Home · News · News Aug 2019 · Aug 30 2019
Friday August 30, 2019

Amazon fires show world heading for point of no return, says UN
TheGuardian | Jonathan Watts | 08/30/19

Biodiversity chief calls for countries to unite to halt rapid degradation of nature

The fires in the Amazon are "extraordinarily concerning" for the planet's natural life support systems, the head of the UN's top biodiversity body has said in a call for countries, companies and consumers to build a new relationship with nature.

Cristiana Pasca Palmer, the executive secretary of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, said the destruction of the world's biggest rainforest was a grim reminder that a fresh approach was needed to stabilise the climate and prevent ecosystems from declining to a point of no return, with dire consequences for humanity.

"The Amazon fires make the point that we face a very serious crisis," she told the Guardian. "But it is not just the Amazon. We're also concerned with what's happening in other forests and ecosystems, and with the broader and rapid degradation of nature. The risk is we are moving towards the tipping points that scientists talk about that could produce cascading collapses of natural systems." ... Read more

Tariff Man: Behind Trump Economic Advisor Peter Navarro's Long Quest to Ratchet Up the Trade War With China
Fortune | Bob Sellers | 08/27/19

As President Trump and China escalate their trade war, there is a tariff champion in the White House that strongly supports this kind of approach. It's not Larry Kudlow, who described himself on his Kudlow.com website as an "Influential supply-side economist, and unapologetic supporter or capitalism and the free markets." (His website was taken down when he joined the administration.) Instead, it is Peter Navarro, the Director of Trade and Manufacturing Policy, whose raison d'être in recent years appears to be holding China accountable for its economic sins, and prepare the U.S. strategically for the threat the communist country poses economically and militarily.

But while the Harvard educated economist has the president's ear, he is not universally admired, says Phillip Braun, Professor of Finance at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. "He has ideas that have no basis in reality. Such as trade wars are good. Or that tariffs are good. But they have severe consequences for the U.S., and we've seen this in the past when the U.S. has imposed tariffs."

Nonetheless, Navarro has been able to convince the president to take on China with trade tariffs. There are now plans to expand them to more products beginning September 1st, which compelled China last week to announce retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods and U.S. crude oil imports, which in turn prompted Mr. Trump to announce additional tariffs on more goods at higher levels as he "ordered" American companies to bring their operations back home. Most economic forecasters -- including the Congressional Budget Office -- have lowered their GDP forecasts in the coming months and years. And JP Morgan says the average American family will face $1,000 of additional costs per year. ... Read more

GOP Senators Worried About Economy Under President Donald Trump | The Last Word | MSNBC | 08/29/19 | 5:24

The Pentagon's New Missile Drive Is Bringing Armageddon Closer
TheNation | Michael Klare | 08/30/19

Washington is withdrawing from the INF treaty not because of Russian violations but because the Pentagon wants to deploy a dangerous new class of its own nukes.

On August 2, in a brazen attack on the arms control architecture forged by US and Soviet leaders during the Cold War era, the United States formally withdrew from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, a 1987 accord that bans the possession of ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with a range of between 500 and 5,500 kilometers (310 to 3,420 miles). Just two weeks later, on August 18, the Defense Department test-fired a cruise missile that would have violated the treaty, were the United States still in compliance. That test, involving a ground-based version of the sea-launched Tomahawk cruise missile, was intended less as a technology assessment than as a political statement--to demonstrate the Pentagon's determination to rapidly field an array of treaty-non-compliant weapons and put China and Russia on the defensive. Unless halted by Congress, this drive will almost certainly spark a dangerous new arms race and dramatically narrow the "firebreak" between conventional and nuclear war. ... Read more

Trump Aide And Oval Office 'Gatekeeper' Fired For 'Leaking'
ZeroHedge | staff | 08/30/19

Madeleine Westerhout, the now-former special assistant to the president and director of Oval Office operations, had worked for the president since the transition. But she shared details about Trump, his family and his time in the White House during an off-the-record chat with reporters.

