David Harvey's Anti-Capitalist Chronicles

The Ruling Ideas of a Billionaire Class

[S3 E17] New

In this episode of ACC, Prof. Harvey contends that what we are experiencing is the raw exercise of ruling class power in ruling ways. He references Marx's Grundrisse to help understand how ideas are born and the impact they have on society. Specifically, he talks about the ideas of the ruling elites, how those ideas became part of the culture, and were used by the ruling class to seize back control and wealth from the labor movement. The ruling class is as dedicated as it always has been to the maintenance of its power. The recent health crisis has helped strengthen the ranks and wealth of the billionaire class. And when the political class is given the option of rescuing people or rescuing the capitalist class, they will always rescue and sustain the capitalist class. Neoliberalism is stronger than ever because the capitalist class is stronger than ever.

David Harvey's Anti-Capitalist Chronicles is a  @Democracy At Work  production. To our supportive and generous Patreon community: thank you for supporting this podcast. Your contributions help us compensate the staff and workers it takes to put each episode together. Thank you for being part of the ACC team!

FINALLY SOMEONE GOT BUSTED

Chicago banker convicted in loans-for-Trump job scheme

EVEN IF HE IS A BIT PLAYER

By LARRY NEUMEISTER

FILE - In this May 23, 2019, file photo, Chicago banker Stephen Calk, center, leaves Federal court , in New York with his attorney Jeremy Margolis, left. A Manhattan jury on Tuesday, July 13, 2021, convicted Calk of criminal charges for enabling Paul Manafort to get $16 million in loans before the former campaign manager for ex-President Donald Trump helped him get an interview for a job in the Trump administration. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)


NEW YORK (AP) — A Manhattan jury on Tuesday convicted a Chicago banker of criminal charges for enabling Paul Manafort to get $16 million in loans before the former campaign manager for ex-President Donald Trump helped him get an interview for a job in the Trump administration.

The jury returned its verdict in federal court after less than two hours of deliberations, convicting Stephen Calk of financial institution bribery and conspiracy. Calk’s lawyers had maintained their client did nothing illegal in the weeks after Trump won the presidential election in November 2016.

But prosecutors said Calk cleared a path for Manafort to receive loans he was not entitled to in the hopes that Calk could secure a high-level post with the Trump administration. Although Calk eventually got an interview at Trump Tower, he was not hired.

Sentencing was set for Jan. 10 for Calk, who was the former chief executive of The Federal Savings Bank.

As Calk left the courthouse, he declined comment. His lawyer, Paul Schoeman, later issued a statement, saying: “We are very disappointed by the verdict and will be pursuing all available legal remedies, including an appeal.”

In a release, U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said Calk had used his federally insured bank to try to buy himself “prestige and power.”

During the three-week trial, prosecutors gave jurors proof that Calk played a pivotal role in getting approval for a $9.5 million real estate construction loan and another $6.5 million so Manafort could finish construction on a Brooklyn condominium and avoid foreclosure.

Defense lawyers argued that Calk could not win approval for the loans without the bank’s loan committee and underwriters agreeing to the terms. And they noted that the loans were obtained at a time when Manafort was considered wealthy and successful and had not yet been criminally charged.

Early in the trial, Anthony Scaramucci testified that he never would have enabled Calk to get the interview for the administration post if he had know that Calk was helping Manafort to get millions of dollars in loans for his real estate ventures.

Scaramucci had testified that Manafort, who served as Trump’s campaign manager for a key stretch from June to early August 2016, reached out to him in mid-to-late December 2016 to encourage him to consider Calk for an important position.

At the time, Scaramucci was working on Trump’s presidential transition team.

Although Calk had hoped to become Secretary of the Army, he eventually interviewed for other positions because that post had already been filled, Scaramucci said.

Manafort lost his position in Trump’s campaign over his ties to Ukraine. Special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation led to his criminal conviction and a sentence of over seven years in prison for financial crimes related to his political consulting work in Ukraine. In December, Trump pardoned him.

‘Scary’: Fuel shortage could ground firefighting aircraft

By KEITH RIDLER

In this July 2, 2021, file photo a DC-10 air tanker drops retardant while battling the Salt Fire near the Lakehead community of Unincorporated Shasta County, Calif. Airport officials facing jet fuel shortages are concerned they'll have to wave off fire retardant bombers and helicopters when wildfire season heats up, potentially endangering surrounding communities. (AP Photo/Noah Berger, File)

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Airport officials facing jet fuel shortages are concerned they’ll have to wave off planes and helicopters that drop fire retardants during what could be a ferocious wildfire season, potentially endangering surrounding communities.

