The Raw Story

Monday, 12 January 2015

Enormous underwater lemur graveyard discovered dating back 1,000 years in Madagasgar

What could be the largest single collection of lemur remains has been discovered in submerged caves in Madagascar.

A team of experts working with the National Science Foundation discovered the bone yard in a remote desert region of the island.

The complete lemur skeletons - all of extinct species - had remained intact for hundreds if not thousands of years, making it a unique site of great significance.

As well as vast numbers of lemur fossils, the remains of other animals were also found, including bats, rodents and carnivores.

[embedded content]

Brooklyn College anthropologist Alfred Rosenberger, who led the project, said: "It's really an enormous number of fossils all in one place. They're very complete which is unusual in palaeontology because you get broken bones frequently or you get different parts of the body separated from one another. Here everything is together in beautiful condition.

"The possibility of making very important and exciting discoveries is phenomenal because nothing like this has ever been found before."

Of the three caves explored, all contained fossils but one was found to have an "unprecedented number of recently extinct lemurs", the NSF said.

One such lemur was the megaladapis, or koala lemur, a giant species that went extinct about 500 years ago.

Experts say the find will help us understand the environment of Madagascar as well as what led to the creatures extinction.

Laurie Godfrey, from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, said: "When you have a place where two thirds of the animals that live there only 1,000 years ago are gone, and replaced with other animals, what we need to know is what are the implications for the rest of the flora and fauna?"

Rosenberger said it marks a new era in underwater palaeontology and is a "remarkable discovery". "It's going to be wonderful for science and future generations"

Chomsky: We Are All – Fill in the Blank.

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© Islamic State Official Media House For Anbar

ISIS circulated photos claiming responsibility for Monday's attack on the Saudi Arabian border with Iraq.

For the first time since the Islamic State group formally announced its desire to conquer Saudi Arabia last month, government officials said terrorist elements had launched an attack on the Saudi border with Iraq. Four militants, one wearing a suicide vest, attacked a border fortification Monday, killing three Saudi border guards.

The militants' official media wing for Iraq's Anbar province published a photo essay taking responsibility for the attack, which is the closest ISIS has come to breaching the coveted Saudi Arabian border since it declared the existence of a caliphate in June. The suicide attack signals a change in the group's strategy to conquer the kingdom. It was both the first direct attack on Saudi armed forces and the first documented attempt by the militant group to infiltrate the country. Despite the government's past efforts to quell extremism, Saudi Arabia has become increasing vulnerable to ISIS advances.

Speaking to Reuters, Iraqi security analyst Mustafa Alani described the border attack as "the first attack by Islamic State itself against Saudi Arabia and is a clear message after Saudi Arabia entered the international coalition against it."

Saudi Arabia is an active member of the U.S.-led anti-ISIS coalition and a longtime U.S. ally. The kingdom is also the largest producer and exporter of oil and the region's Sunni powerhouse, making it a triple prize for ISIS and an essential part of its plans to expand the so-called caliphate. The government is well aware of the country's susceptibility to militant infiltration and has made various attempts to quell the rising extremism, that varies from a fence on the border to warming diplomatic ties with Iraq's Shiite-dominated government.

Saudi Arabia ramped up security at the border in June and more recently built a nearly 600-mile (1,000 kilometer) fence on the border with Iraq to keep out militants. Monday's attack hit the northern border patrol at al-Suwaif near the city of Arar, the reported. Arar is more than 700 miles (1,200 km) from Riyadh but territory between the two is not densely populated, and militants may face little opposition if they are able to cross the border and advance toward the capital through open desert.

To boost Saudi presence in neighboring Iraq, officials began talks Sunday on reopening the Saudi embassy in Baghdad, which has been closed since 1990, and a consulate in Erbil, the capital of Iraq's Kurdistan region. The diplomatic seats are to open "at the earliest opportunity," the Saudi Press Agency reported.

However, the militant group's ideology already has succeeded in infiltrating Saudi Arabia. Last month, ISIS claimed responsibility for killing a Danish national in the country and, in a separate incident, security forces arrested around 100 suspected ISIS militants accused of carrying out a November attack on the Saudi Shiite community in al-Ahsa. These attacks were likely carried out by ISIS sympathizers already in Saudi Arabia, who were heeding ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's call to attack Saudi citizens, "embitter their lives and make them occupied with themselves instead of us."

