WORLD NEWS
US, UK Carry Out New Strikes Against Houthis in Yemen
The United States and its allies launched a new series of attacks on Houthi rebels in Yemen over the weekend in a retaliatory measure against the rebels, who have been repeatedly attacking commercial shipping in the Red Sea.
At Least 28 Dead in Russian-Occupied Ukraine as Shelling Hits Bakery
Moscow-installed officials say Ukrainian long-range shelling killed at least 28 people, some of them children, at a bakery in the Russian-occupied city of Lysychansk, according to local officials. Ten others were rescued from under the rubble by emergency services. Ukrainian officials in Kyiv did not comment on the incident.
British Lawmaker Calls for Dead People to Be Able to Change Their Gender
British law should be amended to allow for dead people to have their genders officially changed following their deaths, a Member of Parliament for the left-wing Labour Party has argued.
Warrington North MP Charlotte Nichols suggested that the Gender Recognition Act of 2004 should be updated to “allow transgender people who are deceased to be legally remembered by the gender they lived by”.
The push follows a petition last year signed by nearly 14,000 people asking for a similar change to the law following the killing of Brianna Ghey, a reportedly transgender teenager who died at 16 years of age, short of the minimum of 18 required for changing one’s gender legally in the UK.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-politics-68180505
Sinn Féin’s Michelle O’Neill has made history after she was appointed Northern Ireland’s first nationalist first minister.
The DUP’s Emma Little-Pengelly has been appointed deputy first minister.
The return of power-sharing follows the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) ending its boycott over post-Brexit trade rules.
Ms O’Neill told the assembly chamber it was “a historic day” which represented “a new dawn”.
Northern Ireland’s devolved government was restored on Saturday – two years to the day since it collapsed.
U.S. NEWS, POLITICS & GOVERNMENT
Senators Unveil Long-Awaited Border Bill
A bipartisan group of senators has unveiled a highly anticipated bill that includes border security measures as well as additional funding for Ukraine and Israel, which House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has said is “dead on arrival” in the House.
During a Jan. 28 appearance on CNN, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), one of the negotiators, announced that a border deal had been reached.
Nearly a week later, lawmakers finally unveiled the long-awaited text of the bill (pdf).
The $118 billion package addresses a wide array of national security expenses, including funding for Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan, as well as provisions strengthening and funding border security. According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, $60 billion is allocated to Ukraine, $14.1 billion for Israel, and $20 billion to implement the border security measures.
Wrangling over border security comprised the bulk of the negotiators’ time, as Republicans sought to gain stricter concessions on border security and Democrats sought less strict provisions.
Negotiated by Sens. James Lankford (R-Okla.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), and Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.), the package—if passed—would represent the largest border legislation in decades.
The bill provides a new emergency authority for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to restrict border crossings if an average of 4,000 daily encounters is hit over a one-week span. If this threshold is reached, then the DHS secretary could shut down the border by denying illegal immigrants the ability to apply for asylum.But if average encounters reach 5,000 a day over a given week, then the DHS secretary is required to shut down the border. The deal also limits the president’s parole authority, a power that gives the president the ability to allow more illegal immigrants into the country.
The deal raises the legal bar for the initial screening of asylum claims. It would also expedite the asylum processing time to six months from many years.
The package also doesn’t include a restoration of former President Donald Trump’s Remain in Mexico policy, which many Republicans have told The Epoch Times is a must-have.
In a statement following the release of the text, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) called it “a monumental step towards strengthening America’s national security abroad and along our borders.
“This is one of the most necessary and important pieces of legislation Congress has put forward in years to ensure America’s future prosperity and security,” Mr. Schumer added.
House Republican Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), meanwhile, called it “an absolute non-starter” that she said would “further incentivize thousands of illegals to pour in across our borders daily.”
She called for the restoration of Remain in Mexico and other Trump era immigration policies instead.
Mr. Lankford, the key Republican negotiator on the package, has faced scorn and criticism from his party for his role in the deal’s creation.
On Jan. 27, Mr. Lankford was censured by his state GOP, which called the proposal an “open-border deal.”
But in a statement following the release of the text, Mr. Lankford defended the deal he had put together.
“The border security bill will put a huge number of new enforcement tools in the hands of a future administration and push the current Administration to finally stop the illegal flow,” Mr. Lankford said.
“The bill provides funding to build the wall, increase technology at the border, and add more detention beds, more agents, and more deportation flights. The border security bill ends the abuse of parole on our southwest border that has waived in over a million people. It dramatically changes our ambiguous asylum laws by conducting fast screenings at a higher standard of evidence, limited appeals, and fast deportation.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) was also enthusiastic in his support.
Senate Bill Gives Ukraine 75 Times as Much Funding as U.S. Border Wall
A Senate bill would provide a measly $650 million to continue building a border wall at the United States-Mexico border while Ukraine would be sent $48 billion in American taxpayer money.
The bill, negotiated by Sens. James Lankford (R-OK), Chris Murphy (D-CT), and Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), would give Ukraine nearly $50 billion in U.S. tax dollars to defend its borders from Russian invasion.
At the same time, the bill spends just $650 million “to build and reinforce miles and miles of new border wall,” according to Lankford’s office. That funding is likely to build only a couple dozen miles of border wall.
The little funding for the border wall compared to Ukraine’s check comes as a record number of American adults support building barriers along the border to stem illegal immigration and drug trafficking.
Last year, a record 4-in-7 registered American voters, or a 57 percent majority, supported building additional border walls — including 62 percent of white voters, 49 percent of Hispanics, and 58 percent of those earning less than $50,000.
Speaker Johnson Defends Stand-Alone Israel Bill
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) defended a recent proposal to provide about $17.6 billion in funding for Israel with no strings attached.
It’s the House’s second Israel-centric proposal since Mr. Johnson took the speaker’s gavel. An earlier proposal would have granted Israel roughly $14 billion, offset by cuts to the IRS.
For months, Mr. Johnson has insisted that the Senate needs to take up the measure as approved by the House in exchange for Israel aid. However, since it passed the House, it’s been collecting dust on the desk of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), as Senate Democrats consider the IRS offsets a nonstarter.
Judge Dismisses Trump Ballot Challenge Ahead of South Carolina Primary
A federal judge dismissed yet another challenge to former President Donald Trump’s eligibility as a candidate under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, this time in South Carolina ahead of the state’s primary this month.
As a U.S. Supreme Court ruling regarding President Trump’s eligibility looms overhead, set to be issued in less than one week, President Trump is still litigating several ongoing challenges of this nature in state and federal jurisdictions.
The South Carolina case was one of some 20 brought by John Anthony Castro, a little-known Republican candidate who was recently charged with several tax crimes. According to President Trump’s attorneys, as of early January they had encountered some 60 challenges across at least 30 states.
U.S. District Court Judge Mary Geiger Lewis found the case to be “without merit.”
Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung described it a “stinging defeat.”
“Crooked Joe Biden’s election interference efforts were dealt another stinging defeat in federal court in South Carolina today,” he stated. “The allies of Crooked Joe are desperately flailing in their attempts to deprive the voters of their right to vote for the candidate of their choice, President Donald J. Trump, and we believe a fair ruling by the Supreme Court in the Colorado case will shut down these ‘14th Amendment’ hoaxes once and for all.”
