Today’s Top 5:
Last year, the feds spent $2.7 billion – roughly $18,000 per unaccompanied child at the border. For context, the average cost of education in Texas K-12 schools was $9,800 per student.
At least 50 U.S. senators have been issued satellite phones to use during emergency situations, according to people familiar with the situation, CBS News reported.
The phones were distributed as part of a number of new security efforts from the Senate Sergeant at Arms and were offered to every senator. It is unclear which senators agreed to the take part in the new measure.
As Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was formally announcing his candidacy for president on Twitter on May 24, his top Republican rival for the job shared his own message to voters via social media: “There’s only one Donald Trump.”
In two campaign ads shared to Trump’s Truth Social account, DeSantis is depicted as an ungrateful “Trump imposter” who should be thanking the former president, not running against him.
Recounting how DeSantis sought the former president’s endorsement of his 2018 run for governor, the voiceover in one ad notes: “Trump’s endorsement was so powerful, just days after the endorsement, DeSantis took a commanding lead that propelled him to being elected governor. … Unfortunately, instead of being grateful, DeSantis is now attacking the very man who saved his career. Isn’t it time DeSantis remembers how he got to where he is?”
Meanwhile, the second ad implies DeSantis is a “Washington-established” politician who is trying to be “just like Donald Trump.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said during his 2024 presidential announcement that he would remove FBI Director Chris Wray if he were elected president.
During his presidential announcement on Twitter Spaces, DeSantis was asked how he’d address growing concerns over misconduct and misuse of resources at the FBI, which is a primary subject of the House Republicans’ ongoing investigation into the weaponization of the federal government.
Asked if he would keep Wray, who began his tenure as FBI chief under President Donald Trump, DeSantis said he would not.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a 94-year-old woman could pursue a claim that a tax foreclosure sale violated her rights under the Fifth Amendment’s takings clause.
The Supreme Court ruled for grandmother Geraldine Tyler, 94, whose condo was seized by Hennepin County, Minnesota, to satisfy a $15,000 tax bill. The county sold the condo for $40,000 and kept all the money.
The May 25 decision was unanimous, although Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote a concurrence addressing a second constitutional issue that was joined by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. The case is Tyler v. Hennepin County.
Tyler was represented by the Pacific Legal Foundation, a public interest law firm. She had alleged violations of the Fifth Amendment’s takings clause and the Eighth Amendment’s excessive fines clause.
The Supreme Court sided with Tyler on the takings argument without reaching the excessive fines issue.
“Tyler has stated a claim under the takings clause and is entitled to just compensation,” wrote Chief Justice John Roberts for the Supreme Court.
“A taxpayer who loses her $40,000 house to the state to fulfill a $15,000 tax debt has made a far greater contribution to the public fisc than she owed,” Roberts said. “The taxpayer must render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s, but no more.”
In the concurrence joined by Jackson, Gorsuch said he agreed with the majority opinion on the takings issue but also addressed the excessive fines argument.
“Economic penalties imposed to deter willful noncompliance with the law are fines by any other name,” Gorsuch wrote. “And the Constitution has something to say about them: They cannot be excessive.”
It’s not the first time that Gorsuch and Jackson have been in agreement. SCOTUSblog author John Elwood has noted the pairings on Twitter.
Jackson filed a concurring opinion joined by Gorsuch in a ruling earlier this month for the Internal Revenue Service. And Jackson joined a dissent by Gorsuch in December, when the Supreme Court kept in place a Trump-era immigration policy.
WORLD NEWS
US debt a pyramid scheme – Russia’s top MP
State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin accuses Washington of defrauding other nations
Senior Russian lawmaker Vyacheslav Volodin has branded the US federal government debt a global pyramid scheme that is heading for an inevitable collapse. The comments come as Washington struggles to agree on raising its debt ceiling to avoid a default.
“Just think about it, in 2023 interest payments on the US debt could reach $1.5 trillion – almost a third of all US budget revenue!” Volodin, who serves as chairman of Russia’s lower house of parliament, said in a Telegram post on Friday.
“The US public debt is a global financial pyramid, built by Washington to defraud other nations,” the State Duma member wrote. “History has shown that all pyramid schemes eventually fail,” he added, warning that the dollar is becoming toxic.
