WORLD NEWS
How The World Economic Forum Promotes Transhumanism
Society should adopt a general rule: if the World Economic Forum thinks something is a good idea, we do the opposite.
As part of its Davos 2022 thought-fest, an article appeared on the World Economic Forum site penned by Kathleen Philips, Vice President of R&D for imec and General Manager of its Eindhoven site in the Netherlands, regarding the topic of transhumanism.
Included in this article was the casual suggestion that we might one day consider microchipping children ‘for their safety’.
Pretty much every dangerous and terrible idea is ‘for our safety’ these days, but even the pro-bubble-wrap helicopter parents stopped and lofted an eyebrow. While they don’t mind fitting their kids with backpacks that have a leash hanging off which they use to walk their children like dogs – at least the backpacks can be taken off.
Once we start talking about altering humanity out of choice, rather than medical necessity, civilisation needs to have a different conversation.
Report: North Korea Has Up to 5,000 Tons of Chemical Warfare Agents
North Korea has likely amassed between 2,500 and 5,000 tons of chemical weapons, including extremely toxic nerve agents such as sarin, in recent years, according to estimates published in a joint report on Tuesday by the RAND Corporation and South Korea’s Asan Institute for Policy Studies, the website NK News reported.
Russia Suspends Delivery of Energy to Europe Through Nord Stream One Pipeline
Russia’s Gazprom stopped the flow of natural gas through a major pipeline from Russia to Europe early Wednesday, a temporary move to it announced in advance.
The Russian state-controlled energy giant said earlier this month that it would the cut the flow of gas through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline until Saturday for what it says is a three-day pause for routine maintenance at a compressor station.
6 Million Afghans Facing Famine as US Refuses To Return $7 Billion in Seized Funds
“Biden should immediately reverse his executive order,” said one humanitarian. “With millions of Afghans impoverished and starving, the U.S. must return to the Afghan people what is rightfully theirs.”
The United Nations aid chief on Monday led calls for a resumption of the humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan that ended after the Taliban reconquered the war-ravaged nation one year ago – pleas that came as six million Afghans face famine and the Biden administration continues to refuse to return billions of dollars in frozen funds.
“The people in Afghanistan continue to face extreme hardship and uncertainty,” U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths told the world body’s Security Council.
Noting that the U.N.’s Humanitarian Response Plan for Afghanistan is currently facing a more than $3 billion shortfall, Griffiths called on donors to immediately provide $754 million in aid to help Afghans survive the coming winter.
“Close to 19 million people are facing acute levels of food insecurity, including six million people at risk of famine,” he warned. “More than half of the population – some 24 million people – need humanitarian assistance. And an estimated three million children are acutely malnourished. They include over one million children estimated to be suffering from the most severe, life-threatening form of malnutrition. And without specialized treatment, these children could die.”
As Energy Crisis Looms, UK Delays Closure of Coal Plants, Looks to Fast Track New Nuclear
With a potential decade of “terrible winters” and years of economic pain ahead, European nations are looking to ease the pain, with the United Kingdom arranging for coal power stations to no longer shut down to meet green goals, and calls within government to fast-track new nuclear.
The British government could change planning rules to allow itself to fast-track new energy generation, minister Greg Clark has said, previewing potential medium-to-long term fixes being eyed by the government to mitigate the predicted years of annual energy shortages under the coming new government.
Over the past week, shocked Europeans – mostly in the UK and Ireland – have been posting viral photos of shockingly high energy bills amid the ongoing (and worsening) energy crisis.Several of the posts were from small business owners who getting absolutely crushed right now, and won’t be able to remain operational much longer.
One such owner is Geraldine Dolan, who owns the Poppyfields cafe in Athlone, Ireland – and was charged nearly €10,000 (US$10,021) for just over two months of energy usage.
As the Irish Times reports, “The cost of electricity to the Poppyfields cafe for 73 days from early June until the end of August came in at €9,024.70 an increase of 250 per cent in just 12 months. There doesn’t include the €812.22 in VAT, which brought her total bill to €9,836.92.”
“How in the name of God is this possible,” tweeted Dolan.
U.S. NEWS, POLITICS & GOVERNMENT
Sarah Palin Loses Special Election to Fill Alaska House Seat
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin lost to Democrat Mary Peltola on Wednesday in a special election to fill Alaska’s only U.S. House seat in a surprising defeat.
Mary Peltola, a former state lawmaker, was the winner according to the Alaska Division of Elections. She defeated Palin by three percentage points at 51.47 percent; Palin received 48.53 percent.
Peltola will finish the remainder of the term of Republican Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska), which expires at the end of this year. Young left the seat vacant when he died in March this year at the age of 88.
Peltola will later face re-election on Nov. 8. Palin and Republican Nick Begich III are expected to vie for the House seat for the next two years.
The election marked the first time the state used a ranked-choice system where voters list candidates in order of preference on the ballot. To be declared the winner, a candidate must clear 50 percent of the vote.
California Governor Gavin Newsom has quietly solicited millions of dollars in campaign donations from state vendors, key people, employees, or their affiliated corporate political action committees.
While progressives decry corporate money in politics, Governor Gavin Newsom has embraced the highly unethical practice of soliciting campaign cash from state contractors.
