Today's News: September 28, 2018

World News

United Nations: OIC Foreign Ministers Adopt Statement Demanding Respect For Islam
DC Clothesline – This is a call for the non-Muslim world to adopt Sharia blasphemy laws, and refrain from criticism Islam or Muhammad.
The West is either going to do that or stand up and defend the freedom of speech as the foundation of any free society.
But which it is going to choose at this point is by no means clear.
“OIC adopts statement calling for showing respect to Islam, its personalities and symbols,” APP, September 29, 2018 (thanks to Lookmann).
UNITED NATIONS, Sept 29 (APP)::OIC foreign ministers adopted a strongly worded statement — sponsored by Pakistan and Turkey — denouncing the increasing attacks on Islam, its revered personalities and symbols, and calling for an end to such campaigns.

Paradigm Shift: After Arresting Thousands for It, Police Dept. Claims Officers Can Now Smoke Weed
Free Thought Project – The same substance that was once demonized as a “dangerous drug” is now being accepted in a police department where officials have decided to treat cannabis like alcohol, and they are now allowing their officers to use the plant—as long as they are off-duty.
As the city of Vancouver, Canada prepares to legalize cannabis for recreational use in the coming weeks, the Vancouver Police Board has announced that its officers will be free to use cannabis, as long they arrive to work “fit for duty.”
The police board effectively rejected the suggestion that officers should have to undergo “a 24-hour pre-shift period of abstinence” from cannabis before every shift, according to a report from the Toronto Star, because they acknowledge that “cannabis affects different individuals to varying degrees, and there is no medical consensus on how long cannabinoids like THC—the main psychoactive ingredient in cannabis—take to clear the system.”
The report from the Vancouver Police Department noted that officers are now expected to treat cannabis in the same way that they would treat alcohol or prescription drugs, which is by not using or consuming it “prior to the start of their shift,” which would affect their performance.
The Toronto Star also noted that Vancouver Police officers “will be allowed to possess controlled drugs while working or on break, so long as the substance is stored for the purposes of transportation in its original, sealed and unopened package.”
Vancouver Police spokesman Const. Jason Doucette told the Vancouver Sun that the department plans to stay up to date on the latest cannabis research, in order to help its officers make an “informed decision.”

Guatemalan smugglers reportedly trying to lure migrants to US with claims of guaranteed citizenship
Fox – Smugglers trying to cash in on the funneling of Guatemalans across the U.S. border reportedly are falsely claiming that being pregnant or bringing children along will help those who make the journey get citizenship in America.

North, SKorea begin removing landmines along fortified border
Reuters -Troops from North and South Korea began removing some landmines along their heavily fortified border on Monday, the South’s defense ministry said, in a pact to reduce tension and build trust on the divided peninsula.

U.S. News, Politics & Government

Kavanaugh Accuser Christine Ford Donated to Clinton Campaign and DNC; Is Daughter of CIA Operative and VP of Security
Thegodofrage – We now have an exclusive report on the new accuser, Deborah Ramirez, that calls her trustworthiness and her “organization” into question about her true motives.^^^
Brett Kavanaugh Accuser Christine Ford had allegedly donated to the Clinton Campaign using two separate location, potentially in violation of FEC laws, FEC donation documents show, in addition to her brother working for the CIA for numerous years.
>> Related:: IS DR FORD DEEPLY TIED TO CIA? By Michael Savage

Coincidence? Arch of Baal Erected In DC 1 Day Before Kavanaugh Testified Before Congress
Michael Snyder – s it just a coincidence that the “Arch of Baal” has been erected in Washington D.C. on the exact same week that Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford are testifying before Congress? The future of the U.S. Supreme Court is literally hanging in the balance, and many believe that it is quite odd that this ancient pagan symbol has been put up at this precise moment in time. According to the official website of the Institute for Digital Archaeology, the Arch of Palmyra was unveiled on the National Mall on September 26th, and it will remain there until September 29th. You can view a photograph of the arch standing directly in front of the U.S. Capitol building right here. Just one day after this arch was put up, Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford testified before Congress. Perhaps this is all just a “giant coincidence”, but things of this importance usually don’t happen by accident.
The elite deeply understand that symbols have power, and the fact that the Arch of Baal has been placed directly across from the U.S. Capitol is highly significant.
Jonathan Cahn, the author of The Paradigm, has pointed out that Baal was a god of power, fertility and child sacrifice. In this video, he makes a very strong connection between what was going on during the era of Baal worship and what is taking place in America right now. In the end, the debate over whether or not to confirm Brett Kavanaugh comes down to the issue of abortion, and this vote in the Senate is going to have tremendous implications for the future of our country…

