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The John James Newsletter 64

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John James

2:06 PM (3 minutes ago)

The John James Newsletter 64
13 June 2015 – Provence


The ugly truth is out there, but you have to want to know it Sheldon Richman

Global Apollo programme seeks to make clean energy cheaper than coalSir David King calls for £15bn a year R&D spending on clean energy to make it cheaper than coal, in emulation of the space race. Making electricity 100% renewable by 2050 would require affordable energy storage, both on the domestic and national scale, with better batteries, heat storage in water, soil or molten salt, compressed air, flywheels and hydrogen. Sir David Attenborough said: “The exciting thing about the Apollo report is that it is positive – at last someone is saying we can do things.”http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jun/02/apollo-programme-for-clean-energy-needed-to-tackle-climate-change
Snowden: balance of power has shifted as we “turn away from reaction and fear towards resilience and reason”Bulk data collection programmes had been declared illegal and disavowed by the US Congress. “After the White House found that this program had not stopped a single terrorist attack, even the president who once defended its propriety has now ordered it terminated.”http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jun/05/snowden-balance-power-shifted-people-defy-government-surveillance-nsa?CMP=ema_565
From Multi-Year Drought To Flash Flooding: ‘Weather Whiplash’ ExplainedExtreme weather is becoming longer and stronger because of changes in our atmosphere that cause weather patterns to get “stuck.”http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/06/02/3664087/weather-whiplash/ and a deeper analysis of where it is heading in “The coming Age of Storms”https://robertscribbler.wordpress.com/
Is it any wonder that the Arctic is melting so fast?Watch the beguiling movement of C02 – click here and go to the second picturehttp://www.designntrend.com/articles/26311/20141119/swirls-of-carbon-dioxide-dictate-severity-of-greenhouse-gas-emissions.htm

Britain’s Student Union Votes to Boycott Israel over violations of Palestinian human rights. The motion explicitly aligns the union with the Palestinian-instigated Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions [BDS] campaign. The NUC is the UK’s umbrella student organisation for some 600 higher education institutions representing seven million students. http://www.timesofisrael.com/britains-student-union-votes-to-boycott-israel/ Australasia’s largest specialist college to divest £1.2m from fossil fuels http://www.theguardian.com/environment/keep-it-in-the-ground-blog/2015/jun/05/australasias-largest-specialist-college-to-divest-12m-from-fossil-fuels?CMP=EMCENVEML1631
Fossil fuels warm the planet for an instant, but the C02 continues to warm the planet for decades The warming induced by CO2 over its lifetime in the atmosphere would exceed the warming from direct combustion by 100,000.  http://www.reportingclimatescience.com/news-stories/article/study-claims-greenhouse-gas-warming-felt-in-months.html C02 half-life possibly less than 30 years. See fascinating discussion inhttp://euanmearns.com/the-half-life-of-co2-in-earths-atmosphere-part-1/
Hollywood still grapples with nuclear falloutThe US turned swathes of desert radioactive during the cold war and denied it. The mystery still haunts Hollywood and rural Mormon communities. By the time John Wayne succumbed to stomach cancer in 1979, of 220 cast and crew, 91 had contracted cancer,http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jun/06/downwinders-nuclear-fallout-hollywood-john-wayne?CMP=ema_565
US Officials Consider Nuclear Strikes against Russia“The options go so far as one implied—but not stated explicitly—that would improve the ability of US nuclear weapons to destroy military targets on Russian territory.” In other words, the US is actively preparing nuclear war against Russia.http://www.globalresearch.ca/us-officials-consider-nuclear-strikes-against-russia/5453655 Sleepwalking to Another Mideast DisasterDenied crucial information about Syria, the American people are being led toward the precipice of another Middle East war, guided by neocons and liberal hawks who are set on “regime change” even if that means a likely victory for Sunni terrorists,https://consortiumnews.com/2015/06/04/sleepwalking-to-another-mideast-disaster/ andhttp://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article42043.htm 
8.2 Million Iraqis In Need of Emergency Humanitarian AssistanceAll segments of Iraqi society – Yezidi, Christian, Shabak, Turkmen, Shia, Sunni and Kurd – have been affected by the violence. http://worldpress.org/link.cfm?http://www.ipsnews.net/2015/06/8-2-million-iraqis-in-need-of-emergency-humanitarian-assistance/

