https://youtu.be/177vg1pEGbo

via TESLA – Everything is the Light – Interview with Nikola Tesla ⚡️ – YouTube

Psychiatric Drugs: Neurotoxins that Do More Harm than Good – NationalAddictionNews.com

There is a single scientific term that most appropriately describes psychiatric drugs. Not long ago, I used it in court on several occasions during my testimony to explain why psychiatric drugs can have such disastrous effects on the brain, mind, and behavior.

My use of the term angered experts on the other side who declared, in effect, “if you search the scientific literature, only Dr. Breggin uses that word to describe psychiatric drugs.” In fact, there is a long tradition of using the dread word that has been largely expunged from the official psychiatric literature but remains alive in research and at times pops up in the clinical literature.

The dread word, which I urge everyone to start using on a regular basis, is neurotoxin. The word “neurotoxin” so unhinges my colleagues because it is a true descriptor for every psychiatric chemical and because it opens the door to an honest analysis of how these poisons impact on the human brain and mental life.

via Psychiatric Drugs: Neurotoxins that Do More Harm than Good – NationalAddictionNews.com

https://youtu.be/0un0_Pgw7QU

via Psychiatric Drugs: Neurotoxins that Do More Harm than Good – The Dr Peter Breggin Hour, Dec 11, 2019 – YouTube

https://youtu.be/11FCyUB81rI

via Greta Thunberg’s speech at UN climate change conference – YouTube

Factory Farm Conditions Are Bad for People Too

The problem: Livestock in this country produce between 3 and 20 times more waste than people in the U.S. produce, according to a 2005 report issued by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). That’s as much as 1.2-1.37 billion tons of manure a year. Some estimates are even higher.

Manure can contain “pathogens such as E. coli, growth hormones, antibiotics, chemicals used as additives to the manure or to clean equipment, animal blood, silage leachate from corn feed, or copper sulfate used in footbaths for cows,” according to a 2010 report by the National Association of Local Boards of Health. Though sewage treatment plants are required for human waste, no such treatment facility exists for livestock waste.

Since this amount far exceeds what can be used as fertilizer, animal waste from factory farms typically enters massive, open-air waste lagoons, which spread airborne pathogens to people who live nearby. If animal waste is applied as fertilizer and exceeds the soil’s capacity for absorption, or if there is a leak or break in the manure storage or containment unit, the animal waste runs off into oceans, lakes, rivers, streams and groundwater.

via truthdig Factory Farm Conditions Are Bad for People Too

The Great American Shakedown

The shakedown that Trump clumsily attempted to orchestrate against the president of Ukraine in the hope of discrediting Joe Biden, a potential rival in the 2020 presidential election, pales beside the shakedown orchestrated by the elites who rule over America’s working men and women. This shakedown took from those workers their hope and, more ominously, their hope for their children. It took from them security and a sense of place and dignity. It took from them a voice in how they were governed. It took from them their country and handed it to a cabal of global corporatists who intend to turn them into serfs. This shakedown plunged millions into despair. It led many to self-destructive opioid, alcohol, drug and gambling addictions. It led to increases in suicide, mass shootings and hate crimes. This shakedown led to bizarre conspiracy theories and fabrications peddled by a neofascist right wing, deceptions bolstered by the lies told by those tasked with keeping the society rooted in truth and verifiable fact. This shakedown led to the end of the rule of law and the destruction of democratic institutions that, if they had continued to function, could have prevented the rise to power of a demagogue such as Trump.

There is zero chance Trump will be removed from office in a trial in the Senate. The Democratic Party elites have admitted as much. They carried out, they argue, their civic and constitutional duty. But here again they lie. They picked out what was convenient to impeach Trump and left untouched the rotten system they helped create. The divisions among Americans will only widen. The hatreds will only grow. And tyranny will wrap its deadly tentacles around our throats.

via truthdig The Great American Shakedown

Pentagon confirms $35 million in aid still being withheld from Ukraine despite impeachment inquiry | Salon.com

The White House is still withholding some of the congressionally approved military aid to Ukraine that President Donald Trump froze over the summer, even as impeachment investigators scrutinize whether the commander-in-chief used the funds as leverage to pressure a foreign leader to commit publicly to investigations that would benefit him politically

More than $35 million of the nearly $400 million in military aid that Trump had halted has not been released to Ukraine, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday, citing Pentagon spending documents it had obtained. Instead, the aid for Ukraine remains in U.S. accounts. The newspaper noted it is unclear why the money has not been released.

