Today's News: April 02, 2019

World News
UK Prime Minister Theresa May says Britain to seek further delay to Brexit
RT – British Prime Minister Theresa May has said that she will seek a further extension to Article 50, which would delay Brexit for a second time, arguing that the ‘no deal’ alternative was not the right option.
New Zealand officially introduces bill banning guns used in mosque attack
The Hill – The New Zealand government introduced legislation on Monday that would ban the types of weapons used by the gunman in a terror attack that targeted two mosques in Christchurch last month and left 50 people dead.
The bill’s introduction marks the next step in passing gun control legislation that was announced by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in the days following last month’s terror attack. At the time, Ardern said that the country would soon ban “every semi-automatic weapon used in the terrorist attack.”
Police Minister Stuart Nash, who introduced the Arms (Prohibited Firearms, Magazines, and Parts) Amendment Bill, said that the law would take effect on April 12 if politicians pass the legislation, as expected, according to The Associated Press.
Pakistan soldiers killed in fresh clashes on India border
Al Jazeera – At least three soldiers killed, one wounded in exchange of fire in disputed Kashmir region, Pakistan’s military says.
Trump meets with NATO leader as tensions test the alliance
Fox – President Donald Trump is meeting with the secretary-general NATO, as tensions test the Western Alliance.
The White House meeting on Tuesday with Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg (yehnz STOHL’-tehn-burg) comes ahead of a gathering of NATO foreign ministers marking the organization’s 70th anniversary.
Trump and NATO have a strained relationship.
The president ran on an “America First” platform and has suggested he might be willing to pull the U.S. out of NATO if member counties don’t significantly boost their defense spending.
He’s also slapped tariffs on the European Union and pulled out of both the Paris Climate Accord and the Iran nuclear deal. Trump’s desire for better relations with Russia also has alarmed nations that view Moscow as a threat.
U.S. News, Politics & Government
Hofstra University Students Demand Removal of Thomas Jefferson Statue
Breitbart – Students at Hofstra University in Long Island, New York, demanded on Friday that the school remove a statue of Thomas Jefferson, arguing that it is not possible for the university to have the statue on campus while also being an institution that “prides itself on diversity and inclusion.” Students also called on the university to train its faculty and professors to behave in a more politically correct manner.
Hofstra University students held their second annual “Jefferson Has Gotta Go!” protest of a Thomas Jefferson statue on campus on Friday, demanding that the university move the structure into a museum along with the “appropriate context.”
The Jefferson statue, which has also been subjected to acts of vandalism in the past, stands in front of the university’s student center — a location that some students have expressed frustration over, stating “it is unfortunate” that so many students and families “take photos and share hugs and smiles” in the presence of the Jefferson statue.
Trump moves to cut aid to three Central American nations
CSMonitor – In response to a surge of Central Americans fleeing north to the U.S. southern border, President Donald Trump vowed Saturday to cut direct aid to El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. He also threatened to close the border and halt all trade with Mexico.
White House softens tone after threat to close border with Mexico
Reuters – The White House took a step back on Tuesday from a threat to close the U.S. border with Mexico, even as a redeployment of border officers in recent days has led to a slowdown of legal crossings and commerce at U.S. ports of entry there.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said the Trump administration sees Mexico “stepping up and taking a greater sense of responsibility” for dealing with the immigration flows that U.S. officials say are overwhelming ports of entry along the border.
“They have started to do a significant amount more. We’ve seen them take a larger number of individuals” and hold those who have asylum claims in Mexico while they are being processed in the United States, Sanders told reporters at the White House.
“We’ve also seen them stop more people from coming across the border so that they aren’t even entering into the United States. So those two things are certainly helpful and we’d like to see them continue,” Sanders said.
Trump, in Reversal, Says Replacing Obamacare Can Wait Until After Election
Bloomberg – President Donald Trump said Republicans would wait until after the 2020 election to vote on a replacement for Obamacare, abruptly halting a push he began just last week and guaranteeing that the issue will take center stage in his re-election campaign.
