Children of Shame – Norway’s Dark Secret | Culture| Arts, music and lifestyle reporting from Germany | DW |

“Lebensborn” was a special Aryan breeding Programm established in 1935, the brainchild of Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS. He wanted to breed what he considered racially “superior children”.

Himmler regarded the Norwegians with their blue eyes and blond hair as especially aryan and pure.

The aim of the programme was to entrust leadership of Norway to these “Aryans” after the war, or to have them and their mothers move to Germany to bring more Nordic blood into the German Reich.

Incentives for bearing Aryan children

Every pregnant Norwegian woman who could prove her child’s Aryan ancestry was entitled to financial support or a privileged treatment in maternity homes. They could also leave their children in special homes called “Lebensborn”, where the children received special nutrition and an education which reflected the Nazi way of thinking.

The program was also set up in other German occupied countries such as Belgium, France and Luxembourg. Altogether, Himmler established more than 20 Lebensborn institutions.

via Children of Shame – Norway’s Dark Secret | Culture| Arts, music and lifestyle reporting from Germany | DW | 02.12.2001

Millions Could Lose Insurance in Flood, Fire Areas | Climate Denial Crock of the Week

Other natural disasters such as wildfires, flash floods and hail have become increasingly costly for the industry, even though they were traditionally seen as lesser risks and classed by some insurers as “secondary perils.”

From 2010 to 2018, average insured losses from secondary perils were almost double those from primary perils such as earthquakes and hurricanes, a Reuters analysis of Swiss Re data showed.

Fires on the West Coast, record flooding in the Midwest and the ferocious hurricanes battering the Southeast will all contribute to a significant decrease in home insurance availability. Not only is that bad news for people who are worried about being able to rebuild after a disaster—for many, it’s a threat to their ability to remain homeowners at all.
“If you’re super wealthy, you can self-insure,” Keenan said. “For others, they will no doubt be forced into an eventual foreclosure because they’re defaulting on their mortgages.”

Most lenders require a mortgage holder to insure their home in order to maintain the mortgage. If the insurance company in their area decides their neighborhood is too risky to insure, then they will lose coverage and likely default on their mortgage. If the mortgage is already paid, it may be extremely difficult to sell a house that can’t be insured.

via Millions Could Lose Insurance in Flood, Fire Areas | Climate Denial Crock of the Week

Yemeni Killer Blow to House of Saud

After last weekend’s spectacular air strike on the main oil processing plant in Saudi Arabia – northeast of the capital Riyadh, some 1,000 kms from Yemen – the Houthi military leadership is warning that more deeply-penetrating aerial attacks are on the way. The Yemeni rebels have demonstrated that nowhere in Saudi Arabia is safe.

Saudi air defenses and their multi-billion-dollar US Patriot anti-missile systems have been rendered useless against an-ever increasing arsenal of more sophisticated unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) operated out of Yemen. UN experts reckon that the Houthis’ UAV-X drone has a range of up to 1,500 kms, which means that all of the Saudi oil infrastructure located in the Eastern Province near the Persian Gulf is a viable target.

Last weekend’s air strikes carried out with 10 drones, according to the Houthis, caused Saudi oil output to shut down by nearly half. The main target – the Abqaiq refinery – processes some 70 per cent of all Saudi crude destined for export. It is not clear when the processing plant can be restored to normal function. It may take weeks or even months. But if the Yemeni rebels can inflict that extent of damage in one air raid, it is not hard to foresee how the Saudi oil-dependent economy could conceivably be brought to a crippling standstill.

via Yemeni Killer Blow to House of Saud – Astute News

U.S., Canada have lost 3 billion birds since 1970. Scientists say ‘nature is unraveling.’

For a study published Sep. 19 in the journal Science, Marra joined with other scientists and conservationists to analyze nearly five decades of population data on 529 species of North American birds. The results were staggering: Since 1970, the continental U.S. and Canada have lost more than 1 in 4 birds. The total bird population in the two countries has fallen by almost 3 billion, with grassland birds such as western meadowlarks and American sparrows and shorebirds such as green herons taking the biggest hits.

via NBC U.S., Canada have lost 3 billion birds since 1970. Scientists say ‘nature is unraveling.’

Whistleblower Complaint Explodes As It Involves Multiple Acts By Trump

Separately, a person familiar with the whistle-blower’s complaint said it involves in part a commitment that Mr. Trump made in a communication with another world leader. The Washington Post first reported the nature of that discussion. But no single communication was at the root of the complaint, another person familiar with it said.

The White House is trying to bury this complaint because it appears to be even worse than first reported. The complaint isn’t about one phone call and promise, but multiple potential betrayals of the country by this president. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff is trying to get the information that he is legally entitled to, but the White House is stonewalling and obstructing in the hope that they can force Democrats to go court and run out the clock before the 2020 election.

via politicususa Whistleblower Complaint Explodes As It Involves Multiple Acts By Trump

https://youtu.be/oLoqQUpJcC4

via Chris Busby, Ditta Rietuma and the Radioactive Baltic Sea – YouTube

Collins cast deciding vote to let Trump take money from military families for his wall

Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) claims she is opposed to Trump stealing money from the military to build a wall, but she doesn’t vote that way.

At Senate Appropriations Committee meeting Thursday, Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) voted against an amendment to stop Donald Trump from raiding funds meant for the military and military families across the world in order to fund his border wall.

