Apocalypse: The Domestic Enemies

Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

I. Three Horsemen

You may have heard of the Four Horsemen of The Apocalypse, but the four I am speaking of today are corporations and/or groups of corporations.

Three of the entities (Big Tobacco, Big Pharma, and Big Chem) are discussed in documents of a library at the University of California at San Francisco (Industry Documents Library).

Those three, IMO, are domestic enemies.

II. Fumes Documents

The fourth horseman, another domestic enemy IMO, is Big Oil (a.k.a. Oil-Qaeda).

The following links are documents in the Smoke & Fumes document library (the number following the name of the document is the document number in the library).

You can click on the link to discover more about a particular document:

Forecasting for the Offshore Oil Boom (1)

Outline of Weather and Wave Forecasting Techniques (2)

The Measurement of Paleotemperatures (3)

The Petroleum Industry Sponsors Air Pollution Research (4)

Reactions Involving Ozone, Nitrogen Dioxide, and Organic Compounds at Low Concentrations in Air (5)

Humble Oil Company Radiocarbon Dates II (6)

Radiocarbon Evidence on the Dilution of Atmospheric and Oceanic Carbon by Carbon from Fossil Fuels (7)

Carbon Dioxide Exchange Between Atmosphere and Ocean and the Question of an Increase of Atmospheric CO2 During the Past Decades (8)

A Review of the Air Pollution Research Program of the Smoke and Fumes Committee of the American Petroleum Institute (9)

The Climatic Factor in the Radiocarbon Content of Woods (10)

Late Quaternary Sea Level: A Discussion (11)

The Petroleum Industries' Air Pollution Control Program (12)

Hurricane Formation in the Gulf of Mexico (13)

Metabolic Fractionation of Carbon Isotopes in Marine Plankton - I. Temperature and Respiration Experiments (14)

Hurricane Betsy in the Florida-Bahama Area - Geologic Effects and Comparison with Hurricane Donna (15)

Sources, abundance, and fate of atmospheric pollutants. (16)

An Ocean Data Gathering Program for the Gulf of Mexico (17)

The Astronomical Theory of Climatic Change: Barbados Data (18)

Atmospheric Scavenging Mechanisms and the Fate of Air Pollutants (19)

Environmental Conservation - The Oil and Gas Industries / Volume Two (20)

Eustatic Low Stand of Sea Level Between 125,000 and 105,000 B.P.: Evidence from the Subsurface of Barbados, West Indies (21)

Carbon Dioxide and Climate: A Scientific Assessment (22)

Pollution and Policy: A Case Essay on California and Federal Experience with Motor Vehicle Air Pollution 1940-1975 (23)

Harold S. Johnston, Ph.D.: Atmospheric Chemistry Research at Berkeley (24)

Interview with Zus (Maria) Haagen-Smit (25)

Excerpt from Student Minority Report on the Stanford Research Institute (26)

Proportional Counting of Carbon Dioxide for Radiocarbon Dating (27)

Damage to Vegetation from Polluted Atmospheres (28)

Los Angeles Fights Smog (29)

Carbon Dioxide May Contribute To Hurricanes (30)

Economic Consideration of Certain Weather and Oceanographic Problems Arising in the Petroleum Industry (31)

Carbon Dioxide Affects Global Ecology (32)

Changes in the Carbon Dioxide Content of the Atmosphere and Sea Due to Fossil Fuel Combustion (33)

Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide (34)

Climate and Man (35)

The Smog Problem in Los Angeles County (36)

Global Aspects of Photochemical Air Pollution (37)

Sources of Air Pollution: Transportation (Petroleum) (38)

The Use of Asphalt Coatings to Increase Rainfall (39)

Accomplishments in Air Pollution Control by the Petroleum Industry (40)

Air Conservation Report Reflects National Concern (41)

Humble/Enjay/Esso Classified Advertisement (42)

History of the Offshore Oil and Gas Industry in Southern Louisiana (43)

Some Legal Consequences of Weather Modification: An Uncertain Forecast (44)

Standard Oil Recruitment at Notre Dame (45)

Weather Modification by Carbon Dust Absorption of Solar Energy (46)

Shell: Climate in a Cage (47)

Method for Recovering a Purified Component From a Gas (48)

Process For The Removal of Acidic Gases From a Gas Mixture (49)

Process For The Removal of Acid Gases From Hydrocarbon Gases Containing The Same (50)

Carbon Monoxide: Natural Sources Dwarf Man's Output (51)

Weather Modification and Smog (52)

Marine Macrophytes as a Global Carbon Sink (53)

Book Reviews: A Worldwide View - Global Effects of Environmental Pollution (54)

Modifying Weather on a Large Scale (55)

Climate Stabilization: For Better or for Worse? (56)

Arctic Offshore Platform (57)

Mobile, Arctic Drilling and Production Platform (58)

Arctic Offshore Platform (59)

Recovery of Shale Oil (60)

Production of Pure Carbon Dioxide (61)

Petroleum Recovery With Inert Gas (62)

Oil Spills in the Arctic Ocean: Extent of Spreading and Possibility of Large-Scale Thermal Effects (63)

Compilation of Workshop Materials: Workshop for an Assessment of the Present and Potential Role of Weather Modification in Agr (64)

Pelleted Carbon Black Containing Surfactant (65)

Icebreaking Cargo Vessel (66)

Tanker Vessel (67)

Cloud Formation and Subsequent Moisture Precipitation (68)

