World News
Tens of thousands skip India’s COVID vaccination drive
Government confirms two post-vaccination deaths, denies link to jab in one case while post-mortem report is awaited in another.
Al Jazeera – India has stepped up efforts to bolster trust in coronavirus vaccines after it was revealed that nearly one-third of those invited to receive the vaccine at the launch of a nationwide drive failed to turn up.
The government confirmed late on Monday that two post-vaccination deaths had been reported.
One was a 52-year-old man who the health ministry said died on Saturday in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh from “cardiopulmonary disease” and not the injection.
A post-mortem is being conducted on a 43-year-old man in Karnataka state who suffered a heart attack.
The government said that over the first three days of vaccinations, 580 people had reported adverse symptoms.
India began one of the world’s most ambitious vaccination programmes last week, aiming to inoculate 300 million of its population of 1.3 billion by July.
In the first three days of the drive, which started on Saturday, the government said 381,305 vaccinations were administered.
In the capital New Delhi, only 53 percent of the people expected came for the shots, according to a health official.
“These are initial days and we understand people are waiting to see how the procedure pans out and how other vaccines fare,” said Suneela Garg, a member of the coronavirus task force for the capital.
“These numbers will go up as confidence is strengthened. And for that, we have to tackle misinformation.”
The Hindu newspaper reported that in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, turnout was only 16 percent.
Germany to Place Quarantine Flouters into Detention Centres, Camps
Breitbart – Germany will put those who ignore quarantine rules into detention centres, including at least one repurposed refugee camp in the state of Saxony.
Other states say they will use hospitals and juvenile detention centres to hold violators.
According to a report from the Daily Mail, state governments can forcibly detain violators under the Disease Protection Act, which the German federal government renewed in November.
CNA – A court in Thailand on Tuesday (Jan 19) sentenced a former civil servant to a record prison term of 43 years and six months for breaching the country’s strict law on insulting or defaming the monarchy, lawyers said.
The Bangkok Criminal Court found the woman guilty on 29 counts of violating the country’s lese majeste law for posting audio clips to Facebook and YouTube with comments deemed critical of the monarchy, the group Thai Lawyers for Human Rights said.
U.S. News, Politics & Government
13,000 NY Nursing Home Residents And Nearly Half Of Staff Decline COVID-19 Vaccine
ZeroHedge – New York will be reallocating unused COVID-19 vaccines after more than ten thousand nursing home residents and nearly half of staffers declined the jab, according to Gareth Rhodes, a member of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s COVID-19 Response Task Force.
Rhodes said that out of 70,000 nursing home residents, 57,000 have been vaccinated, while 13,000 have declined. Meanwhile, out of 89,000 nursing home staff, 41,000 have declined.
Overall, 105,000 first-doses of the vaccine have been used so far in nursing homes, while 120,000 doses remain.
“We’re gonna reallocate those that are used in the long-term facility program to the state program, but we’ll make sure that the residents who want to take it and the staff who want to take it, we will reserve their doses,” said Cuomo, who in July came under fire for ordering nursing homes to accept coronavirus patients from hospitals.
The reallocation comes more than a week after New York came under scrutiny over discarded vaccines – with officials changing regulations which required that extra doses to be tossed.
In a Monday letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, Cuomo called on the federal government to beef up vaccine supply, claiming that Azar falsely claimed that doses would be held in reserve, when they were in fact distributed to states.
New York has received approximately 1.2 million doses, of which around 860,000 have been administered. The figure doesn’t include shots allocated to nursing homes, while the CDC claims New York has received 1.8 million doses.
Cuomo last week extended the shots to anyone age 65 and over, but has repeatedly insisted the state has nowhere near enough doses to cover everyone who is now eligible.
The governor also sent a letter Monday to Pfizer chairman and CEO Albert Bourla asking him to let New York purchase COVID-19 vaccines directly from the company. –NY Post
“My job as governor of New York is to pursue every avenue,” said Cuomo, adding “The federal government increased eligibility dramatically but never increased the supply for the dosages.”
Governor Ron DeSantis Vows to Put an End to the Censorship of Conservative Ideas
PJ Media – Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is working to make a name for himself, which could be a great thing for the conservative movement. His administration’s response is leading the nation by balancing freedom and disease experience with COVID-19 despite having more elderly per capita than most states in the country. Last Thursday, he announced another first. He is the first Republican governor to take a stand against the growing push for censorship of conservative ideas.
