Today’s News 16th October 2024

• FEMA Still Paying $9,000 For COVID Funerals, Billions On Pandemic Payouts
  FEMA Still Paying $9,000 For COVID Funerals, Billions On Pandemic Payouts

  By Brian McGlinchey at Stark Realities

  As the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) carries out widely-criticized responses to Hurricanes Helene and Milton, officials say the agency’s Disaster Recovery Fund is incapable of handling a third major storm. While some are circulating false accusations that disaster funds have been diverted to immigrants or poured into the proxy war in Ukraine, a review of the agency’s 2024 outlays reveals a different, ongoing drain on FEMA’s coffers: Long after the end of the declared Covid-19 emergency, FEMA is still pumping out billions of dollars to pay for pandemic expenses — including, believe it or not, up to $9,000 each for funerals.

  

  As previously detailed here at Stark Realities, governments’ response to the Covid-19 pandemic was disastrous on many fronts. While the Pandora’s box of collateral damage included widespread harm to the physical and mental health of individuals, it also dealt a blow to the nation’s fiscal well-being, as the federal government recklessly showered trillions of dollars it didn’t have on people, businesses and state and local governments — with much of that money intended to offset the effects of government’s own tyrannical and counterproductive policies.

  While all but the most diehard Branch Covidians have moved on from that dark chapter, the federal government has a distinct version of “long Covid.” Though it’s not clear where all the money is going, FEMA is paying up to $9,000 each to reimburse funeral expenses for those who die from Covid.

  That’s an especially odd example of government picking winners and losers. As Stanford University School of Medicine professor and prominent Covid-regime critic Jay Bhattacharya said in a social media post that drew my attention to this giveaway program and its hyper-longevity, “There are apparently more and less worthy ways to die in the US.”

  Indeed: Why is the family of someone who dies from Covid more deserving of a government-paid funeral than the family of someone who dies from cancer, cardiac arrest or a car accident? It bears emphasis that this question was every bit as relevant in 2020 as it is today.

  The favoring of one cause of death over another isn’t the only winners-and-losers dimension of the funeral program: There’s no reimbursement for those who’d planned ahead via pre-paid funerals. Echoing the grievances of people who saved up to pay for college only to see their neighbor’s student loans forgiven by vote-buying politicians, some families say they feel like they’re being punished for having planned for the future.

  

  This isn’t FEMA’s first funereal foray, but it’s the largest by orders of magnitude. In the 10 years before the pandemic, FEMA received about 6,000 applications for funeral assistance for various natural disasters. As of Jan. 1, 2024, FEMA had approved more than 300,000 for Covid-19, shelling out $3.15 billion to cover an expense that, whether caused by a pandemic or something else, is universally inevitable.

  Of course, the magnitude of that inevitable expense isn’t fixed, and the mere presence of a government subsidy reliably results in higher costs. Knowing they can spend up to of $9,000 of other people’s money on their Covid-19 funeral, it’s safe to assume many affected families have made more expensive choices than they otherwise would — bolstering the profits of funeral homes, casket producers and other associated businesses.

  Unsurprisingly, the National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA), a trade group and principal lobbyist for the industry, hailed the passage of the COVID 19 Relief Package/Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2020. The legislation not only funded Covid funeral reimbursements, NFDA enthused, but also funeral payments “for any subsequent major disaster declared by the President,” an expansion the group had been lobbying for.

  To qualify for reimbursement under the funeral assistance program, the death certificate must either indicate the death was caused by Covid-19 — or that it merely may have been caused by Covid-19 or “Covid-19-like symptoms.”

  As is increasingly the case with government handouts, there’s no requirement of US citizenship, for either the decedent or the person paying the funeral expenses. A family’s ability to pay for the funeral is likewise irrelevant — there are no income or wealth criteria.

  There’s more to the cost of this program than the reimbursements themselves — there’s also significant overhead. Pressed to implement the program as soon as possible, FEMA opted against creating a website to receive applications for reimbursement, choosing to instead require that all claims be submitted via 20-minute phone conversations, necessitating the creation of a huge call center operation staffed by 5,000 phone agents, all of whom would require training and support.

  While you might think word-of-mouth would be sufficient to encourage widespread use of a handout program, still more money was spent on advertising. In a 2022 report lamenting that many eligible people hadn’t cashed in yet, NPR’s Blake Farmer — blissfully oblivious to the federal government’s relentless march to insolvency — cheerfully said “FEMA is launching an outreach campaign to promote the program, since there’s plenty of money left.”

  

  Fittingly, NPR found the national leader in funeral reimbursement claims at the time was Washington DC, with applications amounting to 77% of Covid-19 fatalities.

  Whether a government handout program takes the form of cash reimbursement, tax credit or subsidy, it inevitably has another cost dimension: so-called “improper payments,” a term encompassing both fraud and errors made by applicants and administrators.

  On that score, FEMA’s Covid-19 funeral-funding program has come under repeated criticism from government watchdogs. In 2022, the General Accountability Office (GAO) identified “several gaps in FEMA’s internal controls meant to prevent improper or fraudulent payments” — such as double-payments when two different parties applied for reimbursement for the same funeral, or payments made to applicants who didn’t meet program requirements.

  That same year, the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) sent an “urgent” alert to FEMA, saying its audit found the agency “regularly reimburses applicants for expenses expressly excluded from funeral assistance” by the agency’s own policy guide that serves as its interpretation of regulations.

  Reimbursable expenses include funeral services, cremation, caskets, urns burial plots, ceremony costs, headstones and clergy compensation. Among the unauthorized expenses are catering, gratuities, flowers and transportation. The OIG learned that, rather than directing claims processors to scrutinize claims to ferret out unauthorized expenses, FEMA told them to “accept for reimbursement all verifiable funeral expenses…listed on expense documents from a funeral home.” Thus, if flowers, for example, were listed on a funeral home bill, reimbursement was approved regardless of FEMA’s standing rule against covering that cost.

  The OIG found that 59% of approved applications included ineligible expenses. In one case, FEMA’s loose approach led to an improper reimbursement for $3,760 for transportation that included “two lead escort vehicles, a limousine, and a horse and carriage.”

  

  FEMA admitted its lawyers hadn’t even reviewed its Covid operating procedures. Worse, FEMA resisted the OIG’s post-inquiry recommendations, exasperatingly arguing that if the agency started applying the rules correctly, it “would create inequalities to the detriment of future applicants, who would qualify for less assistance for fewer eligible expenses.” GAO rightly countered that FEMA was itself creating inequalities — by reimbursing funeral expenses that it hadn’t reimbursed for previous disasters and shouldn’t reimburse for future ones.

  While it serves as a vivid illustration of irrational, wasteful and persistent spending that accompanies both bona fide and contrived crises, the funeral reimbursement program represents just a small share of ongoing Covid-related government outlays: In the fiscal year that ended September 30, FEMA tallied $15 billion in Covid-19 commitments, accounting for a startling 39% of all FEMA disaster relief obligations.

  Not coincidentally, FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund is repeatedly running on empty, prompting additional, multi-billion-dollar infusions from Congress. Seeking still more money Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas earlier this month told reporters that “FEMA does not have the funds to make it through [hurricane] season.”

  

  His warning prompted a false narrative to erupt along the American right — specifically, that the Disaster Relief Fund has been depleted by $650 million spent on migrants in the 2024 fiscal year. While one can challenge the propriety and constitutionality of that spending, the $650 million didn’t come from the Disaster Relief Fund, but from a separate, congressionally-appropriated program and account.

  Rather than parroting false narratives, conservatives should be asking why the Disaster Relief Fund (DRF) is still being hammered by Covid payouts to state, local and tribal governments, hospitals, non-profits and others. At least one federal legislator is already on the case — on Friday, Texas Rep. Chip Roy sent a letter to FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell, spotlighting the troubling state of affairs:

  “The depletion of the DRF is of particular concern considering the sheer amount of funding that has gone to COVID-19 projects nearly a year and a half after the COVID-19 emergency – which should have been terminated much earlier – was terminated.

  According to a FEMA document, as of October 4, 2024, nearly $4 billion – or 45% – of the DRF funding that was delayed … was for COVID-19 projects. About $1.2 billion of that COVID-19 funding would go to the state of California alone.”

  In addition to requesting a full accounting of Covid and non-Covid spending, Roy asked Criswell to explain how her agency would prevent Covid-19 projects from continuing to “jeopardize FEMA’s ability to use the DRF in the future to respond to disasters, absent a massive increase in congressional appropriations.”

  Barring an extension, FEMA will finally stop accepting Covid-funeral reimbursement applications on September 30, 2025. However, as of now, the agency plans on tapping its disaster fund for other Covid-19 outlays for four more years —to the tune of another $22.2 billion between now and September 2028.

  That’s assuming FEMA’s estimate is accurate, but cost estimations are another recurring weakness of the organization. Indeed, FEMA originally estimated $17.6 billion in total Covid-19 outlays over the duration of the emergency. By March of this year, its estimate had soared to $171.6 billion.

  * * *

  Stark Realities undermines official narratives, demolishes conventional wisdom and exposes fundamental myths across the political spectrum. Read more and subscribe at starkrealities.substack.com  

  

  Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ZeroHedge.

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  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 10/15/2024 – 23:25

• Canada Expels 6 Indian Diplomats For Alleged Involvement In Murder Of Sikh Separatist
  Canada Expels 6 Indian Diplomats For Alleged Involvement In Murder Of Sikh Separatist

  Via Middle East Eye

  Canada expelled six top Indian diplomats and consular officials on Monday, including India’s high commissioner, citing them as “persons of interest” in the murder of Sikh separatist figure, Hardeep Singh Nijjar. 

  In June 2023 Nijjar was assassinated by masked gunmen in Vancouver, British Columbia, after which three Indian nationals were arrested and charged for the crime. The investigation triggered a diplomatic spat in September when Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged that the Indian government was involved in the killing.

  New Delhi denies the allegations. On Monday, Canadian law enforcement authorities accused the Indian government of running a wide-ranging criminal network to intimidate and target Canadian Sikh separatists.

  

  India’s High Commissioner to Canada Sanjay Kumar Verma was declared persona non grata by the Canadian government along with a number of other officials for their alleged roles in criminal activity, extortion and homicide.

  “The decision to expel these individuals was made with great consideration and only after the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) gathered ample, clear and concrete evidence which identified six individuals as persons of interest in the Nijjar case,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.

