CLG: Conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia Dies at 79, Fukushima clean-up may take up to 40 years, nuclear plant's operator says, Entergy's Pilgrim nuclear power plant is shut over arrival of snow in Massachusetts

 News Updates from CLG
13 February 2016

http://www.legitgov.org/
All links are here:http://www.legitgov.org/#breaking_news

 

Previous edition: Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders, strongest opponents of TPP, sweep to victory in New Hampshire

 

Breaking: Conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia Dies at 79 --Scalia was key in installing George W. Bush as president in 2000 coup in U.S. and blocked release of Dick Cheney's records on seeds of [illegal] Iraq and Afghanistan invasions/occupations | 13 Feb 2016 | The supreme court justice [sic] Antonin Scalia has died. He was 79. Texas governor Greg Abbott issued a statement confirming the news and paying tribute to Scalia, a noted and staunch conservative. The San Antonio Express News reportedthat Scalia was found dead on Saturday at a ranch in the Big Bend region of Texas, south of Marfa, and said he had been staying at a ranch, for a private party, and was discovered to have died after not attending a breakfast. Local ABC affiliate KVIA reported that Scalia died in his sleep after a day of quail hunting.

 

Fukushima clean-up may take up to 40 years, nuclear plant's operator says | 11 Feb 2016 | Cleaning up Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, which suffered catastrophic meltdowns after an earthquake and tsunami hit in 2011, may take up to 40 years...Around 300 to 400 tons of contaminated water is generated every day as groundwater flows into the plant filled with radioactive debris. To contain the tainted radioactive water, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) pumps up the water and stores it in tanks, adding a new tank every three to four days. There are 1,000 tanks today containing 750,000 tons of contaminated radioactive water.

 

Entergy's Pilgrim nuclear power plant is shut over arrival of snow in Massachusetts | 08 Feb 2016 | Operators at Entergy's 728-MW Pilgrim nuclear plant in Plymouth, Massachusetts, shut the unit early Monday morning as a precautionary measure, while a snowstorm swept through the state, a plant spokesman said. Pilgrim spokesman Patrick O'Brien said operators began to reduce the unit's power from 100% at 9 pm EST (0200 GMT) Sunday, noting the "weather might be an issue, with loss of power" possible. Pilgrim shut automatically in January 2015 and in February 2014 during snowstorms when offsite power, provided by a local utility, was interrupted.

 

Syria 'rebels' say get more missiles from Assad's enemies | 12 Feb 2016 | Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's foreign enemies have sent rebels I-CIA-SIS new supplies of ground-to-ground missiles to confront a Russian-backed offensive by the government near Aleppo, stepping up support in response to the attack, two 'rebel' commanders said. The commanders told Reuters the missiles with a range of 20 km (12 miles) had been provided in "excellent quantities" in response to the attack that has cut rebel supply lines from the Turkish border to opposition-held parts of the city of Aleppo.

 

Five U.N. peackeepers killed by truck bomb, mortar fire in Mali | 12 Feb 2016 | Five U.N. peacekeepers were killed when their base in northern Mali was hit by mortars, gunfire and a truck bomb on Friday, an attack that a local separatist group blamed on Islamist militants. At least 30 people were wounded in the attack in Kidal, a town in an unstable desert region that is home to Islamist groups including al Qaeda [al-CIAduh] in the Islamic Maghreb which have staged increasingly bold raids in recent months and have targeted the U.N. base several times. "At about 7 a.m. (0700 GMT) the MINUSMA base in Kidal was the target of a complex attack," said Mahamat Saleh Annadif, the Mali representative of the U.N. secretary general, referring to the mission.

 

Oregon standoff ends after 41 days with dramatic surrender | 11 Feb 2016 | The four holdouts in the armed occupation of a federal wildlife refuge in Oregon surrendered on Thursday, with the last protester repeatedly threatening suicide in a dramatic final phone call with mediators before he gave up, ending the 41-day standoff. David Fry, 27, stayed behind for more than an hour and told supporters by phone he had not agreed with the other three to leave the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Oregon. The call was broadcast live on an audio feed posted on the Internet...The protesters told authorities they left behind booby traps but did not say whether the trip wires and other devices would trigger explosions, a law enforcement official told Reuters.

 

Saudi Arabian teacher reportedly opened fire, killing several people | 12 Feb 2016 | A teacher in southern Saudi Arabia has opened fire on colleagues, killing at least six people and wounding two, state television is reporting. The brief reports on the state television channel's website and Twitter account did not elaborate or offer a reason for Thursday's shooting at an education department building. It quoted an unnamed police spokesman for the information and said the suspected shooter was in custody.

 

Machete-Wielding Man Injures 4 at Ohio Restaurant, Is Killed by Police | 12 Feb 2016 | A machete-wielding attacker slashed four people seemingly at random inside a Columbus, Ohio, restaurant Thursday and the suspect was later shot dead by police, authorities said. "There was no rhyme or reason as to who he was going after," Columbus Police Sgt. Rich Weiner said of the 6 p.m. rampage at Nazareth Restaurant and Deli. The suspect "immediately began swinging a machete at customers and employees" upon entering the restaurant, Weiner told NBC affiliate WCMH.

 

Speaker Ryan: Not enough votes for TPP 'trade' deal | 11 Feb 2016 | House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin, said Thursday that the landmark Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal corporate takeover doesn't have enough votes to pass Congress right now. "I don't think the votes are there right now because of the concerns about what's in the TPP," Ryan told reporters at his weekly press conference...Even with Republican help, the president will face opposition from Democrats. Both Democratic presidential candidates oppose the trade [sic] deal, as does Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts.

