WORLD NEWS
The UN secretary-general said that nuclear war is “back within the realm of possibility” following Russia’s warning earlier this year it was putting its nuclear forces on alert amid its war in Ukraine, which threatens to draw NATO into direct combat with Russia. Since then, nuclear threats have continued to raise concerns a nuclear weapon could be used in a conflict for the first time in decades.
Much of the focus as of late has been on the risk of Russian President Vladimir Putin using a nuclear weapon in Ukraine in a desperate move to change his army’s forturnes on the battlefield, but the Russian leader has also directed warnings at the US and NATO.
In December, Putin also suggested that Russia may abandon its “no first use” military doctrine, which says Russia would only use nuclear weapons as a last resort.
“They [the US] have it in their strategy, in the documents it is spelled out – a preventive blow,” Putin said at a news conference in Kyrgyzstan. “We don’t. We, on the other hand, have formulated a retaliatory strike in our strategy.”
“So if we’re talking about this disarming strike, then maybe think about adopting the best practices of our American partners and their ideas for ensuring their security,” he added. “We’re just thinking about it.”
While the risk of tensions between the US and Russia escalating to open conflict and nuclear war is low, the threat exists.
China Estimates 248 Million People Infected With COVID in 20 Days: Reports
As many as 37 million people are contracting COVID-19 in a single day in China, according to leaked minutes from a meeting of the country’s top health body confirmed by multiple news outlets.
In the first 20 days of December, 248 million people—accounting for about 18 percent of the population—were likely to have been infected with the disease, officials said during the National Health Commission’s internal meeting on Dec. 21. The figure is exponentially higher than the regime’s official virus tally, and if accurate, would mean that China’s outbreak is the largest in the world.
Nearly three years under the regime’s stringent zero-COVID policy has left the Chinese public with little natural immunity against COVID-19’s highly contagious Omicron variant, which appears to be spinning out of control in the country.
A screenshot of the conference notes circulating on Chinese social media shows that the virus has hit over half of the residents in the country’s capital of Beijing and Sichuan Province in southwestern China. Sichuan is also one of three provinces with over 20 million infections, while six other provinces and cities, Beijing included, have an infected population of between 10 million to 20 million, the estimates said. Bloomberg and other media outlets confirmed the notes with anonymous officials involved in the discussions.
The minutes cited 12 Omicron subvariants. The three that are most prevalent, it said, are BA.5.2, BF.7, and BM.7. Officials said they haven’t identified variants with “significant change in transmissibility, pathogenicity, and immune evasion.”
How the agency arrived at these figures remains unclear given the country abandoned mandatory mass virus testing earlier in the month.
The numbers nonetheless appear consistent with anecdotal evidence of a spike in infections and deaths nationwide, including among the regime’s elite circle. They also align with analysis by UK researchers projecting 167 and 279 million cases nationwide, which could lead to between 1.3 and 2.1 million deaths.
Bill Gates Global Takeover Is Official
The World Health Organization has become extraordinarily conflicted, primarily through its funding, and by serving corporate masters, it fails miserably at promoting global health
The WHO will form the foundation for a one world government, under the auspice of coordinating and ensuring global biosecurity. This becomes evident when you review the proposed amendments to the 2005 International Health Regulations (IHR) and the WHO Pandemic Treaty
The proposed IHR amendments will erase the concepts of human dignity, human rights and fundamental freedoms from the equation. The first principle in Article 3 of the 2005 IHR states that health regulations shall be implemented “with full respect for the dignity, human rights and fundamental freedoms of persons.” The amendment strikes that sentence
Instead, international health regulations will be based on “principles of equity, inclusivity and coherence” only. This means they can force you to undergo whatever medical intervention they deem to be in the best interest of the collective
The IHR amendments grant dictatorial powers to the WHO director-general and unelected regional directors. The WHO’s “recommendations” will be legally binding by all member states, and will supersede all national and state laws, including the U.S. Constitution
Putin Vows to Destroy US-Made Patriot Missile Systems Promised to Ukraine
Russian President Vladimir Putin says he’s very confident that Moscow will destroy the Patriot air defense systems that the United States has promised to Ukraine in a new security assistance package.
“Of course, we’ll take them out, 100 percent!” Putin said during a Dec. 25 interview with Rossiya-1 TV anchor Pavel Zarubin, Russia’s state-owned news agency TASS reported, noting that Ukraine doesn’t have such systems yet.
A day after the U.S. State Department announced a new $1.85 billion aid package for Ukraine, bringing the overall financial support to about $22 billion, Putin said “the Patriot is a fairly outdated system” and an “antidote” to these systems will be found.
“It is said that the Patriot systems may be sent to Ukraine. Let them do it; we will weed out the Patriots too,” Putin said, according to the Kremlin station.
Putin also told Rossiya-1 TV that Moscow is ready to start negotiations with all parties involved in the Russia—Ukraine war that recently passed its 300th day.
“We are ready to negotiate with everyone involved about acceptable solutions, but that is up to them—we are not the ones refusing to negotiate, they are,” Putin told the station.
Arson Suspected as Finland Church Burns Down During Christmas Service
A church in the Finnish region of South Karelia caught fire in the middle of a Christmas service on Sunday, with local police believing the incident was a deliberate act of arson.
The wooden church, located in the municipality of Rautjärvi, caught fire on Christmas morning and was evacuated during the morning Christmas service after smoke alarms detected and alerted worshippers at around 9:30 am. While all of those present at the church were able to safely evacuate the building, the church itself was engulfed in flames and was completely destroyed.
Mitch McConnell Declares $45 Billion in Aid to Ukraine ‘Morally Right’
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) declared $45 billion in aid to Ukraine “morally right” on Christmas Eve.
