Stuart Jeanne Bramhall's Blog: The Most Revolutionary Act , page 407

Daily Vitamin D May Reduce Cancer Mortality by 12%

Dr MercolaStory at-a-glanceA 2023 systematic review and meta-analysis found daily vitamin D supplementation reduced cancer mortality by a significant 12%Daily vitamin D supplementation was particularly beneficial for people aged 70 and over, as well as those who took vitamin D daily and were later diagnosed with cancerAmong people who took daily vitamin D doses of 5,000 IU to 50,000 IU daily, no adverse effects were foundPast research has found women with a vitamin D level at or above 60 ng/mL (150 nmol/L) had an 82% lower risk of breast cancer compared to those with levels below 20 ng/mLTo optimize your vitamin D levels, regular sun exposure is the best option; however, if you’re unable to get adequate sun exposure each day, supplementation may be necessary

On a typical sunny day, your body may produce up to 25,000 international units (IU) of vitamin D.1 Yet, in the U.S., the average daily recommended intake is only 600 IU for people between the ages of 1 and 70, and 800 IU for those over 70.2

These amounts are likely far too low for most people to optimize their vitamin D levels and take advantage of all the related health benefits — like a reduced risk of dying from cancer.3 The fact is, adequate daily sun exposure over a large portion of your skin is the best way to increase and maintain your vitamin D levels.

But many people either don’t get outdoors enough to achieve this, or live in areas where it’s too cold to comfortably do so for much of the year. While you should strive to get sensible sun exposure as much as possible, since it offers important benefits beyond vitamin D, research also shows that daily vitamin D supplementation is safe4 and significantly advantageous for your health.

Daily Vitamin D Lowers Cancer Mortality by 12%

Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the U.S., after heart disease.5 Yet, despite the fact that so many people are dying of this condition — and vitamin D could help — health officials rarely recommend vitamin D for cancer prevention or treatment.

A 2023 systematic review and meta-analysis published in Ageing Research Reviews found vitamin D3 supplementation reduced cancer mortality by 6%. This wasn’t considered statistically significant, but when only studies involving daily vitamin D intake were analyzed, cancer mortality dropped by a significant 12%.6

[…]

Meanwhile, risks of lung cancer, colorectal cancer, breast cancer, bladder cancer and lymphoma are higher in people with low vitamin D levels, while having higher levels is associated with a better prognosis in cases of breast and colorectal cancers.8

The Ageing Research Reviews study further revealed that daily vitamin D supplementation was particularly beneficial for people aged 70 and over, as well as those who took vitamin D daily and were later diagnosed with cancer.

[…]

Many Studies Show Vitamin D Lowers Risk of Cancer Death

Other research also supports vitamin D’s role in protecting against cancer death. In one study of 25,871 patients, vitamin D supplementation was found to reduce the risk for metastatic cancer and death by 17%. The risk was reduced by as much as 38% among those who also maintained a healthy weight.10,11

What’s particularly noteworthy is this study only gave participants 2,000 IU of vitamin D daily and didn’t measure their blood levels. Despite these research flaws, a significant benefit was still found. However, other research has found even more striking benefits.

Take, for example, a GrassrootsHealth analysis published in June 2018 in PLOS ONE. It showed women with a vitamin D level at or above 60 ng/mL (150 nmol/L) had an 82% lower risk of breast cancer compared to those with levels below 20 ng/mL (50 nmol/L).12

An earlier U.K. study found that having a vitamin D level above 60 ng/mL resulted in an 83% lower breast cancer risk,13,14 which is nearly identical to GrassrootsHealth’s 2018 analysis. Another meta-analysis looking at breast cancer reviewed 70 observational studies, finding that for each 2 ng/mL (5 nmol/L) increase in vitamin D level there was a corresponding 6% decrease in breast cancer incidence.15

Overall, this translates into a 71% reduced risk when you increase your vitamin D level from 20 ng/mL to 60 ng/mL (50 to 150 nmol/L).16 Similarly, a Canadian study showed that women who reported having the most sun exposure from ages 10 to 19 had a significantly reduced risk of developing breast cancer.17

Did High-Dose Vitamin D Cure Pancreatic Cancer?

Vitamin D may even help in cases of pancreatic cancer, one of the deadliest forms of cancer with a five-year survival rate of just 7.2%.18 Researchers published the case of an 83-year-old woman with pancreatic cancer “who errantly took supratherapeutic doses of vitamin D 50,000 U daily, achieving a serum 25(OH)D level of more than 150 ng/mL, with no appreciable side effects.”

Personally, I strongly disagree with high dose therapy as it is unnecessary and non-biological and if you are supplementing I would recommend taking it once a day.

Eight months after diagnosis — and consistent daily intake of high-dose vitamin D — scans revealed “no evidence of disease progression.” Further, the researchers noted, “Currently she describes as feeling quite well with no difficulty accomplishing her activities of daily living.”

[…]

High-Dose Vitamin D Deemed ‘Safe,’ Beneficial

There’s a lot of controversy over taking higher doses of vitamin D, in part because excessive vitamin D, particularly in combination with lack of vitamin K2 and magnesium, may cause overabsorption of calcium, which in turn may result in calcium deposits in your heart and kidneys.

