WORLD NEWS
Bibi blasts the International Criminal Court; vows to destroy Hamas; deal or no deal!
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that Israel would reject any attempt by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to indict Israeli officials over the war in Gaza — and that it would destroy Hamas regardless.
Netanyahu was speaking after the end of the Jewish holiday of Passover, reacting to reports that the ICC intended to indict him and other officials for alleged “war crimes” in defending Israel against genocidal Hamas terrorists in Gaza.
The prime minister added that Israel would continue to pursue its mission to destroy Hamas’s “military and governing capabilities.”
A full text and video of his statement were released by the Prime Minister’s Office yesterday, which included the following statement:
“Israel is not even subject to the court’s jurisdiction and it has an independent legal system that rigorously investigates all violations of the law. Rather, this ICC attempt is an attempt to paralyze Israel’s very ability to defend itself. The government and people of Israel reject outright this grave threat to our security. This grave threat to our very existence.
And I want to assure you, no ICC action will impact Israel’s iron clad determination to achieve the goals of our war with Hamas terrorists: We will destroy Hamas’s military and governing capabilities in Gaza, we will release all our hostages, and we will ensure that Gaza never poses a threat to Israel again. Israel expects the leaders of the free world to stand firmly against the ICC outrageous assault on Israel’s inherent right of self-defense. We expect them to use all the means at their disposal to stop this dangerous move.”
The Biden administration has been quiet in its opposition to the ICC indicting Israeli officials, though doing so would create a precedent that could see U.S. soldiers indicted for actions taken in the fight against Islamic terrorists abroad.
Earlier Tuesday, meeting with the families of victims of the Hamas October 7 terror attack, Netanyahu vowed that Israel would enter the final Hamas stronghold of Rafah, whether or not there was a hostage deal with the terrorists.
North Korea has reportedly installed fresh landmines in the demilitarized zone!
Officials with the South Korean military have confirmed that communist North Korea had littered roads between North and South Korea with landmines and begun taking down street lights installed on them.
Officials with the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), the military leadership in Seoul, told reporters that they had detected North Korean soldiers installing landmines on inter-Korean roads in late 2023. The roads are within the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), the buffer region between the two Koreas created by the armistice that halted Korean War hostilities in 1953. As neither side has signed a peace agreement nor surrendered, the Korean War technically remains in vigor.
Shutting down avenues to facilitate travel between the two countries is the latest in a series of increasingly belligerent moves by the communist regime of dictator Kim Jong-un in the past year, the most menacing of which was Kim’s declaration in January that he would no longer pursue the unification of the Korean peninsula. North Korea had for decades refused to acknowledge the sovereignty of South Korea, describing it in state media as a territory legitimately belonging to a unified Korea under Pyongyang. Kim changed that precedent in January, declaring South Korea an enemy state.
Since then, North Korea has engaged in multiple threatening acts including allegedly developing an alleged “underwater nuclear weapon system” and conducting a simulated nuclear strike this month.
$3.5-billion hidden in foreign aid bill to supercharge mass Middle East migration to the U.S.!
Tucked away in the $95 billion military aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan is a $3.5 billion slush fund to open new processing centers for Muslim migrants, in what Sen. Eric Schmitt described as a bid to “supercharge mass migration from the Middle East.”
The $3.5 billion was granted to the Department of State, which works with many international groups that feed and transport migrants on their way to the United States.
Biden’s deputies are now using the refugee programs as an adjunct to their diversity-expanding “equity” migration policy. For example, Biden’s deputies used the program in March to import 3,009 migrants from the safe and democratic countries of El Salvador and Guatemala.
They are also using the refugee funds to expand migration routes from many African and Muslim countries. In March, they pulled in 12,018 people from the Congo, plus 16,732 migrants from the Muslim countries of Afghanistan, Syria, Pakistan, Iraq, and Eritrea, according to a report by Stacker.com.
Chinese scientist who first published COVID sequence allowed back in lab after lock out
Virologist Zhang Yongzhen has faced a pressure campaign since publishing COVID sequence without government approval
The first scientist to publish a sequence of the COVID-19 virus in China said he was allowed back into his lab after he spent days locked outside, sitting in protest.
