Authored by Andrew Korybko via Substack,

Even worse, it would be all because of Zelensky’s lust for money and power, not any legitimate reason.

Trump’s flip-flop on Ukraine was explained here as being partially due to him responding to the whispers of warmongers like Zelensky, who boasted afterwards that “Gradually, (Trump) realized that Putin was simply sharing some information that was far from the truth on the battlefield. Now he trusts me much more because the information that my intelligence has, that we share with our partners.”

This is leading to Trump being manipulated by Zelensky into a disaster of epic proportions if he doesn’t soon wise up.

The American leader likely took at face value his Ukrainian counterpart’s claim of reconquering 360 square kilometers in recent weeks even though the latter’s own top general earlier assessed the amount to be less than half of that at only 160 square kilometers. This might have convinced him that his new policy of selling new arms to NATO at full price for subsequent transfer to Ukraine is paying off. Zelensky was probably also responsible for Trump writing in his post that the Russian economy is in deep trouble.

These false beliefs, which are based on lies laundered by Zelensky as “intelligence”, arguably emboldened Trump to declare his support for NATO shooting down Russian jets on the pretext of them violating the bloc’s airspace after the latest dubious claim to that effect from Estonia. He also threatened “a very strong round of powerful tariffs” against Russia in his UN speech, presumably against China and India who he described as “the primary funders of the ongoing war”, so long as the EU follows suit.

This evolving policy towards the Ukrainian Conflict – which includes military (more arms sales to NATO and supporting the bloc shooting down Russian jets) and economic (primary and secondary sanctions) components – is also largely driven by Zelensky’s other lie that Trump fell for. This one relates to his false belief that “Russia has been fighting aimlessly for three and a half years a War that should have taken a Real Military Power less than a week to win…it is very much making them look like ‘a paper tiger.’”

The reality is that the UK and Poland sabotaged spring 2022’s peace talks, after which the conflict evolved into a “war of attrition” as NATO attempted to balance out Russia’s force superiority over Ukraine via unprecedented military, logistical, and intelligence aid. Putin’s reluctance to proactively escalate the special operation to a shock-and-awe war, whether one agrees with his logic or not, is due to his sincere belief that Russians and Ukrainians “are one people” as he lengthily explained in July 2021.

He nevertheless reaffirmed earlier in the week that “Russia is fully capable of responding to any current or emerging threat, not with words, but through concrete military-technical measures.” Therefore, if Trump lets himself be manipulated by Zelensky into escalating tensions with Russia or supporting those who do (such as if a NATO ally shoots down a Russian jet), then a disaster of epic proportions awaits. Even worse, it would be all because of Zelensky’s lust for money and power, not any legitimate reason.

Zelensky just wants more funds and arms to flow into Ukraine, both of which are increasingly being provided by the EU at the expense of its citizens’ living standards that continue to deteriorate due to the bloc’s anti-Russian sanctions, yet Trump now thinks that he’s the new Churchill fighting the new Hitler. It’s disappointing that the same man who wrote “The Art of the Deal” is now being played by the former comedian who he once mockingly referred to as “the greatest salesman” but such is the state of affairs.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ZeroHedge.

In a day already overflowing with news, late on Thursday President Trump announced a fresh round of tariffs set to take effect October 1, including a 25% tariff on all heavy truck imports, 30% tariff on upholstered furniture, 50% tariff on kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanities, and a 100% tariff on branded or patented drugs (unless a company is building a manufacturing plant in America), in a move that will likely send prices of Europe’s pharmaceutical companies sliding. The decision followed an earlier investigation into pharmaceuticals launched in April, suggesting the duties may be imposed under specific section laws rather than reciprocal tariffs. 

The tariffs, which are on top of sweeping reciprocal duties Trump has imposed on countries worldwide, are likely to spur a fresh round of outrage, particularly when it comes to pharmaceutical imports. Experts have raised concerns that those tariffs could cause supply chain issues and make certain drugs more difficult and expensive to acquire.

Trump posted on social media that there would be no levies on pharmaceutical imports if companies have broken ground on a US manufacturing plant, or if such a plant is under construction. 

“Starting October 1st, 2025, we will be imposing a 100% Tariff on any branded or patented Pharmaceutical Product, unless a Company IS BUILDING their Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Plant in America,” Trump wrote. “There will, therefore, be no Tariff on these Pharmaceutical Products if construction has started.”

Trump’s announcement was one of several about new industry-focused tariffs set to begin next Wednesday. Imported heavy trucks will be subject to a 25% duty, kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanities will be hit with a 50% charge, and upholstered furniture imports are to be taxed at 30%. 

