Today's News: July 17, 2024

WORLD NEWS

Bangladesh students defy orders, occupy universities as tensions spiral

Students and police are locked in a tense standoff on campuses across the country as a deadline for protesters to vacate universities looms.

Armed with sticks and cricket stumps, Mahin Sarkar stood guard at the gates of Dhaka University with fellow students. Anyone who wanted to enter had to show them identification proving they were from the university.

Just outside the gates, several police platoons were positioned, one police officer said on condition of anonymity, to “prevent any further acts of vandalism”.

On Wednesday afternoon, Bangladesh’s oldest functioning university was a fortress with opposing forces stationed on either side of the gates and the prospect brewing of the tense standoff descending into clashes.

The government ordered all schools and colleges shut down on Tuesday, a day after nationwide protests against a quota for government jobs turned violent with student activists of the ruling Awami League engaging in street fights against demonstrators and riot police unleashing tear gas. At least six people have died, and hundreds have been injured in the clashes, most of which occurred near or inside university campuses, the central hubs of protests against a quota system that many students insist is discriminatory.

More than half – 56 percent – of government jobs are reserved for descendants of Bangladeshis who fought for independence from Pakistan, women, people from districts with poor socioeconomic indices, ethnic minorities and people with physical disabilities. The student protesters oppose the quota for veterans’ families.

Yet hours after the order demanding that students vacate university premises, many students have refused to leave. Instead, they have hunkered down in their dormitories and occupied key locations on campuses. At Dhaka University, for instance, students have moved towards the area near the vice chancellor’s residence to try to pressure authorities to reverse the decision to shut the campus down.

But hundreds of police and paramilitary officers were also positioned in the area near the vice chancellor’s residence, even as students chanted slogans, demanding they withdraw from Dhaka University. The university has given students until the evening to vacate the campus.

U.S. NEWS, POLITICS & GOVERNMENT

Biden says he’ll drop out if doctors tell him to

(RT) The US president has said it would take “some medical condition” to force him out of the race for the White House

US President Joe Biden has said he would suspend his reelection campaign if doctors told him he had a medical problem. Doubts about Biden’s mental competency have long plagued his campaign, the more so since his disastrous debate performance against former President Donald Trump last month.

In an interview with BET News filmed earlier this week, Biden was asked whether anything would make him reconsider staying in the race for the White House.

“If I had some medical condition that emerged, if doctors came and said ‘you’ve got this problem, that problem’,” Biden responded, before going on to defend his ability to “get the job done.”

Republicans have long alleged that Biden lacks the mental fortitude for the presidency, but his performance at a CNN-hosted debate with Trump last month put his apparent frailty on display for members of his own party, too. Biden mixed up words and numbers, struggled to complete his sentences, and left himself open to Trump’s one-liners and verbal put-downs.

Secret Service director has ludicrous reason the shooter’s roof was not secured

Secret Service chief Kimberly Cheatle has been busy defending her agency, and rejecting calls for her to resign, in the wake of Saturday’s attempted assassination that left President Donald Trump injured.

The gunman, 20, now dead, fired at Trump from the roof of a building about 120 yards away.

Cheatle said, during an interview, the building was secured from the “inside” because of its roof, which provided the gunman with a clear line of sight to Trump.

“That building, in particular, has a sloped roof at its highest point,” she said in the interview with ABC. “And so there will be a safety factor that will be considered there that we wouldn’t want to put somebody up on a sloped roof. And so you know the decision was made to secure the building from the inside.”

“That’s crap,” said former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich at the Republican National Convention Tuesday night.

There are a number of circumstances that undoubtedly will need to be reviewed, including her decision not to send an agent to the roof of a building overlooking a Trump rally because of the slope of that roof, a slope that the gunman apparently had no difficulty traversing.

Other questions arise from a ladder and ammunition the gunman bought just before the shooting, and how he got the ladder up against a building to reach the roof.

