Today's News: November 01, 2018

World News

Another U.S.-bound Caravan Crosses Into Mexico With Homemade Bombs and Guns
The New American – The second migrant caravan to come from Guatemala into Mexico since October 19 crossed into Mexico on October 29, defying a large police presence. An AP article that same day reported that members of the caravan were believed to be armed with bombs and guns. Some members of the caravan made Molotov cocktails out of gasoline-filled soft-drink bottles, and others modified PVC tubes to launch fireworks.
Mexican authorities reported that migrants attacked its agents with rocks, glass bottles, and fireworks when they broke through a gate on the Mexican end of the bridge spanning the Suchiate River, but police managed to push them back.
Mexican Interior Secretary Alfonso Navarrete Prida expressed regret for what he called a second “violent attempt” to storm the border, and accused the caravan organizers of placing the elderly, pregnant women, and children at the front, putting them at risk of being crushed.
“Fortunately, that did not happen,” said the secretary.
Despite the difficulty of crossing the border into Mexico (many waded or swam across the Suchiate River), more than 1,000 people in this second migrant caravan began walking through southern Mexico on October 30 and reached the Mexican border city of Tapachula. This placed them about 250 miles behind the first, larger caravan of about 4,000 mainly Honduran migrants that entered Mexico 10 days ago. They are more than 1,100 miles from Reynosa, across the Rio Grande from McAllen, Texas.

Election Meddling: Google Algorithm Buries ‘Blexit’
Infowars – Google is being accused of engaging in election meddling by burying Candace Owens’ Blexit website in its algorithm despite the website ranking number 1 on every other major search engine.
A user over at the Donald subreddit noticed the scandal and produced a series of screenshots to illustrate how Blexit, which is a campaign to encourage black people to leave the Democratic party, is being all but blacklisted by Google.
Typing ‘Blexit’ into Google results in nothing but negative news articles about the campaign, but that’s not the worse of it.
The first ‘Blexit’ website listed in the results is in no way related to Candace Owens’ campaign and is a totally separate organization.
This organization even had to issue an apology because people were mistakenly donating money in the belief it was going to Owens’ official Blexit campaign.

The Chinese military command monitoring Taiwan and the South China Sea has been ordered war-ready
Quartz – This week Chinese president Xi Jinping ordered the Southern Theatre Command, responsible for monitoring the South China Sea and Taiwan, to boost its military capabilities to prepare for a possible conflict, according to a Hong Kong newspaper.
During a visit to the region on Thursday (Oct. 25), Xi said it was necessary to “concentrate preparations for fighting a war,” reported the South China Morning Post, citing a transcript of Xi’s speech from state broadcaster China Central Television. “We need to take all complex situations into consideration and make emergency plans accordingly.”

Mass casualty scenario wraps up 413 Squadron’s search and rescue exercise
Canadian Military News – Sergeant Pothier was busy giving medical conditions to nine volunteer victims of a two-aircraft crash, the simulated exercise that wrapped up 413 Transport and Rescue Squadron’s week-long set of search and rescue exercises October 5. The fall search and rescue exercise (SAREX), held October 1 to 5, 2018, at 14 Wing Greenwood, Nova Scotia, combined the resources of 413 Squadron; the Canadian Coast Guard; the Halifax Joint Rescue Coordination Centre (JRCC); and the volunteer Civil Air Search and Rescue Association (CASARA) in joint scenarios over the Bay of Fundy and western Nova Scotia.

