Trust “The Science” — What “Science”?

Top Harvard Cancer Researchers Accused of Scientific Fraud, 37 Studies Affected

Boston: Several top researchers from the Harvard-affiliated teaching hospital, the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, were accused of manipulating image data (pictures of Western blots) with simple copy-and-past techniques. It is unknown how these manipulations change the outcome of the studies. The Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston has already initiated six retractions to papers and 31 others are in the process of being corrected.

Sholto David, the man who discovered the manipulations, said, “”[W]e only see the tiny tip of the fraud iceberg – image data duplications, the last resort of a failed scientist after every other trick failed to provide the desired result, Billions of dollars were burned for this cancerous trash science, but it made many academic careers, some got very rich, and entire dynasties established themselves at Dana Farber.”

David said on his website that such fraud explains “why the progress in cancer research is so slow despite billions being invested into basic research.”

.Top Harvard cancer researchers, including Dana-Farber Cancer Institute President and CEO Laurie Glimcher, are being accused of faking data and committing scientific fraud.

From Ars Technica, “Top Harvard cancer researchers accused of scientific fraud; 37 studies affected”:

The Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School, is seeking to retract six scientific studies and correct 31 others that were published by the institute’s top researchers, including its CEO. The researchers are accused of manipulating data images with simple methods, primarily with copy-and-paste in image editing software, such as Adobe Photoshop.

The accusations come from [British molecular biologist] data sleuth Sholto David and colleagues on PubPeer, an online forum for researchers to discuss publications that has frequently served to spot dubious research and potential fraud. On January 2, David posted on his research integrity blog, For Better Science, a long list of potential data manipulation from DFCI researchers. The post highlighted many data figures that appear to contain pixel-for-pixel duplications. The allegedly manipulated images are of data such as Western blots, which are used to detect and visualize the presence of proteins in a complex mixture. DFCI Research Integrity Officer Barrett Rollins told The Harvard Crimson that David had contacted DFCI with allegations of data manipulation in 57 DFCI-led studies. Rollins said that the institute is “committed to a culture of accountability and integrity,” and that “every inquiry about research integrity is examined fully.”

The allegations are against: DFCI President and CEO Laurie Glimcher, Executive Vice President and COO William Hahn, Senior Vice President for Experimental Medicine Irene Ghobrial, and Harvard Medical School professor Kenneth Anderson.

David said on his website that such fraud explains “why the progress in cancer research is so slow despite billions being invested into basic research.”

David shared dozens of pictures like the one above showing dozens of researchers allegedly copy/pasting and faking their data.

“[W]e only see the tiny tip of the fraud iceberg – image data duplications, the last resort of a failed scientist after every other trick failed to provide the desired result,” David said. “Billions of dollars were burned for this cancerous trash science, but it made many academic careers, some got very rich, and entire dynasties established themselves at Dana Farber.”

Read full article here…

ARS Technica:        https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/01/top-harvard-cancer-researchers-accused-of-scientific-fraud-37-studies-affected/

NY Post:        https://nypost.com/2024/01/22/news/harvard-teaching-hospital-to-retract-papers-by-top-researchers/

from:    https://needtoknow.news/2024/01/top-harvard-cancer-researchers-accused-of-scientific-fraud-37-studies-affected/

Some Election Cautions

Plan to Stop Election Fraud in 2024 Using Temporary Restraining Orders!

The United Sovereign Americans organization is using voter registration rolls as evidence and is filing temporary restraining orders (TROs) against states in order to prevent corruption in the upcoming 2024 election. The plan is for the TROs to force the matter to the Supreme Court as emergency litigation before the 2024 election.

Link for video: https://rumble.com/v43tyj3-united-sovereign-americans-ceo-marly-hornik-on-the-voice-of-rural-america-1.html

Summary by JW Williams

United Sovereign Americans CEO Marly Hornik is a homeschool mother and homesteader in New York. She is involved in auditing voter registration rolls from a number of states to collect data to show that elections that are invalid. Corruption in elections has affected the leadership of our country and the critical infrastructure. The problem lies with certifying elections that are not valid or accurate.

The United Sovereign Americans organization is using voter registration rolls as evidence and is filing temporary restraining orders (TROs) against states in order to prevent corruption in the upcoming 2024 election. She said that TROs may be filed under the Voting Rights Act of 1965 by individuals who think that their suffrage (right to vote) has been denied or is about to be denied or abridged. She says it must be done before the election to stop the crime from happening. The plan is for the TROs to force the matter to the US Supreme Court as emergency litigation before the 2024 election.

