A slice of the Pentagon's internet space that was taken over by a Florida company minutes before Trump left office has been returned, but the mystery remains


Kelsey Vlamis
Sat, September 11, 2021, 

Aerial view of the Pentagon Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call via Getty Images


Right before Trump left office, a large chunk of the Pentagon's internet space was transferred to a private firm.

Now that space has been returned and the Pentagon said the cybersecurity program has ended.

It's still unclear what exactly the program did and how a young Florida company was chosen for it.


Minutes before the official end of President Donald Trump's term, a young company based in Florida reportedly took control over a large chunk of internet space owned by the Pentagon.

Eight months later, it has been returned to the Department of Defense, The Washington Post reported Friday, but questions remain about the program.

The company at one point held 175 million IP addresses, controlling more of the internet than some of the world's largest internet companies, including Comcast and AT&T.

The company was identified as Global Resource Systems LLC, headquartered in Plantation, Florida, Insider's Kevin Shalvey reported in April. The company appeared to have been founded in the fall of last year, filing paperwork in Florida in October, and was incorporated in Delaware.

When news of the transfer of the internet space broke in April, the Department of Defense told the Associated Press it was being done to "assess, evaluate and prevent unauthorized use of DoD IP address space."

But AP said officials could not answer why Global Resource Systems, a company that seemed to only be in existence for less than six months, was chosen to take over the space.

The Post reported Friday the 175 million IP addresses, a whopping 6% of the entire internet, were transferred back to the Pentagon this week.

A Pentagon spokesperson told the outlet that the cybersecurity program, started by the self-described "swat team of nerds" from the Defense Digital Service, had ended, and confirmed that the internet space was back under the control of the Department of Defense Information Network.

"The Defense Digital Service established a plan to launch the cybersecurity pilot and then transition control of the initiative to DoD partners," Defense Department Spokesperson Russell Goemaere told The Post.

"Following the DDS pilot, shifting DoD Internet Protocol (IP) advertisement to DoD's traditional operations and mature network security processes, maintains consistency across the DODIN. This allows for active management of the IP space and ensure the Department has the operational maneuver space necessary to maintain and improve DODIN resiliency," the statement said.

Goemaere said the program was launched in the fall and that the timing of the transfer was "agnostic of administration change."

The Pentagon did not give details about what exactly the program did or why that company was chosen. Global Resource Systems did not respond to requests for comment from Insider, The Post, or AP.

IT IS BOTH; ANTI HUMANIST AND ANTI HUMAN

Don't Be Fooled By Religious Arguments For Texas' Abortion Law. It's Un-Christian.

Rev. Jennifer Butler
Sat, September 11, 2021, 

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) speaks during a news conference in San Antonio. A Texas law allowed to stand in a Sept. 2 Supreme Court decision bans abortions after a fetal heartbeat can be detected, typically around six weeks. 

(Photo: Via Associated Press)




When I was a seminary student, training to become a pastor, I accompanied a loved one to a Planned Parenthood facility as she considered terminating her pregnancy. She chose not to get an abortion that day, but I was there for her either way. Carrying each other through difficult moments, while respecting each other’s moral autonomy, is at the heart of both friendship and faith.

Under Texas’ new S.B. 8 law, the options that the Planned Parenthood staffer compassionately laid out for my friend no longer exist. S.B. 8’s ban on abortion after six weeks functionally outlaws the vast majority of pregnancy terminations, even if the pregnancy results from rape or incest. Texas Republicans have wielded the bluntest of legal instruments on some of our most nuanced personal and ethical decisions.

Millions of Texas women and the people who support them, including health care providers and faith leaders, are living in fear and danger after the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that allowed Texas’ S.B. 8 to go into effect this week. S.B. 8 turns neighbor against neighbor by allowing any individual to sue anyone else whom they believe provided or assisted a patient with an abortion, and collect $10,000 for each successful claim. Under this law, my friend’s enraged partner, who tried to physically block us from leaving her home, could have bankrupted me.

When we reward anger and punish accompaniment, we ignore God’s condemnation of those who sow discord (Proverbs 6:19) and disregard the Gospel’s call to love our neighbor. While anti-abortion lawmakers often cloak their positions in Christian faith, S.B. 8 is theologically unsound.

