News & Opinion
US Drone Assassinations Continue Despite German Effort to Restrict Them
A court ruling that would have restricted U.S. drone operations using a German air base is stuck in the appeals process.
Federal Judge Orders Chelsea Manning's Release From Jail
During her time in jail, Manning accumulated $256,000 in fines.
Trump Announces Plan to Refuse Congressional Oversight of Corporate Bailout
The president intends to give Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin free reign over the $500 billion bailout fund.Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. A person falls ill. They go to the emergency room, maybe even to the operating room. Unbeknownst to them, they get care from someone who is outside of their insurance network. Weeks later, they receive a bill for tens of thousands of dollars.
Over the past decade, these stories of “surprise” medical bills have become more common. A recent study from Stanford University showed that 43 percent of emergency room visits in 2016 resulted in unexpected bills that were not covered by insurance, up from 32 percent in 2010. Now, in the midst of a global pandemic, the practice is poised to inflict even more pain.
bit.ly/33SnkGD
Why COVID-19 Could Trigger a Surprise Billing Crisis
Third-party companies that bill for out-of-network care stand to profit from the pandemic, at the expense of the ill.
New York Nurses Are Living a Heartbreaking Nightmare
Some nurses are saying, “Well, most of us are going to get it and some of us are going to die. That’s the way it is.”
Trump and His Allies Have Decided to Preserve Capitalism at Any Cost
Do not listen to the president.arctic-news.blogspot.com/2020/03/methane-earthquake-and-sudden-stratospheric-warming.html
Methane, Earthquake and Sudden Stratospheric Warming
Blog edited by Sam Carana, with news on climate change and warming in the Arctic due to snow and ice loss and methane releases from the seafloor.Video Shows
www.rt.com/shows/the-world-according-to-jesse/
19.25 Minutes Video | Max Igan
www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-ZqtCTrMoU&t=198s
truthout.org/articles/beyond-the-economic-chaos-of-coronavirus-is-a-global-war-economy/
Beyond the Economic Chaos of Coronavirus Is a Global War Economy
In the face of excessive capital accumulation, war and repression have become profit centers for the capitalist class.www.truthdig.com/articles/inside-the-pro-trump-facebook-group-where-first-responders-call-coronav...
Inside the Pro-Trump Facebook Group Where First Responders Call Coronavirus a Hoax
In a 27,000-member private Facebook group for first responders who support President Donald Trump, firefighters and paramedics have posted thousands of comwww.truthdig.com/articles/why-america-cant-respond-to-the-current-crisis/
Why America Can't Respond to the Current Crisis
Dr. Anthony S Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and just about the only official in the Trump administration truhe climate movement has started gaining momentum, and the oil and gas industry is getting scared. Fossil fuel companies have been ramping up their ad buying, placing loads of ads on social media, in magazines, and even at the global climate summits. Meanwhile, in Australia, a recent report found that the fossil fuel industry doubled its political donations over the past four years.
These examples of increasing desperation from oil and gas companies are actually a hopeful sign in that they reflect the rising power of the climate movement, which has been gathering wins across the country.
bit.ly/2VPXS2j
The Climate Movement Has Gained Unprecedented Momentum Since 2018
More voters are prioritizing the climate crisis and holding politicians responsible for their ties to oil and gas.That's who he represents. Most of the actual voters just believe all the lies and bullshit and vote for him. He leads a destructive force that strips away the wealth and power from the public and makes the rich richer at your expense.
bit.ly/38id9vy
Trump's Real Base Is the Ruling Class
He might appeal to the white proletariat and talk tough on trade, but the only constituency to whom this president answers is the 1%.
I Hope We Are Witnessing the Last Gasp of the Ruling Class, Says Cornel West
Today, about a third of the delegates needed to secure the Democratic presidential nomination are at stake.Well.... you know.... it's the money. We've got to get that money right first.
bit.ly/2Iaao4K
Patents Are Slowing the Development of a Coronavirus Vaccine
As researchers compete to develop a vaccine, we have no guarantee it will be affordable if it is patented.
U.S., Taliban Sign Deal Aimed at Ending 18-Year Afghanistan War
The agreement could see the withdrawal of all American and allied forces in the next 14 months — but it could also easily unravel.Aristotle, Niccolò Machiavelli, Alexis de Tocqueville, Adam Smith and Karl Marx grounded their philosophies in the understanding that there is a natural antagonism between the rich and the rest of us. The interests of the rich are not our interests. The truths of the rich are not our truths. The lives of the rich are not our lives. Great wealth not only breeds contempt for those who do not have it but it empowers oligarchs to pay armies of lawyers, publicists, politicians, judges, academics and journalists to censure and control public debate and stifle dissent. Neoliberalism, deindustrialization, the destruction of labor unions, slashing and even eliminating the taxes of the rich and corporations, free trade, globalization, the surveillance state, endless war and austerity — the ideologies or tools used by the oligarchs to further their own interests — are presented to the public as natural law, the mechanisms for social and economic progress, even as the oligarchs dynamite the foundations of a liberal democracy and exacerbate a climate crisis that threatens to extinguish human life.
bit.ly/2IaxqZp
Class: The Little Word the Elites Want You to Forget
Our oligarchic rulers are determined to ban all discussion of class warfare, which is why they are trying to block the nomination of Sanders.
