Today's News: August 27, 2019

World News

Hong Kong police accused of locking up onlookers not involved in the illegal protests rocking city
SCMP – Lawyers and an ex-officer have accused Hong Kong police of indiscriminately arresting onlookers not involved in illegal anti-government protests and “purposely delaying” their right to access legal and consular help.
Among those affected was former marine police officer and retired pilot Jan Bochenski, 62, who was arrested earlier this month for joining an “unlawful assembly” in Sai Wan, his own neighbourhood.
He said he spent 30 hours in custody and had to wait for four hours to phone his wife and another four hours before he could speak to his lawyer despite multiple requests to officers.
China To Increase Tear Gas Production Amid Escalating Hong Kong Protests
ZeroHedge – China is expected to expand its production capacity of tear gas and other crowd-control weapons, according to the South China Morning Post.
The report says China doesn’t currently supply the Hong Kong Police Force, but with the out of control civil unrest in the region, tear gas demand is expected to jump in the near term which could leave Chinese producers of the gas in an excellent position.
Mainland tear gas production began in the 1990s, and over the last decade, riot police have used tear gas in high-profile demonstrations, including protests in Wukan village in the southern province of Guangdong in 2011 and 2016.

U.S. News, Politics & Government

Video from camera outside Epstein jail cell unusable: report
The Hill – At least one camera stationed in the hallway outside billionaire financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s prison cell, where officials say he hanged himself earlier this month, had footage that was deemed unusable, The Washington Post reports.
While one hallway camera had unusable footage, another nearby camera caught clearer video, the Post noted, adding that it is unknown why certain footage was useable while some was not, as well as the extent of the glitch.
Epstein’s death in federal custody as he awaited trial on sex trafficking and abuse charges raised a series of questions. He was jailed at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan, where New York City’s chief medical examiner later determined he killed himself.
Attorney General William Barr said he was “appalled” and “angry” over the circumstances surrounding Epstein’s death and directed the FBI and the Justice Department inspector general to investigate it. Officials plan to use the footage recorded in determining whether protocol was violated or laws were broken.
Lawmakers have continued to demand answers about why Epstein — who had high-profile friends and acquaintances including President Trump and former President Clinton — was not being more closely observed and whether he should have been on suicide watch after initially being placed on watch in July, when he was found with marks on his neck. Epstein was reportedly removed from suicide watch that same month after being cleared by a psychologist.
Reports have surfaced that show abnormalities in how he was observed, including one saying guards in Epstein’s unit fell asleep and failed to check on him for roughly three hours during the time when he is believed to have hanged himself.
Report: Cartel Attacks Border Patrol Boat To Protect Secret Underwater Drug Pulley
Infowars – A U.S. Border Patrol boat was fired upon by cartel members in Texas in an attempt to prevent agents from discovering an underwater drug pulley system hidden in the Rio Grande River, according to documents obtained by investigative journalist Sarah Carter.
U.S. Border Patrol agents were reportedly unaware of the circumstances surrounding the attack at the time, but a Department of Homeland Security investigation found that the “Gulf Cartel” was trying to protect a secret pulley system used to smuggle large quantities of cocaine into America.
“We only found out from another agency,” a Texas Border Patrol official told Carter. “Management doesn’t even pass this shit off to us. Kept us in the dark and it would have been nice to know from a safety perspective.”
The incident occurred as cartel members began to “recover the bundles of cocaine on the pulley line, members of CDG began to fire at the USBP marine unit,” according to a law enforcement report. “CDG fired upon the Marine unit to prevent it from crossing and breaking the pulley line.”
Despite coming under heavy fire, no agents were injured.
60 Miles of New Border Wall Erected Where Illegals Once Stormed America
Infowars – U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) unveiled 60 miles of new border wall near San Luis, Arizona on Saturday, showing before and after footage of the location.
In the “before” footage, dozens of illegals can be seen running into the United States, and in the “after” footage, a “triple-layered enforcement zone which includes an 18’ bollard wall” occupies the same space.
According to CBP, the Trump administration plans on building over 400 miles of wall in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas by 2020.
“CBP has constructed over 60 miles of new border wall system along the SW border since 2017 and expects to complete 450 miles by the end of 2020.”
Johnson & Johnson ordered to pay $572 million for its role in Oklahoma’s opioid crisis
Washington Post – A judge Monday found Johnson & Johnson responsible for fueling Oklahoma’s opioid crisis, ordering the health-care company to pay $572 million to remedy the devastation wrought by the epidemic on the state and its residents.
Cleveland County District Judge Thad Balkman’s landmark decision is the first to hold a drugmaker culpable for the fallout of years of liberal opioid dispensing that began in the late 1990s, sparking a nationwide epidemic of overdose deaths and addiction. More than 400,000 people have died of overdoses from painkillers, heroin and illegal fentanyl since 1999.
