Today's News: April 16, 2019

World News
Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque Fire Burns at the Same Time As Flames Engulf Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris
Newsweek – Palestinian Muslims hold Friday prayers in the Marwani Prayer Room, also called Solomon’s Stables), located under the southeastern corner of the raised platform which holds the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem’s Old City, September 5, 2014. A fire broke out at the sacred site just as a much larger blaze engulfed the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.
Alarm Was Raised 23 Mins Before Blaze Detected
Daily Beast – An alarm was raised at Notre Dame at 6:20 p.m. on Monday night—23 minutes before the structure was engulfed in flames—but officials found no sign of a fire.
Firefighters who responded to a second alert raced to the scene but were unable to tame an inferno that ripped through the 12th century cathedral for the next 9 hours.
Paris public prosecutor Rémy Heitz announced on Tuesday that a full investigation would uncover how a massive fire was allowed to gut the cathedral.
“What we know at this stage is that there was an initial alarm at 6:20 p.m., followed by a procedure to verify this but no fire as found,” Heitz explained. “Then, there was a second alarm at 6:43 p.m. and at that point a fire was detected in the structure.”
Muslims convert to Christianity in town once besieged by ISIS
Reuters – Christianity grows in Syrian town once besieged by Islamic State
A community of Syrians who converted to Christianity from Islam is growing in Kobani, a town besieged by Islamic State for months, and where the tide turned against the militants four years ago.
The converts say the experience of war and the onslaught of a group claiming to fight for Islam pushed them towards their new faith. After a number of families converted, the Syrian-Turkish border town’s first evangelical church opened last year.
Islamic State militants were beaten back by U.S. air strikes and Kurdish fighters at Kobani in early 2015, in a reversal of fortune after taking over swaths of Iraq and Syria. After years of fighting, U.S.-backed forces fully ended the group’s control over populated territory last month.
Though Islamic State’s ultra radical interpretation of Sunni Islam has been repudiated by the Islamic mainstream, the legacy of its violence has affected perceptions of faith.
Many in the mostly Kurdish areas of northern Syria, whose urban centers are often secular, say agnosticism has strengthened and in the case of Kobani, Christianity.
Christianity is one of the region’s minority faiths that was persecuted by Islamic State.
Critics view the new converts with suspicion, accusing them of seeking personal gain such as financial help from Christian organizations working in the region, jobs and enhanced prospects of emigration to European countries.
The newly-converted Christians of Kobani deny those accusations. They say their conversion was a matter of faith.
“After the war with Islamic State people were looking for the right path, and distancing themselves from Islam,” said Omar Firas, the founder of Kobani’s evangelical church. “People were scared and felt lost.”
Iran labels US troops in Mideast as terrorist
AP – Iran’s lawmakers on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved a bill labeling U.S. forces in the Middle East as terrorist, a day after the U.S. terrorism designation for Iran’s Revolutionary Guard formally took effect, state TV reported.
Defense Minister Gen. Amir Hatami introduced the bill authorizing the government to act firmly in response to “terrorist actions” by U.S. forces. It demands authorities use “legal, political and diplomatic” measures to neutralize the American move, without elaborating.
The U.S. move aims at “thwarting Iran’s influence,” and shows that America’s longstanding sanctions against Iran have become ineffective, Hatami told lawmakers.
During the debate, some hard-liner lawmakers had demanded listing the entire U.S. army and security forces as terrorist.
The TV report said 204 lawmakers approved the bill, out of 207 present at the session in the 290-seat chamber. Two lawmakers voted against the bill and one abstained.
U.S. News, Politics & Government
Victory! Fairfax, Virginia Judge Finds That Local Police Use of ALPR Violates the State’s Data Act
Activist Post – Thanks to a recent ruling by Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Robert J. Smith, drivers in Fairfax County, Virginia need not worry that local police are maintaining ALPR records of their travels for work, prayer, protest or play.
