Swiss insurance firm Swiss Re denied a business loan to politician Richard Tice over his political views, a <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12476707/Reform-UK-party-leader-Richard-Tice-blocked-securing-business-loan-political-views-just-month-Nigel-Farage-debanking-scandal.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">report</a> said Monday.Tice applied for the loan last year, but a recently disclosed financial document shows the company denied Tice for being a “reputational risk” citing his leadership of the Right-leaning party Reform UK.“I’m a man who’s made money, brought in investment and created jobs in this country. If that’s how they think of people who are successful businessmen then God help us all,” said Tice, who blamed “wokeness” for Swiss Re’s decision.The report comes just over two months after Nigel Farage, who founded Reform UK, revealed his accounts were being shut down by Coutts Bank without explanation. Internal documents, however, showed that bank executives declared Farage a “reputational risk” because of his support for Trump, friendship with unvaccinated tennis star Novak Djokovic, and opposition to totalitarian gender ideology.Farage’s story caused an upset in the banking industry, leading to the&nbsp;<a href="https://frontline.news/post/uk-bank-chiefs-resign-after-political-crackdown-on-customers">ousting</a> of two major bank executives. Many other people and organizations came forward after Farage’s disclosure&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://frontline.news/post/gender-totalitarians-behind-uk-bank-closures-says-report">revealed</a> that they had received similar treatment from Barclays Bank, Santander Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), HSBC, Metro Bank and First Direct. Reports suggest that banks most often appear to close accounts if customers oppose totalitarian gender ideology. Yorkshire Building Society, the UK’s third-largest such financial institution with three million customers, recently&nbsp;<a href="https://frontline.news/post/british-banks-cancel-customers-who-discriminate-in-any-way">admitted</a> to canceling customers who “discriminate in any way.”While it is unknown how many customers have been debanked for their political views, recent reports show that banks are canceling customers at record rates.&nbsp;UK financial watchdog the Financial Conduct Authority&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/jul/30/uk-banks-closing-more-than-1000-accounts-every-day">revealed</a> last week, in response to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request, that in 2016–2017 banks shut down about 45,000 accounts and the number has been increasing every year. In 2021–2022 British banks closed just over 343,000 accounts, an average of over 1,000 accounts every business day.Farage created a website,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.accountclosed.org/">AccountClosed.org</a>, to help those who have been unfairly treated by financial institutions for their political views.&nbsp;“I’ve just been inundated by small businesses, by folk all round the country. People in absolute fear, terror, lives being ruined, thousands of businesses being closed. These are people who have done nothing wrong whatsoever,” Farage told&nbsp;GB News.

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World News

'God help us all'

Insurance firm denies service to UK figure over ‘political views’

