Today's News: October 25, 2019

World News

Senior rabbi warns about rise of anti-Semitism in Europe
KSL – The chief rabbi of the main Orthodox rabbinical alliance in Europe says that a resurgence of anti-Semitism on the continent “poses an existential threat to the Jewish community.”
The warning by Chief Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmit was sounded as the Conference of European Rabbis awarded the Moshe Rosen Award on Thursday in Rome to the founder of the Catholic charity Sant’Egidio, Andrea Riccardi.
Goldschmidt said the award recognizes non-Jews who promote dialogue, understanding and tolerance to ensure a Jewish future in Europe, which he said: “I believe is at risk.”
Goldschmidt told The Associated Press that the receding memory of the Holocaust, rising far-right sentiment and radical Islam are the key factors fueling the anti-Semitic climate.
Brazil deploys 5,000 troops as fury mounts at inaction over worst oil spill in country’s history
Telegraph – Brazil has deployed 5,000 troops to its beaches amid mounting fury at the government’s inaction over the worst oil spill in the country’s history.
The environmental catastrophe began in early September when large quantities of oil inexplicably washed ashore.
The mysterious spill has continued and has now touched more than 1,000 miles of Brazil’s coast, polluting some of the country’s most picturesque beaches and destroying local marine life.
Now public anger is rising over the Brazilian government’s failure to stem the flow – or indeed establish the oil’s source. In response, local officials have resorted to urging volunteers to aid the cleanup mission.
Videos of volunteers’ inefficient attempts to clean up the spills have been met with ridicule on social media. Online commentators have shared footage of locals equipped with little more than rubber gloves and rudimentary fishing nets battling the huge environmental disaster, questioning why the government has not offered a coordinated national response.
‘Chaos Map’ shows violent deaths will ‘soar’ in 10 years due to food and water shortages
Mirror – Violent deaths linked to price rises will “soar” around the world – including in Europe – over the next decade, warns a major new study.
Researchers say the number of deaths due to conflict and rioting caused by food, water and fuel shortages is likely increase rapidly over the next 10 years.
They have created a new interactive tool, called the Chaos Map, that records fatalities linked to price rises and resource shortages.
Produced by Dr Davide Natalini and Professor Aled Jones of Anglia Ruskin University , the map shows that more than 1,300 deaths between 2005 and 2017 have been the result of violent unrest directly attributable to either food, water or fuel insecurity.
And the academics believe the figures could soar in the next decade.
By scanning reports covering food, water, and fuel insecurity shocks published since 2005, the team have plotted data for violent deaths – including riots , looting, armed conflict and demonstrations – and suicides on the Chaos Map.
They say their research is important to help understand the “escalating instability and chaos” that can occur when pressures caused by limited resources are compounded by factors such as climate change and rising populations.
By examining trends around previous events, the researchers say the Chaos Map can also help to predict and inform early responses to resource insecurity and social unrest, which could prove useful for governments and NGOs.
In World First, Tiger Will Be Given Prosthetic Limb to Live Out His Life Pain-Free
Good News Network – Within the next few weeks, a rescued tiger that was severely injured in a poacher’s trap will be given new life as the first big cat ever to be fitted with a prosthetic limb.
Sahebrao, a 7-9 year-old male tiger in India, underwent a 40-minute operation earlier this month in preparation for the historic fitting.
The majestic animal was rescued in India from a poacher’s trap in 2012 and was living at the Gorewada Rescue Centre in Nagpur. Soon after, Sahebrao developed gangrene and a part of his injured front leg had to be amputated. For the last six years, Sahebrao has been limping in increasing pain, until this year when it began crying out with every step.
The tiger was adopted by Sushrut Babhulkar, a Nagpur-based orthopaedic surgeon, who has been investigating the possibility of an artificial limb—and he teamed up with experts, including Dr. Peter Giannoudis from the University of Leeds in the UK.
Prof. Giannoudis who specializes in fractures and bone regeneration, is advising the team.
Dr Babhulkar said, “The surgery will give 99% relief from pain to the tiger, and fitting artificial limb is the next step.”
The surgeon told the Indian Express newspaper, “I wish to see him walk normally, like a human being getting a prosthetic leg, for the rest of his life.”
Divine intervention: Wealthy Norwegian shipowner funds research to counter Darwin in schools
RT – One of Norway’s richest people, shipowner Einar Johan Rasmussen, has pumped $1.6 million into a foundation that aims to challenge Darwin’s theory of evolution and to promote intelligent design in its place.
The BioCosmos Foundation calls for “more open debate on biology and the cosmos” and targets “everyone interested in science and the big questions,” especially “youth and young adults” – incorporating schoolchildren.
As with all proponents of Intelligent Design theories, the foundation extols the virtues of a pseudo-scientific theory that nature is so finely tuned and well-crafted that it could not have evolved via natural selection and must instead have been engineered.
ISIS seizes control of prison camp in Syria where 70,000 women and children are held: Guards are doused with petrol and a baby is found dead in a backpack after Kurdish police were forced away by Turkey’s invasion
Daily Mail – ISIS has exploited the chaos of Turkey’s invasion of Syria to seize control of a prison camp where tens of thousands of wives and children of jihadist fighters are being held.
The Kurdish forces who were guarding the al-Hol camp have been distracted by the Turkish offensive and hundreds of guards have been pulled away.
The remaining guards have been attacked and had petrol poured over them, while the body of a 10-year-old child was found in a backpack, guards told a Times journalist who visited the camp.
On top of that, fears of an ISIS breakout were compounded yesterday when a top U.S. official said more than 100 jihadists had already escaped in Syria.

