Stuart Jeanne Bramhall's Blog: The Most Revolutionary Act , page 1205
March 7, 2017
Vacant Homes Are A Global Epidemic (And Paris Is Fighting It With A 60% Tax)
*
*
Starting in 2015, Paris began taxing vacant homes the equivalent of 20% of the fair market value of rent. On January 30 this year, they tripled that amount to 60%. The idea isn’t to punish those fortunate enough to own a second (or twelfth) home. They’re trying to discourage speculation and promote a healthy rental market.
Via Stephen Punwasi of BetterDwelling.com,
Runaway real estate speculation has been filling global capitals with vacant homes, creating artificial shortages in the world?s most sought after cities. The ?shortage? has made local home owners wealthy overnight, but it comes at the cost of turning lively cities into empty shells. The city of Paris has decided it?s had enough, and implemented a tax in 2015. They didn?t quite get the results they wanted, so they?re now tripling the tax to 60%.
Paris? Empty Home Problem
Paris has been trying to deal with vacant property owners for some time. Despite warnings that the city will have to take action, the number of vacant homes is growing. There?s now 107,000 vacant homes, representing 7.5% of all residential dwellings in the city according to France?s INSEE. Deputy Mayor Ian Brossat told Le Monde that 40,000 of those vacant homes aren?t even connected to the…
View original post 306 more words
America’s Desperate Mall Owners Turn To Grocers, Doctors & High Schools To Fill Empty Space
*
*
Once a shining beacon of American capitalism, malls around the U.S. are failing at an alarming rate due to a combination of shifting consumption patterns, years of underinvestment by mall owners and a spate of retailer bankruptcies over the past 12 months that have left large swaths of once prime real estate empty.
Once a shining beacon of American capitalism, malls around the U.S. are failing at an alarming rate due to a combination of shifting consumption patterns, years of underinvestment by mall owners and a spate of retailer bankruptcies over the past 12 months that have left large swaths of once prime real estate empty (see “Number Of Distressed US Retailers Highest Since The Great Recession“).
Now, as the vacant square footage grows larger, mall owners are being increasingly forced to turn to non-conventional tenants to fill empty space. Per the Wall Street Journal, the latest target of mall owners is yet another struggling industry, grocers, with everyone from Whole Foods to Kroger looking to snap up square footage at discount prices.
Natick Mall in Natick, Mass., is leasing 194,000 square feet of space vacated by J.C. Penney Co. to upscale grocer Wegmans Food Markets Inc., which is planning…
View original post 578 more words
March 6, 2017
Report: CIA Partners with “Fake News” Media
*
*
The Washington Post, Amazon, and the CIA. The Post’s new owner, Jeff Bezos, is the founder and CEO of Amazon — a company which recently landed a $600 million contract with the CIA.
The Washington Post, Amazon, and the CIA
The Washington Post, Amazon, and the CIA. The Post’s new owner, Jeff Bezos, is the founder and CEO of Amazon — a company which recently landed a $600 million contract with the CIA.
But the Post’s articles about the CIA are not disclosing that the newspaper’s sole owner is also the main owner of CIA business partner Amazon.
Darrin McBreen and Jon Rappoport (NoMoreFakeNews.com) reporting.
Also watch: Bombshell! MSM Caught Making Fake News Websites
Source: Report: CIA Partners with “Fake News” Media
Newly Declassified CIA Report Exposes Over 25 Years Of U.S. Plans To Destabilize Syria
Source: Mint Press News
Anti-Assad protesters burn a picture of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad with ‘Corruption’ written across his face. (AP/Kostas Tsironis)
SYRIA — While the nearly seven-year-long sectarian “civil war” in Syria is widely believed to have started in 2011, revelations in recent years have shown that the sectarian war that has sunk Syria into chaos actually precedes the “official” start of the conflict.
In 2010, Wikileaks published hundreds of thousands of classified State Department cables, including a 2006 cable showing that destabilizing the Syrian government was a primary goal of U.S. policy in the Middle East. The ultimate intention was to topple Iran, one of Syria’s closest allies. The cable revealed that the U.S.’ goal at the time was to undermine the Syrian government by any means available.
