Despite the Trump administration remaining firmly in Israel’s corner, pressure is growing on the Netanyahu government as military operations in Gaza expand, and as more hunger-related deaths among Palestinians are reported.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has told his cabinet the United Kingdom will recognize a Palestinian state at a UN meeting September, joining France under Macron, unless Israel takes immediate action to end the “appalling situation” in Gaza.

A statement from Starmer’s office said that the UK “will recognize the state of Palestine in September, before UNGA [United Nations General Assembly], unless the Israeli government takes substantive steps to end the appalling situation in Gaza, reaches a ceasefire, makes clear there will be no annexation in the West Bank, and commits to a long-term peace process that delivers a Two State Solution.”

Starmer additionally “reiterated that there is no equivalence between Israel and Hamas and that our demands on Hamas remain, that they must release all the hostages, sign up to a ceasefire, accept that they will play no role in the government of Gaza, and disarm.”

He specifically recalled his cabinet from scheduled summer holidays on Tuesday in order to make the announcement and discusses a new proposed European-backed peace plan, as well as to consider getting humanitarian aid to hungry and sick Gazans.

Monday’s words issued by President Trump, who met with Starmer in Scotland, have also served to increase the pressure on Netanyahu amid the worsening crisis. While Trump is said to have signed off on Tel Aviv essentially pursuing a military solution against Hamas, the US president still highlighted appalling famine-like conditions and seemed to place blame on Israel, contradicting Netanyahu.

This comment constituted the most direct break with Netanyahu’s assessment:

“Based on television, I would say not particularly because those children look very hungry,” Trump said when asked if he agreed with Netanyahu. Later he said, “There is real starvation in Gaza — you can’t fake that.”

Plenty of small European states have already recognized Palestine as a state, but heavyweight European powers like France and the UK doing so takes things to another level, and Israel’s government would see it as a full-blown diplomatic disaster.

BREAKING: Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has announced the UK will recognise Palestine as a state by the United Nations meeting in September, unless Israel agrees to a ceasefire.

Read more: https://t.co/Ays0iPHHg5

📺 Sky 501, Virgin 602, Freeview 233 and YouTube pic.twitter.com/s9HnIrdHas

— Sky News (@SkyNews) July 29, 2025

Already, European officials have grown more skeptical of Netanyahu policies, also as The Hague-based ICC has issued a warrant charging war crimes, which in effect prevents Bibi from traveling to much of the European continent.

Starmer in his Tuesday televised remarks did acknowledge that on Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas “perpetrated the worst massacre in Israel’s history” – but still laid down that Israel is responsible for avoiding and mitigating civilian deaths in its military response.

Via Remix News,

Andrzej Rozenek, former MP for the Socialist party in Poland and deputy editor-in-chief of the weekly “Nie” Jerzy Urban, spoke about Grzegorz Braun’s party in the “Goniec Poranny” program. 

While “Nie” was known for its pointed anti-right stance and attacks on Catholicism, Braun, leader of the Confederation of the Polish Crown party, is an outspoken Catholic monarchist known for his frequent anti-Semitic and homophobic outbursts. 

Rozenek cited Poland’s constitution on the program, saying, “Article 13 of the Constitution actually requires the banning of racist parties that sow hatred.” 

According to the Article 13:

“Political parties and other organizations whose programs refer to the totalitarian methods and practices of Nazism, fascism, and communism are prohibited, as well as those whose programs or activities assume or permit racial and national hatred, the use of violence to seize power or influence state policy, or provide for the secrecy of their structures or membership.”

Asked if this meant that, in his opinion, the Confederation of the Polish Crown should be banned, he replied: “Of course. Absolutely.”

When asked if the new Minister of Justice Waldemar Żurek should take action to achieve this goal.

Rozenek replied,

“Yes, Minister Żurek should begin the process of banning this party. This needs to be addressed before this ulcer grows to a size we can no longer handle.”

He then said taking action to ban Braun and his party today is what should have been done back in 1930s Germany. 

“If in the 1930s in the Weimar Republic someone had cut short the political careers of people associated with the NSDAP, there would have been no World War II. There would not have been 85 million victims. You have to understand the responsibility for what you do. And this responsibility means counteracting, preventing. You have to prevent the spreading wave of nationalism, fascism, and neo-fascism. I see no other way out,” Rozenek said.

Read more here…

Authored by Daniel Amen via The Epoch Times,

Have you seen Grok’s Ani?

She’s Elon Musk’s AI anime girl—engineered to be your virtual companion. A digital girlfriend who flirts, strokes your ego, and will do almost anything you ask. On the surface, it looks like a harmless novelty. Underneath? It’s a siren song—one designed to hijack a generation of young men before they even know how to use their own brains. It’s a personalized soft porn slave—and a potent destroyer of dopamine, a natural hormone often referred to as the “feel-good” chemical of the body.

I was on “The Diary of a CEO” podcast with Steven Bartlett when he played it for us. As soon as I heard her voice—sweet, seductive, endlessly compliant—I felt a wave of concern rise in my chest. This wasn’t just a gimmick. This was addiction-as-a-service, dressed in anime skin and powered by the same tools we once trusted to help us write, learn, and think.

It felt like watching the wooden horse roll into Troy—not with soldiers, but with dopamine destroyers.

Once again, we’ve flung open the barn doors—unleashing the beast into our schools, homes, and workplaces before we’ve even stopped to ask: Is this a gift… or a Trojan Horse packed with danger?