Countries dependent on the US dollar should start looking for alternatives such as national currencies, to reduce risks for their citizens, Volodin concluded.
The US government faces a default on its $31 trillion in debt if lawmakers fail to raise the federal borrowing limit. US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned Congress earlier this week that bills can’t be paid if the debt ceiling is not raised by June 1.
Interactive map (Fires in Canada!)
Ireland On Verge Of Criminalizing Speech, Thought Crimes
Ireland is on the verge of passing the most aggressive hate crime law in the European Union, which includes the first legal protections in the EU for transgender individuals. Government officials say the bill offers necessary protections at a time when immigration is on the rise and traditional ideas about sex and gender are being challenged.
Critics counter that the bill’s vague language could be used to enforce the increasingly progressive Irish government’s increasingly woke agenda and forcibly muzzle critics of unpopular government policies.
The legislation, the Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Act, underscores a divide between Ireland’s leaders and many of its people. The bill is making its way through Parliament, winning approval last month in the Dáil Éireann, Ireland’s lower chamber, by a vote of 110-14.
But Irish citizens, in a 2019 consultation phase, overwhelmingly expressed a worry that the proposal was an unnecessary expansion of the country’s existing hate crimes law. Seventy-three percent of respondents took issue with the bill’s potential for encroachment on free speech and questioned what qualifies as “hate speech,” particularly asking who crafts that definition. Less than 25% of those polled approved of the legislation.
The Red-Green Agenda: French Government Told to Implement Wealth Tax to Fight Climate Change
The French government have been instructed to implement a wealth tax on the country’s top 10 per cent in order to help solve climate change.
In a report submitted to the French government on Monday, it was recommended that authorities implement a once-off wealth tax on the country’s top 10 per cent for the sake of the country’s green agenda.
Report: Chinese Fentanyl Suppliers Collected $38 Million in Cryptocurrency Payments
A blockchain analytics firm called Chainalysis estimated on Wednesday that suspected producers of the lethal drug fentanyl, largely located in China, have collected some $38 million in payments using cryptocurrency since 2018.
South Korea’s Birth Rate Collapse Is Putting Pediatricians out of Business
The firm Statistics Korea found in data published in April that the nation’s birth rate is continuing to rapidly decline throughout 2023 despite the government of conservative President Yoon Suk-yeol lifting most of the country’s coronavirus civil rights restrictions – which naturally prevent socialization, hindering dating and marriage – and calling for the nation to prioritize stabilizing its population.
“Only 19,939 babies were born in February this year, down 3.7 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from Statistics Korea. It marked the lowest number for any February since the statistics agency started compiling monthly data in 1981,” the South Korean news agency Yonhap reported.
The birth rate collapse is rapidly changing the social fabric of the country. Pediatric offices are among the services most affected.
According to the Korea Herald, citing the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service of the country, Seoul is currently home to only 465 pediatric clinics for its 9.7 million people. In 2017, the capital had 521 such clinics, meaning it lost 12.5 percent of its clinics in five years.
The Herald noted that pediatricians began sounding the alarm this year, complaining that the government suppressing the price of pediatric services meant that doctors needed more patients to stay in business – but with the birth rate in rapid decline, finding children to tend to is increasingly onerous. The newspaper quoted the head of the Korean Pediatric Association, Lim Hyun-taek, warning in March that doctor fees are such that each hospital with pediatric services would need to see 80 children a day to generate enough funding to stay afloat, but the country simply does not have enough children for the math to work.
U.S. NEWS, POLITICS & GOVERNMENT
Oath Keeper Stewart Rhodes sentenced to 18 years after Jan. 6 seditious conspiracy conviction
This is the first sentence handed down to any defendant convicted of seditious conspiracy related to Jan. 6 and represents the longest sentence given to any Jan. 6 defendant so far.
Government prosecutors had been seeking a sentence of 25 years for Rhodes, who they say was the architect of a plot to forcibly disrupt the transfer of presidential power that included “quick reaction force” teams at a Virginia hotel to ferry weapons into Washington, D.C., if they were needed. The weapons were never deployed.
