WORLD NEWS
North Korea: Kim Jong-un Demands ‘Exponential Increase of the Country’s Nuclear Arsenal’
Communist dictator Kim Jong-un of North Korea used his party’s end-of-year meeting to make a call for “an exponential increase of the country’s nuclear arsenal” through the “mass-producing of tactical nuclear weapons,” state media revealed on Sunday.
The regime-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) published a summary of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea’s (WPK) year-end plenary meeting, held from December 26-31, on Sunday, detailing what it described as a “report” delivered by Kim to Party elders. KCNA noted that Kim explicitly stated that North Korea’s nuclear weapons are not strictly defensive weapons and are necessary to “firmly safeguard the Republic’s absolute dignity, sovereignty and right to existence.”
Crocs Partners with RuPaul’s Drag Race for All-Ages London Event, Advertised as ‘Kids Fashion Show’
Footwear brand Crocs is partnering with RuPaul’s Drag Race UK for an all-ages “Kids Fashion Show” in London, United Kingdom. The event will also feature a “Drag Queen Story Time” in the “kid zone” of the drag convention.
Crocs will sponsor the Main Stage at the event, which will be featured on BBC Three, and will take place at the ExCeL London from January 6 to January 8, according to a report by The Industry Fashion.
Socialist Ex-Convict Lula Starts Undoing Bolsonaro Policies on First Day as President of Brazil
Brazil inaugurated hardline socialist Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva into his third term as president on Sunday, cementing a peaceful transfer of power after the convicted felon’s narrow victory over predecessor Jair Bolsonaro in October’s presidential elections.
Following his assumption of the presidency, Lula, as he is popularly known, signed several decrees on Sunday undoing core Bolsonaro policies, most prominently reimposing old gun control provisions and partially restoring the “Bolsa Familia,” a program Lula enacted during his first presidency in 2003 that gives government money to poor families based on eligibility.
Poll: Nearly Half of Britons Say Prince Harry Should Lose Royal Title After Netflix Series
The British public is not too keen on Prince Harry after the release of the Netflix docuseries, Harry and Meghan, that cost $100 million to produce.
“A recent poll conducted by YouGov in the United Kingdom on behalf of The Times found that almost half of respondents believed that the Duke of Sussex should be stripped of his royal title,” Fox News reported Saturday.
How Dare You: China Attacks ‘Unreasonable’ Travel Restrictions Imposed by Growing List of Countries
China lashed out at entry restrictions being imposed by more and more countries on its citizens Tuesday, saying Wuhan virus control measures need to be “proportionate” and “science-based” before warning of possible “countermeasures.”
The display of public indignation came just 24-hours after Chinese state media criticized requirements for a pre-departure coronavirus virus test and evidence of a negative result as “discriminatory” and “xenophobic,” as Breitbart News reported.
U.S. NEWS, POLITICS & GOVERNMENT
McCarthy Agrees to Back New House Rule Making It Easier to Remove Unpopular Speaker
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) in a major reversal has decided to support restoring a rule that allows a motion from the floor of the House of Representatives to “vacate the chair” and force a vote on a new Speaker of the House.
McCarthy’s change of position comes as the first vote of the newly convening 118th Congress is expected to begin in less than 48 hours on Jan. 3 at noon. McCarthy is the clear choice to succeed the outgoing Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) of a majority of 222 Republicans who will hold the majority in the House.
But to be elected Speaker, McCarthy must win the votes of a majority of all members present on the floor for the vote. That means if all 222 Republicans and 212 Democrats are present, McCarthy can only afford to lose four GOP votes in order to secure the 218 needed to be elected Speaker.
Five House Republicans, led by Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), have said in recent weeks they will not vote for McCarthy under any circumstances, but that was before the Californian changed his mind on the vacate the chair issue.
During a long conference call with fellow House Republicans late Sunday, McCarthy said he has decided to go along with bringing back the rule that was dropped after it was used by then-Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) to take the Speaker’s Gavel away from Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio) in 2015.
House Freedom Caucus Gains Most of Its Rules Reforms, but Speaker’s Race Still Wide OpenNew rules to govern the House of Representatives in the 118th Congress (pdf) include multiple reforms sought by conservative Republicans seeking to rein in the power of congressional leaders and give rank-and-file members more control of the lower chamber.
The most controversial of the rules reforms sought by the House Freedom Caucus under its chairman, Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.)—bringing back the motion to vacate the chair, thus forcing a new vote for a speaker of the House—was a late addition by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to the package that was made public late on Jan. 1.
McCarthy reversed his previous opposition to restoring the motion during a conference call with House Republicans.
That motion—which empowers a single member of the House at any time to propose a vote for a new speaker of the House—was in effect for virtually the entire history of Congress, but it was dropped after Democrats regained the House majority in 2018.
Republicans Who ‘Poorly Handled’ Abortion Responsible for Disappointing Midterm Results: Trump
Former President Donald Trump blamed Republican candidates who mishandled the issue of abortion as the reason for the GOP’s lackluster midterm performance.