Sporadic shortages at some tanker bases in Oregon and Utah have already been reported. The worry is that multiple bases go dry simultaneously during what is shaping up to be a very busy wildfire season in the U.S. West. Tanker bases in Arizona, where many large fires are burning, have also had jet fuel supply issues in the last month.

“We haven’t run into that before,” said Jessica Gardetto, a National Interagency Fire Center spokeswoman in Boise, Idaho, and a former wildland firefighter. “It’s a scary thought, with all the shortages going on right now.”

It’s not clear if jet fuel supplies and delivery systems can be bolstered in time for this wildfire season to avoid potential problems keeping firefighting aircraft aloft if multiple large fires break out around the West.

Airport officials, aviation supply companies and jet fuel transport companies said jet fuel demand declined sharply and supply chains atrophied during the coronavirus pandemic. They have yet to bounce back in the Western U.S. even as the economy zooms ahead and more passengers flock to airports for long-delayed trips.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, jet fuel supplied in the U.S. in 2020 fell 38% compared to 2019 pre-pandemic levels. Jet fuel demand has increased about 26% since the start of this year, though it hasn’t reached 2019 levels. The administration’s Weekly Petroleum Status Report for July 2 shows demand at 78% of 2019 levels. That’s up from 44% of 2019 levels for the same time period in 2020 when the pandemic had taken hold.

Overall, the administration said, jet fuel inventories in the U.S. are at or above the five-year average, except in the Rocky Mountains, where they are 1% below. That appears to point to the supply chain as the potential problem, various industry officials said.

“COVID, it lulled everybody to sleep,” said Mark Haynes, vice president of sales for Ann Arbor, Michigan-based Avfuel Corporation, which supplies jet fuel across the U.S., including to about half of the nation’s 44 air tanker bases operated by the U.S. Forest Service or U.S. Bureau of Land Management in western states. Some states also maintain tanker bases.

“Our business went to about zero,” Haynes said. “A lot of trucking companies had to lay off (jet fuel) drivers. What happened with the opening up of the U.S., demand for leisure travel has boomed.”

Chris Kunkle is vice president of operations for the Central Coast Jet Center in Santa Maria, California. It’s a private airport known as a fixed based operator that provides services for private jets, such as refueling. It also serves as a Forest Service air tanker base, and is large enough for DC-10 air tankers.

“In the blink of an eye, we can have a fire here within our response area that can bring in one to three DC-10s and a bunch of variable-sized air tankers,” he said. “We can go from a couple thousand gallons (3,800 liters) a day to 50,000 (190,000 liters) to 60,000 gallons (227,000 liters)”

He said he likes to keep 60,000 gallons (227,000 liters) at the airport, but is having trouble with limited deliveries. He fears running out if a large fire breaks out in the area.

Decisions on where the fuel goes can be difficult. Commercial jet travel can be a huge economic driver in many communities. Air ambulances also need fuel. Industry officials said problems at large commercial carriers this year appear to have more to do with worker and pilot shortages than lack of jet fuel.

Jeff Cyphers of Stockton, California-based Humboldt Pacific LCC, said he’s expanding the company’s fleet of 20 jet fuel tanker trucks to transport fuel to West Coast states and, during the wildfire season, Idaho, Montana and Utah. He said there’s currently both a shortage of drivers as well as jet fuel to deliver.

“The supply chain right now is probably the most fragile I’ve ever seen in my years of experience,” said Cyphers, who has been in the industry since 1986.

Most larger airports such as those in Denver, Seattle and Boise are supplied by pipeline. But many smaller, outlying airports such as those in Aspen, Colorado, and Jackson, Wyoming, and Hailey, Idaho, near the resort town of Sun Valley, rely on jet fuel delivery by truck. So do many of the airports with tanker bases, some of them hundreds of miles away from jet fuel refineries or pipelines.

Cyphers said his company has even been trucking jet fuel to airports supplied by pipeline because they hadn’t received their full allocation of jet fuel.

Hundreds of aircraft are used to fight wildfires each year. Most of the nation’s large retardant bombers are jets. Turboprop retardant bombers also use jet fuel. They lay down strips of red fire retardant ahead of approaching flames in support of ground crews who are more likely to hold a fire line after a retardant bomber has made a drop.

Most firefighting helicopters also use the jet fuel that authorities worry could be in short supply for aerial wildfire operations going forward.

“I could be wrong, but I don’t foresee them being able to bridge that gap,” predicted Cyphers, from the trucking company.

