Hosted by Dr.G., Minister of Information of the Northbay MDS.
Tune in Thursdays 4 to 5pm (PST), at 89.5FM in the northeast San Pablo Bay Area, or on a Smart Phone [link], Desktop U-stream [link], Live Mp3 (.pls) stream [link], Netbook [link].
Be a Community Journalist with our Community Journalist's Notebook [link]. Send news & info to [NorthbayMDS@) gmail.com]! Northbay Uprising News scripts [link]. Archived webpages at (archive.org) and at (archive.is) are available even if the original is taken down. News links are provided for educational purposes only, and do not constitute an endorsement of political tendencies, or, of foreign governments. Circumvent "Error 451" [archive.is/WOZXx] by using the proxy server at [webproxy.to] or, by using Tor Browser [is.gd/r18EVD].
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ACTION CALENDER
A list of gatherings, workshops, and educational events in the greater Bay Area region
[indybay.org/calendar] [occupyoakland.org/calendar]Fukushima Response
Thursday, May 12, 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM
SHUT DIABLO CANYON! Fukushima Response is a regional network of concerned individuals working together to spur demands for action in response to the devastated Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan. Our active monitoring program seeks to "Make the Invisible Visible", and we are organizing to close Diablo Canyon, California's last nuke. Come early and enjoy a treat to support our host.
See [fukushimaresponse.org] or call [707-823-9203] for more info.
Apple Box Cafe', 224 B Street, Petaluma
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Peace & Justice Center's Documentary Film Series
Thursday, May 12, 7:00 PM
Robert Greenwald's 2009 Brave New Films Rethink Afghanistan, which will “shatter all perceived truths behind the war in Afghanistan.” The films and discussions are free and we invite you to join us on the 2nd and 4th Thursdays of each month. For more info: (707) 575-8902
Peace and Justice Center, 467 Sebastopol Avenue, Santa Rosa
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Creating Commons Festival
Saturday, May 14, 2016 at 10:00 AM
at A PLACE for Sustainable Living in Oakland, CA [aplaceforsustainableliving.org] [510-788-5857]
Join millions around the world to celebrate
Global Sharing Week [globalsharingweek.org]
Global Sharing Week is about helping millions discover and participate in the sharing transformation, a movement that promotes the sharing of community resources, cooperative enterprises, and other commons-based projects.
Global Sharing Week 2016 is taking place June 5-11.
You can check out the map above and see where events are happening in your community — or sign-up to host your own [is.gd/4eHy5b].
If you need idea on what kind of event to organize, check out our Resources page [is.gd/Yyoyy4].
* "14 Guides on Throwing Awesome Community Sharing Events" (shareable.net) [is.gd/HFAQTD]
* "Living the New Economy Convergence 2016 to Tackle Systemic Inequities" (2016-05-03, shareable.net) [is.gd/ynK8Hp] [begin excerpt]: The Living the New Economy Oakland Collaborative is excited to announce the Living the New Economy Convergence 2016 [lne2016.wordpress.com], to be held at Mills College, in Oakland, CA, from Oct. 21-23. We’re a broad coalition of community leaders and social entrepreneurs committed to advancing inclusive economic, racial, and environmental justice solutions in Oakland.
Community leaders and organizations are coming together for a next level dialogue about the state of our economy — and innovative models that are addressing inequity, displacement, and other issues related to the well being of our communities.
Through interactive, participatory activities, we will shine a light on what’s working, what’s not, and what more we can do to build the inclusive, vibrant Oakland of our dreams. Included are three days of workshops, panels with local leaders, presentations, and self-organized open space sessions, followed by a day-long series of “Activation Sessions” for groups seeking mentorship and support in their policy campaigns, movement initiatives, or social enterprises. [end excerpt]
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Trash the TPP
Saturday, May 14, 10 AM - Noon
Trash the TPP meets to push back against the Trans Pacific Partnership, a "trade" deal that threatens our welfare, the environment and our democracy. More info: [meetup.com/Trash_the_TPP]
Peace and Justice Center, 467 Sebastopol Avenue, Santa Rosa
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March against Monsanto Sign making Party
Monday, May 16, 7-9:00 PM
Making signs is some of the most fun we have all year!
Occupy Sonoma County will provide materials or you can bring your own.
If you want to wear your sign, bring a tee shirt to write or draw on.
Bring your slogans and sign-making ideas.
This is for the March Against Monsanto on Saturday, May 21, 2-5 PM at Sebastopol Downtown Plaza.
For more info go to [OccupySonomaCounty.org] or call (707)877-6650.
Peace and Justice Center, 467 Sebastopol Avenue, Santa Rosa
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Occupy Sonoma County Presents March Against Monsanto
Saturday, May 21, 2-5:00 PM
Join millions of people in over 400 cities and 50 countries.
March & Rally, Vendors, Food, Pay-What-You-Can Plant Sale and Free Seed Exchange.
Volunteers Needed! For more info: [707-877-6650] or [OccupySonomaCounty.org]
Sebastopol Downtown Plaza
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Sonoma County Ongoing Peace Vigil schedule
• Santa Rosa -Andy Lopez Free Speech picket line, Tuesdays from 10am-noon at the Hall of Justice in Santa Rosa.
• Santa Rosa - Mendocino Ave. & College Ave. intersection, Fridays, Noon-1:00 p.m.
• Healdsburg - The Plaza (downtown), Thursdays, 6:00-7:00 p.m.
• Sonoma - The Plaza (downtown), Fridays, 5:00-6:00 pm
• Sebastopol - Hwy. 116 and Bodega Hwy, Fridays, noon
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South Bay Peace Vigils / Protests
San Jose Peace and Justice Center [sanjosepeace.org]
Mondays, 5-6pm in San Jose:
Corner of Market & San Carlos Streets, south end of Cesar Chavez Park (near Convention Center Light Rail Station). Justice for Palestinians weekly protest against Apartheid Israeli occupation, aggression & terror.
Thursday, 4-5pm in Hayward:
Sidewalk at the park being renovated at Foothill Blvd & E St. You are invited to attend a weekly Palestine Vigil. South Alameda County Peace and Justice Coalition's signs call to Americans: "End the Occupation of Palestine & Iraq", "No Apartheid Wall in Palestine", "Stop Aid to Israel"
Fourth Fridays, 7:15 am in Sunnyvale:
At the corner of Mathilda Avenue and 3rd Avenue in front of the Lockheed Martin main gate. Please join the Pacific Life Community for a monthly vigil against nuclear weapons. Every 4th Friday and every Friday during Advent and Lent. First Lenten vigil: Friday, Feb. 12.
Fridays, 5-6pm in San Jose:
#FridayPeaceMLK in front of the Martin Luther King Library, 150 E. San Fernando Street. This vigil began with the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001 and has been ongoing for over 14 years.
Saturdays and Sundays, 11:30am-1pm in San Jose:
Winchester and Stevens Creek, near Valley Fair and Santana Row. This protest began with the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq in 2003 and has been ongoing for 12 and a half years.
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ACTION HEADLINES!
Stories are reviewed and provided by Northbay MDS Committees and Affiliates
BAY AREA SOLIDARITY
Updates on campaigns for Peace, Justice, & Freedom across the greater Bay Area, Norcal, and Socal
* "SF cops tackle police brutality protesters as ‘Frisco Five’ continue hunger strike" (2016-05-07, rt.com) [archive.is/82Hio]
* 6 videos (2016-05-07, by Peter Menchini) [archive.is/q9pze]: Back home OK. Going through footage shortly. The SFPD are already blaming us for all the shit they broke inside. Love 2 #Frisco500 #Frisco5
- "Sana Saleem of 48 Hills was attacked by police in San Francisco." (.mp4) [is.gd/HnsgQM]
- "Credentialed reporter attacked by Police in SF; Out of control police department." (.mp4) [is.gd/LoxcM6]
- "Two Righteous Women; SF Mayor continues to refuse to fire Chief Greg Suhr." (.mp4) [is.gd/CHN1vH]
- "Ronnisha Johnson Attacked by Police in SF" (.mp4) [is.gd/gcB5eN]
- "On the Front Lines with the #Frisco500. #Frisco5 Hunger For Justice SF. They think it's a game! They think it's a joke!" (.mp4) [is.gd/qPoH9P]
- "Taser is Out! Just in case you were wondering where the violence originates. Name on the badge is "Edwards". #Frisco5 #Frisco500" (.mp4) [is.gd/QOBCZW]
[comment]: Glad u safe. Everyone else?
[Peter M.]: Most everyone. As I said in a tweet, 2 journalists attacked by cops, one with a baton.
One from the guardsman, the other from 48 Hills. First one attacked with a baton. About to edit the video now. Yes. I posted short videos from my phone directly to twitter, which is programmed to send my tweets to facebook. But I also recorded with the new Canon EOS100 Mark II. I'm exhausted, but I'm going to edit now. They made terrible errors tonight. Pack your bags, Greg Suhr.
[comment]: the sheriffs were pretty rough tonight - they are in a different dept. than SFPD. some injuries...
[Peter M.]: It was a mix. Mostly SFPD. But lots of sheriffs dept.
[comment]: when riot is invoked, SFPD commands what sheriff does. it is my understanding. SFPD and sheriff must be held accountable.
[Peter M.]: Indeed. The longer he stays, the more obvious it is that the Mayor only listens to the wealthy racists.
* General Strike SF, Monday May 9: in Honor of the Frisco Five [archive.is/PkanS]:
With all your love, share and share far and wide:
General Strike, San Francisco, Monday, May 9, 2016
We, the people, invite you to join us for an unprecedented historical moment: a general strike of San Francisco this Monday, May 9, 2016. In honor of the Frisco Five Hunger Strikers and against SFPD killings of our brothers, we urge you to strike from work and school and to boycott any corporate restaurant eating and purchasing.
The time is ripe, and your action is needed now. Because of the Mayor’s unwillingness to fire corrupt police chief Suhr, the Frisco Five have been forced to prolong their hunger strike and have now all been hospitalized. It is time for all of us to action with honor, courage, and sacrifice for those who no longer have a voice, like Alex Nieto, Amilcar Perez Lopez, Mario Woods, and Luis Gongora Pat, all unlawfully killed by SFPD.
Instead of going to work or school, join us to peacefully picket in front of San Francisco City Hall starting at 8:00 a.m. Striking for a righteous cause is nothing new. Gandhi led the Swadeshi movement for Indian self-sufficiency. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks helped lead the Montgomery Bus Boycott against segregation. For farmworkers’ rights, Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta, and the United Farm Workers held strikes against grapes and Safeway stores. Striking is a successful strategy that all of us can contribute to for the sake of justice.
* "Circling city hall general strike in honor of #Frisco5" (2016-05-09, Tony Robles) (.mp4) [is.gd/VATVEe]
* "Thank you #Frisco5 from the #Frisco500 General strike" (2016-05-09, Tony Robles) (.mp4) [is.gd/eKQo0k]
* "Pedi-cab drivers thank the #Frisco5" (2016-05-09, Tony Robles) (.mp4) [is.gd/K4dCzm]
* SFSD brutalizing activist in city hall Friday - "Two Arrests - City Hall 6 May 2016" (2016-05-09, Peter Menchini) [archive.is/7WE6s]: Odd how their videographer isn't interested in recording this arrest, isn't it? The photos are from this video "An Arrest #1 City Hall 6 May 2016" (.mp4) [is.gd/C8Vc4r].
[comment] They seem to be super obsessed with only getting photo data for facial recognition of protesters. This should be outlawed. At the very least it is a waste of taxpayer money.
* "The SFPD is Pretty Well Fucked" (2016-05-10, sfweekly.com) [archive.is/5ppny]
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* "For The People (FTP) opening" 4 photos (2016-05-07, facebook.com/peter.menchini) [archive.is/N0xLV], photos [archive.is/yu6o9] [archive.is/Za5Pc] [archive.is/BC5re] [archive.is/CFKrV] [archive.is/rWpgD]
Video showing the Nietos introduce 'For the People FTP' opening exhibit [is.gd/dTrb2I]
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* (2016-05-10. Steven Payan) [archive.is/zxu5s]: We met with Presidential Candidate, Bernie Sanders. It was quick and about 15 min. Our contingent reps spoke:
Al Rojas addressed the Driscoll Boycott, San Quintin & Sakuma Washington State workers.
Sander's wife said they will not be buying Driscoll's!
Luis Magaña addressed the guest worker program absinthe right not to migrate.
Motecuzoma Patrick Sanchez spoke on corruption in law enforcement.
[archive.is/c19Ib]: Over 15K easy #FeelTheBern in Sacraz! Wow... (sacbee.com) [archive.is/vOrcl], (usuncut.com) [is.gd/XNhGsU]
More info soon.
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* (2016-05-06, Xulio Soriano):
I saw a big truck driving towards vintage high at 8am today with a giant us flag.aparently another incident happened. Not sure if that truck was part of it. I live a few houses away from the school.Reminded me of how every 5 de mayo there would be hate speech grafittied on walls. People called beaners or wetbacks. Etc. We are told not to have Mexican flags. Yet a Spain German Canadian etc flag can be had with no repercussions? When a mexican flag was burned I was asked for 30 seconds by one out of 6 teachers if we wanted to talk about it bc the school was offeering the opportunity for teachers to open that discussion. Seeing nonody raised their hand, we moved on. The issue has over the years. I did not experience critical and deep, courgaeous and honest discussions, nor narratives that were my people's narratives or my own. Instead we had to organize our own forum to talk about it as students. We were intimidated by staff and admins not to host it.supported by others. We hosted it anyways. Police recorded me at all times during the forum without even asking me. They said it was just protocal. Our comunity has shown me in the past that it does not know how to talk about race nor has it been prepared. And it is afraid bc it lacked the tools or the will. Have things changed looking at things to today? Sure it "underage students" and its "sensitive" to talk about these things but really?* (2016-05-07): Friday I saw three white dudes (adults) in downtown Napa drunk wearing Mexican hats and some shiny colored decorations. I thought it only happened on Facebook memes and in college campuses. They were yelling "Arrest us" "We're wasted" (or something along those lines).Talk about white privilege. A person of color can get shot and murdered for reckless or even unrecklessness peaceful behavior just minding our own business. That same day youth carried USA flags in a school with xenophobic intentions. We must take all these things seriously. They can cost lives. They cost culture, and more. It is nothing new. It is not just kids. It also doesn't get us anywhere to say "it was more racist back then." Next time I will take their hats and engage in conversation. Dialogue, consequence, accountability, and follow-up are important. Right?
* (2016-05-07): My Xicano radar must have kicked in. I had no phone, got dropped off in the Mission, and after walking the wrong way a few times I was able to find Galeria de la Raza. The "TP: For the People" art show opening reception was painful for me, though hopefully more healing for the parents of #AlexNieto. My skin was cold, got goospumps, the back of my head tingled. All this as I saw all the faces of mom's who lost a black child to police shootings/murders, smelled copal, saw trans women of color tributes..... Finally my eyes let go when I saw Alex Nieto's SF City College diploma and hist text books, which included a book by Frantz Fanon, a Cesar Chavez biography, some sort of spiritual books, and more.It really hurt and it truly felt like an utterly unjust lost to our comunidad. My respects to the people on hunger strike.
