[Ynet] About 18 people are still unaccounted for after a massive mudslide in rural northwest Washington state killed at least three people and forced evacuations because of fears of flooding, authorities said Sunday.
Snohomish County Fire District 21 Chief Travis Hots said at a news briefing that "we suspect that people are out there, but it's far too dangerous to get responders out there on that mudflow."
A dreadful, heartbreaking situation. Let us hope it is not the result of misguided Green policies.
#2
TW, too soon to tell, but the pictures show that there were some pretty big stands of mature trees right in the slide area so that may undermine (no pun intended) the logging caused it theory. There was a previous landslide in 2006 that altered the river's course; with this latest one blocking the river, it found its way back to its original course. There are also published geo maps that highlight the slide potential; Seattle Times has one dated 2003.
#4
Missing count now at a 'soft 108.' (quote from an on site first responder addressing those that may have been caught up just passing through the area)
prime suspect now is that the river was undercutting the bank.
Lots of inside baseball here, but the gist is that the machinations and personal profiteering inside this organization would be at home in Goldman Sachs. Or Lehman Brothers...
Pacifica has a long and storied history, and still features such leading liberals as Amy Goodman, the widely known host of Democracy Now! (on which journalists Glenn Greenwald and Jeremy Scahill are frequent guests), but it has fallen on hard times of late.
During an average 15-minute period, just 700 people listen to its Los Angeles station, 90.7 FM KPFK, for at least five minutes, according to Nielsen Audio, which monitors radio ratings. For L.A.'s other public radio stations, KCRW and KPCC, that number is 8,000 and 20,000, respectively. KPFK draws roughly one one-thousandth of all radio listeners in the Metro Los Angeles area. Pacifica's New York station, WBAI, is even worse off, with too few listeners to register on the Arbitron rankings, and is all but bankrupt. Last year, most of the staff was laid off, including the entire news department.
Ever since a string of protests and lawsuits led to a new set of bylaws establishing democratic elections for the boards of each of Pacifica's five stations and the national board, a parade of top managers have filed in and out of Pacifica, staying for a year or two before being forced out by whatever bloc happens to have taken power. Voters don't seem to have any clue who they're voting for, and turnout is low. Termed-out and retiring board members were replaced by the runner-up candidates in the most previous vote, leading, rather perversely, to the board majority flipping to the minority. The national board is dominated by two factions: the new majority, the "Radio Havana crowd," and the new minority, the "conspiracy and quackery crowd" -- the latter group in 2010 approved a motion calling for all KPFK programs to question the "official story" of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Board elections cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $200,000 -- no small price for a network with a $13 million annual budget. The meetings themselves cost about $20,000 each to fly in 20-plus people and put them up for the weekend, and they're dominated by bickering. Members regularly invoke Robert's Rules of Order, and can take half an hour simply to approve the minutes of a previous meeting.
Unlike NPR, Pacifica doesn't have corporate sponsorship (or underwriting, in public-radio speak). Making matters worse, the federal government, via the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, is withholding Pacifica's grant money, thanks to the network's "failure to provide documentation" for a 2012 audit.
While listener sponsorship counts for not quite 40 percent of NPR's funding, it counts for about 80 percent of Pacifica's. While KCRW holds two nine-day-long fund drives each year, KPFK holds a month-long fund drive every three months -- meaning one out of every three days is a pledge drive, days full of DVDs and nutritional supplements and get-rich-quick schemes such as the "Wealth Propulsion Challenge," an online course that promotes "how to get rich holistically" -- and quickly -- via "subconscious reprogramming."
The station's legal bills are prodigious. According to former board member Tracy Rosenberg, so many wrongful-termination claims have been filed against Pacifica over the last two decades that it pays $250,000 a year to insure against them, a staggering amount for an entity with just 130 employees. And then there's WBAI, whose transmitter sits high atop the Empire State Building's spire, at a cost of $50,000 a month.
Yet opportunities abound for Pacifica, probably the single most valuable asset the left has. Its five broadcasting licenses alone could be worth $50 million to $100 million, according to Lasar, and it owns a studio in Berkeley and another on an increasingly pricey stretch of Cahuenga Boulevard in Studio City. WBAI's license is said to be particularly valuable, since it sits smack dab in the center of the dial at 99.5 FM -- choice real estate in the radio industry.
Pacifica is still far to the left of anything else in mass media, and still gives voice to beliefs and ideas found outside the mainstream. It hasn't changed; the world has. Decades ago, the left called for Lyndon Johnson's head. It was against Nixon, but also against Hubert Humphrey.