Judge to sentence 2 Oath Keepers members after handing down punishment for group’s founder
Two members of the Oath Keepers who stormed the U.S. Capitol in a military-style formation will be sentenced Friday, a day after the far-right extremist group’s founder received an 18-year prison term for seditious conspiracy and other charges in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack.
U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta will sentence Army veterans Jessica Watkins and Kenneth Harrelson after handing Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes the longest prison sentence so far in more than 1,000 criminal cases brought in the Jan. 6 riot.
EXCLUSIVE: Jacob Chansley, the Jan. 6 ‘QAnon Shaman,’ Is Out of Prison and Seeks ‘Unity’ for America
Jacob Chansley, better known as the “QAnon Shaman,” became the face of the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Now, after having served a prison sentence of 29 months, including two months in a halfway house, Chansley is praying for national unity as he seeks to have his conviction overturned.
The Arizona native—a Navy veteran whose distinct look with face paint and a horned hat became a national symbol of Jan. 6—was released from custody on May 25 and is now serving 36 months of supervised release.
Chansley’s prison sentence hit the spotlight earlier this year after Fox News aired previously unreleased surveillance footage in and around the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, on the primetime program hosted by Tucker Carlson, who was fired from Fox two months later.
Report: Ron DeSantis Campaign Raised $8.2 Million on Launch Day
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis kicked off his campaign for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination on Wednesday and reportedly pulled in a haul of $8.2 million in the first 24 hours.
Despite a glitchy campaign launch on Twitter, the first of its kind, the DeSantis campaign still reportedly pulled in huge sums of cash, signifying his contender status as he faces off against current GOP frontrunner former President Donald Trump. According to the campaign, DeSantis raised over $1 million in just one hour of the campaign launch, even with the reported glitches that erupted.
Biden’s DHS Frees 2.3K Illegal Alien Convicted Criminals into U.S. in Five Months
Since the start of the year, President Joe Biden’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has released more than 2,300 illegal alien convicted criminals into the United States from detention, data reviewed by Breitbart News shows.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) data reveals that from January through the second week of May, Biden’s DHS released 2,310 illegal alien convicts into American communities, along with more than 2,850 illegal aliens with pending criminal charges.
Biden Admin’s $40m ‘Anti-Terrorism’ Program Targets Breitbart News, Conservatives
Documents uncovered by the Media Research Center (MRC) revealed the Biden Administration used a $40 million grant program of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), ostensibly earmarked for anti-terrorism purposes, to target conservative organizations and media, including Breitbart News.
The Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention Grant Program (TVTP) was established by the DHS in 2011 to combat Al Qaeda, but was vastly expanded in its scope by the Biden administration.
Its grants now encompass several “media literacy and online critical thinking initiatives,” the most radical of which accuse conservative organizations including Breitbart News, Turning Point USA, and the Heritage Foundation of turning Americans into violent neo-Nazis.
Texas House Committee Votes Unanimously for 20 Articles of Impeachment Against AG Ken Paxton
The Texas House General Investigating Committee voted unanimously on Thursday in favor of 20 articles of impeachment against the state’s attorney general. A vote on the floor of the Texas House to impeach Ken Paxton could occur by the weekend and would result, if approved by a majority vote, in his suspension as attorney general pending a trial in the Texas Senate.
The General Investigating Committee, composed of three Republicans and two Democrats voted unanimously to refer 20 articles of impeachment (attached below) to the House of Representatives for a vote on the floor, the Texas Tribune reported. The articles include allegations that include the misapplication of public resources, bribery, and obstruction of justice.
Members of the committee include Chairman Andrew Murr (R-Kerrville), Rep. Ann Johnson (D-Houston), Rep. Charlie Geren (R-Fort Worth), Rep. Oscar Longoria (D-Mission), and Rep. David Spiller (R-Jacksboro).
The committee spent months looking into allegations against Attorney General Paxton, Fox 26 Houston reported.
Read the articles, via DocumentCloud
2ND AMENDMENT
Covenant School, Church Allowed to Intervene in Public Records Lawsuits Seeking Shooter’s Writings
Police department files list of additional exemptions they argue allows them to deny record requests, which the school supports
The Covenant School, and its parent organization Covenant Presbyterian Church, will be allowed to argue their interest in whether or not the school shooter’s writings will be released to the public, as Chancellor I’Aesha Myles ruled for them to become third-party interveners in the public records case on May 24.
