Category Archives: Politics

“This is about our survival.”

Outside: Yosemite Finally Reckons with Its Discriminatory Past. “Pioneers, the government, even John Muir helped kick out Native Americans from their homes on national parks. But in Yosemite, the Miwuk Tribe is getting its village back.”

“Though nobody will live in the wahhoga, the agreement is nonetheless a watershed moment in the park’s relationship with local Native Americans, who have long sought to reestablish their cultural and subsistence connection with the park. The wahhoga could also function as an example for other NPS units, nearly all of which were created following forcible or coerced removal of the Native population. “Our ancestors used to live there, and we always felt that what was available to our ancestors should’ve been available to us,“ James says.

James, who chairs the Wahhoga Committee, sees this as one more step toward indigenous tribes reconnecting with their ancestral homeland. Next on the docket, he plans to start programs that teach Native youth about traditional plant and animal harvesting. As James says, “This is about our survival.“ “

Fresno Bee: Decades after destruction, Yosemite welcomes home Native Americans.

“Wahhoga’s return has been decades in the making. The American Indian Council of Mariposa County/Southern Sierra Miwuk Nation finally got the OK to begin construction a decade ago, only to have their work halted for nearly seven years by Yosemite’s former superintendent, who cited safety concerns.

“We knew how to build a roundhouse from traditional knowledge that’s been passed down. … The park service didn’t understand that,” said Tony Brochini, former tribal chairman and executive director of the Wahhoga Committee. “That is where we butted heads. The park service wanted us to follow project management protocol and we were moving forward with our traditional methods.”

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“Niederlande schlägt ein 55-Prozent-Ziel vor”

Deutsche Welle: EU-Kommission schlägt neue Klimaziele vor. “Während die US-Regierung eine Aufweichung der Klimaschutzauflagen ankündigt, will die EU-Kommission das offizielle Klimaziel für 2030 deutlich hochschrauben. Von der deutschen Industrie kam heftiger Widerspruch.”

“In Europa schürt der Hitzesommer Sorgen, dass der Klimawandel längst Fahrt aufnimmt. Auch deshalb will EU-Energie- und Klimakommissar Miguel Arias Canete jetzt neue Klimaziele diskutieren. Im Vergleich zu 1990 sollen bis 2030 die Treibhausgase um 45 Prozent gesenkt werden – zuvor waren 40 Prozent festgelegt worden. Für seine Pläne braucht Canete die Unterstützung der EU-Staaten. Sie sollen sich im Oktober beim Rat der Umweltminister damit befassen, rechtzeitig vor der nächsten UN-Klimakonferenz in Polen.

Der Klimakommissar wirbt mit einer einfachen Rechnung für seinen Vorschlag: Sofern die bereits getroffenen EU-Beschlüsse zum Energiesparen und zum Ausbau erneuerbarer Energien umgesetzt würden, seien keine zusätzlichen gesetzlichen Vorgaben nötig. “Auf Grundlage unserer Rechenmodelle würden wir de facto eine Reduzierung der Treibhausgase um 45 Prozent in der EU erreichen”, erklärte Cañete. Statt um 30 Prozent soll die Energieeffizienz bis 2030 um 32,5 Prozent steigen; der Anteil von Ökoenergie am gesamten Bedarf soll auf 32 Prozent wachsen statt nur auf 27 Prozent.”

I like paper and pencils

Computerphile: Why Electronic Voting is a BAD Idea. (YouTube, 8:20min) “Voting is centuries old, why can’t we move with the times and use our phones, tablets and computers? Tom Scott lays out why e-voting is such a bad idea.”

“[Electronic voting] is a terrible idea. And if a government ever promises to use it, hope they don’t manage it before you get a chance to vote them out.”

PBS News Hour: An 11-year-old changed election results on a replica Florida state website in under 10 minutes.

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One year after Charlottesville

The Washington Post: ‘It’s still hard to look at’. “The story behind the searing photo of Charlottesville’s worst day”.

“On April 16, [Ryan Kelly] and his wife were flying home from Amsterdam, where he had accepted an award for the photo. “We landed, I turned on my phone, and it was just swamped with texts and tweets and calls,“ Kelly said.

He had won the Pulitzer Prize for breaking-news photography, an accolade that leaves him both proud and pensive.

“I’ve also been very aware that it came at the expense of the death of Heather Heyer, of dozens of other people being injured, of Charlottesville being torn apart,“ Kelly said, […]. “I think about that every day.“ “

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“Osama’s son Hamza may well cloud the family’s attempts to shake off their past”

The Guardian: My son, Osama: the al-Qaida leader’s mother speaks for the first time. “Nearly 17 years since 9/11, Osama bin Laden’s family remains an influential part of Saudi society – as well as a reminder of the darkest moment in the kingdom’s history. Can they escape his legacy?”

“Alia Ghanem is Osama bin Laden’s mother, and she commands the attention of everyone in the room. On chairs nearby sit two of her surviving sons, Ahmad and Hassan, and her second husband, Mohammed al-Attas, the man who raised all three brothers. Everyone in the family has their own story to tell about the man linked to the rise of global terrorism; but it is Ghanem who holds court today, describing a man who is, to her, still a beloved son who somehow lost his way. “My life was very difficult because he was so far away from me,“ she says, speaking confidently. “He was a very good kid and he loved me so much.“ Now in her mid-70s and in variable health, Ghanem points at al-Attas – a lean, fit man dressed, like his two sons, in an immaculately pressed white thobe, a gown worn by men across the Arabian peninsula. “He raised Osama from the age of three. He was a good man, and he was good to Osama.“ “

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