Click the link to find out more about volunteering for research and filing TROs:     https://unite4freedom.com/volunteer/

She gave the example of bizarre results from Illinois 2022 election that included 2.8 million registration records, which are federal documents, that were registered after the vote. Some of the registrations had a year-long record of voting prior to the registration date. Other registrations were backdated, or birth dates were changed. Another problem in Illinois was that there were 27,491 more votes counted than voters who voted. She said that the Illinois voter roll registration database had an error rate of 38% and asked why did the state certified it.

The media has been selling a narrative that makes people believe they live in a blue state, and it is not necessarily true. The corrupt ideology of radical Democrats and RINOs fails to represent the People, and it is on the brink of controlling the electoral college via the voter roll databases and narrative manipulation by the media.

United Sovereign Americans is working to prevent corruption int he 2024 election.

.Additional videos about invalid elections in other states…

New York:

Link for video:      https://rumble.com/v3zs8fa-marly-hornik-ceo-of-united-sovereign-americans-on-the-voice-of-rural-americ.html

Ohio: 

Link for video:      https://rumble.com/v42jz98-united-sovereign-americans-ceo-marly-hornik-on-the-voice-of-rural-america-1.html

from:    https://needtoknow.news/2024/01/plan-to-stop-election-fraud-in-2024-using-temporary-restraining-orders/

“Animal Free” Fake Milk — What!!!

New Untested Synthetic Milk Containing Toxic Ingredients Is Set to Hit the Market

Bored Cow is introducing a new “animal free” fake milk made from whey protein called “ProFerm”. It is made with sunflower oil which is an inflammatory seed oil that may be genetically modified. The label does not specify whether the whey protein was produced through the genetic engineering of yeast. Also, the main input for fermentation is sugar — and they’re using high fructose corn syrup, which is also a GMO product. There are 69 important nutrients present in natural milk, most of which are completely absent in synbio milk. The Bored Cow samples that were analyzed contained an agricultural fungicide. Synthetic milk has never before been consumed by humans and has not undergone safety testing by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)!

No antibiotics, no hormones. Just dairy. A new completely lactose-free dairy. Dairy without the cows? 

Um, how does that work?   

The fake milk, sold by Bored Cow, uses a wannabe whey protein  –   “microflora” called “ProFerm” made by their partner Perfect Day, “a consumer biology company on a mission to create a kinder, greener tomorrow by developing new ways to make the foods you love today — starting in the dairy aisle.”

They claim their product is a new kind of “animal-free” milk alternative “made with real milk protein from fermentation.”

Health Research Institute (HRI), a nonprofit independent lab based in Fairfield, Iowa examined multiple samples of Bored Cow’s “original” flavor milk using mass spectrometry to test the claim that the synthetic protein it contained was the same as real milk protein. HRI compared these results to samples of natural milk from grass-fed cows.

Their testing revealed 92 unknown molecules — and a fungicide — in “synthetic”  milk protein used by more than a dozen food brands sold in common grocery chains. 

The ingredients listed for Bored Cow’s “original” flavor are:

“Water, animal-free whey protein (from fermentation), sunflower oil, sugar, less than 1% of vitamin A, vitamin B12 (cyanocobalamin), vitamin D2, riboflavin, citrus fiber, salt, dipotassium phosphate, acacia, gellan gum, mixed tocopherols (antioxidant), calcium potassium phosphate citrate, natural flavor.”

This is a stew made with sorcery and mostly crap, starting with the sunflower oil which is an inflammatory seed oil that may be genetically modified as well. Meanwhile, the label does not specify whether the whey protein was produced through the genetic engineering of yeast. Also, the main input for fermentation is sugar — and they’re using high fructose corn syrup, which is also a GMO product. It’s all gross and phony.

Aside from the host of unknown compounds, synthetic milk lacked many important micronutrients found in natural milk such as an omega-3 fatty acid, vitamin E, and some B vitamins. Additionally, forms of carnitine that are “really important for energy metabolism” were either missing or only present in trace amounts in the synbio product.

“There were 69 important nutrients present in natural milk, most of which were completely absent in synbio milk. A few were present in small or trace amounts,” according to HRI’s Chief Scientist and CEO John Fagan, Ph.D. Fagan — a molecular biologist and former cancer researcher at the National Institutes of Health — has been a worldwide pioneer in testing genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

Additionally, only eight compounds were identifiable. The rest were “uncharacterized” by scientific literature.

“The 92 unknown molecules we found have never been studied by scientists. So we don’t know whether they’re safe or dangerous, whether they are nutrients or toxins,” added Fagan.

Fagan found it concerning that the Bored Cow samples also contained an agricultural fungicide called Benthiavalicarb-isopropyl.

“I think the reason this fungicide is present is because they added it to the fermentation process to inhibit the growth of fungi that could contaminate the production system,” he said, “So the things that we see here are not really good for us, let me put it that way.”