AP PHOTO ESSAY

Wildfires in US West threaten parched Native American lands

By NATHAN HOWARD and SARA CLINE


1 of 12
Smoke fills the air near the Bootleg Fire, Tuesday, July 13, 2021, near Sprague River, Ore. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard)

BLY, Ore. (AP) — Fierce wildfires in the Pacific Northwest are threatening Native American lands that already are struggling to conserve water and preserve traditional hunting grounds amid a historic drought in the U.S. West.

Blazes in Oregon and Washington state were among some 60 large, active wildfires that have destroyed homes and burned through about 1,562 square miles (4,047 square kilometers) in a dozen mostly Western states, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.

It comes as extremely dry conditions and heat waves tied to climate change have swept the region, making wildfires harder to fight. Climate change has made the American West much warmer and drier in the past 30 years and will continue to make weather more extreme and wildfires more frequent and destructive.

In north-central Washington, hundreds of people in the town of Nespelem on Colville tribal land were ordered to leave because of “imminent and life-threatening” danger as the largest of five wildfires caused by dozens of lightning strikes Monday night tore through grass, sagebrush and timber.

Seven homes burned, but four were vacant, and the entire town evacuated safely before the fire arrived, said Andrew Joseph Jr., chairman of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, which includes more than 9,000 descendants of a dozen tribes.

Monte Piatote and his wife grabbed their pets and managed to flee but watched flames burn the home where he had lived since he was a child.

“I told my wife, I told her, ‘Watch.’ Then boom, there it was,” Piatote told news station KREM-TV in Spokane, Washington.

The tribes declared a state of emergency Tuesday and said the reservation was closed to the public and to industrial activity. The declaration said weather forecasts called for possible triple-digit temperatures and 25-mph (40-kph) winds Wednesday into Thursday that could drive the flames.

In Oregon, the lightning-sparked Bootleg Fire that has destroyed at least 20 homes was raging through lands north of the California border Wednesday. At least 2,000 homes were threatened by flames.

Mark Enty, a spokesman for the Northwest Incident Management Team 10 working to contain the fire, said that since he arrived in the area last week, the blaze had doubled in size each day.

“That’s sort of like having a new fire every day,” Enty said.

After less extreme growth, the fire early Wednesday spanned nearly 332 square miles (860 square kilometers), an area larger than New York City.

As an intense heat wave abated, excessive-heat warnings expired but fire weather warnings were in place for the interior of Oregon, eastern Washington, part of Idaho and the northeast corner of California due to winds and very low humidity.

Members of the Oregon National Guard were expected to be deployed to help with road closures and traffic control in fire-affected areas.

The fire in the Fremont-Winema National Forest was burning through a region where the Klamath Tribes — comprising three distinct Indigenous people — have lived for millennia.

“There is definitely extensive damage to the forest where we have our treaty rights,” said Don Gentry, chairman of the Klamath Tribal Council in Chiloquin, Oregon, which is about 25 miles (40 kilometers) west of the Bootleg Fire.

“I am sure we have lost a number of deer to the fire,” he said. “We are definitely concerned. I know there are cultural resource areas and sensitive areas that are likely the fire is going through.”

The Klamath Tribes have been affected by wildfires before, including one that burned 23 square miles (60 square kilometers) in southern Oregon last September. That fire damaged land where many Klamath tribal members hunt, fish and gather. The fire also burned the tribes’ cemetery and at least one tribal member’s house, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported in September.

The tribes are struggling with drought-caused problems. In past decades, they have fought to preserve minimum water levels in Upper Klamath Lake to preserve two species of federally endangered sucker fish that are central to their culture and heritage. Farmers draw much of their irrigation water from the same lake that’s critical to the fish. Even before the fire erupted, extreme drought in southern Oregon had reduced water flows to historic lows.

In northeastern California, more progress was reported on the state’s largest fire so far this year. The Beckwourth Complex, a combined pair of lighting-ignited blazes, was 71% contained after blackening nearly 149 square miles (386 square kilometers) near the Nevada state line.

Damage was still being tallied in the small rural community of Doyle, California, where flames swept in during the weekend and destroyed several homes, including Beverly Houdyshell’s.

The 79-year-old said Tuesday that she’s too old and too poor to rebuild and isn’t sure what her future holds.

“What chance do I have to build another house, to have another home?” Houdyshell said. “No chance at all.”

“I can’t just buy another house, boom like that. I had insurance. I haven’t heard from them yet. I called them but I haven’t heard nothing,” she added.

