Today’s Top 5:
1.Supreme Court Rejects Republican Effort to Empower State Lawmakers in Making Election Rules
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6–3 against North Carolina Republicans who argued that state legislatures have sweeping authority to make the rules for federal elections in the states without interference from the courts.
At issue is the once-obscure independent state legislature doctrine, under which Republicans argue that the Constitution has always directly authorized state legislatures alone to make rules for the conduct of federal elections in their respective states.
Democrats say this doctrine is a fringe conservative legal theory that could endanger voting rights, enable extreme partisan gerrymandering in the redistricting process, and cause upheaval in election administration.
2.Whistleblower No. 2: Hunter Biden Willfully Evaded Millions in Taxes Through Elaborate Scheme
Hunter Biden agreed to plead guilty last week to two misdemeanor counts of failing to pay taxes on time, but according to the second whistleblower whose testimony was also released last week by the House Ways and Means Committee, he also willfully evaded paying millions in taxes in an elaborate tax scheme.
According to the second whistleblower — the lead IRS case agent for the Hunter Biden investigation whose name is redacted — Hunter Biden set up a scheme involving a Ukrainian natural gas company he sat on the board of and a Chinese business associate to willfully evade paying taxes.
3.The Great Grift: More than $200 billion in COVID-19 aid may have been stolen, federal watchdog says
More than $200 billion may have been stolen from two large COVID-19 relief initiatives
The Great Grift: More than $200 billion in COVID-19 aid may have been stolen, federal watchdog saysBy RICHARD LARDNER and JENNIFER McDERMOTTAssociated PressThe Associated PressWASHINGTON
4.A State of Martial Law: America Is a Military Dictatorship Disguised as a Democracy
Commentary by John Whitehead
What country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance?”—Thomas Jefferson
The government is goosestepping all over our freedoms.
Case in point: America’s founders did not want a military government ruled by force. Rather, they opted for a republic bound by the rule of law: the U.S. Constitution.
Yet sometime over the course of the past 240-plus years that constitutional republic has been transformed into a military dictatorship disguised as a democracy.
Most Americans seem relatively untroubled by this state of martial law.
Incredibly, when President Biden bragged about how the average citizen doesn’t stand a chance against the government’s massive arsenal of militarized firepower, it barely caused a ripple.
As Biden remarked at a fundraising event in California, “I love these guys who say the Second Amendment is—you know, the tree of liberty is water with the blood of patriots. Well, if [you] want to do that, you want to work against the government, you need an F-16. You need something else than just an AR-15.”
The message being sent to the citizenry is clear: there is no place in our nation today for the kind of revolution our forefathers mounted against a tyrannical government.
For that matter, the government has declared an all-out war on any resistance whatsoever by the citizenry to its mandates, power grabs and abuses.
By this standard, had the Declaration of Independence been written today, it would have rendered its signers extremists or terrorists, resulting in them being placed on a government watch list, targeted for surveillance of their activities and correspondence, and potentially arrested, held indefinitely, stripped of their rights and labeled enemy combatants.
This is no longer the stuff of speculation and warning.
5.Start Walking: NY Cleared to Impose $23 Levy on Drivers Entering City
Democrat-run New York City is ready to hit residents and visitors alike with a “congestion charge” after federal approval was granted Monday for its first-in-the-nation plan to impose big tolls to drive into the most visited parts of Manhattan.
The program could begin as soon as the spring of 2024, bringing New York City into line with places like London, Singapore, and Stockholm that have implemented similar tax impositions on drivers simply going about their everyday business.
WORLD NEWS
Sweden Dumps Climate Agenda, Scraps Green Energy Targets
Sweden has a multitude of other problems, but cracks are appearing that reality is being acknowledged and dealt with. Namely, that sources of reliable energy do not include so-called “alternative energy” like windmills and solar panels. The rest of the world should take note
EXCLUSIVE: US Bid to Rejoin UN Education Agency Could Be Derailed by House GOP
State Department says rejoining agency helps advance U.S. interests and restore American leadership; critics say agency is wasteful and extremely politicized
Indian cough syrup that caused child deaths contained industrial chemical
Charges have been dropped against a 14-year-old boy who fatally shot a man caught on video punching the boy’s mother in a Chicago restaurant.