HCI’s official report has not been published yet.

But suffice to say, these results contradict Perfect Day’s claim that its product — used by Bored Cow — is “identical to what cows make.”

Claiming the proteins are “molecularly identical to those produced by cows” is a lie.

Synthetic milk has never before been consumed by humans and has not undergone safety testing by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Milk from Moo to You

This slogan is no longer applicable.

Perfect Day claims ProFerm does not contain GMOs. The industry calls it ‘precision fermentation’ rather than ‘genetic engineering.’  Unlike plant-based alternatives like almond milk or soy milk, this stuff supposedly “tastes and performs the same way as real milk when used as an ingredient.”

Trix is for kids.

Perfect Day’s website doesn’t even use the word “GMOs” to explain its production process, instead, they describe “how [they] teach microflora to create sustainable protein.”

Some call this DoubleSpeak.

‘Microflora’ is a nice term for GMO yeast.

“Synbio” — short for “synthetic biology” — is a method that uses genetic engineering to modify microorganisms like yeast, algae, or bacteria to produce novel products.

Looks like they are avoiding the negative connotations of Frankenstein faux food.

“The biotechnology industry is marketing this method as ‘precision fermentation’ because it exploits a natural process … but it’s actually a form of genetic engineering,” states the Non-GMO Project.

Read full article here…

from:    https://needtoknow.news/2024/01/new-synthetic-milk-riddled-with-gmos-is-set-to-hit-the-market/

Open Border and Voter Numbers

NEWS

Stunning: A Dem lawmaker admits ON CAMERA they’re importing third world illegals to stay in power…


Many Americans are watching the situation unfold at the US border and can’t help but think that a disaster of this magnitude must be planned, right? While the media and the left dismiss the “Great Replacement Theory” as a wild conspiracy, it’s not a wild conspiracy; it’s very real.

 

In fact, left-wing lawmakers are now openly acknowledging this plot on live TV. Rep. Yvette Clarke let the cat out of the bag when she explained how she needs more illegals in her state for “redistricting purposes.” What does that mean? Simple: Democrats are now openly admitting they’re importing third-world rejects in order to stay in power.

 

The one bright spot is that the American people see this globalist plot for what it is: an invasion. But that doesn’t solve the issue.

National Pulse:

 Sixty-five percent, or almost a full two thirds of Americans say it is “very accurate” or “somewhat accurate” to describe the Biden-made crisis at the U.S. border as an “invasion” of the United States. The data comes as part of new Rasmussen Reports polling of likely U.S. voters, sponsored by The National Pulse.

However, Democrats are not stupid. Despite openly acknowledging the plot, they are aware that the border crisis has now become a bipartisan issue. Everyone’s pissed at this point. This means Biden will “feign” concern and temporarily reinstate Trump’s successful policies to slow the flow. This way, during the election season, Biden can appear as if he’s actually taking steps to address the issue. Don’t be fooled; it’s all a ruse.

They need these illegals to remain in power.

Meanwhile, if you’re holding your breath and waiting for Republicans to save the country, you’ll turn blue and die. As a matter of fact, the gutless Republicans just funded Biden’s border chaos.

The GOP is not only worthless; they’re actively working against us. The Uniparty is real, folks, and if we don’t exterminate it, we’ll never save this country.

from:    https://revolver.news/2024/01/stunning-dem-lawmaker-admits-on-camera-importing-third-world-illegals-to-stay-in-power/

Free Rent and Housing for Illegals in Maine!!!!

Maine Builds New Apartment Buildings for Illegal Immigrants With Free Rent for TWO YEARS (VIDEO)

The taxpayers of Maine have just funded the construction of several brand new apartment buildings for people who illegally crossed our border.

People who were lucky enough to get these homes will live there RENT FREE for two years while they apply for work permits.

This raises many questions, but here’s a big one. Why can’t this be done for homeless Americans? Why do we even have homeless veterans if this can be done for non-Americans?

Do our leaders have any idea how insulting this is to millions of American citizens?

News Center Maine reports:

Town of Brunswick celebrates new apartments for unhoused asylum seekers

For years, the former naval air station base in Brunswick has been undergoing renovations. Businesses have slowly moved in, and housing developments are continuing to pop up on once-barren streets. That includes new apartments that, for the next couple of years, will be serving asylum seekers.

On Monday, dozens of people gathered at Brunswick Landing to celebrate 60 new apartment units going up in five buildings. Twenty-four of them are already complete. These units are designed to house asylum seekers, as they wait to receive work permits. That process can often take a while, since asylum seekers can’t even file for a permit until at least six months after filing their initial asylum applications.

This program is happening through the Maine State Housing Authority. MaineHousing will essentially pay the rent for these asylum seekers for up to two years. After that, they will be converted to a mix of market-rate and affordable housing, unless the state says the program needs to be extended.

