WORLD NEWS
World Economic Forum Promotes Smart City Governance
Led by the World Economic Forum, the G20 Global Smart Cities Alliance on Technology Governance is the largest global initiative aiming at ensuring responsible and ethical use of smart city technologies.
It is developing, testing, and implementing global standards and policies to ensure that data collected in public places is used safely and ethically, mitigate potential risks and foster public trust.
Representing more than 200,000 cities and local governments, companies, start-ups, research institutions and non-profit organizations, the Alliance is leading numerous initiatives in more than 36 pioneer cities around the world focusing on smart city governance through mobility, administration, infrastructure, energy, as well as cultural and creative industries.
Istanbul, Kampala, Milan and Newcastle, for example, are sponsoring the Dig Once initiative to ensure that digital infrastructures are integrated into construction projects, speeding up their installation and reducing inconvenience for citizens.
Mexico City and Milan are increasing their cyber accountability to ensure transparency and build citizens confidence on cybersecurity measures taken by the public administration.
Apeldoorn, Bogota and Istanbul are implementing new Privacy Impact Assessment models to ensure citizens’ personal data are protected and processed securely.
Canada: Govt Worker Suggests Veteran Get Euthanised to Treat PTSD
A Canadian armed forces veteran with a brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was offered medically-assisted suicide by a Veterans Affairs Canada employee while seeking treatment.
The veteran, who has not been named, is said to have sought help for his brain injury and PTSD at Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC), a government agency that offers a variety of programmes for veterans, including mental health services.
The veteran claims that an employee of the VAC causally suggested to him that the government could help him with what they call medically assisted dying (MAID) during their conversation, despite the veteran not expressing any prior interest, broadcaster Global News reports.
The broadcaster, which claims multiple sources have confirmed the conversation took place, said VAC later apologised to the veteran in question after he complained to them several times about the conversation.
VAC also released a statement in which it claimed it “deeply regrets what transpired” and that “appropriate administrative action will be taken”.
U.S. NEWS, POLITICS & GOVERNMENT
Judge Orders Government to Produce Redacted Version of Trump FBI Search Warrant Affidavit
A federal judge on Aug. 18 ordered government officials to give him a redacted version of a key document that led to the approval of the search warrant executed by FBI agents on former President Donald Trump’s home in Florida.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart will review the proposed redactions and decide if they are appropriate.
Reinhart heard from government lawyers, which oppose the release of the version of the affidavit, and attorneys representing media outlets, which are calling for the release of the document, during a hearing in federal court on Aug. 18.
Reinhart said during the hearing that there may be information in the affidavit that is so sensitive that he will decide if it should remain hidden from the public.
Affidavits are sworn statements commonly filed in court cases. In this case, the affidavit outlined reasons why Reinhart should approve a search warrant. Reinhart, who recently recused himself from a case involving Trump’s lawsuit against Hillary Clinton, approved the warrant on Aug. 5. He also approved the unsealing of the warrant and some related documents, after the government and Trump’s team aligned on supporting the release.
Those documents showed that government officials believe Trump violated several laws, including one that prohibits destroying, altering, or falsifying certain records.
An inventory showed FBI agents seized classified records from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, but Trump has said that he had declassified the records and asked the government for all of them back. Agents didn’t list taking passports, but apparently left with three, only to return them soon after Trump requested them back.
Data Shows Number of Low-Income Audits Could Triple as IRS Grows
The IRS audited 197 low-income families for every high-wealth family in 2019, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO)—a number that some experts expected to climb under an IRS turbocharged with more money and manpower.
Over the next decade, the Democrat’s new “Inflation Reduction Act” will provide the IRS with 87,000 new agents and $80 billion in funding, with nearly $46 billion earmarked for enforcement.
According to the Congressional Budget Office, the tax and spend bill is projected to bring in $203.7 billion in revenue from 2022 to 2031.
President Joe Biden’s administration has promised no new taxes or audits on households making less than $400,000 per year.
But experts say that promise may be hard to keep.
A previous CBO analysis using a similar funding plan featured in the Inflation Reduction Act found audit rates would be restored to levels around 10 years ago. The analysis showed the audit rates would rise for all taxpayers, but the ones with higher incomes would face the biggest increase.