On the western side of the Sierra Nevada, a new fire erupted in the Feather River Canyon, about 10 miles (16 kilometers) from Paradise, the town largely destroyed by a 2018 wildfire that killed 85 people. State fire officials said the new blaze rapidly spread over nearly 2 square miles (5 square kilometers). There was zero containment of the Dixie Fire and two tiny Butte County communities were warned to be ready to evacuate.

A fire in the Sierra south of Yosemite National Park remained at just under 15 square miles (39 square kilometers) but containment increased to 21%.

  

2 of 12
Operations Section Chief Bert Thayer examines a map of the Bootleg Fire, Tuesday, July 13, 2021, in Chiloquin, Ore. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard)

  

7 of 12
Smoke fills the air near the Bootleg Fire, Tuesday, July 13, 2021, near Sprague River, Ore. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard)

12 of 12
Firefighters from Oregon and other nationwide agencies meet at Chiloquin High School before heading toward the Bootleg Fire, Tuesday, July 13, 2021, in Chiloquin, Ore. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard)

___

Cline reported from Salem, Oregon. She is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Associated Press journalists Chris Grygiel in Seattle; Paul Davenport in Phoenix; Julie Walker in New York; Haven Daley in Doyle, California; and Christopher Weber and John Antczak in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

Man who found 2 megalodon teeth says it's like finding 'fragment of history'
By Mark Puleo, Accuweather.com



The historic megalodon tooth was found after Tropical Storm Elsa passed. Photo by Jacob Danner/Facebook


July 14 -- At a length of 70 feet, armed with razor-sharp 7-inch teeth and with the strongest bite force of any known animal to ever roam or swim the Earth, the megalodon was no joke.

With hurricane-force winds that topped out at 75 mph, armed with lethal wind gusts and one of the fastest forward-moving speeds of any tropical system to ever roam the Atlantic, Hurricane Elsa was no joke either.





But beyond their Hollywood names, what could bring these two fantastical beasts together?

Well, days after Elsa's deadly rampage through the Southeast as a tropical storm, the former hurricane left a parting gift for one beach walker -- a 4-inch-long fossilized megalodon tooth.

"It's something so ancient," Jacob Danner said in a phone call with AccuWeather. "You pick up something that's millions of years old from a creature on the planet, and it takes you back to that childlike fascination of dinosaurs and all the mysteries that are only hinted at when we read about them."

Danner told AccuWeather that he was out on a walk on Fernandino Beach in greater Jacksonville, Fla., when he made the remarkable discovery after Elsa had churned the waters. In the storm's wake, hidden deposits from eras long ago washed ashore the beaches.

Danner is an avid collector and historian, but refers to himself more as a hobbyist than an expert. In his most fruitful venture, he said he once found 33 different shark teeth in a two-hour period. However, prior to this summer, he had never come across a megalodon tooth since moving to the coastal area last January.

But even more incredible than his post-Elsa megalodon find? It was his second such discovery in less than a month.

Just three weeks earlier, Danner had found his first-ever megalodon tooth, a long-awaited uncovering that he said almost made him feel guilty.

"The first one that I found, I think it was like June 17 or 18, I just froze and looked around like I was walking on the sidewalk and came across a $100 bill," he said. "There's part of it that's a surprise and another part of it that feels guilty, not sure how to feel. I looked and was just holding it, turning it in my hands."

But after that first find, he said weeks of poor weather kept him from going on his sunrise walks and searching out more treasures. Dreary overcast conditions, both before and after Elsa, kept him inside until the storm passed.

As soon as he got back out there, however, lightning struck twice.

"This was only the second time in weeks that I had gone out and both times, watching the sunrise on a beach walk, I found the megalodon teeth," he said with a laugh. "It feels like you get a little fragment of the mysteries of the history of our planet."

Danner's incredible post-Elsa megalodon discovery wasn't the first tooth he found from the prehistoric shark. Photo by Jacob Danner/Facebook


In his discoveries, Danner has grown to appreciate the lending hand Mother Nature provides in unearthing those mysteries. He said systems like thunderstorms and nor'easters help churn the waters, bringing new discoveries to shore.

It's like the wind and wave action does a lot of the digging for you, he said.

"Weather certainly informs a lot of the hunting," he said. "So when I watch the tides, I watch the app to check because, for me, the best time to go is always two hours after peak high tide when the tide starts going back out, it's like churning the shore in reverse. So I like to walk a strip back and forth, back and forth, following that and just seeing what the waves turn over."


