Tag: health

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Senator Mitch McConnell Discusses Inflation Reduction Bill On Fox News’ Special Report Show

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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) appeared on Fox News Special Report w/Bret Baier (08/03/22) to discuss the Inflation Reduction Act currently being negotiated in the U.S. Senate. Senator McConnell said he found the way Democrats characterized the bill “laughable”, because in his opinion, the bill actually increases inflation. Senate Democrats appear poised to approve the measure on a straight party vote.

Senator McConnell said this about the Inflation Reduction Act (0:27): “First, I think all of us were somewhat shocked by Senator Manchin’s reversal of positions he’d taken as recently as last week, against raising taxes. This raises taxes, it increases the burden of taxation on lower income people significantly. Calling it inflation reduction bill is rather laughable. Independent analysis indicates it actually increases inflation in the next two years, and may have an impact over ten years, and their policies from last year have already produced 40-year high inflation, so it’s a terrible package. It appears as if they are all in line, but one, it will be up to Senator Sinema from Arizona, who’s quite independent, to determine what the final contours of the bill are.”

Asked about the charge by irate Republicans, that he was “played” by Democrats regarding the reconciliation bill, McConnell responded (1:28): “Reconciliation is something done by one party only. There’s nothing we could have done to prevent the Democrats from doing a bill that only they will vote for, so it’s not a question of being played here, what’s the story line here is that Senator Manchin had agreed to something that he had said publicly and privately over the last two weeks that he would never agree to. We’re not involved in the reconciliation bill. There won’t be a single Republican vote for it. There’s nothing we could do to deter it, other than to criticize it publicly, and that’s what we’re doing right here.”

Host Bret Baier then cornered Senator McConnell with a very interesting question as to why he has repeatedly cited renowned economists Larry Summers and Jason Furman on ways to tackle the current record inflation, yet now he refuses to follow their advice that the Inflation Reduction Act will help reduce inflation? Senator McConnell accused the economists of trying to appease President Biden. He specifically said (2:41):“The quotes they used me in, were Summers’ observations about what they [Biden Administration] did last year. Two trillion dollars they dumped on the economy, that both Furman and Summers predicted would produce rampant inflation, and it did. What they’ve done this year is kind of fall in line, and I assume they wanted to get back on the White House Christmas card list, but people who are not active Democrats, independent observers have said it has no impact on inflation, at all, over the long term, and actually increases it slightly in the short term. So Furman and Summers were certainly helpful as active Democrats in describing last year’s bill, but this year they’re sort of falling in line because I think they want to get back in the good grace of the White House.”

Asked about criticism from House Republicans, some of whom don’t want him as Senate Majority Leader any more, over what they perceive as him being “played” repeatedly by Democrats, and making President Biden look good, McConnell responded(3:55): “Well, I guess they’ve forgotten the Supreme Court that I’ve helped usher into–three new Supreme Court justices, the 2017 tax bill…I think just because you have closely divided government doesn’t mean you do nothing. The past two administrations tried to achieve bipartisan infrastructure, didn’t get it done, we needed to rescue the post office. Just because it’s a Democrat in the White House, I don’t think means Republicans should do nothing that’s good for the country. In the meantime, on the big issues, we are totally opposed to what this administration is trying to do, but on things like school safety, mental health, infrastructure, postal reform, why would we not want to make progress for the country no matter who’s in the White House?”

Asked about reservation by some Republicans, that expanding NATO to include Sweden and Finland, increases the likelihood of sending our troops into combat in Europe, Sen McConnell responded (5:08): “The NATO alliance is the most successful military alliance in world history. The way to prevent Americans from having to actively get involved in combat is to prevent it in the first place, and that’s what NATO is about. It won the cold war without firing a single shot. Putin has succeeded not only in actually expanding NATO and making it even more effective as a deterrent. Remember Reagan said peace through strength, and that’s what NATO is all about, and that’s why Finland and Sweden add a lot to NATO.”

Asked to pick between the Russia-Ukraine war, and the situation at our southern border, which one was a bigger national security threat to the United States, McConnell said both were threats that needed to be dealt with seriously–probably not the answer Fox News viewers obsessed with the southern border, wanted to hear.

Importantly, when asked about his earlier prediction that there would be a “red wave” in this year’s midterm elections, McConnell appears to have had a change of mind (probably due to Kansas), saying now that it will be a “very tight” election. McConnell specifically said (7:02): “I think it’s going to be very tight, we have a 50-50 Senate now, we have a 50-50 nation, and I think when the Senate race smoke clears, we are likely to have a very, very close Senate still, with either up slightly, or the Democrats up slightly”–a far cry from the “red wave” talk we heard earlier in the year from McConnell and his fellow Republicans.

