Author Archives: marcia

Some Clarification on Organic Labeling

Posted on by

The Ins and Outs of Organic Food Labeling

Analysis by Dr. Joseph Mercola
organic food labeling

STORY AT-A-GLANCE

  • The top reason people choose organic foods is to avoid pesticides, yet the myriad of regulations makes it difficult to know exactly what you are eating, especially when it comes to chicken, eggs and dairy
  • The U.S. Department of Agriculture describes four categories of organic foods: those that are 100% organic, 95% organic, 70% organic and those that have some organic ingredients
  • When reading meat product labels, you must know the difference between free-range, cage-free, pasture-raised, grass fed and organic. They may sound similar, but they have very different meanings
  • If you’re familiar with the problems associated with conventional pasteurized milk, you may have started buying organic milk instead. However, manufacturers can use loopholes to add ingredients to grocery store milk. If you want to drink milk, consider using these sources to find raw, grass fed milk
  • Organic produce can be coated with Apeel, a chemical used to extend shelf life and disrupts the human and animal gut microbiome. The Apeel founder is entrenched in the World Economic Forum (WEF) and started with a $100,000 grant from the Gates Foundation

There are many benefits to buying and consuming organic foods. For some people, the primary reason is the inhumane treatment animals experience from the moment they are born to the minute they die. Cows, chickens, pigs, sheep and other animals can feel pain and experience strong emotions and yet they are treated as inanimate objects.

The unspeakable treatment these animals endure is one tactic used by globalists to push everyone, except maybe themselves, to eat bugs and lab-grown or 3-D-printed meat and other foodstuffs. But for most people, the principal reason for buying organic food is to avoid pesticides, antibiotics, hormones and genetically engineered ingredients.

According to a 2017 survey1 by Natural Grocers, over 90% of respondents said the main reason was to avoid pesticides and 70% said they did it to avoid genetically modified organisms (GMOs). While organically produced meat and produce are more nutritious, just 40% of Natural Grocers customers choose organic produce because they think it’s more nutritious.

The USDA has a 2024 operating budget of $24.46 billion. Inside this bureaucratic mountain of red tape and oversight exists the Agricultural Marketing Service, which administers domestic and international opportunities for farmers and ranchers. And inside that arm is the National Organic Program (NOP) that “develops then enforces national standards for organically produced agricultural products sold within the United States.”2

Despite rising consumer interest in purchasing organic products, the NOP’s operating budget to regulate the meat and produce organic market is $24 million, as compared to the $35 million allocated to the Packers and Stockyards program that regulates livestock, meat and poultry.

What Does ‘Organic’ Really Mean?

As Tenpenny notes, the organic labels on your meat and produce might not mean what you think they mean. According to information from the USDA, there are four USDA organic labels, and each has a different meaning.3

•100% Organic — Food that qualifies as 100% organic must be made with 100% certified organic ingredients and may use the USDA organic seal or the 100% organic claim.

•Organic — The term organic identifies a product or ingredients that must be certified organic except where non-organic ingredients are allowed that are specified on the National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances. These must constitute no more than 5% of the combined total ingredients. An organic certification means that 95% is certified organic.

•“Made with” organic ingredients — Products must have at least 70% of the product made with certified organic ingredients. The organic seal cannot be used, and the final product cannot be represented as organic.

•Specific organic ingredients — Multi-ingredient products that have less than 70% certified organic content cannot display the organic seal or use the word “organic.” However, they can list certified organic ingredients on the ingredient list.

To obtain the organic seal, a farmer must have an organic systems plan that outlines how the farm operation satisfies the NOP requirements. This requires organic farmers to have a working knowledge of the multiple rules and regulations that encompass hundreds, if not over 1,000 pages. As Tenpenny notes,4 it can be an onerous task to keep track of the updates, including those that regulate where and how organic labels can be used.

How to Read Labels on Meat

The labeling process for meat products may be the most complex. The organic regulations prohibit labeling of any product that’s been contaminated with residue of GMO or bioengineered ingredients, pesticides, hormones and antibiotics. Regulations do not allow for any residue level to be able to use the organic seal.

The USDA regulations say that inspectors look at every component of the farm operation to trace products from start to finish, including seed sources, soil, water systems, contamination and co-mingling risks.5 This includes what livestock are fed, but does not describe where they are fed.

Let’s talk chickens. To be designated organic, chickens must be raised organically no more than two days after they hatch. Their food must be certified grown organically without pesticides or synthetic fertilizers.6

This is what they’re fed but not how they live. Designation as free-range or cage-free describes how they live but not whether they’re organically raised. Tenpenny notes that free-range is a marketing term that just means the bird has unlimited access to food, water and some outdoor access for at least 51% of their life.

Cage-free means they can roam in a building or an enclosed area with unlimited access to food and fresh water in overcrowded conditions. However, the definition of outdoor space is not defined, and cage-free hens typically do not have access to being outside.

The designations in the beef industry may be just as deceptive.7 Grass fed describes what the animal eats, but pasture-fed tells you where they ate it. Organic beef means that the cow eats organic feed and is not given antibiotics or hormones. This means that “grass fed” or “pasture-fed” beef may not be eating organic feed. To make this more complicated, pasture-raised and grass fed designations do not include whether the animal received hormones or antibiotics.

In the beef industry, the pasture-raised designation means that the animal had access to being outside for at least 120 days during the year. However, the outdoor designation can include living in a field or being outside in a small pen.

The pork industry has slightly more stringent regulations for USDA-certified organic designation.8 Pigs must be raised organically beginning in the last third of the sow’s gestation, not have antibiotics and growth hormone stimulants and must be processed by a USDA-certified organic processing plant. Additionally, organic pigs must have access to direct sunlight, exercise areas, fresh air and shade.

They must have clean dry bedding, and bedding using crop residue must be from organic crops. Additionally, their diet must be produced organically without any animal by-products, hormones or antibiotics. However, pigs are allowed to receive vaccinations, and according to a 2021 paper,9 the vaccination program begins at three to six weeks of age and continues through adulthood.

What Makes Eggs Organic and Humane

As Tenpenny points out, labeling should be transparent, but the food industry has made it mostly about marketing.10 Labels you might find on eggs include organic, free-range, cage-free and vegetarian. As I’ve written before, conventionally raised eggs are not the most nutritional or ethical available, and since they are an important part of a healthy diet, it’s a good thing to buy quality eggs.

Conventionally raised birds are typically loaded with antibiotics and hormones and fed poor-quality feed. The hens live in spaces the size of a sheet of paper and the vast majority are confined in battery cages.11 These animals are likely the most intensively confined animals, unable to spread their wings or exhibit any typical behavior. This is what the labels on eggs mean:12

  • Free-range — Free-range eggs do not need to be organic, since they don’t need to be fed organic feed. The term free-range identifies chickens who have limited access to the outdoors.
  • Organic — Eggs that are labeled organic must be free-range and must be raised on organic free of animal by-products but not necessarily bugs and worms, which is their natural diet. The birds must not receive hormones or antibiotics.
  • Other labels — Eggs can also be labeled all-natural, antibiotic-free or vegetarian. There are no strict rules about these labels so it’s up to the farmer to set the standards.

Organic eggs are typically the most expensive eggs at the grocery, but the added nutrition is worth it. The USDA-certified organic label means the eggs were sourced from farmers who follow strict standards.

Ashley Armstrong, cofounder of Angel Acres Egg Co., and I are working to overturn the conventional food system, starting with eggs. Angel Acres Egg Co. specializes in the production of low-PUFA (polyunsaturated fat) eggs. We discussed the importance of low-PUFA eggs in a recent interview, embedded below for your convenience.

They ship low-PUFA eggs to all 50 states — but there is currently a waiting list as she slowly increases the number of chickens within the network to fulfill the demand. More egg boxes will be available this spring, so join the waitlist for low PUFA egg boxes here.

Download Interview Transcript

Organic Dairy

If you’re familiar with the problems associated with conventional pasteurized milk, you may have started buying organic milk instead. Some milk brands on the shelf boast being DHA enriched, which a Washington Post article notes13 is accomplished by adding DHA omega-3 oil produced by corn syrup-fed algae.

If you want to drink milk, consider switching to raw, grass fed milk if you can get it. RealMilk.com has a list of raw dairy farms in your area. The Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund14 also provides a state-by-state review of raw milk laws.

Look for the AGA grass fed certification and search their website for AGA-approved producers that adhere to strict standards, including the cows being raised on a diet of 100% forage, never confined to a feedlot, never treated with antibiotics or hormones and born and raised on American family farms.

