A new killer has emerged in the illegal drug market, leaving a trail of bodies in its wake. Synthetic opioids called nitazenes—up to 20 times more potent than fentanyl—have infiltrated street drugs from heroin to benzodiazepines, catching unsuspecting users in a web of addiction and overdose (OD) death.
These opioids have evaded authorities and fueled a silent epidemic, presenting novel dangers law enforcement is only beginning to grasp.
Nitazenes belong to a class of synthetic opioids called isotonitazenes, or ISOs. These compounds have gained attention due to their powerful painkilling properties. First developed in the 1950s, nitazenes were never approved for medical use and long remained obscure, known only in academic circles.
A defining trait of nitazenes is their extremely high potency—hundreds to thousands of times more potent than morphine and other older opioids and 10 to 20 times more powerful than fentanyl, which is already fueling the nation’s current drug crisis.
Although it’s theorized that these compounds are coming from China, “nobody really knows for sure,” Dr. Jarid Pachter from Stony Brook Medicine, who specializes in family medicine and addiction medicine, told The Epoch Times.
So far, 20 distinct types of nitazenes have been detected in illegal street drugs, turning up with increasing frequency. As Schedule I drugs in the United States, a class that includes drugs with no accepted medical use and high abuse and addiction potential, all nitazenes are illegal.
Nitazenes are being used to spike and strengthen illegal drugs while also making them cheaper to produce, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). But this chemical tampering has already led to deadly overdoses.
UK Sounds Alarm on Spiking of Drug Supplies With Nitazenes
Like the United States, the UK is grappling with its own drug crisis. Recently, nitazenes have been detected in substances peddled as other opioids, benzodiazepines, or cannabis products.
Data from Scotland’s Rapid Action Drug Alerts and Response (RADAR) early warning system showed nitazenes directly caused 25 deaths between 2022 and 2023—compared to none before—identified in postmortem toxicology tests.
“Because nitazenes have been found in various street drugs like benzodiazepines and fake pharmaceuticals, people may not be aware they are taking nitazenes or the increased risk,” Dr. Tara Shivaji, a consultant in public health medicine at Public Health Scotland, said in a press statement. Compounding the risk, the concentration of drugs in tablets, powders, and blotters can fluctuate dramatically even within the same batch, she noted.
Nitazenes Need Multiple Naloxone Doses
Synthetic opioids, including the nitazene class, are among the fastest-growing opioids that are causing emergency hospitalizations for overdoses.
However, evidence suggests that nitazenes inflict more severe health impacts. Most patients overdosing on nitazenes or other novel opioids need two or more naloxone doses, whereas fentanyl overdoses require just one, according to research published in JAMA Network Open.
Their extreme potency and pharmacological profile also heighten overdose and death risk, especially when combined with other central nervous system depressants like benzodiazepines or alcohol.
“The risk is that you can not only have a horrible substance use disorder, but you can die of an overdose,” Dr. Pachter said.
Over 100,000 Overdose Deaths in 2023 Alone
Opioids have driven a growing share of overdose deaths since 2009, accounting for nearly 71 percent of all fatal ODs in 2019. Provisional data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show over 106,000 overdose deaths nationwide through September 2023—an undercount due to incomplete reports.
Over 40 percent of American adults know someone who fatally overdosed, according to a recent survey by the RAND Corporation, a think tank. Additionally, 13 percent said an OD death substantially disrupted their life.
With so many synthetic drugs and unpredictable combinations, buyers can never know precisely what they’re getting, DEA Intelligence Analyst Maura Gaffney said in a press statement.
Houthis Offer Safe Passage To Ships Through Red Sea If They Obtain Permit
The Houthis are currently threatening to unleash more ‘painful’ attacks on Red Sea shipping. “Yemeni naval forces are closely monitoring all movements in the Red and Arabian Seas and our appropriate responses will make anybody found to be involved in such operations regret their allegiance to America and Britain,” a Houthi military spokesman said Tuesday.
Nadwa Al-Dawsari, an analyst with the Middle East Institute in Washington, has described that the US/UK-led Operation Prosperity Guardian has essentially failed. “The Houthis feel confident. They were never held accountable for any of their violations, including attacks on the Red Sea.”
And now the Iran-linked Houthis are so confident that they have announced a new system for entry into the Red Sea which they are unilaterally imposing.
“Ships will have to obtain a permit from Yemen’s Houthi-controlled Maritime Affairs Authority before entering Yemeni waters,” according to a Monday statement of Houthi Telecommunications Minister, Misfer Al-Numair.
“(We) are ready to assist requests for permits and identify ships with the Yemeni Navy, and we confirm this is out of concern for their safety,” the minister said further, in an official statement carried by the Houthi-run Al Masirah TV.