The history of his fossils dates back millions and millions of years. The long-extinct shark species domineered the world's oceans from the early Miocene Epoch, over 23.03 million years ago, to the end of the Pliocene Epoch, about 2.5 million years ago, according to Brittanica.

The name megalodon itself means "giant tooth," an apt name for one of the largest fish this world has ever seen. Armed with hundreds of serrated teeth and a bite force between 108,514 and 182,201 newtons (humans average a bite force of 1,317 newtons), megalodons are believed to have casually snacked on any and all sea creatures, including whales and other sharks.

Their teeth have survived the last couple million years thanks to a fossilization process known as permineralization. Danner said that he had read that when an all-black tooth is found, it likely indicates a fossil that's at least 11 million years old.

He joked that they look delicately shined as if a jeweler polished them.

"It's showroom ready as is! These things are just incredible, I'm astounded that they could survive all those millions of years," he said.

TO LITTLE TO LATE 

US to begin evacuating Afghans who aided American military

By AAMER MADHANI and DARLENE SUPERVILLE

31 minutes ago

In this Friday, April 30, 2021, file photo former Afghan interpreters hold banners during a protest against the U.S. government and NATO in Kabul, Afghanistan. With American troops withdrawing from Afghanistan, pressure has been mounting for the Biden administration to plan a military evacuation of Afghans who supported U.S. military operations during two decades of war in their country. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib,File)


WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration said Wednesday that it is prepared to begin evacuation flights for Afghan interpreters and translators who aided the U.S. military effort in the nearly 20-year war.

The Operation Allies Refuge flights out of Afghanistan during the last week of July will be available first for special immigrant visa applicants already in the process of applying for U.S. residency, according to the White House.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki declined to detail how many Afghans are expected to be among those evacuated in the first flights or where those evacuated will be taken, citing security concerns.

“The reason that we are taking these steps is because these are courageous individuals,” Psaki said. “We want to make sure we recognize and value the role they’ve played over the last several years.”

President Joe Biden has faced pressure from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to come up with a plan to help evacuate Afghan military helpers ahead of next month’s U.S. military withdrawal. The White House began briefing lawmakers on the outlines of their plans last month.

The evacuation planning could potentially affect tens of thousands of Afghans. Several thousand Afghans who worked for the U.S. — plus their family members — are already in the application pipeline for special immigrant visas.

RELATED COVERAGE
– Taliban press advances, take key border post with Pakistan
– Taliban surge in north Afghanistan sends thousands fleeing
– Afghan vet: 'What have we ended up with at the end of it?'

The Biden administration has also been working on identifying a third country or U.S. territory that could host Afghans while their visa applications are processed.

Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, said that much about the Biden evacuation plan remains unknown, including how the administration will help those in areas outside the capital of Kabul evacuate. The Taliban has made rapid gains in taking over huge swaths of the country, particularly in more rural areas.

“Unfortunately, there are still far too many questions left unanswered, including who exactly and how many people are eligible for evacuation. ... How will those outside the capital access safety?” said Vignarajah, whose group has helped resettle thousands of Afghans in the U.S. “And to what countries will they be evacuated? We have serious concerns about the protection of our allies’ human rights in countries that have been rumored as potential partners in this effort.”

The administration is weighing using State Department-chartered commercial aircraft, not military aircraft, according to an administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. But if the State Department requests military aircraft, the U.S. military would be ready to assist, the official said.

Tracey Jacobson, a three-time chief of mission in Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Kosovo, is leading the State Department coordination unit that will deliver on the president’s commitment under Operation Allies Refuge. That unit also includes representatives from the defense and homeland security departments.

Russ Travers, deputy homeland security adviser and former head of the National Counterterrorism Center, is coordinating the interagency policy process on Operation Allies Refuge, officials said.

Separately, the White House announced that Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, the White House homeland security adviser, would lead a U.S. delegation to a security conference in Uzbekistan this week to discuss Afghanistan’s security issues with leaders from the Central 5 — Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Slovenia — and other regional players.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Zalmay Khalilzad, U.S. special envoy on Afghanistan reconciliation, are also expected to take part in the conference.

U.S. officials have said that one possibility under discussion is to relocate the Afghan visa applicants to neighboring countries in Central Asia, where they could be protected from possible retaliation by the Taliban or other groups.

The White House and State Department have declined to comment on the exact numbers to be relocated or where they might go. The U.S. Embassy in Kabul issued 299 special immigrant visas in March, 356 in April and 619 in May, according to the State Department. Biden said last week that the federal government has approved 2,500 special immigrant visas to come to the U.S. since his January inauguration.

