RBC: the Advisory Council under the CEC abolished following criticism of voting on amendments to the Constitution – The KXAN 36 News

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ALL PHOTOS RBC: the Advisory Council under the CEC abolished following criticism of voting on amendments to the ConstitutionAGN Moscow / Sergey Vedyashkin According to the CEC head Ella Pamfilova, the CEC concluded that the current form of the independent experts (NES) for us was totally unacceptable, calling it an absolute anachronismAGN Moscow / Sergey Vedyashkin of the Scientific expert Council under the Central election Commission (CEC) was abolished. The decision was taken unanimously at the meeting of CECAGN Moscow / Sergey Vedyashkin

the Scientific expert Council under the Central election Commission (CEC) was abolished. The decision was taken unanimously at a meeting of the CEC, the correspondent of RBC.

According to the CEC head Ella Pamfilova, in Ccentrizbirkom came to the conclusion that the current form of the independent experts (NES) for us was totally unacceptable, calling it an absolute anachronism. According to her, 10 Mar everyone experts can come to the CEC and to discuss the work of the expert platform. Pamfilova also said that the abolition of the expert group of four people under the Chairman of the CEC.

the Decision on liquidation of the R / V was made after one of the members of the Council, Boris Nadezhdin, has prepared a letter criticizing a nationwide vote on amendments to the Constitution and a proposal to hold a special meeting of the CEC on this topic. This became known in the presidential administration, after which Pamfilova held a unpleasant conversation with officials of the Kremlin. Nadezhdin himself said that the idea of CEC it eventually dissuaded colleagues on the Council.

the Day before Pamfilova held a meeting of the Council, which invited members to consider changing the format of the work. We intend to create a more effective interaction with the experts. But now we are not satisfied neither, nor you. Therefore, we would like to consult with you and find the right shape, she said.

RBC Previously reported that CEC pereformuliruem the Council because of claims of the Kremlin to his work. Claims are that the R / V there is no work plan, its members do not hold regular activities, the Council is not divided into working groups. One of the interlocutors RBC stressed that it is just about the reformatting, however, the composition of the Board changed much, and it will decrease.

Now in NES consists of several dozen people, including political scientists Yevgeny Minchenko, Valery Solovey and Dmitry Oreshkin, representatives of the largest polling agencies, editors-in-chief of Moskovsky Komsomolets and echo of Moscow Pavel Gusev and Alexei Venediktov, as well as the leader of Patriots of the great Fatherland Nikolai Starikov, and the President of the Institute of Middle East Yevgeny SATAray. Since the formation of the Council in 2018, he met three times. Several times the meeting had to be cancelled because most members of the NES did not.

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7 Nootropics That Combat Daytime Sleepiness and Boost Energy – The Crypto Coin Discovery

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It is necessary to get a good nights sleep. This keeps you fresh, energized, and motivated during the day. It also eases stress, repairs your body to keep you productive for the day. This is why it is important to have a regular sleep pattern and a good sleeping habit. By improving sleep quality, you can keep yourself going for the next day. It helps eliminate daytime sleepiness and fatigue. It also boosts energy and keeps energy level high throughout the day.

Sleepiness during work in the day can lead to laziness a sedentary lifestyle. This is where Nootropics help. The brain-boosting supplements and medicines are known as Nootropics. These help you to stay awake during the day or when necessary, so that you can sleep well at night. These medicines can be prescribed by your doctor. It is useful for healthy people. It is often used by people with daytime jobs. Sometimes students take it to enhance their cognitive function during examinations.

It was in 1972, when the Romanian chemist, Corneliu E. Giurgea coined the term Nootropic. A Nootropic substance is the one that has a cognitive-enhancing effect. It should have no or only a few side effects, and should be safe to use. Nootropics are not cognitive enhancers such as Ritalin or Adderall. The latter two have short-term or long-term side effects. They may also cause you to get dependent on the medications. Nootropics, on the other hand are safe to choose for improvement of cognitive activities such as energy, memory, focus, learning, motivation, creating, and more.

Below-mentioned are some of the effective Nootropics brain-boosting supplements that you can rely on:

It is a synthesized derivative of Thiamine or Vitamin B1. The medication is for those with Thiamine deficiency and people who suffer from fatigue and tiredness. Sulbutiamine has several Nootropic benefits in people who are healthy. It helps to increase energy level and alertness. The supplement also reduces anxiety and boosts mood. It works by increasing the production of dopamine and glutamate. These are the two chemicals in the brain responsible for overall drive and well-being. Sometimes, Sulbutiamine is also recommended for erectile dysfunction treatment.

If you are aware of Nootropics, then you must have definitely heard of Modafinil. It is one of the most popular Nootropic medications. The substances in Modafinil enhance wakefulness. It has stimulating effects, yet it is not categorized as a stimulant. The stimulation caused is not forced but encouraged. It does not showcase the euphoric side of other known stimulants. Thus, you may not develop a dependency on Modafinil as easily compared to stimulants.

Some of the benefits of this Nootropic are motivation, wakefulness, focus, increased energy level and productivity, etc. Like other stimulants, Modafinil does not only focus on one or two neurotransmitters. Its mechanism is rather focused on increasing excitatory neurotransmitters such as orexin, serotonin, dopamine, norepinephrine, glutamate, and histamine. It also reduces GABA, the primary inhibitory brain chemical.

Oxiracetam was developed in the 1970s. It is a member of racetam class and one of the safest stimulating Nootropics. It has stimulatory effects like that seen by the use of phenylpiracetam. The mechanism of action is not clear and still being researched. However, the medication increases your endurance level. It thus helps you carry out tasks smoothly. The supplement is a mild stimulant. Thus, it brings wakefulness rather than forced stimulation.

It also increases the speed of recall. Thus, you can pay attention to tasks and remain focused for a good amount of time. Oxiracetam may even reduce symptoms of dementia by halting the pace of brain damage. It increases blood flow to the brain, allowing you to feel wide awake when necessary. It also speeds up energy metabolism.

Noopept is a member of the racetam class Nootropic. It is a synthetic peptide and a hundred times more effective than Piracetam. You need a lower dose of this medication to bring the same effect of a high dose Piracetam. This supplement clears head, lowers social anxiety, and promotes focus. It also helps improve verbal fluency. Noopept also increases blood flow to the brain.It has a mild stimulating effect, which is less apparent than caffeine. But it is more lasting and with no negative side effects.

Noopept works by increasing the production of BDNF and NGF. These are two substances containing neuro-protective properties. It also promotes short-term and long-term memory. The medication also causes focus for extended period by improving learning ability. It also enhances the ability to consolidate memories.

This Nootropic has a unique mechanism of action, and does not work like other racetams. It does not increase the acetylcholine levels. But it does eliminate excessive calcium and glutamate.

One of the potent Nootropics, Phenylpiracetam belongs to the racetam class. This medication is structurally similar to amphetamines. It is a synthesized version of Piracetam. But, it has an added phenyl ring. The effects of this agent are similar to that of popular stimulants. It causes an increase in the level of acetylcholine, dopamine, and norepinephrine. Thus, it functions like a typical racetam nootropic. Many say that they find Phenylpiracetam effects are the same as that of Modafinil. But there could be a few differences inexperience.

Russian cosmonauts were known to use this medicine to get over stress and keep their cognitive ability intact when working in space. Along with mental boost-up, this medication also has anxiolytic effects. Thus, you can experience relief when working under pressure or in stressful events.

Also known as Arctic Root or Golden Root, Rhodiola Rosea is an adaptogen herb. People have been using this root in Scandinavia and Russia for centuries. This herb is excellent to overcome brain fog, fatigue, poor memory, and sluggishness. It has stimulating effects and adaptogen properties, easing high stress, and reducing anxiety. Rhodiola Rosea improves mood and wakeful state by boosting norepinephrine and serotonin levels.

The herb also has several other health benefits. It has marked effectiveness in the treatment of infertility, impotence, flu, infections, depression, and tuberculosis. All this is because of its Nootropic and tonic effect. This substance protects the brain from oxidative stress as it contains salidroside. It also re-grows neurons and causes brain repair. This is done by re-synthesis and activating the synthesis of ATP.

Creatine is a well-known amino acid. It is essential for your body to make protein. Being a Nootropic, it also functions as a bodybuilding supplement. This is because it helps with muscle growth, and has benefits for brain health.

After consumption, creatine goes to the brain. Here, it binds with phosphate and creates a molecule responsible for fuelling the brain cells. The increased availability of particular brain cells helps build energy. It improves reasoning skills, short-term memory, and reduces stress.

Due to daytime sleepiness, your productivity and performance at work or academics can be affected drastically. It may also cause difficulty in sleep at night time. To overcome this problem, Nootropics are the best. These supplements and medication increase energy levels and do not have any negative impact on health. These also promote brain activity and enhance cognitive activity. The right type of Nootropic will be decided by your health practitioner.

As everyones brain chemistry is unique, the doctor will recommend the medicine based on case to case. Stacking of these medicines may decrease dependency on these. Thus, your doctor may recommend one or two Nootropics for a better effect and overall experience.

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Brain health: The next big trend in functional beverages? – FoodNavigator-USA.com

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"I think the future is from the neck up. To be dramatic, I think its the next step in human evolution, and were at the forefront of that," Miller told FoodNavigator-USA.

"I dont think our brains have caught up from an evolutionary standpoint to keep up [with advances in technology], which is why you have guys like Elon Musk worried about brain function, and why hes made huge investments in it."

Before founder and CEO Chris Miller started Koios in 2015, he was doing what many other members of the workforce did to keep energy levels up throughout the day: drinking copious amounts of caffeine.

"As I became more entrenched in work, I did what everyone else does in this information age does to keep up, and I self-medicated with energy drinks and too much coffee," Miller said.

The company launched with a nootropic(referring to a group of substances linked to improved cognitive function)capsule, and after seeing strong success with its supplement line, Miller and his team decided to enter the beverage category.

"[We thought to ourselves]how do you have a better technology instead of just coffee? Because it can only get you so far," said Miller."We thought if we could get this drink into Whole Foods, more people would be open to the idea. For us, it was how do we get this into more peoples hands?'."

Koios' line of carbonated canned beverages features nootropic ingredients including medium chain triglycerides from coconut oil, vitamins B6 and B12, ginseng, Lion's Mane mushroom, and caffeine from green tea.

The drinks are available in Whole Foods and at Walmart in the retailers' functional beverage set. With its clean and fresh branding, Koios drinks are doing especially well with active female consumers, said Miller.

"When we repackaged we wanted it to be feminine, we wanted it to be clean, we wanted it to be very ingredients focused. Like a sparkling water with a ton of benefit.Who we really saw traction with is 25- to 45-year-old females who are upwardly mobile and really care about their body. Kind of the same demo[graphic] as Lululemon would have," Miller said.

