Cashless Society: Panera Bread Debuts “Frictionless” Palm Payment System

Amazon’s palm-reading payment technology was first introduced at numerous Whole Foods locations in California, enabling customers to pay for their groceries by scanning their palms at checkout terminals rather than using cash or a card. Now Panera Bread is experimenting with Amazon’s cashless payment system as the war on cash marches on.

On Wednesday, Panera Bread announced plans to roll out a “contactless payment method” to several stores with additional locations in the coming months. The bakery-cafe chain has over 2,000 locations, and its loyalty program has 52 million members.

“Panera is the first national restaurant company to use Amazon One as both a way for guests to pay and access their loyalty account with their palm,” the company said.

“Our philosophy has been centered around leveraging best-in-class technology to create a better Panera experience and using that to deepen our relationship with our loyal guests. Introducing Amazon One, as a frictionless, personalized, and convenient service, is another way we’re redefining the loyalty experience,” Niren Chaudhary, CEO of Panera Bread and Panera Brands, stated.

At the moment, dozens of Whole Foods locations and Amazon Go stores have integrated Amazon One contactless payment.

Read more at: www.zerohedge.com

Cashless society: FedNow instant payments are coming and CBDCs will follow

There’s absolutely no doubt that our financial system is in flux right now. We’re watching a storm approach, and it’s about to envelop the entire nation in chaotic conditions. If you think things are crazy now, just hang on to your halo…it’s about to get a whole lot worse.

Remember how we talked about CBDCs a few weeks ago, and lots of people in the comments said never, no way, and heck no? Well, unfortunately, it’s being rolled out and soon.

Of course, they’re not calling it CBDCs. Not yet.

It’s under another name, and it’s not quite a federal digital currency. I’m sure this, too, will be called a conspiracy theory, but the Federal Reserve is launching FedNow, an instant digital payment system. This in itself is not a Central Bank Digital Currency, but it puts into place the framework needed to make the idea a reality.

Read more at: www.sott.net

Candida auris: What is the deadly fungus sweeping through US hospitals?

The drug-resistant fungus Candida auris (C. auris) was only discovered some 15 years ago but is already one of the world’s most feared hospital microbes.

If it gets inside the body, the yeast-type fungus can affect the bloodstream, the nervous system and several internal organs. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that its mortality rate ranges from 30% to 53% of patients affected by an invasive infection.

What is more worrisome is that the fungus has proven to be resistant to the most common types of antifungal drugs. Some strains are resistant to all of the medicines we have, says BBC’s health correspondent James Gallagher.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there have been outbreaks in more than 30 countries. A 2020 review from case reports from those nations found almost 4,750 cases globally between 2009 and 2019.

Read more at: www.bbc.com

Report: 28 Girls Hospitalized With ‘Anxiety,’ Other Symptoms in Columbia After Allegedly Playing With Ouija Boards

The Ouija board is once again in the headlines, with outlets reporting 28 school-aged girls in Colombia were hospitalized after reportedly playing with the oracle boards at their school.

The incident purportedly unfolded among students at Galeras Educational Institution in Galeras, with the girls experiencing anxiety attacks, fainting, and other related issues after engaging with the board.

Those impacted were sent to a local hospital. Their diagnoses are currently unclear, though parents are reportedly waiting to hear from doctors about what exactly unfolded, according to Fox News.

Some are purportedly blaming the use of Ouija boards for the anxiety, panic, and other related issues.

“There were 28 possible cases of anxiety in school students,” Hugo Torres, who leads the Galeras Educational Institution in Galeras, told Jam Press.

But, according to the New York Post, the school leader isn’t necessarily happy with how the situation has been discussed publicly thus far, and he’s urging people to wait for more details before rushing to judgment.

“Given the reported cases, a series of comments were unleashed on the community that, rather than helping to resolve the situation, led to confusion and an adverse environment for our work,” he said. “The school is waiting for the medical diagnoses to provide further reliable information.”

Read more at: www.faithwire.com

Netflix show for preschoolers pushes gender ideology with ‘non-binary’ character – creator touts episode as ‘a roadmap for coming out’

A kids’ show on Netflix is pushing gender ideology on 2- to 4-year-olds by featuring a character that comes out as “non-binary.” The show’s creator touted the episode as “a road map for coming out.”

An episode of Netflix’s “Ridley Jones,” a kids’ television show targeted at young children, follows the story of a bison named “Winifred” who hesitates to tell Grandma Dottie, voiced by singer Cyndi Lauper, that it feels “most myself” when referred to by the name “Fred.”

“Grandma doesn’t know I changed. She still thinks I’m her granddaughter instead of her grandFred … I do want to tell her,” Fred tells the show’s main character, Ridley.

Fred then “comes out” to Grandma Dottie and requests to be referred to by the gender-neutral pronouns “they” and “them.”

Read more at: www.theblaze.com

LASER FOCUS Chinese satellite gathering intel for Pearl Harbor-style hypersonic missile attack by using green lasers, claim experts

CHINA used green lasers fired from satellites to gather intelligence for a surprise hypersonic missile attack on Hawaii, it has been warned.