The territorial waters affected by the Yemeni order extend halfway out into the 20-km (12-mile) wide Bab Al-Mandab Strait, the narrow mouth of the Red Sea through which around 15 per cent of the world’s shipping traffic passes on its way to or from the Suez Canal.
In normal times, more than a quarter of global container cargo – including apparel, appliances, auto parts, chemicals and agricultural products, like coffee – move via the Suez Canal.
Previously the Houthis have said that Russia and China owned vessels would receive safe passage, but foreign tankers headed to Israeli ports risk coming under attack.
Washington officials have already expressed doubt over the new offer of permits, saying that even permitted ships could likely face missile or drone attack.
#Yemen‘s Houthis, through their telecoms minister @AlnomeirMosfer, are now floating the idea of ships needing to obtain a permit from their Maritime Affairs Authority before entering Yemeni waters, saying the measure “is out of concern for their safety”.#RedSea
— Bachar EL-Halabi | بشار الحلبي (@Bacharelhalabi) March 5, 2024
Former US Defense Secretary, Robert Gates told a shipping industry conference that even if the Gaza war were to stop, “They [Houthis] may decide that they like the idea of controlling the amount of shipping going through the Red Sea, and will continue this for an indefinite period of time.”
In the early morning hours of Tuesday, US Central Command posted on social media platform X that MSC Sky II, a container ship operated by MSC Mediterranean Shipping Co., was damaged in a missile attack about 90 miles southeast of the Yemeni city of Aden, as part of the latest Houthi aggression.
Prison reforms in California aimed at rehabilitation and release are a ticking time bomb according to current and formerly incarcerated individuals, whistleblowers, active and retired correctional officers, and other staff who spoke to The Epoch Times.
As part of the reforms, which are based on Norway’s model, California’s prisons are moving away from punishment and toward rehabilitation, education, and re-entry.
The transformation dovetails with a decade of sentencing and parole reforms as authorities move to depopulate and close facilities statewide.
But the reality inside California’s prisons, insiders say, is increasingly dangerous for both inmates and staff.
In the first six weeks of 2024, there were six homicides in California prisons, according to the corrections department. Five were inmate-on-inmate homicides and one involved a correctional officer shooting an inmate to prevent him from fatally stabbing another inmate.
Additionally, an Epoch Times review of the department’s statistics reveals a dramatic increase over the past several years in total incident reports, as well as in important categories including assault and battery on inmates and officers, use of force, and sexual assaults.
From January to October 2023, the most recent data available, there were 17,993 total incident reports—compared to 14,138 and 12,717 for the same periods in 2022 and 2021, respectively.
Assault and battery incidents on corrections officers and non-inmates have risen steadily from 2021 through 2023, the latter increasing 35 percent from January to October 2023 over the previous year. In the same period, assaults on inmates rose 29 percent, use of force increased 46.3 percent, and sexual assaults jumped 62 percent.
Patrick “Jimmy” Kitlas, who began serving a life sentence in 2007 and is now eligible for parole, told The Epoch Times by phone that there have been many “really sweeping and drastic” policy changes—but they are often contradictory or not implemented.
“This place has definitely become a less structured, a less secure, and a much more violent place,” he said from San Quentin Rehabilitation Center, where he’s been since 2015.
Mr. Kitlas and others who spoke to The Epoch Times blamed a top-heavy administration disconnected from reality on the ground.
“The guys up top who aren’t actually in the buildings with the officers and inmates providing custodial supervision, they’re making a lot of insane and violence-provoking policies without regard to the staff that have to enforce them,” Mr. Kitlas said.
A new policy will often hit inmates and staff at the same time, he said, resulting in chaos.
“No one ever seems to really have a firm grasp of where the policy came from, what its purpose is, and how is the best way to implement it—which is super dangerous,” he said.
San Quentin is California’s oldest prison and one of the country’s most notorious, conducting all of the state’s executions since 1937. Now, it’s the blueprint for California corrections reform, offering innovative programming to help inmates like Mr. Kitlas transform their lives, overcome trauma, and become community leaders.
So why are inmates like Mr. Kitlas ringing the alarm?
Good Intentions, Violent Outcomes
In 2012, prisoners in California’s supermax Pelican Bay Security Housing Unit—known as “The SHU”—led a peace initiative to end racial violence and solitary confinement called “The End of Hostilities.”
Beginning in 2015, following the settlement of a class-action lawsuit against the state, California began to move away from indefinite solitary confinement and reformed its use of behavior-based housing models, while shifting focus to rehabilitation, education, and programming. It released nearly all prisoners held in the SHU at Pelican Bay and Corcoran and integrated them with general population yards.
But some argue the unintended consequences are still reverberating throughout the state.
Joshua Mason, a formerly incarcerated activist and scholar who works closely with prison populations, said the integration of prison gang leaders formerly housed in the SHU into the general population yards resulted in “a different level of violence.”
