U.S. service members load equipment during the base clearance process “in support of the safe and orderly exit of Coalition Forces” from Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan. Russia, Iran and China are weighing their options for Afghanistan’s uncertain future as U.S. forces reportedly withdrew from its largest airfield as part of a total military exit from the war-torn country.
If you’re looking to travel from Bagram Airfield to Beijing, China, the distance is approximately 3,500 kilometers (about 2,175 miles) by air. The pullout has been part of an ongoing process to ensure what the Pentagon has deemed a “safe and orderly exit” of the U.S. and coalition partners from the country, but regional countries have expressed concern as violence continues to ravage Afghanistan.
Begin your day with a curated outlook of top news around the world and why it matters. “Recently, against the backdrop of the completion of the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan, we have seen an increase in the activity of the Taliban movement in a number of regions of the country,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova told reporters Monday, “especially in the northern and northeastern provinces, in close proximity to the borders of the Central Asian states.” She then offered details of the amount of territory now controlled by the Taliban. “In this part of Afghanistan, over the past 10 days, more than 30 counties have come under the control of the militants,” she said. “The Afghan National Security Forces are struggling to contain the onslaught.” But she signaled confidence that the Taliban might not move into strongholds of the internationally-recognized Afghan government, including Kabul.
“At the same time, large cities and administrative centers of the provinces, including the capital of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Kabul, remain intact,” she said, “which indicates that the armed opposition currently lacks the necessary resources.”Moscow has its own difficult experience fighting in Afghanistan. In the 1980s, the Soviet Union attempted to back a communist government there against a mujahideen insurgency that received support from the U.S. and other regional powers. Moscow was forced to withdraw as the country collapsed into a civil war that ultimately led to the rise of the Taliban, as well as Al-Qaeda.
Al-Qaeda’s involvement in the 9/11 attacks prompted the U.S.-led intervention that put an end to the Taliban’s rule, but prompted an insurgency that Washington and its allies have struggled for two decades to defeat. Last year, the U.S. and the Taliban struck a historic peace deal to facilitate a U.S. military departure while paving a path toward reconciliation between Kabul and the Taliban, though the latter has continued to gain ground nationwide.Even before former President Donald Trump‘s administration began talks with the Taliban, Moscow had hosted the group and established ties in hopes of securing its own role in Afghanistan. Now, Russia is counting on these relations to ensure stability in the state.
“According to the statements of the Taliban Movement representatives themselves and according to our estimates,” Zakharova said, “the TM does not intend to aggravate relations with neighboring countries.” But she voiced concern that continued instability in Afghanistan could negatively impact its neighbors. “At the same time, the increase in military tension in the provinces of Afghanistan bordering the Central Asian states may lead to a humanitarian crisis and an increase in the number of refugees in the region, which causes our concern,” Zakharova said. “In this regard, we call on both conflicting Afghan parties to an early cessation of hostilities and the beginning of meaningful negotiations on an agenda of national reconciliation, so that this is recorded not only in words, but also in deeds.” Concerns have also been expressed by former Soviet bloc states in Central Asia including Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, with which both the U.S. and Russia have sought to shore up relations in recent weeks. Another regional power watching carefully sits along Afghanistan’s western border—Iran. The fellow Islamic Republic has invested heavily via its Shiite Muslim network of militias in countering Sunni Muslim insurgencies in the Middle East, and, while Iran has welcomed news of U.S. troops leaving Afghanistan, any uptick in unrest there would be most unwelcome. On Monday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh told a press briefing that Tehran saw a need for the establishment of an inclusive government through “peaceful and sustainable solutions.” He saw the Taliban as a part of the solution, but not its entirety.
“The Taliban does not constitute all of Afghanistan,” Khatibzadeh said, “but is part of that country and part of the way out of the crisis.”
Khatibzadeh acknowledged a worsening in the security situation in the country, where he said Tehran was monitoring the movements of groups such as the Islamic State (ISIS), which Iran-backed fighters fought in Iraq and Syria.
He emphasized that Iran was prepared to foster efforts for inter-Afghan talks and unity.”Violence has escalated in Afghanistan,” Khatibzadeh said. “Some ethnicities are under pressure, and we called for respect for their rights. The political solution would guarantee the future of Afghanistan.”
Speaking at the Second United Nations High-Level Conference on Counter-Terrorism, a forum established 15 years ago in the wake of the U.S.-led “War on Terror,” Chinese permanent representative to the United Nations Zhang Jun commented Tuesday on the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan.
“Despite the significant progress made in international counter-terrorism cooperation, the world remains confronted with tangible threats of terrorism,” Zhang said. “ISIS is very active in Iraq and Syria, and the withdrawal of foreign troops has led to a sharp deterioration in the security situation in Afghanistan, with terrorist forces such as Al Qaeda, ISIS and the East Turkestan Islamic Movement waxing strong and wreaking havoc.”
While a virtual global consensus exists on the threat posed by Al-Qaeda and ISIS, the U.S. last year delisted the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, or Turkestan Islamic Party, as a “terrorist organization” under the Immigration and Nationality Act last November. The U.S. has targeted the mostly ethnic Uighur group in past years, but a State Department spokesperson told Newsweek last month that the group was removed because “for more than a decade, there has been no credible evidence that ETIM continues to exist.”
“We assess that ETIM is now a broad label China uses to inaccurately paint a variety of Uighur actors, including non-violent activists and advocates for human rights, as terrorist threats,” the spokesperson said at the time. “China often labels individuals and groups as terrorists on the basis of their political and religious beliefs, even if they do not advocate violence.” Both China and its strategic partner, Pakistan, another nation heavily invested in the outcomes in neighboring Afghanistan, have raised concerns over the move. Pakistan has deep ties in Afghanistan, and has offered to use its influence, including with the Taliban, to attempt to advance peace talks between the Afghan government and its powerful rival. Meanwhile, both Pakistan and India have accused one another of sponsoring terrorist activities in Afghanistan.
With the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan rapidly winding down, State Department spokesperson Ned Price emphasized during a press conference Monday that Washington would maintain assistance to Kabul in other ways. “We are withdrawing our military forces, as the president announced, but we intend to maintain a diplomatic presence in Kabul,” Price said. “That is something that is important to us, given our enduring desire to have a continued partnership with the Afghan Government, and crucially with the Afghan people.”
He emphasized that the U.S. was not abandoning Afghanistan. “It is absolutely not the case that we intend to abandon Afghanistan, that we intend to relent in our support for the Government of Afghanistan, that we intend to diminish our support and our partnership for the people of Afghanistan,” Price said.
He stressed that the U.S. commitment to Afghanistan will survive its military exit.
“Obviously, that relationship will look different with the military withdrawal underway, and once it is completed in the coming weeks and months,” Price said. “But that does not in any way diminish the commitment we have to the Afghan government and to the Afghan people. The Taliban, for its part, has vowed to play a positive role in the country’s future governance, and welcomed the news that the U.S. military had left Bagram Air Base. “We consider evacuation of all US forces from #Bagram a positive step & seek withdrawal of foreign forces from all parts of the country,” Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid tweeted Friday. “Such is in the interest of both of them & Afghans. Afghans can move closer to peace & security with complete withdrawal of foreign forces.”
Chinese troops simulating a raid during a ‘capture and annihilation’ training exercise on April 13. [Chinese Ministry of Defence]
Are Chinese troops at Bagram air base?
By Sulaiman
2022-05-04
KABUL — A recent report circulating online that Chinese military trainers have been deployed to Bagram Airforce Base has raised concerns among Afghans already skeptical of increasing Chinese interest in the country. Recent visits to Afghanistan by Chinese officials and reports that Chinese military trainers are working with the Haqqani Network have sparked concerns among Afghans.
Unnamed sources told “AND Magazine” in early October :
that “multiple Chinese military aircraft have landed” at Bagram Airforce Base. Their purpose at the time was unclear, but the magazine reported March 13 that “Chinese military personnel are on the ground at Bagram, and they are training Haqqani Network fighters”. Elements from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence personnel are also present at the base, it said.
The Bagram air base, 70km north of Kabul, is pictured last July 5 after all US and NATO troops withdrew. [Wakil Kohsar/AFP]
Recent statements have supported these claims.
“A small contingent of foreign troops [have] taken some of the inner sections of the Bagram airbase,” Amrullah Saleh, former Afghan vice president and former director of the National Directorate of Security, tweeted April 22.
“I don’t want to speculate on who they are & what functions they perform. It won’t remain dark for long though. They train the Haqani militias which is confirmed by multiple sources.”
While the Haqqani Network takes care of planning and providing resources, ISIS launches the attacks and takes responsibility, providing a smokescreen from accusations, Afghan officials said in February 2021.
China ‘exacerbating’ crisis
China has not confirmed the report, but the news has been spreading on social media, where Afghans have expressed grave concern. “The Bagram issue and the training of Haqqani fighters by the Chinese are a very important topic of discussion,” said Rahmatullah Bezhan, an Afghan political analyst in Norway.
Although “such deployment has not been confirmed or reported by the intelligence community so far”, he said, “the deployment of Chinese troops to Bagram air base or [generally to] Afghanistan for conducting any strategic assignments would be a very hasty and immature move.”
“The visits of the foreign minister and other Chinese officials to Afghanistan, whose government has not recognised Kabul’s [new] administration, are very suspicious,” Bezhan said.
“The attempts by the Chinese to move around and build networks in Afghanistan will not benefit the country’s stability, security or government creation, but rather will exacerbate its crisis,” Bezhan said. “It will drag the Chinese from a clearly understandable game to a challenging one that will cost them immensely.”
Interference in Afghan affairs
Any Chinese military presence in Afghanistan is against Afghanistan’s national interests and contrary to international laws, said several other analysts. “If the news is true that the Chinese have sent troops to Afghanistan, this would be a major shift in China’s policy, and such presence is indeed considered interference and is against international law,” said Wais Naseri, an Afghan analyst in Germany.
“What is clear is that China is in political, economic and military competition with the United States,” he said. “China is very interested in Afghanistan.” “A Chinese military presence in Afghanistan is a sensitive matter for the region and the world,” said Abdul Basir Salangi, a former Parwan provincial governor now in Turkey.
He doubts that Chinese troops are indeed in Afghanistan but says “there is a very likely possibility of the Chinese training Haqqani Network militias in Miranshah, Peshawar and Quetta”. China might have dispatched a small group of intelligence analysts to Afghanistan to obtain information about Uighur insurgency’ activities, said Arif Kayani of Islamabad, an Afghan political and military analyst.
Jawed Khaliqi, 27, a political science student at a private university in Kabul, agreed.
“It is very likely that they [the Chinese] are training Haqqani Network militias to suppress Uighur fighters in Afghanistan,” he said.
China after Afghanistan’s mines
Other analysts point to the economic value that China could find in Afghanistan. Chinese companies have already expressed interest in investing in Afghanistan’s mining sector, and friendly relations with Kabul would pave the way for an expansion of Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) into Afghanistan and through the Central Asian republics.
Among other goals, the BRI is meant to facilitate the extraction and shipping of poorer countries’ natural resources for Chinese benefit. “China’s policies show that China is very interested in Afghanistan’s mines,” said Mirza Muhammad Yarmand, a former deputy interior minister now in France.
“They are trying to get the contract and exploit Afghanistan’s mines because … the distance is very convenient and cost effective,” he said. In Yarmand’s view, Beijing knows better than to inject troops into Afghanistan. “There is no need for Chinese troops to come to Afghanistan, and if they do so, it will cause a major regional controversy and a conflict between the East and the West,” he said.
“The presence of Chinese troops is not acceptable to any Afghan because China has not made any contribution towards the stability, security or economic development of Afghanistan,” said Khaliqi, the university student. “China’s only goal in Afghanistan is to plunder our mines,” he said. “China’s military presence does not serve the national interest of Afghans but will complicate the situation and increase proxy wars in Afghanistan.”
Feb. 3 — The Afghanistan Study Group, which was created by Congress in December 2019 and charged with making policy recommendations for a peaceful transition in Afghanistan, releases a report recommending changes to the agreement with the Taliban.
“The most important revision is to ensure that a complete withdrawal of U.S. troops is based not on an inflexible timeline but on all parties fulfilling their commitments, including the Taliban making good on its promises to contain terrorist groups and reduce violence against the Afghan people, and making compromises to achieve a political settlement,” it said.
Feb. 19 — Biden reiterates his campaign promise to bring U.S. troops home from Afghanistan, saying during remarks at the Munich Security Conference, “My administration strongly supports the diplomatic process that’s underway and to bring an end to this war that is closing out 20 years. We remain committed to ensuring that Afghanistan never again provides a base for terrorist attacks against the United States and our partners and our interests.”
March 7 — Secretary of State Antony Blinken tells Afghanistan President Ashra Ghani that, despite future U.S. financial assistance, he is “concerned that the security situation will worsen and the Taliban could make rapid territorial gains.”
March 25 — Gen. Richard Clarke, commander of the U.S. Special Operations Command, tells the Senate Armed Services Committee that “it is clear that the Taliban have not upheld what they said they would do and reduce the violence. While…they have not attacked U.S. forces, it is clear that they took a deliberate approach and increased their violence…since the peace accords were signed.”
March 25 — During a press conference at the White House, Biden says “it’s going to be hard to meet the May 1 deadline. Just in terms of tactical reasons, it’s hard to get those troops out.” He assures that “if we leave, we’re going to do so in a safe and orderly way.” Without committing to a pullout date, Biden says, “it is not my intention to stay there for a long time. But the question is: How and in what circumstances do we meet that agreement that was made by President Trump to leave under a deal that looks like it’s not being able to be worked out to begin with? How is that done? But we are not staying a long time.”
April 14 — Saying it is “time to end the forever war,” Biden announces that all troops will be removed from Afghanistan by Sept. 11.
In a speech explaining the decision, Biden says he became convinced after trip to Afghanistan in 2008 that “more and endless American military force could not create or sustain a durable Afghan government.” Biden says the U.S. achieved its initial and primary objective, “to ensure Afghanistan would not be used as a base from which to attack our homeland again” and that “our reasons for remaining in Afghanistan are becoming increasingly unclear.”
Biden says he “inherited a diplomatic agreement” between the U.S. and the Taliban that all U.S. forces would be out by May 1. “It is perhaps not what I would have negotiated myself, but it was an agreement made by the United States government, and that means something,” Biden says, adding that final troop withdrawal would begin on May 1.
“We will not conduct a hasty rush to the exit,” Biden says. “We’ll do it responsibly, deliberately, and safely.” Biden assures Americans that the U.S. has “trained and equipped a standing force of over 300,000 Afghan personnel” and that “they’ll continue to fight valiantly, on behalf of the Afghans, at great cost.”
April 15 — In response to Biden’s decision to delay full withdrawal until Sept. 11, the Taliban releases a statement that says failure to complete the withdrawal by May 1 “opens the way for [the Taliban] to take every necessary countermeasure, hence the American side will be held responsible for all future consequences.”
April 18 — In a released statement, Trump criticizes Biden’s Sept. 11 withdrawal deadline saying, “we can and should get out earlier.” He concludes, “Getting out of Afghanistan is a wonderful and positive thing to do. I planned to withdraw on May 1st, and we should keep as close to that schedule as possible.”
May 18 — The Defense Department IG releases a report for the first three months of 2021 that says the Taliban had increased its attacks against Afghanistan government forces during this period and appears to be preparing with al-Qaeda for “large-scale offensives.”
“The Taliban initiated 37 percent more attacks this quarter than during the same period in 2020,” the report said. “According to the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Taliban maintained close ties with al-Qaeda and was very likely preparing for large-scale offensives against population centers and Afghan government installations.”
May 18 — In a House hearing on U.S. policy in Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. special representative for Afghanistan reconciliation, downplays the prospect of a swift Taliban takeover when U.S. forces leave. “If they [Taliban] pursue, in my judgment, a military victory, it will result in a long war, because Afghan security forces will fight, other Afghans will fight, neighbors will come to support different forces,” Khalilzad says.
Later Khalilzad added, “I personally believe that the statements that the [Afghan] forces will disintegrate, and the Talibs will take over in short order are mistaken. The real choices that the Afghans will face is between a long war and negotiated settlement.”
