Daily News Thread 2/24

China to topple United States as biggest nuclear-energy nation

Beijing is forecast to triple its nuclear capacity in the next 20 years, ousting the US as number one nuclear-power producer, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).
rt.com/business/419707-china-nuclear-power-united-states/

Trump Predicts ‘Very Rough’ Phase If North Korea Sanctions Fail

President Donald Trump said Friday it may be “very, very unfortunate” for the world if U.S. sanctions fail to stop North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, as he imposed the largest U.S. penalties package yet against the rogue regime.
bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-23/trump-to-announce-new-round-of-sanctions-against-north-korea

White House barrier hit by vehicle, Secret Service says

A vehicle has struck a barrier outside the White House and a woman has been detained, the Secret Service says.
bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-43177427

Red Cross reveals 21 staff paid for sexual services

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) says 21 members of staff have left their jobs for sexual misconduct in the last three years.
bbc.com/news/world-europe-43180606

British-Iranian prisoner’s release depends on £400mn arms deal debt row, claims husband

Imprisoned British-Iranian Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s release depends on the UK paying a £400 million ($765 million) arms deal debt it owes Iran, according to her husband Richard. The debt is thought to date back to the 1970s.
rt.com/uk/419687-zaghari-ratcliffe-iran-arms-debt/

Gates Guilty Plea Strengthens Mueller’s Hand Against Manafort

As the newest cooperator for Special Counsel Robert Mueller, Rick Gates gives prosecutors a powerful weapon in pursuing former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and possible election collusion with Russia.
bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-23/gates-guilty-plea-strengthens-mueller-s-hand-against-manafort

US Lawmakers Predictably Take Aim at Petro as Iran, Russia Consider Following Venezuela's Lead

Democratic United States Senator Bob Menendez and his Republican counterpart, Marco Rubio, have co-authored a letter denouncing Venezuela's newly-launched cryptocurrency, the Petro, and requesting that the Treasury Department closely monitor its progress.
telesurtv.net/english/news/US-Lawmakers-Predictably-Take-Aim-at-Petro-as-Iran-Russia-Consider-Following-Venezuelas-Lead-20180224-0011.html

Philippines summons US envoy to clarify ‘threat to democracy’ black mark on Duterte

The US envoy in Manila has been summoned in anger and the Phillipines' embassy in the US told to give an "accurate picture" of their country to US intelligence, after a report flagged the Filipino leader as a threat to democracy.
rt.com/news/419705-us-ambassador-philippines-duterte/

Nazi Video Sparks Suspension for Polish Ruling Party Lawmaker

Poland’s ruling Law & Justice party suspended one of its senators after he shared a Nazi propaganda film on social media.
bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-23/nazi-video-sparks-suspension-for-polish-ruling-party-lawmaker

Trump Weighs ‘Red Flag’ Orders to Take Guns Away Quickly

The White House is considering the idea of using restraining orders to take firearms away from people considered dangerous as part of its response to last week’s massacre at a Florida high school, two people familiar with the matter said.
bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-24/white-house-said-to-consider-protection-orders-to-curb-shootings

Fake ICE Agents Extort Immigrant Families

Advocacy coordinator for the Cara ProBono Project believes someone within ICE might be "leaking information" due to the extortion's "systemic" character.
telesurtv.net/english/news/US-Fake-ICE-Agents-Extort-Immigrant-Families-20180223-0015.html

‘Get ISIS and go home’: Trump bucks Pentagon & State Dept. on ultimate US goal in Syria

President Donald Trump appeared to dash the hopes of interventionists and contradict his own administration officials, by declaring that US troops’ mission in Syria is limited to defeating ISIS and doesn’t include regime change.
rt.com/usa/419699-trump-syria-isis-ghouta/

NRA gives Ajit Pai “courage award” and gun for “saving the Internet”

Killing net neutrality helps Pai win award for "standing up under pressure."
arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/02/nra-gives-ajit-pai-courage-award-and-gun-for-saving-the-internet/

