Can you trust anything from Chicago?

Trey Knowles' “We Are Soldiers” is a powerful message of perseverance to never give up and always fight and stand in righteousness by never letting your light burn out.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials are unable to effectively monitor more than 600,000 children who illegally crossed the southern border unaccompanied by a guardian since 2019, according to a new report from the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General.

The report said that hundreds of thousands of unaccompanied migrant children entered the country and were transferred from ICE to the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement. Of those children, however, 233,000 have not yet been served notices to appear in immigration court by ICE as of this week, the report said.

As of last October, more than 43,000 unaccompanied children who were served with court orders did not show up for scheduled court dates. In addition, 31,000 of those who were released to sponsors had release forms that did not include addresses, had missing apartment numbers or were undeliverable, the inspector general’s office said in its report.

Officials also indicated ICE was not always aware of the location of unaccompanied children who ran away from sponsors they were assigned.

Reuters, citing an internal memo, reported this week that ICE has responded with a four-phase implementation plan to track down the missing migrant children and deport them as part of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation plan. The agency did not immediately respond to an email from NewsNation seeking comment about the agency’s plan.

In response to the report, however, the Trump administration overhauled a provision that was included in the Federal Register that prevented the HHS ORR division from sharing information about unaccompanied migrant children with other law enforcement or immigration enforcement agency. The amendment went into effect immediately after the order to remove the previous restriction on information sharing.

Homeland Security Inspector General Joseph Cuffari determined that ICE was ineffective in overseeing those migrant children who were designated to be deported by not issuing court orders to appear that would have added court dates for the 233,000 unaccompanied children who were never given court dates.

However, the report said part of the agency’s shortcomings in monitoring these migrant children were due to staffing shortages and because it did not have policies in place to ensure that all officers monitor the cases.

Officials also noted ICE does not have an automated process for sharing information internally with several departments and agencies and has not developed a policy for unaccompanied migrant children who do not show up for scheduled court dates.

“Without an ability to monitor the location and status of UACs, ICE is unable to facilitate court appearances and has no assurances (migrant children) are safe from trafficking, exploitation, forced labor or involvement in criminal activities that may pose a risk to local communities,” Cuffari wrote in the report.

Totalitarianism is a political system where the state wields absolute control over all aspects of public and private life, aiming for complete societal transformation according to a specific ideology.

Here's a breakdown of its key features:

1. Total Control by the State:

The government regulates and dictates virtually every facet of society, from the economy and education to culture, religion, and even personal relationships.

Individual liberties and freedoms are suppressed, with the state prioritizing its own goals and objectives above all else.

2. Single-Party Rule & Charismatic Leader:

Power is typically concentrated in the hands of a single political party and a powerful leader (often a dictator) who embodies the state's ideology.

Opposition parties and dissent are not tolerated, and the leader's authority is absolute and unquestioned.

3. Ideology & Propaganda:

Totalitarian regimes promote a specific ideology that dictates all aspects of life and justifies the state's control.

Propaganda is extensively used to indoctrinate citizens, shape public opinion, and maintain the regime's power.

4. Suppression of Dissent & Use of Terror:

Dissenting voices and any form of opposition are brutally suppressed through censorship, surveillance, and the use of secret police or military force.

A climate of fear and intimidation is often cultivated to deter any challenges to the regime's authority.

5. Examples:

Historically, notable examples of totalitarian regimes include Nazi Germany under Adolf Hitler, the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin, and North Korea under the Kim dynasty.

In essence, totalitarianism represents an extreme form of government where the state seeks to dominate and control every aspect of its citizens' lives, leaving little room for individual freedom or autonomy.

Trey Knowles' "Me Versus Tenant". The track presents a dramatic allegory where the servant Noble Drew Ali and Trey Knowles take the Tenant to court for mistreating the vineyard. The Tenant, unwilling to relinquish control, reacts with hostility, leading to a deeper conflict. The story unfolds with themes of sovereignty, justice, and ultimate reckoning. The Tenant in this song represents the Jewish religious leaders, the chief priests, and the Pharisees. The vineyard represents God's people, the Israelites. The servants represent those who were sent to warn and guide God's people about the Tenants.