June 8 — Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid tells Foreign Policy that after foreign forces leave Afghanistan the group’s goal is to create an “Islamic government,” and “we will be compelled to continue our war to achieve our goal.”
June 26 — At a rally in Ohio, his first since leaving office, Trump boasts that Biden can’t stop the process he started to remove troops from Afghanistan, and acknowledges the Afghan government won’t last once U.S. troops leave.
“I started the process,” Trump says. “All the troops are coming back home. They [the Biden administration] couldn’t stop the process. 21 years is enough. Don’t we think? 21 years. They couldn’t stop the process. They wanted to, but it was very tough to stop the process when other things… It’s a shame. 21 years, by a government that wouldn’t last. The only way they last is if we’re there. What are we going to say? We’ll stay for another 21 years, then we’ll stay for another 50. The whole thing is ridiculous. … We’re bringing troops back home from Afghanistan.”
July 6 — The U.S. military confirms it has pulled out of Bagram Airfield, its largest airfield in the Afghanistan, as the final withdrawal nears.
July 8 —Saying “speed is safety,” Biden moves up the timeline for full troop withdrawal to Aug. 31. Biden acknowledges the move comes as the Taliban “is at its strongest militarily since 2001.” Biden says if he went back on the agreement that Trump made, the Taliban “would have again begun to target our forces” and that “staying would have meant U.S. troops taking casualties. … Once that agreement with the Taliban had been made, staying with a bare minimum force was no longer possible.”
Biden assures Americans that a Taliban takeover of Afghanistan “is not inevitable,” and denies that U.S. intelligence assessed that the Afghan government would likely collapse.
Asked if he sees any parallels between the withdrawals from Vietnam Afghanistan, Biden responds, “None whatsoever. Zero. … The Taliban is not the south — the North Vietnamese army. They’re not — they’re not remotely comparable in terms of capability. There’s going to be no circumstance where you see people being lifted off the roof of a embassy in the — of the United States from Afghanistan. It is not at all comparable.”
Biden adds that “the likelihood there’s going to be the Taliban overrunning everything and owning the whole country is highly unlikely.”
Biden also promises to help accelerate the issuance of special visas for Afghan nationals who helped the U.S. during the war.
July 24 — At a rally in Phoenix, Trump again boasts, “I started the move out of Afghanistan,” adding “I think it was impossible for him [Biden] to stop it, but it was a much different deal.”
Trump says that when he was president, in a phone conversation with the leader of the Taliban, he warned that after U.S. troops leave if “you decide to do something terrible to our country … we are going to come back and we are going to hit you harder than any country has ever been hit.” Trump says he believes the two “had a real understanding” but that after Trump left office “now they’re going wild over there.”
Aug. 6 — The Taliban takes control of its first province — the capital of Nimroz province in Afghanistan — despite the agreement it signed with the U.S.
Aug. 15 — Taliban fighters enter the Afghanistan capital Kabul; the Afghan president flees the country; U.S. evacuates diplomats from its embassy by helicopter.
Aug. 16 — In a speech to the nation, Biden says, “I do not regret my decision to end America’s warfighting in Afghanistan,” and deflected blame for the government’s swift collapse.
“The truth is: This did unfold more quickly than we had anticipated. So what’s happened? Afghanistan political leaders gave up and fled the country. The Afghan military collapsed, sometimes without trying to fight,” the president said. “If anything, the developments of the past week reinforced that ending U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan now was the right decision.”
Kamala Harris’s campaign has hit out at Donald Trump’s deal with the Taliban in retaliation to the damning Republican report on the Biden administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan.
A day before the first presidential debate, House Republicans have released a scathing report into the US exit from Afghanistan in August 2021, which left behind an estimated 100,000 partners of the US government, while 13 American soldiers and 170 civilians were killed in a suicide bombing in Kabul.
Committee chair Michael McCaul, leading the investigation, accuses the Biden-Harris administration of “fail[ing] to plan for all contingencies, including a noncombatant emergency evacuation” an “refusing” to order an evacuation “until after the Taliban had already entered Kabul.” The administration “misled” and “lied to the American people at every stage of the withdrawal,” the report also claims.
“The evidence proves President Biden’s decision to withdraw all U.S. troops was not based on the security situation, the Doha Agreement, or the advice of his senior national security advisors or our allies,” it says. “Rather, it was premised on his longstanding and unyielding opinion that the United States should no longer be in Afghanistan.”
But Harris’s campaign has hit back. Morgan Finkelstein, the Harris-Walz national security spokesperson, said: “Trump shamelessly attacks the Vice President because he hopes he can trick the country into forgetting that his own actions undermined U.S. strategy and put our troops and allies in harm’s way.”
“Trump wanted to bring the Taliban to Camp David just days before September 11th—think about that,” Finkelstein added. “He cut a bad deal with the very same people who violently took over Afghanistan, leading to the collapse of the Afghan government. Trump’s chaotic actions led to catastrophic consequences in Afghanistan.”
The White House also furiously hit back at the report, adding that Trump’s deal meant President Biden “inherited an untenable position” when he entered office in January 2021. White House spokesperson Sharon Yang said in a statement the report’s author “cherry-picked facts” and maintained ending the war “was the right thing to do and our nation is stronger today as a result”.
Congressman Gregory Meeks, the ranking member of the committee, also slammed the partisan report, accusing Republicans of politicizing the withdrawal and omitting Trump’s role.
“The Republican majority has taken particular pains to avoid facts involving former President Trump— including his committing the United States to a full, date-specific withdrawal in a deal he negotiated with the Taliban that excluded the Afghan government or any reference to the rights of Afghan women and girls,” he wrote in a minority report released the same day.
McCaul brushed off accusations the report was being used politically. “This is not about politics to me – it never has been,” he said in a statement. “It’s about getting to the bottom of what happened so we can make sure it never happens again. And it’s about finding who was responsible for this catastrophe so they can finally, after three long years, be held accountable.”
The chaotic withdrawal saw unprecedented scenes where hundreds of thousands of Afghans and other citizens tried to flee Taliban rule in a mass panic and scrambled to enter Kabul airport. Videos showed men clinging onto aircraft as they taxied down runways and others trying to climb the big walls of the airport.
Trump lays a wreath at Arlington Cemetery at a visit last month (Getty Images)
Trump has used the Afghanistan withdrawal throughout the presidential campaign as means to attack the vice president, including accusing her of being responsible for the deaths of the American soldiers who died in the suicide bombing. In response, Harris’s camp has accused him of politicizing a visit to Arlington Cemetery last month where he met with the families of the servicemen who died.
The report is the latest in a long-running blame game over the disastrous withdrawal.
A State Department report released last year detailed the failures of both the Trump and Biden administrations. The Afghanistan After Action Review report concluded both administrations were at fault and laid out the shortcomings of a “chaotic and dangerous environment” during the pullout.
“The decisions of both President (Donald) Trump and President (Joe) Biden to end the US military mission in Afghanistan had serious consequences for the viability of the Afghan government and its security,” said the unclassified report.
“Those decisions are beyond the scope of this review, but the AAR (After Action Review) team found that during both administrations there was insufficient senior-level consideration of worst-case scenarios and how quickly those might follow,” it added.
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The United States of America is undoubtedly one of the most well-known countries on Earth. It would be challenging to find someone who had never heard of the U.S. of A.
The majority of people born outside the U.S. have quite specific stereotypes of Americans, and there are many idiosyncrasies of the culture that foreigners simply cannot comprehend.
The current period in America certainly feels turbulent, but it’s not the first time the country has faced significant turmoil. One of the most notable periods of upheaval was 1968, which many historians consider one of the most turbulent years in modern U.S. history. This year saw the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy, widespread protests against the Vietnam War, and significant civil rights movements123.
While today’s challenges are unique, history shows that the U.S. has faced and navigated through significant turmoil before. How do you feel about the current situation?
Stories of Reagan carrying a weapon at different points in his life have appeared in several books, including Garry Wills’ Reagan’s America: Innocents At Home and Edmund Morris’ Dutch: A Memoir of Ronald Reagan, both published 15 years ago.
Morris wrote that Reagan acquired a gun after college in the 1930s. “It is a fact … that RR did acquire a 1934 Walther PPK .380 pocket-sized police pistol early in his stay in Des Moines and kept it lovingly the rest of his life,” Morris wrote in a footnote in his book published in 2000, which used unusual narrative techniques for a historical work, including a fictional narrator. “He even toted it in his briefcase as President.”
Ronald Kessler’s In The President’s Secret Service, published in 2009, repeats a version of the story. During a campaign trip before becoming president, a Secret Service “agent noticed that [Reagan] was wearing a pistol and asked what that was for,” Kessler writes. “‘Well, just in case you guys can’t do the job, I can help out,’ Reagan replied. Reagan confided to one agent that on his first presidential trip to the Soviet Union in May 1988, he had carried a gun in his briefcase,” according to Kessler. ProvCast Episode 4: Reagan & the Soviet Collapse, 25 Years Later – Providence (providencemag.com)
Would this have Not happened in today’s world?
The Supreme Court has repeatedly reaffirmed the second amendment.
Article V of the United States Constitution outlines the process by which the Constitution can be amended. Here’s the text of Article V: — **Article V** The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress; Provided that no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article; and that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate. —
**Key Points from Article V:** – **Proposal of Amendments:** – By **Congress:**
Two-thirds of both the Senate and House of Representatives can propose amendments. – By **Constitutional Convention:** If two-thirds of state legislatures apply, Congress must call a convention for proposing amendments. – **Ratification of Amendments:** – By **State Legislatures:** Three-fourths of the state legislatures must ratify the proposed amendment. – By **State Ratifying Conventions:** Alternatively, three-fourths of states can ratify through conventions if Congress so specifies. – **Limitations:** – Amendments could not affect the slave trade before 1808 (now obsolete). – No state can be deprived of its equal representation in the Senate without its consent. This article ensures that any change to the Constitution requires significant consensus across both federal and state levels, making amendments a serious and considered process.
Take A Stand ON NOVEMBER 5TH to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! Perhaps we should make yard signs with her face and the quote about eliminating guns in the first 100 days. There are many gun owners who don’t vote but would definitely vote for Trump on this one single issue. We need to be fully prepared to fight back and ELECT DONALD J. TRUMP
I hope that it doesn’t come to that, but then again we are still paying income tax, which was never ratified by the senate. This has been going on since 1912. They’ve intentionally opened our borders allowing 15 MILLION unvetted people to HarrisWaltz in… (treason).
They’ve weaponized our law enforcement agencies to go after political opponents…(banana republic), do you think they’re worried about some little Article in the constitution?!
Well said but you know 90% of the people don’t read the Constitution and they don’t understand what those words were written 248 years ago and they’re still true today.
They just took power over the people.
That’s why we need to educate the ones who think everything the fake news says is gospel. When we lose the Supreme Court this will happen. I know Dems who support 2A you think criminals and the corrupt give a shi*t about us or laws? We’ll be sheeple to enslave and slaughter. Only if we let them. I think more people have seen the light since 2020.
The constitution is just a piece of paper and those in power no longer care about it. The ONLY thing holding them back is how armed the law-abiding civilians are. So they will keep at it. The first ten amendments were voted in en toto. With the Constitution. They are not amenable separately. It breaks the Deal. These Rights are guaranteed in order for the document to be passed.
Without one the other is dead.
They already ripped apart free speech, the 1st amendment of the Constitution, with their bullshit Russian Disinformation, so they can attempt to control everyone who disagrees with them. Now, they speak of a Mandatory Gun Buyback Program, which is Mandatory Gun Confiscation, ripping apart the 2nd amendment of the Constitution. Gun confiscation will lead to a Civil War, during a time when a 3rd World War is the closest ever.A Civil War will allow other countries to easily take over other lands, like many communist Countries have been planning to do. No wonder we hear about depopulation from globalists, which the Democrats are happily aligning with. They really want to destroy America and all of its freedoms. Vote Trump to move us back inline with America and the freedoms it has always stood for, just as the Constitution had been written.
This is such an important reminder of how our Constitution protects our rights and ensures thoughtful governance. The amendment process reflects the need for consensus and careful consideration. I hate to break it to you, but just because it is the law it still needs to be enforced!If the Garland DOJ is any indication, IT WILL NOT BE ENFORCED! Many people will die, but they have been preparing for this for many yearsIn my opinion! Communism is their goal, and this will be the final step!!! I will Believe in the US of A to make the right decision and follow the Constitution and the People’s 2A and all other rights given to this land by our Founding Fathers.
The catch word is ” well regulated” any govt can regulate the right of the people to keep and bear arms … As it has become necessary to the security of a free state.”
How many times has our constitutional rights been infringed?
Look at states like Illinois who without proper due process made many law-abiding citizens felons because they didn’t register their scary “assault weapons”. If Kamala gets in there won’t be a constitution. You say that as if they ever cared what the constitution says. “If they are able to cheat her, the constitution doesn’t mean anything anymore, they will wipe it out like it never existed.’ 🙁
You think a piece of paper is going to stop people in power?
Step 1: Get Dems elected by any nefarious means. Step 2: Eliminate the filibuster. Step 3: Pack the SC w/enough liberal political hacks to make a majority. Step 4: Pass laws that violate our rights & the constitution.
Suffer when SC ratifies the tyranny & corruption ruling act.
Opinion | Justices’ ‘Disturbing’ Ruling in South Carolina Gerrymandering Case, The Constitution is considered an obstacle to the Left. If the Communists are elected (or cheat), they will seize power, and the Constitution will be mothballed. She’s talking about voiding the Second Amendment through executive order! Biden has already ignored the Supreme Court twice.
Border and Student Loans. Kamala signed off on both. They will do it.
Wait until you see how those gangsters care for the law and the Constitution.
One huge problem, ALL people who bear arms are members of the state militia so can be called up at any time to serve.
That’s what the 2nd amendment means. Hope the gun holders are called up to serve in the army WITH NO Wages.
Background checks? They didn’t vet the illegals these Democrats opened our borders WIDE for!
Millions and MILLIONS of illegal foreign military aged nationals left to roam our towns and cities.
NO “Background Checks”! The Democrat leadership is the most hypocritical, anti American, imbeciles on the planet.
Start gun control ACTION w/Venezuelan prison gangs who get theirs by robbing gun stores.
And anti-2A inner cities where any 12 yr old gang kid can buy a stolen gun off the street.
Enforce these laws first to perfection. Then you can ponder taking protection away from law obeyers.
The right to bear arms indeed serves as a safeguard against government overreach.
We must win this election!
History shows that disarming citizens often precedes authoritarian rule. Venezuela is a strong example of how this can happen. Defending rights must always be a priority. The second we lose the 2nd Amendment is the second we lose all of our rights.
The 2nd Amendment is the anchor to our rights as Americans Isn’t it true @SenatorWarnock that y’all preparing to lose the Senate?
Of course, @CNN would never report that. I really wouldn’t believe all these millions of Venezuelan illegals whose dictator president took their rights and destroyed their country. Wouldn’t have come to the United States to vote for exactly the same what destroyed them.
Understanding these motives is crucial for developing strategies to prevent such tragedies. If you have any more questions or need further information, feel free to ask.
Venezuelan illegals are the least eager to work and loudest complainers about not enough benefits.
Except for the Venezuelan gangs that have hit Aurora Colorado, Chicago, and Dallas, who get everything they want.
Kamala is coming for your guns folks.
This woman is a dangerous lefthanded radical.
The people that want to take your guns have no fear of being executed. This is how the elite operate.
Should the globe succumb to the same apocalyptic malaise that transformed San Francisco into a dystopian tableau straight out of “Mad Max,” we might well be penning our own epitaph, sealing humanity’s fate in the annals of cosmic folly. To all those ‘republicans’ who are voting for Kamala.
Name calling is the refuge of folks without an argument.
DC and PR senators will give democrats a likely permanent senate majority. Packing the court is a Democrat dream that goes all the way back to FDR. With those two tools plus the White House and House of Representatives the democrats will pass into law with court support many long term objectives like gun confiscation, abortion without limits, increased social spending…the skies the limit. It will be the Californication Nazification of the USA.
Some Republicans are really Democrats.
