Despite all the efforts to the contrary, it’s an uncomfortable truth that our world mostly still runs on oil, made from dead little creatures and pumped from under the ocean. So a machine that could generate oil, without the need for drills or rigs or pipelines, just by combining hydrogen and CO2, sounds quite attractive.
The patent war between NVIDIA and Samsung isn’t going to wind down any time soon. Samsung has backed up its countering lawsuit against NVIDIA with a US International Trade Commission complaint asking the agency to block imports of NVIDIA’s GeForce…
By Dasha Afanasieva
ISTANBUL, Nov 22 (Reuters) – The United States pledged an additional $135 million in aid for the victims of the Syrian war on Saturday, much of it to help the United Nations with a funding shortfall it had warned could force it to scale back food distribution.
Neighboring nations have borne the brunt of the humanitarian crisis sparked by the civil war, which has killed nearly 200,000 people and forced more than 3 million to flee.
The money, which brings the total aid given by Washington since the start of the war in 2011 to more than $3 billion, will mainly go to the U.N. World Food Program (WFP), a statement from U.S. Vice President Joe Biden’s office said.
The Turkish Red Crescent will also benefit.
“The new funding will help feed vulnerable people inside Syria; Syrian refugees in Turkey; and Syrian refugees in other countries,” the statement, released during Biden’s visit to Turkey, said.
The U.S. also planned to admit close to 7,000 refugees from Turkey in the coming year, including Iraqis, Iranians, and a growing number of Syrians, the statement said, part of a wider program to resettle thousands of the most vulnerable refugees in the United States.
Aid workers have warned that funding for the refugee crisis has been falling far short of requirements, with the U.N. saying it may have to slash food rations as a result.
In September, WFP said it would require an additional $352 million to continue its work until the end of the year. The U.S. pledge will provide $132.8 million to WFP, the statement said.
Turkey, which has taken in around half of all Syrian refugees, says it has spent more than $4 billion on its aid effort. Officials have frequently voiced frustration with what they see as insufficient help from Western donors. (Reporting by Dasha Afanasieva; Writing by Jonny Hogg; Editing by Nick Tattersall and David Evans)
ICYMI the Fox News Folks were evidently quite taken aback by my favorite part of President Obama’s November 20th Immigration Action Speech — the part where he said “Scripture tells us we shall not oppress the stranger.” It’s what I tweeted. It’s the quote I put on my FB cover. And it’s what made their heads explode… according to this feature over at Raw Story. Check it out:
On Fox & Friends, Tucker Carlson accused the president of using the Biblical quotations to prove that “God is on [his] side. This is the Christian left at work, and it’s repugnant.”
“To quote scripture?” he added, “that’s out of bounds.”
“He’s using it to guilt someone into” supporting immigration reform, Elisabeth Hasselbeck replied. “That’s not what the scholars behind the Bible would interpret as proper use.”
Seriously. This from the folks who are fine quoting scripture until the cows come home as long as it’s about what they think the Bible says about who’s entitled to the equal protection of civil marriage.
Evidently using the Bible as a weapon of mass discrimination against LGBT people is fair game but suggesting that loving your neighbors by not deporting them is out of bounds. Honest to Ethel… they make my hair hurt.
So here’s some scripture for you. “You shall have one law for the alien and for the citizen: for I am the Lord your God” Leviticus 24:22
Wonder how Ms. Hasselbeck’s “scholars behind the Bible” would interpret that one? Anybody?
MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) — Voters in Bahrain cast ballots Saturday in the island kingdom’s first full parliamentary election since Arab Spring-inspired protests nearly four years ago, but a boycott by the country’s opposition overshadowed the vote and highlighted the sectarian-charged divisions gripping this strategic U.S. ally.
The country’s most organized Shiite group, al-Wefaq, and other opposition organizations urged supporters to stay away from the polls. They accuse the government of failing to enact political reforms and address other grievances that were at the heart of the February 2011 uprising that pitted an opposition movement dominated by the country’s Shiite majority against supporters of the Sunni monarchy. The elections are being closely watched not only by Bahrain’s Western allies but also by Gulf Arab neighbors such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates that themselves are led by Sunni hereditary rulers.