Taken together, the moves amount to a rapid expansion of Trump’s tariff regime, which he started to erect shortly after taking office. It comes at a time when the president has flexed his executive powers like none of his modern predecessors; just as Trump made the levies public, former FBI Director James Comey — a longtime Trump political enemy — was indicted on perjury charges under heavy pressure from the president. 

The posts offered no further details. But as Bloomberg notes, the pharmaceuticals plan, as described by the president, could allow for wide exemptions for multinational drug companies with presences in the US. The world’s largest drugmakers, including Merck and Eli Lilly operate scores of manufacturing sites across the globe. Nearly 90% of US biotech companies rely on imported components for at least half of their approved products, according to the Biotechnology Innovation Organization.

Asian stocks fell on news of the tariffs, with shares in Japan, Australia and South Korea all opening lower, while S&P 500 futures pared earlier gains. Asian pharmaceutical stocks slumped. 

In April, the Commerce Department began investigating the impact of all drug imports — both finished generic and branded medicines as well as the ingredients used to make them — on US national security. By early July, Trump said he intended to give drug companies some leeway to bring their operations to the US before slapping tariffs of as much as 200% on their products. Then, on July 15, the president said he was likely to begin imposing tariffs on pharmaceuticals by the end of the month. 

However, in late July, the US and EU reached a broad trade agreement that includes 15% tariffs on pharmaceutical products. That means European drug exports likely won’t be subject to the sector specific tariffs developed through the 232 investigation. 

Trump is imposing product-bases levies using Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act, which allows the administration to impose tariffs without congressional action if imports are deemed a national security threat. The approach has already been used to impose levies on automobile, copper, steel and aluminum imports.

Other duties on critical imports, including semiconductors and critical minerals, are expected in the coming weeks. His administration has also launched investigations into imports of robotics, industrial machinery and medical devices that could have wide-ranging effects for domestic manufacturers. 

The sectoral tariffs offer potentially more durability than the country-level levies Trump imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. The Supreme Court has agreed to consider a challenge to those tariffs, after two lower courts have already declared them illegal.

What do you do when you are highly underqualified for your job, which you plagiarized to get in the first place, and on top of it all you broke the law and now your current boss doesn’t want you any more? Well, you sue of course… and if that doesn’t work, you claim that the world will end if you are let go. 

Yes, that’s the traditional flowchart for government DEI hires, it’s also what Fed governor Lisa Cook is doing as she fights tooth and nail to say on at the Fed.

Fed Governor Lisa Cook’s attorneys urged the US Supreme Court to let her stay on the job while she fights President Donald Trump’s attempt to fire her, warning that even her temporary removal risks “chaos and disruption” in financial markets.

Granting the Justice Department’s request to allow Trump to immediately oust her “would sound the death knell for the central-bank independence that has helped make the United States’ economy the strongest in the world,” her lawyers wrote in a brief filed Thursday.

Or maybe just keep your client from breaking the law? Of course, since that’s impossible, you go straight to the apocalypse that will follow should Trump get to say his favorite phrase.

In her brief, Cook’s lawyers claim that Trump should have no authority to fire her, and that as of 2023, “only 12 nations with central banks allow the removal of central-bank board members at the executive’s discretion for policy reasons or for no reason at all.” Those 12 nations are Bangladesh, Chile, China, Comoros, Iran, Kazakhstan, Laos, Morocco, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, and Vietnam.

Well, the US will make it 13. 

The DOJ has asked the Supreme Court to let Trump remove Cook, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, who has continued serving in her post since late August when Trump announced he would remove her due to mortgage fraud allegations that she’s denied.

The Supreme Court set a fast schedule for written briefs in the case but hasn’t signaled precisely when it intends to rule.

In the new filing, Cook’s lawyers argued that the Justice Department’s delay in asking for Supreme Court intervention until after the Fed’s last policy meeting on Sept. 16-17 was a possible sign the administration “understood the chaos” that might unleash in markets. It also undercut the government’s demand for “immediate relief,” according to the filing.

Cook’s brief cites a 2009 law review article in which then-Judge Brett Kavanaugh discussed how the Fed is insulated from direct presidential control because of its “power to directly affect the short-term functioning of the US economy.” Kavanaugh, now a Supreme Court justice, will be a pivotal vote in the case.

The largely conservative Supreme Court this year has largely sided with Trump in fights over his firings of other federal agency officials, but the justices previously made a point of distinguishing the Fed as a “uniquely structured, quasi-private entity.” A key question with Cook is whether the court will apply that distinction in a case involving alleged wrongdoing by a Fed official, albeit before she was appointed to her post.