1 Minute | 17 Seconds Video Cartoon.
bit.ly/32CiJaQ
This Is All So Very Normal (Video)
Through the magic of inexperience and cult-like fealty, the president’s purge of intelligence continues with his appointment of Richard Grenell.
Teachers Demonstrate How to Save America’s Public Services
Educators in St. Paul, Minnesota, may walk off the job in March in an effort to shift the politics over what the public funds.In the Arctic, vast amounts of carbon are stored in soils that are now still largely frozen. As temperatures continue to rise and soils thaw, much of this carbon will be converted by microbes into carbon dioxide or methane, adding further greenhouse gases to the atmosphere.
In addition, vast amounts of methane are stored in sediments under the Arctic Ocean seafloor, in the form of methane hydrates and free gas. As temperatures rise, these sediments can get destabilized, resulting in eruptions of huge amounts of methane from the seafloor. Due to the abrupt character of such releases and the fact that many seas in the Arctic Ocean are shallow, much of the methane will then enter the atmosphere without getting broken down in the water.
What makes the situation so dangerous is that huge eruptions from the seafloor of the Arctic Ocean can happen at any time. We can just count ourselves lucky that it hasn't happened as yet. As temperatures continue to rise, the risk that this will happen keeps growing.
arctic-news.blogspot.com/p/extinction.html
Trump & US Gov. vs. Hitler and Fascism -- 28 Minutes Video Program - ||| Chris Hedges talks to Professor Benjamin Hett about the collapse of democracy in Germany’s Weimar Republic and its descent into fascism – and which features of the collapse may be applicable to the democratic experiment in America. Hett is professor of history at Hunter College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York; his new book is ‘The Death of Democracy: Hitler’s Rise to Power and the Downfall of the Weimar Republic’.
bit.ly/385ULGd
On Contact: Collapse of Weimar Germany with Benjamin Hett
Chris Hedges talks to Professor Benjamin Hett about the collapse of democracy in Germany’s Weimar Republic and its descent into fascism – and which features of the collapse may be applicable to the democratic experiment in America
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2020
Arctic Ocean February 2020
On February 20, 2020, 09Z, surface temperature anomalies reached both ends of the scale over North America, while the Arctic was 3.7°C or 6.7°F warmer than in 1979-2000. On that day, the average 2 m temperature anomaly for the Arctic was 3.5°C or 6.3°F.
These high temperature anomalies at 2 meters in the left panel go hand in hand with the wind patterns at 250 hPa (jet stream) as shown in the center panel and the wind patterns at 10 meters shown in the right panel. Closer to sea level, circular winds around low pressure areas bring warm air into the Arctic, from Russia and from the Pacific Ocean.
Above image shows winds at 250 hPa (jet stream) with speeds as high as 317 km/h or 197 mph (green circle) in the left panel, while the right panel shows circular winds at 850 hPa reaching speeds as high as 176 km/h or 109 mph (green circle).
These wind patterns have caused much warm air to enter the Arctic, while relatively little cold air has moved out of the Arctic. Furthermore, stronger winds cool the sea surface. As a result, Arctic sea ice extent on February 24, 2020, was 14.1 million km², slightly more than the 2010s average of 14 million km².
Arctic sea ice, however, is very thin. Stronger winds can also accelerate the speed at which ever warmer water is flowing into the Arctic Ocean from the Atlantic Ocean and from the Pacific Ocean, as discussed in a previous post. The overall result is that sea ice volume is at a record low for the time of the year.
This is further illustrated by the sea ice thickness (in meters) comparison below between February 28, 2015 and February 28, 2020, i.e. forecasts for February 28, run on February 27.
Rise in greenhouse gas levels is accelerating
Temperatures are rising at ever faster speed as the rise in greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere is accelerating. As illustrated by the image below, the daily average CO₂ level at Mauna Loa, Hawaii, was 416.08 ppm on February 10, 2020, higher than it has been for millions of years. Since the annual peak is typically reached in May, even higher levels can be expected soon.
From the way emissions are rising now, it looks like we could soon reach even higher CO₂e forcing than during the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) mass extinction event, some 55.5 million years ago, as discussed in a previous post. Very worrying also is the recent rise in methane levels recorded at Barrow, Alaska, as illustrated by the image below.
