Tag: news

Authored by Dagny Taggart via The Organic Prepper blog,

Sleep medications like Ambien have long been controversial and have been linked to bizarre behavior in users.

On Tuesday, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that it is requiring manufacturers of Ambien and other sleep medications to add a Boxed Warning – the agency’s most prominent warning – to the prescribing information and the patient Medication Guides for these drugs.

Often referred to as a “black box warning”, the label is the strictest alert placed on prescription drugs or drug products by the FDA when there is reasonable evidence of an association of a serious hazard with the drug. As the name indicates, it is a warning with a black box around it. Having the black box around the warning means that an adverse reaction to the drug may lead to death or serious injury.

Prescription sleep medications carry terrifying risks.

The agency is warning the public that rare but serious injuries and deaths have been linked to the use of certain common prescription insomnia drugs. Dangerous behaviors appear to be more common with eszopiclone (Lunesta), zaleplon (Sonata), and zolpidem (Ambien, Ambien CR, Edluar, Intermezzo, Zolpimist) than other prescription medicines used for sleep, according to the FDA’s Safety Announcement.

Sleepwalking, sleep driving, and engaging in other activities while not fully awake (like using the stove) are among the risks associated with the medications, the agency explains:

We identified 66 cases of complex sleep behaviors occurring with these medicines over the past 26 years that resulted in serious injuries, including death. This number includes only reports submitted to FDA or those found in the medical literature, so there may be additional cases about which we are unaware.

These cases included accidental overdoses, falls, burns, near drowning, exposure to extreme cold temperatures leading to loss of limb, carbon monoxide poisoning, drowning, hypothermia, motor vehicle collisions with the patient driving, and self-injuries such as gunshot wounds and apparent suicide attempts. Patients usually did not remember these events. The underlying mechanisms by which these insomnia medicines cause complex sleep behaviors are not completely understood. (source)

In addition to the boxed warning, the agency is requiring the inclusion of a contraindication that states these medications should not be used by people who have experienced an episode of complex sleep behaviors after taking them. The link between these drugs and complex sleep behaviors is already included on labels, which have been updated continually to note additional safety issues as they were identified.

“The boxed warning and contraindication are intended to make the warning more prominent and reflect the risk of serious injury and death,” the FDA clarifies.

If you take sleeping pills, here’s what the FDA wants you to know.

The agency offers the following guidelines and warnings for patients:

As a requirement of their approval, insomnia medicines must be dispensed with a patient medication guide that explains the medicine’s uses and risks. Patients should review this information each time they receive a refill of their medicine as information may change. Health care professionals should not prescribe eszopiclone, zaleplon, or zolpidem to patients who have a history of complex sleep behavior after taking these insomnia medicines. Patients should be advised that rare, but serious injuries and death are possible. Patients should discontinue taking these medicines and contact their health care professional right away if they find themselves to have engaged in activities while not fully awake or if they do not remember activities done while taking the medicine.

FDA is also reminding the public that all medicines taken for insomnia can impair driving and activities that require alertness the morning after use. Drowsiness is already listed as a common side effect in the drug labels of all insomnia medicines, along with warnings that patients may still feel drowsy the day after taking these products. Patients who take insomnia medicines can experience decreased mental alertness the morning after use even if they feel fully awake. (source)

“Prescriptions for sleeping pills grew to more than 20 million in 2010 from 5.3 million in 1999, according to national estimates. About one in eight people with sleeping difficulty report using the drugs; among people of retirement age, more than a third report taking a sleeping aid,” reports The New York Times.

Sleep medications carry additional risks.

While the serious and potentially fatal risks outlined above are troubling, they aren’t the only problems associated with sleep medications.

According to the Cleveland Clinic, other possible side effects include oversleeping, being too drowsy to drive or perform other tasks the following day, allergic reactions, and facial swelling.

Long-term use of sleeping pills can lead to dependence and addiction. Overuse can cause serious health consequences, including memory problems, mental and behavioral disorders, learning problems, and worse insomnia (beyond the initial baseline) once use has stopped.

Inadequate sleep is a serious public health problem.

A study published in the journal Sleep found that inadequate sleep is a public health problem affecting more than one in three adults worldwide and that insufficient sleep could also have serious economic consequences.

According to the article Six (More) Reasons to Get Better Quality Sleep, insufficient sleep is associated with:

• lapses in attention and the inability to stay focused

• reduced motivation

• compromised problem solving

• confusion, irritability and memory lapses

• impaired communication

• slowed or faulty information processing and judgment

• diminished reaction times

• indifference and loss of empathy

• increased risk of heart attacks, stroke, hypertension, obesity, diabetes, and depression

How much sleep you need depends on several factors, including your age, lifestyle, and overall health. The general recommendation for people age 18 and over is 7-9 hours of sleep per night.

Yet, polls and surveys show that 20-30% of us get less than 6 hours of sleep per night.

Keep in mind that sleep quality is even more important than quantity, so even if you are sleeping for 7-9 hours per night, but you toss and turn for much of that time, you might be sleep-deprived.

