Okay, so this is my science post of
the week. The humming bird. What do you know about them? No, not
“Mock. Yeah. Bird. Yeah.”
That’s “Mockingbird.” It has
nothing to do with “hummingbird.” Here are some basic facts about hummingbirds from DEFENDERS OF WILDLIFE:
Hummingbirds
are small, colorful birds with iridescent feathers. Their name comes
from the fact that they flap their wings so fast (about 80 times per
second) that they make a humming
noise. Hummingbirds can fly right, left, up, down, backwards, and even
upside down. They are also able to hover by flapping their wings in a
figure-8 pattern. They have a specialized long and tapered bill that is
used to obtain nectar from the center of long,
tubular flowers. The hummingbird’s feet are used for perching only, and
are not used for hopping or walking.
We’re talking about them today for a reason. Ryan F. Mandelbaum (GIZMODO) notes:
A pair of researchers at the University of California, Riverside studied six hummingbirds in an acoustic wind tunnel as they danced for a female in a cage. Confusingly, the birds dive to the side of, not in front of, the female. It seems the males are actually tweaking the sound of the dive so it seems like they’re going quickly—a sign that they’re fast flyers and a worthy mate.
“People love hummingbirds and the displays are fantastic and eye catching,” study author Christopher Clark told Gizmodo. “But we just don’t know a lot about them.”
So that’s a little bit more. The diver is their attempt to attract their mate. The things we do for love, as 10cc once sang.
Or as Tracy Chapman says in "For My Lover," "the things we won't do for love . . ."
Closing with C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"
Top 5 executioners list 2017:
* China
* Iran
* Saudi Arabia
* Iraq
* Pakistan
Not a list you want to be a part of. End the #DeathPenalty now. Read more in our latest #DeathPenalty report → amn.st/6012DZRm6
In the Middle East, only Saudi Arabia had more executions (146) than Iraq did. At least 125 executions were carried out in Iraq last year. 125 was a significant increase from 2016 -- Amnesty International recorded 88 executions that year in Iraq. In Iraq, if you are executed you face the noose.
If you steal? You're usually serving in the government. Corruption remains a huge issue and on that topic we'll note the following.
by an Iraqi-American. The itinerary of this archive and the rhetoric legitimizing its “acquisition” is quite telling. In April 2003, Kanan Makiya, one of the cheerleaders of the war (during its first few weeks he wrote that the bombing was music to his ears) made his way
to the basement under the Ba`th Party’s headquarters in Baghdad. Makiya removed the records he found there to his family home in what became later the Green Zone. The house supposedly became the Baghdad office of the Iraq Memory Foundation, a Washington, DC-based institution
he established. The entire staff of the Iraq Memory Foundation is comprised of five persons, two of whom are not Iraqi. It has no advisory board of any sort, nor does it have any links to any Iraqi historians. It has no presence on the ground in Iraq outside the Green Zone.
In 2005, the foundation reached an agreement with the US army to ship the documents to the United States.
Considering the rampant corruption of both the US occupation and the Iraqi puppet regime it installed in Iraq none of this is surprising. Nevertheless, it does not change
the fact that these documents are not anyone’s private property. They belong to the Iraqi people and their seizure and transfer to the United States. was a violation of international law. Despite calls from Saad Eskander, the Director General of Iraq’s National Library
& Archive back then to return these documents to Iraq, the Iraq Memory Foundation decided otherwise. In January of 2008, the foundation signed an agreement with the Hoover Institution to transfer the documents there. Opposition did not only come from inside Iraq.
In April of 2008, the Society of American Archivist (SAA) and the Association of Canadian Archivists (ACA), the world’s largest organization of archivists with 5100 members, expressed its “deep concern about [these] records and others obtained by the United States. . . in actions
[that] may be considered an act of pillage, which is specifically forbidden by the 1907 Hague Convention.” The letter stressed that these records must be returned to Iraq “to be maintained as part of the official records in the National Library and Archives.”These plundered
documents are a treasure for scholars. They illuminate the inner dynamics of the Ba`th regime and trace its growth and detail its various visceral effects on Iraqi society. But, alas, neither Iraqi scholars, nor Iraqi citizens, the victims of the Ba`th regime, have access
to these important documents from their visceral past. One of the “happy” stories about the benefits of this plunder to “our knowledge” speaks about the intensity with which some scholars are working on these “recovered” documents. “Recovered” is the key word here.