Weather Control by Asphalt (Popular Mechanics) (69)

Astronomical Theory of the Pleistocene Ice Ages: A Brief Historical Review (70)

Astronomical Theory of Climatic Change: Status and Problem (71)

Milankovitch Theory and Climate (72)

Milankovitch Hypothesis Supported by Precise Dating of Coral Reefs and Deep-Sea Sediments (73)

Ice Ages: Solving the Mystery (74)

Ice Ages and Astronomical Causes: Data, Spectral Analysis and Mechanisms (75)

Arctic Marine Oil Spill Research (76)

Chemistry of the Natural Atmosphere (77)

Radionuclide Dating of the Recent Sediments of Blelham Tarn (78)

Wet Removal of Sulfur Compounds from the Atmosphere (79)

Algal Culture: From Laboratory to Pilot Plant (80)

Contribution of Anthropogenic and Natural Sources to Atmospheric Sulfur in Parts of the United States (81)

Direct Production of Electrical Energy From Liquid Fuels (82)

Fuel Cell and Fuel Cell Electrodes (83)

Fuel Cell Catalysts (84)

Fuel Cell With Pr-Au Anode and Molybdate-Containing Electrolyte (85)

Low-Polluting Engine and Drive System (86)

Soil: A Natural Sink for Carbon Monoxide (87)

Variation of Radiocarbon Concentration in Modern Wood (88)

Carbon Dioxide Variations in the Atmosphere (89)

Carbon Dioxide Emissions from Fossil Fuels: a procedure for estimation and results for 1950-1982 (90)

Literature and Research Survey to Determine Necessity and Feasibility of Air Pollution Research Project on Combustion of Comme (91)

Platitudes or Performance? (92)

Technical Information Resources in the Air Pollution Field (93)

Indexing and Abstracting Services in the Air Pollution Field (94)

Desulfurization of Caribbean Fuel (95)

Concentrations of Carbon Monoxide and Organic Gases in Arctic Atmospheres (96)

Auto Pollution: Research Group Charged with Conflict of Interest (97)

Toxicity of some Atmospheric Pollutants (98)

The Distribution of Carbon-14 in Nature (99)

The Environmental and Ecological Forum 1970-1971 (100)

Stratospheric Water Vapour Increase due to Human Activities (101)

Relative Reactivity of Various Hydrocarbons in Polluted Atmospheres (102)

Photochemical Reaction Products in Air Pollution (103)

National Conference on Air Pollution Press Release (104)

Progress in the Prevention and Control of Air Pollution (105)

Weather and Climate Modification: Problems and Prospects (106)

Air Conservation (107)

Agreement Between R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company and Exxon Chemical Company (500)

Memorandum: Polypropylene Fibers Produced by Enjay Chemical Company (501)

Exxon Filter Meeting Notes (503)

Proposed Agreements between RJR Tobacco Company and Exxon Chemical Company (504)

Patent: Cigarette Filter from Polypropylene Fibers (505)

Evaluations of Exxon Polypropylene Filters (506)

Memorandum to Messrs. Donahue, Oechler, Pepples, Simeonidis and Wall (507)

Smoke Analysis and Physical Properties of SFE-N-68-Q Cigarettes, Pall Mall Filter As Controls - Special Sample With Pall Mall (508)

Initial Evaluation of Esso Polypropylene Filter Material (509)

What is Different About Exxon's Patented PP Filter (510)

Meeting with Enjay Chemical Representatives (511)

Pollution: A Comprehensive Survey of Business and the Environmental Crisis (530)

Letter to John W. Hill (531)

Confidential Report: Tobacco Industry Research Committee Meeting (532)

Staff Memo: European Activities (534)

Staff Memo (535)

Letter to Kerryn King (536)

Memo to Eugene J.T. Flanagan (537)

Interview with John W. Hill (538)

Letter to Dennis M. Dyer (539)

Memorandum to Mr. Timothy V. Hartnett: Excerpts from Constitutions, Charters or By-Laws (540)

Confidential Report on Meeting January 18, 1954 (541)

Letter to Kerryn King (542)

Letter to Fred Panzer (560)

Memorandum to Messrs. Donahue, Oechler, Pepples, Simeonidis, and Wall (561)

Letter to Catherine J. Yoe (562)

Letter to Bernie Robinson re: Washington Business Roundtable, enclosed (563)

Support for AdTI (567)

ATCO Letter to Union Oil SPV documenting similar partnerships with other oil cos (580)

Union Oil letter to ATCO-Annex-Delivering ATCO Message (581)

Exxon Direct Retail Marketing Strategy 1991 (582)

Exxon-RJR Internal Marketing Document (584)

RJR-Humble Oil Yankee Baseball Sponsorship (585)

Exxon-RJR Feb Managers Meeting (586)

Colony Tie-In With the Petroleum Industry: The American Tobacco Company (587)

Chevron Stations & Philip Morris USA Meeting (588)

ExxonMobil Merchandising Manual Exxon. Mobil/R.J Reynolds Retail Partnership (589)

Union Oil Contract Memo (591)

Union Oil Company and The American Tobacco Company Dodgers Agreement (592)

Car Life Report to Consumers: Car Exhausts and Cancer (620)

Lung Cancer, Smoking, and Atmospheric Pollution (621)

Laundered Research: The Finished Product i.e. What You See (622)

Memorandum: Membership of ACS National Commission on Smoking and Public Policy (623)