8 Shocking Details That Have Just Emerged That Are Sparking New Theories About The Attempt On Trump’s Life

(Activist Post) New information about the attempt on Donald Trump’s life that has just been revealed within the past 24 hours is causing major shockwaves all over the country. In this article, I will attempt to make sense of the new details that have emerged. Please share this information as widely as you can, and if you come across new details that I have not covered yet, please let me know. There is so much about the attempt on Trump’s life that does not smell right, and the American people deserve the truth.

No matter where you stand politically, we should all be deeply concerned about the safety of our leaders.

Donald Trump came within about an inch of losing his life on Saturday, and that should greatly alarm every American.

But is what we are being told about the shooting the entire story?

The following are 8 shocking details that have just emerged that are sparking new theories about the attempt on Trump’s life…

#1 The Gateway Pundit interviewed a woman that attends almost every Trump rally, and she says that authorities “weren’t blocking the line of sight like they have in every other location”…

Levi, a long-time rally attendee who attends every Trump rally as a vendor selling Trump-related merchandise, tells the Gateway Pundit: “I knew something was wrong the day before when I came to set up in Butler, Pennsylvania.

They weren’t blocking the line of sight like they have in every other location. Typically they would put cranes, or heavy machinery, in the way to block a clear line-of-sight to Trump as a security protocol. I kept thinking that his security detail was going to bring it in later, but they never did.”

“When we came in on Friday, after attending hundreds of Trump rallies, we noticed the situation did not look right. They can’t protect him from here. I just had this terrible feeling. I knew something was off.”

Why was the rally in Butler handled so differently?

This is a question that must be answered.

#2 The Gateway Pundit has also learned that Sheriff Michael Slupe was specifically instructed to “not send extra manpower and SWAT teams to the rally site”…

A source close with law enforcement in the area told the Gateway Pundit today that local Sheriff Michael Slupe was instructed to ‘stand down’ and not send extra manpower and SWAT teams to the rally site in advance of the President’s appearance in Butler, a small town of 13,000 in Pennsylvania about 30 miles northeast of Pittsburgh. This was allegedly done over the objections of Sheriff Slupe.

#3 When Thomas Matthew Crooks shot at Trump, there was actually a counter-sniper team inside the building…

A local police counter-sniper team was stationed inside the building that Thomas Crooks crawled on top of to fire at and nearly kill former President Donald Trump, according to a shocking report.

The building was a “watch post” for local police snipers to scan for threats, law enforcement sources told the New York Post.

Sources told the Post that the local police sniper team was inside the building, but not on the roof — where Crooks climbed and waited for Trump to begin speaking before firing off eight shots, hitting Trump in the ear, killing a rally-goer, and wounding two others.

#4 The head of the Secret Service, Kimberly Cheatle, says that nobody was stationed on top of that building because “we wouldn’t want to put somebody up on a sloped roof”…

“That building in particular has a sloped roof at its highest point. And so, you know, there’s a safety factor that would be considered there that we wouldn’t want to put somebody up on a sloped roof,” she told ABC News in a startling admission.

“And so, you know, the decision was made to secure the building, from inside,” she told the outlet.

#5 CBS News is reporting that the counter-sniper team inside the building took note of Thomas Matthew Crooks three different times prior to the shooting…

One of the snipers inside saw Thomas Matthew Crooks outside and looking up at the roof, observing the building and disappearing, a local law enforcement officer tells CBS News.

Crooks came back, sat down and looked at his phone. At that point, one of the snipers took a picture of him. Crooks took out a rangefinder and the sniper radioed to the command post. Crooks disappeared again and then came back a third time with a backpack. The snipers called in with information that he had a backpack and said he was walking towards the back of the building.

#6 After he scaled the roof, Thomas Matthew Crooks was up there for close to 30 minutes before he finally fired at Trump…

Channel 11 News uncovered dramatic new details Monday in the moments leading up to the assassination attempt on former president Donald Trump. According to multiple law enforcement sources, Thomas Crooks was spotted by law enforcement on a roof nearly 30 minutes before shots were fired that injured Trump, killed a former fire chief and injured two others in the crowd.

