World News
Richard Gere, Italy’s Salvini clash over migrant ship
Reuters – Hollywood star Richard Gere on Saturday urged the Italian government to stop “demonising people” and instead help migrants who have been stranded on a Spanish charity boat in the Mediterranean for more than a week.
Gere, who visited the Open Arms ship in a show of support on Friday, joined a news conference on the Italian island of Lampedusa to call for the 160 migrants stuck on the boat to be allowed to disembark.
He compared the political situation in Italy, where League leader and Interior Minister Matteo Salvini has repeatedly refused requests by migrant ships to dock, to that of the U.S. administration of Donald Trump.
“We have our problems with refugees coming from Honduras, Salavador, Nicaragua, Mexico… It’s very similar to what you are going through here,” he said, accusing politicians in both Italy and the United States of demonising migrants.
China Brings Mainland Military Forces into Hong Kong – Protests Cry Freedom…
Last Refuge – As the U.S-China trade confrontation continues, China is running out of dollars. Beijing is burning through cash to prop up its manufacturing industries; and the currency devaluation only exacerbates the problem. A weak Yuan, makes their exports cheap; but China is an economy of dependency, and relies upon dollars to pay bills.
Against this growing internal financial crisis, videos seem to confirm Chinese military moving into regions around Hong Kong as protests continue. Hong Kong nationals staged a three-day protest at Hong Kong’s international airport to draw attention to their plight.
Many voices in the west have forgotten the lessons from Tienanmen Square, when the central Chinese government used the Mongolian army regulars to gain control over the protests. The authoritarian Chinese government is communist at its central core; despite the party leadership’s corruption and capitalistic wealth.
Videos show the Chinese military are moving into Hong Kong to position themselves against those voices who are demanding the region remain a free and autonomous open society.
Norwegian Boeing engine falls apart MID-FLIGHT, scatters debris across Rome
RT – A Norwegian Air Boeing 787 plane was forced to turn around in Rome and make an emergency landing after engine failure caused hundreds of fragments to rain down on vehicles, homes and people below.
US gold medallists at Pan American Games face sanctions over anti-Trump podium protests
AFP – Two US gold medal winners could face sanctions after staging dramatic podium protests against US President Donald Trump at the Pan American Games in Lima.
Gwen Berry stunned the crowd when she raised a clenched right fist and bowed her head as the US national anthem closed her gold medal ceremony for the women’s hammer.
The 30-year-old’s protest on Saturday — which she told US media was aimed at “extreme injustice” – echoed the iconic raised fist protest of US sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico.
On Friday, two-time Olympian fencer Race Imboden, 26, set the tone after ‘taking a knee’ as his team celebrated gold in the team foil event.
He was the latest US sports star to follow NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick, whose kneeling protest during the US national anthem before NFL games in 2016 became a national issue.
“We must call for change. This week I am honored to represent Team USA at the Pan Am Games, taking home Gold and Bronze,” tweeted Imboden.
“My pride however has been cut short by the multiple shortcomings of the country I hold so dear to my heart. Racism, Gun Control, mistreatment of immigrants and a president who spreads hate are at the top of a long list.
“I chose to sacrifice my moment today at the top of the podium to call attention to issues that I believe need to be addressed. I encourage others to please use your platforms for empowerment and change.”
U.S. News, Politics & Government
Jeffrey Epstein Dead … a Suicide, They Say
Stream – Pedophile billionaire and sex trafficker for the rich and famous Jeffrey Epstein is dead. A suicide in his prison cell we are told. So much for the suicide watch he had been under after being found nearly unconscious three weeks ago. So much for his answering for his crimes … and least in this life.
The financier’s death comes less than 24 hours after a large stash of documents from his earlier court case were released implicating some powerful political and world figures in sex crimes involving underage girls.
The Document Dump
On Friday, the first batch of thousands of documents were released from a defamation suit filed by Epstein’s self-described “sex slave” Virginia Roberts Guiffre against Epstein’s alleged madam Ghislaine Maxwell. The documents reveal for the first time some of the men Guiffre claims Epstein and Maxwell forced her to have sex with.
