WORLD NEWS
Amidst Questions Of Stolen Election, Macron Launches Digital Identity App
The French government has announced the creation of a new digital identity app for citizens to access private and public services, in line with a broader push for digital identity systems in Europe.
Just days after the re-election of globalist President Emmanuel Macron, the Ministry of the Interior has announced that it will be crafting a smartphone application to house a new digital identity.
The biometric app, which is based off the new identity card, was signed off in a decree by Prime Minister Jean Castex and Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin on Tuesday.
The app will allow users to scan their physical identity card and it will be uploaded to be used to access public or private services.
The new system comes in place of the previous attempt by the government in 2019 to implement a digital identity. Dubbed the Alicem, the proposed system proved controversial and was ultimately scrapped over backlash over the use of facial recognition and fingerprints, broadcaster BFMTV reported.
The new digital identity will not record such personal features, however, it will contain details such as names, date of birth, a photo, and both email and physical addresses.
According to the government, the application “allows the user, in particular, to generate electronic certificates containing only the identity attributes whose transmission he considers necessary to third parties of his choice”.
Pelosi, Schiff Make Unannounced Visit to Ukraine: ‘Support Is on the Way’
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and a delegation of U.S. lawmakers revealed that they traveled to Ukraine’s capital to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a bid to express solidarity with the country.
“Our delegation traveled to Kyiv to send an unmistakable and resounding message to the entire world: America stands firmly with Ukraine,” the group of lawmakers said in a statement. “When we return to the United States, we will do so further informed, deeply inspired, and ready to do what is needed to help the Ukrainian people as they defend democracy for their nation and for the world.”
Several other top Democratic House members traveled with Pelosi to Kyiv, including Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), and Rules Committee Chair Jim McGovern (D-Mass.). A video posted by Zelenskyy’s Twitter account apparently showed the delegation walking on the streets of Kyiv before they were greeted by the Ukrainian leader.
“We are visiting you to say thank you for your fight for freedom,” Pelosi said in a meeting with Ukrainian officials, according to a video that was posted on Zelenskyy’s Telegram page on May 1. “Your fight is a fight for everyone, and so our commitment is to be there for you until the fight is done.”
As seen in footage uploaded online, Pelosi said Congress would work with the White House to pass a $33 billion aid package for Ukraine. President Joe Biden last week called on Congress to pass the measure, while similarly announcing another $800 million in security assistance for the country.
How China Locks Down Over 1 Billion People
The official policy in China is aimed at zero COVID cases in the country. They have locked down over 1 billion people to stop the spread of a virus from a family of cold viruses known to have an animal reservoir
This means to achieve zero COVID China must kill every living animal, close all borders to people moving into or out of the country and change crews for all imports and exports on planes, trains and trucks to completely isolate the people
The goal is likely not zero COVID since one government adviser told a reporter, “eventually everyone will have to live with the virus.” In the meantime, people are starving in their homes, their pets are beaten to death, food is being thrown away and adults and children are being force vaccinated in their homes and on the street
Roughly 26 million Shanghai residents, 1 out of 3 of whom are elderly, have been unable to go to the store or get medication starting March 28, 2022, and if they test positive, they are forced to quarantine in metal cubicle cities without temperature control or running water in their hut
U.S. NEWS, POLITICS & GOVERNMENT
‘Deep State’ Was Working Against Trump on COVID-19 Response: Paul Alexander
According to Paul Alexander, when former President Donald Trump was trying to tackle COVID-19 in 2020, the “swamp” or the “deep state” was working against him, using flawed data to tarnish him, locking down society, and keeping schools closed.
“Can you imagine the president of the United States fighting against the [teachers’] union, fighting against the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)], fighting against his own task force?” Alexander told EpochTV’s “Facts Matter” program in an interview that will air on May 3.
“They’re working against him. So you need to be there to understand when he said ‘the swamp’—and he talked about deep state—it is real. I dealt with them. It is the bureaucracy. The entrenched bureaucracy is real.”
From late March till early September 2020, Alexander served as scientific adviser to Michael Caputo, then-assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
During that time, Alexander was attacked by the media and some health agency officials for trying to “tweak” the COVID-19 death numbers in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR).
On Aug. 8, 2020, in an email to Caputo (pdf) and other officials, Alexander wrote: “CDC to me appears to be writing hit pieces on the administration and meant at this time to impact school re-openings and they then send it to the media knowing it is deceiving. I ask it be stopped now! … Nothing to go out unless I read and agree with the findings how they CDC, wrote it and I tweak it to ensure it is fair and balanced and ‘complete.’ And not misleading.”
At the time, Alexander also pushed for herd immunity to handle the pandemic, insisting the only way to do so was to allow the non-high-risk groups to expose themselves to the virus.
Trump-backed Candidates Win Key Races at Michigan GOP Convention
The grassroots muscle displayed by supporters of former president Donald Trump last weekend shocked the traditional Michigan Republican establishment.
Going into the April 23 GOP Spring Endorsement Convention, party regular Tom Leonard—a former speaker of the Michigan House of Representatives—was widely favored to win the party’s endorsement to take on Democrat incumbent Attorney General Dana Nessel in November.
Shortly before the Grand Rapids gathering, Leonard released a list of 200 endorsements he received from establishment Republicans.
At the convention, Leonard was defeated by Matt DePerno, a private-sector constitutional lawyer from southwest Michigan who has never held public office.
In a three-way race, which included suburban-Detroit State Representative Ryan Berman, DePerno stunned political observers by garnering 49 percent of the vote to Leonard’s 40 percent on the first ballot.
The results necessitated a second ballot because convention rules require the winner to have at least 51 percent.
By the rules, Berman, who received 10 percent of the vote, was eliminated.
In the interval between the first and second ballots, Berman threw his support to Leonard and worked the floor to urge delegates to support Leonard in the runoff.
In the end, it was the pre-convention influence of DePerno’s main ally, Donald Trump, that brought him the victory.
For months Trump supporters have been showing up at county Republican committee meetings across the state—an effort that was not lost on the state party’s communications director Gus Portela.
Portela told The Epoch Times in an interview before the convention that local GOP meetings around Michigan have been packed out with new faces in anticipation of the convention and upcoming primary and general elections.
These local gatherings are usually hard to fill for both political parties.
Medical Examiner Says Former Missouri State Rep. Cora Walker Died from Heart Disease
The Saint Louis Medical Examiner announced Wednesday that Former Representative Cora Faith Walker died from a heart condition after attending cop-hating leftist Mayor Tishaura Jones’ birthday party on March 11.
Former Missouri State Representative Cora Faith Walker, 37, died unexpectedly early morning after spending the night at Loews Hotel at Ballpark Village in downtown St. Louis following the birthday party on March 10.
No Legal Consequences for Hunter Biden Laptop Censorship: William Barr
Former Attorney General William Barr recently made it clear that those who dismissed the Hunter Biden laptop story as Russian disinformation and suppressed the news will not be held accountable with any legal consequences.
“None that I can think of,” Barr said to Newsmax host Sean Spicer who raised the question regarding accountability. The former AG noted that media and politicians have a propensity for telling lies. Speaking in an interview with conservative radio show host Hugh Hewitt last month, Barr suggested that suppressing the laptop story might have affected the 2020 presidential elections.