As GOP Field Narrows, Trump’s Legal Battles Intensify
Former President Donald Trump is preparing to traverse a rocky campaign trail in February and March as he juggles multiple court battles and relatively untested legal questions that could impact the 2024 race.
Although he’s already won the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary by double-digit margins, several primaries await President Trump in February and March against his only remaining competitor, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley.
Her home state of South Carolina is holding its primary—often viewed as a bellwether—on Feb. 24 with more than 20 primaries and caucuses occurring in the following weeks. But before Ms. Haley and President Trump duke it out on Super Tuesday on March 4, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments over whether President Trump is even allowed to compete.
“This is going to be—and I can’t stress this enough—this is going to be a fascinating year,” Keith Johnson, a criminal defense attorney in Georgia, told The Epoch Times. “This is going to be one of the most historic years when we look at the intersection of law and politics at the highest levels.”
On Feb. 8, the U.S. Supreme Court will consider whether section 3 of the 14th Amendment effectively precludes President Trump from appearing on its ballot. Both Maine’s secretary of state and the Colorado Supreme Court, whose decision is being reviewed by the justices, have echoed lawsuits across the country arguing that President Trump engaged in the type of insurrection disqualifying what Section 3 describes as “officer[s] of the United States.”
President Trump’s legal team has argued, as a lower court in Colorado indicated, that he is not the type of officer referred to in the post-Civil War amendment. That argument is just one of many off-ramps SCOTUS could take in maintaining President Trump’s eligibility, even if it’s just temporarily.
The U.S. Supreme Court has never ruled on Section 3 and therefore lacks weighty precedent for deciding several key questions emanating from its language. The breadth of legal questions and stakes for the justices make it unlikely that they will outright declare that Section 3 disqualifies President Trump.
Federal Judge Rejects Challenge to Mail-in Ballots in North Dakota
A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought by a legal foundation focused on election integrity cases that sought to invalidate a North Dakota law that allows mail-in ballots to be counted for 13 days after Election Day.
U.S. District Court Judge Daniel Traynor said in his Feb. 2 order that the lawsuit both lacked standing and failed to show harm or violation of constitutional rights.
“The complaint is dismissed,” Judge Traynor, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, wrote in the order.
The lawsuit was filed in July 2023 by the Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) on behalf of Burleigh County Auditor Mark Splonkowski.
Mr. Splonkowski, as county auditor, is required to enforce state law in the administration of elections in Burleigh County. He argued that conflicts between state and federal law force him into an impossible situation in which he risks criminal penalties.
“North Dakota law and Defendant’s enforcement of it harm Mr. Splonkowski because they put him in the position of having to choose between dictates of state law to accept and allow votes to be cast after Election Day and federal law that requires a single election day,” the complaint reads.
A key argument in his lawsuit was that the U.S. Constitution provides that federal elections occur on one day, while North Dakota law allows for mail-in ballots to be counted for up to 13 days after Election Day so long as they’re postmarked on or before the election.
Mr. Splonkowski, who in his role as auditor must swear to uphold the U.S. Constitution (which his lawsuit argues requires a single Election Day), sits on the county canvassing board that reviews and counts ballots arriving after Election Day.
Since North Dakota law requires him to count and certify votes arriving after Election Day, his attorneys say “he faces an impossibility in enforcing the law” and risks a misdemeanor charge for failing to perform a duty as an election official or a felony for certifying a false canvass of votes.
Accordingly, Mr. Splonkowski sought a court declaration that North Dakota’s extension of Election Day is unlawful and asked for an injunction voiding laws that allow for the extension.
Judge Traynor disagreed. In ruling against Mr. Splonkowski, the judge argued lack of standing, failure to show harm, and lack of constitutional violation.
“The only cause for his potential injury is himself because he states he will violate North Dakota election law,” the judge wrote.
“This is deeply concerning to the Court that an elected official openly advocates for violating the law he was elected to enforce because he has independently concluded it contradicts federal law,” he added.
Judge Traynor also said that the reasoning in Mr. Splonkowski’s lawsuit, if accepted by the court, could undermine overseas and military voters’ rights to vote.
Lauren Bowman Bis, the communications director for PILF, expressed disappointment in the judgment.
“We are disappointed in the Court’s ruling,” she told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement. “We believe unresolved elections undermine confidence and that federal law should be followed.”
North Dakota’s top election official, Secretary of State Michael Howe, a Republican, praised the ruling, calling it a “win for the rule of law in North Dakota and a win for our military and overseas voters.”
PILF is involved in various election integrity cases around the country and is also backing former President Donald Trump’s bid before the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the Colorado Supreme Court decision to block him from the ballot on 14th Amendment grounds.
Over a dozen states have post- Election Day mail-in ballot receipt deadlines.
Election Under Siege: The Shadow Playbook of 2024
While former President Donald Trump appears to be cruising toward the GOP nomination, and with a polling lead over incumbent President Joe Biden in key swing states, Republicans will likely face a much steeper climb in the general election than they realize.
Fundamental changes in state election laws, coupled with an alliance of left-wing federal, corporate, financial, and nonprofit entities, have handed the Democratic Party advantages that the GOP may be unable to overcome.
In the decades before 2020, the Republican National Committee (RNC) and Democratic National Committee (DNC) machines each had their own unique strengths: The RNC had the money and the DNC had the troops.
As noted in the book “The Victory Lab,” an analysis by political journalist Sasha Issenberg, Republicans excelled at fundraising and spent heavily on messaging through paid television, radio, and online ads. The DNC, with its voters often concentrated in urban centers, called on its foot soldiers, most notably students and union leaders, to go door-to-door and stir up support.
In 2020, the landscape shifted in the wake of two events: The COVID-19 pandemic and the death of George Floyd in police custody. A narrative emerged that existing state voting laws were hazardous to public health and racist and that they had to change.
The 2020 ‘Shadow Campaign’
In a laudatory 2021 article in Time titled “The Secret History of the Shadow Campaign That Saved the 2020 Election,” author Molly Ball detailed a “well-funded cabal of powerful people, ranging across industries and ideologies, working together behind the scenes to influence perceptions, change rules and laws, steer media coverage, and control the flow of information.”
While praising the effort, Ms. Ball said that the actors “were not rigging the election; they were fortifying it.”
The “conspiracy,” as Ms. Ball described it, included DNC operatives, union leaders, tech and social-media companies, Wall Street bankers, and a network of nonprofit donor funds that pooled hundreds of millions of dollars to finance “armies of poll workers and got millions of people to vote by mail for the first time.”
While the coalition’s purpose, ostensibly, was “saving democracy,” the overriding goal was to keep President Trump from winning a second term.
And the “well-funded cabal” appears to be gearing up for a repeat performance in 2024, with a few new twists.
The DNC and groups allied with them rely on a five-part strategy to ensure that President Trump didn’t then and will not now get a second term.
That strategy includes intense legal pressure on state election officials to loosen voter integrity laws, a data nerve center that contains personal profiles of voters to predict how they will vote, an alliance of left-wing foot soldiers to bring out Democratic votes in key swing states, a collection of groups capable of bringing violence and mass unrest to cities and towns if called upon, and a network of financing vehicles to fund it all.
The first order of business, once the “well-funded cabal” was assembled, was to change state election laws.
Rewriting Election Rules
Following the mantra to “never let a crisis go to waste,” a nationwide campaign of DNC-sponsored lawsuits forced many states, even some with Republican governors, to drop what had once been standard voter integrity practices.
