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Best of the Web: Melatonin linked to significantly reduced COVID-19 mortality

Dr. Mercola
Mercola.com
Thu, 13 Jan 2022 18:14 UTC
Melatonin
Melatonin is a hormone synthesized in your pineal gland and several other organs,1 indeed in most cells, including human lung monocytes and macrophages, as it is actually synthesized in your mitochondria.2

While most well-known as a natural sleep regulator, melatonin also has many other important functions.3 Notably, it plays an important role in cancer prevention4 and may prevent or improve certain autoimmune diseases, such as Type 1 diabetes.5

It also has anticonvulsant and anti-excitotoxic properties,6 and is a potent antioxidant7 with the rare ability to enter your mitochondria,8 where it helps prevent mitochondrial impairment, energy failure and the death of mitochondria damaged by oxidation.9 It also:
  • Boosts immune function
  • Helps recharge glutathione10 (and glutathione deficiency has been linked to COVID-19 severity)
  • May improve the treatment of certain bacterial diseases, including tuberculosis11
  • Helps regulate gene expression via a series of enzymes12
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Eye 1

Best of the Web: The disturbing truth: How porn can fuel sex trafficking


Fight The New Drug
Mon, 13 Sep 2021 00:00 UTC
porn child trafficking
It was 21 days after "Jane Doe's" 22nd birthday when she boarded a flight to San Diego that, unbeknownst to her, would change her life forever. That day, she would become one of hundreds of young women who had been filmed for GirlsDoPorn, a wildly popular porn production company which garnered well over a billion views,1 ranking around the 20th most popular channel on Pornhub,2 and reportedly generating an estimated $17 million dollars in revenue.3 But what most of GirlsDoPorn's millions of viewers did not realize was that Jane — and many other women involved with GirlsDoPorn — was actually a victim of sex trafficking.

See, Jane never agreed to do porn at all.4 She had flown to San Diego to participate in what she was told would be a fitness modeling job. But when she arrived, she was met by several men who took her phone, intimidated her into signing a contract she wasn't allowed to read, plied her with drugs and alcohol, and trapped her in a hotel room where they told her she would be filmed for a porn video. Even after she tried to run away, the men physically forced her to comply. With no way out, Jane was violently raped on camera for over 6 hours.

The nearly hour-long video of her abuse was then released on the GirlsDoPorn website and published on nearly every major porn site,5 even using her full legal name in the title.6 When Jane first learned that videos of her rape had been published, she ran to the bathroom and was violently sick.

Comment: Fight the New Drug has a wealth of information on their website and medium page that is well worth checking out.

While some countries move towards controlling access to porn, and card companies like MasterCard announced new rules for banks processing credit card payments to pornography websites, Fight the New Drug argues that bans "tend to add fuel to the flame by making the illegal substance or activity illicitly attractive. A much more effective way to decrease the demand for pornography is to make people aware of its unfortunate reality."

They summed up their thoughts on banning porn below:
Bottom line: we aren't here to bully lawmakers into outlawing porn, we're here to get to the deeper source of the issue and educate people on the very real harms of porn, and then let them decide for themselves. Because someone deciding against something freely is much more effective than forcing someone to do something they don't agree with.

Fight the New Drug believes that if people truly understood how pornography can negatively affect the consumer, relationships, and society, and understood the often exploitative ways the industry operates, they would choose for themselves not to support or engage with porn.
See also:

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Pirates

Best of the Web: Smash-and-grab squads: How US looting rings organize online as police are defunded

David Haggith
RT
Wed, 12 Jan 2022 17:22 UTC
smash and grab robbery new york city defund police
© REUTERS / Mike SegarA shattered window is seen at the Barbour store after it was looted and damaged by some protesters after they participated in a march against the death in Minneapolis police custody of George Floyd, in the Manhattan borough of New York City, US, June 1, 2020.
Liberal city residents are waking up to the robbery and violence running rampant wherever police departments have been defunded across America.
"It looked like chaos when groups of young people dashed from cars into the Louis Vuitton store in San Francisco's Union Square and ran off with luxury purses, bags, and designer wear.

"A few days later, about 80 people stormed through a Walnut Creek mall, stealing expensive items before fleeing. At L.A.'s Grove shopping mall not long after, a smaller group used sledgehammers on a Nordstrom.

