World News
New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern raises minimum wage and increases its tax on the rich to 39%
Daily Mail – Jacinda Ardern has fulfilled her election promises by raising New Zealand‘s minimum wage to $20 an hour and increasing tax on the nation’s richest to 39 per cent.
The changes came into effect on Thursday and will impact up to 175,000 of the nation’s lowest earning workers.
The Ardern Government said those working a 40-hour week on minimum wage will pocket an extra NZ$44 per week.
Council of Trade Unions President Richard Wagstaff said it’s important Ms Ardern’s election vow of a $20 minimum wage has finally become a reality.
‘Over 170,000 Kiwis will have a pay rise, and for those who were on the previous minimum wage of $18.90, working a 40 hour week, they will have an increase of $44 a week (before tax),’ he said.
‘We know that thousands of working people do not earn enough to provide for a comfortable life for them and their whanau [extended family]. They are the working poor; struggling to meet the costs of basics like food and housing.
‘Covid showed us all just how crucial many jobs are to the functioning of our society, jobs in health, cleaning, on our border or supermarkets. Many of these crucial roles are poorly paid.’
The changes also impact Kiwis who earn more than NZ$180,000 a year, which makes up around two per cent of the population.
The tax increase to 39 per cent will bring in an extra NZ$550m in revenue in 2021.
Prime Minister Ardern said it represents ‘real and long overdue improvements to the support we provide our most vulnerable’.
‘There is still much more to do, including building more homes, improving our health system, investing in education, training and job opportunities,’ she said.
After winning the election late last year, Mr Ardern vowed to not take New Zealanders’ support for granted.
‘And I can promise you we will be a party that governs for every New Zealander,’ she said in October.
Bill Gates & Globalist Elites pushing Lockdowns & Masks until End of 2022
Off Grid Survival – n an interview with the Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza and Polish television broadcaster TVN24 on Thursday, the evil fucker who can’t even stop a computer virus on his own windows operating system, who has somehow now with zero medical training become the go-to expert on vaccines and pandemics, said things will not be back to normal until the very end of 2022.
This follows our modern-day version of Dr. Josef Mengele, Dr. Anthony Fauci, MD, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious telling CNN that Americans will have to wear masks throughout 2022.
They are never going to let this go; they found the perfect vehicle of fear and control
If you haven’t figured it out by now, this has NOTHING to do with stopping a virus. Once they figured out they could scare the world into excepting draconian lockdowns, masks, fraudulent elections and the reset of the global economy, the globalist elite then realized they mentally broken down enough people to keep this going forever.
Hell, even the gun owning, Christian conservative that they feared could have prevented their plans of tyranny easily rolled over, strapped on the compliance mask, and excepted their globalist overlords with open arms. Hell, most of the churches in this country choose government over God and closed their doors to the public!
They need until the end of 2022 to rollout the Digital Mark!
Of course 2022 will not be the end of any of this, 2022 is just the beginning of the global tracking system that is currently in the works.
For the last couple of months, governments around the world have begun implementing digital badges and passports that will mark human being as “clean” or “unacceptable for commerce” meaning they have been vaccinated and passed a series of tests that allows them conduct commerce.
Companies like Hyatt Hotels Corporation and American Airlines have already begun to embrace the Mark of the Beast technology and are in the process of setting up systems that will require meeting attendees to carry a digital health certificate before they are allowed to conduct commerce.
Ironically, Israel and Germany are a few of the pilot countries who have rolled out these so-called digital badges.
U.S. News, Politics & Government
New York Rolls Out Vaccine Passport Program
AIER – What was labeled an unhinged conspiracy theory just last year has become a reality today.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced this week that New York has rolled out the nation’s first COVID vaccine passport program with the introduction of the “Excelsior Pass.”
According to reports, the COVID-19 vaccine passport is already ready for use at dozens of venues statewide, including at Madison Square Garden. While advertised as a “voluntary” measure, New York State officials are making it clear that not participating in the program will result in an individual being essentially shut out from society.