“It wasn’t my fault that the Republicans didn’t live up to expectations in the MidTerms. I was 233-20!! Trump wrote on his Truth Social account on Jan. 1, referring to his endorsement records for the November elections.
“It was the ‘abortion issue,’ poorly handled by many Republicans, especially those that firmly insisted on No Exceptions, even in the case of Rape, Incest, or Life of the Mother, that lost large numbers of Voters,” Trump added.
Democrats defied expectations of a sweeping “red wave” on Nov. 8, doing better than expected in House and the governor races, while keeping their majority in the Senate. Since then, some have pinned the blame for the GOP’s underperformance on Trump, including those within the Republican Party.
Liz Cheney Exits Congress 6 Years Later and Millions of Dollars Richer
Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) will vacate her congressional seat on Tuesday after becoming a wealthy woman during her six years of serving Wyoming.
Cheney, who lost her Republican primary by nearly 40 points in August, will depart Congress on January 3 and return home as a defeated 56-year-old never Trumper.
Cheney will not depart Congress empty-handed. During her six years in Congress, she has become very wealthy. Breitbart News reported in August that Cheney’s net worth ballooned from an estimated $7 million when she first took office in 2017 to possibly more than $44 million in 2020. Depending on the specifics of her latest financial disclosure form, Cheney’s net worth could have skyrocketed up to 600 percent in Congress.
According to her 2020 Personal Financial Disclosure form, Cheney declared a net worth between $10,422,023 and $44,140,000, stemming from assets valued between $10,432,024 and $44,155,000. She reported no earned income, gifts, or transactions. She did, however, declare she held three posts, including a trustee position at the University of Wyoming, membership of a holding company, and what appears to be a position in her family’s trust.
A 27-year-old man in Greeley, Colorado, will spend a long time in prison after dealing fentanyl, a drug that continues taking American lives.
Andrew Durdy was sentenced to 40 years behind bars at the Colorado Department of Corrections, the District Attorney of Weld County said in a press release Friday.
Man Arrested on Attempted Murder Charges in New York City Machete Attack
A 19-year-old man has been arrested on attempted murder charges, New York City authorities said on Jan. 2.
Trevor Bickford of Wells, Maine, was taken into custody and charged with attempted murder of a police officer and attempted assault, a New York City Police Department (NYPD) official confirmed to The Epoch Times on Jan. 2.
Bickford couldn’t be reached for comment, and it was unclear whether he’d retained a lawyer.
Bickford is accused of attacking three officers in Times Square as crowds gathered on New Year’s Eve for the ball drop. He attempted to strike an officer in the head with a machete before hitting two other officers with the weapon, officials said.
One officer, an eight-year veteran, suffered a head laceration while the other suffered a skull fracture and a laceration, police officials said. The second officer had just graduated from the police academy.
When the suspect struck one of the officers, the officer fired their service weapon, striking the suspect in the shoulder.
All were taken to Bellevue Hospital for treatment. The officers were in stable condition after the attack, Mayor Eric Adams told reporters.
In order to meet the local school district’s new “equal outcomes for every student, without exception” strategy, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJ) in Alexandria, Va., has been withholding National Merit awards from students and their families.
Even though doing this has deprived many students of the opportunities that these achievements bring, including boosted chances of college admission and scholarship opportunities, at least two administrators at TJ hid them away while issuing “equitable grading” to all students.
At TJ, students can no longer receive a grade of 0, for instance – they all receive 50 percent just for showing up. For assignments not turned in, students at TJ receive a cryptic code of “NTI” rather than an actual failing grade.
Meanwhile, top performers at TJ who actually put in the work are being deprived of high scores. And we now know that, thanks to TJ parent and lawyer Shawna Yashar, that principal Ann Bonitatibus and director of student services Brandon Kosatka were hiding away the National Merit awards that would have propelled these top performers even further ahead of other students.
Yashar, we are told, has a son in TJ’s advanced studies program, which is one of the top-ranked schools in the country. He took the PSAT to determine whether he qualified as a prestigious National Merit scholar, which he did, though he did not get because he never received any award.
It turns out that Bonitatibus and Kosatka failed to tell the Yashars that their son had ranked in the top 3 percent nationwide, making him one of about 50,000 students in the entire country to earn that distinction.
Over the course of five years, some 1,200 other students at TJ were also deprived of their National Merit scholar awards, all in the name of equity. (Related: The term “equity” is a scam just like “diversity” and “climate change”.)
“Keeping these certificates from students is theft by the state,” Yashar said.
Pro-Trump MAGA Hat Is Free Speech: Court
A teacher who wore a “Make America Great Again” hat to school was engaging in constitutionally-protected free speech, a U.S. appeals court has ruled.
Eric Dodge, the teacher, wore the hat to two days of teacher trainings in 2019 at schools in Washington state, taking it off before entering the buildings but setting it near him.