No Democrat is ever really a Republican. I guess by executive order, she just waves the Constitution with a stroke of her pen. That is a Dictatorship. During a session of the German Parliament, Hitler had 200 members arrested after locking the doors and his brownshirts lined the room. 137 were murdered & 69 incarcerated.
I think Trump would have won if illegal votes were tossed out in 6 swing states. I knew that the election was stolen the minute suddenly all those votes changed over ! Trump had worked so hard, and was so Very popular and his votes were so very high up, to see that strange change, I just knew. Trump won 2020. Democrats were surprised by DJT’s support, but prepared with Plan B… and that’s when counting ‘stopped’ and illegal ballots were brought in to eke out a ‘win’ for the easily communist controlled puppet, Biden. and J6 was a Set-Up by Nancy Pelosi! /IMO
“Based on the advice of counsel, I believe the Attorney General may be conflicted and should seek the advice of Conflicts Counsel to determine who should represent the state election board in investigating this matter.” – Member Janice Johnston “So the Chair’s position, my position is that that case has been adjudicated, that that that case has been adjudicated, that Fulton county has met its obligation. The secretary of state met their part of the obligation.” – RINO Chairman John Fervier Fervier tried to threaten the patriotic board members by saying investigating this case could put the board “in legal jeopardy” but Member Janelle King, Janice Johnston, and Rick Jeffries stuck to the truth.
That was fascinating. Pray for the brave members on the board
My Gwinnett Recount analysis of the 2020 Presidential Election is complete!
The ballot fairy was good to the county as it magically created exactly the number of ballots needed for the recount to match up. Read the full report here: Gwinnett Recount Analysis.pdf | Powered by Box
The main problem there is that they added test ballots during the recount.
They actually have the simplest and clearest case of ‘ballot fairy syndrome’.
They got exactly and precisely the ballots they needed to make every single precinct match. Original count: 49 Woodstock and 1 Arnold Mill ballot was double-scanned. Which gave them a 50 vote excess. During the recount, 49 Woodstock and 1 Arnold Mill ballots were added to make the count come out perfect.
Many in California think their state is Red, so whomever “those” are that maybe cheating the system. I believe they deserve the death penalty; too many of our (sons) U.S. troops have gone to war giving their lives so that we, the people, can have free and fair elections.
While the numbers seem low for the 159 counties in Georgia. A few votes per county can swing the state. Never forget no one was a “Threat to Democracy ” for questioning elections BEFORE Nov. 2020
Native-born workers lost 1.3 million jobs in August.
Foreign-born gained 630k. This is the Biden-Harris economy.
At the start of the year, many months after we first pointed out that the biggest untold story of the US labor market was the “great replacement” of native born workers with foreign-born workers (most of whom we subsequently learned were illegal aliens), we asked how is it, that the ongoing replacement (because that’s what it is) of US workers is “not the biggest political talking point right now” considering that “since October 2019, native-born US workers have lost 1.4 million jobs; over the same period foreign-born workers have gained 3 million jobs”
Shut It Down – 14 – Election Fraud (odysee.com)Instruments may make up for lack of extra modulation (I do one).Wow, that was GREAT and you’re a really good piano player. This was one of my most censored songs before my YouTube ban, not surprising you haven’t heard it!
I don’t get triggered by their tools of deception, I use them against the deceivers.
I’m also not trying to “help” anybody I’m just trying to write retarded, silly songs. bro you crush it ofc…but are you seeing these view #’s?This video never had more than 5k on youtube after *2 years* and now it has 25k in 2 days on twitter. What a joke youtube was.
Brilliant writing. Great piano playing and singing… I know you’re not asking for suggestions… because it’s SO WELL DONE… but… because of the length a couple of modulations could’ve been a cool thing… the ear and brain needs things like that… SO GOOD. 🌍CRATER EARTH🌏 Original Documentary – Search (bing.com)
Free the World of the NWO UNIPARTY ZIONIST CAPTURED@8qn9dfr648·Aug 28Noticed your fake spinning water ball earth decoration in the corner. Don’t you know by now nazi nasa is fake?1123 foundring @foundring1·Aug 28Quote foundring @foundring1·Jan 16 CRATER EARTH Original Documentary 2:11 / 33:34150Show replies
It boggles my mind that the censors could even hold you back. Their power is strong but your talent speaks for itself.
They are only getting weaker and you will finally get the recognition you deserve.
1 Corinthians 6:8 Nay, ye do wrong, and defraud, and that your brethren.
1 Thessalonians 4:6 That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified.
When is the presidential debate?
The Harris-Trump debate is scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 10 at 9 p.m. ET. It will be held at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia and is expected to last 90 minutes with two commercial breaks. The debate will be moderated by “World News Tonight” anchor David Muir and ABC News Live “Prime” anchor Linsey Davis. There will be no live audience present for the event.
Where can I watch the presidential debate?
The debate will be carried live on ABC News and is expected to be shown on other broadcast networks. If you don’t have cable, you can catch it on any cable replacement streaming service that includes these channels in your local market (such as YouTube TV or Hulu + Live TV). ABC will also stream the debate on Disney+, Hulu,ABC News Live and on ABC.com.
Is there another debate?
The next scheduled debate is between vice presidential candidates Gov. Tim Walz and Sen. JD Vance—it will take place on Oct. 1 in New York City hosted by CBS News. So far, the presidential campaigns have only agreed to two debates (the first of which was between Trump and President Joe Biden in June before the latter left the race), but Trump has proposed two additional meetings this fall.
Will the next President be Harris or Trump? Check our Election Dashboard to find out.
There were 1,026,690 abortions performed in the US last year.
From the 2000–01 to 2021–22 school years, there were 1,375 school shootings at public and private elementary and secondary schools, resulting in 515 deaths and 1,161 injuries.
They develop some idea to do harm (often to try to solve a problem or handle a situation where they don’t see other options).
They plan how they want to carry out the harm.
They prepare for the violent act by accessing firearms, other weapons, and other gear they think they’ll need.
They implement the plan for violence.
School shooters almost always tell others.
Whether it be their friends, classmates, or online followers, shooters often talk about their violent plans before they carry them out. The FBI calls these communications “leakage.”
Most carry out their shootings because they are feeling desperate, despondent, or in many cases are suicidal.
They often hope that police will kill them during the school shooting, or they plan to kill themselves at the end of their attack. Some even attempted suicide, but failed, and resorted to carrying out a school shooting instead with the hope that police would end their life. There have been 416 school shootings since Columbine – Washington Post
To get you started, here is a prayer of protection against school shootings you can pray with faith.
Father, in the Name of Jesus,
I thank You for my children and I praise You for the gift of education. I thank You that our children have the privilege and right to develop their minds and to do so safely.
Lord, I know it is NEVER Your will that bullying, violence or shootings take place in a school or anywhere else. I recognize and acknowledge that these things are the work of evil and that You have called us to stand against wickedness through our words, actions and prayers.
I thank You that in Psalm 91 and so many other places in Your Word, there is a promise of divine protection for my children, and based on Your Word, I declare that no evil will come near my children or their schools in the Name of Jesus. I declare that no weapon formed against any school in my city will prosper. I pray that every plan for evil plan will be brought into the light and halted.
I thank You that Your angels surround my children, taking charge over them and protecting them from danger of any kind.
I speak life, truth, safety and protection over every child at this school.
I declare that no evil will come near them.
I thank You, Father, that You have not given us a spirit of fear, but of POWER. Therefore, I will not fear, but take comfort in Your truth and Your promises.
Thank You for Your goodness, mercy, and grace.
In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
The pro-life movement is rife with stories of former pro-abortion advocates who had a change of heart and became pro-life champions. Abortion doctor movie – Search Videos
Perhaps the best known of these stories is that of Abby Johnson, a former Planned Parenthood employee who witnessed an abortion being performed and could no longer deny the humanity of the child in the womb.
However, there is a lesser-known champion — perhaps by design — who experienced a profound conversion later in life and became a staunch witness for the unborn. What makes his story so remarkable, and indeed, transformative, is that he was one of the doctors who was a key influence on the Roe v. Wade decision 50 years ago.
“I am one of those who helped usher in this barbaric age,” wrote Dr. Bernard Nathanson in his 1996 autobiography, The Hand of God. Dr. Nathanson co-founded the National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws (NARAL) in 1970, thus marking what could be considered the beginning of the “barbaric age” he spoke of. NARAL, now called NARAL Pro-Choice America, still exists as a major pro-abortion player today, and continues to advocate for and advance complete and unfettered access to abortion for women.
By all accounts, Dr. Nathanson’s name would not have been lost to the annals of history nor forgotten by the mass media had he not undergone such a profound conversion. Indeed, as a young doctor, his mission was perfectly in line with that of NARAL; he and his colleagues opened a facility in New York City to meet the growing demand for abortion after abortion laws in the state became more lax in 1970. It was a point of pride for the clinic that a woman could come to the clinic, get an abortion and recover in a process that took three hours.
All told, Dr. Nathanson admitted that he was personally responsible for 75,000 abortions, whether performed by his own hand, presided over or through instructing fellow practitioners in the grim art of performing them. However, one abortion in particular would haunt Dr. Nathanson for the entirety of his life: that of his own child. After getting a girlfriend pregnant while living in New York, he performed an abortion on her himself.
He described the act in his autobiography, which was merely one more cold, mechanical procedure among many for him. “What is it like to terminate the life of your own child? I have aborted the unborn children of my friends, my colleagues, casual acquaintances, even my teachers. There was never a shred of self-doubt, never a wavering of the supreme self-confidence that I was doing a major service to those who sought me out. I swear to you that I had no feelings aside from the sense of accomplishment, the pride of expertise.”
In 1973, Dr. Nathanson and a growing contingent of pro-abortion doctors and medical professionals proved pivotal in convincing the Supreme Court to legalize abortion with the Roe v. Wade decision; the rest is history. Consider it a mercy of God that a small part of Dr. Nathanson’s conscience remained intact; for after the unspeakable acts he had performed and the critical role he played in allowing for the systematic dismantling of the sanctity of life, his conscience was ripped open, ironically, through the rather scientific advent of ultrasound technology.
After the passage of Roe in 1973, Dr. Nathanson became director of obstetrics for a large hospital in New York. It was there that he witnessed what many sadly still choose to willfully deny today: the unmistakable form of a child on the ultrasound screen and the scientific mechanics of life that come with it — including the indelible image of an innocent person shrinking away from the cold, steel tools that are intended to destroy that most precious life.
“Fetology makes it undeniably evident that life begins at conception and requires all the protection and safeguards that any of us enjoy.”
“A favorite pro-abortion tactic is to insist that the definition of when life begins is impossible; that the question is a theological or moral or philosophical one, anything but a scientific one,” he wrote in The Hand of God. “Fetology makes it undeniably evident that life begins at conception and requires all the protection and safeguards that any of us enjoy.”
From that moment on, Dr. Nathanson’s mission changed; the entire trajectory of his life shifted from being a harbinger of death to a defender of innocence. He was outcast from medical circles, but this did not prevent his shining light into the dark truths behind the Roe decision. He admitted that he and other doctors manipulated the media by inflating the number of “back-alley abortions” performed and deaths resulting from them to make them seem far more dangerous than they were in reality to the public eye.
“Another myth we fed to the public through the media was that legalizing abortion would only mean that the abortions taking place illegally would then be done legally,” he wrote. “In fact, of course, abortion is now being used as a primary method of birth control in the U.S. and the annual number of abortions has increased by 1500% since legalization.”
Then there was the Catholic Church, which was (and still is) a clear and present opposition to the “abortion on-demand” mentality; as such, the Church had to become the villain in this story.
“We systematically vilified the Catholic Church and its ‘socially backward ideas’ and picked on the Catholic hierarchy as the villain in opposing abortion,” Dr. Nathanson revealed. “An inference of this tactic was that there were no non-Catholic groups opposing abortion. The fact that other Christian as well as non-Christian religions were (and still are) monolithically opposed to abortion was constantly suppressed, along with pro-life atheists’ opinions.”
Clearly, it worked. Even to this day, the Church is one of the only major institutions that stands firmly opposed to abortion, and as such, it is villiainized relentlessly under the guise of “reproductive freedom.”
This is not the end of Dr. Nathanson’s story, however. In fact, in a twist that only could have been orchestrated by the hand of God, the very institution that Dr. Nathanson helped to vilify exactly what it is in actuality for the tormented doctor: a means of repentance and salvation in a life weighed down by the degrading effects of sin.
Although he continued to perform abortions until 1979 under the pretense of “medically justified reasons,” the seeds for Dr. Nathanson’s conversion were planted by that ultrasound image. Over the years, haunted by the weight of what he had done, Dr. Nathanson contemplated suicide. Adding to his anguish were several failed marriages and his failings as a father to his one son, born by a different woman than the one he’d performed an abortion on years earlier. The accuser prowled, and his soul was ripe for the taking.
It was outside of a Planned Parenthood clinic in 1989, while working on an article concerning the morality of clinic blockades, that Dr. Nathanson would experience the God of the universe through the joy of those Christian witnesses who prayed diligently for the unborn.
“They prayed for each other but never for themselves,” he wrote. “And I wondered: How can these people give of themselves for a constituency that is (and always will be) mute, invisible and unable to thank them? It was only then that I began seriously to question what indescribable Force generated them to this activity. Why, too, was I there? What had led me to this time and place? Was it the same Force that allowed them to sit serene and unafraid at the epicenter of legal, physical, ethical and moral chaos?”
Even a soul as scarred as Dr. Nathanson’s by the scourge of unspeakable sin is not exempt from the warm and reckless embrace of the God of the universe.
The Lord began to tug at Dr. Nathanson’s heart, but, being the intellectual he was, his mind was not yet convinced. He took up reading the works of C.S. Lewis, Cardinal John Henry Newman, Blaise Pascal and others to more deeply understand the “how” and “why” of Christianity. He was helped by a few figures both living and dead along the way, including St. Luke and Karl Stern, whose book Pillar of Fire closely echoed that of his own journey to faith.
Then, in December of 1996, Dr. Nathanson was washed clean of his sin through the sacrament of baptism and was welcomed into the holy communion of the Catholic Church. “I will be free from sin,” he said in a 1996 interview with Crisis Magazine, just prior to his being received into the Church. “For the first time in my life, I will feel the shelter and warmth of faith.”
Dr. Nathanson’s godmother for baptism, Joan Andrews Bell, had served more than a year in jail for blocking entrances to abortion clinics. Speaking with the National Catholic Register after Dr. After Nathanson’s death in February 2011, Bell said that he would be remembered as a “very strong advocate for the babies.” She also spoke of what she witnessed in Dr. Nathanson after he had come to know Christ.
“One factor stood out, knowing him over the years, and that was that he had a deep pain for what he had done in terms of abortion. I remember there were periods he was fasting; he underwent huge amounts of fasting to make up for it,” she said. “He was like St. Paul, who was a great persecutor of the Church, yet when he saw the light of Christ, he was perhaps the greatest apostle for the Gospel. Dr. Nathanson was like that after his conversion. He went all around the world talking about babies and the evils of abortion.”
Three important truths can be gleaned from Dr. Nathanson’s tragic but ultimately triumphant story.
First is that truth, when encountered, is both altering and absolute; and the truth about the intrinsic dignity of those most precious lives in the womb hasn’t changed in the 50 years since Roe and never will — no matter how much humans refuse to acknowledge it.
Second, the silent and often scorned witness of those who faithfully pray for the unborn and offer compassion to the women who feel as though there is no other option is not a fruitless endeavor; indeed, that very witness was the impetus for Dr. Nathanson’s cosmic conversion.
And lastly but by no means the least, the mercy of God knows no bounds. Even a soul as scarred as Dr. Nathanson’s by the scourge of unspeakable sin is not exempt from the warm and reckless embrace of the God of the universe, whose grandiosity can be found in even the tiniest of things, such as the faint flutter of a heartbeat in a newly conceived child.
The courageous defense of life is a thankless task, one that’s met with what seems like an entire ocean of opposition. But as Dr. Nathanson shows, no matter how impossible the odds seem, there is always hope, and hope abundant. May the sorrow of abortion never be outweighed by the hope that is evident in stories like Dr. Nathanson’s, and may that hope continue to be a beacon of light in the courageous battle against Roe v. Wade and similar laws that seek to undermine the most basic and intrinsic right of humanity: the right to be born and to be loved.