Speaking at an event for the Texas Public Policy Foundation in Austin, Texas, in the wake of the social media app Parler being completely shut down by Big Tech, DeSantis said:
“We need to really think deeply about if we are a disfavored class based on our principles, based on having conservative views, based on being a Christian, based on whatever you can say that is not favored in Silicon Valley,” DeSantis said during a speech before a crowd of conservatives in Austin, Tx. Later, he added: “I think it’s probably the most important legislative issue that we’re going to have to get right this year and next year.”
This is exactly correct. The pretext for taking down Parler was events on January 6th at the Capitol were organized on that platform. Later reports clearly demonstrated they were also organized on Facebook and Twitter, but Parler has not been restored, increasing the speculation that the move was anti-competitive and political.
Beyond the current drive for censorship online, some commentators suggest eliminating Fox News, OANN, and Newsmax from cable providers. Others favor pulling podcasts and YouTube channels using the riot at the Capitol as a pretext to color everything to the right of CNN as far-right and capable of inciting violence.
One example is former Facebook executive Alex Stamos appearing on CNN’s Reliable Sources. Not only is he suggesting the social media networks crackdown as Joe Scarborough suggested on Morning Joe. He wants to close down all opposing views. After noting some YouTube channels had more viewers than daytime on CNN, he said:
“And, so, it is up to the Facebooks and YouTubes, in particular, to think about whether or not they want to be effectively cable networks for disinformation. And then we’re gonna have to figure out the OANN and Newsmax problem, that these companies have freedom of speech, but I’m not sure we need Verizon, AT&T, Comcast, and such to be bringing them into tens of millions of homes. This is allowing people to seek out information if they really want to but not pushing it into their faces, I think, is where we’re going to have to go here.”
So, if you want a different point of view than the one Stamos approves of, you will need to hunt for it. At least until Amazon Web Services or GoDaddy boot those websites from their servers and hosting services. Governor DeSantis is looking for ways to prevent these actions from being taken and preserve the First Amendment for Floridians. It seems amending Florida’s anti-discrimination law to prevent discrimination based on real or perceived political affiliation in commerce, employment, and other services would be a start.
Woman accused of trying to sell Pelosi laptop to Russians arrested
The Hill- A woman who the FBI says took a laptop belonging to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) during the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol and tried to sell it to Russians has been arrested.
Riley June Williams was arrested on Monday in the Middle District of Pennsylvania, according to a listing on the Justice Department’s website tracking arrests made in connection to the siege.
Williams is charged with knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, as well as violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
Feds file conspiracy charge against Oath Keeper leader
Washington Post – U.S. authorities have leveled the first conspiracy charge against an apparent leader of an extremist group in the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol, arresting an alleged Oath Keeper who is accused of plotting to disrupt the electoral vote confirmation of President-elect Joe Biden’s victory and proposing further assaults on state capitols.
Thomas Edward Caldwell, 65, of Clarke County, Va., was taken into custody before 7 a.m. on four federal counts, including conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States in the attack on the Capitol. The conspiracy charge is reserved for offenses interfering with or obstructing the lawful operation of government.
Wyoming GOP committee censures Liz Cheney
Washington Examiner – The Republican Party Central Committee in Carbon County, Wyoming, censured Rep. Liz Cheney due to her vote to impeach President Trump.
“The Carbon County Republican Party has unanimously voted to formally censure U.S. Representative Liz Cheney,” Carbon County GOP Chairman Joey Correnti said, according to a post on the Carbon County Wyoming Republican Party’s Facebook page.
“Additionally, we have called for her to appear before the members of the body to explain her recent actions to the body, the State Republican Party membership, and the entirety of the concerned Wyoming electorate,” Correnti added.
The resolution also said that the “vocal majority of Wyoming Republicans recognize there were significant irregularities” in the presidential election.
Joe Biden Selects Pennsylvania Transgender Health Official Rachel Levine for HHS
Breitbart – President-elect Joe Biden announced Tuesday he had chosen Dr. Rachel Levine to serve as the assistant secretary of health for the Department of Health and Human Services.
Levine, born Richard Levine, is an openly transgender individual and would mark the first transgender official confirmed by the United States Senate, if approved.
Levine is currently the Secretary of Health for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in charge of the local response to the coronavirus pandemic.
