Seemorerocks: Headlines

## Global Ponzi meltdown/House of Cards/global cooling/deflationary collapse ##
Global recession fears grow as factory activity shrinks in the US, Europe and Asia

US Cleanest Dirty Shirt Among Manufacturing Giants: Germany at Crisis Level. China, Japan, South Korea Contract
Exports-at-all-costs for economic growth comes home to roost.

Brazil economy back in red

Gold's Push Past $1,300 Has Legs As U.S. Threatens Mexico With Tariffs

Month of May was a month of collapse
Collapse in bullish narratives, collapse in trade talks, collapse in yields, collapse in technical structures, collapse in rate expectations, collapse in growth projections and yes, collapse in stocks.

Australia's homeless crisis: chance encounter highlights bugs in the system
More than 200 people are turned away from agencies each day and the situation in capital cities is worsening

World’s biggest firms foresee $1 trillion climate cost hit, report finds

The Economic Cost Of Devastating Hurricanes And Other Extreme Weather Events Is Even Worse Than We Thought

China's physical gold market still firing on all cylinders

India could be next on Trump’s investigate-and-tariff hit list
Venezuela Defaults On $750 Million Gold-Backed Swap With Deutsche Bank

## Cut, baby, cut! ##
Australia's Telstra planning to cut 10,000 contractor jobs in two years

## War on cash/cashless society/cryptocurrencies ##
War on Cash: UK Cash Deserts

There’s little hope for cryptocurrencies in India as Modi returns to power

Square Accidentally Sends Digital Receipts To Wrong Persons, Sometimes With Disastrous Consequences

Bitcoin rally masks uncomfortable fact: Almost nobody uses it for spending
Hardly anyone is using the world's largest cryptocurrency for anything beyond speculation.

## Airline death spiral ##
Jetstar Japan to cancel 70 flights in June due to pilot shortage

## Fault lines/flashpoints/powder kegs/military/war drums ##
The Pentagon’s Spoiling for a Fight -- But With China, Not Iran

Acting Defense Chief: Major Drills with South Korea Still on Hold

Netanyahu Promises Permanent Occupation
In a speech commemorating the Israeli occupation of Jerusalem, the West Bank, Gaza and the Golan Heights, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel will never leave those areas.

Trump’s Huawei Problem: Asia Doesn’t Want U.S. to Kneecap China

China-operated ports raise security fears for US, NATO

China, Germany ‘agree to uphold global multilateral order’ in Berlin talks

The US is to blame for global erosion of human rights, says top UN official

New, More Usable Nukes for Trump? No.
Congress should use the new defense authorization bill to bar the deployment of new, dangerous, and redundant nuclear weapons.

## War on Venezuela ##

Canada suspends operations at embassy in Venezuela

Major Russian Defense Contractor Exits Venezuela In Huge Blow To Maduro

## War on Iran ##

FDD Aligned with State Department to Attack Supporters of Iran Diplomacy

Iran calls U.S. sanctions 'economic war', says no talks until they are lifted

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Sunday that the United States was prepared to engage with Iran without pre-conditions about its nuclear program but needs to see the country behaving like “a normal nation” first.

Says the man with a log in his eye. -- RF

CNN Sees Saudi Success In Disunited Gulf Summits That Made No New Statements

The View From Tehran: America’s Sordid History of Meddling in Iran

Israel’s Mossad Behind Allegations Iran Sabotaged Oil Tankers

Pentagon’s Phony Iran ‘Evidence’: New Rationale for US Intervention?

## War on Cuba ##

Trump administration bans cruises to Cuba in clampdown on U.S. travel

## Global unrest/mob rule/angry people/torches and pitchforks ##
Thousands rally in Mongolia to call for government to step down

Two dead as Sudan military rulers try to disperse sit-in

Trump protests: Children, rude placards and a 16ft robot of the president on the loo

## Energy/resources ##
It’s Adapt Or Die For U.S. Refiners

Threats to America’s oil pipeline grid

Residential batteries are five times more expensive than electric car batteries

Ethanol Industry Suffers Major Blow

There's nothing to get worked up about. Even under the best conditions the energy return on corn ethanol production is barely positive. Since propping up industrial society requires fuels with high energy returns, ethanol is just a waste of the fossil fuels used to make it. It's nothing more than an adulterant for gasoline. -- RF

Is there a way to counter the Chinese stranglehold on rare earth metals?
Iraq’s Ambitious Oil Plan Faces One Major Problem