The buffer is gone
As the sea ice is getting thinner, there is little or no buffer left to consume the influx of ever warmer and salty water from the Atlantic Ocean and Pacific Ocean. As illustrated by the image below, there is a tipping point at 1°C above the 20th century average, i.e. there are indications that a rise of 1°C will result in most of the sea ice underneath the surface to disappear.
[ from earlier post ]
As long as there is sea ice in the water, this sea ice will keep absorbing heat as it melts, so the temperature will not rise at the sea surface. But there is ever less sea ice volume left to absorb ocean heat, and the amount of energy absorbed by melting ice is as much as it takes to heat an equivalent mass of water from zero to 80°C.
Meanwhile, temperatures keep rising globally and more than 90% of global warming is going into oceans.
As the temperature of the oceans keeps rising, the danger increases that heat will reach the seafloor of the Arctic Ocean and will destabilize hydrates contained in sediments at the seafloor, resulting in huge releases of methane.
Are humans functionally extinct?
For more background as to when temperatures
could cross 2°C, see also this discussion on trends
Species can be regarded to be ‘functionally extinct’ when their numbers have declined below levels needed for them to reproduce healthy offspring. This can occur due to causes such as loss of habitat and disappearance of other species that they depend on.
Species can also be declared to be ‘functionally extinct’ when they are threatened to be wiped out by a catastrophe that appears to be both imminent and inescapable, which would cause their numbers to dwindle below a critical threshold required for survival of the species.
Rising temperatures now threaten most, if not all, species to go extinct in a matter of years. In 2020, the global temperature rise could cross the critical guardrail of 2°C above preindustrial that politicians at the Paris Agreement promised would not be crossed. In fact, they pledged to take efforts to avoid a 1.5°C rise. Their failure to do so constitutes a de facto declaration that humans are now functionally extinct and that the looming temperature rise will drive most, if not all species on Earth into extinction.
See also the 2015 post: WARNING -
Planetary Omnicide between 2023 and 2031
Dire Situation
The situation is dire, in many respects. Current laws punish people for the most trivial things, while leaving the largest crime one can imagine unpunished: planetary omnicide!
In the video below, Guy McPherson warns that a rapid decline in industrial activity could result in an abrupt rise in temperature of 1°C, as much of the aerosol masking effect falls away.
youtu.be/vn4PoLOmCME
'Victory for Farmers' as Jury Awards Grower $265 Million in Damages From Drift of Monsanto's Dicamba
"This verdict is just the tip of the iceberg."
Trump's SOTU Speech Bristled With Fascist Politics
Authoritarian societies protect the powerful, not the poor or vulnerable, and Trump made that very clear.27 Minutes Video Program: bit.ly/38nClRW
The deep rot of American journalism w/Matt Taibbi
Chris Hedges discusses the deep rot that infects American journalism with reporter Matt Taibbi Follow us on Facebook: Facebook
28 Minutes Video Program: bit.ly/39dOw3U
On Contact: Poisoned drinking water with Seth Siegel
On the show this week, Chris Hedges talks to author Seth Siegel about his new book Troubled Water: What’s Wrong with What We Drink
Refineries Are Spewing Cancer-Causing Benzene as Trump Slashes Enforcement
New federal rules require the worst offenders to clean up their acts, but enforcement has tumbled under Trump.
Don't Let Corporate Media or DNC Fool You -- Sanders Scored a Big Win in Iowa
In fourth place, presumptive front-runner Biden failed to meet the 15 percent viability threshold in much of the state.
CRISIS-O-RAMA
All of a sudden, events are looking a bit fluxy out there, as though the world is shuddering through some spooky ch-ch-ch-changes, like a monster waiting to be born, with strange convergences of ecology, politics and economy, and there’s only so much you can do to prepare, really. Criticality is in the air!
The horses are out of the barn on the Wuhan Coronavirus. Air travel was curtailed too late in the game — and still only partially — with asymptomatic-but-infectious human carriers winging to every corner of the world and probably contaminating airports all along the way. There’s plenty of thought and counter-thought on what exactly is going on behind the scenes in China. The ruling party has knocked itself out demonstrating its earnestness in the crisis, performing great feats like the construction of a one-thousand-bed hospital in ten days, shutting down the lunar new year festivities (like cancelling Christmas here), and locking down a hundred million citizens in quarantine. Pretty impressive.
But there’s also a theory that the Coronavirus affords a cover for cascading failures in China’s corrupt and shifty banking system. The country had already stepped across some frontiers in demographics, energy consumption, and industrial growth that were shoving it toward contraction for the first time in two generations. Coronavirus has shut down a lot of production in big things like cars and big-little things like cell phones, and supply lines are shutting down to world markets. This amounts to the first big test of the integrated global economy, as well as the world’s debt-saturated business model.