“She is a historic and deeply qualified choice to help lead our administration’s health efforts,” Biden said in a statement, praising Levine’s “steady leadership and essential expertise.”
Levine served as a controversial public official in Pennsylvania leveling business and restaurant lockdowns and bans and defending them as a critical way to stop the spread of the virus.
Levine drew criticism for months for allowing “stable” coronavirus patients to be returned to nursing homes during the pandemic, receiving blame for the virus skyrocketing among the elderly in those facilities.
In May, Levine was called out for moving her own mother out of a nursing home facility despite the department’s guidance to admit “stable” patients who had contracted the virus.
Levine also repeatedly accused critics of transphobia, as Levine publicly identified as a female rather than his biological gender as a male.
In May, Levine interrupted a press conference asking a reporter to not “misgender” him after the reporter addressed him as “sir.”
In July, Levine complained of “multiple incidents of LGBTQ harassment and specifically transphobia.”
“I want to emphasize, that while these individuals think that they are only expressing their displeasure with me, they are, in fact, hurting the thousands of LGBTQ Pennsylvanians who suffer directly from these current demonstrations of harassment,” Levine said.
“Your actions perpetuate the spirit of intolerance and discrimination against LGBTQ individuals and specifically transgender individuals,” Levine continued.
McConnell Going to Church with Biden Ahead of Inauguration
Mediate – CNN has learned that President-elect Joe Biden’s outreach to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will begin with the two of them attending church together before the new president is sworn in.
Alisyn Camerota and John Berman kicked off the 8:00 a.m. hour of New Day by tracking Biden as he is about to leave Wilmington, Delaware for Washington. Camerota reported that on Wednesday morning, before the inauguration ceremony, McConnell will attend church with Biden at the president-elect’s request.
FNC’s Carlson: Democrats Are Using D.C. Military Presence to Tell America ‘We’re in Charge Now’
Breitbart – Monday, during the opening of FNC’s “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” host Tucker Carlson commented on the heavy U.S. troop presence in Washington, D.C., which he said had less to do with safety and more to do with making a statement.
The use of military has reportedly been a response to the unrest that plagued the U.S. Capitol early this month. However, as inauguration approaches, Carlson said it was to send a message of control to the public.
Transcript as follows:
CARLSON: Our capital city, Washington is under military occupation tonight. By Inauguration Day, there are expected to be more than 26,000 armed Federal troops in Washington.
No living American has seen a moment like the one we’re watching now; 26,000 soldiers, that’s more than five times the number of American military personnel currently stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan combined. That is more than twice the number of troops that President Lyndon Johnson ordered to Washington in April of 1968.
In April of 1968, Washington, D.C. was literally on fire. Race riots had broken out after the assassination of Martin Luther King, whose memory we celebrate today. More than a thousand people were injured in those riots and at least 13 of them died. Much of the capital was leveled, and it stayed that way. Blocks of charred rubble for decades. If you visited Washington in the 1990s, you’ll remember what it looked like.
But according to our current leaders, the so-called insurrection of January 6th was much worse than any of that. So far, here’s the death toll from that day. A police officer was hit in the head by rioters then later had a stroke and died at a local hospital. An unarmed protester was shot to death by authorities as she tried to climb through a window, a woman may have been trampled to death by the crowd.
As of tonight, those are the three casualties we can confirm from the riot at the Capitol Building on January 6th. In response to that, our leaders have assembled the largest military presence in Washington in all of American history during peacetime.
In 1864, as the Civil War raged on the other side of the Potomac and Americans died every day in large numbers in battle, there were fewer Federal troops protecting Washington, D.C. than there are tonight.
And it’s truly a national force. The Guardsmen you see in Washington have come from every state in the Union, as well as from Puerto Rico. And the question is, why is that? There’s no practical or operational justification for it. For decades, Washington, D.C. has the highest per capita law enforcement presence in the country and one of the highest in the world. So there was no need to fly in troops from Alaska to keep the city safe.
But keeping the city safe was hardly the point of the exercise. The murder rate in the District of Columbia has risen with terrifying speed over the last six months: men, women and children shot to death in the streets. But no one in charge seems to care about that or even notice their deaths.
So no matter what they are telling you, those 26,000 Federal troops are not there for your safety. Instead, unmistakably, the Democratic Party is using those troops to send the rest of us a message about power: “We’re in charge now.” We run this nation from Honolulu to our colony in the Caribbean, and everything in between very much, including where you and your family live. Do not question us. Men with guns enforce our decrees, we control the Pentagon.