Organic Produce Can Be Coated in Apeel

Produce can only be labeled organic when it’s been grown in soil that has not had any prohibited chemicals applied for three years before the first harvest. Pesticides also cannot be applied directly to organic produce, with the exception of Apeel.15 Apeel is a chemical that’s been used on produce since 1996 to extend shelf life, but it also disrupts the human and animal gut microbiome.

The technology began with a $100,000 Grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.16 Other investors have included the Rockefeller Foundation,17 the World Bank Group and Anne Wojcicki, co-founder and CEO of the personal genomics company 23andMe.

Apeel Sciences founder, James Rogers, Ph.D., is an agenda contributor to the World Economic Forum (WEF)18 and a Young Global Leader. Among the articles he has written for the WEF is one in which he hailed COVID lockdowns as a model for future action on climate change.19 In other words, climate lockdowns.

I’m not the only one questioning the motives behind this product. “Is [Apeel] another Gates/WEF plot to destroy our health? Or a distraction from worse plots?” asked Alexis Baden-Mayer, political director at the Organic Consumers Association (OCA).20 Apeel appears to have slipped through some loophole at the USDA.

Here’s How to Break the Produce Label Code

So, how do you identify the fruits and vegetables you want to eat? Produce has a PLU label, which stands for price look-up. These are standardized codes used across the industry to manage the supply chain. There are more than 1,400 PLU codes assigned to a variety of produce, which you can use to help identify if the produce is organic or conventionally grown.

These codes are four or five digits long and any codes with more than five digits are not part of the standardized system. The next time you’re at the grocery store, spend a minute or two looking at the food labels in the produce department to identify produce that’s genetically modified, bioengineered or designated organic. Tenpenny lists the codes on produce you may want to consider:21

  • A four-digit code starting with the number 3 or 4 (3000 or 4000 series) is used for conventionally grown produce. This means synthetic fertilizers, chemicals and/or pesticides might have been used during the growth of the produce.
  • A five-digit code starting with the number 3 identifies fruits and vegetables that have been irradiated or electronically pasteurized.
  • A five-digit code starting with the number 6 identifies pre-cut fruits and vegetables.
  • A five-digit code starting with the number 8 is designated for fruits and vegetables that have been genetically modified or bioengineered.
  • A five-digit code starting with the number 9 is designated for organic fruits and vegetables.
  • from:    https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2024/04/29/organic-food-labeling.aspx?ui=f460707c057231d228aac22d51b97f2a8dcffa7b857ec065e5a5bfbcfab498ac&sd=20211017&cid_source=dnl&cid_medium=email&cid_content=art2ReadMore&cid=20240429_HL2&foDate=true&mid=DM1564602&rid=8456357

Degeneration of the Brain Post Jab

Posted on by

Doctors Predict Epidemic of Prion Brain Diseases

Analysis by Dr. Joseph Mercola
prion brain diseases

STORY AT-A-GLANCE

  • Mounting research suggests a serious side effect of the COVID mRNA jabs could be dementia, and the prions that cause it may be contagious
  • Frameshifting, as we now know occurs in the COVID shots, can induce prion production and lead to neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD)
  • Sid Belzberg’s prions.rip website, which collected data on neurological side effects post-jab, found a notably high incidence of diagnosed CJD cases, suggesting an alarming trend
  • A series of articles highlight biases in clinical trials and observational studies, suggesting COVID-19 vaccines’ safety and effectiveness have been massively overstated
  • The Global COVID Vaccine Safety Project study — funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — reveals significant side effects, including myocarditis, pericarditis, and blood clots, underscoring the need for reevaluation of COVID vaccine risks and benefits

According to mounting data, one of the more serious side effects of the COVID mRNA jabs appears to be dementia, and worse yet, this previously untransmissible disease may now be “contagious,” transmissible by way of prions.

In my 2021 interview with Stephanie Seneff, Ph.D., she explained why she suspected the COVID shots may eventually result in an avalanche of neurological prion-based diseases such as Alzheimer’s. She also published a paper detailing those mechanisms in the May 10, 2021, issue of the International Journal of Vaccine Theory. As she explained in that paper:1

“A paper published by J. Bart Classen (2021) proposed that the spike protein in the mRNA vaccines could cause prion-like diseases, in part through its ability to bind to many known proteins and induce their misfolding into potential prions.

Idrees and Kumar (2021) have proposed that the spike protein’s S1 component is prone to act as a functional amyloid and form toxic aggregates … and can ultimately lead to neurodegeneration.”

In summary, the take-home from Seneff’s paper is that the COVID shots, offered to hundreds of millions of people, are instruction sets for your body to make a toxic protein that will eventually wind up concentrated in your spleen, from where prion-like protein instructions will be sent out, leading to neurodegenerative diseases.

What Are Prions?

The term “prion” derives from “proteinaceous infectious particle.” Prions are known to cause a variety of neurodegenerative diseases in animals and humans, such as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) in humans, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE or “mad cow disease”) in cattle, and chronic wasting disease in deer and elk.

These diseases are collectively referred to as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs). They’re characterized by long incubation periods, brain damage, the formation of holes in the brain giving it a sponge-like appearance, and failure to induce an inflammatory response.

In short, prions are infectious agents composed entirely of a protein material that can fold in multiple, structurally distinct ways, at least one of which is transmissible to other prion proteins, leading to a disease that is similar to viral infections but without nucleic acids.

Unlike bacteria, viruses, and fungi, which contain nucleic acids (DNA or RNA) that instruct their replication, prions propagate by transmitting their misfolded protein state to normal variants of the same protein.

According to the prion disease model, the infectious properties of prions are due to the ability of the abnormal protein to convert the normal version of the protein into the misfolded form, thereby setting off a chain reaction that progressively damages the nervous system.

Prions are remarkably resistant to conventional methods of sterilization and can survive extreme conditions that would normally destroy nucleic acids or other pathogens, which is part of why prion diseases are so difficult to treat.

More Evidence mRNA Shots Can Trigger Dementia

Today, there’s even more evidence to support Seneff’s theory. In August 2022, tech entrepreneur Sid Belzberg wrote2 about prions.rip, a website he’d set up to collect data on the neurological side effects of the jabs. (This site is no longer live.)

Within a few months, the site had received about 15,000 hits and gathered 60 reports from people who got the jab and suffered neurological deficits shortly thereafter, including six cases of diagnosed CJD.

“Normally this disease affects 1 in a 1,000,000 people,” Belzberg wrote.3 “To get 6 cases you would need 6,000,000 hits to the site assuming everyone reports. The chances of getting 1 case in 15,000 hits is 1 in 66. To see 6 cases in 1 group of 15,000 is 1/66^6 or 1 in 82,000,000,000, or 20 times more likely to win a Powerball lottery! …

To reiterate, CJD is an exceptionally rare disease that is now a known and established severe adverse reaction (SAE) from the DEATHVAX™. Injecting this slow kill bioweapon can cause ailments that are about as likely to develop in the real word as getting struck by lightning twice. The proof is now irrefutable.”

Frameshifting Can Result in Prion Production

In mid-December 2023, researchers reported4,5,6 that the replacing of uracil with synthetic methylpseudouridine in the COVID shots — a process known as codon optimization — can cause frameshifting, a glitch in the decoding, thereby triggering the production of off-target aberrant proteins.

The antibodies that develop as a result may, in turn, trigger off-target immune reactions. According to the authors, off-target cellular immune responses occur in 25% to 30% of people who have received the COVID shot. But that’s not all.

According to British neuroscientist Dr. Kevin McCairn, this frameshifting phenomenon has also been linked to harmful prion production — and that frame shifted prions, specifically, are infectious and can be transmitted from one person to another. As reported in the Journal of Theoretical Biology in 2013:7

“A quantitatively consistent explanation for the titres of infectivity found in a variety of prion-containing preparations is provided on the basis that the etiological agents of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy comprise a very small population fraction of prion protein (PrP) variants, which contain frameshifted elements in their N-terminal octapeptide-repeat regions …

Frameshifting accounts quantitatively for the etiology of prion disease. One per million frameshifted prions may be enough to cause disease. The HIV TAR-like element in the PRNP mRNA is likely an effector of frameshifting.”

McCairn explained this mechanism in a February 19, 2023, interview with Health Alliance Australia (video above). In it, he noted:

“Mis-folded proteins caused by prions can impact every level organ and tissue system in the body … [They] bioaccumulate and are resistant to degradation, thereby building up …”

Prions may in fact be the primary molecule that is being “shed” by COVID jab recipients, and if those prions are due to frameshifting, that could be very bad news indeed, considering their implication in dementia.

