WORLD NEWS
NATO Chief Warns Conflict With Russia Could Last ‘Decades’, Demands West Increase Arms Production
The West needs to prepare for the conflict with Russia to last for “decades” and therefore must ramp up arms production quickly, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said.
“NATO is not looking for war with Russia. But we have to prepare ourselves for a confrontation that could last decades,” Stoltenberg warned over the weekend in an interview with Germany’s Welt am Sonntag newspaper.
The NATO chief called for Western nations to increase production of weapons and ammunition, claiming that this is the only way in which Europe’s safety can be guaranteed and for Ukraine, which is not a member of the alliance, to continue its war with Russia. European market economies need to ink more deals with defense contractors, Stoltenberg proclaimed while urging that “they need to be signed faster”.
“The economy and industrial strength of the West far dwarfs that of Russia. So we have the means to surpass Russia in both production and investment,” the former Norwegian prime minister said, explaining that if the current opportunity is missed, Russia would benefit and Europe’s security would be at risk.
Despite Russia’s Vladimir Putin’s insistence during the interview with American journalist Tucker Carlson that Moscow has no intention of invading Poland, acknowledging that such a move would spark a Third World War, Stoltenberg warned that “if Putin wins in Ukraine, there is no guarantee that Russian aggression will not spread to other countries.”
The best defense for Europe then, he argued, is to invest in the militaries of Ukrainian and NATO members, saying: “Deterrence only works if it is credible. As long as we invest in our own security and remain united, we will continue to deter any form of aggression.”
Many European nations, most notably Germany, the continent’s top economy, have long failed to live up to their NATO spending commitments, which require every member state to devote at least two per cent of their respective GDP towards military funding.
This issue was persistently raised by former U.S. President Donald Trump, who chided Germany for signing large oil and gas deals with Russia while demanding that American taxpayers foot the bill to protect them from potential Moscow aggression.
Trump’s lobbying efforts to pressure NATO allies to finally meet their obligations, which were often characterized in the legacy media as threatening the stability of the alliance, were credited by Secretary General Stoltenberg in 2019 as having been instrumental in convincing Europe and Canada to increase their NATO spending by $100 billion.
Despite clearly speaking in the past tense, multiple establishment media outlets characterized the story as a present and active call from the presumptive Republican presidential nominee for Russia to invade Europe.
Former Dutch Prime Minister and Wife Die Together in Dual Euthanasia Procedure
Former Dutch Prime Minister Dries van Agt and his wife committed legally assisted suicide by simultaneous euthanasia this week, the non-profit organisation founded by the ex-Dutch leader has revealed.
Public broadcaster NOS reported that former Dutch Prime Minister Dries van Agt (93), who led the Netherlands from 1977 to 1982, and his wife Eugenie van Agt (93) opted last week to take their lives in a joint act of euthanasia, which is legally permitted under medical supervision in the Western European nation.
Gerard Jonkman, the director of The Rights Forum non-profit founded by Van Agt in 2009, said that the former prime minister had discussed the option of assisted suicide after suffering a brain haemorrhage in 2019, saying that he said it was an “option if life and suffering became unbearable.”
Since then, Van Agt’s health, as well as his wife’s, steadily declined, according to Jonkman, who said: “His health became more and more fragile, and he wanted to focus his attention on his wife, children and grandchildren.” He said that their decision to commit assisted suicide hand in hand came from a feeling that they “couldn’t live without each other”.
The couple, who were married for seven decades, were buried together late last week.
The expanded use of euthanasia in the West has become an increasingly contentious issue, with Justin Trudeau’s Canada coming under particular scrutiny. Amid public backlash, Trudeau’s Liberal government backtracked last month on plans to extend the Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) programme to people suffering from mental illness.
CCP Replaces Head of Securities Regulator, Restricts Short-Selling Amid Stock Market Meltdown
China’s ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has replaced the head of its securities regulator, as public anger grows over the Chinese stock market crash. According to reports, even senior officials within the China Securities Regulatory Commission were surprised by the sudden change. Meanwhile, the communist regime has resorted to administrative intervention to stop stocks from plunging.
China’s stock market has continued melting down since the new year, reaching its lowest points in years just last week, with thousands of stocks hitting their downward limits. The plummeting stock market has seriously impacted the confidence of investors both domestic and foreign amid China’s slumping economy.
It’s estimated that 200 million Chinese have invested in the Chinese stock market, many of whom have taken to the U.S. and Indian embassies’ social media accounts to voice their anger against the CCP and plead for help to save the value of their investments in the Chinese stock market.
Meanwhile, the CCP has put a huge amount of national funds into the stock market to help stop the plunge in Shanghai and Hong Kong stock indexes through state-owned firms, which is known as “national team rescuing” the Chinese financial market. The Chinese stock index came back to above 2,700 before the stock market closed for a week on Feb. 9 for Chinese New Year holiday.
Top Nigerian banker and lawyer among 6 dead in California desert helicopter crash
A major Nigerian banker, his wife, son and a notable Nigerian lawyer were among the six people killed in a helicopter crash in the California desert,authorities said Sunday.
Banker Herbert Wigwe, 57, was killed alongside his wife and son, according to Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director General of the World Trade Organization. The crash also killed Abimbola Ogunbanjo, a prominent Nigerian attorney and businessman. The three family members were traveling to the Las Vegas area to watch Super Bowl LVIII, according to Nigerian media.
The group was traveling on a chartered helicopter from Palm Springs, Calif., to the Las Vegas suburb of Boulder City, Nev., when the chopper went down on Friday night. Two pilots were also on board but have not yet been publicly identified.
Authorities responded to numerous 911 calls around 10 p.m. Friday about the helicopter crash near Interstate 15 outside the highway town of Baker. The chopper crashed near the lightly used overpass street of Halloran Springs Road, about 70 miles southwest of its intended destination.
The private Eurocopter EC-130 did not have a cockpit voice recorder or a flight data recorder and was not required to. The aircraft was registered to Orbic Air, a tour company based in the Los Angeles suburb of Burbank.
Investigators are still probing the cause of the crash. Weather conditions at the time included a “wintery mix” of precipitation.
Witnesses said the helicopter burst into flames when it struck the ground. The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administrationare both investigating.
Wigwe was the CEO of Access Bank, a massive financial conglomerate with offices across Africa and subsidiaries in France and the U.K.
U.S. NEWS, POLITICS & GOVERNMENT
Senate Advances $95 Billion Foreign Aid Package for Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan
In a 67–27 vote, the $95.3 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan moved a step closer to a final floor vote in the upper chamber, which is expected to occur later this week. If the bill is eventually passed by the full Senate, it would next go to the House. All this happened yesterday, over opposition from conservative Republicans who say the U.S.–Mexico border should be secured before funds are given to overseas partners. And it appears all of this was negotiated just in time for the Super Bowl.
Seventeen Senate Republicans joined Democrats to approve sending Ukraine another $60 billion. Twelve of those Republicans previously suggested they would not help send Ukraine any more American taxpayer money until the United States’s border was secure from illegal immigration. Sens. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Susan Collins (R-ME),
John Cornyn (R-TX), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), John Kennedy (R-LA),
Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Mitt Romney (R-UT), who isn’t running for his Senate seat again, Mike Rounds (R-SD), Dan Sullivan (R-AK), John Thune (R-SD), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Roger Wicker (R- MS), and Todd Young (R-IN) joined every Senate Democrat excluding Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) to send billions more in taxpayer dollars to Ukraine.
The money, if approved by the House, will fund weapons and military training, among other things, for Ukraine in its war with Russia.
Twelve of those Republicans who voted for the Ukraine funding, coupled with $14.1 billion for Israel in its war with Hamas, previously suggested to the media that they would not support more funding for Ukraine until America’s own southern border was secure.”So in order for our national security interests to be served, we must have a four-prong approach here. Israel, the border, Ukraine, and Taiwan,” Capito said in December 2023, for example, while Cassidy said, “We got to support our allies, but we got to secure our own border first and the Biden administration has not done so” the same month.
Similarly, in December 2023, Ernst said ,”The issue is not Ukraine, and it’s not President Zelensky. It’s our own national security at our southern border” and Collins called reforms at the southern border an “absolutely essential part” of any funding package that includes more money for Ukraine.
In December 2023, Cornyn, Grassley, Kennedy, Romney, Sullivan, Thune, and Wicker all gave statements to the media suggesting the southern border was a priority for them ahead of Ukraine:
“They want tens of billions of dollars to help our friends and allies overseas, but they’re not willing to do what’s necessary to prevent a potential crisis at the border. The Biden administration just does not seem to care,” Cornyn said.
