WORLD NEWS
US Shoots Down ‘High-Altitude Object’ Near Alaska On Biden’s Orders
President Joe Biden ordered the U.S. military to down an airborne object over the coast of Alaska on Friday afternoon, U.S. officials confirmed.
The National Security Council and the Pentagon declined to comment on the nature of the object, but said the the object was traveling at an altitude of 40,000 feet and could therefore pose a threat to commercial air traffic, justifying a military response. The object, much smaller than the Chinese spy balloon that also entered U.S. territory through Alaska, penetrated Alaskan airspace and was shot down, The New York Times first reported, citing an official.
“Fighter aircraft assigned to NORTHCOM successfully took down a high altitude airborne object off the northern coast of Alaska at 1:45 p.m. Eastern Time over sovereign U.S. territory,” Pentagon spokesperson Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said Friday.
Unidentified Cylindrical Object in Canadian Airspace Shot Down by NORAD Team: Trudeau
A U.S. plane in a joint operation with Canada has shot down an unidentified object detected in Canadian airspace on the order of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Trudeau posted about the decisive action on Twitter on Saturday: “I ordered the take down of an unidentified object that violated Canadian airspace. @NORADCommand shot down the object over the Yukon.
“Canadian and U.S. aircraft were scrambled, and a U.S. F-22 successfully fired at the object,” he said.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) had posted on Twitter shortly before Trudeau’s announcement that it had detected the object flying at high altitude over Canada.
NORAD is a binational military command that oversees aerospace warning, aerospace control, and maritime warning for North America. It answers to the heads of state of both the United States and Canada.
Trudeau said that he and Biden had discussed taking down the object, and thanked NORAD for “keeping watch over North America.”
Republicans Raise Concerns After Two Objects Shot Down Over Alaska, Canada
Republicans are raising concerns following actions by the U.S. military to shoot down two objects over Alaska and Canada recently, after a Chinese spy balloon was taken down off the South Carolina coast last week.
“Defending our borders and our national security interests requires military dominance and the political will to utilize that dominance,” Rep. August Plfuger (R-Texas), a former F-22 pilot, wrote on Twitter in the late evening on Feb. 11.
“As we gather facts about continued airspace intrusions, I urge the Biden Admin to send an unmistakable message to would be violators of sovereignty: the U.S. will take immediate action to defend ourselves against all threats,” Plfuger added.
On Feb. 4, a U.S. F-22 fighter jet shot down the Chinese spy balloon that had flown over the continental United States for days, including flying near Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana and other U.S. military bases.
The Cost of Ignorant ‘Expert’ Policy Makers During COVID
The Cochrane Library recently updated its 2020 systematic review of physical interventions to reduce respiratory illnesses. The update included an additional 11 randomized controlled trials, bringing the total number of RCTs included to 78
As in its 2020 review, they found no evidence to support the use of surgical face masks or N95 respirators to prevent influenza or COVID-19 infection
The relative risk reduction of using surgical masks in the general population (within hospitals and communities at large) to reduce symptoms of flu-like/COVID-like illness (not lab confirmed) was a statistically insignificant 0.95
The same goes for reducing laboratory-confirmed influenza and COVID. Here, the relative risk reduction was 1.01 with a confidence interval of 0.72 to 1.42. In other words, it’s a wash. On average, it raises your risk of lab-confirmed infection by 1%. Range-wise, it may lower your risk by 28% or raise it by as much as 42%
The review also found “no clear differences between the use of medical/surgical masks compared with N95/P2 respirators”
Japan will allow self-driving delivery robots to roam its streets to combat labour shortages
Amid labour shortages and problems of rural isolation, Japan is relaxing its traffic laws to allow autonomous delivery robots to take to the streets.
Japan has one of the world’s oldest populations, with nearly 30 percent of its citizens aged over 65. Many live in depopulated rural areas that lack easy access to daily necessities.
Labour shortages in its cities and new rules limiting overtime for truck drivers also make it difficult for businesses to keep up with delivery demands.
Being touted as a possible solution are self-driving robots.
U.S. NEWS, POLITICS & GOVERNMENT
NORAD Conducts ‘National Defense’ Operation Over Montana After Detecting Radar Anomaly
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) closed some airspace in Montana on Saturday night for Defense Department activities.
The temporary flight restriction from the FAA was issued for flights in an area about 50 by 50 nautical miles above Havre, Montana, near the Canadian border, the agency said. The notice reclassified the area as “national defense airspace.”
Within the hour, the binational North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), which answers to both the U.S. and Canadian leaders, said that an operation with cooperation from the FAA was conducted to “ensure the safety of air traffic in the area during NORAD operations.”
NORAD said it had detected a “radar anomaly and sent fighter aircraft to investigate.”
Its aircraft, however, did not identify any object to correlate to the radar hits.
“NORAD will continue to monitor the situation,” it said in a statement at 8:28 p.m. CT.
“The restriction has been lifted,” it added.
The FAA issued similar actions in response to a suspected Chinese spy balloon that crossed the continental United States from Montana to South Carolina and was shot down earlier this month.
US Military Takes Down ‘Octagonal’ Object Over Great Lakes Region
The U.S. military shot down an unidentified object that was flying over Lake Huron on Feb. 12, according to a U.S. House lawmaker from Michigan, who revealed it had an “octagonal structure.”
“I’ve been in contact with DOD regarding operations across the Great Lakes region today,” Rep. Jack Bergman (R-Mich.) wrote on Twitter at around 3:30 p.m. Washington time. “The US military has decommissioned another ‘object’ over Lake Huron. I appreciate the decisive action by our fighter pilots.”
Bergman told Fox News on Feb. 12 that the object had an “octagonal structure” and was shot down by an F-16 jet at 20,000 feet. He cited Pentagon officials for the information.