Jimmy Carter, United States president from 1977 until 1981, reported seeing an unidentified flying object while at Leary, Georgia, in 1969. While serving as governor of Georgia, Carter was asked (on September 14, 1973) by the International UFO Bureau in Oklahoma City to file a report of the sighting, and he filed a statement on September 18, mailed September 20. Since its writing, the report has been discussed several times by both ufologists and by members of the mainstream media.

Sighting:

One evening in 1969, two years before he became Governor of Georgia, Carter was preparing to give a speech at a Lions Club meeting. He reported that at about 7:15 pm, one of the guests called his attention to a strange bright white object, about as bright as the moon, that was about 30 degrees above the horizon to the west of where they were standing. It moved toward their direction, but stopped beyond a stand of pine trees some distance from them. The object then changed color, first to blue, then to red, then back to white, before appearing to recede into the distance.

Carter felt that the object was self-illuminated, and not solid in nature. Carter's report indicates that it was witnessed by about 10 or 12 other people, and was in view for 10 to 12 minutes before it passed out of sight.

In 1973, Carter reiterated:

There were about twenty of us standing outside of a little restaurant, I believe, a high school lunch room, and a kind of green light appeared in the western sky. This was right after sundown. It got brighter and brighter. And then it eventually disappeared. It didn't have any solid substance to it, it was just a very peculiar-looking light. None of us could understand what it was.

Speaking in a 2005 interview, Carter said:

All of a sudden, one of the men looked up and said, 'Look, over in the west!' And there was a bright light in the sky. We all saw it. And then the light, it got closer and closer to us. And then it stopped, I don't know how far away, but it stopped beyond the pine trees. And all of a sudden it changed color to blue, and then it changed to red, then back to white. And we were trying to figure out what in the world it could be, and then it receded into the distance.

Date:

The exact date on which the sighting occurred has been called into question by investigators. According to the report that he filed with the International UFO Bureau four years after the incident, Carter saw the UFO in October 1969. However, investigators have cited Lions Club records as evidence that it occurred nine months earlier.

According to a meeting report that he filed with the Lions Club, Carter gave his Leary speech on January 6, 1969, not in October. The setting of his January meeting as described in his report to the Lions Club also matches the setting that he would later describe to the media when speaking about his sighting. His report to the Lions Club made no mention of the sighting itself.

Other evidence rules out the October 1969 date and is consistent with January 1969. First, Carter visited the Leary Lions Club in his capacity as district governor of the Lions Club. His term ended in June 1969. Second, the Leary Lions Club disbanded several months before October 1969.

Object and investigation:

According to an investigation[by whom?] carried out in 1976, some seven years after the event, most of those present at the meeting either did not recall the event, or did not recall it as being anything important. According to Fred Hart, the only guest contacted who remembered seeing the object: "It seems like there was a little—like a blue light or something or other in the sky that night—like some kind of weather balloon they send out or something ... it had been pretty far back in my mind."

While puzzled by the object and its origins, Carter himself later said that, while he had considered the object to be a UFO—on the grounds it was unexplained—his knowledge of physics had meant he had not believed himself to be witnessing an alien spacecraft.

On January 6, 1969, the sky was clear in Leary and the planet Venus was near its maximum brightness and in the direction described by Carter. Ufologist Robert Sheaffer concluded that the object that Carter witnessed was a misidentification of Venus [self-published source] Ufologist Allan Hendry did calculations and agrees with the assessment of it being Venus. This could also be the Venus "Halo", as was discussed on The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe podcast #105 in a 2007 interview with Jimmy Carter. 

In the interview Carter stated that he did not believe the object was Venus, explaining that he was an amateur astronomer and knew what Venus looked like. He also said that as a scientist he did not believe it was an alien craft and at the time assumed it was probably a military aircraft from a nearby base. However, he said that the object did not make any sound like a helicopter would do. Carter also said that he did not believe that any extraterrestrials have visited Earth.

 In the podcast interview, he also stated he knows of no government cover-up of extraterrestrial visits and that the rumors that the CIA refused to give him information about UFOs are not true.