House Democrats are investigating allegations that Trump sought to leverage a potential White House meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and millions of dollars in military aid approved by Congress in an effort to pressure the Ukrainian leader to launch investigations into former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, as well as a baseless conspiracy theory about Ukrainian interference in the 2016 election.

via Pentagon confirms $35 million in aid still being withheld from Ukraine despite impeachment inquiry | Salon.com

U.S. employers spend $340 million annually to thwart unions | Salon.com

After years of decline, the American labor movement is on the upswing: Google contractors in Pittsburgh unionized this year, along with several newsrooms, while other tech companies are in the middle of union struggles. Still, unions have a lot of ground to retake, as union membership among American workers has fallen by about 50 percent over the past 35 years; membership peaked in 1954. Unions are, in general, extremely good for the economy: union workers are paid better, treated better, and retire better. So why the fall? According to new research by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), America’s decline of unions is likely in part due to the hefty investments employers have put into thwarting unionization efforts, which is fueled by a shadow industry that even the federal government has little information about.

The EPI report, which was published on Wednesday, found that American employers spend an estimated $340 million annually on “union avoidance” consultants and firms to help them stave off union elections. Consultants often report being paid $350 per hour, or more. Some even clock in $2,500 daily rates.

via U.S. employers spend $340 million annually to thwart unions | Salon.com

China Quietly Ramps Up Oil Production In Iran | OilPrice.com

Longer-term, Iran’s plan is to increase the recovery rate from all of its oil fields, beginning with those in the massive West Karoun area (in which North and South Azadegan are located, along with North and South Yaran, and Yadavaran, among others) to at least 25 per cent from the current 4.5 per cent (it was 5.5 per cent before U.S. sanctions were re-imposed). By comparison, the average recovery rate from Saudi Arabia’s oil fields is around 50 per cent, with plans to raise that to 70 per cent.

As the West Karoun fields together are estimated to contain at least 67 billion barrels of oil in place, for every one per cent increase in the rate of recovery that can be achieved the recoverable reserves figure would increase by 670 million barrels, or around US$34 billion in revenues with oil even at US$50 a barrel. Once China has also taken over at South Azadegan, according to the Iran source, it will be expected to increase the output from the three fields – North and South Azadegan and Yadavaran – by at least 500,000 bpd within three years from the signing of the South Azadegan deal (expected within the next six months).

via China Quietly Ramps Up Oil Production In Iran | OilPrice.com

UK surely a fascist state, not one word of criticism should the citizens of this country utter

Meanwhile we the ordinary Brits have endured a monarchy that politely plunders the Nations finance, governments who have savagely ripped families, communities and society apart….All based on their greed and need for continuous profits.

All nationalised things the people owned (before Thatcher) privatised blatantly in conjunction with Rothschilds (who surely must be in contention for the most evil, biggest criminal on the planet award- a real life walking talking ‘Dr. No’) they reaped all the profits and benefits that the tax payer had built up , incidentally Boris Johnson is a good friend of Rothschilds.

Finally the people being peed on by bankers who by plan stole all capital out of capitalism (people made to pay for these for that too), finally their party coming down hard on unions, the working man, putting people who didn’t agree under surveillance, blacklisting them, wrecking workers conditions making sure workers had the bare minimum while they are caviar with silver spoons.

via UK surely a fascist state, not one word of criticism should the citizens of this country utter | © blogfactory

That metallic taste? It’s possible you’ve been irradiated  – Public Watchdogs

A metallic taste in the mouth is a symptom of radiation poisoning at a high dose. It is common in those who have gone through chemotherapy. Radiation has been known to alter the “taste sensation”  from radiation to the taste buds. The metallic taste effect is caused by radiation induced brain damage.
One survivor of the accident at Three Mile Island  said, “the air smelled like metal. It was overwhelming. I could taste metal in my mouth. It seemed as though every tastebud in my mouth could sense the smell.”
Another survivor  recounts, “I experienced a metal taste and queasy stomach. I felt funny.”
Since surfers near the decommissioned power plant are reporting similar symptoms in San Onofre, it could mean that Edison could be dumping mass quantities of nuclear waste right by San Clemente’s Wheeler North Reef, an artificial reef that is struggling to take-off. The “cloudy water”  diluted by Edison blocks the light from the kelp beds and damages the reef.

via That metallic taste? It’s possible you’ve been irradiated.  – Public Watchdogs: Because the Public has a right to know

