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n2doc's Journal
Bernie Sanders Expands Native Inclusion
Sen. Bernie Sanders swept through Washington State on Sunday, meeting with tribal leaders and Native voters and speaking before tens of thousands at rallies in Vancouver, Seattle and Spokane in anticipation of the state Democratic caucus Friday, March 26.
He started in Vancouver, where nearly 7,500 people waited in the rain in long lines circling a local high school. Entrance was granted on a first come, first served basis and crowds began camping out at 4:30 a.m.
Before speaking, Senator Sanders met with local Native American leaders, Roben White (Cheyenne/Lakota) leader of Washington for Bernie Sanders Congressional District 3 and Becky Archibald (Shoshone Bannock) board member of the Clark County Historical Museum. They gifted the candidate with a Pendleton blanket, ledger art, and a necklace for his wife, Jane Sanders.
On back of the ledger art White wrote, “there is a great power in this art and we share it with you to help you regarding your decisions on how to enforce the treaties.”
Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2016/03/21/bernie-sanders-expands-native-inclusion-163829
Startling images reveal devastating coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef
Startling images have emerged of devastating coral bleaching unfolding across parts of the Great Barrier Reef, as the marine park authority overseeing the environmental icon has raised its response to the highest level possible.
The severe bleaching event has again prompted concern about the damage climate change is doing to the world heritage protected reef, one of Australia's most important tourist sites, with scientists and green groups calling for Australia to lift its game in tackling global warming.
On Monday WWF-Australia released underwater images taken of bleached corals around Lizard Island in the pristine northern stretches of the barrier reef north of Cooktown.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/startling-images-reveal-devastating-coral-bleaching-on-the-great-barrier-reef-20160321-gnnjt3.html
Why there might be many more Universes than our own
By Philip Ball
21 March 2016
Is our Universe one of many?
The idea of parallel universes, once consigned to science fiction, is now becoming respectable among scientists – at least, among physicists, who have a tendency to push ideas to the limits of what is conceivable.
In fact there are almost too many other potential universes. Physicists have proposed several candidate forms of "multiverse", each made possible by a different aspect of the laws of physics.
The trouble is, virtually by definition we probably cannot ever visit these other universes to confirm that they exist. So the question is, can we devise other ways to test for the existence of entire universes that we cannot see or touch?
more
http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20160318-why-there-might-be-many-more-universes-besides-our-own
How Saudi Arabia captured Washington
by Max Fisher on March 21, 2016
There was a moment almost exactly one year ago, in March 2015, that revealed some uncomfortable truths about America's relationship with Saudi Arabia.
That month, as Saudi Arabia prepared to launch what would become its disastrous war against Shia rebels in neighboring Yemen, the Saudi ambassador in Washington, Adel al-Jubeir, brought a list of "high-value targets" to CIA Director John Brennan. The Saudis were asking for American support in the war; the list was meant as a show of cooperation.
But when US intelligence agencies checked the list against their own information, they found that many of the targets had little or no military value, according to a report at the time by the Wall Street Journal's Maria Abi-Habib and Adam Entous. Many were civilian structures in or near population centers.
The US warned Saudi Arabia off the targets, and Saudi officials said they complied. But when the air war began, Saudi bombs fell heavily on "hospitals, schools, a refugee camp, and neighborhoods," according to the Journal.
The US initially held back from the war. But soon, in an apparent effort to purchase Saudi acquiescence to the nuclear deal with Iran, the US substantially increased support for the Saudi-led campaign, providing midair refueling, weapons and supplies, targeting information, and 45 dedicated intelligence analysts.
more
http://www.vox.com/2016/3/21/11275354/saudi-arabia-gulf-washington
Current record-shattering temperatures are shocking even to climate scientists
Dana Nuccitelli
Monday 21 March 2016 06.00 EDT
“Stunning,” “wow,” “shocker,” “bombshell,” “astronomical,” “insane,” “unprecedented”– these are some of the words climate scientists have used to describe the record-shattering global surface temperatures in February 2016.
It’s difficult to see any ‘pause’ or slowdown in the global warming over the past 50 years.
To put the current temperatures into context, prior to last October, monthly global surface temperatures had not been more than 0.96°C hotter than the 1951–1980 average, according to Nasa. The past 5 months have been 1.06°C, 1.03°C, 1.10°C, 1.14°C, and 1.35°C hotter than that average, absolutely destroying previous records. Estimates from Noaa are in broad agreement with those from Nasa.
Right now, the Earth’s average surface temperature is hotter than it’s been in thousands of years; potentially even longer.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2016/mar/21/current-record-shattering-temperatures-are-shocking-to-even-climate-scientists
DNC head challenged by faith leaders over exploitative payday lending
Several Cooperative Baptist Fellowship ministers were among 36 faith leaders sending an open letter March 17 taking the chair of the Democratic National Committee to task for resisting attempts by the Obama administration to rein in abuses in payday lending.
The clergy asked Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) to support rules being drafted by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to crack down on abusive payday lending.
“The Bible expressly forbids excessive interest and warns us not to ‘exploit the poor because they are poor’ (Proverbs 22:22),” the faith leaders said. “With its average 400 percent interest rate, payday lending is the very definition of exploitation.”
The clergy said exploiting the poor is “the very business model” of payday lending, in which money is made by lending amounts that a borrower cannot pay back in time unless they take out another loan, and then another, and so forth.
“Each loan comes with an astronomical interest rate that eats an ever‐bigger hole in the borrower’s budget,” they said. “We call this the debt trap. It is intentional. It is not moral. It should not be legal.”
more
https://baptistnews.com/2016/03/18/dnc-head-challenged-by-faith-leaders-over-exploitative-payday-lending/
After 80 million years on earth, a shy and scaly wild animal is rapidly dying out in India
A handful of animals hold public attention when it comes to wildlife conservation in India. The lion, tiger, rhino, and elephant receive overwhelming focus, partly because of the drama attached to their sightings in the wild and partly owing to their tourism potential.
A few birds such as the great Indian bustard and the Indian vulture, too, get talked about.
Yet, India’s—and the world’s—most hunted animal is none of these. It is the pangolin, a toothless, pre-historic mammal that is estimated to have lived on earth for nearly 80 million years. In 2015, pangolins were the most traded species in India.
The sticky-tongued pangolin thrives on ants and termites. When threatened, the generally shy animal rolls itself into a ball protected by a scaly armour—pangolins are the only mammals with scales—so tough that they can withstand even a blow with an axe.
Tragically, their protective shield is the primary cause for their near-extinction.
more
http://qz.com/643400/after-80-million-years-on-earth-a-shy-and-scaly-wild-animal-is-rapidly-dying-out-in-india/
Stupid people suck
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