MIDDLE EAST - The United States is concerned that a "miscalculation" by Iran could cause an "unintended conflict" in the Gulf, as it prepares to launch a new surveillance and intelligence initiative with its allies to ensure "free and open passage" for ships. "We are starting a concept called Sentinel in which we will have a series of countries engaged to preserve the free and open passage of commerce in the Strait of Hormuz and in the Persian Gulf," US Under Secretary of Defense for Policy John Rood said at the Aspen Security Forum on Saturday. The US has had discussions with NATO allies, some "partners in the Gulf" and others to join the effort to keep the "vital waterway" open, said Rood, adding that the new operation would "come into being over the coming days and weeks". Will tension in the Gulf spiral out of control?

UK - For years, I [Nigel Farage] have warned of the EU’s desire to become a fully militarised entity in its own right. The response to this assertion from the Remain establishment has always been the same: outright denial. Indeed, every time I have advanced this idea, I have been accused of being a liar and scaremongerer. Most memorably, in April 2014, then-deputy prime minister Nick Clegg even claimed during a televised debate we had that my prediction was a “dangerous fantasy”.

EUROPE - Ursula von der Leyen, the next president of the European Commission, has claimed she no longer supports the creation of a United States of Europe. Mrs von der Leyen was accused of being a fanatical federalist by Brexiteers after her appointment was confirmed on Tuesday. “My goal is the United States of Europe, based on the model of the federal states of Switzerland, Germany or the US,” she said in 2011. But in an interview with a group of European newspapers published today, she said her dream “has become more mature and more realistic.” “In the European Union we have unity in diversity. That is something different to federalism. I think that is the right path,” Mrs von der Leyen said.

MIDDLE EAST - Most of the players in the Gulf, from Qatar to Saudi Arabia to Iran, share a desire to keep the game from getting out of control. Despite crushing sanctions, Iran knows that it would not benefit from a war. That’s why Tehran has often vehemently denied responsibility for the recent attacks on Western shipping in the strait. Yet to avoid escalation at the last minute, as President Donald Trump did when he rightly called off an attack on Iran in reaction to the downing of a US unmanned drone, is not enough.

USA - The shameful truth: America only put a man on the moon with the help of Nazi monsters - not that anyone will admit it amid all the hype about the 50-year anniversary. Watching the Moon landing 50 years ago from his comfortable Paris home, Yves Beon could barely contain himself at the spectacle unfolding on TV. Dozens of white-shirted scientists and engineers at the Apollo Mission Control Center in Houston, Texas, were on their feet, many waving flags, cheering at a triumph that was enhancing American prestige and unleashing an ocean of apple-pie patriotism.

USA - Between 2006 and 2012, opioid drug makers and distributors flooded the country with 76 billion pills of oxycodone and hydrocodone — highly addictive opioid pain medications that sparked the epidemic of abuse and overdoses that killed nearly 100,000 people in that time period. As the epidemic surged over the seven-year period, so did the supply. The companies increased distribution from 8.4 billion in 2006 to 12.6 billion in 2012, a jump of roughly 50%. In all, the deluge of pills was enough to supply every adult and child in the country with around 36 opioid pills per year. Just a 10-day supply can hook 1 in 5 people into being long-term users, researchers have determined. Data from years beyond 2012 are still being withheld to protect the companies and DOJ investigations. From 1999 to 2017, nearly 400,000 people in the US died from an opioid overdose, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

USA - Organic milk is produced by cows who eat feed free of animal by-products from slaughter, and free of antibiotics, pesticides and hormones, like rBGH. Though its use is banned in Europe and Canada, rBGH is a genetically engineered hormone that was approved for use in the US in 1993 by the Food and Drug Administration. In other words, it hasn’t always been in our food supply. And it doesn’t deserve a place in it now. RGBH was first developed by the agricultural biotech corporation Monsanto to increase milk output in dairy cows. Monsanto’s production history includes the notoriously dangerous Agent Orange, PCB, Terminator seed: a sterile seed forcing farmers to purchase additional seed each year, Roundup: one of the most commonly used pesticides worldwide, and the pesticide DDT.

UK - British experts have cast doubt on the safety of an artificial sweetener used in thousands of products including big brand diet soft drinks from Coca-Cola and Pepsi. Academics at the University of Sussex claim that an EU food watchdog assessment giving a clean bill of health to ASPARTAME, a calorie-free sugar alternative, was seriously flawed. Professor Erik Millstone, who has been a long-time critic of the additive, argues that there are many scientific studies that raise legitimate safety questions together with circumstantial evidence of neurological harm. As a result, he is calling for the suspension of authorisation to sell or use aspartame in the EU pending an independent investigation. According to all leading health authorities in the world, as well as Cancer Research UK and Diabetes UK, low- and no-calorie sweeteners are safe.