We’ve seen this before. With video games. With smartphones. With social media. With benzos, alcohol, marijuana, opioids, psilocybin, and even artificial sweeteners.

We embraced convenience before understanding consequence.

Now we’re doing it again—with a tool that doesn’t just entertain or numb, but replaces the very act of thinking. And the cost may be nothing short of a crisis in brain development.

A recent MIT study used EEG (electroencephalography) to examine what happens in the brain when people use AI tools like ChatGPT. The results were chilling. Brain activity dropped—especially in the prefrontal and temporal lobes, the areas responsible for problem-solving, planning, memory, and language. Even after removing the AI, participants who had used it showed persistently lower brain engagement. This lingering drop—dubbed cognitive debt—is eerily similar to patterns we see in screen-saturated youth or early cognitive decline.

So what’s happening here? We’re offloading the hard parts of thinking. And when we stop struggling, the brain stops growing. When we outsource, we atrophy.

Could This Lead to Dementia?

It sounds dramatic—but based on everything we know about brain reserve, it’s not far-fetched.

The Nun Study, a landmark longitudinal study, showed that early-life writing complexity predicted later-life cognitive health. The more effortful thinking and rich language in their youth, the less likely these women were to develop Alzheimer’s—even when their brains showed pathology.

Now imagine a generation of students copy-pasting AI-generated content instead of struggling to write it themselves. What reserve are they building? What scaffolding are they losing?

We don’t need to wait 60 years to find out. The signs are already here: reduced motivation, emotional blunting, weakened memory, passive learning.

When ChatGPT becomes your first brain, your own brain becomes second-tier.

Silicon Valley Parents Are Already Worried

Ironically, the people building these tools are not letting their kids near them. Many top tech executives have strict “no tech” nanny contracts. Zero screen time. No phones, tablets, or even TVs in view of the child. Some nannies are forbidden from using their own devices at all while on duty. Violations can mean termination.

Why?

Because they know the truth.

They know attention is currency.

They know convenience dulls cognition.

And they don’t want their kids seduced by the same tools they helped unleash. These same families also write detailed food rules into contracts — organic-only, no sugar, no processed snacks. Because what you feed the brain matters, too. They’re guarding their kids like royalty. And maybe we should ask why.

What We Risk Losing

Unchecked AI use could erode:

• Mental strength (less cognitive load = weaker neural circuits)

• Motivation and drive (dopamine systems require challenge)

• Deep learning and memory (no friction = no retention)

• Resilience (brains grow through struggle, not shortcuts)

• Curiosity (instant answers kill wonder)

• Creativity (why imagine when the bot will do it?)

The result? A society of passive minds, dopamine-depleted students, fragile learners, and emotionally disconnected adults—many of whom never built the neural muscle needed to face complexity, failure, or challenge.

And yes, in the long run, this may increase the risk of dementia, depression, and learned helplessness.

So What Should We Do?

I love AI. I use it. I teach with it.

We read our brain SPECT scans with it. I believe it’s the future.

But it must serve our minds—not replace them.

Here’s how:

1. Use AI to amplify thinking—not avoid it.

2. Alternate between AI-assisted and brain-only tasks.

3. Teach kids to write with pencils first, bots later.

4. Track your own cognitive habits—how much are you really thinking?

5. Ask one daily question: “Is this good for my brain, or bad for it?”

I’m not against AI. I’m against passivity. Because when you lose the struggle, you lose the growth. And when you stop using your brain, it shrinks.

This isn’t fearmongering it’s love. For children. For the future. For the minds we’re still shaping. The horse is already out of the barn. Let’s not wait until it tramples what matters most.

Let’s build a future where technology expands cognition—not erases it.

Where AI is the second brain—never the first.

*  *  *

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

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

Younger people are increasingly being diagnosed with colorectal cancer, a disease typically associated with people age 50 and older, the American Medical Association (AMA) said in a July 24 report.

Colorectal cancer, which includes both colon and rectal cancers, is the second-leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States, even though overall incidence rates have declined since the 1980s, the AMA said.

Among people younger than 50, “the number of incidences has increased by about 2 percent per year,” the association said. “The death rate in the same population has risen 1 percent annually.”

The chief research officer of The Permanente Medical Group, Doug Corley, said in the report that colorectal cancer was a substantial problem that causes “a lot of mortality … and morbidity.”

While researchers cannot identify the exact reasons behind the rise in colorectal cancer among young people, being overweight or obese is known to increase the risk of various cancer types, he said, adding that changes in bacteria inside a person’s gut can also contribute to cancer risk.

A study presented at the Digestive Disease Week 2024 in May last year raised similar concerns.

The study analyzed data from a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention database to determine incidence rates of colorectal cancer between 1999 and 2020.

The changes in colorectal cancer incidence rates for each age group were:

• Ages 10 to 14: increased by 500 percent
• Ages 15 to 19: increased by 333 percent
• Ages 20 to 24: increased by 185 percent
• Ages 25 to 29: increased by 68 percent
• Ages 30 to 34: increased by 71 percent
• Ages 35 to 39: increased by 58 percent
• Ages 40 to 44: increased by 45 percent

“This data reveals some very concerning trends, particularly in our younger population who do not typically come to mind when considering CRC (colorectal cancer) screening for patients,” Dr. Islam Mohamed, the study’s lead author, said in a statement at the time.

In the July 24 AMA statement, Corley said that since older people are being screened regularly for colorectal cancer, the total number of cases, including both younger and older individuals, was declining.

