WORLD NEWS
Musk’s Big Nudge: Warns Global Leaders Of ‘Too Much’ World Government
Elon Musk on Wednesday told an audience of government representatives at Dubai’s World Government Summit that earth should avoid “too much of a single world government” in order to avoid creating a “civilizational risk.”
“If you look at the rise and fall of civilizations throughout history, civilizations have risen and fallen, but it hasn’t meant the doom of humanity as a whole, because they have been given all these separate civilizations that were separated by great distances,” Musk continued, using the fall of Rome while Islam was rising as an example of a situation which resulted in the preservation of knowledge and scientific advancements.
‘Single World Government’ and AI Could ‘Doom’ Humanity Says Musk
Establishing a “single world government” could bring about the end of humanity as a whole, billionaire Elon Musk warned while also calling artificial intelligence one of the “biggest risks” facing human civilization.
“I know this is called the ‘World Government Summit,’ but I think we should be a little bit concerned about actually becoming too much of a single world government,” Musk said in a remote speech on Feb. 15 at the 2023 World Government Summit in Dubai. “If I may say, we want to avoid creating a civilizational risk by having—frankly, this might sound a little odd—too much cooperation between governments.”
“All throughout history, civilizations have risen and fallen. But it hasn’t meant the doom of humanity as a whole because there have been all these separate civilizations that were separated by great distances.”
Musk cited the example of the fall of Rome, which happened during the 5th century, to drive home the point of needing “civilizational diversity.”
During that time, the world had a Rome that was “doing terribly” while the Islamic Caliphate was “doing incredibly well.” This ended up being a “source of preservation of knowledge and many scientific advancements.”
Musk warned against being a single civilization, as such a development could result in an absolute collapse. “I’m obviously not suggesting war or anything like that. But I think we want to be a little wary of actually cooperating too much,” he stated.
Taiwan finds crashed weather balloon on remote island, likely Chinese
Taiwan’s military said on Thursday it had found the remains of a probable crashed weather balloon likely from China on a remote and strategically located island near the Chinese coast, amid a dispute between China and the United States over spy balloons.
Taiwan, claimed by China as its own territory, has complained of increased harassment by Beijing’s armed forces over the past three years, including fighter jets flying near the island and drones buzzing close to offshore islets.
Taiwan’s army said that late Thursday morning its forces on Dongyin island, part of the Taiwan-controlled Matsu archipelago off the coast of China’s Fuzhou, observed an unknown object falling from the sky, then found the remnants of a balloon on a shooting range.
The sphere is about 1 metre in diameter with an instrument box marked with simplified Chinese characters – which are used in China but not Taiwan – and the wording “Taiyuan Radio No. 1 Factory Co., Ltd.”, “GTS13 digital datmospheric sounding instrument” and “meteorological instrument”, the army said.
Taiyuan is a major city in northern China. Reuters was not immediately able to locate contacts for the factory.
“The preliminary investigation determined that the remains were of a meteorological detecting instrument, which have been collected by the relevant departments for further evaluation,” Taiwan’s army said in a short statement.
UK PM in N Ireland to push for new Brexit trade deal
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is meeting Northern Ireland’s political parties amid speculation a deal on the Northern Ireland Protocol could soon be struck.
Sources suggest a deal could be reached as early as next week on post-Brexit trading arrangements.
Mr Sunak is meeting party leaders at a hotel near Belfast before travelling to meet EU leaders in Germany.
Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald said she believed “very significant progress has been made”.
U.S. NEWS, POLITICS & GOVERNMENT
Senate Formally Condemns ‘Invasion’ of US by Chinese Spy Balloon
The U.S. Senate has approved two resolutions unanimously on Feb. 15 that formally condemn the Chinese communist regime for its illegal incursion into U.S. airspace with a spy balloon and also call for transparency from the Biden administration about the incident.
The first resolution “condemns the Chinese Communist Party’s [CCP] invasion of United States airspace to conduct surveillance” on American citizens and military bases. It also calls on President Joe Biden to “be transparent with the American people and Congress regarding this latest spying incident and all other attempts by the Chinese Communist Party to conduct surveillance on United States citizens, territory, and assets.”
The second measure condemns the incursion as a “brazen violation of United States sovereignty.”
The language closely mirrors that of a House resolution, that was approved on Feb. 9 by a unanimous vote in Congress.
“The Chinese Communist Party’s use of a high-altitude surveillance balloon over United States territory as a brazen violation of United States sovereignty,” that resolution said.
“The Chinese Communist Party’s intelligence collection directed against the United States poses a threat to United States interests and security.”
The Chinese spy balloon had maneuvering capability and had similarities to the Google balloon project Loon, which utilized AI analytics in its operations, according to Col. (Ret.) John Mills, an author and former director of cybersecurity policy, strategy, and international affairs at the Department of Defense.
“What’s very interesting is in 2012, I was at Google and Google briefed me on Project Loon, their balloon project. And they use their advanced AI and analytics to raise and lower the balloon and they could maintain the position of a balloon by raising and lowering it. And they could also maneuver it,” Mills said in an interview recorded on Feb. 9 on China in Focus, a show on NTD TV, The Epoch Times’ sister media.
He said throughout the “spy balloon” episode that the Department of Defense has very clearly said that the Chinese balloon had maneuvering capability.
The Chinese regime maintained that it was a runaway weather balloon, but the U.S. administration has refuted such claims.
President Joe Biden is creating a team to develop rules of engagement to govern how the nation responds to unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) in U.S. airspace.
The announcement comes 12 days after the U.S. military shot down a Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina and nearly a week after it intercepted and shot down three unknown objects in U.S. and Canadian airspace.
