Month: October 2024

Authored by JP Errico via RealClearHealth,

Over the past several years, I’ve watched with sadness as the reputation of medical science has taken it on the chin. The pandemic polluted the public’s opinion of the purity of science and nobility of medicine.

Worst of all, science was taken hostage as much as truth was.

True scientists and honest doctors, asking important questions, were ignored, or worse, canceled. It was replaced by political grandstanding and pharmaceutical profit-taking, and our fellow citizens took note.

Scientific journals of the highest regard were strongarmed into publishing articles generated by lawyers and PR firms, only to then have those papers exposed as lies and retracted. Recent admissions by the likes of Mark Zuckerberg have revealed that government bureaucrats exerted pressure on social media companies to dress up opinions as facts to serve an agenda.

Science has emerged from this hostage-taking as a scarred shell of its former self. Is it any wonder that the percentage of the general population who hold medical science in high regard dropped by a whopping 40% from 2020 to 2023?

Society’s lost reverence for science is a catastrophic turn. I am, therefore, going to attempt to resuscitate your fascination and hope in medical science. If you can’t find excitement and promise in the heroic advances I am revealing, I submit that you may require an imagination transplant.

Our hero story begins in the swirl of controversy that surrounds the use of embryonic stem cells (ESCs). Although everyone saw promise in their power to develop into any type of cell in the body, ESCs were typically sourced from aborted fetuses. Battle lines were drawn; and when politics and ethics said “No, find another way,” science stepped up and answered.

In 2006 and 2007, Shinya Yamanaka put the controversy to rest, through a stunning scientific breakthrough that enabled the creation of stem cells at least as powerful as ESCs, called induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). While many scientists wait decades for their discoveries to receive the recognition necessary for a Nobel Prize, Yamanaka collected his in 2012. By the time he gave his lecture in Stockholm, however, the revolutionary door he had cracked opened was already being blown open with the possibility of so much more.

In a nutshell, what Yamanaka discovered was that all cells have buried in their DNA the genes for four proteins – now simply referred to as OSKM, or as the Yamanaka Factors. In adult cells that have gone through the process of becoming fully mature, the Yamanaka genes are normally silenced by mechanisms referred to as epigenetic controls. When re-activated, however, they induce the cells to reverse their maturation state, reverting all the way back to their original pluripotent state. For example, Yamanaka’s discovery enabled scientists to take an adult skin cell and turn it into a cell as powerful as an ESC.

Beyond Stem Cells: The Quest for Rejuvenation

This discovery was immediately hailed by everyone for its potential in medicine. Soon, however, a small collection of leading aging researchers began asking the question: If mature cells could be reprogrammed into ISPCs, could the process be harnessed to rejuvenate aging cells without turning them back into stem cells? In effect, could Yamanaka’s discovery be a map to the Fountain of Youth?

Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte of the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California was one of those asking this question. He and his team soon discovered the exciting answer, which is that short, controlled bursts activating the OSK genes (minus the M) could rejuvenate cells without reverting them from differentiated cells into stem cells. This process, which they called partial reprogramming, wasn’t simply a tune-up or a cosmetic makeover, partial reprogramming returned fundamental cellular structures and processes to a younger state, but it didn’t change them back to stem cells.

To understand how this works, I need to explain two key features of the aging process: epigenetic drift and telomere attrition. Epigenetics, as we introduced above, is the control systems that cells employ to ensure that mature cells only express the genes (i.e., make proteins from the genes) that that type of cell needs, locking away all the genes that make different types of cells actually be different. Aging slowly weakens and deteriorates these epigenetic controls, leading to cells producing proteins they shouldn’t, clogging them up, slowing them down, and even causing cancer and degeneration. The other feature of aging involves telomeres, which are protective endcaps on chromosomes, and their progressive shortening with age. Keeping telomeres robust and in place is believed to preserve cellular youth.

Belmonte’s partial reprogramming appears to reset both epigenetic drift and telomere attrition to a much younger state. Personally, I find it amazing that Belmonte’s discovery, frankly, didn’t have to be this way. As Vittorio Sebastiano of Stanford has marveled, there’s nothing that indicates that short bursts of the Yamanaka factor activation should restore cells to a youthful state before reverting them to stem cells. It’s as if Mother Nature went out of her way to gift cells with a natural ability to age in reverse, and we simply needed to discover it.

