WORLD NEWS
Pakistan pleads for international help as parts of country ‘resemble a small ocean’
Pakistan is racing to prevent further loss of life as it reels from one of its worst climate disasters with floodwater threatening to cover up to a third of the country of 220 million people by the end of the monsoon season.
Climate change minister Sherry Rehman said Sunday the unprecedented rain had created a “climate catastrophe” with floodwaters submerging homes, destroying farmland and displacing millions of people.
“We’ve had to deploy the navy for the first time to operate in Indo-Pakistan, because much of it resembles a small ocean,” she told German broadcaster Deutsche Welle.
On Monday, the death toll reached 1,061 since mid-June, according to the National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA), as the unrelenting rain raised fears of more fatalities to come.
“By the time this is over, we could well have one quarter or one third of Pakistan under water,” Rehman told Turkish news outlet TRT World on Thursday.
On Monday, new satellite images from Maxar Technologies showed the scale of the disaster — homes and fields completely submerged along the Indus River, as well as the cities of Rajanpur and Rojhan in Punjab, Pakistan’s most populous province.
Ukraine distributes iodine tablets as fears of a radiation leak mount
The incident heightened dread of a nuclear disaster in a country still haunted by the 1986 explosion at Chernobyl
Authorities began distributing iodine tablets to residents near Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant Friday in case of a radiation leak, amid mounting fears that the fighting around the complex could trigger a catastrophe.
The move came a day after the plant was temporarily knocked offline because of what officials said was fire damage to a transmission line. The incident heightened dread of a nuclear disaster in a country still haunted by the 1986 explosion at Chernobyl.
Continued shelling was reported in the area overnight, and satellite images from Planet Labs showed fires burning around the complex — Europe’s biggest nuclear plant — over the last several days.
Iodine tablets, which help block the absorption of radioactive iodine by the thyroid gland in a nuclear accident, were issued in the Ukrainian-controlled city of Zaporizhzhia, about 45 kilometers (27 miles) from the plant. A woman and her small daughter were among those receiving the pills.
Human Trafficking Rings Discovered in Vietnam After 42 Victims Flee Cambodia Casino
Four human trafficking rings have been found operating across Vietnam after dozens of Vietnamese escaped from a casino in Cambodia where they had been duped into working and exploited.
Col. Dinh Van Noi, director of An Giang province’s police department in Vietnam, said on Aug. 23 that trafficking rings operating “in many localities” have accomplices in Cambodia to lure Vietnamese into illegally working in casinos.
A group of 42 escaped from the Golden Phoenix Entertainment casino in Cambodia’s Kandal province on Aug. 18 and swam across the Binh Di river separating the two nations. Five of them are women.
A 16-year-old boy who was one of the escapees was found dead in a river section of Vietnam’s An Giang province, while another worker was caught by casino guards, VN Express reported.
Police in Vietnam detained Nguyen Thi Le and Le Vand Danh for their roles in smuggling individuals to Cambodia. The casino’s manager, a Chinese national, was also arrested on allegations of forced labor.
The Chinese manager acknowledged forced labor practices but claimed the workers owed the casino money. Workers are subject to fines of up to $30,000 if they quit, according to local reports.
Beef From Brazil and Canada Labeled as US Made: President of Cattlemen’s Association
U.S. government needs to secure meat supply chain
Dr. Brooke Miller is the president of the U.S. Cattlemen’s Association (USCA), representing grassroots cattle producers, backgrounders, and feedlot operators, and works to ensure the profitability of cattle ranching and farming in the United States. Despite the organization’s efforts, Miller points to the looming threat facing the U.S. cattle industry, mainly caused by the monopoly that large meat packing companies have.
Miller warns that more and more small ranchers are going to go out of business and a meat shortage in the future is likely because of our reliance on meat from foreign countries like Brazil and Canada, which are allowed to label foreign-produced meat as U.S.-grown.
Some of these large companies “import beef from foreign countries and label it as U.S. beef,” said Miller. They are able to do this because “our government allows them,” Miller said during an Aug. 24 interview with EpochTV’s “Facts Matter” program.
US Coast Guard Vessel Denied Port Call in Solomon Islands
U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) vessel, the Oliver Henry, was greeted with silence when it requested permission for a scheduled port call in the Solomon Islands, forcing the crew to Papua New Guinea instead.
The incident comes amid mounting concerns about the influence of the Chinese Communist Party in the region and the ongoing weakening of democratic institutions in the Solomons with the Pacific nation’s leader relying heavily on Chinese support to weather domestic turmoil.
The USCG cutter Oliver Henry was participating in Operation Island Chief, along with Australian, New Zealand, and United Kingdom vessels, to monitor and prevent illegal fishing activities in the South Pacific.
The Operation ended on Aug. 16, which was when the U.S. Coast Guard vessel tried to make a scheduled stop at Guadalcanal, the Solomon Islands, for refueling and re-provisioning, according to a statement obtained by the Associated Press.
The Controlled Demolition Of Europe
As I read through the multitude of daily news articles about Russia, Ukraine, NATO and EU, it’s getting ever harder to escape the idea that there is a controlled demolition of the continent happening. And that neither its “leaders”, and certainly not its people, have any say in this. All we get from those “leaders” are NATO or World Economic Forum talking points. The only independent voice is Victor Orban. Who is either silenced in western media or painted as fully insane.
But Orban’s Hungarians won’t freeze this coming winter. He just signed a new gas deal with Russia. The main reason that is provided for all the others not doing that is of course Russia’s Special Military Operation in Ukraine. Which is as insane as Orban is, and “totally unprovoked”, say the western media. Noam Chomsky summarized that best: “Of course it was provoked. Otherwise they wouldn’t refer to it all the time as an unprovoked invasion.”
And no, it wasn’t just Russia/Ukraine, way before that Europe had already screwed up its economies beyond recognition -if you cared to look under the hood. But why make it worse? I get a very strong feeling that those EU “leaders” have alienated themselves far too much from the people they purport to serve, and they’ll regret it. For now it’s obvious among farmers, for instance, but when people start freezing, they will want to know why. And if no answer is forthcoming that is both honest and satisfactory, many “leaders” will have it coming for them.
The entire energy and food crisis is being sold as “inevitable”, but it is nothing of the kind. They are the result of choices being made in Brussels, Berlin, Amsterdam etc., about which nobody has asked your opinion. Something I jotted down a few days ago:
Is the west using Ukraine as an excuse to commit mass economic suicide? And, you know, fulfill some WEF-related goals? Why else would they cut off all economic ties to Moscow, at a time when it’s obvious they have no alternative sources for much of what they import from Russia? Moreover, why does a country like Holland aim to close 10,000 of its farms when it’s crystal clear that that will exacerbate the coming global food crises?
If you don’t like Putin, that’s fine, but why should your own people suffer from what you like or not? And of course you can ask whether it’s a good idea that a country the size of a postage stamp is the world’s no. 2 food exporter. But it is. And if you try to change that by doing a 180º, also on a postage stamp, it is very obvious that is not going to go well. And all the so-called leaders know this. But they still do it.
Prices for heating, petrol, as well as food, are set to go much higher than they have already, mitigated only -perhaps- by the fact that ever fewer people will be able to afford the ever higher prices. But now it’s starting to look like this was all scripted. Because “we” could have kept communication channels with Russia open, “we” could have negotiated for peace for the past 6 months. Not doing that was a deliberate choice. A choice that you and me, another “we”- had no voice in whatsoever.
