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Since 2000, Measles Vaccines May Have Caused 16x More Deaths Than Measles

The recent headlines about the “measles outbreak” prompted me to examine the actual data. Notably, before the introduction of the first measles vaccine by Enders et al. in 1963, measles deaths had already declined by 97.2%, from 12,992 in 1919 to 364 in 1963—without vaccination.

After vaccination, deaths dropped to nearly zero. However, proving causality would require long-term placebo-controlled trials. Charting the pre-vaccination trend from 1949 to 1962 shows that both cases and deaths followed the expected trajectory, meaning the decline might have continued without vaccination. The sharper drop in cases may be influenced by bias, as doctors and parents—assuming vaccination prevents measles—could have attributed symptoms to other causes.

No randomized placebo-controlled trials for measles vaccination appear to exist. The renowned Cochrane Institute, while assessing measles vaccination as effective, rates the evidence as only low to moderate certainty, relying solely on observational studies rather than the gold-standard placebo-controlled trials.

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California Proposal Would Prevent Coverage Of Medical Marijuana In Workers’ Compensation Cases

California officials are accepting public comment through mid-March on a plan that would remove medical marijuana as an accepted treatment for injured employees in workers’ compensation cases. The change would effectively prevent doctors in such cases from recommending marijuana and end any compensation to pay for cannabis medications.

The change being considered by the California Division of Workers’ Compensation (DWC) is based on recently updated guidelines from the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM) that say cannabinoids are “not recommended” for treatment of chronic, acute or postoperative pain and separately advising against cannabinoid use by safety-critical workers.

ACOEM in an update earlier this year listed various health risks associated with marijuana use—including cannabis use disorder, motor vehicle crashes, schizophrenia and others—and further said that evidence shows that cannabis is ineffective or only minimally effective at treating various types of pain.

As a result of the ACOEM update, the worker’s compensation division is weighing a change that would remove marijuana and related treatments from California’s medical treatment utilization schedule (MTUS) in workers’ comp cases.

Cannabis reform advocates and workers’ rights groups are pushing back against the proposal, saying it conflicts with numerous other studies indicating that marijuana can be effective for treating pain, and are urging supporters to file written comments with DWC ahead of a planned hearing on March 14.

“The recommendation flies in the face of scores of scientific studies,” Dale Gieringer, director of California NORML, said in an email, “including reports by the National Academy of Sciences and California’s Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research, plus the experience of countless California patients and doctors who have found medical cannabis valuable for treating intractable chronic pain.”

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CNN Vehemently Rejects Joe Rogan-Fueled Conspiracy Theory That CNN Aired Trump Rally Because They Knew He’d Be Shot

CNN vehemently rejected a conspiracy theory that has taken hold on the Right — which suggests that the network somehow had advance knowledge of the attempt on President Donald Trump’s life.

The theory has been making the rounds following Joe Rogan’s podcast with Elon Musk — which was posted on Friday . In a clip from the podcast being widely circulated, Rogan seemed to suggest that because CNN broadcast the rally, it knew about the assassination attempt beforehand.

“You also know that CNN streamed it live, which I do not believe they did for any other rally — and certainly not for a rally in the middle of nowhere in Pennsylvania. Like, there’s a lot of weird shit.”

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2,700-Year-Old Meteorite Jewelry Unearthed in Poland Reveals Ancient Connection to the Cosmos

New research has revealed early Iron Age artifacts recovered from ancient Polish burial sites include metal pieces forged from rare extraterrestrial iron.

Culturally, this use may have contributed to a shift in how the value of this otherworldly or off-world material was perceived between the Bronze and Iron Ages, the new findings suggest.

In a recent study published in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, a team of Polish and French scientists analyzed artifacts from the Częstochowa-Raków and Częstochowa-Mirów burial sites, revealing incredible insights into our past. The discovery connects the cosmos and our ancient ancestors to craftsmanship skills they were previously unknown to possess.  

“During the Bronze Age, the price of iron was about ten times that of gold; in the early Iron Age, it sank drastically to less than copper,” study lead Dr. Albert Jambon notes.

Jambon and his colleagues think the random placement of meteoric iron in graves suggests there were no social or age restrictions on who was able to wear it. 

The study was mainly focused on understanding the origin of iron smelting. “The point of my research is to find out who, when, and where the iron smelting was discovered,” Jambon said. ‘To that end, we need to analyze archaeological irons and check whether they are meteoritic or smelted.”

Although only a modest amount of the material was found, the new findings still represent one of the largest collections recovered from a single archaeological site outside of Egypt. The discovery included 26 iron artifacts, an ankle ring, three bracelets, and a pin—all showing traces of nickel in the iron. Researchers believe this indicates the presence of meteoritic iron, offering a fascinating glimpse into ancient human connections with the cosmos.

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Colombian President Calls On Lawmakers To Legalize Marijuana To Combat Cartel Violence In The Illicit Market

The president of Colombia is calling on lawmakers to legalize marijuana in the country, arguing that prohibition “only brings violence” from cartels in the illicit market. And he’s also pushing other nations to legalize coca leaves for “for purposes other than cocaine.”