“If there isn’t something reached in regard to our own border and we seem to have concern about the border of Israel and Gaza, Russia and Ukraine, we have to have the same consideration about our own border,” Grassley said.
“Now, the president sent us a national security bill and we said, OK, we’re going to do national security, but we’re not going to pass your bill until you close the border. And the president said, surely you’re not serious. And the Republicans in the Senate said, don’t call me Shirley and we are serious. We’re as serious as four heart attacks and a stroke,” Kennedy said.
“More Red Flags Than Before 9-11”: Ohio Sheriff Warns American People Of Worsening Border Invasion
The Biden administration’s radical southern border policies have led to the greatest invasion of migrants this nation has ever seen, including a significant number of military-aged men from around the world. This situation has raised alarm bells within the FBI, prompting the head of the federal agency to alert local law enforcement agencies across the US in a meeting last week.
On Wednesday, Ohio Sheriff Richard K. Jones held a press conference where he shared details about a meeting in Washington, DC, that he attended alongside sheriffs from across the nation. The meeting featured discussions with Christopher Wray, the director of the FBI.
Jones explained the president has refused to meet with the 3,300 sheriffs and police chiefs across the US amid the border crisis and eruption in violent crime nationwide.
“We were also told by Mr. Ray, the FBI director, that there are more red flags going off now than before 9-11,” Jones said.
Here’s part of the transcript of the sheriff’s press conference where he explains Wray’s warning for America (transcript courtesy of Wall Street Apes):
“China has safe houses in every state in the United States.”
“They’re bringing something here to cause us harm. You have to believe that. China has safe houses in every state in the United States. My name is Rick Jones. I’m the Butler County Sheriff, Butler County, Ohio. I just came back from the National Sheriff’s Training in DC three days ago, two days ago. We were briefed by the FBI director Ray, the director of the FBI, and several federal agencies. There’s 3,300 sheriffs in the United States.
The President of the United States refuses to meet with the sheriffs of the 3,300. We have a hierarchy. We have a president. We have a vice president. The President of the United States refuses to meet with the sheriffs.
He also refuses to meet with the police chiefs of the United States. They have a hierarchy also. He refuses to meet with them to talk about border issues or talk about crime that’s going on because of the border issue. We were also told by Mr. Ray, the FBI director, that there are more red flags going off now than before 9-11. Okay?
When I say red flags, meaning people that are here in this country that are wanting to do harm to us. We were also told we’re bombing two countries right now. Two countries.
These people did not like us before this started. There’s thousands of people here from other countries, 160 different countries. They’re here not to be our friends.
Some of them are coming because they’re wanting to come here to the best country in the world, the way we see it. Some are coming here to do harm to us. And we were told by the FBI director, it’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when. We were also told five sheriffs went to Israel five weeks after the attack. The only thing that saved the Israelis, their government, was the local police. They were outgunned, outmanned. They came over. The Palestinians did. They came over. They killed, raped. The sheriffs were there. They talked to the police. The local police are what saved that country. You can’t just call, even in Israel, you can’t just call the military up, and they’re going to be there, okay? They went house to house, raping, killing. The Israeli police.
When our guys got there, the sheriffs said, they just don’t hate us. They hate you guys equally. And the same people that train them are the same people that train people to hate us.
The FBI director said when 9-11 hit, there’s more red flags now than then. So, and he said, these are people that want to kill us and do harm to us. Now, so you’re wondering, I want everybody to know what I know.
I can’t tell you everything, but I want the public to know that we are in a terrible way right now. The United States, and I’m going to get to the local.
The United States, we’re on the defense. You can’t be just defense and not have an offense. We have no offense. We’re just defense. We’re absorbing these attacks. We’re in other countries. We’re supplying them with weapons. We’re supplying them with our treasure, our money. And we’re not doing much back home. So.
With that in mind, we were also told that they’re going, this is from the federal government, three days ago. They’re going to attack our elections.”
The sheriff also noted, “We’re going to start training civilians – we’ve offered uh classes to train civilians.”
This planned border invasion (via open southern border policies and shadowy networks of NGOs) by the radicals in the White House is happening in an election year.
Defense Secretary Austin Transferred to Critical Care Unit, Doctors Say
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has been readmitted to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center to be seen for symptoms suggesting an emergent bladder issue,” Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said, adding that Secretary Austin transferred the functions and duties of the office of the Secretary of Defense to Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks, who has assumed those functions and duties.
DNC Files FEC Complaint Against RFK Jr. Alleging Illegal Super PAC Coordination
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign is accused of receiving an illegal contribution from the super PAC working to get him elected president, according to a Federal Election Commission complaint filed by the Democratic National Committee.
Mr. Kennedy’s campaign is “in the process of accepting a $15 million unlawful in-kind contribution by coordinating their efforts to get him on the ballot,” DNC legal counsel Bob Lenhard said last week detailing the FEC complaint.
Mr. Kennedy’s campaign “has acknowledged that it is time-consuming and expensive for a first-time candidate to get on the presidential ballot in all 50 states. Rather than doing that hard work itself, using money raised in compliance with the candidate contribution limits, the campaign is taking a shortcut outsourcing what is otherwise a core campaign function to a super PAC,” Mr. Lenhard added.
American Values 2024 is ignoring federal law, according to the complaint, Mr. Lenhard noted.
“The law does allow the super PAC to raise unlimited amounts of money from wealthy individuals, corporations, and unions for independent expenditures. But it remains illegal for a super PAC to provide goods and services directly to a campaign,” Mr. Lenhard said.
Campaign finance reports have shown that Mr. Kennedy is getting more support from Republican-leaning donors than from Democrats.
For months, Mr. Kennedy was confronted with roadblocks from the Democratic National Committee, which he said was “rigging” the primary process to favor President Joe Biden. On Oct. 9, he declared his candidacy for president as an independent.
American Values 2024 said late last year that it plans to spend as much as $15 million to help get Mr. Kennedy on the ballot in multiple states deemed important to winning the election.
Mr. Kennedy has so far qualified to appear on the ballot in one state— Utah.
Late last month, he reported that his campaign gathered enough signatures to appear on the ballot in New Hampshire. Mr. Kennedy is traveling the country and holding voter rallies in his effort to get on the ballot in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, a feat he believes he will accomplish.
Mr. Kennedy noted that his favorability ratings were better than President Biden and President Trump, and he is ahead of both candidates among Americans under the age of 45 in six battleground states, and among independents, according to polls.
Florida Republican Party Endorses Trump for President
Former President Donald Trump has added another presidential endorsement to his list of supporters, with the Florida Republican Party announcing that it’s officially throwing its weight behind the former president as he seeks to reclaim the White House.
“Today, the Florida GOP proudly endorsed Trump for President. It is time Republicans come together to DEFEAT Biden and save the future of our nation,” the Republican Party of Florida said in a post on X.
The decision to endorse President Trump was taken at the Florida GOP’s annual meeting in Wesley Chapel on Friday, according to Florida Voice.
The party endorsement is unusual in light of the timing of past endorsements, given that President Trump still faces a primary challenge. The decision is widely seen as a vote of confidence in the view that President Trump has all but officially clinched the Republican nomination for president.
Florida state Rep. Dean Black, chairman of the Duval County Republican Party, made the motion to endorse President Trump, expressing the view that it’s obvious who the GOP nominee will be.
While President Trump still has a primary challenger in the form of former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, he has a commanding lead in the polls, with 74.3 percent support compared to 18.1 percent for Ms. Haley, according to the latest RealClearPolitics polling average.
The former president is also far ahead in terms of endorsements. So far, President Trump has racked up 235 noteworthy endorsements, including from House representatives, senators, and state governors—a figure many times higher than the handful given to Ms. Haley.
Mail-In Ballot Fraud Study Finds Trump ‘Almost Certainly’ Won in 2020
A new study examining the likely impact that fraudulent mail-in ballots had in the 2020 election concludes that the outcome would “almost certainly” have been different without the massive expansion of voting by mail.
The Heartland Institute study tried to gauge the probable impact that fraudulent mail-in ballots cast for both then-candidate Joe Biden and his opponent, President Donald Trump, would have had on the overall 2020 election results.
The study was based on data obtained from a Heartland/Rasmussen survey in December that revealed that roughly one in five mail-in voters admitted to potentially fraudulent actions in the presidential election.
