WORLD NEWS
Global Energy Grid Puts One Billion At Risk For Blackouts
This summer, power grids worldwide won’t produce enough electricity to meet the soaring demand, threatening more than one billion people with rolling blackouts. Grids are stretched thin by fossil fuel shortages, drought and heatwaves, commodity disruptions and soaring prices due to the war in Ukraine, and the failed green energy transition where grid operators retired too many fossil fuel generation plants. Combine this all together, and a perfect storm of blackouts threatens much of the Northern Hemisphere.
The power crisis, affecting a large swath of the world and top economies, could be less than a month away when summer begins on June 21. Regions that concerned Bloomberg are Asia, Europe, and the US, where there’s not enough power to go around when cooling demand is set to surge as households crank up their air conditions to escape the sweltering heat.
Asia’s heatwave has caused hours-long daily blackouts, putting more than 1 billion people at risk across Pakistan, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and India, with little relief in sight. Six Texas power plants failed earlier this month as the summer heat just began to arrive, offering a preview of what’s to come. At least a dozen US states from California to the Great Lakes are at risk of electricity outages this summer. Power supplies will be tight in China and Japan. South Africa is poised for a record year of power cuts. And Europe is in a precarious position that’s held up by Russia — if Moscow cuts off natural gas to the region, that could trigger rolling outages in some countries. –Bloomberg
BloombergNEF analyst Shantanu Jaiswal says the combination of “war and sanctions” disrupting commodity markets, “extreme weather,” and “an economic rebound from COVID boosting power demand” is a “unique” situation that he “can’t recall” the last time a “confluence of so many factors” happened together. As we noted in the beginning, it’s a perfect storm of factors.
Bill Gates Lays Out Technocrat Plan For Global Takeover
The World Health Organization is attempting to seize control over global pandemic monitoring and response and, ultimately, all health care decisions
Bill Gates intends to play a key part in this takeover. He’s building a pandemic response team for the WHO, dubbed the “Global Epidemic Response & Mobilization” or GERM Team, which will have the authority to monitor nations and make pandemic response decisions, such as when to suspend civil liberties to prevent spread of an illness
The globalist cabal plans to seize control through biosecurity governance, and they’re attempting to do this using two different avenues. If we fail to fight off both attacks, we’ll end up under totalitarian governance
The first attack comes in the form of amendments to the International Health Regulations (IHR), which are currently being voted on by the World Health Assembly. These amendments will strip member nations of their sovereignty and give the WHO unprecedented power to restrict your medical freedoms and civil liberties in the name of biosecurity. Get involved and urge your nation’s leaders to reject the amendments if passed. Unless rejected, they will become binding law in November 2022
The second attack comes through a new international pandemic treaty with the WHO. They intend to eliminate individualized medicine and provide blanket rulings for how a given threat is to be addressed, and this can only result in needless suffering — not to mention the loss of individual freedom
The Truth About the $40 Billion in US Aid Ostensibly Being spent to arm Ukraine
I think Scott Ritter jumped the gun in calling the $40 billion dollar Ukrainian aid bill a “game changer.” Once you take time to parse the details you quickly realize the media is misleading the American public on the reality of the $40 billion dollars ostensibly designated to buy weapons and equip Ukraine with a cornucopia of lethality. Mark Cancian at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (aka CSIS) provides an excellent breakdown of what was actually appropriated. Here is a quick summary:
$19 billion for immediate military support to Ukraine
$3.9 billion to sustain U.S. forces deployed to Europe
$16 billion for economic support to Ukraine and global humanitarian relief
$2 billion for long-term support to NATO allies and DOD modernization programs
Right off the bat, you can see that Ukraine is not getting $40 billion dollars worth of military goodies to whack Russians. They are not even getting $19 billion. The $19 billion is carved up into smaller packages:
- $6 billion for training, equipment, weapons, logistic support, supplies and services, salaries and stipends and intelligence support to the military and national security forces of Ukraine (and the specifics of the expenditures remain to be determined).
- $9 billion to replenish U.S. weapons stocks already sent to Ukraine.
- $4 billion for the Foreign Military Financing Program (this allows a foreign country like Ukraine to buy brand new weapon systems).
What could Ukraine buy with $4 billion dollars? They could order 444 M1A2 SEP battle tanks. Getting them built and delivered will take more than a year. Or Ukraine could buy 44 F-35 Jet Fighters. But that is just the cost of the air frame. Ukraine would then have to cough up at least $27,000 per flight hour per plane. Delivery on that system would take years. Lockheed Martin currently churns out 91 a year. So, if Ukraine is willing to wait 5 years it could have the most advanced fighter in the U.S. arsenal. But that assumes the U.S. Air Force stops buying and lets Ukraine get to the head of the line.
I want to point out that the United States defeated the Japanese and helped defeat the Germans in less time that is required to build 444 F-35s. Not exactly a positive game changer.
Given these facts, Ukraine can only hope to receive $6 billion in military assistance in the immediate future. That is a sizeable chunk of change but there is no requirement that it be spent primarily on weapon systems that are effective against the Russians.
No matter what aid is provided to Ukraine in the coming weeks, the Russians enjoy a decisive advantage in their control of the air space, their precision missile and rocket systems and their robust electronic warfare capabilities.
Drone technology is a game changer. It can fly at any time without risking a pilot being shot down or killed. It can conduct reconnaissance and surveillance of enemy troop locations and movements, which provides the attacking force with precise geo coordinates to destroy enemy troops with missiles or rockets.
