Since global warming ‘pause’ is widely accepted by scientists, it’s vital to ask if government will ‘pause’ its expensive use of taxpayer dollars to ‘cure’ it until picture becomes clearer-BBC News program, Andrew Neil, July 2013

.
“This is a vital policy issue since the strategy of this government and the previous Labour government to decarbonise the economy involves multi-billion pound spending decisions paid for by consumers and taxpayers, which might not have been taken (at least to the same degree or with the same haste) if global warming was not quite the imminent threat it has been depicted.” 

7/22/2013, “Andrew Neil on Ed Davey climate change interview critics,“ BBC, Andrew Neil  [Ed Davey was then UK “Energy and Climate Change Sec.”]

“The main purpose of the interview as to establish if the government thought the recent and continuing pause in global temperatures meant it should re-think its policies in response to global warming…. 

This is a vital policy issue since the strategy of this government and the previous Labour government to decarbonise the economy involves multi-billion pound spending decisions paid for by consumers and taxpayers, which might not have been taken (at least to the same degree or with the same haste) if global warming was not quite the imminent threat it has been depicted.

It might also be argued that challenging interviews on matters in which there is an overwhelming consensus in Westminster [and Washington, DC] – but not necessarily among voters who pay for both the licence fee and the government’s energy policies – is a particularly legitimate purpose of public-service broadcasting. 

No consensus

The recent standstill in global temperatures is a puzzle. Experts do not know why it is occurring or how long it will last. Climate scientists have proffered a variety of possible explanations. But there is no consensus.

Extensive peer-reviewed literature regards it as established yet unexplained. It is widely accepted that the main climate models which inform government policy did not predict it (which raises interesting issues of the models’ predictions about the future course of temperatures). 

For many climate scientists the plateau – which may or may not have long-term significance – has come as something of a surprise. Recently Nature, which has published extensively on global warming, called it one of climate science’s greatest mysteries. 

[July 10, 2013, “Climate change: The forecast for 2018 is cloudy with record heat,” Nature.com. “Lost heat: why has the warming slowed?” Jeff Tollefson “It is one of the biggest mysteries in climate science: humans are pumping more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere today than ever before, yet global temperatures have not risen much in more than a decade.“] 

(continuing): “So it is legitimate to ask if the government takes the pause seriously and if it has any implications for policy, ie, if there is a pause in warming, is there a case for the government to pause or slowdown its expensive efforts to decarbonise the economy until the picture becomes clearer?… 

Some have detected a slight decline in temperatures since circa 2004 but we did not dwell on that since it is statistically insignificant…. 

The plateau has made some climate scientists wonder about the efficacy of the IPCC central forecast, which has been seminal in informing official policy, and some are re-considering the IPCC’s measurement of climate sensitivity i.e. the extent to which temperatures rise in response to any given amount of C02 emissions…. 

At the Sunday Politics we are also used to public figures who try to change the metric when the one they’ve put their faith in does not behave as expected. We try not to let that happen. 

Moreover, the purpose of the interview was not to question all aspects of climate science, just the one metric that has commanded most attention. Other possible indicators of climate change – ice melt, ocean temperatures and extreme weather events – are a matter of widespread debate in which the science most certainly is not “settled.”…

At no stage in the interview was it ever claimed that global warming is not real or that it is not man-made. It is not for the Sunday Politics to take such positions.

Our focus was on a global temperature plateau which could be a challenge to the forecasts of climate models which have determined government policy. The plateau could continue for the foreseeable future or melt away as temperatures resume their upward trajectory.

The Sunday Politics has no views on such matters. We have put the existence of this plateau into the broader public domain. It is for others to determine its significance.” 
……………………. 

Added: Wouldn’t $10 million US taxpayer dollars per day be more than enough for the climate industry? Why does the US political class insist on $115.6 million a day, 365 days a year? 

Dozens if not all US federal agencies engaged in climate spending in 2016. From just 8 agencies in 2016,  $115,616,438 million US taxpayer dollars daily went out the door to the weather and climate industry, $42.2 billion for the year, per aaas.org: 

“Weather and Climate in the FY 2016 Budget,“ aaas.org (Am. Assn. for Advancement of Science), Paul A.T. Higgins, Shalini Mohleji, American Meteorological Society  

“2016 climate and weather budget”: 

subhead: “PROGRAMS, DEPARTMENTS, AND AGENCIES”

From “Table 1: Weather and climate-related R and D in the Federal Budget"

NOAA $5.9 billion
NASA $18.5 billion
NSF $1.3 billion

Dept. of Energy $5.3 billion
Dept. of Interior, USGS $1.2 billion
USDA (Agric. Research Service) $1.4 billion 

EPA $8.6 billion” 

(Comment: During Obama’s 8 years, regular annual budgets weren’t used. “Requested” monies were allocated in other ways, and everyone was fine with it. In 2012, for example, no one had a problem giving $6 billion US taxpayer dollars for ‘clean energy’ to the Sultan of Brunei who owns 5000+ cars. The $6 billion would be shared with Pres. of Indonesia for “renewables and cleaner energy.” The Sultan of Brunei of course carries out Islamic punishments of limb dismemberment and stoning to death. As to Indonesia, it’s so corrupt even the World Bank says crime adds 20% to costs.)
———— 

Added: “Funding appears to be driving the science rather than the other way around….[32]” (item #11): 

2015 paper: The explosion of global climate science spending was traced to the United States Executive branch in 1990 and Bush #1’s USGCRP mandate. The continuing decades-long “boom” in global climate science spending was merely theft of US taxpayer dollars by the US political class: 

Fall 2015, “Causes and Consequences of the Climate Science Boom,” independent.org, Butos and McQuade 

“2. By any standards, what we have documented here is a massive funding drive, highlighting the patterns of climate science Rand D as funded and directed only by the Executive Branch.”…1. The Government’s Role in Climate Science Funding…took a critical step with passage of the Global Change Research Act of 1990.  

