The level of atmospheric carbon dioxide we observe today is the minimum level we’ll see for at least the next 1000 years Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,

Global warming has passed a “tipping point” and that habitat loss associated with the warming of the planet will condemn the human species to extinction within 20 years

Guy McPherson

Today the tyrant rules not by club or fist, but disguised as a market analyst who shepherds his flocks in the ways that suit him

Marshall McLuhan

Free enterprise is a system of public subsidy and private profit, with government intervention to maintain a welfare state for the rich 

Noam Chomsky

You do not have to be apolitical pundit to realise that the new axis of evil – the US, Israel and Saudi Arabia – are preparing joint military actions against Iran and Hezbollah

Dan Lieberman

The orchestrated hostility toward Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea protects the $1,000 billion annual budget of the military/security complex 

Paul Roberts

The most dire turn out to be the most accurate

The most extreme estimates of the effects of global warming are likelier than more optimistic predictions. With the current level of greenhouse gas emissions remaining steady, researchers say, there is a 93% chance that the planet will be more than 4C warmer. Earlier estimates held that there was only a 62% chance of this level of warming.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/12/07/most-dire-climate-change-predictions-warns-new-study-are-also-most-accurate

An Open Secret: Washington was Behind India’s Brutal Experiment Of Abolishing Cash

Without warning, the Indian government declared the two largest denomination bills invalid, abolishing over 80% of circulating cash. Amidst all the commotion and outrage this caused, nobody seems to have taken note of the decisive role that Washington played in this.

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/12/08/a-well-kept-open-secret-washington-is-behind-indias-brutal-experiment-of-abolishing-most-cash/

Private military companies: Moscow’s other army in Syria

The weakness of Syrian security forces, combined with Russia’s need to downsize its overtasked military in Syria, has left security gaps in the fragile country. Filling these gaps with PMCs is a plausibly deniable, economically feasible, politically viable, sustainable and flexible option for Moscow.

https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2017/11/turkey-russia-private-army-in-syria.html

Why the Democrats Will Run Michele Obama in 2020

Michelle already knows the drill,  that’s what makes her the perfect candidate. She knows the president is a meaningless figurehead. She knows the whole thing is a charade. She knows that the rich will get richer while working people get stomped on. And now its her turn to shine, her turn to take center-stage and lead the conferences, and meet the foreign dignitaries, and spar with the press, and hold meetings in the Rose Garden, and languish in the big leather chair in the Oval Office. Michelle’s day is coming, and the party leaders are already licking their chops.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/48324.htm

Chickens are helping the elderly tackle loneliness

A scheme to introduce hen keeping to the elderly is turning out to have a miraculous effect on their wellbeing by reducing isolation and depression  The idea came in early 2012, when a man at a dementia care centre nearby kept telling staff he missed his ‘girls’.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/11198410/Chickens-helping-the-elderly-tackle-loneliness.html

Power of community – The Blackheath Alliance

In an era that is being defined by adversarial politics and short term thinking, the Blackheath community is demonstrating another approach –and one that’s proving to be extraordinarily effective. By working collaboratively, with the long game in mind, they’re proving that their strategy is clearly worth emulating.

http://thebigfix.org/291-local-government/blue-mountains/blue-mountains-towns/blackheath/407-the-blackheath-alliance

Climate change starts to take its toll on housing market

“Disaster on the horizon: The price effect of sea level rise” – the conclusion is that homes exposed to sea level rise sell at a 7%t discount relative to observable equivalent unexposed properties equidistant from the beach. This discount has grown over time.

http://reneweconomy.com.au/climate-change-starts-take-toll-housing-market-46485/

Killing the Biosphere to Fast-track Human Extinction

The sixth mass extinction event in Earth’s history is now accelerating at an unprecedented rate with 200 species of plants, birds, animals, fish, amphibians, insects and reptiles being driven to extinction DAILY. For a taste of the vast literature on this subject.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/48334.htm

Did American Missile Defense Fail in Saudi Arabia?

It’s hugely significant that the Saudis fired five times at the incoming missile and missed. An analysis suggests the missile’s warhead flew unimpeded over Saudi defenses and nearly hit Riyadh’s airport. The warhead detonated so close to the domestic terminal that customers jumped out of their seats. The Iranian-backed Houthis, once a ragtag group of rebels, have grown powerful enough to strike major targets. And they underscore longstanding doubts about missile defense technology, a centrepiece of American strategies.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/12/04/world/middleeast/saudi-missile-defense.html?smid=tw-share

The disappointing truth about US plans to shoot down North Korean nuclear weapons

The premise is simple: Once the US detects a missile launch with a variety of radar systems, it will shoot its own interceptor into the sky. After the enemy warhead separates from its rocket booster, a defensive interceptor, or “kill vehicle,” separates from its own booster and attempts to crash into the warhead. Executing this manoeuvre during a roughly twenty minute window against a warhead moving faster than the speed of sound is extremely difficult – the Saudi experience suggests far less than 1 in 4.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/48345.htm

 

151 UN states vote to disavow Israeli annexation of Jerusalem 

The resolution stated that “any actions taken by Israel, the occupying Power, to impose its laws, jurisdiction and administration on the Holy City of Jerusalem are illegal and therefore null and void and have no validity whatsoever.”

http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/UN-disavows-Israeli-ties-to-Jerusalem-515730

Global supertanker to fight Wildfires

https://futurism.com/videos/specialized-airplane-fights-wildfires-from-skies/

The secret world of Australian energy contract prices

We know that the cost of solar is plunging across the world. The publicly released results of solar auctions in Asia, the Middle East, Europe and north and Latin America tell us this. The wholesale market – worth $16 billion – is almost completely opaque. Regulators and private analysts can barely make head or tail out of the retail market. It is a perfect cover for the big utilities to profit from ignorance and confusion.

http://reneweconomy.com.au/the-secret-world-of-australias-solar-and-energy-contract-prices-46139/

Energy regulator smashes illusion of “cheap” coal power in NSW

Last summer the state very nearly lost its grip on supply as two big coal units and the two biggest gas units failed in the heat wave – nearly causing the lights to go out were it not for the presence of vast quantities of solar, and some voluntary and not-so voluntary load shedding.

http://reneweconomy.com.au/energy-regulator-smashes-illusion-of-cheap-coal-power-in-nsw-83167/

States and cities sign up for electric vehicle fleets

To develop a plan to increase the share of EVs in their fleets and to consider how to use their combined market power to promote the public uptake of electric vehicles. They agreed to coordinate the strategic planning and construction of infrastructure for EVs and to seek to align states’ standards and incentives.

https://www.governmentnews.com.au/2017/12/states-cities-sign-electric-vehicle-fleets/

Genetic feedback and  Human  Population  Regulation

Population growth is a primary cause of ecological destruction and, if  left  unchecked, will threaten human survival.  It  has  been  demonstrated  that  genetic feedback  is  the  mechanism  by  which  species  achieve ecological balance. The analysis shows  the  applicability of this mechanism to human population regulation.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/225581823_Genetic_Feedback_and_Human_Population_Regulation

China’s growing footprint on the globe threatens to trample the natural world 

President Xi Linping promises that the Belt and Road initiative will be “green, low-carbon, circular and sustainable”, but such a claim is profoundly divorced from reality. China’s infrastructure tsunami will open a Pandora’s box of environmental crises, including large-scale deforestation, habitat fragmentation, wildlife poaching, water pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. China is the most aggressive consumer of minerals on the planet, and the biggest driver of tropical deforestation.