“New Yorkers have proven they can follow public health guidance to beat back COVID, and the innovative Excelsior Pass is another tool in our new toolbox to fight the virus while allowing more sectors of the economy to reopen safely and keeping personal information secure,” Gov. Cuomo said in introducing the vaccine passport. “The question of ‘public health or the economy’ has always been a false choice — the answer must be both. As more New Yorkers get vaccinated each day and as key public health metrics continue to regularly reach their lowest rates in months, the first-in-the-nation Excelsior Pass heralds the next step in our thoughtful, science-based reopening.”
Of course, readers of The Dossier know by now that Gov. Cuomo has a bit of a reputational problem, to put it mildly, and that the New York Metro Area has had the worst COVID-19 outcomes of any area in the United States.
The “Excelsior Pass” mobile application will display a green checkmark if the person has been vaccinated or tested negative for COVID-19. A red “x” means they have not met this standard.
The New York State vaccine passport app was built by IBM, the multinational technology company. The corporate press, for its part, has taken pains to blindly claim that your privacy will be protected, despite zero indications or verifiable information that this is actually the case.
It remains unclear how IBM is securing New York residents’ sensitive health information. They claim to be doing so through the use of blockchain technology, which doesn’t really make much sense when you understand what a blockchain actually is.
The blockchain was invented by the founder(s) of Bitcoin, the popular open source digital currency that has soared in popularity in recent years. On the Bitcoin network, the blockchain serves as a publicly accessible, verifiable transaction archive. This transaction archive is known as the ledger. It is open source and anyone with an internet connection can access it. The bottom line is that blockchain technology *does not* protect privacy and that was never its intended purpose.
Still, major corporations have attempted to leverage the success of Bitcoin and make the case that they are implementing some of its features into their business, at least from a marketing and public relations perspective. Blockchain, in 2021, has transformed into a corporate buzzword to mean a lot of things, or nothing at all, and IBM has not elaborated on how its “blockchain” does anything to secure sensitive information. For watchdog organizations, the use of “blockchain” to hype claimed technology innovation regularly serves as a red flag for shady business practices.
The Intercept has published a lengthy article about the several privacy concerns surrounding the IBM “digital health pass.” Their chief area of scrutiny appears to be the reality that the application had zero public audits or oversight in its publicly-funded development and rollout.
“Gov. Cuomo gave us screenshots of the user interface, but he never even published a privacy policy,” Albert Fox Cahn, the executive director of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, told the Intercept. “We have no idea how this data can be tracked.”
In addition to the privacy issues, others fear that the vaccine passport can result in a China-like social credit score system, and a system of “digital segregation” among citizens.
New York is just one of several states that is introducing an independent vaccine passport program (Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, to his great credit has ruled it out as a misguided, authoritarian idea). With so many states developing their own applications, this complicates privacy and security matters even more so, given the reality that this means several companies will be able to possess sensitive health information, and will have to send your medical records through multiple networks. Competition for vaccine passport contracts is heating up, and there are many technology companies seeking to profit from COVID Mania.
Economy & Business
White House Unveils Details Of Biden’s $2.25 Trillion Infrastructure Plan, Massive Tax Hikes
ZeroHedge – As Amazon workers in Bessemer, Ala. fight to unionize, Biden kicked off his speech with a warm-up act, a worker from a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 29 named “Mike”, to drive home the fact that he’s “a union guy” and has “always been a union guy”.
After some remarks about COVID, during which Biden revealed he keeps a piece of paper in his pocket with the number of COVID dead written on it, the president launched into the bulk of the speech, which focused on the provisions of his $2.25 trillion “American Jobs Plan”, and how the administration plans to pay for building bridges and roads, expanding access to high-speed internet, improving public transit and encouraging adoption of electric vehicles.
Biden says leading economists are now predicting the U.S. economy will grow 6.5% this year as it bounces back, but still there’s much more work to be done.
“What I’m proposing is a one-time capital investment of roughly $2 trillion…that will be spread over 8 years.” Biden continued that infrastructure investments “are among the highest value investments we can make.” He also warned about the risks of “crumbling infrastructure” – “and our infrastructure is crumbling,” he said. “We’re ranked 13th in the world.”
[…]
“I’m convinced that if we act now, in 50 years people will look back and say: This was the moment that America won future.”
Addressing criticisms of the tax hikes needed to pay for the plan, Biden said Biden said “this is not to target those who’ve made it…it’s about opening opportunities for everybody else.”
