SEVENTIES GURU CULT REVIVAL IN SILICON VALLEY

MICRODOSING?

'We were kings of the world': WeWork's Adam Neumann fostered a culture of superiority at the troubled coworking startup

Theron Mohamed

© Michael Kovac/Getty Images for WeWork

WeWork's cofounder and ex-CEO Adam Neumann instilled a culture of superiority at the coworking startup, according to the Financial Times.

"Adam was the sun and we all revolved around him," a WeWork employee told the newspaper. "We were kings of the world."

"He wanted everyone to know he was God," a SoftBank executive told the Financial Times.
SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son goaded Neumann into expanding WeWork faster by comparing it to other businesses.

WeWork's cofounder and former CEO Adam Neumann fostered a culture of superiority at the coworking startup before its IPO collapsed last fall and SoftBank was forced to bail it out, according to the Financial Times.

"Adam was the sun and we all revolved around him," a WeWork employee told the newspaper, which interviewed dozens of WeWork and SoftBank sources for its latest deep dive into the company. "We were kings of the world."

Neumann exemplified that mindset by bringing up his friendship with President Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, in negotiations with SoftBank, the Financial Times reported.

SoftBank's bosses interpreted Neumann's comments as a threat to sabotage their efforts to win US regulatory approval for the merger of their wireless carrier, Sprint, with rival T-Mobile, the newspaper said.

"He wanted everyone to know he was God," an executive at the Japanese conglomerate told the Financial Times.

Neumann's team denied he was making a threat, the newspaper said. A federal judge ruled in favor of the telecoms megamerger earlier this month, paving the way for it to go through.Poking the bear

SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son took advantage of Neumann's sense of superiority to goad him into expanding WeWork faster.

"Your little brother … is really performing faster [and] better than you guys," Son told Neumann in reference to hoteSprihl chain Oyo, another SoftBank holding, the Financial Times reported.

"Masa was poking the bear," a WeWork executive told the newspaper. "Adam would say, 'We're not going fast enough; we're not being bold enough.'"A swift collapse

Neumann and Son's pursuit of global domination culminated in WeWork filing to go public last August. However, investors balked at the startup's mushrooming losses, vulnerable business model, lax governance, and Neumann's controversial behavior.

At risk of not raising enough money to unlock a key bank loan, and running short of cash, WeWork pulled its IPO. Neumann stepped down and WeWork accepted a rescue deal from SoftBank in November that valued the business below $10 billion - a fraction of the $47 billion private valuation it secured in January 2019.

FILE UNDER WHY IS THIS NEWS

Daredevil "Mad" Mike Hughes dies in homemade rocket launch

FLATEARTHER FALLS FLAT TO EARTH
Daredevil "Mad" Mike Hughes died Saturday when a homemade rocket he was attached to launched but quickly dove to earth in the California desert.

© Matt Hartman Image:

The stunt was apparently part of a forthcoming television show, "Homemade Astronauts," that was scheduled to debut later this year on Discovery Inc.'s Science Channel.

Discovery confirmed the 64-year-old's death in a statement.

"It was always his dream to do this launch, and Science Channel was there to chronicle his journey," the company said.

The mishap was reported at 1:52 p.m. on private property in the Barstow area, San Bernardino County Sheriff-Coroner spokeswoman Cindy Bachman said by email. She did not identify Hughes.

"A man was pronounced deceased after the rocket crashed in the open desert during a rocket launch event," she said.

Sheriff's aviation investigators were looking into the accident.

In a statement last year, Discovery, Inc. described the forthcoming show as a look at "three self-financed teams with sky-high dreams, in their cosmic quest to explore the final frontier on shoe-string budgets."

Hughes' stunt Saturday was billed as part of a plan to raise money for another project, a planned launch to the border of space on a vehicle described as part rocket, part balloon, Discovery said.

The money-raising launch had a goal of reaching 5,000 feet into the sky aboard a "steam-powered rocket," the broadcaster said.

Hughes is known both for his homemade rockets and for his belief the earth is flat.

His desire to prove the planet is "shaped like a Frisbee" inspired his vertical endeavors, he has said. But Saturday's launch did not appear to be directly tied to Hughes' flat-earth argument.

In 2018, he successfully launched himself about 1,875 feet into the sky above the Mojave desert via a garage-made rocket.

His landing that year was softened when he deployed a parachute. In social media video of Saturday's accident, a parachute-like swath of fabric can be seen flying away from the rocket shortly after blast-off.

"This thing wants to kill you 10 different ways," Hughes said in 2018. "This thing will kill you in a heartbeat."


THE IGNOMINY OF IT ALL 

---30---

UPDATED
A woman's Great Pyrenees helped track down a rare black coyote after they became backyard buds

Every day for a week, the strange, happy visitor would drop to play with her Great Pyrenees. She thought Ruth Bader, the dog, had made a new dog companion. Nope, it was a coyote. And the animal was on the lam.

By Francisco Guzman and Brian Ries, CNN  2 days ago 

© Vanessa Prior

Researchers with the Atlanta Coyote Project told Vanessa Prior, Ruth Bader's human, that they had been trying to track down the rare, black coyote for over a month. It had been spotted around the Smyrna and Vinings, Georgia, areas playing with neighborhood dogs.© Jessica Slater The black coyote went around playing with dogs in Georgia.

"It was very friendly," co-founder of the Atlanta Coyote Project Christopher Mowry told CNN. "It was following people to try to play with their dogs while they were walking them."

The group, which is made up of scientists devoted to learning more about coyotes living in the Atlanta area, first attempted to find the animal when people started to get a little freaked out by it coming too close for comfort.

They figured it was best for everyone -- people, dogs, coyote -- to move the animal to a safer place.