The plunder is conveniently erased. But not for Iraqis. They have to live with the loss and fight to retrieve their plundered memory. And not a year has passed without plunder in Iraq. As for the concerned scholars who mine this archive to “understand” the barbarism of the Ba`th
regime, I wonder if they will find time to contemplate the "barbarism [that] taints the manner in which it was transmitted from one owner to another," to borrow Benjamin`s words. jadaliyya.com/Details/25296/…
Looting and theft of Iraq's history has been taking place since the start of the 2003 US-led invasion. Craig Barker (ANCIENT ORIGINS) observes:
On April 10 2003, the first
looters broke into the National Museum of Iraq. Staff had vacated two
days earlier, ahead of the advance of US forces on Baghdad. The museum
was effectively ransacked for the next 36 hours until employees
returned.
While the staff - showing
enormous bravery and foresight - had removed and safely stored 8,366
artefacts before the looting, some 15,000 objects were taken during
that 36 hours. While 7,000 items have been recovered, more than 8,000
remain unaccounted for, including artefacts thousands of years old from
some of the earliest sites in the Middle East.
The looting is regarded as one of the worst acts of cultural vandalism in modern times, but much more of Iraq’s rich cultural history has been destroyed, damaged or stolen in the years since. Indeed the illegal trade in looted antiquities is growing.The Iraq War was a get richer scheme for many including Mad Maddie Albright, War Criminal Supreme. Despite her repugnant nature, she's being pimped by the US media relentlessly.
Former Sec. of State @Madeleine Albright calls Pres. Trump the "most undemocratic president" America has had, and says firing Robert Mueller would be a "disaster": "We cannot have a president who believes that he's above the law." abcn.ws/2CcjBVI
The laughable VIEW is only one of Mad Maddie's many stops. There she made nice with torture-supporting Whoopi Goldberg. Stephen Colbert also hosted the War Criminal. CNN, CBS THIS MORNING, MSNBC . . .
Madeleine Albright: I'm warning the American public on.msnbc.com/2JDvjfW
She's warning the American public, she insists. Who warned the Iraqi people about her? Who today bothers to hold her responsible for the deaths of 500,000 Iraqi children -- deaths she said were "worth it"?
To pimp her hatred of Donald Trump, she's been brought on every outlet you can think of -- even Terry Gross has made room for her on NPR's FRESH AIR. (Terry always has room for War Mongers. The "even Terry Gross" refers to the fact that sexist Terry books so few female guests each year.)
You write a bad book and you're guaranteed a platform? I don't get that with a normal author, but especially not with a War Hawk.
Very few have called Mad Maddie out.
Madeleine Albright is one of the most deranged and bloodthirsty warmongers to occupy a high government position in decades (Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, etc. were worse only by a degree), so of course she praises Trump's hostile proclamations - just wants a better "strategy" for the war:
There is a reason for the silence and John Stauber has long noted it.
The Empire is bipartisan. The “peace movement” - @WinWithoutWar @MoveOn - is a Dem front.
Meanwhile, the self-declared “peace movement,” awash in millions from Dem oligarchs and foundations - @WinWithoutWar - is busy lobbying against #Pompeo because, well you know, he’s evil and warlike. They take their marching orders from their Dem donors in the #Resistance.
John Stauber Retweeted
The phony professional US peace movement led by @WinWithoutWar is awash in millions from Dem #oligarchs. They’ll be wringing their hands but doing nothing. #WarIsBipartisan
The fake assery has allowed the US government to continue their wars without end. Democrats have controlled Congress, Republicans have controlled it. Democrats have held the White House, Republicans have held it. Democrats have controlled the White House and the Congress at the same time, Republicans have controlled the White House and the Congress at the same time. Yet the wars continue. No one stops them.
If you win primaries and elections the DNC will do what you want. The Dems didn't want to be against the Iraq War. Then that position started winning elections. Guess what happened next?
And you get the fake asses like Oliver Willis. "Guess what happened next?"
Uh, the Democrats promised, in 2006, that if you gave them one house in Congress in that year's elections they would end the Iraq War. The American people then gave them both houses of Congress. Did the Iraq War end in 2007?
Nope.
2008?
Nope.
Let's shorthand this and note the reality that the Iraq War continues to this day.
To the fake asses, the great affront is not the Iraqis killed in the Iraq War -- over a million, way over a million -- it's the death of Hillary Clinton's dream of being president that most offends.
Hillary who supported the war -- as did Mad Maddie -- and their support for Hillary goes a long way towards explaining their craven nature.
The following community sites -- plus Jody Watley, BLACK AGENDA REPORT and PACIFICA EVENING NEWS -- updated:
Deficits?
8 hours ago
Comey the leaker
8 hours ago
Out of control Mueller
8 hours ago
Julian Assange needs to be free
8 hours ago