Asked about the Kansas abortion vote heard around the world, McConnell responded (7:35): “I think what the Supreme Court has done is said people who are elected by the American people are going to deal with this highly sensitive issue, and it will be playing out all year, and I don’t think we really know until the end of the year, what kind of an impact putting this issue back into the hands of those of us who are elected, as opposed to nine unelected judges, will have on the country. We’re in the process of finding that out…It tells us that there are a lot of people interested in the issue in Kansas, there’s no question about that.”

Asked whether he would survive his leadership role if “Trumpified” candidates(J.D. Vance, Oz, Blake Masters, Ted Budd etc) win this November, Sen McConnell responded (8:37): “I’ve been elected eight times without opposition. I don’t own this job, and there’s always an election every two years for leader. If anybody wants to challenge me, have at it.” McConnell added that he will still hang on as Minority Leader if Republicans don’t take over the Senate this Fall.

Asked whether, given his lengthy career in the U.S. Senate, there is a single issue the modern Republican Party gets right, which the old Republican Party got wrong, McConnell was all over the place. He didn’t give an answer that specifically answered the question.

Bottom line folks, the key takeaway from Senator McConnell’s interview on Fox News is that the “red wave” fantasy is gone. Republicans now acknowledge that even with the challenging economic times, and President Biden’s low approval numbers, the 2022 midterm elections will be very competitive. Reasonable politicos will agree that given historical trends re midterms, the fact that Dems are even still in the ball game, tells you all you need to know about the state of affairs at Trump’s GOP. 

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Rep Veronica Escobar Slams Gov Abbott For Creating “Wild West” Environment That Enabled Uvalde Shooting

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Rep Veronica Escobar(D-TX) appeared on MSNBC Reports w/Andrea Mitchell (07/18/22) to discuss the recently released report by the Texas Senate on the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. Rep Escobar made a very important point on the show, telling host Andrea Mitchell that the deadly “wild west” environment created by Texas elected officials, beginning with Governor Greg Abbott, is partly to blame for the horrific shooting in Uvalde.

This point is largely missed by the mainstream media when reporting about the mass shooting in Uvalde, but it cannot be restated enough.

Rep Escobar(video at 1:00):“I think the report is important, but I also think we need to zoom out a little bit because the leadership void goes far beyond law enforcement. And what the report did not touch on[are]2 things, (1) the Governor, who is the highest ranking elected official, the chief elected official of the state and (2) the state legislature that makes open carry the law of the land in Texas so that anyone can get access to a gun without any training and really a loosening of gun laws that was historic. It is so important that these reports and that this analysis look at what happened on the ground that day, but we also have to look at the context in Texas, the environment that has been created by Republicans, who want to create a wild west sort of environment  in a state, that has led us to be…one of the most deadliest states for mass shootings.”

Rep Escobar went on to specifically address Gov Abbott’s failures:“He’s been pretty silent. He’s very eager to point the finger at others, really on any situation including Uvalde and he, as the highest-ranking elected official in the state of Texas, I have yet to hear the Governor accept any responsibility, or bring forward any ideas for meaningful change. He is literally someone who has only used his position to make Texas less safe for its citizens and uses our resources for political stunts.”

She went on to add that the political stunt Gov Abbott is pulling at the southern border aka “Operation Lone Star” has siphoned much needed funds away from mental health services and public schools, both of which are still poorly funded in Texas compared to other states.

Bottom line folks, Texas is, and has been a solid red state for quite some time now. It is important however for people who don’t live in the Lone Star state, or keep up with its politics, to know that none of Governor Abbott’s Republican predecessors created the deadly gun violence environment in the state like Gov Abbott and his allies have. Rep Escobar is absolutely spot on, that any meaningful discussion of gun violence in the Lone Star state has to take into account the “wild west” environment created by Gov Abbott and his Texas Republican allies.

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Havana Syndrome: The Less Talked About Public Health Angle

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Dr Beatrice Golomb, Founder of the Golomb Research Group, and Professor of Medicine at UC San Diego.

While the investigation into who’s attacking our diplomats and causing Havana Syndrome is still ongoing, a different but related debate is playing out in American living rooms, and that is, what the federal government is doing to protect the general public from the health effects of exposure to radio frequency(RF) radiation, which includes microwaves.

A Havana Syndrome webinar conducted by the University of Texas Southwest(UTSW) in Dallas(02/10/2022) led to among other conclusions that (1) pulsed microwave radiation was the most likely cause for Havana Syndrome and (2) that microwave technology is already being used in the United States, Russia, China, and many of our Western allies for surveillance purposes. Therefore even setting aside the question as to who attacked our Diplomats in Havana and elsewhere, reasonable people will agree that there needs to be a serious debate regarding the effects these microwave technologies have on the general public.

