Attacking Age-Spotted Octogenarian Political Parasites?!?!? The Audacity...,

WaPo  |  In the early hours of Friday morning, an assailant broke into Ms. Pelosi’s San Francisco home and attacked her husband, Paul Pelosi, with a hammer. Mr. Pelosi was admitted into the hospital with “significant” injuries but is expected to make a full recovery. The Wall Street Journal reported that the suspected assailant — who is in custody — had “espoused extreme right-wing views on social media, including conspiracy theories about covid-19.” According to initial reports, he yelled out “Where’s Nancy?” during the attack — an eerie echo of the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol, when rioters screamed, “Where are you, Nancy? We’re looking for you!”

While the attacker’s motives and mental state remain to be determined, the imperative to safeguard members of Congress, other senior officials and their families from such wanton violence could hardly be clearer.

The danger is neither new nor one that is confined to a single party. In 2011, a gunman grievously wounded Gabrielle Giffords, then a Democratic congresswoman from Arizona, as she met constituents outside a Tucson-area Safeway. He then turned on bystanders and hit 18 more people, killing six. A half-dozen years later, Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) was shot at a congressional baseball practice by a man carrying a list of several Republican lawmakers in his pocket.

Since those episodes, threats and intimidation against politicians have continued to escalate amid the toxic rhetoric that has come to pass for political discourse and against the backdrop of a deeply polarized landscape. Earlier this month, the New York Times documented a surge in violent political speech since 2016; threats against members of Congress have reportedly increased more than tenfold, with nearly 10,000 reported incidents in 2021. A man was arrested in July for threatening to kill Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), and just this week another man pleaded guilty to threatening to kill a congressman. “I wouldn’t be surprised if a senator or House member were killed,” Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) told the Times.

It is not just legislators who are at risk: In June, a man accused of planning to assassinate Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh turned himself in to police outside the conservative justice’s home. That incident spurred Congress to pass a bill boosting protections for justices and their families. As violent rhetoric mounts, security for lawmakers and their families likely needs strengthening, too.

Whatever else we learn about the attack on the Pelosis, it is incumbent on politicians — regardless of party — to condemn anything resembling political violence. On Friday morning, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said he was “horrified and disgusted” by the reported assault, while Mr. Scalise said that “violence has no place in this country.” Several others have released similar statements. We hope lawmakers turn their outrage into action by tamping down on political vitriol — and by considering new investments in security for themselves, their families and other leaders who appear to face more risk by the day.

U.S. Elites Haven't Yet Provided Ole'Cornpop An Approved Roadmap For Agriculture

politico |  President Joe Biden needs the help of the powerful farm industry to reach his sky-high climate goals. But his plans for cutting agricultural emissions might not have enough teeth to take a big bite out of global warming.

Biden on Thursday pledged a drastic reduction in U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. But the White House hasn’t set any specific targets yet for agriculture, which accounts for 10 percent of all U.S. emissions, according to the EPA. Those discharges mostly stem from fertilizers, livestock and manure.

“To be realistic, the administration has to look at cutting some of the existing emissions,” said Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine), who sits on the House Agriculture Committee. “We are going to have to talk about cutting emissions from farms and changing some of the practices.”

The administration has steered clear of discussing stricter environmental regulations that could scare off the largely conservative farm sector, as well as the rural lawmakers that Biden will need to advance many of his environmental goals. Farmers have been slow to wake up to the reality of climate change, though increasingly extreme weather of late has hammered farm country and forced a reckoning.

A summary of Biden’s climate pledge notes that agriculture is both a source of greenhouse gases and potentially a key piece of the solution by capturing and storing heat-trapping carbon dioxide in forests and farmland. Environmental advocates, like the left-leaning Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, say the White House needs to address both sides of that equation to make a dent in global warming.

 

Is 2020 The Year Shit Starts Getting Real For You Other 9%'s Here Too?

