Month: August 2024

Authroed by Sina McCullough via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Is your favorite dark chocolate bar harboring a hidden health risk? A new study published on July 31 in Frontiers in Nutrition suggests that some popular dark chocolate products may contain concerning levels of heavy metals, particularly lead and cadmium.

The study, conducted by researchers from The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences and ConsumerLab.com, analyzed 72 dark chocolate and cocoa products sold in the United States from 2014 to 2022. Their findings shed light on a potential health concern that has been bubbling beneath the surface of the chocolate industry for years.

Why Study Heavy Metals in Chocolate?

Dark chocolate, long touted for its potential health benefits due to its high antioxidant content, has faced scrutiny in recent years due to reports of heavy metal contamination. Consumer media outlets and independent testing agencies, including Consumer Reports and As You Sow, have previously highlighted this issue.

Consumer Reports found heavy metals in popular chocolate brands including Hershey’s, Theo, Trader Joe’s, Godiva, Hu, and Equal Exchange, according to their 2022 report. A report by As You Sow also revealed elevated heavy metals in various chocolate products tested between 2014 and 2017. These earlier reports raised concerns about the safety of dark chocolate consumption, particularly for vulnerable populations such as children and pregnant women.

Given these concerns, Leigh Frame, director of integrative medicine at George Washington University and co-lead of the study, aimed to explore the significance of this contamination.

“We know chocolate is a plant that is particularly good at absorbing heavy metals from the soil and is grown in areas where there are heavy metals in the soil. So, it seemed like a logical area of concern. Also, often people think of chocolate as a supplement—like I’m getting my daily dose of chocolate because it’s good for me, right?  We were interested to see if people consuming chocolate for health benefits really do get those benefits because there is also potentially heavy metal exposure,” Frame told The Epoch Times in an interview.

Study Design

The researchers analyzed popular cocoa-containing products from 2014 to 2022, including Ghirardelli, Hu, Lily’s, 365 Whole Foods Market, Nestle, Now Real Food, Baker’s, and Good & Gather.

All products were produced in the United States or Europe but sold only in the United States. The products were divided into four cohorts based on the year of purchase: 2014, 2016, 2019, and 2022. All products were tested for lead, cadmium, and arsenic content. Two primary standards were used to assess the levels of contamination:

1. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) established interim reference levels (IRLs) with the following allowable intake levels:

• Lead: 2.2 micrograms (mcg) per day for children under 7 years old
• Lead: 8.8 mcg per day for women of childbearing age

While the FDA has established IRLs for lead, it has not set official limits for cadmium or arsenic in food products.

2. California Proposition 65 (Prop 65) is a more stringent state-level regulation that established the following maximum allowable dose levels (MADLs):

• Lead: 0.5 mcg per day
• Cadmium: 4.1 mcg per day
• Arsenic: 10 mcg per day

Study Findings

The new study’s findings paint a complex picture of heavy metal contamination in dark chocolate:

• Lead: 43 percent of products tested exceeded Prop 65 limits, but 97.2 percent of the products fell below FDA IRL limits.
• Cadmium: 35 percent of products exceeded Prop 65 limits.
• Arsenic: No products exceeded Prop 65 limits.

For all products tested, mean concentrations of both lead (0.615 micrograms/serving) and cadmium (4.358 mcg per serving) exceeded Prop 65 standards. However, median concentrations of lead (0.375 mcg per day) and cadmium (3.03 mcg per day were below Prop 65 standards, suggesting that a few highly contaminated products may have skewed the overall results. 97.2 percent of all products tested fell below the FDA IRLs for lead.

Trade certifications (such as Fairtrade or Non-GMO) did not significantly affect heavy metal levels. Organic-labeled products showed significantly higher concentrations of cadmium and lead. They were 280 percent more likely to exceed Prop 65’s cadmium limit and 14 percent more likely to exceed its lead limit.

“Our hypothesis was that organic products would be lower in heavy metals because they were not going to have fertilizers or pesticides used on them that were contaminated with heavy metals. But it’s exactly the opposite,” Frame said.

Why organic products had higher levels of heavy metals is unclear. Frame questioned if fertilizers and pesticides may not be adding as many heavy metals to food as previously thought.

“Also, someone that is growing an organic product is likely to treat it more carefully and gently. Perhaps the more gentle processing is allowing more residual heavy metals, compared to being extracted through some of the harsher processing methods that other companies are using. But that is purely a hypothesis” Frame added.

Health Concerns: Lead and Cadmium

There is no known safe level of lead in the blood since even low levels can produce toxic effects, according to a 2021 article in Toxics. The central nervous system is particularly vulnerable to lead, potentially resulting in cognitive decline, fine motor control impairment, and attention-related issues in both children and adults, according to the article.

IQ test scores were lower among children exposed to lead, according to a 2022 review in Systematic Reviews. The authors stated that lead exposure “can have irreversible effects on children’s mental performance.”

While less notorious than lead, cadmium exposure can also pose significant health risks. Cadmium exposure is a “cardiovascular risk factor” that may initiate and promote the progression of atherosclerosis, according to a review in Current Atherosclerosis Reports. Cadmium may also increase blood pressure and risk of kidney damage, according to the review. Increase risk of fracture may also increase following cadmium exposure, according to a 2016 review in Medicine.

Frame and her research team question whether the proposed benefits of cocoa outweigh the possible risk of heavy metal exposure. “It’s hard to say whether these benefits are really truly beneficial for the average human,” she said.

According to Frame, while dark chocolate has been associated with improved cardiovascular health, cognitive performance, and reduced chronic inflammation, these potential health benefits have been modest.

For example, a 2021 review in Nutrients concluded that cocoa products improved triglycerides, however, there was no effect on blood pressure, blood glucose, cognitive function, skin, anthropometry, or quality of life regardless of form, dose, or duration when consumed among healthy people.