The Act established institutional structures operating out of the White House.”...

Chart below, page 4, pdf, is an underestimate, doesn’t include congressional appropriations:

 

“Note and Sources: The data shown here are funding disbursements by the White House U.S. Global Change Research Program and its predecessor, the National Climate Program, available at NCP 1988, 43; Climate Science Watch 2007; and Leggett, Lattanzio, and Bruner 2013. These data, however, do not represent congressional climate science funding appropriations to other government agencies. As we show later in a more detailed assessment of U.S. government climate science funding, the numbers here, especially those for more recent years, greatly underestimate the actual level of funding.” pdf p. 4
……………….
........
Added: 

“99.9 percent of climate science is funded by the government.”
…………………………..

Added: UN IPCC: US temperatures cooled from 1950-2011: 

2012 UN IPCC report, “Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation,“ Special Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, (582 pages): 

UN IPCC states “central North America” temperatures cooled between 1950 and 2011. Citations on pages 121, 134, and 135 reference “central North America” cooling. (Scientific American says UN IPCC is “the world’s premier scientific body on the climate.“) 

UN IPCC: US temperatures cooled from 1950-2011: 

2012 UN IPCC report, “Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation,“ Special Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, (582 pages): 

UN IPCC states “central North America” temperatures cooled between 1950 and 2011. Citations on pages 121, 134, and 135 reference “central North America” cooling. (Scientific American says UN IPCC is “the world’s premier scientific body on the climate.") 

3 citations for “central North America” cooling temperatures from 1950-2011,” per 2012 UN IPCC report, Chapter 3, “Changes in Climate Extremes and their Impacts on the Natural Physical Environment,” begins p. 109:

First citation, p. 121:

p. 121, Subhead 3.1.6: “Changes in Extremes and Their Relationship to Changes in Regional and Global Mean Climate:”

(Right column, near end of page): “Parts of central North America [otherwise known as the US] and the eastern United States present cooling trends in mean temperature and some temperature extremes in the spring to summer season in recent decades (Section 3.3.1).”…

http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/special-reports/srex/SREX_Full_Report.pdf
………………………………

Comment: Tax dollars that otherwise could’ve gone to the poor and needy, education, or infrastructure, have instead for decades been funneled to climate fat cats.




................

Advanced countries continue to hurt their own citizens and economic growth for no reason. High CO2 from developing countries immediately nullifies the sacrifices of others. Obviously this isn't achieving global environmental benefits, so why does it continue?-Jack Mintz, 5/8/2013, Financial Post

.
5/8/2013, "Jack Mintz: Canada unfairly Gored," Financial Post, Jack Mintz

"Despite the efforts in the advanced countries to reduce GHG emissions, their efforts are swamped by the huge increase of such emissions in emerging economies. If climate policies have any effect, they must be achievable at the global level. It makes little sense for advanced countries to take on policies that hurt their own economic growth if environmental benefits are unattainable.... 

Western countries are digging ditches, only to see them filled up by emerging countries following up from behind....

Carbon emissions coming from the emerging countries swamp trends from advanced countries in North America and Europe. China alone has increased carbon emissions by almost 60% from 2005 to 2011. The absolute increase in metric tons is three times more than all the reduction that has taken place in all of Canada, Europe, Japan, and the United States. Add India and Russia to China and CO2 emissions have increased by four billion metric tons in six years time."... 

"Jack M. Mintz the Palmer Chair, School of Public Policy, University of Calgary"
........... 
.....................

Added:

"Funding appears to be driving the science rather than the other way around....[32]" (item #11) 

 

................

Violent sand mafia operates in India to feed concrete business. For its concrete, Dubai imports river bed sand from Australia. River beds are being destroyed in Africa, India, and China for sand to feed concrete building boom. Desert sand is too smooth for concrete-BBC Magazine

.
"In India, a black market for sand harvesting has emerged, operated by violent sand mafias."

9/3/17, "How the demand for sand is killing rivers," BBC Magazine

Sand dredger near Kenya reef

"You cannot have concrete without sand. River beds are being dug up across Africa to fuel a building boom, with little thought for what this means for the health of the river, and those who depend on it, as Harriet Constable found in Kenya.

Sand. The word conjures happy holiday memories: building castles from it; watching nervous crabs scuttle across it; digging giant holes in it, and then hiding in them and leaping out at opportune moments to terrify unknowing relatives. Sand is the make up of glittering beaches, hundreds of thousands of years of weathering to create millions and millions of tiny, sparkling, and yet seemingly insignificant particles. Sand is infinite, surely. And yet the world is running out. 

It's obvious when you think about it. All the major building materials - concrete, bricks, glass, are made using sand. Exploding population numbers and the knock on need for development have made sand the second most used natural commodity on the planet after water. Billions and billions of tonnes are being used across the globe.  

So much so that a UN report estimated global sand use in 2012 alone could have created a concrete wall 27m high by 27m wide around the equator. We need not go to the beach to be surrounded by sand - our cities are essentially giant towering sand castles disguised in concrete.

