March 29, 2024

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Today's News: October 03, 2018

World News
 
Paris to ban cars one Sunday a month
Independent – Paris’s city centre is going car-free for the first Sunday of every month to help improve air quality and share public spaces more fairly.
Starting 7 October, the move is part of the French capital’s Paris Respire initiative, spearheaded by Mayor Anne Hidalgo.
It’s already in place in several parts of the city, but will now be rolled out to the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th arrondissements.
 
Trump told Saudi King he wouldn’t last ‘2 weeks’ without US support
RT – The Saudi Arabian monarchy would fall “within two weeks” if it wasn’t for the military support that the US has provided to the Gulf kingdom over the decades, Donald Trump noted in graceless remarks to the King.
 
US says Palestine ‘not a state,’ withdraws from Vienna Convention’s ‘optional protocol’
RT – The US is withdrawing from the “optional protocol” in the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, John Bolton has confirmed. He said it follows a case brought by Palestine, challenging the US embassy’s move to Jerusalem.
 
UN court orders Washington to lift Iran sanctions linked to humanitarian goods, civil aviation
RT -The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ordered the US to lift sanctions on Iran which are linked to humanitarian goods and civil aviation.
 
U.S. News, Politics & Government
 
Ford’s boyfriend: She coached a friend on polygraphs
The Federalist – Fox’s @johnrobertsFox obtains letter from Ford ex-boyfriend alleging: dated for 6 yrs, never told of sex assault, Ford coached friend on taking polygraph, flew frequently w/o expressing any fear of flying/tight spaces/limited exits. Doesn’t want to b/c “involved”.
The sworn statement from Ford’s ex-boyfriend directly contradicts what Ford repeatedly told the Senate under oath last week about her alleged lack of experience with polygraph exams, suggesting that Ford may have lied to the Senate panel.
 
New US Law Obliges Americans to Pay Unlimited Billions to Israel
Investmentwatchblog – Good news! You’ll be relieved to know that once again Israeli interests are trumping the interests of Heritage Americans. You and your children will be given the honor of paying for Israel’s security with no limits on how much can be stolen from you. From The New Observer.
In what has been described as an “unprecedented gift of executive power to Israel,” the US Congress has passed for the very first time a law that forces the American president to give Israel a minimum of $3.8 billion per year—without limitation and no matter what Israel does.
Passed by the House of Representatives on September 12, 2018, the “United States-Israel Security Assistance Authorization Act of 2018” rolls back any limitations that the US places on the amount of “aid” American taxpayers must hand over to Israel.
The bill states in “Sec. 102. Statement of Policy) that it “shall be the policy of the United States to provide assistance to the Government of Israel in order to support funding for cooperative programs to develop, produce, and procure missile, rocket, projectile, and other defense capabilities to help Israel meet its security needs and to help develop and enhance United States defense capabilities.”
According to a review of the law published by the If Americans Knew group,the AIPAC-lobbied law, introduced by Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Florida), whose maternal grandparents were Sephardic Jews, originally from the Ottoman Empire, who had been active in Cuba’s Jewish community, and Ted Deutch (D-Florida), whose grandparents were Jewish immigrants from Belarus, the bill is “even more generous to Israel than the Senate bill and the 2016 Memorandum of Understanding and “amounts to $7,230 per minute to Israel, or $120 per second.”
The If Americans Knew review adds that the bill “guarantees $38 billion to Israel over the next ten years” and “is a dramatic departure from the deal offered under President Obama’s 2016 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).
 
Trump Administration Backs Deadly 5G Technology, and His Supporters Are Silent
Edward Griffin – Activist, Gary Gileno, explains that 5G (fifth-generation cellular technology) is being built to enable artificial intelligence to control the Internet of things, which is everything we use with a computer chip in it.  AI is expected to take over many jobs through robotics, and Trump is streamlining and giving the process a fast track. 5G also will be used to implement the UN’s Agenda 2030, which is a blueprint for global collectivism. 5G is being sold to the public by promises of super-fast download speeds.  Israel invented 5G, but will not be implementing it – for good reason.
5G produces millimeter waves that easily can be activated as a military weapon against civilians, which may be why the government declines to publicly test it for negative health effects.
The Trump administration is focused on encouraging private-sector investment in 5G through tax incentives and reduced regulations.  Ajit Pai, the head of the FCC, who oversees the allocation of the wireless spectrum, repealed net neutrality rules earlier this year primarily to free up additional wireless spectrum.
 
