Stuart Jeanne Bramhall's Blog: The Most Revolutionary Act , page 1142
October 1, 2017
EU Parliament Bans Monsanto Lobbyists
By Jon Queally
Global Research, September 30, 2017
Common Dreams 28 September 2017
Monsanto lobbyists were officially barred by the European Parliament on Thursday after refusing requests to participate in hearings about the U.S. corporation’s efforts to influence regulations of its controversial glyphosate within the 28-nation bloc.
The ban was announced by the parliament’s presidential council under rules designed to combat misbehavior by those lobbying the EU’s lawmaking body. It is the first time, the Guardian notes, that
“MEPs have used new rules to withdraw parliamentary access for firms that ignore a summons to attend parliamentary inquiries or hearings.”
The Greens/EFA Group in the parliament, which had requested Monsanto’s removal after the biotech giant’s refusal, welcomed the decision.
“This is strong democracy. Those who escape democratic accountability must be excluded from access to lobbying,” said MEP Sven Giegold, financial and economic policy spokesperson for the Greens/EFA and parliament’s rapporteur for Transparency, Accountability and Integrity. “If Monsanto does business in Europe, it must also face up to its responsibilities before the European Parliament.”
The Guardian reports:
The lobby ban will be a bitter blow to Monsanto’s advocacy campaign ahead of a decision later this year about the relicensing of glyphosate, which has been linked to cancer by one expert WHO panel.
Another deemed it safe for public use, but Monsanto’s outreach to regulatory agencies in the US and Europe sparked controversy and prompted the parliamentary hearing.
Philippe Lamberts, president of the Greens/EFA, added,
“Those who ignore the rules of democracy also lose their rights as a lobbyist in the European Parliament. US corporations must also accept the democratic control function of the parliament. Monsanto cannot escape this. There remain many uncertainties in the assessment of the pesticide glyphosate. Monsanto has to face the questions of parliamentarians and should not hinder the clarification process.”
In response to the decision in Brussels, critics of the powerful company wondered if the U.S. would ever take such measures . . .
Source: For Snubbing Glyphosate Hearing, EU Parliament Bans Monsanto Lobbyists
For All the World to See: Police Riot Brutality Videos and Images in Spain
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According to Al Jazeera, 73% of the polling stations remained open and 27% were closed by national police. Counting has begun.
Hello prime minister Mariano Rajoy. This is what the world sees of you.
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September 30, 2017
How The Negro Traveler’s Green Book Helped Black People Get Around in the 1950s
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Ain’t much changed… try visiting Pekin, Ill or White Settlement, TX…
Ain’t much changed… try visiting Pekin, Ill or White Settlement, TX…
In the 1950s, vacationing while black in America was dangerous. The commonplace discrimination occurring during the Jim Crow era meant black travelers struggled to find a hotel room in which to stay, or a restaurant where they could grab a meal. Too often they were met with met with hostility, refused service, or worse. So when a brother like me wanted to get out of town, that meant grabbing a Green Book—a guidebook for black travelers offering tips on how to tour the country safely, as well as a directory of safe vacation destinations.
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How Polio Vaccine Didn’t Conquer Polio
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Smoke, Mirrors and the Disappearance of Polio
Dr Suzanne Humphries (2011)
In this presentation, board certified nephrologist Dr Suzanne Humphries traces the real reasons for the decline of poliomyelitis (aka infantile paralysis) in the US. She begins by describing the natural course of polio virus infection. Ninety-five percent of infected patients have no symptoms whatsoever, 4% have fever, headache and flu-like symptoms and 1% develop poliomyelitis (paralysis). The reason paralysis develops is because a defect in cell mediated immunity (CMI)* allows the virus to enter the central nervous system.
Humphries has spent years tracking down toxic environmental exposures known to impede cell mediated immunity. She has identified four that closely correlate with increased rates of polio infection in the 1940s and 1950s.
The first was increased use of infant formula contaminated with high levels of DDT and arsenic (in the forties and fifties, dairy cows were heavily treated with DDT and arsenic to suppress infectious disease).
The second was heavy use of DDT, which can cause flaccid paralysis independent of infection with polio virus, in middle class schools and households. Children and their food were routinely sprayed with DDT in the 1950s to protect them against infectious diseases. In addition, there were a wide variety of household products containing DDT. Humphries believes this may be a primary reason why “infantile paralysis” was far more prevalent in upper middle class families than in poor families who couldn’t afford these products.
