Slimmer passengers would mean less fuel needed for flights
If flyers lose 10 pounds, United saves $80 million: Jefferies
Airlines and planemakers obsess about reducing jet-fuel consumption by constantly finding new ways to reduce aircraft weight. They may have new allies in Ozempic and other similar slimming medications.
United Airlines Holdings Inc. would save $80 million a year if the average passenger weight falls by 10 pounds, Sheila Kahyaoglu, a Jefferies Financial analyst, estimated in a report Friday. Her work was part of a broader Jefferies analysis of public enthusiasm for the drug and potential beneficiaries of its use.
A new report from the right-leaning Media Research Center concludes that Google is burying search results for 2024 presidential candidates, but an expert in search engine optimization has suggested it's unlikely.
According to various tests conducted by MRC and Just the News, the online visibility of these sites in generic searches for the GOP’s 2024 bench is practically nil, and not significantly better for RFK Jr., Biden's primary challenge on the left.
Google's search engine failed to produce even-handed results in multiple searches performed by MRC Free Speech America over the course of a week prior to today's Republican presidential primary debate. Researchers broadly searched for “presidential campaign websites” as well as two additional searches specifying the party affiliation of the candidates. When MRC searched for “republican presidential campaign websites,” only two candidates’ websites appeared on the first page in the search results — a Democrat candidate and a Republican who is polling at less than half a percent. -MRC
Both MRC and Senator Ted Cruz claim this is unambiguous proof of Google's bias.
"Google is either the most incompetent search engine on the planet, or it is intentional. This is not a coincidence," states Dan Schneider, MRC Free Speech America Vice President, following the group’s extensive analysis of search tests conducted between September 20 and 25.
In 2018, Trump accused Google of "rigging" search results against him.
Google responded at the time, saying that "Search is not used to set a political agenda and we don’t bias our results toward any political ideology."
In 2021, the Daily Mail sued Google for 'illegally building its dominance in ad tech industry by harming rivals, bid-rigging on ad auctions and manipulating news search results."
And of course, former Alphabet Chairman Eric Schmidt - who said the Trump administration would do "evil things" - was an advisor to the 2016 Clinton campaign.
A simple matter of SEO?
While the evidence certainly looks damning, Just the News spoke with Eric Goldman, an SEO researcher and co-director of Santa Clara University's High Tech Law Institute, who proposed several benign possibilities to explain these search anomalies. Goldman argues for the necessity of a comprehensive academic study into search engine indexing and ordering, terming MRC’s tests an “advocacy stunt”.
"Search engine indexing and ordering is the kind of topic that would benefit from a proper academic study, not an advocacy stunt," he said.
Yet, Google also told Just the News that it couldn't explain the replicated results until Friday.
Meanwhile, Google, the world’s dominant search engine, is grappling with a Justice Department antitrust trial. The company's explanations of its search dominance have raised eyebrows, bringing more scrutiny upon its practices. With accusations flying, former Psychology Today editor-in-chief Robert Epstein states, "Google poses a serious threat to democracy."
COVID-19 vaccine was detected in patients who died within a month of vaccination, according to a new study.
U.S. researchers analyzed tissue samples from the autopsies of 25 people, including 20 who were vaccinated.
Samples from the hearts of three patients, all of whom died within 30 days of a Pfizer shot, tested positive for messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA).
Eight bilateral axillary lymph node samples, from people who died within 30 days of a Moderna or Pfizer vaccine, also tested positive. The companies' shots utilize mRNA.
The research shows "the vaccine can persist for up to 30 days, including in the heart," Dr. James Stone, with the departments of pathology at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, told The Epoch Times via email.
The study was published by npj Vaccines. Authors declared no conflicts of interest. They said the research was supported by Massachusetts General Hospital, which is in Boston.
In testing of heart and bilateral axillary lymph node tissues from other vaccinated people who died, no vaccine was detected.
Additionally, no vaccine was detected in the liver, spleen, or mediastinal lymph nodes—vaccine was detected in the liver and spleen in preclinical rodent studies before—nor was any detected in tissues from the unvaccinated patients.
The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are known to cause myocarditis, a form of heart inflammation that can result in death.
The people who had mRNA detected in the heart did not have myocarditis, though they did have detectable heart injuries, researchers found.