The sand used for construction comes mainly from riverbeds and oceans. Desert sand, it turns out, is too smooth for the mix. Huge projects quickly exhausted Dubai's marine sand supply, so, despite being a city built on sand, it now imports the material from Australia. The irony: sand has become such a precious commodity it is literally being sold to the Arabs. Innocent as sand may seem, the immense demand for it is causing loss of livelihoods, loss of ecosystems and even deaths. 

In India, a black market for sand harvesting has emerged, operated by violent sand mafias. In China, the country's biggest freshwater lake - Poyang Lake - is drying up due to sand dredging. Hundreds of locals rely on the lake for fish, as do the millions of migratory birds that stop here each year.

In Kenya, sand dredging from the riverbeds of poor rural counties like Makueni is leaving some communities without access to water. 

With the country's population expected to double in the next 40 years, massive infrastructure projects like Kenya's new Standard Gauge Railway are necessary. But they need millions of tonnes of sand. Kenya's coast and inland rivers have all been exploited in recent years, but the effect in Makueni has been particularly acute.  

Throughout the year, temperatures in Makueni soar to over 35C (95F). Seasonal, sand-filled rivers snake their way through the arid land. During the rainy season, water percolates through and is stored underneath. During the dry season, the population of nearly one million people dig holes in the sand to extract water to survive. However, when enough sand is harvested, only the bedrock remains, and during the rainy season the water simply rushes across it. No water is stored.

I visited several sand harvesting sites across the county earlier this year. "We call this the dead river," a local called Anthony told me, staring over the steep, reddish-brown cliff edge into the barren riverbed at Kilome Ikolya River in Makueni. 

A couple of years ago this river was flat. Now, there is sheer drop of about 10m from the top of the bank to the riverbed. Tree roots jut out awkwardly from the cliff face, and along the dry, meandering river, bedrock sticks out of the ground, glistening in the sunshine. "No-one can get water here now," Anthony said. 

For some, sand is life, and for others, sand is money. In a poor area with few employment opportunities, the reality of what desperate humans will do is stark. 

Local Police Officer Geoffrey Kasyoki was well known in his community for trying to stop illegal sand harvesting in Makueni. In February 2011 he was set upon by a group of young men in broad daylight. They shot him with poisoned arrows, crushed his head and slashed his skin. 

Standing over her husband's grave, his widow Irene told me, "He was killed to send a message to the community from the sand harvesters: do not try to stop us". Her chest heaved in and out, shuddering with sobs, and she reached out to touch the sandy mound of earth under which he is buried. 

As Anthony and I walked further along the riverbed, we came across harvesters labouring under the baking midday sun, shovelling sand into a pile ready for a truck to collect it. 

While I watched and wondered whether sand could soon become the stuff of distant childhood memories, others around me had more pressing concerns. For them, sand could mean the difference between eating and going hungry, whether they'd have drinking water or not, or whether they'd ever see their loved ones again." 

Above image from BBC, caption: "A sand dredger just beyond the reef in Tiwi kicks up giants plumes of sand in the ocean - it settles over coral, suffocates fish, and muddies the waters for sea turtles who feed on the seagrass at the bottom."





...........

NY Times desperately wants war with Russia and they think now's the time. The 2016 US election has been nullified. 63 million Americans voted for detente with Russia but since the election was nullified they're not getting it. Instead, they learn they're just global slaves to the bloody neocon industry-Jonathan Marshall, Consortium News...(US voters have been taught that never again will they be allowed to choose the US president)

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8/28/17, NY Times chief military correspondent "has all but warned that war in Europe could break out at any minute with the mighty Russian army."..
...................
8/6/17, "Finally...the U.S. Congress has produced a piece of legislation. And it passed with quasi-unanimous, bi-partisan support. Only its substance is not so much a deep reflection on the foreign policy interests of America, but rather, the desire to hurt, and incapacitate the U.S. President in any future dealings with Russia. (And never mind the worrying impulse towards conflict with Russia this entails, or its collateral damage on others)."...8/26/17, "President Trump has had his foreign policy hands and feet tied by the Russia (and Iran) Sanctions Act. He now has been rendered “helpless”: in respect to détente with Russia — gulliverized, spitefully, by his own party, working with the Democrats, to empty Trump's constitutional prerogatives in policy--and to seize them for Congress....

It seems that the American deep state is so frenzied in this way that its inhabitants can no longer see straight: they are ready to risk despoiling not just the “recalcitrant” abroad, but America herself. And the way they are going about trying to “have her,” may well ruin the deep state too, as collateral damage.

The Russia Sanctions Act may have been conceived both to paralyze President Trump, and to validate the “Putin-stole-the-Election” narrative."...
................... 

8/28/17, "Inflating the Russian Threat," Consortium News, Jonathan Marshall

"Exclusive: The U.S. mainstream media, led by The New York Times, has behaved as classic propagandists, hyping a Russian military “threat” and promoting a new Cold War hysteria, as Jonathan Marshall describes."

"Readers of the New York Times have more to sweat about than hot summer weather in the Big Apple. The paper’s chief military correspondent, Michael Gordon — co-author of the infamous 2002 story about Saddam Hussein’s “quest for A-bomb parts” — has all but warned that war in Europe could break out at any minute with the mighty Russian army."...

...........................

Among comments to above article:
..................

"Dave P.

