Sun entering most active cycle
USA - The sun may be waking up after almost a decade of relative calm, scientists say — and that could cause problems on Earth. According to a new report from Business Insider, the solar storms that rage on our star during its active period create bursts of electromagnetic energy that can affect everything from the power grid to GPS signals. These so-called solar maximums occur roughly every 11 years, and they haven’t been much of a problem in the past. Scientists, however, fear that our reliance on electricity and interconnectivity could mean we’re far more vulnerable to their effects this time around.
This Won’t End Well: Scientists Hope to Create AI from Human Brain Cells
USA - Scientists at John Hopkins University are working on research to enable AI to be constructed using human brain cells, arguing that the use of organic materials is more efficient than traditional computing systems. The technology has come to be known as OI, or “organoid intelligence,” and scientists have already achieved success in “programming” organic materials. In October, scientists in Australia linked a dish of 800,000 living brain cells to a computer, successfully teaching it to play the 1970s video game Pong.
Now, researchers are hoping that organic materials produced in vitro, known as “organoids,” can provide a more efficient alternative to silicon computer chips. To harness these capabilities, the scientists hope to employ “organoids,” 3D cultures of human brain cells that replicate parts of our noggin responsible for learning and memory. Their size allows the neurons within them to form significantly more connections than standard silicone computer chips, which could be rendered obsolete by this bold new biotech.
Israel’s Dangerous Shadow War With Iran
ISRAEL - Israel has long made clear its penchant for applying military pressure to disrupt Iran’s nuclear advances and weapons exports — and, more recently, its drone technology program. In the last few months, however, Israel’s appetite for risk seems to have increased. In early January, an Israeli strike aimed at pro-Iranian militant groups inside Syria put the international airport in Damascus out of service. Later that month, reports indicated that Israel had carried out a significant drone attack on a military site in the Iranian city of Isfahan.
Israel prepared for a retaliatory strike from Iran, possibly on civilian targets outside the country. Iran subsequently launched a drone attack on a commercial shipping tanker in the Arabian Sea owned by an Israeli businessman, according to US officials. And just last week, a considerable Israeli strike reportedly targeted Iranian officials meeting in a residential neighborhood in Damascus.
But now the ground is shifting in Iran, Israel, and the United States, causing the risks of escalation to grow once again. At the same time, US military coordination with Israel is expanding, another sign that Washington is not only accepting Israel’s confrontation with Iran but actively supporting it. Late last month, the US military engaged in a joint exercise with Israel that simulated offensive long-range strikes; it was the largest such exercise the two sides had ever carried out together.
Wokeism: The Insane New Religion That Has Taken Over America
USA - Today, in the United States of America, a new religion has somehow become the country’s de facto official church. This new state religion overtaking the United States of America – and increasingly, much of the Western (and formerly Christian) world – is Wokeism. To most outsiders, the expression “being woke,” or “going woke,” conjures up notions of a person or entity claiming to be acutely sensitive (“awake”) to “systemic social and political injustice” in every form.
The “injustice” being condemned by Wokeism is not simply alleged widespread bigotry against black people, but also – as noted in Joe Biden’s January 20, 2021 White House Executive Order – “Latino and Indigenous and Native American persons, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and other persons of color; members of religious minorities; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) persons; persons with disabilities; persons who live in rural areas; and persons otherwise adversely affected by persistent poverty or inequality.”
Bear in mind that all of these people, deemed victims of societal bigotry, are therefore regarded as intrinsically more virtuous and moral than the shameful oppressor class – primarily heterosexual white Christian males.
Heterosexual Children Healthier, Happier than ‘LGBQ+’ Peers
USA - A CDC report published in February assessed significantly increased rates of feelings of hopelessness, sadness, and suicidality among “LGBQ+” high school students relative to their “heterosexual” counterparts. The CDC’s “Youth Risk Behavior Survey” (YRBS) that polled high school students had two categories for “sexual identity”: “heterosexual” and “LGBQ+.”
The survey’s respondents classified their sexualities based on how they “identify” with the following options: “heterosexual,” “lesbian,” “gay,” “bisexual,” “questioning,” or “another non-heterosexual identity.” Among “heterosexual” students, 22 percent reported experiencing poor mental health across the previous month, against 52 percent of “LGBQ+” students. The CDC emphasized worsening trends for high school students in the aggregate across many of its metrics of wellbeing in 2021 relative to previous years.
“Unfortunately, almost all other indicators of health and well being in this report including protective sexual behaviors (ie condom use, sexually transmitted disease (STD) testing, and HIV testing), experiences of violence, mental health, and suicidal thoughts and behaviors worsened significantly,” concluded the CDC in the YRSB’s executive summary.
