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).

 

Moving On: Dismissing Witnesses to Historic Attack on Capitol

Democratic cowardice leaves Trump’s Republican conspirators unscathed

by Joseph Kishore - WSWS

 

February 13, 2021

The defense team for Donald Trump in his impeachment trial before the Senate rested its case after only two-and-a-half hours Friday afternoon. The Senate proceeded to questions for the two legal sides, which are expected to conclude today. This will be followed by a vote on the charges, which will likely fall well short of the 67 votes required for conviction.

 

See: Trump and the Danger of Fascism in America Series at WSWS

 

Trump’s defense doubled down on the arguments it had advanced throughout. His lawyers claimed that Trump was merely exercising his First Amendment right to free speech when he spoke at a rally before the January 6 insurrection. They asserted that in calling on the fascistic mob to “fight like hell” prior to the storming of the Capitol, his only intention was to encourage a peaceful protest. They said that the fact that the coup attempt was the outcome of extended planning somehow exonerated Trump of responsibility for inciting it.

 

Victoria Nuland: Queen of the Chicken Hawks Comes Home to Roost

Queen of Chicken Hawks: Victoria Nuland Had A Hand in Every US Intervention in the Past 30 Years

by Rick Sterling  - MintPress News

 

February 11, 2021

As the Senate prepares to confirm Nuland for Under Secretary for Political Affairs, a reflection of her last 30 years in government shows how she was connected to nearly every foreign policy disaster undertaken by the United States.

 

President Joe Biden’s nomination of Victoria Nuland for Under Secretary for Political Affairs, the third-highest position at the State Department, is a dangerous sign. Nuland exemplifies the neoconservatives who have led American foreign policy from one disaster to another for the past 30 years, all while evading any shred of accountability. 

 

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, David Adler, Ken Stone February 11th, 2021

This Week on GR

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

February 11, 2021

Welcome to Gorilla Radio’s Home Edition recorded on the dates, February 4th and 9th, 2021.

 

Ecuador’s presidential election is scheduled for February 7th, just three days from now; but with contender, Andres Arauz forecast to win big, the government is claiming his party has contravened National Electoral Council rules and could be disqualified.

Arauz has promised to continue the Citizen’s Revolution movement begun by his mentor, Raphael Correa and betrayed by Correa’s former vice-president, and current outgoing president, Lenin Moreno.

 

David Adler is a scholar, political economist, and first General Coordinator of Progressive International, a new organization saying, “It is time for progressives of the world to unite.” Adler is in Ecuador now with a Progressive International elections monitoring contingency.

 

 

 Listen. Hear.

 

 

 

David Adler in the first half.

And; March 1st, hearings will resume in the extradition trial of Meng Wanzhou, the Huawei executive arrested in Vancouver in December of 2018 and still held under house-arrest in that city. Meng is also daughter to the founder and CEO of the Chinese tech. giant whose company has been a focus of the growing trade war between the World’s two greatest economies. Meng’s arrest has thrust Canada into the middle of that global imbroglio, threatening trade relations and damaging the country’s reputation as a “rule of law” nation.

Ken Stone is a long-time antiwar activist, serving as an executive member of both the Syria Solidarity Movement and Hamilton Coalition to Stop the War. Ken and the Hamilton Coalition are joining forces with online investigative journalism site, The Canada Files to continue the Cross-Canada FREE MENG WANZOU campaign.

Ken Stone on “The arrest of Meng Wanzhou & the New Cold War on China” in the second half.

 

But first up, David Adler and Progressive International mobilizing its mission in Ecuador.

 

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

Hitler Didn't Die: A True Covid-19 Thriller

OUT TODAY! A TRUE COVID-19 THRILLER – LOCKED DOWN, LOCKED OUT, LOCKED UP

by John Helmer - Dances with Bears

February 2, 2021

This is the first book to be published worldwide revealing how a group of government officials can exploit the corona virus pandemic to wield emergency powers illegally; destroy parliament; deceive the press; manipulate the law courts; spend vast amounts of state money to enrich themselves; and spread false science and public terror to cover their tracks.