Biden announced last week that the U.S. military operation in Afghanistan will end on Aug. 31.

The firming of the date to end the war comes after former President Donald Trump’s administration negotiated a deal with the Taliban to end the U.S. military mission by May 1, 2021. Biden, after taking office, announced that U.S. troops would be out by the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The attacks were plotted by al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden from Afghanistan, where he had been given refuge by the Taliban.

Former President George W. Bush, who launched the war, criticized the Western withdrawal from Afghanistan in an interview with a German broadcaster released Wednesday, saying he fears for Afghan women and girls as the Taliban regains control of much of the country.

“It’s unbelievable how that society changed from the brutality of the Taliban, and all of a sudden — sadly — I’m afraid Afghan women and girls are going to suffer unspeakable harm,” Bush said.

___

Associated Press writers Roberts Burns and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.

BURN! 

MY FAVORITE ANTI IMPERIALIST FILM

WITH A GREAT SOUNDTRACK BY ENNIO MORRICONE

QUEIMADA, originally QUEMADA(aka BURN), changed its Spanish name to the Portuguese one, because general Franco was threatening UNITED ARTISTS with a new ban of all their films in Spain, like it happened with COLUMBIA after Fred Zinnemann's BEHOLD A PALE HORSE.

The producer Alberto Grimaldi and the director Gillo Pontecorvo changed the nationality of the conquerors, remaining Marlon Brando as the British Sir William Walker.

Initially Grimaldi contacted Paul Newman and Sidney Potier for the roles, but both actors considered the script as "anti-American".

Unlike Newman, Brando was an admirer of the author of LA BATTAGLIA DI ALGERI (BATTLE OF ALGIERS)

and he proposed Cassius Clay for the role of Jose Dolores. Finally Brando's antagonist was Evaristo Marquez and the shooting started in Cartagena de Indias (Colombia), being finished in Morocco after different mishaps and controversies.

But then United Artists considered the movie politically not adequated for US audiences and they made a new editing, cutting several scenes and changing the dialogues.

This mutitlated US cut was the english version. These images are from the uncut italian restored version. Ennio Morricone composed one of his most impressive soundtracks, still maintain its position in the main artery of majestic movie themes. Many of the tracks are literally, a magic carpet ride.

"..The film portrays, quite brilliantly, the nature of a guerrilla uprising. Walker seems all too aware of the danger of a popular uprising, when he cautions the white rulers that "the guerrilla has nothing to lose." And that in killing a hero of the people, the hero "becomes a martyr, and the martyr becomes a myth." " Amazon Review �An amazing film. . . No one, with the possible exception of Eisenstein, has ever before attempted a political interpretation of history on this epic scale.� � Pauline Kael

'Queimada': Revolution In Perpetual Motion - as long as there are empires, there will be wars - "Pontecorvo was an expert on the subject of revolution, possibly even the poet laureate of violent change. An Italian communist, he wore his biases plainly on his sleeve and didn't let them prevent him from reaching greatness, as he did in 1965 in "The Battle of Algiers," a movie so pungent in its realities that the Pentagon showed it to Special Forces people just last year... the movie Queimada is most powerful as argument: It believes in the permanence of revolution, and it closes on a shot of the surly, bitter, seething people of Queimada, and in their anger it sees a forever of violence. This is the way it will go, he seems to be saying, and it doesn't seem that he got that one wrong, unless peace broke out in the past five minutes. It's brilliantly constructed to argue what might be called the classic imperial paradox: To win this war you must make inevitable the next. The corollary is that as long as there are empires, there will be wars. "

Queimada (1969)

Queimada - Trivia The film's original title was Quemada (the Spanish word for "burnt", as the action took place in a Spanish colony. When the Spanish government officially complained and threatened a boycott of the film (objecting to the script's supposedly anti-Spanish bias, Gillo Pontecorvo agreed to alter the setting to a Portuguese island and the release title became Queimada ("burnt" in Portuguese). Sir William Walker, a real historical figure portrayed in the film by Marlon Brando, was neither British nor knighted. Walker was an American adventurer and his title of "sir" was one he adopted on his own. 'Evaristo Marquez' , who plays rebel leader Jose Dolores in the film, was not an actor. He was a poor villager whom director Pontecorvo discovered while scouting locations and convinced to star opposite Brando. The studio had originally wanted Sydney Poitier. Marlon Brando once said this film contains "the best acting I've ever done"

