Yesterday, the plumber came around 9:00 and was finished before 10:00. I had two separate small problems, one in the bathroom sink and one in the stool. That was a good thing – because with both stopped up, I was afraid there was one problem, farther out, that would require expensive digging. At least I dodged that bullet.
Some information I have come across recently I think is interesting, though it may not mean anything (but it is suggestive.) The area which is now Russia had indigenous peole in the Middle Ages, and was invaded by Vikings – whom the indigenous people called “the Rus.” Those people actually asked the Vikings to stay and rule over them, because the Vikings appeared to be more organized than they were. (Incidentally the Vikings were not an ethniv group – it was more like a career choice – there were Vikings of many ethnicities.) The name “Russia” comes from their name for the Vikings. Ukrainians, however, are descended from Cossacks (if their national anthem is to be believed.) The Cossacks were an ethnic group’ They were semi-nomadic. Groups of them settled in varioua eastern nations, making a deal that they would providwe military service to those nations in return for being allowed self-government – which was mostly democratic. Don’t be discouraged by the length of this video on the Vikings – you only need to listen about a minute and a half to get the content. And this article is on the Cossacks. Those are my sources.
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Letters from an American – September 24, 2022
Quote – In Arizona, Pima County Superior Court Judge Kellie Johnson has restored a law put into effect by Arizona’s Territorial legislature in 1864 and then reworked in 1901 that has been widely interpreted as a ban on all abortions except to save a woman’s life. Oddly, I know quite a bit about the 1864 Arizona Territorial legislature, and its story matters as we think about the attempt to impose its will in modern America. In fact, the Civil War era law seems not particularly concerned with women handling their own reproductive care—it actually seems to ignore that practice entirely. The laws for this territory, chaotic and still at war in 1864, appear to reflect the need to rein in a lawless population of men. Click through for story. I believe I see a huge Plan B loophole in the way this law is worded – provided the user orders it from, or buys it in person, out of state (i.e., receives it from a person not under Arizona’s jurisdiction.)
ABC News [Australian Broadcasting Company] – Indigenous activists condemn New York Times obituary of Uncle Jack Charles as offensive Lona
Quote – The lede paragraph of the New York Times story initially read: “MELBOURNE, Australia — Jack Charles, one of Australia’s leading Indigenous actors, who has been called the “grandfather of Aboriginal theatre” but whose heroin addiction and penchant for burglary landed him in and out of jail throughout his life, died on September 13 in Melbourne. He was 79.” It was updated to read: “MELBOURNE, Australia — Jack Charles, one of Australia’s leading Indigenous actors and activists, who has been called the “grandfather of Aboriginal theatre” and who spent years in prison for burglaries that he saw as acts of reparations, died on September 13 in Melbourne. He was 79.” Click through for story (I had no trouble so I assume y’all can see it – if not I’ll be happy to “print” it and sent a pdf) The ironic thing is that the Old Gray Lady is supposedly trying to be more sensitive in obituaries. Apparently, that only aqpplies to Americans.
Yesterday, I went to see Virgil, who returns all greetings. I know he’s grateful to all of you for being there for me We were able to get in a little cribbage – the facility only has one deck of regular cards (I think they have a Uno set which has its own card in it, but that’s all) and they are not allowed to accept donations. There’s no board, so we don’t keep a running score – we are doing well if we remember whose deal it is – but it’s still fun. There is a large flat screen TV in the room, and today it was on (no sound) to the Chiefs-Colts game, about which the less said the better. The drive was easy enough both ways, and I got there and home safely.
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Mother Jones – An Insurrectionist Underwear Model Is Finally Having His January 6 Trial
Quote – Strand is the first insurrectionist “influencer” to go on trial, and is arguably the most fashionable and impeccably groomed January 6 defendant. His signature undercut hairstyle, with the top carefully gelled into a rooster’s comb, leather jacket, and aviator sunglasses made him stand out in the crowd of old bearded white men, other MAGA maniacs, the QAnon Shaman, and the cammo-garbed militia types. Click through for article. Yes, this is from last Wednesday, and he was supposed to testify Thursday, and by now the case has likely gone to the jury, but I can’t find any information on it.
