Stuart Jeanne Bramhall's Blog: The Most Revolutionary Act , page 1294
May 20, 2016
Brazil Explodes in Fight against Temer Coup Government*
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Brazilians fight back against US/CIA coup.
Brazil Explodes in Fight against Temer Coup Government*
The removal of elected Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff — and installation of right-wing vice president and U.S. informant Michel Temer — has led to a sharp outburst of resistance against the interim coup regime.
A demonstrator stands in front of police officers during a protest against the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff in Brasilia, Brazil, May 11, 2016.
A demonstrator shouts slogans against riot policemen during a protest against the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff, in Porto Alegre, Brazil, May 12, 2016.
Supporters of suspended Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff protest in front of the Planalto Palace after the Brazilian Senate voted to impeach of Rousseff for breaking budget laws in Brasilia, Brazil, May 12, 2016. Photo:Reuters
Police officers use pepper spray on demonstrators against the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff in Brasilia, Brazil, May 11, 2016. Photo:Reuters
Demonstrators protest calling against Brazil’s…
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May 19, 2016
He Killed Two FBI Agentz. Or He Was Framed. After 40 Yearz, Will Obama Free Leonard Peltier?
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Free Leonard Peltier.
by AJ VICENS
American Indian activist Leonard Peltier in a Florida prison, January 1993- Kevin McKiernan/Zuma
Leonard Peltier, a member of the Lakota tribe who was convicted of murdering two FBI agents in 1977, has spent 40 of his 71 years in federal prison. During that time, some have come to view him as an international symbol of the mistreatment of Native Americans by the US criminal justice system; others see him as the murderer of two FBI agents who should continue to pay his debt to society. Recently a group of prominent lawyers—backed by world leaders, civil rights activists, and several members of the US Congress—have renewed efforts to win his freedom by filing a formal appeal for clemency to the Department of Justice and requesting that President Barack Obama intervene on Peltier’s behalf.
In February, Martin Garbus, a well-known New York City trial lawyer and the lead attorney of the…
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THE ROAD UP AHEAD: Portugal runs for four days straight on renewable energy alone
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The age of inflexible and polluting technologies is drawing to an end.
Source – theguardian.com
– “…James Watson, the CEO of SolarPower Europe said: “This is a significant achievement for a European country, but what seems extraordinary today will be commonplace in Europe in just a few years. The energy transition process is gathering momentum and records such as this will continue to be set and broken across Europe”:
(Energy Milestone: Renewables Power Portugal for Four Days Straight – By Arthur Nelsen)
Zero emission milestone reached as country is powered by just wind, solar and hydro-generated electricity for 107 hours
The Guardian reports:
Electricity consumption in the country was fully covered by solar, wind and hydro power in an extraordinary 107-hour run that lasted from 6.45am on Saturday 7 May until 5.45pm the following Wednesday, the analysis says.
News of the zero emissions landmark comes just days after Germany announced that clean energy had powered almost all its electricity needs…
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Kim Dotcom and America’s Diabolic Intellectual Property Laws
The Secret Life of Kim Dotcom: Spies, Lies and the War for the Internet
By David Fisher
Paul Little Books (2013)
Book Review
Kim Dotcom, a recent German billionaire immigrant to New Zealand, continues to fight a US extradition order for alleged Internet piracy, money laundering and racketeering. Dotcom, who legally changed his name from Kim Schmitz in 2001, was first arrested January 20, 2012 – during a military-style assault by an elite anti-terrorist team on his Auckland home. It would be nearly four years, in late 2015, before the New Zealand government convened an extradition hearing. The court granted the request for extradition, which is currently under appeal.
The case has caused great embarrassment for New Zealand prime minister John Key. Not only did the Government Security Communications Bureau (GSCB) illegally spy on Dotcom primary to his arrest, but New Zealand courts ruled the arrest warrant and the government order to seize his assets were illegal.
Fisher provides an excellent summary of Dotcom’s financial empire and the legal and technological intricacies of the case against him. The book paints an ugly picture of a servile National government that seems to view New Zealand as a US colony and happily suspends the New Zealand Bill of Rights at the behest of the FBI and US corporate interests – in this case the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA).
The case revolves around Megaupload, a service Dotcom created in 2004 (preceding Dropbox by three years) enabling Internet users to store and share large files. The MPAA cried foul when Megaupload users began sharing downloaded new release films.
