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Congress is set to expose what may be the largest censorship system in U.S. history

by News Editors

 

February 07, 2023 – Below is my column in the Hill on the first hearings this week to be held by the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government. It could be one of the most consequential investigations for free speech in decades if it pulls back the curtain on government censorship programs. After the historic release of the Twitter Files by Elon Musk, questions remain on any similar coordination with other social media companies with federal agencies like the FBI to target views considered “disinformation” or “misinformation.”

 

(Article by Jonathan Turley republished from JonathanTurley.org)

 

Here is the column:

This coming week a new House select subcommittee will hold its first hearing on the FBI and the possible “weaponization” of government agencies. A variety of such controversies have contributed to plunging public trust in government and the FBI in particular.

The role of the FBI in prior scandals will remain a point of heated debate in Congress. However, members of both parties should be able to agree on the need to investigate one of the most serious allegations: Censorship by surrogate.

Many of the allegations of FBI bias are worthy of investigation. Some of those allegations are problems of personnel who can be removed. But a far more menacing problem has emerged in recent months with the release of information from Twitter.

The “Twitter files” revealed an FBI operation to monitor and censor social media content — an effort so overwhelming and intrusive that Twitter staff at one point complained internally that “they are probing & pushing everywhere.” The reports have indicated that dozens of FBI employees worked on the identification and removal of material on a wide range of subjects and that Twitter largely carried out their requests.

Nor was it just the FBI, apparently. Emails reveal FBI figures like a San Francisco assistant special agent in charge asking Twitter executives to “invite an OGA” (or “Other Government Organization”) to an upcoming meeting. A week later, Stacia Cardille, a senior Twitter legal executive, indicated the OGA was the CIA, an agency under strict limits regarding domestic activities.

Twitter’s own ranks included dozens of ex-FBI agents and executives, including James Baker, who featured greatly in prior FBI instances of alleged bias.

The Twitter files also show various FBI offices monitoring social media and flagging “misleading” information on various subjects.

The dozens of disclosed emails are only a fraction of Twitter’s files and do not include still-undisclosed but apparent government coordination with Facebook and other social media companies. Much of that work apparently was done through the multi-agency Foreign Influence Task Force (FITF), which operated secretly it seems to censor citizens.

Ironically, during the outcry over establishing a Disinformation Governance Board at the Department of Homeland Security, Biden administration officials had to have known they already were employing an extensive censorship system. When the administration finally relented and disbanded the disinformation board, that censorship work appears to have continued unimpeded through the FITF and agency censors.

According to reports, one email in August 2022 sent “long lists of newspapers, tweets or YouTube videos” deemed to be voicing “anti-Ukraine narratives.” Even satirical and comedy sites reportedly were pegged by the social media police.

What is most striking is that the FBI was not responding to false claims about its operations. Instead, these censorship demands were the result of policing “misinformation” and “disinformation” on subjects ranging from political corruption to elections.

Some apologists continue to defend this process, saying the FBI was only objecting to disinformation the way that citizens did on Twitter. That is not true; the government reportedly used back channels and regular meetings to flag unacceptable statements. Indeed, even if it were true, many things are more dangerous when done by government. When your neighbor attacks your opinion, it is just the crank next door. But when it is your government on the attack, it is far more threatening and stigmatizing. Natural News.

Beetroot juice found to “significantly increase muscle force during exercise”

by Ethan Huff

 

01/27/2023 – New research published in the journal Acta Physiologica has identified beetroot juice as a powerful workout-boosting food that “significantly increases muscle force during exercise.”

Researchers from the United States and the United Kingdom teamed up to test the effects of beetroot juice on a group of healthy men in their early 20s. The men were given 4.7 ounces of the nitrate-rich beverage before working out and examined for muscle improvement.

In the three days prior to the experiment, the men were told to consume a low-nitrate diet, including by avoiding the consumption of leafy green vegetables. There was also a placebo group given a dummy powder that looked and tasted like the beetroot juice cocktail, but that was devoid of nitrates.

Neither group knew which beverage they consumed before they completed a single exercise three hours after a warmup. All of the men were told to contract their quadricep muscle – the large one at the front of the upper leg – 60 times while their dominant leg was attached to the lever of a machine.

The goal was to have the men contract this muscle without actually moving their leg. While this was happening, researchers used electrical pulses to measure muscle force, or the force applied by the muscles as they contracted.

Muscle biopsies were collected from the participants’ active legs after they consumed the drink, as well as before and after the exercise to check nitrate levels in their tissue.

In the end, the beetroot juice group showed seven percent greater muscle force than the placebo group, demonstrating the power of beetroot juice and the nitrates it contains to maximize muscle force.

“This study provides the first direct evidence that muscle nitrate levels are important for exercise performance, presumably by acting as a source of nitric oxide,” said Dr. Barbara Piknova, a staff scientist at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases in the US.

