Read on for details.

By Steven Nelson

WASHINGTON — Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas set off outrage Wednesday when he told reporters that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) “does not have the funds” to see Americans through the rest of this Atlantic hurricane season — after the agency spent more than $1.4 billion since the fall of 2022 to address the migrant crisis.

“We are meeting the immediate needs with the money that we have,” Mayorkas said during a press gaggle on Air Force One en route to tour damage from Hurricane Helene in South and North Carolina.

“We are expecting another hurricane hitting,” he added. “We do not have the funds. FEMA does not have the funds to make it through the season and what — what is imminent.”

Critics pointed out that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) allocated $640.9 million this year in FEMA-administered funds to aid state and local governments coping with the influx of asylum seekers — though Mayorkas’ office fired back late Thursday, insisting that those funds couldn’t be used for hurricane relief because Congress authorized them specifically for the migrant crisis.

“This is easy. Mayorkas and FEMA — immediately stop spending money on illegal immigration resettlement and redirect those funds to areas hit by the hurricane. Put Americans first,” Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott tweeted Wednesday in response to the DHS chief.

“Yeah!” agreed Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X and CEO of Tesla and SpaceX.

Abbott is a top critic of Mayorkas’ mass parole of asylum seekers into the US after President Biden repudiated former President Donald Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy — with the governor busing migrants to Democrat-led jurisdictions such as New York City, forcing local budget cuts to house them.

Over two years, more than $1.4 billion has been committed from FEMA-administered programs to support non-federal entities that are taking care of migrants.

DHS allocated $780 million for the migrant crisis last year initially through the FEMA Emergency Food and Shelter Program, which funds relief not associated with natural disasters, and then through the new FEMA Shelter and Services Program, which was authorized in late 2022 by Congress to respond to the migrant crisis.

The $640.9 million spent this year comes solely from the Shelter and Services Program.

“These claims are completely false,” DHS said in a statement Thursday to Fox News following the Republican outcry.

“As Secretary Mayorkas said, FEMA has the necessary resources to meet the immediate needs associated with Hurricane Helene and other disasters. The Shelter and Services Program (SSP) is a completely separate, appropriated grant program that was authorized and funded by Congress and is not associated in any way with FEMA’s disaster-related authorities or funding streams.”

It’s unclear if federal officials have the power to redirect migrant-focused funds to natural disaster victims.

The original program from which migrant funds flowed aimed to alleviate homelessness — with 1983 legislation setting up the Emergency Food and Shelter Program and calling for “projects and activities in civil jurisdictions with high unemployment, or in labor surplus areas, or in political units or in pockets of poverty.”

The December 2022 funding bill authorizing the split-off program for spending on migrants vaguely described the purpose as for “providing shelter and other services to families and individuals encountered by the Department of Homeland Security.”

A relatively paltry $4 million has been paid directly to families and individuals in the week since Hurricane Helene ravaged the Southeast, killing at least 202 people and causing severe flooding damage from Florida to North Carolina, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Thursday.

Those funds are from a $10 million FEMA allocation that allows storm victims grants of $750 for groceries.

Biden said Wednesday during an operational briefing on Hurricane Helene in North Carolina that “It’s going to cost billions of dollars to deal with this storm and all the communities affected. And Congress has an obligation to ensure the states have the resources they need.”

The lack of available FEMA funds stoked outrage among congressional Republicans, who are not due back in session until after Election Day.

“The Biden-Harris administration took more than a billion tax dollars that had been allocated to FEMA for disaster relief and used it to house illegal aliens,” fumed Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio). “Now, they’ve abandoned American hurricane victims in North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, and Tennessee.”

[…]

Via https://nypost.com/2024/10/03/us-news/feds-say-theres-no-money-left-to-respond-to-hurricanes-after-fema-used-640-9m-this-year-on-migrants/

A new analysis of over 200,000 U.S. children’s health records suggests that mRNA COVID-19 vaccination increases children’s risk of asthma, Alex Berenson reported Tuesday.

Berenson, a former New York Times reporter who now reports on his Unreported Truths Substack, revealed communications with Taiwanese researchers showing they found “striking evidence” that the shots themselves may cause asthma, which leads to lung damage.

Asthma is a chronic lung disease affecting nearly 5 million U.S. children, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). While usually not fatal, severe asthma attacks can be life-threatening in children, according to the Mayo Clinic.