Tobacco Institute Newsletter (624)

The Silent Killer that Stalks Our Streets (625)

Know Your Board of Directors (627)

The Quantitative Analysis of Cigarette Smoke, Part I (640)

Smoke Analysis and Physical Properties of SFE-N-68-Q Cigarettes (641)

Facts About High Resolution Mass Spectrometry (642)

Recommendation to End Mayo Oxidation Studies Sponsorship (643)

A Report on Mass Spectrometry at the Shell and Humble Oil Companies (644)

Corporate Research Agreements (645)

High Temperature Mass Spectrometry (646)

Annual Report (647)

Tobacco Institute Newsletter (648)

The Biologic Effect from Long-Term Exposure of Primates to Carbon Monoxide (649)

Nitrogen Oxide Content of Smokes From Different Types of Tobacco (660)

Research Agreement between Armour Research Foundation of Illinois Institute of Technology and P. Lorrilard Company, Inc. (661)

Armour Research Foundation Final Report On 'Physical Properties of Cigarette Smoke' (662)

Quarterly Section Research Report, Physical Chemistry Section (663)

Stanford Research Institute Project (664)

Stanford Research Institute Organization Chart (665)

Annual Research and Development Project Review Minutes (667)

Dale M. Coulson Resume (668)

Unknown (669)

The Smog Problem in Los Angeles County (670)

Proposal for Research: Development of Portable Analytical Instrumentation (671)

Stanford Research Institute Memo (672)

Unknown (673)

Philip Morris Incorporated Inter-Office Correspondence (674)

Auto Pollution: Research Group Charged with Conflict of Interest (675)

The Role of Atmospheric Carbon Monoxide in Vehicle Accidents (678)

Soil: A Natural Sink for Carbon Monoxide (679)

Recommendation to End Mayo Oxidation Studies Sponsorship (681)

Unknown (682)

Contract with Stanford Research Institute (684)

Re-Evaluation of a Stanford Research Institute Zeolite for CO Removal from Cigarette Smoke (685)

Memorandum: Psychographics (686)

Development of Portable Analytical Instrumentation (688)

Presenting The Virginia Institute for Scientific Research (691)

VISR News: VISR President Honored with University's Thomas Jefferson Award (692)

Statement by Theodor D. Sterling. Ph.D. (730)

Unknown (731)

Unknown (732)

Occupational Exposure to Organic Lead Compounds (733)

Report and Recommendations of the Advisory Panel to the Feasibility Study (734)

The Feasibility of a Definitive Evaluation of the Data Concerning Smoking and General Morbidity and Disability: Status Report (735)

Statement of Dr. Theodor Sterling Before the House Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce (736)

Confidential Report Scientific Advisory Board Meeting (737)

Unknown (738)

Report on Meeting of Scientific Advisory Board, TIRC (751)

Introduction: The Tobacco Institute Past & Present (758)

CRC APRAC (759)

Lawrence G. Rawl Profile for Board Member Search (770)

Letter to R. G. Baker re: Sir Richard Dobson (771)

Experimental Production of Carcinoma in Rhesus Monkeys (800)

Mathematical Analysis of Lead Burdens (801)

Note from George Weissman to Paul Morgan (804)

Bronchial Changes Studied in Smokers (805)

Letter from Theodor D. Sterling to Robert C. Hockett: Recommendations Endorsed by the Panel (806)

The Air Around Us (807)

Note from David R. Hardy (810)

Barclay Low Tar Cigarettes (811)

Letter from D.M. Hughes to M.A. Khan (812)

Is Smog the Real Culprit of Lung Cancer? (813)

Letter from H.R. Bentley to C.G. Hunter (814)

Shell International Research: Cigarette Filter of Alkene Polymer (815)

Notes on Trip to NYU - Bellevue Medical Center Institute of Industrial Medicine (817)

Properties of High-Boiling Petroleum Products (818)

Copy of Cablegram re: British Empire Cancer Campaign Reports (819)

Patent Specification: A Process for the Production of Foamed Polypropylene, and Articles Produced Therefrom (820)

Sloan-Kettering Institute Meeting, Nov 5 1953 (823)

Process for Manufacturing Foamed Polypropylene (824)

Keyword Method (825)

Russian US Air Pollution Inspection (826)

List of Organizations of Interest to Tobacco Industry (830)

Report and Recommendations of the Advisory Panel to the Feasibility Study (832)

The Feasibility of a Definitive Evaluation Concerning Smoking and General Morbidity (834)

Note from Theodor Sterling to Bob Hockett: Interim Report (836)

Letter from D.M. Hughes to M.A. Khan Regarding "The Fundamental Aspects of Gas Chromatography" (843)

Chronology of Events with Respect to Mr. Hamner and The American Tobacco Company Research Department (846)

New York University Industrial School of Medicine Meeting Summary (848)

Letter to D.G.I. Felton Regarding Visit to Shell (849)

Memo from J.K. Wells to I.W. Hughes: TI "New Directions" Discussion Meeting (850)

Memo from H.R. Kornegay and S.D. Chilcote to Executive Committee: New Directions Implementation (851)

Letter from T. Sterling to David Hardy: Guidelines for the Design of Legislation for Establishing Review Mechanism (852)

A Talk by the Honorable Horace R. Kornegay (853)

Goals for Tobacco Institute Public Affairs (854)

TI "New Directions" Discussion Agenda. (855)

