Catholic Church officials advanced Obama political agenda by holding 'educational events' at Church institutions in 5 states. Catholic groups have met at EPA offices. US gov. has requested meeting with Vatican to discuss binding US to a UN treaty-National Catholic Reporter

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EPA chief Gina McCarthy: “It’s important to have Pope Francis continue to speak as clearly as he can."...
 
1/27/15, "EPA chief headed to Vatican to talk climate change," National Catholic Reporter, Brian Roewe

"The head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is scheduled to make a brief Vatican visit at the end of the week on the topic of addressing climate change.

EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy will meet there Friday with senior officials, among them Cardinal Peter Turkson, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. She is also slated to meet with Catholic journalists Friday morning and business leaders in Rome that afternoon.

The (EPA) agency initiated the meeting through U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See Ken Hackett, viewing it as a unique opportunity to directly engage the Vatican.

Speaking to NCR ahead of her trip, McCarthy, an Irish Catholic from Massachusetts, described the Vatican stop as “the most important” on a five-day trip that will also have her visiting Geneva (Thursday), Rome (Friday) and Florence (Monday). She said the meetings will focus on discussing President Barack Obama’s climate action plan and EPA’s role in addressing the effects of climate change both domestically and internationally.

“Clearly, climate change is an issue that is impactful in terms of how we’re not just going to protect the most vulnerable but also take responsibility for protecting God’s natural resources,” McCarthy said.

“I think that the president and myself agree that climate change is indeed a moral issue,” she said. “It is about protecting those most vulnerable, and EPA’s job, as focusing on public health and environmental protection, always tasked ourselves to look at those most vulnerable and to ensure that when we’re taking action we’re addressing their needs most effectively.”

Discussions also expect to touch on Pope Francis’ upcoming encyclical on the environment. In August, Turkson delivered a first draft of the teaching document to Francis, who has indicated the encyclical will publish in June or July -- in time for it to “make a contribution” to international climate negotiations in Paris in December....

In the summer, McCarthy called Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski, chair of the Domestic Justice and Human Development committee of the U.S Conference of Catholic Bishops, to thank him for his May letter supporting EPA’s proposed Clean Power Plan....

During the Clean Power Plan’s commenting period, which closed Dec. 1, EPA received more than 2 million comments. The U.S. bishops’ conference and its affiliate groups encouraged Catholics to participate, with the Catholic Climate Covenant holding eight educational events at Catholic colleges and institutions in five states.

Since the summer, EPA has held meetings with USCCB officials, including an October gathering where McCarthy, Wenski and several Catholic groups -- among them Catholic Climate Covenant and Catholic Relief Services -- met at EPA headquarters to discuss the Clean Power Plan....

“Let’s keep in mind that environment isn’t just a natural resource issue or a safety problem. It is a fundamental threat to the economies across the world,” McCarthy said. 

She continued: “And that’s why it’s important to have Pope Francis continue to speak as clearly as he can because there are millions if not billions of people at risk here who the Catholic church and other faiths have been focused on for many, many years. And it’s those individuals that we need to speak for, and to help.”" via Free Rep.



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Obama tells India he'll give them free US taxpayer dollars because India shouldn't have to 'bear the burden' of reducing CO2 alone-Times of India

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1/27/15, "Can’t win climate fight without India: Obama," Times of India, New Delhi

"The US could not get a climate deal with India, but President Barack Obama on Tuesday made a strong pitch for emission cuts and said the world does not "stand a chance against climate change" unless developing countries like India cut their carbon emissions by reducing dependence on fossil fuels.

"I know the argument made by some, that it's unfair for countries like the United States to ask developing nations and emerging economies like India to reduce your dependence on the same fossil fuels that helped power our growth for more than a century," said Obama in his Town Hall address.

"But here's the truth: even if countries like the United States curb our emissions, if growing countries like India — with soaring energy needs — don't also embrace cleaner fuels, we don't stand a chance against climate change," he said in his last public speech before leaving the country.

Though India does not deny the importance of mitigation (emission cuts), the country lays greater emphasis on fighting climate change through massive adaptation measures and by moving on renewable energy (solar, wind and bio-fuels) path if it gets economically viable technology and investment.India took this stand at all platforms and meetings ahead of Obama's visit. As a result, both the countries agreed for cooperation in renewable energy sector but did not go for the climate agreement that may factor in India's emission cut targets.

Obama, in fact, welcomed India's "ambitious targets" for generating more clean energy and promised to help the country to achieve this. He said, "We will continue to help you deal with impacts of climate change because you shouldn't have to bear that burden alone."

He also said with the breakthrough achieved during this visit, the two countries can finally move to fully implementing the civil nuclear agreementwhich would mean more reliable electricity for Indians and cleaner energy that helps fight climate change."



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Facebook complies with Sharia law after Turkey threatens to block entire site for alleged offsense to Prophet Muhammad. Turkey restricted Facebook content almost 1900 times in first half of 2014-BBC

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1/26/15, "Facebook complies with Turkey page block order," BBC

"The BBC has learned that Facebook has complied with a Turkish court order demanding the blocking of a page it said offended the Prophet Muhammad.