  The development marks a new low between India and Canada, with the potential to rupture ties between the two Commonwealth nations. The Indian government accused Trudeau of making the decision based on a “political agenda” and said it was pulling its diplomats out of Canada.

  “We have no faith in the current Canadian Government’s commitment to ensure their security. Therefore, the Government of India has decided to withdraw the High Commissioner and other targeted diplomats and officials,” India’s foreign ministry said in a statement. 

  On Monday New Delhi also announced that it, too, would be expelling six Canadian diplomats, including the Canadian embassy’s second-highest ranking diplomat, Stewart Wheeler, the charge d’affaires.

  Canada’s law enforcement authorities have a “significant amount of information about the breadth and depth of criminal activity orchestrated by agents of the government of India in consequential threats to the safety and security of Canadians and individuals living in Canada,” the RCMP said in a statement.

  The law enforcement agency said the government of India is linked to homicides and extortion and used organized crime to target the South Asian community in Canada and interfere in democratic processes.

  The Indian government says that Canada has yet to provide any evidence of its investigation into Nijjar’s killing or India’s involvement in the assassination. “This latest step follows interactions that have again witnessed assertions without any facts. This leaves little doubt that on the pretext of an investigation, there is a deliberate strategy of smearing India for political gains,” India’s foreign ministry said on Monday.

  Later on Monday Prime Minister Trudeau released a statement defending Canada’s actions, saying that India’s response to the allegations has been denial, obfuscation, and personal attacks. “[It] is obvious that the government of India made a fundamental error in thinking that they could engage in supporting criminal activity against Canadians here on Canadian soil. “We will never tolerate the involvement of a foreign government threatening and killing Canadian citizens on Canadian soil.”

  Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada accused the Indian government of homicide and extortion intended to silence critics of India living in Canada, escalating a bitter dispute that began last year with the assassination of a Sikh activist. https://t.co/AXyfmvJhiR pic.twitter.com/YjIgQ1Nkoi

  — The New York Times (@nytimes) October 14, 2024

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  Canada withdrew more than 40 diplomats from India in October 2023 after New Delhi asked Ottawa to reduce its diplomatic presence. Canada is host to one of the largest Indian diaspora communities in the world with a population of just under two million, with Sikhs dominating the community at 36 percent compared to Hindus as 32 percent of the diaspora. The majority of the diaspora is concentrated in Ontario and British Columbia. 

  Assassination plot in US

  US prosecutors in New York in November charged an Indian national with a failed attempt to assassinate an American citizen on US soil, according to an indictment.

  Authorities say that an unnamed Indian government official recruited 52-year-old Nikhil Gupta, who went on to contact someone he believed to be a hitman, to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun. Pannun is a prominent Sikh activist and New York-based lawyer for the Punjabi secessionist group, Sikhs for Justice.

  The individual Gupta contacted was, however, not a hit man but an undercover officer working for the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). According to Wednesday’s indictment, Gupta had brokered a deal in which the unnamed Indian government employee would pay the hitman $100,000 for the killing.

  The indictment did not name Pannun as the victim. However, Biden administration officials later said that the target of the failed assassination was the Sikh activist.

  “The dedicated law enforcement agents and prosecutors in this case foiled and exposed a dangerous plot to assassinate a US citizen on US soil,” assistant attorney general Matthew Olsen said in a statement. “The Department of Justice will be relentless in using the full reach of our authorities to pursue accountability for lethal plotting emanating from overseas.”

  The indictment said that the plot to assassinate Pannun took place in June, around the same time that Nijjar was assassinated. Gupta was arrested that same month while in the Czech Republic, which has a bilateral extradition treaty with the US. He faces charges that could land him a sentence of 10 years in jail.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 10/15/2024 – 23:00

• Home Prep Guide: What You Need To Last 2 Weeks In An Emergency
  Home Prep Guide: What You Need To Last 2 Weeks In An Emergency

  Authored by Mikai Allbert via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Two hurricanes have barreled through the Southeast in just two weeks. Hurricane Helene thrashed North Carolina, while Hurricane Milton—the most destructive storm to hit the Tampa area in a century—left more than 3 million without power and at least 10 people dead in Florida.

  

  “[We] were not expecting a one-in-1,000 event,” one resident told our photographer and editor Richard Moore amid the wreckage. Motel operator Sharon Parton said: “My son and his wife lost everything. My mother-in-law lost everything.”

  Such major storms display nature’s unpredictable force, exposing how vulnerable our communities truly are.

  “It’s not a matter of ‘if’ but ‘when’ such events will occur,” Creek Stewart, an author of more than 40 books on survival, told The Epoch Times. Being ready to face adversity is a responsibility that each family must accept and embrace.

  Prepping doesn’t have to be daunting. “Preparedness is very simple,” Stewart said, “but without a proper guide, you are going to become overwhelmed.”

  In this guide, we streamline the process by outlining the essential items recommended by survival experts.

  “Think of preparedness as an insurance policy,” preparedness expert Paul Martin told The Epoch Times. “None of us like paying insurance premiums, but we do it in order to transfer the risk of loss.”

  A robust preparedness plan has three core elements: family communication, evacuation, and sheltering in place.

  Family Communication

  The cornerstone of any disaster plan is effective family communication. This involves establishing clear meeting points and alternative methods of staying in touch. “Know where to meet, how to get in touch, and how to get there … so that there’s no guessing,” Stewart said.

  Establish an Out-of-Town Contact: Select a trusted friend or relative outside your immediate area whom all family members can contact.

  Memorize Important Numbers: Ensure everyone knows key phone numbers in case cell phones are lost or not working.

  Designate Meeting Places: Select one near your home, such as a neighbor’s front porch, and one outside the neighborhood, in case you can’t return home, such as a library or community center.

  To create a comprehensive family plan, you can use online templates such as the Department of Homeland Security’s form.

  Evacuation Plan

  An evacuation plan involves deciding well ahead of time what to take with you and where you will go if evacuation becomes necessary. Identify and practice evacuation routes.

  Having a well-stocked “bug-out bag” ready is crucial. Stewart suggests preparing for the possibility of returning to a home that’s no longer there. This means packing for at least 72 hours of self-sufficiency for your entire family. Essential items include shelter, water, fire-starting tools, food, first-aid supplies, and important documents.

  Additionally, you should consider the items recommended by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for a basic emergency kit:

  • Battery-powered or hand-crank radio and a NOAA weather radio with tone alerts
  • Cell phone with chargers and a backup battery
  • Flashlight
  • First-aid kit
  • Extra batteries
  • Whistle (to signal for help)
  • Dust mask (to help filter contaminated air)
  • Plastic sheeting, scissors, and duct tape (to shelter in place)
  • Moist towelettes, garbage bags, and plastic ties (for personal sanitation)
  • Wrench or pliers (to turn off utilities)
  • Manual can opener (for food)
  • Local maps

  Shelter-in-Place Plan

  The most likely scenario involves focusing on surviving comfortably at home. “Execute the basics well,” Martin said. This entails having a two-week supply of nonperishable food, ample water, and off-grid solutions for cooking and heating. This topic will be covered in-depth in the infographic below, providing you with detailed guidance on how to effectively shelter in place.

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 10/15/2024 – 22:35

• 73% Of Mexicans Own A Dog
  73% Of Mexicans Own A Dog

  Data from a Statista Consumer Insights survey reveals that dog ownership varies greatly around the world.

  

  Where as many as seven in ten respondents said they had a dog as a pet in Mexico in a survey conducted between July 2023 and June 2024, under three in ten said the same in Sweden.

  

  You will find more infographics at Statista

  In the United States, around half of respondents said they owned a dog.

  Americans were most likely to own a dog, followed by a cat (36 percent), a fish (7 percent), a reptile (4 percent) and a bird (4 percent).

  Only three percent of respondents said they owned a rodent, whether a rabbit, a hamster, guinea pig, mouse or rat.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 10/15/2024 – 22:10

• Autism Spectrum Disorder: Symptoms, Causes, Treatments, And Natural Approaches
  Autism Spectrum Disorder: Symptoms, Causes, Treatments, And Natural Approaches

  Authored by Mercura Wang via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  Autism spectrum disorder (ASD), or just autism, is a neurological and developmental condition that affects social interaction, communication, learning, and behavior. It encompasses a range of conditions related to brain development.

  

  Globally, around 1 percent of children have autism. In the United States, however, one in 36 children and one in 45 adults have autism, with the condition affecting around 4 percent of boys and 1 percent of girls. The prevalence is up from one in 44 in 2020 and has almost tripled since 2000 when it was one in 150.

  

  What Are the Symptoms and Early Signs of Autism?

  “On the spectrum” refers to individuals who share core characteristics of autism while recognizing that each person’s autistic experience is unique, complex, and can change over time.

  Thinking about autism as on a linear spectrum can be misleading, as it suggests a person can have “more” or “less” autism, leading to oversimplified labels such as “higher” or “lower functioning.” Instead, autism is better understood as a range of diverse traits, strengths, and challenges that vary for each individual.

  Early Signs

  The first signs of autism typically appear in early childhood and can be detected through screening in children as young as 12 months old or as old as 24 months. However, the condition may be missed until much later.

  Early signs of ASD by age include the following:

  • 6 to 12 months: Limited smiling, eye contact, or reciprocal social interactions; diminished babbling or gestures; and reduced response to name
  • 9 to 12 months: Repetitive behaviors (e.g., spinning and lining up objects) and unusual play (intense focus on toys’ visual or tactile features)
  • 12 to 18 months: Lack of single words, compensatory gestures (e.g., pointing), and pretend play; and limited joint attention (initiating and sharing interests)
  • 15 to 24 months: Little to no spontaneous two-word phrases

  Signs and Symptoms

  The following are common behaviors observed in individuals with ASD. While not all autistic individuals exhibit every behavior, most will show several traits. Some of these behaviors can also occur in people without ASD.

