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WORLD NEWS
Biden Approves Weapons Sales to Most of World’s Autocracies
Washington sold weapons to at least 48 countries classified as being under authoritarian rule in 2022, the outlet said
SINCE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN came into office in 2021, he has described a “battle between democracies and autocracies” in which the U.S. and other democracies strive to create a peaceful world. The reality, however, is that the Biden administration has helped increase the military power of a large number of authoritarian countries. According to an Intercept review of recently released government data, the U.S. sold weapons to at least 57 percent of the world’s autocratic countries in 2022.
Since the end of the Cold War, the United States has been the world’s biggest weapons dealer, accounting for about 40 percent of all arms exports in a given year. In general, these exports are funded through grants or sales. There are two pathways for the latter category: foreign military sales and direct commercial sales.
The U.S. government acts as an intermediary for FMS acquisitions: It buys the materiel from a company first and then delivers the goods to the foreign recipient. DCS acquisitions are more straightforward: They’re the result of an agreement between a U.S. company and a foreign government. Both categories of sales require the government’s approval.
Zelensky: Russians to Get an ‘Unpleasant Surprise’ in Near Future
Russians will soon get an “unpleasant surprise” regarding their invasion of Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky has said.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has reportedly made an ominous statement regarding the future of the Ukraine war, saying that the invading Russians will soon experience an “unpleasant surprise” regarding the conflict.
US lawmakers threaten sanctions for Syria rapprochement
A bipartisan group of US lawmakers has introduced a bill to oppose the normalization of relations between Syria and other nations. The Arab League reinstated the country this month, while Saudi Arabia announced the reopening of embassies with Syria.
The Assad Anti-Normalization Act threatens “governments considering normalization with the Assad regime” with severe consequences, according to a press release by the office of US Representative Joe Wilson, the primary sponsor of the document.
U.S. NEWS, POLITICS & GOVERNMENT
Former US ‘disinfo czar’ sues Fox News
Nina Jankowicz blamed “destructive” media lies for the downfall of her ‘Ministry of Truth’
The former head of the Biden administration’s short-lived Disinformation Governance Board, Nina Jankowicz, has sued Fox News for defamation, claiming that reports by the outlet damaged her reputation and threatened her safety.
In a complaint filed earlier this week, Jankowicz accused Fox of creating a “fabricated, bullying narrative” about her in more than 300 TV segments last year, including claims that she “intended to censor Americans’ speech” in her role at the disinformation board, which was quickly shut down after it was established in 2022.
“Fox’s coverage of Jankowicz was neither news nor political commentary; it was cheap, easy entertainment untethered from the facts, designed to make consumers believe that Jankowicz could and would suppress their speech,” the lawsuit said.
Pentagon sees ‘Chinese threat’ in US default
Top military leaders have claimed that a massive spending hike is needed to confront Beijing
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and other senior Pentagon officials have urged lawmakers to extend the federal borrowing limit, insisting a default on the national debt would be devastating for America’s reputation and “embolden” China.
Testifying at a Senate Defense Appropriation hearing on Thursday, both Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley spoke in support of the White House’s 2024 budget request, warning that a default would deal a major blow to national security.
“China right now describes us in their open speeches, etc., as a declining power,” Milley said. “Defaulting on the debt would only reinforce that thought and embolden China and increase risk to the United States.”
Arguing that the Pentagon’s $842-billion budget request for next year is “driven by the seriousness of our strategic competition with the People’s Republic of China,” Austin went on to state that a default would carry “substantial risk to our reputation” which could benefit Beijing.
Mayorkas Says DHS ‘Ready to Meet’ Influx of Illegal Immigrants as Title 42 Expires
Hours before Title 42 was set to expire on May 11, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said that stemming the flow of illegal immigrants at the U.S.–Mexico border would be a difficult but manageable challenge for the Biden administration.
“This is a challenge, and we are going to meet this challenge,” Mayorkas told reporters at a White House press briefing. “We’re going to meet it within a broken immigration system while adhering to our values.”
House Passes Sweeping Border Bill to Stop ‘Invasion’
The House passed a comprehensive border package Thursday, the same day the Biden administration strips border officials of one of the last tools to stem waves of illegal migration.
The vote for H.R. 2, the Secure the Border Act of 2023, passed 219 to 213 with no Democrat support. Two Republicans, Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and John Duarte (R-CA), defected.
“This bill secures the border from President Biden’s record crossings, record carelessness, and record chaos,” House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said at a press conference after the bill’s passage.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said that he has deployed “elite” teams from the Texas National Guard to continue the effort of preventing illegal immigrants from crossing the U.S.-Mexico border while praising Texas troops for physically repelling people from trying to cross the border illegally near Brownsville.
Abbott told Fox News in an interview Wednesday that he has ordered several “elite” Texas National Guard teams to continue efforts to “repel” illegal immigrants from crossing the border after video emerged showing would be border crossers being rebuffed by Texas troops.
