How Organic is your Organic?

Posted on August 7, 2024 by marcia

You pay more for your organic foods. How certain are you that it is truly organic?

Organic Food Safety: Navigating Labels and Finding Local Sources

August 04, 2024

VIDEO LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VApvWG9gpk8&t=1341s

STORY AT-A-GLANCE

In my interview with organic industry watchdog Mark Kastel, we discuss how the organic food industry has grown significantly, but challenges remain with labeling integrity. Local, direct-from-farmer organics are generally more reliable than large-scale commercial organics sold in supermarkets
Imported organic products face issues of fraud and regulatory loopholes. “Group certification” allows large agribusinesses to avoid proper inspection, particularly affecting products like hazelnuts from Turkey
Nutritional considerations extend beyond organic certification. Even organic practices may not align with optimal nutrition, as seen in chicken feed choices and the debate between brown and white rice
Consumers can find authentic organic products by buying local, using online resources, checking certifier names, and looking for 100% grass fed and finished meat. OrganicEye provides valuable information for making informed choices

The organic food industry has grown tremendously over the past few decades, but concerns remain about the integrity of organic labeling and certification. In my eye-opening interview with organic industry watchdog Mark Kastel, he discusses the challenges facing organic consumers and farmers, offering insights on how to find truly healthy, ethically produced food.

Kastel co-founded The Cornucopia Institute, which celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2024, and is also executive director and founder of OrganicEye. He notes that while the 1990 Organic Foods Production Act was well-intentioned, its implementation has been problematic:¹

“Congress, in 1990, passed the organic foods production act. It gave the USDA [U.S. Department of Agriculture] the responsibility to protect industry stakeholders, so farmers, ethical business people and eaters, consumers, protect them from unfair competition and fraud. And the legislation itself is really pretty solid and well-intended.

Unfortunately, like a lot of things that happen, it gets handed over to the bureaucrats in Washington and the political appointees of both parties. Something gets lost in translation.”

Kastel explains that, initially, the USDA was resistant to regulating organic food, viewing it as just a “marketing scheme.” However, as the U.S. organic food industry has grown to $61.7 billion annually,² large agribusiness corporations have bought out many pioneering organic brands.

This has led to efforts to make organic certification less rigorous and more profitable. Globally, the organic industry is now a $205.9 billion industry, projected to reach a worth of $532.72 billion by 2032.³

The Two Faces of Organic

According to Kastel, there are essentially two organic labels consumers encounter:

1.Local, direct-from-farmer organics — These include farmers markets, community-supported agriculture (CSAs) and independent local retailers who source directly from farms they know. Kastel states he’s found “virtually no fraud on that local level.”

2.Large-scale commercial organics — This includes major brands sold in supermarkets and big box stores. These products may come from overseas or large industrial operations with less oversight.

The graphic above, created by Phil Howard, a professor with Michigan State University,⁴ illustrates how big business has taken over many smaller organic brands. “It really is almost every major brand, and it’s very deceptive,” Kastel explains.⁵

“You’ll never see General Mills on Cascadian Farms breakfast cereals or Muir Glen tomato products, you’ll see Small Planet Foods. Doesn’t that sound nice? But Dean Foods bought the Horizon label that’s now been sold off a couple of different times … Smuckers is a giant. They own Santa Cruz juices and Knudsen juices.”⁶

Kastel emphasizes the benefits of buying local organic food: “You’re getting food that’s more nutritionally dense, fresher, more flavorful and your dollars stay in your food shed, they’re recirculating … we call this the multiplier effect.”⁷

The Challenge of Imported Organics

One of the biggest concerns in the organic industry is the integrity of imported organic products. Kastel explains, “We’ve helped break some major import fraud partnering with the Washington Post at one point. We’ve partnered with The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal.”⁸ He describes two main types of fraud:

1.Outright fraud or “organic alchemy” — Conventional products are relabeled as organic during shipping.

2.Regulatory loopholes — Large industrial farms exploit weak oversight, especially for animal products like dairy.

Kastel is particularly concerned about a practice called “group certification” for imports:⁹

“Instead of certifying every farm, instead of inspecting every farm, they will allow a group to band together and when that was conceived, even though it was still illegal when it was conceived, it was for very small landholders doing things like bananas, or chocolate or coffee on a half an acre.”

Now, he says, large agribusinesses are using this loophole to avoid proper inspection of their suppliers. Grower/producer groups started out as a way to help small farmers or indigenous groups in developing countries but have morphed to include commercial-scale farms that are escaping USDA oversight.

Only about 2% of the farmers involved in these grower/producer groups are being inspected annually, which means the vast majority — 98% — are not being inspected as frequently, if at all.

“Although almost universally complied with in domestic production, that system has completely broken down for imports,” Kastel said in a news release. “A large percentage of all foreign imports, making up a sizable amount of the organic food Americans eat, are coming from ‘producer groups,’ whose grower-members the USDA has exempted from the requirements to be certified.”¹⁰

For instance, an investigation revealed the USDA’s Organic Integrity Database lists no certified organic hazelnut growers in Turkey. Yet, the country is the leading importer of organic hazelnuts into the U.S., at prices close to conventionally grown hazelnuts.¹¹

“We can grow hazelnuts in the U.S.,” Kastel says, “but they can’t compete with hazelnuts from Turkey, which come from these group certifications, where the farms are not even being inspected, and it’s forcing our Oregon nut growers out of business.”¹²

Nutritional Insights: Beyond the Organic Label

While organic certification is crucial, even organic practices may not always align with optimal nutrition. It’s important to look beyond the organic label to truly understand the health impacts of your food choices. This includes feeding practices, even within organic systems. For instance, feeding grains to chickens is a common practice on organic farms, but the ideal food for them would be insects and bugs.

It can be difficult to find enough insects for this purpose, but many organic farmers supplement with grains that are loaded with damaging omega-6 polyunsaturated fats. Truly health-conscious organic farmers should consider alternatives like sprouted peas or barley, which result in eggs with healthier fat profiles. Ideally, organic standards need to evolve based on our growing understanding of nutrition.

I don’t generally recommend consuming chicken, even if it’s organic and locally produced, due to its typically high linoleic acid content — the result of being fed grains high in omega-6 fatty acids. Ruminants (like cattle and sheep) are a better choice for meat consumption because ruminants have an additional digestive compartment with bacteria that can saturate polyunsaturated fats.

This allows ruminants to eat grains without accumulating high levels of linoleic acid in their tissues. Even a food as seemingly simple as rice has important nuances you should be aware of for optimal health. Kastel mentions eating brown rice, but I recommend white rice instead.

This is because the fiber in brown rice can negatively impact your gut microbiome, especially for people with insulin resistance, which is 99% of the population. Insulin resistance causes mitochondrial dysfunction, decreasing intracellular energy, which then impacts the ability of your gut to stay healthy.

White rice is a healthier option because it lacks the problematic fibers found in brown rice. However, no matter which rice you eat, it should be organic. As Kastel notes, rice cultivation is often chemically intensive. He also points out that both organic and inorganic arsenic can be present in rice, depending on the soil it’s grown in and past agricultural practices in the area.

How to Find Truly Organic Food and Take Control of Your Food Choices

By integrating these nutritional insights with broader discussions about organic certification and farming practices, you can make more informed dietary choices that support both your health and sustainable agricultural systems. The key takeaway is that while organic certification is a valuable starting point, truly health-conscious consumers need to dig deeper to understand the full nutritional impact of their food choices.

Generally, be cautious about embracing trendy alternatives like fake meat and instead focus on whole, organically produced foods. That being said, how can you find authentic organic products?

OrganicEye is an invaluable resource for anyone interested in making healthier food choices and understanding the organic food industry. The website offers a wealth of resources on organic food, farming practices, and industry regulations. Kastel and his team are not selling products; their mission is purely to educate and inform consumers. In addition, Kastel suggests doing the following to find organic, high-quality food:

1.Buy local whenever possible — Farmers markets, CSAs and independent stores that source directly from farms offer the highest integrity.

2.Use online resources — Websites like Local Harvest, Eat Wild and state agriculture department databases can help you locate nearby farms and markets.

3.Check certifier names — Cornucopia Institute plans to publish a list ranking organic certifiers by trustworthiness.

4.Look for 100% grass fed and finished meat — Be wary of misleading “grass fed” claims that don’t guarantee full grass finishing.

While the organic landscape can be confusing and sometimes deceptive, you have the power to make informed choices. By seeking out local sources, understanding labels, and staying informed about industry practices, it’s possible to find truly healthy, ethically produced food.

Take Action to Protect Organic Farmers and US Organics

After OrganicEye backed a federal lawsuit demanding that the USDA discontinue their practice of allowing foreign agribusinesses to inspect their own suppliers (a profound conflict of interest), the industry’s corporate lobby group, the Organic Trade Association (OTA), suggested that, if the USDA loses the lawsuit, they will simply go to Congress and lobby to change the law to legalize “group certification.”

Don’t let that happen! Federal law currently requires every organic farm to be certified and inspected annually by independent, accredited, third-party certifiers — not foreign corporations with a financial interest.

Please click the button below and invest two minutes of your time in sending a personal message directly to your congressperson and two U.S. senators, asking them to respect the spirit and letter of the law protecting organic farmers, ethical businesses and consumers. To leverage your voice even further, please forward and/or share this action alert with your friends, family and business associates on social media.

from: https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2024/08/04/organic-food-safety.aspx?ui=f460707c057231d228aac22d51b97f2a8dcffa7b857ec065e5a5bfbcfab498ac&sd=20211017&cid_source=dnl&cid_medium=email&cid_content=art1HL&cid=20240804&foDate=true&mid=DM1611167&rid=89601619

The Facts on Flax

Posted on June 5, 2024 by marcia

Flax Is Not a Health Food — Stop Consuming It and Use It to Paint Instead

STORY AT-A-GLANCE

Flax, historically used in paints and industrial applications, is often marketed as a health food despite its potential negative effects on metabolism and long-term health
The principal use of flax oil in the past has been for industrial purposes, such as paint, due to its high polyunsaturated fat (PUFA) content, which makes it prone to oxidation
Consuming flaxseed oil, synonymous with linseed oil, can be harmful because PUFAs are unstable and oxidize easily
Flaxseeds also contain lignans, a type of phytoestrogen, which can mimic estrogen and contribute to hormonal imbalances, increasing the risk of conditions like breast cancer
Excess PUFA consumption lowers thyroid and metabolism, as thyroid hormone (the master metabolic regulator) is blocked at the production, transport, and cellular action steps by PUFA

When evaluating something as a ‘health food’ — we have to put our ‘metabolism lenses’ on. Does this improve metabolism and thus long-term health? Or, are there potentially some minute short-term benefits that come with long-term consequences and a down-regulation of metabolism? (Which will negatively impact health.)

There is really good marketing out there trying to convince us that ingredients historically used as paint are now a superfood. (Because it is extremely profitable!) One example is flaxseed and flaxseed oil — you should not be consuming these! And to better understand why, let’s briefly review why it works really well for paint!

The principal use of the oil in flax in the past has been in paints, coating and other industrial uses — the fibers were used to make fishing nets, ropes, and sailcloths and the linseed oil obtained from the flax plant has been one of the most important binders for oil paint for more than 500 years.

Flax is rich in an omega-3 polyunsaturated fat (PUFA) alpha-linoleic, C18:3. PUFAs contain 2 or more double bonds (shown in green, below), and each double bond in the fat makes it more unstable and prone to oxidation.

The structures of a saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated fat. Note the differences in points of unsaturation (C=C double bonds) on some of the fatty acids. From Nutrition: Science and Everyday Application, v. 1.0.

The longer the chains of these PUFA get (such as ALA), the more unsaturated and unstable they become.