Another doctor who believes we’ll be facing an “epidemic of prion disease” is Dr. David Cartland. In late February 2024, he posted8 13 scientific papers linking the COVID jabs, prion diseases and CJD, noting that was just a “small selection” of what’s available in the medical literature.

Prions Implicated in Long COVID as Well

According to genomics expert Kevin McKernan, Ph.D., prions are also involved in long COVID (or as McKernan calls it, “long vax”).9 In one 2024 study,10 96.7% of long COVID sufferers had received the jab. In an interview with the Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance (FLCCC), McKernan stated:11

“If you frameshift over the stop codons, you’re going to be making proteins that are spike-mito proteins. When I talk to a lot of the long vax patients I hear of all these things that remind me of my time in the mitochondrial disease sequencing space …”

McKernan claims he tried to publish a paper on this in 2021 with Dr. Peter McCullough, but the editor of the journal “stepped in and torpedoed the paper.”12

World’s Largest Side Effect Analysis Has Been Published

In related news, the largest study13 to date on the side effects of the COVID jabs was published in the journal Vaccine in February 12, 2024, and it confirms what I and many other alternative news sources have been saying all along, namely that the mRNA jabs are the most dangerous medical products to ever hit the market.

The study — performed by the Global COVID Vaccine Safety (GCoVS) Project and funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Public Health Ontario and the Canadian Health Research Institute — evaluated the risk of “adverse events of special interest” (AESI) following COVID-19 “vaccination.”

Data from 10 sites in eight countries (Argentina, Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, New Zealand and Scotland) were included, encompassing more than 99 million jabbed individuals.

Of the thousands of side effects Pfizer listed in its confidential report of post-authorization adverse events submitted to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration,14 the GCoVS focused on 13 AESIs that fall into three primary categories: Neurological, hematologic (blood-related) and cardiovascular conditions.

They calculated the AESI risk for each of the 13 AESIs based on the number of observed versus expected (OE) incidents occurring up to 42 days after injection. The “expected” number of side effects were based on vaccine adverse event data from 2015 to 2019. These rates were then compared to the adverse event rates observed in those who got one or more of the COVID jabs, either Pfizer’s BNT162b2, Moderna’s mRNA-1273, or AstraZeneca’s ChAdOx1.

Largest Study to Date Confirms COVID Jab Dangers

The analysis15 revealed several concerning side effects, including increased risks of myocarditis, pericarditis, blood clots in the brain, and various neurological conditions. Here’s a quick summary of the findings:

•Myocarditis and pericarditis:

◦Pfizer vaccine — OE ratios for myocarditis were 2.78 and 2.86 after the first and second shots, with the risk remaining doubled after the third and fourth shots.

◦Moderna vaccine — OE ratios for myocarditis were 3.48 and 6.10 after the first and second shots. Doses 1 and 4 also showed OE ratios of 1.74 and 2.64 for pericarditis.

◦AstraZeneca vaccine — OE ratio for pericarditis was 6.91 after the third shot.

•Blood clots in the brain (cerebral venous sinus thrombosis, CVST):

◦An OE of 3.23 for CVST was observed after the first AstraZeneca shot.

◦A significant increase in CVST risk was also noted after the second Pfizer dose.

•Neurological conditions:

◦Guillain-Barré syndrome — An OE ratio of 2.49 was observed following the AstraZeneca jab.

◦Transverse myelitis — Risk nearly doubled with the AstraZeneca shot.

◦Acute disseminated encephalomyelitis — OE ratios of 3.78 (Moderna) and 2.23 (AstraZeneca) were noted.

These findings really underscore the potential for serious side effects from the COVID shots, including conditions that may lead to other consequences in the longer term, such as stroke, heart attack, paralysis and death.

Effectiveness and Safety Was Wildly Exaggerated in Trials

Considering those findings, it’s no surprise to find that effectiveness and safety were exaggerated in clinical trials and observational studies. In a guest post on Dr. Robert Malone’s Substack, Raphael Lataster, Ph.D., writes:16

“An unofficial series of four crucially important medical journal articles, two by me, appearing in major academic publisher Wiley’s Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice reveals that claims made about COVID-19 vaccines’ effectiveness and safety were exaggerated in the clinical trials and observational studies, which significantly impacts risk-benefit analyses.

Also discussed are the concerning topics of myocarditis, with evidence indicating that this one adverse effect alone means that the risks outweigh the benefits in the young and healthy; and perceived negative effectiveness, which indicates that the vaccines increase the chance of COVID-19 infection/hospitalization/death, to say nothing about other adverse effects.”

Summary of Papers

The four papers in question include:

1.“Sources of Bias in Observational Studies of COVID-19 Vaccine Effectiveness” published in the Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice in March 2023, co-authored by BMJ editor Peter Doshi, Ph.D., statistician Kaiser Fung and biostatistician Mark Jones, which concluded that “case-counting window bias” had a significant effect on effectiveness estimates.17

As explained by Lataster, this “concerns the 7 days, 14 days, or even 21 days after the jab where we are meant to overlook jab-related issues, such as COVID infections, for some odd reason as ‘the vaccine has not had sufficient time to stimulate the immune system.’

This may strike you as quite bizarre since all of the ‘fully vaccinated’ must go through the process of being ‘partially vaccinated,’ sometimes even more than once. To make matters worse, the unvaccinated do not get such a ‘grace period,’ meaning that there is also a clear bias at play.

In an example using data from Pfizer’s clinical trial, the authors show that thanks to this bias, a vaccine with effectiveness of 0%, which is confirmed in the hypothetical clinical trial, could be seen in observational studies as having effectiveness of 48%.”

2.“Reply to Fung et. al. on COVID-19 Vaccine Case-Counting Window Biases Overstating Vaccine Effectiveness,” authored by Lataster, which discussed how the counting window bias not only affected effectiveness estimates in observational studies but also safety estimates, suggesting a need for reassessment of vaccine safety.18 The article also addresses “the mysterious rise in non-COVID excess deaths post-pandemic.”19

3.“How the Case Counting Window Affected Vaccine Efficacy Calculations in Randomized Trials of COVID-19 Vaccines,” again co-authored by Doshi and Fung, which detailed how case-counting window issues also overestimated effectiveness in Pfizer and Moderna clinical trials.20

4.A second article by Lataster, in which he highlighted and summarized the evidence showing that clinical trials were affected by adverse effect counting window issues that led to exaggerated safety estimates.21

“Together, these four articles make clear that claims made about COVID-19 vaccines; effectiveness and safety were exaggerated in the clinical trials and observational studies, whilst also finding time to discuss myocarditis and perceived negative effectiveness, meaning that new analyses are very much needed,” Lataster writes.22

Resources for Those Injured by the COVID Jab

Based on data from across the world, it’s beyond clear that the COVID shots are the most dangerous drugs ever deployed. If you already got one or more COVID jabs and are now reconsidering, you’d be wise to avoid all vaccines from here on, as you need to end the assault on your body. Even if you haven’t experienced any obvious side effects, your health may still be impacted long-term, so don’t take any more shots.

If you’re suffering from side effects, your first order of business is to eliminate the spike protein — and/or any aberrant off-target protein — that your body is producing. Two remedies shown to bind to and facilitate the removal of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein are hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin. I don’t know if these drugs will work on off-target proteins and nanolipid accumulation as well, but it probably wouldn’t hurt to try.

The Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance (FLCCC) has developed a post-vaccine treatment protocol called I-RECOVER. Since the protocol is continuously updated as more data become available, your best bet is to download the latest version straight from the FLCCC website at covid19criticalcare.com.23

For additional suggestions, check out the World Council for Health’s spike protein detox guide,24 which focuses on natural substances like herbs, supplements and teas. Sauna therapy can also help eliminate toxic and misfolded proteins by stimulating autophagy.

from:    https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2024/04/29/prion-brain-diseases.aspx?ui=f460707c057231d228aac22d51b97f2a8dcffa7b857ec065e5a5bfbcfab498ac&sd=20211017&cid_source=dnl&cid_medium=email&cid_content=art1ReadMore&cid=20240429_HL2&foDate=true&mid=DM1564602&rid=8456357

Vaccines – Now they Want To put Them In Food

Posted on by

Tennessee Lawmakers Pass Bill Targeting mRNA Vaccines In Food

Tyler Durden's Photo

BY TYLER DURDEN
TUESDAY, APR 02, 2024 – 03:40 PM

Following concerns over research to embed vaccines in produce, the Tennessee Senate has passed a bill which would require any food containing vaccines or vaccine materials to be labeled as pharmaceutical drugs.