“If we weren’t doing screening, we would probably be seeing an increase in older people too,” he said. “As people get screened, we find and remove pre-cancerous polyps. That decreases their future risk of cancer.”

The American Cancer Society currently recommends that people with an average risk of colorectal cancer start regular screening at the age of 45.

People are considered to have an average risk if they have no personal or family history of colorectal cancer, no personal history of inflammatory bowel disease, no suspected or confirmed hereditary colorectal cancer syndrome, and no history of radiation exposure to the abdomen or pelvic area to treat a prior cancer.

“The most effective thing we have is screening,” Corley said. “It’s so impactful compared to most other medical interventions.”

FIT Versus Colonoscopy

In a July 2024 study published by the JAMA Network, Corley and colleagues analyzed data from 10,711 individuals to determine the effectiveness of the fecal immunochemical test (FIT) to screen for colorectal cancer.

It found that completing a FIT screening was associated with a “reduction in risk of dying from colorectal cancer of approximately 33 percent overall, and there was a 42 percent lower risk for left colon and rectum cancers.”

A one-third reduction in mortality is “a pretty substantial decrease,” Corley said. “We would anticipate it to be even stronger over time or with more frequent screening, such as the recommended once a year screening with FIT.”

FIT is different from colonoscopy, the most common form of colon cancer screening.

A colonoscopy provides a doctor with a direct look inside a patient’s colon. The procedure requires the person to take a day off to prepare their bowel for the process. The patient must be sedated during the procedure.

In contrast, a FIT looks for small amounts of blood in stool, Corley said.

“It’s very helpful because it’s noninvasive. It can be done at home. This provides multiple different modes of screening and increased patient choice,” he said.

This flexibility allows for FIT tests to be conducted via mail in rural settings where people may not communicate regularly with their health care provider, he said.

While a colonoscopy is usually done once every 10 years, FIT is recommended as an annual test, he said.

Those who test positively on their FIT screening can then move to colonoscopy for a better diagnosis, according to the AMA.

British motoring magazine Autocar has compiled a list of 1990s cars to buy and hold. The list is not full of Lamborghinis, Ferraris, or other high-end European exotics, but affordable classics that everyday enthusiasts can realistically afford. 

Autocar’s Charlie Martin explained that the 1990s were defined by speed, with performance culture seeping into everyday life – from fashion to music to cars.

Martin said family sedans were transformed into high-performance machines, with models like the Sierra Sapphire Cosworth and Lotus Carlton becoming favorites among thrill-seekers and car thieves alike. He added that Japanese automakers gained prominence in the performance car world, bolstered by the rise of Sony’s PlayStation and its influential Gran Turismo racing game. 

From Rovers to Porsches, and BMWs to Vauxhalls, Martin’s list of “90s Gems to Buy Now” sounds more personal than anything, but standouts like the BMW 8 Series, Mercedes SL, and BMW Z3 are both appealing and surprisingly affordable.

Here’s the full list:

Porsche Boxster (986)

A howling flat six, super-sharp steering and stunning wide-hipped looks – they can all be yours from just £3000. Of course, the cheapest Boxsters are best avoided, but the truth is that these are surprisingly hardy little roadsters – provided you buy carefully.

Its best-known Achilles is the intermediate-shaft (IMS) bearing, which in some cases fractures or even shatters after a long and hard life. This then throws off the engine’s timing and shunts pistons into valves, requiring a really rather expensive rebuild.

Thankfully, many examples’ bearings have already been replaced, and typically with a sturdier aftermarket item that isn’t prone to exploding. If it hasn’t been done, add another £800 or so to the car’s price, if you get it done alongside a new clutch – which you probably should.

It’s also worth checking the immobiliser, locks and alarms work as intended: blocked door seals or a leaky roof can mean the ECU (located under the driver’s seat) gets wet and dies. Replacements are £500-plus.

Still, it’s easy to snag a good’ un – and you absolutely should, before prices soar.

Volkswagen Corrado VR6

Volkswagen’s junior coupé was always a tidy steer, but its full potential wasn’t unleashed until 1992. The fitment of a potent 2.9-litre narrow-angle V6 made it the fastest front-driver of the day, and it somehow improved the handling compared with the smaller (but turbocharged) four-pot.

Every Corrado was made from galvanised steel, so they hold up better against rust than many rivals – and it’s a good indicator of a dodgy repair, which should be easy to spot.

High-milers go for around £6000, but you shouldn’t be scared off by that: these are generally reliable bona fide modern classics.

Vauxhall Calibra 4×4 Turbo

Early Calibras were tarnished with a reputation for being a bit too much like the Cavalier on which they were based. The 4×4 Turbo flipped that notion on its head, turning what was a slightly humdrum coupé into Britain’s cheapest 150mph car. 

Today, though, they’re an expensive window onto the past, with prices venturing well into five figures.

Honda Integra Type R

This was the car that really put the Type R name on the map when it landed here in 1998, thanks to an all-time-great engine and tremendous handling. Clean cars go for about £15k, but it’s also worth considering importing one from Japan while the yen’s value is low. 

Rover 220 Turbo

“Nasty steering, a vague gearchange, dubious handling and dead-feeling brakes,” we said back then, pulling no punches. The 220 may not be a good car to drive, but it has an intangible appeal as the plucky underdog.

These are now incredibly rare and prices vary wildly, but around £5000 should be enough to secure one in mint condition.

