WORLD NEWS
Energy Crisis: German Business Confidence Slumps
German business confidence has fallen more than expected this month, hitting a two-year low amid worries about higher energy prices and the prospect of a possible natural gas shortage, a closely watched survey showed Monday.
The Ifo institute said its monthly confidence index, a leading indicator for Europe’s biggest economy, dropped to 88.6 points in July from 92.2 last month. It was the second consecutive fall and took the index to its lowest level since June 2020. Economists had predicted a drop to 90.1.
China Threatens ‘Every Instrument of National Power’: Space Force Chief
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) efforts to militarize outer space are threatening the United States’ ability to defend itself and project power, according to the U.S. Space Force’s chief of space operations.
“China has gone from zero to 60 very quickly,” said Gen. John Raymond. “They are clearly our pacing challenge.”
“Today, more so than in the past, we have to worry about protecting and defending [our] satellites.”
Raymond delivered the remarks at the Aspen Security Forum on July 20, where he said that the United States would need to lead the world in developing international norms of behavior for space.
The Alarming Global Depopulation Agenda
“Infertility: A Diabolical Agenda,” produced by Dr. Andrew Wakefield and Children’s Health Defense, details the World Health Organization’s intentions to produce an anti-fertility vaccine in response to perceived overpopulation, and how such vaccines have been used — without people’s knowledge or consent — since the mid-’90s
The WHO has been caught more than once deliberately deceiving women into thinking they were vaccinated against tetanus, when in fact they were being sterilized
The film clearly illustrates the depopulation agenda is not a conspiracy theory. It’s reality, and it’s happening worldwide. The HPV vaccine and the COVID shots also have adverse impacts on fertility that are being ignored
In the decade after the rollout of the HPV vaccine, the teen pregnancy rate dropped by 50%
While VAERS is the only publicly available system to assess COVID jab injuries, the U.S. government has at least 10 other reporting systems they’re not sharing data from. Children’s Health Defense is filing Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests for the other systems to get a better idea of the scale of harms, but VAERS and anecdotal reports alone suggest the scale of injuries and deaths is enormous. Data from insurance companies around the world also confirm this
Japan Nuclear Regulator Approves Releasing Treated Fukushima Water Into Sea
Japan’s nuclear regulators on Friday approved a plan to release treated water from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant into the sea, giving Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) permission to construct discharge facilities.
TEPCO said it planned to release treated water to a coastal facility, where it will be diluted with seawater and then sent through an undersea tunnel with an outlet 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) away to minimize the impact on local fishing.
The Nuclear Regulation Authority has approved the plan, but TEPCO would still need local consent before proceeding.
Japan’s Foreign Ministry said it will work to dilute the tritium-containing treated water to “far below the regulatory standards for safety,” and ensure the “reliability and transparency of its handling.”
Nuclear regulators will conduct additional inspections of the discharge facilities before TEPCO can begin disposing of treated water, according to the ministry.
“The discharge of the ALPS treated water into the sea will not start until after these steps are duly taken,” it said in a statement.
Japan had also asked the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to assess the handling of the wastewater to ensure that it meets international safety standards, amid concerns from neighboring countries about the potential health risks of releasing the water.
Experts from the IAEA visited the plant earlier this year and said Japan was taking appropriate steps for the planned discharge.
China Becoming ‘More Aggressive’ in Pacific, Gen. Milley Says
China’s military has become more aggressive and dangerous over the past five years, the top U.S. general asserted on July 24.
Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters during a trip to Indonesia that the United States and its allies have conducted more and more intercepts of Chinese aircraft and ships in the Pacific. The number of unsafe encounters has also increased significantly, he said.
“The message is the Chinese military, in the air and at sea, have become significantly more and noticeably more aggressive in this particular region,” said Milley, who recently asked his staff to compile details about interactions between China and the United States and others in the region.
The Chinese military has become “noticeably more aggressive in this particular region,” he also told the Financial Times. Milley spoke with The Associated Press and the Financial Times aboard his aircraft as he was flying to visit the Indo–Pacific over the weekend.
Milley, who has faced congressional blowback for holding two phone calls with a top Chinese general during the waning months of the Trump administration, didn’t provide specific figures about incidents involving Chinese jets or ships.
But, in one example, a Chinese J-6 fighter jet in May flew close to an Australian P-8 Poseidon spy plane and released chaff—pieces of metal debris to confuse enemy radar—that was sucked into the Australian plane’s engines, Australian officials said.
“The intercept resulted in a dangerous maneuver which posed a safety threat to the P-8 aircraft and its crew,” Australia’s military said last month about the encounter.
Tech CEO Takes Stand for Truckers and Farmers in the US and Holland
Jeff Brain, CEO of the CloutHub social networking application, told The Epoch Times that freedom and liberty are being crushed in the United States, the Netherlands, Australia, and other countries across the planet.
“There are those that want to push for socialism and tyranny against those that believe in individual freedom and liberty. And that’s the struggle we live in right now,” he said in a July 21 telephone interview.
U.S. NEWS, POLITICS & GOVERNMENT
Indiana abortion bill: Lawmakers meeting Monday to consider restrictions on abortions
Indiana lawmakers will meet in a special session Monday to consider a bill to ban nearly all abortion in the state.
Indiana Senate Republicans, plan to introduce a bill that will block most abortions in the state unless it’s to prevent a substantial permanent impairment of life or if the pregnancy resulted from rape or incest.
When the first bus carrying illegal migrants from Texas arrived in the District of Columbia on April 13, an official of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) said those who had no family to pick them up would be “put on a train” to Florida, according to a newly surfaced email.
The Oversight Project, an investigative arm of conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation, obtained the email from the D.C. government via a Freedom of Information Act request regarding its response to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s initiative to bus illegal immigrants apprehended at the nation’s southern border to the nation’s capital.