After the researchers carried out additional analyses of the data, they concluded that mail-in ballot fraud “significantly” impacted the 2020 presidential election.
They also found that, absent the huge expansion of mail-in ballots during the pandemic, which was often done without legislative approval, President Trump would most likely have won.
“Had the 2020 election been conducted like every national election has been over the past two centuries, wherein the vast majority of voters cast ballots in- person rather than by mail, Donald Trump would have almost certainly been re-elected,” the report’s authors wrote.
Over 43 percent of 2020 votes were cast by mail, the highest percentage in U.S. history. The new study examined raw data from the December survey carried out jointly between Heartland Institute and Rasmussen Reports, which tried to assess the level of fraudulent voting that took place in 2020.
In addition to reassessing the likely overall degree of fraudulent mail-in ballots in the 2020 election, Heartland analysts calculated the potential impact that fraudulent mail-in ballots might have produced in the six key swing states that President Trump officially lost.
This, then, was used to determine the impact of potentially fraudulent mail-in ballots on the overall 2020 election result. The December survey, which President Trump called “the biggest story of the year,” suggested that roughly 20 percent of mail-in voters engaged in at least one potentially fraudulent action in the 2020 election, such as voting in a state where they’re no longer permanent residents.
Louisiana Sending National Guard to Texas Amid Border Crisis
Louisiana has pledged to send National Guard troops to Texas to bolster local efforts to secure the southern border amid the Lone Star’s state ongoing dispute with the Biden administration over border security.
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, a Republican, announced the move at a Feb. 8 press conference in Baton Rouge, amid Congressional failure to secure a border deal.
“Because the president will not do his job, because the federal government will not act, because Congress refuses to put in place a solid immigration plan that protects this country and allows people to come in and out of this country the way that it’s been done since the beginning, then the states are going to act,” Mr. Landry said.
Mr. Landry said Louisiana would send 150 National Guard troops, who will work in three 50-man rotations, for a 90-day deployment to Texas.He added that the deployment — scheduled for March at a cost of roughly $3 million—was needed to help Texas tackle issues like cross-border human trafficking and the fentanyl crisis.
“There are 125,000 Americans that we are losing on an annual basis due to this crisis,” he said, citing Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s recent announcement that 30,000 pounds of fentanyl had been seized at the border in Texas.
Mr. Greer said the Louisiana troops would not be detaining any illegal border crossers that they might encounter.
“We will refer those to local law enforcement, who have the responsibility to make those arrests,” he said.
Woman Who Threatened Judge in Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Case Sentenced
A Texas woman who threatened the judge in former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago case was sentenced on Friday.
Fifty-year-old Tiffani Shea Gish from Houston left three threatening voicemails on the telephone in the chamber of Judge Aileen Cannon.
Judge Cannon, the U.S. judge for the Southern District of Florida, is handling President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago classified documents case. Ms. Gish made the move because she believed Judge Cannon was helping the former president.
She was sentenced to 37 months in jail for using interstate communications to threaten, kidnap, or injure, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Southern District of Texas announced.
She will be put under supervised release for three years after her jail time.
In her first voicemail left on Sept. 1, 2022, under the pseudonym “Evelyn Salt,” Ms. Gish said she was “Trump’s hitman” and threatened that Mr. Trump and Judge Cannon were “marked for assassination.”
In the following voicemails, Ms. Gish said she had ordered snipers and a bomb to Judge Cannon’s house. She further threatened to kill Judge Cannon in front of her children.
The U.S. Secret Service said Ms. Gish had previously made threatening comments toward President Trump.
Ms. Gish admitted to agents from the U.S. Marshals Service that she left the threatening voicemails on Judge Cannon’s chamber phone. She pleaded guilty in November 2023.
Ms. Gish will remain in custody before she is transferred to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility, Mr. Hamdani’s office said.
Last year, another Texas woman, Abigail Jo Shry of Alvin, was arrested and charged with threatening U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing the federal criminal case against President Trump for interfering with the 2020 election. That case remains ongoing.
Report: Whistleblowers Lining up to Testify in Fulton County DA Fani Willis Case
Whistleblowers are reportedly lining up to testify in the case surrounding Fulton County
District Attorney Fani Willis (D), who is accused of misconduct.
Leaders with Georgia’s State Senate Special Committee on Investigations met Friday regarding Willis, who is being criticized for her relationship with Special Prosecutor Nathan Wade, Fox 5 Atlanta reported, noting that State Sen. Bill Cowsert (R-Athens) emphasized the group wanted to uncover the truth.
Willis previously brought Wade on to head up the investigation into the state’s 2020 election interference case, and Breitbart News reported February 4 that Wade was appointed to prosecute former President Donald Trump.
As the meeting commenced, Cowsert dropped a bombshell, revealing that multiple whistleblowers within the Fulton County DA’s office have expressed eagerness to testify. They allege misuse of federal and state funds, further escalating the scrutiny surrounding Willis.
Attorneys for several of former President Donald Trump co-defendants are seeking Willis’s disqualification and the dismissal of charges, claiming financial benefits derived from her relationship with Wade.
Cowsert recently told reporters, “The people of Georgia are very troubled by these allegations. And it’s important that we have the public’s confidence in the fairness and in the impartiality of the criminal justice system.”
During an interview with Breitbart News, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) said Willis should resign after admitting an affair with her top Trump prosecutor, stating, “She should be absolutely ashamed of herself.”
The outlet continued:
Greene said any investigation into Willis should focus on her affair with Wade due to a conflict of interest. Wade had sex with Willis to win a contract from Fulton County to help Willis prosecute Trump, Greene explained, a prosecution from which Trump and codefendants alleged she benefited.
“You had Nathan Wade having sex with Willis to get a contract with Fulton County and be hired as a prosecutor, so he never registered as a lobbyist. He never filed any of that paperwork,” she said. “I filed an ethics violation against him because Willis admitted that they have a relationship that should move the investigation against Nathan Wade to a different level.”
Meanwhile, Willis reportedly fired an employee in 2021 who warned her about mishandling federal money.
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
Propaganda Wars Begin: Illegal Immigration Will Boost US GDP By $7 Trillion
One month ago, ZeroHedge asked a simple question: at a time when the Biden admin is breathlessly taking credit for a quote-unquote “strong” job market, how is it not the biggest political talking point right now that since October 2019, native-born US workers have lost 1.4 million jobs; while over the same period foreign-born workers have gained 3 million jobs.
A few weeks later, when the grotesque and ridiculous January jobs report hit, ZeroHedge reran the analysis to find something even more jarring. Not only were all job gains in the past year entirely thanks to part-time workers, but native-born workers plunged by another whopping 560 thousand, bringing the two-month total drop to just under 2 million. This meant that not only has all job creation in the past 4 years been exclusively for foreign-born workers, but there has been zero job-creation for native-born American workers since July 2018 (don’t believe us? go ahead and check the data directly from the Fed).
Well, little by little the observations went viral, and soon the fact that immigration has been the only source of growth in the US was picked up by everyone from unimportant people such as fake (or is it fax) economists such as Paul Krugman, all the way to the most important person in the world, (with all due respect to Dementia Joe), the Fed chair Jerome Powell, and even the Congressional Budget Office. And that required an immediate propaganda response.
Watchdog Report Exposes Potential Fraud in Nutritional Assistance Programs
The Foundation for Government Accountability, a watchdog group, recently outlined evidence that state officials are misusing food stamp exemptions to hide accounting errors.
The report highlights key findings regarding the use of “no-good-cause exemptions” in circumventing work requirements and concealing food stamp errors. These exemptions, also known as discretionary exemptions, allow states to excuse able-bodied adults from work obligations without requiring any justification.
According to the report, these exemptions are widely used by states, with little to no accountability. Approximately two- thirds of states employ these exemptions, presenting ample opportunities for abuse. Moreover, these exemptions can be carried over from year to year if unused, further exacerbating the potential for abuse.
By retroactively exempting individuals from work requirements, states can also artificially lower their error rates, undermining the integrity of the program.
The report highlights instances where states have openly admitted to engaging in this practice, referring to it as “overissuance/error protection.”
FGA submitted requests for public records to nearly 20 states that have been identified as having utilized no-good-cause exemptions. Although numerous states declined to furnish records, the limited number of states that did provide responsive materials paint an alarming picture.