Varoufakis: Greece’s creditors have turned negotiations into a warIt is not true that they made concessions and we made concessions and that there is a deadlock. They made no concessions. When we met the first time in February they came up with pretty much what they have now offered. Then we had months of negotiations in the so-called Brussels group. http://www.euractiv.com/sections/euro-finance/varoufakis-greeces-creditors-have-turned-negotiations-war-315247 Greece is playing to lose the debt crisis poker gameGreece has shown its best cards too early and may have missed opportunity to end destructive austerity imposed by Germanyhttp://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/feb/09/greece-is-playing-to-lose-the-debt-crisis-poker-game
The Vatican talks Climate Change: The Pontifical Academy of Sciences Climate  change  from  unsustainable  consumption  by  15%  of  the population has become the dominant moral issue for society.http://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/2068632/climate-change-and-the-common-good.pdf andhttp://www.climatecodered.org/2015/06/winning-carbon-war-vatican-talks.html
Obama Sidelines Kerry On Ukraine PolicyKerry was reaffirming the position of Merkel and Hollande, the key shapers of the Minsk II agreement; and Nuland was nullifying them. Obama now has sided with Nuland on this; it’s a slap in the face to the EU: Poroshenko can continue ignoring Kerry and can blatantly ignore the Minsk II agreement; and Obama tacitly sides with Poroshenko and Nuland, against Kerryhttp://www.countercurrents.org/zuesse070615.htm
Sea-level rises has accelerated to 4.4mm a year from earlier average of 3.2mm. http://www.smh.com.au/environment/weather/sea-levels-in-retreat-a-sure-sign-el-nios-grip-is-tightening-20150603-ghdwix

US politicians call for release of secret 9/11 reportWhite House urged to release 28-pages of classified information alleging Saudi officials helped finance attacks.http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/06/politicians-call-release-secret-911-report-150603035342175.html
WikiLeaks releases 17 secret TISA documentsThis agreement would hamstring governments and citizens by focussing on services. Like both TTIP and TPP, one of the central aims of TISA is to remove “barriers” to trade in services. It  ensures that services are deregulated and opened up to private companies around the world, and that once privatised, they cannot be re-nationalised.http://arstechnica.co.uk/tech-policy/2015/06/wikileaks-releases-secret-tisa-docs-the-more-evil-sibling-of-ttip-and-tpp/ andhttp://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/06/03/wikileaks-strikes-again-leaked-tisa-docs-expose-corporate-plan-reshaping-global
Some Israeli Leaders Do Tell The TruthStill today, 48 years on, few know the truth about how Israel set the stage for war in June 1967 to grab more Arab land. The single most decisive event that made war inevitable happened on Thursday 1 June, four days before Israel launched its attacks. What was it?http://www.countercurrents.org/hart030615.htm
On the e-waste trailAn investigation into the toxic trail of illegal e-waste that is ushered from the first to the third world. At the beginning of 2011, the number of containers had gone up to 500 a month. Now, the average is up to 600 a month, with a noticeable increase in the months just after Christmas when many consumers are discarding gadgets after having found new ones under the Christmas tree.http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/witness/2014/09/e-waste-trail-2014924132443417118.html
Compare Australia and China with the US prison populations China takes 7th place in the world in incarceration rate. Which of course makes you wonder, what the hell is going on in America? Are we just a society of misfits, rabble-rousers, and outright criminals? Or, is it something else?http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article42064.htm

to John

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The John James Newsletter 63

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John James

12:52 PM (16 minutes ago)

The John James Newsletter 63
6 June 2015 – Provence


The destruction of the natural world is a consequence of the evolutionary success of an exceptionally rapacious primate. Throughout all of history and prehistory, human advance has coincided with ecological devastationJohn Gray, STRAW DOGS

Alert: Arctic methane levels skyrocketing

Over the past few months, reporting stations around the Arctic have shown a ramping rate of atmospheric methane accumulation. The curves in the graphs are steepening, hinting at a growing release of methane from a warming Arctic environment.

http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/

Ground level measurements of methane have been spiking upwards over the last few years. 

The implications to the breakdown of climate stability, causing jet stream fracturing and weather regime change that will rapidly worsen as Arctic temperature amplification continues, leading our planet to a much warmer and unrecognizable climate over the next 5 to 10 years.

http://arctic-news.blogspot.fr/2015/05/arctic-methane-skyrocketing.html

The tipping point for the Arctic sea ice has already passed. 

