Oxdown Diaries

All I can say is it’s about damn time somebody in Illinois stepped up to the plate to hold banks accountable for their criminal activities! St. Clair County Recorder Mike Costello and State’s Attorney Brendan Kelly on May 21st filed a civil suit for fraud and deception against 22 banks for allegedly using MERS to “sidestep recording fees” and creating “a scheme to evade county fees and shield property transfer records from the public.” As State’s Attorney, Mr. Kelly works with and advises government at the county level, while the Attorney General provides the same services at the state level.

FDL Dissenter’s Kevin Gosztola will give us some background information based on his coverage of the five activists arrested during a raid on a South Side Chicago apartment and held without charge. They were arrested during the night around 1 a.m. on May 17, along with four other activists who have since been released. Join our discussion on The NATO 5: Occupy & The War On Terror on Wednesday 5/23 at 8:00pm

It unfortunately takes a little bit of time, but climate skeptics’ claims that observations don’t support climate model projections aren’t supported as more observations are made of the Earth system. The latest instance: instead of using just climate projections, a pair of researchers have used observations to try to determine whether internal variability (natural year-to-year changes), self-acceleration (positive feedback loops), or external forcing were most the likely drivers of observed sea-ice retreat in the past 30 years.

The takeaway from this research: external forcing (CO2) is shown to be most responsible. This is a good case of how science works: investigate multiple potential causal factors and let the observed data speak for themselves.

Good Morning and welcome to our live coverage of the NATO Summit in Chicago, today looks to be action packed with a full agenda for attendees and activists. So far we have seen the full force of the police state with preemptive arrest, terrorism charges and vicious police brutality. Today is sure to bring more of the same with the largest march of the weekend kicking off the days events.

One of the recurring themes environmental activists have been hearing at the local level is that fracking is a state-level issue and that municipalities have limited ability to address it. That has been true in Portage County, Ohio generally, and it was the case in Shalersville on Tuesday night. At the start of the meeting, one of the trustees announced that the speakers were strictly there for public comment and that no questions would be permitted.

Dissenters’ Digest takes a look back at the week’s stories covering whistleblowers, watchdogs, and government accountability.

Many lawyers, including myself, have focused the discussion in the George Zimmerman case on who initiated aggressive physical contact, because there is no law that prohibits a person from approaching another person and asking them what they are doing.

Nevertheless, as I also have pointed out, Zimmerman’s intent when approaching Martin is relevant regarding who threw the first punch.

I had avoided telling my parents about anything involving activism or really any socializing with other LGBTQ people. To my parents at that time, I was a docile gay who was renouncing that “lifestyle” to grow closer to God. But after that march, I knew I had to go to them and come out as an on-fire activist. I spent days writing what I was going to say to them before I had to go back home.

What about it? I know there are a whole lot of middle aged folks who frequent this forum and many seniors and young people too. What are your perspectives on aging? Does the bad outweigh the good for you or are you, like me, finding it to be somewhat of a relief from the pressures we face in young adulthood?

Last month I wrote about the counterterrorism community’s penchant for over-counting the number of al Qaeda militants in the world, by taking too seriously the supposed “links” and “mergers” between al Qaeda and local insurgencies, particularly in Yemen, Somalia, Nigeria, and Mali. (This game was perfected during the Iraq War.)

This game is bound up with a pressing issue in the War on Terror: Is the U.S. creating more terrorists through heavy-handed counterterrorist measures? Answering this question brings us to a problem of counting.