Caroline Garrett, the principal of one of the schools, Wy’East Middle School, told Dodge on the first day to “use his better judgement.” On the second day, she allegedly said, “What is the [expletive] deal with you and your hat!” and called the teacher a racist and bigot before telling him to bring his union representative the next time they spoke.
In respond to Dodge’s lawsuit claiming constitutional violations, Garrett said she was motivated by a desire to prevent disruptions to the school, which employed Dodge as a science teacher.
But Dodge’s wearing the hat was speech protected by the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit said in its Dec. 29 ruling.
“Principal Garrett’s asserted administrative interest in preventing disruption among staff does not outweigh Dodge’s right to free speech,” U.S. Circuit Judge Danielle Forrest, writing for the majority, said.
Several people attending the trainings complained about the hat but nobody, including the principal, presented evidence that Dodge had disrupted school operations.
“Political speech is the quintessential example of protected speech, and it is inherently controversial. That some may not like the political message being conveyed is par for the course and cannot itself be a basis for finding disruption of a kind that outweighs the speaker’s First Amendment rights,” Forrest said.
The panel consisted of Circuit Judge Forrest; Circuit Judge Michael Hawkins, a Clinton appointee; and Jane Restani, a Reagan appointee who sits on the U.S. Court of International Trade.
Sen. Dahm files resolution to amend constitution and declare Oklahoma a sovereign state
Sen. Nathan Dahm, R-Broken Arrow, has filed Senate Joint Resolution 2 proposing an amendment to Section 1 Article 1 of the Oklahoma Constitution. If passed by the Legislature, the proposed amendment would be put to a vote of the people in the next election.
“For far too long, the federal government has trampled on state sovereignty,” Dahm said. “This proposal is an attempt to restore balance between the state and the feds.”
The proposed amendment is as follows: “The State of Oklahoma is a sovereign state, a part of the Federal Union known as the United States of America, and the Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the land and any laws to the contrary are null, void, and of no effect in this state.”
“This new language reiterates that the states are not subservient to the federal government,” Dahm said. “The states created the federal government, gave it the power that it does have, and reserved the remainder to themselves.”
Monday Night Football Suspended After Buffalo’s Damar Hamlin Suffers Life-Threatening Injury
The NFL’s Week 17 Monday Night Football game was quickly suspended after Buffalo Bills defensive back Damar Hamlin suffered a serious injury during the first quarter, an injury so bad it necessitated CPR.
The game between the Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals was immediately suspended after Hamlin was hit hard, then stood up, and suddenly collapsed where he stood.
Former Jaguars Offensive Lineman Uche Nwaneri Dies at 38
Former Jacksonville Jaguars offensive lineman Uchechukwu Nwaneri passed away Friday at his wife’s home in Indiana. He was 38 years old.
Nwaneri, who had driven up to Indiana from Georgia, was found unresponsive by his wife at 1 a.m. after apparently collapsing, according to West Lafayette police and Tippecanoe County Coroner Carrie Costello.
United States Virgin Islands Attorney General Denise George was fired by Gov. Albert Bryan (D) just days after announcing a lawsuit that accused banking giant J.P. Morgan Chase of turning “a blind eye” to evidence of Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged sex trafficking operation.
George filed a lawsuit against J.P. Morgan Chase in federal court in Manhattan last week, arguing the financial institution benefitted from Epstein’s sex trafficking operation and helped conceal activities that occurred on his property by failing to comply with federal regulations on records properly and reporting that may have tipped off Epstein’s activities to U.S. officials before they eventually came to light.
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
2023 Spells Big Trouble for US Economy, Majority of Big Banks Warn: Reports
The vast majority of economists at 23 large financial institutions surveyed by The Wall Street Journal predict that the United States will fall into the grips of a recession in 2023 and millions of Americans will lose their jobs.
More than two-thirds of the nearly two dozen institutions—which include trading firms and investment banks that do business directly with the Federal Reserve—expect the U.S. economy to contract in 2023, according to the report.
Two of the 23 institutions expect the recession to come later—in 2024—while the following five believe the United States will manage to avoid a downturn altogether: Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, JPMorgan Chase, and Morgan Stanley.
The institutions that predict a coming recession expect consumer spending to weaken as Americans deplete their savings and an aggressive Fed drives up borrowing costs, and as banks’ lending standards get tighter.
Soaring U.S. inflation, which in June 2022 hit a recent peak of 9 percent in annual terms, as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), has forced the Fed to raise rates at its fastest pace since the 1980s in a desperate bid to relieve price pressures.
The aggressive rate hikes have so far had only a limited impact, with November’s CPI data showing inflation running at 7.1 percent.
An alternative measure of inflation that uses the same methodology the U.S. government used to measure CPI in the 1980s puts November’s inflation figure at a much higher 15.23 percent.