The Next Frontier: Small Molecule Drugs for Rejuvenation

Academic scientists like David Sinclair and Vadim Gladyshev of Harvard, are not wasting time in their pursuit of small molecule cocktails that can replicate partial reprogramming. Not surprisingly, investors and tech entrepreneurs (like Amazon’s Jeff Bezos) are pouring billions into start-ups, like Altos Labs, who have secured the services of Yamanaka and Belmonte (along with other big names in longevity research) to deliver the Fountain of Youth to the world. Not to be outdone, Alphabet (Google) is funding Calico, a competitor to Altos Labs, that has hired its own cadre of longevity scientists, like Cynthia Kenyon and David Botstein.

I hope America still loves a comeback story, especially one as heroic as the battle against aging. So, while enthusiasm for medical science has waned over the past few years, it is hard not to see how the promise of conquering death – at least in a battle or two – is worth giving actual scientists a chance to redeem their tarnished reputation.

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JP Errico is a highly accomplished scientist with a diverse range of expertise as an executive, entrepreneur, and inventor. He is an expert on the Autonomic Nervous System. He is the Founder of ElectroCore, where he pioneered a non-invasive Vagus Nerve stimulator. JP has been credited as an inventor on over 250 issued US patents. He went to MIT for undergrad and holds graduate degrees in both law and mechanical/materials engineering from Duke University.

Authored by Cara Michelle Miller via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

People can get healthier McDonalds in Europe, food activist Vani Hari said at a recent Senate roundtable discussion.

For instance, in the United States, McDonald’s fries contain 11 ingredients, while the UK version has only three, with salt being optional. Hari highlighted this disparity during her testimony at the Sen. Ron Johnson roundtable, American Health and Nutrition: A Second Opinion, revealing how many U.S. foods are laden with unsafe chemicals banned in other Western countries.

The Epoch Times verified that U.S. McDonald’s fries contain ten or more ingredients, while the UK version has three or more ingredients.

How can a food additive be considered risky in other countries yet deemed safe in America?

Legal Loophole Allows Unsafe Ingredients

“The problem is the law—there’s nothing that requires the industry to submit safety data,” Jennifer Pomeranz, associate professor of public health policy and management at NYU School of Global Public Health, told The Epoch Times.

“As a result, companies can just self-regulate and designate ingredients as GRAS [generally recognized as safe] without notifying the FDA or the public.” Her recent research published in the American Journal of Public Health sheds light on this legal loophole, allowing unsafe ingredients in the U.S. food supply.

Europe tends to take a precautionary approach, looking at evidence of harm and protecting their public, whereas the U.S. is more company-friendly, requiring evidence to remove unsafe ingredients from the food supply, she added.

For example, the European Food Safety Authority bans substances like growth hormones and certain artificial colorings based on potential harm. In contrast, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) evaluates food additives through a petition process, relying on the “generally recognized as safe” (GRAS) principle, which allows some ingredients to enter the market without thorough testing.

Companies can self-designate substances as GRAS based on their own evaluations, with limited oversight from the FDA. The Epoch Times reached out to the FDA for comments.

Notably, potentially harmful chemicals, like azodicarbonamide, a chemical used in bread—which is linked to cancer in animal studies and banned in several countries—remain legal in the U.S. because of the GRAS principle.

“In other countries, this is the same chemical they use in yoga mats and shoe rubber … when this chemical is heated, studies show that it turns into a carcinogen,” Hari said. This ingredient was previously used in Subway bread until Hari got it removed by petitioning the company.

“There are now hundreds, if not thousands, of substances added to our foods for which the true safety data are unknown to independent scientists, the government, and the public,” said Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, senior author of the study with Pomeranz and director of the Food is Medicine Institute at Tufts University, in a statement.

500 Percent Rise in Food Dye Consumption

Another concern discussed at the Senate roundtable is the significant rise in artificial food dye consumption, particularly among American children.

Consumption of artificial food dyes has increased by 500 percent in the last 50 years, and 43 percent of products marketed to children contain these dyes, Hari said. These dyes have been linked to various health issues, including hyperactivity and allergic reactions, raising serious concerns for parents.

Using Kellogg’s as a case study, Hari pointed out the difference between U.S. and Canadian cereals. The Canadian version of Fruit Loops is colored naturally with juice from watermelons and carrots, while the U.S. version contains artificial dyes and preservatives.

“Kellogg’s announced plans to remove dyes by the end of 2018 but never followed through,” she said, contrasting the neon-colored version with the less-colorful, pastel one.

California passed the School Food Safety Act on Aug. 29, which will restrict several artificial color additives—including blue dye No. 1, red dye No. 40, and titanium dioxide—in foods sold in public K–12 schools, effective Dec. 31, 2027.