  Social interactions:

  • Minimal or inconsistent eye contact with others
  • Appearing disinterested or inattentive when others are speaking
  • Rarely sharing enthusiasm or feelings about objects or activities
  • Avoiding physical affection and preferring solitary play, often withdrawing into their own world
  • Not responding or taking a long time to respond when called by name
  • Limited or delayed speech or loss of previously acquired words
  • Struggling with the give-and-take aspect of conversations
  • Echoing words or phrases without grasping their meaning
  • Having trouble comprehending basic questions or instructions
  • Relying on memorized scripted speech instead of using spontaneous language
  • Using pronouns incorrectly, such as saying “you” instead of “I” or “me” when referring to themselves
  • Talking extensively about specific topics without recognizing others’ disinterest or allowing them to contribute
  • Using facial expressions and gestures that are inconsistent with their verbal messages
  • Exhibiting an unusual voice quality, such as a sing-song or monotone
  • Struggling to grasp others’ perspectives or anticipate their behavior
  • Showing little emotional expression and appearing unaware of others’ emotions or exhibiting abnormal expressions of empathy
  • Struggling to understand nonverbal cues such as body language or tone of voice
  • Not developing close personal relationships, especially outside the family
  • Lack of speech, in severe cases
  • Taking things very literally, such as not understanding sarcasm or expressions such as “it’s raining cats and dogs”

  Restrictive or repetitive behaviors:

  • Stimming (self-stimulating behaviors), which involves repetitive body movements or the manipulation of objects. While common among autistic individuals, it is a behavior that nearly everyone exhibits in some form, such as nail biting. For autistic people, stimming can occasionally interfere with daily life or cause harm but often serves as a coping mechanism for managing sensory overload or stressful situations.
  • Establishing rigid routines or rituals and becoming upset with even minor changes.
  • Experiencing coordination issues or displaying unusual movement patterns, such as clumsiness, toe-walking, or exaggerated body language.
  • Displaying severe tantrums or emotional outbursts.
  • Fixating on a single topic or activity or maintaining a deep, enduring interest in particular subjects such as numbers or facts.
  • Showing limited attention span.
  • Picky eating, such as preferring only a few foods or avoiding certain textures.
  • Showing heightened or diminished sensitivity to sensory stimuli such as light, sound, clothing, or temperature.
  • Developing an intense attachment to specific inanimate objects.
  • Having highly specialized and sometimes unusual interests (e.g., intense fascination with vacuum cleaners).

  People on the autism spectrum often have notable strengths, such as the ability to learn and retain detailed information, strong visual and auditory learning skills, and excellence in memory, math, science, music, or art. They may also notice subtle details, patterns, smells, or sounds that others may overlook.

  Autism Signs in Females

  Autism symptoms in women and girls may be different from those in males. According to the DSM-5-TR, autistic females may exhibit:

  • Enhanced reciprocal conversation skills
  • Improved understanding of verbal and nonverbal communication
  • Greater ability to adapt their behavior to different situations
  • Less noticeable repetitive behaviors
  • More socially accepted special interests (e.g., celebrities)

  Research indicates that females are more likely to mask their autism symptoms to fit in than males. They may stay close to peers and move in and out of activities, regardless of engagement status.

  What Causes Autism?

  Research indicates autism arises from a combination of genetic and environmental factors, as well as abnormal brain development.

  Genetics

  Genetic factors are believed to contribute 40 percent to 80 percent of autism risk. Over 1,000 genes have been linked to ASD, although many associations remain unconfirmed. Common gene variations may increase ASD risk, but most have a small individual effect, and not everyone with these variations develops ASD.

  In about 2 percent to 4 percent of cases, rare gene mutations or chromosomal abnormalities are a direct cause, as with ADNP syndrome, also known as Helsmoortel-Van der Aa syndrome (HVDAS). Some other genes whose rare mutations are associated with autism include ARID1B, ASH1L, CHD2, CHD8, DYRK1A, POGZ, SHANK3, and SYNGAP1. Many ASD-associated genes play roles in brain development or regulate other genes or proteins.

  In some children, autism may be linked to a genetic condition such as fragile X syndrome or Down syndrome.

  Brain Development

  Research suggests that during brain development, individuals with ASD may have an excess of neurons and overgrowth in parts of the brain’s outer layer, the cortex. Additionally, there are irregular areas where the typical structure of the cortex is disrupted. The cortex normally has six layers, formed before birth, each with specialized neurons and connections. These abnormalities are seen in the frontal and temporal lobes, regions involved in emotions, social behavior, and language. These differences are believed to contribute to the social, communication, and cognitive challenges associated with autism.

  Other parts of the autistic brain that exhibit abnormalities include the cerebellum and the amygdala. However, it is unclear whether these brain changes spur autism or vice versa.

  Environmental Factors

  Environmental factors can range from infections and diseases to toxins and maternal health during pregnancy. They include:

  • Certain diseases: An ASD subtype called childhood disintegrative disorder is associated with certain diseases, especially if it is late-onset, including subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (a chronic brain infection caused by a measles virus form), tuberous sclerosis (a genetic disorder characterized by benign tumor formation in the brain and other organs), leukodystrophy (a condition involving maldevelopment of the myelin sheath, leading to the disintegration of white matter in the brain), and lipid storage diseases (disorders where excessive fat accumulates in the brain and nervous system, causing toxicity).
  • Prenatal infections: Examples include rubella and cytomegalovirus infections.
  • Maternal immune conditions: Maternal immune conditions increase autism risk in children. A 2020 study found that maternal asthma was the most frequently reported in mothers of children with ASD. Autistic boys were more likely to have mothers with a history of immune conditions than girls with ASD.
  • Prenatal exposure to air pollution: Exposure to PM2.5 (particulate matter that is 2.5 micrometers or smaller in diameter) during the first two trimesters of pregnancy was linked to a higher risk of ASD in children, especially boys.
  • Exposure to toxins in the womb: Being exposed to toxins (e.g., heavy metals) or medications (e.g., antidepressants, valproic acid, and thalidomide) while in the womb or in early childhood could raise the risk of autism.
  • Lower levels of manganese and zinc.
  • Maternal diabetes and obesity: Maternal preexisting Type 2 diabetes, Type 1 diabetes, and gestational diabetes diagnosed by 26 weeks of pregnancy are linked to a higher risk of ASD in children. A 2016 study found that children born to obese women with diabetes are over three times more likely to be diagnosed with autism compared to children of mothers with a healthy weight and no diabetes.
  • Birth complications: Preterm birth may increase the risk of ASD, with a higher risk associated with greater levels of prematurity. Challenges during birth resulting in episodes of oxygen deprivation to the baby’s brain can also increase the risk.
  • Assisted reproductive technology: A 2017 study suggested that the use of assisted reproductive technology (e.g., in vitro fertilization) may be associated with an increased risk of autism in children.
  • Paternal cannabis use: A 2019 study found that a gene linked to autism, DLGAP2, can change in the sperm of men who use cannabis. These changes in the gene’s DNA could be passed down to future children, possibly affecting their autism risk.

  Childhood Vaccines

  Although authoritative organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO), the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) assure parents that there is no link between childhood vaccines and autism, some scientists call for further study.

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 10/15/2024 – 21:45

• US Threatens Israel With Arms Shipment Suspensions Over Spiraling Gaza Situation
  US Threatens Israel With Arms Shipment Suspensions Over Spiraling Gaza Situation

  The Biden administration is said to be threatening to withdraw key aspects of US military aid to Israel if it doesn’t reign in the devastating humanitarian situation in Gaza.

  Like with prior such ‘warnings’ (this isn’t the first), the message seems more timed for the November election. Kamala Harris has wedded herself to Biden’s policies on Israel and Gaza, alienating Arab-Americans in some key swing states like Michigan, where the ‘uncommitted’ movement is growing.

  Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin this week issued a letter to the Israeli government telling it to take “urgent and sustained action” to reverse course on the spiraling humanitarian situation in Gaza or risking seeing select US military assistance cut off. The US has reportedly given Israel 30 days to demonstrate progress.

  

  “The Departments of State and Defense must continually assess your government’s adherence to your March 2024 assurances that Israel would ‘facilitate and not arbitrarily deny, restrict, or otherwise impede, directly or indirectly, the transport or delivery of United States humanitarian assistance’ to and within Gaza,” the letter states.

  It continues: “The Department of State will need to conduct a similar assessment under section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act in order to provide additional Foreign Military Financing assistance to Israel. We are now writing to underscore the U.S. government’s deep concern over the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza, and seek urgent and sustained actions by your government this month to reverse this trajectory.”

  The allegations come after several NGOs and rights groups have allege that Israel has blocked vital aid from getting into the Gaza Strip, including aid sent from the US.

  “Blinken and Austin raise alarm in the letter that the amount of aid entering Gaza has dropped by 50 percent compared to assurances provided in March and April,” The Hill notes.

  This also comes as Israel has begun to lose the NY Times. Its opinion editor wrote on Tuesday:

  A recent opinion essay gathered first-hand testimonies from 65 U.S.-based health professionals who worked in Gaza over the past year, who shared more than 160 photographs and videos with Times Opinion to corroborate their detailed accounts of treating preteen children who were shot in the head or chest. Following publication, some readers questioned the accuracy of the accounts and the authenticity of three CT images shown. Those criticisms are unfounded.

  …While our editors have photographs to corroborate the CT scan images, because of their graphic nature, we decided these photos — of children with gunshot wounds to the head or neck — were too horrific for publication. 

  Despite all of this, throughout the totality of the conflict and amid an avalanche of allegations of war crimes against Israel’s military (often involving use of American-supplied weapons), the Biden administration has merely paused one single shipment of bombs – it appears based on public reporting.

  A new study from Brown documents the stunning amounts given to Israel over the last year by Biden/Harris to pay for Israel’s wars.

  It’s $18b to Israel, plus another $5b from US military actions for Israel.

  Yet the GOP grievance is that Dems haven’t done enough for Israel.🇮🇱 pic.twitter.com/OTIb3AwIRl

  — Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) October 14, 2024

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  The reality is that Washington is unlikely to ever significantly block military aid to Israel, no matter what its actions are. This will remain true whether a Republication or Democratic administration is in the White House.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 10/15/2024 – 21:20

• Where Trump And Harris Stand On China Policies
  Where Trump And Harris Stand On China Policies

  Authored by Terri Wu and Lily Zhou via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  The next president will likely preside over one of the most consequential periods in the nation’s relations with communist China, an adversary that has the intention and capacity to displace the current U.S.-led world order.

  

  Eight in 10 Americans view China unfavorably, according to a Pew Research Center report released in July.

  Washington also has a consensus that the Chinese regime poses a threat as it closes the power gap with the United States in military, diplomatic, and technological domains.

  The current approach to China began with former President Donald Trump. Identifying China as a “strategic competitor,” the Trump administration took a new approach to U.S.–China relations. It imposed broad tariffs on Chinese goods, controlled Chinese access to American semiconductor technology, and pivoted national security strategy from the Middle East to China and Russia.