In 2016, the hosts of episode #561 of The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe podcast read a letter forwarded by a member of the Carter family from Carl G. "Jere" Justus, giving his explanation of Carter's UFO sighting:

After recently reading the book Georgia Myths & Legends, by Augusta Chronicle columnist Don Rhodes, specifically Chapter 5, "Jimmy Carter and the UFO", I am virtually certain that I have identified the source of what it was that President Carter saw. In the 1960s and early 70s, I worked on an Air Force sponsored project that studied the upper atmosphere using releases of glowing chemical clouds, produced by rockets launched from Eglin AFB rocket range in Florida. Some of these chemical clouds, notably sodium and barium, were visible by the process of resonance scattering of sunlight. 

Clouds of this type had to be launched not long after sunset or not long before sunrise. This was due to the fact that the cloud had to be in sunlight at high altitude, while it was still dark enough at ground level for the cloud to be visible against the dark sky. In Carter's official 1973 UFO report, as given in the Rhodes book, he stated that he had seen the phenomenon in October, 1969, at 7:15 pm EST. 

However, it has been determined from Lions Club records that Carter must have seen the "UFO" when he spoke to their Leary, GA Chapter on January 6, 1969. The report "U.S. Space Science Program Report to COSPAR, 1970" (QB504.U54, Appendix I, page 154) documents that there was a barium cloud launched from Eglin AFB (Rocket Number AG7.626) and released on January 6, 1969 at 7:35 pm EST (January 7, 1969, 0035 UTC) [COSPAR stands for Committee on Space Research]. 

The reported altitude for this cloud was 152 km. With a distance between Leary, GA and Eglin AFB, FL of about 234 km, this cloud would have appeared in the sky at an elevation of 33 degrees (consistent with Carter's estimate of a 30 degree elevation). Carter's report notes that stars were visible, so the night must have been clear.

 I can verify from personal experience that under clear skies, a barium cloud such as this would easily have been visible from the distance of Leary, GA. Carter reported the UFO "appeared from West". The direction of Eglin AFB from Leary, GA is approximately WSW. Thus this barium cloud at Eglin is consistent with Carter's reported "UFO" as to time, elevation, and direction. Furthermore, the appearance reported by Carter is totally consistent with a high-altitude barium cloud. His report stated that it was "bluish at first, then reddish, luminous, not solid". 

A neutral barium cloud would initially glow bluish or greenish, with parts of it taking on a reddish glow as some of the barium becomes ionized in the high altitude sunlight. The size and brightness, reported as being about that of the moon, would also be consistent with a barium cloud at Eglin, as viewed from Leary, GA. Carter has been reported as saying that he never believed that he had seen an alien spacecraft, but that he had no idea exactly what it was. I'm interested in exploring if this information could be relayed to President Carter, so that if he wishes to, he can better understand what it was that he saw back then.

A former Israeli space security chief has sent eyebrows shooting heavenward by saying that earthlings have been in contact with extraterrestrials from a "galactic federation."

"The Unidentified Flying Objects have asked not to publish that they are here, humanity is not ready yet," Haim Eshed, former head of Israel's Defense Ministry's space directorate, told Israel's Yediot Aharonot newspaper. The interview in Hebrew ran on Friday, and gained traction after parts were published in English by the Jerusalem Post on Tuesday.

A respected professor and retired general, Eshed said the aliens were equally curious about humanity and were seeking to understand "the fabric of the universe."

Eshed said cooperation agreements had been signed between species, including an "underground base in the depths of Mars" where there are American astronauts and alien representatives.

"There is an agreement between the U.S. government and the aliens. They signed a contract with us to do experiments here," he said.

Eshed added that President Donald Trump was aware of the extraterrestrials' existence and had been "on the verge of revealing" information but was asked not to in order to prevent "mass hysteria."

"They have been waiting until today for humanity to develop and reach a stage where we will understand, in general, what space and spaceships are," Eshed said, referring to the galactic federation.

The White House and Israeli officials did not immediately respond to NBC News’ request for comment. Sue Gough, a spokesperson for the Pentagon, declined to comment.