The New York Post reported that 35-year-old Carlishia Hood and her 14-year-old son were both charged with first-degree murder after the son shot and killed 32-year-old Jerry Brown on June 18, 2023.
The Eurozone Falls into Recession as “Stimulus” Fails
The disastrous performance of the euro area, which fell into recession in the first quarter, is also happening while this economic region enjoys significant tailwinds: Declining energy and commodity prices have supported the euro area’s GDP, boosting the external component thanks to meaningfully lower imports. Furthermore, the euro area should benefit from the expected positive impact of the massive EU Next Generation stimulus plan. None of those effects have helped, which proves yet again that massive government stimulus plans hardly boost growth and productivity and are often directed to politically favored sectors with little real impact on jobs or growth.
This is hardly a surprise, as the Juncker Plan and the Growth and Jobs Plan of 2009 also failed to deliver any multiplier effect. The euro area is a chain of government stimulus plans that yield no real economic return as productivity growth continues to be exceedingly poor, the unemployment rate is twice that of the U.S., and growth simply does not take off.
U.S. NEWS, POLITICS & GOVERNMENT
They know a disease when they see one!
Poll: Kamala Harris Plunges to Record Low for VP Net Favorability
Kamala Harris entered the record books Monday when an NBC News poll revealed she is the most unpopular vice president in history.
The poll showed 49 percent of registered voters have a negative view of the 58-year-old compared to 32 percent in the positive.
IRS Whistleblower: My Contemporaneous Documentation Contradicts Garland, Weiss on Hunter Case
During portions of an interview with CBS News Chief Investigative Correspondent Jim Axelrod aired on Tuesday’s broadcast of “CBS Evening News,” IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley stated that his contemporaneous documentation in the form of an email with IRS Special Agent in Charge Darrell Waldon on U.S. Attorney David Weiss not being the deciding person on whether charges against Hunter Biden were filed that he entered as exhibit 10 in his congressional testimony contradicts recent public statements by Weiss and Attorney General Merrick Garland.
Shapley said, “If this was any other person, they likely would have already served their sentence.”
CDC Issues Health Alert for Malaria in 2 US States
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued an alert this week after the spread of malaria occurred within the United States for the first time in 20 years.
Four cases of malaria, caused by the plasmodium parasite, were detected in Florida, according to a CDC health alert issued Monday. Another case was found in Texas, it said.
Navy SEAL Veteran Tim Sheehy Launches Senate Bid in Battleground Montana
Republican Tim Sheehy, a retired Navy SEAL, announced Tuesday he is challenging Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) in the race for U.S. Senate in battleground Montana.
Sheehy, a decorated combat veteran who now serves as the CEO of Bridger Aerospace, highlighted in a statement of his decision to run that he founded that company and others and has worked to create jobs, especially for veterans and college students, in his home state.
Tucker Carlson: ‘Wars for Democracy Always Cancel Democracy in the Process’
Maybe we won’t continue to hear Tucker saying the word, “Democracy” if the whole scenario implodes on itself! Good luck with that.
Liz Cheney: Our Politics Created a Situation Where ‘We’re Electing Idiots’
Tuesday “CNN This Morning” played a video of former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) saying the United States is “electing idiots” while speaking Monday night at an event in New York City’s Center for Culture and Arts.
Co-host Phil Mattingly said, “Liz Cheney spoke last night. She is always so subtle. I want you to take a listen to something she said.”
Misconduct by federal jail guards led to Jeffrey Epstein’s suicide, Justice Department watchdog says
Jeffrey Epstein was left alone in his jail cell with a surplus of bed linens the night he killed himself. Nearly all the surveillance cameras on his unit didn’t record. One worker was on duty for 24 hours straight. And, despite his high profile and a suicide attempt two weeks earlier, he wasn’t checked on regularly as required.
The Justice Department’s watchdog said Tuesday that a “combination of negligence, misconduct and outright job performance failures” by the federal Bureau of Prisons and workers at the New York City jail enabled the wealthy financier to take his own life in August 2019, finding no evidence of foul play.
