Liberal establishment throws conniption over Trump's FBI director announcement; Patel speaks out



Establishmentarians hostile to President-elect Donald Trump have spent weeks characterizing former National Security Council official Kash Patel as a threat to their dysfunctional status quo.

Former FBI Special Agent Daniel Brunner told CNN last month that "putting someone like Kash Patel in the position of director of the FBI is, I believe, extremely, extremely dangerous." Andrew McCabe, the former FBI deputy director who undermined the Trump presidency with Crossfire Hurricane, said, "There is a lot of damage someone like Kash Patel could do."

Following many such unintentional endorsements, Trump announced Saturday that he will nominate Patel as FBI director Christopher Wray's replacement.

Although Patel wasted no time indicating what he intends to achieve at the FBI, elements of the liberal establishment and intelligence community signaled a desire to instead rely on their own slapdash dystopian fiction for insights into what might happen next.

'I think the best-case scenario for everybody is that Kash Patel and this talk of Kash Patel ends.'

David Frum, the former George W. Bush speechwriter and Atlantic editor who suggested days after Trump was shot in Pennsylvania that the gunman and his target were "common enemies of law and democracy," tweeted, "We are headed toward a US constitutional crisis vastly bigger than Watergate."

MSNBC talking head Joe Scarborough similarly panicked, saying, "This is not only bad for the men and women who run the FBI. This not only bad for the rule of law. This is not only bad for the First Amendment. This is not only bad for the United States of America. This is bad for Donald Trump. This is bad for the Trump administration. This is not going to end well. So I think the best-case scenario for everybody is that Kash Patel and this talk of Kash Patel ends."

The Washington Post's Ruth Marcus complained, "This is not normal," and urged Republican senators to "stand up to Trump."

Although the GOP won a majority in the U.S. Senate, those nominal Republicans who reportedly refused to support Matt Gaetz's appointment to run the Department of Justice — Sens. Mitch McConnell, Susan Collins (Maine), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), and John Curtis (Utah) — could help spike Patel's nomination.

McCabe griped to CNN on Sunday, "The installation or the nomination, I guess we should say at this point, of Kash Patel's FBI director can only possibly be a plan to disrupt, to dismantle, to distract the FBI and to possibly use it as a tool for the president's political agenda."

"And, you know, as an organization, we know what that looks like. This country has been there before, right?" continued McCabe, James Comey's former right-hand man who shut down investigations into the Clinton Foundation in 2016.

McCabe quickly made clear that he was not referencing the Biden FBI's targeting of pro-life activists, traditional Christians, political opponents, and outspoken parents, but rather the FBI's former targeting of communists.

"The pre-Watergate FBI, the J. Edgar Hoover FBI struck fear in the hearts of Americans across the spectrum — of politicians, people in entertainment, people in the civil rights community — because the director operated at the direction of presidents to collect political intelligence and to utilize the legal authorities, the investigative authorities of the FBI, to terrorize and intimidate Americans," said McCabe.

Former Bush adviser John Bolton, a key proponent of America's disastrous 2003 invasion of Iraq, similarly criticized Trump's decision, reportedly stating, "Trump has nominated Kash Patel to be his Lavrenty Beria. Fortunately, the FBI is not the NKVD. The Senate should reject this nomination 100-0."

Vice President-elect JD Vance responded, "John Bolton has been wrong about everything so I guess Kash must be pretty awesome."

'You shut down the Hoover building immediately.'

In his announcement on Truth Social Saturday, Trump noted, "Kash is a brilliant lawyer, investigator, and 'America First' fighter who has spent his career exposing corruption, defending Justice, and protecting the American People. He played a pivotal role in uncovering the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax, standing as an advocate for truth, accountability, and the Constitution."