Desalination is a process that takes away mineral components from saline water. More generally, desalination refers to the removal of salts and minerals from a target substance,[1] as in soil desalination, which is an issue for agriculture

via Desalination History, Natural Plant Based, Geothermal, Nanotechnology, Passarell, Solar, Hydrogel, Thermoionic, Waste Heat, Cogeneration, Public Health Concerns, Alternatives, Downsides, Costs, Chemists Work to Desalt the Ocean for Drinking Water, One Nanoliter at a Time | A Green Road Journal

https://youtu.be/fWkfpGCAAuw

via Ukraine Crisis – What You’re Not Being Told – YouTube

Broke billionaires (and other ridiculous signs of the top) | Sovereign Man

And he’s definitely not the only ‘billionaire’ in this situation. All across Silicon Valley (and much of the world) we see tech entrepreneurs loaded up with shares of their loss-making businesses, but short on any actual money.

The founder of Snapchat is worth more than $3 billion thanks to his company’s stock price; yet the business has lost billions of dollars since inception and has never generated positive cash flow in a single year, ever.

Uber, WeWork, Lyft, Slack, Peloton, Pinterest– there are so many tech companies, or companies masquerading as tech companies– that consistently lose tons of money. It’s absurd.

In finance, a startup that eventually becomes worth more than a billion dollars is referred to as a ‘unicorn’ because it’s supposed to be so rare that it borders on impossible.

Now, I remember my parents taking me to the circus when I was a kid, and the feature attraction was supposed to be a unicorn. I must have been around 4 years old and I couldn’t have been more excited.

Finally, after seeing the bearded lady and the lion tamers and all that jazz, they finally paraded the unicorn out for all the spectators to see.

Even as a little kid I knew instantly– it was just a friggin’ donkey with a fake horn on it.

And that’s basically what these companies are– donkeys with fake horns. They’re not real unicorns.

They bleed cash. Many of them have no hope of ever turning a profit. And the rock-star famous people who own them are often just “Billionaires In Name Only,’or BINOs.

via Broke billionaires (and other ridiculous signs of the top) | Sovereign Man

America’s Forgotten War with Mexico – Centre for Research on Globalization

Despite involvement in various conflicts, the Mexican-American War haunted Grant to the end.

“I had a horror of the Mexican War and I have always believed it was on our part most unjust. The wickedness was in the conduct of the war. We had no claim on Mexico. Texas had no claim beyond the Nueces River, and yet we pushed on to the Rio Grande and crossed it. I am always ashamed of my country when I think of that invasion”.

What is striking about Grant’s views today is how remarkably forthright they are. It would prove unthinkable for US presidents in later centuries to express ethical misgivings about the attacks on Korea or Vietnam, Afghanistan or Iraq – despite the much greater destruction and loss of life.

The defeat of Mexico consolidated US expansion of its territorial size by almost 25%. Texas had initially been annexed from Mexico in 1845, a state almost three times the size of Britain.

The Mexican government refused to recognize Texas’s illegal incorporation into American terrain. By May of the following year (1846), the US had declared war on its southern neighbor. US President James K. Polk utilized the pretext that attacking Mexican forces had “passed the boundary of the United States [in Texas], has invaded our territory and shed American blood upon American soil”.

In truth, the “American soil” was Mexican soil annexed to become part of the US. The Americans were awaiting a ruse in which they could attack Mexico without causing unwanted popular uproar, allowing the US to make further gains into Mexican land.

via America’s Forgotten War with Mexico – Global ResearchGlobal Research – Centre for Research on Globalization

Trump: Bring Me the Head of Luis Obrador. Wage a “War on Drugs” to “Protect Mexico”?

The Mexican authorities expressed hope that the decision to grant asylum to President Morales, the legitimate President of Bolivia, would not draw a hostile reaction from the US, and that, since Morales’ life was in danger they had a duty to protect him. But their hope has turned to alarm as the New York Times quickly labelled Mexico a “haven for leftists, socialists and communists over the past century”, and President Trump turned an offer of help in solving the drug cartel problem in Mexico he made on November 6 into a virtual declaration that Mexico does not exist as a sovereign country and that the US may wage war against it in order to clear out what Trump now labels “terrorists.”

He claimed that the United States has the right to designate a criminal group in a foreign country as subject to its jurisdiction and action, which means that as far as the United States is concerned, Mexico is not sovereign nation but an American province and if the Mexicans resist this claim then they face war; and not for the first time.

