E-fuels are a type of synthetic methanol produced by a complex process using water, hydrogen and carbon dioxide. Companies say they enable the nearly CO2-neutral operation of gas-powered engines. Vehicles would still need to use oil to lubricate the engine.

In the pilot phase, Porsche expects to produce around 130,000 liters (34,342 U.S. gallons) of the e-fuel. Plans are to expand that to about 55 million liters (14.5 million U.S. gallons) by mid-decade, and around 550 million liters (145.3 million U.S. gallons) roughly two years later

Link

Mandates & Boosters

Court upholds ban on contractor vaccine mandate in 3 states | AP News

Vaccine Nationalism in China

Prime Time Takedown

Trumps claimed negative income in four of six years between 2015 and 2020: report

Climate Change

Witness Testifies Bank Threatened To Withhold Loan If He Didn’t Tweet ‘Climate Change’ Talking Points

Brigham testified that, during a capital raise with Credit Suisse, with whom he claims to have raised over $1 billion with over 15 years, the bank instructed him put out overtly political statements on ESG. Brigham explained that an unidentified bank almost immediately approved him for a loan, while Credit Suisse failed to respond to his loan application.

When he reached out to ask why, Brigham claims a representative at Credit Suisse said the bank might not be able to partner with Brigham, allegedly telling him that “climate change is real and it’s not debatable.”

Link

EU strikes deal to boost carbon market, Europe's biggest climate policy | Reuters

John Oliver, Amy Schumer and more sign diversity pledge for late-night comedy writers – twitchy.com

Ministry of truthiness

The Hidden Body Language of Hand Steepling - Nonverbal Body Language Dictionary

Strep A

Strep is killing kids in UK, vaccine may be to blame? BOTG

Also, I wanted to mention that the outbreak of strep that has killed many children in the UK (and is starting to appear in the US) could be linked to the Flu Mist nasal flu vaccine (I can’t remember if this was mentioned on the show). I’m including several links to studies that show the nasal vaccine increases the presence of strep A in the pharynx of recipients. 🤔

I work in a hospital as a nurse anesthetist but have a side gig doing office-based anesthesia for several oral surgeons. I’m pretty familiar with the process you underwent…I hope all is well, that you’re on the mend, and that your anesthesia provider hooked you up with the top shelf stuff!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Live attenuated influenza vaccine enhances colonization of Streptococcus pneumoniae and Staphylococcus aureus in mice - PubMed

The Effects of Live Attenuated Influenza Vaccine on Nasopharyngeal Bacteria in Healthy 2 to 4 Year Olds. A Randomized Controlled Trial - PubMed

Build the Wall

Forest Service to the bordrer

Hey guys,

I'm a cop for the US Forest Service. Our agency sits toward the top of the list when it comes to emergency support to national emergencies like hurricanes or oil spills--whatever FEMA ends up managing. Don't ask me how that came into force.

We all got emails early this month to say the Secretary of Agriculture offered our help to the Secretary of Homeland Security to back up Customs and Border Protection in Texas upon the expiration of pandemic (32 USC) exclusion authority. They wanted A LOT of volunteers to head down there on December 18.

None of us wanted our Christmas canceled to go down there and be jailors and bus drivers. But we may be volun-told to go. The situation is screwed on the border.

Cheers,

Andrew

Africa

Microsoft and Viasat plan internet project to reach 10m people | Capacity Media

M5M

Disney Plus Ad Beef With Roku Could Prove Costly to Both Companies | Next TV

BLM LGBBTQQIAAPK+ Noodle Boy

"Insane, Brave, Karen": Stanford Drops New Woke List Of Verboten Language | ZeroHedge

Great Reset CBDC BTC ETC

National Strategy to Develop Distributed Ledger Technology for Digital ID Tucked into 2023 Defense Budget - coreysdigs.com

Railroad cars BOTG

Hey Adam was listening to the show about what is going on with the railroad.

First, UP has been telling companies that use private cars to reduce their load. Private cars are everything not owned by the railroad. This is so they can provide better service to their direct customers as a priority over all other customers. This should last a few months as things get back to normal maybe June or July. They also are prioritizing the use of chassis for their direct customers as well. This affects our business because we use the chassis daily.

Second, the train John saw is the railroad just recovering assets. There still is a possibility of a port strike. The west coast ports are being bypassed and more is going to the east coast ports. The west coast ports have a massive amount of empty containers that should have gone back to China. As thing still haven't stabilize in China and are getting worse things may get worse in the next few months. Another interruption of the supply chain.

Rod

FTX's Gary Wang, Alameda's Caroline Ellison plead guilty to federal charges, cooperating with prosecutors

Food Intelligence

De flexitariër-paradox: meer vleesminderaars, nauwelijks minder vleesconsumptie

VAERS

VAERS Shows a 4070% Increase in Miscarriages and Stillbirths Since mRNA Roll-out

Lipid Nano Particles Update

Update after talkig to my associate:

These lipids I mentioned befrore, the same ones building up on your body over time, are synthesized with PEG (polyethylene glycol). In the lab, they’re called “lipid nano particles”, or LNPs. While PEG is just an umbrella term for a group of synthesized bio-compatible polymers of varying contruction, there are certain PEG constructs that have been associated with high incidence of inflammation.

This is an article published in India in 2021. This is a public article, but it won’t say which lipid compounds are responsible for the adverse inflammatory reactions in the vaccines themselves, but it does out the same LNPs used in the vaccines as inflammatory agents. This is one of the reasons why India does not have the Pfizer or Moderna mRNA vaccines available there.

PEG is used as medicine and food additives all over the place. As you consume it, your body starts to developing anti-PEG antibodies over time (so be careful and pay close attention to which foods have them, which include cake mixes, sodas, food coloring, some breads, fast foods, etc. This is especially important if you have inflammatory issues). This is especially bad since the LNP aren’t actually completely removed from the body, and antibodies continue to be produced as these foreign agents continue to reside in the body.

As you expose your body to more and more of this stuff, your body becomes very sensitive when it detects a sudden high concentration of it in your bloodstream, via, let’s say…a covid vaccine. I suspect the cytokine storm is caused by the anti-PEG antibodies, in conjunction with the anti-spike antibodies. This may be why some people have stronger reactions to the vaccine than others, based in relative PEG consumption over one’s lifetime? That’s just a hypothesis.

Note that when they did studies on these LNPs, injecting them into mice alone without any other component (no mRNA etc) caused a HIGH MORTALITY RATE because of inflammation complications. I know it’s not always good to base possible human reactions to things based on studies done on mice, but…

I’m talking to this guy frequently, I’ll be pouring in more info as soon as I get it. Pretty much all of what I said is actually public information, but you really have to dig for it and know what you’re actually looking for. I’ll keep digging and explain why it’s important.

TYFYC

Link

Former AU Federal MP Kerryn Phelps Reveals "Devastating" COVID Vaccine Injuries - UncoverDC

STORIES

The Effects of Live Attenuated Influenza Vaccine on Nasopharyngeal Bacteria in Healthy 2 to 4 Year Olds. A Randomized Controlled Trial - PubMed

Link to Article

Archived Version

Thu, 22 Dec 2022 14:56

Randomized Controlled Trial

. 2016 Jun 15;193(12):1401-9. doi: 10.1164/rccm.201510-2000OC. Affiliations

Affiliations 1 1 School of Cellular and Molecular Medicine and. 2 2 School of Social and Community Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom; and. 3 3 Public Health Laboratory Bristol, Public Health England, Bristol, United Kingdom. PMID: 26742001 PMCID: PMC4910891 DOI: 10.1164/rccm.201510-2000OC Free PMC article Item in Clipboard

Randomized Controlled Trial

Valtyr Thors et al. Am J Respir Crit Care Med . 2016 .

Free PMC article

. 2016 Jun 15;193(12):1401-9. doi: 10.1164/rccm.201510-2000OC. Affiliations 1 1 School of Cellular and Molecular Medicine and. 2 2 School of Social and Community Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom; and. 3 3 Public Health Laboratory Bristol, Public Health England, Bristol, United Kingdom. PMID: 26742001 PMCID: PMC4910891 DOI: 10.1164/rccm.201510-2000OC Item in Clipboard

Abstract Rationale: Viral infections of the upper respiratory tract may influence the commensal nasopharyngeal bacteria. Changes in the bacterial niche could affect transmission dynamics. Attenuated vaccine viruses can be used to investigate this empirically in humans.

Objectives: To study the effects of mild viral upper respiratory infections on nasopharyngeal bacterial colonization using live attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV) as a surrogate.

Methods: We used trivalent LAIV to evaluate the effects of viral infection on bacterial carriage and density of Streptococcus pneumoniae, Moraxella catarrhalis, Haemophilus influenzae, and Staphylococcus aureus. A total of 151 healthy children were randomized 1:1 to receive the vaccine starting either at recruitment (n = 74) or 28 days later (n = 77) in a stepped wedge fashion, allowing comparisons between recipients and nonrecipients as well as whole-group comparisons pre- and postvaccination. Bacterial carriage and density were determined using quantitative polymerase chain reaction assays.

Measurements and main results: A total of 151 children were recruited, 77 in the LAIV group and 74 in the control group. LAIV recipients (n = 63 analyzed) showed an apparent transient increase in H. influenzae carriage but no further significant differences in carriage prevalence of the four bacterial species compared with controls (n = 72 analyzed). S. pneumoniae density was substantially higher in vaccine recipients (16,687 vs. 1935 gene copies per milliliter) 28 days after the first dose (P < 0.001). Whole-group multivariable analysis (prevaccine, after one dose, and after two doses) also showed increases in density of other species and H. influenzae carriage prevalence.

Conclusions: In the absence of any safety signals despite widespread use of the vaccine, these findings suggest that bacterial density, and thus transmission rates among children and to people in other age groups, may rise following attenuated influenza infections without associated clinical disease. LAIV could therefore be used as an experimental tool to elucidate the dynamics of transmission of nasopharyngeal bacteria.

Keywords: bacterial colonization; bacterial density; children; live attenuated influenza vaccine.

Figures Figure 1.

Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials'...

Figure 1.

Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials flow diagram of the study. LAIV = live'...

Figure 1. Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials flow diagram of the study. LAIV'='live attenuated influenza vaccine.

Comment in When Do Coughs and Sneezes Cause Diseases? Gordon S, Ferreira DM. Gordon S, et al. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2016 Jun 15;193(12):1329-30. doi: 10.1164/rccm.201601-0130ED. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2016. PMID: 27304239 No abstract available.

Similar articles The effect of live attenuated influenza vaccine on pneumococcal colonisation densities among children aged 24-59 months in The Gambia: a phase 4, open label, randomised, controlled trial. Peno C, Armitage EP, Clerc M, Balcazar Lopez C, Jagne YJ, Drammeh S, Jarju S, Sallah H, Senghore E, Lindsey BB, Camara J, Bah S, Mohammed NI, Dockrell DH, Kampmann B, Clarke E, Bogaert D, de Silva TI. Peno C, et al. Lancet Microbe. 2021 Dec;2(12):e656-e665. doi: 10.1016/S2666-5247(21)00179-8. Lancet Microbe. 2021. PMID: 34881370 Free PMC article. Clinical Trial.

Differences in nasopharyngeal bacterial carriage in preschool children from different socio-economic origins. Jourdain S, Smeesters PR, Denis O, Dramaix M, Sputael V, Malaviolle X, Van Melderen L, Vergison A. Jourdain S, et al. Clin Microbiol Infect. 2011 Jun;17(6):907-14. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-0691.2010.03410.x. Epub 2010 Dec 14. Clin Microbiol Infect. 2011. PMID: 20977542

Nasopharyngeal bacterial carriage in young children in Greenland: a population at high risk of respiratory infections. Navne JE, B¸rresen ML, Slotved HC, Andersson M, Melbye M, Ladefoged K, Koch A. Navne JE, et al. Epidemiol Infect. 2016 Nov;144(15):3226-3236. doi: 10.1017/S0950268816001461. Epub 2016 Jul 13. Epidemiol Infect. 2016. PMID: 27405603 Free PMC article.

Live attenuated influenza vaccine enhances colonization of Streptococcus pneumoniae and Staphylococcus aureus in mice. Mina MJ, McCullers JA, Klugman KP. Mina MJ, et al. mBio. 2014 Feb 18;5(1):e01040-13. doi: 10.1128/mBio.01040-13. mBio. 2014. PMID: 24549845 Free PMC article.

Co-carriage of Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae and Moraxella catarrhalis among three different age categories of children in Hungary. Kovcs E, Sahin-T"th J, T"thpl A, van der Linden M, Tirczka T, Dobay O. Kovcs E, et al. PLoS One. 2020 Feb 7;15(2):e0229021. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0229021. eCollection 2020. PLoS One. 2020. PMID: 32032364 Free PMC article.

Cited by Roles for Pathogen Interference in Influenza Vaccination, with Implications to Vaccine Effectiveness (VE) and Attribution of Influenza Deaths. Jones RP, Ponomarenko A. Jones RP, et al. Infect Dis Rep. 2022 Sep 23;14(5):710-758. doi: 10.3390/idr14050076. Infect Dis Rep. 2022. PMID: 36286197 Free PMC article. Review.

The effect of live attenuated influenza vaccine on pneumococcal colonisation densities among children aged 24-59 months in The Gambia: a phase 4, open label, randomised, controlled trial. Peno C, Armitage EP, Clerc M, Balcazar Lopez C, Jagne YJ, Drammeh S, Jarju S, Sallah H, Senghore E, Lindsey BB, Camara J, Bah S, Mohammed NI, Dockrell DH, Kampmann B, Clarke E, Bogaert D, de Silva TI. Peno C, et al. Lancet Microbe. 2021 Dec;2(12):e656-e665. doi: 10.1016/S2666-5247(21)00179-8. Lancet Microbe. 2021. PMID: 34881370 Free PMC article. Clinical Trial.

Polymicrobial Interactions Operative during Pathogen Transmission. Rowe HM, Rosch JW. Rowe HM, et al. mBio. 2021 May 18;12(3):e01027-21. doi: 10.1128/mBio.01027-21. mBio. 2021. PMID: 34006664 Free PMC article. Review.

Symptoms associated with influenza vaccination and experimental human pneumococcal colonisation of the nasopharynx. Hales C, Jochems SP, Robinson R, Sol"rzano C, Carniel B, Pojar S, Rein(C) J, German EL, Nikolaou E, Mitsi E, Hyder-Wright AD, Hill H, Adler H, Connor V, Zaidi S, Lowe C, Fan X, Wang D, Gordon SB, Rylance J, Ferreira DM. Hales C, et al. Vaccine. 2020 Feb 28;38(10):2298-2306. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2020.01.070. Epub 2020 Feb 5. Vaccine. 2020. PMID: 32035708 Free PMC article. Clinical Trial.

Close Encounters of the Viral Kind: Cross-Kingdom Synergies at the Host-Pathogen Interface. Rowe HM, Rosch JW. Rowe HM, et al. Bioessays. 2019 Dec;41(12):e1900128. doi: 10.1002/bies.201900128. Epub 2019 Nov 6. Bioessays. 2019. PMID: 31693223 Free PMC article. Review.

Live attenuated influenza vaccine enhances colonization of Streptococcus pneumoniae and Staphylococcus aureus in mice - PubMed

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Archived Version

Thu, 22 Dec 2022 14:55

Michael J Mina et al. mBio . 2014 .

Free PMC article

. 2014 Feb 18;5(1):e01040-13. doi: 10.1128/mBio.01040-13. PMID: 24549845 PMCID: PMC3944816 DOI: 10.1128/mBio.01040-13 Item in Clipboard

Abstract Community interactions at mucosal surfaces between viruses, like influenza virus, and respiratory bacterial pathogens are important contributors toward pathogenesis of bacterial disease. What has not been considered is the natural extension of these interactions to live attenuated immunizations, and in particular, live attenuated influenza vaccines (LAIVs). Using a mouse-adapted LAIV against influenza A (H3N2) virus carrying the same mutations as the human FluMist vaccine, we find that LAIV vaccination reverses normal bacterial clearance from the nasopharynx and significantly increases bacterial carriage densities of the clinically important bacterial pathogens Streptococcus pneumoniae (serotypes 19F and 7F) and Staphylococcus aureus (strains Newman and Wright) within the upper respiratory tract of mice. Vaccination with LAIV also resulted in 2- to 5-fold increases in mean durations of bacterial carriage. Furthermore, we show that the increases in carriage density and duration were nearly identical in all aspects to changes in bacterial colonizing dynamics following infection with wild-type (WT) influenza virus. Importantly, LAIV, unlike WT influenza viruses, had no effect on severe bacterial disease or mortality within the lower respiratory tract. Our findings are, to the best of our knowledge, the first to demonstrate that vaccination with a live attenuated viral vaccine can directly modulate colonizing dynamics of important and unrelated human bacterial pathogens, and does so in a manner highly analogous to that seen following wild-type virus infection.

Importance: Following infection with an influenza virus, infected or recently recovered individuals become transiently susceptible to excess bacterial infections, particularly Streptococcus pneumoniae and Staphylococcus aureus. Indeed, in the absence of preexisting comorbidities, bacterial infections are a leading cause of severe disease during influenza epidemics. While this synergy has been known and is well studied, what has not been explored is the natural extension of these interactions to live attenuated influenza vaccines (LAIVs). Here we show, in mice, that vaccination with LAIV primes the upper respiratory tract for increased bacterial growth and persistence of bacterial carriage, in a manner nearly identical to that seen following wild-type influenza virus infections. Importantly, LAIV, unlike wild-type virus, did not increase severe bacterial disease of the lower respiratory tract. These findings may have consequences for individual bacterial disease processes within the upper respiratory tract, as well as bacterial transmission dynamics within LAIV-vaccinated populations.

Figures FIG 1

LAIV is safe, effective, replicates'...

FIG 1

LAIV is safe, effective, replicates well within the URT, and elicits a robust'...

FIG 1 LAIV is safe, effective, replicates well within the URT, and elicits a robust cytokine response. (A) WT and LAIV HK/Syd viruses were grown in MDCK cells at 37°C and LAIV virus was grown at 33°C, and viral titers were measured via the median TCID50 (n = 3 per group). (B) Groups of 12 to 14 8-week-old BALB/c mice were inoculated with 2e6 TCID50 LAIV, WT HK/Syd virus, or PBS and monitored for weight loss. Three of 12 mice and 2/12 mice died at 4 and 7 days postinfection with WT HK/Syd virus, respectively, while no mice died following LAIV or PBS inoculation. (C) Groups of 8 4-week-old BALB/c mice were inoculated with 2e6 TCID50 of LAIV (2 of the 3 groups) or PBS and 4 weeks later infected with a lethal dose (5e7 TCID50) of WT HK/Syd virus or the PBS control. Infection was considered lethal if body weight fell below 70% of the initial body weight. (D) Four groups of 5 mice each were vaccinated with LAIV, and whole lung and NP viral titers were measured at 1, 3, 5, and 7 days postvaccination. (E) Four groups of 5 mice were vaccinated with LAIV, and NP and BAL specimen cytokines were measured at day 0 (unvaccinated mice) and days 3, 5, and 7 following vaccination. Error bars represent standard errors (SE) of the mean. Asterisks indicate statistically significant differences from controls by two-sided Student's t test. *, P

FIG 2

LAIV and WT influenza virus'...

FIG 2

LAIV and WT influenza virus infection similarly enhance 19F pneumococcal carriage density and'...

FIG 2 LAIV and WT influenza virus infection similarly enhance 19F pneumococcal carriage density and duration of colonization. Groups of 12 to 14 mice were vaccinated with LAIV and infected with WT influenza virus or PBS vehicle at 7 days following colonization with 19F pneumococcus (A to C) or 7 days prior to colonization with 19F (D to F). Bacterial strains constitutively expressed luciferase, and nasopharyngeal carriage density was measured via in vivo imaging (IVIS) at 12 h postbacterial infection and daily thereafter (B and E). Duration of colonization (C and F) was measured via bacterial plating of nasal washes taken daily after carriage density decreased below the limit of detection for IVIS imaging (~1e4 CFU/ml). Asterisks indicate significant differences between vaccinated (black asterisks in panels B and E) or WT influenza virus-infected (white asterisks in panels B and E) versus control groups (P

FIG 3

LAIV enhancement of pneumococcal density'...

FIG 3

LAIV enhancement of pneumococcal density is time dependent and long lasting. Groups of'...

FIG 3 LAIV enhancement of pneumococcal density is time dependent and long lasting. Groups of 12 to 14 mice were vaccinated with LAIV or PBS vehicle at 1 or 7 days prior to colonization with pneumococcal (pneumo) serotype 7F. Bacterial strains constitutively expressed luciferase, and bacterial NP density was measured via IVIS in vivo imaging (A and B). Mean cumulative bacterial titers in panel B were calculated by first calculating the cumulative bacterial titers per individual mouse NP at each time point and then calculating the average and SE across the individual cumulative titers per time point, rather than simply averaging the areas under the mean density curves shown in panel A. Asterisks indicate significant differences in bacterial densities between the vaccinated and PBS control groups (dark green indicates LAIV given 7 days prior and red indicates LAIV given 1 day prior to 7F inoculation; P < 0.05 by two-tailed Student's t test). (C) Groups of mice were vaccinated with LAIV (n = 20) or PBS vehicle control (n = 30), respectively, at 28 days prior to colonization with 19F pneumococcus. Fold differences per day between mean bacterial densities measured in mice treated 28 days prior with LAIV versus PBS are reported. Error bars indicate standard errors of the mean and asterisks indicate significant differences (P < 0.05) from PBS controls (by two-tailed single-sample t test).

FIG 4

LAIV enhances bacterial load and'...

FIG 4

LAIV enhances bacterial load and duration of staphylococcal carriage. Groups of 12 to'...

FIG 4 LAIV enhances bacterial load and duration of staphylococcal carriage. Groups of 12 to 14 mice were vaccinated with LAIV or PBS vehicle 7 days prior to colonization with S. aureus (S.A.) strain Wright (A and B) or Newman (C and D). S. aureus constitutively expressed luciferase, and bacterial density was measured via IVIS in vivo imaging. Duration of colonization (B and D) was measured via bacterial plating of nasal washes taken daily after the carriage density decreased below the limit of detection for IVIS imaging. Asterisks indicate significant differences between vaccinated and control groups (P < 0.05 by two-sided Student's t test), and error bars represent standard errors around the mean.

FIG 5

LAIV does not increase severe'...

FIG 5

LAIV does not increase severe bacterial disease or mortality. Groups of mice received'...

FIG 5 LAIV does not increase severe bacterial disease or mortality. Groups of mice received intranasal LAIV vaccination (solid red curves), sublethal infection with WT influenza virus (broken black curves), or PBS (broken blue curves) 7 days prior to inoculation with a sublethal dose of Streptococcus pneumoniae type 2 (1e5 CFU D39; n = 20 per group) (B) or type 3 (1e3 CFU A66.1; n = 12 to 15 per group) (C), and body weight and mortality were observed at least every 12 h for the first 4 days postpneumococcal inoculation and daily thereafter. Kaplan-Meier survival curves with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were constructed, and asterisks indicate statistically significant differences (P < 0.05 by log rank test) between LAIV- or WT virus-infected groups versus PBS controls.

Similar articles No clinical association of live attenuated influenza virus with nasal carriage of bacteria or acute otitis media. Coelingh KL, Belshe RB. Coelingh KL, et al. mBio. 2014 May 13;5(3):e01145-14. doi: 10.1128/mBio.01145-14. mBio. 2014. PMID: 24825013 Free PMC article. No abstract available.