“As with anything, it has to do with what is the background diet. So, you have someone that has a very low polyphenol, low flavonoid diet, and chocolate is one of their predominant sources. Then in terms of the flavonoids, it may be very beneficial. That’s why coffee is so beneficial for the average American because their diet is very low in polyphenols. And coffee is very rich in polyphenols and so it’s a really important source,” Frame said.

Frame suggests that potential benefits from cocoa may be similar. “If you have someone who already has a rich source of polyphenols in the diet, the contribution of chocolate is going to be pretty minimal. And then that person is exposing themselves to more heavy metals from the chocolate without getting the health benefits.”

Moreover, the potential risks associated with heavy metal exposure have not been fully accounted for in previous studies promoting the health benefits of dark chocolate, according to Frame. She suggests a better approach is to look at the individual and ask if they are meeting their flavonoid levels and then use chocolate to increase those levels.

For those concerned their love of dark chocolate could be at risk, it is also worth nothing that any risk is a matter of moderation. The GWU study concludes that “ if contaminated products as a whole are consumed in small amounts and infrequently by most, these contaminants may not be a public health concern (though, perhaps still an individual concern); in contrast, if many such products are consumed fairly regularly by the average consumer, the additive exposure may be a public health concern.”

The Epoch Times reached out to Lily’s, 365 Whole Foods Market, Nestle, Now Real Food, Baker’s, and Good & Gather, but they did not respond by publication time. Responses from Ghirardelli and Hu can be found in an update at the bottom of this article.

Christopher Gindlesperger, senior vice president of public affairs and communications for the National Confectioners Association, told The Epoch Times that “Chocolate and cocoa are safe to eat and can be enjoyed as treats as they have been for centuries. Food safety and product quality remain our highest priorities and we remain dedicated to being transparent and socially responsible.”

Where Are the Heavy Metals Coming From?

Cocoa trees can absorb heavy metals that naturally occur in the soil, as well as heavy metals from environmental contamination. The main sources of heavy metal contamination in the soil are livestock manure, irrigation with wastewater or polluted water, application of sewage sludge, use of metallo-pesticides or herbicides, phosphate-based fertilizers, and atmospheric deposition, according to a 2019 review in Environment International.

“We undervalue the soil as a source of heavy metals, particularly in certain regions. There is a huge variation in regions. But, right now, when you buy a chocolate bar, you have no way of knowing where those beans came from because it’s not labeled,” Frame told The Epoch Times.

The presence of heavy metals in chocolate is partly attributed to post-harvesting contamination as well. For example, after fermentation, the cocoa beans are typically spread out to dry in the sun for several days. During this time, they are exposed to environmental contaminants, including lead-laden dust and dirt, according to Consumer Reports. This lead can come from industrial pollution in nearby areas, residual lead in soil from past use of leaded gasoline, or airborne particles containing lead.

As the beans dry, this lead-containing dust can settle on and adhere to their surface. Unlike cadmium, which is thought to be absorbed into the beans through the plant’s root system, lead contamination may be largely a surface-level issue that occurs after the beans have been harvested, according to Consumer Reports.

Frame and her team are advocating for enhanced surveillance of heavy metal contamination in cocoa products and suggest that better quality control practices during harvesting and manufacturing could help mitigate the problem. “Ideally they would test every batch.”

For consumers, Frame envisions a voluntary labeling system that is simple to understand. “The average person needs a stoplight type label that says, this is a moderate risk chocolate versus this is a high-risk or low-risk product. What I hope would happen is the companies that start putting it on there will see that people are more likely to buy their products, and then maybe other companies will follow suit.”

Implications and Takeaways

For most people, eating a single serving (one ounce) of dark chocolate is unlikely to pose a significant health risk, according to Frame.

“The reason we recommend one ounce is because that quantity is often studied for health benefits and you have to imagine that the heavy metals in one ounce are not reaching a level that’s becoming problematic,” she said.

However, consuming multiple servings could lead to excessive exposure.

“It’s very easy to over-consume chocolate. It’s something that can easily go from one to five or six servings. If people are having one ounce a day, maybe it’s okay. But if they’re having five servings a day and are getting astronomical levels of heavy metals, that’s a concern.”

Another potential concern is combining chocolate consumption with other food sources of heavy metals, such as teas and spices, Frame added.

The Bigger Picture: Cumulative Exposure

Dark chocolate is just one potential source of heavy metal exposure in our diets. According to a 2019 review in Environmental International, a growing body of research has identified concerning levels of heavy metals in various food crops, including:

• Fruits
• Leafy vegetables—green cabbage, spinach, cauliflower, lettuce, kale
• Root vegetables—radish, turnip, carrot
• Wheat
• Rice
• Soybean
• Corn
• Garlic

Heavy metals are also potentially problematic in some marine fish, seafood, herbal medicines, herbal teas, spices, fruit juice, as well as drinking water, particularly in areas with aging infrastructure or natural geological sources of contamination.

“Additional research into cumulative heavy metal exposure from the whole diet is needed. It’s not about excluding any of these foods. There is no zero exposure to heavy metals. You cannot completely exclude them from your diet. What you want to do is make sure your exposure is not too high,” said Frame.

What Can Consumers Do?