An interesting and quite informative interview on Green Street Radio (03/01/22) featuring the esteemed Dr Beatrice Golomb, delved into that very topic–harmful effects of microwaves and other RF radiation. Dr Golomb is the Director of the Golomb Research Group. She is currently a Professor of medicine at UC San Diego. She received her B.S. in Physics Summa Cum Laude from USC. She worked at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory as an Engineer, and then got her PhD in Biology and a medical degree from UC San Diego. She is an expert in among other things, the effects of exposure to radio frequency microwave radiation, which many experts have pinpointed as the most likely cause for Havana Syndrome.

Dr Golomb said in the Green Street Radio interview(video @ 17:00 onwards): “Radiation is often divided into two different types–ionizing radiation and non-ionizing radiation. Ionizing radiation is the radiation in the higher end of the frequency range, from part the ultraviolet range up to things like x-rays and gamma rays. This is referred to as ionizing because higher frequencies are associated with higher energy, and when the energy is high enough, it is sufficient to dislodge electrons from atoms and molecules. This is referred to as ionization. So there is sort of a mantra that is incorrect, that it is only ionizing radiation that can cause damage, or only ionizing radiation that can cause DNA damage. In fact most of the evidence about the harms from ionizing radiation come not from the ionization, but actually from oxidative stress…In fact, oxidative stress also occurs with non-ionizing radiation. It occurs with radio frequency radiation which by the way encompasses a very broad set of frequencies, the upper end of which are called microwave radiation. So microwaves are a subset of radio waves…All of those frequencies are capable of causing damage by oxidative stress…The exposures that are tied to these non-ionizing radiation…are exposures that themselves promote oxidative stress…affect mitochondria[DNA]…There are now multiple studies showing that even though this radiation[microwave] is designated as non-ionizing radiation, it causes DNA injury…There’s basically a disinformation campaign that tells people that unless radiation is ionizing it can’t cause problems.”

There is no other way to interpret Dr Golomb’s remarks other than, the government’s stance that only ionizing radiation can cause harmful health effects is not entirely accurate. Dr Golomb is stating categorically that non-ionizing radiation, which includes RF microwaves, can also be very harmful to the public, and can even cause, in her words, “DNA injury”. According to Dr Golomb, the dispositive factor when it comes to evaluating the harm caused by radiation is not whether its ionizing or non-ionizing, but rather, whether it causes “oxidative stress”. Dr Golomb says both ionizing and non-ionizing radiation can lead to oxidative stress, meaning even RF microwaves are harmful to the public.

Dr Golomb goes as far as accusing the government of running a “disinformation campaign” when it says non-ionizing radiation like RF microwaves are not harmful. Back in 2015, she wrote a stern letter to the New York Times, castigating one of its journalists(George Johnson) for downplaying the health effects of EMF radiation in one of his articles. Folks, Dr Golomb isn’t fooling around–the real deal!!

There’s a growing sentiment in the country that given the rapid advancement in technologies, the federal government is not doing a good job in informing the public about the public health risks associated with such advancements. One classic example is the Havana Syndrome. In the course of looking for the culprits who attacked our diplomats in Cuba, we have discovered that microwaves are also used in the U.S., presumably by law enforcement, for surveillance purposes. Given Dr. Golomb’s educated assertion that microwave radiation can cause “DNA injury”, it’s not a lot to ask that the government levels with the public as to how these microwave surveillance technologies affect public health. In other words, if you expose a “dangerous subject” to very high levels of microwave radiation daily, for an extended period of time(months, even years), as part of his/her “necessary surveillance”, are you really surveilling the target or just irradiating them to death? Simply put, guardrails need to erected when it comes to the use of these microwave technologies.

On that front, it’s very encouraging to learn that the good folks at Green Street Radio, through their non-profit Americans for Responsible Technology(ART), have filed a petition with the FDA, demanding that the agency “immediately issue an ‘Imminent Hazard’ declaration regarding public exposure to radiofrequency radiation from wireless devices and infrastructure…” Hopefully this is the beginning of a movement by concerned citizens demanding more government accountability when it comes to new radiation technologies.

Bottom line folks, the government cannot/must not be allowed to continue hiding behind the “it’s classified” excuse when it comes to RF radiation technologies. The public has a right to know what they are being exposed to, and how such exposure affects their health. Congress needs to hold hearings regarding this issue, preferably with the esteemed Dr. Golomb as one of the subject matter experts.

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