The Effects of Live Attenuated Influenza Vaccine on Nasopharyngeal Bacteria in Healthy 2 to 4 Year Olds. A Randomized Controlled Trial. Thors V, Christensen H, Morales-Aza B, Vipond I, Muir P, Finn A. Thors V, et al. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2016 Jun 15;193(12):1401-9. doi: 10.1164/rccm.201510-2000OC. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2016. PMID: 26742001 Free PMC article. Clinical Trial.

Generalized herd effects and vaccine evaluation: impact of live influenza vaccine on off-target bacterial colonisation. Mina MJ. Mina MJ. J Infect. 2017 Jun;74 Suppl 1:S101-S107. doi: 10.1016/S0163-4453(17)30199-8. J Infect. 2017. PMID: 28646948 Review.

Live attenuated influenza vaccine (FluMist®; Fluenz'): a review of its use in the prevention of seasonal influenza in children and adults. Carter NJ, Curran MP. Carter NJ, et al. Drugs. 2011 Aug 20;71(12):1591-622. doi: 10.2165/11206860-000000000-00000. Drugs. 2011. PMID: 21861544 Review.

Cited by Frontline workers: Mediators of mucosal immunity in community acquired pneumonia and COVID-19. Hastak PS, Andersen CR, Kelleher AD, Sasson SC. Hastak PS, et al. Front Immunol. 2022 Sep 23;13:983550. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.983550. eCollection 2022. Front Immunol. 2022. PMID: 36211412 Free PMC article. Review.

Prospects on Repurposing a Live Attenuated Vaccine for the Control of Unrelated Infections. Seo SU, Seong BL. Seo SU, et al. Front Immunol. 2022 May 16;13:877845. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.877845. eCollection 2022. Front Immunol. 2022. PMID: 35651619 Free PMC article. Review.

Insights Into the Effects of Mucosal Epithelial and Innate Immune Dysfunction in Older People on Host Interactions With Streptococcus pneumoniae. Weight CM, Jochems SP, Adler H, Ferreira DM, Brown JS, Heyderman RS. Weight CM, et al. Front Cell Infect Microbiol. 2021 May 25;11:651474. doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2021.651474. eCollection 2021. Front Cell Infect Microbiol. 2021. PMID: 34113578 Free PMC article. Review.

References Barton ES, White DW, Cathelyn JS, Brett-McClellan KA, Engle M, Diamond MS, Miller VL, Virgin H. 2007. Herpesvirus latency confers symbiotic protection from bacterial infection. Nature 447:326''329. 10.1038/nature05762 - DOI - PubMed Kuss SK, Best GT, Etheredge CA, Pruijssers AJ, Frierson JM, Hooper LV, Dermody TS, Pfeiffer JK. 2011. Intestinal microbiota promote enteric virus replication and systemic pathogenesis. Science 334:249''252. 10.1126/science.1211057 - DOI - PMC - PubMed Kane M, Case LK, Kopaskie K, Kozlova A, MacDearmid C, Chervonsky AV, Golovkina TV. 2011. Successful transmission of a retrovirus depends on the commensal microbiota. Science 334:245''249. 10.1126/science.1210718 - DOI - PMC - PubMed Telfer S, Lambin X, Birtles R, Beldomenico P, Burthe S, Paterson S, Begon M. 2010. Species interactions in a parasite community drive infection risk in a wildlife population. Science 330:243''246. 10.1126/science.1190333 - DOI - PMC - PubMed Madhi SA, Klugman KP, Vaccine Trialist Group 2004. A role for Streptococcus pneumoniae in virus-associated pneumonia. Nat. Med. 10:811''813. 10.1038/nm1077 - DOI - PMC - PubMed Publication types MeSH terms Substances Grant support Full text linksCite

The Hidden Body Language of Hand Steepling - Nonverbal Body Language Dictionary

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Archived Version

Thu, 22 Dec 2022 14:53

The Hidden Body Language of Hand Steepling

Cue: Hand Steepling.

Synonym(s): Steepling The Hands, Tenting the Fingers, Finger Steepling, Hand Tenting.

Description: A posture where the hands are propped up by the fingers of each hand to form a bridge '' like a church steeple. In this posture fingers are not interlocked and the palms do not touch. Instead, the finger tips simply touch at their tips.

In One Sentence: Hand steepling is a sign of confidence and that one knows something that another doesn't.

How To Use it: Use hand steepling to demonstrate true or feigned confidence. This can work when portraying an image of strength is beneficial such as in business or legal negotiations. Steeple the hands when you want other people to think that you are privy to beneficial information that they are not.

Context: General.

Verbal Translation: ''I have access to hidden information, and life experience, and this is the source of my power and control over you. I demonstrate this by pressing my fingertips together in a high confidence hand gesture like the roof of a church.''

Variant: Rocking might accompany the steeple where the hands move back and forth by adding and reducing pressure between them. The steeple can be placed low on a lap, or seen hovering slightly above the lap. Other times the steeple is in full view of others with the elbows propped up on the table. The steepler can hold the posture so high that they have to look through the steeple to see others. See Hand Clasping, Hand Wringing, Hand Clasping.

Cue In Action: Donald Trump performed the steeple frequently on his television show The Apprentice, in preparation, of all things, to fire his next apprentice! His steepling was an obvious cue signaling the power he had over his subordinates.

Meaning and/or Motivation: The steepler is someone that is confident, sometimes overconfident, authoritative, and particularly evaluative of others around him.

Confidence, in this case, is held in the power and control they possess and also in knowing things that other people do not. Steeplers are found carrying the gesture when around subordinates, or whenever they seem to have the upper hand. This gesture is effective if you already possess power or want others to think you do, but it is ineffective in team building, since it comes off as arrogant. It does have subconscious manipulative properties though, such as bluffing in poker but in most cases, this gesture is only as effective as that which can be backed up with real confidence and true access to valuable hidden information.

Superiors will also be seen using this gesture in meetings and when giving orders and the higher the steeple is held, the greater the arrogance it depicts. In extreme forms, the person carrying the gesture can be seen ''looking right through their hands'' between the triangle formed by the pent up fingers and the thumbs.

A high steepler comes off as a ''know-it-all'' and arrogant and smug especially when coupled with the head tilted backward. A more subtle version is the hidden steeple of which the sender could be trying to hide or shelter their opinion from view by keeping the steepled fingers below the table. The lower steeple is more often used by women and when someone is listening rather than speaking. A low steeple signifies that someone is interested and ready to respond.

Hidden steepling, such as a steeple on the lap under a table, refers to hidden confidence or a desire to limit arrogance in attempt to appear more open and accepting. When the hands are steepled, but holding support of the head, it does not signal confidence, but rather boredom, self-consciousness, or awkwardness.

Steepling can also ebb and flow along with confidence to what is being said which can be useful in negotiations or in arguments. If something is said to drop confidence the steepling might be broken in favour of interlocked hands as if praying but then quickly return when a person feels that their position has improved. Interlocked fingers is a signal of low confidence and the fingers might even be seen wringing themselves. Lawyers quickly learn to control this nonverbal cue in favour of constant steepling rather than any other gesture.

Cue Cluster: The steeple can occur in body language clusters as well, but what is important is not what happens after the steepling, as in the chin stroke and eye glass language, but rather what happens preceding the steepling. By watching for positive open postures such as palms up and arms un-crossed or closed postures such as arms crossed, touching the nose or face and avoiding eye contact, we can tell if the person is trying to be honest or manipulative with his or her apparent power. In other words, steepling is a finish posture serving to punctuate a body language clue cluster rather than the other way around.

Another example of a cue cluster is as follows: crossing the legs by bringing one foot over the opposite leg (the figure-four leg cross), fingers steepling, leaning back in the chair, and tilting the head back and looking down through the nose at others. This cluster shows arrogance and superiority.

Body Language Category: Arrogance or arrogant body language, Authoritative body language, Confident body language, Dominant body language, High confidence body language, High confidence hand displays, Leadership body language, Power play, Up nonverbals.

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Witness Testifies Bank Threatened To Withhold Loan If He Didn't Tweet 'Climate Change' Talking Points | The Daily Caller

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Thu, 22 Dec 2022 14:45

Bud Brigham, the executive chairman of Brigham Minerals, testified Thursday before the Texas Senate Committee on State Affairs that a Wall Street bank allegedly threatened to deny him a loan unless he tweeted out specific political messages.

Republican Texas state Sen. Bryan Hughes led the hearing on environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing, an approach to investing that scores companies based on their commitment to certain environmental and social causes.

When he reached out to ask why, Brigham claims a representative at Credit Suisse said the bank might not be able to partner with Brigham, allegedly telling him that ''climate change is real and it's not debatable.''

Brigham claims he responded that science is ever-evolving, prompting the representative to offer an opportunity to strike a deal '-- but only if Brigham parroted the bank's climate agenda. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: House Republicans To Crack Down On Woke Investment Guidelines)

The first witness, @BMBrigham, told the story of how Wall Street's ESG scam has affected him and his business personally, outlining how @CreditSuisse ( $CS ) indicated that they would deny him for a loan if he didn't tweet out various points praising the green energy agenda: pic.twitter.com/f8cPq5Z9MF

'-- Will Hild (@WillHild) December 15, 2022

''How about if I can get you some bullets to tweet? If you can tweet this out, it think there's a good chance we can do this deal,'' the representative allegedly said.

Brigham said he then received an email with the bullet points.

Brigham also testified that Chinese companies that use slave labor to produce solar panels are given higher ESG ratings that Brigham Minerals solely because his company works in the oil and gas industry.

Executive Chairman of Brigham Minerals, @BMBrigham, highlights how companies in China, using slave labor to produce solar panels, are being given higher ESG ratings than his company because his company operates in the oil & gas industry:

Absolute insanity. pic.twitter.com/MXBRbLIxrD

'-- Will Hild (@WillHild) December 15, 2022

Hughes said in a statement to the Daily Caller that ''Wall Street firms and big banks are politicizing our economy.''

''Bud Brigham's testimony gives us a glimpse into how they strong-arm American entrepreneurs. They kill jobs and raise the cost of living for every American,'' Hughes continued. ''This will not stand in Texas.''

In August, Texas placed restrictions on several firms, including Credit Suisse, declaring that the firms' opposition to fossil fuels could ''undermine'' the state economy. Credit Suisse and others are banned from entering into most contracts with state and local entities after Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts Glenn Hegar said his office determined that the companies had boycotted the oil industry.

Credit Suisse did not respond to the Daily Caller's request for comment.

Why EU Leaders Dread A Ukraine Peace Process | ZeroHedge

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Thu, 22 Dec 2022 14:34

Authored by Yanis Varoufakis via Project Syndicate,

After the 2008 financial crash, the European Union only papered over the internal North-South conflict that emerged, and the war in Ukraine has produced a new East-West divide. Once peace arrives, both fault lines will only grow deeper, uglier, and impossible to ignore.

This is not a polemic about whether Russia can be trusted to respect any future peace treaty with Ukraine. Nor is it a commentary on the merits of ending the war by diplomatic means. It is, rather, a reflection on the latest European paradox: While peace in Ukraine would help stem Europe's economic hemorrhaging, the moment any peace process begins, the European Union will be divided by an internal East-West fault line, which is bound to reawaken the EU's earlier North-South conflict.

A credible peace process will require difficult negotiations involving the world's great powers. Who will represent Europe at that high table? It is hard to imagine Polish, Scandinavian, and Baltic leaders ceding that role to their French or German counterparts.

In the EU's eastern and northeastern flanks, French President Emmanuel Macron is considered a Putin appeaser ready to impose on Ukrainians a reprehensible (to them) land-for-peace agenda. Likewise, setting aside Germany's long-term reliance on Russian energy, Chancellor Olaf Scholz's standing as a torchbearer of Europe's collective interest has been damaged further by his '¬200 billion ($212 billion) fiscal defense of German industry '' the type of tax-funded protective shield which Germany vetoed at the EU level.

Meanwhile, French and German elites pour scorn on the idea that the EU might be represented in any peace process by the likes of Kaja Kallas, Estonia's Prime Minister, or Sanna Marin, her Finnish counterpart. ''The moral crusades of the Ukraine war maximalists are fashionable now but they will hinder, not help, any peace process,'' was how a German official put it to me.

So, the question remains: Who will represent the EU in any future peace process?

Had the EU seized upon the massive banking-cum-debt crisis of the post-2008 era to democratize its institutions, Europe might now be credibly represented by its president and foreign minister. Alas, as things stand, European citizens and national leaders would cringe at the thought of being represented by Charles Michel, the EU Council President, and Josep Borrell, the EU foreign policy supremo. Macron and Scholz, alongside almost every other European president or prime minister, would surely object.

The optimistic view in Brussels is that, despite its lack of legitimate envoys and military weakness, the EU will carry considerable weight in any negotiations because it is the economic powerhouse that will pay for Ukraine's reconstruction and be the arbiter of any process by which Ukraine joins the EU single market, customs union, or even the EU itself. But is such optimism justified?

The EU will undoubtedly pay huge sums and orchestrate any postwar Ukraine accession process. But there is no reason to think this will guarantee the EU an influential role during the peace process. In fact, there are good reasons to think that the EU's role as the main funder of Ukraine's reconstruction will divide and weaken the Union more than even the crisis a decade ago.

The EU's own European Investment Bank estimates the cost of Ukraine's reconstruction to be around '¬1 trillion '' the amount of the EU's budget over the 2021-27 period and 40% higher than its post-pandemic recovery fund, NextGenerationEU. Already hamstrung by its domestic '¬200 billion plan to shore up Germany's collapsing industrial model, and the '¬100 billion Scholz has earmarked for defense spending, Germany lacks the fiscal space to provide even a fraction of that sum.

If Germany can't pay, it is clear that the other EU member states can't, either. The only way to pay for Ukraine would be for the EU to issue common debt, retracing the painful steps that led to the recovery fund's creation in 2020.

Pressed to deliver the cash, the EU might well go down that path, only to find it leads to vicious acrimony. True, EU leaders agreed on common debt during the pandemic. But inflation was negative at the time, and all EU members were facing an economic implosion as lockdowns killed demand across Europe. Once peace prevails in Ukraine, they will need to agree to even more common debt to fund Ukraine's reconstruction at a time when interest rates have quadrupled, inflation is rampant, and the economic benefits to EU members are bound to be grossly uneven.

Spain will question the fairness of shared debt when German companies get the lion's share of Ukraine's reconstruction business. Poland will protest loudly when Germany and Italy announce that, with peace restored, they will be buying energy from Russia again. Hungary will sell its acquiescence to any Ukraine fund dearly, demanding even more exemptions from the EU's rule-of-law and transparency conditionalities. In the midst of this bedlam, the old North-South (or Calvinist-Catholic) divide, on the merits of fiscal union, will return with a vengeance.

Germany already fears that France will insist on permanent, and fairly regular, issuance of common debt, which the German political class will resist, and not only because the German Constitutional Court has already ruled against the idea. The deeper reason is that the fiscal union France seems to favor would require German conglomerates to abandon a practice that is in their DNA: accumulating US assets that they purchase on the back of the large net exports to America made possible by stagnant German wages and underpriced natural gas.

So, unless President Joe Biden's Inflation Reduction Act changes Germany's mindset by raising a protectionist barrier around the United States that kills off German net exports to America, any negotiations to end the Ukraine war are bound to aggravate the EU's East-West divide '' and then reignite the old North-South divide.

None of this should be surprising. After the 2008 financial crash, the EU only papered over the North-South fault line that emerged. The war in Ukraine inevitably produced a new East-West fault line. Once peace arrives, both fault lines will only grow deeper, uglier, and impossible to ignore.

California police say member of Elon Musk's security team is a suspect following stalker claim

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Police in Southern California said Tuesday they were seeking additional information about an incident last week that Twitter CEO Elon Musk said prompted him to crack down on accounts that track whereabouts of private jets '-- including his.

The Dec. 13 incident in a Los Angeles-area highway has become a flashpoint for a debate about online speech and the dissemination of personal information, although authorities had previously said little about what happened.

In a statement Tuesday, police in South Pasadena said that the incident involved a member of Musk's security team, whose vehicle hit the car of a man he alleged was following him.

The police called the security team member a "suspect." They did not say what crimes they suspected him of committing, but said they were investigating a report of "an assault with a deadly weapon involving a vehicle."

Musk's description of the incident was different. Last week, in justifying his decision to ban the Twitter account @ElonJet, which publishes the location of his private airplane, Musk said that a "stalker" had used location information from the account to follow and confront a car carrying one of his children.

The statement from South Pasadena police, though, contained no mention of a suspected stalker.

''At no time during the incident did the victim identify the suspect or indicate the altercation was anything more than coincidental," police said.

Business Insider reporter Linette Lopez, who has covered Musk and Tesla for years, and ElonJet creator Jack Sweeney are among those still banned from Twitter.

Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the police statement.

In their statement, police said a 29-year-old man from Connecticut had pulled off a highway shortly before 10 p.m. to use his cellphone in a gas station. While parked, the man said another vehicle pulled directly in front of him, blocking his path, according to police.

The driver of the second vehicle, described by police as Musk's security team member, then accused the Connecticut man of following him, police said. Each party captured video during the dispute, they said.

Police said that as Musk's security team member was leaving the parking lot, he struck the Connecticut man with his vehicle.

"When the officer arrived on scene, the suspect had already left the area," the statement said.

Detectives do not believe Musk was present during the confrontation, according to the statement.

The Washington Post reported a person who identified himself as the driver featured in the video of the confrontation that Musk shared online said he has an interest in Musk and the mother of two of children, Claire Boucher, who is better known as the musician Grimes. NBC News has not verified those statements or who was in the video.

Boucher has been the target of stalking before, and lives within the vicinity of the location of the reported confrontation.

David Ingram covers tech for NBC News.

Andrew Blankstein is an investigative reporter for NBC News. He covers the Western U.S., specializing in crime, courts and homeland security.

Lora Kolodny, CNBC contributed.

Police provide first official details of Elon Musk's alleged stalker incident | Elon Musk | The Guardian

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Thu, 22 Dec 2022 14:32

The Twitter CEO, Elon Musk, tweeted last week that a ''crazy stalker'' followed a car carrying one of his children in Los Angeles last Tuesday night, ''thinking it was me'', and that the stalker blocked the car from moving and climbed on to its hood.

A new statement from local police provides the first official account of what happened during the incident. The South Pasadena police department has confirmed that an incident involving two vehicles was reported to the police on Tuesday night, but said that a member of Elon Musk's security team is currently a suspect in the investigation, not a victim.

A 29-year-old man from Connecticut told the South Pasadena police on Tuesday that a driver in another vehicle had confronted him in a parking lot, accused him of following him on the 110 freeway, and then struck the man with his vehicle as he was leaving the parking lot.

Last Thursday, ''South Pasadena Police learned the suspect involved in this case is believed to be a member of Elon Musk's security team,'' the department said in a statement.

A South Pasadena city spokesperson said the department is contacting Elon Musk's team seeking to investigate both sides of the incident and get statements from everyone involved. Detectives are reviewing video footage of the incident, the police department said.

Last night, car carrying lil X in LA was followed by crazy stalker (thinking it was me), who later blocked car from moving & climbed onto hood.Legal action is being taken against Sweeney & organizations who supported harm to my family.

'-- Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 15, 2022Media spokespeople at Twitter and Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

''Lil X'' appears to refer to Musk's child with musician Grimes, born in 2020, who they said was named ''X A-12'' or ''X A-Xii.''

The Washington Post reported on Sunday that it had identified the alleged stalker, who confirmed to the Post that he was the person in the video, and that he had reported what happened to the South Pasadena police.

The man said he was a delivery driver for UberEats, the Washington Post reported, and ''made several bizarre and unsupported claims, including that he believed [Grimes] was sending him coded messages through her Instagram posts; that Musk was monitoring his real-time location; and that Musk could control Uber Eats to block him from receiving a delivery order''.

Grimes, whose real name is Claire Boucher, lives in a house near the gas station where the altercation occurred, the Post reported. The Guardian was not immediately able to reach the man named in the Washington Post story for comment.

The man who made the police report in South Pasadena is not being named because it's ''an ongoing investigation'', a city spokesperson said.

At 9.51pm on 13 December, according to a police department press release, South Pasadena police responded to a report of an assault with a deadly weapon involving a vehicle on Mission Street.

A 29-year-old man from Connecticut told police that he had recently exited the 110 freeway, and had stopped to use his phone in a parking lot. While he was parked, the man said, another vehicle pulled in front of him, blocking his path, and the driver approached him, ''accusing him of following him on the freeway''.

The victim and the driver who confronted him both took video of their dispute, police said. When the suspect was leaving the parking lot, ''he struck the victim with his vehicle''.

When an officer arrived at the scene, the suspect had already left the area, police said. The Connecticut man did not ''identify the suspect or indicate altercation was anything more than coincidental'', police said.

Musk tweeted that his child was in a car that was followed by a ''stalker''. Authorities said Musk was not present, and it was not yet clear if members of his family had been.

Musk cited the interaction between his child and a ''stalker'' as a justification for a number of sweeping policy changes at Twitter last week, including removing an account that shared public information about his private jet, barring accounts from sharing real-time location information, and suspending the accounts of several prominent US journalists who had reported on his actions. Musk later reversed the bans on some of the journalists after multiple public Twitter polls of users said they should be reinstated.

The Los Angeles police department said last Friday that the department was aware of Musk's tweet about the stalker, ''and is in contact with his representatives and security team'', but that ''no crime reports have been filed yet.''

The Los Angeles county sheriff's department said last week that it had not received any reports about the incident.

Johana Bhuiyan contributed reporting

Former AU Federal MP Kerryn Phelps Reveals "Devastating" COVID Vaccine Injuries - UncoverDC

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Thu, 22 Dec 2022 13:44

Dr. Kerryn Phelps, a former member of the Australian Parliament who in 2000 became the first female president of the Australian Medical Association (AMA), has revealed that both she and her wife have suffered severe and ongoing injuries from the COVID vaccines. Moreover, due to ''threats'' from medical regulators and well-documented underreporting, Phelps suggested that the accurate rate of adverse events is far higher than is being acknowledged.

Dr. Phelps, the most prominent public health figure in Australia to voice serious concerns about the COVID jabs, is calling for more research on the vaccine's long-term adverse events. She explained that before getting jabbed, she and her wife did ''a lot of homework.'' When inquiring about adverse side effects, she remarked they were told myocarditis and pericarditis were ''rare'' and that ''the worst thing that could happen would be anaphylaxis.'' After much suffering, Phelps, 65, finally broke her silence about the ''devastating'' experience she has endured, as reported exclusively by News.com.au. In a bombshell submission to the Australian Parliament's Long COVID inquiry, Phelps, 65, explained:

''This is an issue that I have observed first-hand with my wife, who suffered a severe neurological reaction to her first Pfizer vaccine within minutes, including burning face and gums, paraesethesiae, and numb hands and feet, while under observation by myself, another doctor and a registered nurse at the time of immunization.

I continue to observe the devastating effects a year-and-a-half later with the addition of fatigue and additional neurological symptoms including nerve pains, altered sense of smell, visual disturbance, and musculoskeletal inflammation. The diagnosis and causation has been confirmed by several specialists who have told me that they have seen 'a lot' of patients in a similar situation.''

