WORLD NEWS
Pope Francis Cancels Audiences, Taken To Hospital By Ambulance Over ‘Respiratory Issues’
Pope Francis was taken by ambulance to a hospital in Rome on Wednesday after suffering from alleged respiratory issues, cancelling several audiences for the next two days as doctors are keeping the head of the Roman Catholic Church for observation.
Pope Francis, 86, had been scheduled for an appointment at the Gemelli Polyclinic in Rome, according to Holy See Press Office director Matteo Bruni, who stated Wednesday in a press release that the Supreme Pontiff had gone to the hospital for “some previously scheduled check-ups.”
King Charles Enthusiastically Embraces Genetic Editing
King Charles is completely aligned with the World Economic Forum’s two-part Great Reset: First, to create the new global economic order and second, to create Humanity 2.0 through genetic editing. As I have plainly documented, Transhumanism includes the takeover of DNA of all living things on earth, including plants and insects.
Buon Appetito! Italy Will Ban Synthetic and Lab-Grown Meat
The government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has backed legislation that would ban lab-made meat and other synthetic foods in Italy, in a bid to preserve the nation’s internationally acclaimed cuisine.
Following a petition that received over 500,000 signatures, the populist coalition government of Giorgia Meloni has expressed its strong support for the nation’s farmers, the traditional Mediterranean diet of Italy, and to plant the flag firmly against the Great Reset-drive to replace real meat with synthetic proteins grown in laboratories.
EU Pushing the ‘Criminalisation’ of Physical Cash with New Anti-Money Laundering Law
The European Union is in danger of “criminalising” the use of physical cash with its new anti-money laundering laws, an MEP has warned.
Dr Gunnar Beck, a representative for the populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, has warned that the EU appears to be pushing for the “criminalisation” of the use of physical cash with its new anti-money laundering (AML) laws.
Politicians in Brussels have long been pondering an upper legal limit on the value of cash transactions within the bloc, with lawmakers detailing plans to ban Europeans from spending over €10,000 in physical tender as part of a single transaction.
The European Parliament however has now voted for such a proposed limit to be dropped down to as little as €7,000 as part of efforts to clamp down on money laundering and tax dodging within the bloc, with officials also voting to see cryptocurrency transactions paying for goods and services that are valued over €1,000 to be banned
Many within the parliament appear to be justifying the decisions as being an important step in curtailing criminality within Europe, though Dr Beck warns that the limits on cash payments now appear to have gone too far.
‘Envious’, Would ‘Love to Have’ Return of Conscription Says UK Defence Minister
The British defence minister appeared to have an unguarded moment on Wednesday, heaping praise on Sweden for having brought back conscription and saying he’d like to do the same, before his office moved to walk the comments back hours later.
An expression of admiration for Sweden and Finland conscripting their young people into mandatory military service, which leaves all with shared military experience and a high proportion continuing to serve in the reserve forces in their civilian lives, came from the British defence minister Wednesday.
Zelensky: D.C. Knows We Lose Without U.S. Help, Public Will Push Me to Make Peace if Bakhmut Falls
President Volodymyr Zelensky has claimed that defeat in Bakhmut, despite the narrative that it is strategically unimportant, would result in the international community and a “tired” Ukrainian public pressuring him to compromise with Russia – which he does not want to do.
In an interview with Associated Press executive Julie Pace, Zelensky made not only a frank admission that the Joe Biden administration in the United States “really understands that if they stop helping us, we will not win,” but warned that defeat in Bakhmut could be a bigger blow to the Ukrainian war effort than some analysts believe — likely intend
ed to put pressure on America not to slacken the pace of its financial and military aid.
Russia Arrests Wall Street Journal Reporter for Espionage
Russia’s FSB security service said Thursday it had detained a reporter for The Wall Street Journal on suspicion of spying for Washington, the most serious public move against a foreign journalist since Russia invaded Ukraine.
The Journal said the detention of U.S. national Evan Gershkovich was based on false allegations.
The action will worsen already dire relations between Russia and the United States, which is Ukraine’s biggest military backer and has imposed sanctions on Moscow to try to persuade it to withdraw its troops. The Kremlin shows no signs of doing so.