He noted that leading economists are now predicting the US economy will grow 6.5% this year, the fastest rate in decades, and closer to levels seen in emerging economies like China.
He then launched into a rundown of various provisions of his plan which includes:
- Modernizing 20,000 miles of highways, roads and streets that “are in difficult, difficult shape right now.”
- Expanding access to high speed Internet in rural areas.
- Replacing the nation’s lead pipes (Biden cited the crisis in Flint. Mich.)
- Ramping up IRS enforcement of corporations, which he said could raise hundreds of billions of dollars.
- Establishing a minimum tax of 21% on corporations’ global earnings, which could bring in $1 trillion over a decade.
- Biden says some on Wall Street have estimated his plan could create 18 million jobs.
- While Biden’s plan earlier didn’t include any details beyond $80 billion for Amtrak, Biden said that money would be used to create high-speed rails.
- Contracts will go to American companies, and products purchased will be made in America (proposals first pushed by President Trump).
- Creating 500k electric charging stations.
As for how he intends to pay for it, Biden said that “no one can be upset” about a corporate tax increase to 28%, which he said was the level that both Dems and Republicans had once agreed would be more appropriate than the 30%+ baseline beforehand. He added that he would be “open” to new ideas, so long as they don’t require raising federal taxes on families earning less than $400K per year.
In a few weeks, Biden says, his administration will release the second half of the plan, the “American Family Plan,” the sister proposal to the “American Jobs Plan” introduced today.
Meanwhile, earlier this afternoon, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer came out in favor of lifting the $10,000 cap on state and local tax deductions, known as the “SALT deduction”. A group of northeastern House members warned earlier in the week that they would oppose the tax hikes needed to pay for the plan unless the deduction – introduced as part of the Trump tax plan – was scrapped.
While details of the plan were leaked ahead of time, investors will be watching closely to see how cyclicals, semiconductors and EV stocks to see how much of Biden’s plan has already been priced in. Notably, as one analyst pointed out, none of the following moved during or after Biden’s speech: Amazon, oil stocks, semiconductors, or the Chinese yuan. It’s an indication that the plan has either been priced in – or the market remains unconvinced that Biden will succeed in passing the plan in its current form. Speaking on CNBC after the unveiling, BofA’s Savita Subramanian said the market was pricing in “the good news” about infrastructure, and that the market is already pricing in $2 trillion in near-term stimulus.
However, “I don’t think the market has necessarily priced in the negatives, which is ‘how to pay for this’?” She added that we’re starting to hear more groans from investors about tax hikes.
She added that corporate earnings could see a five-percentage-point hit due to the revenue-raising aspects of the plan, which includes a minimum tax on corporation’s international earnings.
“We’re likely to see fiscal spend and infrastructure spending over a protracted period of time, whereas tax hikes hit immediately…that’s the risk…and the immediate hit of potential negatives.
Jobless Claims Higher Than Expected, Climbing to 719,000
Breitbart – New weekly jobless claims rose 61,000 to 719,000 for the week that ended March 27, the Department of Labor said Thursday.
Economists surveyed by Econoday had forecast a decline to 680,000 from the previous week’s initial estimate of 684,000. The previous week’s level was revised down by 26,000 from 684,000 to 658,000
Energy & Environment
Seagrasses Turn Back The Clock On Ocean Acidification
Health Impact News – Spanning six years and seven seagrass meadows along the California coast, a paper published today from the University of California, Davis, is the most extensive study yet of how seagrasses can buffer ocean acidification.
The study, published today in the journal Global Change Biology, found that these unsung ecosystems can alleviate low pH, or more acidic, conditions for extended periods of time, even at night in the absence of photosynthesis. It found the grasses can reduce local acidity by up to 30 percent.
“This buffering temporarily brings seagrass environments back to preindustrial pH conditions, like what the ocean might have experienced around the year 1750,” said co-author Tessa Hill, a UC Davis professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and Bodega Marine Laboratory.
Marine Forests
When picturing seagrasses, you might think of slimy grasses that touch your feet as you walk along the shoreline. But a closer look into these underwater meadows reveals an active, vibrant ecosystem full of surprises.
Sea turtles, bat rays, leopard sharks, fishes, harbor seals, seahorses, colorful sea slugs, are just some of the creatures that visit seagrass ecosystems for the food and habitat they provide. They are nursery grounds for species like Dungeness crab and spiny lobster, and many birds visit seagrass meadows specifically to dine on what’s beneath their swaying blades of grass.