A team of researchers conducted routine vitamin D screenings on more than 4,700 hospital patients upon admission.20 Most were then given vitamin D supplements in the amount of 5,000 or 10,000 IUs a day to correct deficiencies. In some cases, patients took 20,000 to 50,000 IUs daily to target certain diseases.

“Deficiency is strongly linked to increased risk for a multitude of diseases, several of which have historically been shown to improve dramatically with either adequate UVB exposure to the skin, or to oral or topical supplementation with vitamin D. These diseases include asthma, psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, rickets and tuberculosis,” the researchers explained.

While three patients with psoriasis had “marked clinical improvement” upon taking higher vitamin D doses daily, none of the patients experienced hypercalcemia due to vitamin D — nor did they experience any other adverse event from vitamin D supplementation.

In the video above, John Campbell, a retired nurse educator based in England, details the study, noting, “There’s no question at all in my mind that authorities around the world … should increase the recommended amount of vitamin D. The current recommended amounts … are way too low.”21

There’s a Good Chance You’re Vitamin-D Deficient

The global prevalence of vitamin D deficiency (defined as a level of less than 20 ng/mL) and insufficiency (defined as a level of 20 to less than 30 ng/mL) is 40% to 100%.22

Further, 20 ng/mL has repeatedly been shown to be grossly insufficient for good health and disease prevention and, to maintain your health, your level should be between 60 ng/mL (150 nmol/L) and 80 ng/ml (200 nmol/l). A level of 100 ng/mL (250 nmol/l) appears safe and beneficial for certain conditions, especially cancer.

Research has shown that once you reach a minimum serum vitamin D level of 40 ng/mL, your risk for cancer diminishes by 67%, compared to having a level of 20 ng/mL or less.23

Among older adults in the U.S., vitamin D deficiency may affect up to 100% of the population,24 not only because they tend to spend a lot of time indoors but also because they produce less vitamin D in response to sun exposure than a younger person with the same sun exposure.

The Best Way to Raise Your Vitamin D Level

The best way to get your vitamin D is from sun exposure. While many are unable to do this, it is possible. As I am writing this at the end of May, my vitamin D level was 99 with no supplementation. When you aren’t taking a vitamin D supplement, your D level is a strong marker for sun exposure and confirmation you are getting enough near infrared (IR) in addition to UVB radiation.

There’s a good reason to ensure your vitamin D levels are within the optimal range. Aside from combating cancer, giving vitamin D to people with COVID-19 cut risk of death from SARS-CoV-2 by 51% and reduced risk of admission to the intensive care unit by 72%.25

I launched an information campaign to raise awareness about the use of vitamin D for COVID-19 back in June 2020 and published my own vitamin D review October 31, 2020, in the peer-reviewed journal Nutrients.26 It shows that 14 observational studies suggest vitamin D levels are inversely linked with the incidence or severity of COVID-19 and recommends vitamin D supplements for prevention or treatment.27

Via https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2023/06/16/vitamin-d-and-tumor-mortality.aspx

 

Green Monkeys, You Say? BioNTech’s Vaccine Production Facility Was Site of Marburg Virus Outbreak

By Robert Kogon

The Daily Sceptic

Citing microbiologist Kevin McKernan, the Epoch Times reports that green monkey DNA has been found in mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines. This has led D.D. Denslow to note in a viral tweet that green monkeys were the source of the infamous 1967 Marburg virus outbreak.

Well, as so happens, the production facility of BioNTech, the legal manufacturer of the so-called ‘Pfizer’ vaccine and supplier of most of the mRNA for European output is not only located in Marburg, it is the very facility where the Marburg virus outbreak occurred!

Green Monkey DNA confirmed present in COVID jabs.

Green Monkey's are what carry the Marburg virus in Stanley Johnson's book the Virus.

The more you know.

Not having the COVID vaccine is the best decision ever made… EVER!https://t.co/8KMza8klFu

— DD Denslow (@wolsned) June 12, 2023

The facility is known as the Behringwerke or ‘Behring Works’, after the German immunologist Emil von Behring. The Marburg virus outbreak began after laboratory workers at the Behringwerke were exposed to infected monkey tissues. (See here, for instance, on ScienceDirect or here, from Vice, for a popular account, including an interview with a Behringwerke employee who survived the disease.)

BioNTech purchased the Behringwerke facility from Novartis in late 2020 in anticipation of regulatory approval of the COVID-19 vaccine that it would go on to market in collaboration with Pfizer. The company’s September 17th purchase announcement is here.

The acquisition was undoubtedly facilitated by a €375 million ($445m; £320m) grant from the German Government, which BioNTech received just two days earlier. (See grant announcement here.)

The unredacted Advanced Purchased Agreement (APA) between the European Commission on the one hand, and Pfizer and BioNTech on the other, notes that “vaccine supply in Europe will primarily come from Pfizer’s manufacturing site in Puurs, Belgium and shall incorporate RNA produced at BioNTech controlled manufacturing sites”. (See p. 12 of the unredacted APA here.)