And indeed, they do control The Pentagon. Republicans have spent years ignoring the leftward drift of our officer corps, but we can’t ignore it now. The mask is off.
Our military leadership, the very same generals who howled at the idea of deploying American troops to stop an invasion of our southern border, those same generals sent tens of thousands of soldiers with rifles to Washington purely as a show of force on behalf of the political party they support.
And once they did that, they then allowed Democratic politicians to degrade and politicize the military itself. Democrats in Congress demanded that the troops sent to Washington this week, submit to a political purity test, ideological vetting, as they put it, to make certain that every soldier professed loyalty to the new regime. Not loyalty to our country, not loyalty to our Constitution, but loyalty to the aims of a specific political party.
Nothing like that has ever happened in America. And just a few months ago, it would have been unimaginable. Suddenly, it’s compulsory.
WashPost Columnist Max Boot: Blacklist Fox News ‘as We Do with Foreign Terrorist Groups’
Breitbart – In a Monday op-ed, the Washington Post called on heavyweight telecommunications corporations to shut down conservative cable news outlets including Fox News, One America News, and Newsmax TV, comparing the need to do so with that of shutting down foreign terrorist influencers.
The essay, penned by prominent Trump critic Max Boot, a Post columnist and CNN global affairs analyst, begins by explaining how merely holding the president accountable for “his role in inciting this violent insurrection” is “insufficient.”
“There is a whole infrastructure of incitement that will remain intact even after Trump leaves office,” Boot writes. “Just as we do with foreign terrorist groups, so with domestic terrorists: We need to shut down the influencers who radicalize people and set them on the path toward violence and sedition.”
The essay then heaps praise on the recent purging of conservative voices on social media platforms by tech giants, hoping that broadcast media will follow suit.
“Anyone who cherishes our democracy should be grateful to the management of Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites for their newfound sense of social responsibility,” the op-ed reads. “We should expect at least the same level of responsibility from broadcast media — and in particular from Fox News, which has the largest reach on the right.”
The essay then criticizes Fox News for not issuing an edict to stop “spreading false claims” regarding election fraud.
“Cumulus Media, one of America’s largest talk-radio companies, has ordered its hosts — who include some Fox News personalities — to stop spreading false claims of election fraud,” Boot writes. “But Fox News itself has issued no such edict.”
The author then suggests that if key members of the Murdoch family, which owns News Corp and its sister company Fox Corp., won’t comply, then large cable carriers should have Fox News shut down.
“If [they] won’t listen, then large cable companies such as Comcast and Charter Spectrum, which carry Fox News and provide much of its revenue in the form of user fees, need to step in and kick Fox News off,” states Boot.
The essay also targeted other conservative outlets.
“And if smaller competitors such as One America News and Newsmax continue to incite viewers, they, too, should be booted off,” the author writes.
Claiming that the United Kingdom “doesn’t have its own version of Fox News” due to a government regulator, the essay concludes with a demand that Joe Biden take heed.
Parents Shocked as Armed Cops Show Up at Their Homes to Talk About Kids’ Grades
Activist Post – Over the last decade, TFTP has been reporting on the encroachment of the police state into the public education system. As we previously reported, schools across the country are increasingly hiring police officers to do the job that teachers and guidance counselors once did. This is resulting in the criminalization of childhood as well as increased police violence against children. Never, however, have we reported on what you are about to read below.
While the data shows that students have declining access to a kind and caring role model to guide them through their high school careers, the number of students who have access to a police officer is growing.
A whopping 1.6 million (k – 12th grade) students attend a school that employs a law enforcement officer — but has no counselor.
According to a Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) survey, which counted cops in schools for the very first time in 2014, 24 percent of elementary schools and 42 percent of high schools have armed police officers. In schools with higher concentrations of minorities that number skyrockets.
Now, as schools districts react to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are seeing something even more ominous than an increase in cops in schools. We are seeing cops going to the homes of students.
Parents of at least 1,500 children in St. Louis County are speaking out this month after armed officers have been showing up to their homes. To be clear, the children have not been accused of a crime, instead, the cops are showing up to discuss grades with students and parents — while carrying their guns.
Yes, you read that correctly. Armed agents of the state — with absolutely zero training in how to teach children — are going door to door to talk to children and parents about their grades. The parents who have been visited, however, aren’t buying it, don’t want it, and say that officers showing up at their homes is a scare tactic.