The group noted Kansas, Maine, and Rhode Island as three states that have applied 100 percent of their no-good-cause exemptions retroactively. Also worth noting was Pennsylvania, which applied 78 percent retroactively, and New York was found to have used 14 percent in the same way.
Over a period of five years, from 2016 to 2020, the group estimates that approximately 100,000 retroactive no-good-cause exemptions were issued in these five states alone. Bureaucrats in these states could be concealing the true magnitude of their errors by covering up mistakes.
IRS Revenues Could Reach $851 Billion If IRA Funding Sustained
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) could generate as much as $851 billion in additional revenues over a 10-year period if a supplemental funding program remains in effect, according to a new report.
The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) provided the IRS with nearly $80 billion in supplemental funding. Earlier estimates by the IRS projected that the funding would yield an additional $390 billion in revenue over a decade between fiscal year 2024 and 2034, provided funding is sustained throughout this period. However, this estimate was inaccurate, states a Feb. 6 joint report from the U.S. Treasury Department and the IRS.
The IRS also intends to leverage “behavioral science tactics,” which it says can contribute $53 billion in revenues over the decade. This includes things like reminders and “nudging.”
“This program aims to educate and prompt taxpayers well ahead of estimated tax deadlines, thereby minimizing late payments, reducing administrative burden, and removing the need for later enforcement action on low ROI tax issues,” the report stated.
The report comes amid ongoing Republican efforts to cut the Inflation Reduction Act funding made available to the IRS.
IRS Tax Refund Is Nearly 30 Percent Lower This Filing Season
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has sent lower tax refunds to taxpayers so far this filing season, with the agency blaming the situation on the delayed start of the season.
According to statistics released by the IRS on Friday, the federal income tax refund for the 2024 filing season averaged $1,395. This is almost 29 percent less than the refunds for the 2023 filing season. The IRS claims the decrease is because last year’s filing season kicked off on Jan. 23, while this time around, it started seven days later on Jan. 29.
The deadline for filing taxes in the current season is April 15.
HEALTH
‘Safe’ Food Additive May Have Consequences for Gut Microbiome
A naturally derived antibiotic that helps preserve food by killing any threatening pathogens has kept our food safe for decades.
The World Health Organization and even watchdog groups have classified this additive, called nisin, as safe. Nisin is a lantibiotic—a peptide-derived antimicrobial agent synthesized from its natural form—first discovered in 1928 and commonly used in products such as cheese, beer, processed meats, and dipping sauces.
Nisin is made when bovine milk or whey is fermented by strains of Lactococcus lactis that are concentrated and processed into small particles. In addition to being used as a food preservative, nisin can be found in beauty products, pharmaceuticals, and pet products.
However new research raises concern about whether nisin could be harmful to the human gut microbiome—the community of bacteria, viruses, fungi, and other microorganisms that work symbiotically to help with body functions like digestion and immune response.
A study published in ACS Chemical Biology examined human gut bacteria genomes to identify those that resemble nisin. Researchers then produced six lantibiotics, including four new ones, and tested them on microbes. While the researchers found that these new candidates kill pathogenic bacteria, they also discovered they have varying effects on commensal (favorable) microbes, too.
Each person has a unique microbiome and the balance of commensal microbes is what helps the body protect itself from pathogens, create important metabolites, and more. Food additives that kill commensals could be destroying the very community that is protecting our bodies from the pathogens in food, and leaving us worse off than if we’d simply eaten contaminated food, the news release pointed out.
Preservatives are designed to keep microbes from growing on our foods, and many of them aren’t too discriminating about which microbes they affect. A more sinister concern arises from the slippery slope of bioengineered food that’s becoming more commonplace, Robert Verkerk, founder and executive and science director of the nonprofit Alliance for Natural Health. These foods may have antimicrobial properties designed into them.
Bioengineered food is modified in a lab to alter genetic material in ways that cannot be found in nature or done by conventional breeding, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In some cases, disclosure of bioengineered ingredients on food labels is discretionary.
While this new study doesn’t mention bioengineered forms of nisin, Mr. Verkerk said that it’s the kind of research that lays the groundwork for the development of patented products. The Alliance for Natural Health is an international organization that promotes and protects natural, sustainable, and bio-compatible approaches to health optimization.
When a company identifies a microbe that may have a biological use, they can use technology to engineer it—sometimes drastically changing its properties—patent it, and potentially slip it into the food supply chain under the [U.S.] Food and Drug Administration’s “generally regarded as safe” (GRAS) umbrella, he explained.
Genetic engineering was popularized in the 2000s with the mass production of genetically modified organisms, now common in the food industry. The government has generally disregarded “little tweaks” of genome editing as long as an organism’s similar trait is being passed on, Mr. Verkerk said.
This business model that encourages patents, biotechnology, and exclusivity often results in products that bypass thorough safety testing. And while the original intent of nisin (also known as food additive E 234) was noble—it protects us from the rare but toxic Clostridium botulinum in food—new variants may easily be slipped into food without us knowing that it’s an engineered product.
Bioengineered forms of nisin have been around for decades—created to “enhance the efficacy and stability of nisin under different physiologic conditions, and to enhance its pharmacokinetic properties for a variety of biological applications,” according to a 2016 article in the Journal of Applied Microbiology.
Several variants of genetically modified nisin have been identified, the article said, adding that research on the different products’ applications can be anticipated. Nisin has also been studied for use in human disease and veterinary medicine with promising results
“The ramifications in terms of chronic disease and autoimmune disease are absolutely huge,” he said. “We’re just going to become more and more allergic and intolerant to the food we are eating.”
Mr. Verkerk recommends the following tips to help consumers protect themselves:
- Eat food you know and recognize.
- Avoid eating “bar-coded” food as much as possible.
- Try not to destroy your food in the way you cook and prepare it.
- Keep your diet as diverse and colorful as you can.
“That’s getting harder and harder for people to do,” he said.
3 Blood Sugar Imbalances That Affect Your Ability to Manage Leaky Gut and Autoimmunity
Research shows that 88 percent of Americans suffer from blood-sugar-related metabolic disorders, thanks to the Standard American Diet high in simple carbohydrates and sugars and low in nutrition. In other words, Americans are in a cellular energy crisis.
Whether your blood sugar is consistently too high, too low, or a combination of both, the result is the same: Not enough glucose gets into the cells to produce energy. Low blood sugar starves cells, while high blood sugar blunts glucose receptors. Both leave cells hungry for energy. Unfortunately, the longer a person is in a dysregulated blood sugar state—a lifetime for most Westerners—the more difficult it is to repair. Most people need to significantly lower their consumption of carbohydrates and increase their physical activity to unwind the cravings that drive them to overeat. Reversing insulin resistance can take many months, if not a year or more, of steadfast adherence to an anti-inflammatory diet and regular physical activity.
When these people walk into the conventional health care model, they are told to “eat right and exercise.” They probably have tried and failed multiple times. That’s because people with longstanding insulin resistance or Type 2 diabetes often experience chronic injuries or an inability to recover when they try to exercise. This is due to systemic inflammation these conditions cause. Many of the doctors and nurses treating these patients struggle with the same problems.
Symptoms of Functional or Reactive Hypoglycemia (Low Blood Sugar):
- Increased energy after meals (your energy should be consistent before and after meals).
- Craving for sweets between meals.
- Irritability if meals are missed.
- Dependency on coffee and sugar for energy.
- Becoming lightheaded if meals are missed.
- Eating to relieve fatigue.
- Feeling shaky, jittery, or tremulous.
- Feeling agitated and nervous.
- Becoming easily upset.
- Poor memory, forgetfulness.
- Blurred vision.
- May not feel hungry despite needing to eat.
Hypoglycemic patients frequently eat sparingly. They live on salads and smoothies and become shaky, lightheaded, and irritable if they miss meals, which they do regularly. They suffer from anxiety and are prone to sleep problems. They often crash in the middle of the day, feeling revived and energetic after they eat.
Symptoms of insulin resistance (high blood sugar):
- Fatigue after meals.
- General fatigue.
- Constant hunger.
- Craving for sweets not relieved by eating them.
- Must have sweets after meals.
- Waist girth equal to or larger than hip girth.
- Frequent urination.
- Increased appetite and thirst.
- Difficulty losing weight.
- Migrating aches and pains.