Lettuce grows under artificial lights on an automated growing rack at a farm in Nottingham, Maryland, on April 14, 2023.

The bill, HB 1894, was passed by the Senate in a 23-6 vote on March 28 after the state House passed it 73-22 on March 4. It awaits the governor’s signature.

The bill comes in response to a University of California-Riverside research project looking into whether mRNA which targets pathogens could be implanted into edible plants, which would then be consumed. The research was funded by a $500,000 grant from the National Science Foundation.

“You would have to get a prescription for that to make sure that we know how much of the lettuce you have to eat based off of your body type so we don’t under-vaccinate you, which leads to the possibility of the efficacy of the drug being compromised, or we overdose you based off how much lettuce is [eaten],” said Republican state Rep. Scott Cepicky during a House committee meeting in February, WKRN-TV reports.

Cepicky said that the bill, which local media described as a move targeting “vaccine lettuce,” would classify foods modified to act as vaccines, as pharmaceuticals.

“So if you want to consume them you would go to your doctor and get a prescription,” he said.

In a 2021 press release, UC Riverside associate professor of Botany and Plant Sciences, Juan Pablo, said “We are testing this approach with spinach and lettuce and have long-term goals of people growing it in their own gardens,” adding “Farmers could also eventually grow entire fields of it.”

According to Pablo, “Ideally, a single plant would produce enough mRNA to vaccinate a single person.”

Another researcher, Nicole Steinmetz, said in the same release that they planned to use nanoparticles or “plant viruses, for gene delivery to plants.”

When asked by WKRN-TV about the status of the research, a UC Riverside spokesperson said that the project is not yet complete.

“Research into the process of having plant chloroplasts express vaccine chemistry is ongoing. There are no definitive results to report,” said Jules Berinstein after the Tennessee bill was passed.

Democrat Senators oppose

During the debate on the Tennessee Senate Floor, some lawmakers questioned the need for the bill.

“Does the sponsor know of any instances of there being food offered in the state of Tennessee that contains vaccines in some kind of a retail or public forum?” asked state Sen. Heidi Campbell.

Rep. Cepicky hit back, highlighting in February that a Kentucky company has already been “infecting growing tobacco plants with a genetically modified coronavirus” to see if it can produce antibodies for a potential vaccine, adding that the company “can already do this right now.”

Massie sounds the alarm

In 2023, US Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) raised concerns over the use of federal money to create “transgenic edible vaccines,” which would transform edible plants such as spinach and lettuce into mRNA vaccine delivery vehicles.

In September 2023 during a debate over an appropriations bill, Massie highlighted an incident in which an edible vaccine was introduced into a corn crop used to feed pigs in order to mitigate diarrhea. The corn crop, however, became commingled with a soybean crop – contaminating 500,000 bushels that had to be recalled.

“Do we want humans eating vaccines that were grown in corn meant to stop pigs from getting diarrhea? I don’t think we want that to happen. Yet that almost happened, and it could happen,” said Massie. “There is another case where the pollen cross-contaminated another crop of corn, and 155 acres of corn had to be burned. What are the cases where we’re not discovering this? I think it’s dangerous to play God with our food.”

from:  https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/tennessee-lawmakers-pass-bill-targeting-mrna-vaccines-food

The Perps Behind the Crocus City Hall -A Discussion

Posted on by

Bombshell. Who Was Behind the Crocus City Hall Terrorists? Statement by Alexander Bortnikov, Director of Russia’s FSB

By Dr. Gilbert Doctorow
Global Research, March 28, 2024

To the uninitiated, I explain first that the FSB is the successor organization to the Soviet Union’s well-known and much feared KGB.  However, the FSB today might be better compared with the FBI in the United States. It deals with domestic criminality of all kinds and with threats to Russian civilians such as terrorism. The agency and its head are rarely in the news.

In this respect, the FSB is less visible both at home and abroad than the Foreign Intelligence Service headed by Sergei Naryshkin, a state figure who spent five years of this millennium as chairman of the State Duma, Russia’s lower house of the legislature, and also three years as head of the Presidential Administration. In both positions Naryshkin was very often seen on television performing his duties.

By contrast, Bortnikov spent the past 15 years in his FSB offices out of sight. However, the spectacular attack on the Crocus City Hall concert venue has propelled him to center stage and yesterday he met with the Russian state television journalist Pavel Zarubin for an interview and then allowed himself to be questioned further by a gaggle of other journalists on his way out along a corridor. This spontaneous Q&A was later broadcast on the television news. What Bortnikov had to say was extraordinary and bears directly on whether you and I should now be looking for bomb shelters. Regrettably you will not find any of it in the lead stories of today’s mainstream media. The Financial Times, for example, features an account of Xi’s meeting with CEOs of American businesses to mend ties: interesting, but not very relevant if we are at the cusp of WWIII.

Bortnikov is by definition a member of Vladimir Putin’s inner circle of advisors. He, Putin and Naryshkin are all roughly the same age. At 72, Bortnikov is just several years older.

I was struck in particular by his poise and prudent, carefully weighed choice of words while setting out where the investigation is heading with transparency and a ‘let the chips fall where they may’ unaffected demeanor.

The journalists were all probing the question of who stood behind the terror attack. Bortnikov told them…and us: standing behind the terror act committed by Islamist extremists are the United States, Great Britain and Ukraine.

undefined

Russian Crocus City Hall amphitheater interiors, day after terrorist attack on 22 March 2024 (Licensed under CC BY 4.0)

Bortnikov said that the preliminary findings indicate that the four perpetrators of the slaughter were headed by car to the border with Ukraine where they were awaited on the other side.

He very calmly explained that the involvement of foreign powers is being clarified and that he will say nothing out of pure emotion now but will wait for the facts to be solidly collected before being presented.

Nonetheless, it was entirely newsworthy that he named the United States, Great Britain and Ukraine as the likely puppet masters of the terror act. Let us remember that following the bombing of the Nord Stream pipelines, the most significant attack on critical civilian infrastructure globally in the last 50 years, Russian officials did not point the finger directly at any country. There was innuendo but no direct accusations such as we heard from Bortnikov yesterday.

*Meanwhile, quite apart from Mr. Bortnikov’s chat with journalists, a lot of new elements to the terror attack at Crocus City Hall were posted yesterday on the Russian state television news and analysis program Sixty Minutes.

In particular, we learned that in the last days of February and first couple of days of March two of the four attackers were in Istanbul. The departure and arrival of one at a Moscow airport was recorded on video. We were told which hotels they stayed in, and the selfies and other photos taken by one in Istanbul were put up on the screen. It is still not clear with whom they met in Turkey. However, the timing itself is very important, because the point was made that they returned to Moscow to carry out a terror attack on 8 March, International Women’s Day, a sacred date on the Russian calendar. Had they done so on that day, the effect would have been catastrophic for the presidential elections in Russia one week later.

However, per Sixty Minutes, it was determined that Russian state security on 8 March was too tight for the terrorist mission to succeed and the United States decided to pull the plug on that operation. Note that this is approximately the time when Victoria Nuland tendered her resignation at the State Department (5 March).  The possible causal link here surely deserves attention by my peers in the U.S. ‘dissident’ community.

In any case, the scenario which was explored later in the day on the Evening with Vladimir Solovyov talk show is that the Ukrainians decided to proceed with the terror attack a week after the Russian presidential elections, when it lost most of its rationale.  They did so over the objections of Washington.

*From time to time, readers ask why I pay attention to talk shows like Vladimir Solovyov’s.  These skeptics tend to ignore that Solovyov invites not just the usual irresponsible academics and journalists who can amuse the public but also some very serious statesmen who are close to the center of power in Russia and exert influence on the conduct of foreign and domestic policy, including in particular committee chairmen and other key personalities from the State Duma.

So it was last night when we heard from a member of the Committee on Relations with the Commonwealth of Independent States (Former Soviet Union). With reference to the never ending terror attacks on civilians in the Russian border region of Belgorod coming from nearby Kharkiv (Ukraine), he said it is time to raze Kharkov to the ground: issue a warning to the population to get in their cars and head West, then blow it all to bits.  Kharkiv is, by the way, Ukraine’s second most populous city after Kiev.

In general, the mood of panelists and of the host Solovyov himself is now changing in a cardinal manner: Ukraine is seen as an enemy state and the sooner it is finished off the better. There was talk last night on the need for missile strikes to flatten the presidential palace in Kiev along with all military and other decision making government centers in the capital.