“It was unimaginable, I can’t even really describe how I felt in the moment,” Porsha Outen told KSDK.
Outen said she was frightened and panicked the entire time the cop was in her home.
“I was shaking my voice was cracking, I was emotional because I did not understand,” said Outen. “I couldn’t keep my eyes off his firearm.”
Outen explained to KSDK the officer showed up with a counselor — unannounced at their door — at 8:30 a.m. after students returned from Christmas break. Outen’s daughter, a 15-year-old student at Ritenour High School, allegedly failed to turn in an assignment, so a cop was sent to her home.
“He questioned my daughter about the work that she was supposed to turn in, she answered him, he also asked her if she understood what she was saying to him. At that point I said this conversation is over,” said Outen.
Another parent, Christine Troupe told the media outlet that they received a visit from police as well.
“The implication of the police showing up to your house is like you’ve done something wrong and it’s like even if you’ve not done anything it’s that feeling of something is criminal is happening here,” said Troupe.
Moderna CEO says the world will have to live with Covid ‘forever’
CNBC – The CEO of Covid-19 vaccine maker Moderna warned Wednesday that the coronavirus that has brought world economies to a standstill and overwhelmed hospitals will be around “forever.”
Public health officials and infectious disease experts have said there is a high likelihood that Covid-19 will become an endemic disease, meaning it will become present in communities at all times, though likely at lower levels than it is now.
Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel appeared to agree Wednesday that Covid-19 will become endemic, saying “SARS-CoV-2 is not going away.”
“We are going to live with this virus, we think, forever,” he said during a panel discussion at the JPMorgan Healthcare Conference.
Energy & Environment
Madrid declared a ‘disaster zone’ after storm Filomena hammers the Spanish capital
RT – The Madrid area has been declared a “disaster zone” by the national government after extreme weather and snowstorms left the city crippled. The move means the affected areas can receive financial aid to alleviate the storm damage.
On Tuesday, Spain’s Council of Ministers approved the disaster declaration for the Community of Madrid and Castilla-La Mancha, freeing up vital aid for the storm-hit areas.
Earlier this month, temperatures in the capital reached as low as minus 15.4 degrees Celsius (4.8 degrees Fahrenheit) as storm Filomena swept across Spain. Preliminary estimates from the mayor’s office suggest that the heavy snowfall and storm have caused at least €1.4 billion ($1.70 billion) in damage.
Supermarket shelves have been left bare in some stores after fallen trees and snow drifts blocked roads and damaged critical transport infrastructure.
Science & Technology
‘Giant’ Jurassic shark fossil unearthed in Germany was ‘most impressive’ fish of its time
RT – The spectacular discovery of an almost complete skeleton of a Jurassic-period shark has given researchers incredible new insight into life on Earth 150-million-years ago.
The exceptionally well-preserved fossil was found in the Solnhofen Limestone formation in Bavaria, Germany, which had a tropical lagoon landscape when the shark was in its pomp in Earth’s distant past.
The fossil is the remains of an Asteracanthus shark measuring over eight feet (2.5 meters) in length, which researchers say made it a “giant” among Jurassic sharks.
Asteracanthus is a type of Hybodontiform shark, which are the closest relatives of modern sharks, skates, and rays. The predators roamed the seas of ancient Earth for nearly 300 million years. They came equipped with 150 razor-sharp teeth, leading experts to conclude they were voracious eaters.
Trudeau Liberals to launch new bureaucracy to regulate Canadians’ social media content
PM – The Trudeau Liberals are moving forward with their plan to weed out “hate and harassment” from the internet, and will be presenting their plan to cabinet next week. If approved, the legislation would allow the government to give big tech giants such as Google, Facebook, and Twitter, fines for not removing content deemed “illegal,” an anonymous source told the Globe and Mail.The size of the operation would “likely involve the creation of a new government regulator,” creating a bureaucracy around what is on Canadian internet, the Globe continued.
Censored by Facebook and Twitter? New Bill Allows Users to Sue Big Tech for Being Silenced
Free Thought Project – Everyone reading this article right now has likely experienced or knows someone who has experienced some form of social media censorship. Whether your entirely peaceful post was “removed for violating community guidelines” or you were unceremoniously silenced for life, Facebook and Twitter censorship affects millions. No matter what degree of big tech censorship you have faced, there is a common theme with all forms of it — you have no recourse. Well, one lawmaker wants to change that.