StatCan scooped up 15 years of personal financial data from Canadian credit bureau
Globalnews.ca – Global News has learned Statistics Canada has previously harvested personal financial data from a credit bureau, containing information about potentially millions of Canadians. As David Akin reports, StatsCan has not broken any rules doing this, because it doesn’t need Canadians’ consent.
>> Related: Trudeau defends Statistics Canada move to collect banking info of 500,000 Canadians

Network challenges loom large for telecom’s ‘4G on steroids’
Financial Post – The hundreds of thousands of small cells needed to run 5G are a recipe for conflict between cities and wireless carriers.
Cellphone towers disguised as pine trees, palm trees or cacti aren’t fooling many as they jut out of the natural landscape. Just google the Rogers Communications Inc. “tree” that towers over Sudbury, Ont., or the BCE Inc. ones in Muskoka, Ont.
Of course, wireless companies have for years dressed up existing steel poles in an attempt to appease cottage, beach or desert dwellers who’d rather not see the infrastructure needed to power their mobile devices.
But telecoms will need new camouflage tactics as they prepare for the 5G network evolution that will enable real-time applications such as self-driving cars and smart cities. On top of the approximately 33,000 towers already dotting the Canadian landscape, 5G networks will require a few hundred thousand small cells equipped with radio equipment and antenna.
Variously described as the size of pizza boxes, briefcases or laptops, approximately 273,000 small cells will be embedded into Canadian cityscapes over the next five to seven years, Accenture PLC estimates. You’ll find these cells every few city blocks on lampposts, buildings, newspaper boxes and bus stops, as well as in every office building because 5G operates at higher frequencies that can’t easily penetrate walls or buildings.
Yet there’s tension between the telecoms that want to build their networks as quickly as possible and the municipalities that want to know exactly what goes where and how it might affect their properties. There’s also a debate over how much the telecoms will pay for the right to latch their equipment onto existing infrastructure.
Municipalities have some say where telecom equipment goes under federal tower siting rules that require consultation for any tower taller than 15 metres. But, ultimately, the federal government has jurisdiction over everything to do with telecommunications, and it might change the rules to speed things up given the importance of 5G, which is expected to create a host of yet-to-be-dreamed-up industries, much like 4G enabled app economy players such as Uber Technologies Inc. and Airbnb Inc.
As part of the Government of Canada’s review of the broadcast, telecom and radiocommunication acts, it is consulting with the public on whether its procedures are “5G ready.” It has already acknowledged that shared responsibility over passive infrastructure presents challenges for efficient deployment.
While Canada asks questions, the U.S. has already changed its rules to constrain a city’s control over small cells on their streets.
The Federal Communications Commission last month passed an order that puts a shot clock on small cell deployment, giving municipalities 60 days to approve or deny proposals to attach a small cell to an existing structure. The order also limits the fees municipalities can charge, although it gives them leeway for “reasonable aesthetic reviews.”
Telecoms praised the change, but some municipalities are livid. The U.S. Conference of Mayors called the order a “wrongful intrusion” and a “gift” to private enterprise, and vowed to take its beef to court.

U.S. News, Politics & Government

Lindsey Graham to Introduce Bill to Eliminate Birthright Citizenship
The New America – “I plan to introduce legislation along the same lines as the proposed executive order from [the] president,” promised Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.; shown) on Tuesday.
President Donald Trump provoked an outpouring of opposition this week to his proposal to issue an executive order ending the concept of “birthright citizenship” — the stance that just because someone is born on U.S. soil, that person is automatically a citizen, at birth, of the United States.
Graham praised Trump’s effort to eliminate birthright citizenship. “Finally, a president willing to take on this absurd policy of birthright citizenship,” Graham tweeted. “I’ve always supported comprehensive immigration reform — and at the same time — the elimination of birthright citizenship.” Graham added that birthright citizenship “is a magnet for illegal immigration,” and “needs to come to an end.”

Pittsburgh synagogue massacre suspect pleads not guilty
Reuters – The man charged with opening fire in a Pittsburgh synagogue and killing 11 worshipers pleaded not guilty on Thursday in federal court to all 44 counts against him, including hate crimes and firearms offenses.
Robert Bowers, 46, an avowed anti-Semite, appeared defiant and determined in court. Dressed in a red jumpsuit and with a bandaged left arm, he walked into the courtroom with what appeared to be a swagger.
He spoke little, other than to say he understood the charges against him, and that some of them could result in the death penalty, followed by entering a plea of “not guilty.”