“They informed me that an F-16 using an AIM-9 missile had shot down an octagonal structure over Lake Huron. The altitude was about 20,000 feet,” Bergman said in a phone interview aired by Fox News. Officials are working to recover the debris, he added, saying that there was “no damage to human life or property.”
The Pentagon later confirmed that the F-16 jet had fired an AIM-9x short-range air-to-air missile to down the object.
US Launches Test Nuclear-Capable Missile Into Pacific Ocean Amid Heightened China Tensions
The U.S. Air Force confirmed it launched an unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile from a California base into the Pacific Ocean to show “readiness” of the United States’ nuclear capabilities, about a week after the U.S. military shot down a Chinese surveillance balloon.
An unarmed Minuteman missile was launched at 11:01 p.m. PT from California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base, according to a military news release.
While tensions between the United States and China are elevated after a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon transited over the country, the military described the test as routine. Meanwhile, North Korea paraded its own nuclear attack capability by showcasing about a dozen intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) in downtown Pyongyang this week, according to reports and video footage published online.
The U.S. ICBM, which was equipped with a test reentry vehicle, was tested as part of “routine and periodic activities intended to demonstrate that the United States’ nuclear deterrent is safe, secure, reliable and effective to deter twenty-first century threats and reassure our allies,” the release said.
“Such tests have occurred over 300 times before, and this test is not the result of current world events,” it said.
“A test launch displays the heart of our deterrence mission on the world’s stage, assuring our nation and its allies that our weapons are capable and our Airmen are ready and willing to defend peace across the globe at a moment’s notice,” Gen. Thomas A. Bussiere, Air Force Global Strike Command commander, said in a news release.
Chinese Corn Mill Project in North Dakota Struck Down by Grand Forks Over National Security Concerns
A city council in North Dakota voted unanimously on Monday to block a Chinese company’s proposed corn mill after the U.S. Air Force raised national security concerns over its proximity to a military base.
The public in attendance cheered and chanted “USA!” when the Grand Forks City Council voted unanimously 5–0 to terminate the proposal by Fufeng Group, a large Chinese agribusiness with strong ties to the Chinese Communist Party.
The proposed mill was intended to be built on 300 acres of land owned by Fufeng Group, which is only 12 miles from a military base that houses top-secret drone technology.
Grand Forks Mayor Brandon Bochenski read out the motion, stating that the council’s decision to block the proposed mill was prompted by a letter (pdf) from the Air Force, sent to Sens. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) and John Hoeven (R-N.D.) on Jan. 27, stating that the project “presents a significant threat to national security with both near- and long-term risks of significant impacts to our operations in the area.”
Bochenski said the city determined that certain conditions of the company’s development agreement with the city “cannot be satisfied” and that certain representations and warranties were incorrect, and he directed the city attorney to “take all appropriate actions available and in favor of the city” under the development agreement.
Prior to the vote, Councilwoman Rebecca Osowski acknowledged the concerns raised by citizens about Fufeng’s proposal and thanked them for their support.
“I guess I will say it. Citizens, you were right, and thank you,” Osowski said to applause from members of the public in attendance. “As a citizen of Grand Forks, thank you very much.”
She also urged the city council to “look at what has been done and work together to make things right.”
Watch Rihanna Super Bowl Halftime Show: Humps, Grabs Crotch, Smells Hand
Left-wing pop star Rihanna headlined the Super Bowl LVII halftime show where she offered gratuitous humping, grasped her buttocks, and grabbed her crotch before smelling her hand.
Rihanna was seen grabbing her buttocks while singing, “Come here rude boy, boy, can you get it up? Come here rude boy, boy, is you big enough?”
Not everyone was pleased with the singer’s behavior during her halftime performance on Sunday.
“Everything has to be sexual. Can’t even take your kids to the Super Bowl or let them watch the halftime show,” one Twitter user reacted.
Another Twitter user pointed out that the pop star appeared to “grab her junk and then smell it and taste it.”
“So is it me or did Rihanna just grab her junk and then smell it and taste it? Way to stay classy!” the individual tweeted.
”Rihanna is not setting a good example for the young girls of America,” ACT for America founder Brigitte Gabriel wrote. “Is it too much to ask for a halftime performance appropriate for children?”
“I thought the Rihanna’s crotch rubbing was particularly off putting. Totally unnecessary,” another Twitter user reacted.
WATCH: Chiefs’ JuJu Smith-Schuster Wears Skirt, Beret, and Sunglasses to Super Bowl
Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster caused a stir with his choice of pre-Super Bowl outfits when he arrived in Phoenix wearing a green skirt, black boots, a beret, and sunglasses.
Fox Sports burned up the Internet with a video of the player’s big entrance.
WATCH: Philadelphia Eagles Fans Flip Car Before Super Bowl Even Starts
Philadelphia Eagles fans lived up to their notorious reputation on Sunday when they took to the streets and flipped a car before the Super Bowl even started.
Footage of the violent moment immediately began circulating on social media. Per Daily Mail:
Some can be heard screaming ‘No, don’t do it’ as the fans get in position to overturn the car.
Several fans got on one side of the vehicle and managed to get enough strength between them to flip the whole thing completely over.
Philadelphia fans climbed street poles while celebrating the Eagles run to the Super Bowl title back in 2018.
Man Shot in Chest After Allegedly Tasering Officer at Twin Peaks Restaurant
A man was shot in the chest Saturday night at a San Antonio, Texas, Twin Peaks restaurant after allegedly tasering an officer who had been asked to remove him from the premises.
The man was allegedly part of a disturbance in the restaurant just before midnight Saturday, KENS 5 reported. An off-duty Somerset police officer, who works security for the restaurant, was asked to remove the suspect from the establishment.
MySanAntonio noted that “the man got angry with the off-duty officer while being moved to the parking lot” and he allegedly snatched the officer’s taser.
Once he had the taser, the man allegedly ran and the officer pursued him. The man allegedly tasered the officer once the officer caught up to him and the officer responded by shooting him in the chest.
