Friday, May 31, 2019
China can’t control the market in rare earth elements because they aren't all that rare
You can’t handle the truth (about rare earth elements)
If you need to know one thing about rare earth metals, it’s that they’re crucial to modern technology, helping power everything from MRI machines and satellites to headphones and nuclear reactors. If you need to know two things, it’s that despite their name, they’re not at all rare.
This second fact is important when putting recent headlines about these 17 oddly named elements in proper context. Last week, many publications covered the news that a Japanese team of scientists had found a huge trove of rare earth elements off the coast of the country’s Minamitori Island. Some 16 million tons were estimated to be lurking in the deep-sea mud, enough to meet global demand on a “semi-infinite basis,” said the researchers.
This news was presented as having great geopolitical significance. China currently produces more than 90 percent of the world’s supply of rare earth materials (the exact figure tends to fluctuate year-by-year), and in the event of a conflict, said reports, it could jack up prices for the West and its allies, or even shut them out altogether. In this eventuality, the Minamitori hoard would be a lifeline. “It is important to secure our own source of resources, given how China controls the prices,” Professor Yutaro Takaya Waseda, who led the Japanese research team, told The Wall Street Journal.
But experts say this narrative is wrong. Despite appearances, the Minamitori find is not as significant as headlines have implied. And although China seemsto wield great power over this critical global supply chain, the truth is that the country can’t just bring the West to its knees by limiting exports of rare earth elements. We know this pretty conclusively because it tried this in 2010, and it didn’t work out. In both cases, the overlooked factor is just how difficult it is to produce rare earth elements, compared to how easy it is to find them.The name “rare earth” is a historical misnomer, stemming from the fact that when they first discovered they were difficult to extract from surrounding matter. The USGS (United States Geological Survey) describes rare earth elements as “moderately abundant,” meaning that they’re not as common as elements like oxygen, silicon, aluminum, and iron (which together make up 90 percent of the Earth’s crust), but still well dispersed around...
The New Standard Of "Justice" For Republicans...
Democrats go unprosecuted when guilty.
Republicans have to prove a double negative to prove their innocence.
BREAKING, Trump Announces Escalating Tariffs Against Mexico Until Illegal Immigration STOPS
President Donald Trump said on Thursday the United States will impose a 5% tariff on all goods coming from Mexico starting on June 10 until illegal immigration is stopped.
Yesterday, Border Patrol agents apprehended the largest group of illegal aliens ever: 1,036 people who illegally crossed the border in El Paso around 4am. Democrats need to stand by our incredible Border Patrol and finally fix the loopholes at our Border! pic.twitter.com/6K1rIUzorM— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 30, 2019
White South African farm activist is stabbed and beaten to death at her home in horrifying hammer attack
- Annette Kennealy, 51, was beaten and stabbed to death on her farm in Limpopo
- A male suspect, 40, has been arrested and will appear before court
- Kennealy was publicly outspoken about attacks on white Afrikaner farmers
- Comes as South African government pushes ahead with plans to expropriate land without compensation to correct the 'historic imbalance' of apartheid
Annette Kennealy, 51, was killed on a smallholding in Limpopo province on either Monday night or Tuesday morning where she had been staying with an employee, police said.
The alarm was raised by Ms Kennealy's mother, Kim Labuschagne, after she tried and failed to get in touch with her daughter on Tuesday.
A male relative then went to the farm where Ms Kennealy's body was found face-down in a pool of blood.
Annette Kennealy, 51, a farmer activist from Limpopo province was beaten to death with a hammer and iron rod
Kennealy was a publicly outspoken supporter of the white Afrikaner community and former councillor with South Africa's opposition Democratic Alliance party
Police spokesman Colonel Moatshe Ngoepe said Ms Kennealy was found with 'multiple stab wounds'.
Marius Mueller, director of Afrikaner campaign group AfriForum, told Marelo Media that Ms Kennealy had been found with head wounds.
She was found laying on her stomach, had wounds to her left eye and an open wound on her forehead, he said.
A hammer was found next to the body alongside an iron rod, he added.
Another police spokesperson, Col Moatshe, said that a 40-year-old male suspect has been arrested and will soon appear before the Louis Trichardt Magistrate Court.
Kennealy made one last Facebook post about farmer attacks before she was murdered
Kennealy's last two Facebook posts were about attacks on white farmers this year
Kennealy was a publicly outspoken supporter of the white Afrikaner community, a prominent farmer and a former councillor with the opposition Democratic Alliance.
In her last Facebook post, she shared a link alleging that 10 farm attacks, including one murder, had been reported in four days in 21019.
She also routinely shared links and stories relating to politics in South Africa, and the government's plans to start expropriating farms from white land-owners.
A DA spokesman in Limpopo paid tribute to her as news of her death spread, saying: 'The DA asked for justice to be served on those responsible for her untimely and...
The 90 Miles Mystery Box: Episode #638
You have come across a mystery box. But what is inside?
It could be literally anything from the serene to the horrific,
from the beautiful to the repugnant,
from the mysterious to the familiar.
If you decide to open it, you could be disappointed,
you could be inspired, you could be appalled.
This is not for the faint of heart or the easily offended.
You have been warned.
Thursday, May 30, 2019
Twitter Bans Analyst Who Revealed AntiFa Connections With Journalists.
Twitter banned a researcher dedicated to mapping out AntiFa’s connections to journalists and the SPLC.
Former teacher and analyst Eoin Lenihan has been banned from Twitter after revealing major links between so-called “anti-extremism” campaigners and the hard-left AntiFa group.
Lenihan published his findings in Quillette, revealing links between journalists who write for the the Guardian newspaper, HuffPost, Al Jazeera, and various other publications to the hard left group.
Lenihan was suspended early Wednesday morning, prompting speculation about the ban.
Andy Ngo, a Wall Street Journal contributor and editor at Quillette, alleges that Lenihan was suspended following mass reports by members of AntiFa on Twitter.
Looks like antifa’s Twitter mob mass reported Dr @EoinLenihan & got his account suspended. They’ve been trying to target him ever since he released report showing how some journalists & writers have close ties to antifa extremists & were working to mainstream those ideas.
2,216 people are talking about this
The researcher identified over a dozen verified “national-level journalists,” who were in his estimation never “markedly critical of AntiFa in any way” in their coverage of leftist political violence.
AntiFa Network Map (via Eoin Lenihan/Quillette)
“In all cases, their work in this area consisted primarily of downplaying AntiFa violence while advancing AntiFa talking points, and in some cases quoting AntiFa extremists as if they were impartial experts,” wrote Lenihan, who cited Jason Wilson, a Portland-based writer for the Guardian as one such example.
“One of his recent articles focused on a U.S. regional intelligence report whose authors concluded that Antifa and the far right share responsibility for street violence. “Experts say the report mischaracterizes the dynamics of the street violence,” Wilson complained.
One of Wilson’s main “experts” in the piece, it turned out, was none other than Antifa handbook author Mark Bray, who, predictably, denounced the report’s contents as “ludicrous.” In fact, Bray makes regular appearances in Wilson’s articles. So does fellow Portland resident and eco-extremist Alexander Reid Ross, who regularly writes for Antifa publications such as...
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