Our auditors at OpenTheBooks.com found 979 state vendors who gave $10,561,828 in political donations to Newsom during his 2010, 2018, recall election, and 2022 election cycles. Meanwhile, these companies reaped $6,201,978,173 in state payments.
These donations represented the equivalent of more than 40-percent of the current cash on hand – $24 million – in the governor’s campaign committee as of 08/01/2022, according to disclosures.
US seeks to seize Russian corporate jet
The US Justice Department announced on Wednesday it had obtained a warrant to seize a Boeing 737 jet owned by Russian oil major Lukoil.
According to court documents cited in the press release, the aircraft “flew into and out of Russia in violation of the Department of Commerce’s sanctions against Russia.” The statement indicated that the American-made aircraft flew without obtaining licenses from the US Commerce Department.
Officials: First bus with migrants from US-Mexico border in Texas arrives in Chicago
The state of Texas, which for several months has bussed thousands of newly arrived migrants at the US-Mexico border to New York City and Washington, DC, has set a new metropolitan area as a destination: Chicago.
Undocumented migrants on board a charter bus from Texas arrived in Chicago Wednesday night, according to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s office.
“To continue providing much-needed relief to our small, overrun border towns, Chicago will join fellow sanctuary cities Washington, D.C. and New York City as an additional drop-off location,” Abbott said in a statement.
Newly Disclosed Photograph Shows Documents Marked Classified at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago
A newly disclosed picture shows documents with classified markings at former President Donald Trump’s resort in Florida.
The image shows six documents labeled “top secret” and several marked “secret.”
The photograph was captured on Aug. 8, when FBI agents executed a search warrant on Mar-a-Lago, according to government lawyers.
The lawyers included the picture in a brief filed on Aug. 30, which urged a judge not to grant Trump’s motion for a special master, an independent third party who would look over the seized documents and sift out those identified as potentially privileged.
Next to the documents, which were scattered on the floor, was a box with five framed pictures, including one of a framed Time magazine cover.
Agents took away 33 items of evidence, mostly boxes of documents, according to a previously released inventory list. Over 100 unique documents were marked classified, government lawyers said in the new filing.
“Certain of the documents had colored cover sheets indicating their classification status,” they said, referring to the image. “The classification levels ranged from CONFIDENTIAL to TOP SECRET information, and certain documents included additional sensitive compartments that signify very limited distribution.”
Trump Lawyer Reveals What Argument Former President Will Make in Court
Former President Donald Trump’s lawyer said Tuesday that the 45th president will attempt to challenge the legality of the FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago based on his Fourth Amendment rights.
“In terms of what we do in the future, you know, there’s this Fourth Amendment like you brought up, there’s a fourth amendment issue here; the warrant was way too broad,” Trump attorney Alina Habba told Fox News on Tuesday night.
Habba then pointed to the judge in the case, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who was appointed by Trump in 2020. Cannon is not the same judge—U.S. magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart—who signed off on the FBI warrant.
Last week, Cannon signaled in a court filing that she will likely sign off on appointing a special master to review documents that were taken from Mar-a-Lago. Department of Justice (DOJ) lawyers said this week that a filter team has already looked into the documents and added that what appears to be attorney-client privileged information was taken.
“We do have judge Cannon, who’s the federal judge that’s taken up this case,” Habba said. “There’s a hearing on Thursday. I think that that will be giving us some judicial oversight that is much needed at this point.”
“So at this point, I think the best thing we’ve done is we’ve gotten a judge in place … who does look like they’re going to be active,” Habba said, adding that soon, “we do need to move forward with filing to invalidate … the warrants due to Fourth Amendment issues.”
The Fourth Amendment guarantees a right to privacy and protects individuals from unreasonable searches and seizures by the government.
Ratcliffe: Feds ‘Didn’t Find What They Were Looking for’ in Mar-a-Lago Raid
Former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe said Wednesday on FNC’s “Jesse Watters Primetime” that he did not think the Department of Justice found what it was looking for during the raid of former President Donald Trump’s Palm Beach, FL home.
“The judge would appoint the special master, and it would be an extension of the court,” Ratcliffe explained. “I do think that it’s the right thing to do. The DOJ’s position is number one. We don’t need a special master. We’ve already — we’ve already sorted everything and looked at everything. Take our word for it that it was done. As you pointed out, they had attorney-client privilege in there, so the taint team that was looking at this didn’t do their job.”
“And, you know, all of this, listen, you presided over a lot of cases,” he continued. “I was a former federal prosecutor, United States attorney. Let me tell you what this is about. Good prosecutors with good cases play it straight. They don’t need to play games. They don’t need to shop for judges, they don’t need to leak intelligence that may or may not exist. And in this case, this tells you that the government didn’t find what they were looking for. There weren’t nuclear secrets in Melania Trump’s underwear drawer, and they’re trying to justify what they’ve done. They’re not playing it straight before the American people. I think that that’s going to play out.”
Whitehead: Who Will Protect Us From Government’s Standing Army?
“A standing military force, with an overgrown Executive will not long be safe companions to liberty.”—James Madison
The IRS has stockpiled 4,500 guns and five million rounds of ammunition in recent years, including 621 shotguns, 539 long-barrel rifles and 15 submachine guns.