Here’s a video report:

There are 60 units here.

 

Maine has plenty of American citizens who are poor and disadvantaged. Imagine being one of them and seeing this. It’s outrageous.

from:    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/01/maine-builds-new-apartment-buildings-illegal-immigrants-free/

(Fake) Chicken Anyone?

Lab-Grown Chicken — The Latest Silicon Valley Mess to Clean Up?

Analysis by Dr. Joseph Mercola 
lab grown chicken

STORY AT-A-GLANCE

  • Upside Foods, a leader in the fake meat market and one of two companies allowed to sell cultured meat in the U.S., has failed to scale up its production to produce meaningful amounts of synthetic meat
  • Plagued by contamination issues, Upside had problems with rodent DNA found in one of its chicken cell lines
  • While parading its expensive stainless-steel bioreactors for the press, Upside is actually growing only small amounts of fake meat bits inside small, single-use plastic bottles
  • Fake meat, presented as a solution to save the environment, may end up being worse for the planet than real meat
  • Lab-grown meat is often made using animal components, so it’s not really animal-free, and when Upside tested its fake meat for heavy metals, some samples contained 20 times more lead than conventional ground chicken

Silicon Valley is banking on cultured meat taking off, providing animal-free “meat” to satisfy the carnivorous appetites of the world’s more than 8 billion people — most of whom eat meat. But what started out with grandiose fanfare and backing from billionaire investors like Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos1 is falling flat.

The dream of creating cultured “chicken” breasts or animal-free “beef” fillets is turning out to be nothing more than a fairy tale. Upside Foods, a leader in the fake meat market and one of two companies allowed to sell cultured meat in the U.S.,2 has resorted instead to “growing just minuscule numbers of chicken skin-type cells in small plastic bottles, then scraping them out gram by gram to compress and mold them into a single forkful of flesh.”3

It’s not only unappetizing. Even if it succeeds, fake meat, presented as a solution to save the environment, may end up being worse for the planet than real meat, while presenting consumers with another highly processed food product that may further devastate human health.

What Happens When Silicon Valley Gets Mixed Up in Food Production?

Putting faith in Silicon Valley to produce wholesome food was the first mistake in the race to create cultured food. While regenerative farmers raising grass fed cows and free-range chickens work in concert with nature to provide food in the form humans have thrived on since the beginning of time, Silicon Valley does just the opposite.

In a process completely removed from nature, venture-backed startups are using precision fermentation based on genetically engineered microbes to create synthetic food products in a lab. At Upside, which has received backing from Richard Branson, Kimbal Musk and even meat giants Tyson Foods and Cargill,4 stainless steel bioreactors are paraded as a measure of progress at media events, but it’s nothing more than careful PR.

Inside reports from employees, uncovered by The Wall Street Journal, claim that the bioreactors are plagued by contamination and rodent DNA was once found in a chicken cell line.5 Illustrating the contradiction that is the fake meat industry, the “sustainable” lab-grown chicken is in actuality being grown in two-liter plastic bottles — hundreds of which are required to product a few fillets.6

In the U.S., a limited amount of Upside’s lab-grown chicken is available as part of a tasting menu at Bar Crenn in San Francisco. But even Bloomberg reported this “sustainable” solution makes no sense:7

“The company is growing them in small, single-use plastic bottles, in amounts so piddling that a single night at Bar Crenn, a ‘certified plastic-free’ establishment, according to its website, could require the use of more than a hundred such bottles.”

Upside’s Expensive Fake Chicken Bits Aren’t Made From Muscle Cells

To make fake meat, cell lines taken from a living organism. They’re then manipulated to grow quickly and consistently. While myoblasts are the type of cells that grow into muscle meat, they’re the most difficult for fake meat companies to grow and “immortalize.”

“A regular cell extracted from an animal, known as a primary cell, won’t replicate forever. Eventually it stops, entering a phase known as senescence. If a company wants to grow significant amounts of meat and doesn’t want to have to keep taking cells from live animals or embryos, it needs to turn primary cells into immortal ones,” Bloomberg reports.8

Because myoblasts are difficult to immortalize, fibroblasts, which grow easily, are often used in cultured meat products. “But when it comes to food, they’re not what most people would consider delectable. They can develop into fat and other cells, but they’re most known for their role in making connective tissue, like cartilage or what’s found in skin,” according to Bloomberg’s report.9

Adipocytes, or fat cells, are also sometimes used, often mixed with plant proteins. In a dossier for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Upside named genetically engineered immortalized fibroblasts and a naturally immortalized myoblast cell line as options for its fake meat. But Samir Qurashi, a former Upside employee, shared doubts the company had a myoblast cell line capable of being used in production.

