Author Archives: marcia

Who Knew???

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EPA suspends enforcement of environmental laws amid coronavirus

BY REBECCA BEITSCH – 03/26/20 The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a sweeping suspension of its enforcement of environmental laws Thursday, telling companies they would not need to meet environmental standards during the coronavirus outbreak.

The temporary policy, for which the EPA has set no end date, would allow any number of industries to skirt environmental laws, with the agency saying it will not “seek penalties for noncompliance with routine monitoring and reporting obligations.”

Cynthia Giles, who headed the EPA’s Office of Enforcement during the Obama administration, called it a moratorium on enforcing the nation’s environmental laws and an abdication of the agency’s duty.

“This EPA statement is essentially a nationwide waiver of environmental rules for the indefinite future. It tells companies across the country that they will not face enforcement even if they emit unlawful air and water pollution in violation of environmental laws, so long as they claim that those failures are in some way ’caused’ by the virus pandemic. And it allows them an out on monitoring too, so we may never know how bad the violating pollution was,” she wrote in a statement to The Hill.

The EPA has been under pressure from a number of industries, including the oil industry, to suspend enforcement of a number of environmental regulations due to the pandemic.

“EPA is committed to protecting human health and the environment, but recognizes challenges resulting from efforts to protect workers and the public from COVID-19 may directly impact the ability of regulated facilities to meet all federal regulatory requirements,” EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler said in a statement. 

In a 10-page letter to the EPA earlier this week, the American Petroleum Institute (API) asked for a suspension of rules that require repairing leaky equipment as well as monitoring to make sure pollution doesn’t seep into nearby water.

Other industries had also asked to ignite the “force majeure” clauses of any legal settlements they had signed with the EPA, allowing for an extension on deadlines to meet various environmental goals in the face of unforeseen circumstances.

But Giles and others say the memo signed Thursday goes beyond that request, giving industries board authority to pollute with little oversight from the agency.

“Incredibly, the EPA statement does not even reserve EPA’s right to act in the event of an imminent threat to public health,” Giles said.

“Instead, EPA says it will defer to states, and ‘work with the facility’ to minimize or prevent the threat. EPA should never relinquish its right and its obligation to act immediately and decisively when there is threat to public health, no matter what the reason is. I am not aware of any instance when EPA ever relinquished this fundamental authority as it does in this memo.”

The memo says companies should try to minimize “the effects and duration of any noncompliance” with environmental laws and should also keep records of their own noncompliance, along with identifying how the coronavirus was a factor.

The EPA on Friday pushed back against characterization of the memo as a waiver of environmental rules.
“During this extraordinary time, EPA believes that it is more important for facilities to ensure that their pollution control equipment remains up and running and the facilities are operating safely, than to carry out routine sampling and reporting,” agency spokeswoman Andrea Woods told The Hill by email.
“If a facility has exceedances of limits on pollution the policy does not offer any no action assurance. We retain all our authorities and will exercise them appropriately. It is a temporary policy and will be terminated when this crisis is past.”

Critics say it’s not unreasonable to refrain from environmental enforcement on a case-by-case basis when companies are unable to comply with the letter of the law, but many were alarmed by the breadth of Thursdays memo.

“It is not clear why refineries, chemical plants, and other facilities that continue to operate and keep their employees on the production line will no longer have the staff or time they need to comply with environmental laws,” Eric Schaeffer, a former director of civil enforcement at the EPA who is now with the Environmental Integrity Project, wrote in a letter signed by a number of environmental groups in anticipation of the memo.

The letter writers also criticized the requests from the API, arguing nearby communities would face prolonged exposure to a number of air and water pollutants that might be expelled through oil production — something they say would have “a very specific impact on public health and safety.”

The diminished compliance requirements for industry comes at a time when the EPA has refused to budge on deadlines for comments as they proceed with a number of deregulatory actions.

Environmental and public health groups had argued that those with science and health backgrounds who would normally weigh in on such regulations have been pulled into the coronavirus fight, leaving them unable to divert their attention.

“The Environmental Protection Agency has not shown the same concern for the impact the coronavirus has had on the ability of community and public interest groups to respond to various proposals to weaken environmental standards,” Schaeffer wrote in the letter.But the EPA has argued exceptions were not needed.

“We’re open and continuing our regulatory work business as usual,” an EPA spokesperson told The Hill in a statement. “As regulations.gov is fully functioning, there is no barrier to the public providing comment during the established periods.”

from:   https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/489753-epa-suspends-enforcement-of-environmental-laws-amid-coronavirus

Letting Go of Your Identity

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Dr. Klaus Schwab is determined to dehumanize you and turn (y)our children into cyborgs. Now, he’s got Prince Charles with him as a partner.

Speaking from their bully pulpit atop the World Economic Forum, the academic and the aristocrat are proclaiming the “Great Re: Set”, which is actually an acceleration of the not so great marriage of A.I., Transhumanism of Socialism on a global scale.

In order to save the planet, they aim to blend our children with the digital domain to make them better humans, meaning better workers who are enslaved and censored, okay enhanced and orchestrated, by A.I.

In a June 3, 2020 announcement Schwab and HRH The Prince of Wales, the likely successor to Queen Elizabeth on the throne of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms, spells out how turning ourselves into post-human robots by merging with A.I. is the only answer to the “climate change” crisis.

This new WEF clip very clearly spells out their desire to create what I will term the ‘Green New Human’. “The whole idea of the human being as some sort of natural concept is really going to change,” says the WEF clip. “Our bodies will be so high tech we won’t be able to distinguish between what is artificial and what is natural.”

There is no doubt that they seek the elimination of old, obsolete humanity and its replacement with transhumans.

