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September 22, 2019
The MoA Week In Review – OT 2019-55

Last week's posts at Moon of Alabama:

Related:
Fake news and pure war propaganda from the Wall Street Journal:
Yemeni Rebels Warn Iran Plans Another Strike Soon
The information has been passed along to the Saudis and the U.S., according to people briefed on the warnings

>BEIRUT — Houthi militants in Yemen have warned foreign diplomats that Iran is preparing a follow-up strike to the missile and drone attack that crippled Saudi Arabia’s oil industry a week ago, people familiar with the matter said.

Leaders of the group said they were raising the alarm about the possible new attack after they were pressed by Iran to play a role in it, these people said.<

The only named source in the piece is the Houthi spokesman who fully denies the above nonsense.

Related:
Irony of Pilot Laying Blame On Pilots in Boeing 737 Max Disasters – Christine Negroni
Crash Course – How Boeing's Managerial Revolution Created The 737 MAX Disaster – New Republic

Related:
One of those U.S. generals who are borderline lunatics:
Former SEAL, SOCOM boss McRaven says we’re going to be in Afghanistan ‘for a very long time’ – Military Times

>“I’ve said we have to accept the fact — I think we do — that we’re going to be there for a very long time,” he said. “Is it forever? I don’t think anything’s for forever. But does that mean that we will lose more young men and women? Does that mean we’re going to spend another billions of dollars? I think it does.”
…
“And people have asked me before, ‘Well, we can’t be the policemen of the world.' The hell we can’t,” he said. “I think this is what American leadership is about. You have to recognize that our interests are no longer just in the borders of the United States.”<

Other issues:

A corpocrat marketing campaign is trying to sell us some Swedish girl as a savior. But its real purpose is to further enrich the 0.1%:
Just Say No to Fake Action – Art for Culture Change – Wrong Kind Of Green
The Manufacturing of Greta Thunberg – for Consent: The Behavioural Change Project “To Change Everything” [Volume II, Act V] – Cory Morningstar – Wrong Kind Of Green

Immigrants as a Weapon: Global Nationalism and American Power – Yasha Levine

PROGRESSIVE REGRESSION Metamorphoses of European Social Policy (pdf) – Wolfgang Streek – new left review

A long but important read:
“World at a Crossroads and a System of International Relations for the Future”
by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov for “Russia in Global Politics” magazine, September 20, 2019

>The West’s unwillingness to accept today's realities, when after centuries of economic, political and military domination it is losing the prerogative of being the only one to shape the global agenda, gave rise to the concept of a “rules-based order.” These “rules” are being invented and selectively combined depending on the fleeting needs of the people behind it, and the West persistently introduces this language into everyday usage. The concept is by no means abstract and is actively being implemented. Its purpose is to replace the universally agreed international legal instruments and mechanisms with narrow formats, where alternative, non-consensual methods for resolving various international problems are developed in circumvention of a legitimate multilateral framework. In other words, the expectation is to usurp the decision-making process on key issues.<

Use as open thread ….

Posted by b on September 22, 2019 at 13:58 UTC | Permalink
Comments

@bevin #113
Climate is definitely changing.
However, the real problem is that the solution is extremely unclear.
Energiewende has failed. Solar and Wind technologies are useful at the fringe, but blackouts are showing that they are not suitable for modern living.
The logical outcome is to then regress – in energy usage, in lifespan, in human reproduction/population growth, etc.
But who gets to choose for everyone?
I’m perfectly happy if the most ardent eco-warriors choose to not reproduce and revert to pre-industrial lifestyles – but the problem is that they’re advocating everyone else do that even as these stalwarts flit around in multi-million dollar yachts and private planes.
This underscores that the resolution must be political, and furthermore that there is not the interest, much less the will, to undertake the more extreme forms of mitigation – regardless of whether disaster is likely (it is not).
The ecological movement has allowed the terrorists among them to try to scare everyone to go their own way, but it isn’t working and it won’t work.

Posted by: c1ue | Sep 22 2019 23:45 utc | 101

@113 bevin
Thank you. That’s a very useful view. Still pondering it all.
I’ve long said that the best individual response to climate crisis lies not in better habits of consumption but in getting involved politically.

Posted by: Grieved | Sep 22 2019 23:49 utc | 102

@Clueless Joe #116
As I noted in my response to bevin’s post – the problem is political.
Forcing everyone to do what a few want is certainly neither democratic nor liberal. The progress of climate mitigation to date has made it very clear that only a minority think it important enough to act.
Equally, the mouthpieces of the climate panic-mongering movement are immensely hypocritical – flying around the world to fancy hotels for their meetings.
“Do as I say, not as I do” rarely works.
Furthermore, the notion that renewable technologies, as they exist today, can/will solve the problem is ridiculous. They’re extremely expensive, they’re not reliable, they’re untested for even medium term usage, the list goes on and on.
The fracking report I post above – that’s an example of technological innovation that works. And while cheap credit has certainly fueled the oil side of shale, that cheap credit has been available for renewables also while the renewables have had enormous subsidies heaped on them in addition. And even then, they’re still not making significant headway after decades of government intervention.
So, even were I to agree that “something must be done” – that something is very unclear and the mandate to do so is completely absent.

Posted by: c1ue | Sep 22 2019 23:52 utc | 103

@Bonborg #114
You keep repeating a Scientific American article like it is a holy relic.
Frankly, it is irrelevant what any company’s research said.
Provide proof on the billions that Exxon or whoever has spent to deny climate change – in the form of budgets of contrary organizations or some other verifiable data, and that these billions are over and above the billions which the eco-charities, the solar industry, the wind industry, the research industry etc are spending, then you will have provided useful information.
Otherwise, your Twitter-like posts simply aren’t credible.

