WORLD NEWS
Suicide Bombing At Mosque Kills 34, Wounds 150
A suicide bombing at a mosque in a Peshawar, Pakistan, police facility Monday killed at least 34 people and wounded 150, according to The Associated Press.
Pakistani Taliban commander Sarbakaf Mohmand claimed responsibility on Twitter for the attack, with the dead victims mostly being police officers, the outlet reported, citing local officials. The bombing occurred as 300 people prayed inside the mosque and others approached, with the building’s roof collapsing as a result.
Looming Demographic Winter Suggests “Have Babies, Now!”
Elon Musk and a new generation of pronatalists are warning of falling birth rates, but some say fertility decline should be celebrated
Soon after China reported that it saw more deaths than births last year, its first population dip in 60 years, Elon Musk, father of 10, again sounded the “population collapse” alarm, tweeting that a decline in birth rates globally heralds an “existential problem for humanity, not overpopulation!”
The billionaire Twitter owner is perhaps the highest profile figure associated with a resurgence of pronatalism, a new generation of “pro-birth” activists and anxious governments spooked by declining birth rates. Pronatalists fear the world is on the verge of “demographic collapse” and that if something dramatic isn’t done, the consequences will be dire. Among them, a rapidly aging world with fewer working-age bodies to support social programs and growing populations of pensioners; innovation will suffer, economies and living standards will stagnate or collapse. Civilization, Musk has warned, “will crumble.” It’s all a much bigger risk than global warming, the Tesla CEO has tweeted. “Mark these words.”
The reborn movement, Business Insider reports, is “taking hold in wealthy tech and venture-capitalist circles,” led by billionaire business elites and people like Malcolm and Simone Collins, the Valley Forge, Penn., founders of pronatalist.org. According to the Collinses, “humanity has a very real chance of experiencing an extinction event.” Life-extension therapies likely won’t save us, the couple says, despite the vast sums poured into “rejuvenation” tune-ups and young blood transfusions by Silicon Valley types. What could save us, they say, are artificial wombs that would make childbearing truly egalitarian, or a reproductive process, currently being tested in mice, that could permit the creation of human embryos using skin, muscle, liver or blood cells that have been coaxed into behaving like egg and sperm cells. Embryo screening and selection also figure into their plans.
The couple has three young children and aspires to have at least four more. “If you are committed to a high birth rate and building a healthy culture for your family,” they state on their website, “we want to talk!”
Technocrats In Canada Moving To Eliminate Free Speech
Another doozy from the Canadian government.
Following along several other bills winding their way along the Road to Serfdom…
-
Bill C-11 regulates the internet under the CRTC and paves the way toward institutionalized content moderation, the requirement for licenses to publish online, and regulation of user generated content (in Senate)
-
Bill C-36 the Online Harms Bill sought to designate political dissent as “hate speech” and invoked penalties for criticizing politicians (not sure where this one is at the moment).
-
Bill C-18 throws a funding lifeline to Canada’s flailing agitprop industry (a.k.a the mainsteam media), in that it will require tech platforms to pay licensing fees for content the media outlets post there (passed third reading in November). This bill will reward big media conglomerates like Bell, while freezing out small and independent organizations.
Here comes another one, Bill C-36: An Act respecting cyber security, amending the Telecommunications Act and making consequential amendments to other Acts, which passed first reading last June.
It’s been largely flying under everybody’s radar so far. The Canadian Civil Liberties Association has been actively raising awareness and Michael Geist had Brenda McPhail, their Director of the Privacy, Technology and Surveillance Program on his podcast last October.
We mentioned C-26 in AxisOfEasy #273 citing Gowling WLG’s coverage of it by Brent Arnold (Brent Arnold sits on the Internet Society Canada Chapter board, as do I, but I am writing this post from my role as easyDNS CEO, and not ISCC.)
