As We Sow

Recipients of the Harvest,

I respectfully submit this article about American farmers killing themselves. Jada sent it. 

American farmers kill themselves twice as much as American veterans do. Why? Are the horrors of farming twice as bad as the horrors of war? 

American farmers are not haunted by ghosts. They are dying in the field. They are an endangered species. Farmers are debt slaves, trapped by their own noble instincts to grow food, care for their livestock, tend the land, and feed other people. 

Corporate agribusiness (corporate artificial intelligence) exploits them ruthlessly. They are pawns on this global battlefield. 

A 60 pound bushel of wheat pays a farmer $3.27,  far less than it costs to produce, less than 4 rolls of toilet paper, or one loaf of bread. The farm slaves are killing themselves because it is the only way out. This is American slavery, supporting the imperial war machine. that's reality. 

Grow veggies. Keep working. Give up TV. Support soldiers and farmers by helping end the wars of corporate empire.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/dec/06/why-are-americas-farmers-killing-themselves-in-record-numbers

Most people date farm-genocide to the farm-crisis of the 1980s, when interest rates were 16% and more, and farmers were dying in droves. Modest family farms were taken by the Borg, er... banks. 

It began before that, before the crisis. Earl Butz was head of the Department of Agriculture from 1971 to 1976. He put into place the Kissinger strategy of controlling the food to control the people (not elucidated here). "Get big or get out" was his famous and oft-repeated slogan. 

Butz destroyed New Deal Agricultural policies of government buying grain, storing it for lean times, and paying farmers to keep some fields fallow in times of plenty, to avoid land degradation. The boom he oversaw in the 1970s included a dramatic sale of wheat, America's government reserves, to the Soviet Union, capitalist wheat fed them in their communist famine, at a price... 

Farmers were stampeded into a boom, plowing every acre, planting, fertilizing, irrigating, growing more corn and soybeans, feeding pigs and cows in giant concentration camps for bacon-cheeseburger consumers. Then, the "free-markets" took the reins...

http://grist.org/article/the-butz-stops-here/

"Plunder Capitalism", Paul Craig Roberts:

The current tax legislation drops the corporate tax rate to 20%.  This means that global corporations registered in the US will be taxed at a lower income tax rate than a licensed practical nurse making $50,000 per year.  The nurse, if single, faces in 2017 a 25% marginal tax rate on all income over $37,950.

https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/12/05/plunder-capitalism/

"Best Weapons in the World": American Patriot missile defense system, sold to Saudi Arabia, shoots 5 times at Scud missile, fired at Riyadh airport, from 600 miles away, by barefoot Houthi soldiers in Yemen, and misses. "Iran's Fault!" The warhead, nothing impressive, misses runway by a little bit, because those things are  unsophisticated. So why is Saudi Arabia interested in Russia's S400 missiles?

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-12-05/sus-supplied-defense-system-failed-intercept-houthi-missile-attack-saudi-capital

Russia announces that ISIS is completely expunged from Syria. Good Work, Everybody! Time to go home, now...

https://www.rt.com/news/412149-syria-liberated-isis-terrorists/

The US military plans to stay in Syria as long as necessary to ensure the Islamic State group does not return, a Pentagon official told AFP on Tuesday. "We are going to maintain our commitment on the ground as long as we need to, to support our partners and prevent the return of terrorist groups," Pentagon spokesman Eric Pahon said.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-5148729/US-military-stay-Syria-long-need-Pentagon.html

Donald Trump pays off debt of $100 million campaign contribution from Sheldon Adelson and declares Jerusalem to be completely Israeli, and the capital of Israel, not illegally occupied by Israel, and the capital of Palestine, like the rest of the members of the UN say. What could go wrong?

http://www.moonofalabama.org/2017/12/trump-settles-debt-with-zionists-confirms-that-irans-struggle-is-righteous.html#more

Anti-corruption campaigner, Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed Bin Salman, is revealed by the Trump administration to be the buyer of a 500 year old portrait of Jesus, Salvator Mundi, by Leonardo de Vinci, for $450 million, the most ever paid for a work of art (and a no-no for practicing Muslims. There should be no painting of a prophet, and one should certainly not buy such a sacrilege.) The painting may be a very good forgery of the work of Leonardo. Nobody's sure...

http://www.moonofalabama.org/2017/12/trump-is-bashing-the-saudi-clown-prince-why.html#more

The Israeli air force is killing extremist Muslim babies in Gaza again.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-12-08/israel-bombing-targets-inside-gaza-after-hamas-missile-intercept

Canola oil worsens Alzheimer's dementia. (There is no such thing as a "Canola". It's rapeseed-oil, with some of the toxins removed, and marketed nicely.)

