March 28, 2024

The Power Hour

Knowledge is Power

Today’s News: February 25, 2022

WORLD NEWS

Ukraine to Give Weapons to Anyone Who Wants to Defend Country: President

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday morning that the government would provide anyone with weapons from a Russian invasion that was launched in the early morning hours.

“We will give weapons to anyone who wants to defend the country. Be ready to support Ukraine in the squares of our cities,” Zelensky said in a statement. “We will lift sanctions on all citizens of Ukraine who are ready to defend our country as part of territorial defense with weapons in hands.”

It came as missiles rained down on Ukrainian cities. Ukraine reported columns of troops pouring across its borders from Russia and Belarus, and landing on the coast from the Black and Azov seas. Video footage online showed alleged Russian forces using multiple rocket launch systems, heavy artillery, hypersonic missiles, and airstrikes on Ukrainian assets.

Ukrainian troops fought Russian forces along practically the entire border, and fierce fighting was taking place in the regions of Sumy, Kharkiv, Kherson, Odessa and at a military airport near Kyiv, an adviser to the presidential office told news outlets.

Ukrainian officials said Russian helicopters attacked Gostomel, a military airport near Kyiv, and Ukraine downed three of them. Ukrainian border officials said the Russians were trying to penetrate Kyiv region and the Zhytomyr region on the Belarusian border, and they were using Grad rockets.

Ukraine Says It Has Handed out 18,000 Weapons to Citizens

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov announced on Friday that his government had handed out 18,000 submachine guns and ammunition to civilians and militia fighters since Russian leader Vladimir Putin ordered a total invasion of Ukraine early Thursday.

Russian Military Captures Chernobyl Nuclear Site: Ukrainian Official

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday claimed Russian military forces in Belarus are attempting to seize the Chernobyl nuclear waste site amid an invasion across the country. Later, an adviser to the Ukrainian presidential office, Mykhailo Podolyak, said that Chernobyl nuclear power plant has been captured by Russian forces.

“It is impossible to say the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is safe after a totally pointless attack by the Russians,” he said on Thursday afternoon. “This is one of the most serious threats in Europe today,” Podolyak said.

Russia says it captured airfield outside Kiev

Moscow claims Ukrainian capital is now blocked from the west

The Russian military announced on Friday afternoon that its forces have “successfully” captured the Hostomel airfield near Ukraine’s capital, Kiev.

Russian Forces Killed 13 Ukrainian Soldiers Refusing to Leave Tiny Island

More than a dozen Ukrainian soldiers were killed while defending a tiny island located in the Black Sea after they refused to surrender to Russians threatening to bomb them.

Ukraine on Thursday lost contact with its forces on Zmiinyi (Snake) Island—a roughly 40-acre speck of land located south of the port of Odessa—after Russia conducted strikes from air and sea, Kyiv said.

A Ukrainian official said 13 soldiers had been killed in the bombing and an audio clip has emerged that is purported to have captured an exchange between Ukrainian and Russian forces prior to the attack.

“This is a Russian warship. I propose you lay down your weapons and surrender to avoid bloodshed and unnecessary victims. Otherwise, you will be bombed,” the Russians said, according to the audio obtained by local news agency Ukrainskaya Pravda.

“Russian warship, go [explicit] yourself,” Ukrainian forces replied before Russia began the strikes.

Russia ready to start talks on Ukraine

Kremlin can dispatch a delegation representing military and civilian sections of government

Demilitarization and “denazification” of Ukraine, as demanded by Russian President Putin, are inherent to Ukraine’s neutral status, Moscow said. The Russian government is ready to send a delegation to negotiate this, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday.

Zelensky suggests he and Putin negotiate

The Ukrainian president has formally invited his Russian counterpart to engage in diplomatic talks over the current crisis

Speaking on Friday, the Ukrainian leader, Volodymyr Zelensky, extended an olive branch to Russian President Vladimir Putin, proposing negotiations, as fighting continues throughout the country and clashes get closer to the country’s capital, Kiev.