In a statement after the vote, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), an author of the amendment, lamented that Trump “has continually disregarded this Congress and subverted our Constitution for a failed campaign promise he said that Mexico would pay for.”

“I’m disappointed that my colleagues refused to take a stand today for the Constitution, the Congress or their constituents,” Leahy added.

via shareblue Collins cast deciding vote to let Trump take money from military families for his wall

Removing the Profit From Our Pills: The Case for a Public Pharma System | Common Dreams Views

Any American who has paid the price of a patent-protected medicine knows the core flaw in the U.S. prescription drug system: our elected leaders have handed over control to profit-hungry corporations. And for-profit corporations gonna for-profit, as the kids would say. That is especially true when the corporations are gifted with long-term monopolies on life-essential medicines, which gives them the leverage to set take-it-or-leave it prices that net billions in revenue extracted from all of us.

It doesn’t have to be this way. That is the message of an exciting new report, Medicine for All: The Case for a Public Option in the Pharmaceutical Industry, by Dana Brown, director of the Next System Project of the organization Democracy Collaborative. “We can displace corporate power over our health and lives by moving toward a democratic, publicly-owned pharmaceutical sector, designed to respond to public health needs and deliver better health outcomes at lower costs,” Brown writes.

Brown’s argument builds on our long legacy of ensuring that vital safety and health services are entrusted to institutions that are publicly accountable and publicly funded. For generations, we have been protected by  policing and firefighting services that are public, not for-profit corporations that turn away residents in danger when they cannot fork over cash-on-demand. We make sure our primary and secondary schools, our critical infrastructure, and our court and election systems are accessible to all, without the price barriers that for-profit corporations naturally create. We should do the same with essential medicines.

via Removing the Profit From Our Pills: The Case for a Public Pharma System | Common Dreams Views

‘What Corporate Impunity Looks Like’: Court Acquits Tepco Executives for Role in Fukushima Nuclear Disaster | Common Dreams News

Prosecutors said Tsunehisa Katsumata, Sakae Muto, and Ichiro Takekuro knew of the severe risk posed to the facility by a tsunami as early as 2008 but refused to act.

“The executives were charged with contributing to the deaths of 44 people who had been living in a hospital and nursing home near the plant and died during the hasty evacuation or soon after,” the Wall Street Journal reported.

Yuichi Kaido, lawyer and anti-nuclear activist, told the New York Times that the executives “themselves had done the calculations” on the risk of a tsunami “and hid them for three years.”

“The only way to see this is the court has issued an unfair verdict,” Kaido said following the acquittal.

via ‘What Corporate Impunity Looks Like’: Court Acquits Tepco Executives for Role in Fukushima Nuclear Disaster | Common Dreams News

Paul McCartney Takes Aim At Donald Trump: ‘We’ve Got A Mad Captain Sailing This Boat’ | HuffPost

“So I just wanted to make a song that would basically say, you know, occasionally, we’ve got a mad captain sailing this boat we’re all on and he is just going to take us to the iceberg,” he added.

Asked if the “mad captain” was “anyone in particular,” McCartney responded:

“Well I mean, obviously it’s Trump but I don’t get too involved because there’s plenty of them about. He’s not the only one.”

via Paul McCartney Takes Aim At Donald Trump: ‘We’ve Got A Mad Captain Sailing This Boat’ | HuffPost

The Alarming Case of the Missing Insects – Repeating Islands

Their findings were alarming: Compared with the 1970s, the surveys from 2011 to 2013 turned up 98 percent less insect biomass in ground traps, 83 percent less in sweep nets, and 65 percent less in canopy traps. The scientists also found close to 60 percent less anoles, a diverse family of lizards that eat insects.

via The Alarming Case of the Missing Insects – Repeating Islands

The debate is about the cause(s), not the actual numbers of insects in the rain forests of Puerto Rico. There are documented drops of insect numbers that are very similar all around the world, so this is not an isolated incident, nor are the long term drops in numbers due to hurricanes.

NRA doubled Facebook ad spending after El Paso and Dayton shootings – Business Insider

The National Rifle Association doubled its Facebook ad spending after the mass shootings in El Pass, Texas and Dayton, Ohio last month, the Intercept reported.
Only a day after the shooting in El Paso, which killed 22 people, and in Dayton, killing 10, the NRA ramped up its spending to spread its pro-gun messaging.
For a three-week period stretching from August 4 to August 25, the NRA spent $360,000 on Facebook, or around $16,500 per day, according to the Intercept.
It peaked at $29,000 on August 29, and the ads were viewed tens of millions of times.

via NRA doubled Facebook ad spending after El Paso and Dayton shootings – Business Insider

The ongoing crisis at detention centers on the southern U.S. border is costing American taxpayers more than $4.5 million per day.

Health and Human Services (HHS) told Yahoo Finance that of the 13,000 children in its care, 2,594 are staying at the two influx shelters at Homestead, Florida, and Carrizo Springs, Texas. About $2 million is spent each day for those nearly 2,600 children staying at those two facilities. Taxpayers are spending $2.7 million to house the remaining 10,406 children at permanent HHS facilities, bringing the total to roughly $4.7 million.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Inspector General (IG) released a blistering report on Tuesday, slamming the Department for substandard conditions where detained children didn’t have access to showers, changes of clothes, or hot meals.