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2017-12-canola-oil-linked-worsened-memory.html

Drinking coffee helps you be healthier and live longer. 3-4 cups per day appears to be a sweet point. (I think that's those 2 modest coffee mugs I drink each morning. Get nice organic free-range, fair-trade coffee, and do the ritual preparation yourself. It's a form of physical meditation, which also helps you live longer and be more human.)

https://www.mdedge.com/jcomjournal/clinical-edge/summary/preventive-care/coffee-consumption-safe-all-levels

Savoring Life

Gardener in bike gear pictured in Pearl Harbor Day Texas-Snow-Ambush

​

Grinch Nukes Christmas

Living in Whoville,

I can't find a current article on the odds of nuclear war with North Korea but General McMaster said after Wednesday's ICBM launch that it is increasing daily. In early October a 10% risk was widely quoted. "I think it's increasing every day, which means that we are in a race, really, we are in a race to be able to solve this problem," McMaster told an audience at the Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California. http://www.cnn.com/2017/12/02/politics/mcmaster-potential-war-north-korea/index.html

Let's also agree that US/South-Korean military games, "Vigilant Ace", the largest ever, and practicing first strike attack to debilitate North Korea, are existentially threatening to North Korea, and take it to the edge of a hair-trigger response. Those 24 stealth fighters  can sneak in unseen, make critical strikes, and direct conventional fighters, bombers, artillery and missile strikes.  http://www.businessinsider.com/north-korea-should-fear-us-south-korea-air-drill-stealth-jets-2017-12  http://www.newsweek.com/us-military-practices-strikes-north-korean-nuclear-sites-biggest-ever-air-729923

There is actually a lot of political support of a first-strike to destroy North Korea, no matter what the cost to civilians everywhere, including the US.

"The slate of options open to the U.S. shrinks with every North Korean launch. Military action is increasingly being debated in Washington, Tokyo, Seoul and Canberra. Options considered ought to include a multinational naval blockade of the peninsula; a conventional “surgical strike” on Kim’s ICBM sites; a clandestine Special Forces operation to neutralize North Korea’s leadership; or perhaps a preemptive tactical nuclear attack... continuing the previous administration’s policy of “no policy” is no longer an option. Kim Jong Un needs to understand the consequences of his actions."   http://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/363050-its-time-to-use-surgical-strikes-naval-blockades-and-more-on-north

The other opinion is that there is not a viable military option to take out the North Korean nuclear program, based upon the cost of lives of American "allies" (er, client-states), like Japan and especially, South Korea. The certainty of North Korean destruction of life and property of Seoul, through artillery and rocket barrage, weigh highly on South Koreans. American military is also targeted and would take losses in South Korea and Okinawa. Okinawa and the rest of Japan would be partly defended targets. The new consideration is that North Korea could directly attack the continental US, and would be under tremendous pressure to use-it-or-lose-it, immediately, the first launch of all. This would be a bloodbath. (This article does not go nearly far enough in it's analysis, recommending more military spending to counter North Korean offensive capabilities. Nothing printed by the empire considers the possibility of the empire not getting it's desire.) Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Joseph Dunford offered in July that war with the North would entail the “loss of life unlike any we have experienced since World War II.”  http://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/363012-there-is-no-military-option-to-take-out-north-korean-nuclear

Why North Korea's next nuclear test could lead to war, is another piece of analysis, which does not reach critical mass, but is informative, anyway. North Korea has caved in the mountain it used to test under. A demonstration of nuclear capability above ground is thought to be the next step. I think the world assumes that what worked underground would work above ground, but just what kind of device is it? (Not really considered here, though alluded to, is the possibility that North Korea tests another missile, firing it straight up for 3000 miles, or so, and detonates the H-bomb 3000 miles away from Earth. I don't know what treaty covers that, but North Korea didn't sign it. The detonation would be directly above North Korea, but the EMP effects would be experienced over South Korea, Russia, China and Japan, though they would be lessened by the vast area covered, due to the extreme altitude. Better yet would be to set off two, as small as they could be made. Notification, not damage, is the objective, I assume. Alternatively, the H-bomb could be detonated as high as feasible over the North Pole, minimizing damage to electronics, and serving clear notice that EMP over the US is ready for delivery.)

