Climate Change For Beginners

There have been many publications about climate change, each from a different point of view and for different audience. Some discuss it through an evolutionary process; and how the environment is different from what it would have been if it was not for the rapid effect of the global warming. Some others begin the discussion with the damage caused by fossil fuel and other forms of energy that increases CO2 level. And there are some who research and report changes on the earth as a result of mining. A small and short book that provides a basic knowledge about climate change and the roots of it bears the same title. It is in fact a disclosed document or an evidence for those who deny climate change and consider it a natural phenomenon that would not be affected by human’s negligence. The book is written for non-scientist readers, whether they acquire any knowledge of the subject or not, with simple an easy passages to understand and to follow the reasons for this phenomenon, as well as the future outcome. Each page contains some animations which emphasizes the point on that page, in addition to lightening up the serious subject matter. As it was mentioned, the book is called “Climate Change For Beginners” by Dean Goodwin, Ph.D. and illustrated by Joe Lee. It was first published in 2016.

چگونگی پیدایش قران

نوآوری‌های کیهانی

تحقیقات جدید نشان میدهند که جریان نامنظم مواد در درون خورشید میتوانند دلیل لکه‌های خوشه‌ای باشند که بطور تصادفی در سطح خورشید دیده میشوند. به منظور مطالعهٔ گسترده‌تر در مورد خورشید، سازمان ناسا در ۱۲ اوت سفینه "پارکر سولار پروب" را پرتاب کرد. این کشتی فضائی تا چهار میلیون مایلز به خورشید نزدیک خواهد شد، که البته این کوتاه‌ترین فاصله‌ای است که تا کنون انسان توانسته است به این ستارهٔ آتشبار نزدیک شود.

A Short History in Economy: By Professor Richard Wolfe

Economic Update: The Great American Purge

The Inequality Gap on a Planet Growing More Extreme

Link: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/50761.htm

By Nomi Prins

December 13, 2018

As we head into 2019, leaving the chaos of this year behind, a major question remains unanswered when it comes to the state of Main Street, not just here but across the planet. If the global economy really is booming, as many politicians claim, why are leaders and their parties around the world continuing to get booted out of office in such a sweeping fashion?

One obvious answer: the post-Great Recession economic “recovery” was largely reserved for the few who could participate in the rising financial markets of those years, not the majority who continued to work longer hours, sometimes at multiple jobs, to stay afloat. In other words, the good times have left out so many people, like those struggling to keep even a few hundred dollars in their bank accounts to cover an emergency or the 80% of American workers who live paycheck to paycheck.

Vladimir Pozner

This clip is about two hours long. If you do not want to view all of it, watch from minute 20 to 25, for 5 minutes.



Our Spring 2017 group met with Vladimir Pozner in Moscow. Pozner has been Russia’s #1 TV Icon for over four decades. He is an independent thinker who is not a supporter of Putin, but at the same time he appreciates the role Putin has played in stabilizing the country since assuming Russia’s presidency in the year 2000. Pozner observes the ways in which Russia’s media is controlled, as well as the ways America’s media is controlled. For a totally honest appraisal of the politics and media of both countries, take the time to watch this piece.