Jordan Peterson Sets Up ‘Pro-Human’ Alternative to Globalist-Corporatist World Economic Forum
Professor of psychology and public speaker Jordan Peterson has announced the formation of an international consortium that would serve as a kind of populist alternative to the elitist World Economic Forum (WEF) and provide a countervailing force against globalist aims and narratives.
Peterson laid out his plan in an appearance on Joe Rogan’s podcast, telling him that an inaugural event of the group is being planned for the cusp of October/November 2023 in London.
Around 2,000 business, cultural, and political figures will be invited to take part in the consortium, he said, adding that he wants the discussions open to the public and membership in the organization to be as broad as possible.
That would put participation at a similar scale to the WEF’s recent meeting in Davos, Switzerland, which amassed around 2,700 international leaders, Wall Street executives, central bankers, and celebrities.
Peterson said that a core idea of the consortium—which does not yet have an official name—will be to provide an “alternative vision of the future … an alternative to that kind of apocalyptic narrative that’s being put forward, at least implicitly, by organizations like the WEF.”
U.S. NEWS, POLITICS & GOVERNMENT
Two More Memphis Police Officers Are Suspended in Tyre Nichols’s Death
One officer, Preston Hemphill, used a stun gun that hit Mr. Nichols in the torso, according to a police report on the incident
What is Memphis Police Department’s SCORPION Unit?
The five police officers who killed Tyre Nichols were members of a specialized and highly violent group within the Memphis Police Department called the “SCORPION Unit.” Authorities “permanently deactivated” the unit amid nationwide outrage at the murder – a key demand raised by Nichols’ family and protesters in the streets. But its existence in the first place reveals a great deal about the nature of MPD and highly militarized departments across the country that routinely create teams like SCORPION.
SCORPION stands for “Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace in our Neighborhoods”, a “saturation unit” which was created in 2021 to “fight crime.” It was widely despised, and protesters in Memphis this weekend marched with chants of, “Scorpion! Shut it down! Scorpion! Shut it down!”
Regardless of their name, these extremely violent units exist across the country: in DC they’re known as the jump-out squads, in Baltimore this unit was called the “Gun Trace Task Force” (GTTF). These units are often rife with corruption and operate as internal gangs within the police force. In 2017, Baltimore PD’s GTTF, had 8 officers convicted of racketeering, robbery, and extortion.
Bloomberg: ‘The President Deserves A Team Of Technocrats’
After two years of extraordinary stability, Joe Biden’s White House is finally getting a shakeup. As the president considers replacements for two top economic advisers — his new chief of staff has already been named — he should keep in mind the administration’s most pressing need: more technocrats.
With Republicans now controlling the House of Representatives, there aren’t going to be many new bills to sign over the next two years. In large part Biden’s legacy will be defined by the implementation of legislation that’s already passed. And by far the biggest question hanging over the Inflation Reduction Act, the CHIPS and Science Act, and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is how much of the stuff envisioned in those laws will actually get built.
Biden’s choice of Jeff Zients as chief of staff, replacing the famously politically savvy Ron Klain, is a good sign. It’s also encouraging that the top contender to replace Brian Deese, soon to depart as director of the National Economic Council, is Federal Reserve Vice Chair Lael Brainard.
Zients is a mildly controversial pick among some Democrats because of his business background. But he stands out for the nature of his experience — never having worked on Capitol Hill or a major electoral campaign, he will be a very apolitical chief of staff even while working through what will presumably be a re-election campaign.
Zients’ public sector experience has been fundamentally technical. He joined Barack Obama’s White House with the gimmicky title of chief performance officer, charged with improving the efficiency of government operations. In 2013 he was tapped to help fix botched launch of the healthcare.gov website, leading a “tech surge” that addressed the problem. He also did a fairly low-key stint as head of the NEC during Obama’s final years in office.
Republicans Take Social Security, Medicare ‘Off the Table’ in Debt Ceiling Talks
Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), chairman of the House Oversight Committee, said on Jan. 30 that Republicans won’t consider cuts to Social Security or Medicare in negotiations on raising the nation’s debt ceiling.