The Dutch could have negotiated with their farmers, and slowly addressed their perceived problems with nitrogen oxides, while keeping food production going. And we could have found a way to keep Russian and Ukrainian crops available on world markets too. But it doesn’t feel at all like “we” wanted that.
Someone made a list of what EU won’t get anymore with the Russia boycott.: “nat-gas, rare earths, inert gases, potash, sulfur, uranium, palladium, vanadium, cobalt, coke, titanium, nickel, lithium, plastics, glass, ceramics, pharmaceuticals, ships, inks, airplanes, polymers, medical and industrial gases, sealing rings & membranes, power transmission, transformer and lube oils, neon gas for microchip etching, etc., etc.”
And that’s not all. Fertilizer!! Why they do it, I don’t know. Do they WANT to kill their own economies? It makes no sense. And this will not be over soon.
Reuters of course seeks to blame Putin. But he’s not the one who introduced the sanctions. He’s offered to let the gas and oil exports continue.
Vatican Chief Praises Italy’s Law Legalizing Abortion as a ‘Pillar of Society’
The president of the Pontifical Academy for Life called Italy’s notorious Law 194 legalizing abortion “a pillar of society” this weekend, insisting that no one is looking to overturn it.
Interviewed by Italian state television Rai Tre, Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia lauded the 1978 law allowing abortion in Italy, a move that critics called a new “ground zero of morality.”
Woke Aussie Bank in Electric Vehicle Push: Ends Loans for New Gas and Diesel Cars
An Australian bank has decided the future is electric and will stop approving personal loans for new petrol and diesel-powered cars from 2025 onwards.
Electric vehicles (EVs) comprised a tiny two per cent of vehicles sold in Australia last year. That is a drop in the ocean compared to 17 per cent in Europe and 13.3 per cent in China, and with high starting prices coming in at $47,000 and a lack of charging stations Down Under, potential buyers still look for any alternatives to those on offer from major EV manufacturers.
MP Warns of ‘Significant Conflict’ Between Migrants and Citizens in Open Borders Ireland
A parliamentarian in Ireland has warned of the possibility of “significant conflict” between migrants and Irish citizens.
“Significant conflict” between migrants and citizens in Ireland is now a future possibility, one MP in the country has warned.
Ireland’s progressivism-obsessed government has taken in tens of thousands of migrants supposedly from Ukraine and beyond this year, with officials now planning to spend over €1 billion on migrants in the country this year — over 1 per cent of the country’s tax haul in 2021.
According to a report by the Irish Independent, Patricia Ryan, a parliamentary politician for the left-wing nationalist Sinn Féin party, wrote to over 500 homes in her constituency’s county warning that the government’s move to house migrants in the area before developing social housing for locals had the potential of drumming up serious tensions.
The decision to construct modular homes for supposedly Ukrainian arrivals in the area — which was reportedly done with little to no consultation with locals — mirrors previous examples where the Irish government bussing in large numbers of foreign migrants to a location regardless of whether citizens in the area were happy with the move or not.
U.S. NEWS, POLITICS & GOVERNMENT
Judge denies Kemp’s motion to quash grand jury testimony
A judge has denied Gov. Brian Kemp’s request to avoid testifying before the special purpose grand jury investigating Donald Trump and his allies’ attempts to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results.
But the Monday morning ruling from Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney did say Kemp could appear before the grand jury at “some date soon after” the contentious November election.
McBurney’s ruling comes after weeks of heated discussions, legal wrangling and a tense two-hour court hearing in which Kemp’s attorneys argued in favor of quashing his subpoena.
In addition to suggesting the summons was a political move in the middle of a heated election season, the governor’s legal team argued last week that sovereign immunity prevents him from being forced to testify.
Prosecutors from Willis’ office, meanwhile, said during Thursday’s hearing that they’ve gone out of their way to avoid politics and that sovereign immunity doesn’t apply because the grand jury, while civil in nature, is probing potential criminal violations in the law.
McBurney — who pointed out Thursday that Kemp is facing no accusations of criminal activity and is effectively a “victim” of any improper actions undertaken by Trump or his allies — largely sided with Willis’ office. Though his ruling did grant the Kemp camp’s request that his appearance before the special grand jury be delayed until after Nov. 8, should he be forced to testify..
“Once the election is over, the Court expects the Governor’s legal team promptly to make arrangements for his appearance,” McBurney wrote.
McBurney’s ruling also acknowledged the contentious negotiations for Kemp’s testimony.
“…this subpoena came only after weeks of tortured and tortuous negotiations over obtaining an interview with the Governor — the details of which do not bear repeating here, other than to note that both sides share responsibility for the torture and the tortuousness,” the ruling says.
US Sends 2 Warships Through Taiwan Strait, 1st Since Pelosi Visit
Two U.S. Navy warships sailed through the Taiwan Strait on Aug. 28, the first time since the Chinese regime ramped up military pressure on the self-ruled island in retaliation to U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit earlier this month.
Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruisers USS Antietam and USS Chancellorsville were conducting a routine transit, the 7th Fleet said in a statement. The U.S. vessels “transited through a corridor in the Strait that is beyond the territorial sea of any coastal State.”
“The ship’s transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the United States’ commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific,” the statement reads.
The Chinese military “closely follows and [monitored]” the two cruisers’ movement, Col. Shi Yi, spokesperson for Eastern Theater Command of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, said in a statement. Its troops are “on high alert to defeat any provocation at any time.”
U.S. Navy ships have transited the Taiwan Strait at least three times this year. The last publicized passage before the Aug. 28 operation was on July 19, when the U.S. Navy stated that the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Benfold passed through the strait.
U.S. allies such as Canada and the UK also sent vessels through the narrow waterway separating Taipei from Beijing.
The communist regime in China views self-ruled Taiwan as its territory, to be taken by force if necessary.
It is illegal for New Yorkers under age 21 to purchase a can of whipped cream, according to recently-passed state law.
The law, which went into effect in November 2021, is meant to prevent teenagers from using canned whipped cream to inhale nitrous oxide, otherwise known as “whippets.”
Warning: Your iPhone video of Mt. Rushmore ‘could land you in jail’
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression has released a statement warning that a new court ruling from the D.C. Circuit Court poses a massive threat to the First Amendment.
And you.
“Visiting D.C.? Planning to take video at the Lincoln Memorial for your YouTube channel? Not so fast. Thanks to the National Park Service and the D.C. Circuit Court, that video on your iPhone could land you in jail if your YouTube viewership generates any revenue,” the FIRE statement warns.
The problem comes from a decision in Price v. Garland that affirmed the NPS scheme for requiring people to pay fees and obtain permits if any of their video actually generates revenue, such as on YouTube.
“The court drew a bewildering distinction between the act of filming and other steps in ultimately communicating through film, holding that recording video ‘involves merely a noncommunicative step in the production of speech,'” the FIRE reported.
“The court’s conclusion runs counter to decades of case law finding that the process of filmmaking is expressive, and that the First Amendment equally protects the creation and dissemination of speech, both of which are essential for communication.”