The dangerous new reality created by S.B. 8 does not reflect the beliefs of everyday people who are conflicted about or even oppose abortion. I’ve held dialogues, publicly and privately, with Christians who hold a range of views on the morality and legality of abortion care. In a sometimes difficult search for ways to bridge divides, I’ve learned some important truths that illustrate why S.B. 8 fails to reflect the nuanced thinking that people across the spectrum bring to the issue.

We must approach abortion with nuance, rather than stark binaries. While Americans identify as “pro-choice” and “pro-life” in almost equal numbers, polls consistently show that fewer than 30% of Americans support overturning Roe v. Wade (a legal precedent that S.B. 8 flouts). Given the very personal impact of the issue and the wide range of theologies on it, it’s only natural that people hold complex beliefs and see shades of gray.

But human beings have much clearer feelings about hypocrisy. The contrast between S.B. 8 and Texas’ deadly COVID-19 policies shows a deep disconnect between “pro-life” rhetoric and “pro-life” policies. When Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed S.B. 8, he said that “our Creator endowed us with a right to life.” But Abbott has unleashed unnecessary death by banning school districts statewide from protecting children’s lives with classroom mask mandates, and by forbidding businesses from requiring that patrons and employees be vaccinated to enter. The dissonance will only become sharper as hospital beds and mortuaries fill with COVID victims while court dockets proliferate with lawsuits against people sued for acts of friendship and compassion toward women seeking abortion care.

The friend I accompanied to Planned Parenthood ultimately put her child up for adoption. I was with her in the hospital, holding her hand as she labored; then again days later, as she wept, having handed over her beloved to new parents. Policies that rob us of the agency to make such weighty moral decisions about the direction of our lives demean the fullness of our humanity. And suing people into bankruptcy for acts of compassion is the height of cruelty. As a pastor, the words of Scripture and the stories of my neighbors compel me to rebuke this unjust law.

The Rev. Jennifer Butler is CEO of Faith in Public Life, a nationwide network of more than 50,000 faith leaders, and was chair of the President’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships under the Obama administration. She is the author of “Who Stole My Bible?: Reclaiming Scripture as a Handbook for Resisting Tyranny.”

Canada's Trudeau , after gravel throwing, condemns rhetoric of right-wing leader


Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau campaigns in Candiac, Quebec

Steve Scherer
Sun, September 12, 2021

CANDIAC, Quebec (Reuters) - Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Sunday, who was pelted with gravel at a rally last week, said the leader of the right-wing People's Party of Canada (PPC) was using irresponsible rhetoric.

The 49-year-old Trudeau was campaigning in London, Ontario, last week ahead of the Sept 20 national election when he was hit by gravel on his way back to his campaign bus.

Police charged former PPC member Shane Marshall with assault with a weapon on Saturday, alleging Marshall tossed the stones.

 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/shane-marshall-people-s-party-gravel-trudeau-1.6172690

 

PPC leader Maxime Bernier expelled Marshall from the party last week when the allegations emerged, and he also condemned the incident.

On Sunday, Trudeau placed at least some of the responsibility on Bernier for the gravel throwing and the often profane verbal abuse he has faced from angry vaccine opponents on the campaign trail.

"Words have power," Trudeau told supporters at an event outside of Montreal when asked whether Bernier was inciting violence. "I don't think Mr. Bernier is being responsible in his approach to Canada or to Canadians."

A lone protester waving a PPC sign shouted, "Woo! Max Bernier!" and "liar" and "tyrant" as Trudeau spoke. "Thank you, sir, for making my point," Trudeau replied.

Bernier, who calls himself a "limited-government conservative," has been drawing vocal crowds as he campaigns against pandemic lockdowns and vaccine mandates.

A former minister of foreign affairs and industry, Bernier founded the populist PPC in 2018 after narrowly losing his bid for the leadership of the main opposition Conservative Party.

In 2019, the PPC won only 1.6% of the national vote and failed to get a seat in parliament, but an Ekos poll published on Saturday has the PPC at 9.1%.

A rolling Nanos Research poll of 1,200 voters conducted on Friday showed the Liberals leading 34.4% with the rival Conservatives at 30.1%, a shift from Thursday when the Conservatives were leading the Liberals by more than two percentage points.

The Liberal gain in the polls followed two nationally broadcast debates, in French and English, last week.

The left-leaning New Democrats had 19% on Friday, about the same as a day earlier.