“We’re not going to default,” Comer said. “But Republicans are going to fight for spending cuts. And I think the American taxpayer should be thankful that somebody in this town realizes that you can not continue to spend a trillion dollars a year more than you bring in.”
As for specific cuts, Comer said that everything except Social Security and Medicare would be “on the table,” during a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington.
Arizona Border Towns Struggle as Cartels Drive Border Crisis
A tangled coil of razor wire marks the end of a segment of the border wall between San Luis, Arizona, and Mexico, but it’s just the beginning for illegal migrants entering the city day and night.
Separating two parallel wall sections with 30-foot-high steel bollards is a narrow stretch of dirt road coined “no man’s land” by law enforcement.
Within this humanitarian limbo are empty water bottles, cans of food, and old clothing, things no longer of any use or value to those crossing the border.
According to those trying the stem the human tide, they are all signs of a worsening illegal immigration crisis in San Luis.
Biden Admin Plans to End COVID-19 Emergency Declarations on May 11
The Biden administration has informed Congress it plans to end national COVID-19 emergency declarations on May 11.
The move would shift the U.S. government’s response for managing COVID-19 back to the normal authorities given to federal agencies, with the virus to be considered as endemic.
The COVID-19 pandemic was declared a national emergency at the start of the outbreak by then-President Donald Trump on March 13, 2020. President Joe Biden has repeatedly extended the emergency declarations since.
The White House noted on Monday that the COVID-19 national emergency and the public health emergency (PHE) are currently set to expire on March 1 and April 11.
“At present, the Administration’s plan is to extend the emergency declarations to May 11, and then end both emergencies on that date,” the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) stated in an administration policy statement (pdf).
“This wind-down would align with the Administration’s previous commitments to give at least 60 days’ notice prior to termination of the PHE.”
“To be clear, continuation of these emergency declarations until May 11 does not impose any restriction at all on individual conduct with regard to COVID-19,” the administration policy statement reads. “They do not impose mask mandates or vaccine mandates. They do not restrict school or business operations. They do not require the use of any medicines or tests in response to cases of COVID-19.”
Legislation Introduced to Make Florida 26th Constitutional Carry State
Legislation that would make Florida the 26th constitutional carry state in the Union was introduced in the state House on Monday.
The bill is HB 543.
Utah becomes first state to ban gender-affirming care for trans youth in 2023
Utah Governor Spencer Cox signed a bill Saturday that bans hormone replacement therapy and gender-affirming surgery for transgender youth, making Utah the first state in 2023 to ban such care.
Senate Bill 16 provides new restrictions on trans youth seeking medical care in Utah, specifically banning “hormonal transgender treatment to new patients who were not diagnosed with gender dysphoria” before the bill went into effect, and “sex characteristic surgical procedures on a minor for the purpose of effectuating a sex change.”
SB16 also requires the Department of Health and Human Services to conduct “a systematic review of the medical evidence regarding hormonal transgender treatments,” and subsequently, to “provide recommendations to the Legislature.”
Cox said in a statement that the bill is not “perfect,” but ultimately wrote in its defense, “More and more experts, states and countries around the world are pausing these permanent and life-altering treatments for new patients until more and better research can help determine the long-term consequences.”
“While we understand our words will be of little comfort to those who disagree with us, we sincerely hope that we can treat our transgender families with more love and respect as we work to better understand the science and consequences behind these procedures,” Cox added.
HEALTH
EMF SUMMIT HAZARDS SUMMIT:
Attend Free Online: February 2nd – 5th, 2023
Register for FREE here: https://NGMdiainc.ontralink.com/t?orid=179839&opid=1
Read our guest Nick Pineaults Free 5G Report:
If you want to learn the lowdown on how the new “5G” (5th generation) wireless networks might impact your health, check out this free report.
—> Shop STETZERiZER® Microsurge Meters & STETZERiZER® Filters at The Power Mall!!