In her order on Wednesday evening, Myles said that arguments presented in the court on Monday impacted her decision. Then, the Covenant school and church argued that release of the documents could have a negative impact on the school and church’s security moving forward, as well as risking the release of private information that would cause harm.
“[The Church and the School] demonstrated during oral argument that the documents and materials collected by [the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department] during its purportedly ongoing criminal investigation contain materials created by the Church and the School that would normally be kept private,” Myles wrote. “Therefore, the Court will allow the Church and School to intervene in this matter and to provide a brief that sets forth their claims and/or defenses regarding the matters pending before the Court.”
WE BUY GUNS: NEVER SELL TO A GUN ‘BUYBACK’ GET MORE MONEY WITH GUNS.COM
Maybe guns aren’t your thing, and that’s OK. Maybe you recently inherited your grandfather’s treasured shotgun. While it might have been important to him, maybe it’s not something you’d be interested in using or even keeping around the house.
If you’re thinking of selling your guns to a government-run so-called “buyback” program, I’ve got one word of advice: Don’t!
First of all, you won’t be actually selling them. You’ll be turning them in to be destroyed, and that is a difference.
While it seems tempting to drive to an advertised gun buyback held by a local crusading anti-gun group to hand over your unwanted guns, you’d be making a big mistake. Sure, you may drive away with a debit card or cheap tickets to a ballgame, but there’s a better way.
It’s better for you and better for your unwanted guns. Sell us your guns. That’s right, Guns.com will buy them, and you’ll be pocketing a lot more than the pittance a buyback program will offer you. Best of all, the process is easy and fair!
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
Zombie Foreclosures Keep Increasing But Remain A Tiny Presence Around Most Of U.S.
ATTOM, a leading curator of land, property, and real estate data, today released its second-quarter 2023 Vacant Property and Zombie Foreclosure Report showing that 1.3 million (1,285,633) residential properties in the United States are vacant. That figure represents 1.3 percent, or one in 79 homes, across the nation.
The report analyzes publicly recorded real estate data collected by ATTOM — including foreclosure, equity, and owner-occupancy status — matched against monthly updated vacancy data. (See full methodology below). Vacancy data is available for U.S. residential properties at Marketing Lists – Property & Homeowners Lists | ATTOM (attomdata.com).
The report also reveals that 311,508 residential properties in the U.S. are in the process of foreclosure in the second quarter of this year, up 4.3 percent from the first quarter of 2023 and up 20.2 percent from the second quarter of 2022. A growing number of homeowners have faced possible foreclosure since a nationwide moratorium on lenders pursuing delinquent homeowners, imposed after the Coronavirus pandemic hit in early 2020, was lifted in the middle of 2021.
Among those pre-foreclosure properties, 8,752 sit vacant as zombie foreclosures (pre-foreclosure properties abandoned by owners) in the second quarter of 2023. That figure is up 7.5 percent from the prior quarter and up 15.6 percent from a year ago. The count of zombie properties has grown in each of the last five quarters, dating back to early in 2022.
Still, the number of zombie foreclosures remains historically low, with little impact on the nation’s total stock of 101.3 million residential properties.
Disney Layoffs Go Global as Additional 2,500 U.S. Workers Eliminated This Week
The Walt Disney Co. has reportedly begun laying off personnel overseas as it continues to eliminate jobs at home, with an additional 2,500 U.S. workers receiving pink slips this week.
Disney began notifying around 100 overseas workers this week that their jobs are at risk of elimination, according to a Deadline report. The staff are based in London and across the EMEA region — or Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. The number of impacted workers is expected to be proportionate to the number of U.S. layoffs.
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
FDA Approves Elon Musk’s NeuraLink for Human Trials of Brain Implants
The FDA has granted approval to Elon Musk’s brain implant company, NeuraLink, to carry out clinical studies on humans.
“This is the result of incredible work by the Neuralink team in close collaboration with the FDA and represents an important first step that will one day allow our technology to help many people,” tweeted the official account of NeuraLink on Thursday afternoon.
The goal of NeuraLink is to develop brain-computer interfaces with the goal of human enhancement in a wide variety of areas — a goal sometimes described as transhumanism.