According to Grandview Research, the global market size of digestive health products is more than five times the size of the market for brain health products ($32.7bn vs. $6.2bn).

"I look at nootropics as sort of where kombucha was seven years ago," said Miller.

If the general consumer now understands to a certain degree what a probiotic is, then it's not too far of leap to develop a basic understanding of nootropics, noted Miller.

"I think youre about to see this huge explosion [in brain health]. We saw the explosion in gut health, everyone understands probiotics and prebiotics now. I think in the next few years, everyones going to want a nootropic. I think if gut health can be that fancy so can brain health. I think its an even more attractive category."

According to Miller, the hottest brands that have come out of the functional beverage space in recent years have all started online where they built a loyal following (e.g. Soylent, Bulletproof, Dirty Lemon).

The reason Koios was able to gain distribution with major retailers such as Walmart and Whole Foods, is because the brand built a strong online audience first, noted Miller.

"I personally think that people are more brand loyal than theyve ever been.I think youre going to see a lot of brands like Bulletproof did come in and sort of take over...brands that are really direct-to-consumer focus are going to win the battle,"Miller said.

Miller also believes that theFDA's final guidance of Nutrition Facts labeling regulationswill have a noticeable impact on food and beverage manufacturers.

"I do think theres going to be some sweeping changes in how products are labeled. I think there will be even more accountability,"he said.

Koios has the advantage of operating their own production facility, opposed to working through a copacker to produce its wares, which can delay production cycles, speed to market, and innovation, according to Miller.

The brand's latest innovation is Fit Soda, a more indulgent option for consumers looking to get their soda fix. Fit Soda contains BCAAs (branch chain amino acids) and zero sugar (it's sweetened with sucralose)."I think one of the things that holds CPG brands back is innovation, because most of us are dealing with co packers, third party faculties, and that almost killed us in the beginning,"Miller said."So whats unique about us is we can innovate as often and as quickly as we want."

"We really wanted something that was non-caffeinated that was indulgent and still incredibly healthy. Kind of following the footsteps of Halo Top and Smart Sweets,"Miller said.

"If everyones being honest, I really want to drink soda."

Interested in learning more about the future of the functional beverage category? Tune into our FREE-TO-ATTEND LIVE Beverage Trends webinar on Thursday, March 19th at 11:30 a.m. CST.

Check out our panel of beverage industry stakeholders and the topics that will be covered HERE.

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Would you try hacking your brain to perform better? – VOGUE India

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Consider the brain to be a piece of hardware, where therapies and technology can be applied to manipulate and upgrade it. This understanding is loosely the basis of neurohacking, which is simply any process that tweaks brain function or structure to improve a persons experience of the world. Usage of nootropics, dopamine fasting, neurofeedback and brain stimulation are all different ways to change the way your mind functions. While these practises were relatively unknown until a few years ago, theyve now become quite popular, especially amongst the in the Silicon Valley crowd or professionals in high-performance jobs. Vogue spoke to a neurohacking expert, a psychiatrist and a nutritionist to find out more about the trend.

My interest in neurohacking came from the search to create a better experience in the life I was creating and living, says Ben Cote, a director at Neurohacker Collective in San Francisco. To put in simply, neurohacking is about taking control of your diet, sleep, exercise through a specific technology like nootropics, or practices like red light therapy and meditation. The great thing about it is that there are so many entrances into discovering what is possible when you take responsibility for your own health. It has the ability to show that with a deliberate and thoughtful decision about one aspect of your lifeand the amazing results that come from thatwhat all is possible in other areas of your life,

While neurohacking is usually safe, doctors suggest that is is best to check with a professional first, especially if you already have medical conditions, or are consuming medications that could alter the results. Part of the world of neurohacking and biohacking is the notion of N=1 experimentation. N=1 is the nomenclature for a test with a single subject, which is yourself.It is important to experiment and see what works for you, says Cote. Try a new food routine, experiment with a new product or technology, and add in a new supplement or practice. Then, document your results. Tweak the experiment to see how those change the results, and then begin to stack those experiments on to one another, he explains. If youre nervous about trying something too complicated, clinical nutritionist Juhi Agarwal has a suggestion that might ease some of the stress. Instead of resorting to extremes, I think simple practices like maintaining a gratitude journal could help you equally, as you also end up learning about yourself on the way. This can be a great first step, she says. On the other hand, Mumbai-based psychiatrist Dr Kersi Chavda, is still wary. "There is still not enough clinical evidence backing it," he says.

While some non-invasive practices can be tested without too many side effects, doctors caution against jumping into oral medication or making other long-term changes before carrying out due diligence. They suggest that nootropics or other drugs wont work like magic pills, but could be an upgrade for an already healthy system. Taking few selective ingredients in high doses can cause the system to get out of balance, which can lead to down-regulation or dependence.We understand the body has an innate ability to self-regulate, and we want to support those pathways and processes that help this, and increase the capacity and resilience of the system towards that goal, says Cote. "Many believe that nootropics make a lot of difference in cognitive abilities, concentration, attention span, memory issues, but the fact is that there is no definitive proof of how effective they are. There are no specific studies done to prove that they are as useful as they are made out to be. At best one can believe they are useful as adjuvants [an ingredient used to boost or modify the effect of other ingredients] but they certainly cannot take on the role of the main drug given for that particular disorder," says Dr Chavda.

How my life changed when I kept a gratitude journal for 30 days

The biggest (and weirdest) wellness trends we all witnessed in the 2010s

All about Nootropics, the supplements that claim to make you smarter and faster

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Artists Mine Data and the Mostly Chilling Implications of AI in ‘Uncanny Valley’ – KQED

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The appearance of ones doppelgnger usually presages disaster. Today, a shadow version of oneself exists constantly alongside our flesh-and-bone selves, for the most part concealed under the surface of our smartphones, in the ebb and flow of data behind our screens. These statistical alter egos, as de Young contemporary art curator Claudia Schmuckli calls them, are part of the modern conditionat least for anyone who engages with the networked world.

Instead of shying away from this uncomfortable truth, the artists of Uncanny Valley, Schmucklis first group exhibition at the de Young, meet these doppelgngers head on, mining and manipulating that data to confront audiences with their digital lives, and the real-world implications of all that information.

Uncanny Valley is billed as the first major exhibition in the U.S. to explore the relationship between humans and intelligent machines through an artistic lens, which sounds like it could be a show of unwieldy and intangible technology. It does, however, hew fairly close to the standard exhibition format, just with slightly more interactive features. Dealing in such nebulous, digital stuff, Uncanny Valleys strongest moments turn those themes into room-sized installations, as happens in Zach Blas The Doors, Lynn Hershman Leesons Shadow Stalker and Christopher Kulendran Thomas Being Human.

The exhibition opens with Blas green-tinged mystical corporate garden, organized around the sacred geometry of Metatrons cube in a nod to the Bay Areas past and present relationship to psychedelia. At the rooms center, a glass case displays readily available nootropics (so-called smart drugs), popular with a Silicon Valley set interested in optimizing everything, including their own minds. On hanging screens, video projections trained on various neural networks (Fillmore-esque posters, Jim Morrisons poetry, lizard skin) create a frenetic ambiance, the textbook cacophony of a bad trip.

While Blas LSD-inspired garden asks questions like Who gets to have a vision of the future today? other projects supply an onslaught of unsettling information we didnt necessarily know to ask after. Soliciting visitors email addresses, Hershman Leesons Shadow Stalker broadcasts what personal data can be gleaned from an internet search of that email, yielding current and former addresses, dates of birth, phone numbers and even, sometimes, credit scores. (Schmuckli assured me the museum isnt keeping peoples email addresses on file, so at least theres that.)

Hershman Leeson further implicates her audience (their physical and digital shadows become part of a projected map) by linking this invasive search to the reality of predictive policing, which uses data about past arrests to identify high-risk areas and determine heightened surveillance of those spaces. The feedback loop is dizzying.

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NOOTROPIC FOODS TO BOOST THE MEMORY DURING EXAMINATION – NewsPatrolling

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While we as parents worry about the nutrition content of the food of our kids, we rarely think about how food can also affect our childs brains.

The feeding of children, the right way, has to be well monitored by their parents for their proper physical and mental growth of children. Healthy eating can stabilize childrens energy, sharpen their minds, and even out their moods.

Children who dont get proper nutrition during their first three years may be losing ground in intelligence to their better-nourished peers and hence children should be encouraged to eat healthy foods from an early age, and to avoid foods that arehigh in fat and sugar, as far as possible.

Nutrition has been called the single greatest environmental influence for children, and it remains essential during the initial years of life and during examination for their memory.

WHAT ARE NOOTROPIC FOODS

Nootropics are brain booster they are drugs or supplements which helps to improve cognitive function, memory, creativity or motivation particularly executive functions which is beneficial for the human brain.

The foods which are rich in nootropics are:

Eggs:are rich in choline, which helps transmit signals across neuronal membranes. Body use the choline in eggs to produce acetylcholine, which aids the body in achieving deep sleep to retaining new memories.

Spinach:Dark greens leafy vegetable like spinach and kale are the best source of brain-boosting nutrients lutein and zeaxanthin these nutrients helps in quicker mental recall, and increased capacity for memory.

Turmeric:turmeric which belong to ginger family helps stimulates neurogenic cellular creation, and is used in the treatment of depression, Alzheimers disease, and strokes.

Blueberries:contain Anthocyanin, an antioxidant which prevents the brain from aging. Anthocyanin helps improve memory and cognitive function, and even helps intra-cellular communication within our brains.

Dark chocolate: Flavanol-rich cocoa beans actually increase blood flow to the brain and can even trigger the production of new brain cells.

Oily fish:the long chain omega 3s in oily fish may improve learning and memory and reduce inflammation in the brain which helps in decreased risk of Alzheimers disease, depression and other mental health conditions.

Red wine: nootropic benefits in red wine are in its high levels of resveratrol, an antioxidant compound that targets the free radicals associated with some forms of cancer.

Nuts:walnuts have high amount of vitamin E that forms a protective layer around the brain cell membranes and ward off free radicals.

Coffee caffeine content in the coffee shows cognitive performance by blocking the activity of adenosine, an inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain. This neurotransmitter can reduce mental stamina and make one feel drowsy.

Green tea contains catechin and L-theanine which promote relaxation without sedation which is favourably promote brain function.

Water When we are dehydrated, we are more likely not to be able to think clearly. around two litres of water a day is recommended but it also depends on body weight, and level of physical activity of a person.

BY:Ms. Pavithra N Raj, Chief Dietician, Columbia Asia Referral Hospital Yeshwanthpur

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7 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About John McAfee

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TL;DR

John McAfee is by far one of the most interesting, as well as the most controversial public figures today. He has had an eventful life, which led him from being a door-to-door salesman to being an anti-virus maker and a cryptoanalyst, with numerous substance abuse incidents, countless lawsuits, and several arrests in between.

