Today's News: September 20, 2019

World News

Threatened by Social Credit Score, Christians in China Replace Ten Commandments With Xi Jinping Quotes
Chinese Communist Party wants to “become God”
Infowars – China is forcing Christian churches to replace the Ten Commandments with quotes from Chinese President Xi Jinping by threatening to ban congregations from work and travel.
The Chinese Communist Party is trying to “sinicize” Christianity in China which is officially atheist, according to a journalist who covers religious liberty in the country.
“Implementing its ultimate goal of becoming the sole deity revered in China, the CCP continues to smother the Christian doctrine, replacing it with the party line,” he wrote. “The Ten Commandments are the basis of Christian moral code, an essential part of believers’ life throughout the world.”
“But in atheist China, they have become an eyesore for the country’s dictator, and are eliminated from places of worship.”
In particular, the Ten Commandments have been removed from every Three-Self protestant church near Luoyang, and some of the churches were even shut down for refusing to do so.
The enforcement is aided by China’s social credit score, which scores citizens by their government compliance – and citizens with poor scores are unable to work and travel.
“Some congregations have been threatened to be blacklisted by the government, meaning that their travels will be restricted and schooling and future employment of their offspring will be impeded if they refused to overhaul their churches according to the current national policies,” the journalist reported. “Disobeying the orders means opposition to the Communist Party, officials claimed.”
One of the Xi Jinping quotes is from 2015 when the party leader said China’s “religious thought, doctrines, and teachings” need to conform “with the needs of the progress of the times.”
Shocking Papal Audience Message in preparation for the Return of Cardinal Pell
Cardinal Pell expected to publicly repent and be allowed back to Rome
Infowars – Because of sinfulness human projects will always fail, but the Church remains steadfast even in times of scandal because it is sustained by the Holy Spirit, Pope Francis said only a few hours ago (on Wednesday 18th, 2019) in preparation of the imminent return of Cardinal Pell who will publicly repent and be allowed back to Rome.
The Pope said: “Let us think of the history of Christians, including the history of the Church, with so many sins, with so many scandals, with so many bad things in these two millennia. And why did it not collapse? Because God is there.”
“We are sinners, and so often we even give scandal. But God is with us,” he added. “But the Lord always saves. Strength is ‘God with us.’”
Pope Francis noted in contrast, human projects always fail, pointing to the many political projects of history, including the empires and dictatorships of the last century.
“They felt very powerful, they thought they dominated the world. And then they all collapsed,”he stated. “Even today, think of today’s empires: they will collapse, if God is not with them, because the strength that men have in themselves is not lasting. Only the strength of God endures.”
During his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Francis continued his catechesis on the Acts of the Apostles with a reflection on the importance of the Holy Spirit.
In the fifth chapter of Acts, the Apostles are facing opposition from Jews, but they “respond with courage,” showing they possess the “obedience of faith,” Francis said.
They have this courage, he said, because from Pentecost they are no longer alone, but the Holy Spirit is working through them.
“They feel they cannot say, ‘I’ alone,”he added. “Strengthened by this covenant, the Apostles do not let themselves be intimidated by anyone. They had an impressive courage!”
Pope Francis noted that at Jesus’ arrest, the disciples ran away like cowards. “But, from cowards they have become so brave. Why? Because the Holy Spirit was with them.”
“The same happens to us: if we have the Holy Spirit inside, we will have the courage to move forward, the courage to win many struggles, not for ourselves but for the Spirit that is with us,”he said, pointing to the martyrs, who gave their lives and never hid their Christian identity.

U.S. News, Politics & Government

UPDATE: Military to present Trump with several options on Iran…
AP – The Pentagon will present a broad range of military options to President Donald Trump on Friday as he considers how to respond to what administration officials say was an unprecedented Iranian attack on Saudi Arabia’s oil industry.
In a White House meeting, the Republican president will be presented with a list of potential airstrike targets inside Iran, among other possible responses, and he will be warned that military action against the Islamic Republic could escalate into war, according to U.S. officials familiar with the discussions who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The national security meeting will likely be the first opportunity for a decision on how the U.S. should respond to the attack on a key Middle East ally. Any decision may depend on what kind of evidence the U.S. and Saudi investigators are able to provide proving that the cruise missile and drone strike was launched by Iran, as a number of officials, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, have asserted.
