WORLD NEWS
Man Arrested for Facebook Post That ‘Caused Anxiety’
A man in the U.K. was arrested and charged after a Facebook post “caused someone anxiety.” He was offered to have the charges reduced if he paid for and completed an inclusivity course
It seems common sense that on a platform where 2 billion people from around the world post thoughts and ideas, there will be things you don’t agree with. Yet, it appears that common sense is not being used when police are sent to arrest you for free speech
The U.K.’s Online Safety Bill seeks a “breathtaking” scope of power with limited judicial or parliamentary oversight; a powerful Washington think tank applauds this effort to protect free speech by limiting speech and wants it in the U.S.
The U.K. calls this removal of “lawful but harmful” content, which is another step in the removal of freedoms that is supported in part by those who have been compromised through motivated reasoning and have given in to mass formation
The global censorship and lockstep actions taken across the globe are in part coordinated through one company using strategies initially created by the tobacco industry. It is essential to know and understand how the Great Reset is coordinated in the effort to defeat this real threat to your freedom and livelihood
The first public signs that something was gravely amiss came with a flicker of activity in the House of Commons chamber as Liz Truss announced her energy price freeze.
It was a sign that the situation could be more serious than the careful words from Buckingham Palace suggested. The House of Commons had never been interrupted to hear news of the Queen’s health in this manner before.
The prime minister had finished her opening remarks and was seated on the frontbench next to the chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng. The Labour leader, Keir Starmer was in the middle of his response.
But MPs were distracted by the appearance of the new chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, Nadhim Zahawi, who had not been in the chamber for Truss’s speech. He slipped into the chamber and inserted himself between Kwarteng and Truss to speak to the prime minister, handing her a note, and then slipped out again.
Eagle-eyed MPs began to whisper to each other, wondering what was going on. It is not uncommon for ministers and MPs to pass notes to each other in the chamber or to help out with figures or responses to questions. But Truss had finished speaking. Zahawi returned to her side after a couple of minutes.
European Union Wants Mandatory Energy Rationing to “flatten the curve”
“During peak demand, the expensive gas comes into the market. So, what we have to do is flatten the curve to avoid the peak demands,” EU president Ursula von der Leyen said. “We will propose a mandatory target for reducing electricity use at peak hours, and we will work very closely with the member states to achieve this.”
“These are tough times, and they’re not over soon, but I am convinced that Europeans have the economic strength, the political will and unity to keep the upper hand.”
Von der Leyen used the infamous COVID expression “flatten the curve” when describing how to tackle energy challenges created by Russian manipulation, climate change and insufficient nuclear energy.
“Smart-saving of electricity” will be implemented right away to limit the amount of electricity people can use during peak hours. It’s anyone’s guess how long these measures will be in place, but Shell predicted that gas shortages for Europeans will continue for years to come.
Some citizens in European countries have already started cutting back as energy prices explode. For example, stores in Italy are resorting to turning off their lights and opting for candlelight due to the massive increase in energy bills. Some Italian stores removed food items that require cold storage because it costs too much to power refrigerators.
In Scotland, demonstrators are burning energy bills to protest an 80% price cap increase on annual energy bills.
In a video, demonstrators toss their energy bills into burning barrels in the middle of the street while a crowd of supporters cheer them on. The demonstrators break out in song, “the bills are on fire.”
Citizens in these countries may have more dark days to come, with the European Union president now suggesting rationing their energy altogether.
Dutch Farmers Protests Lead to Agriculture Minister of Climate Change’s Resignation
The Netherlands’ agricultural minister Henk Staghouwer has been forced to resign following widespread protests from Dutch farmers over his radical climate agenda that seeks to destroy their livelihoods.
Staghouwer was leading the Dutch agriculture ministry’s climate policy that involved confiscating farms in a forced government buy-out scheme.
In the wake of the huge protests from farmers, Staghouwer has now been forced to step down.
He told the Dutch cabinet that pushback from farmers had meant he would not be able to meet a September deadline for rolling out the government’s radical green policy, the AP reported.
The climate agenda involves cutting nitrogen emissions from the nation’s farming sector to the point where it made it impossible for farms to continue operating.
The initiative includes a $24.2 billion scheme to buy out local farmers and facilitate the transition away from intensive farming practices.
The push provoked mass demonstrations by farmers across the continent.
“Farmers and fishermen need certainty,” Staghouwer said in a statement to his ministry Monday evening, NL Times reported.
The farming sector faced a massive upheaval due to emissions reduction goals, he added.
In July, over 40,000 farmers took to the streets in protest of the policy, blocking roads with tractors and defacing government officials’ homes.
Sympathizers elsewhere in Europe staged protests in solidarity with the Dutch farmers, arguing that such a policy is counterproductive amid highly elevated inflation levels and food shortages.
“I asked myself the question, ‘Am I the right person as Minister of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality to lead the tasks that lie ahead?’,” Staghouwer said after nine months in office, according to NL Times.
“Last weekend, I came to the conclusion that I am not that person.”
Staghouwer said he required more time to develop proposals for a future sustainable agriculture industry ahead of the government’s budget formation earlier on Monday.
He added that he wanted to wait until ongoing talks between his office and industry representatives had come to a conclusion, NL Times reported.
Staghouwer faced criticism from the parliament for failing to develop a concrete plan to help the sector transition to farming practices that lower nitrogen emissions, according to DutchNews.nl.
Officials within his department also resisted plans to revamp the farming industry.
U.S. NEWS, POLITICS & GOVERNMENT
National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan says it’s possible Beijing could try to take over Taiwan by force
There is a “distinct threat” that China could attempt to seize Taiwan by military means, a top US official has warned.
Appearing on ‘The David Rubenstein Show: Peer-to-Peer Conversations’ on Bloomberg TV, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said: “I think it remains a distinct threat that there could be a military contingency around Taiwan.” He added the leadership in Beijing has “actually stated as official policy that it is not taking the invasion of Taiwan off the table.”
Sullivan also revealed that he would meet congressional leaders on Wednesday to advocate a bill that, if passed, would see US policy toward the self-governing island change. Among other things, he proposes designating Taiwan as one of America’s major non-NATO allies. The bill also calls for the allocation of $4.5 billion in security aid for Taipei.