The oldest data available in the 2022 GAO report released this year was for 2010. That’s when the IRS was better funded and staffed with some 95,000 full-time employees.
From 2010–2019, the IRS audited 0.9 percent across all income groups compared to 0.25 percent now.
Rachel Greszler, a budget and entitlements senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, told The Epoch Times that even returning to the 2010 audit levels for those making more than $400,000 per year, would still fall short of the IRS’s revenue goal.
“My rough estimate shows that returning to the 2010 audit levels for all income groups would only generate a little over 20 percent of the bills’ estimated enforcement revenues in 2031,” she said.
In her commentary on the Heritage Foundation’s website Aug. 12, Greszler wrote the numbers don’t add up using 2019 data either without the lower- and middle-class.
Even increasing recent audit rates 30-fold for taxpayers making over $400,000—including 100 percent audit rates on taxpayers with incomes over $10 million—still would fall more than 20 percent short of raising the estimated $35.3 billion in new revenues by 2031, she wrote.
So it stands to reason that taxpayers can expect audit rates more like those about a decade ago.
Trump Says He Declassified FBI Crossfire Hurricane Materials in January 2021
Former President Donald Trump on Thursday posted on social media that he declassified materials in late 2020 relating to the FBI’s controversial Crossfire Hurricane investigation into his 2016 campaign.
The former president noted in two Truth Social posts that in October 2020, he wrote on his now-deleted Twitter account, “I have fully authorized the total Declassification of any & all documents pertaining to the single greatest political CRIME in American History, the Russia Hoax,” adding, “Likewise, the Hillary Clinton Email Scandal. No redactions!”
Trump on Thursday also made reference to a memorandum issued on Jan. 19, 2021—a day before President Joe Biden’s inauguration—to declassify “certain materials” relating to the Crossfire Hurricane investigation, which was launched in July 2016 to investigate claims of Russian interference in the election. Years later, special counsel Robert Mueller concluded that the investigation found no evidence showing Trump or his campaign coordinated with Moscow to sway the election.
It was later revealed that Crossfire Hurricane was based partially on a series of notes and memos concocted by former UK spy Christopher Steele—known as the “Steele dossier”—while he was performing opposition research for a third party on behalf of the Clinton presidential campaign and Democrats. A number of allegations in his dossier have since been discredited by federal law enforcement officials.
It’s not exactly clear why Trump posted about his memo to declassify some documents relating to the Crossfire Hurricane investigation.
Both the Department of Justice and FBI have issued few comments about the raid since it was carried out, with Attorney General Merrick Garland confirming last week that he personally authorized seeking a warrant in the case.
Last week, the judge who approved the FBI search warrant of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago unsealed the warrant and property receipt, showing agents recovered alleged classified and top-secret documents, although no information has been provided about them so far by either Trump’s team or the federal government.
Lawyers for Trump and Republicans have called for the Justice Department’s affidavit seeking the FBI search warrant to be unsealed. The move would reveal the federal agency’s justification to carry out the raid and what FBI agents were searching for at Mar-a-Lago.
Trump Attorney Confirmed FBI Raided Melania Trump’s Closet, Couldn’t ‘Observe’ Them
Former President Donald Trump’s attorney, Christina Bobb, said that FBI agents searched former First Lady Melania Trump’s closet during its raid of Mar-a-Lago last week.
Bobb told Newsmax that she “wasn’t allowed to observe what they were doing or see really any part of the raid” when the agents went into her close.
The agents “told me I have no legal standing to be there,” Bobb said. “Those were the words they gave to me. We argued over whether that was true or not, and I explained to them … it’s better for you to allow me to observe because then I can’t say, ‘They kept me out and wouldn’t let me observe.’”
“I don’t think anybody just takes the word of the FBI anymore,” she continued. “But they seem to be OK with that risk.”
Last week, former President Trump wrote on Truth Social that agents entered and rummaged through Melania’s closet, appearing to confirm prior reports from the New York Post.
The FBI and Department of Justice have not issued public statements on the claims that agents went into her closet. The Epoch Times has contacted the FBI and a Justice Department spokesperson for comment.
