Story by Hamish de Bretton-Gordon  4h ago

The sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church has been a topic of intense scrutiny and controversy for several decades.

Firstly I have been working round the clock trying to get all the campaign packs out! It is a good situation to be in but as ever if you have requested one please be patient and they should all hopefully be out before I head down to London.

Now if you have been following the Seymour Hersh revelations that we have been reporting on he was the first to give definitive evidence that the USA was behind the terrorist attack on the Nordstream pipeline. He has now been doing more investigative work and says that the CIA know for a fact that Zelensky and his cronies have pocketed over $400 MILLION through a scam!

In his blog, Hersh writes  The Ukraine government, headed by Volodymyr Zelensky, has been using American taxpayers funds to pay dearly for the vitally needed diesel fuel that is keeping the Ukrainian army on the move in its war with Russia.

It is unknown how much the Zelensky government is paying per gallon for the fuel, but the Pentagon was paying as much as $400 per gallon to transport gasoline from a port in Pakistan, via truck or parachute, into Afghanistan during the decades-long American war there.

The issue of corruption was directly raised with Zelensky in a meeting last January in Kyiv with CIA Director William Burns. His message to the Ukrainian president, I was told by an intelligence official with direct knowledge of the meeting, was out of a 1950s mob movie.

The senior generals and government officials in Kyiv were angry at what they saw as Zelenskys greed, so Burns told the Ukrainian president because he was taking a larger share of the skim money than was going to the generals.

This is once again evidence to prove everything that we and anyone with half a brain has been saying from the start that just like CONVID Ukraine is yet another massive money laundering scheme! Just like C...

A new report has shed fresh light on the connection between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and numerous private-sector drug, vaccine, and health care companies that have been working together to silence vaccine critics from speaking their minds. The Public Good Projects (PGP), as it is benevolently dubbed, describes itself as a public health non-profit group centered around large-scale monitoring programs, social and behavior change interventions. The truth, though, is that it is a fascist public-private operation aimed at keeping a lid on the deadly truth about vaccines. PGP is little more than a mass censorship operation that, especially at the height of the Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, kept itself busy de-platforming doctors and other medical specialists who tried to sound the alarm about the dangers of Fauci Flu shots. In addition to the CDC and the FDA, other PGP partners include Kaiser Permanente, Rockefeller, and Humana, according to the Tennessee Department of Health, which identified these partners from the biography of PGP CEO Dr. Joe Smyser.

PGP funding came not from lobbyists but directly from vaccine manufacturers like Pfizer and Moderna

Deviating from the norm of receiving funding from industry lobbyists working on behalf of corporations, PGPs operating cash came directly from major industry players such as Pfizer and Moderna, both of which have a vested interest in stamping out so-called vaccine hesitancy. When people think for themselves, Pfizer and Moderna do not make money. So, they funneled gobs of cash into the PGP in an effort to keep people in the dark and the profits flowing. The New York City Health Departments Misinformation Response Unit (MRU) also contributed to the PGP, which also operates an initiative called Shots Heard that is similar to the United Nations Verified Initiative, the Vaccine C...

https://twitter.com/us_fda/status/1648315663939715072?s=61&t=v9uJsd2AvpnLN_ODxQUoCw

Did you ever hear of tiny urban forests? As cities continue to grow, so does our impact on the environment. The concrete jungle that many of us call home may offer the convenience of modern life, but it comes at a cost. The lack of green space in urban settings not only affects the environment, but it also takes a toll on our mental health.

The post Tiny Urban Forests! The Secret To Transforming Cities Into Natural Paradise first appeared on In5D .

https://twitter.com/thelionary/status/1648088563874156545?s=61&t=v9uJsd2AvpnLN_ODxQUoCw

https://twitter.com/nicolasboutin11/status/1648237357974319105?s=61&t=v9uJsd2AvpnLN_ODxQUoCw

This infliction of one group's rules on the whole of society is another likely reason for religion's declining popularity.

We unleash the hounds to do a quick round-up of some interesting archeological finds announced just in the first two weeks of April 2023.

