The John James Newsletter 138
17 September 2016
The warming is having its greatest impact on the building blocks of life in the seas, on the phytoplankton, zooplankton and krill. We are profoundly mucking around with the very bottom of the planet’s most basic chain of life.
Bill McKibben
More than America’s matchless material abundance or even the effusions of its pop culture, the nation’s arsenal of high-tech weaponry and the soldiers who employ that arsenal have come to signify who we are and what we stand for
Andrew Bacevich
American strategic nuclear forces do not exist solely for the purpose of deterring a threat: They are intended to support US foreign policy
Colin Gray
Chief among the spoils of victory is the privilege of writing the history
Mark Alexander
Largest Corporations Wealthier Than Most Countries
‘The power of corporations is so great within our society that they have undermined the idea that there is any other way to run society. Of the 100 wealthiest economic entities in the world, 69 are now corporations and only 31 countries, The figures were 63 to 37 just one year ago. The top ten largest companies have a combined value of $2.9 trillion, which is larger than China’s economy. Walmart is larger than our Australian economy.
Leaked documents reveal secretive influence of corporate cash on politics
Wisconsin court documents from Scott Walker investigation expose extent of corporate influence on democratic process rarely seen by the public in which millions of dollars are secretly donated in an attempt to sway elections. They speak to the distortion of American democracy by big business that has been slammed by both Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/sep/14/corporate-cash-john-doe-files-scott-walker-wisconsin
August ties with July as hottest month on record
Compared to the average from 1881-1910 the global temperature for the year was 1.31˚C (2.36˚F) above the average.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/sep/13/august-ties-with-july-as-hottest-month-on-record
NOTICE THE INCREASING PACE OF CHANGE
Indian Gang-Rape Victim Alleges Rapists Asked If She Ate Beef
India’s beef ban frenzy is turning to be unimaginably horrific. One of the gang-rape victims of Mewat, Haryana said that rapists asked her if she ate beef! The 20-year-old muslim woman and her 14-year-old cousin were sexually assaulted by several men in their home in Mewat on the August 24. Their uncle and aunt were tied up and then beaten to death. Only humans can commit such horrific acts. A shame on humanity!
Beneath the surface of tourism in Bali, a water crisis looms
An estimated 60% of Bali’s water is consumed by the tourism industry.
Sounds for words of common objects similar across language
Humans across the globe may be speaking the same language. The discovery challenges one of the fundamental principles of linguistics, that the relationship between a sound of a word and its meaning is arbitrary.
Besieged Russian scientists drive away polar bears
Ship delivered dogs and flares to staff at Arctic weather station after five scientists were encircled by 10 adult bears for two weeks. A female bear had taken to spending nights beneath the station’s windows.
Oil spill from BP’s proposed Great Australian Bight project would be catastrophic
BP is awaiting environmental approval to begin exploration drilling for the first two wells of South Australia’s coast. A spill would more than likely impact Adelaide, and the endangered southern right whale when they are nursing calves at the head of the Bight in winter.
Is the internet freedom saved?
Telecom regulators take strict view of net neutrality rules. Great success by Avaaz. Because of this law, telecom companies won’t be able to sell a first-class Internet to the mega-rich while the rest of us travel coach.
http://www.reuters.com/article/eu-telecoms-net-neutrality-idUSL8N1BB48R
Bayer-Monsanto Merger Is ‘a Disaster for Global Food System
This is extremely bad news for farmers and consumers across the globe. “We already know that these agri-businesses use aggressive techniques to further their market share and increase profit margins and do not act in the best interests of small-scale farmers, public health or the environment.” The merger will create a company that will command more than a quarter of the combined world market for seeds and pesticides.
Solar and salt water battery storage used to create “nanogrid” of future
The unique solar and storage system designed for IIT will use alternating and direct current loads while charging batteries at the same time, allowing the nanogrid to run independent of the rest of the campus, as an islanded off-grid system.
https://onestepoffthegrid.com.au/solar-salt-water-battery-storage-used-create-nanogrid-future/
Three blood clots, a concussion, deep vein thrombosis: Hillary Clinton’s shielded medical history
Hillary Clinton’s medical history – and her tendency to keep personal and medical information far from view – is coming in for new scrutiny following revelations that the candidate got pneumonia in advance of her stumble in New York.
Best Available Evidence: Hillary Clinton Has Parkinson’s
“What she had was a syncopal episode. She passed out. That’s either cardiovascular or neurologic. Her team wants us to believe it is dehydration. She didn’t appear to be dehydrated and that doesn’t get fixed in 90 minutes.” There’s a good reason why Bill has replaced his wife on the campaign trail: Hillary Clinton is suffering from advanced stages of Parkinson’s. And it’s just going to get worse.
http://russia-insider.com/en/hillary-clinton-has-parkinsons/ri16427
Assange: Up to 100,000 pages of Clinton documents to come
Assange said Tuesday that the first wave of Clinton documents would hit either this week or next week.
How the Sugar Industry Shifted Blame to Fat
Five decades of research into the role of nutrition and heart disease, including many of today’s dietary recommendations, may have been largely shaped by the sugar industry. They were able to derail the discussion about sugar for decades.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/13/well/eat/how-the-sugar-industry-shifted-blame-to-fat.html
Theresa May’s surveillance Bill is chilling
The investigatory Powers Bill is a direct attack on democracy that will put journalists in danger and prevent whistleblowers coming forward, The Bill allows the state to compel your service provider to give them all your electronic information and they can get their hands on it secretly, without you ever knowing.
http://morningstaronline.co.uk/a-e18d-Theresa-Mays-surveillance-Bill-is-chilling
How Israel Stole the Bomb
When Israel launched a covert scheme to steal material and secrets to build a nuclear bomb, US officials looked the other way and obstructed investigations.
https://consortiumnews.com/2016/09/11/how-israel-stole-the-bomb/
If Victoria can ban CSG, NSW can too!
Reviews of the scientific literature find hundreds of papers regarding the health hazards, water contamination and air pollution from unconventional gas. Following an examination of the evidence, Victoria has joined a growing list of jurisdictions (including France, Spain, Scotland and New York State) that have banned unconventional gas because the ‘health and environmental risks involved outweigh any potential benefits’.
https://www.wilderness.org.au/campaigns/if-victoria-can-ban-csg-nsw-can-too
Great Apes Face Extinction
The Eastern Gorilla – the largest living primate – has been listed as Critically Endangered due to illegal hunting, as are four out of six great ape species – only one step away from going extinct – with the remaining two also under considerable threat of extinction. The Red List now includes 82,954 species of which 23,928 are threatened with extinction.
http://drkinesa.blogspot.com.au/2016/09/earths-future-at-risk-as-great-apes.html
9/11: 15 Years Of A Transparent Lie
Neoconservative position papers written in the 1990s called for “a new Pearl Harbor” in order to launch Washington’s wars for hegemony. We know that the official story is false. We don’t know who is responsible or the purpose the event was intended to serve. However, circumstantial evidence strongly supports suspicion of the neoconservatives whose high positions in the government would have enabled them to succeed with a false flag attack and to delay and divert any investigation until the official story was set in stone. We also know from the “dancing Israelis” that elements in the Israeli government had advance notice of the attack as Israeli agents were set up ready to film the destruction of the twin towers.