WORLD NEWS
Nato investigates hacker sale of missile firm data
Nato is assessing the impact of a data breach of classified military documents being sold by a hacker group online.
The data includes blueprints of weapons being used by Nato allies in the Ukraine conflict.
Criminal hackers are selling the dossiers after stealing data linked to a major European weapons maker.
MBDA Missile Systems admitted its data was among the stash but claimed none of the classified files belong to the firm.
The pan-European company, which is headquartered in France, said its information was hacked from a compromised external hard drive, adding that it was cooperating with authorities in Italy, where the data breach took place.
It is understood investigations are centred around one of MBDA’s suppliers.
London Mayor Says UK May Face ‘National Disaster’ Due To Energy Price Cap Increase
The United Kingdom will face a “national disaster” due to the continuous increase in energy price cap if the government fails to act swiftly, London Mayor Sadiq Khan said on Friday.
Earlier in the day, the UK energy regulator, Ofgem, announced an 80% increase in the energy price cap to 3,549 Pounds ($4,194) per year starting October 1, which marks a triple increase in less than a year.
“Today’s price cap announcement confirms what many of us have long feared. Despite repeated warnings, the Government has consistently failed to intervene and Ministers must act now to prevent this cost of living crisis becoming a national disaster,” Khan tweeted.
The price cap was introduced in the UK in 2019 to protect customers and stop retail companies from charging unfair profits over the cost of the energy they need.
Since its last revision in April, the cap has stood at 1,971 pounds. In October 2021, the price cap was 1,277 pounds. Earlier in August, Ofgem announced that the cap will now be reviewed quarterly rather than every six months.
Europeans Forced To Choose Between Eating And Heating As Energy Prices Skyrocket
The lives of Europeans are changing rapidly as the energy crisis hits homes and businesses across the continent in August, with many families giving up practices we often take for granted.
Europeans are spending a record amount of their income on energy, according to Reuters. Many families are limiting their use of ovens, choosing to shower at work, and no longer ironing their clothes to cut back on the costs, the outlet reported.
“The cost of living has increased and yet you’re still expected to live on the money provided for when there wasn’t a crisis … I either can have my heating on or eat,” Grimsby, England, resident Philip Keetley told Reuters. Keetley couldn’t turn on his fan during the record-breaking heatwaves that swept the archipelago this summer, the outlet noted. He simply couldn’t afford it.
Norway refuses to cut gas price for Europe
Oslo will not force its firms to sell energy under fixed-price contracts, the petroleum ministry says © Getty Images / Anna Tanukevic / EyeEm
Norway will not demand that energy companies offer long-term fixed-price gas contracts as a way to alleviate soaring costs for European customers, Reuters reports, citing the country’s petroleum minister Terje Aasland.
He reportedly rejected the idea, voiced by a member of parliament that Norway should consider showing solidarity with Europe by instructing firms to offer fixed-price gas deliveries below current market prices.
The minister argued that suppliers were already free to enter into long-term contracts if commercial terms were agreed with customers.
“I do not plan for a policy whereby petroleum firms on the Norwegian continental shelf are instructed to enter into fixed-price contracts for gas deliveries,” Aasland wrote in a letter to parliament late on Thursday, as quoted by Reuters. He indicated that Norway should instead focus on delivering as much gas as it can to meet soaring demand, and on remaining a reliable supplier.
Gordon Chang: Chinese Communist Party Is Preparing for War
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is preparing for a war, according to China analyst and author Gordon Chang.
Several recent developments in China’s policies—particularly an amendment to China’s National Defense Law—could signal that the regime is prepping for a full mobilization of its military, according to Chang.
“China’s newly amended National Defense Law takes certain powers over military matters from the civilian State Council and gives them to the Communist Party’s Central Military Commission, which controls the People’s Liberation Army,” Chang said in an email to The Epoch Times.
“That move centralizes military decision-making. Moreover, the amendment, which relates to war mobilization, signals that the regime is preparing the Chinese people for conflict.”
In addition to centralizing the authority for military mobilization, Chang noted that the CCP was making efforts to effectively sanction-proof its political elite by forbidding certain officials from owning foreign real estate or shares in offshore companies.
“If Chinese officials and their family members do not own foreign assets, foreign countries cannot strip them of their holdings,” Chang said.
U.S. NEWS, POLITICS & GOVERNMENT
FBI Search Warrant Affidavit for Trump’s Home to Be Made Public: Judge
The affidavit that convinced a federal judge to approve a search warrant for former President Donald Trump’s home will be unsealed by Aug. 26 at noon, the judge said on Aug. 25.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart said he reviewed redactions to the affidavit proposed by the government and found they were proper.
“I find that the Government has met its burden of showing a compelling reason/good cause to seal portions of the Affidavit because disclosure would reveal (1) the identities of witnesses, law enforcement agents, and uncharged parties, (2) the investigation’s strategy, direction, scope, sources, and methods, and (3) grand jury information protected by Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 6(e),” Reinhart said in a two-page order.