“First [they are] to put up barriers, whether it be the razor wire that you saw there or other barriers, and then have National Guard and Texas Department of Public Safety either in front of it or behind it. Our goal is to repel people from coming into the country,” Abbott told the “Jesse Watters Primetime” program.
“We see locations like what was shown in that video, and whenever we see them, we block it,” he added.
Abbott was referring to a video that he remarked on earlier showing Texas National Guard soldiers working in conjunction with Texas Department of Public Safety troopers physically repelling people crossing the river illegally into Brownsville, Texas.
The detriment to “national sovereignty, border security, and the safety of American citizens” caused by ending Title 42 “cannot be overstated,” warned Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton who slammed President Biden for “prioritizing an open-borders agenda above any semblance of border security.”
In an exclusive statement to Breitbart News on Thursday, Paxton lamented the lifting of the Title 42 Trump-era public health policy that allows for the immediate expulsion of migrants without allowing them to seek asylum.
With only hours to spare before Title 42 expires and sets off an expected massive wave of illegal immigration, a federal judge in Florida imposed a two-week restraining order that would prevent the Biden administration from implementing a policy that allows for the release of migrants without court dates.
Judge T. Kent Wetherell II ruled that the “parole with conditions” policy must be paused:
This case is before the Court based on Florida’s emergency motion for a temporary restraining order (TRO)(Doc. 2) and Defendants’ response in opposition (Doc 9). No hearing is necessary to rule on the motion, and upon due consideration of the parties’ filings and the entire case file, the Court finds for the reasons that follow that the motion is due to be granted.
The “parole with conditions” policy would have allowed for the release of illegals into the country with no way to track them:
The policy was outlined in a Border Patrol memo, which says that migrants can be allowed into the country on parole — a process typically reserved for “urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit” — if Customs and Border Protection (CBP) faces overcrowding. The memo calls the practice “parole with conditions” as migrants are required to make an appointment with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or request a Notice to Appear by mail.
Under a parole release, migrants are rapidly released into the country, do not get an alien registration number and do not receive a court date.
Florida AG sues Biden to block migrant influx after Title 42 ends
Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody sued the Biden administration in federal court Thursday to block the mass release of migrants into the US after the expiration of the Title 42 public health order.
Moody is seeking a temporary restraining order to stem the expected influx, arguing that Biden’s current parole policy mirrors a similar order that was struck down by a federal judge last month.
Currently, vetted migrants who cannot be processed by overburdened border authorities will be allowed to enter the country.
Moody’s filing asserts that the approach echoes a prior policy that allowed undocumented migrants to be paroled into the nation’s interior if local officials could not accommodate them.
Asserting that the allowance turned the border into a “meaningless line in the sand,” a Florida federal judge struck down the policy as unconstitutional last month.
Manchin Says Biden ‘Hypocritical’ on Debt-Limit Demands
Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said his fellow Democrat, President Joe Biden, has staked out a “hypocritical” position in recent debates over how to raise the U.S. debt limit.
Biden has repeatedly called for a so-called “clean bill” to raise the debt limit without any additional conditions on matters such as spending reforms. In an interview with CNN on Tuesday, Manchin criticized Biden’s position.
“It’s not rational, it’s not reasonable, and it’s not practical,” Manchin told CNN’s Manu Raju.
Two Youths Commit Suicide in Taxpayer-Funded Cross-Sex Hormone Study
Lawmakers are demanding answers after the suicide deaths of two young people involved in a transgender hormone study funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Additionally, 11 participants reported suicidal thoughts during the study, according to a January article by researchers published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).
In a letter to Dr. Lawrence Tabak, acting director at NIH, 15 Republican lawmakers question why the study wasn’t halted after participants died or reported adverse effects.
“It is alarming that vulnerable young people died by suicide while participating in a taxpayer-funded study that will almost certainly inflict devastating physical harm on those who participated,” the lawmakers’ letter stated.
Elliot Page Pushes ‘Gender Affirming Care’ With Latest Shirtless Photo
Elliot Page, the actor formally known as Ellen Page, who underwent a double mastectomy in 2021, has posted another shirtless selfie to social media with a caption celebrating “the joy I feel in my body.”
On Wednesday, the Inception actor posted on Instagram that summer is the time when “Dysphoria used to be especially rife,” People reported.
“Dysphoria used to be especially rife in the summer,” Page wrote. “No layers, just a T-shirt – or layers and oh so sweaty – constantly looking down, readjusting my oversized T. It feels so f’ing good soaking in the sun now, I never thought I could experience this, the joy I feel in my body. I am so grateful for what gender affirming care has allowed me and I look forward to sharing more of my journey soon.”
Vermont Republican Governor Signs Abortion, ‘Gender-Affirming Care’ Shield Bills
Vermont Republican Gov. Phil Scott signed “shield” bills into law on Wednesday that protect providers and seekers of sex change procedures and puberty blockers, as well as those seeking or administering abortions, the Associated Press (AP) reported.