We remember the war of 1846 in which the US invaded Mexico and, after a brutal war, seized and occupied huge swathes of its territory and then illegally incorporated those areas into the US by forcing down the throats of the Mexicans, at the point of American bayonets, a “treaty” to justify their occupation of Mexican lands.

via Trump: Bring Me the Head of Luis Obrador. Wage a “War on Drugs” to “Protect Mexico”? – Counter Information

Coalition’s zero for climate policy is well earned. All it’s done is cook the books | RenewEconomy

It shows that the Coalition has achieved nothing on emissions reductions, and the Morrison Government is effectively reliant on a “cooking of the books” of excess carbon credits to meet its modest 2030 target.

It has effectively chosen a different “methodology” to calculate past and present emissions. This has the effect of increasing the notional “surplus” from the Kyoto targets, where Australia was controversially allowed to increase emissions, and then allows it to “claim” to have met its Paris 2030 targets by doing very little.

Any actual emissions reductions delivered by 2030 are minimal, and are achieved only due to the ambitious renewable energy targets put in place by State and Territory governments that is demanded be repealed, and through technologies that it has said are a threat to the nation’s economy,

via Coalition’s zero for climate policy is well earned. All it’s done is cook the books | RenewEconomy

Taylor avoids mention of bushfires as Australia given a zero for climate policy | RenewEconomy

Taylor, and the Coalition in general, have described a high-level of renewables as “reckless” and “economy-wrecking”, yet their latest emissions projects assume the country reaches the 50 per cent share of renewables that they had insisted was not possible. In South Australia, the government now assumes it reaches 96 per cent wind and solar by 2030.

Yet now Taylor stands up in front of the international community and says that Australia can only move as fast as the technology allows.

Taylor’s speech was also notable for making no mention of the bushfire crisis that continues to impact Australia’s east coast have devastated regional communities, burnt through more than 2.7 million hectares of bushland, and which has drive air-quality in Sydney to such poor levels.

via Taylor avoids mention of bushfires as Australia given a zero for climate policy | RenewEconomy

Former Boeing manager says he warned company of problems prior to 737 crashes

The manager, Ed Pierson, spoke to NBC News in an exclusive television interview two days before he was set to appear before Congress to detail his efforts to sound the alarm over the conditions at the Boeing plant in Renton, Washington, where he said a push to increase production of the 737 Max planes created a “factory in chaos.”

From the summer of 2018 to the spring of 2019, Pierson implored Boeing executives and then the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board to look into the conditions at the Renton plant, according to emails obtained by NBC News.

“Frankly right now all my internal warning bells are going off,” Pierson said in an email to Scott Campbell, the general manager of the 737 Max program, on June 9, 2018. “And for the first time in my life, I’m sorry to say that I’m hesitant about putting my family on a Boeing airplane.”

via NBC Former Boeing manager says he warned company of problems prior to 737 crashes

The Destruction of Civilization – Implications of Extreme Monetary Interventions – LewRockwell

Negative interest rates are a great example of these short-term patches, only in this case, they are not just useless as a cure for our economic ills, but they actually do more harm than good.

The outcome of this policy is that time becomes worthless. As one’s hard-earned money, set aside for a rainy day or for their children’s education, instead of appreciating, as logic would dictate, instead diminishes day by day, it does not make sense any longer to produce and to save. The basic motivation for each individual to get up in the morning and to work hard to achieve a higher living standard is removed and time, therefore, turns into a dimension without any value. If people can’t save any longer, by government decree, then there is no other way than to consume. And with all traditionally safe investment options gone, they are only left with the option of speculating in rigged financial markets, and the massive risk that comes with it, especially now, when we’re nearing the end of a long-term debt cycle.

The individual is thus turned more and more into a state-dependent, as the basis for a free life is the ability to increase financial independence and have savings on the side that keep you self-reliant. The fundament of a successful system requires individuals that live a decent life, knowing that they must first produce before they can consume.

“Civilization requires accumulation and production; de-civilization happens when too many people in a society borrow, spend, and consume more than they produce.” – Jeff Deist, President of the Mises Institute in Auburn (AL)

via The Destruction of Civilization – Implications of Extreme Monetary Interventions – LewRockwell

I talked with a CFP today at an investment firm, and he told me that it makes no sense to invest in anything that returns a negative interest rate. He also knows of NO ONE that is actually putting any money into any negative interest rate schemes, so who is investing this money in money losing schemes cooked up by ??????

