One of the Most Common Ingredients in the Western Diet Has Been Found to Alter Genes in the Brain

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The use of soybean oil has increased dramatically over the last few decades, to the extent that is has become the most widely consumed edible oil in the US and other Western nations. However, its rise has coincided with an alarming escalation in metabolic conditions like diabetes, insulin resistance, and obesity, and a new study indicates that this may be down to the way that soybean oil causes genetic changes in the brain.

Previous research has shown that mice fed a diet that is high in soybean oil are much more likely to develop these conditions than rodents fed on other fats like coconut oil. Further studies hinted that the culprit may be linoleic acid, as mice that consumed soybean oil that had been modified to lack this key ingredient were spared many of these harmful effects.

To better understand how soybean oil produces these negative consequences, scientists decided to investigate its impact on the expression of genes in the hypothalamus, a brain region that regulates metabolism and a range of other essential processes. . .

Writing in the journal Endocrinology, the study authors explain that soybean oil was found to modify the expression of around 100 different genes in the hypothalamus, affecting processes such as metabolism, neurological disease, and inflammation.

Among the altered genes were some that are associated with schizophrenia, depression, and Alzheimer’s disease, although by far the most affected was a gene that codes for the production of a hormone called oxytocin. (Read more from “One of the Most Common Ingredients in the Western Diet Has Been Found to Alter Genes in the Brain” HERE)

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“I’ll Straight up Get Armed”: Second Bernie Organizer Loves Gulags and Is “Ready for the F**King Revolution”

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A second Bernie Sanders field organizer has been caught on undercover camera extolling the virtues of gulags – only this one can barely contain himself over arming himself for the “f**king revolution.”

“I’m ready to tear bricks up and start fighting,” says Martin Weissgerber – who deleted his Twitter account Tuesday morning after Project Veritas released their latest hit. “I’ll straight up get armed … I’m ready for the f**king revolution, bro.”

Weissgerber also dreams of ‘dissolving the Senate, House of Representatives and Judicial Branch’ so that ‘somebody like Bernie Sanders and a cabinet of people can make all the decisions for the climate.’ . . .

[Warning: videos contain explicit content.]

According to journalist Andy Ngo, Weissgerber is an aspiring Soundcloud rapper who hates police officers, Israel, women and of course – Trump supporters.

(Read more from “I’ll Straight up Get Armed”: Second Bernie Organizer Loves Gulags and Is “Ready for the F**King Revolution” HERE)

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Apple Dropped Plan for Encrypting Backups After FBI Complained

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Apple Inc (AAPL.O) dropped plans to let iPhone users fully encrypt backups of their devices in the company’s iCloud service after the FBI complained that the move would harm investigations, six sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The tech giant’s reversal, about two years ago, has not previously been reported. It shows how much Apple has been willing to help U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies, despite taking a harder line in high-profile legal disputes with the government and casting itself as a defender of its customers’ information.

The long-running tug of war between investigators’ concerns about security and tech companies’ desire for user privacy moved back into the public spotlight last week, as U.S. Attorney General William Barr took the rare step of publicly calling on Apple to unlock two iPhones used by a Saudi Air Force officer who shot dead three Americans at a Pensacola, Florida naval base last month.

U.S. President Donald Trump piled on, accusing Apple on Twitter of refusing to unlock phones used by “killers, drug dealers and other violent criminal elements.” Republican and Democratic senators sounded a similar theme in a December hearing, threatening legislation against end-to-end encryption, citing unrecoverable evidence of crimes against children. . .

Behind the scenes, Apple has provided the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation with more sweeping help, not related to any specific probe. (Read more from “Apple Dropped Plan for Encrypting Backups After FBI Complained” HERE)

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Federal Bill Introduced to Preserve and Protect Female Sports

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Florida Republican Rep. Greg Steube has introduced a bill which aims to ensure that women and girls sports remain a fair playing field by prohibiting the use of federal funds to support any athletic event where a biological male identifying as a woman attempts to compete against biological female athletes.

The “Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act” (H. R. 5603), was introduced this month to protect women and girls in competitive sports.

“With the House passage of H.R. 5 earlier this Congress, women and girls participating in competitive sports across the country are at risk of losing the equal playing field they were guaranteed by the Education Amendments of 1972,” Congressman Steube said in his January 14 press release. “We must protect our female athletes from being forced to compete against biological male athletes in competitive sports.” . . .