“The opioid crisis has ravaged the state of Oklahoma and must be abated immediately,” Balkman said, reading part of his decision aloud from the bench Monday afternoon.
“As a matter of law, I find that defendants’ actions caused harm, and those harms are the kinds recognized by [state law] because those actions annoyed, injured or endangered the comfort, repose, health or safety of Oklahomans,” he wrote in the decision.
Policing For Profit: How Civil Asset Forfeiture Has Perverted American Law Enforcement
The Daily Bell – Picture this: You’re driving home from the casino and you’ve absolutely cleaned up – to the tune of $50,000. You see a police car pull up behind you, but you can’t figure out why. Not only have you not broken any laws, you’re not even speeding. But the police officer doesn’t appear to be interested in charging you with a crime. Instead, he takes your gambling winnings, warns you not to say anything to anyone unless you want to be charged as a drug kingpin, then drives off into the sunset.
This actually happened to Tan Nguyen, and his story is far from unique. It’s called civil asset forfeiture and it’s a multi-billion dollar piggybank for state, local and federal police departments to fund all sorts of pet projects.
With its origins in the British fight against piracy on the open seas, civil asset forfeiture is nothing new. During Prohibition, police officers often seized goods, cash and equipment from bootleggers in a similar manner to today. However, contemporary civil asset forfeiture begins right where you’d think that it would: The War on Drugs.
In 1986, as First Lady Nancy Reagan encouraged America’s youth to “Just Say No,” the Justice Department started the Asset Forfeiture Fund. This sparked a boom in civil asset forfeiture that’s now become self-reinforcing, as the criminalization of American life and asset forfeiture have continued to feed each other.
In sum, asset forfeiture creates a motivation to draft more laws by the legislature, while more laws create greater opportunities for seizure by law enforcement. This perverse incentive structure is having devastating consequences: In 2014 alone, law enforcement took more stuff from American citizens than burglars did.
The current state of civil asset forfeiture in the United States is one of almost naked tyranny.
YouTube Bans James Allsup And Tons Of Other Right-Wingers In Latest Censorship Purge
Information Liberation – YouTube on Monday banned right-wing commentator James Allsup (450,000+ subscribers) and a bunch of other right-wingers for “hate speech” despite many having no strikes on their channels.
The move comes just days after the Anti-Defamation League released what some have called a “hit list” calling for 30 Christian and right-wing channels to be banned for “anti-Semitism.”
Allsup said on Gab after YouTube banned his channel that he “had no channel strikes, no violations, nothing- simply an email telling me that my livelihood, my means to exercise my political voice, my business I’d built over almost three years, was taken away from me.”
Facebook Blacklists Ads from the Epoch Times
Breitbart – Facebook has blacklisted ads from the Epoch Times, a global multi-language newspaper known for its critical coverage of the communist regime in China.
In contrast to many other mainstream newspapers operating in the United States, the Epoch Times has not adopted a rabidly anti-Trump stance. It has also been subject to numerous hitpieces from the mainstream media, notably NBC News.
In a statement, the newspaper’s publisher, Stephen Gregory, blamed “inaccuracies, blatant errors, and misrepresentations” from NBC News for the Facebook ban, which covers ads for the newspaper’s print subscriptions.
In a comment to Breitbart News, Gregory confirmed that the ban occurred two days after NBC News published one of its hatchet jobs about the paper.
New Age Of Politics? Half Of Americans Feel Trump, Biden, Sanders Too Old To Be President
Study Finds – Many polls have pointed to a general election featuring President Trump facing off against Joe Biden in 2020, but would the country be better off with a younger president? According to a survey conducted by StudyFinds.org, 72 years old is the average age at which Americans think a presidential candidate is too old to run for office.
This means that Americans may believe that the top candidates for presidency, including Donald Trump, who is 73, are simply too old to lead the nation. In fact, the top three Democratic candidates for president according to most poll — Joe Biden (76), Bernie Sanders (77), and Elizabeth Warren (70) — would all take the record for oldest president at the time of inauguration, which was set by Trump. At the time of his inauguration, Donald Trump was 70.6 years old.
Of the 300 adult Americans surveyed, 20% thought that by the retirement age of 65, candidates should hang up the political hat. And half believed that presidential candidates over 72 were too old.
So, what’s the ideal age for a presidential candidate?
When respondents were asked what they thought the ideal age for a presidential candidate was, results found the average was just 48 years old.
Trump’s Approval Drops in Tossup States in Poll: Campaign Update
Yahoo – President Donald Trump is struggling in states that matter most to his re-election chances, according to a new tracking poll by the Morning Consult.
The president has sustained double-digit declines in net approval rate in nearly every state that could be considered a tossup, and more voters disapprove than approve of him in states like Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa, Pennsylvania and Ohio that Trump won in 2016. Some of the biggest swings are in the southwestern U.S., where the president’s focus on hardening immigration policy may be hurting him. According to the poll, Trump saw a 30-point swing toward disapproval in New Mexico and a 26-point negative swing in Arizona.