“I want to again address the president of the Russian Federation. The fighting continues all over Ukraine. Let’s sit at the negotiation table to stop human fatalities,” Zelensky said, following a statement from his adviser, Mikhail Podolyak, who claimed Kiev “has always left and [still] leaves space for negotiations” despite a “full-scale invasion” by Russian troops.

‘My Mother Heard Explosions and Yelled That the War Is Coming’: Ukrainians React to Russian Invasion

Ukrainians have shared details about what is happening inside the country as Moscow-led military attacks have sent thousands of residents fleeing their homes.

The sounds of explosions were allegedly heard in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv shortly after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation” in Ukraine early Thursday, local time.

Natalie Telesheva, a digital artist living in Kharkiv, roughly 299 miles from Kyiv, told The Epoch Times that she was woken up early on Thursday morning by her mother who heard the sound of explosions pummeling the city.

“I was sleeping and my mother raced into my bedroom and said she had heard explosions and yelled that the war is coming and we need to leave,” Telesheva said.

“But I don’t want to leave because this is my home and I don’t want to be afraid, the enemy should be afraid,” Telesheva added.

The artist, 25, said that she has seen hundreds of people trying to flee the city, leading to roads being completely blocked with traffic jams.

Her own family is contemplating traveling to Poltava, a city located on the Vorskla River in central Ukraine because they feel it would be safer but again they are hesitant to leave their home.

Inside Kharkiv, locals have turned to stockpiling goods amid the invasion, leaving supermarket shelves virtually empty.

New Sanctions on Russia Don’t Block Russian Oil and Gas

New U.S. sanctions released on Feb. 24, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, don’t directly block Russian oil and gas imports.

“American oil and gas companies should not—should not—exploit this moment to hike their prices to raise profits,” U.S. President Joe Biden said in a televised speech announcing the sanctions. “In our sanctions package, we specifically designed [it] to allow energy payments to continue. We are closely monitoring energy supplies for any disruption. We’ve been coordinating with major oil-producing and [oil] consuming countries toward our common interest to secure global energy supplies.”

Biden noted that the United States was prepared to release more oil from its strategic petroleum reserves “as conditions warrant.”

Report: Thousands of Americans left behind in Ukraine

​​Vet who rescued those stranded in Kabul now on scene

An investigation by the Daily Mail from the United Kingdom has revealed that many Americans were fleeing Ukraine in buses to neighboring Romania as Vladimir Putin’s military struck the nation on Thursday, but thousands still were left behind.

While the administration of Joe Biden has issued advisories for Americans to leave Ukraine in recent days the situation was reminiscent of his abrupt withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan months ago, at a time when he left behind hundreds of Americas, thousands of U.S.-supporting nationals and some $80 billion in war machinery for the terrorists of the Taliban to have.

Russia bans British airlines from its airspace

Russia says the move is a response to the UK’s ‘unfriendly’ decision to ban Aeroflot from the UK.

Russian Strikes Targeting US-Run Bio-Labs in Ukraine?

> For years, Russia has accused the US of running bio-labs in Ukraine that could develop chemical and biological weapons.

> US bio-labs are believed to operate in many cities that were recently attacked by Russia.

Is Russia’s “special military operation” actually a smokescreen to target US bio-labs in Ukraine?

Speculation on social media suggests Russian strikes on Ukrainian military installations could also include US bio-labs in the region, as the Russian government has for years accused the US of developing bio-weapons near its border.

The ulterior motive theory was put forth Thursday by Twitter user @WarClandestine, whose account was suspended soon thereafter. Fortunately, his thread was archived before the account was banned.

Evidently there are several US bio-labs in Ukraine under the auspices of the US State Department’s Biological Threat Reduction Program, an initiative where the US partners with other countries “to counter the threat of outbreaks (deliberate, accidental, or natural) of the world’s most dangerous infectious diseases.”

“The Biological Threat Reduction Program’s priorities in Ukraine are to consolidate and secure pathogens and toxins of security concern and to continue to ensure Ukraine can detect and report outbreaks caused by dangerous pathogens before they pose security or stability threats,” the Ukrainian US Embassy’s website states.