A spokesperson for NASA said one of the agency's key goals was the search for life in the universe but that it had yet to find signs of extraterrestrial life.

"Although we have yet to find signs of extraterrestrial life, NASA is exploring the solar system and beyond to help us answer fundamental questions, including whether we are alone in the universe," the spokesperson said in a statement.

Eshed's ideas are spelled out in more detail in "The Universe Beyond the Horizon — conversations with Professor Haim Eshed" by Hagar Yanai published in November.

Eshed, who oversaw the launch of numerous Israeli satellites into space, said he was only speaking out now because attitudes were changing and people seemed more receptive.

"If I had come up with what I'm saying today five years ago, I would have been hospitalized," he told Yediot. "Today, they're already talking differently. I have nothing to lose. I've received my degrees and awards, I am respected in universities abroad."

In May, Trump said, "Space is going to be the future, both in terms of defense and offense ... we're now the leader on space," as he was presented with the official flag of a newly created military branch, Space Force.

Its focus, along with a Space Command, is on space as a military domain for the U.S., preserving satellites and communications and a focus on geo-politics in new terrain.

You are the Indigenous Hebrew People of America who spoke Aramaic or some type of ancient Semitic language.

Are you eating from the belly of the beast?

Revelation 18:24 In her was found the blood of prophets and of God’s holy people,

The Adena Culture of the Northeast

From the years of about 1000 B.C. to about 1 A.D. the Adena people were a group of well-organized societies that lived in parts of present-day Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, West Virginia, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and New York.

The Adena people were not a single tribe, but rather, a group of indigenous people that shared similarities in artifact style, architecture, and other cultural practices, including a common burial and ceremonial system that included mound building. The Adena were the first group of “mound builders,” a practice that spanned several cultures over a period of about 20 centuries.

Building these mounds was a monumental task as these ancient people didn’t use the wheel and had no horses. Large amounts of earth would have to have been moved by the basket-load to the mound site. Probably, for this reason, the mounds were used more than once. Over the years, more earth was brought in and the mounds were built higher and higher, containing multiple burials at different levels.

Most of the mounds range in size from 20 to 300 feet in diameter. However, the conical-type Grave Creek Mound in Moundsville, West Virginia, is much larger. The largest of Adena’s burial mounds, standing at 62 feet high and is 240 feet in diameter, is thought to have been built over a period of 100 years or more.

According to research, these earthworks not only served for burial purposes, but also as ceremonial sites and as territorial markers. They were built and added on to as part of their burial rituals. Some people were cremated while others were buried intact.

A mortuary structure stood atop or near the mound, where the dead would be kept until their final burial was performed. Within this structure, the remains would lie and grave goods of tools and other necessary items for the afterlife would be placed. After a period of time, the structure would be burned with the goods and honored dead within, and become part of the mound.

For important people, such as clan leaders, healers, and shaman, however, their bodies were buried on the mound with a variety of artifacts such as bone or flint tools, beads, jewelry, pipes and mica, and copper ornaments. These included both men and women of all ages.

Adena Ritual Mounds

Adena Ritual Mounds

In the later Adena period, circular ridges were sometimes constructed around the burial earthworks which are thought to have been ritual spaces.

The name “Adena” originates from the estate of Ohio Governor Thomas Worthington, which was located about a mile and a half northwest of Chillicothe, Ohio. His estate, which he called Adena, included a 26-foot tall ancient burial mound, from which the culture and the mound took the name.

The Adena people were hunter-gatherers, but also grew various crops, including squash, sunflower, pumpkin, goosefoot, and tobacco. They lived in extended family groups of roughly 15 to 20 people, with several extended families forming a lineage or clan. Between four to six of these clans made up an Adena social group.

Their houses were circular with conical-shaped roofs, made of wood, bark, and wickerwork that were from 15 to 45 feet in diameter. Just a few of these dwellings formed a small village.

However, they were known to have traveled widely for hunting, gathering, and trading needs. They supplemented their gardens with gathering native plants, seeds, grasses, nuts, and berries, hunted game, and fished. Their wide trading network provided them with copper from the Great Lakes and shells from the Gulf Coast.