If the social media platform had refused, the court had threatened to block access to the entire site. The site is believed to have around 40 million members in Turkey.

Facebook declined to comment but it does have a policy of blocking access to content within a country if it breaks local law.

Facebook publishes a report of requests from governments around the world for user data. The latest report, which covers the period January - June 2014, shows that 1,893 "content restrictions" were made inside Turkey during that time.

Also during that period, Turkey temporarily blocked access to both Twitter and YouTube.

"These companies might be US-based but their users are global - they have to respect local traditions and customs," said cybersecurity expert Prof Alan Woodward from Surrey University.

"They are obliged to obey the laws of the country - the key is transparency.

"There's danger in a government censoring what people in a country see, so the people deserve to know if something is being censored."

According to Amnesty International one of Turkey's biggest newspapers, Cumhuriyet, is under criminal investigation for publishing a selection of images from French magazine Charlie Hebdo following the massacre of its editorial staff."




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Historic Blizzard Bust: First time in history entire NY City subway system closed due to snow-but blizzard never happened. Only a few inches in Manhattan. NY Gov. Cuomo said blizzard was proof of global warming. Lack of blizzard also reported to be proof of global warming

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1/27/15, "City at Standstill as Blizzard Strikes," NY1 News, Time Warner, 2:08AM EST

Chelsea, NYC, 2:08AM, NY1

"New York City is without public transportation this morning and non-emergency vehicles are banned from the roads in an unprecedented response to what's quickly become known as the Blizzard of 2015.

 By midnight the storm had dumped almost half a foot of snow on Central Park, with more than six inches accumulating at La Guardia Airport.

NY1 meteorologist John Davitt says he expects the storm to drop 12 to 18 inches or more on the city by morning, with the National Weather Service calling for up to 30 inches of accumulation. 

The biggest snowfall ever recorded in New York City was 26.9 inches on February 11, 2006.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority and Port Authority shut down all transit operations to the public at 11 p.m., and non-emergency vehicles are currently banned from city roads as a result of the storm.

Included in the shutdown are all subways, buses, Metro-North trains, Long Island Rail Road trains and PATH trains, making this the first time that the entire subway system has been closed to the public due to snow – although many trains are continuing to run empty to keep the tracks clear.

Officials say it's unlikely subway service will be restored in time for the morning commute.

"Let's see when the storm stops, and we'll start cleaning up the system," said MTA Chairman Thomas Prendergast. "And we'll work as fast as we can to be able to restore the service, but right now, we're telling people don't count on us for that time period."

The system was previously shut down during Hurricane Sandy in 2012. 

On the streets, the vehicular traffic ban has left roads deserted except for plows and official vehicles. Authorities say non-emergency vehicles caught out on the roads will be issued a summons and given a fine of up to $300.

The bulk of the snow is expected to arrive before 10 a.m. Tuesday, although the National Weather Service has issued a blizzard warning through Tuesday at midnight.

Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia says crews will face 2 to 4 inches of snow per hour at times.

Public schools will be closed Tuesday, all canceled regents exams have been rescheduled for Thursday. Those regents include Global History and Geography, Integrated Algebra, Comprehensive Testing in Writing and Mathematics for special education students.

The Archdiocese of New York says its schools in the boroughs of Manhattan, Bronx and Staten Island will also be closed on Tuesday.

All CUNY schools will be closed Tuesday, though essential employees are expected to go to work.

The city has deployed 15 homeless outreach teams and is encouraging homeless New Yorkers to go to shelters during the storm. The shelters will be open to anyone who might be left stranded in the snow. 

New Yorkers are urged to call 311 for help, and 911 only in the case of life threatening emergencies.

The Visiting Nurse Service of New York is checking in on the homebound to make sure they have enough medication, water, blankets, batteries, and non-perishable food for a few days. 

They say that seniors are at epecially high-risk for dehydration when the heat is turned on high. 

Those in need of assistance can contact the Visiting Nurse Service at 1-800-675-0391 or at vsny.org.

Governor Andrew Cuomo declared a state of emergency for all New York City counties ahead of the storm, National Guardsman were stationed throughout the city and Long Island.  

The governor urged New Yorkers to put their safety first and avoid traveling on city roads and highways, adding that it is "not an evening or night to be out."

All Port Authority bridges closed at 11 p.m. Monday and will remain so until further notice.

Both the governor and mayor warned everyone not to underestimate the power of the storm.

The city Office of Emergency Management says all agencies have increased their staffing for the blizzard conditions, including 311 and 911 operators.  OEM says they are not expecting any flooding immediately after the storm since the temperatures will be in the 20s when it stops. 

They also advise construction companies to stop their work until the storm passes for safety precautions. 

The mayor says 2,400 employees who will work around the clock on 12-hour shifts and the city will deploy more than 1,000 snow plows. 

He says the storm is unpredictable but he urges people to stay off the roads because of conditions he says will be "treacherous."

The city closed all city parks as of 6 p.m.

Courts will be closed Tuesday in New York City and on Long Island, as well as in Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland and Westchester counties.

Alternate side parking is suspended through Wednesday.  Garbage and recycling collections will also be suspended.