Abbott launched the border bus mission in April to give the Washington community a taste of what has been experienced by Texas border towns as a result of the Biden administration’s border policy. He pledged to send cooperating migrants to the U.S. Capitol, where “the Biden administration will be able to more immediately address the needs of the people that they are allowing to come across our border.”
In the email dated April 13, a FEMA official told a group of Washington health officials that Abbott “made good on his promise” to drop migrants off on the steps of the U.S. Capitol building.
The FEMA official appears to be disappointed that the Texas Division of Emergency Management, which was tasked to arrange the buses, didn’t keep its Washington counterpart informed of the buses’ whereabouts.
“DC was in contact with Texas EM [Emergency Management] and they said they would alert DC when a bus was leaving and provide a manifest. They did not do that,” the official writes.
The official goes on to describe a plan to rely on Catholic Charities of Arlington, Virginia, for support, although the religious charity network indicated that they didn’t have “a huge bandwidth” if buses kept coming from Texas. The official also said that FEMA has held meetings with Washington officials, Customs and Border Protection, non-governmental organizations from the border towns, and border town officials for advice on how to handle the situation.
“For this first drop, some were picked up by family members and the rest will be put on a train to Miami,” the email states.
The message was relayed by Patrick Ashley, senior deputy director of the D.C. Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Administration, and was introduced as “a quick update from FEMA.”
Supreme Court Blocks Biden Admin Policy Narrowing Detainment, Deportation of Illegal Aliens
The U.S. Supreme Court gave Texas and Louisiana a temporary legal victory in the border states’ attempt to strike down a September 2021 Biden administration immigration guideline.
The Supreme Court, in a ruling without explanation on Thursday, allowed a federal judge in Texas to block the Biden Administration’s immigration guideline that, according to the border states’ prosecutors, limits the ability of border agents to detain and deport illegal aliens.
The ruling is a political setback for the Biden administration as it tries to juggle an unprecedented surge in illegal immigration, overburdened Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and an agenda to replace the Trump administration’s more stringent border policy amid bipartisan criticism.
Dissenting justices include Justice Amy Coney Barrett, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Justice Elena Kagan, and Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson—marking Jackson’s first vote since the start of her tenure last month.
Pennsylvania State GOP Files Lawsuit to Throw Out Mail-In Voting Law
Pennsylvania Republicans are arguing a 2019 law that largely expanded mail-in voting in the commonwealth has been made invalid by a court ruling.
A group of 14 Republican lawmakers filed a lawsuit against the state’s acting secretary of the commonwealth, Leigh Chapman, in the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania on July 20, seeking again to throw out Act 77, Pennsylvania’s universal mail-in ballot law.
The move comes about two months before voters are scheduled to begin sending in mail-in ballots for midterm elections that feature high-profile races across the state.
The lawsuit claims that the mail-in voting law should be nullified under a federal appeals court’s May decision that had allowed election officials to count undated mail-in ballots. The panel stated that throwing out mail-in ballots in that election for lacking a handwritten date would violate voters’ civil rights. The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania has quietly dismissed Republicans’ request to overturn the court’s order.
Yet provisions of Sections 6 and 8 of Act 77 both require voters to “fill out, date and sign the declaration printed on such envelope,” which goes against federal law based on the court’s judgment.
A non-severability clause written into Act 77 states that “the remaining provisions or applications of this act are void” if any of its requirements are struck down. Plaintiffs, therefore, requested that the court declare all remaining provisions of Act 77 invalid and quash the law.
State Rep. Seth Grove, chair of the House State Government Committee, also said recently in a letter that “the entire bill should now be void.”
Ex-White House Testing Czar Says Biden ‘At Risk’ After Contracting COVID-19
Former White House COVID-19 testing chief Brett Giroir weighed in on President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 diagnosis, saying that the president’s advanced age puts him “at risk” of severe symptoms.
A report issued Friday by the physician to the 79-year-old president (pdf) said that Biden had a temperature of 99.4 degrees Fahrenheit on Thursday night and his “temperature has remained normal since then,” according to the White House. He also took the Pfizer drug Paxlovid and is “tolerating treatment well” while it is anticipated that Biden will “respond favorably” to the treatment.
But Giroir, a pediatrician, told Fox News Friday that because of Biden’s “advanced age” and “underlying health conditions,” he’s “at risk.
“I think we need to be quite careful because the president is at advanced age,” Giroir advised. “He also has underlying health conditions, including Atrial fibrillation. He’s had previous aneurysms and strokes. So, I would be cautious. I wouldn’t be so rosy … that everything is going to be fine. He is at risk.”
Data and numerous studies have shown that elderly people have the greatest risk of COVID-19-related hospitalization or death of any age group. Meanwhile, children and young adults have the lowest risk.
“The other issue I would say is Paxlovid is a very good drug, but it has drug-drug interactions with many of the drugs I believe the president is on, including blood thinners or anti-coagulants, and it could cause dangerous changes in that,” Giroir added. “So, I’m sure the White House medical unit is on this and is monitoring that. But that is one issue with Paxlovid in addition to the rebound that I would watch for in the president.”
Jan. 6 Defendant Dies by Suicide While Awaiting Sentencing
A Pennsylvania man awaiting sentencing for illegally entering the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, died on July 20.
The death of Mark R. Aungst, 47, of South Williamsport, was ruled a suicide by Coroner Charles E. Kiessling Jr., according to PennLive. A gas field well service technician by trade, Aungst is survived by his mother, a daughter, and three siblings.
The two defendants were both free on personal recognizance. Neither Aungst nor Bronsburg had attacked any police officer or damaged government property while inside the Capitol, prosecutors have said.
Justice Kagan: ‘Dangerous’ If Supreme Court Loses Public Confidence
Associate Justice Elena Kagan is warning against the Supreme Court not taking heed of the public after the court struck down Roe v. Wade.
Speaking in public on July 21 for the first time since the court’s momentous ruling in June, Kagan stressed the importance of the justices staying in their proper roles as judges and not dictating public policy.
