Today’s Top 5:
1.Russia issues arrest warrant for Sen. Lindsey Graham over Ukraine comments
Russia on Monday issued an arrest warrant for US Sen. Lindsey Graham in the wake of his strong comments about the war in Ukraine — with the South Carolina Republican vowing to wear it as a “Badge of Honor.”
The Kremlin’s Interior Ministry put Graham on a wanted list just days after he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kyiv and sparked outrage by appearing to say Russian deaths from United States’ funding was “the best money we’ve ever spent.”
In an edited video of the Friday meeting, which was released by Zelenskiy’s office, Graham had said that “the Russians are dying” and described the American military assistance to Ukraine as “the best money we’ve ever spent.”
The US Senator’s remarks were made in different parts of their conversation and didn’t appear to be linked, but were edited together in the short clip.
Russia’s Investigative Committee, the country’s top criminal investigation agency, moved to open a criminal inquiry against Graham following the remarks, though it did not specify what crime he was suspected of.
2.2,000 Children Sexually Abused by Illinois Catholic Clergy, Report Finds
The Illinois office of Attorney General has released a report on Catholic Clergy engaging in child sex abuse. Its investigation found nearly 2,000 children have been abused by clergy in the state.
“Decades of Catholic leadership decisions and policies have allowed known child sex abusers to hide, often in plain sight. And because the statute of limitations has frequently expired, many survivors of child sex abuse at the hands of Catholic clerics will never see justice in a legal sense,” Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul wrote in the introduction to the 696-page report.
They may never be held accountable in court, he said, but naming them is meant to “provide a public accountability and a measure of healing to survivors who have long suffered in silence.”
3.What’s Inside McCarthy’s Debt Ceiling Deal With Biden
After a months-long standoff, Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and President Joe Biden have reached a final deal to raise the debt ceiling, which now heads to Congress.
Both McCarthy and Biden have praised the deal, calling it a compromise agreement, and have expressed confidence that it would pass both chambers of Congress. The deal would suspend the debt ceiling until 2025. The full text of the bill was released on May 28 (pdf).
The package meets several key Republican demands, including spending cuts, work requirements for government assistance, and other measures.
3a. Opinion: It Would Appear Kevin McCarthy Somehow Did Worse Than Doing Nothing at All on the Debt Ceiling – I am not entirely sure how it was possible, but it appears that Kevin McCarthy was able to find a deal that may, in fact, be worse than a clean debt ceiling increase. But based on feedback from conservatives in Congress and activists from around the country, that appears to be what we have.
4.DeSantis Issues Memorial Day Warning About US Navy
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis warned that there is a need to improve morale in the U.S. military as left-wing policies have taken hold.
DeSantis, who served in the Navy, warned on Memorial Day that the military he sees today “is different from the military I served in.” The governor joined the Navy in 2004 before being stationed in Iraq and Guantanamo and being discharged in 2010, but he served in the Navy Reserve until 2019.
“I see a lot of emphasis now on political ideologies, things like gender pronouns. I see a lot about things like [diversity, equity, and inclusion]. And I think that that’s caused recruiting to plummet,” the Florida governor explained to Fox News. “I think it’s driven off a lot of warriors, and I think morale is low.”
- Lions … and tigers … and bears … Oh My!!!
After checking with multiple news sources, there are NO recent stories stating that if Biden sends F-16’s to Ukraine that it would cause a pre-emptive strike on the United States. All relative news stories say that Putin ally Dmitry Medevdev has stated a nuclear strike is possible if Ukraine gets nukes. There are no reports about nuclear attacks regarding sending F-16’s to Ukraine. Why then, has the narrative changed with only one particular news reporting source?
WORLD NEWS
The WHO Will Have Authority to Mandate Vaccines Globally
In the video above, John Campbell, Ph.D., a retired nurse educator, reviews the proposed amendments to the 2005 International Health Regulations (IHR), which is the instrument that empowers the World Health Organization to declare a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).