Queimada - Amy Taubin

" Burn! was a courageous film for Pontecorvo to make. There are few films as passionate or as uncompromising about the real workings and nature of imperialism as a world order, nor a film which identifies so feelingly with the victims of neo-colonial rule. Not since Eisenstein has a film so explicitly and with such artistry sounded a paen to the glory and moral necessity of revolution. Even had United Artists not attempted to sabotage Burn!, it would be a film deserving wider viewing and critical attention. " Joan Mellen SEE THE FULL REVIEW Quemada - Gillo Pontecorvo's Burn! (tamilnation.org)

Opioid Agonist Therapy reduces mortality risk among people with opioid dependence

UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL

Research News

 

A new global review has found that receiving Opioid Agonist Therapy (OAT) is associated with lower risk of multiple causes of death among people with opioid dependence.

The review found that people with opioid dependence were less likely to experience overdose-related, suicide, alcohol-related, cancer, and cardiovascular-related mortality while receiving OAT.

Researchers from the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC) at UNSW Sydney, University of Bristol and several other global institutions reviewed the relationship between OAT and mortality across type of drug, setting and participant groups from over 700,000 participants, which is six times the number of any other previous review.

The review found that mortality risk was lower for those receiving either buprenorphine or methadone treatment, the two most common forms of OAT for people with opioid dependence.

Lead author, Thomas Santo Jr, PhD candidate at NDARC, said, "People with opioid dependence who receive OAT are not only at lower risk of overdose than those who do not, but also at lower risk of suicide and several other common causes of death."

"This review provides further justification for expanding access to OAT to help lower the risk of mortality among people with opioid dependence," said Mr Santo.

"Importantly, the benefits of OAT were consistent across region, age, sex, and comorbidity status. The few studies that examined the impact of OAT after release from prison, found that time in OAT lowered risk of mortality."

The review confirmed that there was a greater risk of death in the first month after OAT is stopped. For patients on methadone, there was a greater risk of mortality at the beginning of treatment which was not seen for patients on buprenorphine.

"The first four weeks that follow treatment cessation are associated with particularly high rates of suicide and overdose-related mortality," said Mr. Santo.

"These findings emphasise the importance of retention in treatment for those with opioid dependence who start treatment on OAT. There is also a need for more detailed investigation and intervention development to minimise mortality risk during induction onto OAT."

The review shows that randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of OAT are underpowered (do not have a large enough sample size) to examine mortality risk.

"We looked at trial evidence but so few studies were powered to examine mortality, which is why we need to rely on cohort studies of people in treatment around the world," said Mr Santo.

Professor Matt Hickman, at the NIHR Health Protection Research Unit in Behavioural Science and Evaluation at University of Bristol, said, "The research evidence is clear - OAT reduces mortality risk - but the population benefits of OAT may not be realised if treatment periods in the community are too short and prisoners with opioid use disorders are not released on OAT after leaving prison. Countries - like the UK - with ongoing public health crises in drug related deaths - need to review both access to OAT and the way it is delivered to ensure the greatest number of deaths are averted.

"A clinical decision support system, stratifying clients' risk of dropout in real time, may facilitate the identification of those in need of service enhancements to increase engagement and prevent dropout.

"Work to scale up access and retention could have important population-level benefits."

###

Paper: 'Association of Opioid Agonist Treatment with all-cause mortality and specific causes of death among people with opioid dependence: A systematic review and meta-analysis'. Thomas Santo Jr. et al. Published in JAMA. 2 June 20

Infographic: Wildfires and Climate Change

Visualizing the Connection in Five Sets of Photos and Charts


Every year, millions of acres of land are consumed by fire in the United States. By raising temperatures, melting snow sooner, and drying soils and forests, climate change is fueling the problem. Here’s what we know.


#1: Wildfires are getting worse

Data from the Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity program. MTBS only includes large fires in the United States (>500 acres for the eastern US, >1000 acres for the west). Prescribed fires removed.


Since 2015, the United States has experienced, on average, roughly 100 more large wildfires every year than the year before. This changes region by region, and year to year, but generally we’re seeing more wildfires, more acres burned, and longer, more intense fire seasons.


#2 Wildfires are causing more harm

On left, the perimeter of the massive Camp Fire is overlayed on Chicago. Federal suppression costs from the National Interagency Fire Center.


Wildfires are dangerous and destructive. The historically large Camp Fire of 2018 caused at least ninety deaths, destroyed more than 18,000 structures, and covered an area roughly the same size as the Chicago metropolitan area.

They're also expensive. Between 2014 and 2018, the federal government spent an average of 2.4 billion dollars fighting wildfires every year. Even when adjusted for inflation, that’s more than twice what we spent 20 years earlier (1994-1998).