Iran has denied involvement and warned the U.S. that any attack will spark an “all-out war” with immediate retaliation from Tehran.
Pompeo and Vice President Mike Pence have condemned the attack on Saudi oil facilities as “an act of war.” Pence said Trump will “review the facts, and he’ll make a decision about next steps. But the American people can be confident that the United States of America is going to defend our interest in the region, and we’re going to stand with our allies.”
The U.S. response could involve military, political and economic actions, and the military options could range from no action at all to airstrikes or less visible moves such as cyberattacks. One likely move would be for the U.S. to provide additional military support to help Saudi Arabia defend itself from attacks from the north, since most of its defenses have focused on threats from Houthis in Yemen to the south.
Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, emphasized to a small number of journalists traveling with him Monday that the question of whether the U.S. responds is a “political judgment” and not for the military.
“It is my job to provide military options to the president should he decide to respond with military force,” Dunford said.
Trump will want “a full range of options,” he said. “In the Middle East, of course, we have military forces there and we do a lot of planning and we have a lot of options.”
More public schools are embracing the Bible. Is it literature, or religion?
Drawing the line between church and state in classrooms has long been fraught. A campaign by conservatives aimed at cultivating cultural identity is stirring anew debate about what role the world’s bestselling book should play in education.
CS Monitor – “What does holy mean?” asks Jamie Davis, a local youth pastor in Cochran, Georgia.
The seventh graders, their faces lit through stained-glass windows of biblical scenes at Bethany Baptist Church, go silent. The word is of course everywhere in the Bible, which they are here to study for academic credit. Though half of the students are regular church-goers, they are all stumped.
“It means set apart,” says Mr. Davis.
That notion of holy as separate is at the crux of a growing controversy around Bible literacy classes that are springing up in public schools around the country – or offered in coordination with the school system, as here in Cochran.
In 2019, 13 bills promoting Bible elective classes have been proposed in 11 states, with three states – Alabama, Arkansas, and Georgia – signing bills into law. The classes are supposed to be purely academic, but they’re part of a larger conservative initiative that critics say is promoting a Christian worldview in a country where Muslim shopkeepers in Dallas are equally as American as the cattle ranchers here on the plains of middle Georgia.
The legislative flurry is resurfacing a decades-old debate about what role – if any – the world’s best-selling book should play in American public schools. As in the past, it centers around strongly held views of the importance of the Bible to American cultural identity that clash with opponents’ desire to be inclusive of those of differing – or no – faith.
But religious conservatives are driven by a new sense of urgency as they perceive their values to be sidelined or even denigrated by increasingly mainstream progressive views, and they sense a political opening with the election of President Donald Trump and his public support for Bible literacy classes.
This issue has a certain type of cycle to it. It never disappears completely,” says Steven Green, a professor of law and history at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon, and author of “The Bible, the School, and the Constitution: The Clash that Shaped Modern Church-State Doctrine.”
“I think it’s because we do have certain members of the community in the United States … who feel their vision of what the United States represents is under threat and is being challenged,” he says.
Revealed: how US senators invest in firms they are supposed to regulate
Analysis of financial disclosure data shows 51 senators and their spouses have as much as $96m invested in corporate stocks
The Guardian – As they set national policy on important issues such as climate change, tech monopolies, medical debt and income inequality, US senators have glaring conflicts of interest, an investigation by news website Sludge and the Guardian can reveal.
An analysis of personal financial disclosure data as of 16 August has found that 51 senators and their spouses have as much as $96m personally invested in corporate stocks in five key sectors: communications/electronics; defense; energy and natural resources; finance, insurance and real estate; and health.
The majority of these stocks come from public companies, and some are private.
Overall, the senators are invested in 338 companies – including tech firms such as Apple and Microsoft, oil and gas giants including ExxonMobil and Antero Midstream, telecom companies including Verizon, and major defense contractors such as Boeing – in the five sectors as categorized by Sludge.