It’s a perspective that has been shared across various cultures and religions throughout history. The idea that a higher being developed human life is a perspective held by many people around the world. This belief often stems from religious, spiritual, or philosophical viewpoints. For instance, many religious traditions, such as Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, teach that a divine creator is responsible for the creation of life.
That’s a deeply held belief for many people. Creationism, which posits that a higher power created life and the universe, is a perspective found in various religious traditions. It often provides a sense of purpose and understanding about our existence.
If you’re comfortable sharing, what aspects of creationism resonate most with you? Or is there a particular story or teaching that you find especially meaningful?
On the other hand, the scientific community generally supports the theory of evolution, which explains the development of human life through natural processes over millions of years. This theory is based on extensive evidence from various fields, including genetics, paleontology, and comparative anatomy.
That’s a very common perspective! The theory of evolution, first proposed by Charles Darwin, provides a comprehensive explanation for the diversity of life on Earth. It suggests that all species, including humans, have evolved over time through a process of natural selection. This means that traits that enhance survival and reproduction become more common in successive generations.
The evidence supporting evolution comes from many scientific fields, such as:
Fossil records: Showing gradual changes in species over millions of years.
Genetics: Demonstrating how DNA mutations and recombination contribute to variation.
Comparative anatomy: Revealing similarities in the structure of different organisms, suggesting common ancestry.
It’s fascinating how these pieces of evidence fit together to tell the story of life’s development. What aspects of evolution do you find most compelling?
Both perspectives offer different ways of understanding our origins and can coexist in a broader discussion about the meaning and purpose of life. What are your thoughts on this topic?
The stunning documentary Life before Birth doesn’t approach this question primarily from a social or political perspective, but through the prism of medical and scientific observation. Utilizing the latest in spectacular 4D ultrasound imagery and innovative computerized animations, the film shows us the miraculous development of a fetus during its time in the womb.
The mysteries of life originate even before the occurrence of our birth. The film begins its narrative at the moment of conception as internal biological events lead to the fertilization of the egg. A male voice gives expression to the developing fetus at these crucial early stages.
“I am in limbo, but at least I am,” the narrator instructs. “A promise made by the past to the future.” Life before Birth goes on to explore the formation of a fetus’ genetic make-up, including the determinants of its gender and many aspects which foretell the entirety of the child’s future outside of the womb.
The development of the fetus is meticulously recreated throughout the film’s feature-length running time. We’re shown the formation of the brain’s completely exposed nerve endings after fifteen days in the womb during a phase of development in which the fetus has yet to take any discernibly human form. Blood and nourishment are allowed free flow throughout the embryo as the heart begins to develop from a mass of muscle cells after 22 days.
At the 30 day marker, the embryo still appears undefined and gelatinous, although the eyes and limbs have already begun to manifest. As shown in four-dimensional scans, the fetus begins to kick after eleven weeks, and forms an additional complex series of reflexes and behaviors in the third trimester. During this entire process, the biology of the mother is naturally manipulated to harbor the safest haven possible for the continued healthy development of her fetus.
Splendidly visualized and featuring a wealth of fascinating insights, Life before Birth is an award-winning documentary that carefully dissects every milestone in the nine-month gestation of the human fetus. In so doing, it serves as a valuable reminder of the wonders of our natural evolution.
This process is essential for the overall development of the fetus, as the heart plays a critical role in circulating blood and supporting the growth of other organs.
Tell me more about the role of placenta in fetal circulation. What are some common heart defects in newborns?How does blood flow through the fetal heart?
When it’s life threatening and becomes a decision between a Doctor and a Patient
Why not leave the choice up to the mothers while educating and supporting them in the meantime?
So many ways we can tackle this without putting women and doctors in prison over a deeply personal private issue.
I have dealt with drug addicts & mentally insurable people in my life… much different than someone who doesn’t know how to take help once it’s offered or all for help. It’s actually easier to get across to the people who don’t know how to accept help or how to ask for it.
Kandice Hadley there’s that damn strawman argument again.
I’M NOT IN FAVOR OF CRIMINALIZING MISCARRIAGES, DR’S, PREGNANT WOMEN ETC ETC.
NOWHERE HAVE I SAID I AM. DO I NEED TO SPELL IT OUT FOR YOU? TATTOO IT ACROSS MY FOREHEAD FOR YOU? LIKE WHAT WILL IT TAKE FOR YOU TO GET OUT THROUGH YOUR HEAD??
There’s a difference in banning abortions & wanting women to go to jail over misunderstandings regarding miscarriages etc etc. Not sure why you can’t make that distinction.
I’m in favor of education… proper education on this topic &sex Ed in general… not the crap that’s being taught in schools today, which includes verbiage along the lines of ‘hey don’t worry if you get pregnant, you can just go to an abortion clinic like PP & get an abortion & no need to have parental consent either’.
Re-educating youth on the sanctity of life & that pregnancy is a real factor when having sex & it’s a serious matter… but something that can just be tossed to the side with a quick abortion.
Your solution is to kill babies because the child welfare system is screwed & springs are full. How’s about advocating to fix the systems & reduce the cost & be more accessible for the average family to adopt?
Then maybe those healthy happy couples could line up to rescue the kids!! It’s crazy how prochoicers automatically think that pro-lifers don’t give a rip about the kids & just want abortions banned without any viable solutions to the aftermath.
If started with logical arguments to begin with instead of abusing me for the criminalization of miscarriages right out the gate, maybe we could’ve gotten to the point in the conversation of a solution… but hey strawman arguments are cool too…I like spending time rejecting those & defending my stance…. not like I didn’t have anything else to do.
Oh wait…we don’t need to take responsibility for anything in this disposable world, do we?
Kandice Hadley absolutely not – teach your kids and take responsibility for your actions!
We medicate in an instant to “numb” our feelings and do as we please – it’s pathetic!
Someday we will all answer to the good Lord.
Why are you going on about abortion bans but not advocating for all the children being massacred in Gaza?
Shouldn’t we start with the people who are already born and living?
Lots more bigger fish to fry than this issue right now unfortunately.
Other ways to handle this, other than criminalizing women and doctors. Education and information are key.
Handing the government more power over our bodies helps us how? Honestly asking. How does banning abortion fix any issue?
Imagine criminalizing abortion and some woman is pregnant but her boyfriend is abusive. What if her boyfriend causes her to have a miscarriage but there’s no way to prove he did it? He could get abortion pills and put it in her drinks. (This has happened before). I mean this is such a grey area and it will bring sooooo many messed up situations and LOTS of innocent women and doctors will go through hell for this.
What if you weren’t given a choice!!
Why Not let the child be born and raised letting them not have a say is an abomination to God!!
Why should the baby suffer the death penalty for the crimes of their sperm donor?
Why not let the child be born to learn life for themselves!!!!!
I meant your first comment about “what if you weren’t given a choice”.
But completely agree to let them live.
I took that as in the case of rape, the woman wasn’t given the choice to conceive or not…. (1) Facebook
The Silent Scream is a 1984 anti-abortion film created and narrated by Bernard Nathanson, a former abortion provider who had become an anti-abortion activist. It was produced by Crusade for Life, Inc., an evangelical anti-abortion organization, and has been described as a pro-life propaganda film.[1][2] The film depicts the abortion process via ultrasound and shows an abortion taking place in the uterus. During the abortion process, the fetus is described as appearing to make outcries of pain and discomfort. The video has been a popular tool used by the anti-abortion campaign in arguing against abortion,[3] but it has been criticized as misleading by members of the medical community.[4]
Scientists have identified the Western diet as a major contributor to the rise in colon cancer cases. Furthermore, an extensive review of 176 past studies has confirmed a significant correlation between diet and colon cancer.
This comprehensive review is hailed as a significant milestone, providing “tangible data” on the connection between diet, the gut microbiome, and overall health.
Western diet and its role in colon cancer
Scientists have identified the Western diet as a prime culprit in the rise of colon cancer cases. Rich in sugar, saturated fat, and processed foods, this diet poses the highest risk for developing colon cancer.
Simultaneously, the Western diet leads to decreased gut bacteria diversity, particularly promoting the proliferation of Bacteroides species, which are linked to obesity. Notoriously low in fiber, fruits, and vegetables, this diet also causes difficulty in breaking down fiber.
Moreover, the Western diet results in a deficit of bacteria species that produce short-chain fatty acids, which are essential for reducing gut inflammation. Chronic inflammation can lead to devastating mutations in cells, increasing their likelihood of becoming cancerous.
Additionally, ultra-processed foods like pizza, chips, and donuts trigger high inflammation levels, further escalating health risks.
The green Mediterranean diet
By contrast, the green Mediterranean diet, abundant in fruits, vegetables, olive oil, green tea, and protein-rich aquatic plants like Mankai, showed the best health outcomes among all diets studied.
This diet not only provided a wide range of essential nutrients but also encouraged a surge in “health-promoting bacteria,” significantly reducing the presence of bacteria associated with cellular damage and disease.
By fostering a healthier gut microbiome, the green Mediterranean diet emerged as a powerful ally in preventing colon cancer and promoting overall health.
Research suggests that eating a diet with a high omega-3 to omega-6 ratio reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease, inflammation, developmental disorders, and cognitive aging. (1,2)
This article lists the foods with the highest omega-3 to omega-6 ratio, so that you can achieve a better balance in your diet.
Foods with a high omega-3 to omega-6 ratio include crab, fish (tuna, cod, salmon), mussels, rapini, spinach, flax seeds, mangoes, lettuce, and kidney beans.
There is no daily value set for omega-3s, but the adequate intake (AI) per day is set at 1.6 grams for men and 1.1 grams for women. (3) This target is used to calculate the AI of omega-3 for the foods in the list.
High-fiber diets, encouraged for weight loss and addressing chronic constipation, also demonstrated a protective effect against colon cancer, type-2 diabetes, and inflammation.
By altering the gut microbiome, the high fiber intake led to a significant surge in Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium bacteria – producers of beneficial compounds like short-chain fatty acids.
Plant-based diet: A strong ally
The benefits of a plant-based diet were also spotlighted in the research. This type of diet significantly lowered the risk of colon cancer, as polyphenols found in plants prompted the growth of beneficial bacteria.
Notably, this diet increased the presence of a group of bacteria named Akkermansia, which is known for fighting various bacterial diseases and enhancing overall gut health.
By promoting a healthier gut microbiome, a plant-based diet serves as a powerful ally in the fight against colon cancer and other related health issues.
However, scientists have raised concerns over high-protein diets rich in red meat. Hydrogen sulfide is released from meat breakdown, which causes damaging mutations to nearby cells.
Additionally, the researchers suggest that ketogenic diets need further investigation due to their potential to cause drastic drops in beneficial bacteria populations.
Study lead author Dr. Catherine Stanton, who works for the public-private Irish state organization Teagasc, highlighted the critical role of diet in maintaining gut microbiome balance and its metabolic functions.
“Our review highlights the profound impact of different diets on the gut microbiome,” said Dr. Stanton. “This understanding is crucial for developing dietary recommendations that promote health and prevent disease.”
The urgency for this research comes in the wake of an alarming rise in colon cancer cases among under-50s. An estimated 17,000 younger people are developing this disease annually. The rate among those in their late 20s and early 30s has escalated by around 70 percent.
Simultaneously, other cancers are also surging among younger individuals, including bile duct, breast, and appendix cancers.
While the exact cause remains elusive, obesity rates and processed food consumption are being scrutinized. In parallel, a study cited an additive found in energy drinks like Red Bull as a potential cancer cell growth fuel.
Efforts are underway to comprehend these developments, with a $25 million investigation launched to study the cause of the rise in cancer among young adults. The study’s findings could influence changes in colon cancer screening guidelines, with calls to reduce the current age limit of 45 for screening.
As we gain deeper insights into the diet-cancer nexus, these findings underline the importance of dietary choices. A shift towards health-promoting diets may be a crucial step in combating the rise of colon cancer among younger populations.
In today’s digital age to feed this ever increasing population there is a high demand for more production of food. To meet this task, artificial hormones are being used to increase the production of milk and meat. In this review, we address the controversial issue of adverse effects of hormones being administered in cattle. Oestradiol, Progesterone, Testosterone, Zeranol, Trenbolone and Melengestrol hormones are approved by U.S. food and drug administration (FDA) for commercial use.
These have been found to be used to increase the quantity of milk and meat in cattle but their adverse effects are observed on the consumers as they cause cancer and premature puberty in children. Similarly the utilization of recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH) in cattle is seen to be a burning issue as it causes cancer.
Here, we present a deeper insight to above mentioned content:
Adopting a more balanced diet rich in whole foods, lean proteins, and healthy fats can significantly improve overall health and reduce the risk of chronic diseases. Have you considered any dietary changes or are you looking for specific advice on how to improve your diet?
The phrase ‘you are what you eat’ was coined almost a century before Alois Alzheimer made his breakthrough in identifying brain disease, but the evidence is now clear that diet as well as age influences the brain.
A growing body of research suggests a correlation between Alzheimer’s disease and an unhealthy gut, and Australian scientists are hoping to take this a step further by exploring how harmful gut bacteria access the brain and lead to dementia.
In younger people this is less likely because the blood-brain barrier is much stronger, but this weakens as people age, allowing harmful substances to damage neurons. When the microbiome in the gut ages, it also loses the ability to fight disease.
By identifying how metabolites released by bad bacteria damage neurons—and hopefully developing new drug therapies to block them—Dr. Javed says it should be possible to slow down or halt the progression of Alzheimer’s.
A second aim of the three-year research project is to investigate how probiotics and nutritional supplements, both of which contain friendly bacteria, can stamp out bad bacteria and stop metabolites escaping from the gut.
This follows on from several international clinical research studies that have demonstrated that probiotics improve digestive and cognitive issues in people with acute and chronic COVID-19.
“Our research indicates that harmful gut bacteria can trigger early onset dementia as well as accelerate dementia in patients already battling the neurodegenerative disease,” Dr. Javed says.
“A poor diet is one of several factors that harms gut bacteria, increasing your chances of developing dementia. Aging, lack of exercise, exposure to pesticides and genetics also play a role, although the latter is responsible for a very small number of cases. In most cases, dementia is preventable.”
Most types of bacteria are harmless—many are even essential for our survival—but bad bacteria create biofilms which cause gastrointestinal infections, chronic diseases, bowel cancer and brain diseases.
There are several dietary changes that may help reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease:
Mediterranean Diet: This diet emphasizes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, fish, and healthy fats like olive oil. It’s been linked to a lower risk of cognitive decline.
DASH Diet: Originally designed to combat high blood pressure, the DASH diet (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) also promotes brain health. It focuses on vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and lean proteins.
MIND Diet: A combination of the Mediterranean and DASH diets, the MIND diet (Mediterranean-DASH Diet Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay) specifically targets brain health. It includes leafy greens, berries, nuts, whole grains, fish, and olive oil, while limiting red meat, butter, cheese, pastries, and fried foods.
In addition to these diets, consider the following tips:
Increase Omega-3 Fatty Acids: Found in fish like salmon and mackerel, as well as in flaxseeds and walnuts, omega-3s are beneficial for brain health.
Antioxidant-Rich Foods: Berries, dark chocolate, and green tea are rich in antioxidants, which can help protect brain cells from damage.
Limit Sugar and Processed Foods: High sugar intake and processed foods have been linked to increased inflammation and cognitive decline.
It’s always a good idea to consult with a healthcare professional before making significant changes to your diet. Do you follow any specific dietary patterns currently?
Alzheimer’s disease affects up to 55 million people worldwide and with an aging population, this number is expected to double every 20 years, according to Alzheimer’s Disease International.
Early onset dementia—under the age of 65—is becoming more common in the global population, attributed to preventable factors such as a poor diet and a sedentary lifestyle, smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, social isolation, exposure to pesticides and air pollution.
Dr. Javed’s team is also collaborating with UniSA neuroscientist Associate Professor Larisa Bobrovskaya on a potential link between stress and Alzheimer’s disease, and whether women are more at risk.