Crooks & Liars – Hundreds Turn Out For Dying Boy’s Last Halloween Wish
Quote – Alex’s parents wanted to make his remaining time as meaningful as possible. They asked him if there was anything that he still wished to experience. His response: Halloween. Specifically, he wanted to see monsters. As a toddler, Alex had gone to a haunted house in Niagara Falls, his father said, and he desperately wanted to go back. His doctors cautioned the Hurdakises against traveling, urging them to remain close to home. Click through for story (and a video). President Joe always says, “I promise you, the time will come that what’s going to happen is six months will go by and everybody is going to think, well, it’s passed. But you are going to ride by that field or smell that fragrance or see that flashing image. You are going to feel like you did the day you got the news. But you know you are going to make it. The image of your dad, your husband, your friend. It crosses your mind and a smile comes to your lips before a tear to your eye. That’s how you know. I promise you, I give you my word, I promise you, this I know. The day will come. That day will come.” And when it does, this memory will be there for Alex’s family.
On the day the death of Queen Elizabeth II was announced, a double rainbow appeared over Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle. The brightly colored arch provided a poignant moment of brightness on a day of sorrow.
Crowds had been gathering at Buckingham Palace throughout the day because of concern over the Queen’s health. After a typical London shower, the clouds parted and there was a double rainbow over the Queen Victoria Memorial in front of the Palace.
Buckingham Palace
Westminster Abbey
Big Ben
And as far away as Windsor Castle
The Queen, who was awakened every morning by the music of her much-loved bagpipes, had requested that Pipe Major Paul Burns, the Sovereign’s Piper of the Royal Regiment of Scotland, perform the traditional Lament “Sleep, Dearie, Sleep” at the end of her service in Westminster Abbey.
Experts in autocracies have pointed out that it is, unfortunately, easy to slip into normalizing the tyrant, hence it is important to hang on to outrage. These incidents which seem to call for the efforts of the Greek Furies (Erinyes) to come and deal with them will, I hope, help with that. As a reminder, though no one really knows how many there were supposed to be, the three names we have are Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone. These roughly translate as “unceasing,” “grudging,” and “vengeful destruction.”
War crimes. We know them when we see them. Or do we? Speaking as an aficionsdo of detective stires – the kind where you try to figure out who did it before the author tells you – when starting out to solve a simple crime (one victim, one criminal) you look for a break in the pattern. I think I can say without fear of contradiction that in a war zone, there are no patterns – certainly no patterns strong enought to look for a break in them. The author of today’s article is a war crime forensic investigator, who can tell you exactly what kind of evidence he looks for, and how convincing it has to be before a case can be made.
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Proving war crimes isn’t simple – a forensics expert explains what’s involved with documenting human rights violations during conflicts, from Afghanistan to Ukraine
The United Nations reports that at least 5,237 Ukrainian civilians have been killed in the Ukraine war – but other estimates place this figure at more than 10,000.
Ukraine, meanwhile, has started more than 16,000 investigations into suspected war crimes committed by Russians.
For me and my colleagues – who since 1998 have worked in securing forensic evidence of these types of crimes in Afghanistan, Guatemala and other places – it is apparent that identifying and collecting evidence of international crimes like killing civilians during conflict is beyond the capabilities and resources of local police crime scene teams, criminal investigators and prosecutors.
This means that in the case of the Ukraine war, a new, unbiased judiciary and investigatory organization will likely need to be set up to handle the claims and questions about tens of thousands of victims on all sides. This will take decades of work and cost a large amount of money, requiring the support of rich countries.
A mass grave in Dasht-e-Leili, Afghanistan, was investigated by Physicians for Human Rights experts, including the author, in 2002 and 2008. Stefan Schmitt/Physicians for Human Rights
Proving war crimes
War crimes, under international law, happen when civilians, prisoners of war, hospitals or schools – essentially anyone and anything that isn’t involved in military activities – are targeted during a conflict.