“Based on my independent review of the Affidavit, I further find that the Government has met its burden of showing that its proposed redactions are narrowly tailored to serve the Government’s legitimate interest in the integrity of the ongoing investigation and are the least onerous alternative to sealing the entire Affidavit,” he added.
Reinhart ordered the government to make public the version of the affidavit with the redactions.
Department of Justice Proposes Redactions for Trump FBI Search Warrant Affidavit
Update: The government was ordered to release the redacted copy of the affidavit.
Original story below.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has filed with a federal court proposed redactions to a document that led to former President Donald Trump’s home being raided, the latest step in a process that could see the document released to the public.
Government lawyers filed the proposed redactions to the search warrant affidavit under seal just before the deadline to do so on Aug. 25, an update on the court’s docket indicated.
“The United States has filed a submission under seal per the Court’s order of Aug. 22,” a DOJ spokesperson told news outlets in a statement.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart, who approved the warrant for the Mar-a-Lago raid based on the affidavit, is considering whether to make any form of the document public.
Government officials want the entire document kept under seal, or secret. They claim that redactions needed to protect the integrity of the investigation into Trump and the privacy of individuals involved—including FBI agents and witnesses—are so extensive that the resulting product would have nothing of value.
A slew of media organizations and nonprofits disagree, arguing that the public interest means some form of the document should be released, and that the government hasn’t proven its case—an argument with which Reinhart has sided, at least for now.
Department of Justice Releases Robert Mueller-Era Memo on Trump
The Justice Department on Wednesday released a 2019 memo that revealed why former President Donald Trump should not be prosecuted for obstruction of justice in connection to then-special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.
Dated March 24, 2019, the memo was written by Assistant Attorney General Steven Engel and Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General Ed O’Callaghan, who claimed that none of Trump’s actions documented in Mueller’s report should be viewed as obstruction of justice. Those actions include firing former FBI Director James Comey and telling a top White House lawyer to fire Mueller.
“We conclude that the evidence described in Volume II of the Report is not, in our judgment, sufficient to support a conclusion beyond a reasonable doubt that the President violated the obstruction-of-justice statutes,” said the unredacted document, released to several major news outlets and posted online. “In addition, we believe that certain of the conduct examined by the Special Counsel could not, as a matter of law, support an obstruction charge under the circumstances.”
A Department of Justice spokesperson confirmed the memo’s authenticity.
The left-wing Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics, based in Washington, D.C., filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit three years ago to make the document public.
Lawsuit Seeks Removal of Judge Who Approved Warrant for FBI Trump Raid
Tea Party Patriots Action filed a federal complaint against the judge who approved the FBI search of former President Donald Trump’s Florida home.
“Judge [Bruce] Reinhart has a conflict of interest and a pattern and history of hostility to President Trump,” said the filing (pdf).
The lawsuit then listed several examples including purported Facebook posts that show Reinhart had criticized Trump while praising the late Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.). Reinhart also reportedly donated to former President Barack Obama and to former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush when he was running against Trump in 2015, the lawsuit said, citing publicly available reports.
The lawsuit seeks to have Reinhart, a U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida judge, removed from the case or even removed from his position.
“Judge Reinhart should be disciplined and removed as a federal magistrate because of his failure to meet the standards of ethical conduct and character necessary for the public to have confidence in the nonpartisan role of a judge in a matter of this extreme public interest,” the suit contended.
“Clearly,” it further said, “Judge Reinhart is a partisan and has publicly expressed his partisan views against former President Trump” and that his “antipathy for the former President is such that he should have recused when presented with the search warrant for the highly problematic search of President Trump’s home in Florida.”
Days after signing off on the FBI search warrant, Reinhart ultimately released the warrant and property receipt to the public.
During a hearing last week and on Monday, Reinhart suggested that he would release the affidavit the Department of Justice used to seek the warrant after the agency submits the document with redactions. He gave the Justice Department, which has sought to block the release of the affidavit, until Thursday at 12 p.m. to submit the redacted version.
The Tea Party lawsuit also cited a case involving Hillary Clinton in which Reinhart had recused himself, arguing that he should have done so with the FBI search warrant.
“The entire episode of the unprecedented search of the former president’s home, authorized by a political appointee of President Trump’s successor, and approved by a federal magistrate who has been outspoken in his opposition to and loathing of President Trump threatens the principle of ‘equal justice under law’ and the confidence of the American people in an unbiased judiciary,” the complaint said.
‘Someone Wanted to Get Me Killed’: Rep. Greene Responds to Being ‘Swatted’ 2 Nights in a Row
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) was sound asleep in her Floyd County home when the doorbell and knocks on her front door woke her up. There were flashlights and people outside her bedroom window.
