WORLD NEWS
Russian Military Says It Destroyed S-300 Missile Systems in Ukraine
The Russian military said on April 11 that it destroyed S-300 air defense missile systems provided by an unidentified European state to Ukraine’s military.
The Russian Defense Ministry said it struck a hangar “on the southern outskirts of the city of Dnepropetrovsk” that housed “equipment from an S-300 battery supplied to the Ukrainian regime by one of the European nations,” according to state-run media.
Moscow didn’t say how many of the S-300 systems, which were produced during the Soviet Union, were destroyed or damaged. It’s also not clear what country provided the S-300s to Ukraine.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov also said in a statement on April 11 that about two dozen Ukrainian soldiers also were targeted in the airstrike. The Russian military used Kalibr cruise missiles to carry out the attack, he said.
Last week, Slovakia, which shares a small border with Ukraine and is a member of NATO, announced it would donate one of its S-300 systems to Kyiv. The weapon system was provided to Slovakia when it formed the eastern half of Czechoslovakia during its Warsaw Pact days.
Unvaxxed Aussies Can’t Leave The Country Because Of Treaty With World Health Organization
Here’s a surprise for all you Australians trapped in Australia because you chose not to take part in a medical experiment. The reason you can’t leave is not for your own health. It’s not for the health of fellow Australians. It’s because we are “protecting the rest of the world”. This is a world where where fully vaccinated travellers have already spread Covid to every country on Earth and at least 72 countries are happy for you to turn up on their door with your tourist dollars and without a vaccine.
As Senator Rennick says: “I cannot for the life of me see the health risks in an unvaccinated person leaving the country.”
Paul Kelly, Australia’s Chief Medical Officer explained that it was due to Australia’s International Health Obligations. That’s an international treaty we signed because we’re a member of the WHO. As far as a quick search turns up, Australia, Canada and the UAE may be the only nations still banning their own citizens from leaving. In Canada, things are so inexplicable, the vaccinated don’t even need to do a test anymore. So people infected with Covid are free to fly in or out of Canada shedding virus everywhere. But healthy unvaccinated people “will need to be tested at the airport and again eight days after arrival, and isolate for 14 days.” Righto.
The Australian PM Scott Morrison keeps telling us he opposes mandates, yet he hasn’t said “boo” about this international treaty. Indeed, if the Australian government was set up as a subsidiary wing of Pfizer and Moderna, they could hardly have done more to lift profits
Below Senator Rennick asks Paul Kelly, Australia’s Chief Medical Officer, at the Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee why unvaccinated Australians can’t leave the country. It may take two repeat-viewings to get the message, there is no sunset clause on locking in the refuseniks.
Top US Diplomat Dispatched to Solomon Islands Over Chinese Security Pact: Report
A top U.S. diplomat is reportedly being dispatched to the Solomon Islands as concern mounts over a security agreement that would open the door for the Beijing regime to station troops and weaponry in the region.
Campbell, U.S. National Security Council coordinator for the Indo-Pacific, is set to travel to the Pacific nation this month, accompanied by Daniel Kritenbrink, assistant secretary of the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, according to Financial Times.
Diplomatic efforts have ramped up after details of the agreement were leaked on social media—alerting neighboring countries of the potential militarization of the region akin to the South China Sea.
Shanghai Lockdown: A Modern City Starves
Many of Shanghai’s 26 million residents are facing food shortages as the Chinese government’s strict COVID lockdowns have ground one of biggest and busiest cities in the world to a halt.
Scenes of residents rationing vegetables and begging local officials to allow them to search for food has cast a shadow on the Chinese government’s COVID response.
Shanghai residents across the city are scrambling for food, as empty grocery shelves, unreliable government provisions, and strained food delivery services make it hard to secure enough to eat.
Extreme lockdown conditions and censorship mean journalists can’t easily report from the ground, so many Shanghai residents have turned to social media for support, posting photos of their few remaining vegetables and videos of residents demanding that local health authorities allow them to leave their building to look for food.
“It’s the first time in my life I’ve had to worry about securing food,” the Financial Times quoted one Shanghai-based executive as saying. “Now, I’m worried we’ll run out of milk for our kids.”
One video posted to Chinese social media platform Weibo showed a drone flying through a Shanghai residential neighborhood, broadcasting to residents to remain in their homes.
Shanghai authorities have also forced children who have tested positive to quarantine separately from their parents if they test negative, a policy that has come under harsh scrutiny after parents spoke out about its devastating consequences.