These prosecutions raise questions about how evidence is collected and handled to support these cases – and about credibility. Ukraine has a history of government corruption, and Donetsk is both not recognized internationally and is backed by Russia, which has a judicial system known to tolerate torture.
Previous recent conflicts that resulted in war crime allegations and investigations offer context for understanding the challenges in independently investigating them.
I investigate cases in which law enforcement, military and police are alleged to have committed crimes against civilians and are not held accountable for it. In many cases, these alleged crimes happen during a civil war, like the Guatemalan civil war in the late 1970s and early 1980s, or the Rwandan conflict and genocide in the mid-1990s.
This means that I often work with international organizations like the United Nations to travel to these places and document physical evidence of war crimes – take photographs, take notes, do measurements and draw sketches to illustrate a potential crime scene. The idea is that any other experts can pick up this evidence and reach their own conclusions about what happened there.
Crime scene investigators like me generally do not determine whether a war crime was committed. That is a decision reserved for the prosecutor or a judge who is given the evidence.
Shortly after the U.S. invaded Afghanistan in 2001, about 2,000 Taliban fighters surrendered to the Northern Alliance, an Afghan military coalition allied with the U.S. They later went missing.
An investigation determined that these prisoners might have suffocated or were killed in containers used to transport them. It was suspected that they were buried in a mass grave in Dasht-e-Leili, a desert area in northern Afghanistan.
In 2002, the United Nations invited a group of forensics experts from the nonprofit group Physicians for Human Rights to investigate this alleged mass grave. As part of this team, I documented heavy equipment tracks, human remains and personal items in this area.
Physicians for Human Rights exposed over a dozen bodies in a test trench, and autopsies by one of their forensic pathologists determined the cause of death was consistent with suffocation. Evidence of medical gloves on the surface of and inside the mass grave struck me as unusual, as it indicated that logistically prepared personnel had handled the remains of the dead. At the time, Afghans barely had any medical supplies to take care of their injured.
To me, it was indicative of the presence of foreign troops with the necessary supplies – such as medical gloves – at this site when the bodies were buried there. Considering that in late November 2001 the U.S. and its allies were searching for al-Qaida members, this might be a reasonable explanation for their presence.
In 2008, in a follow-up visit to the area, I discovered two large pits in the desert, indicative of the removal of any human remains that might have been buried there. Later analysis of satellite imagery provided evidence of a large-scale excavation using a backhoe and trucks, dating it to late 2006.
Everyone from former Afghan Vice President Rashid Dostum, also a warlord, to U.S. military and government experts offered different answers as to what happened there.
Since Ukraine is fighting Russia in an active war, it will not have the independence required to fairly investigate and prosecute potential war crimes cases.
That will require other countries and international groups to help set up an independent, unbiased organization to investigate the fate of victims on all sides of the war.
In March, the human rights branch of the United Nations also launched an international commission to investigate human rights violations in Ukraine. But the U.N. does not identify and return human remains to their families.
While the International Criminal Court is also investigating war crimes in Ukraine, this organization tends to focus on high-level cases that go after political leaders and is not tasked to provide answers to families of all victims.
These investigations will not extend beyond justice – meaning the arrest and prosecution of soldiers or political leaders.
War crimes involving massive numbers of casualties leave behind a multitude of surviving family members, all of whom have the right to know the fate of their loved ones. This goes for Ukraine as well as any other country where international crimes are committed.
Families also have the right to the truth about what happened. This requires an institution with the independence, staff, scientific resources, legal capabilities and money to reach this understanding.
============================================================== Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone, the events used as an example here happened during the Bush administration. As suggestive as the findings were, they were not sufficiently evidential to make a case, let alone press charges. So anyone who is still wondering why Bush and Cheney and Rumsfeld were never charged with war crimes can look here for at least partial answers.