(Reporting by Steve Scherer; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

President Orban’s anti-Muslim immigration policy

Pope Francis does Hungary

By AFP

Published: Sep 12, 2021 


Pope Francis boards a plane as he departs for Budapest and Slovakia on Sunday at Rome's Fiumicino international airport. Photo: AFP

Pope Francis arrives in Budapest on Sunday morning to celebrate a mass, with eyes focused on his meeting with the anti-migration Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

The head of 1.3 billion Catholics will have a half-an-hour meeting with Orban - accompanied by Hungarian President Janos Ader - in Budapest's grand Fine Arts Museum, in what could be an awkward brief encounter.

On the one side, Orban, a self-styled defender of "Christian Europe" from migration. On the other, Pope Francis, who urges help for the marginalized and those of all religions fleeing war and poverty.

But the approach, eminently Christian according to the pope, has often been met with incomprehension among the faithful, particularly within the ranks of traditionalist Catholics.

Over the last few years, there has been no love lost between Orban supporters in Hungary and the leader of the Catholic world.

Pro-Orban media and political figures have launched barbs at the pontiff calling him "anti-Christian" for his pro-refugee sentiments, and the "Soros Pope," a reference to the Hungarian-born liberal US billionaire George Soros, a right-wing bete-noire.

Eyebrows have also been raised by the pontiff's whirlwind visit to close the 52nd International Eucharistic Congress. His 7-hour-long stay in 9.8 million population Hungary will be followed immediately by an official visit to smaller neighbor Slovakia of more than two days.

"Pope Francis wants to humiliate Hungary by only staying a few hours," said a pro-Orban television pundit.

Born Jorge Bergoglio to a family of Italian emigrants to Argentina, the pope regularly reminds "old Europe" of its past, built on waves of new arrivals.

And without ever naming political leaders he castigates "sovereigntists" who turn their backs on refugees with what he has called "speeches that resemble those of Hitler in 1934."

In April 2016, the pope said "We are all migrants!" on the Greek island of Lesbos, gateway to Europe, bringing on board his plane three Syrian Muslim families whose homes had been bombed.

In contrast, Orban's signature crusade against migration has included border fences and detention camps for asylum-seekers and provoked growing ire in Brussels.

Orban's supporters point instead to state-funded aid agency "Hungary Helps" which works to rebuild churches and schools in war-torn Syria, and sends doctors to Africa.

"The majority of Hungarians say the same thing: We should not bring the problem to Europe, but should help out where the problem is instead," said Father Kornel Fabry, secretary general of the congress.

Poll Finds GOP Supports Trump, Even Though Nearly Half Of Republicans 

Want Another Candidate In 2024

By financialpress
Published5 hours ago

A new poll says nearly half of Republicans think someone other than Donald Trump should lead the GOP presidential ticket in 2024.

But the CNN poll released Sunday, and conducted by SSRS, also found that nearly two-thirds of Republicans want Trump to continue leading the party, reflecting division over the future of the GOP.

In a poll of more than 2,100 people between Aug. 3 and Sept. 7, 63% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents said they wanted Trump as leader of the Republican Party, with 37% disagreeing. But on the question of the 2024 presidential race, only 51% said Republicans would have a better chance of winning the White House if Trump was running; 49% said another candidate would have a better chance. Trump’s support was greater among self-identifying conservatives and Republicans.

The poll had a margin of error of 2.8 percentage points.

On a question asking what being a Republican meant to them, about 60% of respondents said supporting Trump, and his false claims that he won the 2020 election, as at least somewhat important. That compared to 69% saying opposing Democratic policies, 81% saying supporting congressional Republicans, 85% saying holding conservative positions and values, and 86% saying the federal government should have less power.

CULT CONNECTED TO KCIA

Donald Trump spoke at a 9/11 'Moonies' conference organized by the widow of Reverend Sun Myung Moon, praising the controversial Unification Church

Alia Shoaib

Donald Trump (L), Reverend Sun Myung Moon and wife Hak Ja Han Moon (R) 

Getty Images (L), Reuters (R)


Donald Trump spoke at an event on Saturday to praise the founders of the controversial Unification Church.

The church, whose followers are often called the Moonies,' has been widely described as a cult.

A former cult member said that the group has deep ties to the modern Republican Party.

On Saturday, Donald Trump spoke at a conference organized by Hak Ja Han Moon, the widow of Reverend Sun Myung Moon, the founder of the controversial Unification Church.

