House On Fire

Relatively Relieved,

"Comrades Relax! The house is on fire." (We are not being arrested by the secret police.)  Thanks Eleni, for this insight into nations ruled by sociopaths.

“To men of violence . . . ideas are only a means of legitimizing their lust for murder to those for whom violence is not a natural course of action. Neither Stalin nor Yezhov were guided by Marxism or its promises when they had people arrested, tortured, and killed. . . . It had absolutely nothing to do with the writings of European Marxism.” 

http://www.newcriterion.com/articles.cfm/The-house-is-on-fire--8466

The Cold War Is Over, is a wonderfully written perspective from an Englishman with decades of connection to Russia, in late Soviet days, and also recently. It paints color into the stark contrasts of the first story. It is also useful in comprehending our world.

https://www.firstthings.com/article/2016/10/the-cold-war-is-over

"Without recognizing the desperation and despair of the Russian people during the Yeltsin era — and the soaring American arrogance in the 1990s — it is hard to comprehend the political rise and enduring popularity of Vladimir Putin, who became president after Yeltsin abruptly resigned on New Year’s Eve 1999."

http://davidstockmanscontracorner.com/the-existential-madness-of-putin-bashing/

“On the third day of the ceasefire only the Syrian Army is observing it. Meanwhile, the US-led ‘moderate rebels’ are intensifying the shelling of residential areas,” Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on Thursday. Thanks Eleni.

https://www.rt.com/news/359424-syria-deal-details-dispute/

Syria's economy is half what it was before coordinated attacks from America's "moderate extremists" began. 25% of Syrian have left. 50% of Syrians are displaced. 35% reduction in grain harvest makes Syria dependent upon imports for food. Minimal oil is being pumped, and much of that has gone through mercenary hands. This article focuses on Russia and China helping rebuild the Syrian economy, as the war has turned decisively favorable for the Syrian government, since Russian help began in earnest a year ago. The government is paying people to grow food on small plots, too, "victory gardens". Thanks Eleni.

http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Why-Russia-And-China-Are-Intent-On-Salvaging-Syrias-Economy.html

Libertarian, Gary Johnson and Green, Jill Stein MD, are excluded from the 9/26/16 presidential debate between Trump and Clinton. No surprise. (Could Clinton remain the Democratic candidate if Trump slaughters her?)

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/09/johnson-stein-fail-first-presidential-debate-228301

More details of the leaked Colin Powell emails: 

Hillary detests Obama, and he doesn't care if she loses. 

Nobody likes her and she's been looking unhealthy for years to those who know her. 

Powell resents the conflation of his (legal) use of personal email and Clinton's illegal use, which is probably why he has not endorsed her.

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/09/14/those-leaked-colin-powell-emails-are-a-huge-blow-to-clinton-not-trump-commentary.html

Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders are campaigning for Hillary Clinton in Ohio. (This should be a good comparison of how crowds respond to the 2 most viable Clinton replacements.)

http://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/trailguide/la-na-trailguide-updates-elizabeth-warren-bernie-sanders-will-1473950412-htmlstory.html

48% of Likely Democratic Voters believe Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, Clinton’s primary rival, should be their party’s nominee if health issues forced her out of the race. Twenty-two percent (22%) say Vice President Joe Biden should be the nominee, while only 14% opt for Virginia Senator Tim Kaine, the current Democratic vice presidential candidate. Nine percent (9%) of Democrats think it should be "someone else". (Those were only choices given.)

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/elections/election_2016/which_democrat_should_replace_hillary

Jill Stein: "If elected president I will immediately pardon Edward Snowden, Chelsea Manning and John Kiriakou for their important work in exposing the massive, systematic violation of our constitutional rights. I would invite them to the White House to publicly acknowledge their heroism."

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/sep/13/pardon-edward-snowden-jill-stein

"Fully 63 percent of respondents now say the country is on the wrong track, while only 31 percent believe it is heading in the right direction. These are remarkable numbers, and they correspond precisely with the Lichtman-DeCell keys.

Based on my scoring, the incumbent Obama administration carries the burden of eight unfavorable keys, with another two that could turn against it before Election Day. If there is any merit in the Lichtman-DeCell framework, then the Democratic Party stands today as ineligible for rehire by the American electorate. There will be no third consecutive Democratic term under Hillary Clinton."

(I suspect that the Democratic Party, global capital, and neocons are watching closely, and are ready to put in a last-month replacement to capture the electoral desire for systemic reorganization. I would specifically score both economic indicators the other way, even worse for the status-quo.)

