Today's News: Ferbruary 21, 2018

World News

Three African Men Arrested for Cannibalism in Paris Suburb
Infowars – Three men have been arrested in the heavily migrant-populated Paris suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois for attacking a man by biting at his face and then eating the pieces of flesh they had bitten off.
The men, who all originally came from the African island nation of Cape Verde, were arrested on Sunday after they attacked a man who was walking in the Hector-Berlioz alley at around 6 pm and bit off pieces his ear and lower lip, Le Parisien reports.
The victim was able to fight off the attackers, wounding one of them in the ankle, before police arrived a short time later and arrested the three Africans.

Israel jails first asylum seekers refusing deportation
Al Jazeera – Seven Eritrean asylum seekers have been transferred to an Israeli prison indefinitely after refusing to be deported to Rwanda, Israeli human rights groups reported.
The asylum seekers are the first to be placed in indefinite detention since the Israeli government announced it would force tens of thousands of African migrants to choose between deportation to a third country or incarceration for an unspecified length of time.

Former aide has agreed to testify against Netanyahu, say reports
The Guardian – he Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who is battling for his political career in the face of various corruption allegations, has suffered a potentially devastating blow after a former confidant reportedly agreed to turn state witness.
A week after police recommended the country’s second-longest serving prime minister be indicted for bribery, Israeli press reported that Shlomo Filber would testify against his former boss to avoid jail.
Police did not confirm whether Filber, a Netanyahu appointment who headed the Ministry of Communications, would testify, but all major Israeli media reported that a deal had been reached.

The Long-suppressed Korean War Report on U.S. Use of Biological Weapons Released At Last
Global Research – Written largely by the most prestigious British scientist of his day, this report was effectively suppressed upon its release in 1952. Published now in text-searchable format, it includes hundreds of pages of evidence about the use of U.S. biological weapons during the Korean War, available for the first time to the general public.
Download the full report here.

U.S. News, Politics & Government

Florida House aide fired after claiming Florida shooting survivors are ‘actors’
Fox News – An aide to a Florida House lawmaker was fired Tuesday after he said that Parkland students who were speaking out on gun control after Wednesday’s mass shooting were paid actors.
Benjamin Kelly, the aide to Republican Rep. Shawn Harrison, emailed Tampa Bay Times reporter Alex Leary to claim that two Marjory Stoneman Douglas students who appeared on CNN weren’t actually survivors of the attack.

Md. students stage walkout, march to US Capitol to demand action on guns
The Hill – Hundreds of students in Maryland on Wednesday walked out of class and began marching toward the U.S. Capitol to demand action on gun control.
Students at Montgomery Blair High School in Montgomery County planned a walkout through social media, according to a reporter from ABC 7

‘Jaw-Dropping’: Gun Rights Advocate Concerned About White House Stance on New Gun Laws
Fox News – Following the deadly school shooting in Parkland, Florida, the White House is considering several gun control proposals, including setting an age limit for buying on AR-15 assault rifles, the type of weapon purchased legally by the gunman who shot 17 people dead at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School last week.
During a briefing on Tuesday, Press Secretary Sarah Sanders confirmed an AR-15 age limit is “certainly something that’s on the table.”
On “Fox News @ Night,” journalist and gun rights advocate Emily Miller said Sanders’ statement was “jaw-dropping” for Second Amendment supporters.
“The president, who I’ve interviewed multiple times before he was president, has said he absolutely is strong on the Second Amendment, he understands that no gun control law has ever reduced crime,” Miller said. “And so the fact that they are saying that is very interesting politically.”

Student Anti-Gun Activist Featured In CBS News Story – Six Months Ago
Infowars – Questions swirling around teen activist as odd videos surface
Multiple videos featuring David Hogg, a survivor of the mass shooting in Parkland, Fla., have surfaced amidst his rise to prominence as an anti-gun activist that have raised questions, including a television news report in California last year.
CBS Los Angeles featured Hogg as the eyewitness and videographer of a testy encounter between Hogg, a veteran Redondo Beach, Calif., lifeguard and a surfer, who was reportedly Hogg’s friend, in August of 2017.