Insulin resistance is identified with fasting blood sugar over 99 mg/dL (blood sugar 126 mg/dL and above indicates diabetes). When glucose can’t enter the cell, it is converted to triglycerides through lipogenesis. This process requires ATP, one reason people with insulin resistance feel tired after eating. Instead of glucose going into their cells to produce ATP, it siphons energy to convert it into fat, package it into triglycerides, and store it in adipose tissue. Insulin resistance also inhibits the body’s ability to burn fat. When glucose fails to enter cells and excess amounts are circulating in the bloodstream, the pancreas releases more insulin, perpetuating insulin resistance.
In early insulin resistance, fasting glucose is above 100, and triglycerides are elevated. Fasting glucose, HbA1c (measurement of average blood glucose over the past two to three months), and a lipid panel are often normal. However, an OGTT often shows elevated glucose or insulin. If glucose levels are high in the postprandial stage, this is a red flag that the blood sugar handling system is starting to deteriorate. The primary complaint at this stage is fatigue after meals. A more advanced form of insulin resistance is called metabolic syndrome. The criteria for a diagnosis of metabolic syndrome are three of the following:
- Blood pressure higher than 130/85.
- Fasting blood sugar over 100.
- Waist is larger than 40 inches for men and 35 inches for women.
- HDL cholesterol under 40 for men and under 50 for women.
- Triglycerides over 150.
Once you’re at this stage, your risk of stroke, dementia, and cardiovascular disease becomes more serious.
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Study Reveals U.S. Cities Most at Risk of Losing Jobs to AI
A new study has identified the cities across the U.S. that are most and least at risk of losing jobs to artificial intelligence. According to the report, residents of Providence, Rhode Island, and Hartford, Connecticut are most at risk of being replaced in the workforce by AI.
The Daily Mail reports that a recent study published by Casinos.US analyzed data on job availability, economic diversity, and growth in the 50 most populated cities to determine which are most susceptible to AI taking over jobs. The study found that major tech hub cities like Austin, Raleigh, San Jose, and San Francisco have the most job security when it comes to AI, while old industrial cities relying heavily on manufacturing like Providence, RI are most at risk.
The report explained why the tech hubs seem relatively safe from AI replacement, writing: “This could very well be because AI-related jobs are going to be the new norm in a relatively short time, but it could also be because technology is likely going to be the industry that sees the largest boom because of automation.”
The report noted that tech-focused cities will likely see AI-related roles become the norm, creating more tech jobs to offset any losses. Meanwhile, industrial cities with a narrow focus like Providence, where only one in five jobs are AI-proof, are prime targets for replacement by intelligent machines. Providence topped the list of worst cities, with limited job openings across few industries, followed by other manufacturing-focused cities like Hartford, CT and New Orleans, LA. According to the report, the 10 cities most likely to be hit hardest by AI include:
- Providence
- Hartford
- 3. Richmond
- Tucson
- Memphis
- Milwaukee
- McAllen
- Virginia Beach
- New Orleans
- Louisville
According to the report, “If you’re concerned about maintaining a career in the face of the AI takeover, consider moving to a city where job diversification and economic growth mean humans will still be relevant in a few years.” The top-ranked city, Phoenix, AZ, has a wide range of careers with low AI risk, like firefighters and surgeons, nearly 100,000 current openings, and strong 2022 economic growth of 1.2 percent.
The findings reflect data showing AI job postings up 17 percent in two years, while 4,000+ jobs were lost to AI in May 2022 alone. Careers with high AI risk include budget analysts and web developers, while barbers and firefighters have the least risk. The report forecasts that jobs utilizing AI like machine learning engineers will see rising demand. With AI spreading across industries, professionals in at-risk cities may need to relocate or retrain to avoid redundancy.
VIDEO: NASA Detects Massive Group of Sunspots That May Pose Risk for Solar Flares
NASA scientists have recorded a large cluster of sunspots on the surface of the sun while
issuing a warning to those who want to view it.
Fox News reported Saturday there was also risk for solar flares that can affect things such as spacecrafts, radio communications, electric power grids, and navigation signals.
The Fox article noted that a massive solar flare occurred in December that caused issues with airplane radio communications as it sent radiation toward our planet.
“Magnetic fields for sunspots are thousands of times more powerful than Earth’s,” the article said, adding, “The space agency first discovered the grouping at the end of last month from NASA’s Perseverance rover on Mars and the cluster is now facing Earth.”
“Solar flares are sometimes accompanied by a coronal mass ejection (CME for short). CMEs are huge bubbles of radiation and particles from the Sun. They explode into space at very high speed when the Sun’s magnetic field lines suddenly reorganize,” the website stated.
SURVEILLANCE STATE
Biden Admin Confirms Using Financial Surveillance To Help Feds Catch Jan. 6-ers
The Treasury Department has admitted that it helped law enforcement catch people involved in the Jan. 6 Capitol breach by urging banks to comb through the private transactions of customers using terms like “MAGA” and “Trump” as part of a surveillance scheme intended to fight money launderers but used to hunt Jan. 6-ers.
Last month, news reports indicated that the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN)—the U.S. Treasury Department’s financial crime-fighting unit—was accused of engaging in “pervasive financial surveillance” by circulating materials to banks that listed keywords that could be used to flag private financial transactions of potential Jan. 6 suspects for law enforcement.
The materials also allegedly included instructions to banks to use indicators that could include “the purchase of books (including religious texts)” and subscriptions to media containing “extremist views.” The explosive allegations that FinCEN pushed banks to surveil the private transactions of their customers for suspicious charges based in part on political and religious expression prompted Republican lawmakers to demand answers.
Among these was Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), the top Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, who received a response letter last week, in which Office of Legislative Affairs acting assistant secretary Corey Tellez confirmed that keywords like “MAGA,” “Trump,” or “storm the Capitol” were included in materials FinCEN provided to banks to help the feds track down Jan. 6 protesters. The letter also stated that following the Jan. 6 incident, FinCEN shared information with banks that included typologies that were based on previous efforts to develop robust anti-money laundering programs that could identify specific types of illegal activity, such as that related to active shooters or violent extremists.
“For example, a document distributed on January 15, 2021, suggested that banks could review payment messages for indications that an individual participated in the assault on the Capitol and included terms such as ”Antifa,“ ”MAGA,“ ”Trump,“ ”Biden,“ ”Kamala,“ ”Schumer,“ and ”Pelosi,“ along with terms indicating an intent to do violence, such as ”shoot,“ ”kill,“ ”murder,“ and ”storm the Capitol.”
FinCEN shared such documents with banks and law enforcement agencies via a series of events on FinCEN Exchange. This is a public-private information exchange platform established by Congress in 2020 for the purpose of disrupting money laundering, terrorism financing, and other crimes.
Mike Johnson Aiming to Vote on Deep State Spy Powers Reauthorization Next Week
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is aiming to vote on reauthorizing and potentially reforming deep state powers next week, according to a report.
Politico reported compromise legislation is still being drafted between Republicans on the more privacy-minded Judiciary Committee, more intelligence-community-friendly members on the Intelligence Committee, and representatives from Republican leadership.
The bill would largely mirror a bill drafted by Intelligence Committee Republicans, and Judiciary Committee members and other privacy “hawks” would then be allowed to offer amendments, including one that would require a warrant before searching Americans’ private information under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
Section 702 is a law that allows intelligence agencies to collect communications of targeted foreigners. It also may lead to targeted surveillance of Americans’ private communications, which privacy advocates consider a run around the Fourth Amendment’s requirement for a warrant to search Americans’ communications.
Politico noted that privacy hawks reportedly want to move quickly on privacy legislation to prevent intelligence community-centric lawmakers from a blanket reauthorization of the controversial surveillance law.
It remains unclear if there will be a fix for the so-called “data broker loophole” that allows intelligence agencies, law enforcement agencies, and other agencies to purchase Americans’ private data through data brokers, which privacy advocates believe is a run around the Fourth Amendment.
“Intelligence agencies need a court order to obtain your data directly. But as usual, they look for any way to avoid scrutiny and skirt the law. The Deep State will go to any length to spy on the American people. The entire enterprise is rotten,” Rep. Dan Bishop (R-NC) said.
The movement of a FISA reauthorization bill represents a key moment in Johnson’s speakership, as he faced staunch criticism for first declining to temporarily reauthorize FISA in a defense bill, then flip- flopping on his decision roughly 24 hours later.
Despite the drama, then-Rep. Johnson, a member of the Judiciary Committee, in 2022 pressed FBI Director Christopher Wray on the “broken FISA process.”