It does not matter if the U.S. shares complete Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance about Russian forces because Ukraine does not have the weapon systems to act on that information using lethal force. Ditto if Ukraine has its own powerful ISR systems. It does not have the air power or the missiles to attack the Russian forces. In fact, Russia’s air defense systems have been quite effective in shooting down those planes and missiles Ukraine tried to use.
Leaked audio that appears to have originated from a meeting of China’s top war generals reveals elaborate plans for a land invasion in the near future, waged by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and augmented with cyber warfare, orbital space weapons and the activation of CCP civilians currently embedded in corporations and governments around the world.
This is the bombshell that has emerged from the leaked audio out of China, for which a full English translation and transcript has now been published by whistleblower Jennifer Zeng at this link. (The English translation is somewhat rough but still very useful.)
Yesterday I interviewed John Moore (TheLibertyMan.com) who offered extensive details on this plan. His source, in turn, is JR Nyquist, with whom I spoke yesterday in a private phone conversation.
Davos: Warnings of ‘Famines Around the World’ as Globalist WEF Talk Global Food Crisis
Davos attendees have been discussing the global food crisis at the annual World Economic Forum, with the head of the World Food Programme warning of ‘famines around the world’.
As the world’s elite mulls over various Great Reset policies at the annual World Economic Forum event in Davos, a popular topic of discussion at the globalist event is the world supply of food in the midst of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Now, many at the conference are openly expressing concern that the lack of exports leaving Ukraine could spell disaster for millions upon millions of people, with some experts warning that the effects of the crisis will not be limited to nations which are currently struggling to feed their populations.
For the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, food disruption isn’t a side-effect of hostilities, but an outright war object of Russia.
“Today, Russia’s artillery is bombarding grain warehouses in Ukraine – deliberately. And Russian warships in the Black Sea are blockading Ukrainian ships full of wheat and sunflower seeds,” the Commission head told those gathered at the conference.
“…on top of this, Russia is now hoarding its own food exports as a form of blackmail – holding back supplies to increase global prices, or trading wheat in exchange for political support,” she continued. “This is: using hunger and grain to wield power.”
The EU tsar concluded by claiming that her transnational bloc has been doing absolutely everything it can to alleviate these issues, with von der Leyen saying that nations were increasing production and working with new tech to boost farming yields to make more food available.
U.S. NEWS, POLITICS & GOVERNMENT
Texas Elementary School Shooter Gave Little Warning: Governor
The man who killed 19 children in a Texas elementary school on May 24 posted three times to Facebook before arriving at the facility, Gov. Greg Abbott said during a press briefing on May 25.
About 30 minutes before Salvador Ramos, 18, entered Robb Elementary School in Uvalde and opened fire, he wrote on social media, “I’m going to shoot my grandmother.”
Another post, minutes later, “I shot my grandmother.”
A third, around 15 minutes before the massacre began, “I’m going to shoot an elementary school.”
Apart from the posts, there was “no meaningful forewarning” of the mass shooting, Abbott, a Republican, told reporters during the briefing.
Andy Stone, a spokesman for Facebook parent company Meta, said in a statement that the posts were private one-on-one text messages. The messages “were discovered after the terrible tragedy occurred,” he said, adding that the company is closely cooperating with law enforcement in their ongoing investigation.
The posts were located by the FBI, which is assisting local and state authorities with the investigation, according to Texas officials.
An online search turned up no criminal history, and authorities have so far found no indication of prior criminal incidents.
Ramos was a dropout who had attended Uvalde’s high school. It’s unclear if he attended Robb Elementary School.
After Ramos shot his grandmother, 66, at her home where he lived, his mother called the police. She also ran for help for her mother, who was airlifted to a hospital in San Antonio, where she’s listed in critical condition.
Ramos then took his grandmother’s car and drove about three miles before crashing. He exited the vehicle with a backpack and one of the semi-automatic rifles that he purchased legally from a local sporting goods store in March, before moving to the west side of the school campus. As he was approaching, a school resource officer engaged with him. No gunfire was exchanged, and Ramos was able to make it into the school.
He turned right, then left, before reaching two adjoining classrooms and gaining access to them, where he opened fire.
Ramos tried entering at least one other classroom but moved on after finding a locked door, Joe Daniel, a Uvalde resident who lives near the school, told The Epoch Times. Daniel’s 8-year-old daughter was inside that classroom.
Chris Vasquez, a teacher at a nearby private school, said she spoke with a parent whose child was shot during the mayhem. The child, a boy, told his parents that the shooter walked into the classroom and said, “Okay everybody, goodnight.”
A tactical team of law enforcement officers, including Border Patrol SWAT agents and a Uvalde deputy, breached the classroom door and killed Ramos.
In addition to the shooter and 19 children, two teachers were killed. Other individuals were wounded.
The motive remains unclear, officials said.
Report: Texas Shooter Barricaded Himself for 40 Minutes as Police Waited
The shooter who killed 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday reportedly barricaded himself inside as police waited outside for 40 minutes.
According to people who were present at the scene, terrified parents were yelling at police officers to charge the school for 40 minutes until a Border Patrol team finally took him down.
“Go in there! Go in there!” parents reportedly shouted.
Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX) told CNN the standoff occurred after shots had been fired, during which there was a lull in the action. He said:
And then (the shooting) stops, and he barricades himself in. That’s where there’s kind of a lull in the action.
All of it, I understand, lasted about an hour, but this is where there’s kind of a 30-minute lull. They feel as if they’ve got him barricaded in. The rest of the students in the school are now leaving.
Raul Ortiz, Chief of the U.S. Border Patrol, said police came up with a plan as quickly as they could. Officers reportedly had engaged the shooter before several members of the Border Patrol tactical team, a search and rescue responder, and a few other agents went in after the gunman.