Trump orders FBI investigation of Kavanaugh, as McConnell says nomination is ‘moving’ forward
Fox – President Trump on Friday ordered the FBI to conduct a limited “supplemental” background investigation into the allegations of sexual assault against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Republicans are “moving” forward with plans to vote.
“I’ve ordered the FBI to conduct a supplemental investigation to update Judge Kavanaugh’s file,” Trump said in a statement. “As the Senate has requested, this update must be limited in scope and completed in less than one week.”
Trump’s order came after several undecided senators whose votes are needed to confirm Kavanaugh called for a weeklong FBI probe before a floor vote.

Dianne Feinstein Denied Leaking Blasey-Ford’s Letter, Trump Says the FBI May Investigate Leak

Edward Griffin – President Trump says the FBI investigation of Judge Kavanaugh may reveal who leaked the letter by Christine Blasey Ford to the press. Trump does an amazingly accurate imitation of Feinstein’s denial that neither she or her staff leaked the document.

A year after Vegas shooting, ATF emails reveal blame, alarm over bump stocks
USA Today – Within hours of the worst mass shooting in U.S. history a year ago in Las Vegas, the federal agency in charge of regulating guns found itself under pressure to ban a rapid-fire device and penned in by legal boundaries that officials said prevented them from acting quickly, according to newly disclosed emails from inside the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Blame rained down on the ATF after gunfire showered concertgoers from a 32nd-floor room at the Mandalay Bay hotel Oct. 1, leaving 58 dead and more than 800 injured. Critics popped up everywhere – cable news anchors and politicians on both sides of the aisle, the National Rifle Association and Gabrielle Giffords’ anti-gun-violence group, and even from the ATF’s own ranks of current and former agents.
The focus was Slide Fire, a plastic add-on known as a “bump stock” that allowed Stephen Paddock to run through more than 1,100 rounds of ammunition in 10 minutes. Bump stocks were affixed to half of Paddock’s guns. Since 2010, up to 520,000 of the devices have been purchased in the USA, the Department of Justice reported.
The emails offer an unvarnished look inside the agency as it reacted to the tragedy. They help explain why, despite almost immediate bipartisan support for a ban and an endorsement several months later by President Donald Trump, bump stocks continue to be available in most of the country.

Gov. Jerry Brown signs landmark laws that unwind decades of secrecy surrounding police misconduct, use of force
LA Times – Gov. Jerry Brown ushered in a new era of transparency in California law enforcement on Sunday, signing two new laws that for the first time give the public access to internal police investigations and video footage of shootings by police officers and other serious incidents.
The measures begin to undo decades of laws and court decisions that had made California the nation’s most secretive state for police records.
“With Governor Brown’s signature, California is finally joining other states in granting access to the investigatory records on officer conduct that the public truly has a right to know,” said Sen. Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley), the author of one of the measures, Senate Bill 1421, in a statement.
Skinner’s bill allows the public to view investigations of officer shootings and other major uses of force, along with confirmed cases of sexual assault and lying while on duty.
The availability of these records will allow the public to press California police departments and elected officials in ways not possible before, said Peter Bibring, director of police practices at the American Civil Liberties Union of California, which was a principal supporter of both bills.

