So Cold It Hurts: 6 Cold Weather Injuries and How to Deal with Them

It has been a few weeks since Snowmageddon hit the east coast. The northeast was struck especially hard. We had a “bomb cyclone” snow storm followed by blistering cold from a “polar vortex”. Temperatures were hovering in the single digits. The wind chill brought us well below zero for days. The time was ripe for cold weather injuries.

Plus, there were half-frozen waves flooding downtown Boston and surrounding towns. There was tons of property damage, and people trapped in their vehicles. Luckily, there were no major injuries from the flooding.

Winter brings its own special set of common injuries. Here is what you need to know to recognize, prevent, and treat a serious, cold-related injury.

Cold Weather Injuries

Think of exposure to cold in a similar way as to exposure to the sun. You can only take so much until eventually, the skin will burn (think freezer burn) and blister.

There are a number of common injuries that emergency rooms see each year when the temperature drops. These include:

• Chilblains


• Trench foot


• Frostnip


• Frostbite


• Hypothermia


• Heart attacks

These can be broken down into three types: non-frozen injuries, frozen injuries, and cardiovascular injuries.

Non-Frozen Injuries

Two common cold weather injuries are chilblains and trench foot. Both occur in cold, wet conditions and affect the extremities. Because moisture can wick away heat from the body, you can end up with chilblains or trench foot even in 60°F weather.

Chilblains

You come in from the cold and wet, knowing that you need to warm up. You wrap up in blankets, snuggle up to a wood stove or heater, and you start to feel better. Next thing you know, you have blisters forming on your extremities. This is chilblains.

Chilblains are the result of capillary injury in the toes, feet, earlobes, etc. Signs of this injury normally show up after the affected tissue has been rewarmed, even several hours afterward.

Thankfully, chilblains generally resolves itself at home without further interventions in about two weeks or less. Do not “pop” the blisters. Blisters are like a sterile bandage. As long as it is intact, there is no risk of infection.

Keep an eye on any open blisters and sores that may start to show signs of infection. If you notice signs of infection, such as redness, swelling, or pain, it’s time to see your doctor. In a down-grid situation, you could use herbs with antibiotic properties.

My personal preference is for Oregon grape root powder, echinacea powder, yarrow powder, and marshmallow powder in equal portions mixed with honey to make a paste. This would be applied to the wound, wrapped in gauze, and changed 3-4 times a day.

Trench Foot

Trench foot, as its name implies, affects the foot. While the symptoms are largely similar, trench foot is restricted to the foot, whereas chilblains can appear elsewhere. Trench foot can be more serious than chilblains and can develop into gangrene.

Symptoms, including discoloration (redness, blotchy appearance, paleness, and progressing to blue/black), itchiness, numbness, swelling, and blisters. Sometimes, the blisters can lead to open sores, which could lead to an infection.

Normally, trench foot should be seen by a medical doctor. If, however, this is a true SHTF scenario and there is no higher form of health care available, the buck stops with you. If you find yourself in this situation, keep the following in mind:

• Get the affected foot clean, dry, and warm as soon as possible.


• Rewarming can be done with warm water, preferably from 104°F to 106°F.


• Be careful not to use water that is too hot. The skin’s sensation will be decreased, and the injured person may not be able to tell if the water is too hot or not.


• Make sure to dry thoroughly when removing the foot from the water and keep warm.


• Wrap the feet with breathable gauze to let any foot sweat evaporate.


• Elevate the foot to reduce swelling.


• Apply a  salve made with warming herbs, like ginger and cayenne pepper to the feet to draw more circulation to the affected areas.


• Be aware that the renewed increase of circulation may cause some pain.


• Check the feet frequently for any signs of gangrene.

Frozen Injuries

Tissue freezes from the outside and works deeper into the tissue. There are two stages known as frostnip and frostbite.

Frostnip vs Frostbite

In the initial stage known as frostnip, the outer layers of tissue are frozen, and ill move over the soft, unfrozen tissue underneath.

Frostbite is when the tissue is frozen straight through.

Symptoms will be somewhat similar to chilblains and trench foot. Skin may turn red and blotchy with frostnip, then progressing to pale or grey with a waxy appearance, as well as numbness. If the tissue was completely frozen, the skin may begin to blister and/or turn black 2-4 days after thawing. A person with frostbite will become awkward and clumsy moving a body part with frostnip or frost bite.

Frostnip normally does not require special medical attention. The affected area is treated much the same as trench foot. Frostbite, however, is serious and requires medical treatment.

However, if no help is on the way, you need to know what you can do to minimize damage and risk of gangrene.

• Follow instructions for treating trench foot.


• Do NOT rub the frozen area to warm it up. You could break the body part right off.


• Do not defrost the tissue if there is a chance it could freeze again. The damage will be much worse.


• Be on the lookout for signs of hypothermia and gangrene.


• Consider adding more than only cayenne to help promote circulation. Other options would be a tincture combining cayenne, hawthorn, mistletoe, and ginger.