“It’s About To Get Very Bad” – Repo Market Legend Predicts Market Crash In Days | Zero Hedge

That said, as Pozsar concedes in his conclusion “QE4 – as much as it makes sense – won’t happen unless the Fed’s hands are forced.” By which he means there has to be a market crash for the Fed to do the one thing that can alleviate the banks’ terminal reserve problem.

The Credit Suisse strategist admits as much:

“not responding to potential stresses in the FX swap market with the swap lines, may be what forces the Fed’s hands. If it will take the swap lines to help RV hedge funds to roll their positions without the risk of fire sales, not encouraging their use preemptively can lead to fire sales where QE4 goes live as a clean-up “operation” with the Fed buying what the RV funds are forced to sell – and what they could have bought from dealers under normal circumstances as dealers have been politely asking the Fed since September, just like they were asking for a repo facility before that – and we know how that ended…”

In conclusion all we can say here is that 11 years ago, on September 5, 2008, ten days before Lehman filed, there were massive marketwide repo problems (recall the repo market froze in Sept 2008 and only a multi-trillion bailout by the world’s central banks prevented civilization collapse) and almost nobody understood them… with one exception: Citi’s Matt King did and he laid out all the problems in his iconic Sept 5, 2008, piece “Are the Brokers Broken” in which he predicted the collapse of Lehman. Ten days later he was right. Will Zoltan Pozsar be this generation’s Matt King?

via “It’s About To Get Very Bad” – Repo Market Legend Predicts Market Crash In Days | Zero Hedge

Landmark study shows how to change the building sector from a major carbon emitter to a major carbon sink | TreeHugger

The study complains that “the response to building-related emissions has been to focus solely on energy efficiency, but this may result in initiatives and policies that will raise emissions rather than lower them.” We have covered Magwood’s work on this before, but it has never been more clear: Building a highly energy-efficient structure can actually produce more greenhouse gases than a basic code-compliant one if carbon-intensive materials are used.

When in fact, if designed out of the right materials, “we can feasibly and affordably capture and store vast amounts of carbon in buildings, transforming the sector from a major emitter to a major carbon sink.”

via Landmark study shows how to change the building sector from a major carbon emitter to a major carbon sink | TreeHugger

It is so important to approach each experience as if it is fresh and new because it is! You have never had the exact same experience because you have never been in the unprecedented energies of today. Further, you are stepping forward as an empowered co-creator like never before.

So embrace the unfoldment. Know that change is designed to reflect who you are now and where your soul is taking you to align with your next great adventure. Be open to the new potentials and possibilities that are trying to make their way to you, for you are being loved, supported, and guided through it all. ~Archangel Gabriel through Shelley Young

via Trinity Esoterics | Daily Message ~ Wednesday December 11, 2019

Indicted Planned Parenthood Shooter Tells Judge, “I Am Just a Religious Zealot”

According to the 13-page indictment, Dear intended to wage “war” on the clinic because it offered abortion services. To that end, he arrived at the health care clinic Nov. 27, 2015, armed with six rifles, five handguns, a shotgun, more than 500 rounds of ammunition and propane tanks he intended to detonate as law enforcement officers approached.

Dear fired nearly 200 rounds over the course of a five-hour standoff, including firing at firefighters and law enforcement officers outside the building in the strip-mall parking lot…
He’s so “pro-life” that he decided murdering people was the best way to show his devotion.

What’s more, he’s been openly admitting his own guilt. He has said to a judge that he’s a “warrior for babies” and said this morning, “I am not crazy. I am just a religious zealot.”

via Indicted Planned Parenthood Shooter Tells Judge, “I Am Just a Religious Zealot” | Hemant Mehta | Friendly Atheist | Patheos

Root intelligence: Plants can think, feel and learn | New Scientist

Had Aristotle hung out among redwoods, he might not have consigned plants to the bottom rungs of his “ladder of life”. But he didn’t, and botanists have been tormented by his legacy. For centuries, few dared challenge his judgement. Now that’s finally changing. In the past decade, researchers have been making the case for taking plants more seriously. They are finding that plants have a sophisticated awareness of their environment and of each other, and can communicate what they sense. There is also evidence that plants have memory, can integrate massive amounts of information and maybe pay attention. Some botanists argue that they are intelligent beings, with a “neurobiology” all of their own. There’s even tentative talk of plant consciousness.