Quickly, she jumped out of bed, got dressed, and walked to the front door. By instinct, she reached for her gun, although something told her to put it down.
The decision to not take her gun may have saved her life.
At her front porch were five police officers with their guns ready. They told the confused congresswoman that they were responding to a report of a fatal shooting at her house—a man shot five times in a bathtub, with a woman and children still in the residence—indicating violence could escalate.
“I think you got swatted,” the police told Greene after they realized what was happening. Swatting, the act of using prank calls to send tactical police to the victim’s home, is a federal crime and has previously led to serious consequences.
“So what that is is someone wanted to get me killed,” Greene said on “Capitol Report,” a program on The Epoch Times’ sister outlet NTD. “They wanted to send the police to my house, into a situation where they thought there was murder happening, in hopes the police would kill me or someone else in my home.”
The incident, which occurred in the early hours of Aug. 24, would mark the first of two successive swatting attempts in 26 hours targeting Greene over her stance on transgender issues.
Report Critical of Group Managing Voter Rolls in 33 States
Your voter registration shouldn’t be used by another person to cast a ballot.
When someone moves or dies, their name should be removed from the registered voters’ roll so it can’t be used to vote. The National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) of 1993 requires states to make a reasonable effort to remove ineligible people from voter rolls.
It’s usually handled at the county or state level, but today, 33 states and the District of Columbia, are outsourcing parts of this task to the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC).
According to a report by Verity Vote, ERIC, which claims that it’s nonpartisan, is actually connected to left-leaning backers and engages in a host of troubling practices that could sway elections across the nation.
Verity Vote is a group of citizen volunteers with professional data research and investigation backgrounds who examine election integrity throughout the country.
Immigrants who are in the country illegally won’t be barred from law practice in New Mexico, according to a rule change approved by the New Mexico Supreme Court.
Announced Monday, the change takes effect Oct. 1, report the Associated Press and the Las Cruces Sun-News.
The amended rule opens up law practice to anyone who meets other bar-admission requirements, including a character and fitness screening. The previous rule required bar applicants to be a citizen or a U.S. national, an immigrant with lawful permanent residence, or an immigrant lawfully authorized to work here.
Some immigrants here illegally were allowed to obtain a law license in New Mexico if they had work permits under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program—or DACA. That program deferred deportation for some immigrants who arrived here before age 16. Some fear that the program may be eliminated; a federal judge ruled last year that the Obama administration exceeded its authority when it adopted DACA.
The first person to be admitted under a DACA work authorization in New Mexico was Jazmín Irazoqui-Ruiz. A lawyer with the New Mexico Immigrant Law Center, she said her law license will no longer be in jeopardy if the U.S. Supreme Court eventually strikes down the DACA program. The rule change is a “great victory,” she told the Las Cruces Sun-News.
New Mexico Supreme Court Chief Justice Shannon Bacon said in a statement Tuesday the rule change is in accord with ABA recommendations and rules in at least eight other states that allow some immigrants to obtain law licenses.
The ABA House of Delegates passed a resolution in August 2017 that supported “the principle that bar admission should not be denied based solely on immigration status.” The resolution urged Congress
ABA calls on legal professionals to ‘step up’ and serve as poll workers in upcoming 2022 elections
The ABA is mobilizing lawyers to serve as poll workers in the upcoming 2022 elections.
The association announced Wednesday that it will once again partner with the National Association of Secretaries of State and the National Association of State Election Directors for the Poll Worker Esq. initiative, which encourages lawyers, as well as law students and other legal professionals, to get involved in the electoral process.
“We’re calling on lawyers and law students to step up this November to serve as poll workers,” said ABA President Deborah Enix-Ross in an ABA press release. “Every day, lawyers work to protect the rule of law and the Constitution, so it makes sense that they would be essential for us to have a free and fair election.”
Potential volunteers can watch a new video posted at ambar.org/vote for more information about how to register to be a poll worker. The ABA Standing Committee on Election Law also provides other resources on civic engagement and participation on the website.
Those interested in volunteering with the initiative can also go directly to the National Association of Secretaries of State website’s Can I Vote section and click the Become a Poll Worker tab. Tasks could include staffing polling places and processing returned ballot envelopes, and according to the ABA press release, poll worker training may be eligible for continuing legal education credit.
House GOP demands Biden’s Education Department disclose pandemic spending
Republican members of the U.S. House are demanding the Department of Education explain where it spent $263 billion during the pandemic.
Lawmakers, led by Reps. Virginia Foxx of North Carolina and James Comer of Kentucky, also want to know how the COVID-19 pandemic orders shutting down schools and isolating children behind laptop screens hurt them.
For the answers, the investigators want the federal department to turn over information, including all communications involving school reopenings with outside groups, including teachers’ unions, and more, such as spending records and those documents involving estimates of loss of learning.
The Washington Examiner explained the demands are delivered in a letter to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona.