Zhang Yongzhen wrote in an online post on Wednesday, just past midnight, that the medical center that hosts his lab had “tentatively agreed” to allow him and his team to return and continue their research for the time being.
“Now, team members can enter and leave the laboratory freely,” Zhang wrote in a post on Weibo, a Chinese social media platform. He added that he is negotiating a plan to relocate the lab in a way that doesn’t disrupt his team’s work with the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center, which hosts Zhang’s lab.
U.S. NEWS, POLITICS & GOVERNMENT
Rep. Thomas Massie Warns Congress is Trying to Pass Hate Speech Laws to Outlaw Criticism of Israel
Congressman Thomas Massie (R-KY) called out his colleagues over the weekend for trying to pass hate speech laws to outlaw criticism of Israel.
“Some of my colleagues are introducing legislation to create federally sanctioned ‘antisemitism monitors’ at colleges,” Massie said. “I’ll vote No.”
“Policing speech, religion, and assembly is not the role of the federal government. In fact it’s expressly prohibited by the U.S. Constitution,” he added.
“There’s a bipartisan effort in Congress to equate criticism of the secular state of Israel to violence toward Jewish people in America,” Massie said in a follow-up tweet.
“The latter is illegal and the former is protected speech, but if a false equivalency is established, it will be forbidden to criticize Israel.”
Axios reported on Friday that a bipartisan pair of AIPAC-funded congressmen, Reps. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) and Mike Lawler (R-NY), plan to “introduce legislation creating federally sanctioned ‘antisemitism monitors’ for select college campuses.”
Under the bill, select colleges would have to pay for what amounts to an Israeli spy to “monitor” their campus for so-called “anti-Semitism” and would lose federal funding if they refused at any point to not go along with the scheme.
“The monitor would be appointed by the Secretary of Education, the terms and conditions of the monitorship would be set by the Secretary, and the expenses of the monitorship would be paid by the particular college or university that has been selected for monitorship,” Torres’ office said in a press release. “Failure to comply with the monitorship would result in the loss of federal funds.”
The data collected by the “monitor” could be used to sue the school for “anti-Jewish discrimination” or punish them for “civil rights violations.”
As I reported last Friday, the Anti-Defamation League and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations pushed Congress earlier this month to pass the controversial FISA law to spy on Americans to “protect Israel.”
The Jewish advocacy groups told Congress the spying law was needed first and foremost for “(1) the safety and security of Israel; and (2) the need to protect Jews in the U.S. — indeed, all Americans — from terrorist threats.”
And that’s not all. Remember Harold Wallace Rosenthal? He was a Zionist Jew!
Rather than read all of the Protocols of Zion, we thought you might like to read them here!
Judge in NY Trump trial will allow the former President to attend his son’s graduation
At a hearing on Tuesday morning, Judge Juan Merchan granted a request from President Trump’s attorneys, asking the judge to allow him to appear at his son Barron’s May 17 high school graduation.
Trump removed the social media posts that the judge said violated the gag order
Former President Donald Trump removed multiple social media and website posts on Tuesday to comply with a judge’s order. The deleted posts on Truth Social appeared to be mainly re-posts of other individuals, including ones that criticized potential witnesses Stormy Daniels and Michael Cohen, according to a review of the posts.
“This resource could not be found,” one of the now-deleted posts said.
Several of the items that were deleted included multiple re-posts of an article written by Jonathan Turley, a law professor, who alleged Mr. Cohen is a “serial perjurer.
NYPD storms into Columbia University to clear out the anti-Israel mob!
New York Police Department (NYPD) officers entered a Columbia University campus hall in Manhattan on Tuesday night “to restore safety and order,” arresting pro-Palestine protesters who had barricaded themselves inside less than 24 hours earlier.
The NYPD commenced its operation around 9 p.m. ET. In an update later that evening, the NYPD said that its officers had cleared the encampment in Hamilton Hall at the university.