“These results have significant implications not only for the exercise field, but possibly for other medical areas such as those targeting neuromuscular and metabolic diseases related to nitric oxide deficiency.”

Naturally occurring nitrates are important for muscle development, cellular energy function

Nitrates play an important role in musculature, helping them to respire, or release energy. They also power the mitochondria, or the energy factories in cells, helping to boost energy availability for contractions.

“Our research has already provided a large body of evidence on the performance-enhancing properties of dietary nitrate, commonly found in beetroot juice,” added Dr. Andy Jones, a physiologist at the University of Exeter in the UK.

“Excitingly, this latest study provides the best evidence to date on the mechanisms behind why dietary nitrate improves human muscle performance.”

Other foods besides beetroot that contain high levels of nitrates include spinach, Bok choy, lettuce, carrots, ham, and bacon.

“Be careful as beets are very high in oxalate – especially if you have any existing health issues,” noted one commenter, emphasizing that people need to take caution here.

“The tests were actually conducted using a synthetic drink, not actually beetroot juice – but the findings are still relevant,” noted another.

“I’m sipping on a beet smoothie right now!” wrote someone else. “It is one beet, juice from one lemon, one cup of strawberries, one avocado, and a tiny bit of ginger. I can barely taste the beets!”

Another wrote that beetroot also contains a hemoglobin-mimicking compound that helps further transport oxygen in the blood as well, enhancing its delivery throughout the body and into cells.

Surprise” release and expelling to the US of 222 Nicaraguan opponents

With reports by BBC News World and other cables

 

The release of the political prisoners was well received by human rights organizations, which celebrated the release of 200 political prisoners without sparing criticism of Managua.

In the United States, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said in a statement that this decision “marks a constructive step to address human rights abuses in the country and opens the door for greater dialogue between the US and the US. and Nicaragua on topics of interest”.

The president of the Central American country, Daniel Ortega, assured on national television that there was no “negotiation” with the US for the release of the prisoners and that they did not ask Washington for anything in return.

On Thursday morning, magistrate Octavio Rothschuh, president of Chamber One of the Managua Court of Appeals, had made public a sentence that decreed the “immediate and effective deportation of 222 people sentenced for committing acts that undermine the independence, the sovereignty and self-determination of the people; for inciting violence, terrorism and economic destabilization”.

“The deportees were declared traitors to the homeland and punished for different serious crimes and permanently disqualified from exercising public office,” Rothschuh said.

The flight with the opponents left the Nicaraguan capital early in the morning for Washington DC, where it arrived at mid-morning.

The president of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, spoke on national television to ensure that the release and expulsion of the 222 opponents that took place this Thursday was not done to obtain something in return from the United States.

“We are not asking for the sanctions to be lifted. We are not asking for anything in return,” the president said.

Ortega explained that the expulsion of the opposition group to Washington occurred after his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, spoke a few days ago by phone with the US ambassador in Managua, Kevin Sullivan, before a trip to his country, and He suggested that Washington receive the prisoners.

The president acknowledged that he did not expect a positive response from the United States to the request. However, Sullivan replied that he would consult the White House, but not before asking how many prisoners he intended to release.

“Everyone,” Ortega replied. “We do not want any trace of the empire’s mercenaries to remain in our country,” he added, according to information from the EFE news agency.

The individuals released from Nicaraguan custody include political and business leaders, journalists, civil society representatives, and students.

Writer Gioconda Belli, who was a guerrilla and revolutionary before becoming a staunch opponent of the government of Daniel Ortega, said: “Taking away their nationality and invoking exile for freed Nicaraguans is a display of cruelty…” during a interview from Spain, who said she was surprised by the news, and that she had to verify several times that the release this Thursday of 222 opponents from her country was real.

Mexico rejects possible US return to ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy  

by Mexico News Daily

 

Mexico has rejected a move by the United States to reactivate the Remain in Mexico policy, under which asylum seekers must wait in Mexico while their U.S. claims are processed.

The Biden administration has pledged to end the program, which the Trump administration introduced in 2019. The policy is currently suspended, after being terminated and reinstated several times due to contradictory rulings by U.S. courts.

In June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Biden had the right to terminate the program. However, in December, a federal judge ruled in favor of a lawsuit brought by states including Missouri and Texas, which argued that the Department of Homeland Security had failed to show the policy was ineffective.

After U.S. authorities notified Mexico of the intention to reinstate the program, Mexico’s Foreign Affairs Ministry (SRE) issued a statement on Monday, strongly opposing the plan.

“Faced with an attempted implementation of this policy for the third time, the Government of Mexico, through the Foreign Affairs Ministry, expresses its rejection of the U.S. government’s intention to return persons processed under this program to Mexican national territory.”