If you can't figure it out, ask a computerAs part of their ongoing struggle to be perceived as genuine scientists, psychiatrists are now trying not only to diagnose people with “mental illness” but to actually predict who might be susceptible to “diseases of the brain.” Much attention is currently being given to utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) models by training them to distinguish between people who are “ill” and those who appear ill but are actually not.“Sonia,” who was interviewed for this article, describes what strikes her as odd in this approach.<blockquote>If you’re a psychiatrist and you need an AI model to figure out if someone’s crazy or not, then perhaps you should be looking for a different job. My husband’s been psychotic a few times, and I could see it in his eyes right away.</blockquote>&nbsp;An exact science?Perhaps Sonia is right, but there’s nothing in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM, the psychiatrist’s guide to disease) about “seeing it in the eyes.” One imagines that psychiatrists would be the objects of ridicule if they tried to claim that they diagnosed patients based on such a criterion.Under the heading, “Psychotic Disorders,” the latest edition of the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK519704/table/ch3.t20/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">DSM </a>has a grand total of nine sub-categories. At the top of the list is “schizophrenia.”The characteristic symptoms of schizophrenia are described as:<ol style="list-style-type:decimal;"><li>Delusions</li><li>Hallucinations</li><li>Disorganized speech (e.g. frequent derailment or incoherence)</li><li>Grossly disorganized or catatonic behavior</li><li>Negative symptoms (i.e. diminished emotional expression or involition)</li></ol>A person needs to have two or more of these symptoms for a “significant” portion of the time for at least a month (or less, if “successfully treated”). The exception is when the delusions are defined as “bizarre” or hallucinations consist of a “running commentary on the person’s behavior or thoughts, or two or more voices conversing together.”None of these symptoms can be defined in any established scientific way. Despite decades of talking about neurotransmitters, measuring and observing hormones and brain activity, and experimenting with drugs that play with all of these (as well as so-called genetic markers for schizophrenia), there’s no physical test that can diagnose schizophrenia.&nbsp;Are you a quasi-nutter?More problematically, as a recent paper published in <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/2802139?guestAccessKey=d895dae0-ae75-4a87-bbb3-bf067edb2ee8&amp;utm_source=silverchair&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=article_alert-jamapsychiatry&amp;utm_term=mostread&amp;utm_content=olf-widget_05082024&amp;adv=" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">JAMA Psychiatry</a> claimed, plenty of people sometimes experience symptoms one-to-five (and even several of them) without being psychotic.<blockquote>Hallucination-like experiences and delusion-like beliefs are common in individuals without psychoses.</blockquote>How so? The paper (written by Dr. Philip Corlett, an associate professor at the Yale University School of Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry) begins by quoting an early psychiatric text (dating back to 1901) which refers to delusions and the like which are linked to religious experiences. Today, that category has been broadened with the addition of “people who believe in conspiracy theories” who are on the “psychosis continuum,” though not (perhaps) technically psychotic themselves.If madness is a continuum, then psychiatrists can’t be blamed for failing to correctly determine exactly where on that continuum a particular patient lies, so goes the thinking.&nbsp;&nbsp;Most people on the spectrum?Continuums are useful things, and they often come with numbers attached; that is, on a scale of 1 to 100, those between 80 and 100 (for example) can be said to be schizophrenic, those between 60 and 80 are potentially so, and so forth. It turns out that psychiatrists actually have a form of diagnosis based on a numbered continuum — it’s called the “21-Item Peters et al. Delusions Inventory (<a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15954204/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">PDI</a>).”The PDI is made up of a list of questions on how people view all kinds of issues such as being spied upon, thinking that people can read your mind, feeling that you have a special mission in life, and so forth. The final score a person receives depends not only on what they believe but how distressed they are by