Continue reading Unleash the Hounds: April 2023 at The Wild Hunt.

 

In the month of April 10, 1963 the SSN-593 Thresher Nuclear submarine was on a routine series of dives while also rendezvousing with a rescue ship at several different points. She had been commissioned in 1961, but had been undergoing a number of sea trials as the new design and previously unutilized technology made for more careful evaluation. She was being serviced out of the Portsmouth Shipyard and the first hint of any trouble was that the crew felt that the contractors performing maintenance were a bit slow and inefficient while tending not to clean up after themselves. None the less, relations between the crew and Portsmouth shipyard were considered good. The Thresher was a expanded Skipjack Class design that for the first time would enter service as not only an attack sub but a hunter killer with the most silent running streamlined hull yet.

The design of the proposed Thresher class submarine was so new and innovative that one admiral characterized the SSN-593 more different than any sub in the US Naval inventory.  In other words there was nothing like her at sea in the world. However, there were problems. Analysis of the routine inspection of silver brazed welding showed that of 400 joints within the sub at least 40 were considered substandard. Yet, these hazards were not considered enough of a problem to require repair. She would end up sinking in 8,400 feet of water. Remember that at 1,000 feet of water lead pipe collapses. These are the incredible forces that these submarines must endure.

Timeline of the Thresher disaster[39]
Time[clarification needed]	Event
07:47	Thresher begins its descent to the test depth of 1,300 ft (400 m).
07:52	Thresher levels off at 400 ft (120 m), contacts the surface, and the crew inspects the ship for leaks. None are found.
08:09	Commander Harvey reports reaching half the test depth.
...

People raised on love see things differently than those raised on survival. ~ Joy Marino I often find myself staring into nothingness, distracted when I ought to be busy completing my work assignments. I somehow cannot stop myself from looking back into my past my childhood and younger days, and wonder how I managed []

Amilius vs Belial The War Between Good and Evil Signs and Synchronicties

By Rev. Kat Carroll

I have many friends who are awakening and are excited to share articles theyve found on the crimes and corruption being exposed.  Having been immersed in those dark waters for about 5 years, I am hyper aware of whats been happening, and frankly, Im tired of hearing the stories. I'm sure many of you feel the same. I understand that finding the information is part of the awakening process as truth must be exposed. However, we need to know there is a light at the end of the tunnel and strive for higher consciousness. Thats a hard goal to reach when always walking in the swamp! We are experiencing a planetary shift that includes the reduction of our electromagnetic field since the molten metal core of the planet stopped spinning in January this year.  We are due for a pole shift, both physically and spiritually. The entire planet is experiencing a dark night of the soul, before snapping back to light. Although, some of us are already experiencing joy and peace in the light and are little effected by the news.

Ill show you what has come to me in recent meditations and by coincidence; messages from higher consciousness and Source itself. I've been shown that everything is indeed changing for the better despite the chaos portrayed. "The universe is unfolding as it should" - Max Ehrmann, Desiderata

Let's take a look at the two warring factions. The dark side I see two ancient groups fighting each other. One trying to maintain control of humanity, while the other strives to free us. There are rules to the game and universal laws.  So, while the dark is busy trying to ruin those who work in the light, they can't ask for something to be applied to others that would not apply to themselves. At the moment, this is playing out in how we handle criminal...

• Dalai Lama Faces Backlash Over Video Asking Child to Suck His Tongue

https://www.atheistrepublic.com/news/dalai-lama-faces-backlash-over-video-asking-child-suck-his-tongue