Iran nuclear stockpile over 18 times larger than JCPOA cap
IRAN - The UN nuclear watchdog says Iran’s estimated stockpile of enriched uranium has reached more than 18 times the limit set out in the 2015 accord between Tehran and world powers. According to a confidential International Atomic Energy Agency report seen by AFP, it estimated Iran’s total enriched uranium stockpile was 3,760.8 kilograms (8,291 pounds) as of February 12. The limit in the 2015 deal was set at 202.8 kilograms (447 pounds) of uranium. It also confirms the presence of uranium particles enriched to just below 90 percent.
Vatican ‘Never This Marginalized’ in Past 60 Years
VATICAN - The Vatican risks falling into isolation and irrelevance, warns a veteran Italian journalist Tuesday, as world leaders are finding Pope Francis easier and easier to ignore. A case in point is the pontiff’s recent call for a ceasefire in Ukraine, which has fallen on deaf ears, writes the leftward-leaning Marco Politi, who began covering the Vatican in 1971. “Never in the last sixty years has the Holy See — in the face of events of international importance — found itself so marginalized.”
“After a year of war in Ukraine, Pope Francis appears isolated,” the 76-year-old journalist writes. “Britain ignores him. US President Biden does not want interference. Putin does not consider the Vatican an effective means of conducting negotiations.” Meanwhile, “Xi Jinping, for reasons of internal politics, does not intend to give excessive prominence to the position of the Holy See,” he argues.
In European chancelleries, “Francis’ voice is respected but marginalized, silenced,” he contends, while it is whispered among diplomats that Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin and Foreign Minister, Archbishop Paul Gallagher, feel “uncomfortable” with the pope’s intransigence.
UK grocery price inflation hits record 17.1%
UK - British grocery inflation hit 17.1% in the four weeks to February 19, another record high, dealing the latest blow to consumers struggling with a cost-of-living crisis, industry data showed on Tuesday. Market researcher Kantar said prices are rising fastest in markets such as milk, eggs and margarine.
It said UK households now face an additional £811 ($978) on their annual shopping bills if they don't change their behaviour to cut costs. "This February marks a full year since monthly grocery inflation climbed above 4%. This is having a big impact on people’s lives," Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar, said.
He said its research found that rising grocery prices are the second most important financial issue for the public behind energy costs. Also a quarter of people say they're struggling financially, versus one in five this time last year.
Why are people afraid of ‘15-minute cities’?
USA - The newly popular concept of having all you need within easy reach is seen by some as a step towards total control. In an effort to make towns more user- and eco-friendly, urban planners have unveiled the ’15-minute city,’ which hopes to keep residents close to home to battle climate change. But will this plan open the door to greater restrictions? More than 2,000 protesters went out into the streets of Oxford, England earlier this month to express their hostility to the controversial concept of the 15-minute city, which has already been quietly unveiled in a number of major cities, including Barcelona, Melbourne, Paris and Milan.
Centered on the work of the French-Colombian urbanist Carlos Moreno, 15-minute cities are designed so that human necessities and services, like shopping, work, education, and healthcare are accessible with a short bike ride or walk from one’s front door. Such a city is divided into neighborhoods or zones, and local residents have little to no need to ever travel outside their immediate surroundings. When necessary, such trips can be taken via public transport or ring roads, keeping private cars’ harmful emissions into the city air at a minimum.
“The idea that neighborhoods should be walkable is lovely,” Dr Jordan Peterson commented over Twitter. “The idea that idiot tyrannical bureaucrats can decide by fiat where you're ‘allowed’ to drive is perhaps the worst imaginable perversion of that idea - and, make no mistake, it's part of a well-documented plan.”
Fresh deadly quake in Türkiye
TURKEY - A new deadly earthquake hit Türkiye at around midday on Monday, the national disaster relief agency reported. According to preliminary reports, one person has been killed and 69 others injured in the eastern province of Malatya.
The Turkish disaster and emergency management agency AFAD said the tremor measured 5.6 in magnitude, with the epicenter located in the Yesilyurt district. The quake was estimated to have originated at a depth of approximately seven kilometers and could be felt in neighboring provinces, according to the rescue agency. Initial reports indicate that over 20 buildings have been flattened in this latest disaster to hit Türkiye. Footage circulating online purports to show the collapse of some of the structures.