Economy & Business

Companies are facing an employee burnout crisis
CNBC – A recent Gallup study of nearly 7,500 full-time employees found that 23 percent reported feeling burned out at work very often or always, while an additional 44 percent reported feeling burned out sometimes.
Job burnout accounts for an estimated $125 billion to $190 billion in health-care spending each year and has been attributed to type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, gastrointestinal issues, high cholesterol and even death for those under the age of 45.
Unfair treatment at work, unreasonable deadlines, unmanageable workload, lack of support from managers and the added stress from having to respond to emails and texts during off hours are primary drivers of job burnout.
Insiders are selling stock like it’s 2007
CNN – he leaders of Corporate America are cashing in their chips as doubts grow about the sustainability of the longest bull market in American history.
Corporate insiders have sold an average of $600 million of stock per day in August, according to TrimTabs Investment Research, which tracks stock market liquidity.
August is on track to be the fifth month of the year in which insider selling tops $10 billion. The only other times that has happened was 2006 and 2007, the period before the last bear market in stocks, TrimTabs said.
Investors often view insider buying and selling — transactions performed by top executives, leading shareholders and directors — as a signal of confidence. Even though the stock market is much larger than it was in 2007, so the $10 billion mark may not mean as much now as it did then, the acceleration of insiders heading for the exits could indicate concern about the challenges ahead, especially as the US-China trade war threatens to set off a recession.
Preparing For A Financial Apocalypse: Insiders Are Selling “$600 Million Of Stock Per Day In August”
Michael Snyder – In the U.S., corporate insiders have been selling stocks at an average rate of 600 million dollars per day during the month of August. This kind of wild selling indicates that there is a tremendous amount of fear among corporate insiders right now, and such selling would only make sense if a stock market crash is imminent. And without a doubt, we have already seen volatility return to Wall Street in a major way as our trade war with China has dramatically escalated. Many Americans are hoping that things will start to calm down and that our trade conflict with China can be resolved calmly, because if things take a bad turn many analysts are warning that we could soon be facing the worst financial crisis since 2008. Here is one example…
Remember the brutal sell-off last year when stocks suffered their worst December since the Great Depression? Something worse than that could happen in days, a Nomura analyst said.
Macro and quant strategist Masanari Takada turned heads earlier this month with his bold call for a “Lehman-like” plunge. He’s sticking with this prediction as market sentiment shows no signs of improving, leading him to believe a monster sell-off could arrive this week.
With chilling forecasts like that being thrown around on a regular basis these days, it is understandable that corporate insiders would be tempted to get out of the market, and right now they are racing for the exits at a pace that is absolutely breathtaking. The following comes from CNN…
Corporate insiders have sold an average of $600 million of stock per day in August, according to TrimTabs Investment Research, which tracks stock market liquidity.
August is on track to be the fifth month of the year in which insider selling tops $10 billion. The only other times that has happened was 2006 and 2007, the period before the last bear market in stocks, TrimTabs said.
In other words, the last time we saw corporate insiders dump stocks like this was just before the last financial crisis.