"But California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta said the group crimes are rooted in a kind of organized crime. Those dashing into the stores are mostly foot soldiers for others calling the shots from a safe distance."
So begins an LA Times story about events that are happening around the US that are being called "smash-and-grabs."

Comment: If the Soros-backed Gascon can be ousted, maybe there is hope for getting rid of the rest of the 'progressive' DAs infesting judicial systems around the country Apparently not:

George Soros 60 Minutes unearthed: "I don't look at the social consequences of what I do"

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Snow Globe

Best of the Web: 2022 Trends and Predictions


21st Century Wire
Sun, 02 Jan 2022 00:00 UTC
2022 Trends and Predictions
Looking forward into the New Year, here are some predictions and trends to look out for.

In last year's Trends and Predictions for 2021, we identified a number of breaking trends and global developments - some of which accelerated to become the biggest stories of the year. Other subjects we flagged-up are still fluid situations today and will continue well into 2022 and beyond. Note that 2021 was the year the so-called 'conspiracy theorists' were vindicated across the board (yes, they were right about most major aspects of the pseudo pandemic), and that trend will continue onwards.

We see a lot trends continuing to move into 2022: the continued rise of alternative media, coupled with the increasing draconian political censorship efforts by governments and Big Tech. Also, look for the continued flight of users away from social media giants like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube - again fueled by corporate fascist censorship, as users migrate to other platforms like Telegram, GAB, Odysee and Rumble.

On the other technology front, we see the emergence of a real virtual Matrix, known as the Metaverse, led by Mark Zuckerberg. Also, 5G networks are being rapidly deployed now with little regard to public safety, and paving the way for the Internet of Things and Internet of Bodies, all coming into view now.
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Dollar

Best of the Web: Tax the unvaxxed! Quebec wants to tax people unvaccinated against COVID-19

Sean Boynton
Global News
Tue, 11 Jan 2022 23:12 UTC
François Legault
Quebec Premier François Legault
Quebec's plan to impose a tax on adults who choose to remain unvaccinated against COVID-19 is already being called "constitutionally vulnerable" by critics — but experts say the province is well within its rights, and challenges are likely to fail.

Details about the proposed tax are slim, but Premier Francois Legault said Tuesday the penalty would be "significant." Those with a medical exemption would be exempt from the tax.

Legal experts say provinces have a constitutional authority to levy direct taxes in order to pay for services like health care, and that it makes sense from a fairness perspective to force those who pose the most burden on the health care system to pay more for it.

Comment: Canada has a long history of punitive taxes as a means of affecting public behavior. Taxes on cigarettes and alcohol are some of the highest around (never mind that it's quite likely that the taxes don't work to alter behavior). In other words, it would seem that Canada generally doesn't see anything morally wrong with ham-fisted attempts at altering their citizens rights to live as they see fit. Liberal authoritarianism, anyone?

See also:

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Yellow Vest

Best of the Web: Inside newly-founded British anti-vax group 'Alpha Men Assemble'

Miles Dilworth
The Daily Mail
Sun, 09 Jan 2022 19:56 UTC
alpha men paramilitary england goup
© The Daily MailAlpha Men Assemble teams practice boxing techniques at the training day in Chase Water Country Park, Staffordshire on January 8, 2022
A group of hardline anti- vaxxers is running military-style training sessions in preparation for a 'war' on the Government.

Alpha Men Assemble is threatening to target jab centres, schools and the police, with volunteers drilled by former members of the Armed Forces.

A Daily Mail reporter infiltrated the group's preparations at a park in Staffordshire as the mostly middle-aged and white male crowd readied itself for direct action. Danny Glass, a former Royal Fusilier, called on those present to 'take it to the Old Bill' and warned the fight was 'not for the faint-hearted'.

Comment: The Mail dutifully follows the party line with it's dismissive portrayal of the group, while completely ignoring the issues that brought them together. Still, one might wonder if Alpha Men Assemble isn't a Brit-style government honeypot, similar to the Oathkeeper and 3%-er groups in the U.S. What better way to flush out malcontents than to give them some hope of agency for change?

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Bullseye

Best of the Web: "This is torture": UN rapporteur condemns criminal police brutality at lockdown protest in the Netherlands


NLTimes
Mon, 10 Jan 2022 10:50 UTC
protest amsterdamn riot police
© Politie at PolitieRiot police at an illegal demonstration on the Museumplein in Amsterdam, 24 January 2021
Despite a complaint filed by the Dutch police unions, Nils Melzer, the UN special rapporteur on torture, stands by his criticism last week of police brutality during several coronavirus demonstrations in the Netherlands. "I was genuinely afraid that the violence in the Netherlands would escalate, so I reacted quickly and firmly," he said to NOS.