This new study serves as a reminder that even seemingly healthy foods can harbor possible hidden dangers. While dark chocolate has been associated with potential health benefits, it faces scrutiny for its heavy metal content. As consumers, we can balance the potential benefits against these risks. According to Frame, chocolate enthusiasts can still savor their favorite treat while reducing heavy metal exposure by considering these strategies:

1. Be aware that “organic” or other certifications do not necessarily mean lower heavy metal content. In fact, organic products may have higher concentrations, according to the study.
2. Enjoy dark chocolate in moderation as part of a balanced diet. Frame’s suggested serving size is no more than one ounce per day.
3. Vary sources of dark chocolate and cocoa products.
4. Alternate between dark and milk chocolate if you can tolerate lactose. While dark chocolate offers more antioxidants and less sugar, it may contain higher levels of heavy metals due to its higher content of cocoa solids (where heavy metals tend to accumulate). White chocolate has no cocoa solids, making it another good option.
5. Locate specific cacao brands that regularly test for heavy metals using third-party laboratories and have shown lower contamination levels. Organizations like Consumer Reports and As You Sow provide test results from common chocolate products. Although these results are snapshots in time, they may help identify which products might be safer choices.
6. Diversify your diet to help minimize the risk of excessive exposure to heavy metals from any single source.
7. Be particularly cautious with cocoa products if you are pregnant, breastfeeding, or feeding young children.

UPDATE

The Epoch Times received statements from two companies mentioned in the report.

Ghirardelli provided the following statement:

“Food safety and high quality are paramount for Ghirardelli and the entire Lindt & Sprüngli Group. For more information on the issue, you’re inquiring about, please see the statement issued by The National Confectioners Association and additional background the organization has shared here.”

Hu also responded with a statement:

“In regard to both media articles that have been published, we confirm that we comply (by a very large margin) with all applicable standards, including those in the California State Consent judgment, which are far-stricter than both the FDA and European Regulations. In addition, we have testing protocols in place to monitor the naturally-occurring trace amounts of heavy metals found in chocolate to ensure we are only bringing product to the market that is well below any applicable standard’s limit and is safe to consume. We have a more detailed response that is available to read on our website. Here is the link – https://hukitchen.com/pages/response.”

The 2022 statement issued by The National Confectioners Association notes efforts chocolate makers take to ensure the quality and safety of their products:

“An expert investigation conducted through our prior California Proposition 65 settlement concluded that cadmium and lead are present in cocoa and chocolate due to soil and that bean cleaning during processing cocoa beans reduces lead and cadmium in chocolate products,” noted that statement.

This story has also been updated to include comments from The National Confectioners Association.

When the US economy crashed in a deflationary vortex during the global financial crisis (and just after the time giant yen carry trade imploded), it seemed to many that another great Depression was assured. However, after a brief period of pain, both the US and the world economy staged a remarkable rebound which, we learned after the fact, was thanks to a unprecedented releveraging undertaken by China, which issued trillions in new debt and used the proceeds to not only build countless ghost cities, but to spark an inflationary tsunami around the world which helped the world economy recover from its depression on very short notice.

Fast forward 17 years when, with another massive yen carry trade collapsing, the world on the verge of a deflationary tsunami, central banks are either cutting rates or preparing to do so, and global growth starting at another recession (if not depression) in the face. “Deja “vu some would say (it would have been even more symmetric if the bank failures from last March been delayed until now) , but there is one major difference: unlike 2008, this time China is not coming to save the world. The reason why is the same reason why China’s economy and markets have been in a downward spiral for the past 5 years: the world’s second largest economy (soon to be overtaken by India’s economy just as it recently lost the crown for most populous nation) simply has too much debt, and unlike 2008, Beijing has no more capacity to taken on the unlimited debt need to bootstrap the global economy (as discussed last year in “China’s 300% Debt And Dilemmas“).

Or maybe we – and consensus – are dead wrong: maybe despite pessimism that China simply has too much debt to do stimulate with even more new debt, this time Beijing will do what the Fed did in 2009 and launch helicopter money.

We bring this up not because this is some “hare-brained” conspiracy theory, but because an influential Chinese central bank adviser delivered a rare critique of his nation’s economic policy, urging the government to set a compulsory target for inflation, step up spending to address weak consumption and even start helicopter money

In an article published this week, which cited his earlier speech in May, Huang Yiping – a prominent member of the People’s Bank of China’s monetary policy committee – said that authorities should change their strategy of “focusing on investment and neglecting consumption,” shift policy preference from investment to consumption, set a hard CPI target of 2-3%, adopt fiscal measures to support consumption (such as allowing migrant workers to settle in cities, something which would spark a new Chinese housing bubble overnight) and last but not least, directly send money to households!

Huang Yiping, a member of the PBoC’s monetary policy committee, just made a bold statement. Although this committee is an advisory and not a decision-making body, his comment was still significant:

“If the Chinese economy falls into the trap of low inflation, the consequences… pic.twitter.com/Xhru04uyjV

— Shanghai Macro Strategist (@ShanghaiMacro) August 1, 2024

“The economy has entered a new stage and the total demand — including consumption, exports and even investment — is no longer as strong as before,” said Huang. “This actually poses new challenges to macroeconomic policies.” Meanwhile an excessive focus on fiscal health – such as maintaining the budget deficit below 3% of gross domestic product even when growth is weak – is now hindering China’s economy and eroding room for future policy action, he said.

The reason for the sudden scramble: Huang believes that if the Chinese economy falls into the trap of low inflation (like Japan) “the consequences will be severe”, and here we agree wholeheartedly. In fact, we are surprised that amid growing social discontent, record youth unemployment and a tendency for China’s middle class to revolt, Beijing hasn’t done this already. Maybe it will – soon – and in doing so would spark an inflationary shockwave around the globe.

Rebalancing China’s two-speed economy has been a challenge as authorities lean on manufacturing to propel growth while risking a backlash by creating a global glut of exports.

The transcript of Huang’s speech was only released in the wake of the Communist Party’s twice-a-decade meeting on reforms that left investors disappointed and pushed Chinese stocks sharply lower. The Third Plenum proposed few solutions to the economy’s most pressing problems, as top leaders reaffirmed manufacturing as the centerpiece of the economy, despite rising trade tensions, while pushing the same worn out policies that have failed to kickstart China’s sinking economy.