August 29, 2017 at 1:30 am

Drew: As you said Russia has been invaded throughout it’s history, from the West by Napoleon and Hitler. It also had all these invasions from the East by very cruel Mongols, Tatars, the nomadic tribes like Kalmyks, and Turks from the South. Talking about so many threats from all sides on their borders throughout their history, Peter Hitchens [said] Russia has been like an Army with a country, not country with an army.

Russia is, and always has been quite behind The West in Technology. And they have been under sanctions for a century now. And now this all powerful NATO on their borders installing all these missile defense systems, and doing all these Military exercises on their borders. What the Russians are supposed to do then? Sit back and drink vodka! They have to have these military parades to assure their population that you are safe. 

Can you imagine what America will do, if it had lost 26 millions in War on U.S., within it’s borders! Just think of our response to 9/11, and all this endless coverage of it, writing about it in newspapers, talking about it on media since then. And starting and justifying all these endless wars creating death and destruction. I think, If war even approaches a few miles from the borders here, we are going to blow up half the planet.

Around the turn of the century, when Russia was in every way in total ruins, and there were so many books coming out in the West proclaiming death of Russia. They were saying Russia can not recover now for a century, if it ever does. At the time I thought it too that it will be very hard for Russia to recover. It seems like that they have recovered enough – economically, and militarily – to deter aggression against them. But, it is hard to tell what will happen if it actually comes to that."

-------------------

Added: Excerpts from two articles about consequences of Congress seizing an Executive Branch function and moving it to Congress (without bothering to amend the Constitution):

8/6/17, "Playing Politics with the World’s Future," Alastair Crooke, Consortium News

"The strategy of neutering President Trump in his dealings with Russia – and his administration’s own ignorance about complex Mideast issues--are combining to create grave dangers, writes ex-British diplomat Alastair Crooke."

"Finally...the U.S. Congress has produced a piece of legislation. And it passed with quasi-unanimous, bi-partisan support. Only its substance is not so much a deep reflection on the foreign policy interests of America, but rather, the desire to hurt, and incapacitate the U.S. President in any future dealings with Russia. (And never mind the worrying impulse towards conflict with Russia this entails, or its collateral damage on others).

The aim has been to see President Trump hog-tied, and “tarred and feathered” for his “risky behavior” on Russia. This aim simply has overpowered any other considerations--such as likelihood that the outside world will conclude that America’s ability to pursue or even to have a foreign policy is non-existent in the face of its internal civil war.  It is a key juncture. For an overwhelming majority of Democratic and Republican Senators and Congressmen, bringing down “The Donald” is all--and the devil take the consequences for America, in the world....

The U.S. President had little option but to sign the legislation, but that does not mean that diplomacy is completely blocked. As expected, he issued a Signing Statement (see here), in which, while accepting the mandate of Congress, Trump took issue with the new Congressional encroachments into his prerogatives (Article Two of the Constitution) in terms of foreign policy, and he reserved the right to decide on how the Congressional mandate might be implemented (i.e. in respect to the quadrilateral negotiations over Ukraine)....

Medvedev's Assessment...

"The Trump administration demonstrated it is utterly powerless, and in the most humiliating manner, transferred executive powers to Congress....What does this mean for the U.S.? The American establishment completely outplayed Trump. The President is not happy with the new sanctions, but he could not avoid signing the new law. The purpose of the new sanctions was to put Trump in his place. Their ultimate goal is to remove Trump from power.”...

Polls (even CNN polls) suggest that there are very obvious political limits to the Establishment (in both parties) using “Russia-gate” as a mechanism to mobilize and widen public support for removing President Trump. Polls indicate that 79 percent of Republicans are “not at all” or “not very” concerned about Trump’s alleged links with Russia, and that inversely, precisely the same proportion, 79 percent, of Democrats precisely are “very” or “somewhat” concerned. (55 percent of Independents side with Republicans with 37 percent “not at all” [concerned] and 18 percent “not very” concerned). The point here is that the Republican support for Trump’s desire for détente with Russia has not eroded one jot, whereas the “concern” of the Independents and even among Democrats is eroding somewhat.

This is the crux: the clique around former CIA head John Brennan et al have put their shirt on “Russia-gate” to bring down Trump – claiming scandal.  But what goes around – quite often – comes comes around. Unless the Establishment can keep up the tempo of innuendo or produce new revelations, “Russia-gate” may just become a stale narrative – or a butt of satire. Worse, the meme could turn and bite the hand of those who have been feeding it. There may too be other skeletons in the cupboard, but belonging to the other party: like who paid Fusion GPS (who were commissioned to produce the “dirty dossier” on Trump)? Might the murdered Seth Rich story take another turn? Or, the fugitive former DNC Chairwoman’s IT staffer, Imran Awan, give the narrative a different twist? Or something as yet unknown....

So, are Trump’s hopes for détente with Russia all done? Too early to say, I suggest. Medvedev seems categoric, but maybe his dark prognostication is intended more to underline to Americans that their relations with Russia are not some domestic “game show” – but rather, are profoundly serious. For the time being, substantive U.S. politics with Russia will be on “a long vacation.”

The deeper question is whether the U.S. Deep State is overreaching itself.  First, we have this sanctions bill, and then the news that special counsel Robert Mueller, as part of his investigation into the Trump campaign’s potential dealings with the Kremlin, is using a Grand Jury to issue subpoenas. While the use of a Grand Jury does not necessarily mean an indictment is imminent, it is a tool to compel witnesses to testify or force people to turn over sensitive documents that may aid investigators in their probe.

It is a sign of a yet more aggressive approach to gathering “Russia-gate” evidence – a search that will now encompass all the Trump family’s financial affairs. Overreach? (So far, evidence of misdeed, is missing.)

