CBD reduces glioblastoma’s size, supportive environment in experimental model

 

Medical College of Georgia, December 27, 2021 Inhaled CBD shrinks the size of the highly aggressive, lethal brain tumor glioblastoma in an animal model by reducing the essential support of its microenvironment, researchers report. “We saw a significant reduction in the size of the tumor and its microenvironment was different,” Dr. Babak Baban, immunologist and associate dean for research at the Dental College of Georgia at Augusta University says, after only seven days of treatment. Researchers at DCG and the Medical College of Georgia say that the inhaler approach not only helped ensure the compound found in cannabis reached the brain, but that the method of delivery could, much like asthma inhalers, eventually be easily used by patients.

 

Breastfeeding reduces mothers’ cardiovascular disease risk, review found

 

University of Innsbruck (Austria), January 11, 2022 Women who breastfed were less likely to develop heart disease or a stroke, or die from cardiovascular disease than women who did not breastfeed, according to a meta-analysis published today in a pregnancy spotlight issue of the Journal of the American Heart Association (JAHA), an open access, peer-reviewed journal of the American Heart Association. Researchers reviewed health information from eight studies conducted between 1986 and 2009 in Australia, China, Norway, Japan and the U.S. and one multinational study. The review included health records for nearly 1.2 million women (average age 25 at first birth) and analyzed the relationship between breastfeeding and the mother’s individual cardiovascular risk. The review found: 82% of the women reported they had breastfed at some time in their life. Compared to women who never breastfed, women who reported breastfeeding during their lifetime had a 11% decreased risk of developing cardiovascular disease. Over an average follow-up period of 10 years, women who breastfed at some time in their life were 14% less likely to develop coronary heart disease; 12% less likely to suffer strokes; and 17% less likely to die from cardiovascular disease. Women who breastfed for 12 months or longer during their lifetime appeared to be less likely to develop cardiovascular disease than women who did not breastfeed. There were no notable differences in cardiovascular disease risk among women of different ages or according to the number of pregnancies.

 

Food-based probiotic may inhibit pneumonia-causing bacterial

 

Vanderbilt University, January 12, 2022 A probiotic found in foods such as yoghurt and miso soup has been found to inhibit the development of a pathogen that causes middle ear infections in children and pneumonia, a study has shown. The bacterial type, Corynebacterium accolens (C. accolens) is primarily found in the human gut, nose and skin. Studies revealed it could inhibit Streptococcus pneumoniae (S. pneumoniae), a common and infectious bacterial species and a pathogen that can lead to middle ear infections and meningitis. S. pneumoniae is also responsible for septicaemia and otitis media cases seen in children and adults worldwide. Probiotic bacteria such as C. accolens have been widely researched for immune-boosting properties, as well as their ability to help fight gut-related diseases such as inflammatory bowel syndrome and Crohn’s disease.

 

The art of being mentally healthy 

 

University of Western Australia  January 11, 2022 Researchers at The University of Western Australia have found that engagement in the arts for enjoyment, entertainment or as a hobby, for two or more hours a week, is associated with good mental wellbeing. The award-winning study, published in BMC Public Health, is the first internationally to quantify the relationship between mental wellbeing and arts engagement in the general population. Lead author Dr Christina Davies said whether a person preferred listening to music, reading, colouring, creative writing, watching movies or attending concerts, the knowledge that arts engagement positively impacts mental wellbeing was empowering.

 

Transcending the Delusions Institutional Control

 