Once her actions had been discovered, the administration decided that "immediate termination" was the only worthwhile punishment for leaking. She would not be returning to work on Friday. ... Read more

Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Friday, August 30 [9:59]
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Friday, August 30 (FULL) | 59:02
Note: on the full 59:02 video look for small white (or black) circles on the Progressbar they denote the different news stories. You can move the pointer on the Progressbar to jump to each story, and around the video.
  1. Headlines
  2. "All-Out Attack": Trump's Anti-Immigrant Policies Target Children, Cancer Patients & Servicemembers
  3. Justice for José Antonio: Family Demands Accountability for Mexican Teen Killed by U.S. Border Agent
  4. Family of Mexican Teenager Slain by Border Agent Awaits SCOTUS Ruling to Determine If They Can Sue
  5. Border Patrol Has Killed At Least 97 People Since 2003. Hear Some of Their Victims' Stories
Is it Cynical to Believe the System is Corrupt? | TRNN | 08/30/19 | 14:46
While a new poll shows most US citizens believe the political and economic system is rigged against them, Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren also echo this sentiment. Some conservatives are now pushing back. But what says the evidence? Bill Black analyzes the situation.
The SECRET Trump Is DESPERATE To Hide | TYT | 08/28/19 | 10:41
Jim Mattis Reveals Trump HORROR Stories | TYT | 08/28/19 | 11:281
Trump Puts Republicans In PANIC MODE | TYT | 08/29/19 | 8:37
The1a.org
Friday News Roundup -- Domestic | 1a.org | 08/30/19 | 1hr
  1. This week, President Donald Trump says some children born overseas to American military and government employees will no longer receive automatic American citizenship.
  2. CNN notes that "President Donald Trump has occasionally voiced his support for ending birthright citizenship and said last week he was 'seriously' considering ending it, though it's unclear how he'd have the legal authority to do so."
  3. When aides have suggested that some orders are illegal or unworkable, Trump has suggested he would pardon the officials if they would just go ahead, aides said. He has waved off worries about contracting procedures and the use of eminent domain, saying "take the land," according to officials who attended the meetings.
  4. The Trump administration has diverted millions of dollars from the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Disaster Relief Fund to "to pay for immigration detention space and temporary hearing locations for asylum-seekers who have been forced to wait in Mexico," NBC News reported.
  5. Yada, yada, yada
Friday News Roundup -- International | 1a.org | 08/30/19 | 1hr
  1. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson faced backlash Thursday over his decision to suspend Parliament next month, increasing the likelihood of a no-deal Brexit. The move limits legislative time before Britain leaves the European Union on Oct. 31.
  2. What's the future of far-right parties in Europe? What's fueling their rise?
    1. In Germany, the Alternative for Germany party, or AfD, is expected to win key state elections in Saxony and Brandenburg. This could bring simmering tensions in German Chancellor Angela Merkel's center-right Christian Democratic Union to the surface and hasten her departure from German politics.
    2. In Italy, normally adversarial political parties are joining forces to thwart a common enemy. The Five Star Movement, normally anti-establishment, and the center-left Democratic Party reached a deal to form a new government. This thwarted a power play for the position of prime minister by far-right Northern League party leader Matteo Salvini
  3. The G7 Summit was held in France this weekend. President Donald Trump was in attendance and made headlines for several comments.
    1. Trump floated the idea of bringing Russia back to the G7. The rest of the leaders at the summit disagreed.
    2. The president also suggested that next year's summit be held at Trump National Doral Miami Golf Resort in Florida.
  4. French President Emanuel Macron prioritized wildfires in the Amazon rainforest at the G7. The member countries agreed to a $22 million fund to fight fires raging in the rainforest. However, a row between Macron and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro initially derailed the aid. Macron suggested that Brazil did not have sovereignty over the rainforest. Bolsonaro then said Brazil would only accept the aid if Macron withdrew the claim.
  5. Meanwhile, a U.S. cyberattack carried out in June hurt Iran's ability to target oil tankers. The attack targeted a database run by Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps that was reportedly involved in an attack on an American oil tanker earlier this year.
Trump's Henchmen Pt. 2 | Samantha Bee | 08/29/19 | 21:10
Hurricane Dorian Upgraded To Category 2, Could Hit Florida As Category 4 | The 11th Hour | MSNBC | 08/29/19 | 7:38
Cuomo revisits Trump supporters lying about Trump lying | CNN | 08/30/19 | 5:17
Trump attacks Fox News: It's not working for us | CNN | 08/30/19 | 7:24