https://theconversation.com/chinas-growing-footprint-on-the-globe-threatens-to-trample-the-natural-world-88312

China Has Launched the World’s First All-Electric Cargo Ship

China is now the proud owner of the world’s first all-electric cargo ship and has already put the vehicle to use. The 2,000-metric-ton ship was launched in the city of Guangzhou last month and runs in the inland section of the Pearl River. It can travel 80 kilometres after being charged for 2 hours, which is roughly the time to unload the ship’s cargo.

https://futurism.com/china-launched-worlds-first-all-electric-cargo-ship/

Traffic fumes in city streets largely wipe out exercise benefits for the over-60s

The air pollution  on a high street in London removes any health protection produced by exercise outdoors. Pollution, in large part related to traffic emissions, has an immediate adverse effect on those with chronic diseases

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/dec/05/traffic-fumes-in-city-streets-largely-wipe-out-exercise-benefits-for-over-60s

America’s own climate refugees 

Trumps inadequate relief efforts after Hurricane Maria force Puerto Rico exodus

Maria downed trees, homes and power lines in a 12-hour rampage with winds of up to 247 kph. Much of Puerto Rico remains without power and 15% has no running water more than a month later. It is the longest blackout in US history, and the overall hurricane damage could range from $45 billion to $95 billion on an island already mired in an 11-year-long recession. No wonder they are emigrating.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2017/11/09/hurricane-maria-puerto-rico-debate/850820001/

Trump slashes national monuments in Utah: “I’m a real estate developer”

The gutting of the national monuments, unprecedented in more than a century, amounts to the initial stages of a land-grab by the oil, gas and mining industries.

http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2017/12/07/monu-d07.html

The Uzbekistan story

Putin said two years ago, the sanctions were the best thing that ever happened to Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union. They forced Russia to develop their agriculture again and bring her defunct industrial apparatus with science and research up to cutting edge technology, at par or above that of the west.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/48359.htm

World’s scientists turn to Asia and Australia to rewrite human history 

it appears that the long sought after answers to some of the central questions in human evolution studies may finally be answered here.

https://theconversation.com/worlds-scientists-turn-to-asia-and-australia-to-rewrite-human-history-88697

Meet The Israeli Paid Millions To Hack Our Phones

The Pegasus software suite uses similar techniques to the CIA for hacking an iPhone: Anything you can do on the phone, Pegasus can do on your phone. Turning on the camera and watching somebody in the room, turning on the microphone and listening to somebody. It can even do some things that you can’t, like put files on the phone and take files off, to manipulate data.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-12-05/meet-israeli-cyber-weapons-dealer-paid-millions-governments-hack-our-phones

The Art of Keeping Guantánamo Open

What the paintings by Its Prisoners Tell Us About Our Humanity and Theirs. The man whose painting I saw has been held for nearly 15 years without trial, without even having charges filed against him.

http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/176358/tomgram%3A_erin_thompson%2C_curating_guantanamo/

The exhibit “Ode to the Sea: Art from Guantánamo” is on display in New York City 

They paint the sea again and again although they cannot reach it.

https://www.artfromguantanamo.com/

The John James Newsletter 209

9 December 2017

The level of atmospheric carbon dioxide we observe today is the minimum level we’ll see for at least the next 1000 years 

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,

Global warming has passed a “tipping point” and that habitat loss associated with the warming of the planet will condemn the human species to extinction within 20 years

Guy McPherson

Today the tyrant rules not by club or fist, but disguised as a market analyst who shepherds his flocks in the ways that suit him

Marshall McLuhan

Free enterprise is a system of public subsidy and private profit, with government intervention to maintain a welfare state for the rich 

Noam Chomsky

You do not have to be apolitical pundit to realise that the new axis of evil – the US, Israel and Saudi Arabia – are preparing joint military actions against Iran and Hezbollah

Dan Lieberman

The orchestrated hostility toward Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea protects the $1,000 billion annual budget of the military/security complex 

Paul Roberts

The most dire turn out to be the most accurate

The most extreme estimates of the effects of global warming are likelier than more optimistic predictions. With the current level of greenhouse gas emissions remaining steady, researchers say, there is a 93% chance that the planet will be more than 4C warmer. Earlier estimates held that there was only a 62% chance of this level of warming.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/12/07/most-dire-climate-change-predictions-warns-new-study-are-also-most-accurate 

An Open Secret: Washington was Behind India’s Brutal Experiment Of Abolishing Cash

Without warning, the Indian government declared the two largest denomination bills invalid, abolishing over 80% of circulating cash. Amidst all the commotion and outrage this caused, nobody seems to have taken note of the decisive role that Washington played in this.

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/12/08/a-well-kept-open-secret-washington-is-behind-indias-brutal-experiment-of-abolishing-most-cash/

Private military companies: Moscow’s other army in Syria

The weakness of Syrian security forces, combined with Russia’s need to downsize its overtasked military in Syria, has left security gaps in the fragile country. Filling these gaps with PMCs is a plausibly deniable, economically feasible, politically viable, sustainable and flexible option for Moscow.

https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2017/11/turkey-russia-private-army-in-syria.html 

Why the Democrats Will Run Michele Obama in 2020

Michelle already knows the drill,  that’s what makes her the perfect candidate. She knows the president is a meaningless figurehead. She knows the whole thing is a charade. She knows that the rich will get richer while working people get stomped on. And now its her turn to shine, her turn to take center-stage and lead the conferences, and meet the foreign dignitaries, and spar with the press, and hold meetings in the Rose Garden, and languish in the big leather chair in the Oval Office. Michelle’s day is coming, and the party leaders are already licking their chops.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/48324.htm 

Chickens are helping the elderly tackle loneliness

A scheme to introduce hen keeping to the elderly is turning out to have a miraculous effect on their wellbeing by reducing isolation and depression  The idea came in early 2012, when a man at a dementia care centre nearby kept telling staff he missed his ‘girls’.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/11198410/Chickens-helping-the-elderly-tackle-loneliness.html

Power of community – The Blackheath Alliance

In an era that is being defined by adversarial politics and short term thinking, the Blackheath community is demonstrating another approach –and one that’s proving to be extraordinarily effective. By working collaboratively, with the long game in mind, they’re proving that their strategy is clearly worth emulating.

http://thebigfix.org/291-local-government/blue-mountains/blue-mountains-towns/blackheath/407-the-blackheath-alliance 

Climate change starts to take its toll on housing market

“Disaster on the horizon: The price effect of sea level rise” – the conclusion is that homes exposed to sea level rise sell at a 7%t discount relative to observable equivalent unexposed properties equidistant from the beach. This discount has grown over time.

http://reneweconomy.com.au/climate-change-starts-take-toll-housing-market-46485/ 

Killing the Biosphere to Fast-track Human Extinction

The sixth mass extinction event in Earth’s history is now accelerating at an unprecedented rate with 200 species of plants, birds, animals, fish, amphibians, insects and reptiles being driven to extinction DAILY. For a taste of the vast literature on this subject.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/48334.htm 

Did American Missile Defense Fail in Saudi Arabia?