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/unlocking-the-election/

Why Obamacare Didn't Work: There is no profit-based-solution to public health. I can sure tell you that.

https://www.jacobinmag.com/2016/09/obamacre-aca-aetna-public-option-clinton-trump/

Gas shortage emergencies declared in Alabama, Tennessee and Georgia

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-09-16/why-east-coast-gas-prices-are-about-explode

Frozen in Headlights

No Internet

Minefield Messengers,

Someone is learning to take down the internet. (I suspect a lot of "someones" need this capability these days, mostly state-actors, from North Korea and Israel on up. This weapon of mass destruction has to be really widespread.)

https://www.lawfareblog.com/someone-learning-how-take-down-internet

Hillary Clinton offers Colin Powell condolences that his email got hacked. 

The hack was of Powell saying that he really didn't want to vote for Hillary, listed her character flaws, said she was a friend, and that Bill was "still dicking bimbos" at their house.

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/09/hillary-clinton-colin-powell-leaked-emails-228197

Ballotpedia looks at what it takes for the Democratic PArty to replace a presidential candidate on the ballot. It takes time, which is tightening every day that passes, and a lot of "cooperation" from the states. I suspect discussions are quietly underway. Thanks Eleni.

https://ballotpedia.org/Main_Page

How Israel Stole The Bomb (and a few hundred pounds of weapons grade enriched uranium from the US) Thanks Eleni. And thanks again, LBJ!

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article45449.htm

Syria files formal complaint with the UN after Israeli air force attacks Syrian army. Syria reports taking down a fighter and a drone. Israel is increasingly aggressive in supporting ISIS against Syria. Thanks Eleni.

http://nsnbc.me/2016/09/13/following-escalation-of-conflict-with-israel-syria-complains-to-un/

Philippine President, Rodrigo Duterte didn't mean to slur Barack Obama by calling him the "son of a whore". He really meant it for the United States, which has had the Philippines as an actual and virtual colony for over a century, with untold murders of Filipinos. He's getting much friendlier with China and Russia, and may buy weapons systems from them. This throws down the gauntlet.

https://www.rt.com/news/359255-philippines-us-independent-policies/

David Stockman's article looks at the Government Accounting Office (GAO) investigation of laxity in Obamacare subsidy standards. The GAO put in 15 fake applications, all with glaring errors and omissions, and they all went through, with government subsidies totaling $60,000. (Major insurers are still pulling out, due to financial losses. This is about subsidizing the big private players who actually get those subsidies. In the next collapse we should probably get Medicare-for-All.)

http://davidstockmanscontracorner.com/obamacare-free-stuff-100-of-fictitious-enrollees-obtained-subsidies-in-gao-investigation/

The Iraq war cost $3 trillion ("still going!") and other little secrets of the imperial military complex. Where does that money come from? How long will China take it?

https://theintercept.com/2016/09/14/latest-estimate-pegs-cost-of-wars-at-nearly-5-trillion/

Approaching Retirement

Think Fast

Thinking On Feet,

“Now is the time for all good political leaders to come to the aid of their party,” said Don Fowler, who helmed the DNC from 1995 to 1997, during Bill Clinton’s presidency, and has backed Hillary Clinton since her 2008 presidential bid. “I think the plan should be developed by 6 o’clock this afternoon.”

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/09/hillary-clinton-health-replace-contingency-228037

http://www.thestate.com/news/politics-government/article101578952.html

A former Secret Service Agent, who protected the Clintons at the White House, gives the run-through on how the Secret Service detail ran things at the curb on 9/11/16. His observations are insightful, and the implications are straightforward.

http://ijr.com/opinion/2016/09/260018-protected-hillary-clinton-secret-service-heres-noticed-fainting-video/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter

CBS News just edited out Bill Clinton accidentally being truthful yesterday and saying that Hillary had "frequently" fainted in the past, before he caught himself and changed ot to "very rarely". Clintons, ya'know?

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-09-13/cbs-caught-editing-clip-transcript-which-bill-clinton-says-hillary-fainted-frequentl

Ilargi, at the Automatic Earth has a longer term perspective how Hillary Clinton has become more and more of a liability over decades, not days, weeks or months.

As of today, there are exactly 8 weeks left till the election. The money guys better come up with an alternative, because Hillary can’t be president. Whether they will come with Bernie Sanders or Joe Biden or some outsider I don’t know, but they better start making up their minds.

https://www.theautomaticearth.com/2016/09/hillary-became-unelectable-long-ago/#post-30455

Is America at risk of following the path of failed nation-stated? (duh) thanks Cindy.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/12/opinions/us-following-path-of-unstable-countries-sciutto/index.html

Unthinkable

Parasitic Illness

Perfect Hosts,

Who are the parasites? 