WAIT A MINUTE!

Just two years ago the ‘environmental’ Prince was singing from a different hymn sheet. As the Telegraph said, Charles has expressed his deep concern about the dangers of artificial intelligence, as he warns of a world becoming “part human-part machine”.

The Prince, interviewed ahead of his 70th birthday, said he “totally and utterly objects” to an “extraordinary trend” for seeking machines to replace human functions, worrying for the effects on people’s well-being.

Saying he found it “crazy” to strive for ever-more integration of artificial intelligence and robotics with the human experience, he suggested it would eventually lead to people craving the return of traditional crafts.

So, what changed his mind and caused him to go from calling this merger crazy to throwing in with, co-leading, the world’s biggest bully that is driving us to our termination as a species?

The Covid crisis.

Coronavirus, or COVID-19, is the fast-spreading, world-changing virus that originated in Wuhan, China, but has since become a worldwide pandemic, and excuses for implementing a totalitarian agenda. According to the World Health Organization, the global death toll is at least 392,802 with 6,663,304 confirmed cases. The WEF seeks to avenge these deaths by transforming us into machines.

“The COVID-19 crisis has shown us that our old systems are not fit any more for the 21st century,” said Schwab. “In short, we need a great reset.”

What do we need to reset the world? More compassion? More love? A civilization based on our spiritual potential?

No.

GLOBAL SOCIALISM + TRANSHUMANISM = TOTALITARIANISM

“A Great Reset is necessary to build a new social contract that honors the dignity of every human being,” added Schwab in a bit of real doublespeak.

How one can pretend to ‘honor the dignity of every human being’ when one’s goal is to turn said humans into dehumanized cyborgs is beyond me.

“COVID-19 has accelerated our transition into the age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. We have to make sure that the new technologies in the digital, biological and physical world remain human-centered and serve society as a whole, providing everyone with fair access,” he said.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4ID) is WEF’s term for a global socialist economy in which everyone and everything is ‘smart’, meaning wired.

Here’s the way he described the Fourth Industrial Revolution in 2017:

It is characterized by a fusion of technologies that is blurring the lines between the physical, digital, and biological spheres.

This blurring will be accomplished by implanting chips in our hands and foreheads,  skin, wherever, merging us with VR and AI. 5G is the electricity of this inhuman revolution and the new, improved green human, which means this merger is actually a war on all flesh and blood humans.

When the blurring is over a new type of human will walk among us. A new human that is vastly superior to us in every way.

In this vision  no chip in your hand or forehead means no participation in the ‘fair, smart, green’ world the WEF promises.

But wait! I thought we were trying to create a world free of discrimination?

Are you telling me the WEF is promoting a new skin for humanity and with it a new form of discrimination, one based not one one’s skin color, but on whether or not you have ‘enhanced’ ‘iskin’?

A NEW KIND OF SLAVERY

“This global pandemic has also demonstrated again how interconnected we are. We have to restore a functioning system of smart global cooperation structured to address the challenges of the next 50 years. The Great Reset will require us to integrate all stakeholders of global society into a community of common interest, purpose and action,” said Schwab. “We need a change of mindset, moving from short-term to long-term thinking, moving from shareholder capitalism to stakeholder responsibility. Environmental, social and good governance have to be a measured part of corporate and governmental accountability,” he added.

Accountability is a key word with Fourth Industrial Revolutionists. Everyone will be held accountable for their every word, keystroke and action. A.I. will watch everything you do. Ruthless social and economic penalties await those who can’t keep up. Just ask the Chinese people how they like their social credit system.

Just ask Amazon employees how the merger with A.I. is working for them.

In some Amazon warehouses, virtually every step workers take is directed and tracked by productivity-maximising software for which the fragility of human bodies is a non-factor. A similar sort of draconian micromanagement may be creeping into the white-collar world, fueled by keystroke-monitoring apps that punish “unproductive” behaviors (e.g. listening to music in the background while you work).

Where is the human dignity in this?

CHARLES IN CHARGE

Prince Charles did not mention a thing about turning his own grandchildren into green Fourth Industrial Revolution enhanced humans, but we must assume that his co-sponsorship of the WEF includes his awareness, and acquiescence, of their plan. He is placing his name in the center square of humans who seek the end of the human race and replace it with a Transhuman one.

The WEF wants the Prince’s grandchildren George, Louis, Charlotte, and Archie to grow up in a ‘just’ socialist world with 5G running through their veins, A.I. in their brains, and refraining from harming the planet.

Will Charles lead by example and force his sons, William and Henry, to hand over their children for retooling on Schwab’s workbench and as exemplars of the green new human?

What would Diana say about the prospect of her grandchildren merging with A.I.?

Will the future king of England, George or Louis, be a transhuman?

What say you, Kate?

What say you, William?

Would you please be so kind as to share your insights into this matter with us?

from:    https://www.williamhenry.net/2020/06/the-great-reset-prince-charles-and-his-cyborg-grandchildren/

Some Light in the Darkness

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STAFF NEWS & ANALYSIS
Some positive moments amid all the turmoil
By Simon Black – June 05, 2020

via Sovereign Man

Look, things aren’t feeling so bright and cheery in the US right now. And the sad truth is that there are some tough times ahead.

We usually bring you stories on Friday that are absurd or even infuriating.

I’m sure you’ve seen enough of that this week.

So we thought we’d share a few moments of character and integrity shown at protests across the US, which shined through all the tragedy.

There are bad apples on all sides– some bad apple protestors who loot and burn and destroy. And some bad apple cops who engage in terrible acts of violence.

But there are plenty of good apples on both sides too.

Protesters tackle man breaking up sidewalk for projectiles 

Peaceful protesters sprang into action when they saw a man destroying a sidewalk.