BMW 328i (E36)

“The hardest-hitting, least compromised all-rounder on sale for less than £30,000,” is what we reckoned of the 328i back in 1995. Much of the same remains true today, except you can snag one for one-tenth of the as-new asking price.

Many have led hard lives, though – these were sub-£1000 cars for a long time – so buy carefully.

Fiat Coupé

A Chris Bangle masterpiece, and not half bad to drive either. The five-cylinder 20-valve engine, offered in both naturally aspirated and turbocharged forms, has the most exotic feel, but the four-cylinder option, a descendant of the Delta Integrale powerplant, still has the means to entertain.

Rust is by far the biggest issue: inspect the sills, subframes, wheel arches, footwells, boot floor, exhaust… Basically, just give the whole thing a thorough going-over. Interior plastics are prone to developing a horrid sticky finish, too.

Running project cars can be found for £500, but the best examples are north of £10,000.

Toyota MR2 (SW20)

Forget the second-generation MR2’s reputation for having a wayward tail – we never thought that held very much water. Still, Toyota revised the model no fewer than five times, with updates two (in 1991) and three (1993) gradually softening the handling to tune out the risk of snap oversteer. Any MR2 is a great drive and a fairly reliable proposition, barring rust or any extensive modifications.

It’s worth seeking out a Japanese-import Turbo model or one with the atmospheric ‘Beams’ engine that came with Yamaha-developed cylinder heads; either example brings with it the soundtrack and performance the car’s chassis and looks deserve.

Such cars will set you back around £10,000.

Renault Twingo

The Twingo has aged like Mr Blobby: once a tad unsightly, but now remembered for flouting convention and embracing the absurd. In the Twingo’s favour, it didn’t single-handedly traumatise a generation of children, so it’s looked back on a bit more fondly.

You can occasionally find them from £5k, but it’s perhaps easier to source and import a clean car yourself.

BMW Z3

If it’s a pure driver’s car you want, look elsewhere. But the Z3 has otherwise aged tremendously, with long-nosed, low-slung proportions and – as long as you go for the 2.0-litre engine or bigger – some of BMW’s greatest straight-six lumps.

Prices – from £1000 – are on the up, so now is the time to buy.

Peugeot 306 GTi

“The GTi is back,” declared our road testers after sampling the performance-enhanced 306. For years, hot hatchbacks had been iced over, hamstrung by horrendous insurance premiums and the looming threat of theft.

But the French machine’s combination of a 167bhp four-pot (then one of the most powerful engines to have featured in a hatch), a six-speed gearbox (when most rivals made do with five ratios) and a simply stunning chassis raised the bar. Suddenly, the race was back on.

Avoid track-converted cars; clean examples should start at £5000 or so.

Mercedes-Benz SL (R129)

Technically speaking, the R129’s life started in the late 1980s, but the fourth-generation SL didn’t really hit the limelight until a few years later. Its sheer desirability – thanks in no small part to those futuristic lines and stonking £50k-plus price tag – made it the darling of the burgeoning hip-hop subculture.

And if you can picture yourself rollin’ in a 500 Benz, just like Tupac, the good news is that SLs are today shockingly affordable. Just £3000 gets you behind the wheel of a ropey car, but we’d budget £10,000 or so for something more dependable.

Engines ranged from a 2.8-litre V6 all the way up to a 7.3-litre V12 fettled by AMG (good luck finding one of those), but our pick was the grunty 5.0-litre V8, badged 500 SL. Look out for an original car with a good service history, and you shouldn’t encounter too many issues.

A hard-top roof is a desirable extra for the colder months, but the standard soft-top should prove adequate, providing it’s been properly looked after (or replaced in the relatively recent past with an official Mercedes-Benz part).

Ford Escort RS2000

Hot hatches are nothing new, but it’s rare that the treatment proves to be the redemption story for what was otherwise a generational stinker.

So it proved, however, for the maligned Mk5 Escort, transformed by a fizzy 148bhp twin-cam four, quicker steering and a chassis overhaul. The addition of four-wheel drive in 1994 only raised its limits, making it a genuine Cossie-lite. As remixes go, it’s tantamount to The Prodigy turning a kids’ safety ad about not talking to strangers into a rave classic.

Not cheap today, though: expect to pay about £8000 for a good runner.

Peugeot 106 GTi

All the joy of the 306 GTi, but in a smaller, lighter and slipperier package. The 106 GTi was as close as Peugeot ever came to properly replacing the 205 GTi, and today a good example can fetch a five-figure sum.

At that price, though, you should also consider the 106 Rallye, which went without power steering and much of the cabin kit in pursuit of pure driving thrills.

Ford Focus

The Focus was the car that righted all the later wrongs of its Escort predecessor and democratised the attributes of all the best driver’s cars. Ignore the ST and the eye-wateringly expensive RS, and instead look for a tidy Zetec petrol that has managed to elude the tin worm.

Just a few thousand pounds should snag one you can enjoy for years to come.

BMW 8 Series

Munich’s Icarus was too heavy and too blunt in its responses to be a proper grand tourer, and it cost around the same money as Mercedes’ SL. But in 1993 the tide began to turn with the introduction of the 850CSi.

It was an M car in all but name, with its V12 engine upsized and boosted to a hearty 375bhp so the 8 could finally provide a driving experience that lived up to its gorgeous looks.

It’s also worth considering the later 4.4-litre 840Ci, which finally felt like the 8 Series had become a proper GT car. Prices for the 8 Series start at around £10,000, but CSis are now hitting £50,000-plus.