Oilfield Services Feel The Pain As Crude Prices Drop
Heavy Crude Shortage Pushes Louisiana Export Loadings To Record High

## Got food? ##

Due To Cataclysmic Flooding, Millions Upon Millions Of Acres Of U.S. Farmland Will Not Be Planted With Crops This Year
While US Farms Are Dealing with Natural Disasters, Trump Slapped Tariffs on the Countries We Import the Rest of Our Food From

Indonesia vs China in a fish fight at sea

Too many humans. -- RF

Bon appétit: PFAS Chemicals Contaminate U.S. Food Supply, FDA Confirms

## Environment/health ##

The Great Insect Dying: A global look at a deepening crisis
Hurricane Season 2019: Global Warming, Forecasts and Probabilities

Another Tick-Borne Disease To Worry About

Drowning in waste, Russians fume over lack of recycling

Feeling the Heat in Winter
This year in Alaska, an abnormal rise in temperature has, like in much of the north, disrupted isolated communities, upset subsistence hunting patterns, and even led to some deaths.

Scientists edit chicken genes to make them resistant to bird flu

India heatwave temperatures pass 50 Celsius

JAMA study: The cost of brand-name prescription drugs doubles every 7 to 8 years (US)

China’s Revolutionary Cancer Drugs Undercut American Competitors
Arctic Is Thawing So Fast Scientists Are Losing Their Measuring Tools

## Intelligence/security/internet/cyberwar ##
Google says issues affecting YouTube, Gmail, Google Cloud in U.S. resolved.

If you want to sound cool, never say anything so pedestrian as "solve problems"; say "resolve issues." -- RF

Russia demands Tinder give user data to secret services

German Officials Think German Citizens Need Less Security, More Encryption Backdoors

New Snowden Leaked Memos Show NSA Aided Israel's "Targeted Assassinations"

U.S. moving toward major antitrust probe of tech giants

Quest Diagnostics says data breach could have hit 11.9 million patients

Hackers access student data at top Australian university going back 19 years

U.S. shared nuclear power info with Saudi Arabia after Khashoggi killed: senator

Newly Released Amazon Patent Shows Just How Much Creepier Alexa Can Get

## War on Julian Assange ##

Swedish Court Rules Not to Extradite Assange for Rape Probe

Assange won’t face charges over role in devastating CIA leak

Don’t Be Fooled: Media Still Selling Out Assange
The media outlets that have suddenly rushed to Assange’s cause are doing so out of self-protection.

Abuses Show Assange Case Was Never About Law
Jonathan Cook says 17 glaring legal anomalies provide overwhelming evidence that the WikiLeaks publisher has been the victim of political persecution.

## Propaganda/censorship/fake news/alternative facts ##
Top US journalists spread fake news claiming North Korean official was ‘purged’ – then he shows up on TV
Virtually every major Western corporate media outlet and a who’s who of pundits circulated a blatantly false report that North Korean nuclear negotiators were killed and imprisoned, exposing their non-existent editorial standards on Official Enemies.

Manufacturing War With Russia

CNN, Maddow Ratings In Absolute Freefall After Russia Narrative Collapses
Thirty-Two Tips For Navigating A Society That Is Full Of Propaganda And Manipulation

## Systemic breakdown/collapse/unsustainability ##
Shoplifting and other petty-crime cases are being dropped by courts (Canada)
'Our justice system is crumbling both on a federal level and provincial level’
‘High likelihood of human civilisation coming to end’ by 2050, report finds

This focuses only on climate change, and doesn't mention energy at all, which is a serious blind spot. Even without climate change, energy depletion spells the end of industrial civilization. -- RF

## Japan ##
Gov't council says pensions inadequate in aging society

Japan to greenlight 5G base stations on 200,000 traffic signals

Behind the scenes of 24/7 service: The realities of 'owning' a Japanese convenience store

Improperly sorted electronics containing plastic possible cause of huge trash fires: gov't
Japan to ban free plastic bags at stores to fight marine pollution

## China ##
China vows military action if Taiwan, sea claims opposed

Domino #2: Chinese Bank With $105 BN In Assets On Verge Of Collapse

China Is Playing the Long Game, Says Charles Gave

Washington is wrong about China’s economy
The US economy is weaker, and China’s stronger, than analysts believe

China is ramping up its own chip industry amid a brewing tech war. That could hurt US firms

China Warns Citizens Against U.S. Travel, Citing ‘Frequent’ Shootings

## War on Huawei ##

U.S.-based engineers' body lifts curbs on Huawei employees

Britain listens to the United States on Huawei, foreign minister says