How Flaxseed Went From Paint to ‘Health Food’

Flaxseed oil or flax oil is technically synonymous with the term ‘linseed oil,’ as both refer to the oil obtained from the dried, ripened seeds of the flax plant. The oil is obtained by pressing, sometimes involving a lot of chemicals for more industrial uses. Some refer to the ‘edible’ oil as flaxseed oil, and the industrial use as linseed oil. But the fatty acid composition of flaxseed oil or linseed oil (used interchangeably) are both PUFA rich.

Linseed oil works well as a paint due to its high level of PUFAs — all of those double bonds make them extremely prone to oxidation. In fact, linseed oil is classified as a “drying oil,” meaning it transitions from a liquid to a solid film through oxidative reactions.

“When this flax oil is exposed to air, the double bonds of ALA react with oxygen and result in relatively soft, durable film. This property is known as ‘drying’ quality of linseed oil.”¹

However, newer petroleum products started to enter the market in place of linseed oil since they could be made cheaper, and this led to the reduced reliance on flax.² So, the flax industry needed to find another market for it — enter the health food market and lots of marketing!

“50 years ago, paints and varnishes were made of soy oil, safflower oil, and linseed (flax seed) oil. Then chemists learned how to make paint from petroleum, which was much cheaper. As a result, the huge seed oil industry found its crop increasingly hard to sell.

Around the same time, farmers were experimenting with poisons to make their pigs get fatter with less food, and they discovered that corn and soy beans served the purpose, in a legal way.

The crops that had been grown for the paint industry came to be used for animal food. Then these foods that made animals get fat cheaply came to be promoted as foods for humans, but they had to direct attention away from the fact that they are very fattening. The ‘cholesterol’ focus was just one of the marketing tools used by the oil industry.

Unfortunately it [the false claims about cholesterol & saturated fat] is the one that has lasted the longest, even after the unsaturated oils were proven to cause heart disease as well as cancer.” ~ Dr. Ray Peat

Flax Is High in Estrogenic Compounds Too

Have you ever noticed that flax oils can only be purchased in dark containers, and must be stored in the fridge? (They oxidize in the presence of heat and oxygen). Can you imagine what happens when you consume this and put it in your warm, oxygen-rich body? (The inside of our body should be 98.6 deg F.) And yes, flax contains some fiber but still has a lot of PUFAs.

•Per 100 grams:

◦The oil extracted out of flax contains 100 grams of fat with 14.3 grams of linoleic acid and 53.4 grams of ALA.

◦Whole flax contains less fat (42.4 grams) since there is fiber, but still 5.9 grams linoleic acid and 22.8 grams ALA.

You can get these fibers in from other foods without all this PUFA. But there are other negative health consequences outside of the high susceptibility to oxidation. Flaxseeds contain a type of phytoestrogen called lignans. Phytoestrogens act like estrogen in the body (and we do not need more estrogen in modern times). “[L]ignans that are structurally similar to known estrogenic compounds.”³

Another example of a well-known phytoestrogen is isoflavones in soy. Well, flax is 20 times stronger than soy when it comes to the estrogenic impact!

Dr. Hobbins is a former surgeon who pioneered breast cancer detection through mammography and thermography. Dr. Hobbins and Wendy Sellers have hundreds of thermogram images showing striking visual evidence that estrogenic foods (including flax) promote vascularization and angiogenesis in the breast tissue, increasing the risk of breast cancer.⁴

Misinformed health care workers and manipulated studies are promoting these phytoestrogenic foods as cancer-preventing — when instead they could be making matters worse!

Add on top of this that the accumulation of PUFAs in tissues promotes the action of estrogen by activating aromatase AND people with lower metabolic rates are pooping less and less (pooping isn’t just to get rid of food waste, it is also a way to get rid of used hormones and other toxins in the body! So not pooping every day will cause some estrogen re-absorption).

Are You Really Low in Estrogen?

In this estrogenic and PUFA rich world — no wonder hormonal imbalances are rampant, and testosterone is plummeting in men! Many people believe that they are LOW in estrogen due to bloodwork. Unfortunately, serum estrogen levels are NOT representative of estrogen that has been stored in tissues. Estrogen can be low in plasma, but high in tissues.⁵

And when stored estrogen is assessed, most people are estrogen dominant due to high PUFA diets and exposure to environmental estrogens from pesticides and plastics. And for women, add on many years of birth control loading up on exogenous estrogen! So you likely do not need more estrogenic foods (like flax).

A simple way to gauge estrogen storage in fat and tissues is a simple prolactin blood test, as prolactin blood tests can be used as a proxy for stored estrogen since estrogen promotes the production of prolactin. Ideally prolactin is less than 10 ng/mL.

Excess PUFA Lowers Thyroid Function

Another reason to not eat flax — excess PUFA consumption lowers thyroid and metabolism — as thyroid hormone (the master metabolic regulator) is blocked at the production,⁶ transport,⁷ and cellular action⁸ steps by PUFA.

“Fatty acids inhibited the binding of T3 to both receptor proteins (TR-alpha and TR-beta) … The effectiveness of inhibition depends on the chain length and degree of saturation of the fatty acids.”⁹

Further, PUFAs block proper carb metabolism more so than saturated fats¹⁰ by inhibiting the function of the PDH enzyme^11,¹² and cytochrome C oxidase¹³ — two vital components in glucose metabolism. And the negative effect on glucose metabolism increases with chain length and degree of unsaturation of the fatty acids.¹⁴ In fact, flax consumption has been shown to make you more insulin resistant and hinder carb utilization.^15,¹⁶

Flax Inhibits Cholesterol Production

Another undesirable trait of flax is that it lowers endogenous production of cholesterol — which may sound good initially. But cholesterol is the building block of steroid hormones, and lowering cholesterol through estrogenic foods like flax will lower testosterone in males and progesterone in females. Plus, anything that suppresses your cholesterol synthesis increases the risk of cancer (like statins).

The best way to lower elevated cholesterol levels is to improve thyroid (which will still allow the body to make adequate androgens). Hormones are a downstream effect and should not try to be manipulated through estrogenic-rich foods. Fix metabolism and thyroid health, and hormonal balance will come easier! Instead of flax, try:

Reducing PUFA consumption and instead prioritize saturated fats
Lowering plastic exposure
Consuming carbohydrates to boost thyroid and metabolism (adequate thyroid is essential for both the production of progesterone and the detoxification of estrogen by the liver)
Supplementing with bio identical progesterone, as needed (adequate progesterone levels help keep estrogen in check)
Ensuring adequate Vitamin B6 consumption (serves as a prolactin inhibitor)

from: https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2024/06/04/flax-high-pufa-estrogenic.aspx?ui=f460707c057231d228aac22d51b97f2a8dcffa7b857ec065e5a5bfbcfab498ac&sd=20211017&cid_source=dnl&cid_medium=email&cid_content=art1HL&cid=20240604_HL2&foDate=true&mid=DM1582680&rid=38893829

What Cost – Clean Blood?

Posted on May 29, 2024 by marcia

Researchers Call for Urgent Action to Address Mass Contamination of Blood Supply

May 27, 2024

STORY AT-A-GLANCE

Japanese researchers warn of the risks of using blood from mRNA COVID vaccine recipients, highlighting potential deadly effects and the need for urgent action to secure the global blood supply
Blood contaminated with prion-like structures from the spike protein raises the risk of inducing fatal neurodegenerative diseases in recipients. The potential transmission of harmful proteins through exosomes (“shedding”) and the risk of autoimmune diseases due to the vaccines’ mechanism and components like lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) are other major concerns
Proposals for managing blood collection include rigorous donor interviews, deferral periods, and a suite of tests to ensure the safety of blood products
The researchers advocate for comprehensive testing of both jabbed and unjabbed individuals to assess the safety of blood products and suggest discarding blood products contaminated with spike proteins or modified mRNA until effective removal methods have been developed
They call for suspending all gene-based “vaccines” and conducting a rigorous harm-benefit assessment in light of the serious health injuries reported. They also urge countries and organizations to take concrete steps to address and mitigate the already identified risks

In a recent meta-analysis^1,² posted on preprints.org, Japanese researchers warn of potentially deadly risks to patients who receive blood from people who have taken mRNA COVID jabs and call for urgent action to ensure the safety of the global blood supply. According to the authors:³

“… many countries around the world have reported that so-called genetic vaccines, such as those using modified mRNA encoding the spike protein and lipid nanoparticles as the drug delivery system, have resulted in post-vaccination thrombosis and subsequent cardiovascular damage, as well as a wide variety of diseases involving all organs and systems, including the nervous system …

[B]ased on these circumstances and the volume of evidence that has recently come to light, we call the attention of medical professionals to the various risks associated with blood transfusions using blood products derived from people who have suffered from long COVID and from genetic vaccine recipients, including those who have received mRNA vaccines, and we make proposals regarding specific tests, testing methods, and regulations to deal with these risks.”

Blood From Jabbed Donors May Pose Risk to Neurological Health

One particular risk addressed in this paper is the implications of blood tainted with prion-like structures found within the spike protein. Prions are misfolded proteins that can cause neurodegenerative diseases, such as Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD) in humans, by inducing the misfolding of normal proteins in the brain.

Prion diseases are characterized by a long incubation period, followed by rapid progression and high mortality. The suggestion that the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2, especially from certain variants, might contain prion-like domains raises concerns for several reasons:

Transmission risk — If spike proteins with prion-like structures can be transmitted through blood transfusions, there might be a risk of inducing prion diseases in recipients. Prion diseases are notoriously difficult to diagnose early, have no cure, and are fatal, making any potential transmission through blood products a significant safety concern.
Detection and removal challenges — Current blood screening processes do not specifically test for prions, partly because prion diseases are rare and partly due to the technical challenges in detecting prions at low concentrations. If spike proteins with prion-like properties are present in the blood of COVID jabbed individuals, existing blood safety protocols may not be adequate to prevent transmission.
Long-term safety concerns — Prion diseases have long latency periods, meaning that symptoms can appear years or even decades after exposure. This delay complicates efforts to trace the source of an infection back to a blood transfusion and assess the safety of blood supplies over time.
Impacts on blood supply management — Concerns about the potential risks associated with prion-like structures in spike proteins might lead to changes in donor eligibility criteria or the implementation of additional screening measures. These changes could impact the availability of blood products, which are critical for routine medical procedures.
Public confidence — Public awareness of these potential risks, even if they are theoretical or have a very low likelihood of occurring, could affect individuals’ willingness to donate or receive blood transfusions, thereby lowering blood donation rates and the overall trust in the safety of blood transfusions.

The authors stress the need for comprehensive studies to better understand the implications of these prion-like structures in the spike protein, not only for mRNA jab safety but also for the broader implications for public health measures like blood transfusion practices.

Other Potential Health Hazards of Contaminated Blood

Contaminated blood may also pose other serious health risks, including:

•Reduced immune function among blood recipients — It’s been shown that the more doses of the COVID shot you’ve received, the more likely you are to suffer future infections, either by SARS-CoV-2 or other viruses, due antibody-dependent enhancement.

Blood donations from people who have received several doses of mRNA injections may not provide adequate immunity against common infections, resulting in subclinical infections and diseases in recipients.

•Formation of blood clots and amyloid aggregates — If the immune system of a blood recipient isn’t strong enough to neutralize spike protein, blood clots and amyloid aggregates may also form.

•Chronic inflammation — Prolonged exposure to the antigens from the COVID-19 shots can trigger the generation of IgG4 antibodies, resulting in chronic inflammation and immune dysfunction.

IgG4 antibodies are often associated with chronic exposure to antigens, such as those seen in persistent infections, certain cancers, and prolonged exposure to allergens. IgG4 antibodies are also associated with a unique condition known as IgG4-Related Disease (IgG4-RD), a fibro-inflammatory condition characterized by swellings or masses in affected organs.⁴

Blood Transfusions and the Risk of Autoimmune Diseases

The authors also raise concerns about the potential of contaminated blood to cause autoimmune diseases in recipients. Recent research found that the RNA pseudouridylation, a process in which uracil is swapped out for synthetic methylpseudouridine, can cause frameshifting, basically a glitch in the decoding, which can trigger the production of off-target aberrant proteins.