Cook’s theatrical filing came hours after she won the support of a bipartisan group of former Treasury secretaries, former Federal chairs and other experts who all signed a letter in the docket, backing her case with the justices. The group, which includes former Fed chairs Ben Bernanke, Alan Greenspan and Janet Yellen – the people directly responsible for America’s catastrophic debt load – said allowing Trump to oust Cook while she challenges her removal would do lasting damage to the public’s trust in the Fed while jeopardizing the credibility and efficacy of US monetary policy. 

As if anyone believes the Federal “Inflation is transitory” Reserve has credibility, especially after it slashed rates 50bps 2 months before the 2024 election to ensure that Kamala Harris is elected. As for the letter, it’s not the first time we have seen 51 former officials bend over backwards and trample their reputation, just to lie just to perpetuate the broken status quo.

NEW: Every living former Fed chair (Greenspan, Bernanke, Yellen) …

have joined several former Treasury secretaries (Rubin, Summers, Paulson, Geithner, Lew) …

and CEA chairs (Hubbard, Mankiw, Romer, Furman, Rouse, Bernstein) who served presidents of both parties …

in an…

— Nick Timiraos (@NickTimiraos) September 25, 2025

Trump said last month he was firing Cook after Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte accused her of fraudulently listing homes in Michigan and Georgia as a “primary residence” when she obtained mortgages in 2021 to secure more favorable terms on loans.

Cook’s lawyers have said the allegations are part of a “smear campaign” aimed at discrediting Cook and helping Trump seize control of the Fed, which he has pressured for months to lower interest rates. They argued in the latest brief to the Supreme Court that “fundamental flaws” in the mortgage fraud claims “have already come to light,” citing media reports that she “properly declared her Michigan home as her principal residence” and “accurately described the Georgia property in question as a vacation home.”

“When that record is compiled, it will demonstrate that Governor Cook never acted improperly with respect to her mortgages and thus will eliminate the president’s stated ground for his purported removal,” her lawyers wrote.

A month ago, Cook filed a lawsuit in federal court in Washington to block her dismissal, arguing Trump’s unproven claims about mortgage fraud do not amount to “cause” under US law for firing her, and that her purported dismissal via social media post deprived her of her constitutional right to due process.

Shortly after, her sorority sister, US District Judge Jia Cobb on Sept. 9 ruled that Cook could remain on the job as her case proceeded, saying that Trump’s attempt to oust her likely violated the law. A divided federal appeals court upheld the ruling on Sept. 15, just hours before the start of the Fed’s highly anticipated two-day meeting to vote on interest rates.

The officials lowered their benchmark interest rate by a quarter percentage point. One year ago they lowered the rate by half a percentage point when the economy was in stronger shape and when inflation was hotter. However, back then the Fed was also tasked with helping elected Kamala Harris. It failed. 

European countries have over the last several weeks been growing more vocal over alleged Russian-backed ‘hybrid attacks’ on their infrastructure, and the latest focal points have been airports.

Denmark now says its airports are under threat from mysterious unauthorized drones, and was forced to close Aalborg airport – one of the nation’s largest – for several hours Wednesday evening. The international airport is located in the northern Jutland region and facilitates commercial and at times military flights.

This comes after on Monday Copenhagen airport was temporarily closed due to a drone incursion. Danish authorities say they can’t rule out a prank, but have pointed to professional actors being behind the incidents. “Aalborg, Esbjerg, Sonderborg and Skrydstrup airports were all affected overnight on Thursday,” European sources indicate.

There were additional UAV sightings near military bases, in a series of incidents which took place between 10pm on Wednesday and about 1am on Thursday:

The Danish military said it had seen drones at “several military installations” – including Skrydstrup airbase and the The Jutland Dragoon Regiment barracks in Holstebro, warning it may “take down” drones at military sites.

Police in Denmark and in Sweden said they were investigating multiple reports of drone sightings – including over Danish oilfields and in Stockholm.

Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen in a Thursday news briefing used the words “hybrid attack” that appears part of a “systematic operation” – but also disclosed that the drones were deployed locally.

The goal is to supposedly sow fear and division, again suggesting Danish authorities believe external state actors are behind the incidents:

“There can be no doubt that everything points to this being the work of a professional actor when we are talking about such a systematic operation in so many locations at virtually the same time. This is what I would define as a hybrid attack using different types of drones.”

Three smaller airports this week also had drone sightings which were monitored, but these incidents didn’t result in any closures or flight stoppages.

NATO countries have been in a heightened state of alert after last week’s Russian drone and jet incursion incidents in Poland, Romania, and Estonia. 

Denmark could simply be hyping this week’s occurrences near airports to shine a further spotlight on Russia, given nothing definitive has been established – and it is not entirely unusual for some individual’s hobby drone to get too close to an operating airport.