“I’m not talking about any particular decision or even any particular series of decisions, but if over time the court loses all connection with the public and with public sentiment, that’s a dangerous thing for a democracy,” Kagan said at a judicial conference in Montana.
“Overall, the way the court retains its legitimacy and fosters public confidence is by acting like a court, is by doing the kinds of things that do not seem to people political or partisan,” added Kagan, an Obama appointee who started in her position in 2010.
The nation’s top court “earns its legitimacy by what it does, by the way it behaves,” Kagan told the conference. She alleged that the court has in the past been “unconstrained and undisciplined” when justices “really just attempted to basically enact their own policy or political or social preferences” and said the current justices should guard against that.
Kagan also said justices have to be consistent when implementing their judicial philosophies and cannot abandon that approach when it will not result in their preferred outcome.
Surveys have suggested that the public is souring on the Supreme Court.
DeSantis Welcomed Like a Pop Star at Conference for Young Conservatives
White fireworks shot up from the stage, music with a heavy bass boomed, and smoke billowed.
Then, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis emerged, tossing autographed baseball caps to a screaming crowd of 5,000 young conservatives in Tampa on July 22.
His appearance wrapped up the first day of the Student Action Summit, a three-day conference by Turning Point Action, part of Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA.
The annual gathering draws teens and 20-somethings from all over the country, and serves as a pep rally of conservatism.
A wide range of speakers, from politicians to television personalities, spent about 20-40 minutes each encouraging the young audience. They were urged to stand up for their values and truth, reject woke ideology and the efforts to indoctrinate them, get married and have children, and fight back against the overreach of government.
Most speakers poked fun at those espousing progressive and liberal ideologies and woke corporations, contrasting them against their conservative views. They urge the students to “save the country.”
Baltimore Progressive Prosecutor Marilyn Mosby Defeated in Reelection Bid
Marilyn Mosby, Baltimore’s high-profile progressive prosecutor who was indicted on federal charges, has been defeated in her bid for reelection as the city’s state’s attorney in the Democratic Party primary.
Ivan Bates, a criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor, won with 30,486 votes or about 40 percent; Thiru Vignarajah, 31 percent; and Mosby, 29 percent, according to results released by the Maryland State Board of Elections.
Bates criticized Mosby, a two-term incumbent, on the campaign trail over what he called the mismanagement and incompetence of her office. He often said that he ran to make Baltimore safer.
“I am humble, grateful, and excited that Baltimore decided it was time for a change, and the voters have placed their trust and belief in me,” Bates wrote to his supporters in an email announcing his victory on July 23.
“The job of helping build a safer Baltimore is a tremendous challenge. I am ready to lead—and to work with collaborators of all stripes to help make that a reality.”
During Mosby’s two terms, homicides in Baltimore rose steadily, averaging 333 every year between 2015 and 2021. This year’s numbers are on track to surpass those of 2021, according to Baltimore Police Department data.
During Mosby’s predecessor Gregg Bernstein’s final term, the city had a yearly average of 215 murders.
To fight crime, Bates proposes a five-point prosecution plan (pdf), including putting more resources into prosecuting illegal gun possessors, users, and traffickers, according to his campaign website.
He ran against Mosby in the 2018 primary and lost.
Judicial Watch Sues Secret Service Over Hunter Biden’s Records
Advocacy group Judicial Watch has filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) alleging that the agency is slow-rolling a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to turn over records tied to President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden.
Judicial Watch filed the FOIA suit against DHS on July 17 at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, asking the court to force the agency to turn over all non-exempt records concerning government-provided security services to Hunter Biden or companions on any international trips from 2010 to 2013.
The advocacy group said in a July 20 statement that the Secret Service, which is part of DHS, had “failed to respond adequately” to three FOIA requests in March and April demanding records of security services—and related use of taxpayer funds—provided to Hunter Biden and companions.
“The Secret Service is violating FOIA law by slow-rolling and hiding Hunter Biden records,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said in the statement. “What is the Secret Service trying to hide about Hunter Biden?”
A shocking public service announcement is warning everyone not to pick up folded money that you might find on the floor in public places such as gas stations.
The paper bills could be lethal envelopes carrying deadly fentanyl, which can kill with just one dose.
The Perry County Sheriff’s Office in Tennessee recently found two instances of folded paper bills in gas stations. Inside was a white, powdery substance that tested positive for methamphetamine and fentanyl.
Posting a picture online, the Sheriff stated: “This is very dangerous, folks! Please share and educate your children to not pick up the money.
“I personally plan to push for legislation for a bill that would intensify the punishment, if someone is caught using money as a carrying pouch for such poison.”
‘Women’s Bill of Rights’ Introduced to Counter Transgender Ideology
Carrie Sheffield, senior policy analyst at the Independent Women’s Forum, said her organization has had to introduce a Women’s Bill of Rights, which defines what a woman is, in response to transgender ideology and a larger Marxist agenda that aims to destroy Western culture.
“Gender ideology is just one strand of a much bigger, radical, Marxist agenda, and that is critical theory,” she said. “So you’ve got critical race theory, critical gender theory, [and] critical class theory. That’s a bigger assault on freedom,” Sheffield told NTD on July 15 during Freedom Fest 2022.
“[Critical theory] originated in Germany at the Frankfurt School and it was to indoctrinate and to basically destroy Western civilization,” said Sheffield.
The Women’s Bill of Rights was necessary because basic scientific truths are under attack, said Sheffield, pointing to when the recently appointed Supreme Court Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson would not define the word “woman.”
“I’m not a biologist,” Jackson said during her confirmation hearing
“[Jackson] knew it was a hornet’s nest, no matter what she said, that it would be just torn to shreds. So she played it very cautiously. And I think that that’s unfortunate because it just showed how the left has cowed anyone from being able to just speak the most basic commonsense,” said Sheffield.
“The polling is overwhelmingly in our favor, that people say, ‘we reject allowing biological men to compete in biological female sports,’” added Sheffield.