Co-sponsor Congresswoman Debbie Lesko (R, AZ) praised the bill for working to preserve women’s rights.

“We have heard the heartbreaking stories of young women and girls from across the country who compete in sports but are losing games and even scholarships to biological males who choose to identify as women and girls,” Lesko said. “These sports should be reserved for the women and girls who work hard and train for them, not men. I urge my colleagues to support this bill to help protect the future of women and girls’ sports.” (Read more from “Federal Bill Introduced to Preserve and Protect Female Sports” HERE)

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Guggenheim Says Central Bank-Driven ‘Ponzi Scheme’ Must Collapse

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By Bloomberg. Scott Minerd has a message for his fellows at Davos who are applauding rallying markets: Things aren’t as good as they seem.

The Guggenheim Partners investment chief likened the inflation of asset prices caused by the loose money policies of central banks to a “ponzi scheme” that eventually must collapse.

“We will reach a tipping point when investors will awake to the rising tide of defaults and downgrades,” he wrote in a letter from the World Economic Forum meeting. “The timing is hard to predict, but this reminds me a lot of the lead-up to the 2001 and 2002 recession.” (Read more from “Guggenheim Says Central Bank-Driven ‘Ponzi Scheme’ Must Collapse” HERE)

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Guggenheim’s Scott Minerd Declares Trump Winner Over Fed on Rates, Sees Market Rally Continuing

By CNBC. President Donald Trump’s early criticism of the Federal Reserve’s four 2018 interest rate hikes have proven right over time and the stock market loves it, Guggenheim Partners’ Scott Minerd told CNBC on Tuesday.

“I think he was [correct] in hindsight,” the money management firm’s global chief investment officer said in a “Squawk Box” interview from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “I think he was more concerned about slowing the economy in his administration.”

However, Trump’s calls for lower rates proved prescient, Minerd argued, as the stock market plunged during the fall of 2018 and reached a nadir on Christmas Eve 2018.

The Fed pivot early last year to take its foot off the gas and then cut rates three times fueled a nearly 29% rise in the S&P 500 in 2019, the best annual performance since 2013. Stock have also gotten off to a roaring start this year.

The rally should continue in throughout 2020, said Minerd, also a member of the New York Fed’s Investor Advisory Committee on Financial Markets. “Bull markets go as long as they go. As long as the central banks keep the liquidity spigots open, I don’t see any reason why we can’t just keep pushing asset prices higher.” (Read more from “Guggenheim’s Scott Minerd Declares Trump Winner Over Fed on Rates, Sees Market Rally Continuing” HERE)

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Google Whistleblower Who Exposed Millions of Votes That Were Stolen for Hillary in 2016, Suggests His Wife May Have Been Murdered in Retaliation

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By Daily Mail. The wife of a Google whistleblower, who exposed meddling in the 2016 election, died Friday night just days after she was seriously injured in a car crash.

Psychology professor, Robert Epstein, 66, shared in a heartbreaking tweet announcing that his wife, Misti Dawn Vaughn, died after her vehicle spun out of control along a slippery road in California and into the path of a tractor-trailer.

‘My beautiful wife Misti, a published poet, succumbed last night to injuries sustained in a car accident,’ her grieving husband wrote. . .

According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, she was driving along rain-slick Interstate 15 in Escondido when the accident occurred.

When her truck spun out of control it crossed into the path of an oncoming big rig that was hauling two dump trailers. (Read more from “Google Whistleblower Who Exposed Millions of Votes That Were Stolen for Hillary in 2016, Hints His Young Wife Was Murdered in Retaliation” HERE)

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Schumer Wrote a 1999 Letter About Impeachment and It’s Not Aging Very Well

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By Townhall. . .Republicans have continually said the Democrats launched their impeachment shenanigans based off their hatred for President Trump. What’s interesting though, is the letter Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) wrote to Clinton back in 1999 could easily be applied to Trump. Take out the name “Clinton” and replace it with “Trump” and the same thing could be said about the impeachment trial that’s about to take place.

[Read the unearthed letter HERE]

(Read more from “Schumer Wrote a 1999 Letter About Impeachment and It’s Not Aging Very Well” HERE)

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Schumer Criticizes Mcconnell’s Impeachment Trial Rules Proposal

By National Review. A copy of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R., Ky.) proposal for Senate impeachment trial procedures, obtained by reporters on Thursday, was criticized by Democrats who charge the proposal prevents them from bringing evidence and witnesses to trial.