U.S. News, Politics & Government

Tulsi Gabbard, running for president, won’t seek re-election to Congress
NBC – Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard said Thursday that she will not run for re-election for her U.S. representative seat, saying she wants to focus on trying to secure her party’s nomination to challenge President Donald Trump.
Gabbard, who represents Hawaii, made the announcement in a video and email to supporters.
“I believe that I can best serve the people of Hawaii and our country as your president and commander-in-chief,” Gabbard said in the video.
Poll: Majority of Americans Want First Amendment Rewritten
Washington Free Beacon – A majority of Americans believe the First Amendment should be rewritten and are willing to crack down on free speech, as well as the press, according to a new poll.
More than 60 percent of Americans agree on restricting speech in some way, while a slim majority, 51 percent, want to see the First Amendment rewritten to “reflect the cultural norms of today.” The Campaign for Free Speech, which conducted the survey, said the results “indicate free speech is under more threat than previously believed.”
“The findings are frankly extraordinary,” executive director Bob Lystad told the Washington Free Beacon. “Our free speech rights and our free press rights have evolved well over 200 years, and people now seem to be rethinking them.”
Of the 1,004 respondents, young people were the most likely to support curbing free expression and punishing those who engage in “hate speech.” Nearly 60 percent of Millennials—respondents between the ages of 21 and 38—agreed that the Constitution “goes too far in allowing hate speech in modern America” and should be rewritten, compared to 48 percent of Gen Xers and 47 percent of Baby Boomers. A majority of Millennials also supported laws that would make “hate speech” a crime—of those supporters, 54 percent said violators should face jail time.
American hostility to the First Amendment did not stop at speech. Many would also like to see a crackdown on the free press. Nearly 60 percent of respondents agreed that the “government should be able to take action against newspapers and TV stations that publish content that is biased, inflammatory, or false.” Of those respondents, 46 percent supported possible jail time.
Longtime Hillary Clinton Adviser Leaves the Door Wide Open on a 2020 Run: If She Thinks She Has ‘Best Odds’ to Beat Trump…
Mediate – Hillary Clinton’s camp seems to be doing suspiciously little to quell speculation that the former secretary of state might jump into the 2020 presidential race.
Appearing on Tucker Carlson Tonight Wednesday, longtime Clinton adviser Philippe Reines left the door wide open on a potential 2020 run.
“She ran for president because she thought she would be the best president,” Reines said. “If she still thought that now, if she thought she had the best odds of beating Donald Trump, I think she would think about it long and hard.”
Carlson followed up.
“She hasn’t foreclosed the possibility?” He asked.
“No,” Reines said.
The longtime Clinton adviser went on to say, “This is a huge if. But if she were jump in for whatever reason, and the party has moved someplace that she hasn’t, then she won’t get the votes. That’s the point of the primary. There are still 19 people. There are a few that are in double digits. If she were to run, and people she’s too left, too right, too center, that’s the beauty of it. They get to vote against whatever they want.
“She’s not running because she has any anxiety about the Democratic field. She really likes a lot of the people running. She knows them well. She thought about some of them for her vice presidency. But there might be a reason that she would be the best person, not only to beat Donald Trump, but to govern after Donald Trump.
Texas judge rules father CAN fight to stop his transgender son, 7, transiting to a girl after he argued the child’s mother made him grow up wearing dresses
Daily Mail – A judge has ruled that a father fighting to stop his seven-year-old son from transitioning to a girl will be allowed to have a say in future medical decisions related to his child.
Jeff Younger has been battling his ex-wife Dr Anne Georgulas in a Dallas family court as part of their bitter custody fight over whether their child James has gender dysphoria.
Judge Kim Cooks ruled on Thursday that the divorced parents will have joint conservatorship over their child.
It means they will have to make joint medical decisions regarding their child, which includes whether James should undergo hormone replacement therapy to transition to a girl.
They will also have to jointly agree on haircuts for the child, as well as dental and psychiatric care.
The decision comes after a jury ruled earlier this week in favor of giving sole managing guardianship of James and twin brother Jude to their mother.
Iowa Poll: Joe Biden Flops to Fourth Place
Breitbart – Former Vice President Joe Biden (D) has flopped to fourth place in Iowa, according to a Civiqs survey released on Wednesday.