http://theweek.com/articles/740264/why-north-koreas-next-nuclear-test-could-lead-war

Russia is really warning the US not to force North Korea to misstep and launch a devastating attack. The Vigilant Ace operations are clearly designed to probe North Korean defenses, making targeting radars turn on and show their locations, and their patterns of operation. Realistic threats are needed to flush out the defenses. More realistic threats trigger counterattacks, right? Where's the fine line? "Adam Mount, a senior fellow at the Federation of American Scientists for nuclear and defense policy, told the Journal that a single “radar blip or a mistaken field report” by the North Korean military could induce Pyongyang to attack. “Adding stealth and bomber aircraft makes the drill appear less like a defensive exercise and more like a rehearsal for attack,” he said."  https://lobelog.com/taking-russias-stark-warning-on-north-korea-seriously/

Wikipedia is pretty thorough in it's discussion of Nuclear EMP details and attack scenarios. Most testing seems to have been limited to altitudes of 300 kM or less. Enhanced and "super" EMP warheads can be designed, and EMP increases as the square-root of the nuclear yield, a law of real but diminishing returns with size. This implies that 3 small EMP devices on a missile could do much more damage than one large one, especially if spread out far above the target area. How far? I can't tell. Kansas burst famously hits all US.

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

Here's the US electric grid, which is at least somewhat separated by region. The northeast is oldest, most vulnerable, and very dense. Not discussed, anywhere that I can see, is how nuclear reactors would be affected. They rely on the grid to maintain cooling and safety functions. How many Fukushimas?

http://www.theenergycollective.com/aqgilbert/2322195/us-electricity-system-15-maps

Here is the reach of north Korean missiles, based on tests this year. I'd put one red-zone over New York and Washington, and another over LA and San Diego. How about you?

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asiapacific/north-korea-claims-nuclear-statehood-with-us-in-missile-range-9450620

Nuttin' fer Christmas

The Way Of The Tao Is Reversal

Here Today,

Moon of Alabama (12/2/17) Yemen: Saudis Throw in the Towel, Saleh is Baaack, Russia Wins

http://www.moonofalabama.org/2017/12/yemen-saudis-throw-the-towel-saleh-is-baaack-russia-wins.html#more

Moon of Alabama update 12/4/17:  It is yet a mystery why not more of Saleh's supporters came to his help. Sanaa is his home turf and whenever he had called for demonstrations in the city, hundreds of thousands attended. For much of his 34 years of rule as president and even after his forced resignation Saleh could call on the seven "collar tribes" who's territory surround the capital. This time they did not come to his aid. Saleh also continued to command significant parts of the former Yemeni army. These currently hold positions far outside of Sanaa against Saudi proxy forces who try to conquer the mountainous territory of northwest Yemen. One wonders why he had not called them back in time... It may be that his unexpected turn-on-a-dime towards a new alliance with the eternal enemies of Yemen, the Saudis, has alienated his followers... The Saudis had recently bet on Saleh to end the stalemate in their war on Yemen. Had he won out, it could have meant a pause in the war and probably its end. With the Houthi now having the upper hand in Sanaa, the war, the permanent Saudi bombing and the blockade of Yemen are likely to continue. The Houthi will continue to attack within Saudi Arabia and the fight against the Saudi proxy forces on the ground will go on.

http://www.moonofalabama.org/2017/12/yemen-without-saleh.html

The Hwasong-15 test fired on November 29 is not a modified version of the Hwasong-14, as initially assessed here based solely on flight data. The Hwasong-15 is considerably larger than the Hwasong-14, and initial calculations indicate the new missile could deliver a moderately-sized nuclear weapon to any city on the US mainland. The Hwasong-15 is also large and powerful enough to carry simple decoys or other countermeasures designed to challenge America’s existing national missile defense (NMD) system... applying conservative assumptions about the second-stage propulsion system, it now appears that the Hwasong-15 can deliver a 1,000-kg payload to any point on the US mainland. North Korea has almost certainly developed a nuclear warhead that weighs less than 700 kg, if not one considerably lighter. [A few more tests are needed for operational certainty.}

http://www.38north.org/2017/11/melleman113017/

At an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday, the US ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, warned that “if war comes, make no mistake, the North Korean regime will be utterly destroyed.” The “utter destruction” of the regime can only mean a genocidal war against the country of 25 million people... The war threats against North Korea intersect with an unprecedented political crisis in the United States involving ferocious conflicts within the ruling class as it oversees a country riven by social tensions... Trump’s ruling-class critics have sharp differences with the administration over foreign policy... In the final analysis, the divisions within the ruling class are of a tactical character. All are united on the basic strategy of using the military power of the United States to maintain its global hegemonic position... A quarter-century of unending war has reached a critical juncture. The danger of nuclear war, involving the major powers, is real and present. 