The statement points out that 74,000 people entered Mexico under the Remain in Mexico policy under President Trump, compared to 7,500 people under President Biden.

Although the Remain in Mexico policy is officially called the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), it has been criticized by human rights groups for forcing migrants to wait in dangerous border cities where they are vulnerable to exploitation by criminal groups.

The SRE’s statement does not give specific reasons for Mexico’s decision. However, it concludes by saying that Mexico “reaffirms its recognition of the new, orderly, safe, regular and humane access routes for people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, Ukraine and Venezuela to the United States labor market.”

The latter refers to a new immigration plan announced by the Biden administration in January. Under the new protocol , up to 30,000 Venezuelans, Nicaraguans, Cubans and Haitians per month will be allowed to enter and work in the U.S. for two years, providing they pass all relevant checks and do not cross the border illegally. Similar measures were already in place for Ukrainians.

Mexico has committed to accepting up to 30,000 migrants per month expelled under this scheme.

However, questions remain about migrants from other countries, particularly Central Americans. Even while Remain in Mexico has been suspended, the U.S. has continued to expel many of these asylum seekers to Mexico under pandemic-era public health regulations known as Title 42.

Like Remain in Mexico, Title 42 has been subject to multiple contradictory U.S. legal rulings. Although a federal judge ordered its termination in November, the Supreme Court granted a stay in December after several U.S. states argued their services would be overwhelmed by a sudden influx of asylum-seekers allowed to stay in the U.S. to await processing of their claims

The Biden administration has expressed its opposition to Title 42 but says its hands are tied due to the Supreme Court ruling, and the U.S. continues to implement the policy.

If both Remain in Mexico and Title 42 are terminated, the U.S. will either have to allow asylum seekers to remain in the country while their claims are processed, or make other arrangements to remove them.

After the SRE rejected Remain in Mexico’s reinstatement, a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security told Reuters that the program “has always been contingent on the government of Mexico’s willingness to accept returns” and that the Biden administration would keep trying to terminate the policy through the courts.

With reports from Reuters and Aristegui Noticias.

More than a million undocumented immigrants gained driver’s licenses in California

by Wendy Fry

CalMatters

 

January 27, 2023 – Seven years after the Safe and Responsible Drivers Act gave undocumented residents a license to drive, the state is ready to expand its impact, but the law still has detractors

On a recent night, by the Miramar Reservoir in San Diego County, a man named Erwin sat at a picnic table scrolling through dozens of texts from his wife. He read aloud her warnings about police patrolling a road near their home.

“‘There’s a lot of cops out tonight,’” he read. “Cops everywhere.’ ‘Be careful; lots of cops.’ ‘Too many cops.’

“Every time I want to get a burger or juice or anything like that and I leave the house, she will text me ‘There’s a lot of cops. Be careful,’” Erwin explained. “It’s a reality that we live in. We adapt our life and our every day to it.”

Erwin, who asked not to use his last name for fear of deportation, is a 27-year old business manager, husband and father of a 6-month-old baby girl. He’s also a Congolese immigrant whose visa expired. His wife, a U.S. citizen, fears what would happen if police stop him.

Although California is a sanctuary state — with protections for immigrants who lack documentation authorizing them to be in the United States — there are loopholes and law enforcement sometimes works with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Beyond that, Erwin worries a traffic stop might escalate. “Believe me, in my country, I would never have to worry about getting pulled over and being scared that they’re going to shoot me,” he said.

Erwin wants to swap his foreign driver’s license for a California one.

“Before I didn’t have a family, so I could risk it,” he said, “but now I have my family and I drive my kid everywhere we go. So I decided to get right and get the driver’s license, so it’s less of an issue if I get pulled over.”

A license to drive

Erwin has made multiple attempts to obtain an AB 60 driver’s license. It’s a special license that lets undocumented California residents legally drive, but with federal limitations.

Proponents say the special license was a boon to immigrants and the state’s economy. But critics, and even some immigrant advocates, say it has drawbacks and risks, since law enforcement and immigration officials can access it. Nevertheless the state is expanding its flexibility, giving IDs to more undocumented residents.

California lawmakers first passed AB 60, called the Safe and Responsible Drivers Act, in 2013, as part of a broad effort to adopt more inclusive policies toward immigrants, to decriminalize their daily lives and maximize their contributions to the economy, experts said.

Since the law took effect in 2015, more than a million undocumented immigrants, out of an estimated 2 million, have received licenses, and more than 700,000 have renewed them.

Besides California, 18 other states have followed suit.

“With AB 60, what we did was recognize the needs of many hard-working immigrants living here and contributing so much to our great state,” said Luis Alejo, the former Assembly member from Watsonville who authored the bill. Now he is a county supervisor for Monterey County.