Congressional financial disclosures present investments in dollar ranges, not exact amounts, so all data in this report comes in ranges, some very wide. The median stock investment range in the five sectors for the 51 senators is between $100,000 and $365,000, while the average range of the investments is between $551,000 and nearly $1,874,000.
Not only are the senators far wealthier than most of their constituents, but they’re in a prime position to increase their wealth via policymaking.
It’s not illegal for members of Congress to have personal financial stakes in the industries on which they legislate. But such investments raise questions about lawmakers’ motivations. If a representative on the House financial services committee owns hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of stock in Bank of America, how might this investment affect their questioning of Bank of America’s CEO in a hearing? Could it influence how they legislate and vote on banking issues?
While some members of Congress do try to limit possible conflicts of interest others claim their personal finances could never influence their conduct as elected representatives of the people, or fail to acknowledge concerns about their finances.
Senator Joe Manchin, the ranking member on the Senate energy and natural resources committee, owns between $1m and $5m worth of non-public stock in his family coal business, Enersystems, making him the only Democratic senator who is directly profiting from the environmentally devastating coal business.
Despite pressure from the left, the Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, made Manchin the ranking member of the committee, and Manchin did not divest his coal holdings.
Some senators want to do away with these perceived conflicts of interest. Senator Elizabeth Warren introduced anti-corruption legislation in August 2018 that included a ban on members of Congress, senior congressional staff, cabinet secretaries, White House staff, federal judges and other officials from owning individual stocks, bonds, commodities, futures and other types of securities while in office.
The senators Sherrod Brown and Jeff Merkley introduced the Ban Conflicted Trading Act in December to prevent members of Congress and senior staff from trading individual corporate stocks.
LOL: MSNBC Poll On 2nd Amendment Backfires
Americans show support for those who carry guns in public
Infowars – Over 800 thousand people have voted in an MSNBC poll asking, “Do you think people should be allowed to carry guns in public?” and the consensus is heavily pro-Second Amendment.
The results prove the left’s anti-gun agenda is not popular as nearly 750 thousand voters answered, “Yes! The Second Amendment guarantees it.”
Only 4% of voters said, “No, it’s too dangerous.”
3% answered, “Only for self defense,” whatever that even means.
Even liberal outlets like MSNBC can’t hide the fact that the Second Amendment is still widely popular.
DOJ files civil suit against Edward Snowden over new memoir
Fox – The Justice Department filed a civil lawsuit Tuesday against former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden for violating his non-disclosure agreements with the CIA and the NSA by writing a new book about his leaks.
Snowden’s memoir, “Permanent Record,” hit bookshelves Tuesday. Snowden, who famously leaked classified documents about government surveillance, has avoided prosecution by living in Russia.
“Edward Snowden has violated an obligation he undertook to the United States when he signed agreements as part of his employment by the CIA and as an NSA contractor,” said Assistant Attorney General Jody Hunt of the Department of Justice’s Civil Division.
The filing alleges that Snowden violated his non-disclosure agreements by failing to submit his manuscript to the agencies for pre-publication review, as is a standard process for former employees and contractors of the agencies.
The DOJ aims to ensure that no funds are transferred to Snowden or at his direction while the court is resolving the United States’ claims. The immediate consequence could be the freezing of book revenue.
Purdue Pharma, facing lawsuits and bankruptcy, wants to pay ‘certain employees’ $34 million in bonuses
The Hill – Purdue Pharma executives asked a judge to allow “certain employees” to receive more than $34 million in bonuses after the company filed for bankruptcy amid thousands of lawsuits accusing it of helping facilitate the opioid crisis, The Washington Post reported on Thursday.
Purdue reportedly asked in a filing for permission to pay out the bonuses to employees who had met “target performance goals” over the last three years.
In a Tuesday bankruptcy court hearing in White Plains, N.Y., Paul Schwartzberg, an attorney for the U.S. Trustee Program, said that while companies often pay employees during bankruptcy proceedings, the proposed bonuses are “way beyond” typical circumstances.
“That $34 million is owed to the victims of the opioid epidemic, and every last cent should be spent on addiction science, treatment and recovery,” Connecticut Attorney General William Tong said in a statement to The Washington Post.