Biden said the United States was now detecting more objects than it had before because it used new intelligence to enhance how it uses radar to identify small and slow-moving aerial objects.
“Last week, in the immediate aftermath of the incursion by China’s high-altitude balloon, our military … closely scrutinized our airspace, including enhancing our radar to pick up more slow-moving objects,” he said during a Feb. 16 press conference.
“We don’t have any evidence that there has been a sudden increase in the number of objects in the sky. We’re now just seeing more of them partially because [of] the steps we’ve taken to narrow our radars.”
The three objects shot down after the Chinese spy balloon were likely not related to the Chinese regime’s balloon program, Biden said. Instead, they could have been related to commercial or research institutions.
“The intelligence community’s current assessment is that these three ones were most likely balloons tied to private companies, recreation or research institutions studying weather or conducting other scientific research,” he said.
Biden said the rules of engagement currently being developed would later be scaled and evolved to meet emerging threats if necessary.
“Going forward, these parameters will guide what actions we will take while responding to unmanned and unidentified aerial objects,” he said.
“We’re going to keep adapting them as the challenges evolve, if they evolve.”
Illinois Hobby Club Fears Missing Balloon Was Shot Down by U.S. Air Force
An Illinois-based hobbyist club is concerned that one of their small, globe-trotting balloons, which was recently declared “missing in action,” was shot down by U.S. Air Force last week.
Although the Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade is not yet pointing fingers at the federal government, the group has reason to believe its “pico balloon” may have been one of the three mystery objects shot down by Air Force fighters last week after discovering and shooting down a Chinese spy balloon.
Biden Responds to Question on Being Compromised by China: ‘Give Me a Break, Man’
President Joe Biden on Thursday responded to questions about being “compromised” by his family’s business deals in China during a press conference about unidentified flying objects and the Chinese spy balloon shot down weeks ago.
“Are you compromised by your family’s business relations in China?” a reporter asked.
‘Falling tail’ issue grounds entire fleet of US Air Force tankers
The United States Air Force has grounded hundreds of its decades-old KC-135 tankers, over concerns that a critical flaw could lead to their tails becoming separated from the fuselage mid-flight. Inspections have revealed that two dozen aircraft have so far been found to be affected by the fault.
Washington ordered a widespread inspection of the fleet of tankers on Tuesday for a “non-conforming part in the vertical tail assembly”. The part pins an aircraft’s tail fin – its vertical stabilizer – to the rest of the fuselage.
“We’re taking this action out of an abundance of caution, after consulting with our engineering experts,” Col. Michael Kovalcheck of the US Air Force’s Life Cycle Management division said this week.
A memo leaked earlier this month first revealed that the aircraft may have faulty pins installed. This followed an analysis conducted in January, which found that several discrepancies had been detected in pins installed in the aircraft’s tail during routine repairs.
Ohio Governor: No FEMA Assistance for East Palestine Residents in Wake of Toxic Train Derailment
Residents of East Palestine, Ohio, impacted by the Feb. 3 Norfolk Southern Railway freight train derailment that caused lingering fires and spilled toxic chemicals will not receive assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Association (FEMA)—at least for now—according to Gov. Mike DeWine.
Almost two weeks after a Norfolk Southern Railway train derailed in the village located just west of the Pennsylvania state line, the Ohio governor requested federal assistance for residents dealing with the aftermath.
Since the crash, many residents have said they are experiencing headaches, skin rashes, sore throat, vomiting, and other ailments.
FEMA declined to help because East Palestine isn’t eligible for disaster assistance, DeWine spokesperson Dan Tierney said on Feb. 16. FEMA said the derailment and subsequent chemical spill and controlled burn that sent toxic chemicals into the air don’t qualify as a traditional disaster, such as a tornado or hurricane, he added.
Ohio Derailment: Governor Wonders Why Train’s Cargo Not Labeled ‘High Hazardous Material’
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine on Feb. 14 raised the issue that the cargo of a train that derailed in Ohio on Feb. 3 was not defined as “high hazardous material.”
DeWine said Congress should act on what he called an “absurd” situation, as the train was not deemed highly hazardous because only a few cars had highly dangerous contents.
But key committees in the Republican-controlled House are holding their peace as investigations of the derailment and its environmental impact proceed.
A spokesperson for the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, led by Chairman Sam Graves (R-Mo.), said the committee was talking with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the Department of Transportation’s Federal Railroad Administration, and the railroad involved, Norfolk Southern.
“We will continue to monitor the situation and NTSB’s ongoing investigation,” the spokesperson told The Epoch Times in a Feb. 14 email.
That same day, the board updated its investigation, describing one possible culprit in the incident, which occurred near the Pennsylvania border in East Palestine, Ohio.
“NTSB investigators have identified and examined the rail car that initiated the derailment. Surveillance video from a residence showed what appears to be a wheel bearing in the final stage of overheat failure moments before the derailment,” the agency’s incident webpage states.
Watch – Train Operated by Norfolk Southern Derails in Van Buren Township, Michigan
A train derailed in Van Buren Township, Michigan, that was operated by Norfolk Southern near Huron River Drive. Reportedly no hazardous materials were spilled at the crash.
Norfolk Southern told reporters that no injuries were reported and the tracks were damaged while wheels became disconnected from the cars.
Whitehead: Don’t Bow Down To A Dictatorial Government
The government wants us to bow down to its dictates.
It wants us to buy into the fantasy that we are living the dream, when in fact, we are trapped in an endless nightmare of servitude and oppression.