The man, an identified 34-year-old, was rushed to the hospital in critical condition.
New Classified Document Found in FBI Search of Pence Home: Adviser
FBI agents spent hours searching former Vice President Mike Pence’s home on Feb. 10, an adviser confirmed.
The multi-hour search at the Indiana residence took place about three weeks after a legal team engaged by Pence discovered documents with classified markings there.
“The Department of Justice completed a thorough and unrestricted search of five hours and removed one document with classified markings and six additional pages without such markings that were not discovered in the initial review by the vice president’s counsel,” Devin O’Malley, an adviser to Pence, told The Epoch Times in an email.
Pence and his legal team have been fully cooperating with authorities and consented to the search, O’Malley said.
The FBI didn’t dispute that a search took place but referred a request for comment to the Department of Justice, which didn’t return inquiries.
A member of Pence’s legal team was present during the search, according to a person familiar with what transpired. Pence and his wife weren’t present; they’re on the West Coast, visiting family following the births of their second and third grandchildren.
Department of Justice personnel were allowed to look for materials with classified markings, documents believed to be classified but not marked, and records that may belong with the National Archives and Records Administration under the Presidential Records Act.
The same parameters were applied when FBI agents searched the Delaware home of President Joe Biden, after Biden’s team located documents with classified markings both there and at an office that Biden used to use in Washington, according to the source.
The IRS finally has issued guidance about how to handle state stimulus payments, which comes about a week after it issued an alert advising millions of taxpayers to delay filing tax returns until it provided “additional clarification” about the payments’ taxability.
In a statement issued late on Feb. 10, the IRS stated that most relief checks issued by states last year aren’t subject to federal taxes.
“The IRS has determined that in the interest of sound tax administration and other factors, taxpayers in many states will not need to report these payments on their 2022 tax returns,” the agency said in the statement.
All told, taxpayers in 17 states don’t have to report last year’s stimulus checks, while in another four states, many people will be able to avoid paying federal taxes on their relief payments if they meet certain requirements.
Tax Expert: IRS Announcement Is ‘Nearly Unprecedented’
A tax expert said that a recent Internal Revenue Service (IRS) alert to millions of taxpayers that they should hold off on filing their tax returns is unprecedented.
On Feb. 10, the IRS issued new guidance on special payments that were made by 21 states last year. The came about a week after the agency told taxpayers to hold off so as to provide additional guidance on those payments and whether they are subject to federal taxes.
“The IRS has determined that in the interest of sound tax administration and other factors, taxpayers in many states will not need to report these payments on their 2022 tax returns,” the IRS said in its latest update. “The IRS appreciates the patience of taxpayers, tax professionals, software companies and state tax administrators as the IRS and Treasury worked to resolve this unique and complex situation,” it said.
But for one tax expert, the announcement earlier in February to delay filing is highly unusual.
“I know when we had the American Rescue Plan back in 2021 and we got that late guidance on the part of unemployment being excluded, but I have been doing taxes for 32 years, I am not aware the IRS has said to wait on filing,” Tom O’Saben, the director of Tax Content and Government Relations with the National Association of Tax Professionals, told The Center Square.
O’Saben added that he cannot recall a similar instance of the IRS making such a request. “It’s nearly unprecedented, yes,” he said.
Federal prosecutors on Feb. 10 asked U.S. District Judge John Bates to have January 6 defendant and police beating victim Victoria White jailed because she met with GOP lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
Judge Bates did not order White to be taken into custody. He did bar her from appearing at the U.S. Capitol or the congressional office buildings unless she gets advance permission from the Pretrial Services Agency (PSA).
Shortly after arriving at the United States Courthouse in Washington D.C. for a status hearing on her criminal case, White learned that prosecutors were seeking to have her jailed because her visits to Capitol Hill earlier in the week violated her terms of pretrial release.
The PSA reported White’s visits to Capitol Hill to the court as a violation. Prosecutors then asked for her pretrial release to be revoked, White’s attorney, Nicole Cubbage, told The Epoch Times.
DeSantis Granted More Power to Relocate Illegal Immigrants to Blue States
Florida lawmakers have approved an expansion of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ relocation program for illegal immigrants, handing him the authority to transport such individuals from anywhere to anywhere in the country, including to blue states.
In a special session, Florida’s House of Representatives voted along party lines on Feb. 10 to expand DeSantis’ effort to relocate unauthorized immigrants located in any state to any jurisdiction in the United States.
The bill establishes the Unauthorized Alien Transport Program within the Division of Emergency Management, expanding on a program DeSantis enacted last year that enabled officials to fly illegal immigrants to blue states that have sanctuary policies in place.
Besides explicitly granting DeSantis the transport powers, the bill also allocates $10 million for the program, while also stating that money spent in the past on immigrant relocation efforts are “deemed approved.” This bolsters the governor’s position in the face of possible legal challenges.
Last year, DeSantis used taxpayer funds to fly dozens of illegal immigrants from Texas to the wealthy enclave of Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, which he said was a response to the Biden administration’s failed policies on immigration.
Texas AG Ken Paxton Agrees to Settle Whistleblower Lawsuit for $3.3 Million
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has reached an initial agreement with four former employees he fired after they accused him of bribery and other potential abuses of his office in October 2020.
James Blake Brickman, J. Mark Penley, David Maxwell, and Ryan M. Vassar were among a group of seven officials within the attorney general’s office who raised criminal accusations that Paxton interfered in civil disputes and criminal investigations involving one of his donors. The seven individuals signed a statement, with the letterhead for the attorney general’s office, stating “we have a good faith belief that the Attorney General is violating federal and/or state law, including prohibitions relating to improper influence, abuse of office, bribery, and other potential criminal offenses.”
Brickman, Penley, Maxwell, and Vassar argued that in the weeks after they released their statement, Paxton either fired or “ran off” all of the individuals who signed the statement. The four men subsequently sued Paxton, arguing he wrongfully retaliated against them.
