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Authored by Katabella Roberts via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

A Russian-born scientist and research associate at Harvard University has been arrested and charged with allegedly attempting to smuggle clawed frog embryos and embryonic samples into the United States, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts announced on May 14.

Kseniia Petrova, a Russian-born scientist who was a researcher at Harvard University, in April 2025. Polina Pugacheva via AP

Kseniia Petrova, 31, was charged with one count of smuggling goods into the country.

If found guilty, she faces up to 20 years in prison, five years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000.

The charges were announced just hours after a federal judge in Vermont heard arguments in a lawsuit Petrova filed against the Trump administration alleging she has been unlawfully detained at an immigration detention center in Louisiana for months.

She was transferred out of the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to a nearby Louisiana parish jail shortly after being charged.

An initial hearing in her criminal case has been set for May 15.

Petrova, a Russian national, was first taken into immigration custody on Feb. 16 after arriving at Logan International Airport in Boston following a trip to Paris.

According to prosecutors, she was stopped by Customs and Border Protection agents after her checked duffle bag was flagged for inspection, revealing biological items including a foam box containing clawed frog embryos in microcentrifuges, as well as embryonic samples in paraffin well stages and on mounted dyed slides.

Such biological products must be declared and require a permit to be brought into the country.

Prosecutors said that Petrova initially denied carrying such material in her baggage but acknowledged she had biological specimens when asked again.

She was then advised that she was ineligible for entry to the United States, at which point prosecutors say she agreed to willingly withdraw her application for admission, prosecutors said.

The Trump administration has indicated it plans to deport her back to Russia.

Lawyer Says Case Is ‘Meritless’

Petrova said she fled Russia after it invaded Ukraine in February 2022 to avoid conflict or possible political repression. She added that she fears she will be imprisoned if she returns because of her political views.

Her lawyer, Gregory Romanovsky, called the case against his client “meritless” and questioned the timing of the charges being announced, noting she was transferred into criminal custody after the judge in her lawsuit set a May 28 bail hearing to consider releasing her.

“The charge, filed three months after the alleged customs violation, is clearly intended to make Kseniia look like a criminal to justify their efforts to deport her,” he said.

During an interview under oath, Petrova allegedly claimed to be unsure that she was required to declare biological material when entering the country, prosecutors said.

However, prosecutors said text messages on her phone from an individual identified as one of her colleagues informed her that she was required to declare the biological material.

They alleged that in response to one text message asking how she planned to get through customs with the biological samples, Petrova said: “No plan yet. I won’t be able to swallow them.”

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Petrova’s case has drawn criticism from Democrats, including Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell, who filed an amicus brief on May 12 opposing the government’s efforts to dismiss her petition for release.

The brief states that Petrova had been conducting critical research on degenerative diseases at Harvard under a valid J-1 visa prior to her detention 10 weeks ago.

“Ms. Petrova’s case is not an isolated incident—this is just the latest example of the Trump Administration’s reckless and cruel misuse of power to punish and terrorize non-citizen members of the academic community,” Campbell said. “I will continue to fight to defend the rights of our international students and faculty, who meaningfully contribute to the academic and economic success of our communities.”

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts said Petrova was recently employed by the Institute of Genetic Biology in Moscow from 2023 to 2024 and previously served as a bioinformatician of genetic disorders at the Moscow Center for Genetics from 2016 to 2023.

Harvard University said in a statement that it “continues to monitor the situation.”

The Epoch Times has contacted Petrova’s attorney for further comment.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

By Eric Kulisch of FreightWaves

The Trump administration this week rolled back the duty for small-dollar shipments from China and Hong Kong as part of tariff deescalation with China, while a House committee advanced legislation to permanently end the duty-free “de minimis” exemption from all countries. 

President Donald Trump’s executive order lowering new 145% tariffs on Chinese goods to 30% for 90 days represents a reprieve for popular Chinese shopping platforms and other e-tailers that ship parcels directly from the factory to individual shoppers. E-commerce orders and airfreight shipments plummeted after the U.S. government on May 2 rescinded duty-free treatment for low-value goods, subjecting them to the same duties imposed on all Chinese products.

Before then, U.S. trade law allowed an individual each day to import goods valued at $800 or less and use an informal entry process. The rule helped fuel cross-border shipping from Chinese shopping platforms direct to consumers. About two-thirds of all packages entering the country through the de minimis channel are from China. 

The executive order also proactively lowered fees for low-value shipments from China sent through the international postal system. Postal shipments under $800 are now subject to a 54% tariff instead of 120%. Carriers can opt instead to pay $100 per postal item containing goods. Monday’s order canceled a June 1 increase to $200 for the flat fee.

The revised fees still present a significant cost increase, but the pause provides retailers time to adjust operations.

Logistics professionals say shipping rates could rise as businesses rush to order goods before the next deadline. Trade publication Modern Retail reported that fast-fashion retailer Shein on Wednesday announced price reductions for U.S. customers following the relaxation of de minimis rules on Chinese imports. Shein had raised prices and cut U.S. advertising after the change in de minimis rules sharply increased delivery costs.

