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10 reasons to drink lemon water every morning

by Amy Goodrich

If you are looking for an easy trick to improve your life and overall health, than look no further. Drinking lemon water first thing in the morning is a pretty simple routine to get into and will have tremendous effects on your overall health.

Since I started this simple and surprisingly healthy habit a few years ago, I definitely noticed the difference. Not only does the refreshing taste wake me up in the morning, it helps to kick start digestion and finalizes my body’s natural detoxification processes… And lemons are packed with vitamin C, B, calcium, iron, magnesium, potassium, enzymes, antioxidants, and fibers.

According to the Ayurvedic philosophy, choices you make regarding your daily routine either build up resistance to diseases or tear it down.
So what are you waiting for to jump start your day with this incredible easy morning routine. Its benefits are endless and I listed the 10 most important ones for you in this article.

1. Improves Digestion

Lemon juice has a similar structure to your stomach’s juices and helps to loosen and flush out toxins from the digestive tract. Lemon juice can help ease indigestion, heartburn, and bloating. It also helps to move your bowels in the morning, hydrates your colon, stimulate bile production, and infuses water in your stool.

2. Boost Immune System.

Lemon juice is rich in vitamin C, which helps strengthen the immunes system and fights cold and flu. But not only vitamin C is important for a good working immune system, iron is another important nutrient, and lemons improve the ability to absorb more iron from the food you eat.
3. Hydrates Your Body

It is important to stay hydrated. Especially during the summer months. Plain water is best, but many people find this boring and are not drinking enough of it. That’s where lemon comes into play to make things more interesting. So feel free to not only start your day with lemon water, but drink as many glasses as you wish during the day to stay hydrated.

4. Boost Energy

Lemon water gives you an instant boost of energy and improves your mood right at the start of your day.

5. Promote Healthy And Rejuvenated Skin

Lemons are a rich sources of antioxidants that prevent free radical damage. These free radicals are responsible for pre-mature aging of your skin. Vitamin C helps to maintain your skin’s elasticity to prevent the formation of wrinkles and decrease blemishes.

6. Reduce Inflammation

Lemons have the ability to remove uric acid from your joints. Uric acid built-ups are one of the major causes of inflammation.

7. Weight Loss Aid

Although lemon water on its own is no weight loss miracle, it can definitely help you to achieve faster and long term results. Lemons assist in fighting hunger cravings, boost metabolism, and give you a stuffed feeling, making it less likely to snack in between meals.

8. Alkalize Your Body

Although lemons have a sour taste, they are one of the most alkalizing food sources on Earth. Too much acids can cause inflammation, obesity, and major diseases like cancer, diabetes and Alzheimer’s.

9. Cleansing Properties

Lemons help your entire body to flush out more toxins to prevent built-ups and damage to your cells, tissues, and organs. It stimulates your liver to produce more enzymes and work more efficiently. Lemon juice works as a diuretic to keep your urinary tract toxin-free and can also change the pH levels which discourage bacterial growth. This is very helpful for people who often suffer from UTI (urinary tract infection). And like mentioned before, lemons loosen and flush out waste from your digestive tract and cleanse your colon.

10.Antibacterial and Antiviral Properties

Lemons have antibacterial and antiviral properties. They help fight the flu, cold, and soothe a sore throat. Although people who drink their daily lemon water every day are less likely to get these in the first place.

Is the destruction of Chávez’s figure the end of Maduro?

Amid economic chaos, food shortages and widespread protest, some believe the government has ‘hit rock-bottom’ – yet key figures remain loyal to the president

by Virginia López

CARACAS – The demonstration began with a group of schoolboys, who gathered – still dressed in their school uniforms – in the palm-lined square outside the town hall of the prairie town of Villa del Rosario in western Venezuela.

Before long, some kind of flammable liquid was thrown at a life-sized statue of the late president Hugo Chávez and set alight. And then, to cheers from onlookers, the figurine itself – which appeared to be made of glass-fibre or plastic – was pulled down and dragged into the street.

In terms of historical significance, the incident is unlikely to rank alongside the toppling of Saddam Hussein’s 12-metre statue in Baghdad, shortly after the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

But the destruction of the statue last Friday did not go unnoticed in a country where many public buildings are still adorned with images of Chávez, four years after his death.

Over the weekend, cellphone pictures and footage of the incident went viral in Venezuela, where widespread discontent with President Nicolás Maduro, Chávez’s handpicked successor, has erupted into near-daily protests.

Since then, the gesture has been repeated elsewhere: in Ureña, a town in western Venezuela, a bust of Chávez disappeared from a public square, and in the late leader’s home state of Barinas, a mural with the leader’s face reproduced in the style of Warhol’s Marilyns was defaced.

Some argue that such incidents demonstrate that after years of economic chaos, food shortages and government repression, Venezuelans have finally reached the breaking point.

“This showed that the government is hitting rock-bottom,” said Marinelis Soto, an accountant who lives near Villa del Rosario. “This happened in a town that used to be pro-government – and now people are so angry that they are constantly blocking roads.”