It is always good to take notes form other places.. though we don't have the same amount and type of police shootings here so things, or as blatantly oppressive and violent like Alex Nieto's murder and Mario Woods. But it is still something that can be discussed here. I rarely go out to the city to get inspiration. But when I do I always love it. I think there is so much in Napa already to create beautiful and powerful spaces; to heal, to educate, and to celebrate. it's just usually the bad things are what get more attention...
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TOWARDS REVOLUTIONARY SOLUTIONS
* "Socialism isn’t perfect, but it’s damn better than what we have" (2016-05-04, peoplesworld.org) [archive.is/8nRAA]
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* "Organizing Against Violent Cops" [youtu.be/Wuxmf03dBY4]: Derrick Broze discusses strategies for organizing against violent cops and other agents of the State. Derrick talks about using the Freedom Cell concept as a way to begin removing violent officers from communities. [www.theconsciousresistance.com]
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* "Read China Miéville's rejected Marxist Iron Man pitch" (2011-04-09, io9.gizmodo.com) [archive.is/b2n1C] [begin excerpt]: The economic crisis bites. Flinton, MI, was built on industry, and the industry's gone, since by far the city's dominant company took the stimulus cheque, attacked wages, outsourced more and more, then finally all, R&D and production overseas. Flinton, like so many other towns, is dying.
An extraordinary figure in bizarre makeshift power armour the colours of rust and hazard-warning yellow has appeared, fighting burglars, thieves, drug-dealers, graffiti-taggers. Flashback: he's Dan, an ex-worker in one of the high-tech heavy defence plants, horrified at the social breakdown, going through the many scrapheaps of the town and cobbling together his suit from industrial junk, trying to save his home.
Dan smashes up a crack house, but while most of those within run, one stays and jeers at him, calls him a bully. Dan knows her: Louise was the union rep at his factory. He's ashamed: he always liked her. They get talking. ‘You really want to do right by Flinton?' Louise says eventually. ‘By all the other Flintons? Then quit messing with symptoms. It's time to take down the real villain.'
Louise has contacts. They gather together a group of laid-off workers, from all the fields and departments of the now-dead industry, who with their combined expertise add weapons, flight capability, computers to the armour. Over Dan's initial resistance, Louise even insists they contact some of the overseas workers where the plants have been relocated, to get up-to-date information, technology, and help, because, Louise insists, they're on the same side. They make the suit vastly more powerful.
Dan knows how to fight, but that isn't enough. They put controls in the suit connected to a central hub in Flinton, into which they can log, so Dan will be in constant touch with the others, who can take control of different aspects of the system as necessary: so the other scrappers can help fight, the veteran who was once a sniper can aim the weapons, the one with a pilot's licence can fly it, the techie can patch into data systems, and so on, and they can all strategise together. A single-bodied union. A collective superhero.
They're almost ready. They're preparing to finish the cosmetic upgrade on the prototype suit: it still looks like junk. But Dan and Louise stop them.
‘No,' Dan says. ‘We need a symbol.'
‘Capitalists are a superstitious cowardly lot,' Louise says. ‘This fucker put our town out with the trash, threw us on the scrap heap. Well, the scrap heap's got up, and it's coming for him.'
The crew take their places at the controls. Dan puts on the battered welding helmet that disguises his identity and, in a burst of rust, launches into the sky for New York, to face down the sociopathic authoritarian fascist arms-dealing corporate billionaire responsible for so many countless deaths, in the US and around the world: Tony fucking Stark.
Dan: ‘Get ready for payback, Iron Man. We are Scrap Iron Man.' [end excerpt]
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STUDENT POWER!
information collected by the Committee to Defend Public Education!
* "S.F. State Students Go on Hunger Strike for Raise in Ethnic Studies Budget" (2016-05-03, kqed.org) [archive.is/cDsuN], photo caption: Four San Francisco State University students mark the beginning of a hunger strike at a rally at the main quad, to demand $8 million in funding from the university for the College of Ethnic Studies.
* "Ethnic studies deal brings end to SF State hunger strike" (2016-05-11, sfgate.com) [archive.is/l7S2S]
* "Acor Danny Glover supporting SFSU students protesting cuts to ethnic studies" (2016-05-09, abc7news.com) [is.gd/2cTwGV]
* "Meet the San Francisco student who launched a hunger strike to save ethnic studies" (2016-05-11, fusion.net) [archive.is/QeAzm]
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WORKER'S POWER!
information collected by the Worker's Defense Committee [is.gd/VOkmLr]
* "Farm Workers Sue Over Labor Rights in Landmark Case for 'Dignity and Humanity' ; 'It's a shame for New York that in 2016, a holdover, racist policy from the Jim Crow era prevents prevents farm workers from organizing to improve their brutal work conditions' " (2016-05-10, commondreams.org) [archive.is/rvtMS]
* "CA farm workers deserve the same overtime as other workers" (2016-05-05, United Farm Workers):
Farm workers toil for low wages hour after hour, often in extreme temperatures and under dangerous conditions. Already more than 7,000 activists have pledged to support this vital bill. Join them by signing the pledge today [action.ufw.org/page/s/overtime]!
California is the biggest agricultural employer in the nation and one of a handful of states with any overtime protection at all for farm workers. However, these laborers only receive extra pay after working a grueling 10 hours a day.
AB 2757 was introduced on February 19 in California’s legislature. It would gradually move toward paying California farm workers overtime if they labor more than eight hours a day or 40 hours a week by the year 2020. We’ve had two previous efforts to enact an eight-hour overtime law in California. The first bill passed the legislature in 2010, but was vetoed by then-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. The second lost by just a handful of votes in the Assembly in 2012. The new law would be phased in over four years.We’re fighting for workers like Jose Gusman who tells us, “It saddens and upsets me that others that work in offices with air conditioning are paid overtime after eight hours of work and farm workers in the valley that work in extreme climates and perform hard and heavy work that nobody wants to do, are paid overtime after 10 hours of work--and we’re paid the lowest wages and we’re exposed to pesticides that are applied in agriculture. I’m thankful to the United Farm Workers for fighting for us suffering farm workers, so that justice is done and we are paid overtime after eight hours worked--which is just.”
Farm workers toil for low wages hour after hour, often in extreme temperatures and dangerous conditions. Even worse, farm workers are some of the only workers in America that are not paid overtime after an eight-hour day or 40-hour week. Sign the pledge to change this.
Back in 1938, the federal Fair Labor Standards Act set minimum wages and overtime for nearly all workers in the country. To win the votes needed to pass the legislation, President Roosevelt had to appease Southern lawmakers. He was forced to exempt farm and domestic workers – then mostly African Americans in the rural South. During the debate, one Florida congressman actually declared, “You cannot put the Negro and the white man on the same basis and get away with it ... This bill, like the anti-lynching bill, is another political goldbrick for the Negro.” Today, 78 years later, when farm workers are mainly Latino, this shameful legacy of racism and discrimination still infects our society.
California, the biggest agricultural employer in the nation, is one of a handful of states with any overtime protection at all for farm workers. However, these laborers only receive extra pay after working a grueling 10 hours a day.
The UFW is determined to right this wrong. That is why we are sponsoring AB 2757 “The Phase-In Overtime for Agricultural Workers Act of 2016.” The bill was introduced on February 19 in California’s legislature and would gradually move toward paying California’s farm workers overtime if they work more than eight hours a day or 40 hours a week by the year 2020.
This isn’t the first time the UFW has led this battle. We’ve had two previous efforts to enact an eight-hour overtime law in California. The first passed the legislature in 2010, but was vetoed by then-Governor Schwarzenegger. The second lost by just a handful of votes in the Assembly in 2012. The new law would be phased in over four years in order to make it easier for employers to implement.
Excluding farm workers from overtime after eight hours was wrong in 1938. It’s wrong now. This deplorable caste system must end ... and it starts in California, which provides over half of America’s fresh produce and sets the pace for the entire nation.
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Berkeley City Council undermines minimum wage initiative -
* "Two Minimum Wage Initiatives for Berkeley Ballot; Last week the Berkeley council placed a second minimum wage initiative on November ballot, but many feel the move is designed to sabotage a more ambitious, community-driven effort" (2016-05-04, eastbayexpress.com) [archive.is/BGlm3]
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HANDS OFF OUR HOMES![HandsOffHomes.blogspot.com]
* "Santa Rosa City Council votes in favor of rent control, curbs on evictions" (2016-05--05-03, pressdemocrat.com) [archive.is/HmCLB]
* "Community prods Santa Rosa City Council to support rent control" (2016-05-10, 1021 NewsWire): The housing crisis that began in San Francisco several years ago and spread to the East Bay, has moved north to Sonoma County. And with it so has a collective resistance to the speculation and greed pricing people out of the communities they have long lived and worked in.
The situation has gotten extreme. Nearly half of Santa Rosa’s renter households are “overpaying households,” meaning they pay more than 30% of their income on housing. The monthly rent in apartment buildings with 50 or more units has increased 9% over the last year and more than 20% in the past 2.5 years. And the region’s low 1%vacancy rate has made it nearly impossible for evicted residents to find another place to live in the area.
After many months of organizing, marching and lobbying, a coalition of community, tenant, senior and faith groups, along with SEIU 1021, forced the issue onto the agenda of the Santa Rosa City Council, Sonoma County’s largest city. The question: should the city enact an ordinance limiting rent increases and establishing “just causes” for evictions.
On Tuesday, May 3 a couple hundred supporters of the proposed “Rent Stabilization Ordinance” before the City Council gathered outside the Council Chambers, rallying for their cause, including some 80 students from Santa Rosa Junior College who had marched from campus to the site.
Omar Medina (pictured), an SEIU 1021 member and president of the North Bay Organizing Committee (NBOC), the coalition leading the community push for the rent ordinance, opened the rally with a chant that carried through the building walls and reverberated in the Council Chambers: “Fight! Fight! Fight! Housing is a right!”
Medina went on to warn the assembly that the real estate industry will try to undermine whatever tenant protections the Council might pass.
“Be vigilant and keep up the fight,” he exhorted them.
Tenants, students and seniors took turns at the bullhorn, telling their housing tales. Ronit Rubinoff, Executive Director of Legal Aide, said in her 20 years as a tenant attorney she had never seen as many evictions as now. She said no matter what the Council passes, it will still be up to tenants to enforce the law.
“Know your rights and assert them,” she said.
The crowd then filled the Council Chambers and, along with landlords, participated in several hours of public testimony.
In the end the Council voted 4-3 to direct staff to draft a rent ordinance that would cap rent increases at 3% per year on apartments built before 1995 and be retroactive to Jan. 1, 2016. It will exempt duplexes and triplexes if a property owner or family member lived in one of the units.
The ordinance will include a just cause eviction policy covering all rental properties in the city. It would allow landlords to evict renters for a number of reasons, including a “habitual” nonpayment of rent, creating a nuisance or to withdraw the apartment from the market. It would also allow temporary removal of residents for capital improvements.
A companion measure to place a moratorium on rent increase of more than 3% for 45 days while city staff drafted the ordinance was presented as an “urgency ordinance” since it had not fulfilled notice requirements under the state’s open government law. That meant it needed 5 of 7 votes from the Council. Proponents could only garner four votes so they will bring it back at the next council meeting.
* "Santa Rosa City Council supports a rent stabilization ordinance" photos (2016-05-11, by SEIU Local 1021, Santa Rosa, California) [archive.is/ERRlk]:
[archive.is/UvMvJ] [archive.is/Vyrwq] [archive.is/suo0D] [archive.is/jQnQJ] [archive.is/q80VA] [archive.is/DEW3U] [archive.is/5nBuE] [archive.is/ZRzmP] [archive.is/uIcPE] [archive.is/OPu7b] [archive.is/6yKiY] [archive.is/8D4km] [archive.is/fWHpd]
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information collected by the Committee to
DEFEND THOSE WITHOUT HOMES!
* " 'Vanish the Vendors' Viciousness at City Council Followed by Freedom SleepOut #44" (2016-05-10, Indybay.org Newswire) [archive.is/5lutH]:
The afternoon City Council meeting begins Tuesday May 10 at 2:15 PM with the "Vanish the Vendors" law Item #14 on the Council Agenda. Food Not Bombs activists will be serving food in the late afternoon. Freedom Sleepers will hit the sidewalk and bricks across from the main library in front of the City Hall in the evening and night.ANOTHER ROUND OF "LAW-BREAKING" FOR JUSTICE
Freedom Sleepers will continue to defy the City's 11 PM to 8:30 AM ban on the act of sleeping on all public and most private property in Santa Cruz by lining the sidewalk and City Hall grounds with sleepers on Tuesday night (5-10). Coffee and the occasional morsel to munch will likely be on hand.
The weekly organizational meeting of the Freedom Sleepers will hold their usual review and reorganizational meeting at 10 AM Wednesday at 10 AM at the Sub Rosa Cafe to be followed at 11 AM by the HUFF (Homeless United for Friendship and Freedom) meet. Both are open to all.
Food Not Bombs is slated to be feeding and organizing during the afternoon and early evening.
THE DISMAL BACKGROUND
Santa Cruz's 1000-2000 unhoused residents continues ot face the threat and reality of harassment and citation for simply falling asleep after 11 PM. Survival "camping" is a $159 crime 24 hours a day (do it twice in 24 hours and face a year in jail and $1000 fine). Santa Cruz has zero walk-in shelter and full waiting lists for the token shelters that exist (for less than 5% of the homeless).
In March, Council crushed a minimum proposal to strike "sleeping" and "covering up with blankets" from the law, while maintaiining a "no trespassing" ban on most public property around the City. No City Council member has followed up on proposals to establish Safe Sleeping Areas for the vulnerable homeless nor on Safe Parking Areas for those whose "affordable housing" is a vehicle.
CITY COUNCIL'S NEW LAW AGAINST VENDORS, TABLERS, AND PERFORMERS
The proposed law, created behind closed doors by city staffers Julie Hende and Scott Collins and City Attorney Tony Condotti, includes a radical restriction on display for sale or donation, and sale of all kinds of items.
“Commercial Vending” is "to sell, offer for sale, expose or display for sale, solicit offers to purchase, or to barter food, goods, merchandise, or services in any area from a stand, table, pushcart, motor vehicle, bicycle, or by a person with or without the use of any other device, or to require someone to pay a fee or to set, negotiate, or establish a fee before providing food, goods, merchandise, or services, even if characterized by the vendor as a donation. [This]...includes the practice of providing, free of charge, an item which may not be vended, in exchange for the purchaser purchasing an item which may be vended as a condition for receiving the free item.
Exempted from the law are "Traditional expressive speech and petitioning activities, and the distribution of the following expressive items: newspapers, leaflets, pamphlets, bumper stickers, patches, and/or buttons." Also "items, which have been created, written or composed by the vendor or performer: books, audio, video, or other recordings of their performances, paintings, photographs, & prints." Additionally "any other item that is inherently communicative and is of nominal value or utility apart from its communication. Although an item may have some expressive purpose, it will be deemed to have more than nominal utility apart from its communication if it has a common and dominant non-expressive purpose."
