Stuart Jeanne Bramhall's Blog: The Most Revolutionary Act , page 1106
February 17, 2018
Corporations Use Tax Cuts for Stock Buybacks to Increase Share Value
While there is still some fringe debate what companies will do with the hundreds of billions in offshore funds repatriated to the US as part of the recently passed Trump tax reform, the discussion is largely over, especially after last week’s Cisco results. The company, which has $68 billion of overseas cash, third after AAPL and MSFT, announced that it would raise its buyback authorization by $25 billion, and revealed plans to repurchase its entire authorization of $31 billion during the next 6-8 quarters, equal to roughly 15% of its current market cap.
Call it a partial LBO, courtesy of Donald Trump.
In other words, those who said that companies will use virtually all repatriated proceeds for buybacks, congratulations, you were right, or as the FT humorously put it:
Flush with cash after the Republican tax cuts, Cisco announced on Wednesday that it was building gleaming factories across the US, employing hundreds of thousands of workers to make the latest cutting-edge routers.
Sorry, of course not. The money is going back to shareholders.
Don’t believe it? Here’s what Goldman’s David Kostin said in his latest Weekly Kickstart report:
Since December, S&P 500 firms have announced buybacks totaling $171 bn. YTD announcements of $67 bn represent a 22% increase versus the same period in 2017. The buyback window has re-opened and firms are taking advantage of the recent correction; the GS Buyback Desk reported that last week was the most active week in its history.
Putting this number in context, the $171 billion in YTD stock buyback announcements is the most ever for this early in the year. In fact, it is more than double the prior 10 year average of $77 billion in YTD buyback announcements.
Incidentally, the record burst of stock buybacks was arguably the key driver behind last week’s miraculous stock rebound. . .
via This Year’s Stock Buybacks Are Already Bigger Than All Of 2009’s
Palestinian Refugees to Start Peace Marches to Return to Israeli Homes
By Eve Mykytyn
The Middle East Monitor reported this week that The Committee of the March of Return has announced that Palestinian refugees will start peace marches towards Israel to return to their homes. The Monitor quotes the Committee:
“The 1948 war ended 70 years ago and there is no reason that refugees should remain away from their homes…returning is your right…There is no longer any point in waiting for just political solutions that will return the refugees to their homes or prevent the occupation from settlement, land confiscation, repeated aggression and siege.”
For most Americans whose exposure to the conflict has been limited to Israel’s version, this may seem surprising. Zionists have been inordinately successful in controlling the narrative in the US. I can’t think of another conflict in which, for so long, the victors got away with blaming the indigenous people whom they ousted.
It may be that the only effective option the Palestinians have to regain their land is to return to their property. The act of reclaiming their property puts the lie to Israel’s claim that it was never Palestinian property to begin with.
Instead, under its law of return, Israel offers citizenship to all Jews, their spouses, children and grandchildren. This is a law like no other, since Jews are not defined by religion or place of birth; it is purely and openly race-based.
How can Zionism justify taking land from Palestinians and offering it to any Jew? First there is the somewhat tortured biblical explanation. For the secular and political, the Zionist narrative relies upon the supposed nonexistence of Palestinians and with Palestinians ‘running away’ and thereby somehow losing rights to land. (Presumably this logic does not apply to holocaust survivors who fought relentlessly to get back their assets.) Leaving aside the falsity of these allegations, even if true, do they really matter? Seventy years ago and ever since, Israel has claimed land belonging to others.
A peaceful return by Palestinian refugees will likely disrupt the flow of Israel’s depiction of itself as the victim and place the Palestinians in their rightful place as the ousted owners of the land.
This is a dangerous situation. Nothing Israel has done in the 70 years of its existence indicates that Israel will voluntarily relinquish land to the Palestinians. We can assume that those who profited from stolen goods in World War II would not have returned a thing had those with ownership claims not asserted them. Similarly, and much more crucially, Palestinians have no hope to regain any of their property without asserting ownership.
I would not be so brave. There is no doubt that such Palestinian action will be met with violence. I’ve always wondered at the bravery of those who effect this kind of change. History is replete with scenes of masses of civilians fighting heavily armed soldiers. I wonder, how can their leaders urge them to battle when so many will die? I think I am beginning to understand. Their circumstances are such that change may never come about in any other way.