"Kash did an incredible job during my First Term, where he served as Chief of Staff at the Department of Defense, Deputy Director of National Intelligence, and Senior Director for Counterterrorism at the National Security Council," continued the president-elect. "Kash has also tried over 60 jury trials. This FBI will end the growing crime epidemic in America, dismantle the migrant criminal gangs, and stop the evil scourge of human and drug trafficking across the Border. Kash will work under our great Attorney General, Pam Bondi, to bring back Fidelity, Bravery, and Integrity to the FBI."

After first making an X account, Patel shared the following statement: "It is the honor of a lifetime to be nominated by President Trump to serve as Director of the FBI. Together, we will restore integrity, accountability, and equal justice to our justice system and return the FBI to its rightful mission: protecting the American people."

While Patel has been highly critical of the FBI, he told Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck in December 2023 that the bureau is "fixable" and explained what reform might look like.

"You shut down the Hoover building immediately. I think you literally open it up the next day as a museum of the deep state and you let everybody walk the halls for free, and you leave that behemoth open 365 days a year," said Patel. "You need like 20 people in a skiff to run the FBI. The other 7,000 agents that are sitting in that building should be chasing criminals around America, not distorting statistics about January 6 so Chris Ray can go to Congress and lie and say, 'Domestic violent terrorism is on the rise.'"

While various Democrats joined McCabe in throwing tantrums, various Republican lawmakers celebrated Trump's choice.

'He is a man of honor, unquestionable loyalty, and an American Patriot.'

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) wrote, "Kash Patel has extensive experience in national security and intelligence. He is an America First patriot who will bring much-needed change and transparency to the FBI."

Tennessee Sen. Bill Hagerty (R) told NBC's "Meet the Press," "There are serious problems at the FBI. The American public knows it. They expect to see sweeping change, and Kash Patel is just the type of person to do it."

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) said, "I look forward to supporting him and pushing this nomination across the finish line."

"Kash will get confirmed by the Senate," tweeted Rep.-elect Abe Hamadeh (R-Ariz.). "He is a man of honor, unquestionable loyalty, and an American Patriot. Kash is the son of Indian immigrants who escaped Uganda's genocidal dictator, Idi Amin. He WILL restore and uphold the rule of law, and the FBI will be premier again!"

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Tulsi Gabbard has national security 'experts' worried: 'DNI has access to every single secret'



There is a pattern developing with regard to President-elect Donald Trump's recent nominations: He announces someone apparently well suited to executing the agenda he successfully campaigned on; those with vested interests in the status quo panic; and establishmentarians viciously attack the nominees, pleading with nominal Republicans in the U.S. Senate to prevent their confirmation.

This pattern has been repeated for multiple picks, including former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, Pete Hegseth, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Although virtually all of Trump's nominations have ruffled feathers, his choice of Lt. Col. Tulsi Gabbard to serve as the director of national intelligence appears to have inspired a special kind of unease among Democratic lawmakers, the liberal media, and elements of the intelligence community.

The media

The Atlantic's Tom Nichols rushed to characterize Gabbard's nomination as a "national security risk," complaining that she previously suggested NATO might have had something to do with Russia's invasion of Ukraine and that Syria did not pose a direct threat to the United States.

"Gabbard is a classic case of 'horseshoe' politics," Nichols warned. "Her views can seem both extremely left and extremely right, which is probably why people such as Tucker Carlson — a conservative who has turned into … whatever pro-Russia right-wingers are called now — have taken a liking to the former Democrat (who was previously a Republican and is now again a member of the GOP)."

The Washington Examiner's Tom Rogan suggested that by nominating Gabbard, Trump — who was kneecapped in his first term by a malignant counterintelligence investigation and whose 2020 political adversary was given narrative cover prior to the election by CIA contractors and intelligence community alumni — "is putting his distrust of the intelligence community before the critical interests of national security."

After trotting out the Syria and Russia-themed attacks against Gabbard, then insinuating that she is a sympathizer with the communist Chinese regime, Rogan warned that if confirmed, she would supervise "all U.S. intelligence agencies' collection, analysis, and mission efforts and the production and dissemination of the U.S. government's most sensitive intelligence reporting and analysis. This includes knowledge of spies buried deep inside foreign governments and terrorist organizations."