Amateur Gold Digger Finds Huge Nugget Worth $160,000 in Australia
An Australian gold digger turned up a stone weighing 10.1 pounds, more than half of which is gold, and one of the largest finds in recent times.
It’s the kind of photo that one would expect to see from the 1850s, in black and white, with the man wearing breeches, a wide-brimmed hat, and a bandana around his neck.
But even though it’s 2023, experienced prospector Darren Kamp says he’s never seen a rock like it before in his life.
U.S. NEWS, POLITICS & GOVERNMENT
Senate Votes to End COVID National Emergency, Sending Bill to Biden’s Desk
The Senate passed a resolution, 68-23, on March 29 to end the COVID-19 national emergency sooner than scheduled.
The measure, which was introduced by Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) and passed the House on Feb. 1, now heads to President Joe Biden, who is expected to sign it, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) told Democrats, according to media reports.
The White House planned to end both the COVID national emergency—which then-President Donald Trump enacted on March 13, 2020—on May 11. However, this bill will terminate the national emergency a month earlier than scheduled.
DOJ Memos Dissuaded Marshals From Arresting Protestors at SCOTUS Justices’ Homes: Sen. Katie Britt
A Senate Republican revealed during a March 28 budget hearing that an internal Department of Justice (DOJ) memo dissuaded U.S. Marshals from arresting protestors in violation of laws against picketing the homes of judges.
The materials revealed during the hearing show that U.S. Marshals were explicitly directed to not arrest protestors at the homes of Supreme Court (SCOTUS) justices.
“People want justice to be blind,” said freshman Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.), who unveiled the findings during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing.
Section 1507 of the U.S. Code prohibits the picketing of SCOTUS justices or other federal judges to change the outcome of a legal case. But when protestors demonstrated at the homes of conservative justices to protest their leaked abortion decision in June 2022, U.S. Marshals made few arrests in connection to the statute.
This wasn’t a mistake, Britt revealed. Rather, she showed that a DOJ memo had directly dissuaded agents from making arrests on the basis of Section 1507, instructing them to arrest protestors only as a “last resort” to protect the justices.
Section 1507 explicitly prohibits “picketing” or “parading” near the residences of judges or justices in order to influence the outcome of a case.
A few weeks ago, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland fielded questions from the Senate Judiciary Committee on his agency’s failure to prosecute those picketing the homes of justices.
Former Nashville Police Officer Weighs In on Covenant School Shooting
A former Nashville police officer shared his grief with the friends and family of those killed in a shooting at a private Christian elementary school in the city on Monday.
A shooter killed three children under the age of 10 and another three adults at The Covenant School. Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) officers rushed into the building and shot and killed the shooting suspect, who has been identified as Audrey Hale.
Nathan Clark, a retired MNPD officer and father of children in local private schools, said Monday’s shooting does not surprise him. Clark, who served on a negotiator team with MNPD, told NTD that “to me, unfortunately, on a daily basis, it was a constant preparation for these types of events.”
Clark said schools could benefit from added security measures but it’s hard to account for every variable in preventing mass shootings.
“We have a lot of private Christian schools that are in the area that do have retired law enforcement or security on their premises,” Clark said. “I would say the Metro Nashville Police Department has always been good over the years assessing threats, but, you know, the one big main thing that I would like to say is that in the realm of law enforcement, every variable cannot be accounted for.”
Hale, a woman who identified as a man, was being treated for an emotional disorder. Officials said they believe there may have been a link between Hale’s gender identity and the decision to attack the school but they are not certain how. Officials also said they discovered a manifesto they believe was written by the school shooter but have yet to publicly release the document.
“The randomness of it is the element that is just the biggest problem that law enforcement has,” Clark said. “We can account for these things happening. We can plan for them, we can do risk assessments. But as far as just narrowing down a date or time that they’re going to happen, it’s one of those where you just wish that it doesn’t happen and pray that it doesn’t happen on a daily basis.
Nashville School Shooter Planned to Hit Other Targets, Police Believe
The shooter who killed six people including three children at a Christian private school in Nashville planned to strike other targets, according to police.
Metropolitan Nashville Police Department (MNPD) Chief John Drake told CBS News on Tuesday that 28-year-old Audrey Elizabeth Hale, who on Monday stormed into The Covenant School and went on a killing rampage before responding officers fatally wounded her, had other targets.