Steve Bannon arrives at court to surrender
Steve Bannon arrived at a New York court on Thursday. He’s expected to surrender on charges that he duped donors who gave money to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border
Senate to vote on same-sex marriage in coming weeks
Majority Leader Chuck Schumer vowed Wednesday that the Senate will vote on legislation to protect same-sex marriage “in the coming weeks” as a bipartisan group backing the bill negotiates changes to gain more Republican support.
The vote, expected by the end of the month, comes as Democrats and a small group of Republicans are moving to safeguard same-sex marriage following the Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade and the federal right to an abortion. Lawmakers fear the court’s ruling, and a concurring opinion from Justice Clarence Thomas, indicate that an earlier high court decision protecting same-sex marriage could come under threat.
“We all want to pass this quickly,” Schumer said. “I hope there will be 10 Republicans to support it.”
A bipartisan group of senators, led by Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, is working to round up those ten GOP votes needed to overcome a filibuster and get the legislation through the 50-50 Senate.
>> Related: Ted Cruz says he will vote against bill to codify same-sex marriage protections
Surprise! You won’t believe what Biden is putting inside vending machines
‘Harm reduction kiosks’ may do the opposite of their stated purpose
Much like the argument back in the day that kids would experiment no matter what, so they needed to be taught “sex education,” the administration of Joe Biden is suggesting harmful behavior will happen anyway, so it wants “harm reduction” kiosks to provide various items like drug needles.
It is the Washington Free Beacon that is reporting the Biden administration is spending $3.6 million “to deploy vending machines filled with drug supplies in rural Kentucky.”
The goal is to “reduce stigma for drug users,” the report explains.
The report explained it is the work of the National Institutes of Health and will assess the “effectiveness of ‘harm reduction kiosks,'” that have “injection equipment, naloxone, fentanyl test strips, hygiene kits, condoms, and other supplies.”
The National Institutes of Health, in fact, said the goal is to reduce “harms” related to drug use, overdoses, hepatitis C, “and to imminent HIV outbreaks.”
“Our research has shown that the region has high rates of HCV, overdose, injection drug use, condomless sex, and dense risk networks that could kindle an HIV outbreak,” the federal bureaucracy said in its announcement.
Ex-FBI Boss Says FBI Trump Search Warrant Could Be ‘Suppressed’
A former top FBI official said the warrant used to search former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence may be thrown out due to its scope.
On Monday, a federal judged sided with Trump’s lawyers and issued an order approving a special master, or a neutral third-party, to review and take control of materials that were seized from Mar-a-Lago on Aug. 8.
“I think the government would be concerned … there’s concern that the search warrant itself was overly broad from the get-go,” former top FBI counterintelligence official Kevin Brock said in a Tuesday interview, noting that the warrant allowed for the government to look for every document that was generated during Trump’s tenure as president.
“That just seems too inexcusably overbroad,” Brock told Just the News. “Now there’s indications that they (the FBI) collected much more than they were authorized to collect.”
Brock, who was promoted by former FBI Director Robert Mueller in 2004, then suggested that because of its scope, the warrant “could be suppressed … and they would lose access to anything that was collected throughout the search as a fruit of the poisonous tree.”
Historically, Brock said FBI searches are based on warrants that are not “overly broad” and specify “what parts of the residence [that] can be searched.”
“You can only search those things where it’s reasonably expected you would find the type of evidence that you are looking for,” he continued to say in the interview.
A probable cause affidavit—that was heavily redacted by the Department of Justice—shows prosecutors believed there were classified materials inside Mar-a-Lago. The legal document, which was used to obtain the search warrant, was released last month.
The warrant shows that Trump is under investigation for possible Espionage Act violations and obstruction of justice. Trump has said the raid was politically motivated and designed to hurt his chances if he decides to again run for president.
Biden Admin Bars Construction of ‘Advanced’ Semiconductor Factories in China for 10 Years
The Biden administration announced this week that technology companies that receive funds from the $280 billion CHIPS and Science Act will be barred from building advanced facilities in China for a period of 10 years.
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo announced the rule during a Sep. 6 press conference, framing it as an important step for safeguarding national security.
“Companies who receive [CHIPS] funds can’t build leading-edge or advanced technology facilities in China for a period of 10 years,” Raimondo said. “Companies who receive the money can only expand their mature node factories in China to serve the Chinese market.
“We’re also going to be implementing the guardrails to ensure those who receive CHIPS funds cannot compromise national security. They’re not allowed to use this money to invest in China. They can’t develop leading-edge technologies in China. They can’t send latest technology overseas.”
U.S. President Joe Biden signed the CHIPS legislation in August. The spending legislation aims to kickstart a domestic base for semiconductor manufacturing and research.
The United States, like much of the world, is currently dependent on Taiwan and China for nearly all of its semiconductor manufacturing needs. This presents a problem, as the chips are required for innumerable modern technologies ranging from consumer vehicles to hypersonic missiles.
The reliance on overseas supply chains, combined with an increasingly antagonistic Sino–U.S. relationship and the ramifications of numerous COVID-19 policies, created a global microchip shortage that has pushed demand and prices up drastically for related technologies.
U.S. intelligence agencies have also stated that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which rules China as a single-party state, is engaged in a broad campaign to acquire advanced U.S. technologies through espionage and business deals.
Likewise, a report from Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology states that the CCP’s military wing is using advanced U.S. semiconductors to train its own artificial intelligence.
Raimondo’s comments are thus likely to alleviate some concerns that tech corporations might use CHIPS monies as a slush fund to design advanced chips in the United States, which they could then outsource to China for manufacturing.
“If they take the money, they can’t use the money to invest in China, they can’t build a leading-edge fab in China for a period of 10 years,” she said. “If they expand their mature node factories in China, it’s only to serve the Chinese market.
“And, by the way, if they take money and then do any of those things, we’ll claw back the money.”
Grassley Optimistic About GOP Flipping Senate After Gloomy Predictions From McConnell
Senate Judiciary Ranking Member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) suggested in a recent interview that he disagrees with past statements by GOP leadership downplaying Republican prospects in the 2022 midterms.