Notably, Johnson voted for the USA RIGHTS Act in 2018, a bill that included the ending of the backdoor search loophole, which allowed intelligence agencies to spy on Americans through Section 702, which is supposed to be used to surveil foreign adversaries. Johnson backed the bill as an amendment in the nature of a substitute to the last 702 authorization battle in 2017.
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
IN-DEPTH: North Carolina Commissioners Vote to Remove Fluoride From Water
The question isn’t whether fluoride is good or bad; it’s whether the public consents to being medicated without their agreement, according to proponents of a North Carolina county ordinance that aims to discontinue its use in the local water supply.
At the Union County Board of County Commissioners meeting on Feb. 5, commissioners voted 3-2 to remove fluoride from the county drinking water. The ordinance will still require a second reading and vote at the board’s next meeting on Feb. 19 because it wasn’t a unanimous 5-0 vote.
During public comment at the meeting, the argument centered around medical freedom for those against using fluoride in the water supply, while those in favor of mass fluoridation leaned into a familiar “safe and effective” stance, declaring that it’s been used for decades.
Geoengineering Watch Global Alert News, February 10, 2024, #444
“Snowstorm eyes northeastern US just before Valentine’s Day”. That new headline from AccuWeather stands in stark contrast to the following FOX News headline from the same day, “Spring Heat Surges Into Midwest, Northeast”. How severe does the climate chaos need to be before populations look up and face reality? Extreme climate chaos is wreaking havoc with ecosystems and populations all over the world. How soon till we all pay the price?
Full ‘Snow Moon’ in February Will Be a ‘Micro Moon’—And It’s the Exact Opposite of a Super Moon
If your window sills or balcony are covered in that white, powdery fluff known as snow as you gaze outside on a winter evening, perhaps, it might be clear how the February full moon got its name.
Various cultures have given rise to a host of different names for this month’s full moon, of course. But the name we probably use most commonly in America is Snow Moon—alluding to the winter weather in February.
It is quite typical for indigenous or colonial American cultures to have denoted lunar months by their season. This moon has been called the moon that “Makes Branches Fall in Pieces” by the Abenaki tribe in Maine, according to the Farmer’s Almanac, for instance. It is known as the “Hunger Moon” by the Cherokees of North Carolina, denoting the scarcity of food.
The Snow Moon is set to fall on Saturday, February 24, at exactly 7:30 a.m. EST. For people in the Western Hemisphere, that will be in the morning, and the moon will be below the horizon—full moons may fall above or below the horizon and do not correspond with the Earth’s daily rotation.
GARDENING, FARMING & HOMESTEADING
As production of cattle has plummeted to its lowest levels in decades, a rancher is warning that Americans are “going to pay the price” for the beef supply hitting a crisis point.
“This is a bad situation for America’s cattle farmers and America because we’re producing 1 billion pounds less beef than we were in this country, just a year ago,” John Boyd, Jr. – president of the National Black Farmers Association – said during a Thursday interview on “Fox & Friends First.”
Boyd has been farming and producing beef for 41 years, and he stressed, “I’m telling you, this is a time when we should be investing in America’s cattle, and we’re not doing it.”
“We’re not investing in America’s beef and cattle farmers, and Biden policies are hurting America’s cattlemen, such as myself,” he continued. “They should be invested in America’s cattle farmers and making sure that we have the tools needed to stay on the farm.”
Boyd noted that there were empty stalls last week at a “very good” cattle market near his home in Blackstone, Virginia. He blamed the alarming situation on American ranchers “not producing the beef that we used to.”
Boyd warned that the lack of production will cause price spikes.
“Americans are going to pay the price at their local grocery stores,” he stated.
American Farm Bureau Federation Economist Bernt Nelson told the Southern Farm Network, “The combination of higher input prices and drought drove farmers and ranchers to market more cattle, and not just more cattle but more female cattle that are responsible for replacing the beef herd. Now, we’re looking at a beef herd of about 28.2 million head. Amongst that we have a calf crop that is 33.6 million. Now this is down two percent, but it’s the smallest calf crop since 1948. That’s in 76 years.”
Nelson said the current pipeline for beef supplies is “strong,” but cautioned “as that supply begins to dry up, that’s when we are going to see beef supplies start to get tighter and tighter, and this could lead to the record prices that I think are going to occur in 2024 and 2025.”
Beef sold for an average of $5 per pound last year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
2ND AMENDMENT
No State Constitutional Right to Carry a Firearm in Public: Hawaii Supreme Court
Hawaii’s Supreme Court has ruled that the state does not provide a constitutional right to carry firearms in public, a deviation from the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision that affirmed such a right.
In December, Christopher Wilson was charged with a felony for violating three gun laws in Hawaii. Two of these laws restrict the possession of firearms and ammunition to the owner’s residence or business. A third law, HRS Section 134-9, authorizes the chief of police in each county to issue licenses for carrying firearms.
Mr. Wilson’s legal team moved to have the charges dismissed, arguing that prosecuting him for possessing a firearm for self-defense purposes outside his home violated his right to bear arms as guaranteed by the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and Article 1, Section 17 of the Hawaii Constitution.
In August 2022, a circuit court judge granted Mr. Wilson’s motion to dismiss the charges. It agreed that regulations restricting firearms to Mr. Wilson’s business or residence violated his right to keep and bear arms. On Wednesday, the Supreme Court of Hawaii reversed the circuit court decision.
“Article I, section 17 of the Hawaii Constitution mirrors the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution,” the court wrote in its opinion. However, “we read those words differently than the current United States Supreme Court. We hold that in Hawaii there is no state constitutional right to carry a firearm in public,” it stated.
The Hawaii Supreme Court said that Mr. Wilson has standing to challenge the two laws restricting firearms. However, “we reject Wilson’s constitutional challenges,” the court said.
“Hawaii’s historical tradition of firearm regulation rule out an individual right to keep and bear arms under the Hawaii Constitution … The spirit of Aloha clashes with a federally-mandated lifestyle that lets citizens walk around with deadly weapons during day-to-day activities.”
The circuit court had dismissed charges against Mr. Wilson by citing the 2022 “New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen” case in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled for the first time that the Second Amendment protects an individual’s right to carry a handgun for self-defense purposes in public places.
In its opinion, the Supreme Court of Hawaii claimed that the Bruen decision “snubs federalism principles.”
Concerning HRS Section 134-9, the license to carry regulation, the Hawaii Supreme Court decided that Mr. Wilson “has no standing to challenge” the rule “without applying for a license.”
“Wilson did not bother to follow HRS Section 134-9’s procedure to obtain a license to carry. Because Wilson made no attempt to get a license, he cannot claim the law’s application procedures are unconstitutional as applied to him.”
In June last year, Gov. Josh Green, a Democrat, signed bill SB1230 into law that prohibits carrying guns at many places, including beaches, nursing homes, hospitals, restaurants serving alcohol, movie theaters, stadiums, courthouses, and public parks.
At the time, Mr. Green justified the bill by stating it would prevent injuries and deaths. “We’re taking action on gun violence … because most important to us as a family is to keep our keiki safe, and those that we love safe,” he said. In Hawaii, “keiki” refers to children.
The National Rifle Association’s Institute for Legislative Action criticized the bill, stating it “massively expands ‘gun-free zones’ where law-abiding citizens are left defenseless and also prohibits carrying firearms on private property unless the owner gives affirmative permission.” The bill also requires people carrying firearms to other places to have insurance coverage.
COVID RELATED NEWS
Some Service Members Say They Were ‘Coerced’ Into Taking COVID-19 Vaccine: Survey
In an independent, yet anonymous survey conducted last fall, 229 individuals currently serving in the U.S. military voluntarily participated by responding to a multitude of questions. Results helped to reveal the difficulties faced by some members of the U.S. Armed Forces who were confronted by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s August 2021 military vaccine mandate.
Part of the questionnaire addressed the COVID-19 vaccine status of the participating service member, various details about the now-rescinded military vaccine mandate, as well as the deliberate coercion faced by many who opposed it.
All branches of the military as well as enlisted and officer ranks responded to the survey. Survey participants served in the military for an average of about 16 years.
CANCEL CULTURE
Super Bowl 58 featured performances of “The Star-Spangled Banner” and “America the Beautiful,” as well as “Lift Every Voice and Sing” – better known as the black national anthem. However, many online commentators slammed the NFL for featuring a performance of the black national anthem, and said it was “pushing the politics of racial division again.”
R&B singer Andra Day performed the black national anthem at Super Bowl 58.
