Today's News: May 21, 2019

World News
UK cabinet backs PM’s Brexit bill offer
BBC – The cabinet has agreed Theresa May’s plan for her Withdrawal Agreement Bill, including compromises intended to attract the support of Labour MPs.
It includes the idea of a temporary customs relationship until the next general election, and measures on the environment and workers’ rights.
The bill will be put to a vote in early June, and if it fails, the PM is likely to come under intense pressure to quit.
Monsanto spied on friend and foe alike in several countries to sway opinion on GMO & herbicides
RT – The recently exposed illegal dossier US herbicide maker Monsanto, now owned by German pharmaceutical firm Bayer, apparently compiled to influence public opinion, included people from seven European states and maybe beyond.
Monsanto files listing prominent pro- and anti-herbicide public figures, initially revealed by French media, included “stakeholders in France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom, as well as regarding stakeholders related to EU institutions,” AFP reported citing Bayer’s statement on Tuesday. The company added that it is currently trying to determine whether similar lists exist in other states and hired a law firm for this purpose.
Earlier in May, French media reported that around 200 journalists, politicians, and scientists were named in the filing, created by PR firm FleishmanHillard on behalf of Monsanto. The list, which covered the personalities’ views on herbicides and GMO, whether they could be further influenced and reportedly included a lot of personal data, was initially thought to exist only in France, before Bayer admitted that people in other countries might also have been targeted.
Venezuela: Where’s the petrol? Venezuela has the world’s largest oil reserves, yet people are scrambling to fill car tanks as petrol supplies dry up
Al Jazeera – For the last five years, Venezuelans have been struggling to live with an increasing shortage of food, medicine, electricity and water.
An unprecedented economic crisis and, more recently, the severe US economic sanctions aimed at forcing out President Nicolas Maduro have paralysed public service.
With hyperinflation running at over one million percent and counting, feeding a family on an average salary has become almost impossible.
One of the very few things that Venezuelans could afford was petrol because it literally cost nothing. A litre of petrol cost $0.000001. But now, even filling one’s car with the fuel has suddenly become an uphill battle for millions of Venezuelans.
Just two hours northwest of the capital, Caracas, you get the first glimpse of a crisis that is spreading.
In the state of Aragua, thousands of car owners spent Sunday in queues that were kilometres long.
“I was in the line yesterday for four hours and did not get a drop. I hope I’ll be luckier today,” said Leonardo Lopez as he waited in the heat for the queue to inch forward.
He pulled out his mobile phone to show that he and his friends had a group chat called ‘Aragua Where Is The Gasoline’ so they let each other know which petrol station still had fuel to sell.
Town offers free VIAGRA to boost birth rate
Daily Mail – A French mayor is offering free Viagra to couples in his town in order to boost the local birth rate.
Jean Debouzy, the mayor of Montereau in northern France, issued a decree saying he was ‘favourable to the distribution of the little blue pills’.
He said he was taking action because the town’s falling number of children meant that two local schools were threatened with closure.
Couples who already live in the village and others who move there from elsewhere are eligible for the pills, The Local reported.
Bomb-carrying drone from Yemen rebels targets Saudi airport
AP – Yemen’s Iranian-allied Houthi rebels said Tuesday they attacked a Saudi airport and military base with a bomb-laden drone, an assault acknowledged by the kingdom as Mideast tensions remain high between Tehran and the United States. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.
The attack on the Saudi city of Najran came after Iran announced it has quadrupled its uranium-enrichment production capacity a year after the U.S. withdrew from its nuclear deal with world powers, though still a level far lower than needed for atomic weapons.
Underlining the tensions, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is seeking expanded executive powers to better deal with “economic war” triggered by the Trump’s administration’s renewal and escalation of sanctions targeting the Islamic Republic, the state-run IRNA news agency reported Tuesday.
U.S. News, Politics & Government
GALLUP: 4 IN 10 AMERICANS EMBRACE SOCIALISM
Gallup – Americans today are more closely divided than they were earlier in the last century when asked whether some form of socialism would be a good or bad thing for the country. While 51% of U.S. adults say socialism would be a bad thing for the country, 43% believe it would be a good thing. Those results contrast with a 1942 Roper/Fortune survey that found 40% describing socialism as a bad thing, 25% a good thing and 34% not having an opinion.
Trey Gowdy: Secret FBI transcripts from Russia probe could be ‘game-changer’
Fox – Unreleased transcripts from secretly recorded conversations between FBI informants and ex-Trump campaign aide George Papadopoulos could be game-changing if the public were ever allowed to see them, according to former Rep. Trey Gowdy.
The Republican made the explosive claim during an appearance on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures,” suggesting it is likely the FBI would have transcripts of discussions between informants and Papadopoulos.
“If the bureau’s going to send in an informant in, the informant’s going to be wired, and if the bureau is monitoring telephone calls, there’s going to be a transcript of that,” he said.