While there has been significant fluctuation in national polling data in recent days, Biden’s fall in the Hawkeye State appears to be consistent with the overall trend.
According to the survey, taken October 18-22, 2019, among 598 likely Democratic Caucus attendees, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) is leading the pack with 28 percent support – a four-point jump from last month’s results. Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D) jumped to second place with 20 percent support, marking a seven-point jump for the South Bend mayor. Buttigieg’s spike coincides with the Suffolk University/USA Today poll released Monday, which showed the presidential hopeful rising to third place with 13 percent support among the crowded field of candidates.
Donald Trump will go to Sunday’s World Series game (if the Nationals don’t sweep in 4) but DOESN’T want to throw out the first pitch because of how he would look in ‘a lot of heavy armor’
Daily Mail – Donald Trump said Thursday that he plans to attend Sunday’s World Series game between the Washington Nationals and the Houston Astros, but shrugged off the idea of throwing out the ceremonial ‘first pitch’ before the contest starts because it would require a bullet-proof vest.
‘I don’t know,’ he mused during an Oval Office ceremony. ‘They got to dress me up in a lot of heavy armor. I’ll look too heavy. I don’t like that.’
Trump was presenting the Presidential Medal of Freedom to auto racing legend Roger Penske.
The Nationals won the first two games of the best-of-seven series in Houston this week, making it possible that they could wrap up the championship in four games as they did in the National League Championship Series against the St. Louis Cardinals.
If they should sweep the World Series, there would be no game played on Sunday.
Dangerous and unconstitutional: NJ governor bans sale of insurance to gun owners
The Daily Sheeple – Just when we thought that no one could outdo California or New York in the category of idiotic gun-control measure, in walks New Jersey. Here is their latest attempt to circumvent the 2nd Amendment and discourage responsible gun use by trying to make self-defense too costly a choice.
We’re just learning about an executive order that the governor issued in September that effectively banned the sale of insurance products that provide liability coverage to gun owners making it virtually impossible for concealed carry holders in New Jersey to get coverage.
Governor Phil Murphy’s order specifically said the state should, within 30 days, take all appropriate action “to prohibit and/or limit the sale, procurement, marketing, or distribution of insurance products that may serve to encourage the improper use of firearms,” according to a press release from the governor’s office.
As a result of this latest bout with lunacy, the U.S. Concealed Carry Association (USCCA) announced in early October that it would have to:
“Pull their services off the shelf for New Jersey gun owners.”
While USCCA, and other groups like them, is not an insurance company, the organization (of which I am a member) does offer concealed-carry liability insurance to its members in the event they are compelled to use their weapons in self-defense.
The problem is that states like New Jersey want to regulate organizations like USCCA because they list their membership as “beneficiaries” of their coverage, the press release explained.
And for that reason, they’re regulated by the state much like an insurance company.
That means that USCCA had no choice but to pull out of New Jersey or risk doing battle with the state’s Attorney General’s Office.
The governor’s press release proudly touted a consent order for a $1 million fine against one such company that had encouraged “the improper use of firearms,” according to New Jersey’s standard.
Company to Remove Female Symbol From Menstrual Products to Appease Trans Activists
Newswars – Always brand sanitary products will no longer bear symbology indicating they are designed for females in an effort to appease ‘trans women.’
Procter & Gamble (P&G) announced it will soon be removing the ‘Venus’ emblem from packaging for menstrual products after complaints from transgender activists.
“For over 35 years, Always has championed girls and women, and we will continue to do so,” P&G said in a statement to NBC News. “We’re also committed to diversity and inclusion and are on a continual journey to understand the needs of all of our consumers.”
“We routinely assess our products, packaging and designs, taking into account consumer feedback, to ensure we are meeting the needs of everyone who uses our products. The change to our pad wrapper design is consistent with that practice.”
Ben Saunders, an 18-year-old trans activist, has been credited by many as being the first — and perhaps only one of a small handful — to raise the ‘issue.’
“After having contacted Always back in June about their packaging that discriminated against their transgender customers through its design that featured the female symbol, I’m thrilled to to hear back that they’ve now redesigned the packaging which will be out in December!!” Saunders tweeted, along with a screenshots of an email from Always.