The passage also mentions BioNTech subcontractors who are known to be involved in various stages of preparation of the mRNA, such as purification (Rentschler) and formulation in lipid nanoparticles (Polymun). But BioNTech manufactures the ‘raw’ mRNA at the Behringwerke facility in Marburg.

The Epoch Times report connects the green monkey DNA to so-called SV40 – simian virus 40 – promoters. Whereas McKernan has found DNA contamination in both the Moderna and the Pfizer-BioNTech shots, he specifically raises the alarm about SV40 promoters in what he calls the ‘Pfizer’ shot.

“At least on the Pfizer side of things,” he says, “it has what’s known as an SV40 promoter. This is an oncogenic virus piece. It’s not the entire virus. However, the small piece is known to drive very aggressive gene expression.”

The Behringwerke facility also has another claim to fame – or rather infamy – incidentally. Under the Third Reich, as a subsidiary of the notorious IG Farben chemical trust, the Behringwerke manufactured experimental vaccines that were tested on inmates at the Buchenwald concentration camp. (See here, for instance, from the Buchenwald Memorial museum, although the total number of inmates who died is far higher than the number cited for just January 1942.)

The experiments were at the centre of the Nuremberg ‘Doctors’ Trial’ which gave rise to the Nuremberg Code.

[…]

Via https://dailysceptic.org/2023/06/14/green-monkeys-you-say-biontechs-vaccine-production-facility-was-site-of-marburg-virus-outbreak/

Campaigners urge London food banks to end use of face scans

Robert Booth

The Guardian

Exclusive: Charity that runs five distribution hubs has been told it is wrong to ‘trade sensitive biometric data for food’

Privacy advocates are urging food banks to stop using facial recognition software, claiming it poses a serious risk to users’ “privacy, dignity and security”.

Several food banks in London are asking users to submit face scans to allow them to choose food from shops. The Face Donate app-based system also has the potential to track purchases.

It is being used by Hackney Foodbank, a charity that runs five distribution hubs and is a member of the Trussell Trust food bank network.

It allows the charity to give people shopping tokens rather than food parcels, which helps the already stretched food bank to meet rising demand without having to find staff and volunteers to manage its own supplies.

Silkie Carlo, the director of the Big Brother Watch campaign group, is urging the charity to halt the system, arguing it is wrong to ask people to “trade sensitive biometric data for food”.

“As biometric data becomes increasingly valuable the repercussions of your users’ biometric data being lost or stolen could be catastrophic,” she told the charity, warning that biometric data could not be reset, like a password or access code, in the case of a data breach.

“It is for this reason that the legal threshold for processing biometric data must meet the strict requirement of necessity rather than of convenience,” said Carlo.

The software provider and food bank have denied that biometric data is being “traded” for food and Face Donate has said it does not breach privacy, dignity or security.

The case comes amid concern over increasing digital automation in the welfare state. It emerged last month that 350 low-paid workers each day are raising complaints about errors in automated welfare top-ups in the universal credit system, causing financial hardship and emotional stress.

The Department of Work and Pensions is also using artificial intelligence to counter benefit fraud that employs digital “profiling” of claimants seeking benefit advances, according to records released under the Freedom of Information Act.

Face Donate first requires users to register using an email address, password and several face scans. After the food bank allocates the user a token to buy food it must be validated no more than 10 minutes before checkout by providing further face scans. This assures the food bank that the person to whom it gave the voucher is also receiving the goods, to prevent fraud.

The system also allows food banks to see a user’s shopping receipts, to show for example if someone is buying a lot of confectionery and few vegetables. That means in principle they could offer the user advice if they were concerned about the pattern of purchases.

The co-founder of Face Donate, Alexandr Kulakov, said this would be done in the spirit of “there’s no judgment, but perhaps we can offer you some help”.

“It is true that we could look at the receipts, but we don’t,” said Pat Fitzsimons, the chief executive of Hackney Foodbank. “We don’t have the capacity. We’re completely inundated with people needing food.”

Kulakov and Fitzsimons said food bank users could avoid the system if they chose to take a conventional food bank parcel.

“We would never contemplate using a system that swaps, trades or exchanges any kind of facial or biometric data in return for food,” said Fitzsimons. “Hackney Foodbank does not hold any such data whatsoever. Following an extensive trial, we were delighted that the solution contributed to dignity and agency and allowed people of all diverse cultural backgrounds to make choices that were aligned with their personal dietary requirements.”

Pictures of people are not held on the system, which relies instead on facial geometry data points such as the distance between a user’s eyes.

By February, about a quarter of Hackney Foodbank’s users were registered through the facial recognition system. As many as 600 people a week use the charity’s food banks.

Big Brother Watch also raised concerns that facial recognition technology had previously been shown to struggle more to recognise women and people of colour and so could lead to discrimination.

Kulakov said that was not the case now that facial recognition software had been “trained” on a greater diversity of faces.