Indeed, with every passing day, life in the American Police State increasingly resembles life in the dystopian television series The Prisoner.
First broadcast 55 years ago in the U.S., The Prisoner—described as “James Bond meets George Orwell filtered through Franz Kafka”—confronted societal themes that are still relevant today: the rise of a police state, the loss of freedom, round-the-clock surveillance, the corruption of government, totalitarianism, weaponization, group think, mass marketing, and the tendency of human beings to meekly accept their lot in life as prisoners in a prison of their own making.
Perhaps the best visual debate ever on individuality and freedom, The Prisoner centers around a British secret agent who abruptly resigns only to find himself imprisoned in a virtual prison disguised as a seaside paradise with parks and green fields, recreational activities and even a butler.
While luxurious, the Village’s inhabitants have no true freedom, they cannot leave the Village, they are under constant surveillance, all of their movements tracked by militarized drones, and stripped of their individuality so that they are identified only by numbers.
“I am not a number. I am a free man,” is the mantra chanted in each episode of The Prisoner, which was largely written and directed by Patrick McGoohan, who also played the title role of Number Six, the imprisoned government agent.
Throughout the series, Number Six is subjected to interrogation tactics, torture, hallucinogenic drugs, identity theft, mind control, dream manipulation, and various forms of social indoctrination and physical coercion in order to “persuade” him to comply, give up, give in and subjugate himself to the will of the powers-that-be.
Number Six refuses to comply.
In every episode, Number Six resists the Village’s indoctrination methods, struggles to maintain his own identity, and attempts to escape his captors. “I will not make any deals with you,” he pointedly remarks to Number Two, the Village administrator a.k.a. prison warden. “I’ve resigned. I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own.”
Yet no matter how far Number Six manages to get in his efforts to escape, it’s never far enough.
Watched by surveillance cameras and other devices, Number Six’s attempts to escape are continuously thwarted by ominous white balloon-like spheres known as “rovers.”
Still, he refuses to give up.
“Unlike me,” he says to his fellow prisoners, “many of you have accepted the situation of your imprisonment, and will die here like rotten cabbages.”
Number Six’s escapes become a surreal exercise in futility, each episode an unfunny, unsettling Groundhog’s Day that builds to the same frustrating denouement: there is no escape.
John Fetterman Checks Himself into Hospital for ‘Clinical Depression’
Just days after being hospitalized for feeling “lightheaded,” newly minted Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) checked himself into the hospital to receive treatment for “clinical depression,” according to his chief of staff.
Fetterman’s chief of staff, Adam Jentleson, said in a statement on Thursday:
Last night, Senator John Fetterman checked himself into Walter Reed National Military Medical Center to receive treatment for clinical depression. While John has experienced depression off and on throughout his life, it only became severe in recent weeks…On Monday, John was evaluated by Dr. Brian P. Monahan … Monahan recommended inpatient care at Walter Reed. John agreed, and he is receiving treatment on a voluntary basis… After examining John, the doctors at Walter Reed told us that John is getting the care he needs. [Emphasis added.]
Illinois Officials Plan to House Nearly 700 Migrants in Closed Chicago Kmart
Hundreds of migrants bused to Chicago, Illinois, from mostly Texas may soon be housed in an old Kmart store if state officials get their way.
Since Texas began busing border crossers and illegal aliens to Chicago, a sanctuary city, more than 5,100 have arrived. The overwhelming majority of those new arrivals, nearly 4,000, have sought to be sheltered by the city, paid for by state and local taxpayers.
Armed Driver Shoots, Kills Alleged St. Louis Carjacker
An alleged carjacker was shot and killed by an armed driver around 6 a.m. Wednesday in St. Louis, Missouri.
KMOV reported that that incident occurred “near the intersection of Tucker and O’Fallon.”
HEALTH
Easy tips to improve your heart health
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), one in every four deaths in the United States is due to heart disease. It continues to be the leading cause of death for both men and women. That’s more than 647,000 people each year. Take time to consider the following information and tips to ensure you’re making efforts to keep your heart as healthy as can be.
Prevention
Start making basic lifestyle changes to reduce your risk of heart disease and subsequent issues.
These strategies benefit other areas of your life as well, so you’re doing your entire body a favor by focusing on heart health:
- Avoid tobacco.
If you currently smoke, chew tobacco, vape, or use other tobacco products, quit right away — your health care team can help. If you don’t smoke now, keep it that way. - Drink alcohol in moderation, if at all.
Heavy alcohol use is detrimental to your heart health. Although some research indicates moderate consumption of certain alcoholic beverages may have positive health effects, limiting your intake to a maximum of one drink per day or abstaining from alcohol altogether is best. - Be active.
Try to do aerobic exercise for at least 20 to 30 minutes a day, three to five times per week. Work your way up to 150 minutes of cardio each week. Get your heart rate up by a simple activity like walking at a brisk pace. Your daily movement doesn’t need to be overly strenuous. - Maintain a healthy weight.
Like your checkbook, your weight is a matter of deposits and withdrawals. You need to exercise regularly and lower portion sizes and calorie intake at meals to lose weight or maintain a healthy size. Simply put, to lose weight you must burn more calories than you consume. - Eat a nutritious diet.
Healthy and fresh food choices — such as vegetables, fruits, whole grains and legumes — lower your risk of obesity, heart disease and diabetes, as well as make you feel better than when you eat processed and junk food. Learn about key elements of a heart-healthy diet. - Control your risk factors.
Get physical examinations or checkups at least yearly. Doing so will help you monitor health conditions and allow your provider to examine you for high blood pressure (hypertension), high cholesterol and diabetes. If you have these conditions, talk to your health care team about medicines and lifestyle changes to help you control them, which will lower your risk for heart disease.