Veteran News

More Than 200 Homeless Seniors Will Have Tiny Houses of Their Own After Donations Pour In
Good News Network – Two hundred homeless seniors in Texas will soon have a roof over their heads thanks to this nonprofit raising more than $2 million in donations.
Earlier this week, the Housing First Community Coalition (HFCC) announced that it had successfully raised the funds for its new 17-acre Towne Twin Village community that will provide housing and support services for seniors in San Antonio experiencing long-term homelessness.
The community will house 200 individuals who are 50 years or older and be the city’s first single-site Housing First – Permanent Supportive Housing property.
The Towne Twin Village community will feature apartments, 350-400 square foot tiny houses, RV park, community garden, picnic areas, art studio, pet park, pet rescue facility, chapel, and an outdoor amphitheater for movies, musical performances, and theatrical events.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Annual Point-In-Time and Housing Inventory Count evidentially supports that Housing First is a proven model that has helped reduce homelessness nationwide by 13% between 2010 and 2017.

Economy & Business

But China! Cryptos crater as Congress tries to pin Zuckerberg down on ‘too big to fail’ Libra
RT – Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies plummeted as Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg tried to defend his beleaguered digital currency Libra – a project rapidly losing institutional support as it hits one regulatory hurdle after another.
If Facebook isn’t allowed to go forward with the rollout of its digital currency, China will surpass the US in technological innovation, Zuckerberg threatened the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday. The billionaire’s bid to save Libra – and its public image – after several of the big-name financial institutions backing the online payments system dropped out saw the bottom fall out of the already-sluggish crypto market.
“We can’t sit here and assume that because America is today the leader, that it will always be the leader if we don’t innovate,” the Facebook CEO pleaded with Congress. “If we don’t do things like this… eventually, we lose our leadership.” Translation: approve Libra, or the dollar gets it.