Huang’s frank assessment comes as public critiques of Chinese government measures have become increasingly fraught as policymakers struggle to arrest a slowdown. Analysts have been advised to avoid discussing sensitive terms such as “deflation” or expressing views deemed overly negative for the economy.

Hu Xijin, the former editor-in-chief of China’s state-backed Global Times, was banned from posting on social media after he wrote controversial comments about the economy, Bloomberg reported on Thursday, citing a person familiar with the matter.

Having learned how not to trigger his overlords, Huang highlighted falling prices – without using the word “deflation ”- as the key issue requiring greater attention, and advocated for setting a hard target for China’s consumer price index to increase by 2%-3%. Policymakers have consistently aimed for inflation at 3% in the past, but it’s regarded as a celling, not necessarily something that must be achieved. In light of recent CPI prints that have stuck around 0% for much of the past year, Beijing will be delighted to recover 3% CPI. Or even 2%.

“The economy is now easy to cool but difficult to heat up,” said Huang, who’s also dean of the National School of Development at Peking University. “If it really falls into the low inflation trap, the consequences will be serious” said the central banker having learned from Japan’s catastrophic experience.

After China extended its longest deflationary streak since 1999 last quarter, Huang raised the question of whether the world’s No. 2 economy could fall into the same cycle as Japan, which suffered decades of deflation and was referenced more than a dozen times in his remarks.

Huang was careful to strike a constructive tone in his lengthy speech, with the government’s policies only characterized as being “mild” and “new conditions emerging in the economy” blamed for measures having a weaker effect than desired. China’s home sales slumped again in July, despite Beijing unveiling this year its most forceful efforts yet to support the property market that’s suffering a prolonged crisis.

According to Huang, two popular but flawed views were hindering policies. One was the belief that only structural reform can lift productivity, and the second was an aversion to adopting the more aggressive policies taken by Western countries.

Massive stimulus unleashed by the US and Europe in recent years had effectively supported those markets, without triggering significant negative consequences, added Huang, who has worked at investment banks including Citigroup and Barclays, and who clearly has someone do his shopping for him with a corporate card. Yes, his assessment is idiotic – the massive stimulus has unleashed even more massive inflation – but for China and its 1.3 billion citizens, deflation is even more dangerous than inflation.

Huang returned as a PBOC adviser this year after serving in that role between 2015 and 2018. He’s previously called for the PBOC to cut interest rates even as the US Federal Reserve began to hike, and flagged the risk of overseas push-back on China’s industrial policies, something which will be in full force once Donald Trump returns to the White House.

Huang said both the central bank and the Finance Ministry were trying to preserve future policy space, but what are they waiting for when the country desperately needs to reboot its economy here and now, and waiting too long threatens the very stability of the social fabric. Too conservative measures could threaten longer-term economic stability, he added.

Pressure on the balance sheets of households, businesses and local governments is feeding the economy’s weakness, according to Huang. This means the central government needs to shoulder more responsibility and stabilize confidence, he said.

“If the deteriorating trend is not stopped, it can lead to very serious consequences.”

While it is unclear of Huang speaks for others beside himself (it is no secret that lately Chinese social media has seen a tidal wave of censorship seeking to counter angry complaints about the slowing economy), one thing is certain: if the US slides into a recession, which now seems inevitable, China will have no choice but to do what the PBOC advisor suggests, as the only remaining pillar propping up China’s economy – US imports – slowly fades away. Should that happen, and should Trump implement the reflationary tariffs (up to 100%) he hopes to put in place once elected, the inflationary tsunami that awaits in 2025 will make the galloping inflation from the early 1980s seem like a very gentle rise in prices by comparison.

Authored by Samantha Flom via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Many aspects of everyday life were transformed during the COVID-19 pandemic and the government’s response to it.

Lockdowns quickly created a remote working environment that hasn’t fully reversed.

Despite some employers’ efforts to cajole their employees back into the office, a majority (52 percent) of U.S. workers still say they prefer working remotely at least some of the time, according to an April survey from Morning Consult.

And while attitudes are still changing in the evolving post-COVID era, many workers and businesses are beginning to realize that the future of the workforce may not be fully in-person or remote, but somewhere in between.

Allie Clough of Columbus, Ohio, has worked remotely for most of her full-time career.

Having earned her graduate degree at the height of the pandemic, Clough only worked briefly in an office environment before shifting into her current role as a freelance writer. And although she hasn’t started a family yet, she said she believes the flexibility of working from home will be invaluable to her when she does.

“As a woman in my 20s, one of the biggest benefits that I see to remote work is the fact that it seems like it’ll be much friendlier to family life,” she told The Epoch Times.

Clough recently made the move from Washington to Columbus to be closer to her partner. While she works remotely full-time, he works a hybrid schedule—a combination that she said has strengthened their relationship.

“I don’t think we would have been able to really date at all if we didn’t both work remote to some degree,” she said. “It has really afforded us the ability to not have to miss a beat with our jobs while still being able to be near one another. And when the workday is over, we can be together.”

Before the pandemic, Clough said she found the idea of juggling motherhood and a career to be “intimidating.” But now, with the rise of remote work, she no longer fears that she will have to give one up for the sake of the other.

“It makes me much more bullish on the idea of starting a family and having children when I see that the women that I work with, even if they take time off when their kids are little, there is a lot more flexibility for them to roll back into the workplace and even be in management or leadership roles,” she said.

That’s a benefit that Katie Bridge of College Station, Texas, has also realized in the wake of the pandemic.

Bridge was a stay-at-home mother of two before COVID-19 transformed the workforce and the world. Now a communications strategist at Lockheed Martin, she works from home four days a week, 10 hours a day.

“I love it,” she said of her working conditions. “The kids know that I don’t work Fridays, so that’s the day that they get to plan what they want to do with me.”

Bridge, a U.S. Army veteran, put her career on hold for six years so she could raise her children at a time when working from home wasn’t as common.