On Friday, Paxton and the four whistleblowers announced they had an agreement, in principle, for Paxton to pay out $3.3 million to the four individuals and to apologize for referring to them as “rogue employees.”
“Attorney General Ken Paxton accepts that plaintiffs acted in a manner that they thought was right and apologizes for referring to them as ‘rogue employees,” the proposed apology statement reads.
Paxton has agreed to remove an Oct. 5, 2020, press statement that referred to the four whistleblowers as “rogue employees.”
NYC Workers Fired Over Refusing Vaccines Must Reapply for Jobs: Mayor
New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Feb. 10 defended the firing of city employees who refused to comply with the now-sunsetting COVID-19 vaccine mandate, arguing that it “just wasn’t right” for them to decline to get the jab.
Appearing on Caribbean Power Jam Radio’s “The Reset Show,” Adams was asked about the fate of the nearly 2,000 public employees who lost their jobs because of the vaccine requirement. The mayor responded that they will have to reapply for those jobs “just like everyone else.”
“They can reapply for their jobs,” Adams told host J.R. Giddings, noting that most city employees ended up taking the vaccine despite initial unwillingness.
More than 96 percent of city workers and more than 80 percent of residents have been vaccinated against COVID-19, according to city hall, which cited the high vaccination rates as the reason for the jabs not being optional.
“If we didn’t have that vaccine and we didn’t have those mandates, we would have lost so many more lives,” Adams said. “And so New York has stepped up. They said, ‘We don’t want to do it. I don’t want to get injected. I don’t want to do this. This is new.’ But they stepped up anyway.”
New Yorkers are known to resent being ordered to do things, Adams noted, but their culture in the face of the pandemic has shifted away from the mindset of resisting control to one of accepting government mandates.
“No New Yorker wants anyone telling them anything,” he said. “That’s just who we are. We don’t want to be mandated. We don’t want anyone to tell us to put on a mask. That’s just who we are. So that was a cultural shift in our mindset to say, ‘We’re fighting this dangerous virus.’”
As for New Yorkers who rejected the cultural shift and remained unvaccinated all this time, Adams said what they have been doing “just wasn’t right.”
“And so, those who made the determination that, ‘No, I still want to come into a work environment and I’m not going to be vaccinated;’ ‘No, I want to still ride the trains;’ ‘I want to do whatever I want.’ That just wasn’t right,” the mayor said. “They made a decision and the law was on our side that said we could mandate, and so they were removed.”
Adams indicated that the city might at some point have to once again roll out public health mandates and fire employees who fail to comply.
HEALTH
Study shows eating strawberries may have heart health benefits
As little as a cup a day of strawberries can improve heart health, according to the Global Burden of Disease study.
“The Global Burden of Disease study showed that a diet low in fruit is among the top three risk factors for cardiovascular disease and diabetes. To address the ‘fruit gap’ we need to increase the amount of total fruit consumed, as well as the diversity of fruit in the diet,” said lIllinois Institute of Technology professor Britt Burton-Freeman in a statement. “Accumulating evidence in cardiometabolic health suggests that as little as one cup of strawberries per day may show beneficial effects.”
According to the research, cardiometric benefits of eating strawberries may include lower total and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, greater vascular relaxation and tone, as well as lower blood sugar, decreased insulin resistance, and lower inflammation.
CDC Adds COVID-19 Vaccines to Child Immunization Schedule
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) added COVID-19 vaccines to its routine immunization schedule for children and adults on Thursday, attracting criticism for the decision.
According to the CDC’s 2023 immunization schedule for children and adolescents, two or three doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been recommended beginning with infants who are just six months old. Children in the age group of 6 months to four years, and five years to 11 years are recommended COVID-19 vaccines from Moderna or Pfizer. Among children aged 12 to 18, Novavax vaccines are also recommended in addition to Pfizer and Moderna.
In the list for adults, two or three doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been recommended from the age of 19 years. The 2023 COVID-19 vaccine recommendation for kids and adults is included among other typically-recommended vaccines for measles, flu, rubella, and so on.
Advisers to the CDC in 2022 recommended adding the vaccines to the schedule.
Though the CDC has added COVID-19 vaccines to the recommended list, it has not mandated the vaccines. The agency does not have the authorization to do so, but local and state jurisdictions can, and many mandate most of the vaccines on the schedule. However, there are hardly any states that make flu vaccinations mandatory in public schools.
Lawyers have said they’ll sue any state that requires COVID-19 vaccination to attend school and many officials have vowed not to implement such a requirement.
The CDC’s move to add COVID-19 vaccines to immunization schedules has attracted criticism online.
“While I thought impossible for @CDCgov to lose anymore credibility—they decide to do this despite growing studies showing declining efficacy, no net benefit for majority of immunocompetent” individuals, anesthesiologist Megan Martin said in a Feb. 10 tweet.
Federal Court Urged to Reverse FDA Approval of Abortion Pill
A group of national medical associations and doctors urged a federal court on Feb. 10 to order a federal regulator to reverse its two-decade-old approval of Mifepristone, a drug used for medication abortions that critics say endangers women who use it.
The abortion pill has become a focus of legal efforts by the pro-life movement since the Supreme Court overturned the 49-year-old Roe v. Wade precedent in June 2022, returning the regulation of abortion to the states, several of which have since banned or restricted abortions.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) temporarily lifted a requirement that women obtain the drug in person, allowing it to be mailed to consumers directly and purchased at pharmacies. The FDA, which has said Mifepristone is safe to use as late as the 10-week mark during a pregnancy, said in December 2021 it would make the policy change permanent.
Before that, the FDA in 2016 extended the permissible gestational age of the baby for which a girl or woman may take chemical abortion drugs—from 7 weeks gestation to 10 weeks gestation—which increased the mother’s risk of complications, according to the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), which is representing the plaintiffs.
