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Sunday, March 5, 2023

Top Food Brands Virtue Signal 'Healthy Diets' While Cashing In On Junk Food

 A new study commissioned by the World Action on Salt, Sugar & Health (WASSH) revealed a startling fact: "Four of the world's biggest food manufacturers are over-reliant on the sales of unhealthy food despite each claiming to be active in improving the healthfulness of their products."

WASSH assessed 2,346 products sold by global food and drink companies Danone, Kellogg's, Kraft Heinz, NestlĂ©, and Unilever in their three largest markets -- Australia, France, and Mexico. It ranked the products based on commonly used standards such as Health Star Rating, Nutri-Score, and Warning Labels. With the exception of Danone, all other companies had a higher percentage of sales from unhealthy food.

"Danone was the only manufacturer with a greater share of healthier products available in each of the three countries. The remaining four manufacturers performed poorly across all three markets, with more than half of their surveyed food and drink portfolio below a standard definition of 'healthy,'" WASSH wrote. 

Kraft Heinz, Kellogg, Unilever, and Nestle sold the bulk of junk food and drinks. 

"Improving the nutritional content of food and drink by reformulating recipes with less salt, sugar and saturated fat is by far the most important strategy that any company should make to improve public health," Mhairi Brown, policy and public affairs lead with WASSH, said in a statement. 

Kraft Heinz, Kellogg, Unilever, and Nestle are promoting diets high in fat and sugar, which could potentially increase the risk of obesity and chronic illnesses such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, and certain cancers if consumed regularly. In addition, the consumption of junk food may cause adverse changes in the brain and result in cognitive impairment.

And riddle us this... Why are the largest food companies in the world also pushing a 'woke' agenda? 

Kellogg's has promoted what appears to be unhealthy 'woke' cereal. 

There's a war on your diet and a war on your body. This seems very unhealthy for the soul, body, and mind

... and if current unhealthy diet trends persist, more than half of the world could be overweight by 2035.

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/top-food-brands-virtue-signal-healthy-diets-while-cashing-junk-food

WHO Urges Countries To Reveal Intel On COVID Origins After FBI Director's Statements

 Following the dramatic narrative shift on Covid origins by US authorities, the World Health Organization is asking any governments with intelligence on the virus' origins to come forward and present their information. 

"If any country has information about the origins of the pandemic, it’s essential for that information to be shared with WHO and the international scientific community," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Friday, coming quickly on the heels of FBI Director Christopher Wray saying this week that the source of the pandemic was "most likely a potential lab incident in Wuhan".

The WHO chief said further, "Not so as to apportion blame but to advance our understanding of how this pandemic started, so we can prevent, prepare for and respond to future epidemics and pandemics."

"WHO continues to call for [China] to be transparent in sharing data and to conduct the necessary investigations and share the results. To that effect, I have written to, and spoken with, high-level Chinese leaders on multiple occasions, as recently as just a few weeks ago."

Tedros also stressed, and not for the first time, that "Until then, all hypotheses on the origins of the virus remain on the table."

Though of course, it's highly doubtful that Beijing will be feeling any real pressure as a result of this very much belated statement. It's important to recall how he spent the early months of the pandemic publicly kowtowing to China.

The WHO came under heavy fire early into the pandemic for praising China's "transparent" response to the pandemic, repeating misinformation from Beijing related to human-to-human transmission, and bowing to pressure from Chinese President Xi Jinping not to declare the Covid-19 outbreak an emergency.

Yet, while initially promoting the natural origin theory, Tedros and the WHO have reportedly become far more 'open' to the lab leak theory as time has passed.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/who-urges-countries-reveal-intel-covid-origins-after-fbi-directors-statements

Saturday, March 4, 2023

Trump Promises "Quantum Leap" For A New America

 by Naveen Anthrapully via The Epoch Times,

Former President Donald Trump has revealed his dream for a new America ahead of the 2024 presidential race, promising to bring back the country’s boldness “in a very big way” and heralding a “quantum leap” in living standards.