He also moved to Belize for a while, he attempted to run for president of the US, created his political party, and much more. His life filled with fascinating anecdotes, disputed events, and surprising twists that have brought him to where he is now. With that in mind, here are seven interesting facts you probably did not know about John McAfee.

McAfee was born in the UK on September 18th, 1945. While he was still very young, his parents moved to Roanoke, Virginia. He had a difficult childhood, with his father being an alcoholic and committing suicide when McAfee was 15 years old. He then went to Roanoke College, where his alcohol abuse originally started.

McAfee has had quite a colorful business career, and he started off selling magazines door-to-door. After that, he started working at a firm that coded punch-card systems, which is where he became familiar with the basics of computing. With this knowledge, he managed to get a job at the Missouri Pacific Railroad, where he worked on using the new computer system for creating train schedules.

In the 1970s, he moved to Silicon Valley, where he worked for different technology companies. In 1986, the first big computer virus hit PCs, which is when he decided to start his own anti-virus company. Soon enough, his security software was used by some of the largest firms around the world, although individual users were still unaware of the online threats and not particularly interested in applying his anti-virus. However, when another virus called Michelangelo hit in 1992, infecting over 5 million computers, the demand for protection software made McAfees anti-virus the most popular one around.

He resigned from his company in 1994, when he decided to retire and keep a low profile. He spent years lecturing at a business school, advising startups, and working on his own smaller projects.

As mentioned, McAfee started drinking in college, which continued throughout his business career. He also began experimenting with harder drugs, often during working hours. One day he bought a psychedelic DMT, and after using it, he felt nothing. He then decided to use the entire bag, which caused vivid hallucinations, paranoia, and hearing voices. He ended up running out to the streets and hiding behind a trash can, with people approaching him and asking questions which he was unable to understand.

He continued using drugs after the incident as well, until 1983, when he started feeling alone and scared, which is when he decided to seek help.

After quitting his company, McAfee agreed to sell his shares, which brought him quite a wealth. With $100 million in his possession, many believed he was set for life. However, in 2008, the global financial crisis that inspired the creation of Bitcoin affected McAfees fortune quite strongly, and he lost an estimated 96% of what he owned.

Later in the 2000s, McAfee believed that the world of antibiotics is the next big thing where he can make a breakthrough, so he sold everything and moved to Belize to work with the company called Quorumex.

Whilethere, however, he became convinced that he is being followed and watched, which eventually led to him losing connection to society. Later, in 2012, he fled the country after becoming a person of interest in a murder case that involved the death of his neighbor, Gregory Faull.

He was living in Guatemala when the countrys police arrested him for illegal entry, and after being detained for some time, he was sent back to the US.

After returning to the US, he received a lot of attention, which he decided to use in September 2015 when he decided to start a new political party called The Cyber Party. He also attempted to run for the president of the US. He tried to join the Libertarian Party, but he failed to win the nomination, with New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson winning it instead.

Finally, he got involved with a mysterious tech company called MGT Technologies, which invested in games and cybersecurity, but also in a small drugmaker. Soon enough, McAfee left the company, which is when he developed an interest in digital currencies.

He developed a particular interest in Bitcoin and had made some of the most bullish claims to date, stating that Bitcoin will hit $1,000,000 by 2020. And if not he will eat his di** (evidence ahead). While there is no way of knowing whether or not this will happen, many consider him a tech genius, which is why many had taken his predictions to be extreme, but possible.

We recently had a chance to interview Mr. McAfee. For the past months, he had been hiding in a so-called cage. McAfee doesnt reveal where the cage is located:

Theyre going against me, but they cant find me. Nobody can find me in a cage in some unknown place in the world specifically so that I can do what Im doing: building a distributed exchange that cant be shut down. Do you understand? This is the world we live in. If youre going to do things like Im doing, youd better be prepared to go underground. Youd better be prepared for the SEC to come., As been told by him to CryptoPotato.

In the full interview, McAfee reveals how he had found out about Bitcoin and talks about his famous Bitcoin to $1 million predictions.

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John McAfee 2020 presidential campaign – Wikipedia

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Presidential campaign of John McAfee

The 2020 presidential campaign of John McAfee, anti-virus software pioneer and cryptocurrency investor, was formally launched on June 3, 2018.

McAfee previously ran for president in 2016. He was initially the candidate for the Cyber Party, a party which he had created. In December 2015, McAfee re-announced his candidacy under the Libertarian Party. During the campaign, McAfee was considered a front-runner for the nomination, and participated in the first televised Libertarian primary debates. At the convention, McAfee came in third place, with 14.1% of the delegates on the second ballot, behind Austin Petersen and the Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson. Following the convention, McAfee declined to endorse the Johnson campaign, and announced that he would not run for office again.[citation needed]

Contrary to his assertion at the 2016 convention, McAfee announced on June 3, 2018 via Twitter that he would run for President again in 2020, either with the Libertarian Party or under the banner of a party of his own creation.[2] On January 22, McAfee announced via Twitter that he would be continuing his campaign "in exile", following reports that he, his wife, and four of his campaign staff were being indicted for tax-related felonies by the IRS. McAfee indicated that he was in "international waters", and had previously tweeted that he was on his way to Venezuela.[3] The IRS has not commented on the alleged indictments.[4] On June 29, McAfee tweeted that his campaign headquarters was relocated to Havana, Cuba.[1] Around the same time, McAfee defended Communist revolutionary Che Guevara on Twitter, putting himself at odds with the Libertarian Party, with Libertarian National Committee chairman Nicholas Sarwark saying, "I hear very little buzz about McAfee this time around...making a defense of Che Guevara from Cuba may ingratiate him with the Cuban government, but it didn't resonate well with Libertarians."[5]

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IRS fugitive John McAfee sent to UK after stint in …

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John McAfee of antivirus software fame has arrived in London from the Dominican Republic, where he had been detained for several days with his wife and several others for entering the Caribbean nation with a cache of weapons on his yacht, his lawyer said Friday.

Authorities asked him where he wanted to go, and he decided on London, his attorney Candido Simon told Reuters.

News of his arrival in the UK came two days after McAfee, 73, the eponymous founder of the PC software security giant, said on Twitter that he was released after four days of confinement along with five other people, including his wife, Janice.

I was well treated. My superiors were friendly and helpful. In spite of the helpful circumstances, weve decided to move on, the British-born tech guru said in a tweet Wednesday.

After Dominican authorities ensured that the US had no active legal cases or extradition requests for McAfee, they allowed him to choose where he wanted to go, Simon said.

McAfee has been sought by US tax authorities since January 2012, when he announced that he had fled the country and living in exile on a boat because of felony charges handed down by the Internal Revenue Service.

A spokesman for the IRS told The Post on Friday that he could not release any information about the case, as per policy.

McAfee who is seeking the Libertarian Partys nomination for US president in 2020 asked his Twitter followers on Friday whether he should also campaign to be British prime minister.

Can a person run for, and be, President of the United States and Prime Minister of Great Britain simultaneously? Yes. Absolutely. Without question. But I believe I am one of the few people still alive who could qualify for the combined position, he tweeted.

Earlier this week, McAfee docked his yacht, Great Mystery, in Puerto Plata, a province on the DRs Atlantic north coast, where the weapons and ammo stash was seized, Reuters reported.

Customs officials said they found pistols, a shotgun and bars of suspected silver on the yacht.

While in custody, McAfee retweeted a photo posted by his wife of himself sitting shirtless in a cell.

@theemrsmcafee insisted I looked better in this jailhouse photo since I was smiling. Janice was incarcerated in the cellblock next door at the same time. She just forgot how to properly smuggle phones, he wrote.

My crime is not filing tax returns not a crime. The rest is propaganda by the U.S. government to silence me. My voice is the voice of dissent. If I am silenced, dissent itself will be next, he wrote in a July 19 tweet.

The CIA has attempted to collect us. We are at sea now and will report more soon. I will continue to be dark for the next few days, he said in another tweet, which included a photograph of himself and a woman brandishing rifles.

On July 22, he wrote that they had been at sea 4 and a half in rough weather. Nearing port. All is well. Will be back in the saddle shortly.

McAfee said he couldnt wait to get off of this God forsaken boat that lost air conditioning and water 18 hours into the trip. None of us have bathed for 5 days.

His Twitter account was later taken over by his campaign manager Rob Benedicto Pacifico Juan Maria Loggia-Ramirez, who wrote: If John misses his next check-in, events will be set into motion that I cannot prevent once they have begun.

John has secreted data with individuals across the world. I know neither their identities or locations. They will release their payloads if John goes missing.

McAfee said in a video earlier this year that he was charged for using cryptocurrencies in criminal acts by Tennessee authorities, according to bitcoin.com.

I am running my campaign in exile on this boat for the duration I will not allow them to imprison me and shut my voice down, which they will do immediately Why? I am a flight risk. Obviously, I am in flight, McAfee said in the video.

The cybersecurity pioneer also boasted in a Jan. 3 tweet that he had not filed a tax return for 8 years, saying taxation is illegal and that his net income is negative.

At the peak of his wealth, McAfees net worth topped $100 million but he reportedly lost the bulk of his fortune during the global financial crisis in 2009.

He then liquidated his assets and moved to Belize, where he surrounded himself with a harem of young women many of whom moved in with him at his heavily fortified beachfront compound on Ambergris Caye.

In 2012, Belize police said McAfee was a person of interest in the murder of a neighbor. He told the news outlet Wired in November of that year that he was forced into hiding because local authorities were trying to kill him.

Prime Minister Dean Barrow dismissed the allegations, describing McAfee as extremely paranoid even bonkers.

McAfee was later arrested in Guatemala, where he sought political asylum but was charged with entering the country illegally. He was hospitalized for suspected heart attacks, which he later claimed he faked to avoid being handed over to police in Belize.

On Dec. 21, 2012, Guatemalan authorities deported him to the US, where he reportedly met Janice, who solicited him as a prostitute in South Beach, Florida.

The couple have lived in constant fear of his assassination by agents of the Belize government, according to a Newsweek report.

McAfee sold his famous anti-virus software company, which he founded in 1987, in 1994 for about $75 million.

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IRS fugitive John McAfee sent to UK after stint in ...

The rise, and fall, and rise of John McAfee, from tech …

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-- There are many different versions of security software founder John McAfee.

He has gone from being known as a multimillionaire tech legend, to making headlines as a "person of interest" in a mysterious killing in Belize, to launching new tech companies, to running to become a presidential candidate, to living in rural Tennessee. The one constant these days is his state of mind -- his belief that people are after him.

Im a mad man to some people because I dont follow the normal rules, McAfee told ABC News Matt Gutman in an exclusive series of interviews this spring for an ABC News "20/20" report. You know, the drummer that leads me is an odd drummer, but I follow the sound.