Legally, unaccompanied children and children with a parent or legal guardian are to be taken care of by the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). HHS says it has 13,000 children its agency’s care. Children are kept in one of two types of facilities: temporary (emergency influx shelters) and permanent. According to HHS, while it costs $256 a day to house children at permanent HHS facilities, the figure balloons at temporary shelters to $775 a night.

via finance.yahoo Keeping children in ‘cages’ costs American taxpayers more than $4.5 million daily

Joni Ernst Got $3.1 Million In NRA Money, Made Gun Laws More Dangerous – Iowa Starting Line

Iowa Senator Joni Ernst is a national darling of the NRA’s effort to eliminate any and all meaningful gun safety laws that might keep children like those at Parkland, Florida from getting blown to pieces on a regular school day. Ernst received over $3.1 million in financial support from the NRA, the seventh-most of any senator, according to an analysis of campaign spending last October. Money from the gun rights organization poured into Iowa to help her get past the finish line in her race for Senate against Bruce Braley in 2014.

The NRA got what they paid for with Ernst, who then voted last February to stop a new rule that would have kept the mentally ill from obtaining guns through the background check system. Ernst voted in favor of House Joint Resolution 40, which sought to overturn a recent decision for the National Instant Criminal History Background Check System that would have kept people who considerable mental health issues from obtaining weapons. Both the House and Senate passed the resolution, and President Donald Trump signed it in February 2017.

via Joni Ernst Got $3.1 Million In NRA Money, Made Gun Laws More Dangerous – Iowa Starting Line

Trump’s New National Security Adviser Is…Mohammed Bin Salman? | Vanity Fair

With John Bolton handed his walking papers, the title of White House national security adviser technically belongs to Charles Kupperman, who is holding down the fort until Donald Trump finds a new whipping boy. But at the moment, it’s not exactly clear whose hand is guiding Trump’s when it comes to foreign policy, particularly following a series of drone strikes on Saudi Arabian oil facilities, which the Trump administration has blamed on Iran. According to his Twitter account, Trump is waiting on the Saudis to tell him what to do. “Saudi Arabia oil supply was attacked,” the president tweeted on Sunday evening. “There is reason to believe that we know the culprit, are locked and loaded depending on verification, but are waiting to hear from the Kingdom as to who they believe was the cause of this attack, and under what terms we would proceed!”

Bolton is surely going out of his mind, watching his old boss outsource the powers of the presidency to Mohammed bin Salman

via Trump’s New National Security Adviser Is…Mohammed Bin Salman? | Vanity Fair

On Monday, the Trump White House appeared to compare the recent drone strikes on Saudi Arabian oil facilities, which did not result in any reported fatalities, to the 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon that left nearly 3,000 dead. After Donald Trump stirred outrage over the weekend for suggesting that he was awaiting marching orders from Mohammed bin Salman, the administration phoned Congress to brief lawmakers on the matter. During the call, Brian Hook, the administration’s special representative for Iran, reportedly told Capitol Hill staffers that Saudi Arabia—the country that produced the vast majority of terrorists who attacked the United States on 9/11—views said drone strike as “their 9/11.”

via White House Describes Saudi Oil Attack as “Their 9/11” | Vanity Fair

Christian prophet: ‘Patriots’ will drag dead Democrats through the streets if Trump doesn’t carry out ‘mass arrests’ by January – DeadState

If Trump doesn’t carry out mass arrests of high-profile Democratic politicians by this coming January, “patriots” will rise up and get the job done, according to Christian “prophet” and whack job conspiracy theorist Mark Taylor.

During an appearance on Sheila Zilinsky’s podcast this Tuesday, Taylor recounted a conversation he had with God last year, where he was told that if President Trump doesn’t carry out mass arrests of high-level Democratic politicians by this January, there will be blood in the streets.

“What the Lord has shown me is that if they wait too long, it could be another Mogadishu or another Benghazi where the patriots will rise up and say, ‘Enough is enough,’ and they will take matters into their own hands and they will drag their dead bodies through the streets,” Taylor said, adding that these patriots (presumably Trump supporters) will literally hunt down Democrats and drag them out of their “houses or offices.”

“The people are not asking for justice, they are demanding it, so the government has to act,” Taylor said.

via Christian prophet: ‘Patriots’ will drag dead Democrats through the streets if Trump doesn’t carry out ‘mass arrests’ by January – DeadState

Got false prophets?

Got FASCISM?

This is exactly what Hitler did to take ABSOLUTE POWER, as a FASCIST LEADER OF NAZI GERMANY

Former RNC Chairman: Christian ‘phonies’ sold out for ‘thirty pieces of silver’ under Trump – DeadState

Michael Steele is the former chairman of the Republican National Committee. In a new book by journalist Tim Alberta, he called the evangelical Christians who support Trump “the biggest phonies of all.”