Anyone with a heat or hot water problem should call 311.

At area airports, more than 4,000 flights were canceled on Monday.  All flights at LaGuardia are canceled Tuesday, and there will be only limited service at JFK.

Nearly every major airline in the U.S. and Canada is waiving change fees for customers flying to the Northeast.  The details vary by airline, with most allowing passengers flying to or through the Northeast to make one itinerary change without paying the standard change fee.

Air travelers should check with their individual carrier before heading to the airport.

Amtrak is warning riders about possible service disruptions.  To check on your reservation and any service changes, call 800-872-7245 or go online to www.amtrak.com.

A list of some weather-related closings can be found here.

The snow postponed both the Knicks game at Madison Square Garden and the Nets game at Barclays Center on Monday.  The Knicks game has been rescheduled for March 3, while the Nets game is rescheduled for April 6.

All Broadway shows were canceled for Monday night, as were performances at Carnegie Hall and the Metropolitan Opera."

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1/26/15, "New York governor says massive storms are 'part of the changing climate'," UK Guardian, Alan Yuhas, NY

"Andrew Cuomo says frequency of extreme weather, such as hurricane Sandy and current blizzard sweeping across north-east, ‘is a pattern never seen before’"

"Massive snowstorms such as the one sweeping into the US north-east on Monday are “part of the changing climate”,

New York’s governor, Andrew Cuomo, declared at a press conference announcing a state of emergency. 

Cuomo said on Monday that “there is a pattern of extreme weather that we’ve never seen before” – reiterating his comments in the wake of hurricane Sandy, when he said that “anyone who says there’s not a dramatic change in weather patterns is probably denying reality.”

“We have to find ways to build this city back stronger and better than every before,” the governor said in 2012.

Despite the protestations of climate change deniers that extreme cold weather must mean global warming is not real, a single storm cannot be taken as evidence of anything with regard to climate: weather is not the climate. 

But Cuomo was referring to how increasingly intense storms fit “a pattern of extreme weather” – and that pattern evinces the reality of climate change. As the globe continues to heat up over the long term – 2014 was the hottest year on earth since human beings started keeping records – more and more energy enters the atmosphere, charging it for extreme events. 

The atmosphere’s qualities vary hugely around the world – depending on geography, weather events like El Niño and the interaction of other factors. So the outcome of what all that charged energy actually does can vary from year to year, too. But one of the most likely consequences of this buildup of energy is a pattern of extreme weather events: not necessarily more storms, hurricanes, droughts and blizzards, but a pattern of increasingly dangerous and intense weather events.

Climate change could actually lead to more blizzards and less snow, since a warm atmosphere – full of energy and moisture soaked up by all that charged air – dumps more snow in brief, severe bursts. 

So while overall accumulation of snow may decrease, the frequency of intense storms may increase. This looks especially likely to happen as areas where snow should fall, in places like the Arctic, Andes glaciers and mountains around the world, rapidly lose snow due to global warming; and then that same snow deluges another part of the world as a brutal rain or snowstorm. 

Like a broken pendulum swinging from one extreme to another, faster each year and increasingly threatening to break off on the hot side of the continuum, climate change could produce increasingly severe weather events every year: not just hurricanes and droughts but unstable polar wind systems let loose on the east coast by heat, cold “bomb cyclones” striking Texas, and torrential rain in the south-east while California dries out completely.

Extreme precipitation – a weather event – is hard to link directly to climate change, but Cuomo has a viable point: cold weather records decrease every year, even as evidence quickly mounts that the heat in the atmosphere is making storms more intense and making both the climate and the weather more chaotic." via Climate Depot

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Blizzard or no blizzard both proof of global warming.

1/26/15, "Repeating News Story: Global Warming To Make Blizzards Worse," cato.org, Paul C. "Chip" Knappenberger and Patrick J. Michaels

"Over the next couple of days, as the Nor’easter honing in on the New England coast matures and eventually unleashes its winter storm fury, you are going to be subject to a lot of global warming hype.

After all, the climate change alarmist credo is: let no extreme weather event pass without pointing out that it is “consistent with” climate change caused by human industrial society.

The push has already begun.

But this time around, the pushback is also well-prepared.

While the “curator” of the Washington Post’s newly-minted online “Energy and Environment” section Chris Mooney tells us in his article that global warming may make blizzards worse by increasing the temperature of the western Atlantic ocean and thereby increasing the moisture feed into the developing storm, meteorologist Ryan Maue is quick to point out that just the opposite is likely the result—that the elevated sea surface temperatures actually act to make such storms tamer.

Maue goes on to add that it is “easy to make case that global warming weakened this blizzard significantly due to warmer [sea surface temperatures].”

While Ryan is probably being a bit optimistic here, the reality is that this blizzard (in fact pretty much all storm events) are the result of a very complex system of physical interactions—the precise behavior of each one of which is not completely understood, much less perfectly predictable. This makes ascertaining the influence of human-caused climate change virtually (if not entirely) impossible.

Blizzards affecting New York City are perfect examples of this.

A couple years back, during another New York City blizzard, we looked at some of the confounding factors at play in determining how much it snows in Central Park. Our conclusion after reviewing the cases for both more and less snowfall there?