Since Baghdadi declared the kingdom to be a new ISIS wilayat (province), the group's strategy has entailed boosting capabilities of those sympathizers and encouraging sporadic, lone-wolf attacks to shift the focus Saudi's security forces' focus away from battling militants in Iraq, Harleen Gambhir, an analyst at the Institute for the Study of War, recently told .

Whether the recent attack was the result of direct orders from Baghdadi or of a lone-wolf group of ISIS sympathizers, the threat to Saudi Arabia remains strong. Following the attack, the Saudi Interior Ministry released a statement reiterating the kingdom's security forces were "determined to thwart ... plots to undermine the security and stability of the homeland."

[embedded content]

A prominent Saudi Arabian cleric has whipped up controversy by issuing a religious ruling forbidding the building of snowmen, described them as anti-Islamic.

Asked on a religious website if it was permissible for fathers to build snowmen for their children after a snowstorm in the country's north, Sheikh Mohammed Saleh al-Munajjid replied: "It is not permitted to make a statue out of snow, even by way of play and fun."

Quoting from Muslim scholars, Sheikh Munajjid argued that to build a snowman was to create an image of a human being, an action considered sinful under the kingdom's strict interpretation of Sunni Islam.

"God has given people space to make whatever they want which does not have a soul, including trees, ships, fruits, buildings and so on," he wrote in his ruling.

That provoked swift responses from Twitter users writing in Arabic and identifying themselves with Arab names.

"They are afraid for their faith of everything ... sick minds," one Twitter user wrote.

Another posted a photo of a man in formal Arab garb holding the arm of a "snow bride" wearing a bra and lipstick. "The reason for the ban is fear of sedition," he wrote.

A third said the country was plagued by two types of people:

"A people looking for a fatwa (religious ruling) for everything in their lives, and a cleric who wants to interfere in everything in the lives of others through a fatwa," the user wrote.

Sheikh Munajjid had some supporters, however. "It (building snowmen) is imitating the infidels, it promotes lustiness and eroticism," one wrote.

"May God preserve the scholars, for they enjoy sharp vision and recognize matters that even Satan does not think about."

Snow has covered upland areas of Tabuk province near Saudi Arabia's border with Jordan for the third consecutive year as cold weather swept across the Middle East.

The idea that the United States is going through a "manufacturing renaissance," although optimistically touted in the media and by experts, does not reflect reality, write the authors of a new report from a reputable Washington, D.C. think-tank, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF).

The authors of the report claim that the highly publicized media narrative of a rebirth in America's manufacturing sector is based on misleading interpretations of data that in fact paint a much bleaker picture of a temporary recovery within the context of the economic cycle, rather than structural growth.

America's unprecedented decline in manufacturing employment in the 2000s, which was caused not by increases in productivity, as was the case in previous decades, but rather outsourcing and decline in output, led to trade deficits in sectors such as high-tech production, which is typically brought up as an example of American manufacturing, write the authors.

"The lion's share of growth that has occurred appears to have been driven by a cyclical, rather than structural, recovery, and as such may represent only a temporary trend," the report states, pointing out that even compared to previous recessions, the recovery has only been partial, with both output and employment below 2009 levels when adjusted for lower costs achieved through outsourcing.

The authors also take a special look at what they believe is a myth of "reshoring" - companies that once outsourced production overseas bringing it back to the United States.

The authors point out is that rising labor costs in China do not mean an end to outsourcing of jobs, as Chinese wages are growing slower than its labor productivity, and that even if official Chinese statistics are to be believed, "the average Chinese laborer would still earn just roughly $4.40 an hour, a scant 12 percent of U.S. wages."

Additionally, the authors point out that the shale gas revolution has not reduced energy prices for U.S. manufacturers, saying that "The benefits are concentrated in oil and gas refining and energy intensive industries." Also, electricity costs are only marginally impacted by shale gas prices, which does not affect reshoring.