Mass Shootings Will Never Negate The Need For Gun Rights
Activist Post – Though the media often attempts to twist the gun rights debate into a web of complexity, gun rights is in fact a rather simple issue — either you believe that people have an inherent right to self defense, or you don’t. All other arguments are a peripheral distraction.

Trump questions why Sessions isn’t probing ‘Dem crimes’ amid Russia investigation
Fox News – President Trump on Wednesday again dinged Attorney General Jeff Sessions, this time asking why the Democrats in the Obama administration aren’t being investigated as part of the probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
“Question: If all of the Russian meddling took place during the Obama Administration, right up to January 20th, why aren’t they the subject of the investigation?” Trump tweeted.
Trump added: “Why didn’t Obama do something about the meddling? Why aren’t Dem crimes under investigation? Ask Jeff Sessions!”

Flynn Urged by Supporters to Withdraw Guilty Plea, as Judge’s Actions Raise Eyebrows
Infowars – Supporters of former national security adviser Michael Flynn are floating the possibility he could withdraw his guilty plea in Robert Mueller’s investigation, as the new judge in the case makes some curious moves amid speculation over whether the special counsel “withheld” evidence.
Legal experts caution that a defendant successfully withdrawing a guilty plea is rare and likely wouldn’t get him off the hook.

Democrats want $300 million to fight possible Russia election tampering
Reuters – U.S. Democratic leaders called on Congress on Wednesday to give the Federal Bureau of Investigation $300 million to fight Russian efforts to interfere in congressional and state elections in November.

New U.S. criminal charges filed under seal in Manafort case
Reuters – New sealed criminal charges have been filed in federal court in the criminal case brought by Special Counsel Robert Mueller against President Donald Trump’s former senior campaign aides Paul Manafort and Rick Gates, a court record seen by Reuters on Wednesday showed.

Billy Graham, famed evangelist, dies at 99
BBC – US evangelist Billy Graham – one of the most influential preachers of the 20th Century – has died aged 99.
Graham became one of the best-known promoters of Christianity, beginning his worldwide mission in large arenas in London in 1954.
He died at his home in Montreat, North Carolina, a spokesman for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association said.

California Christian Homeschool Family Torn Apart as Children are Medically Kidnapped, Forced into Public School, and Mother is Forced out of Family Home
Health Impact News – When the Daugherty family decided to visit Seattle, Washington, for a 4 day whale watching trip to celebrate their son’s 10th birthday, they had no idea that a trip to the emergency room would turn into a nightmare that would rip their family apart.
They were more than a thousand miles from home and from their own doctors, when chronically ill Zachary began running a fever and showing signs of an infection.
When his parents took him to the emergency room at Seattle Children’s Hospital, they blindly walked into a web of controversy involving some of the most notorious Child Abuse Specialist doctors in the country, with connections to Medical Kidnap stories we have published spanning from Boston to Arizona, California, and Washington.
Parents of these medically complex children are increasingly finding themselves caught up in the middle of the conflict that they had no part in creating.
We have seen over and over in many Medical Kidnap stories that social workers and courts tend to listen to the Child Abuse Specialists, while at the same time they ignore or attempt to discredit medical experts who testify that the children involved have genuine medical conditions.

Economy & Business

Walmart shares dive as e-commerce growth slows
Yahoo News – Investors pummeled Walmart shares Tuesday after the retail behemoth reported disappointing fourth-quarter earnings in results that revealed growing pains in its e-commerce buildout.
Walmart suffered one of its worst days ever on Wall Street, plunging 10.2 percent to close at $94.11, its biggest one-day decline in percentage terms in more than 30 years.