'This appointment is sending shock waves here in the United States.'

Bill Kristol quoted Jonathan Last, editor of the neocon blog the Bulwark, as writing, "Making Gabbard DNI simply makes no sense. ... Or rather, it makes no sense for America. For Russia, DNI Gabbard makes all the sense in the world."

Last appeared particularly upset over Gabbard's opposition to fruitless foreign entanglements and ineffectual U.S. sanctions.

Dems and spooks spooked

"This appointment is sending shock waves here in the United States but also around the globe," John Brennan, former director of the CIA and chief counterterrorism adviser to former President Barack Obama, said in conversation with MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace.

Brennan, one of the signatories of the infamous Hunter Biden "intel" letter, likened the 18 intelligence agencies that Gabbard would oversee to an orchestra, suggesting that she likely doesn't even know what instruments are being played.

Former Bush adviser John Bolton, a key proponent of America's disastrous 2003 invasion of Iraq, suggested to NewsNation's "The Hill" that with Trump's "announcement of Tulsi Gabbard to be the director of national intelligence, he's sending a signal that we have lost our mind when it comes to collecting intelligence."

One former senior intelligence official who spoke under the condition of anonymity told Politico that the choice was a "left turn and off the bridge."

Another intelligence official warned that America's allies, including Israel, might withhold information from Washington if Gabbard were the DNI, adding, "What some allies share may now be shaped by political goals rather than professional intelligence sharing."

An unnamed "Western security source" similarly suggested to Reuters that Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand may be less forthcoming about the intelligence they collect, stressing that foreign nations believe Trump's appointments all lean in the "wrong direction."

Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger (Va.), a former CIA officer who now warms a chair on the House Intelligence Committee, suggested on X that Gabbard, who served in Iraq and Kuwait, would be an oath-breaker.

"The men and women of the U.S. Intelligence community honor their oaths by collecting the vital intelligence that keeps our fellow Americans safe. The global threats we face require a Director of National Intelligence who would do the same. Tulsi Gabbard is not that person," wrote Spanberger.

The former spook, echoing Nichols, appears to have unwittingly highlighted what has the establishment panicking, telling The Hill, "The DNI has access to every single secret that the United States has, every single bit of information that we know. … It's the keys to the intelligence community kingdom."

Larry Pfeiffer, former chief of staff at the CIA under the Bush administration, told The Hill, "Some of the statements she has made through the years that sound like they came right out of the Kremlin's talking points paper are a little bit alarming. Her cozying up to Bashar al-Assad and being an apologist for him as well just raise questions in my mind. Is that really the best person to put in charge of this very complicated, very sensitive operation that is the U.S. intel community?"

Jamil Jaffer, a former House Intelligence Committee staffer and national security prosecutor, told The Hill, "What is unusual here is you've got somebody who's had such a long and vociferous track record of saying things that are factually incorrect, that seem to give aid and comfort to U.S. adversaries and that undermine the very people they should be representing at the principals committee."

As with Hegseth and Gaetz's critics, those denouncing Gabbard appear to be exponents of the very worldview and policy conventions that Trump was effectively elected to obliterate.

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Trump’s divine role vs. Harris’ woke religion: A spiritual and technological battle for America



My view of the election is that Trump and Harris were locked in a spiritual battle. Many, including myself, felt that the sparing of Trump’s life in the first assassination attempt was an act of clear divine Providence. For him to turn his head at that precise moment to avoid the assassin’s bullet, suffering only a grazed ear — it defies belief. I don’t believe in coincidences like that. Trump himself leaned into the religious overtones, understanding that many Christian supporters had come to see him as a messianic figure. Personally, I do believe — and there are many examples of this in the Bible — that God selects certain individuals to carry out His plans on Earth, and there is no doubt in my mind that Trump is one of those individuals. Isaiah 6:8 says: “I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.”