Channel 11′s Nicole Ford confirmed that Beaver County’s ESU team had eight members at the rally, including snipers and spotters. According to Ford’s sources, one of them noticed a suspicious man on a roof near the rally at 5:45 p.m., called it in and took a picture of the person. We have learned from our sources the person in that picture is Thomas Crooks.

If authorities identified that there was a man with a rifle on that roof, why did they still allow Trump to go out there and speak?

Something is very wrong about all of this.

#7 After Secret Service agents finally got to Trump, they literally removed his shoes and threw them off the stage…

Initially dazed, Trump told agents: ‘let me get my shoes, let me get my shoes’ as he got up from the ground.

The video, posted by WBEN just as Trump was arriving at the RNC in his first appearance since the assassination attempt, covers an angle previously unseen amid the chaos from behind Trump as he spoke.

It shows the Secret Service tackling Trump and removing his shoes and tossing them off the stage.

Why would they do this?

Does anyone have an answer to this question?

#8 A video that has gone viral on social media appears to show a mystery woman yelling instructions to Crooks on the roof…

But one video has picked up audio of an unnamed woman who some believe shouts at the gunman just as he launches the attack, which tragically killed a Trump supporters.

As bullets crack and crowds scream, a woman can be yelling what some say is: ‘Crooks. What are you doing? Get over here. Get down’.

The clip has gone viral on social media.

So far I have not seen any reports that this woman has been identified or that she has been questioned by authorities.

Hopefully she will not just disappear.

This has already been the wildest election season in modern history, and much more craziness is ahead of us.

If you think that things are insane now, just wait until what happens after the election.

Our country has never been more divided than it is now, and we are barreling toward a full-blown societal meltdown.

The Trump assassination attempt exposes the establishment’s deceitfulness

(Mises Institute) On Saturday evening, former president and 2024 frontrunner Donald Trump survived an attempted assassination at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. The attack was utterly shocking, not only because a would-be assassin was able to get so close to Trump with a rifle but because of how close he was to success.

The rally started off like any other. After his long walkout to the song “Proud to Be an American,” the former president began speaking just after 6:05 p.m. EDT. Four minutes later, at 6:09 p.m., people listening to the speech from just outside the venue began filming a man crawling on the roof of a glass factory. They frantically tried to alert nearby police officers.

It appears that officers did respond to the cries from rally goers that there was a man on the roof. However, being close to the building, officers reportedly could not see what the onlookers were yelling about. One officer climbed onto the roof and found twenty-year-old Matthew Crooks lying down, pointing his rifle at him. Unable to draw his weapon, the officer retreated back down the ladder.

Roughly a minute before, at 6:10 p.m., Trump requested a chart of immigration trends be displayed on the venue’s two large video screens. As the shooter confronted the police officer on the glass factory roof, Trump used the chart to highlight how immigration took off after he left office. At 6:11:27 p.m., after the officer had retreated, onlookers began screaming, “He’s got a gun,” as Crooks lined up his shot. At exactly 6:11:33 p.m., Trump turned his head to look at the chart on the screen. Three-tenths of a second later, Crooks fired a shot that hit the former president in the right ear. Had Trump not turned his head, the same bullet would have gone through the back of his skull.

Crooks got a short volley of shots off as Trump dropped below the podium and his nearby Secret Service detail piled on top of him. Seconds later, agents on a Secret Service countersniper team shot and killed Crooks. Agents secured Trump and ushered him off stage to a waiting SUV, but not before Trump stood up, raised his fist, and, with blood on his ear and face, called out defiantly to his frightened supporters — resulting in one of the most iconic images in modern American history.

The American political sphere was uncharacteristically quiet and reflective in the hours after the attack. Figures from across the ideological spectrum condemned the use of political violence and wished President Trump a speedy recovery.