Warned the FIRE report: “The downstream implications of such a distinction are staggering: Ansel Adams would enjoy full First Amendment protection to exhibit his famous National Park photos, but not in taking them. A budding poet (the next Henry David Thoreau, perhaps?) heading off to the woods to write a book of poetry would be fully protected by the First Amendment in selling the book, but not in actually writing it.”
Texas Governor ‘Accelerates’ Busing of Illegal Immigrants to New York City
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signaled he will accelerate the busing of illegal immigrants from the border to New York City, a sanctuary city, according to his office.
“Texas is filling the gaps left in [President Joe] Biden’s absence at our border,” the Republican governor wrote on social media. “We’ve made over 19,000 arrests, seized over 335.5 [million] lethal fentanyl doses, [and] sent over 7,400 migrants on buses to DC,” he added.
Two buses carrying about 100 illegal aliens, mostly young men with several women, arrived in New York City this weekend from the Texas border, according to a Fox News reporter.
In a statement released on Friday, Abbott’s office said Texas authorities have sent more than 7,400 illegal immigrants to the District of Columbia. Meanwhile, Abbott has sent a growing number of illegal immigrants to New York City—about 1,500—in the month of August.
“Governor Greg Abbott, the Texas Department of Public Safety, and the Texas National Guard are continuing to work together to secure the border, stop the smuggling of drugs, weapons, and people into Texas, and prevent, detect, and interdict transnational criminal behavior between ports of entry,” the statement also said, adding the program, Operation Lone Star, “accelerates” busing of illegals to New York City.
“The busing mission is providing much-needed relief to our overwhelmed border communities,” it added. “Operation Lone Star continues to fill the dangerous gaps left by the Biden Administration’s refusal to secure the border.”
Pennsylvania Abruptly Changes Voter Registration Form, Combines With Mail-In Ballot Application
In the middle of the election cycle, the Pennsylvania Department of State has suddenly changed its voter registration application form to include a mail-in ballot application.
The applications used to be on separate forms, but this seemingly small clerical change is creating logistical headaches for county election directors and causing voter confusion.
Registering to vote and seeking a mail-in ballot are two different actions requiring different responses in the county election offices.
“We use the voter registration application for one thing, we use a mail-in ballot application for something different,” Christa Miller, Lancaster County’s election director, told The Epoch Times. “One has to be done before the other. Obviously, you have to be a voter in order to get a detailed ballot, so that has to be processed first. And then your mail-in ballot application can be processed. We also file them all completely different.”
All voter registration applications are filed together, and mail-in ballot applications are filed separately. That is because, as per state law, county election offices must mail an application each year to everyone who asked to be on the permanent mail-in ballot list.
“In February, we have to send them an application for that calendar year,” Miller said. Then the voter must send it back, confirming they want to participate in mail-in voting for the year. The office files the mail-in applications alphabetically.
Facebook Reduced Reach of Posts About Hunter Biden Laptop in Lead-up to 2020 Election: Zuckerberg
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, the parent company of Facebook, told podcast host Joe Rogan in a recent interview that the company actively reduced the reach of social media posts referencing the story about Hunter Biden’s laptop in the lead-up to the 2020 presidential election.
On the Aug. 25 episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience,” Zuckerberg said that the move was in response to a general advisory from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to some Facebook staffers to be vigilant for Russian propaganda before the 2020 election.
Zuckerberg’s remarks were in response to Rogan’s question: “How do you handle things when there’s a big news item that’s controversial, like there was a lot of attention on Twitter during the election because of the Hunter Biden laptop story?”
In response to Rogan’s question, Zuckerberg said: “The background here is the FBI I think basically came to some folks on our team [and] were like, ‘Hey, just so you know, you should be on high alert. We thought that there was a lot of Russian propaganda in the 2016 election, we have it on notice that basically there’s about to be some kind of dump similar to that, so just be vigilant.’”
Zuckerberg said that the protocol Facebook took was “different from Twitter’s.”
To Help Biden, FBI Interfered With 2020 Election
As if the FBI’s reputation were not already in tatters, we have yet another bombshell, courtesy of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, about FBI malfeasance during the 2020 election.
It turns out that the FBI used its previously concocted Russia hoax as an excuse to pressure Facebook to censor the factually correct Hunter Biden laptop story, which the New York Post broke.
In an appearance Thursday on “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast, Zuckerberg admitted that Facebook suppressed news of the laptop and its contents in the weeks preceding the 2020 presidential election, after FBI agents requested to meet with Zuckerberg’s staff to deliver dire warnings of a supposed dump of Russian election “misinformation.”
Although Zuckerberg said he couldn’t recall whether the FBI agents specifically mentioned the Hunter Biden laptop story in their warning, he said the story “fit the pattern” that concerned the FBI, so he sprang into action and suppressed the story.
Zuckerberg was oddly proud of distinguishing the mere throttling of the laptop story by Facebook (now Meta) from the outright ban of the story by Twitter.
When pressed by Rogan, Zuckerberg wouldn’t admit to the scale of his company’s censorship of the laptop story, other than to say: “Fewer people saw it than otherwise.” Given Facebook’s gargantuan influence, “fewer than otherwise” likely is many millions—and possibly enough to have flipped the election to Donald Trump rather than Joe Biden had the story been allowed to gain steam.
Americans should listen to this episode of ”The Joe Rogan Experience” without forgetting the context in which Facebook took such drastic censorship action. Back in October 2020, Facebook claimed its suppression of the Hunter Biden story was “part of our standard process to reduce misinformation.” Note no mention of the FBI’s involvement.
Either Facebook’s spokesman, Andy Stone, was lying at the time, or the FBI’s involvement was part of Facebook’s “standard process” all along.
This same FBI had access to the abandoned Biden laptop since 2019, well before Zuckerberg and his team received warnings of impending Russian “misinformation” from the FBI. Once Facebook and others moved to squelch the laptop story, why didn’t the FBI go back to them and say that the Constitution protects freedom of the press and free speech, and that agents never intended the suppression of true stories?
Given how hyperpartisan and anti-Trump the FBI has become in recent years, is it possible that the FBI actually had the damning contents of Hunter’s laptop in mind when the agents approached Facebook with their request that the social media giant suppress political speech?
Kash Patel Denounces Biden Administration for Keeping Name in Redacted FBI Trump Warrant Affidavit
Former federal prosecutor Kash Patel on Aug. 26 denounced federal officials for not redacting his name in a heavily redacted search warrant affidavit.
“Today marks another vicious attack from DOJ/FBI who intentionally jeopardized my safety by un-redacting my name in the most reviewed search warrant in the history of the United States,” Patel said in a post on Truth Social, former President Donald Trump’s social media platform.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) and the FBI did not respond to requests for comment.
Patel, who currently hosts an EpochTV program, is one of only two people identified by name in the affidavit, most of which was redacted. The other is Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), who was referenced because she was told by the U.S. archivist earlier this year details about materials the archivist received from Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s estate.
Other figures were discussed but not named, including the archivist, a Department of Justice lawyer, and a Trump lawyer. Other names were redacted, including the name of the FBI agent who wrote the affidavit.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart approved the warrant based on the affidavit, a sworn statement. The warrant was executed at Mar-a-Lago on Aug. 8. The affidavit was made public with redactions on orders from Reinhart.
The inclusion of Patel’s name drew widespread attention, including from former FBI official Peter Strzok, whose display of animus toward Trump in text messages led to his termination.