Dr. Phelps'--who noted she reported the adverse events to the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), ''but they never followed up'''--revealed that she has talked to other doctors ''who have themselves experienced a serious and persistent adverse event.'' However, ''vaccine injury is a subject that few in the medical profession have wanted to talk about.'' Indeed, the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA), which oversees Australia's 800,000 registered practitioners and 193,800 students, warned in 2021 that anyone who aspired to ''undermine'' the country's COVID vaccine rollout could face deregistration or even prosecution. News.com.au reported that AHPRA's position statement warns:

''Any promotion of anti-vaccination statements or health advice which contradicts the best available scientific evidence or seeks to actively undermine the national immunisation campaign (including via social media) is not supported by National Boards and may be in breach of the codes of conduct and subject to investigation and possible regulatory action.''

Former Australian MP Dr Kerryn Phelps revealed she and her partner both suffered serious ongoing injuries, while suggesting true rate of adverse events is far higher than acknowledged due to under-reporting and ''threats'' from medical regulators. @cmnvic https://t.co/qUDecnDHM7

'-- Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPH' (@P_McCulloughMD) December 20, 2022

Besides hearing concerning COVID jab stories from other doctors, Dr. Phelps shared she has also heard stories of vaccine injury from ''patients and other members of the community.'' And similar to the United States, Australia's vaccine compensation program has been called a scheme of ''medical gaslighting'' after it seemingly disregarded substantial expert evidence. Further highlighting the deception, earlier this year, Australian musician Tyson ''tyDi'' Illingworth shared that, after being left partially paralyzed following the Moderna vaccine, he had been told privately by doctors that his injury was almost certainly a reaction to the jab. Still, they would not put it in writing for fear of being deregistered if they linked his injury to the vaccine.

Dr. Phelps'--who has contemplated whether there is at least some connection between vaccine injury and Long COVID perhaps caused by the spike protein'--explained in her submission that those injured by the experimental jabs ''have had to search for answers.'' She added that the vaccine injured have had to ''find GPs and specialists who are interested and able to help them, spend large amounts of money on medical investigations, isolate from friends and family, reduce work hours, lose work if they are required to attend in person, and avoid social and cultural events.'' Recently, an advocacy group called Coverse was launched to offer support and collect testimony from those suffering vaccine injuries. Weary of being silenced, Dr. Phelps described:

''In trying to convince people in positions of influence to pay attention to the risks of Long COVID and reinfection for people with vaccine injury, I have personally been met with obstruction and resistance to openly discuss this issue.''

Dr. Phelps drew attention to the under-reporting and under-recognition of COVID vaccine injury in an OZSAGE position statement issued in July calling for better systems management of COVID vaccine adverse events and ''recognition of the impact of vaccine injury.'' She explained that there is some concern adverse events could ''cause long-term illness and disability.'' Nonetheless, due to the global mass vaccination campaign, Phelps remarked that ''all of the studies that have been published so far are either small or case studies only.''

Indeed, despite the recognition of heart inflammation associated with the Pfizer and Moderna mRNA vaccines, Dr. Phelps said, ''even then, there has been a misconception that myocarditis is 'mild', 'transient' and 'mostly in young males', when there are many cases where myocarditis is manifestly not mild, not transient and not confined to the young male demographic.'' Phelps, who remains a practicing GP, aptly asserted:

''[The] global focus has been on vaccinating as many people as quickly as possible with a novel vaccine for a novel coronavirus.

The burden of proof seems to have been placed on the vaccine injured rather than the neutral scientific position of placing suspicion on the vaccine in the absence of any other cause and the temporal correlation with the administration of the vaccine.''

Trumps claimed negative income in four of six years between 2015 and 2020: report

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Thu, 22 Dec 2022 13:37

'The tax returns of former President Donald Trump and his wife Melania show they reported negative income in four of the six years between 2015 and 2020. '

In three of those years '-- 2015, 2016 and 2017 ''the Trumps reported income tax liability of just $750, a report from the House Ways and Means Committee revealed.

The Democrat-controlled panel voted 24-16 along party lines Tuesday evening to release the Trumps' tax returns following a legal battle that began in 2016.

The full release of the returns is expected in the coming days after all personal information is redacted from them.

In the six-year period covered by the returns, the Trumps' adjusted gross income totaled negative $53.2 million, and their total federal tax liability, including self-employment and household employment taxes, was $4.4 million.

The report from the House Ways and Means Committee, regarding the IRS and former President Donald Trump's tax returns. AP Information on former President Donald Trump's tax returns, released in a staff report by the Joint Committee on Taxation are seen on Wednesday. AP Advertisement

The Trumps reported positive adjusted gross income in only two of those six years '-- $24.3 million in 2018 and $4.4 million in 2019.

In those years, the then-first couple's tax bill increased, the report found, with the Trumps paying almost $1 million in taxes in 2018 and $133,445 in 2019.

In 2020, as the coronavirus pandemic raged across the country, the Trumps reported a loss of $4.8 million and paid $0 in federal taxes.

The panel voted 24-16 to release the Trumps' tax returns following a legal battle that began in 2016. AP 'The tax returns of former President Donald Trump and his wife Melania show negative income in four of the six years between 2015 and 2020. ' Getty ImagesThe release of the returns follows a protracted legal fight that began in April 2019 and went all the way to the Supreme Court.

The panel's 29-page executive summary also shows that the IRS failed to conduct a mandatory audit of Donald Trump's tax returns during the 45th president's first two years in office '-- skirting a requirement that dates back to 1977 following a controversy over former President Richard Nixon's taxes.

The IRS only began examining the former president's individual tax return for 2015 '-- the year he announced his candidacy '-- on April 3, 2019, the same day committee Chairman Richard Neal (D-Mass.) sent a letter to the federal agency seeking information about the returns.

Former President Donald Trump and his wife, Melania Trump, reported negative income on four of six years of tax returns between 2015 and 2020. Corbis via Getty ImagesMore than five months later in September 2019, the report says, the agency selected Trump's 2016 return for a mandatory audit. The individual returns for 2017, 2018 and 2019 were not selected for examination until after the former president had left office.

The committee released no evidence that Trump that sought to directly influence the IRS or discourage the agency from reviewing his tax information, but its report found problems with the agency's approach to the audits.

Specifically, IRS agents in charge of the audits repeatedly did not bring in specialists with expertise assessing the complicated structure of Trump's holdings. They frequently determined that a limited examination was warranted because Trump hired a professional accounting firm that they assumed would make sure Trump ''properly reports all income and deduction items correctly.''

''The Committee expected that these mandatory audits were being conducted promptly and in accordance with IRS policies,'' Neal said in a statement Tuesday. ''We anticipated the IRS would expand the mandatory audit program to account for the complex nature of the former president's financial situation yet found no evidence of that. This is a major failure of the IRS under the prior administration, and certainly not what we had hoped to find.

''But the evidence is clear,'' said Neal. ''Congress must step in.''

Former President Donald Trump speaks at a political rally in Georgia on Dec. 5, 2020. Anadolu Agency via Getty Images The Trumps reported positive adjusted gross income in only two of those six years '-- $24.3 million in 2018 and $4.4 million in 2019. Getty Images During the pandemic in 2020, the Trumps reported a loss of $4.8 million and paid $0 in federal taxes. Getty Images Advertisement

In response to the committee's probe, Neal has proposed legislation standardizing the IRS's approach, requiring an initial report no later than 90 days from the filing of a president's tax returns. The bill is unlikely to go anywhere with mere days to go before the end of the congressional session and Republicans taking control of the House on Jan. 3.

Trump, 76, who announced last month that he is running for president again in 2024, became the first White House candidate in four decades to refuse to voluntarily disclose his tax returns during his 2016 campaign, citing a supposed audit '-- even though an audit would not have precluded him from making the returns public.

Trump used the audit excuse again while president, thought it was never clear if he was referring to the mandatory process specifically aimed at presidents or reviews that took place prior to his political career.

In September 2020, The New York Times reported Trump was facing an IRS audit potentially tied to a $72.9 million tax refund arising from $700 million in losses he claimed in 2009. The documents released Tuesday indicate that Trump continued to collect tax benefits from those losses through 2018.

A spokesman for the former president characterized the release of the returns as an ''unprecedented leak by lame duck Democrats'' in a statement to the Wall Street Journal.

Donald and Melania Trump in August 2015. AFP via Getty Images''If this injustice can happen to President Trump, it can happen to all Americans without cause,'' Steven Cheung told the newspaper, adding that the full release of the returns will reflect Trump's success as a businessman.

Democratic members of the committee said the release of the returns was necessary for transparency.

''I voted to reinforce this critical principle: No person is above the law, not even a president of the United States,'' committee member Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.) said.

Neal insisted to reporters the committee's probe was ''about the presidency, not the president.''

But Republicans warned that it could set a dangerous precedent.

Former President Donald Trump and his wife, Melania Trump, depart the White House on Dec. 5, 2020. Bloomberg via Getty Images''Over our objections in opposition, Democrats in the Ways and Means Committee have unleashed a dangerous new political weapon that overturns decades of privacy protections,'' Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas), the top GOPer on the panel, told reporters.

''The era of political targeting, and of Congress' enemies list, is back and every American, every American taxpayer, who may get on the wrong side of the majority in Congress is now at risk,'' the Texas lawmaker said.

Earlier this month, a' Manhattan trial jury found the Trump Organization guilty of criminal tax fraud.

Prosecutors said the company helped top executives evade income taxes by providing them off-the-book perks like rent, private school tuition and luxury cars.

With Post wires

Court upholds ban on contractor vaccine mandate in 3 states | AP News

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Thu, 22 Dec 2022 13:35

NEW ORLEANS (AP) '-- A federal appeals court panel has upheld a decision blocking President Joe Biden's administration from requiring COVID-19 vaccinations as part of federal contracts with three states.

The ruling, dated Monday, is the latest in a series of setbacks for Biden's attempt to boost COVID-19 vaccination rates by requiring contractors doing work for the federal government to ensure their employees are vaccinated.

The 2-1 decision by a panel of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans applies only to contracts involving Indiana, Louisiana and Mississippi. But the mandate has been blocked or partially blocked in half the states as a result of multiple lawsuits.

Biden's administration is not enforcing the contractor vaccination requirement in any states, as the legal battles continue to play out.

The 5th Circuit appeals panel heard arguments in October. Its written ruling said Biden's executive order was unlawful, because Congress had not given him clear authority in federal procurement laws to require COVID-19 vaccinations.

The decision was written by Circuit Judge Kurt Engelhardt and agreed with by Judge Don Willett, both nominated to the court by President Donald Trump. In dissent was Judge James Graves, a nominee of President Barack Obama.,

Five biggest moments from Zelensky's address to Congress | The Hill

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Thu, 22 Dec 2022 13:34

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky delivered a historic speech before a joint meeting of Congress on Wednesday night, pleading with the U.S. to continue its support of Ukraine in the face of Moscow's attacks.

The address, which spanned roughly 23 minutes, marked the first time a foreign leader addressed Congress during wartime since Winston Churchill did so in 1941 during World War II. The trip to Washington was also the first known time Zelensky has left Ukraine since Russia invaded in late February.

Here are the five biggest moments from Zelensky's speech:

A packed entranceZelensky entered a packed House chamber Wednesday night, with lawmakers from both parties and chambers, Cabinet officials, and the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine coming together to view the president's historic speech.

The chamber erupted in a standing ovation, and Zelensky shook hands with a number of lawmakers while walking down the aisle toward the dais.

The applause continued well after Zelensky arrived at the microphone, stretching for roughly three minutes. At one point, when attendees were still clapping, Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) '-- who has been critical of U.S. aid to Ukraine in the past '-- sat down.

Vice President Harris and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), both of whom wore blue suits while presiding over the chamber during the joint meeting, greeted Zelensky when he arrived at the dais and shook his hand. It could be the last time two women preside over a joint meeting of Congress for a while '-- Pelosi set to step down from her post as Democratic leader at the end of the year.

Zelensky likens Ukraine's war to U.S. fight for independenceThroughout his speech Zelensky pointed to moments in U.S. history as a way to call for united American support in fending off Russia's assault, comparing the battles fought for U.S. independence to Ukraine's fight for freedom.

''To ensure Bakhmut is not just a stronghold that holds back the Russian army but for the Russian army to completely pull out, more cannons and shells are needed,'' Zelensky said. ''Just like the Battle of Saratoga, the fight for Bakhmut will change the trajectory of our war for independence and for freedom.''

''If your patriots stop the rise in terror against our cities, it will let Ukrainian patriots work to the full to defend our freedom,'' he added.

At another point in his speech, Zelensky cited the Battle of the Bulge when underscoring Russia's aggression.

''The Russian tactic is primitive. They burn down and destroy everything they see. They sent thugs to the front lines. They sent convicts to the war. They threw everything against us, similar to the other tyranny, which is in the Battle of the Bulge,'' he said.

''Just like the brave American soldiers which held their lines and fought back Hitler's forces during the Christmas of 1944, brave Ukrainian soldiers are doing the same to Putin's forces this Christmas,'' he added.

It is not the first time Zelensky has cited historical events in American history to round up support for his country. During a virtual address to Congress in March, he pointed to the attack on Pearl Harbor and the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Zelensky the comedian shines throughZelensky, who before entering politics was a comedian and actor, showed moments of humor during Wednesday's address, eliciting chuckles in the chamber.

''Your support is crucial. Not just to stand in such fight but to get to the turning point to win on the battlefield. We have artillery, yes. Thank you. We have it. Is it enough? Honestly, not really,'' he said, evoking laughs.

At another point in his speech, Zelensky spoke to the abilities of Ukrainian soldiers when it comes to operating American weaponry.

''Ukraine never asked the American soldiers to fight on our land instead of us. I assure you that Ukrainian soldiers can perfectly operate American tanks and planes themselves,'' he said, leading to laughs and claps in the chamber.

The speech comes as Congress is on the brink of sending Ukraine an additional $45 billion in assistance amid its ongoing conflict with Russia. The funding is included in the end-of-the-year spending measure that both chambers are considering this week.

Unity '-- but not completelySigns of unity were seen and heard during Zelensky's speech, with lawmakers of both parties and chambers coming together for a number of standing ovations throughout the address.

Some of the largest cheers of the night came when Zelensky said that ''Ukraine holds its lines and will never surrender'' and that his country ''is alive and kicking.''

The chamber also erupted in a rush of applause when the president capped off his speech, wishing the crowd ''merry Christmas and happy victorious new year.''

As Zelensky wrapped up his speech, shouts of ''Slava Ukraini,'' which means ''Glory to Ukraine,'' could he heard in the chamber.

And in a sign of bipartisanship, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) sat on the Democratic side of the chamber for Zelensky's speech. She was seated next to Rep. Elaine Luria (D-Va.), who along with Cheney serves on the Jan. 6 select committee. Both lost reelection this year.

Lawmakers were not, however, unified for the entire evening. Boebert and Republican Reps. Matt Gaetz (Fla.), Jim Jordan (Ohio) and Tim Burchett (Tenn.) sat out a number of standing ovations, and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) was not seen with Zelensky and other congressional leaders '-- Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) '-- when the group walked through the Capitol's Statuary Hall.

Zelensky, Pelosi exchange flagsIn one of the most powerful moments of the night, Zelensky and Pelosi exchanged flags of their respective countries.

Zelensky said he received the Ukrainian flag during a visit to Bakhmut on Tuesday, when he visited with troops. They asked that he deliver the flag to Congress.

''When I was in Bakhmut yesterday, our heroes gave me the flag. The battle flag. The flag of those who defend Ukraine, Europe and the world at the cost of their lives. They ask me to bring this flag to you, to the U.S. Congress, to members of the House of Representatives and senators whose decisions can save millions of people,'' Zelensky said.

US life expectancy fell again in 2021, driven by COVID and drug overdosesHow Trump paid $0 in income tax in 2020''So let these decisions be taken. Let this flag stay with you. Ladies and gentlemen, this flag is a symbol of our victory in this war. We stand, we fight and we will win because we are untied '-- Ukraine, America and the entire free world,'' he added.

Zelensky then unfolded the Ukrainian flag '-- which had black handwriting on the yellow portion '-- and handed it to Pelosi, who was sitting on the dais. The two kissed on the cheek. Zelensky then handed the other side to Harris, and the two women held it up for the chamber to see.

Pelosi returned the favor shortly after, presenting Zelensky with a framed American flag that flew above the Capitol on Wednesday. Zelensky held it up over his head, and the chamber erupted in applause. He walked out of the chamber while displaying the flag.

Zelensky Tells Congress That American Aid So Far Is Still 'Not Enough'

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Thu, 22 Dec 2022 13:33

President Joe Biden greeted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House on Wednesday, prompting a message that the U.S. will continue to financially support Ukraine even months after Russia invaded the country.

Wearing his signature long-sleeved green shirt, Zelensky said that he and Biden share the ''same values'' after the president had vowed to help Ukraine for ''as long as it takes.''

''We fight for our common victory against this tyranny. And that is real life. And we will win. And I want [to] win together. Not want '-- I am sure,'' Zelensky said while standing next to Biden at the White House earlier on Tuesday.

At the beginning of his speech to a joint session of Congress later on Tuesday evening, Zelensky described what it is like ''fighting'' on the ''battlefield.''

''Every inch of that land is soaked in blood. Roaring guns sound every hour. Trenches in the Donbas change hands several times a day in fierce combat and even hand fighting, but the Ukrainian Donbas stands,'' he said.

As both Democrats and Republicans erupted in applause, Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), who has voiced criticism of sending aid to Ukraine, remained seated.

Additionally, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) declined to join his fellow congressional leaders in accompanying Zelensky into the Capitol rotunda.

The Ukrainian president told Congress that their money is "not charity," but an "investment."

''Your money is not charity. It's an investment in the global security and democracy that we handle most responsibly,'' Zelensky said, adding ''your support is crucial, not just to stand in such fight, but to get to the turning point to win on the battlefield.''

Zelensky's arrival in D.C. coincided with another gift of military aid from the Biden administration of a cool $1.85 billion, including a defensive Patriot missile battery. Another $45,000,000,000 is set to be gifted to Ukraine in the Democrats' $1.7 trillion omnibus bill.

However Zelensky warned that the package, in addition to the billions of dollars in other military and financial aid the U.S. has already given him, is ''not enough.''

''I came here in the U.S. to thank the people of America '-- people who do so much for Ukraine,'' Zelensky said.

In his closing remarks, the Ukrainian president invoked former U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, comparing Ukrainian people to Americans.

''Standing here I recall the words of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, which are, I think, so good for this moment. The American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victor,'' Zelensky said, adding ''the Ukrainian people will win too. Absolutely.''

In a video posted this week, Zelenksky said that the main reason for his visit to the states is to make sure funding for his country doesn't dry up.

Earlier in the day, Biden told Zelensky that it was ''particularly meaningful'' to speak to the Ukrainian president in person and ''look each other in the eye.''

The man who perpetually presents the image of a wartime president fighting on the front lines was also told by Biden that he'd been named Time Magazine's ''Man of the Year."

The question everyone should be asking is why is the U.S. putting so much money and effort into helping Ukraine when America is facing some of the biggest problems in history. Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell said earlier this week that the "number on priority" for the United States is providing aid to Ukraine, even though recent polling by Gallup has showed that the fight between Russia in Ukraine doesn't rank in the top ten issues identified by Americans, and most recently registered at zero percent in a survey of Americans' top problems.

If Biden put half as much energy into combatting problems that are threatening the U.S. as he has provided support for Zelensky, our country might not be facing record-high inflation and a border overrun by illegal migrants.

'Omnibus is hanging by a thread''... '' CITIZEN FREE PRESS

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Posted by Kane on December 22, 2022 2:25 amNEWS JUNKIES -- CHECK OUT OUR HOMEPAGE

No more votes in the Senate tonight. Omnibus in trouble. Title 42 amendment causing big problems.

'-- Trish Turner (@caphilltrish) December 22, 2022

Charles Schumer took to the floor at 2 am Thursday to say an agreement was near to speed up passage of the massive 2023 omnibus spending bill, after senators spent Wednesday wrangling behind the scenes.

The chief dispute was over pandemic-era asylum restrictions that the Biden administration wants to lift, a move that Republicans and some Democrats say would exacerbate chaos at the border. Mike Lee has an amendment to bar the administration from ending the so-called Title 42 policy; Republicans want a simple majority threshold for adoption, while Democrats want to raise the bar to 60 votes.

''It is my expectation we will be able to lock in an agreement on the omnibus tomorrow morning,'' Schumer said. ''We are very close, but we're not there yet. ''

The New York Democrat said the chamber would reconvene at 8 a.m., for a nomination vote, which he said would ''bring everybody here to get final agreement and then to move forward.''

If a deal is struck, it could mean a lengthy day of amendment votes before final passage. But it would mark a sharp turnaround from the gloom expressed late Wednesday. The entire $1.7 trillion omnibus is now ''hanging by a thread,'' Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., said on his way out of the Capitol.

Senators are leaving the floor saying there are no omnibus votes tonight, the holdup being a GOP amendment to reinstate Title 42 that Dems want at a 60 vote threshold and Republicans want at a simple majority.

Next steps unclear.

'-- Frank Thorp V (@frankthorp) December 22, 2022

Schumer has an excuse for everything'...

Reporter: "How is it to functional process to drop a 4,100 page bill this morning and expect a vote on it tomorrow?"

Schumer: "The bill has been carefully worked on [and] most of the provisions were well known weeks and weeks in advance." pic.twitter.com/PLBO3JOdig

'-- Greg Price (@greg_price11) December 20, 2022

Russia, China to hold joint naval drills | AP News

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Wed, 21 Dec 2022 19:18

MOSCOW (AP) '-- Russian warships set off Monday to take part in a joint naval drills with China, an exercise that showcases increasingly close defense ties between the two countries as they face tensions with the United States.

The Russian Defense Ministry said the Varyag missile cruiser, the Marshal Shaposhnikov destroyer and two corvettes of Russia's Pacific Fleet would take part in maneuvers in the East China Sea starting Wednesday.

The ministry said the Chinese navy planned to deploy several surface warships and a submarine for the exercise. Russian and Chinese aircraft will also take part in the drills, according to the ministry.

Moscow and Beijing have displayed their growing military cooperation in recent months.

In November, Tu-95 bombers of the Russian air force and Chinese H-6K bombers flew joint patrols over the Sea of Japan and the East China Sea. As part of the drills, the Russian bombers landed in China for the first time, and the Chinese bombers flew to an air base in Russia.

In September, China sent more than 2,000 troops along with more than 300 military vehicles, 21 combat aircraft and three warships to take part in a sweeping joint exercise with Russia. The maneuvers marked the first time that China sent forces from three branches of its military to take part in a single Russian drill, in what was described as a show of the breadth and depth of China-Russia mutual trust.

Defense cooperation between Moscow and Beijing has grown stronger since Russian President Vladimir Putin sent his troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24.

China, which has declared a ''no limits'' friendship with Russia, has pointedly refused to criticize Moscow's actions, blaming the U.S. and NATO for provoking the Kremlin, and has blasted the punishing sanctions imposed on Russia.

Russia, in turn, has strongly backed China amid the tensions with the U.S. over Taiwan.

Pope Francis Says He Wrote Resignation Note In 2013 | The Daily Wire

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Wed, 21 Dec 2022 19:17

VATICAN CITY '-- Pope Francis signed a resignation letter in 2013 and then handed it over to then-Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone, the pope told a Spanish news outlet on Saturday.

The pope's comment was made during a wide-ranging interview with the Spanish outlet ABC , which covered topics from women in positions of leadership in the Church to traditional liturgy and the handling of the sex abuse crisis.

When journalists asked about the ''delicate topic'' of what could happen if he were suddenly disabled due to health or an accident, the pope responded, ''I have already signed my resignation. It was Tarcisio Bertone, the secretary of state '... I signed it and told him, 'In case of impediment for medical reasons or whatever else I don't know, here is my resignation.'''