 Which leaves natural variability as the primary driver of just how white New York City’s winters are.

Figure 1 will give you some idea of what we were talking about. It shows the winter snowfall history from New York’s Central Park since the late 1800s.

Figure 1. Winter snowfall totals from New York City’s Central Park.

Kudos to you if you can pick out the patterns formed by global warming. And if you can, please write them up for scientific publication somewhere. The world awaits the definitive answer.

In the meantime, don’t believe the hype." Chart via Cato from NCDC AccuWeather data. via Climate Depot

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Comment: I have a clear view up First Avenue in the 80's in Manhattan. As of 5:21AM there are only 3-4 inches of snow.



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Obama throws ugly tantrum about Israel as Iran proxies fight openly in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen-NY Daily News Editorial

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1/25/15, "Obama’s ugly tantrum could be dangerous to Israel," NY Daily News Editorial

"The President should receive Netanyahu, and heed his warnings about Iran's nuclear program."

"President Obama’s refusal to meet with Benjamin Netanyahu when the Israeli prime minister comes to Washington in March to address a joint meeting of Congress is a petulant, juvenile snub — one that couldn’t be more badly timed.

The Israeli leader “spat in our face,” an unnamed senior U.S. official told Israeli newspaper Haaretz, “and there will be a price.” An unnamed source “close to Kerry” told the Washington Post the House speech “could blunt Secretary Kerry’s enthusiasm for being Israel’s primary defender.”

That’s gangster talk, aimed at one of America’s closest allies-all because the Israeli leader dared to accept House Speaker John Boehner’s to address Congress on the emerging Iranian nuclear threat without consulting them first.

Too bad. Boehner leads the House. He can invite who he wants. Netanyahu leads his country. He can speak where he likes.

In fact, it’s completely understandable that the prime minister would accept the speaker’s invitation — because the President, who should be happily receiving him, has made a hash of the Washington-Jerusalem relationship.

More important than bruised feelings is what Netanyahu has to say about the danger Iran poses to the Jewish state and to the world, a danger Obama seems determined to let metastasize.

Under Obama’s watch and in the aftermath of the so-called Arab spring, Iran’s power has extended. 

Its proxies and soldiers are openly fighting not only in Lebanon, but in Syria, and Iraq, and now Yemen.

The Persian state’s reach even extends to Argentina, where a prosecutor was found dead hours before he was supposed to testify about the Argentine government’s secret plans to cover up Iran’s role in bombing the Israeli embassy and then a Jewish center in Buenos Aires.

And all that’s not to mention Iran’s nuclear program — which advances as Obama asks for endless extensions of negotiations that buy the mullahs more time to develop the apocalyptic weaponry they covet.

In fact, Boehner’s invitation was extended just after Obama vowed to veto debilitating new sanctions to be imposed after the upcoming June deadline, if this last round of talks fails.

If Obama had his head screwed on straight, he’d see congressionally mandated future sanctions as a tool to force Iran’s disarmament.

Instead, he foolishly insists the sanctions already in place — which he relaxed, and which have failed to get the U.S. and its allies an inch closer to their goal — are sufficient.

While he also warns that Iran would bolt if Congress threatens future sanctions. While he also says he would impose future sanctions if negotiations fall apart. Call it flaccid incoherence.

Armed with confirmation that Obama isn’t listening, Netanyahu should raise the volume of his voice, and the American people should listen to him even more intently."




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German people say Ukraine policy is just US advancing its agenda at expense of Germany. Excessive US influence also seen as cause of Islamization of Europe. Anti-Americanism new focus of defenders of Germany-dw.de.

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To get you to shut up, elites label you xenophobic, hooligan, "outright aggressive," or a "conspiracy theorist." German left wing counter protesters defended US:

1/25/15, "Anti-Americanism hits Germany's streets," dw.de

"The latest instance of public xenophobia in Germany concerns the United States. Some 1,000 people congregated in Erfurt this weekend to voice their opposition to "American imperialism." DW takes a look."

"Over 1,000 people gathered this Saturday in Erfurt, the capital of the eastern state of Thuringia, to protest against the "Americanization" of Europe, amid a groundswell of xenophobia in eastern Germany and ongoing social movements in cities around the country directed against what's been called an "Islamization of the occident."

The Erfurt police told DW that the situation in front of the central train station on Saturday was "outright aggressive," as protesters held posters and chanted anti-American slogans abreast with some 600 counterdemonstrators who attempted to break police lines.

One of the main messages one could hear chanted by the mob was, "Ami! Go HOME," which translates roughly as, "Americans! Go HOME." A series of speakers attempted to deliver addresses to the crowd, but their speeches were drowned out by whistling from counterdemonstrators.

Journalists on the ground in Erfurt confirmed to DW that the mood was characterized by an aggressive anti-Americanism, coupled with violence between demonstrators and counterdemonstrators. A brawl nearly broke out at one juncture as counterdemonstrators, mostly young members of the left-wing anti-fascist Antifa group, attempted to block the anti-American protesters.

The Erfurt police told DW that nobody was arrested during the demonstrations, but that three people had been injured. Six criminal complaints were filed on Saturday for assault.