The publication also said that Temu had resumed selling nondomestic items to U.S. customers.

Momentum builds to turn off de minimis

Congress a decade ago increased the de minimis ceiling from $200 to $800 as a way of helping small businesses with an online presence take advantage of international trade. But attitudes began to change when huge Chinese sellers like Temu, Shein and Alibaba flooded the trade facilitation program to minimize costs, putting a strain on U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s ability to cross-check shipments for trade, consumer safety or security compliance. 

Critics say the exemption creates a conduit for criminals to smuggle goods with little scrutiny, gives overseas merchants an advantage over retailers that source domestic products and results in billions of dollars in uncollected tariff revenue. 

CBP last year processed an average of more than 4 million de minimis imports per day but says the minimal information supplied on the informal entry makes it difficult to identify and interdict illegal drugs such as fentanyl, as well as counterfeit products and other contraband. It also has found cases of importers misclassifying and undervaluing goods, and misdelivering goods before they are officially released from CBP custody.

The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission in December recommended that Congress eliminate de minimis eligibility for imports sold through online marketplaces.

On Tuesday, the House Ways and Means Committee approved a massive tax bill, which includes Trump’s tax priorities and a provision that would permanently end de minimis for commercial shipments from all countries by July 1, 2027.

“As the bill makes its way through the legislative process, we strongly support a more aggressive timeline to implement a permanent ban on de minimis globally given its significant harm to manufacturers, retailers, and the fight against fentanyl and other illegal products. Express shippers have already transitioned to processing all Chinese imports through sophisticated logistics systems, demonstrating their ability to comply with the president’s executive orders and pivot quickly,” said Kim Glas, president of the National Council of Textile Organizations, in a statement. 

 Meanwhile, other efforts are in progress to curb the use of de minimis entries.

Customs and Border Protection is developing a new rule, proposed in the waning days of the Biden administration, that would require certain shippers to electronically submit additional data elements on low-value consignments prior to arrival and would remove de minimis eligibility for imports subject to certain tariffs.

The White House has said it plans to use emergency powers to delete the de minimis exception once systems are in place to collect duties from millions of parcels per day, including ones sent through postal channels.

President Donald Trump and Elon Musk's DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) have exposed widespread federal waste and mismanagement that Congress long ignored. Despite the existence of oversight bodies like the Government Accountability Office, it took an executive order to uncover billions of dollars in egregious federal waste.

DOGE's drive to cut waste and root out fraud in the bloated federal bureaucracy has already resulted in nearly 300,000 job cuts and an estimated $160 billion in savings. As detailed in our series of reports, DOGE's actions are delivering tangible results—helping to reduce the nation's overall funding requirements. 

The debt-fueled spending spree under the Biden-Harris regime placed the nation on a crash course to financial ruin—but recent corrective actions by the Trump administration and DOGE, for now, have helped steer the trajectory away from a financial crisis.

Readers may recall some of those tangible DOGE-related results:

• March Deficit Unexpectedly Tumbles To 5 Year Low As DOGE Cracks Down On Democrat Money-Laundering Schemes

• US Treasury Unexpectedly Reports Sharp Drop In Debt Borrowing Needs, Rates Slide

• US Treasury Shocks With Second Biggest Budget Surplus In History

• Jobless Claims Jumped Last Week As 'DOGE Actions' Spark Biggest YTD Layoffs Since 2020

• Is DOGE Starting To Work? 'Deep TriState' Jobless Claims Surged Last Week

Some progresshttps://t.co/hNCBVYB4YV

Everything outlined above points to a solid start for DOGE, which has already uncovered hundreds of billions in waste, fraud, and abuse. However, that progress could be undone unless Congress moves to lock in those spending cuts through the reconciliation bill.

DOGE has identified hundreds of billions of dollars of waste, fraud, and abuse, but unless Congress makes those spending cuts permanent through the reconciliation process, all that work will have been for nothing.@Paul_S_Mullen pic.twitter.com/7Y8j4T5ehJ

Another measure of DOGE's early success is the 20.5% reduction in non-defense federal obligations compared to 2024 levels—a decline that signals reduced future cash outlays as these obligations come due.

"Persistent government-wide contract reviews for wasteful spend, consistent with the DOGE Cost Efficiency Executive Order, are bearing fruit," DOGE's official X account wrote. 

Adding to the visible signs of progress, Goldman chief economist Jan Hatzius, along with analysts Alec Phillips and others, noted Thursday that cash withdrawals from the Treasury General Account across several federal agencies continue to fall below 2023 and 2024 levels—yet another encouraging sign of success. 

Also, new monthly federal contract obligations have sharply slowed under DOGE after four years of large spikes under the Biden-Harris regime. 

"Notably, new federal contracts data has undershot trend in recent months and stood at $18.2bn in April (compared to $31.1bn in April 2024). Total government grant awards remain stagnated at Inauguration Day levels," the analysts said. 

More color here. 

However, Hatzius and his team noted that year-to-date cash withdrawals from the Treasury General Account remain $123 billion above 2024 levels.

