Uploads from The Blackbird, with geodata

WikiLeaks releases US Consular cables on Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games

nobody@flickr.com (The Blackbird) — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 13:02:53 -0700

A number of "situation reports" concerning Vancouver's recent Olympic Games comprise a portion of a cache of more than 2200 American diplomatic cables regarding Canada released by anti-secrecy publisher WikiLeaks. The reports focus on protest activity and legal challenges to the city's Olympic By-law. Read the cables.

I've re-uploaded this photo of 2010 Olympic mascot Miga not only to illustrate the current story, but to inform contacts that I've recently donated 50GB of documentary photography taken in the years leading up to the Games to the City of Vancouver Archives where they will eventually be available for use under a Creative Commons (attribution only) license. Only a few representative photos will remain on my photostream after my pro account expires in one month. The same goes for all of my Downtown Eastside related photographs. The donation was made a day before the first of the city's 125th anniversary celebrations were held. Happy birthday, Vancouver!

Original

WikiLeaks: American diplomat claims Canadian policymakers believe incremental integration with US appropriate

nobody@flickr.com (The Blackbird) — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 12:02:01 -0700

The Blackbird posted a photo:

The Drop

Cable 05OTTAWA268, PLACING A NEW NORTH AMERICAN INITIATIVE

__________

I received a message from q@wikileaks.de a short while ago, in response to a photo I'd uploaded to Flickr in late February. Q liked it enough to request permission for its use as wallpaper to be made available on WikiLeaks' Facebook and on its site (once the WikiLeaks Shop is embedded) and then offered my choice of items available through the Shop on spreadshirt [dot] com (sorry I couldn't hyperlink; Flickr stopped me after one attempt, called it spam). The messenger bag looked great (gotta have something to carry those documents in) and it arrived a short time after.

Thanks, Q! I hope the photo comes in handy. ;-)

International Bradley Manning Support Day - Vancouver

nobody@flickr.com (The Blackbird) — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 13:27:45 -0700

The Blackbird posted a photo:

An Anon offered to hold the sign I'd made for the rally this morning so I could take a few photos of the demonstration. Thanks, whoever you are!

Thanks Anonymous, Pirate Party of Canada, the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association and private citizens for showing up. Vancouver's rally might not have been as grand as others in the United States and elsewhere, but it's good to know several of us are willing to give up part of our Sunday morning to take a stand against torture.

Thanks also to local law enforcement officers who were present. They were few in number and maintained as low a profile for any protest action I've photographed in Vancouver (about 50).

__________

US Army Pfc Manning is alleged to have leaked hundreds of thousands of classified government and military documents to WikiLeaks in 2010. Manning has been held at Quantico Marine Corps Base in Virginia for 10 months under conditions recently criticized by Congressman Dennis Kucinich.

Amnesty International accuses US authorities of inhumane treatment of Manning

Salon blogger Glenn Greenwald offers insight into Manning's treatment in detention

Manning's lawyer and retired US Army Lieutenant Colonel David E. Coombes' blog

State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley calls Manning's pretrial treatment “ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid”

President Obama sides with Pentagon, says Manning's treatment is "meeting basic standards"

White House forces Crowley to resign for condemning abuse of Manning

Greenwald on Crowley's forced resignation

RT's Alyona Minkovski: Obama, please act like a President

Kucinich ready to take legal action against Defense Secretary Robert Gates

Amnesty International calls for protests over Manning's treatment

UK pressures US on Manning's detention

250 leading American legal scholars publicly condemn Manning's abuse

Minkovski: US Government denies Amnesty International, United Nations private visits with Manning; UN officially reprimands US

German Parliament's human rights committee sends President Obama letter of protest regarding Manning

Manning transfered from Quantico to Fort Leavenworth

Crowley unapologetic about public statement against US handling of Manning

Greenwald: Obama speaks on Manning and the rule of law

Minkovski: Manning protestors call out Obama

Minkovski: Obama declares Manning guilty before trial

Kucinich: Manning's conditions vastly improved following transfer

RT: Manning's case should be dismissed

Official WikiLeaks "Not so leaky Umbrella"

nobody@flickr.com (The Blackbird) — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 17:55:37 -0800

The Blackbird posted a photo:

Later on we'll conspire
as we dream by the fire
to face unafraid
plans that we've made,
walking in a winter wonderland.