Sheffield said she is not against anyone identifying as they wish in their personal life, but there are biological differences that should be respected, especially in law.
“There are biological realities for women, and they put us at a physical disadvantage to biological men. And the fact that we have to spell this out, I think, is unfortunate,” said Sheffield.
“The definition of what it means to be a woman is under attack, the definition of what it means to be a mother is under attack, in terms of the protections for women and girls that we have been fighting for,” said Sheffield.
Here Are the Senior Biden Officials Entangled in Durham’s Criminal Russiagate Probe
Several individuals connected to a 2016 Hillary Clinton campaign plot to cast Donald Trump as a covert Kremlin collaborator are working in high-level jobs within the Biden administration—including at least two senior Biden appointees cited by Special Counsel John Durham in his “active (and) ongoing” criminal investigation of the scheme, according to recently filed court documents.
Jake Sullivan, who now serves as Biden’s national security adviser, and Caroline Krass, a top lawyer at the Pentagon, were involved in efforts in 2016 and 2017 to advance the Clinton campaign’s false claims about Trump through the media and the federal government, documents show. Other evidence shows that two other Biden officials—senior State Department official Dafna Rand and Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler—also are entangled in the so-called Russiagate scandal.
It’s not known whether these Biden appointees have been interviewed by Durham’s investigators. But as the probe widens, some government ethics watchdogs anticipate that Biden’s presidency could be pulled into the scandal, which saw the FBI abuse its surveillance powers to spy on a Trump campaign adviser based on Clinton opposition research.
Just as the Democrats have used their control of Congress to cast President Trump and the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol as threats to American democracy, Republicans are vowing if they regain power after November’s congressional elections to investigate the years-long effort to question Trump’s 2016 victory and undermine his presidency.
The top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Mike Turner, recently pledged to hold hearings and issue subpoenas “to get to the bottom of [Russiagate] so this never happens again, so we never have Americans having to distrust their own government because of the politicization of the FBI [and] of our intelligence community.”
RealClearInvestigations has learned that Congress has referred to the Special Counsel’s Office at least a dozen cases of potential perjury involving former Clinton campaign officials and Obama administration officials who have testified behind closed doors about their involvement in Russiagate. Hill lawyers and investigators have met with Durham’s staff about the criminal referrals stemming from the sworn depositions.
Republican sources say that the roles played in Russiagate by Krass, Sullivan, Rand, and Gensler may be among the first to draw attention in hearings. Although the full range of their efforts has not been made public, here’s what is known so far.
- Caroline Krass: Clinton Donor and Top CIA Lawyer – Krass, 54—whom Biden appointed as general counsel of the Defense Department early last year—is the former top CIA lawyer cited by Durham as “General Counsel of Agency-2” in his indictment of former Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann.
- Jake Sullivan: Potentially False Testimony – Sullivan, 45, played a pivotal role in the baseless Alfa Bank story as the Clinton campaign’s foreign policy adviser.
- Dafna Rand: An Anti-Trump Outfit Called TDIP – A longtime Clinton aide currently serving in the Biden administration as the director of the Office of Foreign Assistance, Rand also played a key role in spreading the Alfa Bank hoax.
- Gary Gensler: At SEC, Still After Trump – Biden nominated the longtime Clinton operative to head the Securities and Exchange Commission in February 2021, and Gensler was confirmed by the Senate and then sworn in as chairman of the Wall Street regulatory agency two months later.
US Army Has Approved Only 20 Permanent Religious COVID-19 Vaccine Exemptions
The U.S. Army announced on July 21 that it has approved just 20 permanent religious exemptions for the COVID-19 vaccine amid thousands of requests.
Out of the 8,000 applications for a permanent religious exemption, a total of 1,465 have been reviewed by the Army. Just 20 have been approved—an approval rate of about 1.37 percent.
All those who had their applications approved were in the active Army. None from the Army National Guard or Army Reserve have received an exemption.
That leaves 6,535 applications for a permanent religious exemption yet to be reviewed by the service.
Meanwhile, the Army has reviewed 1,045 permanent medical exemptions for the COVID-19 vaccine, out of 1,100 requests. It has approved just 34 of the requests, which is an approval rate of about 3.25 percent.
“Army officials review each request on an individual basis to determine whether an exemption is appropriate,” the Army stated. “Medical requests are reviewed primarily by healthcare providers, while religious accommodation requests include interviews with the Soldier’s chaplain, recommendations from the chain of command, as well as a public health and a legal review.
“All Soldiers who refuse the order to be vaccinated without an approved or pending exemption request are subject to certain adverse administrative actions, including flags, bars to continued service, and official reprimands.
“Soldiers who continue to refuse the vaccination order without an approved or pending exemption may also be subject to additional adverse administrative action, including separation.”
Ninety-six percent of the active Army, 88 percent of the Army National Guard, and 90 percent of the Army Reserve are fully vaccinated, according to the military branch’s statistics.
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
Enjoy the Modest Dip in Gas Prices While It Lasts Commentary
“We’ve been working really hard to bring the price down,” a COVID-stricken President Joe Biden claimed regarding gasoline prices in a virtual meeting with some of his energy and economic aides on Friday. It begs the question: how hard did he and his team work to bring the price of gas up over his first year and a half in office?
According to Biden, “gas prices have fallen every day this summer for 38 days in a row. Now, you know, you can find gas for $3.99 or less in more than 30,000 gas stations in more than 35 states.” There are more than 145,000 gas stations in America, so he could have put this another way: nearly 80 percent of stations in the country are charging over $4 a gallon; when this president took office the average price was $2.39.
Gasoline can’t help but ripple out through the rest of the economy. Groceries, building materials, medical supplies, work or pleasure travel—there isn’t much of anything that doesn’t rely on a petroleum-powered vehicle to get from farm to table or factory to consumer. But this administration has been twisting itself into knots rationalizing the consumer pain of higher gas prices as a necessity to save the planet—before swiftly taking credit for any slight decline.