Fisher (and the lawyers Dotcom consulted prior to starting Megaupload) maintain he is in total compliance with the US Digital Millennium Copywrite Act (DMCA). This law holds sharing websites (like YouTube) harmless for copyrighted materials posted by third parties, provided the sites remove them after being notified by copyright owners. Dotcom’s lawyers also contend that copyright violation isn’t an extraditable offense. This is why the US government has added additional charges of money laundering and racketeering.
Despite Dotcom’s status as a New Zealand resident, the US Department of Justice is claiming jurisdiction because all global email traffic passes through eastern Virginia. Dotcom (and Fisher) believe the FBI targeted the billionaire after he made a $50,000 donation to Wikileaks. Additionally, Fisher believes Dotcom may have influenced Edward Snowden’s decision to flee to Hong Kong. Dotcom started Megupload in Hong Kong prior to moving to New Zealand and still has major business ties there.
Dotcom’s appeal against the extradition order will likely extend into late 2017.
May 18, 2016
The People’s Economic Impact Statement for the TPP
Excellent comprehensive report detailing how the TPPA benefits corporations while simultaneously shafting workers.
By the TPP Resisters, April 2016
The People’s Economic Impact Statement for the TPP
Background: The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is an international agreement that was negotiated in secret by the Obama administration and hundreds of corporate lobbyists between 2009 and 2015. The text of the TPP was released to members of Congress and the public in November, 2015. It was signed by the twelve member countries (Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, United States and Vietnam) on February 4, 2016. Each country has two years to ratify the agreement.
Ratification requires Congress to pass implementing legislation submitted by the President.This will be considered under fast track, which requires Congress to vote within 90 days. Fast track also restricts debate and prevents amendments.The US International Trade Commission (USITC) is required to develop an economic impact statement for the TPP. The Obama administration is pushing for a vote on the TPP before the end of 2016.
The USITC is chaired by six commissioners appointed by the administration. All have worked either in the office of the US Trade Representative, Department of Commerce or US Agency for International Development or as a lobbyist or patent lawyer. Many assisted implementation of NAFTA, the WTO, and other international agreements. They are all proponents of “free trade” and are expected to continue the false arguments made about the TPP by the Office of the US Trade Representative and transnational corporate interests.
To bring truth to the discussion about the TPP, we have created the People’s Economic Impact Statement for the TPP. It uses data from the performance of past agreements and from analyses that have been conducted on the TPP.
TPP proponents are drawing on small sections of the TPP to argue that there are specific potential benefits to certain industries and states in order to win Congressional support. We reject this narrow view and urge all members of Congress to look at the big picture of the overall harm that the TPP will do to workers and families as it drives a global race to the bottom in wages, guts protections for consumers, workers and the environment, and assaults the sovereignty of the US and other nations.
Analysis of the Trans-Pacific Partnership
Gross Domestic Product: Minimal Impact on Growth
Based on the Tufts University Study, which used the United Nation’s Global Policy Model (UNGPM), the Trans-Pacific Partnership is expected to decrease the US GDP by 0.54% over ten years compared to the GDP without the TPP. The UNGPM provides a more reliable assessment of the economic impact than the model used by organizations such as the pro-corporate-trade Pete Peterson Institute.This loss of GDP is largely due to loss of jobs, reduction of labor’s share of income, and the resultant loss in consumer purchasing power. [1]
Trade Deficit Likely to Increase, Currency Manipulation May Worsen Outcome
The TPP is expected to worsen the trade deficit. The US already has a growing trade deficit with the eleven TPP countries. Tariffs with these countries are low, so lowering them further will have minimal positive impact on exports. [2] Of more concern is the impact of currency manipulation by TPP countries which lowers their cost of export and raises the costs of imports, thereby worsening the trade deficit with the US. The TPP brings in such countries as Malaysia, Singapore and Japan, which use currency manipulation in this way, without doing anything to address this problem. [3]
Impact on Specific Industries: Numerous Sectors Injured
The TPP will continue to seriously undermine domestic manufacturing (E.g. the US. trade deficit in manufacturing would increase by $55.8 billion under the TPP). [4] A major threat to manufacturing is the rules of origin provisions for autos and auto parts. The TPP reduces the requirement for special trade status to 45% originating in the United States, from 62.5% under NAFTA. This means more foreign-sourced parts and a devastating blow to U.S. production and employment. [5] Other manufacturing sectors that will be adversely impacted by the TPP include steel, aerospace, air transport, and apparel and textile. [6]
The TPP will also adversely affect small- to medium-sized farmers. Past trade agreements have pushed a corporate agenda that increases factory farming, rather than what is best for small- to medium-sized farmers and sustainable food production. Farmers have not benefited from these agreements and expect the same problems with the TPP. [7] Dairy farmers in particular expect to be hurt by the TPP because of the slow pace for lowering of tariffs, import of dairy from New Zealand, and currency manipulation. [8]
The public sector has been hurt by existing trade agreements and will continue to be undermined. [9] When communities lose factories, businesses that provide services to factories and their employees lose revenue causing sales and income tax revenues to decrease; and thus, government investment in public services decreases.The US does not exempt public services like transportation, sanitation, water or wastewater, utility, postal or other services from its trade deals. In fact, the TPP contains provisions that prevent state-owned and private enterprises to be treated differently. If public services are privatized, returning them to the public sector will likely result in an investor state dispute settlement (ISDS) challenge in the trade tribunal to prevent it.