White House, DOJ reportedly testing the water on background check proposal amongst Republicans
Daily Sheeple – The White House and the Department of Justice has met with several Republican congressmen and senators over a proposal to expand background checks to include currently legal, private sales that take place at gun shows, the Daily Caller reported. A working “idea sheet” mimics the Toomey-Manchin bill, which is said to close the so-called “gun show loophole.”
The proposal would require “all advertised commercial sales, including sales at gun shows,” to go through a background check at a Federal Firearms Licensee or a newly-created group of licensed transfer agents.
From the Caller:
One source familiar with the meetings said that Barr pitched the legislation by warning that a lack of action could electrify the Democratic base prior to the 2020 election. Barr also did not consider the background check legislation a gun control measure, instead painting it as a tool to assist law enforcement in cracking down on gun smugglers, the source explained.
Another person familiar described the efforts to get Republicans on board as superficial, noting that there was no draft text or other follow-up action promised to them after the meeting.
Senate Republican Whip John Thune (R-SD) said Trump will have to decide what he’s okay with.

Economy & Business

GM strike, day 5: Negotiators start early-morning talks
Detroit News – Talks between General Motors Co. and the United Auto Workers began early Friday morning as 46,000 hourly GM employees strike the Detroit automaker for the fifth consecutive day.
The two sides are working through differences on job security, health care and seniority for temporary employees, among other issues. The negotiators had made “some progress,” Terry Dittes, UAW vice president and GM department director, said in a letter Thursday to local leaders. He, however, added many issues “remain unresolved” and said bargaining would continue into the weekend, if needed.
Talks on Friday resumed early after wrapping up around 9 p.m. Thursday, UAW spokesman Brian Rothenberg said
Trump Says EPA to Issue Notice to San Francisco on Homeless
Newsmax – President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will issue a notice in less than a week to the city of San Francisco over its homelessness problem and attendant pollution.
Trump and officials in San Francisco and Los Angeles have been at odds over what the president believes is their failure to tackle the growing number of people living on the streets.
“They’re in serious violation,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One. “They have to clean it up. We can’t have our cities going to hell.”
Trump said the issue was an environmental one because “tremendous pollution,” including syringes used by homeless addicts to inject drugs, was flowing into the Pacific Ocean from Bay Area cities.
New York Fed steps into market to move interest rates.
AFP – The New York Federal Reserve Bank on Tuesday stepped into financial markets for the first time in more than a decade to keep interest rates in line with the Fed’s target.
Analysts say the operation appears to have been successful but it caused some jitters, coming as the Fed’s policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee opens a two-day meeting expected to produce a second cut in the benchmark lending rate.
The New York Fed said the $75 billion in repurchase agreements — known as “repos” — were made “in order to help maintain the federal funds rate within the target range of 2 to 2-1/4 percent.”
The New York Fed conducts regular operations to implement the FOMC’s policy but the rate had moved to the top of the range, 2.25 percent, as demand for cash rose amid falling bank reserves.

Energy & Environment

State of Emergency in 13 Counties
Two Die in Devastating Texas Floods; Hundreds Rescued in Wake of Imelda’s Torrential Rains
Weather Channel – Hundreds were rescued from floodwaters throughout the day Thursday. Law enforcement officials from Houston to the Louisiana state line pleaded with residents to stay off the roads.
“Wherever you are, stay where you are,” Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said during a news conference. He especially urged people not to leave work early.
Portions of major roadways remained covered by water Thursday evening.
Walgreens to test drone delivery service with Alphabet’s Wing
CNBC – Walgreens is testing a new on-demand delivery service with Alphabet’s drone delivery service Wing, beginning next month, the companies announced Thursday.
The pilot program will deliver food and beverage, over-the-counter medications and other items within minutes, Walgreens said. Prescription deliveries will not be available.
“Walgreens continues to explore partnerships to transform and modernize our customer experience and we are proud to be the first retailer in the U.S. to offer an on-demand commercial drone delivery option with Wing,” said chief innovation officer Vish Sankaran. He said the company wants to provide customers the products they “need wherever, whenever and however they may want them.”