Pope Francis continued, re-emphasizing that the Vatican secretary of state has control of the document, for use in case he was incapacitated.

''They already have it. I don't know who Cardinal Bertone gave it to, but I gave it to him when he was Secretary of State.'' Pointing out that the pope had never revealed this in prior interviews, the pope stated he wanted it to be known. ''That's why I say it. Now, someone will have to go ask (Cardinal) Bertone for it: ''Give me the piece of paper! (laughs). He surely handed it over to Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the new Secretary of State.''

When asked if the position of ''emeritus pope,'' like that of Pope Benedict XVI, would be made a ''well-defined statute,'' the pope replied, ''No. I've not touched that at all, nor has the idea crossed my mind. It seems the Holy Spirit has no interest in me taking care of such things.''

In July 2021, the 86-year-old Pope Francis underwent surgery to remove a large portion of his left colon, leaving the hospital 10 days later . It was later reported that '' disagreeable side-effects '' of the general anesthesia left the Roman Pontiff unwilling to undergo further operations, particularly on his knee. He has been seen either with a cane or wheelchair-bound since Easter of this year.

His deteriorating health has led to several false reports and rumors that Pope Francis is imminently dying. Unsubstantiated reporting has been left mostly unchecked by the Vatican, leading to reports such as one by Newsmax last December (which has yet to be retracted by Newsmax ) or a viral tweet from Megyn Kelly , claiming media presence and increased clergy in the Vatican was due to ''reports'' of a pending resignation of the pope.

It seems that Pope Francis has left little doubt about his intentions, at least in case of incapacitation, during this interview.

Facing an energy crisis, Germans stock up on candles : Planet Money : NPR

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Wed, 21 Dec 2022 19:12

picture alliance/dpa/picture alliance via Getty I picture alliance/dpa/picture alliance via Getty I

It's a great time to be a candlemaker in Germany.

"Candle demand is very strong right now," says Stefan Thomann, Technical Director of the European Candle Manufacturers Association.

The candle boom began during the pandemic, after the government imposed lockdowns and Germans began spending a lot more time at home. The industry expected the boom to end once the nation opened back up, Thomann says. "But then the war (in Ukraine) started."

Prior to Russia's invasion, Germany was getting more than half of its natural gas from Russia. It was Russia's biggest natural gas customer in the European Union, and many Germans used this gas to heat their homes, generate electricity, and power their factories.

After the war started, though, Germany began reducing its imports of Russian natural gas. But the German economy was pretty dependent on Russian gas, and politicians were reluctant to completely cut off the flow.

However, this summer, Russia cut gas flows to Germany, claiming a major gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea needed maintenance work. Then, in September, parts of that same pipeline mysteriously exploded. Officials are still debating how and why that happened. Whatever the reason, the spigot of Russian gas into Germany has now been shut off almost completely.

Germany is now on a mission to transform its energy economy and reduce its gas consumption. The nation is making real progress on that front. But our sources make clear that many Germans remain anxious about high energy prices and the possibility of shortages and power outages. Their response to this has included '-- apparently '-- buying lots of candles.

Germany Reshuffles Its Energy Supply"The fear was, at the beginning of the year, that this kind of reduction in gas consumption would lead to, I think some people used the word 'meltdown,' of German industry," says Guntram Wolff, director and CEO of the German Council on Foreign Relations.

The German government has been working to reduce gas consumption and diversify its energy supply. Early this fall, it enacted new measures aimed at reducing gas demand and helping Germany make it through the winter, when power use is higher. Germans are now being encouraged to do things like use less hot water; switch off the lights on advertising billboards past 10pm, and on public monuments; turn off the heat in private swimming pools; and lower the temperature in many public buildings.

"There's regulation for all public buildings. You don't heat the floors anymore, lecture halls and so on," says Moritz Kuhn, an economics professor at the University of Bonn. His university even handed out thermostats to professors to monitor the temperature of their offices. Kuhn gets to keep his office's temperature at 19 degrees Celsius, or 66.2 degrees Fahrenheit '-- the maximum temperature that offices are now allowed to be heated.

In a study published earlier this year, Kuhn and his colleagues analyzed Germany's natural gas economy. They concluded that, if the nation could reduce its gas demand by about 20% and successfully shift where its natural gas came from, the country could probably make it through this winter without major power outages.

And that's exactly what Germany has been working to do. Instead of getting gas from Russia, Germany is now getting gas from places like the Netherlands, Norway, Belgium, Qatar and the United States. And it's building new infrastructure to increase the flow of natural gas from these and other non-Russian sources.

Germany has also worked to diversify its energy consumption away from natural gas. Germans are increasingly turning to solar energy. It's also resorted to using more coal to offset its reduced imports of natural gas.

Despite concerted efforts to reduce gas demand and to boost and diversify energy supply, the price of natural gas in Germany quadrupled by September, compared to the year prior. Prices have fallen a bit since then, but they're still much more expensive than they were before the war started. While Germany has tapped new sources of gas, this gas costs more, both because of reduced supply and because it costs more to transport.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has assured Germans that they will have enough power to make it through the winter. Germany's reserves of natural gas remain near 100%, which should be enough to last for at least the next two and a half months, says Ben Moll, an economist at the London School of Economics.

But, Moll adds, there is still reason for Germans to be concerned. "Gas storage is like your phone battery," Moll says. Think of the lack of Russian gas as like...forgetting your phone charger on a trip. "You wouldn't get excited about the fact that your phone battery is charged a hundred percent because you still know that it's only gonna last you for a day."

The Candle BoomIn the aftermath of the geopolitical clash with Russia, a sense of energy insecurity has pervaded Germany. Energy prices have skyrocketed. And because, in Germany, natural gas is used to generate electricity, fear of power outages has grown, too.

The German government says large-scale power outages are unlikely, but it's still encouraging people to be prepared. This fall, the Federal Ministry for Economics and Climate Protection put out public service announcements about how people can conserve energy. The German Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance has also issued guidance about how to prepare for a power outage '-- including by wearing lots of warm clothing, keeping flashlights and camping or outdoor lamps around, as well as plenty of batteries...and candles.

In addition to candles, demand for mobile heaters has surged, and Germany's utilities agency has warned against overusing them, for fear of maxing out the power grid.

Moritz Kuhn, the economist from the University of Bonn, says his friends and family have been trying to buy firewood to heat their apartments, but it's nowhere to be found. "If you go to a store and try to buy anything that you could burn in your oven, you are not going to find anything. It's just all sold out or has ridiculous prices," he says.

All this said, the economists we spoke to told us that Germany is successfully transitioning away from Russian energy. Guntram Wolff, from the German Council on Foreign Relations, says the "meltdown" many feared at the beginning of the year hasn't happened.

Looking forward, Germany hopes to make the leap to 100% renewable energy by 2035. "In the end, where we are going is exactly where we wanted to go," Kuhn says. "It's just like we fast-forwarded the transition a little bit."

Judge strips Alex Jones of bankruptcy protections for $1.5 billion Sandy Hook debt - Raw Story - Celebrating 18 Years of Independent Journalism

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Wed, 21 Dec 2022 19:03

"If I decide to run for office, I'll produce my tax returns, absolutely. And I would love to do that," said Trump in one clip.

"I would certainly show tax returns if it was necessary," he said in another.

RELATED: Trump spokesman demands taxes be released for 'Nancy Pelosi and her weirdo husband'

"I'm very honest in my tax returns," he said in yet another.

"I have very big returns as you know. And I have everything all approved and very beautiful and we'll be working on it," he said in still another.

"My returns are extremely complex, and I'll make a determination at the right time. I have a very complex system of taxes," he said in a fifth clip.

In another, Trump appeared to tie the release of his tax returns to demands from his 2016 opponent, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

"33,000 emails have been deleted," he said. "As soon as she releases them, I will release. I will release my tax returns."

"So that was the promise, until it wasn't," said Berman, then pivoting to the excuses Trump made for not releasing the returns.

"I'm under audit. When you're under audit, you don't do it. But I'm under audit," said Trump in one clip.

"I would love to give them, but I'm not going to do it while I'm under audit. It's very simple," he said in another.

"I'm under a routine audit, and it will be released," he echoed in another.

"As soon as the audit is finished, it will be released," he said in yet another.

"I'm not really releasing tax returns because, as you know, they're under audit," said Trump in a fifth clip.

"Actually, I paid tax. You'll see that as soon as my tax returns. It's under audit. They've been under audit for a long time. The IRS does not treat me well," he said in a sixth.

Watch the video below or at this link.

John Berman reminds Trump of promises to release his taxes www.youtube.com

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VAERS Shows a 4070% Increase in Miscarriages and Stillbirths Since mRNA Roll-out

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Wed, 21 Dec 2022 18:57

The vaccine is ''safe and effective'' according to our very own CDC, FDA and Federal government.

Nothing to see here. Pay no attention to the 4,070% increase in miscarriages and stillbirths, as reported by the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS). The VAERS system is the federal government's method of monitoring vaccine injuries through real-time reporting. As reported through OpenVAERS.com:

In 2016 Dr. Cody Meissner authored an article for AAP News in which he stated ''In 2012, reports were received from health care providers (41%), manufacturers (29%), other sources (17%) and vaccinees or families (14%).''

Pfizer, the maker of one of the notorious mRNA ''vaccines'', has recently come out and acknowledged that the vaccine may cause blood clots. As reported on by The Gateway Pundit yesterday, Pfizer's President of International Developed Markets Janine Small admitted that the vaccine had never been tested on whether or not it prevented transmission of the disease before it entered the market.

TRENDING: WATCH LIVE FROM MARICOPA COUNTY COURT ROOM: Kari Lake's Historic Trial on Election Interference - Begins at 9 AM MST

The known effects of myocarditis and other cardiac injuries has not only been well documented in the public, it is now being acknowledged by the vaccine manufacturer and the FDA themselves. And now that Twitter allows ''free speech'' (kind of), the message is beginning to disseminate throughout the mainstream.

Wow. Just wow. https://t.co/7XMxtEi6pc

'-- Neil Johnson (@NeilEJohnson) December 19, 2022

But what's not getting a lot of attention is the unbelievable spike in miscarriages and stillbirths. The following charts show the dramatic increases according to OpenVAERS:

Miscarriages as a result of a non-covid vaccine seemed to spike in 2008 around the HPV vaccine. That number was just over 160 cases (165). In 2021 and 2022, we have seen 3,379 and 1,445, respectively, related to the COVID vaccines.

It is worth mentioning that it is estimated by a Harvard study that only a small percentage of actual VAERS injuries get reported. The process is cumbersome for doctors and nurses and there are whistleblowers who have claimed they are ''discouraged'' for lack of a better term, from writing VAERS reports. The actual number is likely significantly higher.

Remember that anomaly in the number of injuries reported as well as the discouragement when you consider the increase in myocarditis cases as well as deaths:

''Safe and effective.''

This will go down as one of the greatest crimes in the history of the world.

Spotify Exec Dawn Ostroff on Joe Rogan, Meghan, Podcast Cancelations - Variety

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Wed, 21 Dec 2022 15:18

Joe Rogan, the freewheeling bro podcaster whose show is exclusively distributed by Spotify, is a magnet for controversy. Earlier this year, COVID misinformation on ''The Joe Rogan Experience'' and Rogan's past use of the N-word triggered a backlash among artists and users, leading to a movement to boycott the streamer (which ultimately fizzled out).

Rogan also is, by a mile, the single biggest listener draw out of the millions of podcasts on the platform. Dawn Ostroff, Spotify's chief content and advertising business officer, has nothing but praise for Rogan.

''Joe has the No. 1 podcast in the world, which is saying a lot,'' Ostroff said in an interview with Variety. ''We look at Joe and it's hard to find anyone who comes close'... There's Joe Rogan, then there's a really big cliff '-- and then everyone else.''

Asked whether Spotify was concerned about alienating advertisers through the Rogan pact, Ostroff said, ''His advertisers have been with him for a very long time, and still remain his advertisers. He has a very loyal group of advertisers, even before we came in.''

The consistently top-ranked ''The Joe Rogan Experience,'' which moved exclusively to Spotify in December 2020, is the marquee title in Spotify's multibillion-dollar push into the podcast space under Ostroff. That kicked off in earnest in early 2019 with the company's deals to acquire Gimlet, Parcast and Anchor. In 2020, Spotify bought Bill Simmon's The Ringer, and it has made other acquisitions since including ad-tech firm Megaphone, analytics firms Podsights and Chartable, and audiobook company Findaway.

Nearly three years after bulldozing its way into the podcast biz, Spotify has built up a hefty tonnage of audio content, including an impressive slate of exclusive and original series. As of the end of the third quarter 2022, Spotify hosted 4.7 million podcasts on the platform in more than 170 markets. The vast majority of those are nonexclusive. But many of the best performers are Spotify's original and exclusive shows: Ostroff noted that six of the top 10 podcasts in Q3 on the platform were either exclusives or originals.

''We really have hit our stride and are finding shows that resonate,'' Ostroff said.

On its own platform, Spotify said it had three of the top five podcasts globally for 2022: ''The Joe Rogan Experience,'' Alex Cooper's ''Call Her Daddy'' talk show and scripted thriller ''Caso 63'' (all languages). Spotify's No. 3 for the year was ''Anything Goes With Emma Chamberlain,'' hosted by the popular YouTuber, which will become exclusively available on Spotify in 2023. In the U.S., Spotify also had four out of top five most-anticipated new releases of 2022 (ranked based on the first-week streams for newly released series): Meghan Markle's ''Archetypes,'' ''Batman Unburied,'' ''Kim Kardashian's The System: The Case of Kevin Keith'' and ''Case 63,'' starring Julianne Moore and Oscar Isaac.

''We know we have to make some big swings '-- and look for podcasts that feel like a big event, not just another podcast that's out there,'' said Ostroff.

One of those swings has been with Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, with talk show ''Archetypes'' from her Archewell production company with Prince Harry. In the show, which premiered in August and briefly took the No. 1 spot on Spotify's charts in several countries, Meghan sits down with guests to dissect the semantics of labels historically applied to women such as ''slut,'' ''ambitious'' and ''crazy.'' Detractors have dismissed ''Archetypes'' as a vanity project. But to Ostroff, Markle exemplifies the breakout quality Spotify is pursuing in the audio space.

''We are looking for creators with unique voice, something advertisers would want to be part of, but most important have a loyal audience that follows them,'' she said. ''These podcasters create community around the podcast, sometime around the guests. People know what to expect, and they keep coming back.''

Ostroff wouldn't say whether Markle's ''Archetypes'' will be returning for a second season. In addition, she declined to comment on deal talks with Rogan, whose $200 million-plus deal with Spotify is believed to be up for renewal at the end of 2023.

Spotify will continue to scout for more exclusive podcast licensing deals. But, Ostroff said, ''there aren't many of them that are at that level'' still on the market.

One of Spotify's high-profile podcast deals '-- with President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama's Higher Ground '-- came to an end this year, and Higher Ground inked an exclusive first-look deal with Amazon's Audible. The Obamas were said to be interested in distributing the shows on a nonexclusive basis, seeing Spotify's terms as restricting their reach. Ostroff declined to comment on Spotify's negotiations with the Obamas, but said, ''When we do deals with partners most of those are exclusive because those are a great way to bring people onto the platform.''

This fall, Spotify for the first time canceled several podcasts, axing 11 shows, which the unions repping podcast employees said resulted in the company laying off at least 38 staffers. Ostroff previously spent much of her career at the CW, UPN and Lifetime, and in TV such culling of the programming slate is routine.

''It's really just a matter of course in the television business to look at shows that are underperforming and reinvest that into new content,'' Ostroff said. Spotify this year was ''able to take a step back, then we made some very difficult decisions about shows that we were going to cancel. It was just a practice we had not done,'' she said, adding, ''We will do that on a regular basis.''

The company is in constant development on new podcasts. Ostroff compares Spotify Studios' projects, spanning a broad range of formats and genres, as akin to cable TV. The Ringer focuses on sports and pop-culture podcasts; Parcast delves into true-crime, scripted and interview shows; and Gimlet produces longer-form narrative and investigative originals.

Ostroff sees particular promise for scripted entertainment in podcasts, which she said ''has been underdeveloped in the medium.'' Following the popularity of ''Batman Unburied,'' an alternative origin story about Batman/Bruce Wayne produced with DC, Spotify has lined up ''Harley Quinn & The Joker: Sound Mind'' starring Christina Ricci as Harley Quinn, Billy Magnussen as the Joker and Justin Hartley as Batman, for 2023.

Spotify Originals fall under its Talk Studios team led by Julie McNamara, who oversees partnerships with major talent and studios such as DC Comics, Jordan Peele, Kardashian and Markle, as well as studios Gimlet, Parcast and The Ringer. Spotify's exclusive podcasts fall under the Creator Content and Partnerships group led by Max Cutler, which manages the exclusive licensing deals with Rogan and other creators.

Ostroff cited recent award wins for Spotify's audio content. Markle's ''Archetypes'' won top pop podcast of the year at the 2022 People's Choice Awards; other Spotify shows nominated in the category were ''Armchair Expert With Dax Shepard'' and ''Call Her Daddy'' (as well as Emma Chamberlain's ''Anything Goes''). In addition, ''Call Her Daddy'' won best podcast at the 2022 Streamy Awards, and earlier this year Spotify original series ''Jemele Hill Is Unbothered'' picked up two NAACP Image Awards.

Still, Spotify so far hasn't seen a financial payback on the podcast play. In 2021, the company's podcast business generated nearly '¬200 million in revenue, up 300% year over year, CFO Paul Vogel said at the streamer's investor day presentation in June. But the podcast segment had a negative gross margin of -57%, according to Vogel '-- and he said the losses were projected to be even higher in 2022, when Spotify anticipates the red ink to peak. Within the next five years, Spotify believes podcasts can achieve potential gross margins of 40%-50% within the next five years '-- even higher than its 30%-35% gross margin target for music.

Ostroff, without commenting on specific podcast financials, said, ''Obviously podcasting for us is still a new business. It's still an investment business.''

In looking to bulk up its ad revenue, Spotify continues to pitch Madison Avenue on the unique attributes of its listening platform, including its Streaming Ad Insertion (SAI) technology. When Spotify first entered podcasting, marketers had not embraced it as a ''general advertising medium,'' Ostroff said. The company recently commissioned a study from neuro-marketing firm Neuro-Insight for what Spotify said is the largest audio study of its kind. According to the Neuro-Insight study, which tracked the brain activity of users to measure engagement, Spotify audio outperformed other media including traditional radio (34% higher engagement), social media (+27%), TV (+23%) and digital video (+9%).

Meanwhile, Ostroff sees a ''huge opportunity'' to increase engagement with podcasts through video versions of its shows. She said Alex Cooper wanted to do more video for ''Call Her Daddy'' (previously produced by Barstool Sports) with guests including Hailey Bieber and Julia Fox '-- and, according to Ostroff, her shows with video have delivered twice the audience compared with those that are audio-only.

''Obviously, we've learned so much over the past three years,'' Ostroff said. ''And we have more coming down the pike.''

(23) Rep. Dan Bishop on Twitter: "My team and I are reading through the omnibus bill today - all $1.7 trillion and 4,155 pages of it. Follow along for some of the most egregious provisions in the bill '¬¸" / Twitter

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Rep. Dan Bishop : My team and I are reading through the omnibus bill today - all $1.7 trillion and 4,155 pages of it. Follow along'... https://t.co/RHpzCaOZN3

Tue Dec 20 17:28:03 +0000 2022

Zonedar ðºð¸ : @RepDanBishop @UnrollHelper Please unroll. TIA

Wed Dec 21 15:03:26 +0000 2022

Erintrospective B : @RepDanBishop As one of your constituents this bill must not pass!!!!

Wed Dec 21 15:03:25 +0000 2022

Ryan Day : @RepDanBishop Represent the people by voting no on the massive budget spending bill

Wed Dec 21 15:03:23 +0000 2022

Adolfo Sanmartino : @RepDanBishop Complete disgrace! They are laughing at us! All politicians sicken me! They are a bunch of hacks, who'... https://t.co/LY6YV0kZ0S

Wed Dec 21 15:03:15 +0000 2022

christina m. brooks : @RepDanBishop you can read? who knew.

Wed Dec 21 15:03:11 +0000 2022

AlexJonesGhosty : @RepDanBishop The American citizens allowed this. It's their fault for accepting this corrupt government. ð¤·ð>>''¸ You'... https://t.co/mlXuFM8xiF

Wed Dec 21 15:02:46 +0000 2022

Amy Schumer, John Oliver Sign WGA Diversity Pledge for Late Night TV '' The Hollywood Reporter

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Wed, 21 Dec 2022 15:00

The Writers Guild of America East and Writers Guild of America West have crafted a pledge committing to improving diversity, equity and inclusion in late night and comedy/variety TV, signed by more than 50 supervisory scribes in the space.

The diverse group, which includes John Oliver, Amber Ruffin, Amy Schumer and Charlamagne tha God, acknowledges systemic barriers and a ''sink or swim'' culture that has historically excluded BIPOC writers and outlines some specific remedies for helping them enter, stay in and move up through the pipeline.

''Traditional pipelines into late night and comedy-variety television are historically overwhelmingly white, and it is, therefore, insufficient to rely solely upon them when making hiring decisions,'' reads the joint statement, which also was signed by Trevor Noah, Samantha Bee, Desus Nice and The Kid Mero, whose shows or hosting stints recently concluded. ''We will look for applicants in more diverse spaces than the traditional set of colleges, universities and comedy spaces, and we will expand our existing networks by seeking recommendations from a broader and more diverse group of writers, networks and lists.''

The pledge was developed through conversations with guild members to illuminate obstacles and propose solutions. Although the document is not a covenant agreement or an official policy that includes tracking plans or accountability measures, the WGAE tells The Hollywood Reporter that the pledge, which does not directly involve any employers or production companies, ''is a tool that the Guild can use to monitor progress in these efforts,'' and that the union ''aims to enforce these standards to the ability that it can.''

In July, THR chief TV critic Daniel Fienberg wrote that late night television is currently at a representational crossroads, with hosts like Samantha Bee and Desus and Mero (and, now, Noah) stepping down from the white male-dominated landscape.

''Our members are aware and committed to the ideas and the actions in this important pledge,'' WGAE executive director Lowell Peterson said in a statement. ''The pledge is proof that people in positions of power, as well as those at the staff writer level, embrace the change needed to insure BIPOC voices are a vital part of the influential world of late night and comedy-variety television.''

More than 200 late night and comedy/variety staff writers signed an endorsement of the leaders' pledge. ''The more that our rooms are representative of and speak to the public, the more likely viewers will tune in to hear from us again,'' their statement read. ''We support the commitment signed by supervisory writers and firmly believe that it will benefit not only our workplaces but also the shows that we create together.''

Among the four primary declarations in the pledge are commitments to reform the writing packet process that has traditionally been the calling card for aspiring scribes '-- for example, providing sample formatting and allowing supplemental material from writers from non-traditional backgrounds, and putting ''mechanisms'' in place to account for reader bias and unfamiliarity with historically excluded cultural references and perspectives. The pledge also commits to creating and maintaining working environments where writers from marginalized backgrounds are free, safe and empowered to express themselves without fear of retribution.

''I have a lot of hope that this pledge can be a meaningful step towards creating fairer, more inclusive comedy/variety workplaces where writers from all backgrounds can flourish in supportive environments,'' Josh Gondelman, who was head writer and executive producer of Showtime's Desus & Mero, said in a statement. ''I'm grateful for the hard work of numerous writers to create an actionable blueprint and get so many people in the industry to commit to actually taking those actions.''