I find it hard to listen to establishment fake news front Amy Goodman and crew. However, this is recent Arundhati Roy, and thus, I'm making an exception. The real shizzles and bizzles - where Roy breaks it down even for the slow cats who don't pay close attention - can be found here.  Since I don't expect you to pay $5.00 for this lecture, I surely wouldn't, here's a temporary link that should enable you to listen to it for free for the next couple of weeks. Click on the January 1st 2020 9:00am radio broadcast when it goes live at this location in a few minutes. 

Oh, lastly, you're welcome for the KKFI hookup. Of special note (you need to check out these shows) are The Boogie Bridge, Old-G's Hangout, and Lynn's Beautician's Blues. You will thoroughly enjoy each one of these. Yesterday's Beautician's Blues was straight FYRE!!! Don't say I never did you any favors.

Yogi Adityanath Genuinely Intends to Cleanse the Muslims

scroll |  In March 2017, the Bharatiya Janata Party decisively won the Uttar Pradesh elections after its leaders openly pitted Muslims against Hindus, with no less than Prime Minister Narendra Modi insinuating that the majority community was not getting a fair deal. “If you create kabristaan [graveyard for Muslims] in a village, then a shamshaan [cremation ground for Hindus] should be created, he declared at one rally.

India’s ruling party had not fielded a single Muslim candidate. The new assembly, dominated by the BJP, had fewer Muslims than any time in its history. This was bad enough – for anyone who believes India’s most populous state cannot afford to politically marginalise one-fifth of its 200 million people.

Then, one evening, the news broke: Adityanath had been chosen by BJP to become the chief minister of the state. 

To say it was a shock would be an understatement.

Here was a firebrand monk whose entire politics revolved around fuelling hostility towards Muslims. A five-time member of Parliament, he had criminal cases against him for leading violence against Muslims. He had brazenly justified this violence on national television. 

One of the first decisions Adityanath took as chief minister was to order raids on slaughter-houses and butcher shops. This was done ostensibly to enforce regulations. But the state could not explain why its concern for health and hygiene was limited to a single industry. Muslims, as the largest producers and consumers of meat in the state, were not fooled: they saw this as an attack on their livelihoods and food habits.

Congratulations to President Trump for an Excellent Summit with Putin

themaven |  CBSNews Highlights the Criticisms

• Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Arizona tweeted that the president's press conference was "shameful", adding that he never thought he'd see a day when the president "would stand on the stage with the Russian President and place blame on the United States for Russian aggression."
• House Speaker Paul Ryan said in a statement that there's "no question" Russia interfered in the U.S. elections, citing the findings of U.S. intelligence community and separate Congressional committee investigations.
• Trump ally Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, called the meeting a "missed opportunity to firmly hold Russia accountable for 2016 meddling and deliver a strong warning regarding future elections."
• Former CIA Director John Brennan meanwhile took a much harsher route, tweeting that the president's performance in Helsinki was "nothing short of treasonous."
• Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Nebraska, said in a statement that Mr. Trump's blame of the U.S. for the deterioration of relations with Russia was "bizarre and flat-out wrong."
• On the Democratic side, Sen. Bob Mendez of New Jersey called the meeting "disturbing, shameful, jaw-dropping and disgraceful." "I am running out of words to describe how despicable it is to see an American President capitulate to a dictator," he told reporters on Capitol Hill.
• Sen. Mark Warner, Vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, called the president's blame on the U.S. for Russian interference, a "complete disgrace."
• House minority leader Nancy Pelosi called it a "sad day for America." She added that Mr. Trump's "weakness in front of Putin was embarrassing, and proves that the Russians have something on the President, personally, financially or politically."
• Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Florida, meanwhile said the president's refusal to acknlowledge that Putin had a role int he U.S. elections "should alarm us all." "The president's unwillingness to stand up to him and defend our nation is unacceptable and embarrassing," Nelson added.

Tiny Glimpse of America's Coming Civil War In My Hood This Week...,

jimmycsays |  The lawyer, Thomas Pickert, had walked his two sons to school — not sure which school — and had returned home. “It appears that our victim was sitting on his front porch of his residence when he was shot,” police spokeswoman Sgt. Kari Thompson was quoted as saying. “The victim’s spouse heard something and came out and discovered her spouse on the ground.”