Before, she noted, remote options were typically only available for call center representatives—a job that typically requires a quiet work setting.

“As someone with two babies, there’s no such thing as a quiet place for eight hours a day,” she said.

But amid the global shift toward remote work during and after the pandemic, Bridge found the courage to reenter the workforce through a job that began as a hybrid role but has since evolved into a fully remote position.

“One of the things that was on my resume was my time as a stay-at-home mom. Because there is no job that requires as much as a stay-at-home mom,” she said.

“The amount of logistical hula hooping you do as a parent is leaps and bounds beyond what I’ve ever experienced, either in the Army or here at Lockheed.”

Varying Perspectives

Remote work’s family-friendly reputation could be the reason women are still pursuing such opportunities at higher rates than men.

An Indeed Job Search survey conducted between July 2021 and December 2023 found that women were nearly 25 percent more likely than men to cite a desire for remote work as a motivation for their job search.

That finding tracks with the results of a 2021 LinkedIn study, which found that women were 26 percent more likely than men to seek out remote jobs.

And to Ryan Niddel, CEO of wellness company MIT45, that all makes perfect sense.

“I believe that men still have something inside of them that is that hunter-gatherer protector somewhere inside,” he said. “And I believe that women still have a sense of, you know, creating family and nesting.”

From that perspective, Niddel said it only stands to reason that women would feel more productive in a home environment. But in his case, he said he is more productive in an office setting—about 20 percent more productive, to be exact.

“I just quantified it using a series of time management platforms on my computer to see where my focus and attention was going,” he said.

While working from home proved “a distraction” for Niddel, at the office, he was able to focus on the tasks at hand. Meanwhile, he found that keeping his work and personal lives separate allowed for stronger relationships and productivity in both spheres.

Describing the pursuit of work-life balance as “a fool’s errand,” the executive said his goal is not to strike a balance between the two but rather to be fully attentive to each at the appropriate times.

“It’s to be 100 percent committed to where I’m at in the time and place that I’m there. And that requires an inherent lack of balance,” he said.

Read more here…

President Biden in a Thursday phone call with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged that the United States would help defend Israel in the event of reprisal attacks from Iran in the wake of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh’s assassination in Tehran.

“The President reaffirmed his commitment to Israel’s security against all threats from Iran, including its proxy terrorist groups Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis,” the White House call readout stated.

Alarmingly, Biden also informed the Israeli prime minister that he is readying new deployments to the Middle East. This even as the US Commander-in-Chief was essentially forced to bow out his campaign for reelection due to health and mental acuity concerns, including speculation over dementia.

And all of this is happening with basically zero Congressional input, meaning a somewhat senile and elderly President Biden could be taking the nation into yet another war and Middle East quagmire with no additional oversight or Constitutional checks and balances whatsoever (of course, this is the entire legacy of the GWOT as well). 

“The President discussed efforts to support Israel’s defense against threats, including against ballistic missiles and drones, to include new defensive US military deployments,” the readout continued.

The White House confirmed that Vice President and presumed Democratic nominee Kamala Harris was on the call. Previously the administration and the Dems touted here supposed foreign policy experience and credentials.

On Wednesday, within hours after the Haniyeh assassination, Biden’s Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was the first to announced that the Pentagon would play an active role in any potential Iranian attack on Israel:

“If Israel is attacked, we certainly will help defend Israel,” U.S. Defense Secretary, Lloyd Austin, told the media aboard the USNS Millinocket during a visit to the Philippines. “You saw us do that in April; you can expect to see us do that again,” he said.

The U.S., along with other Israeli allies like the U.K. and France, were involved in intercepting an unprecedented Iranian drone and missile barrage fired at Israel from Iran, Iraq, Syria and Yemen in mid-April. “We helped Israel take down nearly all of the incoming drones and missiles,” U.S. President Joe Biden said at the time.

Already according to The Washington Post the US has assembled 12 warships in Middle East regional waters prepared to respond to any attack on Israel. Currently the USS Theodore Roosevelt and six US Navy destroyers are in the Persian Gulf. An additional five Navy ships are already patrolling the Eastern Mediterranean, including two destroyers.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have said the military is on “high alert”, also as it monitors threats from Iranian-linked group Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Biden is weighing deploying more troops to the Middle East to fight a war on Israel’s behalf

He just can’t help himself, can he pic.twitter.com/wIkqXgHU9B

— Stephen Semler (@stephensemler) August 2, 2024

This week also saw the assassination of Hezbollah’s military chief in Beirut, for which the group’s leader Hassan Nasrallah is vowing a severe response. However, neither side appears to have the appetite for a bigger all-out war at this point which would plunge all of Lebanon into greater suffering.

Authored by Richard Porter via RealClearPolitics,

Kamala Harris’s sudden ascendancy within the Democrat Party, with nary a peep from other ambitious Democrats, spotlights the uncomfortable contradictions of identity politics and the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) movement. 

Americans universally believe that everyone should have a fair shot at opportunities regardless of sex or race, which is why the kind of racism and sexism that was once so prevalent is so rare today.

Americans in 2024 embrace multiculturalism and diversity. This is the reason diversity and inclusion programs became ubiquitous. There’s virtue and no harm in gentle reminders to be sensitive and inclusive in light of our diversity. After all, our national motto is e pluribus unum.

Today’s Democratic Party, however, rejects this positive view of American progress. Democrats claim that America remains institutionally racist and paternalistic – a credo that provides the intellectual justification for identity politics and the grievance-based race-conscious demand for equity that animates the DEI movement. 

Employers sensitive to the left’s narrative on race and sex and leery of claims made in litigation seek to prove and protect their own virtue by hiring on the basis of race or sex. But doing so not only disadvantages whites or males wholly blameless for the sins of the past, it also diminishes the minority hire whose qualifications are doubted by some of their peers – even when they are the best person for the job. 