Even though inflation has eased somewhat from its June peak, it’s far from enough for the Fed to hit the brakes on interest rates, which were brought up quickly from near zero in March 2022 to the current range of between 4.24–4.5 percent.
Frustrated by how sticky high inflation has remained despite the rate hikes, Fed officials have pledged to keep raising rates and keep them high until inflation recedes to around the Fed’s 2 percent target, as measured by the core Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index.
Core PCE, which excludes the volatile categories of food and energy, in November came in at 4.7 percent, more than twice the Fed’s target.
In their most recent summary of economic projections, Fed officials said they expect the terminal Fed Funds rate—meaning the highest level before it hits a ceiling and later falls—to come in at 5.1 percent.
Rates that high will push unemployment up from the current 3.7 percent to 4.6 percent in 2023 and stay at that level in 2024, according to the Fed.
Most of the economists surveyed by the Wall Street Journal think unemployment will get even worse and peak at over 5 percent.
An unemployment rate that high would mean several million Americans losing their jobs.
The Stunning Truth About the FDIC and Your Bank Deposits
Why you can’t rely on the FDIC if another financial crisis hits and your bank goes under
Millions of U.S. bank depositors feel safe in the knowledge that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation will protect their accounts, even if their bank goes under.
Yes, it’s true that the FDIC says it will do so. As their website states:
The standard insurance amount is $250,000 per depositor, per insured bank, for each account ownership category.
However, the question is: Does the FDIC have the wherewithal to fulfill its promise?
In the event of a major financial crisis, the answer is “no.” Not even close.
Here’s what the Elliott Wave Theorist said in August 2008, near the middle of the 2007-2009 financial crisis:
The FDIC is not funded well enough to bail out even a handful of the biggest banks in America. It has enough money to pay depositors of about three big banks. After that, it’s broke.
No doubt, most bank depositors would be shocked to learn this.
But think about it: No single entity could possibly insure all of the nation’s bank deposits.
Yet, that FDIC sticker on the front of your bank is very reassuring. The discussions with your banker about your deposit “insurance” might be reassuring.
But, something that is not quite so reassuring is from none other than a former vice-chairman of the FDIC itself. Here’s what Thomas Hoenig wrote for the Los Angeles Times in a Dec. 18, 2014 article titled, “FDIC couldn’t cover a big bank bailout without taxpayer support”:
As a reminder, when the financial industry imploded in 2008, Congress had to pass a special law to fund a $700-billion bailout … . The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. had nowhere near enough resources to fund their resolution. [emphasis added]
Here’s another insight from the new March Elliott Wave Theorist:
Did you know that most of the FDIC’s money comes from other banks? This funding scheme makes prudent banks pay to save the imprudent ones, imparting weaker banks’ frailty to the stronger ones.
The best way to protect your deposits is to adequately research the banks in your community and pick one where the banks’ officers handle their customers’ deposits prudently.
The new March Elliott Wave Theorist elaborates on safe banking in the U.S. as well as worldwide and admonishes readers to “act while you can.”
Why?
Well, the next financial downturn may be severe enough to put many banks at risk of collapse.
This can happen quickly. Just recall the speed with which the global financial system found itself on the brink of a so-called “financial Armageddon” back in 2008.
Here in 2022, the new Theorist describes “four conditions in place at many banks that pose a danger” and one of them is exposure to leveraged “derivatives” — a word the world became familiar with during the 2007-2009 financial crisis.
But, getting back to protecting your deposits, there are other steps you may want to consider taking beyond doing research on the banks in your community.
Indeed, the new Theorist mentions “a special offshore bank” and says it “appears to be one of the safest in the world.”
Burning Money Like an Electric Car Fire: Elon Musk Becomes First Person Ever to Lose $200 Billion
Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and new owner of Twitter, started 2022 as the world’s richest man but has since become the first person in history to lose $200 billion in personal wealth.
Bloomberg reports that Elon Musk has become the first person to lose $200 billion in total wealth. Despite this, Musk still remains the world’s second-richest person even as his investments have drastically decreased in value.
Luxury Home Sales Crash 38 Percent in Record Decline amid Economic Woes
Luxury home sales took a significant plunge recently as the nation grapples with economic problems.
Forbes reported Monday:
Sales of luxury homes fell 38.1% year over year during the three months ending November 30, 2022, the biggest decline on record, according to a new report from Redfin, a technology-powered real estate brokerage. That outpaced the record 31.4% decline in sales of non-luxury homes. Redfin’s data goes back to 2012.
The luxury market and the overall housing market lost momentum in 2022 due to many of the same factors: inflation, relatively high interest rates, a sagging stock market and recession fears.
Meanwhile, America’s housing market is enduring its second-largest price correction since the end of World War II, according to Breitbart News.
Blue States California and New York Experience ‘Six-Figure’ Population Decrease
Both California and New York experienced a “six-figure” population decrease since 2020, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Despite the U.S. resident population increasing by 0.4 percent, or 1,256,003, over the last year, the late December data found that blue states have suffered.