These include former Clinton cabinet member Bill Richardson, former Democratic Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell and hedge fund billionaire Glenn Dubin. The suit also implicates an unnamed “prince,” though Guiffre has stated in the past that prince was England’s Prince Andrew. All have released statements denying the allegations.
Guiffre also says in the documents Epstein held a dinner for Bill Clinton on his private island while she was there. Clinton denies ever being to the island. He also disputed flight logs that show him taking 27 flights on Epstein’s Lolita Express. He also denied ever flying on the Lolita Express without his Secret Service detail, though logs show otherwise. Clinton also kept mum on the fact Epstein had visited him several times at the White House.
The documents also reveal how Epstein and Maxwell would lure underage girls into their criminal lair. Further documents were expected to be released within days.
And Donald Trump
And what of Donald Trump? Vanity Fair‘s write-up of the document dump does what the media has been doing, attempting to implicate the president in Epstein’s crimes. (While ignoring or downplaying the Clinton’s long, very close association.) They mention Trump in conjunction with those accused of partaking in sex with the underage girls, but do not reveal that Guiffre clears him. In a deposition released Friday, Guiffre says that to her knowledge Trump never had sex with any of Epstein’s sex slaves. He didn’t even flirt.
Guiffre was asked about an alleged statement where she said Trump hadn’t had sex, but did flirt with her. “It’s true that he didn’t partake in any sex with us, but it’s not true that he flirted with me.”
Jeffrey Epstein Had Been Taken Off Suicide Watch Before Death in NYC Jail Cell; Feds Investigating
KTLA – The FBI and the Justice Department’s inspector general’s office will investigate how Jeffrey Epstein died in an apparent suicide Saturday, while the probe into sexual abuse allegations against the well-connected financier remains ongoing, officials said.
Attorney General William Barr, in announcing the investigation, said he was “appalled” to learn of Epstein’s death while in federal custody.
“Mr. Epstein’s death raises serious questions that must be answered,” Barr said in a statement.
The federal investigation into the allegations remains steadfast, U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman said. He noted in a statement Saturday that the indictment against Epstein includes a conspiracy charge, suggesting others could face charges in the case.
Why Conspiracy Theorists Will Never Believe the ‘Official’ Epstein Story
The Atlantic – Trust in gatekeepers—from media to government—has eroded to the point of making an “official account” almost obsolete.
The reaction from the online fever swamps was predictable enough. Jeffrey Epstein, the well-connected financier accused of underage sex trafficking, was found dead in his Manhattan jail cell early this morning, just one day after unsealed court documents surfaced new allegations against him and his high-powered inner circle.
The reported cause of death was suicide—but the conspiracy-mongers were already springing into action.
Within hours, #EpsteinMurder was trending on Twitter, as was #TrumpBodyCount (where liberals speculated that the president had offed his former friend), and #ClintonCrimeFamily (where conservatives accused Bill and Hillary Clinton of orchestrating a murderous cover-up). But the speculation was not limited to the fringes—the president himself retweeted a video suggesting Epstein was now dead because he had information on the Clintons.
As the day went on, prominent commentators, journalists, and political figures used their platforms to broadcast conspiracy theories, implicate their ideological enemies, or simply engage in the Twitterwide guessing game about what really happened—all of them working with virtually no concrete information.
Amid all the fevered speculation, Mike Cernovich—a right-wing social-media personality and proponent of the so-called Pizzagate conspiracy theory—live-streamed his reaction to the Epstein-take cycle. Barely able to contain his glee, Cernovich seemed to revel in how some mainstream journalists were edging closer to his approach.
“Right now, in real time, mainstream media—they’re going to have to adjust their operating software; they’re going to have to adjust their mental model of the world,” he said. “It doesn’t matter how normie mainstream you are. It doesn’t matter how credible you think you are.” The official story of Epstein’s suicide, he declared, “just does not make sense.”
Michael Snyder – Did Jeffrey Epstein commit suicide or was he murdered? This is a question that is being debated by millions of Americans right now, and without a doubt this is the biggest story of this news cycle. Unfortunately, the mainstream media is already dropping the ball.