The president touted his release of a million barrels a day from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve beginning in the spring. Quite a bit of that actually ended up going to communist China, our primary global adversary, instead of the domestic destinations that were apparently intended. But that aside, wouldn’t someone dedicated to ending reliance on fossil fuels let all those hundreds of millions of barrels of oil sitting in underground tanks in Louisiana and Texas stay undisturbed? Especially when the supposed purpose is to lower gas prices—the opposite of what the green movement wants.
In a clunker of a gaffe during House testimony on July 19, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said, “the more pain we are all experiencing from the high price of gas, the more benefit there is for those who can access electric vehicles,” letting the cat out of the bag that high gas prices will allow the left to drag Americans kicking and screaming into the new world of cars that cost well over $30,000 and can’t travel 300 miles on a single charge.
On July 21, Buttigieg was posting on Twitter, “Good morning! Gas prices are going down.”
At the same time, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was gushing, “this is so exciting, guys” about the decline in gas prices that is delaying the day we are force-fed the medicine that will liberate us from the scourge of fossil fuels.
After Biden’s remarks on Friday, Council of Economic Advisers Chairwoman Cecilia Rouse declared that “we expect gas prices at the pump to continue to come down” in as much as “an additional 40-cent decline,” but in the next breath warned: “Of course, energy markets remain highly volatile … So oil prices could rise again. And it is very difficult to reliably predict where these prices will be over the longer term.”
In fact, it’s not difficult at all to see that the current modestly lower prices can’t be expected to last very long. The American Automobile Association earlier this month warned that “July is typically the heaviest month for demand as more Americans hit the road, so this trend of easing prices could be short-lived.” AAA spokesman Andrew Gross also pointed to a looming recession as an explanation, calling fears of a recession “a powerful motivator.” GasBuddy cautions that “There is still risk that prices could go up and reach new records, mainly if there is a hurricane or some other such unexpected event that shuts down oil or refining production.” The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is predicting an “above-average” 2022 Atlantic hurricane season, with from 14 to 21 serious storms, including three to six major hurricanes.
The left has bullied refineries, which process crude into gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel, into closing shop in the aftermath of the drastically reduced demand during the COVID shutdowns, too few refineries being a major underlying factor in the price of gasoline; there were five fewer refineries at the beginning of this year than in 2020 before the pandemic savaged the economy. The United States hasn’t built a new oil refinery with significant downstream unit capacity since 1977.
“Gouging” is a term Washington loves to slander the oil industry with, but the Biden administration is not only guilty of perpetrating exactly what it accuses Big Oil of having done; it tries to take credit for lowering the inflationary gas prices it caused.
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Bio-weapons are being developed that use specific DNA to target and kill individuals through their medical profile, a Democrat member of the U.S. House Intelligence Committee warned Friday.
Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO), a U.S. Army veteran, used the Aspen Security Forum to warn Americans to be more judicious about sharing their DNA with private companies due to the coming of new bioweapon types.
HEALTH
Myth of ‘Moderation’: Is There No Safe Amount of Alcohol?
Mike Dyson, 33, passed away suddenly on Christmas Day after several drinks, before he even had a chance to open his presents.
Dyson went to his neighbor’s house to drink at 1:30 p.m. After drinking about four glasses of whiskey and some hot water, he lay down on a bed. Everyone thought he was sleeping. It wasn’t until around 7 p.m. that his family members and neighbors discovered to their horror that he was not breathing. So they called an ambulance and gave him CPR at the same time.
Unfortunately, he still died at around 8:20 p.m.
The coroner confirmed that he died of central nervous system depression, particularly respiratory depression, caused by acute alcohol intoxication. Toxicological analysis showed that Dyson’s blood alcohol content was very high at the time, four to five times of the legal driving limit, which is equivalent to the state of “extreme drunkenness in a normal person.”
https://www.theepochtimes.com/covid-19-injections-may-damage-young-childrens-innate-immune-system-paul-alexander_4617221.html?utm_source=News&utm_campaign=breaking-2022-07-25-1&utm_medium=email&est=E9eGcEd0x5YQxfvnZKpG%2Fv0XItOPmvnjvfCpZRAmwrSv6NAhcsFv8LCsN%2FpYxNqQpPtnDyson’s story is just one example of the countless deaths caused by alcohol. The harm caused by alcohol is actually much more common than we think.
Each year, alcohol kills approximately 95,000 people (68,000 men and 27,000 women) in the United States. Alcohol is the third leading preventable cause of death in the United States (the first is tobacco, and the second is poor diet and lack of exercise).
From 2006 to 2014, alcohol-related emergency room visits increased by 47 percent. Of all emergency cases, 18.5 percent were alcohol-related. In 2019, there were 10,142 drunk driving deaths in the United States, accounting for 28 percent of all driving deaths.