The man was dressed in all black, like Antifa, and was apparently destroying the sidewalk to create projectiles to hurl at police and businesses.

But rather than let things escalate, peaceful protesters tackled the man, took his hammer, and handed him over to a group of police who were nearby.

In fact, the police were right standing there, with the man in clear view. And yet they did nothing to stop him.

Cops even almost arrested one of the peaceful protesters who handed the man over. But they let him go after someone explained the situation.

Click here to see the video.

Protesters hold line in front of business to stop looters

Undoubtedly there has been way too much violence, looting, and property destruction. Nothing takes away the moral high ground from a movement like seeing a bunch of guys walk out of an electronics store with big-screen TVs in hand.

And in the early days of these protests, the rage was palpable. Cars were torched, businesses were destroyed, and so much property was stolen.

But people are starting to take a stand against that type of chaos.

In Brooklyn, a group of protesters intervened a few days ago when looters and vandals approached a Target store.

The protestors formed a line in front of the store to stop the looters from smashing windows (and stealing store inventory).

Click here to see the video.

FBI asks for evidence of inciting violence. People send videos of cops instead.

Being an activist in the US, you have to have a sense of humor.

So when the FBI asked the public to send them video evidence of protestors inciting violence, they were inundated with videos of police officers being violent.

“The FBI is seeking information and digital media depicting individuals inciting violence during First Amendment protected peaceful demonstrations,” the FBI wrote on its Twitter account.

The FBI’s website said, “If you witness or have witnessed unlawful violent actions, we urge you to submit any information, photos, or videos that could be relevant to the case.”

People responded on Twitter with video of:

  • New York City Police ramming protesters with their vehicles,
  • Police appearing to aim a smoke grenade launcher at a little boy,
  • Police attacking, beating and throwing punches at clearly marked media with cameras,
  • Police spraying peaceful protesters with mace unprovoked,
  • Police/ National Guard firing pepper bullets at a woman filming from her front porch,
  • Police throwing an old man with a cane to the ground.

Click here to read the full story.

Michigan Sheriff leads protestors in peaceful march

This is starting to be a bigger trend: police are putting down their tear gas and riot shields, and joining the protestors to peacefully demonstrate for reform.

In one great example of humanity and leadership, Genesse County, Michigan’s sheriff Chris Swanson met a crowd of protestors, and actually took charge to compassionately lead their march through the city.

This is pretty extraordinary. Protests are typically leaderless, and mobs can take on a life of their own.

But Swanson took charge, telling the crowd “I want to make this a parade.” The cops put their weapons down, took their helmets off, and marched together with the protestors… which ensured that (a) the protestors’ voices were still loudly heard, (b) they could march without any threat of violence, and (c) everything remained safe and orderly.

Click here to read the full story.

from:    https://www.thedailybell.com/all-articles/news-analysis/some-positive-moments-amid-all-the-turmoil/

Creative Use of Genes

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COMPANY LOOKING FOR GENETIC OUTLIERS
You Tell Me

COMPANY LOOKING FOR GENETIC OUTLIERS

June 5, 2020 By Joseph P. Farrell

Today’s blog is about an article that vaulted right to the “finals” folder, no ifs, ands, or buts.  It was spotted by M.G., and when I saw the subject matter, I knew I had to talk about it. (A big thank you to M.G.!)

The subject? A new start-up company whose whole specialty is to look for “genetic outliers” in the human population:

Biotech Startup Aims to Make Use of Humanity’s Genetic Outliers

Now, as usual, the “line” here is that looking for such outlier populations could be of immense potential health benefit:

he Sherpa people living at high altitudes in Nepal and the Himalayas have a genetic trait that puzzles and fascinates scientists. They’re able to lead healthy, active lives with blood oxygen levels far below what most humans need to function properly. Where other people in high altitudes have adapted to boost their oxygen to typical levels over time, the Sherpa have gene variants that let them live in what should be a hypoxic, or oxygen-starved, state. “They don’t suffer any ill health effects,” says geneticist Stephane Castel. “It’s incredible.”

Castel is the co-founder of Variant Bio, a startup that’s spent the past couple years scouring the planet for genetic outliers. His team is betting that by sequencing such people’s DNA, Variant will be able to untangle the root causes of desirable traits—superior metabolism, eyesight, immune response—and synthesize drugs and other therapies that could pass some of these benefits on to the rest of us. If Variant’s software and scientific analysis can pinpoint the right bits of genetic code, the company will begin the painstaking, multiyear process of trying to develop drugs and therapies based on that data.

The science behind therapies inspired by genetic studies is well understood. You find the DNA that turns on a particular trait, then create a drug around it that goes into the patient’s cells and tweaks them to trigger a similar reaction. Some mainstream cholesterol-lowering drugs, for example, are based on studies of DNA from people of African descent with atypically low LDL, or “bad,” cholesterol. In the case of something like Covid-19, which attacks the respiratory system and can inflict serious damage on a patient’s lungs, Variant’s scientists say genetic alterations such as those of the Sherpas ought to prove helpful. “You can end up dying from hypoxia with Covid-19,” Castel says. “Perhaps there’s a way to keep people healthy while they’re still in that condition.”

Isolated academic researchers have spent years studying people who’ve adapted to their environments in remarkable ways, but Variant appears to have undertaken the first serious effort to sequence the DNA of many thousands of people around the world with actionable lessons in mind. In New Zealand the company is looking for people of Polynesian descent who have high rates of obesity but also seem to have some protections against diabetes. In other places, Variant has discovered people who metabolize their high-fat diets more effectively than others.

You get the idea, and from this point of view, the search for such outliers and “what makes them tick genetically” makes a lot of sense.