According to the National Sleep Foundation, there are questions you can ask yourself to help you determine if the quantity and quality of your sleep are sufficient:

Are you productive, healthy and happy on seven hours of sleep? Or does it take you nine hours of quality ZZZs to get you into high gear? Do you have health issues such as being overweight? Are you at risk for any disease? Are you experiencing sleep problems? Do you depend on caffeine to get you through the day? Do you feel sleepy when driving?

If you are among the sleep-deprived, there’s drug-free hope.

If you are one of the millions of people who just aren’t getting enough Zzzs, there are things you can do to naturally improve the quality and quantity of your sleep. These tips from Ready Nutrition may help.

• Establish consistent sleep and wake times – even on the weekends

• Set a bedtime that is early enough for you to get at least 7 hours of sleep

• Don’t go to bed unless you are sleepy

• Create a comfortable and inviting sleep environment – your bedroom should be calming, cool (65 degrees is optimal but no warmer than 75 degrees), and dark

• Create a relaxing bedtime routine – turn off electronic devices, take a bath or read a book (not IN bed), or listen to soothing music

• Avoid using your computer or watching TV while in bed – turn off electronic devices at least 30 minutes before bedtime

• Limit exposure to bright light in the evenings

• Finish eating 2-3 hours before you go to bed

• Reduce your fluid intake before bedtime

• Exercise regularly (but not for a few hours before bed – it may keep you awake if done too close to bedtime)

• Avoid caffeine too close to bedtime

Here are some additional tips from our article The Vicious Cycle of Sleep Deprivation During Stressful Nights:

• Drink some chamomile tea. It will help you relax.

• Craft something with your hands. From my experience, that is an excellent way to free the mind and prepare the body for a peaceful sleep.

• Simple breathing exercises perform wonders for our body and brain. You could also try yoga and meditation techniques, especially if you can do them in nature. I’m no expert, but when I need to relax before bed, I close my eyes and think of beautiful memories from my life or imagine a peaceful place where I feel safe and serene.

CBD also may help you stop tossing and turning, as we explained in Can’t Sleep? Got Insomnia? These Studies Suggest CBD for Sleep Disorders:

A growing body of research suggests CBD has powerful anti-anxiety properties and antidepressant-like effects and may reduce inflammation and pain, so if any of those things are interfering with your sleep, CBD may help.

A 2017 research review reported that studies on cannabis and insomnia suggest that “CBD may have therapeutic potential for the treatment of insomnia”, and that it “may hold promise for REM sleep behavior disorder and excessive daytime sleepiness.”

Other studies have found that CBD may increase overall sleep amounts. It has been shown to reduce insomnia in people who suffer from chronic pain. In smaller doses, CBD stimulates alertness and reduces daytime sleepiness, which is important for daytime performance and for the strength and consistency of the sleep-wake cycle.

A study published in 2018 investigated the effects of CBD and other cannabis compounds on insomnia. Researchers collected data from more than 400 volunteers using a digital app, which allowed them to analyze the effects of CBD and other cannabinoids in people’s natural sleep environments. They found CBD significantly reduced insomnia symptoms. (source)

via ZeroHedge News http://bit.ly/2ZWxH9Z Tyler Durden

In an earlier report, our analysis of federal data showed the number of farmers across the Midwest filing for bankruptcy soared to its highest level in a decade. Now it seems some of those farmers are closing up shop, liquidating machinery and land, all to stem financial pressure, a dozen or so farm-equipment auction houses told Reuters.

The farming crisis unraveling in the Midwest has created a monsterous boon for auction houses, which reported that their collective business activity jumped 30% in the past six months, compared to the same period a year earlier.

Reuters noted that the revival of the family farming tradition has collapsed. Ahead of the US recession of 2007-2008, agriculture prices were soaring, attracting many young people from their city jobs to their family’s fields.

But spot prices crashed from February 2008 to December 2008, then rebounded from early 2009 to mid-2011. By 2012, farming profits erupted, as corn, soybean, and wheat prices jumped amid rising global demand and tight supplies. It was the first time in several decades that the total number of farmers 44 or younger in the Midwest increased.

From late 2008 through 2012, millennial farmers across the Midwest surged, increasing more than 40% in Iowa and Illinois, almost 57% in Indiana and 60% in Kansas, according to data from the US Department of Agriculture.

Reuters observed farmer Jim Taphorn’s machinery get liquidated earlier this year at an auction. It was the fifth consecutive year Taphorn had depressed spot prices for grains, made worse by President Trump’s trade war with China, the 68-year-old called it quits after risking the chance of filing for bankruptcy in the coming years if conditions didn’t improve.

A Reuters photographer snapped a picture of Taphorn and his wife standing next to Sullivan Auctioneers, LLC’s auction truck as their farm’s equipment was liquidated for pennies on the dollar.

“Karen [Taphorn’swife], it’s ok to shed a tear,” auctioneer Dan Sullivan said, as she hugged her husband. “It’s the end of an era.”

Federal data shows that farmers are increasingly aging. The average farmer is 57.7 years old in 2017, up from 54.3 years in 1997.