“We strongly believe there was going to be some other targets, including maybe family members, and one of the malls here in Nashville,” Drake said. “And that just did not happen.”
Police earlier said that Hale’s attack was “calculated and planned,” including a detailed map of the school showing potential entry points, and that she conducted surveillance of the building before carrying out the massacre.
Report: Katie Hobbs’s Press Secretary Resigns After Tweet About Pointing Guns at ‘Transphobes’
Josselyn Berry, the press secretary for Gov. Katie Hobbs (D-AZ), has reportedly resigned after she sent a tweet focusing on pointing guns at “transphobes,” and the governor faced calls to fire her.
Reporters Dennis Welch and Peter Valencia of Arizona’s Family Stations first reported Berry’s resignation Wednesday.
Train derailment in Minnesota forces local evacuations as multiple cars catch fire
A train carrying ethanol through Minnesota derailed and caught fire, forcing local residents to evacuate.
CNN reports that the derailment occurred at approximately 1 a.m. on Thursday morning in Raymond Minnesota.
Multiple cars on the train promptly caught on fire, and officials told people living in nearby homes to evacuate as a precautionary measure.
There have been no reported injuries as a result of the derailment.
Michigan Professor Suspended After Suggesting Conservative Campus Speakers Should Be Killed
A university professor in Michigan has been placed on leave after declaring it would be “more admirable” to kill guest speakers who hold “transphobic,” “racist,” and “homophobic” views than to just shout them down.
Steven Shaviro, who teaches film and media studies courses at Wayne State University, took to Facebook to express his thoughts about “free speech on campus,” claiming that he does not “advocate violating federal and state criminal codes.”
Nevertheless, the professor wrote that “right-wing speakers” deserve death because they are “precisely” invited by right-wing college groups with the intention to “provoke and incident that discredit the left” and give more publicity and validation to the “reprehensible views” they allegedly have.
“Protesters get blamed instead of the bigoted speaker; the university administration finds a perfect excuse to side publicly with the racists or phobes, [and] the international and national press has a field day saying that bigots are the ones being oppressed,” Shaviro continued.
To help make his point, Shaviro cited the assassination of Symon Petliura by Jewish anarchist Sholem Schwarzbard in 1926 in the aftermath of Russian Civil War. A national hero of Ukraine, Petliura led an army that not only fought against the Bolsheviks but also killed tens of thousands of East European Jews in anti-Semitic pogroms.
“The exemplary historical figure in this is Sholem Schwarzbard, who assassinated the anti-Semitic butcher Simon Petliura, rather than trying to shout him down,” Shaviro wrote, apparently comparing critics of the radical left-wing race and sex ideologies to a war leader whose troops carried out deadly pogroms.
“Remember that Schwarzbard was acquitted by a jury, which found his action justified,” he wrote.
The Facebook post caught the attention of Wayne State administrators, who took action and suspended Shaviro on Monday.
“The post stated that rather than ‘shouting down’ those with whom we disagree, one would be justified to commit murder to silence them,” Wayne State President M. Roy Wilson said in a campus-wide message. “We have on many occasions defended the right of free speech guaranteed by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, but we feel this post far exceeds the bounds of reasonable or protected speech.”
“It is, at best, morally reprehensible and, at worst, criminal,” he said, adding that the matter has been referred to law enforcement “for further review and investigation.”
Newly Released Documents Reveal Secret FBI Investigation of Ivana Trump
Ivana Trump, the first wife of former President Donald Trump, was under FBI investigation in the late 1980s and early 1990s according to recent documents obtained by Bloomberg under the Freedom of Information Act.
The heavily-redacted documents (pdf) reveal that the investigation involved agency assets from Canada and Europe. Based on information given, there were sources feeding information to agents, while the department was procuring data from Ivana Trump’s life in Czechoslovakia, her emigration to Canada, and work status in the United States.
Although the reason for initiating the investigation remains unknown, the agency said that some of the related files were destroyed, and hundreds of others are being studied by other government departments, according to Bloomberg.
The FBI confirmed that nearly 900 pages were located concerning Ivana Trump, and claimed that it would take at least five years before they were released. Bloomberg had to sue the agency for the speedy release of 190 pages on March 27.