The antibodies that develop as a result may, in turn, trigger off-target immune reactions. In addition to that, lipid nanoparticles (LNPs), a key component of the COVID shots, have been identified as highly inflammatory and possessing more potent adjuvant activity compared to traditional vaccine adjuvants, which further increases the risk of an autoimmune response. As reported in the featured paper:⁵

“Recent studies have shown that RNA pseudouridylation can result in frameshifting. It is not yet clear whether a portion of the pseudouridinated mRNA for the spike protein is translated into another protein of unknown function in vaccine recipients. If these proteins are also pathogenic, additional testing for such frameshift proteins may be needed in the future.

Even if a frameshift protein is not toxic, it must be foreign to the body and could cause autoimmune disease. In addition, LNPs themselves are highly inflammatory substances … LNPs have been found to have stronger adjuvant activity than the adjuvants used in conventional vaccines, and there is also concern about autoimmune diseases resulting from this aspect.

Thus, although it is not clear what the causative agent of autoimmune disease is, the large number of reported cases of autoimmune disease following genetic vaccination is extremely concerning.

The very mechanism of gene vaccines that causes one’s own cells to produce the antigens of pathogens carries the risk of inducing autoimmune diseases, which cannot be completely avoided even if mRNA pseudouridylation technology is used.

In this context, individuals with a positive blood test for spike protein may need to have interviews and additional tests for autoimmune disease indicators, such as antinuclear antibodies.

Alternatively, if the amino acid sequence of the protein resulting from the frameshift is predictable, these candidate proteins could be included in the initial mass spectrometry assay. In any case, it is particularly important to develop tests and establish medical care settings in anticipation of these situations.”

Proposals for Managing Blood Collection

The authors outline several specific proposals for managing blood collection and blood products from individuals who have received genetic “vaccines.” Given the variety of blood-related abnormalities observed post-jab, the researchers argue that rigorous and precautionary measures in blood handling and transfusion practices have now become a necessity.

A key part of the proposal involves conducting thorough interviews with potential blood donors. These interviews should cover their vaccination status, number of doses received, their COVID-19 infection history, and any symptoms they might be experiencing that could indicate conditions like post-vaccination syndrome (PVS), long-COVID or other complications.

The researchers also recommend deferral periods for blood collected from COVID jab recipients — 48 hours for mRNA shots and six weeks for AstraZeneca DNA jab recipients. A series of tests are also proposed to ensure the safety of collected blood, including:

Mass spectrometry to measure spike protein content	PCR for detecting the presence of spike protein mRNA and DNA
Testing for markers associated with autoimmune disorders	Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)
Immunophenotyping	Liquid biopsies combined with proteomics to detect and quantify spike protein and its mRNA

The authors also note that policies and procedures must be constantly revised as new risks and problems with blood products derived from mRNA and DNA jab recipients are identified.

Ensuring Safety of Current Blood Products

The paper also reviews strategies to ensure the safety of blood products already collected, highlighting the complex challenges that medical institutions, regulatory bodies, and the broader healthcare ecosystem must navigate in the wake of widespread use of mRNA injections.

The primary concern is the risk posed to patients by the use of blood products from donors who have received gene-based injections without confirming the presence or absence of spike proteins or modified mRNA. To ensure their safety, methods to quantify potential contaminants must be developed and implemented as soon as possible.

Another critical issue that must be addressed is the current lack of reliable methods to remove spike proteins or modified mRNA from blood products. The authors warn that, given the potential persistence, low solubility, heat resistance, and radiation resistance of these components, current methodologies are inadequate for the job. The only solution, they say, is to discard all blood products found to contain these contaminants until effective removal techniques are established.

Researchers Call for Widespread Blood Testing

Additionally, the researchers call for widespread testing of both jabbed and unjabbed to assess the potential transmission of spike proteins through exosomes (so-called shedding).

As noted by the authors:

“… when exosomes collected from vaccine recipients were administered to mice that had not been vaccinated with the genetic vaccine, the spike protein was transmitted.

Therefore, it cannot be denied that the spike protein and its modified genes can be transmitted through exosomes. For this reason, we suggest that full testing be done initially, regardless of genetic vaccination status, and that a cohort study be conducted to quickly capture the full picture …

In addition … it cannot be ruled out that even those who have not been vaccinated with the genetic vaccine, but have had long COVID, may have residual spike proteins or fibrin- derived microthrombi in their bodies, so it would be advisable to conduct the same testing and follow-up as for genetic vaccine recipients.

The presence or absence and amount of anti-nucleocapsid antibodies as well as antibody isotypes may be an indicator(s) in distinguishing whether genetic vaccination or long COVID is the cause. In any case, these cohort studies are expected to help establish cutoff values for blood levels of spike protein and other substances to determine the safety of blood products.

Faksova et al. conducted a large cohort study of 99 million people using a multinational Global Vaccine Data NetworkTM (GVDN®) and found a significantly increased risk of myocarditis, pericarditis, Guillain-Barre syndrome, and cerebral venous sinus thrombosis in genetic vaccine recipients.”

Ensuring the traceability of blood products and establishing a rigorous legal and regulatory framework to manage the myriad issues arising from the use of blood products derived from COVID jabbed individuals are also paramount. This includes creating systems for the registration of all potential donors, ensuring the traceability of blood products, and conducting recipient outcome studies.

Call to Pause: Evaluating the Risks and Benefits of Genetic Vaccines for a Safer Future

In conclusion, the authors point out that if we continue using mRNA-LPN-based platforms to replace conventional vaccines or create new ones, then the risks to our blood and bone marrow supply will be augmented further.

“The impact of these genetic vaccines on blood products and the actual damage caused by them are unknown at present,” they write.⁶

“Therefore, in order to avoid these risks and prevent further expansion of blood contamination and complication of the situation, we strongly request that the vaccination campaign using genetic vaccines be suspended and that a harm-benefit assessment be carried out as early as possible, as called for by Fraiman et al.⁷ and Polykretis et al.⁸

[T]he health injuries caused by genetic vaccination are already extremely serious, and it is high time that countries and relevant organizations take concrete steps together to identify the risks and to control and resolve them.”

from: https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2024/05/27/blood-supply-contamination.aspx?ui=f460707c057231d228aac22d51b97f2a8dcffa7b857ec065e5a5bfbcfab498ac&sd=20211017&cid_source=dnl&cid_medium=email&cid_content=art1HL&cid=20240527&foDate=true&mid=DM1578458&rid=32119642

Some Clarification on Organic Labeling

Posted on April 30, 2024 by marcia

The Ins and Outs of Organic Food Labeling

Analysis by Dr. Joseph Mercola

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

The Power of Astroturfing

Posted on April 1, 2024 by marcia

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

SOme Notes on Dementia

Posted on March 26, 2024 by marcia

The Subtle Early Signals of Dementia in Someone You Love

Analysis by Dr. Joseph Mercola

March 26, 2024

STORY AT-A-GLANCE

Before memory and thinking problems become obvious, people with dementia may display changes in mood and behavior
In the early stages of the disease, irritability, anxiety or depression may occur
Apathy is another common sign, although some people may display more blatant changes like suddenly becoming sexually promiscuous or developing the habit of snatching food off other people’s plates
Alzheimer’s disease is the result of poor mitochondrial function; to optimize your mitochondrial function, you need to limit your intake linoleic acid (LA) to 5 grams a day or less
To achieve this, you’ll need to eliminate all processed foods, fast foods and the majority of restaurant meals, which are frequently loaded with or prepared using seed oils high in LA

Worldwide, more than 55 million people are living with dementia, and each year nearly 10 million new cases occur.¹ Dementia is not a disease in itself but rather a term used to describe a number of different brain illnesses that may affect your memory, thinking, behavior and ability to perform everyday activities. The most common type of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease, which accounts for up to 70% of cases.²

Many people associate dementia with memory loss — and this is a red flag — however, not all memory problems are due to Alzheimer’s (and some causes of dementia-like symptoms, including memory loss, can be reversed, such as those related to thyroid problems and vitamin deficiencies).³

If you’ve noticed yourself or a loved one becoming increasingly forgetful or experiencing changes in thinking abilities, you should see a health care provider right away. Oftentimes, however, the first symptoms are so subtle they may be easily missed — and they may manifest as changes in behavior and mood long before memory problems become apparent.

Fortunately, there are two crucial prevention strategies that remain largely underdiscussed yet are relatively simple to implement — reducing linoleic acid (LA) intake and limiting exposure to estrogen.

Pay Attention to Personality Changes — An Early Sign of Dementia

Before memory and thinking problems become obvious, people with dementia may display changes in mood and behavior, according to a team of neuropsychiatrists and Alzheimer’s experts, who say the latter symptoms may be among the earliest signs of dementia.

The team released a 34-question checklist they believe could help diagnosis a new condition called mild behavioral impairment (MBI).⁴ Similar to mild cognitive impairment (MCI), which is defined by a noticeable decline in cognitive abilities that does not yet interfere with most daily functions, MBI describes changes in behavior and mood that may occur prior to MCI and the cognitive changes associated with dementia.

The checklist is intended to identify patients at risk of dementia earlier, as according study author Dr. Zahinoor Ismail, a neuropsychiatrist at the University of Calgary, among people with MCI, those with mood and behavior changes will progress to full-blown dementia faster.⁵ Some have expressed concern that the checklist may lead to overdiagnosis or false diagnosis, putting some people through increased medical testing and worry unnecessarily.

In the case of MCI, for instance, not everyone diagnosed will go on to develop Alzheimer’s or other types of dementia. In fact, The New York Times reported, up to 20% of those with MCI later turn out to be cognitively normal.⁶

Still, others say keeping an eye out for unusual behavioral or personality changes can help people get help, at least symptom relief, faster. Sadly, there is currently no cure for Alzheimer’s disease and, as it progresses, the disease is devastating not only for those diagnosed but also their friends and family. Prevention remains the best option, and I detail steps that can help below.

Behavioral and Mood Changes to Watch Out For

Dementia manifests differently in everyone, which is why the most important changes to watch out for are those that are unusual for your loved one. A person may, for instance, stop doing something they’ve always loved to do, be it cooking a certain dish for your birthday or watching the evening news.

Apathy is another common sign, although some people may display more blatant changes like suddenly becoming sexually promiscuous or developing the habit of snatching food off other people’s plates.⁷ The Alzheimer’s Association noted:⁸

“Individuals living with Alzheimer’s or other dementia may experience mood and personality changes. They can become confused, suspicious, depressed, fearful or anxious. They may be easily upset at home, with friends or when out of their comfort zone.”

In the early stages of the disease, irritability, anxiety or depression may occur. In fact, a study published in the journal Neurology not only found that people who eventually developed dementia were twice as likely to develop depression earlier on in their lives, but they also tended to display mood changes in a consistent pattern.⁹ Time reported:¹⁰

“The symptoms appeared in consistent phases: first, irritability, depression and nighttime behavior changes; followed by anxiety, appetite changes, agitation and apathy. The final phase was elation, motor disturbances, hallucinations, delusions and disinhibition.”

In order for early mood and/or behavioral changes to be considered MBI, the change in behavior must persist for at least six months.

Signs of Mild Cognitive Impairment

In some people, MCI may follow the earliest changes in mood and behavior. MCI is a slight decline in cognitive abilities that increases your risk of developing more serious dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease, although it is by no means a guarantee. It’s estimated that up to 18% of people aged 60 and older are living with MCI.¹¹

Simply misplacing your keys on occasion is not cause for alarm, however forgetting important information that you would have normally recalled, such as appointments, conversations or recent events, may be a sign. You may also have a harder time making sound decisions, figuring out the sequence of steps needed to complete a task or judging the time needed to do so.