Other urls found in this thread:

itsgoingdown.org/audio-report-picket-lines-west-virginia-teachers-strike/
counterpunch.org/2018/02/23/capitalism-as-obstacle-to-equality-and-democracy-the-us-story/
socialistworker.org/2018/02/23/students-protest-meal-plan-profiteering
itsgoingdown.org/radical-people-american-fighting-in-syria-with-ypg/
weeklyworker.co.uk/worker/1191/further-into-farce/
revolutionaryleftradio.libsyn.com/building-the-communist-party
nypost.com/2018/02/22/venezuelans-are-starving-amid-economic-crisis-food-shortages/
nypost.com/video/venezuelan-president-chomps-on-an-empanada-while-his-country-starves/
youtube.com/watch?v=YUYWrPiUeWY
nbcnews.com/news/us-news/cdc-employee-timothy-cunningham-went-missing-more-week-ago-n850721
apnews.com/ce4dbdd4446c4862bb9c483425554c67/Trump-officials-fight-eviction-from-Panama-hotel-they-manage
assets.bwbx.io/documents/users/iqjWHBFdfxIU/rfMs_6g_Q3Kk/v0
bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-24/public-release-of-democratic-rebuttal-memo-could-be-imminent
npr.org/2018/02/25/588669505/california-democrats-decline-to-endorse-another-term-for-sen-dianne-feinstein
twitter.com/SFWRedditVideos

Thank you news user

OP/ED

Audio Report: From the Picket Lines of the West Virginia Teachers’ Strike

In this audio report we caught up with a teacher in West Virginia who is currently on strike along with tens of thousands of bus drivers and other school employees. Pay for West Virginia teachers is one of the worst in the nation, and workers are also striking to reject the rising costs of heath care through the state-run Public Employees Insurance Agency, or PEIA.
itsgoingdown.org/audio-report-picket-lines-west-virginia-teachers-strike/

Capitalism as Obstacle to Equality and Democracy: the US Story - Richard D. Wolff

counterpunch.org/2018/02/23/capitalism-as-obstacle-to-equality-and-democracy-the-us-story/

Students protest meal-plan profiteering

On February 13th, students at the University of Wisconsin (UW) in Madison protested the latest example of the university putting profits before them: a new meal plan imposed by the administration. Around 100 students gathered in Gordon Commons, one of the campus's largest dining halls, to participate.
socialistworker.org/2018/02/23/students-protest-meal-plan-profiteering

Radical People Podcast: An American Fighting in Syria with the over a dozen US military bases in Syria

In this episode, Eamon speaks with Marcus, an American man who traveled to Syria to fight as an international member of the Kurdish over a dozen US military bases in Syria. Marcus explains his motivation for going, and what the several month experience was like, from the boredom to the intensity of combat.
itsgoingdown.org/radical-people-american-fighting-in-syria-with-ypg/

Further into farce

How much longer can Ukip limp on, wonders Paul Demarty?
weeklyworker.co.uk/worker/1191/further-into-farce/

Jodi Dean: Communist Party Building and Combatting Bourgeois Individualism (Interview)
revolutionaryleftradio.libsyn.com/building-the-communist-party

Venezuelans are starving amid economic crisis, food shortages


nypost.com/2018/02/22/venezuelans-are-starving-amid-economic-crisis-food-shortages/

pls no ban
Also the vid is from: nypost.com/video/venezuelan-president-chomps-on-an-empanada-while-his-country-starves/

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Porky is nervous

so much for free markets

Wow. Great research amerifats.

This is why communists should support cryptocurrencies. It allows the wealthy 1st world proles to strengthen the 3rd world and help them resist American imperialism.

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Meanwhile, in reality: youtube.com/watch?v=YUYWrPiUeWY

I wonder how it feels to realize that after the 8 year-long bluster about Democrats taking away guns, it was conservatives' "anti-establishment" guy that is trying to do it all along.

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This is some potent bait

Shit so this might actually work to destabilize the petrodollar?

Good good.

I doubt that when right libertarians started promoting cryptos a way to replace the US backed global fiat monetary system they has this in mind.

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NRA is more boomer than the AARP.

Chinese Chernobyl when?

Probably never because they aren't a dying country like the revisionist USSR or present day America. They can afford top of the line equipment and have no problem paying for education.

It's my understanding that their new nuclear reactors have basically no risk of meltdown.