Indeed, both California and New York are considered to be in the top five most populous states overall, yet both experienced six-figure losses since 2020.
On April 1, 2020, New York had a population of 20,201,230. That decreased to 19,857,492 as of July 1, 2021, and it fell even further to 19,677,151 in July 2022.
Texas and Florida ‘Largest-Gaining’ States in Terms of Population
Texas and Florida are the “largest-gaining” states in terms of population over the past year, while blue states are experiencing declines, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
The data, released December 22, 2022, found that the overall U.S. population increased by 0.4 percent, per the U.S. Census Bureau’s Vintage 2022 national and state population estimates. Resident population was estimated to be 333,287,557 in 2022.
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Incoming GOP China Committee Chair Calls TikTok ‘Digital Fentanyl’
The Chinese video-sharing app TikTok is an addictive drug that the Chinese regime is offering to Americans, according to Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.), the incoming chairman of a new House select committee on China.
“It’s highly addictive and destructive, and we’re seeing troubling data about the corrosive impact of constant social media use, particularly on young men and women here in America,” Gallagher said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” program that aired on Jan. 1.
“It’s also digital fentanyl in the sense that, as you allude to, it ultimately goes back to the Chinese Communist Party.”
Gallagher further expressed concerns about the threat that the Chinese app, which has soared in popularity, would impose on U.S. users as he noted that the parent company of TikTok—Bytedance—is under the control of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
“I’m concerned about TikTok’s ability to track your location, track your keystrokes, track what websites you’re visiting, even when you’re not using the app,” he said.
Report: Siblings Charge Tesla 6 Times in 1 Day as Frigid Temperatures Quickly Drain Battery
A brother and sister said they had to stop six times in one day to charge a Tesla they rented for a road trip because the frigid temperature caused the vehicle battery to drain quickly.
Xaviar and Alice Steavenson were curious to see what driving a Tesla would be like, so they rented a model from Hertz in late December to drive from Orlando, Florida, to Wichita, Kansas, Business Insider reported.
Burning Money Like an Electric Car Fire: Elon Musk Becomes First Person Ever to Lose $200 Billion
Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and new owner of Twitter, started 2022 as the world’s richest man but has since become the first person in history to lose $200 billion in personal wealth.
Bloomberg reports that Elon Musk has become the first person to lose $200 billion in total wealth. Despite this, Musk still remains the world’s second-richest person even as his investments have drastically decreased in value.
SURVEILLANCE STATE
Report: Google Home Speakers Allowed Hackers to Spy on Users
According to a recent report, a bug in Google Home smart speakers allowed for the installation of a backdoor account that could be used to control the device and access its microphone feed. In short, hackers could take over Google’s devices to spy on users by listening in on their conversations.
Bleeping Computer reports that a vulnerability in Google Home smart speakers allowed the creation of a backdoor account that could be used to remotely control the device and access its microphone feed, potentially turning it into a spying tool.
Chump Change: Google to Pay $29.5 Million Settlement in Lawsuits over Location Tracking
Tech giant Google has reportedly agreed to pay $29.5 million to settle separate lawsuits with Washington DC and Indiana over the company’s location tracking practices.
The Hill reports that Google has reached a settlement with Washington DC and Indiana, agreeing to pay a total of $29.5 million to resolve separate lawsuits regarding its location tracking practices. As part of the settlements, the tech giant has pledged not to mislead users about the collection and use of their location data in location history and web and app activity.
HEALTH
COVID Jabs Have Erased 25 Years of Health Gains
Americans had lost nearly three years of life expectancy during 2020 and 2021. In 2019, the average life span of Americans of all ethnicities was 78.8 years. By the end of 2020, it had dropped to 77.0 years and by the end of 2021 it was 76.4
From 2020 to 2021, death rates increased for each age group 1 year and over. The age groups with the highest increases include working age adults, 25 to 54, and children under 4
The leading causes of death in 2021 were heart disease, cancer and COVID-19, all three of which were higher in 2021 than 2020. Unintentional injury and stroke also significantly increased in 2021
Heart disease, stroke and cancer are all now-known side effects of the COVID jabs. Unintentional injuries may also be due to the shots, as you may easily be injured if you pass out or suffer a heart attack or stroke while doing just about anything
If the COVID jabs worked, you’d expect excess mortality to drop, yet that’s not what we’re seeing. We’re also not seeing mass death from COVID. The only clear factor that might account for these discrepancies is mass injection with an experimental gene transfer technology
One of the Most Harmful Ingredients in Processed Foods
Two of the most harmful ingredients in processed foods are high fructose corn syrup and soybean oil, whether partially hydrogenated, organic, or made from newer soybean varieties modified in such a way as to not require hydrogenation
Completely unnatural man-made fats created through the partial hydrogenation process cause dysfunction and chaos in your body on a cellular level, and studies have linked trans-fats to health problems ranging from obesity and diabetes to reproductive problems and heart disease
Besides the health hazards related to the trans fats created by the partial hydrogenation process, soybean oil is, in and of itself, NOT a healthy oil
Add to that the fact that the majority of soybeans grown in the U.S. are genetically engineered, and as a result saturated with dangerous levels of the herbicide glyphosate, which may have additional health consequences as there are no long term safety studies
When taken together, partially hydrogenated GE soybean oil becomes one of the absolute worst types of oils you can consume
The genetically engineered (GE) variety planted on over 90% of U.S. soy acres is Roundup Ready engineered to survive being doused with otherwise lethal amounts of Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide (glyphosate). GE soybeans have been found to contain residue levels as high as 17 mg/kg, and malformations in frog and chicken embryos have occurred at just over 2 mg/kg
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
How did electric vehicles handle America’s Arctic blast?