If these amendments go through, however, the WHO will be empowered to do a whole lot more than that. It will become the de facto governing body of all member states, including the U.S.
Now, according to so-called “fact checkers,” the WHO will have no authority to dictate U.S. health policy under the amended IHR or the proposed pandemic treaty, nor will nations be stripped of their sovereignty.1 But they’re completely wrong. The only reason they’re denying these truths is because they don’t want the public to pressure government to reject these proposals, as they should.
As noted by Campbell and others, including bioweapons expert Francis Boyle, Ph.D., and researcher James Roguski,2 the pandemic treaty and the IHR amendments are obviously written by experts in both national and international law and appear “airtight.”
There’s simply no doubt that, as currently written, these instruments will be legally binding and will supersede local and national laws. They even include enforcement tools to ensure that member nations comply with the WHO’s edicts.
Another false propaganda angle is that these instruments only apply to infectious disease pandemics, but that isn’t true either. Areas of life that are being added in under the umbrella of “health” include climate, food production and even poverty, so the WHO will be able to claim sole global authority over anything to do with those issues as well.
Chinese Ship Suspected of Illegal Salvage of WW2 British War Grave Wrecks Detained
Malaysia’s maritime agency said Monday it found a cannon shell believed to be from World War II on a Chinese-registered vessel and was investigating if the barge carrier was involved in the looting of two British warship wrecks in the South China Sea.
Malaysian media reported that illegal salvage operators were believed to have targeted the HMS Repulse and the HMS Prince of Wales, which were sunk in 1941 by Japanese torpedoes, days after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
North Korea confirms it will launch spy satellite in June
Japan said Monday it had been informed by Pyongyang that a satellite launch could happen as early as this week, but Tokyo warned the North may in fact be planning a sanctions-defying ballistic missile test.
KCNA cited Ri Pyong Chol, vice-chairman of the ruling party’s central military commission, as saying the “military reconnaissance satellite No. 1” would be “launched in June”.
That satellite, along with “various reconnaissance means due to be newly tested, are indispensable to tracking, monitoring… and coping with in advance in real time the dangerous military acts of the US and its vassal forces”, the statement said.
Citing “reckless” acts by Washington and Seoul, Ri said North Korea felt “the need to expand reconnaissance and information means and improve various defensive and offensive weapons” in an effort to bolster military preparedness.
Lockdown Riot Fallout: World’s Largest iPhone Factory Offers Perks to Attract Employees
Foxconn Technology Group on Monday announced a slew of new perks and bonuses for employees at its massive iPhone component factory in Zhengzhou, China.
The factory was quarantined during one of China’s destructive coronavirus lockdowns in November, leading to such wild spectacles as workers climbing the fences to escape and replacements rioting because they were not paid their promised signing bonuses.
Turkish Lira Sinks to Record Low After Erdogan Re-Election
Turkey’s currency, the lira, sank to a record low on Monday as markets reacted to the re-election of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Erdogan’s bizarre economic policies have caused rampant inflation and declining currency reserves. Market analysts predicted he will double down on these policies and bring Turkey to the brink of fiscal collapse.
Russia Launches Rare Daytime Missile Strike on Ukrainian Capital Kyiv
Russia fired a barrage of missiles at Kyiv on Monday sending panicked residents running for shelter in an unusual daytime attack on the Ukrainian capital following overnight strikes.
A series of explosions rang out in Kyiv on Monday as Russia targeted the city for the second time in 24 hours.
AFP journalists heard at least 10 explosions from around 11:10 am local time (0810 GMT) in Kyiv, starting just a few minutes after an air raid warning sounded.
Germany’s economic and moral collapse is a warning we must heed
The Green-Left coalition is printing money to pay for the price rises caused by its own policies, in order that its industry does not immediately collapse. Does this look like a ‘sustainable development’ to you?
Trudeau Liberals backtrack on banning citizens from using checks to pay taxes
After recent pushback from Conservative MPs, the cabinet of the federal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau now says it will not enforce a new forthcoming rule which will ban citizens from paying tax debts over $10,000 by check.