The program also led to the creation of two bio-labs in Kyiv and Odessa in 2019, areas that were recently attacked by Russia.

According to a map circulating online, US-backed bio-labs are also located in Vinnystia, Uzhgorod, Lviv, Kherson, Ternopil, and near Crimea and Luhansk.

>>Related: Documents expose US biological experiments on allied soldiers in Ukraine and Georgia

While the US is planning to increase its military presence in Eastern Europe to “protect its allies against Russia”, internal documents show what American “protection” in practical terms means.

The Pentagon has conducted biological experiments with a potentially lethal outcome on 4,400 soldiers in Ukraine and 1,000 soldiers in Georgia. According to leaked documents, all volunteer deaths should be reported within 24 h (in Ukraine) and 48 h (in Georgia).

Both countries are considered the most loyal US partners in the region with a number of Pentagon programs being implemented in their territory. One of them is the $2.5 billion Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) Biological engagement program which includes research on bio agents, deadly viruses and antibiotic-resistant bacteria being studied on the local population.

China-Russia Alliance an ‘Alarm Bell for the World’: Australian Defence Minister

Australia’s Defence Minister Peter Dutton has called out Chinese regime leader Xi Jinping who he said wields the power to pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin over his invasion of Ukraine but has “chosen not to do that.”

“The world stands as one to condemn the actions of President Putin—except for the Chinese government, tragically,” Dutton told Sky News Australia on Feb. 25.

“This alliance that Russia and China have entered into should be deeply disturbing to the rest of the world.”

Xi’s silence has made him stand out from world leaders who have publicly condemned Putin’s actions, Dutton said, despite the Chinese communist regime leader having the “power and the relationship” to exert pressure on Putin to “pull back and to reconsider” his military operations in Ukraine.

“The world should observe that very closely,” Dutton said in similar comments to Nine’s Today program.

“This alliance between China and Russia really should be an alarm bell for the world. We need to stand united and the west needs to be as strong as we have been since at least the Cold War,” he said.

China’s Xi Will Invade Taiwan After Taking Cue From ‘Twin Sister’ Putin, Trump Warns

Former President Donald Trump has warned that the Chinese regime will invade Taiwan after seeing Russian troops move into Ukraine.

Such an invasion against self-governing Taiwan will occur because Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin are an example of “twin sisters,” Trump said during an interview on The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show on Feb. 22.

“China is gonna be next,” Trump said. “Absolutely. Not with me, they wouldn’t have.”

“They’re waiting ’til after the Olympics. Now the Olympics ended, and look at your stopwatch, right? No, he wants that just like … It’s almost like twin sisters right here,” he added.

“Because you have one that wants Taiwan, I think, equally badly,” Trump added. “Somebody said, ‘Who wants it more?’ I think probably equally badly.”

He suggested that neither Putin nor Xi would make a move if he were the president.

Chinese Military Aircraft Enter Taiwan’s Air Defense Zone Following Ukraine Invasion

Nine Chinese aircraft entered Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) in the hours following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Taiwanese air assets were scrambled in response, according to Taiwan’s defense ministry.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has sent such incursions into Taiwan’s airspace continuously over the past two years in an apparent attempt to intimidate and exhaust Taiwan’s military.

The Feb. 24 sortie marked the 13th incursion this month, but was well off the last large-scale incursion in late January when the Chinese military sent 39 aircraft into Taiwan’s ADIZ.

New Zealand High Court: Vaccine Mandate Not ‘Demonstrably Justified,’ Breach of Rights

The New Zealand High Court has upheld a challenge to a vaccine mandate for Police and Defence Force staff, stating that it was not a “demonstrably justified” breach of the Bill of Rights.

Justice Francis Cooke was asked by a group of Police and Defence Force personnel to judicially review the vaccine mandate enacted under the COVID-19 Public Health Response Act in December.

The mandate required all Defence Force personnel and all Police constables, recruits, and authorized officers to receive two doses of the vaccine by March 1.

But on Jan. 6, three unvaccinated staff who did not wish to receive the shots sought a judicial review of the mandate. They were supported by affidavits from 37 of their colleagues in the same position.