The farm industry has been consolidating since 1997. Mid-sized farmers, those with annual sales under $5 million, are increasingly failing as the trade war sends the global economy into a synchronized slowdown.

The trade war with China, sparked by the tariffs Trump slapped on hundreds of billions of dollars of Chinese goods, has just entered its tenth month. In response, China levied on about $50 billion of US agricultural exports last summer including soy, corn, wheat, cotton, rice, sorghum, beef, pork, poultry, fish, dairy products, nuts, and vegetables.

China is a top buyer of American agricultural commodities. Since the tit-for-tat tariff disputes last year, exports to China have significantly decreased — straining American farmers whose supply chains into the second largest economy were destroyed overnight.

The trade war, along with depressed commodity prices, is “speeding things up” for farmers to exit the industry, says H. Andrew Pyron, chief executive of Big Iron Auctions in St. Edward, Nebraska.

The collapse of multi-generational family farms has sent bankruptcies in the Midwest to ten-year highs.

“Bankruptcies in three regions covering major farm states last year rose to the highest level in at least 10 years. The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, which includes Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin, had double the bankruptcies in 2018 compared with 2008. In the Eighth Circuit, which includes states from North Dakota to Arkansas, bankruptcies swelled 96%. The 10th Circuit, which covers Kansas and other states, last year had 59% more bankruptcies than a decade earlier,” reported WSJ.

Steffes Group, a top auction firm in the upper Midwest, has seen auction activity rise 40% in 2019.

“Up until now, there wasn’t a lot of motivation to exit farming,” said auctioneer Scott Steffes. “Now, what I’m hearing from folks is, ‘It’s no longer fun to farm.’”

Reuters noted that most farmers after they call it quits — don’t have 401Ks or other traditional retirement accounts. Now those farmers are worried about losing it all with no financial cushion, a disaster in the making.

“We’re getting calls every day from farmers looking to sell off their equipment, but keep the land,” said Luke Sullivan of Sullivan Auctioneers, headquartered in Hamilton, Illinois.

And even bankers in the Midwest who lend funds to farms warn that more bankruptcies are immient as more producers “are running out of options.”

“We are seeing producers who are running out of options,” said Tim Koch, senior vice president at Omaha, Neb.-based Farm Credit Services of America, which lends to farmers in Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wyoming.

An agricultural recession is around the corner. The most recent farm crisis occurred during the 1980s, and before that, a farm crisis was observed leading up to the Wall Street Crash of 1929. Could the rhythms of history be unfolding before our own very eyes today? 

via ZeroHedge News http://bit.ly/2DN5glm Tyler Durden

Authored by Scott Consenza via Liberty Nation,

Trump Derangement Syndrome alive and well in the battle for 2020…

In a broadside against President Donald Trump and the United States Constitution, Democrats in California’s Senate have passed new qualifications on who may run for president in that state.

Designed to force Donald Trump to publicly disclose his tax returns, the law prohibits the secretary of state from printing a candidate’s name on the ballot unless that candidate produces a copy of every income tax return they filed with the IRS in the five most recent taxable years. Bill 27 passed through the state Senate in a straight party line vote of 27-10, and has been submitted to the House for consideration.

Is It Constitutional?

The U.S. Constitution’s Article II establishes qualifications on who may be elected president and describes the mechanics of how the president shall be chosen via the electoral college. California’s senatorial foray into frustrating Donald Trump’s political career does not include an attempt to unilaterally amend or supplant the Constitution. How can they introduce new qualifications for president, then?

Authors of the legislation use a fig leaf to cover their immodesty. The new law forbids the California secretary of state from printing a candidate’s name on the ballot if the required tax returns have not been supplied. The candidate may still run though, and people may still vote for them – by write-in ballot – in a laughable sop to sticklers for the right to vote and run for office, consistent with the Constitution.

Is this rule constitutional? Aside from any jurist on the Ninth Circus, the answer is no. Don’t take my word for it though; the California Office of Legislative Counsel itself stated that the legislation violates the constitution. Keep in mind, this is the non-partisan law firm created by the legislature to serve it by providing bill drafting services, preparing legal opinions, and other confidential legal services to the Legislature. No matter – when dealing with such an existential threat like Trump, you must break a few eggs.

A Political Ploy

Donald Trump has been criticized roundly for declining to release his tax returns to the press. His political opponents have been unable to generate much traction in selling the idea that this is scandalous or disqualifying; if enough Americans thought such an omission in the candidate’s record was a disqualifier, nature would take its course. The public is not cooperating with the plan, so drastic times call for drastic Democrats.

This is little other than an attempt to publish information politically damaging to the president. Democrats suspect, with good reason, that there are many years where Trump’s tax rate was exceedingly low or even zero. Exposing this would hurt his re-election efforts. That, however, would be unwise to proclaim as a motivation for the new law. Instead, the California Senate has gone with the lie that the returns are needed to find out if the candidate is compromised:

The Legislature also finds and declares that a Presidential candidate’s income tax returns provide voters with essential information regarding the candidate’s potential conflicts of interest, business dealings, financial status, and charitable donations.

