The John James Newsletter 122
11 June 2016
We will be destroyed by politics without principle; pleasure without responsibility; wealth without work; knowledge without maturity; business without morality; science without humanity; and worship without gratitude
Mahatma Gandhi
While the people are virtuous they cannot be subdued; but once they lose their virtue, they will be ready to surrender their liberties… If virtue and knowledge are diffused among the people, they will never be enslaved. This will be their great security
John Adams
The stench of death
It was the smell that really got to diver Richard Vevers. The smell of death on the reef. “I can’t even tell you how bad I smelt after the dive – the smell of millions of rotting animals.”
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jun/07/the-great-barrier-reef-a-catastrophe-laid-bare
Coral graveyard – in pictures
How the Great Barrier Reef got polluted – from farms and fossil fuels to filthy propaganda
For a decade or so, government and scientists have outlined two key tasks to secure the reef’s future – cut fossil fuel emissions and reduce pollution running into catchments.
US Expands Secret Wars
On any day, elite forces conduct covert missions in an estimated 70 to 90 countries. Special forces have been sent to an unprecedented 147 countries — 75% of the world’s nations last year alone. This is a 145% increase from the rate of operations conducted under Bush. The US continues to maintain 800 to 1,000 bases around the world — the most expansive military empire in history.
http://chimes.biola.edu/story/2016/may/10/us-expands-secret-wars-africa/
Rehearsing for World War III
From a cold war policy of containment, US/NATO has moved into regime change mode: the idea is to encircle Russia militarily, while using “soft power” to undermine pro-Russian regimes in Russia’s periphery and eventually achieve regime change in Russia itself.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article44832.htm
War and Debt – Why Our Trains Are Broken
America’s infrastructure is backwards, primitive, and humiliating for the self-proclaimed ‘greatest country on earth.’ Because Americans and their government has chosen imperialism over taking care of home.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article44818.htm
How Australians Die from diabetes
Diabetes is rapidly emerging as a leading cause of death. It is also a leading cause of heart attacks, strokes, amputations, kidney failure, depression, dementia and severe infections. It never used to be this way. Thirty years ago, around 250,000 Australians had diabetes. Today that figure is around two million.
https://theconversation.com/how-australians-die-cause-5-diabetes-57874
Vladimir Putin, interview to Il Corriere della Sera
“I invite you to publish a world map and mark all the U.S. military bases on it. You will see the difference between Russia and the US.”
John Pilger on the Threat of World War Three
Under Obama Nuclear warhead production is greater than under any post cold war president.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article44824.htm
Britain secretly upgrading its nukes without asking Mps
The Mark 4A warhead modification programme will allow Trident nuclear warheads to remain in service until the middle of this century, and plenty of money is being spent to pave the way for developing a new generation warhead
https://www.rt.com/uk/345660-trident-nuclear-secret-upgrade/
Obama Slams Door In Putin’s Face
The US will be able to launch a surprise nuclear attack against Russia with missiles that will annihilate retaliation. The only Russian response would be the nuclear contamination of the entire northern hemisphere, and global nuclear winter. Some strategists say this would be worth the elimination of Russia.
http://www.countercurrents.org/zuesse060616.htm
Sydney storm: Lessons from a tempest
The forces of nature were remarkable. Collaroy beach narrowed by as much as 50 metres and surrendered about 400,000 cubic metres of sand to the seas. Warmer than average sea-surface temperatures increased the amount of moisture available, creating sub-tropical conditions abnormal for early winter.
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/sydney-storm-lessons-from-a-tempest-20160608-gpery1.html
The Boiling Pot
Politics reflects the pressure cooker that American society has become. Bernie Sanders is giving voice to popular anger at increasing economic inequality, and at Wall Street’s immunity. Donald Trump is a megaphone for the blind fury of the wage class at its ongoing destruction by globalization and immigration. Hillary Clinton, the consummate establishment politician, pretends to criticise the globalized governmental megamachine she has supported for decades.
http://www.postcarbon.org/the-boiling-pot/
FBI probe into Clinton a ‘criminal investigation’ on the same day Obama endorses her
Barack Obama’s spokesman described the FBI’s probe into Hillary Clinton’s classified email scandal as a ‘criminal investigation’ less than an hour after the president endorsed her to succeed him.