But others warn that, as Maduro moves forward with plans to rewrite the country’s constitution despite six weeks of anti-government protests – talk of a tipping point still seems premature.

Hundreds of thousands have joined near-daily demonstrations, but many ordinary Venezuelans – and the country’s political and military elites – remain loyal to Chavismo, ideology following in the footsteps of Chávez. And according to Luís Vicente Leon, a leading pollster, the collapse of authoritarian regimes is more often caused by internal splits than outside pressure.

“Fractures [in the government] always exist, but we can’t talk about reaching critical mass,” he said.

“In these processes, what you see are internal fissures that are so deep that they lead to an implosion. They don’t come from the opposition, or from a crisis. They generally come from inside,” he said.

One sign of such internal divisions came in March when the country’s attorney general, Luisa Ortega, condemned an attempt by the government-stacked supreme court to strip the opposition-led congress of its power as “a rupture of the constitutional thread”.

The move was soon put on hold, but Ortega has since become more outspoken. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, she condemned the government’s mismanagement of the economy and expressed support for the protesters.

“We cannot demand that the citizens behave peacefully and legally in front of a state that is taking decisions that do not obey the law,” Ortega said.

In recent weeks, Maduro has come under criticism from a number of unexpected sources. The 20-year-old son of the country’s ombudsman, Tarek William Saab, read a letter to his own father on YouTube, in which he pleaded with him to “put an end to the injustices afflicting his country”. Yibram Saab published his message after he had joined a protest in which a 20-year-old student was killed.

“It could have been me,” Saab told his father.

Last week, the death of a 17-year-old viola player prompted the conductor Gustavo Dudamel – who had been criticised for not speaking out – to issue a statement criticizing the government and demanding Maduro to put an end to violence.

Maduro’s decision to call for a constituent assembly has also earned him criticism from high-ranking figures on the left of his party, who see the move as an affront to Chávez’s legacy. (Chávez oversaw the drafting of a new constitution in 1999, which he declared was “perfect”.)

“The Constituent assembly is a risky step and a great historical responsibility. It opens a space through which elements that destroy our revolution could enter,” Rafael Ramírez, Venezuelan ambassador to the UN and one of Chávez’s key allies, wrote in a local newspaper over the weekend.

Although pressure on Maduro may be mounting, it is still not coming from two key areas, Leon said. “The electoral authorities validated the constituent assembly, and perhaps most important, we haven’t seen the military express dissent,” he said.

For now, the war of attrition between government and opposition looks set to continue, and the death toll seems certain to rise.

Monica Pérez, who lives close to the square where the Chávez monument once stood, said that the toppling of the statue had galvanized the opposition in the town.
“It was the first time I saw this happen here,” she said. “We all feel the moment is now, and we must continue in the streets until the end.” (Reported by the Guardian).

Tensions rise as US announces military drills near embattled Venezuela

Three South American countries are preparing to hold a large military drill near Venezuela later this year. The involvement of the U.S. military in the drill has raised concerns about the U.S.’ true intentions in the area, as it has already worked to covertly destabilize Venezuela’s economy.

by MintPress News Desk
News analysis

CHILE — The involvement of the U.S. military in an upcoming multilateral military drill in South America has raised concerns over potential ulterior motives on the part of the U.S. The drill, dubbed “Operation: America United,” will involve the installation of a temporary military base on the triple border shared by the drill’s other participating nations: Peru, Brazil and Colombia.

According to Theofilo de Oliveira, the top general of the Brazilian Armed Forces, the U.S. military will carry out the drill along with the three Latin American nations this November over a period of ten days. The Brazilian military has asserted that the objective of the exercise is to “ develop greater knowledge, share experiences and develop mutual trust.” Brazilian government officials have strongly denied rumors that the exercise will lead to the establishment of a multinational military base in the Amazon.

The U.S. was invited to participate by Brazil’s unelected president Michel Temer, who has notably boosted Brazilian military spending by 36 percent while simultaneously freezing public spending for two decades through a controversial constitutional amendment.

A friendly relationship with Brazil’s military is key for the U.S.’ strategic interest in South America. As Hector Luis Saint Pierre – coordinator of international security, defense and strategy at the Brazilian Association of International Relations – told the BBC: “Brazil is a strategic partner for the doctrine of the military. If the United States has a good relationship with the Brazilian navy, it is easier to spread its message among the military in the region.”

Pierre pointed out that the drill is of particular interest to the U.S., as it presents an opportunity to focus on the political situation in Venezuela. According to Telesur, President Donald Trump has already met with the presidents of Peru and Colombia to discuss the U.S.’ interest in Venezuela.

As MintPress has previously reported, Venezuela has been the target of ongoing economic warfare as the U.S. continues to disrupt the leftist government first brought to power by the late Hugo Chávez. While Nicolás Maduro – Chávez’s successor – certainly bears some of the blame for Venezuela’s current situation, the U.S. has worked to covertly devastate the Venezuelan economy through a combination of sanctions and oil price manipulation.