Fake News

…drastic times call for drastic Democrats.

Donald Trump, and every other presidential candidate, was required by law to file an exhaustive financial disclosure report with the United States Office of Government Ethics (OGE). Trump’s 2018 OGE disclosure is 95 pages of small print detailing every single corporation, partnership, or business entity, foreign or domestic, in which he has an interest. It is far more revealing than any tax return would be, because those returns only show taxable events, not interests.

Left coast Democrats are particularly susceptible to the most virulent strains of Trump Derangement Syndrome.  Let’s pray the republic can withstand the seizures and fever dreams of its sufferers.

via ZeroHedge News http://bit.ly/2PLvn0Q Tyler Durden

Submitted by Elliott Middleton

Before 2009, the Fed did not pay interest on banks’ excess reserves held at the Fed. This practice was introduced as a taxpayer-funded subsidy to the banks during the crisis (taxpayer-funded because the Fed turns over any profit at the end of the year to the Treasury).

After beginning this practice, the Fed’s chief trader, Simon Potter, realized it could be used to raise interest rates without expelling excess reserves from the Fed, by sucking liquidity out of the short-term markets. In fall 2015, it began raising the interest rate on excess reserves, with the anticipated effect.

At a current rate of about $36 billion a year, this is a cost to the Treasury that is indefensible. This amount is about half the budget for food stamps, for example, which politicians want to cut. There is no provision for these funds ever to be paid back. It is welfare for the bankers.

If the banks had been required to take excess reserves back onto their books it would have required financial disclosure of their quality, which is probably toxic for many. However, with the Financial Accounting Standards Board recently promulgating Financial Accounting Statements 56 and, previously, 157, the “extend and pretend” statement, it would seem they feel less and less need for financial disclosure of any kind. FAS 56 states that the government does not have to disclose what it spends taxpayers’ money on because of national security concerns.

Finally, much akin to the situation in Europe, where trillions of dollars are held at negative interest rates (which are supposed to make people “spend,” but which in fact are an abomination and a crime against nature, IMHO), the Fed’s recent interest rate increases represent a far-from-equilibrium situation, that, much like a currency peg, may be subject to abrupt reversal.

Until a modicum of transparency is returned to financial accounting, both monetary and fiscal policy are flying blind. The world staggers under its load of bad (i.e., unpayable) debt being carried on banks’ books.

I provide a wonky exploration of these comments in “A Partial Equilibrium Analysis of Current US Monetary Policy with a Prediction“

via ZeroHedge News http://bit.ly/2vDoeq8 Tyler Durden

As stocks soar to all-time highs (ignoring fundamentals and a weak US macro outlook for 2H19), it’s worth noting that millions of underemployed and over-indebted Americans (mostly millennials) are currently holding a total of $1.5+ trillion in federal student loan debt.

A total of 43 million Americans have student debt. The average household with student debt owes approximately $48,000 and more than 5 million borrowers are in default in 2019.

Millennials with no credit history and no guaranteed employment borrow tens of thousands of dollars through scheming loan programs by the US Department of Education.

Zerohedge has spent almost a decade covering the student debt crisis and has shared numerous reports that explain how the crisis has materially worsened.

A new study by LendEDU, revealed where Americans on a geological basis have the highest levels of student loan debt. Researchers examined data from 922 colleges and universities, including data from the graduating classes of 2007 through 2017.

The study found Pennsylvania, from 2007 to 2017, had the highest debt per borrower of $35,988, a 51.26% increase over the ten years. Rhode Island was number two, with debt per borrower at $35,371, a 44.48% increase over the ten years. Delaware ranked third on the list, had $34,144 of debt per borrower, a 98.51% increase over the decade. Utah, Nevada, and Alaska had the lowest debt per borrower, at an average of about $20,687 over the ten years.

The table below represents the percent change over the period of how the average percentage of grads with student loan debt changed in all states and Washington D.C. The most significant percentage increase over the decade was in Delaware, Hawaii, and Tennessee. 

The study illustrates how the average student loan debt per borrower changed in each state from 2007 to 2017 according to the percent value on a detailed map. It appears that most of the country has deadbeat millennials with insurmountable debt loads. 

Another map shows the difference in the percentage of graduates with student loan debt has changed from 2007 to 2017. It seems that the Mid-Alantic and East Coast saw the largest increases in debt load size per borrower. 

 

Overall student debt carried by Americans is not limited to one geopgrahic area. The report shows the problem is widespread and the country as a whole is a deadbeat nation.  

 

via ZeroHedge News http://bit.ly/2Jh17ti Tyler Durden

Authored by Iishana Artra via Counterpunch.org,

In recent months there’s been a lot of talk about 5G – the next generation of wireless technology. 5G is being touted as a necessary step to the ‘internet of things’ – a world in which our refrigerators alert us when we’re low on milk, our baby’s diapers tell us when they need to be changed, and Netflix is available everywhere, all the time.

But what we’re not hearing is that evidence-based studies worldwide have clearly established the harmful effects of human exposure to pulsed radiofrequency radiation from cell towers, cell phones and other devices – and that 5G will make the problem exponentially worse.