“It’s next to near impossible,” he told Bloomberg, and, indeed, the fake meat Upside is serving at upscale Bar Crenn is made from fibroblasts, the type that typically forms connective tissue. Further, according to Bloomberg:10

“The chicken doesn’t even include immortalized cells; it’s made of primary fibroblast cells that at some point will stop replicating and at best grow only into connective tissue. This means that to make more chicken, scientists will eventually have to go back to an embryo and remove more cells, a process that, even when it works, also kills the embryo. (Bar Crenn didn’t provide comment.)

It’s an admission that has left experts both confused and amused. “I scratch my head,” says David Kaplan, director of the Tufts University Center for Cellular Agriculture. “Why would you ever use primary cells?”

The Myth of Animal-Free Meat

One of the foundational principles behind cultured meat is the ability to produce food without killing animals. But fake meat is often made using animal components, negating this principle.

Normally, cells grow in a structure in your body. The cell lines being grown in labs are grown in a thin film or growth medium. In the body, the growth medium is your blood, Dutch investigative journalist Elze van Hamelen reports,11 a complex substance that laboratories try to replicate using fetal bovine serum (FBS) — blood taken from living calf fetuses.

“It’s really gruesome how this is harvested,” she says,12 pointing out that this contradicts the narrative that lab-grown meats are made without animals. FBS is often used to grow cultured cells because of the proteins and vitamins it contains. A 2013 study stated, “In many common culture media, the sole source of micronutrients is fetal bovine serum (FBS) …”13

When lab-grown chicken made by U.S. startup Eat Just debuted in Singapore in 2020 — marking the first cultured meat to be sold at a restaurant14 — it was produced using FBS. Upside stated in 2021 that it had developed a way to grow fake meat without animal components, yet its first chicken filets still depended on animal compounds.15

In fact, part of Qurashi’s role at Upside was to harvest cells from crustaceans, a process that killed them. As reported by Bloomberg, “Qurashi had the extremely challenging task of procuring cells from live crustaceans — a job that always led to their untimely demise, costing two or three animals their life each week. ‘Literally, people cried when they saw me,’ Qurashi says of his colleagues.”16

In order to develop synthetic “blood” instead, precision fermentation and artificial hormones may be used. Micronutrients and minerals must also be sourced, making the process “insanely expensive,” van Hamelen says.17

Use of FBS-free medium may cause cultured meat to cost over $20,000 per kilogram.18 A report from the Good Food Institute (GFI), a nonprofit group behind the alternative protein industry,19 suggested that if the cost of FBS-free mediums could be reduced, it would drive down the cost of cultured meat by 90%. This, however, is unlikely.

“[T]he report provides no evidence to explain why these micronutrient costs will fall,” Joe Fassler, The Counter’s deputy editor, wrote in an in-depth exposé about the actual science behind lab-grown meat.”20

Fake Chicken Contains More Lead Than Real Chicken

Adding to the controversy over lab-grown meat, when Upside tested its fake meat products for heavy metals, some samples contained 20 times more lead than conventional ground chicken, along with about eight times more cholesterol compared to conventional chicken.21

There are other concerns as well. Writing in Frontiers in Nutrition, it’s speculated that “with this high level of cell multiplication, some dysregulation is likely as happens in cancer cells. Likewise, the control of its nutritional composition is still unclear, especially for micronutrients and iron.”22

Synthetic dairy products, including milk made from genetically engineered yeast, is also raising concerns about the health risks of fake food. Along with missing important micronutrients that are abundant in real milk, fake milk contains compounds that have never before existed in the human diet. One analysis revealed 92 mysterious, unknown compounds in fake milk that don’t exist in real milk.23

The Environment Also Suffers From Lab-Grown Meat

The other myth that’s part of the fake meat narrative is that it’s better for the environment than real meat. Even with the use of renewable energy factored in, lab-grown chicken would have the same carbon footprint as conventional chicken, according to a report by CE Delft.24 When global average energy mixes were used, lab-grown meat had a higher carbon footprint than pork and chicken.

A preprint study from University of California, Davis researchers also found that the environmental impact of lab-grown meat is “likely to be orders of magnitude higher than median beef production,”25 again highlighting the myth that fake foods are more sustainable than real foods, especially when they’re produced regeneratively.

The reality is that fake foods are far from sustainable. John Fagan, Ph.D., a molecular biologist who worked with the U.S. National Institutes of Health for 8.5 years, explains:26

“The reality is that many of the carbon footprint calculations have been done starting with the fermentation process and going forward, but where did the high fructose corn syrup come from that is the primary energy component that goes into these fermentations?