If you’ve been diagnosed with MCI, be aware that some cases do not progress and may even improve. Regular exercise, proper diet — including reducing your intake of LA — and engaging in mentally and socially stimulating activities may help to boost your brainpower.

Dementia: When to Worry?

It can be difficult to gauge if a loved one is declining mentally. If you have suspicions but aren’t sure, try keeping a notebook to jot down instances that concern you. You may be able to identify a pattern of events that makes the picture clearer.

Agnes B. Juhasz, nurse, dementia care specialist and author of ‘The Dementia Whisperer: Scenes From the Frontline of Caring,’ suggested making note of anything out of ordinary for that particular person. She wrote in the [U.K.]’s Mirror news:¹²

“Naturally, there are a few typical signs and possible changes that are worth watching out for more closely. These include the level of forgetfulness; acute or permanent confusion about certain things; disorientation in time and place; significant changes in behavior and personality; decreased judgment; changes in speech or writing; and withdrawal from social interactions and activities.

But all these suggested signs ultimately lead us back to the essential, magical question we always have to ask before we can arrive at any further conclusions: ‘Is this abnormal for this individual, or is it part of who they have always been?’ When we notice that something is new and odd, that has never occurred in a person’s life before, as far as we have observed, that is the point when further help may be needed.”

Early Warning Signs of Alzheimer’s

While an absent-minded mistake, like putting a mug in the wrong cabinet, is not cause for alarm, feeling confused about day-to-day tasks is.

Losing interest in hobbies, repetitive behaviors (phrases, gestures or questions), mispronouncing words or stuttering can also be signs. And while occasional forgetfulness, like forgetting why you were walking into a room, is not typically reason to worry, more profound confusion, like the room itself feeling unfamiliar, may signal a problem.¹³

The Alzheimer’s Association also compiled differences between symptoms of dementia, including Alzheimer’s, and typical age-related changes:¹⁴

Signs of Alzheimer’s/dementia	Typical age-related changes
Poor judgment and decision-making	Making a bad decision once in a while
Inability to manage a budget	Missing a monthly payment
Losing track of the date or the season	Forgetting which day it is and remembering it later
Difficulty having a conversation	Sometimes forgetting which word to use
Misplacing things and being unable to retrace steps to find them	Losing things from time to time

Why Addressing Mitochondrial Dysfunction by Reducing LA Is Key

Work by the late Ray Peat, a biologist and “father” of bioenergetic medicine, suggests Alzheimer’s disease is the result of poor mitochondrial function, which results in reduced energy production.^15,¹⁶

To optimize your mitochondrial function, you need to address your diet, as the foods you eat are the substrate from which cellular energy is produced. LA wreaks havoc with your cellular machinery, which is why it should be limited to 5 grams or less per day.

To achieve this, you’ll need to eliminate all processed foods, fast foods and the majority of restaurant meals, which are frequently loaded with or prepared using seed oils high in LA. Instead, prioritize whole and minimally processed foods.

In addition to limiting LA in your diet, carnosine, a dipeptide composed of two amino acids — beta-alanine and histidine — is a crucial aid for LA detoxification, as it binds to advanced lipoxidation endproducts (ALEs) that form from oxidized seed oils in your diet.

While your body will slowly eliminate stored LA over time, provided you reduce your intake, carnosine can help reduce the oxidative damage caused by LA while your body is cleaning itself out. I take liposomal carnosine every day before meals to help detoxify LA.

LA is highly susceptible to oxidation, and as the fat oxidizes it breaks down into harmful sub-components such as ALEs and oxidized LA metabolites (OXLAMs). These ALEs and OXLAMs are what cause most of the damage.

As an added benefit, carnosine is protective against Alzheimer’s,¹⁷ due to its ability to scavenge 4-hydroxynonenal (4HNE), a biomarker of oxidative stress that may increase the harm caused by free radicals.

Elevated Serotonin Linked to Dementia

High serotonin levels are also linked to dementia.¹⁸ While often described as the “happy hormone,” serotonin, a chemical messenger in the brain, acts as an antimetabolite, hindering energy production in your mitochondria. A September 2023 study found that having low levels of serotonin transporter (SERT) is linked to problems with memory and thinking skills, which can eventually lead to dementia or Alzheimer’s disease.

SERT is like a “cleanup crew” in the brain, helping to remove excess serotonin. When there’s not enough SERT around to do its job, serotonin levels outside of brain cells can rise too high. This excess serotonin floating around can cause trouble and contribute to problems with memory and thinking.

Considering that high extracellular serotonin can contribute to dementia, you’d be wise to keep your serotonin level as low as possible. One way to do that is by increasing GABA, which is available as a supplement.

The Estrogen Connection

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is more common in women than men,¹⁹ and prolonged estrogen exposure is also linked to Alzheimer’s severity in women.²⁰ As bioenergetic researcher Georgi Dinkov explained, “The study can be summarized with the simple statement that estrogen is detrimental while progesterone and testosterone are protective against AD.”²¹

Avoiding estrogen replacement therapy and minimizing your exposure to the estrogenic compounds found in hundreds of consumer products is therefore an important step to protecting your brain health.

Taking natural progesterone is also important, but be aware that most formulations are not effective as they are oral or transdermal. Ideally, pure progesterone powder should be dissolved in a high-quality vitamin E with MCT oil and rubbed on your gums. Typical doses are 25 to 50 milligrams once or twice a day.

In my view, what mature women really need are progesterone and pregnenolone, not estrogen. In practical terms, you’ll want to make sure your levels of progesterone and pregnenolone are within healthy limits (the levels you’d have in your 20s), which is around 30 mg a day.

More Tips to Prevent Alzheimer’s Disease

In addition to optimizing your mitochondrial function, lowering your intake of LA and avoiding things that raise your serotonin and estrogen, other helpful Alzheimer’s prevention strategies include:

Avoid gluten and casein (primarily wheat and pasteurized dairy, but not dairy fat, such as butter) — Research shows that your blood-brain barrier is negatively affected by gluten. Gluten also makes your gut more permeable, which allows proteins to get into your bloodstream, where they don’t belong. That then sensitizes your immune system and promotes inflammation and autoimmunity, both of which play a role in the development of Alzheimer’s.

Optimize your gut flora by regularly eating fermented foods or taking a high potency and high-quality probiotic supplement.

Make sure you’re getting enough animal-based omega-3 fats, such as krill oil. High intake of the omega-3 fats EPA and DHA help by preventing cell damage caused by Alzheimer’s disease, thereby slowing down its progression and lowering your risk of developing the disorder.

Optimize your vitamin D level with safe sun exposure — Strong links between low levels of vitamin D in Alzheimer’s patients and poor outcomes on cognitive tests have been revealed. In one 2023 study, vitamin D reduced dementia risk by 40%.

Keep your fasting insulin levels below 3.

Eat a nutritious diet, rich in folate — Vegetables, without question, are your best form of folate, and we should all eat plenty of fresh raw veggies every day. Avoid supplements like folic acid, which is the inferior synthetic version of folate.

Avoid and eliminate mercury and aluminum from your body — Dental amalgam fillings, which are 50% mercury by weight, are one of the major sources of heavy metal toxicity. Make sure you use a biological dentist to have your amalgams removed. Sources of aluminum include antiperspirants, nonstick cookware and vaccine adjuvants.

Make sure your iron isn’t elevated and donate blood if it is — Studies show that iron accumulations in the brain tend to concentrate in areas most affected by Alzheimer’s, namely the frontal cortex and hippocampus. Magnetic resonance imaging tests have also revealed elevated iron in brains affected by Alzheimer’s.

Exercise regularly — It’s been suggested that exercise can trigger a change in the way the amyloid precursor protein is metabolized,²² thus slowing down the onset and progression of Alzheimer’s. In one study, women with the highest cardiovascular fitness had an 88% lower risk of dementia than those with moderate fitness.

Eat blueberries and other antioxidant-rich foods — Wild blueberries, which have high anthocyanin and antioxidant content, are known to guard against neurological diseases.

Challenge your mind daily — Mental stimulation, especially learning something new, such as how to play an instrument or speak a new language, is associated with a decreased risk of Alzheimer’s.

Avoid anticholinergics and statin drugs — Drugs that block acetylcholine, a nervous system neurotransmitter, have been shown to increase your risk of dementia. These drugs include certain nighttime pain relievers, antihistamines, sleep aids, certain antidepressants, medications to control incontinence and certain narcotic pain relievers.

Statin drugs are particularly problematic because they suppress the synthesis of cholesterol, deplete your brain of CoQ10 and neurotransmitter precursors, and prevent adequate delivery of essential fatty acids and fat-soluble antioxidants to your brain by inhibiting the production of the indispensable carrier biomolecule known as low-density lipoprotein.

from: https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2024/03/26/early-dementia-sign.aspx?ui=f460707c057231d228aac22d51b97f2a8dcffa7b857ec065e5a5bfbcfab498ac&sd=20211017&cid_source=dnl&cid_medium=email&cid_content=art2ReadMore&cid=20240326&foDate=true&mid=DM1548476&rid=2079795932

Carbo-phobes, Take Note!

Posted on March 26, 2024 by marcia

You Need Carbs to Build Muscle

Analysis by Ashley Armstrong

March 26, 2024

STORY AT-A-GLANCE

Without smart exercise and strong metabolic rates, the slow loss of muscle mass starts at age 30. At age 50, muscle mass decreases at an annual rate of 1% to 2%. After age 60, this reduction increases to 3%. By age 75, some individuals have lost approximately half of their muscle mass
Carbs will help you build and maintain more muscle by providing the necessary energy for muscle growth and lowering stress hormones
A single strength training session will decrease muscle glycogen levels by 24% to 40%. One of the main reasons to consume carbs after your workout is to replenish these stores
Your muscles rebuild when you are in a rest and digest state, not in a state of fight or flight. Consuming carbs as part of your post-workout meal significantly decreases cortisol and helps you recover faster
Having more muscle will help you burn more fat at rest, boost your metabolic rate, improve your glucose utilization and insulin sensitivity, and reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease

The health benefits of having more muscle mass are now well established in the literature. But unfortunately, humans are really good at losing muscle as we age. (If you don’t use it, you lose it!)

And here are just three reasons why carbs will help you build and maintain more muscle. (And to those who think the body can make all the carb it needs through gluconeogenesis — I get it, I used to think that as well. But do you REALLY think that is optimal? This point is addressed in the article).

Without smart exercise and strong metabolic rates, the slow loss of muscle mass starts at age 30^1,^2,³ At age 50, muscle mass decreases at an annual rate of 1% – 2%. After age 60, this reduction increases to 3%.⁴ By age 75, some individuals have lost approximately 50% of their muscle mass!⁵

Health Consequences of Muscle Loss

Why should we care? Well the health consequences of losing muscle include:

Higher insulin resistance⁶ — The less muscle mass you have, the more insulin resistant you will be. For every 10% increase in skeletal muscle mass, there is an 11% decrease in insulin resistance.⁷ Building muscle is the best way to improve your insulin sensitivity

Lower metabolic rates⁸

Higher susceptibility to falls and getting injured as individuals with age-related muscle loss have a 58% higher risk of fractures⁹

Lower bone density¹⁰

Less independence and functionality to perform daily activities¹¹

Increased rate of cognitive decline¹²

Higher mortality rate (adults with age-related muscle loss have a 41% higher mortality rate¹³)

Increased risk of cardiovascular diseases (some studies show age-related muscle loss comes with a 23% increased risk of cardiovascular diseases)

More muscle =
more fat burned at rest	higher metabolic rates
improved body composition	improved glucose utilization and insulin sensitivity
improved LDL cholesterol clearing	reduced risk of cardiovascular disease
improved mental health	increased bone mineral density
enhanced physical function

In other words, thriving, not surviving. But here is the good news — there IS something you can do about it. While humans are good at losing muscle, we are also really good at building muscle when we provide our muscles with the right stimulus to elicit a positive change (smart strength training) and support our bodies with the right tools. And here’s my case for why I think carbs are an important part of that “tool kit.”