Most people believe that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) carefully assesses the health risks of these technologies before approving them. But in testimony taken by Senator Blumenthal of Connecticut, the FCC admitted it has not conducted any safety studies on 5G.

Telecom lobbyists assure us that guidelines already in place are adequate to protect the public. Those safety guidelines, however, are based on a 1996 study of how much a cell phone heated the head of an adult-sized plastic mannequin. This is problematic, for at least three reasons:

+ living organisms consist of highly complex and interdependent cells and tissue, not plastic.

+ those being exposed to radiofrequency radiation include fetuses, children, plants, and wildlife – not just adult male humans.

+ the frequencies used in the mannequin study were far lower than the exposures associated with 5G.

5G radiofrequency (RF) radiation uses a ‘cocktail’ of three types of radiation, ranging from relatively low-energy radio waves, microwave radiation with far more energy, and millimeter waves with vastly more energy (see below). The extremely high frequencies in 5G are where the biggest danger lies. While 4G frequencies go as high as 6 GHz, 5G exposes biological life to pulsed signals in the 30 GHz to 100 GHz range. The general public has never before been exposed to such high frequencies for long periods of time.

 

This is a big deal. It turns out that our eyes and our sweat ducts act as antennas for absorption of the higher-frequency 5G waves. And because the distances these high-energy waves can travel is relatively short, transmitters will be required closer to homes and schools than earlier wireless technologies: the build-out will add the equivalent of a cell tower every 2-10 houses.

But former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has made it clear the Telecom-dominated FCC does not put health first:

“Stay out of the way of technological development,” he said. “Unlike some countries, we do not believe we should spend the next couple of years studying… Turning innovators loose is far preferable to letting committees and regulators define the future. We won’t wait for the standards.” In response to questions about health concerns, Mr. Wheeler said: “Talk to the medical people”.

Good idea.

The “medical people” have conducted over 2,000 international evidence-based studies that link health impacts with pulsed radiowave radiation from cell towers, routers, cell phones, tablets, and other wireless devices. These studies tell us that RF radiation is harmful at even low and short exposures, and that it impacts children and fetuses more rapidly than adults. Among the findings are that RF radiation is carcinogenic, causes DNA damage, affects fertility and the endocrine system, and has neurological impacts. Pulsed electromagnetic frequencies have also been shown to cause neurological symptoms: depression, anxiety, headaches, muscle pain, attention deficits, insomnia, dizziness, tinnitus, skin tingling, loss of appetite, and nausea.

The U.S. Government has known of these risks since at least 1971, when the Naval Medical Research and Development Command published a bibliography containing 3,700 references reporting 100 biological and clinical effects attributed to microwave and radio-frequency radiation.

Recent findings, such as the $30 million 2018 U.S. National Toxicology Program (NTP) Study, have corroborated the findings of all well-designed heart and brain cancer studies of people with 10 or more years’ exposure to cellular radiation from cell towers and cell phones. They all agree: RF radiation causes cancer.

What has been the response to these findings?

Scientists are urging the World Health Organization (WHO) to update its classification of RF from a Group 2B Carcinogen to a Class 1 carcinogen – making RF and 5G comparable to arsenic and asbestos. Annie Sasco, former Chief of WHO’s Research Unit of Epidemiology for Cancer Prevention, says, “Enough is enough, how many more deaths would be needed before serious action is taken? Evidence just continues to accumulate.”

Ronald Melnick, the designer of the NTP study, says that the study “shows clear evidence of a causal link between cancer and exposure to wireless cell phone signals.” He adds that “An important lesson that should be learned from the NTP studies is that we can no longer assume that any current or future wireless technology, including 5G, is safe without adequate testing.”[5] Meanwhile, 231 scientists from 42 nations have signed the 5G Appeal, which urgently calls for a moratorium on the technology. Steps are being taken to slow the deployment of 5G in Italy, Belgium, Israel, Switzerland, and The Netherlands, and in the states of California, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Oregon.

But so far, not enough political leaders have been willing to heed the warnings. Or perhaps they are deferring to President Trump, who said that 5G antennas “must cover every community and they must be deployed as soon as possible…. No matter where you are you will have 5G and it is going to be a different life. I don’t know that it will be better… but I can say that technologically it won’t even be close.”[6]

Wireless technology has become so ubiquitous that most of us have been lulled into believing it is safe. Now, the hazards are about to be ratcheted up dramatically. More citizens and legislators need to join those who are actively resisting the reckless push for 5G.

via ZeroHedge News http://bit.ly/2VRCeLP Tyler Durden

Last month, we reported that the US Army was considering whether it should purchase Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) to replace its aging fleet of Boeing AH-64 Apache and Bell OH-58D Kiowa Warrior copters. Now it seems the Army’s Future Vertical Lift (FVL) modernization priority, a competition to design, build, and test the FARA prototypes is ahead of schedule and exceeding expectations, stated Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Aviation & Missile Center Public Affairs.

Out of eight proposals, five had been awarded for prototype agreements as of April 23, well ahead of schedule.