“They didn’t hesitate. They came up with a plan. They entered that classroom and they took care of the situation as quickly as they possibly could,” Ortiz outlined.
Parents still expressed frustration with the time that passed before the shooter went down. Some even proposed rushing into the school before the police.
“Let’s just rush in because the cops aren’t doing anything like they are supposed to,” said Javier Cazares, whose 4th-grade daughter died in the attack. “More could have been done.”
“They were unprepared,” he added.
Beto O’Rourke Removed From Texas Governor’s News Conference About School Shooting
Texas gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke was escorted out of Gov. Greg Abbott’s press conference on a school shooting that left 19 children dead.
O’Rourke, a Democrat, started yelling at Abbott about gun control laws during the May 25 press conference. He was immediately branded an “embarrassment” by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.
Don McLaughlin, mayor of Uvalde, where the shooting occurred, told O’Rourke: “He needs to get his [expletive] out of here. Sir, you are out of line. Please leave this auditorium.
“I can’t believe you, you sick son of a [expletive], you would come to an event like this to make it a political issue. [Expletive] like you, get out of here.”
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who was standing behind Abbott and who defeated O’Rourke in a 2018 U.S. Senate race, told him to “sit down.”
“Before coming out here, we had a long discussion with the law enforcement at all levels. … I asked the sheriff and others an open-ended question and got the same answer from the sheriff as well as from the mayor of Uvalde. The question was, ‘What is the problem here?’” Abbott said. “They were straightforward and emphatic. They said we have a problem with mental health illness in this community.”
That’s when O’Rourke, who was born Robert Francis O’Rourke, approached the stage and asked, “When are we going to do something?”
“You’re offering us nothing,” he yelled before he was removed. “The time to stop the next shooting is now, and you are doing nothing.”
Later in the press conference, Abbott noted that teenagers in Texas have been able to buy guns for decades.
“What has changed is mental health,” the governor said. “Anybody who shoots somebody else has a mental health challenge. Period. We as a government need to find a way to target that mental health challenge and do something about it.”
Responding to O’Rourke, Abbott said that “there are no words anybody shouting can come up here—and do anything—to heal those broken hearts.”
After he was removed, the Democratic challenger addressed reporters.
“I want us to do something right now,” O’Rourke said. “We can do something right now. But if we continue to accept this, it is on us. It’s not just the governor’s fault, it is on us. I’m not going to accept it, so I’m here, I’m calling attention to it.”
Senate to take key vote on domestic terrorism prevention bill after mass shootings
The Senate will take a key vote on Thursday in an attempt to advance a bill designed to combat domestic terrorism. The vote comes as lawmakers are under intense pressure to take action in the wake of multiple recent episodes of horrific gun violence.
The bill passed the House last week following a tragic mass shooting at a supermarket in a predominately Black neighborhood in Buffalo, New York. It is not expected to advance in the Senate, however, due to GOP opposition.
Republicans have pushed back against the bill put forward by Democrats, describing it as partisan and unnecessary. At least 10 Senate Republicans would need to vote with Democrats to overcome the 60-vote threshold imposed by the filibuster — and that is not expected to happen.
Only one Republican — Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois — voted for the measure when the Democrat-led House approved it after the Buffalo supermarket shooting. The Justice Department is investigating that shooting as a hate crime and “an act of racially-motivated violent extremism.”
US May Send American Troops to Ukraine to Safeguard Reopened Embassy: Gen. Milley
Plans to send American forces back into the Ukrainian capital Kyiv are being considered for the protection of the U.S. Embassy, said the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark Milley, to reporters at the Pentagon on Monday.
“Some of the things that may have been out there in the media, those are planning efforts that are underway at a relatively low level,” Milley told reporters, possibly referring to a Wall Street Journal report.
The May 23 report talked about the diplomatic balancing act by White House officials to send in troops to safeguard the newly-reopened embassy during times of war, risking personnel safety on one hand, while avoiding escalating the conflict.
The U.S. Embassy was shut down 10 days prior to the Russian invasion, and was reopened on May 19 after a three-month closure. Embassy staff worked out of Poland for the first two months of the war but Charge d’Affaires Kristina Kvien returned to the country on May 2.
Other countries like the UK, France, and Germany have reopened embassies after Russian forces focused their offensive on the eastern parts of the country.
If the military is deployed, it would be special forces for the defense and security of the embassy that lies within range of Russian missiles. President Joe Biden earlier made assurances that no U.S. forces would be sent into Ukraine.
The proposals to send in troops “have not yet made it to [Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin] or myself for that matter, for refinement of courses of action and what’s needed,” said Milley. Any deployment of U.S. troops would require a presidential decision.
“We’re a ways away from anything like that. We’re still developing courses of action, and none of that has been presented yet to the secretary,” Milley added.
The Biden administration reopened the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv on May 18 after closing it ahead of Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine.
Incumbents Likely to Prevail in South Dakota Primary Despite Crowded GOP Field
Incumbents are expected to prevail in the Republican primary elections in South Dakota, recent polling data indicates.
And, given that the state hasn’t elected a Democrat in decades, the incumbents are likely to sail to re-election in the general election in November.
“They have slapped Democrats around in just about every campaign, even running unopposed for a U.S. Senate seat in 2010 and U.S. House seat in 2020,” University of South Dakota political science professor Michael Card told The Epoch Times. “South Dakota hasn’t elected a Democrat for governor since 1974. It’s a solidly Republican state.”
Card said that the Democrats voters are split between populist liberal Republicans and GOP stalwarts.
“Even most Democrats are conservative, largely due to lives in agriculture,” he said. “Conservative populists have liked Trump and other brash politicians.”