Instead of going wherever the evidence leads them, there already seems to be a tremendous effort to marginalize any explanations for his death other than “suicide”. And it may turn out that “suicide” is where the evidence takes us, but while things are unclear we should not be afraid to ask the hard questions.
The following are 7 unanswered questions about Jeffrey Epstein’s death that the mainstream media needs to be talking about…
#1 Why are the autopsy results being delayed? According to NBC News, the New York City medical examiner’s office is requesting “more information” before determining the cause of Epstein’s death…
#2 What will the cameras show? By now most people have heard that there were no cameras filming what was going on inside Epstein’s cell, but there were cameras filming the doors of each cell…
So if someone paid a “visit” to Epstein, there should be video evidence of it
#3 Why was Jeffrey Epstein taken off suicide watch? After Epstein attempted to “kill himself” the first time, he was put on suicide watch, but only for a short period. The following comes from CNN…
#4 Why did the guards break prison rules and not check on him every 30 minutes? Apparently these guards had been working a lot of overtime, but that is no excuse for breaking prison rules…
#5 Why would Jeffrey Epstein try to kill himself if he was adjusting so well to prison life? According to a “prison insider” interviewed by the Daily Mail, Epstein “seemed to be in good spirits” just before his life ended…
#6 Why did Jeffrey Epstein tell guards that someone was trying to kill him? It has been reported by the mainstream media that Epstein previously tried to kill himself, but apparently that report was being directly contradicted by Epstein himself. Of course it is entirely possible that Epstein was lying, but according to multiple reports he claimed that someone had tried to kill him…
#7 How could Epstein kill himself in a prison where the cells had been specifically designed to prevent that from happening? I shared this quote in another article that I just posted, but it is deeply relevant to this article as well. According to a former inmate of the Metropolitan Correction Center in lower Manhattan that was just interviewed by the New York Post, there is no way that Epstein would have been able to hang himself…
Former MCC Inmate Says Epstein Suicide Was “Impossible”
Activist Post – A former inmate at lower Manhattan’s Metropolitan Correctional Center who spent several months in the prison’s notorious 9 South special housing unit for high-profile prisoners told the New York Post that it would have been ‘impossible’ for millionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein to have killed himself.
“There’s no way that man could have killed himself. I’ve done too much time in those units. It’s an impossibility,” said the former inmate, adding “Between the floor and the ceiling is like eight or nine feet. There’s no way for you to connect to anything.”
“You have sheets, but they’re paper level, not strong enough. He was 200 pounds — it would never happen.”
Report: Jeffrey Epstein’s Cellmate Transferred Out on Eve of His Death
Breitbart – The New York City prison cellmate of Jeffrey Epstein was transferred the day prior to the millionaire investor’s apparent suicide on Saturday morning, according to a report.
The Washington Post reported:
Officers should have been checking on Epstein, who was being held in a special housing unit of the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City, every 30 minutes, and, under normal circumstances, he also should have had a cellmate, according to the person familiar with the matter and union officials representing facility employees.
But a person who had been assigned to share a cell with Epstein was transferred on Friday, and — for reasons that investigators are still exploring — he did not receive a new cellmate, the person familiar with the matter said Sunday night. That left Epstein, who had previously been placed on suicide watch, alone and unmonitored — at least in the hours before his death — by even those officers assigned to guard him. [emphasis added]
The details of how Epstein died in his Manhattan jail cell over the weekend have yet to be released, but medical officials have performed an autopsy on the high-profile inmate accused of sexually abusing and trafficking young girls.
Daily Mail – Jeffrey Epstein allegedly had a secret diary that contained information about his friendships with powerful people which he kept as an ‘insurance policy.’
Pedophile Epstein – who palled around with notables including Prince Andrew, Bill Clinton and Donald Trump – was said to have kept a ‘meticulously detailed’ diary of his many friendships with the rich and famous, according to the Mirror.
Sources told the newspaper that Epstein, a convicted sex offender who faced federal charges for the sex trafficking of minors in Florida and New York, kept the diary as a form of insurance.
It’s existence supposedly became known when Epstein’s alleged victims’ lawyers obtained a statement from Prince Andrew as part of US authorities’ investigations.