The early results of DOGE mark a shift in federal accountability. In just months, DOGE has uncovered hundreds of billions in waste, slashed nearly 300,000 federal jobs, and driven $160 billion in savings. Yet why did it take an executive order from the president to have a group take a deep dive into how federal agencies spend their money?

But this progress is not guaranteed. Without congressional action to lock in these cuts through reconciliation, the swamp remains open for the bureaucratic bloat to return. The message is clear: DOGE is working, but can only be sustained through political action.

Update: Listen to all five hours of the Hur-Biden interview below:

*  *  *

A segment of former President Joe Biden's October 2023 interview with special counsel Robert Hur just dropped, and boy is it rough.

Biden couldn't remember details such as when his son Beau died, when he left office as vice president, what year Donald Trump was elected, and why he had classified documents in his possession that he shouldn't have had.

According to Axios, which released the recording, Biden frequently slurred words or muttered, and "appears to validate Hur's assertion that jurors in a trial likely would have viewed Biden as "a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory."

Listen:

Hur elected not to prosecute Biden for mishandling classified documents based partly on the former president's pea-soup brain - angering Republicans as Trump was facing his own charges of mishandling classified information.

It's also of course notable because the MSM insisted Biden was "sharp," and slammed Hur's assertions as politically motivated. 

Tapper says here that the footage of Biden freezing on stage was not a "Cheap fake". Exact words.

Okay so when he does he pull Brian Stelter on his show and ask him why he called it that, echoing the White house? When does the media pull Karine Jean-Pierre out of hiding and ask… https://t.co/D0JaXwKv65

The audio was from two three-hour sessions on Oct. 8 and 9, 2023 - which the Biden White House refused to release, arguing that they were protected "law enforcement materials," and that Republicans only sought to "chop them up, distort them, and use them for partisan political purposes."

Let's go to the tape...

FLASHBACK: Karine Jean-Pierre attacked Robert Hur — refusing to release the transcript or audio, while claiming he had a partisan agenda to push. pic.twitter.com/DLdZXa4n3O

Ian Sams:

"To suggest that [Biden] couldn't remember when his son died is really out of bounds." pic.twitter.com/Roj31EBJyN

Don’t forget the way the press tried to dismiss Hur’s report. https://t.co/9Sd2NdVWuw

How long did Axios have this recording? Before the election?

Authored by Duggan Flanakin via RealClearEnergy,

The dream of humanity to imitate the forces that created their habitat has been alive for at least as far back as the time when humans with a single language decided to build a city with a tower that reached the heavens. For such a people, “nothing they plan will be impossible to them,” it is recorded.

For at least the same time frame, humanity has sought comfort through technology. While primitive heat producers like coal and wood are still used today, the discovery that petroleum, natural gas, and even moving water could generate a newly discovered phenomenon known as “electricity” transformed the industrial revolution into the modern era.

Not until the 1930s did German scientists build on Enrico Fermi’s discovery that neutrons could split atoms to recognize that splitting atoms would release significant energy – energy that could be used for both bombs and electricity generation. By the 1950s, scientists began building nuclear fission-based power plants that today provide about a tenth of the world’s electricity.

Scientists and engineers also began to envision the potential of nuclear fusion -- the reaction of light atomic nuclei powers the sun and the stars. Since that time, they have worked feverishly, but with little success, to replicate this energy-rich reaction using deuterium and tritium.

One group of scientists and engineers decided to try an alternative approach.

Founded in 1998, California-based TAE Technologies has been developing a reactor that runs on proton-boron aneutronic fusion – that is, a fusion reaction that fuses a hydrogen nucleus with non-radioactive boron-11 instead of fusing hydrogen isotopes of deuterium and tritium. Their goal is to develop commercial fusion power with the cleanest-possible environmental profile.

All efforts at fusion require chambers that can withstand temperatures of millions of degrees Celsius and immense pressure that are needed to fuse two isotopes together. To accomplish this requires huge amounts of energy – and until recently, more energy than the fusion produced.

Most fusion researchers, including those building the ITER project being built in France, rely on a donut-shaped tokamak reactor chamber, in which a stream of plasma must be held away from its walls by electromagnets for any energy to be produced. The tokamak design uses a toroidal magnetic field to contain the hydrogen plasma and keep it hot enough to ignite fusion.

Sadly, as with ITER, project costs have soared and timeframes have fallen by the wayside despite occasional breakthroughs. Over decades, tokamak designs became gigantic, with huge superconducting magnetic coils to generate containment fields; they also had huge, complex electromagnetic heating systems.

Spurred by the failures of wind and solar to fully satisfy the desire for “clean energy,” governments and private investors began investing heavily into fission and fusion projects. Oak Ridge, Tennessee, has tapped into a $60 million state fund intended to bolster both fission and fusion energy in atomic energy’s American birthplace.

New research at the University of Texas, in conjunction with Los Alamos National Laboratory and Type One Energy Group, uses symmetry theory to help engineers design magnetic confinement systems to reduce plasma leakage from tokamak magnetic fields.