CNN anchor: Biggest terror threat in U.S. ‘is white men’
WND – CNN anchor Don Lemon should perhaps read his network’s news website a little more.
So concludes the Gateway Pundit blog after Lemon smeared white men in America by calling them the “biggest terror threat.”
After claiming people should not “demonize” any group or ethnicity, he did just that.
“The biggest terror threat in this country is white men, most are radicalized to the right,” Lemon claimed.

George Soros, The 2018 Midterm Elections “Not-So-Invisible Money-Muse”
Activist Post – As the midterm elections get closer, there seemingly appears more media text and coverage about George Soros, the billionaire philanthropist and societal shift-shaper. I wonder why, since he outwardly did not appear very much in media coverage over numerous months. There even was speculation about his possible demise.
However, various alt media news sites have taken an interest in what Soros and his Open Society Foundation have been doing with their funding of various campaigns under the guise of helping suppressed humans fleeing native countries varied suppressions, possibly instigated by financial help from outside “funders” as in the “Arab Spring.”
Nevertheless, there appears to be a bifurcated methodology about Soros funding. According to investigative journalist Lee Stranahan, “One of the real dangers of Soros right now is that he funds groups on the Left but he also funds the Atlantic Council,” which is an American think tank working in the field of international affairs, founded in 1961.
Lee Stranahan is an Investigative Journalist.
Currently, Stranahan writes for Sputnik, “a Russian-controlled news agency. Previously he worked for Breitbart News and has written for Huffington Post and Daily Kos. [Wikipedia]
According to Stranahan, George Soros “helped overthrow the Ukrainian government, working with the Obama State Department under Hillary Clinton and John Kerry. He helped overthrow the government of the Ukraine that was democratically-elected, [and] replaced it with somebody who was picked by Victoria Nulan, [1]” former Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs at the United States Department of State.
Stranahan, in his investigating of Soros, found that Soros funded many of the groups that participated in the Women’s March, the day after Donald J. Trump was inaugurated as the 45th President, January 21, 2017. Here’s the list of those who were partners in the march. Was the apparent ultimate goal of the march to impeach President Trump? By the way, there’s a Women’s March planned for January 2019.
The Soros money was an apparent critical infusion of resources to start the Trump impeachment rhetoric since Hillary Clinton did not win the presidency, and Soros was one of her major campaign contributors.   However, OpenSecrets.org, Center for Responsive Politics, prepared a detailed listing of George Soros, a top donor, recipients in the 2016 election cycle, which you can read here.
The Soros operation is “cause and effect” to understanding how the world operates, since Soros money funds Media Matters, which Stranahan says never exposes Hillary Clinton’s interesting political career! Below Lee Stranahan parses George Soros, his scope and breadth, and philanthropy.

Economy & Business

U.S. labor market tightening; manufacturing slowing
Reuters – New applications for U.S. unemployment aid fell last week and the number of Americans receiving benefits was the lowest in more than 45 years as labor market conditions tightened further.
Other data on Thursday showed worker productivity slowing in the third quarter, but still growing at a relatively decent clip and compensation surging, adding to recent reports and anecdotal evidence that the strong labor market was pushing up wage gains.
The economy’s upbeat outlook was tempered by news that manufacturing activity slowed in October as a measure of new orders dropped to its lowest level in 1-1/2 years.
Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 2,000 to a seasonally adjusted 214,000 for the week ended Oct. 27, the Labor Department said. Data for the prior week was revised to show 1,000 more claims received than previously reported. Claims fell to 202,000 during the week ended Sept. 15, which was the lowest level since November 1969.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast claims falling to 213,000 in the latest week. The Labor Department said claims for North Carolina continued to be affected by Hurricane Florence, while Hurricane Michael impacted those for Florida and Georgia.