This murder — again as most of you know by now — was not random. The Star’s story provides the backdrop for this most unusual occurrence:

“Pickert won a $5.75 million judgment this summer against a businessman who had shot a homeless man on his property. Last week, Jackson County court officials started the process of seizing the man’s real estate to pay the judgment. The court filed paperwork that would prevent the man from selling or transferring the property.

“On Tuesday, the court sent the man’s attorney notice of its actions. The real estate to be seized for the judgment were the man’s business building and a home.”

Another extremely unusual thing about this case — besides occurring in quiet, upscale Brookside: 

The likely murderer is a 79-year-old man who owns a significant amount of property — or at least he did back in 2010.

That man, David Jungerman of Raytown, is the prime suspect in the murder. A 1997 Chevy van is registered to him — and that police were looking for — was found this afternoon.

theodoresworld |  A Missouri man’s sign painted on the side of an empty trailer along U.S. 71 has been torched twice in recent weeks. David Jungerman placed the trailer and sign in his field along the major highway, saying:

Are you a Producer or Parasite

Democrats – Party of the Parasites

Kansas City.com

David Jungerman farms 6,800 acres of river bottom land in western Missouri.

He’s not the kind of guy who posts on Twitter or has a Facebook profile.

So when the 72-year-old Raytown man wanted to speak out politically, he used what he had handy: a 45-foot-long, semi-truck box trailer.

Are you a Producer or Parasite

Democrats - Party of the Parasites

He planted the trailer with its professionally painted message in his Bates County cornfield along heavily traveled U.S. 71 about an hour south of Kansas City. He wanted lots of people to see it.

They did. Including at least one with a good case of outrage, matches and a can of gas.

On May 12, Jungerman’s trailer was torched. The Rich Hill volunteer fire department responded. A week later, it was set afire again. The firefighters put it out again.

Then flames erupted in an empty farm house that Jungerman owns.

“They don’t like free speech,” said Jungerman. He put out a $5,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.

fox4news |  Kansas City police tell Fox 4 they are still trying to determine who killed a Kansas City attorney in front of his home on West 66th Terrace near Brookside Road on Wednesday morning.

Tom Pickert, 39, had just returned home from walking his children to school when he was shot and killed.

Major Donna Greenwall told Fox 4 Thursday that  police have interviewed the registered owner of the white van that was seen leaving the crime scene. The owner was released after questioning.

Although Major Greenwall would not use the owner's name, records show that the van is registered to a man named David Jungerman. FOX 4's Dave D'Marko was reporting near Jungerman's home in Raytown late on Wednesday night when the van was recovered and towed away from the scene.

Police have not said if they believe Jungerman was driving the van or if it was someone else who was driving Jungerman's van.

"We at the scene talked to several individuals, and we'd ask anybody that has information with regards to this that they contact us," Major Greenwall said. "It's an ongoing investigation, and any information that anybody has would help us and we'd welcome that information. "

Investigators say they are still collecting tips. No suspects have been taken into custody. If you have any information that could help them in their investigation please call the TIPS Hotline at (816) 474-TIPS.

HRC DNC MSM #MeToo Dindu Slug Trails Everywhere..., Accept No Substitutes!

dystopiausa |  Before we get to the Week 3 thread, a recap of the past two weeks:

Week 2 of Trump’s Storm against the Deep State saw an increase in bombshell news events:

• Uranium One investigative revelations from Sara Carter and John Solomon.
• Subsequent Congressional probes into the U1 and FBI handling of the Clinton e-mail scandal were announced by Congress.
• The JFK Assassination files are to be declassified.
• Fusion GPS execs pleading the Fifth Amendment, with its lawyers frantically seeking to keep Fusion’s bank records private.
• Confirmation by the Washington Post that the Clinton campaign and the DNC paid for the Steele dossier of the President.
• Announcement that the FBI has arrested pedophiles in a cross-country sting.

Week 1 saw the following developments:

• Weinstein scandal.
• The start of Project Veritas’ American Pravda series.
• Julian Assange tweeting hash keys.
• The FBI Vault releasing memos proving that Comey exonerated Hillary before even interviewing her.
• Judge Jeanine mentioning the Clinton’s connection to known pedophiles.