“People can continue to use paper to file their return if they choose,” clarified Pierre Leblanc, the director general of personal income tax at the Department of Finance during testimony at a Senate national finance committee held two weeks ago.
U.S. NEWS, POLITICS & GOVERNMENT
Trump Warns US in ‘Peril’ in Memorial Day Message
Former President Trump wished a happy Memorial Day to Americans but warned that the United States is in great “peril” due to individuals he said are working from within the government to destroy the country.
Trump said via his social media platform, Truth Social, that the country “has never been in greater peril than it is right now” and called on supporters to help him “stop the communists, Marxists and fascist ‘pigs’ at every turn and make [America] great again!”
The former commander-in-chief added that he sends warm regards, “especially to those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for the country they love, and to those in line of a very different, but equally dangerous fire, stopping the threats of the terrorists, misfits and lunatic thugs who are working feverishly from within to overturn and destroy our once great country.”
‘The Official Truth’: The End Of Free Speech That Will End America
According to a survey by Rasmussen Reports, 59% of likely voters in the United States view the corporate news media as “truly the enemy of the people.” This is a majority view, held regardless of race: “58% of whites, 51% of black voters, and 68% of other minorities” — all agree that the mainstream media has become their “enemy.”
This scorching indictment of the Fourth Estate piggybacks similar polling from Harvard-Harris showing that Americans hold almost diametrically opposing viewpoints from those that news corporations predominantly broadcast as the official “truth.”
Drawing attention to the divergence between the public’s perceived reality and the news media’s prevailing “narratives,” independent journalist Glenn Greenwald dissected the Harvard-Harris poll to highlight just how differently some of the most important issues of the last few years have been understood. While corporate news fixated on purported Trump-Russia collusion since 2016, majorities of Americans now see this story “as a hoax and a fraud.”
While the news media hid behind the Intelligence Community’s claims that Hunter Biden’s potentially incriminating laptop (allegedly containing evidence of his family’s influence-peddling) was a product of “Russian disinformation” and consequently enforced an information blackout on the explosive story during the final weeks of the 2020 presidential election, strong majorities of Americans currently believe the laptop’s contents are “real.” In other words, Americans have correctly concluded that journalists and spies advanced a “fraud” on voters as part of an effort to censor a damaging story and “help Biden win.” Nevertheless, The New York Times and The Washington Post have yet to return the Pulitzer Prizes they received for reporting totally discredited “fake news.”
Texas Senate Prepares for Trial in Impeachment of Attorney General Ken Paxton
Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick announced the appointment of a committee to recommend the rules and procedures for the Court of Impeachment involving Attorney General Ken Paxton. The Associated Press reports the trial will begin no later than August 28.
“Today, the Texas Senate received Articles of Impeachment for Attorney General Ken Paxton,” Governor Patrick said in a written statement on Monday evening. “The Senate will follow its constitutional duty and I appointed a committee to develop proposed rules and procedures for the matter.”
Report: Dianne Feinstein Confused by Sight of VP Kamala Harris Presiding over Senate
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) was confused by the sight of Vice President Kamala Harris presiding over the upper chamber last year to cast a tie-breaking vote, according to a report touching on the difficulties the ailing lawmaker faces as she seeks to continue discharging her duties.
The New York Times piece comes as the California Democrat struggles on her return to D.C. after bouts of shingles and encephalitis and she seeks to reassert herself in her job.
According to Times White House reporter Annie Karnie, Feinstein expressed confusion to her colleagues when she saw Harris appear in the Senate in one of a host of tiebreaking votes the vice president has had to cast while assuming her constitutional role.
Report: Dianne Feinstein Confused by Sight of VP Kamala Harris Presiding over Senate
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) warned House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) that China would be the beneficiary of the U.S. defense budget proposed in the tentative debt ceiling deal.