Energy & Environment

Rising lake level sets off alarms – Corps sounds warning as Big Lake level nears record high
The Herald Palladium – Southwest Michigan residents benefit from their proximity to the waters of Lake Michigan and rivers that attract boaters, kayakers and anglers.
But communities along the shorelines could be seeing too much of a good thing, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers warned in a report released Monday. Great Lakes water levels are expected to continue to rise over the next six months, contributing to erosion and potential flooding.
“Several months of wet weather, including a significant snowpack across the northern Great Lakes basin and recent heavy rain events, have pushed water levels higher than originally forecasted,” said Keith Kompoltowicz, chief of watershed hydrology at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Detroit District.
Lakes Michigan, Huron and Ontario are projected to see very high water levels, while Superior, St. Clair and Erie are expected to break records set in the early 1950s and mid-80s. The water will be affected by winds and storms, driving up the levels even further.
The region already is seeing the impact of high water, as beaches disappear and waves eat away at the shore, threatening homes and other structures. Waves are lapping over the edges of the piers in St. Joseph, and part of Silver Beach County Park has been reduced to a narrow strip of sand just wide enough for a foot path.
Most of the sand between Silver Beach and Lions Park Beach is underwater, as well, and the bluff has eroded dangerously close to the decks of some homes.
Tourists alerted to mysterious rolling balls of poop in Great Smoky Mountains
Charlotte Observer – n what may be the oddest public notice ever issued by the National Park Service, tourists are being alerted that brown balls seen rolling across trails in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park are animated animal poop.
Yes, bear, deer and raccoon dookie is moving, seemingly on its own.
Closer inspection, however, reveals dung beetles, also known as tumblebugs, are the ones behind the balls of “crap,” which they roll around as part of their birthing process, according to a National Park Service Facebook post.
“It’s like they always say: “When life gives you crap….roll it into a ball, lay an egg inside it, bury it, and use it to nourish your offspring!” the post explains. “At least, that’s what dung beetles and tumblebugs do.”
Anyone who thinks the canthon beetles are cute should keep in mind they also like to eat poop, according to N.C. State University researchers.
As if to prove beetles are moving the poop, the park service posted a video of one of the bugs using its back legs to roll a perfectly formed ball across a trail. Off to one side can be seen the pile of scat (and a few flies) from which the ball was carefully crafted.
Female tumblebugs lay one egg each in their dung balls, so the larvae can develop “without having to compete with their siblings” for nourishment, according to the National Park Service.
“The male will help bury the balls of dung in the ground for safe keeping,” the park service says.
In doing so, the beetles — which grow to about a 5/8 of an inch — also do hikers the service of keeping trails free of aromatic decomposing animal dung, park officials said.