it.The JAMA paper describes how the PDI can be used to decide whether or not someone has a “psychotic illness”:<blockquote>People without a psychotic illness endorse a mean (SD) of 7 (4) unusual beliefs compared to 12 (6) in patients with schizophrenia…</blockquote>An SD (standard deviation) of 4, and certainly 6, is huge, and means that there was a huge range of scores in both categories. Indeed, when we look at the raw data in the original study (which was based on 35 questions, later whittled down to 21), we find that “healthy” participants scored between 0 and 31 on the 35-point scale; “deluded” participants scored between 2 and 35 points.And the JAMA paper acknowledges this, admitting in delicious understatement that,<blockquote>… clearly, these ranges overlap…</blockquote>&nbsp;Conspiracy theorists as lab ratsSo, since symptoms of schizophrenia can’t be scientifically determined, brains can’t be analyzed to decide whether someone is psychotic or not, and the 21-Item Inventory produces rather unsatisfactory results, what is a psychiatrist to do if he wants to diagnose accurately?One answer is AI — let the computers figure it out.But AI models have to be trained, and this is where the conspiracy theorist becomes useful. Just as an AI model being taught how to detect a cat against a variety of backgrounds needs to be tested against objects that are very similar to cats but nonetheless not cats, so too the AI psychosis-detection model needs to have “foils” who are very similar to psychotics but nonetheless not psychotic.<blockquote>We would like to suggest that people who believe in conspiracy theories or new religious movements and people who hear voices but do not have clinical diagnoses might serve as adversarial examples to a network trained on the phenomenal features and cognitive and neural mechanisms of psychosis that we have accrued as a field so far.</blockquote>&nbsp;Psychotics in-the-makingAt first glance, this could appear encouraging for those who believe in what psychiatrists define as conspiracies. They’re not psychotic according to this approach. They’re just… something as yet undefined. The JAMA paper suggests that distinguishing between genuine psychotics and conspiracy theorists could reveal what divides them:<blockquote>In this way, we can hone in on the important features that portend illness, disability, and distress, rather than features that are distributed more widely, even in individuals whose experiences closely resemble those of people with schizophrenia.</blockquote>Intriguingly, the author of the paper does not distinguish between people who are ill and those who are not. The distinction is between people who might become ill (“features that portend illness…”) and people who apparently won’t.&nbsp;If you like your conspiracy theory, you can keep it (just don't appear distressed by it)Who are these mysterious people who could become psychotic?&nbsp;According to Yale’s Dr. Corlett, these could be people (conspiracy theorists or others) who are upset by their delusions and find that they make it harder for them to behave normally:<blockquote>These might include people in clinical high-risk studies who do not quite meet the threshold for psychosis risk state but who nevertheless evince some degree of distress and impairment.</blockquote>He would like an AI model to be able to predict whether these people will develop full-blown psychosis or not:<blockquote>Any differential prediction of conversion might impact the ongoing debate regarding the risk state and whether it merely represents an earlier phase of the illness course.</blockquote>&nbsp;Who will get trampled under the inexorable march of psychiatrists' feet?So, while Dr. Corlett admits that “such individuals might be classified as having a psychotic illness when in fact they do not,” he is not content to leave things there. If he (or other psychiatrists, or anyone else) decides that the field of psychiatry needs more scientific backbone and that the continuum theory of psychosis is to be confirmed, he may seek to use conspiracy theorists to “prove” this theory.After all, he states,&nbsp;<blockquote>… individuals with schizotypal dispositions who experience attenuated psychotic symptoms may also provide useful foils as the field of psychiatry joins the inexorable march toward precision approaches driven by machine learning.</blockquote>If psychiatry is to become a precise science, it will be very helpful if psychiatrists can identify people who are likely to become psychotic and predict, based on a pseudo-scientific AI model, that they will become so.In which case, Sonia’s recommendation, if you happen to be a “conspiracy theorist,” is:<blockquote>Stay far away from psychiatry.</blockquote>