  The Biden administration continued many of the same policies, and Washington’s China policy will likely continue to be hawkish. However, the two candidates will also have distinct approaches, owing to their personal differences and depending on whom they appoint to key positions.

  Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump is broadly expected to resume his China policies in the first term.

  Democratic nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris has indicated no sign of divergence from the Biden administration’s China policies.

  Trade

  The two candidates agree on controlling strategic goods and technologies, investing in innovation, re-shoring supply chains, and combating Beijing’s unfair trade practices.

  The aim is to ensure “America, not China, wins the competition for the 21st century,” Harris has said repeatedly.

  Last month, the Biden administration finalized its tariffs, retaining all Trump-era rates and sharply increasing them on selected critical technology and minerals.

  During a speech on the economy in Pittsburgh on Sept. 25, the vice president vowed, “I will never hesitate to take swift and strong measures when China undermines the rules of the road at the expense of our workers, our communities, and our companies.”

  Meanwhile, the Trump-centered Republican platform also pledges to revoke China’s permanent normal trade relations status, which grants it free trade benefits with the United States; phase out imports of essential goods that include electronics, steel, and pharmaceuticals; and stop China from buying American real estate and industries.

  Trump hinted at reigniting the trade war, suggesting he may impose more than 60 percent tariffs on Chinese goods.

  Dennis Wilder, a former national security and intelligence officer who held several senior roles in the Bush and Obama administrations, believes Trump’s threat of higher tariffs is merely a negotiation tool to achieve a trade deal similar to the phase one U.S.–China trade deal signed in 2020.

  

  Stephen Ezell, a vice president at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation think tank, believes Trump will take the pledges in the Republican platform seriously, particularly revoking China’s permanent normal trade relations status, because Beijing has failed to comply with its commitments as a member of the World Trade Organization, he told The Epoch Times.

  Beijing did not fulfill its pledge in the phase one deal to buy an additional $200 billion in U.S. products over two years. During a meeting with farmers in Pennsylvania’s Smithton, a city near Pittsburgh, on Sept. 23, Trump said, if reelected, his first call would be to Chinese leader Xi Jinping, asking him to honor the deal.

  During the final months of his term, Trump raised the idea of separating the United States and Chinese economies, known as decoupling. His former trade representative, Robert Lighthizer, a rumored candidate for the next secretary of the Treasury, advocates the same approach.

  Harris and her Democratic Party have a different view; she believes in derisking, not decoupling.

  James Lewis, a senior vice president at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank, said decoupling is already happening.

  As to whether a future Harris administration would differ from Biden’s approach, Lewis told The Epoch Times that he would watch the pace of decoupling and the measures adopted to reinforce it.

  Security

  Despite a growing consensus in Washington on the need to counter the Chinese regime’s aggressive actions, particularly in the Indo-Pacific, differences remain on how to avoid military conflicts.

  Trump emphasizes maintaining peace by showing military strength. During his term, he focused on modernizing nuclear weapons and stopped the trend of cuts to the U.S. nuclear stockpile.

  A 2018 nuclear policy document listed that one of the roles of nuclear weapons was for “hedging against an uncertain future.” The Biden administration dropped this language in its 2022 update.

  President Joe Biden’s 2022 Nuclear Posture Review also canceled the nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise missile program for cost reasons. However, Congress continued funding the program, although it was not included in the Biden administration’s defense budget requests. According to its proponents, the program enhances the credibility of U.S. deterrence.

  

  A YouGov survey in June found that Trump supporters are more likely than Biden supporters to say America is safer because of its nuclear arsenal.

  During a debate on the defense funding bill in 2020, then-Sen. Harris (D-Calif.) supported cutting the budget and said, “I unequivocally agree with the goal of reducing the defense budget and redirecting funding to communities in need.”

  In May, Harris said the United States’s air and space supremacy is essential to ensuring global peace and security, and the Biden administration has kept defense spending steady.

  Trump started the U.S. Indo-Pacific strategy, which Biden continued. Both parties agree that the Indo-Pacific region is the United States’s primary theater. However, Trump and Harris may differ on the balance between the imminent dangers in the Russia–Ukraine and Israel–Hamas regional wars and the tense South China Sea and Taiwan Strait.

  Ivan Kanapathy, a senior vice president at advisory firm Beacon Global Strategies and former senior national security official under the Trump administration, believes the European Union, which has a much larger economy than Russia, should handle the ongoing Russia–Ukraine war while the United States should focus more on China and North Korea.

  Elbridge Colby, a former senior Pentagon official and a top contender for the national security adviser position in Trump’s second term, shares this view.

  In late September, Harris reaffirmed the U.S. support for Ukraine as a way of “fulfilling our long-standing role of global leadership.” Earlier this year, in February, she touted having “ invested heavily in our alliances and partnerships and created new ones to ensure peace and security” in the Indo-Pacific during the past three and half years.

  The Biden administration has maintained that the Indo-Pacific is the “priority theater” for the United States. However, military assistance to Ukraine and Israel has strained the defense industry and led to an arms sales backlog to Taiwan of about $20 billion, the same as the island’s annual defense budget.

  Biden has said several times that the United States would defend Taiwan if Beijing tried to annex the island by force. However, his officials walked back those statements each time, saying U.S. policy is deliberately vague on what it would do.

  In September 2022, Harris said the United States will “continue to oppose any unilateral change to the status quo” and “continue to support Taiwan’s self-defense, consistent with our long-standing policy.”

  Trump has recently sparked controversy by saying Taiwan should pay the United States for its defense.

  Trump is also credited with forging closer U.S.–Taiwan relations, starting with his unprecedented phone conversation in 2016—the first such official call since 1960—with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, who congratulated the U.S. president-elect.

  

  Trump signed into law the Taiwan Travel Act in 2018, which encouraged engagements between U.S. and Taiwan officials at all levels, and the Taiwan Assurance Act in 2020, which ensured alignment of Taiwan guidelines in the State Department. During his term, several current U.S. cabinet-level officials visited the island nation.

  In Smithton, Pennsylvania, on Sept. 23, Trump alluded to the possibility of getting into a war with China while speaking about protecting the U.S. steel industry.

  Read more here…

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 10/15/2024 – 20:55

• Questions, Outrage After Israel Attacks Northern Lebanese Christian Stronghold
  Questions, Outrage After Israel Attacks Northern Lebanese Christian Stronghold

  Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,

  On Monday, Israeli warplanes carried out an attack on a small apartment building in the northern Lebanese village of Aitou, in the Christian-majority Zgharta District. At least 22 people have been killed in the attack, according to the Lebanese Red Cross, which also wounded at least eight.

  There has been no official comment from the Israeli military on why they attacked the Christian-majority village. That’s not unusual when the Israeli strike doesn’t appear to have had any military target or purpose.

  

  Speculation is that the attack was primarily a revenge attack against Lebanon in general after a Sunday drone strike by Hezbollah against a northern Israeli military base killed four soldiers and wounded scores of others.

  Alternatively, Israeli media has been speculating that the attack, again on a Christian village, “may have targeted a senior Hezbollah leader.”

  There has been no official sign that was the case, nor indeed are those making such speculation offering any name of the potential Hezbollah figure being targeted.

  22 people have been killed in an Israeli strike on the Maronite Christian village of Aitou, located ~ 100 kilometers northeast of Beirut in northern Lebanon. The Lebanese Red Cross said its teams are still evacuating the wounded and deceased, with the majority of those killed… pic.twitter.com/lqLRbbRfPr

  — Drop Site (@DropSiteNews) October 14, 2024

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  This northern part of Lebanon has not been considered militarily significant throughout the ongoing Israel-Hezbollah conflict, and there hadn’t been an Israeli attack anywhere near this area since the 2006 war.

  Israeli attacks on explicitly Christian targets are not unheard of, at any rate. Just last week, Israel launched a missile strike against a Catholic Church in the southern area of Tyre. 

  They destroyed the church, killing eight people, and have still offered no military justification for doing so.

  There are Orthodox as well as Maronite Catholic churches throughout the south of Lebanon, amid the war zone, and some have been destroyed by Israeli airstrikes…

  ⚡️#BREAKING Isreal bombed a church in the Lebanese town of Derdghaiya pic.twitter.com/n1N7inveKj

  — War Monitor (@WarMonitors) October 10, 2024

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  Already facing growing international pariah status over their attacks on civilians in the Gaza Strip, the escalation of attacks in Lebanon seems like Israel is willing to risk even more backlash.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 10/15/2024 – 20:30

• It's Obvious Why Chicago Politicians Hate What Donald Trump Says About The City
  It’s Obvious Why Chicago Politicians Hate What Donald Trump Says About The City

  Authored by Ted Dabrowski and John Klingner via Wirepoints.org,

  Presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump is in Chicago Tuesday for his latest campaign stop. While neither Chicago nor Illinois is in play this election, count on him to hit Chicago’s leadership hard for their many self-inflicted crises when he addresses the Economic Club of Chicago. 

  Trump has been highly critical of Chicago in the past, calling crime in the city “embarrassing to us as a nation”  and “worse than some of the places…in the Middle East where you have wars going on.” He’s also decried its migrant policies: “New York City and Chicago play the Sanctuary City card, where criminals are protected…” 

  

  His rhetoric on Chicago can often be nasty and over the top, but it’s not wrong. Too many Chicagoans experience the high-crime, low-literacy, high-tax, low-opportunity version of Chicago – which we detail below – and which Trump is likely to point at. But because it’s Trump talking, expect the media and connected class to deflect or even deny that the city’s problems exist. 

  Their denials should anger many of the ordinary Chicagoans who live with the impact of these problems every day. There are the residents who feel threatened living in the nation’s long-running homicide capital – polls show nearly two-thirds of Chicagoans don’t feel safe from crime. There are the black residents who’ve made their voices heard in multiple hearings, frustrated by the attention and billions in financial and healthcare resources directed towards the city’s illegal immigrants. And there are parents who feel their children’s education is secondary to the extreme demands of the Chicago Teachers Union – one reason why 110,000 black children have fled the public school system since 2000.

  Most of these problems have been inflicted by the city’s political class. They’ve stopped prosecuting many criminals. Most students aren’t taught to read or do math proficiently. Fiscal failures have the city, CPS and the regional transit authority all stuck with near one-billion-dollar deficits. And all of that mess is wrapped up in endemic political corruption, of which former Ald. Ed Burke and former House Speaker Mike Madigan are just the latest examples. 