U.S. NEWS, POLITICS & GOVERNMENT
At least 13 injured in Brooklyn subway shooting, undetonated devices found
At least 13 people were injured, including seven who were shot, when a suspect set off a smoke grenade and unleashed gunfire on a Brooklyn subway train during Tuesday morning rush hour, the NYPD and law-enforcement sources told The Post.
The bloody attack broke out around 8:30 a.m. on a Manhattan-bound N train at the 36th Street station in Sunset Park, where authorities discovered several undetonated devices, FDNY and police said.
The suspect, who was dressed in apparent construction garb similar to an MTA worker and donning a gas mask, according to a witness, is believed to have set off the smoke grenade moments before gunfire erupted, police sources told The Post.
Biden to tap ethanol to lower fuel prices as consumer prices continue to surge
U.S. President Joe Biden will unveil plans on Tuesday to extend the availability of higher biofuels-blended gasoline during the summer to curb soaring fuel costs and to cut reliance on foreign energy sources, senior administration officials said.
The move represents the administration’s latest attempt to tamp down inflation, which hit a new 40-year high on Tuesday L2N2W91K. Biden’s poll numbers have sagged under the weight of higher consumer costs and it is seen as a significant liability heading into the November mid-term elections.
The measure will allow Americans to keep buying E15, a gasoline that uses a 15% ethanol blend, from June 1 to Sept. 15. While E15 is only 10 cents cheaper on average and is less “energy dense,” meaning drivers would need to buy more fuel, it should still help lower fuel expenses, the officials told reporters on a call previewing the announcement.
Biden to Nominate ATF Director, Announce Order on ‘Ghost Guns’
President Joe Biden is set to make another nomination for director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and announce new executive actions restricting “ghost guns.”
The president is tapping former U.S. Attorney Steve Dettelbach to head the ATF. Biden’s previous nomination, David Chipman, was pulled back in September as Chipman found opposition from Senate Republicans and some Democrats.
Chipman’s history of gun control advocacy had him squaring off against gun rights groups.
Dettelbach was confirmed for his position as U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio in 2009. He also spent two decades as a prosecutor for the Department of Justice (DOJ), according to a White House “fact sheet.”
Dettelbach also ran an unsuccessful campaign for Ohio Attorney General during which he advocated for an assault weapons ban, according to the Ohio public radio station WOSU.
The top spot at the ATF has been mostly vacant since it became a Senate-confirmed position in 2006. The only person to serve as permanent ATF director since that time was Byron Todd Jones who filled the role from 2013 to 2015.
Biden is also set to announce Monday a final rule on ghost guns—unregistered firearms often built using a 3D printer.
Biden’s rule will require kits that can be used to build a gun to be registered as such. It also includes an effort to serialize ghost guns already in circulation. Additionally, Biden’s order will update serialization and background check laws for guns with split receivers and require firearms dealers to retain records for as long as their business is open.
President Joe Biden is set to make another nomination for director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and announce new executive actions restricting “ghost guns.”
The president is tapping former U.S. Attorney Steve Dettelbach to head the ATF. Biden’s previous nomination, David Chipman, was pulled back in September as Chipman found opposition from Senate Republicans and some Democrats.
Chipman’s history of gun control advocacy had him squaring off against gun rights groups.
Dettelbach was confirmed for his position as U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio in 2009. He also spent two decades as a prosecutor for the Department of Justice (DOJ), according to a White House “fact sheet.”
Dettelbach also ran an unsuccessful campaign for Ohio Attorney General during which he advocated for an assault weapons ban, according to the Ohio public radio station WOSU.
The top spot at the ATF has been mostly vacant since it became a Senate-confirmed position in 2006. The only person to serve as permanent ATF director since that time was Byron Todd Jones who filled the role from 2013 to 2015.
Biden is also set to announce Monday a final rule on ghost guns—unregistered firearms often built using a 3D printer.
Biden’s rule will require kits that can be used to build a gun to be registered as such. It also includes an effort to serialize ghost guns already in circulation. Additionally, Biden’s order will update serialization and background check laws for guns with split receivers and require firearms dealers to retain records for as long as their business is open.
Critics Raise Constitutional Objections to Biden’s ‘Ghost Gun’ Order
President Joe Biden’s planned order to clamp down on so-called ghost guns violates the U.S. Constitution, according to critics of the move.
The White House says ghost guns will be reined in through a final rule that bans manufacturing many versions of the guns, such as “buy build shoot” kits that enable people to assemble guns that don’t have serial numbers.
“Because ghost guns lack the serial numbers marked on other firearms, law enforcement has an exceedingly difficult time tracing a ghost gun found at a crime scene back to an individual purchaser,” the White House said, adding that another component is forcing gun dealers and gunsmiths who come into possession of guns without serial numbers to serialize them.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), one of the critics, said the plan goes against the Constitution.