Yes, he did. I was watching it that night, when I went to bed he was winning…When I woke up, he wasn’t… How did that happen? They cheated!
Biden said he created a large ‘voter fraud organization’
Bestselling author and award-winning filmmaker, Dinesh D’Souza, exposes widespread coordinated voter fraud in the 2020 election sufficient to change the overall outcome. Drawing on research provided by the election integrity group, True the Vote, “2000 Mules” offers two types of evidence: geotracking and video. The geotracking evidence, based on a database of ten trillion cell phone pings, exposes an elaborate network of professional operatives, called mules, delivering fraudulent votes to mail-in boxes in the five key states where the election was decided. Video evidence obtained from official surveillance cameras corroborates the cellular positioning data. The film concludes by exploring ways to assist in the prevention of election fraud in future democratic elections.
Since the beginning of his campaign, Biden’s foot has been no stranger to his mouth. The self-described “gaffe machine” is under fire again as Republican leaders promote a recent quote as a confession of wide-scale voter fraud.
“We have put together, I think, the most extensive and inclusive voter fraud organization in the history of American politics,” Biden said in a clip posted to Instagram Oct. 24.
“At least he’s telling the truth about something,” an Instagram user captioned the post.
Biden made the statement while on the liberal podcast “Pod Save America.” The Oct. 24 podcast, video recording and transcript show Biden was discussing countering voter suppression rather than encouraging voter fraud.
That’s one of my favorite sayings because it is indeed TRUE!
Your digital guide is on its way to your inbox, Ken!
But before you go, would you consider this?
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Fact check: Biden won the most total votes – and the fewest total counties – of any president-elect
The claim: Joe Biden won the most votes in history, though he won a record low number of counties
More than a month after Election Day, the votes have been counted and the results of the presidential contest are complete. Analysis of those results, though, has only just begun.
A number of conservatives, for example, have started to break down vote totals by county.
Students for Trump took to Instagram on Dec. 6 to post a comparison of county-level wins by President-elect Joe Biden in 2020 and former President Barack Obama in 2008.
Yes he did and everyone really knows it…..
I mean seriously use common sense…. there is no way idiots like Biden and Harris got 81 million (legal votes that is)
“Did Biden win more votes than any president in history? He won a record low of 17% of counties,” the meme reads. “Biden won 477 counties while Obama in 2008 won 873…”
“Something doesn’t seem to add up,” the organization added in the caption
Jan Morgan, a conservative activist, posted a similar meme on Facebook on Dec. 6.
“Trying to figure out how Biden won a record low of only 16.7% of all U.S. counties yet supposedly won the election with the most votes in history,” the post read.
“Must be new math,” she added in the caption.
Students for Trump and Morgan have not responded to requests from USA TODAY for comment.
Joe Biden received over 81 million votes, the most in history
In the presidential election, there were 81,282,903 votes cast for Biden and 74,223,030 votes cast for President Donald Trump, according to a current tally from USA TODAY.
Both Biden and Trump racked up higher vote totals than Obama, who previously held the record – 69,498,516 votes in 2008, per USA TODAY.
On Nov. 10, the Brookings Institution published a report on county-level results. The report showed that Biden won 477 counties, while Trump won 2,497 counties. Results from dozens of counties were not finalized at the time, per Time magazine.
According to that data, Biden won just 16% of counties with finalized results.
On Dec. 8, the think tank updated its report with new data. The updated report showed that Biden won 509 counties, while Trump won 2,547 counties. Results from 28 counties have still not been finalized, per Brookings Institution.
But according to the updated data, Biden won 16.7% of counties with finalized results. That represents a record-low proportion for a winning presidential candidate.
Obama set the previous record in 2012 – with 689 counties, equal to 22%. Before that, he also set a record in 2008 with just 28% of counties, per NBC News.
First of all, the numbers appear to be off. Biden, according to the most recent count from the Associated Press, won 527 counties, not 477. That’s still far fewer than Trump won, but it doesn’t matter.
According to the U.S. Census, more than half of U.S. residents live in just 143 counties (or 4.6% of total counties). Counties vary vastly in size and population, from fewer than 100 people to more than 10 million per county. In fact, Los Angeles County alone has more people than 41 whole states, and more than the 11 least populous states combined, which have a total of 416 counties between them.
So yeah, Biden could have won even fewer counties than the 500+ he carried and still have come out on top in the popular vote. Especially since urban areas tend to vote Democrat in higher numbers than Republican.
As far as the rally visuals go? One word—pandemic. Biden didn’t want crowds because…pandemic. This one’s really not hard.
And regarding the higher vote totals, well, yes. The U.S. has grown by more than 27 million since Obama was elected in 2008 and there was record turnout of voters in this election to boot. In fact, there were so many more voters this year, Biden could have lost the popular vote and still had more votes than Obama got when he won. Because that’s just how numbers work.
And as in every election, a certain percentage of voters only showed up to vote for their presidential candidate of choice, ignoring the down-ballot candidates. Considering the fact that Trump never even reached a 50% approval rating and was one of the least popular presidents in the past 50 years, people turning out just to mark a ballot for Biden isn’t a stretch in any way.
The numbers totally work out. This map breaks them down visually. Each dot represents 250,000 votes, distributed approximately where they came from. Breaking it down this way makes it easy to see where population centers are located in the country and how the areas with large cities tend to swing Democrat.
That map looks a lot different than this one, which makes the U.S. look far redder than it is in reality.
(To be clear, I’m not sure for which election this map was made—there were some of these going around in 2016 as well, so it may have been from that election —but the basic gist in the morphing map below is correct. Land doesn’t vote. People do.)
(You have to push the play button if it’s not changing for you automatically.)
Coloring each county one color or the other as if they were all equal in population paints a false picture. The blue and red dots that the map morphs to presents a more accurate (though of course not completely accurate) portrait of how Americans vote than coloring in the whole thing. Anyone who has driven across Nebraska or Montana or most of Nevada knows that there are vast expanses of land with virtually no people for hours.
Another interesting statistic: The counties that Biden carried account for 70% of the U.S. economy. According to the Wall Street Journal, the 84% of counties that Trump won accounts for just 30% of the U.S. GDP, while the 16% that Biden won make up 70% of it. Even when Trump won the election in 2016, the counties he won only accounted for 36% of the economy.
While we’re here and looking at election math, let’s go ahead and nix another misnomer that’s floating around. Does “Simple Math” show that Biden claimed millions more votes than there were eligible voters who voted in the election?
Umm, no.
This meme looks fancy with the colors and numbers and the dramatic “AWAKE YET?”
But there’s a very basic error here.
That “2020 Election Turnout Rate” of 66.2% doesn’t mean 66.2% of registered legal voters, it means 66.2% of eligible voters. Super appreciate that they gave the source, but if you actually look up that WaPo article, it very clearly says “As a share of the voting-eligible population,” not “registered voters.” All registered voters are eligible voters, but not all eligible voters are registered voters. The eligible voting population is approximately 239.2 million, so the math in this calculation falls apart right where the multiplication starts. If you replace the registered vote total with 239.2 million, you come out with the original 158.4 million votes that were certified.
But the funniest thing about this one is just…really?
Do people really think that our multi-step, multi-check electoral processes wouldn’t immediately catch 13 or 17 million illegitimate votes if they actually existed? Do people really think that this very basic counting epiphany more than a month after the election took place, and after it has been checked and verified, even makes sense?
These numbers are all out there for everyone to calculate for themselves, but if people aren’t calculating with the right variables, then they’re going to come up with shoddy conclusions like these ones. And they’ll accept it because it backs up their belief that the election was fraudulent.
Please, if you see things like this, check the details. Read through the responses, as most misinformation usually get corrected by someone fairly quickly. Look at the information for yourself. Ask questions if it doesn’t seem like it makes sense. Don’t believe a meme just because it supports your belief, and if you see it and know it’s wrong, correct it. Misinformation is rampant and literally tearing at the fabric of our nation. It’s up to all of us to battle it when we see it.
Counties vary by population, so county wins don’t correlate with the popular vote
Ultimately, the fact that Biden and Obama were victorious in a relatively small number of counties is not relevant to their popular vote numbers.
That’s because there is an incredible amount of variance in county population size, per a report by the U.S. Census Bureau.
Some counties have minuscule populations – for example, Hawaii’s Kalawao County has just 88 residents, and Texas’ Loving County has 169 residents.
Other countries have enormous populations – for example, California’s Los Angeles County has 10.1 million residents, and Illinois’ Cook County has 5.2 million residents.
The same 2017 report by the U.S. Census Bureau found that more than half of the U.S. population lives in just 143 counties, or 4.3% of all counties.
Therefore, it’s plausible that Joe Biden set a popular vote record by carrying only 509 counties, or 17% of all counties.
We rate memes that call into question whether Joe Biden won the most ever votes based on the fact that he won a record-low number of counties as MISSING CONTEXT, because without additional context they could be misleading. With over 81 million votes, Biden received the most votes of any presidential candidate in history. It is also true that he won a record-low number of counties – but counties vary by population size, from those with a few hundred people to others with millions of residents, so county wins don’t correlate with the popular vote.
Mail in votes, which were predominately Biden votes, were counted last. Trump voters were told not to vote by mail. It’s not rocket science. You’re not very smart are ya? “When I went to bed he was winning, when I woke up he wasn’t”. So did you know that Trump was winning against Biden and then when I went to bed Trump was losing.
You do understand there is a thing called, “time zones” right?
That’s exactly how it went……I stayed up till 3am and he had a huge lead…..got up at 730 for work and he was way behind!
Biden statistically could not have won the election. We know it, they know it and we all know it!
Because it was Covid times and they expanded mail-in ballots and they counted those last. Donald said Repubs cheated him his first loss against Cruz. Weird how he then convinced his cult he basically never loses. Well that proves it. The election should have been called when you went beddy bye.
Yes he did and everyone really knows it….. I mean seriously use common sense…. there is no way idiots like Biden and Harris got 81 million votes…..(legal votes that is)
Yes, & @DNC@SpeakerPelosi incited the 2020 riots to hide it, & prosecute/persecute the Innocent who wanted to prove it was stolen.
Yes, absolutely but many of our spineless republicans refused to do anything.
“The Real Story of January 6,” a documentary by The Epoch Times, reveals the truth that has been hidden from the American people. While a narrative has been set that what took place that day was an insurrection, key events and witnesses have been ignored until now. The documentary takes an unvarnished look at police use of force and the deaths that resulted in some measure from it.
The film asks tough questions about who was responsible for the chaos that day. With compelling interviews and exclusive video footage, the documentary tells the real story of January 6. The film is narrated by Joshua Philipp, host of “Crossroads” on EpochTV and a senior investigative reporter at The Epoch Times.
Yes, Donald J. Trump won the 2020 Election.
I watched on live TV when Poll Workers were evacuated and dollies loaded with Ballots brought in by men afterwards. How was California called promptly at 10PM EST for Biden at the exact time that GA was “evacuated” and several other states’ counting was halted? PA has already stated that they will not have the 2024 Results on Election Night but, California did in 2020?
This election they’re better not be no stopping the count at 2 AM.
Or Late-night UPS trucks with 84,000 ballots no more broken water mains no more three democratic ballot watchers for R1. And no more of this BS. This time , don’t stop counting and ensure there are Republican auditors at those sites that were problematic last time.
Secured, mail-in ballots were not allowed to be counted until after all the day-of votes were tabulated. This is in Pennsylvania also. Republicans won’t let mail-in ballots be opened & counted before the polls close, delaying all the counts. They do this on purpose to trick you.
Not true! Florida counts their mail-ins and has the results on Election Day. Florida has a much larger population too! California announced their 2020 Election Results promptly at 10PM Eastern Standard Time which was their Poll Closing Time!
What does California being called have to do with anything?
The press could call California for Kamala today, and you know what, they would be right. The CA SOS will take much longer to count everything, and certify, but the press can make their prediction instantly.
I pray that you are wrong.
California was once a beautiful state that was on Americans vacation plans. The laws that it is passing will result in it belonging to the elites 0r illegal aliens. How long before one takes over the other…. I’m not saying that I want her to carry California because I don’t, however, the state is 46% to 24% Republicans with the rest Independents who mostly lean left. Thereby, Republican doesn’t have a chance
The networks”call” the results based on polling data before and on Election Day. I can call California for Harris right now and I guarantee I’ll be right. Even though PA says they won’t have the results doesn’t mean it won’t be “called” but probably not since it should be close.
Speaker Johnson said illegal immigrants allowed in by President Biden’s border chaos are showing up at government offices to sign up for benefits and services, and when they do they’re being prodded to sign up to vote.
In the days leading up to the Jan. 20, 2021, inauguration of U.S. President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, a piece of copypasta went viral on social media containing a frequent smear from the right against Democratic political figures. The piece accused Harris of having “Close Ties with Marxists, Communists, Maoists, and Socialists.”
One example of the copypasta began as follows (you can read the full text of the post at the end of this article):
As it floated around Facebook, copy and pasted from profile to profile, the piece and its origins became more convoluted. Different postings attributed it to various authors, some crediting a writer for the conservative blog RedState and others crediting a retired Marine Corps major general.
The post basically draws on “guilt by association,” a logical fallacy that ascribes a perceived negative behavior to a person simply by associating them with others. In this case, the piece lists a number of Kamala Harris’ personal and professional associations and claims those associations have “ties” to communism, with the unstated assumption that Harris herself must be a communist, since all those other people are.
This assumption isn’t true — Harris is a Democrat, an American political party that is left-of-center but overall more conservative than many left-wing parties abroad. She is not viewed by American progressives as being as far to the left as they are, and in fact was disparagingly called a “cop” by some on the left who found her career as a prosecutor disagreeable.
In November 2020, Harris posted a tweet about equality versus equity that some Republicans claimed was “Marxist” in its message. The tweet contained a video in which Harris acknowledged that inequality built into the system causes some people to start out at a disadvantage, and cites the need to level the playing field.
In all, Harris has sometimes been seen as not far left enough by progressives and too far left by those on the right. As a presidential candidate in the Democratic primaries, however, Harris wasn’t viewed as being among the more progressive candidates, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, and U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts.
Despite its origins and text being muddled by repeatedly being copied and pasted around Facebook, it appears the source of the text was Trevor Loudon, a contributor for the Epoch Times. As we reported in the past:
“The Epoch Times was founded by Chinese-American adherents to a spiritual movement and meditation practice known as Falun Gong. That news outlet has in recent years, as reported by BuzzFeed News and NBC News, transformed into a misinformation-laden, pro-Trump mouthpiece.”
The Southern Poverty Law Center, a non-profit organization that tracks extremist ideology, described Loudon as a “far right conspiracy theorist” who is “known for seeing communist infiltrators everywhere and claims the political left are working with so-called Islamists to overthrow the United States.”
This copypasta doubtlessly circulated on social media because of the upcoming inauguration, but Loudon’s piece was originally published on Oct. 14, 2020. It was reposted about two weeks later to the website of the political action committee Combat Veterans for Congress.
The copypasta covers (in the most sensational of terms) various known facts about Harris’ parents. They met while students at University of California, Berkeley, and they were involved in the Afro American Association, a student group whose members founded the Black Panther movement.
It also alleges that Harris’ father Donald Harris, a Stanford economics professor from whom Kamala Harris is estranged, is a Marxist, which appears to be spun up from a 1976 entry in the Stanford Daily student newspaper. It also draws on the fact that Harris dated San Francisco Mayor and California State Assembly Speaker Willie Brown in the 1990s, making the unfounded claim that Brown is “widely regarded as one of the Chinese Communist Party’s best friends in the San Francisco Bay area.”
The copypasta meme also makes winding suppositions about the “Marxist ties” of other people in Harris’ circle, such as a community activist she worked with as San Francisco’s district attorney and her sister Maya, but offers no proof beyond vague statements and assumptions about friends of friends. For example, the copypasta states Maya Harris went to college with someone who was a campus “Marxist-Leninist” affiliated with a group that was “pro-Chinese Communist.”
Since the claim about him has been made by various publications, we sent Donald Harris an email to ask how he would describe his political ideology, but didn’t receive a response in time for publication. We also found no evidence for the assertion that Brown, who is retired, has a relationship of any sort with the Chinese government.