Inspector General Michael Horowitz blamed numerous factors for Epstein’s death, including the jail’s failure to assign him a cellmate and overworked guards who lied on logs after failing to make regular checks. Had the guards done so, Horowitz said, they would’ve found Epstein had excess linens, which he used in his suicide.
Texas College Fires Biology Professor for Teaching Students That Sex is Determined by Chromosomes
St. Philip’s College in San Antonio, Texas, has reportedly fired a biology professor for teaching students that chromosomes determine sex.
In November, four students walked out of Dr. Johnson Varkey’s lecture over the standard teaching about X and Y chromosomes, according to First Liberty Institute, a law firm representing the professor.
The law firm has now sent a letter to St. Philips College asking them to “immediately reinstate Dr. Varkey to his position and clear his record of any wrongdoing.”
“In his role as an adjunct professor, Dr. Varkey taught Human Anatomy and Physiology to more than 1,500 students since 2003,” First Liberty wrote in a press release. “During Dr. Varkey’s 20-year employment as a biology professor at St. Philip’s College, he consistently received exemplary performance reviews and was never subject to discipline. Throughout that time, he never discussed with any student his personal views—religious or otherwise—on human gender or sexuality.”
Two months after the walk out, in January, Dr. Varkey received a Notice of Discipline and Termination of Employment and Contract letter stating that the school “received numerous complaints” about his “religious preaching, discriminatory comments about homosexuals and transgender individuals, anti-abortion rhetoric, and misogynistic banter” and that his teaching “pushed beyond the bounds of academic freedom with [his] personal opinions that were offensive to many individuals in the classroom,” according to First Liberty.
2ND AMENDMENT
Charges Dropped Against 14-Year-Old Chicago Boy Who Fatally Shot Man Punching His Mother
Charges have been dropped against a 14-year-old boy who fatally shot a man caught on video punching the boy’s mother in a Chicago restaurant.
The New York Post reported that 35-year-old Carlishia Hood and her 14-year-old son were both charged with first-degree murder after the son shot and killed 32-year-old Jerry Brown on June 18, 2023.
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
Major recession imminent in West – HSBC
The US economy may contract as soon as this year with Western Europe to follow in 2024, the bank warned
The US is projected to enter recession in the fourth quarter of 2023, the British banking giant
HSBC said on Tuesday, adding that Western European countries would face a downturn as soon as next year.
According to the midyear outlook issued by HSBC Asset Management, recession cautions are “flashing red” for many economies as stock and bond markets are “out of sync” with fiscal and monetary policies.
Bud Light Hits New Weekly Sales Low After Dylan Mulvaney Boycott
Bud Light’s woes don’t appear to be subsiding anytime soon as the latest data show the light beer firm saw another weekly decline after it decided to engage in a promotional effort with a transgender TikTok influencer.
Data from Bump Williams Consulting and NielsenIQ show that sales for Bud Light are down 28.5 percent year-over-year for the week ending June 17, according to the New York Post. That’s a decline of about 2 percentage points from the week ending June 10, when sales dropped 26.8 percent, Bump Williams’s data show.
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Lawyers who ‘doubled down’ and defended ChatGPT’s fake cases must pay $5K, judge says
A federal judge in New York City has ordered two lawyers and their law firm to pay $5,000 for submitting a brief with fake cases made up by ChatGPT and then standing by the research.
Radio host faces hurdles in ChapGPT defamation suit
A lawsuit filed by a Georgia gun rights radio host alleges that he was defamed when OpenAI’s artificial intelligence platform ChatGPT made up fake accusations against him.
But radio host Mark Walters may face an uphill battle, according to experts interviewed by Bloomberg Law and Ars Technica.
Walters’ June 5 suit says ChatGPT made up the accusations when a journalist was using the chatbot to research a suit filed by the Second Amendment Foundation.
The journalist provided a suit link to the Second Amendment Foundation and asked ChatGPT to provide a summary. ChatGPT falsely said the suit accused Walters of “defrauding and embezzling funds” from the Second Amendment Foundation when he was its treasurer and chief financial officer.
