Steve Bull's Blog, page 1289
October 11, 2017
Traces of Pesticides Discovered in 75 Per Cent of the World’s Honey
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TRACES OF PESTICIDES DISCOVERED IN 75 PER CENT OF THE WORLD’S HONEY
Residue from potentially harmful pesticides has been discovered in 75 per cent of honey sampled from around the world, according to a study conducted by Swiss scientists that was published in the journal Science in October 2017.
The researchers sampled 198 different honeys sourced from every continent, excluding Antarctica, testing for the presence of five unique neonicotinoid pesticides that are frequently applied to crops. These insecticides are so efficient that by 2008, they accounted for one quarter of the global insecticide market – and that rate continues to increase.
According to the study, these neonicotinoids are absorbed by plants and transported to all organs – including flowers, resulting in contaminated pollen. Increasing evidence suggests that large-scale use may lead to significant environmental impacts, leading scientists to start investigating the chemical’s impact on landscapes around the world.
“Despite increasing research efforts to understand the patterns of neonicotinoid uses and their effects on living organisms, we lack a global view of the worldwide distribution of neonicotinoid contamination in the environment to evaluate the risk,” the study states.
To help determine the potential risk of current contamination levels, citizen scientists from around the world sent individual samples of locally produced honey to the researchers’ laboratory in Switzerland. According to the study, the residue level of pesticides found in honey provides a measure of possible contamination in the surrounding landscape.
“Many of our samples were from very remote regions,” said Professor Edward Mitchell with the University of Neuchatel in Switzerland, who co-authored the study. “We also aimed to (include) isolated oceanic islands, and places in central parts of continents far away from industrial areas.”
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Shooting War in North Korea? History says Yes.
Washington insider Jim Rickards says a shooting war with North Korea is inevitable within the next six months. “Nobody wants the war. Nobody is rooting for the war, but it’s coming.”
Rickards believes Kim Jong Un will launch another missile any day. The following explains why.
“In the case of the bombing of North Korea,” Blaine Harden wrote in 2015, “[the American] people never really became conscious of a major war crime committed in their name.”
To most Americans, the North Korean leader is some nutty kid who will only speak to one American, Dennis Rodman, and can’t seem to find a decent barber. To threaten the U.S. of A for no good reason proves he’s a psychopath. North Korea must be a nut-case state.
Donald Trump channeling the American Zeitgeist, calls Un “Little Rocket Man” and threatens to unleash fire and fury on the North Koreans. Trump supporters wonder why Tennessee Senator Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is in the President’s face about all of this. He must just be disloyal. Right?
“I think when you’re in a situation that is as real as this one is and as sensitive as this one is, the lesser public comments you can make, the better,” Corker said. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who reportedly called the President a F*****g Moron, was trying to do what business people do and attempt negotiating with Un. Trump tweeted that Tillerson was “wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man.”
A little history provides a clue as to why Un and the North Koreans are steadfast in their wariness of Uncle Sam. Blaine Harden wrote in 2015 for The Washington Post,
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Red Flag Warning: These California Wildfires Are ‘Among The Most Destructive Fire Events In US History’ And They Are About To Get Even Worse
The wildfires that are roaring through northern California are already “among the most destructive fire events in U.S. history”, and by the time it is all said and done this could be the worst wildfire season in the history of the state. So far, fires have scorched more than 250 square miles, and more than 3,500 homes and businesses have already been destroyed. The official death toll has risen to 21, but that is expected to rise dramatically because over 600 missing persons reports have been filed with authorities. The worst damage has been done in Napa and Sonoma counties, and you can see some deeply troubling photos of the devastation here and here.
Unfortunately, this crisis is far from over. In fact, the National Weather Service has just issued a pair of “red flag warnings”…
The weather forecast is not looking good for those living in wine country, and for those firefighters trying to get a handle on the 22 wildfires raging through Northern California, which broke out Sunday and are barely contained more than three days later.
The National Weather Service issued a red flag warning for the North and East bays starting at 5 p.m. Wednesday and midnight on Thursday respectively.
That means winds can gust from 20 mph to 50 mph in the higher elevation areas, fanning the flames down mountains and into the cities.
So as bad as things are at this moment, the truth is that they are going to get even worse over the next 24 hours.
And that is quite sobering to hear, because this is already one of “the most destructive fire events in U.S. history”…
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
How Oil Hijacked Alberta’s Politics: Behind the Curtain With Former Liberal Leader Kevin Taft
For decades, Kevin Taft has served as a thorn in the side of Alberta’s provincial government.
In his new book, Taft, who served as a Liberal MLA between 2001 and 2012, and as leader of the Alberta Liberal Party — the province’s official opposition — between 2004 and 2008, maintains his course.
Oil’s Deep State: How the Petroleum Industry Undermines Democracy and Stops Action on Global Warming — in Alberta, and in Ottawa is a controversial read.