[…]

Via https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/jun/13/campaigners-urge-london-food-banks-to-end-use-of-face-scans

JPMorgan settles with Epstein victims—and will reportedly pay US$290 million

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said during a deposition he was unaware of Epstein’s sex trafficking while he was a client at the bank. Image: Getty

JPMorgan Chase on Monday reached a settlement with a group of women who were sexually abused by Jeffrey Epstein, and will pay US$290 million, according to media reports, as the company continues to face off in legal complications over claims it knowingly assisted and supported the deceased financier’s sex trafficking ring.

Key facts

The settlement with Jane Doe, an anonymous woman who brought an individual and class action suit against the bank in November 2022, is still subject to court approval, according to a Monday statement from the company and the victims’ lawyers.

The proposed deal is “in the best interest of all parties,” the statement said, which includes “dozens” of victims who were abused by Epstein as young women or teenage girls during a roughly 13-year period starting around 2000, per the lawsuit.

Forbes US reached out to the lawyers involved in the deal to confirm the $290 million USD settlement amount, which was reported by the New York Times and Wall Street Journal.

Key background

The lawsuit was filed in a Manhattan federal court in tandem with a second suit against Deutsche Bank in November 2022. Both banks held accounts for Epstein—he was a client at JPMorgan from 1998 to 2013 and at Deutsche from 2013 to 2018, shortly before he died by suicide in prison while awaiting trial for sex trafficking charges.

The suit alleges JPMorgan continued to provide banking for Epstein despite being aware he was breaking the law because the bank allegedly knew it “would earn millions of dollars from facilitating Epstein’s sex abuse and trafficking.” The bank has said its relationship with Epstein was “a mistake,” which it regrets, but has not admitted any wrongdoing.

What to watch for

JPMorgan is still involved in litigation with the U.S. Virgin Islands, where Epstein owned two private islands, and with Jes Staley, a former JPMorgan executive who served as CEO of the bank’s asset management division from 2001 to 2009.

In a suit filed in December, the Virgin Islands alleges JPMorgan obstructed federal law enforcement who were pursuing Epstein and that Staley and current CEO Jamie Dimon knew about Epstein’s sex trafficking as early as 2008. It also claims the bank received referrals for other high-value customers, like Tesla CEO Elon Musk, from Epstein.

JPMorgan made a counterclaim against the Islands in May, alleging they were “complicit in the crimes of Jeffrey Epstein.” In March, JPMorgan sued Staley in an attempt to hold him solely responsible for any claims against the bank in relation to Epstein.

In the suit, JPMorgan says if it is found responsible for any damages in the lawsuit with Doe, “it is entitled to recover the entire amount of any damages from Staley.” Staley lost a bid to dismiss the suit in May, and CEO Dimon repeatedly said during a deposition he had no knowledge of Epstein’s doings.

[…]

Via https://lordrakim.wordpress.com/2023/06/15/jpmorgan-settles-with-epstein-victims-and-will-reportedly-pay-us290-million/

The Historic Role of Women in Software Programming

Coders: Who They Are, What They Think and How They’re Changing Our World

By Clive Thompson

Penguin Press 2019

Book Review

For me the most interesting sections of Thompson’s book concern the role of female programing pioneers who have been conveniently erased from history. The first computer programmer in history was Ada Lovelace, a mathematician who wrote the program used the the Analytic Engine to calculate Bernoulli’s sequence in 1843.

During World War II, women programmed the first experimental machines used for code breaking. Post war, they designed the first compilers that allowed people to create coding language by converting binary code to English. At time time, the common assumption was that experience creating and following recipes and engaging in intricate needlework made women especially qualified to produce detailed and accurate coding sequences.

As the computer revolution took off in the 1950s and 1960s, promoting the mainly female keypunch* workforce to coding jobs made intuitive sense, while the male computer workforce focused on the more glamorous work of developing hardware (ie building computers).

Sadly in the late sixties, when it became necessary to promote coders to management positions, few companies saw women as management caliber. As they focused on recruiting more men, the number of female students enrolled in university computer science programs steadily decline. By 2003, it had dropped to 26% (from a high of 35% in 1990).

Even though female and minority enrollment in computer science degrees has improved since then, Thompson details the overwhelming degrading and sexist treatment female computer science students have experienced, not only at university, but in the frat-style environment of many Silicon Valley Companies,

In 2019, when the book was written, many prominent Silicon Valley coders still publicly proclaimed that women were biologically unsuited to coding. Overseas statistics strongly contradict this view (for example India, where women comprise 40% of computer science students, and Malaysia where they comprise 52%).

The low number of female coders in the US, may relate to the tendency of American parents to discourage nerdish computer tinkering behavior (common in boys who go on to study computer science) in girls. In contrast, similar behavior  is equally encouraged in boys and girls in India.

Thompson also devotes major portions of the book to a discussion of Internet surveillance by government and the ingenuity of cyberpunk hactivists in circumventing government spying; the tendency of AI to incorporate the innate biases of the coders who program it; and the philosophy behind the open source operating system Linux and open source software.