Well, Week 3 promises even more fun.

• The JFK files may or may not be released this week – I believe it will since FOIAs will probably be filed at 1 second past the declassification date.
• I’m expecting Robert Mueller to speak soon. More on that below a little later.
• Perhaps Assange drops what he has.

We’ll use the same format as before. Check beneath the dividing line for live updates and links to breaking news.

And for some background on my theories and why I believe what is happening lately is a coordinated effort to flush out the Deep State

$ for Pensions, No $ for Infrastructure “experience keeps a dear school, but fools will learn in no other.”

Guardian |  Large amounts of federal aid began moving into Puerto Rico on Saturday, as the island tried to recover from a battering by hurricane Maria. Local officials praised the Trump administration’s response but also called for the emergency loosening of rules long blamed for condemning the US territory to second-class economic status.

In the north-west of the island, people began returning to their homes after a spillway eased pressure on a dam that cracked after more than 1ft of rain fell in the wake of the hurricane. Though water continued to pour out of rain-swollen Lake Guajataca, the dam had not burst by Saturday night.

 

Upstream of the towns of Quebradillas and Isabela, the state of the dam had prompted stern official warnings from Governor Ricardo Rossello and the US National Weather Service (NWS). Federal officials said Friday that 70,000 people would have to be evacuated, although Javier Jimenez, mayor of the nearby town of San Sebastian, said he believed the number was far smaller. Secretary of Public Affairs Ramon Rosario said about 300 families were in harm’s way.

The NWS extended a flash flood watch for communities along the rain-swollen Guajataca River until 2pm local time on Sunday. If the dam failed, the NWS warned, the flooding would be life-threatening. “Stay away or be swept away,” it said.

The governor said there was “significant damage” to the dam and authorities believed it could give way at any moment. “We don’t know how long it’s going to hold,” Rossello said. “The integrity of the structure has been compromised in a significant way.”

Some residents nonetheless returned to their homes on Saturday as water levels in the reservoir began to sink. “There were a lot of people worried and crying, but that’s natural, because the reservoir was about to break through,” said Maria Nieves, 43. “They couldn’t open the spillway until later in the night.”

The 345-yard dam, which was built around 1928, holds back a man-made lake covering about two square miles. More than 15in of rain from Maria fell on the surrounding mountains.

The aid effort quickened with the opening of the island’s main port in the capital, San Juan, allowing 11 ships to bring in 1.6 million gallons of water, 23,000 cots, dozens of generators and food. Dozens more shipments are expected in upcoming days.

Where Should You Live to Escape Climate Change?

NYTimes |  It’s hard to imagine that any city in North America will escape the effects of climate change within the next 25 years.

But some will be better positioned than others to escape the brunt of “drought, wildfire, extreme heat, extreme precipitation, extreme weather and hurricanes.”

Those were some of the climate change-related threats listed by Benjamin Strauss, who focuses on climate impacts at Climate Central, an independent nonprofit research collaboration of scientists and journalists.

Dr. Strauss, 44, identified cities where people could settle in the next two decades if they are aiming to avoid those threats.

“Cities are certainly all going to be livable over the next 25 years, but they’ll be increasingly feeling the heat,” Dr. Strauss said, adding that political action could help cities mitigate the effects of climate change.

I also spoke with David W. Titley, 58, a professor of meteorology at Penn State University, and Katharine Hayhoe, 44, a professor of political science at Texas Tech University who works with cities to build resilience to climate risks.

Just because a city isn’t mentioned within this piece does not mean it is not a good bet. My advice: If you’re looking for a place to live, pay attention to the qualities of the cities more than the specific locations.

All three emphasized that while certain cities were better bets, their safety was relative.

“I don’t care if you found the safest place in the U.S.,” Dr. Titley said. “We’re all going to pay, we’re all going to suffer that economic disruption, we’re all going to pay for that relocation.”

Magickal Thinking Won't Stop Climate Change

bloomberg |  World leaders have started to generate some real optimism with their efforts to address global climate change. What’s troubling, though, is how far we remain from getting carbon emissions under control -- and how much wishful thinking is still required to believe we can do so.