Trump’s travails have been almost Job-like. Stripped of virtually everything, impeached, battered, humiliated, almost killed, slandered, deplatformed, sued, and on the verge of being thrown in prison for the rest of his life, Trump found the strength to mount a remarkable campaign and win. It is the greatest political comeback in American history. Many see his resilience as superhuman and divinely inspired.

Wokeism is in some ways similar to those other two secular cults in that it has rituals, priests, and the elements of original sin — whiteness, privilege, etc. Wokeism even has a millenarian bent in that it presumes that the world is fundamentally unjust and subject to vast, oppressive conspiracies.

Now, on the other side, we have another religion — one I consider idolatrous, but a religion nonetheless. See, when you strip God from life, you don’t leave people intact, but rather, you leave them with a God-shaped hole. Today’s left has eliminated (or corrupted) the church, and in its place, leftists have adopted secular religions (some call this Gnosticism). Harris and her progressive supporters subscribe to three of these cults: climate doomerism, wokeism, and, to a lesser extent, AI safety. Broadly, these all fall under the umbrella of decel-ism.

Apocalypse forever

It's worth unpacking these slightly. Climate and AI doomers are contemporary millenarian cults; that is, they are concerned with the apocalypse. Adherents to such cults believe that a reckoning is coming that will transform the Earth, punish the sinful, save the worthy, or just wipe us out entirely. On climate, the idea is that we committed a grave original sin by debauching nature and emitting CO2; Gaia is punishing us by unleashing her wrath in the form of ever-intensifying storms (never mind that the cost to humans from climate-related disasters has been falling); and if we don’t sufficiently change our ways, we will be extinguished in a final day of reckoning (think "The Day After Tomorrow"). AI safety is a newer cult, but very similar: We summoned a demon of sorts by creating AI, and we risk destroying humanity if we delve any deeper into machine intelligence. There is a trippier variant of the AI doomer cult in which we achieve a rapture and merge with the machine god in some kind of singularity. Both cults stress the sin of industrial pursuit, and in both cases, the solutions are the same: Slow down or even reverse progress.

Compare Trump and Harris on AI and climate. Trump wants to re-energize America’s heartland, unleash our abundant energy resources for Bitcoin mining, AI, chip manufacturing, and so on. Trump recognizes that we cannot hamstring ourselves with a Merkel-style Energiewende. It’s suicide to sacrifice ourselves to the angry climate god via Thunberg-esque atonement while China prints coal and nuclear plants. Meanwhile, Harris stands for an insipid green transition that simply hasn’t paid off anywhere it has been tried. The left’s infatuation with green transitions should be understood as superstition, not policy. If progressives really believed in the existential risk from climate, they would be all in on nuclear, or even global cooling with aerosolized sulfates. They aren’t. On AI, Harris stands for AI safety, the self-aggrandizing Silicon Valley cult that both worships and fears the machine god. On the other hand,Trump sees AI as a vital strategic resource to be unleashed, making no underlying metaphysical claims whatsoever.

Leaving aside the decel cults, the most important spiritual lens through which Harris should be understood is wokeism. Wokeism is in some ways similar to those other two secular cults in that it has rituals, priests, and the elements of original sin — whiteness, privilege, etc. Wokeism even has a millenarian bent in that it presumes that the world is fundamentally unjust and subject to vast, oppressive conspiracies (although it doesn’t clearly specify what the day of reckoning might look like). However, the inherent flaw of wokeism and the reason it doesn’t universalize well is that it offers no absolution. There’s no way for a straight white man (or anyone else near the top of the privilege hierarchy) to atone for his original sin. Compare with Christianity, which stresses (depending on the denomination) that all you have to do to be absolved of your sins is accept Jesus Christ into your heart. So wokeism can’t really sustain itself, because it’s dependent on a spiritual underclass of “oppressors” who are willing to continually submit to and elevate the least privileged (the trans disabled POC, etc). But who would sign up for a religion that offers no atonement? Even the most ardent white wokes must feel a twinge of doubt at their membership in the cult, realizing that they are permanent Dalits in the woke caste system.