The disconnect between the DEI narrative and the modern cultural reality regarding racism and sexism creates the DEI trap: DEI injects racism and sexism into a culture that rejects racism and sexism, making things worse and hurting those it purports to help. 

Joe Biden’s 2020 selection of Kamala Harris as his running mate and his appointment of Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court only highlighted the DEI trap. 

“I commit that if I’m elected president and I have an opportunity to appoint someone to the courts, I’ll appoint the first black woman to the court,” Biden vowed. “If I’m elected president, my cabinet and my administration will look like the country, and I commit that I will in fact pick a woman to be vice president. There are a number of women who are qualified to be president tomorrow. I would pick a woman to be my vice president.”

He didn’t say he would pick the best person – he said he would pick a woman and that there are a number of women who are “qualified” to be president. 

Biden burnished his own “antiracist” credentials at the expense of his choice. He implicitly diminished her, whoever she might have been, in order to prove that he’s neither a racist nor a sexist. 

Then, after securing the nomination, Biden chose Sen. Kamala Harris, whose own campaign for president was a surprising disappointment and unambiguous failure. A star in her home state of California, she turned out to be a bust as a national candidate.

Choosing her over Elizabeth Warren or Amy Klobuchar, both of whom performed better in the 2020 primaries, had the perverse effect of highlighting the importance of race and sex in Biden’s selection, further bolstering his image with those in his party who value DEI, at the expense of further diminishing Harris. 

Now, the liberal legacy media would have us all make believe that none of this happened – and make believe that Kamala Harris is the next great Democratic Party leader, despite a lackluster record as vice president and without competing against other rising stars in her party. 

Now, Harris further diminishes herself as she conducts her own search for a running mate: Democrats have quietly made it known that only white males are under consideration.  Really? Kamala, who should not be called a DEI candidate, needs a white guy by her side to win? Is this really where Democrats want to be?

This is the reductio ad absurdum of DEI: Kamala Harris recreating the “glass ceiling” she “broke,” taking a bow to “white privilege” and “the patriarchy.” For what reason? Why isn’t Klobuchar under consideration? Or Michigan  Gov. Gretchen Whitmer? Don’t hold your breath in hope that the Democrat-friendly media will ask these obvious questions of their new darling. There are two ways out of the DEI Trap: Make believe it’s necessary because we are all irredeemably racist and sexist, or embrace the reality that we are not. 

Democrats and their friends in the media are deep into make believe, seeking to make any criticism of DEI akin to cross-burning. On the other hand, all of us could embrace the reality of what America is today and consign racism and sexism to the dustbins of history. Everyone is different; we each bring different strengths and weaknesses to the table. 

Joe Biden labeled Kamala on the basis of race and sex to make himself look good. But you can’t promote DEI without living with the implications of DEI in an open culture. So, Democrats, step out of the trap and march into the sunshine by ditching DEI.

This article was originally published by RealClearPolitics and made available via RealClearWire.

Richard Porter is a lawyer in Chicago and National Committeeman to the RNC from Illinois.

US chocolate maker Hershey slashed its sales and earnings outlook on Thursday, citing higher cocoa prices that have resulted in demand destruction among cash-strapped consumers. This development spooked cocoa futures, sliding to a five-month low at the end of the week. 

Cocoa futures in New York fell as much as 6% to $6,574 a ton, hitting their lowest level since early March following the dismal earnings report from Hershey. Prices, which peaked at $12,000 a ton in mid-April, have nearly halved and have been oscillating within a triangle formation ever since. 

Bloomberg noted, “Market watchers are closely monitoring company earnings for signs that consumers are buying less as costs rise.” It added, “Many expect volatility to continue as uncertainty also lingers on the supply side.” 

On Thursday, Hershey CEO Michele Buck told investors that current cocoa prices are not sustainable. She noted, “We believe that the future prices will be higher levels than we’ve seen before this kind of recent historic pricing cycle.” 

Bloomberg cited a weather forecast from Maxar that shows improved crop conditions across West Africa over the weekend, especially for the Ivory Coast and Cameroon. This area is the mecca of cocoa farming. Despite improving crop conditions, many analysts are still concerned about dwindling global supplies. 

“Even though the futures are down, wide swings are the norm these days because nobody in the market is sure about the future output,” said Michael McDougall, managing director at Paragon Global Markets.

McDougall said, “The market appears undecided as to which direction it wants to take.” And hence, for the triangle formation – and usually out of technical patterns – comes direction. 

Buck also warned investors that “consumers are pulling back on discretionary spending.” 

Demand destruction by consumers weighed on Hershey’s second-quarter financial results and outlook.

Despite these price swings, oil trader Pierre Andurand remains bullish on the view that the stocks-to-grinding ratio for the world at the end of the year will be at its lowest ever “and potentially run out of inventories late in the year.” 

Authored by Katabella Roberts via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

A California judge has thrown out the $4.7 billion verdict against the National Football League (NFL), which resulted from a lawsuit alleging antitrust violations in its “Sunday Ticket” programming.

In June, a Los Angeles federal jury ordered over $4.7 billion in damages be awarded to residential and commercial “Sunday Ticket” subscribers, which included restaurants and bars.

That verdict came after the jury found the NFL had violated antitrust laws by restricting the availability of “Sunday Ticket,” which allows viewers to watch out-of-market games but requires them to purchase access to a bundle of games to do so.

However, in an Aug. 1 ruling, Los Angeles-based U.S. District Judge Philip Gutierrez pointed to testimonies from two key witnesses for the subscribers in the June trial, noting they contained flawed methodologies that should have been excluded.

The jury’s damages verdict was otherwise unsupported by the evidence, he said.

“The Court agrees that Dr. Rascher’s and Dr. Zona’s testimonies based on their flawed methodologies should be excluded,” the judge wrote. “And because there was no other support for the class-wide injury and damages elements of Plaintiffs […] claims, judgment as a matter of law for the Defendants is appropriate.”

