Welcome! "What's Happenin'?" is a casual community diary (a daily series, 8:30 AM Eastern on weekdays, 10 AM on weekends and holidays) where we hang out and talk about the goings on here and everywhere.
We welcome links to your writings here on dkos or elsewhere, posts of pictures, music, news, etc.
Just about anything goes, but attacks and pie fights are not welcome here. This is a community diary and a friendly, peaceful, supportive place for people to interact.
Everyone who wants to join in peaceful interaction is very welcome here.
|
Good Morning!
lyrics link |
Drop in
any time
day or night
to say hello.
|
In the depth of winter I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer.
~Albert Camus
I've made an odd discovery. Every time I talk to a savant I feel quite sure that happiness is no longer a possibility. Yet when I talk with my gardener, I'm convinced of the opposite.
~Bertrand Russell
Everything is blooming most recklessly; if it were voices instead of colors, there would be an unbelievable shrieking into the heart of the night.
~Rainer Maria Rilke
Your Moment of Zinn
The challenge remains. On the other side are formidable forces: money, political power, the major media. On our side are the people of the world and a power greater than money or weapons: the truth.
Truth has a power of its own. Art has a power of its own.
That age-old lesson – that everything we do matters – is the meaning of the people’s struggle here in the United States and everywhere. A poem can inspire a movement. A pamphlet can spark a revolution. Civil disobedience can arouse people and provoke us to think, when we organize with one another, when we get involved, when we stand up and speak out together, we can create a power no government can suppress. We live in a beautiful country. But people who have no respect for human life, freedom, or justice have taken it over. It is now up to all of us to take it back.
~ Howard Zinn, A Power Governments Cannot Suppress
heart of the night photo credit: Lady Libertine
News
Doc Watson,89, has passed
Last year, a life-size statue of Mr. Watson was dedicated in Boone, N.C., at another spot where he had once played for tips to support his family. At his request the inscription read, “Just One of the People.”
...
NYT: Secret ‘Kill List’ Proves a Test of Obama’s Principles and Will
Long, read it all.
"A phalanx of retired generals and admirals stood behind Mr. Obama on the second day of his presidency, providing martial cover as he signed several executive orders to make good on campaign pledges. Brutal interrogation techniques were banned, he declared. And the prison at Guantánamo Bay would be closed.
What the new president did not say was that the orders contained a few subtle loopholes. They reflected a still unfamiliar Barack Obama, a realist who, unlike some of his fervent supporters, was never carried away by his own rhetoric. Instead, he was already putting his lawyerly mind to carving out the maximum amount of maneuvering room to fight terrorism as he saw fit. ..."
...
Italy to acquire robotic warfare capabilities from U.S.
The Italian government will become the second U.S. ally to have its Reaper drone aircraft fitted with U.S. missile launching capabilities, White House sources told The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday.
Congress had 40 days to review the sale and raise objections, but the report noted that no member raised concerns. Going forward, the House and Senate would need to issue a joint resolution condemning the sale for it to be put on hold.
The first U.S. ally to obtain robotic warfare capabilities was Britain.
...
Syrian diplomats expelled from countries around the world
Governments around the world expelled Syrian ambassadors and diplomats on Tuesday in a co-ordinated protest at the massacre of more than 100 people, including scores of children, in Houla last weekend.
Britain, France, Germany, the United States and Canada were among those taking part in the global diplomatic action, which came as a UN report said many of those killed were shot at close range.
...
Japan's radiation found in California bluefin tuna
For the first time, scientists have detected radioactivity in fish that have migrated into California waters from the ocean off Japan, where radiation contaminated the sea after explosions tore through the Fukushima nuclear reactors last year.
see also Radioactive tuna travels from Japan to US faster than wind (Christian Science Monitor)
Small amounts of cesium-137 and cesium-134 were detected in 15 tuna caught near San Diego in August 2011, about four months after these chemicals were released into the water off Japan's east coast, scientists reported on Monday.
That is months earlier than wind and water currents brought debris from the plant to waters off Alaska and the U.S. Pacific Northwest.
...
Obama honours 13 with Medal of Freedom at White House
[VIDEO] Describing himself as "a big fan", a star-struck President Obama honours the 'Tambourine Man'
President Barack Obama has bestowed the nation's highest civilian honour on political and cultural figures in a ceremony at the White House.
Musician Bob Dylan, astronaut John Glenn, and Israeli President Shimon Peres were among the Medal of Freedom recipients.
The award is given to people from all walks of life who have made exceptional contributions to society.
...
A study of more than 300 Neolithic skeletons suggests evidence of "hereditary inequality" among farmers 7,000 years ago, researchers claim.
Archaeologists from Cardiff University led a team who studied the skeletons from across Europe.
They say evidence suggests farmers buried with tools had access to better land than those buried without.
Dr Penny Bickle, of Cardiff University, said community diversity "probably occurred through inheritance". [...]
The researchers claim to have evidence which suggests "differential land use among the first farmers of Europe, called the Neolithic period".
...
'Extinct' short-haired bumblebee returns to UK
A species of bee not seen in the UK for a quarter of a century is being reintroduced to the countryside.
The short-haired bumblebee was once widespread across the south of England but it vanished in 1988. However, after a healthy stock of the bees was found in Sweden, conservationists were able to collect some to seed a new UK colony.
About 50 queen bumblebees are being released at the RSPB's Dungeness reserve in Kent.
Nikki Gammans, from the Short-haired Bumblebee Project, said: "Normally, extinction means a species is gone forever. "But it is magnificent that we can bring back this bee species and give it a second chance here in the UK."
Blog Posts of Interest
This is a new section in the What's Happenin' diaries that will be updated throughout the day to promote selected blog posts of interest on DailyKos and other blogs.
Greenwald on
the NYT piece
Also, emptywheel on Brennan and more.