“I respect Kevin McCarthy. I want to raise the debt ceiling. It would be irresponsible not to do it. I want to control spending. I’d like to have a smaller IRS. I’d like to claw back the unused COVID money. I know you can’t get the perfect—but what I will not do is adopt the Biden defense budget and call it a success,” Graham told Fox News on May 28.
“Kevin said that the defense is fully funded. If we adopt the Biden defense budget, it increases defense spending below inflation,” Graham added.
“The Biden defense budget was a joke before, and if we adopt it as Republicans we will be doing a great disservice to the party of [former President] Ronald Reagan,” he added. “The biggest winner of the Biden defense budget is China because they’ll have a bigger navy.”
The debt ceiling agreement negotiated between the White House and Republican leaders in the House would cap defense funding at President Joe Biden’s defense budget request, at $886 billion in fiscal 2024, about a 3.5 percent increase. That is below the current rate of inflation, which was 5 percent in March and 4.9 percent in April.
Tribe Demanding Answers, Justice for Member Shot 38 Times by US Border Patrol Agents
Yvonne Nevarez remembers her late uncle Raymond Mattia as a proud Tohono O’odham Nation member who always took a stand against injustice.
He was a kind, respectful, peace-loving man, she said, making his shooting death by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents even harder to accept.
“I’m angry. I can’t believe it. I don’t want to believe it. Our lives will never be the same,” Nevarez said, struggling through tears.
“He was like a dad to me. And now, he’s gone.”
Family members say that on May 18, Mattia contacted tribal police to report illegal migrants trespassing on his property in Meneger’s Dam Village, a remote southern border community of the Tohono O’odham Nation reservation about 52 miles from Ajo by car.
During a brief encounter with CBP agents, family members say Mattia was shot approximately 38 times for reasons as yet unknown.
“It was literally at his doorstep,” Nevarez told The Epoch Times at a protest gathering near the Ajo Border Patrol Station in Why, Arizona, on May 27.
Infant Placed in Tennessee’s First Safe Haven Baby Box 30 Minutes After Birth
A baby boy was left inside Tennessee’s first Safe Haven Baby Box early Saturday morning, approximately 30 minutes after his birth, according to the Knoxville Fire Department.
The incident is the first time the Baby Box has been used since it was installed in February at the Knoxville Fire Department (KFD) Station 17, ABC6 WATE reported. Three crew members discovered the baby shortly after the box alarm was set off. The firefighters quickly called an ambulance, which took the baby to a nearby hospital.
Recently Arrived Migrant Charged with Throwing Newborn in Trash at NYC Hospital
A Mexican woman, who arrived in New York City about ten months ago, is now charged with throwing her newborn baby in a trash can at a Staten Island hospital.
Lucia Garcia, a 21-year-old woman who arrived in New York City from Mexico just ten months ago, is charged with two counts of reckless endangerment, two counts of assault, and another count for acting in a manner injurious to a child.
Judge Temporarily Blocks South Carolina’s 6-Week Abortion Restriction
A judge on Friday temporarily blocked South Carolina’s six-week abortion restriction until the state Supreme Court reviews the law.
South Carolina Circuit Court Judge Clifton Newman granted a temporary restraining order against the restriction in a lawsuit brought by Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, the Greenville Women’s Clinic, and two physicians. Newman issued the order just one day after Republican Gov. Henry McMaster signed The Fetal Heartbeat and Protection from Abortion Act, S. 474, into law.
Audit: NASA’s SLS Rocket Is $6 Billion over Budget, 6 Years Behind Schedule
NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, designed to ferry astronauts to the moon, has been reportedly found by an audit to be $6 billion over budget and six years behind its original schedule.
Engadget reports that a recent audit has found that NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, which is intended to transport astronauts to the moon, is $6 billion over budget and six years behind schedule.
Two pro-lifers viciously assaulted outside Baltimore Planned Parenthood
Graphic photographs of the aftermath of the incident show one of the men with severe facial injuries, with another picture showing blood on the sidewalk outside of the Planned Parenthood.