The friendship between a dog and coyote


Prior said she first noticed the new friend last week, when the coyote dropped by her backyard for some playtime.

Since then, "she came every day to play," Prior told CNN. "They would chase each other, play on the pool cover, gently wrestling or nap side by side."

At first she thought it was a wild dog, or maybe a big fox.

But when she posted a photo of the two playing on her Facebook, a friend told her to call a pet rescue center. The group told her the Atlanta Coyote Project had been trying to catch the coyote for months.

So Prior and her friend set up cameras in her backyard to see if the rare animal would come back. Of course it did -- the two animals had become fast friends.

"Because of their friendship and because she kept on coming back to play, they were able to catch her," she said. "They put some traps in the back of my yard and one night she finally got into it."

Prior said she has mixed emotions over her role in the capture.

She's happy the coyote is in a safe place, but feels sad when she sees Ruth Bader looking forlornly for the friend who hasn't returned, she said.

The rescuers took the animal to the Yellow River Wildlife Sanctuary where it will live with another coyote.

"It's not a good situation for a wild animal like a coyote to be interacting with people,'' the Atlanta Coyote Project's Christopher Mowry assured. "They need to maintain a natural awareness to humans and pets and keep to themselves."

Coyote experts will look into the genetics of the friendly animal to try to learn why it was interacting with people. Mowry believes it could have a history with well-meaning humans.

Time will tell how the animal's experiences will translate in its new friendship with another of its kind.

Experts Capture Rare All-Black Coyote On-Video Playing With Great Pyrenees


THE COYOTE WAS OVERLY FRIENDLY TO HUMANS AND DOGS, FOLLOWING DOGWALKERS AND EVEN JUMPING FENCES AND ATTEMPTING TO CRAWL IN THROUGH DOG DOORS. JESSICA SLATER

By Madison Dapcevich 21 FEB 2020

Editor's note: Researchers confirmed that Carmine is a male on February 21.


Wildlife biologists have successfully captured an overly friendly, all-black coyote that had been teasing the greater area of Atlanta, Georgia, for the last two months.

The animal made headlines after a woman captured it playing with her Great Pyrenees in her backyard. Other reports agree that the wild animal was overly comfortable with humans and dogs, seemingly habituated to the presence of humans.

“Wild coyotes are naturally wary, and they typically avoid humans and keep out of sight. This particular coyote's behavior was just the opposite,” Chris Mowry, a biologist with Berry College in Georgia, told IFLScience. He added that the animal was seen jumping fences into backyards, following people while they were walking a dog, and even attempting to enter homes through dog doors.

“This was not a safe situation for the coyote or for local human residents and their pets. The usual protocol of trying to re-instill fear of humans by hazing it did not work. This is what made this situation unique and is why we intervened,” added Mowry.

The unique all-black coloring of the coyote – now named Carmine – is connected to a condition known as melanism, a similar genetic mutation to albinism that instead replaces a lack of pigment with black pigment. Melanism is rare in Canis latrans but the frequency is higher in the southeast part of North America. Previous studies have found at least nine melanistic coyotes over a nine-year period in Georgia, but its cause remains unclear. The same gene also occurs in wolves and could have occurred in coyotes through introgression, a gene jumping from one species to another through hybridization. Dark-colored wolves are more prevalent in forested habitats, which means it could be used as a camouflage strategy, studies suggest.

To begin piecing together the curious case of Carmine, researchers constructed a map to pin down the whereabouts of the black coyote based on reported sightings and locations it likes to frequent. Capturing and relocating coyotes is not generally an option in Georgia as trapped coyotes are required by state law to be euthanized. However, Mowry says that his team was given special permission to relocate the animal by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. Led by local no-kill trappers and expert volunteers, the team was able to capture the coyote in the middle of the night in a cage trap, “completely unharmed” and “totally docile” during the entire process of capture and relocation.

The coyote, who was likely just searching for a mate and territory, now has a new home at Yellow River Wildlife Sanctuary (YRWS) in suburban Atlanta. The canine is currently doing well and is slated to get its first exam tomorrow.

“Believe it or not, we still aren’t entirely sure of its sex, but strongly suspect it is female. We should know for sure tomorrow,” said Mowry.

Carmine will have to remain in quarantine for some time before being introduced to Wilee, the resident coyote at YRWS. 

 

The coyote has a rare genetic condition known as melanism, which results in its black coloring. Glenda Elliott

Atlanta Coyote Project

January 28 at 9:14 AM · 

Thanks to everyone who has kept us informed as to the whereabouts of the black coyote in the Smyrna/Vinings area. We have constructed a map based on reported sightings and we are well aware of certain locations that the coyote likes to frequent. This coyote is not acting at all aggressively, but it is a wild animal and should be treated as such. Please DO NOT attempt to pet, feed, or capture it, and try to prevent your dogs from interacting with it, if possible. We are attempting to capture this coyote in a manner that is safe for everyone, including the coyote, and if we are successful it has a home waiting for it at the Yellow River Wildlife Sanctuary in Lilburn. Please understand, however, that this is a very unique situation and relocating coyotes is generally NOT an option. Trapped coyotes are typically euthanized according to state law. If we did not have a home for this particular coyote and permission from the Georgia Dept. of Natural Resources we would not intervene.

Coyotes are very smart animals and they do not willingly allow themselves to be captured. Contrary to what you might think, sedating or tranquilizing animals can be very tricky and must be done under tightly controlled conditions. A safe dose of sedative requires time to take effect, which means the animal has time to wander off and into an unsafe environment or situation. We are doing all that we can using a variety of capture methods and we might not reach a successful outcome, but we are hoping for the best. Our capture efforts are costly and the long-term care of the coyote at Yellow River will require funding, so if you are inclined to eventually donate towards the welfare of this animal we will let you know how you can help. Until then, please keep us informed if you spot the coyote, drive safely around your neighborhood so that the coyote is not hit by a car, and please visit the Atlanta Coyote Project’s website to learn more about coyotes in particular and urban wildlife in general. Thank you again for your support and concern.