Last week, Melzer drew the ire of the Dutch police with a series of tweets. In one, he compared the arrest of a man during a coronavirus protest in The Hague in March last year with the death of George Floyd, who was killed by police brutality and sparked the Black Lives Matter movement in the summer of 2020.

"I have enough experience in the field of war, military actions, and police brutality to say that this is torture," Melzer said. "The officers hit hard and then let the police dog bite the man. That is unnecessary, disproportionate, and the same disrespect for a human that I saw in George Floyd. This man is still alive, but he could have died from this violence. With the methods used, police officers accepted that risk."

Comment: It's notable that his comments come at a time when the official narrative has fallen apart and protests against the lockdowns, vaccine mandates and vaccine passports are happening all around the world and are a near-daily occurrence: As SOTT radio's reports, it seems that we may now be moving to another stage of the agenda: NewsReal: Kazakhstan on Fire: Why US vs Russia 'Great Game' Could Spark Global Economic Collapse



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Seismograph

Best of the Web: Cyprus earthquake: Powerful 6.6 magnitude tremor rocks region shaking homes

Tim Hanlon
Mirror
Tue, 11 Jan 2022 09:31 UTC
maps
A powerful earthquake measuring 6.6 has sent tremors across a region around Cyprus in the Mediterranean with reports of people feeling their houses shake.

The quake was at a depth of 2 km (1.24 miles), said the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC).

It was centred 30 miles west-northwest of the town of Polis in Cyprus around 1am local time and the tremor was felt across the island and the region, including reports from as far away as Turkey, Israel and Lebanon.

There are no reports of damage or injuries.

But people have taken to social media having felt the force of the earthquake.


Comment: If confirmed as a 6.6M, it would be the strongest earthquake on the island since 1996.

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Quenelle - Golden

Best of the Web: Jordan Peterson: 'Open the damn country back up, before Canadians wreck something we can't fix'

Jordan Peterson
National Post
Mon, 10 Jan 2022 20:31 UTC
closed business
© Justin Tang/The Canadian PressWe are pushing the complex systems upon which we depend and which are miraculously effective and efficient in their often thankless operation to their breaking point, writes Jordan Peterson.
The country is growing more authoritarian in response to fear.

I spent more than three hours on the phone this weekend trying to get through to the online security department of one of Canada's major banks. One of my accounts was shut down (because I had the effrontery to sign in from Alberta — an event too unexpected for the bank's security systems). I was placed on hold interminably, subjected all the while to the corporate world's idea of music (to soothe me). I was then offered a call-back, which I duly received, 45 minutes later. Then I was placed on hold again, and again, and again. This all occurred after my patience had already been exhausted in the aftermath of trying to fly in Canada.

Like so many Canadians, I have been unable to see many of the people I love and who are tolerant enough to return the sentiment for nearly two years. Lockdowns. Restrictions. Limits on personal and social gatherings. Precautions. Precautions. Precautions.

Comment: See also:

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Heart - Black

Best of the Web: Vaccine mandate takes effect as 'worst fire in modern times' tears through NYC apartment block, 19 dead, including 9 children

Julia Jacobo
Yahoo
Mon, 10 Jan 2022 00:25 UTC
bronx fire
© Scott Heins/Getty ImagesAt least 19 dead, including 9 children, after dozens injured in NYC fire: Officials
PHOTO: Broken windows and charred bricks mark the exterior of a 19-story residential building after a fire erupted in the morning, Jan. 9, 2022, in the Bronx, New York City.
At least 19 people are dead, including nine children, following a massive fire in New York City on Sunday, officials said.

More than 200 firefighters responded to the scene of the five-alarm fire that originated Sunday morning in a duplex apartment on the third floor of a high-rise building, located in the Tremont section of the Bronx, officials said. More than 60 people were injured in the fire, according to the New York City Fire Department.

Approximately 13 people are in Bronx hospitals with life-threatening injuries, officials said.

Comment: One wonders of course whether the death toll would be so high if the vaxx mandates hadn't been enforced. The NYFD union warned this would happen...


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