L.A. homeless were paid $1 to forge signatures on California ballot measure petition, cops say
Sacramento Bee – Food. Cigarettes. A dollar bill, or even less.
That’s what Los Angeles Police Officer Deon Joseph says individuals offer homeless people in exchange for forged signatures on California state ballot measures on Skid Row, an area of the city known for its tent encampments, KABC reports.
“It’s been going on for years,” Joseph told the TV station. “They say, ‘Hey, you want to make a quick buck?’”
Last week, Los Angeles police arrested three people on Skid Row on felony election fraud charges after they were caught paying $1 or less to homeless people for forging signatures on a petition to get a measure on the California state ballot, Capt. Marc Reina said in a Tweet on Friday. Reina posted photos showing signature-gathering and the exchange of cash.

Illegal Alien from El Salvador Who Was Deported Six Times, Is Accused of Killing Three Men after Fleeing to the Sanctuary State of California

Edward Griffin – Los Angeles: Ramon Escobar, a 47-year-old illegal alien from El Salvador, is accused of attacking seven people, leaving three of them dead. Another victim, who Ramon beat with a baseball bat, is in a coma. Escobar is accused of attacking the homeless victims while they were sleeping. Escobar fled to the sanctuary state of California, which protects illegal aliens from arrest and deportation, after being questioned last month in Houston, Texas, about the disappearance of several of his relatives. .

Veteran News

Trump awards Medal of Honor to former Army medic
Fox – President Trump is scheduled to award the military’s highest honor on Monday to a former U.S. Army medic for heroic actions he performed in Afghanistan in 2008.
Former Staff Sgt. Ronald J. Shurer II, who enrolled in the Army in September 2002, will receive the Medal of Honor at the White House, the Trump administration announced on Friday.

Economy & Business

Trump says trade pact with Canada, Mexico will support U.S. jobs
Reuters – U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday said a new free trade agreement with Canada and Mexico would support hundreds of thousands of U.S. jobs, marking it as a victory in his push to reshape the lines of global commerce.
Financial markets breathed a sigh of relief that the United States and Canada had reached a last-minute deal on Sunday to preserve a single trading zone in North America after serious worries it could fragment under Trump’s trade pressures.
The deal is a reworking of the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement, which underpins $1.2 trillion in trade between the three countries. Trump had described NAFTA as a bad deal for Americans and threatened to eliminate it as part of his “America First” agenda.

Epidemic of empty stores threatens shopping malls
Freep.com – An epidemic of shuttered storefronts and liquidating department stores continues to plague many of metro Detroit’s enclosed shopping malls, threatening the existence of some once-thriving properties that couldn’t keep up with retail changes or simply have too much empty space to fill.
“We are definitely over-malled, and the malls are too big,” said retail analyst and consultant Ken Dalto, who is based in Bingham Farms.
This shopping mall shakeout is the result of nonstop growth in Internet shopping and more closures of traditional mall anchor stores such as Macy’s, JC Penney, Sears and Carson’s. The same phenomenon is happening across the country; some analysts have predicted that up to 25 percent of malls nationwide could close by 2022.

Energy & Environment

Tropical Storm Rosa Fueling Flood Threat in Southwest
The Weather Channel – Rain from Tropical Storm Rosa is already soaking the Southwest, where dangerous flash flooding may develop in parts of the region early this week.
The center of Rosa will make landfall on the Baja California Peninsula later Monday, but moisture from the storm has already been fueling rain in Arizona and southeastern California since Sunday afternoon.

Headed into Space-Age record cold, warns NASA scientist
Space.com – “It could happen in a matter of months,” says Martin Mlynczak of NASA’s Langley Research Center.

Science & Technology

HACK ATTACK Facebook logins being sold on dark web for £2 each
The Sun – The study by Money Guru found that Facebook logins can be bought for as little as £2.30, with the report coming just hours after it was revealed that an enormous data breach has left at least 50 million Facebook accounts compromised.
The research also found that hacked email logins are also being flogged on dark web marketplaces, which are easily accessible to anyone with the right browser and web addresses.
Even financial data is being sold cheaply, with credit card information available for as little as £10.40 and debit card information for £14.90.
The research was looking into availability of logins for sale of the 26 most commonly used online accounts.
It found that someone’s entire online identity could theoretically be bought for a grand total of just £744.30, which would buy access to online shopping accounts, entertainment services and social media profiles.