Atlanta Coyote Project

About 40 million people get water from the Colorado River. Studies show it's drying up.


Ian James, The Republic | azcentral.com

PHOENIX – Scientists have documented how climate change is sapping the Colorado River, and new research shows the river is so sensitive to warming that it could lose about one-fourth of its flow by 2050 as temperatures continue to climb.

© Mark Henle/The Republic The Colorado River 

March 18, 2019, south of Hoover Dam.

Scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey found that the loss of snowpack due to higher temperatures plays a major role in driving the trend of the river’s dwindling flow. They estimated that warmer temperatures were behind about half of the 16% decline in the river’s flow during the stretch of drought years from 2000-2017, a drop that has forced Western states to adopt plans to boost the Colorado’s water-starved reservoirs.


Without changes in precipitation, the researchers said, for each additional 1.8 degrees of warming, the Colorado River’s average flow is likely to drop by about 9%.

The USGS scientists considered two scenarios of climate change. In one, warmer temperatures by 2050 would reduce the amount of water flowing in the river by 14-26%. In the other scenario, warming would take away 19-31% of the river’s flow.

“Either of the scenarios leads to a substantial decrease in flow,” said Chris Milly, a senior research scientist with USGS. “And the scenario with higher greenhouse-gas concentrations decreases the flow more than the scenario with lower greenhouse gas concentrations.”

The findings, which were published Thursday in the journal Science, refine previous estimates and indicate the impacts of warming will likely be on the high end of what other scientists calculated in previous research.

The research has major implications for how water is managed along the Colorado River, which provides water for about 40 million people and more than 5 million acres of farmland from Wyoming to Southern California.
Snow provides a 'protective shield'

Looking at trends over the past century, the researchers examined recorded measurements from 1913-2017 and found the average temperature across the Upper Colorado River Basin increased by 2.5 and the river’s flow decreased by about 20%.

They estimated that more than half of this lost flow was attributable to higher temperatures. That equates to a loss of roughly 1.5 million acre-feet of water per year, which is more than half of the annual water allotment for the entire state of Arizona.

In other previous studies, estimates of potential future declines in the river’s flow — leaving aside any variations in precipitation — ranged from 2% to 15% for each 1 degree C of warming.

Milly and fellow USGS scientist Krista Dunne zeroed in on their estimate by pinpointing the reflectivity of snow, known as albedo, as a key element in the river’s sensitivity to warming.

They used measurements of albedo across the Upper Colorado River Basin recorded over decades by instruments called MODIS (short for Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer), which orbit the Earth aboard two NASA satellites.

Milly and Dunne focused on the role of snow cover as a “protective shield” for water in the river basin.

Milly likened the flowing river to the leftovers of the “meal” of snow and rain that falls across the basin, after evaporation has “eaten” its share.

“The more that's consumed by evaporation, the less that's left for the river and the people downstream,” Milly said.

And the amount consumed by evaporation is driven by how much energy the basin absorbs in the form of sunlight. The snow cover in the Rocky Mountains reflects back to the sky and space a significant fraction of the sunlight.

As the world gets hotter with the burning of fossil fuels, more of the precipitation falls as rain instead of snow. And the snow melts away earlier in the year. As the snow cover in the mountains is progressively lost, the river basin absorbs more energy.

“This drives more evaporation. And that makes for a smaller plate of leftovers for the river and its users,” Milly said.
Research suggests 'the loss is very high'

The researchers also looked at whether possible future increases in precipitation could counteract the trend. They concluded that changes in precipitation might moderate the effects brought on by warmer temperatures, but likely won’t be enough to fully counter the “temperature-induced drying.”

“Increasing risk of severe water shortages is expected,” they said in the study.

Brad Udall, a water and climate scientist at Colorado State University, said the research confirms the findings of a 2018 study that he co-authored with scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles, in which they also found that about half of the loss in river flow since 2000 has been due to higher temperatures.

“It shows very high temperature sensitivity for the Colorado River — for every 1C rise, you lose almost 10% of flow,” Udall said in an email.

The researchers’ latest estimate of temperature-driven flow losses is at the upper end of what Udall and fellow climate scientist Jonathan Overpeck suggested in a 2017 study, when they estimated declines of 3% to 10% for every degree of warming.

“This new paper suggests the loss is very high,” Udall said. “This has important implications for water users and managers alike.”

In their 2017 study, Udall and Overpeck used climate models to estimate a business-as-usual scenario of greenhouse gas emissions. They projected that without changes in precipitation, warming will likely cause the Colorado River’s flow to decrease by 35% or more this century.

For decades, the Colorado River has been so heavily used that it seldom reaches the sea. Its delta in Mexico has shriveled, leaving only small wetlands in a dusty stretch of desert.

© Mark Henle/The Republic Delmar Butte (left center) in 

Temple Basin, March 18, 2019, near the Arizona/Nevada border.
Difficult talks ahead on long-term plans

The river’s largest reservoirs have dropped dramatically since 2000. Two decades of mostly dry years and overuse have taken a toll, and rising temperatures have added to the strains.

Lake Powell now sits 50% full, and Lake Mead is 43% full.

Arizona, Nevada and Mexico have begun taking less water from the river this year under a set of agreements aimed at reducing the risk of the reservoirs falling to critically low levels.