http://www.defenddemocracy.press/trump-administration-escalates-threat-to-utterly-destroy-north-korea/

I don't think the Trump administration is stupid, or missing anything so simple. I think this is their scary and unpredictable game. t's not a good style for this particular confrontation.

"Most of the administration’s other errors flow from this basic misunderstanding of the North Korean government’s motives. If self-preservation is North Korea’s main concern, their regime can be deterred in the future just as it has been over the last six decades. If they have acquired nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them to protect themselves against attack, they aren’t going to use them unless they believe they are about to be attacked, so the worst thing the U.S. can do is telegraph its willingness to launch the attack they fear."

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/larison/north-korea-wont-be-denuclearized/

It should not have to be said that China is not greatly threatened by North Korea, but is fundamentally threatened by the US. This says it.

https://theconversation.com/for-beijing-the-greatest-threat-to-chinas-national-security-is-not-the-kim-regime-it-is-the-us-88271

China has not paused at all in investing in Iranian infrastructure of transport and oil/gas/pipeline projects. Other countries that rely upon western banking are having trouble getting assurances for loans, and are falling behind their plans.

http://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2122435/china-pumps-billions-iranian-economy-western-firms-hold

US Puppet and former Georgian PM, Saakashvili seems to have been running the slaughter of civilians that made the excuse to carry out a coup d'etat against the elected president of Ukraine. Your tax dollars at (Victoria Nuland's) work.

The documentary features Alexander Revazishvili, Koba Nergadze and Zalogi Kvaratskhelia, Georgian military officers  who were recruited to carry out a “special mission” in Kiev by Mamuka Mamulashvili, a close aid of Mikhail Saakashvili’s former defense minister Bacho Akhalaia. They claim that on Jan 15, 2014 they landed in Kiev equipped with fake documents and were transferred to Maidan. Having received 1000 USD each one and being promised to  be paid 5000 USD after the “job is done”, they were tasked to prepare sniper positions inside the buildings of Hotel Ukraine and Conservatory, dominant over the Maidan Square.

https://www.globalresearch.ca/the-hidden-truth-about-ukraine-italian-documentary-bombshell-evidence-kiev-euromaidan-snipers-kill-demonstrators/5619684

Israel increases it's overt hot-war against Syria, as the last of it's favored mercenary "rebels" within remaining Damascus enclaves, come under direct attack from government forces. Israeli jets fired 7 missiles at a Syrian research base near Damascus, from positions over Lebanon, to avoid air defenses, which shot down 4 of those missiles. Desperados...

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-12-04/israel-launches-air-strikes-syrian-military-facility-near-damascus

Yesterday, the Irish border issue, blocking Brexit progress, was solved. Today it is not solved. Ireland and the UK were members of the EU when they finally settled on an open border between Ireland and Northern Ireland, but political separation. Northern Ireland is part of the UK until the people there vote to rejoin the Republic of Ireland (if ever).

What had been agreed between Irish and UK PMs was that Northern Ireland would have parallel regulations to those of Ireland and the EU, which would allow the border to remain open and synchronized. The cost of this would seemingly fall upon Northern Ireland, having to synchronize with both the rest of the UK and with the Republic of Ireland. Theresa May got a phone call at lunch thet Northern Ireland would not bear that burden, but demands identical status to every other member of the UK. Also, Scotland and The City of London had wanted to do that same thing, synchronize all regulations with the EU. The patch needed more and bigger patches. The one patch that remains, is what many said should be done all along. Denmark is a member of the common market, but not of the political union. That has costs, and it limits some British autonomy, but it is workable, and has always been workable. Theresa May will have a fight in her party if it comes down to that. It looks like everybody has to fight their way through the Brexit process.

https://inews.co.uk/essentials/news/politics/dup-will-block-any-move-separating-ni-from-rest-of-uk/

Stock Market 2018: The Tao vs Central Banks, Charles Hugh Smith

http://charleshughsmith.blogspot.com/2017/12/stock-market-2018-tao-vs-central-banks.html