In previous interviews, Elon Musk has said he hopes NeuraLink can “address brain injuries or spinal injuries and make up for whatever lost capacity somebody has with a chip.”
Grimes On AI: “I Just Want A Cyborg Pop Star Going For Me Eternally.”
Where many musicians and music streamers have been busy swatting down deepfake songs made with artificial intelligence by punters, Grimes is leaning right in.
In fact, she’s been encouraging people to make music with her voice with the promise she’ll split royalties 50/50 with them.
Some pretty legit tracks have come out since she launched the software (called Elf Tech, naturally) and now she’s actively defending the use of AI as a creative tool.
Grimes went in to bat for the tech in a new interview with Pirate Wires, where she reckons creators and AI should be a harmonious relationship and less of a “bad break-up”.
“One of the reasons I feel there aren’t more artists playing with this stuff is they feel like it’s against them,” she said.
“I feel there’s been a lot of artificial things, like the New York Times anti-tech stance and stuff, that have been pitting the technocracy against the artists for a long time. I think that’s been a bad break-up. I think we need each other.
“And it’s like, no one worships art more than the fucking people building AI that I meet. You know?”
It seems Grimes firmly believes a future full of endless content is being suppressed. Not just through the (understandable) hesitancy around letting the floodgates open on AI involvement in creating content and art but also through current copyright restrictions.
“It’s like people are afraid of the unknown,” she said.
“It’s like, what? You don’t want abundance? You don’t want a sick life? There’s so much good fan fiction.
“We should be completely dismantling copyright and letting the best things shine. If someone else makes a better season eight Game of Thrones, they should be catapulted to the top. We are purposefully limiting talent.”
Leftist Panic: Facebook Workers Are Inventing Tasks to Seem Busy as Zuckerberg Keeps Cutting Staff
Facebook’s recent layoffs have reportedly left remaining staff in a state of confusion and anxiety, with some even resorting to inventing their own tasks to seem busy or avoiding work altogether for fear of falling prey to Mark Zuckerberg’s dreaded “year of efficiency.”
Business Insider reports that the recent layoffs at Facebook (now known as Meta) have caused a wave of confusion and tension among the remaining employees, with some reportedly making up their own tasks or skipping work because of unclear instructions.
SURVEILLANCE STATE
New iOS Update Warning Issued for Millions of iPhone Users
iPhone users are being advised to update their operating systems to iOS 16.5 because it fixes several vulnerabilities that may be targeted by malign actors and malware.
The latest update patches about 40 problems and bugs, said Apple in its patch notes, which includes three key security issues that may be actively exploited. The three problems are connected to WebKit, the browser engine used to power the Safari browser, as well as users of iPhone 8 and later, all iPad Pro models, iPad Air 3rd generation and later, iPad 5th generation and later, and iPad Mini 5th generation and later.
As it has done in previous security patches, Apple did not provide much in terms of technical details regarding the security vulnerabilities. It said that three potentially actively exploited bugs—which some researchers refer to as “zero-day” fixes—are included in the update.
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
Supreme Court Rules Against EPA in Major Wetlands Case
The Supreme Court voted to rein in the power of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate wetlands in a complex decision issued on May 25, the second time in a year that the court has curbed federal environmental authority.
All three liberal justices and one conservative justice expressed their opposition to the court’s decision to adopt a new definition for wetlands.
The nation’s high court ruled in favor of an Idaho couple who have been battling federal officials for years over the right to develop their own property.
GARDENING, FARMING & HOMESTEADING
Tips For Properly Harvesting And Saving Heirloom Seeds
Preserving heirloom seeds is not only a wonderful way to celebrate family traditions, but a way to trim your yearly gardening budget and help preserve unique varieties of plants. We have the step-by-step instructions so you can get started this year.
Butterfly Populations Grew by 200% Higher in People’s Gardens than in Other Habitats
Britain’s butterflies are bouncing back thanks in largest part to Britons’ gardens providing a safe haven, a new report reveals.
The study was the first to look at butterfly trends in UK gardens separately from those in the wider countryside and found that half of the 22 species of butterflies surveyed experienced a faster population increase in gardens than in other habitats between 2007 and 2020.