Undocumented immigrants in California contribute $3.1 billion a year in state and local taxes; nationally they contribute $11.7 billion in taxes, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a Washington D.C. research entity.

New legislation signed in September will make other California ID’s available in January to undocumented immigrants who don’t drive or who can’t take the driver’s test. Backers of that measure say residents most likely to benefit are the elderly and people with disabilities.

“IDs are needed for so many aspects of everyday life, from accessing critical health benefits, to renting an apartment,” said Shiu-Ming Cheer, deputy director of programs and campaigns at the California Immigrant Policy Center, a sponsor of the law.

Experts say more flexible ID laws may do more than help people on an individual level. Eric Figueroa, a senior manager at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, said licenses enable undocumented immigrants to look for better jobs and gain better protections from employers trying to steal or withhold wages.

“It helps build the economy broadly — by unlocking people’s potential — and it helps the workers by giving them more options,” he said.

Erwin uses family connections to remotely renew his Congo license — a privilege he noted not everyone has. Being able to drive allowed his family to move to a better neighborhood and him to find better employment in a suburb about 25 miles away, he said.

No one has studied how many people have garnered better jobs as a result of the special licenses. Alejo said many of his constituents describe “profound economic impacts,” but he agrees more research is needed.

Some opponents of the licenses say their economic benefits are likely negligible. Instead it is encouraging illegal migration to California, they say, which further strains the state’s budget to provide education and other services.

More than that, it makes undocumented residents too comfortable, critics argued.

Before the special licenses, immigrants said they feared routine traffic stops and drunk-driving checkpoints, where their vehicles could be impounded for not having a driver’s license. Many also could face deportation proceedings after being contacted by police.

“Community members used to share that they always used to have to buy beat-up cars because they always knew it would get impounded,” said Erin Tsurumoto Grassi, policy director at Alliance San Diego, a community organization focused on equity issues.

“Folks were always losing their vehicles because they didn’t have a license. They didn’t have the ability to have a license,” she said.

Accident trends

Some opponents of the special license law claimed it would make roadways less safe, because some immigrant drivers wouldn’t be able to read traffic signs in English.

But a 2017 study by the Immigration Policy Lab at Stanford University showed those safety concerns were speculative. The rate of total accidents, including fatal accidents, did not rise and the rate of hit-and-run accidents declined, which likely improved traffic safety and reduced overall costs for California drivers, researchers said.

The study, which documented a 10% decline in hit-and-run accidents, ran in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in April 2017.

“Coming to this as scientists, we were immediately shocked by the absence of facts in this debate,” said Jens Hainmueller, a Stanford political science professor and co-director of the lab. “Nobody was drawing on any evidence; it was more characterized by ideology.”

Other research by Hans Lueders, a postdoctoral research associate for the Mamdouha S. Bobst Center for Peace and Justice at Princeton University, found AB 60 did not improve insurance premiums nor increase the share of uninsured drivers.

Are license holders safe?

Questions persist about whether the special licenses make recipients easier targets for immigration enforcement.

Some immigrant advocates initially opposed the new licenses because they looked different from other driver’s licenses. On the front of the cards’ upper right side is “Federal Limits Apply” instead of the iconic gold bear of California. On the back the cards say: “This card is not acceptable for official federal purposes.”

Alejo said legislators had intended to protect people from immigration enforcement, so they wrote certain protective measures into the original AB 60 bill. They added language prohibiting state and local government agencies from using the special license to discriminate against license holders or for immigration enforcement.

Yet some advocates point to reports of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement accessing the databases of state and local law enforcement agencies and of state departments of motor vehicles.

In December 2018, the ACLU of Northern California and the National Immigration Law Center published a report detailing multiple ways federal immigration agencies get access to motor vehicle records. After that, the California Attorney General’s Office implemented new protocols to protect immigrants’ DMV information from ICE and other agencies.

A chilling effect

Dave Maass, director of investigations at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said there is always going to be a risk someone will misuse data on undocumented people.

“I wouldn’t say that people should feel 100% safe,” he said.” I would just say that the risk has been lessened quite a bit … but that does not mean the risk has totally gone away.”

In recent years there has been a large drop-off in the number of immigrants applying for AB 60 licenses. According to the Department of Motor Vehicles, 396,859 immigrants applied for the licenses in fiscal 2014-15, but only 68,426 applied in the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2022.

Advocates said that may be because most people who wanted a license applied for it already,  or because education and outreach about the law have lessened over the years.

Cheer said news of ICE accessing California databases could have a chilling effect on  immigrants’ willingness to interact with government.

“It does create more of a trust deficit with government agencies whenever there is a story about ICE having access to California databases or information in California databases,” she said.

Being seen

On the other hand, there’s an added benefit to the new licenses, Cheer said: immigrants now have a feeling of being included and acknowledged as residents of California.