Past generations of Americans pursued big dreams and daring projects that once seemed absolutely impossible. They pushed across an unsettled continent and built new cities in the wild frontier. They transformed American life with the interstate highway system, magnificent it was, and they launched a vast network of satellites into orbit all around the earth. But today, our country has lost its boldness. Under my leadership, we will get it back in a very big way,” Trump said in a video address released Friday.

“If you look at just three years ago, what we were doing was unthinkable. How good it was, how great it was for our country. Our objective will be a quantum leap in the American standard of living. That’s what will happen.”

Pointing out that a third of the American landmass is owned by the federal government, Trump noted that just a “very small portion of that land” amounting to “one-half of one percent” can be used to hold a contest to “charter up to 10 new cities and award them to the best proposals for development.”

“In other words, we’ll actually build new cities in our country again. These Freedom Cities will reopen the frontier, reignite American imagination, and give hundreds of thousands of young people and other people, all hard-working families, a new shot at home ownership and in fact the American dream.”

Transportation, Manufacturing

A “big opportunity” that Trump cites in the video is in the transportation sector. In the United States and China, numerous companies are “racing” to develop vertical takeoff and landing vehicles.

In the last century, it was the United States that led the automotive revolution. “I want to ensure that America, not China, leads the revolution in air mobility. These breakthroughs can transform commerce, bring a giant infusion of wealth into rural America, and connect families in our country in new ways,” Trump said.

An American company engaged in vertical takeoff vehicle development is California-based Wisk. Last January, Wisk announced that it had secured $450 million in funding from Boeing.

In August, San Jose-based Archer Aviation received a $10 million deposit from United Airlines for an order of 100 electric takeoff and landing air taxis.

Trump also proposed a “strategic national manufacturing initiative” that will turn “forgotten communities into hives of industry.” This will ensure that these communities produce goods that the United States will no longer have to import from China. The initiative is going to be “very, very successful.”

The American manufacturing sector is currently struggling through various challenges like inflation, talent scarcity, supply chain problems, and economic uncertainty.

“Manufacturers continue to grapple with talent challenges that may limit the industry’s growth momentum. Moreover, supply-chain issues, including sourcing bottlenecks, global logistics backlogs, cost pressures, and cyberattacks, will likely remain critical challenges in 2023,” Deloitte said in its 2023 manufacturing outlook report.

Lowering Costs, Other Initiatives

Trump also promised to introduce a “major initiative” to lower the cost of living, especially focusing on reducing the cost of a new car and the cost of building single-family homes.

Annual inflation has remained above 6 percent every single month since October 2021. New vehicle inflation has remained above 5 percent every month since June 2021.

The median sales price of homes in the country hit $467,000 in the fourth quarter, up 10. 4 percent from the same period a year back. The United States is estimated to be facing a shortage of 3.8 million to 5 million homes.

Trump also intends to ask Congress to support “baby bonuses” for young parents, a move he hopes will trigger a “baby boom.”

He promised to carry out a “great modernization and beautification campaign” in 50 states that will get rid of ugly buildings, refurbish public spaces and parks, ensure a pristine environment, make cities and towns more livable, and build “towering monuments to our true American heroes.”

“Very importantly, I will also make sure all of these new places are safe. We love and cherish our police. They will do the job the way they have to,” Trump said.

“It is time to start talking about greatness for our country again. I will dramatically increase living standards and build a future that brings our country together through excitement, opportunity, and success.”

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/trump-promises-quantum-leap-new-america

China says should advance 'peaceful reunification' with Taiwan

 Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said on Sunday the government should promote the peaceful development of relations with Taiwan and advance the process of China's "peaceful reunification" but also take resolute steps to oppose Taiwan independence.

China, which claims democratic Taiwan as its own territory, has increased its military activity near the island over the past three years, responding to what it calls "collusion" between Taipei and Washington, Taiwan's main international backer and arms supplier.

In August, China staged war games around Taiwan in response to a visit to Taipei by then-U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Speaking at the opening of the annual meeting of China's parliament, Li said Beijing stands by the "one China" principle, which states that Taiwan is part of China.

The government should implement our party's policy for "resolving the Taiwan question" and "take resolute steps to oppose Taiwan independence and promote reunification", he told the roughly 3,000 delegates at Beijing's enormous Great Hall of the People.

