Today's News: December 28, 2018

World News
Funding the United Nations Is Making Less Sense Than Ever
The New American – The UN places the blame on a budget shortfall for peacekeepers on the United States. While the gloabalist organization whines, should the United States start considering whether to stop funding the UN altogether?
Another, BIGGER caravan set to leave Honduras
The San Diego Union Tribune – Another migrant caravan — with estimates of as many as 15,000 participants — is preparing to leave Honduras on January 15, according to migrant rights advocates and Spanish-language media.
“They say they are even bigger and stronger than the last caravan,” said Irma Garrido, a member of the migrant advocacy group Reactiva Tijuana Foundation.
Meanwhile, thousands of Central American migrants from a caravan that left Honduras in October remain stranded at the U.S.-Mexico border and languishing in crowded Tijuana shelters while they wait out a lengthy process to file asylum requests with the United States.
Japan Reportedly Sent Out Jets to Intercept Chinese Spy Plane Over E China Sea
Sputnik – Japan has regularly scrambled its jets to escort Chinese aircraft approaching close to national airspace in 2018, with a previous incident taking place on 14 December and the overall number of intercepts reaching 7 in just the last half of this year.
2 dead, 12 injured in tourist bus blast near Giza pyramids in Egypt
RT – At least two people were killed and 12 injured as a bus carrying Vietnamese tourists on their trip to the ancient Giza pyramids was rocked by an improvised explosive device in Egypt’s capital, Cairo.
Angela Merkel: Nation States Must Be Willing to “Give Up Their Sovereignty”
Infowars – German Chancellor Angela Merkel told an audience in Berlin that “nation states should be willing to give up their sovereignty” and that governments shouldn’t listen to their own citizens on matters of immigration.
During an event aimed at combating populism entitled Parliamentarism in the Tension of Globalization and National Sovereignty, Merkel brazenly said that “nation-states should be willing to give up their sovereignty today” and this should be done via an “orderly process”.
Responding to critcism of the UN Migration Pact, which greases the skids for mass migration to be treated as a human right, Merkel said that international agreements took precedence over the will of the people within individual countries.
“There were [politicians] who believed that they could decide when these agreements are no longer valid because they are representing The People,” she said.
“[But] the people are individuals who are living in a country, they are not a group who define themselves as the [German] people,” she stressed.
Merkel’s forthright denunciation of sovereignty and her continued support for mass immigration comes despite both issues leading to a massive collapse in her own approval numbers.
Earlier this year, a YouGov survey also found that almost half of Germans want to leave their own country “for a more stable political situation”.
U.S. News, Politics & Government
Trump threatens to close ‘Southern Border entirely’ if Dems don’t fund wall
The Hill – President Trump on Friday threatened to “close the Southern Border entirely” if Democrats do not agree to provide money to “finish” building a wall on the Mexican border.
Trump made the threat as a partial government shutdown enters its seventh day with no end in sight.
The shutdown began on Saturday after Democrats rejected demands from Trump that $5 billion be included for the wall in a measure to keep the government open.
“We will be forced to close the Southern Border entirely if the Obstructionist Democrats do not give us the money to finish the Wall & also change the ridiculous immigration laws that our Country is saddled with,” the president tweeted.
He also criticized past presidents and Congresses over the nation’s current immigration laws.
“Hard to believe there was a Congress & President who would approve!”
Judges clash with DOJ lawyers over bid to pause cases amid shutdown
Fox – As the partial government shutdown moves into its second week with no end in sight, some judges are clashing with Department of Justice lawyers who are looking to pause cases involving the administration until the shutdown ends.
Group touted by Democrats for ‘bombshell’ Russia report was behind Alabama Senate race tricks
Fox – A cybersecurity company that participated in a disinformation campaign against a Republican candidate in the Alabama Senate race reportedly penned a Senate report touted as a “bombshell” about Russian social media operations in the 2016 presidential election.
>> Related: The only ‘Russian bots’ to meddle in US elections belonged to Democrat-linked ‘experts’
Boston Marathon bomber’s lawyers want death sentence tossed, argue it’s impossible for him to get fair trial in city
Fox- Boston Marathon Bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s convictions or death sentence should be tossed because it was impossible for him to get a fair trial in the same city where the shrapnel-packed, pressure cooker bombs exploded, his lawyers told a federal appeals court on Thursday.