The Veterans Administration (VA) purchased 11 million rounds of ammunition (equivalent to 2,800 rounds for each of their officers), along with camouflage uniforms, riot helmets and shields, specialized image enhancement devices and tactical lighting.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) acquired 4 million rounds of ammunition, in addition to 1,300 guns, including five submachine guns and 189 automatic firearms for its Office of Inspector General.
According to an in-depth report on “The Militarization of the U.S. Executive Agencies,” the Social Security Administration secured 800,000 rounds of ammunition for their special agents, as well as armor and guns.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) owns 600 guns. And the Smithsonian now employs 620-armed “special agents.”
This is how it begins.
We have what the founders feared most: a “standing” or permanent army on American soil.
New York declares Times Square a ‘gun free zone’ under new ban
The sprawling Manhattan tourist attraction is one of scores of “sensitive” places – including parks, churches, and theaters – that will be off-limits for guns under a sweeping new state law going into effect Thursday. The measure, passed after a U.S. Supreme Court decision in June expanded gun rights, also sets stringent standards for issuing concealed carry permits.
New York is among a half-dozen states that had key provisions of its gun laws invalidated by the high court because of a requirement for applicants to prove they had “proper cause” for a permit. Gov. Kathy Hochul said Friday that she and her fellow Democrats in the state Legislature took action the next week because the ruling “destroyed the ability for a governor to be able to protect her citizens from people who carry concealed weapons anywhere they choose.”
However, the law has led to confusion and court challenges from gun owners who say it improperly limits their constitutional rights.
“They seem to be designed less towards addressing gun violence and more towards simply preventing people from getting guns – even if those people are law-abiding, upstanding citizens, who according to the Supreme Court have the rights to have them,” said Jonathan Corbett, a Brooklyn attorney and permit applicant who is one of several people challenging the law in court.
White House Says Donald Trump Supporters Are a ‘Threat to Our Democracy’
The White House denounced supporters of President Donald Trump on Wednesday, accusing them of posing an “extremist threat to our democracy.”
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre began the daily briefing by condemning Republican leaders for their dangerous rhetoric but also said that President Joe Biden believed supporters of former President Donald Trump were also a threat.
Biden Ups the Rhetoric Against Republicans
President Joe Biden crossed a line of sorts last week when he characterized the philosophy of Donald Trump and his supporters as “semi-fascism.”
“Fascism,” of course, is the verbal f-bomb of politics. As it’s most commonly used today, it’s an inflammatory insult, a rhetorical flame-thrower’s delight. It’s a virtual knee to the groin, a condemnatory epithet, the ultimate slur, shorthand for “You are a subhuman cretin who is beneath contempt.”
The word “fascism” once had a reasonably objective definition (more on that below) but it has been used so often as an emotive vilification that few people have a clear sense of what fascism originally meant. In his comprehensive description of the sadistic labor camps in the USSR, “The Gulag Archipelago,” Alexander Solzhenitsyn explained the historical corruption of the word.
Solzhenitsyn tells us that “fascist” first became a pejorative term in the Soviet Union. The Communist Party branded everyone a “fascist” who wasn’t on board with Comrade Stalin’s plan for global socialism under the control of the Soviet Politburo. This started with the true fascists, such as Hitler and Mussolini, who were condemned for favoring national socialism over global socialism, and for clinging to the un-communist notion of national independence. But then the word became a term of scorn for all the opponents of worldwide communism—even individuals whose values and policies had little in common with the Fuhrer and Il Duce. Thus, everyone from the pope to atheists like Ayn Rand, American political leaders ranging from George McGovern on the left to Ronald Reagan on the right, and mortal enemies like the president of Israel and the ayatollahs of Iran, have been lumped together under the denunciatory label “fascist.”
In short, “fascist” means “non-communist.” What does that say about Joe Biden now that he has taken to using the political f-bomb to malign his political opposition? Of course, Biden left himself some wiggle room by saying “semi-fascism.” (Maybe Hillary Clinton should have said “semi-deplorables” when she felt like doing some venting several years ago.) Now Biden can say that he didn’t really call Trump’s supporters “fascists,” but I suspect he hopes that the stench and stigma of that ugly word will cling to Republicans.
EXCLUSIVE: Trump Supporter Shot With Police Munition on Jan. 6 Required Surgeries Costing $250,000
Mark Griffin never saw it coming.
He stood at the police line on the west side of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, engaged in friendly conversation with officers about why he had come to Washington.
Without warning, police picked up the metal bicycle racks that served as barricades and rushed forward into the crowd. Griffin was sprayed in the face with pepper gel.
Hell was breaking loose.
BOOM. THUD.
Griffin found himself on the ground, dazed and confused. He had a vague sensation that his left leg was injured just above the knee.
All around him, blinding flashes were punctuated by a whump and crack that knocked people off their feet.
The day was peaceful no more.
“I went down, and some people helped me up,” Griffin told The Epoch Times. “I had no idea how bad I got hurt.”
FBI Official Accused of Blocking Probe Into Hunter Biden Says He Retired, Wasn’t Fired
An FBI official who has been accused of blocking an investigation into President Joe Biden’s son stepped down this month, lawyers representing the official confirmed to The Epoch Times on Aug. 31.