mRNA Platform Inventor Sifts Through the Lies
Media and health authorities also ignore what Dr. Robert Malone and others have warned about from the start, which is that vaccinating during a pandemic will drive the evolution of resistant strains. This is precisely what we’re now seeing with Omicron variants BA.4 and BA.5, which circumvent both natural immunity and COVID jab-induced antibodies
The CDC and the FDA are also ignoring the reality of immune imprinting, which is causing COVID-jabbed individuals to contract COVID more frequently, and repeatedly
Media are again trying to drum up fear over new COVID strains, despite data clearly showing hospitalization rates remain steady even though the infection rate is rising
When RNAs include pseudouridine — as all mRNA COVID shots do — they will last longer and be less inflammatory. However, we’ve now discovered pseudouridine-containing RNA also causes immunosuppression, which we’re seeing in many who have received the jabs
Malone’s book, “The Lies My Government Told Me” is now available
Collagen Benefits Skin and Joints, Study Confirms
Collagen is the most common and abundant of your body’s proteins; one of its primary purposes is to provide structural scaffolding for your various tissues to allow them to stretch while still maintaining tissue integrity
Collagen supplements allow for certain peptides to enter your bloodstream intact before they’re broken down into their component parts in your digestive system, thereby benefiting connective tissues throughout your body
A peptide known as prolyl-hydroxyproline, in particular, which plays a role in skin health and repair, has been shown to enter the bloodstream intact
Oral collagen has been shown to increase skin elasticity, hydration and collagen density in the dermis of older women
Collagen may also help reduce joint pain, improve wound healing, improve blood pressure and reduce cardiovascular damage, improve glucose tolerance, strengthen bones and improve osteoporosis
—> Power Mall Product of Interest: Collagen Power Plus
Why Butter and Coconut Oil Are Good for You
Data show that higher levels of dairy fat biomarkers are associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular events and all-cause mortality. The link appears to be odd-chain saturated fats, like pentadecanoic acid (C15:0)
People with higher levels of C15:0 had a lower incidence of heart disease risk in a linear dose-dependent manner. Data compared C15:0 against omega-3 and found broader health benefits
Coconut oil is another healthy saturated fat that helps control Crohn’s disease, support thyroid function and promote heart health; in places where coconut oil is routinely consumed, the populations have little vascular disease
Conversely, vegetable oils, which are recommended by the American Heart Association, lead to a severe imbalance in omega-3 and omega-6, and increase your risk of several chronic and lethal diseases, including cancer and mitochondrial dysfunction leading to cell death
A cyclical ketogenic diet improves your body’s ability to burn fat and produce ketones, which optimizes your metabolic function, improves cellular efficiency and makes you more resilient against respiratory viruses like SARS-CoV-2
Perhaps the Worst Thing to Do if You Can’t Sleep
April 30, 2019, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced it will require sedative-hypnotics — a class of sleep medication used to treat insomnia — to carry a black box warning stating drug side effects may include dangerous behaviors done while sleeping, such as eating, walking, driving or engaging in a range of activities in your sleep that can lead to injury or death
These potentially dangerous behaviors are more common with eszopiclone (Lunesta), zaleplon (Sonata), and zolpidem (Ambien, Ambien CR, Edluar, Intermezzo, Zolpimist) than other prescription sleep aids
Over the past 26 years, there have been 66 documented reports of “complex sleep behaviors” occurring in patients on these drugs, 20 of which were fatal
Several studies have also found sleeping pills increase your risk of death. In one study, fewer than 18 doses per year increased risk of death by 360%
Many studies have also shown sleeping pills increase sleep time by mere minutes, typically in the range of five to 30 minutes at the most
—> Check out Herbal Zzz all-natural, non habit forming sleep solution
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
WATCH: Texas Wind Turbine Hit by Lightning Goes Up in Flames
A wind farm lost one of its turbines after a lightning strike on Friday reportedly caused it to catch fire in Crowell, Texas, according to Fox Weather.
Video footage showed the fiery turbine still spinning as it disintegrated into ash
GARDENING, FARMING & HOMESTEADING
Reusing Food Waste: Buy Once, Grow Forever
When you’re eating healthfully and sustainably, most of the waste you produce is in the form of food scraps. And taking sustainability one step further means reusing food waste rather than disposing of those food bits.
The first way that comes to mind for most people is to turn food waste into compost for your garden. If you live in an apartment like I did for a long time, small-space composting can be an easy and cost-effective way to use your food waste.
But beyond composting, did you know you can both regrow plants from your scraps (buy once, grow forever) and eat those scraps in crafty recipes?
Check out my favorite tips and recipes in this article—along with a list of even more clever ways to put your food waste to good use.
COVID RELATED NEWS
COVID Jabs Impact Both Male and Female Fertility
The first COVID shots rolled out in December 2020, and it didn’t take long before doctors and scientists started warning of possible reproductive effects, as the jab may cross-react with syncytin and reproductive genes in sperm, ova and placenta in ways that might impair reproduction
According to one recent investigation, 42% of women with regular menstrual cycles said they bled more heavily than usual after vaccination; 39% of those on gender-affirming hormone treatments reported breakthrough bleeding, as did 71% of women on long-acting contraceptives and 66% of postmenopausal women
Other recent research has found the Pfizer COVID jab impairs semen concentration and motile count in men for about three months
Miscarriages, fetal deaths and stillbirths have also risen after the rollout of the COVID shots. In November 2021, Lions Gate Hospital in North Vancouver, British Columbia (BC), delivered 13 stillborn babies in a 24-hour period, and all of the mothers had received the COVID jab
Many countries are now reporting sudden declines in live birth rates, including Germany, the U.K., Taiwan, Hungary and Sweden. In the five countries with the highest COVID jab uptake, fertility has dropped by an average of 15.2%, whereas the five countries with the lowest COVID jab uptake have seen an average decline of just 4.66%
Birx Says COVID-19 Vaccines Were Never ‘Going to Protect Against Infection’
One of the former U.S. officials who led the COVID-19 response during the Trump administration said July 22 that COVID-19 vaccines were not expected to protect against infection.
“I knew these vaccines were not going to protect against infection. And I think we overplayed the vaccines. And it made people then worry that it’s not going to protect against severe disease and hospitalization,” Deborah Birx, the White House COVID-19 response coordinator under former President Donald Trump, said during an appearance on Fox News.
The Moderna and Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines were granted emergency use authorization in late 2020 to prevent symptomatic COVID-19, and were promoted by many health officials, including Birx.
“This is one of the most highly-effective vaccines we have in our infectious disease arsenal. And so that’s why I’m very enthusiastic about the vaccine,” Birx said on an ABC podcast at the time.
She made no mention of concerns the vaccines might not protect against infection.
EXCLUSIVE: CDC Says It Performed Vaccine Safety Data Mining After Saying It Didn’t
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is saying it has performed vaccine safety data mining and analyses since early 2021, a reversal from a recent letter.