“It’s a marine forest without trees,” said lead author Aurora M. Ricart, who conducted the study as a postdoctoral scholar at UC Davis Bodega Marine Laboratory and is currently at Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in Maine. “The scale of the forest is smaller, but all of the biodiversity and life that is in that forest is comparable to what we have in terrestrial forests.”
Night And Day
For the study, the scientists deployed sensors between 2014 and 2019, collecting millions of data points from seven seagrass meadows of eelgrass stretching from Northern to Southern California. These include Bodega Harbor, three locations in Tomales Bay, plus Elkhorn Slough, Newport Bay and Mission Bay.
Buffering occurred on average 65 percent of the time across these locations, which ranged from nearly pristine reserves to working ports, marinas and urban areas.
Despite being the same species, eelgrass behavior and patterns changed from north to south, with some sites increasing pH better than others. Time of year was also an important factor, with more buffering occurring during the springtime when grasses were highly productive.
Seagrasses naturally absorb carbon as they photosynthesize when the sun is out, which drives this buffering ability. Yet the researchers wondered, would seagrasses just re-release this carbon when the sun went down, canceling out that day’s buffering? They tested that question and found a welcome and unique finding:
“What is shocking to everyone that has seen this result is that we see effects of amelioration during the night as well as during the day, even when there’s no photosynthesis,” Ricart said. “We also see periods of high pH lasting longer than 24 hours and sometimes longer than weeks, which is very exciting.”
Northern California’s Bodega Harbor and Tom’s Point within Tomales Bay stood out as being particularly good at buffering ocean acidification. Pinpointing why and under what conditions that happens across varied seascapes remains among the questions for further study.
Science & Technology
Now Facebook and Instagram ‘non-person’ Trump: Platforms ban ex-President’s interview with daughter-in-law Lara where he signals he will run for President in 2024
Daily Mail – Facebook and Instagram have removed Donald Trump’s interview with his daughter-in-law Lara in another sign of the left-leaning Silicon Valley giant canceling the former president.
In the interview, Trump tore into social media and the mainstream media for suppressing the Hunter Biden laptop story, he criticized President Biden’s green agenda and railed against cancel culture which he said obliterates US culture.
It was for The Right View, Lara’s show. During the 18-minute interview, Trump also spoke about running for President again in 2024. Lara had been promoting it on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter beforehand.
At 9.26pm on Tuesday night, four minutes before it was due to be uploaded, Facebook emailed Lara’s team warning them that it would be removed if it went live. At 9.51pm, they emailed again to say that they’d taken it down.
Lara shared screenshots of the emails on Instagram afterwards. ‘And just like that, we are one step closer to Orwell’s 1984. Wow,’ she wrote alongside them.
Trump has been banned from Twitter, Facebook and Instagram since the January 6 riots, cut off from his supporters and unable to get messages to them in the way he did before.
In their email, the Facebook employee said that ‘content posted in the voice of President Trump is not currently allowed on our platforms (including new posts with President Trump speaking) and will be removed.
‘This guidance applies to all campaign accounts and Pages, including Team Trump, other campaign messaging vehicles on our platforms and former surrogates’.
Trump’s interview with Lara is the first time he has been seen on camera since he left office. Until now, he has been phoning in to FOX News to share his opinions.
The social media giant has not responded to inquiries about taking the video down, and it has not made any public statement.
Trump supporters are irate and say it’s further proof of big tech trying to silence anyone who doesn’t agree with them.
It Appears YouTube Is Removing ‘Dislikes’ on Videos Because Biden Is Terribly Disliked
Gateway Pundit – Is social media removing public dislike count totals because Joe Biden is so horribly disliked?
What is Joe Biden’s true number of dislikes? Has anyone received a worse ratio than Joe?
Yesterday it was reported that YouTube is working to remove the public dislike count total per the request of content creators.
We reported previously how Google and YouTube removed the number of dislikes on Biden’s White House videos:
Social media can’t let the world see how badly Biden is dispised after stealing the 2020 election.
The Democrats and those leading social media believe these vehicles were built to control people by pushing garbage narratives. They never counted on honest Americans using these vehicles to express real concerns, opinions, thoughts, and ideas.