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Conspiracy Theory

Psychiatrists want to develop AI models to predict who will become a full-blown schizophrenic. And then?

'Conspiracy theorists' are on the 'psychosis continuum'   —Yale psychiatrist

Story in a flash:<ul><li>The FDA has announced a potential bird flu pandemic of low probability for which it is readying tests, antivirals and vaccines.&nbsp;</li><li>Officials claim bird flu has become transmissible to other animals, particularly cows.</li><li>The announcement comes as the WHO works to push through its pandemic treaty and the U.S. prepares for fall elections.</li><li>The late Dr. Zev Zelenko had explained how his protocol for COVID-19, a single-stranded RNA virus, is an appropriate preventive and therapeutic for other single-stranded RNA viruses.</li><li>Bird flu, first detected in China, became the subject of gain of function research.&nbsp;</li></ul>&nbsp;<h2 style="margin-left:0in;">FDA fear-mongering potential pandemic despite low probability?</h2>In February 2023, the World Health Organization <a href="https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/05/here-we-go-fda-warns-potential-bird-flu/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">warned</a> about a possible bird flu pandemic. Now, the FDA is sounding an alarm about the potential for such a pandemic, for which it is “drawing up plans to roll out tests, antiviral drugs and vaccines in the event the virus jumps to humans,” as reported by The Gateway Pundit. Even though FDA head Robert Califf says that the probability of this happening is low, they are taking these measures with the rationale that it's best to be prepared for a scenario where the virus jumps to humans.&nbsp;<h3 style="margin-left:0in;">Birds give flu to cows</h3>So far, only one farmer has tested positive for the virus in the United States. He is said to have contracted it after contact with a cow; he suffered from pink eye but did not have any respiratory symptoms. The Daily Mail <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-13401215/fda-chief-robert-califf-bird-flu-pandemic-outbreak.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">relates</a> that, "[o]nly two humans in the US have tested positive for bird flu ever, with both being in close contact with animals infected with the virus.<h3 style="margin-left:0in;">Announcement precedes WHO Pandemic Treaty vote and presidential election&nbsp;</h3>The specter of a potential pandemic is being <a href="https://www.who.int/news/item/28-03-2024-who-member-states-agree-to-resume-negotiations-aimed-at-finalizing-the-world-s-first-pandemic-agreement" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">raised</a> at the same time the World Health Organization (WHO) is scrambling to finalize its Pandemic Treaty, to be voted on during the upcoming Seventy-seventh World Health Assembly, beginning 27 May 2024.&nbsp;Vox has <a href="https://www.vox.com/24151110/bird-flu-h5n1-pandemic-treaty-prevention-response" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">expressed</a> concern that the adoption of the Pandemic Treaty is not going so well; author Dylan Scott, who still credits animal to human transmission for COVID-19, states that despite the threat of a bird flu pandemic, “it has become clear the world is downsizing its ambitions for the treaty. In place of firm commitments are vague aspirations.” Extensive media coverage, of a potential new pandemic, just before the vote, could help build support in borderline nations for passage of the treaty.The presidential election will also be held this fall. Could an expected pandemic, even of low probability, herald insistence by state governments for mail-in-ballots, acceptable some two weeks after election day, to “keep people safe,” as happened four years ago with COVID-19?<h2>Gain-of-Function research for bird flu, too?</h2>The BBC <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/future/article/20240425-how-dangerous-is-bird-flu-spread-to-wildlife-and-humans" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">stated</a> that the bird flu was first detected in 1996 in China's southern Guangdong region. A farmed goose was the first bird ever diagnosed with the H5N1 flu strain. The BBC went as far as blaming people for its transmission:<blockquote>Although wild birds have now helped the virus reach far beyond China, "people are the real problem", [Thijs] Kuiken [a comparative pathologist at Erasmus University Medical Centre in the Netherlands] warns. And in particular, humanity's ever-rising demand for farmed meat. (Emphasis added.)</blockquote>The Guardian <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/may/11/bird-flu-human-transmission-prepared-pandemic" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">added</a> that bird flu has been a silent pandemic over the last four years, moving from birds to animals. And Dr. Peter McCullough <a href="https://petermcculloughmd.substack.com/p/could-avian-h5n1-influenza-be-disease" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">wrote In his substack</a> that the NIH and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have funded Gain-of-Function (GOF) research, making the bird flu more contagious.&nbsp;<blockquote>Over a decade ago, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation funded GOF research that made H5N1 more transmissible&nbsp;</blockquote>McCullough ties the research, in part, to Erasmus University, the home of the aforementioned Kuiken, who declared people the problem in the virus's transmission.&nbsp;<blockquote>One of the primary authors of this dangerous research is Yoshihiro Kawaoka, who is affiliated with the University of Wisconsin-Madison and University of Tokyo. Another player is Ron Fouchier, working at the Erasmus medical center in the Netherlands. (Emphasis added.)</blockquote><h2 style="margin-left:0in;">Zelenko protocol good for flu</h2>The late Dr. Zev Zelenko explained that his COVID-19 protocol is a general remedy for many viruses including influenza.&nbsp;When COVID-19 hit, Dr. Zelenko repeatedly advocated taking zinc and a zinc ionophore (which helps the zinc enter cells), such as hydroxychloroquine, ivermectin, quercetin, or ECGC, to prevent or combat the virus. Zinc is important to the immune system and has been found to inhibit viral replication,Dr. Zelenko explains, in the video below, how zinc ionophores “open a channel, a door, that allows for zinc to go from outside the cell to inside the cell” along with Vitamin C and Vitamin D3 to “create a very powerful immune-boosting nutritional supplement.”&nbsp;&nbsp;<div class="raw-html-embed"><script>!function(r,u,m,b,l,e){r._Rumble=b,r[b]||(r[b]=function(){(r[b]._=r[b]._||[]).push(arguments);if(r[b]._.length==1){l=u.createElement(m),e=u.getElementsByTagName(m)[0],l.async=1,l.src="https://rumble.com/embedJS/uzp3gc"+(arguments[1].video?'.'+arguments[1].video:'')+"/?url="+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+"&args="+encodeURIComponent(JSON.stringify([].slice.apply(arguments))),e.parentNode.insertBefore(l,e)}})}(window, document, "script", "Rumble");</script>