Energy & Environment

Rare October snowstorm blankets the Texas Panhandle
Fox – Heavy snow fell in parts of the Texas Panhandle on Thursday, causing near whiteout conditions in Amarillo, according to the National Weather Service.
Residents posted videos of the rare October snow storm on social media that show their fall decorations and pumpkins covered in white flakes.
Snow is uncommon for Amarillo this time of year but not unheard of, according to CNN meteorologist Taylor Ward.
“The earliest measurable snow on record is September 29, 1984,” said Ward. “The earliest in the season that they have ever had 1″+ is October 15, 1970.”
One person even captured the phenomenon “thundersnow,” the combination of snow and a thunderstorm, and shared the video on Twitter.
Crane Army Ammunition Activity recycles dangerous “Yellow D” munition
WTHI -TV – Every day Edward Walden runs a machine called a diffuser. The device takes the fuse off munitions before it is cleaned for recycling. While Walden has only worked at Crane for a few months, he has plenty of experience in the field. Walden says, “It is special to me because I was an ammunition technician in the Marine Corps. So I handled this stuff all the time and I know if it doesn’t work right there’s going to be big problems.”
“This stuff” is ammonium picrate, commonly known as Yellow D. The dangerous munition once used by the Department of Defense is now being recycled by Crane Army Ammunition Activity.
Corey Hudson with Gradient Technology says “Instead of an open detonation we do a process where we access the projectiles and are able to wash them out.”
Once Yellow D is rendered inert it is handled by Crane’s partner Gradient Technology. The organization converts the once dangerous munition into usable chemicals.
Hudson says, “It’s resold on the open market for various industries. Agricultural and in the chemical field.”
All in efforts to help keep mother earth clean.
Hudson says, “It feels very good to know that you’re helping to create space for new items that are created and as well as doing it environmentally friendly. That’s the only way to do things if it can be done if possible.”
Walden explains, “It’s a lot of fun just knowing we’re doing something for the country.”
Tick fire in Santa Clarita Valley is burning homes and threatening neighborhoods
LA Times – A wind-driven brush fire forced thousands of residents in the Santa Clarita Valley to evacuate Thursday, leaving many wondering whether they had a house to come home to.
Firefighters desperately tried to stall the fast-moving Tick fire as it moved rapidly toward subdivisions in Agua Dulce. Authorities asked for more air support as the fire sped down hillsides, fed by 20 mph sustained winds and gusts of up to 40 mph.
By early Thursday evening, an estimated 50,000 residents had evacuated, and more than 500 firefighters were battling the blaze with the help of six helicopters and four fixed-wing air tankers.
L.A. County Fire Chief Daryl Osby cautioned residents in and near the evacuation zone not be lulled into a false sense of safety if they couldn’t see flames from their homes.
“There are plenty of hot spots out in the incident,” Osby said during a news conference. “We’ll have firefighters out all night trying to work on those hot spots and trying to work on increasing our containment line.”
Several structures have been damaged or destroyed, according to the county Fire Department.

Science & Technology

Facebook announces steps to clamp down on misinformation ahead of 2020 election
The Daily Sheeple – Facebook has announced steps to combat misinformation and voter suppression ahead of the November 2020 U.S. presidential election, on the same day it disclosed the removal of a network of Russian accounts targeting U.S. voters on Instagram.
Facebook said on Monday it would increase transparency through measures such as showing more information about the confirmed owner of a Facebook page and more prominently labeling content that independent fact-checkers have marked as false.
The social media giant has come under fire in recent weeks over its policy of exempting ads run by politicians from fact-checking, drawing ire from Democratic presidential candidates Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren.
Last week, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg defended the policy, saying social media had introduced transformative avenues for speech that should not be shut down.
That same day, the Biden campaign called for the removal of an ad run by a super PAC campaign group, not a politician, that it said contained false claims about the former vice president.