Pathologist Connected to JFK Investigation to Conduct Autopsy on Epstein
Infowars – Pathologist Michael Baden, who served as chairman of the House Select Committee on Assassinations’ Forensic Pathology Panel that investigated the assassination of John F. Kennedy, is set to conduct an independent autopsy on Jeffrey Epstein.
“Epstein’s representatives have hired celebrity pathologist Michael Baden to conduct an independent autopsy and they were allowed to observe the autopsy,” reports the Daily Beast.
As chairman of the investigation into the JFK assassination, Baden bolstered the official story that Kennedy was killed by a single bullet, also known as the “magic bullet” theory.
Baden, whose career has revolved around investigating high profile deaths, also testified at the trials of OJ Simpson and Phil Spector.
Some are wondering whether having Baden carry out the autopsy is a good idea given the deluge of conspiracy theories circulating about Epstein’s alleged “suicide.”
“Of course, this may or may not mean anything at all,” comments Vlad Tapes. But getting a coroner connected to these cases doesn’t strike one as the way to lead to confidence in transparency of the process.”
Baden already observed the official autopsy carried out on Epstein by Chief Medical Examiner Barbara Sampson. The results of the autopsy have been delayed “pending further information at this time.”
America changed: Anxiety simmers as mass shootings loom any time, anywhere
Detroit Free Press – Motorcycles backfired in Times Square last week. It sounded like gunfire, and panic ensued in the heart of New York City.
The same night, a sign fell during a concert at a Utah mall. The loud bang when it hit the floor sounded something like a gunshot, and sent people racing into stores to hide.
Balloons popped in a dorm in March on the University of Michigan campus. Outside, a vigil was underway for those killed in the massacre at mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand. Dozens of students heard the loud popping sounds and called 911, leading to a campus lockdown and hours-long search for a gunman who didn’t exist.
These scenes paint a portrait of America in 2019.
It’s a place where anxiety about gun violence is always at a low simmer, ready to boil over at the slightest provocation.
It’s also a country with more mass shootings than there are days in the year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, a Washington, D.C.,-based nonpartisan nonprofit organization that collects real-time data.
“It’s forever going to be a part of my mind, where I know this could happen,” said Lee Dorchak Sr., 38, of Warren, who was shot but survived the 2017 massacre at the three-day outdoor Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas, where 58 people were killed.
“It could happen to anybody anywhere you go now. Sadly, these things are proving it to us,” he said, referencing mass shootings Aug. 3-4 at an El Paso, Texas, Walmart store and outside a bar in Dayton, Ohio. “These things can happen anywhere at any moment, and … I don’t know that we’ll ever find the right answer or the right way to handle it.”
Andrew McCarthy: ‘Red flag’ laws are constitutional
Fox – Former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy appeared on “The Story with Martha MacCallum” Friday where he said possible “red flag” laws are constitutional and could be helpful toward stopping shootings.
“Would these laws catch other potential shooters and are they reasonable restrictions. To my mind, they don’t have any kind of an intrusion at all on reasonable law-abiding gun owners,” McCarthy told guest host Jon Scott.
Republicans and Democrats have been debating gun control issues and background checks on the heels of back-to-back mass shootings this past weekend in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio.
Late last month a shooter killed two adults and a child at a garlic festival in Gilroy, Calif.
Joe Biden mistakenly says he was vice president during Parkland school shooting
Axios- Continuing a parade of slips and gaffes, Joe Biden yesterday told reporters in Iowa that he was vice president during the massacre in Parkland, Florida, which happened more than a year after he left office: “Those kids in Parkland came up to see me when I was vice president,” Biden said.
Why it matters: Biden called himself a “gaffe machine” 8 months ago, and his slips have long been part of his persona. But he’s 76 — 3 years older than President Trump.
- Once reporters start looking for slips, they’ll find them.
- And they become a bigger deal than they would be otherwise — like President Gerald Ford’s clumsiness or President George H.W. Bush’s goofiness.
Biden allies point out that since he’s always been this way, it’s not a sign of aging.
Donald Trump and former aide Anthony Scaramucci engage in Twitter war
USA Today – President Donald Trump’s latest Twitter battle is with one of his most famous former aides: Anthony Scaramucci, aka “the Mooch.”