It’s hugely significant that the Saudis fired five times at the incoming missile and missed. An analysis suggests the missile’s warhead flew unimpeded over Saudi defenses and nearly hit Riyadh’s airport. The warhead detonated so close to the domestic terminal that customers jumped out of their seats. The Iranian-backed Houthis, once a ragtag group of rebels, have grown powerful enough to strike major targets. And they underscore longstanding doubts about missile defense technology, a centrepiece of American strategies.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/12/04/world/middleeast/saudi-missile-defense.html?smid=tw-share 

The disappointing truth about US plans to shoot down North Korean nuclear weapons

The premise is simple: Once the US detects a missile launch with a variety of radar systems, it will shoot its own interceptor into the sky. After the enemy warhead separates from its rocket booster, a defensive interceptor, or “kill vehicle,” separates from its own booster and attempts to crash into the warhead. Executing this manoeuvre during a roughly twenty minute window against a warhead moving faster than the speed of sound is extremely difficult – the Saudi experience suggests far less than 1 in 4.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/48345.htm  

151 UN states vote to disavow Israeli annexation of Jerusalem 

The resolution stated that “any actions taken by Israel, the occupying Power, to impose its laws, jurisdiction and administration on the Holy City of Jerusalem are illegal and therefore null and void and have no validity whatsoever.”

http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/UN-disavows-Israeli-ties-to-Jerusalem-515730   

Global supertanker to fight Wildfires

https://futurism.com/videos/specialized-airplane-fights-wildfires-from-skies/ 

The secret world of Australian energy contract prices

We know that the cost of solar is plunging across the world. The publicly released results of solar auctions in Asia, the Middle East, Europe and north and Latin America tell us this. The wholesale market – worth $16 billion – is almost completely opaque. Regulators and private analysts can barely make head or tail out of the retail market. It is a perfect cover for the big utilities to profit from ignorance and confusion.

http://reneweconomy.com.au/the-secret-world-of-australias-solar-and-energy-contract-prices-46139/ 

Energy regulator smashes illusion of “cheap” coal power in NSW

Last summer the state very nearly lost its grip on supply as two big coal units and the two biggest gas units failed in the heat wave – nearly causing the lights to go out were it not for the presence of vast quantities of solar, and some voluntary and not-so voluntary load shedding.

http://reneweconomy.com.au/energy-regulator-smashes-illusion-of-cheap-coal-power-in-nsw-83167/ 

States and cities sign up for electric vehicle fleets

To develop a plan to increase the share of EVs in their fleets and to consider how to use their combined market power to promote the public uptake of electric vehicles. They agreed to coordinate the strategic planning and construction of infrastructure for EVs and to seek to align states’ standards and incentives.

https://www.governmentnews.com.au/2017/12/states-cities-sign-electric-vehicle-fleets/ 

Genetic feedback and  Human  Population  Regulation

Population growth is a primary cause of ecological destruction and, if  left  unchecked, will threaten human survival.  It  has  been  demonstrated  that  genetic feedback  is  the  mechanism  by  which  species  achieve ecological balance. The analysis shows  the  applicability of this mechanism to human population regulation.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/225581823_Genetic_Feedback_and_Human_Population_Regulation 

China’s growing footprint on the globe threatens to trample the natural world 

President Xi Linping promises that the Belt and Road initiative will be “green, low-carbon, circular and sustainable”, but such a claim is profoundly divorced from reality. China’s infrastructure tsunami will open a Pandora’s box of environmental crises, including large-scale deforestation, habitat fragmentation, wildlife poaching, water pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. China is the most aggressive consumer of minerals on the planet, and the biggest driver of tropical deforestation.

https://theconversation.com/chinas-growing-footprint-on-the-globe-threatens-to-trample-the-natural-world-88312 

China Has Launched the World’s First All-Electric Cargo Ship

China is now the proud owner of the world’s first all-electric cargo ship and has already put the vehicle to use. The 2,000-metric-ton ship was launched in the city of Guangzhou last month and runs in the inland section of the Pearl River. It can travel 80 kilometres after being charged for 2 hours, which is roughly the time to unload the ship’s cargo.

https://futurism.com/china-launched-worlds-first-all-electric-cargo-ship/ 

Traffic fumes in city streets largely wipe out exercise benefits for the over-60s

The air pollution  on a high street in London removes any health protection produced by exercise outdoors. Pollution, in large part related to traffic emissions, has an immediate adverse effect on those with chronic diseases

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/dec/05/traffic-fumes-in-city-streets-largely-wipe-out-exercise-benefits-for-over-60s 

America’s own climate refugees 

Trumps inadequate relief efforts after Hurricane Maria force Puerto Rico exodus

Maria downed trees, homes and power lines in a 12-hour rampage with winds of up to 247 kph. Much of Puerto Rico remains without power and 15% has no running water more than a month later. It is the longest blackout in US history, and the overall hurricane damage could range from $45 billion to $95 billion on an island already mired in an 11-year-long recession. No wonder they are emigrating.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2017/11/09/hurricane-maria-puerto-rico-debate/850820001/ 

Trump slashes national monuments in Utah: “I’m a real estate developer”

The gutting of the national monuments, unprecedented in more than a century, amounts to the initial stages of a land-grab by the oil, gas and mining industries.

http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2017/12/07/monu-d07.html 

The Uzbekistan story

Putin said two years ago, the sanctions were the best thing that ever happened to Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union. They forced Russia to develop their agriculture again and bring her defunct industrial apparatus with science and research up to cutting edge technology, at par or above that of the west.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/48359.htm 

World’s scientists turn to Asia and Australia to rewrite human history 

it appears that the long sought after answers to some of the central questions in human evolution studies may finally be answered here.

https://theconversation.com/worlds-scientists-turn-to-asia-and-australia-to-rewrite-human-history-88697 

Meet The Israeli Paid Millions To Hack Our Phones

The Pegasus software suite uses similar techniques to the CIA for hacking an iPhone: Anything you can do on the phone, Pegasus can do on your phone. Turning on the camera and watching somebody in the room, turning on the microphone and listening to somebody. It can even do some things that you can’t, like put files on the phone and take files off, to manipulate data.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-12-05/meet-israeli-cyber-weapons-dealer-paid-millions-governments-hack-our-phones 

The Art of Keeping Guantánamo Open

What the paintings by Its Prisoners Tell Us About Our Humanity and Theirs. The man whose painting I saw has been held for nearly 15 years without trial, without even having charges filed against him.

http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/176358/tomgram%3A_erin_thompson%2C_curating_guantanamo/ 

The exhibit “Ode to the Sea: Art from Guantánamo” is on display in New York City 

They paint the sea again and again although they cannot reach it.

https://www.artfromguantanamo.com/ 

The John James Newsletter 208

3 December 2017

The era of procrastination, of half-measures, of soothing and baffling expedients, of delays, is coming to a close…. We are entering a period of consequences

Winston Churchill

If net neutrality is eliminated, they will restructure how the Internet works, creating information superhighways for corporate and political elites and digital dirt roads for those who cannot afford the corporate tolls.

John Nichols

Pine Gap: Is it in Australia’s best interest to contribute data for drone assassinations and targeting nuclear weapons.

Richard Tanter

The richer we are, the bigger our footprint, regardless of our good intentions 

George Monbiot

How can you have a war on terrorism when war itself is terrorism? 