“FARA represents the leap-ahead technology we’ve been talking about,” said Col. Craig Alia, FVL Cross-Functional Team chief of staff. “It’s a critical program in that it fills an existing capability gap created by the divestiture of the OH-58.”

Dan Bailey, Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (CCDC), is the lead project manager on the FARA program. He told the Army Public Affairs office that FARA solicitation to private defense firms was publicly announced in late 2018 with anticipated awards this summer, indicating the program is two months ahead of schedule.

“What’s exciting about the new process the Army has put in place through the Army Futures Command and cross-functional teams … is that we’ve gone from concept … to awards in basically a one-year period of time,” said Bailey.

The Army’s requirements for FARA include complete integration of government equipment: engine, M230 chain gun and rocket launcher, a minimum speed, specific target gross weight, a maximum 40-foot diameter rotor, and an affordable price tag.

Extended range, payload, and endurance were among the other requirements the Army expects. Separate from those mandates, the timing of the execution plan, funding profile requirements, acceptable risk level, statute requirements and the ability to have helicopters in series production by the mid-2020s for fielding by 2028, were also considered.

“We’re at an inflection point where we can’t afford not to modernize,” said Alia, echoing a similar tune from Brig. Gen. Walter Rugen FVL director. “We know that the current fleet is fantastic and has done a great job for us, but we can’t indefinitely continue to incrementally improve 1970s and 1980s technology,” Alia added.

The five awards were initiated six months after the initial solicitation went out in October 2018. Bailey said initial designs would be submitted to the Army by February 2020. “Those are designs of the aircraft, updated plan to execute the entire approach and risk assessments of proceeding, followed by another evaluation process,” he said.

Baily said the five vendors understand that only two will make it to the next phase. “The awards made this week were not just for phase one; it was for the entire execution all the way through flight test on these vehicles” he explained. “We looked at all aspects of being able to execute, not only the CP effort through flight test in 2023, but also their ability to execute an (engineering manufacturing and development) phase follow-on and a production phase afterward,” Bailey explained.

The most likely FARA candidates will be the Sikorsky S-97 Raider and the Bell V-280 Valor.

Video: Sikorsky S-97 Raider flight test

Video: Bell V-280 Valor flight test

via ZeroHedge News http://bit.ly/2ZWaC7j Tyler Durden

Authored by Caitlin Johnstone via Medium.com,

Things keep heating up in Venezuela, with possible “military options” now being seriously discussed at the Pentagon. And of course you know what that means! That’s right, it means we can expect to see even more lies and manipulations from the political/media class as the narrative managers try to get their rapey little fingers into our minds to manufacture support for unconscionable acts.

This can create a very confusing environment for everyone, where up means down and black means white and “humanitarian intervention” means “murdering thousands and thousands of innocent human beings”. With that in mind, here’s a handy translation key to help you understand what the establishment mouthpieces are really saying:

“I stand with the people of Venezuela” = I stand with some of the people in Venezuela, specifically the ones who support US government interests.

“Interim President” = Some guy most Venezuelans had never heard of until January of this year.

“Brutal dictator” = Elected leader who opposes US dictates.

“Usurper” = The guy calling the shots and leading the country.

“Opposition-led, military-backed challenge” = Coup.

“The people of Venezuela are starving” = Oil! Oil! Oil!

“All options are on the table” = One option is on the table.

“Popular uprising” = Unpopular uprising.

“Grassroots activists” = Let’s pretend the CIA’s not a thing.

“Freedom and democracy” = US control of Venezuela’s petroleum resources.

“Humanitarian aid” = Pretext for further escalations.

“Failed socialist policies” = Inability to overcome US economic warfare.

“Foreign interference” = An ally of Venezuela supporting its ally.

“We support the National Assembly” = Foreign interference.

“The Venezuelan Constitution” = Our convenient interpretation of the Venezuelan Constitution.

“We can’t just sit around and do nothing” = I have learned nothing since the Iraq War.

“54 countries recognize Guaido as president” = 141 countries don’t recognize Guaido as president.

“Troika of tyranny” = John Bolton’s second-favorite masturbatory fantasy.

“Special Envoy to Venezuela” = Convicted war criminal.

“The Monroe Doctrine” = I think all the countries on this side of the planet are my personal property.

“Operación Libertad” = Operación Libertad para el Petróleo de Venezuela.

“Shut the fuck up, bitch.” = Standard talking point from Venezuela coup narrative managers on social media.

“Talk to Venezuelans” = Talk to the wealthier, English-speaking Venezuelans with abundant free time and internet access who support a coup.

“You love Maduro” = I don’t have an argument for your opposition to US interventionism.

“You’re just a socialist who loves socialism” = I don’t have an argument.

“Go live in Venezuela if you love socialism so much” = I don’t have an argument.

“Maduro is killing his own people” = Yeah I’m just making shit up now.

“Maduro refuses to let in aid” = I just believe whatever the TV says.

“Trump is liberating the people of Venezuela” = I just believe whatever QAnon says.

“This US regime change intervention will be different” = I have replaced my brain with shaving cream.