Responding to a Trump attack of the previous night, Scaramucci warned Sunday that Trump will likely turn on the whole country just as he has turned on him.
“For the last 3 years I have fully supported this President,” Scramamucci wrote. “Recently he has said things that divide the country in a way that is unacceptable. So I didn’t pass the 100% litmus test.”
He added: “Eventually he turns on everyone and soon it will be you and then the entire country.”
In a pair of tweets late Saturday night, Trump noted that Scaramucci served an infamous 11 days in 2017 as White House communications director, and “now seems to do nothing but television as the all time expert on ‘President Trump.'”
Yet “he knows very little about me,” Trump said.
Touting his accomplishments in office, Trump said he made Scaramucci’s career: “Anthony, who would do anything to come back in, should remember the only reason he is on TV, and it’s not for being the Mooch!”
Trump didn’t specify what inspired his criticism, but Scaramucci has been very critical of Trump’s recent trip to El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, to meet with survivors of last weekend’s mass shootings.
Trump administration boosts ability to deny green cards to immigrants using welfare programs
Fox – The Trump administration on Monday issued a long-awaited rule strengthening the ability of federal officials to deny green cards to immigrants deemed likely to rely on government aid.
Officials described the so-called “public charge” rule as a way to ensure those granted permanent residency are self-sufficient — and protect taxpayers in the process.
“The principle driving it is an old American value, and that’s self-sufficiency,” U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Acting Director Ken Cuccinelli told Fox News in an interview. “It’s a core principle — the American Dream itself — and it’s one of the things that distinguishes us, and it’s central to the legal history in the U.S. back into the 1800s.”
“It will also have the long-term benefit of protecting taxpayers by ensuring people who are immigrating to this country don’t become public burdens, that they can stand on their own two feet, as immigrants in years past have done,” he said. “It’s not only a recipe for their success, but for America’s success growing out of our immigration system.”
The updated rule will better define, and expand, the factors that can be considered to deny an applicant on these grounds.
Leaked Documents Show White House is Planning Executive Order to Censor the Internet
Activist Post – Breaking: leaked documents show that the Trump administration is drafting an executive order that, if upheld by the courts, could essentially end free speech on the Internet. The draft order would put the FTC and the FCC, headed by its notoriously corrupt chairman Ajit Pai, in charge of monitoring and policing online speech on social media platforms, online forums, and more.
It would give these bureaucratic government agencies unprecedented control over how Internet platforms moderate speech by allowing them to revoke the essential protections Congress laid out in Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA). CDA 230 is the basic law that makes it possible for online platforms to let users post our own content, and to make basic decisions about what types of content they as private entities want to host. Every meme, every social media post, every blog and user-created video on the Internet has been made possible by this crucial free speech House isn’t alone in promoting this misguided idea, some top Democrats have also called for weakening CDA 230.
The draft order has already been resoundingly condemned by First Amendment and free speech experts from across the political spectrum. Regardless of your politics, regardless of how you feel about the president, this is a terrible idea that will have the exact opposite impact of its stated purpose of protecting free speech.
protection.
In practice, this executive order would mean that whichever political party is in power could dictate what speech is allowed on the Internet. If the government doesn’t like the way a private company is moderating content, they can shut their entire website down. The administration claims it’s trying to stop private companies from silencing speech—but this plan would create terrifying new censorship powers for the government to do just that. And the White
Economy & Business
The most overworked cities in the US might surprise you
CNN – If you live in Washington D.C., Houston or Atlanta, it might be time to take a vacation.
Those three cities, followed by Seattle and Chicago, are the most overworked cities in the United States, according to a study released by the mobile technology company Kisi this past week.
For those looking to catch a break at work, consider San Diego, Sacramento and Omaha: the study rated those cities as the least work-intensive.
Researchers came to these conclusions by looking at how much time people dedicate to their jobs. They looked at factors like how many hours people work in a week, how long their commutes are, how many vacation days they take and how much paid family leave they’re offered.