Wealth Inequality in America

هموطنِ مومن

تو که هیچوقت نماز و عبادت خود را ترک نکرده‌ای حتما به بهشت خواهی رفت. در ملاقات با خداوند، که طاعتش موجب قربت است و به شکر اندرش مزید نعمت،  لطفا از او بپرس که به چه منظور این جهان را آفریده است. جای من البته در قعر جهنم است و همنشین دوزخیان خواهم بود، و هیچگاه به دیدار پروردگار این جهان و جهان ابدی نازل نخواهم شد. خداوند که روی تخت عاجش در بهشت نشسته است، البته که امور جهنمیان را به نمایندگان خود وشکنجه‌گران دوزخ می‌سپرد و حتی سری هم به مردگان جهنمی نخواهد زد. هیچکس از رهبر یک سازمان سری انتظار ندارد که به شکنجه‌گاه‌های خود سر بزند.  بنابراین او را نخواهم دید که پرسشهای خود را با او در میان بگذارم، و من فقط کنجکاوم بدانم هدف او از به وجود آوردن این دنیا چه بوده است. در واقع پرسش بزرگتر آنکه قبل اینکه او این جهان را آرایش دهد و به آن نظم فعلی‌ را ببخشد، به چه کاری اشتغال میداشت. آیا پیش از این دنیائی که ما میشناسیم دنیای دیگری به عنوان آزمایش ساخته بود، و اگر پاسخش مثبت است، چه بر سر آن دنیا آمده است؟ البته از اشخاص نزدیک به خدا مثل ملایان و کشیشان و سایر مفتخوران این پرسش را کرده‌ام و آنها همواره این پاسخ تاریخی‌‌ را میدهند که "اسراری در کاینات است که ما از آن واقف نیستیم و خداوند رموزی دارد که بر بندگانش پوشیده است،" که این جمله طولانی‌ بجای "من نمیدانم" استفاده میشود. البته کسی‌ که این جملات را ردیف می‌کند، اعوان و انصار پیشینِ خودش داستان بهشت و جهنم و آدم و حوا و مار و غیره را سر هم کرده بودند. ولی‌ اینکه قبل از این داستانها خدا چه میکرد و چه کسی‌ او را آفرید پرسشی است که باید از خود او کرد. ما کاملا بر این واقف هستیم که این جهانِ هستی‌ پُر است از اسرار و شگفتیها، مانند شب و روز و طوفان و زلزله و بلایای آسمانی، که دانشمندان هر از گاهی‌ یکی‌ از رموز آنرا کشف و آشکار میسازند، و پس از افشا شدن البته دیگر رمزی در آن نیست. بشر همواره از این جهان در شگفتی بوده است و گروهی با استفاده از انگاشت و پندار خود داستانهائی بافته‌اند، ولی‌ پاره‌ای دیگر به تحقیق پرداخته و دلیل آن عجائب را کشف کرده‌اند. روزی از سایر شگفتیها پرده برداشته شده، دیگر مشکلاتی که پیش پای بشر قرار گرفته‌اند گشوده خواهند شد. ولی‌ خدائی که مکمل، بی‌عیب، و سرآمد و خالق همه موجودات است، به چه دلیل چنین دنیائی را که تا حدی به دست و با نبوغ انسانها صورت بهتری می‌گیرد، و مخلوقی که اگر دکترها و داروها به دادش نرسند یک شبه تب می‌کند و میمیرد، به وجود میاورد.

Questions from the Old Mighty

You believe in God and you may worship him in order to arrive in heaven after you die, and if you do, when in heaven please ask him why he created this world. Since I don’t believe in God, I will go to hell and will be in the company of Lucifer. However, God will be sitting on his throne in the heaven and would never check to see what is happening in hell, as he loves those who worship him, and sends the rest to the lower department managed by Satan. In fact, no one expects the head of a secret service to walk into its torture chamber. But the question that has been perplexing me is why God would create this world, and what purpose he originally had behind it. As a matter of curiosity, the more thought-provoking question is what he was doing before he created the world. Of course the usual answer to such questions has been “God works in mysterious ways and no one can and should try to delve into his mysteries.” However, whoever came up with such notion, also came up with Genesis and several such stories describing how it was at the beginning and how God created man. None of these stories go further back to disclose what was before the beginning, and how God kept himself busy, since there was no man on earth, and heaven and hell had no purpose to be built, and there was nothing. What were God doing then, and who and how He Himself, was created? We know there are wonders in the world, with the vast and almost unlimited universe and black holes and other mysteries our scientists have discovered. But these are mysteries as long as we have not solved them. Human beings have been puzzled by what we take for granted, such as day and night and flood and tornado and other natural elements. Some who were curious about all of these and other mysteries of the world used their imagination and created fairytales. But some investigated and found answers to many of these puzzles. More mysteries will be discovered as well, and the weaknesses of the society will be alleviated someday. However, if God is perfect, why did He make such a creation full of holes!

حشرات‌الارض

از آنجائی که ما همیشه در جنگ با حشرات هستیم، شناسایی بسیاری از حشرات برای ما حاصل نشده است. امروزه این جنگ از طریق داروهای شیمیائی انجام میشود. البته طرفین این جنگ نیروهای همگون و مساوی ندارند. در واقع یک طرف این جنگ از طرف دیگر کاملا ضعیف‌تر است. شاید باعث شگفتی باشد، ولی‌ انسانها همواره در این جنگ مغلوب هستند. دلیلش آن چیزی است که داروین آنرا “تکامل از طریق انتخاب طبیعی” لقب داد. هر داروی شیمیائی که ما برای کشتن این موجودات بکار می‌بریم، باعث میشود که حشرهٔ مورد حمله از طریق انتخاب طبیعی تکامل یافته، از آن ماده شیمیائی مصون بماند. هر چه آن ماده شیمیائی با شدت بیشتری اِعمال شود، امکان تکامل یافتن حشره تشدید میابد. آنها با چنان شدتی‌ تکامل میابند که ما زمان آنرا نداریم که  به سیستم آن پی ببریم، تا بتوانیم با آن مبارزه کنیم. سوسک آلمانی‌ یکی‌ از نمونه‌های آن است (ژرمنیک کاکرُچ‌ یا بلاتِلا جرمانیکا).