In the new book, “American Carnage: On the Front Lines of the Republican Civil War and the Rise of President Trump,” he says:

“These evangelical [leaders] are the biggest phonies of all. These are the people who spent the last forty years telling everyone how to live, who to love, what to think about morality. And then this motherf—er comes along defiling the White House and disrespecting God’s children at every turn, but it’s cool, because he gave them two Supreme Court justices. They got their thirty pieces of silver.”

via Former RNC Chairman: Christian ‘phonies’ sold out for ‘thirty pieces of silver’ under Trump – DeadState

Note to Media: Having A Penis Thrust In Your Face Is Not Harmless Fun and Jesus What Is Wrong With You People | Common Dreams Further

The latest verification that blackout drunk frat boy and Supreme Court Justice Lying Beer Bong is a serial sexual predator – revealed in this weekend’s New York Times story of a boozed-up, pants-down Kavanaugh at a dorm party shoving his dick into the hand of a female student, just like he did with Deborah Ramirez – is dismally unsurprising. So is the news he repeatedly lied to Congress during his confirmation hearings, fuming and whining he never went to parties or oh my goodness attempted rape at any of those accursed parties ’cause as God was his witness he was way too busy with church and family and working hard and okay maybe having a few brewskis, when it was grotesquely clear here was a lying, loser, privileged putz with “a sociopathic streak you could see from the moon.” Likewise less than shocking, though deeply disturbing, is more proof that the thugs in the GOP-run, so-called Justice Department intent on greasing the way for one of their own worked overtime to cover up his multiple abuses, with a bullshit whitewash of an FBI “investigation” that inexplicably declined to talk to any of the reported several dozen people, and at least one Senator, willing and even pleading to corroborate the story. Less expected, however, is the unholy mess the Times made of the story.

via Note to Media: Having A Penis Thrust In Your Face Is Not Harmless Fun and Jesus What Is Wrong With You People | Common Dreams Further

Disputing Trump Claims, Japan Says No Evidence Iran Was Behind Saudi Attack | Common Dreams News

Japanese Defense Minister Taro Kono told reporters Wednesday that he has not seen any intelligence indicating Iran was behind the attacks on Saudi Arabian oil facilities over the weekend, contradicting Saudi and Trump administration claims about the incident.

“We are not aware of any information that points to Iran,” Kono said during a press briefing. “We believe the Houthis carried out the attack based on the statement claiming responsibility.”

The only evidence the Trump administration has released to substantiate its claim of Iranian responsibility are satellite photos that experts said are not clear enough to assign blame. Ret. Gen. Mark Hertling, a CNN intelligence analyst, said the images “really don’t show anything, other than pretty good accuracy on the strike of the oil tanks.”

via Disputing Trump Claims, Japan Says No Evidence Iran Was Behind Saudi Attack | Common Dreams News

9 Oldest Trees in Africa, Some Over 2,000-Years-Old, Now Dead | Ancient Origins

Nine of 13 of Africa’s oldest and largest baobab trees  have died in the past decade, it has been reported. These trees, aged between 1,100 and 2,500 years, appear to be victims of climate change. Scientists speculate that warming temperatures have either killed the trees directly or have made them weaker and more susceptible to drought, diseases, fire or wind.

Old baobabs are not the only trees which are affected by climatic changes. Ponderosa pine and Pinyon forests in the American West are dying  at an increasing rate  as the summers get warmer in the region. In Hawaii the famous Ohi’a trees are also dying  at faster rates  than previously recorded.

via 9 Oldest Trees in Africa, Some Over 2,000-Years-Old, Now Dead | Ancient Origins

Risking food safety, USDA plans to let slaughterhouses self-police | TheHill

Over a century ago, Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle” exposed unsafe and unsanitary conditions in our nation’s slaughterhouses. Sinclair singled out breakneck line speeds as a key source of misery, noting “The main thing the men wanted was to put a stop to the habit of speeding up, they were trying their best to force a lessening of the pace, for there were some, they said, who could not keep up with it, whom it was killing.”

Sinclair’s stomach-churning account led Congress to create a new agency in charge of food safety in slaughterhouses. Among the reforms implemented were rules to slow down line speeds, so that government inspectors could ensure that diseased or feces-covered meat and poultry did not end up on consumers’ plates. Now, if the Trump administration gets its way, pork slaughterhouses will be allowed to drastically increase their line speeds, with potentially disastrous results for workers and consumers.

A new rule, finalized today, would reduce the number of government food safety inspectors in pork plants by 40 percent, and remove most of the remaining inspectors from production lines. In their place, a smaller number of company employees – who are not required to receive any training – would conduct the “sorting” tasks that USDA previously referred to as “inspection.” The rule would also allow companies to design their own microbiological testing programs to measure food safety, rather than requiring companies to meet the same standard.

via Risking food safety, USDA plans to let slaughterhouses self-police | TheHill

Trump Has Figured Out How to Corrupt the Entire Government

Finally, the New York Times supplied more details on the ongoing scandal of Trump profiting from his office. During the presidential campaign, Trump waved away concerns about the unprecedented conflicts of interest that would arise from him running a business at the same time he wields enormous power. Republicans in Congress have evinced no concern whatsoever about Trump’s corruption, refusing to take even modest steps like compelling the release of his tax returns.

Increasingly, Republicans are dispensing with the fig leaf and flaunting their complicity. Putting money in Trump’s pocket by booking his properties has become a symbol of partisan solidarity. It is a signal of support both to the president and to fellow Republicans or business clients that you are on the ins with the boss. “President Trump has really been on the side of the Evangelicals and we want to do everything we can to make him successful,” one Evangelical leader tells the Times. “And if that means having dinner or staying in his hotel, we are going to do so.” Aggressive lack of curiosity has given way to open boasting of the quid pro quo arrangement.