EuroNews reports that Denmark is even raising the issue with NATO:

Denmark has reached out to NATO and the EU after it was forced to close Aalborg airport and placed three other airports on alert on Thursday as unauthorized drones conducted what authorities described as coordinated attacks.

Copenhagen was considering whether to trigger the alliance’s Article 4, in what was a hybrid attack involving a “systematic approach” in flying the drones near critical infrastructure, Danish Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said at a press conference on Thursday.

Authorization was given to shoot down the drones in case of future incidents, authorities said.

Drones reportedly circle over Denmark near F-16 and F-35 bases as authorities consider state of emergency — prepping for a false flag? pic.twitter.com/TIHkQDuZFx

— Jungle Journey (@JnglJourney) September 25, 2025

“We are going to find the people who are behind this,” Poulsen said. “We need to have a wide range of tools to combat what comes our way, whether it’s missiles or drones.”

So clearly this is being seized upon to call for greater defense preparedness and investment, and to get the population ready to ‘confront’ Russia – despite the mystery drone incidents still not being solved.

Authored by Jeffrey Tucker via The Epoch Times,

Well, Donald Trump did it. He scheduled a news conference on the science of autism, what we know and what we do not, and handled it masterfully. He is profoundly aware that as a parent and the president of the United States that he can make points that his own science advisors cannot make for reasons political, sociological, and scientific.

Trump, however, knows that expecting mothers and families still have to make decisions and those decisions could affect the health and well-being of their children for the rest of their lives. Nothing is more important. Meanwhile, autism is an epidemic. Something is causing this.

There is no such thing as a genetic epidemic. Nor is this traceable to changed definitions of the term else we would see a growing distribution among adults too, which we do not. FDA head Marty Makary, normally very cautious and careful in his statements, said the straightforward thing that no one has stated as clearly: autism is preventable.

Though Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Jay Bhattacharya, and Mehmet Oz were there and speaking, it was Trump who bravely took the burden upon himself to say what vast numbers of parents and doctors suspect and know but have heretofore occupied the realm of forbidden thought. He laid out two main culprits: Tylenol for birthing mothers and infants and the packed vaccine schedule that hits tiny babies with a cocktail of shots that have never been studied in their combined effects.

Trump was extremely clear.

Don’t take Tylenol. Also the schedule should be changed so that each shot is a separate vaccine spaced out over years. Further, some shots like HepB should wait until the age of 12 if they are taken at all. This would mean no more MMR, much less an MMRV shot that adds chickenpox to the soup. It would mean one shot for measles, one for mumps, one for rubella, and so on.

The products do not currently exist in that form. The whole trajectory has been to batch them up and this happened at the same time we’ve seen an explosion in autism cases. It is not a stretch at all to assume a connection. And Trump explained the stories of so many mothers, more than half, who report dramatic and immediate behavioral and cognitive changes following a vaccine.

These people have been gaslighted for 40 years. They have been called all sorts of terrible names. The scientists who have taken up their case have been shut out of academia, professional societies, journals, and been declared nonpersons. But they never relented. Trump has personally agreed with them for 20 years, a dating of his own. He and Kennedy have long had private discussions about it.

The entire field is a landmine filled with dangers both cultural and industrial. At some point, Trump realized that if anyone was going to break the logjam on this topic, it would need to be him. So he did it, and went much further than anyone—I mean anyone!—expected.

He noted the crazy additions to the schedule since 1980. The following shots have been added since then: HepB, Hib, PCV, RV, HepA, HPV, MenACWY, MenB, and COVID-19. This takes the doses from 12 to 35 and from 7 to 15 diseases. This is the gold rush kicked off by the liability shield put in place in 1986. Meanwhile, Trump referred, “certain groups that don’t take vaccines or pills and have no autism.” He turned to Kennedy who said quietly that some studies have concerned the Amish. Yes, said Trump, “the Amish. They have essentially no autism.”

Watching this in real time was something of a mind-blowing experience. These are all matters discussed in small groups and organizations of parents of autistic children. They have fought the manufacturers but with almost no success because of all the legal protections surrounding the companies.

From a broad perspective, the idea of vaccines is presumably to make us healthier. The opposite has happened. And that has given rise to a serious question of the complexities of human immunity. It’s fine to target a disease with an immunity inducement. We’ve been doing that for hundreds of years, with glorious successes surrounding smallpox in particular. But that success has also given rise to a reckless arrogance that imagined that the whole of the immune system could be replaced by laboratory gaming to outsmart the entire microbial kingdom.

The industry has become so large and powerful that it clearly exercises vast power over academia, scholarly publishing, government, and media through the power of advertising. The reach and influence of the vaccination industry became so vast that in March of 2020 it had enough pull to push 195 governments of the world to shut down economic activity until an antidote for COVID could be produced and distributed.