McAfee, 71, is best known for developing antivirus software in the 1980s that bears his name and helping to pioneer instant-messaging in the 1990s. He says he wrote the antivirus program in a day and a half and that 4 million people were using it within a month.

He sold his shares in the software company in the mid-90s, and reportedly made $100 million, though McAfee told ABC News his fortune was worth much more. But, he added, I wasted it, like everybody who has money.

McAfee built nine homes, filling them with expensive art, furniture and oddities, such as a dinosaur skull, and he bought a fleet of planes and antique cars. He created a yoga retreat in Colorado that hosted 200 guests at a time and set up a center in New Mexico for a new sport called aero-trekking.

But then the recession hit McAfee hard and in 2009, he said he liquidated his assets, and several of his properties and possessions were auctioned off. But he later said he didnt lose his all of his fortune, and had set up the auctions to try to fool the media.

Ive had 200 lawsuits in my life because my name is John McAfee, he told ABC News. No, I didnt lose everything. I wanted to stop people from trying to sue me.

So McAfee packed up and moved to Belize. When asked what made him go to the Central American country, McAfee joked, because Im a stupid man.

John McAfee's home in Belize, Ambergris Caye, is pictured here.

In 2009, he started a company that he said would manufacture plants from the Belize jungle into antibiotics. His lab was raided in May 2012 by the police departments Gang Suppression Unit on suspicion he was manufacturing methamphetamine. He says the raid was retribution for his refusal to be extorted by the government. No illegal drugs were found during the raid. He was never charged and the lab was eventually shut down.

The Belize government declined ABC News request for comment.

McAfee was catapulted to the headlines again in November 2012. This time Belizean authorities linked him to a more serious crime, naming him "a person of interest" in the mysterious slaying of 52-year-old Gregory Faull, a U.S. man who was McAfees neighbor two doors down from McAfees beachside compound. McAfee went into hiding, telling ABC News at the time he was afraid the authorities were trying to kill him.

He has denied any involvement in Faull's death.

After being on the run for almost a month, McAfee was arrested in Guatemala by Guatemalan immigration officials for entering the country illegally. He was about to be deported back to Belize when he collapsed. McAfee later said he had faked a heart attack.

Sure, I faked it, he said. What would you have done?

He was never arrested or charged in connection with Faull's death, and McAfees attorney in Guatemala was able to obtain a stay of deportation to Belize for him. Soon after, Guatemalan authorities deported him to Miami, where he met his future wife Janice Dyson McAfee, a former prostitute at a restaurant.

I instantly saw in Janice what I had been looking for my entire life, McAfee said.

It was, I dont know how to say it, magical, Janice told ABC News. He saw the hurt that was there. He saw the human in me. He thought I was worthy enough of a second chance.

"I had nothing to do with the murder of Gregory Faull," McAfee told ABC News "20/20" in an exclusive interview with him and his wife, Janice.

McAfee and his wife now live in Lexington, Tennessee. He has an armed body guard with him everywhere he goes and his home sports a large gun collection.

I have no fascination with guns, he said. I have a fascination with survival.

McAfee and his wife are convinced that they have been followed for the past four years.

We have been chased for days, he said. You could see the same cars and trucks over and over and over.

McAfee was the subject of filmmaker Nanette Bursteins Showtime documentary, Gringo, released last year, which alleged McAfee was responsible for Faulls death.

One of the people featured in the film was McAfees property caretaker in Belize named Cassian Chavarria, who says in the film McAfee paid to have Faull killed, though the supposed hit man he named denied all wrongdoing.

When asked about the documentary recently, McAfee laughed it all off, saying Burstein paid Chavarria to make false statements. After the film was released, McAfee posted multiple videos online with Chavarria and others who said they had lied to Burstein.

Let me make this perfectly clear, McAfee told ABC News. I had nothing to do with the murder of Gregory Faull.

Burstein told ABC News that she didnt pay for interviews, though she said she did pay what she called a nomral fee for some photos. She says McAfee paid Chavarria to recant his story.

I called him and said listen, why did you do this? she said. He said, Someone showed up at my house who works for John and they offered me thousands of dollars to say this.

An attorney for Chavarria and three others featured in the film held a press conference in Belize City shortly after the film was released, in which they all claimed they had lied in the documentary to get money from filmmakers for their interviews.

McAfee denies paying off people from the documentary to recant what they said - Chavarria also denied at the 2016 press conference that McAfee had paid him -- but at one point, McAfee did threaten to walk out of the ABC News interview if our questions about Belize continued. McAfees only conditions for the interview were that ABC News adhere to his schedule and location.

Since being back in the states, McAfee hasnt completely avoided legal trouble. In August 2015, he was pulled over in Henderson County, Tennessee, on suspicion of driving under the influence. He says he wasnt drunk, but high on Xanax, which he said a doctor had prescribed. He pleaded guilty to a DUI, and has yet to get his suspended license back.

Though he may not have the fortune he once did, McAfee does paid speaking engagements at cybertech conferences, where some in the hacking world consider him to be a visionary. He took his public persona to a whole new level last year when he ran to become the Libertarian Party candidate for president. He finished as a runner-up to Gary Johnson.

McAfee is the CEO of MGT Capital, a company that invests in cybersecurity, such as a cellphone that McAfee says is the first that cannot be hacked.

He also demonstrated a NFC ring, or near field communications ring, which he did not develop, but said could have downloaded a script which took full control of your phone.

Youre living in an age of no privacy, he added.

Given the worlds obsession with hacking, McAfee could be looking to make another comeback.

Its an opportunity for me to speak again, he said. People are listening.

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The rise, and fall, and rise of John McAfee, from tech ...

Evelyn Shaw: Installing utilities is in the best interest of the city – The Fayetteville Observer

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Clearing up misconceptions about the roles of the PWC, City of Fayetteville in sewer line installation

Since the Fayetteville Public Works Commission (PWC) began the utility retrofitting of annexed areas related to the City of Fayetteville in its 2005 Phase V annexation, public misconceptions about the multi-faceted project seem to arise from time to time. On behalf of the PWC, I would like to provide some facts and historical perspective related to the work PWC has undertaken on behalf of the city mainly in the western side of our community.

When the city engaged in the so-called Big Bang annexation, it was obligated to extend water and sewer services to annexed properties, and the city could do so by charging property owners.

The city entered into a contract with the PWC to install the utilities in the Phase V area and agreed to contribute to the expense of the project which was estimated to be $220 million by imposing an assessment on property owners in the annexed neighborhoods. The assessment would help pay for installing sewer lines to over 8,000 properties.

The assessment, set at $5,000 for the typical single-family residential lot, was capped by the City Council. Both parties have followed the terms of the Agreement, as amended, since 2008.

Prior to 2016, under the agreement, the city and the PWC split the cost to install sewer and water lines that exceeded the $5,000 single-family residential assessment. Without this agreement with PWC, the city and property owners in the annexed neighborhoods would have been responsible for the entire cost of the utility expansion project.

Residents costs

In 2016, as part of the changes in the legal relationship between the PWC and the city that occurred as a result of the new PWC Charter adopted by the General Assembly, the PWC entered into a fourth amendment to the 2008 agreement.

The amendment was approved by the PWC Commissioners on June 22, 2016 and City Council on June 27, 2016. The amendment was signed by then PWC Chair Darsweil Rogers and Mayor Pro Tem Mitch Colvin. The parties 2016 amendment ended the citys direct financial responsibility, leaving the PWC and its customers to bear the entire cost of utility-line extension in excess of the $5,000 single family assessment amount.

For perspective, in 2008, the average installation cost per residential lot was $15,000. That cost has now grown to nearly $40,000 per lot, and while the PWC believes installing these services remain in the best interest of the City of Fayetteville, the adverse impact to PWC ratepayers continues to grow.

The PWC does not issue assessments; we have no statutory authority to do so. Only the city has that authority. Because these assessments are for sewer and water services, and the responsibility for collecting the assessments has been delegated to they PWC, they are viewed as a PWC fee. In fact, the assessments are imposed by the city and used to defray the cost of this expansive project.

Understanding that residents may have difficulty paying the assessment all at once, there are provisions to pay over time, up to 10 years. In addition, the city has successfully applied for grants to assist low-income residents pay their assessments.

As the PWC has worked through the challenges of retrofitting utilities in established neighborhoods, in 2017, it took on another expense, previously paid by the city. The PWCs Commissioners agreed to pave, not patch, streets in all future installation areas to ensure residents received the benefit of good roads following the completion of utility work.

No unintended tax

Today, utility installation is more than half complete. The PWC is scheduled to bid the final areas in 2024. PWC representatives have engaged in productive discussions with our mayor and his staff regarding acceleration of the work remaining. While we are sensitive to our neighbors desires, any potential acceleration to the work would have a minimal impact on when sewer is available to residents. Moreover, all should be aware that it could significantly increase design and installation costs, which would have additional impact on costs and customers rates.

As commissioners, we are required by our charter to take action so rates are set not only in the best interest of the city, but also the customers of the Commission. We take our responsibility very seriously as we try to balance our decisions. We do not want to create, nor will we create, an unintended tax on our ratepayers for an annexation which is outside of our purview as the hometown utility.

There is a great advantage to our citizens owning a hometown utility, where decisions are made in the best interest of all ratepayers who are also our neighbors. The PWC does not seek a profit when we provide utility services; however, we do work daily on sustainability, accountability and reinvestment in your utility to keep it strong and viable.

It is a jewel that belongs to you the customers and citizens. It is not some monolithic entity that will put profits above all else. The PWC will continue to meet our obligations under the agreement with the city, and we will seek all reasonable and practical opportunities to help property owners in annexed areas. We will work diligently to fulfill this commitment and soon complete this long, challenging, yet necessary chapter of Fayettevilles history.

Evelyn Shaw is chairwoman of the Fayetteville Public Works Commission.

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Evelyn Shaw: Installing utilities is in the best interest of the city - The Fayetteville Observer

NSA Blew $100 Million On Phone Records Over Five Years, Generated Exactly One Usable Lead – Techdirt

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from the try-not-to-ask-what-your-country-can-do-for-you-because-as-you-can-see... dept

The telephone metadata program the NSA finally put out to pasture in 2019 was apparently well past its expiration date. Since the initial Snowden leak in 2013, critics have argued the program needed to die since it was obviously the sort of general warrant rummaging (only without the warrant!) the founding fathers headed off with the Fourth Amendment.

The program wasn't remade/remodeled until the passage of the USA Freedom Act in 2015. That took the phone records away from the NSA and left them at their place of origin -- the databases maintained by telcos and other service providers. The government was also required to put forward some sort of articulable suspicion before asking for phone records from telcos.

The NSA was uniquely unprepared to handle these sorts of transactions, having been built from the ground up to collect everything and sort through it later. Now that its searches were more confined, it frequently found itself obtaining more records than it could legally justify having. The cost of compliance managed to outweigh the benefits of the program and the NSA just kind of stopped approaching the FISA court with requests for communications metadata.