Stetzer Products have been scientifically proven to reduce dangerous, high frequency dirty electricity and hence reduce a person’s exposure to this ubiquitous form of harmful electromagnetic energy. Scientific evidence shows that by equipping a home with Graham-Stetzer filters it’s possible to alleviate some of the symptoms that are commonly associated with Electrical Hypersensitivity, while at the same time protecting one’s self and family from the harmful effects of EMFs.
Zinc reverses lung damage and significantly improves patient survival
Investigators from the Women’s Guild Lung Institute at Cedars-Sinai have discovered that zinc, a common mineral, may reverse lung damage and improve survival for patients with a deadly age-related condition known as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF).
Their findings, published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation, have the potential to change the landscape of treatment for patients with this disease, which most often affects those over age 50.
—> Organic, Plant-Based Zinc is available @ thepowermall.com
Coffee Good for Diabetes and Its Common Complications: Current Studies
About one in 10 Americans are living with diabetes, and between 90 and 95 percent of them have Type 2 diabetes. Compelling evidence suggests that increasing your coffee intake could lower your risk for this condition.
Coffee May Prevent Type 2 Diabetes
A large study from Harvard University looked at the coffee habits of over 100,000 people for about 20 years.
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
Experts Warn New IRS Tax Rules Are a ‘Double Whammy’ for Families
After the Internal Revenue Service issued several releases warning about potentially lower tax refunds this filing season, some analysts say that it could put strain on some families who may have anticipated an expanded child tax credit.
Analysts Sound Off
Financial expert Lynnette Khalfani-Cox told NPR on Jan. 22 that there are “four main reasons” that cause will cause 2022’s returns to be smaller.
“The first is: no more stimulus checks. The second is that what was called the enhanced child credit—that’s gone,” she noted. A third reason is that a pandemic-era tax break for charitable deductions was killed for this year, she said, noting that the fourth reason is because some individuals might face taxes on investment gains.
Joe Buhrmann, a financial planner and senior financial planning consultant at eMoney Advisor, told CNBC on Friday that the smaller refunds this season and relatively high inflation could be a “double whammy” and “nasty surprise” for some people, namely families.
Tax breaks that were implemented for 2021’s taxes have returned to prior levels, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has said. The child tax credit dropped back to a maximum of $2,000 per child.
The Consumer Price Index, a key metric used to measure inflation, went up by 5 percent in December 2022, according to the Department of Labor’s latest statistics published last week. That’s down from the 5.5 percent year-over-year increase that was seen in November of last year.
“That’s money out of refunds right there,” Buhrmann noted, referring to the child tax breaks.
“But a whole bunch of taxpayers actually received what’s called a recovery rebate credit,” Khalfani-Cox also said. “And they got $1,400 per person on their 2021 taxes,” plumping their tax refund or lowering their bill. “But now that’s gone,” she remarked.
Biden Touts $1.2 Trillion Infrastructure Spending Spree as He Refuses Debt Ceiling Negotiations
President Joe Biden on Monday delivered remarks in Baltimore, Maryland, where he touted a tunnel project being addressed with funds from the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act he signed in 2021. At the same time, he continues to refuse spending cut negotiations with Republican lawmakers over the $31.3 trillion debt ceiling breached on January 19, even though he has admitted Washington politicians need to rein in the national debt.
Biden visited Baltimore to discuss a renovation to the Baltimore-Patomic Tunnel, a rail tunnel he claimed to have passed through “a thousand times” as an Amtrak passenger.
A 4-day workweek might be coming to Maryland
A four-day workweek could be coming to Maryland.
A new bill introduced by Maryland lawmakers this month incentivizes both public and private employers to experiment with a shortened workweek without cutting pay and benefits.
Under the program, businesses that shift at least 30 employees from a 40-hour week down to 32 could get a state tax credit. The bill also encourages state and municipal government agencies to implement a shorter workweek and report their results.