Bahraini authorities backed by security forces from neighboring Gulf states crushed the 2011 uprising. But street protests, petrol-bomb attacks and other low-level unrest continue to roil the country, which hosts the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet and is part of the U.S.-led coalition striking the Islamic State group.
Several opposition activists remain behind bars following convictions related to the 2011 unrest, and a number of prominent human rights advocates are awaiting verdicts on charges they say are politically motivated.
A total of 419 candidates are running for municipal and parliamentary seats Saturday. Any candidates who do not secure more than 50 percent of the vote will head to a runoff a week later.
The elections will determine the makeup of the 40-seat lower house of parliament, which has limited direct powers but carries important symbolism as part of political reforms begun more than a decade ago.
Members of the upper house are appointed by King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, whose family controls most senior government posts. The king’s uncle, Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, has served as the unelected prime minister for more than four decades.
Many voters in areas dominated by Shiites, who have long complained of discrimination and political persecution, said they were heeding calls to boycott.
“Everyone here is either in jail, killed, tortured or dismissed from their job,” said Zahra Mohammed, a housewife from the Shiite-heavy community of Sanabis, west of the capital, Manama. “How I can vote while the government is still doing what I just mentioned? … They did not offer anything to make things better.”
A polling center in Riffa, a primarily Sunni community south of the capital that is home to many supporters of the ruling family, was visibly busier during a visit by Associated Press journalists. Badriya Malallah, a retired civil servant, said she considered voting to be a national duty.
“We have to vote to protect Bahrain from foreign interference,” she said.
Several candidates have faced intimidation, including some whose cars and campaign facilities were torched before the vote.
Maj. Gen. Tariq al-Hassan, the public security chief, said authorities boosted security across the country to safeguard the elections. He said police “took appropriate measures” to address complaints of voter intimidation and arrested seven people as police dealt with what were described as “illegal gatherings.”
Activists on Friday staged a mock referendum asking residents of Shiite areas if they wanted a new political system under United Nations supervision, and witnesses said police used tear gas to disperse protesters in some Shiite villages ahead of the vote.
Al-Wefaq and other opposition groups formally announced their boycott last month, saying the government has not engaged in genuine reconciliation efforts.
The group withdrew its 18 members from parliament following the 2011 crackdown on anti-government protests. By-elections were called to fill those seats, which increased the share of pro-government supporters in parliament.
Government spokeswoman Sameera Rajab told AP that the opposition boycott “will not affect the elections.”
Results from the first round of voting are expected Sunday.
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Schreck reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
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Follow Adam Schreck on Twitter at www.twitter.com/adamschreck
Notes from Indian Country
By Tim Giago (Nanwica Kciji)
© Native Sun News 2014
There is a poem in my book “Children Left Behind” called “Six days a week and twice on Sunday” that describes the lives of the Indian students at Holy Rosary Indian Mission boarding school in the 1940s. The school no longer boards students and it is now called Red Cloud Indian School.
The poem describes how we spent a lot of time in church. After church Monday through Saturday we reported to the school dining hall where we were almost always served yellow cornmeal mush. This breakfast meal gained so much notoriety that when we played basketball against our near rival, Oglala Community School (now Pine Ridge High School), they would put up banners that read, “Crush the mush.”
However on Sunday mornings at the boarding school everything changed and we were served bowls of cornflakes.
I wrote about this because the change from corn meal mush to cornflakes was dramatic. We all loved the cornflakes because it broke up our usual breakfast fare. And I never really gave much thought to that poem until last week when a young Lakota woman from Black Hills State University came to my office to interview me.
Her name is Savannah Greseth and she is the daughter of Diane Amiotte who works for the Inter Tribal Bison Council in Rapid City. Many years ago Diane was an advertising sales representative for my newspaper Indian Country Today. With bright young Lakota like Savannah on the horizon I no longer fear for the future of Native Americans.
Savannah read my book and recalled one part because it crossed a topic she was reading for a research paper. One paragraph in the poem went:
“At the end of the Mass
We’d troop to the dining room
For our Sunday morning treat. . .
CORN FLAKES!”
Savannah asked if I knew the history of cornflakes and I had to admit I did not probably because I never had a reason to check it out.
She explained it to me.