“Continuing our support for Ukraine is morally right, but it is not only that. It is also a direct investment in cold, hard, American interests,” McConnell wrote, posting a picture with himself and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Texas State Trooper Halts Pursuit of Migrants near Border After Hearing Gunfire
A Texas Department of Public Safety trooper heard gunfire after a foot pursuit of migrants and a human smuggler onto a ranch near the border. The gunfire was heard after a high-speed chase on Christmas Eve.
Texas DPS South officials tweeted a report regarding a pursuit of a human smuggler and a group of migrants on Christmas Eve. The trooper initiated a pursuit in Kinney County after an alleged human smuggler refused to stop their vehicle.
New mortgage borrowers set to pay thousands more for a home loan
Bank of England base rate increases have pushed up mortgage costs for new borrowers and those on variable rates over the past year
High numbers of home-owners are set to refinance their mortgages in the coming year.
But some may find themselves paying tens of thousands of pounds more over the course of their new home loan than they would have done if they had taken out a deal just a year ago.
U.S. NEWS, POLITICS & GOVERNMENT
Florida Supreme Court to Convene Grand Jury to Investigate COVID-19 Vaccines
The Florida Supreme Court announced Thursday it approved a request by Gov. Ron DeSantis to impanel a statewide grand jury to investigate any wrongdoing related to COVID-19 vaccines.
“A statewide grand jury shall be promptly impaneled for a term of twelve calendar months, to run from the date of impanelment, with jurisdiction throughout the State of Florida, to investigate crime, return indictments, make presentments, and otherwise perform all functions of a grand jury with regard to the offenses stated herein,” reads the court order (pdf) issued Thursday.
DeSantis, a Republican, is seeking to investigate Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna and their executives, as well as other medical associations or organizations involved in the provision of the COVID-19 vaccines in Florida.
Among other things, the governor seeks to probe whether any deceitful information was disseminated about “vaccines purported to prevent COVID-19 infection, symptoms, and transmission.”
DeSantis had petitioned the seven-member court for the investigation earlier this month. Out of the seven judges on the Florida Supreme Court, DeSantis had appointed four of them.
At least five justices must participate in every case and at least four must agree for a decision to be reached. A panel of six justices, three of whom were appointed by DeSantis, approved the governor’s request. Chief Justice Carlos Muniz, and Justices Charles Canady, Ricky Polston, John Couriel, and Jamie Grosshans voted yes, while Justice Jorge Labarga voted no.
Texans as Young as 18 Can Carry Guns After State Drops Appeal
People as young as 18 can carry handguns in Texas after the state dropped an appeal of a recent order.
Texas officials were prepared to make their case against the order, which found a Texas law barring people aged 18–20 from carrying handguns unconstitutional, but abruptly asked to withdraw the appeal on Dec. 20, court records show.
Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steven McCraw asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit for the withdrawal and the appeals court granted the unopposed request. McCraw did not say why the state, which filed a notice of appeal in September but never filed a brief outlining its position, was backing down. The department did not return a request for comment.
The Firearms Policy Coalition, which sued the state over the law, celebrated the move.
“We applaud Texas for doing the right thing and accepting the district court’s ruling against its law prohibiting 18-to-20-year-old adults from carrying firearms in public,” Cody Wisniewski, the coalition’s senior attorney for constitutional litigation, said in a statement. “Not only do young adults have the same constitutionally protected right to bear arms as all other adults, they are also among the reasons we have a Second Amendment, Constitution, and Country in the first place.”
Illegal Immigrant Apprehensions Continue to Surge as Supreme Court Weighs Fate of Title 42
While Americans celebrate Christmas, multiple cities across the country brace for what will happen if the Supreme Court decides to end Title 42 as federal border officials report a record number of illegal immigrant crossings at the U.S.–Mexico border.
On Dec. 23, data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection showed that, in November, the agency recorded 233,740 migrant encounters across the southern border, which stretches almost 2,000 miles.
That marks more than a 30 percent increase compared to the same period in November 2021.
About 16 percent of the illegal immigrants apprehended by federal border officials last month had previously attempted to enter the United States, according to Department of Homeland Security information.
Texas 2020 Election Audit Finds ‘Very Serious Issues’ in Harris County
Secretary of State John Scott’s office has released the final phase of its 2020 general election audit of Collin, Dallas, Harris, and Tarrant Counties.
The audit released on Monday showed the most serious issues occurred in Harris County, followed by Dallas with two large problems, including “phantom voters.” Tarrant County administered a “quality, transparent election” with minor findings, and Collin County “proved to be the model of how to run elections in Texas.” (pdf)
Overall, Texas voters can have a “very high level of confidence in the accuracy of the outcome of Texas elections” when state election code and local procedures are followed, according to a state election audit report.
Scott ordered the full forensic audit last year amid concerns about voter fraud. To ensure the transparency of the assessment, the 359-page audit represents the two largest Democrat-controlled counties, Dallas and Harris, as well as the two largest Republican-controlled counties, Collin and Tarrant, according to the report.
In Harris County, the problems were severe enough that the Secretary of State’s office notified the county of the audit’s preliminary findings ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, the report said.
Virginia Sheriff Drops Voluntary Cooperation With Federal Immigration Agency
A Virginia sheriff announced on Tuesday that her office has dropped its voluntary cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
In a letter to various pro-immigration organizations, Beth Authur said her office will stop taking nonmandatory actions against illegal immigrants starting from Dec. 20.
“The ACSO (Arlington County Sheriff’s Office) will no longer recognize any ‘voluntary action’ requests from ICE nor place the information in our records management system,” she wrote. “The sheriff’s office will no longer contact ICE for any releases from our facility, to include felony charges.”
However, Arthur said her office will continue to follow Virginia law that requires sheriffs at correctional facilities and jails to ask if a person was born outside the United States or is a citizen of a country other than the United States when they are taken into custody for a felony offense.
Her office will also continue to implement judicially signed warrants from ICE, she said.