Adena Stone Tablet

The Adena people were the first to produce clay pottery in the region, which was characterized by large, thick-walled vessels used for cooking, and other flatforms to grind seeds. They also made tools, including hoes, axes, and projectiles from stones, bones, and antlers. They also made use of plant fibers and sinew to make twine, cord, and yarn, which they turned into bags, shoes, and clothing. They used herbal medicines to treat ailments.

Beads, combs, and ornamental objects were also made from bone and antler, and spoons, beads and other implements were made from the conch shells. A few copper axes have been found, but the copper was usually used for ornamental forms and jewelry.

They were also renowned for their artistry. They created numerous pieces with art motifs, such as the weeping eye, cross, and circle designs, that became mainstays to many later Native Americans tribes. Many of their designs revolved around the transformation of humans into animals, such as birds, wolves, bears and deer, and then back to human form. Antlers, animal jawbones, copper, beads, and jewelry were used in costumes and other forms of regalia. They carved small stone tablets which bore animal pictures and geometric designs, that may have been used to stamp designs on cloth or animal hides, or onto their own bodies.

In about 500 B.C., the Adena culture began slowly to give way to a more sophisticated culture, the Hopewell Culture. These people were also mound builders, whose primary period was between 1 A.D. to 700 A.D. The Hopewell people began to build larger earthworks and to expand their efforts to acquire exotic raw materials, such as mica and more copper. Other cultures extended Mound Builders to about 1300 A.D.

At one time the Adena mound sites numbered up to 200, but only a small number of them remain today. Some of these include the Criel and Grave Creek Mounds in West Virginia, and the Adena, Biggs, Enon, Miamisburg, and Wolf Plains Mounds in Ohio.

Years later, when some of these burial mounds were excavated, there were a number of very tall skeletons that were found, which led to numerous tales of “Giants in America.”

Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is a common flavor additive that has a reputation for being harmful to your health. While some people may be more sensitive to MSG than others, experts generally consider it safe, especially in smaller doses.

Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) is a flavor enhancer that has been widely used for roughly 100 years.

In addition to being naturally present in certain foods, it’s a common food additive in Chinese recipes, canned vegetables and soups, and other processed goods.

For years, MSG has been viewed as an unhealthy ingredient. However, newer research questions the accuracy of its purported adverse effects on human health.

This article examines MSG and what current evidence has to say about its health effects.

What is MSG?

MSG is short for monosodium glutamate.

It’s a flavor enhancer derived from L-glutamic acid, which is naturally present in many foods. L-glutamic acid is a nonessential amino acid, meaning that your body can produce it by itself and doesn’t need to get it from food.

MSG is a white, odorless, crystalline powder commonly used as a food additive. In the food industry, it’s known as E621. It dissolves easily in water, separating into sodium and free glutamate.

It’s made by fermenting carb sources like sugar beet, sugar cane, and molasses.

There’s no chemical difference between the glutamic acid found naturally in some foods and that found in MSG. This means your body can’t differentiate between the two types.

MSG has a specific taste known as umami — the fifth basic taste alongside sweet, sour, salty, and bitter. Umami has a meaty flavor that refers to the presence of proteins in food.

Besides MSG, other umami compounds include inosine 5’-monophosphate (IMP) and guanosine 5’-monophosphate (GMP).

MSG is popular in Asian cooking and used in various processed foods in the West. It’s estimated that people’s average daily intake is 0.3–1.0 gramsTrusted Source.

Why do people think it’s harmful?

MSG got its bad reputation in the 1960s when Chinese-American doctor Robert Ho Man Kwok wrote a letter to the New England Journal of Medicine explaining that he got sick after consuming Chinese food.

He wrote that he believed his symptoms could have resulted from consuming either alcohol, sodium, or MSG. This sparked a host of misinformation about MSG, which was likely related to then-present biases against Chinese immigrants and their cuisine.

The letter led to the designation of Kwok’s symptoms as the “Chinese restaurant syndrome,” which later became the “MSG symptom complex” (MSC).

Older vs. current research on MSG’s health effects

MSG has been linked toTrusted Source obesity, metabolic disorders, brain toxicity, and MSC. Here’s what the current research has to say about these purported downsides.