Reacting to a petition filed for FD&C Red No. 3, the FDA is reviewing the safety of red dye No. 3. In addition, on Aug. 2, the FDA banned brominated vegetable oil. Companies have until Aug. 2, 2025 to phase it out.

FDA and Congress Can Do More

Hari calls for stricter regulations and greater transparency with ingredient lists to protect consumers, especially children.

“Asking food companies to remove artificial dyes would make an immediate impact on children’s health,” wrote Hari in her email to The Epoch Times. “They don’t need to reinvent the wheel, as they are already using natural alternatives in other countries.”

Pomeranz and Mozaffarian propose several policy recommendations, including requiring companies to notify the FDA of how they determined that a substance is GRAS and sharing their safety data before adding substances to foods. Additionally, increased funding from Congress is needed to allow the FDA to enhance its reach.

They also advocate for a stricter review process for both GRAS ingredients and food additives to ensure that substances such as caffeine, sugar, and salt are safe—not just in small amounts—but also at the higher levels found in many processed foods.

“There is widespread agreement that current [food additive] levels in many products are not ’recognized as safe,‘” Pomeranz said on Sept. 25 during the FDA public meeting on improving the FDA’s review process of food chemicals. Excessive amounts can lead to serious health risks, she said.

“Both the FDA and Congress can do more to enable the FDA to meet its mission of ensuring a safe food supply,” she added.

A Safer Food Supply

As food safety concerns grow,  the FDA is set to launch a new Human Foods Program on Tuesday to reorganize its operations and other improvements, including a proposed post-market review of food additives and GRAS substances to increase transparency and improve safety evaluations.

The FDA has published a paper showing that the program will assess factors such as the potential toxicity of a substance, changes in exposure levels, and their presence in foods consumed by vulnerable populations like infants. Additionally, it will consider new scientific data and public or organizational interest in these chemicals.

The agency would also consider state-level regulations on certain food products.

This approach suggests that state-level actions could influence the FDA’s future assessments. For example, California’s recent restriction on certain food dyes could play a role in future considerations.

Pomeranz said that a more robust review process is needed not just for existing ingredients but also for any new additives.

However, consumers also need to be involved, Hari said. After she uncovered potentially toxic ingredients in Starbucks’ popular pumpkin spice lattes, media attention prompted Starbucks to remove an ammonia-derived ingredient linked to cancer.

Public pressure can help drive changes for safer food options, says Hari, adding, “It’s time for consumers to demand healthier choices and for the FDA to prioritize public health.”

Authored by Carlo J.V. Caro via RealClearDefense,

Unlike many movements that adopt the mantle of liberation for political gain, Hezbollah’s portrayal as a liberating force is tied to a long-standing cultural memory of foreign oppression, from the Ottoman Empire to the French Mandate. Understanding how Hezbollah leveraged this identity requires an examination of Lebanon’s history of local resistance, which was not always violent but often manifested as passive defiance, economic self-sufficiency, and cultural preservation, especially among marginalized Shia agrarian communities.

During the Ottoman era, southern Lebanon’s Shia population was systematically neglected and excluded by the ruling class, which favored the Sunni elite and Christian coastal merchants. Ottoman tax farmers exploited Shia agricultural communities in the Bekaa Valley and southern Lebanon, fostering deep resentment toward external governance. The Shia community’s refusal to pay taxes or serve in the Ottoman military, a resistance that subtly persisted under the French Mandate, reinforced their self-perception as an oppressed yet resilient group. Though largely nonviolent, this resistance cultivated a cultural aversion to foreign control, which Hezbollah later capitalized on.

In contrast, Mount Lebanon operated under a semi-autonomous Mutasarrifate system, allowing Druze and Maronite elites to negotiate governance with the Ottomans—an advantage not extended to the Shia of southern Lebanon. While Maronites and Druze enjoyed self-governance and strong trade ties with European powers, the Shia were relegated to peripheral roles, fostering isolation and mistrust toward both central authorities and foreign powers. This fragmented Lebanese identity, with allegiance often directed toward local feudal lords or religious leaders, persisted into the post-Ottoman period, worsened by the French Mandate’s efforts to centralize control in Beirut, further marginalizing southern Lebanon.

When the French assumed control of Lebanon after World War I, they introduced modern institutions but often at the expense of local autonomy, particularly in rural areas. While infrastructure development flourished in Beirut and other urban centers, the agrarian Shia south was largely neglected, reinforcing economic isolation and discontent. The French also shaped Lebanon’s political system to the detriment of the Shia. The Confessionalist system they implemented ensured minimal political representation for the Shia, who were overshadowed by Maronite Christians and Sunni Muslims. This marginalization persisted after independence, reaching a breaking point during the Lebanese Civil War (1975–1990). Shia exclusion from economic and political power became a critical factor in Hezbollah’s rise, as it united the community under its banner. The political system, rooted in colonialism, fueled Hezbollah’s anti-colonial narrative, allowing it to position itself as the true heir to Lebanon’s liberation struggles.