“That effort involved voiding basic security protocols on election procedures, including absentee ballots, and pushing for the equivalent of all-mail elections, which would give their activists a free hand in pressuring, coercing, and influencing voters in their homes in ways they are unable to do in polling places,” political analysts John Fund and Hans von Spakovsky wrote in their 2021 book titled “Our Broken Elections.”
“To force these changes, they ended up filing more election-related lawsuits than had ever been filed in an election year in U.S. history,” the authors said.
Perhaps the most enticing of all the electoral opportunities presented by the pandemic and civil unrest was the advent of universal, unsolicited mail-in ballots, which are still in use in some states.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 43 percent of American voters cast their ballot by mail in 2020, compared to 21 percent who did so in 2016.
In their book, Mr. Fund and Mr. von Spakovsky wrote that “the flood of millions of mail-in ballots opened the system to unprecedented confusion and largely untraceable fraud.”
“There’s a reason that a bipartisan commission co-chaired by former President Jimmy Carter in 2005 called mail-in absentee ballots the ‘largest source of potential voter fraud’ and that most countries in the European Union have banned ‘postal voting’ over the same concerns,” they wrote.
The topic of election fraud has become sharply politicized, with conservatives insisting that it’s a significant enough problem to sway the outcome of elections, and left-wing groups insisting it isn’t.
The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think-tank, keeps an ongoing database of cases of voter fraud, documenting 1,500 cases to date and 1,276 criminal convictions. The group stated that illegal voting has resulted in election results being overturned in at least a dozen races.
However, the left-leaning Brookings Institution stated that what’s recorded in the Heritage database “may sound like big numbers, however … the findings encompass more than a decade of data during which, nationally, hundreds of millions of votes have been cast.”
In December 2023, Rasmussen Reports and The Heartland Institute conducted a survey of more than 1,000 voters regarding how they cast ballots in 2020; responses were evenly split between Republican and Democratic voters, and 30 percent of respondents said they voted by mail.
Of the respondents who voted by mail, 21 percent said they had done so in a way that, whether they were aware of it or not, violated election laws. This includes filling out ballots for friends and relatives and forging other people’s signatures on ballots.
“We asked if they voted by mail in a state in which they are no longer a permanent resident, which is voter fraud,” Justin Haskins, a director at the Heartland Institute, told The Epoch Times. “About one in five respondents who voted by mail in the 2020 election said yes.”
The survey also found that 8 percent of respondents said a friend, family member, or organization offered to pay or reward them for voting in the 2020 election.
The Privatization of State Voting Systems
The “voter suppression” narrative, which gained acceptance throughout many parts of America, played to the strengths of the Democratic Party.
“Because the tax code allowed nonprofit organizations to run registration and turnout drives as long as they did not push a particular candidate,” Mr. Issenberg wrote, “organizing ‘historically disenfranchised’ communities became a backdoor approach to ginning up Democratic votes outside the campaign finance laws.”
One example of what Mr. Fund and Mr. von Spakovsky call the “privatization” of state election systems by wealthy donors, is the Chicago-based Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL), a group that is nominally nonpartisan but led by Democrat activists.
CTCL received $350 million from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, ostensibly to protect the health of voters and election officials during the pandemic.
These “Zuckerbucks,” as they have come to be known, were channeled through CTCL into 2,500 mostly liberal jurisdictions to pay for new polling locations, ballot drop boxes, “voter education” centers, and campaigns to reach non-English-speaking voters, according to the authors.
In one instance, CTCL gave $10 million to the city of Philadelphia, whose entire election administration budget was $15 million before the grant. However, CTCL stipulated that the funds be used for “private printing and postage for mail-in ballots and to scatter ballot drop boxes,” the authors wrote.
TX high school placed under lockdown after students storm out of classes over cell phone ban
A high school in Houston went into lockdown on Friday after hoards of students stormed out of their classrooms in protest of the school’s cell phone ban. James Madison High School staff called for a shelter-in-place as a precaution after physical violence broke out the day before the new policy was instituted, according to the New York Post.
Principal Edgar Contreras told parents that the “school is currently on lockdown due to concern over recent fights that have occurred on campus.”
“As you know, we communicated yesterday that, beginning on Monday, students will not be allowed to use their cell phones – at any time – while they are inside the school building. Cell phones have been at the center of fights that have broken out at our school,” he continued.
Students at the high school have been upset since the announcement about the new rule, which would require all students to turn in their phones to the front desk before they begin class each day. The students would be allowed to get their phones at the end of the day or if there is an emergency, according to the Houston Chronicle.
“Some students who are angry about this policy have caused disruptions on campus today, prompting the lockdown that is in place,” Contreras said. “We have additional support from the HISD South Division as well as additional officers from HISD Police at our school as we work to keep everyone safe.”
In response, the students stormed out of their classrooms. Some students complained that the new rule was a violation of their Fourth Amendment in the form of “unreasonable search and seizure.” Others claimed that it was not fair that the school punished the whole student body for the behavior of just a few.
Stephanie Martinez, a student at the Houston school, said “[w]e [the students] have responsibilities. Our moms might need to reach us. We need our phones.”
“We’re cool staying off our phones in class, but they shouldn’t just take them from us.”
James Madison High School introduced a strict policy to crack down on distractions that have made it difficult for teachers to do their jobs.
Houston Independent School District police monitored the situation in case it escalated. However, there has been no update on the policy or whether it will still be implemented.
Major, ‘Life-Threatening’ Storm to Hit California — for a Week
California faces a “life-threatening” storm this week that began over the weekend and continued to intensify through today, dumping rain over the Golden State, which is expected to sporadically continue through Friday. The storm system is considered the first major storm of a winter whose weather conditions are affected by El Niño, a periodic warming of the eastern Pacific. California had record-breaking snowfall last winter, but was relatively dry this season, until now.
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
IRS to Boost Enforcement Workforce by 40 Percent by Year-End 2024
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) intends to raise its enforcement personnel by 40 percent by the end of this fiscal year, with revenue agents seeing the largest workforce increase.
For fiscal year 2024, the IRS plans to boost enforcement staff by a net 5,462 employees, according to a Jan. 29 report by IRS watchdog Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA). This would take the total number of enforcement personnel at the tax agency to 18,960 by the end of fiscal 2024, which is 40 percent higher than the staffing at the beginning of October 2023.
Out of the 5,462 net additions, 4,704 will be revenue agents who are tasked with conducting “face-to-face audits of more complex returns.”
The tax agency intends to add a net 493 special agents for the year, who are armed officials investigating “potential criminal activities.” Staffing of revenue officers will rise by 265 employees. Revenue officers are tasked with collecting delinquent taxes and securing delinquent returns.
By fiscal 2024-end, revenue agents will comprise close to 70 percent of the enforcement personnel. Armed special agents will make up 13.5 percent and revenue officers will account for 16.4 percent.
The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) provided the IRS with $79.4 billion in supplemental funding that is available for the agency until September 2031. By the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2023, the agency had used $3.5 billion of the funds.
Illegal Immigrants in New York to Get Pre-Paid Debit Cards in $53 Million Program
Illegal immigrants in the Big Apple will soon start receiving pre-paid debit cards that they must pledge to use only to buy food, according to New York City records and media reports.