The sheriff said she made the policy changes after she attended a community event organized by some pro-immigration organizations including La ColectiVa, Legal Aid Justice, and the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild.
“I listened to the concerns and impacts with an open mind, and I have also consulted with my attorney, and carefully considered all the information that was given to me,” she said in the letter before elaborating on the details of the policy changes.
Frigid Winter Storm Across US Claims at Least 34 Lives
Millions of people hunkered down against a deep freeze Sunday to ride out the winter storm that has killed at least 34 people across the United States and is expected to claim more lives after trapping some residents inside houses with heaping snow drifts and knocking out power to tens of thousands of homes and businesses.
The scope of the storm has been nearly unprecedented, stretching from the Great Lakes near Canada to the Rio Grande along the border with Mexico. About 60 percent of the U.S. population faced some sort of winter weather advisory or warning, and temperatures plummeted drastically below normal from east of the Rocky Mountains to the Appalachians, the National Weather Service said.
Travelers’ weather woes are likely to continue, with hundreds of flight cancellations already and more expected after a bomb cyclone—when atmospheric pressure drops very quickly in a strong storm—developed near the Great Lakes, stirring up blizzard conditions, including heavy winds and snow. Some 1,707 domestic and international flights were canceled on Sunday as of about 2 p.m. ET, according to the tracking site FlightAware.
The storm unleashed its full fury on Buffalo, with hurricane-force winds and snow causing whiteout conditions, paralyzing emergency response efforts. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said almost every fire truck in the city was stranded Saturday. Officials said the airport would be shut through Tuesday morning. The National Weather Service said the snow total at the Buffalo Niagara International Airport stood at 43 inches at 7 a.m. Sunday.
Daylight revealed cars nearly covered by 6-foot snowdrifts and thousands of houses, some adorned in unlit holiday displays, dark from a lack of power. With snow swirling down untouched and impassable streets, forecasters warned that an additional 1 to 2 feet of snow was possible in some areas through early Monday morning amid wind gusts of 40 mph.
Two people died in their suburban Cheektowaga, New York, homes Friday when emergency crews could not reach them in time to treat their medical conditions, and another died in Buffalo. Four more deaths were confirmed overnight, bringing the total to seven in Erie County. County Executive Mark Poloncarz warned there may be more dead.
“Some were found in cars, some were found on the street in snowbanks,” said Poloncarz. “We know there are people who have been stuck in cars for more than 2 days.”
Freezing conditions and day-old power outages had Buffalonians scrambling to get to anywhere that had heat amid what Hochul called the longest sustained blizzard conditions ever in the city. But with streets under a thick blanket of white, that wasn’t an option for people like Jeremy Manahan, who charged his phone in his parked car after almost 29 hours without electricity.
“There’s one warming shelter, but that would be too far for me to get to. I can’t drive, obviously, because I’m stuck,” Manahan said. “And you can’t be outside for more than 10 minutes without getting frostbit.”
Illegal Immigrants Dropped Near VP Harris Home in Washington on Christmas Eve
Three buses of recent illegal immigrant families arrived from Texas near the home of Vice President Kamala Harris on Christmas Eve.
Texas authorities have not confirmed their involvement, but the bus drop-offs are in line with previous actions by border-state governors calling attention to the Biden administration’s immigration policies.
The buses that arrived late Saturday outside the vice president’s residence were carrying around 110 to 130 people, according to Tatiana Laborde, managing director of SAMU First Response, a relief agency working with the city of Washington to serve thousands of illegal immigrants who have been dropped off in recent months.
Democrats are blasting Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) for sending three migrant buses to Vice President Kamala Harris’s residence in Washington, DC on Christmas Eve in freezing temperatures.
As Breitbart News reported, Abbott’s Division of Emergency Management sent the three buses filled with border crossers to Harris’s D.C. residence, the Naval Observatory, while the highest temperature on Christmas Eve reached just 22 degrees.
Government employees in four states are violating federal laws and assisting the Left by providing voter information, a conservative legal group argues in suing those states.
The Thomas More Society alleges in its lawsuits against Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin that the Electronic Registration Information Center, also known as ERIC, shares voter information with at least one left-leaning nonprofit.
ERIC is a centralized database designed to help states better maintain voter registration lists by catching duplicate registrations in other states. But now ERIC is tilting the scales, says a lawyer for the Thomas More Society, a conservative legal group that focuses on life, religious liberty, and election integrity.
“Progressives have an advantage through information arbitrage,” Erick Kaardal, the organization’s special counsel, told The Daily Signal in a phone interview after a pretrial hearing Thursday in its suit against Minnesota.
“This will change politics,” Kaardal said. “Instead of requiring candidates to move toward appealing to people in the middle, campaigns will now microtarget subgroups.”
In finance and economics, arbitrage means the simultaneous buying and selling of the same asset in different markets to profit from small differences in the asset’s listed price. In the context of elections, the asset would mean voter information that could be targeted differently by campaigns or organizations.
“We do not comment on pending litigation,” Cassondra Knudson, spokeswoman for Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon, told The Daily Signal when asked to comment for this report.
Sensitive US military data found on eBay – NYT
German computer enthusiasts reportedly bought gadgets containing information on 2,600 people from Iraq and Afghanistan
A German computer club purchased several biometric capture devices on eBay and found that they still contained fingerprints, iris scans, photographs and descriptions of thousands of people who interacted with the US Army in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to the New York Times.
Inspired by a 2021 article on the Taliban seizing similar biometric devices following the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, Matthias Marx and members of the Chaos Computer Club in Berlin purchased six such devices on eBay, the newspaper reported on Tuesday.
One of these machines – a Secure Electronic Enrollment Kit (SEEK II) that cost Marx $68 – contained scans taken at detention facilities, on patrols, following a roadside bomb attack, and on local staff. The device had last been used near the Afghan city of Kandahar in 2012, and most of the individuals whose data it contained were from Iraq and Afghanistan. Several were considered terrorists by the US.