The two states agreed to leave a portion of their water allotments in Lake Mead under a deal with California called the Lower Basin Drought Contingency Plan, which the states’ representatives signed at Hoover Dam in May.

California agreed to contribute water at a lower trigger point if reservoir levels continue to fall. And Mexico agreed under a separate accord to take steps to help prop up Lake Mead, the nation’s largest reservoir near Las Vegas.

The drought contingency plans — one for the three Lower Basin states and the other for the Upper Basin states of Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico — are designed to help boost the reservoirs’ levels between 2020 and 2026.

Federal officials plan to start a review by the end of this year to examine how the existing rules have worked and how the guidelines for potential shortages could be improved after 2026.

The latest research underscores the growing challenges for water managers and policymakers as they consider how to adjust the rules or change the system to adapt to a river with less water.

Milly and Dunne said in their study that declines in mountain snowpack unleashed by climate change will have far-reaching effects on the availability of water in other regions beyond the Colorado River Basin.

“Many water-stressed regions around the world depend on runoff from seasonally snow-covered mountains,” they wrote, “and more than one-sixth of the global population relies on seasonal snow and glaciers for water supply.”

Follow Ian James on Twitter: @ByIanJames

This article originally appeared on The Republic | azcentral.com: About 40 million people get water from the Colorado River. Studies show it's drying up.

Today’s Pipeline Protests Are a Response and Reaction to Centuries of Lip Service and Neglect by Colonial Governments

By

 Chief Wiindawtegowinini Isadore Day

 -

February 18, 2020

By Isadore Day, CEO of Bimaadzwin

What Canada is seeing right now — in the manifestation of railway and highway blockades and downtown rallies across the country — is as much about pipelines in British Columbia as it is about the lack of response to the 1990 Oka Crisis; the Idle No More Movement; Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Children; the ongoing cycle of poverty and despair. Canadians should be reminded that First Nations were starved and forced off their lands in order to build the railways in western Canada.

It is very telling that Prime Minister Trudeau has convened an “Incident Response Group” emergency meeting this week to deal with the “infrastructure disruptions” across the country. If the Trudeau government had committed to its 2015 promise on Reconciliation, and pledge to prioritize Indigenous Peoples as the most important relationship, this would not be happening today. In fact, if the Chretien government had adequately responded to the ground-breaking 1996 Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, this would not be happening today.

The number one RCAP recommendation was to provide Indigenous peoples with a land base to grow a sustainable economy. This has not happened. The socio-economic target presented by RCAP was to close the economic gap and improve social conditions by at least 50 per cent within 20 years — by 2016. Four years after that target, poverty, and despair has increased. There are more First Nation children in care than at the height of residential schools. Last week, the Assembly of First Nations launched a $10 billion lawsuit in response to the Liberal government’s repeated delays over child welfare compensation. So much for reconciliation.

Building pipelines to export a non-renewable resource through traditional territories that may provide a handful of short-term jobs per community is not the answer. In fact, back in 2012 former Prime Minister Stephen Harper endorsed the Alberta First Nation Energy Centre proposal to build a $6.6 billion dollar refinery on First Nation land outside Edmonton. The provincial government shot down the project.

A state-of-the-art refinery would have created thousands of direct and spin-off jobs for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous in Alberta and beyond, generating billions of dollars for the economy.  A new refinery, with a lifespan of 20 years, would have gone a long way towards not sending our raw bitumen by pipeline to the United States to be refined and then sent back to Canada.  One would hope that by 2040 we will have electric cars and trucks to help combat climate change.

Among the front-page headlines, this week on protests and emergency responses is the sad story that the federal government has failed to roll out the Canada Infrastructure Bank’s $35 billion investment fund. Seriously, this situation should also be included in the Prime Minister’s Incident Response Group meeting. Spend that infrastructure funding on ending the First Nation housing crisis. Accelerate an end to boil water advisories. Build much-needed schools and medical centres in remote communities. The list goes on.

Besides infrastructure, the federal government must make procurement of Indigenous goods and services a top priority. For example, it will take a decade to renovate Parliament Hill.  How many First Nation companies and employees have been hired? How many vacant federal buildings and land in Ottawa – and across the country – have been allocated as urban reserve economic centres for First Nations? Saskatchewan has the best model where even remote First Nations have urban reserves in the nearest towns and cities.

Finally, there has been much concern about the national supply chain of goods that have been slowed and shut down as a result of the railroad blockades. It is ironic that the most successful supply chain of renewable resources in Canada right now is the First Nation cannabis supply. There are First Nation dispensaries from BC to Newfoundland that have a lock on a significant portion of Canada’s cannabis market. In every First Nation community that is selling or growing cannabis, dozens of residents are employed, millions of dollars are generated weekly.

The potential billion-dollar Indigenous cannabis industry has renewed and revived First Nation sovereignty and Nationhood. Many communities are now developing their own cannabis laws and regulations within their jurisdictions. While pipeline protests have unified a certain segment of society, the developing cannabis sector has unified a cross country push for First Nation control of a commodity that will generate own-source revenues for generations. In fact, cannabis on-reserve has already made a dramatic positive impact on the quality of life.

The simplest first step for the federal government is to support the First Nation cannabis industry as a significant contributor on the road to economic reconciliation. At the same time, First Nations must prove to both the federal and provincial governments that the products are safe and regulated and that revenues are also being generated for the good of the community.  When the Algonquin receives the right to sell cannabis to tourists visiting Parliament Hill, then Canada will truly have begun to atone for centuries of lip service and neglect.