However, intraparty tiffs between moderate and conservative Republicans have dominated South Dakota headlines in the run up to the primaries.
“It’s not clear what started the in-fighting,” Card said. “Some of it had to do with the governor’s veto about a bill to keep transgender athletes from participating in college or high school athletics.”
A former Hillary Clinton campaign lawyer told members of Congress in 2017 that he took information about Donald Trump and Russia to the FBI on behalf of a client, even though he previously told the bureau that he was bringing the data of his own volition, jurors in federal court heard on May 25.
“I think it’s most accurate to say it was done on behalf of my client,” Michael Sussmann, the lawyer, told the House Intelligence Committee on Dec. 18, 2017.
Portions of the transcript were read into the record as prosecutors with special counsel John Durham’s team wrapped up their case against Sussmann, who is on trial on a charge of lying to the FBI.
Sussmann texted FBI General Counsel James Baker in September 2016 asking for a meeting so he could share information, although he claimed he was coming forward of his own accord, not as part of his representation of any clients.
Sussmann, then at Perkins Coie, at the time was representing both the Clinton campaign and Rodney Joffe, a technology executive who has said he was promised a position in the government if Clinton won the 2016 election.
Prosecutors say the parties colluded in gathering data and claiming that it showed a secret link between Trump and Russia’s Alfa-Bank. They hoped to sway the election in Clinton’s favor.
About 14 months after handing over the allegations to Baker—the FBI and the CIA both deemed the claims false—Sussmann sat before the House panel and told members that he received the Trump–Russia information from a client, whom he indicated wasn’t the Clinton campaign. He also said he did not go to the FBI and CIA on his own volition but was directed by his client to go to the agencies and present the information.
“We had a conversation, as lawyers do with their clients, about client needs and objectives and the best course to take for a client. And so it may have been a decision that we came to together. I don’t want to imply that I was sort of directed to do something against my better judgment, or that we were in any sort of conflict, but this was—I think it’s most accurate to say it was done on behalf of my client,” Sussmann told the panel.
Clinton campaign officials have testified that they didn’t approve of Sussmann going to the FBI. They hoped that media outlets would publish stories on the Trump-Alfa Bank claims, and were concerned that going to the bureau would delay the articles.
Defense lawyers, meanwhile, called their first witnesses—several former Department of Justice employees, including former Associate Deputy Attorney General Tashina Gauhar.
The deep state is already setting the narrative for what is clearly being planned in response to the Supreme Court’s soon overturning of Roe v. Wade.
The Biden regime’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has issued a warning about how pro-abortion extremists are planning to “storm the Supreme Court” building and “murder justices” if abortion does not remain federally legal as demanded.
An unclassified “leaked memo” obtained by Axios and released by DHS’ intelligence arm on May 13 suggests that law enforcement agencies are already gearing up to respond to an alleged threat from people who believe that they have a “right to abortion.”
Axios reported that police “are investigating social-media threats to burn down or storm the Supreme Court building and murder justices and their clerks, as well as attacks targeting places of worship and abortion clinics.”
The memo itself adds that violent threats have already targeted “Supreme Court Justices, lawmakers and other public officials, as well as clergy and health care providers.”
These threats, the memo goes on to claim, are “likely to persist and may increase leading up to and following the issuing of the Court’s official ruling.”
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt Signs Nation’s Strictest Abortion Ban
Oklahoma Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt on Wednesday enabled the nation’s strictest abortion laws, honoring an election promise to end availability of the procedure.
Pro-life state lawmakers approved the ban enforced by civil lawsuits rather than criminal prosecution. The legislation is similar to a Texas law passed last year, AP reports.
Under the law from Rep. Wendi Stearman, R-Collinsville, Oklahoma will become the first state in the nation where nearly all abortions are prohibited. In 2021, 5,950 abortions were performed in the state, according to the Oklahoman.
Representatives from Oklahoma’s four abortion clinics said they would stop, if they had not already, terminating pregnancies immediately upon HB 4327 taking effect.
Before taking office, Stitt vowed to sign all anti-abortion bills that crossed his desk — a promise he has honored.
Democrat-Run Cities Lead the Way in Population Decline
Democrat-run Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York City are leading the way in urban residential decline, U.S. Census Bureau population estimates released Thursday reveal.
The data reveals eight of the 10 largest cities in the U.S. lost population up to mid-2021.
Specifically between July 2020 and July 2021, New York lost more than 305,000 people, while Chicago and Los Angeles contracted by 45,000 residents and 40,000 people, respectively.
The top 15 largest cities remained the same as in 2020 although more than half experienced decreases in their population between 2020 and 2021: New York, New York (-305,465); Los Angeles, California (-40,537); Chicago, Illinois (-45,175); Houston, Texas (-11,777); Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (-24,754); San Diego, California (-3,783); Dallas, Texas (-14,777); San Jose, California (-27,419); and Indianapolis, Indiana (-5,343).
Although San Francisco’s not among the 10 largest cities, almost 55,000 residents left that Democrat-run city, or 6.3 percent of its 2020 population, the highest percentage of any U.S. city.
Among the 10 largest U.S. cities, only San Antonio and Phoenix gained new residents by adding some 13,000 people each, or less than one percent of their populations, according to 2021 population estimates.
Reasons for population changes vary from city to city, driven by the cumulative impact of housing costs, jobs, births and deaths. The report highlights most recent departures came during the height of the coronavirus pandemic, however other factors are at play.