The FBI told Bobb “that they did take some attorney-client privileged information and possibly other privileged documents,” she claimed to Newsmax on Tuesday. Regarding those documents, Bobb said she is still “waiting for an explanation.”
“If [the federal government] actually had something, at the very least, they would have held a press conference resolving a lot of these questions in Americans’ minds, and they haven’t even done that,” Bobb said. “I don’t think they have anything.”
Trump Organization CFO Pleads Guilty to Tax Evasion: Lawyer
Allen Weisselberg, a longtime Trump Organization CFO, pleaded guilty to tax evasion charges on Aug. 18, his lawyer announced.
“In one of the most difficult decisions of his life, Mr. Weisselberg decided to enter a plea of guilty today to put an end to this case and the years-long legal and personal nightmares it has caused for him and his family,” Nicholas Gravante Jr., an attorney representing Weisselberg, said in an Aug. 18 statement to media outlets.
“Rather than risk the possibility of 15 years in prison, he has agreed to serve 100 days. We are glad to have this behind him.”
Weisselberg, 75, changed his 2021 plea of not guilty to guilty in a New York state court in Manhattan. He was charged with taking more than $1.7 million in off-the-books compensation from the Trump Organization over several years, including untaxed perks such as rent, car payments, and school tuition.
“Today Allen Weisselberg admitted in Court that he used his position at the Trump Organization to bilk taxpayers and enrich himself,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in an Aug. 18 statement to media outlets.
The Democrat district attorney noted that the plea deal “directly implicates the Trump Organization in a wide range of criminal activity and requires Weisselberg to provide invaluable testimony” in the upcoming trial.
Weisselberg, who was arrested last July, is the only person to face criminal charges so far in the Manhattan district attorney’s long-running investigation of the company’s business practices. Former President Donald Trump has described the probe and others like it as an ideologically motivated witch hunt designed to harm his political chances.
“The political Witch Hunt by the Radical Left Democrats, with New York now taking over the assignment, continues. It is dividing our Country like never before!” Trump said last year.
His lawyers have said that Weisselberg was punished by the Democrat district attorney’s office because he wouldn’t offer information that would damage Trump.
The Trump Organization isn’t involved in Weisselberg’s guilty plea and is scheduled to be tried in the alleged compensation scheme in October. Lawyers for the Trump Organization pleaded not guilty to the charges last year.
Prosecutors have said that the company gave untaxed fringe benefits to senior executives, including Weisselberg, for 15 years. Weisselberg alone was accused of defrauding the federal government, state, and city out of more than $900,000 in unpaid taxes and undeserved tax refunds, officials said.
1st Half of Potential $1,652 Direct Payment to Be Sent in Just 2 Weeks
Millions of Supplementary Security Income (SSI) recipients will get two payments in September due to timing.
The first SSI payment totaling as much as $841 will be sent out starting on Sept. 1, while the second will arrive by the end of that month, according to the Social Security Administration.
The payment is due to a technicality as some months start on a Sunday. Three months in 2022 gave or will give SSI recipients a payment twice a month, including April, September, and December.
But it does not mean that a person will receive more months, according to a schedule posted by the agency (pdf). The Social Security payment sent out on Sept. 30 will replace the one for Oct. 1—similar to the one that was sent out on April 30, which replaced the May 1 payment.
NPR Poll: 54% of Americans Agree Biden’s Border Crisis an ‘Invasion’ — Including 40% of Democrats
A majority of Americans say President Joe Biden is allowing a southern border invasion, according to a poll commissioned by the left-of-center, taxpayer-supported National Public Radio (NPR)
The 54 percent “Invasion” majority includes 76 percent of Republicans, 46 percent of independents, and even 40 percent of Democrats.
Joel Rose, a pro-migration NPR journalist, lamented the mainstream 3:1 public judgment revealed by the July 28-29 survey of 1,116 adults, saying:
Republican leaders are increasingly framing the situation as an “invasion.” Immigrant advocates say the word has a long history in white nationalist circles, and warn that such extreme rhetoric could provoke more violence against immigrants.