In addition, retired United States Army General Wesley Clark’s bombshell interview with Democracy Now exposed the existence of plans for regime change in Syria that date as far back as 2001. Now, a newly declassified document from the Central Intelligence Agency has shown that these regime change efforts date back even further to the late 1980s – and potentially even earlier.
The declassified document was written in July, 1986 by the Foreign Subversion and Instability Center, a part of the CIA’sMission Center for Global Issues, and is titled “Syria: Scenarios of Dramatic Political Change.” As the document itself states, its purpose is to analyze – in a “purposely provocative” manner – “a number of possible scenarios that could lead to the ouster of President Assad [Bashar al-Assad’s father, Hafez] or other dramatic change in Syria.”
The report’s meager distribution list suggest it was considered by top officials in the Reagan administration, specifically because it was distributed to national security chiefs, not entire agencies. It was also distributed to a handful of key players in U.S.-Syria relations, such as former Ambassador to Syria William Eagleton.
Though the document itself officially predates the current Syrian conflict by nearly 25 years, much of its analysis brings to mind recent events in Syria, particularly those that led to the outbreak of war in 2011. Chief among these is the rise of factionalism between Sunni Muslim elements against the ruling Alawi minority (a Shi’ite sect), as well as the potential to counter Russian influence in Syria and elsewhere in the Middle East. These similarities suggest that U.S. regime change efforts in Syria date back to well over 30 years ago – proof of the persistent imperialist elements that consistently guide U.S. foreign policy.
The Rise of Factionalism and Sectarian Conflict in Syria
A Free Syrian Army fighter from the Al-Faruk brigade steps on a portrait of Syrian President Bashar Assad, Sept. 22, 2012 (AP/Hussein Malla)
Of all the named “individuals and groups that might impel or impede takeover attempts” that are recognized by the CIA, Syria’s Sunni population ranks highest among them. The CIA notes that “factionalism plagues the political and military elite” as the ruling Alawi minority “is deeply resented by the Sunni majority it dislodged from power two decades ago.” The document also states that “a renewal of communal violence between Alawis and Sunnis could inspire Sunnis in the military to turn against the regime.” . . .
Read on: Newly Declassified CIA Report Exposes Over 25 Years Of U.S. Plans To Destabilize Syria
Alternatives to Industrial Farming
Unbroken Ground: Revolutions Start at the Bottom
Directed by Chris Malloy (2016)
Film Review
Unbroken Ground is about three revolutionary innovations in food production (regenerative agriculture, regenerating grazing and restorative fishing) aimed at increasing long term food security by working with natural processes.
Regenerative Agriculture
Regenerative agriculture is aimed at restoring and preserving topsoil by moving away from corporate monoculture of annual plants. The goal is to support farmers in raising a diversity of perennial staple crops.
At present annual grains (mainly wheat) comprise 70% of the global diet. Plowing topsoil under every year rapidly degrades soil fertility by killing the delicate microorganisms plants depend on for basic nutrients. Dedicating fields to a single monoculture annual hasten this process, necessitating the increasing use of chemical fertilizers and toxic herbicides and pesticides.
The filmmakers visit a group of scientists attempting to develop a perennial variety of wheat by cross breeding it with perennial grasses.
Regenerative grazing
The regenerative grazing movement is restoring the American Great Plains by reintroducing buffalo, the indigenous animals who co-evolved with the native grasses that grow there. Buffalo are 100% grass fed but unlike beef cattle, they don’t kill the grass by eating it down to ground level.
Studies show the animals also significantly increase CO2 sequestration (capture and storage – see The Soil Solution to Climate Change) in areas where they have been introduced.
Restorative Fishing
Restorative fishing uses ancient Native American fishing techniques to enable fishermen to catch their target fish and release non-targeted species back to the ocean unharmed. The process involves creating an artificial reef with nets and plastic strips. The false reef fools the fish into swimming more shallowly, enabling easy capture without harming their gills.