Today, those to the left of the Democratic Party have been relegated to the fringes -- or perhaps they've relegated themselves, favoring new-age beliefs over science, seemingly invested in the idea that society is as bad off as it's ever been.
Pacifica is only a reflection of that shift. It's still far to the left of anything else in mass media, and still gives voice to beliefs and ideas found outside the mainstream (way outside).
Pacifica is fighting for the same leftist niche as several other media orgs, e.g., MSNBC, PBS, BBC and the niche that is slightly less left is even more crowded with CBS, CNN, NBC, ABC, the Wash Post, the NYTimes and the LATimes itself.
Posted by: lord garth ||
03/24/2014 0:17 Comments ||
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#3
Can't happen too soon. Although, we'll probably get a bill in congress to protect the endangered radio loon.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
03/24/2014 7:24 Comments ||
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#4
MSNBC, PBS, BBC and the niche that is slightly less left is even more crowded with CBS, CNN, NBC, ABC, the Wash Post, the NYTimes and the LATimes itself.
All whose bulk viewership/readership are in the demographic of the 'large die off'.
#9
Hard to get very excited about a food fight among the leftinista staff--pass the popcorn. Left-wing radio has just never caught on like conservative talk radio--just not the interest there. Meanwhile the left continues its attempts to control, curb, and muzzle conservative talk radio.
#10
Pacifica is fighting for the same leftist niche as several other media orgs
An ecological view - interesting way to look at the situation. At one time, Pacifica and friends were peddling something you couldn't get anywhere else. Now it's all over the place. MSNBC is just Pacifica with better video.
Amusing to see Pacifica has devolved into some sort of hippie commune civil war.
[Ynet] An ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin ...Second and fourth President of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead... who heads a bank that was hit by US sanctions over the Crimea crisis suggested on Sunday the move had backfired by helping him win new clients.
Yuri Kovalchuk, chairman of Bank Rossiya, also used a rare television appearance to make clear that other wealthy Russians should show their patriotism during the crisis.
#1
He just realized the US dollar is worth crap, the problem being getting away cleanly. The sanctions gave him the excuse he needed. They'll invest again, but they'll avoid treasury bonds.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
03/24/2014 7:19 Comments ||
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#2
As I said before to people about sanctions... Do you really believe that Putin, a man that has planned the rise of Russia since last decade and has played rope a dope with two presidents didn't plan on things like this?
Even if there was short term pain, he would have calculated it was worth the medium to long term cost.
Looks like yet again the State Department amateur hour.
[The Peninsula] Ukrainian police have seized 42 kilograms of gold and $4.8 million in cash during a search of the apartments of Ukraine's former Energy Minister Eduard Stavytsky, Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said on Saturday.
Avakov said the searches had been conducted in connection with a corruption investigation in the energy sector.
"It blew my mind when I received a report on the results this morning. How much would one have to steal, to have such a 'trifle' at home as pocket money," Avakov said in a post on Facebook.
Stavytsky's career blossomed under the presidency of ousted Viktor Yanukovich and was appointed energy minister in December 2012.
Ukrainian media describe Stavytsky as a member of Yanukovich's inner circle. He could not be reached for comment.
Ukrainian police on Friday detained another energy official - the chief executive of state energy company Naftogaz, Yevhen Bakulin, as part of the investigation into corruption that it says may have cost the Ukrainian state about $4 billion.
Naftogaz is responsible for the import and distribution of Russian natural gas in Ukraine. It also holds a monopoly on the shipment of gas from Russia's Gazprom via Ukraine to Europe.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/24/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
That's the problem with stealing so much that you don't know what to do with it all. The worst thing you can do is draw attention to yourself.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
03/24/2014 7:16 Comments ||
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#2
Heck, here they just put the stuff in their 'reelection campaign' stash which they get to cash out after 'retiring' from Congress. Amazing how much of that you can attract when you can rig the system to reward or protect your contributors.
#4
Amazing how much of that you can attract when you can rig the system to reward or protect... Things are different here.
Posted by Anguper Hupomosing9418 2014-03-24 12:34|
Yeah, the competition is greater. Greed's the same, but there are more piggies at the trough.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/24/2014 15:15 Comments ||
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#5
Heck, here they just put the stuff in their 'reelection campaign' stash which they get to cash out after 'retiring' from Congress.
Or speakers fees, or book deals, or Board of directors jobs etc.
[NEWS.YAHOO] La Belle France's far-right National Front party dealt a major blow to the ruling Socialists Sunday after several of its candidates took prime position in the first round of local elections.