1. Carbs Provide the Body Energy to Build Bigger Muscles

Increasing muscle mass involves adding more contractile units (sarcomeres) to your muscle — increasing muscle length and cross-sectional area. The act of building that muscle tissue after the workout requires rest and food, as the act of building muscle is an energy-intensive process.¹⁴ Building muscle requires energy — our body does not run on thin air.

Eating protein is of course important (almost a no brainer!), as it provides the body the building blocks (amino acids) for the muscle tissue. But just eating protein is like delivering logs to build a log cabin, without any employees to assemble the cabin. Rebuilding something requires TOOLS and ENERGY (carbs).

2. Carbs Replenish Muscle Glycogen Levels

Glycogen is a storage form of carbs that is used for energy throughout the body, especially during your strength training sessions since fat is too slow of a fuel source for high power output. (So you use up a lot of these glycogen stores during your training session.)

A recent meta analysis discussed how a single strength workout will decrease muscle glycogen levels by 24% to 40%.¹⁵ And just 3 sets of 12 reps performed to muscular failure was shown to result in a 26.1% decrease in muscle glycogen levels.¹⁶ So one of the main reasons to consume carbs after your workout is to replenish these stores.

One study showed that muscle breakdown more than doubled in a glycogen-depleted vs. a glycogen-loaded state.¹⁷ This means your body is more likely to spend energy to rebuild that muscle tissue when your stores are full. Muscle is an “expensive” tissue to have — meaning it requires MORE fuel and MORE nutrients for “maintenance and upkeep.”

Why would a body that is already struggling with chronic stress and poor energy production spend valuable (and limited) energy resources on building muscle? That body is just focused on surviving — and building muscle would mean it would need more energy and tools that it is already low in.

Your body is intelligent — it’s not going to “waste” energy on something it knows it can’t support. That’s like buying a new car but not being able to pay for monthly car payments. Full muscle glycogen stores are a signal of safety to your body — that there is enough energy, so it’s okay to spend some of it building that muscle tissue back up and ‘taking care of it’ over the long run.

3. Carbs Lower Stress Hormones

Smart exercise is a good stress that yes, elevates cortisol levels. But we should try to lower that cortisol peak ASAP after the workout. Our muscles rebuild when we are in a rest and digest state, not in a state of fight or flight. Consuming carbs as part of your post workout meal significantly decreases cortisol and helps you recover faster.

One study showed that the inclusion of carbs to a post workout meal decreased cortisol levels by 11% (relative to the cortisol levels measured during the exercise session). The no carb group had a peak cortisol increase of 105%.¹⁸

Carbs help suppress the exercise-induced cortisol release, so that you can recover faster, keep your hormones balanced, and maintain strong thyroid health and a robust metabolism.

“But our body can make all the carbs it needs” — this is a very common counter argument we receive, largely from men. That we don’t need to consume carbs since our body can make its own carbohydrates via a process called gluconeogenesis. We get it fellas, we used to be obsessed with this dogma, and ideology, too.

I will counter and say — well, technically our body can make all the fat it needs if we don’t consume dietary fat. But is that optimal? No. Carb restriction and strength training doesn’t make sense when you learn human physiology. Not consuming carbs may “work” — but at what cost? What processes and functions get down regulated to allow for this excessive gluconeogenesis?

Your body uses carbs during strength training, full stop. So either you eat some dietarily, or your body makes it. Relying on this pathway will down regulate metabolism and thyroid health over time — you will be simply surviving, not thriving. And being in a low metabolic state leads to more catabolism (breakdown of muscle tissue) — not what we want!

After 1.5 years of taking this approach, we finally ‘woke up’ that we were driving ourselves into the ground. We were in denial at the time, but our lifting numbers and muscle mass went in the opposite direction.

In Summary

One of the best things you can do for your health is to build, and hold on to, as much muscle as you can. So why wouldn’t you want to give your body the best possible chance to build and maintain muscle? (And thus, include carbohydrates in your diet.)

The best types of carbs are ones that you digest well, increase your body temperature (meaning they raise your metabolic rate), and carbs you enjoy! Often, these include ripe fruits and fruit juices, honey and maple syrup, white rice, well-cooked potatoes, and for some, sourdough bread.

Best types of carbs? How many carbs should I consume? How does dietary fat fit into this puzzle? These are all questions we address in-depth in our courses and free downloads.

My sister Sarah and I (the ’Strong Sistas’) run a health and wellness website — focused on providing you metabolism boosting nutrition and exercise information to help you cut through the noise of all the conflicting health information out there (that’s likely hindering energy production and lowering metabolic rates). We have been through all the diet fads and extremes out there — and all they did was lower our metabolisms in the long run.

We provide you with the educational tools so that you can have FOOD EDUCATION not FOOD FEAR. Because when you understand the three points I discussed above in this article (and understand human physiology and energy metabolism), you understand that carbs are not evil and are not the source of your problems, and instead understand that carbs help support your physiology and improve energy production.

from: https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2024/03/26/carbs-for-muscle.aspx?ui=f460707c057231d228aac22d51b97f2a8dcffa7b857ec065e5a5bfbcfab498ac&sd=20211017&cid_source=dnl&cid_medium=email&cid_content=art1HL&cid=20240326&foDate=true&mid=DM1548476&rid=2079795932

Dr. Mercola with Catherine Austin Fitts Dealing with Financial Control

Posted on March 25, 2024 by marcia

The Great Taking

Analysis by Dr. Joseph Mercola

Central bankers and other globalists have carefully planned the coordinated takedown of the financial system using highly sophisticated strategies, including the manipulation of derivative markets. Whatever securities you believe you may own, you’re not the actual owner of, and when the derivative markets collapse, everything can be taken from you
While Webb’s work raises serious concerns, there are other more pressing issues that need our attention. Priority No. 1 is ensuring we have control over our financial transactions. We need to help state legislators to protect financial transaction freedom
North Dakota has a sovereign state bank, and the Florida State Legislature is getting ready to introduce legislation for state banking in the state of Florida. All states need to do this, as it’s one of the primary ways to protect the financial freedom of all citizens
Priority No. 2 is building and securing food freedom, and No. 3 is transparency and education. We need to educate people about the severity of what’s coming, so that we can, en masse, begin to make different choices

The video above features repeat guest Catherine Austin Fitts, a finance expert, and founder and president of the Solari Report. She’s one of the wisest persons out there when it comes to understanding finances and how to protect your wealth in the face of this global wealth transfer.

We also discuss the work of David Webb,¹ a former hedge fund investor and a good friend of Austin Fitts. He has written a book called “The Great Taking,” available for free as a PDF from thegreattaking.com, as well as a documentary by the same name, available on CHD.TV, Rumble and YouTube.

Webb’s book and film detail how the Federal Reserve influences financial markets, and how its money creation has outpaced economic growth of the U.S., which is a huge red flag indicating that the velocity of money (the rate at which money is circulating through the economy) is collapsing. In short, a major financial depression is at hand, and when it all falls apart, we will lose everything.

A Financial Coup Is Underway

Webb reveals how central bankers and other globalists have, for at least five decades or more, carefully planned the coordinated takedown of the financial system using highly sophisticated strategies, including the manipulation of derivative markets.

Whatever securities you believe you may own, you’re not the actual owner of, and when the derivative markets collapse, everything can be taken from you. At the end of it all, you truly will “own nothing,” as predicted/promised by the World Economic Forum (WEF).

But there’s more. In her annual wrap-up, Austin Fitts reviews what she calls “The Many Great Takings,” because Webb only describes one of them. Wealth is also being stolen from us in dozens of other ways, and we need to understand them all if we are to protect ourselves with any amount of success.

“My focus is hugely on remedies, not problems,” Austin Fitts says, “and when it comes to remedies, you want to make sure you sequence your remedies against the enemy’s various tactics. So, sequencing is very, very important when it comes to remedies.

The important thing to understand about the great taking is that the World Economic Forum has told you what they’re planning: It’s 2030 and you have no assets. So the question is, exactly how are they going to strip you of your assets?

What David is talking about is stripping you of your securities, but you need to worry about far more than just your securities. You need to worry about your bank, which he touches on and does a very good job of describing some of the history around banking. You have to worry about your real estate. You have to really worry about your precious metals and other currency alternatives.

You have to worry about your business and your local investments and then yes, you have to worry about your securities. David is focused on just securities, which is why we did this section called ‘The Great Taking’ that goes through everything.”

Top Three Priorities

While Webb’s work may raise serious concerns, there are other more pressing issues that need our attention. Priority No. 1, according to Austin Fitts, is ensuring we have control over our financial transactions. Her focus for 2024 is therefore to help state legislators in the U.S. to work with banks and citizens within its jurisdiction to protect financial transaction freedom.

“That’s where pushback is critical,” she says. “If they can get financial transaction control then they can take everything, and I mean, everything, including your children …

If you dive in and look at the terms and conditions that some of these payment gateways are asking for now … you’re giving them permission to go into your bank account and take everything. It’s frightening.

So, the No. 1 thing to remedy against is financial transaction control. If you go to Solari, we have something called a financial transaction freedom memo. Print it out and start looking at all the things you can do to protect yourself from somebody controlling your financial transactions.

If they get that, The Great Taking is on. They take everything — real estate, securities, everything. So first and foremost, don’t worry about your securities. Worry about your banking and your transactions.

The second Great Taking is … food and health. The push to control the food system is on because to control financial transactions, they also need to control food because, if you can get your food and energy outside the banking system, you can survive without their banking system. This is why we cannot allow a 100% digital financial system.

The third Great Taking I’m concerned about is the real estate, because we see an extraordinary move being done to take control of the land, the real estate, including farmland, which is very much related to the food.

There are all sorts of games that can be played with the banking system to default people on their mortgages, and of course, interest rates and inflation are part and parcel of that.”

As noted by Austin Fitts, the process of reducing the homeownership rate has been going on for decades. It’s related to monetary policy, because inflation has doubled the average payment on the median-price home in America over the last four or five years alone. So, the younger generation is being completely wiped out and cannot afford to buy homes.

It’s also related to another Great Taking, which is the fraudulent inducement of student loans. Most of the big banks are paying close to zero percent for their capital, while students with loans are paying 5% to 9%, and those with credit card debt are paying 17%. “It’s an extraordinary differential in the cost of capital that’s literally engineered into the system in a very unfair way,” she says.

A System to Rob Us of Our Security Assets

Austin Fitts goes on to review Webb’s background, and how he came to the discoveries he made. In summary, financial regulators have created a way, through the custodian system, of robbing 100% of the security assets as a senior creditor, most likely through a default of derivatives.

Austin Fitts is not overly concerned about this, though, because while Webb believes a legal pathway has been created through the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC), Austin Fitts and her experts don’t think it’ll stick. “We are still looking for a UCC expert who can figure this out,” she says.

What Webb has proven, however, is that there has been an extraordinary effort by the financial regulators to assert control of ALL collateral. Austin Fitts believes this was done to keep the financial bubble going.

“The reason I’m not worried about a grab of the securities in the near future is because I think the way you grab assets is by getting financial transaction control to the banking system,” she says. “Once you have that, you can do everything. You can take 100% of the assets, including securities. So, I think financial transaction control is coming faster.

I think in terms of sequencing, a grab of all the securities is not near. What David would say is, if they get themselves in a corner, they have to do it. My feeling is they have so many ways out of a corner, it’s not necessary. What they’re going to do is what I’ve seen them doing, which is pushing for financial transaction control.

But here’s what’s great about David’s research. No one goes through the bother of doing what they’ve done if there’s integrity in the system. I think David has proven, yet again, that the financial system is lacking integrity and is engineered to benefit a few at the expense of the many.