The group claims that two rights of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 had been limited by the mandate: the right to refuse a medical treatment and the right to manifest religious beliefs.

Part of the group’s religious objections to the mandate were concerns over the fact that “the Pfizer vaccine had at some point been tested on cells that had been derived from a human foetus.”

Trudeau Invokes Emergencies Act in Canada

Well, well, well. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau just let the deep state cat out of the bag for all the world to see. The premature disclosure and honest preview of what’s in store for the people of the world is perhaps the silver lining in all of this.

By invoking the Canadian Emergencies Act1 of 1988 to allow for the blanket revocation of protesters’ driver’s licenses and seizure of their bank accounts — and anyone who made even a nominal donation to their cause — Trudeau is showing the world what Klaus Schwab’s Great Reset is really all about for the average person.

If we go along with their financial reset to a centralized global digital currency, the central bankers can and will financially cripple anyone, anywhere, anytime, for any reason. That’s more than sufficient leverage to keep most people in line.

The World Economic Forum didn’t declare that by 2030 “you will own nothing and have no privacy”2 for nothing. They mean it. You won’t even own your own body, if they get their way. Their aim is complete control over every minutia of your life. Only they will be free to live and rule as they please.

U.S. NEWS, POLITIC & GOVERNMENT

Joe Biden announces first Black woman as Supreme Court judge

Making history, US President Joe Biden has nominated Ketanji Brown Jackson to serve as a judge in the US Supreme Court. If confirmed by the Senate, Jackson will become the first African-American woman in American history to serve in the highest court of the land in its history

DHS seeks to divert officers from U.S. border crisis to Ukraine

Biden administration recruiting for ‘Operation Ukraine Support’

The Biden administration is seeking to divert Customs and Border Protection officers from the U.S. southern border crisis to Europe to help process U.S. citizens fleeing from the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

In a memo issued Thursday, the CBP asked for volunteers from among its ranks to deploy to Poland for “Operation Ukraine Support,” Just the News reported.

“The Office of Field Operations is seeking volunteers to assist with the possible evacuation of U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, and their immediate family members from Ukraine,” the memo said.

Addressing CBP field operations executives, the memo said eligible employees who volunteer “may be selected to serve a temporary duty assignment in Poland to facilitate travelers for entry into the U.S., to include providing guidance and problems resolution to other government agencies.”

Russian CyberAttack Could Trigger Article 5 NATO Response, Says US Senator

The chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday elevated questions about whether a Russian cyberattack could trigger an Article 5 “collective defense” response from NATO and thus set off a broader war.

Sen. Mark Warner’s (D-Va.) comments to multiple news outlets come just after Russia launched a military attack on Ukraine and continued cyber attacks targeting Ukrainian government institutions.

Speaking on “CBS Mornings,” Warner referenced Russia’s 2017 “NotPetya” crippling cyberattack involving a single piece of malware and said a broader computer-based offensive by Moscow was certainly possible..

“If the Russians decide they’re going to turn off the power, turn off all the electricity all across Ukraine,” said Warner, that same attack could “very likely… turn off the power in eastern Poland, in eastern Romania.” That in turn could affect U.S. troops based in eastern Europe, for example, “if suddenly hospitals are shut down.”

In such a scenario, he continued, “we are suddenly in an area of hypothetically an Article 5 where one NATO country is attacked we all have to come to each other’s aid.”

Warner’s comments came the same day NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg called Russian’s attack on Ukraine “a brutal act of war” and lamented that “peace in our continent has been shattered. We now have war in Europe, on a scale and of a type we thought belong to history.”

“NATO is the strongest alliance in history, and make no mistake we will defend every ally against any attack on every inch of NATO territory,” said Stoltenberg. “An attack on one ally will trigger a response from the whole alliance.”

Supreme Court will consider Biden’s bid to end remain-in-Mexico policy for asylum-seekers

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday agreed to decide whether the Biden administration may end former President Donald Trump’s policy requiring asylum-seekers to remain in Mexico while their cases are pending.

The Supreme Court set oral arguments for April in the case, Biden v. Texas. The cert petition, posted by SCOTUSblog, asks the high court to resolve two issues.

