In May, Kevin McCarthy determined that the debt ceiling was a bigger problem than the debt. He therefore gave Joe Biden a blank check to issue unlimited debt for the remainder of his presidency, and the president’s secretary of the treasury has utilized the free credit line with alacrity. 

Nearly every cleaning product in your home may release hundreds of potentially toxic chemicals when used, a study suggests.

Researchers at the Environmental Working Group tested 30 common household products such as glass cleaners, stain removers and air fresheners.

They said that all but one released measurable levels of volatile compounds, or VOCs — tiny toxins linked to cancers, asthma and fertility problems when inhaled. 

Ten products released levels of the chemicals that were so high they breached European safety standards, and the VOCs lingered in the air for up to four hours.

Even some 'green' products — that claimed to be safer and more environmentally friendly — released hazardous levels of VOCs, they said.

The researchers added that the study was a 'wake-up call' for consumers, saying that people needed to be 'more aware' of the risks from cleaning products.

Pictured above are the 29 out of 30 products that released VOCs into the air. They are ranked by the total amount of VOCs released into the air within four hours of use, from most to least released, according to the study. Only one product that was tested — Dr Bronner's pure-castile soap, baby unscented — did not release any VOCs when it was used. Ten products released levels of VOCs that were so high that they breached European safety standards

 Despite the claims by some that worries about inflation are overwrought, the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) revealed Wednesday that the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) rose 0.6% in August, rising 3.7% over the last 12 months to an index level of 307.02.  That followed a rise of 3.2% in July in consumer price growth, making that two successive months of price ascension, stoking fears that inflation may be more difficult to reduce than optimistic economists had estimated.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has pitched an economic-integration plan for Taiwan, while at the same time deploying a historically large fleet of warships and aircraft surrounding the self-governing island.

Released on Tuesday by the CCP’s Central Committee and Beijing’s State Council, the proposal was touted as a “blueprint” for Taiwan’s future development. Under the plan, the coastal province of Fujian would become a “demonstration zone” for the integrated development of Taiwan.

The proposal calls for allowing Taiwanese residents to live, work, and study on the mainland, initially in Fujian. Taiwanese businesses would also be allowed to hang a shingle in the neighboring province and would be encouraged to list their shares on Chinese stock exchanges.

As Republican-led House committees launched an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden this week, Democrats and their corporate media allies have been scrambling to claim the move is just a political attack.

Some claim the investigations are revenge for President Donald Trump’s impeachment.

Corporate media “journalists,” meanwhile, are trying to claim there is “no evidence” against Biden.

However, House Oversight and Judiciary Committees have gathered mountains of evidence over recent months, including bank statements and multiple witness testimonies.

The evidence strongly indicates that Biden has been running a lucrative foreign influence peddling business since serving as Obama’s vice president.

Bank records show millions of dollars flowing into the Bidens’ accounts from foreign nationals.

In a post on Twitter/X, former Fox News producer Kyle Becker laid out a full list of all the evidence against Biden that has been obtained by House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-KY), who are now leading the inquiry.

Saudi Arabia’s $700bn sovereign wealth fund – which has been used as a lever of global influence by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman – has been subpoenaed by a powerful Senate committee after it refused to voluntarily comply with information requests about its US dealings.

The subpoena, which was issued by the Senate’s permanent subcommittee on investigations, is targeting the Public Investment Fund’s wholly-owned US subsidiaries in connection to the group’s proposed golf deal and “related investments throughout the United States”.

The PIF is also the majority owner of Newcastle United football club.

The subpoena was announced on Wednesday at a committee hearing led by its chairman, the Democratic senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut. On its face, the hearing was meant to focus on Saudi’s controversial proposed golf merger.

But the hearing – and lengthy remarks by both Democrats and Republicans – delved instead into Saudi’s record human rights abuses, the kingdom’s alleged role in the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and fundamental objections to attempts by the oil rich nation to takeover assets of national interest.

How did scientists react?

Largely with disbelief and ridicule.

For a start, it was pointed out that if the UNAM had carried out such analysis it would be published in a journal and peer-reviewed, which it hasn't been. 

'If this was real, we'd see proper scientific data and evidence being presented by experts, published in papers that would be appearing in peer-reviewed journals like Nature or Science,' astronomer Michael Garrett, a professor at the University of Manchester, told MailOnline.  

'Other scientists would be scrutinizing the data and forming their own independent analysis — that's how science works.' 

In a statement published two days before Maussan appeared in front of Congress, the UNAM did not directly confirm or deny his bombshell claims.

But it added: 'Just as detectives carefully analyze the crime scene looking for evidence, scientists meticulously analyze the data obtained in observatories.