The Money Cult
Are there any unintended consequences of negative interest rates? They destroy money. They are Mammon’s Götterdämmerung. The money cult is bolstered by the idea that its huge and all-powerful deity will be even more huge and all-powerful tomorrow; if the opposite were demonstrably the case, then people’s faith in it begins to falter and fade
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article44840.htm
George Soros Is Preparing For Economic Collapse – Does He Know Something That You Don’t?
Why is George Soros selling stocks, buying gold and making “a series of big, bearish investments”? if a major financial crisis is imminent, he stands to make obscene returns.
Minerals form violence
Tantalum, cassiterite, wolframite, coltan and gold are necessary for consumer electronics such as TVs, DVD players and laptops, and are commonly extracted from conflict zones such as Eastern Congo or Rwanda. Extracted by captured villagers turned into slaves, these elements are then transferred to places like China or Southeast Asia, where these precious minerals are used to manufacture smartphones and laptops.
http://chimes.biola.edu/story/2015/nov/10/minerals-form-elements-violence/
How the World Runs on Looting the Congo
Video: For five centuries, the continent of Africa has been ravaged by the world’s Empires for its vast untapped treasure. Today, the US Empire is increasing its military role through their massive command network, AFRICOM, with several missions a day.
http://disinfo.com/2016/04/world-runs-looting-congo/
Family benefits cut: 80% of single parents fear running out of food
According to the online survey of 737 single parents by the National Council of Single Mothers, 65% were already running out of food before they could buy more but almost 82% believed this would happen if their family tax benefits were cut.
Once in debt you become a slave
Soaring student loan debt poses risk to nation’s future economic growth
The amount of outstanding student loans has skyrocketed 76% to almost $1.2 trillion since 2009 as college costs have shot up and graduates have had difficulty finding good-paying jobs. We’re essentially running a higher-education system here that is not sustainable. It’s kind of a runaway train.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-student-debt-20150906-story.html
Where Do Matters Stand?
Don’t expect the brainwashed American population to have the moral conscience and fortitude to prevent nuclear war or even the intelligence to prevent their own vaporization. Those few Americans who have any awareness are beginning to realize that the One Percent and the western governments that serve them are re-establishing feudalism – he era of neo-feudalism. The US there is no public discussion of any important issue.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article44845.htm
ISS Members From the West Seek Help Getting Home
Disenchanted ISIS members recruited from the West have been contacting their governments and asking for help
https://www.longroom.com/discussion/93217/islamic-state-members-from-the-west-seek-help-getting-home
Key climate change body loses Government funding
Over the years the facility has fostered 140 projects across 33 universities around Australia. More than 100 researchers to be affected by the funding cut,
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-02-26/key-climate-change-body-running-out-of-money/4539948
East coast storm mapped: What happened where
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-06-06/east-coast-storm-mapped/7481572
Top scientists agree climate has changed for good
Last summer 123 weather records were broken in 90 days.”We see a pattern emerging. The south-west and the south-east of Australia have become drier – the south-west since the mid ’70s and the south-east since the mid ’90s and we don’t expect to see the previous pre-climate-change weather conditions come back. The best we can hope for for our grandchildren, is to stabilise the planet, probably at 2C or more above the pre-industrial.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-04-03/scientist-endorse-report-that-says-climate-has-shifted/4606372
‘Overwhelming’ consensus for manmade warming: review
The study looked at 12,000 climate research papers from the last two decades, and identified 4,000 that stated a position on the cause of recent global warming. Those papers, which were all published between 1991 and 2011, were written by more than 10,000 scientists. Just over 97% agreed that man-made warming was a reality.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-05-16/overwhelming-consensus-for-manmade-warming-says-review/4693016
Almost 4 million Australian homes now powered by renewable energy
More than $4 billion was invested in renewable technology last year.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-06-05/4-million-australian-homes-powered-by-renewable-energy/4733548
Fukushima report declassified: Worse than we were told
100% of the total spent fuel was released to the atmosphere from unit 4. Unit four contained more cesium “than in all 800 nuclear bombs exploded above ground”. Cesium has been linked to thyroid cancer,
https://www.rt.com/news/325663-fukushima-nuclear-report-declassified/
US Seeks “Total Ban” on Chinese Steel: Alarm Bells Ring
A huge global trade war is on the horizon, regardless of whether Hillary or Trump wins the election.