The Taiwanese researchers’ analysis — which the researchers are still reviewing — used electronic medical records from TriNetX, which touts itself as the “largest global source of real-world data.”

The study authors looked at TriNetX’s health data from over 200,000 U.S. kids ages 5 to 18 between Jan. 1, 2021, and Dec. 31, 2022.

According to Berenson, they found that children who received a COVID-19 mRNA shot and who had not had a natural COVID-19 infection had a 13% higher risk of receiving a new asthma diagnosis in the year after their vaccination when compared to a matched group of children who didn’t get a COVID-19 shot or infection.

“That increased risk cannot be due to Covid, since neither group was infected,” Berenson wrote.

When the researchers compared vaccinated versus unvaccinated children — all of whom also were diagnosed with a COVID-19 infection — they found an even higher risk.

Berenson reported that children who had both a COVID-19 mRNA shot and a COVID-19 infection had a 20% higher risk of a new asthma diagnosis than a similar group of unvaccinated kids who had a COVID-19 infection.

Because the study is not a randomized prospective trial it does not prove that the mRNA COVID-19 shots caused the extra asthma cases, Berenson said.

“But the researchers closely matched two very large groups,” he wrote, “and the association they found is almost certainly not due to chance.”

‘They may have some trouble getting a major or even minor journal to accept their results’

The researchers disclosed their results to Berenson in an email — which he posted on his Oct. 1 Substack post — in response to his questions about a study they published June 21 in the peer-reviewed journal Infection.

In the June study, the Taiwanese authors looked at TriNetX data records from 304,500 U.S. children and found a “strong link between COVID-19 infection and an increased risk of new-onset asthma in children.”

Though they hadn’t hypothesized that vaccination would be linked to an increase in asthma, the study authors found that the increased risk was “more marked in those vaccinated.”

Berenson wrote on Substack:

“But because the researchers had not matched the groups by vaccine status in the initial study, the vaccinated group was notably less healthy than the unvaccinated group at baseline. …So the jabbed and unjabbed cohorts could not be directly compared.”

Berenson asked the researchers in an email if they had run a parallel version of the study that directly compared outcomes by vaccination status and, if so, could they disclose the results.

“To my surprise, they responded,” Berenson told The Defender. They didn’t say when they would publish the results.

“If history is any guide,” Berenson said, “they may have some trouble getting a major or even minor journal to accept their results — journals have been very wary of publishing negative research on the mRNAs outside of myocarditis, which is an acceptable topic to discuss.”

Pediatrician: Asthma symptoms similar to anaphylaxis

Dr. Lawrence Palevsky, a pediatrician, told The Defender that many asthma symptoms are the same as those associated with anaphylaxis, a severe allergic reaction.

Coughing, wheezing, bronchospasm, shortness of breath, rapid breathing/dyspnea and hypoxia — these airway symptoms occur when the immune and nervous systems are significantly activated in response to exposure to one or more allergens the body perceives as a threat.

“If COVID injections seem to increase children’s risks of developing asthma, or anaphylaxis, this signifies there may be one or more ingredients in these injections that pose a threat to the health and safety of their immune and nervous systems,” Palevsky said. “It would make sense to avoid instigating anaphylaxis in children, no?”

Berenson criticized the CDC for continuing to recommend the COVID-19 shots for kids:

“I am stunned that the Centers for Disease Control will not admit defeat and drop its recommendation for them — though as a practical matter almost no one under 18 is getting them now.

“But in continuing to press them, the CDC is further damaging its credibility, if it has any left at this point.”

First study finds ‘strong link’ between COVID infection and asthma in kids — especially for the vaccinated

Berenson said the Taiwanese researchers’ finding about a possible link between COVID-19 vaccines and asthma was “particularly striking” because they weren’t looking for it.

They conducted the June 21 study using children’s health data from TriNetX to determine if there might be a link between COVID-19 infection and asthma.

In their report, they explained that they used a cohort-matching technique before doing their analysis to minimize the likelihood of getting biased results due to confounding factors.

Using the matching technique, they created an unvaccinated cohort and a vaccinated cohort that each had equal numbers of kids who had and hadn’t had a COVID-19 infection.

They compared the asthma diagnosis outcomes of kids who had a COVID-19 infection with the asthma diagnosis outcomes of kids who hadn’t in both the unvaccinated and vaccinated cohorts.