Employers can participate in the state-sponsored experiment for up to two years, and the entire program will phase out in 2028. It provides up to $750,000 in tax credits per year and will be overseen by the Maryland Department of Labor.
“People want more free time to spend with their families,” Del. Vaughn Stewart, representative of Maryland’s 19th district and sponsor of the bill, tells CNBC Make It.
He was inspired by results from hundreds of U.S. workers who were part of a global four-day workweek experiment in 2022, led by the nonprofit 4 Day Week Global.
Following a six-month trial, workers said their performance improved and their levels of burnout went down. Businesses reported an 8% increase in revenue throughout the trial period, and each said they planned to continue with a shortened workweek in the future.
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
California Firefighters Use 6,000 Gallons of Water to Put Out Tesla Fire on Highway 50
A Tesla Model S burst into flames on Saturday afternoon in California while driving on Highway 50, causing two eastbound lanes to close, officials said.
The electric vehicle was traveling at “freeway speeds” when its battery compartment “spontaneously” caught fire, the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District said on Twitter. The incident happened around 3:41 p.m.
Firefighters called in two fire engines, a water tender, and a ladder truck, and used approximately 6,000 gallons of water to extinguish the blaze as the battery cells “continued to combust,” fire officials said. They also used car jacks to lift the vehicle in order to put out the fire underneath it.
Photos taken at the scene show severe damage to the car’s front.
The fire department reported no injuries from the incident.
Electric vehicle battery fires are receiving growing national attention as the Biden administration seeks to promote the production and sale of electric vehicles as a key part of his climate and energy agenda. President Joe Biden has touted electric vehicles as a more affordable and environment-friendly option than traditional gas-powered cars, and has vowed that half the vehicles sold across the nation will be electric or plug-in hybrids by 2030.
While it’s long been known that all lithium-ion batteries, including those used in cell phones, have the potential to explode or burn, lithium-ion battery fires in electric cars are significantly harder to put out.
Gmail Creator: ChatGPT AI Could Destroy Google’s Business Within Two Years
The creator of Google’s popular email service, Gmail, recently tweeted that he thinks Google could be put out of business by OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot within two years.
Interesting Engineering reports that Gmail’s creator, Paul Buchheit, recently tweeted that he thinks Google will only be in business for two more years due to the rise in popularity of advanced AI tools. A discussion about the future of search engines like Google has erupted in response to OpenAI’s ChatGPT and the chatbot’s explosive growth.
SURVEILLANCE STATE
Texas Appoints First-Ever Border Czar
Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced his appointment of a border czar to head Operation Lone Star. The announcement came on Monday during a press conference in the Rio Grande Valley.
Governor Abbott appointed recently retired Border Patrol Agent Mike Banks. He has a long history of service to the Border Patrol and retired in the past few days.
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
Millions Brace for ‘Significant Ice Storm’ Sweeping the South
Millions of Americans are bracing for what the National Weather Service (NWS) has described as a “significant ice storm,” expected to sweep the south this week.
Forecast maps show the bad weather spanning from Texas to West Virginia.
Fuel Costs of Electric Vehicles Overtake Gas-Powered Cars: Study
The cost to fuel electric vehicles in the United States is higher than gas-powered cars for the first time in 18 months, a consulting company said.
“In Q4 2022, typical mid-priced ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) car drivers paid about $11.29 to fuel their vehicles for 100 miles of driving. That cost was around $0.31 cheaper than the amount paid by mid-priced EV drivers charging mostly at home, and over $3 less than the cost borne by comparable EV drivers charging commercially,” Anderson Economic Group (AEG) said in an analysis.
However, luxury EVs still enjoy a cost advantage against their gas-powered counterparts.
It costs luxury EV owners $12.4 to drive every 100 miles on average if they charge their cars mostly at home or $15.95 if they charge their cars mostly at commercial charger stations in the 4th quarter of 2022.
Meanwhile, the fuel costs for luxury gas-powered cars are $19.96 per 100 miles on average.
