Nukes in Space: Is Life on Mars More Important Than That on Earth?

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine reports on space nuclear propulsion

by Karl Grossman - Nation of Change

 

February 17, 2021

 

National Academies report urges nuclear-powered rockets for trips to Mars and lays out "synergies" in space nuclear activities between NASA and the U.S. military.

 

A report advocating rocket propulsion by nuclear power for U.S. missions to Mars, written by a committee packed with individuals deeply involved in nuclear power, was issued last week by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. 

 

School Openings: "Preparing the way for a deadly third wave of the pandemic"

Ontario reopens all schools, delays March break ignoring warnings of a third COVID-19 wave

by Jake Silver - WSWS

 

February 19th, 2021

Ontario Education Minister Stephen Lecce, (pictured below) delivered a tirade of lies at a press conference last week to cover over the deadly implications of the province’s school reopening policy.

 

 

His remarks came in the run-up to Tuesday’s return to in-class learning in the only remaining parts of the province with predominantly online instruction—Metro Toronto and the neighbouring Peel and York regions. All three areas continue to be hotspots for the spread of COVID-19.

 

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Vandana K., John Helmer February 18th, 2021

This Week on GR

by C. L. Cook - Gorilla-Radio.com

 

February 18, 2021

Welcome back to Gorilla Radio’s Home Edition recorded on the dates, February 7th and 8th, 2021.

 

Last November, India’s farmers came in protest by the tens of thousands to the gates of the capital demanding newly drafted laws the Modi government insists are necessary to “modernize” agriculture be struck down. 

 

The ongoing vigil, beset by state violence, media disinformation, and a shutdown of internet and phone coverage not only persists, but its demands are enjoined by unions, celebrities, and millions of citizens alike. So far, neither side seems ready to give ground.

 

Vandana K is a Delhi-based independent journalist and producer who writes on the intersections of environment, gender, youth and indigenous communities with a focus on climate change. 

 

 

Listen. Hear.

 

She’s also covered India’s agriculture beat for nearly two years. Vandana’s articles can be found at Deutsche Welle, Resurgence & Ecologist, The Wire, and Canada’s Media Co-Op, where her recent piece, ‘The fight over agriculture in India, and how Punjabis in Canada are supporting farmers’ appears.

 

 

Vandana K. in the first half.

And; though the global corona virus pandemic has altered, perhaps irrevocably, how we all live, what hasn’t changed is the seemingly inherent human compulsion to dominate. Around the World, despots and tyrants both great and small have utilized this moment of vulnerability to reap fantastic financial profit, and to run roughshod over rights and freedoms.

John Helmer is a journalist, author, broadcaster, former political advisor to government, and principal behind the news website, Dances with Bears. Among Helmer’s many books titles are, ‘The Lie That Shot Down MH-17’ ‘Skripal in Prison’, and ‘The Man Who Knows Too Much About Russia’. His latest, ‘Hitler Didn’t Die in Berlin – He Moved to Melbourne Where He Runs the State Government of Victoria: A True Covid-19 Thriller‘ is the chronicle of his legal battles with authorities to estop its ban on his leaving Australia, or allowing his wife join him there.

Helmer writes: “Right now this is a story with urgent parallels in the UK, US, Canada, Germany, Spain, and France – in every country where democratic resistance to abuse of power in the pandemic has run into identical tactics of lawlessness, and suffered the same fate.”

 

 

John Helmer and an antidote to government abusing Covid-19 powers in the second half.

 

But first, Vandana K. and India’s farmers’ fight, from there and here.

 

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, airing live every Thursday between 11-Noon Pacific Time. In Victoria at 101.9FM, and on the internet at: https://cfuv.ca. He also serves as a contributing editor to the web news site, http://www.pacificfreepress.com. Check out the GR blog at: http://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com

The Elusive Zoonotic Origins of COVID-19 Virus

Why China and the WHO Will Never Find a Zoonotic Origin For the COVID-19 Pandemic Virus

by Jonathan Latham, PhD and Allison Wilson, PhD - Independent Science News

February 16, 2021

In China there is a popular joke about the southern city of Guangzhou (Canton). A visiting space alien, curious to learn about Chinese customs, tours its various provinces. Arriving in Guangzhou the alien asks the locals what their interests are. The Cantonese oblige their guest by putting the alien in a soup pot and eating it. This joke hinges on the Cantonese fondness for cooking with unusual species, many obtained from far away.

This feature of Canton’s cuisine was implicated in the original SARS (Severe Acquired Respiratory Syndrome) pandemic of 2002-04, which began in Guangzhou. It is thought that the virus arrived there with palm civets imported for speciality dishes (Wang et al., 2005).

 

Tickling Midnight: Biden's Cold-Warriors Playing with End Times

Who's the US to demand that Russia free anyone? - Back to Cold War 2.0 with Biden and His ‘Diplomacy-Favoring’ Secretary of State Blinken

by Dave Lindorff - This Can't Be Happening

February 3, 2021 

A fawning liberal media and a passel of well-endowed ‘peace’ organizations like Plowshares and Council for a Livable World and self-described “progressive” organizations like MoveOn have beenhailing Biden’s cabinet picks, many of them veterans of the Obama administration, claiming they will steer the US in a new direction under which diplomacy, not bluster and military threats, will be the default policy.

 

The Bulletin of Atomic Scientist ‘Doomstay’ clock is at 100 seconds to midnight,
suggesting that renewing the SALT agreement by Feb 5 would be in the interest
of both the US and Russia.

 

And yet right out of the box we see the Biden administration “demanding” that Russia release Putin critic and political challenger Alexey Navalny from a just-ordered 32-month sentence reportedly for jumping bail and leaving the country? Is that supposed to be diplomacy? Is Moscow likely to cave in to such an imperious demand? Is the US prepared to act in some fashion to enforce its demand?

 

Civilizational Soup: Last menu Item at the Terminal Capitalism Cafe

‘A Ghastly Future’? Israeli Apartheid, Biden, Starmer, Assange And Mass Extinction 

by Media Lens

January 20, 2021

Back in 2017, before WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange was silenced by Twitter, he used the platform to highlight an immutable truth:

‘The overwhelming majority of information is classified to protect political security not national security.’

 

 

Power hates being exposed. It hates having its inner machinations, its selfish priorities and ugly operations opened up to public scrutiny.

 

The Flame of Hope, or Dousing the 100 Second Fuse: Racing Climate Change, the Bomb, & Human Cupidity

The Fire Next Time: Climate Change, the Bomb, or the Flame of Hope?

by Rebecca Gordon - TomDispatch

 

February 9, 2021

 

If you live in California, you’re likely to be consumed on occasion by thoughts of fire. That’s not surprising, given that, in last year alone, actual fires consumed over four and a quarter million acres of the state, taking with them 10,488 structures, 33 human lives, and who knows how many animals. 

 

California Fires 2018 - photo: Forest Service 

By the end of this January, a month never before even considered part of the “fire” season, 10 wildfires had already burned through 2,337 more acres, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CalFire).