… And you look at that industrial agriculture and you add that carbon footprint on to what they have been using in their calculations and suddenly it goes way in the wrong direction. And so we can’t even use the sustainability arguments to justify what’s being done. It just doesn’t work.”

This Is About Controlling the Food Supply

Sustainability, animal rights and human health are all buzzwords being floated around fake meat. But this isn’t about saving the planet or animals, and it’s certainly not about making people healthier. The reason why Silicon Valley is willing to invest billions into fake food is because it knows that whoever controls the food supply controls the population.

The globalists are trying to replace animal husbandry with lab-grown meat, which will allow private companies to effectively control the entire food supply. Just as was the case with GMOs, raising awareness about the dangers of fake meat is important, especially in this early and aggressively expanding phase.

Tell your social circle that to save the planet and support your health, it’s necessary to skip all the fake meat and dairy alternatives and opt for real food instead. When you shop for food, know your farmer and look for regenerative, biodynamic and/or grass fed farming methods, which are what we need to support a healthy, autonomous population.

from:    https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2024/01/10/lab-grown-chicken.aspx?ui=f460707c057231d228aac22d51b97f2a8dcffa7b857ec065e5a5bfbcfab498ac&sd=20211017&cid_source=dnl&cid_medium=email&cid_content=art2HL&cid=20240110_HL2&foDate=true&mid=DM1515011&rid=2015258319

Cartel Shootout at the AZ Border

Cartel Gunfight Erupts With Mexican Military Near Arizona Port Of Entry

Last Friday, an intense firefight involving cartel members and the Mexican military occurred down the street from the Port of Entry at Lukeville, Arizona at the US-Mexico border. Reports indicated machine gun fire and other gunfire was so close to the international border that “national guard members” could hear the chaos. Biden’s radical open border policy has significantly benefited Mexican cartels, who are capitalizing on human smuggling and drug trafficking.

.A byproduct of President Biden’s radical open-border policies is the rapid deterioration of the southern border. Footage from Friday shows an intense firefight involving cartel members and the Mexican military, occurring down the street from the Lukeville, Arizona, Port of Entry.

“Reports are coming in about a large firefight south of the Lukeville POE in AZ between the cartel and the Mexican military. Gunfire can be heard, and a small explosion. Possible vehicles are on fire. It is unusual for this type of direct contact between the cartel and GOM in that area,” former ICE field director John Fabbricatore wrote in an X post on Friday.

 

Fabbricatore posted footage of cartel members and the military exchanging automatic gunfire, adding this took place down the street from the Lukeville Port of Entry.

Two other videos show the incident area, closely resembling the war-ravaged streets in the Middle East.

 

In a separate report, NewsNation’s Ali Bradley confirmed the cartel shootout. She said the firefight was so close to the international border that “national guard members” could hear the chaos.

 

Read full article here…

from:    https://needtoknow.news/2024/01/cartel-gunfight-erupts-with-mexican-military-near-arizona-port-of-entry/

I’ve Got A Deal for You….

The EV Graveyard Reckoning, Hardly Anyone Wants to Buy a Used One

The market for used EVs is plummeting. What will car rental companies do with the used ones? Problems started in China but have spread to Europe and the US.

China’s Abandoned, Obsolete Electric Cars Are Piling Up in Cities

Bloomberg notes China’s Abandoned, Obsolete Electric Cars Are Piling Up in Cities

A subsidy-fueled boom helped build China into an electric-car giant but left weed-infested lots across the nation brimming with unwanted battery-powered vehicles.

On the outskirts of the Chinese city of Hangzhou, a small dilapidated temple overlooks a graveyard of sorts: a series of fields where hundreds upon hundreds of electric cars have been abandoned among weeds and garbage.

Similar pools of unwanted battery-powered vehicles have sprouted up in at least half a dozen cities across China, though a few have been cleaned up. In Hangzhou, some cars have been left for so long that plants are sprouting from their trunks. Others were discarded in such a hurry that fluffy toys still sit on their dashboards.

The cars were likely deserted after the ride-hailing companies that owned them failed, or because they were about to become obsolete as automakers rolled out EV after EV with better features and longer driving ranges. They’re a striking representation of the excess and waste that can happen when capital floods into a burgeoning industry, and perhaps also an odd monument to the seismic progress in electric transportation over the last few years.

Shenzhen-based photographer Wu Guoyong was one of the first people in China to document the waste that results from frenetic development, taking striking drone shots of the piles of abandoned bicycles in 2018. In 2019, he filmed aerial footage of thousands of electric cars in empty lots around Hangzhou and Nanjing, the capital of China’s eastern Jiangsu province.

“The shared bikes and EV graveyards are a result of unconstrained capitalism,” Wu said. “The waste of resources, the damage to the environment, the vanishing wealth, it’s a natural consequence.”