Many officers were seen wearing helmets, with some equipped with heavy-duty bolt cutters and flexi-cuffs, a type of restraint cuff similar to zip ties. Officers used flashbangs as they worked to clear the building, reported Fox News. Around 100 individuals were taken into custody, according to multiple reports.
Hundreds of NYPD officers descended on Columbia University, with dozens entering Hamilton Hall through a second-floor window using an elevated ramp.
Those arrested inside Hamilton Hall would be charged with third-degree burglary, criminal mischief and trespassing, police officials said.
Others arrested at the South Lawn’s encampment would face charges of trespassing and disorderly conduct.
Following the operation at Columbia, NYPD officers restored an American flag that had been replaced with a Palestinian flag on a pole at the City College of New York.
Columbia University has warned students who took over and barricaded themselves inside a building on campus as part of an ongoing pro-Palestinian demonstration that they face now expulsion.
Protesters first took over Hamilton Hall early on Tuesday morning after defying orders to disperse from an earlier encampment they had set up at Columbia University’s Morningside Campus in New York City. Participants were seen vandalizing the building and moving furniture and other items into the entryways.
In a statement Tuesday, Columbia spokesperson Ben Chang said “students occupying the building face expulsion,” and those who defied the earlier calls to disperse on Monday were being suspended.
“We gave everyone at the encampment the opportunity to leave peacefully. By committing to abide by University policies, they would be allowed to complete the semester,” Mr. Chang’s Tuesday statement reads. “Students who did not commit to the terms we offered are now being suspended. Those students will be restricted from all academic and recreational spaces and may only access their individual residence. Seniors will be ineligible to graduate.”
Patriots’ owner Robert Kraft pulls support from Columbia University!
New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft is pulling his support for Columbia University over the treatment of Jewish students and faculty during pro-Palestinian protests at the campus in New York City.
The announcement by Kraft, a former Columbia student and major donor, adds to pressure on the university, whose president is facing calls by members of Congress to resign.
“I am deeply saddened at the virulent hate that continues to grow on campus and throughout our country,” Kraft said in a statement through his Foundation to Combat Antisemitism. “I am no longer confident that Columbia can protect its students and staff and I am not comfortable supporting the university until corrective action is taken.”
The businessperson helped kickstart funding for an $11.5 million building with a $3 million donation to construct what would become the Kraft Center for Jewish Student Life in 2000, and he’s donated millions more since.
War at UCLA: Pro-Israeli vigilantes stormed a pro-Palestine encampment at UCLA last night!
Roughly 100 pro-Israel vigilantes stormed the “Palestine Solidarity Encampment” at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) late Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning, sparking battles with activists.
The raid occurred after nearly a week in which UCLA not only allowed the encampment to occupy the main plaza on campus, but also allowed pro-Palestinian activists to run their own security, barring access to students and the public.
The Daily Bruin, the student newspaper, reported the clashes:
Fireworks, tear gas and fights broke out just after 10:50 p.m. Tuesday night and continued early Wednesday morning as around 100 pro-Israel counter-protesters attempted to seize the barricade around and storm the ongoing Palestine solidarity encampment in Dickson Plaza.
After the barricades came down, counter-protesters and protesters inside the encampment began to fight. Counter-protesters shot fireworks into the encampment just after 11 p.m., and irritant gasses were released from both sides. A Daily Bruin reporter was indirectly sprayed in the face.
In another statement released at 3:30 a.m., protesters inside the encampment said the university has not done enough to protect students, and they repeated earlier calls for the university to meet their demands.
The Daily Bruin reported “multiple events of counter-protesters antagonizing the encampment” in recent days, but failed to note violence by the members of the encampment.
Videos had circulated for days of students, including but not limited to visibly Jewish students, being denied access to classes and walkways by masked pro-Palestinian activists excluding all but those who could show a special wristband.
On Sunday, Breitbart News was told by a UCLA security contractor that the university had delegated security to the activists. (Two days before, activists had used force to assault this journalist and exclude me from the encampment.)
Many in the Jewish community were shocked at the presence of the “Palestine Solidarity Encampment” and the apparent deference of university authorities toward it.