Standouts from the list include BMW 8 Series, Mercedes SL, and BMW Z3. 

Cincinnati Police Chief Teresa Theetge told reporters on Monday that social media users and journalists are “missing context” by shining the spotlight on viral footage of a Black mob attacking White jazz festival partygoers in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio. This is the same police chief currently being sued for discrimination, allegedly favoring women and minorities over merit-based criteria when making assignment decisions.

Footage from early Saturday morning shows a Black mob brutally beating a White man and woman in a downtown Cincinnati neighborhood. The video has since gone viral on X, prompting reactions from Elon Musk and Vice President J.D. Vance. 

If this garbage persists, federal funding must be cut. The group should face hate crime charges. A mob of Blacks brutally attacked a white man and woman at the Cincinnati Jazz Festival. Such savage behavior is increasing nationwide, yet the mainstream media ignores the surge in… pic.twitter.com/rRf79X75rs

— Jason (@jason1Patterson) July 27, 2025

While holding a press conference about the incident on Monday, Theetge accused social media and MSM journalists of misrepresenting the entire incident and making it “more difficult” for her department to investigate and enforce the law. 

“Social media, the posts that we’ve seen, does not depict the entire incident. That is one version of what occurred. At times, social media and mainstream media and their commentaries are misrepresentations of the circumstances surrounding any given event,” the police chief said. 

Theetge continued, “What that does, that causes us some difficulty in thoroughly investigating the activity and enforcing the law. Because what happens, that social media post and your coverage of it distorts the content of what actually happened and it makes our job more difficult.

One reporter asked Theetge: “You said social media and news media distorted the context of what exactly happened. What exactly was distorted? I understand there were multiple views of the video, but what led up to this? What was distorted?” 

Theetge responded but did not answer the question – just rambled on about social media…

Cincinnati Police Chief Terri Theetge chastising social media and “the media” about showing videos of the black mob attacking random white people.

Unfuckingbelievable. pic.twitter.com/hZVgDSqv6P

— Kentucky Girl (@Notwokenow) July 29, 2025

Musk commeneted on the video, saying, “Either she answers the question or she should resign.” 

Either she answers the question or she should resign

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 29, 2025

VP Vance also commented on the incident during an appearance in Ohio on Monday. He described the incident as a “street attack,” and “What I saw is a mob of lawless thugs beating up on an innocent person, and it’s disgusting.”

🚨BREAKING: JD Vance on the HORRIFIC scenes out of Cincinnati after a couple was brutally attacked by a group of thugs:

“What I saw is a mob of lawless thugs beating up on an innocent person, and it’s disgusting. And I hope every one of those people who engage in violence is… https://t.co/aGK7WJIoPs pic.twitter.com/6K3zqW2cXV

— Gunther Eagleman™ (@GuntherEagleman) July 28, 2025

5 people have been charged in the black mob’s violent assault (i.e. hate crime) on the white tourists in Cincinnati.

No names. No mugshots.

Reverse the races, and their names and pictures would be running on a loop on every media outlet in the country. https://t.co/f3rTQs0594 pic.twitter.com/EVg29lG1gH

— John LeFevre (@JohnLeFevre) July 29, 2025

Meanwhile, local media reported last month that Theetge was being sued by several White captains and lieutenants within the department for discrimination over assignments that are considered “career enhancing.”

“The lawsuit also claims that out of CPD’s female lieutenants, 89% were given preferred assignments. 79% of minority lieutenants also got preferred assignments,” WLWT5 reported, adding, “Those numbers are compared to 44% of white, male lieutenants being given preferred assignments.” 

Back to the street attack incident, local media WXIX noted that Harmeet Dhillon, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Justice, was closely monitoring the investigation. 

Our federal hate crimes laws apply to ALL Americans. We @CivilRights will monitor closely how local authorities handle this attack.

Nobody in our great nation should be the victim of such a crime, and where race is a motivation, federal law may apply. https://t.co/QeADELQMsZ

— AAGHarmeetDhillon (@AAGDhillon) July 27, 2025

What the hell is happening in Cleveland? 

Welcome to Cleveland pic.twitter.com/N1fsBsRfWV

— One Bad Dude (@OneBadDude_) July 27, 2025

Federal law applies to all Americans – something cultural Marxists and Democrats disagree on. 

Authored by Christopher J. Ferguson via RealClearInvestigations,

Nowadays, it seems we can be addicted to anything – not just alcohol and drugs, but pornography, random Internet browsing, video games, and smartphones. Academic research papers have investigated a wide range of other behaviors including gambling, but also “dance addiction,” “fishing addiction,” “milk tea addiction,” and “cat addiction.” One cheeky paper used the standard medical criteria to show young people are “addicted” to their real-life friends.

While this trend involves many factors, perhaps the single most important claim that has transformed what might be devoted or enthusiastic behavior into a presumed medical case of addiction is the presence of the neurotransmitter dopamine.

Health experts and the popular press tell us that fun activities can give us “dopamine hits” and that overindulging can result in “dopamine blowout.” Indulging too much in naughty activities (somehow, it’s always naughty activities) may create a “dopamine deficit.”

To cite a few of many examples: A Washington Post podcast declared that “dopamine surges” explain why “you can’t stop scrolling, even though you know you should.” The Guardian reported that Silicon Valley is “keen to exploit the brain chemical” to keep us hooked on tech. Earlier this month, CNN told readers, “an addiction expert says it might be time for a ‘dopamine fast.’” 