I'd stopped using my credit cards after VISA, MasterCard, PayPal, Western Union, Amazon and a few other financial services companies suspended processing donations to WikiLeaks, but I recently learned that we can still support the persecuted publisher with donations by credit card through its new store on Spreadshirt. Loads of schwag to choose from on the site but I live in Vancouver (average annual rainfall = 1117.2 mm) and the leaks keep dripping so an umbrella seemed a smart choice. It arrived from Germany last week but it's been sunny so I had to wait for today's wet snow to use it without looking a complete fool.

I'm incognito in this one as a tip of the hat to Anonymous, whoever they are, for their recent takedown of computer security firm HBGary Federal. Ars Technica reporter Nate Anderson wraps it up nicely. Anonymous broke some cyber laws during the attack, but the action must be taken in context. We are all fast learning how, in America's two-tiered justice system, the well-connected avoid investigation - much less prosecution - for such serious crimes as incitement to commit murder and conspiracy to infringe on a publisher's free use of media. In a society so corrupt that the Department of Justice itself is exposed as a conspirator through its recommendation to Bank of America of a law firm that could hook it up with a trio of computer security firms that might further its desire to destroy WikiLeaks and expose Anonymous, it's difficult to blame the latter for fighting fire with fire.

WikiLeaks Rally

nobody@flickr.com (The Blackbird) — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 22:15:04 -0800

The Blackbird posted a photo:

Vancouver, 15 January 2011.

Who is Anonymous?

Anonymous: Message, intentions and potential targets

Anonymous avenges refusal of VISA, MasterCard and PayPal to process WikiLeaks donations by crashing corporate websites with DDoS cyberattacks

Cyber-security contractor HBGary Federal investigates Anonymous

The WikiLeaks Threat: An overview by Palantir Technologies, HBGary Federal and Berico Techologies

Anonymous hacks HBGary Federal corporate website, employee Aaron Barr's Twitter and LinkedIn accounts; seizes and replaces Internet domain, steals and makes public 70,000+ e-mail messages, deletes one terabyte of company data and gives all material gathered on itself to FBI for free

Message to HBGary and HBGary customers from Anonymous

Bank of America and US Chamber of Commerce claim ignorance of HBGary Federal's anti-WikiLeaks plan of attack, legal representation remains mute

Glenn Greenwald: The leaked campaign to attack WikiLeaks and its supporters

Greenwald interviewed on MSNBC

Bank of America and US Chamber of Commerce claim ignorance of HBGary Federal's anti-WikiLeaks plan of attack

Salon: Further revelations about the leaked smear campaigns

Social networks, social revolution and Anonymous

Information revealed by Anonymous hack of HBGary Federal triggers complaint urging disbarment of three Hunton & Williams lawyers, suggestion of future legal action against anti-WikiLeaks conspirators

Congress demands DoD and NSA contracts with HBGary

Anonymous threatens US Department of Defense with cyber attacks if Manning's conditions don't improve

NBC News National Investigative Correspondent Michael Isikoff's report on Anonymous

Isikoff interviews Barrett Brown, senior strategist with Anonymous

Althea Thauberger's Carrall Street revisited at Vancouver Art Gallery exhibit WE: Vancouver – 12 Manifestos for the City

nobody@flickr.com (The Blackbird) — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 11:34:43 -0800

The Blackbird posted a photo:

In 2008, I was one of three photographers hired to shoot Carrall Street, a site-specific performance work by internationally recognized Canadian artist Althea Thauberger. A year later, many of the photographs I took during the performance appeared in a book of the same title published by Artspeak.

Tonight, the Vancouver Art Gallery exhibit WE: Vancouver – 12 Manifestos for the City opens for gallery members. It will include a Carrall Street slideshow installation comprised of photography by myself, Sharon Burns and Henri Robideau on the main floor.

This is the first time my work will be exhibited in a large gallery, so I'm pretty happy. The show continues until 1 May 2011 so I hope you'll stop in to view the entire exhibit in the coming months.

Thank you, Althea!

Support WikiLeaks

nobody@flickr.com (The Blackbird) — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 11:49:48 -0800

The Blackbird posted a photo:

Berlin Foot Chase

My letter to the editor published by the Vancouver Sun, 14 December 2010. Original self-portrait uploaded to Flickr in December 2007.