2ND AMENDMENT
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
Target VP Was Board Member for K-12 Transgender Advocacy Group
Target’s shareholders lost $9 billion in stock market value because the C-suite mixed its professional duties with its personal agendas, including advocacy for transgenderism.
The poster boy for this high-risk policy is Target’s vice president for brand marketing, Carlos Saavedra. He moonlights as a board member of an advocacy group for K-12 transgenderism and gay status. The group, titled GLSEN, is an acronym chosen by the teachers who formed the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network in 1990.
Target’s website says Saavedra “leads Target brand stewardship & campaign development for initiatives including Holiday, Back-to-School/College, Target Run, Discovery, Inclusive Marketing, and Digital & Social Engagement.”
More High-School Grads Forgo College in Hot Labor Market
Some high-school graduates pursue other forms of job training besides college, such as apprenticeships. More high-school graduates are being diverted from college campuses by brighter prospects The college enrollment rate for recent U.S. high-school graduates, ages 16 to 24, declined to 62% last year from 66.2% in 2019
Tesla, Ford announce partnership on Superchargers
Ford electric vehicles (EV) are set to gain access to Tesla’s electric car chargers starting next year, the companies announced Thursday.
In a Twitter Spaces livestream, Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Ford CEO Jim Farley announced Thursday the partnership on Superchargers between the two companies. Starting in 2024, all of Ford’s existing customers and future customers will be able to access 12,000 Tesla Superchargers across the United States, the company leaders said.
“We’re really excited about that. We’re ramping production, and we think this is a huge move for our industry and for all electric customers,” Farley said, adding that this is a “really big deal” for Ford’s customers.
Tesla has a vast range of charging stations across the country and has more than 45,000 Superchargers around the world. The company website noted that this is the largest global network of electric car chargers around the world and that after 15 minutes of charging, the car can gain up to 200 miles.
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
A New York-based attorney is facing potential sanctions after using OpenAI’s ChatGPT to write a legal brief he submitted to the court. The problem? The AI Chatbot filled the brief with citations to fictitious cases, a symptom of AI chatbots called “hallucinating.” In an affadavit, the lawyer claimed, “I was unaware of the possibility that [ChatGPT’s] content could be false.”
Engadget reports that attorney Steven Schwartz of the law firm Levidow, Levidow and Oberman used AI to help with a lawsuit against the Colombian airline Avianca in a ground-breaking case, highlighting AI’s potential drawbacks in legal practice. However, the resulting legal brief prepared with ChatGPT’s help was filled with references to court rulings that simply did not exist.
Twitter’s restriction of Turkish election content sparks fear of precedent
Twitter’s decision to censor critics ahead of the Turkish presidential election could set a “dangerous precedent” for other authoritarian regimes, experts said about the company’s action.
Last week, Turkey threatened to shut down Twitter access in the country unless it censored content from four accounts critical of the current government.
Twitter, which is fighting the country’s court orders, said it had no choice but to comply with the country’s request as it believes it received “a final threat to throttle the service” if it didn’t take actions against the accounts.
Elon Musk, who purchased Twitter last October, weighed in on the matter, tweeting last week: “The choice is have Twitter throttled in its entirety or limit access to some tweets. Which one do you want?”
Experts told The Hill they disagreed with Twitter’s decision and argued it sets a bad example for other authoritarian governments, which could threaten to shut down the social media platform if it didn’t comply with their laws. Other nations have already taken such action, including China, Iran and North Korea.
“I think that when tech companies or social media platforms comply with censorship requests from authoritarian or autocratic governments, they risk complicity in those regimes’ repression,” said Nathan Kohlenberg, a research assistant at the Alliance for Securing Democracy at the German Marshall Fund.
“This sets a dangerous precedent. It makes it more likely that other governments will make similar requests,” he added.