A spiritual war for the soul of a nation

So I see the Trump-Harris conflict through the lens of a spiritual war. Of course, the battle between right and left already has a spiritual component since it’s not just two sets of rival policy positions but in fact a much more deep-seated set of mutually conflicting worldviews: individual versus system-level thinking; merit versus racial score-settling; small government versus collectivism; the nuclear family versus the state as your family; and so on. In the case of Trump and Harris, it was even more direct. Trump plays the role of an unintentional messiah, almost accidentally thrust into this savior role. Though Trump’s faith may not be particularly sincere, his fans’ belief that he is a tortured savior chosen by God is. Meanwhile, Harris is the purest representative we’ve seen of the progressive religion to date, being selected for the role not due to her track record in government but because of her anointed status within the woke cult. She is perfect: black, Indian, a woman, and so on. She merely lacked charisma, meaningful policy views, a distinct message of change, and a platform. There can be no real dispute that she was more of an empty vessel for woke payloads than a genuine candidate. Her campaign was mainly focused on marshaling the high-propensity female vote on abortion, shaming minorities into falling in line, scolding men into voting “for their wives and daughters,” and so on. She flatly refused to specify meaningful policy positions, keeping them deliberately vague, running instead on pure identitarianism.

The Democrats should engage in soul-searching and realize that by embracing cults like wokeism and GDP-destroying fantasies like climate doomerism and AI doomerism, they are swimming against the current.

To the right, her great sacrilege was her primary campaign issue — the murder of unborn children. Other issues she stands for — the coercive chemical castration of children, for instance — are considered not only simply poor policy by the right but downright satanic. It’s unsurprising that Trump’s strongest campaign message was “Kamala is for they/them. Trump is for you.” For Trump’s Christian supporters, the distinction could not have been starker. Many felt that this was the last election if she won. The left misunderstood this when folks like Elon Musk said it. The idea wasn’t that there would never be an election ever again but rather that the left would vastly accelerate import of the third world and spontaneously grant these newcomers citizenship. This isn’t far-fetched. Leftists were quite explicit about their desire to do this, and they partially executed it under Biden. Some on the left, too, felt that if Trump regained power, he would fashion the government into a fascist authoritarian regime and permanently leave democracy behind. So this election had a decidedly existential bent to it. Many on both sides felt that this would be the last freely contested vote.

As a Christian and a conservative, I am encouraged that America resoundingly rejected these woke cults and their emissary in Harris. This was a realigning election that cannot be written off as a fluke like 2016 was. Hispanics shifted abruptly right, undermining the left’s core coalition. Harris actually underperformed Biden with black voters, showing the weakness of her identitarian campaign. Black men in particular defected from the left quite markedly. Trump gained with young voters, a generally secular group that is still infatuated with wokeism. By contrast, Trump did astoundingly well with Catholics, winning them by 18 points, the largest gap in decades. Trump also gained with Protestants relative to 2020. Eighty percent of evangelicals broke for Trump, again a better margin than 2020. Harris’ campaign built around Roe simply wasn’t compelling enough. And some of her high-propensity supporters, like suburban white moms, were turned off by the left’s ritual sacrifice of girls at the altar of wokeism (by allowing males in women’s sports, for instance). Voters were more concerned with immigration and the economy.

The Democrats should engage in soul-searching and realize that by embracing cults like wokeism and GDP-destroying fantasies like climate doomerism and AI doomerism, they are swimming against the current. Their Obama coalition has been shattered in the biggest realigning election since Reagan. Having lost the working class and the Hispanic vote, and unable to import new voters as they had planned, if they continue down the path of racial shame and elevating DEI candidates, they will lose over and over. As for those on the right, they have resurrected their messiah. Expectations couldn’t be higher. But one thing is clear: Religion, real religion, is still a force to be reckoned with in American politics. The left has lost the Mandate of Heaven. It belongs to Trump now.