Spanish stargazers discover a new hidden structure in the Milky Way, with clues to the building blocks of our DNA
RT – Spanish astronomers say they have completed the most accurate picture yet of the Milky Way and have discovered a huge new hidden structure made up of massive blue stars spanning 10,000 light-years.
Astronomers had already known that the Milky Way consists of great spiral arms of stars, but the scientists from Spain’s Centro de Astrobiología (CAB) put together the most detailed map yet of the Orion arm, where our solar system is, along with those of Perseus at the outer edge of the Milky Way, and Sagittarius, located towards the center of our galaxy.
They were able to detect the previously unknown region of our galaxy through observations form the European space Agency’s Gaia telescope and called it “the Cepheus spur.”
“The moment of discovery of the spur was curious,” Michelangelo Panteleoni Gonzalez, a lead researcher at CAB, told Spanish newspaper El Pais. “It wasn’t an explosive revelation, but there was something inside me that was transformed. It is what hooks you and what gives meaning to so much effort.”
He and colleague Jesus Maiz Apellaniz have published their findings in a paper to the Royal Astronomical Society.
They say it is a bridge of massive blue stars that spans a branch 10,000 light years in length, exits the spiral arm of Orion and connects to Perseus.
The study says the spur is a compact structure of stars that appears to have consistent motion and is located about 300 light years high above the midplane of the galaxy. Astronomers looking at other galaxies had observed similar height consistencies, but the pair’s discovery is the first time that it has been confirmed in our home galaxy.
“In the galactic map that we have drawn… an over-density of stars is observed in a space that was previously apparently empty,” said Panteleoni.
Blue stars are the largest, rarest and hottest stars in the galaxy. Of the estimated 400 billion stars in the Milky Way, less than one in a million is a blue star. While the surface of a star like the Sun is around 5,500 degrees Celsius, the temperatures on blue stars exceed 30,000C and are tens of times their mass.
Apellaniz and Pantaleoni said the blue stars are the most interesting objects in the universe because the nuclear reactions that occur inside them are particularly violent, making them factories where the largest elements in the universe are created.
“The elements that our planet is made of, such as silicon or phosphorous atoms in our DNA, mostly come from inside stars of this type that died billions of years ago,” Pantaleoni added.
Experts Question Whether It’s Legal That Utilities Can Spy on Customers with “Smart” Meters
Activist Post – Opposition to electric, gas, and water utility “Smart” Meters is worldwide. These meters are expensive, unnecessary, privacy invasive, and plagued with problems including outrageously high bills (see 1, 2, 3, 4), fires and explosions (see 1, 2, 3, 4).
“Smart” Meters are extremely profitable to utility companies though. Because they are 2-way wireless transmitting, utility companies may remotely turn off services and ration customer usage. The 2-way transmitting feature also allows them to collect minute-by-minute customer usage data 24/7 which they can analyze in order to market more products and services to customers as well as sell to 3rd parties (see 1, 2).
Experts in Ireland are evaluating whether the round-the-clock data collection is legal surveillance or not.
From The Independent.ie:
Experts question legality of ESB smart meters that could let State ‘spy on us’
Around 250,000 homes have had their electricity meters replaced with smart meters and 2.4 million homes will have them by 2024
The Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) has asked the ESB to address concerns over the gathering of information by electricity smart meters.
Legal experts have complained there is no legal basis for the collection, storage or use of the data.
They say it could be used by gardaí or revenue and welfare inspectors to monitor people’s movements and activities.
Traditional analog utility meters lasted on average 40 years, whereas customer rates are often increased for “Smart” Meter installation AND their frequent replacement (see 1, 2, 3, 4).
The 2-way transmitting transmitting feature also creates high levels of harmful electromagnetic radiation (see 1, 2, 3, 4). This has led to numerous reports over many years about health issues in people and animals after “Smart” Meters have been installed (see 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10).
More reprehensible details about “Smart” Grids and Meters are exposed in free online documentary, Take Back Your Power.
Health
Canadian Doctors Baffled by Mysterious Brain Disease
Newsmax – There have been dozens of cases of a mysterious, previously unknown brain disease that causes memory loss, hallucinations, and muscle atrophy striking Canadians. It can be deadly and doctors do not have a clue what causes the coniditon.