Report: George Soros Donates $1 Million to Wisconsin Democrats Ahead of State Supreme Court Election
George Soros and other out-of-state billionaires have donated millions of dollars to Wisconsin Democrats ahead of the upcoming state Supreme Court election — a race which has “2024 consequences,” Fox News reported on Tuesday.
Soros, an infamous left-wing financier, donated $1 million to the Democratic Party of Wisconsin on February 22, according to campaign finance records. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker donated $1 million on March 14, and Tulsa philanthropists Stacy and Lynn Schusterman made four donations in March totaling $1 million, after previously donating $40,000 to the party.
NC House Overrides Democrat Governor’s Veto, Ends Pistol Permit Requirement
The North Carolina House overrode Gov. Roy Cooper’s (D) veto on Wednesday, ending the state’s requirement that law-abiding citizens get a permit from their local sheriff before being able to buy a handgun.
On March 24 Breitbart News reported that Cooper vetoed legislation to repeal the permit requirement. At the time, he indicated he did it in order to preserve a background check requirement for new handgun buyers.
However, Breitbart News pointed out that federal law requires a background check for any guns sold at retail, whether new or used, and that the background check requirement exists even without North Carolina’s permit rule.
Kansas set to become latest state to raise age for buying tobacco to 21
Kansas moved toward raising the legal age for buying tobacco in the state to 21 on Tuesday, a move already made by the majority of other states.
The state Senate passed a bill to raise the required age by a 28-11 vote after the state’s House approved it earlier this month. The bill will now be sent to Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly’s (D) desk for approval.
Congress raised the Minimum Legal Sales Age on all tobacco products from 19 to 21 when it passed the Tobacco 21 law in December 2019. In order for states to receive federal funding for substance abuse prevention programs, they need it to increase their own legal age for purchasing tobacco products — including cigarettes, cigars and e-cigarettes — to 21.
Forty other states and Washington, D.C., have already increased the minimum age to buy tobacco products to 21, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In addition to Kansas, the CDC lists Alaska, Arizona, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia and Wisconsin as the states that have not raised their legal age yet.
Kentucky Lawmakers Override Veto to Pass Sweeping Anti-Trans Legislation
Kentucky lawmakers overrode the veto of the Democratic governor on Wednesday on a sweeping bill banning transgender surgery on minors and restricting their access to bathrooms of the opposite sex.
On the penultimate day of this year’s legislative session, GOP lawmakers, who hold supermajorities in both chambers, overwhelmingly voted to override the veto of Governor Andy Beshear. The Senate voted 29-8 in favor of overriding the veto, followed by the House with a 76-23 vote shortly after.
The vote led to a protest within the state Capitol as emotions ran high among trans activists. According to Kentucky State Police spokesperson Capt. Paul Blanton, 19 individuals were charged with third-degree criminal trespassing after the sergeant of arms sought assistance restoring order. Officers provided each individual the option to leave without enforcement or face arrest.
Barge Containing 1,400 Tons of Methanol Gets Stuck in Ohio River
Three barges, one carrying 1,400 tons of toxic methanol, were accidentally released and got stuck in the Ohio River in Louisville, Kentucky, raising concerns for another health hazard for the people in the wider area.
Local authorities said the accident happened when the three barges—part of a group of eleven—escaped from their tugboat after the boat hit a structure at the entrance to the Portland Canal near the river’s McAlpine Locks and Dam.
“Three barges are pinned against the lower dam site, one barge is pinned against the Louisville and Indiana bridge pier and all other barges were recovered by other vessels in the local area,” according to a news release.
“There remains no evidence of a tank breach or any leaks, and air and water monitoring resources are in place.”
Methanol is a water-soluble, colorless liquid. It evaporates when exposed to air, and dissolves in water. However, it is harmful if ingested or inhaled in sufficient quantities.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that methanol is highly toxic to both humans and wildlife. This chemical, classified under the category of “toxic alcohols,” is commonly found in antifreeze, carburetor cleaner, and windshield washer fluids.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is working with the U.S. Coast Guard, the navigation industry, and marine surveyors in the recovery efforts of the remaining barges. The locks will remain closed until the barges on the dam are stabilized.
Crews have been on-site since daybreak, further assessing damage and determining operational objectives for the next 12–24 hours.
HEALTH
Is This One of the Best Nutrients for Your Eyes and Brain?