Timothy Thibault “voluntarily retired” and “was not fired, not forced to retire, and not asked to retire,” lawyers with Morrison & Foerster LLP said in an emailed statement.
Thibault, an assistant special agent in charge at the FBI’s Washington Field Office, was “escorted” out of the office on Aug. 26, the Washington Times reported. Thibault was “walked out of the FBI,” CBS reported. Both outlets cited anonymous officials.
Thibault turned in his security badge and “walked with two long-time special agent friends through the field office to finish processing his paperwork,” Thibault’s lawyers said. “He walked out of the building by himself. Claims to the contrary are false.”
Thibault was eligible for retirement after working for over 30 years for the government and he informed his bosses about a month before his retirement about his intention to retire, his lawyers say.
The FBI declined to comment.
Mark Lyttle, a U.S. prosecutor for nearly 17 years and a White House lawyer during the Trump administration, offered praise for Thibault in a statement released by the former official’s counsel. “Agent Thibault spent his career rooting out corruption with integrity and honesty. I am proud to have worked with him and to call him my friend and trusted colleague,” Lyttle, now in private practice, said.
Thibault has come under fire in recent months after Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, raised concerns about his social media posts, including one that described former President Donald Trump as “a psychologically broken, embittered, and deeply unhappy man.”
Whistleblowers from within the bureau later told Grassley that the FBI gained information in 2020 about “criminal financial and related activity” carried out by Hunter Biden, the son of then-presidential candidate Joe Biden.
The FBI opened an assessment before the 2020 election but a team from the FBI headquarters used the assessment to “improperly discredit negative Hunter Biden information as disinformation” and caused the bureau’s investigation on Hunter Biden “to cease,” Grassley told FBI Director Christopher Wray and Attorney General Merrick Garland, citing the whistleblowers.
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
Starbucks gets sued over hiring people ‘on the basis of their race and ethnicity’
‘This violates the Constitution and civil rights laws’
The American Civil Rights Project (ACR) is filing a lawsuit against Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz and the company’s directors in Washington state’s Spokane County Superior Court over alleged racially discriminatory policies in its hiring practices, according to legal documents.
ACR argues that Starbucks discriminates against white applicants in its hiring practices by prioritizing a “diverse” workforce which violates both state and federal laws, according to court filings. The legal complaint, which was filed on behalf of the National Center For Public Policy Research (NCPPR), a longtime Starbucks shareholder and conservative think tank, aims to end Starbucks’ alleged discriminatory practices and hold the beverage company responsible for negative effects shareholders may have experienced as a result of the policy.
“Clearly, Starbucks wants to hire and promote people on the basis of their race and ethnicity rather than according to merit and achievement,” Scott Shepard, director of NCPPR’s Free Enterprise Project, told the DCNF. “This violates the Constitution and civil rights laws, so it has developed this system to try to skirt those laws.”
Starbucks set targets for the number of ‘diverse,’ meaning non-white, workers it hires, and the diverse employee workforce targets are directly tied to the compensation that company executives are paid, according to court documents.
“It is still paying its management employees more if they hire on the basis of race and ethnicity until their “targets” are met,” Shepard continued.
Trump’s China Tariffs Yield $150 Billion
Tariffs that had been placed on Chinese imports by President Donald Trump have pulled in more than $150 billion over the past 50 months, according to data from Customs and Border Protection.
Trump imposed the tariffs in 2018 and 2019 on $350 billion worth of imports, in retaliation for China’s abusive trade practices, which included throttling American companies’ access to Chinese markets, forced technology transfer, theft of U.S. intellectual property, and currency manipulation.
The tariffs somewhat depress demand for Chinese goods by making them more expensive. Some of the burden is also borne by the sellers, who are forced to reduce prices.
China responded by imposing tariffs on U.S. goods, which seemed to depress U.S.–China exports in 2019. Exports bounced back in 2020 and increased an additional 20 percent last year.
Aside from those aimed specifically at China, Trump also imposed tariffs on imports of solar panels, washing machines, steel, and aluminum. Those have brought in more than $17 billion so far.
‘Exhibit Q’: Elon Musk Cranks Up Effort to Scrap Twitter Deal With Explosive New Claims
Tech entrepreneur Elon Musk has dialed up his efforts to back out buying Twitter by filing a new termination notice underpinned by “Exhibit Q,” a document that references bombshell claims made by Twitter’s former security chief-turned-whistleblower and accuses Twitter of “far-reaching misconduct” that is likely to have “severe consequences” for its business.
Musk said in an Aug. 30 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that his lawyers sent Twitter an Aug. 29 termination letter that gives new justification to Musk for pulling out of the $44 billion buyout agreement.
While Musk said he’s convinced his earlier July 8 termination letter has already “validly terminated” the buyout agreement, he opted to send Twitter the new Aug. 29 termination letter as a failsafe, in case the earlier one “is determined to be invalid for any reason.”
The new termination letter is fully justified by the contents of Exhibit Q, Musk said, which is a document detailing the claims made by ex-Twitter security chief Peiter Zatko, who in a whistleblower disclosure (pdf) made a series of explosive claims, including that Twitter was “lying about bots to Elon Musk.”
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Former Trump White House adviser and campaign manager tore into his one-time West Wing colleague Jared Kushner on Friday after Kushner said he believed he might “live forever.”