“The intelligence officials suggesting that it was Russian disinformation in order to essentially keep a cork in it until after the election. I do think that that, given how close the election was, you know, I think that that probably affected the outcome, or at least is a very distinct probability of that,” Barr said.
First Jan. 6 Defendant Files Habeas Corpus Petition
A Jan. 6 defendant has filed a habeas corpus petition, alleging his constitutional rights have been repeatedly violated while being held pending trial. He’s the first person charged in the 2021 breach of the U.S. Capitol to file such a petition.
Christopher Quaglin, 36, has been denied necessities such as medicine, forced to live in substandard conditions, and prevented from reviewing materials regarding the charges against him, according to a 61-page petition that was filed in federal court in Washington last week.
Quaglin, a married father of a 1-year-old, has celiac disease, which means he needs gluten-free food.
As he’s been shifted to different jails, Quaglin has regularly been denied adequate sustenance, according to the petition. He’s gone days without food on multiple occasions. To prevent starvation, has spent some $7,500 at commissaries; he has reported losing about 68 pounds.
Quaglin has been placed in solitary confinement, kept indoors for months, and housed in cells with black mold, rats, and rusted metal, the petition says. He has been punished for speaking to the press and members of Congress, and has seen his right to meet with his counsel violated, including having video calls with his lawyer, Joseph McBride cut off, and been prevented from reviewing the discovery in his case.
“You have five distinct claims. Each one of these claims are grounds for him to be released in and of themselves, but the five of them in the aggregate provide overwhelming justification for his release,” McBride told The Epoch Times.
Naomi Judd Dead at 76, According to Daughters Ashley and Wynonna: ‘We Are Navigating Profound Grief’
Naomi Judd, one half of the iconic country duo The Judds, has died, PEOPLE confirms. She was 76.
Naomi’s daughters, Ashley Judd and Wynonna Judd, announced their mother’s death in a statement obtained by PEOPLE Saturday.
“Today we sisters experienced a tragedy. We lost our beautiful mother to the disease of mental illness. We are shattered. We are navigating profound grief and know that as we loved her, she was loved by her public,” the statement read. “We are in unknown territory.”
The statement, which Ashley, 54, also posted to her Instagram, did not elaborate further or include an exact cause of death.
An additional statement from Naomi’s husband of 32 years, Larry Strickland, reads: “Naomi Judd’s family request privacy during this heartbreaking time. No additional information will be released at this time.”
‘We the People’ Are the New, Permanent Underclass in America
“We are now speeding down the road of wasteful spending and debt, and unless we can escape we will be smashed in inflation.”—Herbert Hoover
This is financial tyranny.
The U.S. government—and that includes the current administration—is spending money it doesn’t have on programs it can’t afford, and “we the taxpayers” are the ones who must foot the bill for the government’s fiscal insanity.
We’ve been sold a bill of goods by politicians promising to pay down the national debt, jumpstart the economy, rebuild our infrastructure, secure our borders, ensure our security, and make us all healthy, wealthy and happy.
None of that has come to pass, and yet we’re still being loaded down with debt not of our own making.
Let’s talk numbers, shall we?
The national debt (the amount the federal government has borrowed over the years and must pay back) is $30 trillion and growing. That translates to roughly $242,000 per taxpayer.
Now the Biden administration is proposing a $5.8 trillion spending budget that notably includes $813 billion for national defense, $30 billion to “fund the police,” and a plan to reduce the national deficit by roughly $1 trillion over 10 years through additional tax hikes.
It’s estimated that the amount this country owes is now 130% greater than its gross domestic product (all the products and services produced in one year by labor and property supplied by the citizens).
The U.S. ranks as the 12th most indebted nation in the world, with much of that debt owed to the Federal Reserve, large investment funds and foreign governments, namely, Japan and China.
Essentially, the U.S. government is funding its very existence with a credit card.
DeSantis Insists Disney Will Have to Pay Its Debts, Says ‘Additional Legislative Action’ in Works
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Walt Disney Co. will have to pay its own debts as the entertainment corporation stated that the state would have to foot the bill for its bond taxes when its special status is revoked.
Last month, the Florida Legislature approved DeSantis-backed legislation that rescinded Disney’s 55-year special governing status that had allowed it to control a vast, 25,000-acre parcel of land near Orlando that houses Walt Disney World and other facilities.
After the measure was signed by the governor, the Burbank, California-based company criticized the move to strip the Reedy Creek Improvement District of special privileges. It claimed that there’s a clause in the decades-old original contract that says Florida would be responsible for its bond debt, which amounts to hundreds of millions of dollars.
But in a town hall with Fox News, DeSantis, a Republican, denied Disney’s claim, saying to applause that “Disney will pay its debts. Disney will, for the first time, actually live under the same laws as everybody else in Florida. Imagine that.”
He said the dissolving of Reedy Creek won’t go into effect until June 2023, which gives Florida lawmakers time to follow up.
“The bonds will be paid by Disney,” DeSantis said during the town hall, which aired on April 28. “They will be paying taxes, probably more taxes. They will follow the laws that every other person has to do, and they will no longer have the ability to run their own government.”
Claims that Florida taxpayers will now have to pay for Reedy Creek services are “fiction,” he said, noting that Disney is “paying money to run their operations.”
“They will continue paying money to run their operations, and that’ll be true if the state is in charge of a district, if it’s dissolved to the local, it doesn’t matter—that is going to continue to happen,” DeSantis said.
JFK Assassination Records: Lawyer Sues National Archives, Working on a Complaint Against Biden
A lawyer has filed a lawsuit against the National Archives in an attempt to obtain the underlying correspondence and memos relating to the decisions of Presidents Donald Trump and Joe Biden to postpone the release of the JFK records, six decades after the event.
The move comes after Biden released a memorandum in October 2021 authorizing another withholding of the records.
The one spearheading this attempt to gain information about the national security threats that these records allegedly pose is attorney Larry Schnapf, who has been interested in the assassination since he was a child.
Schnapf told The Epoch Times that in February, the government singled out 5,700 pages relevant to his request and will be sending them to him in 250-page batches.
He received part of the first tranche last week. Some of it is redacted, something that he plans to challenge legally.
“The files released in the first tranche pertain to President Trump’s October 2017 decision to postpone disclosure of the assassinations records for six months. These documents show that the National Archives disagreed with postponement requests of the CIA and FBI and how the rationale for the temporary six-month postponement was orchestrated,” Schnapf said.
“I believe the next batch of records will pertain to President Trump’s April 2018 decision to postpone disclosure until October 2021.”
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., nephew of Democrat President John F. Kennedy, is in favor of the efforts by Schnapf and his team.
“I support that suit,” Kennedy Jr. told The Epoch Times, “It’s a 60-year-old crime. There’s no excuse for not complying with the law and releasing the records.”
“In addition to this lawsuit, I submitted the attached letter to the Archivist on behalf of a team of lawyers I have assembled requesting that the Archives follow-up on a number of search requests tendered to the CIA and FBI by the Assassination Records Review Board (ARRB) in 1998 and that remain outstanding,” Schnapf said. “If I don’t receive an adequate response from the Archives on this request, I will file a second lawsuit. My team of lawyers is also working on a complaint against President Biden for failing to comply with the terms of the JFK Records Act. We will be seeking a writ of mandamus requiring the President to release the records.”