Study: Over 1 Billion People Are at Risk for This
Unsafe listening practices in young people using personal listening devices (earbuds) and attending loud venues increase their risk of hearing loss, which one study estimates will affect 1 billion 12- to 34-year-olds worldwide
The effects of noise pollution do not stop at hearing loss; heart attack, stroke, reduced cognitive function, stress and early death are also possible. Not only that, hearing loss increases the risk of depression and dementia
Wireless earbuds increase the risk of exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMF) or nonionizing radiation, which 250 scientists worldwide have petitioned the United Nations to address, as it is associated with genetic damage, learning and memory deficits, neurological disorders and cellular stress
You can protect your hearing and lower your EMF exposure by avoiding Bluetooth and Wi-Fi devices, using a battery-powered alarm clock, switching to a steam convection oven from a microwave and avoiding “smart” devices such as appliances, thermostats and TVs
Our modern lifestyle, which glamorizes constant internet connectivity and round-the-clock activity, conspires to keep us awake far longer than is healthy
The standard recommendation for adults is to get seven to eight hours of sleep per night. Teenagers need around nine hours, while younger school-age children may need upward of 11 hours
Healthy sleep consists of five general stages, each stage lasting five to 15 minutes, with a complete cycle (light, deep and REM sleep) taking between 90 and 120 minutes. You cycle through these stages four to six times each night, and this cycling is tremendously important, from both a biological and psychological perspective
So far, 51 DNA markers that appear to influence sleep have been found, including markers for long and short sleep duration, morning and evening personalities, insomnia, and high or low sleep efficiency
Sleep deprivation has a number of concerning health ramifications, including the promotion of diabetes, excess weight, heart disease, cancer and cognitive decline, just to name a few
Move Over, Calcium — This Nutrient Is The True Hero For Avoiding Osteoporosis
Osteoporosis—a condition in which bones become fragile from loss of tissue, often from deficiency of calcium and/or vitamin D—affects approximately 10 million Americans over the age of 50. What’s more, the likelihood of developing osteoporosis over the age of 80 increases 30% in men and 47% in women, according to a 2017 review from Osteoporosis International.
It’s clear that musculoskeletal health becomes a top concern later in life—and maintaining vitamin D sufficiency can help support your bone longevity in a major way.
The connection between vitamin D & osteoporosis.
You see, vitamin D promotes calcium absorption in the gut and also works to modulate healthy calcium concentrations in the body. That calcium is used to mineralize bones and maintain muscle strength in order to prevent fractures.
As we age, we lose bone density, and without adequate vitamin D, calcium can’t be used to support optimal bone integrity. According to a 2021 review International Journal of Molecular Sciences, vitamin D deficiency (VDD) accelerates bone turnover, loss, and fractures. So it’s no surprise that VDD (which already impacts 29% of all U.S. adults) is extremely prevalent in older adults with osteoporosis.
How to achieve & maintain vitamin D sufficiency as you age.
Vitamin D sufficiency is vital for optimal musculoskeletal health—especially as you get older. “As we age, our cutaneous production, or the skin synthesis, goes down naturally,”
The most effective way to reach and sustain healthy vitamin D status at any age is through quality, consistent vitamin D supplementation.
—> Power Mall Product of Recommendation: Optivida Vitamin D – 800IU (60 CT)
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
US Could Default by Summer If Debt Ceiling Deal Not Reached: Congressional Budget Office
The United States could default on its debt sometime over the summer if the president and House Republicans don’t agree to raise the debt ceiling soon, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).
“If the debt limit remains unchanged, the government’s ability to borrow using extraordinary measures will be exhausted between July and September 2023,” CBO Director Phillip Swagel said on Feb. 15.
Swagel addressed reporters as he released the CBO’s February 2023 Federal Debt and the Statutory Limit statement.
The government reached its most recent debt ceiling of $31.4 trillion on Jan. 19. That triggered extraordinary measures to prevent the country from defaulting on its loans.
Extraordinary measures are accounting practices that keep the country from defaulting while Congress and the president negotiate. However, extraordinary measures only buy time, and once they are exhausted, default is inevitable.
Home Prices In Opportunity Zone Redevelopment Areas Fall During Fourth Quarter
ATTOM, a leading curator of land, property, and real estate data, today released its fourth-quarter 2022 report analyzing qualified low-income Opportunity Zones targeted by Congress for economic redevelopment in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (see full methodology below). In this report, ATTOM looked at 4,119 zones around the United States with sufficient data to analyze, meaning they had at least five home sales in the fourth quarter of 2022.
The report found that median single-family home and condo prices decreased from the third quarter of 2022 to the fourth quarter of 2022 in 56 percent of Opportunity Zones around the country and went down at least 5 percent in almost half. Those declines closely paralleled drops in neighborhoods outside the zones as prices fell across the broader U.S. housing market during the second half of 2022 following a decade of almost continuous growth.
Worrisome Trend Emerges Among Credit Card Holders
Americans are saddled with the most credit card debt in decades as a new report issued Thursday found that its nearing the $1 trillion mark.
A report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York found that “credit card balances increased by $61 billion to reach $986 billion, surpassing the pre-pandemic high of $927 billion” in the fourth quarter. At the same time, delinquencies among borrowers accelerated in the same time period, according to the report.
“Although historically low unemployment has kept consumer’s financial footing generally strong, stubbornly high prices and climbing interest rates may be testing some borrowers’ ability to repay their debts,” Wilbert van der Klaauw, an economic research advisor with the New York Fed, said in a statement accompanying the report.
