March 28, 2024

The Power Hour

Knowledge is Power

Today's News: December 11, 2019

World News

NKorea Tests Trump Patience With Rockets, Taunts
Bozeman Daily Chronicle – All year, President Donald Trump refused to respond as North Korea carried out short-range missile tests and chipped away at crippling international sanctions. He even ignored a new volley of insults branding him a “heedless and erratic old man.”
That restraint may not last much longer as North Korea hints darkly that it will make a major move by the end of this month, possibly including a long-range missile launch or a nuclear bomb test as a “Christmas gift” to the U.S.
“It’s hard to get a rise out of someone if they keep turning the other cheek,” Bruce Klingner, a senior research fellow for Northeast Asia at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, said of Trump’s responses so far. “I think he’d be willing to downplay even bigger provocations until they cross the line, and then after that really we don’t know.”
A return to intercontinental ballistic missile launches or nuclear tests could send U.S.-North Korea ties back to where they were in 2017, when tensions between the historic enemies surged and analysts worried about a military conflict. It would also undermine what Trump considers one of his key foreign policy achievements as he faces impeachment proceedings and heads into an election year.
At the crux of the president’s calculations is whether it’s worthwhile to keep pressing North Korea’s Kim Jong Un to negotiate even though he’s no closer to giving up his nuclear weapons 18 months after the U.S. hailed a summit between Trump and Kim in Singapore as a major breakthrough. Analysts argue that the potential threat posed by North Korea is so grave that Trump has no choice but to keep trying.
“It’s been said, ‘Don’t be afraid to go on a wild goose chase, because that’s what they made wild geese for,’” Klingner said. “You can’t just throw up your hands and surrender.”