As we have observed repeatedly over the past two years. President Putin has been a voice for moderation and restraint, resisting actions that might precipitate WWIII.  That is clearly coming to an end when his own FSB director names the United States and the UK as planners of the biggest terror attack in Russia in 20 years.

from:    https://www.globalresearch.ca/yesterday-remarkable-statements-journalists-alexander-bortnikov-director-russia-federal-security-service/5853370?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

SOme Posters vis-a-vis the WHO “Treaty”

Posted on by

CHECK OUT:    https://doortofreedom.org/posters-and-memes/  for more

Shareables and Printables!

Our wonderful graphics article Dove has customized this meme of Tedros squeezing our world  in the language and with the flag of as many countries we could.  If you would like your country included, please tell us how to say “Our world, not His” in your language and we will include it. Please contact us

Source: Dove from The World Doctors Alliance

Source: Sovereignty Coalition

from:    https://doortofreedom.org/posters-and-memes/

WHo is Knocking on Your Door?

Posted on by

REPORT: FBI Agents Captured on Video During Home Visit Admit They Spend ‘Every Day, All Day Long’ Interrogating Americans About Their Social Media Posts

By  
Screenshot: Rolla Abdeljawad/Facebook

FBI agents have been recorded during a home visit to a Stillwater resident, admitting that scrutinizing Americans over their social media activities is a daily operation, Reason.com has confirmed.

Rolla Abdeljawad, an Oklahoma resident, encountered three FBI agents at her doorstep, inquiring about her Facebook posts.

Abdeljawad’s lawyer, Hassan Shibly, took to social media to post a video of the interaction. The video, which surfaced online on Wednesday, portrays a tense exchange.

In the video, Abdeljawad declines to speak with the agents and requests that they show their badges on camera, a request the agents did not fulfill. Abdeljawad later verified with local police that the individuals were indeed FBI agents.

Screenshot: Rolla Abdeljawad/Facebook

“Facebook gave us a couple of screenshots of your account,” one agent, donned in a gray shirt, informed Abdeljawad.

Challenging the agents, Abdeljawad questioned the principles of free speech, to which a second agent, clothed in a red shirt, responded reassuringly yet revealed the frequency of such interrogations.

“No, we totally do. That’s why we’re not here to arrest you or anything. We do this every day, all day long. It’s just an effort to keep everybody safe and make sure nobody has any ill will.”

Shibly expressed his concern, noting that this was the first instance he was aware of where Facebook’s parent company, Meta, might have preemptively reported posts to law enforcement.

The specific posts that drew the FBI’s attention are not clear, but Abdeljawad has recently expressed strong views on the conflict in Gaza, including inflammatory statements against Israel.

Abdeljawad’s Facebook timeline, which is public, has been filled with posts expressing her frustration with the situation in Gaza, using harsh language against Israel. Despite the nature of her posts, none explicitly called for violence.

Screenshot: Rolla Abdeljawad/Facebook

Shibly wrote on Twitter:

WATCH: FBI visit the home of an American Muslim Woman’s home to question her about her pro-Palestine social media posts after they were flagged by Meta’s Facebook!

What she did right:
1. Refuse to speak to them without a lawyer.
2. Refuse to let them in her house.
3. Record the interaction.

What she did wrong:
1. Exit her house. Do not let them in your house if they do not have a warrant but do not exit your house either.

You have the right never to speak to the FBI without a lawyer.

If the FBI contact you contact us at http://MuslimLegal.com for help.

WATCH:

 

Following the visit, Abdeljawad took to Facebook to suggest that the approach by the FBI seemed more like a “fishing expedition” than a specific investigation. She emphasized her role as a Muslim to protect creation and stand for what she believes is right.

“Rather, it seems like a fishing expedition,” she wrote. “I do not fear them. My only concern as, I told the cop is that, someone in my state will do something or that they would and then use my posts in a malicious attempt to ‘smear’ me. Just *remember, I am a Muslim, an obligated protector of creation. I enjoin what is good and forbid what is wrong,” Abdeljawad wrote.

In a statement to Fox News and Reason, FBI’s Oklahoma City office spokeswoman, Kayla McCleery, asserted the FBI’s commitment to protecting Americans and upholding the Constitution, clarifying that investigations do not stem solely from First Amendment-protected activities.

“Every day, the FBI engages with members of the public in furtherance of our mission, which is to protect the American people and uphold the Constitution of the United States. We can never open an investigation based solely on First Amendment protected activity. The FBI is committed to ensuring our activities are conducted with a valid law enforcement or national security purpose, and uphold the constitutional rights of all Americans.”

Meta’s policy allows for data to be shared with U.S. law enforcement under specific legal circumstances.

“Meta responds to government requests for data in accordance with applicable law and our terms of service. Each and every request we receive is carefully reviewed for legal sufficiency and we may reject or require greater specificity on requests that appear overly broad or vague. The charts below provide data on the number of requests we received, the number of users/accounts requested, and the rate we complied with all or some of the government’s request,” according to its website.

The Gateway Pundit previously reported that a leading opponent of the new China-owned corn mill in North Dakota received a home visit from local police and FBI agents after posting a paragraph from the Declaration of Independence on Facebook.

Here is what Jodi Carlson posted on Facebook that warranted a visit by the Stasi FBI.

“We have petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. When a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Depotism (oppressive absolute power), it is our right, OUR DUTY, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for our future Security.” (The word “their” (the people) replaced with “our”).”

On Friday, The Gateway Pundit also reported that the FBI visited a woman on February 22 and her family in Louisiana who had used social media to expose a man who allegedly ‘dumped her cousin’s body like trash’ and was released on probation.

“Basically the tweet about my cousins killer went viral. 8.3 million views. Elon Musk even put a ! Under it. The FBI agent went to my family in Louisiana. My family thought they were there to help since the monster only got probation after all he’s done. They were there about my tweet,” Kristin Martin told The Gateway Pundit.

“They wanted to see if I or anyone they know could have sent in a threat to judges. That was exactly the same reason they gave me for coming to my house,” she added.

from:    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/03/report-fbi-agents-captured-video-during-home-visit/

Holding Victims Responsible for Crimes of Others

Posted on by

Tough on the VICTIMS of crime: St Louis Democrat mayor blames convenience store owners for crimes that happen on their property and vows to hold them ‘accountable’ for lawbreaking

  • St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones told the Black Mayors’ Coalition on Crime she plans to make convenience store owners more responsible for crimes on or near their properties 
  • The plans are inspired by those used in Atlanta, Georgia that makes nightclub owners more liable for crimes on their premises 
  • It comes as the city grapples with a spate of high profile attacks, including the assault on fifteen-year-old Kaylee Gain earlier this month.  

By ALICE WRIGHT FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

PUBLISHED: | UPDATED: 

St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones has announced new plans to make convenience store owners more responsible for the crimes committed on or outside their property.

Mayor Jones, St Louis’ the first black female mayor, told leaders at the the Black Mayors’ Coalition on Crime in Memphis that St Louis needs to combat violent crime and theft around convenience stores.

‘We have a lot of violence around convenience stores and gas stations,’ Mayor Jones said on Thursday.

‘So how can we hold those business owners accountable and also bring down crime?’ she asked.

Adding: ‘Some of the things we’re already doing, we’re finding that other mayors are doing as well.’

Jones, who has been mayor since 2021, told the other Mayor’s ideas, the details of which are not yet clear, will be adopted from laws in Atlanta, Georgia that make nightclub owners more liable for crimes on or near their property.

St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones has announced new plans to make convenience store owners more responsible for the crimes committed on or outside their property

+5
View gallery

St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones has announced new plans to make convenience store owners more responsible for the crimes committed on or outside their property

'We have a lot of violence around convenience stores and gas stations,' Mayor Jones told the Black Mayors' Coalition on Crime on Thursday

+5
View gallery

‘We have a lot of violence around convenience stores and gas stations,’ Mayor Jones told the Black Mayors’ Coalition on Crime on Thursday

Robberies at Webster Groves gas station are possibly connected to others in metro, according to local police

+5
View gallery

Robberies at Webster Groves gas station are possibly connected to others in metro, according to local police

Chilean gang caught on camera as they raid Detroit-area mansions
2.9k viewing now
Biden says he didn’t designate Easter as Transgender Day of Visibility
29.2k viewing now

In January a woman was shot dead in a Jennings convenience store after a struggle ensued, local news reported.

Earlier this month a man was shot at a QuikTrip store in south St. Louis, according to reports.

The suspect was shot dead and the store’s security guard was shot in the thigh in a struggle for his gun, according to local reports.