Currently, members of both parties are preparing for a tough battle as Democrats seek to hold on to a slim majority in the evenly-divided Senate and Republicans seek to retake the chamber after a two-year stint in the minority. Though 34 seats are up for reelection, only a few are in play, and observers remain divided on who will emerge with the majority after the midterms.
However, in a statement that caused a rift in the Republican Party, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) suggested some pessimism over his party’s prospects at the end of August, saying the GOP only has a “50-50” chance of retaking the majority.
“Flipping the Senate, what are the chances? It’s a 50–50 proposition. We’ve got a 50–50 Senate right now. We’ve got a 50–50 nation. And I think the outcome is likely to be very, very close either way,” McConnell told the Georgetown/Scott County Chamber of Commerce in Kentucky when asked about the race.
“If both the House and the Senate flip, I think the president will be a moderate,” McConnell said. “He won’t have any choice. And so, we’ll try to find ways to make some progress for the country during the last two years of his term … but not big dramatic change.”
Those comments came a week after he made a more dire prediction to local media by saying Republicans aren’t likely to take the Senate. He blamed “candidate quality” as the reason for the lowered expectations.
Following the statement, Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.)—chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), the top Senate GOP electioneering and fundraising group—blasted back in a statement that some have suggested was a direct response to McConnell, although Scott has denied this.
In an op-ed for the Washington Examiner, Scott decried “treasonous” Republicans for “trash-talking” Senate GOP candidates.
The piece was seen as the latest in a series of squabbles between McConnell and Scott, two of the most important Republicans planning the Senate GOP strategy in 2022.
Wells Fargo, Target, CitiBank, Hewlett-Packard Sponsor Child Drag Performances
Wells Fargo, Target, Hewlett-Packard, and CitiBank are sponsoring an event in Boise, Idaho, that will feature child drag performers.
The Boise Pride Festival will have an event called “Drag Kids on Stage.” The description reads, “You have watched the queens and kings, now it’s time to see the kids.”
It goes on to call the performances “a drag show like none other” and notes that those between the ages of 11 and 18 will be performing.
“Come and cheer them on as they bring drag to the younger generation,” the description reads. The festival will also include a drag queen story hour and will host at least four different events with drag performers.
The Boise Pride Festival, which takes place September 9-11, is sponsored by several notable companies, including Wells Fargo, Target, Hewlett-Packard, and CitiBank.
County Official in Nevada Arrested in Connection With Murder of Las Vegas Reporter: Report
Police officers have arrested a county official in Nevada in connection to the recent murder of a Las Vegas Review-Journal investigative reporter who had written articles about the official, the newspaper reported.
The murdered reporter, Jeff German, was found dead outside his home on Sept. 3. He died of “multiple sharp force injuries” in a homicide, the Clark County Office of the Coroner/Medical Examiner said on Sept. 4. Police said at the time that German appeared to have been in an altercation with another person prior to the stabbing.
Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo told the Las Vegas Review-Journal around 6:30 p.m. local time on Sept. 7 that Telles had been arrested.
The newspaper reported that shortly before Lombardo’s confirmation, police in tactical gear had surrounded Telles’ home, and about 30 minutes later, Telles was wheeled out of his home on a stretcher and was loaded into an ambulance.
The arrest comes after officers executed search warrants on Telles’ residence earlier in the day. Local outlets reported that a home at which officers were seen belongs to Telles. The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department confirmed to The Epoch Times the execution of warrants were related to German’s murder.
John Fetterman to Debate Mehmet Oz After Newspaper Questions His Ability to Serve as US Senator
Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, the Democratic nominee in the state’s high-profile U.S. Senate contest, on Wednesday said he’ll debate Republican rival Mehmet Oz after a Pennsylvania newspaper questioned if he was not fit enough for office.
Fetterman has previously said he would not take part in a suggested early September debate, citing his ongoing recovery from a stroke in May and offense at a statement by Oz’s campaign which, in an apparent mocking tone, alluded to the Democrat’s health.
Oz’s campaign offered to make concessions for Fetterman in a bid to entice him to agree to a debate, among which included allowing him to read from notes, have extra time, and have standby medical help.
“We’re absolutely going to debate Dr. Oz, and that was really always our intent to do that. It was just simply only ever been about addressing some of the lingering issues of the stroke, the auditory processing, and we’re going to be able to work that out,” Fetterman said in an exclusive interview with Politico.
Fetterman noted that his team was “exploring” using closed captioning to aid his hearing, which has been a recurring issue since he rejoined the campaign trail in August after his stroke in May.
“I have every ability to talk about all of these issues and have a full debate. And that’s really just the one lingering issue of the stroke—that some of my hearing was damaged a little bit, but it’s continuing to get better and better and better every day.
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
Bed Bath & Beyond CFO Dogged by Investor Lawsuit Prior to Suicide
Gustavo Arnal, the CFO and executive VP, of the retailer Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY), committed suicide by jumping to his death on Sept. 2, from his TriBeCa apartment known as the “Jenga Building”.
Arnal joined BBBY in 2020 after previously working as the CFO for cosmetics giant Avon in London with a 20-year overseas career working for Procter & Gamble and Walgreen Boots Alliance.
The CFO received more than $2.9 million as an executive at Bed Bath & Beyond in 2021, including $775,000 in salary and the rest in purchases and sales of the company’s stock, according to InsiderTrades.com.
“The entire Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. organization is profoundly saddened by this shocking loss,” the company said in a Sept. 4 statement.
The home goods retailer has been undergoing recent trouble after a key investor pulled out in mid-August, leaving it on the verge of bankruptcy and a major restructuring, as well as with a legal controversy.
The retailer’s CEO, Mark Tritton, was fired in June after two consecutive quarters of poor performance.
Chief Operating Officer John Hartmann was also fired last week, after the announcement of a major restructuring plan at the New Jersey-based company that will involve the closing of 150 stores, the laying off of 20 percent of its employees, and a potential stock offering to raise revenue.
At the time of his death, Arnal was named in a recent $1.2 billion “pump-and-dump” class-action lawsuit against him and others in the District of Columbia for stock fraud, after allegedly inflating the company’s price, reported The Daily Mail.