With its cash reserves quickly dwindling as a result, Maduro’s embattled government will likely go bankrupt at some point in the next several months, as nearly 70 percent of its remaining reserves must be used to pay back interest on loans from foreign governments. When “Operation: America United” begins, the situation in Venezuela is highly likely to be much more dire and Maduro’s government on the verge of collapse.

In addition, the U.S. has funneled millions to Venezuelan opposition parties since the failed U.S.-led coup against Chávez in 2002, having spent an estimated $50 to $60 million since Chávez’s election on bolstering the country’s right wing. Now, that figure is set to grow substantially as the U.S. Senate is set to vote on a bill that would funnel millions more to the Venezuelan opposition, as well as unnamed non-government organizations.

The bill, titled the “Venezuela Humanitarian Assistance and Defense of Democratic Governance Act,” seeks to offer $10 million in “humanitarian assistance” to Venezuela and another $10 million for “democracy promotion.”

As the bill itself points out, the U.S. is extremely interested in the financial situation in Venezuela, particularly due to U.S. concerns that Russia may gain control of Venezuelan oil infrastructure if the Maduro government ends up declaring bankruptcy.

Within the text of the bill, concerns are raised regarding Venezuelan state-owned oil company PDVSA and its transactions with Rosneft, a Russian state-owned oil company. As TeleSur noted: “fearful that PDVSA could default on its $4 – and $5-billion dollar loans from Rosneft, regardless of Venezuela’s steadfast debt repayments, the bill warned that Rosneft could come into control of PDVSA’s U.S. subsidiary, CITGO Petroleum Corporation, which ‘controls critical energy infrastructure in 19 States in the United States.’” Seeing as Russia has already seized Venezuelan oil for unpaid bills despite their political alliance, this fear is not unfounded.

While the U.S. has held drills in South America in the past with little fanfare, the timing and location of the new drill, as well as the nations involved in it, have raised speculation about the U.S.’ current objectives in South America.

Given the U.S. fear of Venezuelan oil becoming the property of the Russian government, as well as the U.S.’ documented history of overthrowing and undermining leftist governments in Venezuela, “Operation: American United” may be less of a drill and more of what its name implies – a way to bring Venezuela, along with other South American nations, back into the fold of U.S. influence.

Plan Bay Area 2040 is UN’s Agenda 21, says expert

NOTE FROM THE EDITOR

Dear readers:

Perhaps many of you still remember past articles in this editorial section that dealt with an issue named Agenda 21, which is the blueprint of a big plan directed by the United Nations for local government control of property, energy, water, transportation, etc. The extension of the Agenda is being presented by the Bay Area Government Association and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, as Plan Bay Area 2040.

We’ve brought an expert here to explain just what is going on.

Rosa Koire refers to Plan Bay Area 2040 as ‘the green mask’ because it sounds good but masks a global plan of the huge mega-corporations. In her words:

“PLAN BAY AREA is being used to regionalize the SF Bay Area and erase the city, county, and ultimately, State boundaries. Your transportation tax dollars will be used to build apartments and condos in designated areas of your city—and nowhere else. Your money will be directed to favored developers building stack and pack housing. You are losing the ability to direct your elected officials through this plan to destroy local representation. This is happening across the US.
This week you’ll be seeing notices inviting you to give your opinion on this new plan for the Bay Area. Don’t be fooled. Not a word you say will change this plan. You are being used by the planners so that they can say that they consulted the public. Read Rosa’s book and website to find out what you can do to fight UN Agenda 21.

Plan Bay Area 2040, is United Nation’s Agenda 21, says expert

by Rosa Koire

We are suing to stop Plan Bay Area, the nine county land use and transportation plan which is a violation of your constitutional rights and a shocking overreach of the experiment in regional governance.

Our nation is a constitutional republic with a framework of direct election that rises from local government through county, state, and up to the federal level.
This framework ensures that the peoples’ rights are protected and that our voices are heard. Plan Bay Area is designed to empower a layer of regional government between state and county, and ultimately between state and federal which renders our voices irrelevant. These regional boards are not elected by the people; the board members are selected out of elected officials who support regional goals.

Regional boards like the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) and Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) are holding the purse strings for state and federal transportation and grant dollars. MTC and ABAG have fabricated Plan Bay Area though they claim that it was crafted in response to the needs and desires of Bay Area residents. Most people have never heard of Plan Bay Area. Of the seven million residents of the Bay Area approximately three tenths of one percent have participated in the so-called planning sessions. These planning sessions were tailored to elicit responses that favor high density urban development (Smart Growth), the preferred scenario of Plan Bay Area. Those voicing a dissenting opinion were virtually ignored, labeled as NIMBYs, or as political fringe. As a liberal Democrat, registered since 1974, I recognize this kind of smear as a way of chilling our civil rights by attempting to intimidate those who reject Plan Bay Area’s blatant violation of property rights.

PLAN BAY AREA violates the 5th Amendment of the US Constitution by taking property rights without just compensation. By the creation of Priority Development Areas this Plan restricts 80% of residential development and 66% of commercial development to just a few small areas of your city–until the year 2040. If your property is outside of the PDA (96% of property is outside) you will likely not be able to build or expand your building–and you won’t be paid for this loss.
PLAN BAY AREA violates the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution–the Equal Protection Clause. Owners of properties in the Priority Development Areas will receive development permits at a rate of approximately 80 times more than owners of property outside of the Priority Development Areas.

