[RD] News Thread of the Americas

[ReindeerThistle]

I did not see other treads like this, except for specific issues, so I am starting a thread that deals with the goings on in the Americas, in part to give Euro, Australian, Asian and African CFC members a glimpse of life on this side of world (beyond the bad news we all get.) I also want non-Americans to post things they see in their media sources about North and South America.

I don't want to be overly heavy, and I don't want a lot of heated discussion of the news people post. I just want folks to share news and views about any topic under the sun, however serious or whimsical.

Also: wikipedia is not "news." Do not cite wikipedia articles as news or fact, please. Wikipedia is universally disregarded by journalists and scholars as an unvetted and frequently incorrect "source."

To start, some good news:
Raúl receives Fernando González Llort

Friday February 28, at midday on the tarmac of Havana’s José Martí International Airport, Cuban President Army General Raúl Castro Ruz received Fernando González Llort - one of the five Cuban heroes unjustly condemned to long prison terms in the United States for defending their homeland. Fernando was released from the Safford Federal Correctional Institute in Arizona, having completed his full sentence.
On the airport tarmac, in the company of Raúl, Fernando was taken into the arms of his mother Magalys and his great love Rosa Aurora.

He is the second of The Five to be released from prison, following René González.

Gerardo, Antonio and Ramón continue to he held as prisoners in U.S. penitentiaries and a broad international campaign continues demanding their immediate freedom.

 

[Glassfan]

The Beaver is a Noble animal...

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE BEAVER

Cool Thread RT!

 

[ReindeerThistle]

Thanks, Glassfan. Love the beaver story!

Rich, working poor rising fast as middle class shrinks

Sounds like another depressing article, but the organization and organizers featured are friends of mine.

The scene is so familiar it has become cliche: a sign of the times and a season of giving.
But these groceries aren’t going to stereotypical “needy” families. Most of the recipients of bags assembled at Linwood’s Central United Methodist Church are the working poor, a growing segment of the population gainfully employed but feeling the crunch of inflation and slashed wages.

“This holiday, a lot of people are requesting help for the first time,” said Andy Cowgill, operations manager for the Eastern Service Workers Association, an all-volunteer organization that provides assistance to low-wage workers. In return for the help, members are asked to chip in 62 cents a month to augment private donations.

One of the people Cowgill has assisted had her wages frozen at $10.50 per hour for the past four years. Then, after 10 years working for the same company, her hours were cut.

“A lot of our members were more stable at one point,” Cowgill says. “Now, they’re really going day to day.”

The increasing demand felt by organizations such as the ESWA is one symptom of a growing income gap locally and nationwide. U.S. Census Bureau data released last month show that middle-class families are being displaced onto either end of the spectrum. More households have joined the ranks of either the wealthy or the working poor.

In Atlantic County, the number of households making between $35,000 and $100,000 fell nearly 11 percent since the last American Community Survey three-year average was released in 2010. Meanwhile, the number earning less than $35,000 and more than $100,000 increased 5.7 and 7 percent, respectively.

 

[Borachio]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-26420414

Microsoft founder Bill Gates has regained the top spot as the world's richest person, according to Forbes magazine's annual ranking of global billionaires.

Mr Gates' total net worth was estimated at $76bn (£45.5bn) this year, up from $67bn in 2013.

His rise in wealth knocked Mexican telecoms tycoon Carlos Slim off the top spot into second place.

In total, there were a record 1,645 billionaires, according to Forbes.

The funds needed to make it into the top 20 ranking are now $31bn, up from $23bn last year, Forbes said.

Mr Gates has been top of the list for 15 of the last 20 years, according to Forbes.

So, Bill Gates has regained the top slot from Carlos Slim.

How much would every person in the US get if all the wealth of the top 1% were redistributed among everyone?

Total global wealth is ~$240 trillion. Distributed amongst 7 billion people that's about $34,000 for each man, woman, and child.

Still, as they say, if you did do that one day, on the very next day some people would have nothing and some people would have a lot again.

 

[ReindeerThistle]

Check out this amazing video ... go Wolves!


Link to video.

 

[Glassfan]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-26420414...How much would every person in the US get if all the wealth of the top 1% were redistributed among everyone?

The juxtaposition of this entry with the "trophic cascade" (wolves) video reminded me of old objections to "trickle down" theory. Nature yes - politics, not so much.

 

[ReindeerThistle]

dd

The juxtaposition of this entry with the "trophic cascade" (wolves) video reminded me of old objections to "trickle down" theory. Nature yes - politics, not so much.

Haha. Indeed. "Wolf" of Wall Street is a misnomer. More like parasite.

State of Conflict: Bill Moyers on North Carolina’s Right-Wing Takeover & the Citizens Fighting Back

Clearly THE most underreported activities of impact in North America...

In 2013, more than 1,000 people were arrested in North Carolina taking part in a series of protests called "Moral Mondays." For 13 weeks, demonstrators rallied in the state capital of Raleigh to fight moves by Republican lawmakers to attack voting rights, education, the environment, healthcare and women’s rights. Now organizers are planning their largest protest yet — the Moral March on Raleigh, scheduled for February 8. The protests in North Carolina are the focus of a recent special on Bill Moyers’ show "Moyers & Company." The documentary, "State of Conflict: North Carolina," reveals how untraceable political donations called "dark money" have pushed North Carolina far to the right politically and how citizen protesters are fighting back.