The other thing I thought was very good about his book was, he describes the game in terms of insiders and outsiders to the banking system through the Great Depression — how your bank could fold; you lose your deposits, but you’re still liable for your mortgage.

And of course, that’s how you get people’s real estate. You abrogate your income obligations to them, but then you hold them accountable for their debts.”

There’s No Safe Harbor for Anyone

It’s telling that Webb started this journey because he was trying to figure out how to protect his own family’s wealth only to, in the end, realize there is no safe harbor, not even for a financial insider like himself. The system is completely rigged from every angle. The sober realization is that there’s no getting away from this Great Taking.

We must face it head on, and do the work necessary to change the system so that it protects everyone. Part of that work is to make our political representatives understand what is happening, and that it is in their own self-interest to protect financial freedom.

Many of them are extraordinarily wealthy, and they too stand to lose everything if they don’t take action. They’re not insulated from this Great Taking. Like Webb discovered, there’s no safe harbor for them either. Webb’s contention is that the situation is salvageable, but we do need some kind of reset.

Just not The Great Reset the globalists have planned. One possibility would be to implement a small tax on digital transactions, like a fraction of 1%. The revenues generated from that transactional fee could fund the government, doing away with income taxes, provided we don’t have to engage in international wars.

Top Three Financial Drains

According to Austin Fitts, the top three things that are draining our wealth are:

Tyranny
The use of environmentally damaging processes like industrial farming instead of regenerative farming, the hardware required for the control grid and the electromagnetic field radiation that goes with it
The control of innovation, which prevents cost savings

All three of these are alterable. We can eliminate these financial drains, but we can’t start there. First, we need to secure our financial transaction freedom, because everything basically hinges on that. If we lose that, we’ve already lost everything else.

Three Basic Action Items

Again, be sure to download Solari’s financial transaction freedom memo. It details the problems, and the solutions. “Do what you’re comfortable doing,” Austin Fitts says.

“One is using cash. And when you use cash, start talking with local businesses and find ways of interacting locally that will give you more local resilience. And of course, the big one is food, because I don’t know a way of getting food that is safe, other than knowing where it’s coming from and knowing the people who are producing it …

The third thing you can do is to bring transparency, and this is really important. If you go to Solari, we’ve put together a list of short videos on CBDCs and financial transaction freedom. The first one is the one-minute video of the head of the BIS basically saying we can make the rules centrally and enforce them centrally with CBDCs.

The second one is Neel Kashkari, head of the Minneapolis Fed, one of the 12 Fed banks, saying ‘I can see why the Chinese would want this because it gives you complete surveillance and control. But why would Americans ever let this happen?’ If it’s so bad that one of the Fed presidents is telling you you don’t want it, that’s very helpful.

Then we have Bo Li [deputy managing director of the] IMF talking about the programmability of money, so if they decide you can only eat bugs and no pizza, your money will only buy bugs. And then the last one is Richard Werner talking about a top central banker telling him that CBDCs, ultimately, will be a chip that they want to put in your hand.

We need to tell people what’s going on and help them understand how serious this is, because it’s hard for many to fathom that somebody would want that kind of complete control. With AI and software, you can deliver that kind of complete control.

With a very short video, one minute or less, people get it. And that’s the point at which you can turn to your state legislators and your state banking association and say, ‘OK, what are you guys going to do to make sure I don’t end up like the Tennessee truckers?’

What’s very interesting … the states have the power to assert complete sovereignty over the money and the cash flows within their area, and to protect them. Now, they haven’t done it. And one of the reasons they haven’t done it is the Treasury and the central banks have been very good at making it financially attractive to buy into the federal system.

[Eventually], it’s going to be more important to be sovereign and free than to get another $2 billion in education — an education that requires you to teach your kids how to be sex slaves.

So, one of the things you can do bring transparency, but start working with your bankers, with your State Bankers Association, your state legislators, and encourage them to take the steps. And if you look at the Financial Transaction Freedom memo, we list all the different things that a federal legislator can do.”

Why We Need Sovereign State Banks

North Dakota already has a sovereign state bank, and the Florida State Legislature is getting ready to introduce legislation for state banking in the state of Florida. Tennessee is looking at ways to create independent payment systems, and is in the process of starting a Bullion Depository and authorizing their treasurer to start buying gold and silver.

These are just some of the strategies that can, and need, to be implemented by all states. As noted by Austin Fitts, “The only way I can protect my individual sovereignty is if my state protects my financial sovereignty.” And states can do that by implementing sovereign state banks that are not tied to the central banking system.

“If you have a sovereign state bank, what that means is, your citizens are paying taxes into your accounts, and you have the ability, working with the state banks and credit unions and financial institutions, to keep the transactions going so that the Treasury or the central bank can’t lock you down or shut you down.

I mean, that is amazing. If you also have a bullion depository, then you’ve got gold and silver reserves and that makes it easier for other people in the state to have a depository they can trust, and that means they can start doing transactions with gold and silver, particularly if you take the sales tax off.

Tennessee has taken the sales tax off golden and silver. And there’s a big squabble now — several states have put in bills making gold and silver legal tender, but do it in a way where the Feds can’t charge capital gains, so that you can use gold and silver as currencies locally. It’s a great way to start a local currency.”

A Building Wealth Reset

In conclusion, what we need to do, first and foremost, is to regain and safeguard our control of our financial transactions. Next, we need what Austin Fitts refers to as a “building wealth reset,” a reset of the financial system that allows us to build both living equity (health) and financial equity.

And we can do that. While it may seem as though we’re on a speed train headed for a brick wall, and that we have no way to get off, that may simply be an illusion. We probably have far more choice than we think.

“During my litigation [against the government], I had many different attorneys, and they would surround me and say, ‘You have to do this, you have no choice,’” Austin Fitts says.

“And I would say ‘I refuse. I’m not going to do that.’ That’s a choice. And then, what would happen? Suddenly, an option would open up that wasn’t there before. In other words, my refusal to go down the pathway that I had no choice created a new choice.”

Remember that as you move forward. Refusing to be part of the system may seem impossible, but the very act of making the choice to refuse may be the very thing that opens up brand new possibilities and options. Certainly, there are paths to victory, beginning with getting state leadership to get onboard with sovereign state banking.

from: https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2024/03/24/david-webb-the-great-taking.aspx?ui=f460707c057231d228aac22d51b97f2a8dcffa7b857ec065e5a5bfbcfab498ac&sd=20211017&cid_source=dnl&cid_medium=email&cid_content=art2HL&cid=20240324_HL2&foDate=true&mid=DM1547304&rid=2077843189

Who is Really In control???

Posted on March 24, 2024 by marcia

Shadowgate Documentary

Analysis by Dr. Joseph Mercola

STORY AT-A-GLANCE

“Shadowgate” reveals how a “shadow government” is manipulating society from behind the scenes and using psychological warfare tactics against the American public
Democrats and Republicans are equally guilty of covering up an even bigger scandal than the fact that Obama’s administration illegally spied on and tried to frame President Trump and others using manufactured evidence
The shadow government consists of government contractors and defense and intelligence officials who are stealing the personal data collected by the NSA on all Americans, and have privatized and weaponized its use
“Shadowgate” features two whistleblowers who have spent many years helping to develop the psychological warfare programs that are now directed at the American people and used to influence our elections
We can protect our freedoms, first by rejecting and abandoning companies like Google and Facebook, which are the largest data collectors and manipulators; second, by promoting and aiding in the effort to expose Big Tech’s manipulations; and third, by restructuring legislatures and the government, and establishing new civil society institutions and news media that support and promote freedom rather than censorship and control

Most people have never even heard and there’s a reason for that. Technocrats have worked in the proverbial shadows for decades, trying to implement a grand economic plan that is global in scope. To beat them, we must be just as persistent in our efforts to implement a “whole-of-society” plan of action that leads to freedom, and I firmly believe we can.

While technocracy is an economic system and not a political system in and of itself, it does require the undermining and erosion of the democratic system of governance. This is particularly true for the United States, as our Constitution is a major barrier to the implementation of technocracy.

The documentary above, “Shadowgate,” is produced and narrated by Millie Weaver, an independent journalist and contributing reporter to Infowars. Coincidentally, Weaver and her boyfriend, Gavin Wince, were arrested shortly after posting a trailer of the film online, announcing its release.¹

According to Basin Report² and News 5 Cleveland,³ Weaver and Wince were both charged with “robbery (second-degree felony), tampering with evidence (third-degree felony), obstructing justice (fifth-degree felony), and domestic violence.” According to the Portage County Sheriff’s Office, the secret indictment against Weaver and Wince was filed July 20, 2020.

‘Shadowgate’

“Shadowgate,” while banned on YouTube, is available on alternative non-censoring sites such as Bitchute and Banned.video. The film reveals how a “shadow government” is manipulating society from behind the scenes and using psychological warfare tactics against the American public.

“What if I were to tell you that a small group of government contractors were hired by government officials to frame the Trump campaign, set him up for the Russia Collusion investigation, provided witnesses for the impeachment hearings, and provided administrative support services to the Department of Justice during the Mueller investigation?

And what if it just so happened that this same group of contractors are behind the fake news in mainstream media, influence operations on social media, and the civil unrest nationwide, pushing the defund the police movement? The Obamagate scandal only scratches the surface,” Weaver says at the start of the film.⁴ “Talk about a cover story. What really happened is much more alarming.”

According to Weaver, both parties — Democrats and Republicans — are equally guilty of covering up an even bigger scandal than the fact that Obama’s administration illegally spied on and tried to frame President Trump and a number of other individuals using manufactured evidence.

“Shadowgate” reveals what Weaver claims is the tactical and operational role that the shadow government played behind the scenes to carry out the attempted coup.

It’s the things that spy novels and movies are made of, for sure. YouTube, which pulled the film almost as soon as it was uploaded, claims it violates the channel’s policy on hate speech. I urge you to watch it and decide for yourself whether YouTube was justified in taking it down.

According to a Spiro Skouras summary on YouTube, the film “showcases two whistleblowers who allege there is a secretive network of government contractors which consists of government and military insiders (both current and former) who have ‘back door’ access to intelligence agencies and all of the information that they collect on everyone including politicians and how this information is used to blackmail powerful people to control them.”

The film also “alleges that military psychological warfare programs are being used against the people primarily through the mainstream corporate media and social media to control the population.” As noted by Weaver, “The information presented in this video should concern people of all political affiliations.”

Who Are the Real ‘Puppet Masters’?

While many career politicians are certainly part of the so-called shadow government, the real puppet masters behind it all are people that most of us are unfamiliar with. These are the individuals Weaver focuses on in her film. The real shadow government, Weaver says, consists of government contractors and defense and intelligence officials.

But just how could a shadow government arise in the first place? According to Weaver, the reason they’ve managed to operate in the shadows and gain power for so long is because most of the actual work in government is done by subcontractors. This way, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests aimed at government departments turn up very little out of the ordinary. The real “dirt” remains hidden in the archives of “contractors in clandestine networks.”

“These contractors have used their connections, power and influence to create an unprecedented international criminal enterprise,” Weaver says, “where blackmail is traded and people’s personal data is gold.”

Patrick Bergy

Whistleblower Tore’s Story

“Shadowgate” features two whistleblowers: Tore, a linguist and Navy intelligence contractor, and Patrick Bergy, a cyber security officer and Army PSYOP program developer. Tore claims to have been approached by people who worked for John O. Brennan while she was undergoing her Naval specialist training.

She was initially recruited into The Analysis Corporation’s (TAC) electronic warfare program, run by Brennan, which later morphed into information warfare. According to Tore, she worked with intelligence agencies that were privately created and run.

In other words, they were not, and are not, official parts of government. “Unlike what most people think, our intelligence doesn’t stay within our borders or within federal buildings,” she says. Tore worked on something called “localization strategy,” which involves finding a group of people (an organization, city, entire country or religious group, for example) and “getting into their mind.”