The old method used for a stellarator reactor relied on perturbation theory. The new method, which relies on symmetry theory, is a game changer. It can also be used to identify holes in the tokamak magnetic field through which runaway electrons push through their surrounding walls and greatly reduce energy output.

The TAE Technology reactor is entirely different than any of the tokamak or stellarator fusion chambers.  In 2017, the company introduced its fifth-generation reactor, named Norman, which was designed to keep plasma stable at 30 million C. Five years later the machine had proven capable of sustaining stable plasma at more than 75 million C.

That success enabled TAE to secure sufficient funding for its sixth-generation Copernicus reactor and to envision the birth of its commercial-ready Da Vinci reactor. But in between, TAE developed Norm.

Norm uses a different type of fusion reaction and a new reactor design that exclusively produces plasma using neutral beam injections. The TAE design dumps the toroidal field in favor of a linear magnetic field that is based on the “field-reversed configuration” (FRC) principle, a simpler, more efficient way to build a commercial reactor.

Instead of massive magnetic coils, FRC makes the plasma produce its own magnetic containment field. The process involves accelerating high-energy hydrogen ions and giving them a neutral charge, then injecting them as a beam into the plasma. That causes the beams to be re-ionized as the collision energy heats the plasma to set up internal toroidal currents.

Norm’s neutral beam injection system has cut the size, complexity, and cost, compared to that of Norman, by up to 50%. But not only is an FRC reactor smaller and less expensive to manufacture and operate, says TAE, it can also produce up to 100 times more fusion power output than a tokamak -- based on the same magnetic field strength and plasma volume.

The FRC reactor also can run on proton-boron aneutronic fusion, which, instead of producing a neutron it produces three alpha particles plus a lot of energy. The fewer neutrons also do less damage to the reactor; the energy being released as charged particles is easier to harness. Less shielding is required, and, perhaps best of all, boron-11 is relatively abundant and not radioactive.

So, while “Norm” may not be the final step in developing commercial fusion energy, TAE’s hope is that fusion energy will the “norm” as early as the mid-1930s. FRC technology has materially de-risked Copernicus, according to TAE CEO Michi Binderbauer.

If Norm is as advertised, it will accelerate the pathway to commercial hydrogen-boron fusion – a safe, clean, and virtually limitless energy source.

But is humanity ready for free energy to be the “norm?”

Duggan Flanakin is a senior policy analyst at the Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow who writes on a wide variety of public policy issues.

Authored by Emma Suttie via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Bees are dying—and at an alarming rate.

Between 2023 and 2024, US beekeepers lost an estimated 55.1 percent of their colonies—the worst loss in more than a decade and nearly 15 percent higher than the previous 13-year average.

Lisa Schaetzle/Getty Images

Bees pollinate three-quarters of the fruits, vegetables, and nuts we eat, and many of us rely on bee products for their nutrition and health-promoting gifts. If bees vanish, it’s scary to think of all we stand to lose. And some say that if the bees go, we go too.

Jeff Pettis, president of Apimondia—The International Federation of Beekeepers’ Associations—sums up the health benefits that bees offer humans in one word: huge.

Although two-thirds of our diet comes from carbohydrates—crops like rice, wheat, and corn—which are pollinated by wind rather than insects, many other important foods require bees.

“So we’re not going to starve if we don’t have bees. But literally, everything you can think of that’s nutritious—fruits, nuts, and vegetables—all of those are, we'll call it, animal-pollinated. The vast majority of those are pollinated by honey bees or other wild bees,” he told The Epoch Times.

Bees Pollinate

Ryan Burris is a third-generation beekeeper and the president of the California State Beekeepers Association. He points out that many people don’t realize how many fruits and vegetables we eat depend on bees for pollination.

“The biggest one, obviously, for beekeepers, is almonds. And then you have things like blueberries, watermelons, and stuff you don’t think about, like onions and carrots—all require pollination. There’s an estimated 100 crops that require pollination,” he told the Epoch Times.

Twenty thousand species of bees grace our planet, and 4000 species are native to the United States. Bees are some of our most well-known and beloved pollinators. One in every three bites of food you eat depends on pollinators to produce, and bees pollinate one in every four bites.

Beyond their critical role as pollinators, bees also gift us powerful products like honey, bee pollen, propolis, and royal jelly—each packed with nutritional and medicinal benefits.

Honey

The Ancient Egyptians may have been the world’s first beekeepers. They crafted clay hives and transported them on rafts along the Nile, allowing bees to pollinate whatever flowers were in season. Bees were deeply revered, and honey was considered sacred.

Throughout history, honey has played many roles—it was used in religious rituals, medicine, currency, and offerings to the gods. When archaeologists uncovered King Tutankhamun’s tomb, they found a sealed jar of honey more than 2,000 years old. Because honey doesn’t spoil, it was still safe to eat.

Honey offers a treasure trove of healing properties. It soothes a cough, benefits digestion and oral health, treats constipation and diarrhea, protects the heart, and has anticancer properties—in addition to being antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, antifungal, and a powerful antioxidant.

