Meditations and Molotovs – 08.09.16

Vince talks about his recent article for CounterPunch, why the U.S. lacks an antiwar movement and what antiwar activists could do in the future to be more effective. After ten years of working with antiwar movements around the globe, Vince has seen the many ways in which those movements limit their own productivity. Interestingly, antiwar movements ranging from Spain to Australia are facing similar difficulties.

The world thinks Americans are violent, greedy, arrogant — and Americans agree

A worldwide survey found that majorities of people in the U.K., Canada, Spain and Australia think of Americans as violent, greedy and arrogant. The poll, conducted by the Pew Research Center, found that a median of 54 percent of people in countries surveyed associated the negative trait of arrogance with Americans. Fifty-two percent associate greed, and 48 percent say Americans are …

Alternative Visions – Contagion – Brexit as ‘Bear-Stearns’ Financial Instability Event – 07.01.16

As Jack Rasmus predicted last week, the initial scenario for the Brexit vote is not an immediately global financial crash. The threat is more intermediate than short term. The analogy is not Brexit as a ‘Lehman Brothers’ event, the US bank collapse that ushered in the financial crash of 2008-09, but more similar to a ‘Bear Sterns’ event, the US bank that collapsed in the US early in 2008. Brexit is a warning shot fired across the bow of the global capitalist economy, not the precipitating event for another crash. Jack explains how global investors are waiting to see what happens next before dropping the other shoe. Jack reviews the likely intermediate effects of Brexit on global markets—currencies, bond rates, stocks, real investment, deflation, productivity, bank lending, consumption, and GDP. The relative effects of Brexit on economic regions are also covered: the UK, EU, US, China, EMEs. Recession in the UK will occur first, Jack explains. Europe will stagnate further. Japan’s recession will deepen, the US will enter recession in 2017 soon after the elections. China eventually will have to devaluate its currency with severe global consequences—i.e. the effects of Brexit on financial markets and real economies is just beginning. Political instability in the UK, in both conservative and labor parties is reviewed, with splits deepening in both. What Brexit also means for growing political instability for France, Spain, Netherlands, and Italy; how Brexit is penetrating the US election campaigns, as US elites and corporate push back on both candidates. Jack warns the weak spots of global capital today are Italy’s banks and Japan, where the most likely next ‘Bear Stearns’ event will emerge. Longer term, the UK currency and London as global financial center are finished as global players.

The Gary Null Show – 04.11.16

On today’s Gary Null Show, Gary discussed these topics and played these videos. Enjoy

Fresh fruit associated with lower risk of heart attack and stroke

Flavonoids, derived from traditional Chinese medicines, show roles in the differentiation of neurons

Selenium status and risk of prostate cancer in a Danish population

Ashwagandha, The rejuvenating antioxidant that calms the heart and mind and promotes wellness

Study shows broccoli may offer protection against liver cancer

Berry polyphenols may benefit learning and memory

Turmeric Extract Strikes To The Root Cause of Cancer

Dietary supplement used in the Netherlands help colorectal cancer patients with diagnosis

Researchers from South Korea recently confirmed that vitamin D helps with the brain and alzheimer’s
Engineering researcher finds chemical in soaps linked to antibiotic resistance

Monsanto’s evil twin: disturbing facts about the fertilizer industry

Are preservatives in food bad for your health?

Deadly Chemo-Drug Costs 4,000x More Than Gold

VIDEO: Watch an Active Duty Soldier Perfectly Explain Military Suicides

VIDEO: Anonymous Blows The Lid Off Hillary Clinton

Would a Clinton Win Mean More Wars? by Robert Parry

Radical Politics in the Age of American Authoritarianism by Henry A. Giroux

Big U.S. firms hold $2.1 trillion overseas to avoid taxes: study

The 500 largest American companies hold more than $2.1 trillion in accumulated profits offshore to avoid U.S. taxes and would collectively owe an estimated $620 billion in U.S. taxes if they repatriated the funds, according to a study released on Tuesday. The study, by two left-leaning non-profit groups, found that nearly three-quarters of the firms on the Fortune 500 list …

A Trojan Horse in the Home of Austerity – Pepe Escobar

Greece invented democracy. Greek mythology forged the way the West looks at itself. Greece even invented the denomination of this Eurasian annex – “Europa”. “For it is only criminals who presume to damage other people nowadays without the aid of philosophy.” Robert Musil, The Man Without Qualities. Odysseus/Ulysses took ten years to go back home after the Trojan War. His descendants are now making history …

Countries must deal with health risks of more frequent heatwaves: UN By Agnes PEDRERO

The UN urged countries Wednesday to create preparedness systems to counter the health risks of heatwaves, as they become ever more frequent and intense, and dangerous, due to climate change. For the first time, the UN’s World Health Organization (WHO) and its World Meteorological Organization (WMO) have joined forces to create guidelines for experts and authorities for how to lower …

China Syndrome – George Monbiot

China is the world’s excuse for cruelty and barbarism. If we don’t behave atrociously, politicians and columnists assure us, China will, so we had better do it first, before we are outcompeted. You want holidays, collective bargaining rights and fair conditions in the workplace? Forget it. When Chinese workers have none, such fripperies would “hamper British/US/Australian/Canadian industry”, making it uncompetitive. …

Passive exposure to bleach at home linked to higher childhood infection rate

Passive exposure to bleach in the home is linked to higher rates of childhood respiratory and other infections, suggests research published online in Occupational & Environmental Medicine. Although modest, the results are of public health concern in light of the widespread use of bleach in the home, say the researchers, who call for further more detailed studies in this area. …