Reverend Moon founded the church in South Korea in 1954 before moving to the United States in 1971, and it has been widely described as a cult.

Donald Trump was a featured keynote speaker at the "Rally of Hope" event, which coincided with the 20th anniversary of 9/11

In his speech, Trump said, "I want to thank the Universal Peace Federation and in particular Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon, a tremendous person, for her incredible work on behalf of peace all over the world."

"What they have achieved on the peninsula is just amazing. In just a few decades, the inspiration that they have caused for the entire planet is unbelievable, and I congratulate you again and again," Trump said about the couple.

Reverend Moon called himself a Messiah and claimed that he had been asked by Jesus Christ to continue his work on earth.

The controversial church, whose followers are colloquially referred to as "Moonies," gained notoriety for arranging mass weddings between strangers.

The group is still active around the world.

Thousands of couples take part in a mass wedding ceremony at Cheongshim Peace World Center on February 17, 2013 in Gapyeong-gun, South Korea. 

Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images

In his speech, Donald Trump also took the opportunity to take credit for improving the security situation in the Korean peninsula.

"Looking back today, it's easy to forget how dangerous the situation was when I was elected," Trump said.

"Missiles were flying, nuclear weapons were being tested, and powerful threats were being issued every single day."

"Under my leadership, the United States adopted a policy of unprecedented strength," Trump said.

Jim Stewartson, founder of the anti-disinformation organization The Think Project, wrote on Twitter that the event was "deeply harmful and deceptive."

"This is being pitched by a who's who of establishment extremists as some sort of peace mission to unify Korea," Stewartson wrote.

"In reality, it's dangerous propaganda whitewashing a dangerous cult."

Those who have left the group, including one of the Moon's daughters, have described experiencing abuse during their time in the church.

In a blog post, Steve Hassan, a former member of the church who is now a cult expert, described how the group indoctrinates members.

Hassan added on Twitter that the group has long-established ties with Donald Trump and the modern Republican party.

In 1991, Trump was reported to have been considering selling his Florida resort Mar-a-Lago to Reverend Moon, but the church leader later denied being interested in the property.

Other high-profile GOP figures, including former vice presidents Mike Pence and Dick Cheney, have also spoken at events organized by the group.

Hyung Jin "Sean" Moon, the son of the Moons, campaigned for Donald Trump and attended the Capitol insurrection on January 6.

He also formed an offshoot church called World Peace and Unification Sanctuary Church in Pennsylvania, which has made MAGA politics a central tenet.

The group famously worships while carrying AR-15 rifles and has a 40-acre compound in Texas that it says is a safe haven for "patriots."

Members of the World Peace and Unification Sanctuary hold their AR-15 rifles as they participate in a Life Holy Marriage Blessing at the church on October 14, 2019 in Newfoundland, Pennsylvania. 

Spencer Platt/Getty Images

National Intelligence Service (South Korea) - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KCIA

The National Intelligence Service (NIS, 대한민국 국가정보원, 국정원) is the chief intelligence agency of South Korea. The agency was officially established in 1961 as the Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA, 중앙정보부), during the rule of President Park Chung-hee's military Supreme Council for National Reconstruction, which displaced the Second Republic of Korea. The original duties of the KCIA …

• History
• Related South Korean legislative bodies
• Cybersecurity
• Intelligence on North Korea
• See also
• General references
• External links

Korean Central Intelligence Agency
The agency's origins can be traced back to the Korean Counterintelligence Corps (KCIC), formed during the Korean War. The KCIA was founded on 13 June 1961 by Kim Jong-pil, who drew much of the organization's initial 3,000-strong membership from the KCIC. Kim, a Korean Military A…

Atlanta zoo sees COVID-19 outbreak among lowland gorillas



JoJo, an 33-year-old western lowland gorilla and sits in his habitat at the Brookfield Zoo's Tropic World exhibit. Gorillas like him have been at risk of being infected with COVID-19, which happened at Zoo Atlanta. Photo by Brian Kersey/UPI. | License Photo

Sept. 11 (UPI) -- More than a dozen lowland gorillas at Zoo Atlanta have tested positive for COVID-19.

Zoo officials said Friday that several gorillas were tested after staff observed the primates with coughs, runny noses and changes in appetite. Staff collected and sent fecal, nasal and oral swab samples to the Athens Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory at the University of Georgia, which tested positive for COVID-19.