“The Constitution does not authorize the federal government to prevent you from making your own firearm. This is a fact that has been recognized for 200+ years,” Massie wrote on Twitter.
He also pointed to Article 1, Section 1 of the document, which says that Congress makes laws, not the president.
Texas Clogs Ports of Entry as State Forces Attention on Illegal Immigration
More than 8,000 violations issued as Texas forces long delays at Mexican border: ‘A Mexican standoff’
Several ports of entry between Texas and Mexico have suffered major slowdowns in recent days as the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) began inspections as part of Gov. Greg Abbott’s border security plan.
DPS officers have conducted “enhanced commercial vehicle safety inspections” since April 6 at seven ports of entry—Brownsville, Los Indios, Pharr, Laredo, Eagle Pass, Del Rio, and El Paso. Texas has 28 land ports of entry with Mexico.
Significant slowdowns were recorded at the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge, with the wait time increasing by as much as four hours, according to real-time data captured on the Customs and Border Protection website. Laredo and Brownsville bridges experienced the same increase in wait time.
Wait time is recorded from when a vehicle passes the Mexican toll gate until it clears U.S. customs.
The DPS inspections are occurring on state roads just beyond the ports of entry, which backs up the line into Mexico.
FBI Memos Suggest Agency Had Moles in Media
Investigator Roger Charles was combing through records of the FBI’s Oklahoma City bombing investigation more than a decade ago, when he discovered a memo suggesting that someone working at ABC News provided a tip to the bureau a day after the deadly April 19, 1995, domestic terrorist attack.
It appeared that a senior ABC News journalist had been doubling as an FBI informant. The memo made a few headlines in 2011, but quickly passed through the news cycle with little impact and hardly any coverage by major outlets.
However, Charles’s discovery stoked the curiosity of his friend, attorney Jesse Trentadue. The Utah resident was suing the FBI for records related to his brother’s murder, and began filing requests in 2012 to see if the bureau had other informants in the media, as well as places such as congressional offices, courts, churches, other government agencies, and the White House.
Trentadue said the U.S. government’s response shocked him.
“I thought they’d come back and say, ‘We would never do that because that would be illegal and unconstitutional,’” he said. “Instead, they came back and said, ‘Yeah, we do that. We have manuals on that, but you can’t have them because of national security.’”
Lieutenant Governor of Texas Slams Radical Left’s Agenda to Disrupt Family
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said the battle over abortion and the sexualization of children K–2 in public schools was “a battle of those who believe that they are God and have control over life and death and even their sex and those who believe there is a Creator, who believe in God, believe in Jesus Christ.”
Patrick made his comments during a 15-minute phone interview at Dallas area radio station 660 AM “The Answer” on April 6.
“Whatever their denomination is and their faith is, they believe there is a higher power who decides life and a higher power who designed us as human beings,” Patrick said.
He also described the “radical left ideology” as the “Marxist, socialist agenda to disrupt the family.”
In a series of communications in 2022, Patrick has made known his concerns about primary school education, higher education, and abortion.
Previously, Patrick has advocated the revocation of tenure for professors hired by the Texas university system; he has vowed to review books in public school libraries promoting transgender identity; he has affirmed the so-called “Heartbeat Bill” that restricts abortions after about six weeks, and he has now framed the gender issue in early primary school education in religious terms.
On April 4, the lieutenant governor, who’s up for reelection in November, released a campaign email after the Walt Disney Company had objected to the recent Florida legislation restraining schools from teaching young children about sexual orientation or gender identity.
Disney said its goal was to see the Florida law repealed or defeated.
Patrick not only defended the Florida law’s implementation but said he wants to see it “enacted in Texas.”
“I will make this law a top priority in the next session,” Patrick wrote. “This issue will be addressed in our interim Education Committee Hearings under Parental Rights.”
Buffalo Officers Who Pushed 75-Year-Old Activist to the Ground Cleared by Arbitrator
Two police officers in Buffalo, New York, who were accused of using unnecessary force against an elderly protester in 2020 have been cleared by an arbitrator of wrongdoing.
Officers Robert McCabe and Aaron Torgalski acted to protect themselves and only acted after Martin Gugino, the protester, ignored multiple commands, arbitrator John Selchick wrote in a 43-page decision.
The situation unfolded at Niagara Square, where protesters were ordered to leave because of a city-ordered curfew.
According to testimony from several other officers, Gugino responded to the announcement of the looming curfew by saying he found the curfew to be a violation of his constitutional rights and he would have to be arrested because he wouldn’t comply.
“You might as well take me to jail now because I’m not leaving here, I’m going to jail one way or the other,” Gugino was said to have told one officer.