Howard Zinn

Trump and the Saudis have helped the Iranians achieve what years of repression could never: widespread public support for the hard-line view that the US and SA cannot be trusted and that Iran is now capable of staring down its enemies

Thomas Erdbrink

Manus Island as a humanitarian crisis that was entirely preventable and a policy to avoid Australia’s international obligations

UN High Commissioner for Refugees

Solar and wind are now the leading new installations worldwide, with coal third

Andrew Blakers

Hot Blob off Southeast Australia Fuels Life-Threatening Rain Bomb Event

These pools of severe warmth at the ocean surface have, during recent years, fuelled all kinds of climate change related extreme weather ranging from droughts to floods to record hurricanes. Ocean temperatures as high as 4.5C above average. This is an extreme climate and severe weather-triggering feature related to climate change. One that has also been associated with strong, persistent atmospheric ridges and related high pressure systems.

https://robertscribbler.com/2017/11/30/hot-blob-off-southeast-australia-fuels-life-threatening-rain-bomb-event/ 

An American Spy Base Hidden in Australia’s Outback

From Pine Gap, the US controls satellites that gather information used to pinpoint airstrikes around the world and target nuclear weapons, among other military and intelligence tasks, The station is involved in real-time contributions to the US global military operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria.  contributes data for CIA drone operations in countries in which the US is not at war — Yemen, Somalia, Pakistan and so forth. It is also critically important in whatever the US is going to do on the Korean Peninsula.

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/11/23/world/australia/pine-gap-spy-base-protests.html 

The levellised price of 

nuclear is 14.8 cents per kWh,

coal is 10.2 cents per kWh,

gas is 6 cents per kWh,

solar is 5 cents per kWh

wind is 4.5 cents per kWh.

Renewables are about 1/3 the price of nuclear, half that of coal, and 10-20% less than gas

https://www.lazard.com/perspective/levelized-cost-of-energy-2017/ 

Normalizing Nukes

Making the US arsenal more usable requires  altering existing doctrine to eliminate restraints on how such weapons may be deployed and producing a new generations of nuclear tactical battlefield strikes.  Both are expected in the first nuclear posture review by the end of this year or early in 2018.

http://lobelog.com/normalizing-nukes/ 

Japan is poised to flood the Pacific with one million tons of radioactive water 

The amount of radioactive water at Fukushima is still growing by 150 tons a day. The water is stored on site in around 900 large and densely packed tanks. The government has been urged to release the water into the ocean.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5118853/Japan-urged-release-radioactive-water-Pacific-Ocean.html 

A New Electric Vehicle Blurs the Line Between Bike and Car

ELF’s electric assist runs on solar power and allows the bike to reach speeds of up to 30 MPH. It is registered as a bicycle.

https://futurism.com/videos/new-electric-vehicle-blurs-line-between-bike-car/ 

Syria will thwart schemes to split the country, deal with illegal invaders: top Assad advisor who is Chinese

This is a very interesting development with the Chinese consolidating the Russian involvement. Keep watching this development. Note where it was published.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2017-11/25/c_136779182.htm 

Chinese elite in special operations to assist Assad

According to multiple reports China is planning to send elite military units to Syria to assist the Syrian Army. A focus will be on Chinese Islamist foreign fighters, who have shown up in increasing numbers in Syria’s north.

http://theduran.com/chinese-elite-special-operations-units-to-assist-assads-fight-against-jihadist-insurgency/ 

Google’s Pixel Buds translation will change the world

Tell it to “Help me speak Japanese” and then start speaking in English, the phone’s speakers will output your translated words as you speak them. The other party’s reply in Japanese will then play into your ear through the Pixel Buds. There appeared to be virtually zero lag time during the translation,

https://www.engadget.com/2017/10/04/google-pixel-buds-translation-change-the-world/ 

The Changing Colours of our Living Planet – watch the changes

This fall marks 20 years since NASA has continuously observed not just the physical properties of our planet, but the one thing that makes Earth unique among the thousands of other worlds we’ve discovered: Life.

https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/mollweide_cycle.gif 

British Library project discovers two new words – a bit of language fun at the end

Our callout for dialectal words and phrases uncovered two words unknown to British Library researchers working on the Evolving English WordBank It’s not every day you discover a new word, or at least a new meaning for an old word.  “Webs” and “trabs” – both of which can mean trainers and were contributed from Liverpool – were just two

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/nov/24/british-library-project-discovers-two-new-words-thanks-to-guardian-readers 

Raqqa’s dirty secret

A secret deal that let hundreds of ISIS [I-CIA-SIS] fighters and their families escape from Raqqa, under the gaze of the US and British-led coalition and Kurdish-led forces who control the city. A convoy included some of ISIS’s most notorious members and — despite reassurances — dozens of foreign fighters. Some of those have spread out across Syria, even making it as far as Turkey.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-sh/raqqas_dirty_secret   

The Raqqa Exodus: The US Coalition’s “Secret Deal” to Allow ISIS-Daesh Terrorists to Escape

“Our intention is that the foreign fighters do not survive the fight to return home to north Africa, to Europe, to America, to Asia, to Africa. We are not going to allow them to do so” said James Mattis …. So???

https://www.globalresearch.ca/the-raqqa-exodus-the-us-coalitions-secret-deal-to-allow-isis-daesh-terrorists-to-escape/5620328       

Erdogan accuses US of financing ISIS, breaking promises in Syria 

Erdogan has accused Washington of betraying Ankara and providing “a lot of dollars” to the Islamic State terrorists. The allegation comes just days after the US acknowledged that it allowed hundreds of armed ISIS militants to escape the besieged Syrian city of Raqqa.

https://www.rt.com/news/410235-erdogan-accuses-us-funding-isis/  

Warming is accelerating – 2C by 2021?

For some time, it has been warmer than the 1.5°C guardrail that the Paris Agreement promised should not be crossed. This conclusion follows from above analysis of NASA land+ocean data 1880-October 2017, adjusted by 0.59°C to cater for the rise from preindustrial and with a trend added that also indicates that the global temperature looks set to cross the 2°C guardrail soon, with 2021 falling within the margins of the trend line.

http://arctic

-news.blogspot.com.au/2017/11/warming-is-accelerating.html 

Australia built a hell for refugees on Manus. The shame will outlive us all 

It is hard to say what is most horrifying in this long saga but the intent of the Australian government to now abandon the refugees it kidnapped, scattering them across an impoverished and corrupt country with a notorious reputation for violence, is an affront to any notions of humanity or decency. Now we are seen globally as the inventors of a particularly vile form of 21st century repression, in which the innocent are subjected to suffering in a prison where the crime is never named, no sentence is ever passed, and punishment is assured. For this achievement Australia now enjoys the praise of European neo-fascists and American white supremacists. Some praise. Some achievement.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/nov/24/the-shame-of-the-evil-being-done-on-manus-will-outlive-us-all 

Climate appeasement does not work

The devastation wrought by Hitler pales into insignificance compared with the risks to which we are now exposed by the government’s refusal to adopt sensible climate policy. The period of consequences is upon us

http://reneweconomy.com.au/climate-energy-appeasement-not-work-42804/ 

The Cost of Wind and Solar is Now Lower Than Pretty Much Everything Else

During October, in Australia, something rather strange and hopeful happened. Grid prices for electricity rose. Power customers, fed up with this, en masse decided to purchase 100 megawatts of rooftop solar in a single month. How did this come to pass?