Zelensky visiting D.C. to address Congress, meet Biden

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks at the "Human Rights in Dark Times" International Conference in Kyiv, Ukraine on December 9, 2022. Photo: Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will visit Washington on Wednesday to meet President Biden, hold a press conference at the White House and address a joint session of Congress, a senior administration official told reporters.

Why it matters: Zelensky had not left Ukraine since Russia launched its brutal invasion on Feb. 24. During the visit, Biden will announce another $2 billion in U.S. military aid including, for the first time, the Patriot missile defense system.

Zelensky's trip to Washington '-- which will last just "a few short hours," per the U.S. official '-- comes 300 days into the invasion, as Ukraine is suffering from massive power outages caused by Russian strikes on civilian infrastructure. Biden and Zelensky will have an "in-depth, strategic discussion" about the war, military aid and tightening sanctions before Zelensky heads to Capitol Hill, the official said.Congress is poised to pass $45 billion in additional military and economic aid to Ukraine this week as part of its $1.7 trillion omnibus funding bill, bringing total U.S. assistance to over $100 billion.Between the lines: Some members of the incoming House Republican majority have expressed deep reservations about continuing to send aid to Ukraine.

The official said the White House expected a big show of bipartisan support for Zelensky during the visit, and hoped that would generate additional "momentum" for continued assistance from the U.S. and its allies.Zelensky may have a chance to convince some skeptics '-- or at the very least GOP leadership '-- that U.S. aid is vital and being used responsibly.Behind the scenes: Biden and Zelensky discussed a potential visit during a call on Dec. 11, and the plans were confirmed on Sunday, the official said. The news didn't start to emerge until Wednesday evening, a sign of the caution surrounding Zelensky's first foreign trip since the war began.

The official declined to discuss the logistics of Zelensky's travel for security reasons but said the visit would take place during Wednesday afternoon and evening. Zelensky's joint address to Congress is scheduled at 7:30pm EST, according to two sources familiar with the plans, which are still subject to change.Flashback: When Zelensky addressed a joint session of Congress virtually back in March, he summoned some of the darkest days in U.S. history '-- including Pearl Harbor and 9/11 '-- in his plea for greater assistance.

For many Americans, the tragedy in Ukraine has receded into the background as fighting rages on with no end in sight.For Zelensky, nothing else matters: Just Tuesday, he made a surprise trip to the besieged city of Bakhmut to hand out awards to troops involved in one of the war's fiercest battles.This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Twitter File Release #8 - Evidence Showing Pentagon/State Dept using Twitter for Propaganda, Release Curated to Protect Barack Obama - The Last Refuge

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In addition to confirming more of the basic construct behind Jack's Magic Coffee Shop, Twitter File Release #8 also reveals that Twitter officers are carefully curating information to protect their interests. When information is curated to protect political interests, it puts a question mark behind all prior releases.

In release #8, the basic outline is showing how the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and U.S. State Department (DoS) work with the social media platforms to amplify messaging and create specifically anonymous government accounts intended to spread propaganda globally. [Twitter File Release #8 Here] The government then asks the platform engineering side to boost the messaging of the government accounts and use the internal tools to promote government users. Essentially, social media propaganda.

The United States intelligence apparatus was/is actively using and working with the Twitter platform to align with U.S. government interests. The govt was coordinating, instructing, assisting and benefitting from the relationship. Pro govt positions were amplified, and information adverse to the interests of the Pentagon and State Dept was removed, hidden, throttled.

Unfortunately, as admitted by Twitter File #8 Author Lee Fang, a writer for The intercept, ''The searches were carried out by a Twitter attorney, so what I saw could be limited.'' There is no 'could be' in that statement. The searches were limited, specifically time limited putting all of the scrutiny on the timeline when Donald Trump was in office.

CTH has no vested interest in this pretending nonsense. We all know, hell, its public record, the use of Twitter and Facebook as a tool to advance U.S. foreign policy began during the Obama administration. There are dozens of mainstream press accounts of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton reaching out to Twitter and Facebook for support during the '11/'12 Arab Spring. This is not controversial, it happened.

However, the current release uses a carefully applied time filter only showing DoD and DoS use of the platform (to assist foreign policy) starting in 2017, when President Trump took office. This is intentional. The origin of the practice starts with Barack Obama.

Let me be very, very clear. This release of information was filtered to avoid revealing that President Obama was the originator of this activity.

Twitter is trying to protect President Obama because, beyond the ideological alignment, the monopolistic social media system '' a partnership between the U.S. government and Big Tech, was essentially designed as a purposeful oligarchical system. As long as each platform Oligarch retains the code of omerta the system survives.

Within that design, if any one oligarch turns against the group interest, he/she becomes a target of the system. Remaining in alignment with the group is why Twitter lawyers carefully filtered out the trail to former President Barack Obama. The One is always protected.

Barack Obama established the partnership between government and social media, and within this release Twitter is protecting Barack Obama.

This release is so over-the-top-obvious in its intent to protect the Obama legacy, that the nature of the DoS/DoD admissions within it become almost secondary.

Twitter gave approval & special protection to the U.S. military's online psychological influence ops. Despite knowledge that Pentagon propaganda accounts used covert identities, Twitter did not suspend many for around 2 years or more. Some remain active.

In 2017, a U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) official sent Twitter a list of 52 Arab language accounts ''we use to amplify certain messages.'' The official asked for priority service for six accounts, verification for one & ''whitelist'' abilities for the others.

[Read Full Twitter File Release #8 Here]

The Obama administration first created the public-private partnership with Twitter and Facebook to support the ''Arab Spring'' uprising.

As a consequence, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was the first elected official to be taken out by former President Obama's deployment of Twitter as a community activist tool for revolution in 2011. In direct and consequential ways, Egypt was the BETA test for a process that surface a decade later in the United States during the 2020 election.

Using and influencing social media was a tool created by the Obama state department, as noted years ago in Mic.Com:

['...] In countries like Egypt, Tunisia, and Yemen, rising action plans such as protests made up of thousands, have been organized through social media such Facebook and Twitter. ''We use Facebook to schedule the protests'' an Arab Spring activist from Egypt announced ''and [we use] Twitter to coordinate, and YouTube to tell the world.'' The role that technology has taken in allowing the distribution of public information such as the kinds stated by the aforementioned activist, had been essential in establishing the democratic movement that has helped guide abused civilians to overthrow their oppressor. (link)

(NationalPulse) The most popular Twitter hashtags in the Arab region in the first three months of this year were ''Egypt'', ''Jan25'', ''Libya'', ''Bahrain'' and ''protest''.

Nearly 9 in 10 Egyptians and Tunisians surveyed in March said they were using Facebook to organise protests or spread awareness about them. All but one of the protests called for on Facebook ended up coming to life on the streets.

These and other findings from the newly released second edition of the Arab Social Media Report by the Dubai School of Government give empirical heft to the conventional wisdom that Facebook and Twitter abetted if not enabled the historic region-wide uprisings of early 2011. (link)

Fast forward to 2020, and those same elements deployed against the Egyptian government were deployed in the United States in a coordinated public-private partnership with Twitter, Facebook and social media.

The U.S. government control over these social media platforms is ultimately what lies at the heart of the latest Twitter Files release.

And it goes much deeper'... much more purposefully deeper.

The ideological interests behind the 2010/ '11 ''Arab Spring'' uprising were the same ideological interests behind the 2020 ''Black Lives Matter'' protests/uprising. Not merely similar people, but the exact same people.

The exact same group of U.S. people who were promoting the mid-east Arab Spring in 2010/'11 are the same people who promoted the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests. The same politicians; the same media voices; the same newspapers; the same social media activists. Almost every participant, and their support for the uprising '10 -vs- '20 was identical, including the platforms deployed.

In the background of the Arab Spring, the root control organization was The Muslim Brotherhood. Considering all of the connective similarities and considering the U.S. advocates for the brotherhood were the same voices advocating for BLM; the BLM movement as an extension of the same overarching ideology becomes clear.

It is not an esoteric intellectual exercise to compare the two movements because we were not only talking about a similar level of protest, but we also saw an identical set of actions in both groups. Not only were the advocates the same voices, but the behavior also to remove and destroy common cultural connection/heritage was the same.

The Brotherhood is essentially the umbrella organization for a multitude of Islamic factions. In essence, the Muslim Brotherhood represents political Islam. Similarly, if you look at the structure of Black Lives Matter, they too represent an umbrella-type structure for a network of individual political grievance groups. Both groups represent a cultural revolution by the results of their activity.

In 2010 the Brotherhood had al-Qaeda and militant factions within ISIS. In 2020 BLM had the New Black Panthers and militant factions within Antifa.

In 2010 the Brotherhood tore down statues and symbols they identified as culturally oppressive to their political views. In 2020 BLM tore down statues and symbols they identified as oppressive to their political views.

In 2010 the Brotherhood burned books, destroyed history and removed their cultural opposition by force. In 2020 BLM promoted burning books, destroying history and cancelling their cultural opposition by force.

In 2010 the Brotherhood used social media to organize their political activity and Big Tech facilitated by setting up local networks for protest. In 2020 BLM used social media to organize their political media and Big Tech facilitated by deploying all local networks to assist.

In 2010 the Brotherhood attacked the police and framed their Islamist movement as oppressed by law enforcement. In 2020 BLM attacked the police and framed their movement as oppressed by law enforcement.

In 2010 the Brotherhood destroyed the notions of secularism and viciously attacked any form of Christianity, including burning churches. In 2020 BLM advocated against secularism and viciously attacked Christianity '' including the burning of churches, while conspicuously never criticizing any element of Islam.

In 2010 the Brotherhood was very strategic as they hoodwinked moderate Islamic supporters into voting them into power. Once in power they removed all of the institutional systems, government offices, judges, constitutional balances, local elections, and anything that would impede their ultimate stranglehold on power. Sharia Law replaced common legislative law. As a result, the ordinary population was brutalized, property was taken by force; businesses were taken by force and the Islamic regime now controlled every element of their lives.

In 2020 the approach of the BLM movement appeared very strategic as they also hoodwinked a multitude of supporters, voters and even corporations, by defining their victim class and role. Donations to the BLM group funded Joe Biden. Much like the 2010 Brotherhood approach, grievances were made personal. Bonds between families and friends are severed by force and demands to adhere to the movement's ideology. Now look at the severity of what policies are being advanced.

In 2010, despite the visibility of the radical elements of Islam, Egyptian candidate Mohammed Morsi ran on a platform for change as a moderate. He was supported by Obama, Clinton and the social media messaging deployed by the U.S. government. Once he achieved victory Morsi governed as a hardline leftist.

In 2020, despite the visibility of the radical leftists (BLM, Antifa), U.S. candidate Joe Biden ran on a platform for change as a moderate. He was supported by Obama, James Clyburn and the social media messaging deployed by the U.S. government. Once he achieved victory Biden governed as a hardline leftist.

These strategic political similarities are not coincidental.

As you can see from above, the use of social media had both an international and domestic value as considered by those in the Obama sphere who constructed the partnership with government. Twitter's curation of the timeline is intended to hide this 'Bigger Picture.'

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House Panel Votes to Release Trump's Tax Returns

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De flexitarir-paradox: meer vleesminderaars, nauwelijks minder vleesconsumptie

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Flexitarir, vegetarir, veganist: zo'n beetje de helft van alle Nederlanders zegt minder vlees te eten. Toch daalt de totale vleesconsumptie nauwelijks. Hoe kan dat? 'Het minderen van de vleesconsumptie zit meer tussen de oren dan tussen de tanden.'

Kaya Bouma 19 december 2022 , 23:59 Al zeker vijftien jaar onderzoekt Hans Dagevos de Nederlandse vleesconsumptie en elk jaar denkt hij: misschien is dit het kantelpunt. Misschien is dit het jaar waarin de cijfers voor het eerst klip en klaar laten zien dat we met z'n allen steeds minder hamburgers, kipsat(C) en plakjes boterhamworst eten.

Het zou logisch zijn. De schappen met vleesvervangers worden elk jaar breder, het aantal flexitarirs groeit stormachtig, net als de zorgen over het klimaat. Toch moet de Wageningse consumptiesocioloog elk jaar concluderen dat dit jaar nog niet het kantelpunt was.

Soms dalen de cijfers een beetje. Dan stijgen ze weer. Alles overziend, zegt Dagevos, is de hoeveelheid vlees die we consumeren deze eeuw nauwelijks veranderd. Een Nederlander eet gemiddeld 39 kilo vlees per jaar: 13 kilo meer dan gezond is volgens het Voedingscentrum en ruim twee keer zoveel als volgens wetenschappers houdbaar is voor de planeet. Dat getal is al jaren min of meer hetzelfde.

Dat is vreemd. Want ons land telt steeds meer flexitarirs: mensen die deels vegetarisch eten. Hoeveel het er precies zijn hangt af van de definitie (deels gaat het om zelfbenoemde flexitarirs, deels hanteren wetenschappers eigen criteria) maar de meeste onderzoeken komen uit op minimaal 40 procent. Dat zijn internationaal gezien hoge percentages: Nederland geldt als koploper van Europa. Tien jaar geleden was nog zo'n 15 procent van de Nederlanders flexitarir.

Daarbovenop komt nog de stabiele groep pescotarirs (geen vlees, wel vis), vegetarirs (geen vlees, geen vis) en veganisten (geen dierlijke producten): in totaal zo'n 5 procent van de bevolking. Het CBS beschouwt de helft van de Nederlanders inmiddels als vleesminderaar: alle vegetarirs, veganisten en flexitarirs bij elkaar opgeteld.

Hoe kan het dat we toch evenveel vlees blijven eten?

Ontbijt, lunch en tussendoortjes Leg deze flexitarirparadox voor aan Pablo Moleman en er klinkt een diepe zucht. 'Dit is d(C) vraag die ons al jaren bezighoudt.' Moleman is een van de oprichters van de Nederlandse tak van ProVeg, een internationale stichting die plantaardige consumptie promoot en veel onderzoek laat doen naar dit onderwerp. 'Elk jaar denken we: de interesse voor plantaardig eten is nog nooit zo groot geweest, we zijn lekker bezig. Maar dan komt Hans (Dagevos, red.) met zijn cijfers over de vleesconsumptie en blijkt er w(C)(C)r niets veranderd.'

Een mogelijke verklaring is dat we geneigd zijn onze eigen vleesconsumptie te gunstig in te schatten, zegt Moleman. 'We staan stil bij het feit dat we bij de warme maaltijd een keer geen vlees eten, maar we vergeten al die andere momenten van de dag dat we wel vlees eten: bij het ontbijt, de lunch of tussendoor.'

De cijfers over vleesconsumptie wijzen desondanks dezelfde richting uit. Dagevos: 'Of je mensen nou zelf laat schatten hoeveel vlees ze eten, of er met een weegschaal bij gaat staan: er komt in grote lijnen telkens hetzelfde uit.'

Zelf onderzoekt Dagevos de vleesconsumptie al jaren op basis van landelijke cijfers. Hij doet dat in opdracht van dierenwelzijnsorganisatie Wakker Dier, samen met collega-onderzoekers van de Wageningen Universiteit. Hun aanpak grofweg: tel alle dieren die afgelopen jaar in Nederland zijn geslacht bij elkaar op, tel daar de import van vlees bij op en trekt de export ervanaf. De enorme vleesberg die overblijft delen de onderzoekers ten slotte door de bevolking. Daar rolt een 'karkasgewicht' (vlees inclusief botten en vet) uit dat schommelt rond de 77 kilo vlees per Nederlander per jaar. Ongeveer de helft daarvan belandt daadwerkelijk op ons bord als biefstuk of bitterbal.

Die cijfers stroken met verkoopcijfers van slagers, supermarkten en groothandels en met consumptiecijfers. Dagevos: 'De bron van de cijfers is heel verschillend, maar de overeenkomsten zijn groot.'

Wanneer ben je flexitarir? Aan de cijfers ligt het dus niet, zegt de Wageningse onderzoeker. Hoe zit het dan wel?

Mogelijk heeft het iets te maken met het begrip flexitarir zelf, dat Nederlanders steeds ruimhartiger op zichzelf lijken toe te passen. Een officile of wetenschappelijke definitie van wat een flexitarir precies is, bestaat niet. Volgens de Van Dale is een flexitarir iemand die 'slechts af en toe' vlees of vis eet. Natuur en Milieu is soepeler: wie minstens (C)(C)n dag per week geen vlees of vis eet, kwalificeert zich volgens de duurzaamheidsorganisatie. Het CBS beschouwt mensen als flexitarir als ze minimaal drie dagen in de week geen vlees eten, vis buiten beschouwing gelaten.

De term flexitarir werd in de jaren negentig in de VS gemunt om een groep te benoemen die in Nederland bekendstond als parttime-vegetarirs. In 2007 haalde het woord voor het eerst de Volkskrant ('Een flexitarir eet vrolijk wat de pot schaft en is nog gezond bezig ook'). In de jaren daarna raakte de term ingeburgerd.

Consumptiesocioloog Dagevos wijst op twee vragenlijstonderzoeken waarover hij publiceerde. In het eerste onderzoek, in 2011, vroeg hij aan een representatieve groep van bijna 1.200 vleesetende Nederlanders of ze zichzelf als flexitarir zagen. Uitkomst: 13 procent voelde zich flexitarir. Gemiddeld at deze groep naar eigen zeggen 2,9 dagen per week vlees.

Acht jaar later deed hij samen met een collega een vergelijkbaar onderzoek. De groep die zichzelf als flexitarir betitelde bleek in de tussentijd hard gegroeid, naar 43 procent. Maar deze flexitarirs aten aanzienlijk vaker vlees: gemiddeld 3,7 dagen per week vlees. Ruim een op de vijf flexitarirs at naar eigen zeggen zelfs vijf of meer dagen per week vlees. Twee keer zoveel als in 2011. 'Het begrip flexitarir verwatert', zegt Dagevos.

Tussen de oren In het verlengde daarvan: wie flexitarir besluit te worden, neemt zichzelf iets vaags voor en van vage voornemens komt weinig terecht, zegt Moleman van ProVeg. Hij verdiepte zich de afgelopen jaren in gedragsonderzoek: wat is er voor nodig om mensen in beweging te krijgen? 'Als een doel niet concreet is, kan er snel de klad in komen.'

Veel mensen zijn bezig met hun vleesconsumptie en in gedachten zetten ze soms al grote stappen, zegt Wim Verbeke, hoogleraar consumentengedrag aan de Universiteit Gent. Samen met collega Dagevos vergeleek hij onlangs de vleesconsumptie van Nederland en Belgi (zie kader). 'In de praktijk zien we daar nog weinig van terug. Onze conclusie was: het minderen van de vleesconsumptie zit meer tussen de oren dan tussen de tanden.'

Zoveel vlees wordt er per week per persoon minder gegeten vergeleken met vijftien jaar geleden. Beeld Eddo Hartmann

Een hypothese van Dagevos, die hij niet heeft onderzocht, is dat flexitarirs op de dagen dat ze wel vlees eten, meer vlees eten dan ze anders zouden doen. 'Moral licensing heet dat in de psychologie, het fenomeen dat je jezelf onbewust op zo'n moment toch meer toestaat vanuit de gedachte: ik heb al zoveel gedaan.'

Gedragsverandering kost tijd, het eten van vlees zit diep ingesleten in de gewoonten van veel mensen, zegt Moleman. 'Al die goede voornemens zullen uiteindelijk tot het eten van minder vlees leiden, daarvan ben ik overtuigd. Maar de weg is een stuk langer en hobbeliger dan gedacht.'

Vleesvervangers En al die vleesvervangers dan? Dat almaar uitdijende aanbod van vegetarische alternatieven? 'Verkijk je daar niet op', zegt Dagevos. 'Het is weliswaar een groeimarkt, maar toch een kleine markt. In termen van omzet is het maar 4 procent van de vleesmarkt.'

Het is bovendien de vraag of ze vlees daadwerkelijk vervangen, zegt Moleman. 'In Engeland is 'veganuary' groot, het voornemen om in de maand januari veganistisch te eten. Veel supermarkten en restaurants doen daar aan mee en je ziet meteen dat mensen meer vlees- en zuivelvervangers kopen. Tegelijkertijd daalt de hoeveelheid vlees die verkocht wordt in die maand niet, blijkt uit onderzoek.'

Met vlees- en zuivelvervangers is dit jaar wel iets bijzonders aan de hand: ze zijn voor het eerst goedkoper dan vlees. De goedkoopste merken sojamelk, plantaardige kaas, gehakt, schnitzels en shoarma kosten inmiddels minder dan de goedkoopste dierlijke versies van die producten. Belangrijk, want Nederlanders zien de relatief hoge prijs van vlees- en zuivelvervangers als belangrijkste obstakel om niet over te stappen, blijkt uit een enquªte in opdracht van ProVeg. Het (C)(C)n na belangrijkste obstakel: de smaak. Obstakel nummer drie: gezinsleden die niet willen meedoen.

Het is spannend wat de hoge inflatie betekent voor de consumptie van vlees en vleesvervangers. Supermarkten verkochten dit jaar voor het eerst 6 procent minder vleesvervangers vanwege de hogere prijzen, maar de vleesverkoop daalde met 6,5 procent nog iets harder.

Dagevos volgt het met interesse. 'De inflatie voor vlees is nu zo'n 18 procent. We weten uit onderzoek dat dit soort percentages iets zouden moeten doen.' Misschien, zegt de onderzoeker, is dit het kantelpunt waar hij al jaren op wacht.

Belgen eten w(C)l steeds minder vlees, hoe kan dat? Belgen eten jaarlijks nog altijd zo'n 3 kilo m(C)(C)r vlees dan Nederlanders, maar de vleesconsumptie daalt wel al jaren. Hoe kan dat? Het onbevredigende antwoord is: we weten het niet, het is niet onderzocht, zegt hoogleraar Wim Verbeke van de Universiteit Gent die samen met Dagevos de Nederlandse cijfers met de Belgische vergeleek.

Belgi telt minder flexitarirs dan Nederland. Zo'n 30 procent van de Belgen is flexitarir, tegen 40 procent in Nederland. Zijn zij standvastiger dan Nederlandse flexitarirs? Het is denkbaar dat de lat voor Belgen hoger ligt, zegt Verbeke: 'Een Nederlander denkt misschien: ik ben van plan te minderen dus ik ben flexitarir, waar een Belg denkt: ik kan mezelf pas zo noemen als ik mijn vleesconsumptie gehalveerd heb.'

Zelf vermoedt hij dat grote vleesschandalen in de jaren negentig in Belgi, waarbij zelfs een veearts werd vermoord, een grotere impact hebben gehad. 'Dat heeft hier tot veel commotie geleid. Sommig vlees bleek niet te vertrouwen.' Dat werkte lang door in de hoofden van mensen. 'Achteraf gezien is dat het begin van de dalende consumptie geweest.' Een beweging die werd versterkt nadat steeds meer bekend was geworden over het dierenleed. In Nederland zijn er ook de nodige schandalen in de vleesindustrie geweest, erkent Verbeke. 'Maar de sfeer rond vlees was in Belgi lange tijd veel negatiever.'

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National Strategy to Develop Distributed Ledger Technology for Digital ID Tucked into 2023 Defense Budget - coreysdigs.com

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By The Sharp Edge

The corrupt DC uniparty has conspired against voters who elected a Republican majority in the House to put a stop to wasteful spending driving inflation, by pushing for a massive omnibus bill as the Christmas holiday deadline looms. In a setup for the vote on the omnibus bill, on December 15, 2022, Congress passed a one-week Continuing Resolution along with the National Defense Authorization Act of 2023 (NDAA), which is the defense budget for next year. The NDAA is headed to Biden's desk for signature.

