Today's News: November 06, 2019

World News

Heavily armed drug lord arrested
Daily Mail – A heavily armed suspected drug lord has been arrested and is under investigation for the slaughter of nine Americans, including three mothers and six children, after the Mormon family was ambushed in northern Mexico by cartel gunmen.
The suspect – only identified as a 30-year-old man named Leonardo – was found late Tuesday in the town of Agua Prieta, right at the border with the U.S. state of Arizona, holding two hostages who were gagged and tied inside a vehicle, Mexico’s Agency for Criminal Investigation said.
Authorities said the suspect, who is part of an El Chapo rival cartel, was also found in the possession of four assault rifles and ammunition, as well as various large vehicles including a bullet-proofed SUV.
UK: Green Party launches ‘climate election’ campaign
Al Jazeera – The Green Party is to launch its general election campaign with a pledge to borrow more than £900 billion ($1.2bn) over the next decade in a bid to rid the UK of fossil fuels.
Joint leader Sian Berry will outline the plan to turn the UK carbon neutral by 2030 as she calls on voters to make December 12 a “climate election”.
The party plans to hike corporation tax by five percent in an attempt to service the huge debt, which will be used to build 100,000 energy-efficient homes a year and upgrade national transport infrastructure.
The launch is set to take place on Wednesday morning in Bristol West, a key Green Party target seat, where the local council on Tuesday night approved plans to ban diesel cars from the city centre by 2021.
President Erdogan says Turkey captured al-Baghdadi’s wife
Al Jazeera – Turkey captured a wife of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, its president said on Wednesday, more than a week after the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS) leader killed himself during a raid by US special forces.