The satellite was recorded flashing lasers for a fraction of a second by a livestream camera attached to a telescope on top of a mountain on one of the islands.

Initially the lights were thought to come from a NASA satellite before it was finally established it was a Chinese pollution monitoring satellite the Daqi-1.

But questions immediately began to be raised about why the Chinese would feel it necessary to monitor pollution in Hawaii, given the large US military presence there.

And it comes just weeks after China flew a giant balloon over the US – which was widely understood to be a spy tool even as Beijing claimed it was a civilian weather airship.

Pearl Harbor on Oahu, Hawaii remains vital for the United States military and the presence of the satellite comes amid increased tensions between the US and China.

Read more at: www.the-sun.com

Stoking Fears Of An All-Out Nuclear Conflict — Is The Threat Credible?

The diplomats of the world are making noise about Russia more and more looking like it will come to the nuclear option in finally defeating the Ukrainians. Thus, more and more people are becoming nervous that we are headed for World War III.

The worry—the threat—has always been that, once a nuclear weapon has been used, things will escalate until all-out atomic war results. All the big nukes on all the tips of the ICBMs and other delivery systems will be unleashed. Planet earth will be turned into a cinder–or at the very least, it will be made inhabitable.

Russian President/dictator Vladimir Putin, among wanting more control and power in his region of hegemony, wants to secure the wheat and other grains of Ukraine to add to Russia’s considerable grain possession. In this way, he will control the food of the world—at least to a considerable extent.

It is said that, even now, Putin and his top adjutants are hunkered in underground facilities for protection from the nuclear exchanges that are to come. Of course, a lot of things are said these days about a lot of things.

In fact, a lot has been said about a lot of things for a long time. We have heard that economic collapse is coming within days for—literally—years, even decades.

Read more at: harbingersdaily.com

In first, scientists create mice with cells from 2 males

Researchers say the work “opens up new avenues in reproductive biology and fertility research” for animals and people. Down the road, for example, it might be possible to reproduce endangered mammals from a single male.

For the first time, scientists have created baby mice from two males. This raises the distant possibility of using the same technique for people – although experts caution that very few mouse embryos developed into live mouse pups and no one knows whether it would work for humans.

Still, “It’s a very clever strategy,” said Diana Laird, a stem cell and reproductive expert at the University of California, San Francisco, who was not involved in the research. “It’s an important step in both stem cell and reproductive biology.”

Scientists described their work in a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature.

First, they took skin cells from the tails of male mice and transformed them into “induced pluripotent stem cells,” which can develop into many different types of cells or tissues. Then, through a process that involved growing them and treating them with a drug, they converted male mouse stem cells into female cells and produced functional egg cells. Finally, they fertilized those eggs and implanted the embryos into female mice. About 1% of the embryos – 7 out of 630 – grew into live mouse pups.

Read more at: www.israelhayom.com

CDC Bought Phone Data To Monitor Americans’ Compliance With Lockdowns, Contracts Show

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) purchased data from tracking companies to monitor compliance with lockdowns, according to contracts with the firms.

The CDC paid one firm $420,000 and another $208,000. That bought access to location data from at least 55 million cellphone users.

The contracts, approved under emergency review due to the COVID-19 pandemic, were aimed at providing the CDC “with the necessary data to continue critical emergency response functions elated to evaluating the impact of visits to key points of interest, stay at home orders, closures, re-openings and other public heath communications related to mask mandate, and other merging research areas on community transmission of SARS-CoV-2,” the contracts, obtained by The Epoch Times, state.

The CDC said it would be using the tracking data to “assess home-by-hour behaviors (i.e. curfew analysis) by exploring the percentage of mobile devices at home during specific period of time.” The data could also be integrated with other information “to provide a comprehensive picture of movement/travel of persons during the COVID-19 pandemic to better understand mandatory stay-at-home orders, business closure, school re-openings, and other non-pharmaceutical interventions in states and cities.”

Read more at: www.zerohedge.com

Employers Now Must Cover Abortion Leave Under Federal Law?

Employers must provide “pregnant persons” with accommodations to procure and recover from abortions under the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA), a memo from the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) recently declared.

President Joe Biden signed H.R. 1065, the PWFA, in December 2022. National abortion organizations such as NARAL Pro-Choice America and Planned Parenthood advocated for the bill, as well as the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Prior to the bill’s passage, CatholicVote warned that PWFA could be used to force employers to pay for abortion-related expenses.

“I’m surprised some pro-life groups just didn’t seem to realize how this bill is going to impact their own operations,” said CatholicVote Director of Government Affairs Tom McClusky this week. “Under the bill, as the NWLC is now clearly stating, pro-life organizations can be sued if they don’t provide their employees special leave to get abortions.”

The NWLC, founded in 1972, is a legal advocacy group fighting for “gender justice – in the courts, in public policy, and in our society.” The website notes “for 50 years, NWLC and our supporters have been on the leading edge of every major legal and policy victory for women,” including the fight against Hobby Lobby in 2014.

Read more at: catholicvote.org