The John James Newsletter 158
28 January 2017
Trump will squeeze every last cent from oil and coal reserves before them become worthless.
George Monbiot
Ignorance allied with power is the most ferocious enemy justice can have
James Baldwin
Finding band-aids on a sinking ship are much easier than finding the captain, convincing him the ship is sinking, and getting him to fix the pump
Sarah Stackman
A human population approaching 7 billion can be maintained only by desolating the Earth. If wild habitat is given over to human cultivation and habitation, if rainforests can be turned into green deserts, if genetic engineering enables ever-higher yields to be extorted from the thinning soils—then humans will have created for themselves the Era of Solitude, in which little remains on the Earth but themselves and the prosthetic environment that keeps them alive.
John Gray
We are travelers on a cosmic journey, stardust, swirling and dancing in the eddies and whirlpools of infinity. Life is eternal. We have stopped for a moment to encounter each other, to meet, to love, to share. This is a precious moment. It is a little parenthesis in eternity
Paulo Coelho
Nonviolent Action Is Extremely Powerful
Nonviolent action works because of its capacity to create a favourable political atmosphere, its capacity to create a non-threatening physical environment, and its capacity to alter the human psychological conditions that make people resist new ideas in the first place. This includes its capacity to reduce or eliminate fear and its capacity to ‘humanise’ activists in the eyes of more conservative sections of the community. Nonviolent activists precipitate change because people are inspired by the honesty, discipline, integrity, courage and determination of the activists and are thus inclined to identify with them.
http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/01/25/nonviolent-action-is-extremely-powerful/
and
https://www.myss.com/keep-inner-net-light/
Was the Financial Crisis of 33 AD the First Case of Quantitative Easing?
If anyone thinks that it is only in recent times that financial markets have been so fully integrated that the failure of the Creditanstalt in 1931 or Lehman in 2008 could precipitate a panic, they clearly have not read their history. By their nature, financial markets have always been integrated, and failure in one part can create the domino effect which created the Great Depression and was witnessed in 2008.
https://www.globalfinancialdata.com/gfdblog/?p=1374
and
https://www.dymocks.com.au/book/money-changes-everything-by-goetzmann-william-n-9781400881307/
Australia’s bees and wasps as dangerous as its snakes
More than half of deaths from bites and stings between 2000 and 2013 the result of anaphylactic shock
Revolt Is The Only Barrier To A Fascist America
The destruction of democratic institutions is grave. The Trump coup destroyed our two-party system. It destroyed labor unions. It destroyed public education. It destroyed the judiciary. It destroyed the press. It destroyed academia. It destroyed consumer and environmental protection. It destroyed our industrial base. It destroyed communities and cities. When a tiny cabal seizes power it creates a mafia economy and a mafia state. Donald Trump is not an anomaly. He is the grotesque visage of a collapsed democracy. Trump and his coterie of billionaires, generals, half-wits, Christian fascists and racists are the scum now elevated to the highest level of the federal government. They embody the moral rot unleashed by unfettered capitalism.
http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/01/24/revolt-is-the-only-barrier-to-a-fascist-america/
A Globalism of the 1%
The damage is already done and who can doubt that what follows will be a demolition derby. Just about every Trump appointee to a non-national-security post was prepared to rip his or her agency or its mission to shreds.
http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/176234/tomgram%3A_john_feffer%2C_a_globalism_of_the_1%25/#more
Trump Issues Media Blackout at Multiple Federal Agencies
It has become apparent that the Trump administration has also ordered a media blackout at the EPA, as well as at the Department of Health and Human Services. Specific prohibitions include banning press releases, blog updates, new website content, or posts to the agency’s social media accounts.
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/01/24/trump-issues-media-blackout-multiple-federal-agencies
Loose-cannon Trump enters the tinderbox of US-Russia-China relations
Far from “making America great again”, sloganeering will deepen mistrust of US motives and irreparably damage any prospect of co-existence, let alone a more co-operative world order.
English-only website as Team Trump nixes all Spanish-language content
Trump: ‘We have to have assimilation. … This is a country where we speak English, not Spanish’.
Trump Bans Muslims from Entering the US, Launches “Holy War against Radical Islam”
Trump’s Executive Order will have devastating consequences both in the US and internationally.
Get Ready for the First Shocks of Trump’s Disaster Capitalism
Crises have been systematically exploited over the last half century to further a radical pro-corporate agenda.
https://theintercept.com/2017/01/24/get-ready-for-the-first-shocks-of-trumps-disaster-capitalism/
Doomsday Clock Now Two and a Half Minutes to Midnight
“Both his statements and his actions as President-elect have broken with historical precedent in unsettling ways. He has made ill-considered comments about expanding the US nuclear arsenal. He has shown a troubling propensity to discount or reject expert advice on international security. His nominees to head the Energy Department and the Environmental Protection Agency dispute the basics of climate science. In short, even though he has just now taken office, the president’s intemperate statements, lack of openness to expert advice, and questionable cabinet nominations have already made a bad international security situation worse.”
Australians’ HUGE love for solar
2017 will represent a “transformational” year for solar farm development in Australia, with over 20 projects likely to reach financial close. While the 12 ARENA supported projects are likely to be the first to lock in funding, an additional pipeline of projects is set to attract overseas and domestic investors.
http://reneweconomy.com.au/2017-mark-transformational-year-large-scale-solar-australia-38719/
China’s Missiles Near Russian Borders Target USA
This is China’s response to threats pronounced by Trump, that bypass the US missile defines.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/46292.htm
The Philippines in the Center of Asian Realignment
If Duterte moves too fast, he will be overthrown by the military. He is an outsider. Police and army hold grudges against him. Many top military commanders here were trained by the US. Duterte’s anti-US policy is confrontational.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/46288.htm
Airbnb hosts beware – it’s not just Centrelink using robo-debt systems
Australian homeowners who have been sharing their homes for profit using Airbnb, or like services, could be subject to the same “robo-debt” recovery services that have targeted Centrelink recipients.
Gaza’s Infrastructure on Verge of Collapse, Time is Running out
Even in the best of circumstances, Gaza residents receive continuous supply of electricity for no more than eight hours per day, water is undrinkable, untreated sewage flows to the sea, and Gaza’s cellular communications are stuck several generations behind.
Melbourne tram network to use solar energy by end of 2018
The Government said it would run a tender to build 75 megawatts of new solar farms — most likely in the state’s north-west.