U.S. News, Politics & Government

Blue wave crashes down on Pennsylvania again
Inquirer – The political forces that shaped last year’s midterm elections showed no signs of abating Tuesday, as voters turned on Republicans and establishment Democrats alike in races from Philadelphia and Scranton to the suburbs of Delaware and Chester Counties.
Outside Pennsylvania, voter unrest with President Donald Trump and the Republican Party he has taken over helped deliver victories for Democrats in Kentucky, where they narrowly took the governorship, and in Virginia, where they seized complete control of the state government for the first time in more than a quarter-century.
GOP’s Bevin refuses to concede as Kentucky gubernatorial race goes down to the wire
Fox – Republican incumbent Gov. Matt Bevin refused to concede late Tuesday in Kentucky’s gubernatorial race, citing unspecified “irregularities” — potentially kickstarting weeks of uncertainty as the closely-watched contest with national implications remains too close to call.
The history-making evening also saw Republicans decisively hold onto the governorship in Mississippi despite a fierce Democratic challenge, while electing Kentucky’s first black attorney general. Democrats, meanwhile, took complete control over the Virginia statehouse for the first time in 26 years.
On Monday, Trump had called on an “angry majority” of voters to boost the relatively unpopular Bevin in Kentucky, in a nod to Richard Nixon’s “silent majority” and Ronald Reagan’s “moral majority.” But with 100 percent of precincts reporting, Bevin was behind Democratic Attorney General Andy Beshear by 5,333 votes out of more than 1.4 million counted, 49.2 percent to 48.8 percent. Libertarian candidate John Hicks received 2 percent.
The Associated Press said it could not declare a winner, owing to the tight margin. The Democratic National Committee and Beshear’s campaign, however, claimed victory.
“My expectation is that he [Bevin] will honor the election that was held tonight,” Beshear said in a speech to supporters. “That he will help us make this transition. And I’ll tell you what, we will be ready for that first day in office, and I look forward to it.”
Alleged ‘Whistleblower’ Eric Ciaramella Worked Closely with Anti-Trump Dossier Hoaxer
Breitbart -Eric Ciaramella, whom Real Clear Investigations suggests is the likely so-called whistleblower, was part of an Obama administration email chain celebrating the eventual signing of a $1 billion U.S. loan guarantee to Ukraine.
That and other emails show Ciaramella interfaced about Ukraine with individuals who played key roles in facilitating the infamous anti-Trump dossier produced by Fusion GPS and reportedly financed by Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee. One of those individuals, then-Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs Victoria Nuland (pictured), received updates on Ukraine issues from dossier author Christopher Steele in addition to Nuland’s direct role in the dossier controversy.
Roger Stone leaves first day of trial due to food poisoning
CBS – There was an unpredictable start in the Roger Stone trial Monday. The former Trump campaign adviser and longtime Republican operative had to leave early on the first day of jury selection because of food poisoning.
The trial is expected to last up to three weeks where he will fight charges of lying to Congress, witness tampering and obstruction of proceedings.
Stone entered arm in arm with his wife while one person outside of the courtroom yelled to him, “You’ll get to see Manafort soon.”
Man Underpaid Property Taxes By $8.41. County Seized Home, Sold It — Kept Profits
Reason – An 83-year-old retired engineer in Michigan underpaid his property taxes by $8.41. In response, Oakland County seized his property, auctioned it off to settle the debt, and pocketed nearly $24,500 in excess revenue from the sale.
Under Michigan law, it was all legal. And hardly uncommon.
Uri Rafaeli, who lost his property and all the equity associated with it, is just one of thousands of people to be victimized by Michigan’s uniquely aggressive property tax statute. The law, passed in 1999 in an attempt to accelerate the rehabilitation of abandoned properties, empowers county treasurers to act as debt collectors. In the process, it creates a perverse incentive by allowing treasurers’ offices to retain excess revenue raised by seizing and selling properties with delinquent taxes—even when the amount owed is miniscule, and even when the homes aren’t abandoned or blighted at all.
Organizations representing property owners like Rafaeli say the practice is unconstitutional, inequitable, and unreasonably harsh. They call it “home equity theft”—a process that’s a close relative to the civil asset forfeiture laws that have been used by police departments to similarly deprive innocent Americans of their property without due process. They are now asking the state Supreme Court to restrict the practice.
“Michigan is currently stealing from people across the state,” says Christina Martin, an attorney with the Pacific Legal Foundation, a nonprofit law firm now representing Rafaeli and other homeowners in a class-action lawsuit that will go before the Michigan Supreme Court in early November.
“Counties have been authorized to take not just what they are owed, but to take people’s life savings.”
Protesters crash Jeff Sessions campus speaking event
The College Fix – ‘That man in there has violated every single one of us!’
As shown in striking video released by Young America’s Foundation, a talk by Jeff Sessions at Northwestern University last night was crashed by furious protesters who screamed that Sessions had “violated” them and that their lives were on the line.
The campus conservative organization posted on its website that the group of activists “interrupted and protested Young America’s Foundation’s lecture featuring Attorney General Jeff Sessions.” The protesters “screamed anti-ICE chants” and also accused Sessions of being a white supremacist.
Video of the event posted to YAF’s YouTube channel shows campus police struggling with protesters in Northwestern’s Lutkin Hall. One activist repeatedly yells “Don’t touch her!” At one point a young woman loudly declares: “Black and brown lives have never fucking mattered to this university!”
Another declares that the protesters are “not being cute for the…photographers” but rather that they are “fighting for their lives right now.”
Democrat-Controlled Tucson Rejects Plan to Be Sanctuary City
Breitbart – fter Arizona passed a law that required local police to check the immigration status of people suspected to be in the country illegally, the state’s second-largest city wanted to send a message.
The Democrats who control Tucson designated their town an “immigrant welcoming city” in 2012, and the police department adopted rules limiting when officers can ask about the immigration status of people they encounter.

Economy & Business

Record 1,332 CEOs have left their jobs this year
The Hill – A record 1,332 CEOs have left their positions through October this year, a survey released Wednesday found.
Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. found that 172 CEOs stepped down last month, pushing this year’s total beyond any January through October period since the company began tracking CEO departures in 2002.
The number of exits this year is 13 percent higher than the 1,176 CEOs who announced their departure through October in 2018.
Andrew Challenger, the vice president of the company, said in the release the majority of CEO departures occurred based on “normal succession plans,” but six CEOs left in October over professional misconduct allegations.
“October was marked by a number of high-profile CEO exits, with many being held accountable for various missteps, whether in their professional handling of the company or in their personal lives,” Challenger said.
The number of CEO exits this year beats the previous record of CEO exits through October in 2008 during the Great Recession, when 1,257 CEOs left.
Most of the CEOs who exited last month, amounting to 35 chief executives, ran companies in the government/nonprofit sector. The CEOs of these companies have left at a 25 percent higher rate this year than 2018 through October.
Technology and financial companies, respectfully, have experienced the next highest CEO departure rates this year.
The study follows two months of turmoil for chief executives as the heads of WeWork, Juul, Nike, Under Armour and eBay all confirmed they were leaving their positions, NBC News reported. McDonald’s announced it fired its CEO this weekend after he had a relationship with an employee.