The object is to figure out how they behave, how they think, what pushes them into certain actions and so on. This information is then used to manipulate them in ways that will further your own particular product, agenda or ideology.

The collection of information on individuals goes far beyond what most people can imagine. As explained by Tore, the information is so detailed, it can be easily used to blackmail or hurt just about anyone.

As an example, if they know you have an old hockey injury, they know where to hit you in order to cause the most pain and damage, were a physical attack to be ordered against you.

They also know what you fear most, and who the people are in your social circle, and who might be best able to influence you. Tore claims she actually helped train the algorithms for the program Bergy developed, using these localization strategies.

Whistleblower Patrick Bergy’s Story

For eight years, Bergy worked for the Dynology Corporation, owned by former President Obama’s national security adviser, Gen. James Jones. Bergy worked directly under the General’s son, Jim Jones. From 2007 to 2010, Bergy’s primary focus was the development of interactive internet activity capabilities, including hacking capabilities.

He also claims to have worked on information operations, so-called “influence operations.” Like Tore, Bergy worked on intelligence operations run by private companies. ShadowNet is the commercial version of an interactive internet activities (IIA) weapon, which Bergy developed.

Fake news, false news stories and the falsified dossier used to frame the Trump campaign are all characteristic of IIA, which Bergy refers to as “social media psychological warfare.” According to Bergy, Dynology has been conducting IIA operations for the Department of Defense since 2007.

The ShadowNet program Bergy developed was based on the localization strategies that Tore worked on. As explained by Bergy, it can very effectively control large groups of people by pushing the right hot-buttons. The COVID-19 hysteria and Black Lives Matter riots are two real-world examples of what this kind of PSYOP program can accomplish, Bergy says.

Interestingly, while these kinds of psychological operations were initially conducted by individual operators or agents, much of it has since been taken over by artificial intelligence, which executes the programming based on the behavioral profile targets the programmer selects.

As noted by Bergy, with enough information about any given individual, you can predict how they will react to a given stimulus with a high degree of accuracy. So, has this technology been used to influence American elections? According to Bergy, yes.

While American tax payers paid for the development of the program, Dynology holds the intellectual property and has been using it against the American people for years, propping up certain politicians and undermining others.

How the Shadow Intelligence Apparatus Works

As explained in the film, Section 702 of the Foreign Surveillance Act allows government to spy on American citizens with a warrant from the foreign intelligence surveillance (FISA) court.

The upstream data collected by the NSA on all Americans is only stored for 72 hours before being dumped. We’re talking about all phone calls, texts, emails, social media interactions, online activity, facial and voice recognition data and much more, of all Americans.

But what’s actually happening is that this data stream is being duplicated, stored indefinitely and privatized by companies such as the Global Strategies Group, Clearforce and the Canadian Global Information (CGI) Group.

The Global Strategies Group is a hub for this information, according to Tore. So, while these companies claim to be consulting firms, they’re not actually consulting at all. They’re stealing everyone’s data and using it against us in psychological operations designed to move society in one direction or another.

Tore claims she worked for Brennan at The Analysis Corporation and the Global Strategies Group, and that she conducted what were later described as “hacks” at the request of higher-ups. According to Tore, Brennan’s modus operandi is that when he wants a piece of information about someone — or if he wants to alter data relating to a target — he simply blames it on hackers.

According to the whistleblowers featured in this film, these privatized intelligence companies helped get Barack Obama elected using sophisticated internet influence operations.

The film also reviews a variety of other scandals that have emerged, and how the truth has been spun and covered up, including the illegal “hacking” and surveillance of the U.S. Congress, which occurred while Brennan was director of the CIA.

Private Intelligence Companies Dictate the News

Have you ever wondered who creates the talking points being regurgitated across dozens if not hundreds of news outlets on a daily basis? According to Bergy, this is the work of this network of privatized intelligence companies, utilizing tools such as ShadowNet.

When asked whether IIA has been used against President Trump, Bergy replies, “Absolutely.” According to Bergy, the Steele dossier was manufactured and used as a weapon to frame Trump and remove him from office.

Tore agrees. They have been and continue to use military-grade psychological warfare tactics against the president. She also discusses the IIA strategies employed in an effort to get Hillary Clinton elected.

Backdoor Access to All Data

According to Tore, she had backdoor access to all data and has personally viewed the kind of data collected on political figures. She’s also seen how that illegal data collection is used.

If someone steps out of line, it’s used to blackmail them back into lockstep with whatever the agenda might be. And, according to Tore, deep state shadow government actors are equally spread between the two political parties of the United States.

She also claims the Cambridge Analytica scandal was an IIA operation to make it appear as though Russia helped Trump win the election. This way, the Russia collusion hoax narrative would “stick” better. In reality, the PSYOP was conducted by the privatized intelligence network.

There’s a lot to digest in this film, but I urge you to set aside the hour and a half to do so. It answers many questions, revealing how government contractors are subverting our justice and political systems to further their own hidden aims. At the heart of it all is Gen. Jones.

According to Tore and Bergy, Jones, who heads up Clearforce, took ShadowNet and made it what it is today — a PSYOPs weapon used against the American people and the shadow government’s enemies.

Jones is also the chairman of the board of the Atlantic Council, and according to Bergy, one of the first things he did after being appointed chairman was to enter the Atlantic Council into a partnership with Facebook “to restore election integrity worldwide.”

In other words, Facebook is partnered with the owner of ShadowNet, one of the greatest PSYOP weapons in the world. To think this partnership will actually prevent election interference would be delusional, as its purpose is to do the complete opposite.

The Ultimate Surveillance State Is Near Completion

“More stuff is fake and fabricated now, in the news, than is actually real,” Bergy says. The reason for this is because IIA is in full force. As explained by Tore, IIA is essentially an AI program that tells you what you need to do, what message you need to put out, in order to get a specific outcome. It’s now running continuously.

Similar technology is even being used to undermine our judicial system. According to Tore and Bergy, a program will select jurors most likely to either acquit or find a defendant guilty (depending on the desired outcome).

While jury selection process is supposed to be random, it’s not. From that initial pool, jurors are then selected by the attorneys. But they were all non-randomly preselected in the first place, based on their proclivities, ways of thinking and behaving, and their belief systems. And, the data used to make that selection was siphoned from the NSA by these private intelligence companies.

“This is the biggest and boldest move toward the ultimate surveillance state ever made, and it’s near completion,” Weaver says, noting that in order to effectively micromanage the surveillance and manipulation of the global population, the technology must be integrated with AI and the Internet of Things, and that is already underway.

Part of the plan is to automate policing using robots and other technologies. According to Weaver, this may be why there’s now such a strong push to defund police departments across the U.S. This would allow the shadow government players to directly benefit by offering up new AI technologies to take over police functions.

Again, I hope you take the time to watch “Shadowgate.” Then, if you haven’t done so already, listen to my interview with Patrick Wood, featured in “The Pressing Dangers of Technocracy.” It’s really crucial for everyone to start wrapping their minds around what’s happening, and what’s in store for us if we don’t fight back and demand the restoration of privacy, both online and off.

Time to Break the IIA Programming

The good news is, there’s still time to break the IIA programming. How do we do it? First, by rejecting and abandoning the surveillance state’s primary data collection centers — Google and Facebook. Both have tremendous, hidden surveillance powers, act as censoring agencies for the technocratic cabal, and have the power to manipulate public opinion en masse.

For example, Robert Epstein, Ph.D., has demonstrated that Google has the ability to shift voting preferences among undecided voters by a whopping 48% to 63%, and the power to determine 25% of global elections. What’s more, this manipulation is entirely undetectable and untraceable. Epstein is now working to make Google’s manipulations transparent, through an organization called Feed the Watchdogs.

They have more than 13,000 watchdogs who monitor Big Tech for election bias 24/7 by collecting the ephemeral data that Google and other Big Tech companies are sending out to manipulate voters. You can help in this indispensable work by making a one-time or recurrent donation. For just $25, you can sponsor one month of data collecting.

At the time of this writing, Feed the Watchdogs had captured nearly 80,000 pages sent by Google, Facebook, YouTube and others to manipulate Americans. As their tactics become provable and more well-known, they’ll have little choice but to quit. Of course, I believe the best strategy is to ditch them all before then.

Say Goodbye to Google

Quitting Facebook is a simple enough affair. Just cancel your account. Evading Google, however, can be a bit more complicated, as their products span a wide range of products. For a comprehensive purge, be sure to eliminate all of the following:

Google Chrome browser — Uninstall Google Chrome and use Brave or Opera instead. Everything you do on Chrome is surveilled, including keystrokes and every webpage you’ve ever visited. Brave is a great alternative that takes privacy seriously.

Google search engine — Stop using Google search engines or any extension of Google, such as Bing or Yahoo, both of which draw search results from Google. Instead, use a default search engine that offers privacy, such as Presearch, Startpage, DuckDuckGo, Qwant and many others.

Gmail — Close your Gmail account and switch to a secure email service like ProtonMail. If you have children, don’t transfer their student Google account into a personal account once they’re out of school.

Google Docs — Ditch Google Docs and use another alternative such as Zoho Office, Etherpad, CryptPad, OnlyOffice or Nuclino, all of which are recommended by NordVPN.⁵

Google apps — Delete all Google apps from your phone and purge Google hardware. Better yet, get a de-Googled phone. Several companies now offer them, including Above Phone.

Avoid websites that use Google Analytics — To do that, you’ll need to check the website’s privacy policy and search for “Google.” Websites are required to disclose if they use a third-party surveillance tool. If they use Google Analytics, ask them to switch!

Google Home — Don’t use Google Home devices in your house or apartment. These devices record everything that occurs in your home, both speech and sounds such as brushing your teeth and boiling water, even when they appear to be inactive, and send that information back to Google. The same goes for Google’s home thermostat Nest and Amazon’s Alexa.

Android cell phones — Don’t use an Android cellphone, as it’s owned by Google.

Siri — Ditch Siri, which draws all its answers from Google.

Fitbit — Don’t use Fitbit, as it has been purchased by Google and will provide them with all your physiological information and activity levels, in addition to everything else that Google already has on you.

Additional tips to protect your privacy are included in the following graphic, such as making sure you’re using a secure messaging system and virtual private network (VPN) for your web searches.

Building a Whole-of-Society Solution

In addition to getting yourself (and as many of your friends and family as possible) off Google and Facebook, we also need to build a society that values freedom above all.

According to the Department of Homeland Security, misinformation online is a whole-of-society problem that requires a whole-of-society solution. By that, they mean that four types of institutions must fuse together as a seamless whole:

Government institutions, which provide funding and coordination.
Private sector institutions that do the censorship and dedicate funds to censorship through corporate-social responsibility programs.
Civil society institutions (universities, NGOs, academia, foundations, nonprofits and activists) that do the research, the spying and collecting of data that are then given to the private sector to censor.
News media/fact checking institutions, which put pressure on institutions, platforms and businesses to comply with the censorship demands.

To effectively combat the globalist technocrats’ takeover, we need to do the same. Here, an organization called Foundation for Freedom Online (FFO) comes to the rescue.

FFO educates people about this structure, and the ways in which legislatures and the government can be restructured, how civil society institutions can be established, and how news media can be created to support and promote freedom rather than censorship. To learn how you can be part of the solution, check out foundationforfreedomonline.com.

I firmly believe that we can turn this situation around, if for no other reason than the fact that there are some eight billion of us who want freedom, while those who seek to enslave us number in the thousands, or tens of thousands at the most. Either way, they’re clearly outnumbered.

But we need to spread the word, and help our friends and family understand how important our decisions are. We either support the network that seeks to take our freedom, or the network that seeks to protect it.

The Power of Choice

Lastly, I encourage you to seek Joy. At the end of the day, that’s what life is all about. It’s all too easy to fall into the trap of feeling like the sky is falling. What we’re facing is serious, yes. But we can overcome it. And, I believe that Joy-seeking may be a crucial component to winning.