Kushner made the odd comments, which sparked a slew of media headlines in a conversation with former Trump official Richard Grenell. Kushner said:
From the last year, the one thing I’ve tried to put a priority on since I left the White House was, you know, getting some exercise in. I think that there is a good probability that my generation is, hopefully with the advances in science, either the first generation to live forever, or the last generation that’s going to die. So, we need to keep ourselves in pretty good shape.
SURVEILLANCE STATE
The Psychology of Totalitarianism Commentary by Mattias Desmet
At the end of February 2020, the global village began to shake on its foundations. The world was presented with a foreboding crisis, the consequences of which were incalculable. In a matter of weeks, everyone was gripped by the story of a virus—a story that was undoubtedly based on facts. But on which ones?
We caught a first glimpse of “the facts” via footage from China. A virus forced the Chinese government to take the most draconian measures. Entire cities were quarantined, new hospitals were built hastily, and individuals in white suits disinfected public spaces. Here and there, rumors emerged that the totalitarian Chinese government was overreacting and that the new virus was no worse than the flu. Opposite opinions were also floating around: that it must be much worse than it looked, because otherwise no government would take such radical measures. At that point, everything still felt far removed from our shores and we assumed that the story did not allow us to gauge the full extent of the facts.
Until the moment that the virus arrived in Europe. We then began recording infections and deaths for ourselves. We saw images of overcrowded emergency rooms in Italy, convoys of army vehicles transporting corpses, morgues full of coffins. The renowned scientists at Imperial College confidently predicted that without the most drastic measures, the virus would claim tens of millions of lives. In Bergamo, sirens blared day and night, silencing any voice in a public space that dared to doubt the emerging narrative. From then on, story and facts seemed to merge and uncertainty gave way to certainty.
The unimaginable became reality: we witnessed the abrupt pivot of nearly every country on Earth to follow China’s example and place huge populations of people under de facto house arrest, a situation for which the term “lockdown” was coined. An eerie silence descended—ominous and liberating at the same time. The sky without airplanes, traffic arteries without vehicles; dust settling on the standstill of billions of people’s individual pursuits and desires. In India, the air became so pure that, for the first time in thirty years, in some places the Himalayas became once more visible against the horizon.
It didn’t stop there. We also saw a remarkable transfer of power. Expert virologists were called upon as Orwell’s pigs—the smartest animals on the farm—to replace the unreliable politicians. They would run the animal farm with accurate (“scientific”) information. But these experts soon turned out to have quite a few common, human flaws. In their statistics and graphs they made mistakes that even “ordinary” people would not easily make. It went so far that, at one point, they counted all deaths as corona deaths, including people who had died of, say, heart attacks.
Nor did they live up to their promises. These experts pledged that the Gates to Freedom would re-open after two doses of the vaccine, but then they contrived the need for a third. Like Orwell’s pigs, they changed the rules overnight. First, the animals had to comply with the measures because the number of sick people could not exceed the capacity of the health care system (flatten the curve). But one day, everyone woke up to discover writing on the walls stating that the measures were being extended because the virus had to be eradicated (crush the curve). Eventually, the rules changed so often that only the pigs seemed to know them. And even the pigs weren’t so sure.
Some people began to nurture suspicions. How is it possible that these experts make mistakes that even laymen wouldn’t make? Aren’t they scientists, the kind of people who took us to the moon and gave us the internet? They can’t be that stupid, can they? What is their endgame? Their recommendations take us further down the road in the same direction: with each new step, we lose more of our freedoms, until we reach a final destination where human beings are reduced to QR codes in a large technocratic medical experiment.
That’s how most people eventually became certain. Very certain. But of diametrically opposed viewpoints. Some people became certain that we were dealing with a killer virus, that would kill millions. Others became certain that it was nothing more than the seasonal flu. Still others became certain that the virus did not even exist and that we were dealing with a worldwide conspiracy. And there were also a few who continued to tolerate uncertainty and kept asking themselves: how can we adequately understand what is going on?
HEALTH
Study Shows This Supplement Can Reduce Depression and Anxiety
High doses of Vitamin B6 reduced symptoms of anxiety and depression. Researchers theorize the effect is a result of increasing levels of Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid (GABA), a chemical known to inhibit nerve impulses and lower excitability
Anxiety and inflammation have a bidirectional relationship. Vitamin B may also help lower the severity of COVID-19 by affecting the inflammatory process and reducing the potential for a cytokine and/or bradykinin storm
Low levels of magnesium also can increase the risk of anxiety and depression; the combination of vitamin B6 and magnesium has a greater potential to alleviate stress in healthy adults
Other options to lower stress and anxiety include Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT), an energy psychology that corrects the bioelectrical short circuits that cause bodily reactions and the adaptogenic herb, ashwagandha
Big Pharma wants to end your access to supplements; I urge you to use the resources from the Natural Products Association and the Alliance for Natural Health to call or email your senators and oppose the Dietary Supplement Listing Act of 2022, and its inclusion in the FDA Safety Landmark Advancements Act
Powerful Protection for Women Against Tumors
Research suggests time-restricted feeding (intermittent fasting) drastically reduces a woman’s risk of breast cancer, in part by lowering insulin
Intermittent fasting releases ketones into your bloodstream, which help preserve brain function and protect against epileptic seizures, cognitive impairment and other neurodegenerative diseases
By improving your insulin sensitivity, intermittent fasting can both prevent and reverse Type 2 diabetes, which is rooted in insulin resistance
When intermittently fasting, it’s critical to avoid processed foods, particularly refined carbohydrates, sugar/fructose and grains. Focus on vegetable carbohydrates, healthy protein in moderate amounts and healthy fats such as butter, eggs, avocado, coconut oil, olive oil and raw nuts
My new book, “KetoFast,” presents a modified form of water-only fasting (in combination with a cyclical ketogenic diet) that is easier to do, and provides greater benefits because you’re able to do it more frequently
Ultraprocessed foods linked to cancer and early death, studies find
Ultraprocessed foods include prepackaged soups, sauces, frozen pizza, ready-to-eat meals and pleasure foods such as hot dogs, sausages, french fries, sodas, store-bought cookies, cakes, candies, doughnuts, ice cream and many more.