“I feel like that’s a very important psychological piece, in the sense of ‘This is who I am. I have an ID to show you who I am,’” she said.

Erwin said he carefully weighed the possibility that he would be effectively giving ICE his home address against wanting to have the proper paperwork, so there would be no excuse for a police officer to escalate a traffic stop with him. He decided one risk was worth reducing the risk of the other.

For some immigrants, the passage of the license law didn’t come soon enough.

Dulce Garcia, an attorney and advocate for immigrants, recently described at a San Diego public forum on immigration enforcement what happened when police stopped her brother who was undocumented.

Police cited Edgar Saul Garcia Cardoso for driving without a license and when he appeared in a courthouse in January 2020 to face the consequences, ICE detained and deported him, within hours, to Tijuana, she said.

There he was kidnapped, held for ransom and tortured for eight months, Garcia said.

In May 2021, he returned to the United States and received asylum protections. But he never recovered from the trauma, Garcia said. He died of unknown causes in September 2022.

“I wish there was a way you could see through my eyes the harm you have caused by colluding with ICE,” Garcia told law enforcement officials at the forum. “Edgar was loved, and his life mattered.”

Thalía is separating from Tommy Mottola, says the international press

Share from Diario El Tiempo Colombia

 

Mexican singer Thalía, 51, has been married for 22 years to businessman Tommy Mottola, 74, making them one of the most solid couples in show business.

Despite the age difference, Thalía and Tommy have managed to maintain a stable relationship and although there have been several rumors of breakup and separation over the years, the couple has kept their detractors quiet.

But in the last few hours, various media outlets in Mexico and the United States have raised a possible infidelity by Mottola that would have led Thalía to make the decision to end their relationship.

According to show magazines, the producer would have had an affair with Leslie Shaw, 33, a woman of Peruvian nationality.

Shaw is a singer, model and actress, in fact, she represented Peru in Viña del Mar in 2011 and was the first Peruvian to have been recognized by Heat Latin Music.

Rumors have increased – regarding the possible separation from her – since the protagonist of ‘Marimar’ stopped publishing photos with Mottola since December 2022.

Thalía’s last publication -in networks- was recorded in December, the day she celebrated her 22nd birthday with Mottola.

“My love, I love you deeply, I admire you, I celebrate your life. I love your way of being, inexhaustible, creative, unstoppable. I love your commitment to our family, your love for me. God bless you my love and for many more years of happiness! Happy wedding anniversary, ”Thalía wrote to Mottola, without him responding through her networks.

The couple has not commented on the matter.

John Santos & Friends: Concert, Food & Film at MCCLA

Compiled by the El Reportero‘s staff

 

Coquito Contest, reception featuring delicious food by Rico Pabon, Documentary Q&A with filmmakers and After party concert.

A Latin jazz icon with seven Grammy Award nominations and an expansive, self-produced discography that encompasses master musicians from Cuba, Puerto Rico, New York, the Bay Area and beyond, Santos has thrived outside of Latin music’s commercial domain.

On Saturday, Jan. 28th 2023, 4 p.m. – 8:30 p.m., at the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts, 2868 Mission Street, San Francisco.

 

“Pertenecer: To Belong” at MACLA in San Jose

MACLA presents “Pertenecer: To Belong”, where six artists lean into their “Latinidad” as they investigate their intercultural identities and share their experiences of feeling othered across different spaces and social conditions.

Featuring works by @livingrelic @pilar.aguero.esparza @jtknoxroxs @kristinamicotti @rayos_magos @hectorfmunoz

MACLA/Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana
At 510 S 1st St San Jose, CA 95113. Now thru March 19, 2023. Wednesday – Friday 12-7 p.m., Saturday – Sunday 12-5 p.m., or by special Free admission.

 

Special Rumba with Edmundo Pina Machin!

Come to La Peña m for a Edmundo Pina Machin

Edmundo is a musician with 47 years of experience, 40 of which were with the legendary Cuban orchestra Los Van Van… and he is visiting the Bay Area! He will be presenting his research on the history and evolution of Cuban popular music. This event is FREE and open to everyone. See you there!

On Sunday, January 22nd from 4pm-6:30 p.m.

* 𝙁𝙍𝙀𝙀 𝙀𝙑𝙀𝙉𝙏 & Highly Recommended

 

Adrian Areas Fuze Band @ Bird & Beckett Books

The Adrian Areas Fuze Band will be Performing Original Latin Jazz Rock @ Bird & Beckett Books in San Francisco. Saturday, Feb. 11, 2023 at 7:30 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.

 

San Francisco Symphony collaborative partner Claire Chase performs Marcos Balter’s Pan

On Friday, February 24, San Francisco Symphony Collaborative Partner Claire Chase performs Marcos Balter’s Pan, an evening-length piece for flute, live electronics, and an ensemble of community performers.