New Directions: A Presentation of the Tobacco Institute Staff (856)

Tobacco Institute Proposal: New Directions. Tobacco Institute Proposal: New Directions. 1981 September 29. Brown & William (857)

Research Intelligence Chart (858)

New Directions Implementation Third Draft (859)

Notes of a Tentative Nature Taken on the Ecusta - L and M - Duke Conference - January 30, 1954 (860)

DRAFT OF MEMORANDUM ON PROPOSED WORK ON RELATION OF SMOKING TO CANCER (861)

Memorandum (862)

New York University, Report On Visit Of Dr. Norton Nelson And Dr. Alvin Kosak To Richmond Concerning Their Cigarette-Cancer Pr (863)

Report On Visit Of Dr. Norton Nelson And Dr. Alvin Kosak, New York University, To Richmond On March 27, 1956 (864)

KOSAK 1959 (19590000). THE COMPOSITION OF TOBACCO SMOKE (865)

SUPPLEMENTARY GRANT REQUEST BY DR. ALVIN I. KOSAK, (NO. 141, NEW YORK UNIVERSITY). (867)

TIRC Committees (999)

III. In Closing ...

Currently, the U.S.eh? is hijacked via a coup of The Four Horsemen of the American Apocalypse (A Tale of Coup Cities, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13).

Watch the brief video below to learn something about them ... so we can defeat them.

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Agnotology: The Surge - 20

Deadly Corporate Media Denial

I. Faux Snooze

There is a clear and growing awareness in the public, of the United States at large, about the reality of climate change (Global Warming Concern at Three-Decade High in US, Gallup Poll).

This, in spite of a dearth of coverage in the media: "In 2016, evening newscasts and Sunday shows on ABC, CBS, and NBC, as well as Fox Broadcast Co.'s Fox News Sunday, collectively decreased their total coverage of climate change by 66 percent compared to 2015" (Media Matters, cf. Media Matters Report Shows Stunning Lack of Climate Change Coverage on TV Networks in 2016).

Thus, the U.S. presstitutes (In the Fog of The Presstitutes, 2, 3, 4) are operating like the third world media: "Overall, we find that about 40 percent of adults worldwide have never heard of climate change. This rises to more than 65 percent in some developing countries, like Egypt, Bangladesh and India" (Climate Change Awareness and Concern in 119 Countries, Yale Univ.).

But, the public is aware of the presstitutes, and they do not like them (Americans' Trust in Mass Media Sinks to New Low, Americans' View of Press).

Meanwhile, the hear-no-climate change, see-no-climate-change, and say-no-climate-change ideology has landed its first U.S.eh? government (voted in by a minority - right-wing voters).

So, now the Administrative and Legislative branches of American government are controlled by climate deniers.

The Judicial branch may not be as far gone, but they too are headed in that direction (Here Come De Conservative Judges, 2, 3, 4, 5).

II. The Military Is Not With The Deniers

For the better part of a decade Dredd Blog has been pointing out that the military sees global warming induced climate change as the greatest threat to the security of Americans:

A recent report will catch the attention of anyone who can focus enough to see down the road further than their nose:

"The CNA Corporation brought together eleven retired three-star and four-star admirals and generals [they lost it so use The Wayback Machine Version] to provide advice, expertise and perspective on the impact of climate change. CNAC writers and researchers compiled the report under the board's direction and review.

The report includes several formal findings:

* Projected climate change poses a serious threat to America's national security.

* Climate change acts as a threat multiplier for instability in some of the most volatile regions of the world.

* Projected climate change will add to tensions even in stable regions of the world.

* Climate change, national security and energy dependence are a related set of global challenges."

(Global Climate & Homeland Insecurity, Dredd Blog, 2009). This was followed up on more recently (Global Climate & Homeland Insecurity - 2, Dredd Blog, 2016).

The conundrum this presents is palpable:

"We spend more on national security than the rest of the world combined ..."

"The Military is the lead federal agency on climate change ... and that is ... extremely dangerous ... we may lose the republic ..."

(Professor / Colonel Wilkerson, quoted from video below). The increase in military spending on conventional squabbles, while cutting environmental spending, is madness of the criminal sort (MOMCOM's Mass Suicide & Murder Pact, 2, 3, 4, 5).

III. Civilization's Trance

The civilization meme complex is a product of the darkest and oldest of trances:

"In other words, a society does not ever die 'from natural causes', but always dies from suicide or murder --- and nearly always from the former, as this chapter has shown." - A Study of History, by Arnold J. Toynbee

(When You Are Governed By Psychopaths - 7). After all these years of recorded history we as a species have not learned to choose our trances carefully (Choose Your Trances Carefully, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8).

IV. Conclusion

After all these eons and epochs, once again: Civilization Is Now On Suicide Watch, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.

The next post in this series is here, the previous post in this series is here.

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MOMCOM In The Outer Limits Of The Twilight Zone

T-Rex of State

In a recent post I provided a video featuring a presentation at MIT by Prof. Dr. Noam Chomsky.

It covered the reasons behind the doomsday clock having been moved from seven minutes until "midnight" (a.k.a. "lights out for civilization") to 2.5 minutes until midnight.

The subject of that post was the ongoing murder-suicide process by power centers within our current civilization (Civilization Is Now On Suicide Watch - 9).

The actors "in that movie" are official anti-social-behavior power-centers that surprisingly mimic the characteristics of the demise of previous civilizations:

In other words, a society does not ever die 'from natural causes', but always dies from suicide or murder --- and nearly always from the former, as this chapter has shown."