Still, the polling shows that the word “invasion” has been embraced by a wide range of Americans to describe what’s happening at the border
“We are not actually screening enough people to make it safe for the rest of the country,” said poll respondent Michael Cisternino, a Republican from Nevada, in a follow-up interview. “We, the people of the United States, really don’t have control over who’s coming in, and where they’re going or what they’re going to do when they get there — if they’re criminals, if they’re not criminals,” Cisternino said.
Report: Families Fleeing Democrat-Run Portland Due to Homeless Camps, Crime
Families in Democrat-run Portland are fleeing the city due to out-of-control homelessness and crime, according to a report.
Homeless camps across the Peninsula Crossing Trail in North Portland — located approximately eight miles from downtown — have changed what once was a desirable neighborhood into an unsafe area, causing some longtime residents to either leave or consider it.
“It’s the first time in a long time that we’ve actually seriously thought about moving,” Greg Dilkes, who has lived in North Portland for thirty years, told KGW 8.
The uptick in crime has also caused local residents to feel unsafe even when doing simple activities such as walking, the local news outlet noted.
“Every day if you go from one end of the street to the other, you’re confronting some very difficult situations, people in really dire straits,” said Mark Smith, whose backyard is next to a homeless encampment.
“For Sale” signs have become a common sight in the North Portland neighborhood, as one resident told the local news outlet they know of three families that have left due to the rampant homelessness.
Real estate broker Lauren Iaquinta has observed that residents who decide to leave the city generally are headed to the suburbs.
“Most people don’t want to have to worry about if they can leave their car parked in their driveway overnight without maybe having it broken into,” she told KGW 8.
The real estate broker also noted she has to vet areas that do not have homeless camps in order not to dissuade clients she works with.
The growing homeless problem has recently forced Starbucks to shut down some of its locations in the City of Roses, along with other Democrat-run American cities, due to rampant crime and homelessness, Breitbart News reported.
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
ATTOM, a leading curator of real estate data nationwide for land and property data, today released its third-quarter 2022 Vacant Property and Zombie Foreclosure Report showing that 1.3 million (1,277,162) residential properties in the United States sit vacant. That figure represents 1.3 percent, or one in 78 homes, across the nation.
The report analyzes publicly recorded real estate data collected by ATTOM — including foreclosure status, equity and owner-occupancy status — matched against monthly updated vacancy data. (See full methodology below). Vacancy data is available for U.S. residential properties at https://www.attomdata.com/solutions/marketing-lists/.
The report also reveals that 270,470 residential properties in the U.S. are in the process of foreclosure in the third quarter of this year, up 4.4 percent from the second quarter of 2022 and up 25.5 percent from the third quarter of 2021. The latest increase marks the fourth straight quarter that the count of pre-foreclosure properties has increased since a nationwide moratorium on lenders pursuing delinquent homeowners, imposed after the Coronavirus pandemic hit in 2020, was lifted at the end of July 2021.
Among those pre-foreclosure properties, 7,707 are zombie-foreclosures (pre-foreclosure properties that sit vacant) in the third quarter of 2022, up 1.8 percent from the prior quarter and 2.2 percent from a year ago.
Florida Small Businesses Fear Targeting by an Expanded IRS
On Aug. 16, small business owners and independent contractors across Florida became fearful of their futures as Gov. Ron DeSantis questioned the sanity of Washington.
On that day, President Joe Biden signed into law the “Inflation Reduction Act,” giving the IRS nearly $80 billion, with $45.6 billion going towards “enforcement,” which requires hiring more agents.
But what stood out the most among Florida’s small business owners was who the expanded agency would target for auditing.
At a press event on Aug. 17, DeSantis expressed frustration.
“What have they done? … 87,000 new IRS agents and they are going after you.”
They will be unleashed on American taxpayers, he said. ” … they are gonna go after independent contractors.”
Uber drivers, handymen “and others” are identified as independent contractors and all are “contenders” for audits, DeSantis said. “They’re going to crush a lot of people by doing that.”
Not only will small businesses be targeted, but also “people that the government doesn’t like,” the governor said.
“Let’s just be honest,” he said. “We’ve seen how this operates–you have these enforcement agencies that basically represent one faction of the country and they are going after the other.”