PLAN BAY AREA violates voter-approved Urban Growth Boundary ordinances. Because the Priority Development Areas are within the UGBs but are much smaller restricted areas they are in violation of ordinances that clearly state that development must be encouraged out to the limits of city services: Urban Growth Boundaries. These ordinances are found throughout the Bay Area and cannot be changed without voter approval.

PLAN BAY AREA permanently strips all development rights from rural properties in the nine county Bay Area. Plan Bay Area is effectively taking conservation easements on all rural lands without paying for them.

PLAN BAY AREA restricts development rights of property within the Priority Development Areas, too. Construction will be limited to mixed-use high density Smart Growth development. Existing buildings are likely to be out of compliance with your city’s General Plan (legal non-conforming) and permits to make additions or changes will likely not be granted.

This Plan is dependent on tax subsidies and handouts and will devastate the Bay Area for more than a generation. Property rights are a foundation of our freedom and are non-partisan. You may not own property but don’t let that stop you from recognizing that you are losing your rights. The message you’ll get from MTC is that there will be more affordable housing and lots of happy people riding bikes. This is the smiling mask covering the ugly truth. Similar plans can be found throughout the United States and the world with names like Envision Utah, Imagine Calgary, Granite State Future, PlaNY, One Valley One Vision, Horizon 2025 (Ontario, Canada), and Hanoi (Viet Nam) Regional Center 2030 Plan. All of these plans are the same plan with the same goal: move people out of the rural and suburban areas into the city centers where they can be more easily managed, controlled, and surveilled.

Ernst Huber, official Nazi Party spokesman, 1933:

‘All property is common property. The owner is bound by the people and the Reich to the responsible management of his goods. His legal position is only justified when he satisfies this responsibility to the community.‘

Nazi Land Philosophy:

The issue of land ownership is secondary; what counts is the issue of control. Private citizens, therefore, may continue to hold titles to property–so long as the state reserves to itself the unqualified right to regulate the use of their property.
——Leonard Peikoff, The Ominous Parallels, 1982
Join us now in stopping Plan Bay Area. Refuse to be manipulated at MTC’s ‘visioning meetings.’

Rosa Koire
Executive Director

Rosa Koire, author of BEHIND THE GREEN MASK: U.N. Agenda 21 and executive director of the Post Sustainability Institute is a forensic commercial real estate appraiser specializing in eminent domain valuation. A retired District Branch Chief for the California Department of Transportation, her thirty year career in litigation support and land valuation culminated in researching and exposing the planning revolution impacting land use: UN Agenda 21/Sustainable Development.

ACLU issues Texas “Travel Advisory”

Traveling to Texas may result in violation of constitutional rights, ACLU warns

by the ACLU

WASHINGTON — The American Civil Liberties Union issued a “travel alert” today informing anyone planning to travel to Texas in the near future to anticipate the possible violation of their constitutional rights when stopped by law enforcement.

The alert comes amid the passing of a Texas law known as SB4. The law gives a green light to police officers in the state to investigate a person’s immigration status during a routine traffic stop, leading to widespread racial profiling, baseless scrutiny, and illegal arrests of citizens and non-citizens alike presumed to be “foreign” based on how they look or sound.  The travel alert applies to all travelers to Texas, including U.S. travelers from other states and U.S. citizens.  In addition, this alert applies to all encounters with federal, state, county law enforcement including local police and sheriffs.

SB4 requires Texas law enforcement to comply with the federal government’s constitutionally flawed use of detainer requests, which ask local law enforcement to hold people for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), even when they lack the legal authority to do so.

Local ACLU affiliates also issued a Texas travel alert. These include:

California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii. Louisiana, Maine, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Wisconsin, Wyoming.

SB4 will go into effect on Sept. 1, 2017.

If you believe your rights have been violated because of SB4, please contact the ACLU of Texas at 1-888-507-2970.

ACLU “Know Your Rights” materials are available in a variety of languages here:

www.aclu.org/know-your-rights 

Mexico: activist for disappeared people murdered

Mexico, May 11 – Miriam Elizabeth Rodriguez, an activist for the cause of thousands of disappeared people in Mexico, was murdered by an armed group in Tamaulipas (north) as reported when this edition was on closing.

The victim was representing the families searching for their disappeared relatives in San Fernando. Her death occurred Wednesday, when the Mothers’ Day was being celebrated in Mexico, and demonstrations with mothers and relatives of the more than 26,000 disappeared people took place in different cities.

Members of a group of community self-defense and organized crime hitmen clashed with shots in the region of Tierra Caliente, Mexican state of Guerrero, with balance of eight dead people, they reported.

The clashes involved members of the movement for peace, self-defense, and a group of the organized crime still unidentified.

In the state of Guerrero, there are cartels in operation, such as the Los Rojos (Reds) and the Guerreros Unidos (United Warriors), linked to drug trafficking and other illegal activities.