It is written that the creator of cornflakes was a Michigan physician named John Harvey Kellog. In the 18th and 19th centuries the Western world worked itself up into a mass hissy fit over the idea of people touching themselves. One of the most ardent anti-masturbators was Mr. Kellog. According to an article on Google it was reported that he believed sex was detrimental to physical, emotional and spiritual well-being. It said that he personally abstained from it and never consummated his marriage. He said that sex with one’s wife was bad, but masturbation was even worse.
Kellog’s brother Will wanted to add sugar to the newly developed cornflakes, but John demurred so Will started the Kellog Company and did add sugar to many of the grain cereals he developed. “Masturbators who enjoy cornflakes can probably attest that the sugar was a good idea since Kellog’s cereal doesn’t really have its intended effect.”
After reading this I came to the conclusion that the Jesuit priests and Franciscan nuns who were the overseers at Holy Rosary Mission probably read Kellog’s book, “Plain Facts for Old and Young: Embracing the Natural History and Hygiene of Organic Life,” and took it seriously. Why else would they favor us so grandly with cornflakes every Sunday morning? Would the corn in the corn meal mush be comparable to cornflakes?
Holy Rosary Mission housed boys and girls from kindergarten to grade 12. We were all young Lakota, raucous and full of energy so I presume the Jesuits thought cornflakes and corn meal mush would serve as a sexual depressant.
While discussing this with an ex-serviceman in my employ we both brought up the myth perpetrated on us while serving in the military. The ingredient that was supposed to have the same effect on us as cornflakes was called Saltpeter. Rumor had it that it was an ingredient added to food in prison and in military camps to curb sexual desires. Saltpeter is actually Potassium Nitrate and there has never been any proof that it affected the male libido.
I suppose that in the long run the Jesuit priests and nuns truly believed that cornflakes would quiet our sex drive and they eventually found out it did not. But I am sure they knew of the supposed impact of cornflakes and served it so us every Sunday for that purpose. Perhaps they should have been devouring it by the bowl full themselves and then perhaps there would not have been so much sexual abuse of the Indian children placed in their care.
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Tim Giago, an Oglala Lakota, was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard with the Class of 1991. He is now the editor and publisher of the largest weekly newspaper in South Dakota, Native Sun News. He can be reached at editor@nsweekly.com
Before Bill Cosby took the stage at a sold-out theater in Melbourne, Florida on Friday night, he broke his silence on the recent sexual assault allegations.
While speaking with Florida Today, the 77-year-old comedian addressed the claims and revealed his reason for silence. “I know people are tired of me not saying anything, but a guy doesn’t have to answer to innuendos,” Cosby told the publication. “People should fact check. People shouldn’t have to go through that and shouldn’t answer to innuendos.”
In addition to the Florida Today interview, Cosby’s lawyer, Marty Singer, released a statement to ABC News on Friday about his client:
“This situation is an unprecedented example of the media’s breakneck rush to run stories without any corroboration or adherence to traditional journalistic standards. Over and over again, we have refuted these new unsubstantiated stories with documentary evidence, only to have a new uncorroborated story crop up out of the woodwork. When will it end?”
Cosby has previously refused to answer questions regarding allegations that he sexually assaulted several women. In an interview with NPR’s Scott Simon broadcast on Nov. 15, Cosby shook his head and remained silent when asked to respond to the claims. Cosby also refused to respond to the AP’s Brett Zongker regarding the allegations, saying, “No, no, we don’t answer that.” He later requested, still on the record, that the AP interview be “scuttled.”
For more from Cosby, head to Florida Today. Singer’s full statement is available at ABC.
Thanksgiving is a meaningful time for many families across the country. For me, it’s a time to reflect on, and to give thanks for, life’s bountiful gifts. Along with empathy, understanding the importance of expressing gratitude is something that you can actually teach your child, and Thanksgiving is a wonderful time to start.
Here are some tips to help you foster gratitude in your child.
1. Be what you want to see.
Make a point to express gratitude in the presence of your child. Let your child hear you saying “Thank you!” to the person who holds open the door for you at the post office, and the grocery store checker. Talk about how grateful you are for clear skies on your morning walk together. Take your child with you to drop off a thank you gift to your friend. The more your child sees gratitude built into your life, the more likely he will be to incorporate it intrinsically into his own daily life.