Average US Homes Selling Below Listed Price as Market Slowdown Continues
The average American home is now selling below its asking price for the first time since March 2021, according to data from online brokerage Redfin.
According to Redfin, the average sale-to-list price ratio fell to 99.8 percent in the four-week period ended Aug. 28—the first time it was below 100 percent in almost 18 months.
The number of listings showing a price drop remained the same from the prior four-week period at 7.5 percent.
The median home sale price was $370,000, up 6 percent year over year, according to the report.
Redfin said that some home prices have fallen 6 percent from the record high of $393,725 that hit during the four-week period ending June 19.
From 2020 to 2022, a pandemic-induced housing boom led to intense bidding wars between homebuyers, causing housing prices to skyrocket, as people bought up the limited supply of available homes, which partially led to the current shortages.
Since March, the Federal Reserve has been attempting to curb 40-year high inflation by raising benchmark interest rates, leading to a jump in mortgage rates and an end to the housing boom.
It is widely expected that Fed will push for further rate hikes after its policy meeting in September.
The rise in mortgage rates over the past several months have made housing less affordable, pushing many first-time buyers out of the market, while forcing sellers to lower their prices.
As a result, many homeowners have seen a decline in the value of their homes as the U.S. housing market slumped, causing a decline in their wealth, according to a July report (pdf) from mortgage analytics firm Black Knight.
Sales of new homes in July slid to their slowest rate since early 2016 as buyer demand imploded, while the supply of homes grew as available inventory recovered due to low sales.
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
The Continued Unraveling of Mark Zuckerberg’s Malicious Metaverse
What is best in life?
Being right about another man’s failures. Watching his allies abandon him. And hearing the lamentations of his shareholders.
Call me the world’s happiest cynic, then, because when I predicted the utter and catastrophic failure of Facebook’s rebranding as “Meta” starting less than a year ago, I genuinely didn’t think it would all unravel as quickly and ignominiously as it has. Horizon Worlds, Meta’s intended metaverse, went live in December and, my god, it has been downhill from there.
The good news is that we’re getting a lot of free entertainment out of Mark Zuckerberg’s attempts to be “the face” of this dead-end transition, and the past few weeks have seen some real highlights, culminating with a transcendently embarrassing appearance on Joe Rogan’s podcast last week. Zuck and his marketing team are still seemingly in thrall to the Meta CEO’s former status as a Silicon Valley wunderkind, evidently blinding them to his nearly supernatural lack of personal appeal.
he results are frequently, in a word, delicious for a hater like me. And while the sizzle comes in the form of incredible public relations embarrassments, after that comes the steak: Facebook’s pivot to Meta is crashing and burning as a material business proposition with astonishing rapidity.
The past few weeks have been particularly brutal for Zuckerberg’s grand ambition to create a Second Life mod in which everyone is a double amputee. The current (far from first) wave of embarrassing flubs kicked off on August 17 when Zuckerberg posted a “selfie” from Meta’s Horizon World’s rollout in France. As pretty much everyone was happy to point out, it looked embarrassingly bad – not just like a game built to roughly 2007 levels of detail and immersion, but like one without the slightest spark of design creativity.
Uncreative, passive, pointless
This lack of creative juice can’t be overemphasized. There are genuine technological limits to the graphical fidelity and avatar-tracking that’s possible in an immersive virtual reality (VR) environment, but Horizon Worlds could have done a lot better within those limits. Compare its aggressively bland corporate vibe to the spectacularly colorful Minecraft-inspired voxels of The Sandbox (which has an alpha season open right now, FYI).
That comes down substantially to business models. Blockchain-backed metaverse projects like Sandbox and Decentraland are gratifyingly weird and quirky in part because they’re fairly chaotic organizations answering to a lot of stakeholders. But Zuckerberg has effectively total control of Meta, and the emptiness inside of him is written across every pixel of his creation.
Zuckerberg followed up with an even less-realistic simulation, when he last week appeared on an episode of the “Joe Rogan Experience” as an uncanny mimic of Rogan’s martial-arts loving, red-meat fanbase. Bloomberg’s Max Chafkin has a definitive read on this one, but in a nutshell Zuckerberg made the case that virtual reality will make you more of an ass-kicking alpha, compared to the “beta” passivity of watching television.
This is hilarious for at least three reasons. First, sitting inside staring at screens will never make you more vigorous – for god’s sake, touch grass. Second, Zuckerberg himself has already spread more hormone-sapping passivity in the world than maybe any other single person via Facebook and Instagram. And third, on a personal level, it’s hard to think of a less-convincing pitchman than the eternally affectless-to-miserable Zuck for any supposed shortcut to leading a more fulfilling human life.
A real business?
But this is all just theater and window dressing, however gobsmackingly inane. The real question is how Meta’s Reality Labs is doing as a business. And the answer is … surprisingly, maybe, better than you think! But still pretty rotten once you scratch the surface.
You see, it turns out that Meta actually sold a whole lot of its Oculus Quest 2 headsets over the 2021 holiday season, with app installs suggesting about 2 million new units activated over a two-week period. For comparison, a little over 20 million total Playstation 5 consoles and 15 million Xbox Series X units have sold in the past two years.
But that comparison itself is a problem for Zuckerberg’s real goals: If the Quest or successor units are successful as video game consoles, they’re probably still a failure. You see, the units are almost certainly being sold at a big loss. This more or less affirms that the long-term business model is the same kind of data harvesting and ad monetization that Facebook and Instagram run on.
That means Zuckerberg doesn’t actually want you using the headset for playing Superhot VR, he wants you in Horizon Worlds specifically, having the kind of data-rich social interactions that he can use to spy on your tastes, habits and network, then nudge you into clicking on advertisements.
More States Move Toward Banning Gas-Powered Vehicles
Seventeen states follow California’s rigid vehicle emission requirements instead of federal standards, and now they’re considering following California’s lead in its gas-powered vehicle ban.
Indeed, Oregon said it’ll update its Advanced Clean Cars II law proposal to include a gas-powered vehicle ban in 2035.
And Washington said it would adopt a version of California’s rule by year’s end.