After watching censorship ramp up toward the end of 2020, republican lawmakers drafted legislation that could land big tech giants like Twitter and Facebook in legal trouble for silencing political speech.
“I drafted it in December and things have only gotten worse,” State Rep. Tom Kading, R-N.D., the lead sponsor of the bill said.
The bill states that social media sites would be liable in a civil lawsuit for damages to a North Dakota resident “whose speech is restricted, censored, or suppressed,” as long as it is not “obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, excessively violent, harassing, or otherwise objectionable.”
“I’m frankly shocked at what’s happening to our country and censoring does not create unity, it does not help the situation of division in our country, and it does not de-escalate the situation,” Kading said. “All it really does is make those who have been silenced dig in deeper and be more suspicious of what’s going on.”
The basis for the bill is rather cunning as it doesn’t focus on censorship because companies will claim — albeit fallaciously — that they can censor anyone they want. Instead, this bill focuses on libel.
“If a website comes out and selectively publishes information,” Kading explained, citing case law from state supreme courts, “or manipulates true information in order to create a certain desired narrative, this restrictive action can essentially amount to defamation.”
While this bill is certainly music to the ears of those who have been censored, it is not likely to hold any water as big tech’s massive team of attorneys have created terms of service that are so broad in nature that it protects them from most liability. And in order to have an account on these platforms, one must agree to these terms. This is why the answer to big tech censorship lies not in attempting to change these platforms but leaving them entirely.
As TFTP pointed out earlier this month, had the establishment and big tech actually wished to cause less harm and de-escalate away from the potential civil war brewing in the United States, they would have taken very different steps. Had they wished to ease the doubts of a large portion of the population who disputed the election results, they would have answered with more transparency. Instead, their answer was silencing those who questioned it, declaring all talk of election fraud ‘fake news’ and sending them into a frantic paranoid flurry that ended with the storming of the US Capitol.
Make no mistake, those forcing these Orwellian tactics know that by silencing these folks, they are not stopping these ideas or paranoid fears. They are justifying them, stoking paranoia and radicalizing those who may be on the verge of breaking.
Do you think that Joe Sixpack, who has been unemployed for the last 9 months, who thinks the election was stolen from him, and who was just censored into oblivion in the last month — removing any public outlet of expression — is simply going to throw his arms up and say, “oh well, I guess that’s it, I’ll stop now” and it will be over?
The fact is that the leadership behind this censorship knows exactly what is going to happen by pushing these people into the fringes. They are fomenting radicalization and extremism
Facebook employees have even been told not to identify themselves in public because of the backlash from censorship.
But “Facebook and Twitter are private companies and can delete anyone they want,” right? This is a farce that has been repeated ad nauseam since Alex Jones was wiped from the internet in 2018 and has increased even more since Trump and his team of Qanons have been removed. Hypocritically enough, these claims are mostly made by the same folks who likely tried to force small businesses to bake cakes for people and have since changed their tone now that it benefits them. While it is certainly true that a private company can and should be able to choose who they associate with, the idea that Facebook and Twitter are private is not accurate.
From government funded censorship arms to the revolving door of high level bureaucrats who fill the ranks of the oligopolies, the “private companies” concept comes crashing down when taking a closer look. Private-sector firms do not need to be explicitly nationalized to further the establishment’s interests; it’s enough to install their alumni in top regulatory positions. This way, these companies can put on the façade of privatization while actually acting as deputies for the state but alleviating any constitutional checks in the process.
Health
This Habit Can Make Your Brain Age Faster
Newsmax – Eating processed, sugary, or fried foods is the number one habit that can lead to premature brain aging and cognitive decline increasing your risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. A new study published Jan. 7 in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association observed that eating foods found in the typical Western diet can actually undo the benefits of the Mediterranean diet that’s been proven to be heart and brain healthy.
According to Eat This, Not That!, researchers tracked over 5,000 people for 20 years and found that those who followed the Mediterranean diet that emphasizes fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fish while eschewing red meat, processed and fried food foods, had brains that were 5.8 years younger than the folks who strayed off the diet track.
“Participants with slower cognitive decline over the years of follow-up were those who adhered closest to the Mediterranean diet along with limiting foods that are part of the Western diet, whereas participants who ate more of the Western diet had no beneficial effect of healthy food components in slowing cognitive decline,” wrote the authors of the study.