When a lot of parties and counterparties can’t pay each other because their revenue flows are cut off, the securities, currencies, equities, and other abstract representations of wealth go south. The US and Europe are no better positioned for a crisis in their banking arrangements, and confidence is starting to crack. Both economic mega-regions have relied on central banking hocus-pocus to prop up stock markets and maintain the illusion that the logic of bonds still applies. The first thing to go moneywise in a contracting financial system is the magic of compound interest.
The US Federal Reserve has been massively gaming the Repo markets — overnight lending that uses bonds as collateral — since September, raising suspicions that more than one of its “primary dealer” banks are insolvent. Juicing them with “liquidity” is like painting over sheetrock infested with black mold. Looks good for a week or so, and then you’re in intensive care. Nobody knows yet what the effect of Britain’s escape from the EU will do to the Union’s remainers, but Europe’s bonded debt arrangements are even dodgier than America’s, since there is absolutely no EU central control of each member’s fiscal affairs. Anyway, the meta-trend now is the devolution of governance from giant-and-central to smaller-and-local, so the real question is how much disorder and damage do these nations endure as that happens. It’s been manifesting vividly in France for a year in the yellow vest protests.
Here in the USA, the knock-on effects of converging crises begin to look like a game of four-dimensional eight-ball. The oil markets are getting slammed around the $51 hashmark, making it more difficult for the shale oil producers to meet their onerous debt repayments (in an industry that just doesn’t make a profit). Lower gasoline prices may seem like a boon for US motorists, but it comes at the expense of bankrupting more oil companies and punishing lenders like pension funds that invested in shale securities in the desperate search for “yield.” Shale never was a rational business model despite its fabulous production surge in a very short span of years. Don’t be surprised if there’s an attempt to nationalize it, which will induce new problems of capital allocation and sheer incompetence in a world where central planning of anything is more and more a bad bet.
Looming and converging multiple crises are also behind the gross disorder in US politics, though the connections may not be so discernably visible. President Trump foolishly took credit for financial markets that he had correctly described as being “one big, fat, ugly bubble,” back in the febrile days of the last election. Now it threatens to leave him holding a big fat ugly bag of trouble. That booby trap is surely more hazardous to his reelection chances than the frenetic efforts of pissants like Adam Schiff running Wile E. Coyote ambuscades in the DC Swamp. Mr. Trump spent three years working, jawboning, and bluffing over global trade arrangements that are now suddenly falling apart. How much of that will turn out to be a temporary effect of the Coronavirus, nobody knows. Or maybe it’s an inflection point in the workings of our over-hyper-complexified human ecosystem.
These shifting quandaries leave the Democratic Party between that ol’ rock and a hard place. All of their bad faith ploys against Mr. Trump have failed so far. I speak to supposedly educated people every day upon whom the failure of the Mueller Investigation, the fiasco of impeachment, and the revelations of IG Michael Horowitz have made no impression at all. The Golden Golem of Greatness is still Putin’s Puppet to them. It’s a wonder of the age that they can’t cut their losses. And now Bernie Sanders suddenly looks poised to win the Iowa caucus and inflame the not-quite-so-socialist factions of the party, who appear to be ratcheting up some Wile E. Coyote traps against him. If that works, it’ll blow the party apart, 1860 style, into rump factions. But if Bernie somehow perseveres and gets the nomination… and the Potemkin financial markets tank… and Coronavirus turns out to be a very big deal for upsetting global trade… then, America may get its first zealous socialist president.
Yes, history repeats and rhymes and all that, but I don’t see Bernie replicating the triumphs of Franklin D. Roosevelt in Great Depression 2.0. Rather, by attempting to overlay command-and-control policies on a zeitgeist that wants to take us smaller and local, Bernie Sanders will only be bucking reality. The net effect of Bernie Sanders in the White House will be to finish off the economy… and imagine where that will take us.
James Howard Kunstler | kunstler.com/clusterfuck-nation/
e360.yale.edu/features/polar-warning-even-antarctica-coldest-region-is-starting-to-melt
Polar Warning: Even Antarctica’s Coldest Region Is Starting to Melt
East Antarctica is the coldest spot on earth, long thought to be untouched by warming. But now the glaciers and ice shelves in this frigid region are showing signs of melting, a development that portends dramatic rises in sea levels this century and beyond.A recent Northern voyage on a Norwegian research vessel highlighted how soaring carbon dioxide levels and the resulting acidification of the oceans present an especially grave threat to the Arctic’s cold seas and the rich marine life that they harbor.