Self-defeating Opponent 

Artificially Intelligent

Corporate Property,

Artificial Intelligence has already taken over,; It's called "The Corporation" 

Corporations, just like a potential runaway AI, have no intrinsic interest in human welfare. They are legal constructions: abstract entities designed with the ultimate goal of maximizing financial returns for their investors above all else. If corporations were in fact real persons, they would be sociopaths, completely lacking the ability for empathy that is a crucial element of normal human behavior. Unlike humans, however, corporations are theoretically immortal, cannot be put in prison, and the larger multinationals are not constrained by the laws of any individual country. With the incalculable advantage of their superhuman powers, corporations have literally taken over the world. They have grown so massive that an astonishing sixty-nine of the largest hundred economies in the world are not nation states but corporate entities... Around the world, worker-owned cooperatives have demonstrated that they can be as effective as corporations—or more so—without pursuing shareholder wealth as their primary consideration. (Who will bell that cat? Be a cooperative worker, I guess.)

https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/12/01/ai-has-already-taken-over-its-called-the-corporation/

It now seems evident that the Neoliberal Camp of the U.S. Deep State is highly vulnerable on an individual basis. I tend to notice things like a year-old blog entry suddenly getting thousands of page views. The essay that received a surge of recent interest: Is the Deep State at War--With Itself? (December 13, 2016). Charles Hugh Smith

http://charleshughsmith.blogspot.com/2017/11/the-internecine-deep-state-conflict.html

Why we can't have nice things; Dockless Bikes and the tragedy of the Commons (Corporation takes over idea of Yellow Bike Project, for profit, and...) Thanks Charles.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/nov/05/why-we-cant-have-nice-things-dockless-bikes-and-the-tragedy-of-the-commons

Why Did We Start Farming? This is a non-elitist interpretation of archaeological findings, which makes a lot of sense. Life was better for hunter-gatherers, who were freer and healthier. What happened? Why did cities have walls, again?

https://www.lrb.co.uk/v39/n23/steven-mithen/why-did-we-start-farming

A husband and wife have turned 1/4 acres in Normandy into France's showcase small permaculture farm. He is no longer a sailor and she is no longer an investment banker, but they have lots of use for the psychotherapy training they share. 13 years of hard work, so far...

"You have to take the time to train yourself. You have to take the time to convince yourself or to test yourself in the profession, to dirty your hands in the soil and to really see what it’s all about. There is a lot of fantasy around these projects but there’s also a reality which is difficult. It can be absolutely incredible, but it can be a nightmare if it’s done without preparation, without a good human design, without a good design for the site. Take the time to make the transition. To teach yourself. You have to give yourself the time to be sure that it’s something you feel in your stomach and not just in the head and the heart!"

http://www.resilience.org/stories/2017-12-01/start-small-the-story-of-bec-hellouin-permaculture-farm/

South Korea fired a lot of American munitions into a spot in the water, 6 minutes after North Korea fired off that ICBM. That will show them!

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-12-01/south-korea-unveils-plan-strike-north-korean-missile-launchers

North Korea says it is ready for nuclear war with the US. (What else can they do, but get ready?)

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-12-01/north-korea-says-it-morally-ready-war-us

John Kerry says that prior to 2015 nuclear deal to limit Iranian nuclear projects to strictly civilian uses, Israel and Saudi Arabia were pushing hard for the US to attack Iran militarily.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-12-01/john-kerry-israel-and-saudi-arabia-urged-preemptive-us-strike-iran-prior-nuclear-dea

"The Honolulu Police Department has sent a series of letters to local medical marijuana patients that directly orders them to surrender their firearms or, presumably, face state sanctioned violence to remove them." (That's Honolulu, not the Puna. This is some kind of experiment, right?)

http://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/surrender-your-firearms-hawaii-police-plan-to-confiscate-guns-from-all-medical-marijuana-users_11292017