Conspiracy theorists and hooligans

The anti-Americanism group is an apparent offshoot from the PEGIDA movement that has been holding weekly demonstrations for three months now. Its self-proclaimed founder, Frenchman Stephane Simon, explained the reasons behind the group's formation in a YouTube video posted this week.

"We will no longer watch on as German and European politicians pull the wool over our eyes," said Simon in a video lecture during which he wrote his main theses on a whiteboard behind him. "We cannot continue to support our governments, under NATO dictates, as they pursue and further nothing other than US interests: With our money, our soldiers, and our weapons."

The group has two names, both acronyms in nomenclatural imitation of the PEGIDA movement. Simon said he and his followers were tired of the concentration on Islamization, referring to this as a mere symptom of the more fundamental influences robbing Germany of its autonomy. PEGADA, namely, the Patriotic Europeans Against the Americanization of the Occident is more fitting. The second name, ENDGAME, or "Engaged Democrats Against the Americanization of Europe," serves to clear up ongoing qualms with the cumbersome concepts of "patriotism" and the "occident," endemic to the first name. What's clear, however, is the new focus on the United States as a motivating factor for social protest.

A number of posts on the group's facebook page purport the explicitly bellicose nature of US administrations past and present. One warns against Washington's involvement in Ukraine as a "push for a Third World War at the expense of Germany and Western Europe in the hopes of engendering a US economic boom," publishing a video that claims to prove that Washington is pushing for a global war to rejuvenate its "dying economy."

Also on the PEGADA Facebook site one can see a number of posts expressing the support of the right-wing, anti-Islamist hooligan group HoGeSa (Hooligans against Salafists). The violent group has distanced itself from the widespread anti-Islamization PEGIDA movement in favor of anti-Americanism, because it also accuses the United States of having played a role in the formation of the "Islamic State" (IS)."...

[Ed. note: US taxpayers certainly provided ISIS with much of its fine weaponry.]

(continuing): "Dwindling allegiance?

It is perhaps a statement from the Erfurt police that best summarizes the situation both on Saturday and in general, when one considers the ever-diversifying protest culture that has developed in Germany over the past months."...

[Ed. note: The "ever-diversifying protest culture" is merely a reaction to massive state propaganda attacks, death threats, government officials ginning up hatred against innocent people.]

(continuing): ""We couldn't tell who was protesting for or who was protesting against," said Dominique Schuh, Erfurt station spokesman.

From the perspective of wider German society, however, the motivation for Saturday's demonstration doesn't come out of nowhere. Ever since the revelations of NSA surveillance on Washington's European partners emerged last summer, coupled with Germany's coerced cooperation with sanctions against Russia for its Ukraine policy, anti-Americanism hasn't gone unnoticed in Germany.

The latest study conducted by the forsa polling company suggests that less than half of Germans consider the United States a "reliable partner." Just over one third of the population said they would support their government if it followed US policy with regard to Ukraine and - by extension - Russia.
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"Our sense is that the German people continue to believe the Ukraine crisis - and Germany's role in it - serves US interests, and not their own," said Manfred Gülner, of the forsa Institute."

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Germany, Britain and other EU states "are actively promoting the destruction of their own societies, in the interests of globalisation and the elimination of national identities and cultures."

1/7/15, "The European Civil War: Elites vs People in a Fight for Survival," Gerald Warner, Breitbart London

"Europe is in a state of war: specifically, a civil war between the self-appointed elites who have destroyed much of the continent’s freedom, culture and prosperity and the insurgent populations they have deceived and enslaved. This is a war to the death; only one side can survive the outcome....

The people of Germany, like those of many other European countries, are feeling increasingly desperate about the imposition upon them of mass immigration – an inflow that is unending and which is largely composed of Muslims who are hostile to Christianity and the indigenous culture.

Well, you might think, that is a serious situation; but fortunately Germany is a representative democracy and when citizens make their concerns known to their representatives, the government will surely take steps to help them. Not so. German Chancellor Angela Merkel used her New Year's Eve address to vilify her fellow citizens in the Pegida movement who are protesting against the Islamisation of the West.

According to their chancellor, these people who simply wish to live in a country that is recognisably Germany “have prejudice, coldness, even hatred in their hearts”. Yet the number of asylum seekers in Germany rose to 200,000 in the past year – quadruple the figure for 2012 – and immigration reached a 20-year high. There are similar situations across Europe.

But the governments of Germany, Britain and other EU states are not simply behaving incompetently and allowing their populations to be overrun through their ineptness. On the contrary, they are actively promoting the destruction of their own societies, in the interests of globalisation and the elimination of national identities and cultures.

Merkel has mobilised all the forces at her disposal in an attempt to suppress the incipient rebellion against liberal totalitarianism. All the usual suspects have rallied to the regime: the state broadcaster, Germany’s legacy parties, the financial establishment, the churches…The Catholic Church, whose adherents are the victims of mass murder in Syria, Iraq, Egypt, Nigeria and every other country where jihadism is running rampant, switched off the lights of Cologne Cathedral to obscure the Pegida marchers who are trying to prevent a further influx of Muslims into Europe.