The Paris agreement on climate change has garnered the national signatories needed to go into force on Nov. 4. Some economists see it as a promising framework for cooperation among many different countries, especially if those not pulling their weight suffer penalties such as trade sanctions. There’s even talk of aiming for the more ambitious goal of keeping global temperatures within 1.5 degrees Celsius or less of their pre-industrial level, as opposed to the currently agreed 2 degrees. Meanwhile, another major international deal has been reached to phase out greenhouse gases used in refrigeration systems, and solar energy technology continues its rapid advance.

For all the progress, though, the gap between what needs to happen and what is happening remains large. Worse, it’s growing.

Consider, for example, how far the planet remains from any of the carbon emission trajectories in which -- according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change -- global warming would remain below 2 degrees. Even in the most lenient scenarios, we would have to be cutting net emissions already. Yet under the pledges countries have made in the Paris framework, emissions will keep increasing sharply through at least 2030.

The gap is probably even bigger than the chart suggests. As climate scientists Kevin Anderson and Glen Peters argue, an element of magical thinking has crept into the IPCC projections. Specifically, they rely heavily on the assumption that new technologies will allow humans to start sucking carbon out of the atmosphere on a grand scale, resulting in large net negative emissions sometime in the second half of this century. This might happen, but we don’t know how to do it yet.

the most important issue facing this generation

robertscribbler |  The 2016 presidential candidates’ stances on the most important issue facing this generation couldn’t be clearer.

Donald Trump believes climate change is a hoax, wants to increase fossil-fuel burning until the planet bakes and the oceans putrefy, plans to shut down the EPA, wants to back out of the Paris Climate Agreement, can’t wait to kill Obama’s Clean Power Plan, and has a noted penchant for attacking climate change solutions like wind power. Trump’s stances on climate change are so appalling that 375 of the world’s top scientists, including Stephen Hawking and 30 Nobel Prize winners, issued an open letter to the U.S. electorate, essentially pleading that we not vote for Trump on the basis of climate change alone.

The letter notes:

The United States can and must be a major player in developing innovative solutions to the problem of reducing emissions of greenhouse gases. Nations that find innovative ways of decarbonizing energy systems and sequestering CO2 will be the economic leaders of the 21st century. Walking away from Paris makes it less likely that the U.S. will have a global leadership role, politically, economically, or morally. We cannot afford to cross that tipping point.

Hillary Clinton, by comparison, wants to push a big solar energy build-out, support electric vehicles, cut carbon emissions, and ensure that policies like COP 21 and Obama’s Clean Power Plan are enacted and enhanced. Though some climate hawks might not be completely satisfied with Clinton’s record on climate change (we’re going to have to do quite a bit more than what Clinton is shooting for), the reality is that Clinton’s proposed climate policies are aimed at building on and improving Obama’s initial plans.

Scientists “too frightened” to tell truth on climate impacts

climatechangenews |   China is protecting itself against future food supply problems caused by climate change by buying or leasing large tracts of land in Africa and South America, a leading UK climate scientist says.

Professor Peter Wadhams, an expert on the disappearing Arctic ice, says that while countries in North America and Europe are ignoring the threat that changing weather patterns are causing to the world food supply, China is taking “self-protective action”.

He says that changes in the jet stream caused by the melting of the ice in the Arctic are threatening the most productive agricultural areas on the planet.

“The impact of extreme, often violent weather on crops in a world where the population continues to increase rapidly can only be disastrous,” he warns.

“Sooner or later, there will be an unbridgeable gulf between global food needs and our capacity to grow food in an unstable climate. Inevitably, starvation will reduce the world’s population.”

thawing siberian reindeer precipitates anthrax outbreak...,

WaPo |  First a heatwave hit Siberia. Then came the anthrax.

Temperatures have soared in western Russia’s Yamal tundra this summer. Across Siberia, some provinces warmed an additional 10 degrees Fahrenheit beyond normal. In the fields, large bubbles of vegetation appeared above the melting permafrost — strange pockets of methane or, more likely, water. Record fires blazed through dry Russian grassland.