It’s somewhat frustrating when members of the political establishment condemn political violence. Politics is violence, after all. And political leaders are more than happy to launch wars that kill millions of people or use the threat of violence to force Americans to do or not do any number of things against their will. They just want the use of violence to be incited in a respectable manner and carried out by means they deem legitimate. It’s only when violence gets turned against government officials and their families that we hear them speak out against the use of violence to achieve political ends.

But there is also something revealing about top Democrats and members of the political establishment condemning the attack and wishing President Trump a fast recovery. Most of these same people have spent the last eight years doing everything they could to brand Trump as the leader and individual source of a uniquely evil domestic movement. This movement is presented as being all set to institute a bloodthirsty, theocratic, authoritarian regime in Washington if they win the election in November. Trump himself is characterized as a Russian-backed Hitler-like figure who is itching to release “death squads” on gay people and his many political opponents once in office. We’re told he will abolish the democratic process and literally “destroy the world.”

Trump supporters are not immune. Those who are skeptical of the ongoing policy of sending money and weapons to Ukraine are equated to Nazi sympathizers in the 1930s and ‘40s. The same goes for the apparent Confederate-like “insurrectionists” of Jan. 6 and their sympathizers who voice doubts about the 2020 presidential election.

From the establishment’s perspective, if there really were a domestic figure placed on the American political scene by the Russian government with the purpose of abolishing the democratic process and ushering in a dictatorial regime that will hunt down and kill Americans the president doesn’t like, it would be justified to stop that person with whatever means are necessary. Instead, after this candidate suffered an injury in Saturday’s shooting, the entire political establishment wished him well.

They did so because they are lying about what they expect a second Trump term would bring. This is part of a broader, ongoing effort where figures in politics and media try to terrify the American people into voting as the establishment wants them to. They did it with covid, they’re doing it with the climate, and, at least until Saturday, they’ve done it with Trump.

The shooting on Saturday should never have happened. We are all incredibly lucky that we do not have to navigate whatever would have resulted had Trump not turned his head at the last second. But good can come from this if more Americans come to understand that the terrifying future the political establishment promises we are doomed to endure if they don’t get their way is simply a means to deceive us.

ECONOMY & BUSINESS

Auto Insider Warns More Americans Falling Behind On Car Payments As Repos Soar 23%

(Activist Post) The delayed day of reckoning has arrived for millions of Americans who purchased vehicles with absurdly high monthly payments they no longer can afford. New data shows auto repossessions surged in the first half of the year, driven by elevated inflation and high interest rates, resulting in increased consumer distress (read: here & here) as the labor market slows.

Before we delve into the data from Cox Automotive, let’s revisit several of our reports from mid-2022, showing how we have been diligently tracking the perfect storm brewing for auto repossessions:

Two years later, the deterioration has accelerated. Cox data shows repos jumped 23% in the first six months of this year compared with the same period in 2023. Repos started moving higher last year and have now exceeded pre-Covid levels, up 14% compared to the first half of 2019.

“When you think about the costs for rent and shelter and insurance, all those things hit consumers and they have to choose what they will pay,” Jeremy Robb, senior director of economic and industry insights at Cox, told Bloomberg.

Robb warned, “More people are getting behind on payments because everything is more expensive.”

Fitch Ratings data shows that the percentage of subprime auto borrowers who were at least 60 days late on their bill in June was around 5.62%, down from the record in February.

Data from Bankrate indicates that the average interest rate for a new 60-month auto loan is now 7.94%, while for a used car, it’s around 12%. The average monthly payments have risen to $739 for new vehicles and $549 for used cars.

What’s clear is that consumers have used more debt than ever to fund near-record new car purchases. Fast-forward to today and the ominous new development is that high monthly payments in a period of elevated inflation and high interest rates have made these vehicles unaffordable for some.

HEALTH

The Western Diet: A Silent Pandemic Ravaging American Health

While health authorities focus on tracking infectious diseases, a more insidious threat lurks in our kitchens and on our plates. The Western diet, ubiquitous in American households, may be as dangerous as any viral outbreak.