This article originally appeared on X.

'Any Enemy That Tries To Harm the State of Israel Will Pay a Heavy Price': Israel Won't Back Down From Iran Strike After Explosive Leak of Classified American Intel, Defense Minister Says

Israel will not be deterred from counterstriking Iran as payback for Tehran's massive ballistic missile barrage earlier this month, the country's defense minister said on Wednesday, confirming that preparations are still underway after the bombshell leak of classified American intelligence on the Jewish state's operational planning.

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Axelrod: 'Upscale,' 'liberal' NC citizens hit by Helene will 'figure out a way to vote.' Trump-backers in area? Not so much.



Former Obama chief strategist David Axelrod predicted that "upscale," "liberal" North Carolina residents hit hard by Hurricane Helene are "probably going to figure out a way to vote" in the presidential election next month — but suggested that those in the same area who would cast ballots for former President Donald Trump likely won't be as resourceful.

Axelrod — a dyed-in-the-wool leftist — made the eye-popping declaration last week on an episode of his "Hacks on Tap" podcast when speaking about swing states like North Carolina and the devastation Helene left behind.

'I’m not sure a bunch of these folks who’ve had their homes and lives destroyed elsewhere in Western North Carolina — in the mountains there — are gonna be as easy to wrangle for the Trump campaign.'

He called the city of Asheville a "blue dot" in Western North Carolina and said that despite the large-scale displacement in the surrounding area due to Helene, voters in Asheville have the smarts to get their votes in for Democrat presidential nominee Kamala Harris.

"Those voters in Asheville are — they’re, you know, the kind of voters who will figure out a way to vote," Axelrod said. "You know, they’re upscale, kind of liberal voters, and they’re probably going to figure out a way to vote."

But as for Trump-backers in the area hit hard by Helene? Not so much, apparently.

"I’m not sure a bunch of these folks who’ve had their homes and lives destroyed elsewhere in western North Carolina — in the mountains there — are gonna be as easy to wrangle for the Trump campaign," Axelrod said.

He added, "I don’t know how that’s all going to play out, but it’s an unpredictable element in North Carolina that has made it maybe a little more interesting" in the run-up to the election.

Axelrod also said that "northern-tier battleground states other than Wisconsin are scary" for Democrats and that "you can't count on them." He added that Harris "needs to find an insurance policy" and a "second act" as the campaign races to the finish line.

How are observers reacting to Axelrod's words?

Fox News pointed out some prominent X users who took issue with Axelrod’s statements:

  • OutKick.com founder Clay Travis wrote, "On his podcast @davidaxelrod says Democrat voters in Asheville, North Carolina are smarter, wealthier and will still show up to vote for Kamala while he thinks Trump voters won’t. This is why Kamala and Biden aren’t helping, they benefit from the disaster."
  • Mollie Hemingway, editor-in-chief of the Federalist, added, "I fear that Axelrod's point is why Harris and Biden are letting these people drown."
  • Fox News contributor Tammy Bruce wondered, "Did ya know that famous Democrat operative David Axelrod figures city Democrats are smarter and more resourceful and will figure out how to vote whereas the dumb Trump deplorables up in the mountains of NC who just lost everything, won't. Was he on the verge of a Kamala cackle?"

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US government admits elevated fluoride levels 'consistently associated with lower IQ in children'



The powers that be have long claimed that the fluoridation of drinking water — which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention deemed one of the greatest health achievements of the last century — is safe and effective, even though exposure at elevated levels has been linked to various adverse health effects in humans, such as osteoclerosis, calcification of tendons, endocrine dysfunction, and bone deformities.

Those who dared suggest that the governmental effort to prevent tooth decay might have side effects such as mental retardation and cancer were in many cases vilified. It appears that, once again, those written off as quacks and conspiracy theorists were onto something.

The National Toxicology Program, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, released a report Wednesday revealing that fluoridated water can lower IQ in kids.