2. Give your child a gratitude journal.
You can purchase a simple lined journal, or even make one from a stack of stapled blank paper. Inscribe a special message from you to your child in the inside cover, and help your child get into the practice of writing one to five things that he is grateful for each day. These can be simple one-word answers or full sentences, and be sure your child knows that there are no wrong answers.
3. Set aside time to write in your gratitude journals together.
While you are having your morning tea and your child is enjoying a healthy breakfast, sit down at the kitchen table together and simultaneously write in your gratitude journals. He will see the importance you place in giving thanks each day, and he will start to have the same respect and understanding of gratitude in his own life.
4. Talk about it.
I encourage each family to have family meetings once a week, using my empathic process. Choose a neutral space such as the kitchen, the heart of the home where alchemy happens, and allow each member to have a turn discussing specific events or concerns that week, without judgment. This is also a good time to express gratitude; ending the meeting by acknowledging something or someone to be thankful for helps everyone leave on a positive note, and also helps to further instill a sense of gratitude in your child.
5. Help your child find deeper values and goals.
Help your child think about the world around him, and ask him from time to time what he thinks is truly important in life. Encourage him to help others, even in the smallest of ways, and to find value in non-materialistic items. Teaching him to value people and goals that go beyond wealth or fame helps him feel a sense of gratitude for the friendships and community in his life.
In life, empathy, kindness and gratitude go hand in hand. The earlier you help teach your child to have these qualities, the more it will become second nature to his life. Fostering a deep sense of gratitude early on can help give your child a wonderful perspective on life, one that includes giving thanks well beyond the Thanksgiving holiday.
If Evel Knievel had ever traded in his hog for a giant semi-truck — or a Formula One racer — he would have likely attempted something like this.
This is a video of a semi-truck jumping an F1 racer, setting a Guinness World-Record for longest jump length (83 feet, 7 inches) in the process.
Why? According to the Lotus F1 Team and EMC, the groups behind the stunt, it’s how they stay true to their goal of “redefining motorsports.”
Car and Driver reports the semi-truck driver is Mike Ryan, the same man who once drifted a semi up Pikes Peak, and the F1 Racer was piloted by Martin Ivanov.
WATCH the semi-truck jump the F1 racer, above.
Run The Jewels is the musical version of a big middle finger, but has substance behind it. This project from Brooklyn’s El-P (of Company Flow and Def Jux fame) and Atlanta’s Killer Mike is evidence that rap music can be both intelligent yet silly, abrasive yet welcoming, grimey yet beautiful, and fun yet serious. During an era right now where we are seeing the most dumb down form of rap music ever filling our TV shows and radio airwaves, El-P and Killer Mike have been able to unapologetically break through the bevy of minstrel shows that’s pawned off as hip hop these days and show you don’t have to buy into the glorified images and hype if you actually want to stay around for awhile.
It’s not farfetched to argue that the duo have been responsible for dropping one of the best hip hop releases three years in a row if you go back to Killer Mike’s 2012 album R.A.P. Music produced entirely by El-P before eventually joining forces for two Run The Jewels albums. Even pre-dating their work together, both Killer Mike and El-P were always known for pushing the envelope of style and substance, by tackling social issues about our urban communities along with a big “fuck you” to the establishment.
Run The Jewels represents intellect in hip hop, but neither preachy nor monotonous, but slickly wrapped in the smart ass attitudes of El-P and Killer Mike where their charisma is king. Run The Jewels is everything we used to love about hip hop where party music could also be informative; behind all the hype beats there were real stories being told.
With this second Run The Jewels album, the duo are finding a broader audience this time around. Along with its release on Nas’ Mass Appeal Records imprint, there is a wide variety of pop stars and celebrities alike singing the duo’s praises, and they even recently appeared on Late Show With David Letterman. Currently, the Run The Jewels tour is selling out most nights, people are finally catching on. Run The Jewels has been an important music release the past two years and it’s optimistic that people are putting down the Kool Aid for a moment and realizing there is more out there than the mainstream is feeding them – and that doesn’t only apply to music.
Run The Jewels plays Saint Andrews Hall in Detroit this Tuesday, November 25th with special guest Despot, Rat King, and the David Ruffin Theory. For more information on Run The Jewels and to get the new album, visit runthejewels.net.
Photo Credit: Vic Michael
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