“Never great to see your unredacted name in a search warrant affidavit,” Strzok wrote on Twitter, recommending Patel hire a lawyer.
13 States Might Tax Forgiven Student Loans; See If Yours Is Among Them
President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness program has sparked a flurry of questions, including its effect on inflation and whether it’s fair to saddle some taxpayers with the burden of paying off others’ debts.
Now the Tax Foundation has raised another—will it trigger tax liabilities for beneficiaries of the plan?
Taxpayers will absorb up to $10,000 in outstanding student debt, with the amount forgiven doubling to $20,000 for Pell Grant recipients, for individual borrowers earning less than $125,000 per year or $250,000 for married joint filers under Biden’s plan.
While the debt relief is free from federal taxes, some states have laws that treat the canceled debt as taxable income, according to Jared Walczak, vice president of state projects at the Tax Foundation.
“Here’s one more question to add to the mix: Will states consider student loan debt forgiveness a taxable event? In many states, the answer could be yes,” Walczak said in a note.
Federal Court Strikes Down Biden Administration’s Transgender Medical Mandate
A federal appeals court on Friday struck down a Biden administration statute that forced doctors to perform medical procedures, including gender-transition procedures, against their religious beliefs.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit unanimously upheld a lower court’s ruling in Franciscan Alliance v. Becerra which protected around 19,000 health care professionals in Franciscan Alliance, a Catholic health care network, from performing medical procedures against their conscience.
The lower court’s ruling had permanently prohibited the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service (HHS) “from requiring Franciscan Alliance to perform gender-transition surgeries or abortions in violation of its sincerely held religious beliefs.”
Becket, the legal counsel representing Franciscan Alliance, said the court explained that permanent protection from the statute was appropriate for health care workers.
“This ruling is a major victory for conscience rights and compassionate medical care in America,” said Joseph Davis, counsel at Becket, in a statement. “Doctors cannot do their jobs and comply with the Hippocratic Oath if the government requires them to perform harmful, irreversible procedures against their conscience and medical expertise.”
The court noted that the Biden administration argued for more chances to show why it needed religious health care providers to participate in gender-transition surgeries, but that the ACLU, a co-appellant, cited a previous case that worked against their argument, according to court documents (pdf).
“For years, our clients have provided excellent medical care to all patients who need it,” Davis said. “Today’s ruling ensures that these doctors and hospitals may continue to do this critical work in accordance with their conscience and professional medical judgment.”
CDC Flip-Flop Creates Plausible Deniability For Crimes Against Humanity
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.
Judge Signals Intent to Back Trump’s Request for Mar-a-Lago Special Master
A federal judge says she is inclined to grant former President Donald Trump’s request to appoint a neutral third party to review documents and other materials seized by the FBI earlier this month in a raid on Trump’s Florida home, citing “exceptional circumstances.”
U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon for the Southern District of Florida, a Trump appointee, said in a filing on Aug. 27 that she decided to give Trump a chance to make his case after reviewing Trump’s submissions and the “exceptional circumstances presented.” A so-called special master—usually a retired lawyer or judge—independently examines the records and filters out privileged information before the government can review them.
“Pursuant to Rule 53(b) (1) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and the Court’s inherent authority, and without prejudice to the parties’ objections, the Court hereby provides notice of its preliminary intent to appoint a special master in this case,” Cannon wrote.
Democrats Obstruct Their Electric Vehicle Push With Surprising Tax Credit Requirements
The federal government’s electric vehicle (EV) transition is in full swing, and Democrats have hyped the recent passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) as an accelerant to that evolution.
Further, gas prices’ continual pounding of consumers at the pump has spurred EV interest to rise to 36 percent, according to a 2022 Consumer Reports survey. That may not sound like much, but it’s a significant increase from the 2020 report, when EV interest was at 4 percent.
Still, one of the hurdles to increased EV adoption is price. On July 12, Kelley Blue Book reported that the average cost of an EV was more than $66,000, while the price for an average gas-powered vehicle was $43,942—a $22,000 difference.
To help allay concerns about price toward increasing adoption, Democrats proposed an expansion of EV tax credits in the IRA; the credits took effect on Aug. 16. However, since the IRA was enacted, some experts are pointing out that the new credits exclude lower-priced EVs and could phase out entirely in 2023.
Indeed, economically priced EVs from Toyota and Hyundai are now ineligible for EV tax credits, while Audi’s Q5 PHEV (plug-in hybrid EV) and BMW’s 330e qualify for up to $7,500—for now.
Why? Democrats tied the EV credits to an “assembled in North America” requirement, and, in 2023, that includes the battery.
Ozzy Osbourne Flees Crime-Ridden L.A. for the U.K. to Protest Gun Crime
An interview published by The Guardian indicates that rock legend Ozzy Osbourne is fleeing his home in crime-ridden Los Angeles and returning to the U.K. because of gun crime.
According to The Guardian, Ozzy’s wife Sharon worried that people would think they were moving to the U.K. because of Ozzy’s fight with Parkinson’s disease.
Sharon said, “I knew people would think that. It’s not. It’s just time. America has changed so drastically. It isn’t the United States of America at all. Nothing’s united about it. It’s a very weird place to live right now.”
Ozzy’s comments were more pointed, intimating gun crime was central in the decision to move: “Everything’s fucking ridiculous there. I’m fed up with people getting killed every day. God knows how many people have been shot in school shootings. And there was that mass shooting in Vegas at that concert … It’s fucking crazy.”
California is the number one most gun-controlled state in the Union, according to Mike Bloomberg-affiliated Everytown for Gun Safety. However, Breitbart News noted that FBI figures show California is also the number one state in the Union for “active shooter incidents.”
Pennsylvania High School to Host ‘After School Satan Club’ Event
The Satanic Temple (TST) is planning on hosting an “After School Satan Club” back-to-school event at a Pennsylvania high school next month.
On Tuesday, Officials from Northern York County School District approved the event to be hosted at Northern High School in Dillsburg, Pennsylvania, Fox 43 reported.
Dillsburg is the same town where a local school board shot down TST from hosting an “After School Satan Club” event at an elementary school in April, Breitbart News reported at the time.
Parents and residents expressed their staunch opposition to the organization hosting an event in the community back in April.
“They already took God out of schools now they’re going to let Satan in, it’s just crazy,” said Perry County Resident Jennifer McAllister back in April, according to Fox 34.
“There is a lot of evil already in this world, so to allow it to come into our school and our community is not OK,” another parent, Laura Vangeli, said at the time via WHP.
Attacker Sets Residences on Fire, Shoots People as They Flee Flames
An attacker in Houston, Texas, set fire to residences shortly after 1 a.m. Sunday morning, then shot and killed three people as they fled the flames.
The attack occurred “at a multiroom rental facility near 8020 Dunlap St,” CNN reported.
Houston police chief Troy Finner said Houston Fire Department arrived on scene before police officers, but had to take cover after hearing gunshots being fired.
An officer who arrived on scene found the attacker, a black male in his 40s, across the street and exchanged gunfire with him, killing the suspect.
Finner praised the officer who took down the attacker, saying, “I’m very proud of him. Who knows, that suspect probably would have tried to shoot somebody else.”
Three innocents were killed in the attack and two others were injured.
Sheriff: Florida Honeymooner Left Sleeping Wife in Hotel to Meet Prostitute
Florida’s Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) recently arrested hundreds during a human trafficking sting, but one stood out among the others.