Of all the known carotenoids, only lutein and zeaxanthin cross the blood-retina barrier to form macular pigment
Lutein is also found in the brain, hinting at its importance for cognitive function
Lutein, found in green leafy vegetables, egg yolks and more, helps form the retinal macular pigment, which is responsible for optimizing your visual performance and serves as a biomarker for the risk of macular diseases
Lutein is protective against age-related macular degeneration, cataracts, glaucoma and other eye diseases
Among young and older adults, lutein and zeaxanthin supplementation improves cognitive function
—> Power Mall Product of Interest: EYE COMPLEX CS
Ray Kurzweil: Immortality Just Eight Years Away?
Ray Kurzweil is a Technocrat and Transhuman who has long predicted the Singularity coming to reality by 2045. Now he is upping his prediction to 2029, just 6 years away, stating the immortality for the living is near and achievable; however, he is personally focussed on resurrecting his father, which is a different issue from immortality. ⁃
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
Study finds 186 banks vulnerable to Silicon Valley Bank-like collapse
A new study says that, depending on certain market conditions, nearly 200 U.S. banks could be vulnerable to the same fate as Silicon Valley Bank (SVB).
A recent Social Science Research Network study suggests that 186 American banks could fail if half of their depositors suddenly withdrew their funds. The researchers formulated a speculative scenario in which each bank experienced a run, and concluded that the FDIC would run out of money.
US says Credit Suisse violated deal on rich clients’ tax evasion
The US unveiled a two-year investigation that detailed the role bank employees had in aiding tax evasion by clients.
Credit Suisse has violated a plea agreement with American authorities by failing to report secret offshore accounts that wealthy Americans used to avoid paying taxes, US lawmakers have said, releasing a two-year investigation that detailed the role employees at the embattled Swiss bank had in aiding tax evasion by clients.
On Wednesday the United States Senate Finance Committee pointed to a continuing, possibly criminal conspiracy tied to nearly $100m in accounts belonging to a family of American taxpayers that the bank did not disclose. It also said Credit Suisse helped a US businessman hide more than $220m in offshore accounts from the Internal Revenue Service.
IRS Announces Tax Relief for Mississippi Storm Victims
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has announced tax relief for Mississippi residents and businesses impacted by the recent tornadoes and severe storms.
The tax relief extends the deadline for filing various federal individual and business tax returns—and making tax payments—until July 31, 2023, the IRS said in a press release.
“The IRS is offering relief to any area designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as a result of tornadoes and severe storms that occurred on March 24 and 25,” the agency said.
Individuals and households residing or having a business in Carroll, Humphreys, Monroe, and Sharkey counties will qualify for the relief, with other areas added later to the disaster area also qualifying for the relief.
Taxpayers who live outside the disaster area but have records required to meet the deadline located in the affected area can work with the IRS to get relief. Such taxpayers need to contact the IRS at 866-562-5227. This also applies to workers affiliated with a recognized government or philanthropic organization assisting in relief activities.
An estimated 55,000 people live in the four counties covered by the IRS’s action, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Hyundai-Kia faces growing pressure over car thefts
Last month’s announcement from Hyundai-Kia that there is now a fix for the vehicle’s vulnerability to theft hasn’t lessened the pressure on the automaker.
Twenty-three state attorneys general are calling on Hyundai-Kia to take “swift and comprehensive action to help remedy the crisis of car thefts that has occurred due to the companies’ failure to equip vehicles with anti-theft immobilizers.”
Thefts accelerated in the middle of last year when a TikTok video showing how easy it is to steal the cars went viral. Thefts surged because the particular models identified in the video lacked the anti-theft equipment.
Immobilizers prevent a car or truck from being started without a key that contains an embedded chip. The TikTok video showed how some Hyundai and Kia cars could be started using a USB cable.
In a letter to the automaker, the state officials pointed out that Kia and Hyundai chose not to include anti-theft immobilizers as standard equipment on several vehicle models sold in the U.S. during a period when every other car manufacturer was doing so.
“Kia and Hyundai failed to equip their vehicles with industry-standard anti-theft technology, and customers are now paying a steep price,” said Connecticut Attorney General William Tong. “These cars are now disproportionately targeted by thieves at rates so high some insurers are refusing to cover them. Kia and Hyundai need to make this right—quickly, and without nickel and diming their customers.”