Even though IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig said in an Aug. 4 letter to Congress that the billions in funding won’t increase “audit scrutiny on small businesses or middle-income Americans,” others beg to differ.
Bobby Gross Jr. is part owner of his family’s 50-year-old paving company located in Port Charlotte and believes that the IRS is coming after small businesses like his.
“They’re (IRS) there to hunt, and we’re the prey,” Gross told The Epoch Times on Aug. 17. “The government is going to pay for the Inflation Reduction Act on the backs of small businesses.”
Gross believes small businesses are the key to raising the $750 billion price tag for the new law because “there aren’t that many billionaires in the country,” that can “generate enough money to pay for it.”
Consumer Warning Sent to Governors: BlackRock Is ‘Crushing America from Within’
Consumers’ Research, an organization dedicated to educating American consumers, warned that BlackRock is “crushing America from within,” releasing a nationally televised advertisement, issuing a consumer warning, and notifying 12 governors of the dangers posed by the firm.
Consumers’ Research’s campaign includes a television advertisement blasting BlackRock and CEO Larry Fink, asserting that they contributed to soaring gas and housing prices, explaining that “BlackRock owned companies are snatching up houses, crippling families.”
The ad also exposes a pertinent connection between the multinational and the Biden administration, noting that “BlackRock’s former ESG czar Brian Deese is Biden’s economic advisor.”
Consumers’ Research also published a consumer warning that accuses BlackRock of “crushing America from within.” The consumer warning states that BlackRock, which manages nearly $10 trillion, “uses its clout to push a radical agenda in coordination with other financiers through a network of international organizations.”
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
China Claims to Have Developed ‘Safer’ Way to Edit Human Genes 59
Researchers from the state-run Chinese Academy of Sciences claimed in a recently published study to have developed a gene-editing method that is allegedly “more efficient and safer” than established techniques because it uses the CRISPR gene-editing tool to target RNA instead of DNA, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported on Wednesday.
Relaying the development on August 17, the Hong Kong-based newspaper wrote:
Scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences said the new tool uses CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) technology – a natural defence mechanism that allows bacterial cells to detect and destroy the viruses that attack them and has become one of the most commonly used gene-editing techniques in recent years.
The most widely used system employs CRISPR-associated protein-9 (Cas9), an enzyme that can cut the two strands of DNA in the genome to add or remove material.
But the new approach uses the Cas13 enzyme, which targets RNA. The technique is believed to be safer since RNAs are transient molecules that only exist in the cell for a limited period of time and are not integrated into the genome.
“Compared to DNA editing techniques, the Cas13 gene editing system is safer, and the effects are more controllable and short-lived,” Yang Hui, an author of the study and a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Brain Science and Intelligence Technology center, recently told Chinese reporters.
A major flaw within the new RNA-based gene-editing method — known as “collateral cleavage, or its ability to cleave nontarget RNAs” — has limited its usage in clinical applications, the SCMP observed on Wednesday.
“Due to this so-called collateral effect, Cas13 can degrade both target and non-target RNAs at random, thus making it difficult to design experiments and interpret results when using Cas13,” the study’s research team recently said as quoted by the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ website.
HEALTH
Most Americans Do Not Get Enough Vitamin E
Most Americans do not get enough vitamin E in their diet, according to new studies. This critical vitamin supports vision, brain health, immunity and even developing fetuses. One study found that vitamin E deficiency is linked to a greater risk of miscarriage, especially among poor women. And yet around 90% of U.S. adult diets don’t contain adequate amounts of vitamin E, says Axios.
Research has also shown that this fat-soluble vitamin helps boost the immune system so that it can fight off bacteria and viruses. It helps to widen blood vessels and keep blood from clotting. In addition, the National Institutes of Health says that cells use vitamin E to interact with each other and to carry out many important functions.
According to Axios, vitamin E functions as a major antioxidant that protects our cells from oxidative damage. The damage is caused by free radicals, which are molecules produced when your body breaks down food or is exposed to tobacco smoke and radiation, says the Mayo Clinic.
The consequences of oxidative damage — unchecked by vitamin E — include accelerated aging, deterioration of vision and a higher risk of diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s. Vitamin E deficiency can cause nerve pain or neuropathy.