Posted by: c1ue | Sep 22 2019 23:55 utc | 104

Thanks for the link to Cory Morningstar – Wrong Kind Of Green, that is a very interesting read.

Posted by: aspnaz | Sep 23 2019 0:02 utc | 105

@119 frances
In my circles, we have always said, let the allopaths do the diagnosis – at which they’re generally pretty good – but then let the naturopaths do the cure. And this for the obvious reasons, that the allopaths are focused on sickness, while the naturopaths are focused on wellness.
Nowadays, I don’t know how much I’d trust the allopaths even with the diagnosis, since the medical industry in the west is such a corporatized affair anymore. But let that pass.
In my Buddhist studies – which are founded on the nature of reality, I should say, although this may not be obvious – my teacher speaks of the gross body, and the subtle body at the root of it. These concepts are not something that one’s local doctor is going to be able to help with. One has to turn to older and wiser bodies of understanding.
I always thought that if I were to get ill I would turn to Chinese medicine for a second opinion, and then pay a lot of attention to dietary advice.
Most of this comment is probably useless to someone with an illness, because I’m sure they hear useless advice all the time from relatively well people. This is why I aimed it at you rather than those who are ill. I don’t want to be useless, but I would like at least to have put the point of view out there, in case it serves in some way.

Posted by: Grieved | Sep 23 2019 0:09 utc | 106

@Posted by: Jen | Sep 22 2019 23:08 utc | 110
You are right, that is exactly the point.
Greta, “the kids”, are right to strike and complaint, but can anyone of those who claim we want to “throw the baby with the bathwater” explain why “the Gretters” do not demonstrate and strike on terms of the frozen or misery wages of their parents, and increasing insecurity related to jobs, housing, health care, and interminable wars which cause genocides without end and international terrorism?
Or is it that they all belong to upper middle class? Who “the kids” really represent?
I mean those who, along with Greta, have been recruited to this end, as leaders of the other kids who just move by the force of fashion spread by Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp and the possibility to get another day out of school?
Those who minimize the importance of this well researched, well documented report and banalize what it is being mounted here, in front of our eyes, I think have neither read the report nor are going to read it ever…For the simply reason its gives the coup the grace to the same capitalist elites who keep plundering us and profitting from our effort since the end of WWII, but especially flagrant since the fall of the USSR….
The thing is that much before climate change arrives, hundreds of thousands of people will be died for insecurity conditions at job, car accidents during job displacements, pathologies derivated from stress caused by insecurity of life at all levels ( like cardiovascular events, cancers…), while others will die of cold in our streets and i nfront of our very eyes, or of pure disgust in crude abandonement by governments and institutions because of too ill, too poor, or simply too incapable of adapting to the high requirements of this capitalist machine.
When Greta, and “the kids”, raises her/their voice for these causes too, I may be willing to join one of this “climate strikes”… but with the condition WWF, Greenpeace or Sweden Resources Institute do not go amongst the banner promoters…But I fear Greta will never do…

Posted by: Sasha | Sep 23 2019 0:13 utc | 107

reply to
Posted by: Grieved | Sep 23 2019 0:09 utc | 126
Thank you for your insights.
I have been fortunate in my gene pool’s selectivity, never been sick, never in hospital and now at a reasonably advanced age able to run an international business and have ample energy at the end of the day.
I have great respect for Reki healing, Chinese medicine and Ti Che.
But as my health has never provoked a challenge to any of these therapies, I can only attest to my fondness for them.
Thank you again:)

Posted by: frances | Sep 23 2019 0:19 utc | 108

The Greta shindig strikes me as just another pet rock craze designed to create diversion from the real tragedy – and suck up more of the muppet’s remaining coin. The real problem is increasing and perhaps irreversible damage from pollution. While the Greta pets stir up the is=it=or=isn’t climate [change] war of words, living things keep on dying. More and more of them. How many animals, birds, insects, people have died in the recent Amazon-Burn-For-Bucks in Brazil ? (major financer: Blackstone – our good old Murkan boy) Well, that’s trivial. It’s just bizznezz. Articles I read today: David Swanson on depleted uranium in Iraq. DU has a half life of 4.5 billion years. Who’s going to clean that up? Go ahead = look at the photos of appalling birth defects. But this is nothing new. Boy Clinton field tested DU in Kosovo. And how many lost friends to the “Gulf War Disease” ? Raise your hand. I did. Another read for today: Michael Snyder as posted on Zero Hedge. There are 30% fewer birds in Murka now than in 1970. Birds are helpful for what? Pollination and pesky insect control. No worries. You can just use more Raid and eat synthetic cheese burgers made out of petroleum. Here’s another one with which B should have some familiarity. The flying insect population in Germany has decreased by 76% since 1982. Flying insects include bees which are good for????
OK OK What to do. Well maybe we can send a letter to Warren Buffet. The most commonly found plastic container in the world’s great wash of pollution is – Coke bottles. To my knowledge, Uncle Buffy has paid not cent one to clean up after his profits. Or = maybe = each and every person could take a little personal initiative and stop buying plastic. And refuse to go half way around the world to poison people who have never done them harm. Why is it that no one wants to talk about that?
Free Julian – and a big shout out to the Smothers Brothers. I know I know. You’re all going to tell me to shut up and go plant I tree. I think I will.