The main centre-right opposition UMP party also hailed a "big victory" as initial estimates showed it came out trumps in the elections, as President Francois Hollande ...the Socialist president of La Belle France, an economic bad joke for la Belle France but seemingly a foreign policy realist... suffers record unpopularity against a backdrop of near-zero growth and high unemployment.
According to a BVA poll, the UMP and allies took 48 percent of the vote nationwide while the Socialist party and allies took 43 percent, and the FN seven percent -- far higher than its 0.9 percent result in the first round of 2008 municipal polls.
Applauding what she said was "an exceptional vintage for the FN", Marine Le Pen -- head of the anti-immigration, anti-EU party -- said the polls marked the "end of the bipolarisation of the political scene".
Although the FN had been expected to do well, the first round results were far better than expected.
Far-right candidates came ahead in several key towns and cities that will put them in pole position in the second round on March 30.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/24/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Smart old birds, they always return, those Ribeauville storks.
#2
As though French (British, Gereman, Spanish, etc.) politicians have anything significant to decide. The EUracrats in Brussels run the Un-Holy Roman Empire now and all its provinces are nothing more than stage dressing.
[Ynet] A Ukrainian air force commander is being held after his base in Crimea was stormed by pro-Russian forces, and the acting president called for his release Sunday.
Col. Yuliy Mamchur is the commander of the Belbek Air Force base near Sevastopol, which was taken over Saturday by forces who sent armored personnel carriers smashing through the base's walls and fired shots and stun grenades. One Ukrainian serviceman was reported maimed in the clash. It was unclear if the forces, who didn't bear insignia, were Russian military or local pro-Russia militia.
Such insight! Truly we are ruled by the smartest men in the room!
[Ynet] A top White House aide says it's possible that Russia could invade eastern Ukraine, and even US military assistance would be unlikely to prevent it.
Deputy national security adviser Tony Blinken says Russia seems to be trying to intimidate Ukrainians by massing thousands of troops along the border.
#2
Wow, they're right on top of this, aren't they?You're about two weeks late on that one, professor.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
03/24/2014 7:27 Comments ||
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#3
Deputy national security adviser Tony Blinken says Russia seems to be trying to intimidate Ukrainians by massing thousands of troops along the border.
Dah, Tony really you think so, well if the Russians have not succeeded in intimidating the Ukrainians, they sure as Hell seemed to have intimidated the Champ.
And Tony, don't live up to your name Blinken lest while you are Blinking, the Russians make a grab for somewhere else, like Belarus.
Former President Jimmy Carter believes U.S. intelligence agencies are spying on him — so much so, he eschews email to avoid government spies. Ha! Good luck with that. "You know, I have felt that my own communications are probably monitored," Carter told NBC's Andrea Mitchell in an interview broadcast Sunday. "And when I want to communicate with a foreign leader privately, I type or write a letter myself, put on my rose-colored glasses, put it in the post office and mail it.
"I believe if I send an email, it will be monitored," Carter continued.
The 89-year-old said the National Security Agency and others have abused the argument that gathering intelligence is critical to homeland security.
"That has been extremely liberalized and, I think, abused by our own intelligence agencies," Carter said. That must have hurt. The 39th president, however, stopped short of criticizing No. 44 over the handling of the N.S.A. scandal, the crisis in Ukraine or anything else.
"I don't have any criticism of him," Carter said of Obama. Thereby taking the saying "Being liberal means never having to say you're sorry" to the ultimate extreme.
He was asked if the president ever asks him for advice.
"Unfortunately, the answer is no," Carter said. "President Obama doesn't. But previous presidents have called on me and the Carter Center to take action."
Why not Obama?
"That's a hard question for me to answer, you know, with complete candor," he said. "I think the problem was that he's megalomanic in dealing with the issue of peace between Israel and Egypt, the Carter Center [took] a very strong and public position of equal treatment between the Palestinians and the Israelis. And I think this was a sensitive area in which the president didn't want to be involved."
#3
He was asked if the president ever asks him for advice. "Unfortunately, the answer is no," Carter said. "President Obama doesn't. But previous presidents have called on me and the Carter Center to take action."
What a ridiculous question. Deity do not seek the consultation of mortals.
#4
#2 - actually, it's the one thing covered by law. They do have to get a warrant to open first class mail. If they don't, any evidence is suppressed in any criminal/civil proceedings and the miscreants can lose their immunity to civil suit. Getting the warrant is one citizen at a time requiring someone to open and review. The overload is currently beyond the capacity of the bureaucracy*. It's the digital age that hasn't received the coverage of old (analog) law. Too bad the boys in the Post Office haven't started to exploit that to get business back on to the streets.
*Although the Chinese model would be to hire all those unemployed humanities graduates at burger flipping wages but only for 27 hours a week. Then again, probably better than being an unpaid intern for the DNC to troll sites like these.