“When these guys came out of the SHU—that is the difference,” he said, noting how razor facial slashings gave way to deadly stabbings that have now become the norm.
In 2018, the department began integrating prisoners from “Special Needs Yards” into the general population, after determining the creation of those yards in the 1990s for inmates who couldn’t safely be in a prison’s general population had backfired, sparking more violence. Citing a move toward rehabilitation, authorities began integrating programs, yards, and entire prisons.
“The changes that have caused the most havoc and just all-out violence was when they started integrating the yards,” Mr. Kitlas said, noting there hadn’t been a riot or stabbing since 2012 when he arrived at San Quentin in 2015. “Since [integration], we’ve had multiple stabbings, we’ve had murders, we’ve had rapes.”
Hector Bravo, a former corrections department lieutenant, agreed.
“I was part of the first integrations. It was out-of-control violence,” he told The Epoch Times.
Both pointed to “special needs yards” yards as a kind of Wild West, where even normal gang rules don’t apply.
“The majority of super violent gangs and drug cultures actually come out of the [special needs yards],” Mr. Kitlas said. “They’re being jumped back onto the [general population] and they’re being protected because that’s what staff was told to do.”
Integrations again ramped up in 2022, when the corrections department said it would no longer house rival groups and gangs separately and expected everyone to program together. In 2023, it further reduced and reformed its use of short-term segregated security housing (“administrative segregation” or “AdSeg”) and announced that the SHU and AdSeg would be merged and renamed Restrictive Housing Units (RHU).
A current correctional officer, who wanted to be referred to only as “Mr. Y” for fear of retaliation, pointed to California’s powerful prison gang culture as an obstacle to integrating rival gangs and special needs yards.
“Trying to take people who walked away from that lifestyle, and insert people who are about that life, and have them coexist is just not going to happen,” he said. “The politics are too strong.”
Merging prisoners with different security levels, whether special needs or general population, in “non-designated” yards means that more inmates who become eligible for security overrides are being sent to lower-security facilities, sources say.
Mr. Bravo pointed to the Feb. 4 murder of an inmate at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego. One of the suspects, Maurice Vasquez, founder of the prison gang Northern Riders, was housed on “A Yard”—a Level III special needs yard—even though he had 279 points at the time, well above the threshold of 60 points to put him at a Level IV facility, Mr. Bravo said.
“The department is in such a rush to override inmates onto less secure facilities and ultimately out to parole,” he said. “This is the result.”
Mr. Y cited a few recent examples, saying: “The state of California keeps putting these guys out into the yards. Sooner or later, someone else is going to get hurt.”
For inmates such as Mr. Kitlas, who say they want to participate in rehabilitation and education programs—and who need to in order to be eligible for parole—the impact can be devastating.
“We’re trying to get along, we’re trying to program, and a lot of the guys that are coming off the SNY [special needs yards] are super hardcore gang members and dope fiends,” Mr. Kitlas said. “They really have no regard for the programs and the whole purpose of that.”
A corrections department employee who has worked in multiple institutions, “Dr. X” (she asked The Epoch Times not to use her name as she fears retaliation), said administrators began to take a more “hands-off” approach to security beginning around 2020. Part of that was due to COVID, but it also reflected a gradual shift toward socialization between staff and inmates.
“When I started, it was mandatory, you don’t have any contact with any medical staff or anyone that doesn’t have weapons to protect themselves unless you get patted down,” she said. When pat-downs were informally phased out at an institution where she worked, she began raising the alarm. Subsequently, an inmate brought a weapon into a treatment setting where he was alone with a female staff member. At another institution, two female staffers she supervised were sexually assaulted.
Normalizing relations between officers and inmates is part of the broader shift toward a rehabilitation model, according to the corrections department. But without proper support, staff say results can be disastrous.
A recent incident at New Folsom Prison illustrates how regulatory shifts, from big ones such as security housing reforms, to small ones such as language policy, have converged to create a chaotic environment.
After an inmate exposed himself to a female officer and began masturbating, Dr. X said, the female officer told him to stop, using profanity. The administration penalized the female officer for swearing, including a temporary salary reduction.
Bloomberg reports that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has asked the country’s major state-owned refiners to press Persian Gulf suppliers to accept at least 10% of oil payments in rupees in the next financial year, three executives at the processors said.
The RBI is concerned that the nation’s soaring demand for energy will weaken the rupee, something that has been a general trend over the last two years (India refiners must sell Rupees to buy USDollars to settle the payments for their increasing heavy demand for crude).
The executives that Bloomberg sourced also noted that India wants to leverage the growth in consumption to its own advantage, by promoting the Indian currency in international trade and cutting dependence on dollars.