The area around UCLA is one of the most pro-Israel in the country. Beverly Hills, Brentwood, and Bel Air include a large number of Jewish families, especially Persian Jews, many of whom escaped the Islamic revolution in Iran.
Los Angeles is also home to a large number of Israeli expatriates.
Counter-protesters and activists had clashed from the start last Thursday, and tensions had built up for days. One prankster woke up the activists on Friday by playing Robin Williams’s monologue from Good Morning, Vietnam.
The violence took place hours after the New York Police Department stormed Hamilton Hall at Columbia University to remove pro-Palestinian activists who had smashed their way into the building early on Tuesday morning.
UCLA’s administration finally issued a statement on Tuesday, warning that the encampment was unlawful and that it had “requested law enforcement investigations into allegations of violence” by the activists at the encampment.
But it was only after the pro-Israel group arrived and began storming the barricades that law enforcement moved in, separating the two sides. It remains to be seen what happens to the surviving part of the encampment going forward.
Over 70 pro-Palestinian protesters arrested yesterday at the UT-Austin campus
Anti-Israel protesters numbering over 70+ that attempted to continue their anti-Israel protests on the University of Texas at Austin campus were arrested yesterday, following dozens of arrests on Monday after hundreds of protesters set up a surprise encampment on the university’s lawn.
Travis County Attorney Delia Garza confirmed 79 arrests were made at UT-Austin on Tuesday, adding that her office has received 65 cases for criminal trespass.
“[A] number of protestors, many believed to be non-UT affiliated individuals, erected a tent encampment on the South Lawn, with a barricade enclosure of tables secured by metal chains, and strategically placed tools, tents, and rocks,” officials at UT-Austin said in a statement Monday night.”
Chaos and violence ensued when administrators and authorities ordered them to disperse and began dismantling their encampment.
Indiana University also reported multiple arrests for similar demonstrations on its campus.
Police used tear gas on anti-Israel protesters at the University of South Florida!
Law enforcement officials used tear gas on anti-Israel protesters after giving them a
several-minute warning to leave the campus of the University of South Florida (USF).
Video footage posted to X shows law enforcement officials standing in a line on one side of the university lawn, while a crowd of anti-Israel protesters is informed they have “five minutes to disperse” or they will be tear-gassed.
Several of the protesters could be seen using umbrellas or their signs to work against the tear gas, only to end up leaving the lawn.
USF issued a statement revealing that roughly 75 to 100 anti-Israel protesters had arrived on campus in the morning and that, throughout the course of the day, “police observed” some of the protesters “in person and through social media expressing” that they would use various items with them as weapons, according to WTSP News.
“As the day progressed, police observed participants in person and through social media expressing their intent to use some of the items they brought on campus as weapons and to resist university staff members and law enforcement officers,” the statement from the university said. “As a result, USF police determined that the protest was no longer peaceful, and participants must leave the area.”
Police reportedly informed protesters around 4:50 p.m. that they had 15 minutes to leave the campus before the officers would deploy the use of tear gas and rubber bullets, according to the outlet.
The American Academy of Ophthalmology describes rubber bullets as being a “kinetic impact projectile.”
Rubber bullets, a type of kinetic impact projectile (KIP), come in a variety of styles. Some are single projectiles; others are fired as a group of pellets. While KIPs may be nonlethal, they can cause harm, including significant harm to the eye.
Around 5:10 p.m., protesters were once again told to disperse because the protest had been labeled an “unlawful assembly.”
Law enforcement officials then proceeded to use tear gas on the protesters roughly 10 minutes later, after providing protesters with several warnings.
Several other universities in Florida have also derided the anti-Israel encampments and protests that have swept across the nation.
The Biden Administration is hatching a plan to bring Gaza refugees to the U.S.!
President Joe Biden’s administration is reportedly considering a plan that would transfer several refugees from Gaza to the United States, according to internal federal government documents obtained by CBS News.