There are now an estimated 1.7 million electric vehicles (EVs) on U.S. roads, compared to roughly 400,000 in spring 2018. That means that a lot more Americans are experiencing the joys and pitfalls of EV ownership, from silent, swift acceleration and emission-free driving on the positive side to slower fueling times and shorter driving ranges on the negative side.
More Americans are also learning that frigid temperatures affect EVs differently than internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, chiefly by cutting into their driving range to a greater extent. While a typical ICE vehicle might have its range reduced by 15% to 25% in below-freezing temperatures, an EV’s range will be slashed 20% to 50% depending upon driving speed, temperature, and interior climate preferences. Combustion reactions occur more inefficiently at colder temperatures, accounting for the range decline in ICE vehicles. But cold slows the physical and chemical reactions in EV batteries to a larger degree, limiting the energy and power the battery can deliver to the motors. Moreover, while ICE vehicles utilize otherwise wasted heat from the engine to warm car interiors in winter, EVs use electric heaters to perform much of the climate control, further draining the already hamstrung battery.
The Arctic blast that chilled much of the “Lower 48” last week showcased the EV range hit to more Americans than ever, and also yielded a few more lessons. EV owners sounded off about their experiences on social media and subreddits. Here are a few of the takeaways:
- EVs are not ready for frigid road trips. I warned about this in August: Driving an EV on the highway in extreme cold will produce a range loss of 40% or more. EV owners of various brands traveling for the holidays shared numerous stories verifying this annoying (and potentially dangerous) reality. Drivers traveling in temperatures at or around zero with a headwind could go only 100 to 150 miles before needing to stop and recharge, depending upon the car, significantly increasing travel time. When they did charge, they had to deal with another disconcerting problem with EVs and winter…
- EV fast-chargers operate much more slowly in extreme cold, if they work at all. The colder the EV battery, the slower the rate of charge that it will accept, making “fast-charging” in subzero temperatures a potentially miserable and plodding experience. Think a 45 to 60 minute charge instead of a 25 to 35 minute one. To top it off, users reported that fast-charging equipment, particularly from Electrify America, often just didn’t work in temperatures below -10 °F. Tesla’s proprietary Superchargers didn’t seem to have the same reliability issues. The generally sorry state of charging infrastructure shed light on another takeaway…
- EVs driven in regions with a cold winter need to be charged at home. Preferably with a garage. Owners simply can’t rely on public infrastructure in its present state with current battery technology. However, this situation could easily change in five to ten years with novel batteries that suffer less range loss and more widely available chargers, preferably housed indoor.
- Aside from range issues, EVs handled the Arctic air well. Owners reported that their cars started without issue, drove well (albeit with slightly reduced power), and heated quickly thanks to their fast-acting electric heaters. For drivers who didn’t need to worry about traveling long distances, their EVs were functional, comfortable, and relatively untroubled by the cold.
BlackRock, State Street Admit Signing Net-Zero Pledges They Don’t Act On
During a marathon ESG hearing, a state senator tells them: ‘You can’t serve two masters’
News Analysis
Texas state senators struggled for more than six hours last week to get straight answers from Wall Street giants BlackRock and State Street, two of the world’s largest asset managers, regarding what they are doing to compel companies whose shares they own to get in line with the ESG movement.
Having joined global Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) clubs like Climate Action 100+ and the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative (NZAM), and signed pledges to leverage their voting power as the largest shareholders in 90 percent of the S&P 500 companies to “reach net zero emissions by 2050 or sooner across all assets under management,” the asset managers testified that, in reality, they are doing no such thing.
When asked by Senate Chairman Bryan Hughes to clarify BlackRock’s pledge to Climate Action 100+ “to secure commitments from companies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions consistent with the Paris Agreement,” BlackRock’s Head of External Affairs Dalia Blass responded that BlackRock merely talks to companies whose shares they own to learn about their “material risks and opportunities.”
“We participate in Climate Action 100 to engage in dialogue with other participants, market participants, governments so that we understand issues that are relevant to our clients,” said Blass, who recently joined BlackRock from the Biden Administration where she worked at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The motto of Climate Action 100+ is “Global investors driving business transition.”