The three refiners – Indian Oil Corp., Bharat Petroleum Corp. and Hindustan Petroleum Corp. – have already approached oil exporters on the matter, but the suppliers are pushing back due to currency risk and conversion charges, the executives said.
The vast majority of global oil transactions are in dollars, although China has had some success in using the yuan more to pay for imports.
Indian Oil partly paid Abu Dhabi National Oil Co for a shipment of 1 million barrels of crude in rupees last August.
However, there haven’t been any transactions in the currency since then.
The country’s refiners have also used other currencies – include UAE dirhams – to pay for Russian crude.
This decision by India comes just days after a report by Russian news agency TASS said that the five-nation BRICS group comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa will work on creating a payment system based on blockchain and digital technologies.
“We believe that creating an independent BRICS payment system is an important goal for the future, which would be based on state-of-the-art tools such as digital technologies and blockchain. The main thing is to make sure it is convenient for governments, common people and businesses, as well as cost-effective and free of politics,” Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov said in an interview with TASS.
As CoinDesk reports, the effort is part of a specific task for this year to increase the role of BRICS in the international monetary system.
For some time now, the BRICS grouping has been making efforts to reduce its reliance on U.S. dollars in settlement, also known as de-dollarization.
“Work will continue to develop the Contingent Reserve Arrangement, primarily regarding the use of currencies different from the US dollar,” Ushakov said.
India is the world’s third-largest crude importer and is forecast to be the leading driver of global consumption growth this decade.
Published in the Obstetrics & Gynecology journal on March 1, Oregon Health & Science University researchers found that women who received a COVID-19 shot in the first half of their menstrual cycle are more likely to receive cycle length changes than those who received the vaccine in the second half.
Those researchers used data from 20,000 users of a birth control app that was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to determine what effects the vaccine has on the cycle. Most of the women whose data was analyzed were under the age of 35, while 28 percent were from North America, 33 percent were from Europe, and another 32 percent were from the United Kingdom, they said.
Some were vaccinated and some were not. For those who were vaccinated, 63 percent received an mRNA vaccine, the paper said.
“Individuals vaccinated in the follicular phase experienced an average 1-day longer adjusted cycle length with a first or second dose of COVID-19 vaccine compared with their pre-vaccination average,” the authors of the paper said, referring to women who got a dose of the vaccine during the first half of their cycle.
Those who got the vaccine in the second half or those who were not vaccinated experienced no changes, they found.
The authors added that there is now “a body of evidence demonstrating that the … vaccine is associated with temporary menstrual cycle disturbances at the population level,” adding that “the underlying mechanism for a vaccine-related cycle length disturbance is still under investigation.”
“The leading hypothesis is that these disturbances are due to the immune response that vaccines are designed to produce,” the study said, adding that “the immune and reproductive systems interact closely with one another.” Cytokines, which are small proteins that control the immune system’s activity and are produced “as an early event in the vaccine response,” can impact that process, they added.
Little research has been conducted in the past on how vaccines—whether for COVID-19 or others—could influence the menstrual cycle, the study’s authors further noted.
Responding to the study’s findings, Dr. Alison Edelman, the lead author of the paper with the Oregon university, said that “we do know the immune and reproductive systems interact closely with one another,” adding that with vaccinations, “it is certainly plausible that individuals may see temporary changes in their menstrual cycle due to the immune response.”
Their findings also suggested that there may be changes in the length of the cycle, although they appear to be short-lived. But they added that women who notice significant changes should contact a healthcare provider.
Previously, officials in Norway recommended women who experience heavy and persistent bleeding after vaccination put off any further doses until the cause is investigated or symptoms pass.
Other Research
And earlier in 2022, another set of researchers wrote that for women who received one of the COVID-19 vaccines, around 42 percent of respondents said they experienced increased menstrual bleeding. A majority of those who weren’t menstruating reported breakthrough bleeding after getting the shot, including two-thirds of women who were post-menopausal and slightly less than two-thirds of women who were using hormone treatments.
Most respondents received an mRNA vaccine made by either Moderna or Pfizer. But some also received Novavax, Johnson & Johnson, and AstraZeneca shots, according to the paper.
“We focused our analysis on those who regularly menstruate and those who do not currently menstruate but have in the past. The latter group included postmenopausal individuals and those on hormonal therapies that suppress menstruation, for whom bleeding is especially surprising,” Kathryn Clancy, a professor of anthropology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, said in a statement about the study’s findings at the time.
And it is not the first time that the same Oregon Health & Science University researchers found COVID-19 vaccines are associated with a change in the cycle. In 2022, they found that the change was pegged at under one day, and no change in menses length was detected.
While the study did not find vaccination associated with changes in menses length, “questions remain about other possible changes in menstrual cycles, such as menstrual symptoms, unscheduled bleeding, and changes in the quality and quantity of menstrual bleeding,” they wrote.
