The John James Newsletter 157
21 January 2017
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron
Dwight Eisenhower
The Obama Administration has prosecuted more whistle-blowers than any presidency in American history, and has viciously victimized those who sought to expose this program
George Gallanis
In our country, the lie has become not just a moral category but a pillar of the State
Alexander Solzhenitsyn
They Released 14 Wolves In A Park. But No One Was Prepared for what Happens Next
It was a miracle. It proves we must take care of our amazing planet. Though small in number, the wolves transformed not only the ecosystem of the Yellowstone National Park, but its physical geography, just by being themselves.
Methane will drive sea level rise for centuries
Even if humans stopped emitting greenhouse gases into the atmosphere tomorrow, the expansion effect would continue in the oceans for centuries, making it irreversible in our lifetimes.
More Than 600 Companies Urge Trump Not To Renege On Climate
“We, the undersigned members in the business community of the US, re-affirm our deep commitment to addressing climate change through the implementation of the Paris Agreement. We want the US economy to be energy efficient and powered by low-carbon energy. Cost-effective and innovative solutions can help us achieve these objectives.”
Top climate experts give their advice to Donald Trump
Reversing action on climate change and championing fossil fuels will only “make China great again”.
The Human World Has Never Experienced A Time When Global Sea Ice Was So Reduced
The crucial issue of sea ice has tended to continue despite a jaw-dropping plunge in both the coverage and volume of a substance so crucial to maintaining a stable global climate
Obama Expands NSA Spying
Raw data previously investigated by the NSA will be thrown open to 16 other agencies, with entire personal information of millions of people exposed to and combed through by the CIA, FBI, and other agencies. Perhaps most significant, under the new rules, any incriminating information of American citizens will be sent to the Justice Department, setting forth a wave of possible new accusations and investigations. Snowden revealed the existence of the massive surveillance program known as PRISM, which collected the e-mails, phone calls, text and video chats from Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Yahoo, Apple and other tech giants of both foreigners and Americans.
http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/01/14/obama-expands-nsa-spying/
Obama transfers $500m to Green Climate Fund in attempt to protect Paris deal
This leaves $2bn owing, with Donald Trump expected to cease any further payments
John Pilger: “Obama served the Power he was meant to serve”
“Obama has been one of the most violent presidents. He initiated a worldwide terrorist campaign with Hellfire missiles from drones at weddings and funerals…in some of the poorest countries in the world.”
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/46255.htm
Is this what we want in Australia? It is wanted by our banks….
Modi’s Man-Made Calamity: How Many Will Die?
India’s demonetisation is a man made calamity for rural India. This is a slow moving tsunami. How many tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands, or millions of people in India are going to die from hunger, starvation, malnutrition and disease as a result of Modi’s demonetisation?
http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/01/15/modis-man-made-calamity-how-many-will-die/
Ecuador’s poverty rate was reduced to 35% in December 2015 from 51% in December 2009.
The reduction of both urban and rural poverty has been one of the major objectives of the Correa administration and the Citizens Revolution that was initiated 10 years ago on Jan. 15, 2007. The country is working to eliminate extreme poverty completely, having already successfully done so in the capital region.
Why are most people right handed? The answer may be in the mouths of our ancestors
It’s believed that handedness played an important role in human evolution, with a recent study on the earliest evidence of right-handedness in the fossil record shedding light on when and why this trait arose. Interestingly, the clues were found not in our ancient hands, but in our teeth.
The World Health Organization’s ranking of the world’s health systems
This is surprising
http://www.photius.com/rankings/healthranks.html
Eight richest people as wealthy as poorest half of the world
Oxfam emphasized the potential connection between the growing gap between the richest and the poorest, and the increasing anger at establishment politicians. “It is obscene for so much wealth to be held in the hands of so few when 1 in 10 survive on less than $2 a day,”
https://www.rt.com/news/373786-wealth-gap-oxfam-report/
The Great American Bubble Machine
From tech stocks to high gas prices, Goldman Sachs has engineered every major market manipulation since the Great Depression — and they’re about to do it again. The bank is a huge, highly sophisticated engine for converting the useful, deployed wealth of society into the least useful substance on Earth — pure profit for the rich.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-great-american-bubble-machine-20100405
EVs are Coming — Global Sales Likely to Exceed 1 Million During 2017
During 2015, as EV ranges extended, as charging networks expanded, as countries like China and India began to incentivize electric vehicles in an effort to fight choking air pollution, and as high value vehicles like Tesla’s model X became available, global EV sales jumped to over 500,000. This momentum continued during 2016 despite plummeting gas prices. Map of Tesla’s ever-expanding charging network includes both super-chargers and more conventional charging stations.
The insights of the Large Hadron Collider are being made open to everyone
Ambitious plan to make all its research in particle physics available to everyone inspired by the way scientists came together to make discoveries at the LHC. This initiative is called the Sponsoring Consortium for Open Access in Particle Physics Publishing, and is now about to enter its fourth year. It’s a worldwide collaboration of more than 3,000 libraries (including six in Australia), key funding agencies and research centres in 44 countries, together with three IGOs.
Nepalese Women: Symbols of Historical Achievements and Political Leadership
Nepal is unique among nations today with its three top public offices occupied by women.
Could you lose your home if rates rise?
Australian research has found one in five Aussies are walking such a fine line on their mortgage they could lose their home if mortgage rates were to rise by just 0.5 percentage points.
http://m.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11784564
Investors are bracing for a massive stock-market selloff
f options traders are correct, stocks are in for a wild ride in February. Demand for one-month call options tied to the CBOE Volatility Index, a popular gauge of stock-market volatility, has spiked in the past week, a sign that some are bracing for a sharp downturn following the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/investors-are-bracing-for-a-massive-stock-market-selloff-2017-01-13
90% of rural Australians say their lives are already affected by climate change
The majority of people – 59% in capital cities and 53% in regional areas – said solar was their preferred energy source, followed by wind and hydro.
Australian renewables investment bucks global trend to grow 49% in 2016
Figures released this month reveal that total clean energy investment reached $4.29 billion in 2016, up from two weak years, but still below the $5 billion-plus milestone reached between 2010 and 2013.
http://reneweconomy.com.au/australian-renewables-investment-bucks-global-trend-grow-49-2016/
Military Spending in the US on wars past, present and future
Every 25 minutes you give the military a dollar. All day, every day and during the night. A family of five donates a dollar every 5 minutes. This is a year’s rent for many, money could have been yours to make a better life for you and your kids.
https://www.nationalpriorities.org/campaigns/military-spending-united-states/