As indicated earlier, Trump’s Republican base (unlike support from the Republican establishment) is not eroding, but rather is becoming angered and resentful. The more the MSM and the East Coast élites attack the deplorables’ “alt” news and websites – the greater the pushback, it seems."..."Alastair Crooke is a former British diplomat who was a senior figure in British intelligence and in European Union diplomacy. He is the founder and director of the Conflicts Forum."

================

from the 8/26/17 article:

Trump "now has been rendered “helpless”: in respect to détente with Russia...spitefully, by his own party, working with the Democrats, to empty Trump's constitutional prerogatives in policy--and to seize them for Congress."...

8/26/17, "How the Deep State Ties Down Trump," Alastair Crooke, Consortium News 

"America’s Deep State players have tied down President Trump on Russian sanctions and other foreign and economic policies but that doesn’t mean the struggle is over, writes ex-British diplomat Alastair Crooke."

"President Trump has had his foreign policy hands and feet tied by the Russia (and Iran) Sanctions Act. He now has been rendered “helpless”: in respect to détente with Russia — gulliverized, spitefully, by his own party, working with the Democrats, to empty Trump's constitutional prerogatives in policy--and to seize them for Congress....

It seems that the American deep state is so frenzied in this way that its inhabitants can no longer see straight: they are ready to risk despoiling not just the “recalcitrant” abroad, but America herself. And the way they are going about trying to “have her,” may well ruin the deep state too, as collateral damage.

The Russia Sanctions Act may have been conceived both to paralyze President Trump, and to validate the “Putin-stole-the-Election” narrative, but it precisely removes any chance of Messrs Mattis, McMaster, Kelly and Tillerson to succeed with seizing America as world proconsul.

Russia, China and Iran, now linked by again being threatened by sanctions, are now firmly embedded into a strategic coalition – and they are determined to resist."...    

...........................

Among comments to WSJ Editorial Board, Aug. 24, 2017, "Trump Divorces the GOP Congress," Wall St. Journal Editorial Board. August 25 print edition.

To WSJ Editorial Board: It's the exact opposite. The GOP Congress divorced/nullified President Trump.

"Norman Retz

"It is unfortunate, but the incredible weakness of the Republican party is what gave Trump a party to run from (not with)....He was elected by a lot of people who are entirely fed up with the status quo. Trump may have his flaws but he is not the idiot the Republicans are."..

...................

 

"Paul Angelchik

 

Trump sees what's going on. Is he going to sit in the White House with a political target on his back while the Republicans dither and snipe at him, waiting for him to topple over so they can return to business as usual? No. He's going to go after the people who are undermining him and their own party. McConnell is on the record for years calling for repeal and replace ["root and branch"]. Then when he can't produce he says people have excessive expectations. Huh? Mitch and cronies took money for several election cycles based on this promise....Trump, whatever his failings, is much more popular than the RINOs in Congress who get nothing done. The Chamber of Commerce doesn't have that many votes and their money won't carry the day. Trump 2020....If McConnell wanted to help he would. If Ryan wanted to help he would. There's passive aggressive and then there's what these guys are doing."... 

.................................. 

 

"PATRICK COLLINS

 

Really. Are you talking about the same Republicans who have voted year upon year to repeal Obamacare and then when given the opportunity to actually do it with a president who would sign the bill they respectfully decline because they enjoy feeding at the government trough as much as the Democrats? He should shut the government down and maybe that will get these RINO's to start paying attention."

 

 

 

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...................

A tragedy for all Americans, Trump flip flops on Wikileaks. Candidate Trump said, "I love Wikileaks," and the crowd cheered. Pres. Trump says Wikileaks is horrible and has his ridiculous neocon CIA Director Pompeo declare Wikileaks a "non-state hostile intelligence service." Pres. Trump has chosen to surround himself with Beltway swamp interests and now shares their hostile view of Wikileaks-Disobedient Media, E. Vos...(We need a president who'll praise Wikileaks for its service to the American people)

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9/2/17, "Assange Pardon Hangs In The Balance As Trump Derides Wikileaks," Disobedient Media, Elizabeth Vos

"Trump's recent sharp criticism of Wikileaks suggests that the Trump administration might be ill-inclined to negotiate in favor of Assange’s freedom. Earlier this week, Trump berated Obama’s release of Chelsea Manning during a press conference...."Horrible, horrible things he did."... 

Trump’s change of heart towards Wikileaks was in total contrast to his words on the 2016 campaign trail, where he mentioned Wikileaks often, going so far as to enthuse: “I love Wikileaks.”"...

[10/10/2016: "GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump on Monday praised WikiLeaks for publishing Democratic rival Hillary Clinton’s hacked emails. 

“I love WikiLeaks,” he told listeners during a campaign rally in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., prompting prolonged “Lock her up!” chants from his audience. “It’s amazing how nothing is secret today when you talk about the Internet.”

“In a speech behind closed doors, ‘Crooked Hillary’ said, ‘Terrorism is not a big threat to our nation,’” Trump said. “Terrorism is a big, big threat. We are riding into something very dangerous. 

“In another closed door speech, she wanted to have open borders and open trade with everybody. There go the rest of your jobs." 