The statement was libelous per se, according to the suit, filed in state court in Gwinnett County, Georgia.
Student With No Fingers Invents Prosthetic Hand For Just $25 — Using a 3D Printer
A British college student born without fingers has invented a prosthetic hand for about $25 — using a 3D printer. Luke Cox designed the artificial limb for his final-year project and says it could save patients and families thousands of dollars in expensive medical equipment.
The 26-year-old was born with ectrodactyly, a rare congenital condition which left him missing several fingers on his right hand. Currently, prosthetic hands are extremely expensive, which is what inspired Luke to design a model which is more affordable. The Staffordshire University student built the hand using a 3D printer for just £19.97 — just over $25.
FBI’s Iris Biometrics Repository Reaches 2.5 Million With Tech From Iris ID
According to a company statement from Iris ID, the FBI’s Next Generation Identification (NGI) Iris Service now has roughly 2.5 million identities within the FBI’s repository and is growing at a rate of 100,000 new identities a month. The service has another fifteen million identities in other federal government databases.
Iris ID remains the lead supplier of iris image collection technology for the FBI’s iris recognition service, according to the announcement. The software has been the lead supplier since the program piloted in 2014.
Law enforcement and government agencies can access the largest-available repository of iris biometric data records associated with fingerprint and face biometrics through the service, according to the statement. The FBI recently added presentation attack detection capabilities to their service, which is already built into all of Iris IDs devices.
The NGI Iris Service speeds up the intake process for repeat offenders through iris only search capability for 1-N identification. All iris data is linked to a corresponding ten-print fingerprint record.
The technology can identify enrolled individuals with up to 99 percent accuracy with a 2 second capture time and a demonstrated response time of less than 20 seconds. Today, most Iris ID cameras capture NIR iris images as they take color mugshots at a distance.
Moreover, with emerging mobile capabilities, Iris ID says the Iris Service can be useful for law enforcement particularly in high-volume environments like prisoner transportation or release, court appearances, and border control management.
“The high growth rate of the repository and adoption of the Iris ID supplied technology is a testament to the increasing appeal of iris recognition,” says Mohammed Murad, Iris ID VP of Global Business & Development.
The Iris ID’s IrisAccess platform is the world’s most deployed iris recognition platform, the company says. The overall majority of people who use iris authentication today are using IrisAccess.
SURVEILLANCE STATE
Lawyer censured for using TeamViewer to snoop on former firm’s business activity
A lawyer in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, has been censured after acknowledging that he “fell into stupid” and accessed his former law firm’s computer system to monitor his former partner’s business activity.
The New Jersey Supreme Court censured lawyer Justin L. Scott in a May 31 order, Law360 reports.
The New Jersey Supreme Court’s disciplinary review board had recommended a censure in an October 2022 decision.
Scott and Charles Bratton practiced elder law in a Haddonfield, New Jersey, firm that came to be known as Bratton Scott. Scott and Bratton disagree on whether Scott was fired, as was permitted by their partnership agreement, or whether he left on his accord.
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
If you live in the Southwest, you don’t need me to tell you that it is hot. A massive “heat dome” has been sitting over the region for quite some time, and it doesn’t appear that it will be moving much for at least several more days. There have been many areas where the heat index has already been up around 120 degrees. In Rio Grande Village, the actual temperature was 119 degrees on Friday, and forecasters were warning that the same reading would be reached again on Tuesday. This extreme heat has already caused several deaths, and it could potentially cause widespread crop failures.
If you live in an area that is being affected by this heat dome, please don’t take any unnecessary risks.
According to a professor of atmospheric science at Iowa State University, the extreme heat that is being produced can make it “feel like an oven” when you are outside…
A heat dome occurs when a persistent region of high pressure traps heat over an area, according to William Gallus, professor of atmospheric science at Iowa State University.
“The heat dome can stretch over several states and linger for days to weeks, leaving the people, crops and animals below to suffer through stagnant, hot air that can feel like an oven,” Gallus said in an article in The Conversation.