Science & Technology

Cyborgs will replace humans and remake the world, James Lovelock says
NBC – For tens of thousands of years, humans have reigned as our planet’s only intelligent, self-aware species. But the rise of intelligent machines means that could change soon, perhaps in our own lifetimes. Not long after that, Homo sapiens could vanish from Earth entirely.
That’s the jarring message of a new book by James Lovelock, the famed British environmentalist and futurist. “Our supremacy as the prime understanders of the cosmos is rapidly coming to end,” he says in the book, “Novacene.” “The understanders of the future will not be humans but what I choose to call ‘cyborgs’ that will have designed and built themselves.”
Lovelock describes cyborgs as the self-sufficient, self-aware descendants of today’s robots and artificial intelligence systems. He calls the looming era of their dominance the Novacene — literally, the “new new” age.
Steve Jobs look-alike photo boots up new Apple conspiracy theories
Cnet – Apple co-founder Steve Jobs died in 2011 at age 56, eight years after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. But a recent photo of a Jobs look-alike, apparently taken in Egypt, started fans buzzing.
The photo was shared over the weekend on Reddit by numerous users. The earliest use of the image I could find dates to Saturday, when Facebook user Ahmed Basyouney shared it there. Basyouney didn’t immediately respond to questions about whether he was the original photographer.
No question, the image looks a lot like the late computer mogul. He’s even barefoot, as Jobs often was.
But just in case anyone was tempted to jump on the conspiracy bandwagon claiming Steve-Jobs-is-alive-just-like-Elvis, check the man’s wrist.
“OMG Steve Jobs doesn’t wear an Apple Watch!” said one Reddit user.
Social media was all about sharing the look-alike’s photo. One Twitter user captioned a photo of the real billionaire as “Steve Jobs,” and marked the photo of the barefoot look-alike, “Steve No Job.”
And of course, the constant conspiracy theory that the late singer Elvis Presley isn’t dead either was mentioned. “THE FAT GUY NEXT TO HIM IS ELVIS,” said one Twitter user.
Nissan develops golf ball that automatically finds the hole every time
Japan Today – For many people the game of golf is a great source of relaxation and entertainment. Here is a little gadget developed by Japanese automaker Nissan: The ProPilot Golf Ball.
The ProPilot Golf Ball drives itself. It simply needs to be told to go into the hole, then an external camera locates its position on the green and a route to the hole is constantly updated and uploaded to the ball wirelessly.
Then all it needs to do is drive itself according to the uploaded directions until it reaches its destination.
While its applications for cheating are indeed wonderful, the real reason for this invention is to demonstrate Nissan’s ProPilot 2.0 driver support technology. Included in the upcoming line of Skyline cars, ProPilot 2.0 uses the same system to help drivers reach their destinations using map data, cameras, and radar to navigate both roads and traffic.

Health

Toxic aluminum found in popular prescription infant formulas
NaturalNews – The link between aluminum exposure and health problems is quite unsettling when you consider just how prevalent the metal is in our everyday lives.
The first aluminum exposure for many humans comes in the form of vaccines and infant formula. When breast milk isn’t an option for some reason, many mothers assume the formulas sold on store shelves must be safe – and those that are prescribed by their doctor tend to be viewed as even better somehow. Yet a new study shows that isn’t the case at all. In fact, several popular infant formula prescriptions contain the dangerous element.
There are no safe aluminum levels for the human body, so putting even small amounts into something newborns consume can only be thought of as poison. It’s unfortunate that these formulas are targeted at babies who already have some sort of medical problem or disadvantage, like low birth weight, intolerance or allergy, or renal insufficiency.
The researchers found that among the 24 prescription infant formulas tested, those that had the heaviest contamination were powdered formulas geared toward babies with allergies and intolerances and ready-to-drink formulas aimed at infants having trouble gaining weight.
It isn’t clear how aluminum is making its way into the products. When the scientists contacted all the manufacturers involved, each one denied knowledge of the presence of aluminum in their products. Their findings were published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.
Google Joins the Pharmaceutical Industry
The Vaccine Reaction – Google’s burgeoning ties to Big Pharma have been exposed with the disclosure of its new pharmaceutical division, which just happens to be led by the former head of GlaxoSmithKline’s global vaccine business.
Google is Much More Than a Search Engine
Backing up a few years to 2015, Google’s co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin decided the multi-armed behemoth that Google had become would benefit from a drastic reorganization. Consequently, they split their “core internet business” off from their other minimally (or un-) related projects such as X Lab and the Calico life extension project. Along with Google itself, those secondary companies were grouped under the umbrella of a new corporation called “Alphabet.”
The upshot was that Alphabet now owns Google, although the key players have not changed. Page and Brin now serve as CEO and President, respectively, of Alphabet, while former Google product chief Sundar Pichai is now CEO of Google.
Tracing a line from Google’s reorganization of itself to its structure today, the initial division kept all of the Internet entities under Google’s wing, under one “side” of the Alphabet umbrella. These included Google Maps, YouTube, Chrome, and Android. Google remained as the largest and most financially robust of Alphabet’s ventures.
Other semi-independent companies under the Alphabet name included a diverse collection of corporations focused on such wide-ranging fields as biomedical or scientific advances, investment ventures, “smart home” applications, drone technologies and urban infrastructure.
Dr. Brownstein: Acetaminophen Should be Minimized or Avoided
Health Impact News – Acetaminophen is sold over-the-counter in such products such as Tylenol® and more than 100 other over-the-counter products. Nearly every American is familiar with acetaminophen as it is recommended in Big Pharma ads to be used for pain and fever. The ads make it seem like the drug is safe to use.
Acetaminophen is not safe.
In fact, acetaminophen can be very toxic to the liver, even with low doses. You see, acetaminophen, once in the body is metabolized in the liver to N-acetyl-p-benzoquinone imine (NAPQI). Glutathione, the main detoxifying substance in the liver is utilized to break down NAPQI because NAPQI is toxic to the liver. The more acetaminophen one takes, the more NAPQI is formed, and the more glutathione is needed to detoxify it.
Glutathione levels can be lowered in those with liver disease or those with poor nutrition. Glutathione levels are also reduced in those with MTHFR mutations. Any illness that causes inflammation will increase the body’s need for glutathione.
Pregnant mothers need to use caution when taking acetaminophen. A Jama study found,
“Maternal acetaminophen use during pregnancy is associated with a higher risk for hyperkinetic disorders and ADHD-like behaviors in children.” (https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/1833486)
Acetaminophen is often recommended after vaccination in order to keep fever and pain down. This is bad advice. After vaccination, the body needs glutathione to help detoxify the contents of a vaccine as well as to help with the inflammatory response. Inhibiting glutathione levels (by taking acetaminophen) at the same time the body is given a vaccine can result in drastically increased inflammatory chemicals. This can lead to neurological, endocrinological, and metabolic problems. Studies have shown that autistic children have lowered glutathione levels.[i]
Pregnant women, children and adults who are vaccinated should avoid taking acetaminophen after the vaccine.
The bottom line: Avoid taking acetaminophen. If you have pain and you need to take acetaminophen, use the lowest dose possible for the shortest time period.
If you have take a vaccine, I suggest getting a glutathione/vitamin C IV just after the vaccine. Also, taking vitamin C and n-acetyl cysteine (NAC) can help. NAC is a precursor to glutathione.