I found the final chapter extremely interesting. Here Thompson links the financial motives of venture capitalists who finance Facebook, Twitter and similar social media start-ups and the clickbait algorithms that facilitate the proliferation of so-called “misinformation.” According to Thompson, venture capitalists have no interest in funding “stable” start-ups. They’re only interested in “ferocious” growth, which isn’t possible if users are charged upfront for participating. Exponential growth is only possible with free services that 1) keep users on the site long enough to view lots of ads and 2) collecting personal information about them to on sell to other companies (and the government).

The only way to trigger this type of growth is for Facebook et al to promote compulsive social media use via algorithms that favor posts that trigger strong emotions.

*In the early computers of the fifties and sixties, data was fed into computer via cards with holes punched in strategic locations by (mainly female) keyppunch operators.

 

 

Grassroots Pressure Pays Off Again, as All Vaccine-Related Legislation in New York Fails to Become Law

By  Michael Kane

This was the fourth consecutive year that activists in New York — with the support of Children’s Health Defense — prevented any vaccine-related bill from becoming codified into law.

New York lawmakers on June 10 ended the 2023 legislative session in Albany without passing any of the four pending vaccine-related bills.

This is the fourth consecutive year that grassroots efforts, including those undertaken by Children’s Health Defense (CHD), have prevented any new vaccine-related legislation from becoming codified into New York state law.

The four bills pending before the legislature that did not move forward included legislation that would have allowed:

S762A: Minors to be vaccinated without parental knowledge or consent.S1946: Tracking of medical exemptions.S1531: Mandatory tracking of all adult vaccinations.S7356: Dentists to administer COVID-19 and flu shots.

Additionally, Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz permanently revoked two of his bills related to COVID-19 vaccination — one that would have required COVID-19 shots for children in grades K-12 to attend school, and one that would have required college students to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

These will not come back during the next legislative session, which is slated to begin in January 2024.

Nearly a dozen more bills related to vaccine mandates never moved an inch during the entire session.

The New York Assembly said it will hold a 2-day session before the end of June. However, the only legislation that would have any chance of getting passed during a summer session is S7356, the bill to allow dentists to administer COVID-19 AND flu shots.

The other bills would require the Senate to reconvene and, thus far, there is no indication this will happen.

Activists in New York have been battling these bills since January. On January 10, more than 1,000 activists led by CHD and CHD’s New York Chapter rallied at the Capitol in Albany.

Activists also scheduled meetings between New York residents and state lawmakers to educate the elected officials on the impacts of more than a dozen proposed bills related to vaccination.

Activists and constituents continued to meet with their lawmakers in their home districts in the months following the rally. They also made phone calls and sent emails to remind lawmakers of their position regarding vaccine-related bills.

It wasn’t until May 5 that vaccine-related legislation began to gain traction in the state legislature.

The minor consent to vaccination bill was scheduled for a vote in the Senate Health Committee on May 9. However, thousands of calls and emails from activists stopped the vote from happening. The vote was rescheduled for May 16 — the same date activists had scheduled a second rally in Albany.

When we arrived in Albany on May 16, we directed everyone to go right to the Health Committee hearing. Forty of our people were in the committee room to witness the vote, while another approximately 150 people waited in the hallway.

The debate over the minor consent bill came up first. People in the hallway began chanting “Protect parental rights” and “No!” which prompted Health Committee Chair Amy Paulin to have the door closed.

Activists working on behalf of CHD.TV filmed the vote, which was broadcast on CHD.TV and on CHD’s social media platforms:

‘Disgusting’ NY Health Committee Passes Minor Consent Bill for STD-Related Vaccines

The passing of NY A276B (https://t.co/fw7JXybTk0…) by the NY Health Committee and its proposed companion senate version S762A has sparked controversy and raised concerns among parents.

The… pic.twitter.com/8i2IPnJmQu

— Children’s Health Defense (@ChildrensHD) May 17, 2023

The Defender published a report on the minor consent to vaccination bill immediately after it passed the Health Committee.

Not only did the minor consent bill pass during this committee vote, but so did the mandatory adult vaccine database bill and a medical exemption reporting bill — three bills that we had been tracking all session made it past the first committee vote hurdle in one swoop.

After the vote, we rallied in Albany in front of the Capitol. Later, we held strategy meetings on how to get the word out and influence voters in our own communities — especially in New York City, as the city controls much of the politics in Albany.

CHD New York compiled photos of all 16 lawmakers who voted yes on the minor consent bill and put it out on social media. These photos were pushed by many grassroots groups including Teachers For Choice, which did a good job of exposing the lawmakers and their support for stripping away parental protection of children.

Mona Davids of LittleAfrica News published an op-ed I wrote: “Right now lawmakers in Albany are trying to take away your parental rights!”

LittleAfrica News is an online and print publication distributed in 400 locations across New York City. It also is distributed in print across the country and the world. The African community is one of the fastest-growing immigrant communities in the city and state.