https://robertscribbler.com/2017/11/27/just-one-more-reason-why-fossil-fuels-suck-tailpipe-the-cost-of-wind-and-solar-is-now-lower-than-pretty-much-everything-else/ 

What’s the net cost of using renewables to hit Australia’s climate target? Nothing

Modelling shows that renewable energy can help our emissions reduction target for free, because the cost of electricity from new-built wind and solar will be cheaper than replacing old fossil fuel generators with new ones.

https://theconversation.com/whats-the-net-cost-of-using-renewables-to-hit-australias-climate-target-nothing-88021 

Why South Australia must, and will, lead world on renewables

After the state-wide blackout that put the whole idea of turning the state into a renewable energy laboratory into question, it turned out to be a reality check about Australia’s ageing and dysfunctional grid. At the start of what could be a long, hot summer, the official opening of the world’s biggest lithium-ion battery. When they say they intend to make the state “self sufficient” in energy, and even promise to “go it alone”, they are not kidding.

http://reneweconomy.com.au/why-south-australia-must-and-will-lead-world-on-renewables-79455/ 

Consumers to displace fossil fuels as biggest supplier of energy

Traditional energy models no longer work. By 2050, customers could supply up to 45 per cent of electricity, and electric vehicle uptake could increase significantly, This would drive the change to a consumer-based energy revolution. As the cost of grid-sources power continues to rise, and the cost of solar and storage continue to fall, customers would inevitably turn to their own means.

http://reneweconomy.com.au/consumers-displace-fossil-fuels-biggest-supplier-energy-58664/

There’s No Net Neutrality any more. We Made Dystopia a Reality.

For example, Verizon owns Yahoo. In the absence of net neutrality regulations, Verizon could penalize customers who utilize a search engine other than Yahoo (by throttling connection speeds, for instance), if not prevent them from accessing another search engine at all. Having this much control, they could also ensure customers were seeing only the ads they want them to see. https://futurism.com/welcome-2018-net-neutrality-dystopia-reality/

If Trump Repeals Net Neutrality, Elites Will Rule the Internet—and the Future

“This naked corporatism is Washington at its worst,” Net-neutrality protections assure that the essential democratic discourse on the Web cannot be bartered off to the highest bidder.  They have worked for years. They want to overturn guarantees of an open Internet because those guarantees get in their way of their profiteering.

https://www.thenation.com/article/if-trumps-fcc-repeals-net-neutrality-elites-will-rule-the-internet-and-the-future/ 

Shutting down freedom and debate

Twitter has declared they are banning RT and Sputnik from advertising in its platform. Now all the major social networking platforms as well as Google has implemented a de facto ban and all independent sites are branded as fake news and deranked from search results and removed from news feeds. It’s a clear murder of democracy.

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/11/30/backlash-against-russian-fake-news-is-shutting-down-debate-for-real/ 

The cost of Brexit is already turning Britain into a second-rung nation

Britain now lags France and debt-ridden Italy, too. Here is a classic case of unintended consequences. They wanted to keep immigrants out, and are losing their prosperity to do so. Then the English themselves will start to emigrate.

https://www.businessinsider.com.au/the-economic-cost-of-brexit-in-gdp-2017-11 

The Lobby

A six-month undercover investigation reveals how Israel penetrates different levels of British democracy. The evidence raises serious questions about whether accusations of anti-Semitism are used to stifle political debate.

http://www.aljazeera.com/investigations/thelobby/ 

Corbyn calls for probe into Israeli ‘interference’

Israeli attempts to smear activists who question the illegal occupation of Palestinian land by building racism cases against them.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/01/uk-corbyn-calls-probe-israeli-interference-170113202756949.html 

Great Barrier Reef ‘rebirth’ underway as scientists implant new baby coral

“We can grow these corals from microscopic larvae to dinner-plate size, breeding corals in just three years.” No reef system on the planet is now healthier than it was 35 years ago. In South-East Asia, which is the center of marine biodiversity on the planet, it’s estimated that 95% of those reefs are highly degraded and are facing serious threats in the coming decades.

https://www.rt.com/news/410994-great-barrier-reef-rebirth/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS 

How Big Pharma & Cartels Got America Addicted to Heroin 

Who is making money from the opioid crisis? Meet the Sackler Family. The similarities in business models between Purdue pharmaceuticals, the Slacker family, and “El Chapo” Guzman, plus how corporate liability is harder to prosecute than their criminal counterparts is illuminated

https://www.youtube.com/watch 

Now over 80 Holistic doctor deaths

Besides the fact that the majority were holistic, there is another common theme; they all cared deeply and were passionate about health. I have endless emails from their friends, patients, neighbors, loved ones, and family members. It’s clear they were adored by many.

https://www.healthnutnews.com/recap-on-my-unintended-series-the-holistic-doctor-deaths/ 

Danish school is completely covered with over 12,000 sea green solar panels

The 25,000-square-meter school in Denmark is covered with a whopping 12,000 solar panels, which provide more than half of its electricity needs. Unlike most solar-powered buildings, the panels aren’t solely relegated to the school’s rooftop. In fact, more than 6,000 square meters of the facade is clad in sea-foam hued photovoltaics.

https://inhabitat.com/this-danish-school-is-completely-covered-with-over-12000-sea-green-solar-panels/ 

Trees live in integrated communities.

Trees form underground communities to share resources. Trees can wage war against their enemies. Trees feed the fish. Trees can alter the weather.

http://www.cbc.ca/natureofthings/features/canadas-boreal-forest-is-a-thriving-social-community-of-trees-that-work-tog 

Trump’s Secret War? US Military’s Presence In Middle East Has Grown 33 Percent In Past Four Months

The recent increase is largely linked to some of Trump’s closest advisers being retired generals and individuals who tend to look for military solutions to global issues.

http://www.newsweek.com/trumps-secret-war-us-militarys-presence-middle-east-has-grown-33-percent-past-718089 

Putin brings Iran and Turkey together in bold Syria peace plan 

“The Syrian people will have to determine their own future and agree on the principles of their own statehood. It is obvious that the process of reform will not be easy and will require compromises and concessions from all participants, including of course the government of Syria.” Putin urged Iran and Turkey to start a discussion with him on the reconstruction of Syria. “Given the colossal scale of the destruction it would be possible to think together about the development of a comprehensive program for Syria,”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/nov/22/iranian-and-turkish-leaders-arrive-in-russia-for-syria-talks-with-putin 

 Tehran-To-Beirut Land Bridge Is Established

Following the victory of the Syrian army over the “Islamic State” group in the town of Albu Kamal in the northeast of the country, the road between Tehran, Baghdad, Damascus and Beirut has become safe. The US tried to block the road between Tehran and Beirut at the level of Albu Kamal by forcing the Kurdish forces into a frantic race, but Washington failed to achieve its goals.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/48278.htm 

The John James Newsletter 207

25 November 2017

Ain’t No Cure for Love

Leonard Cohen

The “Trump doctrine” has consistently sought to make his foreign policy about business and his ego, nothing more and nothing less. 