Day previously said her song being the Black Lives Matter anthem was a “huge honor because Black Lives Matter represents standing up to oppression and persecution. Having the group connect with ‘Rise Up’ made me more aware that I need to use my platform to serve the community.”
She also explained why she connects her music to her activism: “I want to tell the truth about the racial terror that’s happened and that’s still happening today in this country. Too often we change the narrative to make things more digestible, but the reality is, if we don’t address injustice honestly and openly, we’ll never heal.”
Day performed at the Democratic National Convention in 2016.
Many notable netizens rejected the black national anthem being sung at the Super Bowl, and deemed it to be divisive.
Mike Loychik – a Republican lawmaker in the Ohio House of Representatives – said, “There’s no such thing as a ‘black national anthem.’ We are all AMERICANS, united by our great and beautiful Star Spangled Banner. The Super Bowl is supposed to bring us together. It’s a disgrace that the NFL decided to push the politics of racial division again.”
The sheriff of California’s San Joaquin County shared some bad news with the owners of 88 cars that were towed and impounded after a major street- takeover bust last Friday in Stockton.
Seems the little angels in the illegal “sideshow” — which typically consists of meeting at a predetermined intersection, blocking it off, and doing endless donuts and other dangerous stuff while a big crowd gawks and records it on video — had been calling the sheriff’s office and wanting their rides back.
Sheriff Patrick Withrow, however, has a very different plan in mind — and he bluntly told them on video, “No need to keep calling.”
First off, authorities are holding on to all the impounded cars “indefinitely until they are processed, and the District Attorney advises they are no longer needed for prosecution,” he said. But even worse for the street-takeover connoisseurs was Withrow’s promise that “we will be looking into the merits of seeking a destruction order for any vehicle deemed to be a public menace.”
Ouch.
KXTV-TV reported that last Friday night’s street takeover at the intersection of Country Club Boulevard and Pershing Avenue “ended with crowds of people detained and law enforcement in riot gear.”
“It was just an unreal scene from when I got there,” Michael Garcia, who lives near Stockton’s American Legion Park, told KXTV in regard to the sideshow bust. He added to the station that “people were there sitting down, detained.”
KXTV said law enforcement stopped nearly all sideshow drivers and participants, which resulted in more than 150 people detained and 88 cars towed away.
Withrow told the station his department used a new tactic to stop the street takeover in its tracks: “They’re becoming more and more violent, and so we feel that this is the best way to contain it. We were able to find out … where it was going to occur and fairly quickly get people in place and then swoop in on all sides of that intersection there.”
What’s more, Withrow told KXTV that “we’ve already found guns, firearms, and stuff like that from some of the vehicles at the scene — and from our video evidence, we know that we’re going to find a lot more.”
As you might guess, not everyone was on board with the street-takeover bust. Meet one guy the station identified as “Nicholas,” a sideshow spectator who gave the sheriff and his deputies a piece of his mind: “I think it was a little excessive, to be honest. I don’t think it should be this much just for kids sliding around in some cars.”
Nicholas added to KXTV, “Y’all want the kids to stay out of trouble, y’all want money for the city? Give us a legal pit. We wouldn’t be outside if we had a legal pit for real.”
The station said deputies seized so many cars that they had to store them outside the sheriff’s office’s headquarters, which necessitated staff to work overtime in order to prevent anyone from getting to the cars.
Withrow remained unmoved by complaints and doubled down, telling KXTV that street takeovers are “irresponsible, it’s criminal, and you’re going to be held accountable for it. If you don’t want to be held accountable, if you don’t want to lose your vehicle, if you don’t want to go through all the costs of defending yourself in court, then don’t attend these sideshows.”
PET NEWS
‘Unnamed Man’ Drops Off Crate of Puppies With Heartbreaking Note on Doorstep—Here’s What It Said
The note spoke in tones of heartbreak. Handwritten, scrawled messily on scuffed paper, the words told of misfortunes piled atop misfortunes.
Staff members of the Fayetteville Animal Protection Society (FAPS) found that desperate letter attached to a makeshift crate on their doorstep.
Inside the crate were little furry faces, adorable puppy dog eyes, and tiny wagging tails. The cuddly balls of black fur looked alive yet showed signs of malnutrition.
“Emotionally, they were surprisingly social and in good spirits,” FAPS Executive Director Jackie Peery told The Epoch Times, adding that the staff were “stunned to find five abandoned puppies.”
The handwritten note, she said, unpacked “a story of compassion in the face of hardship.”
But the immediate task before them was to ensure the wellbeing of their canine patients. Each would require enhanced nutrition, deworming, and vaccination.
On Facebook, where the group posts its animal rescue updates, a caption by the shelter revealed that the note “tore at our heartstrings.”
In the post, they included photos of cute faces with button noses. In addition, there were photos of the letter, allowing the community to read their heartbreaking backstory.
The note read:
Please help!
I found these puppies sadly after noticing a local stray dog that I would often feed when I could, dead by the road. She had been hit by a car. I knew from feeding her that she had puppies somewhere and after searching where I would usually see her I found them.
I’m sorry for leaving them like this but I myself am homeless and cannot afford to care for them. My heart shatters for them and their mother. I just want them to be given the chance their mother, like myself, was never given.
Please do not think poorly of me but it felt wrong leaving them alone in the cold waiting on a mother that would not be coming home. Sincerely, nameless man.
Ms. Peery told the newspaper that she and her team were touched deeply by the homeless man’s story, adding that his identity remains a mystery.
“The only information we have about the puppies comes from the note left by an unnamed man,” she said.
On the Facebook post, the group extended an offer to the anonymous man: “If you’re up for it, please swing by the shelter to visit the puppies and to get a proper thank you!”
Ms. Peery told The Epoch Times, “It was heartrending to learn that despite his limited means, he cared for the stray mother dog and took action to save the puppies during adverse weather.”
She said, “Currently, they are piled on one another, happy, with full bellies, taking a morning nap in a warm bed in their kennel.”
The now 8-week-old puppies will go up for adoption on Feb. 1. Ms. Peery says she expects they will find homes quickly, but their case underscores just how many other needy animals in their care are still waiting to find their forever homes.
The shelter expresses appreciation to the community for the support it has given. FAPS operates entirely without government funding, Ms. Peery said. Ensuring that homeless animals are well taken care of and get the treatments they need can be costly.
“We rely entirely on donations to continue our work in saving animals,” she said.
Cleaning your cat or dog’s teeth may feel like a difficult task. But take heart: It’s absolutely possible to get your furry friend used to dental hygiene, especially if you begin basic teeth-cleaning habits like brushing when they’re young.
Cleaning your pet’s teeth regularly can help prevent health issues that are dangerous and painful for your pet, and monumentally expensive for you.
So how do you do it?
Diligent at-home dental care (especially brushing) is key to preventing gingivitis, bad breath, dental pain, and periodontal diseases that have a major impact on your dog’s overall health. Brushing slows down the buildup of plaque on the teeth, which eventually forms tartar and can lead to serious dental diseases.
There are also a number of other ways to help stave off plaque and tartar buildup, including prescription diets, dental chews and treats, wipes, sprays and special water additives. But brushing is by far the most effective way to maintain your pet’s dental health at home.
To learn more, check out our article on the most common dental conditions and how to avoid them.
A cat’s teeth can develop plaque and tartar (and therefore serious dental conditions) just as a dog’s teeth can. Brushing your cat’s teeth or turning to specialty diets, treats or additives can help remove plaque and reduce the risk of gum disease.
So without further ado, here’s how to brush a dog’s teeth.
Step 1: Get your dog used to the brushing process
Pick a time where your dog is relaxed and comfortable
If your dog is small, sit with them in your lap facing away from you. If they’re larger, have them sit beside you so you can handle your pet’s mouth and head.
Introduce a soft cloth and rub along where the gum meets the teeth
Get your pet used to toothpaste. Introduce it for tasting initially, and then if they like it, apply it to the cloth and start rubbing the teeth with it
Introduce the brush once your dog is completely used to you rubbing their teeth with a cloth
Step 2: Brush your dog’s teeth
Gently introduce the toothbrush, apply a pea-sized amount of toothpaste to the brush and raise the upper lip In slow circular motion, lightly brush your dog’s canine teeth and the adjoining gum line
Every day, increase the number of teeth you’re brushing
Make sure your dog is comfortable with the amount of brushing
Unless your dog is extremely comfortable, you don’t need to brush the insides and tips of the teeth, as majority of the plaque buildup happens on the outsides of the teeth
You’ll make the biggest difference if you can brush their teeth daily. But even if it’s difficult to brush that frequently, it shouldn’t stop you from brushing when you can; some brushing is better than none. Brushing your dog’s teeth, however often you can, can help make them happier and healthier for longer.