The researchers said they believed the heart injuries stemmed from underlying diseases and not the vaccines.
"There is no indication as yet that the vaccine in the heart is causing any problems in these patients; neither the causes of death nor the causes of the myocardial injury were linked to the vaccines in that study," said Dr. Stone, one of the authors of the paper.
A health care worker prepares a dose Pfizer/BioNTEch COVID-19 vaccine at The Michener Institute, in Toronto, Canada, on Dec.14, 2020. (Carlos Osorio/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
That position was challenged by Dr. Clare Craig, a British pathologist who reviewed the research.
"The vaccine should not have been there. There was evidence of heart damage. Those three people are now dead," Dr. Craig told The Epoch Times in a message.
She said the researchers were setting too high of a bar for causality.
"At postmortem if there is significant narrowing of the coronary arteries then heart damage is attributed to it on the balance of probabilities. Here this is a clear cut association, an unusual picture of myocardial injury, and a failure to call it out for what it is," Dr. Craig said.
More on Research
The tissues were collected from autopsies performed between January 2021 and February 2022 at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Researchers excluded tissues from some dead people, including from patients who had no clear history of vaccination or non-vaccination and those who had a documented prior COVID-19 infection.
The researchers wanted to test the tissue for vaccine in light of research that has found both spike protein and mRNA persisting in axillary lymph nodesandblood for weeks or even months after vaccination. The testing would help "gain a better understanding of the biodistribution and persistence of SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines," they said. SARS-CoV-2 is the virus that causes COVID-19.
Researchers ended up with tissues from 20 vaccinated patients, including six who received one dose, 12 who received two doses, and two who received three doses. They also formed a control group of five unvaccinated patients.
Six bilateral axillary lymph node samples were available for people vaccinated with Moderna's shot. Two tested positive for the vaccine. Thirteen were available for people vaccinated with Pfizer's shot. Six tested positive for the vaccine.
Overall, of the 11 bilateral axillary lymph node samples from patients who died within 30 days of a shot, eight tested positive. None of the samples from patients who died beyond 30 days of vaccination tested positive.
Researchers also examined samples from each of the vaccinated people from the cardiac left ventricle and cardiac right ventricle. Of those, four samples tested positive across three patients. These were the three who received Pfizer's shot within 30 days of dying. The samples also tested negative for COVID-19.
Vaccine was not detected in any of the unvaccinated people.
The vaccinated patients were on average older, with a mean age of 64 compared to 57. A higher percentage—55 percent to 20 percent—had recent heart injury.
Retail money-market fund inflows continued last week and usage of The Fed's emergency funding facility for banks remains at record highs, as shrinkage of The Fed's balance sheet continues.
Tonight, all eyes are on the bank deposits for more worries, and on a seasonally-adjusted basis, total deposits jumped $49BN last week (the biggest inflow since May)...
But, on a non-seasonally-adjusted basis, total deposits plunged $85BN last week (the biggest drop since July)...
Source: Bloomberg
Which means the gap between surging money-market fund assets and bank deposits continues to grow...
Source: Bloomberg
For the last two weeks, the SA and NSA data has 'agreed' on its direction... but not this week as The Fed's utter fuckery turned a massive $92BN domestic US bank deposit outflow into a $36BN deposit inflow...
Source: Bloomberg
On an NSA basis, Large banks saw $66BN of outflows (SA $26BN inflows), Small banks saw $26BN outflows (SA $9.1BN inflows), and Foreign banks saw $7,3BN inflows (SA $13BN inflows)...
Source: Bloomberg
The gap between SA and NSA deposit losses since the SVB Crisis is now over $150BN...
Source: Bloomberg
On the other side of the ledger, large banks saw loan volumes decline (odd given the $26BN inflows SA) while small banks saw loan volumes jump $8.2BN...
Source: Bloomberg
The key warning sign continues to trend lower (Small Banks' reserve constraint), supported above the critical level by The Fed's emergency funds (for now)...
Source: Bloomberg
Finally, last week we suggested the gap between large bank and small bank deposits may mean its time for another small bank failure so JPMorgan can soak up some more cheap deposits... and sure enough, Jamie Dimon hinted that the banking crisis was not over...
"The problem of interest rate exposure was known to everyone. I do not think we want a system where no bank ever fails. So, having a bunch of failures is not a terrible thing. But if it causes havoc in the system, we have to modify regulations to stop that from happening."