Posted by: Miss Lacy | Sep 23 2019 0:20 utc | 109

S @105–
Thanks for your reply! What do you think of Grieved’s thought that The interview is meant to build on the Persian Gulf Collective Security proposal, then Lavrov’s essay which itself is built upon Putin’s remarks and formulations over the past year, particularly his announcing the demise of Liberalism?

Posted by: karlof1 | Sep 23 2019 0:20 utc | 110

typo!
That should read Tai Chi in my post above

Posted by: frances | Sep 23 2019 0:27 utc | 111

The Climate Denialism here is extraordinary. Here we see the supid pretending to be smart. Ah, “Contrarians For the Powerful” and the love of kicking down.

Posted by: witters | Sep 23 2019 0:49 utc | 112

@ 100 said;”You let the dogs out b.”
How true that statement is. I’m ROFLMAO.. Thanks to all the new posters, I needed your particular brand of humor today.
Everything is just fine, nothing to see here, just move along..

Posted by: ben | Sep 23 2019 0:50 utc | 113

Posted by: KC | Sep 22 2019 19:52 utc | 69
Otherwise we’re all just massive hypocrites for taking a flight and still bitching about “big oil” right?
Right. Our lifestyle generates demand for fuel. If you live in the city and every day you eat your recommended amount of fresh fruits and vegetables, you are part of the problem. You have to understand that “big oil” is a business as every other – with no demand they will go bankrupt due to lack of sales revenue. But those trucks need to keep delivering goods to your local supermarket don’t they?
The Russia/Gazprom nonsense is absolutely irrelevant to the argument, but it did accomplish one thing – rendering any future post from you unreadable and discredited in advance.
That’s like, your opinion, dude…but don’t be rude.
Seriously, you made it *that* obvious that you or a family member work for “big oil”
OMG I am totally busted. You are quite a Sherlock I say…
Seriously, all that talk about CO2 as the main culprit for ‘climate change’ is just stupid. The real problem is destruction of natural habitat that we humans cause. Look at the deforestation that happens in Madagascar and Indonesia and elsewhere to grow oil palms. Look at destruction of wetlands (swamps) to make it habitable by humans (Florida for example). When you pave the paradise and put the parking lot, that is what changes the climate, not the CO2 we exhale and CH4 we fart.

Posted by: hopehely | Sep 23 2019 0:55 utc | 114

Unnoticed in all the chatter over the Climate Crisis is all the discussion that occurred over the weekend at the UN that continues into this week as the 74th UNGA enters its week for General Debate. Some might be interested in the basic agenda, or how the PRC views the upcoming “Global political calender” that recaps some of last year’s event. Today marks the anniversary of the 1980 Outlaw US Empire instigated invasion and war by Iraq on Iran that Iranian President Rouhani commemorated by announcing his upcoming Coalition for HOPE: Hormuz Peace Endeavour he will detail during his presentation at the UNGA this week. And here’s China’s CGTN 80min interview with Zarif.
Yes, the coming week will be filled with lots of information and analysis, most of it ignored by 5-Eyes BigLie Media. I anticipate a concerted effort by those presenting for Iran, Russia, China at minimum–perhaps joined by Turkey, Syria and Qatar–led by Rouhani to formally announce a peace proposal modeled on Russia’s proposal for the Persian Gulf region. As the agenda outline I provide above notes, Trump is the #2 speaker on the opening day, Tuesday. He may try to avoid being wrong-footed and come off as a peace seeker after his sudden change of tack as announced by Pompeo.
And as Houthi Mediaa notes, there’re no signs that the Outlaw US Empire and its Saudi satrap are willing to talk peace as they continue their attacks. So, it’s very possible Ansarullah will attack again, thus lending some impetus to the UNGA Debate.

Posted by: karlof1 | Sep 23 2019 0:58 utc | 115

“The Fed on Wednesday poured another $75 billion into the market following a $53 billion rescue by the NY Fed on Tuesday. Overnight lending rates have suddenly spiked, and the Fed is acting to bring them back down to keep markets functioning smoothly.”
https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/18/business/ny-fed-overnight-lending-rescue/index.html
Here we go again?

Posted by: ben | Sep 23 2019 1:10 utc | 116

Patrick Cockburn weighs in on the “Saudi Attacks”:
The Saudi Arabia Drone Attacks Have Changed Global Warfare
Spells out the military argument well enough, which can be summarized by “Why is your shit so expensive when it does not work?” And all kind of obvious and well known too, many examples of expensive military shit that does/did not work, but greed leads to blindness to all but money. USA has a long tradition of highly expensive military shit that is defective, it has long been a favorite for Congress to spread patronage around to their friends.
You notice the MSM keep calling them the “Saudi Attacks”, even though the Houthis did them, so that they don’t have to admit the Houthis might be up to the job of making us look bad? Patrick avoids that, to be fair.

Posted by: Bemildred | Sep 23 2019 1:15 utc | 117

It ought to be noted that Putin has become a verified believer regarding Climate Change and the Crisis it presents. Same goes for the Chinese. Putin’s response is accelerating what are known as the National Projects, in particular the development of Russia’s Far East, which also serves to diversify Russia’s economy into one of resilience, which also happens to be China’s developmental aim. The UN’s Development Goals Program aims to get nations to adjust their economies in such a way so they become resilient in as many realms as possible and thus be as equipped as possible to deal with the effects of the Climate Crisis. As most ought to be able to envision, there’s no room for financialized capitalism of the Neoliberal sort in building resilient economies.

