On this episode attack on German Christmas, Musk and Mars, plus Jah oil spill.
Welcome to West Coast Milblogger. I’m your host Cyrus Emerson.
We’ve already gotten a response from the NRDC Climate Storytelling Fellowship about The Lords of Hemp screenplay. They didn’t like it. So, there’s nothing on the feature film front to look forward to at this time. There are more contests.
At the end of this video, I’ll show you the showstopper from Friday Refrain’s Christmas Party, now playing on YouTube.
This, the last episode of season one. WCM continues next year. Creative Commons allows distribution of professional news content for free, in all formats. Starting now, real hard news stories from around the world.
Iran Condemns Attack on German Christmas Market.
This story by Tasnim News Agency originally appeared on their website December 22, 2024 and remains as written:
https://www.tasnimnews.com/en/news/2024/12/22/3223703/iran-condemns-attack-on-german-christmas-market
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry condemned a deadly attack at a Christmas market in Germany’s Magdeburg where a driver plowed a car into crowd of people.
In a statement on Saturday evening, Esmaeil Baqaei offered condolences and extended his sympathies to the people who lost their loved ones in the incident and wished swift recovery for the injured.
A driver plowed a car into a crowd at a Christmas market Friday evening in Magdeburg, killing at least two people, an adult and a child, and injuring nearly 70.
The suspected driver, a 50-year-old man from Saudi Arabia, was arrested on the scene. He arrived in Germany in 2006 and had worked as a doctor, local officials said.
Creative Common License 4.0.
Why Elon Musk’s Demand for Suffering Won’t Stop at Mars.
This story by Greg Harman with Marisol Cortez contributing analysis for first appeared on deceleration December 22, 2024 and has been truncated:
https://deceleration.news/elon-musk-demand-for-suffering/
PORT ISABEL (Texas) — The roads were filling up as the countdown clock ticked down. It took nearly an hour to pull into Port Isabel, a town of roughly 5,000 near the southernmost point of Texas. Rusting sheds boasting “Texas Gold” and rows of shrimp boats nestled close to shore, approaching the town’s working port as Gulf waters reflected the early afternoon sun.
Across the bay from Industrial Drive, SpaceX teams were readying another Starship for launch. The gleaming silver rocket at top is as much a break from NASA’s whale-shaped ceramic-colored shuttles as the Blade Runner-inspired Cybertruck that increasingly stalk these small town streets is from normal cars.
Elon Musk has, if nothing else, reliably delivered the future in his SpaceX rockets and Tesla cars just as mass entertainments have conditioned us to imagine it (even if, in practice, they require considerable cleanup, as in the case of his killer cars.)
Thousands are gathered near the once pristine but rapidly industrializing outfall of the 1,800-mile Rio Grande to watch a 400-foot tube cover the land with fire and rise beyond the clouds. Most gathered in this back pocket of town are locals. A couple, including a welder who said he works on SpaceX’s Super Heavy booster rocket, boast SpaceX merch. A group at the periphery fly Trump flags off the back of their truck. Many exchange Starship-centered small talk.
The first since the election, this launch is different from those that came before. Folks seem cautious in discussing the fact of President Elect Donald Trump standing across the bay beside new presidential appendage Elon Musk. To my right, a man points his chin at a second launch tower beside the now steaming Starship. Starbase is growing: Musk plans to accelerate operations in 2025 as the company seeks to incorporate as its own city.
Creative Common License 4.0.
In Jamaica’s Rio Cobre Oil Spill Case, Activists and Civil Society Say There are Outstanding Issues.
This story by Emma Lewis originally appeared on the author’s blog with this edited version posted on Global Voices’ December 22, 2024 and has been truncated:
https://globalvoices.org/2024/12/22/in-jamaicas-rio-cobre-oil-spill-case-activists-and-civil-society-say-there-are-outstanding-issues/
We are not satisfied: that is the message from a large group of civil society organisations and individuals in an Open Letter to Jamaica's Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) regarding the extraordinary behaviour of the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA), the government agency responsible for enforcing justice with regard to environmental crimes.
NEPA’s announcement in court on November 27, 2024, that it was withdrawing criminal charges against Trade Winds Citrus Limited for a December 2023 oil spill in the Rio Cobre that affected the water supply of neighbouring communities, was greeted with surprise and condemnation from many corners of society. The media started talking about a “secret deal” between NEPA and the company; the details of the mediation agreement were not even revealed to the judge in court because of a non-disclosure clause.
Subsequently, NEPA Chairman Weldon Madden was asked to resign, while Matthew Samuda, the minister with responsibility for the environment, issued a statement that “the Government of Jamaica is not satisfied that the issue was handled at the Board leadership level with the required standards of transparency and openness.” Under considerable pressure, details of the Mediation Settlement Agreement were finally published on NEPA’s website, where a Chronology of Events from the oil spill can also be found.
Jamaica's rivers — including the Rio Cobre — have often been under siege from industrial pollution. In 2021, The Rio Cobre suffered a spill of caustic effluent from the nearby bauxite plant – and this incident was not the first time. The West Indies Alumina Company (Windalco), which runs the plant, was a repeat offender that “received multiple breach notices” and were, at the time, “defendants in a legal case filed by NEPA over a 2019 discharge into the river which resulted in a massive fish kill and several persons falling ill.” Windalco later tried to restock the river with fish, but the transparency of that process was also called into question.
Creative Common License 3.0.
Christmas Party Showstopper.
Remember, these are real news stories from journalists in the field. Starting next year, we’re going to share valuable content every week on West Coast Milblogger.
Now for the showstopper video on Friday Refrain’s Christmas Party playlist, on formats where available. Or go to YouTube and click on the 27:25 timestamp for track 13, Downtown Snow, by Moire:
We hope you enjoyed this episode of West Coast Milblogger. Remember to subscribe, like, and share on the many platforms this show is now available on. Keep it safe out there and see you next year.
Thank you,
Cyrus Emerson
For more analysis on the war in Ukraine check out Combat Vet News:
https://www.combatvetnews.com
For more analysis on the war in Ukraine check out Denys Davydov:
https://www.youtube.com/@DenysDavydov
For more analysis on the war in Ukraine check out Jake Broe:
https://www.youtube.com/@JakeBroe
West Coast Milblogger now available in audio on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/04ohhhJQdDOYgjioisRigV