—> Power Mall Product Recommendation: Vitamin E Tocotrienols by Good Health Naturally
Why Standing May Be as Important as Exercise
Sitting and other forms of prolonged, uninterrupted sedentary time promotes cardiometabolic disorders, obesity, depression and all-cause mortality in adults and in children are linked to obesity, anxiety and depressive symptoms
More than two dozen chronic diseases, from diabetes and high blood pressure to back pain and deep vein thrombosis, have been linked to excessive sitting
Children at standing desks burn 15% to 25% more calories during the school day than those who remain sitting; students were also less likely to report neck and shoulder discomfort when using standing desks
In the workplace, standing desks have also been found to trigger increased brain activity and do not hinder cognitive performance as has been suggested
If you want to take your fitness to the next level, make standing a workout of its own by standing on a wobble board at your standing desk
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
Biden Revives Biggest Offshore Oil, Gas Lease Sale in US History
When President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law on Aug. 16, his signature opened the door to reinstating the largest oil and gas lease sale in U.S. history, which had been blocked by a court because of climate impact concerns.
The Inflation Reduction Act includes provisions that direct spending, tax credits, and loans to bolster technologies such as solar panels and equipment to cut pollution at coal- and gas-powered power plants.
But the legislation also contains a provision that reinstates the previously halted Lease Sale 257, the biggest offshore oil and gas lease in U.S. history, spanning nearly 81 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico.
Lease Sale 257, which sold at auction for $192 million in March 2019, was challenged by environmental groups, which argued that the sale violated federal law by relying on an inadequate environmental impact review that failed to accurately consider greenhouse gas emissions.
Judge Rudolph Contreras of the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia agreed, ruling in January (pdf) that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s decision to proceed with the sale was “arbitrary and capricious.”
Contreras’s ruling blocked the lease and the Biden administration didn’t appeal. But by signing the Inflation Reduction Act into law, Biden has effectively revived the lease.
“Lease Sale 257 is reinstated and high bidders must get their lease,” the National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA), a group that serves the offshore oil, gas, and wind industries, said in a statement.
NOIA also pointed to a handful of other lease sales that now must be held because of the enacting of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) after the Biden administration canceled them in May, when prices at the pump were soaring to record highs.
The association’s chief generally gave a passing grade to the legislation for putting in place what he described as “a framework for continued development of U.S. offshore oil and gas, mechanisms to advance offshore wind, and incentives to spur offshore carbon sequestration innovation.”
The IRA increases federal tax credits for carbon capture and storage while lifting a moratorium on offshore wind leasing in parts of the southeastern United States and the Gulf of Mexico.
“No legislation is perfect, but the IRA’s offshore energy provisions will enable continued investment in U.S. energy projects by an industry that is already solving, scaling, and deploying low carbon energy solutions,” NOIA President Erik Milito said in a statement.
The American Petroleum Institute (API), a fossil fuel industry group that appealed on behalf of the firms involved in the blocked Lease Sale 257, expressed relief that the IRA revives the sale but reservations about the overall impact of the measure.
“While reinstating lease sale 257 is a positive step forward for American energy leadership, the legislation as a whole falls well short of addressing America’s long-term energy needs,” API Senior Vice President of Policy, Economics, and Regulatory Affairs Frank Macchiarola told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement.
The Inflation Reduction Act requires the reinstatement of Lease Sale 257 within 30 days of the legislation’s enactment.
COVID RELATED NEWS
Rutgers University: Masks And mRNA Injection Mandates Continue
Rutgers University plans to keep its mask and vaccine mandate in place for the fall semester, citing risks of both the Chinese coronavirus as well as monkeypox.
In a message to Rutgers Community Members, the university cited the risks of the Chinese coronavirus, which has now been around for over two years, as well as monkeypox, the latter of which poses the greatest risk to sexually active gay men.
“…both have tremendous potential to affect the health and well-being of our community,” Rutgers began, specifically citing the BA.5 subvariant of Omicron, although the university openly acknowledged that the spread “does not correlate to hospitalizations, intensive care unit beds, or deaths.”