Les Leyne: Remarkable organizing prowess fuels protests


Les Leyne / Times Colonist FEBRUARY 15, 2020 

Saul Brown talks to Wet'suwet'en supporters in front of 1515 Douglas St. 

near Victoria City Hall on Friday. Feb. 14, 2020
Photograph By DARREN STONE, TIMES COLONIST



The motives and validity of the protest shutdowns are up for debate, but the organizational prowess is beyond dispute. It’s a remarkable achievement to co-ordinate thousands of people in massive civil disobedience across Canada.

And it confirms what’s already obvious — the B.C. and federal governments are dealing with something significant and ongoing.

Two years ago, there was a brief glimpse of the strategic thinking that’s going into the demonstrations. It was a small political story that passed quickly, but this week suggests the concepts that came to light then are still in play.

It was about “the hive.”

The reference was in a planning document that leaked after Environment Minister George Heyman attended a meeting at a Bowen Island retreat with some people who were dedicated to blocking the Kinder Morgan oil pipeline proposal.

The opposition Liberals landed on the outline and accused Heyman of consorting with activists and agitators.

He said he was just doing his job, meeting everyone. The rest of the cabinet just rolled their eyes and laughed off the opposition’s dark suspicions.

But nobody’s laughing today. Because the hive looks to be alive and well, and buzzing around the NDP government’s head.

It was described at the time as a lift-off for “ongoing coordination of organizational support for mass action.” The outline described a coalition of grassroots groups that would support and share information about mass, creative and non-violent direct actions.

“The Hive brings resources, money, action experience and technical know-how, capacity and co-ordination experience.”

It described regular meetings where decisions are made by consensus, but groups are free to act independently as their work requires.

Flowing from that was “the Swarm.” It brings energy, creative, hard-hitting plans and momentum,” said the outline.

It gave various examples of how an opportunity for mass action might be identified and how sponsors of specific protest actions could tap into the hive and get support to make it a success.

“This group is about inspiring and supporting action on a mass scale … This group is an organizing structure, not a brand. We will not have a brand or presence in public beyond what is necessary to achieve our goals.”

It committed to non-violent direct action and avoid harm to individuals and “unnecessary damage to property.”

It also recommended digital security protocols to maintain a low profile — discuss tactics in person wherever possible, prevent documents from being publicly viewable, use encrypted message apps and ensure phone calls are private.

It’s not known if the specific hive referred to is still functional.

The Kinder Morgan pipeline project collapsed before mass protests were called.

But the outline is a perfect model for how to accomplish exactly what unfolded this week — coordinated, mass action on a grand scale.

It doesn’t just happen spontaneously. It needs a lot of careful thinking, and big pool of volunteers.

Just So You Know: Another document from even further back came to light this week. It is much more obviously in play today and it’s more than a little ironic.

A message circulating widely refers to how “legal observers” were trained by the protesters to monitor the response of police and authorities to the disruptions.

The co-author of the handbook being used?

It was David Eby, now B.C.’s attorney general, who wrote it for protesters active during the 2010 Vancouver-Whistler Olympics while he was with the B.C. Civil Liberties Association.

The same Eby whose Vancouver-Point Grey constituency office was occupied this week by protesters who traumatized office staff.

Legal observers following the Eby handbook were on hand at the legislature blockades.

He described their role in the guide as “calm, independent objective witnesses to the activities of security forces.”

They are considered separate from protesters and their main job is to collect evidence that protesters later pursuing complaints against police might use.

He recommended against providing legal advice, interfering, or speaking to the media.

The tactics are bewildering. How antagonizing tens of thousands of taxpayers by shutting down Metro Vancouver transportation links constitutes a win is hard to figure.

But demonstrators are following a comprehensive and thorough game plan as they raise the stakes.

lleyne@timescolonist.com

The Law Says Chelsea Manning Must Be Freed From Prison

Natasha Lennard

February 19 2020

Former U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning

 arrives at the Albert Bryan U.S Courthouse on May 16, 2019, 

in Alexandria, Va. Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images

TO OBSERVE CHELSEA Manning’s actions over the last months is to know that she will not be coerced. She could have avoided her current incarceration at Alexandria Detention Center in Virginia, where she has been held for nearly a year. She could have freed herself at any point. She could have avoided accruing fines of $230,000 and counting. She could still avoid further days in jail and further crippling debts to the government. All she would have to do — all she ever had to do — is testify in front of the federal grand jury currently investigating WikiLeaks.

What has long been clear — no amount of jail time will coerce Manning into speaking — is now, surely, undeniable. The sole purpose of Manning’s detention has been to coerce her to testify, and it has failed.

On Wednesday, Manning’s legal team filed what’s known as a Grumbles motion in court, asserting that Manning has proven herself incoercible and so must, according to legal statute, be released from her incarceration.

“Should Judge Trenga agree that Chelsea will never agree to testify, he will be compelled by the law to order her release.”


It is a grim peculiarity of American law that a person who refuses to cooperate with a grand jury subpoena may be held in contempt of court and fined or imprisoned with the express purpose of coercing testimony, but when the coercive condition is absent, such incarceration becomes illegal. Wednesday’s motion directs Judge Anthony Trenga, who is presiding over the grand jury and Manning’s imprisonment, to accordingly recognize the illegality in this case.

“The key issue before Judge Trenga is whether continued incarceration could persuade Chelsea to testify,” said Manning’s attorney, Moira Meltzer-Cohen, on filing the Grumbles motion. “Judges have complained of the ‘perversity’ of this law: that a witness may win their freedom by persisting in their contempt of court. However, should Judge Trenga agree that Chelsea will never agree to testify, he will be compelled by the law to order her release.”

If the motion is successful, Manning will be freed for the very reason she has been caged: her silence. The judge can decide to recognize that Manning won’t speak as a consequence of more time in jail — or because she will continue to face unprecedented $1,000-per-day fines. Any other conclusion, after her months of steadfast and principled grand jury resistance, would fly in the face of all reason. The whistleblower’s actions and words make it plain.