#5
As we examine the numerous issues surrounding NSA Spying, Benghazi, Fast & Furious, Lois Lerner and IRS abuse, Erik Holder's DoJ, the breakdown of the Rule of Law, the dismantling of the military, the militarization of law enforcement, continued attacks on the 2nd Amendment, and Obamacare, it is perhaps helpful to remember....
#7
They do have to get a warrant to open first class mail. If they don't, any evidence is suppressed in any criminal/civil proceedings
That is the legal position, but considering the point of spying is to find out stuff which will not necessarily be used in court (blackmail, extortion, etc) how reliable is this protection?
If you want to play nice, you can always go judge-shopping. No idea what it costs to buy a postal clerk these days.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
03/24/2014 12:36 Comments ||
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In other news, jimmuh says he does not endorse Israel boycott but would label products made in occupied "Paleostinian" territories so buyers can make up their own minds. Of course, if said buyers then decide to go along with the boycott it would no doubt greatly please the spiteful old whack job and his Arab benefactors as well.
[NATION.PK] Turkey's president said Sunday he believed the country would soon lift its ban on Twitter, condemned as a bid to muzzle a corruption scandal dogging the government ahead of key elections.
"I believe this problem will be over soon," Abdullah Gul told news hounds in Ankara before leaving for an official visit to the Netherlands. "This is of course an unpleasant situation for such a developed country as Turkey, which has weight in the region and which is negotiating with the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... . Therefore, it will be overcome soon."
The ban was implemented Thursday shortly after Turkey's powerful Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi only they haven't dumped him yet... threatened to "wipe out" Twitter, earning strong rebukes from rights groups and the country's Western allies. The government lashed out at Twitter on Saturday as "biased and prejudiced", accusing the US-based social media giant of failing to abide by hundreds of court orders to remove content deemed illegal. Critics say the Twitter ban is an attempt to hush up corruption allegations ensnaring Erdogan and the Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) ahead of key local elections on March 30.
With a week to go to the vote, the AKP is also struggling to shake off the aftereffects of mass anti-government protests last year that were organised partly on Twitter, prompting Erdogan to label the site a "menace". "Blocking access to Twitter is the work of a government which is losing its self-confidence and strength," veteran journalist Kadri Gursel wrote in the Milliyet newspaper. Social media networks have been flooded almost daily by audio tapes allegedly depicting Erdogan talking with his son about hiding vast sums of money and interfering in court cases, business deals and media coverage. Erdogan has dismissed most of the recordings as "vile" fakes concocted by his political rivals, including US-based holy man Fethullah Gulen, formerly a staunch ally. Erdogan's office says his opponents used Twitter to carry out "systematic character liquidations".
Erdogan, who has been in power for 11 years, is accused of ruling the aspiring EU member with increasing authoritarianism. The Committee for the Protection of Journalists (CPJ) says Turkey jails more news hounds than any other country, including serial offenders Iran, China and Eritrea ...is run by the People's Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ), with about the amounts of democracy and justice you'd expect from a party with that name. National elections have been periodically scheduled and cancelled; none have ever been held in the country. The president, Isaias Afewerki, has been in office since independence in 1993 and will probably die there of old age... . Douglas Frantz, assistant secretary of public affairs at the US State Department, cast the Twitter ban as "21st-century book burning", and urged Turkey to reverse its controversial decision. "A friend like Turkey has nothing to fear in the free-flow of ideas and even criticism represented by Twitter. Its attempt to block its citizens' access to social media tools should be reversed," he wrote in an official blog.
Frustrated Turks have been able to access the site by tweaking their computers' Internet settings. Methods include changing their domain name system (DNS) settings or going online via a virtual private network (VPN). Users have also been tweeting via text message, a work-around Twitter reminded them about in a message posted shortly after the ban took effect. But since Saturday there have been unconfirmed reports that the government is trying to block access to lists of alternative DNS numbers.
Gul, a frequent social media user, took to Twitter on Friday to denounce the government's ban hours after the network went dark, becoming the highest-level leader in the country to circumvent the block, along with some ministers. The president, who hails from Erdogan's AKP, has emerged as a more conciliatory leader than the Turkish premier. But he also drew criticism last month for signing a controversial AKP-sponsored law to tighten government control over the Internet.
Gul said Sunday it was "not legally possible" in Turkey to shut down the Internet or access to platforms such as Twitter. He also confirmed that Twitter had hired a lawyer in Turkey for negotiations with the authorities. Addressing the corruption scandal plaguing the AKP, Gul said his telephones might also have been tapped, like Erdogans's, but that he had "nothing to worry about or fear".