  Chicagoans’ concerns have merit, and the failures of the city’s politicians deserve to be discussed. If the Economic Club of Chicago was to have an open, honest conversation about the city with Trump, here are five key goals that should get deeper attention:

  1. Start arresting, prosecuting and sentencing again. Protect victims, make crime criminal.

  If not, Chicago will likely continue to lead the nation in total homicides as it has for the last 12 years. If this year’s murder trend stays on track, it will be 13 years in a row. Overall violent crime will also continue to threaten Chicagoans. Through August of this year, violent crimes were running at a six-year high, over and above the jump in violent crimes last year.

  

  2. Bring back literacy and numeracy. Set ambitious proficiency targets, make those targets public, and then aggressively track and report progress to all Chicago parents. And begin the nation’s most ambitious school choice program. 

  If not, Chicago Public Schools will continue to fail the city’s children. Just 20% of minority children at CPS are proficient in reading and they all get moved along the system, grade after grade, until they’re pushed out via graduation. It’s been happening for decades. 

  The most recent years show that 70% to 80% of black students graduated from CPS, though just 10% to 15% were proficient on the SAT. It’s similar for the city’s Hispanics.

  

  3. Obsess about economic growth and job creation. Reduce spending. Cut taxes. Tackle corruption with ethics reforms. Make Chicago attractive, affordable to job creators.

  If not, Chicago will continue to suffer a poor jobs climate. Chicagoland, as recently as June, had the highest unemployment rate – 6.2% – out of all big metro areas nationwide.

  For the city’s black community it’s far worse. Chicago’s black unemployment rate, at 12.3%, was the worst among the country’s biggest cities in 2023. And the poverty rate for Chicago’s black residents – 26.4% – was also the highest among big cities as well. 

  

  4. Support and prioritize Chicago’s citizens. End the city’s sanctuary status.

  If not, Chicago will continue to spend hundreds of millions on the city’s illegal migrants each year, stretching the city’s finances and making it worse for citizens most in need. It’s simply not sustainable for a city that’s one notch away from a junk credit rating, and a school district that’s already junk.

  Illinois has already spent more than $2 billion dollars on “welcoming” programs, including healthcare for recent arrivals. The costs are far larger when what’s spent on all illegal immigrants is included.

  

  5. Obsess about attracting people to Chicago again. Fixing the problems of crime, education and jobs is just the start. Combined with reforms, Chicago can grow its way out of its many problems.

  If not, the city will continue to lose people. Chicago and Detroit are the only major cities, among the 15 largest cities in 2000, to lose population since then.

  Fewer residents means higher debts and taxes on the people who remain. Those higher costs – along with the city’s many other problems – in turn drive even more people out of the city in an ever-worsening downward spiral.

  

  Read more from Wirepoints:

  • No ShotSpotter and no cash bail in Chicago is a big mistake. 8 reasons why.

  • Suddenly the school board cares about Chicago Public School debts?

  • City of Chicago budget revenues have ballooned by $6 billion since 2019. Why the $1 billion deficit?

  • Chicago Public Schools is in dire financial straits, yet Chicago Teachers Union blocks closing of near-empty, failing schools.

  • Chicago’s worst-in-nation pension crisis strikes again

  • An Open Letter to Mayor Brandon Johnson on the forthcoming recommendations of his Pension Working Group

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 10/15/2024 – 20:05

• 2024 Campaign: Too Much Negativity, Not Enough Policy
  2024 Campaign: Too Much Negativity, Not Enough Policy

  With just three weeks until election day, a long and often tumultuous campaign is approaching the home stretch.

  For months the race between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, and Joe Biden before her, has dominated the headlines, both in the U.S. and internationally, as no other election in the world draws as much attention as the U.S. presidential election.

  

  Given the length of the U.S. presidential campaign that started off long before the first primaries and caucuses in January of this year, it’s no secret that many people will be glad when the race is finally over.

  But what do Americans think of the race so far?

  Statista’s Felix Richter reports that, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey, views of the 2024 presidential campaign are mostly negative, with 79 percent of registered voters saying that the race does not make them feel proud of their country.

  

  You will find more infographics at Statista

  71 percent describe the race as too negative and 62 percent think that it wasn’t focused on important policy debates.

  Despite these criticisms, there’s one thing that most Americans agree on: the campaign was not boring.

  68 percent of voters think that the presidential campaign has been interesting so far, versus just 30 percent who think it was dull.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 10/15/2024 – 19:40

• India Plans $109 Billion Of Grid Investments To Boost Renewables
  India Plans $109 Billion Of Grid Investments To Boost Renewables

  By Charles Kennedy of OilPrice.com,

  India plans a massive upgrade and expansion of its power transmission system, expecting investment opportunities of $109 billion to support the integration of renewable energy sources and storage solutions, the power ministry has said.

  

  India’s new National Electricity Plan (Transmission) envisages the addition of hundreds of thousands of kilometers of transmission lines, transformation capacity, and inter-regional transmission capacity by 2032.

  India aims to have 500 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy capacity installed by 2030 and more than 600 GW by 2032, according to the National Electricity Plan.

  The country expects its power demand to surge to 708 GW by 2047, India’s Power Minister Manohar Lal said in a statement. To meet this demand, India needs to quadruple its power capacity, the minister added.

  “This is not just about increasing capacity; it’s about reimagining our entire energy landscape,” Lal said.

  “We have set an ambitious target of 500 GW of non-fossil energy capacity by 2030, effectively doubling our current capacity,” he added.

  This push towards green energy aligns with India’s commitment to reducing carbon emissions by one billion tons by 2030 and achieving net-zero emissions by 2070, the power ministry said.

  Last month, Renewables Energy Minister Pralhad Joshi said that financial institutions had pledged $386 billion in investment commitments to help India boost its renewable energy industry.

  The country will need to install at least 44 GW of clean energy capacity every year by the end of the decade to meet the 500-GW goal, according to Bloomberg’s estimates based on data from the Indian Ministry of Power.

  “We received overwhelming commitments from states and Union Territories as well as from the developers, manufacturers, and financial institutes to support our goal of 500 GW by 2030,” Joshi said at the annual Renewable Energy Investor’s Meet and Expo in India.

  India-based conglomerates Reliance Industries and Adani are among the companies that have pledged additional renewable energy capacity. Reliance committed 100 GW of additional renewable capacity, and Adani Green Energy pledged to develop 38.8 GW of capacity.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 10/15/2024 – 19:15

• Iranian TV Shows Quds Force Chief After Deemed 'Missing' For Two Weeks
  Iranian TV Shows Quds Force Chief After Deemed ‘Missing’ For Two Weeks

  The head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s (IRGC) Quds Force, Esmail Qaani, has been spotted at a military funeral in Tehran after not being seen for two weeks. US media reports earlier this month described that the general “has not been seen in public since Israel killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in a massive air strike on Beirut on Sept. 27.”

  On Tuesday he was shown on state TV attending the the funeral ceremony for General Abbas Nilforoushan, who had been killed in the same Israeli airstrike on Beirut which took out Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.  Nilforoushan’s body was only days ago recovered from deep under the rubble in the south Beirut district of Dahieh.

  

  Qaani’s public appearance is significant given that rumors and rampant speculation had led to regional and international media issuing reports saying he either died in an Israeli strike or was under arrest by the government of Iran.

  For example, nearly a week ago Middle East Eye issued a report saying that Qaani was being detained by Iran in order to question him about the circumstances of the series of major security breaches exploited by Israel.

  MEE had also said at the time that “Speculation has mounted online and in the media that Qaani was wounded or killed in Israel’s continuous bombardment of Beirut’s southern suburbs.”

  AFP now reports of his new appearance in downtown Tehran:

  Qaani – who heads the Quds Force, the IRGC’s foreign operations arm – had disappeared from public view and was rumored in some media to have been targeted in an Israeli strike on Lebanon.

  He appeared Tuesday at the funeral, clad in the IRGC’s green military uniform.

  Nilforoushan’s casket was paraded through the packed streets of Tehran after a funeral ceremony at Imam Hossein Square in the city center.

  After weeks of speculation and false reports, IRGC Quds Force Commander Brigadier General Esmail Qaani was seen in an IRIB live broadcasting along with other officials receiving the body of Brigadier General Abbas Nilforoushan at Mehrabad Airport. pic.twitter.com/AmDfWqK8pY

  — PressTV Extra (@PresstvExtra) October 15, 2024

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  Interestingly, some other Western reports had speculated that Qaani had suffered a heart attack or that his health was deteriorating. But he looks healthy in the newly released footage.

  As Jerusalem Post highlights, “Last week, the IRGC-affiliated Tasnim news channel claimed that the IRGC General Ebrahim Jabbari had told state media that Qaani was in full health and would be receiving the Medal of Conquest from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the near future.”

  Iran has remained defiant in the face of an expected Israeli retaliation for the Oct.1st Iranian ballistic missile attack on Israel. Yoav Gallant has said Israel’s response will be “deadly, precise, and surprising.”

  Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force Brigadier General Esmail Qaani attended the funeral procession of Martyr Major General Abbas Nilforoushan in Tehran on Tuesday. pic.twitter.com/r2PoRTLYmK

  — IRNA News Agency (@IrnaEnglish) October 15, 2024

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  Tehran has in response said that it desires de-escalation and peace, but stands ready to respond against any aggression. “The Islamic Republic of Iran does not want to escalate tensions or war, but we are ready for any situation. We are prepared for war, but also for peace. This is Iran’s firm position,” foreign minister Abbas Aragchi said Sunday.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 10/15/2024 – 18:50

• Georgia Judge Rules County Officials Can't Delay, Decline To Certify Election Results
  Georgia Judge Rules County Officials Can’t Delay, Decline To Certify Election Results

  Authored by Samantha Flom via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  A Georgia judge has ruled that county election officials must certify election results by the statutory deadline regardless of irregularities or suspected fraud.

  

  Georgia law requires county election superintendents to certify election results by 5 p.m. on the Monday following the election—or the Tuesday, if the date falls on a federal holiday, as it does this year.

  Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney ruled on Oct. 14 that election officials must stick to that deadline.

  “No election superintendent (or member of a board of elections and registration) may refuse to certify or abstain from certifying election results under any circumstance,” the judge wrote in his opinion.

  McBurney added that if a superintendent should determine a need for additional information from the elections board or other election officials, that information should be provided “promptly,” where unprotected by law.