CDC Epidemic Specialist Timothy Cunningham (Two Harvard Degrees, alma mater Morehouse College) Goes Missing a Eleven Days Ago, Family Does Not Know Where He Went, Last Reported Saying He Felt "Under The Weather" "Not Too Great."I Feel Sick" "I Might Take Time Off, Feels Like I'm Going to Throw Up

nbcnews.com/news/us-news/cdc-employee-timothy-cunningham-went-missing-more-week-ago-n850721

Twelve Monkeys was such a good movie

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I sure hope you mean something like faircoin.

Crypto allows people to circumvent the western financial system. This is a good thing. Recall that Assange would have been forced to capitulate to Amerifat demands had he not been able to accept crypto donations.

Man, that is weird as hell.

About 3 dozen X Files episodes start with this exact same plot

Shit like this makes me believe some of those "kidnapped to feed the reptilians underground" stories.

Or you know, he accidentally spilled the Small Pox the government just decided to start testing again. Or a million different things could have happened, most of which involve slipping on a banana peel and Small Pox

Trump officials fighting eviction from Panama hotel they manage

apnews.com/ce4dbdd4446c4862bb9c483425554c67/Trump-officials-fight-eviction-from-Panama-hotel-they-manage

I don't want to bum anyone out, but likely he just offed himself in a river or something.

The last time anyone saw him he said he was just going to take off time from work because he felt sick, then he goes missing.

I mean sure, you could say that was a cover, but if I was going to kill myself I wouldn't let people know ahead of time or make my body that hard to find.

If he jumped into a river, somebody would have reported it already. As it stands, there's no body, no witnesses, no motive, no sightings, nothing. Just what he last said before he vanished for 11 days saying "I feel sick"

That would be a giant coincidence

He was previously one of the investigators in both Ebola and Zika's spread into the United States, by the way. Then he says he feels sick, and subsequently goes missing.

I mean, the proof is in the pudding right there.

Not everyone who kills themselves advertises it beforehand. And the silent ones usually really mean to do it, too.

Not to mention that chernobyl was a deliberate case of "lets switch off all the safeties and see what happens lol".

The fact is there's no reason to suggest he was suicidal and there's no evidence for it either. Usually when we're talking about suicide victims, they just want to kill themselves, not go missing.

In a city as populated as Atlanta you would have to go to some pretty giant lengths to make nobody witness you or your body for 11 straight days. Even if he had the motive to do that and hide his death, I don't think you would be able to not be found for 11 straight days in a crowded city

Suicide doesn't seem likely.

Atlanta is also an hour drive from the middle of nowhere, it'd be pretty easy to drive into the boonies, go into the woods and shoot yourself if you really wanted to.

What assholes. Can we expect the same behavior in event of a Trump impeachment?

Democrats’ Memo Released Countering GOP Account of Russia Probe

The House Intelligence Committee released a lengthy rebuttal by House Democrats to a Republican memo alleging bias and misconduct by the FBI and Justice Department early in their investigation of Russian election interference.

Memo: assets.bwbx.io/documents/users/iqjWHBFdfxIU/rfMs_6g_Q3Kk/v0
Article: bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-24/public-release-of-democratic-rebuttal-memo-could-be-imminent

Do you have any of these with the publishers logo showing?

It's my understanding that the Titanic has basically no risk of sinking. Surely the White Star Line wouldn't lie.

China is ascending. They actually do need the power. There is no reason for them to cheap out on this.

First of all France is already bigger than America in terms of nuclear power, secondly China's government also made the dubious claim of "full communism in 20 years", an expression that is a huge red flag that they aren't actually going to meet the goals they set out. More importantly most of China's reactors are western-made, either through France, Japan, or America. Given their total disregard for copyright law, they're just going to copy these designs and spark a fight when foreign nuclear companies sue for copyright/patent infringement.

America also made the same claim as well, that by the year 2000 most of America's grid would be nuclear powered. This did not come to pass because after the Cold War nuclear power was dropped due to the combination of large capital costs and fears over safety.