“I have been separated from my loved ones, deprived of sunlight, and could not even attend my mother’s funeral,” Manning said in a statement Wednesday. “It is easier to endure these hardships now than to cooperate to win back some comfort, and live the rest of my life knowing that I acted out of self-interest and not principle.”

FEDERAL GRAND JURIES have long been used to investigate and intimidate activist communities — from the late 19th century labor movements, to the Puerto Rican Independence Movement and black liberationists of the last century, to the more recent persecutions of environmentalists, anarchists, and Indigenous rights fighters. Manning has consistently shown her refusal to cooperate with any such process, and again asserted in her latest statement that grand juries are “used by federal prosecutors to harass and disrupt political opponents and activists through secrecy, coercion, and jailing without trial.”

Motion to Release Chelsea Manning29 pages


THE GRUMBLES MOTION filed on Wednesday contains a letter from the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture Nils Melzer, written late last year accusing the United States of submitting Manning to treatment that is tantamount to torture. As I wrote after the letter was first released, Melzer not only criticized the torturous practice of coercive imprisonment and harsh fines, but noted that Manning’s “categorical and persistent refusal to give testimony demonstrates the lack of their coercive effect.”

The motion also includes a personality assessment carried out by Dr. Sara Boyd, a clinical and forensic psychologist from the University of Virginia, which suggests that Manning is constitutionally incapable of acting against her conscience. “Manning exhibits long standing personality features that relate to her scrupulousness, her persistence and dedication, and her willingness to endure social disapproval as well as formal punishments,” Boyd wrote.


Related
Chelsea Manning Spent Most of the Last Decade in Prison. The U.N. Says Her Latest Stint Is Tantamount to Torture.


Manning’s consistent behavior in the face of immense hardship and financial ruin should be wholly sufficient evidence that she will not be coerced; the personality assessment and the letter from the U.N. rapporteur no more than state the obvious. Were the judge to decide to continue imprisoning Manning, which he has the discretion to do, he would do so in the face of overwhelming evidence.

Meltzer-Cohen, Manning’s attorney, has in the past successfully seen a grand jury resister released as a consequence of her filing a Grumbles motion. In 2014, her former client, a New York-based anarchist, was released after spending 241 days in a federal prison for refusing to testify. Meltzer-Cohen filed a motion arguing that since the young man had made amply evident that he would never cooperate, the coercive premise of his imprisonment was proven invalid.

That motion was aided by letters from friends and acquaintances, as well as a Change.org petition — arguably less august testimony than that which accompanies Manning’s motion. But the judge in that case ruled, begrudgingly, that the evidence compelled him to release the prisoner. “The refusal to testify is somehow transmogrified from a lock to a key,” the judge wrote in his decision. At the time, Meltzer-Cohen told me that the case illustrated the power of grand jury resistance; that people “have been capable of standing strong in the face of serious consequences” and that resisters “can survive and even prevail.”

It is a perverse juridical logic that finds potential justice in brutally coercing a witness to testify before a secretive hearing, ripe for governmental abuse. But even the nefarious law, if followed to the letter, demands that Manning be immediately freed.

Is Russia cozying up to Syria's Kurds amid rift with Turkey?

ARTICLE SUMMARY
The United States has reportedly cautioned the Kurds not to fight Turkey in any potential escalation in Syria, but Russia appears to have moved closer to the Kurds, as suggested by Kurdish collaboration with the Syrian army in areas along Idlib’s boundaries with Afrin.

Fehim Tastekin February 20, 2020

REUTERS/Omar Sanadiki
Russian and Syrian national flags flutter on military vehicles

 near Manbij, Syria, Oct. 15, 2019.

The escalation in Idlib has left Turkey vacillating between Russia’s tough options and the United States’ enticing prodding, as it maintains its menacing posture to force the Syrian army’s retreat to now-defunct cease-fire lines in the rebel stronghold. Amid the standoff, the Syrian Kurds are becoming a key factor in both US and Russian calculations to sway Turkey’s attitude.

The US administration is said to be considering options to back Turkey in a potential thrust in Idlib and, in a further move pleasing Ankara, has reportedly cautioned the Kurds to stay out of the conflict. Russia, for its part, appears to have unfolded the Kurdish card, albeit rather discreetly at this time, in a way that goes beyond reviving the dialogue between the Kurds and Damascus.

Until recently, the Kurds worried that Russia, in a bid to keep Turkey on its side in Syria, might allow it to take control of the Kurdish city of Kobani on the Turkish border in return for Turkish concessions in Idlib. In fact, this has been a fear recurring at each apparent progress in the Turkish-Russian partnership. Amid the recent head-spinning developments, however, the Kurds sense that the Russian door might open to them to an extent they have never imagined.

In general terms, the Kurdish position could be summarized as follows: The Kurds still place importance on their partnership with the United States on the ground, continue to consider Turkey’s military presence as a primary threat, and — while seeing Russia as the guarantor of any negotiations with Damascus — they keep in mind that Russia’s strategic interests might lead it to accommodate Turkey, as it did in 2018 when it acquiesced to Turkey taking over Afrin.

Yet the order of priorities in the Kurdish approach has changed since Turkey’s Operation Peace Spring in northeast Syria in October 2019. The notion that Damascus should be the address of settlement on the Kurdish issue has gained weight as a general strategic choice for the Kurdish-led self-administration in northern and eastern Syria. In late December, the Russians had a meeting with Kurdish representatives at Russia's Khmeimim air base, after which they arranged a meeting between the Kurdish team and Syrian government representatives in Damascus. The talks, in which intelligence chief Ali Mamlouk led the Syrian side, resulted in a deal to set up joint committees with a view of furthering negotiations down the road.