Earlier this month, Judge Smith ordered an injunction against the use of the license plate database, finding that the “passive” use of Fairfax County Police Department’s Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) system violated Virginia’s Government Data Collection and Dissemination Practices Act (Data Act). This means that the Fairfax County Police will be required to purge its database of ALPR data that isn’t linked to a criminal investigation and stop using ALPRs to passively collect data on people who aren’t suspected of criminal activity. The ruling came in response to a complaint brought by the ACLU of Virginia in support of Harris Neal, a local resident whose license plate had been recorded at least twice by the Fairfax police.
Judge Smith had previously dismissed the case. In a 2016 ruling, the court ruled that license plate numbers were not covered by the state law’s limits on government data collection, because alone, they did not identify a single individual. Virginia’s Supreme Court overturned that ruling.
EFF and the Brennan Center for Justice filed an amicus brief when the case came before the Supreme Court of the State of Virginia, holding that information collected using ALPR data is personally identifiable. Thus, the Data Act was applicable and required the Fairfax Police to purge plate information they collect using the system.
In its reversal, the Virginia Supreme Court found that the photographic and location data stored in the department’s database did meet the Data Act’s definition of ‘personal information,’ but sent the case back to the Circuit Court to determine whether the database met the Act’s definition of an “information system.” Judge Smith’s ruling affirms EFF’s view that the ALPR system does indeed provide a means through which a link to the identity of a vehicle’s owner can be readily made.
U.S. Army turns to Video Games to recruit the next generation of U.S. Soldiers
Off Grid Survival – The U.S. Army is having a tough time finding enough soldiers to fill their ranks, as younger generations have become less willing to fight for the country. In fact, after missing recruiting goals last year for the first time since 2005, the Army turned to the video game world to find recruits and may start talking to kids as young as 12 about joining the military.
Army Recruiting Command selected 20 Army gamers ― out of 8,000 applicants ― to be part of an official Army eSports team that will stream their own gaming while at home and travel to tournaments to meet teenagers who could one day serve.
“If we are going to be successful in recruiting, then we need to be where young people are — and they are operating in the digital world,” said Maj. Gen. Frank Muth, commanding general for U.S. Army Recruiting Command. “There are already thousands of current Soldiers who are competitive online gamers. Now we are giving them a chance to use their talents to help us relate to and connect with other young gamers. They will have the ability to start a dialogue about what it is like to serve in our Army and see if they are interested in joining.”
“Our team, they’re part of the recruiting force. They’re going to go through the three-day, intensive recruiting course,” Muth said. “And they’re out there too: 1. Game, 2. Win, and also engage with the Z Generation, to give them knowledge about serving in our military and the opportunities in the military.”
Eradicated Diseases Reemerge with a Vengeance in Liberal Utopias Throughout the US
Off Grid Survival – n liberal urban centers throughout the country, once eradicated diseases are flaring up and causing health officials to issue dire warnings that we may be in the early stages of a major disease outbreak or pandemic.
Infectious diseases, some that haven’t been seen since Medieval times are popping up among homeless and drug populations in California and throughout the United States. Los Angeles is currently experiencing a major outbreak of typhus—a sanitation related disease spread by infected fleas on rats and other animals.
While some may dismiss this as a homeless issue, in downtown Los Angles Typhus has actually started affecting city workers who are forced to work in these disgusting conditions.
Typhus was once so uncommon in the U.S. that it was actually delisted by the CDC in 1994. But it is now starting to show up again in throughout the southern border states – I’ll let you draw your own conclusion to why those areas are seeing outbreaks.
Outbreaks of infectious diseases in Seattle, Washington
In the progressive city of Seattle, health officials are warning that a variety of outbreaks of serious infectious diseases are running through homeless populations in the city. Seattle-King County Public Health issues a public health advisory in 2018 admitting that they were investigating outbreaks of Group A Streptococcus, shigella, and a rare group of infections transmitted by body lice.