Classical economics looks at that question rather piercingly, which is why wealthy capitalists began endowing universities for economists they liked, "neoclassical" and "neoliberal" economists, who justify what ever pays their salaries, which is global-multinational-financial-capitalism.

Henry George and Karl Marx cut more directly to the issues of production, allocation, and parasitism. 

http://www.resilience.org/stories/2016-09-12/who-are-the-parasites-the-radical-implications-of-classical-economics

Google search rankings are biased about 3 million votes in favor of Hillary Clinton, by best recent academic analysis. (That is looking more and more inadequate, but there's always the electronic vote counting..)

https://sputniknews.com/us/20160912/1045214398/google-clinton-manipulation-election.html

How Sick is Hillary? Look at updates 3 and 4, written by an Internal Medicine doc. He analyzes and writes well, and does not diagnose from afar, but lays out what the common causes are for what we all see on video snippets. He's suspecting  cardiac arrhythmias and automatic defibrillator events, which he sees a lot of.  (I agree with what he says, but he downplays psychomotor epilepsy on the crazy laughter , coughing mechanically, and weird utterances, video snippets, which I think look like psychomotor-epilepsy/complex-partial-seizures. She certainly has a medical history that could cause those.) Thanks Ryan.

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/how-sick-is-hillary/ 

The Independent UK asks, "What happens if Hillary's Clinton's health problems force her out of the race for the White House?" We'll see this question asked more.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-elections/hillary-clinton-pneumonia-drop-out-race-dnc-white-house-biden-sanders-a7238526.html

Charles Hugh Smith says "It's Time to Bring Back Bernie".

Hillary Clinton has disqualified herself to be President of the United States because she is incapable of telling the truth about anything.

This process of replacing explanations and narratives, interspersed with attacks on anyone who questioned the previous narrative, is repeated until the perception management result is satisfactory. Hillary is clearly incapable of honesty--the word has no meaning, because all communication is aimed at concealing or obscuring the facts of the matter and defending what is visibly indefensible as if perception management is the same as the truth. It is not the same, but Hillary is incapable of discerning the difference.

http://charleshughsmith.blogspot.com/2016/09/its-time-to-bring-back-bernie.html

Ants are destroying your plants by nurturing perfect aphid colonies. Really.

http://arstechnica.com/science/2016/09/ants-are-destroying-your-plants-by-nurturing-perfect-aphid-colonies/

Pulling Off Ticks

Power Transitions

Admiring Imperial Nudity,

Deutsche Bank (now accepting jokes) presents economic data suggesting that the US has actually entered another recession since the long, lame "recovery" of (when did they claim?) 2009. Historical data is compelling. Just need some crisis to snap perceptions. Fed supporting financial markets for now. ("Must - Hold - til - November...")

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-09-10/deutsche-bank-us-may-now-be-recession

Why "liberal" Democrats are preferred by our financial elite masters.

Yeah, they transfer wealth from workers to elites with a sincere smile and graceful flourish. 

Political Economist and Zen Economics author, Rob Urie tears into the Clinton:Trump false dichotomy.

http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/09/09/and-the-ship-goes-down/

Hillary Clinton's National Security Advisors are a "Who's Who" of the Warfare State.  (Neocons for more American boots, and way more bombs, jihadi-mercenaries, and drones in oil countries.)

https://theintercept.com/2016/09/08/hillary-clintons-national-security-advisors-are-a-whos-who-of-the-warfare-state/

Clinton says Trump would give ISIS "a great gift" (unlike the tens of billions in cash, massive weapons transfers from Libyan army depots, and PR support that Clinton has given her baby.)

Trump's gift of negotiating cooperation with Russia doesn't seem so wonderful for this covert mercenary organization. Thanks Eleni.

https://www.rt.com/usa/358864-clinton-trump-president-gift-isis/

Much of the political sales-job and vote rigging this season may have just become irrelevant. "Dilbert" cartoonist Scott Adams, declares Hillary Clinton "unelectable". (Because seizures and stuff.) 

Despite efforts to hide the resisting, bobbing and toppling Mrs Clinton from all cameras, the collapse of her rigidly resisting legs, headlong pitch of her heavy torso, and scoop/toss into the van by black-clad handlers, is painfully apparent. 

This is a severe neurological disorder, that is breaking through the best treatments that the empire can provide. 

It looks like temporal lobe epilepsy to me. What's the EEG say? What does the MRI say the damage is in her brain? Can she lie still long enough for an MRI?