Puja Agarwal, Ph.D., one of the study’s top researchers from Rush University Medical Center, told ScienceDaily that “eating a diet that emphasizes vegetables, fresh fruit, fish, and whole grains may positively affect a person’s health. But when it is combined with fried foods, sweets, refined grains and red meat and processed meat, we observed that the benefits of eating the Mediterranean part of the diet seems to be diminished.”
Agarwal further added that the “more we incorporate leafy greens, berries, olive oil, and fish into our diets, the better it is for our aging brains and bodies,” according to Eat This, Not That! More benefits and information of the Mediterranean diet can be found here.
10 Top Flu-Fighting Foods That Boost Immune System
Newsmax – While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say that the number of cases for the 2020-21 flu season is way down this year, it’s still important to keep your immune system strong.
“Now is the time to become a health advocate and shore up your immune system, the body’s natural defense system to ward off illness and reduce your risk of disease,” Dr. Ellen Kamhi, Ph.D., author of “The Natural Medicine Chest,” tells Newsmax. “The efficient functioning of the immune system is of paramount importance to everyone, adults and children alike, since it controls our ability to fend off illness, whether it be a serious threat or even common sniffles.”
Susan Levin, MS., RD., the director of nutrition for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, adds that we should “eat the colors of the rainbow” to boost the immune system.
“The pigments that give fruits and vegetables their bright colors represent a variety of protective compounds. Eating plant-based foods plays an important role in reducing the risk of breast, prostate and other forms of cancer,” she says.
Here are 10 top immune boosting foods:
- Blueberries. The anthocyanins in blueberries destroy free radicals, reduce inflammation, and boost brain health, says Levin. One cup of blueberries provides 15% of the daily recommended amount of vitamin C. Not only is vitamin C a key nutrient that helps the immune system work properly, it is also an antioxidant that helps protect cells from damage.
- Sweet potatoes. The beta-carotene in sweet potatoes fights cancer and supports the immune system. They also contain more than three times the recommended amount of vitamin A and are a good source of B6.
- Garlic and onions. The allyl sulfides in these vegetables help destroy cancer cells and reduce cell division, notes Levin. Garlic contains the enzyme alliinase, which converts to alliin to allicin that boost immune function. You can also reap the benefits by using aged garlic extract if you do not like the strong taste of the raw or cooked product.
- Broccoli. This super healthy veggie and its cousin, Brussel sprouts, contain indoles and lutein which support eye health. They also eliminate excess estrogen and carcinogens from the body.
- Tomatoes. Tomatoes are an immune boosting powerhouse. They contain lycopene which helps prevent breast and prostate cancer, says Levin. According to research, lycopene may also reduce your risk of heart disease. Tomatoes also contain potassium which helps control blood pressure and vitamin K which is important for blood coagulation and bone health.
- Oil fish. Fish like salmon, trout, anchovies, and sardines are rich in essential omega-3 fatty acids which are a precursor to many compounds that play a defensive role in immune response, says Michelle Dudash, RDN, author of Clean Eating for Busy Families.
- Red bell peppers. Keri Glassman, MS., RD., and founder of Nutritious Life, says she hasn’t had a cold in over a decade thanks to the power of peppers. “Red peppers are one of my favorite foods to incorporate into my diet for immune-boosting benefits,” she says. They are particularly rich in vitamin C which is important for immunity, reducing the length and severity of colds, and collagen which keeps your skin healthy.
- Black Elderberries. Kamhi, aka The Natural Nurse, says that this delicious fruit, which is readily available in health food stores as a syrup, is a superhero of immune boosters. “It offers gentle yet powerful support for the immune system,” she says. As a plus, the syrup is tasty and has a flavor even kids will love.
- Yogurt. Yogurt supports a health digestive system which in turn bolsters the immune system. “The immune system is the main link between our gut bacteria and how it influences our health,” says Gabrielle Geerts, RD, from Boulder, Colorado.
- Oil of oregano. Kamhi says the oil is rich in vitamins and minerals that offer beneficial support to the immune system. Oregano is also a natural antioxidant, anti-fungal and antibacterial—which is exactly what your body needs to stay healthy. By consuming oregano in concentrated oil form, you reap the most benefits. If you don’t like the taste of the drops, you can purchase supplements in capsule form.
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