Still, proponents argued the program had value -- possibly unrealized -- and that it should not be written out of existence by the periodic surveillance powers renewal process. I have no idea what they planned to use as evidence for these claims. A new report by Charlie Savage for the New York Times makes it clear even the most obligatory cost-benefit analysis should lead Congressional oversight to question why it allowed the modified Section 215 collection to limp along for another five years.

A National Security Agency system that analyzed logs of Americans domestic phone calls and text messages cost $100 million from 2015 to 2019, but yielded only a single significant investigation, according to a newly declassified study.

$100 million for a single investigation lead. How's that for ROI? It actually produced two leads, but the other lead was a dead end that terminated an investigation before it could get past its initial stages.

Not only was the program useless, it was also redundant.

It also disclosed that in the four years the Freedom Act system was operational, the National Security Agency produced 15 intelligence reports derived from it. The other 13, however, contained information the F.B.I. had already collected through other means, like ordinary subpoenas to telephone companies.

Killing the program just makes sense. And Congress can do it with during the renewal process for the USA Freedom Act, which expires in March of this year. With this information in the public domain, no one can seriously argue the program should continue to consume tax dollars and provide almost zero usable intel for another five years. Given the fact these agencies can still use subpoenas to target phone records, it would seem far more beneficial for everyone if the NSA and FBI did a bit more targeted snooping, rather than use the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to sweep up Americans' phone records.

Filed Under: mass surveillance, metadata, nsa, phone metadata, section 215, surveillance, usa freedom act

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NSA Blew $100 Million On Phone Records Over Five Years, Generated Exactly One Usable Lead - Techdirt

Bill Barr can’t be trusted to reform unconstitutional FISA surveillance – Washington Examiner

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Attorney General William Barr wants the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to be renewed pronto with no questions asked. If any reforms are needed, he promises to take care of them himself: Dont worry yourself, America.

Is Barr kidding?

First, a short history lesson. Due to the officials within the government, including Presidents Richard Nixon, Lyndon Johnson, and no doubt many before them, using federal resources to spy on citizens and political opponents, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act was passed in 1978. The law set up rules and a court designed to protect our Fourth Amendment privacy rights.

The goal was noble: FISA and its court would give the green light on going after terrorists while, ostensibly, protecting U.S. citizens from unconstitutional intrusions. Then, in the wake of 9/11, Congress passed the USA Patriot Act, which lowered FISA standards. This, too, was supposedly for the sole purpose of targeting terrorists.

But by 2003, according to the New York Times, The Bush administration, which calls the USA Patriot Act perhaps its most essential tool in fighting terrorists, has begun using the law with increasing frequency in many criminal investigations that have little or no connection to terrorism.

The newspaper reported, The government is using its expanded authority under the far-reaching law to investigate suspected drug traffickers, white-collar criminals, blackmailers, child pornographers, money launderers, spies and even corrupt foreign leaders.

Obviously, what was originally promised concerning the scope of the Patriot Act has changed significantly. This point was driven home in the 2006 movie The Departed, in which Boston police officers and the FBI are surveilling gangsters, and the police captain exclaims, The Patriot Act! I love it! I love it! I love it!

Far from just focusing on terrorists, the Patriot Act has become an extraconstitutional law enforcement tool. It has overwhelmingly been used to catch drug dealers more than terrorists. The Washington Post reported in 2011 that after a decade, the Patriot Act ha[d] been used in 1,618 drug cases and only 15 terrorism cases.

In 2013, whistleblower Edward Snowden revealed to the world that the U.S. government was spying on everyone in every way imaginable. Former President Barack Obama attacked Snowden and insisted that government agents were "not abusing [their] authorities to listen to your private phone calls or read your emails."

In fact, the government was doing all of these things. By 2019, many wondered if the U.S. government had spied on President Trumps campaign exactly the kind of Watergate-style corruption that inspired FISA in the first place.

Obviously, FISA is badly in need of reform.

With FISAs expiration looming in mid-March, Barr held a lunch briefing on Tuesday that most Republicans came out of agreeing to pass a clean extension, with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell leading the pack. Barr assured them that any changes that needed to be made to prevent Trump or citizens from being spied on illegally again are actions he would take internally.

Yeah, right. It should be noted here that Barr believes the Patriot Act doesnt go far enough.

When libertarian-leaning Republican Sens. Rand Paul and Mike Lee voiced their objections to what essentially amounts to a reformless FISA extension, Barr reportedly told them criticizing U.S. government surveillance was dangerous. Why? Because it supposedly helps terrorists. This debate is just about terrorism. Nothing else.

Sound familiar?

In a series of tweets, Lee laid out what reforms he believed needed to be made before FISA should be renewed and added in a later tweet:

Its a safe bet that most Americans would agree. Sadly, the attorney general could care less about FISA reform. After all, Barr is asking citizens to entrust him with protecting the same constitutional rights he has abused for decades.

Jack Hunter (@jackhunter74) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner's Beltway Confidential blog. He is the former political editor of Rare.us and co-authored the 2011 book The Tea Party Goes to Washington with Sen. Rand Paul.

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Bill Barr can't be trusted to reform unconstitutional FISA surveillance - Washington Examiner

Bernie Sanders Is the Only Leading Presidential Candidate Publicly Opposing the Patriot Act – In These Times

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Many Democrats are still acquiescing to a George W. Bush-era policy that has been in place for nearly 20 years.

There is still broad bipartisan support for the CDR program, bringing significant risk that Democrats could cut a deal for reforms with significantly less teethand more loopholesthan SAPRA.

Three key provisions of the USA Patriot Act, which give the Trump administration broad surveillance powers, are set to expire on March 15 unless Congress votes to reauthorize them. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is the only leading democratic presidential candidate in Congress who is publicly opposing them.

I voted against the Patriot Act in 2001, 2006, 2011 and 2015. I strongly oppose its reauthorization next month, he tweeted on February 11. I believe that in a democratic and constitutional form of government, we cannot sacrifice the civil liberties that make us a free country.

One provision is section 215, the bulk metadata collection program exposed by Edward Snowden. This provision underwent modest post-Snowden reforms in 2015, but its essence remains largely intact in the call detail records (CDR) program. The program authorizes the NSA to seize call records of people deemed a targetand the people those targets communicate with. In 2017 and 2018, this provision allowed the government to collect more than 968 million records. The government recently shut down the CDR program, admitting to its overreach, but the legal authority to reinstate it at any time remains.

This CDR program was shuttered by the government because of massive over-collection of millions of Americans records, Sandra Fulton, government relations director for Free Press, tellsIn These Times. At this point, eliminating the CDR program is low-hanging fruit for any reform that is at all acceptable. According to Fulton, even if the CDR program is currently shuttered, keeping it on the books is a problem, because the government could reactivate it at any time. If we find a program that's being an abuse, the government doesn't just get to keep it, she says.

The other two senators among the leading Demoratic candidates, Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), have not made similar statements publicly opposing the reauthorization, and neither returned In These Times request for comment.

Sen. Klobuchar voted to reauthorize the Patriot Act in 2011, while Sanders did not (Warren was not yet in the Senate). Both Klobuchar and Warren voted in favor of the USA Freedom Act in 2015, which imposed limited reforms on the Patriot Act; Sanders voted no, citing the inadequacy of the reforms. Warren did, however, vote no on2018 on a bill to extend the NSAs powers to carry out warrantless surveillance for another six years, as did Sanders. Klobuchar voted yes.

Speaking publicly against the Patriot Act could have a significant impact at a time Democrats are still acquiescing to a George W. Bush-era policy that has been in place for nearly 20 years. Last November, Democrats voted overwhelmingly for a measure granting a three-month extension of the three Patriot Act provisions, included in a House resolution to prevent a government shutdown, infuriating civil rights activists. Only 10 Democrats in the House voted against the reauthorization, among them Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.), Ilhan Omar (Minn.), Ayanna Pressley (Mass.) and Rashida Tlaib (Mich.), known as the squad. But Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) co-chairs Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and Mark Pocan (D-Wisc.), and vice chairs, Reps. Ro Khanna (Calif.) and Barbara Lee (Calif.),all voted for it. (Neither Sanders, Warren nor Klobuchar were present for the Senate vote.)

As Sam Adler-Bell previously reported, the CPC said the extension was necessary to negotiate for better reforms, butthose progressives who voted yes caught considerable heat from activists. While we would oppose these authorities under any administration, history demonstrates that mass surveillance disproportionately impacts communities of color, immigrants, and other marginalized groups that Donald Trump is actively targeting, the activist organization Demand Progress said in a statement.

Likely in response to criticism, the CPC now says it doesnt plan to acquiesce to Bush-era spy powers so easily in mid-March.

For far too long, Congress has permitted blatant, unconstitutional violations of Americans Fourth Amendment rights under the PATRIOT Act, co-chairs Jayapal and Pocan told In These Times via email. Any long-term reauthorization of this legislation must contain meaningful and substantial reforms to these legal authorities, as proposed in the Safeguarding Americans Private Records Act (SAPRA), in order to secure our support.

Introduced by Sens. Ron Wyden (DOre.) and Steve Daines (RMont.) and Reps. Zoe Lofgren (DCalif.), Warren Davidson (ROhio), and Pramila Jayapal (DWash.),SAPRA, introduced in the House by on January 24 by Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), would rescind authority for the CDR program. It has attracted support from a coalition of civil rights and privacy organizations, among them Color Of Change, Committee of Concerned Scientists and Indivisible.

However, the organizations note that the reform has shortcomings. In a letter, the coalition said that SAPRA does not, for instance, prohibit backdoor searches under Section 702, a loophole that poses a dangerous threat to Americans privacy by allowing the government to search through communications collected under Section 702 of FISA seeking information about Americans without a warrant. Further, it reauthorizes the so-called lone wolf authority, which has never been used and should be repealed just like the Section 215 CDR program. This lone wolf authority allowsthe government to wiretap someone who is not a U.S. personand not a part of a terrorist organizationbut deemed by the United States to be helping international terrorism (it is believedthat this provision has never been used).

Nonetheless, David Segal, the executive director of Demand Progress, tells In These Timesthat SAPRA is the only genuine reform bill in play.

Whatever this bills shortcomings, its almost certain to face opposition not only from the Trump administration, but from the Democratic Party leadership. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) played a significant role in November in pushing Democrats to endorse a reauthorization of the Patriot Actwith no reformsby slipping it into the funding bill. And impeachment manager Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), who boosted his public profile by emphatically declaring that President Trump is dangerous to this country, was among the yes votes for full reauthorization of that presidents spy powers.

There is still significantbipartisan support for the CDR program, bringing significant risk that Democrats could cut a deal for reforms with less teethand more loopholesthan SAPRA.