“Literally hundreds of studies link ultra-processed foods to obesity, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and overall mortality,” said Marion Nestle, the Paulette Goddard professor emerita of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University and author of numerous books on food politics and marketing, including 2015’s “Soda Politics: Taking on Big Soda (and Winning).”
“These two studies continue the consistency: Ultraprocessed foods are unambiguously associated with an increased risk for chronic disease,” said Nestle, who was not involved in either study.
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
California won’t let you charge the electric car it wants to force you to buy
California has reaffirmed its commitment to banning gasoline-powered cars and requiring all new sales to be of electric cars in coming years.
Now, California’s grid operator is telling residents not to charge their electric cars during regular heat waves in order to avoid straining the grid.
Residents have been advised to take voluntary energy cuts, including setting their thermostats to 78 degrees Fahrenheit and not charging their electric cars. This is because the “demand for electricity remains high and there is less solar energy available.” It turns out you can’t run a state of roughly 39 million people entirely on solar panels. Who could have guessed?
—> Related: Don’t Charge that Electric Vehicle: California Braces for Energy Shortage Thru Labor Day
California will suffer an energy shortage and “Flex Alerts” through Labor Day due to high temperatures, and residents will be asked to conserve electricity during afternoons and evenings, which means refraining from charging electric vehicles, among other uses.
California, Facing ‘Green’ Energy Shortage, Delays Closure of Last Nuclear Power Plant for 5 Years
The California State Legislature voted Wednesday to postpone the closure of the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant, the state’s last, as an acute energy shortage forced “green” ideologues to rethink the wisdom of cutting off 6% of the state’s current power supply.
California Begins Covering Canals with Solar Panels to Fight Drought
State utilities in California are preparing to launch a pilot project to cover California’s irrigation canals in solar panels.
The decision was influenced by a landmark 2021 research paper, where scientists at Univ. of California Santa Cruz crunched the numbers and figured that the panels would save 63.5 billion gallons of water from evaporation annually by shading the flowing water.
Turlock Irrigation District Water & Power is preparing two pilot canal projects: a 500-foot (152-meter) curved canal section near the town of Hickman, and a second mile-long (1.6-km long) straightaway in nearby Ceres.
Federal Court Partly Reverses 2018 Gulf of Mexico Lease Sales
A federal appeals court in Washington on Aug. 30 partly reversed a lower court’s decision that had found that two 2018 Gulf of Mexico oil and gas lease sales by the U.S. Interior Department to energy companies were valid.
The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected two arguments by environmental groups, although it agreed the agency had “sidestepped” a report that contained “some evidence” that asserted potential risks.
The appeals court upheld the lower court’s finding that the Interior Department “adequately considered the option of not leasing” and also “reasonably refused to consider potential future regulatory changes.”
However, it found the department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) “unreasonably refused to consider possible deficiencies” in how the department’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) carried out its work enforcing safety and environmental regulations to limit risks and harm to the Gulf from oil and gas operations.
“Given the one shortcoming we have identified, we remand without vacatur,” Judge Gregory C. Katsas, a Trump appointee, wrote in the ruling (pdf).
Because the decision didn’t vacate the sales, companies can continue work on production plans they have for the tracts. It does send the lease sales back to the Interior Department for reconsideration and possible mitigation measures and limits on drilling.
Chinese Hackers Target Companies, Government Agencies Connected to Wind Turbine Farms
A Chinese-backed hacking group—posing as an Australian news site—has run a systematic campaign targeting government agencies, news media, and heavy industries involved in wind turbine supply chains to the South China Sea.
The group, TA423/Red Ladon, was previously the subject of an indictment from the U.S. Justice Department and has been active since 2013, targeting defence contractors, manufacturers, universities, government agencies, and companies connected to either the South China Sea region or Australasia.
Its latest cyber espionage campaign, from April to June 2022, involved emailing targets from a Gmail or Outlook address—likely created by the hacker group—with subject headers like: “Sick Leave,” “User Research,” and “Request Cooperation.”
According to research from Proofpoint and PwC Threat Intelligence, the email claimed to be from a “humble news website” and tried to solicit feedback while providing a link to a fake news outlet called “Australian Morning News.” Users that click on the web page would then be delivered malware.