None of these stories by itself has the singular drama of a Teapot Dome or a Watergate. Indeed, the mere fact that there is so much corruption prevents any single episode from capturing the imagination of the media and the public. But it is the totality of dynamic that matters. A corrupt miasma has slowly enveloped Washington. For generations, both parties generally upheld an assumption that the government would abide rules and norms dividing its proper functioning from the president’s personal and political interests.

via nymag Trump Has Figured Out How to Corrupt the Entire Government

How conservative American money helped the religious right take over Israel – Israel Election 2019 – Haaretz.com

The religious right is successfully dominating Israel’s public discourse – with the help of funding and tactics used in the U.S. The left needs to pay heed if it wants to fight back

via How conservative American money helped the religious right take over Israel – Israel Election 2019 – Haaretz.com

Pregnant, Starving Orangutan Clings to Tree as Bulldozers Destroy Home

Palm oil is a vegetable oil that is extracted from the fruits and seeds of the oil palm—also known as the African palm—and is a common additive on supermarket shelves across the globe.

Oil extracted from the fruit of the palm is not only used in foods like instant noodles, yogurt, ice cream, and wine, but is also used in biofuel and a range of household products including laundry detergents, shampoo and cosmetic goods like lipstick.

Roughly 66 million tons of palm oil are produced each year, driving a trend that has seen forests burned and land robbed to make room for plantations, contributing greatly to global deforestation and the displacement of not only rural human populations, but local animal species endemic to the region.

via Pregnant, Starving Orangutan Clings to Tree as Bulldozers Destroy Home

Trump Personal Driver Noel Cintron Sues For Unpaid Labor – Bloomberg

Donald Trump’s personal driver for more than 25 years says the billionaire real estate developer didn’t pay him overtime and raised his salary only twice in 15 years, clawing back the second raise by cutting off his health benefits.

Noel Cintron, who is listed in public records as a registered Republican, sued the Trump Organization for about 3,300 hours of overtime that he says he worked in the past six years. He’s not allowed to sue for overtime prior to that due to the statute of limitations.

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via Trump Personal Driver Noel Cintron Sues For Unpaid Labor – Bloomberg

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin is the 3rd Trump administration member linked to Jeffrey Epstein or his circle

Brunel reportedly disappeared from public view after Epstein’s suicide in August.

The Beast said Mnuchin was listed on the official documents as a “state point of contact” for Brunel’s Next Management Corporation, a company he formed in 1988 with his brother.

A state point of contact is responsible for liaising between a company and the New York Department of State, filing legal documents and receiving lawsuits and other legal information on a company’s behalf.

via yahoo Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin is the 3rd Trump administration member linked to Jeffrey Epstein or his circle

Under Trump, Health Insurance With Less Coverage Floods Market – Bloomberg

Surrano saw insurers behaving badly long before Obamacare, but he credits the Trump administration with the abuses being perpetrated today. “Creating an exception to the requirements of Obamacare is what gave rise to this kind of stuff,” he says. “This is what you get—you get people like Mrs. Diaz and her family.”

Similar stories aren’t hard to find. Complaints to the Federal Trade Commission obtained by Businessweek via the Freedom of Information Act detail numerous cases of HIIQ customers buying medical insurance they believed was comprehensive, then having their claims rejected or barely paid out. “I feel me really dumb,” wrote one person who’d found out her ADHD medication wasn’t covered. Another customer said she was reminded of the John Grisham novel The Rainmaker, in which an insurance company has a policy of rejecting every claim. Trudy Slawson, a 65-year-old in Great Falls, Mont., who bought an HIIQ-administered plan in 2016, thought she had comprehensive coverage until getting a surprise bill for $60,000 after her husband’s emergency gallbladder removal. The insurer paid only $100. “I believed what they were telling me,” she says.

via Under Trump, Health Insurance With Less Coverage Floods Market – Bloomberg

The biggest con job in history and the biggest wealth transfer ever… all going to the 1 percent like Trump and his friends.

Trump To Block California From Setting Its Own Car Pollution Standards: Report | HuffPost

The move is the latest salvo in what some now call the Trump administration’s war on states’ rights, inverting a well-worn Republican talking point.

The conservative movement’s rhetoric on states’ rights took shape during the 1960s, when federalism became a euphemistic proxy for the fight over desegregation. But, particularly under Obama’s administration, Republicans seized on states’ rights to push back against efforts to regulate carbon dioxide emissions.

Yet for all the Trump administration’s talk of making states the “laboratories of democracy once again,” the EPA is putting aggressive curbs on states’ power to enact stricter pollution rules.

via Trump To Block California From Setting Its Own Car Pollution Standards: Report | HuffPost

Trump’s NLRB Just Made It Easier For Employers To Alter Contracts Without Asking Unions First

The Trump Administration, via the NLRB, has once again sided on the side of employers at the cost of unions and their members.

Specifically, the test for whether an employer can unilaterally alter the provisions of a contract has become much easier for employers. Gone is the old “clear and unmistakable waiver” test. Replacing it is the “contract coverage” standard.