The first is whether federal law requires the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to continue the policy, known as the Migrant Protection Protocols, because the government lacks capacity to detain all the migrants. The second is whether the DHS adequately explained its decision to end the policy.

A federal judge had cited both grounds when requiring the Trump administration policy to remain in place during litigation.

DeSantis to Sign Controversial Hospital Immunity Bill, Add New Freedoms Related to COVID-19

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will sign a controversial bill granting immunity to hospitals against lawsuits related to their treatment of COVID-19, according to his office.

Floridians have been bombarding his office asking him to veto the bill because it offers protection from lawsuits only if medical providers follow government guidelines for treatment. For months, DeSantis has said he wants legal protections for doctors, allowing them to provide what they feel is best, even if those treatments don’t align with the federal government’s recommendations on how to treat COVID-19.

To address that problem, the DeSantis administration told The Epoch Times that the state Department of Health would be updating its policies to expand freedoms in three areas related to COVID-19. One of the updated policies will shield doctors who offer medical treatments they feel are best for their patients and not force adherence to guidelines by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The new policies will “buck CDC” guidelines by also eliminating forced masking of employees;  reducing COVID-19 quarantines in schools, child-care centers, and workplaces to five days; and adding treatment guidelines “empowering health care practitioners to follow science” and no the “status quo,” the office wrote in a news release being prepared for the announcement. 

Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, who was confirmed less than 24 hours earlier by the legislature to guide the state’s medical policies, told The Epoch Times that the new policies would partly address what made the hospital immunity bill so controversial.

‘They Make Me Sick’: Tensions Rise in a North Carolina County Commission Meeting on Lifting Mask Mandate

After a contentious Mecklenburg County Commission meeting in North Carolina, commissioners unanimously voted to lift its mask mandate on Feb. 16, paving the way for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School Board of Education to follow suit on Feb. 22.

The commissioners voted to lift the mandate on Feb. 26, while the school board voted to end its mandate on March 7.

In the commissioners’ meeting during final remarks, Commissioner Susan Rodriguez-McDowell expressed disdain for members of the audience who were endorsing a vote for optional masks.

“This is an extremely homogeneous group,” Rodriguez-McDowell said. “We have a majority minority community, and this group has acted as if COVID isn’t real.”

She alluded to there being “two Charlottes,” which she expounds on in a later press release.

In closing, she said, “God help us,” into the microphone.

Ted Cruz Warns of Battle Between Power and Liberty

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said the key battle in the United States—and Canada—isn’t the strong against the weak but the powerful against liberty.

This, Cruz said, is why big government and big corporations are now allies. 

“Big is bad across the board,” Cruz said during his speech Thursday on the opening day of the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando, Florida. “Big government sucks. Big business sucks. Big Tech, Big Hollywood, big universities—any accumulation of power that is centralized is fundamentally dangerous for individual liberty.”

The Texas Republican spoke about the “Freedom Convoy” of truckers in Canada in opposition to COVID-19 vaccine mandates. The Canadian government eventually took extreme measures to stop the protest, such as freezing truckers’ bank accounts. 

When Cruz brought up the name of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, a chorus of boos rang out from the CPAC crowd. 

“Let’s pause for a second and acknowledge that this is the first time in recorded history that any Canadian has ever elicited that much of a response from any crowd on planet Earth,” Cruz said. 

The senator continued to refer to “Justin Trudeau versus the God-fearing truckers,” which drew applause from the audience. 

Cruz said the conflict of the powerful against liberty includes vaccine mandates, mask mandates, the effort to censor podcaster podcaster Joe Rogan, and the move by the Biden administration’s Justice Department to investigate parents who speak out at school board meetings. 

“The Biden DOJ went after parents. Parents are many things, but they ain’t weak,” Cruz said, emphasizing that the clash is about power, not strength. 

“The powerful are afraid of you; they are terrified of you because they are afraid of the truth and afraid of liberty,” he said. 

The senator also called for Big Tech to be “broken up into a million pieces” for offenses such as censoring the free speech of conservatives. 