Pfizer Official’s Concerns
About a year ago, a Pfizer employee was seen in an undercover video telling a reporter with Project Veritas that he was concerned about the mRNA shot’s possible side-effects relating to menstrual cycles.
“There is something irregular about the menstrual cycles. So people will have to investigate that down the line because that is a little concerning,” the Pfizer official said in the video, adding that it “shouldn’t be interfering” with the cycles.
“I hope we don’t discover something really bad down the line,” he later added.
Iranian ‘Spy Ship’ In Spotlight After Undersea Data Cables Linking Continents Severed
In a statement on Monday, Hong Kong-based HGC Global Communications revealed that four undersea communications cables in the Red Sea were severed, impacting about a quarter of the data transmission between Asia and Europe. The incident occurred one week ago, with the full extent of the damage only now coming to light.
The cut data cables include Asia-Africa-Europe 1, the Europe India Gateway, Seacom and TGN-Gulf, HGC Global said, adding this is “estimated impact 25% of traffic – around 15% of Asia traffic goes west-bound, while 80% of those traffic will pass through these submarine cables in the Red Sea.”
HGC said it had taken measures to “successfully devised a comprehensive diversity plan to reroute affected traffic.”
What severed the undersea cables remains unclear – and there are mounting concerns that Iran-backed Houthis were part of the attack. But in recent days, the rebels have denied attacking the lines.
AP News quoted a US government official who said an investigation is underway to determine the cause of the cable cuts. The official said the investigation will decide whether it was an intentional act or an accident involving an anchor.
However, some believe the Houthis are not the most capable group in the region to conduct such an attack; in fact, it might be Iran.
“Cutting off critical lines communications and driving up the costs of everything from internet to oil across the Middle East is a clearly articulated economic warfare goal of the IRGC Qods Force. Iran seeks to undermine global access to the region as part of its cost-imposition strategy,” said David Asher, a senior fellow at Hudson Institute.
Asher said: “The Qods Force is operating a spy ship called the Behsad that is reportedly in the Gulf of Aden, not far from where the undersea cables were cut. This ship highly likely carries a Qods Force special underwater warfare force component more than capable of carrying out an undersea cable attack.”
Bloomberg data shows that the Behshad, an Iranian vessel in the Red Sea, was in the region around the time the incident occurred last week.
He pointed out: “The world should expect to see an uptick in Iranian covert direct action operations alongside proxy warfare with the Houthis and Hezbollah activities in the coming months.”
The IRGC’s goal to covertly spark chaos in the Middle East has boosted crude prices and allowed Tehran to collect $90 billion in illicit oil sales under the Biden administration.
“Iran has managed to sell $90 billion worth of U.S.-sanctioned oil, setting new export records in the process,” according to the latest figures published by United Against a Nuclear Iran.
UANI continued:
“The administration has not published a correspondingly detailed report with respect to Iranian oil exports—despite the equally vital role oil sales play in funding Iran’s malign activities: sponsorship of terrorism, development of WMDs, and domestic repression. There is a conspicuous absence of robust pronouncements and clear-eyed reasoning with respect to Tehran and its oil.”
With the matrix of attacks from commercial shipping vessels disrupting global trade to now cut undersea cables disrupting data transmission between continents, the Red Sea crisis is only accelerating, and investors are ignoring all risks.
As national, state, and local governments continue to spend billions of dollars to house, feed, clothe, and provide medical care for millions of illegal immigrants, homelessness among U.S. veterans has risen dramatically for the first time in 12 years.
A recent report from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) details a 7.4 percent increase in veteran homelessness between 2022 and 2023 and estimates that more than 35,000 veterans are homeless on any given night. Over the course of a year, according to the report, almost twice as many veterans may experience homelessness. In total, HUD estimates that nearly 13 percent of the homeless adult population are veterans.
Kate Monroe, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and CEO of VetComm.us, calls this situation “the ultimate betrayal” by the U.S. government. She is also a California Republican congressional candidate.
“What they are trying to do is get as many people into the U.S. as they can,” she told The Epoch Times. “And what we’re saying to our homeless veterans is that we as a country don’t care. It’s no wonder why recruiting is down by 20 percent.”
According to a November 2023 report by the Homeland Security Republican Committee, the money spent on illegal migrants could cost Americans up to $451 billion by the end of this year. According to NYC.gov, the official website for New York City, the Big Apple alone doled out $1.45 billion in 2023 to provide food, shelter, and services to tens of thousands of immigrants. Several published reports indicate that Chicago paid $138 million during the past year to house, feed, and care for illegal immigrants.
The Federation for American Immigration Reform reports that the state of California, which had the highest number of immigrants in 2023—more than 160,000—spent some $22.8 billion for their care in 2023. California has also become the first state to offer health insurance for all illegal immigrants.