Gowdy, without getting into specifics, seemed to acknowledge he’s at least aware of those files — suggesting they contain exculpatory information with regard to Papadopoulos (who served a brief sentence for false statements in connection with the Robert Mueller probe).
Federal judge upholds Congress subpoena for Trump financial records, Trump vows to appeal
RT – In a landmark move, a federal judge has ruled that the firm that handled Donald Trump’s finances before he became president must hand over the records under the subpoena issued by a Democrat-controlled House committee.
US District Court Judge Amit Mehta has sided with the House Oversight Committee in ruling that a subpoena it issued for Trump’s financial records is in line with the law. In his opinion, Mehta pointed to “broad investigative power” with which the committee is endowed while refusing to speculate whether the Democrat-driven hunt for Trump’s records is politically motivated.
“These are facially valid legislative purposes, and it is not for the court to question whether the Committee’s actions are truly motivated by political considerations,” Mehta wrote.
Dobson rips ‘thinly veiled death sentence to 1st Amendment’
WND – Then there was the abortion-right-creating Roe v. Wade high court ruling which had a foundation so shaky that even the justice who authored the majority opinion expressed doubts.
Now it’s the U.S. Congress, where the House last week adopted the Equality Act.
It is nothing less than “a thinly veiled death sentence to the First Amendment to the Constitution,” James Dobson Family Institute founder James Dobson warned on Monday.
“In the history of our nation, there have been times when evil was so apparent – and so heinous – that they stand in infamy decades later. They include the Dred Scott Decision on slavery in 1857, and the Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion in 1973. Now, we are faced with another such tragic moment in American history,” he said.
The Equality Act would embed the LGBT agenda in U.S. law. It specifically would make the Constitution’s protections for religious freedom of no account when in conflict with LGBT rights.
“A few days ago, May 17th, Democrats in the House of Representatives passed what they call The Equality Act of 2019, which is breathtaking in its scope,” Dobson explained. “If it survives a vote in the Senate, this legislation will represent one of the most egregious assaults on religious liberty ever foisted on the people of this great nation. It therein imposes a thinly veiled death sentence to the First Amendment of the Constitution, and takes away the protections against tyranny handed down to us by our founding fathers.
Texas House Approves Bill Banning Funding of Abortion Providers
Breitbart – The Texas House of Representatives passed a measure Friday night that would ban any state or local government from using taxpayer funds to partner with abortion providers, even for non-abortion services.
Senate Bill 22, authored by state Sen. Donna Campbell (R), would prohibit the state and local governments to contract with abortion providers, such as Planned Parenthood, for any services, including sex education and contraception initiatives.
New study finds 98% of FDA rules over 17 years are unconstitutional
Pacific Legal Foundation (April 29, 2019) – A study released today shows that the vast majority of Department of Health and Human Services regulations issued over a recent 17-year period are unconstitutional. The first-of-its-kind study reviewed 2,952 rules issued by HHS and found that 71% of final rules from 2001 through 2017 were issued by low-level officials and career employees who lack constitutional authority to do so.
Such rules are unconstitutional. The Constitution requires that significant government decisions must be made solely by “principal officers” appointed by the president after Senate confirmation. Issuing a regulation with the force of law is one of those actions that only principal officers can perform.
The majority of unconstitutional rules were issued by the Food and Drug Administration. Just 2% of FDA rules were issued by principal officers, while 1,860 rules were finalized and issued by career employees.
“In a democracy, those who make the rules need to be accountable to the people,” report co-author Thomas Berry, an attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation, explained. “That’s why the Framers included the Appointments Clause in the Constitution. Only properly-appointed officers in the executive branch may issue regulations that are binding on the public. This preserves democratic accountability for significant executive branch actions.”
One such rule is the controversial “Deeming Rule,” which classifies tobacco-free vaping products as tobacco products. The rule prohibits Steve Green, a California vape shop owner, from telling his customers his story about using vaping to stop smoking and recover from early signs of emphysema. PLF filed three lawsuits challenging the rule last year.
“Among the hundreds of illegal FDA rules, 25 rules were classified as significant because they had an impact on the American economy of at least $100 million or had other significant economic impacts,” said Angela Erickson, PLF’s strategic research director and co-author of the report. “Congress and the White House should ensure that this practice ends and agencies comply with the law.”
The full report is available at pacificlegal.org/HHSreport.
Gorsuch breaks with conservative justices, delivering win to Native American hunter
Fox – One of President Trump’s nominees sided Monday with the liberal wing of the Supreme Court for the second time in two weeks, as Justice Neil Gorsuch joined a narrow majority in support of a Native American man convicted for hunting in a national forest.
The case, Herrera v. Wyoming, deals with a treaty from 1868 which allowed members of the tribe to hunt in “unoccupied lands” in the U.S. in exchange for their land, which went on to become part of Wyoming and Montana. At issue was whether the hunting rights in the treaty are still in effect or were nullified when Wyoming became a state in 1890.