On Sunday, President Gustavo Petro warned in a social media post of the “multinationalization of the cocaine mafias,” claiming that there are more cartels today than before high-profile trafficker Pablo Escobar was caught and imprisoned.

“The empowerment of mafia organizations shows the failure of prohibition and the absence of alternative measures to simple prohibition,” the president said, according to a translation.

“My government will maintain full cooperation with all governments in the matter of confiscating cocaine,” he added. “And it has focused and will focus its action on large shipments and on high-ranking cocaine and money laundering bosses worldwide.”

Petro then said he’s asking the Colombian Congress to “legalize marijuana and remove violence from this crop.”

“The prohibition of marijuana in Colombia only brings violence,” he said.

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Trump Eases Restrictions on Airstrikes, Special Operations Raids

President Trump has eased restrictions on US airstrikes and special operations raids in areas outside of countries officially considered combat zones by the US, giving US military commanders the freedom to launch attacks without permission from the White House.

The order reverts back to the policy of the first Trump administration, doing away with restrictions President Biden added to US drone strikes and raids outside of Iraq and Syria, the only two countries the US officially considers combat zones.

Biden’s rules required permission from the White House to target militants outside Iraq and Syria unless they were high-ranking commanders. But the rule had a major loophole: Strikes could be ordered if they could be framed as “self-defense.” In Somalia, the US almost always claims its airstrikes are launched in defense of the US-backed Mogadishu-based government.

Trump’s rules give commanders the ability to target any militants belonging to organizations the US considers terrorist organizations without White House approval. The easing of the restrictions was confirmed by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, who shared a CBS News report about the step on X and wrote, “Correct.”

The news comes amid an uptick in US airstrikes in Somalia and Syria. US officials told CBS that al-Shabaab in Somalia, which the US targeted three times in recent weeks, and the Houthis in Yemen were discussed as potential targets by the Trump administration.

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Washington Lawmakers Once Again Abandon Effort To Allow Adults To Grow Marijuana At Home

Democrats in the Washington State legislature have once again given up on a plan to legalize home cultivation of marijuana for personal use, opting instead to keep the conduct classified as a felony.

Lawmakers in the House Appropriations Committee did not act on the homegrow bill—HB 1449, from Rep. Shelley Kloba—before a legislative deadline on Friday, meaning it’s now dead for the session.

If enacted law, the bill would have allowed adults 21 and older to grow up to six cannabis plants at home for personal use, with households capped at 15 plants regardless of how many adults reside on the premises. People could also lawfully keep the marijuana produced by those plants despite the state’s existing one-ounce limit on possession.

Kloba and other supportive lawmakers have worked for nearly a decade to pass a law allowing adults to grow a small number of cannabis plants for their own use, but each year, other lawmakers and executive agencies have stood in the way of the proposal.

Kloba’s staff on Friday confirmed to Marijuana Moment that the bill would not move forward this year, saying that the lawmaker “will continue pursuing this policy” but declining to comment further.

Last year, Kloba sponsored HB 2194, which similarly died after not being called for a vote in the House Appropriations Committee.

After last year’s proposal failed to advance, Kloba similarly said she would continue to pursue the reform.

“Every session has its own character and constraints, which so far have meant that the bill has not advanced to the Senate,” she told Marijuana Moment at the time. “But I am not giving up.”

Washington was one of the first U.S. states to legalize adult-use marijuana, passing a ballot initiative in 2012. Growing marijuana for personal use without a state medical card, however, remains a Class C felony, carrying up to five years in prison and up to $10,000 in fines.

Legislative efforts to allow personal cultivation stretch back to at least 2015, but so far each has failed.

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Democrat Sen. Chris Murphy, Who Met with Zelensky Before WH Visit, Confirms the Ukrainian Leader Had Already Decided to Torpedo Trump’s Mineral Deal Before Meeting with Trump

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky torpedoed a crucial mineral deal with the United States—before he even set foot in the White House to meet with President Trump.

And now, thanks to Democrat Senator Chris Murphy, we have confirmation that Zelensky had already decided to sabotage the agreement after cozying up with anti-Trump lawmakers.

On Friday, Zelensky first met with a bipartisan group of U.S. Senators at the Hay Adams Hotel—mere steps away from the White House—where he was showered with praise from deep-state warmongers.

This elite gathering included usual suspects like:

  • Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)
  • Jacky Rosen (D-NV)
  • Richard Blumenthal (D-CT)
  • Chris Murphy (D-CT)
  • Peter Welch (D-VT)
  • Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI)
  • Chris Van Hollen (D-MD)
  • Additionally, RINOs Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Roger Wicker (R-MS), and Charles Grassley (R-IA) were present at this closed-door gathering.

The goal? To ensure that Zelensky remained the poster boy for the endless Ukraine war at the expense of the American taxpayer.

Murphy himself admitted it. In a social media post, he gleefully declared that Zelensky was never going to accept President Trump’s mineral deal—an agreement Secretary of State Marco Rubio had already confirmed was a done deal.