The CDC said in an operating procedures document dated Jan. 29, 2021, that it “will perform” a type of data mining analysis of vaccine safety data called Proportional Reporting Ratio (PRR).
The public health agency also said it would conduct routine surveillance of the data, which is being logged into the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System.
The data mining and surveillance were aimed at detecting adverse events occurring at higher-than-expected rates.
But little of what the agency said it would perform has actually been performed, according to a June 16 letter to the Children’s Health Defense, a nonprofit.
The group had asked, in a Freedom of Information Act request, for all data generated in connection with the data mining, as well as copies of other data.
In response, CDC records officer Roger Andoh said that staff within the CDC’s Immunization and Safety Office “inform me that no PRRS were conducted by CDC.”
“Furthermore, data mining is outside of th[e] agency’s purview; staff suggest you inquire with the FDA,” or the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, he wrote.
The FDA was tasked with conducting a different method of data mining, according to the procedures document.
The CDC also failed to produce other information it said it would be producing, such as weekly tables of all reports of adverse events following COVID-19 vaccines.
Retired Lt. Col. Sandy Miarecki, who served over 20 years in the Air Force as a pilot, was given a notice of proposed removal from her position as an instructor at the U.S. Air Force Academy (USAFA) on July 14 for refusing COVID-19 vaccination and testing.
At the beginning of the school term, in January 2022, she was first suspended from teaching for the same reason.
Miarecki was vaccine injured in 1992 during her military service. She was not completely disabled from the injury, and she gave credit to her research on natural medicine, saying it allowed her to be functional.
When the COVID vaccines were mandated in the military, she thought the imposition would violate U.S. law as well as the Nuremberg Code.
“Before the [COVID vaccine] shots mandates came down, I warned my chain of command that they would be breaking federal law if they forced any EUA shots on anyone,” Miarecki told The Epoch Times, referring to the vaccines allowed under emergency use authorization.
Similar to Miarecki, USAFA civilian Olympic-calibre coach Dana Lyon believes that she was terminated due to rejecting COVID vaccination, according to The Gazette.
“When the mandates came down—illegally from SecDef, who has zero authority to mandate anything like this, per the USC—all subsequent people who forced the injections on people or lose their jobs or get kicked out of Academy were guilty of coercion under 21 US Code, Section 360bbb-3 and Nuremberg code,” Miarecki added.
The Nuremberg Code is a set of internationally accepted standards to which doctors have to conform when experimenting on humans. It was established by the war crime tribunal in Nuremberg, Germany, after World War II.
“Even to this day, neither Pfizer’s Comirnaty (the only FDA approved shots until Jan 2021) nor SpikeVax by Moderna (started in Jan 2021) have EVER been available in the US. Bottom line: all shots are still only EUA, and coercion to take them or lose your job or Academy appointment is a crime against humanity and punishable by death through international tribunals,” Miarecki said.
Washington, DC Child COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate Illegal: Legal Expert
The COVID-19 vaccine mandate for all students 12 and older in Washington, D.C. violates federal law, a legal expert says.
“There is no FDA-approved COVID shot available and therefore, individuals have a right under the emergency use authorization to refuse these shots,” Matthew Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, told The Epoch Times.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted emergency authorization to the Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, and Novavax COVID-19 vaccines.
Under the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, people who go to receive a product that has received emergency authorization must be informed that some benefits and risks “are unknown” and of “the option to accept or refuse administration of the product.”
“It is your choice to receive or not receive [the vaccine]. Should you decide not to receive it, it will not change your standard medical care,” FDA fact sheets provided to people getting a shot state.
Staver’s group may challenge the District of Columbia vaccine mandate.
Other interpretations of the law do exist. The U.S. Department of Justice, for instance, has said that the section “concerns only the provision of information to potential vaccine recipients and does not prohibit public or private entities from imposing vaccination requirements for a vaccine that is subject to an emergency use authorization.”
CANCEL CULTURE
‘Misinformation’ Watchdog NewsGuard Continues Assault on Conservative Media by Targeting Fox News
NewsGuard, the establishment “news-rating” project that presents itself to the public as an impartial authority on the trustworthiness of news publishers, has labeled Fox News an untrustworthy news source, saying it “fails to adhere to basic journalistic standards.”
Despite presenting itself as a fake news watchdog, NewsGuard’s own founders have fueled false claims about major national news stories. At the height of the 2020 presidential election, NewsGuard co-founder Steve Brill stated on national television that he thought there was a “high likelihood” that the Hunter Biden laptop story was a “hoax perpetrated by the Russians.”
Facebook Provides $150 Million in Funding to Zuckerberg’s ‘Supreme Court’
Facebook has approved a new three-year $150 million commitment to fund its global oversight board, commonly referred to as Facebook’s “Supreme Court,” which acts as an allegedly independent body that reviews the company’s actions and policies.
Axios reports that Facebook (now known as Meta) announced a new three-year $150 million commitment to fund its global content oversight board, which is designed to act as an allegedly independent review board, analyzing the company’s decisions and policies.
YouTube to remove videos spreading abortion falsehoods
YouTube will begin removing misleading videos about abortion in response to falsehoods being spread about the procedure that is being banned or restricted across a broad swath of the U.S. The move announced Thursday by the Google-owned video site comes about a month after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the case that had protected the legality of abortion in the country for nearly 50 years
17 Attorneys General Warn Google About Censoring Pregnancy Crisis Centers
A coalition of 17 attorneys general is threatening Google with an anti-trust investigation if it censors pregnancy crisis centers from search results related to abortion.
Pregnancy crisis centers are different from abortion centers in that they provide resources for women who choose to carry their babies to full term.
The attorneys general of Virginia and Kentucky, Jason Miyares and Daniel Cameron, respectively, are leading the group, which sent a letter to Google on July 21.
In the letter, the group asks whether the tech giant has taken any steps to treat crisis pregnancy centers differently in search results since Roe v Wade was overturned.