How to Brush a Cat’s Teeth
As with dogs, the first step is finding a toothbrush or finger brush with soft bristles and a toothpaste approved for your pet. While some may think of cats as aloof creatures, believe it or not it is possible to get your kitty comfortable with brushing.
Here’s what you do:
Relax your cat by rubbing around their face and cheeks
Introduce your hands around their face first by holding their head. Do this when your cat is settled
Try feeding your cat some toothpaste on your finger, and if they like it start lightly rubbing your fingers on their teeth and along the gum line
Brush their teeth with a cotton bud for the next couple of days, and if they’re comfortable with this move on to a toothbrush
Brush a couple of teeth, and only brush more if they’re comfortable. Otherwise, try taking breaks in-between every couple of teeth
GOOD NEWS
And why is this GOOD NEWS! Because Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift didn’t endorse Biden and it didn’t appear the game was rigged!
Patrick Mahomes Rallies Chiefs to 2nd Straight Super Bowl Title, 25–22 Over 49ers in Overtime
Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs are back-to-back Super Bowl champions.
Mahomes threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to Mecole Hardman in overtime, and the Chiefs rallied to beat the San Francisco 49ers 25–22 on Sunday, becoming the first repeat Super Bowl champs in 19 years and ninth overall.
The Chiefs captured their third title in five years and firmly established themselves as a dynasty.
The NFL’s first Super Bowl in Las Vegas was a sloppy, mistake-filled affair that was mostly boring until the back-and-forth fourth quarter and OT. It was the second of 58 Super Bowls to be tied after regulation, and the first played under new overtime rules that ensured both teams got the ball.
The 28-year-old Mahomes becomes the fourth starting QB to win three Super Bowls—joining Brady, Joe Montana, Terry Bradshaw and Troy Aikman—and second-youngest.
Attendance was announced at 61,629, the smallest crowd in Super Bowl history except for the pandemic game in Tampa, Florida, three years ago.
After a career spanning 86 years, Britain’s oldest worker says he has no plans to retire.
Bill Parton, 96, is still clocking in five days a week at the sawmill business he founded 42 years ago.
The great-grandad, who left school unable to read or write, started as a plumber’s apprentice in 1942, aged 14, during World War 2.
During and after the war, Mr. Parton helped work on turning aerodromes into temporary accommodations for troops and displaced citizens returning home.
“After the war, I was working on aerodromes on the airfields,” he said. “I was putting baths and sinks into the buildings for people to live in.”
It was a bit depressing for him to see people come out of prison camps. After this, he went on to become an engineer. In 1982, he founded Hales Sawmill with his wife, Joan Parton, whom he credits for the success of the business. When they started, there were just two employees, but now there are over 60 staff working at two sites.
Mr. Parton still works five days a week—having only dropped his sixth day 12 months ago—and has never missed a week’s work in his life.
Apart from being Britain’s oldest worker, Mr. Parton says he’s one of the country’s oldest bosses and is proud of the company he built from scratch.
After working for eight decades, the great- grandfather has no plans to slow down and has vowed to continue working until he dies.
“You can’t sit back, you’ve got to keep going. You’ve got to keep your mind moving. The trick is to not stop. Keep working,” he said. “I used to be the gaffer, now I’m really the ‘go-fer’—you’ve got to let the kids have a go.”
Currently, three of his grandchildren are at the helm of Hales Sawmill in Market Drayton, Shropshire, but that hasn’t stopped the venerable entrepreneur from pitching in at the firm he set up in 1982. He admits that his son and grandchildren are running it quite efficiently.
“It’s wonderful to see it pass through to the third generation,” he said.
ICYMI
A mother in Missouri has been accused of baking her newborn daughter to death in an oven, according to the Daily Mail. The mother claimed she thought the oven was a crib.
Mariah Thomas, 26, was eventually charged with endangering the life of a child, which was discovered dead with “burn wounds.” The authorities were called to the woman’s Kansas City home after reports that the child was not breathing.
When the police arrived at the home, they discovered that the infant had been covered in burns. And her “blackened” clothing had been melted onto her diaper, per the report.
The New York Post reported that Thomas told the authorities she was “putting her child down for a nap, and accidentally placed the child in the oven instead of a crib.” One of Thomas’ friends suggested that mental illness could have played a role in the horrific incident. Upon returning home, the grandfather immediately smelled smoke and found the infant dead in her crib. Thomas said that she had “accidentally” put the infant in the oven, according to court filings. When Thomas was taken into custody, she apparently invoked her Fifth Amendment right to remain silent.
Thomas is being held at the Jackson County Detention Center.
Law enforcement officers responded to a “possible shooter” at Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church in Texas on Sunday afternoon. The shooting suspect is reportedly dead, but a man and a child were shot.
KTRK reported, “The 2 p.m. Spanish-speaking service was about to begin when chaos erupted.”
A witness told the outlet, “The whole church started praying and declaring Jesus’ name. I was like, ‘This might be the last time I get to pray, that I get to glorify the name of Jesus, so I’m going to do this.'”
A man told KTRK that he ran out of the megachurch in southwest Houston with his three young daughters after hearing between 20 to 30 gunshots.
Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez wrote at 3:10 p.m. EST on the X social media platform, “Receiving initial reports of possible shots fired at/or around Lakewood Church.”
The Lakewood Church later stated, “There is an active situation involving shots fired at Lakewood. Law enforcement is on the scene.”
Gonzalez said, “Shooter is down. But it does not appear that @HCSOTexas deputies fired shots; other agencies fired. We continue to assist in a methodical/thorough search of the complex.”
Houston Police Department said that the suspect was a 30 to 35-year-old woman, who entered Lakewood Church with a long rifle, trenchcoat, and a backpack. She was accompanied by a child, who is approximately 5-years-old.
HPD Chief Troy Finner said the shooter at Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church was shot by off-duty Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission officers. The TABC officers reportedly work at Lakewood Church.
However, a 5-year-old was also shot, and is in critical condition. The child was reportedly with the woman.
If police are responsible for shooting the child, Finner said he would “put that blame” on the female suspect for putting the boy in danger.
A 57-year-old was shot in the leg.
The shooter allegedly threatened to have bombs, but law enforcement has not found any explosives. She was also allegedly “spraying some kind of substance,” according to Finner.
A police spokesman said, “She had a long gun and it could’ve been a lot worse.”
New Evidence Presented by Jeffrey Epstein’s Brother Indicates Death Could Have Been Homicide
New evidence in the case of the alleged suicide of convicted child sex predator Jeffrey Epstein could shed new light on his exact cause of death. Epstein’s body was discovered in his jail cell in August 2019 after he reportedly hanged himself while awaiting trial.
But a recent development could provide evidence that his death may have been a homicide. Epstein’s brother, Mark Epstein, remarked during an interview on Feb. 9 that photographs taken of Epstein following his death could contradict the official narrative of suicide by hanging.
The remarks came during an interview with SiriusXM host Megyn Kelly. New York City’s chief medical examiner, Dr. Barbara Sampson, determined at the time that Epstein had committed suicide in his jail cell.
Although a forensic pathologist hired by the family of the disgraced billionaire and trafficker questioned that initial ruling, Dr. Sampson stood firmly behind her conclusion, which Mr. Mark Epstein said he had no reason to doubt initially, despite the pathologist’s objection.
“I had no reason to doubt it. He didn’t have any children. Our parents are gone. He would know he didn’t have to worry about me. … so, I respected that as his decision,” Mr. Mark Epstein said during the interview.
However, he went on to say that upon meeting with medical examiners in New York City at the time, he was informed that his brother’s death could not be called a suicide “because it looked too much like a homicide.”
“So then the questions became if he didn’t commit suicide, then he was killed, and then who killed him? How was it done?” Mr. Mark Epstein continued before presenting photos of his brother’s autopsy.
The photos showed injuries to Epstein’s neck, which looked more like a wire or thin rope had been used to strangle him, as opposed to marks from the alleged bed sheet that was reported to be used in the alleged suicide.
Ms. Kelly also said she failed to see how the marks on Epstein’s neck could match what was conveyed in the official narrative.
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