HCSO arrested 34-year-old Paul Turovsky whom Sheriff Chad Chronister said got married on July 15, according to a report from 98.7 the Shark Thursday.
During his honeymoon, the man’s wife apparently fell asleep in their hotel bedroom. Meanwhile, Turovsky answered an ad issued by the HCSO and reportedly planned to meet an undercover detective to pay for sex.
However, when he arrived at the address in Tampa, officials took him into custody.
The law enforcement agency shared a photo Thursday of the suspect and said he was charged with soliciting another to commit prostitution:
Michigan Secretary of State Loses Round in Fight Over Dead People on Voter Rolls
Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson has failed to convince a judge to dismiss a case that could force the state to remove 25,975 deceased people from its voter rolls.
Benson moved for dismissal of a case brought against her in November 2021 by the Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) for her failure to clean up the state’s voter registration rolls—in an alleged violation of Section 8 of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993.
On Aug. 25, Benson’s motion to dismiss the case was denied by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan. The court also denied the motions to intervene filed by the Detroit/Downriver Chapter of the A. Philip Randolph Institute, the Michigan Alliance for Retired Americans, and Rise Inc.
Additionally, PILF’s suit seeks to force Benson to provide documentation of her efforts to remove deceased registrants from the voter rolls, something she has thus far also failed to do.
Beto O’Rourke Diagnosed With Bacterial Infection While Campaigning for Midterms
Texas gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke said on Sunday that he’s been diagnosed with a bacterial infection in the midst of his campaign ahead of the midterm elections on Nov. 8.
O’Rourke, 49, confirmed the news in a statement on Twitter and said he planned to take a break from the campaign trail to recover.
“After feeling ill on Friday, I went to Methodist Hospital in San Antonio where I was diagnosed with a bacterial infection,” he wrote, while praising the “extraordinary team” at the hospital for his “excellent care and attention.”
“While my symptoms have improved, I will be resting at home in El Paso in accordance with the doctor’s recommendations,” he wrote.
The Democratic nominee for governor did not state when he would return to the campaign trail, which started in July. The news of O’Rourke’s illness came after he canceled a number of events last week, including in Lockhart, central Texas.
“I am sorry to have had to postpone events because of this, but promise to be back on the road with you as soon as I am able,” O’Rourke added.
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
Inflation Will Increase If Government Spending Spree Continues: Study
Central banks including the Federal Reserve will fail to curb inflation unless governments start to be responsible for spending, according to a study presented to central bankers at a Jackson Hole conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
The authors of the study, Francesco Bianchi of Johns Hopkins University and Leonardo Melosi of the Chicago Fed, warned that increasing interest rates would end up in stagnation without adequate constraints on government spending.
“If the monetary tightening is not supported by the expectation of appropriate fiscal adjustments, the deterioration of fiscal imbalances leads to even higher inflation pressure. As a result, a vicious circle of rising nominal interest rates, rising inflation, economic stagnation, and increasing debt would arise,” they wrote in the study (pdf).
If governments are not spending money responsibly, inflation will be driven up by the private sector’s expectations of high inflation while at the same time the economic output is reduced by hawkish monetary policy, they explained.
“The more hawkish monetary policy would have lowered inflation by only 1 percentage point at the cost of reducing output by around 3.4 percentage points,” the authors wrote. “This is a quite large sacrifice ratio.”
Inflation, Recession Fears Weighing on US Business Activity
Inflation and risk of a recession are the top concerns for U.S companies in multiple sectors. These worries are beginning to weigh on overall operations, resulting in a slowdown in business activity and declining sentiment according to numerous indices.
The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) Optimism Index highlighted that 37 percent of small business owners reported that inflation was their most important problem in July, the highest it has been since 1979. Moreover, the monthly survey discovered that most owners are raising their average selling prices, and the net percent of owners anticipating real sales to be higher worsened.
“The uncertainty in the small business sector is climbing again as owners continue to manage historic inflation, labor shortages, and supply chain disruptions,” said Bill Dunkelberg, NFIB Chief Economist, in a statement. “As we move into the second half of 2022, owners will continue to manage their businesses into a very uncertain future.”
This coincided with the August IBD/TIPP Economic Optimism Index, which slipped to an 11-year low of 38.1 as consumers continue to be pessimistic about the economy as inflation erases wage gains. This could spell bad news for business conditions.
Meanwhile, a third-quarter CNBC/SurveyMonkey Small Business Survey found that 77 percent of small business owners anticipate inflation to continue, and that 57 percent believe the recession has already started.
In this economy, it is all about planning for the worst-case scenario and hoping for the best, says Mike Davis, founding partner of Olive Tree Ridge, a multi-strategy asset management firm.
“If I plan for the worst, that’s when I’m gonna be having the greatest set of days coming up in the future because I can only be pleasantly surprised,” Davis told The Epoch Times, adding that no matter how this economy is labeled, businesses still need to navigate through the information, storm clouds, and evolving consumer trends.
Report: Reshoring of American Manufacturing Jobs at ‘Record High’
The number of manufacturing jobs that have been reshored to the United States is at a “record high” as concerns swirl over supply chain dependency on China, a new research report details.
The report, published by the Reshoring Initiative, reveals that a record number of American manufacturing jobs have been brought home after being offshored and outsourced to foreign countries over the last two decades when China entered the World Trade Organization (WTO).
“In 2021 the private and federal push for domestic supply of essential goods propelled reshoring and foreign direct investment (FDI) job announcements to a record high,” the report states.
In 2022, the report projects that about 350,000 American jobs are expected to be reshored to the U.S. labor market — another record after 2021 set a record when 260,000 American jobs were brought home.
“If the projection is achieved, 2022 will bring the total jobs announced since 2010 to over 1.6 million,” the report continues.
Researchers suggest that reshoring of American jobs from overseas has trickled slowly since 2010 but has taken off in recent years because of a number of factors, including federal support for domestic manufacturing, supply chain woes from the Chinese coronavirus, tariffs, and the increase in shipping costs.
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
NASA scrubs first SLS launch attempt due to engine issue
NASA has called a scrub on its first attempt to launch the Space Launch System rocket. The problem was due to an “engine bleed” issue, which effectively means that one of the four main engines could not be properly chilled ahead of its ignition.
It is not clear when the next launch attempt will occur. NASA has an availability to launch at 12:48 pm ET (16:48 UTC) on September 2. However, if work is needed on one of the engines, the rocket likely would need to be rolled back to the Vehicle Assembly Building, pushing back a launch attempt until at least October.
Ars will have full coverage of the scrub, and what happens next, later on Monday afternoon.
Thanks, Biden!: Ford Increases Price for Electric Mustang Mach-E by as Much as $8,000
Ford is reportedly raising the price of the 2023 Mustang Mach-E electric vehicle by as much as $8,000 just a few weeks after increasing the price of its planned electric pickup truck the F-150 Lightning. Although the company blames inflation, supply chain problems, and “rapidly evolving market conditions,” the price hikes come just after Joe Biden’s climate and spending bill passed including electric vehicle rebates eerily similar to Ford’s price increases.
The Verge reports that Ford is raising the price of the 2023 Mustang Mach-E just a few weeks after increasing the price of its electric pickup truck, the F-150 Lightning. The automaker stated that it was reopening the order banks for the electric SUV with an adjusted MSRP due to “significant material cost increases, continued strain on key supply chains, and rapidly evolving market conditions.”