But regular readers of this website will probably know what my high-octane speculation and suspicion is here. Suppose, for a moment, that you were part of a super-secret governmental body assigned the task of dealing with the UFO problem. As you gather and collect data, you inevitably run across all those stories of abductees, of “ET” experimenting on humans, implanting (or stealing), foetuses. You then become familiar with the research of Dr. Jacques Vallee, which points out the similarity of those stories with mediaeval stories of incubuses and succubuses. Expanding your research further, you run across esoteric and alchemical lore about creating “gollums” and “mechanical thinking ‘men'”. This leads you to some ancient Biblical and Mesopotamian texts about “the gods” mingling with humans. Your assignment to protect the national security is counter-intelligence, and as such, you have to consider that the idea of planting “moles” inside of your government and its agencies must be expanded to consider the possibility that it may not just be foreign governments engaged in such activity. It may also include “someone else” doing the same, but with people that look like us, and in most other respects, act and behave like us.

Except, they’re not us. They’re “something else.”

How would one go about finding them? Well, one way I’ve suggested is to look for behavioral outliers in populations, and the other is, of course, genetics. One could not, of course, announce a program to the public along the lines of “we’re testing and gathering genetic database information because were looking for someone that may look human, but differs somewhat genetically from homo sapiens sapiens.” To do that would then require an explanation of why you’re looking for such people, and that would involve disclosing more areas of secret inquiry and policy and strategy that you’re not prepared to disclose.

No. You’d set up fronts to do that: medical foundations, private corporations even, whose stated purpose is to look for “genetic outliers” in the human population, and you’d cover it all with the explanation that it could be beneficial to the health of the general population if you could, for example, identify any genetic markers that allows a small group of humans to live in oxygen poor environments. Why, if you could do so, it might even be a means of fighting the dreaded Fauci-Lieber-Wuhan-Baal Gates virus. And if mirabile dictu along the way, you actually do end up finding some new miracle cure, then so much the better.

Am I speculating wildly here?

Yes, of course I am.

But consider: the step from looking for outliers in the human population that can breathe and function at high altitudes, or that can be obese without suffering diabetes, to looking for other types of genetic outliers, such as a resemblance to homo sapiens sapiens but a slightly different genetic makeup, is a very small one, for the very same technology would be involved in both. One could easily do the one, under the cover of the other. And one could, as the article also suggests, make use of those massive public and private genetic databases of companies like Ancestry.com.

See you on the flip side.

from:    https://gizadeathstar.com/2020/06/company-looking-for-genetic-outliers/

What Happened to the Local Cop?

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The Rutherford Institute is leading the charge in warning against a rapidly growing—and increasingly out-of-control—American police state. 

With over an estimated 80,000 SWAT raids per year, an increase in fatal (and often-times unnecessary) police shootings, and a routine dependence on militarized weapons and vehicles, local police departments are beginning to act like and resemble a standing army.

The American police force, however, is not a branch of the military, nor is it a private security force for the reigning political faction. It is an aggregation of the countless local units that exist for a sole purpose: to serve and protect the citizens of each and every American community. In recent years, however, there has been an increasing militarization of the police. It has not occurred suddenly, in a single precinct; it cannot be traced back to a single leader or event—rather, the pattern is so subtle that most American citizens are hardly even aware of it. Little by little, police authority has expanded, one weapon after another has been added to the police arsenal, and one exception after another has been made to the standards that have historically restrained police authority. When analyzed as a whole, this trend toward militarization is undeniable, and it is one that could have serious implications for American liberty if left unchecked.

from:    https://www.rutherford.org/issues/police_state

NOTE:  You can find a wealth of materials on this topic at the link above.

Testing Positive? You May Not Be Sick

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The Tests: The Achilles Heel of the COVID-19 House of Cards

ER Editor: Dr. Pascal Sacré, an ICU doctor at a hospital in Charleroi, Belgium, puts together a useful overview of the tests currently being relied on, rightly calling COVID-19 a House of Cards.

It all smells of a scam. Imagine:

  • You get a False Positive PCR test result (a highly likely occurrence with this test): ‘You’re sick. You need to stay in quarantine for 14 days and we need to know who you’ve been in contact with’ so that those poor schmucks can also be quarantined. Medical police state.

As Dr. Sacré explains below, a positive PCR test result says nothing about your actually being sick – you’re probably not, nor in fact if you’re even carrying a sufficient quantity of the virus.

  • You get a Negative Serology test result (again, highly likely): ‘You’re at risk. You’ve not had the disease so you need to be protected with a vaccine.’ Medical police state.

Dr. Sunetra Gupta has explained why, in fact, you may have been exposed to the virus and not gotten sick, yet your level of protection comes either from your own genetic predisposition or from previous exposure to the common cold virus. A negative serology test result is therefore meaningless, which means that mass serology testing programs, upon which public policy is determined, will produce a false picture of overall immunity being low in the population when it’s not. See Professor Sunetra Gupta: ‘COVID Epidemic on Its Way Out’ [Video].

And those deaths …George Floyd had covid, apparently. Guess what his death certificate will read!

You couldn’t make it up.

********

The Tests: The Achilles Heel of the COVID-19 House of Cards

Looking for more truth and getting closer to the truth is the best antidote to fear.

DR. PASCAL SACRÉ

“The tool is not the problem, it’s what we do with it.”

– Tests that are not reliable!
–  False negatives (real patients not detected)
– False positives (patients who are not positive)
– Tests that detect fragments of the virus and not the virus itself!
– Tests that don’t quantify the viral load, the most important thing…
– Test kits infected with the virus itself: you could catch it by getting tested!

So, you’ve been tested? … Negative? Positive?