Hezbollah effectively co-opted the Shia principle of sabr (steadfastness), a deeply ingrained religious and cultural value stemming from the martyrdom of Imam Hussein at Karbala in 680 CE. The theme of enduring suffering and injustice while remaining resolute became central to Hezbollah’s narrative, aligning with both the historical experience of foreign oppression and the contemporary struggles of Lebanese Shia. When Hezbollah claimed responsibility for Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000, it framed the event as a validation of the Shia legacy of perseverance, demonstrating that victory could be achieved through unwavering resistance.

Hezbollah further reinforced this narrative by invoking the concept of muwajaha (confrontation), a term in Shia tradition closely tied to the symbolic power of Karbala. In southern Lebanon, muwajaha extends beyond military struggle to encompass the religious and cultural duty to resist oppression. Hassan Nasrallah consistently framed the conflict with Israel not merely as a political battle but as a religious and moral obligation, linking Lebanon’s quest for autonomy with the Shia tradition of resisting injustice. This approach allowed Hezbollah to merge its military actions with a broader cultural identity, resonating across both historical and religious dimensions.

Hezbollah’s evolution from a guerrilla force to a quasi-state actor involved more than just military expansion or political participation. Its infrastructure has not only filled the gaps left by the Lebanese state but has actively competed with and undermined the government to assert its dominance. By the early 2000s, Hezbollah had embedded itself in Lebanon’s political system, securing key ministerial positions and forming alliances with major political parties, including the Christian Free Patriotic Movement led by Michel Aoun. These alliances marked a significant shift in Lebanon’s sectarian dynamics, as it was the first time a Shia party gained the support of a major Christian faction, expanding Hezbollah’s political legitimacy beyond its Shia base. This legitimacy enabled Hezbollah to strengthen its influence over state institutions, including the Lebanese Armed Forces and the Ministry of Telecommunications, granting access to critical national infrastructure.

Hezbollah’s state-building strategy involves Sharia courts, operating alongside Lebanon’s national judiciary, playing a crucial role in controlling the Shia population in southern Lebanon. These courts handle civil disputes, family law, and even criminal cases within the framework of Islamic jurisprudence, offering an alternative to the secular legal system. This parallel judiciary reinforces Hezbollah’s ideological legitimacy as the guardian of Shia Islamic values while providing services that the state cannot or will not offer, especially in rural areas where government presence is minimal and Hezbollah’s influence dominates.

Hezbollah also uses commemorations as a powerful tool for political mobilization and social cohesion. Ashura, the annual Shia ritual mourning Imam Hussein’s martyrdom, holds deep symbolic significance. Hezbollah has repurposed it to strengthen its narrative of resistance, organizing large public demonstrations where Nasrallah delivers speeches drawing parallels between Hussein’s martyrdom and Hezbollah’s struggle against Israel. These events, while religious in origin, are highly political, serving as both a rallying point for supporters and a demonstration of Hezbollah’s ability to mobilize large segments of the population.

In an effort to unite different factions under a broader nationalist identity, Hezbollah has made subtle but significant appeals to Lebanon’s ancient Phoenician heritage. Traditionally embraced by Maronites, Hezbollah has strategically invoked Phoenician identity to appeal to Lebanese Christians and secular nationalists wary of its Islamist roots.

Hezbollah often references Lebanon’s ancient maritime heritage in speeches and cultural events, portraying itself as the inheritor of a legacy of resistance to foreign domination. This blending of Phoenician and Islamic identities acts as a form of cultural diplomacy, positioning Hezbollah as a defender of all Lebanese, beyond sectarian lines. Control over key archaeological sites, like the ruins at Tyre and the temples at Baalbek, further integrates this narrative into its political strategy, solidifying Hezbollah’s role as a guardian of Lebanon’s cultural legacy.

While Hezbollah is often perceived as a monolithic organization, there are significant, underexplored tensions within its leadership, particularly between its military commanders and the religious clerics who provide its ideological and theological legitimacy. Hezbollah’s formal allegiance to the doctrine of wilayat al-faqih (the guardianship of the Islamic jurist), which binds it to the authority of Iran’s Supreme Leader, creates a unique dynamic that does not always align with the local religious authority of Lebanon’s Shia clerics.