Younger borrowers appear to be struggling more to make repayments for both credit card and auto loans, according to a post issued by the New York Fed.
Is the Egg Shortage Another Conspiracy?
Egg prices have more than doubled compared to what they were a year ago, with a median cost of $4.25 for a dozen
As of January 2023, more than 58 million birds in 47 states have been killed due to avian flu outbreaks
The egg shortage began amidst a series of mysterious fires and other disasters at U.S. food processors
Some farmers have stated chicken feed made by Purina may have been altered to contain lower amounts of protein and minerals, leaving chickens unable to lay eggs
A report from the Rockefeller Foundation, released in July 2020 and predicting a coming food crisis, calls for the creation of a centralized “nutrition security system”
NLRB Complaint: Tesla Illegally Terminated Employees for Union Activity
Former Tesla employees at the company’s Autopilot facility in Buffalo, New York, are claiming that the company fired them for participating in union organizing efforts. A complaint filed with the NLRB alleges retaliation by Elon Musk’s electric car company.
Bloomberg reports that employees at the Tesla Autopilot facility in Buffalo, New York, claim that the company fired them illegally as retaliation for engaging in union activity and to thwart further attempts to organize. Workers United, the union involved in the organizing effort, has filed a complaint with the US National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).
It’s not been a good week for Tesla. European drivers are complaining about a broken app that’s limiting their Tesla experience. In the U.S., the situation is more severe as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has expressed serious concerns about the company’s Full Self Driving Beta software which has prompted the company to issue a recall. Of course, the company probably saw this coming given all the controversy and issues already reported.
On Thursday Tesla had to issue a recall for nearly 363,000 of its electric vehicles. At issue is the company’s highly controversial “Full Self Driving” Beta, which the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration believes is dangerous.
NHTSA has four principal complaints with the driver-assistance system:
The FSD Beta system may allow the vehicle to act unsafe around intersections, such as traveling straight through an intersection while in a turn-only lane, entering a stop sign-controlled intersection without coming to a complete stop, or proceeding into an intersection during a steady yellow traffic signal without due caution.
Additionally, NHTSA says that “the system may respond insufficiently to changes in posted speed limits or not adequately account for the driver’s adjustment of the vehicle’s speed to exceed posted speed limits.”
According to the timeline published by the nation’s auto safety regulator, NHTSA told Tesla on January 25 that it had four concerns about FSD Beta’s driving behavior and asked Tesla to issue a recall. After a couple of weeks of discussions, Tesla apparently did not concur with the agency but decided to issue a recall anyway, perhaps reading the writing on the wall.
The recall affects 2016-2023 Models S, 2016-2023 Models X, 2017-2023 Models 3, and 2020-2023 Models Y “that have installed or are pending installation of a software release that contains the Autosteer on City Streets feature.”
British energy producer announces mammoth profits
Centrica’s annual revenues have tripled as a result of higher prices for consumers
UK oil and gas producer Centrica, which owns services provider British Gas, has reported record profits for the 2022 financial year, becoming the latest energy giant to benefit from soaring costs.
According to a company report on Thursday, operating profits jumped to £3.3 billion ($4 billion) from £948 million ($1.1 billion) a year earlier, surpassing the firm’s previous record annual profit of £2.7 billion ($3.2 billion), recorded in 2012.
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Useless Eaters: Drug Them, Give Them Computer Games, Let Them Eat Bugs
Technocracy is insidious, heartless and dispassionate. The original definition of Technocracy from the 1930s is “The science of social engineering”. They have the science and they will use it to “engineer” minds to accept their conditioning. Like the “Borg”, they say “Resistance is futile” and “We will assimilate”. Technocracy’s war on humanity is existential and the window of opportunity to reject it is rapidly closing. ⁃ TN Editor
I’ve seen several reports that ChatGPT, the new artificial intelligence program that’s all the rage, has been found to have a built-in bias against whites, Christians and Jews.
In an article published at Business Insider, they claimed that ChatGPT must be “woke” if its owner, OpenAI, wants to attract major investors. That’s because the large investors are concerned about the ESG scores and wouldn’t want to invest in any tech firm that’s not woke, meaning they “value diversity, equity and inclusivity,” which is code for those who worship at the altar of racial division, abortion and LGBTQ-plus.
This is the way forward, according to the globalist technocrats who design these programs and then feed them into our institutions. Some newspaper columnists are reportedly already using programs like ChatGPT to automatically produce articles. They just punch in a theme and set a few parameters and the program does the rest of the work for them. Lawyers can do the same thing, saving them tons of time researching case law before filing their briefs. The same goes for songwriters, speechwriters, etc.
Apparently they don’t realize that soon they will be replaced by the A.I. bots and need not report to work at all. Contrary to what many believe, it’s not just the unskilled jobs that will be replaced by robots.
World Economic Forum founder Klaus Schwab spoke this week in glowing terms about the rapidly advancing technologies he says will ring in the “Fourth Industrial Revolution.”
Schwab spoke about chatbots, machine learning, digital identities and the whole gamut of mind-blowing technology being developed and perfected.
The masters of the universe, the self-appointed globalist elites, will control the digital world and in turn control people, Schwab boasted.
Call me a Luddite but this is not something to be excited about.
“Who masters those technologies – in some way – will be the master of the world,” Schwab said.
Watch: Harari: What Do We Do With The Useless Eaters?
Judge sanctions Facebook and BigLaw firm $925K for ‘delay, misdirection and frivolous arguments’
A federal judge in San Francisco has ordered Facebook and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher to pay a sanction of $925,000 for an “unusually egregious and persistent” effort to use “delay, misdirection and frivolous arguments to make litigation unfairly difficult and expensive for their opponents.”