08.30.2019. 09:37



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Lindsey Graham Mashups
Lindsey Graham

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said the quiet part aloud on why he’s still so close to former President Donald Trump: because we can use him for our goals. "President Trump has gotten people who wouldn't give me or Romney or anybody else the time of day. They believe he is on their side," the senator told the America First Agenda Summit crowd on Tuesday in Washington, D.C.

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Environment & Climate Change
Environment

The term "climate change" is often used to refer specifically to anthropogenic climate change (also known as global warming). Anthropogenic climate change is caused by human activity, as opposed to changes in climate that may have resulted as part of Earth's natural processes.

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AI - Artificial Intelligence | Machine Learning | Deep Learning
AI - Artificial Intelligence

AIArtificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence demonstrated by machines, as opposed to the natural intelligence displayed by animals including humans. AI research has been defined as the field of study of intelligent agents, which refers to any system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its chance of achieving its goals.

The term "artificial intelligence" had previously been used to describe machines that mimic and display "human" cognitive skills that are associated with the human mind, such as "learning" and "problem-solving". This definition has since been rejected by major AI researchers who now describe AI in terms of rationality and acting rationally, which does not limit how intelligence can be articulated.
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Quantum mechanics | AI - Artificial Intelligence
Quantum mechanics

Quantum mechanics is a fundamental theory in physics that provides a description of the physical properties of nature at the scale of atoms and subatomic particles.  It is the foundation of all quantum physics including quantum chemistry, quantum field theory, quantum technology, and quantum information science.
Classical physics, the collection of theories that existed before the advent of quantum mechanics, describes many aspects of nature at an ordinary (macroscopic) scale, but is not sufficient for describing them at small (atomic and subatomic) scales. Most theories in classical physics can be derived from quantum mechanics as an approximation valid at large (macroscopic) scale.
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Economy, Wall Street and Banksters

Wall Street and Banksters

Wall Street is an eight-block-long street running roughly northwest to southeast from Broadway to South Street, at the East River, in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, the American financial services industry (even if financial firms are not physically located there), or New York-based financial interests.

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Intelligence Agencies/Deep State?

Intelligence Agencies/Deep State?

An intelligence agency is a government agency responsible for the collection, analysis, and exploitation of information in support of law enforcement, national security, military, and foreign policy objectives. Means of information gathering are both overt and covert and may include espionage, communication interception, cryptanalysis,.

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Daniel Ellsberg | Pentagon Papers
Daniel Ellsberg

Daniel Ellsberg and Paul Jay explore Ellsberg's latest book, The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner. In the introduction to the book, Ellsberg writes: "No policies in human history have more deserved to be recognized as immoral or insane. The story of how this calamitous predicament came about and how and why it has persisted over a half a century is a chronicle of human madness".

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Nukes
Nukes

Nuclear weapons have come a long way and come in all types of different sizes. Some are relatively small while others are enormous, so big they boggle the mind at what they can be capable of, i.e. the Soviet 'Tsar Bomba' is/was 3,000 times greater than the Hiroshima bomb.

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Rana Foroohar and Fall of American Business
Rana Foroohar

Ms. Foroohar says financialization delivers stagnant wages, inequality and economic crisis; the Financial Times columnist and author of "Makers and Takers" says the financial sector represents only 7 percent of the U.S. economy, but takes around 25 percent of all corporate profit while creating only 4 percent of all jobs.