Viral Outbreaks of Hepatitis A Throughout the United States
According to the CDC, since 2017 several states have reported outbreaks of hepatitis A. The disease, which is primarily spread through feces has been popping up throughout the country.
A number of states are reporting outbreaks:

In Southern California over 1,000 people have been infected.
Utah has reported 281 infections since 2017.
Illinois has reported 48 cases from January 1, 2019 – March 20, 2019
In Florida, from January 1, 2019, through February 28, 2019, 424 hepatitis A cases were reported.
Outbreaks have been reported in 14 other states.

Police Use Drones To Spy On Suspicious People At “Potential Crime Scenes”
Activist Post – For years, law enforcement has been claiming that drones will only be used for natural disasters, crime scene investigations, car accidents and rescue operations.
That is the bill of goods being sold to the public, but it is all a lie.
A perfect example of how law enforcement promises the public one thing and, after time passes, uses it for something else is taking place in Texas at the Memorial Villages Police Department (MVPD).
Two years ago, Click2Houston reported how the MVPD claimed that they would only use drones for “better emergency response during disasters.” They also used police officer and UAV pilot Larry Boggus to solidify their claim that drones would only be used for natural disasters saying, “drones are a huge asset for us because very quickly we were able to see the amount of houses that were damaged” during a 2018 storm.
I love it when police departments provide comic relief to prove my point.
It only took one year for the MVPD to prove their “Boggus” claim that drones would only be used during emergencies was a lie. (Pun intended.)
Last week, Click2Houston revealed that the MVPD is using drones to respond to home alarms and to identify suspicious people.
Mark Kobelan, the mayor of Piney Point Village, recently had to call police for a possible suspicious person. Within seconds, a drone was overhead.
When police use drones to respond to home alarms, don’t think for one second that they will only use them to fly over that particular home. When police respond to a possible break-in using a patrol car, they will typically drive around the neighborhood looking for suspicious people and possible signs of forced entry.
So what do you think police will use drones for?
Congestion tax on drivers gains steam in big cities after New York approves controversial plan
Fox New – Several major cities are now considering a so-called “congestion” tax, on the heels of New York approving a controversial first-in-the-nation fee on drivers in a bid to ease gridlock.
Economy & Business
Gas prices in San Diego soar above $4 per gallon
San Diego Union Tribune – The average price in the area has jumped 70 cents a gallon in a month.
It’s official. For the first time since July 2015, the average price for a gallon of regular gasoline in San Diego has surpassed the $4 mark.
The price flew past the $4 threshold on Saturday and by Monday morning the average price in the San Diego area reached $4.04 a gallon, according to data from AAA of Southern California.
The price has soared 70 cents a gallon in the past month and 21 cents since last week, April 8.
“The rise is nothing short of spectacular,” said Dan McTeague, senior petroleum analyst at GasBuddy, a tech company that helps consumers find the lowest gas prices in their areas.
The average price in Orange County on Monday was $4.04 while the average in Los Angeles County was $4.07, according to AAA. The statewide average came in at $4.01 a gallon for regular.
Amazon ‘flooded by fake five-star reviews’
Yahoo Finance – Amazon (AMZN) is flooded with ‘fake’ five-star reviews of popular products, a leading UK consumer group has claimed.
An investigation by the consumer group Which? found hundreds of unverified accounts left top reviews on tech products in a single day.
Which? says glowing reviews from unverified buyers are a “telltale sign of ‘fake’ reviews,” and said its findings showed they had become a “serious problem” in online shopping.
The research found little-known brands dominated search results for several popular tech products including cameras, headphones and smart watches, often thanks to reviews regarded as suspicious by Which?.
But Amazon has said it invests “significant” resources in weeding out fake reviews, and took action against firms and individuals suspected of using them.
Which? found more than 10,000 reviews from unverified users on just 24 pairs of headphones in a couple of hours.