(A Study of History, by Arnold J. Toynbee). Once the most-oft-quoted historian, Dr. Toynbee discovered a pathological behavior often repeated in societies, including the largest society, civilization itself.

That behavior is still with us because it has not been addressed and epigenetically modified (On the Origin of Cultural Epigenetics).

The locus of these suicidal dynamics is harbored in three entities which I have called "MOMCOM."

MOMCOM is an extension of Eisenhower's "military-industrial complex" (MOMCOM: A Mean Welfare Queen).

Those three areas (military, oil, media) are the center of the origin of the current suicidal tendencies, because the military has the nukes, big oil has the other "nuclear option" (climate change), the media have the power of deceit, so, together they comprise the complex MOMCOM.

Their (or its) firstborn offspring is Oil-Qaeda (Oil-Qaeda: The Indictment, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6).

This family of players is not wavering from the mass-murder-suicide path they have been intentionally taking for decades (Humble Oil-Qaeda).

Instead, this deadly family has intensified their suicidal behavior (MOMCOM's Mass Suicide & Murder Pact, 2, 3, 4, 5).

They have financed political criminality to the point it has now openly taken over the U.S.eh? government.

If you want to know what they are doing, simply look at what they accuse sane people of doing (House Science Committee Leader Says Climate Scientists Are Trying to Control People’s Lives).

Next, realize how many years and how much money it has taken them to deceive substantial segments of society (Global Warming Disinformation Database).

Their basic behavior is to double down, even in the light of conclusive evidence against them (The Universal Smedley - 2, Oil Giants Caught Bribing Nigerian Money Launderer In Major Scandal, How World War I ushered in the century of oil).

By using the phrase "double down" I am including the habit of warmongering imperialism (The Peak Of The Oil Wars - 10, cf. The Fleets & Terrorism Follow The Oil - 2).

One of the reasons this suicidal behavior has not been stopped by western societies (by culturally evolving beyond the genetic dispositions of suicidal civilizations past), is primarily the power of propaganda hidden in plain sight:

THE conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of. This is a logical result of the way in which our democratic society is organized. Vast numbers of human beings must cooperate in this manner if they are to live together as a smoothly functioning society.

Our invisible governors are, in many cases, unaware of the identity of their fellow members in the inner cabinet.

They govern us by their qualities of natural leadership, their ability to supply needed ideas and by their key position in the social structure. Whatever attitude one chooses to take toward this condition, it remains a fact that in almost every act of our daily lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons — a trifling fraction of our hundred and twenty [now 320] million — who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires which control the public mind, who harness old social forces and contrive new ways to bind and guide the world.
...
It is the purpose of this book to explain the structure of the mechanism which controls the public mind, and to tell how it is manipulated by the special pleader who seeks to create public acceptance for a particular idea or commodity. It will attempt at the same time to find the due place in the modern democratic scheme for this new propaganda and to suggest its gradually evolving code of ethics and practice.

(A Closer Look At MOMCOM's DNA - 4). That quote is taken from the American book which has the title "Propaganda."

It was written by "The Father of Spin," a.k.a the Father of the American PR Industry (cf. Exceptional American Propaganda Inspired NAZI Goebbels).

He and his wife opened the business now known as "public relations" ... their first customer was then named The War Department.

I guess there is only one question remaining, since today some elections are taking place: (Will Elections Cure The Disease?, 2, 3, 4).

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"And now we return you to your regular programming ..."

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Choose Your Trances Carefully - 8

Fig. 1 Policy makers of Trancelvania

I. Start Here

By definition we can't make sense of insanity, nor conversely demonstrate insanity to be sensible.

Yet, there are vast industries that have been trying to do just that for about a century in the U.S.eh?  (The Deceit Business).

They had to give up on that ultimate difficulty, so they chose to call their mixing up of the 'unmixable' by the name of "pragmatism" rather than calling it what it really is.

The result of course is that the masses have lost their way to fall into trances (Citizenship: The Art of Hallucinating Properly) after being told that sanity is not all that it is cracked up to be, nor is insanity all that bad (The Ways of Bernays).

II. The Three Most Deadly Trances

The trance-makers are so into their own trance (Bernays Trance) that their once-carefully-crafted impositions have now morphed to the point that they are doing it now without using those two words (sanity, insanity) in any reasonable context (at times even swapping the two words surreptitiously along the way).

The predicament boils down to two ways (Trance II, III) to destroy civilization, which includes the human species:

As we are all surely aware, we now face the most ominous decisions in human history. There are many problems that must be addressed, but two are overwhelming in their significance: environmental destruction and nuclear war. For the first time in history, we face the possibility of destroying the prospects for decent existence -- and not in the distant future. For this reason alone, it is imperative to sweep away the ideological clouds and face honestly and realistically the question of how policy decisions are made, and what we can do to alter them before it is too late.

(Civilization Is Now On Suicide Watch - 2, quoting Dr. Noam Chomsky). As long as those predicaments can go wrong they will go wrong.

For the remainder of this post, let's look at the two "what could go wrong" trances we face at the fork in the road ahead.

III. What Could Go Wrong

Yes, even at those times when they were asking "what could go wrong" they would stumble, somewhere along the way, into Murphy's Law ("Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong").