Top Biden officials have been considering relocating certain Palestinian refugees from Gaza to within the United States if they have immediate family members who are American citizens or permanent residents, according to CBS News. Those who qualify for the United States refugee status would reportedly qualify for several benefits such as permanent residency, housing assistance and a potential avenue to American citizenship.
One of the plans reportedly being considered would enact the United States Refugee Admissions Program and bring Gaza refugees to the United States if they have “ties” to the country. If the Biden administration decides on a plan, it would require coordination with Egypt to execute such matters, CBS News reported.
In the United States, in order to qualify as a refugee, an individual must be able to prove that they are seeking to flee based on persecution of nationality, religion or political views, CBS News reported.
Fani Willis skips Fulton County Primary Debate as opponent faces empty podium! LOL!
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who is handling former President Donald Trump’s election interference case, skipped a debate against her Democrat primary challenger on Sunday.
The debate was held by the Atlanta Press Club and was the first Democratic Party debate in the county. It was supposed to feature Ms. Willis and her Democrat challenger Christian Wise Smith, an attorney and author. However, Ms. Willis was absent from her podium when the debate began, leaving Mr. Smith alone on the stage. After providing a brief introduction of Mr. Smith, the moderator announced that Ms. Willis “declined to participate in the debate and is represented by an empty podium.”
Despite Ms. Willis’ absence, the moderator allowed Mr. Smith to pose his question to the Fulton County DA. “My question for you is: Where are you? You know I’m here because I care about the citizens and the families of Fulton County,” Mr. Smith asked.
“But it’s my understanding that you may have attended the White House correspondents’ dinner. You might be fundraising across the country. But what about us here in the Fulton County? What are you doing to address the issues in the jail? What are you doing to address the backlog? Where are you, Ms. Willis? That’s what we want to know.”
When asked whether he wanted to guess a rebuttal Ms. Willis would have given, Mr. Smith replied that he could not speak for the district attorney. However, “her absence is all the response that we need.”
Asked if he will continue pursuing the case against President Trump if he becomes the new Fulton County district attorney, Mr. Smith said that the issue “is important to us here in Fulton County and a lot of people across the country.”
Ms. Willis’ case against the former president charges him and over a dozen co-defendants with allegedly attempting to illegally overturn the results of the 2020 presidential race in Fulton County. President Trump has pleaded not guilty, claiming he is being wrongfully prosecuted in a bid to harm his chances of securing a second term in the 2024 presidential elections.
While Mr. Smith said President Trump’s case was important, he insisted that “you have to do things differently.” He criticized Ms. Willis for paying “one attorney nearly $1 million to handle one case.”
The $1 million Mr. Smith alluded to is potentially the $650,000 in payments that Ms. Willis allegedly paid special prosecutor Nathan Wade in the Trump case. Mr. Wade stepped down from the post after it was revealed he had been in a romantic relationship with Ms. Willis.
Mr. Smith pointed out that he has worked in the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office and that his salary was “significantly less than what that attorney was paid. And I was responsible for handling a lot more cases than one.”
The Democrat voters’ primary is scheduled for May 21, with the winner set to face off against a Republican challenger in the November elections.
Independent presidential candidate RFK, Jr. has clinched a spot on California’s 2024 ballot!
Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. secured his spot on the California presidential ballot after receiving a nomination from the American Independent Party (AIP).
Mr. Kennedy said in a video released yesterday that he and his running mate, Nicole Shanahan, are officially qualified to appear on the ballot in California, the most populous state in the United States.
He said that “ironically” the AIP was initially the party of Alabama’s former Gov. George Wallace, known for his segregationist politics in the 1960s, but that the party had undergone “its own rebirth” before he came along.
The AIP is California’s third-largest qualified political party, with more than 835,000 registered voters in the state, according to the party’s press release.
MTG vows to force a motion to vacate Speaker Mike Johnson after Democrats back him!
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R- Ga.) will double down and force a vote on her motion to vacate House Speaker Mike Johnson (R- La.) after Democrats announced that they would protect the speaker.
“Mike Johnson is officially the Democrat Speaker of the House. Here is their official endorsement of his Speakership,” Ms. Greene said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, citing a joint statement in which Democrats announced they would bail Mr. Johnson out.