Katie Harbath, Facebook’s head of global elections policy, said in response that if the now inactive ad ran again, it would be sent to Facebook’s third-party fact-checkers.
On Monday, Facebook said would be putting into effect its planned ban on paid ads that tell people in the United States not to vote. Zuckerberg told reporters on a conference call that the ban on voter misinformation would also apply to ads run by politicians.
The company will start labeling state-controlled media on its page and in the site’s ad library. In a blog post, Facebook said it planned to expand this labeling to specific posts on both Facebook and Instagram early next year.
Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, the video-streaming service of Alphabet’s Google, all recently came under scrutiny after showing ads from Chinese state-controlled media that criticized Hong Kong protesters.
The Drones Are Coming! AMAZON, ALPHABET, UBER Take Flight…
WSJ – Flying robots that deliver packages to people’s doorsteps are no longer science fiction. Companies including Amazon.com Inc., AMZN 1.06% Alphabet Inc. GOOG 0.15% ’s Wing and Uber Technologies Inc. UBER 0.70% are starting the most advanced trials of drone delivery in U.S. history.
While commercial drone delivery faces many hurdles, government-approved tests by the tech giants will mark the first time consumers in parts of the country experience the technology. Wing this month started tests in Christiansburg, Va., while Uber says it will experiment in San Diego before the year ends. Amazon hasn’t revealed where it is operating but said in June it would begin delivering packages to consumers via drone “within months.”
Amazon, Uber and Wing are hardly the only players tinkering with the technology. This month United Postal Service Inc. gained approval from the Federal Aviation Administration to build out a fleet of unmanned aircraft to deliver health supplies and eventually consumer packages in the U.S.
Experts say wide-scale drone delivery operations will take years to build out. The FAA predicts sales of drones for a wide range of commercial purposes to grow from 600,000 in 2016 to 2.7 million by 2020.
Prisons using AI to mass-monitor millions of inmate calls
ABC – New technology driven by artificial intelligence (AI) is helping prison wardens and sheriffs around the country crack unsolved crimes and thwart everything from violence and drug smuggling to attempted suicides — in near real time, in some cases — through digitally mass-monitoring millions of phone calls inside the nation’s sprawling prison and jail systems.
Despite legally-mandated warnings preceding every prison phone call that the conversation is being recorded and monitored, inmates still regularly reveal astonishing amounts of incriminating information, according to technology company records provided to ABC News and interviews with law enforcement and corrections officials using the systems in multiple states.
The AI systems employed in these cases use speech-recognition technology, semantic analytics and machine learning software to build growing databases of searchable words – part of a global revolution in neural networks that can understand speech and build databases that just a few years ago were prohibitively difficult to search with AI in real time.
LEO Technologies’ system is powered by Amazon transcription technology, part of a suite of technology services the retail giant has been marketing to U.S. law enforcement in recent years — including facial recognition software. Some critics — including some of Amazon’s own employees — say Amazon is essentially expanding the government’s surveillance capabilities for its own profit.
In February, Amazon acknowledged the criticism of its facial recognition software in a statement which offered “proposed guidelines for the proper use of the technology.”
“In the two-plus years we’ve been offering Amazon Rekognition, we have not received a single report of misuse by law enforcement,” the statement noted. .
The $1.2 billion prison phone call industry has also come under fire in recent years for charging exorbitant rates for calls, according to annual studies by the Prison Policy Initiative, a non-profit think tank – as well as for tracking the locations of individuals called by imprisoned inmates, before the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that practice illegal. One of the nation’s largest prison phone company has also spurred controversy by recording privileged attorney-client phone calls, sparking litigation that remains ongoing.