Energy & Environment

20% of Water Pollution Is From Your Clothing
Mercola – The dyeing and treatment of textiles uses many dangerous chemicals, such that these processes are said to contribute 20% of industrial water pollution globally.
Millions of gallons of toxic effluent are discharged from textile mills, often at high temperatures and pH, which in and of themselves are damaging.
Combined with the chemicals, the wastewater can contaminate drinking water and soil and even deplete the water of oxygen, harming marine life.
Some of the heavy metals used in dyes are known to cause cancer and accumulate in crops and fish via contaminated water and soil.
Chronic exposure to dye chemicals has also been linked to cancer and hormone disruption in animals and humans.
When shopping for clothing, make sure it’s organic, biodynamic and/or GOTS-certified, and opt out of fast fashion’s “throwaway” clothing mindset

Science & Technology

CRISPR Approach To Fighting Cancer Called ‘Promising’ In 1st Test
NPR – The powerful gene-editing technique known as CRISPR has raised a lot of hope in recent years for its potential to offer new ways to treat many diseases, including cancer. But until now, scientists have released very little information about results of tests in patients.
On Wednesday, researchers revealed data from the first study involving U.S. cancer patients who received cells genetically modified with CRISPR.
More Smartphone Lawsuits Expected. RF Radiation Exceeds Outdated Federal Safety Levels Up to 500%
Activist Post – An article published in the Chicago Tribune in August revealed that 11 smartphone models exceed very outdated federal RadioFrequency (RF) exposure safety limits.
How outdated? No “safe” levels of RF radiation have even been scientifically determined for children or pregnant women. Health experts including the American Academy of Pediatrics have warned that children are more susceptible to harm from all sources of wireless radiation and have encouraged reducing their exposure everywhere including in medical buildings, schools, etc.
Because of the Chicago Tribune article, Fegan Scott law firm started a class action lawsuit (see 1, 2). Thanks to Consumer Safety Guide for an update on their progress:
According to the suit, a user carrying a phone in his or her pocket could be exposed to levels of radiation that are more than 500% what is considered to be a safe amount. The lawsuit cites several recent publications that claim cell phone users face an increased cancer risk.
The lawsuit additionally claims that cell phone use could potentially cause:

Genetic damage
Structural and functional changes to the reproductive systems
Learning and memory deficits
Neurological disorders
Damage to overall health and well-being

Health

Lard Rated One of the Top 10 Healthiest Foods
Mercola – A 2015 analysis supports the notion that animal fats are a healthy and important part of the human diet, ranking pork lard the eighth healthiest food out of 100.
Pork fat’s nutritional fitness score was 0.73 — one of the highest scores within the “fat-rich” category. Only dried chia seeds (with a score of 0.85), dried pumpkin and squash seeds (0.84) and almonds (0.97) scored higher, and these seeds and nuts are all loaded with high levels of oxalates.
Valuable nutrients found in lard are vitamin D, omega-3 fats, monounsaturated fats (the same fats found in avocados and olive oil), saturated fats and choline.
When buying commercially-available lards, make sure they’re not hydrogenated. Most are, and hydrogenated lard will contain trans fat (although products containing 0.5 grams of trans fat per serving can claim to be trans fat free on the label).
Rendering your own lard is simple (albeit a bit time consuming). For the highest quality and nutrition, make sure the pork fat you buy is from organic pastured (free-range) hogs
STUDY: Daylight Saving Time Has Long-Term Harmful Effects On Brain
Study Finds – Neurology professor says daylight saving is not worth the harm to our bodies: ‘It’s a misalignment of our biologic clocks for eight months of the year.’
Daylight saving time is typically considered nothing more than an annoyance or simple fact of life as we “spring forward” and “fall back” each year. But, are these bi-annual adjustments to our internal clocks actually having a larger effect on our bodies than we realize? According to a new research piece conducted at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, the answer to that question is yes.
Over the course of our lives, daylight saving time greatly reduces the amount of bright morning light we experience. While this may sound trivial, morning light is essential for the synchronization of our biological clocks, and not getting enough is associated with increased risk of heart attack and ischemic stroke. In fact, researchers say these disruptions can literally change the structure of the core genes within our circadian clocks. Additionally, lack of bright morning light has been linked to partial sleep deprivation.
During each and every daylight saving time switch, the average adult’s sleep duration shrinks by about 15-20 minutes. The study’s authors say this also increases the likelihood of any number of fatal accidents.
“People think the one-hour transition is no big deal, that they can get over this in a day, but what they don’t realize is their biological clock is out of sync,” says Dr. Beth Ann Malow, professor of Neurology and Pediatrics in the Sleep Disorders Division at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, in a release.
New Strain of HIV Recorded Under Group That Caused Pandemic
WSJ – Scientists using advanced DNA sequencing technology have documented a previously unidentified strain of HIV under the group that is responsible for the vast majority of human infections.