‘Google manipulates 25% of world’s elections’
WND – Throughout history totalitarianism has been associated with storm troopers, blitzkriegs and superior firepower, but a bestselling author and filmmaker says it’s creeping into American culture, subverting privacy rights, instituting censorship, imposing speech codes and threatening free elections – without a government action or a shot being fired.
This “existential threat” facing the U.S. is posed by unaccountable tech monopolies involved in the most massive surveillance programs in the history of the world in which they have romanced citizens to turn over their most precious secrets, which will soon make Google the next $1 trillion monopoly, says Peter Schweizer, president of the Government Accountability Institute, author of “Clinton Cash” and producer of the new film “The Creepy Line.”
It’s all about surveillance capitalism, manipulation of the political culture, blacklisting and the potential for a stealth power coup.
Already, one of the scientists featured in the film claims one-quarter of the world’s elections are already being impacted.
 
FBI Withholds ‘Secret’ Records In Quiet Uranium One FOIA Release
The FBI published Uranium One records but held back 37 pages. Network media are only telling the part of the story that everyone already knows.
Nearly a decade ago, the Federal Bureau of Investigation planted an informant inside the Russian nuclear industry and recently “found” 37 pages of related assessment memos that they’re desperately fighting to keep secret.
The records could solidly implicate the Clinton’s and their foundation in Uranium One corruption, along with high ranking advisers to Barack Obama. These ‘spy’ memos, from a plant inside Rosatom could be another link in the chain that leads to shackles and handcuffs.
The bribery, money laundering and other crimes have already been proven in court. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein was the prosecutor credited with securing the convictions. The real question is why did the FBI and the Department of Justice keep the investigation going for nearly ten years, when they had all the evidence they needed to convict in 2010?
Insiders hope the missing pages spell out exactly what investigating agents told the Obama administration, particularly Hillary Clinton, who was Secretary of State at the time, about what crimes were uncovered. President Donald Trump has the authority to release them.
President Trump’s administration created an “online vault” where items responsive to Freedom of Information Act requests are publicly posted, making the records available to anyone. The FBI very quietly uploaded a folder recently, titled “Uranium One Transaction,” without any fanfare, as if they were hoping nobody would notice it was there.
Along with a handful of already public letters from lawmakers demanding Uranium One answers, was a “declaration” and a “list of withheld documents,” The Hill reports.
 
The Secret Algorithm That Could Send You to Prison, Take Your Kids, or Crash Your Car
ZeroHedge – A man faces murder charges. And the main witness against him is a computer algorithm.
The algorithm analyzes complex DNA samples. It decides if the DNA of the accused is present in a sample.
Naturally, the defendant wants to know how exactly the algorithm works.
And he has good cause to wonder. His earlier conviction for the same murder had relied on a different DNA testing machine.
But scientists later decided the algorithm wasn’t quite right. The evidence that convicted him was changed from positive to inconclusive.
He had been sitting in prison, convicted of murder, based on a faulty algorithm!
So at the new trial, the defense asks to examine the new machine’s algorithm. But the company that designed the algorithm doesn’t like that idea.
The algorithm is a trade secret. It was costly to develop, and they don’t want that secret getting out.
We’re living in the age of algorithms.
An algorithm chooses which music you listen to. And Spotify does a pretty good job… A faulty algorithm might force you to listen to a gospel song instead of gangster rap. Not the biggest deal…
But what happens when an algorithm for a self-driving car has to decide between hitting a group or pedestrians, or plunging itself—and you—off a cliff?
The algorithm becomes a matter of life and death.
Before you get in a self driving car, you’ll want to know a little bit about the algorithm.
What kind of split-second decisions has it been programmed to make?
What data inputs are considered?
And who exactly wrote the algorithm? Remember, algorithms still have a human component. And humans are inherently biased. Their subjective opinions will inevitably make it into the algorithm.
When an algorithm convicts the defendant in a murder trial… that too is life or death.
Some child protective services use an algorithm to decide which kids to take. The algorithm assigns a risk score based on inputs like how many calls the department has received, and if the parents are hostile towards caseworkers.
Other courts already use an algorithm to figure out the recidivism risk—if a criminal is likely to re-offend. The higher the risk, the longer the sentence.
 