The jury’s damages awards “were not based on the ‘evidence and reasonable inferences’ but instead were more akin to ’guesswork or speculation’” he said.

“For the forgoing [sic] reasons, the Court GRANTS Defendants’ judgment as a matter of law as, without the testimonies of Dr. Rascher and Dr. Zona, no reasonable jury could have found class-wide injury or damages,” the judge concluded.

The NFL welcomed the ruling in a statement on X, saying it was “grateful” for the judge’s decision in the class action lawsuit.

“We believe that the NFL’s media distribution model provides our fans with an array of options to follow the game they love, including local broadcasts of every single game on free over-the-air television,” the statement said. “We thank Judge Gutierrez for his time and attention to this case and look forward to an exciting 2024 NFL season.”

Package Violates Antitrust Laws, Lawsuit Alleged

Restricting availability allowed DirecTV to charge artificially higher prices as its former sole distributor, a jury found in June.

The ruling stemmed from a class action lawsuit filed in 2015 by the Mucky Duck sports bar in San Francisco alleging the league “conspired” with distributor DirecTV to raise prices for the “Sunday Ticket” package.

The lawsuit covered 2.4 million residential subscribers and 48,000 businesses who paid for the “Sunday Ticket” package from DirecTV, or its subsidiaries, at any time between 2011 and 2022.

DirecTV was not on trial on the matter.

Plaintiffs argued the package violated antitrust laws because it effectively “results in the blackout or unavailability of out-of-market games” unless consumers bought the “Sunday Ticket” package at inflated prices.

They further argued that the deal “results in substantial injury to competition.”

Defending their actions in the lawsuit, attorneys for the NFL had argued the “Sunday Ticket” program was exempt from antitrust scrutiny under the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961.

That act allowed the NFL to sell its TV rights as a group, despite the league consisting of 32 team owners who collectively own all the big TV rights, attorneys said.

Following the June verdict, the league said it planned to appeal.

The Epoch Times has contacted attorneys for the plaintiffs for comment.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Fresh reporting by Barak Ravid of Axios has revealed that President Biden held a “tough” phone call with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Thursdsay wherein the Israeli leader was urged to stop stoking tensions in the region which puts any potential hostage deal in extreme jeopardy. 

Israel’s Wednesday assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh has put the whole region on a war footing. But Netanyahu and his government without doubt sees this as justified and necessary revenge for the Oct.7 terror attacks on southern Israel. Biden officials are said to be deeply frustrated at the ripple effects from both the Haniyeh killing and the assassination of Hezbollah’s top military commander in Beirut this week.

The White House, through Secretary Antony Blinken, has insisted that it was kept in the dark concerning the Israeli Mossad operation to kill Haniyeh. This after Iran issued a formal condemnation alleging Washington’s involvement in the plot.

The whole Axios report paints a picture of Biden being played by America’s closest Mideast ally, even after Washington has injected billions into Israel’s defense.

Biden and his officials “feel that Netanyahu kept Biden in the dark over his plans to carry out the assassinations, after leaving the impression last week that he was attentive to the president’s request to focus on getting a Gaza deal.”

Or to translate: the White House is belatedly catching up to what most of the world including the Israeli domestic opposition already understood very well – that Netanyahu has prioritized the military fight to eradicate Hamas over the return of the hostages.

According to Ravid’s reporting, “One U.S. official said Biden complained to Netanyahu that the two had just spoken last week in the Oval Office about securing the hostage deal, but instead Netanyahu went ahead with the assassination in Tehran.”

And apparently Biden got angry: “At the end of the meeting with Netanyahu in the Oval office last Thursday, Biden became emotional, raised his voice and told Netanyahu he needs to reach a Gaza deal as soon as possible, three Israeli officials with knowledge of the meeting told Axios,” per the report.

Yet once again this is a US administration pursuing two contradictory polices at once, allowing the US to get bogged down in escalation messes of Israel’s own making. On the one hand Biden is angrily demanding that Tel Aviv get serious about a ceasefire and hostage exchange, but on the other is vowing to defend Israel if it gets attacked by Iran.

Biden “raised his voice”! Really means business this time. https://t.co/npejpcHjgY

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) August 2, 2024

In addition to a potential Iran conflict, it remains to be seen if and when PM Netanyahu orders an attack on Hezbollah in Lebanon amid the ratcheting daily tit-for-tat:

Israeli ministers authorized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his defense chief Sunday to decide on the “manner and timing” of a response to a rocket strike in the Golan Heights that killed 12 children and teens, and which Israel and the United States blamed on Lebanese terror group Hezbollah.

According to The Washington Post the US has already assembled 12 warships in Middle East regional waters prepared to respond to any attack on Israel. Currently the USS Theodore Roosevelt and six US Navy destroyers are in the Persian Gulf. An additional five Navy ships are currently patrolling the Eastern Mediterranean, including two destroyers.

“shouldn’t count on the US to bail him out…”

“@POTUS told @IsraeliPM the US will help defeat an Iranian attack, but that he expects no more escalation from Israel & immed movement toward a hostage deal…and that if Netanyahu escalates again, he shouldn’t count on the US to bail him out.” @BarakRavid https://t.co/Luf2xbXDOu

— Shalom Lipner (@ShalomLipner) August 2, 2024

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have said the military is on “high alert”, also as it monitors threats from Iranian-linked group Hezbollah in Lebanon. The US ships are on standby also in case there needs to be an emergency evacuation of US nationals from Lebanon, which has yet to be initiated at this point.

It is well after midnight in the Iranian capital of Tehran and there are two significant developments that suggest an Iranian and Hezbollah major strike against Israel could come at any moment.

First, Iranian state TV is strongly signaling that an attack could come in the overnight and early morning hours of Friday/Saturday – which we should note also marks Jewish shabbat in Israel.