According to The Guardian, the neurological illness has doctors baffled and politicians demanding answers. In the province of New Brunswick alone, there have been 43 reported cases. Experts say the symptoms of the mystery disease mimic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), a rare, fatal brain disorder, according to a leaked memo from the province’s public health agency. CJD is caused by abnormally folded proteins called prions.
‘We are collaborating with different national groups and experts; however, no clear cause has been identified at this time,” said the memo. While the symptoms detected in these unusual cases are similar to CJD, diagnostic screening showed that the cause was not triggered by human prions.
“We don’t have evidence to suggest it is a prion disease,” said Dr. Alier Marrero, the lead investigator in New Brunswick. According to The Guardian, while researchers do not know the cause of the mysterious illness, they are looking into environmental factors such as water sources, plants, and insects.
“We don’t know what’s causing it,” said Marrero. “At this time, we only have more patients appearing to have this syndrome.” The neurologist said patients begin to experience unexplained pains, spasms, and behavioral changes. But as time progresses, they develop cognitive decline, muscle wasting, and other weird symptoms such as the feeling of insects crawling all over them. While only one such case of the mystery disease was confirmed in 2015, there have been dozens more each year and the numbers are rising. Researchers believe five people have died from the yet unnamed syndrome.
AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine triggers immune response that can cause fatal blood clots in the brain
NaturalNews – Two different groups of researchers from Europe believe they have identified why AstraZeneca’s Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine is causing blood clots in many people.
The two teams of researchers, one from Norway and another from Germany, independently came to the conclusion that the vaccine is triggering an autoimmune reaction, which causes blood to clot in the brain.
The researchers discovered this after multiple European countries temporarily halted and then resumed vaccinations with the AstraZeneca vaccine. The temporary halt was prompted by reports of dozens of vaccine recipients being diagnosed with a condition known as cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST). Most of the people affected by this were women under the age of 55. (Related: EU IN CRISIS: Deadly rollout of AstraZeneca vaccine destroys EU’s reputation, shatters image of unity within bloc.)
AstraZeneca vaccine can make the immune system respond violently
Pal Andre Holme, professor of hematology and chief physician of the Oslo University Hospital, headed the Norwegian investigation. Holme’s team was able to identify a certain antibody created by the AstraZeneca vaccine that triggered the thrombosis.
“Our theory is that this is a strong immune response that most likely comes after the vaccine,” said Holme. “There is no other thing than the vaccine that can explain why these individuals had this immune response.”
The German team was led by Andreas Greinacher, professor of transfusion medicine at the Greifswald University Hospital. This team, which coordinated with researchers from the United Kingdom, Ireland and Austria, came to the same conclusion as Holme.
In a statement, Greinacher said that vaccinated people who are at risk of developing CVST will show symptoms up to four days after vaccination, including headaches, dizziness and impaired vision. He also said that the condition can be quickly diagnosed with a blood test.
Over a dozen cases of CVST were detected in Germany, with at least three deaths. Greinacher said that “very, very few people” will develop CVST following a shot of AstraZeneca, “but if it happens, we now know how to treat the patients.”
After a healthcare worker diagnoses CVST, Greinacher said the condition can be treated in any hospital.
Norway and Germany restrict use of AstraZeneca vaccine
On Mar. 11, Norway temporarily suspended the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine. This was over a week before Holme announced the results of his study.
“This is a cautionary decision,” said Geir Bukholm, Director of Infection Prevention and Control at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, at a news conference held at the time. “We await information to see if there is a link between the vaccination and this case with a blood clot.”
On. Friday, Mar. 26, Bukholm announced that the institute would extend its suspension on AstraZeneca for three more weeks until Apr. 15.
“It is a difficult but correct decision to extend the pause for the AstraZeneca vaccine,” said Bukholm. “We believe it is necessary to carry out more investigations into these cases so we can give the best possible advice.
Germany was much more hesitant than Norway. Despite the clear conclusions of Greinacher’s investigation, the government initially said that it was sticking with its decision to use the AstraZeneca vaccine.
But the concerns never disappeared. On Tuesday, Mar. 30, after significant pressure Federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn, along with the regional health ministers of Germany’s 16 states, suspended the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine for people under the age of 60.