In Sep. 2021, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) signed Senate Bill S2758, which effectively banned gas-powered vehicle sales by implementing a “zero-emission” in-state sales goal of 100 percent by 2035.
New York will likely institute an outright ban soon.
Further, other states have so-called trigger laws that require them to adopt the same emission regulations as California’s—even if they disagree with the requirements.
My Son Hunter’ Customer Surge Temporarily Disrupts Site on Opening Day, Now Restored
A surge of user activity temporarily halted access MySonHunter.com this morning as thousands simultaneously tried to access the film Wednesday morning.
“We’ve never seen anything like it,” said Elizabeth Moore, Breitbart V.P. of comms. “Our customer service team thankfully was able to restore service promptly to keep up with the avalanche of movie purchases.”
This is the bombshell story about Hunter Biden’s “Laptop from Hell” that the establishment media and its Big Tech censors did not want the American public to see during the 2020 election–and the left’s reception to My Son Hunter shows that they still don’t want this story seen. It’s not hard to see why.
My Son Hunter puts the lens squarely on Hunter Biden, his corrupt business dealings, his relationship with his father, and a lifestyle that would make rock stars jealous. But through the haze of a crack pipe and above the din of the parties and the outbursts, somewhere lies the truth.
A poll conducted after the election found that 17 percent of Biden voters would not have voted for him if they had known about the “Laptop from Hell.” Even now, two years later, 63 percent of likely voters still believe the laptop story is important, according to a recent poll.
Exclusive — Sen. Thom Tillis Opposes Media Cartel Creation Plan
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) will oppose the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (JCPA), his spokesman confirmed to Breitbart News on Wednesday afternoon.
The JCPA is a plan that proponents argue would allow media outlets to collectively bargain to make Big Tech companies pay for content on their platforms, but in reality would allow the creation of media cartels that critics worry would disproportionately advantage establishment media and hurt conservative media. The bill’s lead sponsor is Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), a Democrat from Minnesota who ran for president in 2020 but lost in the primary to now-President Joe Biden.
HEALTH
Are You Hungry Or Just Thirsty? How To Decode Sneaky Hunger Cues
Ah, the age old question: Am I hungry, or just thirsty? We’re always told to listen to our bodies, but let’s be honest, sometimes it can be difficult to understand exactly what it’s trying to tell us—especially if you’re feeling weak, shaky, and downright irritable. It certainly doesn’t help that hunger and dehydration share some key markers, making it increasingly tricky to know exactly what you need to feel better.
Interestingly enough, hunger and thirst cues originate from the same area of the brain, but there are some helpful ways to decode your hunger and better understand what your body is actually asking for.
Common hunger cues.
If you’re feeling irrationally frustrated and easily irritated, there’s a good chance you’re hungry. Or, at the very least, according to functional medicine practitioner and NYT bestselling author Will Cole, D.C., burning through sugar quickly. “Many people I’ve worked with feel hangry and irritable if they go a few hours without eating,” he notes. “They often describe other frustrating side effects like fatigue, insatiable cravings, and brain fog.”
Take this as a sign to grab something to eat—Cole suggests adding foods with healthy fat into your diet to provide your body with more fuel to burn through.
Low Energy
If it’s been a while since you last ate, there’s a good chance you’ll experience a significant drop in energy, signaling it may be time to grab a snack. Especially if you got a good night’s sleep, this dip in energy could be a telltale sign that your body is asking for food.
It’s also important to note that a high-carb meal may cause a blood sugar spike, followed by a subsequent crash, which could also be the culprit: “When these insulin levels peak after eating, this can lead to a crash in our blood sugars—leading, understandably, to that all-too-familiar post-lunch slump—a foggy brain and tired body,” says Uma Naidoo, M.D., nutritional psychiatrist, professional chef, nutrition specialist, and author.
It’s ultimately key to take a look at your day up until that point—did you eat a meal or drink water recently? Even if the answer is yes, was your meal small or high in sugar? These are signs you may still need some more nutritious fuel (ideally with a balance of protein, healthy fats, and fiber), even if it hasn’t been long since you last ate.
Other signs of a low blood sugar.
- Shakiness
- Feeling faint
- Lightheadedness
- Rapid increased thirst
- Brain fog and/or confusion
- Sweating
- Anxiety
- Rapid heart rate
Signs you might be thirsty.
Headache
This one can be a little more difficult to differentiate, since a headache may be caused by both hunger and thirst.
It’s common to get a headache when your body needs some water. “When we are dehydrated, we have less volume inside our vessels, and flow of blood is more difficult, especially against gravity up into the head,” board-certified neurologist Ilene Ruhoy, M.D., Ph.D., previously told mbg.
As for hunger, low blood sugar might mean your brain isn’t getting the energy it needs from food, and can lead to headaches. These type of headaches may also come with other side effects, like nausea or dizziness. It’s also important to keep in mind that if you just ate a carbohydrate-rich meal (particularly a high-glycemic one), you may experience a blood sugar spike, which could also trigger headaches. So remember to opt for a balanced, nutritious meal with healthy fats, fiber, and protein to minimize this spike.
Keep these factors in mind when you’re trying to determine whether food or a beverage would help with that nasty headache. When in doubt, opt for a big glass of water and a well-balanced snack.
Other signs of thirst
If you’re feeling thirsty, chance are your body is already mildly dehydrated. “This is especially true if you’re feeling extreme thirst,” Maya Feller, M.S., R.D., CDN previously shared with mbg. In addition to the aforementioned headaches, some other signs of dehydration may include:
- Urine color: Pale yellow is the ideal urine color—anything darker generally indicates dehydration.
- Frequent urination (also a darker yellow)
- Muscle cramps, spasms, or twitching
- Fatigue
- Dry mouth
The takeaway.
Actually listening to your body is easier said than done, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try. It’s also important to acknowledge that everyone’s body is different—so tuning in and understanding your own unique hunger and thirst cues will allow you to be adequately nourished and generally feel better throughout the day. It’s always a good idea to be more intentional about sipping on water throughout the day, to remove the possibility of dehydration from the table and create a clear path of communication with yourself.