The SEEK II is a shoebox-sized device, capable of recording fingerprints, iris scans, and photographs. It stores this data on a memory card, allowing soldiers to compile biometric information while on the move and upload it later to a military database.
Had the US military simply removed the device’s memory card, Marx and his team would not have been able to see the personal information of 2,632 people.
“It was disturbing that they didn’t even try to protect the data,” Marx told the Times. “They didn’t care about the risk, or they ignored the risk.”
After the US withdrew its forces from Afghanistan last August, the Taliban reportedly carried out a wave of reprisal killings. According to Human Rights Watch, the militants targeted, among others, locals who worked for the US-backed Afghan military. The Taliban leadership rejected Human Rights Watch’s claims, describing them as “slander against the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.”
A second SEEK II, last used in Jordan in 2013, contained the fingerprints and scans of “a small group of US service members,” the Times stated, noting that according to the US military, this information would have been stored during a training session.
The Pentagon said that it is “not able to confirm the authenticity of the alleged data,” and called on the Chaos Computer Club to return the devices to the US. Marx told the Times that he plans on deleting the data after presenting his findings at a hacker event in Berlin this week.
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
IRS Halts Controversial New Rule Requiring Reporting of $600 Payments
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on Friday announced it would delay a rule that would have required tens of millions of Americans who received payments of at least $600 to report their earnings, following widespread confusion and angst about the new requirements.
Under the 2021 American Rescue Plan, anyone who earned $600 via platforms like PayPal, Etsy, Venmo, Airbnb, eBay, and others, would receive a 1099-K tax form from those services. Previously, those payment apps were required to send users the tax form if their gross income exceeded $20,000 or if they had 200 separate transactions in a calendar year.
But acting IRS Commissioner Doug O’Donnell told news outlets Friday that the rule triggered confusion and would be delayed by another year. The Epoch Times has contacted the Treasury Department for comment.
“The additional time will help reduce confusion during the coming 2023 tax filing season and provide more time for taxpayers to prepare and understand the new reporting requirements,” O’Donnell told the Wall Street Journal.
“The I.R.S. and Treasury heard a number of concerns regarding the timeline of implementation of these changes under the American Rescue Plan,” O’Donnel told the New York Times. “To help smooth the transition and ensure clarity for taxpayers, tax professionals and industry, the IRS will delay implementation of the 1099-K changes.”
The rule does not change what income is taxable, just what payment information the IRS will receive. Gig workers and sellers who use online platforms are required under the law to report and track their income.
Millions of Americans Set to Be Removed From Medicaid After Passage of Omnibus Bill
Millions of U.S. citizens who enrolled in the Medicaid insurance program during the COVID-19 pandemic could soon lose their coverage due to the passage of the $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill.
Back in January 2020, the Trump administration declared a public health emergency (PHE) that has been renewed every 90 days since. The Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) was signed into law in March 2020 prohibiting states from removing Medicaid recipients from the program as long as the PHE is in effect, thereby ensuring that Americans have access to continuous medical coverage during the pandemic.
The $1.7 trillion omnibus bill, however, contains a provision that will eliminate Medicaid coverage protection from PHE, implying that states can start removing individuals who do not meet Medicaid criteria beginning in April 2023.
Medicaid is a form of free or low-cost health care in which people qualify based on income and family size. People usually lose their Medicaid coverage when their incomes increase and they fall outside its eligibility requirements.
12 States Allow Home Equity ‘Theft’ Over Homeowners’ Tax Payment Shortfalls, Study Says
Twelve states and the District of Columbia allow local governments and private investors to seize dramatically more than what is owed from homeowners who fall behind on property tax payments, according to a new report.
The practice, which Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF) calls “home equity theft,” is documented in what the organization bills as the first national study aimed at exposing “the injustice of home equity theft through tax foreclosure.”
“Our findings are alarming,” PLF’s strategic research director, Angela Erickson, said in a statement.
“Home equity theft is robbing thousands of people of their homes and all the equity they’ve built. A system that allows governments and private investors to take more than what is owed creates a perverse incentive to work against the homeowner—not with the homeowner—to get the tax debt paid.”
A Deeper Dive Into $16 Billion in Omnibus Earmarks
The more than 4,000-page $1.7 trillion “omnibus” government funding bill that President Joe Biden has vowed to sign into law includes around $16 billion in pet projects known as “earmarks” whose supporters see as a way for lawmakers to better serve the needs of their constituents but whose detractors often deride as corrupt and wasteful “pork.”
Earmarks are provisions in legislation that set aside funds for specific projects or programs, typically for the benefit of a particular locality or group.
The omnibus appropriations bill’s 7,200-plus earmarks, formally known as Community Project Funding items, include $750,000 for Gender Non-Conforming Housing in New York (pdf), $1 million for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Ohio (pdf), $3.6 million for a Michelle Obama Trail in Georgia (pdf), or $5 million for a salmon reintroduction project in Washington state (pdf).
Holiday Sales up 7.6% in 2022 — but Outpaced by 8.5% Inflation
Holiday sales rose this year as American spending remained resilient during the critical shopping season despite surging prices on everything from food to rent, according to one measure.
Holiday sales rose 7.6, a slower pace than the 8.5% increase from a year earlier when shoppers began spending the money they had saved during the early part of the pandemic, according to Mastercard SpendingPulse, which tracks all kinds of payments including cash and debit cards.
Declining US Retail Sales Weakens Chinese Export Growth
U.S. retail and food service sales fell 0.6 percent in November (pdf), twice the expected decline and the biggest monthly drop this year. As the largest importer of Chinese goods, lower consumption in the United States directly affects China’s exports.
China’s cumulative export growth in the first 11 months this year is about 30 percent of the same period last year.