The 70-minute piece tells the story of the mythological goat-god Pan, one of only two Greek deities said to have been put to death, in a series of staged episodes exploring the contradictions and betrayals in Pan’s relationships.

For this performance—which features a version of the piece specifically for her collaboration with the San Francisco Symphony—Chase and the Orchestra partner with Amateur Music Network, Openhouse, and other art, education, and community organizations who will perform the piece alongside Chase.

Following the February 24 performance, Chase joins Esa-Pekka Salonen and the San Francisco Symphony on its 2023 European Tour (March 9–17), performing Pan with members of the San Francisco Symphony and the Paris community on March 12 in the Cité de la Musique concert hall at the Philharmonie de Paris.

Financial Resolutions: 4 tips and tools to improve your family’s money skills in 2023

Sponsored content from JPMorgan Chase & Co.

 

To help start the new year off strong, have open and honest conversations as a family about finances. The beginning of the year is a great opportunity to review your family’s expenses. Use this moment to review spending and savings habits, and discuss how to improve them this year. By having these open conversations with your kids, you can help them better understand the basics of money and lay a strong foundation for financial independence.

Not sure where to start? Check out these four tips that can help your family talk about your finances and build better money habits together.

  1. Saving made easy for 2023

Managing your money can be overwhelming, but it doesn’t need to be. The end of the year can be especially hectic with additional expenses like holiday shopping and travel costs. To make things easier in 2023, automate your savings to help reach your financial goals faster.

With tools like Chase Autosave, customers can set up repeating, automatic transfers from their Chase checking into their Chase savings account. This presents a great learning opportunity for families to discuss the importance of savings, working towards a goal and building healthy habits.

Parents, you can show your children how you determine your savings goals and then help them set their own financial goals for the new year. Once they’ve figured out how much they want to save, help them set up a plan to get there.

  1. Work together as a family to improve your finances

Working toward a common goal can make everyone feel like they have a stake in the ground. Setting financial goals together for 2023 and creating a monthly budget will help organize finances throughout the year.

As a Chase checking customer, you can open a bank account with a debit card for kids.  For kids 6-17, Chase First BankingSM comes with its own debit card and parental control, while offering several other benefits like setting spending limits and allowing them to experience money firsthand. This opens the line of communication between parents and kids about building good money habits.

Portrait of family on sofa at home
  1. Build healthy financial practices

Make financial discussions a regular part of family conversations.

Whether it be what or where they’re spending, how much they’re earning or their savings goal, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to discuss good money habits with your kids. To get a clearer picture of your spending and saving habits, check out their Spending Snapshot in the Chase Mobile® app. You and your kids can also set up real-time account alerts to ensure you know exactly where and how they are spending their money.

  1. Prepare students heading back to school

Now that 2022 is coming to a close, it’s time to prepare students heading back to school for their second semester. Before winter break is over, talk with your high school and college students about their finances and help them feel confident in their future by laying the groundwork for financial independence.

Accounts like Chase High School Checking℠, for students 13-17 and co-owned by the parent, and Chase College Checking℠, available to students 17-24 with no monthly service fee for five years while in college, provide access to digital banking tools to help them stay on top of their finances throughout the semester.

Using these four tips, your family can start the new year off with optimism about the state of their finances. To learn more and continue the conversation, visit chase.com/studentbanking.

Hispanic mother and father playing with baby daughter

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How troublesome presidents are disposed of

by Paul Craig Roberts

Institute for Political Economy

 

Tucker Carlson provides an excellent 12 minute report about the CIA’s removal of President Kennedy and President Nixon. I recommend that you watch it 2 or 3 times until it sinks in and forward it to all of your friends and relatives. There is nowhere else you can get so much solid and important information in 12 minutes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgXq8S02NJc

Carlson believes that Biden, no longer useful to the establishment, is currently undergoing removal.

I have reported the truth about the removal of Presidents Kennedy and Nixon from office for decades. It was thrilling to me to see after a half century Tucker Carlson give the same explanations to such a large audience. If Americans could only wake up and become involved it might be possible to save our country and the liberty of Americans.

President John F. Kennedy was murdered by the CIA and US Joint Chiefs of Staff once he realized that the government he headed was not the real government. His predecessor President Eisenhower, a 5-star general, warned about the threat to democratic government posed by the military/industrial complex. President Kennedy intended to do something about it while the president still had some power, but he was struck down before he could do more than fire CIA Director Allen Dulles and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Lyman Lemnitzer. President Kennedy wasn’t able to get rid of General Lemnitzer, who transitioned to Supreme Allied Commander of NATO. Both Dulles and Lemnitzer are suspected of directing the plot against Kennedy’s life.

