Thursday, November 30, 2017

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!

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. 

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

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.

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.

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

Wandering Warbler

Wednesday, November 29, 2017

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!

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.

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.

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."

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...

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!"

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.

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.

"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."

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.”

Finalizing Solution

Monday, November 27, 2017

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... "

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...
Inline image 1

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.

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.)

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!

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”.

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.

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.

Repudiating our Tyrants

Friday, November 24, 2017

Truth Less Ridiculous


Fact Checking,

Ron Paul: "No, Washington Post, it’s simpler than that. The tragedy in Yemen is the result of foreign military intervention in the internal affairs of that country. It started with the “Arab Spring” which had all the fingerprints of State Department meddling, and it escalated with 2015’s unprovoked Saudi attack on the country to re-install Riyadh’s preferred leader. Thousands of innocent civilians have been killed and millions more are at risk as starvation and cholera rage."

Insightful walk through the Saudi system of governance, now going through convulsive changes, by Moon of Alabama: The Saudi response to the competition of the Iranian system is a move towards more authoritarian rule. This is hoped to allow for more agile policies and responses. But the move breaks the traditional ruling system. It removes the sensible impediments to impulsive foreign policies. It creates the conditions for its very failure.

Mohammed Bin Salman is using mercenaries because, according to the Mail, Saudi soldiers might balk at torturing powerful men like Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, whom they’ve been saluting their entire lives. According to the Mail, Talal, who is (or was, until recently) one of the richest men in the world, has also been hung upside down and beaten.

During Wednesday's independence day celebrations in Lebanon, Prime Minister Saad Hariri was bizarrely photographed in what appeared to be in a warm and enthusiastic handshake with Iran's ambassador to Lebanon, Mohammad Fathali, while greeting dignitaries less than 24 hours after his plane touched down in Beirut following his bizarre two week detention in Saudi Arabia. The photograph is receiving a lot of attention and circulation on Arab social media as ironically during his initial televised resignation speech from Riyadh he cited Iranian meddling and rising influence, even going so far as to suggest he could be assassinated in a nefarious Iranian plot. Yet now he appears surprisingly overjoyed standing in front of the Iranian ambassador.
Inline image 1

Godwin's law states that "as an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Hitler approaches 1." Saudi Arabia's powerful, and controversial, 32-year-old Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman - who in just a few months has made more local (and foreign) enemies than most of his predecessors accumulated over a lifetime, decided he does not need to wait that long, and in a glowing interview with the New York Times' Thomas Friedman, which touched on everything from the accommodations of the Riyadh Ritz-Carlton, to the recent power grab anti-corruption campaign, to Donald Trump, to the Saudi social and religious revolution, called the Supreme Leader of Iran “the new Hitler of the Middle East”... Ominously, Bin Salman said in May that the kingdom would make sure any future struggle between the two countries “is waged in Iran." Now that Israel is openly on the side of Saudi Arabia in the upcoming middle-east war, said Iran-based "struggle" may be imminent.

It says here that the road from Tehran to Beirut is open the whole way fro the first time in a long time. Well, it's good to finally have the road open, again. Who could be against that? Time to get all sides to lay down arms and engage in political process in Syria and Iraq.
"Following the victory of the Syrian army and its allies over the “Islamic State” group in the town of Albu Kamal in the northeast of the country, the road has been opened for the first time since the declaration of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979 between Tehran, Baghdad, Damascus and Beirut and become safe and non-hostile to the four capitals and their rulers... The United States established a new rule of engagement in the east of the Euphrates, informing the Russian forces that it will not accept any ground forces (the Syrian army and its allies) east of the Euphrates River and that it will bomb any target approaching the east of the river even if the objective of the ground forces is to pursue ISIS."

According to official documents more than 1,700 U.S. troops are currently in Syria. The publicly announced number is only 500. "Temporary" forces make the up the difference. (Overall U.S. troop numbers in the Middle East have increased by 33% over the last four month. The numbers doubled in Turkey, Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE. No explanation has been given for these increases.)... New troops were added to the SDF during the last days when ISIS fighters escaped from the onslaught of Syrian and Iraq forces in Abu Kamal (aka Albu Kamla aka Bukamal). They fled northwards towards YPG/U.S. held areas. Like other ISIS fighters the U.S. helped to escape their deserved punishment these forces will be relabeled and reused... U.S. renamed the group into the "Syrian Democratic Forces" (SDF). Some Arab fighters from east Syrian tribes were added to it. These are mostly former foot-soldiers of ISIS who changed sides when the U.S. offered better pay. Other fighters were pressed into service. The people of the Syrian-Arab city Manbij, which is occupied by the YPG and U.S. forces, protested when the YPG started to violently conscript its youth... Nasrallah also said that the U.S. used electronic warfare measures to disable the radios of the attacking force. He said that it rescued fleeing ISIS troops. Nasrallah's accusations are consistent with reports from the ground... The U.S. has changed its rule of engagements and unofficially declared a no-fly zone for Russian and Syrian planes on the east side of the Euphrates. It says that it will attack any force that crosses the river to pursue ISIS. It is openly protecting its terrorists... A report in today's Washington Post is more specific. The fitting headline: U.S. moves toward open-ended presence in Syria after Islamic State is routed... No military handbook includes "presence" as a military mission. There are no rules for such an undefined task. The last time the U.S. used the term was in the early 1980s during the civil war in Lebanon. The task of U.S. troops stationed in Beirut was defined as showing military "presence"... 241 U.S. and 58 French soldiers died. U.S. military "presence" in Beirut ended... Baghdad is allied with Iran and Syria and it is pushing to regain control over all the border posts of Iraq, including those still held by the Kurds and used by the U.S forces. Several Iraqi militia who fought ISIS under Iraqi government command have announced their hostility to U.S. forces... The U.S. land supply route through Iraqi-Kurdish areas can thus be closed at any time... The mission of the 1,700+ U.S. troops in north-east Syria is undefined. Their supply routes are unsecured and can be blocked by its enemies at any time. The local population is largely hostile to them. All of the surrounding countries and entities have reasons to attain the end of any U.S. presence in the area as soon as possible. It would require a ground force that is at least ten-twenty times larger to secure the U.S. presence and its communication and supply routes... A recent speech at the Jewish Policy Center in Washington described The U.S. Military as a Zionist Organization. But like other such wish-wash, it fails to explain why unquestioned support for a colony of east-European racists in west Asia is of "American interest".