Charles Darwin would have approved. He was the first to seriously question Aristotelian ideas that plants don’t have the stuff of life that animates us and other animals, simply because they don’t move

via Root intelligence: Plants can think, feel and learn | New Scientist

Recordings reveal that plants make ultrasonic squeals when stressed

Although it has been revealed in recent years that plants are capable of seeing, hearing and smelling, they are still usually thought of as silent. But now, for the first time, they have been recorded making airborne sounds when stressed, which researchers say could open up a new field of precision agriculture where farmers listen for water-starved crops.

Itzhak Khait and his colleagues at Tel Aviv University in Israel found that tomato and tobacco plants made sounds at frequencies humans cannot hear when stressed by a lack of water or when their stem is cut.

Microphones placed 10 centimetres from the plants picked up sounds in the ultrasonic range of 20 to 100 kilohertz, which the team says insects and some mammals would be capable of hearing and responding to from as far as 5 metres away. A moth may decide against laying eggs on a plant that sounds water-stressed, the researchers suggest. Plants could even hear that other plants are short of water and react accordingly, they speculate.

via Recordings reveal that plants make ultrasonic squeals when stressed – Azad Palestine’s Blog

‘A dangerous move to silence free speech’: Jewish groups react to Trump’s plan to designate Judaism as a nationality | The Independent

Donald Trump’s plan to designate Judaism as a “nationality” through executive order has been met with criticism by progressive Jewish organisations, who say the proposal is just another act of antisemitism from the president.

The White House has claimed the effort would help to fight antisemitism on college campuses, and would trigger a portion of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964, which requires educational institutions receiving federal funding to not discriminate based on national origin.

Those protections would, however, also allow the administration to fight back against anti-Israel divestment sentiments on college campuses across the country, by forcing schools to view those acts as discriminatory.

via ‘A dangerous move to silence free speech’: Jewish groups react to Trump’s plan to designate Judaism as a nationality | The Independent

Same thing Hitler did right before the “FINAL SOLUTION” and Hitler installing himself as dictator in chief.

Horrifying photo shows sick trophy hunting couple KISS over corpse of magnificent lion they killed

The firm wrote: “Hard work in the hot Kalahari sun…well done. A monster lion.”

Despite their grim pose, the couple – who run a taxidermy business – describe themselves as “passionate conservationists”, the Mirror reports.

Pictured with another lion on the account, the caption reads: “There is nothing like hunting the king of the jungle in the sands of the Kalahari.

“Well done to the happy huntress and the team…”

It looks as though this lion was a tame animal killed in an enclosure, bred for the sole purpose of being the subject of a smug selfie

via thesun Horrifying photo shows sick trophy hunting couple KISS over corpse of magnificent lion they killed

https://youtu.be/5r5A6kiQ4zA

via Federal Judge Rules That Donald Trump Can Be Indicted While Serving As President – YouTube

Toddler, 2, put mum’s loaded pink gun in his mouth and killed himself thinking it was a water pistol – The Sun

He mistook the pink Ruger for his water pistol
She was jailed for 24 years on Monday over the negligence death of the little boy at their Colorado Springs home in October last year.

After the tragedy, Adamson told cops she’d loaded her pistol following a “threatening visit” from a drug dealer called Beast, reports the Colorado Springs Gazette.

via Toddler, 2, put mum’s loaded pink gun in his mouth and killed himself thinking it was a water pistol – The Sun

Dixie Chicks Kick Off Tour With Donald Trump in the Backdrop – NBC New York

The Dixie Chicks aren’t afraid of mixing art and politics.

The Texas-based trio kicked off their DCX MMXVI World Tour on on Wednesday in Cincinnati and they’ve got a new political foe: Donald Trump.

The Dixie Chicks performed their 1999 hit “Goodbye Earl” against a backdrop that showed Trump with devil horns and a comical mustache and goatee.

via Dixie Chicks Kick Off Tour With Donald Trump in the Backdrop – NBC New York

Tar Heel Confederates Hate Group Funded By University Of Carolina | ColorOfChange.org

The University of North Carolina (UNC) is currently providing financial support for the headquarters of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. This is unacceptable. A state university is prioritizing funding for a certified hate group,

via Tar Heel Confederates | ColorOfChange.org

Arctic Report Shows Changes Scientists Didn’t Expect ‘This Soon’

The clearest sign of Arctic change are rising temperatures. The average temperature over the past 12 months ranked as the second-highest value since 1900 coming in at 1.9 degrees Celsius (3.4 degrees Fahrenheit) above normal. That’s helping melt Arctic sea ice cover, which has seen rapid declines in thickness and extent. The fragile state of ice leaves it vulnerable to random weather happenings, such as when the jetstream sends warm southerly winds north. That’s exactly what happened this past year, particularly in Alaska when unusual southwestern warm winds in fall 2018 kept sea ice from freezing in along the coastal Bering Sea. This happened again in winter 2019 and continued into the spring.