 But once that law was discovered it was quickly abandoned for a more "pragmatic" policy:

The fall of the Berlin Wall in October 1989 abruptly ended one historical era and inaugurated another. So, too, did the outcome of last year’s U.S. presidential election. What are we to make of the interval between those two watershed moments? Answering that question is essential to understanding how Donald Trump became president and where his ascendency leaves us.

Hardly had this period commenced before observers fell into the habit of referring to it as the “post-Cold War” era. Now that it’s over, a more descriptive name might be in order. My suggestion: America’s Age of Great Expectations.

Forgive and Forget

The end of the Cold War caught the United States completely by surprise. During the 1980s, even with Mikhail Gorbachev running the Kremlin, few in Washington questioned the prevailing conviction that the Soviet-American rivalry was and would remain a defining feature of international politics more or less in perpetuity. Indeed, endorsing such an assumption was among the prerequisites for gaining entrée to official circles. Virtually no one in the American establishment gave serious thought to the here-today, gone-tomorrow possibility that the Soviet threat, the Soviet empire, and the Soviet Union itself might someday vanish. Washington had plans aplenty for what to do should a Third World War erupt, but none for what to do if the prospect of such a climactic conflict simply disappeared.

Still, without missing a beat, when the Berlin Wall fell and two years later the Soviet Union imploded, leading members of that establishment wasted no time in explaining the implications of developments they had totally failed to anticipate. With something close to unanimity, politicians and policy-oriented intellectuals interpreted the unification of Berlin and the ensuing collapse of communism as an all-American victory of cosmic proportions. “We” had won, “they” had lost -- with that outcome vindicating everything the United States represented as the archetype of freedom.

From within the confines of that establishment, one rising young intellectual audaciously suggested that the “end of history” itself might be at hand, with the “sole superpower” left standing now perfectly positioned to determine the future of all humankind. In Washington, various powers-that-be considered this hypothesis and concluded that it sounded just about right. The future took on the appearance of a blank slate upon which Destiny itself was inviting Americans to inscribe their intentions.

American elites might, of course, have assigned a far different, less celebratory meaning to the passing of the Cold War. They might have seen the outcome as a moment that called for regret, repentance, and making amends.

After all, the competition between the United States and the Soviet Union, or more broadly between what was then called the Free World and the Communist bloc, had yielded a host of baleful effects. An arms race between two superpowers had created monstrous nuclear arsenals and, on multiple occasions, brought the planet precariously close to Armageddon. Two singularly inglorious wars had claimed the lives of many tens of thousands of American soldiers and literally millions of Asians. One, on the Korean peninsula, had ended in an unsatisfactory draw; the other, in Southeast Asia, in catastrophic defeat. Proxy fights in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East killed so many more and laid waste to whole countries. Cold War obsessions led Washington to overthrow democratic governments, connive in assassination, make common cause with corrupt dictators, and turn a blind eye to genocidal violence. On the home front, hysteria compromised civil liberties and fostered a sprawling, intrusive, and unaccountable national security apparatus. Meanwhile, the military-industrial complex and its beneficiaries conspired to spend vast sums on weapons purchases that somehow never seemed adequate to the putative dangers at hand.

Rather than reflecting on such somber and sordid matters, however, the American political establishment together with ambitious members of the country’s intelligentsia found it so much more expedient simply to move on. As they saw it, the annus mirabilis of 1989 wiped away the sins of former years. Eager to make a fresh start, Washington granted itself a plenary indulgence. After all, why contemplate past unpleasantness when a future so stunningly rich in promise now beckoned?

(Tom Dispatch, "How We Got Here"). As it turns out then, even 'here' turns out to be just another word for a 'nothing left to lose' freedom trance (The Matriarch of The Matrix).

IV. The YAH Trance

How we got to where ever we are seems to be less pragmatic and less probable, especially if we climb up to peer over the trance walls, and are able to look deep enough into whatever 'here' we have arrived at.

As it turns out, 'here' is not here (You Are Here).

Where we have ended up is where "the resistance" is a struggle for our very lives, rather than a struggle to bring peace and prosperity to ourselves and others (the 'here' we were told we were going to).

But more than that, the place where the powers that be are located, and where resistance to them is located, is really not 'here'.

V. Conclusion

The video below shows that various governments are performing their duties as if they live on two different planets.

That inexorably leads to some countries being "pragmatic" in a way that is diametrically opposite to another country's "pragmatism," even as they claim to be 'here'.

Some European nations are hard at work on projects to protect their coasts, while in Florida, North Carolina, and Wisconsin, "climate change" is being removed from official public discourse.

Yes, the data that are being interpreted by the consensus of scientists are being heeded with gasps by one official group, while being denied by another official group.

The previous post in this series is here.

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The Warming Science Commentariat - 10

From the book

I. Yesterday All My Troubles Seemed So Far Away

Yesterday I took a look at coups in general (A Tale of Coup Cities - 13); so today I want to focus on the global coup that began in Britain & the U.S.eh? not long after our collective entry into the 20th Century (The Universal Smedley - 2, A History of Oil Addiction - 2).

A coup that is going stronger than ever here in the 21st Century (Greenland & Antarctica Invade The United States, 2, 3, 4,  Why Sea Level Rise May Be The Greatest Threat To Civilization, 2, 3, 4, 5).

I am speaking of a coup of change (from a green world where global warming was not yet born, where peace was not yet extinct) into a world where the coup some call the addiction to oil and war now thrives (Glorious Addictions - War & Oil, 2).