Cruz also said he is “bullish on bitcoin” because the currency doesn’t require centralized oversight by the government. But he noted that the Chinese government bans bitcoin and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., would like to ban it in the United States. 

“The Chinese communists and Elizabeth Warren, they both want to control you,” Cruz said. “Your assets, your savings, your speech, your life, your children. Every decision they want to control. So we need to break up the means of controlling the citizenry. I want an unruly, uncontrollable, American ‘We the people.’”

Hawley Calls for US to ‘Shut Down Russia’s Energy Production’

Sen. Josh Hawley accused President Joe Biden of “haphazard, feckless foreign policy” Thursday, insisting that “we do not need American soldiers fighting in Europe.” 

The Missouri Republican discussed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine during a Thursday interview with The Daily Signal at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando, Florida, where he repeatedly emphasized that Biden’s “weakness” has led to the escalating situation in Ukraine. 

“We need to be really clear that what the Russians are doing is absolutely wrong, that it is a violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty, and now we need a policy,” Hawley said. “Joe Biden hasn’t had any policy.”

“We should shut down Russia’s energy production and open ours,” he added. “We are the greatest energy-producing nation in the world. Joe Biden has shut down our energy production, that’s sent a message of weakness, it’s sent a message of dependence, that made us more dependent on foreign adversaries.”

If Hawley were in charge, the senator said, he would open up that energy production, sanction the Russians, and arm the Ukranians. 

“And at the same time, let’s not take our eye off of China,” he warned. “They are our No. 1 security threat and we’ve got to make sure we are ready to counter them.” 

Biden’s sanctions are “half-hearted,” Hawley told The Daily Signal. The president has applied sanctions on Russian banks and on “corrupt billionaires” close to the Kremlin, as well as export blocks on technology, according to CNN

ECONOMY & BUSINESS 

Record High Gas Prices As Crude Oil Rockets Past $100, But Why?

The world’s top oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, has repeatedly said it wants to be the producer that will pump the very last barrel of oil. Until that time comes, the world and its growing economy will still need oil and gas, even as renewable energy capacity soars globally.

The rebound of economies after the 2020 COVID slump has shown that global oil demand is not only not declining, but it is just months away from reaching pre-pandemic levels and exceeding them.

This weekend, Saudi Arabia once again deplored the underinvestment in oil and gas and said that focusing only on renewables while campaigning against oil and gas was a mistake.

“Net Zero Does Not Mean Zero Oil”

The insufficient investment in the oil and gas industry harms consumers, raises concerns about short-term supply shortages, and creates challenges for policymakers, Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said at the 2022 International Petroleum Technology Conference (IPTC) in Riyadh this weekend. The campaign against oil and gas investments is shortsighted, the minister said, as carried by Arab News.

The sole focus on renewables is a mistake, said the most influential oilman of the OPEC+ coalition.

“The net-zero does not mean cherrypicking, net-zero does not mean zero oil,” he added.

The sharp decline in oil and gas investments has created a danger “that the world will not be able to produce all the energy it needs to promote recovery,” Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said at the conference, per the Saudi Press Agency.

Over 95 Percent of US States Saw Hefty Rent Hikes Since Last Year

A new rent report just released by Rent.com indicates that 95 percent of U.S. states faced significant rent increases over 2021.  The cost for one-bedroom units increased by an average of 22.6 percent, while two-bedroom units experienced hikes of around 20.4 percent.

Rent.com, an apartment search engine and online marketplace catering to Millennials, is owned by RentPath a Redfin company.

In some locations, rental increases for one-bedroom apartments were staggering.  Gilbert, Arizona saw a 108.5 percent surge, while Long Beach, California rents are up by 55.7 percent, and Huntington Beach, California, 49.2 percent.  Jersey City, New Jersey and Austin, Texas also had rental increases of over 45 percent.

For two-bedroom apartments, New York City rents climbed almost 50 percent, followed by Fresno, California, Aurora, Illinois, and Salt Lake City, Utah, all with rents over 40 percent higher.

In New York City, which stomached the highest rent increase over the past year, the average two-bedroom apartment is now demanding a whopping $7,384 a month. Jersey City comes in second with an average of $5,055 a month rent, and Boston third, with an average monthly rental of $4,704.