In one of the more unusual symptoms of unseasonable warmth, long-dormant bacteria appear to be active. For the first time since 1941, anthrax struck western Siberia. Thirteen Yamal nomads were hospitalized, including four children, the Siberian Times reported. The bacteria took an even worse toll on wildlife, claiming some 1,500 reindeer since Sunday.

According to NBC News, the outbreak is thought to stem from a reindeer carcass that died in the plague 75 years ago. As the old flesh thawed, the bacteria once again became active. The disease tore through the reindeer herds, prompting the relocation of dozens of the indigenous Nenet community. Herders face a quarantine that may last until September.

The governor, Dmitry Kobylkin, declared a state of emergency. On Tuesday, Kobylkin said “all measures” had been taken to isolate the area, according to AP. “Now the most important thing is the safety and health of our fellow countrymen — the reindeer herders and specialists involved in the quarantine.”

Anthrax has broken out in Russia several times, including one outbreak stemming from a 1979 accident at a military facility. To the south of Yamal, anthrax may rarely appear when infection spreads from cattle; a man died from such exposure in 2012, the Siberian Times reported.

tards, climate-denialists, and the DNC - LIARS - all love the chewbacca defense

skepticalscience |  When I give a presentation and mention the 97% expert consensus on human-caused global warming, I’m often asked, “what’s the deal with the other 3%?”. These are the publishing climate scientists who argue that something other than humans is responsible for the majority of global warming, although their explanations are often contradictory and don’t withstand scientific scrutiny.

A few months ago, the world’s largest private sector coal company went to court, made its best scientific case against the 97% expert consensus, and lost. One of coal’s expert witnesses was University of Alabama at Huntsville climate scientist Roy Spencer - a controversial figure who once compared those with whom he disagreed to Nazis, and has expressed his love for Fox News.

Last week, Spencer wrote a white paper for the Texas Public Policy Institute (TPPI) outlining the contrarian case against climate concerns. TPPI is part of the web of denial, having received substantial funding from both the tobacco and fossil fuel industries, including $65,000 from ExxonMobil and at least $911,499 from Koch-related foundations since 1998, and over $3 million from “dark money” anonymizers Donors Trust and Donors Capital Fund.

Spencer’s arguments should of course be evaluated on their own merits, regardless of who commissioned them. However, it turns out that they have little merit on which to stand. The white paper is a classic example of a Gish Gallop – producing such a large volume of nonsense arguments that refuting all of them is too time-consuming. 

tards are the only ___________ still arguing about the cause of climate change...,

flassbeck-economics |  How climate change is rapidly taking the planet apart

‘There are no jokes. The truth is the funniest joke of all.’ Muhammad Ali 

1. Introduction

Writing up articles on climate change is difficult these days. Last week alone, 46 new papers and reports were published. I am certain that there are many more. The figure only refers to the sources I usually consult. I try to read all abstracts and all articles I find interesting, but sometimes I shy away from it: it is just too depressing. According to Naomi Oreskes, a great number of climate change scientists (she interviewed most of the top 200 climate change scientists in the US) suffer from some sort of mood imbalance or mild or serious depression. It is easy to understand why: we see the climate change taking the planet apart right in front of our eyes. We also clearly see, right in front of us, what urgently needs to done to stave off global disaster on an unprecedented scale. We need carbon taxes and the reconversion of industry and energy towards zero CO2 emissions systems. This route is without any doubt technically and economically feasible, but politically it seems to be permanently locked. If we do not unlock it, the future looks bleak, not to say hopeless, for humankind.

2. Data on warming, rain bombs, storms and water vapour feedbacks

NASA recently released data showing that the planet has just seen seven straight months of not just record-breaking, but record-shattering heat (see here). We are well on track to see what will likely be the largest increase in global temperature a single year has ever seen (see here and here). The NASA data show that May was the hottest May ever recorded, as well as the fact that it crushed the previous May record by the largest margin of increase ever recorded. The same is now true for June (see here). That makes it five months in a row that the monthly record has been broken and by the largest margin ever. When record-smashing months started in February, scientists began talking about a “climate emergency.” Since then the situation has only escalated.