The City Attorney insisted that the law did not distinguish between what is art and what is not. Instead the hall monitors of Pacific Avenue will use the above definition to determine if an item is First Amendment protected or not.
BANNED FROM THE BLACKTOP
Banned as "items that have more than nominal utility apart from their communication" "include but are not limited to... food, housewares, appliances, articles of clothing, hats, scarves, sunglasses, auto parts, oils, incense, perfume, crystals, rocks, geodes, lotions, candles, jewelry, jewelry holders, toys, stuffed animals, glass and metal pipes, and any vaping device."
"Allowed" Performances are "playing musical instruments, singing, dancing, acting, pantomiming, puppeteering, juggling, reciting, engaging in magic, creating visual art in its entirety, presenting or enacting a play, work of music, physical or mental feat, or other constitutionally protected entertainment or form of expression."
Banned Performances include "(a) The application of substances to others’ bodies, including but not limited to, paints, dyes, and inks; (b) The provision of personal services such as massage or hair weaving, cutting, or styling; (c) the completion or other partial creation of visual art; (d) the creation of visual art which is mass produced or produced with limited variation; or (e) the creation of handcrafts, such as weaving, carving, stitching, sewing, lacing, and beading objects such as jewelry, pottery, silver work, leather goods, and trinkets."
These bans are in effect "on the streets or sidewalks of Pacific Avenue; and on the streets or sidewalks of the side streets, alleys, and surface parking lots one block in either direction from Pacific Avenue, between Laurel and Water Streets."
The area in which no tabling is allowed except in select "exempt" zones will be chosen behind closed doors, largely by merchant pressure by Hende and Collins. That forbidden area extends from Laurel to Mission along Pacific Avenue and one block in either direction along the side streets. The forbidden zone apparently includes the twice-weekly Food Not Bombs set-up near the main Post Office. Although the new "Vanish the Vendors" law does not explicitly ban simply giving away free items such as food, another section of the ordinance prohibits the use of "display devices" (i.e. tables) except in the limited (less than 30) "exempt" zones which Hende and Collins choose to designate.
In addition the "Move Along Every Hour" law now requires what the current law does not--that folks time themselves. Anyone using a table, open guitar case, or any thing "capable of holding tangible things" placed on the sidewalk must move every hour without being asked to do so by a cop, security thug, or "host". The current law requires a warning that one's hour is up and then a "refusal" to move for the $200-300 ticket to be given. The new law just requires that you be there for 61 minutes.
Two artists--Joff Jones and Alex Skelton--were taken away in handcuffs twice within two weeks for setting up their art displays outside the sacred "blue boxes". They had also declined to move every hour. Defying the massive police presence in their second arrest, the two have returned to Pacific Avenue to continue to assert their rights. See "Santa Cruz Artists Dare to Display Art 'Outside of a Blue Box' " at [archive.is/jLhCc].
OTHER SCENES OF PROTEST
Meanwhile in Sacramento, activists who staged a 3-month round-the-clock protest had all charges dropped against them. See "City of Sacramento Won't Put Unlawful Camping Ordinance on Trial, Dismisses Criminal Charges Against City Hall Protest Organizers on Eve of Trials" at [archive.is/gkzvL].
And a delayed Freedom Sleepers case will be returning to Court 8:30 AM on May 20th as Robert Norse demurs to two "trespass at the City Hall courtyard" arrests, claiming they were unconstitutional.
For more info on the Freedom Sleepers and the "Vanish the Vendors" law, check out [indybay.org/calendar/?page_id=60] for the last 43 Tuesday events.
===*===*===
Documenting human-rights abuse by domestic security agencies
NORTHBAY COPWATCH
[NorthbayCopwatch.blogspot.com] [copblock.org] [wecopwatch.org] [filmingcops.com]
NORTHBAY COPWATCH: Domestic Security Agencies and private-sector partners
* "More on Suspicious Activity Reports & the fusion center tracking agenda via Harris, NGA, ISE, NIMS, SARS & more; Cracking Minnesota's private data citadel: Fusion centers need a loophole! The fusion center tracking agenda via Harris, NGA, ISE, NIMS, SARS & more" (2010-03-15, via Twincities.indymedia.org Newswire) [archive.is/xGKf9] [begin excerpt]: A grid of corporate-controlled data networks feed individual fusion centers. A number of companies like Harris and Booz Allen Hamilton runs these. Microsoft Sharepoint, familiar for its everyday data-mounting protocols, has wide adoption (for example see E•SPONDER [archive.is/4ryxb]). The fusion centers can subscribe to secret levels of access with LexisNexus / ChoicePoint. Don't forget new federal programs like the Information Sharing Environment (ISE), and passing around private data via the new Suspicious Activity Reports systems. (Reference text, excerpts, PDF file links & more below the fold. PART I: Surprise bill, law enforcement agenda; Specs for Harris StingRay, Kingfish [archive.is/VNxnh])
Harris appears to work with the NSA and the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA) to undergrid geospatial intelligence systems (Google and ESRI are big players in this too. Microsoft and ESRI developed Fusion Core Solution, a killer Orwellian version of ArcView!). DHS/FEMA and NORTHCOM along with the NGA are involved with running NIMS, the National Incident Management System.
Suspicious Activity Reports (SAR) is a new tier of standardized, streamlined police/private intelligence sharing, and clearly the lobbyist groups such as the Major County Sheriff's Association (website sponsored by who else, Harris?!!) are pushing to let all-and-sundry private security corporations into all Law Enforcement Sensitive and For Official Use Only intelligence.
SARs seem to live mainly in the Information Sharing Environment (ISE), a project of the post-9/11 Office of the Director of National Intelligence. [...]
This hilarious website is sponsored by Harris! (Formerly Tyco Electronics Wireless Systems)
* "Homeland Security Intelligence: Its Relevance and Limitations" (2009-03-18, Major County Sheriff's Association, mcsheriffs.com] [archive.is/Esgzl] [begin excerpt]
TESTIMONY OF DOUGLAS C. GILLESPIE, SHERIFF ON BEHALF OF MAJOR CITIES CHIEFS ASSOCIATION MAJOR COUNTY SHERIFFS ASSOCIATION AND LAS VEGAS METROPOLITAN POLICE DEPARTMENT BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY SUBCOMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE, INFORMATION SHARING, AND TERRORISM RISK ASSESSMENT UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES:
This should not be construed as an indictment on the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), or any other agency included in the Intelligence Community. Indeed, the progress made by the Intelligence Community with regard to information sharing has been laudable. DHS has led the charge by incorporating State, Local and Tribal law enforcement into the national effort to protect our homeland. The Department‘s success in organizing and funding a robust network of 70 Fusion Centers in three short years is nothing short of remarkable. The FBI has achieved dramatic improvement in sharing information by enhancing the Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) program, and by sponsoring security clearances for senior police officials so that they can receive the information from their employees assigned to these JTTF‘s. The achievements notwithstanding, there is still significant room for improvement as State, Local and Tribal law enforcement strives to be full partners with the Federal government in the fight to keep America safe.
We are committed to Intelligence-Led Policing. [...]
We must apply All-Crimes policy to Fusion Centers.
To establish robust information and intelligence sharing capabilities in the Las Vegas area, I established the Southern Nevada Counter Terrorism Center (SNCTC) as an all-crimes and all-hazards fusion center. The SNCTC‘s core mission is to provide tactical and strategic analytic support to regional stakeholders. The tactical analysis section provides timely and actionable information to command staff and field personnel. The strategic analysis section complements tactical operations by developing analytical products. Gang, counter terrorism, narcotics, and criminal analysts produce a variety of issue-specific products on issues facing our region.
The SNCTC has established strong relationships with local industry, the public health community, and emergency management agencies. Awareness training is provided to major employers on how to identify and report suspicious behavior.
Co-located with the analysts, the SNCTC houses a 24/7 watch capability, investigators that handle tips, leads and suspicious activity reports, critical infrastructure protection group, and the All Hazards Regional Multi Agency Operations and Response (ARMOR) Detail. The team consists of local, county, state and federal experts in chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosive (CBRNE) response, detection, and identification.
At the SNCTC, we have developed a privacy policy that is founded on 28 CFR part 23, and with the guidance provided by the DOJ Privacy Policy Development Guide, LEIU Intelligence File Guidelines, and the Global Justice Information Sharing Initiative (Global). We are open with our Privacy policies, and welcome the review and input from our local civil liberties community.
[......]
.......Sustainment funding is needed for Fusion Centers. In the LEAP document, it was recommended that State and Local Fusion Centers receive funding for the operational costs, as well as the costs associated with contracting and training intelligence analysts. It is in this area that we have seen the greatest improvement. DHS has performed admirably in ensuring that funding was available to train incumbent analysts, as well as allocate monies so that agencies without sufficient analytical capability could contract specially-trained personnel. Thanks to the efforts of Chairwoman Harman and distinguished members of this sub-committee, DHS was moved to eliminate all time restrictions related to the funding of analytical personnel assigned to Fusion Centers. As the Committee has recommended, Congress should establish a dedicated grant program for this purpose, the Fusion and Law Enforcement Education and Training (FLEET). We further propose an advisory panel for DHS to identify how to further strengthen UASI and LETPP funding for intelligence and fusion centers. Private security personnel are critical. Included in the VITAL program was a recommendation to ―develop clear policies and procedures for converting highly classified intelligence into an unclassified or ‗less classified‘ law enforcement sensitive format that can be shared rapidly with state, local and tribal law enforcement.‖3 Yet, there is an entire population of ―First Preventers employed in the private sector, who still are unable to receive intelligence documents identified as ―law enforcement sensitive‖ (LES) or ―For Official Use Only‖ (FOUO). In Las Vegas, our highly-skilled, highly-trained cadre of security professionals more than doubles the number of sworn police officers employed by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, and is larger than all but the very largest police agencies in this country. Furthermore, they are the best positioned to detect suspicious activity, identify the behavior consistent with pre-operational activities, and report or interdict the activity. Yet, because of LES or FOUO handling restrictions, we cannot provide private security with these documents that would allow them to be better informed. Before State, Local and Tribal law enforcement can effectively team with our private sector partners, we need to consider the necessity of including LES and FOUO handling requirements. The default should be ―unclassified‖ unless there is a compelling need to include handling restrictions, due to attestable criminal case sensitivity, or National Security reasons. (3 LEAP, supra note 1, (p. 21) )
Security clearances remain a problem.
DHS has been very accommodating for sponsorship of security clearances and the FBI has likewise sponsored clearances for police officials that have membership in the JTTF, and those in the responsible chain of command. Constant promotions, retirements, and transfers of assignment in State, Local and Tribal law enforcement can make it very difficult for the FBI to keep up.
While the Major Cities Chiefs and Major County Sheriffs applaud the FBI and DHS for their willingness to provide clearances, there has been little progress in accomplishing a process for reciprocal acceptance of those clearances to access systems and conduct briefings. Refusal by one Federal agency to routinely accept the clearances issued by another is a disruptive policy that contradicts information sharing and threatens our progress toward realizing the goals of this committee. Chiefs and Sheriffs ask for your help to resolve this issue once and for all. [end excerpt]
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* "Altamira Technologies acquires Prime Solutions" (2016-05-09, UPI Newswire) [archive.is/QkMU6]: Altamira Technologies Corporation has acquired Prime Solutions LLC, a cyber operations company supporting the U.S. intelligence community.
Altamira, itself a provider of technology solutions to the U.S. intelligence and defense communities, did not disclose the terms of the transaction in its announcement.
"We are very excited to welcome the Prime Solutions team into Altamira," said Altamira President and CEO Ted Davies. "We look forward to bringing their significant cyber operations capabilities across the breadth of our portfolio of customers and to broadening and deepening our relationship with NSA [National Security Agency] through them."
Altamira said that among the benefits that results from the acquisition are easier access to offerings across multiple customer agencies and proven infrastructure for investing in and bringing research and development to market.
Altamira is headquartered in Virginia; Prime Solutions is a Maryland-based company.
---
* "Google Now Has Access To Millions of Patients’ Medical Records doctor-google" (2016-05, by Michaela Whitton) [archive.is/ozDp1]
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* "Facebook and Fear; Facebook’s potential is without precedent. But its public scrutiny will be unprecedented, too" (2016-05-10, theatlantic.com) [archive.is/ZYFE1]
* "Facebook sued over facial recognition, judge refuses to throw case out" (2016-05-07, rt.com) [archive.is/m9KiH]
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The Rockefeller IT WAP connection:
* "Nicholas Rockefeller" (nicholasrockefeller.org) [archive.is/RfsFg]: His clients include several multinational companies and many succesful technology ventures throughout the world. His securities practice includes litigation before the United States Supreme Court and a number of his transactions have been featured in leading periodicals. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the International Insitutute of Strategic Studies, the Advisory Board of RAND, the Pacific Council on International Policy, the Committee on Foreign Relations in Los Angeles, the Western Justice Center, and has served as a participant in the World Economic Forum and the Aspen Institute. He is a member of the Board of Visitors of the Law Schools of the University of Oregon and Pepperdine University and is active in the affairs of his alma mater, Yale University. He recently chaired a panel at the United Nations on E-Commerce and is a co-author of "Economic Strategy and National Security."
* (2001, nickmatzorkis.com, [archive.is/LTpUq]) [archive.is/Y9xSP]: Global Agora China Inc. ("GAC") [archive.is/Qn7iG], a Hong Kong corporation, has developed and deployed (Opening Ceremonies July 28, 2001 [archive.is/LRyNd]) a proprietary "wireless shopping" technology platform ("Platform") [archive.is/z8JZz]. This platform currently enables China for wireless shopping, which allows consumers to use wireless Internet (WAP) phones to browse, pay, and take delivery of virtually everything available to Chinese retail consumers [archive.is/Kzl6v].
The company's fulfillment partner, Wuhan Department Store Group [archive.is/fpZzk], is the most profitable publicly-traded retail chain in China. It is under the aegis of the National Trade Union of China (the"NTU"), a retail industry group of 20 state-controlled department store chains with revenues in excess of RMB 40 billion ($5 billion US). Users can presently order from over 40,000 items of merchandise using Internet (WAP) enabled phones.
===*===*===
NORTHBAY COPWATCH: Five-Eyes, and other transnational partners
* "Don't change your passwords too often, UK intelligence says" (2016-05-07, rt.com) [archive.is/aXL23]
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* "Defence industry poised for billion dollar profits from global riot ‘contagion’ ; Forecasts of relentless civil unrest in the US, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia seen as massive ‘investment opportunity’ " (2016-05-06, medium.com) [archive.is/KtoJb], photo caption: Riot gear on sale at the 2015 Milipol security expo in Paris (Credit: IB Times)
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* "Freemasons in the police leading the attack on David Cameron's riot response; Leading police officers have set up a national Masonic lodge where they can meet in secret in defiance of fears about the influence of the secret society on the criminal justice system" (2011-08-20, telegraph.co.uk) [archive.is/bAZLw]
===*===*===
from the Committee to
FREE 'EM ALL!