“Governments must get a grip on a situation which IPCC has ignored.  A strategy of mitigation is doomed to fail as we can’t adapt to the worst consequences of global warming, as IPCC suggests. The Arctic must be cooled to prevent the sea ice disappearing with disastrous global consequences. Rapid warming in the Arctic has already disrupted the jet stream.  The resulting escalation in weather extremes is causing a food crisis in Asia and Africa”.

http://www.ameg.me/

Six facts you need to know about the Arctic methane timebomb

1. Current Arctic methane levels are unprecedented
2. The tipping point for continuous Siberian permafrost thaw could be as low as 1.5C
3. A 50 Gigatonne decadal methane pulse is possible, say Met Office scientists
4. Arctic methane hydrates are becoming increasingly unstable from climate change
5. Arctic conditions during the Eemian interglacial (130,000 to 115,000bp) are a terrible analogy for today’s Arctic
6. Paleoclimate records will not necessarily capture a large, abrupt methane pulse

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/earth-insight/2013/aug/05/7-facts-need-to-know-arctic-methane-time-bomb

“We are looking at a catastrophic effect on global climate consequent on this extremely fast sea ice retreat”

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-23432769

Scorched earth: at the epicentre of the Queensland drought, a family sells the last of their cattle 

You live on borrowed money. You live like a miser. And you wait for rain, if not this summer or the next. You wait for the grass to grow again, so you can buy back the bones of a new herd. Then you hope that in two years’ time you will have something to take to market and income will be a part of your life again. But this drought is now unprecedented in scale – affecting a record 80% of the state.

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/may/27/scorched-earth-at-the-epicentre-of-the-queensland-drought-a-family-sells-the-last-of-its-cattle?CMP=ema_632

How to Keep Your Data Away From the NSA

Intercept reporter Glenn Greenwald offers advice on how to make it harder for the NSA to collect private data.

http://www.truthdig.com/avbooth/item/video_glenn_greenwald_personally_wouldnt_trust_data_facebook_20150521

US Congress passes surveillance reform in vindication for Edward Snowden

This is the most important surveillance reform bill since 1978, and its passage is an indication that Americans are no longer willing to give the intelligence agencies a blank check.

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jun/02/congress-surveillance-reform-edward-snowden?CMP=ema_632

Australia is ‘one of most aggressive’ in mass surveillance

Journalist who first reported on Edward Snowden revelations for the Guardian says Australia is ‘probably the country that has gotten away with things the most’

http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/jun/05/glenn-greenwald-says-australia-is-one-of-most-aggressive-in-mass-surveillance?CMP=ema_632

War is inevitable 

The Global Times, an influential nationalist tabloid owned by the ruling Communist Party’s official newspaper the People’s Daily, said in an editorial that China was determined to finish its construction work, calling it the country’s “most important bottom line.”

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/492710/news/world/china-state-paper-warns-of-war-over-south-china-sea-unless-us-backs-down

Cuban Life Expectancy Among the Highest in World at 78.45 Years :

Life expectancy for women was slightly higher at 80.45 years, with the life span for men at 76.50 years. Cuba is in the top 25 countries in the world for life expectancy, which is considered an important indicator of human development and quality of healthcare.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Cuban-Life-Expectancy-Among-the-Highest-in-World-at-78.45-Years-20150526-0011.html

List of countries by life expectancy:

The life expectancy is shown separately for males and females, as well as a combined figure.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_life_expectancy

Ageing population: Asia braces for grey future

ASIA is undergoing one of the most profound demographic shifts the world has ever seen. By the middle of this century, the number of people aged over 65 is expected to rise from 300 million to around 1 billion.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/Ageing-population-Asia-braces-for-grey-future-30261267.html

Is There A Multibillion Dollar Conspiracy To Make Sure we Stay Overweight?

One of the primary reasons why most of us are overweight is due to how our food is made.  Our diet is highly processed and it is packed with obesity-causing ingredients such as sugar and high fructose corn syrup.  And some of the additives are highly addictive and make you want to eat more – some are about as addictive as “opiates“, “heroin” and “cocaine“.

http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/america-the-obese-is-there-a-multibillion-dollar-conspiracy-to-make-sure-americans-stay-overweight

Consumption and Consumerism

A solid report on this key issue including  children as consumers; sugar; beef; bananas; pineapples.

http://www.globalissues.org/issue/235/consumption-and-consumerism

Solar grid parity?

The basic question is whether, when, and where solar might reasonably be expected to improve enough to reach general grid parity— depending on better efficiency and lower cost. Why do the media claim parity has been achieved?

http://judithcurry.com/2015/05/31/solar-grid-parity/#more-18938

Economy and Hockey on a Slippery Slope

Economist, Professor Bill Mitchel, is convinced we are heading for a recession. “Now that we have more data, the reality is starting to look like recession if the Government does not radically alter its fiscal settings from austerity to stimulus.”

http://theaimn.com/economy-and-hockey-on-a-slippery-slope/

Isaac Newton Figured Out How Trees Work 200 Years Before the Botanists

http://www.businessinsider.com/isaac-newtons-explanation-of-how-trees-defy-gravity-2015-2

Syria: A Country Divided

Weakened by years of war, Assad’s government now controls only a sliver of Syrian territory.