Entertainment

Man paddleboards from San Francisco to Hawaii in 76 days
ABC -A n endurance athlete has conquered the Pacific Ocean. Now he’s become the first person to cross the Pacific Ocean as a standup paddleboarder.
Antonio de la Rosa’s journey started in San Francisco on June 9. It ended Sunday when de la Rosa arrived in Honolulu, Hawaii. The 50-year-old covered 2,500 miles of the open ocean using his arms, wind and the ocean’s currents.
De la Rosa used the “Ocean Defender” – a combo paddleboard and small boat with a sleeping cabin, storage bins, and solar panels for power.
De la Rosa says he lost about ten pounds. He never got sick despite very little sleep.
EXCLUSIVE: Carli Lloyd Has Received An Offer From An NFL Team To Kick In A Preseason Game
Fox – Carli Lloyd has been offered the chance to make history by becoming the first woman to play in a National Football League preseason game, her trainer James Galanis told FOX Sports on Monday.
Lloyd was approached by multiple NFL teams after a video of her kicking a 55-yard field goal on a visit to a Philadelphia Eagles training session last week went viral. One of those teams, Galanis said, presented soccer legend Lloyd with the opportunity to be part of the roster and see actual game time.
However, while Lloyd was genuinely interested, the matchup on Thursday conflicted with a United States women’s national team game against Portugal. Galanis declined to name the football team in question. Each of the 32 NFL teams have their final preseason exhibition games on Thursday.
“Today, she got another call from another NFL team,” Galanis told me in a telephone conversation on Monday. “The one that called today, I don’t want to say who it is, was willing to put her on the roster for their next (game). They were willing to put her on the roster.”
Galanis continued: “She was told (she could) play on Thursday, the NFL game, but she is playing Thursday with the national team, so that was the conflict.”
It is likely that Lloyd, who was unavailable for comment at press time, would have turned down the chance in any case, due to the limited amount of preparation time. However, the prospect of becoming a true pioneer for sporting gender equality has serious appeal.