Attacks have also focused on gas stations, such as the Webster Groves gas station that police have raised as potentially connected to other violent robberies.

In 2023, St. Louis was ranked the third most dangerous city again behind Detroit and Michigan but also Baltimore.

‘The prevalence of firearms, coupled with limited gun control measures, further contributes to the overall crime rates in St. Louis,’ real estate Norada wrote of the city.

It comes after a spate of violent attacks in the city, including the recent attack on fifteen-year-old Kaylee Gain earlier this month.

Kaylee Gain's high school has refused to hand over records to the Missouri Attorney General after a vicious school fight left her fighting for her lifeIt comes after a spate of violent attacks in the city, including the recent attack on fifteen-year-old Kaylee Gain earlier this month.

+5
View gallery

Kaylee Gain’s high school has refused to hand over records to the Missouri Attorney General after a vicious school fight left her fighting for her lifeIt comes after a spate of violent attacks in the city, including the recent attack on fifteen-year-old Kaylee Gain earlier this month.

Missouri AG blames ‘radical DEI programs’ for Kaylee Gain attack

Gain was attacked on March 8 by another teenage girl who slammed her head into the pavement.

The teen was left with a fractured skull, brain bleeding, brain swelling, and in a coma for two weeks following the attack.

Despite its high crime rate, stats did drop significantly in 2023 compared to the year before.

Shootings were down 24 percent from 2022, felony thefts were down 39 percent and shootings involving juveniles were down 47 percent, according to St Louis police.

The city also saw a drop of more than 40 homicides bringing killings to their lowest levels in more than a decade.

from:    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13253823/St-Louis-Mayor-Tishaura-Jones-blames-store-owners-crimes.html

Are Open Borders Killing What Is/Was the USA?

Posted on by

(So what is “charity” and what is deception?)

This Is Only Phase 2 of Biden’s Migrant Border Invasion Plan, on the Way to Phase 4

April 1, 2024 Redacted 3

Author JJ Carrell revealed the four phases of mass migration and replacement that begins with the first phase of ongoingly flooding the border. Phase two is that the people who have been paroled inside the US border have been categorized as ‘legal US residents’ who can now sponsor their family members to join them in the US. Each ‘legal resident’ can bring in four more people who may then bring in more people. The estimated 10 million migrants welcomed by the Biden administration will multiply by tens of millions more people. The rules have been changed so that financial sponsorship by the family is no longer required as NGOs like Catholic Charities may fill in as the financial sponsor. Other NGOs facilitating the invasion of America include the United Way, Jewish Family Services, Lutheran Family Services and hundreds of mom and pop organizations. They have been paid billions of dollars by the Biden administration.

Mr. Carrell dropped a bombshell about Social Security benefits.

Phase 3 is continual propaganda that the system is broken, setting the stage for phase four, which is blanket amnesty. Both Republicans and Democrats are complicit in mass migration. For example, House Speaker Mike Johnson has failed to address the border issue.

from:    https://needtoknow.news/2024/04/this-is-only-phase-2-of-bidens-migrant-border-invasion-plan-on-the-way-to-phase-4/

So, Who isCasting Your Vote???

Posted on by

Election disinformation takes a big leap with AI being used to deceive worldwide

From Bangladesh to Slovakia, AI-generated deepfakes have been undermining elections around the globe. Experts say their reach and sophistication is a sign of things to come in consequential elections later this year. (March 15)
BY ALI SWENSON AND KELVIN CHAN
Updated 12:46 AM MST, March 14, 2024

LONDON (AP) — Artificial intelligence is supercharging the threat of election disinformation worldwide, making it easy for anyone with a smartphone and a devious imagination to create fake – but convincing – content aimed at fooling voters.

It marks a quantum leap from a few years ago, when creating phony photos, videos or audio clips required teams of people with time, technical skill and money. Now, using free and low-cost generative artificial intelligence services from companies like Google and OpenAI, anyone can create high-quality “deepfakes” with just a simple text prompt.

Experts warn AI and deepfakes will likely be worse in the coming elections.
Here’s how governments and organizations are responding to the threat.

AI-powered misinformation and disinformation is emerging as a risk as people in a slew of countries head to the polls. Read more on the 25 elections in 2024 that could change the world, and take a look at more of the AP’s global elections coverage.

A wave of AI deepfakes tied to elections in Europe and Asia has coursed through social media for months, serving as a warning for more than 50 countries heading to the polls this year.

“You don’t need to look far to see some people … being clearly confused as to whether something is real or not,” said Henry Ajder, a leading expert in generative AI based in Cambridge, England.

The question is no longer whether AI deepfakes could affect elections, but how influential they will be, said Ajder, who runs a consulting firm called Latent Space Advisory.

As the U.S. presidential race heats up, FBI Director Christopher Wray recently warned about the growing threat, saying generative AI makes it easy for “foreign adversaries to engage in malign influence.”

People are reflected in a window of a hotel at the Davos Promenade in Davos, Switzerland, Jan. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)
People are reflected in a window of a hotel at the Davos Promenade in Davos, Switzerland, Jan. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)

With AI deepfakes, a candidate’s image can be smeared, or softened. Voters can be steered toward or away from candidates — or even to avoid the polls altogether. But perhaps the greatest threat to democracy, experts say, is that a surge of AI deepfakes could erode the public’s trust in what they see and hear.

Some recent examples of AI deepfakes include:

— A video of Moldova’s pro-Western president throwing her support behind a political party friendly to Russia.

— Audio clips of Slovakia’s liberal party leader discussing vote rigging and raising the price of beer.

— A video of an opposition lawmaker in Bangladesh — a conservative Muslim majority nation — wearing a bikini.

 

The novelty and sophistication of the technology makes it hard to track who is behind AI deepfakes. Experts say governments and companies are not yet capable of stopping the deluge, nor are they moving fast enough to solve the problem.

As the technology improves, “definitive answers about a lot of the fake content are going to be hard to come by,” Ajder said.

Republican People's Party, or CHP, supporters gather to celebrate outside City Hall in Istanbul, Turkey, Sunday, March 31, 2024. Turkey's main opposition party retained its control over key cities and made huge gains elsewhere in Sunday's local elections, preliminary results showed, in a major upset to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who had set his sights on retaking control of those urban areas. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
In setback to Turkey’s Erdogan, opposition makes huge gains in local election
FILE- Indian women stand in a queue to cast their votes in Rajnandgaon, in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh, April 17, 2014. With a population of over 1.4 billion people and close to 970 million voters, India’s 2024 general election will pit Prime Minister Narendra Modi, an avowed Hindu nationalist, against a broad alliance of opposition parties that are struggling to play catch up. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool, File)
Here’s what you need to know about the world’s largest democratic election kicking off in India
Security vehicles escort a police van carrying Arvind Kejriwal, leader of the Aam Admi Party, or Common Man's Party, to Tihar prison from a local court, in New Delhi, India, Monday, April 1, 2024. A court in India on Monday placed a top opposition leader in two weeks of judicial detention after his 10 days in the custody of a federal agency expired, in a case that opposition parties say is part of a crackdown by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government on rivals ahead of a national election later this month. (AP Photo/Dinesh Joshi)
An Indian court sends a top opposition leader to jail until shortly before election

ERODING TRUST

Some AI deepfakes aim to sow doubt about candidates’ allegiances.

In Moldova, an Eastern European country bordering Ukraine, pro-Western President Maia Sandu has been a frequent target. One AI deepfake that circulated shortly before local elections depicted her endorsing a Russian-friendly party and announcing plans to resign.

FILE - Moldova's President Maia Sandu, right, greets Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Bulboaca, Moldova, June 1, 2023. She has been a frequent target of online disinformation created with artificial intelligence. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda, File)
Moldova’s President Maia Sandu, right, greets Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Bulboaca, Moldova, June 1, 2023.(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda, File)

Officials in Moldova believe the Russian government is behind the activity. With presidential elections this year, the deepfakes aim “to erode trust in our electoral process, candidates and institutions — but also to erode trust between people,” said Olga Rosca, an adviser to Sandu. The Russian government declined to comment for this story.

China has also been accused of weaponizing generative AI for political purposes.

In Taiwan, a self-ruled island that China claims as its own, an AI deepfake gained attention earlier this year by stirring concerns about U.S. interference in local politics.

The fake clip circulating on TikTok showed U.S. Rep. Rob Wittman, vice chairman of the U.S. House Armed Services Committee, promising stronger U.S. military support for Taiwan if the incumbent party’s candidates were elected in January.