The answer to the oft-asked question of whether an event is caused by climate change is that this is the wrong question. All weather events are affected by climate change because the environment in which they occur is warmer and moister than it used to be. Changes in extremes, such as higher temperatures and increases in heavy rains and droughts are not related to climate change, they are climate change (see here).

we pray hard for rain, then we pray it stops - is there no end to extreme weather?

Guardian |  Harvest should be the time for celebrations, weddings and full bellies in southern Malawi. But Christopher Witimani, Lilian Matafle and their seven children and four grandchildren had nothing to celebrate last week as they picked their meagre maize crop.

Last year’s drought, followed by erratic rains, hit the village of Nkhotakota hard. But this year the rains never came and, for a second year running, the family grain store is empty. If they manage their savings carefully and eat just one small meal a day, they may just have enough food for two more months.

By August, said Irish charity Concern Worldwide, they and tens of thousands of other small farmers in southern Malawi will have completely run out of food, with no prospect of another harvest for at least seven months. With nothing to sell and no chance of earning money, Witimani, Matafle and family will starve.

“I am worried the children will starve to death. I don’t know what to do,” said Matafle.

“We need food. We are in a desperate situation,” her husband added.

Countries are just waking up to the most serious global food crisis of the last 25 years. Caused by the strongest El Niño weather event since 1982, droughts and heatwaves have ravaged much of India, Latin America and parts of south-east Asia. But the worst effects of this natural phenomenon, which begins with waters warming in the equatorial Pacific, are to be found in southern Africa. A second consecutive year without rain now threatens catastrophe for some of the poorest people in the world.

The scale of the crisis unfolding in 10 or more southern African countries has shocked the United Nations. Lulled into thinking that Ethiopia in 1985 was the last of the large-scale famines affecting many millions, donor countries have been slow to pledge funds or support. More than $650m and 7.9m tonnes of food are needed immediately, says the UN. By Christmas, the situation will have become severe.

when bartenders and short-order cooks can't support the shopping malls we provided for them...,

dailyimpact |  It’s a picture that’s worth a thousand choruses of “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.” Here in the Seventh Straight Successful Year of the Recovery from the Great Recession, tucked into a corner of the Arizona Desert, is a line of parked Union Pacific locomotives. It was discovered on Google Earth, so it is, as they say, visible from space. There are 292 of them, baking in the sun like so many dinosaur skeletons, in a line stretching almost five miles. They, and the people who used to run them, are now “excess capacity” for one of the country’s largest freight haulers. In this, the Seventh Straight Successful Year of the Great Recovery.

No one should be surprised. But even when you know that trade — the buying and selling of stuff — has been slowing down all over the world for years, it is startling to see such stark, graphic evidence that we are all in deep trouble.

billingsgazette | GILLETTE — Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad officials say they are keeping about 150 locomotives and rail engines stored near Gillette because of decreased demand.

BNSF spokesman Matt Jones said the rail engines and two sets of box cars remain at the railroad's yard in the Donkey Creek area because of a downturn in rail shipping.

The problems can be attributed to the decline in the coal sector. The passage of the federal Clean Power Plan has pushed power plants away from coal and toward natural gas.

The impact can be seen in the Powder River Basin, as nearby coal companies Alpha Natural Resources and Arch Coal have filed for bankruptcy.

Jones said the declining demand for transportation has hit several sectors, not just coal.

inforum |  FARGO - An economic downturn involving a variety of commodities across various parts of the United States has resulted in BNSF Railway parking about 45 of its train locomotives at the railroad’s train yard just off 12th Avenue North west of the North Dakota State University campus.

“Customers’ volumes across a broad spectrum of commodities have come down somewhat from their prior estimates,” said Amy McBeth, a spokeswoman for BNSF. “As a result, we are strategically storing locomotives in some yard locations across our network.”

McBeth said the locomotives will remain stored until traffic volumes warrant returning them to service.

