Big pro-climate strike in Bristol, England

From daily The Morning Star in Britain:

Friday, February 28, 2020

20,000 join Thunberg in school strike for climate justice

CLIMATE activist Greta Thunberg joined a crowd of more than 20,000 people today to take part in Bristol’s 10th climate strike.

The 17-year-old Swedish campaigner gave a speech to the huge rally before joining a rainy march through the city streets, accompanied by a samba band.

Ms Thunberg accused officials, government, and media of “completely ignoring” climate change and urged the crowd’s large contigent of schoolchildren to “be the adults in the room”.

She said: “Once again, they sweep their mess under the rug for us — young people, their children — to clean up for them.

“But we must continue and we have to be patient. Remember that the changes required will not happen overnight since the politics and solutions are far from sight.

“We will not be silenced because we are the change, and change is coming whether you like it or not.

“This emergency is being completely ignored by the politicians, the media and those in power.

“Basically, nothing is being done to halt this crisis despite all the beautiful words and promises from our elected officials.

“So what did you do during this crucial time? I will not be silenced when the world is on fire.”

She was joined in the pre-march speeches with a call for change from Mya-Rose Craig, also 17 and who last week became the youngest person to be awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Bristol.

The student ornithologist — whose doctorate was in recognition of her Black2Nature organisation which runs nature camps for children from black and minority-ethnic backgrounds — called for greater diversity in the climate movement.

She told the crowd: “We have to engage with all of our communities in order to properly fight climate change. An unequal world can never be a sustainable one.”

Protesters of all ages waved flags, placards and banners and chanted as they made their way around the city centre.

Police said around 20,000 people attended, while organisers estimated the number was closer to 30,000.

Ms Thunberg, who triggered the global school-strike movement by sitting outside of the Swedish parliament in 2018, said she was visiting Bristol because of its strong climate-change movement.

The city last year unveiled a 15 metre-high mural of her painted on the side of the Tobacco Factory venue.

Dr Patrick Hart, a GP and member of Doctors for Extinction Rebellion, said: “We’re speaking out to raise the alarm on the impending health crisis.

“As healthcare professionals, our code of conduct compels us to act promptly where we notice unacceptable risks to patient health, both now and future.

“Climate change is the greatest threat to human life worldwide, so we’re demanding our government take urgent action to address the crisis before it’s too late.”

Editorial: We need carbon-neutral production – with no compensation for corporations: here.

Like capitalism’s previous calamities, climate change hits the poorest worst: here.

Gray squirrel uses tail as umbrella

This video shoed a gray squirrel using its tail as an umbrella in a snowy winter in Canada.

Evening grosbeak in Canada

This video is about an evening grosbeak in Canada.

American TV journalist sacked for being socialist

This 27 February 2020 video from the USA is called Saagar Enjeti: ABC News reveals corporate control by silencing socialist journalist.

By Steve Sweeney in Britain:

Thursday, February 27, 2020

ABC journalist suspended after admitting he is a socialist

US TV channel ABC suspended a veteran journalist on Wednesday after he identified as a socialist in an undercover-video sting operation staged by a right-wing website.

Correspondent David Wright was heard criticising the network’s political coverage in heavily edited footage released by Project Veritas, an activist group that uses “hidden cameras to uncover supposed liberal bias …”

Project Veritas frequently targets trade unions and campaign organisations such as the Association for Community Organisations for Reform Now (Acorn), which was forced to dissolve after losing government funding.

The conservative group also targets mainstream news organisations and journalists. It has mounted unsuccessful sting operations against the Washington Post and CNN correspondent Abbie Boudreau.

In 2015, the Trump Foundation donated $10,000 (£7,765) to Project Veritas …

The group has been described as “right-wing disinformation outfit” in a work on propaganda in US politics by three Havard scholars.

Mr Wright was covering the New Hampshire primary when he was covertly filmed by a Project Veritas supporter.

In the footage released on Wednesday, he is heard complaining about the network’s political coverage, saying: “I feel terrible about it. I feel that the truth suffers, the voters are poorly informed.”

The ABC reporter also said that Donald Trump is given an easy ride, adding: “We don’t hold him to account” and referring to him as “the fucking president.”

But it was the admission he was a socialist that proved too much for ABC.

On being asked whether he was a democratic socialist, he replied: “Like, more than that, I consider myself a socialist”. He admitted supporting “national-health insurance”, “reining in corporations” and narrowing the wealth gap.

Announcing his suspension, an ABC statement said: “Any action that damages our reputation for fairness and impartiality or gives the appearance of compromising it harms ABC News and the individuals involved.

“David Wright has been suspended and, to avoid any possible appearance of bias, he will be reassigned away from political coverage when he returns.”