 

Special counsel: Manslaughter charge possible in Flint water poisonings | 09 Feb 2016 | Todd Flood, special counsel for the state attorney general’s office investigation into the Flint water crisis, said Tuesday the probe could lead to a variety of criminal charges or civil actions. "We're here to investigate what possible crimes there are, anything to the involuntary manslaughter or death that may have happened to some young person or old person because of this poisoning, to misconduct in office," he said..."It's not far-fetched" to imagine involuntary manslaughter charges in the case, Flood told reporters, if the investigation links "gross negligence" or a "breach of duty" to a death in Flint, where at least nine people have died of Legionnaires' disease after the city switched to Flint River water in April 2014.

 

Unless It Changes, Capitalism Will Starve Humanity By 2050 | 09 Feb 2016 | Capitalism has generated massive wealth for some, but it's devastated the planet and has failed to improve human well-being at scale...These trends support the need to build a new system: one that will balance economic growth with sustainability and human flourishing. In response to consumer demand and pressure from Wall Street, public corporations have been willing to ravage the environment and ignore employee opinion as part of their relentless pursuit of growth. A new generation of companies recognize these shortcomings and are tweaking the current form of capitalism by pioneering distributed ownership structures and agile management styles.

 

Trump mocks Jeb Bush for bringing brother on campaign trail | 11 Feb 2016 | Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is mocking rival Jeb Bush for bringing his brother, former President [sic] George W. Bush, to help campaign. "Don't fall asleep when I mention the name," Trump said, when he brought up Jeb Bush during a rally in Louisiana on Thursday...Trump said he'd refrain from saying too much until after the former president makes a statement, adding "there's plenty to say about what happened."

 

Ted Cruz pulls online ad featuring a PORN STAR on the same day he speaks to conservative Christian 'values' group in the Deep South --Cruz unveiled new ad titled 'Conservatives Anonymous' on Thursday | 11 Feb 2016 | Republican Ted Cruz's presidential campaign quickly pulled its latest online ad - a spot promoting his conservative Christian values - off YouTube on Thursday after it emerged that a soft-core porn actress was among its stars. The Texas senator's ad, titled 'Conservatives Anonymous', accused Florida Sen. Marco Rubio of duping tea party voters who carried him into office in 2010. It features a woman cautioning Marco's supporters to 'vote for more than just a pretty face next time'. The ad came down within hours after The Daily Caller identified the woman as Amy Lindsay, whose IMDb filmography lists acting 74 credits dating back to 1994,

 

Chris Christie suspends his presidential campaign | 10 Feb 2016 | Chris Christie -- the brash New Jersey governor whose fast rise in Republican politics was undone by a petty scheme to clog traffic on a bridge -- has decided to suspend his presidential campaign, according to two Republicans briefed on his deliberations. Christie held a meeting and conference call with campaign staff at 4 p.m. to inform them of his decision, the Republicans said. Christie finished sixth in Tuesday’s primary in New Hampshire, the state on which he had pinned his last presidential hopes.

 

Chris Christie is taking a surprise trip back to New Jersey after a disappointing finish in New Hampshire[But New Jersey doesn't want him back...] | 09 Feb 2016 | New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is going back to New Jersey after a disappointing showing in the New Hampshire Republican primary Tuesday night. With a majority of precincts precincts reporting, Christie had less than 8% of the vote. He was projected to finish sixth, behind Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R), former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R), Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Florida), and other competitors.

 

Carly Fiorina Suspends Campaign for President | 10 Feb 2016 | Former [failed] Hewlett-Packard executive Carly Fiorina announced Wednesday she will suspend her campaign after disappointing showings in the two opening contests of the GOP presidential primary. Fiorina finished with just four percent of the vote in the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday after an equally tough showing in the Iowa caucuses. She originally told supporters her campaign would continue on, but her prospects in South Carolina, Nevada and beyond looked bleak.

 

First case of Zika identified in Alabama as it emerges virus has now spread to 20 U.S. states and DC --59 cases have been reported in the U.S. and all were infected abroad | 10 Feb 2016 | The first case of the Zika virus has been confirmed in Alabama. Officials in Alabama said the person had recently traveled to a country affected by the virus and returned infected...The worst affected areas are Florida, with 14 cases of Zika, Texas, with 11, California, with six, and New York, with five. Hawaii, Illinois, Nebraska, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Washington, DC, have all seen at least two cases, while 10 other states have each seen one infection.

 

U.S. Justice Dept. sues Ferguson, Missouri, over police reforms | 10 Feb 2016 | The U.S. Justice Department filed a civil rights lawsuit against Ferguson, Missouri, on Wednesday to enforce a police and court reform plan after the city said it wanted to amend some aspects of a consent decree it had reached with the federal agency. The Justice Department initiated a civil rights investigation into Ferguson's policing after an unarmed black teenager was killed by a white police officer in 2014. It resulted in a report that was extremely critical of Ferguson's police and court systems.

 

*****

CLG needs your support.

http://www.legitgov.org/donate.html

Or, please mail a check or m*ney order to CLG: Citizens for Legitimate Government (CLG) 
P.O. Box 1142 
Bristol, CT 06011-1142 
Contributions to CLG are not tax deductible.

Feel free -- and CLG encourages you -- to forward this newsletter to your lists and friends!
Those who wish to be added to the list can go here: http://www.legitgov.org/#subscribe_clg and add your name.