5.4 Earthquake Hits Northern California on New Year’s Day, Second in Two Weeks
An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.4 struck Northern California on New Year’s Day — less than two weeks after a larger, 6.4 magnitude quake struck the coast nearby.
NBC reported on the quake, which struck onshore in Humboldt County:
The New Year’s Day earthquake had a preliminary magnitude of 5.4 and struck about 9 miles southeast of Rio Dell in Humboldt County just after 10:30 a.m. local time (1:35 p.m. ET) Sunday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office said damages to homes were reported in the City of Rio Dell, while at half of the city’s residents were without power Sunday and around 30% without water. It said restoration efforts were underway.
No injuries were reported and there was no tsunami generated by the quake.
California braces for more heavy rain after days of flooding
Weather forecasters predict another round of torrential rain in California, which has struggled to cope with flooding and power outages from an “atmospheric river” that drenched the West Coast of the United States over the weekend.
Atmospheric rivers are long columns of moving water vapour that usually release heavy rain and snow when they reach land. The US National Weather Service expects that a second atmospheric river will move in from the Pacific Ocean and bring more rain to California by late Tuesday.
GARDENING, FARMING & HOMESTEADING
Beginner’s guide to prepping: 6 Things to remember for new preppers
This article may contain statements that reflect the opinion of the author
Make sure that your family has the supplies it needs when SHTF by being better prepared.
If you need help preparing, start by stocking up on survival supplies and finding a reliable source of up-to-date information. (h/t to TheOrganicPrepper.com) NOTE: DAISY LUTHER, FOUNDER OF THEORGANICPREPPER.COM WILL BE GUESTING WITH US THIS COMING FRIDAY THE 6TH
Avoid hysteria
Bad information is useless when disaster strikes. If you’re looking for reliable information, don’t look on social media where hearsay can gradually turn into half-truths.
If you are looking for online forums or groups to join, look for those that share news from reliable, unbiased sources.
Avoid information overload
When you are facing a survival scenario, information overload can be paralyzing.
You may experience information overload when the amount of information you are exposed to exceeds your processing capacity. This means you may get overwhelmed when “confronted by large amounts of information.”
If you are dealing with an ongoing disaster scenario, it may feel like you have to be glued to your phone, computer and TV to get updates on a large-scale event involving civilians fighting against trained soldiers or buildings being reduced to rubble.
But even if it’s hard to look away, focus on monitoring only the news that may affect you directly. This can help you avoid things that may stress you unnecessarily, which can be detrimental when you are dealing with a time-sensitive survival scenario.
If you really want to monitor the news, limit the time you spend gathering information. For example, if you are worried about the Russia-Ukraine war, check the news only three times a day.
While checking the news, get updates from different sources to ensure that you have a clearer picture of what’s going on. The truth usually lies somewhere in the middle.
Focus on things like prepping and survival skills and self-improvement. It’s far more beneficial in every way.
Focus on the basics
If you are overwhelmed by the news or your preps, start by focusing on the basics.
Do you have the following items covered?
- Water (You will need drinking water and more water for other tasks like cleaning and cooking.)
- A way to cook (If possible, prepare some methods that don’t require electricity so you can cook even after the power goes out.)
- A way to stay cool or hot in your home, depending on the weather
- Medical needs
- Sanitation
- Security and defense
- Communication
- Information
Here are some foods to buy for your stockpile so you can get supplies before SHTF:
Grains:
- Cake flour
- Cornmeal
- Dried corn
- Instant grits
- Pasta
- Popcorn
- Quinoa
- Rice
- Rolled oats
- Wheat berries (White or hard wheat berries)
Beans and legumes:
- Black beans
- Black-eyed peas
- Chickpeas/Garbanzo beans
- Kidney beans
- Lentils
- Lima beans
- Navy beans
- Pinto beans
Meats and other proteins:
- Canned chicken
- Canned salmon
- Canned tuna
- Country ham
- Dry-cured bacon
- Sardines
- Spam
- Vienna sausages
Baking ingredients:
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Cocoa
- Corn starch
- Jell-O mix
- Powdered milk
- Powdered sugar
- Pure vanilla extract
- Syrup
- Yeast
Do a regular inventory check and fill in the gaps. If you use up any items, replace them immediately so you don’t run out of crucial supplies when SHTF.
Take care of minor health issues
If you have any health issues that can be addressed with a visit to the doctor, get it done while you can still do so. Take care of any dental issues, fix knee injuries with surgery, or address old injuries with physical therapy. (Related: Prepping skills: Tips for learning herbal medicine.)
If you wear prescription eyeglasses, get your eyes checked again to see if you need a new pair of glasses. You can also get a backup pair so you have another one if your current eyeglasses are lost or destroyed when SHTF.