Lastly, the authors dispute the idea that U.S. productivity growth is cutting cost differences, as new production methods such as robotics and 3D printing are changing manufacturing and cutting labor costs, pointing out that productivity growth in the U.S. in 2010-2013 only amounted to an annual average of 2.5 percent compared to 8.5 percent in China and 5 percent in Germany.

As a solution, think-tank suggests that the U.S. adopt a comprehensive economic policy that promotes manufacturing and productivity growth.

© Reuters

Netanyahu and Hollande attend a ceremony at the Paris Grand Synagogue to the victims of the Paris attacks this week.

French President Francois Hollande conveyed a message to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the weekend asking him not to come to Paris to take part in the march against terror on Sunday, according to an Israeli source who was privy to the contacts between the Elysees Palace and the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem. The fact that this message had been conveyed was first reported by Channel 2.

After the French government began to send invitations to world leaders to participate in the rally against terror, Hollande's national security adviser, Jacques Audibert, contacted his Israeli counterpart, Yossi Cohen, and said that Hollande would prefer that Netanyahu not attend, the source said.

Audibert explained that Hollande wanted the event to focus on demonstrating solidarity with France, and to avoid anything liable to divert attention to other controversial issues, like Jewish-Muslim relations or the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Audibert said that Hollande hoped that Netanyahu would understand the difficulties his arrival might pose and would announce that he would not be attending.

The source noted that one of the French concerns - not conveyed to representatives of the Israeli government - was that Netanyahu would take advantage of the event for campaign purposes and make speeches, especially about the Jews of France. Such statements, the Elysee Palace feared, would hurt the demonstration of solidarity the French government was trying to promote as part of dealing with the terror attacks.

According to the source, Netanyahu at first acquiesced to the French request. In any case, the Shin Bet security service unit that protects public figures considered the arrangements for the prime minister's security to be complex. And so, on Saturday evening, Netanyahu's people announced that he would not be flying to Paris because of security concerns. Netanyahu told the French he would come to France on Tuesday for a Jewish community event.

The French apparently sent the same message to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Like Netanyahu, Abbas acceded to the French request and released a strange statement about the same time Netanyahu released his, that he would not be attending the event because of the bad weather.

However, on Saturday night, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and Economy Minister Naftali Bennett announced their intention to go to Paris and take part in the march and meet with the Jewish community. When Netanyahu heard they were going, he informed the French he would be attending the march after all.

According to the source, when Cohen informed Audibert that Netanyahu would be attending the event after all, Audibert angrily told Cohen that the prime minister's conduct would have an adverse effect on ties between the two countries as long as Hollande was president of France and Netanyahu was prime minister of Israel.

Audibert made it clear that in light of Netanyahu's intention to arrive, an invitation would also be extended to Abbas. And indeed, several hours after Abbas announced that he would not be traveling to Paris, his office issued a statement stating that he would in fact be at the march.

Hollande's anger at Netanyahu was evident during the ceremony held Sunday evening following the march at the Grand Synagogue in Paris, an event attended by hundreds of members of the local Jewish community.

Hollande sat through most of the ceremony, but when Netanyahu's turn at the podium arrived, the French president got up from his seat and made an early exit.

Upset at Netanyahu, Hollande also presumably preferred to avoid a rerun of the 2012 ceremony for the victims of the Toulouse shooting - to which Netanyahu arrived just as he was commencing his elections campaign.

The French weekly revealed then that Hollande complained in closed talks after that event that he found it unfortunate that Netanyahu had come to Paris to conduct a "two-staged election campaign," starting with a memorial for those murdered at the Jewish school in Tolouse, followed by a his speech at a ceremony there. The French president was quoted by the report saying that it was only because he came with Netanyahu to the ceremony that the Israeli prime minister toned down his speech.

Sources in the Prime Minister's Bureau said Sunday that when contacts were first made with the French over Netanyahu's trip this week, they were told that the visit could "cause difficulties." According to the sources, the Israelis understood that the French were referring mainly to security issues. They added that after the security arrangements were made, Hollande told Netanyahu in a phone call on Saturday evening that he would be happy to see him.

Associates of Netanyahu said that at no point did the French tie Netanyahu's visit in with that of Abbas.

"If Jerry Falwell had an enema (after he died), he could have been buried in a matchbox."