Google, Miyares, and Cameron did not respond to requests for comment. Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt said he joined the effort because he did not want to see Google succumb to political pressure.
The AGs’ joint correspondence was in response to Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Congresswoman Elissa Slotnick’s (D-Mich.) June 17th letter asking what steps Google CEO Sundar Pichai will take to limit the appearance of anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers in Google search results when users search for “abortion clinics” or “abortion pills.”
“Google should not be displaying anti-abortion fake clinics or crisis pregnancy centers in search results for users that are searching for an abortion clinic or abortion pill,” Warner and Slotnik wrote. “If Google must continue showing these misleading search results and in Google Maps, the results should at the very least be appropriately labeled.”
An additional 12 Senators and nine members of Congress, including Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), signed the letter.
PET NEWS
As Seresto Flea Collars Come Under More Scrutiny, Here’s What Dog Owners Should Consider
A Congressional subcommittee called for the Seresto collars to be recalled. Here’s why—and what you should do next.
After they were linked to thousands of dog deaths and illnesses last year, the Seresto flea and tick collars were the subject of a Congressional inquiry last week from a subcommittee that urged a recall of the popular collars.
Ahead of a hearing last Wednesday, the Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy—made up of members of the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Oversight and Reform—released a 24-page report outlining its concerns with the Seresto collars. It linked 2,500 pet deaths and more than 98,000 health incidents to use of the collars.
Manufactured by Elanco Animal Health, the Seresto flea and tick collars ideally provide dogs with eight months’ worth of protection against fleas and ticks. The collars are intended to slowly release their active ingredients, spreading them over dogs’ bodies so they kill fleas and ticks before they bite. Elanco has sold more than 33 million of them in the last 10 years, making the collars one of the most popular pest-prevention pet products.
GOOD NEWS
Ohio Couple Turns 100 Together After Celebrating 79th Anniversary: ‘We’ve Had a Wonderful Life’
An Ohio couple recently celebrated turning 100 at the same church they met at 81 years ago after celebrating their 79th-anniversary in June.
June and Hubert Malicote were both born in rural Kentucky ten days apart on July 13, 1922, and July 23, 1922, respectively. Both eventually made their way to Hamilton, Ohio, while searching for work, where they met each other at Eaton Road Church one evening.
ICYM
Fauci Set to Receive Fatter Pension Than President’s Annual Salary
Dr. Anthony Fauci will receive a tax-paid annual federal retirement pension benefit of $414,667—more than the president’s $400,000 annual salary—if he leaves civil service in January 2025, as he has said he plans to do, according to the nonprofit government watchdog Open the Books (OTB).
While the specific details of an individual federal employee’s retirement benefit are exempt from public disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), the formula used to determine the amount is public, as are key details, including annual salary and years of service.
The nonprofit’s auditors arrived at the figure by using the known formula, salary data, and number of years of service for Fauci, who is the longtime director of the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) at the National Institutes for Health (NIH).
Fauci will have been a government employee for 59 years and be 85 years of age if he retires in January 2025. Under the present rules for federal compensation, his annual salary at retirement will be nearly $530,000, according to the OTB calculations.
He presently is paid $456,028 in annual salary compensation, making him the highest-paid employee on the federal payroll. His salary exceeds those of the president, the vice president, the heads of federal departments, senators and representatives, and the justices of the Supreme Court.
Fauci didn’t respond by press time to a request by The Epoch Times for comment.
“If it wasn’t already clear enough, Dr. Fauci’s profound impact on our public health policies, economy, and public schools is reflected by this enormous pension,” Adam Andrzejewski, OTB’s president, told The Epoch Times. “At the end of the day, taxpayers helped fund this pension and guarantee all of it.”
Andrzejewski added that the generosity of federal compensation overall is excessive, noting: “When debating the pay, perks, and pension benefits for federal employees, everything needs to be on the table. Today, the average federal bureaucrat makes six figures, receives 44 days of paid time off, and has a very lucrative retirement pension.
“It’s tough for the private sector to compete with this benefit package.”
Dueling Trump, Pence Rallies in Arizona Draw Different Crowds as Lake, Robson Trade Barbs
One rally looked more like a catered banquet event on steroids, the other like a rock concert with all the hoopla of a religious revival meeting.
One thing was sure: former President Donald Trump and his former Vice President Mike Pence were the stars at dueling rallies in the final days before the Arizona primary on Aug. 2.
“I’m a Christian, a conservative, and a Republican—in that order—and I’m here because Arizona—and America—needs Karrin Taylor Robson as the next governor of Arizona,” Pence said at an event for Robson held at the Tyr Tactical body armor manufacturer in Peoria, Arizona, on July 22.
Fauci Says He Is ‘Open’ on Virus Lab Leak Theory
Dr. Anthony Fauci says he is keeping an “open mind” over claims that the coronavirus may have leaked from a Chinese lab, despite his long-standing assertion that the virus had a natural origin.
“We have an open mind but it looks very much like this was a natural occurrence, but you keep an open mind,” Fauci told Fox News on July 23. The director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases argued that more allegations over the lab leak theory “doesn’t mean there’s more evidence of it.”
The chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden was pressed during the interview on email comments he made two years ago, claiming the lab leak theory would go away in time, despite evidence and internal expert opinions pointing to the opposite; that the virus came from a lab and not an animal.
It came when the P4 laboratory at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, a biosafety lab in the Chinese city of Wuhan, was widely believed to be where the coronavirus first emerged.
“When you read the email from Kristian Andersen who says … ‘one has to look really closely to see some features [potentially] look engineered,’” said Fox News anchor Bret Baier. “And you say this is a shiny object and it will go away. It does not look like you’re open minded to it.”
“Bret, I know you’re a good person, I’ve known you a long time,” Fauci responded. “If you take a group of emails when people are considering and thinking out loud, and stop there, and don’t look at the weeks of consideration by the same people who wrote the same emails … in published peer review literature, they explain why they thought it was a natural occurrence.”
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