Employment: Net Loss of Hundreds of Thousands of Jobs
The Tufts University Study estimates that there will be a net loss of 448,000 jobs by 2025 if the TPP is enacted. Additionally, the Economic Policy Institute estimates that the current US trade deficit with the eleven TPP countries caused the loss of two million jobs in 2015 alone: 418,900 direct jobs in commodity and manufacturing industries, 847,200 indirect jobs in supplier industries and 759,700 jobs that would have been supported through spending by those who lost their jobs. Big losers were the automotive industry, apparel, and computers and electronics. The EPI report also includes a state-by-state analysis of job loss and economic impacts. [10]
Wages: Continued Reduction in US Wages Likely
According to the Tufts University Study, the TPP will drive a global race to the bottom in wages in two major ways. One is by creating greater competition in prices which will push wages lower in order to lower costs of production and maintain market share. The other is by driving countries to lower their wage requirements in order to attract foreign investors seeking the greatest profits from their investments. In the United States and other countries, workers have less bargaining power for wages and benefits when employers can threaten to move their business elsewhere. And US workers cannot compete with such countries as Vietnam, where the minimum wage is less than $1/hour, or Malaysia, which engages in human trafficking. [11] The Economic Policy Institute estimates that international trade depressed wages for non-college educated workers by 5.5%, costing the average worker $1,800. [12]
Wealth Inequality Will Increase
The Center for Economic and Policy Research provides a conservative estimate of the impact of the TPP on wages across income brackets and finds that most workers, particularly those in the middle incomes, will lose income while those in the top ten percent will have significant increases in income. [13] This will further exacerbate wealth inequality. Additionally, three out of five displaced manufacturing workers in the US who found new jobs ended up with lower-paying jobs. [14]
Other Economic Impacts:
Health and Health Care Costs – The TPP lacks labor and environmental protections and lowers food safety standards, which will threaten the health and safety of workers and their families and communities. The TPP will raise the cost of health care in the US by raising the prices of pharmaceuticals and medical devices through patent protections and barriers to generics. [15] It will also drive further privatization of the healthcare system by ending advantages for state-owned enterprises (any entity that receives support from the government). Higher healthcare costs mean that more patients will delay or forego necessary care. This means greater suffering and more preventable deaths. Without a universal healthcare system or a strong social safety net, people in the US are more vulnerable to financial difficulties, including bankruptcy, when they have an accident or illness. This has a negative impact on the economy through the loss of ability to work, home foreclosure (which lowers property values), and lost tax revenue.
Climate crisis – The TPP expedites the export of oil and gas from the US to member countries which will drive more fracking and drilling. If laws are passed that interfere with the expected profits of foreign corporations, such as banning fossil fuels or promoting renewable sources of energy, those corporations can sue through the trade tribunal. [16] A current case is the $15 billion law suit by TransCanada against the US over rejection of the Keystone XL Pipeline. Continuing to use fossil fuels will worsen the climate crisis, which will lead to greater costs through extreme weather events, coastal flooding, illnesses, droughts and food insecurity. The TPP is a binding agreement, while the Paris Treaty is voluntary.