[PoliticalPrisonersUSA.blogspot.com]
End the Drug War! Stop Jim Crow! Close the Torture Chambers! [solitarywatch.com] [facebook.com/incarceratedworkers] [supportprisonerresistance.noblogs.org] [denverabc.wordpress.com] [prisonlegalnews.org] [prisonbooks.info] [nycabc.wordpress.com] [powmedicaljustice.com] [sacprisonersupport.wordpress.com]. Become a Human Rights Pen Pal! [link].
* "Prisons and prisoners: Four new films show the punishment never ends" (2016-05-03, peoplesworld.org) [archive.is/XEwpi]
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* "Prison Labor Strike in Alabama: 'We Will No Longer Contribute to Our Own Oppression' " (2016-05-05, solitarywatch.com) [archive.is/tiCKE]
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* "Jailed Russian pilot Yaroshenko ‘abandons faith’ in US justice" (2016-05-06, rt.com) [archive.is/JJgee] [begin excerpt]: Konstantin Yaroshenko, a Russian citizen who is serving a 20-year sentence in a US prison, has said that he would no longer appeal to American courts, as he considers them biased and politicized and does not expect justice.
“I don’t want to die here, in a US prison, but after the American court system has treated Russia’s amicus curiae with such disrespect I no longer believe in civilized and lawful justice in America. This is the reason I refuse to participate in any further appeals and hearings,” Yaroshenko told Izvestia daily.
“After Judge Shira Sheindlin’s statement it has become clear for the whole world that the cases of Russian citizens convicted in the United States are politically motivated,” he said, referring to the recent interview in which the judge who passed the sentence to Russian businessman Viktor Bout called this sentence “harsh and inappropriate.”
“After the court ignored all proof of my innocence, the kidnapping and tortures that had been applied to me and sentenced me to 20 years in prison, no one in the United States would confront their own justice. It is useless to hope that the Supreme Court would pass a lawful verdict on my case,” the Russian citizen said.
“Here it is best to forget about democracy and human rights. I am here for six years already and the things that I have disclosed are child’s play in comparison to other things that happen here,” he concluded. [end excerpt]
===*===*===
articles recommended by the
SAN PABLO BAY ECOLOGICAL PRESERVATION ASSOCIATION
Campaigns, info, and more [SanPabloBayEPA.blogspot.com]. Science [discardstudies.com]
* "UC Students Sit in at Investments Office, Rally Today in Oakland! As part of national wave of direct action, UC students call for full fossil fuel divestment" (2016-05-04, Fossil Free UC / CSSC):
Students are currently sitting in for full fossil fuel divestment at the UC investments office in Oakland, CA.
For students, we believe it is unconscionable for our university to invest in the very companies that are recklessly endangering our future. Regent Sherman has the choice to stand with students or to stand with fossil fuel companies and the destruction of our planet.
Follow us @fossilfreecal and [facebook.com/FossilFreeUC] [facebook.com/fossilfreecal]
Hashtags: #leadwithus #sitwithcal #UCstrong #divesttherest
This Wednesday morning, the members of UC Berkeley’s fossil fuel divestment campaign, Fossil Free Cal, left campus for Oakland where they began a sit-in at the UC’s office of investments. Student campaigners are calling on UC Committee on Investments Chair, Regent Richard Sherman, to commit to full divestment and take real climate action.
The sit-in comes after last month’s “Elect Richard Sherman Divestment Leader” campaign during campus elections. Students voted to elect him climate leader for the university but Regent Sherman failed to respond to the news. Last week, Berkeley students sent out a message on social media saying, “If Sherman does not take bold action on this crucial issue, then we will,” in anticipation of today’s action.
Claire Morrison, a student organizer with Fossil Free Cal, said, “It is unconscionable for our university to invest in the very companies that are recklessly endangering our future. We are demanding Regent Sherman lead with us and commit to fully divesting from fossil fuels.”
Actions at other UC campuses are expected to follow the sit-in of the investments office.
“After years of seeing every institutional avenue of engagement fail to produce results that match the urgency of the climate crisis, students decided that we must take bold action and demand that our university invest in our future,” student environmental leader Wes Adrianson says.
The sit-in comes during a wave of direct action around the county within the on-campus fossil fuel divestment movement this spring. In the last few weeks, protests have resulted in 62 student arrests, illustrating that administrators would rather arrest their students than engage seriously on divestment. In the face of student action, other universities have committed to vote or take steps towards divestment, including Yale University, University of Mary Washington, San Francisco State University, and University of Massachusetts.In September 2015, the UC announced that it had divested $200 million from direct holdings in coal and tar sands companies after enormous student pressure. Arguing this is was only an important first step, Tyler Jacobson, also part of the sit-in, said, “Throughout California and across the country, low-income communities and communities of color are being ravaged by the impacts of pollution from fracking and oil extraction while our future is being undermined by its investment policy. The time for the UC to divest from such injustice is long overdue. If the UC is serious about keeping fossil fuels in the ground, Regent Sherman must take action and divest now.”
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* "Glyphosate and Atrazine: EPA posts, then retracts, reports on top herbicide chemicals" (2016-05-06, rt.com) [archive.is/bOWYH]
===*===*===
SAN PABLO BAY EPA: Health and the Human Ecology
Monopolists enforce a regime that does not recognize the natural right to health and life. Info [detoxproject.org].
* " ‘A description of hell’: OxyContin makers downplayed addiction, hyped effectiveness – report" (2016-05-07, rt.com) [archive.is/1G3V7]
---
* RE: Request for Investigation of Harassment and Censorship of USDA Scientists (2015-03-30, U.S. RIGHT TO KNOW)
Dear Chairmen Roberts and Conaway and Ranking Members Stabenow and Peterson:
We write to request an investigation of whether scientists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) are being harassed, censored or blocked entirely when their work runs counter to the interests of the agribusiness or agrichemical industries.
On March 27th, in an article titled "Environmental Group Seeks Greater Protection for USDA Scientists," Reuters reported that USDA scientists are being harassed, and their work is being censored, when their work "conflicts with agribusiness industry interests."
The Reuters article is based on a March 26th citizen petition by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) to USDA, asking it to "Explicitly prohibit political suppression and alteration" and to "Broadly protect scientific information from management suppression and alteration except for reasons of technical merit."
According to the Reuters article, "PEER's executive director Jeff Ruch said on Friday that at least 10 USDA scientists have been investigated or faced other consequences arising from research that called into question the safety of certain agricultural chemicals." It continues: "Research into glyphosate, the key ingredient in Monsanto's Roundup herbicide, and neonicotinoid insecticides, which have been linked to honey bee and monarch butterfly endangerment, face particular scrutiny, Ruch said."
The article states that, "Ruch said his organization had received mounting complaints over the last year from USDA scientists claiming they have been ordered to retract studies, water down findings, remove their names from authorship and experienced delays in approvals for publication of research papers. The petition does not identify any specific research or scientists." It quotes a "senior scientist at the USDA's Agricultural Research Service" who said that, "Your words are changed, your papers are censored or edited or you are not allowed to submit them at all..."
If true, this is a major scandal at USDA. It is not the proper role of the USDA to engage in a cover up for Monsanto or other agrichemical companies. It is intolerable that the agribusiness and agrichemical should be able to interfere with USDA scientists and their work. Those scientists work for the public, not Monsanto nor the agrichemical industry. They must be fully insulated from the political pressure of the agribusiness and agrichemical industries. It is crucial to the public interest that they do their work without industry harassment or obstruction. The integrity of the USDA is at stake.
We urge you to conduct a full and thorough investigation into corporate interference with USDA scientists, to publicly release any evidence of industry interference with USDA scientists, and to ensure that such interference never happens again.
Sincerely, Gary Ruskin Executive Director
USRTK.ORG • 6026A HARWOOD AVE. • OAKLAND, CA 94618 • (415) 944-7350
Exposing what the food industry doesn't want us to know
Sent to:
- Honorable Pat Roberts Chairman Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition & Forestry U.S. Senate 109 Hart Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510
- Honorable Debbie Stabenow Ranking Member Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition & Forestry U.S. Senate 731 Hart Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510
- Honorable K. Michael Conaway Chairman Committee on Agriculture U.S. House of Representatives 2430 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, DC 20515
- Collin C. Peterson Ranking Member Committee on Agriculture U.S. House of Representatives 2204 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, DC 20515
* (2015-03-30, U.S. RIGHT TO KNOW)
Phyllis K. Fong Inspector General U.S. Department of Agriculture Room 117-W Jamie Whitten Building 1400 Independence Avenue SW Washington, DC 20250
Dear Inspector General Fong:
We write to request an investigation of whether scientists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) are being harassed, censored or blocked entirely when their work runs counter to the interests of the agribusiness or agrichemical industries.
On March 27th, in an article titled "Environmental Group Seeks Greater Protection for USDA Scientists," Reuters reported that USDA scientists are being harassed, and their work is being censored, when their work "conflicts with agribusiness industry interests."
The Reuters article is based on a March 26th citizen petition by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) to USDA, asking it to "Explicitly prohibit political suppression and alteration" and to "Broadly protect scientific information from management suppression and alteration except for reasons of technical merit."
According to the Reuters article, "PEER's executive director Jeff Ruch said on Friday that at least 10 USDA scientists have been investigated or faced other consequences arising from research that called into question the safety of certain agricultural chemicals." It continues: "Research into glyphosate, the key ingredient in Monsanto's Roundup herbicide, and neonicotinoid insecticides, which have been linked to honey bee and monarch butterfly endangerment, face particular scrutiny, Ruch said."
The article states that, "Ruch said his organization had received mounting complaints over the last year from USDA scientists claiming they have been ordered to retract studies, water down findings, remove their names from authorship and experienced delays in approvals for publication of research papers. The petition does not identify any specific research or scientists." It quotes a "senior scientist at the USDA's Agricultural Research Service" who said that, "Your words are changed, your papers are censored or edited or you are not allowed to submit them at all..."
If true, this is a major scandal at USDA. It is not the proper role of the USDA to engage in a cover up for Monsanto or other agrichemical companies. It is intolerable that the agribusiness and agrichemical should be able to interfere with USDA scientists and their work. Those scientists work for the public, not Monsanto nor the agrichemical industry. They must be fully insulated from the political pressure of the agribusiness and agrichemical industries. It is crucial to the public interest Exposing what the food industry doesn't want us to know that they do their work without industry harassment or obstruction. The integrity of the USDA is at stake.
We urge you to conduct a full and thorough investigation into corporate interference with USDA scientists, and to publicly release any evidence of industry interference with USDA scientists.
Sincerely,
Gary Ruskin, Executive Director
USRTK.ORG • 6026A HARWOOD AVE. • OAKLAND, CA 94618 • (415) 944-7350
===*===*===- Honorable Debbie Stabenow Ranking Member Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition & Forestry U.S. Senate 731 Hart Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510
- Honorable K. Michael Conaway Chairman Committee on Agriculture U.S. House of Representatives 2430 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, DC 20515
- Collin C. Peterson Ranking Member Committee on Agriculture U.S. House of Representatives 2204 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, DC 20515
* (2015-03-30, U.S. RIGHT TO KNOW)
Phyllis K. Fong Inspector General U.S. Department of Agriculture Room 117-W Jamie Whitten Building 1400 Independence Avenue SW Washington, DC 20250
Dear Inspector General Fong:
We write to request an investigation of whether scientists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) are being harassed, censored or blocked entirely when their work runs counter to the interests of the agribusiness or agrichemical industries.
On March 27th, in an article titled "Environmental Group Seeks Greater Protection for USDA Scientists," Reuters reported that USDA scientists are being harassed, and their work is being censored, when their work "conflicts with agribusiness industry interests."
The Reuters article is based on a March 26th citizen petition by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) to USDA, asking it to "Explicitly prohibit political suppression and alteration" and to "Broadly protect scientific information from management suppression and alteration except for reasons of technical merit."
According to the Reuters article, "PEER's executive director Jeff Ruch said on Friday that at least 10 USDA scientists have been investigated or faced other consequences arising from research that called into question the safety of certain agricultural chemicals." It continues: "Research into glyphosate, the key ingredient in Monsanto's Roundup herbicide, and neonicotinoid insecticides, which have been linked to honey bee and monarch butterfly endangerment, face particular scrutiny, Ruch said."
The article states that, "Ruch said his organization had received mounting complaints over the last year from USDA scientists claiming they have been ordered to retract studies, water down findings, remove their names from authorship and experienced delays in approvals for publication of research papers. The petition does not identify any specific research or scientists." It quotes a "senior scientist at the USDA's Agricultural Research Service" who said that, "Your words are changed, your papers are censored or edited or you are not allowed to submit them at all..."
If true, this is a major scandal at USDA. It is not the proper role of the USDA to engage in a cover up for Monsanto or other agrichemical companies. It is intolerable that the agribusiness and agrichemical should be able to interfere with USDA scientists and their work. Those scientists work for the public, not Monsanto nor the agrichemical industry. They must be fully insulated from the political pressure of the agribusiness and agrichemical industries. It is crucial to the public interest Exposing what the food industry doesn't want us to know that they do their work without industry harassment or obstruction. The integrity of the USDA is at stake.
We urge you to conduct a full and thorough investigation into corporate interference with USDA scientists, and to publicly release any evidence of industry interference with USDA scientists.
Sincerely,
Gary Ruskin, Executive Director
USRTK.ORG • 6026A HARWOOD AVE. • OAKLAND, CA 94618 • (415) 944-7350
SAN PABLO BAY EPA: Save The Birds [link]! and the Bees [link]!
A campaign to preserve and expand the habitat and populations of pollinators in the San Pablo Bay Area.
* "Osprey populations thriving on Mare Island" (2016-05-07, timesheraldonline.com) [archive.is/R88ho], photo caption: An osprey lands on a channel near its nest in the middle of the Mare Island Strait on Saturday. A tour group got a chance to view osprey nesting along with other local wildlife from the River Dolphin touring boat.
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articles recommended by the
NO NUKES! campaign
[StopNuclearDeath.blogspot.com] [nuclear-news.net] [nukeresister.org] [nukefree.org]
* "State regulators reopen case on San Onofre nuclear plant" (2016-05-09, latimes.com) [archive.is/c6vLd] [begin excerpt]: The California Public Utilities Commission said it is reevaluating the settlement agreement that left ratepayers on the hook for $3.3 billion of the cost of closing the plant. The commission is giving parties involved in the case the opportunity to comment on whether the agreement was reasonable given that representatives of the plant's primary owner, Southern California Edison, engaged in secret talks with regulators over the closed nuclear plant.
"This is really a remarkable development," said Michael Aguirre, a San Diego lawyer who has criticized the settlement as unjust. The cost of closing the power plant "really should have been borne by the investors."