Most protesters left the area, although Gugino instead walked toward the approaching police emergency response team, of which McCabe and Torgalski were members. Body camera footage showed Gugino “walking straight to McCabe, with his left arm held by his side, holding a black object that looks like a motorcycle helmet, and holding in his outstretched right arm and hand what appears to be a cell phone,” Selchick wrote.
Gugino then moved the phone across McCabe before placing it near Torgalski’s arm.
Torgalski pushed Gugino with his arm, and McCabe used a baton to push Gugino, who stumbled backward before falling.
The interaction lasted about five seconds.
While many components affect the price of gasoline, two leading factors contributing to the energy crisis the United States is facing are the many years of Democrat-backed anti-fracking policies and President Joe Biden’s pledge to wean America off fossil fuels, says Jerry Simmons, president and CEO of Domestic Energy Producers Alliance.
“Joe Biden, the candidate, over and over again, he said, ‘We’re going to do away with fossil fuels, we’re going to end oil and gas,’” Simmons told NTD’s “Capitol Report,” discussing the effects of such policies on the cost of fuel at the pump.
Before the global energy situation grew more dire following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the resulting blacklisting of Russian oil, most countries around the world were already experiencing pandemic-related shortages of oil.
OPEC+ was restricting oil supply, and despite U.S. calls to increase output, the global body decided to keep supply unchanged given uncertainty over demand due to the ongoing emergence of new COVID-19 variants.
Takeover Speculation Grows After Elon Musk Turns Down Twitter Board Seat
Elon Musk will no longer join Twitter’s board of directors, the social network has officially announced.
Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal confirmed on April 10 that Musk would continue to be the company’s largest shareholder, adding that the tech giant will accept his input.
“We were excited to collaborate and clear about the risks. We also believed that having Elon as a fiduciary of the company where he, like all board members, has to act in the best interests of the company and all our shareholders was the best path forward,” Agrawal said in a statement.
He didn’t indicate why Musk changed his mind, but Agrawal told company employees that “there will be distractions ahead but our goals and priorities remain unchanged.”
Musk, who controls a 9.2 percent stake in Twitter, would have officially been appointed to the board on April 9. However, recent regulatory filings showed that he had declined to accept the appointment.
Challenge to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene Candidacy Might Move Forward
A left-wing group’s challenge to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-Ga.) candidacy in this year’s elections based on claims she violated the Constitution’s Disqualification Clause by engaging in a supposed insurrection against the U.S. government may be allowed to move forward, a federal judge indicated.
This insurrection supposedly culminated in the Jan. 6, 2021 security breach at the U.S. Capitol in which supporters of then-President Donald Trump delayed the congressional certification of the 2020 presidential election results for several hours. Democrats and some Republicans characterize the disturbance, from which some elected officials took cover, as an insurrection or coup attempt aimed at overthrowing the U.S. government, a claim that has been adamantly denied by Trump and his supporters.
Greene, an outspoken supporter of former President Donald Trump, represents Georgia’s 14th congressional district. Greene is known for making strongly worded, often controversial statements.
Supporters of a nonprofit called Free Speech for People filed a challenge (pdf) March 24 with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican. The challenge alleged Greene “aided and engaged in an insurrection to obstruct the peaceful transfer of presidential power, disqualifying her from serving as a Member of Congress under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment and rendering her ineligible under state and federal law to be a candidate for such office.”
The rarely invoked Disqualification Clause in Section 3 of the 14th Amendment was enacted in the wake of the Civil War to keep former Confederates out of Congress.
Raffensperger referred the challenge to the state’s administrative court, the Office of State Administrative Hearings (OSAH), which assigned the case to Administrative Law Judge Charles Beaudrot. On April 3, Greene moved to dismiss the challenge. A hearing before Beaudrot is scheduled for April 13.
But on April 1, Greene also filed a federal lawsuit seeking to halt the challenge on constitutional grounds. The petition in the case, Greene v. Raffensperger, court file 1:22-cv-01294, was filed in U.S. District Court in Atlanta.
On April 8, U.S. District Judge Amy Totenberg of the Northern District of Georgia reportedly said during a hearing on the federal suit that she has “significant questions and concerns” regarding a recent ruling in a similar case that blocked a Disqualification Clause-based challenge against Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.).
Totenberg was appointed by then-President Barack Obama and is the sister of NPR legal correspondent Nina Totenberg. The judge said she will rule on the matter this upcoming week, possibly April 11, which is two days before the state-level hearing before Beaudrot.