Posted by: karlof1 | Sep 23 2019 1:16 utc | 118

Posted by: Bonbong | Sep 22 2019 23:34 utc | 117
That’s the main reason I’m pessimistic about humanities’ survival. As was shown in the Princeton study, the rich make all the decisions for government (duh!), so probably nothing substantial will be done, since “something substantial” would affect the very underpinnings of capitalism.
Not capitalism but industrialization is the main terra-disfiguring force. The example is destruction of Aral Sea in USSR by diverting water from Amu Darya river to irrigate agricultural fields. No capitalism needed, socialism is also perfectly capable to make a damage.

Posted by: hopehely | Sep 23 2019 1:20 utc | 119

Posted by: karlof1 | Sep 23 2019 1:16 utc | 138
It ought to be noted that Putin has become a verified believer regarding Climate Change and the Crisis it presents.
What, he is halting the oil and gas production? I bet not…
But He Believes In The Change. Good.

Posted by: hopehely | Sep 23 2019 1:29 utc | 120

Let me try and break through some of the brainwashing I am reading here
Most forms of government are by definition, a form of socialism. Even those governments run by dictators that don’t have all under the dictator as slaves represent a form of communal social organization.
Think about that and think about how the military of a country is a projection of socialism….defense of the country and its citizens. At least that is the intent but in the US, where brainwashing is triumphant, the military no longer is for defense of the citizens but a projection of aggression and repression by those in control of the levers of global private finance, behind the auspice of freedom and democracy.
Further along this point, most countries are a mix of capitalism and socialism…mixed economies. China for example is reported to be 80% “capitalistic” and 20% “socialistic”. The key here is that China has a socialistic system of finance in contrast to the private finance Western forms of government.
People here spout ignorance by saying America is totally capitalistic when they drive on roads that are the result of socialism, live in towns or cities that are examples of socialism by providing governance/water/sewer/police/fire/education that are mostly socialistic. Provision of electricity for much of the US is socialism (BPA/TVA and where I grew up Tacoma Power). The USPS is socialism put in place by the founding fathers. Social Security Insurance (since rebranded by brainwashing) is socialism and was (still is) one of the most successful programs of socialism…but Reagan/Greenspan/Congress turned it from a standalone self-sufficient program into a budget football.
We are in WWIII over the issue of public/private finance which China and others are saying must be public and the brainwashed West are victims of their Plato’s Cave displays and don’t even think about the implications of having global private finance control the lifeblood of economic interchange.
Wake up and understand the benefits to society that can be had by making all of finance a public utility instead of a cult of global public repression, please and thank you

Posted by: psychohistorian | Sep 23 2019 1:39 utc | 121

@Posted by: karlof1 | Sep 23 2019 1:16 utc |
The more I admire Putin, I am far from considering he is The Oracle, or said other way, that he is always right.
I am really aware the poles are melting, but for a lot of people whose current living conditions will not allow them survive to see that happen, that sounds like a worrying of privileged people, that, we must conclude, Putin, and most of them MoA readership, are.
Many people will not reach age of retirement , as the age of retirement increases exponentially, and as we witness how they plan to tske over our pensions, those who will reach retirement in acceptable good shape will then languish with the crumbs the governments have allowed the capitalist vultures leave them with.. .. Why would these, unless they have children, worry for the climate change?
You here seem to me people who live way too much time without contacting firm terrain, I mean Earth, this is why so many RFLMAO with this issue and almost every other. In fact, most of you live from the MIC, hence you defense of Greta and her troupe of puppet masters. If you worried a bit about that poor girl you will be claiming for her to return to go surfing or whatever they do in Sweden in summer.. But the worst is her denaturalized mother…

Posted by: Sasha | Sep 23 2019 1:51 utc | 122

Count your lucky stars that Gretha is not as charming and enchanting as Samantha Smith (RIP).
Clearly, protecting the environment is sensible.
What is not clear is the actual intent of the 1%’s “Save the planet” project.

Posted by: FKA_Realist | Sep 23 2019 1:57 utc | 123

@karlof1 #130
I don’t see Shoygu’s interview building on the Persian Gulf Collective Security proposal. Firstly, because it doesn’t really touch on the issue, secondly, because it was published in MK. MK used to be a more serious newspaper, but in the past 15 years it has been slowly turning into a tabloid. You might have noticed the sidebar filled with stories of gruesome murders, showbiz drama and sports news. If the idea was to target foreign audiences, it would have been published by RT or TASS. If the idea was to simply publish an interview (for analysts), it would have been published by RIA Novosti (ria.ru) or Rossiyskaya Gazeta (rg.ru). For military audience, it would have been Zvezda (tvzvezda.ru). The choice of MK signals that the idea was to reach the widest possible domestic audience. Why, I don’t know. But it’s certainly not “a message to the West”.
I have no comment regarding Lavrov’s article as I have not read it yet.

Posted by: S | Sep 23 2019 2:19 utc | 124

From the WSJ w/o an account so not full story
”
Indonesian investigators have determined that design and oversight lapses played a central role in the fatal crash of a Boeing 737 MAX jet in October, according to people familiar with the matter, in what is expected to be the first formal government finding of fault.
The draft conclusions, these people said, also identify a string of pilot errors and maintenance mistakes as causal factors in the fatal plunge of the Boeing Co. plane into the Java Sea, echoing a preliminary report from Indonesia last year.
”

Posted by: psychohistorian | Sep 23 2019 2:44 utc | 125

The Outlaw US Empire is living up the name I’ve pinned on it. Sputnik reports Iran’s UNGA delegation’s been denied visas to attend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hopefully this act will spawn a massive international uproar as it should.

