Major U.S. lenders deposit $30B to prevent First Republic Bank collapse

CBC News: The National – Mar 16, 2023

Some of America’s top lenders have deposited $30 billion at First Republic Bank to prevent another potential collapse of a U.S. bank. Juggernauts like JP Morgan, Wells Fargo and Bank of America were involved in the rescue package.

How Are Libraries Important to Social Infrastructure?

The Agenda | TVO Today – Mar 16, 2023

Libraries are no longer just places to borrow books. How have they emerged from the pandemic? And what are some of the new ways they are serving their communities? Then, a new study says that most people got through the pandemic with intact mental health. We dig into the findings.

Read more:

• Texas: What the Hell? Get Ready for Roving Bands of Book-Banners Coming to Your Town
• Is This the Era of the Library?

Frigging Cyclone Freddy Blew Up Many Records – Duration; Accumulated Energy, Intensification Cycles…

Paul Beckwith – Mar 16, 2023

Believe it or not:

– Cyclone Freddy was the longest duration cyclone in history, running from Feb 6th to March 11th

– Freddy had the largest Accumulated Cyclone Energy (ACE) on record. In fact if you add up all of the ACE values for all the hurricanes in an average full season in the North Atlantic together, the sum is less than Freddy’s ACE. What??? Yes, really…

– Freddy broke the world record for the most bouts of rapid intensification, defined as an increase in wind speed of 35 miles per hour (30 knots) in a period of 24 hours. Freddy had seven separate cycles of rapid intensification. The previous record was 4 in the northern hemisphere and 3 in the southern hemisphere

– Freddy formed off the coast of Australia, crossed the entire southern Indian Ocean and travelled more than 8000 km (4,970 miles) to make landfall in Madagascar and Mozambique. Only four storms have crossed the southern Indian Ocean from east to west

– Freddy is one of the deadliest storms in Southern Africa, and the death toll is about 400 and rising (270 number in video has been updated)

– the sea surface temperature (SST) across the entire path of Freddy was mostly over 28.5 C, and we know that anything over the threshold of 26.5 C leads to amplification of tropical storms

Please donate at http://PaulBeckwith.net to support my research and videos as I connect the dots on abrupt climate system change.

Pandemic three years on: How China and the world are coping

CGTN – Mar 16, 2023

For more: https://www.cgtn.com/video

In the past three years, China has been working with the international community against the worst of COVID-19. Amid the pandemic, China has been proactively involved in information and resource sharing as a responsible global player. In 2020, China joined the COVAX initiative, which helped distribute vaccines to vulnerable countries. China also managed to rein in the coronavirus in the past three years. What are the lessons learned? How can we better cope with potential pandemics?Y

The bank who begged for deregulation is the same one who begged for a bailout

Bernie Sanders – Mar 16. 2023

It is a bleak irony that the very same regulations which would have prevented the need for a bailout at Silicon Valley Bank were lobbied for in Washington by its CEO, Gregory Becker back in 2018.

CIA Whistleblower John Kiriakou on Edward Snowden: He Will Not Get a Fair Trial

Democracy Now! Feb 9, 2015

http://democracynow.org – In a broadcast exclusive interview, Democracy Now! interviews John Kiriakou, a retired CIA agent who blew the whistle on torture. In 2007, Kiriakou became the first CIA official to publicly confirm and detail the Bush administration’s use of waterboarding. He’s just been released from prison to serve the remaining three months of his 30-month sentence under house arrest, and joins us from his home in Virginia. When asked if he thinks NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden would receive a fair trial if he returns to the United States, Kiriakou responds, “Not under any circumstances. … I think the deck is stacked against him as it is against any whistleblower.”

Watch the full interview with John Kiriakou on Democracy Now!: http://www.democracynow.org/2015/2/9/…

See complete coverage of Edward Snowden and the NSA surveillance program: http://www.democracynow.org/topics/ed…

Mudlarkers uncover archaeological treasures along London’s river banks

PBS NewsHour – Mar 16, 2023

The phrase “One person’s trash is another’s treasure,” certainly applies to author Lara Maiklem. She is what’s known as a “mudlarker” and spends her spare time scouring the shores of London’s River Thames for artifacts. Maiklem wrote a best-selling book explaining her passion for this unusual pastime. Special correspondent Malcolm Brabant joined her down in the mud.

Workers Strike Back coalition for a $25 min wage & more w/Kshama Sawant | The Chris Hedges Report

The Real News Network – Mar 10, 2023

#chrishedges

#therealnewsnetwork

After over a decade on Seattle City Council, socialist Kshama Sawant is launching a national coalition called Workers Strike Back to fight for wages, universal healthcare, LGBTQ rights, a clean energy transition, and more.

Kshama Sawant joins The Chris Hedges Report to discuss the need for an independent workers’ movement that doesn’t answer to either corporate party. Kshama Sawant has spent 10 years on the Seattle City Council, during which time she accepted only workers’ wages, increased the minimum wage to $15, and fought to increase taxes on Amazon. Sawant is a member of Socialist Alternative.

Iraqis reflect on country 20 years after invasion

Associated Press – Mar 16, 2023

(16 Mar 2023) Twenty years after the invasion of Iraq by the U.S. and Britain, Baghdad is a very different place. (March 16)

Zongyuan Zoe Liu on China’s food security

CGTN America – Mar 16, 2023

#WorldToday

#China24

CGTN’s Mike Walter speaks with Zongyuan Zoe Liu – fellow for international political economy at the Council on Foreign Relations, and the author of “Sovereign Funds: How the Communist Party of China Finances its Global Ambitions” – about China’s steps to improve food security. #WorldToday #China24

Food-matters,