WashPo: Congress and Car Companies Love Electric Vehicles – but Americans Aren’t Buying In
The White House appears to have convinced Congress to spend big on electric vehicles, but now it faces the challenge of convincing tens of millions of American drivers to purchase them. According to a report by the Washington Post, Americans aren’t buying in. One woman said, “I want to believe these are good cars, but I am like, ‘Is this a repeat of the flip-phone era? Should I be sitting this out for now?’”
The Washington Post reports that while the White House is celebrating Congress agreeing to invest in electric vehicles, there now remains a new hurdle – convincing tens of millions of motorists to purchase the cars.
SURVEILLANCE STATE
Gabby Giffords’ Gun Control Groups Ask Major Credit Cards to Flag Gun, Ammo Purchases
Gabby Giffords’ gun control group, Giffords, is calling on major credit card companies to flag gun and ammunition purchases.
Giffords posted a tweet Sunday, which said, “The shooters in at least 5 mass shootings have stockpiled guns & ammo using credit cards and killed 145 people. Visa, Mastercard, and American Express have the power to flag suspicious purchases and save lives. Call on them to act.”
The GunsDownAmerica campaign says, “Between 2007 and 2020, the killers in at least five major mass shootings used credit cards to finance their deadly rampages. These individuals exploited the banking system to purchase large quantities of firearms and ammunition — and the financial industry has the power to stop them.”
Amazon Blasted for Making ‘Dystopian’ TV Show from Customers’ Ring Camera Footage
Amazon’s syndicated Ring Nation series will feature videos taken from Americans’ Ring doorbells and other smart home cameras, a concept that even left-wing politicians and activists are slamming as “dystopian” and “surveillance” television.
Left-wing comedian Wanda Sykes will be hosting the series, produced by Amazon subsidiary MGM Television, which is expected to feature clips such as “neighbors saving neighbors, marriage proposals, military reunions, and silly animals,” according to a report by Deadline.
HEALTH
New Research on Tattoo Inks Raises Red Flags: Harmful Nanoparticles, Often Inaccurate Labels, etc.
As tattoos continue to increase in popularity worldwide among people of all ages, the European Commission has started to “crack down” on harmful ingredients in ink. Can Americans count on U.S. regulatory agencies to do the same?
From Ars Technica:
Scientists explore chemistry of tattoo inks amid growing safety concerns
“Every time we looked at one of the inks, we found something that gave me pause.”
Scientists at Binghamton University (State University of New York) have analyzed nearly 100 different tattoo inks and found that the manufacturers’ ingredient labels (when used) are often inaccurate and that many inks contain small particles at the nanoscale that could be harmful to human cells. They presented their findings at this week’s meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS) in Chicago.
According to principal investigator John Swierk, a chemist at Binghamton, the project initially started when his group became interested in tattoos as tools for medical diagnostics. This shifted to an interest in tattoo laser removal, specifically how laser light causes tattoos to fade. “We realized we didn’t understand a lot about the interaction between light and tattoos,” Swierk said during a press briefing at the ACS meeting. “My group studies how light can drive chemical reactions, so it was a natural fit.”
That meant learning more about the chemical composition of tattoo inks, which is also not well understood. One reason for this significant gap in scientific understanding is that in the US, at least, manufacturers of tattoo inks aren’t required to disclose the ingredients, and even when they do, there is no real oversight of whether those disclosures are correct, per Swierk.
Typical tattoo ink contains one or more pigments (which give the ink its color) within a “carrier package” to help deliver the pigments into the skin. The pigments are the same as those used in paints and textiles. They can be either small bits of solids or discrete molecules, such as titanium dioxide or iron oxide (for white or rust-brown colors, respectively). As for the carrier packages, most ink manufacturers use grain or rubbing alcohol, sometimes with a bit of witch hazel added to the mix to help the skin heal after the tattooing process. There may also be other additives to adjust the viscosity and keep pigment particles suspended in the carrier package.
First, the team interviewed several tattoo artists and found that while the artists had their preferred brands, they knew very little about the chemical composition of their favorite inks. Next, Swierk’s lab used various methods to analyze a broad range of commonly used tattoo inks, including Raman spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and electron microscopy. This enabled them to identify specific pigments and other ingredients in the various inks.
They found that many ingredients didn’t appear on the manufacturers’ labels, such as one ink that contained ethanol even though it was not listed on the label. And 23 of the inks analyzed thus far show evidence of an azo-containing dye. Such pigments are usually inert, but exposure to bacteria or UV light can cause them to degrade into a nitrogen-based compound that potentially could cause cancer.
Furthermore, says Swierk, “Often the particle sizes used in tattoo inks are very small—less than 100 nanometers in diameter. When you get down to that size regime, you start to have concerns about nanoparticles penetrating into cells, getting into the nucleus and doing damage, possibly causing cancer.” About half of the 18 inks analyzed with electron microscopy had particles in this worrisome size range.
August 19, 2022, The New York Times (NYT) published the documentary “Superspreader,” featuring yours truly, on FX and Hulu, both of which are owned by Disney
The top institutional owners of The NYT are The Vanguard Group and BlackRock Inc. Combined, they have ownership in nearly 90% of all S&P 500 firms, and through their investment holdings they secretly wield monopoly control over all industries
The takeaway from the program is that my integrity is in question because I run a successful vitamin and organic food company
The same networks critical of how I fund my free information outreach with nutritional supplements and biodynamic foods advertised Hard Seltzer alcohol, Pop Tarts, Taco Bell and fad supplements, including a hair growth formula, a testosterone booster and a weight loss pill, during the program
The timing of the documentary also ended up being ironic, as just one week before the “Superspreader” program aired, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reversed all of its COVID-19 guidelines, thereby proving many of my positions on COVID correct
How Effective Is Your Cancer Medication? The Industry Might Not Even KnowCancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States, right on the heels of heart disease.
In developed countries, the general consensus is that if you do not die of heart disease, then the next likely event is cancer.
In fact, most health experts expect that everyone will eventually develop, and likely die of cancer or a related complication—provided nothing else happens before then.
As a condition that is bound to haunt a significant proportion of the population, we have also been researching cures for it for hundreds of years.
So far, the earliest documented cases of cancer were made over 3,500 years ago. The first causes of cancer and anti-cancer therapy were also found over 200 years ago.
However, over 200 years later, exactly how effective are our drugs
Cradle To Grave: The Massive Consolidation Of The Health Care Industry
The following is a summary of changing health care and the threat to national security. With the latest Inflation Reduction Act joining healthcare and climate change, the path toward global totalitarianism has been paved with taxpayer dollars.
A present court case, US et al. v. UnitedHealth Group Inc. et al., is of great interest. This narrowly focused antitrust suit addresses the $13.5 billion purchase of Change Health by UnitedHealth Group (UHG) and its largest subsidiary, Optum. In fiscal 2020, Change Health facilitated over 15 billion healthcare transactions and nearly $1.5 Trillion in adjudicated claims or more than a third of all US healthcare expenditures. The US argues data could be misused to benefit UHG. Clearly, claims data is precisely the vital commodity for power eyed by the huge conglomerate, UHG. Due to their enormity and dominance in health technology they are well positioned within the sphere of those with global interests to use data and the many applications for population control without restraint. If the purchase of Change Health is completed could universal health care become an October Surprise through a de facto public-private partnership? A public utility?