bit.ly/36VMIeq
Why Rising Acidification Poses a Special Peril for Warming Arctic Waters
A recent Northern voyage on a Norwegian research vessel highlighted how soaring carbon dioxide levels and the resulting acidification of the oceans present an especially grave threat to the Arctic’s cold seas and the rich marine life that they harbor.Some of the most alarming science surrounding climate change is the discovery that it may not happen incrementally — as a steadily rising line on a graph — but in a series of lurches as various “tipping points” are passed. And now comes a new concern: These tipping points can form a cascade, with each one triggering others, creating an irreversible shift to a hotter world. A new study suggests that changes to ocean circulation could be the driver of such a cascade.
bit.ly/2trriIt
As Climate Change Worsens, A Cascade of Tipping Points Looms
New research warns that the earth may be approaching key tipping points, including the runaway loss of ice sheets, that could fundamentally disrupt the global climate system. A growing concern is a change in ocean circulation, which could alter climate patterns in a profound way.A world awash in plastic will soon see even more, as a host of new petrochemical plants — their ethane feedstock supplied by the fracking boom — come online. Major oil companies, facing the prospect of reduced demand for their fuels, are ramping up their plastics output.
e360.yale.edu/features/the-plastics-pipeline-a-surge-of-new-production-is-on-the-way
The Plastics Pipeline: A Surge of New Production Is on the Way
A world awash in plastic will soon see even more, as a host of new petrochemical plants — their ethane feedstock supplied by the fracking boom — come online. Major oil companies, facing the prospect of reduced demand for their fuels, are ramping up their plastics output.With thousands of species on the move as the climate changes, a growing number of scientists say that the dichotomy between native and alien species has become an outdated concept and that efforts must be made to help migrating species adapt to their new habitats.
e360.yale.edu/features/native-species-or-invasive-the-distinction-blurs-as-the-world-warms
Native Species or Invasive? The Distinction Blurs as the World Warms
With thousands of species on the move as the climate changes, a growing number of scientists say that the dichotomy between native and alien species has become an outdated concept and that efforts must be made to help migrating species adapt to their new habitats.The frozen layer of soil that has underlain the Arctic tundra for millennia is now starting to thaw. This thawing, which could release vast amounts of greenhouse gases, is already changing the Arctic landscape by causing landslides, draining lakes, and altering vegetation.
e360.yale.edu/features/how-melting-permafrost-is-beginning-to-transform-the-arctic
How Thawing Permafrost Is Beginning to Transform the Arctic
The frozen layer of soil that has underlain the Arctic tundra for millennia is now starting to thaw. This thawing, which could release vast amounts of greenhouse gases, is already changing the Arctic landscape by causing landslides, draining lakes, and altering vegetation.The U.S. approach to buying out properties vulnerable to flooding is rife with uncertainty and delays. Now, as climate change drives more extreme coastal storms and precipitation events, the system must undergo a drastic overhaul or risk stranding millions in flood-prone homes.
e360.yale.edu/features/as-climate-risks-worsen-u.s.-flood-buyouts-fail-to-meet-the-need
As Climate Risks Worsen, U.S. Flood Buyouts Fail to Meet the Need
The U.S. approach to buying out properties vulnerable to flooding is rife with uncertainty and delays. Now, as climate change drives more extreme coastal storms and precipitation events, the system must undergo a drastic overhaul or risk stranding millions in flood-prone homes.Using satellite data, scientists are documenting the inexorable melting of South America’s glaciers and ice fields, with Andean glaciers thinning by nearly three feet a year since 2000. The loss of ice poses a threat to water supplies and agriculture from Bolivia to Chile.
bit.ly/2OqqQkX
Andes Meltdown: New Insights Into Rapidly Retreating Glaciers
Using satellite data, scientists are documenting the inexorable melting of South America’s glaciers and ice fields, with Andean glaciers thinning by nearly three feet a year since 2000. The loss of ice poses a threat to water supplies and agriculture from Bolivia to Chile.caitlinjohnstone.com/2019/12/22/why-everything-is-fucked/
The Primary Mechanism Of Your Oppression Is Not Hidden At All
I write a lot about government secrecy and the importance of whistleblowers, leakers and leak publishers, and for good reason: governments which can hide their wicked deeds from public accountabili…It fears us but that fear weakens as we grow more divided and complacent.
bit.ly/3b8Au5C
The Establishment Doesn’t Fear Trump, And It Doesn’t Fear Bernie. It Fears You.
During the George W Bush administration it was popular in conspiracy circles to speculate that events might be orchestrated which would allow the Bush family to complete a coup against the US Const…They (Israel) hold on to those people (Palestinians) so they can slowly murder and torture them to death. More than 2 million people being held captive by Israel. They murder them with impunity and very casually. They have poisoned their crops to kill them.