Members on both sides of the isle have praised their efforts on the passage of the NDAA, which includes repealing the Covid injection mandate for service members. While revoking the Covid jab mandate for military members is a victory garnering much of the focus, other aspects of the $858 billion dollar defense bill have gone completely unnoticed. The devil is always in the details.

Tucked inside this massive defense bill is the creation of a ''National research and development strategy for distributed ledger technology'' to build the framework for a digital enslavement system nationwide. Though this agenda has been explicitly laid out by the Biden regime over the course of 2022, it has been years in the making as outlined in the Corey's Digs report entitled 'The Global Landscape on Vaccine ID Passports' Part 3 and Part 4.

BackgroundOn March 9, 2022, the Biden regime issued an Executive Order for ''Ensuring Responsible Development of Digital Assets,'' in which the White House called for ''an evolution and alignment of the United States Government approach to digital assets,'' while placing the ''highest urgency'' on the development of a United States Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). Central banks around the world, including the Federal Reserve, are currently advancing in research, development and implementation of CBDCs.

This initiative came despite little support from the American public which has remained adamantly opposed to a US CBDC. In June 2022, the Fed published public comments on their proposal for a CBDC. Of the 2,052 comments (excluding blank entries and individuals soliciting government contracts) 71% were ''concerned or outright opposed to the idea of a CBDC in the United States,'' based on a Cato Institute study.

The Biden EO called for the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy and the Chief Technology Officer, in consultation with the Treasury Secretary, the Fed Chair as well as heads of other relevant agencies, to report back to the White House within 180 days on the technology infrastructure necessary to implement a CBDC system nationwide.

In response to the White House Executive Order, in September 2022, the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) issued their report on ''Technical Evaluation for a U.S. Central Bank Digital Currency System,'' which recommends that the OSTP and the National Science Foundation (NSF) lead a ''National Digital Assets Research and Development (R&D) Agenda'' to support the Fed's CBDC exploration as well as scale-up ''relevant technological infrastructure, capacity, and expertise across the Federal government.'' While the White House press release noted that, ''this agenda will also cover topics less related to CBDCs,'' it failed to mention their intentions to develop distributed ledger technology for the purposes of a nationwide digital identity program or a vaccine passport system.

The G20 declaration signed two months later, did however reaffirm the Biden regime's commitment to implementing vaccine ID passports, while also exploring a CBDC payment system. The declaration states, ''We acknowledge the importance of shared technical standards and verification methods, under the framework of the IHR (2005), to facilitate seamless international travel, interoperability, and recognizing digital solutions and non-digital solutions, including proof of vaccinations. We support continued international dialogue and collaboration on the establishment of trusted global digital health networks as part of the efforts to strengthen prevention and response to future pandemics, that should capitalize and build on the success of the existing standards and digital COVID-19 certificates.''

While this was in the works, the Department of Defense awarded the Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability (JWCC) contract to Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Oracle in a shared $9 billion contract on December 7th. The cloud computing contract extends through June of 2028. Cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and distributed ledger technology are all key components to the development of their digital prison.

The agenda to build the infrastructure for a digital enslavement system, which the Biden regime has methodically laid out over the course of 2022, will now be implemented through Congressional authorization under the National Defense Authorization Act of 2023, which Biden is expected to sign at the end of the week.

National Strategy to Develop Distributed Ledger TechnologyTucked into the 4400-page NDAA in Section 5913 is the creation of a ''National research and development strategy for distributed ledger technology.'' Distributed ledger technology research for this project may include ''use cases for distributed ledger technologies across various industry sectors and government, including applications pertaining to digital identity'... medical information management'... inclusive financial services'... [and] digital credentials.'' In other words, this is a national strategy to develop the infrastructure for the entire digital enslavement system which includes digital IDs, vaccine passports, CBDCs and, of course, a social credit system.

Source: www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/117/hr7776/textPromoting Widespread ParticipationThe creation of a national strategy for research and development of distributed ledger technology outlined in Section 5913 of the NDAA does not solely focus on building the infrastructure. It extends to promoting increased participation from the public by facilitating research on human behavior. For example, the Director of the National Science Foundation (NSF) is tasked with supporting research ''which may include'... the social behaviors of participants in decentralized networks enabled by distributed ledger technologies.'' Furthermore, research by the NSF may include, ''the social, behavioral, and economic implications associated with the growth of applications of distributed ledger technologies, including decentralization in business, financial, and economic systems.''

In addition, the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, is authorized to carry out an applied research project which must ''identify potential applications of distributed ledger technologies, including those that could benefit activities at the Department of Commerce or at other Federal agencies.'' This applied research project may include facilitating, ''broader participation in distributed ledger technologies of populations historically underrepresented in technology, business, and financial sectors.''

Source: www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/117/hr7776/textOf course, the initiative to promote broader acceptance of distributed ledger technology is framed in such a way as to address equity and inclusion. However, historically underrepresented populations aren't the only ones who resist this agenda. More than two thirds of Americans are ''concerned or outright opposed'' to it, based on public comments to the Fed's CBDC proposal. Any research into human behavior and facilitating universal acceptance of this technology would likely be used against the American public who has defied their attempts to impose a digital enslavement system.

National Strategy FundingWhile specific funding amounts to build this distributed ledger infrastructure are not disclosed under Section 5913 of the NDAA, the legislation states that research and development funding under the national strategy will be ''incorporated in the development of annual budget requests for Federal research agencies.''

Source: www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/117/hr7776/textNational Strategy TimelineAs with most projects involving the federal government, the timeline on this national strategy is slow and methodical. Within one year of the enactment of this NDAA, the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology is instructed to brief members of Congress as well as the President on the progress and findings of this initiative. Furthermore, the Director must release a report to the public within one year following the completion of the project.

Source: www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/117/hr7776/textFortunately, this means there is still time to fight back. However, GOP members of Congress have betrayed the voters who elected a Republican majority in the House by pushing for the passage of an omnibus bill before the Christmas holiday, which would essentially strip the Republicans' leverage to defund projects like this and many others in 2023.

It is critical for the American public to make their voices heard in opposition to this national strategy to develop a digital enslavement system. Hopefully, the incoming Republican majority in the House will listen, grow a spine, and stand against this nationwide initiative to digitally monitor, track and control every aspect of Americans' lives.

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Finland Dangles Massive Power Aid Package As Energy Crisis Worsens, Recession Looms - 21.12.2022, Sputnik International

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Finland Dangles Massive Power Aid Package As Energy Crisis Worsens, Recession Looms

As Finns are saddled with huge energy bills and galloping inflation as the economic outlook becomes increasingly dire, the government pledged to step in and... 21.12.2022, Sputnik International

2022-12-21T12:33+0000

energy crisis in europe

finland

scandinavia

energy crisis

power outages

nuclear power

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The Finnish government has announced a three-pronged plan to help its citizens battle with sky-high energy bills this winter as Europe remains in the grip of an energy crisis.Prime Minister Sanna Marin of the ruling Social Democrats said the goal was to ensure reasonably priced electricity through the difficult winter months. The Nordic nation is facing an uphill battle as it decided to wean itself off Russian energy. Its woes come as a pan-European crisis and exorbitant prices have been exacerbated by local glitches such as further delays at the vaunted Olkiluoto 3 reactor that left the Finnish market power hungry. With a shortage of gas and electricity, the nation's authorities have warned of possible rolling power cuts this winter.Prime Minister Marin herself admitted that new electricity subsidies would cost the state a lot of money, with the price tag potentially exceeding a billion euros. One of the ways of funding the support is the new windfall tax levied on energy firms making excess profits. However, that revenue will not be available until 2024.Finnish opposition parties and even the government sidekicks, the Left Alliance, said these measures should have been planned and implemented much earlier, without waiting for the crisis to get as bad as it has. Furthermore, subsidy models have been slammed as largely beneficial for wealthier households that use electricity more lavishly than poor ones.This comes after the Finnish Finance Ministry marked down its economic forecast for 2023, now predicting a 0.2 percent GDP decline and indicating a recession in 2023. The nation's GDP began to slide in autumn, and weak economic performance is expected to continue over the winter.A broad rise in prices has cut families' purchasing power as incomes have fallen behind. Although the Finnish economy is now expected to recover from inflation, it will not return to the previous growth track because of the conflict in Ukraine, the ensuring massive sanctions and Finland's own trade decisions, as the loss of neighboring Russian markets will leave a permanent gap in exports.Finland's sprawling crisis, which largely echoes that of the eurozone, has been driven by Helsinki's self-crippling ''reprisals'' against Russia and its energy over its special operation in Ukraine. Helsinki also made a point of refusing to comply with Moscow's demands to pay for gas in rubles, with senior politicians claiming that the conflict in Ukraine, in which Finland resolutely supports Kiev with arms, training and financial assistance, rendered cooperation with Russia impossible. As as result, a number of Finnish companies have left Russia, at a loss. Furthermore, according to various estimates, the Nordic nation may annually lose more than 2Bln euros ($2.1Bln) in revenues from Russian tourists, a welcome source of income for a slew of communities on the border area.

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europe's energy crisis, finland's energy crisis, looming recession, electricity aid package, galloping inflation, soaring prices

As Finns are saddled with huge energy bills and galloping inflation as the economic outlook becomes increasingly dire, the government pledged to step in and offer some respite in the form of one-off payments and extended payment periods '-- measures expected to leave an even larger dent in the state coffers.

The Finnish government has announced a three-pronged plan to help its citizens battle with sky-high energy bills this winter as Europe remains in the grip of an energy crisis.

Prime Minister Sanna Marin of the ruling Social Democrats said the goal was to ensure reasonably priced electricity through the difficult winter months. The Nordic nation is facing an uphill battle as it decided to wean itself off Russian energy. Its woes come as a pan-European crisis and exorbitant prices have been exacerbated by local glitches such as further delays at the vaunted Olkiluoto 3 reactor that left the Finnish market power hungry. With a shortage of gas and electricity, the nation's authorities have warned of possible rolling power cuts this winter.

First, the plan includes a one-off lump sum reimbursement of a proportion of electricity bills paid in November and December. Second, extended payment periods will be provided for electricity bills. Third, a price cap, which would limit how much households can be charged for their power, is planned.

Prime Minister Marin herself admitted that new electricity subsidies would cost the state a lot of money, with the price tag potentially exceeding a billion euros. One of the ways of funding the support is the new windfall tax levied on energy firms making excess profits. However, that revenue will not be available until 2024.

Finnish opposition parties and even the government sidekicks, the Left Alliance, said these measures should have been planned and implemented much earlier, without waiting for the crisis to get as bad as it has. Furthermore, subsidy models have been slammed as largely beneficial for wealthier households that use electricity more lavishly than poor ones.

This comes after the Finnish Finance Ministry marked down its economic forecast for 2023, now predicting a 0.2 percent GDP decline and indicating a recession in 2023. The nation's GDP began to slide in autumn, and weak economic performance is expected to continue over the winter.

A broad rise in prices has cut families' purchasing power as incomes have fallen behind. Although the Finnish economy is now expected to recover from inflation, it will not return to the previous growth track because of the conflict in Ukraine, the ensuring massive sanctions and Finland's own trade decisions, as the loss of neighboring Russian markets will leave a permanent gap in exports.

Finland's sprawling crisis, which largely echoes that of the eurozone, has been driven by Helsinki's self-crippling ''reprisals'' against Russia and its energy over its special operation in Ukraine. Helsinki also made a point of refusing to comply with Moscow's demands to pay for gas in rubles, with senior politicians claiming that the conflict in Ukraine, in which Finland resolutely supports Kiev with arms, training and financial assistance, rendered cooperation with Russia impossible. As as result, a number of Finnish companies have left Russia,

at a loss. Furthermore, according to various estimates, the Nordic nation may annually lose more than 2Bln euros ($2.1Bln) in revenues from Russian tourists, a welcome source of income for a slew of communities on the border area.

Countries rejecting Russian energy resources still buy them via intermediaries '-- senator - Business & Economy - TASS

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Wed, 21 Dec 2022 13:36

MOSCOW, December 21. /TASS/. The countries that have abandoned energy resources from Russia are still buying Russian gas and oil through intermediaries and will continue to do so, speaker of Russia's Federation Council (upper parliament house) Valentina Matviyenko said at a press conference on Wednesday.

"Anyway, those who abandoned (Russian energy resources - TASS) are still buying and will buy our oil and gas by hook or by crook, through intermediaries at exorbitant prices," she said.

Matviyenko added that now there are no prerequisites for a significant increase in global energy production.

The Speaker of the Federation Council noted that "games with limiting prices for gas and oil will not lead to anything good." According to her, they will only lead to a situation where the volume of investments in production in the world will shrink, and the volume of hydrocarbon supplies to international markets will also decrease.

"Accordingly, there will be increased guilt. They will punish their citizens, their industry," Matviyenko said.

She called the decision of the collective West to abandon Russian energy resources "a big mistake."

"They proudly say that they manage to practically move away from dependence on Russia. What kind of dependence is this? Well, you will not buy Russian gas and oil, but you will become really dependent, due to higher prices. If you receive gas and oil not from this side, but from the other side, isn't that dependence?" she said.

Matviyenko stressed that the purchase of energy resources from Russia is "not dependence," but "normal international cooperation."

"Someone trades in oil and gas, someone trades in equipment, gold, platinum. This is how international trade, international economic cooperation works," the speaker of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation said.

"Insane, Brave, Karen": Stanford Drops New Woke List Of Verboten Language | ZeroHedge

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Tue, 20 Dec 2022 13:13

Stanford University, home to one of the most unethical psychology experiments in history, has just dropped a list of words we're not supposed to use.

If you want a fun holiday activity:Try to explain to your older relatives why they can no longer say things like "long time no see" or "rule of thumb."

And then tell your Gen Z relatives that "preferred pronouns" and "trigger warning" are both OUT now.

'-- Justine Moore (@venturetwins) December 18, 2022Newly verboten words, categorized by type of offense include;

Ableism:

Insane, Lame, Crazy, Spaz and Tone Deaf - which are " Ableist language that trivializes the experiences of people living with mental health conditions."

Culturally Appropriative:

Brave - which "perpetuates the stereotype of the "noble courageous savage," equating the Indigenous male as being less than a man."

Tribe - "Historically used to equate Indigenous people with savages."

Guru - "In the Buddhist and Hindu traditions, the word is a sign of respect. Using it casually negates its original value."

Gender Based:

He / She - Unless you know the person you're addressing uses "he / she" as their pronoun, it is better to use "they" or to ask the person which pronouns they use.

Ladies, Landlord/Landlady, Gentlemen / Freshman / Congressman/woman, you guys - "Lumps a group of people using gender binary language that doesn't include everyone."

Seminal - This term reinforces male-dominated language.

Transgendered - This term avoids connections that being transgender is something that is done to a person and/or that some kind of transition is required.

Imprecise Language:

Abort - This term can unintentionally raise religious/moral concerns over abortion.

American - This term often refers to people from the United States only, thereby insinuating that the US is the most important country in the Americas (which is actually made up of 42 countries). [ZH: ACKCHYUALLY]

Karen - This term is used to ridicule or demean a certain group of people based on their behaviors.

Thug - Although the term refers to a violent person or criminal, it often takes on a racist connotation when used in certain circles.

The list goes on and on...

If you want a fun holiday activity:Try to explain to your older relatives why they can no longer say things like "long time no see" or "rule of thumb."

And then tell your Gen Z relatives that "preferred pronouns" and "trigger warning" are both OUT now.

'-- Justine Moore (@venturetwins) December 18, 2022If you're still reading, why not keep going!

Person-First:

Homeless Person, Immigrant, Prisoner, Prostitute - Using person-first language helps to not define people by just one of their characteristics.

Violent:

Trigger warning - The phrase can cause stress about what's to follow. Additionally, one can never know what may or may not trigger a particular person.

War room - Unnecesary [Stanford spelled this wrong] use of violent language

Pull the trigger - Unnecessarily uses violent imagery to encourage another person to do something.

Killing two birds with one stone - This expression normalizes violence against animals.

Honorable mention:

Long time no see - This phrase was originally used to mock Indigenous peoples and Chinese who spoke pidgin English.

Make it stop!

This tweet offended me because1) "think" implies an intentional mental action which may cause those with mental illness to feel marginalized. Try "feel" instead

2) Use of the term "individual" implies autonomy outside of community/group. Try "human" instead.

'-- Andy Swan (@AndySwan) December 18, 2022Loading...

Consider Armadillo COVID - The Atlantic

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Tue, 20 Dec 2022 13:05

Animals could give us the virus'--again.

Katie Martin / The Atlantic; GettyDecember 19, 2022, 2:28 PM ETThis past spring, Amanda Goldberg crouched in the leafy undergrowth of a southwestern Virginia forest and attempted to swab a mouse for COVID. No luck; its nose was too tiny for her tools. ''You never think about nostrils until you start having to swab an animal,'' Goldberg, a conservation biologist at Virginia Tech University, told me. Larger-nosed creatures that she and her team had trapped, such as raccoons and foxes, had no issue with nose swabs'--but for mice, throat samples had to do. The swabs fit reasonably well into their mouths, she said, though they endured a fair bit of munching.

Goldberg's throat-swabbing endeavors were part of a study she and her colleagues devised to answer an unexplored question: How common is COVID in wildlife? Of the 333 forest animals her team swabbed around Blacksburg, Virginia, spanning 18 species, one'--an opossum'--tested positive. This was to be expected, Goldberg said; catching a wild animal that happened to have an active infection right when it was swabbed was like finding Waldo. But the researchers also collected blood samples, and those were more telling about whether the animals had experienced previous bouts with COVID. Analysis by the Molecular Diagnostics Lab and the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at Virginia Tech revealed antibodies across 24 animals spanning six species, including the opossum, the Eastern gray squirrel, and two types of mice. ''Our minds were blown,'' Goldberg said. ''It was basically every species we sent'' to the lab.

That animals can get COVID is one of the earliest things we learned about the virus. Despite the endless debate over its origins, SARS-CoV-2 most likely jumped from an animal through an intermediate host to humans in Wuhan. Since then, it has since spread back to a range of animals. People have passed it to household pets, such as dogs and cats, and to a Disney movie's worth of beasts, including lions, hippos, hyenas, tigers, mink, and hamsters. Three years into the pandemic, animals are still falling sick with COVID, just as we are. COVID is likely circulating more widely in animals than we are aware of, Edward Holmes, a biologist at the University of Sydney, told me. ''In all my 30-plus years of doing work on this subject, I have never seen a virus that can infect so many animal species,'' he said. More than 500 other mammal species are predicted to be highly susceptible to infection.

Given that most people nowadays aren't fretting too much about human-to-human spread, it makes sense that animal-to-human spread has largely been forgotten. But even when there are so many other pandemic concerns, animal COVID can't be ignored. The consequences of sustained animal transmission are exactly the same as they are in people: The more COVID spreads, the more opportunities the virus has to evolve into new variants. What's most alarming is the chance that one of those variants could spill back into humans. As we've known since the pandemic started, SARS-CoV-2 is not a human virus, but one that can infect multiple animals, including humans. As long as animals are still getting COVID, we're not out of the doghouse either.

Perhaps part of the reason COVID in animals has been overlooked'--apart from the fact that they're not people'--is that most species don't seem to get very sick. Animals that have gotten infected generally exhibit mild symptoms'--typically some coughing and sluggishness, as in pumas and lions. But our research has gone only fur-deep. ''We certainly can't ask them, 'Are you feeling headaches, or sluggish?''' said Goldberg, who worries about long-term or invisible symptoms going undiagnosed in species. And so animal COVID has lingered unchecked, increasing the chances that it could mean something bad for us.

The good news is that the overall risk of getting COVID from animals is considered low, according to the CDC. This is partly explained by evolutionary theory, which predicts that most variants that emerge in an animal population will have adapted to become better at infecting the host animal'--not us. But some of them, strictly by chance, ''could be highly transmissible or virulent in humans,'' Holmes said. ''It's an unpredictable process.'' His concern is not that animals will start infecting people en masse'--your neighbors are far likelier to do that than raccoons'--but that in animals, SARS-CoV-2 could form new variants that can spill over into people. Some scientists believe that Omicron emerged this way in mice, though evidence remains scant.

A troubling sign is that there's already some evidence that COVID has made its way from humans to animals, where it mutated, and then made its way back into humans. Take white-tailed deer, by now a well-known COVID host. Every fall, hunters take to the golden meadows and reddening forests of southwestern Ontario to shoot the deer, giving researchers an opportunity to test some of the hunted animals for COVID. The species has been infected with the same variants circulating widely in humans'--a handful of Staten Island deer caught Omicron last winter, for example'--which suggests that people are infecting them. How the deer get infected still isn't clear: Extended face time with humans, nosing around in trash, or slurping up our wastewater are all possibilities.

The researchers in Canada found not only that some of the animals tested positive, but also that the variant they carried had never before been seen in humans, indicating that the virus had been spreading and mutating within the population for a long time, Brad Pickering, a research scientist for the Canadian government who studied the deer, told me. In fact, the new variant is among the most evolutionarily divergent ones identified so far. But despite its differences, it appeared to have infected at least one person who had interacted with deer the week before falling ill. ''We can't make a direct link between them,'' Pickering said, but the fact that such a highly diverged deer variant was detected in a human is very suggestive of how that person got sick.

This research adds to the small but growing body of evidence that the COVID we spread to animals could come back to bite us. Fortunately, this particular spillback does not appear to have had serious consequences for humans; rogue deer variants don't seem to be circulating in southern Canada. But this is not the sole documented instance of animal-to-human spread: People have been infected by mink in the Netherlands, hamsters in Hong Kong, and a cat in Thailand. Other spillbacks have probably occurred and gone unnoticed. So far, no data show that the animal variants that have spread to humans are more dangerous for us. Even if a potential animal variant isn't the next Omicron, it could still be better at dodging our existing treatments and vaccines, Pickering said.

But there is also, frankly, a lack of data. Local wildlife-surveillance efforts led by researchers like Goldberg and Pickering are ongoing, but they do not exist in most countries, Holmes said. An international database of known animal infections, maintained by Complexity Science Hub Vienna, is a promising start. An interactive map shows the locations of previously infected animals, including large hairy armadillos (Argentina), manatees (Brazil), and cats (everywhere). At the very least, with animal COVID, ''we need to know what species it's in, in what abundance, and genetically, what those variants look like,'' Holmes said. ''It's absolutely critical to know where [the virus] is going.'' Without this, there is no way of knowing how often spillback occurs and whether it puts humans at risk. And we can't tell whether new COVID variants are also putting animals in danger, Goldberg said; a devastating Omicron-like variant could emerge in their populations too.

The steps we need to take to mitigate the animal-COVID problem'--and prevent other zoonotic diseases from jumping into humans'--are clear, even if they don't seem to be happening. Eliminating wet markets where wild animals are sold is an obvious preventive measure, but it has been difficult to implement because the livelihoods and diets of many people, especially in the global South, depend on them. As climate change and land development decimate even more habitats, wildlife will be forced into ever-closer quarters with us, fostering an even more efficient exchange of viruses between species. Unlike mask wearing and other straightforward options for curbing the human spread of COVID, preventing its transmission to, from, and among animals will require major upheavals to the way our societies run, likely far greater than we are willing to commit to.