“In the past when that happened, it hasn’t had a big impact because the ice is already there and very thick,” James Overland, an oceanographer at NOAA who worked on this report, told Earther. “This year, you started with thin ice, so when winds shifted around to coming from the south and bringing more warm temperatures, the ice could never form, and that was a huge change that we never expected would happen this soon
.”

As a result of all this warm air—which was related to the wild ass heatwaves Europe saw this year—the Greenland ice sheet a massive meltdown over the summer. The only year worse was 2012. This presents a long-term concern for sea level rise worldwide, but the loss of sea ice throughout the Arctic threatens the culture and livelihoods of the people who live there. And, for the first time ever, the Arctic Report Card pays special attention to the impacts indigenous people face. It even includes a whole section featuring voices from the frontlines. Overland said that was intentional.

via earther.gizmodo Arctic Report Shows Changes Scientists Didn’t Expect ‘This Soon’

https://youtu.be/8ZktE0ItFjE

via Permafrost is thawing rapidly. How much should we worry? – YouTube

https://youtu.be/x2f9M7c1ZRM

via (5) What a ‘sobering’ report on Arctic ice loss means for global sea levels – YouTube

https://youtu.be/UlhU4vrE3e4

via (5) Arctic Report Card 2019 – YouTube

Why “This Sucker Is Going Down”-Charles Hugh Smith

Alas, loose money has created a new set of metastasizing problems that will bring this sucker down: widening wealth-income inequality, the only possible result of our system of creating and distributing new money to banks, financiers and corporations; soaring systemic leverage that few see, much less understand; and perhaps most perverse, yet equally unnoticed, loose money has widened the gap between the real economy and the top layer of arcane finance to the point there is literally no connection at all.
The happy story about debt-dependent capitalism is that thriving companies borrow money from our wunnerful banks to invest in new factories, research, software development, etc., hiring millions of top-notch people–top-notch!–at generous salaries to boost productivity and make the entire nation wealthier.
Alas, it’s all a fraud. What actually happens is banks “invest” the new money in faster High Frequency Trading (HFT) computers so they can skim even more profit from the rigged “markets.” Productivity increase: zero. Social benefits: zero. Economic benefits to the nation at large: zero.
Virtually all the loose money created by the Fed is socially useless financial activity, enriching the few at the top of the wealth-power pyramid who own the financial machinery of repo’s, derivatives, FX swaps, leverage, and all the other tricks of the financial trade that has completely disconnected from the real-world economy.

via Why “This Sucker Is Going Down”-oftwominds-Charles Hugh Smith

The Indigenous Worldview Is Our Only Hope for Survival, by Four Arrows | Rise Up Times

In contrast, we might consider listening closely to an Indigenous story, like the one about how all the water creatures — including dolphins, ducks, whales, pelicans and other ocean birds, sharks, sea horses, muskrats, walruses, eels and otters — helped a woman who fell from an ancient world in the sky when Earth was all water. She was curious – “the kind of curious that doesn’t give up,” King notes. She was about to give birth and needed dry land. She was told there was mud at the bottom of the water, but needed something flat to put the mud on for the birthing. A turtle volunteered. All the creatures participated in diving for the mud. Once accomplished, the great collaboration to create the planet we know today was finished and twins were born. They were different from one another — one left-handed and one right-handed — but they also balanced one another out.

“Have we forgotten anything?” the twins asked the animals. “Do you think we need human beings?” Some animals expressed concern about humans being a problem, but the twins said everyone would get along fine, so the right-handed twin created women and the left-handed twin created men. The woman, the twins and all the animals looked around at the world they had created and said, “This is as good as it gets. This is one beautiful world.”

The Biblical and Indigenous creation stories are quite different. “The elements in Genesis create a particular universe governed by a series of hierarchies — God, man, animals, plants—that celebrate law, order and good government, while in our Native story, the universe is governed by a series of co-operations that celebrate equality and balance.” In the Indigenous story, the world is at peace without concern about the ascendancy of good over evil.