Richard Gale and Gary Null PhD Progressive Radio Network, January 13, 2022 In his 1938 song Scottsboro Boys, blues artist Lead Belly warned us to remain alert, “stay woke”, as we pass through unfriendly and prejudiced lands and territories. “I advise everybody to be a little careful,” Lead Belly sang, “stay woke, keep your eyes open.” We need to become streetwise by critically evaluating everything. However the present woke generations appear to have entered a coma.  The most recent incarnation of wokeness is not an awakening of either consciousness or conscientiousness that respects the sacredness of life, other humans, and the animal and plant kingdoms. It has steered away from its early origins within the Black community when it was used to refer to a social and political awareness for racial and social injustices. The first modern use of the term “woke” first modern use goes back to a 1962 New York Times article by the Black author William Melvin Kelly in referring to being “well informed, up to date.”  To be woke requires critical thought and discernment.  It has more in common with an innate metacognitive knowing to distinguish between rightness and fraud. Now the term has been adopted by two entire generations, regardless of race, and politicized with almost an ontological unease to conquer and divide. Hence to be woke is to be anti-woke. Throughout human history hierarchical power has been abused to control those who are subject and dependent upon that power, such as the rule of kings, emperors and authoritarian tyrants. In addition, to meet our daily needs and to secure financial ease there are landowners, merchants and bankers. In all of these power relationships, equity is always on the side of those who hold power. At this moment our nation has reached an impasse where only a tiny group of individuals control and govern the lives of the many. The Canadian philosopher Marshall McLuhan wrote, “In a culture like ours, long accustomed to splitting and dividing all things as a means of control, it is sometimes a bit of a shock to be reminded that, in operational and practical fact, the medium is the message.” McLuhan is suggesting that the masses have the tendency to focus on what is most obvious and consequently miss or ignore the deeper and more subtle changes unfolding over a period of time.  In other words, what may seem to be correct and just on the surface may eventually bring forth deleterious or “unintended” consequences. McLuhan wrote long before the internet. Today, presidential campaigns and federal laws, public health policies, the mainstream media and corporate entertainment are the conduits for how we define ourselves. They also define and set the boundaries for the dogmatic beliefs we ultimately identify with. But all of these narratives are controlled by a handful of power players, including the social media platforms such as Google, Facebook, YouTube and Wikipedia. Succumbing to the siren’s call of this illusion is being woke with closed eyes. There is a saying that if you do not know the product being advertised you are the product; and this is certainly true for how millions of Americans are persuaded to purchase junk they have no need for. Our personal realities thereby are reduced to millions of bits of algorithmic data that know more about us than we know about ourselves.  We are sold on the promises of 5G technology despite the media never mentioning its serious dangers to human health and the environment. The risks of genetically modified foods and vaccination are censored from public discourse. Federal agencies that begin small and are believed to be temporary, such as Homeland Security, become permanent and unstoppable leviathans that encroach into every corner of our lives. At this moment, we are being instructed that our sole attention should be to get a Covid-19 vaccine and boosters so life can return to normal. This may sound reasonable. However, hidden beneath this message’s surface has been a sophisticated effort to bypass and trash essential regulatory protective measures to assure the safety of these genetic products. Now that all world governments’ health policies have utterly failed to contain the spread of SARS-CoV-2 variants, such as Delta and Omicron, more and more doctors and medical experts around the world are coming forth to say we have been deceptively misled by the Ministry of Truth’s Anthony Fauci-s and Bill Gates-s of the world.  Yet their voices are being canceled and censored by Silicon Valley and social media as are professors speaking against student demands for personal entitlement and the anti-woke White Fragility diatribe that condemns genetic whiteness as racist. Students would prefer college to be sanitized of critical thought, a pleasant, non-intrusive and safe environment filled with teddy bears and psychologists next door to drug their episodes of existential angst and purposelessness in life. As the pandemic hijacks our attention, global warming increases. Over twenty percent of Americans will go to sleep hungry tonight. Those with cancer, heart disease, diabetes and dementia are told to just hang on a bit longer; a blockbuster pharmaceutical cure is just around the corner.  