Turkeys voting for Christmas? Yes, because senior clerics in Germany are concerned only with trousering the massive handouts the government lavishes on registered denominations: rendering unto Caesar is the priority of organised religion in Germany. What Frau Merkel wants, she gets.

Naturally, Rentamob has organised counter-demonstrations, the ones that will be given prominence by the BBC. Violent leftists are trying to prevent the Pegida marches from spreading beyond Dresden to the rest of Germany, where polls show one German in three would like to join them. It is the Marxist and Anarchist thugs’ responsibility to prevent that, at all costs, by intimidation.

The establishment will try to laugh off the notion that such disparate elements as politicians, bankers and far leftists could be engaged in a joint enterprise – a crazed conspiracy theory, surely? Consider, then, the remarks made by Peter Sutherland, the “Father of Globalisation”, Bilderberg organiser and uber-Europhile to a House of Lords committee in 2012.

Migration, the Well-Lunched One declared, was a “crucial dynamic for economic growth” in some EU nations “however difficult it may be to explain this to the citizens of those states”. Declining populations in countries like Germany was the “key argument” for “the development of multicultural states”. He condemned Europeans “who still nurse a sense of our homogeneity and difference from others. And that’s precisely what the European Union, in my view, should be doing its best to undermine.”

That is plain speaking. A member of the innermost elite confirms the EU’s role as undermining homogeneity. Europe, formerly the most civilised entity in the world, is to be subsumed into a globalised pool of cheap labour exploited by large corporations and regulated by bureaucrats. All distinctive culture, national identity, the Judaeo-Christian ethic and everything that contributed so greatly to human civilisation are to be expunged in favour of profit for the few and state regulation for the many.

Such soft totalitarianism might seem less frightening than Nazism or Communism, but the end product will be in every way as nightmarish. It must be defeated. Until now, the populations of Britain, Germany and other EU states have behaved like somnambulists, passively accepting the projected New Order.

The one consolation is that some people, though still only a minority, are waking up. The movements expressing their concerns – Pegida, UKIP and others – are Davids facing the Goliath of EU totalitarianism. The forces ranged against them are massive and endowed with all the resources of the state and plutocracy. Yet they are the only hope of saving the nations of Europe from cultural extinction. Their one potential strength is popular support. Will you be with them?" via Free Rep.

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Comment: The same is happening in the US, so of course we're with the Europeans.  


 
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More than 3 million employed Germans live in poverty per 2013 data, an increase of 25% from 2008-dw.de

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1/24/15, "Millions of German workers in poverty," dw.de

"More than three million Germans can barely make ends meet despite being in work, according to a German newspaper. Growing numbers of struggling workers are cutting back on heating and food." 

"About 3.1 million wage and salary earners in Germany had an income below the poverty threshold, according to Saturday's edition of the Saarbrücker Zeitung newspaper. 

The paper cited an overview from Germany's Federal Statistical Office showing the most recent available data, which covered the year 2013. It also showed the numbers of workers struggling to make ends meet jumped from about 2.5 million in 2008 - an increase of 25 percent in five years. 

Data, based on household surveys, showed that those living on low wages were cutting back on food and heating, among other things, to save money. According to a special analysis by the statisticians, in 2013 some 538,000 low-wage workers were eating a full meal only every second day in an effort to save money on food. About 417,000 were going without adequate heating and almost 380,000 people could not afford to pay their rent on time.

Every second low wage worker, some 1.5 million Germans, would not be able to pay for a one-week holiday per year outside their own four walls. About 600,000 workers were forgoing having their own car because they could not afford it.

In the survey, to be considered as having an income below the poverty threshold, a person had to earn a total take-home pay, including state benefits like housing or child subsidies, of less than 60 percent of the median wage. In the year 2013, this threshold was a monthly take-home amount of 979 euros (about $1100) for an individual.

"The number of workers who earn scarcely or marginally more than the government unemployment benefits (Hartz IV) is alarmingly high," the president of the social association VdK (VdK Sozialverband) Ulrike Mascher told the Saarbrücker Zeitung.

Germany's newly introduced nationwide minimum wage of 8.50 euros ($10.50) came into effect on January 1, 2015." se/sb (AFP, epd)



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District of Columbia Fed. judge says green groups can't sue US Export Import Bank over coal loans. ExIm Bank Chair is Obama appointee-Courthouse News

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Export Import Bank Chairman Hochberg is an Obama appointee:

1/23/2015, "Greens Can't Sue ExIm Bank for Coal Loan," Rebekah Kearn, courthousenews.com

"The U.S. Export-Import Bank need not face claims that a $90 million loan guarantee to a coal company will damage the environment and threaten public health, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.

     Chesapeake Climate Action Network, the Center for International Environmental Law and four other environmental groups sued in July 2013 , claiming that the bank and its Chairman Fred P. Hochbert authorized a 3-year, $100 million loan to Xcoal Energy and Resources from PNC Bank without conducting environmental analysis required under the National Environmental Policy Act.

     The loan enabled Xcoal to mine $1 billion worth of coal from mines in Appalachia, transport it by rail to ports in Baltimore and Hampton Roads, Va., and sell it to overseas customers.