Ms. Greene says she will move to invoke the motion, which would force a vote on the issue.
“If the Democrats want to elect him Speaker (and some Republicans want to support the Democrats’ chosen Speaker), I’ll give them the chance to do it,” Ms. Greene wrote.
“I’m a big believer in recorded votes because putting Congress on record allows every American to see the truth and provides transparency to our votes,” she added. “Americans deserve to see the Uniparty on full display. I’m about to give them their coming out party!”
Judge rules some North Carolina abortion pill restrictions unlawful
A judge ruled Tuesday that some of North Carolina’s restrictions on the distribution of abortion pills are unlawful, citing arguments over the drug mifepristone that bypassed federal regulators.
In her order, U.S. District Judge Catherine Eagles in Greensboro granted a partial victory to the plaintiff, a physician who sued the state over the regulations for concerns around the pill that were not addressed by the Food and Drug Administration, The Associated Press reported.
Marijuana reclassification marks Biden’s latest election-year move
Facing softening support from a left-leaning voting group that will be crucial to his reelection hopes in November, Biden has made a number of election year moves intended to appeal in particular to younger voters. His move toward reclassifying marijuana as a less dangerous drug is just the latest, coming weeks after he canceled student loans for another 206,000 borrowers. He has also made abortion rights central to his case for reelection.
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
Home industry groups say Biden’s new climate rules add $31,000 to the price of a new home!
The Biden administration’s latest energy efficiency rule for new home construction will push up costs and make housing even less affordable at a time when house prices have just notched fresh record highs, according to two home builders associations.
Last week, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced the adoption of updated minimum energy standards for new single-family and multifamily housing construction built with federal financing or funding.
The Biden administration, which has set its sights on fighting the supposed ill effects of climate change, boasts that the new rules will generate an estimated reduction of as much as 6.35 million metric tons in carbon emissions over 30 years.
However, the claimed lack of impact on housing affordability and availability is disputed by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and its affiliate the Home Builders Association of Greater Kansas City (KCHBA).
The two associations say that the new rules raise the price of the average new home by over $30,000 that will take over 48 years to recoup through lower energy bills.
The U.S. government plans to borrow more this quarter amid disappointing tax receipts!
The U.S. government plans to borrow more cash from private investors this quarter than initially forecast amid less-than- expected tax receipts, the Treasury Department said on Monday.
According to the department’s latest Treasury Refunding Announcement, Washington anticipates borrowing $243 billion in the April-June period. This is $41 billion higher than officials projected at the beginning of the year and much greater than market forecasts.
Treasury officials stated that the federal government’s tax receipts have fallen short of forecasts so far this fiscal year. The Treasury does not share its forecasts for tax revenues with the public.
For the January-March quarter, the Treasury borrowed $748 billion in private marketable debt, slightly under the first estimate of $760-billion. This was mainly due to lower federal outlays.
Looking ahead to the July- September quarter, the department expects to borrow $847 billion.
This year, Wall Street has been paying closer attention to the Treasury’s debt issuance efforts.
Washington has been flooding capital markets with government bonds to help manage ballooning deficits and higher interest payments. The federal deficit has already crossed the $1 trillion mark halfway through the current fiscal year, while interest costs are among the top budgetary items.
House prices fall as lenders raise mortgage rates
House prices fell in April as potential buyers continued to face pressure on affordability, according to the Nationwide.
The UK’s biggest building society said that UK house prices were down by 0.4% compared with the previous month.
It said the average home cost £261,962, some 4% below the peak in the summer of 2022.
The rising cost of borrowing was key to the latest fall in prices, it said.
Major Dollar Tree Warehouse Demolished By Tornado, May Spark Supply Chain Chaos
A tornado outbreak on Saturday night across southern Oklahoma decimated a major distribution center for budget retailer Dollar Tree. The facility supplies stores across the Oklahoma-Texas area, plus other surrounding states, which may spark supply chain issues.