From now on let's  call that coup "The Slow Train Coming".

II. Now It Looks As Though They Are Here To Stay

This coup is not one that the military planned, but they have been instrumental in perpetuating it (The Fleets and Terrorism Follow The Oil - 2).

To the contrary, they warned of it being a threat to national security in 2009 (Global Climate & Homeland Insecurity - 2), and continue to (GMACCC).

To some extent that is because, militarily, they can do nothing whatsoever to stop the coup (Why The Military Can't Defend Against The Invasion).

The policy coup that I am writing about in today's post is now even taking potshots at the military (On the Front Lines of Rising Seas: Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia, Rising oceans threaten to submerge 128 military bases).

The east coast part of the coup is underway, as they look toward being underwater (Hurricane Matthew Takes Out Beaches, The Extinction of Chesapeake Bay Islands).

III. It's The Coup of The Warming Science Commentariat

The minions of Oil-Qaeda knew about the national security threat well before the military did (Smoke & Fumes, The Private Empire's Social Media Hit Squads - 2, Humble Oil-Qaeda).

Even way back then Oil-Qaeda began to spend the big bucks to dumb down the warming science commentariat (TWSC).

To this day the TWSC are still, for the most part, all too clueless:

In fact, most of our historical data on sea levels comes from devices call tide gauges. Tide gauges bob and dip with the rising and lowering sea, marking the changing levels as they go. And there are continuous gauge records going back hundreds of years [CORRECT: they have even measured sea level FALL since circa 1774].

But there's reason to believe those records may not tell the full story of how sea levels have changed [WRONG: they tell only what they know at their locations as they should ... and as TWSC should].

A study published October 9 in the journal Geophysical Research suggests a simple reason tide gauge records may lead scientists to underestimate sea level rise [WRONG: underestimating sea level rise is the IPCC's job which they do quite well thank you; tide gauge stations are even used to validate satellite telemetry ("Tide gauge data are used to validate ocean models and to detect errors and drifts in satellite altimetry" UCAR NCAR)]: There aren't enough of them [WRONG: I use about 1,400 PSMSL tide gauge station records from all over the globe], and they're in the wrong places. [WRONG: they are where the people who are endangered by sea level are ... exactly where they should be ... the marine life out in the ocean vastness is not endangered by sea level change]

Current estimates of sea level rise, drawn from tide gauge records, have the oceans gaining 1.5 to 1.8 millimeters per year [WRONG: tide gauge stations do not do global averages, they only do actual sea level measurements at their particular latitude and longitude. The "bath tub modellers" created the global average to gloss over the true nature of sea level change] - already enough to flood major cities in living lifetimes without any acceleration. (And we know it will accelerate.)

The problem is those estimates come from gauges that weren't built to track global sea levels [WRONG: that is not a "problem" it is a reality that they can't measure sea level rise other than where they are DUH!]. Instead, they're clustered around North Atlantic coastal cities [WRONG: they are all over the world, north, south, east, and west (PSMSL)], where they were initially installed to help monitor shipping lanes [WRONG: they were originally installed to measure local sea level change before cargo shipping lanes even existed]. Unfortunately, the North Atlantic may not be the best place to measure sea level rise. Meltwater from major ice sheets actually tends to flow away from there, often toward the southern hemisphere [WOW, THE AUTHOR IS A PLUMBER WHO KNOWS THAT S**T FLOWS DOWN HILL ... WHOOPIE !!].

(Monkey Business Insider). Oil-Qaeda must really take note of this valuelessness and chortle often (Oil-Qaeda & MOMCOM Conspire To Commit Depraved-Heart Murder, 2, 3).

IV. Conclusion

The realm of the clueless warming science commentariat is shameless (The Warming Science Commentariat, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8).

The next post in this series is here, the previous post in this series is here.

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"Yesterday [Is Gone]"

Yesterday all [our] troubles seemed so far away.
Now it looks as though they're here to stay.
Oh, [we] believe in yesterday.

Suddenly [we're] not half the [world we] used to be.
There's a shadow hanging over [us].
Oh, yesterday came suddenly.

Why [it] had to go, I don't know, [it] wouldn't say.
[we] did something wrong, now [we] long for yesterday.

Yesterday [life] was such an easy game to play.
Now [we] need a place to hide away.
Oh, [we] believe in yesterday.

...

(apologies to Beatles)

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Another Sign of Another Layer in the Oil Wars? - 2

"The OPEC" oil cartel is acting up like "the innertubes" electronic cartel where "the Google" thrives.

Neither OPEC nor the Internet want to be governed by the outside dynamics that have lately been orchestrated by outsiders.

The "U.S. frackers" pushed at OPEC and now OPEC is holding a steady course of crude oil pumping, which is pushing back at the U.S. frackers.

In the previous post of this series we wondered about the intentions and motivations of OPEC for not cutting its oil production in the face of an oil glut.

(What we did know when we asked that question is that their tactics and strategies have nothing to do with solving the problems that form the pillars of the global warming paradox which their crude oil drug peddling is causing.)

But we do know more about OPEC's intentions, led by Saudi Arabia, based on their own statements made at the recent OPEC gathering.

A gathering that had some observers expecting a drop in crude oil production, along with some OPEC members urging a drop in production as a tactic to increase oil prices.

The cause of the problem of dropping prices is an oil glut ostensibly caused by the U.S.

Oilah Akbar! or a Judas Kiss?