Trump said emails deleted from Clinton’s private server during her tenure at the State Department represent a scandal without precedent in U.S. history." "Trump: 'I love WikiLeaks’," The Hill, Mark Hensch]

(continuing): "Many have viewed this change of heart as representative of a larger shift in the Trump White House, amidst the firing of other key insiders, the most recent example being the ousting of Steve Bannon. At the very least it indicates some kind of division between Republicans like Rohrabacher who are in favor of potentially pardoning Assange, and those who would echo Trump’s latest hardline comments. 

Further complicating this image is the news that a bill currently in the Senate would seek to label Wikileaks a ‘non-state hostile intelligence service,’ which has inspired concern that it would set a terrible precedent for both journalism and free speech. This in combination with Trump’s harsh words would not appear to bode well for Assange, in contrast to the optimistic tone of Rohrabacher.

It remains to be seen as to what effect Trump’s increasingly anti-Wikileaks stance will have on future decisions in regards to Wikileaks and the possibility of a pardon for its editor in chief Julian Assange, who has been illegally and immorally detained in the Ecuadorian embassy for five years. 

If Rohrabacher is able to meet with Trump, it appears absolutely up in the air as to what the President’s response will be. Although it might seem logical that Trump would jump at the possibility of proof debunking Trump-Russia allegations, his most recent statements denouncing Wikileaks do not appear to bode well for Julian Assange’s hope for a pardon and long-awaited release from arbitrary detention in the Ecuadorian embassy....

If Rohrabacher is in possession of proof that would ultimately debunk the Russian hacking narrative, it would vindicate earlier reports by Disobedient Media and The Nation which suggested that the DNC leaks may have been perpetrated by an insider as opposed to Russian hackers. It would also validate the Veteran Intelligence Professionals For Sanity’s (VIPS) memorandum to the President which has come under heavy fire in legacy media. 

The Nation has also received severe criticism from establishment press for their article which questioned the Russian hacking narrative. Independent journalist Caitlin Johnstone expressed disgust after The Nation added what she called an ‘unnecessary Editor’s note’ to the piece. Disobedient Media previously reported on calls from the Washington Post and others for the respected liberal outlet to retract the piece, which this author viewed as an attack on The Nation’s intellectual honesty. 

Disobedient Media has previously covered Rohrabacher’s visit in an op-ed piece expressing the opinion that if Rohrabacher has information which would concretely disprove the Russian Hacking narrative, then he must seek an unbiased expert third party opinion validating such information before it is made public, in the interest of preventing legacy media from being able to dismiss the evidence."...

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30% of 'Dreamers' are Nightmares in the slammer due to criminality or gang activity-Washington Examiner, Bedard...(US political class is safety valve for tyrannical and incompetent governments the world over. Defenseless US taxpayers are forced to absorb violent populations their home countries don't want)

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Mexico pres. Vicente Fox simply wanted to preserve the established power structure and make sure cronies got a cut when Mexico's work force was auctioned off to more efficient economies."..."It's always been the case that Americans in power collude with Mexicans in power to bully and manipulate a powerless American People into accepting the unacceptable: The imperative to welcome torrents of unskilled illegal aliens, at an incalculable cost to the safety of America's communities, the solvency of its public institutions, and the sustainability of the environment. Strolling through the ancient Mayan and Toltec ruins with President Vincente Fox, in 2006, George W. Bush was not talking-up American interests. He was plotting amnesty with an unholy trinity comprised of John McCain, Ted Kennedy and Arlen Specter."..."There is no shame in poverty and no sin in seeking work, but there is something unseemly in a leader who sees people as a product for export."

8/29/17, "Feds: 30% surge in illegals losing DACA freedom for crimes, gang violence," Washington Examiner, Paul Bedard

"On the eve of President Trump deciding the status [no mention that Trump already "decided" this issue before the election] of the Obama era program deferring deportation for nearly 800,000 mostly Latin American young adults, federal immigration authorities are revealing a surge in those losing their freedom "due to criminality or gang affiliation concerns." 

Officials told Secrets that the number has surged 30 percent this year.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said that 622 had their deferred action status pulled this year [to date] due to criminal activity. [848 in 2016]

The numbers on revocations and terminations:

*2013--56
*2014--153
*2015--460
*2016--848
*2017--622
Total--2139 

According to USCIS, "The deferred action terminations were due to one or more of the following: a felony criminal conviction; a significant misdemeanor conviction; multiple misdemeanor convictions; gang affiliation; or arrest of any crime in which there is deemed to be a public safety concern. Most DACA terminations were based on the following infractions (not ranked):

• 
  alien smuggling, assaultive offenses, domestic violence, drug offenses, DUI, larceny and thefts, criminal trespass and burglary, sexual offenses with minors, other sex offenses and weapons offenses."
  
  In a recent case, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement arrested three DACA immigrants in a nationwide sweep of gangs.
  The numbers are small by comparison to the larger DACA population but experts said it shows that not a lot is known about the activities of the youths, mostly young adults.
  
  "It confirms that the DACA screening process was woefully inadequate. The eligibility bar was set very low, explicitly allowing people with multiple misdemeanor and certain felony convictions to be approved. Only a handful of the applicants were ever interviewed, and only rarely was the information on the application ever verified," said Jessica M. Vaughan, director of policy studies at the Washington-based Center for Immigration Studies.
  
  She told Secrets, "this statistic undercuts the image of DACA that has been spread by the pro-illegal alien groups and the news media, that the DACA recipients are mostly college kids. This is not true. 
  
  We don't know much about the population, but one of the few credible studies that has been done, by a scholar at Harvard University, found that most are more than 22 years old, and only about 20 percent graduated from or attended a four-year college. A significant share never went beyond high school. This is not really all that surprising, since over 72 percent come from a family at or below poverty level and accessing some public assistance."
  