After an ugly month and even uglier quarter, we sure hope these banks are making plans to fill the $108BN hole in their balance sheets they are filling with expensive Fed loans.
It is possible that the far left sociopaths running most major American cities have finally had enough?
That could be the case in Philadelphia, where hours after large portions of downtown were ransacked and looted as part of "protests", the city's town council voted to ban safe injection sites from opening up in the city.
Councilmember Quetcy Lozada told CBS Philadelphia, who reported the decision: "This is a ban on being able to put a center like this one in a community."
"This bill puts the decision in the hands of people, the people who live there and would be directly impacted by it," Lozada added.
The bill "creates a zoning rule in nine of 10 city districts prohibiting the sites", CBS Philadelphia reported. The 14-1 vote overrode a veto by far left Mayor Jim Kenney, the article says.
Now, organizations would have to get a zoning variance for such a facility, and that would require community approval, the report says.
But the ban wasn't without its opponents, with some in the city coming before the city council to argue the need for such sites.
Holiday Davis, of the Soul Collective (whatever that means), stated: "Overdose prevention sites offer an opportunity to bring those activities inside, offer safe disposal of needles and other litter, and offer pathways to medical care and drug treatment. And most importantly, save lives."
Kensington resident Moses Santana added: "It's gonna get people off the streets. It's going to get people out of the park, get needles off the street, get people into treatment."
Councilmember Jim Harrity was one of several to retort, stating: "The way we do that is through long-term recovery. Not giving them a space where they can continue to harm themselves."
Lozada concluded: "Push for enforcement in that community. We need to bring back the conversation of prevention and recovery."
A revolt against government policies that many say usurp parental authority is spreading across the nation—especially in blue states where lawmakers have promoted transgender ideology and "gender-affirming care"—according to parents, attorneys, and teachers.
For more than a year, California parents have shown up in droves at legislative hearings and phoned in by the hundreds to protest policies that encourage schools to keep social gender transitions of children secret. Teachers also have begun to refuse to hide information about a child's gender identity from parents.
Meanwhile, Democratic members of the California Legislative LGBTQ Caucus have spearheaded legislation supporting so-called gender-affirming care, especially for children, touting it as a “first-in-the-nation” model.
Parental rights groups such as Our Duty have pushed back against the model, while groups such as Planned Parenthood, Equality California, and others support it.
California school districts claim that they’re required by law to keep gender transitions secret from parents unless a child wants to tell his or her parents. But recent court rulings tell a different story.
Landmark Case
A federal judge on Sept. 14 blocked California's Escondido Union School District from punishing two teachers who refused to comply with guidance issued by the California Department of Education that encourages educators to keep gender transitions of students secret from their parents.
Judge Roger T. Benitez granted a preliminary injunction (pdf) against the state and the Escondido Union School District stating the policy is unconstitutional.
The teachers, Elizabeth Mirabelli and Lori Ann West, claimed the state and district violated their constitutional and religious rights. They were both placed on paid administrative leave after their lawsuit was filed in April but are negotiating with the district to get back to work in the classroom.
(L–R) Teacher Lori Ann West, attorney Paul Jonna, and teacher Elizabeth Mirabelli. A federal judge on Sept. 14 blocked a school district in Escondido, Calif., from punishing the two teachers for refusing to keep gender transitions of students secret from their parents. (Courtesy of Paul Jonna)
The teachers told The Epoch Times that gender transitions among girls at their middle school are a “social experiment” that has become a social contagion.
When the girls go to the school counselors they get "so much praise and affirming” and are celebrated as “brave” and “honest,” Ms. West said.
“It’s only girls at our school. They eat it up. They get so much attention. They see one kid gets this, and they kind of follow along. It’s infecting them. It’s spreading.”
Until recently, it was rare to have even one child identify as transgender, but it's becoming much more common, Ms. West said.
“I had seven girls in one class that wanted to be trans all of a sudden,” she said.
Ms. Mirabelli said gender transitions are “trending” in California public schools.