The problem should have been obvious to even a casual reader of the older literature. Immunity induction via a shot can have a sterilizing effect for stable pathogens like smallpox and measles.

It is a different matter for respiratory viruses that are forever mutating and adapting and also possess a zoonotic reservoir. If any mammal can carry the new strain, vaccinating is going to be like a game of Whack-A-Mole that never ends. Meanwhile, the vaccination itself can rewire the immune system to resist a deprecated strain while opening itself up to new vulnerabilities from unexpected places.

All of this could be known in advance, and was known. They went ahead anyway. Then there is the problem of a new technology called modified mRNA delivered through nanoparticles that control neither dosing nor distribution. These shots have been associated with what many experts say is unprecedented injury and death and yet the liability shields have prevented any litigation to collect damages.

When you look at this situation, it seems rather obvious that a time of truth-telling and accountability had to come one way or another. Trump remains very proud of Operation Warp Speed but deeply incredulous about the rest of the childhood schedule. His solution is in four points:

1) push HepB to year 12;

2) vaccinate against one disease at a time;

3) one shot per visit;

4) no mercury in shots.

Toby Rogers, the leading scholar of vaccines and autism, says these steps would end the epidemic.

If you have any doubt that he is correct to be skeptical of the existing schedule, I urge you to read a new book by attorney Aaron Siri with the title “Vaccines, Amen“. Of all the books I’ve read on this subject, this one is the most compelling and most overwhelmingly persuasive. It documents depositions, safety records, whether and to what extent these potions have really ever been subject to placebo-controlled trials, and the large literature that has been suppressed and deprecated. The book will amaze you, especially with its extensive documentation of how all the diseases against which we vaccinate were largely controlled before the product was ever released.

Let me end on a personal note, if I may. I have been writing on pandemic planning for 20 years. In all that time, I failed to see much less understand the role of the pharmaceutical industry as the hidden hand behind the scenes. When the COVID shots were released, I never believed that they would work in any normal sense in which we use this term but I had no awareness of dangers to health. I had never heard the term “anti-vaxer” until perhaps 2021 and certainly could not articulate a rationale for the view.

I never could have imagined that I would be watching and cheering a presidential press conference that essentially blew up the entire orthodoxy surrounding the childhood schedule. Clearly, the pandemic response of five years ago has opened up new ways of thinking. The mainstream media is already screaming like it is the end of the world. It is not. It is the beginning of the end of unquestioned pharmaceutical power.

President Donald Trump on Thursday announced that he would use tariff revenue to provide aid to American farmers until his import levies start to benefit them – which he says is only a matter of time.

“We’re going to take some of that tariff money that we made, we’re going to give it to our farmers who are, for a little while, going to be hurt until … the tariffs kick in to their benefit,” Trump said from the White House. “We’re going to make sure that our farmers are in great shape, because we’re taking in a lot of money.”

“Ultimately, the farmers are going to be making a fortune. But it’s a process – it has to kick in,” Trump continued. 

American farmers are struggling amid low wholesale prices and trade wars with Beijing – as China – the world’s largest buyer of soybeans – has stopped buying them from the USA as negotiations with the Trump administration continue. 

Last week GOP lawmakers warned that American farmers are in rough shape, and urged the Trump administration to take action similar to what happened in Trump’s first term, when the government doled out at $23 billion bailout to farmers amid the previous trade war with China.

Those tariffs during Trump’s first term resulted in a $27 billion loss in the US from mid-2018 through the end of the following year, according to the US Department of Agriculture – with soybeans accounting for nearly 71% of those losses – or around $9.7 billion annually.

Suppliers Under The Microscope

Meanwhile, US Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced an investigation into suppliers of crop inputs, including seeds and fertilizers, over potential antitrust violations, Bloomberg reports.

The agriculture and the justice departments have signed a memorandum of understanding to “take a hard look and scrutinize competitive conditions in the agriculture marketplace, including antitrust enforcement that promotes free market competition,” Rollins said Thursday during a conference in Missouri.

Notably, the cost of key inputs such as fertilizers and tractors have spiked this year – in part because of the Trump tariffs, forcing farmers to feel the squeeze. 

According to Rollins, the administration is concerned about “undue foreign influence” on the market, “especially given a significant portion of our fertilizer production is overseas.”

Finally.

With just days to go until the statute of limitations ran out, disgraced former FBI Director James Comey has been indicted on two of three counts sought by prosecutors – one count of making false statements and one count of obstruction of justice – just days after President Donald Trump issued a public demand for his Justice Department to act “now” to bring prosecutions against Comey.

The charges against Comey are a long-overdue escalation in what Trump’s liberal critics have described as a campaign of retribution by Trump to use the powers of the federal government to enact revenge against those he believes have wronged him. Others, have pointed out that Trump is merely doing to his opponents what they repeatedly tried to do to him. 

