WEEK IN REVIEW

US: The Environmental Protection Agency finally has acknowledged what readers of Need to Know have known for at least two years, that the nation’s most-used neonicotinoid pesticides pose a significant threat to honey bees. However, in an outrageous turnabout, the EPA still refuses to restrict the use of these pesticides. The capture of the EPA by the pesticide industry is  painfully obvious, but Congress (also captured) will do nothing about it. EcoWatch 2017 Jan 13 (Story) (Cached)

A group of liberal Hollywood celebrities including Rosie O’Donnell, Amy Schumer, Miley Cyrus, and George Clooney, are calling for a total Hollywood strike “until Trump resigns”. They describe Hollywood as “the base of the entire modern American culture” (which, unfortunately, may be true) but also claim to speak on behalf of all humanity. Commentator, Gary Franchi, may be onto something when he calls for real humanity to turn the tables and boycott Hollywood. [Not likely, of course, but pleasant to think about.] Next News Network 2017 Jan 13 (Story)

Phoenix, Arizona: An unidentified man shot a state trooper, who was investigating an accident, and then proceeded to beat him at the roadside. An armed passing driver stopped and shot the attacker – and surely saved the trooper’s life. AP 2017 Jan 13 (Story) (Cached)

With just over a week left in office, President Obama has massively expanded NSA authority to share unfiltered personal emails and communications with the 16 other US intelligence agencies. Reason 2017 Jan 13 (Story) (Cached) 

Syria has accused Israel of carrying out what it called a “flagrant” rocket attack on a military base used by President Assad’s elite Republican Guards. Euronews 2017 Jan 12 (Story)

The FBI and James Comey now are being investigated by the Inspector General for improprieties in their investigation of Hillary Clinton’s emails. CBS News 2017 Jan 12 (Story)

West Virginia: Federal Judge, John Bailey, ordered the EPA to calculate the cost to Americans for closure of coal plants, job losses, other financial damages, and future economic losses from implementing the Clean Air Act. For the past eight years, the EPA has refused to monitor the effects of the Clean Air Act on employment and the economy, as mandated by Congress. Now, the agency has been ordered by the court to obey the law. State Journal 2017 Jan 12 (Story) (Cached)

Billionaire hedge-fund manager, George Soros, lost nearly $1 billion when the stock-market rallied after Donald Trump’s presidential victory. Soros predicted that a Trump win would crash the markets, but they gained instead. [Since Soros lost a billion dollars, he must have bet on a market drop instead of a rise. Since he said the market would drop if Trump won, and since he gambled on it dropping, it follows that he must have thought Trump would win. The only other interpretation is that he thought the market would drop no matter who won, in which his warning about Trump causing a downturn were, shall we say, ‘insincere’?.] Breitbart 2017 Jan 12 (Story) (Cached)

The Pentagon successfully tested 103 autonomous mini-drones that use collective decision making within the swarm. This could change warfare by removing humans, not only from the battlefield, but from the command center as well. The future of humans is not looking very good if left in the hands of the technocrats. Embryologists are getting close to being able to create babies without a mother. If so, they will be owned by the state. The endgame is to make robots and dumbed-down humans to become slaves to the ruling elites. InfoWars 2017 Jan 12 (Story)

Dylann Roof, the 22-year old white man who killed nine black people in a church, showed no remorse during his trial. He was convicted of 33 federal charges and was sentenced to death. France24 2017 Jan 11 (Story)

President-Elect Donald Trump says he will impose a heavy border tax on products from companies that move out of the US to manufacture their goods. [Regardless of how we may feel about the merits of that proposal, we should be mindful that the Constitution places the power of taxation on Congress, not the President.] PBS Newshour 2017 Jan 11 (Story)

A group of students at the University of London are demanding that the writings of Plato, Aristotle, and Voltaire be banned from the philosophy syllabus. Why? Because the authors are white. RT 2017 Jan 10 (Story)

New York: Areas of Brooklyn, heavily populated by Hasidic Jews, have established volunteer security patrols for their neighborhoods. Shomrim is a private organization formed to respond to criminal acts faster than is customary for city police. This report shows that, over time, Shomrin has become corrupted and may have used bribes and political connections to acquire undue influence over the New York Police Department. That influence includes obtaining immunity from prosecution for criminal acts committed by people in the Hasidic community. Much of this information was brought to light in a recent investigation of a prominent member of Shomrim who is charged with bribing police officials to obtain gun-carry permits. The Daily Beast posted 2017 Jan 10 (Story) (Cached)

 A new study conducted at King’s College, London, shows that glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto’s RoundUp Ready pesticide, can cause ‘non-alcoholic fatty liver disease’ in rats when delivered in doses thousands of times lower than what is being consumes by humans from pesticide residue in their food. Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease now affects 90 million Americans. EcoWatch 2017 Jan 10 (Story) (Cached)

Robert Kennedy, Jr. has been chosen by Donald Trump to lead a committee to investigate vaccine safety and scientific integrity. He says that he and Trump both are “pro-vaccine” but have serious questions about vaccine safety. [This partly is a word game. Questions about the lack of vaccine safety are the primary reason for not being “pro-vaccine.” We shall see how this plays out.] AP 2017 Jan 10 (Story)

A report from the Council on Foreign Relations shows that, in 2016, the US dropped 26,000 bombs on countries around the world, averaging 72 bombs per day. Syria (12,192 bombs) and Iraq (12,095 bombs) topped the list. [Obama, the man who oversaw this activity, is a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.] RT 2017 Jan 10 (Story)

More than 100 countries have signed an agreement to share ALL personal and business financial information automatically, which means without a warrant or even a request. It will just happen as a matter of course. All banks, investment companies, brokerage firms, and insurance companies will participate. National sovereignty in such matters is gone. The Banks posted 2017 Jan 9 (Story) (Cached)

David Knight reports that the accused mass shooter in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, previously had complained to the FBI because he was being forced to watch ISIS recruiting videos. (You read that correctly.) The shooting just happened to coincide with the introduction of a Florida bill that would repeal existing laws against private gun ownership. [This law would allow those with concealed-carry licenses to bring guns into passenger terminals, college campuses, government meetings, and other favorite locations for mass shooters. Does anyone else smell a rat here?] InfoWars 2017 Jan 8 (Story)

An Al Jazeera reporter covertly filmed an Israeli diplomat plotting with a British staff member of the British Parliament to destroy the careers of British politicians who opposes Israeli settlements. We know that this sort of thing is common, but it is rare that hard proof comes to light. Al Jazeera 2017 Jan 7 (Story) (Cached)

The CIA is not happy about Donald Trump questioning its story that Russia hacked the DNC and Podesta emails. Senator Chuck Schumer said that Trump is unwise to do this because the intelligence community has “six ways from Sunday at getting back at you”. A sobering thought, because it is true. InfoWars posted 2017 Jan 7 (Story)

In 2017, all French citizens become organ donors by law. For now, it is still possible to opt out of the program, but citizens must apply to the government for permission to do so. [Collectivism marches on.] Fox News posted 2017 Jan 7 (Story) (Cached)