He made the shift in a series of Twitter posts late Monday night, saying that the “Vote will be taken right after the Election when Republicans hold the Senate & win back the House.”
The posting ended a week-long scramble by GOP lawmakers to respond to Trump’s demand for an Obamacare alternative after the administration unexpectedly changed its position in a lawsuit by arguing that Obamacare should be entirely struck down. Trump’s Justice Department had previously said that it should be only partly overturned.
A final court ruling in that case is likely to come by the end of June 2020. If Trump wins in court, there could be swift and widespread chaos and uncertainty in American health care — at least until an alternative system is put in place — as the array of changes to industry regulations, subsidies for low-income individuals and delivery system reforms would be undone.
“Everybody agrees that Obamacare doesn’t work,” the president said in a Monday night tweet.
Dueling protests Monday in response to Kim Foxx and Jussie Smollett
Chicago Tribune – Hundreds of opposing protesters converged in front of Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s downtown office Monday, continuing the fierce and divisive reaction to prosecutors’ decision to drop all charges against “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett.
Members of the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police rallied outside the Cook County Administration Building, many wearing buttons that read “Foxx must go.”
Their demonstration was met by smaller groups, including members of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, who staged a counterprotest and carried signs that read “FOP is racist.” The Rev. Jesse Jackson also lent his support.
Earlier reports that a statewide prosecutors’ group was co-sponsoring the FOP protest were incorrect, a spokesman said.
What began as two rallies centered on Foxx became a clash at times of diverging ideologies.
The scene became chaotic when the groups merged, and counterprotesters — initially positioned across the street from Foxx’s office — crossed to where the FOP members were staged.
The dueling demonstrations intensified but remained nonviolent as people from opposing sides clashed verbally, shouting and cursing at one another. Dozens of police officers were on hand to quell the conflicts and eventually used their bicycles to create a barrier between the two groups.
At one point, a group of FOP-aligned protesters yelled: “Blue Lives Matter!”
To which counterprotesters responded: “Racists go home!”
MN Investigating Ilhan Omar for Possibly Using Campaign Funds for Divorce, Travel
Breitbart – An investigation into whether Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) misused campaign funds for her personal use is slated to conclude, according to a report.
ABC local affiliate 13 WHAM-TV reported Monday that officials have recently concluded their probe and are will soon reveal the findings of two complaints against the controversial freshman congresswoman. The pair of complaints, which were reportedly filed as Omar campaigned for the House last year, were brought by State Rep. Steve Drazkowski (R). In his complaint to the Minnesota Campaign Finance Board, Drazkowski accused Omar of spending nearly $6,000 in campaign money on a trip to Boston and Estonia and for divorce attorney fees.
“Drazkowski’s filing of the two complaints followed an earlier episode in which Omar repaid $2,500 for honoraria she received for speeches at colleges that receive state funding, a violation of ethics rules for Minnesota lawmakers,” 13 WHAM-TV reports.
“I had observed a long pattern,” Drazkowski said in an interview with 13 WHAM-TV at his office. “Representative Omar hasn’t followed the law. She’s repeatedly trampled on the laws of the state in a variety of areas, and gotten by with it.”
Omar denies misusing the funds, claiming her payment to divorce attorney Carla Kjellberg was for providing crisis management services as she ran for the Minnesota State House, according to Minneapolis Star Tribune.
Grammy-Nominee, Making Documentary on ‘Cure for Cancer and AIDS’, Murdered in Broad Daylight
Free Thought Project – Nipsey Hussle was a Grammy-nominated rapper who served as an inspiration to other great musicians and athletes. At the time of his death he was working on a documentary following the life of Dr. Sebi—real name—Alfredo Darrington Bowman, and his alleged cures for cancer and AIDS. That documentary may never come to light now, because on March 31, 2019, Hussle was murdered in broad daylight outside of his clothing shop in Los Angeles.
Now, many people are coming forward to allege that this documentary was a factor in Hussle’s murder. According to Heavy, the doc, which followed the 1985 court trial in which Dr. Sebi proved he had a cure for AIDS, allegedly contained evidence that the government assisted in Dr. Sebi’s death.