People in Washington D.C. work about 43 hours a week on average, take nine days of vacation and spend about 35 minutes each day getting to work. The main factor dragging down the nation’s capital seems to be the amount of paid family leave that’s mandated by law. Currently, Washington has zero days of legally mandated paid leave, although the city has announced a paid family leave plan beginning in 2020.
Meanwhile, people in San Diego work about 42 hours a week, take nine vacation days and spend about 26 minutes getting to work. But under California law, the city fares much better on paid family leave policies.
San Diego, Portland, San Francisco, Minneapolis and New York have the healthiest work-life balance in the US, according to the study. But they still trail many international locales, with at least 16 cities outperforming them on the index. The index rates Helsinki, Munich and Oslo as the places with the best work-life balance.
Nonetheless, if your city ranks low on the index, don’t feel like you need to pack up and move just yet.
Investors Ponder Negative Bond Yields in the U.S.
WSJ – A steep slide in U.S. government-bond yields last week wrong-footed investors and left some pondering what was once unthinkable: whether interest rates in America could one day turn negative.
This Is The Same Pattern The Fed Followed Before The Great Depression
Activist Post – There is immense confusion surrounding July’s Federal Reserve meeting and the rather insane aftermath that has been spurred on in the trade war. The Fed’s latest rate decision of a mere .25 bps cut was seen as “disappointing”, this was then followed by Jerome Powell’s public statements making it clear that this was only a mid-year “adjustment”, and that it was not the beginning of a rate cutting cycle and certainly not the beginning of renewed QE. This shocked the investment world, which was expecting far more accommodation from the Fed after 7 months of built up expectations that the central bank was about to unleash the stimulus punch bowl again.
The question that very few people are asking, though, is why didn’t they? What is stopping them? Everyone from daytraders to the president wants them to do it, yet they continue to keep liquidity conditions tight. In fact, they even dumped another $36 billion in assets from their balance sheet in July. Why?
Depositors Are Next as Nordic Banks Buckle Under Negative Rates
Bloomberg – Ever since negative interest rates became a thing, banks have been too afraid to pass them on to retail depositors. That may be about to change.
In Scandinavia, where sub-zero rates have been the norm longer than most other places, the finance industry has undergone several drastic adjustments to survive the regime. Banks have relied more on asset management and other services that generate fees, and less on the traditional business of lending and holding deposits. But with no end to negative rates in sight, those changes may not be enough.
The director of the the Danish Bankers’ Association, Ulrik Nodgaard, says shielding retail depositors from negative rates means that “banks are selling their products below cost price.” And that is clearly “a challenge.”
Jesper Berg, the head of the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority in Copenhagen, says that so far banks haven’t passed negative rates on to private customers for “political reasons.” But if they finally do, “it will be interesting to see whether customers would accept that, or vote with their feet” and withdraw their savings.
Banks have so far balked at the idea. The first lender to charge depositors risks losing them, and any industry agreement to coordinate a move would expose banks to cartel charges. At Danske Bank A/S, spokesman Claes Lautrup Cunliffe recently underscored the sentiment, saying it does “not plan to introduce negative rates to private customers, even wealth customers.”
Science & Technology
Victory! Lawsuit May Proceed Against Facebook’s Biometric Surveillance
Activist Post – Biometric surveillance by companies against consumers is a growing menace to our privacy, freedom of expression, and civil rights. Fortunately, a federal appeals court has ruled that a lawsuit against Facebook for its face surveillance may move forward.
The decision, by the federal Ninth Circuit about an Illinois privacy law, is the first by an American appellate court to directly identify the unique hazards of face surveillance. This is an important victory for biometric privacy, access to the courts for ordinary people, and the role of state governments as guardians of our digital liberty.
Health
Panic Attacks And Anxiety Episodes Linked To Vitamin Deficiencies In Groundbreaking Study
Healthy Holistic Living – Anxiety is a regular a part of life for any average person. We may worry or have generally anxious feelings toward situations that arise in our everyday lives, such as an important presentation at work, new social interactions, or wondering if we can fit all of our errands into one afternoon. This is typically a natural response that keeps us aware of the importance of our actions in these kinds of scenarios.
Most people are able to take a deep breath and push through the nerves, and the worst outcome is typically our nervousness shows a little to those around us. But for some, the worst outcome can be much more severe, and it takes much more than a deep breath to push through.