“I’ve been down to the border. Buses pull up, and illegal migrants are given food, a cell phone, and a plane ticket,” Ms. Monroe said. “They are taking away housing and resources from veterans, and the American people are the victims.”
Her firm is dedicated to helping veterans receive what they are owed from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and is also working to provide them with shelter and empower them to improve their quality of life.
“We do anything we can to prevent them from ending up on the streets,” Ms. Monroe said. She and her team regularly visit California’s most affected regions, including the “Bottoms” in San Diego and San Francisco’s Tenderloin District, where they consult with homeless veterans.
While funding and services are available through the VA, Ms. Monroe said that too often, people can fall through the cracks.
“They’re just not getting access to it quickly and efficiently, especially since the entirety of the VA homelessness program is based on the VA giving grants to third parties, who then give a fraction of that money to the veterans,” she said.
At the end of January, the VA reported it had permanently housed 46,552 homeless veterans in 2023, exceeding its goal of 38,000.
VA spokesman Terrence Hayes told The Epoch Times that the department is committed to ending veteran homelessness and that no VA funds are ever earmarked for shelter or health care for illegal immigrants.
“The VA does not provide or fund any health care for ICE [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement] detainees,” he said.
“No funding or any other resources from VA are used to pay for or provide housing or health care services to non-Veteran individuals detained in [ICE] custody.”
Mr. Hayes also refutes a section of a report from the Department of Homeland Security claiming the VA has been appropriating resources to provide medical care for illegal migrants.
The phrase in question states that “ICE contracts with the VA Financial Services Center (VAFSC) to process medical claims reimbursements; providers must complete and submit information to receive payment.”
According to Mr. Hayes, a 2002 payment processing agreement allows ICE to pay for the VAFSC to process payments for ICE-funded health care.
“This is fully paid for by ICE and has no impact on veteran care or services whatsoever,” he said. “VAFSC provides an administrative function for ICE, using ICE funds, that has zero impact on veteran health care or benefits.”
A statement issued by the VA at the end of January also states that “ending veteran homelessness is a top priority of the VA and President Biden.” It concludes that “no veteran should ever experience the tragedy and indignity of homelessness.”
The VA has a website to help those veterans in need of finding permanent housing take advantage of VA Homeless Programs. This month, it published a “Notice of Funding Opportunity” for almost $5 million in grants per year to help veterans who are currently homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. The funds are available through the VA’s Homeless Providers Grant and Per Diem Program.
Veteran Homelessness Factors
One of the biggest problems facing homeless veterans is post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which occurs when a person has experienced or witnessed a shocking, terrifying, or dangerous event.
“A lot of combat vets suffer from PTSD, and if they don’t get it treated, it can result in a series of problems,” Ms. Monroe said. “They can have anger issues at work, and sometimes they don’t integrate well with their peers. As a result, they may lose their jobs and eventually end up on the streets.”
In other situations, veterans may experience difficulty transitioning to civilian jobs, she said.
“For example, if their days were spent on aircraft carriers or operating tanks, those jobs don’t exist in the civilian world,” Ms. Monroe said. “They’re also used to surviving with room and board and may not be experienced in how to properly budget for housing, food, clothing, and other necessities.”
One solution that she has proposed is setting up temporary base camps to serve veterans experiencing homelessness. With her own field experience in setting up these camps, she contends that many cities already have the capabilities to establish this type of transitional housing. Within this setting, Ms. Monroe said, vets could also take advantage of counseling services, security, sustenance, sanitation, and disability support. She maintains that this model would be just a fraction of the cost that cities regularly spend to place the homeless in hotels.
Services for Homeless Veterans
Based in Washington, the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans (NCHV) is focused on ending veteran homelessness by promoting collaboration and managing a referral helpline for those either at-risk of or currently experiencing homelessness.
The NCHV estimates that 20 percent of the current male homeless population are veterans, with 68 percent living in principal cities and 32 percent in suburban or rural areas. Other bleak statistics indicate that 70 percent are dealing with substance abuse problems, 50 percent are suffering from severe mental illness, and 51 percent have physical disabilities. Of the entire group of homeless veterans, more than half are age 51 or older.
“We are facing a nationwide crisis in housing affordability, NCHV spokesperson David Higgins Jr. told The Epoch Times. “We and our collaborative partners have consistently emphasized the severity of this crisis and stressed the urgent need for increased and more substantial federal investments in effective solutions.”
Serving as the primary liaison between veterans’ services providers, Congress, and executive branch agencies, the group continues to work to increase funding for various federal homeless veteran assistance programs. It also offers direct training to service providers across the country, focusing on employment assistance, case management, legal aid, housing programs, and other supportive services.