The U.S. Department of Commerce said on Dec. 15 that U.S. retail and food service sales weakened in November, falling 0.6 percent. Among them, the retail trade volume in November fell by 0.8 percent compared to October.
In the first 11 months of this year, Chinese exports to the United States totaled $536 billion, exceeding $518.4 billion to the European Union (EU) and $515 billion to ASEAN countries, according to Chinese customs.
The numbers show that China’s year-on-year export growth in the first 11 months this year was only 9.1 percent, which pales in comparison to last year’s 30.7 percent in the same period.
5 Year-End Tax Deadlines You Can’t Afford to Miss
The tax code has many deadlines, such as the April cutoff for filing your federal tax return. Ignore that date — typically April 15 but it’s April 18 in 2023 — and you risk facing penalties and fees from the IRS. Dec. 31 has five tax deadlines that you shouldn’t ignore either. Here’s the rundown of tax deadlines that arrive on New Year’s Eve.
Southwest Airlines Under Fire After Thousands of Canceled Flights
Thousands of Americans are still in the midst of holiday travel woes following a winter storm rocking the United States leading up to Christmas weekend, but Southwest Airlines is under fire for having one of the highest volumes of cancellations.
Thousands of flights were delayed or canceled across the country leading up to Christmas, and the trend is still not over.
Usually in December the talk of the town is upbeat and cheerful — holiday music plays and White Elephant exchanges are all the rage.
And usually the world’s leading electric vehicle brand, Tesla, joins in on that cheer.
Despite being the most shorted stock of all time, Elon Musk’s company has finished years’ past with massive climbs.
That’s not quite the case for 2022 though.
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Siim Land Interviews Dr. Mercola About ‘EMF*D’
Electromagnetic fields (EMFs) cause massive mitochondrial dysfunction, thus raising the risk for, and worsening, chronic and degenerative diseases
A perfect storm of DNA and cellular protein and membrane destruction is created when you aren’t burning fat for fuel (which creates excess superoxide) and then get exposed to EMFs
By creating doubt and controversy, the wireless industry effectively prevents the public from knowing the truth and demanding safer products. Another wireless industry strategy that prevents the problem from becoming public knowledge is the capturing of our federal regulatory agencies
Elon Musk’s Starlink project, which was slated to deploy up to 42,000 satellites into orbit around the earth, will blanket the entire planet with 5G internet frequencies. You won’t be able to escape it
Based on the studies already done on previous generations of wireless, we know it’s harmful, and 5G is only going to make matters worse, as it will dramatically increase our exposures
Big Tech Is Eliminating Human and Civil Rights by Proxy: Security Expert
Big Tech firms have become instruments to suppress human and civil rights worldwide, says cybersecurity expert Rex Lee.
“They now become arms of the government [agencies], no different than an informant who is informing on people to a secret police force,” Lee, a security adviser at My Smart Privacy, told “China in Focus” on NTD News, the sister media outlet of The Epoch Times.
SURVEILLANCE STATE
Biden Signs Cybersecurity Bill to Ensure Data Encryption Used by US Government Is Quantum Proof
President Joe Biden has signed into law the Quantum Computing Cybersecurity Preparedness Act, legislation to push the federal government to adopt technology designed to protect against potential data breach attempts by a future quantum computer.
The Dec. 21 signing of the bipartisan measure, also called H.R. 7535, comes amid a race with China in advancing quantum computing technology and amid concerns that China and other adversaries of the United States could one day be able to decrypt existing forms of secure encryption, which rely on classical computers and are thus limited in computational ability compared to quantum computers.
The newly-signed legislation requires the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)—the largest office within the White House—to prioritize the migration of federal agencies’ information technology systems to post-quantum cryptography.
“Post-quantum cryptography is encryption strong enough to resist attacks from quantum computers developed in the future,” according to a summary of the legislation. The text of the legislation defines post-quantum cryptography as “those cryptographic algorithms or methods that are assessed not to be specifically vulnerable to attack by either a quantum computer or classical computer.”
“There is a race to build a fully capable quantum computer that would be so powerful, it could break encryption and allow adversaries to steal valuable information,” the office of Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.)—one of the lawmakers who introduced the bill—stated in a release back in April.
“It is believed that adversaries are conducting a practice called ‘steal now, decrypt later’ where they collect data to store for years until they possess a powerful enough quantum computer to decrypt it. To protect our country’s data, critical government systems must be secured with algorithms and encryption so difficult to crack that even a future quantum computer won’t be able to break the code. This can be done through post-quantum cryptography. … Because of stealing now and decrypting later, the federal government must begin planning now for this migration, and Congress should play an oversight role in this process.”
Amazon Echo users issued warning to keep device out of certain rooms at home
“Presume everything you say is being listened to and recorded,” one specialist advised.
Smart speakers are a popular tech accessory, with many of them likely gifted over Christmas – but experts have warned they may be recording what we say.
One brand that is credited with pioneering the technology is Amazon Alexa. The nifty device can assist with daily tasks, issue news and weather updates and play music with a simple voice command.
While Alexa is a great time saver, tech specialists have given their opinions on the technology and warned users to keep it out of private areas, the Liverpool Echo reports.
QR Code Required to Enter DC Whole Foods and May Be Used to Implement Social Credit System
Whole Foods is owned by Amazon. Video shows entry at a Whole Foods market in Washington, DC with gates requiring a QR code on customers’ phones to enter the store. A sign advises customers that “cameras and sensors register what you take and put back”. Customers can skip checkout as purchases are tracked and processed through cell phones. Buying groceries can be linked to a social credit score similar to China’s system. The video creator plans to boycott Whole Foods.
Other grocery stores track customers through their rewards cards, store apps, and in-store video surveillance.
HEALTH
Popular Food Dye Linked to Intestinal Inflammation, Colitis: Study
Recent research shows that long-term consumption of Allura Red (AR), a commonly used synthetic color additive, could trigger inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs) and colitis.