Voter fraud has traditionally been a local affair in the United States, where elections are conducted by more than 3,000 counties in a decentralized system that makes mass ballot manipulation nearly impossible.
And it very much remains so, maintains Gregg Phillips. His investigation into Georgia voter fraud during the state’s 2021 U.S. Senate election runoff is featured in Dinesh D’Souza’s “2000 Mules” documentary, to be released this week.
While manning True the Vote’s voter fraud hotline during the 2020 election, Phillips said he observed local election fraud “grown to scale” as part of a ballot-harvesting scheme orchestrated by national organizations.
Across the country, “there are a thousand local insurgencies doing their own things” in defiance of state election laws, he said.
But what has happened over the past few decades, and became evident during the 2020 election, is “new money and old money, old-fashioned foundations” can “leverage fraud already in place at a local level,” Phillips said. “This is how this thing grows to scale” and can influence state and national election results.
Phillips, a former director of the Mississippi Department of Human Services and a former deputy commissioner for the Texas Health & Human Services Commission, is the managing partner and majority owner of OPSEC Group LLC, based in Birmingham, Alabama.
His company conducts voting roll and election results investigations and analysis for True the Vote (TTV), a nonprofit based in Houston founded by Catherine Engelbrecht in 2010.
For more than a decade, TTV has been training poll watchers, educating voters in election law, and lobbying to enact many of the reforms adopted post-2020.
Engelbrecht’s TTV and Phillips’s OPSEC conducted the investigation presented in the documentary by D’Souza, which is set to open in 300 theaters on May 2 and May 4.
The genesis of the investigation, which he and Englebrecht say proves large-scale, illegal vote trafficking occurred in the 2020 election, was digging into reports after manning TTV’s tip line, Phillips said.
“We started to see these anomalies, these densities,” in “precinct after precinct” in places like Milwaukee, Detroit, Atlanta, and Arizona’s Maricopa County, where voter turnout was extraordinarily high and virtually all ballots were cast for the same candidates, he said.
Top Republican Raises His ‘Only’ Concern With Durham Investigation
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) has said that he is disputing one claim made by special counsel John Durham in his case against a former Clinton campaign lawyer who was charged last year with lying to the FBI.
Michael Sussmann, who had worked for the Clinton campaign-hired Perkins Coie lawyer, was charged by Durham’s team with making false statements to the FBI when he met with then-General Counsel James Baker in 2016, telling Baker that he did not represent any client. While Sussmann has denied Durham’s allegations and pleaded not guilty, Durham said that Sussmann had told the FBI that he wasn’t working for Clinton’s campaign when he was being billed by them.
During an interview last week, Jordan told Just The News that his “only concern” regarding Durham’s investigation is when the special prosecutor said that “he doesn’t think the FBI knew who Sussmann was representing, but I just find that hard to believe.”
“Sussmann’s false statement misled the FBI General Counsel and other FBI personnel concerning the political nature of his work and deprived the FBI of information that might have permitted it more fully to assess and uncover the origins of the relevant data and technical analysis, including the identities and motivations of Sussmann’s clients,” Durham’s indictment said. Sussmann’s trial is slated to start this month.
But Jordan, who is the top Republican on the House Judiciary panel and a lead House investigator into the Trump-Russia conspiracy theory, told the outlet that Baker was “actually friends with Sussmann,” citing that an email in the case revealed as much.
The congressman was referring to an email sent by Sussmann to Baker that was cited in Durham’s court filings, which read: “Jim — it’s Michael Sussmann. I have something time-sensitive (and sensitive) I need to discuss … Do you have [availability] for a short meeting tomorrow? I’m coming on my own — not on behalf of a client or company — want to help the Bureau. Thanks.”
However, “everything else” in Durham’s probe appears to be “encouraging, to see that he’s digging into this and getting to the bottom of it,” said Jordan. He added that some of the findings are what “we all suspected all along” and said the Democrats were pushing one of Sussmann’s alleged claims that there was a secret backchannel between the Trump Organization and a Russian bank.
Last week, the 2016 Clinton campaign sought to block Durham’s access to documents in connection to the case against a former Democratic Party-hired lawyer.
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
Americans Want Change. Private Mints Are the Solution.
Two years after a lack of spending brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic caused a coin shortage, American retailers still find themselves short on change.
In March, industry representatives called on Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen for help as the shortage lingers, but they’re unlikely to find relief. The federal government has been steadfast in its commitment to present only short‐term solutions, like rationing coins or pushing social media campaigns. If the government actually wanted to solve the problem, it would allow the private sector to produce its own coins.
In 2020, the combination of government‐mandated lockdowns, consumer health concerns, and a shutdown of the U.S. Mint brought the circulation of coins to all but a grinding halt. Though the economy at large is much better than it was in summer 2020, the circulation of coins has struggled to recover.
While some businesses have chosen to break away from cash transactions altogether in response to the shortage, others don’t have that luxury. Brian Wallace, chief executive of the Coin Laundry Association said, “[If] we can’t make change, we can’t make money.” That reality became clear when some business owners began driving for hours to find available coins.
>>> Spring 2022 Point to Point PDF Download
Three Survival Tips for Retirees Besieged by Soaring Inflation: Experts
Retirees who depend on fixed income are among those who will be affected most by the soaring inflationary costs. Experts say there are various ways for retirees to consider surviving the ongoing 40-year high inflation.
The consumer price index (CPI) surged 1.2 percent in March, the biggest monthly increase since September 2005, the Labor Department said on April 12.
In the 12 months through March, the CPI accelerated by 8.5 percent, the largest year-on-year gain since December 1981, followed a 7.9 percent jump in February.
Experts say the retirees should cut their spending and invest more cautiously with coming rate hikes in mind.
- Cutting Spending to Match Inflation
“The first step is to review your budget and try to cut your spending by at least 10 percent to compensate for inflation,” Andrew Latham, a certified personal finance counselor and director of content at Super Money, told The Epoch Times.
Potential ways to attain that goal include using coupons, cooking at home more, comparison shopping, and cutting down on more expensive foods such as meat, seafood, and alcohol.
“It may also be wise to put off expensive vacations and do more activities close to home to cut down on gas expenses,” he added.
- Delay Collecting Social Security Benefits
Postponing retirement, delaying social security benefits, or returning to the job market are also options, experts say.
“Delaying Social Security benefits can help protect against inflation if you have enough funds to retire and are in pretty good health. Even though Social Security benefits are inflation-protected, postponing will later result in a larger, inflation-protected payout. All of this is subject to revision, so make sure you stay up to date on any future changes to Social Security payments,” Solomon suggested.
“Waiting longer before you start collecting social security pays back considerably,” Latham said.
“You can earn an 8 percent increase for every year you wait, which amounts to a 32 percent increase if you wait 4 years. Social Security benefits are also indexed for inflation, making it particularly valuable to get a raise,” he advised.
- Inflation-proof Investments
Retirees can also counter the inflation with active strategies like investment, along with the passive spending cuts.
However, they should keep in mind that the Federal Reserve is tightening its monetary policy and a 50-basis-point rate hike is likely to happen in May.
The Fed officials already voiced that the interest rates will continue to rise in the coming months or years.