“What if the creation story in Genesis had featured a flawed deity who was understanding and sympathetic rather than autocratic and rigid? Someone who, in the process of creation, found herself lost from time to time and in need of advice? What if the animals had decided on their own names?” King writes.

via The Indigenous Worldview Is Our Only Hope for Survival, by Four Arrows | Rise Up Times

https://youtu.be/Cneu7aZ2ul4

via (5) Phony Food on the Rise: Learn How to Spot Counterfeit Food – YouTube

Too much smartphone and too much social media not good for one’s mindset and self image…same as trying to live you life ‘out of a TV set’ (no substitute for real contact and conversations)

“Overall, our results showed that, while real-world social networks were positively associated with overall well-being, the use of Facebook was negatively associated with overall well-being,” the researchers wrote in a Harvard Business Review article. “These results were particularly strong for mental health; most measures of Facebook use in one year predicted a decrease in mental health in a later year.” Yikes.

In addition to negative self-comparison, the researchers note, increased use of Facebook and other social media tends to take up a lot of people’s time and can create an illusion of closeness. To the extent that time spent on Facebook takes you away from real-world social gatherings, you lose the benefit of being in a community, the researchers say. The same is likely true if you’re at a gathering in body, but your eyes and mind are locked on your smartphone, checking out your friends’ latest posts.

So what should you do? I’m not going to tell you to stop using Facebook. You wouldn’t listen to me anyway, and with so many people the world over using the network, it’s impossible to just ignore it. But limit your use to no more than the hour or so each day that the average Facebook user spends on the site. And try to put down your phone more often, look up at the people around you, and join the conversation that’s happening in the real world.

via Too much smartphone and too much social media not good for one’s mindset and self image…same as trying to live you life ‘out of a TV set’ (no substitute for real contact and conversations) | © blogfactory

https://youtu.be/PwLJOxXGOww

via (5) Health Risks of 5G Technology: Dr. Devra Davis – YouTube

https://youtu.be/CK0AliMe-KA

via (5) Dr. Sharon Goldberg Testifies at Michigan’s 5G Small Cell Tower Legislation Hearing October 4, 2018 – YouTube

https://youtu.be/vZ5soLrvXFg

via (5) BIG WIRELESS CONCEDES: No studies showing safety of 5G – 7th Feb 2019 – YouTube

Is A Global Crash Just Around The Corner? Central Banks Are Cutting At The Fastest Rate Since The Financial Crisis – Activist Post

And so, while helping us understand what has been the fuel for the market’s recent blow-off top meltup, the Fed’s emergency intervention does beg the question: is there something amiss more than just the repo market, and is Powell telegraphing that a far more serious crisis may be looming?

It’s not just Powell, however. It’s everyone.
As Bank of America’s Michael Hartnett notes in his latest Flows and Liquidity weekly, global monetary policy has flipped from Quantitative Tightening (net 42 hikes & $650bn liquidity removed in 2018) to aggressive Quantitative Easing (net 53 cuts) and represents that fastest pace of central bank cuts since the financial crisis.

via Is A Global Crash Just Around The Corner? Central Banks Are Cutting At The Fastest Rate Since The Financial Crisis – Activist Post

Bernie Sanders Defines Democratic Socialism, Says When The 99% Stand Up Against the 1% We Can Transform Society | Video | RealClearPolitics

While President Trump and his fellow oligarchs attack us for our support of democratic socialism, they don’t really oppose all forms of socialism,” Sanders plans to say in the speech, according to CNN. “They may hate democratic socialism because it benefits working people, but they absolutely love corporate socialism that enriches Trump and other billionaires.”

“We must recognize that in the 21st century, in the wealthiest country in the history of the world, economic rights are human rights,” the speech continues, according to CNN. “This is what I mean by democratic socialism.”

via Bernie Sanders Defines Democratic Socialism, Says When The 99% Stand Up Against the 1% We Can Transform Society | Video | RealClearPolitics

Trump’s Defense Can’t Save Him – The Atlantic

Speaking with George Stephanopoulos on ABC this weekend, Representative Matt Gaetz—one of President Donald Trump’s most relentlessly enthusiastic congressional supporters—had an unexpected suggestion for how the president should proceed in the impeachment inquiry. Mick Mulvaney, the director of the Office of Management and Budget and acting White House chief of staff, should testify before Congress, Gaetz argued—along with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and perhaps even the president’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani. All three men have so far refused to cooperate with House requests for information. But, said Gaetz, “I think it would inure to the president’s advantage to have people testify who could exculpate him.”

via Trump’s Defense Can’t Save Him – The Atlantic