  “However, any delay in receiving such information is not a basis for refusing to certify the election results or abstaining from doing so,” he wrote.

  Julie Adams, a Republican member of the Fulton County Board of Elections and Registrations, brought the lawsuit after the county’s appointed election director allegedly denied her repeated requests for access to election results and processes.

  “Plaintiff swore an oath to ‘prevent fraud, deceit, and abuse’ in Fulton County elections and to ‘make a true and perfect return,’” Adams’s attorneys wrote in the initial complaint. “These obligations are frustrated by the repeated and continuing refusal to allow Plaintiff access to, and direct knowledge of, the information Plaintiff reasonably believes she needs to execute her duties faithfully and thoroughly.”

  Unable to observe the county’s election results and processes herself, Adams voted against certifying the results of the presidential preference primary in March. Her lawsuit sought clarification of the extent of the election director’s role and her own rights as a member of the election board.

  In his ruling, McBurney held that election certification is “a purely ministerial task that gives its performer no discretion to exclude some votes while counting others.”

  He reasoned that allowing election superintendents to “play investigator, prosecutor, jury, and judge” and refuse to certify results “because of a unilateral determination of error or fraud” would effectively silence Georgia voters.

  “Our Constitution and our Election Code do not allow for that to happen,” he concluded.

  McBurney’s latest ruling coincided with the start of early voting in the Peach State. Voters will have the option to vote early in person through Nov. 1.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 10/15/2024 – 18:25

• Israel's Supply Of Interceptor Missiles Under Strain Amid Daily Assaults
  Israel’s Supply Of Interceptor Missiles Under Strain Amid Daily Assaults

  Israel has been at war on several fronts for more than a year at this point, and is rapidly expending ammo and missiles, especially as it tries to shoot down what are now dozens of projectiles daily sent from Hezbollah positions in Lebanon.

  Hezbollah is estimated to have an arsenal of hundreds of thousands of rockets and drones of various sizes. Israel’s formidable anti-air defense systems have been regularly engaging inbound threats, sometimes expending hundreds of interceptors a day – and this was particularly true during the Oct.1st Iranian ballistic missile attack.

  Israel has long heavily relied on the United States to supply it with heavy artillery, bombs, and missiles – but now appears to be running low on interceptors amid the daily firefights. 

  

  A new Financial Times report warns that Israel’s missile defense shield is being stretched thin, and that the country is more heavily relying on Washington to fill the gaps.

  “Israel faces a looming shortage of interceptor missiles as it shores up air defenses to protect the country from attacks by Iran and its proxies, according to industry executives, former military officials and analysts,” FT writes.

  “The US is racing to help close gaps in Israel’s protective shield, announcing on Sunday the deployment of a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (Thaad) antimissile battery, ahead of an expected retaliatory strike from Israel on Iran that risks further regional escalation.”

  One analyst and former US senior defense official, Dana Stroul, stated that “Israel’s munitions issue is serious. Stroul, a pro-Israel and anti-Iran hawk, has described that “If Iran responds to an Israel attack [with a massive air strike campaign], and Hizbollah joins in too, Israel air defenses will be stretched.”

  She underscored the limitations in such a scenario for the Pentagon’s stockpiles: “The US can’t continue supplying Ukraine and Israel at the same pace. We are reaching a tipping point.”

  We’ve highlighted before that Israel likely cannot sustain wars on multiple fronts without steady support and weapons shipments from the US. As conflict – and Washington involvement – from Eastern Europe to the Middle East escalates, it remains that the only ‘winners’ are the major US defense firms:

  Boaz Levy, CEO of Israel Aerospace Industries which produces missile interceptors, adds: “Some of our lines are working 24 hours, seven days a week. Our goal is to meet all our obligations.”

  Palestinian media has meanwhile taken note…

  “Supply constraints” and the demands of war have left the Israeli military “relying on the US to fill the gaps in protective shields”.

  In recent days, the US announced it is deploying the anti-missile system THAAD to Israel as it continues to provide “ironclad” support for its… pic.twitter.com/Ngt2iGXKPG

  — Quds News Network (@QudsNen) October 15, 2024

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  During two separate rounds of Iranian missile attacks on Israel of the past year, the US has deployed warships and fighter jets to assist Israel in shooting down inbound projectiles. But systems like the Iron Dome, Arrow, and David’s Sling remain vital to Israel’s daily defense, especially given Hezbollah’s ramped-up attacks on the north of late. The US has now sent the Army’s THAAD missile defense system.

  Will the US ever cut off Israel? It is unlikely, given that both sides of the aisle tend to be led by “Israel firsters” – and sadly the presidential race is no different.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 10/15/2024 – 18:00

• Monkeypox: Evidence Of The "Pandemic Preparedness" Lie
  Monkeypox: Evidence Of The “Pandemic Preparedness” Lie

  Authored by Clayton Baker via The Brownstone Institute,

  This article was co-authored by Brian Hooker, PhD and Heather Ray.

  “Pandemic Preparedness,” and the gain-of-function research that underlies it, operates under a grand deception, a big lie.

  

  The Biological Weapons Convention, which every major nation has signed, “prohibits the development, production, acquisition, transfer, stockpiling and use of biological and toxin weapons.” As a result, gain-of-function research – the process of taking viruses and other pathogens found in nature and making them more transmissible and dangerous in humans – must be justified by defining it as something other than what it really is – namely, the creation of biological weapons and countermeasures for those weapons.

  The grand deception – the big lie – used to justify gain-of-function research goes something like this: “We need to alter pathogens in the lab to anticipate the mutations that just might occur in nature, and to promote the production of vaccines to protect humanity from these theoretical superbugs.”

  In truth, there is no legitimate reason to create superbugs in the laboratory. One does not save Tokyo by creating Godzilla. Unfortunately, science can be both complicated and confusing, especially when the “experts” are intentionally untruthful. This grand deception has therefore worked for decades, and a gigantic, profitable, and frankly terrifying pandemic preparedness industry involving governments, non-governmental organizations, Big Pharma, and universities has grown as a result.

  In order to expose and discredit a big lie that has persisted for such a long time, sometimes a “smoking gun” is needed – that is, a piece of clear and obvious evidence that the long-held premise is false. In the case of the big lie surrounding gain-of-function research and the pandemic preparedness industry, monkeypox serves the role of smoking gun.

  Monkeypox virus is back in the news in 2024, as one of the pandemic industrial complex’s leading candidates for the so-called “Disease X” about which the World Health Organization has been sounding its relentless alarm. (Of course, this is the second time monkeypox has been trotted out in recent years, after the 2022 monkeypox fear porn campaign in the United States that ultimately fizzled out.)

  Once one gains a thorough understanding of both the monkeypox virus’s peculiar history in the US, as well as the natural characteristics of the virus, one can easily see through the grand deception – the big lie – that is used to justify gain-of-function research and the entire “pandemic preparedness” industry.

  Monkeypox Comes to America

  In 2003, through exotic pet importation, 35 people in six US states were confirmed to have been infected with the clade II type of the monkeypox virus. The humans contracted the disease from infected prairie dogs, kept as pets, that had themselves been exposed to either contaminated imported animals or other individuals infected with the virus. All human cases made a full recovery without lasting effects. 

  This outbreak was an odd, self-limited, and entirely incidental occurrence of a rare and essentially non-lethal virus finding its way to the US by specific and preventable circumstances. In a world of sensible and ethical public health practices, this event should have prompted a reasonable, proportionate response, such as increased precautions regarding the exotic animal trade.

  Instead, this incident opened the floodgates to dangerous research by scientists who sought to identify a strain of monkeypox that could easily be passed to humans by way of aerosol transmission. 

  In 2009, Christina Hutson and her team at the CDC collaborated with Jorge Osorio at the University of Wisconsin to investigate the transmissibility of monkeypox. Again, in 2012, Hutson teamed with other universities to test and compare the transmissibility of the monkeypox virus in rodents, ultimately determining in those experiments that “transmission of viruses from each of the MPXV clade was minimal via respiratory transmission.”

  Again, in a sensible and ethical world, these findings might have shut the door on ill-advised research on monkeypox. As we shall see, that was not the case.

  Monkeypox: A Lumbering Giant of a Virus

  The monkeypox virus itself is a strange candidate indeed to try to manipulate in the manner Hutson and Osorio sought. Unlike small, simple, rapidly mutating RNA respiratory viruses like Influenza viruses or coronaviruses, monkeypox is, in the virus world, a slow-moving, lumbering giant.

  The most ‘successful’ bioweapon in human history is the SARS CoV-2 coronavirus that causes Covid. It encodes only 29 proteins in its single-stranded, RNA genome, which is correspondingly small – slightly less than 30,000 bases in length. With its genetic simplicity and its single-stranded RNA genome, it mutates very rapidly. The virus itself is small as well – it is only about 100 nanometers in diameter and weighs about 1 femtogram (or 0.000000000000001 gram).

  As one might expect, this virus is readily transmitted through the airborne route.

  Monkeypox virus, by contrast, is one of the largest and most complex viruses in existence. It can be up to 450 nm long and 260 nm wide, and its double-stranded DNA genome has nearly 200,000 base pairs. With this lengthy, complex genome, encoded in more stable, double-stranded DNA, it mutates slowly. This large virus – a giant, by viral standards – does not transmit by the aerosol route. Rather, it is transmitted by close contact, including sexual intercourse (as became well known during the 2022 monkeypox scare), as well as the hunting, slaughtering, and eating of bushmeat.

  Consider also that naturally occurring monkeypox is much less deadly to humans than the pandemic planners and fear pornographers typically advertise. The WHO has since reported on the international monkeypox outbreak that occurred in 2022. As of January 2023, the total number of confirmed cases was 84,716, with 80 total deaths. Thus, the case fatality rate during that outbreak was less than one death in every thousand cases, 100 times less than the frequently-cited case-fatality rate of 10%.

  Strictly speaking, the frequently cited 10% case-fatality rate refers only to the more virulent clade I of monkeypox. However, many authorities have picked up the bad habit of bandying about the 10% figure indiscriminately of clade. Furthermore, even with clade I, this rate appears to be a significant exaggeration. 

  For example, in its webpage on endemic clade I Monkeypox in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the CDC states that “Since January 1, 2024, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has reported more than 31,000 suspect mpox cases and nearly 1,000 deaths.” These numbers result in a case fatality rate of around 3%.