Maybe you’re like most people, eager to find out if you’ve got it or better yet, prove that you’re immune to the VID thing.

With this article, I don’t want to add a layer of fear to the pandemic of panic, spread by our dear media in recent months.

Nevertheless, even if some people don’t want to “know anything” and will do whatever they are told to do [1]:

e.g. Wearing a mask everywhere all the time, staying away from your family and friends, not daring to go out or take public transport without your “armour and visor”, not daring to touch anything without wearing gloves stuck to the skin as a result of sweating…  &etc.

I think that looking for more truth and getting closer to the truth is the best antidote to fear.

So, these tests! what are they?

Introduction: Diagnosing COVID-19 disease

People confuse the disease with the agent accused of causing it.

COVID-19 refers to the disease characterized by “airway involvement” with a wide variety of symptom patterns (see below).

It is caused by a virus, SARS-CoV-2, of the coronavirus family [2], SARS for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome.

Another coronavirus of this type, SARS-CoV-1, had already occurred in 2003, less contagious but more dangerous (in terms of mortality).

FIRST, on the one hand, you have a disease marked by the existence of signs or symptoms [3]. [No be confused with the causative virus]

The diagnosis is clinical!

Major signs/symptoms :

1.  Cough
2.  Dyspnea (difficulty breathing)
3.  Chest pain
4. Anosmia (loss of sense of smell)
5. Dysgeusia (taste abnormality) with no other apparent cause.

Minor signs/symptoms :

1. Fever
2. Muscle aches and pains
3. Fatigue
4. Rhinitis (cold)
5.  Sore throat
6.  Headaches
7. Anorexia (loss of appetite and weight loss)
8. Acute confusion
9. Sudden fall without apparent cause

As you can see, it’s a bit of everything and anything.

A little fever and a troubled sense of smell (which can be caused by a zinc deficiency) and hop! you’re clinically suspect of COVID-19.

SECOND, on the other hand, you are diagnosed as having the “causative virus”, SARS-CoV-2, linked to this clinical picture with possibly (severe forms) a severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) that can lead to hospitalization or even admission to the intensive care unit.

The main technique used around the world, in hospitals as well as by general practitioners and/or mobile screening centres, to detect the presence of the virus is called RT-PCR. This technique confirms the presence of SARS-CoV-2 (a fragment actually), not the disease!

Tests for the diagnosis of the presence of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus

1. RT-PCR

For Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction, invented in 1985 by the Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry (1993), Kary Mullis.

It is a machine capable of detecting the smallest amount of DNA or RNA (nucleic acids) present in the cell being studied. It detects and then amplifies the detected material, much like a photocopier-enhancer.

The material detected is RNA in the case of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.

The primers specific to the genetic material of the virus under study, in this case SARS-CoV-2, are all that is needed to detect the slightest trace of it in the cells collected.

A few definitions before going any further:

–  The sensitivity of the test is the ease with which the test identifies the target.
–  The specificity of the test is the ability of the test to identify the correct target and not another one.

The ideal test is both highly sensitive (100%) and highly specific (100%).

Is RT-PCR highly sensitive and highly specific? It depends.

– False negatives: RT-PCR comes back negative for SARS-CoV-2 even though the patient is infected. The less sensitive the test is, the more false negatives will occur.
–  False positive: RT-PCR comes back positive for SARS-CoV-2 when the patient is NOT infected. The less specific the test is, the more false positives will occur.

Can you imagine the possible dramatic consequences of such errors, in terms of contagion, contamination, improper containment or epidemiological evaluation?

In the literature [4], the PCR technique is called “rapid, sensitive and reproducible”.

For the WHO, our health institutes, most of the media, everything is fine.

However, it’s not all that idyllic!

The first disappointment is that RT-PCR does not detect the virus, but a genetic trace (RNA) of the virus, which is not the same thing.

A positive RT-PCR test does not necessarily indicate the presence of a complete virus. It is the complete, intact virus that is the transmissible actor of COVID-19.

As the FDA [based on CDC] admits [5], the detection of viral RNA by RT-PCR does not necessarily indicate an active viral infection (with clinical syndrome)!

A second disappointment is that RT-PCR cannot quantify the viral load since it artificially amplifies (multiplies) the detected genetic material. It only says whether the virus is present or not, and again, only traces of the virus, not the whole virus.

Third disappointment, the technique is complex and has many limitations! Even more so in detecting RNA viruses as in the case of SARS-CoV-2.

“The interpretation of PCR results is difficult. Any PCR must be performed on a good quality sample and adapted to the indication. For some viral infections, a positive PCR is not synonymous with disease… The dialogue between the clinician and the microbiologist is essential for a good diagnosis.“ (RMS, 2007, Vol 3).

In most cases,

TO READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE, GO TO THE LINK:   https://www.europereloaded.com/the-tests-the-achilles-heel-of-the-covid-19-house-of-cards/

Am I Hungry or Just Depressed

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Negative emotions cause stronger appetite responses in emotional eaters

Image of woman eating chocolate cake on a couch. Findings on emotional eating may help in the early detection and treatment of eating disorders: Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience
Findings on emotional eating – a risk factor for binge eating and bulimia – may help in the early detection and treatment of eating disorders. Image: Shutterstock.

— by Nora Belblidia, Frontiers Science Writer

Turning to a tub of ice cream after a break-up may be a cliché, but there’s some truth to eating in response to negative emotions. Eating serves many functions – survival, pleasure, comfort, as well as a response to stress. However, emotional overeating – eating past the point of feeling full in response to negative emotions, is a risk factor for binge eating and developing eating disorders such as bulimia.