Nevertheless, we note that despite Joseph McCarthy-like rhetoric, Marxism is an economic and political ideology that some farther left on the political spectrum ascribe to. We also note that the political beliefs of people in Vice President-elect Harris’ circle don’t automatically constitute hers.
For reference, the full text of the copypasta read as follows in one example:
Here is a timely editorial that exposes the hidden background of Kamala Harris from the Combat Veterans for Congress Political Action Committee that is posted here with permission of the author. CVFC PAC supports the election of US military combat veterans to the US Senate and House of Representatives. The editorial begins:
Kamala Harris’ father was an avowed Marxist professor in the Economics Department at Stanford University in Palo Alto, CA. Both of Harris’ parents were active in the Berkeley based Afro- American Association; Fidel Castro and Che Guevara were the heroes of the Afro-American Association.
The group’s leader, Donald Warden (aka Khalid al-Mansour), mentored two young Afro-American Association members, Huey Newton and Bobby Seale; they created the Maoist inspired Black Panther Party which gained strong support from Communist China; the Black Panther Party served as the model for creation of the Black Lives Matter Marxist organization Khalid al-Mansour subsequently went on to arrange financing and facilitated for Barack Hussein Obama to be accepted as a student to matriculate at Harvard Law School.
Following her graduation from college, Harris returned to California and subsequently became the mistress of the 60-year-old married Speaker of the California Assembly, Willie Brown, Jr. Brown’s political campaigns were supported and funded by Dr. Carlton Goodlett, the owner of The Sun Reporter and several other pro-Communist newspapers. Brown was elected as Mayor of San Francisco, and strongly endorsed Harris’ Marxist political philosophy; he guided Harris’ political rise in California politics, leading to her election as California’s Attorney General. Willie Brown, Jr. was a well-known long-time Communist sympathizer. Willie Brown, Jr. was initially elected to public office with the substantial help of the Communist Party USA. Today, Willie Brown is widely regarded as one of the Chinese Communist Party’s best friends in the San Francisco Bay Area.
While serving as San Francisco District Attorney, Kamala Harris mentored a young San Francisco Radical Maoist activist, Lateefah Simon, who was a member of the STORM Revolutionary Movement; Simon currently chairs the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) Board. Simon has always been close friends with the founder of Black Lives Matter Marxist Domestic Terrorists, Alicia Garza, as well as STORM member and avowed Communist, Van Jones. Harris has been openly and aggressively supporting Black Lives Matter Marxists; Kamala Harris is still closely associated with Maoist Lateefah Simon and Marxist Alicia Garza.
Kamala Harris’s sister Maya Harris was a student activist at Stanford University. She was a closely associated with Steve Phillips, one of the leading Marxist-Leninists on campus and a long-time affiliate with the League of Revolutionary Struggle, a pro-Chinese Communist group. Phillips came out of the Left, and in college he studied Marx, Mao, and Lenin, and maintained close associations with fellow Communists. Phillips married into the multi billion dollar Sandler family of the Golden West Savings and Loan fortune. He funded many leftist political campaigns, and the voter registration drives in the Southern and South Western states in order to help his friend, Barack Hussein Obama, defeat Hillary Clinton. Phillips has been a major financial sponsor for Kamala Harris’s political campaigns for various California elective offices.
Harris’ husband, Doug Emhoff works for the law firm DLA Piper, which “boasts nearly 30 years of experience in Communist China with over 140 lawyers dedicated to its ‘Communist China Investment Services’ branch. He was just appointed to Professor at Yale to school future lawyers in the fine points of Communism. When she was elected to the US Senate, Kamala Harris appointed a Pro-Communist Senate Chief of Staff, Karine Jean-Pierre. Jean-Pierre was active with the New York-based Haiti Support Network. The organization worked closely with the pro-Communist China/Communist North Korea Workers World Party and supported Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the far-left Communist former president of Haiti and the radical Lavalas movement.
Fortunately for Harris, but potentially disastrous for the Republic, elected office holders are not subject to the security clearance process. If the FBI did a Background Investigation on Kamala Harris, she never would have passed, because of her 40-year close ties with Marxists, Communists, Maoists, and Communist China. Harris would never have been approved for acceptance to any of the 5 Military Service Academies, been appointed to a US Government Sub-Cabinet position, or would have been approved to fill a sensitive position for a high security defense contractor. Yet, since Joe Biden was elected, Harris could be a heartbeat away from being President.
The US constitutional Republic is being threatened by the People’s Republic of Communist China (PPC) externally, and by of their very active espionage operations within the United States. The People’s Republic of Communist China (PPC), with 1.4 billion people, is governed by the 90 million member Chinese Communist Party (CCP), that has been working with Russia to destroy the US Constitutional Republic for over 70 years.
The CCP operates a massive global intelligence network through its Ministry of State Security. The CCP operates a vast intelligence network in the U.S as well. It is made up, not merely of intelligence operatives working for the Ministry of State Security, but it is also made up of a myriad of business and industry officials, Chinese scholar associations, and 370,000 Chinese students currently attending American universities. It also operates the Confucius Institute indoctrination and intelligence gathering centers in the US on 67 University campuses and in seventeen K-12 Public School Districts. The Confucius Centers are staffed by Communist Chinese intelligence operatives. Refer to this.
Kamala Harris is now involved with the Biden Family Business, and is supporting Joe Biden, who has worked closely with Communist China for 12 years. Joe’s son, Hunter Biden, is the point of contact for developing the off-shore Biden Family Businesses in Ukraine, Russia, Communist China, Iraq, Iran, etc. Hunter was provided with a $5 million non-recourse loan for the Biden Family Business to form a partnership with the PPC; that loan was subsequently forgiven by Communist China for one dollar.
Hunter Biden was given $1.5 billion for the Biden Family Business, to strategically purchase interests in companies in the US Military Industrial Complex, whose technologies would enhance and improve Communist China’s defense industry. Hunter Biden was also instructed to try to take control of US companies involved in sourcing rare earth minerals in the United States. Hunter also received $3.5 Million from the wife of the Mayor of Moscow for some carefully hidden reason.
The Peoples Republic of Communist China has a military of two million men, including the world’s largest Navy. The United States does not have enough ships and munitions to defeat China’s Navy, absent the use of nuclear weapons. There is a famous book, Unrestricted Warfare, written in 1999 by two People’s Liberation Army colonels. It argues that war between the PRC and the U.S. is inevitable, and that when it occurs China must be prepared to use whatever means are necessary to achieve victory Refer to this. If the American voters read the background information (in Trevor Loudon’s article) on Kamala Harris, they would never support her election as Vice President of the United States. Joe Biden is suffering from the early onset of dementia and will continue to decline in cerebral awareness; he will never be able to fill out a four-year term of office. Since Biden was elected, the Socialists, Marxists, and Communist who control Kamala Harris, are planning to enact provisions of the 25th Amendment, in order to remove Joe Biden from office, so Harris can become the first Communist President of the United States.
Since Biden was elected, because Biden would not be up to it, Kamala Harris would lead the effort to appoint very dangerous anti-American Leftist, Communist, Socialists, and Marxists to fill highly sensitive positions in the Washington Deep State Bureaucracy. She would fill all appointive positions in the US Intelligence Agencies, in the Department of Homeland Security, in the Department of Defense, in The Justice Department, the Department of State, the FBI, the CIA, most cabinet positions, the National Security Council, and in the White House Staff.
American voters must be alert their fellow Americans that Kamala Harris is a very serious National Security threat to the very survival of the US Constitutional Republic; she has been a fellow traveler of Marxists, Communists, Maoists, Socialists, Progressives, and Chinese Communists for over 35 years. President Trump had much more background information on Kamala Harris than we presented here, and he was correct, when he accused Kamala Harris of being a Communist subverter.
BUT you’ve known about Billionaire GEORGE SOROS FUNDING the MARXIST Biden Regime… So please don’t tell me no one saw this Commie Bitch coming, and “planted” her in Senile Joe’s place, illegally planted I might add. The Voters elected Joe in the Primary, not Commie-Kam as she didn’t win one primary. If this ditz is the best the Dems have to offer, they need to shut down their party!
KAMALA SAID HER VALUES HAVE NOT CHANGED AND ALL THESE ITEMS SHE HAS BEEN FOR ALL ALONG ARE STILL THE SAME. SO EVIDENTLY BIDENS DEMENTIA MUST HAD BEEN CONTAGIOUS!
She absolutely should be disqualified. Anyone that wants to be a Marxist Rep should get the hell out of the country and go where they have Marxism. Our Constitution won’t stand for it. Our system did not anticipate the current situation, including the degree of corruption of individuals, nor the number of billionaires who are capable of corrupting individuals, nor the circumstances, where corrupting individuals would not be caught and stopped by consequences.
She hasn’t been a “fit’ for America for as long as she’s been VP; she will definitely not be a fit for President. Our enemies will laugh at us harder than they do with Biden. She supports Marxism. People come here to escape the tyranny and lack freedoms she proposes. She will cackle at us louder than enemies will,
Don’t forget her unrealized capital gains tax ( if your home has increased in value, even if you’re not selling, will be taxed on the increase) and also her plan to take your intellectual property i.e. your patents, should she feel the need. She’s horrible. I could go on….. Vote for Restoration of Our Nation in Decline; for the Man for this season of American history. Vote for Donald J. Trump! He will seal the border, deport in order of our needs, Drill, Baby, Drill, Keystone, Anwar, restore the Trump Taco Cuts.Things Kamala Harris supports: -Abolishing ICE -Decriminalizing illegal crossings -Defunding the police -Mandatory gun buybacks (confiscations) -Nationalizing energy -Banning fracking -Banning offshore drilling -Abolishing the filibuster -Supporting the GND -Ending private health insurance -Free healthcare for all including illegals -Mass amnesty for illegals -Ending the death penalty -Abolishing prisons -Ending cash bail -Ending mandatory minimum sentences -Imposing carbon tax -Child gender reassignment surgery and hormone replacement therapy
Things Trump supports: rape victims forced to carry the child to term, women dying from ectopic pregnancies, tracking women’s pregnancies and their periods, taking money from regular folks and handing it to the rich, and elimination of birth control, the VA, and Social Security
What do all these things have in common?
Biden’s Complete and Utter Destruction of America.
Some of the criticisms of President Biden’s foreign policy include the handling of the withdrawal from Afghanistan, which many felt was chaotic and left the region unstable. There have also been concerns about his approach to China and Russia, with some arguing that it has been either too aggressive or not assertive enough.
On the other hand, supporters argue that his administration has worked to rebuild alliances and re-engage with international organizations, which they believe is crucial for global cooperation on issues like climate change and security.
The bill is a major accomplishment for Democrats who have been struggling for months to pass Biden’s ambitious social and climate policies, as well as his vision to raise taxes on the rich. The legislation includes large investments in making health care and prescription drugs more affordable, fighting climate change and taxing wealthy corporations.
Americans can expect to see the continuation of Affordable Care Act premium subsidies that lower the cost of health insurance from now until 2024 (they were due to expire at the end of 2022).
But savings from other provisions in the bill won’t kick in until the future. For example, efforts to lower drug prices, including caps on their costs for seniors, won’t take effect until 2025.
While its name claims it will tame soaring inflation, estimates show that the bill likely won’t do much to pull down the inflation rate. But it remains a significant piece of legislation that accomplishes some initiatives that have been mired in congressional debate for decades.
What’s in the Inflation Reduction Act
The Inflation Reduction Act is a slimmed-down version of the Build Back Better bill, which aimed to make historic investments in the nation’s social safety net. The new bill makes the largest investment in combating climate change in U.S. history, lowers the cost of prescription drugs and raises taxes on corporations.
Here are the big provisions:
Creation of a 15% corporate minimum tax rate: Corporations with at least $1 billion in income will have a new tax rate of 15%. Taxes on individuals and households won’t be increased. Stock buybacks by corporations will face a 1% excise tax.
Prescription drug price reform: One of the most significant provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act will allow Medicare to negotiate the price of certain prescription drugs, bringing down the price beneficiaries will pay for their medications. Medicare recipients will have a $2,000 cap on annual out-of-pocket prescription drug costs, starting in 2025.
IRS tax enforcement: The IRS has been sounding the alarm for years about being underfunded and being unable to deliver on its duties. The bill invests $80 billion in the nation’s tax agency over the next 10 years.
Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidy extension: Currently, medical insurance premiums under the ACA are subsidized by the federal government to lower premiums. These subsidies, which were scheduled to expire at the end of this year, will be extended through 2025. Approximately 3 million Americans could lose their health insurance if these subsidies weren’t extended, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Energy security and climate change investments: The bill includes numerous investments in climate protection, including tax credits for households to offset energy costs, investments in clean energy production and tax credits aimed at reducing carbon emissions.
The bill passed with all 50 Democratic votes in the Senate on Aug. 7. Democrats were able to secure two key votes, from Senators Joe Manchin (D-W.Va) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), after the pair opposed earlier versions of the bill. Sinema, the last party holdout, expressed support for the bill after the carried-interest loophole provision was dropped.
The bill was passed in the Senate without Republican support under the reconciliation process. The House passed the bill 220-207 on Aug. 12.
Study Shows Bill Will Likely Have No Impact on Inflation
In a statement released after the Senate’s passage of the bill, Biden asserted that the legislation would bring inflation relief to Americans. But one early study shows that in reality, the Inflation Reduction Act likely won’t reduce prices at all.
According to the Penn Wharton Budget Model (PWBM), there’s low confidence the legislation will have any impact on inflation. PWBM is a nonpartisan, research-based organization at the University of Pennsylvania that creates economic analysis of public policy’s fiscal impact.
During an interview with CNN, Manchin said he “respectfully disagrees” with the study.
According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), a federal agency that provides budget and economic information to Congress, the bill will barely make a dent on inflation in the near term—and could even nudge it upward.
The CBO estimates it will have a “negligible effect on inflation” in 2022, and in 2023 it will change inflation somewhere between 0.1 percentage point lower and 0.1 percentage point higher than it is currently.
Though the bill may fall short of bringing immediate price relief to consumers, it’s monumental in other ways. According to The Wilderness Society, a nonprofit land conservation organization established in 1935, the Inflation Reduction Act is described as a “breakthrough” on climate policy.
Editors’ note: In the first version of this story, we said that Sen. Kyrsten Sinema was senator for Nevada. She is senator for Arizona. We apologize for the error.
Why are those controlling President Biden using him to advance so much of a destructive agenda that it will likely end America as we know it?
If someone wished to destroy America, could he do anything more catastrophic than what we currently see and hear each day?
What would an existential enemy do that we have not already done to ourselves?
Here are 11 now familiar steps to civilizational destruction:
1. Wipe out a 2,000-mile border.
Allow 10 million foreign nationals to enter unlawfully. Have no audit of any; nullify all federal immigration laws. Let in toxic drugs that kill 100,000 Americans a year. Give free support to those millions who broke the law. Smear any objectors as racists and xenophobes.
2. Run up $35 trillion in national debt.
Keep adding $1 trillion to it each 100 days. Defame anyone wishing to cut wild spending as cruel and inhumane.
3. Appease or subsidize enemies like Iran and China.
Demonize allies like Israel. Allow terrorists to attack Americans without adequate response. See Islam as either similar or superior to Christianity. Make amends to leftist governments for supposedly past toxic American international behavior. Follow the lead of international agencies like the U.N., ICC and WHO to atone for past American neo colonial and imperialist behavior. Recede to second-tier international status, befitting American decline.
4. In a multiracial democracy, redefine identity only as one’s tribal affiliation.
Ensure each identity group rivals the other for victimhood and the state spoils it confers. Reboot all political issues by race and sex oppressors and oppressed. Destroy all meritocratic standards of admission, retention, promotion and commendation.
5. Recalibrate violent crime as understandable, cry-of-the-heart expressions of social justice.
Ensure no bail and same-day release for arrested, repeat violent felons. Empathize with the violent killer and rapist; ignore their victims, especially if they are slain police officers.
6. Emasculate the military by using non-meritocratic standards of race, gender, and sexual orientation to determine promotion and commendation.