U.S. News, Politics & Government

U.S. Senate could start impeachment trial next month: McConnell
Reuters – U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Wednesday said that the Republican-led chamber could start an impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, a fellow Republican, next month.
McConnell said that if the Democrat-dominated House of Representatives approves articles of impeachment, introduced on Tuesday, then the trial in the Senate will be “first order of business in January.”
Former FBI attorney Lisa Page sues DOJ for releasing her texts with Peter Strzok
Daily Sheeple – Former FBI attorney Lisa Page is suing the Department of Justice and the FBI for violating her privacy by releasing her personal information to the public.
Page, 39, announced her lawsuit over Twitter on Tuesday. The attorney alleges that the DOJ and the FBI’s release of text messages between her and then-FBI agent Peter Strzok violated Privacy Act provisions regulating the release of private information to the media.
“I sued the Department of Justice and FBI today,” Page said. “I take little joy in having done so. But what they did in leaking my messages to the press was not only wrong, it was illegal.”
The DOJ released 375 of Page’s texts to Strzok in December 2017. The DOJ inspector general compiled the messages as part of a larger investigation into alleged bias at the FBI. The messages were released as evidence that some FBI officials displayed bias against President Trump.
Page asserts that the DOJ and the FBI released the texts as a favor to and as a way to ingratiate themselves with Trump, who was critical of the DOJ and then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions over special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into alleged Russian collusion.
Teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg is Time’s Person of the Year
Reuters – Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old Swede who inspired millions of young people to take action against climate change, has been named Time Magazine’s Person of the Year for 2019.
Triggered Teacher Allegedly Assaults Student Over “Women for Trump” Pin
Charges filed against educator over Trump Derangement Syndrome meltdown
Infowars – A student at a Michigan high school filed a police report after her teacher forcefully removed her “Women for Trump” pin.
Mason High School junior Sadie Earegood says the unnamed teacher assaulted her when he was triggered by the pin on December 5.
“I was just really shocked that a teacher would especially would do that,” Earewood told local Fox affiliate WSYM. “He’s talking about the Women for Trump pin and I said, that’s fine you don’t have to like it, we can have our opinions.”
At that point, Earegood says she began to resist the educator’s attempts to pull the pin off her shirt, before he was able to remove it.
“He grabbed it and I pulled and I tried to push his hand away and he grabbed my shoulder, just kind of put his hand there, and then he started pulling more and more and I just started backing up,” Earegood described.
The teacher then positioned the “Women for Trump” pin upside down and told Earegood it was the way it should be worn.
Earegood’s mother says she also filed larceny charges against the teacher.
“I made a criminal assault and larceny report against the teacher,” Sadie’s mom confirmed. “He had no right to put his hands on my child over a pin or anything else. The first amendment gives everyone the right to express their freedom of speech. No one should get that upset about someone wearing a political pin.”
Police issued a statement claiming they’re still investigating the incident, saying, “Once we have a complete understanding of the situation, we will take appropriate action.”
Sadie says despite the teacher’s actions, she won’t be bullied into submission.
“I just want him to know that it’s not okay to do that. I want this to be a learning experience for other teachers and I’m not going to stop wearing my political stuff,” she said.
Virginia Sheriff: ‘I Will Deputize Thousands of Citizens To Protect Their Gun Rights’
Daily Sheeple – It looks like what Virginia gun owners needed was a wake up call. Or more accurately, a wake up slap in the face.
Ever since Bloomberg bought himself a blue Virginia and stacked it with eager anti-gun legislators, we’ve told you how the state is on fire with pro-gun rights sentiment.
County after county has joined the Second Amendment Sanctuary list, totaling 42 counties in less than six weeks.
Add one more sheriff to the list of Second Amendment heroes.
Sheriff Scott Jenkins of Culpepper County, VA made a post on his official county Facebook page pledging to support the Second Amendment.  In the post made on December 4th, Jenkins went so far as to say that he has a strategy if gun control comes knocking:
“I plan to properly screen and deputize thousands of our law-abiding citizens to protect their constitutional right to own firearms.”
That’s right.
Jenkins wants to deputize thousands of law-abiding citizens who would otherwise be denied their right to defend themselves and their families by tyrannical gun control laws that might pass in the 2020 legislative session.
And Scott Jenkins isn’t acting alone or flying by the seat of his pants.
Just this week, the seven members of the County Legislators voted unanimously to declare Culpepper County a Second Amendment Constitutional County
This is what Virginia counties are calling their “Second Amendment Sanctuary counties.”
Naval air station shooter may have been radicalized as early as 2015, report says
Fox – The Saudi national who opened fire and killed three U.S. sailors inside a classroom at a Navy air station in Florida last week could have been radicalized as early as 2015, a new report revealed.
Hours before Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani, 21, went on a shooting spree at Naval Air Station Pensacola Friday morning, killing three and wounding eight more, he posted a short manifesto to what is believed to be his Twitter account, where he wrote anti-American and anti-Israeli sentiments.
The account was suspended over the weekend but, according to an internal report by a Saudi government analyst obtained by The Washington Post, the man appeared to show his support for several radical religious figures that may have shaped his “extremist thought” years before the attack.
FBI Had Warned of Loophole Allowing Foreign Nationals to Buy Guns
Breitbart – The FBI warned months ago of a loophole that allows foreign nationals to legally purchase firearms while in the U.S.
The loophole gives foreign nationals legal purchaser status if they simply obtain a hunting license. The gunman who killed three people at Naval Air Station Pensacola allegedly acquired his gun “legally” at a Florida retailer because he was in possession of such a license.
Harvey Weinstein’s bail increased to $5 million, facing jail over allegedly mishandling ankle monitor
Fox – Harvey Weinstein’s bail was increased from $1 million to $5 million on Wednesday over allegations he violated bail conditions by mishandling his electronic ankle monitor.
But Judge James Burke rejected prosecution calls to put the disgraced movie mogul in jail over the alleged violation.
Weinstein, 67, arrived at court in the morning using a walker, and his lawyer said he will be undergoing back surgery on Thursday. In his last court appearance, he hobbled into court and looked more pained than usual.
On Wednesday, Burke warned that he would revoke his bail and issue a warrant for his arrest if other issues crop up.
Donald Trump Threatens Veto of Cheap Drug Bill — but Not Farmworker Amnesty
Breitbart- resident Donald Trump’s deputies say he will veto the Democrats’ pending drug bill — but have not threatened to veto a Democrat bill to amnesty at least one million illegals and encourage foreign H-2A visa workers to take agriculture jobs from American agriculture workers.
The amnesty bill has the apparent support of more than 20 GOP farm district legislators and is slated to get a floor debate and House vote on Wednesday.
“It is frankly astounding that the White House did not issue a veto threat on H.R. 5038,”  a Capitol Hill source told Breitbart News, adding:
This bill betrays the President’s longstanding desire to encourage American employers – including agriculture – to hire American workers. Worse, this bill amnesties over a million illegal aliens. President Trump won the presidency in no small part because he understands the American people want no part of this. Today the White House cared more about ruffling feathers in the agribusiness community rather than taking a hard line on behalf of the voters he needs for a second term.
One of the bill’s sponsors, GOP Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-WA) claimed in the December 8 Yakima Herald-Republic that Trump supports the amnesty-and-replacement bill:
This is exactly the kind of merit-based immigration reform President Trump has been calling for.
I spoke directly with President Trump about the Farm Workforce Modernization Act and the need for a solution for our farmers. He agreed: We must provide relief now. As the bill moves through the legislative process, I am committed to working with my Senate colleagues in order to send the best possible version of this bill to the president’s desk for signature.
The veto threat was announced Tuesday afternoon for the Democrats’ drug bill, H.R. 3