The way Comey not only tried to destroy General Flynn and his family by framing him, but later mockingly bragged about it, remains one of the most disgraceful abuses ever committed by an FBI director. He deserves prison for that alone. pic.twitter.com/nQ32z8wr8u

— Hans Mahncke (@HansMahncke) September 24, 2025

The charges follow Trump’s decision to oust U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Erik Siebert, who had reportedly refused to bring cases against Comey, as well as New York Attorney General Letitia James, after Trump appointed him to lead the office. Trump then immediately moved to install Lindsey Halligan, a White House aide and his former defense attorney, to lead the office.

The preemptive false framing of a potential James Comey indictment as a political hit is being driven by leaks from inside DOJ and/or the U.S. Attorney’s Office in EDVA. Kash and his team must launch a full-scale leak investigation into who’s behind it and chase it to the end. https://t.co/BwRCtzRuAe pic.twitter.com/rkylq5Wp1L

— Hans Mahncke (@HansMahncke) September 25, 2025

In a series of social media posts over the weekend, Trump said Halligan was being appointed to the office to “get things moving,” after attacking Siebert for his resistance to bring what Trump described as a “GREAT CASE.”

“Pam Bondi is doing a GREAT job as Attorney General of the United States. She is very careful, very smart, loves our Country, but needs a tough prosecutor in the Eastern District of Virginia, like my recommendation, Lindsey Halligan, to get things moving,” Trump said. 

Comey, who was fired by Trump during Trump’s first term over the investigation into Trump’s 2016 campaign and its ties to Russia – which as everyone knows by now was one giant hoax –  has been a vocal critic of what he says are Trump’s efforts to politicize the justice system. Comey proceeded to leak the ongoing case to the NYT and to weaponize not only the deep state but the entire liberal press against the president. 

That argument is now likely to be central to Comey’s defense in his criminal case, which could prove to be a highly consequential test for both the Justice Department and the federal judiciary. 

Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The Food and Drug Administration is mulling over conducting its own evaluation of the levels of DNA in COVID-19 vaccines, an FDA official has disclosed.

“I’ll say that that is something that’s being discussed,” Dr. Tracy Hoeg, a senior adviser to the FDA’s commissioner, told members of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccine advisory panel on Sept. 19.

Before the panel’s members unanimously recommended during the meeting that the CDC roll back COVID-19 vaccine recommendations, a number expressed concerns about growing evidence of higher-than-allowed levels of DNA in the vaccines, the spread of the vaccine beyond the injection site, and the long-term persistence of messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA)—a key part of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna shots.

The CDC has described mRNA as the entity teaching cells how to make copies of the spike protein to enable protection when the real virus, with its own spike protein, attacks the body. “After the mRNA delivers the instructions, your cells break it down and get rid of it,” a CDC graphic states.

Retsef Levi, chair of the advisory panel’s COVID-19 immunization workgroup, showed the graphic during the meeting.

“We have a range of things on the mRNA platforms that really suggests that it doesn’t work as intended,” Levi said, citing issues such as the spread of spike protein and mRNA into various parts of the body and “DNA contamination.”

Sequence Not Highlighted, Residual DNA Found

Canadian officials in 2023 confirmed to The Epoch Times that Pfizer’s vaccine contained a DNA sequence that the manufacturer had not highlighted. Some scientists, including former Johnson & Johnson scientist David Wiseman, said they were concerned about the impact of residual DNA left behind by the sequence, which had been used in the past for manufacturing other drugs.

That DNA could integrate into the human genome and create autoimmunity problems, Kevin McKernan, who has confirmed the presence of residual DNA in COVID-19 vaccine vials, told The Epoch Times.

The FDA, in a brief statement in 2023, did not say whether it was aware of the sequence.

“With over a billion doses of the mRNA vaccines administered, no safety concerns related to the sequence of, or amount of, residual DNA have been identified,” a spokesperson said at the time. “With regard to the FDA-approved mRNA vaccines, available scientific evidence supports the conclusion that they are safe and effective.”

While the sequence has not been detected in Moderna’s vaccine, other testing has found DNA in both the Pfizer and Moderna shots. McKernan and other researchers in a paper published on Sept. 6 said they found levels of residual DNA in vaccines from the companies that were higher than the regulatory limit set by the FDA.

Why Not Withdrawn?

Dr. Kirk Milhoan, another member of the CDC vaccine advisory panel, said during the meeting that he was “shocked at the lack of pharmacological rigor in dosing,” including dose accumulation, as well as the evidence that the vaccines were contaminated.

