What’s in Store for VA Disability Benefits with New Office of Management and Budget Chief?

What’s in Store for VA Disability Benefits with New Office of Management and Budget Chief?

Vought, confirmed Thursday in a 53-47 Senate vote, spearheaded a 2023 report by the Center for Renewing America think tank that called for reducing VA disability compensation for veterans who reach Social Security retirement age and eliminating unemployability benefits for these veterans as well.

The report also proposed cutting disability compensation to veterans with ratings lower than 30% and dropping disability compensation for veterans whose health conditions aren’t directly related to military duty.

Read More »

FDA Weighs New Application To Approve MDMA As First-Ever Psychedelic Medicine For PTSD + More About MAPS

A psychedelics-focused drug development company is officially asking the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to review an application to approve MDMA as a prescription medication for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

The MAPS Public Benefit Corporation (MAPS PBC) announced on Tuesday that it submitted the new drug application (NDA) to FDA, requesting an expedited review given that the agency previously designated the psychedelic as a breakthrough therapy.

FDA Weighs New Application To Approve MDMA As First-Ever Psychedelic Medicine For PTSD

H/T: The Most Revolutionary Act

The MAPS Public Benefit Corporation is subsidiary of Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies. MAPS was founded by Rick Doblin.*

Related:

Read More »

Free Speech Groups Call on Congress To Block NewsGuard Funding

As many as 36 groups advocating free speech, the Free Speech Alliance, have turned to US Congress with a request to stop any further funding of NewsGuard.

Free Speech Groups Call on Congress To Block NewsGuard Funding
Source.

Previous NewsGuard posts (not necessarily conservative):

NewsGuard is very neutral. Its Board of Directors is secret, but its Advisory Board includes one of the co-founders of Wikipedia (Jimmy Wales) as well as the former director of the CIA and the NSA (General Michael Hayden), the former Secretary General of NATO (Anders Fogh Rasmussen), the former Secretary for Homeland Security (Tom Ridge) or the former Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy – i.e. Propaganda (Richard Stengel)

The EU, NATO, NewsGuard and the Voltaire Network (original)

Censorship: Donbass Insider in the Crosshairs of Newsguard, an Agency Linked to the CIA, NATO and the White House

Consortium News Sues NewsGuard, US Government For Alleged Defamation

Read More »

TikTok defenders emerge in Congress

TikTok defenders emerge in Congress

The other side: Reps. Mary Miller (R-Ill.), Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) and Troy Nehls (R-Texas) are holding a competing “Moms Against TikTok” press conference at the Capitol on Thursday to press for a ban.

The speakers include a staffer for the conservative Heritage Foundation and Chaya Raichik, the operator of “Libs of TikTok.”

Source: Twitter

Related Notes:

Read More »

Biden Can Still Counter the Bogus Right-Wing Student Loan Lawsuits

Maybe you are one of the 26 million people who have applied to have their student debt reduced or eliminated entirely. You probably breathed a sigh of relief when you hit “Submit,” knowing that, in the new year, you’ll have an easier time paying rent, buying food, or maybe saving to buy a home or for retirement.

Biden Can Still Counter the Bogus Right-Wing Student Loan Lawsuits

Steve Bannon at the head of the new Mont-Pelerin society: How can neo-fascism be neo-liberal?

BY RODRIGO LUGONES – 09-23-2022

The ideologue of Trumpism promotes a right-wing movement that aims to reorient the political and economic management of the world towards an extreme liberal right.

Steve Bannon at the head of the new Mont-Pelerin society: How can neo-fascism be neo-liberal? (Original in Spanish)

Related:

Bannonism

Article was “fact-checked” by me. Everything checked out, except that Nina Rosenwald founded the Gatestone Institute. Although, Rebekah Mercer was on the Board of Governors.

FACTSHEET: GATESTONE INSTITUTE (archived)

In 2016, Gatestone partnered with The Rebel, a Canadian media company “with a history of bigotry and anti-Semitism,” to produce a series of 12 “cross-branded videos.” The videos feature “misinformation expertDaniel Pipes and Geert Wilders, and promote “paranoid, apocalyptic far-right themes vilifying Muslims and refugees.” A 2017 article in The Independent, found that Gatestone was one of two “US right-wing foundations” that have sponsored Wilders’ trips to America.

Between 2014-2016, the Mercer family foundation, run by Rebekah Mercer, contributed $250,000 to Gatestone. In April 2017, journalist Eli Clifton revealed that “Mercer had been listed as a member of the board of governors” of Institute. Following inquiries from news outlets, Gatestone deleted any mention of Mercer on its board.