March 5, 2017
WHO Takes First Steps To Reclassify Medical Cannabis Under International Law
*
*
It could still be a long wait, but patients in the United States may not be dependent on the Drug Enforcement Administration to reclassify marijuana.
The World Health Organization (WHO) Expert Committee on Drug Dependence (ECDD) recently met and initiated the first steps in a long process that could lead to the rescheduling of medical marijuana under international law, and has committed to hold a special session to discuss medical marijuana in the next eighteen months.
U.S. Marijuana Party of Kentucky
by Scott Gacek on January 01, 2017
It could still be a long wait, but patients in the United States may not be dependent on the Drug Enforcement Administration to reclassify marijuana.
The World Health Organization (WHO) Expert Committee on Drug Dependence (ECDD) recently met and initiated the first steps in a long process that could lead to the rescheduling of medical marijuana under international law, and has committed to hold a special session to discuss medical marijuana in the next eighteen months.
“In order for cannabis to be rescheduled, the United Nations General Assembly would vote on a recommendation made by the CND.”
Eighteen months may seem like a long time, but discussions regarding the potential rescheduling of cannabis have been stalled for years, and the process could result in fundamental changes in the way medical marijuana research and regulations are handled in the United States and around the…
View original post 395 more words
San Francisco Startup is 3D-printing Entire Houses in Just One Day
If you’re looking to move but can’t find the house of your dreams, you may be able to just print out what you’re after in the near future. A San Francisco-based 3D-printing startup, Apis Cor, has come up an exceedingly affordable solution for building new houses. It can 3D-print concrete walls for a small house…
via A San Francisco startup is 3D-printing entire houses in just one day — Quartz
Warren Demands Sessions Respect State Marijuana Laws
“He told me he would have some respect for states’ right on these things,” Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky), told Politico. “And so I’ll be very unhappy if the federal government decides to go into Colorado and Washington and all of these places. And that’s not [what] my interpretation of my conversation with him was. That this wasn’t his intention.”
Source: “He told me he would have some respect for states’ right on these things,”
March 4, 2017
REALPOLITIK: How A Secretive Elite Created The EU To Build A World Government – By Prof. Alan Sked
*
*
DECLASSIFIED American government documents show that the US intelligence community ran a campaign in the Fifties and Sixties to build momentum for a united Europe. It funded and directed the European federalist movement.
Source – telegraph.co.uk
– DECLASSIFIED American government documents show that the US intelligence community ran a campaign in the Fifties and Sixties to build momentum for a united Europe. It funded and directed the European federalist movement.
The documents confirm suspicions voiced at the time that America was working aggressively behind the scenes to push Britain into a European state. One memorandum, dated July 26, 1950, gives instructions for a campaign to promote a fully fledged European parliament. It is signed by Gen William J Donovan, head of the American wartime Office of Strategic Services, precursor of the CIA.
The documents were found by Joshua Paul, a researcher at Georgetown University in Washington. They include files released by the US National Archives. Washington’s main tool for shaping the European agenda was the American Committee for a United Europe, created in 1948. The chairman was Donovan, ostensibly a private lawyer by…
View original post 1,171 more words
Private Prisons Can Sue States For Not Having Enough Prisoners
*
*
In America, most prisons are owned by private corporations. Private corporations like to make money. Empty prison beds do not make money, so many states are being urged into contracts with the prisons, pledging to keep the prison anywhere from 70% to 97% full, at all times.
Source – americansperspective.com
– In America, most prisons are owned by private corporations. Private corporations like to make money. Lots of money. Empty prison beds do not make money, so many states are being urged into contracts with the prisons, pledging to keep the prison anywhere from 70% to 97% full, at all times. So where does the average person come in?
Maybe the average American is not all that affected, but many will be. Parole boards will be urged to deny incarcerated people parole. People will be sent to prison on relatively minor offenses. This will happen, if it’s not already, because when these contracts are in place, when the prison has a contract to keep beds full, they have to pay the corporation whether someone is in that bed or not. That money, dear people, comes from your tax dollars.
Prisons started being outsourced to private companies in…
View original post 463 more words
The Most Revolutionary Act
- Stuart Jeanne Bramhall's profile
- 11 followers