“Study after study shows the learning losses caused by prolonged pandemic school closures are compounding and preventing students from achieving academic success,” they said. “Committee Republicans plan to ensure the department is doing everything in its power to ensure states and school districts properly target funds to remedy the acute learning losses brought on by prolonged pandemic school closures.”
And they point out that many times money allocated for COVID mitigation has gone unspent – or been used for completely unrelated items.
The Examiner explained it earlier reported “how school districts across the country had used their federal coronavirus relief funds for a wide range of expenses, including diversity and equity trainings for staff, online learning infrastructure, and, in the case of one school district, new artificial turf athletic fields.”
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
Powell warns of ‘some pain’ ahead as the Fed fights to bring down inflation
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell on Friday pledged that the central bank will “use our tools forcefully” to attack inflation that is still running near its highest level in more than 40 years.
In his annual Jackson Hole policy speech, Powell added that higher interest rates likely will persist “for some time. The historical record cautions strongly against prematurely loosening policy.”
The remarks come amid signs that inflation may have peaked but is not showing any marked signs of decline. Powell said the Fed will not be swayed by a month or two of data.
Biden’s Push for Electric Vehicles Will Benefit China: House Republicans
The Chinese Communist Party will likely become the beneficiary of President Joe Biden’s push to fill U.S. streets with electric vehicles, according to 16 Republicans on the House Oversight Committee.
The lawmakers, led by the committee’s ranking Republican member, Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), and Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), sounded the alarm in an Aug. 24 letter (pdf) to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. They wrote that Oversight Committee Republicans are examining “the false claims” made by the Biden administration about the impact of electric vehicles on U.S. jobs.
To rebuke the administration’s claims, the lawmakers pointed out how Ford will cut about 8,000 jobs this summer to “boost profits to fund its push into the electric-vehicle market,” citing a July article from Bloomberg.
Judge Orders Twitter to Share User Audit With Elon Musk
A Delaware judge has ordered Twitter to turn over more data to Elon Musk in two weeks, but stopped short of giving the Telsa chief all the data he wanted, saying his requests were “absurdly broad.”
On Aug. 25, Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick of Delaware’s Court of Chancery ordered Twitter to reveal the data from 9,000 accounts it analyzed in a fourth-quarter audit to estimate the number of spam or bot accounts on the social media platform.
Twitter had initially claimed that the data didn’t exist and it would be hard to recreate it.
“We look forward to reviewing the data Twitter has been hiding for many months,” Alex Spiro, Musk’s attorney, applauded the result in an emailed statement to Reuters.
McCormick added that Musk has data and documents needed to pursue his legal battle against Twitter.
“My overall impression is that Plaintiff has agreed to produce a tremendous amount of information to Defendants, and that the information Plaintiff has agreed to produce is sufficiently broad to satisfy most of Plaintiff’s obligations,” McCormick wrote (pdf).
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Scientists Create Synthetic Mouse Embryo With Brain, Beating Heart
Using only mouse stem cells, British researchers report they have created synthetic embryos that form a brain, a beating heart and other organs.
The stem cells organized themselves until they developed beating hearts and the foundations of the brain and yolk sacs where the embryo gets nutrients in its first weeks.
Unlike other synthetic embryos, these stem cells reached a point where the whole brain began to develop. This is the most that has been achieved in any other stem cell mode, the scientists noted.
HEALTH
Smoking Can Really Weaken the Heart
Smoking is even worse for your heart than you might already think, new Danish research warns.
“It is well known that smoking causes blocked arteries, leading to coronary heart disease and stroke,” said researcher Dr. Eva Holt, of Herlev and Gentofte Hospital in Copenhagen.
“Our study shows that smoking also leads to thicker, weaker hearts,” she said. “It means that smokers have a smaller volume of blood in the left heart chamber and less power to pump it out to the rest of the body. The more you smoke, the worse your heart function becomes.”
What’s the good news? “The heart can recuperate to some degree with smoking cessation, so it is never too late to quit,” Holt added.
For the study, the researchers collected data on nearly 4,000 men and women who took part in the 5th Copenhagen City Heart Study. The participants were between the ages of 20 and 99 and none had heart disease.
Participants reported their smoking habits and also had an ultrasound of their hearts, to see how well they functioned.
After taking into account age, sex, weight, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes and lung function, the investigators found that smokers had thicker, weaker and heavier hearts. The more cigarettes people smoked, the more the pumping ability of their heart suffered.
The findings were presented Thursday at the annual meeting of the European Society of Cardiology, in Barcelona. Findings presented at medical meetings are considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.
“We found that current smoking and accumulated pack-years were associated with worsening of the structure and function of the left heart chamber — the most important part of the heart. Furthermore, we found that over a 10-year period, those who continued smoking developed thicker, heavier and weaker hearts that were less able to pump blood, compared to never smokers and those who quit during that time,” Holt said in a meeting news release.