“Why is this not pulled off [the market] like any other biologic or medicine that is found to have contamination?” he stated.

Hoeg, the FDA official, told him that some of the relevant information is proprietary.

“I will say the information that we have been provided by Pfizer and Moderna, and what was shared with me, is what they provided to the FDA; it was within the regulatory limits,” she said.

“I will also acknowledge that this is something we take very seriously, and I want to sincerely thank the independent researchers, many of whom I know, who have brought this issue to the public’s attention.

“And at the FDA, we take the public’s safety and the safety of these products incredibly seriously. And I just want to give you all that message that this is not something that is being ignored.”

That’s when Milhoan asked whether the FDA planned an independent evaluation of the products.

“I’ll say that that is something that’s being discussed,” Hoeg said. “Again, we want to communicate that we take this issue very seriously and thank everyone who has brought this to our attention.”

Member Comments on Developments

The new FDA leadership withdrew the emergency authorization for the COVID-19 vaccines but approved them for limited groups, citing a need for the companies to run trials proving effectiveness in younger, healthier populations. The FDA’s commissioner also announced recently that the agency is investigating reported child deaths following COVID-19 vaccination.

“The shift in focus and openness to investigation of these issues is new,” Dr. Robert Malone, another CDC adviser, told The Epoch Times.

“Previously, the FDA was unwilling to look at issues such as lot consistency and adulteration in these products, and that’s just not consistent with established regulatory norms,” he added later.

The FDA did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.

Levi wrote on X that the discussions during the meeting were the first time the advisory panel went over “critical risks and uncertainties like immune response to repeated boosting, biodistribution, pharmacokinetics, and potential impurities.”

Levi and Milhoan, before they were appointed to the panel, called for the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to be withdrawn. Malone in 2023 said that regulators should withdraw the Pfizer vaccine due to the presence of the DNA sequence, which he said made the product adulterated.

What the Companies Said

Darin Edwards, a Moderna executive, told advisers during the meeting that outside testing of the vaccines has been flawed.

“Part of our release testing is [the] detection of DNA in each lot,” he said. “We use industry-standard methods to perform these assessments. That is specific to DNA and does not detect RNA, which is a flaw and a problem with some of the other methods cited.”

A Pfizer official added: “We did measure residual DNA within our product, and our assay was validated to be specific for residual DNA and not RNA within the product.”

Dr. Wafik El-Deiry, director of the Legorreta Cancer Center at Brown University, said in a presentation to the panel that the FDA limits for DNA were for “naked DNA,” or unencapsulated DNA. The COVID-19 vaccines are encapsulated by lipid nanoparticles to help prolong the mRNA so it can teach the body.

Malone asked the companies during the meeting: “The thresholds that were used to establish that you were within allowed parameters, are those that the FDA determined as acceptable for naked DNA?”

“The thresholds were developed for our product,” a Pfizer representative said.

“The product thresholds are for our specific product,” Edwards said.

Dr. El-Deiry’s Response

El-Deiry told The Epoch Times in an email that he interpreted the comments as the companies using certain quality control assays that suggested to them that the DNA impurities were within FDA limits.

“The sensitivity of their assays has been questioned and clearly multiple others have identified DNA impurities that exceed the 10 ng FDA limit, and such DNA was present after they eliminated RNA by using powerful ribonucleases,” or enzymes, El-Deiry said.

While the exact impact of the impurities remains unclear, a number of case reports and case series have described cancer developing in vaccinated individuals shortly after vaccination, El-Deiry told the panel.

A Moderna representative told the committee: “We note that one of today’s presentations includes assertions not aligned with the broader scientific evidence. Some conclusions extend beyond what referenced studies support or are contradicted by careful reading.

“Others appear based on isolated case reports that are presented without relevant clinical context, or omit a larger body of evidence to the contrary.”

The panel later voted to recommend that people should only receive COVID-19 vaccines after consulting with health care providers and considering individual factors, such as whether they have an underlying condition, such as obesity.

Members also said the CDC should add more information about the vaccines to information statements, including that “prolonged and persistent exposure to spike, mRNA and nano-lipids particles is associated with post-vaccine syndrome (PVS) injuries as well as potentially other side effects that are currently only partially understood,” and that doctors should discuss such risks, as well as benefits, before proceeding with vaccination.

As ChatGPT turns three (has it really only been 3 years?) AI tools are quickly entering investing.

About one in 10 retail investors now use chatbots to pick stocks, according to broker eToro, while half say they would consider it, according to Reuters. The robo-advisory market is projected to soar from $61.75 billion in 2023 to nearly $471 billion by 2029, Research and Markets estimates.