Location: India

The Dalai Lama sparked controversy after a video of him kissing a boy and asking him to "suck my tongue" at an event in Northern India went viral. The event was organized last February by the M3M Foundation in the hillside city of Dharamshala, where the Dalai Lama lives in permanent exile. The viral video showed the young Indian boy approaching the 87-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner before asking if he could hug him. The Dalai Lama invited the boy to the stage, pointed to his cheek, and said, "First here," prompting him to hug and kiss him. Afterward, he pointed to his lips and said, "Then I think finally here also," to the boy before pulling his chin and kissing him on the mouth. "And suck my tongue," The Dalai Lama said after a few seconds, poking his tongue out. The religious leader issued an apology through a statement in which he "wishes to apologize to the boy and his family, as well as his many friends across the world, for the hurt his words may have caused," adding that he "regrets" what he did. Some of the Dalai Lama's supporters spoke against the criticism, claiming they were misinterpreted under a "Western lens." In Tibet, culturally, showing one's tongue is considered an act of respecting and greeting people. Namdol Lhagyari, a Tibetan activist in exile, tweeted, "Bringing in the narrative of other cultures, customs and social influence on gender and sexuality to interpret Tibetan way of expression is heinous."

• Georgia Becomes First US State to Officially Condemn "Hinduphobia"

https://www.atheistrepublic.com/news/georgia-becomes-first-us-state-officially-condemn-hinduphobia

Location: Georgia

Recently, Georgia made history as the first state in the US to take a legislative measure condemning "Hinduphobia." Republican state representatives Lauren McDonald and Todd Jones passed the resolution in the House of Representatives. The resolution comes as other places in th...

Big pharma spends more money on advertising for drugs that have lower health benefits for patients, according to a study published in JAMA on Tuesday, shedding new light on the almost uniquely American practice amid fierce debate over whether direct-to-consumer prescription drug ads should be banned. The proportion of advertising spending allocated to direct-to-consumer ads was an average of 14.3 percentage points higher for drugs with a low added benefit compared to those with a high added benefit, according to the peer-reviewed analysis of the 150 best-selling branded prescription drugs. Manufacturers of the top six best-selling drugs spent the bulk of their promotional budgetsmore than 90%targeting consumers directly rather than clinicians for a range of treatment options for conditions including HIV, multiple sclerosis and numerous cancers. The findings could suggest pharma firms are aiming promotional dollars directly towards consumers ... as part of a "strategy to drive patient demand for drugs that clinicians would be less likely to prescribe," said the study's lead author Michael DiStefano. Just two countries in the world allow drug makers to market prescription medications directly to consumers: the U.S. and New Zealand. Most countries prohibit directly advertising prescription medications to the public, something the WHO says influences both people and, indirectly, the medical professionals treating them, making it "harder to make decisions on evidence based medicine."

Note: For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing news articles on pharmaceutical corruption and media manipulation from reliable sources.

There's no better way to reach an audience today than through social media and Big Pharma is well aware of that. The video-sharing platform TikTok, for example, is being flooded with videos of users testifying to wellness through prescription drugs, with hashtags like #adhd (22.3B views), #ozempic (675.1M views) and #wegovy (259.3M views) consistently trending. Now, experts are warning about this misleading tactic by drugmakers, in paying popular social media users to espouse their products under the guise of honest reviews, in a new study published this week in the Journal of Medical Internet Research. These so-called patient influencers, or patient "advocates," are social media influencers who use their platform to promote pharmaceutical medications and/or medical devices. Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder analyzed 26 recent interviews with patient influencers, who had been diagnosed with conditions such as lupus, fibromyalgia, Parkinson's disease, asthma, HIV, celiac disease, chronic migraines and perimenopause. The majority (69%) had previously collaborated with a pharmaceutical company in some way. The Federal Trade Commission mandates that influencers must disclose if they have been paid by using hashtags, such as by adding #ad or #sponsored to related posts, while the Food and Drug Administration has rules and regulations regarding what can be said on social posts. Nevertheless, many consumers fail to decipher a sponsored ad from genuine peer-to-peer advice.

Note: For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing news articles on pharmaceutical corruption and media manipulation from reliable sources.