Records indicate that New York City has awarded a $53 million contract to a company called Mobility Capital Finance (MoCaFi), which will create and distribute the pre-paid cards, called immediate response cards.
Under the program, MoCaFi will begin delivering the cards to the Roosevelt Hotel, the first touchpoint for illegal immigrants arriving in the city, and will hand out them out “directly to asylum seekers receiving financial assistance.”
The first to receive the cards will be families with children under the care of NYC’s Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) agency.
“MoCaFi looks forward to partnering with New York City to disburse funds for asylum seekers to purchase fresh, hot food,” MoCaFi CEO and founder Wole Coaxum said in a statement to the New York Post.
“MoCaFi’s goal is to expand access to financial resources for individuals excluded from banking, such as asylum seekers, while helping the local economy.”
New York City Councilman Joe Borelli criticized the program, telling Fox 5 NY that it’s providing illegal immigrants with services on the taxpayer dime.
“We’re just giving this migrant population more free stuff at the expense of New York City taxpayers,” he told the outlet.
It comes as taxpayers in New York City face sharp cuts to services such as policing and education because the city has had to divert money to cover expenses associated with the influx of illegal immigrants.
Tesla’s Stock Price Craters 11% After Elon Musk Forecasts ‘Notably Lower’ Growth in 2024
Elon Musk’s Tesla has taken a big hit in the stock market across the last several sessions after the company released weak earnings and poor prospects for 2024 growth. Musk forecasted “notably lower” growth in sales this year, a sign that Americans are quickly losing interest in the electric vehicle (EV) market that Tesla currently dominates.
CNBC reports that shares in Elon Musk’s Tesla fell by about 11 percent from about $208 per share on Wednesday to just under $184 on Monday morning following a weak earnings report by the EV giant and an even more concerning, comments on the company’s growth slowing considerably this year.
HEALTH
New Study Suggests Tripling Recommended Amount of Vitamin D
Can you really get too much vitamin D?
A new study suggests the current recommended daily dose of 600 to 800 international units (IU) of vitamin D is nowhere near enough to prevent and address vitamin D deficiency in the general adult population.
Instead, a European research team suggests boosting the recommended daily amount to 2,000 IU to combat the risk of certain musculoskeletal diseases, like rickets or osteomalacia (softening of the bones), or extraskeletal issues like cancer.
The new recommended daily dose of vitamin D aims to get a person at a base serum concentration level between at least 50 nanomoles per liter (nmol/L) and 75 nmol/L. The study reports that up to 18 percent of people globally fall below 25 nmol/L, and up to nearly half the world’s population falls below 50 nmol/L. According to the Cleveland Clinic, about 1 billion people worldwide have vitamin D deficiency; in the United States, approximately 35 percent of the population is deficient.
Common symptoms of vitamin D deficiency include muscle weakness, bone pain, and joint deformities. In adults, deficiency can cause fatigue, muscle aches or cramps, and mood changes, like depression. A person may also be vitamin D deficient without any apparent symptoms.
While scientists have known for years the benefits of vitamin D and the risks associated with not having enough, there have been gaps in the knowledge base regarding how much vitamin D is enough to prevent vitamin D deficiency in humans.
Much of past research has indicated that too much vitamin D in the body can lead to
hypercalcemia. Hypercalcemia occurs when the calcium level in the bloodstream is too high, causing issues like weak bones and kidney stones and affecting heart and brain function.
Yet, as the new study points out, issues like autoimmune diseases, inflammation, obesity, and other illnesses can hamper vitamin D absorption, suggesting a patient could need a higher dose to meet their minimum baseline. If the current daily recommended amount is strictly adhered to, the study says, patients risk developing conditions like osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, or rickets.
“Clinicians who strictly adhere to nutritional vitamin D guidelines may thus not sufficiently treat their patients with vitamin D supplements when always adhering to conservative dosing regimens not exceeding 800 IU (20 micrograms) of vitamin D per day,” the research team wrote.
The team suggests treating vitamin D deficiency with a supplemental dose of either 2,000 IU as a “one-size-fits-all dose” or creating a tailored dosage “according to the patient needs and characteristics as a means of personalized treatment with a dosing range from 800 to 2000 IU.
More research is coming out that supports higher doses closer to 2,000 IU. In two notable trials involving 25,871 older American men and women, the research team said, participants were instructed to take 2,000 IU of vitamin D for up to five years; no signs of toxicity were reported during the trial.
Vitamin D helps the body absorb calcium, which in turn helps build strong bones. Vitamin D also plays a role in the body’s nervous, muscle, and immune systems. Humans typically get vitamin D through the skin, food, and supplements. The body naturally creates the vitamin through sun exposure. Other sources of vitamin D include fish, cheese, mushrooms, egg yolks, and some fortified foods like milk and breakfast cereals.
Power Mall Recommended Product: Optivida Vitamin D – 800IU (60 CT)
FDA Says 561 Deaths Linked to Recalled Philips Sleep Apnea Machines
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced in an update this week that previously recalled Philips breathing devices and ventilators used to treat sleep apnea may be linked to hundreds of deaths.
In a statement issued on Jan. 31, the FDA said that since April 2021, it has received more than 116,000 medical device reports (MDRs), including 561 reports of deaths associated with foam breaking down in Philips Respironics ventilators, BiPAP sleep therapy devices, and CPAP machines that were included in a major recall announced in mid-2021.
The agency noted that between July 1, 2023, and Sept. 30, 2023, it received more than 7,000 MDRs, including 111 reports of deaths tied to these breathing devices and ventilators.
“A wide range of injuries has been reported in these MDRs, including cancer, pneumonia, asthma, infection, headache, cough, dyspnea (difficulty breathing), dizziness, nodules, and chest pain,” according to the FDA.
Since June 2021, Philips has recalled more than five million units of the pressurized breathing machines amid reports their internal foam can break down over time, leading users to inhale tiny particles and fumes while they sleep.
The polyester-based polyurethane (PE-PUR) foam used in the machines to reduce sound and vibration can break down and result in “black pieces of foam” or certain invisible chemicals being breathed in or swallowed up by the person using the device, the FDA said in a separate statement.
Meanwhile, Philips is facing cases brought by hundreds of patients who said their health has suffered due to the use of the devices, and also following the outcome of an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) into the handling of the recall.
55 Lawsuits Alleging Side Effects From Weight Loss Drugs Centralized in Single Litigation
A judicial panel centralized several lawsuits filed against weight loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy, alleging that the medications failed to warn about potential gastrointestinal side effects.
On Friday, a U.S. judicial panel ruled that the various cases against pharma companies Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly be centralized into a single multidistrict litigation (MDL). The cases were filed against three Novo Nordisk products—Ozempic, Wegovy, and Rybelsus—and two from Eli Lilly—Trulicity and Mounjaro. These products are GLP-1 receptor agonist (RA) drugs prescribed for treating type 2 diabetes and help certain obese or overweight individuals lose weight. Plaintiffs allege they suffered gastrointestinal injuries due to using the drugs, including gastroparesis, a condition in which a person’s stomach does not empty properly.
The lawsuits claim that the companies failed to adequately warn users and doctors about the dangerous potential gastrointestinal side effects of the drug.
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
American Couple Sues Google Maps over ‘Deadly’ Directions
A Los Angeles couple is suing Google Maps for negligence after the app directed them into a notoriously dangerous area of Cape Town, South Africa, where they were violently attacked and robbed at gunpoint last year.