The agency also has loosened policies governing the use of the abortion pill, such as altering the dosage and route of administration for the drugs, reducing the number of required in-person doctor visits to one from three, expanding who could prescribe and administer abortion drugs beyond medical doctors, and getting rid of the requirement for abortionists to report non-fatal complications from abortion drugs, ADF said.
How to Fast for Metabolic Fitness and Hormone Balance
The vast majority of people eat across 12 hours or more, which is a recipe for metabolic disaster. Health statistics bear this out, showing that 93.2% of Americans are metabolically unfit
Time-restricted eating (TRE) is one of the most foundational strategies to stay healthy, and when done appropriately can also help balance your sex hormones
Your body has two primary energy systems. One of them is activated when you eat. When your blood sugar goes up, your body uses that glucose for energy. When you don’t eat for a period of time, your blood sugar goes down, which switches when your body is metabolically flexible to a different energy system that uses ketones derived from fat instead of glucose
These energy systems are intimately tied to your circadian rhythm. Food is the most important regulator for the clocks inside your cells. If you don’t get your feeding times right, your circadian rhythms, which are responsible for turning cellular protein production on and off, will become seriously impaired
Three key rules of TRE are: Your eating window should be shorter than 12 hours; avoid eating first thing in the morning — wait at least two or three hours; avoid eating right before bed. Have your last meal at least three hours or more before bedtime. With those rules in mind, your eating window could be anywhere from two to 10 hours, tailored to your unique circumstances
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
The Cost of Ignorant ‘Expert’ Policy Makers During COVID
The Cochrane Library recently updated its 2020 systematic review of physical interventions to reduce respiratory illnesses. The update included an additional 11 randomized controlled trials, bringing the total number of RCTs included to 78
As in its 2020 review, they found no evidence to support the use of surgical face masks or N95 respirators to prevent influenza or COVID-19 infection
The relative risk reduction of using surgical masks in the general population (within hospitals and communities at large) to reduce symptoms of flu-like/COVID-like illness (not lab confirmed) was a statistically insignificant 0.95
The same goes for reducing laboratory-confirmed influenza and COVID. Here, the relative risk reduction was 1.01 with a confidence interval of 0.72 to 1.42. In other words, it’s a wash. On average, it raises your risk of lab-confirmed infection by 1%. Range-wise, it may lower your risk by 28% or raise it by as much as 42%
The review also found “no clear differences between the use of medical/surgical masks compared with N95/P2 respirators”
The Republican Arkansas delegation is demanding answers from the Department of Energy as to why it awarded a $200 million grant to a company linked to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) using American taxpayer money that was supposed to be used to make America less reliant on China for battery production.
In a letter sent this week, Sens. Tom Cotton, John Boozman, and Reps. Rick Crawford, French Hill, Steve Womack, and Bruce Westerman asked DOE Secretary Jennifer Granholm why a federal grant was awarded to the company Microvast despite the company having documented ties to the CCP and operating primarily out of China.
Social Security Expert Says Americans Should ‘Consider Delaying’ Retirement
Because of relatively high inflation, older Americans should hold off on retiring if they can, a policy expert warned this week.
After an 8.7 percent Social Security cost of living adjustment (COLA) was implemented starting this year, some have said that it may not be enough to combat the effects of inflation.
“For one in four, it is more than 90 percent of their income in retirement,” Ramsey Alwin, the president of the National Council on Aging, told CBS News this week. People who are thinking about retiring soon should rethink their plans and work longer if they can, Alwin said.
“Consider delaying Social Security,” Alwin said. The reason is that every year a person delays retirement, the amount they can receive increases by 8 percent until age 70.
About 50 percent of Americans do not have access to retirement benefits via their work, according to AARP. There are reports of people in that situation retiring to another state where they think their money will go further.
Consumer prices for all items increased some 6.5 percent from December 2021 to December 2022, said the Bureau of Labor Statistics in its latest update on the consumer price index that is used to measure inflation. Year-over-year, “food prices increased 10.4 percent, reflecting an 11.8-percent increase in prices for food at home and an 8.3-percent increase in prices for food away from home,” said the federal agency.
That’s down from 7.1 percent in November and down from its 9.1 percent peak in June 2022. It comes as the Federal Reserve has consistently raised interest rates, with the central bank officials saying Wednesday that rates again need to rise.
The 8.7-percent increase in the COLA was the highest in about 40 years. The Social Security Administration notes that the COLA, implemented yearly, is directly tied with the consumer price index.
Report: Biden Administration Allowing Medicaid Funds to Pay for Groceries
President Joe Biden’s (D) administration is reportedly allowing states to use Medicaid for food and nutritional counseling, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The Journal reported Sunday that policy makers are trying to determine whether “food as medicine” programs can enhance health and also save money, the outlet said:
A growing body of research suggests that addressing food insecurity can improve health as well as deliver savings by reducing medical visits, the need for medication, or by helping control serious illness. The programs have also appealed to some GOP lawmakers who believe states should have more control over their Medicaid programs.
…
Tapping medical funds for food programs has raised objections from some who say it is an unnecessary expansion of Medicaid. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, already helps people on lower incomes pay for food, these people say.
According to the American Society for Nutrition (ASN), the concept of “food as medicine” is between nutrition and healthcare.
“It may take many forms, including medically tailored meals, medically tailored groceries, and produce prescription programs,” the society’s website read, adding, “Evidence suggests food as medicine can work.”
Per the Journal, the concept may be in the form of programs that deliver meals for people with specific medical needs to hospitalized patients, or vouchers to help individuals get healthy foods instead of junk food.
‘Very Disturbing Possibility’ US Manufacturing Helped Build Chinese Spy Balloon, Sen. Hawley Says
Republican senators raised concerns that U.S. manufacturing might have assisted in the construction of the Chinese spy balloon that flew over the continental United States for days before being shot down.
Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) took part in an all-senators classified briefing on Feb. 9, held by officials from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Pentagon, and the State Department. The agencies held a separate classified briefing for House lawmakers on the same day.
After the briefing, Sullivan told reporters that the question of whether American companies helped build the Chinese balloon was raised, but officials didn’t provide a conclusive response.
“American companies shouldn’t be helping build spy satellites that are used against their own citizens,” Sullivan said, according to Fox News. “Maybe there’s nothing to be said about that … but somebody asked about it, and nobody, nobody in that briefing said, ‘Oh, it’s not a problem.’”
Hawley later confirmed to Fox that the question was asked by a senator during the briefing. The Missouri senator added that he was “concerned” about the possibility of the balloon being built with some form of U.S. help.
“I don’t think there was any definitive answer on that,” Hawley said, before adding it was a “very disturbing possibility.”
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Did a Piece of the Sun Really Break Off?
Some rather sensational headlines have come out this past week about a huge chunk of the sun breaking off and creating a tornado-like vortex. No piece of the sun actually broke off. What really happened was a quite common occurrence — a long filament of plasma called a prominence shot out of the surface of the sun. What made it an unusual event according to a tweet by Dr. Tamitha Skov is the filament detached and circulated around the north pole of the sun. Fortunately for us, this intriguing solar activity did not send a coronal mass ejection toward Earth, where it could potentially cause power-grid failures as well as damage satellites.
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
While some local and state legislators are trying to restrict “clean energy” and “green energy” projects, the Biden Administration continues to encourage and fund more of them with taxpayer dollars (see 1, 2). Nevertheless, opposition to development continues to increase in the U.S. (see 1, 2) including in Central Illinois where many residents don’t want solar farms and energy storage units built near their homes.
From WMBD:
Alternative energy being rejected in Central Illinois
There has been strife surrounding solar farms and energy storage units in Central Illinois. While companies are trying to go green in Central Illinois, residents prefer their greenspace.
In January, the Morton Plan Commission voted against an energy storage unit taking up 20 acres of land. Residents repeatedly expressed concerns about the impact if there were to be a catastrophe in the community.
“I don’t want to give the perception that there isn’t a concern because there certainly is. But from what I researched this isn’t the 3-mile island level concern either where we would expect there to be this horrific disaster that made us evacuate our town,” Morton Fire Chief Joe Kelley said at the meeting.
Ultimately on Monday the Village Board agreed with the commission’s recommendation and unanimously denied the proposal.
Virginia energy supplier looking to break ground in Morton
Tuesday night the Tazewell County Zoning Board of Appeals also unanimously voted to not rezone 81.86 acres of land or issue a special use permit to construct a solar farm in Washington. The five megawatt farm would take up close to 40 acres of solar panels and residents were not pleased with the proposal.
“Solar farming removes rich productive farmland from growing valuable food to provide for the world. Once it is transitioned to solar production it will likely never return to farm ground ever again. At least not in my lifetime,” said Washington resident Karen Hofstetter.
GARDENING, FARMING & HOMESTEADING
10 Critical Steps to Preparedness
- A well stocked pantry combining canned foods and Heaven’s Harvest Long-Term Shelf-
Life food. A freezer full of food is great as long as there is electricity. Remember to have a
manual can opener. A garden, compost heap and heirloom seeds are a long term food
solution, but can be ravaged in one night by animals or weather, so always have storable
food on hand.
- Water is critical for survival. One gallon per person per day for drinking and more for
washing, sanitation and pets. Store in 1 to 5 gallon containers and change out every 6
months. For more advanced plans, consider a rainwater collection system to supplement
and supply the garden.
- Lighting ( kerosene lanterns are great ), camp cook stove either kerosene or propane
or a dutch oven for campfire cooking, a non electric heater both propane and kerosene
are available at home improvement stores in the winter and extra fuel. More advanced
country retreats have wood burning stoves and a wood resource. Lighters and matches
make it all happen.
- First aid kit and extra medications keep an extra 30 days (or more) on hand.
Essential oils have amazing healing properties. Vitamins will keep you in top physical
shape. Make sure your home library has basic books on emergency care, medicinal herbs
and animal care. Hospitals could close in a natural disaster or be inundated with critical
cases.
- Communication without electricity is challenging. Cell phone lines may be jammed,
however text messages are sent repeatedly from the central towers and will likely get a
message out before the lines are free. Have a battery or hand crank radio, flashlights and
lots of extra batteries. Advanced communications include shortwave and even better, a
ham radio. Antennas are the key here.
- Self protection, in the event of a large-scale crisis is critical. The police will be too
besieged to answer. Women, you will be empowered if you can handle a gun. Check out
appleseed.org Tools, especially a knife and wrench to cut off utilities.
- Personal hygiene items including soap, trash bags, toilet paper and Clorox which
can clean, sanitize, disinfect and also purify water. Paper plates, cups and utensils will
save water.
- Don’t forget infants and seniors’ special needs. Diapers, formula and medications.
Also store extra pet food and as with any food items, rotate according to use by dates.
- Money in small bills, $250 per person, in different locations throughout your home. In
a power outage, ATM’s won’t work, stores may not accept checks or give change.
- Last, but actually top of the list is a spiritual basis which will put your plan into
perspective. Remember we are not alone, God loves us and will be a constant guide to
His children. Ask and you will receive.
Don’t get overwhelmed, start with food and water. Gradually build your preparedness
supplies and you will gain confidence and a sense of independence.
100 Items to Disappear First (this was the original list we posted on thepowerhour.com many years ago so I will probably look for an updated list)
The 20 Best Barter Items and Services to Trade When SHTF
As you build your stockpile, you should also consider stashing barter items. You’ll have enough to keep your family warm and fed while also having extra to trade for things or services you want. Think of it as insurance that’ll help you survive when money isn’t worth dirt.