The challenge brought by Free Speech for People claims Greene cannot serve in Congress because “before, on, and after January 6, 2021, Greene voluntarily aided and engaged in an insurrection to obstruct the peaceful transfer of presidential power, disqualifying her from serving as a Member of Congress under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment and rendering her ineligible under state and federal law to be a candidate for such office.”
USPS Stops Service to Santa Monica Neighborhood Following Attacks on Mail Carriers
One neighborhood in Santa Monica will not be receiving postal service from the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) until further notice after “multiple carriers have been subjected to assaults and threats of assault from an individual who has not been located or apprehended,” according to a postal letter sent out to residents alerting them of the change.
Santa Monica residents located on the 1300 block of 14th Street received a USPS letter on April 7 which read, “the safety of our employees and of the mail they deliver to you is our highest concern. Until we can ensure the safety of both, delivery services will remain suspended.”
It’s unclear when the services for paper mail will resume, but private carriers are still delivering packages to the neighborhood.
Residents in the neighborhood are encouraged to pick up their mail at the post office on 7th Street.
Only one assault has been officially reported, according to a CBS report, and the victim did not press charges. But a USPS spokesperson said there have been three separate incidents with three different carriers in the neighborhood over the last few months.
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the law enforcement branch of the USPS, told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement that they are “aware of the recent reports of suspicious activity towards Postal Carriers in Santa Monica, California.”
“Postal Inspectors are currently investigating the incidents and are unable to comment further at this time,” a U.S. Postal Inspection Service spokesperson said. “Postal Inspectors encourage anyone who observes suspicious activity involving U.S. Mail to report it to local police and to Postal Inspectors at 1-877-876-2455.”
Judge Calls Jan. 6 Misdemeanor Actions ‘Nothing Short of Insurrection’ and Jails Trio
A federal judge sentencing a Missouri man on a petty misdemeanor charge for his actions at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 told him that he and his two companions were guilty of insurrection.
Before he pronounced sentence on Paul S. Westover, 53, of Lake St. Louis, U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg said, “What you and others did on Jan. 6 was nothing short of insurrection in an attempt to topple the government that had been lawfully and legally elected, and maintain in power those who had lost the election.”
Westover was part of a trio of Missourians photographed holding a piece of a wooden sign from the office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California).
Democrat NY Lt Gov Benjamin Arrested in Campaign Donation Scheme
New York Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin, whose seven months in that role has been overshadowed by probes into a previous campaign, was arrested Tuesday in a federal corruption investigation.
The U.S. Attorney’s office said Benjamin was arrested on charges of bribery, honest services wire fraud and falsification of records.
Benjamin, formerly a state senator from Harlem, had joined the administration of Gov. Kathy Hochul in September, chosen by her to fill her former job a couple of weeks after she stepped into the governorship following the resignation of former Gov. Andrew Cuomo over sexual harassment allegations.
But just over two months later, a real estate developer who steered campaign contributions toward Benjamin’s failed bid for New York City comptroller was indicted.
Federal authorities accused Gerald Migdol, a lawyer and real estate developer in New York, of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft in illegally giving donations to Benjamin’s campaign.
In an indictment unsealed Tuesday, Benjamin was accused of participating in a scheme to obtain campaign contributions from a real estate developer in exchange for Benjamin’s agreement to use his influence as a state senator to get a $50,000 grant of state funds for a nonprofit organization the developer controlled.
The indictment said the scheme operated from 2019 to 2021.
The indictment said Benjamin and others acting at his direction or on his behalf also engaged in a series of lies and deceptions to cover up the scheme.
They falsified campaign donor forms, misled municipal regulators and provided false information in vetting forms Benjamin submitted while he was being considered to be appointed as lieutenant governor, the indictment said.
Prosecutors had previously not made any accusations against Benjamin, and his campaign said at the time of Migdol’s arrest that it had forfeited any improper donations as soon as they were discovered.
More recently, reports came out saying subpoenas had been issued to Benjamin regarding the financial issues even before Hochul picked him as lieutenant governor.
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
White House says it expects inflation to be ‘extraordinarily elevated’ in new report
The Biden administration is bracing for the Labor Department’s consumer price index report to show that inflation is “extraordinarily elevated.”
The consumer price index, or CPI, is one of Wall Street’s favorite ways to measure inflation. The CPI reading for March 2022 is due out Tuesday morning.
“We expect March CPI headline inflation to be extraordinarily elevated due to Putin’s price hike,” said White House press secretary Jen Psaki.
The February reading showed the benchmark index rose 7.9% over the last 12 months, the highest level since 1982.
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WATCH — Man Arrested for Allegedly Putting Sticker Criticizing Biden on Gas Pump: ‘I Did That!’