President Nixon was the best informed and best respected abroad president of any in US history. He kept in touch with foreign leaders and was well informed about historical and current events. But he also, like Kennedy and Trump, over estimated the power of the president.

Nixon incurred the wrath, as I once again reported on January 19 — https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2023/01/19/washington-has-resurrected-the-threat-of-nuclear-armageddon/ — of the military/security complex with his arms control agreements with the Soviet Union and his opening to China. The assassination of President Kennedy was so obviously an in-house murder, covered up by the CIA’s media whores and the Warren Commission, that the CIA dared not murder a second president. Instead, the CIA saw that one of its operatives was placed as a journalist at the Washington Post, a long-time CIA asset, never a newspaper, to head the “Watergate” investigation of President Nixon which was used to drive him from office despite Nixon being reelected by the largest margin in US history.

Donald Trump, being a real estate mogul, knew nothing of Washington or who really rules it. By declaring his intention of normalizing relations with Russia, he blindly took on the CIA and the subterranean rulers of the US. And again the media was used to get rid of him: “Russiagate,” two impeachment attempts, “January 6 Insurrection,” and now “Documents gate.”

The President isn’t even protected by the Secret Service. As the tourist video clearly shows, the Secret Service men along the side of President Kennedy’s open limo in Dallas were called away by a Secret Service superior. The video shows the resistance of one of the Secret Service agents to the order. Once the Secret Service agents were removed, the video shows that Kennedy was killed from a bullet from in front that blew out the back of his head. The video shows his wife reaching out on the back of the limo to get the back of his blown away head.

Despite this clear cut undeniable evidence the Warren Commission ruled that Kennedy was shot from behind by Oswald, the patsy that the CIA had lined up to take the blame. Before Oswald could talk or be questioned he was killed in police custody by Jack Ruby (Jacob Leon Rubensein), a person whose presence is inexplicable, who was permitted by the police to be armed next to Oswald.

The bulk of the insouciant American population fell for this most improbable of all accounts, but many intelligent people did not. So the CIA did not dare murder Nixon physically. They used their Washington Post asset to murder him politically, as they used media to get rid of Donald Trump.

Americans who think they live in a democracy are out to lunch. Americans, so easily fooled time and again, are the reason we have lost our country and the freedom and the hope that it once represented in the world.

How many Americans understand that they no longer live in a free country, that they are the ruled subjects of they know not who? Voting is a cloak, a deception. No one the people prefer can be elected to the office of president. If, like Trump, he gets there unexpected, he is removed.

The founder of American civil liberty, Thomas Jefferson, warned us that freedom cannot exist more than 200 years before it has to be refreshed by bloody revolution. He overestimated the life of freedom.

Over the course of my life the meaning of freedom has changed. It no longer means what the Founding Fathers, today denounced as racists, meant, which was self-rule and freedom from oppressive government. Today freedom is the freedom of blacks to rob stores without prosecution, the freedom of the government and its media whores to censor and suppress truth, free expression, and free association, the freedom of government to arrest and imprison people who exercise their civil liberties as “insurrectionists,” the freedom of government and its media whores to brand truth-tellers as “threats to democracy” who are guilty of spreading “misinformation,” the freedom to take away the medical licenses of doctors who saved lives by using medicines banned by Big Pharma’s treatment protocols.

People born in recent decades have no idea how off the wall this is to someone who lived in the real America in the past. When my generation passes, there will be no one alive who knows what America once was.

Anti-inflammatory superfoods: Fight inflammation with this creamy broccoli soup recipe

by Rose Lidell

 

Inflammation is your body’s defense against infection. Inflammation is also crucial for wound healing.

But chronic inflammation is a different thing and it is linked to aging, different diseases and other adverse events.

You can protect your body against chronic inflammation by using beneficial spices like cayenne and turmeric.

Anti-inflammatory spices for better health

There are many anti-inflammatory spices. Detailed below are four versatile and flavorful spices you should add to your pantry:

Cayenne

Cayenne, paprika and smoked paprika all have compounds like capsaicin, which is also a potent anti-inflammatory. Cayenne is spicy so you if prefer something milder, try paprika or smoked paprika for the same effect.

Cayenne peppers are rich in various nutrients such as:

– Vitamin A

– Vitamin B6

– Vitamin C

– Vitamin K

Fresh cayenne peppers contain more vitamins. One fresh pepper offers 72 percent of the recommended daily amount of vitamin C and 50 percent of vitamin A.

While cayenne powder contains fewer vitamins than fresh peppers, they are still a great source of vitamin A. A teaspoon of cayenne pepper contains 15 percent of your daily vitamin A requirements.

Vitamin A is an essential nutrient and it has an important role in eye health; immune health; proper function of the heart, lungs, kidneys and other organs; and reproduction.

Mustard seed powder

Mustard seed powder comes from the mustard plant, which is a nutritious cruciferous vegetable.