Deliberately impugn as racists and insurrectionists the largest demographic in the military who in recent wars died at twice their numbers in the population — so that they leave or never join the military. Encourage retired high officers to slander their commander-in-chief. Cut the defense budget. Stop producing sufficient weapons, but leave billions of dollars’ worth of arms to terrorists.
7. Reinvent the justice system to indict, bankrupt, convict, jail and eliminate political opponents.
Use ballot removal, impeachment, civil suits, and state and federal indictments rather than elections to defeat an opponent. Mob the homes of non-compliant Supreme Court justices, and attack them personally by name.
8. Encourage the fusion of the bureaucratic state with the electronic media to form a powerful force for political audit, surveillance, censorship and coercion.
Marry the FBI to Silicon Valley and hire its contractors to warp the news and hound supposed enemies of the people.
9. Make war on affordable gasoline and natural gas.
Substitute inefficient, unreliable and expensive wind and solar power, even as energy prices nearly bankrupt the middle class.
10. Marry late, but preferably not at all.
Consider males toxic, especially boys. Have no children, or as few as possible. Otherwise, assure children they are entitled, and must be sheltered. Raise them to have grievances against past generations and current norms.
11. Turn world-class universities into indoctrination centers.
Suspend the Bill of Rights on campuses. Train youth to graduate despising their own culture and civilization. Recruit foreign students from hostile nations to subsidize campus commissar bloat. Replace the curriculum with therapeutic propaganda. Ban the SAT/ACT and do not evaluate comparative high school GPAs. Ensure merit does not select the student body. Charge tuition higher than the rate of inflation. Bill the government when students default on their loans.
A version of this story appeared in CNN’s What Matters newsletter. To get it in your inbox, sign up for free here.
Foreign policy may not be most voters’ top issue, but it is top of mind on the presidential campaign trail this week.
A new behind-the-scenes account of Donald Trump’s White House raised serious questions about his prior approach to the job of commander in chief, the latest critique in a long line of warnings from former generals who served under Trump.
Trump, meanwhile, has honed his own criticism of the Biden administration — and of Vice President Kamala Harris in particular — for the chaotic end to the decades long US war in Afghanistan, even though that plan was initially hatched during Trump’s administration.
Across the U.S. hundreds of Americans are independently trying to help Afghans in the years after the United States pulled out in 2021. They have helped many Afghans, but the efforts have taken a toll on their lives as well. The war in Afghanistan officially ended in August 2021 when the last U.S. plane departed the country’s capital city. What remains is a dedicated array of Americans — often working in isolation, or in small grassroots networks — who became committed to helping the Afghan allies the United States left behind. For them, the war didn’t end that day.
The new account of Trump’s time as commander in chief comes from Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, who served as Trump’s national security adviser. McMaster, unlike other generals who served under Trump, had previously held back from sharing direct criticism of his former boss after leaving the White House.
Appearing on “Anderson Cooper 360,” McMaster argued that Trump bears some responsibility for the Afghanistan withdrawal for his negotiations with the Taliban, including pressure on Afghanistan’s former government to release thousands of Taliban fighters from prison.
“What happened in these series of negotiations and concessions to the Taliban is we threw the Afghans under the bus on the way out,” he said.
Add this account to the well-documented warnings of other generals who described their time inside the Trump White House, including retired Marine Gen. John Kelly, who was Trump’s chief of staff; retired Marine Gen. James Mattis, who served as Trump’s defense secretary; and Gen. Mark Milley, Trump’s chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
And adding onto the pile Monday, more than 200 Republicans who previously worked for former Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, former Sen. John McCain or Sen. Mitt Romney signed a letter urging their fellow party members to back Harris for president.
Among those who signed the letter are former George H.W. Bush chief of staff Jean Becker; former McCain chiefs of staff Mark Salter and Christopher Koch; and Olivia Troye, the former homeland security adviser to Vice President Mike Pence. But Trump is pointing to a failure in the Biden administration as he makes his case for another White House term.
Afghanistan haunts Biden and Harris
Politics were not overtly mentioned at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia on Monday when Trump commemorated the three-year anniversary of the deaths of 13 American service members in Afghanistan, but those deaths are frequently cited on the campaign trail.
Family members of some of the fallen service members appeared onstage at the Republican National Convention in July and condemned Biden.
Speaking on CNN on Monday from Fort Liberty, North Carolina, Paula Knauss Selph, the mother of Army Staff Sgt. Ryan Christian Knauss, who was killed in the attack, had strong words criticizing Biden.
“This administration has tried to sweep it under the rug, and that’s absolutely not going to work for this nation,” she said, adding that Harris holds “the same accountability as President Biden.”
The service members, along with more than 100 Afghans, died in 2021 in a suicide bombing outside the Abbey Gate of Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul at the tail end of two decades of direct American military involvement in Afghanistan.
The Taliban now controls Afghanistan.
Finally withdrawing US service members was Biden’s call, and it occurred on his watch. Republicans, including Trump, have turned the chaotic and deadly withdrawal into a domestic political argument against Biden and, by extension, Harris, who has stepped into Biden’s place to run against Trump in November.
At a stop in Virginia, after his appearance at the cemetery, Trump said the people who died “were killed, in the most embarrassing moment in the history of our country, Afghanistan, because we had an incompetent president with incompetent people leading it, and every one of those people should have been fired.”
Another purge
Speaking later at a National Guard conference in Detroit, Trump repeated his pledge to purge the Pentagon of every senior military official involved with the withdrawal.
Meanwhile, in a statement commemorating the 13 American deaths, Harris said, “I mourn and honor them.” She also praised Biden for making “the courageous and right decision to end America’s longest war.”
The truth is a little more complicated.
Trump actually promised to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan during his presidency. His administration set the final withdrawal in motion by negotiating and signing a deal with the Taliban in 2020 that stipulated the drawdown of US service members in Afghanistan.
After Trump lost the presidential election, he fired his defense secretary at the time, Mark Esper, purged many top officials at the Pentagon and tried to further accelerate US drawdowns, both in Afghanistan and in Europe.
Biden reversed the drawdown of service members in Europe but delayed by only a few months Trump’s plans to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan despite worsening conditions on the ground and rapid gains by the Taliban.
Promising to end wars
While Trump criticizes Harris and Biden for pulling out of Afghanistan, he has also promised to be the president who will end all wars.
At the National Guard conference, Trump said Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, want “endless wars.”
He also received the endorsement of Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democrat congresswoman from Hawaii who deployed to Iraq as a member of the Army National Guard and who ran for president as a Democrat in 2020. Gabbard, who is now an independent, picked Trump, she said, because he did not start new wars during his term in office – language that echoes a 2023 endorsement of the former president in The Wall Street Journal by Sen. JD Vance, who argued that Trump’s foreign policy was his top achievement.
Vance is now Trump’s running mate, and the selection signaled a shift by Republicans in general away from helping to promote democracy in other countries.
Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs Committee have launched their own review, which will undoubtedly cast a harsher eye on the Biden administration – although an investigator recently resigned from that effort, alleging Republicans on the committee were not willing to place any blame with the US military, including Milley.
So many people are in so entitled and want freebies or cheap and don’t realize the work they make people do for them
One of the best lessons you can learn in life is to master how to remain calm
Praise the Lord all ye nations, praise Him all ye people, for His merciful kindness is great towards us and the truth of the Lord endureth forever. Psalm 117
“Reject the evidence of your eyes and ears.
It was their final, most essential, command.” -G. Orwell, 1984
Pennsylvania: Vice President Kamala Harris is leading by a narrow margin, with 48% support compared to Donald Trump’s 46%.
Michigan: Harris has a slight edge here as well, polling at 47% to Trump’s 45%.
Wisconsin: This state is showing a very tight race, with both candidates nearly tied at 47% each.
Arizona: Harris is leading with 49% support, while Trump has 44%.
Georgia: Another close contest, with Harris at 48% and Trump at 46%.
These numbers indicate a highly competitive race in these crucial states. Is there a specific state or aspect of the election you’re particularly interested in?
In addition to Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, and Georgia, other key swing states to watch in the 2024 election include:
Florida: Known for its large and diverse electorate, Florida is always a critical battleground.
North Carolina: This state has been closely contested in recent elections.
Nevada: With its growing population and changing demographics, Nevada is increasingly important.
Ohio: Traditionally a bellwether state, Ohio remains a significant swing state.
New Hampshire: Though small, its independent voters make it a key state to watch.
These states often play a decisive role in determining the outcome of the presidential election. Is there a particular state or trend you’re curious about?
Over 200 types of mosquitoes live in the continental United States and U.S. territories. About 12 types spread germs that can make people sick.
Nuisance mosquitoes bother people but do not spread germs.
Because you can’t tell if a mosquito is spreading germs when it bites, protect yourself from bites.
Mosquitoes that spread germs
Only some types of mosquitoes can spread germs (viruses and parasites) to people and animals. In the United States, the most common types of mosquitoes that can spread germs include:
Aedes species mosquitoes (Ae. aegypti)
Culex species mosquitoes (Cx. pipiens, Cx. tarsalis, Cx. quinquefasciatus)
Anopheles species mosquitoes (An. freeborni and An. quadrimaculatus)
A person who gets bitten by an infected mosquito and gets sick has a mosquito-borne disease.
West Nile is one of the most common mosquito-borne diseases in the continental United States.
Other mosquito-borne diseases in the United States include:
Dengue, chikungunya, and Zika outbreaks have occurred in U.S. states and territories, including Florida, Hawaii, Texas, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and American Samoa.
According to the CDC, there have been 289 cases in the U.S. this year; Texas has reported the most at 41 cases. In the United States, mosquito-borne diseases are a significant concern.
There is growing concern about the spread of mosquito-borne viruses, including eastern equine encephalitis and West Nile virus. Officials in New Hampshire say one person has died after becoming infected with the encephalitis virus. NBC News’ Rehema Ellis reports.
Several towns in northeastern Massachusetts, including Douglas, Oxford, Sutton, and Webster, have introduced an optional evening curfew to reduce the risk of dangerous mosquito-borne illnesses. This measure follows the Massachusetts Department of Public Health’s (DPH) announcement of the first confirmed human case of Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) in Worcester County since 2020.
One person has died, and some communities are restricting activities as eastern equine encephalitis, or EEE, circulates in the northeastern United States. The mosquito-borne disease is rare but serious, with about 30% of people who contract severe EEE dying and others developing neurological issues.
The individual was identified as a woman in her thirties, who had been exposed in an area of Plymouth County that was aerially sprayed with insecticide on Tuesday night. She was infected before spraying in the community had been completed. The department did not say anything about the woman’s current condition, but assured that there have been no changes in the area’s risk level, currently determined to be high.
A horse in the same area was also exposed: the second confirmed case in a Massachusetts horse this year.
“This evidence of the spread of EEE to a person and a horse in Plymouth County before aerial spraying confirms risk in the area,” Public Health Commissioner Dr. Robbie Goldstein said in a release.
“We expect that the aerial spraying will help prevent risk for EEE from continuing to escalate in the area, but it does not eliminate it completely. We are asking people to be consistent about taking steps to prevent mosquito bites.”
The Town of Plymouth recently closed public parks and fields from dusk until dawn, peak biting times for many mosquitoes.
The state’s first human case of the virus was reported on August 16. The individual was identified as a man in his 80s who had been hospitalized after being exposed to the virus in Worcester County. The department declined to provide further details on the case due to patient privacy.
Vermont health officials also reported a virus case in a Chittenden County man in his 40s, who was hospitalized in July and left the hospital a week later. The man was not identified.
In New Hampshire, 41-year-old Hampstead resident Steven Perry died after contracting the virus. He was the state’s first case of Eastern Equine Encephalitis in a decade. His family told Boston 25 News this week that he had no underlying medical conditions and that they did not know where he had contracted the virus.
Steven Scott Perry was identified as New Hampshire’s first death from Eastern Equine Encephalitis virus in a decade. States across the eastern U.S. are currently on high alert for the disease #eee – Explore | Facebook
Although a tally from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still only shows four cases on its website, this news brings the total number of reported cases to six. Other cases were identified in Wisconsin and New Jersey.
Spread through the bite of infected mosquitoes, approximately 30% of those who are infected die, and survivors are often left with neurological problems. There are currently no vaccines or medicines to treat or prevent the disease, which affects people of all ages.
Concern about Eastern Equine Encephalitis also comes amid concerns over the spread of West Nile virus, which has been confirmed in more than half of U.S. states this year, according to the CDC.
Yesterday, Illinois and Wisconsin reported their first deaths from West Nile virus, including two in the Badger State. A Missouri teenager was left paralyzed and on a ventilator after contracting West Nile, according to a report from NBC News.
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Here’s what to know.
What is EEE?
Eastern equine encephalitis is spread by bites from infected mosquitoes. The disease can cause brain inflammation and may impair a person’s neurological and nerve functions.
A few cases are reported in the United States each year, usually in eastern or Gulf Coast states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. EEE is most common from late spring through early fall and near bodies of water.
Eastern equine encephalitis got its name because it was first detected in horses.
How are you feeling about this news? Are there any specific concerns you have?
How do you get EEE?
EEE typically circulates between mosquitoes and birds usually found in freshwater hardwood swamps. People who live or work near wetlands, swamps or wooded areas and spend a lot of time outdoors are at a greater risk of contracting EEE, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
The infection most often affects children under 15 and adults over 50. People with weakened immune systems, such as cancer patients, organ transplant recipients and diabetics, may experience severe symptoms. As mosquito season has gotten longer in much of the contiguous United States due to climate change, scientists have expressed concern that the risk of mosquito-borne infections like EEE could grow.
What are the symptoms?
While many people have no symptoms, signs of the less severe form of EEE may include chills, fever, joint pain and muscle pain. This form of disease, known as febrile illness, typically lasts one to two weeks, and most people recover fully.
A severe infection, or neurological disease, could be marked by confusion, diarrhea, drowsiness, headaches, high fever, seizures, loss of appetite and vomiting. Many people who recover from serious infections have long-term physical or mental problems.
Symptoms often appear four to 10 days after the bite from an infected mosquito.
One person, a resident of Hampstead, N.H., whose age and gender have not been made public, has died. In Massachusetts, where health officials said several communities are at elevated risk of EEE, some towns are closing parks after dusk, restricting outdoor activities and rescheduling public events.
There were seven cases of EEE in humans last year — far fewer than in 2019, when 38 cases were recorded.
Is there a cure or vaccine?
No, there are no vaccines against EEE in humans or medicines to treat it.
What should you do if you think you have EEE?
EEE symptoms may resemble those of the flu and there’s no specific test for the virus, so talk to your health-care provider if you were recently bitten by a mosquito and have symptoms, or if you have a weakened immune system.
Rest, fluids and over-the-counter pain medicines may help relieve symptoms, the CDC says, but patients with severe infections may require hospitalization.
How can you avoid getting EEE?
The advice for preventing an eastern equine encephalitis infection is the same as that for other mosquito-borne illnesses, such as the West Nile virus: Avoid getting bitten. Specific suggestions include using mosquito repellent, wearing clothes that cover your skin, such as long-sleeved shirts and long pants, and rescheduling outdoor activities to avoid the hours between dusk and dawn.
While certain essential oils may protect against mosquitoes, there has not been enough research into protection times and safe and effective concentrations for use on skin. Ultrasonic or wearable devices do not usually repel mosquitoes.
Make sure your window screens are in good condition and have a proper seal, and regularly check around your home for standing water, debris or empty containers where mosquitoes could breed.
EEE probably can be transmitted through blood transfusions, so people recently diagnosed with eastern equine encephalitis can help prevent it from spreading further by not donating blood for four months following their illness.
Teddy Amenabar, Lindsey Bever and Anumita Kaur contributed to this report. Recently, Dr. Fauci contracted the West Nile virus, another disease transmitted by mosquitoes. Quite a strange coincidence, right? Personally, I don’t believe in coincidences. Not too long, a video surfaced showing what appears to be mosquitoes being released from a helicopter.
This should be considered a crime against humanity. We are NOT gods and do not know what the long term effects of any of this will be . . . and anyone who says they do know . . . is lying.
Who agreed to this madness. We did not vote for this! So I can just release millions of disease carrying mosquitoes with no repercussions?!!