Though the government and international organizations have their statistics, several civil organizations stated there are more than 30,000 people in that condition.

During one of the demonstrations in this capital, the impunity in this aspect and the inefectiveness of the government to fight it, were denounced.

‘Mexico is a large clandestine and common grave’, said one of the demonstration’s organizers.

Students to build more than 100 renewable energy kits in PG&E’s Solar Suitcase Program

by PGE Public Announcement

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.—Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) announced today a $400,000 grant that will put more than 100 portable solar kits into the hands of 2,000 students through central and northern California. Students will build portable solar units, participate in local sustainability projects and advance energy equity globally by providing clean, reliable power to energy-scarce regions of the world.

“PG&E Solar Suitcase students have the opportunity to explore and learn about key renewable energy sources in a way that is both educational and meaningful. Not only do students learn interactively about STEM concepts, but they also make significant impacts locally and globally by providing entire communities with easy access to clean energy,” said Ananda Baron, senior director of Community Relations.

The kits, which are supplied by the nonprofit, We Share Solar, are small, portable photovoltaic lighting systems, powerful enough to illuminate a classroom. Teachers will be trained to teach their students about designing solar electric systems and give them the hands-on experience of assembling the Solar Suitcase kits.

Participating student groups will be invited to submit videos of their own local sustainability projects to a program-wide video contest. Winning schools and organizations will have the opportunity to send two student representatives, accompanied by a teacher, to deliver solar suitcases to schools and community-based organizations in rural Ecuador with the nonprofit WE Charity. Additional suitcases will be sent to Kenya and other energy-scarce regions around the world.

“The We Share Solar team has been inspired by PG&E’s partnership with our organization to provide innovative, engaging STEM learning to students and teachers. The global service component of the program continues to be a source of inspiration for the next generation to realize that they can make a tangible difference by applying engineering to solve a real-world problem,” said Hal Aronson, co-founder and director of education and technology for We Share Solar.

Since its inception in 2015, the PG&E Solar Suitcase program has:

• Trained and supported 37 teachers across Northern and Central California
• Educated 2,015 Californian students on sustainable energy
• Delivered clean, renewable energy to 15,000 Kenyan students.

How to apply: The deadline to apply for your school or organization is May 24, 2017. Winners will be notified by June 7. For more information and to apply, visit pge.com/solarsuitcase.

The Mexican Museum presents: Tramas Urbanas, the work of Mexican artist Paloma Torres

Compiled by the El Reportero’s staff

Tramas Urbanas (Urban Patterns), an exhibition featuring the textural work of acclaimed Mexican visual artist Paloma Torres.

Tramas Urbanas is a visually provocative collection of abstract sculptures and handmade textiles based on a series of aerial photographs she took over Mexico City. Her images – from aerial portraits of irregular settlements that surround Mexico City to a sort of urban archaeology that discovers small objects that allow the megalopolis to function – became the inspiration for Tramas Urbanas, and captured a new reality of today’s sprawling urban environments.

For the very elaborate techniques used for creating her felt textiles, Torres worked with purely natural elements, including fibers and wool from different regions of the world, as well as dyes based on those used in Mexico’s pre-Hispanic cultures.

The event is a collaborative project between The Mexican Museum and the Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores de México (the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mexico), with the support of the Consulate General of Mexico in San Francisco.

The Extraordinary Playscapes Exhibition

Design Museum San Francisco, Playworld, San Francisco Recreation & Parks, and the San Francisco Public Library are pleased to announce the opening of Extraordinary Playscapes, an exhibition featuring over 40 pioneering play spaces from around the world, at the Main Library’s Fisher Children’s Center on April 6. Curated by Design Museum Foundation, the exhibition explores the latest thinking in playground design while presenting how vital free play is to childhood development, thriving communities, and social equity.

From towering treetop playgrounds to hand-knit crochet installations, visitors will discover how architects and designers worldwide are engaging diverse communities to translate play objectives into state-of-the-art and meaningful play environments.

The Extraordinary Playscapes Exhibition will run through July 8, 2017. San Francisco Main Public Library, 100 Larkin St, San Francisco.

 La Loca Del Maniqui – based on text by Xavier Araiza

Monologue that identifies the inner and deep parts of individual and unconscious humiliation through the fun of seeing it as a fiction and realizing through laughter that only you can change your life.

Have fun and be happy before the manipulative energy and detestable of one who likes to abuse physically or emotionally of another without caring about the meaning of what he does, simply enjoy feeling superior and destroying without any knowledge that hurting himself, with learned actions, exhausting, can lead to another being a the same humiliation.

The only solution to this is to enjoy it and leave the pit triumphant, without suffering, just laughing and laughing, and laughing until you can no longer with the pain and let it go.

On Thursday, May 18, 2017, 7 p.m., at the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts, Theater, cover charge $20. Obra en español. At 2868 Mission St, San Francisco.