FILE - Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Va., questions witnesses during a congressional hearing, on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023, in Washington. A fake clip circulating on TikTok showed Wittman, vice chairman of the U.S. House Armed Services Committee, promising stronger U.S. military support for Taiwan if the incumbent party's candidates were elected in January, 2024. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Va., questions witnesses during a congressional hearing, on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023, in Washington.(AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

Wittman blamed the Chinese Communist Party for trying to meddle in Taiwanese politics, saying it uses TikTok — a Chinese-owned company — to spread “propaganda.”

A spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry, Wang Wenbin, said his government doesn’t comment on fake videos and that it opposes interference in other countries’ internal affairs. The Taiwan election, he stressed, “is a local affair of China.”

BLURRING REALITY

Audio-only deepfakes are especially hard to verify because, unlike photos and videos, they lack telltale signs of manipulated content.

In Slovakia, another country overshadowed by Russian influence, audio clips resembling the voice of the liberal party chief were shared widely on social media just days before parliamentary elections. The clips purportedly captured him talking about hiking beer prices and rigging the vote.

It’s understandable that voters might fall for the deception, Ajder said, because humans are “much more used to judging with our eyes than with our ears.”

In the U.S., robocalls impersonating U.S. President Joe Biden urged voters in New Hampshire to abstain from voting in January’s primary election. The calls were later traced to a political consultant who said he was trying to publicize the dangers of AI deepfakes.

FILE - Paul Carpenter describes AI software during an interview in New Orleans, Friday, Feb. 23, 2024. Carpenter says he was hired in January to use AI software to imitate President Joe Biden's voice to convince New Hampshire Democrat voters not to vote in the state's presidential primary. (AP Photo/Matthew Hinton)
Paul Carpenter describes AI software during an interview in New Orleans, Friday, Feb. 23, 2024. Carpenter says he was hired in January to use AI software to imitate President Joe Biden’s voice to convince New Hampshire Democrat voters not to vote in the state’s presidential primary. (AP Photo/Matthew Hinton, File)

In poorer countries, where media literacy lags, even low-quality AI fakes can be effective.

Such was the case last year in Bangladesh, where opposition lawmaker Rumeen Farhana — a vocal critic of the ruling party — was falsely depicted wearing a bikini. The viral video sparked outrage in the conservative, majority-Muslim nation.

“They trust whatever they see on Facebook,” Farhana said.

Rumeen Farhana, a politician from the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) sits for a photograph during an interview at her residence in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024. Farhana, a vocal critic of the ruling party, was falsely depicted wearing a bikini in a video created using artificial intelligence. The viral video sparked outrage in the conservative, majority-Muslim nation. (AP Photo/Al-emrun Garjon)
Rumeen Farhana, a politician from the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) sits for a photograph during an interview at her residence in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Al-emrun Garjon)

Experts are particularly concerned about upcoming elections in India, the world’s largest democracy and where social media platforms are breeding grounds for disinformation.

A CHALLENGE TO DEMOCRACY

Some political campaigns are using generative AI to bolster their candidate’s image.

In Indonesia, the team that ran the presidential campaign of Prabowo Subianto deployed a simple mobile app to build a deeper connection with supporters across the vast island nation. The app enabled voters to upload photos and make AI-generated images of themselves with Subianto.

As the types of AI deepfakes multiply, authorities around the world are scrambling to come up with guardrails.

Noudhy Valdryno, the digital coordinator for the campaign team of Indonesian presidential frontrunner Prabowo Subianto, shows the interface of a web application that allows supporters to upload photos to make AI-generated images of them with Subianto, in Jakarta, Indonesia, Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)
Noudhy Valdryno, the digital coordinator for the campaign team of Indonesian presidential frontrunner Prabowo Subianto, shows the interface of a web application that allows supporters to upload photos to make AI-generated images of them with Subianto, in Jakarta, Indonesia, Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)

The European Union already requires social media platforms to cut the risk of spreading disinformation or “election manipulation.” It will mandate special labeling of AI deepfakes starting next year, too late for the EU’s parliamentary elections in June. Still, the rest of the world is a lot further behind.

The world’s biggest tech companies recently — and voluntarily — signed a pact to prevent AI tools from disrupting elections. For example, the company that owns Instagram and Facebook has said it will start labeling deepfakes that appear on its platforms.

But deepfakes are harder to rein in on apps like the Telegram chat service, which did not sign the voluntary pact and uses encrypted chats that can be difficult to monitor.

Some experts worry that efforts to rein in AI deepfakes could have unintended consequences.

An advertising banner with a slogan about AI is fixed at a building at the Davos Promenade, alongside the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Jan. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)
An advertising banner with a slogan about AI is fixed at a building at the Davos Promenade, alongside the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Jan. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)

Well-meaning governments or companies might trample on the sometimes “very thin” line between political commentary and an “illegitimate attempt to smear a candidate,” said Tim Harper, a senior policy analyst at the Center for Democracy and Technology in Washington.

Major generative AI services have rules to limit political disinformation. But experts say it remains too easy to outwit the platforms’ restrictions or use alternative services that don’t have the same safeguards.

Even without bad intentions, the rising use of AI is problematic. Many popular AI-powered chatbots are still spitting out false and misleading information that threatens to disenfranchise voters.

And software isn’t the only threat. Candidates could try to deceive voters by claiming that real events portraying them in an unfavorable light were manufactured by AI.

“A world in which everything is suspect — and so everyone gets to choose what they believe — is also a world that’s really challenging for a flourishing democracy,” said Lisa Reppell, a researcher at the International Foundation for Electoral Systems in Arlington, Virginia.

Swenson reported from New York. Associated Press writers Julhas Alam in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Krutika Pathi in New Delhi, Huizhong Wu in Bangkok, Edna Tarigan in Jakarta, Indonesia, Dake Kang in Beijing, and Stephen McGrath in Bucharest, Romania, contributed to this report.

from:    https://apnews.com/article/artificial-intelligence-elections-disinformation-chatgpt-bc283e7426402f0b4baa7df280a4c3fd

 

The Power of Astroturfing

Posted on by

How Astroturfing and Other Media Manipulation Compromise Your Ability to Get Truthful Information

Analysis by Dr. Joseph Mercola 
  • March 29, 2024

STORY AT-A-GLANCE

  • Ninety percent of news media are controlled by six corporations. As a result, the vast majority of what you read, see and hear is part of a carefully orchestrated narrative created and controlled by special interest groups
  • “Astroturf” is the effort on the part of large corporate special interests to surreptitiously sway public opinion by making it appear as though it’s a grassroots effort for or against a particular agenda
  • Wikipedia is astroturf’s dream come true. Many pages are controlled by anonymous Wikipedia editors on behalf of special interests who forbid and reverse edits that go against their agenda

Editor’s Note: This article is a reprint. It was originally published October 28, 2017.

Ninety percent of news media, be it television, radio, print or online, are controlled by six corporations. As a result, the vast majority of what you read, see and hear is part of a carefully orchestrated narrative created and controlled by special interest groups.

When you combine that with other astroturf and public manipulation schemes that hide the identity of these special interests, the end result is, to use investigative journalist Sharyl Attkisson’s term, a Truman-esque fictitious reality, where medical journals, doctors, media and presumably independent consumer groups all seem to be in agreement. The problem is it may all be false.

Attkisson is a five-time Emmy Award-winning anchor, producer and reporter whose television career spans more than three decades. In 2009, she blew the lid off the swine flu media hype, showing the hysteria was manufactured and completely unfounded. At the time, I interviewed her about these findings. I’ve included that fascinating interview below.

In 2014, she left CBS to pursue more independent venues of investigative journalism, and wrote “Stonewalled: My Fight for Truth Against the Forces of Obstruction, Intimidation, and Harassment in Obama’s Washington” — an exposé on what really goes on behind the media curtain.

Video Link

Why Everyone Must Be Aware of Astroturfing

The featured video is a TEDx Talk Attkisson gave in 2015, in which she discusses the methods employed by special interest groups to manipulate and distort media messages. For example, astroturfing — false-front “grassroots movements” that are in fact funded by political parties or private industries — are now “more important to these interests than traditional lobbying of Congress,” she says. She explains the term “astroturf” thus:

“It’s a perversion of grassroots, as in fake grassroots. Astroturf is when political, corporate or other special interests disguise themselves and publish blogs, start Facebook and Twitter accounts, publish ads and letters to the editor, or simply post comments online, to try to fool you into thinking an independent or grassroots movement is speaking.