Mad Hatter

Super Imperialism Revisited

Colonized,

In 1972 Michael Hudson wrote a book called "Super Imperialism" http://michael-hudson.com/books/super-imperialism/ . Nixon had taken the US off the gold standard the year before, which was seen as a loss for the US (ran out of gold). What was developing by default was a change from global Gold-Standard to global US Treasury Debt Standard, for international trade. Hudson's book showed how this apparent loss would actually enable extractive financial imperialism, as long as the conjured dollars kept being accepted by the world for real things like oil and Toyotas. Hudson's book sold best in Washington. He was hired-on to advise the Pentagon. He hadn't anticipated that role. His book became the shop manual for dollar based financial imperialism, whereby the US military's global reach was paid for by the subjugated world. It was made clear, early on, to Saudi Arabia, that they could charge whatever they wanted for oil, as long as they invested the proceeds back into US Treasuries. Hudson maintains here that all major wars of the 20th century were caused or greatly exacerbated by US financial policy; Great Depression, too. This is a huge claim. I think he proves it well. I can't really excerpt this essay. It is all excellent and illuminating. There is no fat to cut out. Now, the extraction of wealth has proceeded so far as to hollow out the US economy, while the US has destroyed any economy that tried to flee the extractive system (Iran, Iraq, Libya, etc.) Russia, China and Iran are setting up a parallel trade system, not so extractive. China is seen as the major long-term competitor in this century. (You and I are chattel property.)     Please Read!

https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/11/29/monetary-imperialism/

Nat Hagans explains real economy. Profoundly compliments Hudson's view.

When the 2016 dollar price of a barrel of oil goes from the long term average of $20/bbl up to $150/bbl, the equivalent number of energy-slaves decreases from 22,000 to 3,000. 

http://www.resilience.org/stories/2017-11-30/gdp-jobs-and-fossil-largesse

How a North Korean Electromagnetic Pulse Attack could Kill Millions and Turn America into a Post Apocalyptic Wasteland (Mutual Assured Destruction Returns!)

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/how-a-north-korean-electromagnetic-pulse-attack-could-kill-millions-and-turn-america-into-a-post-apocalyptic-wasteland

According to multiple reports in Middle East regional sources, China plans to send elite military units to Syria to advise and assist the Syrian Army in an attempt to root out the country's terrorist insurgency, especially Chinese Islamist foreign fighters who have shown up in increasing numbers in Syria's north since the start of the conflict.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-11-29/china-deploy-elite-troops-syria-fight-alongside-assads-army

Debbie's lost laptop looks like Pandora's box. 

A lawyer for former DNC IT staffer Imran Awan is scrambling to block evidence found on a hidden laptop which may contain proof of a massive spy ring operating at the highest levels of Congress, in what may be the largest breach of National Security in U.S. history.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-11-30/dnc-lawyer-scrambles-block-evidence-hidden-laptop-tied-wasserman-schultz

Those darned, bee-killing neonicotinoid pesticides make migrating birds get lost and lose weight and get confused. Ban 'em!

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/nov/29/common-pesticide-can-make-migrating-birds-lose-their-way-research-shows

Wandering Warbler

Permanent Stability

Considering Inaction,

North Korea has tested an ICBM that can hit the world, including all of the US. Some say that this might be an opportune time to talk about things, since they have an EMP-creating warhead to go with it.. 

Naaah!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/could-north-koreas-missile-test-lead-to-talks-some-see-a-slight-opening/2017/11/29/412e4b78-d509-11e7-9461-ba77d604373d_story.html?utm_term=.5aca2bb093ce

Various report suggest that the North Korean government is initiating bitcoin mining operations to utilize its excess supply of coal. Due to its ongoing conflict with the US and its allies, the UN imposed stronger sanctions against North Korea, restricting its shipping and international sale of coal and other resources. As a result, researchers believe that North Korea is allocating its resources which the country can no longer sell to bitcoin mining, to create a more liquid asset that can be sold and traded overseas.

https://bitconnect.co/bitcoin-news/742/north-korea-allegedly-mining-bitcoin-with-excess-coal

Bitcoin already uses more electricity than 159 countries, including North Korea, even including Ireland, and has increased that by about 28% in the last month.

https://powercompare.co.uk/bitcoin/

Kunstler says to get out of Bitcoin while it's up. (It topped $11,000 this morning. Also, confiscating Bitcoin could be an economic sanction against North Korea.)