Hypothermia

While chilblains, trench foot, and frostbite are focused on the extremities, hypothermia is all about the core. Hypothermia is defined as body temperature dropping to 95°F. That’s just 3.6 degrees lower than normal body temperature.

Hypothermia is a medical emergency. It can result in shock, cardiac arrest, and coma, and it doesn’t take long to happen. What complicates matters is that hypothermia victims often do not recognize they are in distress because symptoms come on gradually. Often, children and outdoor enthusiasts may be enjoying themselves too much to notice their distress.

Signs of Hypothermia

Because hypothermia sets in gradually, you must be vigilant whenever you are out in the elements. Signals of hypothermia include:

• Shivering (the body’s attempt to stay warm)


• Lack of coordination


• Slurred speech


• Decreased respiration, heart rate, and blood pressure


• Impaired cognitive abilities


• Paradoxical undressing


• Drowsiness


• Terminal burrowing

Those most at risk are the elderly, children, those with medical conditions that inhibit the body’s ability to regulate temperature (hypothyroidism, diabetes, spinal injuries, burns, Parkinson’s, etc), people with mental illnesses (dementia, Alzheimer’s), as well as those who smoke and consume alcohol frequently.

If you have access to medical care, do not take risks with hypothermia. Get to a hospital.

If the medical system has collapsed, or if hospitals are at surge capacity due to some disaster, and all other forms of higher care are cut off, here are some things to keep in mind:

• Remove yourself or other person inside and away from the cold.


• Do not rub victim vigorously, and doing so could trigger cardiac arrest.


• Remove any wet clothing, and wrap the body with blankets.


• Use dry, radiant heat, such as sitting near a wood stove.


• Do not apply direct heat, as that could also trigger cardiac arrest.


• Use a hot water bottle wrapped in a towel across the back, chest, and groin area only! You must warm the core first, and worry about extremities later. This is important if CPR is needed at any point in your efforts.


• Use skin-to-skin body heat to warm up the core of the body.


• If you are outside with no indoor shelter, do not lay victim on the cold ground. Put a blanket (or two) down first.


• If victim has lost consciousness and has stopped breathing, and if you are trained, begin CPR.


• If the victim is conscious, encourage him or her to drink warming liquid. Warm water is fine, but plain. Herbal tea or chicken stock may help encourage more drinking.

Heart Attacks

Cold weather injuries are not just skin deep, but cardiovascular as well. Every winter, people die of heart attacks while out shoveling snow.

As we saw with hypothermia, cold temperatures will impact blood flow. Cold weather tends to thicken blood while also causing vasoconstriction. These two conditions increases the risk of heart attacks, especially with exertion. This is particularly true for those already at risk of a heart attack.

A heart attack is always a medical emergency. Here are some tips to prevent this from happening:

• Invest in some proper winter gear. You want to make sure you stay warm, but won’t be sweating. However, if you’re going to be shoveling, there’s no way to avoid sweating. For $200, I bought my husband a set of insulated Carhartt bib overalls and jacket. Under that, he wears a wool sweater, wool hat, and wool glove liners under his gloves, and wool socks. Why? Because wool will keep you warm even if it gets wet. He also has a moisture-wicking base layer.


• Either use a smaller shovel to lift smaller loads, or get a snow blower.


• Make sure you stay hydrated. You may not feel thirsty when it’s cold out. But, dehydration will thicken the blood. Avoid bringing a hot thermos of coffee outside with you. Coffee is dehydrating.


• Take frequent breaks. I know, you want to get the job done and get back inside. But, the key is to not overexert yourself.


• Stay fit all year long. This will help make lifting that shovel easier.


• If you have hypertension, get it under control now.

There is a lot of winter left to go. Prevention is worth a pound of cure. So, please stay warm, and dry. I want to see you get through this and every winter safely.

The post So Cold It Hurts: 6 Cold Weather Injuries and How to Deal with Them appeared first on The Sleuth Journal.

Donald Trump Is NOT Bluffing – So What Happens If Kim Jong-Un Is Not Bluffing Either?

Donald Trump has repeatedly promised to “solve” the North Korean problem, and the North Koreans have repeatedly promised to use nuclear weapons in response to any attack by the U.S. military.  So what happens if both sides are not bluffing?  For eight years, Americans had become accustomed to Barack Obama making threats and never following through on them, so it surprised a lot of people when Trump actually backed up his words by striking Syria after publicly pledging to do so.  Now Trump has publicly committed to take military action in North Korea, and I am absolutely convinced that he is not bluffing.  But if Kim Jong-Un is not bluffing either, and I don’t think that he is, that means that we are on the verge of what could be a horrifying military conflict with the North Koreans.

The critical moment could actually be just hours away.  Foreign journalists in North Korea have been instructed to be ready to witness a “big and important event” on Thursday, and many believe that this “event” could be the testing of a large nuclear device.