*  *  *

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via ZeroHedge News http://bit.ly/2JfpZ4Q Tyler Durden

For over two years, anyone who suggested that the Russia investigation was a sham was harshly ridiculed by establishment mouthpieces as a conspiracy theorist. The notion that the Obama Justice Department (led by Eric “wingman” Holder and then Loretta “tarmac” Lynch) could have conspired with other US intel agencies and foreigners to paint Donald Trump as a Russian stooge was considered beyond the pale. 

Then we found out that virtually the entire FBI’s top brass absolutely hate Donald Trump and supported Hillary Clinton; the former of whom the FBI launched a counterintelligence investigation against, while giving Hillary a pass despite destroying evidence from her homebrew basement server while under subpoena. We were asked to believe that the FBI’s extreme biases played no role in their investigations, while the left insisted that special counsel Robert Mueller was going to confirm fairy tales of Russian collusion peddled by a Clinton-funded dossier.

And then the Mueller report came out – blowing the Russian collusion narrative out of the water, while painting a damning picture that suggests the entire genesis of the FBI’s counterintelligence investigation, Crossfire Hurricane, was a setup. 

Dan Bongino

One of those brave enough to risk his reputation laying out this setup before the Mueller report dropped is conservative commentator and former US Secret Service agent Dan Bongino – who has repeatedly mentioned the suspicious role of self-described Clinton Foundation member Joseph Mifsud, who seeded the rumor that Russia had ‘dirt’ on Hillary Clinton to Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos on April 26, 2016 – shortly after returning from Moscow, according to the Mueller report. 

Two weeks later, Papadopoulos would be bilked for information by Australian diplomat (another Clinton ally) Alexander Downer at a London bar, who relayed the Kremlin ‘dirt’ rumor to Australian authorities, which alerted the FBI (as the story goes), and operation Crossfire Hurricane was thus hatched. 

We have now pinned Peter Strzok’s boss, Bill Priestap, in London the week of May 6th, 2016 and on the 9th. The day before Alexander Downer was sent to spy on me and record our meeting. Congress must release the transcripts and embarrass the deep state.

— George Papadopoulos (@GeorgePapa19) April 20, 2019

Back to Mifsud… 

As Bongino lays out, there are two working theories about Mifsud. The first is that he’s a Russian asset who tried to bait the Trump campaign. The second is that Mifsud was working for US intelligence services and seeded Papadopoulos with the ‘dirt’ rumor in order to kick off the FBI’s counterintelligence operation. 

.@dbongino on why Mifsud is key in Spygate:

“So either we have a Russian asset who’s infiltrated the highest echelons of friendly Intelligence Services, or we have a friendly who was setting up @GeorgePapa19 – That’s the real scandal. This was not spying, this was entrapment.” pic.twitter.com/wGnV8HHur1

— M3thods (@M2Madness) May 4, 2019

Bongino went into greater detail last month on Fox News – including that Mifsud’s lawyer says he’s connected to western, “friendly” intelligence: 

We know that Papadopoulos met multiple times with Mifsud in the first half of 2016:

• March 14 2016 – Papadopoulos first meets Mifsud in Italy – approximately one week after finding out he will be joining the Trump team.
• March 24 2016 – Papadopoulos, Mifsud, Olga Polonskaya and unknown fourth party meet in a London cafe.
• April 18 2016 – Mifsud introduces Papadopoulos to Ivan Timofeev, an official at a state-sponsored think tank called Russian International Affairs Council.
• April 26 2016  – Mifsud tells Papadopoulos he’s met with high-level Russian government officials who have “dirt” on Clinton. Papadopoulos will tell the FBI he learned of the emails prior to joining the Trump Campaign.
• May 13 2016 – Mifsud emails Papadopoulos an update of “recent conversations”.

Note: Papadopoulos and Mifsud reportedly both worked at the London Centre of International Law Practice. –The Markets Work

In short – based on what we know, it appears that Joseph Mifsud was part of a setup by Western intelligence services on then-candidate Donald Trump. 

Did You Know:

A Company Whose Director Represents Joseph Mifsud Changed Its Name To “No Vichok Ltd” After The Salisbury Attack

“Novichok” was the nerve agent used to poison fmr GRU agent Sergei Skripal when the UK govt was caught lying about the analysis from Porton Down

— Jack Posobiec 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) May 4, 2019

(it’s true)

Great claims require great evidence, however, which is why Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) has requested a wide swath of documents about Mifsud from several federal agencies. 

As the Washington Examiner reports, Nunes – the House Intelligence Committee ranking member, “seeks information about who Mifsud was working for at the time and wrote in a letter that special counsel Robert Mueller “omits any mention of a wide range of contacts Mifsud had with Western political institutions and individuals” in his report on Russian interference in the 2016 election.”

As part of Mueller’s Russia investigation, Papadopoulos pleaded guilty in October 2017 to making false statements to the FBI about his contacts with Russians and served 12 days in prison late last year.