The Healing Power of Music and Performing Arts
People will tell you how much happier and energized they feel after they have watched an incredible performance. Chinese medicine has a theory that may explain how the performing arts can be healing and nurturing to human life.
The human body is an open system, so everything we see and hear may affect our health.
Chinese medicine sees the organ system as an energetic network centered on the five major organs—liver, heart, spleen, lungs, and kidneys—which correlate to the five elements—metal, wood, fire, water, and earth.
Visualized at the energetic level, the human body is an open system that constantly interacts with energy from the environment. Therefore, everything we see, hear, and feel will have an effect on the vitality of our organs and will also influence how we think and act in our daily lives.
Krill Oil Offers Protection for Several Hallmarks of Aging
Omega-3 fats help lower inflammation, which is the hallmark of nearly all diseases; new data using krill oil show it works through several mechanisms to mitigate the physical and biological hallmarks of aging
Marine-based omega-3 fats effectively reduce triglyceride levels, which are associated with heart disease. Levels of omega-3 are a good predictor of all-cause mortality and omega-3 helps ameliorate a variety of psychiatric illnesses and degenerative brain disorders
If you notice that your skin is rough and dry, you likely need more omega-3 fatty acids, which help regulate oil production in the skin, reduce inflammation, balance hydration and minimize the effect of sun damage and aging
Avoid the temptation to assume your omega-3 index is sufficient because you’re eating fish or taking a supplement. Instead, take a simple omega-3 index blood test at home and use the information to determine the dose needed to raise your level to your target
—> Power Mall Product of Interest: OPTIVIDA SUPER KRILL OIL 1000 MG
Fruit Lowers Blood Pressure and Risk for Diabetes
Avocatin B is a bioactive compound found in avocados that helps reduce weight gain and improve insulin sensitivity
The difference in blood pressure between those with diets highest in flavanols, such as those found apples and berries, compared to those with the lowest was between 2 and 4 mmHg
Eating small amounts of fruit can be an excellent way to increase your intake of beneficial antioxidants, vitamins and minerals, but moderation is key, especially if you have metabolic syndrome, high blood pressure and/or Type 2 diabetes
Because fruit contains fructose, it can increase your risk of insulin resistance if you eat large amounts; examples of lower fructose fruits that are beneficial for most people include avocados, berries, kiwi and citrus fruits
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
US Utilities Impose Blackouts, Issue Warnings Over Deep Freeze Power Grid Strain
A number of U.S. utility companies called on customers to conserve electricity due to frigid weather on Saturday and Sunday.
Con Edison, which serves the New York City metropolitan area, asked its 1.1 million natural gas, 3.5 million electric, and other customers in New York City to conserve power. Temperatures in the Big Apple plunged to about 15 degrees F overnight on Saturday and Sunday morning.
“Conserving energy as much as possible now will help ensure adequate natural gas supplies for the rest of the weekend,” Con Edison said late on Saturday. “Owners of natural gas pipelines have reported that equipment problems caused by the cold weather and the heavy demand for natural gas are challenging their ability to provide adequate amounts of gas throughout the Northeast,” the utility company added.
Another, ISO New England, warned Saturday that it has “insufficient reserve supplies” and called on its members to “voluntarily curtail power” due to strain on the power grid, reported Bloomberg.
GARDENING, FARMING & HOMESTEADING
On their 23-and-a-half-acre farm in Tennessee, a homesteading mom is teaching her four kids the self-sufficiency lessons that her parents’ generation missed out on, in hopes of keeping alive the skills that served her ancestors.
High school sweethearts Cortney, 32, and her husband, Samuel Black, were raised in the Appalachian Mountains of East Tennessee. Currently, they live at Highway Homestead, a small family farm in Knoxville, Tennessee, with their four kids, aged 9, 7, 4, and 2.
Cortney and Samuel follow a permaculture-style model for the family’s plot. Cortney homeschools the kids in an unconventional way, enriching their curriculum with cooking, preserving, goat and cow milking, and tending to their numerous animals including egg-laying chickens, goats, and poultry for meat.
Samuel, a mechanical engineer, works full-time outside the homestead during the day, and on the land after dark.
When Cortney and Samuel were younger, their maternal grandparents’ farms were adjacent, thus they have always known each other.
After getting college degrees and tying the knot, the couple moved to Cajun country, Louisiana, where Samuel worked in the oil industry.
When the couple became parents to their first child, Cortney began to think about the self-sufficiency skills that she had learned from her maternal grandmother while growing up.
She told The Epoch Times her grandmother would can thousands of jars of green beans, tomatoes, peppers, and pickles grown on the land every year. As a little girl, Cortney would also accompany her grandmother to the woods, foraging for blackberries to make a pie.
“So the self-sufficiency part was already ingrained in me from the get-go,” Cortney said.
While studying agriculture in college, Cortney further learned about gardening and preserving her own food.
Thus after the birth of her first son, she questioned herself.
“We grew up this way, but now we were living in a subdivision in Louisiana,” Cortney said. “We grew up on 100-acre farms in the mountains … so it was a big deal for us not to be able to provide our own food.”
When Samuel got laid off during the oil crisis of 2015, the family moved back to Knoxville, Tennessee where they bought 5 and a half acres of land.
“I didn’t care what the house looked like, I just wanted land,” Cortney said. “We had to have land to be able to produce our own food … we worked really hard to renovate it.”
During this time the couple built a barn, put up fences, and kept goats, pigs, ducks, geese, and a full egg-laying flock of chickens, as well as 150 organic meat birds.
Through the process, they learned a lot.