As Breitbart News reported, inner city crime is a common factor in major cities across America, with the problems besetting Chicago emblematic of how widely spread the problem of violence i
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Hiding in Plain Sight: Technocratic Tyranny Behind a Medical Mask
This article traces the history of major technological developments as they are framed by the leading mythmakers in the mainstream media tasked to manage public perception and prop up this vast system of deception. Our goal is to give an overview of technology as the claimed saviour of humanity and offer critical analysis of the propaganda that seeks to integrate humankind into this global project of everlasting technological development. We see technocratic tyranny as a state of existence maintained by the captains of “Big Digital” — as Michael Rectenwald observes,
“the mega-data services, media, cable, and internet services, social media platforms, Artificial Intelligence (AI) agents, apps, and the developing … monopolies … [that] will either … be incorporated by the state, or become elements of a new corporate state power.”
We divide the article into eight sections, using Covid-19 propaganda as an illustrative example. The first addresses the modern history of propaganda as an organised system of mass persuasion informed by theories in psychoanalysis and how this system has since been used by power centers to sell wars, policies, and products. The deployment of the Covid-19 crisis has served as the means by which to manufacture consent to a new social, economic, political and religious order, known variously as the Great Reset, Fourth Industrial Revolution (or New World Order). The second addresses how governments and agencies collaborate with big tech firms to create and manage public perception through media. The third looks at how audience emotions are manipulated in manufacturing compliance with questionable state policies and plans. The fourth addresses how big tech propaganda enables huge unelected global bureaucracies, funded largely by transnational corporate tech giants, to undermine national sovereignty and the will of the people.
The fifth discusses interconnections and overlapping interests across governments, intelligence agencies, and big tech contractors developing the long-planned technological architectures of a new bio-secure digital economy: the most sophisticated gate-keeping operation since monarchs ruled. The sixth discusses weapons development and its connection to big tech medicine. The seventh reflects on past propaganda campaigns launched by PR firms, which served to identify a common enemy, whip up outrage and hysteria and how, nowadays, the same sorts of operations are at work normalising the collapse of societies and the capture of public institutions. The final section discusses patterns of planned mass deception and social control, past and present, through psychological and technological programs and what these official programs portend for the future.
Man’s double hand transplant is ‘space-age stuff’
Steven Gallagher laughed when it was first suggested he could have a double hand transplant.
But five months on from pioneering surgery that could have cost him all use of his hands, he is now pain-free and enjoying “a new lease of life”.
Steven, 48, developed an unusual rash on his cheeks and nose about 13 years ago, and pains in his right arm.
Doctors initially thought it was lupus and then carpal tunnel syndrome, and the father-of-three had an operation.
But when the pain returned in both arms, he was referred to a specialist who confirmed he had scleroderma, an autoimmune disease that causes scarring of the skin and internal organs.
The condition affected areas including his nose, mouth and hands. About seven years ago, his fingers started curling in until they were in a fist position. He was suffering “horrendous” pain.
“My hands started to close, it got to the point where it was basically two fists, my hands were unusable,” he recalled. “I couldn’t do a thing apart from lift things with two hands.
“I could not grab anything, it was a struggle to get dressed and things like that.”
Steven, from Dreghorn in North Ayrshire, was forced to give up his work as a roof tiler.
He was referred to Professor Andrew Hart, a consultant plastic and hand surgeon based in Glasgow, who first raised the possibility of a double hand transplant.
“At the time I laughed and thought, that’s space-age kind of things,” he said.
After further conversations with Prof Hart, Steven also spoke to Professor Simon Kay, a consultant plastic surgeon at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust who led the UK’s first double hand transplant operation in 2016.
Both outlined the risks involved.
“They were really understanding and really open about what might happen, that I could lose my hands altogether,” he recalled. “They said it was unlikely but it was a risk.
“My wife and I spoke about it and came to the agreement to go for it. I could end up losing my hands anyway, so it was just a case of letting them know I was going to go with it.”
Steven, who has three daughters aged 12, 24 and 27, had to undergo psychological evaluation to ensure he was prepared for the transplant.
This ‘Crab’ Is The Smallest Remote-Controlled Walking Robot Ever Built
Is your tiny robot really all that small if it’s bigger than the width of a coin? A team of scientists has built what is now the smallest-ever remote-controlled walking robot, coming in at a mere half a millimeter (less than a fiftieth of an inch) wide.
Exceedingly tiny robots have a whole host of potential uses, from helping out with surgical procedures to repairing machinery in spaces where a wrench can’t fit. The smaller they get, the more scenarios they could be used in.
This bot, while not ready to start going out there in the world and doing repairs just yet, is truly impressive.
It looks and moves like a miniature peekytoe crab, a shape chosen on a “creative whim”, according to the researchers. The techniques they’ve developed can in fact be used to develop tiny robots in just about any shape required.
“Our technology enables a variety of controlled motion modalities and can walk with an average speed of half its body length per second,” says mechanical engineer Yonggang Huang, from Northwestern University in Illinois.
“This is very challenging to achieve at such small scales for terrestrial robots.”
The technology the robot is based on was originally developed eight years ago and isn’t unlike a pop-up book: robot parts are fixed to a stretched rubber substrate, and when the material is relaxed, the device pops up into its shape.
HEALTH
How Loud Noises Can Lead to Heart Attacks
Data from Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School showed that people living in urban areas near busy streets or under flight paths have a higher risk of a heart attack that can’t be blamed on other health conditions or air pollution
Short- and long-term exposure to air pollution also raises the risk of cardiovascular disease and it can exacerbate existing heart conditions. Nearly double the number than previous estimates are dying from air pollution and 80% of those are from heart disease
Noise pollution also affects sleep quality and creates psychological stress that lowers productivity, interferes with concentration and increases the number of people taking anti-anxiety medication
Children exposed to chronic noise pollution have a difficult time learning and the excess noise is associated with decreased measures of cognitive function, memory, depression and verbal and nonverbal learning
Can This Popular Herb Help Stop Seizures?