What is WikiLeaks?

WikiLeaks founder and editor-in-chief Julian Assange speaks with reporters about release of 91,000 classified US Afghanistan War documents

WikiLeaks launches release of nearly 400,000 classified US Iraq War documents with news conference

SVT's (Sweden) WikiRebels – The Documentary

TED video interview with Assange: Why the world needs WikiLeaks

The Economist interview with Assange

MSNBC interview with Assange

Sir David Frost interviews Assange

John Humphries' BBC interview with Assange

Assange in conversation with John Pilger

Assange answers Fox News interviewer on efforts WikiLeaks takes to protect identities and locations of vulnerable people mentioned in documents

Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg on Iraq War docs

"Collateral Murder" company veteran says videorecorded massacre not an isolated incident

WikiLeaks shows undiplomatic face of US diplomacy

Wikileak: Hillary Clinton ordered diplomats to spy on UN re: Guantanamo, HIV ...

‘Obama must answer’ for UN spying: Assange

WikiLeak: Obama worked with Republicans to kill Bush torture probe as Spain considered criminal charges against senior US officials

Senator Clinton attacks WikiLeaks at State Department briefing over release of US embassy cables

Assange denounces VISA, MasterCard and PayPal as 'Instruments of US foreign policy' after corporations suspend processing WikiLeaks donations

Anonymous avenges refusal of VISA, MasterCard and PayPal to process WikiLeaks donations by crashing corporate websites with DDoS cyberattacks

Assange held in British prison on allegations of sexual misconduct in Sweden

American federal criminal lawyer on the 'probable' legal path Assange will travel

Human Rights Watch: US, Don’t Prosecute WikiLeaks Founder

United Nations Joint Statement on WikiLeaks

Reporters without Borders open letter to President Obama and Attorney General Holder re: criminal prosecution of Assange

Journalists from over 60 countries support WikiLeaks

Assange granted bail, placed on house arrest

First interview with Assange after his release from 'bottom of a Victorian prison'

US Vice President Biden calls Assange a ‘High-Tech Terrorist’

Pentagon: Officials may be overstating the danger from WikiLeaks

US House Judiciary Committee hearing on WikiLeaks, the Espionage Act and the Constitution

Germany's security chief calls WikiLeaks annoying but no threat

Norway's top diplomat finds WikiLeaks 'fascinating'

Norwegian newspaper obtains WikiLeaks cable haul

Friends of alleged leaker US Army intelligence analyst Private First Class Bradley Manning say cell conditions are means authorities are using to pressure him into giving false testimony against Assange

UN to investigate treatment of Manning at Quantico, Virginia

Former Commander of Headquarters Company at Quantico objects to Manning's treatment

Sign a letter to stop inhumane treatment of Manning

Assange: My fate will rest in Cameron's hands if US charges me

Assange Le Monde's Man of the Year for 2010

What WikiLeaks revealed to the world in 2010

Assange defense submits "provisional skeletal argument" to Westminster court against Swedish extradition request

US Treasury rejects politicians' desire to officially blacklist WikiLeaks

Frontline Club: Fired Swiss Banker Rudolf Elmer hands WikiLeaks CDs containing offshore account information of tax evaders and money launderers

Elmer found guilty for earlier leak, fined but not jailed; arrested at home hours later by Swiss authorities for current leak

Reuters: US officials privately say WikiLeaks damage limited

VISA investigator finds no wrongdoing by WikiLeaks

Australian lawyer accepts NY State Bar Association award, warns US to back off Assange

Palin and other high-profile Americans will be prosecuted for inciting violence if they visit Australia

Norwegian Member of Parliament nominates WikiLeaks for 2011 Nobel Peace Prize

WikiLeak: US ignores UK's wishes by providing Russia with British nuclear missile data to further START treaty negotiations

FBI and Department of Justice lawyers find no evidence linking Assange to Manning

Cyber-security contractor HBGary Federal investigates Anonymous

The WikiLeaks Threat: An overview by Palantir Technologies, HBGary Federal and Berico Techologies

Anonymous hacks HBGary Federal corporate website, employee Aaron Barr's Twitter and LinkedIn accounts; seizes and replaces Internet domain, steals and makes public 66,000 internal e-mail messages, gives all material gathered on Anonymous to FBI for free