For one-bedroom rentals, Jersey City leads the pack with an average $3,766 monthly rate, followed by Boston at $3,687 a month, and San Francisco at $3,515 a month.

HEALTH

A Different Type of Heart Attack in Younger Women

Q: My 40-year-old healthy sister recently had a heart attack. The doctor said it was caused by a tear in a blood vessel in her heart. What causes that?

A: Most heart attacks happen when a blood clot blocks an artery feeding the heart. But a small percentage result from a tear in the inner wall of one of the heart’s arteries. The resulting flap or swelling inside the artery wall obstructs normal blood flow. Known as a spontaneous coronary artery dissection, or SCAD, the condition strikes both sexes but is more common in women.

In women who are under 50, SCAD is the most common reason for acute coronary syndrome. Expanded awareness of heart disease in women has increased recognition of SCAD, which was considered quite rare just a decade ago. Improved diagnostic tools have also helped.

For example, the blood tests to diagnose heart attacks that detect troponin (a substance released by damaged heart muscle) are now more sensitive. Women’s hearts are smaller than men’s and may therefore release smaller amounts of troponin during a heart attack. Widespread use of high-sensitivity troponin tests mean that women with heart attack symptoms are more likely to be diagnosed with a possible heart attack and have a heart angiogram.

The typical SCAD patient is a middle-aged, healthy woman who doesn’t seem to be a likely candidate for a heart attack (that is, she has few or none of the classic risk factors for plaque buildup in the arteries, such as diabetes, high cholesterol, or high blood pressure). About a third of SCAD cases in women occur during or soon after pregnancy, probably because blood vessels tend to soften and become more fragile during those times.

ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT

Study Finds Research on Climate Change Effects on Ocean ‘Biased’ and ‘Overinflated’

An analysis and review by academics from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology have concluded that research papers published prior to 2014 into the environmental effect of ocean acidification on fish behaviour were overinflated and biased due to the steep decline in impact observed in studies published after 2014.

The team, led by Jeff Clements, stated that many of the studies that found there to be great effects on fish behaviours were biased, resulting in “inflated results.”

Ocean acidification is a product of climate change; around one-quarter of carbon dioxide released through greenhouse emissions are dissolved into the sea and increases the acidity of seawater.

This can be problematic for some marine organisms such as coral and some plankton, which need basic molecules such as carbonate to form their skeleton and shells. When the seawater becomes more acidic, the carbonate of their skeletons become neutralised and therefore dissolves in the water.

Additionally, among the many consequences of ocean acidification, studies prior to 2014 showed that it also had great impacts on behaviours of fish such as clownfish having difficulty navigating their way home.

The authors however noted that even if the effects of such studies were true, recent studies published after 2014 all showed a very drastic decline in the magnitude of effect sizes on fish causing the author’s to theorise that the previous results were affected by bias.

Researchers “selectively publishing impressive results in prestigious journals and also to journals—particularly high-impact journals” can result in “the proliferation of studies reporting strong effects, even though they may not be true and can fuel citation bias,” the study said.

“As results showing strong effects are often published more readily, and in higher-impact journals, than studies showing weak or null results,” the authors wrote.

COVID RELATED NEWS

Maine House, US Supreme Court Deny Relief Requests From COVID Jab

The Maine House of Representatives on Feb. 23 rejected a proposal calling for a five-year prohibition on all COVID-19 vaccine mandates in the state, which has some of the most restrictive orders in the nation.

By a 76–59 vote with 13 lawmakers absent, the Democratic-controlled Maine House voted down the measure. The chamber voted to forward it to the Senate for consideration.

Tiffany Tereck, a co-founder of Health Choice Maine who lobbied in support of the bill, told The Epoch Times that her group considers the fight against COVID-19 vaccine mandates far from over.

Tereck pointed to sole Republican gubernatorial contender and former Maine Gov. Paul LePage’s bid to unseat incumbent Democrat Janet Mills. An Ipsos poll shows Mills’s job approval has dropped to 48 percent while LePage is winning over undecided voters.

