This Week's Must Reads - 28 August - 3 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 daily summaries will be for paid subscribers only.

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Climate Change

• Do not heat your homes in the evenings, net zero quango tells public. Millions of families will be urged by a green quango not to heat their homes in the evening to help the Government hit its net zero target. The Climate Change Committee (CCC) said people should turn off their radiators at peak times as part of a wider drive to deliver “emissions savings”.

• Net Zero is condemning more Brits to energy poverty. A big part of the plan for decarbonising the electricity system is to manage demand by varying tariffs throughout the day. That is the whole point of smart meters.

• Climate alarmism over heat waves, fires drives false ‘solutions’. As surely as temperatures rise during the summer, climate alarmism serves up more stories of life-threatening heat domes, apocalyptic fires and biblical floods, all blamed squarely on global warming. Yet the data to prove this link are often cherry-picked, and the proposed policy responses are enormously ineffective.

• Germany begins dismantling wind farm for coal. German energy giant RWE has begun dismantling a wind farm to make way for a further expansion of an open-pit lignite coal mine in the western region of North Rhine Westphalia.

• Over 1,600 Scientists Sign ‘No Climate Emergency’ Declaration. International scientists have jointly signed a declaration dismissing the existence of a climate crisis and insisting that carbon dioxide is beneficial to Earth, contrary to the popular alarmist narrative.

Covid

• 99% of 'Covid deaths' not primarily caused by the virus, CDC data shows. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Covid dashboard shows just 1.7 percent of the 324 Covid deaths registered in the week ending August 19 had the coronavirus as the primary cause of death.

• Raw data for "Unnatural evolutionary processes of SARS-CoV-2 variants and possibility of deliberate natural selection". The analysis showed that Omicron variants were formed by an entirely new mechanism that cannot be explained by previous biology, and knowing how the SARS-CoV-2 variants were formed prompts a reconsideration of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic

Covid Mandates & Lockdowns

• Mask study published by NIH suggests N95 Covid masks may expose wearers to dangerous level of toxic compounds linked to seizures and cancer. Researchers from Jeonbuk National University in South Korea looked at two types of disposable medical-grade masks, as well as several reusable cotton masks.

• The Positive Feedback Loop: How Totalitarians Instill Fear & Restrict Human Rights. Totalitarians, who exploit and manipulate the physical and social sciences to restrict personal freedom and human rights, promote subjective science which is convenient to their needs and unbalanced.

• Cumulative excess deaths in Sweden compared with the UK and Australia.

• No Masks, Please, We’re Rational. Maskaholics are incorrigible. The rest of us should pay them no heed. Unfazed by data, scientific research, or common sense, the maskaholics are back.

• The Royal Society’s lockdown report is deeply flawed. The organisation ignores uncomfortable truths about our pandemic response. A report last week from the world’s oldest scientific academy, the UK’s Royal Society, “unequivocally” found that lockdowns, masks, contact tracing apps, travel restrictions, and other non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) reduced Covid transmission.

• Sir Patrick Vallance KCB FMedSci FRS and Sir Christopher Whitty KCB FRS are jointly awarded the Royal Medal 2023 for their pivotal role in ensuring that the UK’s response to the covid-19 pandemic has benefitted from the very best science and evidence. [or for destroying the economy and ignoring mass excess deaths?]

• Hospital scandal exposed as hundreds of Covid Nightingale beds sold for just £6. The NHS has admitted that it lost £13million on unused emergency beds for up to seven of the temporary hospitals - it bought them for £2,500 each.

Economy/Energy/Finance

• Welcome to the BRICS 11. 'No mountains can stop the surging flow of a mighty river.' With the addition of six new members that add geostrategic clout and geographic depth to the once sputtering BRICS, the multilateral institution is now gathering the momentum needed to reset international relations.

• ’Pleading for money’: Chinese economy in trouble as Xi Jinping’s leadership falters. Retail sales are down, exports are slipping and local governments are pleading for cash. China is in trouble – but will it drag us down with it?

• Goldman Sachs bought UK and US companies using Chinese state funds. Deals tapped private equity ‘partnership fund’ that the bank set up with China’s CIC. Goldman Sachs has used a fund set up with Chinese state money to buy a series of US and UK companies, including one with a cyber security business that provides services to the British government, even as tensions rise between Beijing and the west.