Health

Eye Drops Shown to Temporarily Reverse Far-Sightedness in Adults Could Replace Reading Glasses
Good News Network – Reading glasses could soon be a thing of the past thanks to a new eye drop solution that can help treat far-sightedness.
Earlier this month, Israeli-based Orasis Pharmaceuticals announced that its CSF-1 corrective eye drop successfully met the primary endpoint in a Phase 2b clinical study in temporarily reversing presbyopia, a very common condition that gradually causes far-sightedness in older adults.
According to the company, CSF-1 successfully demonstrated statistically significant improvement in distance-correction. Not only that, the drops also demonstrated an exceptional safety and tolerability profile.
The successful completion of the Phase 2b study is a significant milestone for Orasis. We are encouraged by these results and CSF-1’s potential to improve the quality of life for people with presbyopia,” said Orasis CEO Elad Kedar. “CSF-1 can potentially alleviate the burden of reading glasses and offer a meaningful solution for billions of people living with age-related farsightedness worldwide.”
Vaccines now being used to harvest biometric identities of everyone; Big Brother merges with Big Pharma
Natural News – It’s all happening, just as we predicted. Big Pharma is officially partnering with the tech industry to pair “immunization” with digital biometrics, meaning humans will soon be microchipped, tracked, and ultimately controlled through a global identification matrix.
The ID2020 Alliance, as it’s being called, is a digital identity program that aims to “leverage immunization” as a means of inserting tiny microchips into people’s bodies. In collaboration with the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunizations, also known as GAVI, the government of Bangladesh and various other “partners in government, academia, and humanitarian relief,” the ID2020 Alliance hopes to usher in this mark of the beast as a way to keep tabs on every human being living on Earth.
Similar to how cattle are marked with ear tags, this globalist alliance wants all humans to be “vaccinated” with digital tracking chips that will create a seamless monitoring system for the New World Order to manage the populations of the world with ease.
“We are implementing a forward-looking approach to digital identity that gives individuals control over their own personal information, while still building off existing systems and programs,” says Anir Chowdhury, a policy advisor at a2i, the Bangladesh government’s “Access to Information Program.”
“The government of Bangladesh recognizes that the design of digital identity systems carries far-reaching implications for individuals’ access to services and livelihoods, and we are eager to pioneer this approach,” he adds.
Sen. Grassley Slams NIH-Director For Silencing Whistleblower Scientists Sounding the Alarm on Experimental Drug Trials
Health Impact News – A recent example of high level public health officials abusing their administrative authority is the attempt by the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Dr. Francis Collins and his Principal Deputy Director, Lawrence Tabak, DDS, PhD, who is also the NIH Deputy Ethics Counselor.
They sought to prevent two senior NIH scientists in the Critical Care division of the NIH from providing information to the federal oversight agency, the Office of Human Research Protection (OHRP), about a current unethical NIH-sponsored experimental trial that increased the risk of death for critically ill patients enrolled in the trial.
The trial, known as CLOVERS (Crystalloid Liberal or Vasopressors Early Resuscitation in Sepsis), will involve 2,320 critically ill patients with sepsis, a bloodstream infection which is often lethal. In 2014, there were an estimated 1.7 million hospitalizations and 270,000 deaths from sepsis infections. [JAMA, 2019]
NIH classifies the trial as “comparative effectiveness research”; it compares liberal use of fluids versus early use of drugs to support blood pressure in patients with sepsis. This trial is being conducted at 48 hospitals in the U.S. and is scheduled to be completed in 2021.
When Dr. Natanson and Dr. Eichacker raised safety concerns about CLOVERS within NIH in 2018, they were stonewalled. So, they took their concerns to Public Citizen, which reached the same conclusion as the NIH scientists namely; that the CLOVERS trial will “predictably [ ] expose many subjects to dangerous deviations from critical care.”
Pubic Citizen sent a letter to OHRP, calling for “a Halt to Unethical, Reckless Sepsis Clinical Trial Funded by NIH. The OHRP initiated a review of the conduct of CLOVERS, and its investigators sought to interview Drs. Natanson and Eichacker. The NIH Director’s office forbade the scientists to discuss the safety problems they had evaluated.
This instance of muzzling scientists was first reported by Thomas Burton of The Wall Street Journalon April 28, 2019: “NIH Blocks Two Doctors From Speaking Out to Investigators.”
When the journal SCIENCE requested an interview with the scientists, Charles Natanson, MD and Peter Eichacher, MD, NIH refused to grant permission.
A folate deficiency puts you at risk of several diseases, research finds
NaturalNews – Folate, also referred to as vitamin B9 or folic acid, is an essential nutrient obtained from many fruits and green leafy vegetables. Not getting enough of this B vitamin can lead to many health problems. One of these is fragile X syndrome, according to a study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
Fragile X syndrome is a genetic disease that causes developmental problems, such as learning disabilities. From this study, the researchers were able to get a better idea of why folate deficiency has been associated with many other diseases, including anemia, infertility, age-related dementia, cancer, and mental health problems.
In the study, which was conducted at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, researchers specifically looked for a link between folate deficiency and problems with DNA replication and segregation. They found that the lack of folate can lead to more harmful chromosome abnormalities.
Folate plays a role in the production and repair of DNA. When your DNA replicates, the daughter cells don’t get the right amount of DNA after your cells divide. In some cases, an entire chromosome becomes missing. The researchers believe that this is the reason why folate deficiency is associated with the development of many diseases.
What’s even more alarming is that when a cell loses a part of a chromosome or the whole chromosome, it cannot be restored. When folate deficiency results in problems with cell division, it cannot be fixed by consuming more folic acid. This means that damage cannot be reversed. These findings of the study suggested that getting enough folate may prevent or lower the risk of developing chronic diseases such as cancer and age-related dementia. Folate deficiency can also cause anemia, a condition wherein a person has low red blood cells.
Whole grains uniquely benefit your liver and lower risk of liver cancer, researchers find
NaturalNews – Keeping your liver at optimal health is crucial because this organ plays many important roles in your body. One of the ways to keep it healthy is to eat more whole grains and cereal. Following a diet rich in whole grains and dietary fiber may lower your risk of liver cancer, according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR).
The researchers aimed to determine if eating more grains and fiber can reduce the risk of liver cancer. To do so, they used two large U.S. data sets: the Nurses’ Health Study, which is an all-female study that started in 1976, and the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study, which began in 1986 and comprised of male participants.
Every four years or so, for up to 32 years, the participants completed a questionnaire about their dietary habits. During that period, 141 out of the over 125,000 participants were diagnosed with liver cancer.
The researchers observed that a higher consumption of whole grains was linked to a lower risk of liver cancer. They also discovered that certain parts of whole grains might be responsible for the reduced risk.