Anti-Trump Oakland mayor insists she ‘did the right thing’ in tipping off illegal immigrants about ICE raid
Fox – Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf who warned Northern California residents of an impending ICE raid said she has “no regrets” for her actions and said the federal immigration agency “has gone astray.”
Here’s what parents need to know about TSA and their kids
WND – One of the more recent scandals was the accusation that an officer groped a 13-year-old girl who was traveling back to her home.
So one of the organizations that has fought many of the battles, the Rutherford Institute, has come up with a set of guidelines for parents who know when they approach the screening points with their children.
“No American should be subjected to a virtual strip search or excessive groping of the body, or have their underage children touched intimately by strangers as a matter of course in boarding an airplane when there is no suspicion of wrongdoing,” said constitutional attorney John W. Whitehead, president of the Institute.
“In both word and deed, the TSA operates as if members of the public and their children have no rights and no defense against the agency and its employees even if an agent assaults them, wrongfully detains them, or fabricates criminal charges against them. However, parents do not forfeit their rights when they travel by air with their children.”
In its new freedom resource, “Parents’ Rights to Protect Their Children from TSA Patdowns,” he explained, is advice that neither parents nor their children lose their Fourth Amendment right to privacy when they enter airport screening.
“Additionally, parents have a constitutional right to the custody and care of their children which entitles them to protect their children during screening. According to Rutherford Institute attorneys, current TSA procedures for child screening show indifference to the emotional well-being of children and disregard for the constitutional rights of parents to be directly present during any pat down of a minor in order to the reassurance and comfort a child needs during this intrusive procedure,” the Institute reported.
The guidelines include discussion of rights. They include the right:
_To determine whether their child will or will not opt-out of scanners that TXS agents direct the child to enter.
_To be advised of the reason their child is being subjected to any enhanced security screening, such as pat-down searches.
_To know what TSA agents intend to do during any enhanced security screening of their child.
_To speak with their child before they are subjected to a pat-down or other enhanced security measures and let the child know what to expect and offer reassurance.
_To alert TSA agents to any physical or emotional condition of the child that makes the child more vulnerable to harm as a result of the enhanced security screening.
_To request that any pat-down search of their child be conducted in a private area out of public view.
_To be present with their child during a pat-down search or other enhanced security screening in order to provide comfort and support for their child.
Pelosi taps Florida Democrat to lead climate change panel
Fox – House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi has appointed Florida Rep. Kathy Castor to lead a special committee on climate change that will be reinstated in the new Congress.
Economy & Business
While Wall Street Wobbles, Consumers and the Economy Continue Humming
The New American – The Wall Street rollercoaster — down huge on Monday, up huge on Wednesday, decline on Thursday — is giving commentators, pundits, and forecasters heartburn. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) surged more than 1,000 points on Wednesday, the first time in history, rebounding from a four-day selloff that took 4,000 points out of the Dow and put various blue-chip indexes on the verge of a bear market.
Street commentators searched high and low for the root cause or causes of the volatility. They ranged from concerns over the incipient trade war with China instigated by the president as he seeks to rebalance fair trade with that communist-controlled country, to the firing of his Secretary of State over U.S. troop withdrawals from Syria and Afghanistan. Pundits pointed to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s attempt to calm the markets by calling big bank CEOs and reporting that all is well with their reserve ratios. This attempt backfired, especially when it was followed by reports of a gathering of the president’s “plunge protection team” consisting of Mnuchin, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, the chair of the SEC Jay Clayton, and the head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Christopher Giancarlo at the White House on Monday.
Blame for the volatility fell on the so-called government shutdown, which, in reality, affected very few people and impacted the economy not at all. The haggling over the funding for Trump’s wall also appeared on the list of worries driving the market, and its observers, crazy.
Wells Fargo to pay $575 million in settlement with U.S. states
Reuters – Wells Fargo & Co will pay $575 million to settle claims made by U.S. states that the bank created phony accounts and committed other customer abuses, according to a statement by the Iowa attorney general’s office.