Posted by: karlof1 | Sep 23 2019 3:07 utc | 126

@ karlof1 146
Sputnik reports Iran’s UNGA delegation’s been denied visas
news report, Sep 19
Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani and Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif were both issued visas, a spokesman for the Iranian mission to the United Nations told Reuters. . .here

Posted by: Don Bacon | Sep 23 2019 3:18 utc | 127

@ karlof1 and Don Bacon with the conflicting reports about Iran representatives attending the UNGA
The Reuters report saying yes is dated the 19th
The Sputnik News report saying no is dated 00:18 23.09.2019(updated 01:52 23.09.2019)
Guess we will wait to read more detail/clarification

Posted by: psychohistorian | Sep 23 2019 3:30 utc | 128

First Brexit casualty: Thomas Cook, 600.000 tourists to get back home without compensation.
Sounds like a good start with getting green, no?
Next step would be to reintroduce local buses and trains!! State owned of course so that prices wld not be dissuassive as today.
I pray the Brexit gods of climate…

Posted by: Mina | Sep 23 2019 3:36 utc | 129

Tehran Times, Sep 22
Rouhani set to travel to New York on Monday
TEHRAN – President Hassan Rouhani is set to travel to New York on Monday to attend the annual United Nations General Assembly meeting, according to the president’s office. . .here

Posted by: Don Bacon | Sep 23 2019 3:45 utc | 130

uncle tungsten 94
Emulsifier 471. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mono-_and_diglycerides_of_fatty_acids
blastocystis hominis. Most people have it in their gut, but only becomes a problem when a person is weakened from other causes.
It was about ten years ago when I had it. This place at the time was the only place in the world that had developed a successful antibiotic treatment for it.
https://centrefordigestivediseases.com/parasites/
The bug blocks the uptake of molybdenum which is required for metabolising a number of chemical compounds in food into compounds the body can use. Some sugar compounds to glucose eg alcohol and fructose, sulfur compounds to sulphite eg onion garlic celery chives ect, nitrogen compounds found in green veg and some meat preservatives.
I found booze and onions – garlic ect were first to go followed by other sugars and lastly green veg.

Posted by: Peter AU 1 | Sep 23 2019 3:46 utc | 131

@ Peter AU 1 #87 and Jen #99

“A few years ago a run onto a news article on a doctor who had research some of the chronic fatigue type stuff associated with tick bite. It turns out some people develop an alergy to mammal products. This became a recognised medical condition about seven years after I first become ill.”

Several years ago i became allergic to red meat. Would have believed it to be food poisoning, because the symptoms were similar, however mine included extreme hives everywhere except the face and gratefully the groin area. A friend diagnosed what doctors couldn’t. I’d been bitten by the lonestar tic, which as the name implies used to reside mostly in east Texas. Now it’s range is the entire south and east coast from Florida to Maine. Thankfully for me the disease lasted less than the average, which is about two years, after being bitten and having not gotten bitten again in the interim.
Like the lyme disease you mention Jen and rocky mountain spotted fever, whose symptoms mimic Trailer Trashes’ above and the lonestar ticks are all biological crap produced by the american empire, in a place called Plum island, just off the tip of Long Island, NY. However, the closest mainland town is Lyme, Connecticut. There’s a book about the place called Lab 257
The best preventative for many diseases is pure clean water and plenty of it. We feed our bodies chemicals and need lots of water to balance those chemicals and keep them diluted. Once they get way out of balance, or concentrated, disease occurs more readily. I weigh about 180 pounds, so need at least ninety fluid ounces of water daily and that doesn’t include coffee, tea, or sodas, just plain unadulterated water. Practically the only thing i drink anymore.

Posted by: aye, myself & me | Sep 23 2019 3:51 utc | 132

The US sanctions on Iran and will get more punitive on Iran and also on others.
today . . .
“The thing we’ll be focusing on now is people that are violating the Iran sanctions, and issuing sanctions on third parties where we violations,” Mnuchin told Tapper. When asked if this would include placing sanctions on NATO allies, the secretary said, “If they violate it, absolutely.” . .here

Posted by: Don Bacon | Sep 23 2019 3:52 utc | 133

Thomas Cook’s top institutional investor with more than 5.5% equity stake is Chinese private equity fund Fonshu Group.
Yet another example of Chinese globalisation unbeknownst to many who believe they know better.

Posted by: donkeytale | Sep 23 2019 3:55 utc | 134

In Germany the government raised taxes of gasoline and electricity as a “climate package” and will put the money it gains into ‘incentives’ for the industry.
Taking money out of the pockets of the poor into the pockets of the corpocrats isn’t “green” policy.
Posted by: b | Sep 22 2019 15:25 utc | 6
——-
Magical thinking is a dominant form of thinking, regardless of particular political or ecological position (religious thinking by itself is magical, although religious people do not have to oppose logic, rationality etc.) Climate did change for the warmer, although not uniformly temporarily and geographically. This year we have seen scorching heatwaves in high Arctic, not to mention much more intense heat in Europe, The link to human generated CO2 seems solid too. That said, there is denialist magic and green magic.
Green magic is pursuit of aesthetically satisfactory energy. Burning coal etc. is “of course bad”, but nuclear energy is “worse”. Hydro is usually bad. Wind energy minces bats to shreds (allegedly). Solar is has fewest documented demerits, but it is also most expensive. The most moronic demand of many “green parties” is closing the nuclear power stations that already function. This stupidity is particularly glaring in Germany that could have cheaper and carbon free energy otherwise. German Greens also dislike Russia, perhaps because it provides carbon-based energy cheaply, liquified natural gas is presumably better as more expensive. Russia also oppresses the people of Crimea by agreeing with their demand to be in Russia, while democratic principles dictate total disregard for their wishes.
At least the meme of “hydrogen energy” is gone from “green magic”, although not necessarily for good reason. You see, many greenheads fantasized about pristinely clean hydrogen that would propel cars, airplanes etc. But where it would come from? Actually, hydrogen can be economically produced with nuclear power, and, say, hydrogen airplanes are feasible unlike the nuclear ones.