The world should not allow such a thing.
bit.ly/3934cHf
The 5G system emits microwave radiation that can and will cause cancer, among other disruptions, in the bodies of humans and animals. They will be installing those 5G transceiver units all over the place... more so than the 4G ones that are already being used. Rather than just using the cell phone towers, these things will be smaller units place relatively close together throughout towns and cities. Cancer rates have been increasing dramatically in recent years and this stuff simply must be one of the reasons why. There are better articles than this about it to be easily found.
www.globalresearch.ca/5g-roll-out-a-high-tech-front-in-the-war-against-humanity/5701941
5G Roll-out: A High Tech EMF Front in the War Against Humanity? - Global Research
“The people from the insurance industry, they all said that for them it was not the question of whether this was dangerous or not, they knew it was dangerous. The only question for them was who is going to pay for the party in the future, and they will not do it.” – Professor Olle …
www.globalresearch.ca/orders-to-kill-martin-luther-king-the-government-that-honors-mlk-with-a-nat...
Rep. Jerry Nadler: Trump a 'Dictator' Whose Behavior 'Has No Analog' in US History
The New York Democrat's accusation came a day after he said Trump's behavior "puts even President Nixon to shame."www.truthdig.com/articles/trumps-rosy-economic-outlook-is-a-big-lie/
Trump’s Rosy Economic Outlook Is a Big Lie
The president thinks he can weather impeachment by exaggerating U.S. successes. But his superlatives don’t reflect reality.
It is January 2019. This signals the start of the 2020 election circus. Sen. Elizabeth Warren is the first big-name Democrat on stage. But we will soon be deluged with candidates, bizarre antics and endless commentary by fatuous TV and radio pundits. The hyperventilating, the constant polling, the updates on who has the largest campaign war chest, the hypothetical matches between this hopeful and that hopeful, the mocking tweets by Donald Trump, will, as we saw in the 2016 election campaign, have as much relevance to our lives and political future as the speculation on cable sports channels about next year’s football season. This farce takes the place of genuine political life.
It costs a lot of money to mount this spectacle. Our corporate masters, like the oligarchic rulers of ancient Rome who poured money into the arena as they stripped the empire and its citizens of their assets, are happy to oblige. The campaign sustains the fiction of a democracy and gives legitimacy to the corporate state. Maybe Hillary Clinton, who raised $1 billion in her 2016 run for president, will return for another season, although the Bill and Hillary tour is now a debacle with empty seats and slashed ticket prices. Maybe Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders will make comebacks. And what about the new faces in the scramble for the presidency—Beto O’Rourke, former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, former Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., former Housing Secretary Julian Castro, Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, Cory Booker and Kamala Harris, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and the billionaires Tom Steyer and Michael Bloomberg?
It is a political version of the reality television show “Survivor.” Who will be the first knocked out? Who will make it into the semifinals and the finals? Who is the most devious and cunning? Who will come out on top? We get to vote for the contestants that appeal to us most, or at least vote against those we hate the most. The cable news shows, in a prelude to the nonstop idiocy to come, have spent the last few days speculating about whom Mitt Romney will endorse in the 2020 race. Now there’s a burning question of national importance.
bit.ly/2uiEH5A
The War in Afghanistan Is a Fraud (and Now We Have Proof)
Let’s take a moment to consider the motivations and goals of this 19-year-old military operation.Full-Scale War Is Avoided And Trump Goes Right Back To Warmongering
by Caitlin Johnstone
The United States and Iran entered into a direct military exchange for the first time ever with the drone assassination of General Qassem Soleimani last week and a retaliatory strike from Iran via surface-to-surface missiles upon two US military bases on Wednesday.
As usual it was the less powerful nation who exercised restraint, with Iran skillfully targeting the bases' military capabilities but taking measures to successfully avoid any casualties. The two nations de-escalated back down to their previous high level of dangerous hostilities with an understanding between them that neither side wants a full-scale war. Both sides played "chicken" and both sides swerved, and they know that about each other now.
So that was a relief. We were all forced to hold our breath and hope against hope that cooler heads would prevail after the senseless assassination of a sovereign nation's top military official, and they did. A full-scale war that would have dwarfed Iraq and Vietnam in terms of death, destruction and destabilization was averted.
And then Trump immediately went right back to warmongering.
caitlinjohnstone.com/2020/01/09/full-scale-war-is-avoided-and-trump-goes-right-back-to-warmongering/
Full-Scale War Is Avoided And Trump Goes Right Back To Warmongering
The United States and Iran entered into a direct military exchange for the first time ever with the drone assassination of General Qassem Soleimani last week and a retaliatory strike from Iran via …
Iran Strikes Back at U.S. With Missile Attack on Bases in Iraq
Iranian state TV said the attack was launched in revenge for the killing of Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani.
Rockets Fired After Day of Mourning for Slain Iranian Leader
Rocket falls near U.S. Embassy in Iraq hours after funeral for Qassem Soleimani at which crowd chants "Death to America, death to Israel."