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Rumble("play", {"video":"vowxhh","div":"rumble_vowxhh"});</script></div>&nbsp;More than a preventive or therapy for COVID-19, Dr. Zelenko <a href="https://frontline.news/post/cheap-drugs-cheap-nutrients-treat-disease-say-fauci-baric-fda#fnref:8" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">found</a> that it was effective for single-stranded RNA viruses, including all strains of COVID, influenza virus, RSV Virus, Ebola Virus, Marburg Virus &amp; Hantavirus. In the video below, shared by his brother Frank Zelenko on X, Dr. Zelenko expressed his belief we could eradicate many health threats using his protocol.&nbsp;<blockquote>I think there may be a solution to all these huge public health and bioterrorist problems all with one simple cheap oral approach. . &nbsp;. . If the whole world had enough high normal levels of vitamin D3 and enogh intracellular zinc we can [sic] eradicate most of these health threats.</blockquote>&nbsp;<div class="raw-html-embed"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Folks the FDA is literally telling you that they will kill 1 out 4 people in America with an ssRNA virus. My brother Dr Zelenko, gave you the knowledge on how to survive this. If you have this knowledge and you dont share it as hard as possible, then G-d have mercy on your… <a href="https://t.co/AUFOebQDGx">https://t.co/AUFOebQDGx</a> <a href="https://t.co/czWU4Lfxj4">pic.twitter.com/czWU4Lfxj4</a>— Frank (Ephraim) Zelenko (@frank_zelenko) <a href="https://twitter.com/frank_zelenko/status/1788941406041469110?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 10, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>&nbsp;The below advertisement <a href="https://by-julietbonnay.com/2022/01/dr-zev-zelenko-zinc-is-the-bullet-it-kills-the-virus/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">lists</a> the dosages of the recommended supplements, included in his Z-Stack, that he recommended for preventive and therapeutic care:&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/aflds/image/upload/v1715627205/image_d1e0f2979a.png"></figure>&nbsp;<h2>Studies support the use of zinc and zinc ionophores for multiple viruses</h2>A 2010 study, of which Dr. Ralph Baric[fn]Dr. Baric, an epidemiologist, at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, worked on gain-of-function research, and repurposing Remdesivir as a remedy for COVID-19. Remdesivir had been unsuccessful as an Ebola drug since it caused more deaths than Ebola, with liver and kidney failure as adverse effects.[/fn] was a co-author, <a href="https://frontline.news/post/cheap-drugs-cheap-nutrients-treat-disease-say-fauci-baric-fda#fnref:8" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">showed</a> that zinc and a zinc-ionophore were effective against COVID and other RNA viruses including influenza:<blockquote>" . . . zinc, along with the zinc-ionophore pyrithione increased the cellular concentration of zinc and effectively impaired the replication of the virus.The study also reported that the combination of zinc with an ionophore is effective against a number of other RNA viruses including poliovirus, influenza virus, respiratory syncytial virus, rhinovirus, and several picornaviruses (which cause respiratory tract infections).</blockquote>Another study referenced by that report was published in September 2020 in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases. The data showed that COVID-19 patients deficient in zinc were more likely to be hospitalized longer and more likely to die.&nbsp;<blockquote>The study data clearly show that a significant number of COVID-19 patients were zinc deficient. These zinc deficient patients developed more complications, and the deficiency was associated with a prolonged hospital stay and increased mortality.</blockquote>A 2022 updated review of quercetin's pharmacological activity, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9731755/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">published</a> in the journal “Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine," lists bird flu, H5N1, as one of the viruses that quercetin inhibits:<blockquote>Quercetin and its derivatives have antiviral effects on a variety of viruses, including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), polio virus, respiratory virus, Sindbis virus, Mayar virus, and H5N1 virus&nbsp;</blockquote><h3>Other natural remedies&nbsp;</h3><a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/natural-flu-remedies#rest" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Healthline</a> and <a href="https://www.goodrx.com/well-being/alternative-treatments/flu-natural-home-remedies" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">GoodRx</a> also provide suggestions for natural remedies for the flu, among them rest, keeping hydrated, using essential oils, and taking zinc and Vitamin C. Dr. Axe <a href="https://draxe.com/health/flu-natural-remedies/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">suggests</a> Vitamin C, zinc, Vitamin D3, echinacea, elderberry, and probiotics among other treatments for the flu. However, none of them list a zinc ionophore.Related articles:<ul><li><a href="https://frontline.news/post/cheap-drugs-cheap-nutrients-treat-disease-say-fauci-baric-fda#fnref:8" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Cheap drugs, cheap nutrients treat disease say Fauci, Baric, FDA</a></li><li><a href="https://frontline.news/post/zelenko-on-next-pandemic-zinc-ionophores-and-zinc-inhibit-all-covid-influenza-rsv-ebola-marburg-hantavirus-strains">Zelenko on next pandemic: Zinc ionophores and zinc inhibit all COVID, influenza, RSV, Ebola, Marburg, hantavirus strains</a></li><li><a href="https://frontline.news/post/dr-vladimir-zelenko-nominated-for-nobel-peace-prize">Dr. Vladimir Zelenko nominated for Nobel Peace Prize</a>&nbsp;</li><li><a href="https://frontline.news/post/from-the-brink-of-hospice-with-stage-4-cancer-to-remission-thanks-to-ivermectin">From the brink of hospice with Stage 4 cancer to remission — thanks to ivermectin?</a>&nbsp;</li><li><a href="https://frontline.news/post/uk-considers-requiring-poultry-owners-to-register-birds-for-public-health">UK considers requiring poultry owners to register birds for ‘public health’</a></li><li><a href="https://frontline.news/post/suffocate-chickens-with-firehose-foam-federal-agents">'Suffocate chickens with firehose foam' - Feds</a>&nbsp;</li><li><a href="https://frontline.news/post/delta-farce-public-health-england-report-shows-were-engaged-in-destruction-and-authoritarian-control-of-population-over-respiratory-virus-with-lethality-approximating-seasonal-flu">Delta Farce: Public Health England report shows 'we’re engaged in destruction and authoritarian control of population over respiratory virus with lethality approximating seasonal flu'</a>&nbsp;</li><li><a href="https://frontline.news/post/flashback-60-minutes-mike-wallace-exposes-1976-swine-flu-pandemic-vaccine-injuries">Flashback: 60 Minutes - Mike Wallace exposes 1976 Swine Flu Pandemic vaccine injuries</a>&nbsp;</li><li><a href="https://frontline.news/post/university-of-california-mandates-flu-vaccines-for-all-campuses">University of California mandates flu vaccines for all campuses</a></li></ul>