But for decades, this carrot has been dangled before us and has yet to come to fruition. Everything today is its opposite. The blue and red pills have been pulverized together. Only a purple pill laced with the strychnine of lies and half-truths is offered by an unduly legislative system run by technocrats and their private financial handlers. Woke and anti-woke are indistinguishable since both are born from similarly delusional worldviews divorced from reality, neither being capable of observing the preciousness and fragility of human life. It is only the rare authentic progressive who has transcended this divide and can wisely observe the battlefields orchestrated by politically motivated ideologues, aristocrats and the media. As the US spins further into a controlled dystopia, it is difficult to imagine that this trajectory towards social decay can be easily reversed. Arthur Miller said, “an era can be said to end when its basic illusions are exhausted.”  Therefore, we still have a long way to go and it may require a full system-failure at all economic and social levels before a viable and realistic effort can restore what has been lost from the ethical wasteland left in its wake. It took Rome several centuries to collapse but we are on course to accomplish this feat within a decade. To remain optimistic, therefore, requires a rejection of the dominant Social Darwinism and the specter of what Thomas Huxley called the Church Scientific that now informs both parties and that have shackled us in a fatalist purgatory or worse Dante’s hells of lust, gluttony and greed. The evangelical Christian Right — science’s counterrevolutionary reactive response — is equally a contributor to the dumbing down of the nation’s sanity with fairy tales and superstition. Our indoctrination into scientific materialism, our surrendering our autonomy and divine freedoms to political and corporate regimes, and the clashes over political correctness, that disempower us from believing we can change our conditions, has created a sense of hopelessness in life and growing existential despair.  The consequences, particularly for the younger generations, have been an outburst of psychological maladies, ADD and ADHD, depression and anxiety, and rising suicide rates. It is also contributing to the unbridled frenzy of hatred across the internet.  Ideological beliefs become dogmas based upon mental afflictions, which in turn drive our emotions, fears and hatreds and reactions. No wonder pessimism is on the rise and optimism is in decline. Only a personal encounter with a deeper purpose and meaning in life, which cuts through the tyranny of our false sense of the self or ego, can ultimately guide us to rise above the turmoil and crises facing us. This does not imply a detached disinterest, an ascetic renunciation, from the plights of our neighbors and humanity. But it does demand an introspective inquiry into ourselves to discover authentic kindness, compassion and a deeper connection with others so authentic well-being and genuine happiness can emerge.  It is a commitment to finding our interconnection, in fact our interdependence, with others in the spirit of selflessness and service. So if modern American society relies solely upon mental and emotional distraction to survive, clearly there is no hope for constructive solutions to emerge to confront the roots of climate change, racism, identity politics, inequality, etc. Nor will society evolve beyond that of primates if we can only function from our reptilian and limbic brains. Obviously not everyone will discover the same purpose in his or her quest for life’s meaning. It is an individual quest that is largely entwined with each of our unique gifts, skills, passions and talents that we have brought into this incarnation. Those who disagree that one can discover meaning in life are the dogmatists of materialism and should be shunned. Logic and reason alone will not satisfy this discovery; although developing skills in critical thought and discernment is more often than not necessary. It is only the rare person who has immediate intuitive knowledge about herself and the world around her. For the remainder of us, we need to educate ourselves to have a roadmap, develop a discerning eye, and engage in deep introspection into ourselves to find the purpose of our lives. It is an individual journey that begins deep within ourselves and ends by embracing others in community despite the differences. However this is not an exercise in reason, but a direct experience within the depths of ourselves. When we touch on that place that can only be reached by subjective introspection new horizons of opportunities and possibilities open up. Then we can understand the words of the great jazz artist John Coltrane, “I know that there are bad forces, forces that bring suffering to others and misery to the world, but I want to be the opposite force. I want to be the force which is truly for good.” In that honoring of our inherent goodness, genuine well-being and happiness is found and only then can our illusions and dogmatic beliefs be surrendered.