COVID-RELATED NEWS
Dr. Malone shares his assessment of the undercover Project Veritas video
Dr. Robert Malone said he was “entirely emotional” after seeing Project Veritas’s undercover video in which a research director of Pfizer claimed the company’s scientists are talking about mutating the SARS-CoV-2 virus to “preemptively develop new vaccines.”
Stroke Risk With Pfizer Shot Announced
People ages 65 and older who received Pfizer’s updated (bivalent) COVID-19 booster shot may be at increased risk of stroke
The CDC’s Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD) flagged the potential safety issue, revealing that those 65 and over were more likely to have an ischemic stroke 21 days after receiving Pfizer’s bivalent COVID-19 shot compared to 22 to 44 days later
In their announcement, the CDC and the FDA downplayed the VSD safety signal while encouraging everyone eligible to continue to get the shots
According to Dr. Meryl Nass, the fact that VSD produced a red flag is evidence that the problem is likely much worse than health agencies are letting on
While the health agencies stressed that no other safety systems, such as the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), had flagged a stroke risk, the CDC admitted in a FOIA request that ischemic stroke triggered a safety signal in VAERS
Vitamin B1 Is Vital to Protect Against Infectious Disease
Thiamine (vitamin B1) deficiency syndrome (beriberi) has many similarities to sepsis — a primary cause of COVID-19 mortality — and thiamine deficiency is relatively common in critically ill patients in general
Thiamine deficiency is prevalent in pulmonary tuberculosis, and the more severe the case, the more severe the thiamine deficiency. Thiamine has been shown to limit Mycobacterium tuberculosis by regulating your innate immunity
Thiamine deficiency is also associated with the development of high fever, and some researchers have suggested that serious infections may in fact be a presenting manifestation of thiamine deficiency
Clinical case reports have shown thiamine injections reversed a number of acute illnesses in which high fever was a factor, including one case where the patient presented with high fever, headache and asphyxia, and another where the patient had high fever and severe pneumonia
Thiamine is required for metabolism of some of the metabolites of vitamin C. Vitamin C also works synergistically with corticosteroids, which helps explain why the Marik Sepsis Protocol is so effective. Magnesium may also be important, as it is required for the activation of thiamine
—> Optivida plant based Vitamin C (from Acerola cherries) is a natural sources of calcium, iron, niacin (vitamin b3), phosphorus, riboflavin (vitamin b2), and thiamine (vitamin b1)
Growing Number of Doctors Say They Won’t Get COVID-19 Booster Shots
A growing number of doctors say that they will not get COVID-19 vaccine boosters, citing a lack of clinical trial evidence.
CANCEL CULTURE
Gigi Sohn, President Joe Biden’s progressive nominee for the FCC, will likely face intense scrutiny over her seemingly endless controversial statements as she hopes to get confirmed to the nation’s leading technology agency.
Biden renominated Sohn in early January after Senate Democrats failed to secure a majority to confirm her as a commissioner due to her far-left sympathies and controversial statements. If Sohn were confirmed to the FCC, it would give the agency a Democrat majority, which could allow them to pursue net neutrality regulations and other leftist priorities.
GOOD NEWS
Pro-Life Activist Mark Houck Found Not Guilty of Violating FACE Act
Pro-life activist and Catholic father of seven Mark Houck was found not guilty on Monday on federal assault charges brought by President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice (DOJ), Catholic News Agency reported.
The DOJ decided to press charges against Houck, 48, who pushed a Planned Parenthood escort twice on October 13, 2021 — even though local authorities declined to press charges. Houck said he pushed the escort, 73-year-old Bruce Love, because he was verbally harassing his 12-year-old son as he was sidewalk counseling outside the abortion clinic.
ICYMI
Why Are the EKGs of Pilots No Longer Normal?
More Stories
Today’s News: May 01, 2024
Today’s News: April 30, 2024
Today’s News: April 29, 2024