In southern Lebanon, clerical authority has traditionally been fragmented, with multiple maraji (sources of emulation) influencing the Shia population. Before Hezbollah’s rise, many Lebanese Shia followed clerics who were either neutral or opposed to the doctrine of wilayat al-faqih, including the followers of Grand Ayatollah Muhammad Hussein Fadlallah. Fadlallah, a prominent Lebanese cleric with significant influence in Beirut and southern Lebanon, supported the resistance movement but advocated for a more independent Shia political theology that did not place Lebanon’s Shia community under the direct control of Iranian clerics.

Hezbollah’s rise, with its explicit allegiance to Iranian clerical authority, quietly created significant tensions within the Lebanese Shia religious community. These tensions became particularly evident in the 1990s when several key clerics, including those aligned with Fadlallah, voiced concerns about Hezbollah’s growing power and its subordination to Tehran. Although Hezbollah publicly expressed respect for Fadlallah, it effectively marginalized his influence, especially in political decision-making. This subtle power struggle remains largely hidden from public view but is crucial to understanding the internal complexities of Hezbollah’s religious authority.

The relationship between Hezbollah’s leadership and Lebanon’s local Shia clerics is further complicated by the group’s military ambitions. While Hezbollah’s clerical supporters in Iran, particularly Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, have consistently endorsed military action against Israel, some Lebanese clerics have expressed reservations about the long-term costs of ongoing conflict. During the 2006 war with Israel, reports—rarely discussed publicly—indicated that several prominent Shia clerics privately questioned the wisdom of continuing the war, particularly given the widespread destruction it caused in southern Lebanon’s Shia villages.

This tension between local religious authorities and Hezbollah’s military leadership reflects a broader struggle within the Shia community over the future direction of the resistance. While Hezbollah’s public face remains unified, these internal fissures over religious authority and military strategy could have significant implications for the group’s future, particularly if local clerics begin to assert a more independent line.

Hezbollah’s rise and consolidation of power in southern Lebanon can be largely attributed to its strategic use of traditional clan and family networks (hamulas). In rural areas like southern Lebanon, Lebanese society remains deeply organized around familial and clan-based allegiances, which have historically shaped local political dynamics. Hezbollah’s ability to navigate and, in some cases, co-opt these powerful networks has been crucial to its success in establishing itself as more than just a political or military movement.

Southern Lebanon’s Shia clans, some tracing their ancestry back centuries, often acted as local power brokers in the absence of strong state governance, particularly during the Ottoman and French Mandate periods. Clans such as the Bazzi, Haidar, and Moussawi wield significant influence in their territories, often determining the outcome of local elections and resolving disputes. While these clans had traditionally been neutral or aligned with other Lebanese factions, Hezbollah’s leadership recognized early on that integrating—or at least securing the neutrality of—these networks would be vital for controlling the region.

Hezbollah’s outreach to these clans was not purely political but also strategic. The group offered economic incentives, protection, and integration into its organizational structure in exchange for loyalty. For example, by placing clan leaders in influential positions within Hezbollah’s social service networks, such as the Jihad al-Bina reconstruction organization, Hezbollah ensured its reach extended into the deeply rooted clan systems. This allowed Hezbollah to leverage these networks for recruitment and intelligence gathering while maintaining an appearance of local autonomy.

However, this relationship has not always been without conflict. Hezbollah’s rise often displaced traditional clan power structures, particularly when it came to control over smuggling routes and agricultural lands. In the early 1990s, there were several instances of violent clashes between Hezbollah fighters and clan militias over control of key trade routes used for smuggling goods across the Lebanese-Syrian border. While these clashes rarely made international headlines, they were significant in shaping Hezbollah’s long-term strategy of integrating rather than overtly dominating clan networks. By the late 1990s, most of these clans had either been absorbed into Hezbollah’s broader structure or neutralized through a combination of political maneuvering and economic inducements.

Read the rest here…

Authored by Eric Lendrum via American Greatness,

Even as the death toll from Hurricane Helene continues to rise, pundits in the mainstream media are rushing to use the disaster as an excuse to promote their narrative that “global warming” is real.

As reported by Just The News, a number of prominent anchors, commentators, and other television personalities have used the occasion of the hurricane to spread lies about so-called “global warming,” also referred to as “climate change.”

“We are living in an era of extreme weather that requires new language,” said CBS News’ Major Garrett.

He went on to falsely claim that the world has seen an increase in the number of every kind of natural disaster, despite this having been debunked by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

CNN’s Angela Fritz declared that Hurricane Helene was caused by “fossil fuel pollution,” claiming with no evidence that “the atmosphere, warmed by more than a century of fossil fuel pollution, is hotter now than it was in pre-industrial times.”

