I killed my first wife, stoned Pakistani woman's husband says

Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN) -- The husband of Farzana Parveen, the Pakistani woman stoned to death for refusing to participate in an arranged marriage, told CNN he killed his first wife so he could marry Parveen.

Authorities said the first wife was killed six years ago.

"I wanted to send a proposal to Farzana, so I killed my wife," Mohammad Iqbal said Thursday in an interview with CNN.

Zulfiqar Hameed, district inspector general for the Punjab police, said Iqbal's son from the first marriage alerted police to the slaying six years ago.

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http://edition.cnn.com/2014/05/29/world/meast/pakistani-honor-killing/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

What a goddamn barbaric place.

Study: Species disappearing far faster than before

Source: AP

WASHINGTON (AP) — Species of plants and animals are becoming extinct at least 1,000 times faster than they did before humans arrived on the scene, and the world is on the brink of a sixth great extinction, a new study says.

The study looks at past and present rates of extinction and finds a lower rate in the past than scientists had thought. Species are now disappearing from Earth about 10 times faster than biologists had believed, said study lead author noted biologist Stuart Pimm of Duke University.

"We are on the verge of the sixth extinction," Pimm said from research at the Dry Tortugas. "Whether we avoid it or not will depend on our actions."

The work, published Thursday by the journal Science, was hailed as a landmark study by outside experts.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/news/science/article/Study-Species-disappearing-far-faster-than-before-5513629.php

I would seriously lose it if this happened to me

Coating on Willis Tower ‘Ledge’ cracks under tourists’ feet
http://media.nbcchicago.com/images/Alejandro+Garibay+skydeck.jpg

One of the glass enclosures known as The Ledge that sticks out of Willis Tower appeared to crack under the feet of a California family, but a building spokesman said it was merely a protective coating doing what it was supposed to do.

The cracking was in a scratch-resistant coating on the glass structure and did not affect the structural integrity of the box, said Willis Tower spokesman Bill Utter.

“Occasionally this happens, but that’s because we designed it this way,” he said. “Whatever happened last night is a result of the protective coating doing what it’s designed to.”

Utter said the coating has cracked before. Generally, he said, a visitor has something sharp in his pocket or hand that shatters the coating, although Utter did not know what prompted the cracks Wednesday night.

http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/national-international/chicago-willis-tower-sky-deck-ledge-crack-261079001.html
http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/27746004-418/willis-tower-ledge-cracks-under-tourists-feet.html#.U4dh8RbmHiY

Of course, there's no way in hell I'd go out on that thing anyway...

Putting a value on environmental change

The value of the global environment to human well-being, health and livelihoods fell by around US$20 trillion (A$21.5 trillion) a year between 1997 and 2011 due to loss of wetlands, coral reefs and tropical forests, a new study from a team of international researchers has found.

The study, published in Global Environmental Change, found the total value of global ecosystem services in 2011 was US$124.8 trillion (A$134 trillion) a year, down from $US145 trillion a year in 1997. That compares to global GDP of just $US75.2 trillion in 2011.

Global ecosystem services measure the value of ecological systems to human well-being, on top of the usual economic measures contained in gross domestic product (GDP) figures.

"Nature is not just a pretty place. Nature is a large and important part of the real economy which adds to human well-being," said lead author Professor Robert Costanza, from Crawford School of Public Policy.

more
http://phys.org/news/2014-05-environmental.html

Supreme Court issues unanimous decision defending police in fatal shooting

The US Supreme Court unanimously ruled Tuesday in favor of three Arkansas police officers who fired 15 bullets at a fleeing motorist and his passenger, killing both.

With a vote of nine justices to zero, the Supreme Court held in Plumhoff v. Rickard that the officers did not use excessive force and were entitled to “qualified immunity.” A judge-made doctrine with no basis in the Constitution, “qualified immunity” operates to bar civil rights lawsuits that challenge official misconduct. The authoritarian doctrine already results in large numbers of cases being arbitrarily thrown out of court every year, never to be decided by a jury.

The Supreme Court issued its decision in Plumhoff in the midst of a rising tide of police killings and violence around the country. Awash with “war on terror” funding and armed to the teeth with military hardware, police in America increasingly operate without restraint and without any conception of basic democratic and legal rights.

Earlier this year in Albuquerque, New Mexico, a police officer was captured on video shooting a homeless man eight times with an assault rifle and saying, “booyah.” This month, bystanders filmed the police gunning down an unarmed man in Long Beach, California. The population confronts an epidemic of similar incidents of police brutality across the country, with the police on average committing between one and two “justifiable homicides” every day.

more

http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2014/05/29/immu-m29.html

U.S. Seeks to Censor More of Memo That Approved Drone Strike on American

By CHARLIE SAVAGE


WASHINGTON — One week after the Obama administration said it would comply with a federal appeals court ruling ordering it to make public portions of a Justice Department memo that signed off on the targeted killing of a United States citizen, the administration is now asking the court for permission to censor additional passages of the document.

In the interim, the Senate voted narrowly last week to confirm David Barron, the former Justice Department official who was the memo’s principal author, to an appeals court judgeship. At least one Democratic senator who had opposed Mr. Barron over the secrecy surrounding his memo voted for him after the administration said it would release it.

The 41-page memo, dated July 16, 2010, cleared the way for a drone strike in Yemen in September 2011 that killed Anwar al-Awlaki, an American citizen accused by intelligence officials of plotting terrorist attacks. The American Civil Liberties Union and The New York Times are seeking the memo’s public disclosure in lawsuits under the Freedom of Information Act.

The Justice Department said it would soon disclose a version of the memo with the additional passages it wants to keep redacted blacked out. It said the additional passages discussed classified facts, not legal reasoning.

more

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/29/us/politics/us-asks-court-to-censor-more-parts-of-target-killing-memo.html?ref=world&_r=1

Thursday TOON Roundup 3- The Rest

GOP




2016




Rights




Vets




War

Thursday TOON Roundup 2- Aftermath of UCSB

Thursday Toon Roundup 1-RIP, Dr. Angelou

Ominous- Justice Kennedy asks litigants to weigh in on Gay Marriage appeal

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy said Wednesday that he wants more information before ruling on an attempt by the National Organization for Marriage to halt same-sex marriages in Oregon.

Kennedy asked for briefs to be filed by 1 p.m. Monday from the parties in the two lawsuits that led to U.S. District Judge Michael McShane's May 19 ruling that allowed gays and lesbians to marry in Oregon.

Kennedy, who hears emergency appeals from the region that includes Oregon, could issue a ruling on NOM's motion on its own or pass the issue on to the full court.

At a minimum, Kennedy's action means that he wants more information on the case before he makes a decision. But it's hard to know whether NOM has a strong shot for its argument that the Supreme Court should get involved in the Oregon case because of its unusual nature.

more

http://www.oregonlive.com/mapes/index.ssf/2014/05/gay_marriage_in_oregon_justice.html