• U.S. job growth slowed sharply to 177,000 in August, below expectations. Job creation in the United States slowed more than expected in August, according to ADP, a sign that the surprisingly resilient U.S. economy might be starting to ease under pressure from higher interest rates.

• Chinese developer Country Garden reports $6.7bn loss amid fears of another Evergrande. Group warns that if its financial performance ‘continues to deteriorate’ it faces possible default after huge half-year losses.

• EU purchases of Russian LNG up 40% compared to pre-war levels. The European Union vowed to drastically cut imports of gas from Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine but data shows the bloc's purchases of Russian-made liquefied natural gas (LNG) have soared.

• US commercial bank deposits are disappearing at unprecedented rates.

• UK House Prices Fall the Most in 14 Years, Nationwide Says. The downturn gripping the UK housing market steepened in August as the cost-of-borrowing squeeze sapped demand, according to a major mortgage lender.

Health

• Worries over seafood safety mount as Japan releases Fukushima water into the Pacific. Japan began releasing water from its crippled Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean Thursday over the objections of local fishermen and the government of neighboring China.

• The Media’s False Narrative About Depression Pills, Suicides, and Saving Lives. When the media tell of a serious harm of a psychiatric drug, they follow a standard script, which involves that they must also praise the drug. There are at least five main reasons why psychiatric drugs are portrayed in the media in a light that is far too positive.

• Glyphosate Exposure Linked to Severe Depression and Cognitive Decline in American Adults. A new peer-reviewed study released by a group of scientists in Taiwan has revealed an astonishingly strong link between severe depression, cognitive decline and exposure to the world’s most used herbicide, glyphosate.

• Hospital waiting list deaths double in five years. More than 120,000 died waiting for NHS treatment, as backlog hits all-time high. The total is even higher than it was in lockdown, with health leaders saying the pandemic and NHS strikes have made clearing backlogs more difficult.

• Gad Saad: Postmodernism is making us miserable. The behavioural scientist told UnHerd how we can find happiness in a confusing world. Saad cited the thought system of postmodernism as a central part of the discussion around how happiness relates to sex differences and beauty.

• "They're dropping like flies" - Mysterious illness sweeping US Open perplexes tennis fans as Dominic Thiem retires & Ons Jabeur struggles. Several fans noticed a pattern with Jabeur, Thiem, and Eubanks' struggles, as well as Ruusuvuori's sudden withdrawal from the US Open.

Politics

• The European Union's tough new laws on social media content have officially come into force. Platforms with at least 45 million monthly active users will be subjected to fulfil every new obligation.

• RT head says Carlson asked for Putin interview. RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan said on Sunday that former Fox News host Tucker Carlson wants to conduct an interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

• Chinese military conducts mock 'blockade' of Taiwan. China sent a total of 32 military aircraft and nine naval vessels into Taiwan's air defense identification zone (ADIZ) and waters around the island over a 24-hour period as of Saturday morning, in what an expert described as a mock "blockade."

• Gofundme freezes Grayzone fundraiser ‘due to some external concerns’. Gofundme is holding the donations hostage, refusing to transfer them, while failing to inform donors that it has effectively seized their money.

• Musk To Sue Soros’ Open Society in Irish Free Speech Row. The new Irish hate speech law will carry a penalty of five years in prison, potentially even for memes, thanks to the hard work of Soros-funded NGOs skewing the data to present one of the most tolerant societies as anything but.

• Canada’s woke nightmare is a vision of Britain’s future. Drug decriminalisation, gender ideology, legal euthanasia – the country seems to have adopted every policy on the progressive wish list.

• Peterson Loses Court Battle, Ordered to Attend ‘Re-education’. Peterson vows to take the case to the Supreme Court if needed, but if his appeal is dismissed, he’d attend the course and broadcast it in the name of free speech.

• Latest Biden coverup — 5,400 emails he sent under secret names. In response to a Freedom of Information Act request, the National Archives admitted there are 5,400 emails Biden apparently sent under fake names.

• The criminalization of politics to get Trump is endangering everyone’s rights. The U.S. Constitution is clear: Political speech is protected by the First Amendment. If the Biden administration is allowed to criminalize speech and politics, the US will become a nation where the losers of presidential elections are arrested instead of being sent into retirement with book tours and libraries.