Lawmakers in Missouri have passed two bills that would ban transgender surgery and drugs for children, as well as the participation of male trans athletes in women’s sports at school.
Missouri could soon become the latest U.S. state to ban transgender operations for children, with lawmakers passing two bills on Wednesday banning the practice, as well as the participation of trans athletes in school sports events for the opposite sex. What some euphemistically call “gender-affirming care” is defined in one of the bills passed as “gender transition surgeries… cross-sex hormones or puberty-blocking drugs”.
FBI Fails to Comply With GOP Subpoena for Document Showing Alleged Biden Bribery Scheme
The FBI has failed to comply with a House Oversight and Accountability Committee subpoena for a document that allegedly implicates President Joe Biden in a pay-to-play bribery scheme.
Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) issued the subpoena to FBI Director Christopher Wray on May 3 after a whistleblower disclosed the existence of the alleged incriminating document—an FD-1023 form, which is typically a report from an informant—to Sen. Chuck Grassley’s (R-Iowa) office.
The FBI was given until noon on May 10 to turn over all FD-1023 forms created or modified in June 2020 that contain the word “Biden” to the committee.
However, according to Comer, the FBI declined to comply with the committee’s order.
“It’s clear from the FBI’s response that the unclassified record the Oversight Committee subpoenaed exists, but they are refusing to provide it to the committee,” Comer said in a statement. “We’ve asked the FBI to not only provide this record, but to also inform us what it did to investigate these allegations. The FBI has failed to do both.
“The FBI’s position is ‘trust, but you aren’t allowed to verify,’” the chairman added. “That is unacceptable. We plan to follow up with the FBI and expect compliance with the subpoena.”
Grassley also expressed frustration over the FBI’s lack of compliance, noting: “While the FBI has failed to produce the specific document by the subpoena deadline, their offer to provide an accommodation process in response to our legitimate request indicates the document is real. So, the question remains, what did the FBI do to investigate very serious allegations from an apparent trusted FBI source implicating then-Vice President Biden?”
TAKE ONE:
Deep State Technocrats Convene In D.C. Spy Museum, Collude To Rig 2024 Election
The Center for Election Innovation & Research (CEIR), a self-described “nonprofit whose core mission is to work with election officials and build confidence in elections that voters should trust,” hosted a May 8-9 conference billed as “The Summit on American Democracy.” The venue was a curious choice.
Via CEIR:
The Summit on American Democracy, presented by the Center for Election Innovation & Research, will take place on May 8-9, 2023 at the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC. Featuring panel sessions and discussions, the summit will be a forum for citizens across the political spectrum – election officials, experts, and members of the media – to discuss pressing issues, and share actionable ideas to further strengthen our democracy in a bipartisan and nonpartisan way.
The speaker list featured a slew of secretaries of state, de facto state media journalists from NPR, CNN, and the Washington Post, and the Maricopa County, Ariz., supervisor (the county is a major battleground for election integrity), among others.
The organization’s executive director, David Becker, is not a household political name. But he has been extremely influential for years behind the scenes in rigging voting rules to ensure maximum benefit for the Democrat Party, such as making mail-in voting as easy as possible.
TAKE TWO:
Election Group With Ties to Soros, Zuckerberg Meets in Washington for Conference Closed to Public
An elections group with ties to Democrat mega-donor George Soros and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg gathered in Washington on May 8 for a meeting that was closed to the public.
The Epoch Times was denied entry to the event, called a “Summit on American Democracy” and hosted by the Center for Election Integrity & Research (CEIR). Organizers said that the event was invite-only. Only preapproved press and other guests were permitted to attend the summit.
Though the event was live-streamed, the closed nature of the event deprived independent media of access to the laundry list of high-ranking officials attending the summit, including a litany of Secretaries of State, who oversee elections, and other election officials. Among those attending the conference were Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and Bill Gates, county supervisor for Maricopa County, Arizona.
The group describes itself as “committed to a fiercely nonpartisan approach.” But partisan allegations against its founder, funding by Zuckerberg, and indirect ties to the left-wing Soros challenge that description.
During the livestream of the event, the group’s founder, David Becker, set the tone for the conference in his opening remarks, repeating contested claims about the security of the 2020 election, and dismissing concerns about election fraud as unfounded.
Exclusive — Virginia Leaves Voting Non-Profit over Group’s Ties to ‘Zuckerbucks’
Virginia is withdrawing its membership from the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC), a non-profit multi-state partnership to keep voter rolls updated, over the organization’s increasingly partisan swing and increased burden on Virginia taxpayers, according to a letter exclusively obtained by Breitbart News.
ERIC purports to be a non-profit organization dedicated to improving U.S. voter rolls and encouraging registrations that more than 30 states have joined.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg will charge Daniel Penny, the former marine who neutralized Jordan Neely amid an erratic outburst, with second-degree manslaughter after protests erupted in New York City over law enforcement initially declining to charge Penny, according to reports.