Thirteen of the gorillas tested positive for the virus, reports The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Sam Rivera, senior director of animal health at Zoo Atlanta, told the paper that Atlanta's gorillas are the second group of great apes to be infected with the virus after a troop of eight were infected at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park in January.

Among those infected is Ozzie, a 350-pound silverback who is one of the world's oldest living male gorillas at around age 60, reports the local Fox affiliate.

"The teams are very closely monitoring the affected gorillas and are hopeful they will make a complete recovery. They are receiving the best possible care, and we are prepared to provide additional supportive care should it become necessary," Rivera said in the statement. "We are very concerned that these infections occurred, especially given that our safety protocols when working with great apes and other susceptible animal species are, and throughout the pandemic have been, extremely rigorous."

The zoo said there is no evidence to suggest that animals can transmit the virus to humans. BUT APPARENTLY THE OPPOSITE IS NOT TRUE

While Zoo Atlanta is unsure how the animals acquired the virus, the zoo said in a statement that veterinary teams believe it came from a COVID-19-positive staff member. The staff member is fully vaccinated, was wearing personal protective equipment and was asymptomatic when reporting to work, according to the statement.

The zoo has a total of 20 gorillas that are divided into four troops, the Journal-Constitution reports. Members of every troop have shown signs of infection, and all will be tested because they live in close proximity and can't be isolated.

Zoo Atlanta has received Zoetis, a COVID-19 vaccine made for animals. The zoo said it will vaccinate its Bornean and Sumatran orangutans, Sumatran tigers, African lions and clouded leopard. The gorillas will receive the vaccine after they recover.

RELATED San Diego Zoo vaccinates bonobos, orangutans against COVID-19

Health policy experts react to Stampede recording of Jason Kenney

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Jason Kenney appears to say COVID-19 not a threat to younger people

CBC News · Posted: Sep 12, 2021 6:01 PM MT | Last Updated: 5 hours ago

Premier Jason Kenney said in a video recorded during the Calgary Stampede that COVID-19 is not a threat to young people, and that Alberta will be open for good. 1:06

A video of a conversation between Alberta Premier Jason Kenney and a member of the public undercuts faith in public health as COVID-19 cases in the province surge, a health policy professor says.

The video was recently posted to social media, and appears to have been recorded without Kenney's knowledge.

It shows the premier at a Stampede breakfast-related event in July, where Kenney was asked about people who are not vaccinated. 

"They're younger. Most of them are under 12, and the flu is a greater threat to them than COVID," he says. 

"The largest other cohort [of unvaccinated people] is in their 20s and they're very healthy," he says. "COVID is not a threat to people under 30, effectively."

Alberta Health reported that there were three children under the age of 18 in ICU as of Thursday. More than 900 Albertans under age 30 have been hospitalized due to COVID-19 over the course of the pandemic.

In the recording, Kenney also says Alberta will be open for good.

CBC Calgary reached out to representatives from the premier's office for comment, and didn't receive a response. 

These types of statements create expectations in the public, making it difficult to impose public health restrictions when needed, says Lorian Hardcastle, a health law and policy professor at the University of Calgary. 

In this file photo, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, right, cooks pancakes while hosting the annual Premier's Stampede breakfast in Calgary on Monday, July 12, 2021. (Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press)

She says such statements undercut people's trust in public health policies. 

"I think that's the problem that we're seeing ourselves in right now, where it was promised that we're open for summer. It's the end of restrictions," she says.  

"Now that hospital capacity is where it is — and we may very well need more restrictions — it becomes very hard politically, for a government who made those kinds of promises to do what they need to do to keep people safe."

Though he does not specify a timeline, Kenney says in the video that "we're going to be at over 80 per cent vaccination in Alberta." 

As of Thursday, about two months after the video was filmed, close to 71 per cent of eligible Albertans are fully vaccinated, representing 60.3 per cent of the total population. 

"Those are not numbers that you want to misrepresent," Hardcastle says.  

• 'My life is on hold': Patient, doctors react as Calgary hospitals cancel elective surgeries

• Calgary doctors prepare for more sick kids as COVID transmission rates grow

"I also felt as though it was concerning that he downplayed the risk by saying that people under a certain age really don't have to worry about this. That's not a message that we want to send."