Reddit Now “Quarantining” Users Who Question 9/11—Direct Users to Gov’t Site Instead
Free Thought Project – A highly popular subreddit devoted to posting information which proposed information outside the official narrative to 9/11 has been “Quarantined” by the Reddit Administrators. The community has effectively been cut off from the rest of the platform and anyone who wishes to view its contents are forced to go through a checkpoint while being redirected to a government website.
On Thursday, the subreddit r/911truth was placed under a Reddit Quarantine. The Reddit Administrators claimed that the subreddit posts misinformation and then directed people seeking information on 9/11 to the official government website.
According to Reddit, communities are placed under quarantine to prevent others from accidentally stumbling upon this information. Reddit, like most other social media platforms has begun to control the flow of information and crowning themselves the arbiters of truth.

That sign telling you how fast you’re driving may be spying on you
Qz.com – The next time you drive past one of those road signs with a digital readout showing how fast you’re going, don’t simply assume it’s there to remind you not to speed. It may actually be capturing your license plate data.
According to recently released US federal contracting data, the Drug Enforcement Administration will be expanding the footprint of its nationwide surveillance network with the purchase of “multiple” trailer-mounted speed displays “to be retrofitted as mobile LPR [License Plate Reader] platforms.” The DEA is buying them from RU2 Systems Inc., a private Mesa, Arizona company. How much it’s spending on the signs has been redacted.
Two other, apparently related contracts, show that the DEA has hired a small machine shop in California, and another in Virginia, to conceal the readers within the signs. An RU2 representative said the company providing the LPR devices themselves is a Canadian firm called Genetec.

Health
McDonalds to Remove Artificial Additives from Some Foods
Care2 – In an effort to improve its public image or public demand for healthier food choices, McDonald’s has announced that it will remove the colors, flavors, preservatives like calcium propionate and sodium benzoate from their burgers, namely Big Macs, Quarter Pounders and burgers in Happy Meals. According to the company, it is also removing all of these artificial ingredients from its burgers, cheese and sauce

Top Wrinkle Fighters
Dr. Axe – When it comes to wrinkle-fighting “dream team” ingredients, there’s a power couple I believe you need to know about, along with a cast of supporting ingredients that can take things to the next level when it comes to improving the look of your skin.
Of course a healthy diet and lifestyle are primary for skin health, but finding the right supplement blend is helpful for anyone looking to naturally address those wrinkles and improve the hydration and elasticity of skin. But people really feeling the effects of living in a high-stress world may need extra support to transform skin health from the inside out.
When people feel “wired” at the end of the day or notice gripping tension in the shoulders and neck, this stress can show up on the skin in the form of wrinkles. That’s why expensive wrinkle-fighting creams only go so far. They only serve as a band-aid instead of getting to the root causes of the problem: excess stress, lack of restorative sleep and loss of a key protein, collagen.
Wrinkle-Fighting Dream Team Ingredients
#1. Multi Collagen
A diet high in skin-supporting foods is important, but many people also opt for supplementation. There’s one supplement critical in fighting wrinkles, and you’ve like heard about it before: collagen. (Ingredient No. 2 is lesser-known … more on that in a bit.)
#2. Nature’s Wrinkle Fighter: Astaxanthin
Combining astaxanthin with collagen completes the wrinkle-fighting “power couple.” Although not nearly well-known as vitamin C, astaxanthin is a carotenoid antioxidant and a natural pigment found in a variety of foods. In fact, it provides the vibrant red-orange color to foods like krill, algae, salmon and lobster. It’s also available in supplement form and often dubbed the “king of carotenoids.”
#3. Proven Stress Fighters & Sleep Aids
Ashwagandha
Organic ashwagandha root and leaf extract helps support healthy sleep and a healthy response to stress. The most commonly used and more extensively researched adaptogenic herb, ashwagandha is a staple in the Ayurvedic tradition and has been used for more than 2,500 years.
The stress- and body-balancing agent helps the body maintain homeostasis, even in moments of emotional or physical stress..
Magnesium
Magnesium is calming, promoting restful sleep and a relaxed state of mind. In fact, it’s vital for GABA function, a neurotransmitter that produces “feel good” neurotransmitters like serotonin. In short, magnesium plays a role in calming the body and promoting relaxation, which is one reason why a magnesium shortfall can negatively impact sleep.
Tying It All Together
With the right diet and lifestyle, including supplements, getting beauty sleep is possible. For example, when you add collagen and astaxanthin to your healthy routine, your skin will be sure to thank you as it works to repair itself while you sleep.