The ruling follows a $16.7-million fine in December against Edison for failing to disclose the talks. Commissioner Catherine J.K. Sandoval and Administrative Law Judge Maribeth Bushey issued the ruling reopening the case. [end excerpt]
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* "Spike in radiation levels after toxic waste leak at Washington nuclear site" (2016-05-07, rt.com) [archive.is/ZBJUJ]
* " ‘I thought I was dying’: Ex-Hanford worker gravely ill after inhaling toxic fumes" (2016-05-06, rt.com) [archive.is/olONi]
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articles recommended by the
SAN PABLO BAY SOVEREIGNTY Think-tank
[SovereignSanPabloBay.blogspot.com] [permaculture.org]
* "Ocean Wave Energy, a real option for Ireland" (1995, aislingmagazine.com) [archive.is/av6FV], intro: A thirteen mile strech of ocean between Belmullet and Valentia on the west coast of Ireland is capable of providing up to ten per cent of the energy needs for the entire country. This can be done without atmospheric pollution and the resource is sustainable indefinitely. Vested interest and lack of Government commitment holds up the research.
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* "UNSW takes lead in race for non-toxic, thin-film solar cells; ‘Zero-energy’ buildings – which generate as much power as they consume – are now much closer after a UNSW team achieved the world’s highest efficiency using flexible solar cells that are non-toxic and cheap to make" (2016-04-27, newsroom.unsw.edu.au) [archive.is/gSBbZ]
Contact: Wilson da Silva, Faculty of Engineering [0407 907 017] [w.dasilva@)unsw.edu.au]
Photo caption: Dr Xiaojing Hao of UNSW's Australian Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics holding the new CZTS solar cells.
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* "Flipping a chemical switch helps perovskite solar cells beat the heat; A simple chemical conversion could be another step toward making cheap, efficient and stable perovskite solar cells" (2016-04-25, news.brown.edu) [archive.is/c5JKa]
Contact: Kevin Stacey [401-863-3766]
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* "KYOCERA Solar Empowers Hawaii Tokai International College to Stabilize Electricity Costs Long-Term; College projected to use 284kW solar system for more than half of total power requirements, anticipated to be Hawaii’s first LEED-certified, multiple-building campus" (2016-04-27, Reuters Newswire) [archive.is/MItot]
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ANIMAL RIGHTS: Save the Whales!CBS Chopper 5 Footage Of Two Whales In San Francisco Bay, Monday afternoon (5-9-2016)
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UNITED STATES FASCISM WATCH
Documenting the process of fascism and for whom it benefits. [UnitedStatesFascism.blogspot.com] [exposefacts.org]
* "Loss of heritage: Louisiana tribe to be resettled as US’ first climate refugees for $48 million" (2016-05-06, rt.com) [archive.is/BatZY]
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* "Federal Reserve Tries Wizardry to Cure Derivatives Problem" (2016-05-04, wallstreetonparade.com) [archive.is/4JIO5]
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The process of fascism exposed -
* "ALEC's 2016 Agenda Moving in the States: A Snapshot" (2016-05-05, prwatch.org) [archive.is/XSXFY]
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The process of fascism is evident when a market or service is dominated by a monopoly or cartel, as shown in the following example.
* "Couple charged for porn after cancelling Comcast service" (2016-05-06, rt.com) [archive.is/OzFE5]
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* "Doing Federal Business: Sex, Friends, Favors" (1980-06-26, washingtonpost.com) [archive.is/W30kI]
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* "Nine Years of Anti-Regulatory Fiction Statement of Amit Narang, Regulatory Policy Advocate for Public Citizen’s Congress Watch Division; On Tuesday, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) for the ninth time released a previously discredited report on the costs of federal regulations" (2016-05-04, citizen.org) [archive.is/hSw1m]:
The Competitive Enterprise Institute’s discredited report on federal regulations belongs in the fantasy section of the bookstore, next to “Star Wars” and “Game of Thrones.” When asked about its nearly identical report in 2015 [archive.is/5v833] full report (.pdf) [is.gd/a1f7XZ], CEI admitted that it used “back of the envelope” calculations and that no one should assume households actually pay anything in regulatory costs.
In addition to the numerous and serious methodological flaws in the report, it wholly ignores the benefits that regulations provide to the public. CEI admits it made no attempt to compute the benefits of the regulations it scrutinized or compare those benefits to costs. This is akin to grocery shoppers deciding to buy no groceries because they cost money. Deceiving the public, the press and lawmakers by hiding regulatory benefits is unacceptable.
The report is full of fictitious figures that cannot withstand even the most basic scrutiny. For example, the total cost figure in CEI’s report includes more than $300 billion in transfer payments totally unrelated to regulatory costs, such as Medicare benefits. Another $316 billion of the cost figure is made up of tax compliance costs, which also have nothing to do with any sensible tally of regulatory costs.
In claiming that “economic” regulations cost roughly $400 billion per year, CEI’s report relies on a notorious report on the impact of federal regulations commissioned by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). That SBA report has been thoroughly debunked by independent experts and received so much criticism that the SBA eventually disavowed it.
CEI should disavow this report instead of republishing it year after year.
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* "Tobacco Farms Exploit Child Labor in North Carolina; The report did not include the children who were working with their families in tobacco fields" (2016-05-05, telesurtv.net) [archive.is/RgrPb], photo caption: Tobacco farms in North Carolina are using child labor. (Photo: UNICEF)
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USA FASCISM: "Libertarianism" & "Constitutionalism"
* "Constitutional Myths" (2011, theatlantic.com)
- Constitutional Myth #1: "The Right Is 'Originalist,' Everyone Else Is 'Idiotic' ; Justice Scalia and certain other conservatives deny that America's Founding Fathers left any room for interpretation in the Constitution" [archive.is/5vKqp]
- Constitutional Myth #2: "The 'Purpose' of the Constitution Is to Limit Congress; What really drives this idea today isn't legal theory; it's the political fear that the people of the United States will enact progressive legislation" [archive.is/t0Plz]
- Constitutional Myth #3: "The 'Unitary Executive' is a Dictator in War and Peace; The idea that the President's powers aren't limited by Congress is a radical--and dangerous--trend" [archive.is/ouNdK]
- Constitutional Myth #4: "The Constitution Doesn't Separate Church and State; America's Founding Fathers may not have included the phrase, but the history is clear--they never wanted a Christian nation" [archive.is/nDzoB]
- Constitutional Myth #5: "Corporations Have the Same Free-Speech Rights as Individuals; The problem isn't "corporate personhood"; it's simple-minded interpretation that refuses to take note of the real function of the First Amendment" [archive.is/TE2aM]
- Constitutional Myth #6: "The Second Amendment Allows Citizens to Threaten Government; The "right to bear arms" is not a right to nullify any government measure a "sovereign citizen" finds irksome" [archive.is/jJ6Xv]
- Constitutional Myth #7: "The 10th Amendment Protects 'States' Rights' ; Today's "Tenthers" seem to be yearning for the good old Articles of Confederation, not this newfangled left-wing Madison thing" [archive.is/5bnw3]
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USA FASCISM: Dominionism & the "Prosperity Gospel"
Truth Apostolic Church in Madisonville, Commonwealth of Kentucky -
* "Kentucky pastor defends church's hiring of registered sex offender" (2016-04-15, wilx.com) [archive.is/QyW5G]
* "Kentucky Pastor compares raping a little girl to stealing candy - says 'she chose to be raped' " (2016-04-15, winningdemocrats.com) [archive.is/ACiQV]
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Who would try to replace somebody's medication with the opium of the masses?
* "Mentally ill man attempts suicide after clinic replaces his meds with Bible study" (2016-05-10, rawstory.com) [archive.is/A3UKp]
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USA FASCISM: Military State
* "Announcing the Elihu Root Study on The Total Army" (2016-05-03, Carlisle Scholars Program, U.S. Army War College) [archive.is/RAy4X]
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* "Infographic: The U.S. Army from 1960 to Today" (2016-05-03, warontherocks.com) [archive.is/QR23R]: This infographic presents an overview of the U.S. Army since 1960. The graphs (from top to bottom) depict the Army’s major deterrence and operational commitments, total budget and mix of spending (in constant 2015 dollars), and size and personnel structure. Two call-outs provide a more detailed comparison of 1985 and 2015, illustrating changes in the global posture of the force, its spending priorities, the cost of soldiers, and (in the bottom chart) the increasing ratios of officers to enlisted personnel. The Army influences but does not determine the resources and objectives that it is given, but it has more control over how it spends its budget, and how it organizes and postures itself to meet the nation’s needs. What should the Army do to be better prepared for emerging requirements? For some answers, read The Elihu Root Study on the Total Army by the Carlisle Scholars Program.
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* "DARPA seeks to attract new recruits with high-tech exhibition in Chicago" (2016-05-07, rt.com) [archive.is/ELKvb]
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A bunch of whoremongers, drug addicts, and serial killers are holding a convention to discuss ways to terrorize the people of the world through advanced space-based weaponry, funded by capitalists and USA taxpayer money. Read more at [is.gd/eBjGlX]
* Space Tech Expo 2016 publicity message (2016-05-10) [archive.is/qVeIF]
* Space Tech Expo Conference Agenda 2016: Exploring the business models and technologies that will enable the space industry to deliver successful missions at lower cost" [archive.is/t8pcK]:
The Space Tech Conference agenda will examine how military and government organizations can deliver space missions by working closely with the commercial sector to leverage the latest innovative technologies and business models. The conference also takes a deep dive into the rapidly evolving space-to-space market and offers specific sessions examining the plethora of on-orbit services and technologies emerging.
On May 26, Space Tech Expo is delighted to announce a series of free-to-attend requirements presentations to be held in the exhibition hall, enabling all attendees to benefit from this invaluable learning opportunity. Bringing together representatives of leading government, military and prime contractor organizations, speakers will outline their current and future projects, highlighting where there are opportunities for the space supply chain, and also sharing details of specific opportunities for small businesses.
Agenda for Day 1, May 24th 2016 -
8:40 - 8:50 AM, Welcome Remarks by the ChairChairman: Carl Frushon [archive.is/1Ycma], Colonel, USAF (Ret), President, r3SpACE Consulting [r3space.com]
8:50 - 9:10 AM, Keynote Address: JPL & NASA’s Role in Space Innovation
Larry D. James [archive.is/CaCF5], Deputy Director, Jet Propulsion Laboratory (NASA) [jpl.nasa.gov]
JPL and NASA have had a long-standing role creating innovation with space technologies, and promoting commercialization partnerships to leverage limited government funding and implement a broader strategy to shift the USA’s focus from near-Earth orbit to the outer reaches of the solar system. The new Commercial Crew and ISS Resupply Mission contracts are just a few of the recent successes. How have they managed to make this transformation? What are their successes and failures along the way? What policy and shift in thought was necessary? Are there lessons learned and recommendations that DoD can implement? How should NASA/JPL space development be leveraged with DoD to meet US Government affordability goals and prevent duplication? Where is JPL going in the near and long term? What are the top technical challenges and high-priority funded programs in the next two to three years? How can small and large companies partner with NASA to accelerate innovation?9:10 - 9:30 AM, Keynote Address: Air Force Space Command’s Priorities and Needs From Emerging Space Industry Players to Meet Affordability Goals and Innovation for Evolving Space Threats
Roger W. Teague [archive.is/fFhiO], Maj Gen, Director, Space Programs, Assistant Secretary (Acquisition), USAF [www.af.mil]
Space capabilities – more specifically, information obtained and passed through the strategic, persistent high ground offered by the space domain – have become a critical and very integral part of military, commercial and daily economic life for billions of people around the world. Since the dawn of the space age almost 60 years ago, funding, development and operation of space systems have been affordable only by nation states. Today, however, through innovation, desire to create capabilities providing consumer value and huge profits, and accessibility of venture funding, the equation is much different. Someone is currently poised to become the next “Space Steve Jobs”, tinkering with hardware and software in a garage. That someone could provide tremendous value or – more worrisomely – an asymmetric threat from a rogue non-nation-state actor. The cost to produce defense space systems and the ground infrastructure to control them, create actionable information and disseminate it globally is skyrocketing. The USAF is challenged with realigning limited funds to counter the insatiable appetite of the educated warfighter, broader threats, risks of space debris, cost overruns, emergence of cyberspace demands, and entrance of new, innocent players in space. What are their greatest challenges? How can entrepreneurs help? Does there need to be a cost-sharing shift from government to larger commercial prime contractors? What are the areas of greatest concern and visionary roles for how new space entrepreneurs and traditional space companies can make a difference?9:30 - 10:45 AM, Keynote Panel: Commercial, Defense and New Space: Understanding the Roles and Value Proposition of the Space Funding Inflection Point
Moderator: Tom Taverney [archive.is/K5Brf], Major Gen. (Ret.), Senior Vice President - Space Systems Development, Leidos [leidos.com]
This panel will continue the dialog on the shifting roles between government and industry in the new era of space innovation. What is the real value proposition of significant expansion of industrial and nation-state players in space? How will it further define roles and responsibilities between government control and funding of space development? DoD has established an Innovation Unit in Silicon Valley to glean ideas and inject the entrepreneurial spirit into government programs. What role do traditional industry prime contractors have in this new era? Will they continue to wait for big-dollar DoD programs to fund non-recurring engineering and innovation? Will they be outpaced by VC and angel-funded entrepreneurs? How can these large companies partner with emerging small companies? Mergers and acquisitions, or mentorship and partnership?Speakers -
- George Duchak PhD [archive.is/xVo3y], Director, Defense Innovation Unit – Experimental (DIUx) [diux.mil]
- Emmanuel Sauzay [archive.is/QZ2ko], Director of Commercial Space, Airbus Defense and Space [airbusdefenceandspace.com]
- Robert C. Jacobson [archive.is/7ZlzQ], Co-Founder & Co-Managing Partner, Desert Sky Holdings LLC
- Roger W. Teague, Maj Gen, Director, Space Programs, Assistant Secretary (Acquisition), USAF
10:45 - 11:15 AM, Networking Refreshments
11:15 - 12:30 PM, Keynote Panel: Launch Market – Reusability, Technologies and Near-Term Strategies
Moderator: Eric Stallmer [archive.is/FXX4K], President, Commercial Spaceflight Federation [commercialspaceflight.org]
“Space launch is not a service for which one must come up with a value proposition, but rather it is a must-have utility in our national policy of assured access to space.”Lt. Gen. Samuel Greaves, Air Force Program Executive Officer for Space and Commander, Space and Missile Systems Center
Launch strategies and technologies remain a core focus of Space Tech Conference. This year the keynote panel again brings key industry leaders together to discuss their views of the market, their plans for investments in dual-launch capabilities and reusable engines, among other moves, that they believe will improve their fleets’ capabilities to enable them to deliver lower-cost launch options to meet civil, defense and commercial space requirements. Key questions to be discussed include:
What is the impact of re-usable engines and stages on future launch costs? What are the real numbers?
Which propellants, engines, components and new technologies are the launch sector investing in? What are the game changers?
Are there new business models and partnerships that can provide stability in the supply chain and meet national security space requirements?
What’s the latest with the Air Force’s Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) contract?
How will competition be sustained in the launch market if one provider is cheaper than the other? Launches must still be given to a second provider in order to meet national policy objectives, but how will this work in reality?