Cilantro and coriander seed are names identifying the two stages of development of the plant genus Coriandum sativum. Cilantro refers to the initial leafy stage. Once it flowers and develops seeds, it becomes known as coriander
Recent research has found cilantro leaf contains a potent potassium channel-activating anticonvulsant, suggesting it may benefit those suffering epileptic seizures
Cilantro activates specific potassium channels responsible for regulating electrical activity in your brain, thereby reducing seizure activity
The primary active ingredient in coriander seed is linalool, which has been shown to prevent oxidative damage, inhibit microbial growth, enhance mood, improve cognition, alleviate anxiety, protect against neurological diseases and reduce pain
Medicinal use of Coriandum sativum — including both leaves and seeds — include treatment of stomachache and nausea, digestive complaints, upper abdominal complaints such as uncomfortable fullness, flatulence and griping (cramps or spasms in the bowel or stomach) and constipation
Will NAC Become a Banned Supplement?
Following the FDA’s 2020 attack on NAC, excluding it from the definition of dietary supplements, new draft guidance suggests the agency isn’t going to enforce the ban and may restore this beneficial compound to its prior supplement status.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration suddenly cracked down on NAC in 2020, claiming it is excluded from the definition of a dietary supplement, as it was approved as a new drug in 1963
Retailers, including Amazon, pulled supplements containing NAC from their shelves in response, as the FDA’s move meant NAC could no longer legally be marketed as a supplement
Draft guidance released by the FDA in April 2022 gives a glimmer of hope that NAC will continue to be available over-the-counter
The new verbiage suggests that the FDA will not be enforcing their policy that NAC cannot be marketed as a dietary supplement, even though it’s technically still illegal to do so
In another positive step, while the FDA stated that their full safety review of NAC is ongoing, its initial review “has not revealed safety concerns with respect to the use of this ingredient in or as a dietary supplement”
The FDA stated it is “likely to propose a rule providing that NAC is not excluded from the definition of dietary supplement”
Cranberries Boost Memory, Slow Cognitive Decline
Eating a handful of cranberries every day could improve your memory and protect against dementia. That is the conclusion of a British study that found people who consumed the equivalent of a small bowl of cranberries every day for 12 weeks experience an increase in memory and other health markers. Researchers from the University of East Anglia in the U.K. said this could be because consuming cranberries appears to boost blood flow to the brain as recorded by brain scans of the participants.
According Study Finds, participants in the study also had 9% less of “bad”, LDL, cholesterol, which can block blood vessels and cause dangerous plaque buildup in arteries. Since the number of dementia patients is expected to triple by 2050, it’s important to find ways to mitigate the risk of this incurable disease.
“Dementia is expected to affect around 152 million people by 2050. There is no known cure, so it is crucial we seek modifiable lifestyle interventions, such as diet, that could lessen disease risk and burden,” said Dr. David Vauzour, the lead researcher from UEA’s Norwich Medical School, in a statement. “Past studies have shown that higher dietary flavonoid intake is associated with slower rates of cognitive decline and dementia. And food rich in anthocyanins and proanthocyanins, which give berries their red, blue, or purple color, have been found to improve cognition.”
CDC Issues Monkeypox Alert Advising Travelers to ‘Practice Enhanced Precautions’
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is now warning American travelers to “practice enhanced precautions” as monkeypox spreads worldwide, although agency officials said the virus doesn’t easily spread via the air.
Monkeypox, a viral illness in the same family as smallpox, was been identified in about 15 countries, including the United States, according to the World Health Organization. The virus is considered endemic in several African countries and is rarely found outside of the continent.
The CDC, which issued the Level 2 travel health alert, said that cases have been reported in Australia, North America, and Europe.
“None of these people reported having recently been in central or west African countries where monkeypox usually occurs, including the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Nigeria, among others,” the CDC said in its health notice, adding that the “risk to the general public is low.”
The agency has recommended travelers avoid close contact with sick people, including those with skin lesions. They also said that people should avoid contact with live or dead animals, including rodents like squirrels, mice, rats, and primates such as monkeys or apes.
Officials are also warning people against eating or preparing wild game meat or using products that come from animals in Africa—including through powders, creams, and lotions.
And like with COVID-19, the CDC is recommending travelers wash their hands regularly and avoid touching their faces.
On Monday, several CDC officials said that the monkeypox virus doesn’t easily spread through the air, unlike COVID-19.
The virus, according to the officials, is primarily spread through sustained physical contact such as skin-to-skin contact with a person who has an active rash. Monkeypox can also spread via contaminated materials such as clothing or bedding.
While CDC officials noted that respiratory droplets can spread the virus, it doesn’t transmit as easily as COVID-19, caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus.
“This is not COVID,” CDC official Jennifer McQuiston told CNBC this week. “Respiratory spread is not the predominant worry. It is contact and intimate contact in the current outbreak setting and population.”
McQuiston added that the monkeypox outbreak is “not a situation where if you’re passing someone in the grocery store, they’re going to be at risk for monkeypox.”
GARDENING, FARMING & HOMESTEADING
‘It looks beautiful’: UK gardeners on leaving lawns uncut for No Mow May
People taking part in Plantlife’s conservation project say they have seen plants and wildlife thrive
The conservation charity Plantlife again urged people not to mow their gardens in May to help wild plants and pollinators thrive.
As the month draws to a close, we asked some of this year’s No Mow May participants what new plants and wildlife they have seen in their gardens.