We urgently need a national debate about guns. But we also urgently need a national debate about the epidemic of mood-altering drugs being prescribed to young Americans. Mass shooters in the United States tend to be young, obsessive, male loners and many have been prescribed psychoactive drugs. For example, Eric Harris, one of the two shooters at Columbine High School in Columbine, Colorado, in 1999which ushered in the current spate of mass shootingswas on the psychotropic drug Luvox. Prescribing information for the antidepressant says, "Close supervision of patients and in particular those at high risk should accompany drug therapy." Jeff Weise, who fatally shot his grandfather, his grandfather's girlfriend, and then seven others at the Red Lake Senior High School in Minnesota in 2005, was on the well-known antidepressant Prozac. Two years later, Cho Seung-Hui, who perpetrated the Virginia Tech mass shooting, also was found to be on psychoactive antidepressants. Jeanne Stolzer, associate professor of child and adolescent development at the University of Nebraska-Kearney, observes that "despite the multitude of international drug regulatory warnings on all classifications of psychiatric medications citing adverse reactions such as suicidal ideation, homicidal ideation, violence, and psychosis, not one local, state, or federal commission has investigated the correlation between the mass shootings in America and the use of psychiatric medications."

Note: Although Epoch Times is often deemed as a controversial media platform, this article raises legitimate questions on an important topic seldom discussed. Read a revealing article that investigates the alarming adverse events associated with common mood-altering medications prescribed for those struggling with mental illness. For more on this concerning trend, consider exploring an in-depth article written by an anonymous doctor who reveals the decades of evidence showing how adverse reactions from psychiatric drugs can manifest as both suicides and homicides.

<p style= "text-align: justify; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; margin: 0 0 11pt 0;"> Visitors to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in Washington, D.C. ... must show a guard proof that they have been vaccinated against COVID-19. Such demands were common around the world a year ago. But by now, almost everyone has had natural infections with SARS-CoV-2 or been vaccinated against the coronavirussometimes bothand it's become clear that vaccine-induced immunity quickly loses its ability to prevent infection and spread of the latest variants. <strong>Some now say the mandates are outdated. The persistent requirements are "baffling to say the least," says Heidi Larson, an anthropologist at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and director of the Vaccine Confidence Project. She spoke at a major infectious disease meeting this year that required all attendees to show they had had two doses of a vaccinewith no need for a recent booster. "It's not like it's going to mitigate the spread." Larson and other vaccine acceptance researchers who spoke to Science all emphasize that COVID-19 vaccines clearly prevent severe disease, but they worry maintaining the mandates could undermine future public health efforts. "Having to show these old vaccination proofs or certificates really doesn't make sense, and it could cause harm, because people might lose trust in the competence of the organization," says University of Konstanz psychologist Katrin Schmelz. Compared with Europe and Asia, the United States appears to be holding on to vaccine mandates more tightly.</p> <p style= "text-align: justify; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; margin: 0 0 11pt 0;"> <strong>Note:</strong> Many people are questioning the legitimacy of vaccine mandates, regardless of their stance on the efficacy and safety of the COVID vaccines. For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing <a href= "https://www.wanttoknow.info/coronavirus-vaccine-problemsnewsarticles" target="_blank">news articles on coronavirus vaccines</a> from reliable major media sources.</p>

Immunity acquired from a Covid infection provides strong, lasting protection against the most severe outcomes of the illness, according to research published Thursday in The Lancet protection, experts say, that's on par with what's provided through two doses of an mRNA vaccine. Infection-acquired immunity cut the risk of hospitalization and death from a Covid reinfection by 88% for at least 10 months, the study found. "This is really good news, in the sense that protection against severe disease and death after infection is really quite sustained at 10 months," said the senior study author, Dr. Christopher Murray ... at the University of Washington. The study was the largest meta-analysis to date to look at immunity following infection. It included 65 studies from 19 countries and compared the risk of developing Covid again in people who had recovered from infections to people who hadn't been infected through September. The immunity generated from an infection was found to be "at least as high, if not higher" than that provided by two doses of an mRNA vaccine, the authors wrote. While Murray and Wachter agreed that vaccination remains the safest route, having a past Covid infection should at least be considered in policymaking decisions going forward, such as vaccination requirements, they said. "What Europe did with this evidence made a lot of sense, which is where evidence of past infection was seen as essentially equal to vaccination in terms of requirements to go into events or for employment," Murray said.  