U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria of the Northern District of California said in a Feb. 9 decision Facebook and Gibson Dunn are jointly and severally liable for the sanction, imposed in litigation over Facebook practices that allowed the sharing of users’ personal information.
“To be sure, this amount is loose change for a company like Facebook and even for a law firm like Gibson Dunn,” Chhabria wrote. “But it’s important for courts to help protect litigants from suffering financial harm as a result of their opponents’ litigation misconduct. And hopefully, this ruling will create some incentive for Facebook and Gibson Dunn (and perhaps even others) to behave more honorably moving forward.”
Chhabria twice mentioned gaslighting in the decision. He wrote that Facebook and Gibson Dunn appeared to be trying to gaslight their opponents—and the court—when they argued against disclosure of emails and asserted that their opponents’ efforts to obtain relevant discovery were frivolous.
The case before Chhabria concerned British consulting company Cambridge Analytica’s use of Facebook users’ data. Cambridge Analytica had purchased the information from a data scientist who used an app launched on Facebook’s platform to collect it. Cambridge Analytica used the information to send targeted political ads to voters.
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
Fact Check: Pete Buttigieg Blames Trump for Ohio Train Disaster
CLAIM: U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg is blaming former President Donald Trump for the train disaster in East Palestine, Ohio, claiming, “we’re constrained by law on some areas of rail regulation,” and citing a “braking rule” that was withdrawn under the Trump administration.
Energy giant Santos accused of Australia dolphin deaths
An energy giant has been accused of covering up the severity of an oil spill which allegedly killed dolphins off Western Australia (WA) last year.
A whistleblower’s statement read out in parliament this week alleges dead dolphins were found floating near the oil slick caused by Santos last March.
Santos has previously denied the deaths were connected to the spill from its Varanus Island facility.
Cyclone Gabrielle: Thousands yet to be contacted after New Zealand storm
New Zealand’s prime minister says he expects there to be more deaths from a violent storm which killed eight people and cut off hundreds of communities.
More than 4,500 people have yet to be contacted after Cyclone Gabrielle hit on Monday, causing significant flooding and landslides across the North Island.
Many cities and towns are also without power or clean drinking water.
GARDENING FARMING & HOMESTEADING
Herb Garden Ideas – Fun and Functional
Starting an herb garden? Try incorporating unique ideas like hanging planters, herb spirals, and themed herb beds (e.g. Italian, pollinator-friendly, favorite herb book). Fresh herbs add beauty and flavor to meals, and have many other uses, too.
Lead Contamination in Soils and How to Treat It
Lead is a toxic heavy metal that poses a significant risk to humans, wildlife and natural habitats, as heavy metals are not degraded in the environment and consequently accumulate in soils.
Where Does Lead Contamination of the Soil Come From?
Lead contamination of the soil is a fairly common problem in urban areas, particularly where garden beds are sited alongside painted walls that were painted with lead-based paints, where toxic lead compounds are used as pigments. When these paints begin peeling, flaking or chalking, they contaminate the ground below. Paints containing lead were generally banned in the 1970’s, though some governments (Australia) have permitted paints to contain small percentages of lead (< 1%) after that date, and since 1997 lowered the permissible level to 0.1%. Not all paints are lead-free!
Another common location prone to lead contamination are roadside verge plantings along the footpath on busy roads with lots of traffic. As horrific as it sounds, tetraethyl lead, an organolead compound which comprised of lead bonded to carbon atoms, making it far more absorbable by living things, was used as a fuel additive in automotive petrol (gasoline) until it was banned in the 1990s and early 2000s in most countries. It was added as an antiknock agent, allowing engines to run higher compression to produce more power. It also spread superfine particles of lead into the air that were capable of being breathed in and carried by the wind to contaminate the surrounding landscape.
The brake linings of cars, trains and trams also contain lead, creating a fine metal dust in locations where these vehicles come to a stop, which is readily spread by the wind and the air movement created by fast-moving vehicles.
Other sources of lead contamination are those from industrial activities, such as lead in fumes from metal smelting and battery manufacturing.
The contamination of water may be caused by the use of lead pipes, or lead-based solder used to join metal pipes. In fact, the chemical symbol for lead is Pb from the Latin name plumbum due to its use for water pipes in Ancient Rome, which is where the word ‘plumber’ is derived from. And yes, the Romans did end giving themselves lead poisoning this way!
Lead contamination in soil is highly problematic as lead is a metal, so it can’t be broken down any further to neutralise it, and it therefore persists in the soil indefinitely. It can form compounds of lead, which are also toxic. Therefore, it is crucial to understand how to treat lead-contaminated soil effectively.
There are several methods for treating lead-contaminated soil, and the following are some of the most commonly used approaches for treating lead-contaminated soil.
- Physical Removal of Contaminated Soil
- Stabilization or Solidification
- Phytoremediation
Which Vegetable Crops Take Up the Most Lead from The Soil?
Crops can take up different amounts of lead from the soil, depending on several factors such as soil characteristics, plant species, and stage of plant growth.
Root crops, such as carrots, potatoes, turnips and radishes, tend to accumulate more lead from the soil than leafy vegetables or fruit and berries because they absorb more water and nutrients from the soil, which can result in a higher concentration of lead in the edible portion of the plant.
- Bioremediation and Bioaugmentation
Microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi, and algae, which are capable of degrading or converting toxic compounds into less harmful substances, can be used to break down contaminants in the soil and water.