Professional storm chaser Aaron Rigsby posted several aerial images of the Dollar Tree distribution center in the Marietta area on X. The photos show the damage left behind after a tornado ripped through the center of the massive warehouse.
Another storm chaser, Brandon Clement, posted an up-close drone video of the wreckage, showing millions of products that won’t arrive on store shelves anytime soon.
Tesla staff say firm’s entire Supercharger team fired
Tesla has fired its entire Supercharger division, staff who worked in the team say.
There are over 50,000 Superchargers globally, the company says, making it the world’s largest fast-charging network for electric vehicles.
Boss Elon Musk said the firm would cut one in ten jobs, as it faces strong competition from less expensive rivals.
It needed to be “absolutely hard core” about cost reduction, he wrote in a memo first reported by The Information.
HEALTH
Johnson & Johnson proposes $6.5bn settlement of talc cancer lawsuits
Johnson & Johnson (J&J) is moving forward with a $6.475bn proposed settlement of tens of thousands of lawsuits alleging that its baby powder and other talcum-powder products were contaminated with asbestos and caused ovarian cancer, the company said on Wednesday in a statement.
The company discontinued sales of its baby powder in North America in 2020, and worldwide in 2023. The company now sells a cornstarch-based formula, though it continues to insist on the safety of talc products.
Talc is a naturally occurring mineral that can appear alongside asbestos in mines. Investigations by Reuters and the New York Times found J&J worried about the presence of asbestos in its talc for decades, but worked to keep the information from the public.
The deal would allow J&J to resolve the lawsuits through a third bankruptcy filing of a subsidiary company. To close the proposed settlement, 75% of claimants who allege they were harmed by J&J’s talcum products will need to approve the deal. They will vote over the course of three months.
Multistate E. coli outbreak connected to walnuts: CDC
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned on Tuesday of an E. coli outbreak linked to organic walnuts sold in bulk that has so far infected 12 people across the states of California and Washington.
Seven people have been hospitalized, and two have developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, a dangerous kidney disease, the CDC said. There have been no deaths reported.
Cats died after drinking raw milk from cows infected with bird flu!
Cats in the United States died after being fed raw milk from cows infected with highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) A, researchers reported on April 29.
Twenty-four cats at a Texas dairy farm consumed raw milk and colostrum from cows with the influenza, also known as the bird flu, Texas veterinarian Barbara Petersen and other researchers said in a study. Half of the cats were found dead, starting on March 19.
The cats displayed symptoms just before death, including stiff movements and blindness.
Postmortem testing of two of the cats showed gross lesions or markers of severe virus infection. Researchers also discovered lesions in cows they examined.
Samples from the cats also tested positive for H5, a subtype of influenza A virus.
The evidence was consistent with previous reported infections in cats that were suspected to have been transmitted by wild birds, the original species with the bird flu, researchers said.
New Study Identifies How Anger Harms the Heart
Feeling angry constricts blood vessels in unhealthy ways and could raise a person’s long-term odds for heart disease, new research warns.
“If you’re a person who gets angry all the time, you’re having chronic injuries to your blood vessels,” said study leader Dr. Daichi Shimbo, a cardiologist at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York City.
His team conducted experiments where the activity of blood vessels was monitored while people were in angry states versus states of anxiety, sadness or neutral emotions.
3 Breathing Exercises for Stress Relief
Many people will have already experienced the power of the breath for stress relief and aid relaxation on their yoga mats – whether you realised you were engaging in breathwork or not.
Altering your respiratory rhythm directly alters the state of your central nervous system and can support your wellbeing in many ways. If you want to achieve increased focus and productivity, improve your mood and even shift some unwanted weight, the below breathing hacks could be a great place to start. You might also want to consider taking a supplement to lower cortisol levels; LYMA’s evidence-based formula has been designed with your wellbeing in mind, and its eight unrivalled ingredients, including nootropics, offer tangible results and a confidence you can feel.
In this article we outline three basic breathing techniques that you can do yourself at home if you want to reduce stress and cortisol levels, calm anxiety, reduce inflammation and boost your immunity.