Nobody has claimed responsibility for this Egyptian mosque slaughter yet. Look for Israel to blame it on Palestinians. There were Sufis among the worshipers, regarded as "apostates" by Sunni hardliners. This is desperate, vengeful and harmful to everyone.
CAIRO (Reuters) - At least 115 people were killed on Friday when Islamist militants set off a bomb and opened fire on people attending prayers at a mosque in Egypt’s restive northern Sinai.

David Stockman was Reagan's OMB wunderkind. He knows, and he lays out the details here. It's only part-1, but it's a lot of coherent facts.
"The Senate Finance Committee tax bill is not supply side and it's not even a tax cut; it's a gimmick-ridden policy mongrel that smells to high heaven of political desperation and cynicism."

UK Parliament refuses to acknowledge that animals feel pain or emotion, which they have recognized under EU law since 2009. 
(They must be looking at American-style mass feedlot gulags with favor.)

What if they discovered a pain medicine that was as good as morphine and other opioids, but not addictive?
We've heard that sales pitch before. Dream-on. Impossible... Huh, you say what?
RU-1205 doesn't have a name yet, but is more effective than opium in multiple animal pain models, and not habituating. It has a completely novel mechanism of action. It's remarkably good against seizures, too. 
Prescription drug addiction is a huge cash-flow. Whoever invented this should fear for his life. Why is it even being discussed?
Oh, it's Russian... sigh, another attack on American business from Vladimir Putin.

Underwater kelp forest ecosystems are quickly disappearing worldwide, as the ocean warms, and humans eat things that eat long-spined sea urchins, the locusts of the deep..
“It’s like seeing a forest you once knew turn into a desert,” he says. “Not only do you lose all the trees, but all the smaller plants around them die, until there’s nothing left.”

We have lost the night. It is no more. Our bodies are sicker, fatter and weaker, and plants and animals are likewise confused.
Prof Kevin Gaston from the University of Exeter told BBC News that humans were "imposing abnormal light regimes on ourselves".
"Human vision relies on contrast, not the amount of light," he explained. "So by reducing contrast outdoors - avoiding glaring lamps - it is actually possible to have improved vision with less light.



Thanksgiving Morning Gardener

Tuesday, November 21, 2017

Getting Together

Tout Le Monde,


Get Together, 
The Youngbloods, 1967, Summer of Love

Love is but a song we sing
Fear's the way we die
You can make the mountains ring
Or make the angels cry
Though the bird is on the wing
And you may not know why
Come on people now
Smile on your brother
Everybody get together
Try to love one another
Right now
Some may come and some may go
We will surely pass
When the one that left us here
Returns for us at last
We are but a moment's sunlight
Fading in the grass
Come on people now
Smile on your brother
Everybody get together
Try to love one another
Right now
Come on people now
Smile on your brother
Everybody get together
Try to love one another
Right now
Come on people now
Smile on your brother
Everybody get together
Try to love one another
Right now
If you hear the song I sing
You will understand (listen)
You hold the key to love and fear
All in your trembling hand
Just one key unlocks them both
It's there at your command
Come on people now
Smile on your brother
Everybody get together
Try to love one another
Right now
Come on people now
Smile on your brother
Everybody get together
Try to love one another
Right now
I said, come on people now
Smile on your brother
Everybody get together
Try to love one another
Right now
Right now
Right now

Martial Law in Baltimore (not every neighborhood...)

The world is changing, but the west is clinging on to a unipolar vision of the world that has passed. It’s attempts to discard this changing reality in exchange for a western worldview expressed in their politics and media are so ungrounded, it’s comical as it is dangerous. This western bubble of reality laid down before the wests general public seems to hold up for now, although fragile and less and less by the day. Really, Russia again? Outside this western bubble however, credibility is lost daily as the west places itself on the sidelines of history.