Germany’s vaccine commission, the Standing Committee on Vaccination at the Robert Koch Institute (STIKO), said it made the decision to freely issue the AstraZeneca vaccine only to people over the age of 60. It rationalized this decision “on the basis of currently available data on the occurrence of rare, but very serious thrombosis-related side effects.”
The federal health ministry said that Germans under the age of 60 can still receive the AstraZeneca vaccine “at the discretion of doctors, and after individual risk analysis and thorough explanation.”
Scientists find evidence of toxic chemicals in some face masks
Daily Mail – Scientists have found evidence that some face masks that are on sale and being used by members of the general public are laced with toxic chemicals.
Preliminary tests have revealed traces of a variety of compounds which are heavily restricted for both health and environmental reasons.
This includes formaldehyde, a chemical known to cause watery eyes; a burning sensations in the eyes, nose, and throat; coughing; wheezing; and nausea.
Experts are concerned that the presence of these chemicals in masks which are being worn for prolonged periods of time could cause unintended health issues.
Evidence obtained by Ecotextile News and shared with MailOnline reveals that although face masks should meet specific standards, not all do.
Masks have been mandated in much of the world as they are a highly effective way of preventing transmission of coronavirus particles.
But face coverings designed for use by the general public are not regulated and fail to meet the same standards as medical grade PPE.
Professor Michael Braungart, director at the Hamburg Environmental Institute, conducted tests on masks which had caused people to break out in rashes.
‘What we are breathing through our mouth and nose is actually hazardous waste,’ Professor Braungart said.
These used masks were found to contain formaldehyde and other chemicals.
Formaldehyde is the chemical which gives the ‘clean’ smell when a new pack of masks is opened. He also found aniline, a known carcinogen.
‘We found formaldehyde and even aniline and noticed that unknown artificial fragrances were being applied to cover any unpleasant chemical smells from the mask, he said.
‘In the case of the blue-coloured surgical masks, we found cobalt – which can be used as a blue dye.
‘All in all, we have a chemical cocktail in front of our nose and mouth that has never been tested for either toxicity or any long-term effects on health,’ he said.
The Many Health Benefits of Beans
Off Grid News – Left to my own devices, I would be a vegetarian. This wasn’t difficult for my husband and I when we lived in California. However, where we live now, it is not without its challenges. An island whose cuisine revolves around meat, for me oftentimes means substituting beans for the preferred sources of protein: pork or chicken. Prior to moving here, I had no clue there were so many beans in the world. I could name and cook maybe five or six of them. Today, I am thrilled to say, it’s a completely different story.
Beans don’t need to be something you think of as sloppy seconds to meat. Far more versatile than meat, it might surprise you how much you can dress up beans and how well they can complement any meal. As I have said in previous articles, open your mind and your taste buds will follow.
Health Benefits Of Beans 101
Beans are a type of legume, the large seeds of leguminous plants. There are dozens of varieties of beans in the world that grow naturally or through cultivation. People have been growing them for food since they first began farming, many a millennia ago. Today, with the exception of grains, people around the world get more of their calories from beans than they do from any other food.
Beans may not really be magic, but they can have seemingly magical effects on your health. Adding to their versatility and taste, beans are also one of the healthiest foods around; they are a low calorie, low sodium source of protein, fiber, antioxidants, and myriad other important nutrients. This means that a diet containing beans can promote everything from healthy weight loss to cancer, diabetes, and heart disease prevention, which continue to strike Americans at alarming rates.
A Dose of Dietary Fiber That Packs a Whopping Health Punch
Dietary fiber comes from plant foods, and is an important part of healthy eating. Beans are some of the best sources of dietary fiber in the food world, along with many vegetables, whole grains, some fruits, and other legumes.
Dietary fiber is divided into two groups consisting of fiber that is soluble in water and fiber that is not soluble. Soluble fiber forms a gel-like substance as it passes through the body. It also provides health benefits connected to cholesterol and blood sugar management. Insoluble fiber is the fiber that makes it easier for ingested matter to make its way through the digestive tract.
Fiber is often most closely associated with bowel regularity. It also serves other functions as well in maintaining our overall health. Besides regularity, fiber promotes the health and integrity of the bowels by preventing the development of hemorrhoids and diverticular disease. Fiber may also help to prevent other diseases of the colon. However, definitive research has not yet established an incontrovertible connection.