Humans tend to act like COVID ends up afflicting us after traveling through a long chain of species. But to think so is like living in the Middle Ages, Holmes said, when the Earth was considered the center of the universe. As we learned then, we are not that important: Humans are but a node in an immense network of species that viruses move through in many directions. Just as animal viruses infect us, human viruses can spread to animals (measles, for example, kills a variety of great apes). There are definitely bigger problems than animal COVID'--no one needs to hunker down for fear of sneezing deer'--but as long as animals keep getting infected, we can't overlook what that means for us. Paying attention to animal COVID often starts with a single swab'--and a snout to stick it in.

Climate, pandemic conspire against hungry Ohioans - Ohio Capital Journal

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Mon, 19 Dec 2022 17:59

In addition to overseas wars and continuing supply-chain disruptions, diseases and climate-driven storms are making it hard to feed the hungriest Ohioans, Ohio's top food bank official said Friday.

And that's even as continuing inflation is creating ever more of them, she said.

''We're just not seeing a return to normal at all,'' said Lisa Hamler-Fugitt, executive director of the Ohio Association of Foodbanks.

Throughout the pandemic, Ohio's food banks have seen record demand . Now, with costs of essentials like food and utilities continuing to increase, things are only getting worse.

''We thought we were at the high-water mark for demand,'' Hamler-Fugitt said. ''We're way past that.''

She said that in the quarter ending Sept. 30, Ohio's overstretched food banks saw 50% more children than they had in the same quarter of an unusually busy 2021. They also saw 31% more seniors, she said.

''Once people start getting these high heating costs, this will continue,'' she said. ''Seniors are just outliving their resources.''

In addition, Putin's war in Ukraine continues to keep grain and other agricultural products off the market and while gas prices are coming down, prices for the fuel mostly used to transport food '-- diesel '-- remain high. All those factors increase food prices at the same time that food banks are having to buy more because USDA food donations have been cut substantially .

To help with those purchases, Gov. Mike DeWine in October announced that food banks would get $15 million in unexpended federal coronavirus funds '-- money that Hamler-Fugitt said is going to buy protein-rich food like beef, ham, poultry, eggs and dairy products. Last week, the legislature announced another $25 million for the food banks, which Hamler-Fugitt said would be evenly split between proteins and plant-based foods.

But as the food suppliers of last result scramble to meet demand, mother nature seems to be conspiring against them.

''Most of our vegetable production this time of year shifts to the South and the West Coast,'' Hamler-Fugitt said.

But things are not well in those regions.

When Hurricane Ian hit Florida in September, it ruined an estimated 40% to 50% of the citrus crop and devastated the state's bee colonies . California and Texas, both major producers and fruits and vegetables, continue to be gripped by drought . And a rash of late-season tornadoes are destroying crops in the Southeast.

In addition, the coronavirus isn't the only disease increasing food costs. An avian flu outbreak has impacted more than 44 million birds , trebled egg prices and also inflated the cost of Thanksgiving and Christmas turkeys.

All of which adds to the burden shouldered by foodbanks. Hamler-Fugitt acknowledged that she's been appealing for help since the start of the pandemic and said she understands that covid fatigue set in long ago. But she said the number of hungry Ohioans is still growing.

''We're just bracing and hoping that something else doesn't happen,'' she said.

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Disney Plus Ad Beef With Roku Could Prove Costly to Both Companies | Next TV

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Mon, 19 Dec 2022 17:55

(Image credit: Future)It surfaced last week that Netflix is refunding advertisers after it fell short on guaranteed commercial deliveries for its new discounted partially ad-supported tier.

This should strike dread in the hearts of Disney executives -- Netflix failed to meet inventory guarantees because it doesn't have enough users for its $6.99-a-month Basic with Ads tier. And this shortfall came despite the fact that Netflix launched Basic with Ads with no major distribution problems back in early November.

Disney surprised the market earlier this month when it was revealed at the last minute that its own new partially ad-supported "Basic" tier does not have support on the No. 1 U.S. connected TV device platform, Roku.

Neither company has commented, but Disney execs have quietly mumbled that they'll bring the $7.99-a-month tier to Roku when they get a "fair" ad revenue split.

Roku, meanwhile, publicly publishes its monetization guidelines (opens in new tab) . Under these rules, "the channel sets up its own ad server and must send 30% of inventory to Roku. Roku retains 100% of revenue from this inventory (but is under no obligation to fill it). The publisher fully controls the remaining 70%, and keeps 100% of the revenue associated with its share of inventory.''

The consequences for a less than smooth launch of Disney Plus Basic loom large for newly restored Disney CEO Bob Iger, who is under pressure from the board and investors to show that Disney's impressive streaming scale can be monetized. Disney notably incurred a $1.38 billion EBITDA loss of direct-to-consumer services in Q3.

For its part, Roku could use any revenue infusion it can get at this point, with its stock now valued at a quarter of what it was at the beginning of this year ... when it was already halved from its July 2021 zenith.

Roku ended the third quarter of 2021 with its ad sales growing at a clip of around 81%. It finished the latest Q3 expanding at only 15%.

With its own EBITDA losses doubling sequentially in the third quarter, and the cyclical winds of the advertising market blowing recessionary cold, participating in the largesse of Disney Plus Basic certainly might help Roku, at least a little. '

The smarter way to stay on top of the streaming and OTT industry. Sign up below.

Daniel Frankel is the managing editor of Next TV, an internet publishing vertical focused on the business of video streaming. A Los Angeles-based writer and editor who has covered the media and technology industries for more than two decades, Daniel has worked on staff for publications including E! Online, Electronic Media, Mediaweek, Variety, paidContent and GigaOm. You can start living a healthier life with greater wealth and prosperity by following Daniel on Twitter today!

FBI whistleblower reveals bureau cover-up of Jan. 6 obsession sidelining other investigations - Washington Times

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Mon, 19 Dec 2022 14:47

An FBI whistleblower has accused bureau officials of cooking the books to conceal the number of work hours devoted to the Jan. 6 investigation and inflate time spent on other cases.

According to the anonymous whistleblower, the subterfuge is intended to bolster the bureau's budget requests to Congress when House Republicans control the purse strings next year.

According to a whistleblower disclosure submitted to Congress, a top official in the FBI's counterterrorism unit at the Washington headquarters pressured the bureau's field offices to stop agents from clocking hours when they are working on investigations related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

The supervisors in the field offices were told the agents should instead claim they were working on international terrorism and other investigations when recording hours in the FBI's time and attendance system, known as WebTA.

The Washington Times has reviewed a draft of the whistleblower disclosure.

The FBI told The Times that the allegations were inaccurate but did not elaborate.

The new allegations add to a flood of FBI whistleblower disclosures to Congress in recent months about widespread misconduct, mismanagement and politicized investigations at the bureau. As The Times has reported, the more than a dozen whistleblower disclosures will fuel congressional inquiries regarding the FBI and Department of Justice when Republicans take over the House in January.

The FBI has poured resources into investigations of crimes stemming from the pro-Trump mob storming the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Nearly two years later, at least 964 people have been charged.

One of the most high-profile cases resulted in the conviction last month of Stewart Rhodes, founder of the Oath Keepers militia, and his top lieutenant, Kelly Meggs, on rarely used charges of seditious conspiracy.

Federal prosecutors have charged 50 others with conspiracy, including Enrique Tarrio, a former leader of the Proud Boys militia, who has pleaded not guilty.

The FBI's Jan. 6 dragnet also extends to former President Donald Trump and the efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

The anonymous disclosure about disguising agents' work hours was supported by Stephen Friend, another whistleblower who has been suspended from his FBI job. He said that monkeying with WebTA is rampant at the bureau.

''Well, they've made such a big deal about [Jan. 6] stuff that they had everybody working it, and now they've gone over the number of hours they had budgeted for domestic terrorism cases, and they've come in well under the other cases on like international terrorism,'' he said. ''Now they're worried that they're going to go for appropriations and the Republican Congress is going to say, 'You guys shouldn't have funding for international terrorism. There's clearly not a need. You guys didn't even devote any time to it.'''

According to Mr. Friend, bureau brass would say to him and other agents, regardless of what they were working on, that ''this is happening all the time, not just with J6. They would come to me and say, 'Hey, Steve, we need you to put this on your time sheet that you're working this.'''

The whistleblower disclosure to Congress said that urging FBI agents to misstate the number of work hours on cases amounted to ''pressuring agents to make false statements in official FBI records.''

''It also allows the FBI director to falsely report to Congress that a smaller amount of total FBI work hours was being dedicated to the Jan. 6 investigation,'' the whistleblower said.

' Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.

EU strikes deal to boost carbon market, Europe's biggest climate policy | Reuters

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Mon, 19 Dec 2022 14:33

EU carbon market reformed to cut emissions fasterPolicy central to meeting EU climate goalsNew CO2 price for buildings, households from 2027BRUSSELS, Dec 18 (Reuters) - European Union negotiators reached a political deal on Sunday to overhaul the bloc's carbon market, cutting planet-heating emissions faster and imposing new CO2 costs on fuels used in road transport and buildings from 2027.

The EU carbon market requires around 10,000 power plants and factories to buy CO2 permits when they pollute - a system central to meeting the EU's target to cut its net emissions 55% by 2030 compared with 1990 levels.

Under the deal agreed by negotiators from EU countries and the European Parliament, the EU carbon market will be reformed to cut emissions by 62% from 2005 levels by 2030.

The plan involves removing 90 million CO2 permits from the system in 2024, 27 million in 2026 and cutting the rate at which the cap on CO2 permits in the system falls by to 4.3% from 2024-2027 and 4.4% from 2028-2030.

"From 2027 on, its crunch time. Everybody needs to reduce emissions by then or will have to pay a lot," said the European Parliament's lead negotiator Peter Liese, adding that he hoped this looming deadline would encourage investment in green energy.

From 2026-2034, the EU will phase out the free CO2 permits it currently gives industries to protect them from foreign competition. Those permits will be wound down as the EU phases in a carbon border tariff designed to prevent domestic firms from being undercut by overseas competitors.

After 30 hours of talks that started on Friday, the EU also agreed to launch a new carbon market covering suppliers of CO2-emitting fuels used in cars and buildings in 2027.

After EU lawmakers resisted including households in the scheme, negotiators agreed several measures to shield citizens from high CO2 prices.

If fuel prices are as high in 2027 as today, the introduction of the carbon market would be delayed to 2028. If its CO2 price hits 45 euros ($47.62), then extra CO2 permits will be released into the market to attempt to tame prices.

The price of EU carbon permits has soared in recent years, boosted by the expectation that tougher EU emissions targets would curb the supply of CO2 permits in the scheme. The benchmark EU carbon price closed trading at around 84 euros per tonne of CO2 on Friday, roughly ten times its value five years ago.

The EU will also launch a 86.7 billion euro fund to help consumers and small businesses cope with the CO2 costs and invest in energy-saving building renovations or electric vehicles - funded partly by revenues from the new EU CO2 market, and partly by national governments.

The provisional deal still needs to be formally adopted by the European Parliament and the European Council.

($1 = 0.9450 euros)

Reporting by Sabine Siebold; Editing by Christopher Cushing, Michael Perry and Louise Heavens

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

It pays not to work in Biden's America thanks to welfare benefits

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Archived Version

Mon, 19 Dec 2022 14:28

Most Americans believe, as we do, in a reliable government safety net in America, so that when people fall on tough times or lose their jobs, their families will not go hungry, lose their homes or suffer deprivation. But most Americans also believe that government assistance should be short-term and aimed at quickly getting people back on their feet, into a job and on the road to being financially self-sufficient and a contributor to our economy.

Today's welfare programs are failing to accomplish that goal.

Did you know that families earning half a million dollars a year can receive ObamaCare subsidies? Or that in some states, unemployment insurance benefits can be equivalent to a job with annual pay of $100,000?

It's shocking but true, and it might explain why so many businesses can't get workers back on the job almost three years after COVID-19 hit these shores. Today there are still at least 3 million fewer Americans working than there were in 2019.

Middle class last There are many reasons for the worker shortage, but one is that in many states, welfare pays more than or nearly as much as respectable middle-class jobs.

Under Presidents Barack Obama and Biden, many of the highly effective work requirements, which were instituted in the historic 1996 bipartisan welfare reforms, have been eviscerated. Often limits for public benefits have also disappeared while Congress and states have made benefits more generous.

In some states families can earn over six figures annually in unemployment benefits.Many programs, like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (a'k'a food stamps), are means tested, so that only low-income people qualify for them. But other handouts are not '-- including unemployment insurance and ObamaCare subsidies.

The value of these benefits can be staggering '-- much higher, in fact, than many blue-collar professions. In our new study with the Committee to Unleash Prosperity, we found the following:

In 24 states, unemployment benefits and ObamaCare subsidies for a family of four with no one working are the annualized equivalent of at least the national median household. A family making almost a quarter of a million dollars annually still qualifies for ObamaCare subsidies in every state. 'In a dozen states, the value of unemployment benefits and ObamaCare subsidies exceeds the salary and benefits of the average teacher, construction worker, electrician, firefighter, truck driver, machinist or retail associate. 'In New Jersey, a family of four can receive benefits equal to an annualized earned income of $108,000 with no one working. 'In Connecticut and New Jersey, a family earning $300,000 a year can receive ObamaCare subsidies 'New Jersey is a state where a family can earn the equivalent of $100,000 a year if both parents are collecting unemployment benefits and ObamaCare subsidies for health care. In Connecticut the benefits can reach $80,000. To be clear, unemployment insurance is at least time-limited to six months in most states. But while Americans are receiving those benefits, the financial incentive to jump into the job market is low.

In addition, people move in and out of the unemployment system '-- working enough months until they again qualify for benefits.

Our numbers also don't include the rampant fraud payments that exceed $100 billion a year. This means families that are not technically eligible for food stamps or continued unemployment benefits are still receiving them.

Dem donors profit It is particularly troubling that these programs, which were purportedly put in place as a safety net for lower-income families, have been expanded to the point that their greatest benefits go to upper-income earners, including households earning half a million dollars in annual incomes in some states.

The Biden administration's expansion of ObamaCare has been a handout to the wealthy donor class of the Democratic Party, while doing nothing to help those who are truly poor.

Unemployment insurance beneftis can reach up to six figures per year in New Jersey.The expansion of the welfare state has created situations where work often doesn't pay. In many states, working a $20-an-hour job for 40 hours a week would mean a reduction in income compared to two parents receiving their unemployment benefits and health care subsidies. Until the unemployment runs out, there is very little incentive to go back to work, especially when the family is receiving more than their blue-collar counterparts who are on the job.

If that sounds like an exaggeration, consider that the median household's annual income and benefits are worth about $93,000. In New Jersey, unemployment benefits and ObamaCare subsidies alone are worth an annualized $122,000 '-- that's 30% more for not working in most occupations.

Government dole But even the median value of annualized state unemployment benefits and ObamaCare subsidies across the country is relatively high at $69,000. That's more than the income and benefits of the median firefighter, truck driver, machinist or retail associate.

This also raises basic fairness questions. Is it fair that, in most states, a family can earn about as much as or even more than a construction worker, a security guard or a dental assistant?

We do not believe that these programs that discourage work are to the benefit of the families that receive the welfare program assistance. Most studies conclude that work is associated with happiness, more financial security over time and better health with a longer life expectancy.

The whole idea of welfare '-- when many of these programs were started 50 years ago during the Great Society '-- was to get Americans back into the workforce. President Lyndon B. Johnson famously declared that ''the day of the dole are numbered.'' In the 1990s, Congress aimed to ''end welfare as we know it.'' None of these goals has been achieved. In many ways, welfare is more generous than ever.

Our goal is to achieve a just and productive society and make America a place that rewards work '-- not welfare. But the left has adopted a strategy of a ''national guaranteed income'' for Americans whether they work or not. The result is a record-low labor-force participation rate '-- meaning fewer Americans working and higher taxes for those who do work.

Microsoft and Viasat plan internet project to reach 10m people | Capacity Media

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Mon, 19 Dec 2022 14:05

December 16, 2022 12:33 PM

Viasat is the first satellite partner to work with Microsoft's Airband Initiative, which seeks to expand internet access across the world.

Mark Dankberg, CEO and chairman of Viasat, said: ''Connecting the world is an expansive and challenging goal, and we believe it is equally important that it is done in a way that is sustainable, responsible, and inclusive.''

Viasat's planned purchase of UK-based Inmarsat for US$7.3 billion is being considered by the UK's regulator.

Dankberg said: ''The partnership with Microsoft is another important step in bringing affordable internet service across Africa, Latin America and the US, as both companies continue breaking down barriers to bridge the digital divide and make significant progress towards digital equity and inclusion.''

The move coincides with Microsoft's efforts at this week's US-African Leaders' Summit in Washington DC, when the tech company said it was expanding its Airband Initiative through new partnerships with local and global providers to bring internet access to 100 million Africans by the end of 2025.

The Viasat deal is part of a broader global ambition for Airband to bring internet access to a quarter of a billion people around the world by the end of 2025, said Microsoft.

The Microsoft-Viasat relationship focuses on the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Nigeria, Guatemala, Mexico and the US, and will also cover Senegal and Angola.

Microsoft said: ''An estimated 37% of the world's population '' or 2.9 billion people '' have still never used the internet. Satellite allows internet access to reach remote areas that previously have had few, if any, options for conventional connectivity.''

The companies said they will collaborate to provide and pilot technologies including satellites and fixed wireless.

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VIDEO - The push to ban fat Santa's from shopping centres | 7NEWS - YouTube

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VIDEO - EU agrees on gas price cap after Germany drops opposition | DW News - YouTube

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VIDEO - (25) Tyler Carditis on Twitter: "On August 17, 1975 Senator Frank Church appeared on NBC's Meet the Press and issued a stark warning about a certain technology perfected by the intelligence community, which could be used by the US government again

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Tyler Carditis : On August 17, 1975 Senator Frank Church appeared on NBC's Meet the Press and issued a stark warning about a certain'... https://t.co/Ft8zZOlCsc

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ILUMMAHN8SHUN : @TyCardon @joerogan Thanks for (re)Tweeting Joe & Tyler - the Church Committee has a hallowed reputation among the'... https://t.co/K4TkCbVKDZ

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David Mandujano : @TyCardon @joerogan Off topic but he low key looks like Ricky Gervais.

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mark okonski : @TyCardon @joerogan how prophetic!

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OldGrizzlyBear : @TyCardon That bridge was already crossed when he said that.

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VIDEO - (186) Zelenskyy to visit US in first known foreign trip since invasion - YouTube

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VIDEO - (20) Rep. Matt Gaetz on Twitter: "WATCH: @RepDanBishop EXPOSES some of the worst elements of the $1.7 Trillion omnibus bill ð https://t.co/k5aVW9y5Av" / Twitter

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Rep. Matt Gaetz : WATCH: @RepDanBishop EXPOSES some of the worst elements of the $1.7 Trillion omnibus bill ð https://t.co/k5aVW9y5Av

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VIDEO - El Paso Mayor Calls For UN Intervention On Border | The Daily Caller

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The mayor of El Paso called Wednesday for the United Nations to get involved with the growing crisis on the U.S.-Mexico border, claiming the problem was too big for the United States to handle.

''We need to work together, regardless of party, because this is a U.S. '' United States '' problem,'' Democratic Mayor Oscar Leeser told ''CNN This Morning'' co-host Don Lemon. ''We all need to work together. It's not an El Paso problem, it's a lot bigger than El Paso, I honestly believe it's bigger than the United States. We need to work with the UN, work with other countries to be able to come up with a program that is humanitarian for everyone.'' (RELATED: Reporters Press Jean-Pierre On Border Crisis, Scrapping Of Trump-Era Immigration Policy)

WATCH:

United States Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) encountered more than 2.3 million migrants in Fiscal Year 2022, with another 230,000 in October, the first month of the new fiscal year, according to official figures, while another 600,000 migrants evaded CBP, Fox News reported.

The Biden administration asked the Supreme Court Tuesday to block legal efforts by Republican states to keep Title 42, a public-health provision used by the Trump administration, in place. Chief Justice John Roberts halted an order by U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan that would have halted the use of Title 42 Wednesday.

The city of El Paso asked the Biden administration to use military bases to house an expected surge of migrants once Title 42 expires, as the city is seeing more than 2,500 migrants a day, overwhelming homeless shelters.

Sinema and Tillis reportedly started work on legislation that would grant citizenship to those in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program while reinstating Title 42 earlier this month, but the legislation stalled in the Senate.

Leeser did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.

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VIDEO - ABC News producer in Florida becomes a corporate operative : NPR

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A freelance producer for ABC News also gathered dirt on critics of a consulting firm's powerful clients. Tracy J. Lee for NPR hide caption

toggle caption Tracy J. Lee for NPR A freelance producer for ABC News also gathered dirt on critics of a consulting firm's powerful clients.

Tracy J. Lee for NPR NPR's David Folkenflik reported this story with Mario Ariza and Miranda Green of Floodlight, a nonprofit newsroom that investigates the powerful interests stalling climate action.

Television news producer Kristen Hentschel was doing precisely what journalists should do on a searing hot day in Stuart, Fla., in July 2018: She confronted a politician with unwelcome questions.

Microphone and ABC News business card in hand, Hentschel rushed up to a candidate for the Florida House of Representatives before a debate, the candidate recalls, and asked him about 20 dead gopher tortoises that were reportedly found at a nearby construction site. Florida designates the species as threatened.

As far as the candidate, Toby Overdorf, knew, there were no dead tortoises.

And he would have known. Overdorf, an environmental engineer, served as the wildlife consultant to the construction project. Visibly flustered, Overdorf told Hentschel on camera that he didn't know what she was talking about.

"Residents say they aren't buying it," Hentschel declared in the news-style video she later posted online.

A city investigation found no dead tortoises. In fact, it found no evidence at all that any of the reptiles had ever been present.

That wasn't the only surprise. Though Hentschel has done freelance work for ABC, she was not there for the network.

At the time, a political consulting firm called Matrix LLC had paid Hentschel at least $7,000, the firm's internal ledgers show. And Matrix billed two major companies for Hentschel's work, labeling the payments "for Florida Crystals, FPL." (Florida Crystals is a huge sugar conglomerate. FPL is shorthand for the giant utility Florida Power & Light.)

Florida state Rep. Toby Overdorf says Kristen Hentschel flashed an ABC News business card before confronting him on camera about dead gopher tortoises. A city review found no trace of tortoises. Meredith Geddings/Florida House of Representatives hide caption

toggle caption Meredith Geddings/Florida House of Representatives Florida state Rep. Toby Overdorf says Kristen Hentschel flashed an ABC News business card before confronting him on camera about dead gopher tortoises. A city review found no trace of tortoises.

Meredith Geddings/Florida House of Representatives Both companies could have benefited from her efforts to undermine Overdorf and his promises to resolve environmental issues in the district he was vying to represent. Florida Power & Light has pushed back against efforts to bring solar panels to the Sunshine State, while runoff from the sugar industry is a major source of water pollution in Florida.

Floodlight and NPR have not been able to independently verify whether Florida Power & Light or Florida Crystals knew about Hentschel's video. Florida Power & Light declined to comment for this story. Florida Crystals' lawyer Joseph Klock says the company "was not involved in any way, nor was anyone acting on its behalf, in any negative attacks in any form, directly or indirectly."

"It was an attack ad against my livelihood, my family," Overdorf says. "And it was something that potentially could last far beyond my time running for office."

Overdorf still won his election to the Florida House.

A journalist's role in political dirty tricksInterviews for this story and Matrix ledgers show Hentschel traded on her work for ABC News at least three times to trip up Florida politicians whose stances on environmental regulations cut against the interests of major Matrix clients. Internal Matrix financial records originally sent anonymously to the Orlando Sentinel and shared with Floodlight show that since 2016, the firm has paid Hentschel at least $14,350.