For decades there has been a plan to align government bureaucracy with a more malleable non-government entity to reach universal health care and a global totalitarian bureaucracy. Obamacare programs and their perpetual expansion presented UHG/Optum the opportunity to build the technological infrastructure necessary to infiltrate, exploit, and subsequently conquer government healthcare systems. UHG/Optum annual reports have consistently outlined what they deem necessary tracking and monitoring to benefits individuals that reach all aspects of humanity. They suggest how the public must adapt under varying circumstances. Personal data collected on racial, economic, cultural, social and political behavior are stratified and applied to influence medical standards, to include some social programs, as deemed necessary for the time, as with Covid-19. This also applies to public policy development, justified through data, of proven and unproven algorithmic medical treatments – some helpful and some not. Technology leading policy! One should question the actions required by data collected, analyzed, and interpreted all by one interested party. One might also question corporate technocrats being moved into prime government positions as the authorizing bureaucrats.
Optum has seen the advantage of massive, rapid growth and consolidation through mergers, acquisitions, partnerships, and various other arrangements that are too numerous to list. UHG/Optum, has grown into a giant technocracy, upon which the US government and the remaining few insurers depend for support to function. Optum is a huge healthcare and tech contractor for departments of HHS, VA, DOD, HUD and too many associate agencies to include here.
- Optum serves 120 million individual consumers and 80% of health plans.
- OptumInsight serves 90% of US hospitals.
- Provides data mining services and predictive modeling for more than 250 national, state and local health plans.
- Apr 14, 2022, UnitedHealth Group’s Q1 2022revenues totaled $80.1 billion, up 14.2% compared to $70.2 billion in Q1, 2021
- UnitedHealthcare revenues were up 13.6% to $62.6 billion, while Optumrevenues were up 18.9% to $43.4 billion.
- Optum has a operations in 150 countries
- UHG employs 340,000 worldwide
Can B Vitamins Help Prevent Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease?
Vitamin B12 and folic acid were found to significantly impact nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), for which there is no pharmaceutical treatment option
- NASH is the second stage of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD); a few potential causes of which include consuming high fructose corn syrup, low-level exposure to glyphosate or choline deficiency
Although NAFLD may have no symptoms it can progress to NASH, fibrosis and finally cirrhosis, with a higher risk of liver cancer. Supplementation with B12 and folic acid appeared to slow the progression of NASH and reverse fibrotic tissue changes in the liver
Iron overload is also associated with liver damage and high iron levels are found in individuals with alcoholic liver disease and NAFLD
Consider protecting your liver by eliminating high-fructose corn syrup from your diet, don’t use Roundup, and make sure to purchase organic, non-GMO produce. Also, take care to get enough B vitamins and choline from your food
—> Power Mall Product of Interest: Vitamin B12 (1 fl oz)
Take a Stand for Better Health
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the already largely sedentary U.S. population moved even less. In the United States, daily steps plunged 15 percent within 15 days of the pandemic declaration, according to researchers at the University of California–San Francisco, and the situation didn’t improve. With more people working from home, the tendency to sit at a computer for long hours is taking a toll on both physical and mental health, but the upside is that many people are increasingly realizing the importance of daily movement.
While regular physical exercise is important, so, too, is doing virtually anything other than sitting—even standing. This is why many fitness trackers have goal settings for not only calories burned and steps taken in a day, but also for reaching a standing-time goal.
What Sitting Does to Your Body
Sitting is a behavior with a very low energy expenditure that’s associated with poor health outcomes in both adults and children. Sitting and other forms of prolonged, uninterrupted sedentary time promote cardiometabolic disorders, obesity, depression, and all-cause mortality in adults. In children, it’s linked to obesity, anxiety, and depressive symptoms.
Increased musculoskeletal symptoms are also associated with prolonged sitting, and being sedentary for long periods of time each day even appears to accelerate aging at the cellular level.
Among roughly 1,500 older women who were included in one study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, those who sat the longest were, on average, eight years older, biologically speaking, than women who moved around more often, with researchers concluding that “avoidance of a highly inactive lifestyle may provide health benefits at the cellular level.”
Another study published in The BMJ in 2015 found that excessive sitting increases lung cancer risk by 54 percent, uterine cancer risk by 66 percent, and colon cancer risk by 30 percent.
“Sedentary behavior contributes to an interrelated network of increased body fat, altered production of sex hormones, metabolic dysfunction, leptin, adiponectin, and inflammation, encouraging cancer development,” the researchers wrote.
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
Feds Declare Emergency in 4 States After Oil Refinery Fire in Indiana
Declarations in response to ‘unanticipated shutdown’ of BP Whiting refinery
The federal government on Aug. 26 declared a regional emergency affecting Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin, following an “unanticipated shutdown” of an oil refinery in Indiana due to a fire.
The fire on Aug. 24 knocked out the electrical power and cooling water systems at BP Whiting in Indiana, causing it to shut down and undergo assessment, Reuters previously reported.
The U.S. Department of Transportation and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administrations said the “unanticipated shutdown of the BP Whiting refinery” due to the fire has affected the supply of gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel throughout the four Midwest states.
The declaration provides the resources to immediately transport gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel to the four states, which are facing or are anticipated to face shortages. Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin usually collectively receive up to 25 percent of their fuel from the BP Whiting refinery.
By executing the emergency declaration, motor carriers and drivers who are directly assisting the emergency in the affected states will be exempt from the federal regulation 49 CFR § 395.3 that limits property-carrying vehicles to a maximum driving time.
But when a driver returns to normal operations after working on emergency relief efforts, they will need to take a 10-hour-break if they have been involved in 14 hours or more of emergency relief efforts.
According to the American Automobile Association (AAA), drivers in the four states face average gas prices ranging from $3.62 in Wisconsin to $4.176 in Illinois as of Aug. 27.
Meanwhile, CBOB, a common grade of gasoline, went up 30.5 cents a gallon in the Chicago area on Aug. 25, a day after the oil refinery shutdown. Ultra-low sulfur diesel went up by 17 cents on the same day.
BP Whiting normally refines over 400,000 barrels of oil per day. It is the sixth-biggest by capacity in the United States, and the company’s largest in the nation, according the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
BEWARE!: https://iclei.org (climate change advocacy organization may be infiltrating your community)
COVID RELATED NEWS
John Leake, a true crime author, and Dr. Peter McCullough have written a new book, “The Courage to Face COVID-19: Preventing Hospitalization and Death While Battling the Bio-Pharmaceutical Complex,” revealing the crimes perpetrated by the medical industrial complex against patients, doctors and the public at large
What we’ve seen during these COVID years is a reversion back to a pre-scientific era of immutable orthodoxy, much like the counter reformation in Europe during the Inquisition in the late 1500s and early 1600s. There was no due process then and there’s no due process now
The American Board of Internal Medicine is threatening to revoke McCullough’s certification — which essentially would shut down his ability to be employed — because in fair-balance he “made public statements that may lead to someone not taking a vaccine”
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention need to be held to account for their reckless public health decisions, but the real power base behind these COVID crimes, which must also be held to account, is the medical industrial complex — a conglomerate of international foundations, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation, the Wellcome Trust and the World Economic Forum
In order for there to be a reckoning, a sufficiently large portion of the population must demand accountability, stay on-task, and not allow themselves to be distracted by the latest “emergency,” whether real or fabricated
Judge Rules COVID Vaccine Mandate for DC Government Workers Is Unconstitutional
A Washington D.C. superior court judge ruled Thursday that the city’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate that was imposed on city employees is unlawful.