“The campaign has an international reach, but a heavy focus on the Asia Pacific region, Australian governmental entities, and companies and countries operating in the South China Sea,” the researchers said.
“In particular, Proofpoint has observed TA423/Red Ladon targeting entities directly involved with development projects in the South China Sea closely around the time of tensions between China and other countries related to development projects of high strategic importance, such as the Kasawari Gas field developed by Malaysia, and an offshore wind farm in the Strait of Taiwan.”
GARDENING, FARMING & HOMESTEADING
There are many different terms to learn about in the gardening world when it comes to seeds and it can be very confusing to separate the different types of seeds, especially if you are new to gardening. You’ve probably heard the words, “organic,” and, “heirloom,” in reference to seeds, but what is the difference between the two? Which one is better? Can you get seeds that are both heirloom and organic? Questions like these are just scratching the surface of what beginning gardeners need to know about growing plants from seed, and we have compiled the answers to these questions and more in this article.
COVID RELATED NEWS
Nasal Vax: Watch out for Big Pharma’s next money maker
After billions and billions of doses of mRNA COVID shots have been injected into the arms of humans around the world, are major pharmaceutical companies now looking for ways to make it even easier to get their highly profitable drugs into people’s bodies?
The push for new routes of vax administration could signal a shift for a future of even more mandated medical “treatments.”
Despite past failures, intranasally-administered vaxxes (vaxxes inhaled through the nose) seem poised to make a major comeback. As Children’s Health Defense notes, drug manufacturers have plenty of reasons to prefer and make inhalable vaxxes – they’re convenient, easier to administer and dispose of, and are less invasive and less “scary” for people who are afraid of needles, which could help increase buy-in and compliance.
Of course, scientists have long been concerned about the proximity of the nasal passages to the brain – potentially providing a high risk of nanoparticles, mRNA molecules, and other compounds interacting with and potentially entering the central nervous system directly. So, with this potential risk at hand, can we really say with any confidence that nasal vaxxes would be any less “invasive” or necessarily safer, for that matter?
Inflammatory mRNA Nanoparticles Inhibit and Alter Immune Response: Pre-Print Study
A recent preprint study has shed light on why adverse events have been observed following a COVID-19 messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccination.
The study, led by researchers from Thomas Jefferson University, found that the lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) used to transport mRNA in COVID-19 vaccines could “inhibit” and “alter” immune responses in mice.
LNPs are shells of lipids that envelope mRNA to prevent degradation and detection by our body’s immune system.
LNPs are not mRNA, simply an envelope to transport the mRNA cargo.
Both the Pfizer and Moderna mRNA COVID-19 vaccines use LNPs to deliver mRNA spike protein sequences into human cells. Once human cells received the mRNA sequences, the cells will then manufacture spike proteins, triggering an immune response.
It was originally intended that the LNPs discreetly deliver mRNA sequences into the cells to produce spike proteins, and in doing so, form immunity against the COVID-19 virus.
Why Government Health Care Kills More People Than It Helps
August 17, 2022, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Dr. Rochelle Walensky publicly admitted the agency’s COVID response “fell short,” and that an internal reorganization has been launched to improve response times and data sharing, and to make health guidance easier to understand. Six days before this announcement, the CDC published updated COVID guidance, now matching what “misinformation spreaders” have called for all along
The vow to revamp fails to take into account the real reasons why people no longer trust the CDC, namely their dishonesty, their suppression of science that doesn’t fit the Great Reset narrative, and their protection of Big Pharma at the expense of American lives, including children and pregnant women
Despite widespread failures and blatant corruption within the CDC, the National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration, the Health and Human Services’ (HHS) is asking for a bigger budget. Its proposed budget for 2023 is $1.7 TRILLION in mandatory spending and another $127.3 BILLION in discretionary spending
Of those budgeted trillions, the CDC will in 2023 receive about 1% of the HHS budget, or $10.6 billion — $2.3 billion more than its 2022 appropriation — and this includes “mandatory funding to establish a Vaccines for Adults program”
The CDC being wrong on everything about the pandemic — and taking two and a half years to admit even a fraction of it — is proof positive that centralizing health care decisions is a bad idea. Ideally, all that HHS money should be divided among the states. We’d be far better off with local community programs handling current HHS services — including pandemic response
CANCEL CULTURE
Google Faces Criticism for Not Making Trump’s Truth Social App Available
Google is drawing criticism for refusing to make former President Donald Trump’s social media app Truth Social available in its app store.
The app’s absence in the Google Play Store is a huge issue considering that Android phones make up about 44 percent of the U.S. smartphone market. Truth Social is available on Apple App Store since the platform was launched in February, and it is also available via web browser.
“On August 19, we notified Truth Social of several violations of standard policies in their current app submission and reiterated that having effective systems for moderating user-generated content is a condition of our terms of service for any app to go live on Google Play,” Google told news outlets in a statement on Aug. 30.
Google added, “Last week Truth Social wrote back acknowledging our feedback and saying that they are working on addressing these issues.”
PET NEWS
Georgia Police Officer and His Purple Heart K-9’s Inseparable Bond: ‘The Best Job in the World’
Sgt. Mark Tappan of the Alpharetta Police Department in Georgia and his German shepherd, Mattis, have a fabulous friendship and a storied career. Theirs is the stuff of heartful legends like “Lassie” and “Where the Red Fern Grows.”