Jana Schmidt is a board-certified naturopathic doctor and master herbalist who keeps bees. She says not all honey is created equal, and knowing where your honey comes from is crucial, as many store-bought varieties are synthetically made or artificial. If you want the good stuff, go for raw, local honey—ideally straight from a beekeeper.

“Darker varieties have higher antioxidants than the lighter varieties,” she noted, saying bees make the darker types in the winter months when it’s cold, and they need more nutrition—which is passed to us when we eat it.

She says that honey added to tea before bed can help you sleep—something she did for her children when they were little.

“It helps regulate your sleep, but it also protects the teeth from the bacteria that causes cavities, which seems crazy because it’s sweet. You think, oh, that’s going to cause cavities, but actually, it protects the teeth,” she told The Epoch Times.

Studies have found that honey’s antibacterial properties fight harmful bacteria, such as Salmonella and E. coli. In addition, honey has been studied for its potential benefits against cancer—including breast, liver, and colorectal cancers, where it has shown cytotoxic effects on cancer cells, the ability to inhibit cancer cell growth, and prevent the formation of new blood vessels that tumors need to grow.

Raw honey is a potential source of Clostridium botulinum spores, which can cause botulism—especially in babies. Therefore, it’s generally recommended that infants under one year of age should not be fed raw honey.

Bees are prolific producers of a diverse array of products with numerous potential health benefits, according to experts.

Bee Pollen

Honeybees collect pollen from flowers and mix it with their saliva, which contains special enzymes. They then store it in comb cells inside their hives. Once the pollen is stored and processed in the hive, it is called beebread, or ambrosia—a vital food for the bees—containing proteins, fats, vitamins, and minerals they need. When beebread is stored, it undergoes a natural fermentation process, which preserves it and makes its nutrients easier to absorb.

Bee pollen. hanif66/Shutterstock

“To me, it’s God’s perfect multivitamin because it has every vitamin and mineral known for human nutrition. It has approximately 96 different nutrients and bioavailable energy. It’s antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, and the most digestible protein per ounce than anything else out there,” Schmidt said.

Bee pollen offers a source of sustained energy throughout the day and not a spike like you might get from sugar or caffeine, she said.

“I don’t drink coffee or anything like that. I just take my bee pollen in the morning, and I’m good to go,” she beamed.

There is growing scientific interest in bee pollen, particularly because of its antimicrobial properties, which can fight a wide variety of pathogens, including bacteria and fungi. This ability is notable because some bacteria are becoming resistant to antibiotics. Bee pollen (beebread) seems able to fight microbes without creating resistance, which some scientists believe is because it contains several different natural compounds that work synergistically. Bee pollen also supports the body’s good bacteria, benefiting healthy gut microbes—behaving like a prebiotic.

Schmidt adds that as a natural fertility specialist, bee pollen is her number one fertility supplement.

“If you think about it, it’s the fertility for the plants. Why wouldn’t it be fertility for us, too? So sometimes that’s all it takes. The couple start taking bee pollen, and bam, they’re fertile. So that’s been pretty fun to be a part of.”

Studies have found that bee pollen has other wide-ranging medicinal benefits to humans, including:

• Benefiting metabolic syndrome disorders
• Preventing obesity
• Combating liver disorders
• Cardioprotective effects
• Lowering uric acid
• Detoxifying (based on animal studies)
• Regulating ovarian functions
• Alleviating allergic reactions
• Improving digestion and absorption
• Stimulating the immune system
• Improving cognitive dysfunction

“It takes bees working eight hours a day, two to four weeks, to gather one teaspoon of pollen, Schmidt said. They work so hard. They visit over 2 million flowers to get one teaspoon of pollen. It’s pretty amazing.”

Propolis

Propolis, also known as “bee glue,” is a resinous substance bees gather from different types of plants. Bees use it as a type of construction material for the hive. It seals holes and cracks, improves structural integrity, smooths the inner surface of the hive, maintains a constant internal temperature of 95 degrees Fahrenheit, and protects the hive from the elements, predators, and pathogens. Once hardened, it helps create an antiseptic internal environment.

Bee propolis. Ihor Hvozdetskyi/Shutterstock

Schmidt offers a long list of propolis’s benefits, particularly to the brain. These include reducing inflammation in the brain and oxidative stress, helping reduce the toxic effects of methylmercury—a highly toxic form of mercury—and aluminum in the brain, increasing synaptic efficiency, and protecting against neurodegeneration and cognitive impairment.

She adds that it is a great prebiotic and excellent for gut health.

“Anytime there’s an infection, and you’re not quite sure what it is, I usually go to propolis—it just boosts your immune system like nothing else I’ve ever used,” she said.

Studies have revealed that this amazing substance has many applications for human health and has the following medicinal properties:

• Antioxidant
• Anti-inflammatory
• Antiulcer
• Anticancer
• Immunomodulatory
• Neuroprotective
• Anti-allergic
• Cardioprotective
• Antidiabetic

Studies in humans and animals have shown propolis to possess powerful healing properties beneficial in multiple acute and chronic diseases—from autoimmune diseases like Type 2 diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis to cardiovascular disease, cancer, and COVID-19.