They found that the children infected with COVID-19 showed a significantly increased incidence of new-onset asthma during the year after the infection compared with kids who hadn’t had a COVID-19 infection — and the finding was consistent across gender, age and racial groups.

They also found that the increased risk of new-onset asthma was “more marked” in those children who had COVID-19 and also received an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine.

Berenson noted in his Oct. 2 Substack post that the Taiwanese authors’ June study has received little attention, despite the vaccine safety signals it contains.

In addition to finding that the link between COVID-19 infection and asthma was stronger in kids who got a COVID-19 shot, the study authors found that children who received a COVID-19 shot were 6 times more likely to die during the next year than kids who didn’t get a COVID-19 shot.

The most likely explanation for the difference is that the kids in the vaccinated cohort were sicker to begin with, compared to the unvaccinated. For instance, the kids in the vaccinated cohort had higher rates of diabetes and psychiatric disorders, according to Berenson who reviewed the study.

“Nonetheless,” Berenson wrote, “the gap is large enough that in any sane world researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and elsewhere would be following it up, if only to rule it out and figure out if other databases have any similar signals.”

The Taiwanese authors noted in their June study that other recent studies have also found a link between viral infections — including COVID-19 — and asthma.

However, there is still scientific debate about the degree to which that may occur in children.

A 2022 study published in BMC Infectious Diseases that analyzed roughly 70 kids hospitalized for COVID-19 reported that 41.5% had asthma-like symptoms when discharged. Less than 16% of those children had a history of asthma when admitted to the hospital. The study did not report vaccination status.

However, an April study published in Pediatrics involving almost 30,000 children concluded that testing positive for COVID-19 wasn’t associated with a new asthma diagnosis within 18 months of the infection.

[…]

Via https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/covid-mrna-vaccine-kids-asthma/

Episode 14 Medieval Tales of Heroes and Lovers

The Middle Ages Around the World

Dr Joyce E Salisbury

Film Review

England

Committed to writing from oral tradition in the 7th century, Beowulf is the most famous poem in Middle English. Set in pagan Scandinavia* in the 5th and 6th century, its hero Beowulf kills a man-eating monster.

France

Song of Roland – 12th century epic poem concerning one of Charlemagne’s knights who was killed in 778 while withdrawing from Spain.

12th-13th century – Era of courtly love in southern France fostered by female patrons (Eleanor of Aquitaine, Marie of Champagne), who ruled while their husbands were away at war. Hiring wandering troubadours to entertain with songs and poems of romantic love, Marie of Champagne was the patron of Chretien de Troyes. The latter wrote the first Arthurian romances about the quest for the Holy Grain (the cup Jesus drank from at the last supper).

The best known example of this tradition is Roman de la Rose  (1225) by Guillaume de Lorris. It was based on the fervent conviction that romantic love made people stronger, more noble and more successful in battle.

Spain

Song of El Cid, 12th century poem about the legendary 11th centry knight Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar who spent his life fighting Muslims.

Africa

The Grots were traveling Africans who told heroic tales. One of the most famous concerned Sundida Keita, the legendary founder of the Mali empire. Born crippled in 1215, he possessed supernatural powers and his kingship was foretold at his birth.His exploits were passed on orally until they were committed to writing in the 19th century.

Tibet

Epic of Gesar – Kingdom of Tibet origin story (which also concerns Tibet’s conversion to Buddhism) dating from the 8th century and committed to writing in the 12th century. Most scholars believe Gesar was a real person

Tang Dynasty

Song of Everlasting Regret – literary masterpiece by  famous Chinese poet Bai Juyi (772–846) about an emperor’s love affair with his concubine that interferes with his duty.

Heian Court Japan

Best known for 11th century lady-in- waiting Murasak, whose writing would inspire the Geisha tradition. Her best known work is The Tale of Gengi, concerning an emperor looking for love. During the Middle Ages, husbands and wives from the Japanese elite lived separately and took lovers.

*Both the Angles and Saxons are believed to have originated in southern Scandinavia.

Film available free with a library card from Kanopy.

https://www.kanopy.com/en/pukeariki/watch/video/13172786/13172815

U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Rep. Paul Gosar’s End the Vaccine Carveout Act would eliminate the general immunity vaccine manufacturers enjoy from vaccine injury civil suits under the federal National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) — Republican U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona introduced a bill Thursday that would end pharmaceutical companies’ shield against liability for any potential harmful effects of the vaccines they manufacture.