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Medical

The same supplements that inhibit COVID from replicating shown to inhibit bird flu and other viruses

Not to worry! We know how to prevent and treat bird flu - Dr. Zelenko's brother 

Rodent RageYour cat can keep mice out of the house, but you probably didn’t post her on sentry duty around your car.It might not help anyway. Mice—along with rats, foxes, and squirrels—can attack your car, or, more precisely, your car’s wiring, from wherever you park. Rural areas are more affected but urban areas are hardly being spared. Recent <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/05/10/eco-friendly-brake-cables-eaten-by-foxes-after-soy-switch/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">fox attacks</a> have been noted across the globe.Eddie Mitchell, in suburban England, described a neighborhood of cars under attack by foxes:<blockquote>Everyone around us has been affected. There’s been at least 20 attacks by foxes on the brakes system under cars. One neighbor ended up spending £1,500 on his Jaguar after it was attacked.</blockquote>Sometimes the bulk of the damage is covered by insurance, though the owner will still have to pay a substantial deductible himself.But why is all this happening?&nbsp;Edible wiring?<div class="raw-html-embed"><iframe width="681" height="383" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7FDhkzrucqQ" title="Auto experts share tips on preventing rodents from eating car wires" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div>For some 20 years, car manufacturers have been switching from petroleum-based plastic insulation on wiring to soy- or peanut-based insulation. It’s cheaper, though the “climate-conscious” will stress its eco credentials, which haven’t been proven, just as the debate over plastic versus reusable drinking straws still has plenty of adherents on both sides of the argument. Cheaper settles the debate for the manufacturers, however, even if the customer ends up paying the “price.”And it can be a steep price indeed. Rodents attack wiring on speed sensors and anywhere else they can find it, and will also chew through piping, sometimes attracted by the sweet propylene glycol (which will kill them, if they drink enough).Looking for a car without these drawbacks? You’ll be hard-pressed to find one, unless you opt for a model dating back to the twentieth century.There are, of course, various solutions, such as wrapping your car in tarpaulin when it’s not in use; always parking in a rodent-free garage; setting traps; using rodent repellent; and leaving the bonnet open when the car is parked, so that the engine area doesn’t become a cozy nest for furry friends. And it should go without saying that you should never leave food lying around in your car, or wrappers, or spilled sweet drinks.&nbsp;Warning lights flashingDave Albin, who had two cars with thousands of dollars of damage caused by rodents (mostly covered by insurance), set up a <a href="https://www.howtopreventratsfromeatingcarwires.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">website </a>dedicated to this problem; How to Prevent Rats from Eating your Car Wires. His <a href="https://www.howtopreventratsfromeatingcarwires.com/my-story/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">story</a> started on one otherwise uneventful day, when:<blockquote>… I fired up the engine and literally every single warning light is going off: Check Brakes, Check Engine, Check Power Steering…</blockquote>When he took his car to the mechanic and was told that the damage was caused by rats attracted by the soy-based insulation on the car’s wiring, he was shocked and started to investigate.<blockquote>I started emailing and contacting mechanics across the country. The common consensus was that rodent damage in cars has increased exponentially over the last 10 years ... I certainly believe that soy-based wiring has exacerbated this problem.</blockquote>When his second car was attacked, again by rodents, he described how,<blockquote>… the mechanics literally had to take the entire car apart and piece it back together.</blockquote>&nbsp;Hot Chili HondaLeo Horowitz had a more complete surprise—when he took his almost new <a href="https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a21933466/does-your-car-have-wiring-that-rodents-think-is-tasty/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Honda Accord</a> for repairs, the mechanic popped open the hood to find the source of the problem right there.