The NLRB has issued the following statement explaining the new development:

“In a decision issued today, the National Labor Relations Board adopted the “contract coverage” standard for determining whether a unionized employer’s unilateral change in a term or condition of employment violates the National Labor Relations Act. In doing so, the Board abandoned the ‘clear and unmistakable waiver’ standard, which has been rejected by several federal courts of appeals, notably including the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which has plenary jurisdiction to review Board rulings. The decision is M.V. Transportation, Inc. (28-CA-173726; 368 NLRB No. 66).

via Trump’s NLRB Just Made It Easier For Employers To Alter Contracts Without Asking Unions First

Fascism rising.. Trump led war on unions so that the billionaires can get even richer is ‘winning’. But Americans are LOSING.

Teamsters Join In Solidarity With UAW Strike, Refuse to Transport GM Vehicles

Fox Business reports:

“The Teamsters won’t be transporting General Motors vehicles during the United Auto Workers’ strike.

International Brotherhood of Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa said on Sunday that its members will stand in solidarity with the UAW and honor its picket lines as the union begins a strike against GM at midnight.

‘Teamsters and the UAW have a decades-long relationship of having each other’s back,’ Hoffa said.

via Teamsters Join In Solidarity With UAW Strike, Refuse to Transport GM Vehicles

GM, Which Made $8.1 Billion In Profit And Paid Its CEO $22 Million, Just Cancelled Health Benefits For 50,000 Workers

GM has abruptly cancelled health benefits for striking workers. And to make matters worse, the cancellation takes effect immediately.

ABC affiliate, WXYZ reports:

“General Motors is playing hardball with striking UAW members.

The company is pulling the plug on the healthcare coverage effective Tuesday, Sept. 17. That means the tab will have to be picked up by the union for workers to continue coverage. The same fund that pays workers $250 a week strike pay.

via GM, Which Made $8.1 Billion In Profit And Paid Its CEO $22 Million, Just Cancelled Health Benefits For 50,000 Workers

Part of the Trump led war on unions..

Impact of Yemeni Attack on Saudi ARAMCO Oil Facilities

PK: Of course, the Saudi military power is nothing without the full support and guidance, by weapons and technical and strategic advice directly from the Pentagon, CIA – and the European vassals, and – of course – from weapon manufacturers and weapon sales sharks, in the UK and in France.

The Saudis from day one – in October 2015 – were just launching a proxy war for the US against Yemen – Yemen has a key strategic location in the Gulf and Middle East, and also off-shore deep hydrocarbon deposits – and god forbid, may not be ruled by a people-friendly – a socialist leaning government. For the last 50-some years Yemen was ruled by a US puppet, or puppets – which was OK for the US, but once people get tired of injustice and corruption, they decided to dispose their nefarious regime and replace it with the popular Houthi movement.

When the Saudis agreed in the early 1970’s as head of OPEC and on behalf of OPEC, to sell crude only in US-dollars, the US Administration offered them in turn – “forever” military protection, in the form of multiple military bases in the Saudi territories. Without this protection, the Saudis would not have survived as long as they did with their horrendous discriminatory and corrupt government and, of course, without that protection, OPEC may not have stuck to the “dollar-only” rule to trade hydrocarbons. – We might be in another world today – but, we really don’t know how dynamics might have worked out.

via Impact of Yemeni Attack on Saudi ARAMCO Oil Facilities – Counter Information

US Rejects “Resolution” in All Its War Theaters

US direct or proxy war on Iraq raged on and off intermittently since Jimmy Carter launched the Iran/Iraq war in September 1980 — nearly four decades of horrors inflicted on long-suffering Iraqis, continuing today.

US forces occupied the country in early 2003 with no intention of leaving, Iraqi puppet rule permitting it.

The same is true for Afghanistan, permanent occupation planned. Longstanding US policy aims to install pro-Western puppet rule in Iran, wanting control of Libya maintained the same way.

Transforming swords into plowshares is off the table in parts of the world where US wars rage — peace and stability considered anathema notions, equity and justice disdained the same way.

via US Rejects “Resolution” in All Its War Theaters – Counter Information

Never ending wars is what fascist dictator led nations do.. not democracies.

“Drone Attack” on Saudi Oil – Who Benefits?

The war in Yemen was a result of US-backed regime change operations aimed at Yemen – along with Tunisia, Algeria, Libya, Syria, and Egypt – starting in 2011.

Major hostilities began when the client regime installed by the US was ousted from power in 2015. Since then, the US and its Saudi allies have brutalized and ravaged Yemen triggering one of the worst humanitarian crises of the 21st century.

The UN’s own news service in an article titled, “Humanitarian crisis in Yemen remains the worst in the world, warns UN,” would admit:

An estimated 24 million people – close to 80 per cent of the population – need assistance and protection in Yemen, the UN warned on Thursday. With famine threatening hundreds of thousands of lives, humanitarian aid is increasingly becoming the only lifeline for millions across the country.

The cause of this catastrophe is the deliberate blockading of Yemen.

via “Drone Attack” on Saudi Oil – Who Benefits? – Astute News

‘You’re not going to stonewall me!’: Democrats press Lewandowski at fiery Hill hearing

“You’re not going to stonewall me and my questioning!” Rep. David Cicilline, D-R.I., told Lewandowski. Cicilline later suggested that lawmakers hold the former Trump aide in contempt of Congress. As the section of the hearing featuring member questions drew to a close, Nadler made the same threat, telling Lewandowski that his behavior Tuesday was “unacceptable.”