Saudis Close to Crown Prince Discussed Killing Other Enemies a Year Before Khashoggi’s Death

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/11/world/middleeast/saudi-iran-assassinations-mohammed-bin-salman.html?rref=collection%2Fbyline%2Fmark-mazzetti&action=click&contentCollection=undefined&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=3&pgtype=collection

By Mark Mazzetti, Ronen Bergman and David D. Kirkpatrick

Nov. 11, 2018

WASHINGTON — Top Saudi intelligence officials close to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman asked a small group of businessmen last year about using private companies to assassinate Iranian enemies of the kingdom, according to three people familiar with the discussions.

The Saudis inquired at a time when Prince Mohammed, then the deputy crown prince and defense minister, was consolidating power and directing his advisers to escalate military and intelligence operations outside the kingdom. Their discussions, more than a year before the killing of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi, indicate that top Saudi officials have considered assassinations since the beginning of Prince Mohammed’s ascent.

Saudi officials have portrayed Mr. Khashoggi’s death as a rogue killing ordered by an official who has since been fired. But that official, Maj. Gen. Ahmed al-Assiri, was present for a meeting in March 2017 in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, where the businessmen pitched a $2 billion plan to use private intelligence operatives to try to sabotage the Iranian economy.

During the discussion, part of a series of meetings where the men tried to win Saudi funding for their plan, General Assiri’s top aides inquired about killing Qassim Suleimani, the leader of the Quds Force of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps and a man considered a determined enemy of Saudi Arabia.

Fear of Democracy

As all our noble presidents such as Donald Trump and Barak Obama and George W. Bush have reminded us, there are many dictatorial and collective governments which are not only jealous of our democracy, but fear it as well. They fear that Western democracy may expand in their land and spark a popular uprising. Almost every citizen of the Western world has accepted to be the inhabitant of a great nation that enjoys democracy to the fullest. There have been many referendums initiated to prove that people in democratic countries of the west acknowledge their freedom and cherish it, and will fight to keep such God given, State provided freedom of choice from any hostile attack. Of course, it stems partially from the capitalist system in the West that gives everyone choices in abundance. This democracy is spread out all over Western countries, which can be narrowed down to the freedom one can experience in the United States. For instance, we elect our own government representatives through elections, with the last one completed just a few days ago. National elections in the US are from seven o’clock in the morning until eight o’clock at night on the first Tuesday of November of every other year. You may ask why it is in November when it is cold in many of the states because of rain and snow, which makes it hard to stand in lines for hours to vote. The logical answer is to examine how much one values his or her democracy and would sacrifice for his country, just one day every other year to exercise his or her choice granted by forefathers of this great nation. It is in fact a test to see how much one can withstand blizzard in order to elect his or her representatives. You may also ask why on a Tuesday, a day that everyone is at work, and considering the present economy, some have to have two jobs and therefore will never get a chance to vote in elections. There is a simple response to this question as well, which we call auto-selection, meaning that right persons to vote are automatically selected this way. It is not surprising to say that not all people are intelligent enough to know how to elect a candidate, and intelligent people are occupied in an occupation that allows them to spare one day every other year to exercise their rights to vote. As a result of this auto-selection, wrong candidates are automatically prevented from winning the election. Some people speak of what they call “voter suppression”, claiming that some tactics are used to prevent people of certain races or economic classes to vote. In a democracy, any innovative way to win the election is in fact a sign of democracy. Those who are intelligent enough to find inventive and groundbreaking ideas to win an election, deserve fruits of their accomplishments. Finally, there are those who believe that money should not be involved in politics. Ronald Reagan brought about a new economic system that he called “trickle down economy”. It meant for a society to be economically fair, rich people needed to become so rich that when they held their wealth in currency and in the palm of both hands, money would trickle down from their hands, and the rest of the society could pick those extra wealth up. That is why every president since then, Democrat or Republican, has eased taxing the rich. For the same reason, money in politics is favored by every president who has been backed by industry which is the backbone of a capitalist economy, and even our judiciary branch of the government considered corporations as people, who could contribute to candidates of their choice any amount they could afford. This is the true meaning of democracy.