CHD Senior Staff Attorney Rolf Hazlehurst wrote a letter delivered via FedEx to all the most critical leaders in Albany and every member of the Senate Health Committee, informing them CHD had won a preliminary injunction in federal court against a similar minor consent to vaccination bill in the District of Columbia. A minor consent law like the one Albany was proposing violates the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986, which requires that, prior to vaccinating a minor, the healthcare provider must provide to the minor’s representative (i.e., parent or guardian) a Vaccine Information Sheet, according to Hazlehurst.

We educated the public in Flatbush Brooklyn about the sound of drumming — an idea proposed by spirit drummer Kevin Nathaniel — and broadcast the session on CHD.TV (go to the 5-minute mark to view the footage from the streets of Brooklyn).

We then did a similar action in Queens, where five of the yes votes came from for the minor consent to vaccination bill. Activists executed the action in front of Assemblyman Edward Braunstein’s office in Bayside.

Bronx activist Curtis Cost held a multi-day action in the Bronx in front of state Sen. Gustavo Rivera’s office. The event was a wild success, educating people on the mandatory adult vaccine database bill.

Rivera is a powerful lawmaker in Albany who is the chairman of the Senate Health Committee. Activists handed out more than 1,000 flyers in both English and Spanish, which caught the attention of Rivera’s office. A sitdown meeting with Rivera and his staff is currently being discussed. Read about the actions in the Bronx at Curtis Cost’s Newsletter where multiple photos from the streets of the Bronx were published as well.

Excellent work in the BRONX by dedicated Medical Freedom Activists!

Tweet at all these elected officials. @GustavoRiveraNY @AndreaSCousins

NO MANDATORY ADULT VACCINE DATABASE!

Take Action here https://t.co/ZYH7mR2DyI pic.twitter.com/CZWtiPmJUO

— Teachers for Choice (@teacher_choice) June 6, 2023

[…]

Via

The Canadian Trucker Protests Worked!

No Minister

I know. I was surprised to read that too, given what I’d seen of the treatment dished out to the truckers on the streets of the capital by Justin Trudeau’s Police thugs, and worse, the Stasi-like shite pulled in freezing their credit cards and bank accounts in order to effectively destroy them while leaving them breathing.

But if you read the following Twitter thread it turns out that the protests actually worked, something that the MSM in Canada and the rest of the West, have not reported on since they were heavily invested in the C-19 narrative of lockdowns, vaccine mandates and massive State control.

I keep encountering this misconception from people who don't follow Canadian politics…

That somehow the Trucker convoy was defeated.

The Freedom Convoy was the most wildly immediately successful protest in Canadian history, maybe WORLD history.

People remember Trudeau's… pic.twitter.com/bhF1NQYarz

— CatGirl Kulak (Anarchonomicon) (@FromKulak) June 7, 2023

Check the link for details on the key points but as she summarises:

Within 1 month the trucker convoy had effected a hostile overthrow of the Governments of Alberta and the official opposition, the Conservative party of Canada, from pro to anti- lockdown, and crushed the moderate wing of the conservative movement.

At Multiple points Trudeau was nearly forced out by his own party and his government was humiliated with most pof its percieved power destroyed, it now exists as a rump failing to pass gun control bills (IN CANADA!) against moderate opposition.

Within 2-4 months all domestic restrictions were gone and within 8 months even the pantomime of international restrictions didn’t exist, Canada had fewer covid restrictions than the US.

Rather puts New Zealand in the shade, and given what a creepy place Canada is becoming that’s saying something. But as the Twitter author puts it, the reason both the Canadian government and their MSM wing wants you to think the protest was a failure was that it’s success freaked them out for what it portends for the future:

The greatest possible threat to them is that the mass of the Suburban and rural Middle-class: Flyover country, the Petite Bourgeoise, the small business owners, the farmers, the truckers, the Kulaks… The greatest possible threat to the regime is that this mass will realize its incredible power both in coordination, logistics, and initiative… And that it will overthrow the governing class of Bureaucrats, Regulators, Lawyers, DEI Administrators, and leaches who’ve gotten rich surviving of their tax cattle who actually work and produce things.

It’s class warfare Jim, but not as we’ve known it.

[…]

Via https://nominister.wordpress.com/2023/06/14/the-canadian-trucker-protests-worked/

Rhode Island Lawmakers Approve Psilocybin Legalization Bill

A J Harrington

Forbes

A Rhode Island legislative committee this week approved a bill to legalize the possession and cultivation of psilocybin mushrooms, making the state the latest of several to propose or advance legislation to ease the prohibitions on magic mushrooms and other psychedelic drugs. The measure, House Bill 5923, was approved by the House Judiciary Committee by a 12-2 vote on Tuesday, according to a report from Marijuana Moment. A companion bill is pending in the Rhode Island Senate, where the chamber’s Judiciary Committee is holding the bill for further study.

If passed, the legislation would eliminate criminal penalties for adults who possess or cultivate up to one ounce of psilocybin mushrooms for personal use. Up to one ounce of mushrooms could also be shared by one adult with another. The bill is slated to go into effect on July 1, and an amendment approved by the Judiciary Committee sets a July 1, 2025, sunset for the legislation.

The bill was introduced in March by Rhode Island state Rep. Brandon Potter and Sen. Meghan Kallman. After the bill was introduced, Kallman said the bill would benefit people living with mental health challenges.