REPORT: FBI Lacks Approval to Talk to Kavanaugh, Ford
Bloomberg – The FBI hasn’t interviewed Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh or Christine Blasey Ford because it doesn’t have clear authority from the White House to do so, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.
When Amazon made a much-hyped announcement that it was raising its hourly wage to a minimum of $15, even socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders was happy.
But the company followed shortly after with another, much less-hyped, confirmation that it is killing employee bonus programs to pay for the raises for those previously earning less than the new $15 standard.
“An employee earning $15.25 an hour who has worked for Amazon for more than three years in Arizona crunched the numbers. Although he is getting a $1 an hour raise, which would equate to as much as $2,080 in additional pay a year, he said he could have earned a few thousands of dollars more from the incentive programs,” explained a Yahoo report.
“Amazon isn’t giving its employees a raise, they’re taking money from us,” the worker said. “It only looks good if folks don’t know the truth.”
 
Economy & Business
 
Surprise! Amazon cuts bonus program to pay for raises
WND – Announced wage of $15, but worker says, ‘It only looks good if folks don’t know the truth’
When Amazon made a much-hyped announcement that it was raising its hourly wage to a minimum of $15, even socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders was happy.
But the company followed shortly after with another, much less-hyped, confirmation that it is killing employee bonus programs to pay for the raises for those previously earning less than the new $15 standard.
“An employee earning $15.25 an hour who has worked for Amazon for more than three years in Arizona crunched the numbers. Although he is getting a $1 an hour raise, which would equate to as much as $2,080 in additional pay a year, he said he could have earned a few thousands of dollars more from the incentive programs,” explained a Yahoo report.
“Amazon isn’t giving its employees a raise, they’re taking money from us,” the worker said. “It only looks good if folks don’t know the truth.”
 
Retail Apocalypse Picks Up Speed: Sears, JCPenney, Brookstone, Mattress Firm Spiral Toward Bankruptcy
Activist Post – Over 20 major retailers have filed for bankruptcy since the beginning of last year, and in 2018 we may break the all-time record for annual store closings that was established just last year.  We are in the midst of the worst retail apocalypse in American history, and it appears to be picking up speed as retail giants such as Sears, JCPenney, Brookstone and Mattress Firm spiral toward bankruptcy. We live at a time when the middle class is being systematically destroyed, and so the truth is that U.S. consumers simply do not have as much discretionary income as they once did.  Many large retailers believed that things would eventually turn around, and they have been fighting very hard to survive, but now time has run out for quite a few of them.
 
Science & Technology
 
Touchdown! Japan space probe lands new robot on asteroid
AFP – Japanese probe landed a new observation robot on an asteroid on Wednesday as it pursues a mission to shed light on the origins of the solar system.
The French-German Mobile Asteroid Surface Scout, or MASCOT, launched from the Hayabusa2 probe, landed safely on Ryugu and was in contact with its team, the lander’s official Twitter account said.
 