Posted by: Piotr Berman | Sep 23 2019 4:03 utc | 135

Correction: Fosun Group.

Posted by: donkeytale | Sep 23 2019 4:10 utc | 136

In response to the Houthi offer of a pause in hostility’s there is this Reuters report
”
CAIRO (Reuters) – Yemen’s Houthi movement said early on Monday that five civilians from one family were killed in air strikes by the Saudi-led coalition in Omran province in Yemen, according to the Houthi owned Al-Masirah TV.
Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis said the Saudi-led coalition carried out air strikes on a mosque that the family went to when the strikes began. Two children from the same family are missing, with searches for them going on under the rubble of the targeted mosque, the TV report said.
There was no immediate confirmation from Saudi Arabia.
”

Posted by: psychohistorian | Sep 23 2019 4:17 utc | 137

Trailer Trash 97
Re “I figured out that I am allergic to peanuts; they cause high adrenaline/noradrenaline for me, so it looks like a panic/anxiety attack or dehydration to the doctors, which confirms their suspicion that I need psychiatric help.”
You may have already done so, but if not, look up the relationship of magnesium and adrenalin. Adrenalin uses large amounts of magnesium. Magnesium is stored in body tissues, blood tests are meaningless.
Anger brings on adrenalin which draws on magnesium. If magnesium is short supply the anger is hard to control. For me this occurred most often in a doctors office when they started talking shit which was most of the time. At its worst ends in a full body seizure or full body cramp. Not a nice feeling. Hard to breath and so forth as all the muscles have cramped due I think to lack of magnesium.
I have often thought that for many of these type problems, Russian medicine may be worth looking into. Communist medical research I take it was more health oriented than profit oriented.
The drug the Russian tennis player was banned over, I forget its name, but it was to do with metabolizing magnesium and is commonly prescribed in Russian and former eastern block countries.

Posted by: Peter AU 1 | Sep 23 2019 4:22 utc | 138

from Thomas Cook’s 2018 Annual Report

2018 has been a year of mixed fortunes for Thomas Cook. Although we made considerable progress on strategy, achieving a number of important milestones, the year-end result was disappointing. A period of prolonged hot weather across our European markets in the critical last few months of trading exposed the fact that we have more to do to in the way we manage operational risk and execute the strategy in our key markets.
In many respects, it was a year of two halves. The business had a good first six months and delivered improved financial results in May. However, the summer heatwave impacted both customer and competitive behaviour, leaving our Tour Operator business with too many holidays left to sell in a heavily discounted environment. On revenues of £9.6 billion, up £574 million on the previous year, the Group delivered operating profit of £97 million, and net loss after tax of £163 million. . .here

Posted by: Don Bacon | Sep 23 2019 4:23 utc | 139

good read on Eurasia Future about how enviro policies push the world into greater conflict:
The Green Movement is a Pro-War Movement
Posted by: ziogolem | Sep 22 2019 21:55 utc | 90
Adam Garrie is a man of many cleverly crafted words:
It is here where the those in the green movement who are also anti-war must examine their conscience. Governments enacting supposedly pro-environmental policies end up either shutting down domestic energy producing industry or regulating it to such a degree that it becomes un-affordable. Because of this, green policies achieve the following (with or without the foreknowledge of the authors of those policies):
— Domestic energy production including oil, coal or even nuclear is shut down or regulated to the point of being non-viable
–Energy ends up being imported, often from developing countries that ironically have little to no environmental regulations at all
–Demanding on market trends, this process can end up costing the country vastly more than producing energy domestically
Read that a couple of times ziogolem and I can tell you it is a perfect strawman proposition. The green movement (if there were such a cohesive thing) is a mighty firm advocate of renewable energy transition. Not that Adam Garrie bothers to enunciate that aspect as it renders his proposition to the ridiculous. This entire story is premised on a one dimensional view. Perhaps Garrie is infatuated with Admiral Nelson.
War is a grotesque assault on the environment, it destroys people, huge amounts of infrastructure, employs polluting and environmentally expensive chemicals and machines that were derived at considerable environmental cost.
Adamn Garrie’s proposition in his journal is an abuse of intellectual honesty.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Sep 23 2019 4:26 utc | 140

Jen 99
Apparently there is no test for MMA. I had thought there was and asked a doc for a test just to confirm what I had already isolated through diet.

Posted by: Peter AU 1 | Sep 23 2019 4:33 utc | 141

from Soutfront
Saudi-led coalition warplanes carried out on September 21 dozens of airstrikes on Houthi-held areas in Yemen despite the peace initiative presented by the group a day earlier.
Brig. Gen. Yahya Sari, a spokesman for the Houthis, said that 39 airstrikes targeted several Yemeni provinces within 12 hours. . .here

Posted by: Don Bacon | Sep 23 2019 4:34 utc | 142

psychohistorian @157–
I provided a link to Houthi Media update on Outlaw US Empire-Saudi aggression @135 above. Since the offer to cease their attacks and negotiate, The US-Saudi aggression hasn’t ceased as you can check via earlier updates which are done daily.
It surprises me none that visas were denied; I was quite surprised that Zarif was allowed in, although his movements are extremely restricted. Rouhani’s announcement that he’ll propose a credible peace plan was published in RT, Chinese media, and who knows how many other outlets; so, to bar him from the UNGA would be seen as beyond egregious by the world’s nations. Indeed, if the denial of visas stays, I sure damn hope that the UNGA empties when Trump arrives to speak on Tuesday leaving just his vassals to applaud in the otherwise empty hall.