"fracking boom" which now faces the potential of becoming a U.S. "fracking bust" in this ongoing, now out-in-the-open kerfuffle:

Saudi Arabia's oil minister told fellow OPEC members they must combat the U.S. shale oil boom, arguing against cutting crude output in order to depress prices and undermine the profitability of North American producers.

(Naimi Declares Price War on U.S. Shale Oil). How far this will go is anybody's guess, but those who follow the money say the price is too tight for a lot of the "tight oil plays" out there.

Others note that there is also some "domino business" (a.k.a. unintended consequence) taking place:

Oil prices that reached a five-year low on Friday are starting to take a bite out of profits at TD Bank and are raising concerns for the rest of the country's top lenders.

Canada's biggest banks earn up to 20 per cent of their revenues through providing investment and corporate banking services, with oil and gas companies an important part of that client base.

(Oil Price Drop Threatens Bank Revenues). How long the "steady as she goes" OPEC production strategy continues will determine most of the outcome.

That is, it will determine the damages to the U.S. fracking business, and perhaps whether the citizens will be required to bail the frackers out (or their banksters).

Stay tuned.

The previous post in this series is here.

Another Sign of Another Layer in the Oil Wars?

Perhaps the title of today's post should be "Honey, I shrunk the Petrodollar."

Let's speculate on a couple of events taking place within a long line of events that have and will continue to have global impact.

There is speculation that Saudi Arabia's continuation of its oil production levels (rather than easing up so that oil prices will stay high) and lowering some prices (rather than letting market forces determine price) is part of a larger strategy.

Was it aimed at Russia's oil competition, the U.S. fracking surge, or mid-eastern nations that do not have the "proper Islamic faith?"

Technically, the Saudi's can pull a barrel of oil out of the depths at about $30 per barrel, while its competitors I just mentioned tend to have to spend as much as double that or more (e.g. @fracking).

There is a lot of scuttlebutt about what the Saudi thinking means, but as a cautionary tale, remember this:

Back in March 1999 "The Economist" magazine carried a cover photo of two men drenched in oil as they attempted to close a faulty valve that was spraying a huge stream of crude skyward. Over the photo was the headline: "Drowning in oil." At the time it really did seem as if the world were drowning in oil.

The previous December crude oil on the New York Mercantile Exchange touched $10.72 per barrel. That month U.S. gasoline prices averaged 95 cents per gallon. "The Economist" opined that oil might go down to $5 per barrel.

But, of course, in retrospect the magazine's cover proved to be the perfect contrarian indicator, for oil had already begun its historic ascent toward $147 per barrel. The 2008 price spike was the culmination of a 10-year bull market that had begun in December 1998.

(Oil Price). That said, one can see that fracking prices and Canadian tar sands extraction costs (analysis here) is scary-close to the about $77-$85 bbl. sales price, and could shake things up:

Oil prices tumbled to their lowest point in more than two years after Saudi Arabia unexpectedly cut prices for crude sold to the U.S., likely paving the way for further declines and adding to pressure on American energy producers.

The decision by the world’s largest oil exporter sent the Dow industrials into negative territory for the day amid concerns about the pace of global growth.

The move heightened worries over the resilience of the U.S. oil industry, which has expanded rapidly in recent years. But that growth, driven largely by new production technology used to extract oil from shale-rock formations, has never been tested by a prolonged slump in prices.

While lower crude prices generally help consumers by reducing the amount they pay for gasoline, analysts said falling energy prices will squeeze profit margins at many U.S. energy companies, particularly smaller firms or those with large debt loads.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia raised the prices for its oil in other locations, including Asia, where the country had cut its prices for four consecutive months.

(WSJ, emphasis added). At any rate, these possible price wars between oil producing nations could be eclipsed by something else that has less fluctuation, and has been gaining speed and strength.

That would be the reserve currency struggles that have been ongoing for years (see e.g. First Shots Fired In The Currency Wars, Phase Five Of The Currency Wars? - 2, Phase Six Of The Currency Wars?, The Government Catastrophe Has Already Happened).

These paper struggles can be as devastating as actual shooting wars in some cases, so recent events are worth watching:

Energy-exporting countries are set to pull their "petrodollars" out of world markets this year for the first time in almost two decades, according to a study by BNP Paribas.

Driven by this year's drop in oil prices, the shift is likely to cause global market liquidity to fall, the study showed.

Brent crude futures have fallen 23 percent this year, with 2014 promising to be only the second year since 2002 that crude prices will end the year lower than they began it.

This decline follows years of windfalls for oil exporters such as Russia, Angola, Saudi Arabia and Nigeria. Much of that money found its way into financial markets, helping to boost asset prices and keep the cost of borrowing down, through so-called petrodollar recycling.

This year, however, the oil producers will effectively import capital amounting to $7.6 billion. By comparison, they exported $60 billion in 2013 and $248 billion in 2012 ...

(Petrodollars leave world markets for first time in 18 years, emphasis added). Regular readers know what I think about economists in general (Economists - Aliens From Cygnus?).

But, perhaps some squeals in posts from Jim Willie are half worth reading (Shanghai Shock to Shatter the Gold Market!, The Economic ENDGAME Has Arrived, The Crash Heard Round the World- Saudis to Reject USD for Oil Payments).

Don't buy anything from them, just ponder their (maybe shrilly, maybe not) rhetoric indicating that something is afoot (could be a scam).

Then, as usual, you decide.

The next post in this series is here.