Newest "9/11 video" here, if you have not yet seen it.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-09-11/race-president-probably-over

Travis dug up this leaked (hacked?) report, purportedly from Hillary Clinton's physician (releasing source looks sleazy, but data fits medically), that she has subcortical vascular dementia, basically lots of little strokes in the wiring harness of her brain, That only gets worse, never better. The impression of "complex partial seizures" is not particularly different from what I have been saying looks like "psychomotor epilepsy" or "temporal lobe seizures" to me.

"According to Dr. Bardack, Hillary has a form of dementia called Subcortical Vascular Dementia, as well as worsening and more frequent black-outs, uncontrollable twitching, memory loss and brain seizures (Complex Partial Seizures) from a concussion sustained in early December of 2012 while she was secretary of state."

http://stateofthenation2012.com/?p=48655

Who would the Democratic Party put up for president if Hillary Clinton had to withdraw? 

It could be anybody they decided, but that might not work on all state ballots, or with all state laws. 

Joe Biden has long been considered the back-up candidate. The DNC sure hates everything about Bernie Sanders, as do their real bosses in global finance.

http://heavy.com/news/2016/09/who-would-bernie-replace-hillary-clinton-if-dropped-out-democratic-nominee-health-kaine-biden-videos-pneumonia/

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu accuses Palestinians, whose land rights are recognized by the UN, but not by an ever-expanding "Israel", of trying to employ "ethnic cleansing", AKA "genocide" against "the Jewish State of Israel".

(The unclean ingrates demand their own little country on their ancestral lands, but blaming-the-rape-victim is a bit too much for even Washington DC to stomach.)

https://www.rt.com/news/358877-netanyahu-israel-us-ethnic-cleansing/

Germany leads the northern EU states in sending back (at least to Greece) all those millions of refugees she welcomed from all our wars last year.

Greece says "no", but that hasn't been working for the "internally colonialized" Greeks in this new arrangement.

http://www.ekathimerini.com/211884/article/ekathimerini/news/greece-rejects-return-of-eu-rule-on-reverse-migration-flow

Rescuers fished 2300 refugees out of the Mediterranean on Saturday. They are not going to Germany.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-europe-migrants-italy-idUSKCN11G0SZ?il=0

Sweden declines again to join NATO, despite benefits reported in a study of the matter. 

(There are risks to doing the bidding of neocons, when Russia, their target, is your large neighbor.)

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-09-09/sweden-says-no-to-nato-even-as-study-shows-advantages-of-joining

The US and China, after long negotiations, announced last week that these two largest CO2 emitting nations will join COP21. What will this actually mean? Massive economic reset.

“Just as I believe the Paris agreement will ultimately prove to be a turning point for our planet, I believe that history will judge today’s efforts as pivotal,” said Obama, who was speaking in the presence of the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, and United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/sep/03/breakthrough-us-china-agree-ratify-paris-climate-change-deal

Google self driving car update: These driverless taxis should be taking Americans to their diverse urban destinations by 2020. 

Just call. You won't need a car. You won't need a bus. (With no new oil getting found, and everything discovered since 2005 unprofitable below $70-100/bbl, we will be hurting for electric taxis by then.) 

"It's cute!" 

Wonderful, warm, superbly crafted public relations video shows how liberating this is for nice blind people. ("Resistance is futile.")

https://www.google.com/selfdrivingcar/

Smiling Face

That Damned Day Again

Disobedient Civilians,

Jill Stein MD, Green Party candidate for President, on the lam after painting graffiti on a bulldozer in North Dakota, calls for a new and independent 9/11 investigation. 

This should include all the credible research which has been done since then. (There is a lot. See below) 

Dr Stein says the 9/11 Commission was a fraud on the American people (but hey, the chairs of the Commission  said that already...) Thanks Cat.

https://sputniknews.com/us/20160911/1045184973/jill-stein-truth-september-11-attacks.html

Look at this 30 second video of WTC #7 collapsing into it's own footprint at free-fall speed, at 5:25 PM on 9/11/01. 

You missed it that day. We all did. The evening news was already playing. 

Yeah, no plane even hit it. 

Usually it takes a month to set up this kind of a perfectly controlled demolition, but the laws of physics were suspended that day.

