israel to account for its ongoing human rights violations, UK ministers continue the arms trade with Israel and attack local democracy in order to shield it from any criticism," Rafeef Ziadeh, a BDS spokeswoman, said in a statement.
. . .
According to the Al-Shabaka Palestinian Policy Network, the boycott movement offers Palestinians a political programme that enjoys wide support because of the absence of diplomatic progress.
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USA |
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To Comply or Not? Obama's Climate Plan in Limbo at State Level
By Elizabeth Harball, Emily Holden
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The Obama administration’s crackdown on power-sector carbon emissions was already a political minefield for states, most of which were nonetheless strategizing ways to comply with the regulation. But for state energy and environment regulators, the topsy-turvy week has raised a host of new uncertainties.
. . .
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court opening means certain energy interests are likely to increase pressure on states to stop Clean Power Plan compliance talks.
. . .
But Pennsylvania Coal Alliance CEO John Pippy, a leading advocate for the coal industry there, argued that there are “serious concerns regarding the resources that will be wasted attempting to develop a compliance plan, at the expense of the taxpayers, for a rule that may be significantly altered or thrown out by the Federal Courts.”
. . .
“I am a lawyer, and I know that until a regulation has been fully struck [down], you’ve got to really continue to look at what your potential compliance would look like,” Haque said. “There is certainly momentum for cleaner energy, so whether it’s the CPP or something else, you have to believe that the concept of CO2 emission reductions will come up in another context.”
. . .
If some states drop off from regional Clean Power Plan discussions, others may be left trying to figure out who could be potential carbon trading partners should the rule survive.
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Welcome to the "Hump Point" of this OND.
News can be sobering and engrossing - at this point in the diary, an offering of brief escapism:
Random notes related to this video:
. . .
In this transcript of an interview with Lionel Ritchie (originally
from Tuskegee, Alabama) talks of his southern heritage and says that
if he had been from anywhere else “I probably wouldn't have come up
with half of those phrases like ‘Easy Like Sunday Morning’, that's
southern!”
In the deep south (and I am from the south) Sunday is traditionally
the day of rest. Sunday is stress free, uncomplicated, unchallenging
and not intended to be a day of worry or concern. The phrase “easy
like Sunday morning” then is a southern metaphor for “everything is
serene”, “I’m ok”, “I’m guilt free” or “I gladly accept the
circumstances”. If someone were to ask “How are you?”, for example,
one might metaphorically reply “Hey, I’m easy like Sunday morning.”
In the song (refer to the lyrics) Ritchie is saying to the woman, I'm
leaving you tomorrow…I've done all that can possibly be expected of
me…I begged, stole, and I borrowed! Because I’ve done all I can do and
I’ve given it my best effort, and even though it hurts, I’m not going
to carry any guilt for this failed relationship. No one can lay the
blame on me so I’m not going to try anymore and I’m not going to worry
about it anymore. “I’m easy like Sunday morning” (I am as stress-free
and guilt-free about this as anyone would be on a normal Sunday
morning).
Back to what's happening:
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Environmental |
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Fossil-fuel industry gets $2,000 in 'subsidies' for each $1 in party donations
By Michael Slezak
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“The ongoing failure of our politicians to tackle climate change is directly attributable to the political influence of the fossil-fuel industry,” said Blair Palese, the chief executive of 350.org Australia.
. . .
The report looked at donations declared to the Australian Electoral Commission since the last federal election, which amounted to $3.69m. It then calculated the combined value of four tax rebates and credits that would be used by the fossil-fuel industry in the 2016-2017 financial year, which it estimated would amount to $7.7bn.
. . .
350.org included in its analysis that the fuel tax credit made up the bulk of the subsidies with $5.5bn. It is a rebate given to large vehicles that use diesel fuel for business purposes off public roads.
The Minerals Council argues it is not a subsidy, but merely a way of avoiding the fuel being taxed twice: once when used by the business and then again when the business itself is taxed.
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Science and Health |
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How a Reporter Pierced the Hype Behind Theranos
By Cynthia Gordy
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When the blood-testing company Theranos opened to the public in 2013, founder Elizabeth Holmes made bold claims of having revolutionized the diagnostic-lab business. With just a few drops of blood pricked from a finger (as opposed to several vials drawn from a syringe in the arm), the company said it could not only run the full range of laboratory tests, but also turn around results within hours, all at a low cost.
Theranos received fawning early media coverage, but last October Wall Street Journal reporter John Carreyrou took a more critical look. With descriptions of unreliable equipment, skeptical employees and deficient practices, he reported that the company’s PR blitz outpaced its actual medical technology. . .
The problems, Carreyrou says, are bigger than dishonest marketing. Carreyrou: I had ex-employees telling me that they questioned the accuracy of the Edison machine [Theranos’ proprietary lab instrument], and that Theranos was also doing things like diluting small blood samples in order to create a bigger volume to run them on commercial analyzers. That also created problems with accuracy. . .
- Holmes and Theranos also played a role in the passage of an Arizona law that allows people to get blood tests without a doctor’s order. Carreyrou: That was controversial, because there are many in the medical profession, including the general practitioners who would usually be the middlemen and give you that prescription, who say, "Well, how is that progress?"
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Technology |
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Judge Orders Apple to Help the FBI Hack San Bernardino Shooter's iPhone
By Chris Mills
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A
The problem of law enforcement and encryption is mostly talked about in vague terms of “backdoors” and “a new Manhattan Project”, but here’s something concrete: a District Court Judge just ordered Apple to help the FBI access files on one of the iPhones of the San Bernardino shooters.
The ruling was handed down by Sheri Pym on Tuesday afternoon in Californian district court. It doesn’t force Apple to bypass the device’s encryption, but rather help the FBI brute-force the passcode:
. . .
Over the next few hours and days, critics are going to argue vehemently that Apple has a responsibility to assist law enforcement with unlocking devices, and in this particular case, it’s going to be difficult for the company to take the moral high ground.
But it’s worth remembering what’s at stake here: once law enforcement (and, inevitably, everyone who wants one) has a copy of Apple’s software (if it’s even possible to make!), any encryption unlocked by a four-digit pin will be nullified. It doesn’t take that long to brute-force 10,000 permutations, especially if they don’t have to be manually entered. There’s also the legal precedent—compelling device manufacturers to write custom software to facilitate investigations is a slippery slope towards encryption backdoors.
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Cultural |
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Pakistan's Sindh province allows Hindu marriages to be registered
By (BBC)
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Activists say that without such a law, Hindu women are targets for forced conversions, abduction and rape, and there is a lack of rights for widows.
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Pakistan's other main religious minority, Christians, have a colonial-era law recognising their marriages. However, Hindus have never had any legal framework to register their unions until now.
. . .
But the head of the Pakistan Hindu Council, Dr Ramesh Kumar Vankwani, told the BBC the law did not go far enough to protect Hindu women from forced conversions.
. . .
Meanwhile, the National Assembly is considering a wider bill on recognising Hindu marriage rights, including issues such as inheritance, divorce, and child maintenance.
The bill comes at a time of increased violence against Pakistan's minorities. Some Hindus have fled to India in recent years citing discrimination and religious persecution.
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Meteor Blades is known to offer an enlightening Evening Open Diary - you might consider checking that out tonight if you haven't already.