Scientists Discover Way to Harvest Clean Energy From Nothing But Air
Something really remarkable has been accomplished by a group of engineers. A device that continually extracts energy from moist air may be crafted out of almost any substance, since there is no one optimal choice.
It is a development that is not yet ready for practical implementation, but its developers claim that it transcends some of the constraints that other harvesters have. All that is required of the material is to be pocked with nanopores with a diameter of less than 100 nanometers.
That’s about one-thousandth the breadth of a human hair, so it’s easier to say than it is to accomplish, but it’s really far simpler than anybody anticipated.
A group of researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, headed by engineer Xiaomeng Liu, found that this kind of material has the ability to capture the energy created by small water droplets in humid air.
They have coined the phrase “generic Air-gen effect” to refer to their finding.
SURVEILLANCE STATE
The CCP Is Constructing a New World Media Order (Part 2 of 3)
Over the past decade, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been using multiple media channels to influence and manipulate Chinese communities in America. The CCP has expanded its communication channels with streaming television over the internet, and social media and messaging with WeChat.
CCP leader Xi Jinping has spoken about China’s media convergence strategies on several occasions, stating that: “We should fully utilize new technologies and new applications to innovate media communication methods and seize the high ground of information dissemination” and “wherever readers and audiences are, our propaganda and reports should reach there, and our efforts and focus in ideological work should be placed there.”
Early insight into this strategy was communicated during a 2015 conference by He Yafei, China’s deputy director of its Overseas Affairs Office. He said: “The world is entering a transition period between the old and new international order … to do a good job of China’s overseas communication work, we must concentrate our advantages and break through the Western media’s blockade.”
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
IN-DEPTH: ‘No Remediation’: A Broken Turbine in Kansas Shows how Wind Companies Evade Responsibility
For Kansas state Rep. Carrie Barth, the broken turbine in Marshall County and its fiberglass debris scattered across farmland has confirmed one of the many loopholes industrial wind companies have to distance themselves from responsibilities to the residents who live in their shadow.
“We have all of these bureaucracies to deal with health and environment, yet there’s no plan for remediating any problems that arise from these structures,” Barth told The Epoch Times.
The wind turbine, which is a part of the Irish Creek Wind Energy Center (ICWEC), was found broken on April 16.
NextEra, the company that built the wind complex, has yet to fix it or provide a thorough cleanup, though a blade remains hanging, which is a safety hazard, Barth said.
“It’s still dangling as we speak,” Barth said, sharing a video of the broken turbine.
GARDENING, FARMING & HOMESTEADING
Hollywood Star Admits to Becoming a ‘Doomsday Prepper’
Josh Duhamel, known for his role in “Transformers,” recently revealed that he has been preparing for potential future crises by building a remote compound in North Dakota.
In an interview with Inverse, the 50-year-old actor shared that his initial investment was a small cabin without electricity or running water. However, the acquisition of an adjacent property transformed his humble retreat into a 54-acre compound.
Duhamel described the initial state of the cabin as overrun by mice and unsuitable for extended stays. However, the purchase of the neighboring property, which included a picturesque cabin by the water, sparked a transformation. Both cabins now have electricity and water, and the land has been shaped with trails. Duhamel has even started growing crops on the property.
The actor’s agricultural efforts began with clover and chicory, intended to attract deer for hunting. This year, he has expanded his crops to include corn and pumpkins. Duhamel admitted that he is not a seasoned hunter but expressed a fascination with the idea of self-sufficiency in case of a crisis in Los Angeles.
“I’ve become a bit of a doomsday prepper, I guess,” Duhamel said. He is learning how to hunt and has ensured access to water and fuel on his property. His goal is to create a safe haven for his family if things take a turn for the worse. He believes that they could live off the land, and while he admits he’s not yet proficient at this lifestyle, he’s making progress.
HEALTH
Smallpox Vaccine Recipients Died From Heart Inflammation, Autopsies Find
Several U.S. military personnel who received a smallpox vaccination died from heart inflammation, and others hadn’t recovered from the same inflammation years after first experiencing the condition, an in-depth review of medical records has found.