Notably the book implicates the Alberta NDP, which was elected in 2015 with promises to challenge the sector’s dominance over political processes. To help explain why that didn’t happen, Taft deploys concepts of institutional capture and deep state — a term used when institutional capture occurs with several different entities and is maintained for a long time.
It’s a challenging and insightful read, one that will likely spark many debates about how we talk and think about the oil and gas sector.
DeSmog Canada chatted with Taft about the book.
What inspired you to write Oil’s Deep State?
When you’re in the middle of action in politics, you don’t necessarily see the bigger picture. You’re fighting the local battles.
After I left politics in Alberta, I was invited to go to Australia to talk about the effect of the fossil fuel industry on democracy, because they have some real concerns there. That prompted me to begin reflecting on my own experience.
Essentially, the book is an account of the collision between the oil industry and global warming, and how democracy is caught in the middle of that.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
OPEC Boosts Oil Demand Estimates, Admits Oil Prices Can’t Rise Above $55
In its latest OPEC Monthly Oil Market Report (October) the oil cartel has increased its oil demand estimates for 2017, 2018 on strengthening world economy, and weaker outlook for supplies from its rivals.
Specifically, OPEC forecasts that based on the current global oil supply/demand balance, demand for OPEC crude in 2017 is estimated at 32.8 mb/d, around 0.6 mb/d higher than in 2016. Similarly, OPEC crude in 2018 is projected at 33.1 mb/d, 350k b/d higher than September production, and ~200k b/d higher than the group estimated last month. Global oil demand seen rising +1.38m b/d, or 1.4% in 2018 to 98.19m b/d
Meanwhile, OPEC claims that oil inventories in developed nations continued to decline, -24.7m bbl to 2.996b bbl in August, curbing surplus relative to a 5-year average to 171m bbl.
Here are the key highlights from the report:
Crude Oil Price Movements
The OPEC Reference Basket rose to $53.44/b in September, its highest value since July 2015. Crude futures prices also saw gains, with ICE Brent averaging above the $55/b, supported by increasing evidence that the oil market is heading toward rebalancing. Geopolitical tensions and lower distillates stocks also pushed prices higher. ICE Brent averaged $55.51/b in September, a gain of $3.64, while NYMEX WTI increased $1.82 to average $49.88/b. Hedge funds raised net long position in ICE Brent and NYMEX WTI futures and options by almost 200,000 contracts. At the end of the month, the Brent crude contract curve had flipped into backwardation through December 2021. The sweet/sour spread widened significantly in Asia and Europe.
World Economy
Growth in the world economy continues to improve, with the forecast for 2017 revised up to 3.6% from 3.5% in last month’s report. Similarly, the 2018 forecast has been adjusted higher to 3.5% from 3.4%. The improving momentum is visible in all economies, particularly the OECD, which is seen growing by 2.2% in 2017 and by an upwardly revised 2.1% in 2018.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
It’s Over for Sears Canada
Brick and mortar meltdown.
Sears Canada hired the same leading bankruptcy advisory firm on June 12 that had represented Target Canada in its insolvency proceedings. Ten days later, it filed for bankruptcy protection to restructure its capital and its operations, shutter dozens of it 225 stores and lay off nearly 3,000 employees, but planned to continue operating. Today it said that the restructuring efforts failed, and that it would seek court approval to liquidate, shutting all its remaining stores and laying off its remaining 12,000 employees.
Retailers are notoriously difficult to restructure. Once they’re this deep in trouble, after years of losses, they own few assets and are burdened with debts, as everything has been sold or pledged to creditors. Their suppliers, who’ve been burned too many times, are getting skittish. Lenders are getting desperate. And acquirers can be impossible to find. Most retailer bankruptcies start out as restructurings but end as liquidations.
To stay alive while losing money for years, Sears Canada has sold off most of its real estate holdings, and the most valuable assets are already gone. What’s left are C$1.1 billion ($880 million) in liabilities.
“The company deeply regrets this pending outcome and the resulting loss of jobs and store closures,” the company said in the statement.
Pending court approval to begin the liquidation process, Sears Canada said that it would kick off liquidation sales at its stores as soon as October 19 and continue through the holiday selling period.
In the bankruptcy filing in June, the company spoke of its “reinvention” and its “brand reinvention,” how it “rebooted its customer experience and service standards,” and how its “newly designed site built in-house by a new technology team” and some other factors would make this restructuring work.
…above link to read the rest of the article…
Outstanding Onions
OUTSTANDING ONIONS
Onions (Allium cepa L.), being the most extensively cultivated species of the Allium genus, are a root crop that nearly everyone has heard about, seen, or eaten. However, don’t let their perceived commonness lull you into thinking they’re uninteresting. Onions are quite a fascinating garden vegetable that has some remarkable characteristics.
ONIONS OF OLDEN TIMES
It’s thought that for well over 7,000 years the onion has been consumed or used medicinally by humans. While the first onions used were from wild sources, the cultivation of onions is thought to have started around 5,000 years ago. There’s debate on where the onion originated, some believing it first came from central Asia, while others believe it was from Iran and West Pakistan. Although the origin of the onion is debatable, the onion is known to have been used by many ancient cultures such as the Sumerians, Chinese, Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans. These cultures believed the onion had magical qualities that could be used in the afterlife, as well as healing properties to be used to treat ailments such as digestive issues, sleeplessness, poor vision, general aches and pains, and to enhance and fortify their overall health.