The third was an epidemic level of tonsillectomies (in the 1950s, 85% of American children received tonsillectomies). Not only does tonsillectomy remove the primary barrier preventing infectious bacteria from entering the airway and gut, but the surgical trauma allows the polio virus direct access to the central nervous system. The link between tonsillectomies and infantile paralysis has been well documented since the early fifties, and surgeons were strongly warned not to do these procedures during “polio season.”
The fourth was a big increase in consumption of white sugar and and flour treated with quick lime, bleach and other toxic chemicals to whiten it.
Nearly all of these environmental exposures (DDT, arsenicals, tonsillectomies, toxic sugar and flour bleaches) were either banned or drastically curtailed at the end of the 1960s. According to Humphries, this, rather than vaccination, was the primary reason for the so-called eradication of polio in 1979.
An important secondary reason was an improvement in diagnosis of infantile paralysis. Following the introducing of polio vaccine in 1954, the medical establishment, eager to promote its effectiveness, were more careful to separate out other common causes of paralysis that were being misdiagnosed as polio (DDT and arsenic poisoning, Guillain Barre and coxsackie virus infection).
Franklin Roosevelt, who actually suffered from Guillain Barre, was the most famous person to be misdiagnosed with polio.
Humphries also briefly touches on the disaster caused by the introduction of the Salk vaccine and the 1955 Cutter incident, in which 220,000 children were accidentally infected with live polio virus, resulting in 200 cases of permanent paralysis and ten deaths.
*In cell mediated immunity (CMI), which is separate from the humoral immunity (involving antibodies), special attack cells kill the invading organisms. Vaccines only stimulate antibody production – they have no effect whatsoever on CMI.
Vaccines: The Myth of Herd Immunity
Herd Immunity – Measles
Dr Suzanne Humphries (2017)
In the following video, board certified nephrologist and vaccine expert Dr Suzanne Humphries presents a detailed history of measles vaccine. While she acknowledges that measles vaccine offers is temporarily effective in preventing the spread of measles, it only offers temporary (6-7 years) immunity. For this reason, it actually reduces herd immunity rather than increasing it.
According to Humphries, with improved diet and living conditions and more enlightened medical treatment,* measles ceased to be a fatal illness in the western world about 10 years prior to the introduction of measles vaccine.** According to the CDC, the vast majority of pre-vaccine cases presented as mild self-limiting respiratory illness that wasn’t reported to public health authorities.***
Prior to the introduction of measles vaccine in the 1960s, (which was combined with rubella and mumps vaccine as the MMR in 1971), 95% of the general US population had lifelong immunity against measles after experiencing it as children. Mothers with a history of wild measles infection transferred this immunity to their infants via breast-feeding.
The reason wild measles infection confers lifelong immunity relates to its ability to activate cell mediated immunity. Vaccines only increase blood antibodies, a far weaker form of immunity that deteriorates over time.
Vaccine acquired immunity only lasts 6-7 years.**** Thus if a child is vaccinated at age 1 and age 4-6 (as per the current vaccine schedule), 70% have virtually no immunity against measles after age 20. This is why pregnant women are routinely re-vaccinated against measles with every pregnancy.
At present, the percent of the population immune against measles is probably around 50%, with infants under age 1 and adults over age 20 at highest risk from measles infection.
This is born out by the populations most impacted by the 2014 Disneyland measles outbreak:
56% were over 20 years old.
18% were age 1-4.
11% were under age 1.
Humphries is also concerned about unprotected infants under age 1 – who are routinely exposed to vaccinated children shedding measles virus in day care settings.
*Humphries cites an interesting controlled study in which treatment with anti-fever and anti-cough medication and antibiotics increased death rates from measles. She also talks about high death rates from injecting measles patients with their parents’ blood, a common practice in the 1930s. Numerous peer reviewed studies suggest megadose Vitamin A and Vitamin C are currently the most effective treatment for measles.
**According to CDC records, there were no deaths related to wild measles infection between 2004 and 2015. This contrasts with 108 measles deaths due to the MMR vaccine. See Zero US measles deaths in 10 years vs 108 vaccine deaths reported
***Based on serum antibody screening, the CDC estimates that only 1/8 of roughly 4 million pre-vaccine measles cases were ever reported.