Hussle, who was loved by many in the music and sports world, just a couple of hours before being shot, had tweeted, “Having strong enemies is a blessing.”
TFTP found a post on Facebook that also hinted at the fact that people may be coming after Hussle for his work.
Economy & Business
Burger King’s ‘Impossible Whopper’ is 0% meat and 100% real
Grist – Burger King, the fast-food giant known for meaty excess, has announced it intends to pilot a fully vegetarian, beef-free version of its classic Whopper.
The company announced on Monday that it will test out plant-based patties from startup Impossible Foods starting with stores in the St. Louis, Missouri area. And thank the flame-broiled Gods, this does not appear to be an April Fool’s Joke. The chain already offers a meatless patty in the form of the MorningStar Farms Garden Veggie Patty, which is made from vegetables and grains. But the more meat-like Impossible Whopper represents a promotion for vegetarian options from sub-in to front-of-brand star.
Fernando Machado, Burger King’s chief marketing officer, told the New York Times of the new Impossible Whopper that even fans who know the traditional beef Whopper inside and out “struggle to differentiate which one is which.”
Burger King is the biggest fast-food company to launch a vegetarian-friendly burger option to date, but it’s far from the first. In January, Carl’s Jr. started offering a meatless “Beyond Meat” option at more than 1,000 locations. And the mostly Midwest-based chain White Castle (of Harold and Kumar fame) has been offering a meatless “Impossible Slider” at their nearly 380 locations since September of last year.
Burger King’s “whopper” of a contribution to the meatless fast food landscape is, at least for now, still theoretical. The Impossible Whopper will only be tested in 59 of the company’s approximately 7,200 locations, with plans for broader rollout in the future if the trial goes well.
One potential barrier to the Impossible Whopper’s success is its price tag: the meatless burger will cost about a dollar more than its meaty namesake. But according to Burger King’s North America president Christopher Finazzo, research shows consumers are willing to pay more for the plant-based burger.
“As Many As A Million Calves Lost In Nebraska” – Beef Prices In The U.S. To Escalate Dramatically In The Coming Months
Economic Collapse Blog – According to Agriculture Secretary Sunny Purdue, there “may be as many as a million calves lost in Nebraska” due to the catastrophic flooding that has hit the state. This is not a rumor, this is not an exaggeration, and this is not based on any sort of speculation. This number comes to us directly from the top agriculture official in the entire country, and it means that the economic toll from the recent floods is far greater than most of us had anticipated. You can watch Purdue make this quote on Fox Business right here, and it is important to remember that this number is just for one state. It is hard to imagine what the final numbers will look like when the livestock losses for all of the states affected by the flooding are tallied up. This is already the worst agricultural disaster in modern American history, and the National Weather Service is telling us that there will be more catastrophic flooding throughout the middle portion of the nation for the next two months.
Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts says that this is the worst flooding that his state has ever experienced. Ricketts originally told us that 65 out of the 93 counties in his state have declared a state of emergency, but that number has now risen to 74. Hundreds of millions of dollars of damage has been done in his state alone, and that is just an initial estimate.
It deeply offends me that the big mainstream news channels have spent so little time covering this disaster. This is the biggest news story of 2019 so far by a very wide margin, but because it happened in the middle of the country they are not giving it the attention that it deserves.
In the short-term, food prices will not rise too dramatically because the stores are selling the food that has already been produced. But as the months roll along, you will start to notice food prices steadily increase. Millions of bushels of wheat, corn and soybeans have been destroyed by the flooding so far, and thousands of farmers will not be able to plant crops at all this year. And the livestock losses that we have already experienced will be felt for many years to come.
REVEALED: AMAZON employees left to suffer after workplace injuries
The Guardian – Amazon made its CEO is the wealthiest person in the world. So why can’t the company care for those injured while working there?
Michelle Quinones, 27, started working at a Fort Worth, Texas, Amazon Fulfillment Center in July 2017 as an order picker, where she spent long hours on overnight shifts in the Amazon warehouse meeting mandatory rates for filling orders.