     The plaintiffs claimed that the loan deal would pollute the air and water with toxic coal dust, aggravating respiratory conditions such as bronchitis and asthma, and that toxic metals in coal dust from the mines would increase people's risk of cancer and kidney damage.

     They also claimed that small dust particles contribute to haze, alter the nutrient balance in water bodies, and diminish ecological diversity.

     In response, ExIm Bank claimed the plaintiffs lacked standing and that it was not necessary to conduct a NEPA-compliant environmental study for a loan guarantee.
     
On Wednesday, District of Columbia Federal Judge Rudolph Contreras agreed with the ExIm Bank, and found that the plaintiffs lacked standing to challenge the loan guarantee.

     To establish standing in cases alleging violation of procedural rights, such as NEPA lawsuits, the plaintiff must demonstrate a specific rather than general interest in the matter, show that the government's failure to conform to the procedure at issue will harm the plaintiff's interests, that the government's failure to act is the cause of the plaintiff's alleged injuries, and that the court can provide actual rather than speculative relief, the ruling states.

     The defendants acknowledged that members of the four environmental groups suing on behalf of their members would likely be harmed by pollution from coal exportation, but argued that the groups lacked standing because they did not prove that the loan would cause Xcoal to export more coal or that vacating the guarantee would force Xcoal to export less coal.

     In rebuttal, the groups asserted that ExIm's loan enabled Xcoal to export more coal than it could without the guarantee, and that canceling the guarantee until the bank completes NEPA analysis would force Xcoal to decrease coal exports and thus reduce pollution.

     Contreras was not persuaded. He found that the administrative record and declarations from the parties demonstrate no link between ExIm Bank's authorization of the loan guarantee and the amount of Xcoal's coal exports.

     Though the groups' members believed NEPA compliance could better protect them from the effects of coal pollution, their "hopes or beliefs than an order rescinding the guarantee would redress their injuries, however genuine, do not constitute 'specific facts' showing redressability," Contreras wrote.

     In contrast, the defendants supported their position with specific facts, such as Xcoal's using other lines of credit to boost its coal exports, to prove that rescinding the guarantee will accomplish little to protect the plaintiffs' members from pollution, the ruling states.

     "The proposition that Xcoal would export less coal if the court orders the bank to rescind its guarantee is, at best, entirely conjectural in light of the availability of alternative funds and Xcoal's stated commitment to exporting the same volume of coal regardless of whether the loan guarantee is rescinded," Contreras wrote.

     Since the four groups cannot refute the defendants' assertions that the European banking crises is easing up and that Xcoal is using only 30 percent of its available $535 million in credit, they lack standing for failure to establish redressabillity, Contreras added.

     The Center for International Environmental Law's and Pacific Environment's claims for organizational standing based on suffering "injuries to their organizations' missions, activities, and resources" due to ExIm's guarantee also failed to impress the court because neither could not show that they suffered actual harm.

     Both groups contended that the guarantee interferes with their express missions to protect the environment, and forced them to expend resources on environmental advocacy and public education, but neither could back up those claims with specific facts or explain how allocating additional funds for advocacy differed from their typical program activities and costs, according to the ruling.

     An action that merely frustrates an organization's goals is not enough to prove actual injury, and without proof of such injury, the plaintiffs thus lack standing, Contreras wrote.

     The court granted the defendants' motion for summary judgment and denied as moot the plaintiffs' motion to include extra-record evidence.

     The plaintiffs were Chesapeake Climate Action Network, the Center for International Environmental Law, Friends of the Earth, the Sierra Club, the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, and Pacific Environment."

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In 2013 Obama ExIm Bank Pres. appointee Hochberg was approved for a second four year term:
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6/6/13, "Senate panel backs Hochberg for second term at Ex-Im Bank," Reuters

"The Senate Banking Committee voted 20-2 on Thursday to back Fred Hochberg for a second term as president of the U.S. Export-Import Bank, which provides financial assistance to support U.S. exports."...

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Export Import Bank Board of Directors are also Obama appointees, exim.gov


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Sierra Club doesn't understand Hochberg is only carrying out Obama's wishes:

5/6/13, "U.S. Export-Import Bank Shady Coal Scheme in Mongolia," Daily Kos, nicoleghio

"Once again, U.S. Export-Import Bank (Exim) Chairman Fred Hochberg is using our taxpayer dollars to finance a dangerous fossil fuel project. This time it’s Rio Tinto’s Oyu Tolgoi gold and copper mine and the associated coal-fired power plant in Mongolia. What’s even more galling is that Hochberg and the Exim board of directors approved the project in April despite what amounted to a vote of no confidence in the very same project by the U.S. Treasury, which abstained from a decision on funding from World Bank Group’s International Financial Corporation (IFC).

When explaining their abstention, Treasury officials stated, "The ESIA does not provide a sufficiently detailed analysis of associated facilities and cumulative impacts, notably concerning a coal-fired power plant that will likely be needed to provide reliable power for the project." Clearly these were trivial matters for Mr. Hochberg and Exim that should not come between them and a new destructive coal plant.