Trump’s massive war power giveaway

President-elect Donald Trump, center, listens to a member of the military in the stands as he watches an Army-Navy NCAA college football game at M&T Bank Stadium, Saturday, Dec. 10, 2016, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

The U.S. military under Trump is quickly morphing into judge, jury and executioner of any enemy they see fit and are, as recent events suggest, free to attack them in anyway they choose.

by Whitney Webb

Last year, as Trump’s front-runner status in the Republican primaries began to truly unnerve the conservative establishment, several figures emerged as possible “fail-safes” to the increasing inevitability of a Trump-Clinton showdown. One of these figures was former four-star general James Mattis, now Secretary of Defense, who was courted by “an anonymous group of conservative billionaires,” as well as former aides of the Bush family. According to the Daily Beast, the billionaires numbered nearly a dozen and were comprised of “influential donors” and “politically-involved billionaires with deep pockets and conservative leanings.”

The potential of a Mattis presidency, though he himself was not inclined to run, galvanized many neoconservatives, with the Weekly Standard’s Bill Kristol suggesting Mattis might be conscripted into the presidential race and a group of conservative strategists hatching a plan to run Mattis as a third-party candidate. Though Mattis’ underdog candidacy never took off, it apparently didn’t have to.

Indeed, the anonymous conservative billionaires who sought to crown Mattis president are likely quite content, as the former general has gained significant control over the executive branch’s war powers in an unprecedented giveaway of executive power.

On the campaign trail, Trump seemed unlikely to make any type of power giveaway if elected, particularly to the top generals he so frequently criticized and had suggested he would fire upon assuming the office of the president. However, Trump’s campaign stance quickly began to soften after his inauguration, with him appointing Mattis to the position of Secretary of Defense. Yet Trump continued to offer rhetoric that the Pentagon’s top brass found disconcerting, meaning that it didn’t take long for the top commanders of the U.S. military to send Trump what was essentially an ultimatum.

In the beginning of March, Defense One published an article titled “Winning’ or Not, Trump Doesn’t Seem to Be Listening To His Generals,” which sought to give clarity to the “mixed messages” between military commanders, Trump and his inner circle regarding how best to counter terrorism abroad, particularly against Daesh (ISIS) presence in countries like Syria and Iraq. However, the article also made it clear that the general balked at a majority of Trump’s decision and actions, causing journalist Kevin Baron to note that Trump’s generals “increasingly sound like they’re working for a different president altogether.”

From complaints ranging from funding (despite Trump’s $54 billion defense budget increase) to Trump’s “unpredictability,” the U.S.’ top generals threatened to resign in protest if Trump did not choose to listen to their advice and accept their plan to fight Daesh, a plan that is set to be a continuation of the so-called Obama doctrine.
The generals also balked at what they considered a paltry budget increase and made clear their desire for more independence, with General Tony Thomas of U.S. Special Operations Command telling Defense One that “unless we get governance back on the side of our military efforts, this is going to be a long struggle.” The article ultimately concludes that “what ‘the generals’ say matters, and what Trump says about them and their advice is confusing. The new president’s actions will speak louder than words.”

It didn’t take long for Trump’s actions to begin speaking much louder than his “unpredictable” rhetoric. Just days after Defense One’s story about the dissatisfaction of “the generals,” the Daily Beast ran an article titled “Generals May Launch New ISIS Raids Without Trump’s OK” in which it was announced that “President Donald Trump has signaled that he wants his defense secretary, retired Marine Gen. Mattis, to have a freer hand to launch time-sensitive missions.”

According to the article, Trump had reportedly signaled that he wanted “to operate more like the CEO he was in the private sector in such matters and delegate even more power to Mattis, which may mean rewriting one of President Barack Obama’s classified Presidential Policy Directives on potentially lethal operations in countries where the U.S. is not officially involved in combat.”

Essentially, the new model of command that has arisen involves “pre-delegating authority to Mattis, that authority could be pushed much further down the chain of command – all the way down to the three-star general who runs JSOC. The elite force will be able to move into action, informing the national-security apparatus of the operation but not having to wait for permission.” Said differently, the White House is still informed of military operations, but no longer has commanding authority over the U.S. military.

Since Trump first signaled his plan to give Mattis and the Pentagon commanding authority over their own military operations, the actions of the U.S. military have noticeably been at odds with Trump’s campaign promises – including the deployment of Navy destroyers in the South China Sea and South Korea; the deployment of troops to Somalia, Syria and Iraq; and the U.S. bombings of Syrian government target.

Then, last Friday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Trump would be giving “generals more freedom to make decisions” in the fight against ISIS. The report notes that “as President Donald Trump’s administration urges them to make more battlefield decisions on their own, […] America’s top military commanders are implementing the vision articulated by Defense Secretary Mattis.” According to a senior defense official who spoke to the Journal, Mattis “is telling them:

‘It’s not the same as it was, you don’t have to ask us before you drop a MOAB [Mother of all Bombs]’” or other major weapons of war.