The Daily Express U.S. reports that Jason and Katharine Zoladz filed a lawsuit in California Superior Court on Tuesday, alleging that Google Maps led them into the Nyanga neighborhood of Cape Town while they were driving to the airport to return their rental car. The couple claims the app directed them onto the “Hell Run,” a stretch of congested highway where armed gangs routinely target tourists in rental cars.
According to the lawsuit, locals and officials have warned Google about the attacks in Nyanga and attempted to get the company to stop routing people through the area. But it was too late for the Zoladzes, who were set upon by gunmen after Google Maps led them into the neighborhood last October.
The assailants surrounded the couple’s car, smashed the driver’s side window, and pulled Jason and Katharine from the vehicle. The men then fired several gunshots, brutally beat Jason, and made off with the couple’s cash, credit cards, and cell phones.
Jason was left unconscious with severe facial injuries that required reconstructive surgery and left him with four metal plates in his jaw. He continues to suffer from pain, numbness, and mobility issues.
The Zoladzes say the attack could have been prevented if Google had heeded warnings about the deadly risks of sending tourists through Nyanga. Officials and residents had been petitioning the company to reroute directions for years prior to the incident, according to the lawsuit.
Cape Town authorities finally succeeded in getting Google to stop directing people through Nyanga last November – three weeks after the attack on the Zoladzes.
The couple alleges that Google was negligent in continuing to send unsuspecting tourists into a area dubbed “hell” by locals. Their lawsuit seeks unspecified damages for the physical and emotional trauma they suffered.
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
Elon Musk’s Tesla Recalls 2.2 Million EVs over Insufficient Warning Lights
Tesla is recalling nearly 2.2 million vehicles sold in the U.S. because some warning lights on the instrument panel are too small, according to documents posted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) on Friday.
AP News reports that the latest recall launched by Elon Musk’s Tesla covers a wide range of models sold over the past decade, including the S, X, 3, Y, and Cybertruck. According to the NHTSA documents, the brake, park, and anti-lock brake warning lights in most Tesla EVs violate standards because the font size on the instrument panel is too small. This makes the critical safety information harder to read for drivers.
Tesla will update the software on affected vehicles to increase the font size of the warning lights. The software update has already started rolling out over-the-air to vehicles. In addition to the online update, Tesla will mail letters notifying owners of the recall starting on March 30.
Geoengineering Watch Global Alert News, February 3, 2024, #443
“Imminent Deluge: Southern California Braces for Potentially Catastrophic Storm” (from Yahoo News). A manipulated atmospheric flow of moisture is scheduled for the Southwestern US. During the same span of time and beyond, the eastern half of the US is scheduled for an extended period of record high temperatures, again. The Great Lakes region is in the bullseye zone of the big winter warm-up. Wildfires are raging from South America to South Africa and even Canada’s record firestorms of 2023 are not yet completely extinguished though it’s the middle of winter. Global conflicts, chaos and carnage continue to escalate in lockstep with unfolding planetary ecological collapse. And through it all the dimming of our skies gets worse by the day. How long till impact at full velocity?
UofM Study: Your Urban Garden Has 6X Carbon Footprint Than Conventional Farming
A new University of Michigan-led international study finds that fruits and vegetables grown in urban farms and gardens have a carbon footprint that is, on average, six times greater than conventionally grown produce.
However, a few city-grown crops equaled or outperformed conventional agriculture under certain conditions. Tomatoes grown in the soil of open-air urban plots had a lower carbon intensity than tomatoes grown in conventional greenhouses, while the emissions difference between conventional and urban agriculture vanished for air-freighted crops like asparagus.
“The exceptions revealed by our study suggest that urban agriculture practitioners can reduce their climate impacts by cultivating crops that are typically greenhouse-grown or air-freighted, in addition to making changes in site design and management,” said study co-lead author Jason Hawes, a doctoral student at U-M’s School for Environment and Sustainability.
“Urban agriculture offers a variety of social, nutritional and place-based environmental benefits, which make it an appealing feature of future sustainable cities. This work shines light on ways to ensure that urban agriculture benefits the climate, as well as the people and places it serves.”
Urban agriculture, the practice of farming within the confines of a city, is becoming increasingly popular worldwide and is touted as a way to make cities and urban food systems more sustainable. By some estimates, between 20% and 30% of the global urban population engages in some form of urban agriculture.
Despite strong evidence of the social and nutritional benefits of urban agriculture, its carbon footprint remains understudied. Most previously published studies have focused on high-tech, energy-intensive forms of UA—such as vertical farms and rooftop greenhouses—even though the vast majority of urban farms are decidedly low-tech: crops grown in soil on open-air plots.
The new U-M-led study, published online Jan. 22 in the journal Nature Cities, aimed to fill some of the knowledge gaps by comparing the carbon footprints of food produced at low-tech urban agriculture sites to conventional crops. It used data from 73 urban farms and gardens in five countries and is the largest published study to compare the carbon footprints of urban and conventional agriculture.
Three types of urban agriculture sites were analyzed: urban farms (professionally managed and focused on food production), individual gardens (small plots managed by single gardeners) and collective gardens (communal spaces managed by groups of gardeners).
For each site, the researchers calculated the climate-altering greenhouse gas emissions associated with on-farm materials and activities over the lifetime of the farm. The emissions, expressed in kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalents per serving of food, were then compared to foods raised by conventional methods.
On average, food produced through urban agriculture emitted 0.42 kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalents per serving, six times higher than the 0.07 kg CO2e per serving of conventionally grown produce.
“By assessing actual inputs and outputs on urban agriculture sites, we were able to assign climate change impacts to each serving of produce,” said study co-lead author Benjamin Goldstein, assistant professor at U-M’s School for Environment and Sustainability. “This dataset reveals that urban agriculture has higher carbon emissions per serving of fruit or vegetable than conventional agriculture—with a few exceptions.”
Joshua Newell, professor and co-director of the Center for Sustainable Systems at SEAS, led the University of Michigan portion of the project. The U-M researchers formed an international team of collaborators from universities near the various food-growing sites. Ten of those collaborators are co-authors of the Nature Cities study.
Farmers and gardeners at urban agriculture sites in France, Germany, Poland, the United Kingdom and the United States were recruited as citizen scientists and used daily diary entries to record inputs and harvests from their food-growing sites throughout the 2019 season.
Inputs to the urban agriculture sites fell into three main categories: infrastructure (such as the raised beds in which food is grown, or pathways between plots), supplies (including compost, fertilizer, weed-blocking fabric and gasoline for machinery), and irrigation water.
“Most of the climate impacts at urban farms are driven by the materials used to construct them—the infrastructure,” Goldstein said. “These farms typically only operate for a few years or a decade, so the greenhouse gases used to produce those materials are not used effectively. Conventional agriculture, on the other hand, is very efficient and hard to compete with.”
For example, conventional farms often grow a single crop with the help of pesticides and fertilizers, resulting in larger harvests and a reduced carbon footprint when compared to urban farms, he said.
The researchers identified three best practices crucial to making low-tech urban agriculture more carbon-competitive with conventional agriculture:
- Extend infrastructure lifetimes. Extend the lifetime of UA materials and structures such as raised beds, composting infrastructure and sheds. A raised bed used for five years will have approximately four times the environmental impact, per serving of food, as a raised bed used for 20 years.