“Just finished a meeting with President Zelensky here in Washington. He confirmed that the Ukrainian people will not support a fake peace agreement where Putin gets everything he wants and there are no security arrangements for Ukraine,” Murphy wrote at 11:15 a.m. on Friday.

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UN demands answers from UK on terror law abuse

As the British state harasses and arrests a growing number of activists and dissident journalists, including the author of this piece, UN rapporteurs delivered a forceful letter of protest to London condemning its abuse of counter-terror legislation.

In December 2024, a quartet of UN rapporteurs focused on “peaceful assembly and of association” and the “right to privacy” delivered a strongly-worded letter to the British government. Expressing grave concerns about the potential “misapplication of counter-terrorism laws” to arrest, detain, interrogate and surveil dissident activists and journalists, including The Grayzone’s Kit Klarenberg, they demanded clarity on a number of serious issues. Given 60 days to respond, London remained suspiciously silent.

As a result, the UN’s correspondence with the British government has now been made public. The rapporteurs were clearly disturbed by reports of Schedule 7 of the 2000 Terrorism Act, and Schedule 3 of the 2019 Counter-Terrorism and Border Security Act, which covers “hostile” state threats, “being used to examine and obtain data from journalists and activists Johanna Ross, John Laughland, Kit Klarenberg, Craig Murray and Richard Medhurst in circumstances where they appear to have no credible connection to ‘terrorist’ or ‘hostile’ activity.”

While awaiting a reply that never came, the UN “urged” British authorities to undertake “interim measures” to prevent any recurrence of potential human rights breaches under counter-terror legislation, and “ensure the accountability” of anyone responsible for “alleged violations.” Evidently undeterred by pressure from the UN, Britain has continued to escalate its war on dissidents. 

Since the UN issued its letter of protest, British activists and journalists have since been arrested, raided, and prosecuted, including Asa Winstanley, Tony Greenstein, Sarah Wilkinson, Palestine Action cofounder Richard Barnard, and academic David Miller.

The UN letter focused on how “powers under counter-terrorism legislation have been used on multiple occasions to examine, detain, and arrest journalists and activists, particularly at the UK border.” Individuals “who are critical of Western foreign policy in the context of the conflict in the Middle East and the Russia-Ukraine war are especially affected by the reported misuse of these powers,” the rapporteurs wrote. 

Ominously, the UN rapporteurs suggested this could amount to “over-use [or] misuse” of British counter-terrorism legislation “to target legitimate freedom of expression and opinion, including public interest media reporting, and related freedoms of peaceful assembly and association, and political dissent or activism.”

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Elon Musk Drops Truth Bomb on Washington’s Corrupt Money Machine: “This is Really Going to Get Me Assassinated”

Elon Musk just dropped a bombshell on the Joe Rogan Experience, confirming what many Americans have long suspected—Washington, D.C. is a cesspool of corruption, and the Democrats are the primary beneficiaries.

“I think maybe three-quarters of the graft is Democratic. I think there’s maybe 20–25% that’s Republican,” Musk revealed, exposing how the system is rigged for political elites.

“Most of the graft is going to the Democrats, but they throw some bones to the Republicans too, so then they’re in on it.”

In a shocking but unsurprising exchange, Musk and Rogan discussed the absurd wealth accumulation of members of Congress, who are somehow able to transform their modest $170,000-a-year salaries into multimillion-dollar fortunes.

Musk didn’t hold back, stating, “It’s literally impossible” for these politicians to legally amass such wealth.

The conversation inevitably turned to one of the most notorious examples of Washington corruption: former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and his husband Paul Pelosi.

It can be recalled that Paul Pelosi dumped over $500,000 worth of Visa stock just weeks before the Department of Justice slapped the financial giant with an antitrust lawsuit.

Following the lawsuit’s announcement, Visa’s stock price plummeted by 5.5%, leading to speculation about the timing of Pelosi’s stock sale.

Former President Donald Trump has publicly called for Nancy Pelosi to face prosecution over the transaction, suggesting that the sale was not coincidental.

“Nancy Pelosi sold vast amounts of Visa stock one day before the big lawsuit that we all read about a few days ago,” Trump said. “She should be prosecuted… Nancy Pelosi should be prosecuted for that.” 

This incident is not isolated. The Pelosis have a history of fortuitously timed trades that have consistently outperformed the market, leading to widespread speculation about the use of nonpublic information for personal gain.

For instance, in 2023, their investment portfolio reportedly achieved a 65% return, significantly surpassing the S&P 500’s 24% gain. ​

Moreover, in 2022, Paul Pelosi purchased over $1 million in Nvidia call options just weeks before a congressional vote on substantial subsidies to the chip manufacturing industry, raising further eyebrows about potential conflicts of interest.

In the same year, Paul Pelosi dumped 20,000 shares of Google stock in December—a month before the Department of Justice and Merrick Garland filed their antitrust lawsuit.

Nancy Pelosi has consistently denied any wrongdoing, asserting that she does not own any stocks and has no involvement in her husband’s financial transactions.

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