Trump would veto any effort to increase taxes, says White House adviser
The Hill –   Trump would veto any effort to increase taxes, says White House adviser
President Trump would veto any bill that increases taxes, should Democrats win a House majority on Election Day, Trump’s top economic adviser said Thursday.
“President Trump would veto tax hikes,” White House Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow said at a Washington Post event.
Kudlow also said that he would personally oppose any tax increases in the context of a potential bipartisan deal to bring down the national debt.
“Absolutely not,” he said, before adding that he could not speak for Trump on that matter.
Kudlow also ruled out other avenues of debt reduction. He said Trump would not make any changes to Social Security or Medicare, programs the president promised to preserve but that congressional Republicans say are key drivers of the debt. Cuts to defense spending are also off the table, Kudlow said.
That leaves only discretionary non-defense spending, the part of the federal budget that covers everything from health to education to foreign aid, but comprises about 14 percent of all government spending. Trump has proposed a 5 percent across-the-board cut to non-defense spending, a proposal he would formalize in what Kudlow said would be his “toughest budget yet.”
Tax increases were not necessary to bring down rapidly expanding deficits and debt, Kudlow said, adding that sustained economic growth of 3 percent would be enough to combat higher debt.

Energy & Environment

Japan announces new plan to drain radioactive Fukushima water DIRECTLY into the Pacific Ocean
NaturalNews – Government authorities in Japan have announced new plans to start dumping highly radioactive wastewater from the failed Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power facility directly into the Pacific Ocean.
Though the amount of radiation in the water far exceeds legally-permitted levels, according to the plant’s operator and documents reviewed by the U.K.’s Telegraph, there’s apparently no other place to put it at the site, which is on the verge of seeing its storage capacity completely maxed out.
Reports indicate that approximately 1.09 million tons of contaminated water currently being stored inside 900 tanks at Fukushima will soon be drained in the Pacific in order to make more space for new water, a move that’s sparking outrage among local residents and a number of environmental organizations that worry about what the vast contamination will do to the world’s largest body of water.

Another Climate-change Prediction Bites the Dust: Islands Aren’t Shrinking
The New American – For decades, global-warming alarmists have been predicting that low-lying islands in the Pacific and Indian Oceans would soon vanish because of rising sea levels. But according to a new study, the overwhelming majority of these islands have not shrunk, and some have even grown.
“Over the past decades, atoll islands exhibited no widespread sign of physical destabilization in the face of sea-level rise,” reads the abstract of the study, published in the journal WIREs Climate Change. “A reanalysis of available data, which cover 30 Pacific and Indian Ocean atolls including 709 islands, reveals that no atoll lost land area and that 88.6% of islands were either stable or increased in area, while only 11.4% contracted.”
“Importantly,” wrote study author Virginie K. E. Duvat, a professor of coastal geography at France’s University of La Rochelle, “islands located in ocean regions affected by rapid sea-level rise showed neither contraction nor marked shoreline retreat, which indicates that they may not be affected yet by the presumably negative, that is, erosive, impact of sea-level rise.”
In fact, Duvat found that local human activity, far more than alleged climate change, was responsible for island shrinkage. “Land reclamation and causeway construction caused major changes in island land area and configuration not only in urban, but also in rural atolls,” she explained, adding that the “removal and the clearing of the native vegetation, respectively caused marked changes in island configuration and shoreline destabilization on some islands.”

Science & Technology

Google staff walk out over women’s treatment
BBC – Staff at Google offices around the world are staging an unprecedented series of walkouts in protest at the company’s treatment of women.
The employees are demanding several key changes in how sexual misconduct allegations are dealt with at the firm, including a call to end forced arbitration – a move which would make it possible for victims to sue.
Google chief executive Sundar Pichai has told staff he supports their right to take the action.
“I understand the anger and disappointment that many of you feel,” he said in an all-staff email. “I feel it as well, and I am fully committed to making progress on an issue that has persisted for far too long in our society… and, yes, here at Google, too.”
A Twitter feed titled @googlewalkout has documented the movement at Google’s international offices.
Google staff in Zurich, London, Tokyo, Singapore and Berlin were among those to take part.