The whole point of astroturf is to try to [give] the impression there’s widespread support for or against an agenda when there’s not. Astroturf seeks to manipulate you into changing your opinion by making you feel as if you’re an outlier when you’re not …

Astroturfers seek to controversialize those who disagree with them. They attack news organizations that publish stories they don’t like, whistleblowers who tell the truth, politicians who dare to ask the tough questions and journalists who have the audacity to report on all of it.”

Wikipedia — Astroturf’s Dream Come True

If you’re like most, you probably rely on certain sources more than others when it comes to information. WebMD, for example, dominates for health information, Snopes for checking the latest rumors and Wikipedia for general facts, figures and details.

Attkisson has a great deal to say about Wikipedia, calling it “astroturf’s dream come true.” Wikipedia is advertised as a free encyclopedia, where information is added and edited by the public. Anyone can add to or edit any given Wikipedia page. Or so they say.

“The reality can’t be more different,” Attkisson says, explaining that many pages have been co-opted and are controlled by anonymous Wikipedia editors on behalf of special interests. “They forbid and reverse edits that go against their agenda,” she says. “They skew and delete information, in blatant violation of Wikipedia’s own established policies, with impunity.”

Even the smallest factual inaccuracies are impossible to correct on these agenda-driven pages. As just one example, in 2012, author Philip Roth tried to correct a factual error about the inspiration behind one of his book characters cited on a Wikipedia page. His correction was repeatedly reversed and, ultimately, he was told he was not considered a credible source!

Worse, a study1 comparing medical conditions described on Wikipedia with published research found that Wikipedia contradicted the medical literature an astounding 90% of the time. So, be aware — Wikipedia is NOT the place for accurate and reliable medical information.

Who’s Who and What’s What?

The extent to which information is manipulated is enormous. Let’s say you hear about a new drug for an ailment you have, or your doctor recommends it, and you decide to research it to be on the safe side. Ultimately, you conclude it is safe and effective because everywhere you look, the information seems to support this conclusion. You feel good knowing you’ve done your homework, and fill the prescription. What you don’t know is that:

Facebook and Twitter pages speaking highly of the drug are run by individuals on the payroll of the drug company
The Wikipedia page for the drug is monitored and controlled by a special-interest editor hired by the drug company
Google search engine results have been optimized, ensuring you’ll find all those positive sources while burying contradicting information
The nonprofit organization you stumbled across online that recommends the drug was secretly founded and funded by the drug company
The positive study you found while searching online was also financed by the drug company
The news articles reporting the positive findings of that study sound suspiciously alike for a reason — they’re reiterating information provided by the drug company’s PR department; hence, you will not find any contradictory information there either
Doctors promoting the drug and making derogatory comments about those who worry about side effects are actually paid consultants for the drug company
The medical lecture your own personal doctor attended, where he became convinced the drug is safe and efficacious, was also sponsored by the drug company

How to Identify Astroturf

Believe it or not, this is just the tip of the iceberg. The extent of the control and manipulation goes even deeper than this. Even the U.S. government, regulatory agencies and public health organizations are colluding with industry in a variety of different ways.

So, what can you do? How can you possibly decipher the truth when the truth is so well-hidden beneath layers of astroturf? As noted by Attkisson, recognizing the telltale signs of astroturf is key. And once you know what to look for, you’ll start to recognize it everywhere you look. Telltale signs and hallmarks of astroturf include the following:

  • Certain key message lines repeatedly crop up. For example, the line “talk to your doctor” is highly suggestive of a PR message for a drug, even if what you’re reading doesn’t look like an advertisement
  • Use of inflammatory and derogatory language. Keywords to look for include crank, quack, nutty, lies, paranoid, pseudo and conspiracy
  • Astroturfers will often claim to debunk “myths” that are not myths at all
  • They will attack people, personalities and organizations rather than address the facts or concerns in question
  • Astroturfers are skeptical of those exposing wrongdoing rather than the wrongdoers. As noted by Attkisson, rather than questioning authority, astroturfers question those who question authority

Astroturfing in Action

Video Link

A perfect example of astroturfing occurred in 2015, when the American Council for Science and Health (ACSH) — a pro-GMO front group — attacked Dr. Mehmet Oz for reporting on the now scientifically established hazards of glyphosate.

Mainstream media swallowed and regurgitated the vicious propaganda without any critical thought whatsoever. Slate magazine publicized the attack with the headline “Letter from Prominent Doctors Implies Columbia Should Fire Dr. Oz for Being a Quack.”

The letter accuses Oz of repeatedly showing “disdain for science and for evidence-based medicine, as well as baseless and relentless opposition to the genetic engineering of food crops.” The letter was signed by Dr. Henry I. Miller and nine other “distinguished physicians.”

What the media failed to address is that Miller is a well-known shill for the GMO industry. In his capacity as its frontman, he was caught misrepresenting himself during the Anti-Prop 37 campaign in 2012, pretending to be a Stanford professor opposing GMO labeling, when in fact he is not a professor at Stanford.2 The TV ad had to be pulled off the air because of this misrepresentation.

Learn to Identify Shills and Front Groups

Miller also has a long history of defending toxic chemicals such as DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane), in addition to defending Big Tobacco. He’s even penned articles suggesting radioactive fallout might be beneficial for health, while claiming “Organic agriculture is to the environment what cigarette smoking is to human health” — apparently momentarily forgetting he’s defended the safety of cigarette smoking.3

Miller’s true colors were also revealed in August 2017, when he was fired by Forbes magazine for submitting articles ghostwritten by Monsanto. The evidence4 against Miller emerged during the court-ordered discovery process of a class-action lawsuit against Monsanto by people who claim they developed Non-Hodgkin lymphoma as a result of glyphosate exposure (the active ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide, used by farmers and home gardeners alike).

The documents, more than 700 pages in all, were posted online by the law firm Baum Hedlund Aristei & Goldman (now known as Wisner Baum).5 Faced with evidence they’d published material under Miller’s name that was in fact ghostwritten by Monsanto, Forbes not only fired Miller but also removed all of his work from their site. Some of the other nine physicians that signed the letter against Oz are also less than distinguished. As noted by U.S. Right to Know:6

“One was stripped of his medical license in New York and sent to federal prison camp for Medicaid fraud. Yet Dr. Gilbert Ross plays up his M.D. credentials in his role as acting president of [ACSH]. Ross was joined on the Columbia letter by ACSH board member Dr. Jack Fisher.

So what is ACSH? Though some reporters treat it as an independent science source, the group has been heavily funded by oil, chemical and tobacco companies, and has a long history of making inaccurate statements about science that directly benefit those industries — for example, claiming that secondhand smoke isn’t linked to heart attacks [or that] fracking doesn’t pollute water …

These facts are relevant in stories about scientific integrity. The scientific accuracy and motivations of the accusers matter when they are publicly challenging the scientific accuracy and motivations of somebody they are trying to get fired. We urge reporters and editors to take a closer look at the sources selling them story ideas, and to act as better watchdogs for the public interest.”

In short, the attack on Oz was orchestrated not by “concerned physicians” but rather by industry shills whose job it is to attack anyone who embraces a more natural approach to health and/or raise damning questions that might hurt the industry’s bottom-line.

Video Link

Corporate Conflicts of Interest Killed Investigative Journalism

Download Interview Transcript | Video Link

I interviewed Attkisson about her book, “Stonewalled” and the downfall and deterioration of true investigative journalism in 2015. I’ve included that interview again for your convenience. It delves a lot further into the issues brought up in her 10-minute TEDx Talk.

For example, direct-to-consumer drug advertising has created a situation where drug companies in particular wield enormous power over media. The industry spends billions of dollars each year on advertising, and this financial windfall is typically enough for any media outlet to bend to its advertisers’ whims and desires.

Attkisson refers to this as “soft censorship.” It’s when a media outlet’s sponsors wield power at the corporate level over the types of stories and topics journalists are allowed to cover, and the slant they must take when doing so. It’s important to realize that you simply will not get the truth from the media on certain topics for this very reason.

My mission is to arm you with information that is not easily obtainable in the mainstream media about things that influence your health, for better or worse. All of my articles are carefully referenced and I rely on peer-reviewed published science and firsthand interviews with experts in various fields. My advice to you is to develop a keen eye for the hallmarks of astroturfing, and to dig deeper when faced with claims that “the science is settled.” More often than not, it’s anything but.

from:  https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2024/03/29/astroturfing-media-manipulation.aspx?ui=f460707c057231d228aac22d51b97f2a8dcffa7b857ec065e5a5bfbcfab498ac&sd=20211017&cid_source=dnl&cid_medium=email&cid_content=art3HL&cid=20240329_HL2&foDate=true&mid=DM1549869&rid=2082323638