In a 2021 randomized, controlled clinical trial, 124 hospitalized patients with COVID-19 were split into three groups. Two groups received Brazilian green propolis—400 or 800 milligrams daily—in addition to regular treatment—while the third group did not receive propolis.

The researchers found that patients who received propolis were released from the hospital five to six days sooner, and those who received 800 mg of daily propolis had less kidney damage associated with COVID-19. Thus, the study authors concluded that propolis is a safe and effective adjunct treatment for patients with COVID-19.

Royal Jelly

Humans have used royal jelly as a powerful medicine for millennia. It is extremely popular and highly regarded in Chinese medicine—in ancient times and today. Royal jelly is an overall tonic that promotes the robust development of bones, teeth, and the brain. It also helps boost fertility for women and soothe the symptoms of menopause.

Royal jelly. Bin Zhu/Shutterstock

Royal jelly is a white milky substance secreted by worker bees to feed the queen bee larvae. Worker bee larvae get a different type—called worker jelly that contains fewer nutrients. According to one study, the higher quality royal jelly fed to the queen allows her to live a long life (up to five years) and lay 2,500 eggs daily. In comparison, worker bees only live about 45 days and, although female, do not reproduce.

Rich in proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, and minerals, royal jelly is a vital food source for bees. Today, humans use it as a dietary supplement, medicine, and ingredient in cosmetic and skincare products.

Studies have shown royal jelly to have the following medicinal properties:

• Antioxidant
• Anti-lipidemic
• Antiproliferative
• Antimicrobial
• Neuroprotective
• Anti-inflammatory
• Immunomodulatory
• Antiaging
• Estrogenic activities

Despite its medicinal benefits, Schmidt says that she does not recommend royal jelly because of how it is harvested, as it hurts the bees and the hive only to collect a tiny amount.

“I just don’t like the practice overall ... I feel like it takes it a step beyond what we should be doing to live well with the bees,” she said.

A 2023 study investigated the effect of royal jelly on liver enzymes and glycemic indices. The researchers found that royal jelly did not significantly affect adults’ glycemic profile or liver function. However, in trials with a longer duration of 8 or more weeks, and those conducted in “non-healthy” populations, there was a significant reduction in serum fasting blood glucose —a measurement of glucose in the blood after fasting. Higher fasting blood glucose levels are a characteristic sign of both prediabetes and Type 2 diabetes.

Why Bees Are Dying

We have all heard about the alarming decline in bee numbers in recent years.

Pettis says the reasons that bees are dying is such huge numbers are multifaceted and complex.

The first, he says, is that bees are losing their natural habitat. A significant reason for this is the rise of monoculture—when farmers plant only one kind of crop in their fields. This lack of diversity limits the flowers available for bees, making it harder for them to get all the nutrients they need to stay healthy and thrive.

“Roundup Ready crops, like corn, soybeans, all these—they create very sterile fields so there are no weeds—and a lot of those weeds are really good for bees,” he said.

Pettis says the second reason is pesticide exposure and the third is pests and diseases affecting bees. He says they all combine in different ways to affect bees and reduce their numbers, making beekeeping more challenging.

“We’ve had a number of exotic things come into the U.S.—two parasitic mites, and then the beetle from Africa, and now we have some invasive hornets coming in from Asia. It’s just one thing after another,” he said.

“It’s really hard to survive when you have all these stressors lining up, one right behind the other.”

Some readers may be wondering about colony collapse disorder.

“I was actually very involved in colony collapse disorder, which is now 20 years old, and we never came up with a single definitive thing. It was just a combination of things that were killing managed honeybees,” Pettis said.

Mites, particularly the varroa mite—which is aptly named Varroa destructor—have become an enormous challenge for beekeepers.

“The varroa mite—Varroa destructor—is the main killer of honey bees because they feed on the bee as it’s growing,” Burris said.

These tiny parasitic mites feed on bee fat and blood, which bees need for energy and a healthy immune system. They also spread viruses, particularly the deformed wing virus, which causes bees to be born with shriveled wings that will never fly.

Burris adds that federal and state regulators do not want honeybees on public lands as they fear they may hurt native pollinators, though he notes they don’t have evidence to support those concerns.

He says they’re arguing about food supply and demand problems without considering that native pollinators and honey bees have different feeding habits.

“They’re not taking into account the size of the honeybee, the size of a native pollinator, the size of their tongues, and how they extract nectar—how they obtain pollen,” he said.

Pesticides, which include insecticides and herbicides, are also detrimental to bees.

“Roundup and other weed killers that contain glyphosate are incredibly harmful to our bodies, but also the bees,” Schmidt said.

A relatively recent class of insecticides called neonicotinoids, or neonics, are the world’s most widely used insecticides and possibly one of the most deadly. They work by making every part of the treated plant toxic while poisoning the soil, surrounding water, and wildlife. They affect the bees’ nervous system, interfering with their ability to learn, remember, and navigate, meaning many exposed bees can’t find their way back to the hive and eventually die.