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 state lawlessness, and suffered the same fate. 

 

Anne Feeney Goes Out Fighting

Remembering Anne Feeney

by David Rovics - Dissident Voice

 

February 5th, 2021 

 

On February 3rd, 2021, Anne Feeney died in the hospital in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with her children at her side. She was 69 years old. She was a cancer survivor in poor physical health when she fell and broke her back a month ago, and in the hospital she contracted Covid-19, then pneumonia.

 

 

 

Although Anne died too young, she lived a long life. She lived many lives during those 69 years, really, and she cheated death at least a couple times during her last decade on Earth. 

 

Ecuador Elections: "A Tipping Point for Democracy"

We are Mobilizing to Ecuador. Here’s Why

by Progressive International

 

January 27, 2021

 

The people of Ecuador are fighting to recover their popular sovereignty. International solidarity will be critical to their success. On 7 February, the citizens of Ecuador will express their constitutional right to popular sovereignty, electing a new president and National Assembly to carry the country out of its most severe crisis in a generation.

Supporters of the presidential candidate Andres Arauz march, 

Quito, Ecuador, Jan. 26, 2021. | Photo: EFE via Telesur

 

Between violent crackdowns on IMF protests in 2019 to persistent threats to cancel next month’s election, Ecuador’s democracy is on the brink. The vigilance of the world will be critical to preserve it — and help restore democracy to a region in the midst of an authoritarian backslide. 

 

Listen to Progress International's David Adler from Ecuador here.

 

Unmasking Navalny: The New York Times Doesn't Need to Know

Who Is Aleksei Navalny? NYT Once Knew, but Has Since Forgotten

by Jim Naureckas - FAIR

 

February 3, 2021

“Who Is Aleksei Navalny?” was the headline over the “Inside the Times” column (New York Times print edition, 2/1/21).

Navalny on a Plane - The New York Times headline (2/1/21) asks a 

good question that the accompanying story completely fails to answer.
 

Which is a good question, given that the Russian activist has been mentioned more than 300 times in the paper, and has become the undisputed poster child for opposition to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

 

Indian Farmers' Fight from There and Here

The fight over agriculture in India, and how Punjabis in Canada are supporting farmers

by Vandana K - Media Co-Op

February 1, 2021

Farmers are demanding repeal of new laws gutting agricultural protections, and Punjabis in Canada are supporting their protest

 Protestors listening to speeches by farm leaders at Singhu 

Farmers are demanding repeal of new laws gutting agricultural protections, and Punjabis in Canada are supporting their protest The fight over agriculture in India, and how Punjabis in Canada are supporting farmers. 

 

 Listen, Hear Vandana K. discuss her article.

 

Memo: Pentagon Stood Down National Guard Ahead of January 6 Mobbing of Capitol

Trump’s acting secretary of defense disarmed D.C. National Guard 48 hours before the fascist assault

by Jacob Crosse - WSWS

1 February 2021

A recently published memo issued by former Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller two days before the January 6 fascist assault on the US Capitol confirms that the leadership of the Pentagon deliberately disarmed National Guard soldiers on the eve of the coup attempt. 

 

The memo ensured that soldiers would be unable to protect themselves, much less the Capitol, allowing thousands of pro-Trump neo-Nazis and white supremacists to overwhelm the Capitol Police, who themselves had been deliberately underdeployed.

 

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Jeremy Kuzmarov, Joe Emersberger February 4th, 2021

This Week on GR

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

February 4th, 2021

Welcome back to Gorilla Radio’s Home Edition recorded on the dates, January 28th, and February 1st, 2021.

 

Well barring a Trump return to political life with the full moon, we can now safely say America has turned a new page; if “new” is the appropriate descriptor for the new president, a man who’s been at this game longer than most Americans have been alive. 

Though some may feel near-octagenarian Joe is a less than inspiring figure to lead an American renaissance, at least he arrives with an unprecedented amount of policy baggage; more than ample provenance to measure the man from his acts, and his fictions.