H.R. 9828, the End the Vaccine Carveout Act, would allow individuals to “bring a civil action against a vaccine administrator or manufacturer in a State or Federal court for damages arising from such injury or death,” according to an advance copy of the text provided to LifeSiteNews.

This would eliminate the general immunity vaccine manufacturers enjoy under the federal National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986, which instead establishes a compensation program for victims. Gosar’s bill allows for civil actions to be pursued regardless of whether a victim has filed a petition with the program, although ultimately receiving an award from one would invalidate a petition to the other.

“Government bureaucrats and scientists responsible for approving vaccines are in bed with Big Pharma, often owning pharmaceutical stocks, serving as consultants and receiving lucrative contracts from pharmaceutical companies that pressure them to produce favorable results which is in direct violation of federal law,” Gosar said in a press release. “Big Pharma doesn’t deserve a get-out-of-jail-free card for injuries caused by their harmful vaccines.”

The question of vaccine safety has become more mainstream in recent years due to the controversy surrounding the COVID-19 vaccines, which were developed and reviewed in a fraction of the time vaccines usually take under the Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed initiative.

A large body of evidence identifies significant risks to the COVID vaccines. Among it, the federal Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) reports 37,910 deaths, 217,931 hospitalizations, 21,917 heart attacks, and 28,602 myocarditis and pericarditis cases as of September 6, among other ailments. U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) researchers have recognized a “high verification rate of reports of myocarditis to VAERS after mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccination,” leading to the conclusion that “under-reporting is more likely” than over-reporting.

An analysis of 99 million people across eight countries published February in the journal Vaccine “observed significantly higher risks of myocarditis following the first, second and third doses” of mRNA-based COVID vaccines, as well as signs of increased risk of “pericarditis, Guillain-Barré syndrome, and cerebral venous sinus thrombosis,” and other “potential safety signals that require further investigation.” In April, the CDC was forced to release by court order 780,000 previously undisclosed reports of serious adverse reactions, and a study out of Japan found “statistically significant increases” in cancer deaths after third doses of mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines, and offered several theories for a causal link.

In Florida, an ongoing grand jury investigation into the vaccines’ manufacturers is slated to release a highly anticipated report on the shots, and a lawsuit by the state of Kansas has been filed accusing Pfizer of misrepresentation for calling the shots “safe and effective.”

Yet so far, Big Pharma has largely escaped accountability thanks to both the aforementioned 1986 law and the federal Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Act of 2005.

According to the Congressional Research Service (CRS), the PREP Act empowers the federal government to “limit legal liability for losses relating to the administration of medical countermeasures such as diagnostics, treatments, and vaccines.” Near the beginning of the 2020 COVID-19 outbreak, the Trump administration invoked the Act in declaring the virus a “public health emergency.”

Under this “sweeping” immunity, CRS explained, the federal government, state governments, “manufacturers and distributors of covered countermeasures,” and licensed or otherwise-authorized health professionals distributing those countermeasures are shielded from “all claims of loss” stemming from those countermeasures, with the exception of “death or serious physical injury” brought about through “willful misconduct,” a standard that, among other hurdles, requires the offender to have acted “intentionally to achieve a wrongful purpose.”

Many hope that by going after Big Pharma for misrepresentations surrounding their products rather than the products themselves, efforts like the Kansas suit can circumvent that hurdle to impose consequences on those responsible for the shots.

[…]

Via https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/rep-paul-gosar-introduces-bill-to-end-vaccine-manufacturer-immunity-from-injury-lawsuits/

Ethan Huff

Social media is abuzz with reports that the Biden regime is working against the people of Appalachia when it comes to victims of Hurricane Helene receiving donations and supplies for recovery.An individual named Alicia Schubert told a story on Facebook about how the aid that recently arrived from the Red Cross and FEMA was confiscated by the Biden regime, preventing it from being distributed to people in need.

“Starting with Davy Crockett High School, they are taking over all volunteer schools in Washington County and Greene County,” Schubert claimed in a post about the situation in eastern Tennessee.

“In order for anyone to get donations that were given, they must be approved. All monetary donations have been taken as well and placed into a TEMA account. If you are unaware of how that works, those items don’t all get used for this particular disaster.”

Schubert says that volunteers who arrived to the damaged areas are being turned away and told to leave. The only ones who are allowed to stay are those who first get trained by United Way, she says.