****Positive anti-measles antibodies are no guarantee of immunity. See Vaccine Illusion downloadable at How Vaccination Compromises Our Natural Immunity and What We Can Do About It
September 29, 2017
Catalans Begin Occupying 2315 Polling Stations
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The ‘Open Schools’ (Escoles Obertes) platform has called for mass occupation of the 2315 polling stations from 17hrs today.
The ‘Open Schools’ (Escoles Obertes) platform has called for mass occupation of the 2315 polling stations from 17hrs today. Over 60,000 people have already signed up to take part. The Madrid state has ordered police forces to take over and cordon off the stations from tomorrow.. But the Catalan police who should act first are obeying the orders of their director Trapero which allow use of the colleges until 6.00 am Sunday and forbid use of physical force by his Catalan police.
see also..Catalonia: Anarchists call for general Strike / Defense Committees against State Repression
Schools are already being occupied and organizing a host of autumn activities to fill the centers where the polling stations are located by day and night.
20.00 Five schools have now been blockaded by the police. In one of them Collaso i Gil in the Barcelona Raval barrio 20 students evaded the police…
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Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands point to Energy Rethink
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The ongoing electricity disaster in Puerto Rico in the wake of Hurricane Maria — and on several other Caribbean islands slammed at full force by strong storms — is driving new interest in ways of shifting island power grids toward greater reliance on wind, solar and even, someday, large batteries.
Climate Denial Crock of the Week
Tesla Is Sending Battery Packs to Storm-Ravaged Puerto Rico https://t.co/GgMZEB2eiEpic.twitter.com/nfOE1F0wR9
— Teslaliving (@teslaliving) September 29, 2017
This year’s hurricanes could be black swan events in several ways.
The ongoing electricity disaster in Puerto Rico in the wake of Hurricane Maria — and on several other Caribbean islands slammed at full force by strong storms — is driving new interest in ways of shifting island power grids toward greater reliance on wind, solar and even, someday, large batteries.
“For the most part, these island grids were completely devastated, and it will be four to six months before most of them can power their islands completely again,” said Chris Burgess, director of projects for the Islands Energy Program at the Rocky Mountain Institute.
Adding more renewables, and moving away from centralized power grids to more so-called “microgrids,” could lower costs and increase resilience in the face of storms, several energy experts said. And island…
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60% of Fast Selling US Used Cars Electric
Electric vehicles now account for six of the ten fastest selling used car models in the US. Compared to the 33.4 days that conventional cars sit on the market, electric and plug-in electric hybrid vehicles now sell within 24.6 days on average, or 27% faster than gasoline cousins, reports automotive research company iSeeCars.com. The firm analyzed the sales of 2.1 million one- to three-year old cars sold between January and August of 2017 to rank the models.
via Most of the fastest selling used cars in the US are now electric — Quartz
September 28, 2017
France Will Phase Out Glyphosate Weedkiller By 2022
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Yesterday the French government announced a 2022 deadline to phase out the use of glyphosate – the active ingredient to herbicides like Monsanto’s Roundup. Roundup is the world’s best-selling herbicide and is used agriculturally, industrially and even on individual lawns everywhere.
By Heather Callaghan, Natural Blaze
Yesterday the French government announced a 2022 deadline to phase out the use of glyphosate – the active ingredient to herbicides like Monsanto’s Roundup. Roundup is the world’s best-selling herbicide and is used agriculturally, industrially and even on individual lawns everywhere.
While many outlets are reporting an outright French ban on glyphosate, the truth is that the country has “rowed back” on its original intention to ban the herbicide.
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Student General Strike Called to Defend the 1-Oct Referendum
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According to Al Jazeera, the student general strike has started and hundreds of thousands of students are presently in the streets.
Massive Strikes of Catalan university and high school students to defend the 1-Oct Referendum
School students block main highways in Barcelona 27 /09/17
Student unions caledl for a mobilization from the classrooms between Wednesday and Friday.
Students are expected to block roads, occupy buildings and are supported by the teachers, and left wing unions. the State prosecutors sent warnings that teachers and parents will be held responsible for any damage.
The Student Union also convened a general strike at High Schools on Wednesday 27, and urged students to join the demonstrations planned at noon.
Representatives of platform ‘Universities for a Republic’, at a press conference (ACN)
The unitary platform “Universities for the Republic” has called a two-day strike in Catalan universities – Thursday, 28, and Friday, 29 – to denounce what they consider “the judicial and police prosecution we suffer from the Spanish State and the hidden state of…
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