Here is the full show from "billmoyers.com"

And photos:

 

[BirraImperial]

Some news from CR.

Amateur herpetologist goes on hike in Costa Rica cloud forest, discovers unlikely creatures

http://www.ticotimes.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/emeraldglassfrog-1000x666.jpg

I came to Costa Rica in 2013 for a six-month internship with GVI volunteer program in Tortugero National Park, where I gathered data on sea turtles and jaguars and was trained in species identification. As part of the program, I traveled to Cloudbridge Nature Reserve in San Gerardo de Rivas, a 700-acre cloud forest where I often went hiking in search of reptiles and amphibians.

To my surprise, I began finding species that had never before been seen in the area, including emerald glass frogs, masked tree frogs and a rare kind of salamander.

I was invited to stay at the reserve as a resident biologist for three months, and over those months, I continued to unearth species never before documented in the area, identifying them with the help of scientific tomes and taking their photographs. My dream is to someday find a red-eyed stream frog, which was recently taken off the list of extinct species. But here are some photographs of the creatures I have already stumbled on.

 

[Chukchi Husky]

Check out this amazing video ... go Wolves!

I kept being told that wolves actually completely destroyed the environment of Yellowstone when they were introduced.

 

[Borachio]

Check out this amazing video ... go Wolves!


Link to video.

Yes. It's a nice video.

Nevertheless, organisms (including mankind!) can equally have devastating effects on ecosystems. I think it's a mistake to assume that the natural world will inevitably achieve some kind of stable equilibrium which is always beneficial.

 

[Antilogic]

State of Conflict: Bill Moyers on North Carolina’s Right-Wing Takeover & the Citizens Fighting Back

Clearly THE most underreported activities of impact in North America...

It's spreading from North Carolina to Georgia now, also mostly ignored. I guess because it's an ongoing protest over the last year and thus is expected or regular.

 

[ReindeerThistle]

It's spreading from North Carolina to Georgia now, also mostly ignored. I guess because it's an ongoing protest over the last year and thus is expected or regular.

Wow! Do you know where I can find links?

Yes. It's a nice video.

Nevertheless, organisms (including mankind!) can equally have devastating effects on ecosystems. I think it's a mistake to assume that the natural world will inevitably achieve some kind of stable equilibrium which is always beneficial.

This is correct... but since humans took the wolves and humans put them back... it's proof to me humans can have a positive effect on our environment.

 

[Antilogic]

Wow! Do you know where I can find links?

I know about it because I have family in Georgia. Here's a link to an AJC teaser about a recent protest in Governor Nathan Deal's office, but the full article is behind a paywall that is not as easily subverted as the NYT's. Here's another short one on protests in a state senator's office about a bill that would challenge stand-your-ground laws in Georgia (but isn't going anywhere because the Republican legislature won't bring it up).

 

[BvBPL]

Food researchers have developed a mac and cheese taco made from a bacon-weave shell.

 

[ReindeerThistle]

Food researchers have developed a mac and cheese taco made from a bacon-weave shell.

Wow... just, wow.

 

[Glassfan]

Nom, Nom, Nom,...

 

[ReindeerThistle]

Justice in the USA:

Exclusive: Freed Ex-Black Panther Marshall "Eddie" Conway on 44 Years in Prison &FBISurveillance

In a Democracy Now! exclusive, former Black Panther Party leader Marshall “Eddie” Conway joins us less than 24 hours after his release from nearly 44 years in prison. Supporters describe Conway as one of the country’s longest-held political prisoners. He was convicted of killing a Baltimore police officer in 1970, for which he has always maintained his innocence. The shooting occurred at a time when federal and local authorities were infiltrating and disrupting the Black Panthers and other activist groups. At the time of the shooting, theFBIwas also monitoring Conway’s actions as part of its counter-intelligence program,COINTELPRO. Numerous groups have campaigned for years calling for his release, saying he never received a fair trial and was convicted largely on the basis of testimony from a jailhouse informant. Politically active in prison, Conway founded "Friend of a Friend," a group that helps young men, often gang members, resolve conflicts, and published a memoir, "Marshall Law: The Life & Times of a Baltimore Black Panther." In his first interview since being released, Marshall details his time behind bars and the government surveillance he faced as a prominent Black Panther.

 

[otaman1]

NSA spying

 

[BvBPL]

A number of mysterious goat heads have been found in NYC's Prospect Park.

 

[ReindeerThistle]

A number of mysterious goat heads have been found in NYC's Prospect Park.

My neighbors at work? I live a mile from Prospect Park... a thousand restaurants serve goat...hmmm

Chipotle Says Climate Change Risk to Guacamole Is Just a Spicy Headline

Thank God... a half dozen Chipotle Restaurants in Brooklyn and Manhattan donate meals for our volunteers... whew!