Using microorganisms to treat lead-contaminated soil is an effective method, as certain bacteria have been shown to reduce the solubility and toxicity of lead in the soil.
- Remediation with Soil Amendments
Soil amendments are materials that are added to soil to improve the physical and chemical properties, such as the texture, structure, fertility, and pH of the soil.
Some common soil amendments that have been used to treat lead-contaminated soil include compost, lime, iron filings and biochar.
Biochar is a cheap and effective remediation material. It reduces the risk of contaminants entering the food chain by binding or precipitating them in the soil. It can be used to immobilize heavy metals and organic pollutants in soil through adsorption, as well as my means of its ample organic and active functional groups, its inclusion of inorganic minerals, the microporous structure with its associated high surface area, as well as a high pH, cation exchange capacity (CEC), and carbon content.
How to Make Biochar (3 DIY Methods + An Easier Alternative)
What Materials Do You Need to Make Biochar?
You can make biochar from dry organic waste (feedstock), like crop residues and wood. But remember, the feedstock you use impacts your biochar’s nutrient composition and yield.
Usually, you’ll require around 4 lbs (~2 kgs) of woody biomass to produce 1 lb (~0.5 kgs) of biochar.
You’ll also need:
- A drum, pit, or biochar kiln.
- A rake or shovel.
- A hose.
- Water.
Once biochar is produced, you should activate it to improve its nutrient levels.
For this, you create a 50-50 biochar mix of raw biochar with organic material like compost, manure, etc. — which takes a week to become enriched biochar.
3 DIY Methods To Make Biochar
Making biochar at home is relatively simple.
The methods we’ll discuss here have a lower carbon footprint than traditional biochar production methods like using a retort kiln — which releases more pyrolysis gases.
Here are three simple biochar production methods to use at home:
- Cone Pit
You can use the cone pit method with dry plant material, like twigs and wood.
- Trench or Drum
The drum or trench method uses dried leaves and woody biomass to produce biochar.
You’ll need a cylindrical metal drum (ideally a 44 gallon or 200-liter drum), or you can dig a trench.
- Cone Stove
The simplest biochar production method involves using a cone stove or biochar kiln, which you can buy at a store.
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The NFL Players Association (NFLPA) is being urged to offer players cardiac screening in light of the growing concern over COVID-19 vaccines causing heart inflammation.
Army kicks out Guardsman over vax refusal, now insanely says AWOL if he fails to return
A 20-year-old man who was forced out of the U.S. Army National Guard for refusing the mandated COVID vaccination received a memo from the Army inviting him to return to duty — but also informing him that should he not return, he “will be considered Absent Without Leave (AWOL)” and be subject to court martial proceedings.
The bizarre Feb. 1 Army memo (shown below), which comes after Congress compelled the U.S. Armed Forces to end their controversial COVID vaccination mandates, caught the attention of conservative journalist Daniel Horowitz, who wrote about it in the Blaze, where he is a senior editor. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin rescinded the military’s vaccination mandates Jan. 10.
CANCEL CULTURE
‘South Park’ Rips Attention-Loving Meghan and Prince Harry over ‘Privacy’ Demands
The long-running satirical cartoon South Park took aim at former royals Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle on Wednesday, portraying them as the “prince and princess of Canada,” whiny and privileged shills who constantly self-promote while claiming to want privacy.
Of course, in real life there is no Canadian royalty separate and distinct from British royalty and South Park invented them to serve as a parody of Harry and Meghan.
GOOD NEWS
Man who spent 28 years in prison is exonerated with help of pro bono lawyers
A 2021 Missouri law that allows prosecutors to ask courts to set aside wrongful convictions has resulted in the exoneration of a man who spent 28 years in prison for murder.
Two pro bono lawyers from Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner worked as special prosecutors for St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner during a weeklong trial to prove the innocence of Lamar Johnson, according to a Feb. 14 Bryan Cave press release.
In ‘Mega Milestone’ India Connects 80 Million Rural Households to Water Supply in Just 4 Years
India’s Jal Jeevan Mission of tap water access continues to be one of the great, unsung stories of human development.
Almost 79 million households have been provided with access to a tap water connection since the program’s launch in August 2019, bringing the total to 111 million, or 56% of rural households in the nation.
Governance in India is a strange old dance between legislating on behalf of both economic areas similar in net worth to Western Europe and rural areas that are among the poorest in Asia.
The Jal Jeevan Mission hopes to connect every household in the country to public water systems by 2024. The initiative faced disruptions during the pandemic, but from a starting point of just 32.2 million rural households out of a registered 192 million, the program has seen remarkable success.
ICYMI
Tim McCarver, major league catcher and broadcaster, dies at 81
Longtime s catcher and MLB broadcaster Tim McCarver has died at the age of 81.
The National Baseball Hall of Fame first reported McCarver’s death Thursday afternoon.
Among the few players to appear in major league games during four different decades, McCarver was a two-time All Star who worked closely with two future Hall of Fame pitchers: The tempestuous Bob Gibson, whom McCarver caught for St. Louis in the 1960s, and the introverted Steve Carlton, McCarver’s fellow Cardinal in the ’60s and a Philadelphia Phillies teammate in the 1970s. He switched to television soon after retiring in 1980 and became best known to national audiences for his 18-year partnership on Fox with play-by-play man Joe Buck.
Bruce Willis’s Family Shares Major Update on Actor’s Health
Bruce Willis’s family announced Thursday that the “Die Hard” actor was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia, confirming that his condition “progressed” after he stepped away from acting last year.
In March 2022, his family said Willis, 67, was diagnosed with aphasia and was “stepping away” from acting.