It would be nice if war criminals – at least the most egregious – could always be brought to justice – but for more than a thousand years it has been a principle of justice that it is better for multiple guilty people to go free than for one innocent to suffer, and the rules of evidence have been written accodingly (the exact ratio, of course, has varied over the years. In Anglo-Saxon England it was four to one. The “Blackstone ratio,” determined at about the time of the Founding Fathers, is ten to one. Some have proposed as high as a thousand to one, and some as low as one to one.) Even if we don’t agree about the number, I think we mostly agree in principle. Even when we don’t like individual results (for example, it appears that the Matt Gaetz human trafficking case has an evidence problem – specifically a witness credibility problem.)
Glenn Kirschner – Appeals court reverses Judge Cannon’s ruling, FBI investigation of Trump/classified docs can resume
Meidas Touch – Furious Navy Vet SLAMS MAGA Group who BLOCKED Veteran Crisis Prevention Hotline
The Lincoln Project – Rally of Darkness
MSNBC – Trump Charges?: Anticipated Jan. 6 Report Hits #1 On US Book Chart Before It Is Released (Jamie Raskin is writing the actual report and David Remnick is the editor.)
Mrs.Betty Bowers – America’s Busiest Troll
Beau – Let’s talk about Trump getting exactly what he asked for….
Yesterday, the radio opera was Rúsalka, sung in Czech, by Antonín Dvořák (there’s not actually an accent on the u -I put one there to remind myself that’s where the stress is.) Like every other culture, the Czech cultur is rich in fairy tales. But, if you think the Brothers Grimm are grim, don’t look up the Czech ones, because they are grimmer. A Rúsalka is a female water spirit (it isn’t her name), and her story is that of the Llittle Mermaid, only darker. She is a fresh water being, she doesn’t go to a sea witch, but a lake or river witch called Jezibaba, and forfeits her voice to become human. The prince falls for her but everyone in his castle is terrified of this speechless woman who seems so cold (she didn’t get a soul in the deal, you see.) A foreign princess comes to visit, and the Prince is tempted, and the Rúsalka fears all is lost and goes back to the water. The prince tries to stop her but it is too late. She has become a different kind of water spirit, one who exists to lure human men and kiss them, which condemns tham to hell for eternity (she did get her voice back, so she tells him this – she doesn’t want to doom him.) But he chooses to kiss her anyway. Not exactly a happily ever after ending for sure. The one aria from it which is often concertized is the “Song to the Moon,” about how much she loves the prince and wants to be with him. The role is for a soprano, but this aria isn’t high, and a mezzo-soprano can sing it, and in fact the best, IMO, I ever heard it was done by a mezzo, Frederica von Stade (also, Joshua Bell did a lovely violin version). But I digress. Dvořák also used Czech fairy tales as the bases for some tone poems, of which the three I can remember are “The Noon Witch,” “The Wood Dove,” and “The Golden Spinning Wheel.” All the music is lovely, and all the stories are gruesome.
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CPR News – Elijah McClain’s autopsy report changed to death by ketamine
Quote – “The forensic evidence revealed that the cause of death was undetermined. Specifically, the pathologist who conducted the autopsy stated that he was unable to conclude that the actions of any law enforcement officer caused Mr. McClain’s death. In order to prove any form of Homicide in the state of Colorado it is mandatory that the prosecution prove that the accused caused the death of the victim.” Even with this new cause of death being ketamine, it is unclear how prosecutors move forward with holding those who touched McClain that evening accountable for his death without a homicide declaration on the death certificate. Click through for updates. We pretty well knew this. But now it’s official – but the manner of death is still wrong. I think our AG tried hard for accountability, but has been stymied, as usual, by law enforcement sticking together regardless.
Crooks & Liars – Ukraine Returns 215 POWs, Including Azovstal Defenders In Prisoner Swap
Quote – An amazing swap, as in total Ukraine returned 215 prisoners of war, 205 Ukrainians and 10 foreigners. The entire leadership of the Azov regiment appears to have survived and were freed, including commander Denys Prokopenko. British national Aidan Aslin, sentenced to death by Russian proxies of Donetsk, also swapped. Ukrainian medic and songstress Kateryna “Ptashka” Polishchuk aka “Birdie” was also among those released, just days after Russia released an interrogation video of her. Click through for more details. This is astonishing, particularly since Putin has started conscripting. But I’ll definitely tke it.
Lona