A Sanders spokesperson noted to In These Times that the senator has been a supporter of Wyden's efforts to reform the Patriot Act and cosponsored his bipartisan USA RIGHTS Act. The spokespersonindicated that Sanders opposes the current iteration of the Patriot Act but would likely support Wyden's SAPRA legislation in the Senate, as it goes much further to protect privacy and civil liberties than a sunset of Section 215.

By coming out now against the mass surveillance powers, Sanders appears to besignaling to the CPC that it should find its backbone on this issue. And those who stay silent are implicitly encouraging the opposite.

This piece has beenupdated to include remarks from a spokesperson for Sanders that was sent following publication.

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Bernie Sanders Is the Only Leading Presidential Candidate Publicly Opposing the Patriot Act - In These Times

Civil war talk takes on a life of its own as far-right extremists coalesce around the Boogaloo – AlterNet

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The myths and conspiracy theories that fuel the radical right often take on lives of their own: Think of how the QAnon phenomenon began as a handful of conspiracy theorists making groundless claims and predictions about a coming Storm that metastasized first into a wildly popular body of Patriot/militia conspiracism, and finally into a massive submovement operating within the framework of the Trump presidencywhile producing a growing record of lethal violence by its unhinged believers.

Something similar appears to be coalescing around the boogaloothe vision of members of the far right ofa coming civil war, which they claim is being forced upon themby liberals who want to take their guns away as the first step towardtheir incarceration and enslavement. In reality, of course, a number of sectors of the far right have ginned up this kind of rhetoric for decadesbut now, a systematic study of its spread through social media has found that it appears to be massing into a movement of its own.

The study, conducted by the independent Network Contagion Research Institute, explores, according to its subtitle, how domestic militants organize on memes to incite violent insurrection and terror against government and law enforcement. It focused on the boogaloo in large part due its increasing popularityparticularly as a hashtag (#Boogaloo or #Boogaloo2020)on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, as well as the extreme and often callous expressions of violent intent that form the essence of the chatter.

In its initial forms, the civil war talk was generated in different sectors of the radical right in different ways. Among neo-Nazis, it generally has focused on a race wari.e., a genocidal conflict between whites and nonwhitesdating back to the 1980s and the classic white-supremacist blueprint, The Turner Diaries. This vein of rhetoric has produced a long record of lethal domestic terrorism, including the 1984 neo-Nazi criminal gang The Order; the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing; and more recently, the 2011 attack in Norway that killed 87 people and the 2019 Christchurch mosque attacks in New Zealand that killed 51.

Among the Patriot movement believers who form militias in resistance to the New World Order, most of the rhetoric has focused on using arms against law enforcement, particularly the federal kind, as well as the mythic blue-helmeted United Nations soldiers about to descend on them from black helicopters. In its more recent iterations among far-right Oath Keepers and III Percent militiamen, the boogaloo talk has mostly revolved around resistance to liberal gun-control legislation.

This reached its apotheosis in January when thousands of armed Patriots from around the United States descended on Richmond, Virginia, to protest imminent gun safetylegislation making its way through the states General Assembly. Before the rally, FBI agents arrested a trio of neo-Nazis who were preparing to open fire on law enforcement at the event.

However, one of the results of the broad emergence of popular boogaloo rhetoric has been a blurring of the lines between the anti-government extremists who foresee conflict with federal forces and the more extreme white supremacists who lust for a bloody conflict between the white and nonwhite races. While many of the latter also eagerly participate in the anti-government talk, many of the former appear to be warming up to the race-war talk.

The NCRI study found not only that the discussion of the boogaloo on social media had surged, but that discrete groups were coalescing around the discussion and creating the nascent forms of a movement. The boogaloo topic network produces a coherent, multi-component and detailed conspiracy to launch an inevitable, violent, sudden, and apocalyptic war across the homeland, it said, adding that the models created by researchers show that the meme acts as a meaningful vector to organize seditious sentiment at large.

The conspiracy, replete with suggestions to stockpile ammunition, may itself set the stage for massive real-world violence and sensitize enthusiasts to mobilize in mass for confrontations or charged political events. Furthermore, the memes emphasis on military language and culture poses a specific risk to military communities due to the similar thematic structure, fraternal organization, and reward incentives.

One of the boogaloo groups featured in the study, calling itself Patriot Wave, illustrated perfectly how the lines between militia Patriots and alt-right white nationalists were completely blurred and submerged in the larger project of fomenting a violent civil war. Its members wore alt-right Pepe the Frog patches with the title Boogaloo Boys, while others wore the skull balaclava generally associated with members of the fascist Atomwaffen Division.

The study also pointed to a particular area of concern: namely, the ability of these extremists to simply blend into existing power structures, including law enforcement and the military. One boogaloo enthusiast, Coast Guardsman Christopher Hasson, was arrested with a full arms cache and a plan to assassinate liberal political leaders. A Patriot Wave member is quoted in the study: Some of the guys we were with arent exactly out of the military yet, so they had to keep their faces covered.

The spread of the boogaloo organizing on social media has been facilitated with the use of hashtags #Boogaloo and #Boogaloo2020, which are then accompanied by associated hashtags such as #2A, #CivilWar2, and #2ndAmendment, as well as hashtags such as #BigIgloo, intended to elude filters.

This kind of informational conflictor what the study calls memetic warfarehas evolved, the study says, from mere lone-wolf threats to the threat of an entire meme-based insurgency.

The NCRI report was sent to members of Congress and the departments of Defense, Homeland Security, and Justice, among others. Paul Goldenberg, a member of the Homeland Security Advisory Council, told NBC News Brandy Zadrozny that the report was a wake-up call.

When you have people talking about and planning sedition and violence against minorities, police and public officials, we need to take their words seriously, said Goldenberg.

then let us make a small request. AlterNets journalists work tirelessly to counter the traditional corporate media narrative. Were here seven days a week, 365 days a year. And were proud to say that weve been bringing you the real, unfiltered news for 20 yearslonger than any other progressive news site on the Internet.

Its through the generosity of our supporters that were able to share with you all the underreported news you need to know. Independent journalism is increasingly imperiled; ads alone cant pay our bills. AlterNet counts on readers like you to support our coverage. Did you enjoy content from David Cay Johnston, Common Dreams, Raw Story and Robert Reich? Opinion from Salon and Jim Hightower? Analysis by The Conversation? Then join the hundreds of readers who have supported AlterNet this year.

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Civil war talk takes on a life of its own as far-right extremists coalesce around the Boogaloo - AlterNet

Nanobiotix 2019 Q4 and Annual Revenues – BioSpace

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NANOBIOTIX (Paris:NANO) (Euronext : NANO ISIN : FR0011341205 the Company), a late clinical-stage nanomedicine company pioneering new approaches to the treatment of cancer, today announced its unaudited annual revenues for Q4 and the unaudited revenues for the year ended December 31, 2019.

2019 Revenues

In K

Twelve months Ended

December 31st, 2019

Twelve months Ended

December 31st, 2018

Revenues

68

105

Of which licenses

-

-

Of which services

68

99

Other sales

-

6

Revenue for Q4 2019

In K

Q4 2019

Q3 2019

Q2 2019

Q1 2019

Revenues

20

11

32

5

Of which licenses

-

-

-

-

Of which services

20

11

32

5

Activity and results

Nanobiotixs revenue for the fourth quarter amounted to approximatively 20k.

Most of the revenues generated by the Company during this period result from the recharge of costs related to our license and collaboration agreement with PharmaEngine.

Overall, Nanobiotixs annual revenue in 2019 amounted to approximatively 68k.

The amount of cash and cash equivalent as of December 31st, 2019 amounted to 35 094k. This amount does not include the research tax credit related to 2018, normally expected in Q4 which was received in February 2020.

In November 2019, Nanobiotix announced promising results from a pre-clinical immuno-oncology study of NBTXR3 at the 2019 Annual Meeting of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC). In the study, conducted at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, researchers studied NBTXR3 activated by radiation therapy in combination with anti-PD-1 treatment in immunocompetent mice. Combination treatment that included NBTXR3 and anti-PD-1 increased local control of the irradiated tumor, generated a marked abscopal effect, decreased the number of spontaneous lung metastases, and significantly increased survival when compared to other treatments in the study, including anti-PD-1 combined with radiation therapy alone. The results indicated that the combination treatment has the potential to achieve an equivalent abscopal effect at a lower dose of radiation.

The study also included an in vivo RadScopal model in which a second tumor received a low dose of radiation while the first tumor received a full dose. In this model, researchers evaluated NBTXR3 activated by radiation therapy combined with anti-PD-1 and anti-CTLA-4 treatment. In the study, combination treatment triggered better local control, along with significant increases in abscopal effect and survival, when compared to all other tested combinations. Several complete responses were observed in the second tumor of the group that received the NBTXR3 combination, while none were observed in the other groups. Nanobiotix believes these results could pave the way for the use of NBTXR3 to improve treatment outcomes for immunooncology patients, including checkpoint inhibitor non-responders.

On December 16th 2019, Nanobiotix received the French 2019 Prix Galien award for Most Innovative MedTech. This award recognizes outstanding biomedical and medical technology product achievements that improve the human condition.

2020 Financial agenda

Nanobiotix plans to announce its financial and operating results as follows:

About NANOBIOTIX: http://www.nanobiotix.com

Incorporated in 2003, Nanobiotix is a leading, clinical-stage nanomedicine company pioneering new approaches to significantly change patient outcomes by bringing nanophysics to the heart of the cell.

The Nanobiotix philosophy is rooted in designing pioneering, physical-based approaches to bring highly effective and generalized solutions to address unmet medical needs and challenges.

Nanobiotixs first-in-class, proprietary lead technology, NBTXR3, aims to expand radiotherapy benefits for millions of cancer patients. Nanobiotixs Immuno-Oncology program has the potential to bring a new dimension to cancer immunotherapies.

Nanobiotix is listed on the regulated market of Euronext in Paris (Euronext: NANO / ISIN: FR0011341205; Bloomberg: NANO: FP). The Companys headquarters are in Paris, France with a U.S. affiliate in Cambridge, MA, and European affiliates in Spain and Germany. The Company also possesses an affiliate, Curadigm, located in Paris, France and Cambridge, MA in the U.S.

Disclaimer

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements concerning Nanobiotix and its business, including its prospects and product candidate development. Such forward-looking statements are based on assumptions that Nanobiotix considers to be reasonable. However, there can be no assurance that the estimates contained in such forward-looking statements will be verified, which estimates are subject to numerous risks including the risks set forth in the reference document of Nanobiotix registered with the French Financial Markets Authority (Autorit des Marchs Financiers) under number R.19-018 on April 30, 2019 (a copy of which is available on http://www.nanobiotix.com) and to the development of economic conditions, financial markets and the markets in which Nanobiotix operates. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are also subject to risks not yet known to Nanobiotix or not currently considered material by Nanobiotix. The occurrence of all or part of such risks could cause actual results, financial conditions, performance or achievements of Nanobiotix to be materially different from such forward-looking statements.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200228005446/en/

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Nanobiotix 2019 Q4 and Annual Revenues - BioSpace

Dying Of Flu, College Student Used Cellphone To Call 911. He Died When Police Couldn’t Find His Location. – Kaiser Health News

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Location technology is "kind of a coin toss." The FCC has given carriers until 2021 to make sure transmission locations are within 50 yards 80% of the time. Public health news is on USPS work-related injuries, a biomedical research contest, suicide-crisis centers, prostate cancer, a lucky fall, perinatal stroke, birthing plans, disparity in birth outcomes, medical clowns, chocolate's appeal, friendship and health, childhood prosthetics, and healthy beverages, as well.