Nadler himself said as the hearing began that the White House’s effort to stop or limit former staff from speaking fully before Congress amounted to a “shocking and dangerous assertion of executive privilege and absolute immunity.”

“The White House is advancing a new dangerous theory of crony privilege. It makes absolute immunity look good by comparison. Where are the limits?” he asked at the hearing. “This is a cover-up, plain and simple.”

via NBC ‘You’re not going to stonewall me!’: Democrats press Lewandowski at fiery Hill hearing

Warning Signs – ALEXANDRA STEIN Ph.D. Understanding Cults and Extremist Groups

8 Criteria for Totalism
From Robert Jay Lifton’s (1961) Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism

1.  Milieu control. Control of environment, communication and information, isolating the person from outside world and from his or her own inner dialog. May include sleep, diet, schedule, living situation, etc.
2.  Mystical Manipulation. Deception is justified for the ‘higher purpose’ of the group. Certain experiences appear spontaneous to awe the recruit or cult member.
3. Demand For Purity. The world is viewed as black and white (us vs. them) and group members are constantly pushed to strive for perfection. Guilt and shame become powerful control devices.
4. The Cult Of Confession. Real or imagined ‘sins’ are to be confessed to the group.  Boundaries of personal privacy are confused.
5. The Sacred Science. The group’s doctrine (total ideology) is seen as the ‘Ultimate Truth’. No questions of this ‘Truth’ (and therefore, the group and leader) are allowed. Inhibits individual thought, imagination, creativity.
6. Loading The Language. Use of  jargon internal to – and only  understandable by – the group. Constricting the language constricts people’s capacity for independent thinking.
7. Doctrine Over Person. One’s personal experience is subordinated to the ‘Truth’ of the group. Contrary experiences are shoe-horned to fit the needs of the doctrine. The person’s sense of integrity is lost.
8. Dispensing Of Existence. The group determines who has the right to exist and who doesn’t. Us vs. Them. Non-believers are considered ‘evil’ or non-people.

via alexandrastein Warning Signs – ALEXANDRA STEIN Ph.D. Understanding Cults and Extremist Groups

There is a danger in any group or business or religion that focuses only on positivity, joy, peace or happiness, while excluding everything else. There is a danger in a top down organization using positivity as their only focus.

Sociopaths and psychopaths are just as likely to be attracted and rise to the top of these organizations as they are the mob, political groups or religious institutions. Another danger with top down organizations of any kind is that the few people at the top are subject to the corruption that wealth and power brings with them.

Top Down Hierarchical Power Structures corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely, even inside of organizations dedicated to peace, joy and happiness. Absolute power within any organization including positivity focused ones, can quickly devolve into sexual slavery, financial corruption, fraud, threats, intimidation, a mob like atmosphere, and worse.

Just about all rigid, hierarchical organizations with just one or several people ruling at the top have a Master/Slave relationship with their followers. Secrecy adds to the dangers of a cult developing, while transparency and leaders held accountable count.

Just because people involved are good looking, charming, positive, joyful, rich, powerful and/or famous, does not make it something other than a cult. Just because the goal of the group leader or followers is enlightenment, does not make it anything other than a cult.

via NXIVM Cult, Jness, Society of Protectors, DOS or “Dominus Obsequious Sororium, Rainbow Cultural Garden Cult – Keith Raniere (co-founder, leader) Nancy Salzman (co-founder, president) – Illustrates The Danger Of Positivity Belief Systems, Denial That Darkness Exists, Ignore Warnings | A Green Road Journal

In her new memoir, Scarred, Vancouver actress Sarah Edmondson tells the story of her time in the now infamous “sex slave cult” Nxivm. The group, which fronted as a personal development program, made headlines last year after the FBI arrested founder Keith Raniere and several well-known actresses, including Allison Mack and Kristen Kreuk, were exposed as current or former members. Raniere was found guilty of seven charges, including sex-trafficking, in June.
It was an outcome Edmondson never would have predicted when she signed on to take some courses in the early aughts. Over her decade plus with Nxivm, she rose to star recruiter, founder of the cult’s first and only Canadian chapter in Vancouver, and ultimately, to whistleblower. Here, she tells Refinery29 how cults hide the crazy and the pitch that brought in more than 2,000 new members.

via efinery29 Nxivm Former Member Sarah Edmondson: How She Recruited

6 Of The Last 8 U.S. Recessions Were Preceded By Oil Price Spikes – Damage To Saudi Oil Industry Could Take “Months” To Repair

One analyst quoted by Oilprice.com believes that we could soon see it hit $80 a barrel, and others believe that it could move up toward $100 a barrel not too long from now.

In the days ahead, global markets will be watching Saudi Arabia very carefully.  The longer it takes them to resume normal production levels, the higher the price of oil will go.

According to Bloomberg, one analyst is already publicly admitting that “full resumption could be weeks or even months away”…

All eyes are on how fast the kingdom can recover from the devastating strike, which knocked out roughly 5% of global supply and triggered a record surge in oil prices. Initially, it was said that significant volumes of crude could begin to flow again within days. While Aramco is still assessing the state of the plant and the scope of repairs, it currently believes less than half of the plant’s capacity can be restored quickly, said people familiar with the matter, asking not to be identified because the information isn’t public.

via theeconomiccollapseblog 6 Of The Last 8 U.S. Recessions Were Preceded By Oil Price Spikes – Damage To Saudi Oil Industry Could Take “Months” To Repair

Billionaire’s son is hooker-loving drug addict who threatened shrink

But at a closed-court hearing on Monday, Jay Schottenstein — the Columbus-based retail magnate and chairman of DSW and American Eagle Outfitters — was spotted by The Post entering the courtroom.