However, studies have shown that carbon dioxide emissions are created by just about every single process in existence that provides basic necessities to the population, including the shipping of materials and products, ranging from food to clothing.

Fritz went on to further claim that “More than 90% of warming around the globe over the past 50 years has taken place in the oceans, and it’s making storms more likely to undergo these rapid intensification cycles.”

But this claim has also been disproven, with Dr. Matt Wielicky, former assistant professor in the Department of Geological Sciences at the University of Alabama, explaining how two consecutive similar tropical storms that impacted North Carolina in 1916 were even worse than Helene despite lower carbon emission levels overall.

“The 1916 event occurred even though atmospheric CO2 levels were approximately 120 ppm lower than they are today,” Wielicki confirmed.

“Blaming the fossil fuel industry for all weather-related disasters overlooks the complexity of natural climate variability and the role of poor urban planning in flood-prone regions.”

The subject of global warming was brought up at the vice presidential debate on Tuesday night, with CBS News’ moderators blaming global warming for the hurricane.

After both candidates gave their answers on the statement, the moderators falsely claimed that the “scientific consensus” is that global warming is real, even though there is no such consensus.

The overall death toll from Hurricane Helene has risen to 139.

The storm impacted the southeastern United States, including Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.

The world was abuzz two weeks ago when we learned that the notorious Three Mile Island nuclear power plant – site of the worst nuclear accident in U.S. history – would restart to power Microsoft data centers. As we said at the time, that was only the beginning, as the staggering electricity needs of the coming AI revolution – which we dubbed “the next AI trade” earlier in the year, meant that much more nuclear capacity will have to be either built from scratch or reopened.

Sure enough, the US said on Monday that it closed a $1.52 billion loan to resurrect Holtec’s Palisades nuclear plant in Michigan, and a senior Biden administration official said it could take two years to reopen the plant (longer than the company predicted). The Biden administration has called for a tripling of U.S. nuclear power capacity as U.S. power demand surges and worries about climate change mount. The Trump administration, should it take over in November, will be even more aggressive about the coming US nuclear renaissance.

“Palisades is a climate comeback story,” Ali Zaidi, the White House climate adviser, told reporters in a call, adding that nuclear power supports high-paying union jobs.

The renewed push for nuclear will include the reopening of major commercial reactors that have been shut for decommissioning, including the abovementioned Three Mile Island. And even though restarting shut nuclear plants is a complicated and expensive process never before accomplished in the country, it would take less time than building new power plants from scratch.

The $1.52 billion in financing from the Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office, was accompanied by funding for nonprofit electric cooperatives to purchase power from Palisades. Deputy U.S. Agriculture Secretary Xochitl Torres Small announced more than $1.3 billion in public funding to power cooperatives Wolverine and Hoosier Energy.

Nuclear reactors generate emissions-free power, which is valued as electricity demand soars for the first time in decades on growth in artificial intelligence, electric vehicles and cryptocurrencies.  The chart below shows data center power consumption, by providers/enterprises in gigawatts (left) and in share percent (right).

As noted back in April, electricity peak demand and energy growth rates are increasing in North America after being flat for years. Load growth had already electrification trends and electric vehicles, but annual peak demand growth was still only up 0.9%. With the increased focus on data centers, industrial facilities, and other near-term investments, this is likely to be an underestimate considering that in just one year (2023), the forecast of cumulative electricity growth over the next 5 years increased from 2.6% to 4.7% driven by major utilities further revising up their estimates.

Nuclear critics, however, point out that the U.S. has not agreed on a permanent place to bury radioactive nuclear waste.

Palisades still needs licensing from regulators and the senior U.S. official said that means it could take “a couple of years to turn back on”. Holtec has estimated a comeback in the fourth quarter next year.

Patrick O’Brien, a Holtec spokesperson, said Palisades was on target for “repower” in October or later in 2025.

Still, the plant has been shut since 2022 and needs work. The U.S. nuclear regulator said this month that preliminary results from inspections “identified a large number of steam generator tubes with indications that require further analysis and/or repair.” Steam generators are sensitive components of a nuclear power plant that require meticulous maintenance.

The Israeli government is fuming at UN chief Antonio Guterres’ response to the Tuesday night massive Iranian ballistic missile attack which pummeled Tel Aviv and area bases and infrastructure.

The United Nations Secretary-General wrote Tuesday evening as an initial reaction, “I condemn the broadening of the Middle East conflict with escalation after escalation. This must stop. We absolutely need a ceasefire.”