In the United States, the prevalence of diet-related chronic diseases has reached epidemic proportions. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, six in ten Americans live with at least one chronic disease, such as heart disease, stroke, cancer, or diabetes.1 These conditions are among the leading causes of death and disability in the country, and they share a common thread: they are often linked to poor dietary habits.

At the heart of this dietary crisis lies the overconsumption of ultra-processed foods, a hallmark of the Western diet. A 2017 study published in the journal Population Health Metrics revealed a startling statistic: nearly 60% of the average American’s caloric intake comes from ultra-processed foods.

Current Treatment Landscape

Conventional approaches to treating diet-related chronic diseases often involve a combination of medication, lifestyle changes, and dietary modifications. While these strategies can be effective, they often address the symptoms rather than the root cause of the problem. Moreover, adherence to these treatment regimens can be challenging for many patients, leading to suboptimal outcomes.

Sayer Ji, founder of GreenMedInfo.com, argues that health authorities are missing the bigger picture. He states, “It could be argued that the CDC would be far more effective in their mission of ‘Collaborating to create the expertise, information, and tools that people and communities need to protect their health’ if they paid equal attention tracking dietary vectors of disease creation, such as per capita high-fructose corn syrup or happy meal consumption, or environmental chemical exposures, instead of myopically fixating on an outdated, though hugely profitable germ-centered model of disease causation.”

The Western Diet as a Disease Vector

Recent research has begun to shed light on the Western diet not just as a contributor to poor health, but as a potent disease vector in its own right. Ji’s research at GreenMedInfo.com has identified over 20 distinct disease states or adverse health effects linked to the Western diet, including various lethal cancers.3

Some of the conditions linked to the Western diet include:

The impact of the Western diet on health can be swift and dramatic. Ji highlights a human clinical study where “participants were given a regular, all-American meal of a hamburger, quickly resulting in pathological changes to the blood vessels including vasoconstriction, oxidative stress and inflammation.”3 Interestingly, the addition of avocado to the meal mitigated these adverse effects, suggesting that simple dietary modifications could have significant health impacts.

Analysis of Findings

The identification of the Western diet as a disease vector represents a paradigm shift in our understanding of chronic disease etiology. Ji argues that “the concept that immune status determines susceptibility, or the vital role that diet or environmental factors such as sunlight-mediated vitamin D levels play in whether you contract an illness or not, is mostly ignored” by health authorities.3

This perspective aligns with recent findings on ultra-processed foods, particularly sodas. As Jinan Banna, a registered dietitian and professor of nutrition at the University of Hawaii, emphasizes, “Soda doesn’t have any nutritional value other than just calories in the form of sugar. So they’re empty calories, which don’t give us any of the nutrients that we need.”4

The Western diet, characterized by high intake of processed foods, sugary beverages, and refined grains, appears to create an internal environment conducive to disease development. As Ji poetically puts it, “The inner ‘soil’ will largely determine what grows there. If it is organic, nutrient replete, non-toxic, it will give rise to health. If it is devoid of the correct nutrients, overly-cooked, irradiated, infected with antibiotic-resistant bacteria, etc., it will give rise to disease.”

Implications for Future Research and Treatment

The recognition of the Western diet as a disease vector opens up new avenues for research and intervention. Future studies should focus on:

Developing comprehensive dietary interventions that address the multiple aspects of the Western diet contributing to disease.
Investigating the mechanisms by which specific components of the Western diet contribute to different health conditions.
Exploring the potential of traditional diets from other cultures as protective against chronic diseases.

Ji’s research suggests that even small changes, like adding avocado to a meal, can have significant health impacts. This indicates that gradual modifications to the Western diet could yield substantial health benefits.