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The Untold History of the United States by Oliver Stone & Petere Kuznick

The Untold History of the United States by Oliver Stone & Petere Kuznick | 2014 | 10 Episodes

Oliver Stone and American University historian Peter J. Kuznick began working on the project in 2008. Stone, Kuznick and British screenwriter Matt Graham cowrote the script. It covers "the reasons behind the Cold War with the Soviet Union, U.S. President Harry Truman's decision to drop the atomic bomb on Japan, and changes in America's global role since the fall of Communism." Stone is the director and narrator of all ten episodes.

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Kuznick Interviews

Kuznick Interviews

Historian Peter Kuznick says Eisenhower called for decreased militarization, then Dulles reversed the policy; the Soviets tried to end the cold war after the death of Stalin; crazy schemes involving nuclear weapons and the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba put the world of the eve of destruction - with host Paul Jay

The Untold History of the United States by Kuznick, Peter.mobi | Book | 6.99 MB

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China Valley of Tunnels

China Valley of Tunnels

A report written by a Georgetown University team led by Phillip Karber conducted a three-year study to map out China’s complex tunnel system, which stretches 5,000 km (3,000 miles). The report determined that the stated Chinese nuclear arsenal is understated and as many as 3,000 nuclear warheads may be stored in the underground tunnel network.

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911
911

On September 11, 2001, 19 terrorists attacked the Unites States. They hijacked four airplanes in mid-flight. The terrorists flew two of the planes into two skyscrapers at the World Trade Center in New York City. The impact caused the buildings to catch fire and collapse. Another plane destroyed part of the Pentagon (the U.S. military headquarters) in Arlington, Virginia. The fourth plane crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Officials believe that the terrorists on that plane intended to destroy either the White House or the U.S. Capitol. Passengers on the plane fought the terrorists and prevented them from reaching their goal. In all, nearly 3,000 people were killed in the 9/11 attacks.

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The Vietnam War

The Vietnam War

Ken Burns and Lynn Novick's ten-part, 18-hour documentary series, THE VIETNAM WAR, tells the epic story of one of the most consequential, divisive, and controversial events in American history as it has never before been told on film. Visceral and immersive, the series explores the human dimensions of the war through revelatory testimony of nearly 80 witnesses from all sides--Americans who fought in the war and others who opposed it, as well as combatants and civilians from North and South Vietnam. Ten years in the making, the series includes rarely seen and digitally re-mastered archival footage from sources around the globe, photographs taken by some of the most celebrated photojournalists of the 20th Century, historic television broadcasts, evocative home movies, and secret audio recordings from inside the Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon administrations.

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Trump's Mashups
Trump's Mashups

Donald Trump talks a lot, but what is he actually saying? VICE News' "Trump Talk" mashup series tries to answer that. And, we're happy to say, it was just nominated for two Webby Awards. Now you can watch all the nominated videos.

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Trump's Sexcapades
Trump's Sexcapades.

Jessica Leeds (1980s)
Kristin Anderson (1990s)
E. Jean Carroll (1995 or 1996)
Lisa Boyne (1996)
Cathy Heller (1997)
Temple Taggart McDowell (1997)
Karena Virginia (1998)
Mindy McGillivray (2003)
Jennifer Murphy (2005)
Rachel Crooks (2005)
Natasha Stoynoff (2005)
Juliet Huddy (2005 or 2006)
Jessica Drake (2006)
Ninni Laaksonen (2006)
Cassandra Searles (2013)
Allegations of pageant dressing room visits(1997)
Mariah Billado,
Victoria Hughes,
and three other Miss Teen USA contestants
Bridget Sullivan (2000)
Tasha Dixon (2001)
Unnamed contestants (2001)
Samantha Holvey (2006)

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Trump's Speeches | Rallys |Interviews
Trump's Speeches | Rallys

Donald Trump talks a lot, but what is he actually saying? Watch Trump at some of his rallys and see what you think.

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