Considering the rate hikes, Solomon said seniors should invest in real estate to beat inflation.
“While it is ideal for retired people to have their own homes paid off, real estate investing can help diversify revenue sources and combat inflation in retirement. Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) are yet another alternative if individuals want to avoid owning real rental properties and negotiating with tenants or an agency,” he said.
Kunal Sawhney, CEO of Kalkine Group, said pensioners can park money in “fundamentally robust stocks that also come with emerging market benefits.”
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
Enviro Groups Pocket Millions from Wind Industry: Report
A new report shows that many high-profile environmental organizations take money from wind power companies, raising questions about their independence and objectivity as the Biden administration pursues large-scale offshore wind projects along the coasts of the United States.
Titled “Conflicts of Interest,” the report was produced by the Save Right Whales Coalition, a group concerned about the potential impact of industrial-scale wind on the endangered North Atlantic right whale.
“Our investigation sought to understand why environmental groups that have worked vigorously to protect right whales have gone silent in the face of massive industrialization of right whale habitat. If the money flow is influencing the actions of these environmental groups, the public deserves to know,” said Lisa Linowes, who belongs to the Save the Right Whales Coalition.
At least $4.2 million in donations are documented in a spreadsheet examined by The Epoch Times.
Bay State Wind, a venture led by the Danish wind turbine giant Ørsted, donated $500,000 to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, one of the United States’ top research hubs for oceanography, marine science, and related disciplines.
Ørsted also donated an undisclosed sum to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), as proudly advertised on its sponsorship webpage.
The National Audubon Society, known for its bird conservation advocacy, has also accepted funding with ties to the wind industry.
Both the National Audubon Society and Maine Audubon received hundreds of thousands of dollars from the New England Forests and Rivers Fund, which is financed in part by Avangrid and Eversource, both of which have large wind power portfolios.
Ocean Wind, another Ørsted subsidiary, has also funded New Jersey Audubon, as has the offshore wind firm Atlantic Shores.
In addition, Avangrid has funded Sharon Audubon.
Many consider wind turbines highly dangerous to birds and bats.
While a study financed by the pro-wind energy nonprofit American Wind and Wildlife Watch estimated there were just 214,000 to 368,000 wind turbine-related bird fatalities in the United States and Canada, many other studies have arrived at higher estimates.
“Planners, decision-makers, and wind turbine operators should regard most, if not all, existing mortality estimates at wind farms as highly imprecise and potentially biased low,” wrote researcher Shawn Smallwood in his own study, which estimated bird and bad wind turbine fatalities at an average of 573,093 per year in the United States. (Smallwood’s study was funded by the National Renewable Energy Lab and the California Energy Commission).
“We are concerned that financial conflicts of interest are interfering with your analysis of offshore wind projects,” coalition members wrote in an open letter to the organizations and firms named in the report.
Linowes, who also serves as executive director of WindAction Group, told The Epoch Times she is concerned about the lack of data on the long-term ecological impact of wind installations.
HEALTH
Lost Your Sense of Smell? 6 Remedies for Anosmia
Loss of smell, or anosmia, can significantly impair your quality of life, but options like smell training, alpha-lipoic acid and turmeric may bring back your sense of smell naturally
It’s easy to take your sense of smell for granted — that is, until it’s gone. Anosmia, or the inability to smell, isn’t a life-threatening condition, but it significantly affects quality of life and can lead to depression and anxiety.
Affecting both your sense of smell and taste, anosmia has a considerable effect on pleasurable experiences like eating your favorite foods. Even a hike in the woods or intimacy can become less satisfying without the ability to appreciate odors in your environment.
There are safety issues, too, as your nose is a keen warning mechanism that can alert you to dangers in your everyday life. If you suffer from anosmia, as up to 20% of the population does, you cannot smell smoke, natural gas or spoiled food, putting you at a heightened risk of harm.
Six Natural Options for Anosmia
To help regain your sense of smell, a variety of herbal and therapeutic options are available.
- Smell Training
Smell training involves sniffing four different odors — typically from the categories flowery, fruity, spicy and resinous — twice a day for a period of about four to six months. Often, essential oils of rose, lemon, clove and eucalyptus are used for smell training due to their concentrated scents.
- Alpha-Lipoic Acid
The antioxidant alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) was also useful in restoring sense of smell in people with anosmia following upper respiratory tract infection. Patients took ALA supplements at a dose of 600 milligrams (mg) a day for an average of 4.5 months. At the end of the study, 26% had a moderate increase in olfactory function while 35% had a “remarkable” increase.
- Ginkgo Biloba
The herb ginkgo biloba helped to restore sense of smell in an animal study when used in combination with an anti-inflammatory drug, It’s believed that ginkgo’s antioxidant effects may explain its usefulness for anosmia.
- Lavender Syrup
Lavender syrup, which is often used in Persian medicine, is believed to have a cleansing effect on the brain and a strengthening effect on the brain and body. In a pilot clinical trial, 23 patients with post-viral olfactory dysfunction took 9 milliliters of lavender syrup for three weeks. Lavender syrup led to significant improvements in olfactory function compared to the control group.
- Zinc Gluconate
Zinc deficiency may induce anosmia, and it’s been found that supplementation with zinc gluconate for one month leads to significantly higher recovery rates of olfactory function compared to treatment with prednisolone alone.
- Turmeric
Turmeric, known for its active ingredient curcumin, has impressive antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. In a peer-reviewed case report, a doctor and medical student from Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans report two patients who experienced fast restoration of taste and smell after taking one dose of turmeric.
General Principles to Consider When Treating Chronic Illness
Chronic illness is typically caused by some underlying cellular dysfunction, and two of the primary reasons for that are toxicity and/or poor gut health
Infected root canals and cavitations are also common causes of chronic health problems
Oxygen therapy stimulates your body to heal itself. You can stimulate joint cartilage to grow, strengthen your immune system, kill off pathogens, keep viral infections at bay and much more
Alternative treatment modalities that can help facilitate healing where conventional medicine fails include prolotherapy, ozone therapy, prolozone (a combination of prolotherapy and ozone), hyperbarics, chelation, UVBI (ultraviolet blood irradiation), EBOO (extracorporeal blood oxygenation), photobiomodulation and more
Medicine’s Most Profitable Pill Is Based on Flawed Science
“A Statin Nation: Damaging Millions in a Brave New Post-Health World,” written by Dr. Malcolm Kendrick, addresses the challenges with the conventional approach of using statins for the prevention of heart disease
The difference between relative and absolute risk is an important yet poorly understood concept that helps clarify the actual benefit of any given drug or treatment. These hazard ratios also need to be compared against the overall mortality rate to get a clearer view of a drug’s benefit
Repatha is a lipid-lowering medication said to reduce the rate of heart disease death and myocardial infarction by 20%, yet the overall mortality rate in the Repatha group was higher than in the placebo group
Cholesterol is found in every cell in your body, where it helps to produce cell membranes, hormones (including the sex hormones testosterone, progesterone and estrogen) and bile acids that help you digest fat
Cholesterol is important for the production of vitamin D, which is vital for optimal health. When sunlight strikes your bare skin, the cholesterol in your skin is converted into vitamin D. It also serves as insulation for your nerve cells, and is important for general brain health and cognition
The Surprising Health Benefits of Methylene Blue
Methylene blue helps mitochondrial respiration and improves brain energy metabolism. By doing that, it can improve cognitive performance and prevent neurodegeneration
Methylene blue is the parent molecule for hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine, off-patent drugs commonly used to treat not only malaria but also COVID-19
Emergency rooms around the world use it, as it’s the only known antidote for metabolic poisons causing methemoglobinemia, which is when a metabolic poison interferes with the transport of oxygen in hemoglobin
Methylene blue is a hormetic drug, so low doses have the opposite effect of high doses
Low doses, 0.5 mg to 1 mg per kilo of bodyweight, are recommended for nonacute, longer-term treatments. Uses include the prevention and treatment of dementia, post-stroke and other brain injuries, cognitive enhancement, and the general optimization of health if you’re already healthy
10 Things to Eliminate for Better Health
Removing toxic exposures from your life can help reduce your risk of disease and increase your quality of life and well-being
The No. 1 item to remove is linoleic acid, the primary fatty acid found in vegetable/seed oils in most processed and restaurant foods
Other items to eliminate for better health include artificial sweeteners, plastic food containers and bottles and nonstick cookware
Antibacterial soaps, commercial cleaning and personal care products, and EMFs from your cellphone should also be eliminated as much as possible
Avoiding eating after dinner and replacing your desk chair with a standup desk round out the list of items you can do for optimal health
People Die Faster After Eating These Foods, Are You at Risk?