The special counsel’s sentencing memo to the District Court for the District of Columbia said Papadopoulos hindered the FBI’s ability to get to Mifsud. “The defendant’s lies undermined investigators’ ability to challenge the Professor or potentially detain or arrest him while he was still in the United States. The government understands that the Professor left the United States on February 11, 2017 and he has not returned to the United States since then,” the memo said.

In his letter, Nunes says it is “still a mystery how the FBI knew to ask Papadopoulos specifically about Hillary Clinton’s emails” if the bureau had not spoken with Mifsud. –Washington Examiner

“If he is in fact a Russian agent, it would be one of the biggest intelligence scandals for not only the United States, but also our allies like the Italians and the Brits and others. Because if Mifsud is a Russian agent, he would know all kinds of our intelligence agents throughout the globe,” said Nunes during a recent interview with Fox News‘ Sean Hannity. 

Look deeper at the Report re: Mifsud. One interesting omission —

Why are there zero citations to Mifsud’s 302 in the Mueller Report?

— Techno Fog (@Techno_Fog) May 4, 2019

via ZeroHedge News http://bit.ly/2DPnQtf Tyler Durden

Authored by Graham Piro via The College Fix,

‘Glorifies slavery, genocide, colonization, manifest destiny’

A Northern California public school district may remove a mural of George Washington from the halls of George Washington High School due to concerns that it’s offensive and demeaning to Native Americans and African-Americans.

The controversy comes after a working group determined the mural, made up of several panels, “traumatizes students and community members.” But advocates for keeping the 83-year-old mural say that removing it ignores the intent of the artist and represents an attempt to erase history.

In 1936, Victor Arnautoff painted the 13 panels that make up the “Life of Washington” mural at the San Francisco Unified School District campus. Arnautoff was a prominent Russian-American painter who created the murals as part of a Works Progress Administration project undertaken during the New Deal.

But a working group that met in recent months determined the artwork is highly problematic and should be archived after being removed from the walls of the school.

“SFUSD convened a ‘Reflection and Action Working Group’ that was comprised of members of the local Native American community, students, school representatives, district representatives, local artists and historians,” Laura Dudnick, spokeswoman for the district, wrote in an email to The College Fix.

The group held four public meetings between December 2018 and February 2019 during which it received input on what to do with the mural. The group’s recommendation? Archive the mural to protect the experience of students.

“At its conclusion the group voted and the majority recommended that the ‘Life of Washington’ mural be archived and removed because the mural does not represent SFUSD values,” Dudnick’s email to The Fix continued, adding that the group considered the legacy of the artist when deciding whether or not to keep the mural up.

However, concern for the experience of students won out.

Two of the 13 panels are coming under fire for containing objectionable images, accordingto the Richmond District Blog.

One of the images involves involves Washington gesturing toward a group of explorers who are walking by the body of a presumably deceased Native American depicted in the color gray. Another depicts Washington next to several slaves performing various types of manual labor, a YouTube video of the murals showed.

The Richmond District Blog reports the group’s conclusion:

We come to these recommendations due to the continued historical and current trauma of Native Americans and African Americans with these depictions in the mural that glorifies slavery, genocide, colonization, manifest destiny, white supremacy, oppression, etc. This mural doesn’t represent SFUSD values of social justice, diversity, united, student-centered. It’s not student-centered if it’s focused on the legacy of artists, rather than the experience of the students.

But Fergus M. Bordewich, a historian, wrote in The Wall Street Journal that the intention of the artist should be taken into account when considering the intent of the images:

The mural’s painter, Victor Arnautoff, was a protégé of Diego Rivera and a communist. He included those images not to glorify Washington, but rather to provoke a nuanced evaluation of his legacy. The scene with the dead Native American, for instance, calls attention to the price of “manifest destiny.” Arnautoff’s murals also portray the slaves with humanity and the several live Indians as vigorous and manly.

Bordewich, in a phone interview with The Fix, said there “is a deeply wrongheaded habit to project today’s norms, values, ideals backwards in time to find our ancestors inevitably falling short.”

“It betrays a very troubling intolerance of art and the ambiguity of art and the aspirations of art,” he said.

The mural’s future is up in the air, according to Dudnick.

“The superintendent and staff are now reviewing the recommendation and considering the best course of action,” she wrote. “At this time there hasn’t yet been any recommendation put forth before the SF Board of Education on this matter.”

This is not the first time the murals have come under fire. In the late 1960s, protesters called for its removal, which the school responded to by installing another set of murals titled “Multi-Ethnic Heritage: Black, Asian, Native/Latin American.” These murals display more positive images of ethnic minorities, the Richmond District Blog reported.

“One of the main reasons why it is controversial is because back in the [1930s] when it was painted, George Washington was the saint of the people,” one student at George Washington High School told the Golden Gate Express. “I’ve talked to a bunch of students here and I honestly think that they agree it is the true depiction of history and that we all have to know who George Washington really was.”

Bordewich added that the “mural is not a celebration of genocide, it’s a challenge to westward expansion.”

“It’s incredibly stupid if we try to erase history,” he said. “It still happened, and you should argue about its meanings.”

via ZeroHedge News http://bit.ly/2VcVLqi Tyler Durden