Speakers
- Claire Leon PhD [archive.is/eZfAl], SES, DAF, Director - Launch Enterprise, Space and Missile Systems Center [losangeles.af.mil]
- Lars Hoffman [archive.is/XHdgx], Senior Director of Government Sales, SpaceX [spacex.com]
- Jess Sponable [archive.is/FmvV2], Tactical Technology Office (TTO) Program Manager, DARPA [darpa.mil]
- Will Pomerantz [archive.is/Xoucb], Vice President, Special Projects, Virgin Galactic [virgingalactic.com]
- Clay Mowry [archive.is/enNrD], President, Arianespace [arianespace.com]
12:30 - 1:30 PM, Networking Lunch
1:30 - 3:00 PM, Enterprise Ground Services – Simplifying and Improving Ground Systems Architecture
“We have spent tens and hundreds of millions of dollars on standalone ground systems … If we keep on going on this path, we’ll have five separate ground systems to operate five separate satellites. It’s the dumbest thing in the world.” - Gen. John Hyten, Commander, Air Force Space CommandThe exponential growth of small sats, as well as the push within the Air Force to be more resourceful are two key factors driving current interest in ground architecture. As space opens up to more and more commercial players launching their own satellite networks, there is a mounting need for low-cost automated solutions. Many operators need to expand their ground capabilities to sustain their growing constellations, but are also very cost sensitive, so looking for truly innovative solutions. The same is true of the US Air Force, where cost savings are a key driver of the current enterprise ground service (EGS) focus, which also seeks to standardize satellite ground systems and achieve great agility, automation, security and resiliency, as well as take routine tasks away from the military and offload to commercial industry. Bringing together ground systems users and operators, this session will examine the strategies and technologies currently being rolled out by commercial, military and government entities. Key topics for discussion include:
- US Air Force initiatives – Space Enterprise Vision / Space Mission Force – creating a consolidated ground architecture for managing space missions
- Understanding the ground system requirements of supporting the growing small sat/cubesat market
- Understanding the ground system requirements of supporting future taskable space assets (projected launches 2016-2020)
- New paradigm for ground network providers – transitioning from legacy requirements to “new space” needs
- Dramatic increase in commercial capabilities – increased coverage needs and supplier agility
- Standardization for RF comm – driving down the cost of ground network services
Speakers:
Jeffrey R Stutz [archive.is/1gpaB], Colonel, Deputy Director, Advanced Systems and Development Directorate, Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC) [af.mil]
Eric Moltzau [archive.is/jinqK], Manager, Space Services Development, Intelsat General [intelsatgeneral.com]
Sean McDaniel [archive.is/ns1tw], President, ATLAS Space Operations [atlasground.com]
Kevin Lynaugh [archive.is/gUkk0], CEO, Vulcan Wireless Inc. [vulcanwireless.com]
Melissa Wuerl [archive.is/8gja6], Director of Business Development, Spaceflight Industries [spaceflight.com]
3:00 - 3:15 PM, Networking Refreshments
3:15 - 4:40 PM, Commercializing New Technologies and Driving Innovation with New Space Players
Moderator: Justine M Kasznica [archive.is/R0VRZ], Special Counsel, Saul Ewing LLP [saul.com]
Companies such as SpaceX and Blue Origin have done a great job of changing the space landscape and encouraging competition in the market. But beyond them, a plethora of “new space” companies continue to emerge, unleashing a wave of choice and increased competition. With their innovative approaches and lower cost base, they are able to give traditional space players a real run for their money. The government and military are increasingly looking to such upstarts to help them deliver their space requirements with more entrepreneurial principles in mind. Even established space companies recognize that new entrants may be better placed to drive real innovation in the industry, and are thus investing and acquiring technology companies that fit their portfolios. Bringing together industry and government representatives, this session will explore current strategies to commercialize new technologies and drive innovation in the space industry. Key topics for discussion include:
- NASA commercialization activities through public-private partnerships and tech transfer opportunities with small business – licensing patented technologies to industry
- Examining different methodologies for commercializing new technologies
- Accessibility and creating a market
- Getting through the financial loop – how do you prepare yourself for adoption in the market?
- Intrapreneurship, investing and acquiring – how are primes and established players driving innovation and commercializing technologies in a timely manner?
- Open-source platforms for hardware components – changing the space paradigm and increasing accessibility
- What are the models for collaboration between “old” and “new” space?
Speakers:
- Ken Wolfenbarger PhD [archive.is/92T78], Manager for Civil and Commercial Space Programs, Jet Propulsion Laboratory [jpl.nasa.gov]
- Shahin Farshchi [archive.is/QFxMW], Partner, Lux Capital [luxcapital.com]
- Marshall Culpepper [archive.is/vD4il], CEO, Kubos [kubos.co]
- Simon Halpern [archive.is/XmII5], CEO, Phase Four [phasefour.io/index.html]
4:40 - 5:30 PM, Commercial Crew Update – The Path to 2017 and First Crew Test Flight
Moderator: Steve Stich [archive.is/sdmbU], Deputy Manager, Commercial Crew Program, NASA
Two American companies are blazing their own unique paths forward to produce certified end-to-end crew transportation systems capable of flying astronauts to and from the International Space Station by 2017. A little more than a year after being awarded contracts, launch pads along Florida’s Space Coast are taking shape, spacecraft and launch vehicle hardware is in flow and extensive testing is underway for Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner and SpaceX’s Crew Dragon systems. The companies are working carefully and diligently with NASA’s Commercial Crew Program and the astronauts selected to train to fly flight tests to the International Space Station, to ensure the systems are meeting the agency’s certification requirements and adequately addressing all credible hazards, including pad emergencies, in-flight aborts and emergency landings. This session will provide an update on how NASA and its partners Boeing and SpaceX are progressing toward the 2017 deadline.
Speakers:
- Garrett Reisman [archive.is/lEE3o], Director of Crew Operations at Space Exploration Technologies
SpaceX [spacex.com]
- John P Leuer [archive.is/2hiIc], Executive Director, Commercial Crew Program, BDS Development, Boeing Defense Space & Security [boeing.com/defense]
5:30 PM, Closing remarks from the chair and close of Conference Day One
Agenda for Day 2, May 25th 2016 -
8:40 - 8:50 AM, Welcome Remarks by Chair
Chairman: Carl Frushon [archive.is/1Ycma], Colonel, USAF (Ret), President, r3SpACE Consulting [r3space.com]
8:50 - 9:10 AM, Keynote Address: Emerging Issues in US Space Policy
Charles S Galbreath [archive.is/uq90V], Colonel, USAF, Deputy Director, Strategy and Plans for Space Policy, US Department of Defense
As commercial investment and expenditure on space capabilities skyrocket, and government funding begins to dwarf in comparison, space commerce and commercialization will accelerate. This will bring greater demands on US space policy to engage in roles beyond traditional national security positions. Just recently, President Obama signed the US Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act (HR 2262) into law, which recognizes the right of US citizens to own asteroid resources they obtain, and encourages the commercial exploration and utilization of resources from asteroids. Evolving space commerce, promoting commercialization, and protecting humans and government/commercial high-value space assets from natural, man-made and emerging threats (including cyber) will inevitably lead to challenges to US space policy.9:10 - 9:30 AM, Keynote Address: Space Capabilities Needed to Protect Commercial and Government Space Operations
Nina M Armagno [archive.is/ferIv], Brigadier General, Director of Strategic Plans, Programs, Requirements and Analysis, Air Force Space Command
Space provides the promise of near-real-time global access & dissemination of information to connect a planet for economic, scientific, and defensive needs. DoD has been working in earnest to streamline command and control of space systems, integrate information from various sources, leverage commercial industry best practices, significantly increase space situational awareness capabilities, and protect systems against cyber threats. However, Earth orbit has become increasingly congested and contested with active and dead satellites, rocket bodies and debris. Intentional on-orbit demonstrations and unintentional collisions have created debris fields that pose long-term hazards to humans and hardware alike. Emerging commercial uses of space and the introduction of low-cost “Cube” and “Small-Satellite” technology has created a rapid expansion in the number of assets being deployed on orbit each year.Earth orbit has become increasingly congested and contested. Intentional on-orbit demonstrations and unintentional collisions have created debris fields that pose long-term hazards to humans and hardware alike. In recent years, emerging commercial uses of space and the introduction of low-cost “Cube” and “Small-Satellite” technology has introduced an “explosion” in the numbers of assets being deployed in orbit each year. Further, the global network required to control and access data collected in and transmitted through space can be prone to asymmetric cyber threats from Nation States to rogue actors.
DoD remains vigilant promoting peaceful and responsible use of space, while enhancing space situational awareness capabilities. Air Force Space Command has the challenge of acquiring and operating space and cyber systems affordably and in an ever integrated way. To do that, Gen Hyten has recently challenged the space community to think and operate from a Space Enterprise Vision perspective. What does this mean for developers of next generation space & cyber systems? How will AFSPC engage industry to meet those needs affordably and at a speed & tech refresh rate that the current DoD acquisition system is incapable of producing?
9:30 - 11:00 AM, Keynote Panel: Commercial, Government and Military Collaboration on Space Situational Awareness
Moderator: Josef Koller PhD [archive.is/VQ5nj], Senior Space Policy Advisor, US Department of Defense
Earth orbit has become increasingly congested and contested. Intentional on-orbit demonstrations and unintentional collisions have created debris fields that pose long-term hazards to humans and hardware alike. In recent years, emerging commercial uses of space and the introduction of low-cost cube and small-satellite technology has introduced an explosion in the numbers of assets being deployed in orbit each year.DoD remains vigilant, promoting peaceful and responsible use of space while enhancing space situational awareness capabilities. With increasing commercial and international on-orbit presence, new operational procedures and technologies are needed. Furthermore, sharing information to protect people and high-value commercial and military space systems will become increasingly important.
Bringing together commercial, government and military representatives, this session will explore how these stakeholders envision improving future space operations, and the technologies yet needed to more effectively manage congestion and promote peaceful utilization of space.
Speakers:
- Michael Gazarik [archive.is/JMl6Y], Vice President of Engineering, Ball Aerospace & Technology Corporation Ball Aerospace & Technology Corporation
- Tim Maclay [archive.is/1Okm7], Director of Mission Systems Eng., OneWeb
- Jean-Luc Froeliger [archive.is/wEXPW], Vice President, Satellite Operations & Engineering, and Executive Director
Intelsat S.A, and Space Data Association
11:00 - 11:30 AM, Networking Refreshments
11:30 - 1:00 PM, Developing a Cross-Sector Approach for Effective Space Debris Remediation and Removal
Moderator: Paola Leoni [archive.is/ekgvr], Senior Partner and CEO, Leoni Corporate Advisors
Following on from the need for a robust and collaborative space situational awareness infrastructure, this panel will examine what happens when collisions do unfortunately happen and how to tackle existing debris. The exponential growth of the cubesat market alone, and plans from the likes of OneWeb, Facebook and SpaceX to launch their own mega constellations, has increased concern about the likelihood of on-orbit collisions. So who is responsible for debris remediation and removal when accidents happen, and what are the strategies and technologies for managing the problem? Bringing together government agency and commercial stakeholders, this session will examine the debris removal issue through the following key questions:
- What is the scale of the problem now, and what are the future projections?
- What are the current governance models for the removal of space debris? Who is driving the standards?
- How can the industry articulate possible political and financial governance models to incentivise and encourage active debris removal?
- How are satellite manufacturers developing cost-effective solutions for complying with mitigation guidelines?
- Small sats may not just be the cause of the problem – they could be part of the solution. What are the options for using small sats in removal activities?
- What is the market opportunity for debris removal – will launch providers leverage their capabilities to offer cheap secondary payloads and become a key player here?
Speakers:
- Jer Chyi (J.-C.) Liou PhD [archive.is/kAezB], Chief Scientist for Orbital Debris, NASA
- Max LaRosa [archive.is/pNxC4], Business Development Manager, Thales Alenia Space
- Bo Naasz [archive.is/g9wta], Restore-L Mission Systems Engineer, NASA
- Stephen L. Goodman [archive.is/TefaU], Shareholder, Butzel Long
1:00 - 2:00 PM, Networking Lunch - Enabling Space-to-Space Commerce
2:00 - 3:30 PM, Applications Requiring “Space Services” – the Next Steps in Expanding Commercial Enterprise in Space
Moderator: Dave Barnhart [archive.is/zQSPI], CEO and Founder, Arkisys
Space Tech Conference announces a pioneering series of sessions [below] that will for the first time explore true space-to-space commerce. The discussions will showcase companies that want to build and operate unique new applications that will require real space-to-space infrastructure, similar to all the other use platforms on Earth. A host of exciting new companies and organizations will announce and present true “service models” that are enabling the next generation of space platforms that will take the world to its next level in power generation, refueling, space platform waystations for lunar/asteroid and planetary exploration, to name but a few.
Applications Requiring “Space Services” – the Next Steps in Expanding Commercial Enterprise in Space
This session will explore some of the new missions that require the concept of space-to-space services to flourish. Missions and applications requiring space-to-space services include:
- Fuel stations – supporting on-orbit servicing companies
- Meeting the requirements of companies utilizing the ISS or a commercial follow-on
- Upgrading capabilities with serviceable satellites
- Debris remediation
- Developing an in-space manufacturing ecosystem
Speakers:
- Philippe Moreels [archive.is/hwbvd], Head of Strategy and Business Development, ASTROSCALE
- Jim Keravala [archive.is/lGPxZ], COO, Shackleton Energy Company
- Ron Goedendorp [archive.is/cx4zU], VP Space Opportunities, Nanoracks
- Jeffrey Slostad [archive.is/kTmFs], COO, Tethers Unlimited, Inc
- Al Tadros [archive.is/3BklE], VP Civil and DoD Business, Space Systems Loral
3:30 - 3:50 PM, Network Refreshments
3:50 - 5:30 PM, Transitioning from “Space-to-Data” to “Space-to-Space” Commerce
Moderator: Dave Barnhart [archive.is/zQSPI], CEO and Founder, Arkisys
Addressing the pioneering companies creating a service-based industry in space, this session is about creating the true service infrastructure that can make space-to-space commerce viable. The session will examine some of the key companies that are creating the industry base and infrastructure for space services in orbit. Issues to be discussed include:
- Breaking the paradigm problem of RF frequency overload
- Ground station consolidation
- Aggregatable modules – adding new models and performance capabilities to existing satellites
- Standardizing interfaces for payloads with modeling and technology integration
- Integrating robotics across multiple space platforms
Speakers:
- Christopher Richins [archive.is/qxSAU], CEO RBC Signals
- John Serafini [archive.is/2G88A], Vice President, Allied Minds
- Tom McCarthy [archive.is/zC6CN], Vice President of Business Development, Motiv Systems
- Talbot Jaeger [archive.is/WSnWp], CEO, NovaWurks
5:30 PM, Closing remarks from the chair and close of Conference Day Two
Also see Space Tech Conference 2014 [archive.is/J2ygo]
* "Ball Corporation History" (fundinguniverse.com) [archive.is/U8xCo] [begin excerpt]: Although the Ball Corporation is best known for its distinctive home canning jars, that business was just one segment of the diversified company in the 1990s. Glass packaging constituted only 29 percent of Ball's annual sales by that time, while metal packaging--including aluminum beverage containers, and food and aerosol cans--brought in about 60 percent of yearly revenues. The firm ranks as one of America's top beverage-can manufacturers. Ball's emphasis on quality has helped it compete well in the highly competitive can market: by 1994, the company was the third largest supplier to the combined U.S.-Canadian food can market. The remaining eleven percent of the corporation's annual income came from aerospace and communications subsidiaries. Ball has secured numerous U.S. Defense Department contracts and participates in the Space Shuttle Program of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). [...]