The National Institutes of Health's Office of Dietary Supplements indicated that fluoridated municipal drinking water accounts for approximately 60% of fluoride intakes in the U.S., and that as of 2020, 62.9% of the population had access to a fluoridated water system.

"Higher estimated fluoride exposures (e.g., as in approximations of exposure such as drinking water fluoride concentrations that exceed the World Health Organization Guidelines for Drinking-water Quality of 1.5 mg/L of fluoride) are consistently associated with lower IQ in children," said the NTP report.

When assessing scientific evidence association of a specific health outcome with an exposure, the NTP uses four confidence levels: high, moderate, or very low.

After evaluating numerous epidemiological studies from countries including Canada, China, India, and Mexico, where some pregnant women, babies, and children were exposed to fluoride at levels exceeding 1.5 milligrams per liter of drinking water, the NTP "concluded there is moderate confidence in the scientific evidence that showed an association between higher levels of fluoride and lower IQ in children."

Although scores of studies caught the investigators' attention, they appear to have focused primarily on 19 high-quality studies that had low risks of bias. Eighteen of these studies that evaluated IQ in children provided "consistent evidence of an inverse association between estimated fluoride exposure and IQ scores."

Whereas World Health Organization guidelines recommend 1.5 mg/L as a safe limit for fluoride, the HHS alternatively recommends 0.7 milligrams per liter of fluoride, noting, "This is the level that prevents tooth decay and promotes good oral health." However, some American municipalities across the country may have slightly more or less in their respective water supplies.

New York City, for instance, adds a fluoride compound that provides the water supply with a concentration of roughly 0.8 mg/L.

Prior to 2015, the recommended upper range in the U.S. was 1.2. The recommended concentration was changed in 2015 to minimize the risk of dental fluorosis.

According to the NTP report, as of 2020, roughly 3.5 million Americans were served by water systems containing over 1.1 mg/L of naturally occurring fluoride; around 1.9 million Americans were supplied by systems with over 1.5 mg/L; and 1 million were being supplied with over 2 mg/L of naturally occurring fluoride.

'The inverse association between estimated fluoride exposure and IQ in children was consistent across different study populations.'

Citing the findings of a recent study, the report further indicated that "regions of the United States where [community water systems] and private wells contain natural fluoride concentrations of more than 1.5 mg/L serve over 2.9 million U.S. residents."

Although the NTP report would not confirm whether the currently recommended level of 0.7. mg/L is dumbing down the population, it called for "targeted research that prospectively examines the association between fluoride exposure and children's IQ in optimally fluoridated areas of the United States ... to add clarity to the existing data."

According to the NTP, there is "also some evidence that fluoride exposure is associated with other neurodevelopmental effects in children." However, its confidence in that evidence is presently not as strong.

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GOP Senators Push Biden-Harris Admin To Expose Iranian Election Interference Plot

Senate Republicans are pushing legislation that would force the Biden-Harris administration to disclose all it knows about an Iranian influence campaign that is fomenting anti-Israel unrest across America with the aim of swaying November’s election results, according to a copy of the measure obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

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How Ian Fleming Birthed James Bond

With 'Ian Fleming: The Complete Man,' writer Nicholas Shakespeare has adroitly written the first authorized biography of the man who created the world's most famous fictional spy.

Russia Presumed To Be Sharing Intelligence on US Weapons Systems With China, Lawmakers Say

A bipartisan duo of lawmakers are pressing the Biden administration to produce an assessment of the information Russia has obtained about U.S. military capabilities and the extent to which it has shared this intelligence with China. Reps. John Moolenaar (R., Mich.) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D., Ill.), the chair and ranking member of the House Select […]

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Iran's Government Is Paying Anti-Israel Protesters as Part of US Influence Campaign, National Intelligence Director Says

The Iranian government is organizing and paying anti-Israel protesters in the United States as part of a foreign influence campaign meant to sow division across the country ahead of the 2024 elections, according to a warning Tuesday from the director of national intelligence.

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