“Please, I know I already made a post on Red Cross and FEMA the other day, but please if you donate, donate to a church or give to individuals,” Schubert urges.

“They cannot take supplies from churches! Church members will make sure your donations get into the correct hands.”

White House issues “fact sheet” claiming it’s doing a really good job responding to Hurricane Helene

There is apparently so much public outrage about the Biden regime’s lack of response coupled with these strange stories of aid and aid workers being turned away that the White House produced a fact sheet that pats the regime on the back for its Hurricane Helene response efforts.

Biden just announced, the fact sheet states, that he is sending 1,000 active-duty troops to the affected areas to help mobilize “an intensive Federal response to the impacts of Hurricane Helene.”

“The Administration is prioritizing life-saving and life-sustaining response efforts in impacted communities, as well as ensuring people displaced from the storm have prompt access to Federal resources that will enable them to both purchase essential items and begin their road to recovery and rebuilding,” the fact sheet states.

The troops will deliver food, water and “other critical commodities” to communities that need it, the White House revealed. They will also provide added manpower and logistics capabilities to help FEMA and other partners “reach the hardest hit areas as quickly as possible.”

Biden is reportedly traveling to Appalachia as part of an “aerial tour,” meaning he will fly over the damaged region to see what became of the place following the storm. He apparently took time out of his busy beach vacation and sending cash and weapons to Ukraine schedule to pencil in a little bit of time for Hurricane Helene victims.

The Department of Defense (DOD) is also said to be on the ground in the affected areas to provide and delegate the following:

• U.S. Army and U.S. Navy helicopters, soldiers and sailors bringing critical capability to move personnel and supplies in areas where roads are damaged or destroyed

• U.S. Air Force aircraft, helicopters and airmen providing search-and-rescue capabilities

• U.S. Army soldiers and high-wheeled vehicles moving personnel and supplies over otherwise damaged or impassable roads and terrain

• The Army Corps of Engineers supporting response efforts with Temporary Power Teams and subject matter experts supporting the removal of debris, managing water and wastewater and inspecting bridges

[…]

Via https://www.naturalnews.com/2024-10-04-fema-biden-confiscating-donations-hurricane-helene-survivors.html

Brenda Baletti, Ph.D.

Adding fluoride to drinking water provides very limited dental benefits, especially compared with 50 years ago, according to an updated Cochrane Review published today.

The review follows less than two weeks after a California federal judge ruled water fluoridation poses an “unreasonable risk” of reduced IQ in children and must be regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

It also comes as some U.S. cities and towns have moved to pause or stop fluoridating their water in response to the verdict, signaling that fluoridating water, a long-term and largely unquestioned practice in the U.S., is facing heightened scrutiny.

To determine if water fluoridation leads to reduced rates of tooth decay, researchers from the University of Manchester and other U.K. universities reviewed 157 studies comparing communities that fluoridated their water to those that don’t.

They concluded that contemporary evidence shows community water fluoridation may lead to a very small reduction in cavities in children’s baby teeth over time. Fluoride in water reduced tooth decay only by about one-quarter of one tooth, they found, and even that conclusion was made with “low certainty.”

“Adding fluoride to water may slightly increase the number of children who have no tooth decay in either their baby teeth or permanent teeth,” the study authors wrote. “However, these results also included the possibility of little or no difference in tooth decay.”

They said studies conducted in 1975 or before showed a larger benefit of water fluoridation on tooth decay, CNN reported — a reduction of about one less cavity in baby teeth. However, those findings no longer apply to populations today who have better baseline dental health and exposure to other sources of fluoride, like toothpaste, they said.

The findings also confirm recent observational studies, including the LOTUS Study, which found only a 2% reduction in cavities among people living in fluoridated areas in England.

The conclusions — taken together with recent scientific research and the federal court decision — raise serious questions about the practice of community water fluoridation.

“When interpreting the evidence, it is important to think about the wider context and how society and health have changed over time,” said co-author Anne-Marie Glenny, professor of Health Sciences Research at the University of Manchester.

“Given that the benefit has reduced over time, before introducing a new fluoridation scheme, careful thought needs to be given to costs, acceptability, feasibility and ongoing monitoring,” said co-author Lucy O’Malley, Ph.D., senior lecturer in Health Services Research at the University of Manchester.