Though Ball finally went public in 1972, 60 percent of the company's stock is still owned by the family. [...]
Until the end of World War II, Ball was primarily a jar and bottle manufacturer with few other interests. In the late 1940s, however, a problem had to be confronted--nearly 70 percent of the company's glass production facilities were in need of modernization. Ball had either to diversify and grow in order to underwrite necessary modernization costs or liquidate the company. The family decided to diversify the company because a 1947 antitrust ruling prohibited Ball from purchasing more glass subsidiaries. Under president Edmund F. Ball, they made a number of key acquisitions outside the glass container field. Before the company ventured too far afield, Ball hired a New York management consulting team to help establish a long-range program. In the words of Edmund Ball's successor, John Fisher, 'We wanted to plan for growth, not just hope for it.'
The significant changes at Ball, those which have molded the company's future, took place in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The launching of Sputnik by the Soviets in 1958 ushered in the Space Age and created many new opportunities in the field of aerospace. Ball decided to take advantage of the situation. 'We got into the space field because it was the beginning of the biggest scientific effort in our nation's history,' said Fisher. 'We knew it could be profitable for us, and that we could get commercial 'fall-out' from it.'
The Ball management proved itself correct on both counts. A substantial portion of the company's business presently comes from the sale of computer components, pointing controls for NASA satellites, electronic data display devices, and many related items such as Sound-Guard, a preservative for phonograph records that is a derivative of a lubricant developed for spacecraft. The company also built the cameras for the Viking I and II spacecraft that were used to determine the landing site on Mars; the Space Shuttle tether system, which allows small payloads to trail up to 65 miles away from the parent ship; and the telescope on the Infrared Astronomical Satellite launched in 1983 that has helped scientists to determine more precisely the size of the Milky Way galaxy. Ball procured $180 million in defense contracts alone by 1987. Chief Executive Officer Richard Ringoen hoped the company's 'strong position in infrared and ultraviolet instrumentation [would] continue to allow it to compete favorably with larger aerospace firms like General Dynamics.'
Ironically, Ball had entered the high-tech market almost by mistake. In the 1950s, the company hired a small engineering firm in Boulder, Colorado, to develop a device that would more accurately weigh glass batch materials. The original device was never developed, but Ball was impressed enough by the technical skill of the small operation to purchase it. From this small start Ball invested heavily in research and development and made this sector a vital part of the company's overall business. [...]
The man responsible for creating the widely diversified company that the Ball Corporation would become, John W. Fisher, was chosen president and chief executive officer in 1971. Fisher directed Ball into such fields as petroleum engineering equipment, photo-engraving, and plastics, and established the company as a leading manufacturer of computer components and high-tech hardware for defense and space.
Fisher, the last company president to be a member of the Ball family (his wife was the daughter of one of the five founding Ball brothers), resisted the traditionalists within his firm and pushed Ball into new markets all over the world. In 1972, Fisher acquired a Singapore-based petroleum equipment company that built and sold production gear and provided engineering expertise to oil firms in the Pacific. This purchase gave Ball subsidiary operations in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Panama, and Japan. The following year the Ball-Bartoe Aircraft Corporation was established in Boulder, Colorado. It was involved in the development of an experimental STOL (short take-off and landing) military jet in the 1980s.
The company then acquired agricultural systems and prefabricated housing. Fisher established a Ball Corporation division in Boulder devoted solely to the production and sale of 'turnkey' irrigation packages for agricultural development in arid but arable areas of Libya and other nations in the Middle East. Ball also designed a modular home that could be erected on-site in a little more than six hours. In desert nations where building materials are scarce and therefore expensive, Ball has succeeded in selling a large number of these 'kit' houses. Then, in 1974, Fisher acquired a small California computer company. This concern was expanded into Ball Computer Products Division based in Sunnyvale, California, in the heart of Silicon Valley. [...]
Ball's aerospace business also faced challenges in the late 1980s and early 1990s, as the end of the Cold War and the shifting governmental priorities that resulted helped reduce the federal defense budget and intensify competition for contracts. Still, in 1993, Ball was proud to have played a major role in the well-publicized repair of the Hubble Space Telescope. The Ball-built COSTAR optics system helped correct the telescope's notoriously blurry vision. [...]
Principal Subsidiaries: Ball Brothers AG (Germany); Ball-Canada Holdings Inc.; Ball Efratom Elektronik GmbH (Germany); Ball Efratom Corporation Ltd.; Ball Foreign Sales Corp.; Ball Holdings Corp.; Ball-Incon Glass Packaging Corp.; Ball Metal Container Corp.; Ball Packaging Products Canada, Inc.; Ball Systems Technology Ltd.; Ball Technology Licensing Corp.; Ball Technology Services Corp.; CCD, Inc.; Heekin Can, Inc.; Madera Glass Co.; Muncie & Western Railroad Co.; Verac, Inc.
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* "Airbus Defence and Space to lead TeSeR, next EU project to clean up space" (2016-05-04, airbusdefenceandspace.com) [archive.is/tNF4J]
* "Stuff in Space" [stuffin.space/?intldes=1965-065E] real-time orbital satellite monitoring (civilian edition).
* "Real-time map of every object in Earth’s orbit shows shocking amount of debris" (2016-05-10, rt.com) [archive.is/x8FhG]: A real-time, interactive, 3D, world map that shows all of the satellites and (a slightly worrying amount of) orbital rubbish around Earth is every space nerd’s dream.
‘Stuff in Space’ is an online map that uses data from a US Department of Defense website, Space Track [space-track.org], to monitor every item over 10 cm in orbit around Earth, except for top-secret military satellites, naturally.
You can search by satellite name or simply get lost roaming around the interactive Earth map. One thing that stands out is the more than 21,000 pieces of ‘orbital debris’ which “no longer serve a useful purpose”.
Orbital debris ranges from derelict spacecraft to debris released during spacecraft separations from their launch vehicles or during mission operations.
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* "No More Space Race for US, Rivalry Gives Way to Collaboration" (2016-05-06, voanews.com) [archive.is/x8zoe] [begin excerpt]: Since the U.S. space shuttle program ended in 2011, the United States has depended on Russia for transportation to and from the space station on the Soyuz spacecraft — a mind-boggling reversal from the early, competitive days of space travel. But NASA has said it hopes to transfer that role to private U.S. companies as they develop suitable spacecraft.---
Several U.S. companies are working on just that. Today, the private firm SpaceX landed a rocket on an ocean platform for the second time, a signal that private industry is drawing nearer to becoming a major player in what has become a global space industry. Its goal is to develop rockets that can be used for multiple launches rather than discarded after one use, as has been the standard in the past. SpaceX cofounder Elon Musk has said reusable rockets could greatly reduce the cost of space travel. [...]
In March, the Russian space agency, Roscosmos, and the European Space Agency launched a robotic exploratory mission meant to land on Mars in October. Private industry is not far behind: SpaceX has also declared its intention to send a craft to the red planet as soon as 2018. And U.S. President Barack Obama announced in 2010 that the U.S. hopes to send manned missions to Mars by the 2030s. [end excerpt]
===*===*===
USA FASCISM: Two Party Dictatorship
* "Clinton and the DNC Are Not Just Colluding — They’re Changing the Rules for Superdelegates" (2016-05-09, huffingtonpost.com) [archive.is/y3iZT]
* "DNC packed Democratic convention committees with Clinton supporters" (2016-05-06, rt.com) [archive.is/cRBZo]
---
* "Trump told over one lie a minute" (2016-05-10, peoplesworld.org) [archive.is/w1vUH]
* "Donald Trump’s delegate ineptitude stumbles into white nationalism" (2016-05-10, washingtonpost.com) [archive.is/7pqZE]
* "Trump Selects a White Nationalist Leader as a Delegate in California; Meet William Johnson, head of the American Freedom Party" (2016-05-10, motherjones.com) [archive.is/cVs7t]
* "Cole Bartiromo, Bloodied Trump Fan, is an Ex-Felon Who Wants 'All Muslims Dead' " (2016-05-04, ocweekly.com) [archive.is/sp53o]
* "Trump-loving tow truck driver says God told him to leave disabled Bernie Sanders supporter stranded" (2016-05-05, rawstory.com) [archive.is/Cb09D]
* "Woman Who Made Viral ‘Naked Trump’ Painting Was Assaulted, Beaten Near Her Home" (2016-05-03, addictinginfo.org) [archive.is/GdBgm] [begin excerpt]: Donald Trump’s supporters are a violent bunch. All you have to do is go to one of his rallies to see how dangerous this man and his freaky fans are. They’ve now taken it a step further, too — and dangerously so. The artist who painted a photo of a naked Donald Trump, Ilma Gore, was accosted and beaten by a Trump supporter near her home in Los Angeles. [end excerpt]
* * (2016-05-04, facebook.com/telesurenglish) [archive.is/MAcrA]: As today marks the day of the Kent State Shootings in 1970, when the Ohio National Guard shot unarmed college students who were protesting the war in Vietnam, killing four unarmed students and wounding nine others, let's remember one of this year's Presidential candidates prefers to make this kind of response to protesters a matter of public policy. #MakeAmericaGreatAgain — with Donald J. Trump.
"We never establish close relationships with businessmen and government officials anymore."
Oh, wait? No such thing as Crony Capitalism, it's the natural state of capitalism. "Hey Karl Marx is wrong, buddy. Capitalism doesn't concentrate capital in the form of monopolies because... something invisible hand... something. Don't you read Adam Smith?"
===*===*===
USA FASCISM: State Media Watch
Documenting propaganda issued by the monopolist media and members of the state security regime that uphold the economic dictatorship, imperialist wars, and the "New Jim Crow" regime [mediamatters.org]
* "BBC journalist resigns over ‘biased’ Middle East coverage" (20106-05-06, rt.com) [archive.is/xv3ag]
===*===*===
WORLD FASCISM WATCH
Documenting the global economic dictatorship
* "Panama Papers whistleblower speaks out on income inequality & corruption" (2016-05-07, rt.com) [archive.is/9ip5k]
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* "10,000 Filipinos Demand Government 'Break Free' from Coal 'We are facing a planetary emergency. Now more than ever, we need leaders who are pro-people and pro-environment, not pro-coal and pro-climate change' " (2016-05-04, commondreams.org) [archive.is/Gtcp1], photo caption: Anti-coal activists in the Phillippines unfurl a massive banner reading: 'Break Free From Fossil Fuels.' (Photo: Greenpeace)
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===*===*===
information collected by the
SOLANO PEACE, JUSTICE, AND FREEDOM COALITION
[SolanoPeaceJustice.blogspot.com], for justice, dignity and human rights, and an end to the USA's endless wars, in harmony with Principle 1 & 6 of International Law [archive.is/tmncz], the 5 protocols of the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) [archive.is/LhUTj], and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights [archive.is/U1Ota].
* " ‘An American living in Russia’: Interview with U.S. journalist and Moscow resident Riley Waggaman" [archive.is/76TZk]: Interview by U.S. antiwar activist Bruce Gagnon with independent U.S. journalist and Moscow resident Riley Waggaman, here on YouTube, May 4, 2016 [is.gd/ruTowP].
‘It is shocking how poorly represented is Russia in Western media…
‘As a young American, I have absolutely no interest in a new cold war between the U.S.and Russia. Even if I didn’t like Russia, I would have absolutely no interest in a new cold war. I would much rather have our money spent on school lunches as opposed to new missile systems.’
Riley Waggaman writes for Huffington Post, Russia Insider and other international publications. He is the Moscow correspondent for Press TV (Iran).
---
* " 'Resurgent Russia': New hardline NATO Europe commander raises hackles in Moscow" (2016-05-05, rt.com) [archive.is/wQW74]
* "US trying to thwart Russia's Nord Stream-2 project - Lavrov" (2016-05-05, rt.com) [archive.is/fo4y2]
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* (2016-05-11, Yi Quan, DPRK Study Group, facebook.com/groups/DPRKorea):
Zika virus test being conducted in Yongsan military base in Seoul exposed by JTBC.
See (2016-05-11, media.daum.net) [archive.is/rUyXV], in Korean
JTBC reports that USKF has been increasing the biochemical test samples throughput U.S. military laboratories in South Korea citing from ECBC article, "ECBC Experts Enhance Military Laboratory Capabilities; A team from ECBC led an effort to increase the ability of United States Forces Korea to analyze samples of suspected biological warfare agents" (2016-04-15, ecbc.army.mil) [archive.is/Qikmi].
JTBC did not question the intention of such tests, but raised concerns about safety measures of such tests being conducted in central district of Seoul which in US such tests are only being conducted in deserted location far from residential area, also despite the agreement made between US and SK last year after Anthrax test incident, SK defense ministry admitted that they still have no access to the information on the tests being conducted inside US military bases.
Video [youtube.com/watch?v=44zBcvh8s9s]
It is so strange, despite going viral on South Korea social media, no major news outlets report this news that can't be taken lightly. Why?
US army in South Korea was exposed conducting Zika virus test in Yongsan base located in central Seoul.
US DoD refused to give explanation, instead asked JTBC (the media who reported this exclusively) to contact USFK for inquiry, and still no response from USFK side as well.
Why? US army is doing these dangerous biological tests (Anthrax test and Zika test) in South Korea? Why?
Doesn't biochemical weapons development violates the Geneva convention? What do you guys think? any reason why US has been doing these tests in South Korea secretly?
Video [youtube.com/watch?v=Zv-chHSi0TI]
Meanwhile, Zika virus cases are increasing in South Korea... "5th case of Zika virus confirmed in S.Korea" (2016-05-11, news.xinhuanet.com) [archive.is/LkdqZ]
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* "White Helmets NGO: A “Rescue And Assist” Operation Under Guise Of Human Rights" (2016-05-10, by Brandon Turbeville) [is.gd/2Xkyu5]
* "A Tale Of Two Hospitals: Potentially Fabricated Bombing Incident VS Open Terrorist Targeting Of Facilities In Aleppo" (2016-05-05, by Brandon Turbeville) [archive.is/lRvSa]
---
* "US forced to buy boots for Afghan army despite billions already invested" (2016-05-06, rt.com) [archive.is/6xkFR]
---
* "Britain’s shadowy propaganda unit shaping Middle East wars" (2016-05-05, rt.com) [archive.is/1xKlF]
---
* "US 'boots on the ground' now in Yemen - Pentagon" (2016-05-06, rt.com) [archive.is/gA3ab]
* "HRW calls on US to end production of cluster bombs used by Saudis on Yemenis" (2016-05-06, rt.com) [archive.is/Genzx]
* "U.S. has spent $7BILLION on 5,000 air strikes against ISIS targets... but still struggles to convince Iraqis it doesn't support terror group; U.S. airstrikes have helped Iraqi forces roll back ISIS over past two years; But newspapers and TV networks repeat conspiracy theories that the U.S. created the jihadi group to sow chaos in the region to seize its oil; The U.S. government spent $10 million on public outreach in Iraq last yea;r But it appears to have made little headway in dispelling such rumors; Many still blame the chaos after the 2003 invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein on American malice rather than incompetence" (2016-05-09, AP Newswire) [archive.is/mlY3P]
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* "#AleppoIsBurning: Building support for an imperialist agenda" (2016-05-05, liberationnews.org) [archive.is/xmJhG]:
In its heyday during the mid-2000s, it was the Save Darfur campaign. A few years later, it was the Kony 2012 campaign. Today, we have the #AleppoIsBurning campaign. Like its predecessors, #AleppoIsBurning claims to be aimed at ending a humanitarian crisis through the mechanism of Western intervention, only this time not in the Sudan or in Uganda, but in Syria.