19.3% of American children and 42.4% of adults are now obese, not just overweight. Research has linked growing waistlines to processed foods, sodas and high-carbohydrate diets
For each 10% increase in the amount of ultraprocessed food consumed, your risk of death rises by 14%; the primary factors driving the increased death rate are chronic diseases such as heart disease and cancer
While six of the 12 obesity-related cancers are on the rise, only two of 18 cancers unrelated to obesity are increasing, and rates of obesity-related cancers are rising at a far steeper rate among millennials than among baby boomers
Those who eat more ultraprocessed food have higher rates of obesity, heart problems, diabetes and cancer. Each 10% increase in ultraprocessed food raised cancer rates by 12%
Suboptimal intake of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and animal-based omega-3, along with excessive consumption of processed foods and sugar-sweetened beverages account for more than 45% of all cardiometabolic deaths
New Study Links Many Popular OTC Meds With Alzheimer’s
hink twice before popping these pills that shrink your brain, kill your memory and put you in the path of a deadly disease with no cure. One person made an astonishing recovery from severe dementia after quitting multiple meds – including over-the-counter products. Be very careful.
Story at-a-glance
- Anticholinergic drugs block acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter that performs important functions in your brain and peripheral and central nervous systems
- In your brain, acetylcholine plays a key role in attention, concentration, memory formation and consolidation, which is why anticholinergic drugs can cause symptoms identical to dementia
- Research assessing effects of anticholinergics found statistically significant associations between dementia and anticholinergic antidepressants, antiparkinson’s drugs, antipsychotics, bladder antimuscarinics and antiepileptic drugs
- Many common over-the-counter drugs contain anticholinergic ingredients, including antihistamine medications sold under the brand names Benadryl and Chlor-Trimeton, sleep aids such as Tylenol PM, Aleve PM and Unisom, the motion sickness medication Dramamine and various cold medicines
- In the case of Benadryl and many sleep aids, the anticholinergic ingredient in question is diphenhydramine. In Chlor-Trimeton it’s chlorpheniramine; in many cold medicines, it’s pyrilamine
COVID RELATED NEWS
Dr. Fauci walked back his comments on the China Coronavirus and said the pandemic is not over in the US.
Dr. Fauci on Tuesday told PBS’s Jody Woodruff that the US is “out of the pandemic phase.”
“We are certainly right now in this country out of the pandemic phase,” Fauci said. “Namely we don’t have 900,000 new infections a day and tens and tens and tens of thousands of hospitalizations and thousands of deaths. We are at a low level right now.”
“So, if you’re saying, are we out of the pandemic phase in this country, we are. What we hope to do, I don’t believe, and I have spoken about this widely, we’re not going to eradicate this virus,” he said. “If we can keep that level very low, and intermittently vaccinate people — and I don’t know how often that would have to be.”
The White House on Wednesday contradicted Fauci and said the pandemic is NOT over.
“COVID isn’t over, and the pandemic isn’t over,” Psaki told reporters on Wednesday.
Novavax COVID-19 Vaccine May Be Issued Emergency Use Authorization in June: FDA
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced Friday that it will have its advisory panel meet to discuss Novavax’s request for emergency use authorization (EUA) of its COVID-19 vaccine in June.
“On June 7, FDA intends to convene VRBPAC [Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee] to discuss an EUA request for a COVID-19 vaccine manufactured by Novavax to prevent COVID-19 in individuals 18 years of age and older,” the federal regulatory agency said in a press release.
Novavax, a biotechnology company based in Maryland, submitted an EUA for its COVID-19 vaccine known as NVX-CoV2373 on Jan. 31, 2022.
Despite Novavax being awarded $1.6 billion by the United States government in July 2020 to support the testing, commercialization, and manufacture of a possible COVID-19 vaccine in the United States the federal health authorities have been slow to authorize its vaccine.
The Novavax COVID-19 shot differs from the mRNA and viral-vector COVID-19 vaccines currently available in America, in that it uses a protein-based technology, which has been used for decades to protect individuals from diseases like shingles and hepatitis.
The Novavax vaccine delivers proteins, coupled with immunity-stimulating adjuvants, directly to a person’s cells, rather than an mRNA or DNA, in order to induce a protective immune response.
In its phase 3 trial of nearly 30,000 adults in the United States and Mexico, researchers found that the vaccine was 90.4 percent effective against the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, which causes COVID-19.
The researchers also said that “no episodes of anaphylaxis, no evidence of vaccine-associated enhanced COVID-19, and no events that triggered prespecified pause rules were observed. No episodes of the Guillain–Barré syndrome and no imbalance in myocarditis or pericarditis or in vaccine-induced immune thrombosis with thrombocytopenia were observed during the relatively short safety follow-up period reported here.”
Pfizer Says Its COVID-19 Pill Paxlovid Fails to Prevent Symptomatic Infection of Household Members
Pfizer announced Friday that a recent large, late-stage trial found that its COVID-19 antiviral pill, Paxlovid, failed at preventing symptomatic infection of people living with a person who has the disease.
The trial enrolled 2,957 participants aged 18 and older who live in the same household as another person who has COVID-19 with symptoms. They were given either Paxlovid or a placebo twice daily for five or 10 days.
Researchers reported that those who took Paxlovid for 5 days were 32 percent less likely to become infected compared to the placebo group. People who took Paxlovid for 10 days were 37 percent less likely to get infected. The results were not statistically significant, however, which means it could possibly be due to chance.
“These results … were not statistically significant and, as such, the primary endpoint of reducing the risk of confirmed and symptomatic COVID-19 infection in adults who had been exposed to the virus through a household contact was not met,” the company said in a release.
“While we are disappointed in the outcome of this particular study, these results do not impact the strong efficacy and safety data we’ve observed in our earlier trial for the treatment of COVID-19 patients at high risk of developing severe illness,” Pfizer Chief Executive Albert Bourla said in a statement.