A News Anchor with Iranian Channel 3: “In coming hours, the World will witness Extraordinary Scenes and Very Important Developments.” pic.twitter.com/r5vQsxcGo1

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) August 2, 2024

“In coming hours, the world will witness extraordinary scenes and very important developments,” an Iranian state news anchor reported said. Iran International and other regional publications have highlighted the alarming clip as well.

While it is unlikely that a news anchor would be directly privy to such state secrets concerning the timing of a major strike on Israel from Iran, it does point to growing anticipation and belief among the Iranian population that retaliation is near.

It is also the case that following memorials and funerals in Tehran and Doha for slain Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, he has finally been laid to rest, and Tehran might now be readying its response given that foreign dignitaries have now safely exited the country.

At the same time Israeli media has reported on another big development related to Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon. “Hezbollah is evacuating its senior personnel from the terror group’s strongholds in the southern suburbs of Beirut, in anticipation of potential Israeli strikes, Arabic media sources reported Friday,” writes Times of Israel.

“The Iran-backed group has also reportedly moved the military equipment it stored to areas further away from the Lebanese capital,” the report adds.

An anonymous US official has also been cited as saying, “Tehran will take time to decide on the type of response it launches, and it will take time to prepare the response.”

The prior April 13 ballistic missile and drone attack from Iran on Israel took several days to happen after Iran leaders first said they would hit back. But that was highly telegraphed to be limited in nature, to ensure a broader regional war would be avoided. Any new attack in revenge for killing Haniyeh on Iranian soil is likely to come quicker, and be less predictable – given Iran feels pressure to up the escalation in order to establish greater deterrence.

Iran has continued putting Israel on notice, even crafting messages concerning Lebanon, warning against “full-scale military aggression” against Hezbollah, saying it will lead to “obliterating war” – according to a fresh statement the Islamic republic’s United Nations mission. “All options, [including] the full involvement of all Resistance Fronts, are on the table,” the mission wrote in a post on X late in the day Friday.

Finally, there is another breaking development: US Defense Secretary orders navy cruisers, destroyers and an additional fighter squadron to the Middle East, Pentagon says according to Reuters. Will it be bombs away by morning?

Authored by Katabella Roberts via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

A Texas rancher has filed a lawsuit against President Joe Biden and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) accusing them of adopting policies that have resulted in “the biggest influx of illegal aliens into America in our history.”

The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas on July 31 by the Immigration Reform Law Institute on behalf of the rancher, identified in the filing as Michael Vickers, along with Kinney County Sheriff Brad Coe and Atascosa County, Texas.

It also lists DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Acting Commissioner Troy Miller, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Acting Director Patrick J. Lechleitner, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Ur M. Jaddou as defendants.

“With full awareness of the likely consequences, Defendants have adopted unlawful policies that, working in concert, have frustrated Congress’s purposes in the immigration laws,” the lawsuit states.

According to the legal filing, Vickers—who is also a veterinarian—lives with his wife on a 1000-acre ranch in Brooks County, Texas.

The ranch is located about 70 miles north of the international border with Mexico, according to the lawsuit.

“Because of Defendants’ policies, tens of thousands of illegal aliens have been released into the interior who thereafter travel cross country across the grasslands of Plaintiff’s ranch,” the filing reads.

Ranch Suffered ‘Thousands of Dollars in Damage’

In so doing, the illegal immigrants “routinely cause thousands of dollars in damage to fences or gates as they pass through the ranch,” and leave “tons of trash and litter,” the lawsuit states.

In some cases, Vickers has found plastic bags and trash inside the stomachs of his cows, according to the lawsuit.

At other times, his cattle have escaped through cut fences and gates torn down by illegal immigrants, the filing alleges.

As a result, since early 2021, Vickers has incurred “more than $50,000 in fence and gate damages alone” and has been forced to spend thousands of dollars to mitigate environmental damage, according to the lawsuit.

The legal filing also notes that Vickers and his wife have to keep dogs on their ranch for security.

The dogs have caught “hundreds of criminal trespasses,” many of whom are members of various gangs including the notoriously violent MS13, Tangoblast, Pistoleros, and the Mexican Mafia, among others, the lawsuit states.

Because of the presence of criminal groups facilitating illegal immigration, Vickers must always carry a pistol to feel safe, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit argues that the defendants’ actions amount to a violation of the take care clause of the U.S. Constitution that is “conceptually clear, historically unique, and actionable by those it especially harms,” the lawsuit states.

The take care clause requires the president to “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.”

Illegal Border Crossings Decline

“Congress has passed numerous laws aimed at achieving operational control of the border, defined as zero illegal entries. But Defendants’ policies, issued under the authority of these laws, are calculated to result in, and have resulted in, the current, massive flood of illegal entries by foreign nationals from around the world,” the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit asks the court to declare the federal government’s various border policies unconstitutional, including parole programs for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans; family reunification parole processes; and the memorandum terminating Migrant Protection Protocols, also referred to as the “Remain in Mexico” program.

The plaintiffs are also seeking unspecified costs and attorney’s fees.

Since taking office, Biden has sought to expand lawful pathways into the United States as part of efforts to slash illegal crossings while trying to address the root cause of what he says is a “broken” immigration system.

In June, his administration enacted restrictions on asylum claims at the southern border, which led to a drop in illegal border crossings.

In a July 31 statement, the Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI) said the government’s policies have resulted in the “biggest influx of illegal aliens into America in our history.”

“This is no mere policy failure, or just a violation of statutes, but flagrant disobedience to the Constitution,” Dale L. Wilcox, IRLI’s executive director and general counsel, said. “We hope the court sees Biden’s war on the laws he is supposed to be enforcing as the constitutional offense it is, ends these policies, and grants an injunction.”

The Epoch Times contacted the White House for comment but didn’t receive a reply by publication time.