Posted by: Fred ||
03/24/2014 00:00 ||
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the ban workarounds are already well-known.
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/24/2014 8:28 Comments ||
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[Ynet] Republicans in the US Congress on Sunday urged the B.O. regime to dispatch small weapons and other military equipment to aid Ukraine as Russian troops amassed at that country's eastern border.
"You can do non-combatant military aid in a way that allows them (Ukraine) to defend themselves," House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers said during an interview on NBC's "Meet the Press."
I can't imagine the president would do such a thing.
#8
Actually not a bad idea. History of partisan warfare, strong independent streak, and terrain+distances all favor irregulars - and so does the relative youth (enthusiasm always helps in starting things, and youth is too inexperienced to realize when they are too far in to get out, and will be stuck doing the hard things). It makes the Ukraine a very poisonous thing fork the bear to try to swallow up.
[Ynet] The European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... and UNICEF launched a project Thursday to build a desalination plant in the Gazoo Strip to provide 75,000 Paleostinians with drinking water.
A joint statement said the project will be implemented by UNICEF thanks to a 10-million-euro ($13.7-million) EU grant.
Just 5.8 percent of Gazoo households have good quality water because of increased salinity caused by sewage infiltration of groundwater, according to a statement released Thursday by the Paleostinian Central Bureau of Statistics ahead of World Water Day on Saturday.
"Access to clean water is a fundamental human right for all. And yet many Gazooks face acute water shortages on a day-to-day basis," EU representative John Gatt-Rutter said as the first stone was laid for the project.
"Others can only access water of very poor quality," he added, saying the new plant "offers the prospect of access to clean water for many thousands of families".
The plant at Deir al-Balah in the centre of the territory is expected to become operational in 2015, and will supply fresh water to 75,000 people in Khan Yunis and Rafah in the south.
Because up to 95 percent of water in the water table is unfit for consumption, "more than four out of five Paleostinians in Gazoo buy their drinking water from unregulated, private vendors, a heavy burden on impoverished families", the EU-UNICEF statement said.
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has inaugurated a new mosque in an Arab village in Israel. The $10 million mosque, inaugurated on March 23 in the village of Abu Ghosh, has been named after his father, Akhmet Kadyrov.
Isa Jabar, the mayor of the village, said Chechnya donated $6 million toward the construction of the mosque, which started in 2012. With a capacity of 3,000 worshippers, it is one the largest mosques in Israel. The mayor said some villagers trace their ancestry to 16th century Chechnya and the Caucasus region.
Abu Ghosh, located west of Jerusalem, has strong ties with its Jewish neighbors. The village is a popular culinary destination for Israelis.
[Jihad Watch] "The discovery raises fears of a possible link between Captain Zaharie, 53, and terror groups whose members routinely use untraceable SIM cards." However, like everything else surrounding this plane's disappearance and the subsequent investigation, it is inconclusive.
"Police hunt mystery woman who made final phone call to doomed jet captain as first picture emerges of his estranged wife and family," by Simon Parry for the Daily Mail, March 23 (thanks to The Religion of Peace): Link to Mail pilot phone call story.
#1
Hey wow, there's phones in Malaysia sold without a paper trail. I'm shocked. (I should get one...)
Posted by: ed in texas ||
03/24/2014 7:21 Comments ||
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#2
You can here too. They ask for a phone number to register the pre-paid phone, but give them a bogus one and $60 cash and you have your phone with no record to you.
#3
..Capt. Shah getting a little side action? Got caught? Selfish wife moved out with the kids? G-friend called using the subject phone giving him the thumb also? Distraught Capt. offed himself and everyone on the a/c? Seems to cover all the bases. Maybe..
#4
Uncle P - you're getting close to what I have been wondering for a while - supposing someone just wanted to disappear a whole plane? Fly 180 degrees off course toward Antarctica. No one would ever find you - or the innocents you took with you.
That might be more terrifying than anything we've seen so far.
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/24/2014 15:46 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
...Second and fourth President of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead...
"I don't have any criticism of him," Carter said of Obama.
As we examine the numerous issues surrounding NSA Spying, Benghazi, Fast & Furious, Lois Lerner and IRS abuse, Erik Holder's DoJ, the breakdown of the Rule of Law, the dismantling of the military, the militarization of law enforcement, continued attacks on the 2nd Amendment, and Obamacare, it is perhaps helpful to remember.... 
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has inaugurated a new mosque in an Arab village in Israel. The $10 million mosque, inaugurated on March 23 in the village of Abu Ghosh, has been named after his father, Akhmet Kadyrov. 