“Our study indicates that smoking not only damages the blood vessels, but also directly harms the heart,” she added. “The good news is that some of the damage is reversible by giving up [smoking].”
EPA to Designate Toxic ‘Forever Chemicals’ as Hazardous Substances
The Environmental Protection Agency is designating some toxic industrial compounds used in cookware, carpets and firefighting foams as hazardous substances under the so-called Superfund law.
The designation means that releases of long-lasting chemicals known as PFOA and PFOS that meet or exceed a certain quantity would have to be reported to federal, state or tribal officials. The requirement would increase understanding of the extent and locations of the contamination and help communities avoid or reduce contact with the potentially dangerous chemicals, the EPA said.
PFOA and PFOS have been voluntarily phased out by U.S. manufacturers but are still in limited use and remain in the environment because they do not degrade over time. The compounds are part of a larger cluster of “forever chemicals” known as PFAS that have been used in consumer products and industry since the 1940s.
Top Pomegranate Health Benefits
Pomegranate’s benefits are primarily attributed to its antioxidant content. The fruit contains three types of antioxidant polyphenols, including tannins, anthocyanins, and ellagic acid, in significant amounts
Research comparing the potency of 10 different polyphenol-rich beverages found the antioxidant potency of pomegranate juice was at least 20% greater than any of the other beverages
Pomegranate extract stimulates mitophagy by activating transcription factor EB, which upregulates autophagy
Urolithin A — a gut bacteria-derived metabolite of ellagitannins in pomegranate — helps slow the aging process by improving mitochondrial function
Previous research has also shown the antioxidants in pomegranate can inhibit cell proliferation and invasion, and promote apoptosis (programmed cell death) in various cancer cells, including breast and prostate cancer cells
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
California To Ban Sale Of New Gasoline Cars By 2035
California on Thursday is expected to put into effect its sweeping plan to prohibit the sale of new gasoline-powered cars by 2035, a groundbreaking move that could have major effects on the effort to fight climate change and accelerate a global transition toward electric vehicles.
“This is huge,” said Margo Oge, an electric vehicles expert who headed the Environmental Protection Agency’s transportation emissions program under Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama. “California will now be the only government in the world that mandates zero-emission vehicles. It is unique.”
The rule, issued by the California Air Resources Board, will require that 100 percent of all new cars sold in the state by 2035 be free of the fossil fuel emissions chiefly responsible for warming the planet, up from 12 percent today. It sets interim targets requiring that 35 percent of new passenger vehicles sold in the state by 2026 produce zero emissions. That would climb to 68 percent by 2030.
The restrictions are important because not only is California the largest auto market in the United States, but more than a dozen other states typically follow California’s lead when setting their own auto emissions standards.
“The climate crisis is solvable if we focus on the big, bold steps necessary to stem the tide of carbon pollution,” Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, said in a statement.
California’s action comes on top of an expansive new climate law that President Biden signed last week. The law will invest $370 billion in spending and tax credits on clean energy programs, the largest action ever taken by the federal government to combat climate change. Enactment of that law is projected to help the United States cut its emissions 40 percent below 2005 levels by the end of this decade. Still, it will not be enough to eliminate U.S. emissions by 2050, the target that climate scientists say all major economies must reach if the world is to avert the most catastrophic and deadly impacts of climate change.
To help close the gap, White House officials have vowed to couple the bill with new regulations, including on automobile tailpipe emissions. They have also said that reducing emissions enough to stay in line with the science also will require aggressive state policies.
Experts said the new California rule, in both its stringency and reach, could stand alongside the Washington law as one of the world’s most important climate change policies, and could help take another significant bite out of the nation’s emissions of carbon dioxide. The new rule is also expected to influence new policies in Washington and around the world to promote electric vehicles and cut auto pollution.
At least 12 other states could potentially adopt the new California zero-emissions vehicle mandate relatively soon; another five states, which follow California’s broader vehicle pollution reduction program, are expected to adopt the rule in a year or so. If those states follow through, the restrictions on gasoline-vehicle sales would apply to about one-third of the United States’ auto market.
GARDENING, FARMING & HOMESTEADING
Man Stores Rainwater Since 1976 and Has 6,000 Liters to Get Through Drought
Even though the English government recently announced a ban on garden hose watering in the west of the country, Peter Harden has kept right on hosing worry-free.
That’s because Harden has been storing rainwater in large catch thanks for almost 50 years, and with 6,000 liters (1,500 gallons) of water available to him, his paddock is the greenest on the block.
An 82-year-old retired teacher, Peter Harden has lived in his bungalow for 52 years, and said he installed his first rainwater catch tanks after a famous English drought in 1976.
The keen gardener noticed droughts in the UK were getting more intense and became inspired to take precautions by he and his wife’s holidays to Europe.