https://mishtalk.com/2016/06/06/alarm-bells-ring-over-nuclear-protectionist-trade-option/
The structure of collapse: 2016-2019
The no-win dilemma: any change of course will crash the system, but maintaining the current course will also crash the system.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-06-03/structure-collapse-2016-2019
Millions Around the World Fleeing from Neoliberal Policy
A research team from Columbia University estimates 875,000 deaths in the US in 2000 could be attributed to social factors related to poverty and income inequality.social deprivation.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article44826.htm
Wind farms produce more than coal generators
In NSW the wind blew at record levels, and the seven large scale wind farms delivered a record output, with a combined “capacity factor” of 56% more than the two biggest coal generators in the state.
http://reneweconomy.com.au/2016/big-blow-nsw-wind-farms-produce-coal-generators-91159
How the Hobbits kept their tools as they shrank into island life
Homo floresiensis and its ancestors lived on Flores from about 1 million to 50,000 years ago, camping in limestone caves and on the banks of streams and lakes amid active volcanoes. It was a tropical landscape populated by miniature elephants, giant rats and Komodo dragons.
https://theconversation.com/how-the-hobbits-kept-their-tools-as-they-shrank-into-island-life-59529
and
https://sososciencedotcom1.wordpress.com/2013/05/17/the-2013-take-on-the-hobbits-of-flores/
Solar energy costs continue to plunge across the world
In India and Chille solar is now the cheapest option compared to new coal-fired power stations. In Chile the auction produced the lowest ever price for unsubsidised solar of US6.5c/kWh. In India a record low tariff for India of US7.1c/kWh
http://reneweconomy.com.au/2015/solar-energy-costs-continue-to-plunge-across-the-world-17972
Record month for wind energy puts a temporary halt to rising carbon emissions
Wind farms supplied 1299 gigawatt-hours of electricity last month to the National Electricity Market which supplies about 80% of the country. 22% larger than the previous record, set in July 2015, and came without any new capacity being added in more than a year,
Catastrophic Sea Level Rise within Three Generations
What makes exponential growth so deceptive is that, no matter the growth rate, growth always starts out slow, but quickly change to a rapid buildup with a characteristic doubling time. “The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function.”
‘Free Trade’ Will Kill Climate Movement
The trade deals give industry new and powerful weapons to wield against the broad-based grassroots movement to stop fracking and fight for a clean energy future
Russia Could Replace US as Israel’s Primary Ally in Middle East
It is Netanyahu’s fourth face-to-face meeting with the Russian President in less than a year. For comparison’s sake, the Israeli Prime Minister has met US President Obama only once in the last year.
http://sputniknews.com/politics/20160607/1040952219/russia-israel-putin-netanyahu.html#ixzz4B7emPc96
Glyphosate contamination in America
93% of the urine tested by the University of California San Francisco lab tested positive for glyphosate residues. No glyphosate was found in the tap water samples.
Glyphosate — We Crushed it!!
Europe has refused to grant Monsanto a license for cancer-linked glyphosate. Monsanto thought renewal was a done deal. But after over 2 million of us joined the biggest global petition against glyphosate ever, the future of the Monsanto model is in question.
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/nothing_we_cant_do/
Climate change adding toxins to crops, as livestock trends create diseases
The mechanisms of toxin accumulation in key crops – think wheat, corn, soybeans, sorghum, barley, flax, millet and more – make the “poisoned chalice” the more complicated problem
US-Backed Coup Unleashed Wave of Abuses in Honduras
The US-backed Honduran coup ushered in a wave of neoliberal policies that have systematically violated the economic, cultural, and social rights of the nation’s Indigenous while leaving activists and rights defenders—such as the late Berta Cáceres—vulnerable to criminalization and violence.