Indeed, the use of large-scale weaponry in Afghanistan is particularly telling, as Trump was not even informed of the use of the U.S.’ largest non-nuclear bomb until after it was detonated, as the decision had been made – without executive branch approval – by General John Nicholson, head of the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan. Trump’s “backseat” role in key military actions was also revealed in a recent interview in which the president was asked about the decision to bomb a Syrian government air base earlier this month. Trump was able to recall the details of the cake he was eating at the time of the strike, but not the country that had been bombed.

While many have noted in past decades that the increase in the executive branch’s control over military actions is a troubling development, the U.S. military is quickly morphing into judge, jury and executioner of any enemy they see fit and are, as recent events suggest, free to attack them in anyway they choose – short of dropping a nuclear bomb. That is, for now.

With top U.S. generals led by Mattis now set to hold greater combat authority than the president himself, one can’t help but wonder how long it will take until such autonomy spirals out of control – especially considering the Pentagon’s documented history of wastefulness, dishonesty and disrespect for civilian life. It looks like Mattis has managed to gain some of the “presidential authority that some conservative billionaires has wished for him months ago.

What on Earth is happening to our temperature? – Part 3 and last

NOTE FROM THE EDITOR:

Dear reader:

Perhaps you’ve heard that the Earth is warming and the glaziers will melt and so on… But you’ve probably also heard that all this about the global warming is just an engineered plan by the global government agents to expand and control the people. In other words, is a fraud. Right?
Well, this article written by Ed Hiserodt and Rebecca Terrell, will present to you their perspective, and you can be the judge. Due to lack of space, it will be published in three parts. THIS IS PART 3 OF THREE.

What on earth is happening to our temperature?

by Ed Hiserodt and Rebecca Terrell

In the great climate debate, some scientists say that Earth’s temps have remained flat for two decades, while others claim that we are setting records each year. Who’s right?

Who Needs Data?

Yet this talk of data is superfluous. Not until 1880 had most major cities begun to monitor and record daily temperature using thermometers. Luckily, we don’t need them. To determine whether current weather patterns evince dangerous trends toward frying or freezing, we can simply look at historical records.

Is weather now so unusual in comparison? Consider 1816, otherwise known as the “Year Without a Summer,” a product of the 1815 eruption of Mt. Tambora in Indonesia. The Irish potato crop failed, lack of European grain led to bread shortages, and starvation ensued. On October 6, 1816, New York’s Albany Advertiser reported the previous summer’s weather conditions:

The weather during the past summer has been generally considered as very uncommon, not only in this country, but … in Europe also. Here it has been dry, and cold. We do not recollect the time when the drought has been so extensive, and general, not when there has been so cold a summer. There have been hard frosts in every summer month, a fact that we have never known before. It has also been cold and dry in some parts of Europe, and very wet in other places.

History gives further clues about earlier times. In 1780, New York Harbor froze over, allowing people to walk from Manhattan Island to Staten Island. Military reports from the Revolutionary and Civil Wars record rivers freezing over, ones that never freeze over today.

The Little Ice Age years (1300-1850 A.D.) of unrelenting cold temperatures forced Norsemen to flee their homes in Greenland after 450 years of the Medieval Warm Period (950-1250 A.D.). In 1814, an elephant paraded across the ice in one of many “Frost Fairs” on London’s Thames River. No one could have repeated that act in the past 200 years.

Yet before the Little Ice Age, the archaeological record also proves, the average global temperatures were much warmer.

Manipulating the Public Mind

Why is such historical evidence of Earth’s natural, cyclical weather patterns ignored? It is inconvenient truth for the alarmist political Left. They allege that carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels is causing catastrophic global warming. Their irrational mantra to avoid debate of the subject is: “The Science Is Settled.”

Leftists intend to parlay their created fear of global warming into legislation to limit consumption of life-giving energy. They typically call for a reduction of fossil fuels by 80 percent of the 2000 usage by 2030. For perspective, imagine having one-fifth of the gasoline, one-fifth of heating and air conditioning, one-fifth of energy to run schools, hospitals, and factories. Yet leftists expect these major deprivations to lower the temperature only a fraction of a degree by 2100.

NASA, NOAA, and CRU have a marked history of masking their political agenda under the guise of climate science. NASA’s former administrator James Hansen, professional alarmist since the early 1970s when he was trumpeting an approaching ice age, has been arrested numerous times since his retirement in 2013 for trespassing and other misdemeanors while inciting rioters at global-warming protests. Should we believe his 2015 warning that sea-level rise in the next 50 years will bring the “economic and social cost of losing functionally all coastal cities”? (In case you are concerned, remember that melting of the North Polar ice cap would cause no sea level rise, as it floats in the Arctic Ocean, just as melting of ice cubes in a glass of water does not cause the water to overflow the glass. The South Pole has an average temperature of -57ºF and is not expected to melt anytime soon no matter how much hot air Hansen produces.)

Another climate alarmist holding great political sway is CRU Administrator Phil Jones. He was one of many infamous climatologists involved in the 2009 Climate­gate scandal. When hackers broadcast hundreds of incriminating e-mails, they revealed that these scientists deliberately deleted evidence of data fraud prior to an expected Freedom of Information request from the U.K. government.