A man in Pennsylvania faces charges after being accused of putting stickers blasting President Joe Biden on a gas pump during an incident caught on video.
“Thomas Richard Glazewski, 54, of Manor Township has been charged with resisting arrest, disorderly conduct, harassment, and criminal mischief,” Fox 4 KC reported Thursday.
HEALTH
50% of Women Had a False-Positive Mammogram After 10 Years
Data once again show mammograms don’t deliver on the promise of effective breast cancer screening as more than half of women in one study had a false positive after 10 years of testing
In addition to the added risk from radiation in mammograms that triggers fatal cancer in up to 25 of 100,000 women, the screening does not efficiently identify all cancers, especially in women with dense breasts
Women have choices for screening that do not involve radiation, including thermography, ultrasound and clinical breast examination
They can also practice healthy lifestyle choices to reduce risk and maintain optimal levels of omega-3 fatty acid and vitamin D
Is This Bathroom Staple Dangerous?
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 40% of children between the ages of 3 and 6 use potentially dangerous amounts of toothpaste
The CDC and American Dental Association (ADA) recommend using no more than a pea-sized amount for children in this age group, and those younger than 3 should use no more than the size of a rice grain on their toothbrush
Fluoride-containing toothpastes have a warning on their label stating that “If you accidentally swallow more than used for brushing, seek professional help or contact a poison control center immediately”
While swallowing toothpaste is recognized as a cause for concern, health officials say drinking fluoridated water not only is safe, but beneficial for your teeth
Fluoridated water is a far more significant source of fluoride exposure than toothpaste. Research shows the prevalence of dental fluorosis among 10- to 12-year-olds in three Ecuadorian provinces is nearly 90%; a positive statistical relationship was found between dental fluorosis and consumption of bottled beverages
COVID RELATED NEWS
Biden Administration Seeking to Reinstate Federal Vaccine Mandate
The Biden administration on Monday asked an appeals court to reinstate the federal vaccine mandate following a critical legal victory last week, while the White House’s COVID-19 coordinator said they were willing to prolong the mask mandate based on a CDC decision.
A divided U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit panel reversed a January nationwide injunction order by Judge Jeffrey Brown—appointed to the District Court for the Southern District of Texas by former President Donald Trump—ruling that the federal judge did not have jurisdiction in the case. The panel added that those seeking a challenge should have pursued administrative remedies under civil service law.
The 2–1 win paves the way toward the reinstatement of the federal vaccine mandate, while the Justice Department has requested the New Orleans-based appellate court to take “appropriate steps so that the government may resume implementation and enforcement” of the mandate.
The judgment is set to take effect on May 31 but the recent request would move up the timeline for a speedy mandate renewal. The department argued that the urgency is “justified by the serious ongoing harm to the public interest and to the government.”
Thousands Protest Vaccine Mandates at Los Angeles Rally
Thousands of people packed Grand Park in downtown Los Angeles on Sunday to cheer on truckers, doctors, nurses, firefighters, police officers, and educators fighting against COVID-19 vaccine mandates.
Speakers at the event included dozens of big names in the battle against the mandates, including lead truckers in The People’s Convoy Brian Brase and Mike Landis.
“So, we started in California, and weee’re baaackk,” Landis said.
The convoy left Adelanto, California on Feb. 23, and arrived in the Washington, D.C.-area in early March. The truckers are planning to stay in Southern California for most of the week and head to Sacramento next weekend in time for a protest on April 18.
California, NY Failed in Handling COVID-19, Florida Among the Best: Report
California and New York handled COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions the worst, according to a new report.
Other than New York and California, New Jersey and Illinois—all Democrat-led states—were among the worst in dealing with COVID-19, said a study from the conservative Committee To Unleash Prosperity, a conservative-leaning group.
“Shutting down their economies and schools was by far the biggest mistake governors and state officials made during COVID, particularly in blue states,” Stephen Moore, a co-founder of the Committee to Unleash Prosperity, told Fox News on Monday, adding that the bottom states in the report had the most severe pandemic restrictions. “We hope the results of this study will persuade governors not to close schools and businesses the next time we have a new virus variant.”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, and former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, all Democrats, directed states that “had high age-adjusted death rates; they had high unemployment and significant GDP losses, and they kept their schools shut down much longer than almost all other states,” the report found. Cuomo resigned last August and was replaced by Democrat Kathy Hochul.
“The study verifies other studies which have found that locking down businesses, stores, churches, schools, and restaurants had almost no impact on health outcomes across states,” the report found. “States with strict lockdowns had virtually no better performance in COVID death rates than states that remained mostly open for business.”