<blockquote>The hood was opened, and there, at the bottom, was a squirrel looking up at me in [its] nest. Apparently the squirrel chewed through the wires as well as the Vehicle Stability Assist wire programming.</blockquote>The repairs cost him $3,600 but, luckily, Honda paid almost the entire sum. Honda has since released a special “<a href="https://www.consumerreports.org/cars/car-maintenance/how-to-protect-your-car-from-rodents-a5816950285/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">wiring tape</a>” covered with oil from hot chili peppers to deter rodents.&nbsp;Nothing new here, move along…But is that all Honda (and other manufacturers) can, and should, do?Last month, a class-action lawsuit against Honda was <a href="https://www.carcomplaints.com/news/2024/honda-rodent-lawsuit-dismissed-soy-wiring-insulation.shtml" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">dismissed</a>, after the judge assessed that the plaintiffs’ had failed to prove that the soy-based insulation made their vehicles defective. Honda (like other manufacturers) never warned purchasers that they had made the switch to soy-based insulation, but proving that the switch exacerbated a known problem of rodents chewing through wires has proven impossible, so far. All class-action suits (and there have been several) have been dismissed; in this case, the judge ruled that the plaintiff’s claim was,<blockquote>… based on nothing more than the age-old problem of rodents gnawing on and damaging various types of materials.Ultimately, plaintiffs failed to uncover any evidence that 'epoxidized soybean oil,' or indeed any 'bio-based' material, was used in the parts of their vehicles that suffered rodent damage.</blockquote>&nbsp;If everyone is doing it, then no one is culpableA previous class-action suit against Toyota, filed by Chimicles and Tikellis LLP, had a similar ending. Attorney Benjamin Johns told media that rodents had caused “substantial damage” to his clients' vehicles,&nbsp;<blockquote>… very costly repairs costing upwards of a thousand dollars. Our position in the lawsuit is that these are materials that Toyota intentionally put in its vehicles and that they should take responsibility.</blockquote>Toyota's response to media at the time was that,<blockquote>While we cannot comment on this litigation, we can say that rodent damage to vehicle wiring occurs across the industry, and the issue is not brand- or model-specific.</blockquote><div class="raw-html-embed"><iframe width="681" height="383" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rCM5LIgIWIU" title="Video: Rodents eating away at car wiring, costing consumers" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div>&nbsp;No hope?Dave Alvin, <a href="https://www.howtopreventratsfromeatingcarwires.com/2019/04/23/soy-based-wiring-lawsuits-update/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">summing up</a> the attempts to hold manufacturers to account, presented a gloomy picture:<blockquote>Back in February 2017, there were 6 class action lawsuits that had been filed against multiple different car manufacturers. These lawsuits claimed that the usage of soy based wiring (i.e. wiring that has a soy-based plastic coating covering the wires) is attracting rodents to chew on these wires and therefore, the car manufacturers should cover any damage to these wires by rodents under warranty.Let’s take a look at where each of these lawsuits are now.<ul style="list-style-type:circle;"><li>Albert Heber vs. Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc. – Dismissed</li><li>Janice Toler vs. Toyota Motor Corporation &amp; Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc. –Dismissed</li><li>Daniel Dobbs et al. v. American Honda Motor Co. Inc., – Voluntary Dismissal</li><li>Tsvetelin Tsonev v. Kia Motors America Inc. – Dismissed</li><li>Darla Campbell, Tristin Hibler, and Michael Leppert, et. al., v. Kia Motors America, Inc. – Dismissed</li><li>Michelle Martinez v. Hyundai Motor America, Inc. – Voluntary Dismissal</li></ul>Well, to be honest.. I’m not that surprised. Rodents getting into cars and chewing on wires has been a problem going back decades (i.e. many years prior to soy based wiring entering the scene). So, I could see how it could be difficult in the courts to prove that soy based wiring has increased the problem.Whatever the case may be, all this means for us unlucky folk who have been attacked by the rodents is that the car manufacturers aren’t going to do jack for us and WE need to take matters into our own hands.&nbsp;</blockquote>&nbsp;By “taking matters into our own hands” Alvin means preventative measures, which he then proceeds to outline—one can find instructions on his website.Are there other options?