In 30 seconds you can see the collapse 4 times, from 4 angles. It was that rapid and neat. This video makes up for missing it 15 years ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mamvq7LWqRU

Dr. Robert Korol, professor emeritus of civil engineering at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, and a fellow of the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering, has led a team of academic researchers in preparing two peer-reviewed scientific papers on the destruction of World Trade Center Building 7.  (What did they find?)

http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-destruction-of-all-three-world-trade-center-skyscrapers-on-september-11-2001-the-collapse-of-wtc-7/5544780

Gary Kohls MD has a really good list of links, with notations of what they are and how long each one takes, if you scroll down past his initial narrative. Good resource for those with limited time, or exactly a certain amount of time.

http://www.globalresearch.ca/september-11-2001-the-15th-anniversary-of-the-crime-and-cover-up-of-the-century/5544414

Professor Paul Craig Roberts cites statistics that the majority of Americans doubt or disbelieve the official conspiracy-theory about 9/11/01( and about the assassination of John F. Kennedy, for that matter.) 

How come the official conspiracy theories are off the hook and don't need proof? 

Yeah, stupid question, I know...

http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2016/09/07/the-tide-is-turning-the-official-story-is-now-the-conspiracy-theory-paul-craig-roberts/

"Why does Propaganda Work? Some People Want It." 

(OK, trivial piece, but the "Big Lie" works because people do not have to change their entire mental model of the world, and that is a traumatic upheaval.)

https://fee.org/articles/why-does-propaganda-work-some-people-want-it/

Red-Pill Pusher

Water And Oil

Serfing USA,

Nicole Foss has the final part of "Negative Interest Rates and the War on Cash" here, which looks forward to the implications of the financial elites maintaining their own privilege through starving the peasants to death, as happened in the global financial collapse of the 1300s. 

The sequential destruction of dissenting nations can be seen with the wars upon Iraq, Libya, Syria and currently Venezuela. The spoils may directly pay for such wars, or merely contribute to the health of the global empire of finance, military, propaganda and covert action.

When all money is electronic, your every act will be predicated upon the good graces of your rulers. To have your funds frozen is the perfect form of shunning. What could you even beg at the corner? We are headed into severe deflation, and since the late 1990s, almost-free bubble-money has been directly provided to top financial elites. They have purchased houses, farms, copper, iron, oil, everything of substantial value, to which they now hold legal title, while the regime persists. You and I may become unnecessary to them soon. We should try not to be a bother.

https://www.theautomaticearth.com/2016/09/negative-interest-rates-and-the-war-on-cash-4/#post-30368

Indigenous peoples continue hundreds of years of resistance to colonialist power.

Standing Rock Sioux are demanding that the Fort Laramie Treaty be honored and the land and water be protected. (Same as at Wounded Knee in 1971.)

https://www.jacobinmag.com/2016/09/standing-rock-dakota-access-pipeline-protest/

North Dakota National Guard (Army) is mobilized against Indigenous unarmed protesters. (Familiar enough?)

http://theantimedia.org/north-dakota-national-guard-pipeline/

In Denver, Colorado, taxi drivers have formed a large cooperative enterprise, Green Taxi Cooperative, with 800 drivers/members, but just a few of those valuable slots at the airport, which are clearly not proportional, and are being reassigned soon, in an opaque process, which may further choke them out, in favor of Uber, and soon,  robo-cabs.

https://www.thenation.com/article/denver-taxi-drivers-are-turning-ubers-disruption-on-its-head/

Ron Paul discusses the deep-state, "secret government", that controls and is unaffected by voting. Congressman Paul advocates being politically active, with a reasonable understanding of the actual power structure, to guide objectives.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-09-09/ron-paul-vote-all-you-want-secret-government-wont-change

Here is one reason to get Homeland Security on the job of securing US election results. President Obama is afraid Russia is going to steal the US election for Trump. That would be cyber-war, for which America is well prepared, according to the President...

http://www.globalresearch.ca/obama-threatens-to-wage-a-cyber-war-against-russia-accuses-moscow-of-intervening-in-us-elections-russian-hackers-invading-americas-cyberspace/5544397

Legislation allowing victims of 9/11 to sue countries which are not on the "State-Sponsors-of-Terrorism" list may soon be permitted to sue Saudi Arabia, which may divest itself of US Treasuries and other holdings, in retaliation.

(Why is neocon Josh Bolton so against this bill that just unanimously passed Congress and has the votes to override a veto? Surely nobody would file suit against Israel. Preposterous! The Bush family is likewise deeply protected. Why worry?)

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-09-09/obama-faces-humiliation-after-house-unanimously-passes-bill-allowing-sept-11-lawsuit

"Since 1980, when the gap between production and discovery began to appear, humanity has extracted about 47 percent more conventional oil than it has discovered."

http://cassandralegacy.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/peak-oil-by-any-other-name-is-still.html

Looking for Rain

Hosting Politicians

Visiting Friends,

At Dakota Access Pipeline protest and blockade, Green Presidential Candidate Jill Stein MD, vandalizes a bulldozer, while trespassing. 