- Use urban wastes as UA inputs. Conserve carbon by engaging in “urban symbiosis,” which includes giving a second life to used materials, such as construction debris and demolition waste, that are unsuitable for new construction but potentially useful for UA. The most well-known symbiotic relationship between cities and UA is composting. The category also includes using rainwater and recycled grey water for irrigation.
- Generate high levels of social benefits. In a survey conducted for the study, UA farmers and gardeners overwhelmingly reported improved mental health, diet and social networks. While increasing these “nonfood outputs” of UA does not reduce its carbon footprint, “growing spaces which maximize social benefits can outcompete conventional agriculture when UA benefits are considered holistically,” according to the study authors.
Co-authors of the Nature Cities paper are from McGill University in Canada, University Paris-Saclay and the Agroecology and Environmental Research Unit in France, the University of Kent in the United Kingdom, ILS Research in Germany, City University of New York and Adam Mickiewicz University in Poland.
Support for the project was provided by the UK Economic and Social Research Council, German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, French National Research Agency, U.S. National Science Foundation, Poland’s National Science Centre, and the European Union’s Horizon 202 research and innovation program.
GARDENING, FARMING & HOMESTEADING
5 Tips for a Bee Friendly Yard – Help Save the Bees
Whether it’s honey bees, bumblebees, mason bees or other native bees, we need our bees. Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) and varroa mites continue to take a toll on honeybees. The USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) states that as of August 2018: Varroa mites were the number one stressor for operations with five or more colonies during all quarters of 2017. There was a 15 percent increase in CCD in Jan-March 2018 compared to the same quarter of 2017.Hives suffer from mites, pesticides, and limited and contaminated food sources. Rudolf Steiner predicted a bee crisis back in 1923 due to the practice of artificial requeening. Our bees are struggling.
Let’s get started with the small things you can do to help save the bees and make them welcome in your yard.
#1 – Flowers for Bees – Which Flowers are Best for a Bee Friendly Yard?
Bees like flowers that make good landing platforms or tubular flowers with nectar at the base. A variety of flowers will provide food for more of the season.
Think daises, dandelions or snapdragons; not modern hybrids such as double petaled impatiens or massive ruffled roses. Many of the new hybrids are bred for showy color displays, but have very little pollen and nectar. (Some are even bred specifically to shed less pollen for less mess.)
Bees like plants with flower spikes, since the bees can move from flower to flower very quickly. Look for flowers like sage, catnip and goldenrod for your bee friendly garden.
Bees are attracted to blue and yellow flowers the most. They can’t see red! White Dutch clover and other flowering groundcovers provide a grass alternative that can create a bee oasis in the smallest yard.
Whenever possible, try to incorporate native plants into your landscape. They are already adapted to your area, and many perennial species bloom very early or late in the season, before or after annual flowers are at their prime.
#2 – Use Trees and Shrubs to Help Provide Pollen and Nectar Throughout the Season
Trees and shrubs can provide a flush of pollen and nectar early in the season before other plants have a chance to emerge. They should be a part of almost every yard. Grass lawns offer no shelter and no food to pollinators. In contrast, trees and shrubs offer both food and shelter, creating a microclimate and safe haven of relatively undisturbed habitat.
You want to have a mix of flowering plants to provide food throughout the year. The University of Maine Cooperative Extension offers some suggestions for bee friendly plants:
Early-season Bee Nectar Plants
- Trees: maples, apples, shadbush, willows, cherries, plums, native honeysuckles
- Perennials: blueberries, bugloss, lungwort, pigsqueak, crocus, viola
Mid-season Bee Nectar Plants
- Shrubs: spirea, rose, summersweet, rosebay rhododendron
- Perennials: milkweed, purple coneflower, blazingstar, mint, oregano, bee balm
- Annuals: single-flowered marigold, borage, tickseed, blanketflower
Late season Bee Nectar Plants
- Perennials: aster, bottle gentian, phlox, yellow and purple coneflowers, goldenrod
- Annuals: cosmos, snapdragon
#3 – Have Shallow Water Available for the Bees
Just like everything else, bees need water to survive. If the water container is too deep, they may drown. Place some small stones or floating some pieces of wood in your bird bath, or purchase a bird bath with a very gently sloping outside edge. Bees can’t swim, so they have to be able to access water without treading water.
Bees, butterflies and other insects love fountains and moving water – but mosquitoes don’t, because they need still water to lay their eggs. There are even tiny solar fountains that you can float right in your birdbath for a simple option to create moving water.#4 – Avoid Pesticides in Your Bee Friendly Yard
Even “organic” pesticides can be toxic to bees, so please be very, very careful about what you spray in your garden. A report by the Xerces Society indicated that neonicotinoids are of particular concern. Specifically:
- Several of these insecticides are highly toxic to honey bees, bumblebees and other beneficial insects.
- Bees and butterflies eat pollen, which may contain neonicotinoid residues. The residues can reach lethal concentrations in some situations.
- Neonicotinoids can persist in soil for months or years after a single application. Measurable amounts of residues were found in woody plants up to six years after application.
- Untreated plants may absorb chemical residues left over in the soil from the previous year.
- Products approved for homeowners to use in gardens, lawns, and on ornamental trees have manufacturer-recommended application rates up to 120 times higher than rates approved for agricultural crops.
- There is no direct link demonstrated between neonicotinoids and the honey bee syndrome known as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). However, recent research suggests that neonicotinoids may make honey bees more susceptible to parasites and pathogens, including the intestinal parasite Nosema, which has been implicated as one causative factor in CCD.
The Center for Food Safety has compiled a list of home and garden products containing neonicotinoids.
#5 – Provide Nesting Sites for Bees
This tip is primarily for the bumblebees and other native bees that don’t live in bee hives. (Of course, sometimes honey bees do form wild hives, but most of us don’t necessarily have the space to accommodate a large wild hive.)
Bumblebees are ground or box nesters, depending on the species. (Old mouse nests are a favorite.) They need a natural, less disturbed area to nest. Try to leave space around yard or garden edges.
Many native bees, such as mason bees, are solitary nesters. They prefer nest blocks or hollow plant stems for shelter. Don’t be too quick to clear out all garden debris! A bundle of sunflower stalks tucked into a corner can make a great nest site.
CANCEL CULTURE
A TikTok video of a young woman complaining about having to work 40 hours a week went mega-viral with millions of views on social media.
The woman, who says her name is Eliza, posts under the moniker “SupposedlyASystem,” and she says that it is impossible to enjoy life while working 40 hours in order to pay the rent.
“How do people manage to enjoy life while working full time?” she wrote on the video.
“So, I work 40 hours a week so I can have a two-bedroom apartment and an extra $300 a month,” she says.
“Like, it doesn’t cover my phone, internet, food, you know? So not only do I not have any extra money, but just working makes me so exhausted, that I don’t have time either,” Eliza continues.
“Like I get off work at 5:30, come home, I’m just so tired. I’m so tired that like, anything that I need to do outside of work I then just push off to the weekend, and then I’m like, I’m too tired to do this after work, I’ll wait until Saturday. So, then I end up with so much to do on the weekends, that ends up having to be split into two days,” she says.