Autopsies of two male military members in their 20s who suddenly died showed that they had heart inflammation, or myocarditis. There were also signs that heart inflammation contributed to the deaths of two others, one an 18-year-old male and the other a 23-year-old female.
Researchers also found that 348 members survived myocarditis or a related condition, pericarditis, but that it took at least months for each to recover, with some still not having recovered years later.
Some 2.5 million service members received a smallpox vaccine between Dec. 1, 2002, and Dec. 31, 2016, the time period covered in the study.
The lead researcher of the study, which was published by PLOS One in May, declined to comment. Nearly all of the researchers are employed by the Defense Health Agency (DHA). They wrote in the paper that the findings “draw attention to potential long-term morbidity and possible chronic … or recurrent … symptoms in pericarditis and myocarditis.”
The U.S. Department of Defense, of which the DHA is part, declined to comment. The DHA didn’t respond by press time to a request by The Epoch Times for comment. Its website doesn’t include the newly reported information.
IN-DEPTH: Nearly Half of All Americans Now Have a Chronic Disease
It can strike at any time and at any age. When someone develops a chronic disease, it can cause debilitating, life-altering changes that penetrate every aspect of daily life.
The prevalence of these conditions has surged over the past decade, creating a twofold health care and economic crisis affecting nearly half of Americans. By 2030, the number of U.S. residents struggling with at least one chronic illness is expected to surpass 170 million.
That’s more than half of the current population, for perspective, and close to half of the projected 2030 population.
The expanding elderly population and adults aren’t the only age groups seeing an uptick. More than 40 percent of children and adolescents currently have at least one chronic illness, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
There’s also a tremendous cost burden. The spectrum of chronic diseases comprises a disproportionately large segment of U.S. health care costs. Of the nation’s $4.1 trillion annual health care expenditures, chronic diseases account for 90 percent.
That’s more than $3 trillion dollars of annual direct costs alone.
At an individual level, the price tag doesn’t look any better. Estimates for the treatment and management of chronic conditions—on average—tally more than $6,000 annually per patient.
Some chronic disease specialists and health practitioners say that figure is spot on, depending on the condition.
COVID RELATED NEWS
Most Infected in COVID Outbreak at CDC Conference Were Vaccinated, Agency Confirms
A COVID-19 outbreak unfolded at a conference held by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) despite most attendees being vaccinated.
About 1,800 CDC staffers and others gathered in April in a hotel in Atlanta, where the CDC is headquartered, for a conference focused on epidemiological investigations and strategies.
On April 27, the last day of the conference, several people notified organizers that they had tested positive for COVID-19. The CDC and the Georgia Department of Public Health worked together to survey attendees to try to figure out how many people had tested positive.
“The goals were to learn more about transmission that occurred and add to our understanding as we transition to the next phase of COVID-19 surveillance and response,” the CDC said in a May 26 statement.
Approximately 80 percent of attendees filled out the survey. Among those, 181 said they tested positive for COVID-19.
New Study: Parents Opting Out of COVID Shots for Their Kids
Data from the Public Health Agency of Canada shows only 40% of children under 12 are considered “fully vaccinated” against COVID-19
Among children ages 6 months to 4 years, only 5.1% have received two COVID-19 shots, and only 10.1% have received one
A survey of parents with children 6 and under found 16% to 29% of respondents fell into the “vaccine-hesitant” category, expressing doubts about vaccine safety and efficacy
Only 39% of parents said they accepted all recommended shots and had no doubts or concerns about vaccinating their child — down from 48% in 2017
According to the report, 28% of respondents said they do not trust the pharmaceutical industry, causing them to have doubts about shots; 20% were concerned about childhood vaccines because they do not trust the government
CANCEL CULTURE
How Flipping Colorado Blue Has Become Democrats’ Blueprint for the Rest of America
Colorado’s legislative session is 120 consecutive days long and during the 2023 session lawmakers introduced 617 bills. Of those, 218 passed and have been signed into law by Democratic Gov. Jared Polis. More are waiting to be signed.