Why? Because when you focus on what brings you Joy, everything else falls into place. New ideas arise. New solutions. And that’s precisely what we need. We need a world full of joyful, inspired people who are living their dreams, and in so doing, end up bringing new solutions to the world.

from: https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2024/03/23/shadowgate-documentary.aspx?ui=f460707c057231d228aac22d51b97f2a8dcffa7b857ec065e5a5bfbcfab498ac&sd=20211017&cid_source=dnl&cid_medium=email&cid_content=art1ReadMore&cid=20240323_HL2&foDate=true&mid=DM1546761&rid=2077060809

Positive Effects of Carnosine

Posted on February 7, 2024 by marcia

Liposomal Carnosine Is Essential for Detoxing Linoleic Acid

Analysis by Dr. Joseph Mercola

STORY AT-A-GLANCE

Carnosine is a dipeptide found in meat. The highest concentrations of carnosine are found in your muscles, brain, central nervous system and gastrointestinal tract
If you’re a vegetarian or vegan, you will have lower levels of carnosine in your muscles. This is one reason why many strict vegans who do not properly compensate for this tend to have trouble building muscle
Carnosine binds to advanced lipoxidation endproducts (ALEs) that form from oxidized seed oils in your diet, making it a crucial aid in the detoxification of linoleic acid (LA)
Thanks to its ability to scavenge 4-hydroxynonenal (4HNE), carnosine is also protective against obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and Alzheimer’s disease, just to name a few
The best way to optimize your carnosine level is to eat organic grass fed beef. When it comes to carnosine supplements, your best bet is liposomal versions as they have the highest bioavailability

Carnosine is a dipeptide found in meat. It’s not found in any plant foods. Dipeptide means it’s made up of two amino acids, in this case beta-alanine and histidine. The highest concentrations of carnosine are found in your muscles, brain, central nervous system¹ and gastrointestinal tract,² which gives you an indication of its potential importance.

Unfortunately, it’s also one of the top 10 most common nutrient deficiencies, especially among vegans. If you’re a vegetarian or vegan, you will have lower levels of carnosine in your muscles. This is one reason why many strict vegans who do not properly compensate for this tend to have trouble building muscle.

Carnosine also binds to advanced lipoxidation endproducts (ALEs) that form from oxidized seed oils in your diet, making it a crucial aid in the detoxification of linoleic acid (LA).

Carnosine’s Physiological Roles

Carnosine has several physiological roles and benefits. For example, it:³

Provides athletic benefits — Approximately 99% of carnosine is found in muscle tissue where it facilitates lactic acid detoxification, improves muscle contraction and muscle relaxation and enhances endurance

Alleviates diabetic nephropathy by protecting podocyte and mesangial cells⁴

Modulates energy metabolism in macrophages and microglia by restoring and/or enhancing the basal conditions

Has antioxidant properties and scavenges reactive oxygen species (ROS) and aldehydes created by peroxidation of fatty acid cell membranes during oxidative stress⁵

Regulates the activity of stem cells

Modulates glucose metabolism

Enhances the degradation and/or scavenging of nitric oxide (NO)

Promotes wound healing

Opposes glycation⁶

Slows down the aging process by prolonging the life of cells and preserving cellular homeostasis⁷

Regulates osmotic pressure

Modulates glutamate production and transport

Modulates brain metabolism

Chelates heavy metals⁸

Acts as a pH buffer⁹

Acts as a neurotransmitter

Protects olfactory receptor neurons in the elderly

Beef, Liposomal Carnosine and Precursors Are the Best Sources

Interestingly, a June 2023 paper¹⁰ in the medical journal Pharmaceuticals reviewed the science behind carnosine with the aim of developing new delivery systems for carnosine-based drugs. As noted in this paper:

“Because of its well-demonstrated multimodal pharmacodynamic profile, which includes anti-aggregant, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory activities, as well as its ability to modulate the energy metabolism status in immune cells, this dipeptide has been investigated in numerous experimental models of diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease, and at a clinical level.

The main limit for the therapeutic use of carnosine is related to its rapid hydrolysis … [This is the] reason why the development of new strategies, including the chemical modification of carnosine or its vehiculation into innovative drug delivery systems (DDS), aiming at increasing its bioavailability and/or at facilitating the site-specific transport to different tissues, is of utmost importance.”

Delivery systems currently in use or in development include intraperitoneal injections, intranasal sprays and oral administration of various nanoformulations. But while the drug industry is keen on figuring out how to profit from carnosine by making it into a drug, you certainly don’t need a drug to get these benefits.

Simply eating organic grass fed beef is one of the most efficient ways to raise your carnosine level.¹¹ This is one of many reasons why cultured beef is not a viable substitute for real beef. Not only does fake beef lack carnosine but also B vitamins, retinol, long-chain omega-3 fatty acids, taurine, creatine and bioavailable forms of iron and zinc.¹²

Most carnosine supplements aren’t very effective either because the carnosine is rapidly broken down into its constituent amino acids by certain enzymes. Your body then reformulates those amino acids back to carnosine in your muscles.

An exception to this is liposomal carnosine, which appears to work quite well. Another alternative is to supplement with beta-alanine, which is the rate limiting amino acid in the formation of carnosine. According to a 2021 paper,¹³ daily intake of beta-alanine can raise the carnosine content of skeletal muscle by as much as 80%

Carnosine Protects Against LA-Induced Oxidative Stress

One benefit not expounded upon in the Pharmaceuticals paper is carnosine’s ability to reduce LA-induced oxidative stress. While your body will slowly eliminate stored LA over time, provided you reduce your intake, carnosine can help reduce the oxidative damage caused by LA while your body is cleaning itself out. I take liposomal carnosine every day before meals to help detoxify LA.

The omega-6 fat LA is highly susceptible to oxidation, and as the fat oxidizes it breaks down into harmful sub-components such as ALEs and oxidized LA metabolites (OXLAMs). These ALEs and OXLAMs are what cause most of the damage.

Carnosine binds to ALEs like a magnet and acts as a sacrificial sink. It’s basically a substitute target for these profoundly damaging molecules. In this way, carnosine allows your body to excrete the ALEs from your body before they damage your mitochondria, DNA or proteins. (Another molecule that protects against LA-induced damage is carbon dioxide). The illustration below shows how carnosine works in this regard.

Carnosine May Be Protective Against a Wide Range of Diseases

A more detailed explanation of how carnosine protects against reactive oxygen species (ROS) and how that helps protect against oxidative stress-related pathologies is given in a 2021 paper in the journal Antioxidants:¹⁴

“A study that examined the effect of carnosine on oxidative stress in human kidney tubular epithelial (HK-2) cells indicated that carnosine decreased NADPH oxidase (NOX) 4 expression and increased total superoxide dismutase (T-SOD) activity, thus reducing the production of intracellular ROS, relieving the oxidative stress of cells, and ultimately inhibiting the mitochondrial pathway of apoptosis.

Ability of carnosine to protect against pathologies characterized by oxidative stress has been shown in a number of conditions … Carnosine changes the reactivity of superoxide anion by forming a charge-transfer complex with the superoxide radical and also by reducing the efficiency of hydroxyl radicals, creating a compound less reactive than the hydroxyl radical.

One of the mechanisms to protect organisms from oxidative stress is the chelation of transition metals, preventing them from participating in deleterious processes involving ROS … Interestingly, when comparing metals involved in free radical generation, carnosine was found to have a greater antioxidant activity coupled with copper than iron …

At physiological concentrations, carnosine directly reacts with superoxide anion similar to ascorbic acid. In physiological conditions, carnosine was found to reduce oxidative damage and to improve antioxidant activity of different antioxidative enzymes …

Experiments on aged rats showed that therapy with 250 mg/kg/carnosine per day significantly decreased oxidative stress and increased activity of antioxidative enzymes … In similar model of aged rats, carnosine increased liver vitamin E, which further demonstrates its importance in defending the organism from free radicals.

Rising data indicate that carnosine acts as a scavenger of reactive and cytotoxic carbonyl species including 4-hydroxynonenal (HNE). HNE is an aldehyde generated endogenously by lipid peroxidation of unsaturated fatty acids that act as ‘toxic second messengers,’ extending the harmful potential of free radicals.

HNE is considered an important biomarker of oxidative stress and accumulating data indicate that it may modulate signaling pathways of cell proliferation, apoptosis, and inflammation.”

How Carnosine Protects Against Alzheimer’s

As noted in the Pharmaceuticals paper,¹⁵ one of the pathologies that carnosine is protective against is Alzheimer’s disease. In my November 2021 interview with Tucker Goodrich, he explained the role of HNE, specifically, in Alzheimer’s, and why it’s so important to get rid of it.

“In heart failure, Alzheimer’s, and AMD [age-related macular degeneration], one of the things they see is an inability of the cell to produce enough energy. The mitochondria are getting damaged. HNE does that damage. It damages 24% of the proteins in the cell, primarily around energy production.

One of the ways your cells produce energy is they basically ferment glucose into pyruvate outside of the mitochondria. This is a perfectly normal part of metabolism and they produce something called pyruvate. A molecule called pyruvate dehydrogenase takes pyruvate into the mitochondria and converts it to acetyl-CoA so the mitochondria can burn it very efficiently for fuel.

Well, one of the things HNE does is it breaks pyruvate dehydrogenase, and they see this in Alzheimer’s where their cells are no longer able to produce enough energy. This is why your cells are dying in Alzheimer’s.

The beta amyloid plaques in Alzheimer’s disease are induced by HNE. There’s a great model that came out of Harvard a couple of years ago showing that.

Even the critical, the most important part of the mitochondria, complex 5, — ADP synthase — which is what takes all the energy coming from your mitochondria and turns it into ATP, which is what fuels the rest of your body — is damaged by HNE. This is a huge issue. There’s no more fundamental problem in aging and health than protein damage.”

Carnosine is the most effective scavenger of HNE, so optimizing your level can go a long way toward protecting against the HNE-induced damage that promotes Alzheimer’s.

Carnosine — A Promising Therapeutic for Obesity-Related Conditions

Elevated HNE has also been found in obese and diabetic patients,¹⁶ so there’s reason to suspect carnosine can be important in the treatment of these conditions as well. Another disease where elevated HNE plays a role is atherosclerosis. As noted in the 2021 Antioxidants paper:¹⁷

“… emerging studies have indicated that these reactive aldehydes are more than simply markers of oxidative stress.

Rather, it is suggested that these reactive species may play a significant pathogenic role in obesity-associated disorders such as insulin resistance and a carnosine analog alleviates the production or enhances the removal of reactive carbonyl species, providing promising new therapeutic compounds for cardiovascular and metabolic diseases related to obesity.”

Take Control of Your Health by Lowering Your LA Intake

As detailed in several previous articles, the evidence strongly suggests excessive LA is driving most if not all modern diseases, including heart disease and cancer. Fortunately, the solution is simple. Just lower your LA intake.

The easiest way to do this is to use an online nutritional calculator such as Cronometer to calculate your daily intake. Cronometer will tell you how much omega-6 you’re getting from your food down to the 10th of a gram, and you can assume 90% of that is LA. Anything over 10 grams is likely to cause problems. I keep my intake below 5 grams a day.

Since there’s no downside to limiting your LA, you’ll want to keep it as low as possible, which you do by avoiding high-LA foods. Keep in mind you’ll never be able to get to zero, and you wouldn’t want to do that either. You do need some LA, but since it’s found in most foods, and since you need only small amounts, there’s really no way to end up with a deficiency.

from: https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2024/02/05/liposomal-carnosine.aspx?ui=f460707c057231d228aac22d51b97f2a8dcffa7b857ec065e5a5bfbcfab498ac&sd=20211017&cid_source=dnl&cid_medium=email&cid_content=art1ReadMore&cid=20240205_HL2&foDate=true&mid=DM1527161&rid=2037668808