'The most interested in the search for extraterrestrial life are scientists and we will continue to look for it with the rigor that science demands. Quoting Carl Sagan: "Extraordinary statements require extraordinary evidence".'

President Joe Biden made his first comments on his impeachment, telling a group of Democratic donors that Republicans 'want to impeach me because they want to shut down the government.'

Biden, speaking at a fundraising reception in McLean, Virginia, specifically mentioned conservative Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and her interest in impeaching him since the day Republicans took control of the House of Representatives.

'Well, I tell you what, I don’t know quite why, but they just knew they wanted to impeach me. And now, the best I can tell, they want to impeach me because they want to shut down the government,' he said.

'So look, look, I got a job to do. Everybody always asked about impeachment. I get up every day, not a joke, not focused on impeachment. I’ve got a job to do. I've got to deal with the issues that affect the American people every single solitary day,' he noted. 

It was his first time acknowledging he faces the possibility of being convicted and removed from office. His most extensive comments to date came behind-closed doors. No TV cameras or photographers were allowed inside the fundraiser, only a small group of print reporters. 

Journalist and self-proclaimed “ufologist” Jaime Maussan spearheaded the event in Congress, where he testified under oath that the mummified bodies are not part of “our terrestrial evolution,” and that almost one third of their DNA is “unknown,” Mexican media reported.

At the Congressional hearing, Maussan reportedly showed both U.S. officials and members of the Mexican government multiple videos of “UFOs and unidentified anomalous phenomena” before unveiling the two alleged alien corpses.

“These specimen are not part of our terrestrial evolution… These aren’t beings that were found after a UFO wreckage. They were found in diatom (algae) mines, and were later fossilized,” he said.

During the hearing, Maussan also claimed that the alleged non-human bodies were studied by scientists from the Autonomous National University of Mexico (UNAM), and that those scientists were able to draw DNA samples and later determine that over 30 percent of the specimens’ DNA was “unknown.”

But Maussan’s assertions have not been proven, and his previous claims regarding the discovery of alien life have been debunked.

In 2017, for example, Maussan claimed that five mummies found in Peru were “alien” discoveries, only to later be debunked when it was revealed that the mummies were actually the remains of human children.

The United States Air Force is claiming that China is building up its military to prepare for a potential war with the U.S., and he said America must optimize its forces to counter the rising threat. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall on Monday warned that the U.S. must be ready for a “kind of war we have no modern experience with,” though he stressed, “war is not inevitable.”

“Our job is to deter that war and to be ready to win if it occurs,” Kendall said according to the Air Force’s military website. “We’re all talking about the fact that the Air and Space Forces must change, or we could fail to prevent and might even lose a war.”

Kendall said it was vital for the U.S. to prepare for war because China is developing its forces at a rapid pace. China has also created two new military branches: a force designed to counter aircraft carriers, airfields, and other critical assets, and a strategic support service that works to achieve information dominance in the space and cyber domains. The Air Force secretary said, “China has been reoptimizing its forces for great power competition and to prevail against the U.S. in the Western Pacific for over 20 years.”

Recent comments from a wealthy Australian property developer named Tim Gurner are going viral on social media right now for the unusual frankness with which he discusses the inherent conflicts of interest between the working class and employers, saying workers who’ve grown lazy and arrogant during Covid need to experience economic pain in the form of unemployment to rein them in and put them in their place.

Gurner, who with a net worth of $912 million is ranked by the Australian Financial Review as the 154th richest person in Australia, made the remarks at the Australian Financial Review Property Summit on Tuesday.

“You know, tradies [Australian slang for tradesmen] have definitely pulled back on productivity,” Gurner said. “They have been paid a lot to do not too much in the last few years. And we need to see that change. I think the problem that we’ve had is that we have people who decided they didn’t really want to work so much anymore through Covid.”

President Biden's administration is facing criticism for planning to send a letter to major news organizations, including CNN, the New York Times, and Fox News, urging them to increase their scrutiny of House Republicans.

The letter specifically targets the impeachment inquiry launched by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy into President Biden's alleged involvement in his son Hunter Biden's foreign business deals. McCarthy claims that President Biden lied to the American people about his knowledge of his family's foreign business dealings and alleges a culture of corruption. However, the White House's attempt to influence news organizations' editorial strategies has raised concerns about government interference in the media.

Journalist Matthew Keys expressed his disapproval of the White House's actions, stating that the government should not be encouraging or influencing newsrooms' editorial strategies. He also pointed out that this move by the Biden administration reflects a lack of confidence in the news media, which is consistent with public sentiment in recent years.