• Ex-CIA Agent Who Signed Propaganda Letter About Hunter Biden Laptop Tried To Conceal Twitter Job. Nada Bakos, whose picture appeared in March 2022 on the cover of the NY Post detailing the signatories of the Oct. 2020 letter suggesting that the Hunter Biden laptop release was a "Russian information operation," went on to work for Twitter's policy team in March 2022.

• US Military Reportedly In Talks With The Philippines To Build A Port Flanking Taiwan. The move would bolster the U.S. presence in the strategic location facing Taiwan and could fan tensions with China, which has vehemently opposed Washington's interference in matters of the region.

Science

• Why does heartbreak hurt? The science behind what happens to your brain and your body. While everyone's personal heartbreak might be different, whether it be a breakup, bereavement, or other loss, scientists say the bodily response is much the same.

• Metallic spheres found on Pacific floor are interstellar in origin, Harvard professor finds. Ever since he first learned about the strange meteor falling to Earth, astrophysicist Avi Loeb has been determined to discover whether it was indeed an extraterrestrial artefact that had crashed into the Pacific Ocean.

• Ancient humans may have worn shoes more than 100,000 years ago. Three archaeological sites in South Africa feature impressions that might have been made by ancient footwear, but pinpointing when humans first wore shoes is challenging.

• Genomic inference of a severe human bottleneck during the Early to Middle Pleistocene transition. The model detected a reduction in the population size of our ancestors from about 100,000 to about 1000 individuals, which persisted for about 100,000 years. The decline appears to have coincided with both major climate change and subsequent speciation events.

Technology

• NASA taps Boeing and Northrop Grumman to develop ultra-high-speed Mach 4 passenger aircraft. At the end of the twelve-month contracts, both companies will deliver a set of designs and technology roadmaps for a commercial vehicle that can travel as fast as four times the speed of sound, including propulsion, materials, and other technological hurdles.

• UK government seeks expanded use of AI-based facial recognition by police. Move comes after privacy campaigners and independent academics criticised technology for being inaccurate.

• USSOCOM to Use AI to Detect Disinformation Threats on Social Media. The US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) has contracted New York-based Accrete AI to deploy software that detects “real time” disinformation threats on social media.

Ukraine

• ‘That’s our guy’: how UK military chief became key Nato liaison in Ukraine. Adm Sir Tony Radakin recognised in Washington and Kyiv as an increasingly important actor. Eleven days ago, some of the most senior soldiers in the Nato alliance travelled to a secret location on the Polish-Ukrainian border to meet Ukraine’s chief military commander, Gen Valerii Zaluzhnyi, for what was privately billed as “a council of war”.

• Zelensky Says He Won’t Hold Elections Unless U.S. and EU Pay for Them. In an interview published by the president’s office on Sunday evening, Zelensky said that he would be willing to hold elections despite the ongoing martial law amid the war with Russia, so long as the U.S. and EU bankroll the voting process.

• Russia pledges to give BAE's business 'attention'. Russia has said that BAE System's new business in Ukraine will be an "object of special attention" for its military. The UK defence giant has signed deals to ramp up weapons and equipment supplies to Kyiv, which include ultimately producing light artillery in the country.

Vaccines

• Biden To Fund New COVID Vaccine "For Everybody... Whether They've Gotten It Before Or Not". President Joe Biden on Friday told reporters that he's planning to request more money from Congress to develop a new coronavirus vaccine. "Tentatively, it is recommended that — it will likely be recommended that everybody get it no matter whether they’ve gotten it before or not."

• Internal CDC presentation shows it knew for months that Covid-19 vaccine efficacy was waning and kept it a secret. Through FOIA requests, ICAN’s attorneys have obtained a September 2021 presentation delivered to FDA and NIH higher-ups.

• Pfizer refuses to reveal how many of its Australian employees quit the company rather than take its specially-imported Covid vaccine. The drug giant has also refused to reveal how many employees were granted exemptions from taking the Comirnaty mRNA vaccine for medical or religious reasons.

• Is the Goliath in Autism Research About to Fall? New study cements findings that autism has environmental rather than genetic causes.

• Detection of recombinant Spike protein in the blood of individuals vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2: Possible molecular mechanisms. The specific PP-Spike fragment was found in 50% of the biological samples analyzed, and its presence was independent of the SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibody titer.