This Week's Must Reads - 11-17 September 2023

A summary of this week's most interesting news, studies, reports and articles

I spend a lot of time each day gathering new information and interesting articles. I then pick the most interesting topic and write about it but that leaves a lot of information that I’m not sharing.

Below is a summary of all the best articles and information from this week. This weekly summary is a slimmed down version for all subscribers but more comprehensive daily summaries will be for paid subscribers only.

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Climate Change

• [2010] Bill Gates' cloud-whitening trials 'a dangerous experiment'. Campaigners say a Bill Gates-backed geo-engineering project to whiten clouds and reduce global warming is ‘risky’. A US-based research body, Silver Lining, which has received $300,000 from Mr Gates, is developing machines to convert seawater into microscopic particles to be sprayed into clouds.

• Meteorologists, Scientists Explain Why There Is ‘No Climate Emergency’. Flawed modeling and overblown rhetoric drowning out scientific reality for the sake of money and power, climate experts say. There’s no climate emergency. And the alarmist messaging pushed by global elites is purely political.

• [2022] HAARP to begin largest set of experiments at its new observatory. The number of experiments is the highest so far under a five-year, $9.3 million grant awarded last year by the National Science Foundation to establish the Subauroral Geophysical Observatory at HAARP.

Covid

• It was pneumonia, not Covid, what done it. These research results suggest that the actual burden of risk to patients is not SARS-CoV-2 at all but bacterial pneumonia and that SARS-Cov-2 is secondary to bacterial pneumonia, or it masks bacterial pneumonia, not the other way around.

• Does SARS-CoV-2 Induce IgG4 Synthesis to Evade the Immune System? Research has shown that severe SARS-CoV-2 infection promotes the synthesis of IgG4 antibodies.

• Romanian doctor says she cures ‘100 percent’ of COVID patients. Flavia Groșan chose not to apply official protocols to treat COVID-19 patients at all stages of the illness, instead approaching the disease as an ‘atypical pneumonia.’

Covid Mandates & Lockdowns

• The Dirty Secret About How Masks Really “Work”. The dirty secret is this: Masks don’t work by controlling the virus. Masks work by controlling the people. If we’re talking about stopping the spread of the virus, masks simply don’t work.

• The Government Censored Me and Other Scientists. We Fought Back—and Won. Last week, a federal appeals court confirmed that science cannot function without free speech. Dr. Jay Bhattacharya reflects on a victory for himself—and every American.

• MPs call for suspension of CDU for suppressing free speech. Cross-party MPs write open letter to Government claiming secretive unit is collecting legitimate posts criticising policy.

• The impact of COVID-19 shelter-in-place policy responses on excess mortality. Overall, the results suggest that the implementation of SIP policies does not appear to have met the aim of reducing excess mortality or COVID-19 deaths.

• Megyn Kelly Asks Trump a Few Hard Questions. One reporter has proven brave enough not to take the deal. The deal is: you can interview Trump provided you don’t ask perfectly obvious questions about his Covid response.

Economy/Energy/Finance

• Electricity from wind isn’t cheap and it never will be. Politicians should stop endorsing an energy source that isn’t particularly clean or secure, and won’t bring down prices.

• Japan, China pare U.S. Treasury holdings as currencies hit new lows. Japan and China's share of U.S. Treasury holdings has declined to the lowest on record as the U.S. issues more debt and the two Asian countries try to keep their own currencies from sliding past historic lows.

• The chart that always predicts recessions - U1 unemployment - and it has started to move up.

  

• UK Mortgage Arrears Jump 28% as High Rates Squeeze Borrowers. British households are further falling behind on loan payments after a surge in interest rates, with arrears jumping by more than a quarter in the year through June as higher interest rates began to bite harder.

• US mortgage demand has hit its lowest point since 1996.

  

• Tim Gurner apologises over call for more unemployment to fix worker attitudes. One of Australia's richest men has apologised after he said that unemployment should jump to remind arrogant workers of their place.

• 20% of residential mortgage borrowers – representing $130 billion in loans – at three major banks, $BMO, $TD & CIBC, in Canada are seeing their balances grow as monthly payments no longer cover all the interest they owe, known as negative amortization.