Quarterly profits for Forth Worth-based BNSF, which is owned by Berkshire Hathaway, fell 25 percent in the first quarter of 2016.

The railroad has been cutting staff in the wake of a changing economic environment that includes low energy prices, the strong dollar and other factors, McBeth said.

“Nationwide, while petroleum products volumes are down, coal is down, too, as are a number of other commodities,” she added.

 

newsok |  BNSF Railway has parked dozens of its locomotives at a storage yard north of downtown Oklahoma City over the past several weeks as slowing traffic demand has left the units idle.

The engines parked along the east side of Interstate 235 north of NW 23 are from BNSF trains throughout the country, company spokesman Joe Sloan said.

"We have a reduced amount of freight traffic now, and that storage point was available," he said.

Sloan said there is no timeline as to when the locomotives are expected back on the rails.

syndemic peasants, the power configuration is girding up its loins to slaughter you for profit...,

medium | The next five years will see the international market for ‘riot control systems’ boom to a value of more than $5 billion at an annual growth rate of 5%, according to a new report by a global business intelligence firm.

The report forecasts a dramatic rise in civil unrest across the world, including in North America and Europe, driven by an increase in Ferguson-style incidents and “extremist attacks.”

The Middle East, North Africa and Asia-Pacific regions will also experience a persistent rise in conflicts.

This increasing trend in instability promises billions of dollars of profits for global defence firms, concludes the report, published last month by Infiniti Research Ltd., a market intelligence firm whose clients include Fortune 500 companies.

“Protests, riots, and demonstrations are major issues faced by the law enforcement agencies across the world,” said Abhay Singh, a lead defence technology analyst at the firm. “In addition the increase in incidents of civil wars in countries such as Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and Egypt along with an increase in the global defence budget will generate demand for riot control systems.”

Europe, the Middle East and Africa will be the largest market, collectively experiencing a rate of growth at over 5%, exceeding $2 billion by 2020. Under the subheading, ‘EMEA: increase in extremist attacks to boost growth’, the report, priced at over $2,000, explains:

“Over the past years, Europe witnessed an increase in extremist attacks, which has raised concerns among the law enforcement and defense industries to equip themselves with modern equipment and protect civilians from external threats. In 2015, the Paris attacks and the killing of journalists in France are some of the examples of growing terrorism in Europe.”

The combination of intensifying conflict, terrorism, and civil unrest will lead to rocketing demand for riot control systems over the next 5 years “led by Germany, Russia, France, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the UAE, Iran, and South African countries.”

as goes lake karibe, so goes zambia...,

NYTimes |  Even as drought and the effects of climate change grew visible across this land, the Kariba Dam was always a steady, and seemingly limitless, source of something rare in Africa: electricity so cheap and plentiful that Zambia could export some to its neighbors.

The power generated from the Kariba — one of the world’s largest hydroelectric dams, in one of the world’s largest artificial lakes — contributed to Zambia’s political stability and helped turn its economy into one of the fastest growing on the continent.

But today, as a severe drought magnified by climate change has cut water levels to record lows, the Kariba is generating so little juice that blackouts have crippled the nation’s already hurting businesses. After a decade of being heralded as a vanguard of African growth, Zambia, in a quick, mortifying letdown, is now struggling to pay its own civil servants and has reached out to the International Monetary Fund for help.

malawi declares state of emergency over drought

aljazeera |  Malawi has declared a state of disaster over worsening food shortages caused by a severe drought as concerns grow over a hunger crisis spreading across much of southern Africa.

Malawi's maize production has dropped by 12 percent, leaving it short of about one million tonnes of maize needed to feed the population, President Peter Mutharika said in a statement on Tuesday.

About 2.8 million Malawians - nearly 20 per cent of the population - face food insecurity, making the country one of the worst hit in southern and eastern Africa, where the current drought affects 50 million people, according to United Nation figures.

"I declare Malawi [to be in] a state of national disaster following prolonged dry spells during the 2015/16 agriculture season," the Malawian president said.

"With the increased maize deficit, it is expected that an increased number of people will be food-insecure and will require humanitarian relief assistance for the whole 2016-17 consumption year," he said.