 

Can We Transcend COVID? Some Perspectives On Mass Psychology – OpEd 

 

Diane Perlman PhD, Eurasia Review  January 11, 2022 Mass psychology theories that shed new light are becoming popular. I will make an imperfect attempt to apply the TRANSCEND Method of Analysis, Diagnosis, Prognosis and Therapy. The ultimate analysis must integrate dimensions beyond this article including political, economic, hidden agendas of Big Pharma, Big Tech, Big Media, the Great Reset, transhumanism, surveillance, and control by global forces, known and unknown (“Mr. Global”). Context: Dominant Narrative Exaggerating Threats, Fear, and Hate For deep context, consider that the Amish in Pennsylvania, insulated from media and government, achieved herd immunity to Covid by May, 2020 without social distancing, lockdowns, masks or vaccines, and had the most profitable year ever. Otherwise, the US propaganda campaign framed Covid as a “pandemic of the unvaccinated,” inciting hysteria, blame, coercion, and ostracism. The dominant narrative seems irrefutably true. Leaving out entire bodies of knowledge, it promotes a superficial belief that masking, distancing, lockdowns and “vaccines” are the only responses. Italian philosopher, Antonio Gramsci described how the ruling class wields “invisible power” by manipulating ideology, beliefs, values and social norms. Incurious people, ignorant of facts, uncritically accept their worldview as a natural, inevitable, beneficial cultural norm. This resonates with R.D. Laing’ mystification, a“plausible misrepresentation” of reality. “By representing forms of exploitation as forms of benevolence, the exploiters bemuse the exploited into feeling at one with their exploiters, or into feeling gratitude for what (unrealized by them) is their exploitation, and, not least, into feeling bad or mad even to think of rebellion.” Mystification maintains stereotyped roles by masking truth with false constructions of what is actually happening and what a conflict is actually about, though people may not feel confused. In fact, they may feel quite assured of their position. Laing concluded that “before enlightened action can be taken, the issues have to be demystified.” The dominant narrative is portrayed as an absolute, undeniable truth accepted by all sane people. Those who challenge it are stupid, crazy and dangerous and must be convinced or punished. The US spent $10 billion on messaging, hiring behavioral scientists to convince the “vaccine hesitant,” with rewards and punishments. DIAGNOSIS Mattias Desmet, psychology professor at Belgium’s Ghent University, with a master’s in statistics, is on a meteoric rise to superstardom. He is deservedly the darling of many questioning the narrative including world renowned doctors – Dr. Robert Malone, inventor of the mRNA technology and Dr. Peter McCullough, the most published doctor in his field, cardiorenal medicine, in the world, in history. Desmet was puzzled by failed predictions used to justify draconian policies. After 6 months observing irrational policies, Desmet shifted to his work on totalitarianism which emerges when social conditions conducive to exploitation are met, including: Social Isolation – lack of social bonds, community, loneliness Experiencing life as meaningless, senseless– meaningless work, disengagement Free-floating anxiety, not attached to a mental representation like fear of a lion Free floating frustration and pent-up aggression I add unrelenting stress, fear, humiliation, envy, grief, betrayal, unpredictability, dread, insecurity, financial devastation, educational setbacks, inferiority, domestic abuse, trauma, helplessness, vulnerability, dashed hopes, and having one’s entire social fabric ripped away. Intolerable psychic pain threatens to turn into panic, generating an overwhelming urge for relief. A transformation occurs when “under these conditions, a narrative, a story is distributed through the mass media indicating an object of anxiety, and at the same time, providing a strategy to deal with this object of anxiety.” This intoxicating narrative enables people to feel connected in a “heroic struggle with the object of anxiety,” simultaneously providing meaning, a new kind of solidarity, a channel for pent-up aggression and “a huge willingness to participate in this strategy to deal with this object of anxiety because in this way, people feel they can control their anxiety and social discontent.” Mass formation overtakes individuality. 3 groups emerge, approximately * 30% are hypnotized, fully committed to the galvanizing narrative * 40% with doubts go along out of fear, social pressure, and conformity. * 20 – 30% are immune to propaganda. Risking dehumanization, retaliation, and censorship, they calculate when and where to speak out. When safe, the 40% will shift towards the truth-tellers. The immune group is extremely heterogenous. PROGNOSIS Transcending Covid requires awakening from mass hypnosis and withdrawing participation in predatory institutions. Favorable Indicators include: Desmet’s claim that totalitarianism ultimately self-destructs and devours its own Overconfident zealous dominators made fatal errors, are panicking and becoming unhinged People will resist overreaching mandates, lockdown, boosters, passports, violations of autonomy and rights The unhypnotized are connecting, collaborating, speaking up The 40% are waking up Those witnessing “vaccine” failures, injuries and deaths are painfully awakening New evidence of fraud threatens to override “vaccine” manufacturers’ immunity to liability Many lawsuits are in progress and Nuremberg 2.0 Mild Omicron may offer a way out