Jeremy Kuzmarov is a journalist and serves as Managing Editor of CovertAction Magazine. He is too the author of four books on U.S. foreign policy, including: ‘Obama’s Unending Wars’, and ‘The Russians Are Coming, Again’ co-authored with John Marciano. 

Listen. Hear.

Kuzmarov's latest at CovertAction is the series, ‘Biden’s Foreign Policy History and What it Portends for his Presidency‘.

Jeremy Kuzmarov in the first half.

And; February 7th, Ecuadorians will go to the polls to decide who will succeed Lenin Moreno. Moreno may be remembered as the protege of leftist president and thorn in the side of America, Raphael Correa, who upon election himself undid his predecessors progressive policies, (and threw Wikileaks publisher, Julian Assange to the wolves). Early polling suggests Correa loyalist, Andree Arauz will take the post, perhaps in a first round landslide.

Joe Emersberger is a Canada-based writer whose articles appear at VenezuelAnalysis, CounterPunch, and The Canary, among other places. Joe will be taking part tomorrow in the Webinar, ‘Ecuador’s Presidential Election’ interviewing Monica Palacios, UNES candidate for North America. Emersberger is too author, with Justin Podur, of the forthcoming book, ‘Extraordinary Threat: The U.S. Empire, the Media, and Twenty Years of Coup Attempts in Venezuela’.

Joe Emersberger and does a pinkening sky in Ecuador promise a new morning for Latin America? in the second half.

But first up, Jeremy Kuzmarov and what Joe Biden’s past portends for America’s future.

 

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

Watching Democracy Unfold in Ecuador

With Anti-IMF Candidate Surging in Polls, Ecuador’s Moreno Flies To DC Amid Talk of Suspending Election

by Alan Macleod  - MintPress News

 

February 1, 2021

Adding to worries that a Bolivia-style coup might be imminent in Ecuador, Lenín Moreno will spend his final days in office in Washington, DC, where he’s been meeting with members of the Biden administration. 

 

 

Polls show socialist, anti-imperialist candidate Andrés Arauz to be the clear frontrunner in Ecuador’s presidential elections slated to take place this Sunday, February, 7. Some even suggest the 35-year-old might receive double the votes of his nearest competitor in the first round of voting. Yet it now appears that the greatest danger to Arauz is not his rival candidates, but the threat of authorities canceling the election to prevent his victory.

 

Undoing Ecuador: Turncoat Moreno Seeking to Deep-Six Democracy

Fears of US Interference in Ecuadorean Elections

by TeleSur

January 30, 2021

On February 7, presidential and legislative elections (137 assembly members) will be held in Ecuador, and the candidate best positioned to win is Andres Arauz, candidate for the coalition Union for Hope (UNES). Arauz, who represents correísmo, is the heir of a citizen revolution which the current government has tried to annihilate and outlaw electorally. 

 

 

OAS & Ecuador's neoliberal president looking to suspend elections to cling on to 

power and stop coming victory of the Correísta left. | Photo: Twitter/@OVargas52

Andres Arauz has 37 percent of voting intention in the most recent polls, compared to 24 percent of the banker Guillermo Lasso, his main competitor, who seeks to banish once and for all the failed model of 21st Century socialism. In the elections, it is necessary to reach 40 percent of the votes and 10 points of difference from the second candidate to win in the first round, and if not, there will be a second round on April 11. 

 

Rejecting a Reckless Apparatchik: Power's Past Plays Wreaked Havoc and Death

Why Samantha Power Should Not Hold Public Office

by David Swanson - World BEYOND War

 

January 27, 2021

 

It took a variety of approaches to market the 2003 war on Iraq. For some it was to be a defense against an imagined threat. For others it was false revenge. But for Samantha Power it was philanthropy. She said at the time, “An American intervention likely will improve the lives of the Iraqis. Their lives could not get worse, I think it’s quite safe to say.” Needless to say, it wasn’t safe to say that.

 

 

Did Power learn a lesson? No, she went on to promote a war on Libya, which proved disastrous.

Then did she learn? No, she took an explicit position against learning, publicly arguing for the duty not to dwell on the results in Libya as that might impede willingness to wage war on Syria.