Venezuela Just Became First Country to Have Its Own Cryptocurrency and It’s Backed by Oil
The Free Thought Project – More than two months after Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced his intention to launch the world’s first state-sponsored cryptocurrency to try and help Venezuela raise some badly needed foreign capital, the Petro – backed by 5 billion barrels of oil that are still waiting to be pumped out of a local oilfield – is now a reality.
Venezuela first tipped its hand at its intentions over the summer, when it appointed what we believe to be the world’s first “superintendent of cryptocurrency.”
The Venezuelan government has been saying for months that the Petro would be available for sale beginning Feb. 20. According to Bloomberg, it’ll be a few weeks – if not months – before we know anything about the cryptocurrency.

Science & Technology

Boston Dynamics’ Door-Opening Robot Can Now Fight Off Humans
Infowars – The door-opening robot revealed by Boston Dynamics last week has returned in a new video in which it is seen fighting off a human.
SpotMini, the dog-like machine designed to locate and open doors with a new arm-like attachment, can also carry out its task while being attacked.
In footage posted to YouTube Tuesday, SpotMini goes up against one of its creators intent on stopping it from getting through a door.
Wielding a hockey stick, the individual repeatedly jabs the robot and blocks the door before finally pulling it from behind.
The display, according to Boston Dynamics, was used to test the robot’s “ability to adjust to disturbances as it opens and walks through a door.

AI being used for ‘malicious purposes’, warn experts
Al Jazeera – From healthcare to warfare, machine-based thinking is revolutionising the way we live, exposing us to the benefits and the risks.
Twenty-six world experts in emerging technologies say cybercrime will grow and drones will be misused in the next decade.

China to New York in Two Hours: Chinese Researchers Unveil Hypersonic Jet Design
Sputnik – Chinese researchers have unveiled a hypersonic plane design to take cargo and passengers from Beijing to New York in about two hours, one-seventh of the time it currently takes to make the trip.

Health

Cardiologist: Millions of People Taking Statin Drugs Will Continue to Have Far Greater Chance of Harm than Benefit
Health Impact News – Two recent articles published in the UK mainstream hard copy and online newspaper Express revealed there’s something wrong with cholesterol-lowering statin drug prescription policies, quoting several doctors who claim statins cause more harm than benefit.
Dr. Rita Redberg, a cardiologist professor at the San Francisco Medical Center, states:
“Unfortunately, until all data is available and discussed with patients, millions of people taking these [statin] drugs will continue to have far greater chance of harm than benefit.” (Source.)
Dr. Demasi reports how an independent study showed people who took a daily statin for five years only increased their life expectancy by 4.1 days after a serious negative heart health event or 3.2 days with primary prevention prescriptions for healthy individuals. (Source)
Her review mentions the actual drug company practices of omitting negative trial study reports from final complete reports to the FDA. Then there is the tendency to omit trial subjects who were “non-compliant” while not listing the side effects that may have caused them to quit.

Are You Starving Your Gut Bacteria?
Care 2 – For many years, it was believed that the main function of the large intestine was just to absorb water and dispose of waste, but “[n]owadays it is clear that the complex microbial ecosystem in our intestines should be considered as a separate organ within the body,” and that organ runs on a MAC, microbiota-accessible carbohydrates. In other words, primarily fiber.
One reason we can get an increase of nearly two grams of stool for every one gram of fiber is that the fiber fermentation process in our colon promotes bacterial growth. The bulk of our stool by weight is pure bacteria, trillions and trillions of bacteria, and that was on a wimpy, fiber-deficient British diet. People who take fiber supplements know that a few spoonfuls of fiber can lead to a massive bowel movement, because fiber is what our good gut bacteria thrive on. When we eat a whole plant food like fruit, we’re telling our gut flora to be fruitful and multiply.
From fiber, our gut flora produce short-chain fatty acids, which are an important energy-source for the cells lining our colon. So, we feed our flora with fiber and then they turn around and feed us right back. These short-chain fatty acids also function to suppress inflammation and cancer, which is why we think eating fiber may be so good for us.