However, the NCHV contends that funding allocated for illegal immigrants is a separate issue and does not take anything away from funding veterans’ programs.
“We recognize the importance of addressing the needs of both veterans and individuals who may be undocumented or classified as illegal migrants,” Mr. Higgins said. “It is essential to emphasize that providing support to one group does not necessarily compete with or detract from the assistance that the other group requires.”
The Tunnel to Towers Foundation has also been tackling the issue of homeless or wounded veterans since its founding in 2001, following the 9/11 attacks. The Staten Island, N.Y.-based nonprofit has been serving veterans, first responders, and their families by providing affordable apartments and specially adapted smart homes for those in need. Last year alone, the Foundation offered housing assistance and access to services to more than 3,000 veterans.
Gavin Naples, the foundation’s vice president and head of its Homeless Veteran Program, told The Epoch Times that he wasn’t surprised by the HUD report of increased homelessness among veterans.
“We actually believe the number is probably much higher because some of those affected may not fall under the chronically homeless category and, as a result, may not qualify for federal assistance,” he said.
HUD defines “chronic homelessness” as people who have been homeless for at least a year or on at least four separate occasions in the past three years.
“If someone is in arrears in rent or their mortgage or has been living in their car for just a few weeks, they may not qualify,” Mr. Naples said.
Currently, the foundation is in the process of securing former hotels in large metro areas throughout the nation for renovation and conversion into Veterans Villages. The first one completed is in Houston.
“But we’re not just providing a bed,” Mr. Naples said. “We’ll also be creating a pathway to get them back into the community with counseling, medical care, rehabilitation, if needed, and job training.”
Outside of the large metro areas, the foundation has established a national case management network where any veteran can take advantage of programs for housing, employment, and financial assistance, as well as rental and mortgage payment assistance.
The Tunnel to Towers Foundation is privately funded by corporations as well as individual donors. In addition to the Houston Veterans Village, now housing 131 veterans, another former hotel in Atlanta will house 95 veterans when completed in the near future. Similar projects are already underway in Pennsylvania and Florida.
“It’s a tall order, but our mission here is to eradicate homelessness among all veterans,” Mr. Naples said.
This Is Why Camaro Thefts Are Up 1000% In Los Angeles This Year
Police in L.A. used a sting involving a Chevy Camaro to help understand why thefts of the vehicle are surging on the West Coast.
The rise in thefts – with Camaro thefts up more than 1000% this year – coincides with the vehicles’ frequent appearances at street takeovers, where their high power is often showcased.
What police found was that an electronic device was being used by a teen that allowed them to to input a car’s details and reprogram its ignition system, allowing them to steal the vehicle.
The confiscated device, a sophisticated hand-held computer, is designed to bypass car security systems by creating a replacement smart key, according to Yahoo/LA Times.
A 16-year-old suspect is believed to have used such a device to steal Camaros, later selling them for a fraction of their value at street events, as per LAPD’s Newton Division Capt. Keith Green.
The Yahoo/LA Times article noted that this division has witnessed a significant jump in Camaro thefts, from 2 to 10 in just the first two months of the year, reflecting a citywide spike from 7 to 90.
The ease of cloning key fobs with commercially available technology has turned even teenagers into proficient car thieves. The demand for stolen vehicles in street racing and “burnouts” contributes to the targeting of muscle cars due to their inevitable wear and tear from such activities.
Although the LAPD has not detailed the exact method used in the recent case, the practice of creating duplicate electronic key fobs through direct connection or wireless systems has been documented elsewhere.
To combat such thefts, the LAPD recommends additional security measures, including fuel cut-offs, steering wheel locks, and secure vehicle storage. Preventative tactics against key fob signal transmission, such as security cases or even wrapping fobs in aluminum foil, are advised.
The phenomenon of American muscle car thefts, exacerbated by key fob cloning, is not unique to L.A.; it has been observed nationwide, including a series of thefts at Michigan dealerships in 2022.
Maybe next liberal city DA’s will simply recommend that nobody drive a car anymore. After all, it’s your fault for having such an easy-to-steal vehicle in the first place…
Plastics are omnipresent. Few could argue that life is not incomparably more convenient because of them. But at what cost has our reliance on such convenience and ease come?
Phthalates, a class of synthetic chemicals often referred to as “plasticizers” because of their common use in making plastic products flexible and bendable, are found in thousands of consumer products, from vinyl flooring to household cleaners and children’s toys. For most of us, our primary exposure to phthalates likely comes through plastic food containers and personal care products such as shampoos and cosmetics.
Research indicates that we shouldn’t take the safety of these everyday products for granted. Phthalate exposure has been linked to a number of adverse health outcomes, including an increased risk of preterm birth, and researchers are urging greater awareness and avoidance of phthalate-containing products.