“Our holidays abroad in Europe over 50 years frequently included cultural visits to ancient Greek and Roman towns,” said Harden. “We were always impressed by the huge number of domestic underground cisterns that the Romans et al. pre-built to catch rainwater for very dry summers.”
“With this experience in mind, I gradually increased the number and size of my rainwater catch tanks until about 15 years ago when I had nine 375 liter capacity tanks fed directly by rainwater from the bungalow’s guttering.”
But why such dedication? Peter lives in one of the driest areas in the UK. The clay beneath his property in Ingoldsby, Lincolnshire, does hold water, but as soon as the UK gets a drought the clay starts to crack.
Now the region is experiencing its worst drought in 26 years, and to protect municipal water reserves, a hose pipe ban has been introduced in parts of the West Country.
“We live in an area with one of the lowest mean rainfalls in the country. We get a circa of 22 inches per year,” said Harden, who about eight years ago supplemented his 9 catch tanks with two more, 1,000 liter (250 gallon) intermediate bulk containers, before adding another pair just recently.
The bulk water containers sit at the bottom of the garden and are filled directly by garden hose from some of the 375-liter catch tanks.
“Using an electrically-powered submersible water pump, I pump water through a garden hose from one of the tanks through a spray attached to the garden hose,” he explained.
“As the level of water falls in the one tank it levels out in the other tanks through gravity feed through the interconnected pipes.
“Three of my original 375-liter tanks have since become unserviceable and I am waiting to replace them. I also am trying to buy two more 1,000 liter bulk containers to increase my water storage volume.”
Not slowing down, he says he aims to store 9,000 liters soon.
COVID RELATED NEWS
Moderna suing Pfizer over Covid vaccine technology
Moderna said it is suing Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech for patent infringement in the development of the first Covid-19 vaccine.
The US biotech company is alleging that mRNA technology it developed before the pandemic was copied.
The lawsuit, which is seeking unspecified financial damages, was filed in the US and Germany.
Pfizer said it was “surprised” by the action and would defend itself against the allegations.
In a statement, Moderna said Pfizer/BioNTech copied two types of its intellectual property. One involved an mRNA structure that Moderna says its scientists began developing in 2010 and were the first to validate in human trials in 2015.
The second alleged infringement involves the coding of the spike protein on the outside of the virus itself.
“We are filing these lawsuits to protect the innovative mRNA technology platform that we pioneered, invested billions of dollars in creating, and patented during the decade preceding the Covid-19 pandemic,” Moderna chief executive Stephane Bancel said.
New Group Fighting Against College COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates
A new group of parents, students, and others has formed to fight COVID-19 vaccine mandates at U.S. colleges.
No College Mandates is pressuring schools to rescind mandates, which have been imposed in schools across the country.
“We just believe that this decision should be between the student and his physician or her physician, and colleges should not be practicing medicine wholesale on their students,” Joni McGary, a co-founder of the group, told The Epoch Times.
The group has sent letters to dozens of colleges and more than 1,000 officials, and has been questioning specific schools directly on social media.
The core argument is that the original justification for the vaccination requirements is no longer relevant.
Mandates were originally imposed to prevent infection and transmission of the COVID-19 virus. Students were told that getting vaccinated would protect themselves and others.
But the vaccines provide low levels of shielding against infection from newer virus variants. They are also less effective against hospitalization and death, in addition to having no effect against transmission.
Unvaccinated Soldier Who Was Barred From Official Travel Says Career ‘Basically at a Halt’
Unvaccinated soldiers affected by a U.S. Army order restricting their official travel have told The Epoch Times that their careers have been severely impacted.
According to U.S Army fragmentary orders (FRAGOs) published by Fox News, the U.S. Army has barred unvaccinated soldiers from official travel without the under secretary’s approval.
The directives also apply to those in the process of learning the fate of their request for religious accommodation from the vaccine mandate.
One FRAGO dated June 16 read: “UNVACCINATED SOLDIERS ARE NOT ELIGIBLE FOR OFFICIAL TRAVEL WITHOUT PRIOR-APPROVAL FROM THE UNDER SECRETARY OF THE ARMY.”
The soldiers’ units are responsible for submitting requests to the under secretary. And unless they can obtain “prior approval” from the under secretary, it appears a line has been drawn in the sand, demanding that unvaccinated soldiers get vaccinated or risk promotion to a higher rank, career advancement, and other valuable training opportunities.
Chief warrant officer (CW2) Michael Davenport, a 16-year veteran of the Army, told The Epoch Times that he considers his career “basically at a halt.” Having once served as a U.S. Army infantry soldier with the 1st Ranger Battalion, Davenport assumed a role akin to copilot of an Apache advanced attack helicopter in 2019. As a result of the Army’s travel restrictions, Davenport is unable to partake in temporary duty travel to attend military schools and training that would advance his career. “If I can’t progress in education and training,” he said, “I’m going to fall far behind and potentially not be promoted at the next promotion board.”