Malak Chabkoun

Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little 

Edmund Burke

‘Slaughterbots’ Film Shows Potential Horrors Of Killer Drones

“They Can Not Be Stopped” two videos to remind you that we are VERY clever.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/48243.htm 

As Support Grows for Ban on Killer Robots, Viral ‘Slaughterbots’ Video Warns of Threat to Humans

AI’s “potential to benefit humanity is enormous, even in defence, but allowing machines to choose to kill humans will be devastating to our security and freedom”. This short film is more than just speculation; it shows the results of integrating and miniaturizing technologies that we already have.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/11/20/support-grows-ban-killer-robots-viral-slaughterbots-video-warns-threat-humans 

What You Need to Know About the Trump’s Plan to End Net Neutrality

 End Title II protections and erase the three Net Neutrality rules passed at the FCC in 2015 and upheld in court last year.

 *   Legalize internet blocking and discrimination by Comcast, AT&T and Verizon, no questions asked.

 *   Permit throttling back the speeds of different kinds of websites and apps.

 *   Encourage paid prioritization — sticking most sites and apps in the slow lane and reserving the fast lane for the few wealthy companies that can afford special treatment.

https://www.commondreams.org/views/2017/11/21/what-you-need-know-about-trump-fccs-plan-end-net-neutrality 

Seven Things You Can Do Right Now to Save the Internet

It’s time to get loud and tell everyone that our digital civil rights are on the verge of being destroyed.

https://www.commondreams.org/views/2017/11/22/seven-things-you-can-do-right-now-save-internet 

From An Open Internet, Back To The Dark Ages

In December the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) plans to repeal already compromised regulations that are in place to maintain a semblance of “net neutrality”. Its chairman, Ajit Pai, and the corporations that are internet service providers want to sweep away these rules, just like the banking sector got rid of financial regulations so it could inflate our economies into giant ponzi schemes

https://www.countercurrents.org/2017/11/23/from-an-open-internet-back-to-the-dark-ages/ 

Censorship!! Google will ‘de-rank’ RT articles to make them harder to find

“Good to have Google on record as defying all logic and reason: facts aren’t allowed if they come from RT, ‘because Russia’ – even if we have Google on Congressional record saying they’ve found no manipulation of their platform or policy violations by RT,” Sputnik and RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan said in a statement.

https://www.rt.com/news/410444-google-alphabet-derank-rt/ 

Sixteen Women Tell Their Heartbreaking Stories of Sexual Assault by Trump 

A documentary short from Brave New Films compiles heartbreaking statements from those 16 women, which taken together are “incredibly powerful, and damning.” “We owe it to these women, and to all women, to hold President Trump to account.”

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/42687-16-women-tell-their-heartbreaking-stories-of-sexual-assault-by-trump 

Why weren’t there any witnesses to Kennedy’s murder? – There were, dozens of them – here is one they killed

You’ve probably heard that many eye witnesses to the Kennedy assassination had very short lives after the assassination.Here’s the story of one of them: a plainclothes detective with the Dallas Police Department.

https://www.brasscheck.com/video/why-werent-there-any-witnesses/ 

Preparing the public mind

This is easily one of the strangest and most hocking “coincidences” of the JFK assassination. A newscaster was handed this elaborate story to read just hours before Kennedy was killed.

http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=M8YY9&m=Ij92v6opnnEpNr&b=XWMle.0GCuP52CWkTiq1aw 

The party before the assassination

At the home of Clint Murchison, the Texas oil tycoon. Murchison owned J. Edgar Hoover, Lyndon B. Johnson, and State of Texas law enforcement and stood to lose a fortune if Kennedy changed the oil depletion allowance and faced the very real possibility of jail time should then-Vice President Johnson be indicted, which gave the appearance of being a certainty.

https://www.brasscheck.com/video/the-party-before-the-assassination/?omhide=true 

Kremlin instructs Russian industry to prepare for war mobilization

A century after World War I, amid another catastrophic political collapse of world capitalism, countries across Europe and the world are again preparing for total war.

http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2017/11/24/krem-n24.html 

Australia facing climate disaster on its doorstep, government’s white paper warns 

Climate change is creating a disaster on Australia’s doorstep, with environmental degradation and the demand for sustainable sources of food undermining stability in some countries, especially “fragile states”,the demand for water and food will rise, with the world’s oceans and forests under intense pressure. It notes climate change and pressure on the environment could contribute to conflict and irregular migration, impacting specifically on Australia’s economic interests.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/nov/23/australia-facing-climate-disaster-on-its-doorstep-governments-white-paper-warns 

Naomi Klein: Trump’s Treatment of Haitians Portends Brutal Future for World’s Climate Refugees

“This isn’t only about Trump’s antipathy toward non-white immigrants. We may also be witnessing a particularly brutal form of climate change adaptation” and how wealthy nations may handle climate refugees in the years to come.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/11/22/naomi-klein-trumps-treatment-haitians-portends-brutal-future-worlds-climate-refugees 

Elon Musk Beats Deadline For Building World’s Biggest Battery

State Premier Jay Weatherill said testing of the massive lithium ion battery would begin within days, ahead of the December 1 deadline Musk set for himself when he signed off on the project earlier this year. Musk’s Tesla Powerpack is connected to a wind farm operated by French energy firm Neoen and is expected to hold enough power for thousands of homes during periods of excess demand that could result in blackouts.

https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/elon-musk-tesla-powerpack-beats-deadline-for-building-worlds-biggest-battery-1779369 

Australia to lead storage boom, as home batteries become “ubiquitous”

Australia has been named as one of eight countries expected to lead a massive boom in energy storage uptake that will see the global market double six times over between 2016 and 2030, to an installed total of 125GW/305 gigawatt-hours in 2030. With so much investment going into battery technology, falling costs and with significant addition of wind and solar capacity in all markets, energy storage will direct the energy transformation.

http://reneweconomy.com.au/australia-lead-storage-boom-home-batteries-become-ubiquitous-22221/ 

Renewables will drive ‘steep decline’ in wholesale electricity price in Australia

A steep decline in wholesale electricity prices forecast between 2018 and 2022 is due to the entry of 6,000MW of renewable capacity which has already been incentivised by the existing renewable energy target.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/nov/22/renewables-will-drive-steep-decline-in-wholesale-electricity-price-in-australia-report

Stand for the Truth: A Government Researcher Speaks Out 9/11 Evidence

In August 2016, Peter Michael Ketcham, a former employee of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), began looking into the reports his agency had released years earlier on the collapse of the World Trade Center. What he found shook him to the core.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvAv-114bwM&feature=youtu.be 

Guptas, Big Banks Linked to South African-Chinese Locomotive Deal 

If you look closely at the details of a 2014 contract to bring Chinese-manufactured locomotives to South Africa, you can tell that something more than transportation was going on. On the surface, the contract referred to a big, seemingly conventional deal in which China South Rail, a state-owned Chinese manufacturer, would deliver locomotives to South Africa’s state-owned transport infrastructure firm, Transnet. China South Rail’s contract for 359 locomotives was worth a whopping US$1.5 billion.  But this was no straight deal.

https://www.occrp.org/en/28-ccwatch/cc-watch-indepth/7257-guptas-big-banks-linked-to-south-african-chinese-locomotive-deal 

Ice Apocalypse – The Doomsday Glacier

Rapid collapse of Antarctic glaciers could flood coastal cities by the end of this century. The glaciers of Pine Island Bay are two of the largest and fastest-melting in Antarctica. Together, they act as a plug holding back enough ice to pour 11 feet of sea-level rise into the world’s oceans — an amount that would submerge every coastal city on the planet. All this could play out in a mere 20 to 50 years — much too quickly for humanity to adapt. “With marine ice cliff instability, sea-level rise for the next century is potentially much larger than we thought it might be five or 10 years ago,”

https://grist.org/article/antarctica-doomsday-glaciers-could-flood-coastal-cities/u 

Nearly 200 Million Are Modern Slaves or Child Laborers

According to a report by the United Nation’s International Labour Organization, nearly 200 million people are victims of modern slavery or child labor around the globe. In 2016, 40 million men, women and children were victims of modern slavery. Nearly one in ten children are victims.