As we prepare for another school year at Rutgers, read a message from Antonio M. Calcado, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, about our health and well-being protocols for the Fall 2022 semester: https://t.co/BCcq403uni pic.twitter.com/HlfPS0cSaL
— Rutgers University (@RutgersU) August 16, 2022
“In fact, the increased hospitalizations being reported are primarily hospitalizations with COVID-19, rather than hospitalizations for COVID-19,” the university bragged before bizarrely attributing the low hospitalization rates to “communitywide mitigation efforts we put in place over the last two years, including, but not limited to, mandatory vaccination, testing, quarantine, and contact tracing.”
As Breitbart News has extensively reported over the past two years, mask mandates have done little to nothing to reduce the spread of the virus, as studies show and experts admit that cloth and surgical masks do little to block exhaled aerosols — a fact Dr. Anthony Fauci privately admitted at the start of the Chinese coronavirus pandemic. Further, blue states with mask mandates in place routinely reported higher cases of the virus per capita than mask-free states such as Florida for months on end in 2021.
Judge Grants Relief to Marines Denied Religious Exemption from Vaccine Mandate
U.S. District Court Judge Steven D. Merryday on Thursday evening granted a class-wide injunction that prohibits the Marine Corps from enforcing the Biden administration’s military vaccine mandate against or discharging Marines who filed for religious exemption from the mandate and who were denied.
The injunction gives relief to Marines who were affirmed by a chaplain as harboring a sincere religious objection to the vaccine, submitted a request for religious accommodation, were denied, and who appealed and were denied or will be denied after an appeal.
Merryday wrote in his order that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, et. al., are “PRELIMINARILY ENJOINED (1) from enforcing against a member of the class any order, requirement, or rule to accept COVID-19 vaccination, (2) from separating or discharging from the Marine Corps a member of the class who declines COVID-19 vaccination, and (3) from retaliating against a member of the class for the member’s asserting statutory rights under [Religious Freedom Restoration Act].”
Merryday’s order adds the Marine Corps to the branches of the military blocked by court orders from taking punitive action towards those who have sought religious exemption from the mandate. So far, the Navy and the Air Force are also blocked from taking action against service members who have sought relief from the vaccine on the basis of their religious freedom.
CDC Stealth-Edits Page on Messenger RNA COVID-19 Vaccines
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stealthily edited a webpage it maintains that lists details about messenger RNA (mRNA) COVID-19 vaccines.
The page, titled “Understanding mRNA COVID-19 Vaccines,” says it was last updated on July 15. But archived versions of the page show that key portions were removed on July 22 or July 23.
The version captured on July 22 includes the claim, “The mRNA and the spike protein do not last long in the body.”
“Our cells break down mRNA from these vaccines and get rid of it within a few days after vaccination,” it says. “Scientists estimate that the spike protein, like other proteins our bodies create, may stay in the body up to a few weeks.”
The following day, the claims were gone.
A CDC spokesperson acknowledged to The Epoch Times that the removal happened, despite the page still saying it has not been updated since July 15.
“CDC routinely reviews our webpage information to ensure we have consistent and up-to-date recommendations. In an effort to make all COVID-19 vaccine webpages consistent, information on the Understanding mRNA COVID-19 Vaccines webpage was adjusted and a portion was removed,” the spokesperson said in an email.
The removal drew criticism from some, including scientist Ray Armat, who first noticed the stealth edit.
In a social media post, he described the alteration as done “in a tacit/underhanded way.”
“The CDC is quietly deleting misleading information from their website,” Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) added.
CANCEL CULTURE
Brian Stelter Leaving CNN, Show Canceled
CNN’s “Reliable Sources” host Brian Stelter, who has been struggling with ratings for years, confirmed Thursday that he is leaving the network as a spokesperson for CNN also confirmed his show is being canceled.
In a statement to news outlets, Stelter said he was grateful to host the show. “It was a rare privilege to lead a weekly show focused on the press at a time when it has never been more consequential,” Stelter said, saying that his final episode will be Sunday.
“I’m grateful for my nine years with CNN, proud of what we accomplished on ‘Reliable Sources’ and so thankful for the viewers who tuned in every week for our examination of the media, truth, and the stories that shape our world,” he said, adding, “I’ll have more to say on Sunday.”