Her bulldozer graffiti? "I approve this message."

She's been charged for these crimes.

Where are Trump, Clinton and that other guy, Gary Allepo?

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/37515-jill-stein-spray-paints-a-bulldozer-and-more-protesters-lock-down-at-nodapl

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/08/us/politics/jill-stein-green-party-candidate-is-charged-over-role-in-protest.html

The Kremlin really believes that Hillary Clinton wants to start a war with Russia. (It's a rational belief.)

https://foreignpolicy.com/2016/09/07/the-kremlin-really-believes-that-hillary-clinton-will-start-a-war-with-russia-donald-trump-vladimir-putin/

There's a fragile cease fire in Ukraine, with all sides preparing for it to be broken, whenever that may next happen. (Gaining advantage just before winter freezes everything would be customary.)

http://www.wsj.com/articles/fragile-post-summer-cease-fire-holds-in-ukraine-amid-tensions-with-moscow-1473369667

North Korea has seemingly tested another nuclear weapon underground, the second this year. Missile testing has also been impressive in 2016. 

(North Korea would likely put a smallish warhead on an ICBM, designed to create an intense EMP, electromagnetic pulse, and knock out a large portion of the US grid and internet. High above Kansas would give the most bang for the Won.)

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2016/09/08/world/asia/ap-as-koreas-tensions.html

Mish Shedlock presents analysis that this central-bank-funded stock market bubble will soon pop, and social mood will get very ugly. He points out how ugly it already is among those who do not own stocks and overvalued houses. This applies to the western world, though focus is American. Ugly... Soon...

https://mishtalk.com/2016/09/07/eye-on-social-mood-stock-market-bubble-will-pop-social-mood-will-get-extremely-ugly/

David Stockman says, "It won't be long now; the end game of central banking is nigh".

http://davidstockmanscontracorner.com/it-wont-be-long-now-the-end-game-of-central-banking-is-nigh/

Here are parts 2 and 3 of "Negative Interest Rate and the War on Cash. 

The main point is that central (and all) banks need to be able to reduce all assets, everywhere, not just the ones on their books. "Your money" is "currency" , not a "store of value" in this game. Banks must win this game, as they have done for centuries. 

Why fight it? Right? You are a renter, not an owner, and you really know it. 

Lets be honest with ourselves and just lose everything, huh? 

No? What'cha propose?

https://www.theautomaticearth.com/2016/09/negative-interest-rates-and-the-war-on-cash-2/#post-30292

https://www.theautomaticearth.com/2016/09/negative-interest-rates-and-the-war-on-cash-3/

Missing Microbes, How Antibiotics can Do Harm.  We Kill Germs at Our Own Peril,  Thanks Solana

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/04/29/health/missing-microbes-how-antibiotics-can-do-harm.html

Newly discovered parasitic flatworm is named Baracktrema Obamai, an immortal honor, secondary only to the Nobel Peace Prize.

http://www.popsci.com/newly-discovered-blood-fluke-is-named-after-obama

Full of It

Speaking Out Of Turn

Contradicting the Teacher,

US Senator Richard Black (R.Va.) "We have never done anything more loathsome or despicable than what we're doing in Syria." Thanks Eleni.

This 70 year old USMC Vietnam vet takes a principled stand on the decade of US sponsored intrigue, leading up to the manufactured US-backed "Syrian uprising", which really didn't recruit very many Syrians. Senator Black has gone to Syria, toured Syria, met with Syrians at all levels, and discusses his experiences and insights here.

http://www.vineyardsaker.co.nz/2016/08/31/us-senator-we-have-never-done-anything-more-loathsome-or-despicable-than-what-were-doing-in-syria/

Who is Dick Black?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Black_(politician)

The US is ramping up for another wave of war in Libya, to regain the control of oil, local power, and the flow of Africans, Middle-Easterners and Asians to Europe.

(This all seemed like such a good idea when we needed Gaddafi's piles of weapons to arm our jihadis in Syria. It's all sour and stagnating now. Needs more blood and money!) More thanks, Eleni

http://www.defenddemocracy.press/libya-us-now-bombing-state-already-destroyed/

This article from the Saker blog looks at post-Soviet Russia from an internal perspective, which is very different from what we see in the controlled-media West. It makes a lot of sense. The covert actions carried out by the neocons running our empire are clearly seen when they are aimed at you. These actions have been unsuccessful, increasingly unsuccessful. The world is taking heart. There is hope. We will also be better off without the neocons.