Both of these kinds of attacks can sometimes be linked to specific triggers like a person, place, or object, but most commonly occur unpredictably and without warning. The National Institute of Mental Health describes how “worry about panic attacks, and the effort spent trying to avoid attacks, cause significant problems in various areas of the person’s life.” For those who suffer from these kinds of attacks, it can be difficult to see a way out.
A study conducted in 2013 by Okayama University Medical School may have made a invaluable discovery that could help anticipate, or even prevent, the onset of panic and hyperventilation attacks in at risk individuals.
Potential Cause For Anxiety And Panic Attacks
A known common cause for attacks is low levels of serotonin in the body. This neurotransmitter plays a major role in regulating feelings of happiness and well-being, so a deficiency can easily result in increased anxiety and depression. Serotonin itself is synthesized from the amino acid tryptophan, a process that is known to rely heavily on the added components of vitamin B6 and iron. Researchers at Okayama University decided to delve deeper into the relationship between those key elements and occurrences of emergency level panic attacks.
In their study, researchers observed the levels of B6 and iron in patients who visited the emergency room due to severe panic attack or panic induced hyperventilation. They compared their measurements with a control group of individuals with healthy levels of both, and found that both vitamin B6 and iron levels were significantly lower in the group who suffered from the attacks than in the control group.
While they acknowledge that further research is necessary, no prior study analyzing the relationship of panic attacks and hyperventilation and the body levels of B6 and iron had been conducted or reported. These findings present a groundbreaking step in understanding potential triggers of panic attacks. With this new piece of information, the possibility of living life independent of sudden onset panic attacks becomes closer for individuals suffering from GAD and panic disorders.
Here’s Why You’re A Mosquito Magnet
Healthy Holistic Living – If you appear to adopt dozens of bug bites every time you step outdoors, consider the following list of reasons for why you may be attractive to the itchy bite
1) You’re athletic. Yes, taking care of your health physically comes with its downfalls as well. Mosquitoes love Lactic Acid, which our bodies produce after exercise
2) You need to shower. Sweat is one of the most attractive scents to mosquitoes, particularly to the breeds carrying diseases like malaria. The bacteria that make your old sweat have an odor smells sweet to mosquitoes. So be sure to wash often and not use too many sweet-smelling soaps or perfumes as they can attract mosquitoes too
3) You’re pregnant.. Pregnant women emit higher levels of CO2 which is attractive to mosquitoes
4) You’ve been drinking. Alcohol tends to up your metabolism, which in turn boosts your CO2 output—which in turn attracts mosquitoes. Mosquitoes seem to have a preference though. They love beer.
5) You’re wearing dark or bright clothes (2). Softer or lighter colors that blend in with the light tend to disguise you from mosquitoes, while bright or darkly colored clothes interest them.
6) You have type O blood. Yes, the little bloodsuckers even have their favorite blood to suck. According to research, Type O is twice as attractive to mosquitoes than any other blood type. They are least attracted to type A (3).
How do I keep them away from me?
In order to repel mosquitoes, you want to make sure to avoid keeping things around that they like. Ridding your yard of stagnant water and keeping your grass properly trimmed are two obvious ways to maintain a non-mosquito-friendly space, but there’s more to it than this. Here are some things you can do to repel them:
1) Shower often. As discussed, mosquitoes love the scent of old sweat. Keep that odor down and you’ll lessen your mosquito bites.
2) Wear thicker, lighter clothes that their bites can’t pierce. While this sounds like torture during the hotter months, you’ll save yourself a lot of skin irritation and aggravation.
3) Use bug repellents. These can be found at the store, or you can mix your own by combining lemon, lemongrass, and eucalyptus oils. Mosquitoes rely heavily on their sense of smell, and utilizing smells they don’t like saves you from some itchy bumps.
4) Avoid going where mosquitoes are most likely to be —tall grasses, wind-less forests, stagnant water, etc. Mosquitoes like the warmth, damp, and stillness.
5) Eat garlic, onions, and chili peppers. These are well-known foods that make your body less appetizing to mosquitoes
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