Bank of America and US Chamber of Commerce claim ignorance of HBGary Federal's anti-WikiLeaks plan of attack

Russia Today: Corporate-led conspiracy of bankers, lawyers, US Justice Department and private contractors to destroy WikiLeaks exposed

Salon Blogger Glenn Greenwald: The leaked campaign to attack WikiLeaks and its supporters

MSNBC: Interview with Greenwald on corporate America's attack on its critics

RT: Update on Assange extradition hearing

Nullum crimen, nulla poena sine praevia lege poenali

Greenwald interviewed on MSNBC

US Congressman Kucinich warns Defense Secretary Robert Gates of consequences for mistreatment of Manning

WikiLeaks analysis suggests hundreds of thousands of unrecorded Iraqi deaths

Obama receives transparency award behind closed doors

MSNBC's Dylan Ratigan: US Grand Jury against WikiLeaks opens

Minkovski: Witness David House pleads 5th at Wikileaks Grand Jury

AFP: WikiLeaks file complaint against Visa, MasterCard

RT: WikiLeaks suspends operations, financial blockade succeeds

Northwestern Crow

nobody@flickr.com (The Blackbird) — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 20:34:22 -0800

The Blackbird posted a photo:

One Stop Shop Till You Drop

nobody@flickr.com (The Blackbird) — Sat, 06 Nov 2010 20:12:35 -0700

The Blackbird posted a photo:

CRAB Park at Portside (fore), Vancouver Police Marine Unit (middle) and Port Metro Vancouver (rear).

nobody@flickr.com (The Blackbird) — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 21:57:32 -0700

The Blackbird posted a photo:

Finalist, Nature Trust of British Columbia Celebrating Nature Photo Contest

nobody@flickr.com (The Blackbird) — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 10:40:11 -0700

The Blackbird posted a photo:

I took this shot last spring during a stay in Haida Gwaii (formerly the Queen Charlotte Islands). It is one of three "Power of Nature" category finalists in the Nature Trust of British Columbia's 4th Annual Celebrating Nature Photo Contest and voting is underway.

The other three categories are The Web of Life, The Big Picture and Making a Difference. Please have a look at the awesome competition and vote for your favourites.

♥

Member of the Flickr Bird Brigade - activists for birds and wildlife.

Northern Flicker

nobody@flickr.com (The Blackbird) — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 21:28:48 -0700

The Blackbird posted a photo:

Queen Elizabeth Park in Vancouver.

If you'd known what fate had in store, spinner ...

nobody@flickr.com (The Blackbird) — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 01:48:02 -0700

The Blackbird posted a photo:

... would you have taken such care in fashioning your web?

I took this photo while on a coffee break at work. Came back an hour or two later, as the sun was minutes from setting, but the spider and its web were gone.

I felt a sickness in my belly in that moment, then anger. "Who the f*** do you think you are?" I murmured while looking up and down the adjacent sidewalk. "So tough you can wreck a spider's web with a stick? Get help before you kill a cat or a kid."

Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect.

Chief Seattle

Spotted Towhee

nobody@flickr.com (The Blackbird) — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 16:09:09 -0800

The Blackbird posted a photo:

Stanley Park, Vancouver.

Zombie

nobody@flickr.com (The Blackbird) — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 10:56:38 -0800

The Blackbird posted a photo:

Taken last summer in Downtown Vancouver.

Sakura Blossom

nobody@flickr.com (The Blackbird) — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 14:56:48 -0800

The Blackbird posted a photo:

Taken last spring in Stanley Park, Vancouver. Bill Mize is one of my favourite acoustic guitarists. I hope you'll enjoy his Silverplume Waltz.

Self-Portrait

nobody@flickr.com (The Blackbird) — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 09:48:52 -0800

The Blackbird posted a photo:

The blackbird whirled in the autumn winds.
It was a small part of the pantomime.

From Wallace Stevens' poem Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird.

Pollination

nobody@flickr.com (The Blackbird) — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 00:10:35 -0800

The Blackbird posted a photo:

Remembrance Day 2010

nobody@flickr.com (The Blackbird) — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 12:23:54 -0800

The Blackbird posted a photo:

Victory Square Park in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.

Remembrance Day 2010

nobody@flickr.com (The Blackbird) — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 12:20:58 -0800

The Blackbird posted a photo:

Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson at Victory Square Park in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.