Economy & Business

After year of living dangerously, Fed expected to signal time to lie low
Reuters – The U.S. Federal Reserve holds its last policy meeting of 2019 on Wednesday, having completed a year-long U-turn that saw it abandon a tightening cycle and lower borrowing costs three times in response to the global trade war.
The policy shift has slashed officials’ forecast for the U.S. central bank’s benchmark overnight lending rate over 2020 to a level half what it was when Fed Chairman Jerome Powell took the reins in February 2018.
The Fed is expected to leave its federal funds rate unchanged at a level between 1.50% and 1.75% when it ends a two-day policy meeting on Wednesday and reiterate that it will likely remain at that level through much if not all of 2020, a presidential election year.
California city considers ban on feeding homeless on public streets, sidewalks, parking lots
Fox – A California city is considering a controversial measure that would limit the places where the homeless can get food.
If passed, handing out food in Lancaster would be banned on public streets, sidewalks, parking lots and other city-owned property.
Supporters say the measure will cut down on trash and public nuisance, but critics claim it will make it harder to feed the homeless and could even put their lives in jeopardy.
Lancaster Mayor Rex Parris and homeless advocates faced off in a contentious meeting Tuesday night that at times broke down into shouting matches.
“A lot of people would come to eat, the people feeding them would leave and the mess would be left behind,” Parris said. “We’re talking about people defecating in the entryways of the business. It became a public health problem.”
Homeless advocates claim the proposed fees and fines would dramatically scale back on volunteers who have helped feed the homeless in the past.
Central Bank Group’s Report Points to Deeper Problems in Repo Market
WSJ – New research from the Bank for International Settlements counters the widely held view that short-term interest rates went wild in mid-September due mostly to a large Treasury debt settlement and corporate tax date, instead finding more complex forces at play in money markets.
That could make an enduring fix for undesirable swings in short-term rates harder to find.
New York City relocating homeless to Georgia — without informing cities
AJC – A New York City program that relocates its homeless to other cities around the country is drawing fire from Marietta leaders who say they learned it was happening from a newspaper article.
Marietta city councilmembers say they want answers about how New York runs its Special One-Time Assistance program, which provides one year’s rent for eligible clients to relocate within the city, other New York state cities or other states.
The program is the subject of a lawsuit filed Dec. 1 by the city of Newark, New Jersey, which is one of the destination cities for New York’s homeless. The lawsuit argues the program pressures desperate homeless to accept substandard housing conditions and that slumlords benefit from the city’s program that pays for a year’s rent with no checks on the living conditions. CNN has reported that New York City has agreed to temporarily suspend the program.
Marietta City Councilwoman Michelle Cooper Kelly said at the City Council’s Nov. 26 work session that she was “astonished” when she read a recent article in The New York Post  that cited city records indicate New York City has sent homeless families to 373 cities around the country including Marietta, Kennesaw and Smyrna.

Energy & Environment

Thousands of strange holes discovered off California coast
Fox – Scientists have discovered thousands of mysterious holes in the seabed off Big Sur, Calif.
Researchers from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) were surveying the deep seafloor off Big Sur when they discovered the strange holes.
The larger holes, described as pockmarks, are on average about 600 feet across and 16 feet deep. In a statement, MBARI noted that it first discovered some of the pockmarks in 1999. However, subsequent surveys by MBARI and other organizations have revealed over 5,200 pockmarks spread across 500 square miles.
Thousands of smaller holes, known as micro-depressions. have been discovered. Researchers have spotted around 15,000 micro-depressions, which are, on average, 11 feet across and three feet deep.
“The pockmarks and micro-depressions in this area are both holes in the seafloor that occur in softer sediments, but they are morphologically distinct,” said Lundsten, in the statement. “The cause and persistence of the pockmarks still remains a mystery, but we find no evidence they were created from gas or fluid in the seafloor in the recent past. The micro-depressions are recently formed erosional features; they are not ‘incipient pockmarks.’ Overall, a lot more work needs to be done to understand how all these features were formed, and this work is in progress.”
U.N. Warns U.S. It Cannot Escape Paying Punitive Climate ‘Reparations’
Breitbart – The United States was warned Wednesday by the United Nations it cannot avoid compensating poorer nations hit by climate change, despite Donald Trump honoring his election promise of leaving the 2015 Paris climate agreement.
Delegates and observers at the COP25 negotiations in Madrid told AFP that Washington seeks a change to the U.N. climate convention that could release it from punitive “loss and damage” funding for developing nations which is predicted to run into the billions of dollars.
Under the bedrock U.N. climate treaty, adopted in 1992, rich nations agreed to help developing countries prepare for unavoidable future climate impacts — the twin pillars of “mitigation” and “adaptation”.
But there was no provision for helping countries and small island states now calling for compensation.
A new mechanism was established in 2013, but with damage estimates climbing, there is no agreement on where the money might come from or even if it should be paid, although the U.S. is constantly the target of calls for financial reparations because it is rich, successful and a dominant world economic force.
One of the tasks facing delegates in Madrid is reviewing the framework for how countries might pay and account for this money.
A document said to be circulated by U.S. negotiators to delegation heads, seen by AFP, proposes to transpose a key provision under the 2015 Paris agreement — from which the United States is withdrawing — and apply it to the wider COP process, where the U.S. will maintain a seat at the table.