A video game featuring a transgender hero who shoots down trans critics — including priests — in order to allow players to “unleash [their] pent-up fury upon the gender-critical tyrants with an arsenal of deadly weapons” was published by a trans game developer two months before Monday’s Christian school shooting in Nashville, Tennessee.
Titled “Terfenstein 3D,” the game’s name is a play on the pejorative term “TERF” or “Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist.”
Elon Musk Joins Over 1,000 Experts Calling for Pause on Advanced AI Development
Twitter CEO Elon Musk has joined dozens of artificial intelligence (AI) experts and industry executives in signing an open letter calling on all AI labs to “immediately pause” training of systems more powerful than Chat GPT-4 for at least six months.
The letter, issued by the non-profit Future of Life Institute, has been signed by more than 1,100 individuals, including Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, Stability AI founder and CEO Emad Mostaque, and engineers from Meta and Google, among others.
They argue that AI systems with human-competitive intelligence can pose “profound risks to society and humanity,” and change the “history of life on Earth,” citing extensive research on the issue and acknowledgments by “top AI labs.”
Experts go on to state that there is currently limited planning and management regarding Advanced AI systems despite companies in recent months being “locked in an out-of-control race to develop and deploy ever more powerful digital minds that no one—not even their creators—can understand, predict, or reliably control.”
“Contemporary AI systems are now becoming human-competitive at general tasks and we must ask ourselves: Should we let machines flood our information channels with propaganda and untruth? Should we automate away all the jobs, including the fulfilling ones? Should we develop nonhuman minds that might eventually outnumber, outsmart, obsolete, and replace us? Should we risk loss of control of our civilization? Such decisions must not be delegated to unelected tech leaders,” the letter states.
SURVEILLANCE STATE
In Brief
- The ‘TikTok Ban Bill’ targets more than just social media.
- The state would be able to police all communication platforms.
- VPNs would be included with violators facing up to $1M in fines.
A bill dubbed the ‘RESTRICT’ act that was submitted to Congress could have severe consequences for virtual private network (VPN) users in the United States.
U.S. lawmakers are widening their sights when it comes to cracking down on finance and technology.
The bipartisan “Restricting the Emergence of Security Threats that Risk Information and Communications Technology (RESTRICT)” act was unveiled in early March.
It was initially dubbed the “TikTok Ban Bill,” but has far wider ramifications. Furthermore, VPN users could face hefty fines or jail sentences under the bill.
‘Patriot Act on Steroids:’ Conservatives Slam RESTRICT Act on Social Media
The outrage over the draconian RESTRICT Act, marketed to the public as a “TikTok ban,” is rapidly rising.
The bill has been revealed as something far more expansive that a mere TikTok ban. It grants sweeping powers to the federal government to restrict the online activities of Americans, imposing heavy penalties on any citizen who circumvents it, including criminal fines of up to $1 million, jail sentences of up to 20 years, and the seizure and search of hardware and online accounts, including cryptocurrency accounts.
Federal Agency Warns Users to Update iPhones as Soon as Possible
The federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) this week advised users and administrators to update their Apple software due to security vulnerabilities.
“Apple has released security updates to address vulnerabilities in multiple products. An attacker could exploit some of these vulnerabilities to take control of an affected device,” the notice, dated March 28, reads. “CISA encourages users and administrators to review the following advisories and apply the necessary updates.”
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
With the threat of a World War 3 escalation into a nuclear conflict, while the world’s financial system is on the brink of collapse, it is easy to see why a local, regional news story about the weather will not make national headlines.
But there is a local, regional story developing in California that I guarantee will eventually make national headline news, as the flooding continues with more heavy rain and snow this week, and with local officials declaring that in terms of the flooding and damage, “the worst is yet to come.”
With California producing over half of America’s agriculture, this is indeed HUGE news, as this is also going to affect food prices around the world, since many of California’s agricultural products, a $51 BILLION economy, are exported outside the U.S.
The main reason this is not a major worldwide headline, yet, is because there are still very few estimates as to how high the losses are going to be, since the farming community in California is just trying to survive right now, bracing for new storms that entered the State yesterday and are continuing today.