‘It’s nice to know we cater for the butterflies’ whole life cycle’
I thought I had better practise what I preach as a conservation charity worker. My three-year-old daughter loves the flowers in the garden, even more so when they are visited by butterflies, such as this orange-tip (pictured above). Our lawn is currently a sea of cowslips, but hidden under them, waiting to come into flower are meadow vetchling, yellow rattle, common knapweed, and even common spotted orchids.
We have a second no-mow lawn next to our little allotment. The wetter ground here supports cuckooflower, which is the food plant of orange-tip butterfly caterpillars. We spend many a happy hour searching for the eggs in May and the caterpillars in late June. It’s nice to know we cater for their whole life cycle, rather than just feeding the adult butterflies.
Adam Linnet, 35, conservation charity worker, Ipstones, Staffordshire
‘People stop to speak to me about my front garden’
Two years ago, inspired by the No Mow movement, I decided to resow the lawn of my back garden with both grass and clover to increase biodiversity. We also have a front garden that was once a very sad and bare patch of dirt and stones. I threw some wild flower mixes on to the ground, added a few self-seeded plants from the back garden and plants that had outgrown their pots. Even the bin store has a living roof.
Now, the front garden is left to its own devices and is a bountiful haven for birds, small mammals and insects. And I don’t need to mow it! A number of people have stopped to talk to me about the front garden. Most are positive – although one lady seemed to think I had too many weeds.
Sean South, 52, primary school teacher, London
I use a sickle at dusk, when the bees have gone to bed’
Early in the year, this scene is covered with lesser celandines, primroses, grape hyacinth and dog violets. In early May, this gives way to daisies, bugle and forget-me-nots. All these flowers are useful to early spring bees, of which quite a few species nest in the garden: furrow bees, flower bees, mason bees and mining bees.
Some parts I keep short, using a sickle at dusk when the bees have gone to bed. Some species of mining bee and furrow bee like to nest in shorter grass areas. Despite this being a small garden (10 x 30 metres), the diversity of plant species and vegetation allows insects to thrive: along with the bees, many species of hover fly and wasp, as well as beautiful green rose chafer beetles and scarlet tiger moths.
COVID RELATED NEWS
Is This the Worst Excuse for Vaccine Failure Yet?
According to a recent modeling experiment, “Increased contact among vaccinated people can give the false impression that COVID-19 vaccines are not working”
This rationale is dubious at best, considering the unvaccinated have continuously been accused of not taking COVID seriously and going about their lives as normal, while the “vaccinated” are, by and large, more fearful and take “authorities” advice to heart, which includes avoiding large gatherings and close one-on-one interactions without wearing a face mask
Many data sources reveal that COVID-jabbed individuals are now getting COVID-19 at far higher rates than the unjabbed. Death rates, both for COVID and other causes, have also risen in tandem with the number of shots administered
According to an analysis of U.S. data, in September 2021, when Delta was most prominent, 23% of those who died from COVID had received the jab. In January and February 2022, when Omicron started dominating, that percentage jumped to 42%
Many argue that Omicron was more contagious than Delta, hence the higher death toll. But Omicron was also far milder than Delta, and there’s no reason the jabbed would die at a higher rate from a less lethal variant than a more lethal one, unless the injection made the infection worse
A preprint study found adult participants in Moderna’s trial who got the real injection and later got a breakthrough infection did not generate antibodies against the nucleocapsid — a key component of the virus — as frequently as did those in the placebo arm. Their anti-nucleocapsid response was also lower regardless of the viral load. As a result of this reduced antibody response, those who got the jab may be more prone to repeated COVID infections
Moderna ‘Throwing 30 Million Doses in the Garbage,’ CEO Says
The CEO of pharmaceutical and biotechnology company Moderna, Stéphane Bancel, said the company is having to “throw away” millions of doses of COVID-19 vaccines because “nobody wants them.”
Bancel made the comments during an appearance at the World Economic Forum on Monday, while noting his concerns over the lack of people getting vaccinated and waning immunity among those who have had the shots but declined to get boosters.
“It’s sad to say, I’m in the process of throwing 30 million doses in the garbage because nobody wants them. We have a big demand problem,” Bancel said.
The Moderna chief explained that his company has contacted a number of governments across the globe to see if anyone wants to take the vaccines but it has proven unsuccessful.
“We right now have governments—we tried to contact … through the embassies in Washington. Every country and nobody wants to take them,” he said. “And so the challenge we have right now is very different to the one we had two years ago.”
“The issue in many countries is that people don’t want vaccines,” Bancel added, while referencing populations in countries like China and the United States.
Bancel’s comments come as Moderna is set to release its “superior” Omicron- and subvariant-specific COVID-19 vaccine booster by the fall.
Moderna Chief Medical Officer Paul Burton told CBS earlier this month, “We are confident that by the fall of this year, we should have large amounts of that new booster vaccine that will protect against Omicron and other variants, and really protect Americans and people around the world as we go into the fall of 2022.”
However, deaths from COVID-19 have declined in recent months while hospitalizations remain relatively low. Meanwhile, COVID-19 vaccines have remained a polarizing topic amid reports of adverse effects.
In recent months, a string of European countries have found themselves stuck with vaccines that they simply cannot use because of a lack of demand, while tighter finances in the aftermath of the war in Ukraine mean some nations simply cannot afford to purchase more. Those nations are now looking to amend their contracts with producers including Pfizer, Bloomberg reported.
During a virtual meeting with health officials from EU members nations including Poland, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Luxembourg, Finland, and others, organized by Polish Health Minister Adam Niedzielski on May 18, officials agreed to write a joint letter to the European Commission regarding the need to renegotiate the vaccine contracts.