Unfortunately, it is going to be some time before cooler temperatures come along, and it is being reported that extreme heat will soon “expand north into the Plains and east into the Southeast”…
Tens of millions of
Americans across the south and central U.S. – many of them in Texas – have endured a brutal heat wave over the past couple of weeks as temperatures soared to record levels, including some above 110 degrees.
Forecasters expect the intense heat to continue in Texas for much of this week in and expand north into the Plains and east into the Southeast. Meteorologist Scot Pilie warned on Twitter that more temperature records could topple, leading to dangerous heat index values.
Needless to say, all of this heat is not good for crops.
According to Newsweek, crops in Texas are basically cannibalizing themselves in a desperate attempt to survive…
Crops in Texas are essentially “cannibalizing” themselves to survive during the state’s severe heat wave, according to one farmer.
“They are drying up a lot faster than they should, causing it to lodge and fall over. The plant is basically cannibalizing itself and eating itself up trying to survive,” farmer James Faske told KRIS-TV in Corpus Christi.
This is really bad news, but if crops elsewhere were doing great we would be fine.
Nobel Prize Winner and Co-Creator of the Lithium Battery Dies at 100
John B. Goodenough, whose contributions led to the development of lithium-ion batteries which made many of today’s portable electronic devices possible, has died.
The lithium ion battery is not “good enough” … Lion Energy (.com) has one better! Promocode: POWERHOUR
Study: Heavy Electric Vehicles Cause TWICE the Road Damage than Their Petrol Equivalents
Heavy electric vehicles (EVs) cause twice as much damage to road surfaces than their combustion-powered equivalents, a report Tuesday has claimed.
A UK study led by the University of Leeds found the average electric car puts 2.24 times more stress on roads than a similar petrol vehicle – and 1.95 more than a diesel. Larger electric vehicles can cause up to 2.32 times more damage to roads.
GARDENING, FARMING & HOMESTEADING
https://www.thetexasboys.com
Yesterday we told you about the dad who quit his job and moved his family to Texas, bought a plot of land and is homeschooling his kids while homesteading successfully on his property!
HEALTH
Phosphatidylcholine: Impacting Health on the Cellular Level
The gatekeeper to the cells in the human body is the cell membrane, which consists of a lipid bilayer to help maintain cellular fluidity. The cell membrane decides what goes into the cell and what stays out. When the cell membrane is healthy and strong, cells are protected so they can carry out their designated tasks. But what keeps the gatekeepers functioning at their peak? Phosphatidylcholine.
What is phosphatidylcholine?
Phosphatidylcholine is a phospholipid or fat-like molecule that is considered the predominant phospholipid of all cell membranes, especially in the brain, liver, and digestive tract. That’s why phosphatidylcholine can positively influence our health on so many different levels.
Phosphatidylcholine benefits
As mentioned previously, phosphatidylcholine is especially important to cell membranes in the brain, liver, and gastrointestinal tract. That’s why this nutrient can help enhance cognition, liver health, and digestion. Preliminary research also indicates that low levels of phosphatidylcholine are associated with higher levels of anxiety
Enhances cognition and neuroprotection
Phosphatidylcholine provides neuroprotection via many pathways and increases levels of acetylcholine, an important neurotransmitter in the brain that influences synaptic transmission and plasticity. Research shows that phosphatidylcholine can help protect against age-related memory decline by boosting hippocampal function. Researchers have also found that abnormal phosphatidylcholine metabolism is correlated with an increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease.
Supports liver function
Phosphatidylcholine is an important player in the process of methylation. The liver is the major organ where methylation reactions occur on an ongoing basis. This explains in part why phosphatidylcholine can help reduce the risk of liver conditions, such as fatty liver, fibrosis, and cancer. Phosphatidylcholine also supports liver detoxification and regeneration.
Digestive disorders
Much of the research on phosphatidylcholine in digestion health involves its role in inflammatory disorders that can damage the gastrointestinal tract. For example, a 2010 study showed that phosphatidylcholine may help reduce inflammation associated with ulcerative colitis. Preliminary research also shows that phosphatidylcholine may help prevent NSAID-related gastrointestinal damage.