In Rare Reversal, FDA Panel Recommends Experimental ALS Drug
Amylyx Pharmaceuticals Inc’s drug for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) on Wednesday secured the support of external advisers to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, months after the panel rejected it over issues with trial data.
In a rare second meeting, the FDA panel voted 7 to 2 in favor of the oral drug, AMX0035, citing the unmet need for more treatments against the fatal neurodegenerative condition commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.
The panel in March declined to recommend FDA approval for AMX0035, blaming a lack of “substantially persuasive” data from a mid-stage trial showing the drug’s effectiveness against ALS.
Since then, however, the company has provided new analyzes estimating AMX0035 could extend life expectancy by nearly 10 months compared with placebo, along with biomarker data from a study in Alzheimer’s disease. That prompted the FDA to defer its decision.
What Makes Most Foods so Dangerous
Toxicity in food comes from several sources. Toxic influences during the plants’ growth phase include phosphate fertilizer (which has a radioactive component), waste sludge and glyphosate
Up to 90% of the phosphorous is lost through the supply chain from mining to final fertilizer, and the losses are poorly documented, making it difficult to improve efficiency and prevent losses — which ultimately end up as pollution
Phosphate contains a radioactive element, polonium-210, which may be taken up by the plant, raising unanswered questions about food safety
Glyphosate was identified as a probable human carcinogen in 2015 and has been linked to a wide range of possible health problems. Glyphosate is also a phosphate source, adding to the phosphorous loading of soil and water
Sewage sludge (aka biosolids), used as an inexpensive and readily available fertilizer, contains industrial waste, heavy metals and PFAS chemicals linked to cancer and organ damage
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
EXCLUSIVE: Former Greenpeace Founder Patrick Moore Says Climate Change Based on False Narratives
Prominent scientist backs up claim that there is ‘no climate emergency’
Patrick Moore, one of the founders of Greenpeace, said in an email obtained by The Epoch Times that his reasons for leaving Greenpeace were very clear: “Greenpeace was ‘hijacked’ by the political left when they realized there was money and power in the environmental movement. [Left-leaning] political activists in North America and Europe changed Greenpeace from a science-based organization to a political fundraising organization,” Moore said.
Moore left Greenpeace in 1986, 15 years after he co-founded the organization.
“The ‘environmental’ movement has become more of a political movement than an environmental movement,” he said. “They are primarily focused on creating narratives, stories, that are designed to instill fear and guilt into the public so the public will send them money.”
He said they mainly operate behind closed doors with other political operatives at the U.N., World Economic Forum, and so on, all of which are primarily political in nature.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [IPCC] is “not a science organization,” he said. “It is a political organization composed of the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environment Program.
“The IPCC hires scientists to provide them with ‘information’ that supports the ‘climate emergency’ narrative.
Their campaigns against fossil fuels, nuclear energy, CO2, plastic, etc., are misguided and designed to make people think the world will come to an end unless we cripple our civilization and destroy our economy. They are now a negative influence on the future of both the environment and human civilization.”
“Today, the left has adopted many policies that would be very destructive to civilization as they are not technically achievable. Only look at the looming energy crisis in Europe and the UK, which Putin is taking advantage of. But it is of their own making in refusing to develop their own natural gas resources, opposing nuclear energy, and adopting an impossible position on fossil fuels in general,” Moore wrote.
GARDENING, FARMING & HOMESTEADING
SIPs and Steel Framing Well-matched for Design, Energy Efficiency
While Enercept’s Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs) are primarily thought of as an alternative to traditional stick-built buildings, they provide effective solutions for steel frame construction too. Stand-alone buildings, strip malls, churches and even very large structures such as casinos, cold storage, factories, community centers or gymnasiums can benefit from utilizing SIPs.
SIPs work well in long spans and have high shear and diaphragm values, making them especially helpful when creating large, wide-open spaces. Using the panels in conjunction with steel frames means much more design versatility and flexibility.
“SIPs provide steel building engineers the means to produce their best designs. By utilizing the ‘structural’ strength of SIPs, engineers get optimal load resistance for least cost by eliminating redundant (and wasteful) steel components. The bottom line: customers get the most economical, energy efficient, structurally sound building systems,” says Stephen J. Reiners, P.E., SECB, M.NSPE, M.ASCE, M.AWS, EMT with Nebraska-based Behlen Building Systems.
Due to their ease of use, the panels save on labor costs — as much as 55% on a recent project, sources say. The panels fit together easily and afford the structure to be enclosed much earlier in the construction process. Particularly when temperatures are extreme, this means energy savings during the actual construction phase.
Besides the advantages of high strength, design flexibility, and relatively rapid construction, SIPs are a major part of the building’s energy efficiency design. Panels are used as skins over metal structural frames — hung in-between the rigid steel framing or connected to the outside and on top of the roof bracing and purlins as a curtain wall or roof. The large-size panels (up to 8’ x 24’) have fewer gaps, meaning less sealing is required than with other construction methods. They also provide continuous insulation throughout the walls and roof and an air tight, high-performance building envelope, which improves energy efficiency — something not always easy to achieve but often crucial in a building with large, open interior spaces.
Military Parents Face ‘World’s Craziness’ by Plotting Farm to Grow Own Food, Homeschool Their Kids
Two U.S. Army parents from Oregon have taken their lessons from the military and applied them to resourceful living on their own 12-acre farm. As self-proclaimed “all-American homesteaders,” they grow their own food, homeschool their children, and are teaching the whole family to prepare for any eventuality.
Christina Root, 37, is from “all over” but has lived in Oregon the longest. She and her Oregon-born husband, 41-year-old Noah Root, both serve in the Army and are active National Guardsmen. Their children are Everett, 11, Braeden, 8, and Mattis, 4.
“We made the decision in early 2019 that we wanted to move onto land,” Christina told The Epoch Times. “We purchased our farm in summer of 2019. Our 12-acre farm is located just west of Salem, Oregon, in a small town called Independence.”
The family’s homestead comprises two small barns, a coop, and a small garden that provides enough food for their family. Moving just before COVID lockdowns, Christina and Noah were delighted that their kids had a safe place to roam, learn, and play during that long hiatus from normal life.