Paxlovid consists of two different antiviral drugs—nirmatrelvir and ritonavir. It is currently approved or authorized for conditional or emergency use in more than 60 countries to treat COVID-19 patients at high risk of severe illness.
According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), ritonavir “may cause liver damage” and so “caution should be exercised when giving Paxlovid to patients with preexisting liver diseases, liver enzyme abnormalities or liver inflammation.”
The FDA also said that using Paxlovid in people with uncontrolled or undiagnosed HIV-1 infection “may lead to HIV-1 drug resistance.”
Pfizer’s announcement comes as researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) are planning to investigate how and why some people who have taken a five-day course of Paxlovid experience a repeat of COVID-19, reported Bloomberg.
Increase in Reactivated Viruses Following COVID-19 Booster Shots: Dr. Richard Urso
Some viruses, after initial infection, remain latent in the body for a lifetime and may reactivate to cause infection again or a different condition. These kinds of latent viruses are being reactivated in a large number of people following their booster COVID-19 shots, causing symptoms of long COVID and other health conditions, according to Dr. Richard Urso.
Long COVID is a condition where people experience ongoing, recurring, or new health problems weeks to months after first being infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, or receiving a COVID-19 injection. Symptoms may include brain fog, fatigue, chest pain, and insomnia, among others.
“So in my clinic right now, I am seeing three to five people a week because they know that I am taking a lot of time in my practice to do COVID, and they’re coming to see me with long COVID and … with problems after the vaccine,” Urso, an ophthalmologist, a drug design and treatment specialist, and co-founder of the International Alliance of Physicians and Medical Scientists, told EpochTV’s “American Thought Leaders” program. “And what I’m finding is a huge number of them have reactivated Epstein-Barr, herpes simplex, herpes zoster, CMV.”
Of the more than 100 species of herpesviruses, eight are known to infect humans and remain in the body for life after the primary infection has cleared, and which can reactivate later under certain conditions:
- Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is a common virus that causes infectious mononucleosis and is associated with several types of cancer and multiple sclerosis. It is estimated that more than 90 percent of healthy adults have been infected at some point in their lives.
- Varicella-zoster virus is another common virus that primarily causes chickenpox and when reactivated, causes shingles in adults.
- Herpes simplex virus types 1 and 2 cause oral and/or genital herpes, and it is estimated that 67 percent (3.7 billion) people worldwide under the age of 50 are infected with herpes simplex virus 1, whereas 13 percent (491 million) globally have herpes simplex 2.
- Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a common virus that infects people of all ages causing symptoms of fever, sore throat, swollen glands, and fatigue. It can also occasionally cause mononucleosis or hepatitis.
- Human herpesvirus-6 and Human herpesvirus-7 cause roseola, a mild infection that mainly occurs in children between the ages of 6 months to 2 years.
- Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus infects the endothelial cells (that line lymphatic and blood vessels) which can become cancerous, a disease known as Kaposi’s sarcoma.
Affidavits Allege Widespread Discrimination Against Florida’s Unvaccinated, Despite Law
Floridians worried about discrimination against people not vaccinated for COVID-19 say they’ve collected more than 1,000 affidavits describing activity they believe to be unlawful in their state.
A coalition of groups plans to collect more affidavits through an online portal. They intend to drop off boxes of these complaints at the offices of Florida lawmakers.
“We want to take these to legislators and say ‘Fix this!’” said Rebekah Ricks of Florida Moms for America.
People have varying reasons for declining to take the vaccine, group members told The Epoch Times. They are tired of facing abuse and discrimination as a result of their choice, coalition organizers say.
Ricks and her group plan to take their campaign beyond Florida. They are developing an app anyone can use to file a complaint.
Florida lawmakers took action in November to ban vaccine mandates in the state. The new law has a problem, says Ricks and others who’ve joined forces. It doesn’t stop employers from making work conditions miserable for employees who choose not to get the vaccine, they say.
The group has collected affidavits from Disney employees, who say on-the-job persecution of the “unvaccinated” has created a two-class system at the resort, which subjects them to humiliation and abuse.
One young person freshly hired for her dream job with a pharmaceutical company was told she hadn’t received the preferred brand of vaccine and would have to start the series over as if she’d never been vaccinated, Ricks said.
The more stories they collect, the more likely lawmakers will take action, group members believe.
“It has been a continuing source of frustration that the [Florida] laws passed last November don’t completely prevent discrimination against unvaccinated employees,” said Florida attorney Jeff Childers
Childers said he had worked on drafting anti-discrimination language and that it was not easy to do.
“It is not easy to draft something that employers can’t find a way around anyway, on one hand, and that won’t be abused by bad-faith employees.”
CANCEL CULTURE
Disney Communications Chief Steps Down After Florida Debacle
One of the masterminds from Walt Disney Company behind the ongoing battle with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over the Parental Rights Bill is stepping down.
Geoff Morrell, the chief corporate affairs officer of the company, is leaving, Disney CEO Bob Chapek said in a memo to staffers on Friday.
“I am writing to share the news that Geoff Morrell, our Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, is leaving the company to pursue other opportunities,” he wrote in the memo obtained by Deadline.
Chapek said his company has no shortage of talent after Morrell steps down.
The company also reshuffled its leadership related to public affairs and government relations.
Kristina Schake, a former Biden administration communication aide who served as the head of the White House’s COVID-19 vaccine education campaign, was tapped as the executive vice president for global communications.
Schake will lead the company’s communications efforts and report to Chapek.
Disney also moved its general counsel, Horacio Gutierrez, to lead government relations and global policy.
Morrell reportedly admitted that he doesn’t fit the job.
“After three months in this new role, it has become clear to me that for a number of reasons it is not the right fit,” he wrote in a separate memo seen by the Financial Times.
Rancher Offers Elon Musk 100 Acres to Move Twitter’s Headquarters to Texas
An Austin rancher has offered to donate free land to Elon Musk for the use of a new Twitter headquarters in Texas, if he chooses to relocate the company from San Francisco to the Lone Star State, reported Austonia.
The board of Twitter accepted Musk’s deal to buy the social media platform for $44 billion on April 25, after weeks of media speculation.
Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas put out a public invitation to the tech billionaire to move Twitter’s headquarters to the state, where three of Musk’s other companies are already located.
Jim Schwertner, president and CEO of Schwertner Farms, soon made his own private bid to Musk.
“Elon Musk, Move Twitter to Schwertner, TX. 38 Miles North of Austin in Williamson County, and we will give you 100 Acres for FREE,” Schwertner said on Twitter on April 26.
Jack Dorsey, the former chief executive at Twitter, said the social media company reinstated the New York Post’s account “almost immediately,” although the paper has said it was locked out for more than two weeks.
Days after it was announced that Tesla CEO Elon Musk would take over the company, Dorsey posted that Twitter “went too far” when it blocked the sharing of a bombshell NY Post report about Hunter Biden’s laptop and overseas business dealings just weeks before the November 2020 election.
“I have tried taking a break from Twitter recently, but I must say: the company has always tried to do its best given the information it had. Every decision we made was ultimately my responsibility*,” Dorsey wrote. “In the cases we were wrong or went too far, we admitted it and worked to correct.”