Yet these are the people convincing us of a supposed apocalyptic danger from CO2 emissions. Government is quick to cooperate, with huge amounts of money for grants and awards to academics who faithfully report the global-warming party line. Base your proposed study on that, and you’ve got the grant.

It didn’t take long for colleges to jump on the wagon. Fifty years ago, universities had no Environmental Science department, or even a degree at the bachelor level. The word “ecology” was unknown to most people. Today gradschool.com shows 130 U.S. colleges and universities with masters and/or Ph.D. programs in environmental, ecological, or sustainability studies.

Richard Lindzen, former Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Meteorology at MIT and a National Academy of Sciences member, has seen the whole scam unfold. “Remember this was a tiny field, a backwater, and then suddenly you increased the funding to billions and everyone got into it,” Lindzen told James Varney of RealClearInvestigations.com. “Even in 1990 no one at MIT called themselves a ‘climate scientist,’ and then all of a sudden everyone was. They only entered it because of the bucks; they realized it was a gravy train. You have to get back to the people who only care about the science.”

So, was 2016 the hottest year on record? Highly unlikely. Even if the temperature record were entirely accurate, with the “differences” being less than the margin of error, the trend is flat. But actual proof has been destroyed by criminal conspirators with a monetary and career bias toward convincing us that our activities are bringing on a climate apocalypse that can only be avoided by impoverishing ourselves and giving power to a wise and benevolent government. Moreover, proof isn’t attainable because the weather-monitoring stations have been closed, moved, or flawed. The rising amount of CO2 in the atmosphere does not appear to have any significant effect on the climate according to the most accurate measurements: Argo buoys and satellite data.

Unfortunately, the keepers of official climate data are partisans with a financial interest in showing a trend toward catastrophic global warming. Their duplicity is propagandized as gospel truth by leftists in academia and the mainstream media. We suggest keeping a cool head, and worrying less about Mother Nature and more about those interested in expanding government control over our businesses, our culture, and our lives.

Police departments now allow recent potheads to be cops

by Jack Burns

The Free Thought Project interviewed Jamie (last name withheld) who said he’d always wanted to become a police officer since leaving the Marines after the first Gulf War. But, he said, he had one obstacle to overcome before joining the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department in North Carolina. He’d smoked weed while in high school and, at the time, his past use of the plant prevented him from becoming a police officer. Fast-forward 20 years, and Jamie may now want to consider moving to Maryland if he wants to continue his dreams of becoming an officer of the peace. That’s because the Mid-Atlantic state has relaxed its longstanding policy toward marijuana use.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Maryland has adopted the same relaxed policy towards marijuana that the FBI currently uses. The new standard, which will take effect on June 1, bars applicants if they smoked pot in the past three years. This is the same policy the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) uses. “The longstanding, previous policy had ruled out those who had used marijuana at least 20 times or at least five times since age 21,” writes the WSJ.

Maryland’s struggle with marijuana is reflective of the struggle many police departments are facing now that over half of the United States has enacted some form of legalized cannabis use for medicinal or recreational use. In other words, it’s getting harder for departments to find recruits who haven’t used marijuana previously.

When states like Arizona and cities like Phoenix are practically begging for people to become police officers, something has to give. Either the laws have to change that prevent people from consuming cannabis, or the police department standards must be changed to accommodate and reflect the changing attitudes toward marijuana. The latter is occurring all across the land according to the WSJ.

Still, there are the critics, like Jim Pasco, executive director of the national Fraternal Order of Police. In essence, he accused Maryland of rewarding illegal behavior by allowing potheads to become police officers. “So you’re basically saying with that change that if you broke the law 20 times, it’s OK as long as you haven’t done it lately…How would that apply to bank robbery or mail fraud? The idea here is you want people who respect the law, whatever the law is,” he told the WSJ.

We tend to agree. But, before freaking out, listen to the reasoning behind it. It is quite hypocritical for departments to forgive the previous ‘crimes’ of its officers only to turn them loose on society to arrest people for the very same ‘crimes.’ However, here is where we disagree with Pasco — smoking a plant is not a crime — as there is no victim. There is, however, a victim when a cop arrests a person for smoking a plant. In that instance, the person kidnapping, caging, or killing the person over the plant, is the aggressor.

Pasco’s equation of consuming a plant with robbing a bank, will certainly rile cannabis advocates, businessmen, and consumers alike. As The Free Thought Project has dutifully noted, the consumption of marijuana is much safer than consuming alcohol, something many police officers abuse, both on the job as well as off-duty. Just this month, three police officers were arrested in the same county in Texas for Driving Under the Influence (DUI) of alcohol. Yet cannabis, as innocuous as it is, is still being stigmatized by law enforcement leaders such as Pasco.

Still, even with changing attitudes towards cannabis, it appears we are a long way off from allowing police officers to use marijuana for their own illnesses. Likewise, healthcare workers who suffer from debilitating illnesses and chronic pain must depend solely on pharmaceutical treatments for their conditions or risk losing their medical board licenses. While it’s encouraging to see each state examine their stance on cannabis, we’re what seems to be light years away from having police officers and physicians as stoners. (The Free Thought Project).

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