Trump's Trade War Is Crushing Small Business
A new investigation reveals how the president's tariffs have massively enriched lobbyists while taking a steep toll on the middle class.
“We Do Not Seek War,” Says President Who Just Started A War
President Trump has been steadfastly assuring the world that the United States government does not wish to start the war it has already started by assassinating Iran’s top general. “We are a …Chris Hedges (author of this article) and many others figure the US empire is getting close to its ultimate destruction and their reasoning comes by comparison to empires of the past... like Rome. They might be right and for many good reasons... but who knows, right? Trump & Company wants a war with Iran and they are coming very close to getting one. In my humble opinion, that is extremely stupid... not because we might lose but that it can easily lead to much larger things. If you're wondering about reasons for such a war, check the current stock values, profit levels, and/or production levels of all the big manufacturers of weapons and other military gear... plus, we have been after control of that country for many years.
"The assassination by the United States of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite Quds Force, near Baghdad’s airport will ignite widespread retaliatory attacks against U.S. targets from Shiites, who form the majority in Iraq. It will activate Iranian-backed militias and insurgents in Lebanon and Syria and throughout the Middle East. The existing mayhem, violence, failed states and war, the result of nearly two decades of U.S. blunders and miscalculations in the region, will become an even wider and more dangerous conflagration. The consequences are ominous. Not only will the U.S. swiftly find itself under siege in Iraq and perhaps driven out of the country—there is only a paltry force of 5,200 U.S. troops in Iraq, all U.S. citizens in Iraq have been told to leave the country “immediately” and the embassy and consular services have been closed—but the situation could also draw us into a war directly with Iran. The American Empire, it seems, will die not with a whimper but a bang."
bit.ly/2rWhjdt
Iran has got to know that picking a fight with us is bound to be suicide so you have to figure they do not want such a war. This move looks to me like the US is setting the stage for another false flag event like 9/11 so they can try and justify the war they are starting to the American people.
Robert Reich: Corporate Social Responsibility Is a Scam
If companies like General Motors and AT&T really cared about the public, they'd empower their workers and back laws that raised their taxes.
The Devastation of the Australian Wildfires Almost Defies Belief
Ecologists at the University of Sydney estimate as many as half a billion animals have perished in the blaze, including entire species.
Proof Oil Companies Own America's Political System
A new probe finds Louisiana has failed to pursue millions in remediation for spills—money environmental groups say they desperately need.Better not speak out against the US government in public.... that would make you a terrorist. Sure, you have the right to free speech, as long as your fascist oligarchy government approves.
bit.ly/2QpTiDK
In New Documentary, Animal Rights Activists Prosecuted as Terrorists
A new documentary “The Animal People” tells the story of the SHAC 7, who were sentenced to prison on terrorism charges over their protest activity.
Merry Christmas, America! Let’s Remember the Children Who Live in Fear of Our Killer Drones.
This Christmas, let’s tell the truth about America’s killer drones and the new form of terror they bring to children around the world.www.thenation.com/article/korea-war-nuclear-arms/
A Low-Intensity War Is Underway in Northeast Asia
Beneath the radar in Korea, a military buildup—by both sides—has raised tensions to an alarming degree.www.change.org/p/free-julian-assange-before-it-s-too-late-stop-usa-extradition?recruiter=30481187...
The Short Road: Democracy to Fascism - Global Research
Fascism is a political ideology fundamentally authoritarian, with a strong nationalism and a militaristic outlook. Fascism carries primarily a corporate perspective directed to satisfying the needs, values and objectives of finance and corporations,
The Amazon at a Tipping Point - CounterPunch.org
The Amazon rainforest is a crucial life-support ecosystem. Without its wondrous strength and power to generate hydrologic systems across the sky (as far north as Iowa), absorb and store carbon (CO2), and its miraculous life-giving endless supply of oxygen, civilization would cease to exist beyond sc...
The Impeachment's Moral Hypocrisy
It wasn't about restoring the rule of law: The House ignored the more serious violations by Trump that had been normalized by Obama and Bush.www.commondreams.org/views/2019/12/24/would-refugee-baby-jesus-have-been-torn-marys-arms-trump
Would Refugee Baby Jesus Have Been Torn From Mary’s Arms by Trump?