"Pardon me if I seem skeptical about the whole scheme. Even without Bitcoin bringing extra demand onto the scene, America’s electrical grid is already an aging rig of rags and tatters. There are a lot of ways that the service could be interrupted, perhaps for a long time in the case of an electric magnetic pulse (EMP). I’m not convinced that crypto-currencies are beyond the clutches of government, either... There are already over 1300 private cryptos and, apparently, a theoretically endless ability to create ever new ones — though the electricity required does seem to be a limiting factor. Maybe governments will shut them down for being energy-hogs. My personal take on the phenomenon is that it represents the high point of techno-narcissism — the idea that technology is now so magical that it over-rides the laws of physics. That, for me, would be the loudest “sell” signal."

http://kunstler.com/clusterfuck-nation/exit-sign/

Selling-short the risk for market losses, on the assumption that "the Fed's got your back" has been a big winning play in the markets for the past 8 years, because, the Fed had "the market's" back. (That's not a market, by the way.) The VIX, "volatility index", "fear index", has gone down-down-down. So have the returns from that bet. (Are you final suckers shorting VIX yet?) This does not merely stand to wipe out the VIX shorters...

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/when-one-of-historys-greatest-trades-finally-blows-up-it-could-get-ugly-all-over-2017-11-27

David Stockman on the current Republican tax plan, which cuts a bit for everybody through 2019, to boost Republicans in 2020 elections, and fades to nothing for most people quickly after that, with only the lovely corporate tax cut not fading out.

"That's right. The great Republican "tax cut" slithers off the stage in 2027 raising taxes by a net of $75 billion on individual filers, $123 billion on business filers (aside from the corporate rate cut) and $4 billion on international companies... 

The bottom 30 million tax filers would get an average "tax cut" which amounts to the grand sum of $1.15 per week----and, no, we did not omit any zeros. Similarly, the next 30 million filers would only get $7 per week; and the middle quintile----the 30 million tax filers between $55,00 and $95,000 per year and the heart of the middle class----- would get just $17 per week of tax relief in 2025. That is, before it all disappears into the sunset!"

http://davidstockmanscontracorner.com/the-gop-tax-bill-fuggedaboutit/

Nobody can agree to what Brexit will cost the UK, or the EU, or other trading partners. It does appear to have cost 300 million pounds a week since the June 2016 vote, though, and it has not yet even happened.

http://voxeu.org/article/300-million-week-output-cost-brexit-vote

Brexit requires that one treaty or another be broken. There cannot be an open border between Ireland and Northern Ireland when Britain leaves the EU, unless Northern Ireland reunifies with Ireland, or the EU ends, or something like that.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/nov/27/irish-question-save-britain-brexit-leo-varadkar

"The aggression against the Syrian state initially saw a compact front comprising the United States, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Qatar, Jordan, Israel, France and the United Kingdom. All were at the forefront of arming, training, financing, assisting and treating the injured of the tens of thousands of terrorists sent to Syria. It was a destabilization operation with few precedents in history.... (Two important changes:) Donald Trump becoming president of the United States. Leaving aside all the negatives related to his presidency, his victory has ensured that there is no direct intervention in Syria against Assad and against Russia. This is in contrast to what would have happened had Clinton won the election, the former Secretary of State prepared to trigger a regional conflict between the great powers by giving the order to shoot down Russian planes in Syria... The other event that has upset the balance of power in the region concerns the events that have occurred in Turkey over the last two years. Both the failed coup and the downing of the Russian fighter plane played an important role. The turning point was reached with the reconquering of Aleppo, which indicated a clear military failure by the opposition to overthrow Assad. Erdogan faced an unavoidable choice: support the terrorists and have to deal with a Kurdish enclave on the Syrian border; or reach a peaceful solution with the Russian Federation... What we see is a Middle East that is trying to restore a regional order that is practical and functional. Meetings in Sochi between Turkey, Russia and Iran aim precisely to achieve this. In this scenario, Washington's absence is notable... MBS's domestic actions, together with Netanyahu's threats to Iran and Hezbollah, reveal a refusal to acknowledge defeat as well as, in the case of MBS, an extreme attempt to avoid losing control of the country. For Israel, the problem is more complicated. Already in 2006 it was unable to defeat Hezbollah, and now Hezbollah is more developed, better trained, and better able to inflict damage on the Jewish State. Saudi and Israeli military leaders are more than aware that they do not have the ability to defeat Iran or Hezbollah and that only Washington's direct involvement would be able to change the course of events... The new Middle Eastern order coincides with the near-end of the conflict in Syria and the intention to find a political solution to the conflict by pacifying all parties. It is a solution that is increasingly successful, especially in light of Turkey's abandonment of the anti-Assad front. Moscow is slowly replacing the US as the fulcrum in the region and beyond, solving conflicts and accompanying the progressive withdrawal of US military and economic influence in the region."

https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2017/11/28/end-syrian-war-beginning-new-middle-eastern-order.html

Last words upon loss of appeal of 20 year prison sentence, to judge at court in the Hague:

“I just drank poison,” he said. “I am not a war criminal. I oppose this conviction.”