Let’s Declare the Pandemic Over and Peacefully Coexist With COVID—Here’s How
The COVID-19 pandemic has lasted for more than two and a half years. With SARS-CoV-2’s constant mutations, neither COVID-19 vaccines nor previous infections are able to protect us completely from the newest emerging strains, as demonstrated by the recent Omicron BA.4/5 subvariants.
As a matter of fact, the primary effect of vaccination is to generate neutralizing antibodies. However, the neutralizating antibody is only a tiny part of our sophisticated natural immune system. In other words, so reduced antibody binding does not mean that we are losing our natural immunity to the mutant strains. The human body is innately capable of defending against SARS-CoV-2 and emerging viruses via natural immunity regardless of any mutations or viruses, and this article will detail how.
Time-Restricted Eating Linked to Less Severe COVID
Researchers studied the effect of consistent periodic fasting on severe COVID illness and found it reduced the risk of hospitalization and mortality but not the risk of contracting the illness
The study confirmed past research that intermittent fasting and time-restricted eating, which are two different types of eating patterns, reduces the risk of severe COVID and promotes weight loss
Obesity is an independent risk factor for COVID-19 and a contributing factor to other comorbidities that are associated with severe disease; even mild obesity can influence disease severity
Data gathered since early 2020 have demonstrated the importance of optimal levels of vitamin D to reduce the severity of COVID, and deficiency is also associated with an increased risk of obesity
Several states in Mexico have taken steps to ban the sale of junk food to minors in an attempt to reduce the high rates of obesity and diabetes that are linked to the country’s high death toll
Dr. Meryl Nass Debunks SARS-CoV-2 ‘Virus Isn’t Real’, ‘Never Been Isolated’ Myths
I continue to be asked if the virus is real. I answered this question in 2 prior blog posts, below. But Off-Guardian has a new article claiming the virus is fake, and I was again asked to comment.
- Is the virus real? Has it been photographed? What about Koch’s postulates? What to do?
- The testing mess, lack of reliable data on Covid-19, and a hypothesis why
Here is a description of its culture and isolation, with additional details in the supplementary materials, for those who continue to clamour for it.
Since I have explained some technical aspects in the two prior posts, I will be brief. Please read John McGowan’s comment to the second post for greater detail, which helps debunk the Off-Guardian article.
- There has been tremendous falsification of information on almost every aspect of the pandemic. I don’t think there is much question about that, and I understand that it makes people appropriately suspicious about the reality of the virus, too. Particularly when people with MDs and PhDs after their names claim it does not exist.
- I am willing to go on record to say that Andrew Kaufman, MD (a psychiatrist, not a molecular biologist, who got his undergrad degree in the same department I did at MIT–Biology) who is quoted in the piece, is wrong and ignorant, besides. As are others.
- Here is the key argument: I have challenged those who deny Covid is caused by a real virus to explain what, exactly, is causing these symptoms if it is not a virus. One suggested toxins. Or 5G.
- Well, toxins and 5G and exosomes are not contagious, but this disease is.
- It has a very predictable incubation period, averaging 6 days.
- Properly used PPE protects the wearer from exposure.
- It causes mostly similar syndromes in those who get very ill.
- The syndrome, while relatively unique, is similar to that caused by SARS-1 in 2003.
- The illness responds well to antiviral drugs. Patients get better quickly when viral-killing protocols, including hydroxychloroquine or ivermectin, are used early in the illness.
These simple facts, along with the arguments I have made in the two linked blog posts, confirm that we are facing an infectious disease, and it is caused by a virus.
- Hundreds of thousands of whole genome sequences (maps of every nucleotide in the virus’ RNA) have been uploaded by scientists in scores of countries to international databases, each with its own local mutations. You would need to isolate and grow these viruses in order to sequence them. Saying that all these sequences are false requires that thousands of scientists are lying, together, about the work they have done. Since these scientists are from the US, China, Russia, and everywhere else, getting them all to tell the same lie would not be simple.
- Did this virus originate in a lab? Almost certainly. Was it spread deliberately? I don’t know. It could have been accidental. If it was spread deliberately, who did it? I don’t know that either.
If you approach this question by asking who had the means, motive and opportunity to commit such a crime, we can at least begin the discussion.
- Means: Scientists in multiple countries, including the US and China, had the means to produce a virus like this.
- Motive: Who is benefiting from the pandemic? The $US dollar, Amazon, Elon, Facebook, Zoom, Twitter and the surveillance state, for a start.
- Opportunity: Since the world military games were held in Wuhan in October, military staff from dozens of countries had the opportunity. Wuhan is also an international trading center. Maybe anyone visiting Wuhan last fall had an opportunity.