These American, Christian politicians would not have admitted the holy family when they fled Herod the Great... In this political season in which refugees have become a political football, it is worthwhile remembering that baby Jesus is depicted by the Bible as being a political refugee not once but...The consequences of Trump’s and the Republicans’ excessive corporate giveaways and their failure to improve the lives of ordinary working Americans are becoming clearer by the day.
www.commondreams.org/views/2019/12/24/how-trump-has-betrayed-working-class
How Trump Has Betrayed the Working Class
The consequences of Trump’s and the Republicans’ excessive corporate giveaways and their failure to improve the lives of ordinary working Americans are becoming clearer by the day... For a century the GOP has been bankrolled by big business and Wall Street. Trump wants to keep the money rolling ..."Quiet folks, the idiot speaks again."
www.commondreams.org/further/2019/12/22/i-know-windmills-very-much
Another example of how our government thinks nothing of murdering US citizens.
bit.ly/2t0nU6y
Trump's EPA Goes to Bat for Bayer as Company Fights $25 Million Verdict in Roundup Cancer Case
The chemical company is asking a federal appeals court to reverse its ruling in favor of a California man suffering from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
"They want to destroy every part of Social Security, including retirement benefits, and turn it over to their criminal friends on Wall Street. We must stop Trump's plan."
—Alex Lawson, Social Security Works
Of course, our government thinks nothing of murdering US citizens if it means more money for the rich. 9/11 is our best example. —Me
www.commondreams.org/news/2019/12/23/cutting-social-security-murder-flood-public-outrage-greets-t...
www.commondreams.org/news/2019/12/21/everything-burning-australian-inferno-continues-choking-acce...
caitlinjohnstone.com/2019/12/22/why-everything-is-fucked/
When I was in the 2nd grade, about 1964/5, they wanted me to stand with the rest of the class every morning and and speak the Pledge of Allegiance. I refused. The beginnings of the Vietnam War were on the national news along with many other things that might tell you there were things wrong with this country... plus, even at the age of about 7 I would not pledge myself to something I had yet to understand. Makes sense, right? How was I supposed to know what exactly it was that they wanted me to pledge my allegiance to.... They tried to convince me but were unsuccessful.
Years later, after I did away with the alcohol and drug lifestyle, I wanted to learn the truth about what goes on in this country and the world. So, beginning in 2013, I discovered sources that would give that to me. I was interested in learning to build websites so I decided to share these sources. I created this page to do it. sungraffix.net/village-spirit.html I have since discovered that what they wanted me to pledge to in the 1960's was and is an extremely corrupt institution and that my young intuition was right not to stand and speak. Of course, we, as the citizens of this country, could change all that, but we have to become informed and we have to act.
I wanted to know who I was and where I came from. My father had told me little bits and pieces when I was a child and I wanted to know more. Fortunately for me there turns out to be much of it to be found thanks to some notable people in my ancestry and I created this page: sungraffix.net/heston-ancestry.html
I was not buzzed on alcohol or high on drugs during most of my free time so I needed a philosophy to live by. I think everyone should develop their own and not just take someone else's for granted so I looked to the philosophers to learn. I do not follow any of them but I try to learn from them all. I decided to share some of those philosophers here: sungraffix.net/philosophy.html
I have found that our government is really a fascist oligarchy, we have recently slaughtered millions of innocent people, most of us are essentially just modern slaves, our environment is screwed thanks to all sorts of pollution and the list goes on, but the most significant thing of all that I have found I wrote about in this article: sungraffix.net/hypercriticalmode/hello-world/ ...people around the world are beginning to become aware, but it may be too little, too late.
There turns out to be some very significant things I have learned about that compelled me to write about them myself. I'm not that great of a writer but I did okay. You can find them here: sungraffix.net/hypercriticalmode/
If you would like something to help you understand why things are the way they are then watch these documentaries... the Zeitgeist films at the top of this page: sungraffix.net/hypercriticalmode/av-lounge/
www.commondreams.org/news/2019/12/13/arms-expert-warns-reckless-and-unnecessary-escalation-after-...
www.truthdig.com/articles/politicians-stand-in-the-way-of-a-global-green-energy-revolution/
Politicians Stand in the Way of a Green Energy Revolution
Implementing cheap renewable energies worldwide should be a no-brainer, but there is a reason our leaders are hesitating.www.truthdig.com/articles/plutocrats-are-trying-to-buy-the-democratic-nomination/
Plutocrats Are Trying to Buy the Democratic Nomination
Joe Biden, Michael Bloomberg and Pete Buttigieg: All are bent on preventing a progressive victory in 2020.www.truthdig.com/articles/the-scariest-climate-stories-emerging-from-the-arctic/
The Scariest Climate Stories Emerging From the Arctic
The NOAA's annual report on the Arctic contains some terrifying findings. Here are just 5 of the most worrying ones.www.truthdig.com/articles/afghanistan-the-generals-long-con/
The Generals’ Long Con on Afghanistan
I doubt I’ll ever again trust the assertions and promises of the military's top brass. And I’m not in bad company.
www.truthdig.com/articles/afghanistan-papers-confirm-that-the-longest-war-is-a-lie/
The Afghanistan Papers Confirm America's Longest War Is a Lie
It was clear to those who had been paying attention that U.S. officials were lying about the war for nearly two decades.