It said 71% of products on the first headphones page had perfect five-star reviews, and 87% of products were not confirmed as Amazon purchases.
In some cases, it found positive reviews for the wrong products on listings.
Hannah Walsh of Which? said: “97% of shoppers rely on online customer reviews to help make a purchase, according to a survey we conducted in September 2018 of more than 2,000 adults. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) estimates that £23bn a year of UK consumer spending is potentially influenced by online reviews.
Science & Technology
Fossilized Bacteria in Meteorite From Mars is ‘Proof of Life’
Sputnik – Similar claims have been made before, with NASA announcing in 1996 that it had found signs of life on Mars in another space rock, known as ALH 84001, also citing the appearance of the strands and filaments.
A second Martian meteorite which shows ‘signs of microbial life’ has been found, Hungarian researchers say in their report on the latest study, published in Open Astronomy, reigniting ‘bacterial’ fossils claims made 20 years ago by NASA.
The meteorite, officially known as ALH-77005, is claimed to contain ‘biosignatures’, which researchers describe as textures and features left behind by organisms.
Experts resorted to advanced imaging techniques that they say revealed microfilaments created by fossilised Martian microbes.
AI developed a whole new sport
Endgagest – Speedgate is based on data from hundreds of existing sports.
Many existing sports have their roots in hundreds (if not thousands) of years of human tradition. But what if you asked computers to create a sport? You now know how that can turn out. The design agency AKQA has introduced Speedgate, reportedly the first sport envisioned by an AI. The event has six-player teams competing on a field with three open-ended gates. Once you’ve kicked the ball through a center gate (which you can’t step through), your team can score on one of the end gates — complete with an extra point if you ricochet the ball through the gate. You can’t stay still, either, as the ball has to move every three seconds.
AKQA created the game by feeding data on 400 existing sports to a neural network, which then created basic sports concepts and rules. A large chunk of those were completely unrealistic (exploding Frisbees, anyone?), so the team gradually whittled down the eligible characteristics until there were three remaining sports. Playtesting led to Speedgate winning the prize.
The agency even used AI to develop the game’s logo and slightly awkward motto (“face the ball to be the ball to be above the ball”).
While the sport was created as an exercise for Design Week, it might just become a serious sport. AKQA is talking to the Oregon Sports Authority about Speedgate, and there might be an intramural league in the summer. The company is encouraging others to start their own leagues. Speedgate probably isn’t going to replace conventional sports in the hearts of fans, but it is an example of how AI can be useful even in (currently) human-centric fields like sports. It’s doubtful that anyone would have easily devised the concept on their own, even if the underlying concepts are relatively simple.
Health
NYC Mandatory Measles Vaccination Violates NY State Law, CHD Challenges Legality
Green Med Info – On April 9th, 60 New York vaccine safety advocates and religious leaders visited the office of Assembly member Jeffrey Dinowitz, author of A2371, a bill that would eliminate religious vaccine exemptions state wide
CHD PRESS RELEASE, NEW YORK, April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ – The New York City Commissioner of Health declared a public health emergency yesterday, ordering all people who live, work or reside in four Brooklyn zip codes to be vaccinated with the Measles-Mumps-Rubella vaccine declared to be “effective and safe.” Non-compliance with the order is a misdemeanor subject to criminal and civil fines, including imprisonment. Mayor Bill de Blasio warned that residents have 48 hours to get the vaccine or face a $1,000 fine. Only those with documented immunity, medical contraindications or infants under six months are exempt from the vaccine mandate.
This order primarily affects Orthodox and Hasidic Jews living in the Williamsburg area of Brooklyn who do not vaccinate because it violates their core religious beliefs. The MMR vaccine is manufactured using WI-38 human diploid lung fibroblasts obtained from aborted fetal tissue. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said in response that is was “legally questionable” whether people can be forced to get vaccinated if it violates their religious beliefs.