At the time of filming, health experts had predicted a rise of COVID-19 cases in the fall tied to the delta variant of the virus, she says. 

"It's concerning if he genuinely believed that delta didn't pose enough of a threat that we could find our way back where we were, because certainly other experts did," she says. 

University of Calgary health law associate professor Lorian Hardcastle says statements like the ones made in the recording can undercut people’s trust in public health policies. (Submitted by Lorian Hardcastle)

John Church, a professor of political science at the University of Alberta, says the video shows that Alberta public health experts and political leadership are at odds about COVID-19 messaging. 

"The science on all this has been very clear for some time, and the science has told us — not to mention the actual on the ground experience — has told us that hand washing, masking, social distancing and vaccination are the way for us to get out of this," Church says. 

The Alberta NDP declined to comment.

WHEN BELL IS AT HIS BEST; SNARKY

Bell: Kenney sidekick Shandro gets COVID questions, serves word salad

Author of the article: Rick Bell
Publishing date: Sep 10, 2021 

Health Minister Tyler Shandro announces the province's new COVID restrictions at McDougall Centre in Calgary on Friday, September 3, 2021. Azin Ghaffari/Postmedia

I’m too confused to be gobsmacked.

On Thursday I tell Tyler Shandro, Kenney’s health head honcho, I’m confused.

It’s my turn for a question.

Others have asked questions and gotten nowhere. I give it a shot knowing there’s a good chance of sinking in the same Kenney government quicksand.

I tell Shandro I will make it really, really, really simple.

First shot. How much longer does he think the current COVID-19 wave will continue going up?

How bad does he believe it will get?

What measures are Kenney, Shandro and the rest of the UCP crew prepared to put in place if things get much worse?

What things are they ruling in, ruling out, still considering, not considering?

What about government-mandated vaccine passports as in other provinces?

You know, where your proof of vaccination is on your phone or on a card and if you’re not fully vaccinated then you can’t go to certain places like bars and restaurants. All bars and restaurants.

The passport is intended to get people’s attention and get more of the unvaccinated motivated to roll up their sleeves.

Also, what about closing businesses? Is that a possibility?

What is on the table? What is off the table?

Shandro’s chance to be clear to all Albertans no matter where you stand.

He stickhandles. I take that back. He doesn’t stickhandle.

There is a skill to stickhandling. People say: “Boy, they can really stickhandle!”

No one in their right mind gives Shandro kudos for this meandering mess.

Shandro says no jurisdiction has been able to predict the future. You don’t say. But they still act.

He says we might hit the peak of the COVID wave in the coming weeks.

Then he puts on what he calls his asterisk.

We continue to see the unvaccinated continue to interact with each other.

“To be able to guess those folks and their behaviour does make it a little difficult for us to pin down.”

That’s why newshounds are asking about government vaccine passports.

The answer? The short answer. The long answer, you don’t want to see.

“We’re looking at the further situation,” says Shandro.

“Looking at where we do see the further spread among the geographically and demographically for us to be able to continue to make sure we have the system capacity in our hospitals we need to have.”

You read it right.

I had another question but I had to go back and give the first one another try.

“With all due respect, it’s hard to figure out your answers. It’s hard to get an answer,” I tell Shandro.

“People are upset. They want to have an idea of what the government’s plan is and they’d like to know: Are certain things still on the table or are they definitely off the table?”

I ask again about vaccine passports, closing businesses. Possibility, no possibility?

“There’s a lot of people listening here who are in business. Are you prepared to close businesses again? I think I’m being pretty direct.”

Shandro asks how certain can we be of the future and it’s hard to say 100% we know the answer. They’ll keep us posted.

So did Nero as Rome burned.

Other newshounds hold Shandro’s feet to the fire.

He tells them they have great questions but then adds there is no easy answer and gives a non-answer answer.

Some of these so-called answers are head-shaking. Shandro actually thinks telling the unvaccinated they shouldn’t hang out indoors in big groups is doing something.

He talks about the government looking at evidence but it is not at all clear what he means as he rambles, connecting dots clear only to him.

He’s asked about making political decisions on COVID and says the biggest criticism of Kenney’s outfit is they have not been making decisions political enough.

Really?

One answer starts going down a rabbit hole when Shandro asks a reporter what definition of vaccine passport she is using when he knows damn well what she’s talking about. He goes on about other definitions and the answer gets lost in the ether.