The study was conducted by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) and was carried out by nearly 8,000 volunteers in the BTO Garden BirdWatch scheme, which records other garden wildlife in addition to birds on a weekly basis.
They found numbers of marbled white and large skipper butterflies both grew by more than 200%, while those of the holly blue, small skipper, ringlet, brimstone, and orange-tip grew by 100%.
Although usually found in grasslands, marbled whites, large skippers, and small skippers have recently expanded their range in the UK.
Their increases are markedly greater in gardens but isn’t clear why these and other species are doing so well there. One theory is that gardens are providing refuge and feeding opportunities.
HEALTH
Half-Century-Old Dietary Recommendation May Be Linked to Cancer
When the term “cooking oil” is mentioned, the immediate image that comes to mind for most people is pale and yellow liquid in large transparent bottles labeled “vegetable oil.”
Though vegetable oils are a staple cooking oil for many Americans now, they are only a recent invention. Decades ago, common fats used in cooking were animal fats such as lard, butter, and suet, all of which tend to have a higher saturated fat ratio.
The current switch to vegetable oils can be traced back to researcher and physiologist Dr. Ancel Keys, who hypothesized in the 1950s that replacing animal fats higher in saturated fats with vegetable oils, which tend to be higher in polyunsaturated fat. The vegetable oils would lower blood cholesterol levels and in turn, reduce heart disease.
Yet this hypothesis may not be entirely accurate.
While vegetable oils do lower blood cholesterol, they do not necessarily reduce coronary heart disease mortalities. In fact, most may put consumers at risk of other harm.
Nevertheless, Keys’ hypothesis has persisted.
Starting in the 1960s, the American Heart Association put forward recommendations to switch from animal fat to vegetable oils. The idea influenced the first edition of Dietary Guidelines for Americans in 1980. Both the American Heart Association and the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, valid from 2020 to 2025, have recommended polyunsaturated fatty acid consumption over saturated fat.
The Ultimate Guide to Choosing the Healthiest Olive Oil
With so many options on the market, how do you choose the healthiest olive oil for cooking and consumption? Learn about the key factors to consider.
A raft of research suggests that olive oil is associated with heart health and an array of other benefits. Olive oil is also a key component of the Mediterranean diet, which is ranked No. 1 on U.S. News’ list of best diets overall for 2023 for the sixth consecutive year.
Healthiest Olive Oil
Deciphering the differences between various kinds of olive oil can seem complicated if you’re not a researcher or if you don’t work in the olive oil industry. However, deciding which type of olive oil is the healthiest isn’t complex, experts say. Extra-virgin olive oil is clearly the healthiest because it’s the one that’s the least processed, says Jack Bishop, chief creative officer of America’s Test Kitchen in Brookline, Massachusetts.
Extra-virgin olive oil, like all olive oil products, is extracted from olive pulp mechanically, without the use of chemical solvents, explains Joseph R. Profaci, New York City-based executive director of the North American Olive Oil Association. To qualify as extra virgin, however, the extraction must be produced without excessive heat, typically with a centrifugal press and no chemicals. This process is referred to as “cold pressing.”
The process of refining olive oil destroys most of the antioxidants in virgin olive oil, but the healthy fatty acid profile remains intact, Profaci explains. Extra-virgin olive oil, he adds, is never refined. Antioxidants are natural compounds that may shield your body from cellular damage associated with chronic diseases, such as cancer.
Health Benefits of Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
Extra-virgin olive oil is the healthiest kind of olive oil because it contains natural chemical compounds known as phenols or polyphenols, says Mary M. Flynn, a research dietitian at Miriam Hospital and associate professor of medicine at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.
“The phenols found in extra-virgin olive oil have (also) been shown to improve an impressive range of disease risk factors,” Flynn adds.
Training Strategies for Endurance and Maximum Longevity
In the video above, Siim Land, author of “Metabolic Autophagy: Practice Intermittent Fasting and Resistance Training to Build Muscle and Promote Longevity,”1 reviews the findings of a new systematic review published in the March-April 2023 issue of Missouri Medicine.
The paper, titled “Training Strategies to Optimize Cardiovascular Durability and Life Expectancy,”2 reviewed studies published between 2011 and 2022 that assessed the effects of duration and intensity of exercise, and specific types of training or sports on long-term cardiovascular health and life expectancy.