How to Heal Post-Vaccine and Counter Effects

Detoxing from vaccines is a process without a definite timeline. Think of it as an ongoing journey. Toxin accumulation, especially heavy metals like mercury, can take a long time to remove from the body. Vaccine toxins can be cumulative, building up with each vaccination, adding to the toxin load we acquire from the enormous amount of environmental toxins we encounter every day.

If you’ve been vaccinated and suffer from serious vaccination damage, you’re best off living a lifestyle that promotes detoxification for the rest of your life. The truth is, you may never be able to dispel all of the toxins that have caused the damage. Living the healthiest possible lifestyle may be your only way to live symptom-free. But then again, to one degree or another, this is true for everyone.

Clearing the vaccine injury with naturopathic and homeopathic remedies is an option. The time between the beginning of the protocol and full recovery is dependent on the severity of the damage, the length of time the damage has been severe, and the amount of suppressive therapy that was administered (pharmaceuticals). All pharmaceuticals will need to be flushed from the body, and the damage they caused must be healed as well.

While some can often recover from a vaccine injury in a matter of weeks or months, detoxifying and repairing the body can take years if the damage is severe (brain damage) or the protocol and diet are not strictly followed, (for example, children who refuse to eat raw vegetables.)

Ingredients That Need To Be Detoxified and Why

Ingredients and derived-from ingredients include, thimerosal (yes, there are plenty of vaccines that still contain mercury), aluminum (some say it’s even worse than thimerosal), MSG, GMOs, and human DNA, Every single vaccine is toxic, and many ingredients are known carcinogens or neurotoxins. Vaccines are toxic by nature; the vaccine is designed to excite the immune system. In fact, every single ingredient in vaccines is toxic in one way or another.

Consider that the preservatives are designed to kill or prevent the growth of microorganisms. That’s what preservatives do. But vaccines need to do this while preserving the antigen. So we’ve got an antigen, which of course is toxic to the body, and we have a preservative, which is generally very heavy and very toxic that is designed to kill organisms, and we have ingredients designed to cause damage so that the immune system is aroused. It doesn’t take a scientist to understand how damaging this can be to the body, especially when repeated over and over.

Mandates And Lockdowns Failed Miserably, But Are Still Being Pushed?

> In a literature review and meta-analysis of the effects of lockdowns on COVID-19 mortality, researchers revealed lockdowns had little to no effect on COVID-19 mortality

> The Brownstone Institute compiled more than 400 studies showing that lockdowns, restrictions and closures failed to do what was promised

> A team of 12 researchers from Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, Harvard Medical School, the University of Oxford and other institutions outlined key reasons why COVID-19 shot mandates have been counterproductive and harmful

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COVID-19 Cases, Hospitalizations Jump Among Vaccinated: CDC Data

COVID-19 case and hospitalization rates increased among people who got a COVID-19 vaccine following the emergence of the Omicron virus variant, according to newly published data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

According to the data, which is submitted to the CDC by health departments across the country, the COVID-19 case rate in fully vaccinated people rose by more than 1,000 percent between Dec. 11, 2021, and Jan. 8, 2022.

Fully vaccinated refers to people who received two doses of the Moderna or Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines, or the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

The CDC doesn’t count a person as fully vaccinated until 14 days have elapsed from his or her final shot.

The case rate among those who also received a booster dose skyrocketed as well, rising some 2,400 percent between the same dates.

While cases also rose among the unvaccinated, the jump in infections among the vaccinated closed the gap between the populations. As a result, people who haven’t received a vaccine were just 3.2 times more likely to test positive for COVID-19 in January.

COVID-19-associated hospitalizations also increased among the vaccinated, from 1.4 per 100,000 for the fully vaccinated for the week ending Dec. 18, 2021, to 35.2 per 100,000 in the week ending Jan. 8, according to data from a surveillance system managed by the CDC.

People who got a booster were less likely to require hospital care, but the hospitalization rate among the boosted also rose from December 2021 to January.

And deaths attributed to COVID-19 increased during the same time period among the vaccinated, including among the boosted.

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