Public health agencies, professional organizations like the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and lobbying organizations like the American Dental Association (ADA) have ignored or opposed the growing body of research showing fluoride’s adverse health effects, insisting the benefits of water fluoridation are unquestionable.

They maintain water fluoridation is a safe and effective strategy for oral health.

“I find it incredibly irresponsible that agencies like the CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention], American Dental Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics have lauded and promoted this harmful practice of fluoridation for far too long,” integrative dentist Dr. Griffin Cole told The Defender.

Cole said that given the known neurotoxic effects of fluoride, there was never any justification for fluoridating water. He said:

“It is accurate to say we are all exposed to so many other sources of fluoride that continuing to add it to our water supply is now not necessary, but it’s disingenuous and unconscionable to say the statistically insignificant effect on tooth decay was worth poisoning millions of Americans and children’s brains for nearly 80 years.”

In last week’s 80-page federal court decision, U.S. District Judge Edward Chen evaluated and summarized the extensive scientific data presented at trial demonstrating that fluoride has neurotoxic effects on the developing brains of fetuses and children.

According to Chen, the “optimal level” of water fluoridation currently used in the U.S., which is 0.7 milligrams per liter, is too close to the known level at which fluoride poses a neurotoxic risk and may itself be neurotoxic.

Research published in JAMA Network Open in May shows that children born to women exposed during pregnancy to fluoridated drinking water at optimal levels were more likely to have neurobehavioural problems.

The authors of the Cochrane study also found insufficient evidence to show that water fluoridation reduces oral health inequalities, which is one of the key claims supporters like the ADA used to justify the practice.

Last week, the ADA and the AAP confirmed they remain staunch supporters of water fluoridation.

ADA President Linda J. Edgar said in a statement that scientific evidence shows community water fluoridation reduced cavities by 25% — a significantly higher claim than found in the Cochrane review.  Dr. Charlotte W. Lewis, a member of the AAP Section on Oral Health, said water fluoridation is “a public health policy based on a solid foundation of evidence.”

Neither organization immediately responded to The Defender’s request for comment.

The CDC, which has long advocated for water fluoridation as a “cornerstone strategy” for limiting tooth decay, and the EPA, which has refused to regulate it, also did not respond to The Defender’s request for comment on the study.

Over 200 million Americans are currently exposed to fluoridated water on a daily basis.

[…]

Via https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/cochrane-review-water-fluoridation-minimal-effect-dental-health/

Times of India

On October 2, Alex Soros, son of George Soros, met the country’s interim leader Muhammad Yunus. Alex posted about the meeting on Instagram, praising Yunus’ leadership:

“Delighted to see an old friend of my father and the foundation, Nobel Prize winner, interim leader of Bangladesh, who stepped in to lead Bangladesh towards a peaceful future based on equity and fairness.”

Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning founder of Grameen Bank, assumed the role of interim leader following significant political upheaval in Bangladesh. Yunus, known for his work in microfinance and social business, also has longstanding financial ties to George Soros, Alex’s father. These connections stem from a 1999 agreement when Yunus secured an $11 million loan from the Soros Economic Development Fund, managed by the Open Society Foundations. The loan enabled Grameen Telecom, a non-profit entity linked to Yunus’ Grameen Bank, to acquire a 35% stake in Grameenphone Ltd., Bangladesh’s largest telecom operator.

This loan played a critical role in the development and financial structuring of Grameenphone, allowing it to grow into a major player in Bangladesh’s telecom industry. The loan was fully repaid, and Grameen Telecom retained considerable influence over Grameenphone, using the profits to fund social and welfare projects across Bangladesh. Yunus’ relationship with Soros is one of many global financial partnerships that have helped expand his vision for microfinance and social business, although these links have drawn scrutiny from his political opponents.

In the current political climate, Yunus’ foreign connections, particularly with influential figures like George Soros, have been scrutinised by critics.  Alex Soros also raised eyeballs recently when he met Democratic VP nominee Tim Walz.

Who is Alex Soros?

Alex Soros, the son of renowned philanthropist George Soros, has steadily taken on leadership responsibilities within the family’s philanthropic ventures. Born in 1985, Alex was raised in an environment deeply rooted in social activism and philanthropy. After earning degrees from New York University and the University of California, Berkeley, Alex embarked on a path similar to his father’s, becoming actively involved in various charitable causes.