You don’t need to wait for things to go south to start bartering. In fact, it would even do you better to practice it now so that you’ll be a master at negotiation by the time S hits the fan.
Pet Preparedness: 10 Items you’ll Need for your Pets Emergency Kit
Amid rushed evacuations, strong winds, and approaching floodwaters of a disaster, chaos often ensues, forcing families to make impossible decisions about the animals that are part of their families. These situations may not always be preventable but having a plan in place can give your pets their best chance of staying safe during and after a hurricane. Keep that plan, and the tools needed to implement it, within an emergency kit tailored specifically to your pet. Here’s the top 10 items recommended for your kit:
- Food. At least a three-day supply in an airtight, waterproof container.
- Water. At least three days of water specifically for your pets.
- Medicines and medical records. Most boarding kennels, veterinarians and animal shelters will need your pet’s medical records to make sure all vaccinations are current.
- Important documents. Registration information, adoption papers and vaccination documents. Talk to your veterinarian about microchipping and enrolling your pet in a recovery database.
- First aid kit. Cotton bandage rolls, bandage tape and scissors; antibiotic ointment; flea and tick prevention; latex gloves, isopropyl alcohol and saline solution. Including a pet first aid reference book is a good idea too.
- Collar or harness with ID tag, rabies tag and a leash.
- Crate or pet carrier. Have a sturdy, safe crate or carrier in case you need to evacuate. The carrier should be large enough for your pet to stand, turn around and lie down.
- Sanitation. Pet litter and litter box if appropriate, newspapers, paper towels, plastic trash bags and household chlorine bleach.
- A picture of you and your pet together. If you become separated, a picture of you and your pet together will help you document ownership and allow others to assist you. Add species, breed, age, sex, color and distinguishing characteristics.
- Familiar items. Familiar items, such as treats, toys and bedding can help reduce stress for your pet.
More in depth plan for your pets: Emergency Preparedness & Pets A Guide For Pet Owners
Stocking an Emergency Food Pantry
The following is a list of food items with long shelf-lives that are go-tos for keeping your pantry stocked. You can mix and match fresh items, when they are available, with these ingredients. Remember, you can always store some of your fresh items in the freezer, too, which will make it convenient to use those items in the future.
Sugardine Survival Medicine: How To Make It, Where To Buy It, and How It Works
How would you like to make and grow your own survival medicine cabinet? In an emergency crisis, one of the first resources to become scarce is medicine. Stockpiling medicines and herbal treatments is a good start, but what if the crisis is more long-term? If we’re forced to live off the grid for months or even years, being able to grow medicines will be crucial for our survival. Even if none of that happens, it’s drastically healthier and more sustainable to be able to provide yourself, your family with your own naturally made cures and remedies. Which brings us to this series.
Sugardine is one of the best remedies for preventing skin infections. You can use it to treat any injury that could cause an infection if left uncared for. Infection prevention is crucial since even the smallest and seemingly insignificant wounds can still produce an infection if not taken seriously.
Not only is it one of the most effective treatments for wounds, but it’s also one of the least inexpensive and simple remedies you can make at home.
Medicinal Uses For Sugardine
Sugardine is effectively used for a variety of medical purposes. In this section, we’ll go over what a sugardine recipe is good for.
1) Tooth Abscesses
2) Antiseptic
3) Dogs
4) Bedsores
5) Preventing Laminitis
6) Poultice
7) For Horses
Sugardine Paste
To make the purest kind of sugardine, which is just the paste or mixture, is simple. Making sugardine is easier than most other medicinal poultice recipes. As I mentioned at the beginning, making such a powerful home remedy must be complicated and end up costing a small loan, right? Not in this case. Two and only two ingredients are needed.
Ingredients
- Sugar (table sugar is fine)
- 10% Iodine
That’s it. Short and sweeter than sugar.
COVID RELATED NEWS
Dead Patient’s Family Sues America’s Frontline Doctors Over Hydroxychloroquine
Family members of a Nevada man who died after ingesting hydroxychloroquine have sued America’s Frontline Doctors and the physician who prescribed the medication for their promotion of the drug.
The estate of Jeremy Parker alleges that his death was caused by a doctor and by “falsehoods spread by America’s Frontline Doctors.”
Parker heard about the group’s promotion of hydroxychloroquine and contacted it in 2021, seeking a prescription, according to the lawsuit. Through the group, Parker was connected with Dr. Medina Culver and was said to have had a telemedicine visit soon after.
During the visit, Culver prescribed hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19 treatment or prevention, the suit says. Parker then received a prescription for the drug.
In January 2022, Parker began experiencing “cold-like symptoms,” and thought he had COVID-19. His body was discovered on Feb. 3, 2022, at the home of a family friend with whom he’d been staying.
Parker, 52, left behind a wife and three children.
A medical examiner concluded that the death was caused by the “therapeutic use of hydroxychloroquine.”
Dr. Robert Bruce Bannister said in an exhibit attached to the suit that Culver shouldn’t have prescribed the hydroxychloroquine because she didn’t physically examine Parker or perform any tests to determine the state of his heart. Bannister, a retired professor from the University of Nevada–Reno, said the ingestion of hydroxychloroquine may have caused the death.
Parker’s death “was caused by the negligence of Dr. Culver and by falsehoods spread by America’s Frontline Doctors,” the suit states.
State Supreme Court Blocks Mother From Vaccinating Children Against COVID-19
The Rhode Island Supreme Court has temporarily blocked a mother from getting her children vaccinated against COVID-19.
A trial court in January rejected arguments from Joshua Nagel, the children’s father, and said Lauren Nagel, the mother, could take her children to get COVID-19 vaccines. Lawyers for Joshua Nagel quickly asked the state’s top court for a stay.
A single justice entered a temporary stay on Jan. 26. The full court reviewed the case and on Feb. 9 said it was keeping the stay in place. Justices ordered Joshua Nagel to perfect an appeal within 15 days and for the parties to appear in court for oral arguments on April 13.