Since their introduction in the last two decades, neonicotinoids’ widespread use has made U.S. agriculture increasingly destructive to insect life. Neonicotinoids are responsible for 92 percent of this increase in danger to insects.

These deadly insecticides don’t just kill bees. Neonics are linked to losses of birds and fish and birth defects in white-tailed deer. Increasing evidence has also shown that neonics affect human health, especially children. One study found neonics in the urine of half of children 3 to 5 years old, and a 2020 Swiss study found neonics in every sample of plasma and spinal fluid of children receiving treatment for leukemia and non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

How We Can Help Bees

Thankfully, there are things we can all do to help bees and support these essential pollinators.

• Plant native flowers and trees, especially ones that bloom through summer, as bees need food from spring through fall.
• Buy local honey, and honey made 100 percent in the United States to support U.S. beekeepers.
• Avoid using insecticides or pesticides around your yard and use natural methods instead. Schmidt says using vinegar and water with a bit of salt kills weeds without harming anything else.
• Allow an area of your yard or garden to be overgrown or less cut back to provide food and nesting habitats for bees.
• Plant a bee garden with native flowers to attract bees and other pollinators.
• Create a bee watering station with filtered water using a deep plate with pebbles or marbles near flowering plants to give bees a safe place to drink.
• Create a bee house you can hang in your yard to give bees a place to live.
• Keep hives away from sources of wifi radiation and EMFs, which adversely affect bees.
• If you notice a swarm of bees on your property, contact a local beekeeping association, university agriculture department, or local beekeeper to collect them, not an exterminator.
• Encourage state legislators to support laws that support and protect bees.
• Spread awareness about bees and how we can support them.

Schmidt reveres the tiny pollinators that provide us with so much.

“You know, we use the term beekeeping, but I really feel like they keep us—like they know what to do, we just need to provide a nice habitat for them, and they do all the work—they just give and give.”

The White House has denied a report that DHS Secretary Kristi Noem is backing a proposal for a reality TV series that pits immigrants against each other for the grand prize: a fast-track to U.S. citizenship.

According to a 35-page pitch obtained by DailyMail.com, the Department of Homeland Security has been in contact with reality TV producer Rob Worsoff - known for Duck Dynasty and Millionaire Matchmaker - on a show called The American. The show would take a dozen pre-vetted immigrants on a cross-country journey aboard a train, competing in “cultural” challenges like assembling a Model T Ford in Detroit, rolling logs in Wisconsin, and digging clams in Maine.

Contestants would be greeted in New York City at Ellis Island by “a famous, naturalized American who was also born in another country,” the pitch reads, with names like Sofia Vergara, Ryan Reynolds, and Mila Kunis floated as possible hosts. Each contestant would receive a personalized baseball glove before hitting the rails aboard “The Citizen Ship.”

"Along the way, we will be reminded what it means to be American – through the eyes of the people who want it most," Worsoff’s pitch says.

There’d be elimination rounds, dramatic town halls, and viewer voting tallied by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services staff - yes, actual DHS employees, according to the proposal. The live finale would see the train stop in Washington, D.C., with the winner sworn in on Capitol Hill as Thunderbird jets roar overhead. "There won't be a dry eye within 10 miles!" the pitch promises.

Game show prizes? Think red-white-and-blue Americana: 1 million American Airlines points, a $10,000 Starbucks gift card, or a lifetime supply of 76 gasoline.

Tricia McLaughlin, DHS’s top spokesperson, confirmed the department had a call with Worsoff last week. "I think it's a good idea," she said. Though she claimed Noem “is yet to be briefed,” DailyMail.com reports Noem supports the show and wants to move forward.

DHS Distances

That said, DHS on Friday confirmed that it had received the pitch - but a spokesperson denied the Mail's report that Noem was involved. In a statement to the Epoch Times, DHS Assistan Secretary Tricia McLaughlin called the Mail's reporting "completely false," and denied claims that Noem had either "backed" or "reviewed" the plan.

"The Department of Homeland Security receives hundreds of television show pitches a year, ranging from documentaries surrounding ICE and CBP border operation to white collar investigations by HSI," she said, referring to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection, and Homeland Security Investigations.

TV show proposals undergo “a thorough vetting process prior to denial or approval,” McLaughlin said, adding that the reality TV “show in question is in the very beginning stages of that vetting process and has not received approval or denial by staff.”

Separately, McLaughlin told news outlets that she had spoken with the producer of the proposed reality show. -Epoch Times

Worsoff, a Canadian-born producer, said, “I’m not affiliated with any political ideology. As an immigrant myself, I am merely trying to make a show that celebrates the immigration process.”

The proposal also includes themed challenges like mining for gold in San Francisco, launching rockets in Cape Canaveral, and rafting down the Arkansas River. “We'll join in the laughter, tears, frustration, and joy – hearing their backstories – as we are reminded how amazing it is to be American,” the pitch reads.