An order that was handed down by Judge Maurice A. Ross was a response to a lawsuit filed by the Washington D.C. Police Union and other groups that opposed Mayor Muriel Bowser’s mandate. Bowser in August of last year ordered city government employees to provide proof of vaccination although some workers could seek a medical or religious exemption to the shot.
“A vaccine mandate is not an everyday exercise of power,” Ross wrote in his 17-page ruling (pdf). “It is instead a significant encroachment into the life—and health—of an employee. It is strikingly unlike any other workplace regulations typically imposed, as it ‘cannot be undone at the end of the workday.’ Thus, there is an expectation that a vaccine mandate must come from a legislative body.”
Ross also argued that the legal “system does not permit the Mayor to act unlawfully even in the pursuit of desirable ends,” including curbing COVID-19, adding that “the Mayor lacks legal authority to impose a vaccine mandate on Plaintiffs.”
The judge rejected city lawyers’ arguments that Bowser could impose a vaccine mandate in her capacity to regulate occupational and workplace hazards. The Biden administration made a similar claim to the U.S. Supreme Court last year on its vaccine mandate for private businesses before the court struck the rule down in January.
“Although COVID-19 is a risk that can occur in many workplaces, it is not an occupational hazard in most,” Ross wrote in his order.
CANCEL CULTURE
Sharyl Attkisson on Media Bias
In the 1950s, the CIA ran a covert campaign called “Operation Mockingbird,” in which they recruited journalists as assets to spread propaganda, and while the campaign officially ended in the 1970s, evidence suggests the project never really stopped
In her book, “Slanted: How the News Media Taught Us to Love Censorship and Hate Journalism,” Sharyl Attkisson addresses one of the most pressing issues of our time: media bias and the deterioration of objective journalism
Multinational industries, and the drug industry in particular, also wield powerful influence over content relating to their particular interests. As drug advertising became a major income stream for media companies, their reporting on health and medicine became increasingly biased
Big Tech companies are also masters of censoring anything that might hurt themselves or their technocratic allies
In terms of health, COVID-19 reporting has taken censorship and media manipulation to brand-new heights. All social media platforms are openly censoring dissenting views about the virus, particularly its origin and treatment. Even lauded doctors and scientists have been axed for speaking against the desired narrative dictated by the World Health Organization
FBI Responds to Zuckerberg’s Claim It Helped Suppress Hunter Biden Laptop Story
The FBI has responded to a claim by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg that Facebook algorithmically censored references to Hunter Biden’s laptop ahead of the 2020 election after receiving a warning from the bureau about “Russian propaganda.”
Zuckerberg said on an Aug. 25 episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience” that Facebook actively reduced the reach of social media posts discussing the laptop computer in response to an advisory from the FBI to some Facebook staffers to be on guard for Russian disinformation ahead of the presidential election.
“The background here is the FBI I think basically came to some folks on our team [and] were like, ‘Hey, just so you know, you should be on high alert. We thought that there was a lot of Russian propaganda in the 2016 election, we have it on notice that basically there’s about to be some kind of dump similar to that, so just be vigilant,’” Zuckerberg told Rogan.
PET NEWS
Inflation Is Causing People to Surrender Their Pets
Since the pandemic began, adopting a dog seemed just as competitive as getting front-row Beyoncé tickets or getting your kid into the preschool of your choice. But as of June, the pandemic rescue storyline seems to have reversed. Not only are fewer people adopting new animals, but they’re surrendering them in alarming numbers.
This June, as the inflation rate hit a 41-year high, in areas where housing has been hit the hardest, pet parents are surrendering animals in striking numbers. Despite knee-jerk assumptions, these are not Millennial first-timers, but long-time pet owners being forced to give up animals they love.
“I’ve seen stories saying, ‘Oh, people adopted during the pandemic, and then they got tired of their pets, and that’s who’s coming back in,’” says Katy Hansen, director of marketing and communications for Animal Care Centers of NYC. “And that is absolutely not who’s coming back in.”
It All Points to Inflation
In New York City, with its 24 percent increase in rents this year, there has been a 25 percent increase in pets being surrendered by longtime owners.
“The shelter industry is about ready to implode,” says Hansen. Animal Care Centers of NYC has tracked the pets it places in homes for many years. “If an animal comes back to us, we know,” Hansen says. “And the pets coming back are from families who’ve had them for, like, 10 years, or their whole lives. These people saying they just can’t afford to keep them.”
Not only are people losing jobs, having to relocate, or being priced out of pet-friendly buildings. Costs of everything from pet food to vet care has risen faster than many can manage. “Dog food costs have surpassed the consumer price index,” Hansen says. “And we’re seeing a serious shortage of vets, which drives up the costs of those covering greater needs. And I know this is what my counterparts nationally are finding as well.”
While the ASPCA’s data does not show the same surge in intakes and rescues nationwide, it acknowledges the reality that services in cities like New York and Los Angeles report.
“People [in Los Angeles] are surrendering pets, and most often the reason is housing” says Ana Bustilloz, Director of Communications and Marketing for Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Los Angeles (spcaLA).
Bustilloz continues: “It is extremely difficult to find housing in Los Angeles for a renter that will also accept pets. It’s a factor of how difficult the renting landscape is now, and what that does to people. Other programs that help people keep their pets, providing assistance for medical or veterinary bills, or food — they’re extremely helpful. But when it comes to something like housing, that’s something we can’t help.”
The scenarios in which pets are surrendered now are quite different from those before today’s economy and the pandemic. “Perhaps the No. 1 reason people might surrender a pet would be behavior,” Bustilloz says. “So spcaLA and other organizations created programs to address that. But if the number one problem is housing, the programs to address that have to be city wide, county wide nationwide.”
Hansen adds that shelters and agencies are “struggling to manage a crisis” with a decrease in adoption and pets staying longer in shelters.
While both cats and dogs are being surrendered, the most commonly unhoused are large-breed dogs. Again, those surrendering their pets tend not to those who first adopted pandemic pets. “We found a lot of Millennials were adopting, and they were doing better financially,” Hansen says. “Many of them work from home, which is one of the reasons why they opted to adopt during that time.”
GOOD NEWS
Top 12 Tips to Strengthen Gratitude
If your happiness could use a boost, commit to cultivating an attitude of gratitude. It not only boosts life satisfaction, it’s also the single best predictor of good relationships, and benefits both sanity and physical health
Gratitude involves affirming the good in your life and recognizing its sources. It is the understanding that life owes you nothing, and that the good things in your life are gifts that cannot be taken for granted
A dozen different strategies are reviewed, all of which can help you build and strengthen your sense of gratitude
Research shows gratitude, depression, peace of mind and rumination are all interrelated, and that gratitude counteracts depression by enhancing peace of mind and reducing ruminative thinking
When you start seeing everything as a gift, opposed to things you’ve deserved (for better or worse), your sense of gratitude will begin to swell. Another way to practice gratitude when life leaves you uninspired is to identify and express gratitude for seemingly “useless” or insignificant things
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