As Breitbart News detailed:
Last week, a medical examiner in New York deemed the death of Jordan Neely a homicide. The incident occurred on Monday this week on the F train at the east Houston and Lafayette Street station after Neely had been allegedly throwing trash and yelling at passengers about his economic misfortunes. Neely had a history of mental issues and often frequented the station as a Michael Jackson impersonator. He also had an active warrant for his arrest for a felony assault.
Officers took Penny into custody for questioning after Neely’s death but declined to charge him with any crimes and let him walk free afterward.
Trump Appeals Verdict in E. Jean Carroll Civil Case
Former President Donald Trump on Thursday appealed a Manhattan jury’s verdict in a civil case that he sexually abused and defamed advice columnist E. Jean Carroll.
Trump’s appeal was the latest update in a legal clash between Trump, 76, and Carroll, 79, who accuses Trump of having raped her in a dressing room at the Bergdorf Goodman department store in Manhattan in 1995 or 1996.
It came two days after a jury in a Manhattan federal court found that Trump did not rape Carroll but instead sexually abused her—committing a battery offense—and, in his denial of the incident, committed libel, a type of defamation in written words. The jury awarded Carroll $5 million in damages.
Because the case was brought in civil court, Carroll was required to establish her battery claim by “a preponderance of the evidence”—a legal standard meaning more likely than not—and establish “clear and convincing evidence” for her libel claim. Both standards here are lower than the “proof beyond a reasonable doubt” requirement to establish a guilty verdict in criminal cases.
After the court announced the verdict on Tuesday, Trump’s attorney Joseph Tacopina told The Epoch Times that Trump plans to appeal the case. Court records showed on Thursday that Trump notified the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that he was appealing the verdict.
“Strange verdict,” Tacopina told reporters outside the courthouse on Thursday. “It was a rape case all along, and the jury rejected that.”
Senate Moves To Repeal DC’s Anti-Police Law
Republican Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance introduced legislation Thursday to block the Washington, D.C., City Council’s Comprehensive Policing and Justice Reform Emergency Amendment Act of 2022.
The House version of the legislation was first obtained by the Daily Caller in March and focuses on the D.C. crime law, which reduces police power amid rising crime in the district. The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) faces a historic staffing shortage and has struggled to recruit new officers.
The legislation passed the House 229-189. Fourteen Democrats voted with Republicans in passing the bill. The effort was originally led by Republican Georgia Rep. Andrew Clyde.
2ND AMENDMENT
FL Rep. Jared Moskowitz Pushes Minimum Semiautomatic Firearm Purchase Age of 25
Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) is introducing legislation to raise the minimum purchase age for a semiautomatic firearm to 25.
He announced his efforts on May 10, 2023, four days after a 33-year-old attacker used a semiautomatic rifle in the commission of a deadly attack.
Moskowitz’s new minimum age, were it adopted, would not have hindered, much less prevented, the Texas attack.
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
The sector has been under pressure since March after the collapse of several regional lenders
Shares of US PacWest Bancorp nosedived on Thursday after the struggling regional lender reported that deposit outflows had resumed in the first week of May.
The stock was down as much as 33% in opening trade, dragging down shares in other regional banks, including Western Alliance Bancorp, KeyCorp and Zions Bancorp.
PacWest revealed in a securities filing on Thursday that its deposits declined almost 10% during the week of May 5, following reports it was exploring strategic options. According to the filing, the bank was able to fund those withdrawals with available liquidity. It now has $15 billion of available liquidity compared to $5.2 billion in uninsured deposits, the filing showed.
The statement follows last week’s announcement by the bank that it was not experiencing “out-of-the-ordinary deposit flows” and that total deposits had increased since the end of March.
Over 2,000 US banks are insolvent
Almost half of the 4,800 banks in the US are nearly insolvent, as they have burned through their capital buffers, The Telegraph reported earlier this week, citing a group of banking experts.
According to Professor Amit Seru, a banking expert at Stanford University, around half of US lenders are underwater.
“Let’s not pretend that this is just about Silicon Valley Bank and First Republic,” he said. “A lot of the US banking system is potentially insolvent.”
Southwest Airlines pilots vote to authorize strike as they push for pay raises in new contract
Pilots at Southwest Airlines voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike, their union said Thursday, a move that is unlikely to lead to a walkout in the near future but is designed to put more pressure on the airline during contract negotiations.
The union said 99% of members who took part voted to authorize a strike, and turnout was 98%.
Southwest said the vote has no effect on its operations.
“We are staffed and prepared to welcome travelers for their summer travel plans,” the airline said in a statement.
The outcome of the vote was widely expected after a similar result at American Airlines, but it doesn’t mean that a strike is imminent.
Foreclosure Activity Nationwide Shows Slight Decline In April 2023
ATTOM, a leading curator of land, property, and real estate data, today released its April 2023 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report, which shows there were a total of 32,977 U.S. properties with foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions or bank repossessions — down 10 percent from a month ago but up 8 percent from a year ago.