A few months into the job, Quinones started having carpal tunnel symptoms. She was sent back to work at least 10 times from her warehouse’s Amcare clinic, which are put in place to provide Amazon employees with on-site first aid.
By November 2017, Quinones’ carpal tunnel progressed to the point where her right wrist required surgery to repair damage to her tendons. But Amazon’s workers’ compensation insurer did not authorize surgery until February 2019, after more than a year of court battles.
Amazon’s rapid growth has turned its CEO, Jeff Bezos,
.0 into the wealthiest person in the world, with an estimated net worth of $148.7bn. Meanwhile, the company’s workers have long reported brutal working conditions in Amazon warehouses.
A Guardian investigation has revealed numerous cases where Amazon workers are left to suffer after sustaining workplace injuries, leaving them unable to work, deprived of income, and forced to fight for months to receive benefits and medical care.
Energy & Environment
Iran orders evacuation of 70 villages due to high flood risk
Al Jazeera – As Iran continues to battle floods across the country, FM Zarif says US sanctions impeding rescue operations.
APRIL SNOW HITS SOUTH
NBC – Spring may officially be here, but you wouldn’t know it stepping out the door on Tuesday.
Temperatures are cool across the Grand Strand and the wind and rain are making for a very sluggish day. By 11:30 a.m., the rain was tapering off, but the wind was ramping up.
Then there’s the northern part of the state, where snow was actually being seen on South Carolina Department of Transportation’s cameras on Interstate 77 in Rock Hill. Heavy snow was also being seen in the Charlotte, NC area.
Science & Technology
IBM, the same company that provided punch card computing systems to the Nazis, lays groundwork for global “Mark of the Beast” cryptocurrency network
NaturalNews – The world is moving increasingly closer towards the type of single global currency system that was prophesied about in the Biblical book of Revelation. And leading the charge with its full-scale implementation is none other than multinational tech corporation IBM, which recently introduced a new financial transaction technology known as IBM Blockchain World Wire that has “Mark of the Beast” written all over it.
According to an official company announcement, IBM has successfully developed “a real-time global payments network” that it says will help to “optimize” and “accelerate” both foreign exchange and cross-border payments and remittances, making it easier than ever before for people to buy and sell within the global marketplace using variant currencies.
By implementing its own blockchain technology within the confines of a single unified network, IBM says that participants from around the world will now have the ability to process cross-border payments with unprecedented ease, eliminating many of the traditional barriers associated with currency conversion – and basically laying the groundwork for a whole new global currency system that will eventually replace our current decentralized paradigm.
“We’ve created a new type of payment network designed to accelerate remittances and transform cross-border payments to facilitate the movement of money in countries that need it most,” revealed Marie Wieck, General Manager of IBM’s Blockchain division, about how the technology is a game-changer. “By creating a network where financial institutions support multiple digital assets, we expect to spur innovation and improve financial inclusion worldwide.”
Finger Vein Vending Machines And A Global Biometric Police Database
Activist Post – Gone are the days when you could use a “slug” to purchase a can of soda, because today’s vending machines will know who you are and your criminal record before you purchase an item.
American Green Vending Machine (AGM) uses finger vein readers to identify each customer.
The American Green Smart System is an age verification system that allows the opportunity of merchandising and selling age restricted products. American Green’s technology interface is one of a kind and does some pretty cool things such as vein verification biometrics.
Customers must register their personal biometrics and information with AGM before they are allowed to purchase anything.
What makes this story so disturbing, is corporate America’s rush to put biometric readers and scanners everywhere.
Imagine in the not-too-distant future, your new car using a built-in TSA biometric scanner to identify you and your family before you even enter a sports stadium.
But what if you don’t drive? That is fine, the TSA has figured out a way to identify you.
Imagine you and your family decide not to take your car to the sports stadium and decide to walk up to an entry gate. Not to worry, CLEAR biometrics has installed TSA biometric scanners there too.