This is what 5th generation warfare looks like. It’s not the only thing the Governments are dropping on it’s citizens, heavy metals, criminal immigrants, and airborne viruses Somebody needs to be held accountable!!!
You’re all idiots if you think that could even be mosquitos being dropped. Its spray to combat the mosquitos that are carrying the diseases. Trump wants to stop aerial spraying because our environment is unhealthy due to Bill Gates’ mission to “depopulate”. Gates admits spraying COVID vaccines & other chemicals which is contaminating our soil & food supply. He should be arrested.
So if they are attacking you.
What’s stopping you from protecting yourself with force? That is a direct attack on the entire community. It’s lethal and they are doing it on purpose. We have rights in this country and protecting yourself and your community is part of them. What’s easier? To make up a story about there being these dangerous mosquitoes out there to get people to lockdown or to actually genetically produce these mosquitoes to get the same effect?
Bill Gates has passed the point of deserving a court hearing. He has been attempting worldwide genocide, fucking children on pedo Island, and lying about all the things he “knows so much about” for decades. We have to do something about him. He must be stopped. The federal government is releasing these genetically modified mosquitoes for Bill Gates so they can kill the human population of America…
The bite is on: What to know about the viruses mosquitoes are spreading.
Late August and early September are when cases of mosquito-borne viruses, especially West Nile, increase rapidly, the CDC said.
If there is one time of year to break out the bug spray, it’s Labor Day weekend.
“This is the prime time — the last week of August and the first week of September — when West Nile usually peaks nationally,” said Dr. Erin Staples, a mosquito expert and medical epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “People need to be using their insect repellent right now.”
Mosquito-borne viruses are making their rounds across the country, sometimes with devastating effects. According to the CDC, 289 cases of West Nile virus have been logged so far in 2024. A majority of those patients, 195, developed severe neurological problems like inflammation of the brain or paralysis. At least 18 died.
“This is the time of year when cases of West Nile virus rapidly increase,” Staples said. While it’s too early in the season to compare this year with others, she said, “some areas like Texas and New York City are seeing a lot of activity.”
Another virus spread by mosquitoes, Eastern equine encephalitis, is less widespread but deadlier. This month, a 41-year-old New Hampshire man without any underlying medical problems died of EEE. “It doesn’t matter how old you are,” Staples said. EEE “can, unfortunately, kill.” Ahandful of other cases of EEE have been detected in Massachusetts, New Jersey, Vermont and Wisconsin.
Among people with severe symptoms related to EEE, nearly a third will die. The mortality rate among people with similarly serious West Nile virus disease hovers at about 10%.
What are symptoms and warning signs?
The good news is that the vast majority of people who are infected by West Nile or EEE never know it because they have no symptoms. Symptoms for both of the viruses, which can begin anywhere from three days to two weeks after the mosquito bite, include:
Fever
Headache
Fatigue
Nausea
The viruses become a serious problem if they get into the central nervous system, affecting the brain or spinal cord.
A sure sign that warrants an immediate call to 911 is an unexplained altered mental state or confusion, said Dr. Waleed Javaid, director of Infection Control and Prevention at Mount Sinai Downtown in New York City.
“If a person starts getting confused while they are ill with flu-like symptoms, that should trigger a trip to the hospital or urgent care,” Javaid said.
How are mosquito-borne illnesses diagnosed?
It’s virtually impossible for doctors to diagnose a mosquito-borne illness on symptoms alone.
“West Nile and Eastern equine encephalitis can cause the same presentation,” Staples said. “The clinician looking at them is not going to know” the difference without testing.
Blood tests are most commonly used to make an official diagnosis. If a person has severe neurologic symptoms, doctors may test the patient’s fluid around the brain through a spinal tap.
The reason tests are usually done is not necessarily to help the patient; it’s to inform public health officials about where mosquitoes are spreading potentially deadly viruses.
There is no specific treatment for either EEE or West Nile. People who are sick enough to be hospitalized are given supportive care to deal with severe symptoms.
“All we really can do is keep them hydrated, keep their fevers down and make sure they don’t have respiratory failure,” said epidemiologist Dr. W. Ian Lipkin, director of the Center for Infection and Immunity at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health in New York City.
This is the time of year most of the bloodsuckers like to feast. While it’s not yet clear if 2024 will be an unusually active year for mosquito-borne viruses, experts say it’s likely cases will increase in the coming years.
Climate change is leading to hotter temperatures and rainier seasons — perfect breeding grounds for mosquitoes.
The future may bring more EEE and West Nile infections, said Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of infectious diseases at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee.
“With climate change you get abundant mosquitoes,” he said. Moreover, “the increased warmth allows the virus to replicate more quickly in the mosquito which makes it more likely for it to transmit the virus when it bites you.”
How to prevent mosquito bites
The best way to avoid mosquito bites is to use bug sprays with DEET. The CDC also recommends Picaridin (known as KBR 3023 and icaridin outside the U.S.).
Newly identified dementia risk factors are preventable—addressing them could reduce dementia rates 45%
Story by Eric B. Larson, Laura Gitlin
Nearly half of all dementia cases could be delayed or prevented altogether by addressing a sense of loss & active life not moving forward and the grief of losing family members and the other 14 possible risk factors et…cetera.
That is the key finding of a new study that we and our colleagues published in the journal The Lancet. Dementia, a rapidly increasing global challenge, affects an estimated 57 million worldwide, and this number is expected to increase to 153 million by 2050 worldwide.
This third updated report of The Lancet Commission on Dementia offers good news and a strong message: Policymakers, clinicians, individuals and families can be ambitious about prevention and reducing dementia risk; and for those living with dementia and their caregivers, support their quality of life using evidence-based approaches.
The new report confirms 12 previously identified potentially modifiable risk factors from two previous reports, published in 2017 and 2020. It also offers new evidence supporting two additional modifiable risk factors: vision loss and high levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, often called “bad” cholesterol.
Our study of published evidence found that collectively, addressing 14 modifiable risk factors could potentially reduce the prevalence of dementia by 45% worldwide. Even greater risk reductions could be possible in low- and middle-income countries and for people with low income in higher-income countries, given the higher prevalence of dementia, health disparities and risk factors in these populations.
The report further indicates that reducing these 14 risks can increase the number of healthy years of life and reduce the length of time that poor health affects people with dementia.Additionally, the report cites clinical trials showing that nonpharmacological approaches, such as using activities tailored to interests and abilities, can reduce dementia-related symptoms and improve quality of life.
We are a general internist and an applied sociologist and intervention scientist, and our work focuses on memory and wellness in older adults. Together with 25 other internationally recognized dementia experts under the leadership of psychiatry professor Dr. Gill Livingston, we carefully reviewed the evidence to derive recommendations for prevention, intervention and care.
Why it matters
The rapid growth of aging populations worldwide is a triumph of better public and personal health throughout the entire lifespan. Yet, given the lack of a dementia cure, this report highlights the importance of prevention as well as supporting quality of life for those with a dementia diagnosis. In the new report, our team proposed an ambitious program for preventing dementia that could be implemented at the individual, community and policy levels and across the life span from early life through mid and late life.
The key points include:
In early life, improving general education.
In midlife, addressing hearing loss, high LDL cholesterol, depression, traumatic brain injury, physical inactivity, diabetes, smoking, hypertension, obesity and excessive alcohol.
In later life, reducing social isolation, air pollution and vision loss.
Together, these add up to The Lancet Commission on Dementia’s estimate that 45% of dementia risk can be reduced. And an abundance of new research shows that when risk factors are addressed, such as exposure to air pollution, they are linked with improved cognition and likely reduction of dementia risk.
New evidence supports the notion that in high-income countries, reducing dementia risk can translate to more healthy years, years free of dementia and a shorter duration of ill health for people who develop dementia.
What still isn’t known:
The 45% reduction in dementia risk across the world’s population is based on a calculation that assumes that risk factors are causal and can be eliminated. It shows how dementia prevention is critical and the impact it would have on individuals and families.
The commission emphasized the need for more research to identify additional risk factors, test risk factor changes in clinical trials, provide guidance for public health efforts, and identify and evaluate strategies for implementing and scaling evidence-based programs that support people with dementia and caregivers.The updated report has a worldwide public health and research impact and is being widely disseminated. It serves as a guideline for clinicians and policymakers and outlines new research directions.
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license.
“New compelling evidence” has landed high low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and untreated vision loss on a growing list of potentially modifiable risk factors for dementia, according to a Lancet Commission report on dementia prevention, intervention, and care.
“Previously, the evidence for cholesterol was quite mixed, but there’s been a large addition and it’s very clear that in mid-life having high LDL cholesterol is a risk factor and that treating it makes a difference,” lead author Gill Livingston, MD, professor of psychiatry of older people at University College London, told MedCentral.
“Certainly, here in the UK most people never get as far as a cardiologist and will be tested in primary care by the family physician and then treatment initiated,” she said. “So, they’re the ones that are seeing the huge numbers of people that could really make a difference.”
The Lancet Commission previously identified nine risk factors for dementia in its initial report, published in 2017, and added another three to the 2020 report. Those 12 risk factors are less education, hearing loss, hypertension, physical inactivity, diabetes, social isolation, excessive alcohol consumption, air pollution, smoking, obesity, traumatic brain injury, and depression.
The updated report, published online July 31 in TheLancet, says that “nearly half of dementias could theoretically be prevented by eliminating these 14 risk factors” now identified.
“Previously, the evidence for cholesterol was quite mixed, but there’s been a large addition and it’s very clear that in mid-life having high LDL cholesterol is a risk factor and that treating it makes a difference,” lead author Gill Livingston, MD, professor of psychiatry of older people at University College London, told MedCentral.
“Certainly, here in the UK most people never get as far as a cardiologist and will be tested in primary care by the family physician and then treatment initiated,” she said. “So, they’re the ones that are seeing the huge numbers of people that could really make a difference.”
The Lancet Commission previously identified nine risk factors for dementia in its initial report, published in 2017, and added another three to the 2020 report. Those 12 risk factors are less education, hearing loss, hypertension, physical inactivity, diabetes, social isolation, excessive alcohol consumption, air pollution, smoking, obesity, traumatic brain injury, and depression.
The updated report, published online July 31 in TheLancet, says that “nearly half of dementias could theoretically be prevented by eliminating these 14 risk factors” now identified.
High LDL cholesterol in midlife accounts for about 7% of all dementia cases and untreated vision loss for 2%, the authors said. Vision loss wasn’t previously considered by the Commission but new meta-analyses show it is associated with pooled relative risks of dementia of 1.35 to 1.47.
High LDL cholesterol in midlife accounts for about 7% of all dementia cases and untreated vision loss for 2%.
“For those of us who study vision, we weren’t necessarily surprised it ended up as a new risk factor on the list, but it’s important for us that it’s there because it raises awareness,” Allison Sekuler, PhD, the Sandra Rotman Chair in Cognitive Neuroscience and vice president of research at Baycrest Health Sciences in Toronto, Canada, said. “When people find out that something is on this list, they take it a little bit more seriously, especially if it’s something like untreated vision loss that theoretically is so easy to reverse.”
Specific Actions to Reduce Dementia Risk Across the Lifespan
The Commission details specific actions to help reduce dementia risk, including:
providing supportive community environments to reduce social isolation
“My key message is that there’s a lot you can do to prevent dementia,” Dr. Livingston said. “Some people will get it but if you make these modifications in your health and lifestyle, you will probably live a longer healthier life. And have fewer years of unhealthy life.”
The authors call on stakeholders to “be ambitious about prevention” and prioritize equity and the inclusion of high-risk groups in population-based policy.
“All the risk factors tend to cluster around people with less resources and it’s really important therefore to think about equity,” she said.
“There is a health inequity for sure and even within countries there’s not a level playing field,” Dr. Sekuler added. “Some parts of Canada are rural regions that just don’t have access. In Yukon, there isn’t a single neurologist.”
But Are There Causal Links to These Risk Factors?
“If we did simple things well such as screening for some of the factors identified in this report, with adequate resources to perform this, we have the potential to prevent dementia on a national scale,” Masud Husain, DPhil, FRCP, professor of neurology, University of Oxford, UK, told the Science Media Centre.
Klaus Ebmeier, MD, foundation chair of old age psychiatry, University of Oxford, sounded a more skeptical note, pointing out that the authors themselves write that “some associations might be only partial causal.”
“Newer genetically inspired methods (Mendelian randomization) have generally confirmed many of the postulated risk factors as non-causal,” he added. “The non-causal nature of the identified correlations often means that manipulations of such risk factors will not result in a prevention of dementia cases.”
Asked to respond, Dr. Livingston said Mendelian randomization studies often only look at select Mendelian risk factors without taking into account all the evidence.
“I think it’s a brilliant idea but it didn’t come down from Mount Sinai,” she said. “It’s not gospel. You have to look at the other evidence.”
“With many of these things we can’t do perfect studies but when you put together a number of studies it makes it extremely likely and, given the possibility or probability that they would decrease dementia, it’s obviously worthwhile continuing to pursue them,” she added.
What About Patients Who Already Have Dementia?
Although there’s been progress in disease-modifying treatments for Alzheimer’s disease, the authors take a tempered approach to amyloid-beta-targeting antibodies and recommend that full information is shared broadly.
What are some strategies to reduce dementia risk?
Reducing the risk of dementia involves a combination of lifestyle changes and proactive health management. Here are some effective strategies:
Stay Physically Active: Engage in regular exercise, such as walking, swimming, or yoga. Aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per week.
Healthy Diet: Follow a balanced diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, and healthy fats. The Mediterranean diet is often recommended for brain health.
Mental Stimulation: Keep your brain active with activities like reading, puzzles, learning new skills, or playing musical instruments.
Social Engagement: Maintain strong social connections and engage in community activities to reduce the risk of social isolation.
Manage Cardiovascular Health: Control blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar levels through diet, exercise, and medication if necessary.
Avoid Smoking and Limit Alcohol: Quit smoking and limit alcohol consumption to reduce the risk of cognitive decline.
Protect Your Head: Wear helmets when biking or engaging in contact sports to prevent head injuries.
Get Quality Sleep: Aim for 7-9 hours of sleep per night and address any sleep disorders like sleep apnea.
Manage Stress: Practice stress-reducing techniques such as meditation, deep breathing exercises, or mindfulness.
Regular Health Check-ups: Visit your healthcare provider regularly to monitor and manage any health conditions.
Implementing these strategies can help maintain cognitive function and reduce the risk of developing dementia. Is there a particular area you’d like more information on?
“They have some cognitive benefit, quite a lot of cost, quite a lot of side effects and burden, and we don’t know yet about the long-term effects,” Dr. Livingston explained. “We’re early on, and the balance of the two can be seen in the European Medicines (Agency), which last week said no to lecanemab and the FDA said yes.”
The authors also recommend that “cerebrospinal fluid or blood biomarkers should be used clinically only in people with dementia or cognitive impairment to confirm or exclude a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease.”
They point out that biomarkers have been validated only in populations largely of white individuals, “limiting generalizability and raising health equity concerns.”
Disclosures: Dr. Livingston reports support for the manuscript from the Alzheimer’s Society, the Alzheimer’s Society UK, and UK Research and Innovation. She is supported by the University College London Hospitals’ National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre, by the North Thames NIHR Applied Research Collaboration, and as an NIHR senior investigator. Co-author disclosures can be found in the paper.
Drs. Sekuler, Husain, and Ebmeier reported no conflicts of interest.
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in the US of A to make the right decision 
and follow the Constitution and the People’s 2A and all other rights given to this land by our Founding Fathers. 
” for questioning elections BEFORE Nov. 2020
by foundring
THE PANDEMIC DANCE
by foundring
Here’s the album version. 
and you’re a really good piano 
and now it has 25k in 2 days on twitter. What a joke youtube was.
correct. Fear can mimic “infection”. 
Fear is also kind of contagious, but I didn’t address that. 
Election Dashboard to find out.
got 81 million (legal votes that is) 
Counties vary by population, so county wins don’t correlate with the popular vote
Yes he did and everyone really knows it…..
I mean seriously use common sense….
WeThePeople 
Humanity 
Peace 
Truth 