Illinois, Maryland, and New Jersey post highest foreclosure rates
Nationwide one in every 4,234 housing units had a foreclosure filing in April 2023. States with the highest foreclosure rates were Illinois (one in every 2,221 housing units with a foreclosure filing); Maryland (one in every 2,283 housing units); New Jersey (one in every 2,334 housing units); South Carolina (one in every 2,495 housing units); and Delaware (one in every 2,603 housing units).
Bud Light Sales Tanked 21.4 Percent in April Amid Dylan Mulvaney Fiasco
New industry data show that Bud Light sales plunged in April amid calls for a boycott by critics of the brand’s engagement with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney, which comes as Anheuser-Busch CEO Michael Doukeris blamed “misinformation” for the backlash.
Sales volumes of Bud Light fell by a whopping 21.4 percent in the four weeks ended on April 29, according to retail scanner numbers cited by Beer Business Daily that were based on Nielsen IQ data.
By contrast, the brand’s competitors in the light beer market saw gains, with Coors Light sales rising 10.9 percent and Miller Lite’s up 12.8 percent over the comparable period.
News of the sharp decline for all of April comes on the heels of an earlier report showing volumes of Bud Light sold in places like supermarkets and liquor stores (off-premise sales volumes outside of restaurants and bars) fell by an annualized 26.1 percent in the week ended April 22.
“The shocking deterioration of Bud Light Blue’s market share continued apace through the third week of April—and actually somehow worsened,” Beer Business Daily wrote in commentary on last week’s scanner volume data. “We’ve never seen such a dramatic shift in national share in such a short period of time.”
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Elon Musk Says He Has Found a New CEO for Twitter
Elon Musk announced on Thursday that he had found someone to take over as the chief executive officer (CEO) of Twitter.
Musk will continue to own the social media company and will play a technical role in the platform, but someone else will lead the day-to-day management of the company.
“Excited to announce that I’ve hired a new CEO for X/Twitter. She will be starting in ~6 weeks! My role will transition to being exec chair & [Chief Technology Officer], overseeing product, software & [system operators],” Musk posted on Twitter Thursday afternoon.
Musk provided no additional details about the future of the social media platform.
Twitter Rolls Out Encrypted Messaging, Don’t Trust It
Elon Musk managed to deliver the new security feature on his self-imposed deadline, but seemingly at the cost of quality.
Twitter did it. The company met a deadline and released something on the promised date under Elon Musk’s leadership. The social media platform put out its first-ever encrypted messaging option late on Wednesday night, just under the wire. Yet in the mad dash to deliver, the site seems to have made some confusing compromises, as outlined in a Twitter blogpost.
For online privacy writ large it’s undoubtedly a good thing. But Twitter’s version comes with some major caveats. For one, it is only available to “verified” users, meaning those with access are almost entirely people willing to pay $8 a month for Twitter Blue. Both parties in an encrypted Twitter exchange need to be verified for the feature to work.
Second, it is “opt-in,” which means users have to consciously choose encryption every time. That’s verses the security gold standard of default encryption. Facebook/Meta, for instance, faced years of flack from privacy experts over its own opt-in Messenger end-to-end encryption, which only recently became the default setting.
Then there’s the user limitations. Twitter’s version of secured DMs only allows for the transmission of text. Picture and other media messages cannot currently be encrypted on the platform. Only one-on-one conversations are covered, group messages aren’t. There’s no avenue for reporting abusive encrypted messages.
Beyond the user-facing let downs, on the back-end, there are additional weak spots in Twitter’s new security setting. To the company’s credit, it is upfront that its first stab at encrypted DMs isn’t perfect.
“When it comes to Direct Messages, the standard should be, if someone puts a gun to our heads, we still can’t access your messages,” the Wednesday blogpost reads, quoting a previous tweet from Musk. “We’re not quite there yet,” it continues.
As Twitter points out in its own statement, its version of encryption doesn’t necessarily protect against “man-in-the-middle” attacks. This means a technically competent bad actor or Twitter itself could theoretically intercept messages without the knowledge of the sender.
Evolutionary Transhumanism: The End Of Our Species As We Know It?
C.S. Lewis concluded in the Abolition of Man that the more man looks into nature with the eye to master and control it, the more man himself is taken captive by nature. This is unexpected, but the logical conclusion is that it will ultimately result in the abolition of man, not nature.⁃ TN Editor
SURVEILLANCE STATE
E-Verify Is Trojan Horse For Digital Tyranny
The e-verify program is one of those subtle Trojan Horses that government is so good at.
It starts with a widely perceived problem that has widespread support: that the country is full of illegal workers.
Whether or not this is actually a problem is a matter that can be debated, but that’s not actually the relevant bit. The relevant bit is that it’s popularly seen as such in many quarters.
The solution looks simple: create e-verify.
All employers are required to check citizenship/work eligibility when hiring.
It seems simple, straightforward, and people will support it because it does not harm them, it keeps others from competing with them. we’re simply solving the problem of “stop flooding into work, there are no jobs for you any more.” (Well, except in agriculture which is being carved out because no one is crazy enough to block that and let crops rot in fields or field lie fallow.)