In response, a Twitter user raised a question about the NY Post’s account being locked and the suppression of the laptop story. At the time, Twitter officials claimed the report violated its policies on hacked materials, although it was revealed that the Post—which was started by Founding Father Alexander Hamilton in the early 1800s and is considered one the oldest newspapers in the United States—had obtained the physical laptop hard drive.
Meanwhile, The Washington Post and The New York Times several weeks ago, in a reversal, reported that the contents of the laptop were authentic.
“When I found out, we took that action,” Dorsey wrote in response, “we reversed it almost immediately” even though the Post at the time provided near-daily updates about its account being locked. Eventually, the newspaper was allowed back into its account about 16 days after it was locked.
Dorsey, who had fielded criticism that his company was taken over by far-left activists, added that Twitter “should have also reinstated the account without requiring a delete of the tweet.”
Homeland Security Secretary Defends Disinformation Board and Its Newly Appointed Leader
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas defended his agency’s move to create a so-called Disinformation Governance Board after it faced widespread criticism that it was tantamount to an Orwellian “Ministry of Truth.”
In an interview with CNN on Sunday, Mayorkas said the new DHS panel would not be used to monitor American citizens and praised its new leader, Nina Jankowicz, after it was revealed that she posted crude and bizarre videos online and repeated false claims in late 2020 that reports about Hunter Biden’s laptop were part of a Russian disinformation plot.
“The board does not have any operational authority or capability,” Mayorkas told CNN on Sunday. “What it will do is gather together best practices of addressing the threat of disinformation from foreign state adversaries, from the cartels, and disseminate those practices to the operators that have been executing and addressing this threat for years.”
When asked by CNN’s Dana Bash about whether the board will monitor U.S. citizens, Mayorkas replied, “No.” At the same time, he praised Jankowicz as “neutral,” a “renowned expert,” and “eminently qualified” to lead the panel. Jankowicz previously served at the Woodrow Wilson Center think tank and had written opinion articles for a variety of mainstream publications.
Other than making posts disputing reports about Hunter Biden’s laptop, Jankowicz in 2020 reposted claims on Twitter from former UK spy Christopher Steele, a Democratic Party-hired political operative who authored the discredited and controversial “Steele dossier” about former President Donald Trump.
Republicans and critics of Big Tech said the panel will attempt to suppress conservative viewpoints and views that are outside of the mainstream, comparing it to the infamous Ministry of Truth in George Orwell’s novel, “Nineteen Eighty-Four.” The timing of Mayorkas’s announcement was also flagged as suspicious by critics, who said it is being unveiled just days after tech billionaire Elon Musk and Twitter announced he would take over the company.
Republican Lawmakers Voice Concern Over Biden’s ‘Orwellian’ Disinformation BoardSeveral House and Senate Republicans are voicing concerns over the Biden administration’s decision to create a Disinformation Governance Board under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Their concerns aren’t limited to what the new agency will do, but also include the administration’s choice of Nina Jankowicz, a former disinformation fellow at Washington-based think tank Wilson Center, as its executive director. DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced the new agency on April 27.
In a letter (pdf) to Mayorkas dated April 29, 19 Republicans on the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, led by ranking member James Comer (R-Ky.), said the “Orwellian-named” agency would “suppress free speech.”
“The United States’ internal security apparatus must serve to protect the American people from threats to the homeland, not be weaponized by an unpopular President to push false narratives and discredit lawful discourse,” the lawmakers wrote.
The lawmakers questioned Jankowicz’s qualification for heading the new agency, pointing to her past public statements.
“Ms. Jankowicz recently derided defenders of the First Amendment as ‘free speech absolutists’ engaged in ‘abuse’ against ‘marginalized communities,’” the letter reads, pointing to her remarks made during an interview with NPR in April.
Mayorkas on May 1 defended the panel and its new leader, saying the board wouldn’t be used to monitor U.S. citizens.
“The board does not have any operational authority or capability,” Mayorkas told CNN. “What it will do is gather together best practices of addressing the threat of disinformation from foreign state adversaries, from the cartels, and disseminate those practices to the operators that have been executing and addressing this threat for years.”
When asked by CNN’s Dana Bash about whether the board would monitor U.S. citizens, Mayorkas replied, “No.” At the same time, he praised Jankowicz as “neutral,” a “renowned expert,” and “eminently qualified” to lead the panel.
Proposal to Prohibit Teaching Critical Race Theory in Texas School District Wins Majority Approval in Public Comment
Critics Challenge HHS Chief Becerra’s Claim Agency Has No ‘Anti-Racism’ Rule
Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, testifying Wednesday before a House Energy and Commerce Committee panel, claimed his agency doesn’t have any policies explicitly “anti-racist” in nature, but the health policy group Do No Harm contends Becerra is either lying or uninformed.
Do No Harm, launched April 19, bills itself as a nonprofit dedicated to protecting patients and physicians from woke health care.
Becerra made the claims in his answer to a question from Health Subcommittee member Rep. Gary Palmer, R-Ala., who had asked Becerra about a recently enacted Health and Human Services rule that provides a financial incentive for doctors to create and implement so-called “anti-racist” policies.
Palmer asked what that rule would entail and expressed his concerns that it might reduce confidence that minority patients would have for doctors who weren’t the same race as they are, and among white patients, who might feel they were the subject of discrimination.
Becerra responded that the rule Palmer described didn’t exist and blamed “misinformation” for the confusion.
“I would challenge you to show me where in our policies we call anything we’re doing ‘anti-racism’ policies,” said Becerra. “We’re simply trying to make sure everyone has equal access to health care.”
In response, Do No Harm tweeted an image of a table titled “New Improvement Activities for the CY 2022 Performance Period/2024 MIPS Payment Year and Future Years” from a 2022 Health and Human Services fiscal planning document.
ICYMI
Former US Marine Killed Fighting in Ukraine as Military Contractor
Willy Joseph Cancel, an American citizen and former U.S. Marine, has died in Ukraine this week while fighting against Russian forces, according to his family.
Cancel had been working for a private military contracting company when he was killed on April 25, the 22-year-old’s mother, Rebecca Cabrera, told CNN.
The Marine veteran worked full-time as a corrections officer in Tennessee and signed up to work for the private military firm prior to the Russia-Ukraine conflict. After the war started in February, the company asked for contractors to aid in the war effort.
Cancel agreed to join and flew to Poland on March 12 and entered Ukrainian territory around March 12.
“He wanted to go over because he believed in what Ukraine was fighting for, and he wanted to be a part of it to contain it there so it didn’t come here, and that maybe our American soldiers wouldn’t have to be involved in it,” said Cabrera.
The circumstances of Cancel’s death remain unclear and his body has not yet been recovered. His mother said officials notified the family upon learning about her son’s death.
“They haven’t found his body,” Cabrera told the network. “They are trying, the men that were with him, but it was either grab his body or get killed, but we would love for him to come back to us.”
Rep. Cline Calls Into Question DOJ Appeal on Mask Mandates
One congressman says the Department of Justice (DOJ) is misinterpreting the statute it’s citing as it appeals a decision from a federal judge that says the government exceeded its authority by imposing mask mandates on public transportation.
On April 18, U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle ruled that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) exceeded its authority when it put a mandate in place for mask wearing on buses, planes and the like in February 2021. Mizelle also ruled the CDC violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) because it didn’t give notice before moving forward with the mandate.