COVID RELATED NEWS
Pfizer’s Shots Aren’t Safe and Were Never Shown To Be
Dr. Kathryn Edwards, a member of Pfizer’s data safety monitoring board (DSMB), was previously a paid adviser to Pfizer. DSMBs are supposed to be independent, and aren’t if members have previous relationships with the company
German autopsies found “highly unusual tissue inflammation” in people who died shortly after getting the jab, and investigators suspect the inflammation observed would be fatal. They also found spike protein in the tissues of the deceased, but not another key part of SARS-CoV-2. This suggests the actual virus was not part of the problem; the only possible source of the spike protein was the jab
Data from the German health insurance provider BKK, which covers about 10.9 million Germans, show 2.05% of COVID jab recipients sought medical care after their jab
The largest German statutory health insurance dataset, which encompasses 72 million Germans, show massive increases in sudden and unexpected deaths after the COVID jabs rolled out
December 13, 2022, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis petitioned the Florida Supreme Court for a statewide grand jury investigation of crimes and wrongdoing committed against Floridians related to the COVID-19 jabs. He also established an independent Public Health Integrity Committee to analyze and assess federal health guidance before they’re implemented in Florida
Fact Checkers: It’s OK to Inhale Nanosized Titanium Dioxide
Fact checking group Health Feedback took issue with my article, “Masks Now Found to Contain 2B Carcinogen,” which reported on research published in Scientific Reports
The study found every mask contained potentially carcinogenic titanium dioxide particles in at least one layer
Health Feedback implies it’s safe to breathe in titanium dioxide particles in face masks, noting there’s “inadequate support” to warn people that nanosized titanium dioxide in their face masks could pose a health risk
Health Feedback is a member of Vaccine Safety Net, a project led by the World Health Organization. Its parent organization, Science Feedback, is partnered with Facebook, TikTok and Google News Initiative
It’s also tied to the International Fact Checking Network, founded by the Poynter Institute, which is funded by grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Google, Facebook, U.S. Department of State and the Omidyar Network (owner of PayPal)
To protect public health, studies should be conducted to determine the short- and long-term risks of exposure to particles of all kinds from face masks — certainly before their use is ever mandated again
ABC News Producer Dax Tejera Dies from Sudden Heart Attack at 37
ABC News producer Dax Tejera died Friday from a sudden heart attack at the age of 37.
Tejera had been the executive producer of the Sunday morning political affairs program This Week with George Stephanopoulos since 2020.
3 Common Long COVID Symptoms, Low-Cost Remedies Recommended by Doctors
Nearly three years into the COVID-19 pandemic, experts are trying to understand the lingering symptoms of what is commonly called long COVID, who is most at risk, and how the symptoms can best be treated.
Ivermectin Is Safe and Effective: The Evidence
Decades of use with nearly four billion doses to humans preceded recent use with COVID patients. From the chapter ‘Ivermectin sends COVID to lockdown,’ in my book The Defeat Of COVID.
Ivermectin is on the World Health Organization (WHO) List of Essential Medicines and is approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This well-tolerated but potent anti-parasitic medicine has been prescribed billions of times in its 36-year history against a wide range of parasites. It is a drug in the avermectin family, so named because those compounds are produced by the soil organism Streptomyces avermitilis. It has also been studied and used against a wide range of viruses especially over the last decade, and there is evidence of potent antiviral effects against Influenza A and over a dozen other viruses tested. [309]
Adverse Events From COVID-19 Vaccines Much Higher Than All Common Vaccines Combined (Charts)
The COVID-19 pandemic and the rapid rollout of COVID-19 vaccines—including two with novel mRNA technology—raised concerns about the safety of these new vaccines.
The CDC’s Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) is a postmarketing vaccine surveillance program, to which anyone can report vaccine adverse events. A comparison between the adverse event reports of COVID-19 vaccines and those of other major vaccines such as those for seasonal flu, hepatitis B, HPV, measles, and polio, shows more adverse events reported in the VAERS system for the COVID-19 vaccines compared to the others in terms of the number of administered doses.
Pentagon Pauses All Actions Related to COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate After Biden Signs Bill
The U.S. Department of Defense is halting all actions relating to its COVID-19 vaccine mandate after President Joe Biden signed a bill—the Fiscal 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)—that includes an end to the mandate, the department said on Dec. 23.
“The NDAA requires that, not later than 30 days after enactment, the Secretary of Defense rescind the mandate that members of the Armed Forces be vaccinated against COVID-19. As a result, the Department will rescind the mandate and is currently in the process of developing further guidance. During this process, we are pausing all actions related to the COVID-19 vaccine mandate,” a Pentagon spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an email.
“The health and readiness of our force are crucial to the Department’s ability to defend our nation, and Secretary Austin continues to encourage all of our Service members, civilian employees, and contractor personnel to get vaccinated and boosted to ensure the readiness of our total force,” the spokesperson added.
How to Detox Spike Protein After COVID or Vaccine
- If you had COVID-19 or received a COVID-19 injection, you may have dangerous spike proteins circulating in your body
- Spike proteins can circulate in your body after infection or injection, causing damage to cells, tissues and organs
- The World Council for Health has released a spike protein detox guide, which provides straightforward steps you can take to potentially lessen the effects of toxic spike protein in your body
- Spike protein inhibitors and neutralizers include pine needles, ivermectin, neem, N-acetylcysteine (NAC) and glutathione
- The top 10 spike protein detox essentials include vitamin D, vitamin C, nigella seed, quercetin, zinc, curcumin, milk thistle extract, NAC, ivermectin and magnesium
CANCEL CULTURE
New ‘Twitter Files’ Show Company Suppressed COVID Information From Doctors and Experts
Twitter appeared to succumb to pressure from federal officials to moderate content around COVID-19, including blocking a post by a former Harvard scientist who offered critical feedback against COVID-19 vaccines in 2021, according to the latest installment of the Elon Musk-endorsed “Twitter Files” posted on the morning of Dec. 26.