But there is a much more subtle twist here: it’s a classic trojan framing.
You lose the minute you wheel this thing in. You have already surrendered, you just don’t know it yet. “There is this seemingly simple thing you want” is dangled, but what it’s really doing is turning a right into a privilege and gathering the power to administer that privilege into the hands of an unelected, unaccountable government agency run by people you have never heard of and probably never will.
I will remind you of Coyote’s Law: “before granting any power to government, first imagine that power wielded by the politician you hate most, because one day, it will be.”
Try applying that here. You’re going to give a federal agency an individualized on off switch for employment for everyone. sure, you might like this one thing that they do with it, but what else might they use it for soon?
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
Biden EPA Announces Toughest-Ever Rules for Power Plant Emissions
After weeks of buildup, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) unveiled its strictest-ever rules for power produced using natural gas, coal, and oil that could spur the use of carbon capture technologies.
The standards released on May 11 would affect new and old power infrastructure, including new natural gas turbines and the country’s existing coal fleet. Though the United States still has hundreds of coal plants, the number of such installations has fallen sharply during the past decade.
“We will see some coal retirements,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan told reporters on May 10.
GARDENING, FARMING & HOMESTEADING
Ideas for home-made insulation
Cheap and effective solutions to increase comfort
Thermal insulation is becoming increasingly important in the context of rising energy costs and concerns about protecting the environment. A well-insulated home not only reduces energy costs, but also improves comfort. Here are some home insulation ideas that can help you to keep your home warmer and more energy efficient.
Chicken Lice: Expert Tips for Identification and Management
The mere thought of lice on chickens strikes fear in the heart of every chicken owner and gives rise to so many questions.
So how do we identify, prevent, manage, or treat our chickens against this most common culprit – chicken lice? We asked Dr. Amy Murillo of the University of California at Riverside (UCR) to help us answer these questions.
HEALTH
First-ever drug-resistant ringworm infections found in US: CDC
Two cases of drug-resistant ringworm infections were reported in New York City, the first such cases in the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) announced Thursday.
The highly contagious infection was present in two patients in the city who did not improve with typical treatments. One, a 28-year-old woman, developed a rash in the summer of 2021 across much of her body. Another, a 47-year-old woman, developed a rash across most of her upper body.
>> Related: Ringworm Treatment: 6 Natural Remedies + How to Prevent It
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Your Miraculous Spleen Works Tirelessly: Cleans Your Blood and Protects Against Viral Assaults
In this series, “The Miraculous Immune System,” we explore the true power of our immunity and the organs that work tirelessly to protect us. We also provide practical ways to protect these vital divine gifts.
Previously: The lymphatic system not only is an indispensable protector but also could be a hidden path for toxins to spread throughout the body. It can be a spreading route for COVID-19 vaccines, which are linked with severe life-threatening events in the brain and heart.
6 Things A Naturopath Recommends To All Of Her Patients With ADHD
When a patient gets diagnosed with ADHD, they often feel relieved. That diagnosis can help them better understand themselves and how they operate and relate to others. Their next question is what they can do to manage it—and this is where many people get stuck.
After working with thousands of patients with ADHD, I’ve seen that while medications may help in the short term, most people need additional support and long-term strategies. Research is now beginning to tell the same story.
When looking for alternative treatment solutions for ADHD, there aren’t a lot of concrete, science-backed options out there (though I suspect this will change in the near future).
However, a growing body of research shows that making changes across three key areas—diet, environment, and supplements—can help the over 6% of the world’s population who show signs of symptomatic adult ADHD. Here are a few holistic management strategies I’ve seen be most helpful for my patients:
- Eat a whole-food, gluten-free diet
While there hasn’t been much research on the impact of gluten-free diets on ADHD symptoms specifically, there are several factors that lead me to recommend them to my patients.
Neuroinflammation is likely a driver of ADHD, and research is mounting that gluten leads to neurodegeneration. It can also contribute to a leaky gut5, further fueling neuroinflammation. Add this to the fact that those with ADHD are much more likely to be diagnosed with celiac disease6, and I’d say there is a fairly compelling argument to try going gluten-free to see if it helps with symptoms.
For those with ADHD, I’d suggest a whole-food diet with lots of vegetables, good-quality proteins, and minimally processed foods to reduce inflammation and help manage symptoms. (One study that analyzed different dietary patterns found that a diet rich in processed meats, refined cereals, and hydrogenated fat increased the risk of developing ADHD by 92%, while a diet high in processed foods, sugar, and food coloring increased the risk by 51%.)
- Take an omega-3 supplement
Fish oil is one of my go-to supplements when it comes to helping neurodiverse patients. It’s literally food for your brain, so it’s no surprise that research backs up its use in ADHD. We know that adults and children diagnosed with ADHD tend to be low in omega-3 fatty acids and that supplementation improves clinical symptoms of ADHD9 in both children and adolescents.