USDA Defrauds Consumers with “Product of USA” Sticker on Meats from Outside the U.S.
by Alliance for Natural Health
Where is the meat you’re buying really from? Action Alert!
Many of us look for the “Product of USA” sticker on the meat we buy in the supermarket, but we may not be aware that the USDA allows meat raised outside the US to carry that label. It’s a shameful case of government-sanctioned fraud.
Current USDA policy allows foreign meat to be imported to the US and carry the “Product of USA” label if it passes through a USDA-inspected plant. The USDA loophole allows foreign multinational corporations to disguise their products and take advantage of the lucrative US market. There’s good reason to believe that this loophole also violates the federal government’s own policies that prohibit false or misleading labeling.
Polls consistently demonstrate that consumers value transparency, they want to know where their food comes from, and they place a higher premium on meat that is locally produced; domestic ranchers also deserve to compete in a fair and transparent marketplace. This loophole undermines both of these key principles.
There are also safety concerns. Take mad cow disease for example, which was a real concern a number of years ago. Millions of cattle were becoming infected with the disease in the UK in the early 1990s, prompting a ban on the importation of beef from that country. Other safeguards were put in place by the USDA to prevent mad cow from entering the food supply. However, in 2013 the USDA relaxed regulations for beef imports from countries with a history of mad cow disease. So, if a consumer wanted to take it upon themselves to avoid meat from those countries by buying meat from the US, this loophole would make it impossible to do so.
Labels should mean something, but too often they don’t in our broken food system.

Good for your health AND the planet: Why the Mediterranean diet is an environmentally-friendly option
NaturalNews – If you are looking for a diet that’s not only delicious and easy to prepare but is also good for your health and the environment, the Mediterranean diet is the right one for you. Adherence to this type of diet is environmentally-friendly because it lowers environmental cost, according to a study published in the journal Public Health Nutrition.
In the study, researchers from the University of Navarra in Spain and Loma Linda University in the U.S. analyzed the impact of adherence to the Mediterranean diet on land, water, energy use, and greenhouse gas emission. They evaluated the dietary patterns of more than 20,000 Spanish participants in the Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra (SUN) cohort. The participants completed a questionnaire regarding their food intake. The foods they consumed were classified on a scale as leaning more or less to a Mediterranean dietary pattern. Then, the researchers assessed the impact of each food item on water, land, energy use, and greenhouse gas emission.
Based on the findings of the study, better adherence to the Mediterranean diet was linked to lower land use, water consumption, energy consumption, and greenhouse gas emission. The researchers concluded that the Mediterranean diet is an eco-friendly diet choice as it uses less land, water, and energy, and produces fewer greenhouse gases.

Pet News

STUDY: Dogs get depressed when owners overuse smartphones
ABC – A new study shows dogs may become more anxious and possibly suffer from depression when their owners overuse their smartphones.
The United Kingdom-based study focused on how welcoming a pet, specifically a dog, could help people suffering from mental health issues. Researchers also learned that dogs may suffer from depression when their human handlers ignored them.
Philadelphia veterinarian Dr. Alexander Collada said he has seen the effects of smart phone usage on pets. Dogs are very good at reading our subtle cues.
“Dogs do read body language, they read our eye contact,” Collada said. “They read our facial expressions, so if we are on our phone and acting disinterested, and they’re looking for attention, it basically is ignoring your dog.”
“We need to all get off our phones,” Collada added.