Thanks again, Eleni.

http://thesaker.is/grandmaster-putin-grandiose-multi-step-operation-lasting-16-years/

Prisoners of Europe, the human experiences of the refugees from the horrors of (our) wars, who are turned into an irregular force against European communities.

These humans are suffering deeply, would rather be at home, but a war is being made there.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/sep/06/prisoners-of-europe-the-everyday-humiliation-of-refugees-stuck-in-greece-migration

"The cost of keeping the Eurozone together probably exceeds the cost of breaking it up", Joseph Stiglitz

http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/europpblog/2016/09/05/interview-joseph-stiglitz-brexit-euro-mistake/

The term “conspiracy theory” did not exist as a phrase in everyday American conversation before 1964. The conspiracy-theory label entered the American lexicon of political speech as a catchall for criticisms of the Warren Commission’s conclusion that President Kennedy was assassinated by a lone gunman with no assistance from, or foreknowledge by, any element of the United States government.

https://off-guardian.org/2016/09/04/are-you-a-mind-controlled-cia-stooge/

Our oceans have absorbed over 93% of the heat of global warming. They are sick, sicker than we comprehend, and getting sicker.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/warming-oceans-sick-global-scientists-warn-212706014.html

Unschooled Fish

Reach Exceeds Grasp

Burnt Fingers,

Top National Security (state) Officials admit US backing of unsuccessful coup attempt against Turkish PM Erdogan. 

Specifically, Zbigniew Brzezinski expressed his disapproval of how Victoria Nuland pulled this, and botched it badly, worsening the US position with Turkey, rather than fixing everything through more murder.

This really opens a front against the neocon establishment within the highest ranks of imperial elites. Brzezinski wrote in April that history has passed the moment when one power could take over and form a "unipolar world". It was he who famously observed that opportunity in 1997. 

The global war on terror and yo mama didn't work. 

Brzezinski and the "rationalists" get it. Neocons don't. Thanks Eleni.

http://journal-neo.org/2016/08/31/top-usa-national-security-officials-admit-turkey-coup/

The neo-liberal arm of the global empire is meeting rigid resistance in the occupied-territories of Europe, as citizens and politicians alike reject TTIP, as currently laid out. It is one sided extraction of wealth from Europe, and with loss of sovereignty, which is coming to light as what the EU did to Greece.

http://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2016/09/04/us-faces-major-setback-as-europeans-revolt-against-ttip.html

Federal Reserve Vice Chairman, Stanley Fischer explains how the Fed fosters the transfer of wealth to the wealthy, from all the rest of y'all (us).

In reality, depressed interest rates ultimately benefit only those investors actually cash out at the speculative pre-crash extremes that the Fed seems so fond of producing.

https://mishtalk.com/2016/09/03/fed-vice-chairman-admits-fed-sponsors-wealth-inequality/

Vladimir Putin comments on the US presidential candidates in this interview.

At one point, he described the candidates as “very smart people” who “understand which buttons you need to press” to win support. The resulting attacks, he said, are part of “the U.S. political culture.” 

“They’re both using shock tactics, just each in their own way,” the Russian president said in an interview. “I don’t think they are setting the best example.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-09-02/putin-blasts-both-trump-and-clinton-for-shock-campaign-tactics

Bernie Sanders says something that matters, after a rather long hiatus.

Candidates Gary Johnson Libertarian, and Jill Stein MD Green, need to be included in debates, and Hillary needs to separate herself from the Clinton Foundation, really separate herself. 

http://sputniknews.com/us/20160905/1044963114/bernie-hillary-clinton-foundation-debates.html

The warning in the covering letter to the UK government could not be clearer. It says: “Japanese businesses with their European headquarters in the UK may decide to transfer their head-office function to continental Europe if EU laws cease to be applicable in the UK after its withdrawal.” (More devilish details to Brexit)

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2016/09/japan-throws-spanner-into-brexit-negotiations.html

Half the life forms on earth will be extinct by 2050. (Shall we join them?)

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-09-03/half-forms-life-earth-will-be-gone-2050-biologist-warns-climate-instability

Curry powder looks to be about the same as Prozac for depression in controlled clinical trial. Cucurmin is the ingredient tested.