Internal emails published by journalist David Zweig show that there were “countless instances” of Twitter posts being taken down or labeled as “misleading” because they differed from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines or “establishment views” around COVID-19 or vaccines.
In one instance, according to internal emails, a Twitter moderator flagged a post from former Harvard School of Medicine professor Martin Kulldorff because it violated the the social media firm’s COVID-19 misinformation policy and asserted that he was posting “false information.” Twitter took action by labeling his post as “misleading” and turning off all likes and replies, which prevented the post from being shared more widely.
Rhode Island-based physician Andrew Bostom was also targeted by Twitter for permanent suspension after receiving several strikes for violating the social media firm’s terms of service around COVID-19. A screenshot of the company’s internal log files showed that only one out of five violations were valid; an internal audit was conducted only after Bostom’s attorney contacted Twitter.
“One Bostom tweet found to still be in violation [of] cited data that was legitimate but inconvenient to the public health establishment’s narrative about the risks of flu versus Covid in children,” Zweig wrote. “That this tweet was not only flagged by a bot, but its violation manually affirmed by a staff member is telling of both the algorithmic and human bias at play. Bostom’s account was suspended for months and was finally restored on Christmas Day.
“The United States government pressured Twitter and other social media platforms to elevate certain content and suppress other content about COVID-19.”
Mysterious Government Agencies Participated in Suppressing Twitter Content: Twitter Files
Mysterious government agencies were involved in censoring content along with Twitter Inc. on the social media platform, journalist Matt Taibbi said in newly-released Twitter Files.
The files—which mostly were internal communications among Twitter executives and employees—show that unspecified agencies worked with Twitter before Elon Musk bought the company.
The agencies were usually referred to as “Other Government Agencies,” or OGA, inside Twitter.
In one email from June 29, 2020, FBI San Francisco Field Office official Elvis Chan asked Twitter executives if he could invite an “OGA” to attend an upcoming event.
63 Percent of Americans Want FBI ‘Censorship’ of Twitter Investigated: Poll
A majority of Americans want Congress to investigate whether the FBI was involved in censoring posts on Twitter and other social media sites following new revelations from billionaire CEO Elon Musk’s release of the “Twitter Files,” a poll released on Dec. 26 found.
A total of 63 percent of likely voters think Congress should probe “whether the FBI was involved in censoring information on social media sites” and only 22 percent oppose such an investigation, the poll conducted by Rasmussen Reports found. Another 15 percent said they weren’t decided.
Rasmussen also found that 63 percent “believe it is likely that the FBI encouraged social media sites like Facebook and Twitter” to “suppress, silence, or reduce the reach of certain political speech and speakers.” About 27 percent said it isn’t likely that the FBI didn’t try to silence or suppress political speech on social media, and 11 percent said they’re not sure.
About 46 percent view the FBI unfavorably, while 50 percent view the bureau favorably, the poll showed. Some 74 percent of Democrats have a favorable opinion of the FBI, while only 34 percent of Republicans share the same perception. About 40 percent of Republicans, 28 percent of unaffiliated voters, and 10 percent of Democrats have a “very unfavorable” opinion of the law enforcement agency, it found.
Students Speak Out on Anti-White, Anti-Christian, Anti-American Culture at Florida University
Florida may be “where woke goes to die,” according to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has repeated the line in many speeches.
But talk of its demise is greatly exaggerated, according to some university students in the state and an organization that tracks progressive policies on college campuses.
Six conservative students attending a major Florida university told The Epoch Times, on condition of anonymity, about their frustration with the anti-white, anti-Christian, and anti-American environment on campus and in classrooms that make them feel uncomfortable at best and threatened at worst.
Across the country, parents have pushed back against their community school boards for allowing radical race and gender theories in grades K-12. But experts told The Epoch Times that the same pushback hasn’t happened at the college level—the birthplace of Critical Race Theory (CRT).
CRT, the experts said, is rampant across the nation, not just in Florida. And that means conservative students nationwide are struggling to navigate college systems, where they face disdain for their beliefs and encouragement to reject their core values.
PET NEWS
Can Chickens Eat Popcorn? What You Need to Know!
Keeping chickens has become a popular hobby in recent years. This trend has even extended to cities and suburbs. It is not uncommon to know of at least one house that keeps chickens in your neighborhood.
If you are considering jumping on the chicken bandwagon, you will need to know what your chickens can eat. Along with chicken feed, chickens enjoy a variety of other foods as treats. Among these is popcorn. So, yes! Chickens can safely eat popcorn.
GOOD NEWS
Colorado Man’s Close-Up Photos of Perfect 12-Point Snowflakes Look Incredibly Amazing
Armed with camera gear and a single black sock, a Colorado man has amassed a mind-blowing photo series of magnified snowflakes that look so complex and perfect that it’s hard to believe they’re real.
Colorado-born and raised, 51-year-old “storm doctor” Jason Persoff is a father of three, a physician, and an associate professor of medicine at the University of Colorado Hospital. While photography is his passion and not his profession, Persoff is making waves.
During a photoshoot in light snowfall at the end of November, Persoff took some of the most incredible photos in his snowflake series yet. He says that while he usually sees one or two 12-pointed snowflakes per session, they are “rarely this uniformly amazing.”
“I remember saying to myself, ‘Don’t breathe, don’t melt this one!’” he told The Epoch Times. “It was visibly spectacular to the naked eye. After I processed it in Photoshop, I was gobsmacked.”
According to Persoff, while the formation is breathtaking, there is really no such thing as a 12-sided snowflake since water molecules can only bond at 60-degree angles.
ICYMI
Arizona Judge Rules on Kari Lake’s Election Lawsuit
Rand Paul’s Annual ‘Festivus’ Report: $482,276,543,907 in Government Waste
UFC Hall of Famer Stephan Bonnar Dies at Age 45
Department of Homeland Security Issues Christmas Warning to Illegal Immigrants
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