Financial Stability – The TPP further deregulates financial institutions, which increases the risk of a financial crash. Under the TPP, financial firms have greater flexibility to move money in and out of countries, essentially holding countries under economic hostage if they do not comply with industry demands, just as corporations threaten workers with off-shoring if they seek increased wages or protections. If governments pass new regulations, such as reinstating Glass-Steagall or passing other laws that might interfere with profits, financial firms have the legal standing under the TPP to sue those governments in the trade tribunal, which operates outside of the US judicial system and cannot be challenged even by the Supreme Court. [17] It will be the public who is forced to pay the price if there is another financial crash or if the government is successfully sued by the big banks.
Privatization of Public Services – The TPP will further privatize and commodify public services such as energy, water, sanitation, education, and more. The TPP specifically bans “Buy America” provisions and mandates that foreign corporations be allowed to compete equally for government contracts. [18] By further privatizing public services, there will be higher costs, fewer safety regulations and lower quality because a for-profit entity seeks profit first and foremost; public entities providing such services seek to serve the public interest first. This favoritism for transnational corporations is a fundamental error of trade agreements negotiated by and for corporate interests, as the put increasing profits ahead of improving the lives of people.
Conclusion: Reject Ratification of the TPP and Re-make Trade
Congress needs to reject ratification of the TPP. It does not serve the interests of the overall economy, but serves only the interests of transnational corporations and oligarchs in the participating countries.The public will no longer support this failed model of trade agreement, especially agreements such as the TPP, which overstep traditional boundaries and include a broad range of changes to US law. Congress needs to re-evaluate the purpose of trade agreements and seek new approaches.
Two broad areas need to be changed (1) the goals of trade agreements, and (2) the process of negotiating them. The purpose of trade should not be to enrich the 0.1% who profit from the success of multi-national corporations; instead, trade agreements should help all people, raise the standard of living, provide safer products, and ensure that workers have, at a minimum, a living wage and a safe work environment. Trade agreements must also confront such global problems as the destruction of oceans and forests, mass extinction, and climate change. The era of secret trade negotiations must be ended. The process should be participatory and transparent. Multinational corporations should not be granted greater access or rights than civil society. Congress should be involved at key steps of the process in an open way, giving constituents the opportunity and ability to participate.
The public demands a new model of trade that protects public health and safety and the planet. Corporate power grabs and anything that is less than fair trade will be rejected. We look forward to a new era of international trade that is sustainable, respects human rights and sovereignty, and benefits the 99%.
Source: The People’s Economic Impact Statement for the TPP
HIGH SOCIETY: Colorado’s Legal Pot Sales are So Successful, They are Now Providing Solutions to Homelessness
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The US war on drugs (which they impose on the rest of the world) has never made sense economically, politically or medically.
Source – thefreethoughtproject.com
– “…Colorado tax revenue from cannabis last June, eclipsed that of alcohol sales for the first time — coming in just shy of $70 million. Now, Aurora will be able to allot $1.5 million of that to help solve its homeless issue”:
(Colorado’s Legal Pot Sales are So Successful, They are Now Providing Solutions to Homelessness)
Aurora, Colorado plans to derive a powerful solution from their lack of prohibition — it will donate millions from legal cannabis sales to area nonprofits whose programs help the homeless.
As Mic noted, Colorado tax revenue from cannabis last June, eclipsed that of alcohol sales for the first time — coming in just shy of $70 million. Now, Aurora will be able to allot $1.5 million of that to help solve its homeless issue.
Colfax Community Network will receive $220,000 from the fund to continue its program of education for low-income…
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NYC shopping trips, two maids… Brazil’s glamorous new first lady as economy crumbles ahead of Rio Olympics
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Brazil’s latest contribution to sleeze and corruption.
YOUR PERCEPTION IS NOT REALITY
Marcela Temer, 33, is Brazil’s new glamorous and extravagant first lady
Her husband, Michel Temer, 75, is now the country’s interim President
Dubbed Brazilian Carla Bruni, she has an army of staff on the public payroll
She demanded multimillion renovations to her home – on the taxpayer
Her sister Fernanda did a very saucy Playboy shoot that was hushed up
Despite the country’s economic turmoil, Marcela Temer has refused to compromise on her opulent lifestyle
THE VOTING PURGE IS REAL AND IS NOW IN CALIFORNIA!