California State Superintendent of Schools Tony Thurmond reads from a book in the LGBTQ+ genre to students at Nystrom Elementary School in Richmond, Calif., on May 17, 2022. Thousands of LGBTQ+ books from Gender Nation were donated to 234 elementary schools in nine California districts. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
“Schools are now the social engineer,” she said. “They’re socially transitioning children, and as they move through the social transition, the next level is, of course, the medical transition.
“We can’t just stand by while all this is going on.
“I had a trans kid in my class. This kid was a fantastic student, one of my favorites—worked hard, good grades, well-behaved. We had a great relationship. I knew that little girl was not a boy, and in the not-too-distant future she looked in the mirror and said, ‘Hey, I’m pretty. Wait a minute.”
Ms. Mirabelli said she wants no part of putting children on a “conveyor belt” toward puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and eventually surgical transitions that they might regret later in life.
“These kids are 10, 11, and 12 years old. They’re in the throes of adolescence. We’ve been teaching adolescent children for decades. We’ve seen it all. We know that they go through a lot,” she said.
To get to the bottom of why gender transitions are trending, she said, “Follow the money.”
The so-called sex reassignment surgery market reached $2.1 billion last year in the United States and is expected to more than double to $5 billion by 2030, according to a 2022 report by business consulting firm Grand View Research. More research released by Acute Market Reports indicates that North America holds at least half of the global market share for so-called sex reassignment surgeries.
According to the Gender Mapping Project, there were only “a handful” of gender clinics for children operating in North America a decade ago, but there are now more than 400 involved in what has become a multibillion-dollar industry, even as parts of Europe move away from the “affirmative care” model.
A girl undergoes a transgender medical procedure, in a still from the documentary “Gender Transformation.” (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)
'Required' Guidance
Paul Jonna, a Thomas More Society attorney representing the teachers, told The Epoch Times that the ruling in favor of the teachers is significant.
“This ruling could really set the framework for how this issue should be analyzed, not just in California, but everywhere,” he said.
The state issued “very misleading” guidance in the form of an FAQ page to every school district in the state asserting that parental exclusion is required by California law under privacy rights for children and that it was required to keep students safe, he said.
“They said it was nonbinding guidance, but they used words like ‘required’ and ‘must,’ and basically every school district interpreted it as binding,” Mr. Jonna said. “The [district] was convinced it was binding and said so at the hearing ... but in fact, this was not mandatory.”
The judge, he said, was deeply troubled over inconsistent positions that the state has taken and grilled state attorneys in the four-hour hearing on whether the policy was backed by law.
“So, which is it?” the judge asked, according to the court transcript. “Is the FAQ binding on the school district or not?”
Eventually, state attorneys agreed that the policy isn't binding and doesn’t compel school districts to enact the rule.
“The statist notion that governmental power should supersede parental authority in all cases because some parents abuse and neglect children is repugnant to American tradition,” Judge Benitez said, quoting the 1979 Supreme Court case Parham v. J.R.
He added: “Isn’t that precisely what your rules does? ... It basically says that all parents are presumed to be the enemy if the child simply says, ‘I don’t want my parents to know.’”
The judge asked why parents, who are ultimately legally responsible for the care and nurturing of their children, are “cut out.”
Lexeo Therapeutics, a Phase 1 biotech developing gene therapies for cardio and neuro diseases, filed on Friday with the SEC to raise up to $100 million in an initial public offering.
Lexeo Therapeutics is a genetic medicine company focused on fundamentally changing how disease is treated by pioneering science. The company's most advanced cardiovascular candidate, LX2006, is being developed for Friedreich's ataxia (FA) cardiomyopathy and is currently being evaluated in an ongoing Phase 1/2 trial. It expects to report additional interim data from this trial in mid-2024. Lexeo's lead Alzheimer's disease candidate, LX1001, is being developed for the treatment of APOE4 homozygous patients with Alzheimer's disease and is in an ongoing Phase 1/2 trial. It expects to complete enrollment in the trial by the end of 2023 and report additional interim data from all cohorts in the Phase 1/2 trial in the 2H24.
The New York, NY-based company was founded in 2017 and booked $1 million in grant revenue for the 12 months ended June 30, 2023. It plans to list on the Nasdaq under the symbol LXEO. Lexeo Therapeutics filed confidentially on February 4, 2022. J.P. Morgan, Leerink Partners, Stifel, and RBC Capital Markets are the joint bookrunners on the deal. No pricing terms were disclosed.