- Christopher Hitchens

This recent midterm election was my first real setback since I became a committed liberal (after years on the other side), and what I don't understand is why so many well-meaning liberals refuse to fight dirty. Sure, some Democratic politicians "sling mud," but the "professional left" (as they are often derisively called) spend too much time debating the exactitude of certain issues and not enough time shutting down the bad ideas of the opposition. It might speak well to one's character, but it's an ineffective way to do battle. There is a place for self-examination, but it's not on the battlefield. Sometimes the proper reaction to cruelty or stupid ideas is disgust or even a well-timed insult. For many on the left this art is sadly as dead as the late hero of mine quoted above.

I got married, dropped out of college, joined the military and became a father all before I was 21 years old, and I spent the next 20 years dealing with my early missteps. It was a painful climb, but one benefit of the circuitous route I took is that I understand the angry, white and rural right wing of America better than most. It's a group that grows ever more desperate and irrational no matter which way the electoral winds blow.

As a member of the frothing right wing, I always spouted nonsense, even when I wasn't sure I believed it. Sometimes I would throw out really crazy stuff just to see how it fit the big picture and sometimes to get a rise from the opposition. Rhetorical bomb throwing is well respected on the right, and it's not always a bad thing. There is nothing wrong with trying out ideas, letting them roll off the tongue to see how they sound. I'm always playing with ideas, most of which get discarded before I let myself believe them or write them down. There is one caveat to this and that's the racist, hateful and homophobic rants that have become too common among the worst of the Tea Party. This ugly side of conservative rage is one of the major factors that drove me (and many others) away from right-wing politics.

When I lived conservative values, I attended many events with like-minded people. Conservative movements foster a herd mentality. Even when someone stood up to "lead," he or she often regurgitated well-accepted talking points while crowds nodded in unison. Listen to talk radio or watch , and you can barely tally the number of times you hear, "yes, I think that's true." A perfect example of thoughtless regurgitation is when callers on talk radio mention "Saul Alinsky Democrats." Still others like to sling the insult of "Obama's Chicago political machine," with no context whatsoever. I'm going to make the obvious point that few if any of these callers have read one word of Alinsky, and fewer still have any direct, pointed or even third-hand knowledge of "Chicago politics." These goofy phrases have become totems of the insider, and like children, these listeners mindlessly repeat what someone else has said as if they had insight.

Now that I've been in the liberal camp for a few years, I've noticed the complete opposite with the politically engaged left. They often identify as "contrarian." They question everything and have a hard time taking a firm stand, even when 70% of the public is with them (on minimum wage, for instance). In an ideological battle, the tendency toward inclusion and reflection can become a handicap. As a side effect of all this soul-searching, the left becomes ineffectual at fighting even the worst excesses on the right. I'm boiling this down to a false dichotomy to illustrate a point. Of course there is every gradation of political belief on the right and left; yet our system itself is incapable of nuance, because only one side has even heard of the word.

Most people know that individuals will suffer because of the results of the latest midterm election. People won't get health care and some will lose food stamps. Discrimination will find a better foothold and the advance of science will lose ground. People I love, , will be vilified for being gay, because conservative voices of discrimination will feel empowered to act like jerks. Much of the latest loss stems from an inability to talk to regular people - especially working-class men - about liberal ideas. If Homer Simpson America (he is), then liberals should learn to talk to him.

Rich people have won over the white working class even though those same wealthy people don't do shit for the working class, ever. The wealthy have bought elections and government, wholesale. Working-class Americans are scared, battered and desperate. They are ready to listen to liberal messages, but not if we act like "wimps." The thing conservatives can't stand the most is what they charmingly call "pussy liberals." A white, conservative man would walk through hot coals or swallow shards of glass to prove to a on the barstool next to him that he's not one. (My wife, a nuanced liberal, vehemently objects when I use the term. As a feminist I totally understand. It's offensive. But I didn't create this usage. I'm only pointing it out.)

One of the reasons I became a liberal is not only because they have better ideas but also because they are willing to reconsider them, sometimes The debates and discussion and endless self-examination appeal to me, because of who I am. Liberals do a lot less yelling and a whole lot more making everyone feel welcome. Yet the same strength in debating, self-awareness and the Socratic Method are the enemies of a good .