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Up until now Bernie Saunders was projected to win California because they have an open primary. He just won Oregon by 55% to 44%.
BY: LEON KWASI KUNTUO-ASARE
The voice we the American people is being silenced before we even hand in our voting ballot, so make sure you check you voter status and make sure you are registered to vote and if not please register before the May 23 deadline to be eligible to vote in the
June 7th California Democratic Primary.
I recently found out I was the victim of voter suppression, when on the advice of one of my friends I checked my voter status and to my suprise , I realized after 13 years of being a registered voter I was purged from the voting rolls in California, with no explanation , like the over 126,000 registered voters purged from the voting rolls in New York .
New York Primary: Chaos at Polling Sites, Broken Scanners & Whole Blocks Purged from Voter Rolls
CHECK YOUR STATUS OR REGISTER TO VOTE…
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May 17, 2016
Dear Gloria Steinem: Stop Saying Young Women Support Bernie Sanders Because We’re Interested In Boys
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After insulting young millenial women by suggesting they only support Bernie Sanders to meet boys, Gloria Steinem inspires a new twitter storm #Notherefortheboys – Steinem has been insulting working class women as far back as I can remember. Must be her CIA training.
Dear Gloria Steinem,
I doubt you’ll ever read this, and I really wish I didn’t have to write this, but I’m mad and I needed to get it off my chest, and I always articulate my thoughts best when I write.
When asked on Friday why so many young women support Bernie Sanders and not Hillary Clinton you said, and I quote, “When you’re young, you’re thinking: ‘Where are the boys? The boys are with Bernie.'” What is it that the youth say these days? Do they say that they can’t even? Well, I can’t even with that statement of yours.
I actually double-checked the news source to make sure I wasn’t reading The Onion, because I didn’t know why you would say that. It sounds like something a right-wing politician would say.
To begin with, I don’t see how reducing women to their interest in and involvement with…
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The Fight to Make Medical Knowledge Open Source
Restoring the Commons: Why Should Corporate Publishers Profit at Patients’ Expense?
Owing to growing mistrust of Big Pharma and the corporatization of medical care, patients increasingly rely on Internet research to help us take take responsibility for our own health and wellness. Usually the biggest obstacle we face is the pay wall scientific journals and big name publishers like Elsevier have set up charging $30 a pop for readers to view scientific articles online. Thanks to Alexandra Elbakyan, a Kazakhstanian neuroscientist, millions of scientific papers are now freely downloadable from Sci-Hub, the file sharing site she started in 2011.
Elsevier, along with US courts, views Sci-Hub’s activities as Internet piracy. Ironically, however, Sci-Hub enjoys the support of many researchers. They resent being denied access to state-of-the-art research, while big publishers like Elsevier derive immense profits from their own work. For the most part, scientists surrender the copyright for research papers to academic journals and science publishing houses and recoup no financial reward themselves.*
According to John Bohannon writing in the April 2016 Science, Elsevier is more profitable than Apple, with over 30% of their 2014 revenue going to profit ($1 billion).
Who Uses Sci-Hub?
Sci-Hub now hosts over 50 million research papers. Between September 2015 and March 2016, they provided more than 28 million documents free to health providers, patients and researchers. Most of Sci-Hub’s users (4.4 million) are from China. India, at 3.4 million, is their second largest user. Iran is the third largest user, Russia the fourth and the US the fifth.
Sci-Hub Servers in Russia
In October last year, a New York judge ruled in favor of Elsevier, decreeing that Sci-Hub infringes on the publisher’s legal rights as a copyright holder ordering the website to desist. The injunction had little effect. Although the sci-hub.org web domain was seized in November 2015, the servers that host Sci-Hub are in Russia, which for obvious reasons has little interest in enforcing US intellectual property law. Within days, the site reappeared on a different domain.
Although Elbakyan declines to say exactly how she obtains the papers, she confirms it involves online credentials of academics and institutions with legitimate access to journal content. Her supporters donate the material voluntarily.
Read Bohannon’s article here
People can access Sci-Hub’s search and download service here: http://scihub.org/
*A growing number of scientists publish through the Public Library of Science (PLOS), believing their work should be freely available to health providers, patients and other researchers. PLOS is a nonprofit open access scientific publishing project aimed at creating a library of open access journals and other scientific literature.
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