“We hope that the discussion with the commission and among member states will allow flexibility in the vaccine agreements,” the joint letter states, adding, “We are also counting on vaccine producers to show understanding to the exceptional challenges that Poland is facing supporting Ukraine and giving shelter to millions of Ukrainian citizens fleeing the war.”
In a separate letter to commission President Ursula von der Leyen in April, the prime ministers of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania noted that vaccines are still being delivered to the Baltic states and other member states despite dwindling administration.
“This puts pressure not only on logistics networks and storage but also has budgetary implications,” the presidents wrote.
Negotiating with the vaccine manufacturers in an effort to amend deals with suppliers could grant member states the right to “re-phase, suspend, or cancel altogether vaccine deliveries with short shelf life,” they noted.
Meanwhile, in another letter, the health ministry of Bulgaria called for an “open dialog” with the commission and pharmaceutical companies, pointing to the fact that the current arrangement leaves member states forced to “purchase quantities of vaccines they don’t need.”
ICYMI
Cyber Company Asked by Clinton-Connected Executive to Dig Deep on Trump Associates: Owner
Request came from Rodney Joffe, who has said he was promised a position in a Clinton administration
A technology executive who hoped to get a position in the government if Hillary Clinton won the 2016 election tasked a cyber company with compiling a report on about half a dozen Donald Trump associates and their families, the man asked to put the report together testified in federal court on May 24.
Rodney Joffe, the executive, approached Jared Novick, the CEO and part-owner of BitVoyant, in August 2016 with the request.
Novick recounted receiving a document that had the names of about six individuals, their spouses, their personal emails, and their addresses, along with other information.
The first name was Carter Page, the Trump campaign associate that was spied on by the U.S. government despite being an asset for the CIA.
Richard Burt, a lobbyist, was another name, Novick said.
According to a court filing, Paul Manafort and Roger Stone, two other Trump associates, were also listed.
The request was “extremely uncommon,” Novick told the court.
“The whole thing felt to me like opposition research,” he said. “It made me feel very uncomfortable.”
Novick went to Victor Oppleman, a friend who, like Joffe, was on BitVoyant’s board, and aired his concerns. While Oppleman also was displeased with the request, Novick ultimately moved forward with compiling the report, assigning three analysts to it.
The project was dubbed Crimson Rhino.
“The last thing I wanted was Donald Trump’s name” on BitVoyant’s tasking board so that everybody could see, Novick said. He restricted knowledge of the project to employees who had connections with Joffe. “I told them to hopefully do it quickly and get rid of it,” he said.
Everything We Know About the Monkeypox Outbreak so Far
Just as public concern about COVID-19 appears to be waning, public health authorities around the world are sounding the alarm yet again—this time over an outbreak of monkeypox.
There have been a few dozen confirmed and suspected cases reported across Europe in recent weeks as well as one confirmed case in Massachusetts. While the outbreak currently appears small, it’s been unusual in multiple regards.
Monkeypox is a viral disease from the same family as smallpox, but is less severe. People can catch it from wild animals—not just monkeys—and it’s endemic in some African countries. Yet it rarely shows up elsewhere, and if it does, it’s usually in people who recently traveled to Africa.
This time, most of the detected cases are in people with no reported history of travel to Africa, which suggests human-to-human transmission. Monkeypox is not known to spread easily between people, requiring direct contact with bodily fluids, lesion fluids, or prolonged face-to-face contact, according to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.
“It’s not a situation where if you’re passing someone in the grocery store, they’re going to be at risk for monkeypox,” said Dr. Jennifer McQuiston, deputy director of Division of High Consequence Pathogens and Pathology at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
People at risk would be family members or health care workers caring for a monkeypox patient, she said during a May 23 conference call with the media.
Report Shows FBI Spied on 3.3 Million Americans Without a Warrant, GOP Demands Answers
Top House Republicans are demanding answers from the FBI after court-ordered information came to light showing that the federal agency had collected the information of over 3 million Americans without a warrant.
In a May 25 letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray, Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Mike Turner (R-Ohio) asked Wray to explain why his agency had wiretapped and gathered personal information on over 3.3 million Americans without a warrant (pdf).
Limited authority to gather foreign intelligence information is granted by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
Specifically, section 702 of the bill says: “the Attorney General (AG) and the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) may jointly authorize the targeting of (i) non-U.S. persons (ii) who are reasonably believed to be outside of the United States (iii) to acquire foreign intelligence information.”
However, this power can grant an expanding circle of possible searches to the FBI and other intel agencies, who can use the same power against American citizens who had any interaction with targeted foreigners.
Historically, insight into how FISA has been used against American citizens has been limited and hidden behind classified reports.
However, a November 2020 decision by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC)—which serves as a watchdog for U.S. intelligence agencies—required that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) report “the number of U.S. person queries run by the FBI against Section 702-acquired information.”
In accordance with these new requirements, ODNI’s recently-released Annual Statistical Transparency Report included data on how often the FBI gathered information on American citizens using section 702 in 2021.
In total, queries against U.S. citizens came out to a jaw-dropping 3,394,053 searches. By comparison, only 1,324,057 such queries were made in 2020, representing around a 250 percent increase during President Joe Biden’s first year in office.
According to ODNI more than half of these queries—approximately 1.9 million—were part of the larger investigation of alleged Russian attempts to target or weaken U.S. critical infrastructure.
The ODNI report also admitted that on at least four occasions, the FBI failed to get FISC approval before accessing the contents of information collected under section 702.
This is not the first time the FBI has been caught red-handed overstepping its legal authority under section 702.
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