EXCLUSIVE: Pfizer Vaccine Whistleblower Responds to Motion to Dismiss False Claims Suit
Pfizer cannot use the government as a shield from liability for making false claims about its COVID-19 vaccine, lawyers for a whistleblower argued in response to Pfizer’s motion to dismiss a False Claims Act lawsuit.
“Respondents claim fraudulent certifications, false statements, doctored data, contaminated clinical trials, and firing of whistleblowers can be ignored based on the theory that they contracted their way around the fraud,” lawyers for Brook Jackson, who worked as regional director at one of the clinical trials used to develop the Pfizer vaccine, wrote in their Aug. 22 response.
“A drug company cannot induce the taxpayers to pay billions of dollars for a product,” they countered, “that honest data would show poses more risks than benefits, and that ignores the actual contract and the law itself.”
Jackson’s lawsuit alleges that Pfizer and two of its subcontractors violated the False Claims Act by providing bogus clinical trial results to garner the FDA approval of its COVID-19 vaccine.
Under federal law, individuals can sue on behalf of the government and win treble damages if they can prove an individual or company deliberately lied to the government.
One of Jackson’s attorneys, Warner Mendenhall, told The Epoch Times that the payout could be as much as $3.3 trillion.
“It would be enough to bankrupt Pfizer,” Mendenhall said.
CANCEL CULTURE
DHS Shuts Down Disinformation Governance Board, Months After Pause
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Aug. 24 said it has officially shut down its controversial Disinformation Governance Board, months after the newly created entity was paused amid widespread concern that it would be weaponized against dissenting voices and become a tool for government censorship.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas “has terminated the Disinformation Governance Board and rescinded its charter effective today, August 24, 2022,” the department said in a statement.
The DHS said it “welcomes” recommendations from the Homeland Security Advisory Council (HSAC) subcommittee, which earlier in the day advised Mayorkas that there is “no need for a separate Disinformation Governance Board.”
“But it is our assessment that the underlying work of Department components on this issue is critical,” the HSAC report reads. “The Department must be able to address the disinformation threat streams that can undermine the security of our homeland.”
The department acknowledged that the HSAC “has concluded that countering disinformation that threatens the homeland, and providing the public with accurate information in response, is critical to fulfilling the Department’s missions.”
“With the HSAC recommendations as a guide, the Department will continue to address threat streams that undermine the security of our country consistent with the law, while upholding the privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties of the American people and promoting transparency in our work.”
CDC Backtracks on COVID Guidance as Damning Studies Mount
August 11, 2022, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reversed its COVID-19 guidelines, thereby vindicating every “misinformation spreader” out there
The CDC is now advocating for taking personal responsibility and for everyone to decide for themselves “which prevention behaviors to use and when (at all times or at specific times), based on their own risk for severe illness and that of members of their household, their risk tolerance, and setting-specific factors”
The CDC is also giving up on discrimination based on COVID jab status, stating, its “COVID-19 prevention recommendations no longer differentiate based on a person’s vaccination status because breakthrough infections occur.” They also admit natural immunity exists and works
Testing is now reserved for those who “are symptomatic, or have a known or suspected exposure to someone with COVID-19,” isolation is only for those who are symptomatic and have tested positive, and contact tracing is now restricted to health care settings and select “high-risk congregate settings”
The CDC’s about-face appears to be politically motivated, to give the Biden administration a “win” before the midterm elections. Post-election plans include “the biggest vaccination campaign in history,” so tyrannical overreaches may later resume, even as mounting data show the COVID shots are causing depopulation
GOOD NEWS
The Middleton Police Department says that there’s no such thing as a “routine” call when it comes to their officers performing their duty, serving their community.
A Facebook post from the department shared a heartfelt response when one of their officers paid a visit to a man who just needed someone to talk to, a shoulder to lean on.
Officer Andrew Brooks, one day late June, responded to the residence of a local man who said he’d simply been having a rough week and was in need of a friend.
He told the officers he didn’t know what to cook for dinner, nor did he want to go through the trouble. All the while, he kept saying he was hungry.
“Without hesitation, Officer Andrew Brooks utilized the male’s garden and the food he had in the house and made this gentleman dinner,” the police department posted.
They shared a few photos taken at the scene, showing the man with the officer who is seen in uniform, in the man’s kitchen, cooking up eggs and serving him dinner.
“Sometimes a hot meal and someone to talk to is all it takes to lift someone’s spirits and change their perception on things,” the department wrote. “Thank you for going above and beyond Officer Brooks!!!”
For these officers of the Middleton Police Department answering the call of duty, it’s just another day on the job, keeping the peace while serving their community — and sometimes supper — with their whole heart.
A new report says tigers have roared their way back from the brink of extinction
Tigers are making a major comeback away from extinction.
Over the past seven years, tiger numbers have increased more than 40% across Asia, according to the latest International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species Assessment. Another report released on July 29 revealed that in Nepal, tiger populations have doubled.
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