Energy & Environment
Trump’s EPA says limits on mercury emissions from coal plants not necessary
Reuters – The Trump administration on Friday said limits on mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants were not necessary as their costs outweighed the benefits, sparking an outcry among environmentalists who say the move favors the coal industry at the expense of public health.
Science & Technology
Censorship rules Facebook uses are revealed
1,400 pages that dictate which statements are allowed
WND – Hundreds of pages of guidelines used by Facebook employees to censor speech, suppress ideas and push conversations into channels the company prefers have been revealed, and they show they include inaccurate information.
The secrets, on which the Daily Mail and others have reported, are established by a committee of company lawyers and engineers who meet to dictate “thousands” of rules about what words and phrases will be suppressed.
“They have also drawn up a list of banned organizations laying down which political groups can use their platform in every country on earth,” the Mail said of an investigation by the New York Times.
“An army of 7,500 lowly-paid moderators, many of whom work for contractors who also run call centers, enforce the rules for two billion global users with reference to a baffling array of thousands of PowerPoint slides issued from Silicon Valley,” the report said.
Their job is to make a decision – within about 10 seconds, on each post of the thousand they are expected to review daily.
The company has seen its growth explode in recent years, but it also was caught up in a scandal that developed during the 2016 presidential race, in which foreign interests apparently bought ads on the platform trying to influence to U.S. election.
Facebook’s response has been to crack down even more on what it considers politically incorrect speech, often the perspectives of conservatives across America.
Congress has begun reviewing whether the company, a literal monopoly, should be regulated.
The Mail report explains the Times obtained spreadsheet copies that show employees what they are allowed to leave on the site. The guidelines include some 1,400 pages as well as PowerPoint slides.
YouTube Removes Pro-life Titles From Top “Abortion” Video Searches
The New American – A liberal journalist’s complaints appear to have prompted YouTube to remove pro-life videos from its top choices under the search term “abortion.”
Drone Expert Paints Grim Future After Gatwick Incident
Sputnik – The sighting of drones flying above Gatwick Airport has resulted in two days disruption of its operations due to security concerns. The incident forced British police to review their response to suspected drone threats.
Laurie Calhoun, a philosopher and an expert on drone warfare, told Sputnik that the incident at Gatwick Airport, which took place between 19 and 21 December, was just the tip of the iceberg and that more dangerous attacks might follow.
“The recent incident at Gatwick Airport, when thousands of flights were cancelled or postponed […] is only a hint of what is to come”, she said.
ATT to deliberately HOAX its own customers by falsely labeling 4G phones with “5G” icon
NaturalNews – AT&T wants to win over new and existing customers by advertising its 4G phones with a 5G icon. In 2019, AT&T plans to deceive customers by displaying a 5G logo in the corner of their Smartphone. None of the phones will be connected to a 5G network; AT&T will pretend that their most advanced 4G LTE tech is using the new 5G network.
AT&T is incorporating new speed boosting technologies into their phones, but these upgrades do not qualify as 5G technologies. The new 5G E icon is practically a hoax. AT&T justifies the marketing ploy by including a small “E” after the 5G.
According to Fierce Wireless, “potentially millions” of people could see the new icon at the top of their smart phone screen by Spring 2019. By the end of 2018, the “latest Android devices” will have access to AT&T’s 5G Evolution network, available in over 400 markets.
This isn’t the first time that AT&T deceived the public with faulty advertisement. The company showed a 4G logo on Apple phones long before 4G was officially rolled out. The phones used 3G technologies that incorporated speed boosting HSPA+, but they were deceptively marketed as 4G.
These marketing ploys have allowed AT&T to get a jump on the rest of the competition. This time AT&T will deceive customers by making them think they are accessing a 5G network months before everyone else. T-Mobile CTO Neville Ray called out AT&T in a recent blog post. AT&T is “duping customers into thinking they’re getting something they’re not,” said Ray.
This deception is important, because it allows the industry a chance to undermine the health risks of 5G. If 5G is supposedly already in use and health effects aren’t observed, then the industry can advance new 5G technology as safe long before the towers are built and its true safety is assessed in the population.
Health
Whole Foods Market Rated Worst for Toxic Food Packaging
Mercola – A study released by consumer watchdog groups Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families and Toxic-Free Future analyzed paper products in contact with food for toxic chemicals, finding Amazon’s grocer, Whole Foods Market, was the biggest offender.