USA - Why aren’t more Americans concerned that we could be on the verge of an apocalyptic war with Iran? If there was still any doubt, what happened on Friday made it exceedingly clear that we are literally on the brink of seeing World War 3 erupt in the Middle East. And as I detailed yesterday, a war with Iran wouldn’t be anything like our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. If the American people truly understood what a war with Iran would be like, there would be millions of protesters in front of the White House right now trying to stop it from happening.

USA - Their agenda is to protect their money monopoly by extending it into a monopoly over everything - power, knowledge, culture, religion - by re-engineering humanity to serve them. This is the real meaning of Communism. This requires the breakdown of nation, race, religion (God) and family (gender). This is why Western nations are flooded by migrants. Why Communist and LGBT values are foisted on children. Why universities have been neutered. Why corporations and banks promote migration and homosexuality. Why the foreign policy of the West is bent on destroying any resistance (Russia, Syria, Yemen, Iran, Korea.) Society is satanically possessed. Why do so few "pundits" get this? The process of human re-engineering has advanced to the point where society is an accomplice in its own destruction.

USA - Worldwide, famine was responsible for around one million deaths each year in the century between the late 1880s and the end of the 1980s. Now, many of us may mistakenly believe that humanitarian policies and better infrastructure mean that this type of famine is a thing of the past. The delicate web of supply chains crisscrossing the globe can be disrupted easily and suddenly, leaving unprepared consumers unexpectedly facing food shortages. This is what happened in the United Kingdom in 2000, when farmers and other protesters blockaded fuel depots and oil refineries, making it very difficult for supermarkets to restock their shelves since there was no fuel for their delivery trucks. The reality is that food is likely to become an increasingly scarce commodity, political instability and other factors make every American city vulnerable to sudden food shortages, and even the food we do have access to is tainted with fertilizers, pesticides and other chemicals.

USA - Shoppers are starting to notice the effects of the abysmal growing season here in the United States, as grocery stores in various parts of the country are having to post signage explaining that food shortages are the reason why their shelves are unusually bare. A man who shared a photo on Facebook of the product shortage notice at the Tennessee Walmart captioned it with what else he observed in the store, including substantially higher prices on everyday food items. “Prices are already up 20+% on bread, milk, eggs [etc], well before the crop shortage even affects store shelves!” he wrote. “Three months ago at my Walmart bread was $0.99 for the off brand, now the same bread is $1.39 and rising!” It’s not just canned vegetables: MANY product categories are now experiencing shortages. “Sign of things to come?” asked one Facebook user after snapping a photo of the product shortage sign he observed at his local Supercenter.

USA - From the LA Times:

1. 40% of all workers in LA County (10.2 million people) are working for cash; and not paying taxes. This is because they are predominantly illegal immigrants, working without a green card (Donald Trump was right).

2 95% of warrants for murder in Los Angeles are for illegal aliens.

3.75% of people on the most wanted list in Los Angeles are illegal aliens.

USA - Jeffrey Epstein was denied bail on Thursday despite his legal team's best efforts to convince SDNY Judge Richard M Berman that he isn't a flight risk. Epstein's attorneys offered a series of concessions and guarantees, such as 'deregistering' his vehicles and aircraft, wearing a GPS monitoring device, and installing surveillance cameras. Prosecutors, meanwhile, successfully argued that Epstein's vast wealth and international connections made him a prime candidate to flee the country. Epstein faces a maximum sentence of 45 years in prison if convicted. And as Bloomberg points out, "The bail decision means Mr Epstein is likely to spend more time in jail awaiting trial in New York than he did in Florida after pleading guilty in 2008 to two state counts following an investigation into similar allegations of sex abuse against minors."

USA - In the latest politically correct escalation of the ongoing culture war in the US, Berkeley City Council voted unanimously to remove gender-specific words and phrases from its municipal code on Tuesday. “Language has power. The words we use are important,” 23-year-old council member Rigel Robinson, author of the proposed changes, said. “It’s not only timely, but necessary to make sure that our laws really speak for everyone.” As part of the politically correct purge of offending, gendered language within the city’s municipal code, a “manhole” will now become “maintenance hole,” “craftsmen” are now “artisans,” “heirs” are “beneficiaries,” and “manpower” will now be classified as “human effort.” Some described the move as “equal measures childish, pompous, prudish, self-righteous, narcissistic, and insane,” while others argued that city hall must have “a lot of spare time on their hands dreaming up ways to be politically correct.”