Posted by: karlof1 | Sep 23 2019 4:34 utc | 143

. Sputnik reports Iran’s UNGA delegation’s been denied visas to attend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
TEHRAN (Sputnik) – The United States refused to issue visas to a number of members of a delegation, accompanying Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to the UN General Assembly in New York, Parviz Esmaeili, the Iranian presidential office’s deputy chief of staff for communications, said on Sunday. . .here

Posted by: Don Bacon | Sep 23 2019 4:42 utc | 144

@ karlof1 about Iran at the UNGA this week
I just read at Reuters that Rouhani is slated to give his proposal for a regional consortium of defense for the Gulf region and what it didn’t say was that the implication if not outright extension of that is to exclude outside presence of “defense” nations and equipment.
The above is why I can see the US not wanting the UN to hear that proposal….but we will see.
I agree with your hope for UN delegate walking out on Trump speaking which I thought was on Monday but see is now slated for Tuesday.
Sad to read about further aggression by SA on Yemen and expect/hope Houthi to respond soon

Posted by: psychohistorian | Sep 23 2019 4:46 utc | 145

Thank you Peter AU 1 # 161, a colleague with CFS just did a two hour exercise at this clinic:
Physiologic, 334 Scottsdale Drive, Robina. Tel: 07-5578-7155
http://physiologic.com.au/
The process was to enable access to national health benefit and supplemented income. They are the only!! clinic in the bunya nut republic that is certified I am informed.
Check out the pawpaw seed remedy for Blasto hominus. Keeps them under control as they can rise up and slay thee.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Sep 23 2019 4:49 utc | 146

@ 165
Any “regional consortium of defense” would have to be commanded by one of its members, and the US is ready to step up. IOW forget it.

Posted by: Don Bacon | Sep 23 2019 4:49 utc | 147

This may be the session where the UNGA becomes outed for being the High Court of Empire and nothing more.
The bullying being pushed by the US on all nations about Iran should be a wake up call about how the world is run…..money/finance is the all…..How is Iran threatening the US? It is not but continues to threaten global private finance just like China and is easier to push around than China…..and all that oil……
Do folks yet understand that we are in WWIII? This is not your daddy’s war! All this proxy shit going on points back to global private finance versus NOT global private finance as I continue to try and explain here.
In the mean time the US Fed is backstopping one or more banks to the tune of billions and are reported to extend that backstopping from overnight to 2-week terms….to evolve to outright QE4 when necessary…..
Interesting time indeed…..

Posted by: psychohistorian | Sep 23 2019 5:02 utc | 148

Meanwhile world hegemon Washington is imploding with more Trump “crimes.” Speaker Pelosi’s new position that laws are needed to prevent future presidents from doing what Trump has allegedly done isn’t sufficient for the Dem impeachment advocates. Currently the furor is over a whistleblower report and a Trump phone call to Kiev, which go back to a previous Biden effort to control events in Ukraine regarding his son Hunter who had a corporate position there.

Posted by: Don Bacon | Sep 23 2019 5:10 utc | 149

my 2c
@113 bevin… thanks for your comment.. i found it a bit confusing and like @122 grieved, will have to read or ponder what you said more to get exactly what you are saying, some of it obvious, some of it convoluted as i read your comment/s..
@grieved.. thanks for your comments, and your viewpoint that some type of political action is ultimately required….
population control… who is talking about it? to me it is an important issue for anyone concerned about climate change.. stopping wars is also an important part of it.. i think it was @116 clueless joe who made a couple of very good comments around this.. if someone isn’t talking about these topics, then it’s unlikely they are really into and being environmentally friendly or conscious..

Posted by: james | Sep 23 2019 5:14 utc | 150

uncle tungsten 166
Have saved the link. Nearly fifteen years now since I have been able to work full time. I used to get short good periods where I could work normally for a short time. Went through a period of about years I could not work at all until I had isolated the tick problem and the other allergy. Now I can work off and on for short hours. Three relations in the medical proffesion telling me to apply for a disability pension but I go in to see about it and they want to put me on jobstart. I have work that is always waiting for me when I am up to it. Age pension not far away, but the way government are moving the age up, I often wonder if I can catch up with it or if government age raises will leave me in its dust.

Posted by: Peter AU 1 | Sep 23 2019 5:14 utc | 151

Unfortunately the UN General Assembly has no power, for example the dozens of UNGA resolutions against Israel have had no effect. . .listed here.

Posted by: Don Bacon | Sep 23 2019 5:15 utc | 152

thomas cook claiming bankruptcy effective immediately… 600,000 people affected.. recession anyone?

Posted by: james | Sep 23 2019 5:18 utc | 153

Thanks Don Bacon #169, I am enjoying watching the Dems attack their foot with a jackhammer. The Duran (caution right wing blatherhouse) has a great mocking interview between Alex and Alexander on the topic. They rightly mock Joe Biden as the fool that he certainly is.
Next I would like to see the Dems do a dopey on Eizabeth FAKE sioux warrior Warren.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Sep 23 2019 5:19 utc | 154

james 173: recession?? you can bet on it and it has been extant for a year at least. My barometer? commercial premises unleased and long term vacant. In the bunya nut republic this started in the outlier suburbs then gripped the inner circle of the cbd in one city. Comrades report same story in other cities. Rural centres have plenty of leases unfilled.
Another sign is delayed starts to high density construction. Some I have followed have been idle for two years and more. Medium density urban lots with high potential for ten plus dwelling units remain unsold for two years.
Recession is unfolding like a python.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Sep 23 2019 5:27 utc | 155

Re UN
A saudi was recently appointed – elected to the board that is responsible for nuclear inspections.
If Iran is not cleared by that crowd on their regular inspections, then UNSC snapback provisions come into force. This would put Russia and China in a difficult position. Expect the US to go this way in its war against Iran.