Practical Applications: Making Healthier Choices

For individuals looking to improve their dietary habits, consider the following strategies:

Increase consumption of whole, unprocessed foods.
Incorporate more plant-based foods into your diet.
Reduce intake of sugary beverages and processed snacks.
Choose healthier fats, such as those found in avocados, nuts, and olive oil.
Be mindful of portion sizes, especially when eating out.

Conclusion

The Western diet, once seen as a symbol of prosperity and convenience, is increasingly recognized as a significant threat to public health. As Ji argues, “When we continue to eat food that is already vectorized with transgenes designed to kill insect life, and has been demonstrated to be lethal to animal life, should we be surprised that will be more likely to contract fatal infectious diseases?”3

By reframing our understanding of the Western diet as a disease vector, we open up new possibilities for prevention and treatment of chronic diseases. The path to better health may not lie in a pill or vaccine, but in the daily choices we make about what to put on our plates.

FDA Warns THC Edibles Mimic Popular Snack Foods

In a joint effort to curb the illegal sales of food products containing delta-8 THC, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Federal Trade Commission said Tuesday they have warned five companies to stop marketing such products.

Because the packaging for these THC edibles mimics that of popular snack foods, the FDA said it is concerned they can be easily mistaken for traditional foods, prompting accidental ingestion or overconsumption, especially by kids.

“Inadequate or confusing labeling can result in children or unsuspecting adults consuming products with strong resemblance to popular snacks and candies that contain delta-8 THC without realizing it,” FDA Principal Deputy Commissioner Dr. Namandjé Bumpus said in a news release on the warnings.

SURVEILLANCE STATE

Modern Cars Can Be Tracking Nightmares. Abuse Survivors Need Real Solutions.

(Activist Post) The amount of data modern cars collect is a serious privacy concern for all of us. But in an abusive situation, tracking can be a nightmare.

As a New York Times article outlined, modern cars are often connected to apps that show a user a wide range of information about a vehicle, including real-time location data, footage from cameras showing the inside and outside of the car, and sometimes the ability to control the vehicle remotely from their mobile device. These features can be useful, but abusers often turn these conveniences into tools to harass and control their victims—or even to locate or spy on them once they’ve fled their abusers.

California is currently considering three bills intended to help domestic abuse survivors endangered by vehicle tracking. Unfortunately, despite the concerns of advocates who work directly on tech-enabled abuse, these proposals are moving in the wrong direction. These bills intended to protect survivors are instead being amended in ways that open them to additional risks. We call on the legislature to return to previous language that truly helps people disable location-tracking in their vehicles without giving abusers new tools.

Each of the bills seeks to address tech-enabled abuse in different ways. The first, S.B. 1394 by CA State Sen. David Min (Irvine), earned EFF’s support when it was introduced. This bill was drafted with considerable input from experts in tech-enabled abuse at The University of California, Irvine. We feel its language best serves the needs of survivors in a wide range of scenarios without creating new avenues of stalking and harassment for the abuser to exploit. As introduced, it would require car manufacturers to respond to a survivor’s request to cut an abuser’s remote access to a car’s connected services within two business days. To make a request, a survivor must prove the vehicle is theirs to use, even if their name is not necessarily on the loan or title. They could do this through documentation such as a court order, police report, or marriage separation agreement. S.B. 1000 by CA State Sen. Angelique Ashby (Sacramento) would have applied a similar framework to allow survivors to make requests to cut remote access to vehicles and other smart devices.

In contrast, A.B. 3139 introduced by Asm. Dr. Akilah Weber (La Mesa) takes a different approach. Rather than have people submit requests first and cut access later, this bill would require car manufacturers to terminate access immediately, and only requiring some follow-up documentation up to seven days after the request. Unfortunately, both S.B. 1394 and S.B. 1000 have now been amended to adopt this “act first, ask questions later” framework.

The changes to these bills are intended to make it easier for people in desperate situations to get away quickly. Yet, for most people, we believe the risks of A.B. 3139’s approach outweigh the benefits. EFF’s experience working with victims of tech-enabled abuse instead suggests that these changes are bad for survivors—something we’ve already said in official comments to the Federal Communications Commission.