Schedule check-ups, optometry visits and dentist appointments for the whole family to make sure there are no issues left untreated.
If someone in the family has underlying health conditions, try to stockpile their medications.
If you get about three to five pills ahead each month, it will eventually add up.
Know when you have prepared enough
You should know when you have done enough to prepare for SHTF events. You will eventually run out of money for gear or room for more supplies.
This doesn’t mean you have to give up. Rather, you have to accept that even as a prepper you can’t prepare for everything and you don’t have to stress out over some things that are beyond your control.
When you reach this point, shift your focus to your skills. Start a home garden, learn how to fish or hunt or learn how to forage for wild edibles.
You can also start a new hobby like knitting or woodworking. If money is an issue, you can be productive by learning new skills or improving your current skills by following video tutorials or borrowing books from the library.
Try to be at peace
Whether you’re a newbie to prepping or a seasoned expert, it’s important to find a way to be at peace with where you are when it comes to your preps. You can keep working and learning, but you should keep in mind that all your skills and supplies give you a little bit more security when SHTF.
Even preppers can only do so much and it’s impossible to personally affect the actions of countries like Russia, China or the federal government.
If you feel overwhelmed, remember that America has been through wars before. Times were hard back then, but people adapted and survived.
If the same thing happens in your time, you can rely on your family, your skills and your supplies.
Adapt to the new rules and focus on the things that bring you peace and happiness. As a prepper, you must focus on what you can control, not the things that are beyond your control.
COVID RELATED NEWS
Nearly half of Americans believe it is at least somewhat likely that coronavirus vaccines have caused a “significant number of unexplained deaths,” and over a quarter said they know someone whose death may have been caused by side effects of the vaccines, a Rasmussen Reports survey released Monday found.
The survey asked respondents, “How likely is it that side effects of COVID-19 vaccines have caused a significant number of unexplained deaths?”
CANCEL CULTURE
Elon Musk Says ‘Fauci Files’ Coming This Week as More ‘Twitter Files’ Drops Expected
Elon Musk has said that internal Twitter documents containing revelations about the former White House chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci would be released within days, in what’s been dubbed the “Fauci Files.”
Musk said in a Jan. 1 message to his Twitter followers that he hopes they’re “having a great day 1” of the New Year, adding that 2023 definitely “won’t be boring.”
Reacting to Musk’s message was Juanita Broaddrick, an 80-year-old former nursing home administrator that once alleged she was raped by former President Bill Clinton in 1978, saying in a post that she’s waiting for the release of the “#FauciFiles.”
“Later this week,” Musk replied, suggesting that his criticism of Fauci will continue into the New Year.
Rasmussen Poll: 49 Percent Say COVID Vaccine Likely Linked to Deaths
Almost half of American adults said they think a significant number of unexplained deaths are linked to COVID-19 vaccine side effects, according to the latest poll from Rasmussen Reports.
Rasmussen found that just under half of respondents said that COVID-19 vaccine side effects have caused a significant number of unexplained deaths.
- 49% said it’s somewhat or very likely.
- 37% said it’s not very or at all likely.
- 14% are unsure.
Less than one-third of respondents said that they personally know someone who they believe died due to side effects of COVID-19 vaccines.
ICYMI
Man with Gun Parts Hidden in Peanut Butter Jars Arrested at JFK
A man with gun parts and a loaded ammunition magazine hidden in peanut butter jars was arrested at JFK Airport just prior to Christmas.
CNN reported the incident on Saturday, noting it had occurred December 22, 2022.
American Airlines Regional Carrier Employee Killed in Accident at Alabama Airport
An American Airlines regional carrier ground crew employee was killed in a workplace accident on New Year’s Eve at Montgomery Regional Airport in Alabama.
The tragic incident occurred around 3:00 p.m. involving an American Airlines/Piedmont Airline employee, according to the airport.
Jeremy Renner seriously injured while plowing snow in Nevada
“The Avengers” star Jeremy Renner remains in critical condition while being treated for serious injuries that happened while he was plowing snow
Earth, Wind, & Fire Drummer Fred White Dead at 67
Earth, Wind & Fire drummer Fred White has died, according to an Instagram post from his older brother and former bandmate. White was 67.
“Our family is saddened today with the loss of an amazing and talented family member, our beloved brother Frederick Eugene ‘Freddie’ White,” Verdine White, who founded the 1970s band, wrote on Instagram on Sunday. There was no mention of the cause of death.
Pharma Millionaire Who Killed Autistic Son Found Dead in NYC Home After Supreme Court Denies Bail
Gigi Jordan, 62, a multimillionaire pharmaceutical executive convicted of killing her 8-year-old autistic son, was found dead in her Brooklyn home on Friday morning in a suspected suicide, according to multiple reports.
The finding of Jordan’s body came after U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor issued an order Thursday that would require her to return to prison. The cause of her death has not been officially determined, but a note was found in her home, the New York Daily News reported, citing a law enforcement source.
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