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/11/20/nearly-200-million-are-modern-slaves-or-child-laborers/ 

Tehran Is Winning the War for Control of the Middle East

And there’s no indication that, despite Mohammed bin Salman’s bold moves, Saudi Arabia stands a chance of turning the tide. So far, in every case, the advantage is very clearly with the Iranians

http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/11/21/tehran-is-winning-the-war-for-control-of-the-middle-east-saudi-arabia/ 

On the Brink of War

Muhammd Bin-Salman’s purge in Saudi Arabia is the prelude to something bigger.: a carefully planned prelude to a sectarian war waged in  ‘Arab nationalist’ guise against the growing power of ‘Shia’ Iran and its surrogates in Yemen, Lebanon and Iraq with American and Israeli backing. The old Saudi Arabia is no more. Wahhabism is breathing its last, has been all but buried and is in the process of becoming history. A new Saudi state is being born. A new American-led alliance is taking shape in the region.

http://www.raialyoum.com/?p=775943  

Israel, Saudi Arabia Setting Preconditions for War with Hezbollah

The Iranians are more or less in control of Iraq. Iran is simply not a good country to attack, especially with a lack of a clear vision of what “victory” constitutes. So you ought to be crazy to attack Iran. The problem is, of course, that the Saudis and the Israelis are crazy, they have proved that many times over. So our best hopes is that they might be just “crazy”, but not “that crazy”. Not much of a hope, but that’s the best we got.

http://www.unz.com/tsaker/israel-saudi-arabia-setting-preconditions-for-war-with-hezbollah/ 

and the video

https://southfront.org/israel-saudi-arabia-setting-preconditions-for-war-with-hezbollah/ 

US backed plan to launch chemical weapon attack on Syria, and blame it on Assad govt

The Obama administration gave green signal to a chemical weapons attack plan in Syria that could be blamed on President Bashar al Assad’s regime and in turn, spur international military action in the devastated country, leaked documents have shown. A new report, that contains an email exchange between two senior officials at British-based contractor Britam Defence, showed a scheme ‘approved by Washington’.

http://www.theindependentmedia.org/report-us-backed-plan-to-launch-chemical-weapon-attack-on-syria-blame-it-on-assad-govt/ 

Coal industry’s final insult to humanity: It’s killing our sperm

Taiwanese men exposed to higher levels of air pollution – much of it the type caused by coal and petrol engines – tended to have poorer quality sperm. The researchers examined “the swimmers” of close to 6500 men who participated in a standard medical examination program between 2001 and 2014.

http://reneweconomy.com.au/coal-industrys-final-insult-humanity-killing-sperm-96997/ 

Renewable hydrogen could fuel Australia’s next export boom after CSIRO breakthrough

CSIRO-developed metal membrane, which allows the high-purity hydrogen, needed for hydrogen-powered cars, to be separated from ammonia. The technology, now being trialled on an industrial scale in Australia, was “the missing link” that allowed hydrogen to be transported and used as an energy source.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-05-11/hydrogen-breakthrough-could-fuel-renewable-energy-export-boom/8518916 

New Finkel report finds no need to panic about energy storage

Enough battery storage may be available “behind the meter,” households and businesses, to meet the storage needs. The required investment in energy security and reliability over the next five-10 years will be minimal (see graphs), even if wind and solar deployment moves far beyond levels contemplated by the Energy Security Board. The contrast with the modelling – and the attempts by Coalition parties at state and federal level to dismiss high levels of renewable energy as “reckless” – could not be more pronounced.

http://reneweconomy.com.au/new-finkel-report-finds-no-need-to-panic-about-energy-storage-42755/ 

We had an energy crisis in California – and this was our solution 

Virtually no attention is being paid to the quickest, cheapest way to improve reliability and affordability while bringing down carbon emissions: being smarter about how you use energy.

http://www.smh.com.au/comment/we-had-an-energy-crisis-in-california–and-this-was-our-solution-20171117-gznark 

Climate change could make half the world uninhabitable

Climate change could make half of the world uninhabitable for humans as a rise in temperature makes it too hot to survive. Global warming will not stop after 2100, the point where most previous projections have ended. Temperatures may rise by up to 12C  making many countries into deserts.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/environment/climatechange/7710229/Climate-change-could-make-half-the-world-uninhabitable.html 

The John James Newsletter 206

18 November 2017

It is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war was largely about oil

Alan Greenspan

Global temperature in October has risen to +1.2C: this was 0.8C ten years ago 

Climate Science

The first whites to sail to America smelt the cedars of the East Coast a hundred leagues out, while ships would swim through large islands of floating flowers. America was once a a riot of colour and sound and luxuriant vegetation 

Frederick Jackson Turner

A notice to humanity from the science community

Over 15,000 scientists from more than 180 countries just issued a dire warning to humanity: “Time is running out to prevent widespread misery and catastrophic biodiversity loss. Scientists are in the business of analysing data and looking at the long-term consequences. This second warning is not a false alarm, for they are acknowledging that we are heading down an unsustainable path.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/11/13/over-15000-scientists-just-issued-second-notice-humanity-can-we-listen-now 

World Scientists’ Warning to Humanity: A Second Notice 

“We are jeopardising our future by not reining in our intense material consumption and rapid population growth”.

https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/4605229 

‘Giant Leap Backwards’ as Global Carbon Emissions Soar to All-Time High

The level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has risen about 2% in 2017, dashing hopes that the pollution had been stabilised.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/11/13/giant-leap-backwards-global-carbon-emissions-2017-soaring-all-time-high 

Is this really the only hope we have? Bill Gates is funding a proposal that requires such resources and causes such high emissions that its as bad as the problem. There is only one solution, and that is to cease all fossil fuel use now. It would produce famine and poverty, but isn’t that better than doing further harm to our beautiful planet, our home?

Can Carbon-Dioxide Removal Save the World? 

An apparatus the size of a semi trailer could remove a ton of C02 per day, or 365 tons a year. The world produces about thirty-six billion tons of CO2 annually, so a hundred million trailer-size units could keep up with current emissions.

https://feelingsoverfacts.com/can-carbon-dioxide-removal-save-the-world/ 

The seven megatrends that could beat global warming: ‘There is reason for hope’

Is the tide is finally turning, thanks to cheap renewable, lab-grown meat and electric airplanes?

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/nov/08/seven-megatrends-that-could-beat-global-warming-climate-change 

Overpopulation

A powerful new feature documentary on how overpopulation affects human behaviour.

http://criticalmassfilm.com/ 

Evidence of world’s earliest winemaking uncovered by archaeologists

Humans made grape wine hundreds of years earlier than previously believed, according to analysis of clay pottery dating back to 6,000 BC. While there are thousands of cultivars of wine around the world, almost all derive from just one species of grape.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/nov/13/evidence-of-worlds-earliest-winemaking-uncovered-by-archaeologists 

A drone-killer smaller than your palm recognises the victim and explodes inside the skull. And few politicians want to ban this technology. Or is it now too late? 