Hoot of the Day

EV graveyards are a result of unconstrained capitalism.

Mercy!

The Chinese government literally forced people to buy the damn things. Biden is attempting the same in the US.

That article is from August. Let’s flash forward to December 21 to see how things are going in Europe.

No One Wants Used EVs, Making New Ones a Tougher Sell Too

What started in China is not limited to China. A second Bloomberg article reveals No One Wants Used EVs, Making New Ones a Tougher Sell Too

Because most new vehicles in Europe are sold via leases, automakers and dealers who finance these transactions are trying to recover losses from plummeting valuations by raising borrowing costs. That’s hitting demand in some European markets that were in the vanguard of the shift away from fossil fuel-powered propulsion. Some of the biggest buyers of new cars, including rental firms, are cutting back on EV adoption because they’re losing money on resales, with Sixt SE dropping Tesla models from its fleet.

The problems are expected to intensify next year, when many of the 1.2 million EVs sold in Europe in 2021 will come off their three-year leasing contracts and enter the secondhand market. How companies tackle this problem will be key for their bottom lines, consumer confidence and ultimately decarbonization — including the European Union’s plan to phase out sales of new fuel-burning cars by 2035.

“There isn’t used-car demand for EVs,” said Matt Harrison, Toyota Motor Corp.’s chief operating officer in Europe. “That’s really hurting the cost-of-ownership story.”

“One has to slash prices significantly just to get customers to look at EVs,” said Dirk Weddigen von Knapp, who heads a group representing VW and Audi dealers.

Biden Struggles to Convince People to Buy EVs, Only 12 Percent Seriously Considering

On April 18, I reported Biden Struggles to Convince People to Buy EVs, Only 12 Percent Seriously Considering

On July 13, I noted Despite Huge Incentives, Supply of EVs on Dealer Lots Soars to 92 Days

On August 20, I reported Clean Energy Exploitations and the Death Spiral of an Auto Industry

On October 16, I commented Wake Up Mr. President, Consumers Want Hybrids, Not EVs

More accurately, that should read Wake Up Mr. President, Consumers Don’t Want EVs.

GM Decreases EV Investment in Favor of Buybacks

And on December 2, I noted To Shore Up Share Price, GM Decreases EV Investment in Favor of Buybacks

Last month, GM said it would push back the opening of an electric-truck factory in suburban Detroit by a year. It also scrapped an earlier goal of producing 400,000 EVs over a roughly two-year stretch, through mid-2024.

Slam Dunk Ford Project Now Unclear

Ford’s EV plan is similarly distressed. Ford pauses and then scales back proposed Michigan facility backed by government funding.

Manchin Blasts Biden’s Definition of “Foreign Entity of Concern”

In the you can’t make this up department, Biden’s EV Subsidy Rules Leave Room for Chinese Suppliers

Depending on the definition of “foreign entity of concern” a number of things are floating in the wind including $7,500 tax credits.

Officials worked for months to define a foreign entity of concern but failed. It is not even clear if Ford buyers are eligible for tax credits. “Licensing technology, might be permissible under the rules,” officials said.

Who wants to buy a new EV on the basis a $7,500 credit “might” be allowed?

Q&A on What’s Delaying the Definition

Q: Why the struggle on the definition of “Foreign Entity of Concern”?
A: Ford wants to use Chinese technology but GM wants to block it.

For discussion, please see An Epic Battle: Ford to Use China’s Battery Technology, GM Wants it Blocked

My comment then was “Biden is guaranteed to upset someone. That’s what happens when you interfere in the free markets, taking sides.”

Biden is avoiding a firm definition hoping the problem will go away. But it won’t.

Green Fantasy

In the real world, The Green Fantasy Ends Because Consumers Don’t Want to Pay for It

EVs are not selling because despite massive subsidies to both the manufacturers and consumers, the latter via tax credits, consumers don’t want them.

But here we are, blaming this mess on capitalism. “It’s a natural consequence.

What a hoot.

from:    https://mishtalk.com/economics/the-ev-graveyard-reckoning-hardly-anyone-wants-to-buy-a-used-one/

Equal Opportunity in Oklahoma

Oklahoma Governor Signs Executive Order Effectively Banning DEI In All State Institutions

BY TYLER DURDEN
THURSDAY, DEC 14, 2023 – 06:00 PM

Following the meltdown on Capitol Hill by “Ivy League” Presidents from Harvard, MIT and Penn, on Wednesday of this week Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt signed Executive Order 2023-31, effectively banning diversity, equity and inclusion bureaucracies in state institutions.

Standing in front of a podium which read “DEFUNDING DISCRIMINATION”, Stitt announced: “In Oklahoma, we’re going to encourage equal opportunity, rather than promising equal outcomes.”