“Veterans and many others in our community are struggling with chronic [Post Traumatic Stress Disorder], depression and other mental health disorders that can be totally debilitating,” Potter said about the legislation earlier this year. “We should give them the freedom to try every tool available and not criminalize a natural, effective remedy.”

If the U.S. Food and Drug Administration reschedules psilocybin, H 5923 directs the Rhode Island Department of Health to “establish rules and regulations pertaining to cultivation, distribution and medical prescription” of the drug for therapeutic purposes. If the FDA, which has designated psilocybin as a breakthrough therapy, expands access to the drug, the health department would be tasked with authorizing sites to administer psilocybin to “patients with a serious or life-threatening mental or behavioral health disorder, who are without access to effective mental or behavioral health medication.”

Supporters of the legislation say that psilocybin has been improperly classified for decades as a Schedule 1 drug under the federal Controlled Substances Act, a designation that is meant to indicate that a compound has no accepted medical use and a high propensity for abuse.

“Psilocybin is not addictive,” Kallman said. “It’s naturally occurring and people have been using it recreationally and medicinally for thousands of years.”

“It is only illegal because, over 50 years ago, President Nixon associated it with his political opponents,” she added. “It’s time to undo that mistake and give our neighbors struggling with chronic mental illness, and all Rhode Islanders, the freedom to use psilocybin responsibly.”

Psilocybin And Mental Health

Studies conducted by Johns Hopkins and other researchers have shown that psilocybin has the potential to be an effective treatment for several serious mental health conditions, including PTSD, major depressive disorder, anxiety and substance misuse disorders. A study published in 2020 in the peer-reviewed journal JAMA Psychiatry found that psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy was a quick-acting and effective treatment for a group of 24 participants with major depressive disorder. Separate research published in 2016 determined that psilocybin treatment produced substantial and sustained decreases in depression and anxiety in patients with life-threatening cancer.

Federal agencies including the Food and Drug Administration are currently reviewing the potential for psychedelics to treat serious mental health conditions. In June, the head of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration wrote to U.S. Representative Madeleine Dean, a Pennsylvania Democrat, that FDA approval of psilocybin to treat depression was likely within the next two years.

As the nation faces rising rates of substance use and mental health issues “we must explore the potential of psychedelic-assisted therapies to address this crisis,” Miriam E. Delphin-Rittmon, assistant secretary for mental health and substance use, wrote to Dean.

The ongoing research has prompted several states to consider legislation to ease the prohibition on psilocybin and other psychedelic drugs, particularly for therapeutic purposes. Last month, Oregon officials issued the state’s first license for a psychedelic therapy treatment center following the legalization of magic mushrooms for therapeutic use with the passage of a 2020 ballot measure. A similar initiative was approved by Colorado voters in 2022. And in February, an Arizona legislative panel approved a psilocybin therapy research bill, only a month after a psilocybin therapy legalization bill was introduced in Missouri.

[…]

Via https://www.forbes.com/sites/ajherrington/2023/06/07/rhode-island-lawmakers-approve-psilocybin-legalization-bill/amp/

Xi hails establishment of ‘China-Palestine strategic’ ties

Source: Dawn

The Muslim Times

Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Wednesday that his country was establishing “strategic” relations with Palestinians ahead of talks with leader Mahmud Abbas in Beijing.

Abbas will be in the Chinese capital until Friday, Beijing has said, on his fifth official visit to the world’s second-largest economy.

“Facing a century of global changes and new developments to the situation in the Middle East, China is ready to strengthen coordination and cooperation with the Palestinian side,” said Xi during a welcome ceremony at the Great Hall of the People.

“Today, we will jointly announce the establishment of a China-Palestine strategic partnership, which will be an important milestone in the history of bilateral relations,” added Xi.

[…]

Via https://themuslimtimes.info/2023/06/14/xi-hails-establishment-of-china-palestine-strategic-ties/

From Comrade to Dame in a New York Minute

Cranmer

Being a socialist and a closet republican didn’t prevent former PM Ardern from accepting a damehood and making possibly the fastest transition from comrade to dame that anyone has ever achieved.

They say that a week is a long time in politics and indeed that seems to be truer now than ever. But consider, for a moment, the transformation that our former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern made during her fifteen years in New Zealand’s Parliament.

When Ardern was first elected to Parliament in 2008, she was still the President of the International Union of Socialist Youth. She managed both roles for her first 15 months in Parliament and was famously filmed giving the closing remarks at the 2009 IUSY Festival in Hungary where she referred to her fellow members as “comrades” no fewer than 15 times during her 7 minute speech.

It was a speech that stressed activism and solidarity, and urged those present to take action on poverty, climate change and LGBTQ rights. Ardern delivered her remarks with the zeal and enthusiasm of a youthful insurgent.

Fast-forwarding to the present day, Ardern has departed from New Zealand politics following a remarkable ascent that shone brightly but quickly waned. One of the final acts of her exit was the announcement, as part of last weekend’s King’s Birthday Honours, that the former Prime Minister would become Dame Jacinda Ardern. It was possibly the fastest transition from comrade to dame that anyone has ever achieved.