Dr. Deena Hinshaw, the top public health doc, does kind of admit the Best Summer Ever plan … er … didn’t pan out.

But then the doc talks about young liquored-up people in the bars as a source of spreading COVID justifying the 10 p.m. bar closing time without mentioning you could just keep the unvaccinated party crowd out and operate normally.

By the way, the question I didn’t ask Shandro.

Does he really understand many Albertans are angry? Does he think Albertans have a point in being angry?

I can only imagine what he would have said.

Nature defenders murdered in record numbers, environmental rights group says

Issued on: 13/09/2021

The so called Odami sawmill in Para, Brazil. A Global Witness report published on September 12, 2021, said Latin American forest defenders were particularly targeted in 2020. 

© Raphael Alves, AFP (file photo)
Text by: NEWS WIRES

A record 227 people were killed worldwide in 2020 for their defense of nature -- more than four a week on average, and almost three-quarters of them in Latin America, environmental rights organization Global Witness said Sunday.

For the second year in a row, Colombia was the country with the highest number of killings -- 65 -- while Nicaragua had the highest per-capita rate, with 12 murders up from five in 2019, the group said in its annual report.

Seven of the 10 deadliest countries for land and environmental defenders were in Latin America, with 165 killings recorded, though Global Witness said the number was "almost certainly" an underestimate.

After Colombia, Mexico had the second highest number of deaths globally, with 30.

It was followed by the Philippines (29), Brazil (20), Honduras (17), the Democratic Republic of Congo (15), Guatemala (13), Nicaragua (12), Peru (six) and India (four).

"This is a crisis against humanity," said the report.

"Land and environmental defenders that have stood up to powerful interests have paid a heavy price -- with their freedom, livelihoods and even their lives."

Repressive governments, added Global Witness, used the global coronavirus outbreak "as an opportunity to clamp down on civil society as companies pushed ahead with destructive projects."

Many activists and communities also experience attempts to silence them through death threats, surveillance, sexual violence or arrests, said the report.

The majority of victims -- 71 percent -- had been working to protect forests, while others died for their work to conserve rivers, coastal areas and the oceans.

'Extractive economic model'

A third of fatal attacks targeted indigenous peoples, who make up only five percent of the world's population.

"We are indigenous... we know that only the environment can sustain us," Celia Umenza, who agitates against mining and sugarcane farming in the violent southwest of Colombia, told AFP.

She has survived three attacks.

In Mexico, where lethal attacks increased 67 percent from 2019, the Kumeyaay people have organized against a brewing company they accuse of hoarding drinking water. One of their leaders, Oscar Eyraud, was assassinated last year.

"It was very shocking. A group of people came to his house and killed him with big guns," a friend, Diana Aranguren, told AFP, adding there has been "no progress" in the investigation.

The report blamed corporations that it said operated "with almost complete impunity" in countries rich in natural resources.

"It's clear that many companies engage in an extractive economic model that overwhelmingly prioritizes profit over human and environmental harm," said the report.

Global Witness said 23 people worldwide were killed in 2020 for their activism against logging -- the biggest single category -- 20 in disputes over water and dams and 17 each for challenging the agribusiness and mining sectors.

'Impunity'

"Businesses have profited from human rights abuses and environmental damage with relative impunity for far too long," said the report.

It also criticized governments for being "all too willing to turn a blind eye."

"They (governments) are failing to protect defenders -- in many cases directly perpetrating violence against them, and in others arguably complicit with business."

Global Witness has been collecting data on these types of attacks since 2012.

Among its recommendations, it said the United Nations should "fill a glaring gap" by formally recognizing the human right to a safe, healthy and sustainable environment.

Global Witness said the data in its report did not capture the true scale of the problem, given press restrictions or a lack of independent monitoring of attacks in some countries.

Death stalks Colombian defenders of nature

Issued on: 13/09/2021 - 

Death is a constant companion for indigenous defenders of nature in violence-ridden Colombia, and Celia Umenza has already survived three attempts on her life 

LUIS ROBAYO AFP


Toribío (Colombia) (AFP)

As the sound of gunfire erupts near her office, Celia Umenza takes the briefest of pauses from discussing her battle against farming expansion and mining that threaten indigenous land and water in Colombia.