Why This Doesn’t Work for Survivors

EFF has two main concerns with the approach from A.B. 3139. First, the bill sets a low bar for verifying an abusive situation, including simply allowing a statement from the person filing the request. Second, the bill requires a way to turn tracking off immediately without any verification. Why are these problems?

Imagine you have recently left an abusive relationship. You own your car, but your former partner decides to seek revenge for your leaving and calls the car manufacturer to file a false report that removes your access to your car. In cases where both the survivor and abuser have access to the car’s account—a common scenario—the abuser could even kick the survivor off a car app account, and then use the app to harass and stalk the survivor remotely. Under A.B. 3139’s language, it would be easy for an abuser to make a false statement, under penalty of perjury—to “verify” that the survivor is the perpetrator of abuse. Depending on a car app’s capabilities, that false claim could mean that, for up to a week, a survivor may be unable to start or access their own vehicle. We know abusers are happy to lie and exploit whatever they can to further their abuse, including laws and services meant to help survivors. It will be trivial for an abuser—who is already committing a crime and unlikely to fear a perjury charge—to file a false request to cut someone off from their car.

It’s true that other domestic abuse laws EFF has worked on allow for this kind of self-attestation. This includes the Safe Connections Act, which allows survivors to peel their phone more easily off of a family plan. However, this is the wrong approach for vehicles. Access to a phone plan is significantly different from access to a car, particularly when remote services allow you to control a vehicle. While inconvenient and expensive, it is much easier to replace a phone or a phone plan than a car if your abuser locks you out. The same solution doesn’t fit both problems. You need proof to make the decision to cut access to something as crucial to someone’s life as their vehicle.

Second, the language added to these bills requires it be possible for anyone in a car to immediately disconnect it from connected services. Specifically, A.B. 3139 says that the method to disable tracking must be “prominently located and easy to use and shall not require access to a remote, online application.” That means it must essentially be at the push of a button. That raises serious potential for misuse. Any person in the car may intentionally or accidentally disable tracking, whether they’re a kid pushing buttons for fun, a rideshare passenger, or a car thief. Even more troubling, an abuser could cut access to the app’s ability to track a car and kidnap a survivor or their children. If past is prologue, in many cases, abusers will twist this “protection” to their own ends.

The combination of immediate action and self-attestation is helpful for survivors in one particular scenario—a survivor who has no documentation of their abuse, who needs to get away immediately in a car owned by their abuser. But it opens up many new avenues of stalking, harassment, and other forms of abuse for survivors. EFF has loudly called for bills that empower abuse survivors to take control away from their abusers, particularly by being able to disable tracking—but this is not the right way to do it. We urge the legislature to pass bills with the processes originally outlined in S.B. 1394 and S.B. 1000 and provide survivors with real solutions to address unwanted tracking.

GARDENING, FARMING & HOMESTEADING

Homemade Fertilizer Made from… Ground Banana Peels!

Most gardeners are already familiar with composting. Turning all kinds of organic kitchen scraps into nutrient-rich fertilizer is a time-tested technique for producing a bumper crop of fruits and veggies in your garden, or just getting some truly stunning ornamentals.Banana peel fertilizer next to ingredients. You can use calcium carbonate instead of eggshells…

But what you might not know is that it is possible to use just a single “ingredient” to make beneficial and versatile fertilizer.

Some of the best kitchen scraps for this purpose are banana peels. Yep, that’s it! Banana peels are extremely rich in potassium, but you’ve got to know how to prepare them for optimal results.

And don’t worry: making banana peel fertilizer is a lot easier than you think and a whole lot quicker than waiting for a compost pile to break down. I’ll tell you everything you need to know and how to do it step by step in this guide.

What Can Banana Peels Do for Your Plants?

As mentioned, banana peels are a wonderful source of potassium. Potassium, the K in the quintessential NPK fertilizer ratio, is a crucially important nutrient that helps all plants develop strong root networks and also produce both fruit and blooms.