The Honours system always creates a degree of chatter when awards are announced, and Ardern’s damehood naturally attracted comment in the press and social media.

John Key gave an orthodox defense of the Honour, commenting that, “I think it is very standard that a former prime minister receives a significant honour and I think most people wouldn’t begrudge that.”

“I think every single one has received one, in my memory they have had a level of recognition with the Honours system,” said Key.

Whilst Key’s comments were uncontroversial, they omitted to acknowledge the uneasy relationship that the Labour Party, and Ardern in particular, has with the Honours system. In 2000, Helen Clark famously announced that knighthoods and damehoods had been abolished, only for John Key to restore them in 2009.

In 2010, Clark received New Zealand’s highest accolade, becoming a member of the Order of New Zealand. At the time she said that she felt privileged to join the “incredible New Zealanders” in the order, but “certainly would not” have accepted a damehood.

Clark’s principled stance was similar to one of her predecessors, Jim Bolger, another republican who also wanted to scrap the Honours system but settled for modernising it by terminating almost all British honours and creating the new five-level New Zealand Order of Merit. There are, of course, many other examples of New Zealanders who have felt unable to accept an Honour due to the residual connection to the British monarchy, or simply because ‘Sir’ or ‘Dame’ sounded too grand.

Elsewhere there are examples of nationalist or republican political parties such as Sinn Féin, Plaid Cymru and the Scottish National Party that have taken a similar stance of abstentionism or refusal by their members to participate in state honors associated with the British establishment.

There are, therefore, two things that wrong with Ardern’s gong.

The first is the unseemly haste in which it has been conferred. Certainly in the UK there is usually a longer period between senior politicians leaving office and the awarding of Honours to them. Tony Blair, for instance, left office in 2007 and yet only received his knighthood in the 2021 New Year’s Honours. Although he was a hugely successful Labour Prime Minister, his premiership was damaged by his support for the ill-fated Iraq War. The gap between leaving office and his knighthood, in part, let that controversy settle down and placed his time in office in its historic context.

In New Zealand, Honours are awarded more quickly to politicians but even so, the review of the Government’s Covid response is still ongoing, and it will take many years for the pandemic years and the response of our politicians during that time to be fully weighed and measured. And indeed for final judgment to be handed down by commentators and historians on the Ardern Government. But then again, you don’t become Prime Minister at 37 and retire at 42 “with nothing left in the tank” by waiting. That’s not Ardern’s style.

The second bone of contention is that Ardern has only ever given lukewarm support for the British monarchy and has never shown any real enthusiasm for articulating its positive role in New Zealand’s culture and constitution. That’s been a shame because it may have cooled some of the heated political rhetoric that has emerged over Treaty politics during her premiership. For many in the country, socialist and republican colours are still visible beneath Ardern’s polished image as a modern Labour Party leader. That, of course, opens Ardern up to claims of hypocrisy.

That’s possibly why it was reported that Ardern was “in two minds” as to whether to accept the damehood, and why her more principled mentor, Helen Clark, was unavailable to comment when approached by the media.

It’s an issue that hasn’t gone unnoticed in the UK. In an opinion piece in the UK’s Telegraph, commentator Allison Pearson reports choking on her porridge when news reached her of Ardern’s damehood. Referring to the former Prime Minister, as “Obergruppenführer Ardern” on account of her strict approach to Covid, Pearson observed that more time was spent “polishing her halo” than acting on more pressing matters.

Pearson concludes by asking, “Why would she want the title anyway? Ardern is a socialist and closet republican who would like to see the downfall of the institution whose glittering bauble she now shamelessly grasps with both hands. Why on earth is the King ennobling one of the monarchy’s enemies?”

Ardern is not the only current Labour politician with republican stripes that has a liking for establishment Honours. The mother of Chris Hipkins and the parents of Kelvin Davis have all received New Year’s Honours during this Government’s term when both Hipkins and Davis sat on the Appointments and Honours Committee. No doubt the awards were well deserved and Hipkins and Davis excused themselves from the relevant decisions.

However, it does serve to highlight an uneasy relationship between some members of the Labour Party and the Honours system. At the core, it can be seen as a tension between pragmatism and principle. While the party may be critical of the monarchy and the system of Honours it represents, it recognises the political reality and the public’s perception of the Honours system as an institution. As such, it engages with the system and participates in the nomination and awarding process, despite reservations about its underlying structure.

In its modernised form, the current system is however flexible enough to accommodate traditionalists such as Key, and republicans such as Clark and Bolger. But in Ardern’s case, her damehood looks to many like opportunism and hypocrisy.

And despite declaring that she had nothing left in the tank, Ardern remains an ambitious politician in a hurry. Indeed, no sooner had she collected her gong than it was announced that Dame Jacinda Ardern was about to sign a record book deal. It’s not her first biography and it certainly won’t be her last.

[…]

Via https://cranmer.substack.com/p/from-comrade-to-dame-in-a-new-york/