Reuters writes that Jeremy Leung, a former UBS analyst, uses ChatGPT to guide his portfolio since leaving the bank last year. “I no longer have the luxury of a Bloomberg (terminal)… Even the simple ChatGPT tool can do a lot and replicate a lot of the workflows that I used to do,” he said.

But he warns the chatbot can miss crucial analysis since it “can’t access data behind a paywall.”

Finder found that 40% of UK respondents had used AI for personal finance. Its own experiment with ChatGPT stock picks in 2023 produced a basket including Nvidia, Amazon, Procter & Gamble and Walmart, which gained 55%—far ahead of leading UK funds.

Still, experts caution against treating generic models like investment platforms.

“AI models can be brilliant,” said eToro’s UK head Dan Moczulski. “The risk comes when people treat generic models like ChatGPT or Gemini as crystal balls.” He stressed that purpose-built AI tools are safer, as general models can “misquote figures and dates, lean too hard on a pre-established narrative, and overly rely on past price action.”

Leung says success depends on detailed prompts, such as “assume you’re a short analyst, what is the short thesis for this stock?” or “use only credible sources, such as SEC filings.”

But he adds that investor enthusiasm may be dangerous: “If people get comfortable investing using AI and they’re making money, they may not be able to manage in a crisis or downturn.”

Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Drinking sugary beverages containing sweeteners fructose and glucose can increase the risk of colorectal cancer spreading in the body, according to a peer-reviewed study published on Sept. 19 by the journal Nature Metabolism.

Researchers in the study exposed colorectal cancer (CRC) cells to a combination of fructose and glucose, nearly mimicking the physiological environment that results from consuming sugar-sweetened beverages, the study said.

This exposure was found to enhance “cellular motility and metastatic potential” of the CRC cells, it said.

Cellular motility refers to the ability of a cell, in this case, the colorectal cancer cells, to move from one part of the body to another. It represents a key step in cancer spreading across the body. Metastasis has a similar meaning, referring to the spread of cancer cells from a tissue or organ to another.

Researchers found that as CRC cells became more mobile, it resulted in “faster spread to the liver—the most common site of colorectal cancer metastasis,” said a Sept. 19 statement from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, whose researchers led the study.

The glucose-fructose mix “activated an enzyme called sorbitol dehydrogenase (SORD), which boosts glucose metabolism and triggers the cholesterol pathway, ultimately driving metastasis,” it said.

Blocking SORD slowed down the metastasis process, even with the presence of glucose-fructose mix, thus opening up potential treatment options, the statement said.

“Our findings highlight that daily diet matters not only for cancer risk but also for how the disease progresses once it has developed,” said lead researcher Jihye Yun from the Department of Genetics at the cancer center.

“While these findings need further investigation, they suggest that reducing sugary drinks, targeting SORD or repurposing statins may benefit patients with colorectal cancer.”

Statins are heart drugs used to inhibit cholesterol production.

The study was supported by the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, the National Cancer Institute, the Andrew Sabin Family Fellows Award, the V Scholar Award, and the Pew-Stewart Scholars for Cancer Research program. The authors did not declare any competing interests.

Colorectal Cancer in Young People

Colorectal cancer, which includes both colon and rectal cancers, is the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths among men in the United States, according to data from the American Cancer Society (ACS). Among women, it is the fourth leading cause.

When the numbers of men and women are combined, colorectal cancer is the second most common cause of cancer deaths.

In 2025, ACS projects around 107,320 new cases of colon cancers and roughly 46,950 new cases of rectal cancers in the country. Total colorectal deaths for the year are expected to be 52,900.

“The rate of people being diagnosed with colon or rectal cancer has dropped overall since the mid-1980s, mainly because more people are getting screened and changing their lifestyle-related risk factors. From 2012 to 2021, incidence rates dropped by about 1 percent each year,” ACS said.

“But this downward trend is mostly in older adults. In people younger than 50 years of age, rates have increased by 2.4 percent per year from 2012 to 2021.”

A July 24 report from the American Medical Association also said that younger people were increasingly diagnosed with colorectal cancer, a disease typically associated with people aged 50 and above.

In May last year, a study presented at the Digestive Disease Week 2024 detailed the following numbers for colorectal cancer incidence rates between 1999 and 2020—an increase of 500 percent for 10- to 14-year-olds; a 333 percent jump for 15- to 19-year-olds; a 185 percent surge among 20- to 24-year-olds; and a 68 percent increase among 25- to 29-year-olds.

This specific study analyzed data from a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention database.

According to ACS, risk factors of colorectal cancers include those that can be changed, such as lifestyle adaptations, and those that cannot be changed.

Among changeable factors, key risks include excess body weight, Type 2 diabetes, smoking, alcohol use, and certain diet types, such as high red meat or processed meat consumption and cooking food at very high temperatures.