According to the report, cited by Fox, 13 of the 15 top-performing states were governed by Republicans. Montana, which was counted among those states, had a Democrat governor until after the 2020 election.
Fauci: Now Up to Americans to Assess Their Own COVID-19 Risk
White House chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci said it’s now up to Americans to determine their own COVID-19 risk, after months of promoting government- and corporate-backed restrictions.
“This is not going to be eradicated, and it’s not going to be eliminated,” Fauci told ABC’s “This Week” about the CCP virus, which causes COVID-19. “And what’s going to happen is that we’re going to see that each individual is going to have to make their calculation of the amount of risk that they want to take.”
Now Americans should consider factors such as age, vaccination status, or whether they’re immunocompromised in some way.
“What is my age?” Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since the mid-1980s, asked rhetorically on the ABC show. “Do I have people at home who are vulnerable that, if I bring the virus home, there may be a problem?”
Fauci also said that now Americans are “going to have to live with some degree of virus in the community,” adding that “the best way to mitigate that is to get vaccinated. If you’re not, to get boosted if you’re eligible to be boosted.”
Fauci’s comments contrast with ones he’s made throughout the pandemic. In numerous media appearances, Fauci has often issued dire predictions and has called for government-instituted rules and other lockdowns—often drawing criticism from Republicans and other groups.
“Dr. Fauci is finally coming around to what we’ve all known for a while,” Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), one of the critics, wrote in response. “We must learn to live with COVID and assess individual risk.”
Lockdowns, Not The Pandemic, Created Havoc
It may be years before we fully realize the ramifications of the lockdown policies governments around the world have imposed on their citizens in response to covid-19, but evidence of the costs is starting to trickle in.
A recent study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) surveyed thousands of high school students on the effects of the pandemic. “Since the beginning of the pandemic,” the study reports, “more than half of students found it more difficult to complete their schoolwork (66%) and experienced emotional abuse by a parent or other adult in their home (55%),” which correlated heavily with students who “experienced insecurity via parental job loss (29%), personal job loss (22%), and hunger (24%).”
A related CDC study, released the same day, examined the effects the pandemic has had on the mental health of high school students. It found that “during the 12 months before the survey, 44.2% experienced persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness, 19.9% had seriously considered attempting suicide, and 9.0% had attempted suicide.”
These findings should be no surprise. Only a few months into the pandemic, the CDC’s morbidity and mortality report surveyed people of all ages regarding substance abuse and suicidal thoughts, and young people showed the most dramatic increase compared with precovid surveys. This report was all but ignored, of course, as the demagogues in politics and the media predicted Armageddon if the world didn’t embrace their draconian isolation policies.
You Cannot Boost Your Way Through COVID
A preprint study posted April 3, 2022, reports high rates of infection with BA.1, BA.1.1 and BA.2 — variants of Omicron — among triple-jabbed health care workers. In all, the incidence rate among the triple-jabbed with one of these variants was 22%, and only 10% remained asymptomatic
March 29, 2022, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized a second booster (dose No. 4, for those taking Pfizer or Moderna) for adults over age 50, as well as a third booster (dose No. 5) for immunocompromised people aged 12 and older. The additional boosters are to be given four months after the last dose
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is also recommending adults who have received two doses of Janssen’s viral vector DNA shot to get a third shot using either Pfizer or Moderna, despite there being no data on the safety or effectiveness of mixing the various shots
FDA authorized doses 4 and 5, without input from its expert voting panel, based on data showing the Moderna shot was only 11% effective, and caused side effects in 40% of recipients, and the Pfizer shot was 30% effective and caused side effects in 80% of people
The lead author of that paper, Dr. Gili Regev-Yochay, an infectious disease specialist at Sheba Medical Center in Tel HaShomer, Israel, has publicly stated that “Not a third dose, not a fourth dose, not a fifth dose will do anything to stop infections [long-term]”
Biden Administration Considers Extending Mask Mandate for Airplanes
An extension on the federal mask mandate on airplanes and in airports is being considered, White House COVID-19 coordinator Ashish Jha said on April 11, even as cases and hospitalizations around the United States have dropped significantly in recent months.
Jha, who was named to the position last month after Jeff Zients’s departure, told the NBC’s “Today” show that an extension of the months-long mask mandate is “absolutely on the table.” Mask mandates have been dropped nearly everywhere, including in Democrat-led cities earlier this year.
The decision on whether to keep the mask mandate intact will ultimately be made by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Jha said, adding that the agency is “developing a scientific framework” in the near future.
When pressed about the decision, Jha said that CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky will “make her decision based on the framework that the CDC scientists create.”
In March, the CDC said it would extend the mask mandate for airports and airplanes until April 18. The mandate was created in a January 2021 order that was issued by the federal health agency.