Is California About To Get Hit By A Hurricane For The Very First Time In U.S. History?
Michael Snyder – In the entire history of our country, a hurricane has never made landfall in the state of California. So if such a thing actually happened, it would be considered to be an extremely unusual event. Well, right now there are three very dangerous tropical storms swirling in the eastern Pacific Ocean. Tropical Storm Kiko is not expected to be a serious threat to make landfall, but Tropical Storm Lorena and Tropical Storm Mario “are expected to become hurricanes by Friday as they approach the Mexican coast”. Tropical Storm Lorena is the more immediate threat, and the latest forecast is projecting that it will reach Mexico’s Baja California Peninsula by Saturday. If it maintains hurricane strength and continues to ride up the west coast, it is entirely possible that we could see something that we have never seen before. Most forecasters don’t want to talk too much about it yet, because it truly would be an unprecedented event, but there really is a chance that California could get hit by a hurricane for the very first time in U.S. history.
Yang: Government Needs to ‘Modify Americans’ Diets’ by Taxing Cattle Industry
Breitbart – Thursday at Georgetown University’s Institute of Politics and Public Service during MSNBC’s Climate Forum, presidential hopeful Andrew Yang said the government needed to tax the cattle industry to “modify Americans’ diets.”
Yang said, “Cattle is very energy-consuming and energy-expensive, and if you project forward on what we would need to do to reduce emissions, you would want to modify Americans’ diets over time.”
He continued, “Now, some of that is happening naturally through education. I do think it’s difficult to regulate diets. So what you would want to do again is you’d want those cattle producers to have to internalize the cost of emissions because if your cattle ends up polluting a lot, which they do, just naturally.”
He added, “So then, what that would naturally do, and some people are going to hate this, but it would probably make those products more expensive. And that is appropriate because there’s a cost to producing food in that way. And so if you were to make it more expensive than you would end up changing consumption patterns over time.”
Yang: Climate Change May Require Elimination of Car Ownership
Imagines ‘constant roving fleet of electric cars’ as alternative
Washington Free Beacon – Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang said the United States may have to eliminate private car ownership to combat climate change during MSNBC’s climate forum at Georgetown University Thursday morning.
He told MSNBC host Ali Velshi that “we might not own our own cars” by 2050 to wean the United States economy off of fossil fuels, describing private car ownership as “really inefficient and bad for the environment.” Privately owned cars would be replaced by a “constant roving fleet of electric cars.”
A video posted by the GOP War Room shows Velshi asking Yang what measures he sees the world taking to fight climate change by 2050.
“You have this ability to envision the future, right, with your proposals on universal basic income. You’ve played the whole chess game out and you see what it looks like on the other end. Play the chess game out on climate change,” Velshi said. “What does the world look like to you in 2050? What physically do you think we will do differently than we do today that will result in us fighting climate change?”
“Well I mentioned before that we might not own our own cars. Our current car ownership and usage model is really inefficient and bad for the environment,” Yang said.

Science & Technology

CIA Developing Long-Range Face-Scanning Capability.
A new IARPA program aims to build biometric technology that can identify people using cameras stationed on far off rooftops and unmanned aircraft.
Next Gov – The intelligence community is working to build biometric identification systems that can single out individuals from hundreds of yards away or more, a feat that’s virtually impossible using the technology that exists today.
Ultimately, the tech would let spy agencies rapidly identify people using cameras deployed on far off rooftops and unmanned aircraft, according to the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity, the research arm for the CIA and other intelligence agencies.
Facial recognition and other types of biometric tech have improved significantly in recent years, but even today’s most advanced systems become less reliable without a crystal clear view of their subject. Even when the person is standing nearby and looking directly into the camera, facial recognition tech can be prone to errors.
But the intelligence community is trying to overcome those limitations in two ways: gathering more extensive training data and creating systems that lean on multiple types of data to identify people.
Russian Scientists Figure Out How to Make Steel ‘Tougher’
Sputnik – Scientists from Tomsk Polytechnic University (TPU) have improved the alloying process (improving the properties of metal due to impurities), allowing not only the wear-resistance of materials to be increased, but also giving them some qualitatively new characteristics, which is in demand in high-tech industries, science and energy.