The opinion by Justice Sonia Sotomayor – and joined by Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Elena Kagan, Stephen Breyer, and Gorsuch – ruled that the treaty indeed still applies, and that Crow member Clayvin Herrera was improperly convicted of off-season hunting in Bighorn National Forest in 2014.
The court’s 5-4 ruling, which vacated the decision from the state appellate court, is based on the 1999 decision in Minnesota v. Mille Lacs Band of Chippewa Indians. In that case, the Supreme Court said that a territory gaining statehood is not enough “to extinguish Indian treaty rights to hunt, fish, and gather on land within state boundaries.” The court went further in that case, stating that Congress “must clearly express” an intention to end a treaty with a Native American tribe in order for the treaty’s rights to expire.
By siding with the traditionally liberal justices, Gorsuch gave them a 5-4 majority in the case.
Economy & Business
San Francisco Returns to Cash as Silicon Valley Pushes Tech on Nation
Activist Post – Is a ban on facial recognition and a return to cash showing backlash against Big Tech coming from its home turf?
As Facebook plans on rolling out a cashless payment system, San Francisco is banning credit-only stores, requiring businesses to accept cash.
District Five Supervisor Vallie Brown, who introduced the legislation, said that not allowing cash was unfair to immigrants and the homeless.
Brown wants to go further and ban Amazon’s cashless stores.
China’s pig disease outbreak pushes up global pork prices
SFgate – Hong Kong retiree Lee Wai-man loves pork fresh from the market but eats a lot less now that the price has jumped as China struggles with a deadly swine disease that has sent shockwaves through global meat markets.
China produces and consumes two-thirds of the world’s pork, but output is plunging as Beijing destroys herds and blocks shipments to stop African swine fever. Importers are filling the gap by buying pork as far away as Europe, boosting prices by up to 40% and causing shortages in other markets.
“I’m a fresh-pork lover, but it’s too expensive,” Lee, 87, said as she shopped at a Hong Kong market.
FCC Chair Backs T-Mobile and Sprint Deal, Clearing Hurdle for Merger
PCMag- FCC Chairman Backs T-Mobile, Sprint Merger With Conditions
The carriers agree to sell Boost Mobile, release an in-home broadband product, and commit to nationwide 5G buildout goals. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai says he’ll likely approve the deal, though the DOJ’s merger review is still ongoing.
Energy & Environment
U.S. Navy Warns That 5G Will Interfere With Weather Forecasting and Large Urban Areas Will Be Impacted First. FCC Auctions 5G Spectrums Anyway.
Activist Post – When it rains, it pours…
Activist Post reported last week about meteorologists warning about 5G interfering with weather forecasting. Now the U.S. Navy is chiming in with the same concerns AND including objections raised also by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
From Ars Technica:
A US Navy memo warns that 5G mobile networks are likely to interfere with weather satellites, and senators are urging the Federal Communications Commission to avoid issuing new spectrum licenses to wireless carriers until changes are made to prevent harms to weather forecasting.
The FCC has already begun an auction of 24GHz spectrum that would be used in 5G networks. But Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) today wrote a letter to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, asking him to avoid issuing licenses to winning bidders “until the FCC approves the passive band protection limits that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) determine are necessary to protect critical satellite‐based measurements of atmospheric water vapor needed to forecast the weather.”
[…]
The internal Navy memo on the topic, written on March 27 by Capt. Marc Eckardt, a Naval oceanographer, was made public by Wyden and Cantwell today.
Science & Technology
The USPS Tests Out Self-Driving Trucks for Hauling Mail
Wired – The United States Postal Service has a lot of ways to move the 484.8 million pieces of mail it handles every day. In rural Alaska, postal workers run hovercraft, prop planes, and the occasional parachute. They pilot boats in the Louisiana bayou and snowmobiles in Colorado, Minnesota, Montana, Utah, and Wisconsin. To reach the Havasupai Indian Reservation town of Supai at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, they go by mule train. And now, to carry the mail from Phoenix to Dallas, they’re letting robots do the work.
Starting Tuesday, self-driving trucks built by startup TuSimple will haul trailers full of mail and packages all by themselves. Well, mostly by themselves: The 18-wheelers will have a certified driver and safety engineer aboard, who will handle the driving on surface streets and take control from the robot as needed. The pilot project will last two weeks, and include five round trips between the cities’ distribution hubs.
Gardening, Farming & Homesteading
9 Plants to Grow that Repel Mosquitoes
Care2- You’ve likely experienced the disappointment of having an outdoor party, hike or other event ruined by a swarm of mosquitoes. If you’re looking for a natural way to get rid of these uninvited guests, try adding some mosquito-repelling plants to your garden this year.
Simply having these plants in your yard and outdoor living spaces can be helpful, but you’ll get the most benefit by crushing the leaves and flowers to release their pungent, bug-repelling essential oils. You can then rub the oils on your skin, clothing or outdoor furniture to deter mosquitoes. You can also cut and hang fresh cuttings around your home, or dry them to keep on hand for later use.

