Sid Douglas

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A previously vocal but nonviolent neo-Confederate group–the League of the South (LOS), the most prominent Southern separatist group in the US–has begun training a uniformed paramilitary unit for any-means-necessary style action, according to civil rights watch group Hatewatch, which based its revelations on leaked internal documents and sources within the LOS.

“We are for the survival, well-being, and independence of the Southern people,” said LOS president Michael Hill of the movement. “And when we say ‘the Southern people,’ we mean white Southerners.  We are an ethno-nationalist movement and we want a free and independent South for our people, as our homeland.  That’s pretty much what we are fighting for.”

The move to train a paramilitary unit comes after years of rhetoric threatening violence, Hatewatch reported. The unit has been named “The Indomitables” and is comprised of former Ku Klux Klan members and neo-Nazis, Hatewatch reported.

The unit was conceptualized at a LOS meeting earlier this year, according to Hatewatch. The lead trainer for the unit is US Army and Navy veteran Floyd Eric Meadows, 43, of Rome, Ga., whose online name is Eric Thorvaldsson.

Hill responded to the SPLC revelations on his blog, “Even if we are–and you really have no idea on earth if we are or not–setting up a Southern militia or some other form of paramilitary organization, we are doing nothing that free men have not done for centuries. Deal with it and stop your whining.

“The primary targets will not be enemy soldiers; instead, they will be political leaders, members of the hostile media, cultural icons, bureaucrats, and other of the managerial elite without whom the engines of tyranny don’t run.”

Of LOS’s motives, Hill has stated, “We desire that our women and children be warm and snug while the world outside rages. And as our due for that we must face the world.”

The current roster of the group is as follows:

By Sid Douglas

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Sweden now recycles 99 percent of its household garbage. Sweden reuses a large share of its waste–and that of other nations–but it also recycles a lot by burning it for energy. Sweden burns millions of tons of garbage per year in energy-generating plants–a process that has not been without controversy.

The average Swede currently produces 461 kilograms of waste per year.

Sweden also imports garbage. Roughly 800,000 tons of garbage are imported from the UK, Italy, Norway and Ireland yearly. Sweden uses the waste to create energy in waste-to-energy (WTE) plants.

“Waste today is a commodity in a different way than it has been. It’s not only waste, it’s a business,” stated Swedish Waste Management communications director Anna-Carin Gripwell.

Much of the waste is incinerated. Sweden burns around two million tons of waste each year.

The incinerators generate steam that spins generator turbines, resulting in electricity production. The electricity is transmitted to the national grid.

Sweden’s WTE’s produce much of their home heating and electricity needs. Nationwide, WTEs produce heating for 950,000 of the northern country’s 4.5 million homes and electricity for 260,000 homes.

Sweden produces around 670,000 tons worth of fuel energy per year by burning waste. Göran Skoglund, spokesperson for Öresundskraft, one of the country’s largest energy companies, pointed out, “A good number to remember is that three tons of waste contains as much energy as one ton of fuel oil… so there is a lot of energy in waste.”

WTEs have been criticized for sending pollution and toxins into the air, but the low-emission process is not the same as the open air burning of garbage many people are familiar with. And the alternatives to burning are also not without environmental concerns.

Gripwell put the treatment policy in environmental terms. “When waste sits in landfills, leaking methane gas and other greenhouse gasses, it is obviously not good for the environment.” Landfills are at the bottom of Sweden’s list.

However, Sweden also reuses much of its garbage before sending the remnant to incinerators–around 50 percent. Home and business owners filter trash before it makes its way to WTEs.

Sweden’s garbage policy has come about through law, in addition to environmental consciousness.

Swedish law regulates responsibility for waste. Producers of waste bear the burden of all handling costs related to the collection, recycling and disposal of their products.

In 1975, the nation recycled 38 percent of its household garbage. But during the 70s, the nation adopted strict rules and regulations for waste handline, which led to what Swedes now refer to as a “waste hierarchy.”

“People rarely question the ‘work’ they have to do,” said Gripwell.

By Sid Douglas

Importing garbage for energy is good business for Sweden from Sweden on Vimeo.

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Works created by nature, animals or plants cannot be claimed by humans, according to the new US Copyright Office rules compendium. Humans cannot claim rights to works such as monkey selfies, murals painted by elephants, driftwood formed by the ocean, or stones shaped by their environment.

The ruling came about as a result of a conflict over selfie photos taken by a monkey that had stolen the camera of a nature photographer. In 2011, the camera of British photographer David Slater was stolen by a macaque, and the monkey took a photo that went viral on the internet.

When the macaque’s selfie was uploaded to Wikipedia, Slater requested the online encyclopedia take down the image, claiming copyright. Wikipedia denied the request, and claimed that the photo was un-copyrightable because it was not taken by a human.

Slater argued that he did in fact own copyright to the image because he owned the equipment and was responsible for setting the equipment up.

In the latest copyright law compendium, the US Copyright Office specified that works created by animals or other nature as well as works purportedly or stated to have been created by divine or supernatural beings could not be registered.

The publication included a section called “The Human Authorship Requirement,” which provided that the US Copyright Office would only register original works created by human beings.

The basis of the ruling lies in copyright law protection for “the fruits of intellectual labor” that are “founded in the creative powers of the mind.” The copyright office noted that only “original conceptions of the author” could be granted copyright.

“The Office will not register works produced by nature, animals, or plants,” the publication stated. “Likewise, the Office cannot register a work purportedly created by divine or supernatural beings, although the Office may register a work where the application or the deposit copy(ies) state that the work was inspired by a divine spirit.”

The publication explicitly mentioned photographs taken by monkeys, murals painted by elephants, claims based on the appearance of actual animal skin, claims based on driftwood formed by the ocean, claims based by the features of stone created by nature, and songs naming the Holy Spirit as the author or the work.

By Sid Douglas