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-11-29/bosnian-croat-war-criminal-dies-after-drinking-poison-hague-court

Finalizing Solution

Truth Of Expensive Freedom

Ghosts of Christmas Past,

The Christmas Truces of WW-1 were effectively crushed by the military machines, after the souls of men called for peace on Earth. David Stockman looks clearly at the forces we toil to serve today, the "military, industrial, congressional complex", which enforces war on Earth.

"What should have happened is that Bush the elder should have declared "mission accomplished" and slashed the Pentagon budget from $600 billion to $200 billion; demobilized the military-industrial complex by putting a moratorium on all new weapons development, procurement and export sales; dissolved NATO and dismantled the far-flung network of US military bases; slashed the US standing armed forces from 1.5 million to a few hundred thousand; and organized and led a world disarmement and peace campaign, as did his Republican predecessors during the 1920s... Iran has only a tiny fraction of Israel's conventional military capability. And compared to the latter's 200 odd nukes, Iran has never had a nuclear weaponization program after a small scale research program was ended in 2003...Houthis forces now in control of substantial parts of Yemen are not some kind of advanced guard sent in by Tehran. They are indigenous partisans who share a confessional tie with Iran, but which have actually been armed by the US... "

http://davidstockmanscontracorner.com/christmas-2015-why-there-is-no-peace-on-earth/

Social media is real enough in its own terms, but it is not a substitute for real relationships and positive social roles. Perhaps this is the addictive pull of social media: the idea that we can substitute a carefully controlled social-media substitute (avatar) for our less-than-perfect real-world self. If Facebook vanished, our "real" lives would still be intact. If we turned off our phones and social media, how much would we miss them in a week, or a month? How much "smaller" would we become? What would we lose, and how much of ourselves would we lose? What might we gain that's been lost?    Charles Hugh Smith on our new controlling addiction to those little screens, the new Menthol-Cigarettes...

http://www.oftwominds.com/blognov17/mobile-addiction11-17.html

Looking at the end of Net-Neutrality. More rent and more mind control make for good business opportunities. The internet commons is about to be like Las Vegas.

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2017/11/thankful-internet-know-may-not-exist-much-longer.html

Bitcoin mining (keeping Bitcoin working) consumes more electricity than do 159 individual countries. At this rapid rate of increase, Bitcoin will use all the electricity in the world ny Valentine's Day 2020. (We need Artificial intelligence to run this show soon, and save us all.)

https://powercompare.co.uk/bitcoin/

President Trump throws another small wrench in the works, following Sochi peace talks for the middle east, which the US did not attend. President Trump, talking to Turkish President Erdogan. vows not to arm the Kurdish nationalist armies in the area. US military has no immediate comment, but appears to be able to route the weapons through various alphabet-soup-freedom-fighters, anyway. No Peace on Our Watch!

http://www.moonofalabama.org/2017/11/trump-wants-peace-with-erdogan-the-miltary-wants-to-sabotage-it.html

More history of Syria, Lebanon, Iran, Israel and the US: "Cheney wanted far more sites in Syria hit than the bogus nuclear plant. In his memoirs, the then-secretary of defence, Robert Gates, observed that Cheney was “looking for an opportunity to provoke a war with Iran”.

https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/11/22/syria-experts-and-george-monbiot/

Sudanese army "mercenaries" are taking a lot of casualties in Yemen, after their President looks for a way out, having just survived an assassination attempt. "Coalition" collapsing.

Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir has been dubbed "president of the mercenaries" for accepting over $2.2 billion from Saudi Arabia and Qatar in order to provide canon fodder for the Saudi ground war in Yemen in the form of thousands of young Sudanese troops, but he's threatening revolt. To escape his untenable position, he is reportedly seeking help from Putin.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-11-26/saudi-coalition-crumbles-yemen-sudanese-mercenaries-front-lines-foreign-officers-pro

Pat Buchanan compares the illegal US/Saudi starvation-blockade of Yemen to the US/UK starvation-blockade of Germany during and right after WW-1. It is the worst humanitarian crisis in our current world, your tax and gasoline dollars at work.

http://buchanan.org/blog/us-saudi-starvation-blockade-127888

Repudiating our Tyrants