On Wednesday, journalist Julie Kelly, who has made a name for herself covering January 6th and the various trials associated with the participants from that day, released never-before-seen footage showing police officers leaving entrances unguarded and then opening from the inside.

"UNSEEN FOOTAGE: DC cops retreat from position on upper west terrace around 2:30 on January 6. They had been attacking the crowd with gas, stun grenades, rubber bullets for over an hour," Kelly wrote on X. "They left that door unprotected. Moments later, it was opened from inside…"

"At least 300 individuals entered that doorway after police left the scene," she explained.

"Inside, several Capitol police officers stood by as people streamed into the building," Kelly reported. "They did not try to shut and lock the door or instruct people to leave. (Highlighted person is Ethan Nordean, sentenced to 18 years)."

Often, after the demise of political figures, their troubling histories are whitewashed in the name of respecting their memories and the feelings of their families. The passing of former United States Secretary of State Madeleine Albright on Wednesday has been no exception.

Western media responded to the news of her death with a plethora of obituaries eulogising her achievements. Countless statements have been released, by governments, institutions and public figures, celebrating the “trailblazing” politician for being the first woman to hold the office of Secretary of State and for receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Former President Bill Clinton, under whom Albright served as America’s top diplomat, referred to her as “a passionate force for freedom, democracy, and human rights”. President Joe Biden, meanwhile, proclaimed she “was always a force for goodness, grace, and decency – and for freedom”.

For me as an Iraqi, however, the memory of Albright will forever be tainted by the stringent sanctions she helped place on my country at a time when it was already devastated by years of war. Millions of innocent Iraqis suffered terribly and hundreds of thousands died because of the sanctions which, in the end, achieved almost none of Washington’s policy objectives. As we remember Albright’s life and achievements, we must also remember those innocent Iraqi lives lost because of her policy decisions.

The most prominent memory of Albright that I have in my mind is from an interview she gave to CBS 60 Minutes in 1996.

In that now-iconic interview, veteran journalist Lesley Stahl questioned Albright – then the US ambassador to the United Nations – on the catastrophic effect the rigorous US sanctions imposed after Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait had on the Iraqi population.

“We have heard that half a million [Iraqi] children have died. I mean, that is more children than died in Hiroshima,” asked Stahl, “And, you know, is the price worth it?”

“I think that is a very hard choice,” Albright answered, “but the price, we think, the price is worth it.”

With this response, Albright showed that she sees innocent Iraqi children as nothing more than disposable fodder in a conflict between the US administration and the Iraqi leadership.

Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer has urged the EU to acknowledge that Türkiye does not stand a chance of ever becoming a member of the bloc. He emphasized the need to discontinue the stagnant accession process while suggesting that Brussels explores alternative avenues to deepen its relationship with Ankara.

In an interview with Germany’s Die Welt newspaper published on Tuesday, Nehammer said: “We are for further convergence between Ankara and Brussels, but Türkiye’s full membership in the EU is not imaginable for us.”

“It is important that we treat each other honestly, and that also means to formally end the accession negotiations that have been frozen for years and to develop a new concept for neighborly cooperation,” the head of government clarified. The Austrian chancellor emphasized that Ankara remains an essential partner of the EU.

The instant news arrived on planet Earth that Russia’s Luna 25 spacecraft had crashed into the moon, and 50,000 Western journalists began overheating their keyboards. Any Russian mishap causes a feeding frenzy at Russophobia propaganda mission control, somewhere deep under the White House. And now, Art Technica has proclaimed Russian President Vladimir Putin “a disastrous space leader.” Meanwhile, Boris Badenov and Natasha Fatale (Bullwinkle and Rocky’s arch enemies) are disheartened their Fearless Leader might be slipping.

When I read the headline “The failure of Luna 25 cements Putin’s role as a disastrous space leader,” a vision came over me. For an instant, I saw Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov and President Putin chuckling a repeating one after the other Kosmicheskiy lider (Space leader). Just when all 8 billion of us knew things couldn’t get nuttier, Russia’s leader is no good in space, either. In all seriousness, we are at a point where the propaganda circus is all about the clowns entertaining us. There is no longer (if there ever was) any substance to the rubbing.

But wait. What about Sergey Valerievich, Soyuz MS-22 TPK commander and ISS-68 commander, up in space with his colleagues Dmitry Petelin and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio? What about Boeing and NASA being unable to compete with Elon Musk’s SpaceX because of goof-ups like lining the inside of the Starliner cabin with flammable tape? So far, Boeing has reported a staggering $1.1 billion in losses on the Starliner. Does this make President Joe Biden an evil space commander too?