Soluble fiber is helpful in reducing cholesterol levels in the blood, specifically the levels of low-density lipoproteins. That’s “bad cholesterol” to you and me. Soluble fiber also causes the body to absorb sugar more slowly. This can help diabetics manage their blood sugar levels and lower the risk of Type II diabetes for people who do not yet have the disease.
Dietary fiber is defined as the parts of a plant that the human body is not able to digest and absorb as nutrients. This indigestibility is what makes insoluble fiber so beneficial to the bowels. It is also what makes fiber a good tool for weight loss. Fibrous foods tend to take longer to chew and swallow, and eating slowly allows your body time to register when you are full. Meals with large amounts of dietary fiber also tend to make you feel full faster and stay full longer so that you will eat less over the course of a day.
A Great Source of Protein
Protein is part of every single cell in the human body, from those that build our muscle tissue to those which form our vital organs. When we eat foods that contain protein, our bodies break it down into amino acids and use the amino acids to replace the proteins in our cells. Although our bodies are able to produce some amino acids on their own, a group of amino acids called essential amino acids must be taken in as food. When our diet contains insufficient amounts of protein, our bodies will begin to break down its own tissues in order to supply necessary amino acids elsewhere.
Since every single cell in the body contains protein, insufficient protein can lead to a very wide variety of health concerns. These health problems can range from minor problems such as alopecia and brittle hair, to serious concerns such blood disorders, muscle weakness, and impaired immune systems.
An Alternative to Red Meat
Unlike low calorie and low fat beans, many types of red meat contain a large amount of saturated fat. Saturated fat raises cholesterol levels in the blood. Excessive bad cholesterol is one of the most significant risk factors for heart disease.
Many people assume that it is necessary to eat a diet with large amounts of meat in order to get sufficient protein. However, ¼ cup of most beans contains the same amount of protein as an ounce of red meat. Some beans, such as soybeans, contain an even larger amount of protein than that slab of steak you were considering for dinner. Vegetarians, vegans, or just people who prefer to eat a minimum of red meat, will have no problem eating a healthy amount of protein if they include beans in their diet.
Best Foods for Antioxidants
Beans are a tremendous source of antioxidants. Antioxidants can give an incredible boost to your health by battling free radicals. Free radicals are chemicals that damage cells and genetic material by robbing them of electrons and causing them to become unstable. This weakens cells’ defenses against foreign invasion, and can result in more harmful mutations that might lead to cancer.
Antioxidants provide electrons to free radicals, and may help destabilized cells to heal themselves. Like amino acids, our bodies produce some antioxidants naturally, but rely on the food we eat to provide more. Each type of antioxidant has a different chemical composition. Therefore, it is necessary to eat a variety of antioxidant-rich foods in order to get the most benefit from their properties.
The United States Department of Agriculture analyzed the antioxidant levels of a wide variety of foods, and produced a list of 20 common foods with the highest levels of antioxidants. Red beans appeared first on this list, while kidney beans, pinto beans, and black beans came in at numbers three, four, and eighteen. Combining these varieties of bean with a range of the other antioxidant rich foods on the list will help ensure that you are getting the maximum benefit that they have to offer.
Other Health Benefits of Beans
Beans contain a compound called inositol hexaphosphate, which has shown promising results as an agent in the fight against cancer. The American Cancer Society provides an overview of inositol hexaphosphate, which claims that the compound inhibits tumor formation and shrinks existing tumors. Beans also contain another compound known as inositol pentakisphosphate, which early evidence suggests may also have cancer-fighting potential.
Beans are a good source of several important vitamins and minerals that our bodies must obtain through diet. They are a great source of folate, a vitamin that helps with cell function and new tissue growth. Beans also contain significant amounts of iron, the mineral that carries oxygen from our lungs to our cells. Magnesium is a mineral that aids in muscle contraction and relaxation, protein production, enzyme function, and energy transportation. Many people fail to get enough magnesium in their diets. Beans are one of the best sources of this mineral. Manganese is also found in beans, and is a component of many enzymes in the body. Finally, beans are a source of the electrolyte potassium, which aids our metabolism and many important body functions.
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