“Even at a healthy BMI, emotional overeating can be a problem,” says Rebekka Schnepper of the University of Salzburg in Austria, lead author on a recent paper in Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience.

The study investigated the extent to which individual eating styles and emotional states predict appetite response to food images, by comparing emotional eaters – people who use food to regulate negative emotions – and restrictive eaters – people who control their eating through diets and calorie restriction. (While a person can be both an emotional and a restrictive eater, the two traits were not highly correlated in this study’s sample.)

Schnepper and her co-authors found that emotional eaters had a stronger appetite response and found food to be more pleasant when experiencing negative emotions compared to when they felt neutral emotions. Restrictive eaters, on the other hand, appeared more attentive towards food in the negative condition although this did not influence their appetite, and there was no significant change between the negative and neutral emotion conditions.

The findings point towards potential strategies for treating eating disorders. “When trying to improve eating behavior, a focus on emotion regulation strategies that do not rely on eating as a remedy for negative emotions seems promising,” says Schnepper.

The authors were compelled to investigate the subject because of a lack of consensus in the literature. “There are different and conflicting theories on which trait eating style best predicts overeating in response to negative emotions. We aimed to clarify which traits predict emotional overeating on various outcome variables,” says Schnepper.

They conducted the study among 80 female students at the University of Salzburg, all of whom were of average body mass index (BMI). During the lab sessions, experimenters read scripts to the participants in order to induce either a neutral or a negative emotional response. The negative scripts related to recent events from the participant’s personal life during which they experienced challenging emotions, while the neutral scripts related to subjects such as brushing one’s teeth. The participants were then shown images of appetizing food and neutral objects.

Researchers recorded participants’ facial expressions through electromyography, brain reactivity through EEGs (electroencephalography), as well as self-reported data. For example, emotional eaters frowned less when shown images of food after experimenters read the negative script compared to when they read the neutral script, an indication of a stronger appetite response. The study chose to only test female participants since women are more prone to eating disorders but, given the limited subject pool as well as the controlled conditions, Schnepper says that “We cannot draw conclusions for men or for long-term eating behavior in daily life.” Nevertheless, the study furthers our understanding of emotional overeating, and the findings may help in the early detection and treatment of eating disorders.

Original article: Fight, flight, – or grab a bite! Trait emotional and restrained eating style predicts food cue responding under negative emotions

from:    https://blog.frontiersin.org/2020/06/03/negative-emotions-cause-stronger-appetite-responses-in-emotional-eaters/

The Heart’s Mind

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A new 3-D map illuminates the ‘little brain’ within the heart

Nerve cells in the organ are poorly understood

Map of the heart's 'brain'
Nerve cells (yellow) that make up a heart’s “brain” cluster around the top of this reconstructed rat heart, near where blood vessels enter and exit the organ. Other colors show the contours of distinct heart areas, such as the left atrium (green), right atrium (teal), left ventricle (blue) and right ventricle (purple).

S. Achanta et al/iScience 2020

By Laura Sanders

The heart has its own “brain.” Now, scientists have drawn a detailed map of this little brain, called the intracardiac nervous system, in rat hearts.

The heart’s big boss is the brain, but nerve cells in the heart have a say, too. These neurons are thought to play a crucial role in heart health, helping to fine-tune heart rhythms and perhaps protecting people against certain kinds of heart disease.

But so far, this local control system hasn’t been mapped in great detail.

To make their map, systems biologist James Schwaber at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia and colleagues imaged male and female rat hearts with a method called knife-edge scanning microscopy, creating detailed pictures of heart anatomy. Those images could then be built into a 3-D model of the heart. The scientists also plucked out individual neurons and measured the amount of gene activity within each cell.

These measurements helped sort the heart’s neurons into discrete groups. Most of these neuron clusters dot the top of the heart, where blood vessels come in and out. Some of these clusters spread down the back of the heart, and were particularly abundant on the left side. With this new view of the individual clusters, scientists can begin to study whether these groups have distinct jobs.

The comprehensive, 3-D map of the heart’s little brain could ultimately lead to targeted therapies that could treat or prevent heart diseases, the authors write online May 26 in iScience.

from:    https://www.sciencenews.org/article/new-3-d-map-illuminates-little-brain-nerve-cells-within-heart

On the Upcoming Eclipse

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Sagittarius Lunar Eclipse: Hope for Wisdom, Prepare for War

June 3rd, 2020

By Nikki Harper

Staff Writer for Wake Up World

Friday sees the first lunar eclipse in Sagittarius since the eclipse cycle of 2010-13 – and it looks like this new eclipse cycle might turn out to be a bumpy ride.

For a start, the eclipse is locked into a tight square with a highly passive aggressive, overly sensitive, emotionally volatile Mars in Pisces. It’s also opposite Venus retrograde, hindering the expression of genuine emotion and loving kindness. This combination of a Moon-Mars square and a Moon-retrograde Venus opposition do not bode at all well for interpersonal relationships. There’s a huge amount of anger in this energy, coupled with bitterness, resentment and perhaps jealousy too.

Lunar eclipses tend to clear the path towards something our souls need to learn, but they often do so with major accompanying drama, tears and upset. This eclipse energy may test even the most stable and loving of relationships; for a struggling relationship, the tension may just be too much.

On a geopolitical scale, both Mars and Venus retrograde are traditionally considered portents of war, so for them to be tightly involved with a lunar eclipse is pause for thought indeed. We are already seeing wide scale social anger, whether connected to the covid-19 epidemic, or connected to racial, economic and social injustice – this lunar eclipse suggests that this anger is not likely to simmer down any time soon. There are also hints of earthquakes or other geophysical upheaval connected to this energy.