Health

• ‘We’ve been constantly sick’: Why we can’t kick the ‘yo-yo flu’. Australia is grappling with the “yo-yo flu”, where cold symptoms continually return, as a sharp rise in respiratory infections has been driven by an early flu season, continuing cases of COVID-19 and the circulation of nasty viruses.

• Decongestant in Cold Medicines Found Ineffective. FDA advisory panel’s declaration paves way for removal of dozens of medicines in the U.S. At issue is phenylephrine, an almost-century-old ingredient in versions of Benadryl, Mucinex, Tylenol and other over-the-counter pills, syrups and liquids to clear up congested noses.

• The food industry has tried to stack a key nutrition policy panel with its preferred experts, documents show. There’s a panel of 20 nutrition experts that has outsized influence on the American diet — and the food industry has worked hard to get friendly researchers into the group, new documents obtained by STAT show.

• Turmeric could be as effective as medicine for indigestion, says study. Natural compound found in spice may reduce excess stomach acid as effectively as omeprazole, first study of its kind finds.

• Association between glyphosate exposure and cognitive function, depression, and neurological diseases in a representative sample of US adults. Glyphosate, the most widely used herbicide globally, has been linked to neurological impairments in some occupational studies.

• Stillbirths in UK rose in 2021 for first time in seven years. Report suggests widening inequalities as black babies and those from deprived backgrounds more likely to be stillborn.

• France orders Apple to halt iPhone 12 sales due to high radiation levels. French regulators on Tuesday ordered Apple to halt sales of the iPhone 12 for emitting too much electromagnetic radiation, and to fix existing handsets.

Politics

• J.F.K. Assassination Witness Breaks His Silence and Raises New Questions. 60 years later, Paul Landis, one of the Secret Service agents just feet away from President John F. Kennedy on that fateful day in Dallas, is telling his story in full for the first time.

• Behind the guise of adversarial journalism, CNN’s Jake Tapper is taking America to war. While posing as Trump’s most dogged critic, CNN anchor Jake Tapper has become the hawkish face and voice of pro-war American regime media.

• G20 Announces Plan to Impose Digital Currencies and IDs Worldwide. The G20, which is currently under India’s presidency, adopted a final declaration on the subject over the weekend in New Delhi.

• ‘The People’ Will Not Save Us – Perhaps We Need Machiavelli’s Lions. Constitutions that safeguard individual rights are meant to be expressions of the sovereignty of the people, yet any cursory glance at the history behind the promulgation of liberal constitutions demonstrates that this is an illusion.

• Britain likes to think it ‘stood alone’ against the Nazis. So why did it convict so few for war crimes? Out of 274 suspects investigated in England, Wales and Scotland, there was only a single conviction.

• How behavioural scientists are enabling the ‘elite’ to rule the world. It is increasingly apparent that people’s day-to-day lives are being shaped by a global elite that reside outside of our democratic systems.

• How do we halt the march of health & climate fascism? Stopping the authoritarian juggernaut will require grassroots action.

• If you’re not upset by Charlotte Owen, you should be. No views, no achievements, no experience—so why did Boris Johnson elevate a 29-year-old to the House of Lords?

• Why the media aren’t telling the whole story of Libya’s floods. There are reasons for Libya’s “chaotic”, “dysfunctional” response to the disaster. And to identify them, we need to look closer to home.

Science

• Mysterious ancient stones were deliberately made into spheres. Stone balls found at a site used by early humans about 1.4 million years ago didn’t become round after being used as hammers, but were intentionally knapped into spheres.

• Methane and carbon dioxide found in atmosphere of habitable-zone exoplanet. An international team of astronomers led by the University of Cambridge has used data from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope to discover methane and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of K2-18 b, an exoplanet in the ‘Goldilocks zone’.

• Physicists Observe ‘Unobservable’ Quantum Phase Transition. Measurement and entanglement both have a “spooky” nonlocal flavor to them. Now physicists are harnessing that nonlocality to probe the spread of quantum information and control it.

• Experts Find Compelling Evidence That Sodom Was Destroyed by an ‘Atomic Bomb’. Dr. John Bergsma, a professor of theology at Ohio’s Franciscan University, found compelling evidence linking the ruins of Tall el-Hammam in the southern Jordan Valley to the biblical narrative of Sodom’s destruction.