However, he made no mention of Iran, which at that very moment had sent nearly 200 ballistic missiles – reportedly including hypersonic missiles – into Israel.

Israel sees the omission as purposeful, and as indicative of the UN’s refusal to condemn Iran. Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz on Wednesday blasted Guterres for failing to “unequivocally” condemn Iran’s missile attack, which was the largest in history (given it was comprised entirely of heavy ballistic missiles).

As a result, Israel has now declared Guterres persona non grata – effectively barring him from entering the country.

“Anyone who cannot unequivocally condemn Iran’s heinous attack on Israel, as almost every country in the world has done, does not deserve to step foot on Israeli soil,” Katz wrote on X.

He went on to charge the UN chief with giving “backing to terrorists, rapists, and murderers” and castigated him as “a stain on the history of the UN.”

Israeli officials and Guterres have frequently clashed going all the way back to the Oct.7 terror attacks. Tel Aviv has complained that the UN head only selectively condemns atrocities. Guterres often highlights the rising Palestinian death toll, but Israeli leaders see him as conspicuously quiet on the subject of Israeli casualties.

I condemn the broadening of the Middle East conflict with escalation after escalation.

This must stop.

We absolutely need a ceasefire.

— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) October 1, 2024

Last Friday’s Israeli assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah resulted in Guterres calling for all sides “step back from the brink” and warning against “an all-out war.”

Katz responded at the time: “Israel will continue to defend its citizens and uphold its national dignity, with or without Antonio Guterres.” Tensions have been on edge ever since, and now the UN Secretary-General is banned from Israeli territory.

Authored by Sam Dorman via The Epoch Times,

A Georgia judge seemed skeptical on Oct. 1 of policies passed by the state’s election board.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney called one of the challenged rules “vague” and needing clarification. He said that much of the policies coming out of the state’s election board were inconsistent with a Supreme Court ruling on rules passed before an election.

One of the rules at issue in Tuesday’s trial provides a definition of certification that includes requiring county officials to conduct a “reasonable inquiry” before certifying results, but it does not specify what that means.

The other includes language allowing county election officials “to examine all election-related documentation created during the conduct of elections.”

Supporters of the rules say they are necessary to ensure the accuracy of the vote totals before county election officials sign off on them.

However, critics worry that supporters of Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump could use the rules to delay or deny certification if the former president loses the state to Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, causing confusion and casting doubt on the results.

Need for Clarity

On the “reasonable inquiry” rule, McBurney told Ben Thorpe, attorney for the Democratic National Committee, “That one, to me, on its face, is vague and needs clarification.”

McBurney seemed amenable to the examination rule, which he said appeared to be a “permissive rule.”

“I struggle to see how that presents uncertainty to anyone because it permits access but doesn’t obligate anyone to do anything,” he said.

Thorpe took issue with a portion of the rule that requires election workers to meet and conduct a review of precinct returns hours before all of the returns are complete. That creates a “direct and actual concrete problem” for the workers, Thorpe said.

The trial was prompted by Democrats’ request for declaratory judgments invalidating two policies passed by the election board. On Sept. 30, the Democratic Party also filed a lawsuit challenging another policy in which the election board required ballots be counted by hand.

McBurney started the trial by asking the attorneys present whether they agreed that election certification was mandatory under the new rules.

They did, leaving McBurney to focus, in part, on how county officials might interpret the rules laid out by the election board.

Thorpe told McBurney that to the extent the judge didn’t invalidate the rules in question, he should clarify that election workers must certify by the appointed deadline despite uncertainties. McBurney seemed to agree, suggesting a reasonable inquiry into the results without forgoing certification.

Attorneys for the election board and the Republican National Committee maintained that the new rule allowed election workers to stay within the confines of the law.

Elizabeth Young, an attorney for the election board, said that a ruling from the judge was unnecessary. She said if McBurney did anything further than suggesting election workers follow the law, he might be getting into the territory of issuing an “advisory” opinion, which he said he wanted to stay away from.

Bad faith on the part of an election worker, she suggested, wasn’t a valid reason for issuing an advisory opinion since it indicated that the workers wouldn’t be willing to follow their legal obligations.

“Let’s say you got a majority [of an election board] and they did not fulfill their legal duty, that sounds to me in that particular hypothetical like a very strong case for mandamus,” she said.

Mandamus refers to a court ordering someone to fulfill their legal obligations.

Bank of America customers on Wednesday reported having problems accessing their bank accounts or that their account balances currently show $0.

The outage started at around 12:30 p.m. E.T. on Wednesday, according to the tracking website Downdetector.

About an hour later, more than 20,000 user complaints were submitted via the website.