As the middle ages rolled around, Europeans, both rich and poor, were consuming large amounts of these vegetables. They too used them for medicinal reasons, such as to soothe and cure headaches and snakebites. Onions were even thought to have been used as gifts and payments in some areas. As the Europeans ventured to the Americas in the 17th century, they brought with them the onion. However, they found the Native Americans were already making use of the wild onions that grew there.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
OPEC To Take Drastic Action Despite Shale Slowdown
WTI recently dipped below $50 per barrel for the first time in a month, erasing the strong September rally. It’s no coincidence that after two weeks of price declines, OPEC has tried to talk up the oil market again, hinting that more drastic action could be forthcoming.
Echoing the world’s top central bankers, OPEC’s Secretary General said that the oil cartel might need to take “extraordinary” measures to balance the oil market next year. “There is a growing consensus that, number one, the re-balancing process is underway,” OPEC’s Mohammad Barkindo told reporters on Sunday in New Delhi. “Number two, to sustain this into next year, some extraordinary measures may have to be taken in order to restore this stability on a sustainable basis going forward.”
As always, OPEC is vague on the specifics, but the working assumption is that the group will agree to an extension of the cuts until at least mid-2018, or perhaps even as late as through the end of the year. There’s been some discussion about deeper production cuts, but there aren’t a ton of analysts who see OPEC going that far, despite Barkindo’s cryptic language.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia engaged in a bit of its own psy-ops with the oil market on Monday, saying that it was taking “unprecedented” steps to cut its oil exports. Saudi Aramco said it would lower exports by 560,000 bpd next month, “the deepest customer allocation cuts in its history.”
The comments are consistent with the country’s longstanding pattern of trying to jawbone the market when it wants higher prices. Based on Monday’s activity, the effort didn’t work. “The fact that we did not get any significant strength from the Saudi news is rather disheartening for the bulls,” Stephen Schork, an analyst and author of the Schork Report, told the WSJ. “The market is very skeptical of this.”
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
The Six ‘Secret’ Tactics of Empire
The 6 ‘secret’ tactics of empire are strategies of change used by governments, usually covertly, to attain political or military ends through means not normally acceptable to the populace as a whole. The strategies are as follows:
1/ False Flag Attacks
2/ Coercive Engineered Migration
3/ Colour Revolutions
4/ Fake News
5/ Humanitarian Intervention
6/ Proxy Armies
The relationship of the state or a political force to the various strategies depends on the political aim. Sometimes there is a direct and openly admitted relationship to the strategy and sometimes it is fervently denied. The outcome of any such strategy is never guaranteed and, indeed, may even have the opposite effect to that intended. This makes the strategies of change high-risk ventures for the participants as well as those for whom the strategy is hoped to benefit. In some cases these strategies of change seem to be perceived as the only way to change a situation, or at least the most expedient. Their role is to manipulate public opinion on a particular government, state or upcoming political movement to suit the actions, thoughts or desires of another internal or external political force. Like a good magician, the perpetrator of the strategy must make people conscious of the ends but not the means. If the people support a changed environment brought about by strategies of change without realizing or understanding why, then the result can be seen as ‘successful’.
1/ False Flag Attacks
False Flag Attack
Triptych – Oil on canvas – (60cm x 180cm / 23.6 in x 70.6 in)
False flag attacks are actions carried out covertly to look like another group, nation or state were responsible.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
The Disaster Myth Narrative: No One Panics, No One Loots, No One Goes Hungry
“The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.” ~ George Orwell
A few years back, I was doing some research about the aftermath of some natural disasters that took place here in America. I was shocked to find that the articles I was looking for – ones that I had read in the past – were pretty hard to find, but articles refuting the sought-for pieces were rampant. Not just one event, but every single crisis aftermath that I looked up, had articles that were written after the fact stating in no uncertain terms that the hunger, chaos, and unrest never happened.
Apparently we, the preparedness community, are all wrong when it comes to the belief that after a disaster, chaos erupts and civic disorder is the rule of the day. That is only a disaster myth, and the public narrative belies it all.
Listen to the “experts” and they will confirm, it never happens.
Panic? What panic?
According to newspaper articles written after Superstorm Sandy devastated the East Coast and after Hurricane Katrina caused countless billions in damage in New Orleans, people were calm, benevolent and peaceful. Heck, they were all standing around singing Kumbayah around a campfire, sharing their canned goods, calming frightened puppies, and helping the elderly.
Apparently, studies prove that the fear of anarchy, lawlessness, and chaos is nothing but the “disaster myth”. Reams of examples exist of the goodness and warmth of society as a whole after disaster strikes. All the stories you read at the time were just that – stories, according to the mainstream media:
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