“Reliable Sources” is the longest-running show on CNN, celebrating its 30th anniversary in March 2022. Stelter, who previously worked for The New York Times, has hosted it for about a decade.
A spokesperson for CNN confirmed that “Reliable Sources” would also end. The network is wishing Stelter well, the spokesperson added.
“CNN will end its Reliable Sources program on Sunday, August 21st. As a result Brian Stelter will leave the company. We appreciate his contributions to the network and wish him well as he embarks on new endeavors,” the company said Thursday.
Amy Entelis, executive vice president of talent at CNN Worldwide, also confirmed his departure, saying: “Stelter came to CNN from the New York Times as the nation’s top media reporter. He departs CNN an impeccable broadcaster. We are proud of what Brian and his team accomplished over the years, and we’re confident their impact and influence will long outlive the show.”
The Epoch Times has contacted CNN for comment.
Who Is Behind the Trusted News Initiative?
The Trusted News Initiative (TNI) was founded by the BBC in July 2019. While TNI claims to promote democracy and freedom, its purpose for being is global information control
Partners in the initiative include global media outlets such as The Washington Post, Reuters, The Associated Press, AFP, the Financial Times and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), and Big Tech partners such as Google, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Microsoft
TNI was formed mere weeks after a Reuters Institute report revealed trust in U.S. media had slipped to an all-time low of just 29% — the lowest of the 46 countries included. Clearly, people were going elsewhere for the facts, and that probably had everything to do with the creation of TNI. They have no control over alternative media, so they needed a comprehensive way to shut them all down
By suppressing information about early treatment and the adverse effects suffered from the COVID shots, TNI partners have played a direct role in the destruction of lives. In short, TNI is the converse of “trusted news.” It is the very “fake news” it claims to combat
In addition to TNI, Google also has a similar program going on, called the Google News Initiative, which includes a $300 million funding commitment to the future of the news industry. The Google News Initiative is partnered with advertising agencies in a program called Trusted News for Trusted Advertising (TNTA), to ensure advertisers don’t have their ads associated with “false or misleading news,” thereby allowing them to “regain control of the media on which they publish the advertising”
ICYMI
Legal Bombshell: $10 Million Legal Settlement To Healthcare Workers Who Were Forced To Take mRNA Jab
A group of nearly 500 healthcare workers is slated to receive a $10 million payout in a first-of-its-kind settlement challenging their hospital’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
The coalition of workers at NorthShore University HealthSystem in Illinois filed their suit in October 2021, alleging the healthcare facility was illegally refusing to grant religious exemptions to the mandate. The July 29 settlement agreement by the state’s Northern District Court means 473 current and former healthcare workers are soon to receive compensation for being denied religious exemptions from the healthcare system’s vaccine requirement.
Liberty Counsel, the legal group representing 13 plaintiffs, said the settlement should “serve as a strong warning to employers across the nation that they cannot refuse to accommodate those with sincere religious objections to forced vaccination mandates,” according to a statement from Horatio Mihet, vice president of legal affairs at the group.
Anyone who lost a job due to their inability to comply with the mandate is eligible to receive $25,000, and any of the 13 plaintiffs involved in the suit are eligible for an additional $20,000, meaning they would receive $45,000 in total, said Mat Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel.
Workers who eventually received the vaccine despite raising religious objections would be eligible for around $3,000 in compensation. Final payouts will be dependent on how many workers apply for the money. Additionally, anyone who was fired because of their refusal to get vaccinated based on sincerely held religious beliefs will be eligible for reemployment by the healthcare system.
The agreement also sets aside $2 million for attorneys fees.
U.S. District Judge John Kness, an appointee of former President Donald Trump who presided over the case, was asked to approve the proposed settlement.
The judge appeared to side with the legal group’s claims that the healthcare administration violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act when they denied religious accommodations.
Staver signaled in an interview with the Washington Examiner that his legal group’s litigation battles over employees who were denied vaccine exemptions in the private sector are far from over, saying, “We have been working with thousands of employees across the country,” including airline industries and other types of healthcare and private employers.
More Stories
Today’s News: May 03, 2024
Today’s News: May 01, 2024
Today’s News: April 30, 2024