Mustard contains many nutrients, including anti-inflammatory enzymes such as myrosinase and sulforaphane that can help fight against damage and disease.

Mustard contains glucosinolates, a group of sulfur-containing compounds found in other cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, Brussels sprouts and cabbage.

Glucosinolates are activated when the plant’s leaves or seeds are damaged via cutting or chewing. Data suggests that these compounds can help stimulate the body’s antioxidant defenses to protect against disease.

Mustard seeds and leaves are full of compounds such as isothiocyanate and sinigrin.

Isothiocyanate helps prevent cancer cells from growing or spreading, while sinigrin has anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, anticancer, antifungal and wound-healing properties.

Sumac

Sumac comes from burgundy-colored berries that grow in the Middle East. Sumac berries are dried and then ground down into the spice.

Sumac is full of anthocyanins or potent plant-based compounds with anti-inflammatory effects.

In a study published in the Journal of Research in Medical Sciences, researchers examined the effects of sumac on 41 people with Type 2 diabetes. The volunteers were divided into two groups: The first was given a placebo and the other received three grams of sumac powder daily for three months.

After the three-month period, the scientists discovered that the volunteers who were given sumac experienced a decrease in insulin. This suggests that sumac can help lower the risk of developing cardiovascular disease.

Sumac has a similar flavor profile to lemon. Sprinkle sumac on hummus, salad or savory soups.

Turmeric

Turmeric is a popular spice used to make savory curries. The spice has been used for hundreds of years and is considered important in Ayurveda, an ancient Indian medical system.

Turmeric is full of beneficial plant-based bioactive compounds, the most studied of which is curcumin. According to studies, curcumin can fight inflammation in multiple ways.

Research also suggests that curcumin may be a more effective anti-inflammatory treatment than common inflammation-fighting medications like aspirin and Advil (ibuprofen).

However, turmeric is not very bioavailable – meaning, your body has a hard time absorbing its benefits. To address this, you can add a pinch of black pepper since the spice contains piperine, a compound that helps boost the bioavailability of turmeric.

Since chronic inflammation is often linked to different chronic diseases, curcumin may help treat conditions like arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and pancreatitis.

Creamy broccoli soup recipe

Cooking cruciferous vegetables like broccoli means you lose the ability to absorb enzymes with health benefits.

Fortunately, you can solve this by cooking broccoli with other raw sources of enzymes like myrosinase and sulforaphane, such as mustard seed powder.

Spices like cayenne and mustard seed powder have key bioactive compounds that affect inflammation at different points in the molecular cascade within your cells. By combining different spices, you’re getting more powerful anti-inflammatory benefits.

After learning about inflammation and anti-inflammatory spices, put your knowledge into practice by preparing a batch of creamy, dairy-free broccoli soup that offers amazing anti-inflammatory benefits.

Ingredients for four servings:

– 1 Large head of broccoli, florets and stems roughly chopped

– 5 to 7 thin slices Daikon radish (You can also use other types of radish if preferred.)

– 2 Cups water or stock

– 1 Avocado

– 1/2 Teaspoon mustard seeds

– 1/2 Teaspoon turmeric

– 1 Large pinch cayenne pepper (Optional)

– 1 Large pinch sumac

– 3 to 6 Curry leaves (Optional)

– 2 Tablespoons avocado or olive oil

– 1 Tablespoon chopped walnuts

– 1 Leek, white and light green parts, finely chopped

– 1 Garlic clove, minced

– Juice of 1/2 lime

– Small handful microgreens

– Black pepper

– Salt

Preparation:

– Heat a tablespoon of the oil in a pot on medium heat until shimmering. Add the leeks to the oil and a pinch of salt, then cook for three to five minutes until softened but not brown.

– Add the garlic and saute for one minute or until fragrant.

– Add the chopped broccoli and water or stock and put the lid on. Bring the mixture to a boil.

– Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook the soup for 10 to 15 minutes until the broccoli is soft.

– Puree the mixture with the avocado in a blender, food processor, or immersion blender until smooth. Return the pureed mixture to the pot.

– Get a small pan and warm the remaining oil on medium heat. Add the mustard seeds and let the seeds sizzle until they begin to pop, or for about one minute.

– Add the turmeric and pepper to the seeds and saute for 30 seconds. Add the curry leaves. – – – Cover the pan if the oil sputters and cook the spices for 30 to 60 seconds. Transfer the cooked spices and oil to the soup mixture in the pot and stir well.

– Season with salt as needed and stir in the lime juice.

– Ladle the soup into a bowl. Top with the radish, microgreens, walnuts, sumac and some cayenne (if you want a spicy soup) before serving.

Protect yourself against chronic inflammation by using anti-inflammatory spices like cayenne, mustard, sumac and turmeric. Natural News.

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