According to two people at ABC News with knowledge, Hentschel was not, in fact, reporting for ABC on any of those subjects. "If she was working on these stories, she was not authorized to cover them for ABC News," one of them said. They requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about sensitive network matters.

ABC News declined to comment for this story before its publication, although it confirmed that she still did work for the network.

After this story was published on Wednesday, ABC cut ties with Hentschel.

"Kristen Hentschel was a freelance daily hire who never worked for ABC News on the political stories referenced in the NPR article," the network said in a statement. "She does not currently work for ABC NEWS."

David Westin, president of ABC News from 1997 to 2010, says he never came across an instance in which a journalist for the network was simultaneously doing advocacy.

"It just goes to the very heart of why people no longer have the same confidence and trust in the news media as they once did," says Westin, now an anchor for Bloomberg TV. "They suspect this is going on anyway, and for it to actually go on confirms their worst suspicions."

In another instance, the former girlfriend of Southern Company's CEO, Tom Fanning, says Hentschel cozied up to her over the past year. Southern Company is a rival to Florida Power & Light. This August, Alabama news site AL.com reported that Matrix had previously paid a private investigator to spy on Fanning in the summer of 2017.

Hentschel did not return multiple detailed requests for comment.

Matrix's former CEO, Jeff Pitts, who hired Hentschel for the firm, declined comment.

Matrix's founder, Joe Perkins, disavows any knowledge of Hentschel's work for Matrix and says Pitts was acting as a "rogue" employee in Florida.

Pitts left Matrix to found a rival firm in late 2020, alleging in court papers that he quit Matrix over Perkins' "unethical business practices," including "ordering and directing the clandestine surveillance including that of top executives of his largest client, the Southern Company." Perkins blames Pitts for the surveillance.

Former Matrix CEO Jeff Pitts in a photo dated October 2014. Josh Whitman hide caption

toggle caption Josh Whitman Former Matrix CEO Jeff Pitts in a photo dated October 2014.

Josh Whitman Matrix and Pitts have since settled a lawsuit without any admission of wrongdoing.

After Pitts left Matrix, reporters from Floodlight and NPR obtained company records documenting Hentschel's work. This story also draws on other materials, including court records, and 14 interviews with people with direct knowledge of her activities.

In recent months, Matrix has also been accused of interfering in the workings of democracy in Alabama and Florida by seeking to influence ballot initiatives, running ghost candidates and offering a lucrative job to a public official if he resigned. As Floodlight and NPR have revealed, Matrix secretly maintained financial ties to a half-dozen political news sites and tried to ensure favorable coverage for clients.

A start in local news tripped up by a tabloid scandalHentschel began her journalism career with short stints at local TV newsrooms in Chico, Calif., Waco, Texas, and Knoxville, Tennessee.

"A lot of people think that the television business ... looks Hollywood-esque," Hentschel once told Baldwin Park Living, a Florida lifestyle magazine. "I made $8 an hour [at] my first job, laid on couches and had to move around literally every one to two years."

At those jobs, she covered crime, storms, traffic '-- mainstays of local news.

Her career foundered in 2011 when the National Enquirer disclosed a romantic relationship between her and a married man: Chris Hansen, the former host of NBC's To Catch a Predator.

Subsequent stints in Las Vegas, Seattle and Orlando, Fla., proved brief. "A double standard is an understatement as to what happens in this industry," Hentschel told RadarOnline.com in an interview about her relationship with Hansen. "The women get fired and the men keep going." Professionally, she had been using the name Kristyn Caddell, which endures on her Twitter account, but shifted to her family name, Kristen Hentschel, by late 2015.

Looking for work, Hentschel turns to MatrixHentschel's r(C)sum(C) eventually reached Pitts at Matrix. By the beginning of 2016, he had hired her.

Hentschel soon secured a second gig. In February 2016, she started as a freelance news producer for ABC News.

Hentschel primarily did work for Good Morning America. Among her assignments: helping with segments on NFL star Tom Brady and the disappearance and death of Gabby Petito, the young Florida woman who documented her cross-country trip on social media.

"Our setup for today... #lighting is everything," Hentschel once tweeted with a photograph of a TV reporting shoot. "Who's in the hot seat?"

The answer often proved to be people Pitts wanted her to confront.

A record of mixing business and pleasurePitts could be a charmer. He was known to cultivate a personal rapport with his corporate clients over sushi and steak dinners, favoring long meals with freely flowing red wine. In an email exchange with a vice president of the energy company NextEra, Pitts wrote, "Talk tomorrow but miss you." She wrote back that his note was a nice surprise. "You said [to] be more open," Pitts replied.

Pitts mixed business with romance, Matrix financial records show. Over the course of the last decade, Pitts paid his then-wife more than $10,000 for work for Matrix, according to copies of the firm's invoices reflecting payments to her personal company. She had previously been employed at Alabama Power, one of Matrix's oldest clients, according to press clippings and two associates.

Matrix also paid Pitts' ongoing romantic partner, Apryl Marie Fogel, a conservative radio-show host, nearly $150,000 over several years. Fogel runs the conservative news site Alabama Today, which published articles showcasing Matrix clients in a favorable light.

On a recent episode of her radio show, Fogel compared her relationship with Pitts to that of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and his wife, the pro-Trump activist Ginni Thomas.

"You check it at the door," Fogel says. "You may be somewhat, in a fuzzy way, aware of what the other person is doing. And you want them to be successful, but it doesn't mean that you two'--that everything is running in lockstep."

Shortly after Hentschel started working for Pitts at Matrix, the two began an affair, associates say, though it is not clear how long it lasted. Hentschel bought a home close to Pitts' apartment in West Palm Beach, Florida, public records show.

A mayor promotes residential solar panels in the Sunshine State Phil Stoddard was mayor of South Miami in 2018, when, he says, Kristen Hentschel introduced herself as an ABC reporter wanting to know his response to a sham press conference. Jayme Gershen/Bloomberg via Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption Jayme Gershen/Bloomberg via Getty Images Phil Stoddard was mayor of South Miami in 2018, when, he says, Kristen Hentschel introduced herself as an ABC reporter wanting to know his response to a sham press conference.

Jayme Gershen/Bloomberg via Getty Images Hentschel called Phil Stoddard, then the mayor of South Miami, in August 2018. He says she identified herself as an ABC reporter and asked him about an upcoming press conference likely to bring unflattering publicity. A lawsuit had been filed by parents of a teenager who was hospitalized years earlier after attending a party thrown by Stoddard's teenage daughter. (The suit was ultimately settled.)

The press conference turned out to be a sham. It had been orchestrated by Joe Carrillo, a private detective, and Dan Newman, a political operative with financial links to Matrix, according to Matrix documents and a copy of the press release obtained by Floodlight and NPR.

Matrix paid Hentschel $2,000 a few weeks later for what was itemized as a "Miami shoot," a Matrix ledger shows.

The interest in Stoddard, a biologist, seems easy to discern. Stoddard had clashed with Florida Power & Light over transmission lines, a nuclear power plant and policies on residential solar panels.

Again, Florida Power & Light declined to comment for this story.

Internal Matrix emails between Newman, the political operative, and Pitts, the firm's then-CEO, show it hired a private detective to investigate Stoddard's personal life. The Orlando Sentinel reported that Matrix-linked nonprofits spent six figures trying to knock him out of office. Perkins denied knowledge of these activities.

On Sept. 26, Hentschel showed up with a videographer to a city council meeting.

"I thought, 'No good's gonna come of this,'" Stoddard recalls. He shut down her requests for comment at the council meeting. He continued battling Florida Power & Light even after he left office in 2020.

ABC News was told of Hentschel's other activities in 2020There is evidence that ABC News was first told two years ago that Hentschel inappropriately invoked her network ties in conducting work that had nothing to do with ABC News.

U.S. Rep. Brian Mast of Florida, a conservative Republican, has established a record as an advocate of strengthening water quality in Lake Okeechobee, the state's largest freshwater lake. He has introduced four pieces of legislation to address toxic algal blooms there.

A screenshot from U.S. Rep. Brian Mast's doorbell camera shows Hentschel at his home in a gated community. Hentschel told Mast's wife she was reporting for ABC. Brian Mast hide caption

toggle caption Brian Mast A screenshot from U.S. Rep. Brian Mast's doorbell camera shows Hentschel at his home in a gated community. Hentschel told Mast's wife she was reporting for ABC.

Brian Mast His work puts him at odds with Florida's powerful sugar interest, Florida Crystals. Okeechobee is kept artificially full for that industry and other corporate use. Mast's bills could ultimately cut into their profits.

"They'll do anything that they can to hold on to that grip of controlling water in the state of Florida," Mast says. "And I'm probably the number one person that goes against them."

U.S. Rep. Brian Mast of Florida has sponsored legislation to clean up Lake Okeechobee, which is kept artificially full for use by the sugar industry. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images U.S. Rep. Brian Mast of Florida has sponsored legislation to clean up Lake Okeechobee, which is kept artificially full for use by the sugar industry.

Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images In the heat of the 2020 election season, Hentschel chased down Mast at a fundraiser featuring then-President Donald Trump. She told Mast's aides she wanted to ask him about messages he wrote nearly a decade earlier, before entering politics. He had joked about rape and sex with teenagers in Facebook posts to a friend. They had just surfaced publicly, and he had apologized. The aides didn't bite.

The conservative Florida news site The Capitolist called Mast's proposals extreme and urged readers to vote for his Democratic opponent. Matrix had previously funneled The Capitolist nearly $200,000 from Florida Power & Light, the firm's invoices show. Matrix founder Perkins denied Matrix paid The Capitolist and said the company "was unaware of any financial relationships between" The Capitolist "and any Matrix client."

That September, Hentschel rang the doorbell at Mast's home in a gated community and told Mast's wife she was reporting for ABC, even handing over a business card citing the network, according to Mast's accounts in an interview for this story and in a trespassing complaint he filed with police.

A senior aide to Mast shot off an email to ABC. Its political director, Rick Klein, replied that Hentschel was not there for the network.

Election Day was two months away. In a video he posted on Facebook, Mast denounced his Democratic opponent for sending Hentschel to his door. "I want to talk about something that frankly is just BS," Mast said.

Mast now says he believes Hentschel sought to intimidate him on behalf of the sugar company and Matrix client Florida Crystals '-- an allegation the company rejected.

Floodlight and NPR have not been able to independently pin down whether Hentschel's pursuit of Mast was on behalf of Florida Crystals, Matrix, Pitts or any of the consulting firm's other clients.

Again, Florida Crystals' lawyer Klock said the company "was not involved in any way," but did not comment on whether it is a client of Matrix.

Klock himself was a minor figure in a Matrix scandal involving a Miami-Dade County Board of County Commissioners race revealed by the Miami Herald. He did not respond to requests for comment on that link.

Mast won his election. But he can still barely conceal his fury.

"There's an appropriate way to affect official duties of a representative in an official policy," Mast says. "Somebody came to threaten my family. That's very serious to me. It's a very serious line that was crossed."

"Definitely violated"Hentschel's work stretched beyond Florida politicians and news conferences.

This past June, fitness instructor Kim Tanaka was sitting poolside at an upscale hotel in Atlanta when a reporter for Bloomberg News called with a startling question: Did Tanaka know that she had been spied on five years prior?

Tanaka's boyfriend during that period was Tom Fanning, the CEO of energy giant Southern Company '-- a direct competitor of Florida Power & Light. The couple broke up in late 2017.

Southern Company CEO Tom Fanning speaks during an event in 2018. Kevin Hagen/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption Kevin Hagen/Getty Images The reporter, Josh Saul, laid out the material he'd obtained in a leaked Matrix dossier, which included private information about her, Tanaka recalls.

"It made me feel mad. Definitely violated. And anxious," Tanaka says.

Bloomberg never published a story. A private investigator confirmed to AL.com this year that he had surveilled Tanaka and Fanning five years ago for Matrix. (Matrix founder Perkins says then-CEO Pitts ordered the operation without his knowledge. Pitts says Perkins knew.)

But there was another shocker in the dossier. It didn't just contain old information pertaining to Tanaka '-- it contained recent and sensitive information about Fanning's wife, whom he married after breaking up with Tanaka. To Tanaka, it meant the spying had continued as recently as this year.

A friend was sitting alongside Tanaka in June as she took Saul's call: Kristen Hentschel.

In late 2021, Hentschel had hired Tanaka at an Atlanta gym to be her personal trainer, even though there's no record of Hentschel living in Georgia. The two became close, even vacationing together.

Another former Matrix operative, Paul Hamrick, had also hired Tanaka as his trainer the same week as Hentschel, according to emails reviewed by Floodlight and NPR. Tanaka says she told Hentschel and Hamrick private details found in the dossier and doesn't know if they or someone else spied on her. Hentschel remains a good friend, Tanaka says, and a lot of fun.

Floodlight and NPR have not been able to independently verify whether Hentschel or Hamrick were hired by Pitts or Pitts' new firm to monitor Tanaka or whether they monitored Tanaka. In a note sent this summer to an associate, Hentschel wrote she was still working for Pitts.

A front group and a spurious chargeWhile Hentschel was questioning Toby Overdorf about gopher tortoises in Stuart, Fla., the Matrix-backed news site The Capitolist was also writing critical articles accusing Overdorf of being a hypocrite. The site said his environmentalism masked his financial reliance on "numerous sugar daddies and mommies in the agriculture business."

Hentschel posted her segments on Overdorf to the website of the Alabama-based Center for Sustainability and Conservation. She is also listed as the organization's media contact. Matrix had paid the center at least $55,000 through a related business, according to the consulting firm's ledgers.

The organization presented itself on Facebook as an environmental nonprofit. But Floodlight and NPR could find no record of a nonprofit incorporated under that name anywhere. A for-profit company with that name exists in Alabama, however.

The center's web presence was deleted after Floodlight and NPR contacted the center's founder for comment. He did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

This fall, Overdorf won his third consecutive race. He says people still dredge up the accusations '-- including in October in a local anti-development Facebook page. No one has identified the person who lodged the original baseless complaint about tortoises that Hentschel highlighted.

"Even though it is 1,000% entirely, completely false, it sticks," Overdorf says. "It is oil that unfortunately doesn't leave you."

VIDEO - Trudeau '-- I will decide which guns are too dangerous'... '' CITIZEN FREE PRESS

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Posted by Kane on December 21, 2022 8:06 pmNEWS JUNKIES -- CHECK OUT OUR HOMEPAGE

Trudeau: "There are some guns, yes, that we're going to have to take away from people who were using them to hunt." pic.twitter.com/SJ372Oltvm

'-- The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) December 21, 2022

Trudeau will ban 'some hunting rifles that are too dangerous in other contexts.'

Trudeau's interview airs tonight. This man sits in front of mounds of food while millions of Canadians can't afford to eat. Multi-millionaire narcissists should not be in charge of anything. Zero self awareness. He must be voted out. pic.twitter.com/HuKP7nfagn

'-- Ryan Gerritsenð¨ð...ð"ð± (@ryangerritsen) December 21, 2022

Full interview with quotes'...

VIDEO - (1) Catch Up on Twitter: "Sean Penn says people who are unvaccinated are basically criminals who should should stay home and not have jobs. https://t.co/pSOh8cfZ35" / Twitter

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Catch Up : Sean Penn says people who are unvaccinated are basically criminals who should should stay home and not have jobs. https://t.co/pSOh8cfZ35

Sun Dec 18 07:48:23 +0000 2022

VIDEO - (11) Greg Kelly on Twitter: "Why is this ODDBALL FBI AGENT pretending that the FBI "certifies" elections as "fair unfair" --and this NOBODY is going to tell America what's DIS and MIS information ? https://t.co/j1ZqJL1BgE" / Twitter

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Wed, 21 Dec 2022 19:19

Greg Kelly : Why is this ODDBALL FBI AGENT pretending that the FBI "certifies" elections as "fair unfair" --and this NOBODY is g'... https://t.co/CLDuUAWMVl

Fri Dec 16 17:42:40 +0000 2022

VIDEO - (184) US Jan. 6 committee recommends Donald Trump be criminally charged over Capitol riots | DW News - YouTube

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Wed, 21 Dec 2022 19:13

VIDEO - Britain's strikes hit the NHS, postal service, rail and other essential services : NPR

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Wed, 21 Dec 2022 19:12

British nurses picket outside St. Thomas' Hospital in London on Thursday. The nurses' union is asking for a 19% pay raise. Nurses, as well as postal workers, rail workers and some airport immigration officers, are staging walkouts over the holiday season. They are asking for pay increases as the U.K. faces nearly 11% inflation. Frank Langfitt/NPR hide caption

toggle caption Frank Langfitt/NPR British nurses picket outside St. Thomas' Hospital in London on Thursday. The nurses' union is asking for a 19% pay raise. Nurses, as well as postal workers, rail workers and some airport immigration officers, are staging walkouts over the holiday season. They are asking for pay increases as the U.K. faces nearly 11% inflation.

Frank Langfitt/NPR LONDON '-- Across the River Thames from Big Ben last Thursday morning, a couple hundred nurses formed a picket line in front of St. Thomas' Hospital. One waved a sign that read, "Can anyone find my friends? They all quit."

"Currently nursing my inadequate pay," read another.

As cars rode past, drivers honked their support.

"I think that nurses need to be given a pay rise that matches inflation because the cost of living [has] shot up so much," said nurse Rosie Woods, referring to the United Kingdom's inflation rate, which is near 11%, its highest level in four decades. "You've literally got nurses visiting food banks."

Woods and tens of thousands of other nurses staged a one-day walkout Thursday, the biggest nursing strike in the history of Britain's National Health Service.

And they're not the only ones walking out. Joining them this month are employees from other essential services including rail workers, mail carriers and airport immigration officers. It's the largest series of labor actions in the United Kingdom in more than a decade, and presents a major challenge to the new government of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

Royal Mail workers gather in Parliament Square as they hold a protest over pay in London on Dec. 9. Alberto Pezzali/AP hide caption

toggle caption Alberto Pezzali/AP Royal Mail workers gather in Parliament Square as they hold a protest over pay in London on Dec. 9.

Alberto Pezzali/AP Various factors are driving the strikes, but the proximate cause is inflation resulting from Russia's invasion of Ukraine and post-pandemic supply chain problems. But parts of the public service sector have been vulnerable for some time. The National Health Service, which provides free care, has been underfunded and hemorrhaging workers for years.

As a nurse, Woods focuses on identifying children who may be victims of domestic violence. She says because of low pay and high turnover among her fellow NHS workers, hundreds of children fall through the cracks.

"We regularly work over hours with case loads that are unsafe and too big to manage," she says. "It's just an accident waiting to happen."

Rosie Woods, a nurse, pickets outside St. Thomas' Hospital in London on Thursday. "You've literally got nurses visiting food banks," she says. Frank Langfitt/NPR hide caption

toggle caption Frank Langfitt/NPR Rosie Woods, a nurse, pickets outside St. Thomas' Hospital in London on Thursday. "You've literally got nurses visiting food banks," she says.

Frank Langfitt/NPR The nurses are demanding a 19% pay raise, but Woods thinks they'll settle for less. Either way, the government says it simply can't afford it. Officials say the British economy is already in recession. Heavy public spending during the pandemic helped blow a $67 billion hole in the country's budget.

Defending his Conservative party's record, Sunak says the government is now investing billions of dollars in the health service.

"We're already hiring thousands more doctors and nurses," he said in Britain's House of Commons last week. "Last year, when everyone else in the public sector had a public sector pay freeze, the nurses received a 3% pay rise."

Nurses from the Royal College of Nursing strike for fairer pay and working conditions on a picket line outside St. Thomas' Hospital in London on Thursday. Richard Baker/In Pictures/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption Richard Baker/In Pictures/Getty Images Nurses from the Royal College of Nursing strike for fairer pay and working conditions on a picket line outside St. Thomas' Hospital in London on Thursday.

Richard Baker/In Pictures/Getty Images Not surprisingly, some of those public service workers who had their wages frozen are among those also on strike.

On Friday and Saturday, more than 100,000 postal workers walked out. Their strike will resume on Dec. 23 and 24.

On strike days, rail workers have cut train operations across the country by 80%. By early Friday evening, the doors to London's Waterloo station and its 24 train platforms were locked shut. More rail worker walkouts are scheduled beginning Christmas Eve.

Matthew Lee, a train guard, picketed last week in front of London's King's Cross station, which was nearly empty. He said one of his coworkers is now skipping dinner '-- because she can no longer afford it.

"All she wants to do is have the money to feed her kids," Lee said.

Harlesden station during a transport disruption on the London underground, as members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union went on strike in a dispute over jobs and pensions in London last Wednesday. David Parry/PA Images/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption David Parry/PA Images/Getty Images Harlesden station during a transport disruption on the London underground, as members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union went on strike in a dispute over jobs and pensions in London last Wednesday.

David Parry/PA Images/Getty Images Susan Milner, a professor of European politics at the University of Bath who researches labor relations, says one reason so many public service workers are striking now is because of the global financial crisis that took place more than a decade ago. The British government made massive spending cuts and workers never regained their purchasing power.

"So, in general terms, we are poorer in our income than, say, pre-2008," Milner says.

The government is also resisting labor demands for political and ideological reasons, she believes, and doesn't want to be seen as giving in.

"In the Conservative leadership contest over the summer, certainly there was a lot of rhetoric about having a hard line on trade unions and strikes," she says.

Some Britons welcome that hard line, especially because the strikes are coming during the holiday season.

Scott Arthur, who works in a hotel in Newcastle, is not sympathetic to the railway workers. He calls their strike "a load of rubbish."

Lee thinks British unions could use a dose of the Iron Lady '-- the nickname given a former Conservative prime minister who is credited with crushing trade unions back in the 1980s.

"Margaret Thatcher sorted them all out," says Arthur, "and it's a shame she's gone."

NPR London producer Morgan Ayre contributed to this story.

VIDEO - (184) What Did Jill Biden Hand Over to President Biden? - YouTube

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Wed, 21 Dec 2022 19:04

VIDEO - (10) Greg Price on Twitter: "McConnell: "Providing assistance for Ukrainians to defeat the Russians is the number one priority for the United States right now according to most Republicans. That's how we see the challenges confronting the country

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Wed, 21 Dec 2022 18:55

Greg Price : McConnell: "Providing assistance for Ukrainians to defeat the Russians is the number one priority for the United St'... https://t.co/VlLogRerDr

Tue Dec 20 20:36:58 +0000 2022

me : @greg_price11 Money laundering more like

Wed Dec 21 18:55:41 +0000 2022

rufus mackin : @greg_price11 Mitch doesn't even hide the corruption anymore. I guess that's what a lifetime of proliferating propaganda will do.

Wed Dec 21 18:54:56 +0000 2022

ray : @greg_price11 How much money are we spending to defend borders in the Middle East?

Wed Dec 21 18:54:56 +0000 2022

bill@alvey.law : @greg_price11 Ditch Mitch.

Wed Dec 21 18:54:03 +0000 2022

VIDEO - Biden blurts out'... 'Iran nuclear deal is dead, but we can't announce it''... '' CITIZEN FREE PRESS

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Wed, 21 Dec 2022 14:59

Posted by Kane on December 20, 2022 6:33 pmNEWS JUNKIES -- CHECK OUT OUR HOMEPAGE

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'-- Ø¯Ø§ÙÙÙ ÙÙØµÙØ¯Û (@DamonMaghsoudi) December 20, 2022

I can't announce it, but I'm announcing it to you.

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