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- Get your vitamin D levels in check
There have been several studies showing that children and adolescents with ADHD have even lower levels of vitamin D10 than the general population. While much of the research on ADHD focuses on children, supplementation of vitamin D in kids with ADHD has been shown to improve cognition and other factors. I’d recommend that anyone with ADHD gets their vitamin D levels checked and supplements as necessary.
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- Don’t forget about zinc and magnesium
Magnesium is the most important mineral when it comes to calming down an overactive nervous system12, and studies show that children and adolescents with ADHD tended to be lower in it. One study also found that magnesium improved ADHD symptoms when used with vitamin D. Taking a high-quality magnesium supplement may also help with some of the side effects of ADHD, like sleeplessness, nervous tension, and anxiety.
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- Avoid BPA and phthalates when you can
In a study of 444 children, exposure to bisphenol A (BPA) (found in plastic water bottles and some food packaging) was associated with unfavorable cognitive and behavioral outcome5. I always suggest my patients do their best to avoid food and drinks that come wrapped in plastic for this reason. At the very least, never heat up food in plastic, as this can increase BPA leaching. Beware of “BPA-free” plastics that contain other bisphenol substitutes, too, as they exhibit very similar effects.
There are also many studies that link phthalate exposure to ADHD. Phthalates are found in many soft plastics—such as vinyl floors, medical tubing, and baby toys. Going plastic-free is really the way to go, for both your health and the environment.
I’d also suggest those with ADHD choose nontoxic, phthalate-free scented products (perfumes, shampoos, hand washes, laundry detergents, scented candles, etc.) when they can.
- Be careful with caffeine
While caffeine can certainly be helpful for improving focus and productivity in the short term, the jury is out about whether it’s more helpful or harmful for those with ADHD. A little like the stimulant medication used to treat ADHD, caffeine provides a quick burst of focus that may be offset by its stimulation of the adrenals. It may leave you feeling more anxious and potentially interfere with your sleep. Based on this, I don’t recommend caffeine to help with ADHD—and in some cases, I recommend patients avoid it.
COVID RELATED NEWS
COVID Public Health Emergency Finally Ends: Here’s What It Means
After more than three years, the U.S. COVID-19 public health emergency ended on Thursday, May 11.
Earlier this year, the White House announced that it would end the emergency as COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths have been at their lowest levels since March 2020. Based on a fact sheet issued by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), many Americans likely won’t notice the emergency is ending as it primarily impacted Medicare waivers and related services, coverage for COVID-19 testing, virus surveillance, and changes to the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Act.
“Our whole-of-government response to Long COVID will not change,” said HHS in a fact sheet earlier this week, referring to what some medical professionals say are lingering, long-term symptoms of COVID-19. “The Department has and will continue to coordinate a whole-of-government response to the longer-term effects of COVID-19, including Long COVID and associated conditions. On April 5, HHS released this Fact Sheet outlining the progress made in responding to Long COVID and actions the Department is taking to address the needs of the growing population with Long COVID and associated conditions.”
CDC Recommends Wearing Masks Six Months a Year
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has updated its stance on masks and is now recommending wearing masks for up to six months a year in health care settings.
“CDC is in the early stages of developing metrics that could be used to guide when to implement select infection prevention and control practices for multiple respiratory viruses,” the CDC said in a May 8 update to its recommendations for health care personnel during COVID-19.
“Some facilities might consider recommending masking during the typical respiratory virus season (approximately October-April),” the agency said. The recommendation for six months of masking is applicable only in settings where health care is delivered, including nursing homes and home health. It is not intended for non-health care settings like restaurants.
For COVID-19, the CDC “continues to recommend that healthcare facilities institute facility-wide masking when masks are recommended in the community.”
CANCEL CULTURE
‘A Trump Infomercial’: Backlash Erupts Against CNN for Hosting the Former President
CNN faced backlash from opponents of former President Donald Trump for hosting him in a town hall on the network Wednesday, charging that they gave him a stage.
“CNN should be ashamed of themselves,” lamented socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). “They have lost total control of this ‘town hall’ to again be manipulated into platforming election disinformation, defenses of Jan 6th, and a public attack on a sexual abuse victim. The audience is cheering him on and laughing at the host.”
Fox News Exec Reveals One Reason Why Tucker Carlson May Have Left
A Fox News executive revealed what may have been a key reason for Tucker Carlson’s sudden departure last month: ad sales.
In an interview this week with Variety magazine, Fox News Vice President for Advertising Sales Jeff Collins said that big-name corporate advertisers have returned to Fox News’ 8 p.m. ET timeslot after Carlson departed. Ratings for the new show, “Fox News Tonight,” have been significantly smaller, but the outlet reported that large corporations were advertising their products again during the show.
“We have had over 40 new advertisers come into the hour since we launched the new program, including some of the largest in the country and, really, across all major categories,” he said. “We have seen new advertisers come in, and new demand.”