Turkey threatens to remove NATO radar that spies on Iran, installed in 2012, if US threat to withhold F-35 fighters, due to Turkish acquisition of Russian S-400 antiaircrft missile systems is kept. Chess-Game! Thanks Eleni.

Is the Saudi-Israeli consortium driving the rest of the Mideast into a common bed?
Messy, messy, complicated, convoluted political, financial, military dealings.

Vladimir Putin meets with President Assad, and will speak by phone today to President Trump, ahead of summit in Sochi, where the real Mideast negotiations are taking place.

Russia's state-controlled Rosatom corporation - the same company implicated in the Uranium One scandal - said in a statement that there had been no radiation leak from its facilities. That changed when the Russian meteorological service (Rosgidromet) reported that it had detected record levels of radiation in the villages located in Russia's Ural region adjacent to Rosatom's Mayak plant for spent nuclear fuel. Some calculated that the radiation exposure levels were up to 1,000x higher than the normal rate.  

Update on Uranium-One Pay-to-Play, the scandal that still isn't ready for prime time, just the fake-news-room. (tick, tick, tick...)

From: European Central Bank
To: All Depositors in EU Banks: 
Since banking requires flexibility, we are sure that you will understand the removal of all protections from your deposited savings. 
Ciao!
Mario Draghi


Let's Get Together, Jefferson Airplane Takes Off, 1966

Love is but a song we sing,
Fear a way we die.
You can make the mountains ring,
Hear the angels cry.
Tho' the dove is on the wing
You need not know why.
Hey, people now,
Smile on your brother.
Let me see you get together,
Love one another right now.
Some will come and some will go,
We shall surely pass.
When the wind that left us here,
Returns for us at last.
We are but a moment's sunlight,
Fading on the grass.
Hey, people now,
Smile on your brother.
Let me see you get together,
Love one another right now.
Hey, people now,
Smile on your brother.
Let me see you get together,
Love one another right now.
If you hear the song I'm singing,
You will understand.
You hold the key to love and fear,
All in your trembling hand.
One key unlocks them both, you know,
It's at your command.
Songwriter: Chester Powers (aka "Dino Valenti" of Quicksilver)
Coming Undone

Monday, November 20, 2017

Demon Named "Separate"

Beset,

This weekend I participated in a meditation retreat with Anam Thubten, as I'm able to do each fall. About 70 other practitioners were there at the retreat center near a creek, close to Austin. Saturday afternoon Anam gave a homework assignment to find a personal demon and get better acquainted. 
Since I had been struggling regularly, with concepts of the world that made other people and animals "separate", the name of the Demon arose promptly. 
That identification reduced the strength of that mental concept for me. I still look at the world through my conceptual model. This is inherent to our species. Conceptual models are simpler to compute, than reality. 
However, I feel differently about all of the people and animals playing their roles and suffering and causing harm. 
I'm not so separate...

Declassified Israeli documents detail 60 year effort to remove Palestinians and other Arab peoples from the Jewish state, before their numbers grew too large to dominate. Thanks Eleni.

The Hell that is Gaza. 
If you will not leave completely, you will live in Hell. Bombs, blockade, psy-ops, and drug addiction...Thanks Eleni.  
("Separate" tells us to do whatever evil to others, like Palestinians, or caged pigs, because it serves our purpose, and we do not have to suffer the consequences ourselves.)

The Saudi plan to give up on the Palestinian cause, in return for Israeli and American support in waging war upon Iran. This best serves the "separate" interests of Israel, while all others will bear heavier and heavier consequences. (Such a deal!)

50,000 children in Yemen will have died this year of starvation, cholera and other disease, the lack of food, fuel and clean water, not the bombs and artillery. 
This sort of seems to serve the "separate" interests of Israel, maybe the House of Saud, maybe the US. Really, does it even do that?

According to the former Qatari Prime Minister, Qatar was in charge of the so-called “Syrian Dossier” on behalf of the US and Saudi Arabia, adding that he had access to both American and Saudi paperwork on the staging of a so-called “Syrian civil war.”... 
Doha wasn’t alone to show its supports to anti-Assad forces, as it was joined by the United States, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the UAE and Turkey itself. All this began back in 2007 after Israel suffered a humiliating defeat in South Lebanon, while being unable to overcome Hezbollah’s resistance in 2006. 

Ugo Bardi looks at historical patterns that correlate to mass exterminations of humans and other life forms. (Right now, other life forms are taking the big hit, which is not part of the analysis. Somehow, I think it should be.) Are we about to go through this again? Where are the edges of "separate" for those who make the decisions?

The concept which brought debtor's prisons to our world is alive and well in America. Student loan debt need to be more completely frightening in every way. If you don't make your payments, many states will revoke your professional license, so you can't work at all, and/or your driver's license, so you'd better live close to that McDonalds. 
Yeah, it seems to be working fine. No, nobody's keeping track...

Charles Manson has died in prison. "Natural causes", 83 years of age... Helter-skelter.


Transferred Prisoner