Interestingly, the lunar eclipse occurs at 15 degrees Sagittarius, just one degree away from the mysterious ‘Great Attractor’ – a gravitational anomaly which, for reasons science can’t yet explain, appears to be pulling our galactic neighbourhood towards it. The Great Attractor lies at 14 degrees Sagittarius; the symbolism of its mysterious pull or hold over us is not lost in this eclipse, which exudes Sagittarian mystery energy as we collectively seek an elusive truth – but whose truth? My truth or your truth? What if there is more than one truth? What if the powers that be in today’s modern world are experts in manipulating ‘the truth’? Is this how wars start?

Sagittarius energy in its purest form is about wisdom and justice. Tumultuous events around this lunar eclipse should help to clear the way towards a greater understanding of wisdom and justice, but the path to reach that desirable end point may be troubled indeed. We can hope for wisdom, but we should also prepare, metaphorically at least, for war, both in our public and private lives. The two weeks between now and the solar eclipse on June 21st will be critical.

Aries

New religious or cultural experiences are opening your mind – but you may not be comfortable with that. You may be stuck in a process of denial, attempting to hold onto the status quo, but this lunar eclipse demonstrates that you must make a leap of faith or be left behind. It’s OK to have been wrong; what matters is that you are big enough now to acknowledge your mistakes and to adjust your thinking. You could lead the way towards a better understanding across cultures, communities and backgrounds, but to do so, you must first relinquish your need to be right and your need to ‘win’.

Taurus

Something you’ve been clinging to, whether it’s a person or a project, is about to be removed. This will be upsetting, for sure, but in your heart, you’ve seen this coming. Whether it’s a relationship breakdown or the ending of a cherished idea, you will need some time to pick yourself up, dust yourself down and face the world afresh. What you lose will be more than made up for by the potential which is heading your way, but it might not feel that way at first. Understand that life goes in cycles. You will be back on the up again soon.

Gemini

This eclipse is a turning point for a close relationship. If you are truly in love, and you believe it’s worth keeping and fighting for, then do that. Put in the work and heal your love life. If, on the other hand, you are not being treated well, then make a conscious choice to walk away with your head held high. Struggling on and pretending it’s not happening is no longer an option. If your relationship is settled and happy, you can easily ride out this bump, but in that case look for the ‘make or break’ effect in a different close partnership or interpersonal relationship. Something has to give.

Cancer

Events around this lunar eclipse may throw your daily life into chaos for a while – never a lot of fun. However, this disruption to your routines is a blessing in disguise. Under the cover of chaos, you can start to work out what you want to keep and what you want to discard from your daily arena. When you emerge from the chaos, things will be very different, but you have a great deal of say over how different and in what way. It’s important to seize what looks like a problem at this time and turn it into an opportunity to clear the decks.

Leo

A compulsive desire to take risks surfaces for you during this lunar eclipse – especially risks involving love or money. Or both! You need to walk a fine line here, between getting an adrenaline rush versus getting run over by the consequences of your risk. Stay away from gambling, and don’t take chances with a relationship you value too much to lose. You do have some issues to work through here, regarding spontaneity and a quest for fun and enjoyment, but if you allow this eclipse energy to push you too far into recklessness, the lessons you’ll learn will be painful indeed.

Virgo

Childhood trauma may resurface during this eclipse energy, particularly if you have suffered abuse of any kind. The struggle to get your truth heard may be very painful, but help is available to you if you ask for it. There’s also a focus on your current home and family, and you may be suffering from itchy feet and a strong desire to move home. Hold of on any major decisions until the eclipse energies have settled, because all is not quite what it seems here. Impulsive moves regarding major legal contracts are not, repeat not, a good thing right now.

Libra

For you, seeking wisdom during this eclipse may be quite a literal theme. Your plans to go back to school may be disrupted, or you may suddenly discover that you need extra qualifications or that you have to study for something, even if you don’t really want to. You’re being asked to make a distinction between facts and wisdom. ‘Knowing things’ is not wisdom in itself; wisdom is the skilful application of what you know. Don’t become complacent over your level of education; instead, seek to expand your mind and to gain true wisdom and insight.

Scorpio

Your ethics are in question during this lunar eclipse; if you have done something shady, you can expect to be found out. The eclipse also impacts your financial zone, and may bring unwelcome financial news. The key to handling this is to not panic. You will survive. Avoid going into unnecessary debt; avoid working yourself to exhaustion. Learn to be grateful for what you do have, not to be resentful over what you do not have. Fostering gratitude for life will help you to absorb any shocks this eclipse has in store, and will also put you in better touch with your divine self.

Sagittarius

Think back to the 2010-2013 period. Something was going on in your life at that time which taught you a great deal – but now it’s time to re-visit that lesson. Your sign always seeks wisdom and truth, but you are kidding yourself over one particular issue, preferring to lie to yourself instead of facing reality. This eclipse cycle will show you the worst of what happens if you deceive yourself or others – but it can also show you the magic of self-belief and the divinity of honesty. Set your sail towards truth and be ruthless in pursuing it, even – especially – within yourself.

Capricorn

Your empathy and compassion are laudable, but during this eclipse you may be shown the folly of having a ‘saviour mentality’. Look to your own motives when you’re trying to help others. There’s more going on here than just you doing good deeds; it speaks to a fundamental part of your character and your need to be liked, admired and seen as a success. The eclipse is here to teach you humility; to learn this lesson, you need to listen to your higher consciousness and to stop caring so much about what others think of you.

Aquarius

Your sign has always battled a need to belong on the one hand versus a need to be independent on the other hand. The lunar eclipse shatters your illusions about the need to fit in, and frees you to be the different, unique soul you are. It’s time to stop trying to change the system from within the system. It’s not going to work. Step outside, learn about the greater concepts of reality, and discover the power of manifestation. The price of real change is that people may not like you for it; is that a price you’re willing to pay?