And as the forests burn, they release carbon dioxide and other global warming gases, worsening climate change. As wildfires burn more land, emissions go up.


#3: Climate change is a key driver

Attribution data from John T. Abatzoglou and A. Park Williams, Impact of anthropogenic climate change on wildfire across western US forests.


Fire has historically been a natural part of many wild landscapes. But global warming has changed some of the underlying variables that make wildfires more or less likely to occur every year.

Warmer temperatures increase the likelihood that fires will burn more intensely. They also cause snow to melt sooner, and lead to drier soils, forests, and plants, which act as kindling. Increased droughts, unusual rain patterns, and insect outbreaks that lead to large stands of dead trees are also connected with climate change—and they all make wildfires more likely.


#4 Management matters


Other factors also influence wildfire risk—especially management and development decisions in fire-prone areas near forests.

In the western United States, forests historically evolved with frequent, low-intensity fires that removed underbrush, debris, and fallen timber. This allowed for larger trees and made massive fires much less common.

But for the past century, almost all fires have been suppressed, even small ones. This has allowed forests to maintain denser growth and more potential fuel, leading to larger and more intense wildfires.

In addition, development near and into previously wild areas has increased fire risk and made fire-fighting more costly, challenging, and dangerous.

Government agencies have tried to lower forest density through prescribed burning (purposefully lit, low-intensity fires) and thinning (the physical removal of brush, vegetation and dead trees), but have struggled to do so at scale.

On smaller landscapes in the southeast, land managers conduct far more frequent prescribed burns. These fires bring their own risks, including poor air quality, and the chance of growing to be a damaging wildfire. But by mimicking smaller "natural" fires, prescribed burns can benefit forest ecology, and help mitigate at least some of the increased wildfire risk presented by climate change.


#5 Action is possible

In the near term, ecologically-sound forest and fire management could help limit fire risks.

But in the long-term, climate action is the best tool we have. When we reduce global warming emissions, we slow the growth of climate risks, including wildfire. Until then, summers will continue getting hotter, forests will get drier, and more and more people will face the threat of wildfire.


Photo credits: Burning car and home, and burnt neighborhood by Josh Edelson/Getty. Smoke plume by David McNew/Getty. Firefighter carrying drip torch courtesy of the National Park Service. Protesters by Leonhard Foeger/Reuters.

Electrify America to double EV charging network in U.S., Canada


Electrify America announced plans Tuesday to more than double electric charging stations in the United States by 2025. Photo courtesy of Electrify America

July 13 (UPI) -- Electrify America said Tuesday it plans to more than double its U.S. and Canada electrical vehicle charging network by the end of 2025.

The "Boost Plan" expands the number of ultra-fast electric vehicle chargers to more than 10,000 and the number of fast charging stations to 1,800 in the United States and Canada, according to the company's statement.

Electrify America, a subsidiary of Volkswagen Group of America, previously planned to expand individual chargers to 3,500 and charging stations to 800 in the United States by the end of 2021. The new commitment will increase that number to 9,500 individual chargers and 1,700 charging stations by the end of 2025.

Under the expansion, Electrify America will also increase its presence in established U.S. regions and add the states of Hawaii, North Dakota, South Dakota, West Virginia, Wyoming and Vermont, bringing its network to 49 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.

RELATED New device harvests power from sweaty fingertips

Along with its existing U.S. network, Electrify America will also expand its Electrify Canada charging network from current commitment of 32 stations to more than 100 stations and 500 chargers over the next 4 1/2 years.

"We have decided to double our current charging infrastructure in North America over the next four years to help meet the need for the rapid growth expected of electric vehicles by virtually all the auto manufacturers, and to help make EV adoption more accessible and attractive than ever," Electrify America President and CEO Giovanni Palazzo said in the statement. "We are making this commitment to support the plans by major automakers and the U.S. and Canadian governments to help the transformation to an electric mobility transportation system."

Electrify America previously committed to invest $2 billion over 10 years in electric vehicle infrastructure and education in the United States. The funding is part of a $10 billion settlement with the U.S. government over the diesel emission scandal of 2016.

RELATED Hyundai launches high-end Genesis electric vehicle

The Volkswagen subsidiary added in its statement Tuesday that its integrating battery storage solutions to reduce the impact on the power grid and allow deployment of charging stations in areas where it was not previously feasible.

Electrify America noted that it has installed four stations per week on average since its first charging station opened in May 2018.

RELATED Dodge to make electric muscle car in 2024