For years, Palestinians have protested by martyring themselves, attacking Israelis, joining the knesset, boycotting Israeli goods, etc. These techniques have had limited success. Palestinians have been ‘allowed’ ever decreasing freedoms and land. I don’t envy the Palestinians their battle.
Enric Duran – Hitting the Banks Where it Hurts
Enric Duran Giralt (born 23 April 1976, in Vilanova i la Geltrú) also known as Robin Banks or the Robin Hood of the Banks is a Catalan anticapitalist activist[1] and a founding member of the Catalan Integral Cooperative (CIC – Cooperativa Integral Catalana) and Faircoop.[2][3][4][5][6]
On September 17, 2008, he publicly announced that he had ‘robbed’ dozens of Spanish banks of nearly half a million euros as part of a political action to denounce what he termed the predatory capitalist system.
From 2006 to 2008, Duran took out 68 commercial and personal loans from a total of 39 banks with no guarantees or property as collateral. He had no intention of repaying the debts, and used the money to finance various anti-capitalist movements.[7]
In 2008, Duran released both an online article entitled “I have “robbed” 492,000 euros from those who rob us the most, in order to denounce them and build alternatives for society” (translated), and an online video, each explaining what he had done and that he had left the country to view the reaction and consider his next move.
This was also published in the free magazine Crisis, in Catalan, of which 200,000 copies were printed and distributed by volunteers throughout Catalonia. A second newspaper, We can! Live Without Capitalism was distributed on March 17, 2009, and a third, We want! on September 17, 2009.[8][9]
Today, five years ago, Enric made it clear that he did not accept the authority of the “justice” of the System and when it was required by him, his response was not to appear at the Provincial Court of Barcelona. On February 12, 2013, many companies were attentive to the reaction of the corrupt states of the state, the bank, and the judiciary and police.
Here we note the statement that was read before the Provincial Court of Barcelona on February 12, 2013.
Duran stated that he sought to create a debate about the financial system and the current capitalist system, proliferate protest actions against it and fund the social movements that seek to create alternatives. Duran called what he did an act of ‘financial civil disobedience’, and stated that he was prepared to go to prison for his actions.
Response of authorities
In 2009 Duran returned to Spain, and was arrested by Spanish police on March 17, 2009 at the University of Barcelona, as charges had been brought against him by six of the thirty-nine banks concerned. He spent two months in prison before being freed on a bail of 50,000 euros.[10][11]
For the first anniversary of the announcement of his “robbery”, an action day was planned in over 100 cities on September 17, 2009, in which people met, both in Spain and abroad, to share alternatives to capitalism.[12][13]
On November 25, 2011, the state prosecutor requested that the judiciary pass down an 8-year prison sentence for Duran, for the crimes of presenting false documents (in securing his loans) and continued insolvency.
The defence attorney based his case on the fact that imprisonment for unpaid debts has been abolished in Spain. Duran himself responded by maintaining that “I do not think that the judiciary is entitled to judge” (translated from Catalan). He questioned the state’s lack of response to the financial speculators who inflicted great suffering on much of the European population, and to the September 2011 changes to the Spanish constitution which made the repayment of debts the absolute priority of the country. He also claimed that his actions were an act of social justice – an attempt to redress in some small way the injustices perpetrated by those in power.[14][15][16]
Duran cited the pardon granted to the chief executive of the Banco Santander, Alfredo Sáenz Abad, in November 2011, as an example of the bias of the judiciary towards the powerful and well-connected, and argued that “when the government violates the rights of the people, insurrection is the most sacred of rights and the most indispensable of our duties” (translated from Catalan). He called on his supporters not to waste time campaigning for his acquittal or release, but rather to follow his acts of civil disobedience towards the banks with their own. In March 2012 he released a video explaining his legal situation and continued to encourage others to civil disobedience.[17][18]
Life in hiding
Before a criminal tribunal scheduled for 12 February 2013, Duran decided to leave the country rather than stand trial in Spain. “I don’t see legitimacy in a judicial system based on authority, because I don’t recognise its authority.” The prosecuting attorney and 16 banking institutions called for an 8-year prison sentence.[19]
Since this time he has been in hiding. A campaign under the hashtag #ReturnWithFreedom was started to enable Duran to return to Catalonia.[20]
Previous activism
Duran was involved in the “For the Abolition of Debt” campaign(1999/2000), the “Global Resistance Movement” (2000/2002) the “Campaign Against the World Bank”(2001) and the “Campaign Against the Europe of Capital”(2002).