Children’s Health Defense (CHD) is supporting a legal challenge to this dangerous, unprecedented overreach. While the City has unquestionable authority to control disease outbreaks, it may not violate the bedrock principle of prior, free and informed consent to all medical interventions, including vaccines. This is a fundamental human right. The City may quarantine, isolate, trace contacts and strongly urge vaccination, but it may not impose such a draconian mandate without demonstrating necessity, reasonableness, proportionality, harm avoidance, non-discrimination, due process and equal protection. The Commissioner has failed to do this; the City’s actions violate New York State law.
“I am shocked that Mayor De Blasio would resort to such police state techniques to control an outbreak of measles. I don’t believe the City’s actions will withstand legal scrutiny,” said CHD Board Member Mary Holland, JD. The City is requiring that people receive Merck’s MMR vaccine, even though the outbreak is only for measles. The MMR II product insert acknowledges that death is a potential side effect from the vaccine, along with a long raft of other potential permanent injuries. A review of claims submitted to the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program of identified 48 cases of encephalopathy following MMR vaccine. Of those, eight children died, and the remainder had mental regression and retardation, chronic seizures, motor and sensory deficits, and movement disorders. The authors, all associated with the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program concluded that a causal relationship between measles vaccine and encephalopathy may exist as a rare complication of measles immunization.
Robin Stavola, a member of CHD, commented on the order saying “I regret every day of my life that I was not given full informed consent about the MMR vaccination as my healthy and beautiful daughter, Holly, suffered for days before dying at 5 years old from encephalopathy as a result of her MMR vaccine required before entering school.” Her family cautions that the order has the potential to create long-term adverse health consequences that may be worse than what it purportedly prevents.
“This case goes beyond a dispute over religious freedom,” said CHD Chairman Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “Thanks to the Merck federal whistleblower litigation, we now know that Merck’s MMR should have never been approved, much less mandated. To get its license Merck allegedly ordered its scientists to falsify efficacy data to fraudulently conceal the fact that the mumps component quickly wanes, triggering dangerous outbreaks in older populations where it can cause sterility in men and women. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported 150 outbreaks resulting in 9,200 cases of mumps in fully vaccinated adults, dwarfing the recent measles outbreaks. We are confident that no American court will allow government bureaucrats to force American citizens to take risky pharmaceutical products against their will.”
New York Health Department Closes Orthodox Day Care Over Measles Outbreak
Forward – A Jewish child care center in Brooklyn was ordered closed by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene for failing to provide access to vaccination records.
United Talmudical Academy in the Williamsburg neighborhood allegedly refused to comply with the city’s recent order for schools in heavily-Jewish areas of Brooklyn to ban unvaccinated children and maintain vaccination records in response to a measles outbreak, the department claimed. As a result, the health department ordered the facility closed, the first time an educational institution has received such a consequence since the outbreak began in October.
Twenty-three other yeshivas and day care centers have been given notice that they are in violation of the health directive, the department said.
Researcher discovers a BIG problem with aluminum in vaccines and his peer-reviewed study gets ‘withdrawn’ from a medical journal
NaturalHealth 365- Aluminum in vaccines is a growing concern – and for good reason, as you’ll soon see.
Aluminum, a neurotoxic metal, is an ingredient in many vaccines used today – including the HPV vaccine manufactured by Merck. Now, a professor of veterinary pathology says he has found a link between aluminum in vaccines and a potentially life-threatening autoimmune condition.
Yet this explosive discovery may go largely unrecognized by Western medicine and the scientific community. The professor’s peer-reviewed and published study has abruptly been withdrawn from publication in a scientific journal – leading many to suspect that the withdrawal is a blatant attempt to protect the interests of the pharmaceutical industry.
The journal, Pharmacology and Pharmaceutical Sciences, is published by Elsevier, widely considered to be one of the world’s major providers of science, technical and medical information. But the company’s inappropriate ties to big pharma have cast its integrity into doubt before.