The resolution contains a proposal to vote on a motion, “whether it shall be in order to consider and debate under the impeachment rules any motion to subpoena witnesses or documents.” A GOP Senate aide told CNN that the language indicated that if the Senate votes down such a motion, neither the impeachment managers nor the President’s legal team, not even Senators, would be able to bring witnesses or documents to the trial.

“We are gratified that the draft resolution protects the President’s rights to a fair trial,” commented White House legislative aide Eric Ueland. “We look forward to presenting a vigorous defense of the President on the facts and the process as quickly as possible and seeking an acquittal as swiftly as possible.” (Read more from “Schumer Criticizes Mcconnell’s Impeachment Trial Rules Proposal” HERE)

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If the Senate Wants Impeachment Witnesses, They Have to Call Hunter Biden

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With President Trump’s impeachment trial set to begin next week, the Senate faces a stark choice: it can hold a legitimate trial that aims to get to the bottom of the allegations against the president, or it can stage an empty media spectacle like House Democrats did in their sham impeachment inquiry.

The problem for Democrats is that if Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell opts for the former, it will mean calling not just the witnesses Democrats want, like former National Security Advisor John Bolton, but also witnesses the administration wants, like Hunter Biden and Eric Ciaramella, the anti-Trump whistleblower who first set all of this in motion.

Indeed, it’s hard to see how Senate Democrats can demand to hear only from witnesses they think will bolster their preferred narrative—like Lev Parnas, the Soviet-born associate of Rudy Giuliani who was indicted for campaign law violations, and lately has been making grand accusations about Trump in the media—but not hear from Ciaramella or Biden. At least, they can’t do so while also maintaining the fiction that this impeachment is anything but bare-knuckle partisan politics, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s somber soliloquies about the Constitution notwithstanding.

In any case, Trump’s Republican allies in the Senate might not let them. In an interview with Politico on Wednesday, Sen. Rand Paul said he will force the Senate to vote on subpoenaing President Trump’s preferred witnesses—specifically, Hunter Biden and Ciaramella—if four or more of his colleagues join with Democrats in calling for new witness testimony in the impeachment trial set to begin next week. . .

Even if no GOP senators call for new witnesses, Paul’s point is valid: how on earth can the Senate conduct even the semblance of a credible, fair trial without hearing from the whistleblower, the person who started all this? Until he thought better of it, House Intelligence Chairman Rep. Adam Schiff insisted that it was essential to hear Ciamarella’s testimony. Senate Republicans could rightly argue that it still is. (Read more from “If the Senate Wants Impeachment Witnesses, They Have to Call Hunter Biden” HERE)

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Joe Biden Doesn’t Think Drunk Driving Should Be a Felony

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2020 Democratic front-runner Joe Biden said his administration would fire Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents who arrest and deport illegal immigrants who are not guilty of felony crimes, adding that he doesn’t “count drunk driving as a felony.” . . .

“They go off to school wondering whether their mom comes and picks them up [or] if she’s not going to be there because an ICE agent was there to arrest her. Or she takes him to the doctor, that she’s going to not be there because she is ‘undocumented’ and an ICE agent is going to pick him up,” he said.

“You change the culture by saying you are going to get fired. you are fired if, in fact, you do that. You only arrest for the purpose of dealing with a felony that’s committed, and I don’t count drunk driving as a felony,” he added. (Read more from “Joe Biden Doesn’t Think Drunk Driving Should Be a Felony” HERE)

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Dad Suffocates Coyote With Bare Hands After It Attacked Toddler

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A hero New Hampshire father suffocated a coyote to death with his bare hands after the beast attacked his child on Monday, police said.

Ian O’Reilly was walking with his wife and three kids on a trail near Judes Pond in Kensington around 11 a.m. when the wild animal jumped out of the woods and grabbed the 2-year-old child by the jacket, cops said.

That’s when “the dad went into protection mode,” kicking the coyote before choking it, said Kensington Police Chief Scott Cain.

O’Reilly told local outlet WFXT that he was running on instinct and adrenaline when he wrestled the beast to the ground, eventually killing it after a 10-minute skirmish. . .

“From there… I shoved [its] head into the snow… and then eventually was able to expire it through suffocation,” he said. “Ultimately one hand on its windpipe and one hand on its snout did the trick.” (Read more from “Dad Suffocates Coyote With Bare Hands After It Attacked Toddler” HERE)

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