Catalan Integral Cooperative
In April 2010, Duran began promoting the Catalan Integral Cooperative as a practical example of the ideals detailed in We can! Live Without Capitalism. In 2011 the cooperative accepted responsibility for a former industrial complex, with a view to turning it into a centre for environmental activities.[21]
FairCoop
In April 2014, Duran began to develop an idea that was to become Faircoop, an open global cooperative. It stated aims are to “contribute to a transition to a new world by reducing the economic and social inequalities among human beings as much as possible, and at the same time gradually contribute to a new global wealth, accessible to all humankind as commons”.[22][23][24][25][26]
Proposed economic system
One of the priority objectives of the FairCoop is building a new global economic system based on cooperation, ethics, solidarity and justice in economic relations.[19]
For that it is committed to the following resources:
Faircoin: Is a cryptocurrency with a store of value function. On the long run it aims to be a reference prices.[20][21][22][23][24][25][26]
Faircredit: Is the most awaited monetary tool for the FairCoop ecosystem. Its development will involve the challenge of building an innovative and decentralized money system that contributes to recover the sovereignty of the people through access to credits as a common good: a system of mutual credit globally as a means exchange of products and services, supported by Faircoin.[27][28]
Fairfunds: Are Faircoin funds for donations to various types of projects: The Global South Fund is for the empowerment of local projects at various levels, while the Commons Fund and the Technological Infrastructure Fund are for global projects, which may also include coordinated networks of local projects coordinated globally.[29]
Fairsaving: Is a resource for ethical savings, which is completely free from the cental banking system and state control, primarily for those members who are beginners in the field of wallet security. . .
via Enric Duran, 5 years as an underground Activist! .. From Robbing Hood to Faircoin
February 16, 2018
Bipartisan House Bill Would Protect Marijuana Users in Legal Weed States
By Lydia Wheeler – 02/15/18 05:19 PM EST
A bipartisan bill was offered in the House on Thursday seeking to circumvent attempts by Attorney General Jeff Sessions to encourage stricter enforcement of federal marijuana laws in states where the drug is legal.
Reps. Lou Correa (D-Calif.) and Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) introduced the “Sensible Enforcement Of Cannabis Act,” which would mirror a Obama-era memo that relaxed enforcement of federal marijuana laws in states where the drug is legal. Sessions rescinded the memo last month.
The lawmakers say their legislation would protect people from being prosecuted for legal medical and recreational marijuana use.
“To date, eight states have legalized recreational cannabis, and twenty-nine states and the District of Columbia, representing more than half of the American population, have enacted legislation to permit the use of cannabis,” Correa said in a statement.
“Attorney General Sessions’ decision to rescind the ‘Cole Memo’ created great uncertainty for these states and legal cannabis businesses, and put citizens in jeopardy for following their state laws,” he said.
In rescinding the 2013 directive from then-Deputy Attorney General James Cole, Sessions did not explicitly call for action, but the move opens the door for federal prosecutors to begin pursuing cases against both businesses that sell weed and residents who use it.
The memo had prioritized other prosecutions ahead of marijuana use offenses.
In a statement, Gaetz called the former memo good policy but bad governance because it was not passed through an act of Congress.
“We are a nation of laws, not department-wide memos. We should not tell prosecutors to ‘pick and choose’ what laws to uphold,” he said. “When federal law conflicts with state laws and the will of the American people, it’s time to change the laws.”
via Bipartisan bill offered in House to protect marijuana users in legal weed states
MK Ultra – What They Didn’t Tell You About the CIA Mind-Control Program That’s Probably Still Operational
Over the past week, I’ve been watching the History Channel’s America’s War on Drugs mini docu-series. To my surprise, the History Channel was shockingly honest about the CIA’s involvement in the war on drugs and the massive political propaganda campaigns that went along with it. The series criminalized the CIA and the government, and rightly so, discussing their involvement in drug trafficking, production, and testing — on both volunteers and unwilling patients — and even murder.
Part of the first episode honed in on the CIA’s top-secret program that is now declassified, MK-Ultra, which involved sexual and physical abuse, drug testing, hypnosis, mind control, and other types of torture. However, the only aspect that the History Channel discussed in their MK Ultra overview was the role that LSD played.