"We should promote the peaceful development of cross-Strait relations and advance the process of China's peaceful reunification."

Most Taiwanese people have shown no interest in being ruled by autocratic China.

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen has repeatedly offered talks with China, which have been rebuffed as Beijing believes her to be a separatist.

Taiwan's government strongly disputes Beijing's sovereignty claims, and says only the island's 23 million people can decide their future.

https://news.yahoo.com/china-says-advance-peaceful-reunification-012718621.html

Snowed-In And Terrified: Trapped California Mountain Residents Plea For Help

 by Jamie Joseph via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The historic storm that swept through California over the last week—prompting Gov. Gavin Newsom to declare a state of emergency March 1—has passed.

A vehicle is partially covered in snow, in the San Gabriel Mountains in San Bernardino County near Los Angeles County, in Mount Baldy, Calif., on Feb. 24, 2023. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Citing J&J's 'failure to comply' with court rules, judge nixes early bid to block Amgen's Stelara biosim

 Page limits and deadlines are precious things, especially during federal litigation over lucrative drug patents. Johnson & Johnson is learning that lesson the hard way.

After the company's "failure to comply" with court rules on page limits, a Delaware federal judge threw out the company's initial motion seeking to keep Amgen from making and selling its proposed Stelara copycat.

As J&J’s top-selling drug, Stelara brought home $6.39 billion in U.S. sales last year. But the antibody’s days are numbered: Aside from Amgen’s would-be copycat, biosimilars from Biocon Biologics and Alvotech could hit the U.S. market sometime in the second half of 2023.

In the Amgen patent case, District Judge Maryellen Noreika noted that J&J's lawyers requested lenience on the court's page limit only seven minutes before submitting an over-the-limit brief.

"The effect of this was that Plaintiff granted itself an extension without leave of Court and without respect for the Court and its rules," a docket entry states.

The company can refile the motion with a brief that “complies” with the court’s rules, which it will almost certainly will do, meaning the loss this week may ultimately be a blip on the radar. 

J&J sued Amgen back in November, alleging the latter company's plan to sell its biosimilar infringes two existing Stelara patents related to the drug’s active ingredient, plus methods of treatment in ulcerative colitis.

Amgen’s Stelara biosim has yet to win approval. J&J contends Amgen filed its biosimilar application with the FDA on or before Nov. 3, teeing up a potential decision date sometime in 2023’s second or third quarter.

J&J has been bracing for Stelara’s tumble off the patent cliff for several years now. As it stands, though, none of the copycat rivals in development have won an official FDA endorsement.

With the timeline for copycat encroachers still looking slightly murky, J&J’s chief financial officer Joe Wolk recently told investors he expected Stelara’s loss of exclusivity to set in by “late 2023.” 

https://www.fiercepharma.com/pharma/jjs-clerical-faux-pas-court-could-give-amgens-stelara-biosimilar-early

Another FBI Whistleblower Says He Was Forced To Inflate Domestic Terrorism Numbers

 Another FBI whistleblower has stepped forward to tell the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of Federal Government that the agency had him boost domestic terrorism figures by dividing cases into multiple subdivisions.

FBI Special Agent Garret O'Boyle from the Kansas City field office told Congressional investigators that the agency had him divide a single domestic terrorism case into "four different cases," so that the FBI could go to Congress and say "look at all the domestic terrorism we’ve investigated," Fox News reports.

"Where, really, I was working on one case," O'Boyle continued. "But, the FBI can then say, well, he actually had four, and so we need you to give us more money because look at how big of a threat all this domestic terrorism is."

He also said that the FBI created a specific threat tag for pro-lifers "THREATSCOTUS2022" amid the leak of the Supreme Court's opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Center - as opposed to the raging pro-abortionists nationwide.

According to O'Boyle, the threat tag was shifted and "began focusing on pro-life adherence."

"When this threat tag came out, it was like, why are you focusing on pro-life people?" he said in an interview reviewed by Fox News. "It’s pro-choice people who are the ones protesting or otherwise threatening violence in front of Supreme Court justices’ houses."

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/another-fbi-whistleblower-says-he-was-forced-inflate-domestic-terrorism-numbers