Americans are being kept in the dark about toxic trains rumbling through their neighborhoods
USA - Millions of Americans are being kept in the dark about secretive toxic trains like the one that has devastated East Palestine and are moving regularly through their communities, DailyMail.com can reveal. Railroad companies disclose general information on hazardous loads to local authorities and emergency services – but only when asked and even then they only give rough expected annual figures.
Specific details on train times and exact hazmat loads are treated as 'sensitive information' by the rail operators and are not disclosed, regulator the Federal Railroad Administration revealed to DailyMail.com. And while local officials may have a small amount of general information, millions of average folk living near tracks have no means of knowing exactly what is passing close to their homes, or the potential for another East Palestine 'bomb' train.
Ex-White House doctor warns of Biden danger
USA - Former White House physician and Republican Representative Ronny Jackson has hit out against US President Joe Biden, arguing that his declining mental state poses a danger to the entire country. “It’s TERRIFYING for our country that Biden is our commander-in-chief,” Jackson wrote on Twitter on Saturday. “He doesn’t know where he’s at half the time and every day he brings us closer to an all-out war with Russia and China. His cognitive decline is going to get people KILLED!!”
Jackson, who served as the White House Physician to the President under Barack Obama and Donald Trump until 2018, has previously criticized the current US administration for failing to disclose the truth about Joe Biden’s mental health. Earlier this month, the White House issued a summary on the status of Biden’s health based on a medical history review and a “detailed physical examination,” which found that the president was a “healthy, vigorous, 80-year-old male” who was fit to execute his duties.
Putin: 70-year-old is 'definitely not up to it now'
RUSSIA - Vladimir Putin's spokesman has admitted the 70-year-old is 'definitely not up to' deciding whether he will run for a new presidential term next year. The Kremlin leader has been dogged by rumours of ill health, including cancer, and is embroiled in a brutal war he unleashed in Ukraine which is not going according to plan.
His spokesman Dmitry Peskov said today that elections would go ahead despite the military conflict, even though they had been 'called into question'. But Putin, 70, has failed to indicate if he will stand. 'So far, there are no pre-election or electoral moods - Putin has a lot to do. He's definitely not up to it now,' Peskov said. Peskov did not elaborate further on what he meant by saying Putin was 'not up to it now'. If he stands, it would be his fifth term as president. Additionally he was acting president for several months in early 2000.
Current US Bird Flu Situation in Humans
USA - Avian influenza Type A viruses (bird flu viruses) do not normally infect people, but rare cases of human infection have occurred with some bird flu viruses. Illnesses in humans from bird flu virus infections have ranged in severity from no symptoms or mild illness (eg eye infection, upper respiratory symptoms) to severe disease (eg pneumonia) that resulted in death.
Human infections with bird flu viruses have most often occurred after close or lengthy unprotected contact (ie not wearing gloves or respiratory protection or eye protection) with infected birds or places that sick birds or their saliva, mucous and feces have touched. The spread of bird flu viruses from one infected person to a close contact is very rare, and when it has happened, it has not led to continued spread among people. No known human-to-human spread has occurred with the A(H5N1) virus that is currently circulating in birds in the United States and globally.
What's behind the push for electric vehicles?
USA - The modern internal combustion engine is an engineering marvel. These power plants run incredibly clean. According to the EPA, overall gasoline car tailpipe emissions are now about 98–99% less than for cars in the 1960s. Many current gas-powered cars get well over 35 miles per gallon and have highway ranges of over 500 miles. Refueling takes five minutes, and there are 115,000 gasoline stations in the US.
- Environmental Damage — Several studies have shown that when factoring in the production process and electricity generation needed to charge the batteries, EV conversion can be more damaging to the environment than gas vehicles.
- Rare Earth Mineral Mining Problems — The mining of rare earth minerals such as lithium and cobalt for EV batteries causes a great deal of environmental damage. Disposal of spent batteries can have toxic environmental effects, and mitigation of this issue hasn't been thought through or planned.
- Performance Shortfalls — EVs generally have a range under 225 miles, and this range is a lot less in cold or hot conditions. Also, EVs typically don't last as long as modern gas vehicles. The average EV needs expensive new batteries every 10 years.
- Dangerously Heavy — EVs are far heavier than gas vehicles, given the heavy batteries needed to power EVs. This creates a safety imbalance with non-EVs in crash situations.
- Stress on the Grid — EVs obviously need to be charged from the electric grid. This at a time when the US electric grid is dangerously unstable both from an infrastructure standpoint and potential terror attacks.
Disclaimer:
The views expressed in this section are not our own, unless specifically stated, but are provided to highlight what may prove to be prophetically relevant material appearing in the media.