The results of the study have been published in “Surface and Coatings Technology”.
According to the TPU scientists, traditional alloying methods have exhausted their technological potential. In order to manufacture materials with improved properties, they increasingly resort to affecting metal with beams of charged particles, plasma flows, and laser radiation.
One such method is ion implantation (ion-implant doping); it allows you to change the elemental composition, microstructure and morphology of the surface layers of the material that determine such properties as wear-resistance, corrosion resistance, and others.
The Tomsk scientists have developed a new method of ion implantation, dramatically expanding the possibilities of using this method in the industry. According to head of research, head of the TPU high-intensity ion implantation laboratory Alexander Ryabchikov, experimentally they’ve managed to increase the wear-resistance of stainless steel more than a hundred times.
In addition, using this technology, one can create parts and products with specified specific surface properties. For example, during ion-implanting zirconium with titanium, a barrier layer is formed that prevents hydrogen penetration, which can be used to increase the lifespan and safety of operation of nuclear fuel cells.
GENETICALLY-MODIFIED MOSQUITO APOCALYPSE PLAN BACKFIRES SPECTACULARLY)
RT – An experiment to sabotage Brazil’s mosquito population by releasing 450,000 gene-modified insects may have backfired, says a new study. The insect-breeding company is fighting back against the claims.
British biotech firm Oxitec conducted a 27-month-long experiment in 2013 in Jacobina, Brazil, aimed at reducing the local mosquito population by 90 percent while preserving the genetic integrity of the local insect population.
The overall goal was to curb the spread of mosquito-borne diseases, such as yellow fever, dengue, chikungunya, and Zika, by releasing half a million OX513A mosquitoes. The insects are a genetically-modified version of the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which combined a breed from Mexico with a breed from Cuba.
The mosquitoes were supposed to contain a dominant lethal gene that would render the first generation of future offspring infertile (while also marking them with a fluorescent green protein gene). But, according to a recent study published in Scientific Reports, the experiment backfired and life found a way.
An Oxitec spokesperson claims the research contains “numerous false, speculative and unsubstantiated claims and statements” about its mosquito technology, claiming instead, in a three-page document, that the paper did not identify any “negative, deleterious or unanticipated effect to people or the environment from the release of OX513A mosquitoes.”
Indeed, that is notably different from what was published in the research journal.
“The claim was that genes from the release strain would not get into the general population because offspring would die,” said ecologist and evolutionary biologist Jeffrey Powell, who is one of the authors of the study into the efficacy and success of the GM mosquito trial. “That obviously was not what happened.”
The original Oxitec research suggested that just three to four percent of the “infertile” offspring would survive into adulthood and would be too weak to reproduce anyway.
Anywhere from 10 to 60 percent of the mosquitoes analyzed by Powell and his team featured genomes tainted by OX513A. While the scheme apparently worked initially, with a dramatic reduction in the population, it would later seemingly backfire around the 18-month mark, returning the number of mosquitoes in the area to pre-release levels.
According to the study, the female population, opted not to mate with the weaker, genetically-modified mosquitoes anyway, in a phenomenon known as “mating discrimination.” But Oxitec disputes this claim, saying that selective mating “has never been observed” in any releases of close to 1 billion males worldwide.
Powell and his co-authors warned that some genetically-modified mosquitoes even showed signs of “hybrid vigor” in which the artificially-introduced genetic diversity actually made the mosquitoes stronger and more resilient. Oxitec, however, claims the data “does not support this hypothesis.”
As for the study’s claim that the new mosquitoes showed some insecticide resistance, Oxitec said it had demonstrated that OX513A “is not resistant to commonly used insecticides.”
Health
New Study Shows Tap Water Can Cause Cancer
Infowars – A new study reveals tap water in the U.S. may contain harmful carcinogens that can cause cancer.
“The majority of this risk is due to the presence of arsenic, disinfection byproducts and radioactive contaminants,” reads the study, conducted by the Environmental Working Group.
An estimated 100,000 lifetime cancer cases could be attributed to the carcinogens, the study states, about 4 per 10,000 people, according to USA Today.