Note: It's worthy of mentioning that much of the media previously dismissed the effectiveness of natural immunity to protect against COVID, with mainstream media platforms blatantly claiming that natural immunity is "not panning out" and "comes at a cost." For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing news articles on coronavirus vaccines from reliable major media sources.

Almost 1.5 million people of working age in Japan are living as social recluses, according to a government survey, with about a fifth of cases attributed to the pressures unleashed by the Covid-19 pandemic. Large numbers of hikikomori said they had begun retreating from mainstream society due to relationship issues and after losing or leaving their jobs. A significant proportion 20.6% said their predicament had been triggered by changes in lifestyle imposed during the pandemic. Hikikomori classed as people who withdraw from society, spending all or almost all of their time isolated at home account for 2% of people aged 15-62. The cabinet office surveyed 30,000 people between the ages of 10 and 69. The poll found that just over a fifth of respondents aged 15-39 had been socially isolated. More than 20% said they had experienced problems with interpersonal relationships, while just over 18% cited the pandemic. Among people in the 40-64 age range, 44.5% said their behaviour had been triggered by leaving their jobs, followed by 20.6% who cited the pandemic. Japan did not enforce UK-style lockdowns to help contain the spread of the virus, but people were asked to avoid unnecessary outings ... and some employers and universities encouraged teleworking and remote learning. On streets that would normally have been teeming with people there was a dramatic drop in footfall after restaurants, bars and other sectors of the nighttime economy were asked to stop serving alcohol and close early, or face fines.

Note: For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing news articles on the coronavirus and health from reliable major media sources.

South Korea is to offer reclusive youths a monthly living allowance of 650,000 won ($490) in order to encourage them out of their homes, as part of a new measure passed by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family. The measure also offers education, job and health support. The condition is known as "hikikomori", a Japanese term that roughly translated means, "to pull back". The government wants to try to make it easier for those experiencing it to leave the house to go to school, university or work. Included in the programme ... is a monthly allowance for living expenses for people aged between nine and 24 who are experiencing extreme social withdrawal. It also includes an allowance for cultural experiences for teenagers. About 350,000 people between the ages of 19 and 39 in South Korea are considered lonely or isolated about 3% of that age group according to the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs. Secluded youth are often from disadvantaged backgrounds and 40% began living reclusively while adolescents, according to a government document outlining the measures. The document includes case studies that describe young people using reclusiveness as a way to cope. One young person describes their depression as a result of domestic violence. "When I was 15 years old, domestic violence made me depressed so much that I began to live in seclusion." Another said that they had become a recluse when their family "went bankrupt".

Note: A deeper perspective on this social crisis is how lockdown policies significantly deteriorated youth mental health during the lockdown, as seen in a new University of Cambridge paper. This paper is the first longitudinal study to trace the mental health effects of lockdowns and social isolation on younger children. For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing news articles on health from reliable major media sources.

Two international legal agreements [are] currently working their way through the World Health Organisation: a new pandemic treaty, and amendments to the 2005 International Health Regulations, both due to be put before the governing body of the WHO, the World Health Assembly, in May next year. As concerned scholars and jurists have detailed, these agreements threaten to fundamentally reshape the relationship between the WHO, national governments, and individuals. They would hardwire into international law a top-down supranational approach to public health in which the WHO, acting in some cases via the sole discretion of one individual, its Director General (DG), would be empowered to impose sweeping, legally binding directions on member states and their citizens. A global system for digital 'health certificates' for verification of vaccine status or test results would be routinised, and a bio-surveillance network ... would be embedded and expanded. The WHO has fallen largely under the control of private capital and other vested interests. Over 80 percent of the WHO's budget is now 'specified' funding by way of voluntary contributions typically earmarked for specific projects or diseases in a way that the funder specifies. The WHO [is] ordaining itself as the exclusive global controller not just of the identification of pandemics and potential pandemics but of the design and execution of pandemic responses, while also granting itself a vast health surveillance network and a global workforce.

Note: For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing news articles on government corruption and health from reliable major media sources.