Without it, your plants simply won’t perform well because they will lack the substantial roots needed for stability, health, and moisture absorption, and because what fruit, veggies, and flowers they produce will be stunted and puny.

It will be a shame to put in all this work and time for a meager return!

Banana peels make a wonderful source of potassium because they are natural, easy to handle, and very easy to use once you process them.

No nasty chemicals, horrible smells, or potent concoctions that stand a high chance of harming your precious plants.

Can’t You Just Toss Banana Peels Out and Let Them Decompose?

You can, but you really shouldn’t, even though some folks still recommend this approach in our day and age. I strongly advise against it!

COVID RELATED NEWS

Court Rules EU Commission Failed to Provide Public Enough Info on Coronavirus Vaccine Deals

(Breitbart) The European Commission did not allow the public enough access to information about COVID-19 vaccine purchase agreements it secured with pharmaceutical companies during the pandemic, the EU general court said Wednesday.

The decision came a day ahead of a vote at the European Parliament at which European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is seeking reelection.

A group of EU lawmakers had taken legal action after the Commission refused to grant them complete access to COVID-19 vaccine contracts secured between the EU’s executive arm and manufacturers.

The pandemic shed light on the issue of transparency surrounding the negotiations for vaccines between the EU and big pharmaceutical groups. The EU Commission was mandated by member countries to organize the joint procurement of vaccines during the pandemic and led negotiations with manufacturers.

According to the court, the procurement of vaccines on behalf of all 27 member states allowed the bloc to quickly gather 2.7 billion euros ($2.95 billion) to place an order for more than a billion doses of vaccines.

In 2021, some members of the European Parliament asked for the full details of the agreements, but the Commission only agreed to provide partial access to certain contracts and documents, which were placed online in redacted versions. It also refused to say how much it paid for the billions of doses it secured, arguing that contracts were protected for confidentiality reasons.

In a statement, the court said that “the Commission did not take sufficient account of all the relevant circumstances in order to weigh up correctly the interests at issue.”

Two years ago, the EU’s ombudsman said in a separate case that the Commission was responsible for “maladministration” for mishandling a request for access to text messages between its president and the CEO of pharmaceutical company Pfizer regarding COVID-19 vaccine purchases.

Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly recommended that the European Commission “do a more extensive search for the relevant messages” relating to such purchases after a story published by the New York Times revealed that von der Leyen and Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla had exchanged text messages and calls about vaccine procurements for EU countries.

A journalist then asked the Commission for access to the text messages and other documents, but the executive branch did not provide any texts, saying no record of such messages had been kept. Commission officials had argued that text messages are ephemeral and don’t contain important information to justify their inclusion in a document management system.

CANCEL CULTURE

Disney World Cancels Iconic Character After 50 Years over Fears of Offending Alcoholics

(Breitbart) Veteran Disney World character Liver Lips McGrowl is no more. He has been unceremoniously renamed after 50 years of service because his original moniker was deemed “insensitive and outdated” — and could offend the delicate sensibilities of alcoholics.

Liver Lips McGrowl is one of the 18 animatronic bears of the “Country Bear Jamboree” at Magic Kingdom and has now been hastened to the exit as Disney continues its “woke” agenda before allowing the character’s return with a new name.

Nevertheless some fans took to social media and lamented his demise.

According to the NY Post, McGrowl will be replaced and renamed as Romeo McGrowl, a bear with the same last name and a similar facial appearance as Liver Lips but with a James Dean-esque head of hair.

The removal of Liver Lips is part of a bigger trend in Disney under which the park has made a “commitment to addressing and rectifying outdated or culturally insensitive elements within its attractions,” the blog post said.

The updated attraction, a “knee-slappin’ good time” inside the rustic theater Grizzly Hall, will reopen as the “Country Bear Musical Jamboree” ride at Magic Kingdom’s Frontierland