GARDENING, FARMING, & HOMESTEADING
Cauliflower is a biennial plant grown as an annual. It has a compact growth habit reaching heights of 60-80 cm (24-31 inches). The plant has a thick central stem supporting broad, coarse green leaves. The centerpiece of the cauliflower is its head, or “curd,” which is made up of undeveloped flower buds, and is typically white, but can also come in shades of purple, green, and orange.
Basil and Herb Garden – Feeding Them With Banana Peel Water
Using banana peel water is a sustainable and cost-effective way to provide your basil and other herbs with essential nutrients that promote healthy growth.
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Flashback: When the UN launched SDG publishers compact in October of 2020:
Laser transmission hits earth from 140-million miles away … but it’s not aliens!
Earth recently received a laser transmission from a record-breaking 140 million miles away. The development could present major consequences for the future of space travel, according to a recent report by NASA.
While this transmission seems like it could be extraterrestrial in origin, it is not. The transmission was sent from NASA’s Psyche spacecraft, which is located around 1.5 times the distance between Earth and the Sun.
This breakthrough was achieved by using a Psyche feature called Deep Space Optical Communications, per the New York Post. The primary objective of the project is to investigate the metal asteroid known as 16 Psyche in the hopes of discovering gems.
The asteroid is expected to be around four billion miles away.
The Psyche spacecraft is expected to move by Mars — humanity’s next great mission — in 2026, and then it will continue its journey to its final destination, 16 Psyche, by 2029.
The spacecraft will ultimately aim to map out the rest of the surrounding region and possibly discover precious metals on 16 Psyche.
SURVEILLANCE STATE
Kaiser Permanente data breach may have impacted 13.4 million customers!
Health care service provider Kaiser Permanente has revealed roughly 13.4 million people in the United States may have been impacted by a data security incident that occurred earlier this month.
In a filing with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office for Civil Rights, the Oakland, California-headquartered conglomerate said the data breach occurred on April 12 and impacted its Kaiser Permanente Foundation Health Plan members.
More than 12.5 million people were enrolled in those health plans as of Dec. 31, 2023, according to the organization’s website.
However, the filing with HHS states that approximately 13.4 million members may have been impacted by the recent breach.
Kaiser Permanente added that the data breach was related to unauthorized access and disclosure of information, although a spokesperson for the health care giant told Reuters that it had not identified any cases of misuse of data.
“Out of an abundance of caution, we are informing about 13.4 million current and former members and patients who accessed our websites and mobile applications,” Kaiser told the news agency.
They include both current and former customers, the spokesperson noted.
Separately, the organization told Information Security Media Group that it had launched an internal investigation into the breach and ultimately found that “certain online technologies, previously installed on its websites and mobile applications, may have transmitted personal information to third-party vendors.”
Those vendors include Microsoft Bing, Google, and social media platform X, according to the publication.
The data shared with third-party vendors potentially includes member names and IP addresses, as well as information that could indicate if members were signed into a Kaiser Permanente account or service and how members “interacted with and navigated through the website and mobile applications, and search terms used in the health encyclopedia,” the company said.
However, the company stressed that no usernames, passwords, Social Security numbers, financial account information, or credit card numbers were compromised or shared with third parties.
As a result of the breach, Kaiser removed the trackers from its websites and mobile apps, a company spokesperson added.
CANCEL CULTURE
Survey shows most Americans see TikTok as a Chinese influence tool on opinions in USA!
A majority of Americans believe that China uses TikTok to shape U.S. public opinion, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted as Washington moves closer to potentially banning the Chinese-owned short-video app.
Some 58% of respondents to the two-day poll, which closed on Tuesday, agreed with a statement that the Chinese government uses TikTok, which is owned by China’s ByteDance, to “influence American public opinion.” Some 13% disagreed, and the rest were unsure or didn’t answer the question. Republicans were more likely than Democrats to see China as using the app to affect U.S. opinions.
TikTok says it has spent more than $1.5 billion on data security efforts and would not share data on its 170 million U.S. users with the Chinese government. The company told Congress last year that it does “not promote or remove content at the request of the Chinese government.”
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