His ex-wife, actress Demi Moore, confirmed the frontotemporal dementia diagnosis in an Instagram post on Thursday. Some health authorities say the condition is an “uncommon type of dementia” that can lead to problems with language and behavior.
“Our family wanted to start by expressing our deepest gratitude for the incredible outpouring of love, support and wonderful stories we have all received since sharing Bruce’s original diagnosis,” Moore, who shares three children with Willis, wrote on behalf of the family. “In the spirit of that, we wanted to give you an update about our beloved husband, father and friend since we now have a deeper understanding of what he is experiencing.”
The statement, accompanied by a photo of Willis, added that “since we announced Bruce’s diagnosis of aphasia in spring 2022, Bruce’s condition has progressed and we now have a more specific diagnosis: frontotemporal dementia (known as FTD).”
“Unfortunately, challenges with communication are just one symptom of the disease Bruce faces. While this is painful, it is a relief to finally have a clear diagnosis,” it said.
What’s frontotemporal dementia? A look at Bruce Willis’ diagnosis
FTD is an umbrella term for disorders affecting the areas of the brain that deal with personality, behaviour, language, and/or movement.
Frontotemporal degeneration is caused by progressive nerve cell loss in the brain’s frontal lobes or its temporal lobes.
Doctors say the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain shrink in a patient with FTD while certain substances accumulate in the brain.
FTD “can be misdiagnosed as a psychiatric problem or as Alzheimer’s disease”, according to the US-based National Institute on Aging.
The causes of FTD are not known, but according to the institute, “60 percent of people with FTD are 45 to 64 years old”.
Mayo Clinic said the risk of developing FTD is higher in patients who have a family history of dementia; it also says that FTD is the cause of up to a fifth of all dementia cases.
What are the symptoms?
Signs and symptoms vary depending on the area of the brain that is affected.
The disease can result in personality changes or modifications in behaviour that might make someone socially inappropriate, impulsive or apparently uncaring towards those around them.
Other sufferers lose their ability to use language.
According to the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, some people also develop physical symptoms such “as tremors, muscle spasms or weakness, rigidity, poor coordination and/or balance, or difficulty swallowing”.
The Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration describes FTD as “an inevitable decline in functioning”, with an average life expectancy of seven to 13 years after the onset of symptoms.
What Younger Adults Can Do to Lower Their Risk of Early Dementia
- Frontotemporal dementia is a neurodegenerative condition that tends to strike people between the ages of 45 and 65.
- Researchers say lifestyle changes can reduce a younger adult’s risk of getting this disease.
- Experts recommend moderate physical exercise, mental games such as puzzles, and quality sleep.
It’s not Alzheimer’s disease, but it causes dementia.
Frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) strikes in the prime of life, generally between the ages of 45 and 65.
Also known as frontotemporal dementia (FTD), it’s a neurodegenerative condition that affects personality, language, movement, and the ability to make decisions.
Rapid cognitive and physical decline can lead to death in under a decade.
However, a new study
published in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association may give new hope to those who carry the genetic mutation that causes FTD.
Researchers say a systemic review revealed that physically and cognitively demanding lifestyles are associated with better brain health in relation to aging and Alzheimer’s disease.
The researchers noted the lack of studies on how lifestyle affects people with FTD.
Their recent findings suggest that those with a genetic predisposition for the condition can take action that may help.
What it means for people with FTD
The study suggests that living an active lifestyle is associated with less functional decline.
That’s crucial because treatment options are limited.
Dr. David A. Merrill, PhD, is a neurologist and geriatric psychiatrist at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, California.
He told Healthline the study is remarkable in that it involved verified cases of genetically driven FTD.
“Those people, if they live long enough, will definitely develop the syndrome. The really sad part is there’s no prescription medication and no known effective therapies for FTD. That leaves patients, families, and clinicians without effective options,” said Merrill.
That more active people outperformed what brain scans would have predicted, based on the amount of atrophy, is “mind blowing,” he said.
FTD isn’t as common as Alzheimer’s disease as a cause of dementia, and the symptoms aren’t quite the same.
“Someone just beginning to show signs of Alzheimer’s disease might have prominent, rapid forgetfulness. Early FTD involves more language or behavior. It can be confusing for patients and loved ones when someone has a really strong memory but behaviors or language are impaired,” said Merrill.
“The researchers show evidence that even in the face of a genetic degeneration disorder you can have a positive impact on cognitive function. ‘Use it or lose it’ applies even in the case of genetically driven dementia,” he added.
Making lifestyle changes that matter
According to Merrill, lifestyle is more powerful than any medicine for FTD. And it’s never too late to make changes.
For brain exercise, Merrill suggests a variety of stimulating activities such as puzzles, learning a new language or musical instrument, and engaging in conversation.
He recommends spending 30 minutes a day or more on these types of enriching activities.
For physical exercise, he points to the American Heart Association’s recommendations
of 150 minutes per week of moderate-intensity aerobic activity plus weight training 2 days a week.
He cautions against overtraining to avoid injury and exhaustion.
“We know that cortisol is toxic for the brain at high levels, so stress reduction is also important,” said Merrill.
To help reduce stress, he recommends activities such as hiking, yoga, and tai chi as opposed to competitive athletics.
It’s also important to get enough quality sleep.
Merrill was involved in a previous study at the University of California, Los Angeles showing that exercise and higher adherence to a Mediterranean style diet can affect brain structure and degeneration.
“We can absolutely say both physical and mental activity is good not just for primary prevention, but for people who have this condition to prevent or slow down progression,” said Merrill.
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