There’s a problem with this scientific-sounding explanation for an alleged explosion in addictive behaviors: It is not supported by science. Solid research connecting dopamine spikes to drugs and alcohol – that is, the capacity of one chemical to ignite another – has not been shown to occur in similar ways with other behaviors. Drug use is fundamentally and physiologically different from behaviors that do not rely on pharmaceutical effects. This has been confirmed in humans: Technology, such as video games or social media, simply doesn’t influence dopamine receptors the way illicit substances do.

Experts say what we are seeing instead is pseudoscience that appears to legitimize a moral panic about behaviors that trouble certain segments of society. By falling for this pseudoscience, parents and others are at risk of missing more fundamental mental health issues that could be at the root of the obsessive behavior, potentially harming the very children they seek to help. 

 “Addiction is an important clinical term with a troubled and weighty history,” said Dean Burnett, a neuroscientist and coauthor of a brief explainer of what dopamine does and doesn’t do. “People enduring genuine addiction struggle to be taken seriously or viewed sympathetically at the best of times, so to apply their very serious condition to much more benign actions like scrolling TikTok makes this worse.” 

Burnett likens current narratives about dopamine and technology to “science garnish,” effectively adding a dash of scientific language to nonsense beliefs. “It’s the informational equivalent of sprinkling parsley on a lasagna that’s 90 percent horse offal,” he said. “It may look nicer, but it isn’t.” 

The pseudoscience, however, does play a useful role for parents and others who seek to restrict the behaviors they find disturbing. After all, “Don’t do X because it will dangerously rewire the reward circuits of your brain and cause addiction” is more compelling than “Don’t do X because I don’t like it and think you are wasting your time.” 

Growing Mistrust of Experts

At a time when science has been riven by a series of scandals involving unreliable and falsified research at universities, including Stanford and Harvard, the public is having a harder time distinguishing scientific truth from pseudoscience. As growing numbers of Americans question the veracity of many well-established findings, such as the safety of vaccines, the popularity of the dopamine myth amounts to another misreading of science to serve other purposes in a culture desperate for simplistic moral answers. 

Such answers can be found in bookshelves full of titles like “Dopamine Detox” and “Dopamine Reset.” These experts warn us that activities we think make us happy are actually making us unhappy in the long term because we’re doing dopamine wrong. Advice sites are quite explicit about this: “You can get dopamine either from rich sources like meditating, exercising, or doing something that is meaningful to you and that serves you in the long run. Or you can get dopamine from self-sabotaging activities like eating junk food, scrolling social media mindlessly, or anything that provides pleasure instantly or in the short term. The choice is yours.” At the extreme, people may go on “dopamine detoxes,” avoiding fun activities for some length of time in hopes of resetting their dopamine. 

It is not surprising that dopamine has been seized on as a ready explanation for human behavior. Dopamine is a naturally occurring neurotransmitter in the brain. It is involved in a number of behaviors and functions, ranging from movement to memory to executive functioning. It’s also involved in pleasure centers of the brain, particularly anticipatory pleasure. Think of it like the feeling of a child awaiting Christmas, the giddy excitement. That’s often different from Christmas Day itself, which feels less exciting, even if it’s pleasant. 

The role played by dopamine in the brain, however, is complicated. Brain functions rarely work out to one-to-one relationships between a single chemical and some horrible outcome. And certainly not in ways that happen to coincidentally flatter people’s preexisting moral conceits. 

Much of what we know about dopamine comes not from humans, but from experiments on rats – which cannot, of course, peruse the Internet or use smartphones. In a series of graphs produced by the National Institute on Drug Addiction back in the early 2000s, the difference in activation of dopamine for addictive drugs versus pleasant and normal activities is well documented. 

 They show that administering stimulant drugs such as cocaine and amphetamine causes massive elevations in dopamine after the drug is introduced. These levels spike to over 300% of baseline for cocaine and a whopping 1,000% for amphetamine. 

By contrast, the increase in dopamine levels from routine activities such as food or sex is much lower, with 150% of baseline for food and 200% for sex. And this increase occurs in anticipation of the activity, not afterwards. 

So, yes, there is a kernel of truth in the dopamine/addiction story. Some drugs, as well as routine pleasurable activities, definitely involve dopamine systems. But the key difference is the timing of when and how much of the dopamine is released – before versus after the activity – and this distinction is almost always ignored in scaremongering stories about rampant addiction.

“Addictive drugs are different from natural rewards (e.g. food, water, sex) in that [dopamine] will not stop firing after repeated consumption of the drug, the drive to consume is not satiated because they continue increasing dopamine levels, resulting in likelihood of compulsive behaviors from using drugs and not as likely when using natural rewards,” according to an article in the Journal of Biomedical Research.

Pete Etchells, a professor of psychology at Bath Spa University in England and author of “Unlocked: The Real Science of Screen Time,” says research doesn’t support the claim that dopamine drives addiction in other pleasurable behaviors that don’t rely on pharmaceutical effects.  

“The role that it plays is really complex, to the point that neuroscientists no longer really consider it the sole or universal factor to consider,” he said. “So, when we try to say dopamine ‘surge’ = pleasure surge = addiction, that doesn’t really hold up under scrutiny.”

Is Everything Addictive?

Part of the confusion over the science comes from the widespread way the term addiction is used. There are long-standing debates about whether the criteria used to identify substance dependencies still work when applied to everyday hobbies and behaviors such as work, exercise, shopping, sex, video games, or social media. 