The DOJ announced last week that it is appealing Mizelle’s decision, releasing a statement that said the DOJ “continues to believe that the order requiring masking in the transportation corridor is a valid exercise of the authority Congress has given CDC to protect the public health.”
Virginia Republican Rep. Ben Cline disagrees.
In an exchange Thursday with Attorney General Merrick Garland during a House Appropriations Committee Hearing, Cline called into question the CDC’s use of the authority granted in the Public Health Services Act.
Cline points to an excerpt from Mizelle’s ruling saying that the provision used by the CDC to justify its authority has “rarely been invoked” and has “generally been limited to quarantining infected individuals and prohibiting the import or sale of animals known to transmit disease.”
“Is it the administration’s interpretation that mandatory masking is a form of sanitation and how so?” asked Cline.
Top Chinese health officials offered to brief U.S. counterparts on the “new coronavirus in Wuhan” in a closed-door meeting in early 2020, newly obtained emails show.
As health officials in the United States and around the world were scrambling to respond to the emerging COVID-19 outbreak from China, Lance Rodewald, a senior adviser to the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC), floated an offer to have an “informal discussion” regarding the new illness.
“I’m writing to explore whether you may be interested in an informal presentation/briefing/discussion about the novel coronavirus by Dr. Feng Zijian at a side meeting around the time of the February ACIP meeting,” he said in an email dated Jan. 23, 2020, sent to eight U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) officials.
ACIP is a panel of health experts that advises the CDC on vaccine recommendations. The panel typically meets at the CDC headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia.
The same day Rodewald made the offer, the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus first originated, entered into a full lockdown. The virus had been spreading in the city and around the world undetected as the Chinese regime suppressed crucial information about the outbreak and delayed acknowledging for weeks that the virus could transmit among humans.
The regime was also stonewalling repeated U.S. requests to send experts into China and get on-the-ground data.
Feng was the deputy director for the Chinese CDC at the time. He and Ma Chao, an official with China CDC’s National Immunization Program, were preparing to visit Atlanta for another conference, Rodewald told CDC officials in the email.
“I think that most of you know Dr. Feng Zijian,” he wrote, describing Feng as the architect of China’s National Immunization Advisory Committee. Feng “has visited US CDC many times, including for 6 months during the H1N1 influenza pandemic and in 2016 during an ACIP meeting,” he said.
Senate Democrats Consider Calling Musk to Testify About Twitter, Content Moderation Plans
Some Democrats in the Senate are considering calling Elon Musk to testify in Congress about his purchase of Twitter.
The lawmakers didn’t indicate they were concerned about the legality of the purchase, but rather about Musk’s intention to loosen content moderation in light of the billionaire’s recent comments about the importance of free speech.
In an interview with Bloomberg, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), the chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, said Democrats are “thinking about” the possibility of official hearings over Musk’s $44 billion deal to buy the social media giant.
Musk, who owns electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla Inc. and commercial space venture SpaceX, has said that Twitter has become “kind of the de facto town square,” a space where important conversations should be able to take place with as few constraints as reasonably possible.
Democrats on the commerce panel—which has in the past held hearings with social media giants such as Meta Platforms Inc. CEO Mark Zuckerberg and former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey—agreed that such hearings should be called.
Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) argued that Twitter is “central to democracy and our economy.”
“We have to understand the censorship or lack thereof, content moderation or not, that is going to be the policy for the new owner,” he said in an interview with Bloomberg.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), who has long spearheaded efforts to further regulate social media companies, agreed.
Blumenthal said that there was a “powerful imperative” to bring Musk in so that lawmakers could better understand his intentions with the platform.
After the Democratic lawmakers’ comments were made public, several conservative commentators derided the idea.
“Senate Democrats might call Elon Musk to testify to Congress over his Twitter plans,” Washington Times columnist Tim Young said in a Twitter post. “I don’t think they comprehend the level of intellectual beating they’re in for if they do that…”
Tom Fitton, president of the conservative-leaning organization Judicial Watch, also weighed in.
“Senate Dems target @ElonMusk because he isn’t interested in censoring their political opponents on @Twitter,” he said in a tweet.
VIDEO: EXCLUSIVE: New Jan. 6 Bodycam Videos Show DC Police Officer Assaulting Unconscious Protester
PETS
Coyote Who Played With Neighborhood Dogs Is United With One of His Own at Wildlife Sanctuary
A team effort between wildlife management and rescue workers has helped a wandering wild coyote to finally find a safe home and companionship with a fellow coyote at Yellow River Wildlife Sanctuary in Lilburn, Georgia.
Carmine, a melanistic male coyote, was spotted through urban Georgia areas visiting people’s backyards and playing with neighborhood dogs. While Carmine was friendly and didn’t show aggression unless another dog showed aggression first, people in the area began to have varying levels of concern for the safety of humans and other dogs.
Brandon Sanders, owner of Sanders Wildlife, a humane wildlife management company in west Georgia, and one of the people that worked to find a home for Carmine told The Epoch Times that Carmine was coming so close to humans by frequently popping up in their backyard that it was only a matter of time before concerned members of the public would have him captured and euthanized.
In an attempt to avert euthanasia, Sanders and his team looked at a different approach. Along with help from Atlantic Coyote Project and Angels Among Us Pet Rescue, Inc., Sanders Wildlife obtained approval from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources to capture Carmine and transfer him to the Yellow River Wildlife Sanctuary.
The team spent months researching and mapping Carmine’s routes, the distances he traveled, and his favorite dogs to visit. Coyotes usually travel 3–10 miles per day and can cover a considerable distance. Carmine was no exception, and after the team had structured a webbed map of his routes, they set up cameras and traps at his frequented spots.
“This was a huge team effort, where Carmine would pop up and we would put a trap up on a porch, in a backyard, and then he would end up 10 to 15 miles away in another backyard,” Sanders said. “We had so many great homeowners in the public involved that when Carmine was spotted, they would instantly report back to Chris Mowry from Atlanta Coyote Project and would let us know exactly where Carmine was.”
Finally, one night Carmine was caught. Although it was a difficult decision for everyone involved to move a wild animal into captivity, according to Sanders, in Carmine’s case, they knew they were doing the best they could for him.
After he was captured, although he was in a trap, Carmine didn’t freak out; instead, he was very docile and calm, Sanders said.
Carmine was immediately transferred to Yellow River Wildlife Sanctuary. Due to Covid-19, Carmine was quarantined before he could enter into a big enclosure. He was also examined and vaccinated before he got ready to meet his new friend, Wilee, a confiscated hand-raised female coyote residing there.
First, Wilee was placed in an enclosure near Carmine’s, giving them time to get used to each other. Then, the doors were opened and anxious onlookers waited to see if the two would get along. After a few moments, and to the relief of the rescue team, the two coyotes were playfully chasing each other around the grounds.
“The day that we finally opened the two enclosures, it was truly amazing,” Sanders said. “It was a heartfelt moment.”
The successful meeting between the coyotes rewarded Sanders and his team with confirmation that they had taken the right course of action. Not only was Carmine’s life preserved, but he had a new home and a companion.
Soon, Carmine and Wilee’s companionship grew. They now enjoy themselves by running around, playing, and kissing each other, Sanders shared.
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