COVID RELATED NEWS
US Begins Clinical Trial to Test Dosing, Administration of Monkeypox Vaccine
U.S. health authorities announced Thursday they would carry out a clinical trial to test different dosing strategies of the Jynneos monkeypox vaccine, amid uncertainty over its effectiveness.
Scientists Have Recreated World’s Deadliest Flu Virus
Scientists in the U.S. and Canada have resurrected the Spanish flu virus through reverse genetics. Not surprisingly, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Dr. Anthony Fauci’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) are involved
The scientists appear frustrated by the fact that their reverse engineered Spanish flu virus — even at the highest doses tested — was not lethal enough to kill the macaque species selected for the experiment. They argue we need to make a more dangerous version of the Spanish flu to be able to make better vaccines for it. This despite the fact that, until they resurrected it, it no longer existed in nature
The argument that we need to create dangerous viruses “just in case” Nature comes up with something similar, so we can create vaccines for said viruses in advance, simply doesn’t hold water. This is science gone mad, and it must be stopped
Evidence points to SARS-CoV-2 being the product of gain-of-function research, and a number of U.S. institutions need to come clean about their work, including the EcoHealth Alliance (EHA), the University of North Carolina (UNC), the University of California at Davis (UCD), the NIH and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)
All of these agencies and institutions have conducted and/or collaborated on research that may be able to solve the mystery of where SARS-CoV-2 came from. But instead of transparently sharing their data, they’ve merely declared that they’ve “not been involved in any experiments that could have resulted in the emergence of SARS-CoV-2.” Blanket denials are no longer enough. They must produce the data for independent review and analysis
‘We Need More Details’: Fauci Emailed Collins About Chinese Laboratory Before Secret Call
Dr. Anthony Fauci messaged his boss in early 2020 about work done at a Chinese laboratory that received funding from the U.S. government, a newly disclosed email shows.
Dr. Francis Collins, at the time the director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), sent Fauci a preprint study (pdf) from Zhengli Shi, a top researcher at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, a high-level laboratory located in the same city in which the first cases of COVID-19 were reported.
“In case you haven’t seen this preprint from one week ago,” Collins wrote in the email, dated Feb. 1, 2020. “No evidence this work was supported by NIH.”
The email contained passages that were redacted under an exception to a federal transparency law that allows withholding “inter-agency or intra-agency memorandums or letters which would not be available by law to a party other than an agency in litigation with the agency.”
“I did see it, but did not check the similarities. Obviously we need more details,” Fauci told Collins.
Shi had been studying bat coronaviruses, including one called RaTG13. That coronavirus was 96 percent similar to the COVID-19 virus, according to the preprint.
Shi and her lab received funding from the NIH through an intermediary nonprofit called the EcoHealth Alliance.
The new email (pdf) was obtained and released by the nonprofit U.S. Right to Know through a Freedom of Information Act request.
Hours later, both Collins and Fauci joined a private call with top scientists, many of whom later went on to write a paper claiming there was scant evidence that the COVID-19 virus came from the Wuhan lab even though they told Fauci that the virus likely did not have a natural origin.
“It was a very productive back-and-forth conversation where some on the call felt it could possibly be an engineered virus,” Fauci later told USA Today.
Fauci has repeatedly said he thinks the virus started naturally.
Democrat candidates in November races nationwide are seizing on perceived post-Roe repeal momentum to pound away at Republican opponents they say will, whether they admit it or not, ban abortion.
Incumbent Democratic Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak is following that game plan, regularly attacking GOP challenger Joe Lombardo’s pro-life stance as a wedge in a race projected to be among this fall’s tightest gubernatorial contests.
Lombardo, the two-term sheriff of Clark County who, with an endorsement from former President Donald Trump, won May’s 10-candidate GOP primary, has not emphasized abortion on his platform nor while stumping.
Lombardo’s campaign has mostly hammered away on “kitchen-table issues” such as the cost of gas and groceries, “ways to fix the state,” education, and crime.
Just before Labor Day weekend, however, with the final sprint to Election Day set to begin, the Lombardo campaign introduced a new issue it will pursue in the coming weeks: Scandal.
RGA Nevada PAC, an affiliate of the Republican Governors Association (RGA), in an Aug. 31 $2.5 million ad claims Sisolak fast-tracked permits and applications for “a shady COVID testing company that got 96 percent of their test results wrong” on behalf of a campaign donor.
The ad, called ‘Cronyism,’ says it is a “tale of corruption and cronyism that cost lives.”
The claims are based on a May ProPublica investigation into how Chicago-based Northshore Labs rapidly expanded into Nevada in 2020 without the usual licensing process after hiring Greg and Angelo Palivos to “build clientele and manage operations.”
Peter Palivos, their father, has contributed nearly $50,000 to Sisolak campaigns since 2011, including $38,000 for his 2018 gubernatorial campaign, according to ProPublica.
The matter may have gone unnoticed had Northshore’s tests worked, but 96 percent of those used at the University of Nevada at Reno (UNR) and elsewhere did not. The state canceled its contract in March.
CANCEL CULTURE
Judge Bars Official Who Took Part in Jan. 6 From ‘Seeking or Holding’ Office
A judge in New Mexico has barred an official who was convicted for being on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol while it was breached on Jan. 6, 2021, from seeking or holding state or federal office, and removed the official from his position.
State District Court Judge Francis Mathew found that Couy Griffin, an Otero County commissioner, took an oath to support the U.S. Constitution when assuming the position.
Mathew also concluded that the Capitol breach was “an insurrection against the U.S. Constitution” and that Griffin “engaged in” the insurrection when he entered restricted Capitol grounds.
Three New Mexico residents, represented by the Washington-based nonprofit Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics, had asked the court to bar Griffin from holding office.
They pointed to Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which says that no person shall hold a federal or state office if they “having previously taken an oath … to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”
Due to the breach constituting an insurrection and Griffin participating after taking an oath in support of the Constitution, Griffin was disqualified from holding a state or federal office as of the day of the breach, according to the new ruling.
“Mr. Griffin aided the insurrection even though he did not personally engage in violence,” Mathew said. “By joining the mob and trespassing on restricted Capitol grounds, Mr. Griffin contributed to delaying Congress’s election-certification proceedings.”