While Trader Joe’s had zero items with fluorine in this study, they failed testing in a different study by the same organization, along with Panera Bread, Publix, Starbucks, Subway and McDonald’s.
Chemicals tested in these studies included PFOA and PFOS from the per-fluorinated compound (PFCs) family of hormone disrupting chemicals, the health effects of which include miscarriage, reproductive problems, birth defects and cancer.
The pervasiveness of toxic chemicals in household products and the food supply make them nearly impossible to avoid, but there are ways to reduce your exposure, including using glass containers for storage and baby bottles, eliminating plastic wraps, avoiding stain- and water-resistant products and switching to organic toiletries
Study PROVES chemicals in shampoo and toothpaste are altering sex hormones in adolescents
NaturalNews – New research out of the University of California, Berkeley has revealed that many conventional shampoo, soap, and toothpaste products are loaded with endocrine-disrupting chemicals, or EDCs, that damage hormones in developing children.
Young girls, the study found, are reaching puberty much earlier than normal as a result of exposure to these EDCs. And boys, it further found, are similarly experiencing reductions in testosterone levels from simple use of contaminated products.
Published in the journal Human Reproduction, the paper was compiled from data collected as part of the Centre for the Health Assessment of Mothers and Children of Salinas (CHAMACOS), which followed 338 children from pre-birth into adolescence to assess the impact of various environmental exposures.
What they determined is that, over the past 20 years, the average age at which children are reaching puberty is getting increasingly earlier – and a major culprit are personal care products that contain chemicals known to interfere with normal hormone expression.
“We know that some of the things we put on our bodies are getting into our bodies, either because they pass through the skin or we breathe them in or we inadvertently ingest them,” stated Kim Harley, the study’s lead author and an associate adjunct professor in Berkeley’s School of Public Health.
“We need to know how these chemicals are affecting our health.”
These Foods Narrow Your Blood Vessels
Care2 – Narrowing of blood vessels, also known as vasoconstriction, is not always a bad thing. Sometimes your blood vessels narrow to reduce the loss of body heat, stabilize blood pressure, send oxygen and nutrients to specific organs and prevent blood or fluid loss.
n other cases, however, the foods we eat can narrow our blood vessels, leading to high blood pressure and headaches. As time goes by, the narrowing of blood vessels may lead to stroke, heart attack or loss of vision.
To prevent narrowing your blood vessels and keep your heart healthy, avoid the foods below.
High-Salt Foods
The notion that sodium increases blood pressure is not a myth; it has been proven by plenty of research. When you eat lots of sodium, your body retains water, which increases blood volume. This consequently raises blood pressure.
Licorice
Licorice is a popular Mediterranean herb. Some people use it to treat coughs, heartburn, sore throat and so on. And while it has many benefits, consuming it daily for several weeks can cause high blood pressure, according to WebMD. Licorice contains glycyrrhizic acid, a compound that causes sodium retention.
Caffeine
Have you ever wondered why drinking tea or coffee eases headaches? When you experience a migraine, your blood vessels expand and become filled with blood, which stretches them, causing pain. When you drink a caffeinated drink, your blood vessels contract, pushing the excess blood away and reducing the pain.
While drinking one or two cups of coffee a day won’t do any harm, more than four cups a day can raise your blood pressure.
Foods with Trans Fats
The fats in cakes, doughnuts, microwave popcorn, most margarine, biscuits and cream-filled candies can clog up your arteries, since they raise your bad cholesterol. Fatty meat cuts can also raise your cholesterol levels. Even lean meat cuts can raise cholesterol when deep-fried.
How to Reverse Vasoconstriction
Now that you know the worst foods for your blood vessels, here’s how you can reverse vasoconstriction.
Get a full body massage.
As you may know, massages improve blood circulation. Therefore, people with superficial vasoconstriction can benefit from regular massages.
Exercise regularly.
Physical exercise is a widely-accepted way of dilating blood vessels. Even simple exercises, like walking, can improve your circulation.
Quit smoking.
The chemicals in tobacco smoke increase the risk of atherosclerosis, a condition that causes plaque buildup in arteries.