The report said that one of the largest firms to return to the 8 p.m. timeslot is Procter & Gamble, which has been running advertisements for women’s razors and Secret deodorant. Pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk, which makes the medication Ozempic, and Scotts, the lawn-care brand, have also returned, it was reported.
PET NEWS
The Myth About Dry Noses in Dogs
Dogs are notorious for their cold, wet noses, but is it cause for alarm if your dog’s nose is dry? Not at all. It’s normal — and healthy — for your dog’s nose to be moist or dry, and change from one to the other throughout the day. How wet your dog’s nose is depends on a variety of factors, including your dog’s hydration status and activity level, as well as the temperature and humidity level of your dog’s environment.
If your dog was sleeping, her nose will typically be on the drier side when she wakes up, and certain breeds that have a hard time licking their noses — namely brachycephalic breeds like pugs — tend to have drier noses for this reason.1
So the wetness of your dog’s nose alone is not evidence of your pet’s overall health, as you need to take other symptoms into account to gauge whether your pet is feeling well or ill. That being said, there are certain health conditions that may make your dog’s nose dry, so it’s a good idea to get it checked out if it’s a chronic issue or occurs along with other symptoms.
GOOD NEWS
Listening to music or playing an instrument can delay cognitive decline as we age—by producing gray matter in the brain—a new study shows.
The researchers followed over 100 retired people who had never practiced music before. They were enrolled in piano and music awareness training for six months, which when finished resulted in an increase in working memory performance by 6% and a total reduction in gray matter loss in the piano playing group.
Taken altogether, the scientists believe that while musical interventions cannot rejuvenate the brain, they can prevent aging in specific regions, specifically in people with no musical background who start playing in their senior years.
As the brain ages, it loses a trait that everybody who wants to understand a little about their own neurology should remember—neuroplasticity. Neuroplasticity is the measurement of the brain’s ability to flex and work on different tasks by enhancing neuronal connections and creating new ones to suit new tasks.
Key among neuroplasticity is working memory, which describes the kind of mental effort needed to remember a whole phone number long enough to be able to reach the pen and paper to write it down, or translate a sentence from a foreign language.
A team from the University of Geneva wanted to see how much the musical domain could prevent this loss of working memory associated with age-related cognitive decline.
‘‘We wanted people whose brains did not yet show any traces of plasticity linked to musical learning. Indeed, even a brief learning experience in the course of one’s life can leave imprints on the brain, which would have biased our results’’, explains Damien Marie, first author of the study.
Small Acts of Kindness Are Universal: Global Study Finds People Help Each Other Every 2 Minutes
An international study of people on five continents has found that humans help each other with small things about every 2 minutes, and acquiesce to calls for help overwhelmingly more often than reject them.
For sociologists, understanding the root of any kind of human behavior first requires them to attempt to parse out how much influence on it comes from nurture, and how much from nature.
Kindness, generosity, anger, curiosity—how much are these expressions amplified or tamped down by the culture a person grows up in, and how much is built-in to the human animal?
Attempting to tackle kindness and cooperation, a team of researchers at UC Los Angeles conducted a study of observing everyday interactions between strangers and relations to see how often they helped each other.
Previous literature was, in hindsight, aiming a little too high in attempting to answer this question.
For example, the UCLA press room states in a report on the paper, that while whale hunters of Lamalera, Indonesia, follow established rules about how to share out a large catch, Hadza foragers of Tanzania share their food more out of a fear of generating negative gossip.
In Kenya, they continue, wealthier Orma villagers are expected to pay for public goods such as road projects. Wealthy Gnau villagers of Papua New Guinea, on the other hand, would reject such an offer because it creates an awkward obligation to reciprocate for their poorer neighbors.
While these are valuable insights into human social organization, they are dealing with complex phenomena with consequences, such as how to divide a whale kill among dozens of people, or financing road construction.
Instead, UCLA sociologist Giovanni Rossi aimed a bit lower. His team analyzed over 40 hours of video recordings of everyday life in towns in Italy, Poland, Russia, Aboriginal Australia, Ecuador, Laos, Ghana, and England.
“Cultural differences like these have created a puzzle for understanding cooperation and helping among humans,” said Rossi, the paper’s first author. “Are our decisions about sharing and helping shaped by the culture we grew up with? Or are humans generous and giving by nature?”hey registered signals for help, such as asking if someone could pass them the water at a dinner table, or a visual signal of help such as struggling to lift a heavy object into a truck, and identified more than 1,000 such requests.
They found that people complied with small requests seven times more often than they declined, and six times more often than they ignored them. Rejections of help came at a rate of 11% at most, but 74% of all rejections came with an explanation as to why the rendering of help wasn’t possible.
In other words, only 2.5% of all help signals were denied without explanation.
“While cultural variation comes into play for special occasions and high-cost exchange, when we zoom in on the micro level of social interaction, cultural difference mostly goes away, and our species’ tendency to give help when needed becomes universally visible,” Rossi told the UCLA press.
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