 

PCR Tests Have Served Their Purpose in the Covid “Crisis”, They’re Now Being Cancelled – Everywhere

 

The Expose, January 7, 2022 On 7 July 2021 the CDC updated their “Instructions for Use” of RT-PCR Covid tests.   This was the exact date the CDC notified clinical laboratories and testing sites performing Covid testing of the withdrawal of Emergency Use Authorisation (“EUA”) from 31 December 2021 and to begin a transition to another FDA-authorised Covid test. After almost two years of incorrect and fraudulent use of the PCR test, there seems to be a worldwide Government campaign to stop its use. Here are some examples: “Canadians seeking a COVID-19 PCR test in recent days may have faced long line-ups at testing centres and a shortage of appointment slots as demand has risen amid the spread of the Omicron variant.” – CTV News, 26 December 2021 “Changes made to PCR testing guidance amid record demand [in Northern Ireland].  The Public Health Agency said it had issued new protocols to help ensure ‘the continued and targeted delivery of the service’.” – Belfast Telegraph, 29 December 2021 “A widespread shortage of PCR tests across the devolved nations was due to an administrative error, the First Minister of Scotland has said.” – Belfast Telegraph, 29 December 2021 “Asymptomatic people who test positive in Wales no longer required to have PCR test.” – ITV, 5 January 2022 “From today, people in NI who get a positive lateral flow test should presume that they have Covid-19 and that they are infectious – a PCR test will no longer be required to confirm the result.” – 4NI, 5 January 2022 “Boris scraps extra Covid testing rules in drive to stop Omicron shutting down the economy … And people testing positive after a lateral flow test do not have to have a PCR confirmation.” – Daily Express, 6 January 2022 “The need for PCR tests has now changed [in Scotland] in a bid to relieve pressure in test centres and labs.” – Daily Record, 6 January 2022 “Australians are no longer required to get a PCR test to confirm their COVID-positive result.” – ABC Net, 6 January 2022

 

Covid: Quebec to impose health tax on unvaccinated Canadians

 

BBC NEWS, JANUARY 11, 2022 The Canadian province of Quebec will charge a health tax to residents who are not vaccinated against Covid-19. Quebec, which has seen the highest number of Covid-related deaths in Canada, is currently struggling with a surge in cases. On Tuesday, the premier announced that it would be the first in the nation to financially penalize the unvaccinated. According to federal data, just over 85% of Quebec residents had received at least one vaccine dose by 1 January. Premier Francois Legault said during a news conference that people who have not received their first dose of vaccine will have to pay a “contribution”. The fee has not yet been decided, but will be “significant”, he said. Hospitals in Montreal, the province’s largest city, are nearing 100% capacity and have already started limiting non-Covid related care. Starting later this month, Greeks over age 60 are being required to pay a €100 (£85; C$142; $113) fine for each month that they remain unvaccinated. Singapore has required Covid patients to pay for their own medical bills if they are not vaccinated.

 

LA Times Columnist Says Mocking Anti-Vaxxers Deaths is “Necessary”

 

Original article called for ‘dancing on the graves of anti-vaxxers’

Summit News, January 11, 2022

 

The Los Angeles Times published an article by columnist Michael Hiltzik which says mocking the deaths of anti-vaxxers is “necessary”.

 

The first incarnation was called ‘Why Shouldn’t We Dance On The Graves of Anti-Vaxxers?’

 

The headline was changed to ‘Mocking anti-vaxxers’ deaths is ghoulish, yes — but necessary’.

 

Its final incarnation is now published as ‘Mocking anti-vaxxers’ COVID deaths is ghoulish, yes — but may be necessary’.

 

Imagine if people who campaigned against mandatory vaccinations mocked the deaths of people who died from vaccine side-effects? They’d be treated as monsters by the media, as should Michael Hiltzik for his disgusting diatribe.