Why Iran Needs a War Economy

November 6, 2018
Link: https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/11/06/why-iran-needs-a-war-economy/
by Ismael Hossein-Zadeh

Faced with the relentless U.S. economic war, Iran needs a war economy. Indeed, the plan of a war economy should not be very difficult for Iran to implement since it has a relatively successful experience of carrying out such a plan: during the 8-year war with Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, Iran embarked on an extensive state-guided economic management that effectively provided for both its military and civilian needs. Because of the revolutionary atmosphere of the time, and because of the corresponding spirit of generosity, selflessness, social cohesion, and national unity the country was able to effectively withstand both the military and economic wars launched against its territory and its people. Despite the extremely costly war, both in terms of blood and treasure, and despite the fact that Iran’s total output, or national income, at the time was only a fraction of what it is today, its people did not experience nearly as much economic hardship as they do today. Why? Mainly because its national resources were at the time distributed relatively equitably—unlike today where those resources are monopolized and plundered by a clique of financial oligarchs and economic mafias.

The Price Of Bin Salman’s Head

By Ghassan Kadi
October 26, 2018
Link: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/50507.htm

With the ever-changing and escalating aftermath of the Khashoggi disappearance episode, there remain many fixed marks that are interesting to identify.

But before we do, we must stop and briefly look at the official American, Turkish and Saudi stands on this issue.

The Americans are best seen to be playing yoyo with their Saudi “friends”. One moment they seem to be totally abandoning them and sending them spiraling down in a free-fall, and the next moment they lift them up, clutch them, and give them a sense of safety. Notwithstanding that on the 3^rd of October, and just before the Khashoggi story hit the media frenzy, Trump reiterated that Saudi Arabia would not last two weeks without America’s support, and what followed was a series of fluctuations and backflips on the American side. At the time of promising severe measures against the Saudis, Trump said that this will not mean canceling the arms deal with Saudi Arabia. And when Pompeo visited Al Saud to talk to the royals, leaving the Kingdom of Sand with an understanding that his boss Trump articulated by hinting at vindicating the royals and putting the blame on some rogue elements, America turned again supporting Turkish investigations and awaiting their outcome, but just before Erdogan’s speech of the 23^rd of October, Trump reiterated that he was prepared to accept the Saudi Government denial of involvement.

Saudi Spy Met With Team Trump About Taking Down Iran

By Betsy Woodruff And Erin Banco
October 26, 2018
Link: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/50504.htm

Gen. Ahmed al-Assiri, the Saudi intelligence chief taking the fall for the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, hobnobbed in New York with Michael Flynn and other members of the transition team shortly before Trump’s inauguration. The topic of their discussion: regime change in Iran.

Mohammed bin Salman, the powerful Saudi crown prince, dispatched Assiri from Riyadh for the meetings, which took place over the course of two days in early January 2017, according to communications reviewed by The Daily Beast. The January meetings have come under scrutiny by special counsel Robert Mueller’s office as part of his probe into foreign governments’ attempts to gain influence in the Trump campaign and in the White House, an individual familiar with the investigation told The Daily Beast. A spokesperson for Mueller declined to comment.

Report Says Russia-gaters Should Go Quietly in the Night

By Caitlin Johnstone

Link: https://consortiumnews.com/2018/10/20/report-says-russia-gaters-should-go-quietly-in-the-night/

In a new article titled “Mueller report PSA: Prepare for disappointment”, Politico cites information provided by defense attorneys and “more than 15 former government officials with investigation experience spanning Watergate to the 2016 election case” to warn everyone who’s been lighting candles at their Saint Mueller altars that their hopes of Trump being removed from office are about to be dashed to the floor.

“While [Mueller is] under no deadline to complete his work, several sources tracking the investigation say the special counsel and his team appear eager to wrap up,” Politico reports.

The Royal Touch

By: Ben Freeman
Oct. 4, 2018

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 How Saudi Money Keeps Washington at War in Yemen

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It was May 2017. The Saudis were growing increasingly nervous. For more than two years they had been relying heavily on U.S. military support and bombs to defeat Houthi rebels in Yemen. Now, the Senate was considering a bipartisan resolution to cut off military aid and halt a big sale of American-made bombs to Saudi Arabia. Fortunately for them, despite mounting evidence that the U.S.-backed, supplied, and fueled air campaign in Yemen was targeting civilians, the Saudi government turned out to have just the weapon needed to keep those bombs and other kinds of aid coming their way: an army of lobbyists.