The straining of Russian-Turkish ties over Idlib has resulted in some undeclared changes in Kurdish tactical choices. According to Kurdish sources contacted by Al-Monitor, the Kurds are collaborating with the Syrian army in certain parts of the operations in northwest Aleppo, namely in areas along the boundaries of Afrin. An expansion of the offensive toward Afrin is likely to make the Kurdish participation more visible.

Standing out as two other potential fronts are Tel Rifaat, where the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) has redeployed after pulling out from Afrin in 2018, and Manbij, where Syrian and Russian troops have moved in since the withdrawal of US forces. To the east of the Euphrates, meanwhile, Ras al-Ain and Tell Abyad, which are controlled by the Turkish military and its ally, the Syrian National Army, as well as nearby Tel Tamer and Ain Issa, which lie on the M4 highway, are considered key areas to which potential clashes might spread. The said locations are already the scene of sporadic confrontations in the form of transient, controlled exchanges, but in the event of a direct face-off between the Syrian and Turkish militaries in Idlib, they are likely to turn into hot battlefields.

The joint Russian-Turkish patrols along the Turkish-Syrian border, which had stalled after the killing of Turkish soldiers in Idlib earlier this month, resumed Feb. 17, yet the Kurdish sources believe the Turkish-Russian arrangement reached in Sochi Oct. 22 after Turkey’s Operation Peace Spring has collapsed. The collapse of the deal would mean that Russia, a guarantor of the cease-fire, would stop acting as a brake holding up the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces and the Syrian military in the region. Still, making such a conclusion appears a bit premature at present.

Speaking of the Afrin front — which has been effectively opened with the Kurdish involvement — and other potential fronts, another curbing factor, namely the United States, is at play.

According to US sources, quoted by prominent Turkish journalist Murat Yetkin on his personal blog, the United States has made it clear to the YPG that they would not get US support if they fight the Turkish military. “A senior official stressed that YPG forces were ‘clearly and repeatedly’ told that the United States would not choose them over Turkey in case of a conflict,” Yetkin wrote Feb. 18.

The report quotes a senior US source as analyzing that Turkey’s October incursion, while opposed by Washington, seems to have accomplished two objectives, namely establishing Turkish military presence in northeast Syria, which is critical for future developments in Syria, and demonstrating that the United States would not protect the YPG against Turkey, even though Ankara was concerned and at least some in the YPG believed that the United States would do so.

Regarding the situation in Idlib, Yetkin summarizes the comments of US sources as follows: “US forces will not directly get involved in conflict [in Idlib]; that is our limit. But we will support Turkey in other areas, from advanced intelligence services to special equipment when needed.”

The journalist quotes the source as saying that Washington will not raise any objections if other NATO allies decide to assist Turkey by deploying Patriot batteries at the border to “ensure air cover.”

One of the sources notes that Turkey is capable of dispatching up to 45,000 troops to the region in a short period of time, stressing that “neither Syria nor Russia would be capable of that.” The source, however, adds that Washington does not expect Russia to strain ties with Turkey “too much” over Idlib, given “the strategic significance” of the relationship.

A Kurdish source contacted by Al-Monitor denied the Kurds had received any message to not expect US backing if they fight Turkey, but they are not ruling out such an eventuality. “The United States is against any alignment between the Kurds and Damascus. Saying that [the Kurds] should not fight Turkey amounts to saying that [the Kurds] should stay clear of Idlib,” the source noted.

Stressing that the situation remained fluid, the source said, “We are on a very fluctuant ground, where cooperation, contradiction and conflict between the United States and Turkey, between Turkey and Russia and between Russia and the United States are going on simultaneously. So, we are unable to speak in definitive terms. Still, we can emphasize this: Russia’s role as mediator and guarantor has become more prominent [for the Kurds] after the US attitude in the face of Turkey’s invasion [in October].”

According to the source, the deepening of the Turkish-Russian rift is significant for the Kurds in the sense that it could lead Russia to take the Kurds into account more prominently and result in a solution mechanism on the Kurdish question. “If the conflict in Idlib grows, the Russians are likely to open the Kurdish card. In fact, we can say they have already opened it to some extent,” the source said.

Nevertheless, the Kurds believe it is still premature to declare a clear position, not ruling out the possibility that the Russians might eventually lack the resolve to go into a full-fledged face-off with Turkey. Of note, while reaching out to the Kurds on the one side, the Russians are trying to rouse Turkey’s sensitivities on the Kurds on the other. In a Feb. 18 statement, for instance, Russia said the United States had moved more than 300 truckloads of weapons from Iraq to northeast Syria this year, with the weapons being “used against Turkish troops” in the region. In other words, the “dual usability” of the Kurdish card is another reason why the Kurds are blowing on cold water.

Fehim Tastekin is a Turkish journalist and a columnist for Turkey Pulse who previously wrote for Radikal and Hurriyet. He has also been the host of the weekly program "SINIRSIZ," on IMC TV. As an analyst, Tastekin specializes in Turkish foreign policy and Caucasus, Middle East and EU affairs. He is the author of “Suriye: Yikil Git, Diren Kal,” “Rojava: Kurtlerin Zamani” and “Karanlık Coktugunde - ISID.” Tastekin is founding editor of the Agency Caucasus. On Twitter: @fehimtastekin



Read more: https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2020/02/turkey-syria-russia-idlib-unfolding-kobani-card-kurds-sdg.html#ixzz6EqSjoKgh

Trump-linked lobbyist turns from Gulf Arabs to more toxic clients


Aaron Schaffer February 19, 2020

REUTERS/Toby Melville
Isabel dos Santos, Chairwoman of Sonangol, speaks during a Reuters

 Newsmaker event in London, Britain, Oct. 18, 2017.