The action against him was widely condemned, including by James Poniewozik of the New York Times, who asked: “Would ‘I consider myself a capitalist’ be a suspendable offence at any news outlet?”

Radley Balko of the Washington Post commented: “The notion that journalists should never express opinions in private is absurd.”

Roadrunner at Trump’s border wall photo nominated

This photo, by Mexican Alejandro Prieto, shows a roadrunner at Donald Trump‘s United States-Mexico border wall.

It has been nominated in the World Press Photo competition.

This 15 February 2020 video says about itself:

What is the impact of Trump’s border wall? | DW News

US Defense Secretary Mark Esper has justified diverting nearly 4 Billion dollars from … other programs to fund a border wall with Mexico. President Donald Trump says around 200 kilometers of the border fence have been finished. The president ignored criticism of the shift in funds, and talked instead about how much was being built, as well as making claims about people trying and failing to climb it. DW’s Cai Nebe and Luisa von Richthofen delivered this report from Arizona, where construction is in full swing, cutting through conservation areas and heritage sites. So what impact is the wall having on the communities and environment it cuts through?

See also here.

Greater flamingo on Texel island

This 28 February 2020 video is about a greater flamingo, now wintering at the Wadden Sea coast of Texel island in the Netherlands.

It is the third time ever that this species has been seen on Texel.

Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, humorous music video

This 26 February 2020 humorous music video from Britain says about itself:

Bernie the Dinosaur

Bernie Sanders‘s Barney the Dinosaur tribute act.

LYRICS:

I love unions
They love me
Not so much the DNC
They want Michael Bloomberg, Mayor Pete or Joe
They’ll uphold the status quo

I love unions
They love me
Not so much Team Hillary
If you ask me, they’d take four more years of Trump
They can take a running jump

I love unions
They love me
Less so MSNBC
They don’t like to hear about the CIA
Installing General Pinochet

I love unions
They love Bern
Don’t give Trump a second term
Which’ll happen if it’s Pete or Mini Mike
Don’t ask me, ask Dick Van Dyke

Fossil Miocene lizard discovery in Dominican amber

This 2017 video is called Dominican Amber Fossil Anolis Lizard Inclusion.

From the University of Bonn in Germany:

Rare lizard fossil preserved in amber

February 27, 2020

The tiny forefoot of a lizard of the genus Anolis was trapped in amber about 15 to 20 million years ago. Every detail of this rare fossil is visible under the microscope. But the seemingly very good condition is deceptive: The bone is largely decomposed and chemically transformed, very little of the original structure remains. The results, which are now presented in the journal PLOS ONE, provide important clues as to what exactly happens during fossilization.

How do fossils stay preserved for millions of years? Rapid embedding is an important prerequisite for protecting the organisms from access by scavengers, for example. Decomposition by microorganisms can for instance be prevented by extreme aridity. In addition, the original substance is gradually replaced by minerals. The pressure from the sediment on top of the fossil ensures that the fossil is solidified. “That’s the theory,” says Jonas Barthel, a doctoral student at the Institute for Geosciences at the University of Bonn. “How exactly fossilization proceeds is currently the subject of intensive scientific investigation.”

Amber is considered an excellent preservative. Small animals can be enclosed in a drop of tree resin that hardens over time. A team of geoscientists from the University of Bonn has now examined an unusual find from the Dominican Republic: The tiny forefoot of a lizard of the genus Anolis is enclosed in a piece of amber only about two cubic centimeters in size. Anolis species still exist today.

Vertebrate inclusions in amber are very rare

The Stuttgart State Museum of Natural History has entrusted the exhibit to the paleontologists of the University of Bonn for examination. “Vertebrate inclusions in amber are very rare, the majority are insect fossils,” says Barthel. The scientists used the opportunity to investigate the fossilization of the seemingly very well preserved vertebrate fragment. Since 2018 there is a joint research project of the University of Bonn with the German Research Foundation, which contributes to the understanding of fossilization using experimental and analytical approaches. The present study was also conducted within the framework of this project.

The researchers had thin sections prepared for microscopy at the Institute for Evolutionary Biology at the University of Bonn. The claws and toes are very clearly visible in the honey-brown amber mass, almost as if the tree resin had only recently dripped onto them — yet the tiny foot is about 15 to 20 million years old.

Scans in the micro-computer tomograph of the Institute for Geosciences revealed that the forefoot was broken in two places. One of the fractures is surrounded by a slight swelling. “This is an indication that the lizard had perhaps been injured by a predator,” says Barthel. The other fracture happened after the fossil was embedded — exactly at the place where a small crack runs through the amber.