Even the losers would have “a leg-up” in the naturalization process, the proposal notes.

For a secretary already accused of turning immigration enforcement into a branding exercise, The American is on-brand. Whether the public buys into her vision — or sees it as one more cringe photo op — remains to be seen.

Side note - the book 'Running Man' takes place in 2025...

Earlier this week, we noted that short-dated USA sovereign CDS were trading wider than China and Greece as trade policy uncertainty and the debt ceiling 'X-date' loomed...

...well, it appears Moody's Rating Agency noted it too... because they just downgraded the Government of United States of America's (US) long-term issuer and senior unsecured ratings to Aa1 from Aaa and changed the outlook to stable from negative.

The one-notch cut comes more than a year after Moody’s changed its outlook on the US rating to negative, with Moody's joining Fitch Ratings and S&P Global Ratings in grading the world’s biggest economy below the top, triple-A position.

This one-notch downgrade on our 21-notch rating scale reflects the increase over more than a decade in government debt and interest payment ratios to levels that are significantly higher than similarly rated sovereigns.

Successive US administrations and Congress have failed to agree on measures to reverse the trend of large annual fiscal deficits and growing interest costs. 

We do not believe that material multi-year reductions in mandatory spending and deficits will result from current fiscal proposals under consideration. 

Over the next decade, we expect larger deficits as entitlement spending rises while government revenue remains broadly flat. 

In turn, persistent, large fiscal deficits will drive the government's debt and interest burden higher. 

The US' fiscal performance is likely to deteriorate relative to its own past and compared to other highly-rated sovereigns.

The stable outlook reflects balanced risks at Aa1. 

The US retains exceptional credit strengths such as the size, resilience and dynamism of its economy and the role of the US dollar as global reserve currency. In addition, while recent months have been characterized by a degree of policy uncertainty, we expect that the US will continue its long history of very effective monetary policy led by an independent Federal Reserve. 

The stable outlook also takes into account institutional features, including the constitutional separation of powers among the three branches of government that contributes to policy effectiveness over time and is relatively insensitive to events over a short period. 

While these institutional arrangements can be tested at times, we expect them to remain strong and resilient.

The US' long-term local- and foreign-currency country ceilings remain at Aaa. 

The Aaa local-currency ceiling reflects a small government footprint in the economy and extremely low risk of currency and balance of payment crises. 

The foreign-currency ceiling at Aaa reflects the country's strong policy effectiveness and an open capital account, reducing transfer and convertibility risks.

RATIONALE FOR THE RATINGS DOWNGRADE TO Aa1

Over more than a decade, US federal debt has risen sharply due to continuous fiscal deficits. 

During that time, federal spending has increased while tax cuts have reduced government revenues. 

As deficits and debt have grown, and interest rates have risen, interest payments on government debt have increased markedly.

Without adjustments to taxation and spending, we expect budget flexibility to remain limited, with mandatory spending, including interest expense, projected to rise to around 78% of total spending by 2035 from about 73% in 2024.

If the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is extended, which is our base case, it will add around $4 trillion to the federal fiscal primary (excluding interest payments) deficit over the next decade.

As a result, we expect federal deficits to widen, reaching nearly 9% of GDP by 2035, up from 6.4% in 2024, driven mainly by increased interest payments on debt, rising entitlement spending, and relatively low revenue generation. 

We anticipate that the federal debt burden will rise to about 134% of GDP by 2035, compared to 98% in 2024.

Despite high demand for US Treasury assets, higher Treasury yields since 2021 have contributed to a decline in debt affordability. 

Federal interest payments are likely to absorb around 30% of revenue by 2035, up from about 18% in 2024 and 9% in 2021. The US general government interest burden, which takes into account federal, state and local debt, absorbed 12% of revenue in 2024, compared to 1.6% for Aaa-rated sovereigns.

While we recognize the US' significant economic and financial strengths, we believe these no longer fully counterbalance the decline in fiscal metrics.

Moody's couldn't help but take a shot at Trump's tariffs:

The US economy is unique among the sovereigns we rate.

It combines very large scale, high average incomes, strong growth potential and a track-record of innovation that supports productivity and GDP growth. 

While GDP growth is likely to slow in the short term as the economy adjusts to higher tariffs, we do not expect that the US' long-term growth will be significantly affected.

But they did say something positive...

Despite reserve diversification by central banks globally over the past twenty years, we expect the US dollar to remain the dominant global reserve currency for the foreseeable future.

...

Moreover, the resilience of the US sovereign rating to shocks is supported by strong monetary and macroeconomic policy institutions.

Although policy has been less predictable in recent months, relative to what has typically been the case in the US and other highly-rated sovereigns, we expect that monetary and macroeconomic policy effectiveness will remain very strong, preserving macroeconomic and financial stability through business cycles.

The timing is exceptional, as Republicans try to get Trump's 'big beautiful bill' out of committee... and as everyone knows, there's no such thing as a coincidence in Washington.

US equity markets are trading down after hours on the news:

Trump's gonna be pissed!!