Posted by: Peter AU 1 | Sep 23 2019 5:29 utc | 156

@175 uncle tungsten.. thanks… things go in cycles, but capitalism seems to want only one cycle – boom to boom, with no bust..
karlof1 – is this the area you are from?
California’s chronic water overuse leads to sinking towns, arsenic pollution

Posted by: james | Sep 23 2019 5:36 utc | 157

@ uncle tungsten #175

“Recession is unfolding like a python.”

Loved the metaphor of a python, however i’m curious as to how they unfold exactly?
@ James #177
From what i’ve read kalof1 lives on the Oregon coast, north of Cali and in a town that begins with a ‘y’ i believe.

Posted by: aye, myself & me | Sep 23 2019 6:32 utc | 158

Peter AU 1 @ 158:
The drug is called meldonium aka mildronate and Maria Sharapova was taking it (once every three months under medical supervision) to help her heart recover from bouts of intense exercise and to compensate for magnesium deficiency. Sharapova also has a family history of diabetes.
On top of that, Sharapova’s parents were living in southeastern Belarus (then the Belarussian SSR) not far from Chernobyl when the nuclear disaster occurred there. Sharapova was born almost exactly twelve months later in Siberia. So there is a possibility that even before she was conceived, Sharapova may have been indirectly affected by radiation exposure.
Meldonium is made in a Riga-based factory owned by Grindeks company whose main shareholder is Kirovs Lipmans.

Posted by: Jen | Sep 23 2019 6:34 utc | 159

Sergei
Thanks for putting upinfo on the drug. I was too lazy to look it up.
Re the immunotherapy. The person I know that has a similar condition to myself has a son who is allergic to bee stings. They have put him through the immunotherapy course and it seems to be successful.
I suspect these are only developed for a small range of life threatening allergies.

Posted by: Peter AU 1 | Sep 23 2019 6:40 utc | 160

Jen 180
Thanks.

Posted by: Peter AU 1 | Sep 23 2019 6:44 utc | 161

@ Trailer Trash #68

“For more than 15 years I have been dealing with a devastating chronic illness called “myalgic encephalomyelitis”.

I’m no doctor Trailer Trash, but i stumbled upon an article from 2017 describing a tick born malady that kinda mimics yours and is tied to the ticks that cause Lyme disease. I implied in a post above that the first known american case of Lyme disease occurred in Lyme Connecticut in 1976. It’s a know fact america has been testing something secret on Plum island, since the mid 1950 and of course allegedly using nazi scientists too. All in the book on Lab 257, or Building 257, if you prefer. The ticks were never supposed to reach land, but did so by deer swimming the two miles to the island and returning with infected ticks. The policy on the island was to kill all deer, before they could return, however that policy was apparently not very effective.
Fortune’s article states some nasty things about Powassan encephalitis, which i’ll admit i’d never heard of before.

“Powassan encephalitis, a disease caused by Powassan virus, could become the next tick-borne epidemic in the U.S. If it does, it could surpass Lyme disease in its impact upon public health. Transmitted by the same tick that causes Lyme disease, Powassan encephalitis is fatal in about 10% of cases, and half of its survivors suffer permanent brain damage. Worse, there is no treatment or vaccine for it.
Since the discovery of the first and fatal case in Powassan, Ontario in 1959, only sporadic reports of Powassan encephalitis have occurred in southern Canada and some of the bordering U.S. states. But within the past 10 years, the number of reported cases has skyrocketed to more than 75 among 12 states, mostly in the densely populated U.S. Northeast. Massachusetts alone has reported 13 cases with three fatalities within the past three years.
Recent field studies in the Northeast have shown that as many as 5% of deer ticks are infected with Powassan virus. Millions of people are bitten by deer ticks each year, accounting for the more than 30,000 cases of Lyme disease and other tick-borne diseases annually reported by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). But we do not know what happens to all of the people who must be getting bitten by ticks infected with Powassan virus. The cases being reported are likely to be just the tip of an iceberg…
…Additionally, more field studies are needed to determine where ticks infected with Powassan virus occur within the U.S. so that physicians know where to look for human cases and people will know where to take greater precautions against tick bites. In order to do this, health agencies will need more staffing of medical entomologists who know how to collect and identify ticks.
A vaccine to prevent Powassan encephalitis could be made available by testing and approving the vaccine currently used in Europe to prevent a similar disease known as tick-borne encephalitis. These are closely related viruses and the existing vaccine should have efficacy against Powassan. Vaccines against tick-borne diseases have not been successful in the U.S. mostly because of medical liability costs. But the untreatable and much more serious nature of Powassan encephalitis should change the equation.”

There’s more to the story, but apparently the author wasn’t up on where, or what Plum island is about.
Best of luck with your disease, but i”m of the belief that our outlaw american empire, per usual is responsible for a passel of tick born diseases. Not only here in america but everywhere. T’was also reading about a new tick born disease in Mongolia that began around 2014 and 15. Could easily be other reasons i suppose, but with the shenanigans going on, on Plum island, who can be absolutely sure?

Posted by: aye, myself & me | Sep 23 2019 7:38 utc | 162

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