  While the figures also show that many DACA recipients may be law followers and high achievers, she said it shows that not all should be granted a form of citizenship if Trump extends the program.
  
  "This suggests two important things that should happen if there is to be a legalization: not everyone with DACA should be guaranteed as eligible for legalization, and the existing legal immigration categories, especially the parents category and the extended family categories, should be trimmed back in order to minimize the fiscal and economic costs that the legalization will bring," said Vaughan."

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Added: "Vicente Fox, Labor Pimp," Feb. 2005 article during  administration of Mexican President Vicente Fox:

"Normally, bad government is unstable government. When a government makes a substantial part of its population destitute or unhappy, it can expect them to work against that government, first as individuals and over time as political parties, gangs — or even armies. But with America close-by to absorb the most unhappy, bad governments have found a release for those segments of their populations they most fear: the poor, the ambitious, the disgruntled."

Feb. 8, 2005, "Vicente Fox, Labor Pimp," Human Events, Mac Johnson

"Mexico’s president, Vicente Fox, has made increasing the flow of his people out of Mexico and into America his highest priority in his relationship with the US. His expressed desire is that the border should pretty much cease to exist — at least for Northbound traffic. He would prefer that America voluntarily acquiesce to his desire to depopulate his nation’s poorest neighborhoods, but he is also prepared to achieve this depopulation unilaterally. Mexican consulates brazenly issue official-looking ID cards to illegal aliens in the U.S. to help them appear legitimate to employers and banks. And, infamously, the Mexican government recently published a "how-to-guide" for those wishing to illegally smuggle themselves into the United States. In poignant testament to the extent to which Mexico’s government has utterly failed its people, the guide was issued in comic book form, to facilitate its use by the illiterate....

The attitude of Mexico’s rulers to this chronic exodus now appears to have changed to something more like “Good riddance”. Apparently, they believe every Mexican that leaves Mexico is a Mexican they don’t have to solve any problems for.... 

The merits of mass immigration, both legal and illegal, from Mexico into the US are a source of constant discussion in America. But consider, for just a moment, what the situation must look like from the other side of the broken border. With his enthusiastic support for emigration by the tens of millions, Vicente Fox has essentially said to his people “My best idea for Mexico is to send Mexicans someplace where people have better ideas.” Apparently, Mr. Fox lacks the “vision thing”. Imagine if President Bush’s plan for economic recovery in the last recession had been exporting the unemployed. (But the situation in Mexico is worse than that, because not only do Fox’s policies inspire no outrage, they are popular. When told by their government that perhaps they should just give up and leave, the response of many Mexicans is simply to agree — a sad state of affairs.)

The motivation of Mexico’s leader in becoming an active accessory to the transnational smuggling of his country’s labor force is not just that Mexico is economically dependent upon the dollars that expatriate Mexicans wire home each month (although that motivation should not be discounted). Also at play is his desire to take advantage of a little commented-upon effect that America has had on the world for decades. America’s acceptance of refugees by the millions has made it, effectively, the safety valve for tyrannical and incompetent governments the world over.
 
Normally, bad government is unstable government. When a government makes a substantial part of its population destitute or unhappy, it can expect them to work against that government, first as individuals and over time as political parties, gangs — or even armies. But with America close-by to absorb the most unhappy, bad governments have found a release for those segments of their populations they most fear: the poor, the ambitious, the disgruntled.

America, of course, does not see itself this way. Our motives for accepting the huddled masses may not be entirely pure, but among these is not the desire to stabilize failure abroad. However, the rulers of other countries recognize the service America unwittingly provides. The most flagrant proof of this was the Mariel boatlift in 1980, in which Fidel Castro organized a mass exodus of 125,000 Cubans from the port of Mariel, Cuba, to Florida. These refugees included common criminals and the mentally ill released from Cuban jails and asylums (Cuba’s “universal healthcare” apparently has it limits), but the overwhelming majority of the migrants were simply the proverbial poor yearning to be free –exactly the sort of people Castro could not depend upon to help maintain his oppressive rule. Castro may claim to detest the fact that Florida is just 90 miles away from the shores of his communist paradise, but if it weren’t, his regime might have ended long ago. Florida is full of the Cubans who would most like to change Cuba. They do Castro little harm in Miami. 

Most nations are not so obvious in their use of the safety valve, but America is filled with diverse immigrants who do little to agitate the status quo in their homelands, and the ruling classes in these lands were not sad to see them go.

Mexico is a far cry from Cuba and Vicente Fox is certainly no Castro. But he understands the many ways in which shunting his discontented poor out of the country benefit him and his political allies. 
 
There is no shame in poverty and no sin in seeking work, but there is something unseemly in a leader who sees people as a product for export. In all the discussion of the immigration issue, the one aspect I have not seen bluntly assessed is what a failed and myopic leader Vicente Fox is. In America, men are made rich and families are well fed by the energetic labor of Mexicans. An admirable Mexican government would set about reforming the country so that that same energetic Mexican labor could create riches and feed families inside Mexico. Fox’s government simply wants to avoid the issue, preserve the established power structure, and make sure it gets a cut when Mexico’s workforce auctions itself off to more efficient economies. Seeing his people forced to sell their labors abroad, Fox simply wants to act as pimp on the sale....

The current (2005) administration of Mexico has apparently decided to support the wholesale export of its people to America as a desirable economic policy.