“During that time, CDC will work with government agencies to help inform a revised policy framework for when, and under what circumstances, masks should be required in the public transportation corridor. This revised framework will be based on the COVID-19 community levels, risk of new variants, national data, and the latest science. We will communicate any updates publicly if and/or when they change,” the agency said in a statement last month.
Recently, 20 states joined Florida in its lawsuit (pdf) against the federal government’s mask mandate.
“The CDC must consider the measures that States and their subdivisions have implemented and specifically consider their adequacy to control the interstate spread of COVID-19. The mere assertion that mask mandates are the only appropriate measure is inadequate,” a section of the 31-page lawsuit reads.
769 Athletes Have Collapsed During Competition In Past Year Alone
Over the past year-plus, athletes across the world have been dropping like flies as they compete in games. If they aren’t passed out cold, they are seen gripping their chests in agony, unable to breathe due to sudden cardiac events that hit in the heat of the competition.
This wave of heart issues is unprecedented, to say the least. Never before have we seen young, healthy, world-class athletes experiencing heart issues en masse like this. It has never happened, ever. Furthermore, the timing of this sweeping phenomenon could not be more relevant, coinciding perfectly with the rollout of the experimental Covid-19 vaccines.
In December nearly 300 athletes reportedly collapsed or suffered cardiac arrests after taking the COVID vaccines.
But it gets worse. Thanks to a new explosive report by OAN that pegs the number of affected athletes in the hundreds.
In all, their investigation found a jaw-dropping 769 men and women who collapsed with heart issues during competition over the past year (between March 2021 and March 2022).
Most shockingly, the average age of those who experienced full-blown cardiac arrest was just 23.
Considering the timing of this never-before-seen issue in healthy athletes, and the universal push for Covid jabs, all signs point to one culprit: the experimental vaccine.
The Ins and Outs of Covid Vaccine Safety
Commentary
At the time of FDA approval for any vaccine, it is impossible to know whether it causes rare, unexpected serious adverse reactions. More than a year after the Covid vaccine approvals, we should have that information, but we do not. This is a serious problem.
If the vaccines are mostly safe, people need to know that, so they do not hesitate to get vaccinated. If there are serious safety issues, people need to know that, so they can properly weigh the risks and benefits, which vary by age. This failure has forced people to make their decisions based on anecdotal evidence. It has also led to less trust in CDC and the FDA. Unfortunately, this distrust extends beyond the Covid vaccines to other vaccines as well.
Over the last two decades, I worked closely with the CDC and the FDA to help design the systems used to track vaccine safety after FDA approval. During the pandemic, the FDA and CDC have not used the systems optimally and journalists and the public understand them poorly.
This essay describes the vaccine safety surveillance systems, what they can and cannot accomplish, how they have been used to evaluate the two mRNA Covid vaccines (Pfizer and Moderna), and how they can answer the important vaccine safety questions that we need urgent answers to.
CANCEL CULTURE
Winning in Waukesha: Conservative Candidates Oust Three Incumbent School Board Members
‘We need strong school boards that are holding the administration and those responsible for curriculum and library books accountable.’
Fed up with critical race theory, sexually explicit textbooks, and forced masking in public schools, dissatisfied parents have been recalling school board members and vowing to replace others with people who will stand up for parental rights. Now, in what seems to be a growing trend, parents are fighting back and winning in Waukesha, Wisconsin, where conservative candidates ousted three incumbent school board members.
On April 5, Waukesha’s voters elected Marquell Moore, Mark Borowski, and Karrie Kozlowski as members of the Waukesha County School Board. The Epoch Times reached out to each of the winners to find out what motivated them to run, what they believe needs to be fixed, and how they propose to make improvements in their school district.
Twitter Bans Clinton Accuser Juanita Broaddrick: Company
Juanita Broaddrick, a woman who accused former President Bill Clinton of sexual assault, was blocked from using Twitter over the weekend after making a post about a COVID-19 vaccine, according to the company.
Broaddrick had amassed hundreds of thousands of followers on the social media website after she again made headlines in 2016 for criticizing the former president during the 2016 campaign between then-candidate Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. Broaddrick endorsed Trump, and Trump often retweeted her posts in October 2016—with just weeks to go before the election.
Twitter told Broaddrick, who had 520,000 followers, that it locked her account for “violating the policy on spreading misleading and potentially harmful information related to COVID-19,” Twitter told Fox News. As of April 11, her account was still suspended.
“Account suspended … Twitter suspends accounts that violate the Twitter Rules,” her page reads.
Twitter also stated that she needs to delete the post in order to regain access to her account, she said.
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