Not surprisingly, a sedentary lifestyle was associated with an elevated risk of cardiovascular problems and shorter lifespans, and physical activity was associated with improved health and longer life. What was somewhat surprising was the type of physical activity that garnered the best results.
The authors concluded that high amounts of strenuous exercise were nowhere nearly as beneficial as moderate exercise, strength training and interactive sports or play. These results again refute the idea that if something is good, more must be better. In the case of exercise and physical activity, moderation is the key to optimal health and longevity.
A key finding here is that the benefits of vigorous high-intensity training plateau at a level much less than moderate exercise, and continuing to push past it doesn’t give you any additional benefit, and in fact may likely be counterproductive. On the other hand, the benefits of moderate activity continue to accrue, with no real endpoint.
COVID RELATED NEWS
Shock: Top Insurance Analyst Says 600,000 Americans Per Year Are Dying From COVID Shots
Those vaccinated against COVID-19 have a 26 percent higher mortality rate on average compared to those who declined the jab – and the death toll is even more staggering for vaccinated people under 50 years old, where mortality is 49 percent higher than for those unvaccinated.
The shocking numbers are based on government data from the United Kingdom and were brought to Senator Ron Johnson’s (R-WI) attention by Josh Stirling, one of the nation’s top insurance analysts and formerly Senior Research Analyst for U.S. nonlife insurance at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.
FDA Detects Serious Safety Signal for COVID-19 Vaccination Among Children
Children of certain ages who received Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine face an elevated risk of heart inflammation, according to a new federally funded study.
Vaccinated children aged 12 to 17 face a heightened risk of myocarditis, a form of heart inflammation, and a related condition called pericarditis, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) researchers found.
The number of myocarditis and pericarditis events in that age group met the threshold for a safety signal, the researchers reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association on May 22.
CANCEL CULTURE
Target Shares Fall Following ‘Pride’ Push
Shares of Target have recently declined after the company launched LGBTQ products, including items aimed at children, triggering a backlash from Americans against the retailer’s transgender push.
Target rolled out its Pride collection at the beginning of the month, offering over 2,000 products, including clothing, books, home furnishings, and calendars, among others. Some of the items were targeted at children. For example, books for kids aged 2–8 had titles like “Pride 1,2,3,” “Bye Bye, Binary,” and “I’m Not a Girl.” Target also suggested “The Pronoun Book” to kids aged 0–3. In home décor, Target offered mugs labeled “Gender Fluid.” It also offered transgender swimsuits for adults with a “tuck-friendly” feature.
The company’s actions attracted a lot of negative reactions online, with the hashtag “BoycottTarget” trending across social media.
Republican Presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is criticizing social media platform LinkedIn for allegedly interfering with a presidential election as it locked his account over comments he made about the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the Biden administration, and climate change.
“If they can do it to me, they can do it to anyone. It’s remarkable that expressing fact-based views on climate policy and China-related policy, including legitimate criticism of President Biden, would result in outright censorship by a Microsoft-owned social media company,” Ramaswamy, who announced his candidacy on Feb. 16, wrote in a statement to The Epoch Times on Thursday.
“Big Tech election interference has begun,” Ramaswamy said in a Twitter post on the same day.
PET NEWS
Does My Dog Need a Joint Supplement? Expert Recommendations
Any dog can develop joint problems, though larger breeds, senior dogs, and dogs with a history of injuries are more likely to develop joint issues.
Some supplements may help manage existing symptoms of joint problems and prevent further damage to joints and cartilage.
Glucosamine and chondroitin are two supplements that reduce pain and inflammation in dogs with arthritis when they reach a therapeutic dose.
While studies have not been performed to solidify the health benefits of turmeric for dogs, it is reported to help alleviate inflammation and provide pain relief.
“Curcumin is the active ingredient in the spice turmeric that has anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer effects,” says Dr. Katie Woodley of The Natural Pet Doctor. She uses turmeric to reduce inflammation caused by diseases and conditions such as arthritis, cancer, and skin allergies. Inflammation is a body’s natural response to infection, trauma, and toxins.