The CIA designed LSD with a Swiss manufacturer as part of the MK Ultra program in hopes that they could force people to take it and convince them to do unspeakable acts, all of which they’d forget the following morning, once the drugs wore off. Testing started with unwilling participants being lured into a hotel room by prostitutes, who would then slip the drugs into their drinks. A CIA agent would then watch the test subjects as they tripped out behind a wall of the hotel room.
The particular project within MK Ultra that the prostitutes were involved with was called Midnight Climax. This eventually turned into full-blown brothels in the U.S. run by the CIA, whereby the women working there would lure men into them, but instead of receiving sexual favours, were unknowingly drugged and then observed by CIA agents.
The CIA then started to test willing patients in lab settings, observing their reactions to LSD and asking them questions. To their disappointment, instead of helping them control their patients’ minds, LSD actually freed their minds. Despite the propaganda campaign on the war on drugs, whereby the government was telling people they were against all drug use, it was the government who brought LSD over and put it in the hands of the public.
Though the History Channel provided a fairly accurate depiction in the role LSD played in MK Ultra, it left out all of the brutal torture, sexual abuse, and other immoral tests performed on these patients. MK Ultra wasn’t an unsuccessful program, either; CIA agents were able to successfully mind control many victims, many of whom were children. Of course, the History Channel failed to provide these haunting details in their TV program.
A 1975 document addressed to the President stated: “The drug program was part of a much larger CIA program to study possible means for controlling human behaviour. Other studies explored the effects of radiation, electric-shock, psychology, psychiatry, sociology and harassment substances.”
The TV program itself was about drugs, so it’s understandable to a certain degree that they left these details out (you can watch the MK Ultra clip here). Plus, the History Channel is owned by A&E, which is owned by Walt Disney, so perhaps they didn’t want to be associated with discussing such subjects.
However, the History Channel went on to create a page on their website titled the “History of MK Ultra,” which does not portray the full picture of what exactly happened inside of the CIA’s MK Ultra program.
So, What Did the History Channel Leave Out About MK Ultra?
The CIA-sanctioned program ran from the 1950s until the mid-1970s, though many believe that aspects of the program still exist today. The experiments were intended to identify drugs as well as procedures to be used in interrogations and torture in order to weaken victims and force confessions out of them through the use of mind control. Though the TV show lightly touched on the severe mental abuse participants endured, it completely left out the physical and sexual abuse involved as well as the other gruesome details of the experiments. . .
China vs the US: The Battle for Oil
China vs the US: The Battle for Oil
Directed by Jean-Kristophe Klots (2012)
Film Review
The Battle for Oil is about the battle between China and the US over the world’s dwindling oil reserves. Globally China is the second biggest oil consumer – after the US. Owing to its dwindling reserves, they import two-thirds of their oil. High domestic demand for oil leads to periodic power blackouts and long queues at services stations.
China has three state-owned oil companies employing tens of thousands of workers, mainly in London, Singapore, New York. The country’s high demand for oil has led to major investment in African and South American oil producers. Rather than buying barrels of oil, China seeks investment in oil production capacity. Chad, Sudan and other African countries have granted them major oil concessions in return for major infrastructure investment in ports, railroads, telecommunication networks, schools, and clinics.
China’s ability (thanks to immense cash reserves) to invest in massive infrastructure projects gives them significant competitive advantage over western oil companies. As does China’s commitment to absolute non-interference in the host country’s political affairs. This contrasts sharply with western loans. The latter are always accompanied by demands for “democratic” and “human rights” reforms, which turn out to be camouflage for further penetration by Wall Street interests.
In 2005, China freaked out US lawmakers by attempting to take over the American oil company Unocal. Owing to their desire to preserve friendly trade relations, China dropped their Unocal takeover bid and shifted their focus to forging alliances with oil producers hostile to the US, such as Iran, Russia and Venezuela. Much of the current US animosity towards Venezuela stems from growing Chinese investment in their oil industry – a fact rarely mentioned in the mainstream media.
February 15, 2018
LinkedIn and Microsoft will now write your resume for you
Finding the right words to describe your last job no longer needs to be a thesaurus-combing ordeal. Microsoft and LinkedIn can automatically do it for you. The software company and social-networking service—the former of which acquired the latter in 2016 for $26 billion—together have launched Resume Assistant, a Word-integrated tool that will help spruce up…
via LinkedIn and Microsoft will now write your resume for you — Quartz
Amazon to Pay $1.2 Million Settlement for Illegal Pesticide Sales
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Amazon.com Inc will pay a roughly $1.2 million penalty to settle nearly 4,000 alleged violations of U.S. law in a move aimed at preventing harmful exposure to pesticides through illegal sales, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said on Thursday.