Spying on people purchasing age-restricted products is big business and AGM and CLEAR are pulling out all the stops to get your personal information.
Navy Assembling Hacker Team to Fight Off Small Drones
Defence One – Lifting an idea from the Army and a name from the Star Wars universe, the U.S. Navy is assembling a team of engineers, researchers, and even hackers to develop ways to fight off swarms of cheap commercial drones.
The so-called JYN effort is the latest in a series of steps the Pentagon has taken to speed up development of new systems that can defend against drones that are readily available for purchase and easily modified for war..
“This is necessary to enable the [Navy] to gain a competitive advantage over the commercial advancement of unmanned systems technology and potential for nefarious use against [Navy] facilities and assets,” James “Hondo” Geurts, who leads Navy acquisition, wrote in a March 28 memo.
Navy officials are working with the Defense Digital Service to create a “team of highly technologically skilled and driven military and civilian…personnel” to work “in collaborative, startup-like spaces to rapidly develop new [counter-drone] products to address the evolving [drone] threats,” Geurts wrote.
Hackers Trick TESLA Autopilot Into Wrong Lane
Forbes – Elite hackers from China have found a way to trick a Tesla Model S into going into the wrong lane by strategically placing some simple stickers on the road.
Keen Labs, widely regarded as one of the most technically ingenious cybersecurity research groups in the world, developed two kinds of attack to mess with the Tesla autopilot’s lane-recognition tech.
First, the researchers sought to make alterations to lane markings, first by adding a large number of patches to the line to make it appear blurred. It worked, but as the patches looked much too conspicuous, the Keen hackers decided that it’d be too difficult to carry out in the real world.
So the researchers tried to create a “fake lane.” They discovered that Tesla’s autopilot would detect a lane where there were just three inconspicuous tiny squares strategically placed on the road. When they left small stickers at an intersection, the hackers believed they would trick the Tesla into thinking the patches marked out the continuation of the right lane. On a test track, their theory was proved correct, as the autopilot took the car into the real left lane.
Health
The Best Anti-Anxiety Foods to Munch On
Mercola – Whenever their stress levels rise, some people typically reach for a bag of chips or pint of ice cream, a habit known as “stress eating” or “emotional eating.” But although you may temporarily feel good after eating “comfort food,” you might end up regretting this in the long term. Emotional eating can result in inability to address the situation responsible for triggering unhealthy heating habits, devastating stress and weight gain.
These Stress-Busting Foods Are All You Need
Being anxious is not an excuse for you to be reckless with what you eat. The next time you’re down in the dumps, opt for these potentially stress-busting foods to allow you to combat these feelings:4

Green leafy vegetables — According to Heather Mangieri, a spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, green leafy vegetables contain folate that produces “dopamine, a pleasure-inducing brain chemical [or neurotransmitter], helping you keep calm.”5 Your best bets for green leafy vegetables include spinach, kale and Swiss chard.6
Fermented foods such as kimchi, kefir and natto — Beneficial bacteria, or probiotics, are abundant in fermented foods, and may positively impact your mood and brain health, given that they are able to move mood- and behavior-regulating signals to the brain via the vagus nerve.

One example of a beneficial probiotic is the Lactobacillus rhamnosus strain. It improved GABA levels in certain brain regions,7 and helped decrease corticosterone (a stress-inducing hormone) levels and alleviated anxiety- and depression-related behavior.8

Animal-based omega-3 fats — Ideally acquired from fish like wild-caught Alaskan salmon, sardines or anchovies, or high-quality krill oil supplements, omega-3 fats can do wonders for your mood.

Research has proven that omega-3 fats were effective in inhibiting initial symptoms of depression without the side effects.9 Another study recorded a 20 percent decrease in anxiety among medical students who took omega-3s.10

Blueberries — Pigments called anthocyanins are responsible for the deep colors of blueberries, and help with the brain’s production of dopamine, a neurotransmitter that may boost your mood, memory and function.
Bananas — These yellow fruits are home to dopamine, which may assist with promoting a better mood. Other vital mood-boosting nutrients present in bananas include B vitamins and magnesium. The former may help calm down the nervous system.