The problem is apparent when looking at the basic criteria the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual uses for addictive disorders. A person needs to answer “yes” to five of the nine questions below to be diagnosed. In this example, X is the sport or hobby you happen to be passionate about and spend some money on:

1. 1. Do you think about X (i.e., your passionate hobby) when not doing X?
   2. Do you feel bad (sad, anxious) when unable to do X?
   3. Do you find yourself spending more time/money on X?
   4. Do you notice you’ve kept doing X even when you meant to stop or cut back?
   5. Have you given up other hobbies/activities to do X?
   6. Have you continued to do X despite it causing obvious problems (i.e., health, work, family commitments)? 
   7. Have you deceived others about the time you’ve spent doing X?
   8. Do you find yourself doing X to relieve negative moods or stress?
   9. Have you experienced the loss of a job/school/relationship because of X?

If X is heroin, a yes answer to all of these questions leads to bad results. But it’s not clear that this is true for all the questions when X is eating pizza, reading a book, working out, or playing a video game. If the answer is yes to the question about reading books to relieve negative moods or stress, that’s good. People should do something to relieve negative moods.

The question is whether things like video games or social media are more like heroin or more like books. At present, the best evidence suggests the latter. Older adults may not like these activities, but there’s little evidence they’re addictive in any analogy to substance abuse. There’s no tolerance and withdrawal from technology. They don’t interact with dopamine systems the same way. 

Making matters more complicated is the psychology of why some people overdo some pleasant behaviors. It’s widely believed that behavioral addictions are a feature of the thing that users are using. To be sure, smartphones, for example, are designed with elements like push notifications to hold the attention of users. However, users can easily adjust these settings, and they are hardly an innovation of modern technology (books often end chapters mid-scene for the same reason). 

But such addiction mainly appears to be a feature of the person exhibiting the problems, research shows. Cases of technology overuse can be a symptom of other underlying mental health problems like anxiety and depression, which tend to predate the technology addiction. Constant texting is not something done to teenagers by machines via dopamine. By contrast, time spent on technology is a poor predictor of mental health issues. 

History of Moral Panics

As it purports to provide a simple explanation for complex issues, dopamine pseudoscience can be linked to previous moral panics, particularly regarding the new habits of youth. Fear sells, as Frederic Wertham showed in the 1950s when his book “Seduction of the Innocent” gained wide traction for its spurious claim that connected comic books to delinquency and homosexuality.

Today, many schools are enthusiastically attempting to shift blame for their own failures onto technology. At present, evidence suggests that cellphone bans in schools don’t work as well as expected, for instance. Public records requests have revealed that, even as some teachers and administrators promote these policies, data from their own schools indicate that some student outcomes worsen after cellphone bans, rather than improve. 

The false narratives on addiction may end up hurting children in more profound ways, too. They can distract families from the real psychological issues youth face. Parents may believe that taking a smartphone or game console away will “fix” their kids’ problems, leaving the real underlying issues unaddressed. These efforts may even backfire, removing stress reduction and socialization outlets that youth rely on. 

It’s time to put the pseudoscience on dopamine in the dumpster and let kids be kids. Some may have mental health issues that need to be addressed, and others, well, mostly need some freedom to explore the world on their own terms.

Update (2048ET): It looks like Japan may have overreacted (better safe than sorry, given their last tsunami), as a reported 30CM tsunami has hit Hokkaido according to NHK. 

yes, yes… https://t.co/8XnzPnyJBU pic.twitter.com/Jv8dgD0vTJ

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) July 30, 2025

Stay tuned for updates on other regions… 

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Several tsunami warnings have been issued extending as far as Southern California after an 8.7 magnitude earthquake struck off Russia’s Kamchatka region Monday night, the US Geological Survey said.

The earthquake occurred at 7:24 p.m. ET, around 84 miles east-southeast of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Russia, and was a shallow quake with a depth of around 12 miles. 

Several tsunami warnings have been issued for various regions, including the Hawaii, Alaska, Guam, Sapian, and Rota – while Japan’s Weather Agency said it expected a tsunami of around 3.38 feet to reach coastal areas starting at around 9 p.m. ET.  A tsunami watch is also in force extending as far south as the California-Mexico border. 

🇯🇵🌊 All areas of the tsunami warning in Japan have been ordered by the Japan Meteorological Agency to evacuate immediately to high ground or an evacuation building https://t.co/UOjVm3kWE9 pic.twitter.com/EsvVKk1Cu0

— DD Geopolitics (@DD_Geopolitics) July 30, 2025

#tsunami – There has been a massive 8.9 earthquake in eastern Russia on the Kamchatka Peninsula bordering the Baring Sea just north east of Japan.

There is a tsunami warning for Japan – FOLLOW YOUR EVACUATION ROUTES NOW –
and for Hawaii – follow your evac routes limited time. pic.twitter.com/PPxPHSvOlj

— Kimberly (@klr_reno) July 30, 2025

Multiple aftershocks have been reported, including a 6.9 near Petropavlovsk, where a major Russian submarine base is located.

“Based on all available data, a tsunami may have been generated by this earthquake that could be destructive on coastal areas even far from the epicenter,”  the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency said in a statement. “An investigation is underway to determine whether there is a threat to Hawaii.”