Looks like aluminum in vaccines is an ‘unacceptable’ topic within the conventional scientific community
The trouble began when the journal’s publisher, Anne-Marie Pordon, e-mailed lead study author Professor Lluis Luján with a request that he withdraw his work. Citing “concerns from the readership,” Pordon tried to “sweeten the pot” by stating that the withdrawal would not imply “misconduct” in any way.
The journal had received a signed note of concern from an unidentified letter writer, containing a litany of accusations characterizing Prof. Luján’s methodology as ‘flawed.’
Although Pordon stressed that “this is not a retraction, which implies wrongdoing,” her semantics failed to convince Prof. Luján, who refused to withdraw his work.
Instead, Prof. Luján – a professor of veterinary pathology at the University of Zaragoza in Spain – rebutted the claims, calling them “misleading” and “spurious.”
Over Prof. Luján’s objections, Pordon and Emilio Clementi – the Editor-in-Chief of Elsevier journal Pharmacological Research (which had already published the paper online) – stamped the paper “WITHDRAWN,” and removed it from the print publishing line-up.
8 Protein-Packed Plants That Deserve A Spot In Your Diet
Off Grid News – When we think of protein, it is mainly animal sources that come to our mind. In fact, 70 percent of the protein consumed in most developed countries comes from meat and poultry. But there are plenty of protein-packed plants that can offer this macronutrient as part of a balanced diet.
Animal proteins, including fish and eggs, milk and meat are concentrated protein sources. Notwithstanding, they come loaded with many extras — mostly a result of factory farming — that we don’t really need. Dietary cholesterol and fats are no longer thought to have as much of a direct relation to our blood cholesterol and lipid profile as previously believed. However, animal protein sources remain high in calories and often undergo some amount of processing to reduce their fat content. Including plant proteins in our diet would not only add variety and many beneficial phytochemicals but reduce processed food load as well.
Plant proteins are often considered inferior on account of being incomplete proteins. They may lack one or more of the essential amino acids that form the building blocks of proteins. These essential amino acids should come from our diet, as they cannot be synthesized by the body. But it doesn’t matter if all of them come from the same food item or from different foods. Variety is the key here; even vegans can get their fill of essential nutrients by combining pulses, oilseeds, and cereals in their diet.
Here is a selection of the best plant protein sources that deserve to be a part of your diet — even if you are a meat-eater!
Protein-Packed Plants (#1): Hemp Seeds
Protein-Packed Plants (#2): Chia Seeds
Protein-Packed Plants (#3): Peanuts And Other Oilseeds
Protein-Packed Plants (#4): Beans
Protein-Packed Plants (#5): Lentils
Protein-Packed Plants (#6): Almonds And Other Tree Nuts
Protein-Packed Plants (#7): Quinoa
Protein-Packed Plants (#8): Spirulina
Pet News
Dog rescued while swimming 135 miles off Thailand
AP – A dog found swimming more than 220 kilometers (135 miles) from shore by workers on an oil rig crew in the Gulf of Thailand has been returned safely to land.
A worker on the rig belonging to Chevron Thailand Exploration and Production, Vitisak Payalaw, said on his Facebook page that they saw the dog swimming toward the platform last Friday. He said they were lucky to spot it because if there had been waves it probably would not have been visible.
The dog made it to the platform, clinging to the support structure below deck without barking or whimpering, Vitisak wrote.
The crew managed to lower a rope and secure it around the dog’s neck and haul it up. Vitisak said they speculated the dog might have fallen off a fishing trawler, and dubbed it “Boon Rod,” or “Survivor.”
The dog was delivered by boat to the southern port of Songkhla on Monday and was declared in good shape after being taken to the animal protection group Watchdog Thailand.
Vitisak said if the dog was unclaimed, he would like to take it to his home in northeast Thailand.