  There are numerous other threats to human health that are more worthy of time, funding, and effort. For example, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where monkeypox is endemic, about eighty times more people die of malaria than of monkeypox. Malaria is both preventable and curable with proper diagnosis and access to inexpensive medications. This tragic death toll from malaria illustrates how common, deadly, but relatively unprofitable diseases are neglected by supposedly philanthropic entities such as the WHO. 

  Instead, they heavily promote the grand deception of pandemic preparedness and gain-of-function research.

  Given the monkeypox virus’s sheer size, complexity, low rate of mutation, relatively stable DNA genome, and instability when exposed to oxygen, the likelihood of it ever naturally mutating into an airborne pathogen is remote. There is simply no legitimate reason to monkey with its genome in the lab (pun intended).

  Add to the mix its limited transmissibility and low mortality (especially for clade II), and any honest and competent scientist truly seeking to serve humanity would recognize that naturally occurring monkeypox is a relatively low public health priority and a marginal-at-best vaccine candidate – especially for the world population at large. 

  But Anthony Fauci and his cronies at NIAID saw things differently.

  Fauci and Friends, at It Again

  In 2015, AnthonFauci’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID) covertly approved a dangerous gain-of-function experiment that would genetically manipulate the monkeypox virus to create a more virulent and transmissible pathogen that would potentially pose a grave threat to humans. 

  Instead of raising the alarm about this proposal to create a deadly hybrid monkeypox virus, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and NIAID itself deceptively hid the project’s approval from the oversight of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, by burying funding for the experiment in an alternate grant.  

  The project was proposed by Dr. Bernard Moss, a long-time friend and colleague of Fauci at NIAID. Moss, who has accumulated multiple US patents related to monkeypox, intended to insert virulence genes from the more severe form of monkeypox, clade I (Congo Basin clade), in the “backbone” of the more transmissible monkeypox virus, clade II (West Africa clade). This project would create a much more dangerous version of monkeypox with the virulence of clade I and the transmissibility of clade II. This chimeric form of monkeypox would not originate in nature, as different clades of DNA viruses do not naturally transpose genes.

  It is unknown whether this ill-advised, highly dangerous, and deceitfully approved project was completed. Fauci and Moss’s sleight-of-hand was discovered in 2022, prompting a seven-month Congressional investigation. The House Committee Report (page 6) states that “HHS, the NIH, and NIAID continue to insist the GOFROC (gain-of-function research of concern) experiment transferring material from clade I to clade II was never conducted, despite being approved for a period of over 8 years. However, HHS has repeatedly refused to produce any documents that corroborate this claim.”

  Is a weaponized form of monkeypox in existence? If so, Fauci, Moss, and friends aren’t telling.

  What is known is that there was no legitimate reason to conduct such experiments, and that those involved knew this, as they hid the project from their overseers. The only logical assumption about the intent of the research is that it was to create a weaponized version of monkeypox. 

  The House Committee’s conclusions on Fauci’s NIAID as a whole are damning:

  The primary conclusion drawn at this point in the investigation is that NIAID cannot be trusted to oversee its own research of pathogens responsibly. It cannot be trusted to determine whether an experiment on a potential pandemic pathogen or enhanced potential pandemic pathogen poses unacceptable biosafety risk or a serious public health threat. Lastly, NIAID cannot be trusted to honestly communicate with Congress and the public about controversial GOFROC experiments. (page 8)

  NIAID couldn’t be trusted about Covid. 

  They cannot be trusted about monkeypox, either. 

  According to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, they cannot be trusted, period.

  To summarize: in nature, monkeypox disease is a relatively rare, usually mild viral illness transmitted through behaviorally modifiable forms of close contact such as sexual intercourse and the hunting and eating of bushmeat. The infectious agent is a very large, complex DNA virus that transmits poorly from person to person and is much less prone to mutation than numerous other viruses. 

  Once one realizes all this, it becomes frankly preposterous to attempt to justify gain-of-function research on such a pathogen for any legitimate purpose. The only plausible reason to do such research on monkeypox is to create a bioweapon – a weaponized virus – and to also create and profit from its countermeasure – a proprietary vaccine.

  Pandemic preparedness is a grand deception, a big lie. The monkeypox madness demonstrates this, as compellingly as a smoking gun at a murder scene. We must put an end to all gain-of-function research and to the bogus pandemic preparedness excuse for illegal bioweapons research.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 10/15/2024 – 17:40

• Trump Pulls Ahead In Battleground States
  Trump Pulls Ahead In Battleground States

  As of Oct. 14, 2024, polling averages aggregated by website RealClear Polling show that Republican candidate Donald Trump has caught up in battleground states ahead of the U.S. presidential election in November.

  Democratic contender Kamala Harris led her opponent by 0.3 percentage points only in the state of Wisconsin most recently.

  Statista’s Katharina Buchholz reports that approximately one month ago, the website had seen Harris and Trump ahead in three battleground states each, while another one was rated as tied.

  Right now, the biggest lead for Trump was reported from Arizona with a margin of 1.1 percentage points, while other leads – for example in Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina and Pennsylvania – were much smaller.

  Harris leading only in Wisconsin is the equivalent of 10 electoral votes while Trump would collect 83 in this scenario.

  

  You will find more infographics at Statista

  The source also calculates how many electoral votes in the 2024 election are expected to come from states usually voting Democratic or Republican and likely/leaning to vote Democratic or Republican.

  Here, Harris has 215 votes (including 76 likely/leaning ones), while Trump has 219 votes (126 likely/leaning).

  Harris would therefore have to carry slightly more of battleground votes to reach an electoral college majority, which in this calculation include an additional 10 from Minnesota and one from Nebraska’s second district.

  The prediction markets are much more clear on who they think will win…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  But just as polls are open to manipulation, the lower liquidity in the prediction markets leaves them open to billionaires pushing and pulling.

  With that said, however, Trump’s recent dominance is broad-based and if it was a certain ‘world’s richest man’ pushing the market around, why wouldn’t Soros and his pals push back?

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 10/15/2024 – 17:20

• IEA Sees "Sizeable Surplus" In Oil Market As Demand Growth Slows
  IEA Sees “Sizeable Surplus” In Oil Market As Demand Growth Slows

  By Tsvetana Paraskova of OilPrice.com

  The oil market faces a sizeable surplus next year amid ample supply and slowing demand growth, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Tuesday as it further lowered its demand growth estimate for 2024.

  

  Global oil demand is set to increase by just 862,000 barrels per day (bpd) this year, amid decelerating consumption growth in China, the agency said in its closely-watched Oil Market Report today. The latest estimate is a downgrade from the 903,000 bpd growth in global oil demand expected in last month’s report.

  Demand is set to grow by below 1 million bpd in 2025, the IEA said, slightly raising its estimate to 998,000 bpd from 954,000 bpd.

  “Chinese oil demand is particularly weak, with consumption dropping by 500 kb/d y-o-y in August – its fourth consecutive month of declines,” the agency noted.

  Meanwhile, oil supply from producers outside the OPEC+ agreement is rising and set to make robust gains of around 1.5 million bpd this year and next. The United States, Brazil, Guyana, and Canada are set to account for most of the increase, ramping up their combined production by over 1 million bpd both years, according to the IEA.

  This will more than cover expected demand growth, the agency says.

  In recent weeks, heightened concerns about oil supply security bump into a well-supplied market, the IEA said.

  “Heightened oil supply security concerns are set against a backdrop of a global market that – as we have been highlighting for some time – looks adequately supplied,” it added in its monthly report.

  Moreover, spare production capacity within OPEC+ stands at historic highs, as effective spare capacity – excluding Libya, Iran, and Russia – comfortably exceeded 5 million bpd in September, the agency said.

  The IEA affirmed it is ready to act in case of supply shocks, but noted that “For now, supply keeps flowing, and in the absence of a major disruption, the market is faced with a sizeable surplus in the new year.”

  Yesterday, OPEC also cut its oil demand growth outlook, for a third consecutive month, due to actual consumption data so far this year and expectations of slightly lower demand in some regions, including China.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 10/15/2024 – 17:00

• "Skipping COVID Booster Could Reduce Your IQ": Vax Propaganda Thrives At LA Times
  “Skipping COVID Booster Could Reduce Your IQ”: Vax Propaganda Thrives At LA Times

  The LA Times is out with an opinion piece by two Yale professors who suggest that failing to get a COVID booster could reduce your IQ.

  

  Their argument: a recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that COVID itself reduces IQ, which “suggests yet another reason to get the vaccine: It may protect your intellect.“

  Many people regard their ability to reason as a core aspect of their identity; that’s one reason the prospect of dementia is so frightening. This research suggests that getting your booster may be one way to preserve that ability and promote brain health. If you want to keep solving Wordle or the Saturday crossword, you have an additional reason to get boosted. –LA Times

  For starters, the study’s authors found that the cognitive deficits were largely observed in those who had the original COVID strains, not recent strains.

  “The largest deficits in global cognitive scores were observed in the group of participants with SARS-CoV-2 infection during periods in which the original virus or the alpha variant was predominant as compared with those infected with later variants.”

  The authors specifically looked at vaccinated vs. unvaccinated, and only observed “a small cognitive advantage among participants who had received multiple vaccinations.”

  The LA Times article also ignores the fact that COVID-19 vaccines and boosters do not prevent infection. It also ignores that the NEJM study authors “found smaller cognitive deficits among participants who had been infected during recent variant periods than among those who had been infected with the original virus or the alpha variant.”

  “Hey, don’t be stupid. Get your Covid booster.”

  Me: So the booster prevents infection/transmission, right?

  “Ummm…no.”

  Me: I’ll take my chances. https://t.co/4bRi0DytrW

  — Physics Geek (@physicsgeek) October 14, 2024

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  Edit: As ZeroHedge reader Nelbev notes in the comments:

  If you read p. 27 Table S7 of the supplement/appendix, they have the multivariate regression coefficients of both having covid of various durations and being vaccinated and t-scores for significance among other variables. https://www.nejm.org/doi/suppl/10.1056/NEJMoa2311330/suppl_file/nejmoa2311330_appendix.pdf

  Their analysis indicate negative coefficient by vaccination (versus not vaccinated) on cognitive score (same as their getting covid relative to not results)

                                      coef   t-score
  Vaccine doses 1      -0.130   -3.054
  Vaccine doses >=2  -0.057   -4.078

  Thus, getting vaccinated is highly significantly (99%+) correlated with a drop in cognitive ability or IQ, more so for the first dose than booster.