They have worked together to solve crimes, ferret out evil, capture bad guys and save lives, and—no less vital an undertaking—they have helped to create a needed connection between police officers and the general community.
“He’s the most decorated dog in the history of our department. He’s got more arrests, more fines, he’s just an incredible dog,” Sgt. Tappan, a former U.S. Marine and pastor, told The Epoch Times.
The recipient of a Purple Heart award, Mattis retired over a year ago after doing several “fantastic things” during his career. He has helped recover $3 million in drug seizures, accomplished 20 successful tracks, and assisted with over 200 arrests in his career, according to the American Kennel Club. The pair has also done plenty of demonstrations at elementary schools, and Mattis even inspired Tappan to write two children’s books—“My Dog Mattis” and “My Dog Mattis and the Barefoot Bandits”—in which he tells the story of finding his special dog and their many incredible adventures together.
“I just love telling people about my amazing dog,” the officer said. “And then, along the way, he’s caught a lot of bad guys. And he’s saved some lives here and there. So, he’s done incredible work.”
GOOD NEWS
Salvaging crops and tackling a broken food system: meet the ‘gleaners’
Across Britain, people are coming together to salvage unpicked produce. Addressing food poverty and farm waste, it’s a timely response to the cost of living crisis – and a challenge to a ‘broken’ food system
It might be the fresh beetroot in her salads, or perhaps it’s the stress-busting microbiome in the soil beneath her fingernails – either way, Holly Whitelaw is buzzing with positive energy.
In the past six months, Whitelaw – coordinator of Cornwall Gleaning Network – has helped rescue 100 tonnes of surplus, discarded and wonky vegetables from fields and farms.
Food that would otherwise be destined for waste disposal or abandoned to rot in the ground has been gifted to food banks, soup kitchens, refuges and community larders. And with gleaning’s appeal stretching far beyond Cornwall, leftovers – in the freshest sense of the word – are landing on dinner plates up and down the country.
“Gleaning is rewarding,” says Whitelaw. “People are getting the freshest veg literally straight from the fields – fresher than anything you can get in a supermarket and without a plastic bag in sight.”
The practice has seen an explosion of interest in recent years, and there are now 25 gleaning groups across England, from Penzance to Newcastle upon Tyne, up from just five in 2017. It’s perhaps no coincidence that this renaissance has coincided with an unprecedented hike in the cost of living, with one in 10 Britons now struggling to afford to eat, according to food waste charity FareShare.
This kind of community-driven, grassroots social welfare is nothing new. Gleaning leftover crops as a means of feeding the poor has a long history going all the way back to biblical times.
This Group Has Rerouted 250 Million Pounds of Food From Landfills to Feed People in Need
A Los Angeles-based non-profit is helping reroute perishing produce to communities in need of more fresh fruits and veggies all over the country.
A combination of inflationary governmental fiscal policy and the centrally-planned response to COVID-19 has really damaged the ability of rural or food-desert-based communities to buy fresh produce.
Since 2009, Food Forward has rerouted 250 million pounds of food from landfills and delivered over a billion servings of fresh produce to food insecure communities.
Based in Southern California, Food Forward have mastered the logistical challenge of rerouting produce destined for landfills to communities that need it. SoCal is both the largest exporter and importer of produce in the country, making them perfectly placed.
From its refrigerated food distribution center in south east LA, the group works with 350 direct partners coordinating food donations, which have so far made it out to 12 California counties, six other states, and two Tribal nations.
“We understood workflows well enough, we understood efficiencies, we understood the network and how food flows through the L.A. area, the contiguous county, and the region,” CEO Rick Nahmias told Civileats.
Man is Reunited With Sentimental Ring From Mom–After Losing it Picking Berries 50 Years Ago
A man has been reunited with a ring he lost while picking fruit over 50 years ago.
It was gifted by his late mother for his 21st birthday, but slipped off his finger as he picked strawberries in 1968.
Retired train engineer Dave Radley spent several distraught hours trying to locate the ring among the rows of bushes.
He was picking strawberries in the field behind a friend’s father’s house to sell that morning when he suddenly realized the ring was no longer on his finger. He had received the 9 carat gold ring as a present just weeks before, but the fit wasn’t quite right.
In a stroke of luck, last month a metal detectorist who received a tip from the land-owner about the lost ring made the discovery.
54 years after the signet ring ran off, Dave got a call from his friend’s brother Peter who still owns the land. A metal detectorist working for Peter asked if he could detect in the very same field where the item had been lost, to which Peter agreed and informed him about the missing ring.
It was found seven inches deep in the ground with only one slight scratch ready to be polished out, and Dave went to collect it from Leicestershire later that week.
“The ring might not have changed but its owner has—so it’s a fairly tight fit,” Radley said. “I’ve had to have it changed slightly as I can just about get it on. But none of that matters because I’m so grateful to have it back”.
“My family wasn’t too well off in those days and I spent hours searching for it on the rows we had been. My mother wasn’t upset with me, just more upset because of how distraught I was.”
“When I got the call from Peter I couldn’t quite believe it—the joy I felt in that moment is indescribable.”
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