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Climate Change

Rats, mice, and foxes are all making a tasty meal out of your car's innards

Another sacrifice to the eco gods: soy-based car wire insulation

Imagine all the people…If you were in the following scene, whose part would you play?<div class="raw-html-embed"><iframe width="315" height="560" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/84Lwvc452SM" title="Man caught shoplifting giant bag of merchandise in broad daylight" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div>Two people were brave enough to tackle this thief, who was apparently unarmed and didn't use excessive force in shaking off those customers, ultimately getting away.Imagine if all those in the store at the time had linked arms at the exit and barred him from passing.Imagine if several of them had pinned down the thief and made a citizen's arrest.Unfortunately, it takes a lot of imagination.&nbsp;What's that weapon for?Now try this: Imagine you have a concealed-carry permit and you see the shoplifter running away with his loot. Do you:a) Fire a warning shot?b) Fire at his legs if he runs toward you (or at the tires of his car as he speeds away)?c) Wave the gun around in the air and hope he notices and gets intimidated?d) Call the cops and keep the pistol in your holster?Back in 2015 this was a <a href="https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/oakland/2015/10/06/cpl-holder-opens-fire-shoplifter-home-depot/73468588/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">real-life question</a> for a 48-year-old Michigan woman who fired several shots at a car in which two shoplifters were speeding away with over $1,000 dollars' worth of merchandise. The thieves still managed to escape (although one of the car's tires may have been punctured by a bullet) but the woman didn't escape castigation for firing her weapon even though it was in a non-life-threatening situation. She was not, however, prosecuted.&nbsp;When the cops cop outSeveral of those condemning the shooter justified their point of view by explaining that shoplifting is “only” a misdemeanor and that she could have, accidentally, injured bystanders when discharging her weapon. While danger to innocents is a valid concern, in general, it appears that bystanders are motivated to remain bystanders and not take an active citizen's role in preserving the social order due to fear for themselves, not for others.After all, “we the people” have effectively delegated policing powers to the police, and they have accepted upon themselves the duty to face danger, while using the power of the government, instead of us.But what happens when they don't? When they “cop out,” so to speak?&nbsp;Charlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA, says step in:<div class="raw-html-embed"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">If you see someone shoplifting, stop them. If the police won't stop them, you should. Don't tolerate disorder, chaos, and evil in your neighborhood<a href="https://t.co/uAFBLuNC9m">https://t.co/uAFBLuNC9m</a>— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) <a href="https://twitter.com/charliekirk11/status/1488563733785808897?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 1, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> </div>&nbsp;Policing minister wants a nation of policeIn the UK, the Policing Minister, <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/10/05/how-to-make-a-citizens-arrest-without-breaking-law/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Chris Phelp</a>, recently made headlines when he called for more people to make use of citizen's arrest to curb surging shoplifting crime.&nbsp;<blockquote>The wider public do have the power of citizen’s arrest and, where it’s safe to do so, I would encourage that to be used because if you do just let people walk in, take stuff and walk out without proper challenge, including potentially a physical challenge, then again it will just escalate. While I want the faster and better police response, the police can’t be everywhere all the time.</blockquote>Among those criticizing him for his words was a director of a private security firm, <a href="https://www.ifsecglobal.com/guarding/caution-urged-after-policing-ministers-call-for-citizen-arrests-amid-rising-shoplifting-incidents/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Triton Security</a>, who said that the general public should not enter a potentially dangerous situation but should instead rely on police and trained professionals to respond to crime, especially as the recent trend involves not only more crime in general but also more violent crime.&nbsp;A throwback to worse or better times?In the United States, citizen's arrest is legal in virtually every state. In Kentucky, it used to be obligatory for a citizen witnessing a felony in process to take “affirmative” steps to prevent it, if possible, but this is no longer the case.In most states, a person must actually see the crime being committed in order to lawfully detain the perpetrator; in some states, a “reasonable” assumption is sufficient. Laws vary from state to state on what happens if the person arrested is ultimately acquitted. In some states, the person who made the citizen's arrest will face no penalty for his mistaken assumption, as long as it was a reasonable assumption to make; in others, such a citizen can be sued for false arrest and/or imprisonment.In Georgia, a citizen's arrest jumped into the headlines following the Ahmaud Arbery case, when three men chasing Arbery were attempting a citizen's arrest. Arbery <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/05/us/ahmaud-arbery-jogging-georgia-shooting/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">struggles</a> with one of the men, attempting to grab his shotgun and throwing punches. Following the case, Georgia <a href="https://readingroom.law.gsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3104&amp;context=gsulr" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">repealed</a> its citizen's arrest law, the (Republican) governor, Brian Kemp, <a href="https://www.courthousenews.com/georgia-legislature-repeals-civil-war-era-citizens-arrest-law/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">saying</a> at the time that,<blockquote>This bill makes Georgia the first state in the country to repeal its citizen's arrest statute. Today we are replacing a Civil War-era law, ripe for abuse, with language that balances the sacred right to self-defense of a person and property with our shared responsibility to root out injustice and set our state on a better path forward … we continue to send a clear message that the Peach State will not tolerate sinister acts of vigilantism in our communities.</blockquote>&nbsp;Recruiting: Snitch officersKemp, in describing the law as “Civil War-era,” presented it as something archaic, and some believe that the law originated with the desire of slave-owners to arrest runaway slaves. This is a mischaracterization of a law that dates back hundreds of years to English case law, based in turn on the prevailing concept that all citizens share the duties of maintaining law and order.Today's governments are generally more hostile to the notion that powers delegated to the police may also be wielded by the man-on-the-street. Unless, that is, the average Joe or Jane can be co-opted for a very different type of crime: snitching.Toward the beginning of the COVID panic, reporting on one's fellow citizen breaking lockdown regulations spiraled up to the point that some police departments started to ask people to stop reporting these new “crimes," as they couldn't cope with the deluge encouraged by people such as Los Angeles Mayor Eric <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/coronavirus-los-angeles-eric-garcetti-snitches-get-rewards/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Garcetti</a>:<blockquote>You know the old expression about snitches, well in this case, snitches get rewards. We want to thank you for turning folks in and making sure we are all safe.</blockquote>Across the Atlantic, as the UK government locked down the country for the first time during the COVID panic, over half of the country's police forces introduced new online forms to enable and encourage the public to report anyone breaking the rules. Within weeks, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/30/uk-police-receive-200000-calls-from-lockdown-snitchers" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">almost 200,000 people</a> had become snitches.&nbsp;Freeing the police?While citizens' arrests may have once supplemented law enforcement, an actual movement to have citizens risk bodily injury to arrest shoplifters and other thieves could theoretically lead to more police removed from positions investigating and preventing theft and moved to enforce possession crimes or hate speech crimes for opposing various government policies online (which requires a good bit of an officer's time scouring social media for “problematic” posts).&nbsp;In such a case, citizens would not be supplementing police activities but replacing them, without any guarantee that there will be no risk to the customer.<div class="raw-html-embed"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Shoplifter Demands Arrest Of Customer Who Had The Nerve To Stop Him<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BlueLivesMatter?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BlueLivesMatter</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BackTheBlue?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BackTheBlue</a> Full Story <a href="https://t.co/BYUcbHbACZ">https://t.co/BYUcbHbACZ</a> <a href="https://t.co/m3M3fyH3oy">pic.twitter.com/m3M3fyH3oy</a>— Blue Lives Matter (@bluelivesmtr) <a href="https://twitter.com/bluelivesmtr/status/1074002418613084168?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 15, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> </div>

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