A state-of-the-art assessment on the scientific evidence of wireless radiation impacts on children's health published in the journal Current Problems in Pediatric and Adolescent Health Care concludes that the medical community has a critical role to play to prevent harm from wireless radiation. Written by distinguished experts in medicine, epidemiology, toxicology, physics, biochemical engineering and public health ... the paper references numerous studies that associate wireless exposure to effects including oxidative stress, DNA damage, cardiomyopathy, carcinogenicity, sperm damage, memory damage and neurological effects. Pregnancy, infancy and childhood are periods of critical susceptibility, especially for the brain, which is rapidly developing. "Current government safety limits are outdated and do not reflect the latest science nor the way children use wireless technology today," stated Linda Birnbaum Ph.D, former Director of the National Toxicology Program. Theodora Scarato, Executive Director of Environmental Health Trust, highlighted the international policies to reduce children's exposure, such as France and Belgium's bans on the sale of cell phones designed for young children and the numerous countries that have restrictions on Wi-Fi exposure in classrooms. She stated that, "US government limits allow radiation emissions 10 to 100 times higher than numerous countries such as Switzerland, Italy, China, Russia and India."

Note: For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing news articles on wireless technology dangers from reliable major media sources.

In 2013, the European Union called for a temporary suspension of the most commonly used neonicotinoid-based products on flowering plants, citing the danger posed to bees an effort that resulted in a permanent ban in 2018. In the U.S., however, industry dug in, seeking not only to discredit the research but to cast pesticide companies as a solution to the problem. Lobbying documents and emails ... show a sophisticated effort over the last decade by the pesticide industry to obstruct any effort to restrict the use of neonicotinoids. Bayer and Syngenta, the largest manufacturers of neonics, and Monsanto, one of the leading producers of seeds pretreated with neonics, cultivated ties with prominent academics ... and other scientists who had once called for a greater focus on the threat posed by pesticides. A study published in peer-reviewed journal PLOS One found that the American landscape has become 48 times more toxic to insects since the 1990s, a shift largely fueled by the rising application of neonics. "Generally, we see the U.S. waiting longer than the EU to take action on a variety of pesticides and other chemicals," said [Willa] Childress ... with Pesticide Action Network North America. Part of the divergence, Childress continued, stems from a regulatory system in the U.S. that assumes chemical products are generally safe until proven hazardous. In contrast, the EU tends to use the "precautionary principle," removing products that may cause harm.

Note: For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing news articles on corruption in science and in the food system from reliable major media sources.

[Gabor] Mat was born in January 1944; in May of that year, the deportation of Hungary's Jews to Auschwitz began. By the end of the Holocaust, 565,000 Hungarian Jews had been murdered, Mat's maternal grandparents among them. When he was 11 months old, his mother sent him with a stranger to be cared for by his aunt. Mat says trauma, from the Greek for "wound", "is not what happens to you; it is what happens inside you as a result of what happens to you. It is not the blow on the head, but the concussion I get." That, he says, is the good news. "If my trauma was that my mother gave me to a stranger ... that will never not have happened. But if the wound was that I decided as a result that I wasn't worthwhile as a human being, I wasn't lovable, that's a wound that can heal at any time." There can be two types of wound, he says. "There's the capital-T traumatic events," which include things like being abused as a child and the loss of a parent. Then there are "small-T traumas". "You can wound a kid not only by doing bad things to them, but by also not meeting their needs," he says. Mat has a heightened level of compassion. For him, the real villain is our culture. Many of the plights of modern society are, he says, natural responses to an unhealthy culture. Take addiction. His view is that there is no such thing as an "addictive personality". Nor is addiction a disease. His mantra is: "Don't ask why the addiction, ask why the pain. Addiction is a normal response to trauma."

Note: The Wisdom of Trauma is a powerful film that travels alongside Dr. Gabor Mat in his quest to discover the connection between illness, addiction, trauma, and society. Deeply touching and captivating in its diverse portrayal of real human stories, the film also provides a new vision of a trauma-informed society that seeks to understand the sources from which troubling behaviors and diseases spring in the wounded human soul. Anyone can watch this donation-optional film at the above link.