A lobbying firm that made a fortune promising Gulf Arab clients access to President Donald Trump is looking to ever more controversial work amid a dizzying turnover of customers and staff.

The Sonoran Policy Group stopped working for Kuwaiti oil magnate Saud Abdul Aziz al-Arfaj on Dec. 31, making him one of more than a dozen clients terminated since the firm took off in the wake of Trump’s election. The termination follows the end of other lucrative contracts with Saudi Arabia and Bahrain and a shift toward clients that are radioactive in Washington, as firm founder Robert Stryk seeks to keep the money flowing after making almost $14.5 million over the past three years.

Last month, Sonoran drew bipartisan condemnation after getting paid $2 million as a subcontractor to Foley and Lardner representing the government of Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro. Foley ended the contract under pressure, but there is no indication Sonoran returned the money.

Just weeks before that, Sonoran signed two contracts worth a total of $2.2 million to represent Isabel dos Santos, Africa’s richest woman and the daughter of Angola’s former president. Dos Santos turned to the firm just one day after being contacted by journalists investigating allegations that she siphoned millions of dollars from the continent.

“It does certainly appear that [Sonoran has] a certain clientele that tends to gravitate toward them, particularly at a time of crisis,” said Jodi Vittori, a defense industry research and policy manager for Transparency International's Defense and Security program. “Clearly it seems to be on a number of country’s shortlists when they’re in significant crisis.”

Sonoran did not respond to multiple requests for comment. But public records paint a picture of a firm in turmoil.

Lobbying disclosures show that six of the eight lobbyists who have worked for Sonoran's foreign clients have now left the firm, leaving only Stryk and CEO Christian Bourge. And at least 15 foreign clients have ended their relationship with the firm, leaving only six active accounts, including Maduro’s regime and dos Santos.

Meanwhile, Accelerant Studios, a Sonoran contractor, sued the firm in a District of Columbia court last year, claiming nearly $200,000 in unpaid fees, including proposals to represent Egypt and the Kurdistan Regional Government, neither of which ended up signing contracts with Sonoran. Sonoran has denied the allegations.

Also, at least one of Sonoran’s former employees has not been shy about criticizing the firm.

“This is what happens when you get desperate for money,” Andrew Nehring tweeted in response to Sonoran’s $2 million payout involving Venezuela. “You take money from Maduro’s brutal regime to get him off lists he deserves/should be on.”

Even in Trump’s tumultuous Washington, Stryk’s rise from unpaid West Coast adviser for the president’s 2016 campaign to the lobbying high life has stood out.

“This is what happens when you get desperate for money,” Andrew Nehring tweeted in response to Sonoran’s $2 million payout involving Venezuela. “You take money from Maduro’s brutal regime to get him off lists he deserves/should be on.”

After an auspicious start helping connect New Zealand’s prime minister with the president-elect, Sonoran scored an improbably lucrative contract with Saudi Arabia's Interior Ministry in May 2017.

Stryk personally signed the deal with the ministry, which was then under the control of the then-crown prince, Mohammed bin Nayef, on May 5. Two months earlier rival prince Mohammed bin Salman had met with Trump at the White House, and Nayef realized that “he needed to improve his game,” Simon Henderson of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy told CNN at the time.

Six weeks later, however, a palace coup toppled bin Nayef and effectively ended the lobbying contract before it ever really began. Sonoran pocketed $5.4 million up front on May 12, 2017 and has never disclosed returning any of it in subsequent lobbying filings or in response to queries from multiple news outlets since then.

In February 2018, Sonoran signed a $500,000-a-year contract with the Embassy of Bahrain in Washington to lobby Congress and the Trump administration. Bourge met with a dozen House members and two senators until the contract ended in October 2019, with most of that activity taking place in the first year of the contract.

And in February 2019, the firm signed a $1.2 million deal to “provide promotion and counsel” to al-Arfaj regarding a disputed oil region between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Sonoran reported no lobbying activity — and only $600,000 in payments — before the contract was terminated at the end of last year.

The pattern of high payments for little lobbying work has continued since then. In its latest lobbying disclosure, which covers the second half of 2019, Sonoran reported $1.1 million in payments from seven clients but just two meetings with members of Congress, both on behalf of Bahrain, along with a handful of phone calls on behalf of an Albanian political party.

Despite the firm's paltry record of lobbying sitting US officials, Stryk has remained in Trump's orbit.

Stryk helped organize a visit to Bahrain by Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani in December 2018, The New York Times reported, during which the former New York mayor sought to land a security consulting contract with Manama.

Sonoran has also reportedly been involved in helping Giuliani in his quest to win a similar contract with the Democratic Republic of the Congo through Israeli firm Mer Security and Communication Systems. Sonoran signed a $1.25 million contract with Mer in July 2018 to lobby on behalf of the Congolese government as it faced the threat of US sanctions for huamn rights abuses and corruption.

As recently as last year, Stryk was mentioned (along with former Trump Florida lobbyist Brian Ballard) as someone Giuliani associate Lev Parnas thought could help with efforts to dig up dirt on Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden in Ukraine. Parnas' handwritten notes mentioning Stryk were made public by House Democrats during Trump's impeachment last month.

Aaron Schaffer writes about Middle East lobbying for Al-Monitor in Washington, DC. He co-writes and reports for Al-Monitor's bi-weekly lobbying newsletter. On Twitter: @aaronjschaffer

Read more: https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2020/02/sonoran-policy-group-stryk-lobbying-clients-controversial.html#ixzz6EqRWmNEo

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