The Washington Post:College Student Yeming Shen Died Of Flu In Troy, N.Y., After 911 Couldnt Track His Location.Yeming Shen called 911 on Feb. 10. He was alone in his Troy, N.Y., apartment, dying of the flu. But the garbled call was unintelligible to the operators, and police couldnt pinpoint the phones location. For 45 minutes after Shen called 911, five police officers, three firefighters and a police dog searched in vain for the student. All they had was a general area encompassing two apartment buildings. They eventually gave up without finding Shen. Six hours later, the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute students roommate discovered his body, the Times Union first reported. (Kornfield, 2/22)

ProPublica:The Postal Service Fired Thousands Of Workers For Getting Injured While Delivering And Processing Your MailOne night in 2009, Madelaine Sattlefield lifted an 80-pound tray of letters carefully sorted by Missouri ZIP code. She had done this task thousands of times in nine years, but on this night, her arm seared with pain and went limp by her side. The tray crashed and sent envelopes cascading around her. She could barely move but immediately worried about what an injury might mean for her job. Anxiety had kicked in. I was like, what are they going to say, what are they going to do? Sattlefield said. (Jameel, 2/24)

Stat:Here Are The Contenders For STAT Madness 2020ADNA microscope. A gene therapy for bubble boy disease. The restoration of cellular activity in pig brains four hours after death. Nano-robots that might clean teeth better than flossing. These are just some of the 64 important discoveries and inventions included in this years STAT Madness, a bracket-style competition to honor the best biomedical research published in 2019. (2/24)

Stateline:As Suicide Rates Climb, Crisis Centers ExpandNationwide, most people picked up by police for a misdemeanor while in a psychiatric crisis are taken directly to a hospital emergency department, where they typically are held for hours or days, often involuntarily confined, according to emergency department surveys. Many are charged and held in jail with no mental health professional to talk to and no access to psychiatric medicines. The same goes for people with drug addiction. In the past five years, thats become a rarity in Arizona. As in other parts of the country, Arizonas crisis centers are open 24 hours, seven days a week, and everyone is accepted, regardless of whether they have health insurance. (Vestal, 2/24)

The New York Times:Debating The Value Of PSA Prostate ScreeningWeve long been schooled on the lifesaving value of early detection of a potentially deadly cancer. So when a simple blood test was introduced in 1994 that could detect the possible presence of prostate cancer, the second leading cause of cancer deaths among American men, its not hard to understand why it quickly became hugely popular. (Brody, 2/24)

The Washington Post:Synovial Chondromatosis: A Hard Fall Unmasked This Unusual And Painful ConditionIf she hadnt tripped over her neighbors dog, causing her to miss the step down into a sunken living room where she landed squarely on her left hip, Lynda Holland still might not know what was wrong. Holland scrambled to her feet, shaken and grateful she hadnt been injured: Her puffy down coat had cushioned her fall onto the hardwood floor. Then she realized the pain that had dominated her life for the previous six years had suddenly diminished. (Boodman, 2/22)

The Washington Post:Perinatal Stroke: Some Infants In Utero Lose Blood Supply To Their Brains, Causing Physical Or Cognitive Problems Later. New Therapies May Help.Nicole Dodds first noticed her son, Rowan, was having trouble using the right side of his body when he was about 6 months old. Babies typically use both hands to pick up toys and lift their chest off the floor at that age, but Rowan was mostly using his left arm and hand, keeping his right hand balled in a fist. That started a string of doctor visits. Around Rowans first birthday, doctors did an MRI and diagnosed his one-sided weakness as hemiplegia, probably caused by a stroke he sustained in utero. This surprised Dodds, since as far as she knew shed had a totally normal pregnancy and birth. (Witman, 2/22)

NBC News:She Wanted A 'Freebirth' With No Doctors. Online Groups Convinced Her It Would Be OK.For women who havent gone into labor by 42 weeks, just about every medical and birth professional recommends induction a jump-start to labor from medicines that ripen the cervix or contract the uterus. But Judith, an artist and freethinker who believes in all that hippy jazz, had a different kind of birth plan one that dismissed medical recommendations and relied on nature and intuition, that rejected a sterile hospital for a warm pool in her own home and that avoided doctors and midwives. Instead, Judith wanted to be with only her husband and her closest friend, a plan known as freebirth, or unassisted birth, by the tiny subculture of women who practice it. (Zadrozny, 2/21)

GMA:Stunning Photos Of Black Women Raises Awareness About Disparity In Birth OutcomesIt was about five years ago when Dallas-Fort Worth photographer Elaine Baca photographed her first birth. Until then, she had been primarily working weddings... According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the risk of pregnancy-related deaths for black women is 3 to 4 times higher than those of white women."It's important for people to see and understand that black women and babies who are dying in childbirth are not just statistics put out by the CDC," Baca told "GMA." (Brown, 2/24)

The Washington Post:Clowns Can Help Treatment In HospitalsMedicine is serious business. But for a growing number of patients, a trip to the hospital may include a laugh with a clown. Medical clowns health-care workers who dress up and act like clowns to help make medical procedures and hospital stays less stressful can be found around the world. The growing field relies on the age-old performance art of clowning to help lift the strain that can pervade the treatment of all-too-serious health concerns. (Blakemore, 2/22)

NBC News:Why Chocolate Is So Addicting And How To Tap Into The Health BenefitsThough chocolate is typically divided into three categories: dark, milk and white, the latter two really should just be called highly-processed interpretations of chocolate, because thats basically what they are. And its the processed sugars, salts and fats that make these varieties so tasty which is also what makes them so addictive. (Spector, 2/23)

CNN:Want To Lose More Weight? Intensive Therapy From Dietitians Can Help Older Adults, Study FindsOlder adults may have better success at losing weight if they do it with the help of intensive behavioral therapy from dietitians, a new study suggests. Intensive behavioral therapy for obesity, or IBTO, is a customized treatment that helps people change their eating and exercise behaviors through a series of one-on-one counseling sessions. (Rogers, 2/21)

NPR:How Good Friends Are Good For Your HealthLydia Denworth wants you to make more time for your friends. We don't fully appreciate our friendships, says the science writer and author of the new book Friendship: The Evolution, Biology, and Extraordinary Power of Life's Fundamental Bond. If we did, we'd take cultivating those intimate bonds as seriously as working out or eating well. Because, she writes, a new field of science is revealing that social connections play a vital role in our health. (Renken, 2/22)

The Washington Post:Children Who Need Prosthetics Can Quickly Outgrow Them And Insurers Are Reluctant To Pay For Running Legs. Nonprofits Are Helping Out.Faith Trznadel was born without a tibia bone, and when she was 10months old, doctors had to amputate her lower leg. The hardest part is the staring, the snickering, said Faiths mother, Sheila Trznadel, about how other people treated her daughter. One message to get across to people is its okay to ask questions. ... Its better to ask questions than just stare. [Its] getting rid of that stigma. (Furby, 2/23)

The New York Times:Milk And Juice Are Not As Needed As You Might ThinkIs there such a thing as a healthful beverage? In truth, theres not much of a health case to drink any beverage other than water after the age of 2 despite the marketing and advertising you might have seen on the benefits of things like dairy milk, plant-based milks, juices and more. (Carroll, 2/24)

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Dying Of Flu, College Student Used Cellphone To Call 911. He Died When Police Couldn't Find His Location. - Kaiser Health News

What I Learned About Politics From Reading Science Fiction – Splice Today

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Science fiction is a great source of speculative ideas about technology, planetology, and advanced physics. Science fiction authors predicted the rise of space travel, computer networks, and wireless earbuds decades before these marvels insinuated themselves into our everyday lives. Science fiction predicted the rise of Elon Musk and Donald Trump, including all of their tweets. Science fiction predicted that youd have more to watch, on Netflix, than you can ever actually see. Science fiction predicted the conversations people on subways have, nearly all the time, about their dislike of e-books. Science fiction predicted that Google Maps would give the wrong address for that poetry reading you tried to attend. Science fiction knew (years before you did) that youd become obsolete, replaced by a team of inexpensive robots. It predicted youd learn of your own obsolescence.

But lets consider a different, unexplored dimension of these novels: their political ideologies. A few dry, preachy award-winners have already been brought up for questioningIm thinking, for instance, of those plodding allegories by Octavia Butler and Ursula LeGuin. But in a genre filled with uncomfortable fantasies of absolute power, and caustic observations about democracys weak points, its been hard to convince literary critics to draw up the roadmaps we need. For one thing, Americas critics-in-residence are mostly far left. Theyre embarrassed to learn that Orson Scott Card was a radical Mormon, that Robert Heinlein was an authoritarian, and that Frank Herbert hated Congress. Even Butler, who checks off somanyboxes for edgy academics, only becomes eligible for sainthood if you ignore her enthusiastic passages about privately-owned guns. It must feel, to an adjunct professor in the humanities, as ifThe Handmaids Taleand1984are the sole exemplars of political insight in a genre that otherwise thrives on libertarian hyperbole written by (and for) a lunatic fringe.

But this assessment isnt right; it misses something. Let us praise famous books likeDune,Enders Game,andFoundation. Let us patiently test out the political ideas Heinlein awkwardly smuggles into that groovy Martian lovefest,Stranger in a Strange Land.Its time we acknowledge genre fiction speaking truth to power. Here are just three of the many useful political lessons science fiction has taught me.

Rulers are less cynical than their advisors.Its the privilege of those who govern to translate ideals directly into action; because they spend all their time making abstract ideologies bear fruit, theyremain irreducibly idealistic. It helps, too, that the rulers are generally kept at a distance from the ruled. They hear only nice versions of what their subordinates do. Such cosseted people dont, as a rule, like going to bloody or treacherous extremes. That step requires somebody else: the trusted advisor whos willing to quietly doeverythingnecessary. The difference between respectable governments and reprehensible ones, often boils down to how much the leader doesnt need to know about the power his authorized representatives wield. Remember, inStranger in a Strange Land, when the Feds raid the Martians hideout? The President, busy taking calls in his private office, has no idea a raid is evenhappening. His bureaucrats actautonomously to further his interests. Thats far more dangerous than any public policy agendathe icy realism, the unlimited prerogative, of people who subscribe to all the kings goals and none of his illusions.