Effect on Energy Intake:

Older animal and human studiesTrusted Source state that by making food taste better, MSG disrupts the signaling effect of the hormone leptin in your brain. Leptin is in charge of telling your body that you’ve had enough to eat. In turn, this is said to increase your calorie intake.

However, the current data on MSG’s effects on energy intake is contradictory. Some animal studiesTrusted Source have found that it may reduce appetite, while othersTrusted Source support the idea that its flavor-enhancing properties could lead to overeating.

The contradictory results might have to do with the nutritional profile of a meal. For example, eating MSG-enhanced, high protein meals has been linked in animal studiesTrusted Source to increased feelings of fullness, while this link hasn’t been observed with high carb meals.

However, this could also be because protein is the most filling macronutrient — it might not have anything to do with the MSG content.

Other studiesTrusted Source note that eating MSG-enriched meals could cause you to eat fewer calories at subsequent meals and reduce your energy intake from non-MSG-enriched and savory, high fat foods.

Ultimately, more research on the connection between MSG and energy intake is needed.

Obesity and metabolic disorders:

MSG has been associated with an increased risk of metabolic disorders, primarily due to animal studiesTrusted Source that have linked the additive to insulin resistance, high blood sugar levels, and diabetes.

However, previous research has used imprecise methods for determining MSG consumption, such as injections instead of oral doses. This could lead to effects on the brain that are not associated with dietary intake (1Trusted Source, 2Trusted Source, 12Trusted Source).

What’s more, the current data is contradictory. For instance, animal studiesTrusted Source have found an association between umami substances and anti-obesity effects. In contrast, other animal and human studiesTrusted Source show no effect on body weight.

While it appears that typical dietary MSG intakes are unlikely to influence body weight or fat metabolism, more human studies are needed.

Effect on brain health:

Glutamate plays many important roles in brain function. For starters, it acts as a neurotransmitter — a chemical substance that stimulates nerve cells to transmit signals.

Some animal and human studiesTrusted Source claim that MSG can lead to brain toxicity by causing excessive glutamate levels in the brain to overstimulate nerve cells, resulting in cell death.

However, dietary glutamate likely has little to no effect on your brain, as almost none of it passes from the gut into the blood or crosses the brain barrier.

Overall, no compelling evidence suggests that MSG alters brain chemistry when consumed in normal amounts.

Some people may be sensitive:

Some people may experience adverse effects from consuming MSG due to a condition called MSG symptom complex (MSC). It’s estimated to affect less than 1%Trusted Source of the general population.

MSC is characterized byTrusted Source symptoms similar to those described by Dr. Kwok in his letter. They include weakness, flushing, dizziness, headache, numbness, muscle tightness, difficulty breathing, and even the loss of consciousness.

The threshold dose that causes short-term and mild symptoms in sensitive people appears to be 3 or more grams Trusted Source of MSG without food.

Keep in mind, though, that a 3-gram dose is a high one. A typical serving of an MSG-enriched food contains less than half a gramTrusted Source of the additive, so consuming 3 grams at one time is highly unlikely.

It’s a good idea to work with a healthcare professional or dietitian to determine the amount of MSG that is appropriate for you.

Trey Knowles' "Tax Collector" is a thought-provoking song that critiques modern financial and political systems. It draws parallels to historical figures like Zacharias, questioning whether those in power will acknowledge past injustices and provide reparations. The lyrics explore themes of justice, accountability, and societal change, urging listeners to reflect on the role of wealth and power in shaping communities.

Trey Knowles' "Set Yourself Free" is a song that encourages listeners to resist material temptations and break free from oppression. The lyrics emphasize the idea that possessions can lead to conflict and bondage, urging individuals to walk in the spirit of God rather than being controlled by worldly desire.

Trey Knowles' "Fugio" is an allegorical song that critiques historical figures, particularly Benjamin Franklin. The lyrics suggest that Franklin mistreated, jailed, and killed indigenous people while simultaneously asserting control over global currency. The song appears to expose these injustices and challenge the narrative surrounding Franklin's legacy.