World's goin' bad. Gotta' eat more curry!

http://sorendreier.com/study-finds-turmeric-superior-to-prozac-for-depression/

Lovin' the Burn

Destabilized Spin

Free-Speech-Zoned,

Bradley Birkenfeld, "Lucifer's Banker" at UBS, spent 31 months in prison after leaving Switzerland with so much tax evasion information, that after he got out of the slammer, the IRS paid him $104 million in finder's-fees, or whatever they call it. He has still been prevented from testifying in open court in the US. The Senate Finance committee held private hearings, where he testified. One Senator never came to any of those hearings. That Senator was getting millions of dollars from UBS campaign contribution bundlers at that time. Senator Obama, it was...

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/ubs-whistleblower-exposes-political-prostitution-all-way-president-obama-1577834?utm_source=social&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=/ubs-whistleblower-exposes-political-prostitution-all-way-president-obama-1577834

"Suppose, as political scientists Allan J. Lichtman and Ken DeCell claimed in their 1988 book, Thirteen Keys to the Presidency, that all presidential elections from 1860 to the present are referendums on the sitting president and his party." Charles Hugh Smith lays out implications.

http://charleshughsmith.blogspot.com/2016/08/trump-by-landslide.html

Trump makes peace (or at least some kind of deal) with Mexican President, Enrique Pena Nieto.

https://news.vice.com/article/donald-trump-president-enrique-pena-nieto-meeting-mexico-city

The Trans-Pacific-Partnership gives corporations supra-national powers to extract assets from the people of nations, beyond any decision of their elected (or other) representatives. Dynamically, it is even worse, because it is open to speculative extraction by vulture capitalists, who can purchase any asset that gives them a plausible case in court arbitration. There are already numerous such treaty stipulations. There is no limit to these claims, and international arbitrators are from a small pool, which may play favorites for influence. The sky is the limit for awards. Investment funds are cracking this nut wide open to get the blood flowing from Spanish and Argentine citizens, poor, though they may be. Big opportunity.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/isds-lawsuit-financing-tpp_us_57c48e40e4b09cd22d91f660

Ambrose Evans Pritchard writes that loss of public acceptance of TTIP in Europe, with France withdrawing from one-sided negotiations, Brexit, Dutch nationalism, and dissension in German political ranks, marks the dissolution of "the central pillar of global order" (I think he means the Euro-Atlantic order.)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/08/30/ttip-trade-pact-near-failure-as-france-demands-total-halt-to-us/

"Global Supply Chains Frozen": South Korea's largest container-shipping fleet files for bankruptcy, and it's loaded ships are dead-in-the-water with their cargoes, across the world. Hanjin it the 7th largest global carrier of containers. Thanks Paul.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-08-31/global-supply-chains-paralyzed-after-worlds-7th-largest-container-shipper-files-bank

US Navy Spokesman, Commander Kafka (really) Talks about $48 billion in extra costs and unspecified delays in 2021 service-date for new generation aircraft carrier, Gerald Ford (really).

"The USS Ford, like every first-of-class ship ever built, has and will continue to face challenges," he said.

http://sputniknews.com/military/20160831/1044796051/uss-ford-problems.html

The USAF is projected to lose air superiority over countries like China and Russia in the 2020s. (Thanks F-35!)

http://warontherocks.com/2016/08/the-looming-air-superiority-train-wreck/

Israel will specify "collective punishment zones" in the militarily occupied West Bank, destroying more homes with bulldozers, blocking roads, putting local collaborators in positions of power, and rewarding "good Palestinians" with a job in ever-expanding "Israel". Avigdor Lieberman's plan is described here:

http://truepublica.org.uk/global/israel-specify-west-bank-collective-punishment-zone/

Oil discoveries are at a 70 year low, due to tight finances for oil companies, and no reason to look for oil that will eventually cost $100/bbl to pump. 1947 was the last time there was a year with this few barrels discovered.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-08-29/oil-discoveries-at-a-70-year-low-signal-a-supply-shortfall-ahead

Vulnerabilities of US Electric Grid to climate change are detailed here. "Katrina refrigerator" horrors revealed. (duct-taped and put on curbs for rotten meat inside)

http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2016/08/our_energy_grid_is_incredibly_vulnerable_to_climate_change.html

Intermittent renewables can't supply "the grid", at least not the way we think of it, as "always there". (We can change our thinking and expectations cheapest.)

http://www.resilience.org/stories/2016-09-01/intermittent-renewables-can-t-favorably-transform-grid-electricity

Hazmat team evacuates Rochester, New York apartment complex (I think I saw that place when we visited Amber recently.) This ain't Texas. How embarrassing...

http://boingboing.net/2016/08/30/apartment-complex-evacuated-du-2.html

Pepper-Sprayed