“Doe is every parent’s worst nightmare,” reads the Manhattan federal lawsuit filed by Conti against the 34-year-old John Doe.

“Clinically, he suffers from Narcissistic Personality Disorder, including Borderline and Antisocial traits. His condition manifests itself in a variety of ways, including an addiction to Xanax, frequent cocaine use (often with prostitutes), thefts of money from his parents, multi-million-dollar gambling losses, as well as violent, abusive and threatening behavior.”

Conti said the family brought their son in to see him in 2016, as he was spiraling out of control and becoming increasingly erratic and destructive.

via nypost Billionaire’s son is hooker-loving drug addict who threatened shrink

Be happy you are not a billionaire. Their problems are much larger than the problems that the 99 percent have.

Why would Israel spy on Donald Trump?

“The devices were likely intended to spy on President Donald Trump, one of the former officials said, as well as his top aides and closest associates – though it’s not clear whether the Israeli efforts were successful,” according to Politico.

What gives the Politico report added weight is that US officials were already suspicious of regular Israeli spying. For one thing, the Israelis often seemed to have detailed knowledge of internal and secret US deliberations.

“Sometimes it was sort of knowledge of our thinking,” an official said.

“Occasionally there were some turns of phrase like language that as far as we knew had only appeared in drafts of speeches and never been actually used publicly, and then some Israeli official would repeat it back to us and say, ‘This would be really problematic if you were to say X.’”

via Why would Israel spy on Donald Trump? – Counter Information

PressTV-Yemeni drones hit world’s largest refinery in Saudi Arabia

A spokesman for Saudi Arabia’s interior ministry said in a statement that the attacks targeted two Aramco factories in Abqaiq and Khurais.

The statement did not identify the source of the attacks, but Yemen’s Houthi movement later claimed responsibility in an announcement on Al Masirah TV.

The movement’s military spokesman General Yahya Sare’e said 10 drones were deployed against the sites in Abqaiq and Khurais, and pledged to widen the range of attacks on Saudi Arabia

via PressTV-Yemeni drones hit world’s largest refinery in Saudi Arabia

Yemen is hitting back at the dark oil underbelly of Saudi Arabia. If the oil money can be cut off, Saudis will be brought to their knees fairly quickly. This is an escalation from the one drone attacks of the past.

What happens when this escalates again, and more facilities like this are targeted, cutting off ALL oil from Saudi Arabia, instead of just 50 percent?

Trinity Esoterics | Daily Message ~ Sunday September 15, 2019

Asking, “What are the energies supporting for me today?” and then honouring whatever that may be with your complete faith and trust is exactly how you become masterful at harnessing the full power and assistance of the flow. ~Archangel Gabriel through Shelley Young

via Trinity Esoterics | Daily Message ~ Sunday September 15, 2019

Trinity Esoterics | Daily Message ~ Monday September 16, 2019

The embodiment process you have been participating in, which is simply a process of coming Home to yourself and embracing your authentic power, was just the first step. Now the real fun can begin as you start to explore and create in the new energies. ~Archangel Gabriel through Shelley Young

via Trinity Esoterics | Daily Message ~ Monday September 16, 2019

Sign the petition: Homeless people need stable housing and resources, not federal camps

As always, the cruelty is the point. Trump’s effort to “crack down” on homelessness is about invisibilizing people he deems to be a burden—and punishing Democratic policymakers in states with large homeless populations because of their “liberal policies.”

In order to make actual change, we must listen to what housing advocates have been saying for decades: affordable, stable housing is the solution to homelessness. The administration’s policies to cut food stamps, erode health care, and terrorize marginalized communities are just making it worse.

People experiencing homelessness need resources, but Trump’s plan doesn’t cut it. We need real solutions.

Sign the petition to the Departments of Housing and Urban Development, Health and Human Services, and Veterans Affairs: Homeless people need stable housing and resources, not federal camps.

via Daily Kos Sign the petition: Homeless people need stable housing and resources, not federal camps

60 Percent Of Americans Believe A Recession Is Coming – But Consumers Continue To Pile Up Debt At A Frightening Pace

Many Americans claim they simply don’t earn enough money to build any type of savings account or amass any meaningful financial assets. Now, a troubling study out of Oregon State University finds some definite statistical truth to these sentiments, concluding that over 63% of American children and 55% of Americans live in “asset poverty.”

In other words, most Americans are living right on the edge financially, and that is a very dangerous place to be.  If you are not familiar with the term “asset poverty”, the following is a pretty good definition…

Asset poverty means having few or no financial assets to fall back on in the event of a financial calamity, such as losing one’s job or encountering a medical crisis. Some examples of common financial assets are vehicles, houses, savings accounts, and investments. Without these assets, weathering a financial crisis is extremely difficult.

When you really don’t have any real wealth of your own, you are essentially living paycheck to paycheck, and a single major setback can be absolutely disastrous.

via theeconomiccollapseblog 60 Percent Of Americans Believe A Recession Is Coming – But Consumers Continue To Pile Up Debt At A Frightening Pace