That year, their forces in Washington included members of more than two dozen lobbying and public relations firms. Key among them was Marc Lampkin, managing partner of the Washington office of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck (BHFS), a company that would be paid nearly half a million dollars by the Saudi government in 2017. Records from the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) show that Lampkin contacted Senate offices more than 20 times about that resolution, speaking, for instance, with the legislative director for Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) on May 16, 2017. Perhaps coincidentally, Lampkin reported making a $2,000 contribution to the senator’s political action committee that very day. On June 13th, along with a majority of his fellow senators, Scott voted to allow the Saudis to get their bombs. A year later, the type of bomb authorized in that sale has reportedly been used in air strikes that have killed civilians in Yemen.

ریشه‌یابیِ پدیدار شدنِ رژیم اسلامی و رهائی از آن

 در مورد رژیم حاکم بر ایران و دلایل وجودیِ آن نظریات متفاوتی ابراز شده است. بسته به اینکه افراد با چه گرایش سیاسی نظر میدهند، در واقع از موضع آن دیدگاه سیاسی سخن میرانند. مجاهدین که در اوان انقلاب با پشتیبانی‌ عظیمی‌ که داشتند، و چنانچه دخالت‌ خمینی نبود براحتی می‌توانستند حکومت را در دست بگیرند، هم اکنون به چنان نقطه ضعفی رسیده‌اند که به دنبال هارترین شخصیتهای سیاسی آمریکا در پی براندازی حکومت ایران از طریق یورش نظامی غرب هستند. سلطنت طلبان نیز همین راه را در پیش گرفته‌اند، که البته از آنها انتظار دیگری نمی‌رود. عقیده سلطنت طلبان در مورد چگونگی‌ پیدایش رژیم آخوندی این است که چون شاه در آستانه رسیدن به تمدن بزرگ بود، ملت (و نه دولتهای غربی) که خوشی‌ زیر دلشان زده بود و از پول نفت که شاه افزایش داده بود شکم‌هایشان سیر شده بود، به شاه محبوب‌شان پشت کردند. البته از اینکه مجاهدین و ملی‌ گریان از نخستین روز به دنبال خمینی افتادند، به دلیل جنبه‌های مذهبی‌ که داشتند استبعادی نیست. ولی‌ از اینکه گروه‌های چپ‌گرا، حتی زمانیکه خمینی دندانهای هار و کریه خود را نشان داد، همچنان به دنبال او سینه میزدند، باعث حیرت بود.

Soundtrack of the Revolution

Every revolution has its own victims. A political revolution terminates the regime in charge in favor of a new regime. This change dramatically affects every facet of life, as it outmodes and prosecutes old values to be replaced with new ones. Those who belonged to the old system, especially ex-government officials in high ranking, are surrendered or sacrificed in the process. One of the early victims of the Islamic Revolution was joy, or celebration, and happiness in general! For instance, it was forbidden to clap hands in response to an atmosphere of delight, or in appreciation of. As Islam (categorically Shia) is the religion of weeping and mourning, anything that would elate someone was banned. Among the first instruments of joy were musical and game apparatuses, as they have traditionally been forbidden by Islam. Of course Islam’s attack on women was almost at the same time. Ironically, no matter how much Khomeini and his followers tried to keep women hidden in a sack, and in spite of daily violence against them, women in Iran are considered exemplary for all women in the Middle East. In addition to their success in education and music, they have changed the rigid hijab decree by many fashionable forms, and as of today they are still fighting against the roots of it. A speech was distributed in social media of the most reactionary and fossil brain mullah who professed what Khomeini and other mullahs have always had in mind, but they have never dared to verbalize it. He said: “God created three kinds of animals. One that is for carrying human’s load, such as donkey, mule, and horse. A second kind for humans to eat, such as cow, sheep, and chicken. And finally he created a third kind for men to enjoy, called women. Of course, in order for human being not to get scared of them, He created them like humans! There should be (or there may be) another book specifically about this subject, however it was mentioned briefly here since women have been more involved in music, and its sanction has impacted them more. But, like other liberties that Islamists tried to impede and did not succeed, music, film, and other expressions of art which were not approved by Khomeini at the beginning, found new ways of expressing themselves, and continues to expand.

FASTING

What is the most popular way of losing weight? This has been a long-time question for those who believe they have an extra layer of fat. Forget low carb, Atkinson, exercise, calorie count, calorie restriction and all the old ways of losing weight. The new way is in fact one of the oldest way of discharging extra layer, although it was not necessarily undertaken to lose weight.