The Epoch Times’ Jack Phillips reports that numerous Bank of America users have posted screenshots of empty account balances on social media.

An Epoch Times staff member also reported not being able to log in to their Bank of America account.

Some users on social media stated that Bank of America had not yet alerted them to the issue.

Meanwhile, some users have reported having problems with Zelle, the digital payment system that is used by multiple banks and is owned by Bank of America and several other banks.

It’s not clear how many customers were impacted or when the problem will be resolved.

The Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank has not released details about what’s causing the issue.

On the social media platform X, Bank of America’s team was responding to complaints by asking for additional information.

However, it did not appear that the bank provided information about the nature of the outage or how long it could take to fix.

“Hi, we are sorry to see this. If you’re still experiencing the concern, please click below to let us know. Thank you,” one Bank of America representative wrote on X to a user who expressed concerns about logging in.

Another post said:

“Hello, your concern caught our attention. Please use the link below to connect with us and send additional details. We’d be happy to follow up with you.”

The Epoch Times contacted the company for comment on Wednesday but received no response by publication time.

Last year, fellow banking giant Wells Fargo issued an alert on its website after customers reported not seeing their paychecks and direct deposits in their accounts.

Several users on social media were quick to remind everyone of BofA CEO Brian Moynihan’s comments just a few years ago…

“Bitcoin is highly Speculative, you could wake up one day and your account would be worth zero.”

And it’s gone…

Bank of America Customers following Countrywide outages & their accounts showing $0.000

It’s all so obvious. pic.twitter.com/z6sL19ssMC

— Concerned Citizen (@BGatesIsaPyscho) October 2, 2024

 

Authored by Vivek Sun via BitcoinMagazine.com,

I have been intrigued by the significant increase in global liquidity during 2024, driven by extensive money printing and debt expansion, and how it impacts Bitcoin’s price. 

Bitcoin is an expression against the government’s monetary expansionist policies, so its price follows global liquidity, as seen here on this chart.

It was fascinating to read the recent report by Lyn Alden and Sam Callahan analyzing Bitcoin’s correlation to global liquidity.

This further reconfirmed my view that more monetary expansion drives more people to Bitcoin, increasing prices. 

Their rigorous analysis found that over 12-month periods, Bitcoin’s price moves in the same direction as global liquidity a remarkable 83% of the time.

This is higher than any other major asset class, making Bitcoin a uniquely pure barometer for global liquidity trends.

The report quantified Bitcoin’s correlation with global M2 money supply, finding a very strong 0.94 overall correlation between May 2013 and July 2024. Bitcoin’s average 12-month rolling correlation was 0.51, while stocks and gold showed moderately high correlations as well in the 0.4 to 0.7 range.

Of course, Bitcoin’s correlation isn’t perfect. Shorter-term breakdowns can occur around crypto-specific events like exchange hacks or Ponzi schemes collapsing.

Supply-demand imbalances also cause temporary decoupling when Bitcoin reaches extreme overvaluation levels during market cycle peaks.

Yet despite these breakdowns, the long-term relationship persists. 

Right now, liquidity is soaring to unprecedented levels, suggesting Bitcoin could soon embark on a massive bull run if this relationship holds.

While I believe no model perfectly captures Bitcoin’s complexity, recognizing its role as a monetary canary in the coal mine can lend valuable insight.

If history rhymes, Bitcoin’s sirens are ringing loudly that a liquidity-driven boom will soon be underway. 

Red Bull’s owners have seen their ‘wings’ clipped a bit, as the energy drink maker distributed its “lowest payout in four years” to owners this year, according to a new report from Bloomberg. 

Its two groups of shareholders, Mark Mateschitz and the Yoovidhya family in Thailand, were distributed €810 million ($897 million) in dividends and related payments, according to the report. 

Bloomberg reports that Red Bull’s net sales grew 9% in 2023 to €10.6 billion, but rising costs limited net income growth to just 3.1%, reaching €1.7 billion, according to the company’s Austrian filings.

This marked a slowdown from the 20%+ sales growth seen in each of the previous two years.

The report comes during the first full year since Red Bull founder Dietrich Mateschitz passed away, with his son Mark now holding the family’s 49% stake. For the first time since 2018, the Mateschitz family won’t receive a bonus payment, as stated in a recent shareholder resolution.

Red Bull typically distributes a pro-rata dividend to all shareholders along with additional payments. Chalerm Yoovidhya, who holds a 2% individual stake, has received €3.2 million annually since 2020, including for 2023.

Red Bull maintains a no-debt policy and is highly secretive about its operations, making corporate filings one of the few glimpses into its financials.