“So, then I don’t get a day off. I don’t get a day to relax. I don’t get to decompress!” Eliza adds tearfully. “I don’t know what to do, I’m not made for this! I don’t have the money, time, or energy to enjoy my life outside of work, and I don’t know what to do about it anymore, you know? I’m so tired.”
Reactions on social media were varied, with some supporting her assertions as a symptom of modern life while others mocked and ridiculed her for complaints about working normal hours.
“Honestly boggles my mind that so many people think 40 hours of work a week is a lot. That leaves you at least 5 or 6 waking hours a day during the week to yourself and two full days on the weekend. How much more free time do you really think you should have?” responded commentator Matt Walsh.
“Stop blaming these kids for unrealistic expectations and blame the parents who clearly didn’t prepare them for adulthood,” read one response.
“Imagine how tired the people that have been working for the past 20, 30 , 40 years are right now . no one gave s*** about us , we raise our families and keep working,” read another response.
Others criticized people on the right for their mockery of the video.
“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, this is another young woman describing a crisis of meaning & right wingers jeering at her have lost the plot,” responded Marlo Slayback.
“If you’re a conservative dunking on this woman, you’re misapprehending what this is about. It’s not about spoiled/whiny Gen Z or whatever. It’s about a crisis of meaning in the post-Christian West and the hollowing out of our civilization by feminism, liberalism, and secularism,” replied writer John Daniel Davidson.
The mix of supportive and critical responses led to one version of the video garnering over 14 million views on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, alone. The original video garnered 590k views on TikTok.
She responded in a separate video to people criticizing her and said she felt sorry for them.
The U.S. Supreme Court has given government officials the green light to obstruct citizens from voting at polling places based on the content of speech displayed on their clothing.
By refusing to hear an appeal in Ostrewich v. Hudspeth, the U.S. Supreme Court has laid the groundwork for citizens to be prevented from voting merely by wearing something expressive on their clothing that might relate to an item on a ballot. In a joint amicus brief with Justice and Freedom Fund and World Faith Foundation, The Rutherford Institute warned against electioneering laws that give government officials too much discretion to engage in viewpoint discrimination of voters. Conceivably, just the act of wearing a MAGA hat, a Taylor Swift t-shirt, or other apparel that could be perceived by a poll worker as sending a political message could get one criminally prosecuted or prevented from voting in some states.
“These polling place laws can be so vague as to prohibit citizens from voting merely for wearing clothing with images of Martin Luther King Jr. or John Lennon that could be considered ‘relating to’ an item on the ballot” said constitutional attorney John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute and author of Battlefield America: The War on the American People. “Yet political speech, especially speech critical of the government, is a constitutional virtue, not a harm. These bans on the passive act of displaying speech, political or otherwise, at a polling place are an affront to the right to political free speech protected by the First Amendment.”
Free expression at polling places has become a contentious issue in recent years, with controversies over “ballot selfies,” the wearing of political apparel to polling places, and even apparel that does not explicitly reference candidates, ballot issues, or politics. For example, when Linda McMahon, the wife of World Wrestling Entertainment chairman Vince McMahon, ran for the U.S. Senate, there were questions over whether voters in Connecticut could be turned away for wearing WWE merchandise. In Georgia, a man was ordered to remove his NRA hat while going to vote. In Texas, it is a criminal misdemeanor for a person to merely wear a badge, insignia, emblem, or other similar communicative device “relating to” a candidate, measure, or political party appearing on the ballot, or to the conduct of the election, within the polling place or within 100 feet of any outside door through which a voter may enter.
In 2018, Jillian Ostrewich, the wife of a firefighter, was prevented from voting while wearing a shirt that contained a union logo and the words “Houston Fire Fighters” because the ballot contained a proposition to guarantee Houston’s firefighters pay parity with the city’s police officers. In order to vote, Ostrewich had to turn her shirt inside-out. Ostrewich subsequently filed suit, alleging that she was unconstitutionally censored and that Texas’s electioneering laws chilled her right to free speech. However, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals found the laws to be constitutional. Although the Supreme Court ruled in 2018 to strike down as unconstitutionally vague a Minnesota law that banned political speech on any badge, button, shirt, or hat worn at election polling stations, the Court refused to hear the appeal in Ostrewich, letting that ruling stand and thus allowing for such laws with a slightly narrower scope than Minnesota’s to continue to be enforced.
Attorneys Deborah J. Dewart and James L. Hirsen of the Justice and Freedom Fund helped advance the amici arguments in the Ostrewich v. Hudspeth brief.
PET NEWS
Why Is My Dog Twitching In Their Sleep?
Every dog parent has been there: You’re watching your pup snooze peacefully when their leg begins to kick. Maybe they even whimper or growl in their sleep. These little twitches can definitely be cute, but should you be worried? Is it a sign of a more serious issue, or is your dog just desperately chasing a squirrel in their dreams?
Fortunately, brief, intermittent twitching in your dog’s sleep is completely normal — and yes, your dog is dreaming, likely about the experiences of their day. But why do dogs twitch in their sleep, and is there ever a reason to consult your vet? Learn all about the dog sleep cycle and why dogs twitch when sleeping.
What does it look like when a dog twitches in their sleep?
When your dog twitches in their sleep, they may kick lightly at the air with a back leg, or a front limb may twitch. Sleep twitching usually happens in a dog’s legs, but they may also move their head or wag their tail. Usually, dogs are lying on their sides when twitching and may even move more than one paw in a paddling motion. You may also notice your dog’s eyes moving behind their closed lids, irregular breathing, and even vocalizing, like whimpers, low growls, or soft barks.
GOOD NEWS
Joe Biden Holds Lowest January Approval Rating in Election Year in History of All Modern Presidents
President Joe Biden holds the lowest January approval rating in an election year during the modern era of polling, a CNN poll found this week, underscoring the president’s deep unpopularity.
Biden’s low popularity stands at 38 percent, five points below former President Trump in January 2020 and nine points worse than former President Obama at the same point in his tenure:
- Eisenhower, 1956 — 77 percent
- Johnson, 1964 — 76 percent
- Carter, 1980 — 58 percent
- Reagan, 1984 — 55 percent
- Truman, 1948 — 53 percent
- Clinton, 1996 — 52 percent
- Bush, 2004 — 49 percent
- Nixon, 1972 — 49 percent
- Obama, 2012 — 47 percent
- Bush, 1992 — 47 percent
- Ford, 1976 — 45 percent
- Trump, 2020 — 43 percent
- Biden, 2024 — 38 percent
The poll sampled 1,212 adults from January 25-30 and has a 3.8-point margin of error.
The survey is the latest in historically bad polling for the president.
In December, FiveThirtyEight also showed that Biden is the least popular president in modern U.S. history, finding that his approval rating is -18 percentage points, besting Trump by about six points:
- 37.7 percent approve of Biden
- 55.6 percent disapprove of Biden
ICYMI
Fulton County DA Fani Willis Subpoenaed by House Committee
The Republican-led House Judiciary Committee sent a subpoena to Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to obtain documents related to possible misuse of federal funds related to her case against former President Donald Trump and more than a dozen other co-defendants.
In a letter sent by House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), he noted that the committee in August 2023 had requested documents regarding the usage of federal funds. However, he said even after two letters were sent to her office last year, she has “failed to comply voluntarily with any of our requests.”