Science & Technology

Science Confirms that Dogs can Recognize a Bad Person
Healthy Holistic Living – Lots of people want dogs. They want something to care for, to cuddle, to play with, to run with–something that will be loyal and love back as much as it is loved. But according to a new study, this may not ever be the case for some people. Science has discovered that dogs can tell if you’re an untrustworthy person or not, and they just might not love you if they find you to be untrustworthy.
Does My Dog Know When I am Lying?
While everyone knows that most dogs are highly intelligent and able to pick up on accurate, deliberate training techniques, the amount of information a dog is able to discern is mindblowing! A study was conducted in Kyoto University of Japan by Akiko Takaoka.  Takaoka and his colleagues explored whether or not a dog would trust a person who was lying to it .
The experiment was divided into three parts. Since the researchers wanted to understand if a dog could understand whether or not a person was trustworthy, they needed several tester groups to find accurate information. Akiko Takaoka chose thirty-four dogs to participate in these “three rounds of pointing”.
he Experiment
In the experiment’s first round, researchers would first point to a container where dog food was hidden. The dog would run to it, expecting a reward. After this, in the second round, the researchers would point to a container without dog food, the dog would be tricked, and run to the container without any reward (2). In the third round of experiments, the researcher would gesture yet again to the container with food inside it, but because of the misleading information in the second round, the dog would not respond to the cue.
In the third round, the dogs did not believe the liars and did not respond.
Thirty-four dogs took part in the entire experiment and 100% showed the same results (3). The dogs used the information learned previously to understand that the person instructing them was no longer a reliable source of information.
Mysterious, 4000-year-old stone-carved objects that ‘look remarkably like’ humans found
Fox – Researchers have discovered nine stone-carved objects off the coast of Scotland that are believed to be around 4,000-years-old. Some of them “look remarkably like stylized representations of the human form,” puzzling the experts.