Mystery as giant plume of ‘smoke’ appears on Mars
The Sun – A BIZARRE image shows what looks like a giant plume of smoke stretching 900 miles over the surface of Mars – despite fire being impossible on the Red Planet.
Astronomers have been watching the curious cloud for more than a month through pictures beamed back from a European probe circling the planet.
It has remained in place since September 13 over Arsia Mons, a volcano near the Martian equator, the European Space Agency said.
But Arsia Mons has been extinct for around 50million years and no volcanic activity is producing the cloud, reports Space.com.
And fire is impossible because there is very little oxygen in the thin atmosphere, which is mostly carbon dioxide.
The ESA said the same orbiter spacecraft, named Mars Express, and its predecessors have spotted similar clouds at least three times before.
The cloud appears to billow from the extinct volcano Arsia Mons but it is not produced by volcanic activity, the ESA said.
The cloud structures all formed around the same time in the Martian year.
And that’s not a coincidence, scientists say.
ESA boffins reckon the cloud contains water ice and has been created by wind flowing along the side of the 12-mile-high, 150-mile-wide volcano.
The feature is what scientists call an orographic or lee cloud, which forms downwind of an obstacle.

Health

Elderberry: The ‘Miracle Fruit’ That Kept People Healthy Prior To Vaccines
OffGirdNews – The common cold and the flu have been around for a long time. Today, people use preventative measures as well as over-the-counter remedies to stay healthy, but what did our ancestors do before pharmacies and modern medicines were commonplace?
One of the most commonly used flu and cold remedies was elderberries. In fact, it’s still used in medicines today. You can buy elderberry-based cough syrups, which have been proven to reduce the severity of the common cold or flu, in your local pharmacy.
How Can Elderberries Help?
Elderberries (Sambucus nigra), which are native to a few parts of Europe and the US, come from a flower bush that produces small, black/purple fruits, similar to mulberries. They taste something like a strong blackberry.
Please note that the leaves of elderberry bushes can be poisonous, so don’t eat them or use them for tea. Elderberries need to be cooked prior to use or they can cause intense vomiting and diarrhea.
Numerous studies back up claims that the elderberry contains anti-viral compounds, which prevent you from becoming infected in the first place – and shorten the duration and severity of the illness when you do get sick.

Garlic Boosts Your Health and Fights Cancer, Scientists Confirm
Newsmax – As scientists look more deeply into the effects of diet on health, they’re finding that more and more everyday foods offer benefits that go well beyond making dishes tastier.
Garlic, an ingredient found in almost every type of cuisine, is emerging as one such superfood.
Part of the allium family, which includes onions and leeks, garlic has a number of compounds that supply its health-boosting effects as well as its pungent aroma. According to wide-ranging research, garlic seems to improve immunity and heart health, help fight certain cancers, and lower triglycerides and total cholesterol.
Some of these benefits can be seen after eating just one meal with raw garlic. Yet overall there’s enough evidence to have at least half a clove every day, researchers suggest.
Garlic is readily available and relatively inexpensive. Buy one whole head of garlic at a time — the skin should be dry and papery and the visible bulbs should be firm and full, not shriveled.
To get the most benefits, chop, slice or crush fresh garlic to use it. This fires up a process that makes its compounds more potent. Wait 5 to 10 minutes before eating or adding to a dish, especially if you’ll be mixing it with a highly acidic food like lemon juice.
Some easy ways to use minced raw garlic are to blend it into avocado, along with red onion, jalapeno and cilantro for guacamole; into chickpeas for hummus; or into cooked white beans for bean dip. Whisked into oil and vinegar with your choice of herbs, garlic adds zest to salad dressings and marinades.
But you don’t have to always eat it raw. As long as the garlic is prepped as suggested and added toward the end of a recipe, it will retain its nutritional value when cooked.