Related Study: Phosphatidylcholine restores neuronal plasticity of neural stem cells under inflammatory stress
Power Mall Product of Interest: HAPPY BODIES HB-PC PHOSPHATIDYL CHOLINE
60% of Calories Are From Ultraprocessed Food for Many People
Ultraprocessed foods and drinks make up 61% of Americans’ food intake; the amount is similar in Canada (62%) and the U.K. (63%)
Diet has a profound impact on your mental health, and ultraprocessed foods are among those linked to poor mood, depression and anxiety
Additives in ultraprocessed foods trigger neuroinflammation and pathogenic changes to neuronal mitochondrial function
Men and women who ate the most ultraprocessed foods had a 28% faster rate of cognitive decline and a 25% faster rate of decline in executive function compared to those who ate the least
In addition to cognitive decline and depression, eating junk foods is linked to metabolic syndrome, cancer and all-cause mortality, along with other mental and physical conditions
The prevalence of childhood obesity is reaching alarming heights, with an increasing number of children experiencing chronic conditions typically associated with middle age. Surprisingly, rather than witnessing a surge in healthy eating habits and physical activity, the popularity of weight loss surgery is growing.
According to a study published in JAMA Pediatrics, the occurrence of “severe obesity” is rapidly escalating within the pediatric population of the United States, establishing it as the fastest-growing subcategory of obesity among American children.
COVID RELATED NEWS
Funded by Dr. Fauci and Dr. Hotez’s R01AI098775 grant, Dr. Shibo Jiang and Dr. Lanying Du collaborated with scientists from the People’s Liberation Army and the Wuhan Institute of Virology
Wuhan Scientist Thrown Off Roof
According to witnesses, a Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) scientist by the name of Zhou Yusen was thrown to his death off the lab’s roof in May 2020, three months after he’d filed a patent for a COVID vaccine
The patent suggests Yusen had been working on the vaccine prior to the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak, which authorities have insisted was a previously unknown virus of zoonotic origin. The timing of the patent filing is further evidence that SARS-CoV-2 was created in a lab
There’s also evidence linking SARS-CoV-2 to Chinese bioweapons research
WIV researchers also created a coronavirus far more lethal than SARS-CoV-2 — one with a 75% kill rate. This research was, in part, funded by EcoHealth grant money from the U.S. government
At least nine viruses related to SARS-CoV-2 were found in a Chinese mineshaft, but research for only one was published
CANCEL CULTURE
Our globalist overlords seem keenly intent on using every world crisis to “reset” the lives of the people to their own fancy. Cut carbon. Eat bugs. “You’ll own nothing and be happy.” And yet most Americans still love their trucks, their home, and eating real meat.
That being said, the globalists are right about one thing. We do need a reset. We need to reset our lives and halt the woke steamroller trying to crush our wills and claim our children. We need to live our lives with truth and intention. Are you ready to reset life on your own terms? We’re here to help.
Find a Non-Woke Church: Does your pastor talk about social justice more than God’s justice? Or is the leadership afraid to address the controversial issues at all? Run, don’t walk. It’s time to find a new mission-minded church like the ones listed below.
GOOD NEWS
She was a young leftist who believed republicans were all “bad people,” but following the election of Donald Trump in 2016 Ashley Smith would bail the progressivist ship and wash up a new person on right-leaning shores. She became an influencer on social media, sharing her freshly-discovered conservative viewpoints with marked accuracy and wit. Today, Smith, 31, produces short, punchy clips, about her fascinating, yet gut-wrenching, exodus from the left toward having “a much more well-rounded view of the realities of the world.”
She also has a fair bit of fun dismantling progressivist positions that don’t stand up to logic along the way—leaving the leftist house of cards in a heap. Here is a tidbit from that dismantling content:
“People ask me all the time, why people on the left are angry—you know, coming from the left, I guess I’m a fairly good source,” Smith said.
“Cognitive dissonance—one—which if you don’t know is the discomfort one feels from having contradicting thoughts or beliefs.
“Also, every issue on the left is made into an emotionally charged issue. It’s all a form of some type of injustice. And if you actually believe there are all these types of injustice is going on in the world you are going to be angry about it.”
ICYMI
The Armed Citizen® June 23, 2023
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