Amber did not protect from environmental influences

The analysis of a thin section of bone tissue using Raman spectroscopy revealed the state of the bone tissue. The mineral hydroxyapatite in the bone had been transformed into fluoroapatite by the penetration of fluorine. Barthel: “This is surprising, because we assumed that the surrounding amber largely protects the fossil from environmental influences.” However, the small crack may have encouraged chemical transformation by allowing mineral-rich solutions to find their way in. In addition, Raman spectroscopy shows that collagen, the bone’s elastic component, had largely degraded. Despite the seemingly very good state of preservation, there was actually very little left of the original tissue structure.

“We have to expect that at least in amber from the Dominican Republic, macromolecules are no longer detectable,” says the supervisor of the study, Prof. Dr. Jes Rust from the Institute for Geosciences. It was not possible to detect more complex molecules such as proteins, but final analyses are still pending. The degradation processes in this amber deposit are therefore very advanced, and there is very little left of the original substance.

Acids in tree resin attack bone

Amber is normally considered an ideal preservative: Due to the tree resin, we have important insights into the insect world of millions of years. But in the lizard’s bone tissue, the resin might even have accelerated the degradation processes: Acids in the tree secretion have probably attacked the apatite in the bone — similar to tooth decay.

=

Donald Trump’s Scottish golf course scandal

This 31 May 2019 video from the USA says about itself:

How much do Trump’s golf trips cost? According to a new study, President Trump has cost the American taxpayers $102 million already with his 175 presidential golf trips. Before entering the White House, Trump claimed he wouldn’t have much time to play golf, but that has not been the case throughout the Trump administration. This Trump news today, confirms what many already worried about Trump‘s golf trips. … President Donald Trump is also making money off his golf trips because many of the golf courses he plays on are Trump golf courses at Trump properties.

The U.S. government reportedly forked over more than $77,000 to Trump’s Turnberry golf course in Scotland ahead of the president’s recent stay there.

Donald Trump’s Turnberry staff ‘left with wages under legal minimum on 10 days of shifts’. An employee has told how management at the US president’s Scottish golf resort withhold overtime pay and make them work like “robots”: here.

From daily The Morning Star in Britain:

Thursday, February 27, 2020

Investigate Trump’s purchase of his Ayrshire golf course, SNP urged

Green MSP Patrick Harvie called on the Scottish government to seek an unexplained-wealth order for the buyout of the Turnberry resort

THE Scottish government has been pressed to use its powers to investigate US president Donald Trump’s purchase of an Ayrshire golf course.

At First Minister’s Questions in Holyrood today, Green MSP Patrick Harvie called for the SNP administration to seek an unexplained-wealth order (UWO) for the buyout of the Turnberry resort.

A report published last year by global activist group Avaaz outlines “serious financial misconduct” among Mr Trump’s “inner circle” during the period of his purchase of the course, with his former campaign manager also pleading guilty to money laundering.

UWOs, brought into force two years ago, allow Scottish ministers to instruct investigation of the finances of someone from outside the European Economic Area in a position of power that makes them liable to bribery or corruption.

Ministers would apply to the Court of Session for such an order to be put in place.

If the individual or their family cannot show a legitimate source for their riches, authorities can apply to seize the property.

Mr Harvie said that UWOs were designed “precisely for these kinds of situations,” urging SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon to take action.

He added: “Trump’s known sources of income do not explain where the money came from in these huge cash transactions.

“There are reasonable grounds for suspecting that his lawfully obtained income was insufficient.

“Trump is a politically exposed person in terms of the law, and there are reasonable grounds for suspecting that he, or people he is connected with, have been involved in serious crime.

“Scotland cannot be a country where anyone with the money can buy whatever land and property they want, no questions asked.”

The First Minister made clear that she was “no defender” of Mr Trump, adding that any matter of criminality surrounding the purchase of the golf courses was a matter for Police Scotland and the Crown Office.

Ms Sturgeon also pledged to look into the “serious” issue raised by Mr Harvie and get back to him in full.

The Morning Star understands that the original Avaaz report, which also urged the Scottish government to seek a UWO, was passed by ministers to the Crown Office in May 2019.

Where did @realDonaldTrump get the money to buy it after multiple bankruptcies? Why was @DonaldJTrumpJr bragging about access to Russian cash? Scotland’s government should be seeking an Unexplained Wealth Order to get real answers. https://t.co/OlJ4Hg5Gi1

— Avaaz (@Avaaz) February 27, 2020

Rare heathland stream of Dutch Veluwe region

This 27 February 2020 Dutch video shows a heathland stream in the Dutch Veluwe region.

Heathland streams are rare. This one is because recently there has been much rain.

Contrary to earlier in the Netherlands, when there was drought.