“Turmeric has been reported to provide anti-inflammatory effects and pain relief for the treatment of osteoarthritis, and as a healing tool for chronic lick granulomas in dogs,” adds Dr. Jamie Richardson, medical chief of staff at Small Door Veterinary in New York City.
Osteoarthritis – Senior dogs are susceptible to weak, stiff, and/or inflamed joints as a result of arthritis. These pups can benefit from the anti-inflammatory properties of turmeric, and research is ongoing. Supplementing your dog’s diet with turmeric can improve his mobility and provide more freedom during his golden years.
Pain Relief – Turmeric’s anti-inflammatory benefits can provide pain relief by reducing swelling and redness. In a paper published by Scientific Research, they write, “It is believed that curcumin antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-proliferative, and immune-suppressive activities are shared in the upgrading of symptoms to patients who have rheumatoid arthritis.”
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GOOD NEWS
Homeless man catches family’s two children and dogs dropped from burning apartment building
House fires are devastating for families. In a matter of minutes, you could lose all of your belongings and a place to live, or worse, you could lose loved ones. A family in Phoenix, Arizona, recently found themselves facing the reality of their own home in flames. Claudia Jimenez told CBS News that she woke up trapped in her burning apartment with her two daughters, with nothing to do but yell for help in the hopes that someone would hear her.
The mom’s screams were answered by Joe Hollins, a homeless man who was camping nearby with his wife. Hollins didn’t hesitate to try to find a way to help. With no way out and the fire department still nowhere on the scene, Jimenez had to trust the stranger who was standing below.
“He was right underneath and he was like ‘Yes, throw your daughters out, I’m going to catch them, I’m going to get them,'” Jimenez told CBS.
See the Moon Under the “Da Vinci Glow” in the Next Three Days
There’s a unique kind of crescent moon in the sky tonight (May 24th,) and possibly the next two days as well.
It’s a crescent moon lit by Earthshine, also known as the “Da Vinci Glow” after the main man himself, who finally discovered what this common, yet difficult-to-explain phenomenon was.
Though the moon is just a crescent and should be covered by the shadow of the Earth, as the names suggest, it’s glowing via light reflecting off the face of the Earth, sometimes called “the old moon in the new moon’s arms” which is about 50-times brighter than a full moon.
This allows stargazers and star-crossed lovers alike to look up and see the whole moon like in the picture above.
In a rather textbook example of Da Vinci’s brilliance, his theory describing Earthshine was published before Copernicus revealed to the world that the Earth in fact revolved around the Sun, rather than the other way around.
Da Vinci instead used his artistic insights into the nature of light, and his engineering-level knowledge of geometry to ascertain where the ethereal glow around the moon came from.
“It’s easiest to see during either a waxing or waning crescent. You’ll need clear skies to see the Moon, but parts of the Earth need to be cloudy enough to reflect a fair amount of light onto the Moon,” Christine Shupla, science engagement manager at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston, told CNN in an email.
ICYMI
Lawyer says community service isn’t ‘viable,’ chooses jail for spitting misdemeanor
A Wisconsin lawyer chose jail over community service Tuesday for spitting on a Black teenager during a 2020 protest.
Shorewood, Wisconsin, lawyer Stephanie Rapkin, 67, rejected a sentence of a year of probation and 100 hours of community service, report the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Fox 6 and WISN. As a result, she was instead sentenced to 60 days in jail.
Rapkin was convicted of misdemeanor disorderly conduct in April, despite her testimony that she spit toward but not on then-17-year-old protester Eric Lucas III. The incident happened in 2020 and was caught on video.
Milwaukee County Judge Laura Crivello told Rapkin on Tuesday that probation officers could help find the appropriate community service, but Rapkin said it wouldn’t be “viable.” WISN reported on Rapkin’s response.
“Your honor, nobody wants me,” Rapkin said. “I can’t leave my house because of the death threats. Nobody wants me to volunteer. I’ve tried for the past year just for my own mental health.”
She said she “would rather go to jail right now and to take care of it.”
Rapkin left the courtroom in handcuffs.
Rapkin’s lawyer, Anthony Cotton, said after the hearing Rapkin has been labeled a racist and shunned by neighbors since the incident.
Rapkin still faces a battery charge for allegedly kneeing a police officer in the groin during an altercation outside her home.
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