Death is a constant companion for indigenous defenders of nature in the violence-ridden country, and Umenza has already survived three attempts on her life.

While speaking to AFP, bursts of gunfire and explosions reverberate in the mountains near her office in Toribio, in the rural Cauca department.

She stops speaking for just a moment before resuming the interview, seemingly indifferent to the looming threat that has become a part of life for many in Colombia.

In a report released Sunday, the non-governmental group Global Witness said Colombia was the most dangerous country for land and environment defenders for the second year in a row in 2020, accounting for 65 of the 227 killings reported worldwide.

"We have the threat of government repression, of retaliation by the guerrillas and also by the paramilitaries," said Umenza, 48.

The most recent attack on her life was in 2014.

"A neighbor was driving me in a van... they riddled the van with bullets," she said.

According to Global Witness, 2020 was the deadliest year on record for environmental activists since 2012, when its records begin.

A third of deadly attacks were on indigenous peoples, and many were linked to opposition to logging, mining, agribusiness, hydroelectric dams and other infrastructure threatening natural resources that communities have relied on for generations.

- 'Preserving the water' -

Since the 1970s, the indigenous peoples of the Cauca region of southwest Colombia have been fighting an expansion by sugarcane growers they say are driving them from the fertile lowlands they rely on for survival, and destroying the forest.

"We no longer have those forests that used to exist, we no longer have that fauna, that flora. It is really worrying," said Umenza.

Near Toribio, where Celia Umenza lives and works, illegal gold mining contaminates water with mercury; further north, pesticides used in the cultivation of marijuana poison the soil

 LUIS ROBAYO AFP

The dispute is also about water, she said.

Unlike the native vegetation, she explained, the sugar cane "draws a lot of water and little by little" has been drying up the streams.

In its report, Global Witness said 17 people worldwide were killed in 2020 for their activism against agribusiness, and 20 in disputes over water and dams.

"Companies have been acting irresponsibly for decades, contributing to, and benefiting from, attacks on land and environmental defenders," it noted.

- In the crosshairs -

Near Toribio, where Umenza lives and works, illegal gold mining contaminates water with mercury. Further north, pesticides used in the cultivation of marijuana poison the soil.

Both illegal activities finance dissident FARC guerillas, who rejected a peace pact with the government in 2016 to end a near six-year civil war, as well as fighters of the last remaining rebel group the ELN and paramilitary forces that are still active.

Since the 1970s, the indigenous peoples of the Cauca region of southwest Colombia, where Celia Umenza lives, have been fighting an expansion by sugarcane growers they say are driving them from the fertile lowlands they rely on for survival 

LUIS ROBAYO AFP

According to the Global Witness report, paramilitary and criminal groups have increased their control of rural areas through violence.

"Those seeking to protect their land and environment are increasingly being caught up in the crosshairs of this violence –- with those protecting indigenous land particularly at risk," it said.

Frequently the victims are community members seeking to benefit from a government program to convert illegal coca crops, from which cocaine is derived, into legal ones.

The situation was worsened by the Covid-19 pandemic, with official lockdowns leading to defenders being targeted in their homes, and government protection measures being cut.

To make matters even more complicated, Umenza says legal companies benefit from the illegal gold extraction, buying at low prices.

She is protected by the Indigenous Guard, a self-defense organization that confronts perceived intruders armed with batons and two-way radios, but no guns.

"In the indigenous territories we have fortunately managed to keep mining out," said Umenza.

But the price is high, with one member of the Guard killed every week so far this year, she added.

- 'A moving target' -

Umenza says she has received countless death threats since 2001.

The first attempt on her life came in 2005, she says by FARC guerillas, who shot at her while she was walking in the countryside.

Five years later, continued threats forced her to move -- the first of several involuntary relocations, the most recent of which was in January this year.

In 2011, the government's National Protection Unit assigned a vehicle escort to protect Umenza and four other threatened people in the Toribio region.

A few months ago, it offered her a bodyguard and a bullet-proof vest.

She "did not accept because walking around in the vest makes me feel more vulnerable," like a moving target, she told AFP.

Since 2009, Umenza's three children have been living far away for their own safety, and she says their father left her because he "could not stand" the constant threats, attacks and regular uprooting.

She has a new partner today -- but she is realistic about her happy ever after.

"It is not easy living with someone who today takes you on the run, and tomorrow, who knows," she said.

© 2021 AFP

 

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