The "top of the line equipment" is all western made. If the supply of replacement parts stops flowing in (say because China's government copies the reactor and western firms stop doing business with them) and then China has to build everything domestically. Given the general shit tier quality their country is known for plus shitty bureaucracy it's more than likely they'll have at least one major accident within our lifetimes. At least with capitalist nuclear plant operators there is an incentive to not have any accidents due to liability costs. China's government does not operate under such a notion, as evidenced by their recent rocket crash and the mass evictions in Shanghai.

Even America in it's prime still had a nuclear accidenst; SL-1 in 1961 and Three Mile Island in 1979. It's one of the reasons why the US government is moving towards Small Modular Reactors, because in the event of an accident they can be "unplugged", put into a mobile casket and transported to a safe disposal site. Which brings up another issue: all of China's foreign-bought reactors are going to be depreciated in twenty years as everyone moves to SMRs which are both safer and more scaleable.

They don't actually need the power because their economy is topping off. This much is evidenced in lower power grid demand (which actually suggest the government reported GDP growth rates is 4-5 times higher than reality) and their lowering birthrates creating a physical cap on economic activity. Beijing themselves have realized this as their official line is now accepting slower "more stable" growth as the new normal. And their official policy (whatever "official" is worth these days) is to gradually adopt more power-saving technologies to be more green, naturally reducing power demand. This latter point is being forced by most other countries including America, who have their own energy consumption standards for electric devices retailers must meet.

What they need is clean energy, because China's most immediate problem is the intense smog that chokes their major cities. This is why they are bothering with nuclear at all, but it remains to be seen if they commit given the large cost of doing so. So far only one country has committed fully to nuclear energy and that is France.

It's from Telesur, you can go fetch them yourself.

this is just the first 20 minutes of a plague movie

Honestly I always thought people who killed themselves told someone just before they did it. I couldnt imagine them being okay with rotting in thier apartment. I didn't think suicidal people were inconsiderate enough not to make it clear to their family and friends that they were 100% dead and not just missing.

Did your father serve in WWII?

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California Democrats Decline To Endorse Another Term For Sen. Dianne Feinstein

npr.org/2018/02/25/588669505/california-democrats-decline-to-endorse-another-term-for-sen-dianne-feinstein

Well blow me down. I thought Mid-terms were going to be a cakewalk, but I forgot the "progressive vs. establishment" drama still needs to play out.

Oh shit heel turn! It wasn't Obama but Trump who is actually coming to take muh guns!

And the result will be foreign companies refusing to do business with China. A problem when the fancy reactors China bought use imported parts.

I don't think you realize what will happen because of California's new top-two runoff system. Fienstien will be on the primary ballot with five other Democrats, making it exceedingly likely there will be a Republican on the final general election ballot rather than two Democrats. A similar thing will play out for the Governor's race: even though Villar only had about 9% of the delegates, he'll probably wind up on the final ballot with Newsom just because of LA.

Hasn't happened yet, and likely it never will because porky can not resist reaching for yield.

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I’m nervous I don’t think porky will take this lying down.

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Porky will stop when Chinese state-backed firms make a cheaper product in an open attempt to drive him out of business and capture a monopoly. This is what led to the creation of the (failed) TPP, and is why current capitalists are tolerating Trump's protectionism (especially when most of it will be served up through the NAFTA renegoitation, helping Mexican business interests as well).

Porkies are already mad that China engages in protectionism and hampers their ability to enter their markets. Everyone from auto manufacturers to tech companies are now in agreement that China isn't an open market economy because of it, a thing which China's government disputes.

Either way, Porky doesn't win in this arrangement hence why China is being given the cold shoulder and will be cut out for another dump if things come to pass.

Why wouldn't they? China's government gives them all sorts of loopholes to jump through (51% Chinese ownership of partnership, special taxes, everything must be reviewed by the government, etc) while domestic firms do not. Domestic firms can also make copies of their products without any changes, and the Chinese government will not prosecute them.

Even if it is justice for everything capitalists have ever done, it won't last long because capitalists are bitchy about their money and will take all steps necessary to preserve it. If China won't let them sell product they will walk away, if China tries to dump copies of their products onto foreign markets they'll cut them out of those markets.

So what? he drove out to the middle of the woods to die before he became openly symptomatic to save humanity?

WHAT?