Wednesday, August 17th, 2016
Stephan: A couple of times a month someone writes me either asking me to do something on chem-trails, or sending me a story or URL about the chem-trail conspiracy.
It is astonishing to me that anyone would believe that a couple hundred thousand airport and plane maintenance workers, pilots, and cabin crew are somehow linked in a mass conspiracy that no one has leaked to the media; given that even the Ultra-secret, and the Manhattan Project leaked. Yet people believe in chem-trails with passionate conviction, and I can almost predict which readers will be writing me to tell me I have been duped by the conspiracy.
Wake up, sheeple! Chemtrails, depending on who you ask, are evidence of government-sponsored mind control experiments, biological warfare, geoengineering, or mass population control.
Or, for those of us who don’t subscribe to globalskywatch.com, those white streaks from planes are just water vapor condensed at high altitude.
According to the first peer-reviewed study to address chemtrails, published in Environmental Research Letters, 76 out of 77 of the world’s top atmospheric chemists say there’s no evidence for chemtrails.
It turns out, no actual scientist (even the lone dissenter) agreed that “the government, the military, airlines and others are colluding in a widespread, nefarious program to poison the planet from the skies,” according to the study.
Chemtrails just ain’t a thing.
Despite absolutely no evidence supporting the conspiracies, a 2011 international survey found that nearly 17 percent of respondents believe or partly believe in chemtrails.
So why do so many of us believe?
“The chemtrails conspiracy theory maps pretty closely to the origin and growth of the internet,” said study co-author Steven Davis.
And, hey, is it really that much of a stretch that so many people think the feds are administering anthrax vaccines […]
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Wednesday, August 17th, 2016
Elliott Negin, Senior Writer - Union of Concerned Scientists - Alternet
Stephan: It should be obvious to everyone that carbon interests are not going to give up their stupendous profits easily. Here is one aspect of what I mean.
Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson
Credit: Michael Wuertenberg/World Economic Forum
Recent press accounts report that ExxonMobil is now actively promoting a carbon tax. If true, that’s big news. It would mean that, after nearly 20 years of blocking action on climate change, the world’s biggest energy company has finally come to its senses.
But wait a minute. If something sounds too good to be true, then it probably is. So one might well ask: Is this anything more than a PR ploy?
Let’s take a closer look.
As I reported earlier this year, ExxonMobil has paid lip service to the idea of a carbon tax since 2009 but, all the while, has continued to fund federal lawmakers who resolutely oppose it. In March 2015, for example, the Senate voted 58 to 42 to pass a budget amendment prohibiting a carbon tax. Thirty of the 40 senators who had received ExxonMobil campaign contributions since 2010 voted in favor of the prohibition. Meanwhile, in March 2013, 156 House members cosponsored a […]
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Wednesday, August 17th, 2016
Sarah K. Burris, - The Raw Story
Stephan: There just seems to be something about Texas. Speaking of conspiracies maybe they have a secret IQ test, and you can't serve in public office or receive public funding if your IQ is higher than 85. Republican governance as I note frequently is, on the basis of outcome data, always inferior and often quite nasty, but appointments like this one just leave me shaking my head.
Carol Everett, CEO of the Heidi Group an anti-abortion hate group
Carol Everett is the founder and CEO of The Heidi Group, an anti-abortion organization that gives women health “advice,” but is not a medical provider and can’t perform any health care services.
Earlier this month, Everett testified at a hearing at the Austin, Texas statehouse on a proposed requirement that women either bury or cremate the remains of an aborted fetus. According to The Austin Chronicle, Everett testified about her concerns of an impending public health disaster if fetuses were flushed down toilets. She argued that the general public could be afflicted with STDs or even HIV due to fetuses flooding the sewer systems.
“What if one day something horrible escaped into the sewer system?” she said, as the audience snickered.
Everett’s claims are scientifically impossible.
Just days later, the Texas legislature awarded The Heidi Group $1.65 million in taxpayer money for the organization’s “health care services.” Their organization doesn’t provide […]
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Tuesday, August 16th, 2016
Stephan: Here is an excellent report on the cashless society, which increasingly looks like the future.
To get a glimpse of the future of commerce in America, look no further than Sweden.
The Scandinavian country is largely a cashless society, with consumers relying on mobile phone payments or plastic. While the U.S. is still far from achieving the same level of cash-free existence, increasing numbers of restaurants and retailers are now snubbing the lowly dollar bill.
Some merchants such as SweetGreen, a salad chain, refuse to open their registers for cash, telling customers they can pay only with mobile payments or cards. With some newer vending machines, only a card or mobile wallet will get that cold Coca-Cola to roll down the chute.
The stance may appear un-American — after all, currency is considered legal tender for all debts or dues — but the Treasury permits private businesses to set their own policies, which means going cashless is fine with Uncle Sam.
“What we’ve seen is a push toward electric payments because of convenience, especially for Generations X and Y and onward,” said Greg Burch, vice president of strategic initiatives as Ingenico Group, which makes payment systems for merchants. “The […]
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Tuesday, August 16th, 2016
Stephen Wolf, - Daily Kos
Stephan: Here is some good news about North Carolina's blatantly racist gerrymandering.
Racially gerrymandered state Senate districts in Fayetteville, North Carolina
Credit: Stephen Wolf
A federal circuit court dealt a huge blow to gerrymandering in North Carolina when it struck down its state legislative maps as unconstitutional racial gerrymanders. Republicans had illegally packed minority voters into a few districts, like the 21st state Senate district shown above. They disingenuously claimed the Voting Rights Act forced them to increase such districts from plurality black to majority black. However, the real purpose was to prevent black voters from electing their candidate preference in neighboring seats, allowing white Republicans to win seats like the 19th District.
This ruling follows a spate of recent racial gerrymandering court rulings, including one striking down North Carolina’s congressional districts earlier this year. North Carolina is one of the most gerrymandered states in the entire country and Republican legislators explicitly defended their partisan gerrymandering in anti-democratic terms. The legislative maps this court just invalidated are
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