What about looking back in history? When the Spacecraft Challenger disintegrated 46,000 feet (14 km) above the Atlantic Ocean, killing all seven astronauts, was Ronald Reagan impeached over faulty booster expansion o-rings? Then there was Apollo 1, which caught fire in a practice run on the launch pad, killing all three U.S. astronauts. It was 1967, and President Lyndon Johnson was not labeled a bad space commander-in-chief! Even when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated as it reentered the atmosphere, killing all seven astronauts on board in 2003, George W. Bush wasn’t blamed or even embarrassed.

The first U.S.S.R. mission to explore the planet Venus (Venera 1 and Venera 2) were lost in space due to failed telemetry. Still, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev was not transformed into some version of a fumbling Darth Vader. The Soviets pressed on and eventually launched the first human-made probe (Venera 7) to transmit data from the surface of Venus.

One can only imagine what would have changed had Popular Mechanics or another scientific magazine labeled Khrushchev or his successor, Leonid Brezhnev, “disastrous space leaders!”

So, Luna 25 malfunctions, and the spacecraft smashes into the moon. The overall cost to the Russians is about $130 million. And, of course, Vladimir Putin cannot take command of space for a while longer. Ars Technica, interestingly, is a subsidiary of Advanced Publications, which is owned the mega-rich Newhouse family, descendants of immigrants from the Russian Empire.

Sarah Ashton-Cirillo, the transgender ex-journalist from the US who is now a spokesperson for Ukraine's Territorial Defense Forces, has issued yet another bizarre and unhinged statement on behalf of the Ukrainian military.

The military spokesperson is vowing that Russia's "propagandists" will be "hunted down" in a message which was published days ago, but which is now going viral and being mocked. 

Ashton-Cirillo said in the clip, "Next week, the teeth of the Russian devils will gnash ever harder, and their rabid mouths will foam an uncontrollable frenzy as the world will see a favorite Kremlin propagandist pay for their crimes."

"And this puppet of Putin is only the first. Russia's war criminal propagandists will all be hunted down, and justice will be served, as we in Ukraine are led on this mission by faith in God, liberty, and complete liberation," he said.

The message appeared to be on the occasion of Ukraine's criminal trial against detained Chilean-American journalist Gonzalo Lira. In May, Lira was arrested for a second time by the SBU and has been in detention since then, reportedly on charges of "justifying Russia's aggression, denying/glorifying Russian war crimes, and undermining Ukraine's leadership and Defense Forces."

The top adviser to Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, Mikhail Podoliak, blamed “Russian propaganda” on Wednesday for reaction to his remarks about China and India having “low intellectual potential” and allegedly not understanding the world properly.

“Classic Russian propaganda: take it out of context, distort the meaning, scale it up to separate target audiences with conflict provocation,” Podoliak said on X, formerly Twitter. 

He did not, however, deny saying what he said in a widely shared interview with a Ukrainian outlet on Tuesday. 

“The problem with these countries is that they do not analyze the consequences of their own moves. These countries, unfortunately, have low intellectual potential,” Podoliak had said, adding that just because India has a lunar exploration program, that “does not mean that this nation understands what the modern world precisely is.”

His remarks drew criticism from many Indians on X, while the Chinese Foreign Ministry demanded a clarification.

The US Consulate General in Krakow is soliciting Polish outlets to write about Ukrainian refugees “returning and rebuilding,” it emerged on Wednesday. Washington is offering $50,000 for the year-long project.

The project “to promote coverage in Poland by local and regional media representatives of stories in Ukraine” was first spotted by a Telegram channel based in Belarus. It can be found at the website of the US embassy in Poland, under the designation WAW-NOFO-FY23-05.

It was unclear when the solicitation was originally posted. However, the deadline for submissions is end of the day Friday, September 15.

The Czech Republic announced on Wednesday that it would not send military-age men who arrived as refugees back to Ukraine to be conscripted. Germany, Austria and Hungary have already made similar declarations.

European conventions exclude extradition for charges such as desertion or draft evasion, Czech Justice Ministry spokesman Vladimir Repka told the outlet iDnes. However, he added that if Ukraine files individual extradition requests citing a specific criminal act they may have committed, Prague may give them more consideration. 

Hungary has ruled out any extraditions outright. 

“We are not investigating any Ukrainian refugees to determine if they have been called up for military service. Hungary will not extradite them to Ukraine,” Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén told the outlet ATV on Wednesday. “All refugees from Ukraine are safe in Hungary.”

 The White House sent out a plea to journalists asking for assistance in fending off the House impeachment inquiry against President Joe Biden.