In 2023, George Soros officially handed over control of the $25 billion Open Society Foundations to Alex, marking a new era for the foundation. The younger Soros has continued the foundation’s mission of promoting democracy, human rights, and social justice while also addressing global issues such as climate change and governance reforms. Known for his progressive advocacy and a keen interest in defending democratic values, Alex has carved out a distinct role in the global philanthropic community, carrying forward his father’s legacy while introducing fresh perspectives to address the world’s most pressing challenges.

Who is Muhammad Yunus?

Muhammad Yunus is a pioneering Bangladeshi economist and social entrepreneur best known for founding Grameen Bank and developing the concept of microfinance and microcredit. Recently, he became the head of Bangladesh’s interim government after Sheikh Hasina’s ouster.

Born in 1940 in Chittagong, Bangladesh, Yunus pursued higher education in the United States, earning a PhD in economics from Vanderbilt University. His innovative work in the 1970s focused on providing small loans to impoverished individuals, especially women, to help them create sustainable livelihoods. This microfinance model empowered millions by offering financial services to those typically excluded from traditional banking systems.

In 1983, Yunus formalised his work by establishing Grameen Bank, a microfinance institution that became a global success in alleviating poverty and fostering economic inclusion. His efforts earned him and Grameen Bank the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006. Yunus’ contributions have been credited with lifting millions out of poverty and serving as a model replicated in other developing nations.

Beyond microfinance, Yunus has championed the idea of social business, where profits are reinvested into resolving social issues rather than being distributed to shareholders. His influence has reached beyond Bangladesh, shaping global conversations on sustainable development and ethical business practices.
Via https://thechaoscat.com/2024/10/05/alex-soros-meets-muhammad-yunus-how-is-bangladeshs-interim-chief-connected-to-soros-family/

Ed Note: The article omits any mention of the color revolution that brought Yunus to power, nor the role of the Grameen Bank’s punishing interest rates in blocking industrial development and locking Bangladesh’s poor in permanent feudal poverty. See Protests/Color Revolution in Bangladesh Brings to Power Tax Evading Banker Who Plunged Poor People Into Debt Through Micro-finance Loan Scheme

by Brian Shilhavy
Editor, Health Impact News

In an unexpected “October Surprise“, Donald Trump’s current wife, Melania, is releasing a newly published book that, according to The Guardian, states that the sole choice to terminate an “unwanted pregnancy” rests with the mother carrying that child.

She further states that she has had this belief her “whole life,” which would have included the years she lived in the White House as the First Lady.

“Why should anyone other than the woman herself have the power to determine what she does with her own body? A woman’s fundamental right of individual liberty, to her own life, grants her the authority to terminate her pregnancy if she wishes.

“Restricting a woman’s right to choose whether to terminate an unwanted pregnancy is the same as denying her control over her own body. I have carried this belief with me throughout my entire adult life.” (Source.)

[…]

The timing of this new “revelation” about Melania Trump is quite curious, given the fact that her husband is running for the office of the President of the United States, running a campaign that she has mostly been absent from, and knowing full well that this “revelation” of her view that supports the murder of unborn children at all times will hurt Trump’s Christian base.

[…]

As Whitney Webb has written in her 2-volume book, One Nation Under Blackmail: The Sordid Union Between Intelligence and Crime that Gave Rise to Jeffrey Epstein, Melania was part of the Jeffrey Epstein network, and she was introduced to Donald Trump by Jeffrey Epstein.

The relationship with Trump would continue for some time, with Trump flying on Epstein’s plane in 1997 and the two men being photographed together at a Victoria’s Secret party that same year.

A year later, Epstein had claimed to have introduced Trump to his current wife, Melania, at an event during New York fashion week.

They would attend other parties together, including an event in 2000 hosted by media baron and convicted fraudster Conrad Black, who appears in Epstein’s book of contacts.

Also in 2000, Epstein, Maxwell and Prince Andrew attended a celebrity tennis tournament at Mar-a-Lago, where Trump and the Prince took pictures together.

Mar-a-Lago would figure prominently as a place of socialization for Epstein and Maxwell, as well as a place where they recruited minors into their sexual blackmail/sex trafficking operations, with the most well-known of these being Virginia Roberts (now Virginia Giuffre).

However, the Trump Organization has claimed that Epstein was not a dues-paying member of the club.

Trump is also present in Epstein’s contact book with several numbers listed; Melania Trump is also listed among his contacts. (One Nation Under Blackmail, Volume 2, page 50.)

[…]

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