Democrats have a historic majority in the Colorado House, a supermajority in the Senate, and control the governorship. As such, all bills passed with Democrat support—and more often than not, over Republican’s vehement objections. It’s a marked change from 2002 when the GOP dominated politics in Colorado.
Colorado Republican Rep. Stephanie Luck is one of a handful of Colorado Representatives fighting back and trying to expose what she describes as Democrats’ Marxist agenda, where individual rights don’t matter, and the government controls every aspect of life.
“When I first got elected and sworn into office in 2021, Governor Polis gave his State-of-the-State Address shortly thereafter and stated that it was his goal and the goal of his Democratic majority to fundamentally transform Colorado,” Luck told The Epoch Times.
“So, the question becomes, what was the initial foundation they want to transform? And I would point us to the mission statement of the United States, which is the Declaration of Independence.
“And basically, we could go word by word in that most famous phrase starting with ‘We hold these truths.’ We can start with the word ‘We’ and demonstrate how they want not a ‘We,’ not a unified whole, not one nation, but different tribes, different groupings, different identities, and then just go every single word and recognize that they really are advancing the opposite of that mission statement.
“And that is what Governor Polis and the Democrats have been doing in Colorado.”
The new rap single “Boycott Target” surged to the No. 2 spot on iTunes’ hip-hop chart on Monday, just days after being released in the wake of the controversy over the retailer’s decision to push gay and transgender -themed apparel for children.
“Boycott Target” — from rappers Forgiato Blow and Jimmy Levy — was released Thursday and has become a runaway hit on multiple platforms. A music video for the song tweeted by Forgiato Blow has accumulated more than 4.2 million views after Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Green (R-GA) encouraged people to check it out.
Kohl’s Faces Boycott Calls Over Pride Onesie for Babies Following Target, Bud Light Backlash
Kohl’s is facing online boycott calls for selling “Pride” onesies for babies as young as three months old, the New York Post reported Monday.
Conservative accounts with large followings on Twitter brought awareness to the onesies over the weekend, which are currently being sold for half-off on the retailer’s website. The posts garnered reactions from thousands of users, some of whom said the company needs “Bud-lighting,” referring to a devastating conservative-led boycott of Bud Light after the beer company partnered with transgender activist Dylan Mulvaney.
PET NEWS
GOOD NEWS
‘I Want to Work, I’m Hungry’: Contractor Hires Homeless Veteran After He Makes a Heartfelt Request
A contractor who was approached by a homeless man asking for work was impressed by the man’s industrious spirit and decided to give him a chance, sparking a massive response on social media.
Born and raised in the town of Lahaina on Maui, Hawaii, 43-year-old Kimo Clark has owned and run Truth Excavation since 2011. On Friday, May 5, his day off, Clark was in a Lahaina bank parking lot running some errands when a scruffy man of a similar age to himself approached from a red Ford truck.
ICYMI
Feds hid JFK film that could prove ‘grassy knoll’ conspiracy: lawsuit
A 60-year-old home movie could finally reveal whether multiple shooters, and not a lone gunman, assassinated President John F. Kennedy – but the federal government has been hiding it for decades, according to an explosive new lawsuit.
The heirs of Orville Nix, a Dallas maintenance man who recorded the moment of Kennedy’s death with his home-movie camera, have tried for years to get his original film back from the government’s clutches.
“It would be very significant if the original Nix film surfaced today,” said Jefferson Morley, author of “The Ghost” and other books about the CIA.
With recent advances in digital image processing, the original film “would essentially be a new piece of evidence,” Morley explained. “There’s a significant loss in quality between the first and second generation” of an analog film like Nix’s.
Nix’s clip, unlike the better known film shot by Abraham Zapruder, was taken from the center of Dealey Plaza as the presidential limousine drove into an ambush on Elm Street in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963.
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