“Encouraging our workforce, economy, and education systems to flourish means shifting focus away from exclusivity and discrimination, and toward opportunity and merit. We’re taking politics out of education and focusing on preparing students for the workforce,” he said at a press conference.

According to the Governor’s office, the order says that state agencies and institutions for higher education shall not utilize state funds, property, or resources to:

  1. Grant or support diversity, equity, and inclusion positions, departments, activities, procedures, or programs to the extent they grant preferential treatment based on one person’s particular race, color, sex, ethnicity, or national origin over another’s;
  2. mandate any person to participate in, listen to, or receive any education, training, activities, procedures, or programming to the extent such education, training, activity, or procedure grants preferences based on one person’s particular race, color, sex, ethnicity, or national origin over another’s;
  3. mandate any person swear, certify, or agree to any loyalty oath that favors or prefers one particular race, color, sex, ethnicity, or national origin over another;
  4. mandate any person to certify or declare agreement with, recognition of, or adherence to, any particular political, philosophical, religious, or other ideological viewpoint;
  5. mandate any applicant for employment provide a diversity, equity, and inclusion statement or give any applicant for employment preferential consideration based on the provision of such a diversity, equity, and inclusion statement; or
  6. mandate any person to disclose their pronouns.

Patrice Onwuka, director of Independent Women’s Forum’s Center for Economic Opportunity, commented: “As a nation, we strive for equality of opportunity to give every young person a chance at achieving their American Dream. Race, ethnicity, gender, and heritage should not be used to discriminate against any person. Yet, discriminatory DEI programming has done damage on college campuses—fomenting division between students, eroding free speech rights, threatening academic freedom, and bloating school bureaucracies, which in turn drives up tuition costs.”

Onwuka continued: “Furthermore, these efforts do not prepare young women and men for the diverse workforce that values aptitude, grit, and skill, not a sense of entitlement driven by victimhood. We applaud Governor Stitt and the state for taking leadership on removing discriminatory and divisive race-based programming and staffing from Oklahoma colleges and universities. Every student deserves a campus free from discrimination. Thankfully, legal protections already outlaw race-and sex-based discrimination, but this executive order guards against efforts to bypass those protections.”

David Safavian, general counsel for the American Conservative Union, commented: “For years, universities and government agencies, even those in red states, have become increasingly beholden to a coercive liberal agenda, often framed under the banner of DEI.”

He continued: “The transformation of these institutions has been exposed following the response by major universities in the aftermath of the October 7th terror attack by Hamas. Especially with that in mind, CPAC applauds Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt for acting through executive order today to take down DEI in all of Oklahoma’s government. Abolishing DEI bureaucracies and ending mandatory ‘diversity’ training and DEI hiring statements will ensure Oklahoma’s institutions can focus on the diversity of ideas, rather than shame-based political activism. Oklahomans can take pride in knowing that the content of their character will matter more than the color of their skin.”

Following the release, public universities reacted accordingly:

Executive Order 2023-31 can be read in full here. To rewatch the press conference, click here.

from:    https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/oklahoma-governor-signs-executive-order-effectively-banning-dei-all-state-institutions

Okay — This Cannot Be Real

A woman who was identified as a teacher in Anne Arundel County, Maryland made a TikTok video expressing her incredulity that her school district provided a protocol to deal with an alien invasion during a teachers’ meeting for safety. Anne Arundel County contains the state capital of Annapolis and Fort Meade, which is home not only to the National Security Agency, but also to the US Cyber Command and other defense agencies at the US Army post there.

Link for video:     https://www.bitchute.com/video/iKosNPng5ceh/

It’s back-to-school season, and teachers and students everywhere are gearing up for an exciting school year. But alongside the purchase of school supplies and the preparation of classrooms, teachers have mandatory safety meetings to attend. These meetings are important ways for schools to communicate with the staff about allergies, fights, fires, natural disasters, and outside threats to the school from anyone who may wish to do the teachers or students any harm.

And apparently in this Maryland school district, that possibility includes extraterrestrials.

This video was posted by a teacher in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, who says that during their safety meeting for teachers, one of the topics was the correct procedure for dealing with alien invasions.

“Honestly, I did not process anything that was said during that part of the presentation,” she claims, “because I couldn’t believe what I was looking at.”

She goes on to ask if anyone else had a similar experience during their opening activities.

Of note: this Maryland County is home to the state capital of Annapolis, as well as Fort Meade, which is home not only to the National Security Agency, but also to the U.S. Cyber Command as well as other defense agencies at the U.S. Army post there.

In other words, all places that would very likely be targeted as part of an invasion or attack of any kind—alien or earthling.

Read full article here…

from:    https://needtoknow.news/2023/08/maryland-school-district-prepares-for-alien-invasion/