Pisces

This lunar eclipse rocks your understanding of power – both the power you personally have and the power you as a citizen have delegated to your elected representatives. Neither your personal power nor the collective political power is serving you well right now. The eclipse teaches you, however, that you are never powerless. You always have your own personal integrity, and your freedom of choice. How you deal with your current crisis will be telling; others may be calling the shots and circumstances may be beyond your control, but you always, always have a choice over how to react.

About the author:

Nikki Harper is a spiritualist writer, astrologer, and editor for Wake Up World.

from:    https://wakeup-world.com/2020/06/03/sagittarius-lunar-eclipse-hope-for-wisdom-prepare-for-war/

Miracles & Manifestation

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(It is always good to remind ourselves that miracles do happen.  IN this case, it is important to focus and let it go to the Universe.  I guess that sounds a lot like trust, but then, a little trust can be helpful.  Enjoy the story:)

This past spring I made a road trip to Sedona Arizona and stayed in Sedona for a week.  I did the trip on a low budget and I stayed in a campground outside of town for the entire week.  I also kept my eating budget low by stocking a cooler with food purchased from a grocery store and not dining out at resturants at all.

As I was going back and forth through town on my way to the hikes that I was doing and the events that I was going to I noticed there was a lot of really nice restaurants.  One of them caught my attention.  It was called Paleo Grill and it specialized grilled meat and vegetables.  Which made my mouth water and sounded really really good to me.

So I thought myself, maybe I could go to dinner one night while I’m here.  Anyway, it’s near the end of the trip and I hadn’t gone out to dinner yet.  On that day I was out on a very big all-day hike of a mountain outside of town and I’m up near the top of the mountain and I’m heading my way down and I thought, ‘You know maybe I should go to dinner tonight because there are not that many nights left and this is the best night for me to go to the dinner.’

But there was a little problem, I had been invited to a pool party at the campground that evening (ya, the campground had a pool) and I really wanted to go to it.  But I didn’t think I had enough time.  I was going to get back to the trailhead pretty late.  And I didn’t think I was going to have time to have a sit-down dinner in town and still make it to the pool party.

But I decided that tonight was the night for the dinner and I started talking out loud to the universe.  I said… I really want to go out and have a dinner of grilled meat and vegetables.  I’ve been trying to be frugal but I can afford to go out to dinner one night and I certainly deserve to have the dinner.  I felt a little guilty because I was trying to go vegetarian.  And this wasn’t going to be vegetarian so I said to the Universe…  Yeah, I’m trying to go vegetarian and this is going to be meat.  But there’s really no right or wrong or good or bad, the world is not going to come to an end if I enjoy one meal of grilled steak or something.  So that’s what I’m going to do, I’m going to have a beautiful grilled meal tonight.  But I’ve got a problem.  If I stop in town for a sit-down meal I’m probably not going to make it to the pool party and I really want to go to the pool party.  So how can I have my dinner and get to the pool party also?  Is there a way?

And that was it.  I just told the Universe I was going to allow myself to have a nice grilled meal and that I was going to leave it up to the universe to make it happen.

So I continue on my merry way down the mountain and eventually I make back to the trailhead.  It’s about 6:00pm and as I take my last steps to the trailhead and look around there’s only one other vehicle other than my own in the parking lot.  It’s a big motorhome and as I walk past the motorhome and cross the parking lot I see a guy sitting at a picnic table cooking something on a grill and with a glass of wine in his hand.  So I give him a big hearty hello, wave, and smile and he waves back.  And I begin to unpack my stuff into my car.

Then something caught my attention and I turned around and there was a woman walking over to the picnic table with a wine glass in her hand.  So I gave her a smile and wave and a hello.  And she smiles and says hello back and then she pauses and says Would you like to have a glass of wine with us.  I paused and thought that this might be the moment I’d been wishing for, this might be the solution that Universe is going to deliver to me.  So even though I don’t really like wine that much I decided to go with the flow and said as enthusiastically as I could muster Heck yeah, I’d love to have some wine.  And then I walked over there and we introduced ourselves.

It turns out they were a French family on a road trip of America and we chat for a little while and then they look at me and they say Our dinner of grilled steak and corn and French bread is ready.  Would you like to stay and have dinner with us? So a big shit eating grin came across my face because this was it and I said Heck yeah! I’d be delighted to have dinner with you.

So I had this great dinner there with this French family and their young daughter came out and we just chatted and had a great time — in a beautiful park-like outdoor setting to boot.  The dinner lasted for 30 or 40 minutes and I bid my farewell and I drove back to the campground and I made it back in time to catch the end of the pool party.

So my complete desires were fulfilled.  And almost instantly.  In the very first moment that the universe could have delivered the solution, it was there.  The Universe brought the dinner to me at the trailhead and it upped the ante and said to itself we’re going to do better than that.  We’re going to do better than you having dinner by yourself in a restaurant in town.  We’re going to bring the dinner to you in the form of a delightful French family in a beautiful outdoor setting.  And then you’ll have enough time to get back to your pool party.

The Take Away

Do you see the magic in this?  And do you see the deliberate creation techniques that I employed to make this manifestation appear?

Number one, I affirmed my desire out loud and I did it fairly passionately.  Number two, I identified and released anything that I could think of that would block me receiving the fulfillment of this desire.  And number three, I didn’t assume it wasn’t possible and I didn’t worry about how it could happen — I just trusted that universe would figure out how to make it happen.

That’s it!  I hope you found this story helpful.

from:    http://divine-cosmos.net/manifestation-story1.htm