Waves are already hitting in Russia…

Tsunami waves are hitting the Russian coast of Kamchatka, seen here flooding the port of Severo-Kurilsk. pic.twitter.com/5HjHCI5eoz

— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) July 30, 2025

Developing… 

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On Sale! Grab a complete 2-day emergency survival backpack at ZH Store

Authored by Jonathan Turley,

We have been discussing the recently declassified material related to the Russian investigation, including disclosures of the role of former CIA director John Brennan at the end of the Obama Administration to reinforce the unfounded allegations of Russian collusion and influence. After an earlier intelligence assessment rejecting the narrative was effectively quashed, Brennan reportedly hand-picked the team to do a second rushed 2016 U.S. intelligence community assessment in the final days.

We are now learning more about the person Brennan selected to head that team. Just the News and other outlets are revealing not just the extreme political bias of Susan Miller, but her remarkably poor handle on some key facts.

The one unassailable fact that comes out of her postings is her declaration  that “[I] am not a Trump fan.”

A review of Miller’s social media postings reveals intense hostility toward Donald Trump and his supporters, including calling the President a “dictator” and MAGA supporters “Nazis.”

What is particularly notable is that she still maintains that the widely ridiculed Steele Dossier, secretly funded by the Clinton campaign, “might be true.”

Despite the findings of the Special Counsel and various investigations, she has insisted that Trump may indeed be a “Russian asset” or a “Kremlin asset”

Miller recently retired but says that she continues to train CIA officers.

Brennan chose wisely if he wanted to ensure that a reliable political ally would draft the assessment. However, she has said that there were others in the CIA who wanted an actual finding that Trump’s election was illegitimate. That was the narrative pushed by Hillary Clinton and many Democrats after the 2016 loss. She suggested that that may still be true, a form of election denial that is still accepted on the left as they criticize Trump for his questioning of the 2020 defeat.

Miller appears to be one of the last diehards claiming that the Steele dossier could have also repeatedly still proved correct in its allegations.

Some interviews are striking in their conflicting elements, like insisting “all of us went in with a completely open mind” but that “they [the Russians] definitely wanted him [Trump].”

Miller also seemed to view the CIA’s role as part of a resistance, or at least counterforce to Trump: “I headed up the report team. … I wanted people who would speak truth to power.”

On social media, Miller comes across as unhinged at times in responding to stories with screeds like “This is awful! Further proof that Trump is a dictator.” She also wrote, “Good grief.  As if we needed proof that MAGA types are nazis…”

 So responded to a foreign poster by saying, “Yes….the Hitler analogy is not lost on a bunch of us…..sadly….”

In one of the most bizarre series of statements, Miller accuses Trump, Barr, and Durham of putting “me on trial” because she was interviewed in the various investigations.

She insisted in an interview with Times Radio in July that Trump got Barr and Durham “to open a trial on us…I spent 8 hours on trial; other team members also had trials. Not unexpectedly, nothing criminal was found.”

Just the News notes that Miller said again in June that “Trump put me on trial….criminal complaint after inauguration.” There is no indication of what that criminal complaint entailed, where it was filed, or what happened to it.

Miller appears to be struggling to make the case against Brennan and herself in carrying out this intelligence assessment. It is telling that, within the entire CIA establishment, Brennan would select Miller for this controversial report.

What is even more chilling is that top intelligence officials would continue to cling to debunked sources like Steele. It is the kind of intransigence common among those living in echo chambers created by news and social media sites. CIA analysts are supposedly trained to avoid such confirmation bias.

All of this makes for a great pitch to join figures like Clapper or McCabe with MSNBC or CNN contracts. It is less compelling in defending the work product of the CIA on this report.

A few weeks ago, reports began circulating that thanks to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) roundups in major cities, the notorious ‘parking lot’ traffic in Los Angeles was suddenly cleared out, allowing people to jet around the city like ‘the old days.’ 

Holy Mother of G-d, it’s REAL pic.twitter.com/5yrqoLTZ7Z

— AJAC (@AJA_Cortes) July 10, 2025

How many illegals are really in Los Angeles California?

This is the 101 Freeway, one of the busiest freeways in LA

This is just outside of Los Angeles, heading into LA at 8: 00am on a work day

If you’ve been to LA you know how insane this is…. Illegals are hiding from ICE pic.twitter.com/3hk7rNcVns

— Wall Street Apes (@WallStreetApes) July 9, 2025

Of course, leftist rags like Newsweek attempted to debunk the reports, citing insurance claims adjuster and LA resident Jason Lemus, who said “The level of misinformation about this is nuts,” adding “There’s been no significant impact to traffic in LA.”

What’s interesting, however, is that the number of collisions are down roughly 10% y/y for the period between Jan. 20 – Mar. 14 in both Los Angeles and New York City. 

LOS ANGELES – LAPD TRAFFIC COLLISION REPORTS:

    From Jan. 20, 2024 through Mar. 14, 2024: 2,289 reported collisions.
    From Jan. 20, 2025 through Mar. 14, 2025: 2,076 reported collisions.
    Decrease of 9.3%

NEW YORK CITY – NYPD TRAFFIC COLLISION REPORTS:

    From Jan. 20, 2024 through Jul. 23, 2024: 46,267 reported collisions.
    From Jan. 20, 2025 through Jul. 23, 2025 (latest available data): 41,459 reported collisions.
    Decrease of 10.4%

So while this data doesn’t explicitly prove that ICE arrests of illegals has had an impact on both freeway congestion and collisions, hard data shows a dramatic drop in collisions year-over-year. 

Any thoughts as to why?