  This is absolutely hilarious, the paper cited says the exact OPPOSITE of what the LA Times Op ed says, vaccination is instead associated with a DROP in IQ similar to what they say about having Covid.

  That paper and statistics do say a drop in IQ is related to having covid and worse with duration (long covid), but the Op ed assumes being vaccinated lowers you chances of getting covid which it doesn’t, then jumps to the conclusion that getting boosted will prevent you from getting covid lowering IQ where the statistics on being vaccinated once or boosted versus not vaccinated in the paper say opposite, vaccination is associated with a drop in IQ similar to catching the virus.  The Op ed authors must have been boosted.

  *  *  *

  According to a study released in May, current boosters are just 52% effective at protecting against infection after 4 weeks, and 20.4% after 20 weeks. So essentially – take the vaccine – risking its potential side-effects – for a coin toss as to whether you’ll get COVID.

  The authors also suggest that “Young people, whose more active social lives often drive the spread of COVID, can safeguard not just their health but also their intelligence and their futures by getting vaccinated.”

  Yet, FDA adviser Paul A. Offitt says young and healthy people shouldn’t get the latest COVID boosters, citing two studies suggesting that bivalent boosters, which target the original COVID-19 strain and two Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA. 5, do not “elicit superior immune responses.”

  Meanwhile, Sweden, Norway and Finland suspended or limited use of Moderna’s COVID jab for people under children, while the UK has scaled back COVID vax efforts for healthy children after a study showed “an increased risk of hospital admission for myocarditis following a first or second dose of BNT162b2” in adolescents aged 12-17 years.

  #vaccinegenocide #RipDiamond #Myocarditis #InformedConsent #NurembergCode #Pfizer #DiedUnexpectedly

  “There are a lot of People Who are Vaccine Damaged and Don’t Know it”

  Dr Bret Weinstein speaks with Dr Aseem Malhotra about Subclinical myocarditis & it’s impact on longevity pic.twitter.com/tve20xLmbP

  — Asher Press (@AsherPress) January 22, 2023

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  Waning immunity

  Their thesis also fails to acknowledge waning immunity from boosters. A recent study which appeared last month in Nature Medicine found that “people who received repeated doses of vaccine, and in some cases also became infected with SARS-CoV-2, largely failed to make special antibody-producing cells called long-lived plasma cells (LLPCs),” according to Science.org.

  Lee and her colleagues found that nearly all participants had LLPCs in their bone marrow that secreted antibodies against tetanus and flu. But only one-third had plasma cells generating the same defense against SARS-CoV-2. Even in those subjects, just 0.1% of the antibodies generated by their LLPCs were specific for SARS-CoV-2, an order of magnitude less than for tetanus and flu. “The paper is very informative,” Iwasaki says.

  Click into this thread for a breakdown:

  An important study by F. Eun-Hyung Lee’s team shows that long lived plasma cells (the source of long-term circulating antibodies) fail to establish after mRNA vaccination (even combined with SARS-CoV-2 infection). 🧵 (1/)https://t.co/Z15xiyxCLS

  — Prof. Akiko Iwasaki (@VirusesImmunity) September 27, 2024

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  Outdated data

  The LA Times article also falsely claims that “more than 95% of a group that knows COVID better than most — physicians — get their shots.”

  That claim is based on data from June 2021, before the boosters even existed. In reality, a growing number of doctors are not getting their boosters, while almost half of healthcare workers are hesitant to get the jab.

  The comments section reveals that even LA Times readers aren’t buying this shit anymore…

  “This piece is extremely misleading and as a physician, I am insulted that the LA Times didn’t fact check it better. It closes, “That’s why more than 95% of a group that knows COVID better than most — physicians — get their shots.” As you can see by clicking the source above, that statistic about 95% of physicians getting their shots is from June 2021 – before the COVID booster even existed (it was authorized in September 2021). 95% of physicians do NOT currently get their booster shots, though the conclusion makes it sound like they do – this is overtly misleading. There is so much vaccine misinformation out there already, and it is infuriating that the LA Times would contribute to this. Please correct.”

  *  *  *

  “There are plenty of people out there who were “fully vaccinated” with multiple boosters and still got COVID numerous times. It’s even more of a stretch to tie vaccination to higher IQs when it can’t even do much to quell the disease.”

  *  *  *

  “This ad brought to you by your friends at Pfizer.“

  *  *  *

  “A recent study in the UK shows that the vaccine does almost nothing to prevent covid in children, being completely ineffective after 14-15 weeks. The study shows that the vaccine causes severe inflammation (myocarditis and pericarditis) of the heart tissues and it is unclear how long this lasts, but it may be permanent.”

  Amazing.

   

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 10/15/2024 – 16:40

• The Deep State And The 2024 Election
  The Deep State And The 2024 Election

  Authored by Nick Giambruno via InternationalMan.com,

  The Deep State is the permanently entrenched bureaucracy that really runs a country.

  It is THE establishment.

  

  While the Deep State concept is commonly associated with the US government, many other countries have their own versions.

  Looking at what happens in those countries when an outsider comes to power can help us better understand what the Deep State might do in the US.

  If an outsider somehow comes to power, there are three possible outcomes:

  1. The Deep State kills the outsider.

  2. The outsider succeeds in crippling the Deep State and can implement an independent agenda.

  3. The Deep State co-opts the outsider.

  Numerous examples of this dynamic have played out in different countries in recent history.

  Outcome #1: The Deep State Kills the Outsider

  A prominent example of the Deep State killing an outsider is the assassination of JFK.

  In Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohamed Morsi was an outsider. However, Morsi did not break the back of the Egyptian Deep State, which swiftly overthrew him. Morsi later died in prison of a “heart attack.”

  Economic Hit Man John Perkins claims the Deep State assassinated Jaime Roldos and Omar Torrijos, independent leaders of Ecuador and Panama after they resisted being co-opted.

  Outcome #2: The Outsider Cripples the Deep State

  In Cuba, Fidel Castro’s revolution was able to prevail because he crippled the old Cuban Deep State. Had Castro left the old Cuban Deep State intact, it likely would have overthrown and killed him.

  In Iran, there was the Islamic Revolution in 1979 that threw out the US-backed Shah. It succeeded because Khomeini broke the back of the old Iranian Deep State through violent purges of the military and security agencies.

  In Russia, it seems Putin was able to tame the old Russian Deep State to a large degree by successfully taking on the oligarchs and making an example out of Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

  In Turkey, Erdogan was once considered an outsider. Erdogan came within minutes of losing his life during a military coup in 2016 and was lucky to survive. After that coup failed, Erdogan seems to have tamed Turkey’s Deep State by purging and restructuring the military and intelligence agencies.

  In El Salvador, Bukele was a genuine outsider. He successfully broke the old El Salvador Deep State, which the US Deep State really ran. He did this by neutralizing the violent gangs, which would have been the primary way the Deep State would have destabilized Bukele.

  Outcome #3: The Deep State Co-Opts the Outsider

  Trump’s first term is an excellent example of how the Deep State co-opted an outsider.

  There are supposed outsiders in Europe like Giorgia Meloni in Italy or Geert Wilders in the Netherlands. However, they displayed no intent or capability to take on the Deep State in Europe and were easily co-opted by it.

  It seems that Fico in Slovakia was too independent for his own good. He barely survived an assassination attempt. I suspect he received the message and will get in line.

  A Potential Trump Second Term

  The main takeaway from these examples is that an outsider will not succeed in implementing an independent agenda unless he can take on the Deep State and win.

  That is a dangerous proposition because there is a good chance the Deep State will kill him first.

  Few leaders are willing to take that kind of gamble with their lives. Even fewer succeed.

  That’s why many outsiders conclude it’s better to play ball with Deep State.

  There is a decent chance Trump could return to the White House in a matter of months.

  It’s important to keep this dynamic about the Deep State in mind as we assess the investment implications of Trump’s potential second term.

  Given the recent assassination attempts, which nearly succeeded, it seems the Deep State felt Trump was going to be too independent in a second term.

  • Is Trump willing and able to cripple the Deep State?

  • Or will he be co-opted, as he largely was during his first term?

  If I had to guess, I think Trump understood the message and will be co-opted if he is elected again—which is a big if.

  Here’s the bottom line.

  In order for Trump to be able to implement an independent agenda, he must:

  1. Survive further Deep State assassination attempts.

  2. Overcome cheating, a hostile media, and other shenanigans to win an election that will be rigged against him in every way possible.

  3. Make the fateful decision to take on the Deep State.

  4. Succeed in crippling the Deep State.

  The odds of ALL of these things happening are tiny.

  

  Many people want Trump to be a savior, but it’s not the way to bet—at least given current circumstances.

  If investors want to plan for a potential second Trump term, the base case scenario is that the permanently entrenched bureaucracy that really runs a country will co-opt him.

  That means we can expect Trump in a second term to continue with the same overall agenda but with a different flavor.

  The Deep State’s overall agenda seems to be focused on perpetuating the US-led world order. In other words, the US government’s unmatched global dominance it has enjoyed since the end of World War 2.

  The Deep State doesn’t care if Trump implements different social policies or other inconsequential domestic pet projects, so long as he does not do anything to fundamentally alter the dominance of the US in the world—like cutting the US government down to a limited Constitutional Republic with no foreign entanglements.

  For example, with a new Trump administration, we will likely see the current anti-Russian focus substituted with an anti-China one. The idea is to continue pursuing a policy of US global hegemony but with a different flavor.

  A new anti-China focus means we can expect:

  • Trade protectionism

  • Economic sanctions

  • Trade embargoes

  • Disruption of supply chains

  Trump has also proposed devaluing the dollar to make US exports more competitive, so we can expect more currency debasement too.

  Here’s the bottom line.

  With the most pivotal election on the horizon, we’ve just entered the most turbulent period in US history…

  It will be more dangerous than the 1930s, the 1940s, and even the 1860s.

  That’s because severe crises are brewing on multiple fronts and converging.

  The whole system will have a complete reset, and soon.

  Is the 2024 US presidential election on November 5 going to be where it all comes to a head?

  There’s an excellent chance that it will.

  *  *  *

  That’s exactly why I just released an urgent new report with all the details, including what you must do to prepare. It’s called, The Most Dangerous Economic Crisis in 100 Years… the Top 3 Strategies You Need Right Now. Click here to download the PDF now.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 10/15/2024 – 16:20

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