Our brains are made up of billions of cells that work together to create our every ability. Wipe out those cells, through a stroke or other brain trauma, and you may no longer be able to read, but you might still be able to speak, sing or write. It's all about where the brain is damaged which systems of cells are traumatized and which are not. The three-pound mass of neurological tissue that we call the brain has the power not only to create every ability we have but also to manifest our perception of reality. Our brains have a two-pronged defense mechanism that kicks in when brain trauma occurs. Not only are we able to grow some new neurons a process called neurogenesis especially in the sites where physical trauma has occurred, our brain cells are capable of neuroplasticity, which means they can rearrange which other neurons they are in communication with. That's why, whenever I meet someone who has experienced a brain trauma of any sort, I don't focus on what abilities that person has lost, but rather I marvel at what insights that person might have gained because of the experience. Few things have greater impact on how people choose to live their lives than neurological trauma or near-death experiences. And when we find ourselves to be neurologically impaired, we become vulnerable and need others to support us rather than criticize or judge us. I became a much more compassionate and empathetic person following my stroke and recovery. Perhaps I am not the only one.

Note: The above was written by Jill Bolte Taylor, a neuroscientist and the author of "My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey." Explore a treasure trove of concise summaries of incredibly inspiring news articles which will inspire you to make a difference.

Practising mindfulness is much better than taking part in talking therapies at helping people recover from depression, a British study has found. People who used a mindfulness self-help book for eight weeks and had six sessions with a counsellor experienced a 17.5% greater improvement in recovery from depressive symptoms than those who underwent cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) while being supported by a mental health practitioner. Their results have been published in JAMA Psychiatry. The NHS says mindfulness involves people paying attention to "what is going on inside and outside ourselves, moment by moment" and "the sights, sounds, smells and tastes of the present moment" as well as being aware of their thoughts and feelings as they happen. People using mindfulness in the LIGHTMind 2 trial spent eight weeks following the advice in The Mindful Way Workbook, which helps them build up their mindfulness skills by guiding them on what they should do every day in order to be aware of their thoughts, feelings and physical sensations in a non-judgmental way. Doing that helps people address some of the behaviours that can maintain feelings of depression. They also had six one-to-one half-hour "support sessions" on the telephone with a therapist discussing their progress, experience of practising mindfulness and asking questions. Mindfulness-based treatment is also a cheaper way of tackling depression because people using it needed on average 526 less of subsequent treatment.

Note: Explore a treasure trove of concise summaries of incredibly inspiring news articles which will inspire you to make a difference.

In recent months, the Pentagon has moved to provide loans, guarantees, and other financial instruments to technology companies it considers crucial to national security a step beyond the grants and contracts it normally employs. So when Silicon Valley Bank threatened to fail in March following a bank run, the defense agency advocated for government intervention to insure the investments. The Pentagon had even scrambled to prepare multiple plans to get cash to affected companies if necessary, reporting by Defense One revealed. Their interest in Silicon Valley Bank stems from the Pentagon's brand-new office, the Office of Strategic Capital. The secretary of defense established the OSC in December specifically to counteract the investment power of adversaries like China in U.S. technologies, and to secure separate funding for companies whose products are considered vital to national security. The national security argument for bailout, notably, found an influential friend in the Senate. As the Biden administration intervened to protect Silicon Valley Bank depositors on March 12, Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., who chairs the powerful Senate Intelligence Committee and also sits on the Banking Committee, issued a press release warning that the bank run posed a national security risk. Warner the only member of Congress to have publicly tied SVB to national security has received significant contributions from the financial sector. Since 2012, Warner has received over $21,000 from Silicon Valley Bank's super PAC.

Note: Many tech startups with funds in Silicon Valley Bank were working on projects with defense and national security applications. Explore revealing news articles on the rising concerns of the emerging technologies that the Defense Department is investing in, given their recent request for $17.8 billion to research and develop artificial intelligence, autonomy, directed energy weapons, cyber.....