Technology

• Supermarkets will pay police to scan shoplifters’ faces. Project Pegasus to help identify where gangs are hitting hardest. Ten of Britain’s biggest retailers have agreed to fund a new police operation to crack down on shoplifting as part of government efforts to ensure all forces show zero tolerance.

• mRNA-loaded lipid nanoparticles reprogram cells and edit genes. A single dose of the particles delivered treatment in mice and reversed sickle cell production in human cells. The new advance involves a single injection and uses antibodies to target the payload to its intended destination. And it makes its cellular or genetic modifications directly in the body without the need for cell extraction.

Ukraine

• NATO Chief Openly Admits Russia Invaded Ukraine Because Of NATO Expansion. During a speech at the E.U. Parliament’s foreign affairs committee on Thursday, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg clearly and repeatedly acknowledged that Putin made the decision to invade Ukraine because of fears of NATO expansionism.

• Blinken: US Does Not Oppose Ukraine Targeting Russian Territory With US-Provided Missiles. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday that it was up to Ukraine whether or not to target Russian territory with US-provided weapons, a policy that brings the US and Russia closer to a direct clash.

• British cruise missiles were used in significant Ukrainian attack on Russian submarine. The UK gave Storm Shadow missiles to Ukraine's armed forces earlier in the year.

• Volodymyr Zelensky to Meet Biden, Lawmakers in Washington Amid Push for More Aid. Ukrainian president’s visit next week coincides with the United Nations General Assembly.

• Elon Musk Transfers Partial Control of Starlink Satellite System to US Authorities. Musk further provided clarity on the division of control, stating that the Pentagon would only have authority over the section of the Starlink system required by Ukraine.

• Russian manufacturers are making up to 7 times as much ammunition as Western arms makers, Estonian defense official says. The US and other Western allies of Ukraine have sought to slash Russia's military strength since the war began in February 2022, imposing strict sanctions against the country and arming Ukraine with billions of dollars in assistance and aid.

Vaccines

• Inability to work following COVID-19 vaccination-a relevant aspect for future booster vaccinations. In the light of further COVID-19 infection waves and booster vaccinations, there is a risk of additional staff shortages due to postvaccination inability to work, which could negatively impact the already strained healthcare system and jeopardise patient care.

• Boosted People More Likely Than Unvaccinated To Be Infected: New Study Finds. People who received a new COVID-19 vaccine booster were more likely to contract COVID-19 than people who received no COVID-19 vaccine doses, according to a new study of prisons in California.

• Appalling rise in Covid vaccine fatalities but the jab drive continues. The 1 in 191 reports associated with a fatality (397 of which are of unknown age) reported by the end of May had risen to 1 in 188 by the end of July – in sum 2,564 equalling 0.5 per cent of all reports (and an increase of 45 fatalities in just those eight weeks).

• Have we only seen the tip of the iceberg for mRNA vaccine harms? A slow-motion car crash. It will take much longer for the harms caused to be acknowledged by the “establishment” and so the injections will continue to be administered for some time yet – albeit to smaller and smaller groups as time progresses, and with varying degrees of enthusiasm in different locations.

• FDA Has ‘Gone Rogue’ in Its Approval of New COVID-19 Boosters. Dr. Robert Malone accused the federal agency of sacrificing its own rules and regulations with its decision to recommend the latest batch of COVID-19 boosters, which only have limited clinical trial data attesting to their efficacy and safety.

• Under-the-tongue COVID vaccine could be on the way after trial on monkeys. Oral vaccines may be more effective than injections as well as being easier to administer, according to a new study.

• Autoimmune inflammatory reactions triggered by the COVID-19 genetic vaccines in terminally differentiated tissues. Due to the fact that every human cell which synthesises non-self antigens, inevitably becomes the target of the immune system, and since the human body is not a strictly compartmentalised system, accurate pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic studies are needed in order to determine precisely which tissues can be harmed.

• The real data behind the new COVID vaccines the White House is pushing. What if I told you one in 50 people who took a new medication had a “medically attended adverse event” and the manufacturer refused to disclose what exactly the complication was — would you take it?