The sad part is we now know that the situation is much worse. At the time of the World Bank vote, Rio Tinto was telling officials that a final decision had not been made on whether or not they would construct a coal-fired power plant. But in Mongolia, they were already making preparations on the ground for the plant. In other words, Rio Tinto was lying in order to get funding from the IFC and the U.S. Government -- and it worked because neither the World Bank nor Exim did the necessary due diligence to check Rio Tinto’s claims. Did I mention this is your tax payer dollars at work?

Our partners at Accountability Counsel did check, and it wasn’t that hard. They traveled to Mongolia and took a tour of the mine with a Rio Tinto official. Not only did he tell Accountability Counsel that he had not heard any talk of reconsidering the decision to build the coal-fired power plant, he pointed out where the worker housing was already under construction. It is the white line in the distance of this photo provided by Accountability Counsel.

Of course, Hochberg has a long history of supporting controversial coal projects backed by unscrupulous companies, so we’re hardly be surprised. But we can’t let him, or the US Government off the hook for decisions like these. It’s clear that abstention votes are not enough. Going forward Exim and Treasury must vote “no” on fossil fuel projects, especially dirty coal projects. It’s way past time for the World Bank and the U.S. Export-Import Bank to get out of the coal business."
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-- Nicole Ghio, Sierra Club's International Campaign

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Obama's Export Import Bank gave out $9.6 billion in fossil fuel financing in 2012:

Jan. 14, 2014, "U.S. spending bill aims to dilute curbs on overseas coal financing," Reuters, Valerie Volcovici

"The Ex-Im Bank's fossil fuel financing reached a peak of $9.6 billion in the 2012 fiscal year, according to environmental group Pacific Environment."...
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Sierra Club's concern about the Great Barrier Reef should've been directed to Obama. Unfortunately for the Sierra Club, Obama didn't think Hochberg was "damaging the reputation" of his administration and in 2013 re-appointed him to a second four year term:

9/28/2012, "US Ex-Im Bank President Fred Hochberg Underwriting Destruction of The Great Barrier Reef, Again?" sierraclub.typepad.com

"The US Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im), and its president Fred Hochberg, have never met a coal project they don’t like. At times it’s so bad we don’t know what century the institution thinks it is operating in. Now despite a worldwide uproar over their interest in one of the world’s largest coal ‘mega-mines’ in Australia they have been linked to another Australian mega mine (http://reut.rs/NRb26S). Underwriting the havoc this would wreak on the Great Barrier Reef is an unacceptable use of US tax payer dollars and it’s time Ex-Im Bank came clean on its involvement. 

It’s not surprising to hear over-eager developers link the Ex-Im Bank to these projects because the institution has a long history of supporting fossil fuel projects – and that track record is getting worse. It got so bad that the Sierra Club wrote an open letter to President Fred Hochberg because we have witnessed first hand the destruction these projects are wreaking on communities and livelihoods (check out our blog on the Sasan coal project in India).

But our pleas were callously ignored as President Hochberg ok’d a massive expansion of coal finance in every corner of the globe. From Kusile in South Africa, to Sasan in India, to Xcoal in the US, to these proposed mines in Australia, it appears that Ex-Im Bank cares little for the damage the institution is causing to communities around the world not to mention the reputation of this administration.

The problem however is that the public does. And that public stretches from Australia where the mining would take place, to India where the coal would be burned, to the US where the financing would come from. This global outcry was captured in part by Avaaz’s petition to #savethereef (consider taking a minute to tell Fred Hochberg personally via twitter: @fredhochberg), but also by media scrutiny in India, the US, the UK, and Australia. It appears that while President Hochberg may consider designations like ‘World Heritage Site’ pesky obstacles, the global public considers them treasures.

Which is why Greenpeace Australia’s recent report on massive coal export expansion plans that would trample the Great Barrier Reef, and the global climate, was so damning. They found that if underwritten by institutions like Ex-Im Bank the world would add emissions the size of the country of Canada while increasing traffic through one of the world’s greatest natural wonders. For an excellent visual representation of this lunacy check out Greenpeace’s short video:....
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So how did President Hochberg react? By quietly talking with another Indian company to finance another mega mine - this time with Adani group, whose record of violations (PDF) would give most institutions pause. Not Ex-Im though. After all, it makes sense that being linked to a scandal plagued Indian coal sector beset by ‘coal-gate’ investigations would be of little consequence if you are willing to finance the destruction of a global treasure like the reef.

But at the end of the day these may be over eager developers looking to increase the perception in the financial community that their projects have legs. The truth is with prices at near 2 year lows the Australian mining community is understandably worried that these projects are no longer viable. That is why the vociferous claims from Adani and GVK may be making their way into the press at this opportune moment.

But if that’s true, it’s easy enough for President Hochberg to condemn these public statements, and publicly dissociate the bank from this scandal. Instead he has been silent which leaves a huge question mark over US involvement. But let’s not put words in anyone’s mouth. Let’s let President Hochberg speak for himself.

So Mr. Hochberg, where do you stand? The world is waiting for your answer."
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- "Justin Guay, Sierra Club International Program"

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Comment: Obama's "answer" to the Sierra Club and "the world" was to re-appoint Hochberg in 2013 to a second four year term.