Total financial losses for the State of California due to flooding that began in January, right now range from $5 BILLION to $30 BILLION.
Battered California faces billions in storm damage to crops, homes and roads
The price tag for all this mayhem — road repairs, damaged homes, lost crops — won’t become clear for months. But the early estimates are sobering.
The costs of California’s relentless winter storms keep rising. And outside of the human toll — with at least 28 people killed since January — the price will be measured in billions.
The “bomb cyclone” that lashed San Francisco on Tuesday was the latest in an epic series of extreme weather events to hit California since New Year’s Eve. It blew out windows from skyscrapers, flung barges into a historic bridge, sent trees tumbling across roads, knocked down power lines, and threatened a major freeway as the waterlogged hillside beneath it started to collapse.
Just to the south, in the Santa Cruz area, the river that flooded the town of Pajaro a week ago rose again, while nearby strawberry fields that were already submerged received a fresh round of rain. And on Wednesday, the National Weather Service confirmed that a rare tornado hit an industrial area of Montebello, east of downtown Los Angeles, injuring one person and damaging several buildings.
The price tag for all this mayhem — road repairs, damaged homes, lost crops — won’t become clear for months. But the early estimates are sobering.
Tuesday’s damage comes in addition to the destruction California sustained in January, when three weeks of intense rainfall triggered floods and mudslides across the state, closing roads and homes.
Moody’s RMS, a risk-modeling service, estimated the statewide cost from floods and infrastructure damage in January to be $5 billion to $7 billion. AccuWeather Inc. put its own estimate far higher at $30 billion. (Full article.
CANCEL CULTURE
“This country has been having a nationwide nervous breakdown since 9/11. A nation of people suddenly broke, the market economy goes to shit, and they’re threatened on every side by an unknown, sinister enemy. But I don’t think fear is a very effective way of dealing with things—of responding to reality. Fear is just another word for ignorance.”—Hunter S. Thompson, gonzo journalist
We have become guinea pigs in a ruthlessly calculated, carefully orchestrated, chillingly cold-blooded experiment in how to control a population and advance a political agenda without much opposition from the citizenry.
This is mind-control in its most sinister form.
With alarming regularity, the nation is being subjected to a spate of violence that terrorizes the public, destabilizes the country, and gives the government greater justifications to crack down, lock down, and institute even more authoritarian policies for the so-called sake of national security without many objections from the citizenry.
Take this latest shooting in Nashville, Tenn.
The 28-year-old shooter (a clearly troubled transgender individual in possession of several military-style weapons) opened fire in a Christian elementary school, killing three children and three adults.
Already, fingers are being pointed and battle lines are being drawn.
Those who want safety at all costs are clamoring for more gun control measures (if not at an outright ban on assault weapons for non-military, non-police personnel), widespread mental health screening of the general population, more threat assessments and behavioral sensing warnings, more CCTV cameras with facial recognition capabilities, more “See Something, Say Something” programs aimed at turning Americans into snitches and spies, more metal detectors and whole-body imaging devices at soft targets, more roaming squads of militarized police empowered to do random bag searches, more fusion centers to centralize and disseminate information to law enforcement agencies, and more surveillance of what Americans say and do, where they go, what they buy and how they spend their time.
This is all part of the Deep State’s master plan.
Twitter Restricts Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Account After ‘Trans Day of Vengeance’ Post
Twitter has restricted the congressional account of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) after she shared a notice for an upcoming rally, called the “Trans Day of Vengeance.”
On her personal Twitter account, Greene shared a screenshot that showed how she is being banned for seven days for having violated Twitter’s rules on “violent speech.”
The move to restrict Greene’s congressional account came after she shared an image of a poster of the upcoming rally. In the same post, shared on Tuesday, Greene alleged that Antifa was organizing the “Trans Day of Vengeance” event. Twitter subsequently locked Greene out of her account on the condition that she deleted her offending tweet.
The online kerfuffle comes a day after six people, three of whom were 9-year-old children, died in a shooting at a Christian school in Nashville. The suspect, who was killed during the incident on Monday, had identified as transgender.
Elon Musk’s Twitter Restricts Conservatives Raising Alarm About ‘Trans Day of Vengeance’
Elon Musk’s Twitter has restricted accounts of prominent conservative politicians, journalists, and activists that are raising awareness about the fact that radical transgender activists called for a “Trans Day of Vengeance” ahead of the mass shooting at a Nashville Christian school, carried out by a woman who identified as transgender.