Griffin, who also founded a group called Cowboys for Trump, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A phone call to the number listed for him on the Otero County website was not answered.
Global Censorship: UN Education Agency Launches War on ‘Conspiracy Theories’
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, better known by its acronym, UNESCO, is escalating its global war on ideas and information it considers to be “misinformation” and “conspiracy theories.”
According to the Paris-based U.N. education agency, which released a major report on the subject for educators this summer, conspiracy theories cause “significant harm” and form “the backbone of many populist movements.”
Among other concerns, conspiracy theories “foster and reinforce harmful thinking patterns and exclusive worldviews,” the report said.
They also “reduce trust in public institutions” and “scientific institutions,” which can drive people to violence or decrease their desire to “reduce their carbon footprint,” UN officials argued in the document.
While “all conspiratorial thinking threatens human rights values,” the document says without elaborating, some conspiracy theories are more dangerous than others.
In some cases, teachers are even encouraged to report their students to authorities.
Examples of “conspiracy theories” cited in the report include everything from widely held and respectable beliefs such as “climate change denial” and “manipulation of federal elections” in the United States, to more far-fetched notions such as the “earth is flat” or “Michelle Obama is actually a lizard.”
“There are plenty of crazy thoughts on the Internet, many of which are patently false,” explained Citizens for Free Speech Director Patrick Wood. “The only thoughts being ‘corrected’ are those contrary to the globalist narrative. This proves that the focus is on protecting their own narratives and nothing else.”
“UNESCO joins a censorship cartel that now includes the European Union, the U.S. government, the World Economic Forum, social media giants like Facebook and Twitter, and notably, Google,” Wood told The Epoch Times. “Anyone who does not parrot the globalist narrative is by default considered to be a ‘conspiracy theorist.’”
At the heart of the global program to combat these ideas and theories are teachers and schools, according to the U.N. agency. Also central is the battle online and in the media, UNESCO documents explain.
The latest strategy was unveiled at UNESCO’s “International Symposium on Addressing Conspiracy Theories through Education.” Held in late June in Brussels, the summit brought together academia, governments, civil society, and the private sector to promote “joint action” against conspiracy theories and those who believe or spread them.
The plan includes strategies to prevent people from believing in conspiracy theories in the first place as well as tools for dealing with those who already believe them.
Several experts on propaganda and free speech, however, warned that the U.N. effort represents a “dangerous” escalation in what they portrayed as a global war on free speech, free expression, questioning official narratives, and dissent more broadly.
“What they mean by ‘conspiracy theory’ is any claim or argument or evidence that differs from the propaganda pumped out by the government and media,” warned New York University Professor of Media Studies Mark Crispin Miller, who studies propaganda and government misinformation.
“I can’t think of anything more dangerous to free speech and free thought—and, therefore, democracy—than this effort by the U.N., which has no business telling us what’s true and what is not,” Miller told The Epoch Times. “That distinction is not theirs to make, but ours, as free people capable of thinking for ourselves, and unafraid of civil argument.”
Lawsuit Grows Against Biden Administration Over Big Tech Censorship Collusion
The New Civil Liberties Alliance (NCLA) represents co-authors of the Great Barrington Declaration Drs. Martin Kulldorff and Jayanta Bhattacharya, as well as Jill Hines and Dr. Aaron Kheriaty, who have now joined the lawsuit filed by the state of Missouri and Louisiana challenging government-directed censorship of opinions that contradicted the government’s narratives on Covid.
Public statements by government officials and recently revealed emails from the DHS and CDC show that the government directed social media companies to censor certain viewpoints on COVID-19, including through threats of legal action.
The censorship came in many forms, including permanent and temporary suspension of accounts, as well as shadow banning, de-monetization of content, warning labels, taking down content, and limiting the spread of content.
According to the NCLA, government-directed censorship is a violation of the First Amendment, which protects free speech. The government is not supposed to decide which voices get heard and which don’t.
“The government may not work through private entities to accomplish censorship that the First Amendment forbids the government from doing directly. Yet that is precisely what these federal defendants have been up to. NCLA is delighted to join forces with these state attorneys-general to reverse this constitutional outrage and restore free speech to the social media platforms that are today’s public square,” NCLA’s president Mark Chenoweth said in a statement.
The organization’s litigation counsel Jenin Younes said, “The Biden Administration’s involvement in silencing the voices of those who have critiqued its responses to Covid-19, through pressure exerted on social media companies, is unprecedented in nature and degree. Two of the plaintiffs, Drs. Bhattacharya and Kulldorff, are among the world’s most renowned epidemiologists, and had crucial insights to share on the flawed reasoning and science underlying lockdowns and mask and vaccine mandates.
Dr. Kheriaty, a professor of medical ethics, and Ms. Hines, a consumer and human rights advocate, also offered thoughtful, reasoned opposition to government-imposed Covid-19 restrictions. The government’s sweeping campaign to suppress the perspectives of the plaintiffs, and others like them, represents the most severe abrogation of the First Amendment in modern times, and we look forward to seeing this constitutional atrocity rectified in a court of law.”
‘Critical Social Justice Is Anti-Semitic at Its Core,’ Says Attorney for Abuse Survivors
A family law attorney representing domestic violence victims at Women Against Abuse (WAA), Nicole Levitt has brought suit against her employer, alleging the nonprofit organization created a racially hostile work environment and censured her for simply raising concerns about anti-Semitism.
Co-author of a paper with David Bernstein and Daniel Newman in 2021 called “How Social Justice Extremists Spawned a Generation of Progressive Anti-Semites,” Levitt believes the social justice training at her workplace is part of a larger movement that is anti-Semitic.
“Critical social justice is anti-Semitic at its core. Why? Because … it divides everything into a binary of black and white, oppressor versus oppressed. And those aren’t categories that Jews fit into,” she said during an interview with EpochTV’s “American Thought Leaders” Program.
“So, discrimination against [Jews], it’s fine. It doesn’t matter. They have power, they have privilege,” Levitt said. “And the end result is there’s a huge argument on Twitter over whether Anne Frank had white privilege.”
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