Basil

Mosquito larvae are aquatic, living underwater until they mature and emerge as adult mosquitoes. A 2009 study found that basil extract was highly toxic to mosquito larvae. Planting basil near wet areas is unlikely to directly kill mosquito larvae, but the plants may ward off any approaching adults and convince them to lay their eggs elsewhere.

Bay Laurel

Bay laurel is the plant bay leaves are taken from. This commonly used herb has been shown to contain compounds that repel various insect pests, including mosquitoes. You can also use bay leaves to ward off ants, cockroaches, flies and wasps.

Catnip

If you want to attract cats to your garden and beat bugs at the same time, catnip is a great choice. Catnip contains a compound called nepetalactone that gives the plant its distinct odor. Cats find the scent irresistible, but mosquitoes hate it. In fact, nepetalactone has been found to be about 10 times more effective than DEET in repelling mosquitoes.

Citronella Grass

Citronella grass is the plant citronella oil is derived from, which is used in a variety of insect repelling products. Citronella oil has been proven to be more effective than DEET when it’s first applied to an area, but its mosquito-repelling power slowly decreases after one hour. To maintain citronella’s strength, reapply citronella oil or crush some fresh leaves against your skin or clothing every hour or two when you’re outside.

Garlic

Research is limited so far, but the oil that’s released when you cut up garlic cloves has been reported by many to effectively repel mosquitoes. Garlic is also included in various commercial bug and mosquito repellants. The chemical compound that gives garlic its distinct smell is called allicin, which is likely what wards off bugs. If you eat garlic, the allicin will come through to your skin. This may also help prevent mosquito attacks.

Lavender

Research has shown that lavender essential oil is as effective as the chemical bug repellant DEET for repelling a variety of bugs. This is a good thing, considering that DEET-based repellants have been linked to motor function impairment and nervous system damage in humans.

Lemon Balm

Research has shown that lemon balm has a variety of natural compounds that can repel mosquitoes. In addition, researchers made an extract of basil and lemon balm that was toxic to adult mosquitoes, whether they inhaled it or came in contact with it.