“We are just very gratified that the RI Supreme Court has granted this stay and is willing to listen to our arguments as to why these two young girls do not need the COVID vaccine,” Gregory Piccirilli, a lawyer representing Joshua Nagel, told The Epoch Times via email.
A lawyer representing Lauren Nagel did not respond to requests for comment.
The case is believed to be the first in the country dealing with a parental dispute over COVID-19 vaccines to make it to a state supreme court.
Fauci Says COVID-19 and Influenza Vaccines Don’t Work Well, Calls for Improved Shots
Dr. Anthony Fauci is among the growing number of officials who are acknowledging that the COVID-19 vaccines don’t work well against infection.
Vaccines against both COVID-19 and influenza have “deficiencies,” including that they “elicit incomplete and short-lived protection against evolving virus variants that escape population immunity,” Fauci, until recently President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, and top National Institutes of Health (NIH) officials wrote in a recent paper.
The flu vaccines are suboptimal and have not improved in decades, the officials said. As newer strains of the COVID-19 virus have emerged, the problems with the COVID-19 vaccines have become apparent and are reminiscent of the flu shots, they said.
“With the imperfections of these vaccines, it seems a public health imperative to aggressively pursue better vaccines and vaccination strategies,” they added later, before acknowledging that “none of the predominantly mucosal respiratory viruses,” such as COVID-19, “have ever been effectively controlled by vaccines.”
Fauci was joined by Drs. David Morens and Jeffrey Taubenberger, who are top officials at the NIH.
“That is just an amazing admission,” David Wiseman, a former Johnson & Johnson scientist, told The Epoch Times. Wiseman noted that earlier in the pandemic, officials portrayed people as only needing a primary series of a COVID-19 vaccine for near-perfect protection. Fauci infamously claimed in 2021 that vaccinated people “become a dead end to the virus” and herd immunity would be achieved when enough people got a shot.
CANCEL CULTURE
The Global Disinformation Index (GDI), a foreign think tank headquartered in the United Kingdom, released an assessment of American online media designed to blacklist conservative media outlets and choke off their advertising revenue. The information is kept on what GDI calls its “Dynamic Exclusion List.”
Ad networks — including most prominently Xandr — which is owned by Microsoft — are now using this list to refuse to allow advertising on conservative media websites.
Microsoft has yet to respond to a request for comment regarding Xandr’s use of the Dynamic Exclusion List, which is censoring conservative outlets.
GDI in December released its report that detailed the alleged “disinformation risk” for the American online media market in partnership with the Global Disinformation Lab (GDIL), a think tank at the University of Texas at Austin that generates policy recommendations and solutions to combat disinformation.
The GDI report on the American online media landscape reviewed 69 news outlets, and listed ten outlets it found are the most at risk of spreading disinformation, and ten outlets that are the least likely to spread disinformation. GDI rated conservative sites as having the highest risk for spreading disinformation and liberal websites as the most trusted.
PET NEWS
Nestlé Purina PetCare Company is voluntarily recalling select lots of Purina Pro Plan Veterinary Diets EL Elemental (PPVD EL) prescription dry dog food due to potentially elevated levels of vitamin D. Vitamin D is an essential nutrient for dogs; however, ingestion of elevated levels can lead to health issues depending on the level of vitamin D and the length of exposure. Vitamin D toxicity may include vomiting, loss of appetite, increased thirst, increased urination, and excessive drooling to renal (kidney) dysfunction.
ICYMI
Please join us at this rally to honor the victims of COVID protocols and policies that caused harm to so many people.
Together, we can finally Stop The Hospital Holocaust
Where: Milam Park, San Antonio
Date: March 25, 2023
Time: 9am-6:00pm
rememberthevictimstexas.com (givesendgo link is on the website)
Report: Court Documents Relating to Jeffrey Epstein Allegations to Be Released
A number of documents relating to the disgraced late financier Jeffrey Epstein are soon to be unsealed, according to a report.
The Daily Mail reported on Friday that “court documents containing ‘salacious’ allegations related to 167 of Jeffrey Epstein‘s associates, victims, and employees,” are set to be made public:
The material will be made public in the coming months and, DailyMail.com can reveal, is expected to include information pertaining to at least one ‘public figure.’
The documents refer to ‘alleged perpetrators’ or individuals accused of ‘serious wrongdoing’, as well as law enforcement officers and prosecutors, according to a declaration filed on Wednesday.
VIDEO: Five Hurt When Plane and Bus Collide at Los Angeles Airport
Several people were hurt when a plane hit a shuttle bus Friday at Los Angeles Airport, the third similar incident in the past month.
The American Airlines plane was being towed from a gate to a parking lot when it collided with the bus, the Independent reported Saturday.
Reports: ‘Days of Our Lives’ and ‘Hollywood Heights’ Actor Cody Longo Dead at 34
Actor Cody Longo, who starred in NBC’s daytime drama series Days of Our Lives and Nickelodeon’s high school series Hollywood Heights, has died at age 34, according to multiple reports.
The actor’s representative, Alex Gittelson, told The Hollywood Reporter that Longo died in his sleep in Austin, Texas, before his body was discovered on Wednesday. No cause of death has been announced.
David Hogg: Target Guns Like Anti-Tobacco Activists Targeted Cigarettes
Parkland gun control activist David Hogg believes the gun control lobby can succeed in restricting the Second Amendment if everyone will come together and target guns the way anti-tobacco activists targeted cigarettes.
Hogg was interviewed by CBS News on February 12, where he talked of how gun rights groups such as the NRA have often appeared unbeatable. But he believes the gun control lobby can succeed by taking cues from the anti-tobacco movement.
More Stories
Today’s News: April 26, 2024
Today’s News: April 25, 2024
Today’s News: April 24, 2024