Kiwis — These vitamin C-rich fruits may not just assist with combating infections, but aid in alleviating stress too. Studies have shown that consistent vitamin C intake helped lower both levels of stress hormones in the blood and typical indicators of physical and emotional stress.11
Dark chocolate — Anandamide, a neurotransmitter found in dark chocolate, is said to be beneficial in momentarily inhibiting negative feelings of pain and depression. However, eat chocolate in moderation, since some varieties contain high amounts of sugar that can be devastating for your health.
Turmeric — This spice has been renowned globally, and most of its health benefits may be traced to the pigment curcumin. It’s responsible for the spice’s bright yellow-orange hue and health benefits, such as neuroprotective properties that may defend your brain and improve your mood

Have some whole grains: Study confirms that dietary fiber can lower your risk of colorectal cancer, diabetes and stroke
NaturalNews – An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and healthy foods are some of the best natural preventive medicines available. That is why British researchers are advising people at risk of certain cancers, diabetes, and heart diseases to eat more whole grains and other foods that are rich in dietary fiber.
Their recently published review was commissioned by the World Health Organization (WHO). The researchers drew their data from four decades’ worth of earlier studies and clinical trials. They found that higher levels of fiber intake greatly reduced the risks of serious diseases.
People who ate more fiber-packed foods enjoyed 15 to 30 percent lower chances of early death due to cardiovascular diseases and other causes. Furthermore, they were also 16 to 24 percent less likely to develop colorectal cancer, coronary heart disease, stroke, and Type 2 diabetes.
“Our findings provide convincing evidence for nutrition guidelines to focus on increasing dietary fiber and on replacing refined grains with whole grains,” remarked Jim Mann, a New Zealand researcher at the University of Otago and lead author of the review. “This reduces incidence risk and mortality from a broad range of important diseases.” (Related: Women, are you getting enough dietary fiber? Diets rich in vegetables and legumes decrease your risk of ovarian cancer.)
US officials worry paralyzing illness may grow more common
AP – One morning last fall, 4-year-old Joey Wilcox woke up with the left side of his face drooping.
It was the first sign of an unfolding nightmare.
Three days later, Joey was in a hospital intensive care unit, unable to move his arms or legs or sit up. Spinal taps and other tests failed to find a cause. Doctors worried he was about to lose the ability to breathe.
“It’s devastating,” said his father, Jeremy Wilcox, of Herndon, Virginia. “Your healthy child can catch a cold — and then become paralyzed.”
Joey, who survived but still suffers some of the effects, was one of 228 confirmed victims in the U.S. last year of acute flaccid myelitis, or AFM, a rare, mysterious and sometimes deadly paralyzing illness that seems to ebb and flow on an every-other-year cycle and is beginning to alarm public health officials because it is striking more and more children.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said it may bear similarities to polio, which smoldered among humans for centuries before it exploded into fearsome epidemics in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Fauci, who published a report about the disease Tuesday in the journal mBio, said it is unlikely AFM will become as bad as polio, which struck tens of thousands of U.S. children annually before a vaccine became available in the 1950s.
But he warned: “Don’t assume that it’s going to stay at a couple of hundred cases every other year.”
While other countries have reported cases, including Canada, France, Britain and Norway, the size and pattern of the U.S. outbreaks have been more pronounced. More than 550 Americans have been struck this decade. The oldest was 32. More than 90% were children, most around 4, 5 or 6 years old.
Most had a cold-like illness and fever, seemed to get over it, then descended into paralysis. In some cases it started in small ways — for example, a thumb that suddenly wouldn’t move. Some went on to lose the ability to eat or draw breath.
Many families say their children have regained at least some movement in affected limbs, but stories of complete recovery are unusual. Health officials cannot say how many recovered completely, partly or not at all, or how many have died, though the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says deaths are rare.
Scientists suspect the illness is being caused chiefly by a certain virus that was identified more than 55 years ago and may have mutated to become more dangerous. But they have yet to prove that.