Dulles Facial Recognition Tech Nabs 3 Impostors In 40 Days
AP – New facial recognition technology has identified three impostors at Washington Dulles International Airport.
Citing a U.S. Customs and Border Protection release, The Washington Post reports a woman arriving on a Monday flight from Accra, Ghana, presented a U.S. passport, but the facial recognition technology reported a mismatch. A secondary inspection and biometric examination identified her as a 26-year-old citizen of Cameroon, not the United States.
The release says the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority partnered with CBP to use biometric entry and exit technology using facial comparison to bolster security and efficiency for international travelers.
Officers at Dulles previously intercepted a Congolese man using a French passport Aug. 22 and a Ghanaian woman using a U.S. passport Sept. 8.
Posing as another person when entering the United States violates immigration law
 
Scientists find light-dependent bacteria thriving in total darkness
WND – A team of scientists researching, among other things, cyanobacteria in a mine shaft deep beneath the earth’s surface in Spain.
Cyanobacteria ordinarily requires light, since it uses photosynthesis to survive.
Or that’s what scientists thought.
But there’s new research reported by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that has found cyanobacteria thousands of feet below the surface, in complete darkness, in the Rio Tinto region of Spain.
Gizmodo reported the team led by Fernando Puente-Sánchez from the Spanish Centre of Astrobiology in Madrid drilled a 2,011-foot-long borehole into the rock, pulling up cylinder-shaped sample.
“Back at the lab, Puente-Sánchez’s team found traces of bacteria living in the rock’s crevices, which is not surprising. Back in 2006, for example, scientists found bacteria almost two miles beneath the surface. What was surprising, however, was the discovery of living cyanobacteria within the rocky sample,” Gizmodo said.
“That’s weird because cyanobacteria, like plants, acquire energy via photosynthesis, whereas ‘regular’ bacteria eat dead or decaying matter.”
The research report noted “their ecological range appeared to be restricted to environments with at least occasional exposure to sunlight.”
 
Health
 
CT scans may increase your risk of brain tumors
NaturalNews – A computed tomography (CT) scan can be an incredibly useful tool in diagnosing certain problems and possibly helping people get much-needed treatment in time to make a difference. However, this usefulness comes with a great price: It increases the risk of brain tumors, especially in children, according to a new study that was published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
The problem is that CT scans deliver far higher doses of radiation than other types of tests. This can be especially taxing on children, who are also more vulnerable to malignancies related to radiation than adults and also have more time ahead in their lifetime to show the effects of radiation.
The researchers looked at more than 168,000 Dutch children who had been given one or more CT scans in the years from 1979 to 2012 and analyzed the cancer incidence among these groups. In particular, they wanted to evaluate the risks of leukemia and brain tumors following childhood CT scan radiation exposure as these are the most common malignancies related to radioactivity in children and young adults.
They found that the overall incidence of cancer was 1.5 times higher than expected. They also discovered that the risk of malignant and nonmalignant brain tumors separately, as well as that for all types of brain tumors combined, increased with exposure to higher doses of radiation. For example, the relative risks raised between two to four times in the highest dose category.
 
Excessive inflammation linked to rapid and severe bone loss, according to study
NaturalNews – One day, you’re walking in the park without a care in the world. The next day, you’re bound to your chair and unable to walk because of swollen feet and ankles – all because of joint inflammation.
The results of a recent study, however, do not just limit the effects of inflammation to immobilizing a person. The study, published in the Journal of Dental Research, indicated that too much swelling destroys bones. The University of Buffalo research team explained that the absence of the protein tristetraprolin (TTP), which controls inflammation, makes even healthy mice develop the bones of its much older counterparts. In the span of nine months, mice without TTP lost almost 20 percent of their oral bone.
In the same study, researchers revealed that mice without the gene for TIP aged faster than the rest. They had periodontitis, an inflammatory illness that damages gums, destroys the jaw bone and even causes tooth loss. The mice also had arthritis, eczema and other inflammatory problems.
 
Processed meat ‘linked to breast cancer’
BBC – Regularly eating foods like bacon and sausages may raise the risk of breast cancer, according to researchers.
A review of studies found women who ate high levels of processed meat had a 9% increased risk of the cancer compared with those who ate little of it.
The study backs up previous findings of the World Health Organization, which says processed meats cause cancer.

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