The most important constituencies get that way because theyre off the grid, and therefore likely to be underestimated.Drawing onSeven Pillars of Wisdom, T. E. Lawrences account of sand power in colonial Arabia, Frank HerbertsDuneis about a seemingly impossible revolution. The novel is set in a future age when humans have colonized outer space, led by a Roman-like empire that measures its territory in light-years. Yet the Emperor is undone, in a very short time, by a loose alliance of nomadic tribes living on a single planet. Their numbers are great, and hard to account for, since the official census doesnt survey brutal, sparsely-inhabited deserts. Theyre impossible to buy off, or threaten, because theyve lived by their own lights for too long.

They remind me of Earths Bedouins, of course, but they remind me of other populations, too. The evangelicals in our Southern states. The unregistered voters living in epicenters of urban decay. The alt-right, with its underground media empire and weaponized dog whistles. Hackers in Albania. Droves of well-organized, well-informed protestersbringing about the Arab Spring, or, more recently, helping to protect civil liberties in Hong Kong. When a communitys ignored, and forges a common identity under cover of darkness, it thereby acquires more power than anyoneinpower admits. By the time more enfranchised people adjust, and react to the new pieces on the board, its too late.

Predictions are variables; they alter the very same historical arcs they intend to trace.This circular, bewildering, evenparalyzing idea is the focus ofFoundation, Isaac Asimovs heady novel about the life cycle of civilizations. Asimov was merely the first person in his generation to meddle with such paradoxes. Years earlier, George Orwell wrote that he who controls the past, controls the future. He understood how important predictive narratives could be to political parties. A pattern can, in fact, become propaganda if its used to winnow out unwelcome possibilities. Youll hear, in the coming months, about the results of countless polls that show how so-and-so has no chance of being elected president. This is done entirely for the benefit of the other candidatesthe ones who appear to be in the lead, or at least on an upswing, while the competition falters.

Dire predictions lead to fearful, reactionary behavior; people who are afraid for their jobs or their lives can become xenophobic and isolationist overnight. Similarly, predicting the return of some previously attained Golden Age alwayssoundslike a credible form of optimism, whether or not those glory days were idyllic in realitywhether or not they ever even happened. The political world is a battlefield where scientific descriptions, and objective inferences about whatwillcome to pass, collide with all sorts of motivated visions of whatshouldand (by extension)mustbe true. Even facts cease to be objective in this context, since any one interpretation of a fact tends to foreclose the other interpretive chains, other patterns, that mightve explained it. Furthermore,anything (factual or not) that disrupts established patterns of human behavior createsnewsocial realitiesi.e., newfacts.

Any prediction, even if its deliberately seeded, also tends tobecome true if people start believing in it, using it to make decisions, and defending it against threats. Its admirable, and nearly impossible, to cleave to uncertainty instead, like the heroes of these books do. Certainty and confidence go over better with other people. Theyre also much easier to bear. But the best science, applied to human behavior, always acknowledges a wide range of equally probable outcomes. The hypothetical futures we inhabit, when we make predictions, are moralexercises, not moral imperatives. What values are indispensable to us? What will it take to realize those values, if things go very well or very badly, and our circumstances change?

It makes sense that sci-fi novelists would understand the ambiguities of prediction. As intellectuals, theyre largely defined by their hypotheses about the future. An authors predictions become synecdoches that count as her achievements, and pretty much sum her up, for every non-reader (and even for many of her fans). A small number of readers, though, identify completely with the storys moral assumptions. They turn from the authors mere speculations to the way the storyfeelsabout the future it describes. To a real fan, it doesnt matter whether the work is prophetic in visible, measurable ways.

Instead of anticipating the future, the novel (or story, or movie) re-defines whats possible now. Then facts become symbols of possibility, symbols of transformation. Facts and patterns, taken in hand by the imagination, become signifiers of something greater than themselves. They give rise to an awareness that once, the world was not as it has since become, to quote fantasist John Crowley. Our world could be differentagain. Thus science fictions, those laborious predictions, transcend what they predict. They reveal, to each attentive reader, that it must somehow be possible to slip precedents noose.

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What I Learned About Politics From Reading Science Fiction - Splice Today

Litecoin, Stellars Lumen, and Trons TRX Daily Analysis 27/02/20 – Yahoo Finance

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Litecoin

Litecoin tumbled by 14.81% on Wednesday. Following on from a 6.08% slide on Tuesday, Litecoin ended the day at $60.42.

A bearish start to the day saw Litecoin fall from an early morning intraday high $72.16 to a late afternoon intraday low $57.52.

Steering clear of the major resistance levels, Litecoin fell through the major support levels of the day. Litecoin also slid through the 23.6% FIB of $62.00.

Late in the day, Litecoin briefly broke back through the third major support level at $58.49 and 23.6% FIB before wrapping up the day at $60 levels.

At the time of writing, Litecoin was down by 0.22% to $60.29. A mixed start to the day saw Litecoin fall to an early morning low $57.10 before striking a high $61.02.

Litecoin left the major support and resistance levels untested early on.

Litecoin would need to move through to $63.40 levels to support a run the first major resistance level at $69.21.

Support from the broader market would be needed, however, for Litecoin to break out from the 23.6% FIB of $62.

Barring a broad-based crypto rebound, Litecoin would likely fall well short of the first major resistance level.

Failure to move through to $63.40 levels could see Litecoin fall deeper into the red.

A fall back through the morning low $57.10 would bring the first major support level at $54.57 into play.

Barring another extended crypto sell-off, however, Litecoin should steer clear of sub-$50 support levels on the day.

Major Support Level: $54.57

Major Resistance Level: $69.21

23.6% FIB Retracement Level: $62

38.2% FIB Retracement Level: $78

62% FIB Retracement Level: $104

Stellars Lumen slid by 7.57% on Wednesday. Following on from a 6.47% fall on Tuesday, Stellars Lumen ended the day at $0.059109.

Tracking the broader market, Stellars Lumen slid from an early morning intraday high $0.064759 to a late afternoon intraday low $0.056106.

Stellars Lumen fell through the first major support level at $0.06249 and the second major support level at $0.06024.

Finding support late on, Stellars Lumen briefly moved back through the second major support level before wrapping up the day at sub-$0.060 levels.

At the time of writing, Stellars Lumen was down by 1.73% to $0.058088. A bearish start to the day saw Stellars Lumen fall from an early morning high $0.058438 to a low $0.056181.

Stellars Lumen left the major support and resistance levels untested early on.

Story continues

Stellars Lumen would need to move through to $0.060 levels to support a run at the first major resistance level at $0.06388.

Support from the broader market would be needed, however, for Stellars Lumen to break out from the morning high $0.058438.

Barring a broad-based crypto rebound, resistance at $0.060 would likely leave Stellars Lumen short of the first major resistance level.

Failure to move through to $0.060 levels could see Stellars Lumen struggle in the day.

A fall back through the morning low $0.0561818 would bring the first major support level at $0.05522 into play.

Barring another extended crypto sell-off, however, Stellars Lumen should steer clear of sub-$0.055 support levels.

Major Support Level: $0.05522

Major Resistance Level: $0.06388

23.6% FIB Retracement Level: $0.1051

38% FIB Retracement Level: $0.1433

62% FIB Retracement Level: $0.2050

Trons TRX tumbled by 13.26% on Wednesday. Following on from a 4.65% fall on Tuesday, Trons TRX ended the day at $0.016410.

Bearish through the day, Trons TRX fell from an early morning intraday high $0.019145 to a late afternoon intraday low $0.015610.

The reversal saw Trons TRX slide through the major support levels of the day before finding support.

Finding support late on, Trons TRX recovered to $0.0167 levels before easing back. The third major support level at $0.01670 pinned Trons TRX back late in the day.

At the time of writing, Trons TRX was up by 1.83% to $0.016710. A mixed start to the day saw Trons TRX fall to an early morning low $0.015910 before striking a high $0.01680.

Trons TRX left the major support and resistance levels untested early on.

Trons TRX would need to move through to $0.0170 levels to support a run at the first major resistance level at $0.01850.

Support from the broader market would be needed, however, for Trons TRX to break out from the morning high $0.01680.

Barring an extended crypto rebound, resistance at $0.018 would likely leave Trons TRX short of the first major resistance level.

Failure to move through to $0.0170 levels could see Trons TRX slide back into the red.

A fall back through to sub-$0.016 levels would bring the first major support level at $0.01497 into play.

Barring an extended crypto sell-off, however, Trons TRX should steer clear of sub-$0.015 levels on the day.

Major Support Level: $0.01497

Major Resistance Level: $0.01850

23.6% FIB Retracement Level: $0.0322

38.2% FIB Retracement Level: $0.0452

62% FIB Retracement Level: $0.0663

Please let us know what you think in the comments below

Thanks, Bob

This article was originally posted on FX Empire

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Litecoin, Stellars Lumen, and Trons TRX Daily Analysis 27/02/20 - Yahoo Finance

Litecoin Prints Array of Buying Signals, and Thats Massively Bullish for Crypto – newsBTC

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Despite the brutal retracement the cryptocurrency market saw this week, a top analyst is getting bullish on Litecoin, citing an array of technical factors.

While this may not seem relevant to many readers, as many of you may not trade or own the altcoin, LTCs directionality could have a strong effect on the rest of the crypto asset class, Bitcoin included.

The pullback in the cryptocurrency market hasnt fazed analysts.

In fact, a popular trader, Byzantine General, is extremely optimistic about Litecoin, a cryptocurrency that has gained around 95% this year outpacing BTC by 100%, though underperforming Ethereum and the Bitcoin hard forks.

In an analysis published Sunday, Byzantine General pointed to four technical factors suggesting LTCs long-term price trend is looking surprisingly bullish:

Our readers who dont own or trade LTC may be wondering why this matters. Well, a weird correlation has formed over the past year or two where Litecoins price action is often later reflected in Bitcoin, which then causes the rest of cryptocurrencies to move.

The most memorable case of this was in the first half of 2019, which is when the altcoin suddenly began surging higher months prior to its block reward halving. For a few weeks, the altcoin rallied on its own, gaining dozens of percent week-on-week as the market was relatively flat. But eventually, Bitcoin started moving, following in the path blazed by LTC.

Furthermore, LTC front-ran Bitcoin just a few weeks ago, when it suddenly broke higher as BTC was stagnating. Bitcoin, of course, followed the asset higher just days later.

Litecoins ability to precede the rest of the market is important because it suggests that should LTC start rallying here, buoyed by the aforementioned technical factors, so too should Bitcoin.

Theres also been some talk about Litecoins pre-halving performance potentially predicting how Bitcoin will fare in the coming months, though this hasnt been entirely fleshed out.

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Litecoin Prints Array of Buying Signals, and Thats Massively Bullish for Crypto - newsBTC