Ban on killer robots urgently needed

Tiny autonomous weapons that can select and kill human targets without supervision, with face recognition. This technology will fall into the wrong hands. No one is safe. Politicians too can be cut down in broad daylight.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/nov/13/ban-on-killer-robots-urgently-needed-say-scientists 

First part of this interview is on the mini-drones now being used

They can lie in wait in a nearby tree, solar-powered, quiet for days, looking like a bird or an insect, invisible and waiting for your face to appear – and then Whaaaaam!

https://www.infowars.com/1914-again-mideast-trigger-usa-wont-be-spared 

On the brink of war

A regional war could be the most devastating in modern history. If successful we would see the destruction of Iran, regime-change in Qatar, and the eradication of Hezbollah. If unsuccessful, the destruction of Saudi Arabia, Israel and the UAE, and Saudi Arabia’s partition into a number of states. And what of the world’s oil supplies?

http://www.raialyoum.com/?p=775943 

‘Train of Injuries Must End,’ House Dems Introduce Articles of Impeachment Against Trump

A group of Democrats have introduced five articles of impeachment accusing President Trump of obstructing justice, violating the foreign emoluments clause, undermining the freedom of the press, and other constitutional breaches. “The time has come to make clear to the American people and to this president that [Trump’s] train of injuries to our Constitution must be brought to an end.”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/11/15/declaring-train-injuries-must-end-house-dems-introduce-articles-impeachment-against 

We Are Concerned Trump ‘Is So Unstable’ He Might Order Nuclear Attack

Trump is so volatile, has a decision-making process that is so quixotic, that he might order a nuclear weapons strike.

http://www.kake.com/story/36841887/democrats-concerned-trump-too-unstable-to-be-trusted-with-nukes 

House Dems file impeachment articles against Trump

“He’s used the presidency to line his pockets with money,”

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/11/15/house-dems-file-impeachment-articles-against-trump-over-party-leaders-objections.html 

France will replace US funding for UN climate science

French president Emmanuel Macron sent a pulse of excitement racing through the Bonn climate summit with a speech seizing the mantle of climate leadership from the US.

http://www.climatechangenews.com/2017/11/15/france-will-replace-us-funding-un-climate-science-panel-says-macron/ 

Higher Education’s Deeper Sickness

Political imbalance causes intellectual degradation. Riots against free speech are only a symptom.

http://luxlibertas.com/higher-educations-deeper-sickness/

If The Saudi Arabia Situation Doesn’t Worry You, You’re Not Paying Attention

Gigantic waves of change are now sweeping across the Middle East, impacting the global price of oil and world markets. A dramatic geo-political realignment by Saudi Arabia is upending many decades of established strategic relationships among the world’s superpowers and throwing the Middle East into turmoil.

https://www.peakprosperity.com/blog/113426/if-saudi-arabia-situation-doesnt-worry-youre-not-paying-attention 

Saudi Arabia’s Total Blockade on Yemen is a “Death Sentence” 

There will be a famine in Yemen.

https://www.democracynow.org/2017/11/9/yemeni_journalist_saudi_arabias_total_blockade 

The World’s Largest Humanitarian Crisis

Yemen has suffered the biggest-ever-recorded cholera epidemic (895,000 cases as of November), 17 million Yemenis are food insecure (60% of the population), and 2.9 million are internally displaced refugees. About 4.5 million children and pregnant or lactating women are acutely malnourished, … a child under 5 dies in Yemen every 10 minutes from preventable causes,…and a staggering seven million people do not know where their next meal is coming from.

http://www.yemenfamine.com/ 

Cow vigilante violence in India under a Hindu fundamentalist government 

The state cannot harass the minorities openly, but by letting vigilantes do so, it keeps majoritarian feelings satisfied. The private armies, which may be useful for polarising society before elections, are kept happy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cow_vigilante_violence_in_India_since_2014 

Hydrogen could deliver one fifth of world carbon cuts by 2050

Fuel cell vehicles combine hydrogen and oxygen to produce electricity to power an electric motor, producing water as a byproduct. However, making hydrogen from fossil fuels, a common route, also produces some greenhouse gas emissions. So far the take-up of hydrogen vehicles is tiny and industry experts say their wider use is years away, with high purchase prices and a lack of refueling stations the major barriers.

https://au.news.yahoo.com/a/37853933/hydrogen-could-deliver-one-fifth-of-world-carbon-cuts-by-2050-industry-group/ 

‘Half my lung cancer patients are non-smokers’: toxic air crisis chokes Delhi

Pollution not  affecting peoples’ health. “I am seeing a peak in people aged in their 40s, even people in their 30s. Our cancers are occurring earlier, more in non-smokers, and more in females.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/nov/10/lung-cancer-delhi-toxic-air-crisis-pollution-health-india 

44 UK towns and cities have air ‘too dangerous to breathe’

Each year, air pollution is estimated to cause 40,000 premature deaths.

https://nexusnewsfeed.com/article/health-healing/44-uk-towns-and-cities-have-air-too-dangerous-to-breathe-report-claims 

Compare the orderliness and scale of this operation to the failures of the Australian government on Manus Island. We must not forget this Chinese capacity, as in the occupation of all the South China Sea that was undertaken in secrecy over only 24 hours. 

The Arctic Silk Road: A Huge Leap Forward for China and Russia

A few days ago, the Xuelong icebreaker sailed through the Arctic, an event of historic importance. Beijing intends to move goods through the Arctic to Europe, which reduces the distances involved by up to 20-30%, saving time, fuel and human resources in the process. 90% of Chinese goods are transported by sea.

https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2017/11/13/arctic-silk-road-huge-leap-forward-for-china-and-russia.html 

Israel Lobby Is Slowly Being Dragged Into The Light

The honorary president of Conservative Friends of Israel, Lord Polak has recruited four-fifths of Conservative MPs, and almost every government minister, to a group whose explicit goal is to advance Israeli interests in Britain. The prime minister, Theresa May, is regarded as one of Israel’s most fervent supporters in Europe. That should be a cause for public indignation – no other foreign state enjoys such unabashed, high-level political support.

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/11/13/israel-lobby-is-slowly-being-dragged-into-the-light/ 

European conference on settlement activity declares Israel ‘apartheid regime’

Representatives from 24 European countries agreed to accuse Israel of establishing an “apartheid regime” in the West Bank.

http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=779463 

China’s ‘Petro-Yuan’ is Set to Challenge the US Military-Backed ‘Petro-Dollar’

As the US dollar continues to lose its status as the world’s premiere reserve currency, the reality of a world war seems inevitable.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/48190.htm 

In China, Trump Became the Capitulator-in-Chief

The meeting was a “remarkable moment” in the modern history of US-China relations. Trump “projected an air of deference to China that was almost unheard-of for a visiting American president.” Xi, in response, didn’t reciprocate.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/48192.htm 

A few years old, but worth the read. If you are blocked I found that Crtl-R may reopen the page so you you can read it.

Imagining a Remapped Middle East

The political boundaries of the Middle East are in tatters. Syria’s ruinous war, the centrifugal forces of rival beliefs, tribes and ethnicities, the unintended consequences of the Arab Spring, are pulling apart a region defined by European colonial powers a century ago and defended by Arab autocrats ever since.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/29/opinion/sunday/imagining-a-remapped-middle-east.html