The stream of economic refugees that has flowed northward from Mexico for sixty years was once a source of embarrassment for the ruling elite of Mexico –obvious evidence that Mexico was so poorly-governed and corrupt that its people’s best hope for a better life lay in escape to America."...  


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Added: It's very specific. Saying it's "human" is virtue signaling, a smoke screen, a weapon in the genocide of America: 

"Ultimately, as long as the U.S. remains a relatively high-wage area, with a generous, tax-funded welfare system—it will experience migratory pressure from low-wage Mexico."

9/2/2016, "Trump’s Not Yet President, But Nieto Is Saying, ‘Si Se Puede’," Townhall.com,  Ilana Mercer 

"Following Donald J. Trump's sublime immigration address, critics—essentially all Big, Crooked Media—charged that Trump's Arizona speech represented a sharp departure from the tone he took earlier that day, with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto. A reversal, if you will.

Nonsense. With President Nieto, Donald Trump was at once patriotic, forceful and diplomatic.

In close to two decades of analyzing American politics, I've yet to hear an American leader address his Mexican counterpart as forcefully as Mr. Trump addressed President Nieto. Trump came across as a man-of-the world, to whom interfacing with foreign dignitaries was second nature.

It's always been the case that Americans in power collude with Mexicans in power to bully and manipulate a powerless American People into accepting the unacceptable: The imperative to welcome torrents of unskilled illegal aliens, at an incalculable cost to the safety of America's communities, the solvency of its public institutions, and the sustainability of the environment.

Strolling through the ancient Mayan and Toltec ruins with President Vincente Fox, in 2006, George W. Bush was not talking-up American interests. He was plotting amnesty with an unholy trinity comprised of John McCain, Ted Kennedy and Arlen Specter. Sly (Vicente) Fox was the silent partner.

Most memorably, Bush, who would wrestle a crocodile for a criminal alien, went on to indict and viciously prosecute two brave border-patrol agents, Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean. For shooting a drug dealer in the derriere—in the process of defending their countrymen—Bush unleashed his bloodhound, U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton, on the two patrolmen and jailed them.

So what a pleasant surprise it was for this long-time political observer to witness a Mexican president, clearly cowed by The Donald, make no mention of America's bogus obligation to take in Mexico's tired, poor, huddled masses yearning for U.S. welfare.

If President Nieto harbored the urge to make manipulative appeals to American “permanent values,” so as to lighten his political load—there was no evidence of it....
 
Ultimately, as long as the U.S. remains a relatively high-wage area, with a generous, tax-funded welfare system—it will experience migratory pressure from low-wage Mexico. As explained in "The Trump Revolution: The Donald's Creative Destruction Deconstructed" (June, 2016), "migratory pressure flows from low-wage to high-wage regions; from the Third World to the First World." 

Alas, "migratory equilibrium will be reached once First World becomes Third World." This Trump seeks to forestall with his most important stipulation:

5. "Having a secure border is a sovereign right. The right of either country to build a physical barrier or wall" to stem the tide of illegal migration, weapons and drugs is incontestable and must be recognized."

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Palms once grew in ice-free Arctic. Scientists find pollen from ancient palms, conifers, oaks, pecans and other trees-Reuters, 10/26/2009, published study

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10/26/2009, "Palms once grew in ice-free arctic," Reuters by Alister Doyle, via Australian Broadcasting Corp.

 
"The scientists say the presence of palms in the Arctic suggests the modern climate system could yield big surprises. (Image above: photo from ABC.Au Science website, stock.xchange)" 

"Palms flourished in the Arctic during a brief sweltering period about 50 million years ago, according to a study that hints at gaps in our understanding of modern climate change. 

The Arctic "would have looked very similar to the vegetation we now see in Florida," says Dr Appy Sluijs of Utrecht University [generic link] in the Netherlands who led the international study.

Evidence of palms has never been found so far north before.

The scientists, sampling sediments on a ridge on the seabed about 500 kilometres [310 miles] from the North Pole and up to 53.5 million years old, found pollen from ancient palms as well as of conifers, oaks, pecans and other trees.

"The presence of palm pollen implies that coldest month mean temperatures over the Arctic land masses were no less than 8°C", the scientists, based in the Netherlands and Germany, write in the journal Nature Geoscience. [generic link]

That contradicts computer model simulations, also used to predict future temperatures, that suggest winter temperatures were below freezing even in the unexplained hothouse period that lasted between 50,000 and 200,000 years ago during the Eocene epoch. 

Sluijs says that it was also striking that palms, which do not lose their leaves in winter, grew in an area where the sun does not shine for about five months. Experiments with modern palms indicate that they can survive prolonged darkness.

The scientists say the presence of palms, it was not clear if they were trees or plants, hinted that the modern climate system could yield big surprises. 

According to the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, global temperatures are rising, due in part to human-made greenhouse gases, mainly from burning fossil fuels. 

In 2007, Arctic ice shrank to its smallest size since satellite measurements began in the 1970s.

One possibility for the ancient spike in temperatures was an abrupt rise in carbon dioxide levels, far beyond current concentrations. 

That might have been caused by volcanic eruptions, or a melt of frozen methane trapped in the seabed.

"We cannot explain this with the current knowledge of the climate system," says Sluijs. One possibility was that new types of clouds formed in the Arctic as it warmed, acting as a blanket that trapped ever more heat and accelerated warming.

"If the ocean was very warm it's possible that these clouds form at a higher latitude than now," he says. Such effects caused by new cloud formation could be an unexpected tripwire in accelerating modern climate change."



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