In a statement, the EPA said Amazon agreed to closely monitor and remove illegal pesticides from its website in an effort to “significantly reduce the number of illegal pesticides available through the online marketplace.”
(Reporting by Susan Heavey; Editing by Susan Thomas)
Vía One America News Network http://ift.tt/2CnObL2
via U.S. says Amazon to pay $1.2 million to settle allegations over pesticide sales
How Sugar Harms Brain Health and Drives Alzheimer’s Epidemic
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Alzheimer’s disease, a severe form of dementia, affects an estimated 5.2 million Americans, according to 2013 statistics.[1]
One in nine seniors over the age of 65 has Alzheimer’s, and the disease is now thought to be the third leading cause of death in the US, right behind heart disease and cancer.
A growing body of research suggests there’s a powerful connection between your diet and your risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, via similar pathways that cause type 2 diabetes.
Contrary to popular belief, your brain does not require glucose, and actually functions better burning alternative fuels, especially ketones, which your body makes in response to digesting healthy fats.
According to some experts, such as Dr. Ron Rosedale, Alzheimer’s and other brain disorders may in large part be caused by the constant burning of glucose for fuel by your brain.
Alzheimer’s disease was tentatively dubbed “type 3 diabetes” in early 2005 when researchers discovered that in addition to your pancreas, your brain also produces insulin, and this brain insulin is necessary for the survival of brain cells.
Sugar Damages Brain Structure and Function
In your brain, insulin helps with neuron glucose-uptake and the regulation of neurotransmitters, such as acetylcholine, which are crucial for memory and learning. This is why reducing the level of insulin in your brain impairs your cognition.
Research[2] has also shown that type 2 diabetics lose more brain volume with age than expected—particularly gray matter. This kind of brain atrophy is yet another contributing factor for dementia.
Studies have found that people with lower levels of insulin and insulin receptors in their brain often have Alzheimer’s disease. But according to recent research published in the journal Neurology,[3] sugar and other carbohydrates can disrupt your brain function even if you’re not diabetic or have any signs of dementia.
To test their theory, they evaluated short- and long-term glucose markers in 141 healthy, non-diabetic, non-demented seniors. Memory tests and brain imaging were administered to assess their brain function and the actual structure of their hippocampus. As reported by Scientific American:[4]
“Higher levels on both glucose measures were associated with worse memory, as well as a smaller hippocampus and compromised hippocampal structure.
The researchers also found that the structural changes partially accounted for the statistical link between glucose and memory. According to study co-author Agnes Flöel, a neurologist at Charité, the results ‘provide further evidence that glucose might directly contribute to hippocampal atrophy.’”
The findings suggest that even if you’re not diabetic or insulin resistant (and about 80 percent of Americans fall into the latter category), sugar consumption can still disrupt your memory.
Long-term, it can contribute to the shrinking of your hippocampus, which is a hallmark symptom of Alzheimer’s disease. (Your hippocampus is involved with the formation, organization, and storage of memories.)
The authors of the study suggest that “strategies aimed at lowering glucose levels even in the normal range may beneficially influence cognition in the older population” . . .
via How Sugar Harms Your Brain Health and Drives Alzheimer’s Epidemic
photo credit: JoanDragonfly Migraine Spectrum via photopin (license)
February 14, 2018
Science vs. CDC on Scary Flu Shot Promotions
Excellent article by Robert Kennedy Jr about the scientific facts being concealed about flu vaccine.
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Monday, February 12th 2018 at 12:00 pm
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This article is copyrighted by GreenMedInfo LLC, 2018
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Every year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and pharmaceutical companies mount an aggressive campaign in the mainstream media to persuade Americans to get their flu shots. Flu shots are big business: industry analysts estimate that within the next five years, the U.S. flu vaccine market will be worth almost $3 billion annually. And profit margins are growing as manufacturers increase price premiums for the newer four-strain vaccines. The U.S. expects to distribute roughly 166 million doses for the 2017-18 flu season, up from 146 million doses in the previous year. As pharmaceutical companies bombard American consumers with ubiquitous billboards, drugstore enticements and radio announcements to “get your flu shot now,” the CDC has advised the industry to…
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