“In accordance with the attached Schedule instructions, you, Fani T. Willis, in your capacity as the District Attorney of Fulton County and head of the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office, are required to produce the following items in your possession, custody, or control, from the period of September 1, 2020, to present in unredacted form,” it said before making specific requests for documents and communications related to federal funds usage or allegations about their misuse.
Previously, her office condemned Mr. Jordan’s requests, claiming they are politically motivated, and said last year that under the Constitution, Congress has no right to “interfere with a state criminal matter.”
The House Judiciary letter made reference to a Washington Free Beacon report that claimed a former employee in the Fulton County District Attorney’s office was demoted after she issued a warning to Ms. Willis about her use of federal grant funding that was allegedly intended to be used for gang prevention efforts in Fulton County. Months later, according to the letter that cited the report, the employee was “abruptly terminated” and was “escorted out of her office by seven armed investigators.”
Trump’s Federal Election Trial Postponed Indefinitely by Judge
The trial date in the election interference case against former President Donald Trump was postponed, the federal judge overseeing the case has confirmed.
“The court will set a new schedule if and when the mandate is returned,” U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan wrote in the order, handing a victory to the former president as he appeals the case on arguments that he was immune from prosecution.
More than 50 days have passed since Judge Chutkan paused the case amid the former president’s appeal to the D.C. Court of Appeals. Over the past several weeks, she has signaled that the initial March 4 trial date would not hold.
His lawyers, in their appeal to the D.C. court, have said that the former president is immune from prosecution because the activity after the 2020 election was carried out in his official capacity as president. Depending on the outcome of that appeal, President Trump may appeal that case ultimately to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The lawyers also asserted that he shouldn’t face criminal charges because he wasn’t convicted in the Senate during his second impeachment trial over his activity after the 2020 election and for the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Federal Appeals Court Halts Florida Ban on Property Buying by Chinese
The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has issued a limited temporary block on a Florida law, SB 264, that bans citizens of China from buying property in the state that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said was needed to counteract the “malign influence” of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in his state.
The Court’s ruling follows a suit by four Chinese citizens residing in Florida and a real estate brokerage that primarily serves Chinese and Chinese American clients, claiming unconstitutional discrimination. SB 264 was signed by Mr. DeSantis on May 8, 2023.
The appeals court has halted enforcement of the law with respect to two of the five plaintiffs until it rules on the merits of the case (oral arguments scheduled for April), with the judges arguing that because of recent and pending transactions, the two plaintiffs face “imminent risk of irreparable harm” if enforcement of the law isn’t paused.
Carl Weathers, Star of ‘Rocky,’ ‘Predator,’ and ‘The Mandalorian,’ Dies at 76
Carl Weathers, famous for his role as Apollo Creed in the “Rocky” franchise, and later as Greef Karga in Disney’s “The Mandalorian,” died peacefully in his sleep on February 1st at the age of 76.
US Launches Retaliatory Strikes on Iran-Linked Targets in Iraq, Syria
The United States has begun its retaliation against Iran-backed groups in Iraq and Syria for their alleged involvement in an attack last week that killed three U.S. service members.
U.S. forces conducted airstrikes against more than 85 targets in Iraq and Syria against Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), Quds Force, and affiliated militia groups, according to a statement released by U.S. Central Command, which oversees operations in the region.
The strikes were conducted with “numerous aircraft to include long-range bombers flown from [the] United States” and “employed more than 125 precision munitions.”
The retaliatory strikes will continue, President Joe Biden said in a statement, “at times and places of our choosing.”
Central Command said that the strikes targeted facilities associated with the terror network’s “command and control operations centers, intelligence centers, rockets and missiles, and unmanned aerial vehicle storages, and logistics and munition supply chain facilities of militia groups and their IRGC sponsors who facilitated attacks against U.S. and Coalition forces.”
West Point Can Continue Race-Based Admissions for Now, Supreme Court Rules
The Supreme Court allowed the U.S. Military Academy at West Point to continue considering race in admissions on Feb. 2 when it declined the injunction request from a nonprofit that opposes affirmative action.
“The record before this Court is underdeveloped, and this order should not be construed as expressing any view on the merits of the constitutional question,” the order read. Its language indicated the court could still consider the merits at a later date.
A similar injunction request was denied by a three-judge panel in the Second Circuit on Jan. 29. U.S. District Judge Philip Halperin said that the group Students for Fair Admissions, which brought the suit, “has failed to establish a likelihood of success warranting the extraordinary and drastic remedy sought.”
Not enough evidence was presented to the court for it to decide whether the West Point admissions process “furthers compelling governmental interests and whether the government’s use of race is narrowly tailored to achieve that interest,” the judge wrote.
The order comes less than a year after the Supreme Court ruled that Harvard College’s and the University of North Carolina’s use of affirmative action violated the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution. SFFA, which was a litigant in that case, asked for an injunction, noting that the prior decision didn’t apply to military academies.
Chief Justice John Roberts had written the majority opinion and included a footnote excluding military academies from the decision.
It read: “The United States as amicus curiae contends that race- based admissions programs further compelling interests at our Nation’s military academies. No military academy is a party to these cases, however, and none of the courts below addressed the propriety of race-based admissions systems in that context. This opinion also does not address the issue, in light of the potentially distinct interests that military academies may present.”
SFFA had requested a Supreme Court decision on the injunction by Jan. 31, which was the deadline for applications from prospective members of the class of 2028.
Doctor Who Helped a Wounded Ashli Babbitt on Jan. 6 Sentenced to Probation
A California physician who gave medical aid to a dying Ashli Babbitt on Jan. 6, 2021, but was forced away from the scene by police has been sentenced to probation as part of a plea deal for his time at the U.S. Capitol.
Dr. Austin Brendlen Harris, 43, of Granada Hills, California, was sentenced on Feb. 2 by U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton to three years of probation and fined $5,000 for the petty misdemeanor charge of parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building.
Federal prosecutors recommended that Judge Walton sentence Dr. Harris to 30 days in jail.
Florida woman accused of stealing patrol car dies in crash that killed two others
Police in Florida said a woman stole a sheriff’s deputy’s SUV Friday and led authorities on a high-speed chase that ended in a wrong-way crash that killed herself and two others.
Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods said Kendra Dalyn Boone, 33, as well as a man and a woman in their 70s from South Carolina, were killed Thursday when Boone swerved into oncoming traffic while fleeing police.
Authorities said the incident started when a deputy responded to a report about a woman trying to steal another woman’s car keys.
The deputy’s body camera footage showed Boone come up to his passenger side window after he arrived on the scene. The deputy got out of the SUV and told Boone to go to the back of the vehicle.
As he walked to the rear of his car, Boone hopped into the driver’s seat. The footage showed the deputy trying to pull Boone from the SUV, but she was able to speed off with the police vehicle.
Police said deputies followed Boone for several miles and tried to end the chase with stop sticks, but the accused thief avoided the law while driving at speeds of over 100 mph.
Authorities said Boone at one point briefly went off-road to avoid a semitractor-trailer. She lost control of the SUV once she got back on the pavement and crashed head-on into a vehicle.
Earl Middleton, 73, and a 72-year-old woman who wasn’t identified were killed in the collision. Earl’s brother, Russell Middleton, 74, was hospitalized in critical condition.
Sheriff Woods, who called Boone a “moron” twice during a Friday press conference, said the woman had been arrested over 20 times and had convictions for grand theft, car theft and attempted robbery.
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