One of the suspended accounts included Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), who reportedly tweeted an image of a poster advertising the upcoming “Trans Day of Vengeance” event, which is being hosted by the Trans Radical Activist Network.
PET NEWS
Pet dogs and cats can reduce risk of child food allergies: study
Researchers tracked over 66,000 children from prenatal development until they were 3 years old.
They found kids who had been exposed to indoor dogs when they were in the womb or early in infancy were less likely to be allergic to eggs, milk, and nuts.
Indoor dogs lowered the risk more than dogs that primarily lived outdoors, the study found.
Children with cats were less likely to develop allergies to eggs, wheat, and soybeans.
“Continued dog and cat exposure from fetal development to infancy was estimated to reduce the incidence risk of food allergies,” Okabe said.
ICYMI
The next US civil war is already here – we just refuse to see it
4 Jan 2022
The right has recognized that the system is in collapse, and it has a plan: violence and solidarity with treasonous far-right factions
Nobody wants what’s coming, so nobody wants to see what’s coming.
On the eve of the first civil war, the most intelligent, the most informed, the most dedicated people in the United States could not see it coming. Even when Confederate soldiers began their bombardment of Fort Sumter, nobody believed that conflict was inevitable. The north was so unprepared for the war they had no weapons.
In Washington, in the winter of 1861, Henry Adams, the grandson of John Quincy Adams, declared that “not one man in America wanted the civil war or expected or intended it”. South Carolina senator James Chestnut, who did more than most to bring on the advent of the catastrophe, promised to drink all the blood spilled in the entire conflict. The common wisdom at the time was that he would have to drink “not a thimble”.
The United States today is, once again, headed for civil war, and, once again, it cannot bear to face it. The political problems are both structural and immediate, the crisis both longstanding and accelerating. The American political system has become so overwhelmed by anger that even the most basic tasks of government are increasingly impossible.
The legal system grows less legitimate by the day. Trust in government at all levels is in freefall, or, like Congress, with approval ratings hovering around 20%, cannot fall any lower. Right now, elected sheriffs openly promote resistance to federal authority. Right now, militias train and arm themselves in preparation for the fall of the Republic. Right now, doctrines of a radical, unachievable, messianic freedom spread across the internet, on talk radio, on cable television, in the malls.
The consequences of the breakdown of the American system is only now beginning to be felt. January 6 wasn’t a wake-up call; it was a rallying cry. The Capitol police have seen threats against members of Congress increase by 107%. Fred Upton, Republican representative from Michigan, recently shared a message he had received: “I hope you die. I hope everybody in your family dies.” And it’s not just politicians but anyone involved in the running of the electoral system. Death threats have become a standard aspect of the work life of election supervisors and school board members. A third of poll workers, in the aftermath of 2020, said they felt unsafe.
Under such conditions, party politics have become mostly a distraction. The parties and the people in the parties no longer matter much, one way or the other. Blaming one side or the other offers a perverse species of hope. “If only more moderate Republicans were in office, if only bipartisanship could be restored to what it was.” Such hopes are not only reckless but irresponsible. The problem is not who is in power, but the structures of power.
The United States has burned before. The Vietnam war, civil rights protests, the assassination of JFK and MLK, Watergate – all were national catastrophes which remain in living memory. But the United States has never faced an institutional crisis quite like the one it is facing now. Trust in the institutions was much higher during the 1960s. The Civil Rights Act had the broad support of both parties. JFK’s murder was mourned collectively as a national tragedy. The Watergate scandal, in hindsight, was evidence of the system working. The press reported presidential crimes; Americans took the press seriously. The political parties felt they needed to respond to the reported corruption.
You could not make one of those statements today with any confidence.
Mother Shoots Alleged Food Truck Robber Dead
A Houston, Texas, mother, who is a part-owner of a food truck, shot and killed an alleged robber who targeted her truck around 1 p.m. Tuesday.
ABC 13 reported that Derick Howard and his mother own the food truck, Elite Eats and Cold Treats, together. He went to the food truck around lunchtime Tuesday, only to arrive and learn about the allegedly robbery attempt and consequent gun shots.
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