The power of social media is immense. With the Syrian army winning battlefront victories in Aleppo (Syria’s most populated city prior to the civil war) against anti-government rebels like ISIS, the Al Qaeda-linked Al-Nusra Front and the U.S.-backed “Free Syrian Army,” Obama has quintupled the number of special operations forces deployed to Syria. At the same time, social media-driven campaigns for increased Western “humanitarian” intervention have come to life on Facebook and Twitter.
Latest “humanitarian” interventionist fad -
#AleppoIsBurning, a campaign begun on Facebook by the Syria Pressure Advocacy Group (SPAG), asked followers to change their profile picture to a red square and to join a “global protest” to “condemn the war crimes against humanity of the Assad regime and its allies” and to support “action” from the “international community.”
Like similar campaigns, it substitutes much-needed knowledge and information with accusations founded on distortions. For example, the campaign’s Facebook page suggests that all recent civilian deaths in Aleppo due to fighting are at the hands of the “Syrian regime,” when in reality 71 civilians, including 13 children, were killed in the last week of April from anti-government rebel shelling [archive.is/DJMX3].
The #AleppoIsBurning call-to-action demands that the “international community” hold the “Assad regime” accountable for the destruction of a medical facility on April 20, but doesn’t utter a single word about the 33 hospitals put out of service by rebel attacks on government-controlled territory [archive.is/epbC3], which have deprived hundreds of thousands of Syrians health services.
#AleppoIsBurning is not a peace movement but war mobilization -
This misleading and misinformed presentation reveals that while #AleppoIsBurning campaign purports to be innocently concerned with the general suffering of the Syrian people, it is in reality designed to build support for an imperialist agenda.
Its mission is to establish in the public mind that violence in Aleppo (and all of Syria) is one where the evil Syrian “regime” perpetrates geometrically mounting atrocities against the helpless Syrian “people.”
It has packaged Syria for a Western audience as a world populated by villains and victims. The perpetrators are so evil and victims are so helpless that the only possibility of relief is a rescue mission from the outside, preferably in the form of a Western-led military intervention. Indeed, the press release issued by the organizers of the #AleppoIsBurning campaign states that “we will not stop… until the International community intervenes and saves them [the Syrian people].”
This narrative fits in seamlessly with the Washington narrative shamefully repeated in the corporate-owned media. In this way, #AleppoIsBurning has become an indistinguishable twin of the demonization campaign that accompanies all Western military interventions, whether in the former Yugoslavia, Iraq or Libya.
Pro-interventionist cries to “protect civilians” were used by Western imperialists as a pretext to overthrow the Libyan state in 2011, with disastrous consequences for Libyans.
Misleading public and confusing antiwar movement -
The regime-versus-the-people narrative propagated by Western governments and the corporate media also emphasizes and distorts the ethno-sectarian dimension to the conflict. There is a widespread assumption that the anti-government rebellion represents all of Syria’s Sunni majority (74% of the population) against the sectarian rule of the Alawite minority (12 percent). This has become conventional wisdom in Western media. The universally ignored reality is that most of the officers and soldiers in the Syrian army and most government officials, including ministers and diplomats, are Sunni. Despite some early desertions, the government and the military have retained a pluralistic character and held together in spite of the extreme difficulty of fighting on several fronts.
The results of the April 13 Syrian parliamentary elections are a striking case-in-point [is.gd/sVsoch]. Sunni representatives completely dominate the new assembly.
Eighty percent of the population lives in the government controlled territory and was able to participate in the elections. Of 250 parliamentary seats up for grabs, 186 members of the new government are reportedly Sunni, compared with only 21 Alawite. In other words, the outcome is reflective of the religious affiliations of the geographic areas taking part in the voting process. This does not conform to the mass media presentation of an Alawite minority ruling the country in a totalitarian manner.
To the contrary, it points to the fact that large numbers of Syrians still see themselves primarily as Syrians, defending the Syrian state, and that sectarian identities such as Sunni, Alawite, Shia, Christian or Druz are often secondary.
The #AleppoIsBurning publicity campaign’s arrogant and reckless call for Western intervention is dangerous at a time when the prospect of incremental increases in U.S. forces in Syria are on the horizon. The campaign’s call for “justice” is really a slogan that masks a drive toward even more hawkish policies of aggression.
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* "Five For Friday: Costs of War" (2015-05-29, middleeastrevised.com) [archive.is/2tC4B]:
This week, Five For Friday presents five charts and graphics concerning wars in Afganistan, Iraq and Pakistan. These exist thanks to the Costs of War project (costsofwar.org) [archive.is/MvLO]. First released in 2011, the Costs of War report has been compiled and updated by more than 30 economists, anthropologists, lawyers, humanitarian personnel, and political scientists as the first comprehensive analysis of over a decade of wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan.
The project analyzes the implications of these wars in terms of human casualties, economic costs, and civil liberties. Some of this data is from 2011 and 2012, so have in mind that these numbers are probably significantly higher today.
1. Iraqi IDPs and refugees. Map [archive.is/As7zJ].
There are more than 1.5 million internally displaced Iraqis and 1.5 million Iraqi refugees. Fifty-eight percent of Iraqi IDP households are food insecure, consuming only cereals and carbohydrates on a daily basis. Approximately 500,000 people live as squatters in Iraq. For more on this issue, read the Costs of War report [archive.is/1dc8].
2. Afghan IDPs and refugees. Map [archive.is/Z6rY5].
As of 2012, there remained 1.8 million Afghan refugees in Pakistan. There are an estimated 447,547 IDPs in Afghanistan (updated). Over half of all Afghans do not have clean water and 63 percent lack effective sanitation. There are an average of 55 health personnel—including doctors, nurses, and midwives—for every 10,000 inhabitants. For more on this issue, see the Costs of War report [archive.is/X6qar].
3. Education in Iraq. Chart [archive.is/UhGMU].
Education is important. After the 2003 invasion, Iraqi universities were stripped of their cultural artifacts as well as basic equipment—such as books, lab equipment, and desks—that allowed them to function at all. As of 2006, an estimated 160 to 380 Iraqi professors had been killed, and over 30 percent of Iraq’s professors, doctors, pharmacists and engineers emigrated between 2003 and 2007. Up to one million books and ten million unique documents have been destroyed, lost or stolen across Iraq since 2003. The US Senior Advisor to the Ministry of Education received only $8 million dollars to reconstruct Iraqi universities, including the provision of basic supplies. For more on this issue, see the Costs of War report [archive.is/yO0qk].
4. Direct war deaths: Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan. Chart [archive.is/cjE23].
The tally of all of the war’s recorded dead — including armed forces on all sides, contractors, journalists, humanitarian workers and civilians — shows that over 350,000 people have died due to direct war violence, and many more indirectly. 220,000 civilians have been killed as a result of the fighting at the hands of all parties to the conflict, and more will die in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan as the violence continues. But most observers acknowledge that the number of civilians killed has been undercounted. The true number of civilian dead may be much larger when an adequate assessment is made. For more – see the full Costs of War report [archive.is/UaZba].
5. The impact of military spending. Chart [archive.is/sgjhO].
The increased military spending following 9/11 was financed almost entirely by borrowing. According to standard macroeconomic models and evidence, rising deficits have resulted in higher debt, a higher debt to GDP ratio because debt has risen faster than income, and higher interest rates. There are many other reasons the debt has grown since 2001, including tax cuts, increases in other government spending, and the effects of the largest postwar recession and the policy response. But military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan have raised annual deficits by about 1 percent of GDP, a trend that the Congressional Budget Office expects to continue through 2020. For more on this issue, see the Costs of War report [archive.is/4IiTQ].
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* "Remembering Prince as an artist and activist" (2016-05-03, liberationnews.org) [archive.is/9vZPm] [begin excerpt]: His lyrical activism spanned much of his career. In “Ronnie, Talk to Russia” from 1981’s “Controversy,” Prince sings of the dangers of nuclear war, “Ronnie talk to Russia before it’s too late,” referencing then-President Ronald Reagan and the escalating U.S. Cold War against the Soviet Union. 1999, one of Prince’s most well-known songs, was also a response to Reagan’s warmongering and nuclear threats against the USSR. In 1988’s Dance On, Prince addressed both nuclear proliferation (“Nuclear ban never stays in tune/They know all the words but the music is doomed”) and the social results of the wave of de-industrialization in major cities like Detroit (“It’s time for new education/The former rules don’t apply/We need a new power structure that breeds production/Instead of jacks who vandalize/Detroit what’s happenin’”).
On 2009’s Colonized Mind, he criticized the two-party system of the Republicans and Democrats in the United States: “Upload: a 2-party system/The lesser of 2 dangers/Illusion of choice/Download: a veiled form of fascism/Nothing ever really changes/You never had a voice.”
Prince also voiced his support for the Black Lives Matter movement and the struggle against police brutality. At the 2015 Grammies, he used his time on stage to say “Albums still matter. Like books and Black lives.” In 2014, he donated money to the family of Trayvon Martin, and his 2015 “Baltimore” is a tribute to Freddie Gray, Michael Brown and other victims of police terror.
When Prince passed in April, the world lost a beloved musical talent and pioneer who millions mourned in their own ways – privately with albums and very publicly with purple-themed dance parties. We should also remember Prince as an important public figure who materially and with his artistic expression contributed to progressive movements, especially the Black and LGBTQ struggles. [end excerpt]
===*===*===
Weapons for a New World Order
* "Google autonomous car project teams with FiatChrysler" (2016-05-04, AFP Newswire) [archive.is/c3Yg4]
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* "With Perlan 2 glider, Airbus claim mantle of space pioneer" (2016-05-06, AFP Newswire) [archive.is/yakRk]
* "Solar Impulse 2 soars over US southwest on round-the-world flight" (2016-05-02, AFP newswire) [archive.is/qvQ5y]
* "Solar Impulse 2 completes Phoenix-San Francisco leg" (2016-05-03, AFP Newswire) [archive.is/mlc2M]
* "Alta eyes UAVs as 31 percent solar energy efficiency record set" (2016-05-02, solardaily.com) [archive.is/43aIY], photo caption: As an example, on a typical HALE (high altitude long endurance) UAV aircraft, Alta's solar material requires less than half of the surface area and weighs one-fourth as much while providing the same amount of power as competing thin film technologies. These savings open UAV designers to a variety of alternative design options. Original press release [archive.is/Gsvkj].
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* "Little ANTs: researchers build the world’s tiniest engine" (2016-05-02, cam.ac.uk) [archive.is/5UWs1] [begin excerpt]: Researchers have developed the world’s tiniest engine – just a few billionths of a metre in size – which uses light to power itself. The nanoscale engine, developed by researchers at the University of Cambridge, could form the basis of future nano-machines that can navigate in water, sense the environment around them, or even enter living cells to fight disease.
The prototype device is made of tiny charged particles of gold, bound together with temperature-responsive polymers in the form of a gel. When the ‘nano-engine’ is heated to a certain temperature with a laser, it stores large amounts of elastic energy in a fraction of a second, as the polymer coatings expel all the water from the gel and collapse. This has the effect of forcing the gold nanoparticles to bind together into tight clusters. But when the device is cooled, the polymers take on water and expand, and the gold nanoparticles are strongly and quickly pushed apart, like a spring. [end excerpt]
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* "Army investigating new materials for explosive, propellant use" (2016-05-09, UPI Newswire) [archive.is/aKOgZ]
===*===*===* "Army investigating new materials for explosive, propellant use" (2016-05-09, UPI Newswire) [archive.is/aKOgZ]
Articles reflecting the views of war planners
(warontherocks.com)
* "Islands in the foreign fighter stream: Trinidad's extremism problem" (2016-05-04, by Jason Fritz) [archive.is/iTqyX] [begin excerpt]:
The United States has a significant interest in focusing its assistance on Trinidad and Tobago. Before this emergent concern about foreign fighters, the eastern Caribbean served as a major smuggling route for drugs and people from South America. Trinidad and Tobago, situated a mere 11 kilometers from the Venezuelan coast, acted as a way-point for illicit activity for some time. That radicalized individuals with the intent to do the United States harm would join this flow of people and contraband is not a far-fetched concern. And as in many places, problems of crime and extremism are often intertwined and stem from the same proximate causes, requiring assistance to combat both.
Beyond possessing an interest in helping Trinidad and Tobago, the United States also wields a standing mechanism by which to do so. The Caribbean Basin Security Initiative (CBSI) was begun in 2009 to support other regional security assistance efforts originally conceived to combat the drug flow into the United States: the Merida Initiative, the Central America Regional Security Initiative, and the successor efforts of Plan Colombia. With $48.4 million requested in the Department of State’s fiscal year 2017 budget justification, the CBSI provides robust support to Caribbean nations. The Initiative has three goals: “substantially reduce illicit trafficking, increase public safety and security, and promote social justice.” [...]
These recommendations cover the national security structure, intelligence capabilities, the police, and the military. The United States could certainly assist Trinidad and Tobago in consolidating its intelligence services and developing a single clearing house for information and crisis management. Developing the Police Service would provide the greatest benefit to Trinidad and Tobago in not just combating crime and extremism, but potentially preventing it in the first place.
Trinidad and Tobago’s Police Service requires assistance and reform across all of its capabilities, from IT systems to hiring and retention practices to eradicating corruption. Most importantly, the Police Service needs an overarching policing strategy alongside the data and research to develop that strategy, which would serve to baseline its technical and doctrinal requirements. Police assistance should not focus only on criminal investigations, an essential task for police officers, but also on how to conduct community and problem-oriented policing. They should also be trained to develop radicalization prevention programs in minority communities, such as Trinidad’s Muslim communities, from American police that have had some success in this.
The United States has every interest in supporting Trinidad and Tobago’s fight against crime and extremism, and it retains the capability to do so. Admittedly, the government of Trinidad and Tobago may be reluctant to receive such invasive assistance. [end excerpt]
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* "#NATSEC2016: Sanders and Trump foreign policies explained, sort of" (2016-05-05, by Alex Ward) [archive.is/SDd5E]
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* "Keeping up with China's evolving military strategy" (2016-05-04, by Joe McReynolds and Peter Wood) [archive.is/wKKMk]
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