Health

Toddlers with unexplained bruising had ‘pork tapeworm’ larvae in body
Fox – Doctors discovered that two toddlers in China with unexplained bruising on their limbs were actually suffering from a parasite infection typically caused by consuming undercooked pork.
The 3-year-old boy and his 1-year-old sister, who reportedly first showed signs of skin discoloration in October, were treated at Shenzhen Third People’s Hospital in early November after the girl developed a cough, AisaWire reported.
Study: Water births are as safe as land births for mom, baby
Michigan News – A new study found that water births are no more risky than land births, and that women in the water group sustain fewer first and second-degree tears.
University of Michigan researchers analyzed 397 waterbirths and 2025 land births from two midwifery practices. There were no differences in outcomes between waterbirth and land birth for neonatal intensive care admissions, and postpartum hemorrhage rates were similar for both groups.
“The long and short of it is that if you use proper techniques. . . the outcomes are very good,” said Lisa Kane Low, professor of nursing and senior author on the paper. “They mirror what we see in international studies of water birth.”
Ruth Zielinski, clinical associate professor of nursing and study co-author,  said more facilities should offer water birth and have guidelines for implementing it.
In water birth, the woman gives birth in a water-filled tub rather than a bed. Few US hospitals or birth centers offer tub births because of perceived risk to the newborn, mainly suggested by case studies of neonatal infections or cord tearing. Professional organizations tend to agree that women in labor should have access to water for comfort, but not all support birth in the water. This means hospitals must make women leave the tub before the birth.
During a water birth, babies take their first breath when removed from the tub. Until then, their lungs are filled with water, which is displaced when they hit the air and breathe. The connected umbilical cord provides oxygen.
It’s important not to re-submerge babies. At U-M, they are birthed in the water, brought out almost immediately, and we’re careful to not re-submerge them, Zielinski said.  Mom and baby exit the tub with help and warm blankets, typically prior to delivering the placenta so that blood loss can be more accurately calculated.
Zielinski said more studies are needed to understand the satisfaction level of women who have water births.
The study, “A retrospective comparison of waterbirth outcomes in two United States hospital settings,” is scheduled to appear online Dec. 10 in the journal Birth. Co-authors include: Joanne Bailey, Cathy Emeis, and Lisa Kane Low. More information on water birth.
Potentially toxic chemicals from LCDs in nearly half of household dust samples tested
Eureka Alert – Chemicals commonly used in smartphone, television, and computer displays were found to be potentially toxic and present in nearly half of dozens of samples of household dust collected by a team of toxicologists led by the University of Saskatchewan (USask).
The international research team, led by USask environmental toxicologist John Giesy, is sounding the alarm about liquid crystal monomers–the chemical building blocks of everything from flat screen TVs to solar panels–and the potential threat they pose to humans and the environment.
“These chemicals are semi-liquid and can get into the environment at any time during manufacturing and recycling, and they are vaporized during burning. Now we also know that these chemicals are being released by products just by using them,” said Giesy, Canada Research Chair in Environmental Toxicology at USask.
“We don’t know yet whether this a problem, but we do know that people are being exposed, and these chemicals have the potential to cause adverse effects,” said Giesy.
In a first-of-its-kind paper published Dec. 9 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Giesy’s research team assembled and analyzed a comprehensive list of 362 commonly used liquid crystal monomers gathered from 10 different industries and examined each chemical for its potential toxicity.
The team also further tested the toxicity of monomers commonly found in six frequently used smartphone models.
Superbugs Live in Opened Beauty Products
Newsmax – Makeup is a daily staple for most women, but new research finds that 9 of 10 beauty products may harbor superbugs after they’re opened.
Beauty blenders (sponges used to apply foundation or other products to the face), mascara, and lip gloss get contaminated with antibiotic-resistant bacteria such as E. coli and staph because most aren’t cleaned and are used long past their expiration dates, according to British researchers.
“Consumers’ poor hygiene practices when it comes to using makeup, especially beauty blenders, is very worrying when you consider that we found bacteria such as E. coli — which is linked with fecal contamination — breeding on the products we tested,” said study co-leader Amreen Bashir, from the School of Life and Health Sciences at Aston University in Birmingham, England.
FDA Cracks Down on CBD Oil
Mercola – While the widespread availability of CBD oil across the U.S. would make you believe it’s legal everywhere, a recent consumer update from the Food and Drug Administration clarifies the issue, noting that CBD is not recognized as a nutritional supplement.
The FDA is now starting to crack down on CBD makers and sellers for illegal product claims. For the first time in nearly four years, warning letters have been issued to 15 companies for CBD products sold in violation of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.
The only FDA-approved CBD product is a prescription drug for the treatment of two severe forms of epilepsy.
Whole hemp oil can be legally sold across the U.S., even if it contains naturally occurring CBD, but CBD isolates cannot be sold as a nutritional supplement, even if it’s derived from legal hemp.
To stay within the legal framework, companies cannot advertise or list CBD on the label. Nor can they make any specific health or disease claims.
New Law Requires All New York Hospitals To Offer Plant-Based Meal Options
Mind Body Green – Just in the past week, we’ve seen big companies like Dollar General and Nestlé announce initiatives to switch elements of their businesses to healthier, plant-based approaches. The newest group getting on the bandwagon? New York State Hospitals.
Last Friday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a bill into effect requiring all New York hospitals to offer plant-based meal options to their patients.
This bill could mean good things for the state of New York. Currently, heart disease accounts for 40% of all deaths in the state, and an estimated 1.6 million New Yorkers have type 2 diabetes. In hospitals where patients are already suffering from some sort of ailment, it’s necessary for the nutrients of the food they’re consuming to match the medicine they may be receiving. The bill is requiring all hospitals to have a list on their menu with all plant-based options written out, along with having meals or snacks with no animal products readily available upon request.
Not only will this bill positively affect the hospitals’ patients, but it may actually save the hospital money. According to a report done by St. Joseph Health System in California, vegetarian entrees cost about half the price of meat entrees.

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