The retired guy in a modest home on a fixed income defends the rights of billionaires to exploit him, because he's been sold a narrative. The matters, and Republicans spin a hell of yarn about America and "freedom," even though most of it is bullshit or a straight-out rewriting of history. They talk about Jefferson, Madison and Washington, men who would despise the science-hating, ignorant and reactive group the right has become. But it doesn't matter what or who you really stand for, it's just a matter of what you can sell. People with a billion dollars in the bank who benefit from low taxes and who exploit American labor could give two shits about patriotism, but they sing "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" as loud as possible while owning sprawling mansions in five countries.

Alice Walton, Wal-Mart heiress and professional layabout, is hardly your relatable, average American. Certainly the left should be able to find an explanation for why her brand of capitalism is evil. If liberals want to win the war of ideas they can't be afraid to use the word "evil." If Ms. Walton is not an evil person, we should at least not be afraid to call the practices of Wal-Mart by that powerful and often factual label.

Too harsh? Have you heard the dreck slung at immigrants lately? How about the word "traitor," so easily thrown at the president almost daily, every day for six years? If you think those on the right are reasonable, wish one "happy holidays." You might get your ass kicked.

The worst part is that people do prefer conservative ideas. In the last election they voted to increase the minimum wage , to impose gun background checks and to legalize marijuana. The problem with all three of these issues is that Democrats refuse to stand up for them or do so only tepidly. They won't fight, argue and, if necessary, the increasingly unbalanced platform of the opposition.

I call on my fellow liberals to embrace the rough stuff. Engage in battle with people who hate you and feel free to throw crazy right back, even if you only half believe it. Let it out and taste it on the way by. See if it flies. If it doesn't, screw it - just fix it up next time. Refer to your political opponent as "the honorable shithead from New Jersey." Use the words, images and for god's sake, the of the street. People who hate and fear you will always hate you unless they die out, change their minds or we can beat them in a heated contest of ideas. You're not playing checkers - and they're winning by giving zero shits about reality, so cut the crap and fight like you mean it.

Following the tragic events in Paris last week, many world leaders have expressed their regret at the loss of innocent life and has even compelled one particular leader into action.

US President Barack Obama has taken the step to propose a summit on extremism and anti-terrorism, despite he himself giving orders in the past to bomb 7 countries which are largely inhabited by Muslims.

In an attempt to gain an insight into the mindset of an extremist, Obama, who has bombed Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and Libya, is set to play host to a variety of Western leaders in America while forgetting to mention this particular foreign policy.

"We simply can't know what it is like for an individual or a collective group of people to be so dogmatic in their beliefs that they would so willingly kill innocent civilians", said the President as White House aides refused to point out the number of civilian casualties in the countries previously bombed by the Democratic leader.

"Their language is always that of a bombastic zeal, as if they believe themselves elevated to a position of judge, jury and executioner," added the Leader of the Free World and Commander in Chief.

The seven predominantly Muslim countries have all been bombed by the former Nobel Peace Prize winner, with civilians casualties occurring in every one of the seven nations.

"While we can't hope to understand their irrational distrust and hate, we must try to understand where it comes from," added the man who gives clearance to all drone strikes carried out by American forces.

"They will want to continue to curtail free speech, and that is not the American way at all," Obama said while tugging nervously at his shirt collar, hoping no attending journalist had a Brief History of American Abuses Of Free Speech Volumes 1-10 in their possession.

Obama refused to answer any questions, instead choosing to welcome rapper Jay Z on stage to pose for a photo which would later appear on Instagram with a seriously cool filter on it.

The Raw Story

Focused on providing independent journalism.

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Monday, 12 January 2015

Enormous underwater lemur graveyard discovered dating back 1,000 years in Madagasgar

ISIS signals strategy change: Claims attack on Saudi Arabia border

Saudi cleric condemns snowmen as anti-Islamic

American manufacturing renaissance a complete myth

Hollande didn't want Netanyahu in Paris for march - he came anyway

Angry right's secret playbook: How it uses a good story to peddle an agenda America hates

Man who has bombed 7 predominantly Muslim countries to host anti-terror summit

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