Phthalates–Under Scrutiny
Phthalates were already under suspicion due to a number of studies that highlighted the role that these chemicals may play in shortening gestational age. Recently The Lancet published a prospective analysis estimating the lifetime cost of prenatal exposure to phthalates in health outcomes, economic productivity, and monetary expenditures. The results are startling. The study authors reported that, in 2018, an estimated 56,595 preterm births could be attributed to prenatal phthalate exposure, at a staggering cost:
“The lifetime costs of preterm birth, inclusive of direct medical care, intellectual quotient loss, and other indirect consequences, was estimated to be US$64,815 per case in 2016 … Other chronic conditions due to phthalates include childhood obesity, adult obesity and diabetes, endometriosis, male factor infertility, and cardiovascular mortality, with total costs nearly $100 billion annually.”
Infants and young children are particularly vulnerable to the harmful effects of phthalate exposure on their developing brains. Project TENDR, an alliance of scientists, health professionals, and advocates working together to protect children from the brain-damaging effects of exposure to toxic chemicals, explains that prenatal exposure to phthalates can affect neurological development in infants and children, resulting in effects that “include Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)-like behaviors, problems with conduct and aggression, as well depression and other internalizing behaviors.”
They also note that “prenatal exposure has been associated with deficits in child IQ, working memory and executive functioning, as well as with problems in emotional regulation.” Multiple studies have found levels of phthalate exposure to be consistently higher among black and Latino populations in the United States than among other racial groups.
Although children are particularly vulnerable, the effects of ongoing phthalate exposure extend to adults as well, being linked to increased risk of obesity, diabetes, endometriosis, birth defects in the male reproductive system, cardiovascular disease, and thyroid irregularities.
It is impossible to live in contemporary society and completely eliminate phthalate exposure. Researchers estimate that the number of Americans with detectable levels of phthalates in their bodies is very close to 100 percent. We can’t eliminate phthalate exposure, but we can reduce it by being more mindful of the food we eat and the products we use.
While phthalate-containing products are all around us, the greatest risk comes from those we eat, absorb through the skin, or inhale. Food items that are prepared or stored in plastic containers, along with the use of personal care products, are the main sources of phthalate exposure for most people. Also, women are generally more exposed than men because of their tendency to use a wider variety of personal care products. Nail polish, hairspray, cleansers, after-shave lotions, and shampoos all commonly contain phthalates.
Identifying Phthalate-Free Products
There are some simple ways to reduce exposure to these harmful chemicals. The Environmental Working Group provides a cosmetics database as well as a Healthy Cleaning Guide, which can help consumers check for potentially harmful ingredients in their personal care or cleaning products, and identify phthalate-free products. Look for personal care products with a “phthalate-free” label. Also, avoid products with the generic term “fragrance” in the ingredient list, as phthalates are commonly used in synthetic fragrances and can be hidden among the undisclosed “fragrance” ingredients.
Reducing the use of plastic wrap and plastic food storage containers made from PVC (with the recycling label #3), and storing food in glass or stainless steel containers instead, is a good start. Avoid heating foods or drinks in plastic containers, as heat increases the release of phthalates into food. Also, limiting consumption of fast food, which has been shown to contain higher concentrations of phthalates, in favor of fresh, minimally processed foods, is a step in the right direction.
Iranian Assassin On The Loose In America, Targeting Trump-era Officials
Under President Biden’s disastrous open southern border policies, there is a significant concern among federal officials that terrorists are entering the United States freely and could be plotting assassination attacks against former and current government officials.
First reported by Semafor, the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Miami Field Office released new information on an Iranian intelligence officer by the name of Majid Dastjani Farahani, who is wanted for “questioning in connection with the recruitment of individuals for various operations in the United States, to include lethal targeting of current and former United States Government officials.”
The FBI said the Iranian spy is plotting attacks against current and former American officials “as revenge for the killing of IRGC-QF Commander Qasem Soleimani.” Semafor noted that some of those officials include one-time Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
Semafor added: “It’s unclear why the FBI issued its warning in Florida. But the US government warned in a Most Wanted notice issued Friday that Farahani speaks Spanish and frequently moves between Iran and Venezuela.”
The news of terrorists roaming the US comes after the US Border Patrol arrested 169 members of the FBI’s terrorist watchlist attempting to cross the southern border illegally in 2023 alone – that’s more than 10x the number of potential the number of terrorists detained at the border in the four years before President Biden took office.
The Biden administration has done very little to prevent terrorists, cartel members, and sex offenders from entering the US. The nation is in chaos because the progressive radicals in the White House do not respect the nation’s rules, and in democracy, the rules are determined by the people. The people are demanding border security while the administration does the opposite.
Only took about 20 people to pull of 9/11. This is 18,000% more people than that. https://t.co/sLabTuruZL