Marigolds

Marigolds produce what are known as allelochemicals, which are harmful to a range of insect pests, including mosquitoes. One study extracted these allelochemicals from the roots, leaves and flowers of different species of marigold plants. The researchers found that marigold flowers have the highest amounts of insecticidal allelochemicals. So, it would likely be most effective to use marigold flowers to repel mosquitoes by crushing them and distributing them around your home.

Peppermint

A study published in Bioresource Technology found that peppermint essential oil was toxic to mosquito larvae. Also, when peppermint oil was rubbed onto human skin, it repelled 92 percent of mosquitoes across a range of species.
Health
McConnell and Kaine unveil bill to raise tobacco age to 21
Politico – Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Monday introduced legislation to raise the age for buying tobacco to 21 — now a bipartisan effort that addresses some of the criticism public health groups had of an earlier proposal they saw as too industry-friendly.
McConnell‘s bill is now joined by Virginia Democrat Tim Kaine, who has backed legislation to ban indoor smoking and some flavored products in the past. The version released would raise the age to 21 for everyone, backtracking on McConnell’s April promise to exempt “men and women who served in uniform.” Nor does his Tobacco-Free Youth Act block states from taking more stringent steps on tobacco, including moves to address the growing teen vaping epidemic.
STUDY: Poor Sleep Makes People Lonely, Anti-Social
Study Finds – By now, we should all be aware of the health dangers that come with a lack of sleep, but new research from the University of California, Berkeley suggests that poor sleeping habits can also lead a person — and even those around them — to become more anti-social.
The study finds that chronically sleep-deprived people feel lonelier and less inclined to be around or engaging with others. They avoid close contact in many of the same ways as those with severe social anxiety.
Compounding these problems is that the alienating energy produced by sleep-deprived people makes them more socially unattractive to others. The study shows well-rested people often feel lonely after a brief encounter with a sleep-deprived person, showing that social isolation can be contagious in some ways.
These findings are some of the first to show a two-way relationship between sleep loss and social isolation, suggesting a “global loneliness epidemic” may be occurring.
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Surprising Food Offers Hope for Schizophrenia
Care2 – People suffering from schizophrenia may find help in a surprising place: broccoli sprouts. That’s because new research found that one of the compounds found in this highly nutritious food may help to reset the brain chemistry of those suffering from the disease.
Schizophrenia is a chronic and severe mental disorder that affects how a person thinks, feels and behaves. People with schizophrenia may seem like they have lost touch with reality. Symptoms usually begin between the ages of 16 and 30 but, in some cases, children under 16 may have schizophrenia. Some of the most common symptoms include: hallucinations, delusions, unusual or dysfunctional ways of thinking, agitated body movements, reduced expression of emotions through facial expression or tone of voice, reduced feelings of pleasure in life, difficulty beginning and sustaining activities, and reduced speaking.
Johns Hopkins University conducted a series of studies, ultimately discovering that broccoli sprouts contain a powerful substance known as sulforaphane, which can reset brain chemistry imbalance linked to schizophrenia. Broccoli microgreens and full-size broccoli also contain this potent nutrient.
In the study, the researchers found that those suffering from schizophrenia may have imbalances in the brain linked to glutamate, which can be altered by administering sulforaphane from broccoli sprouts. The researchers hope that supplementing with broccoli sprout extract may eventually allow those people suffering from schizophrenia to reduce the antipsychotic medications needed to control the disease.
Entertainment
Arthur: Alabama Public Television bans gay wedding episode
BBC – Alabama Public Television (APT) has refused to broadcast a cartoon which shows a same-sex wedding.
The first episode of the 22nd series of children’s programme Arthur features the character Mr Ratburn marrying his partner, Patrick.
But APT instead ran an old episode, and announced it had no plans to show the premiere.
Programming director Mike McKenzie said broadcasting it would break parents’ trust in the network.
In a statement, Mr McKenzie said “parents trust that their children can watch APT without their supervision”, and that children “younger than the ‘target’ audience” might watch without parental knowledge.
Show creator WGBH and broadcaster PBS reportedly alerted local stations in April about the episode, and Mr McKenzie said this was when they decided not to air the show.