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/interactive/2015/05/syria-country-divided-150529144229467.html

 

UN General Assembly Demands Israel Mothball its Nuclear Arsenal

Tel Aviv’s stockpile of nuclear bombs has been a deeply destabilizing factor in the Middle East. it is not too much to conclude that Israel’s nuclear weapons are indirectly what mired the US in a fruitless 8-year war in the Middle East.

http://www.juancole.com/2014/12/general-assembly-mothball.html

What if US & UN Sanctioned Israel over its Nukes as they did Iran over Enrichment?

It was Israel’s bomb that, in part, impelled Iraq’s nuclear weapons program of the 1980s in turn convinced some in Iran that Iran needed at least a nuclear break-out capacity if two of its enemies were going to have bombs.

http://www.juancole.com/2015/04/sanctioned-israel-nukes.html

Israel’s Alliance with al-Qaeda

Almost unnoticed by the mainstream media, Israel’s occupation forces in the Golan Heights have been in alliance with the Nusra Front, al-Qaeda’s official franchise in Syria.

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/articles/inquiry/18855-why-is-the-media-ignoring-israels-alliance-with-al-qaeda

Rare Earth Elements and their Uses

This chart clearly shows the US entry in the mid-1960s when colour television exploded the demand. When China began selling rare earths at very low prices in the late-1980s, mines in the US cut production. When China cut exports in 2010, rare earth prices skyrocketed. That motivated new production elsewhere.

http://geology.com/articles/rare-earth-elements/

Modeling Lindzen’s adaptive infrared iris

In 2001 Prof. Richard Lindzen and colleagues published a controversial  paper “Does the Earth have an Adaptive Infrared Iris?” If there were a tropical adaptive infrared iris, then Earth’s sensitivity to GHGs would be much less than the IPCC had supposed.

http://judithcurry.com/2015/05/26/modeling-lindzens-adaptive-infrared-iris/#respond

Processes that may change the balance in favour of dry and clear regions in warmer climates have been proposed to constitute a possible negative feedback not represented by climate models.

http://judithcurry.com/2015/05/26/observational-support-for-lindzens-iris-hypothesis/#more-18748

Hungary Destroys All Monsanto GMO Corn Fields

Unlike many European Union countries, Hungary is a nation where genetically modified (GM) seeds are banned. In a similar stance against GM ingredients, Peru has also passed a 10 year ban on GM foods.

http://www.globalresearch.ca/hungary-destroys-all-monsanto-gmo-corn-fields/5342913

A Prehistory of Violence

Climate change was the commonest cause of mass extinction in prehistory. Mass extinction is caused by three impacts, occurring simultaneously: global warming, the acidification of the oceans and the loss of oxygen from seawater. All caused by large amounts of C02 entering the atmosphere.

http://www.monbiot.com/2015/05/27/a-prehistory-of-violence/

France to force big supermarkets to give unsold food to charities 

French supermarkets will be banned from throwing away or destroying unsold food and must donate it to charities or for animal feed.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/22/france-to-force-big-supermarkets-to-give-away-unsold-food-to-charity

Tombs Filled with Dozens of Mummies Discovered in Peru

Archaeologists have excavated seven tombs containing at least 171 mummies. “Before rigor mortis set in, the mummies had their knees put up to the level of their shoulders and their arms folded along their chest”. The corpses were then bound with rope and wrapped in layers of textiles.

http://www.livescience.com/50415-dozens-of-mummies-discovered-in-peru.html

SE Asia: Home to Ethnic Cleansing, Slavery, and Hazardous Work

Until his resignation from the House of Representatives of the Republic of the Philippines two months ago owing to differences with the Aquino administration, Telesur columnist Walden Bello chaired the House Committee on Overseas Workers’ Affairs.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/opinion/SE-Asia–Home-to-Ethnic-Cleansing-Slavery-and-Hazardous-Work-20150528-0052.html

Finnegans Wake becomes a hit book in China

Following billboard ads, James Joyce’s nigh-incomprehensible book leaps over language barrier to reach surprising readership.

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/feb/05/finnegans-wake-china-james-joyce-hit?CMP=ema_565

to John