More on the study from USA Today:
The study, funded by the Park Foundation, compiled a list of 22 contaminants with carcinogenic risks present in 48,363 community water systems in the United States, which EWG estimates serve about 86% of the U.S. population. Based on a cumulative risk assessment, EWG found that per 10,000 people, four will have cancer over the span of the lifetime due to the contaminants in water.
EWG researchers say legal levels of tap water contaminants set by the federal government can still cause cancer.
“The vast majority of community water systems meet legal standards,” EWG vice president for science investigations Olga Naidenko said. “Yet the latest research shows that contaminants present in the water at those concentrations — perfectly legal — can still harm human health.”
The study concludes contaminants in drinking water need to be reduced in order to protect public health.
Read the study here: https://www.heliyon.com/article/e02314
France giving millions of people iodine pills in case of nuke accident
AFP – France will soon start distributing radioactivity-blocking iodine pills to an additional 2.2 million people living near the country’s 19 nuclear power plants, to be taken in case of accidental radiation leaks, regulators said Tuesday.
The ASN nuclear safety authority had announced in June an extension of the safety radius to 20 kilometres (12 miles) of each plant, up from 10 kilometres set in 2016, when some 375,000 households were prescribed the pills.
The watchdog said Tuesday that affected residents will receive a letter in the coming days with a voucher to collect stable iodine tablets from pharmacies, as well as information on what to do in case of a nuclear accident.
“If radioactive iodine is released into the environment, taking stable iodine is one of the most effective ways of protecting the thyroid,” the ASN said in a statement.
The thyroid, which produces hormones regulating the body’s metabolism, is particularly at risk from cancer caused by exposure to radioactive iodine released in nuclear accidents.
France gets the bulk of its electricity from nuclear generators. It is the world’s most nuclear-dependent country, though it has pledged to cut its reliance on nuclear power, largely by shutting down its oldest reactors.
New Source for Nutritious Omega-3s
Newsmax – There’s no shortage of reasons to get your omega-3s, which are abundant in fish and their oils.
But high consumption of fish and their oils has created a shortage around the world. In addition, fish can be costly, and there are also concerns about toxins, like mercury, which affect many fatty fish to some degree.
Because omega-3 fatty acids play a role in vision, brain health, reproduction, and healthy skin and hair, the hunt is on for other sources.
One source that’s also a boon for vegans are omega-3s made from marine algae, rich in anti-inflammatory and antioxidant compounds, carotenoids, vitamins, and essential amino acids. In fact, eating this algae is how fish become so rich in omega-3s.
Harvesting microalgae is not only a more sustainable alternative to fishing, but also algae don’t seem to carry the risk of contamination by pollutants.
Scientists are just beginning to explore the health benefits of microalgae and how best to harvest it. But small studies have already found that algae oil capsules can be as effective as eating salmon or taking traditional fish oil supplements.
While microalgae is already available in capsule and drop forms, it’s possible that we’ll see it in food and beverages in the not-too-distant future.
Also, remember that some plant-based foods deliver omega-3 fatty acids — canola oil, walnuts, ground flaxseed, and edamame, to name a few.
Action Item/ Event
From Texas Gun Owners of America:
Texas Lege Hearings on Gun Issues Have Begun, and We’re Showing up Strong!
Earlier this week, gun owners showed up and made our presence known at the Texas Capitol!
The Texas House Committee on “Mass Violence Prevention and Community Safety” met for the first time Tuesday. Gun control was on the table, but our group was overwhelmingly in the majority as we filled the front rows of the hearing room. And the legislators noticed.
Next week, the equivalent Texas Senate committee meets for a similar hearing. The Senators will hear testimony from DPS and governmental agencies. They’ll also discuss plans for a string of upcoming hearings in which they’ll hear testimony from the public.
It is critical that GOA continues to show a strong, firm presence at next week’s Senate hearing and at all of the upcoming hearings.
I’ll be there—will you join me?
Senate Committee on Mass Violence Prevention and Community Safety
Organizational Hearing
Thursday, Sept. 26, 2019, | 10:00 am
Texas Capitol (1100 Congress Ave, Austin) | Hearing Room E1.036