And if it doesn’t happen on Thursday, it may happen during the birthday anniversary of North Korea’s founder Kim Il Sung on Saturday.  According to a report that just came out, the North Koreans have placed a nuclear bomb “in a tunnel” in preparation for a test detonation during the celebration on Saturday…

In a striking development involving the rapidly changing North Korean geopolitical situation, moments ago Voice of America reported Steve Herman reported that according to US government and other sources say, North Korea has “apparently placed a nuclear device in a tunnel and it could be detonated Saturday AM Korea time.”

Needless to say, publicly testing a nuclear bomb at this stage would be the ultimate act of defiance by North Korea, and it is likely that such a move would push Trump over the edge.

But even without a nuclear test, it is believed by many that Trump is on the verge of striking North Korea anyway.  In fact, Jack Posobiec claims that a source has told him that an attack on the North Koreans is “imminent”…

Rebel TV’s Washington Bureau Chief Jack Posobiec warned to his followers on Twitter Tuesday that a strike on North Korea is “imminent.”

“Breaking: North Korea Strike Imminent,” Posobiec tweeted. “From [the] same source that warned me about Syria strikes last Thursday morning.”

But striking North Korea is much different than striking Syria.

In order for any attack to be successful, the U.S. military would have to locate every single North Korean nuclear device and either destroy or retrieve them all in the initial assault, because Kim Jong-Un has promised to use nuclear weapons if the U.S. strikes.

Unfortunately, that would not be easy.  North Korea’s cities are honeycombed with underground tunnels and bunkers, and simply locating where all of their nukes are being held would be just about impossible.  And so destroying or retrieving all of those weapons is going to take time.  Just consider the results of a “recent Pentagon war game”…

A recent Pentagon war game against the fictional country of “North Brownland,” a country whose dynastic family regime had nuclear weapons that had to be recovered during a regime collapse, found that US troops didn’t fare well in retrieving those weapons. V-22 Osprey aircraft were cut off from the rest of the allied forces and surrounded by the enemy. The result was the United States would have to fight through the countryside to the North’s estimated 100 nuclear-related sites. In all it took the US 46 days and 90,000 troops to secure those weapons.

If North Korea was able to fire off a single nuke, the operation would be a total disaster for Donald Trump and the U.S. military.

And even if we somehow got all their nukes, North Korea also has one of the largest arsenals of chemical and biological weapons on the entire planet.  Could you imagine how the world would view Trump if footage of thousands of people in Seoul and Tokyo choking on nerve gas started circulating all over the planet?

If Trump bungles this thing and a scenario such as that plays out, we will lose South Korea and Japan as friends forever.

Personally, the only way that I can see an attack on North Korea being a success is if Kim Jong-Un is actually bluffing and he decides not to use his vast arsenal of weapons of mass destruction.

Is Trump willing to bet the lives of countless numbers of South Korean and Japanese citizens on the fact that Kim Jong-Un is bluffing?

That would be incredibly foolish, because I don’t think that Kim Jong-Un is bluffing.  I believe that the moment the U.S. attacks, the North Koreans will open fire with thousands of rockets and artillery pieces.  The following comes from Business Insider…

North Korea will open with artillery and rocket fire from positions on the North slopes of the mountains just across the border. The North has the world’s largest artillery force with 10,000 pieces in their arsenal. The bulk of these forces are at the border, with much of the rest around Pyongyang and near Nampo, the site of their electricity-producing dam. It is likely that the South Korean capital of Seoul, just 35 miles from the border, would be the first target and would be devastated in the opening salvos.

The initial barrage would be followed by a massive invasion of South Korea, and vast numbers of U.S. ground troops would be needed to keep South Korea from being completely overrun.

Needless to say, China is completely freaked out by the prospect of a new Korean War.  They are urging Trump “to find a peaceful solution to the crisis”, and it is being reported that the Chinese have put their forces on “nationwide alert”…

China has put its military on “nationwide alert” while ordering 25,000 more troops to prepare to be sent to the North Korean border as tensions build.

Citing the Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy, a nongovernmental organization in Hong Kong, the Oriental Daily News reports that Beijing has ordered troops from all five of its military regions to be on high alert due to the escalating crisis in the region.

You can see some video of Chinese vehicles moving toward the border with North Korea here.  Just like during the original Korean War, the U.S. could ultimately end up in a direct military conflict with China if things spiral completely out of control.

So I don’t know why so many people are excited about a potential war with North Korea.  Millions of people could die, and it could be the spark that sets off World War III.  Thankfully there are watchmen out there such as Steve Quayle that are deeply concerned about what is coming…

“ITS ALWAYS THE CHILDREN” -WE ARE WATCHING THE NEO- CONS AND GLOBALISTS INITIATING WW3 BEFORE OUR EYES-WHAT ABOUT ALL THE ABORTED CHILDREN AND THE SLAUGHTERED CHILDREN AT THE HANDS OF THE WORLD’S CHILD TRAFFICKERS,MURDERERS AND CANNIBAL- OCCULTISTS AND THE COLLATERAL DAMAGE AND LOSS OF INNOCENT LIVES IN THE MIDDLE EAST WARS-DO THEIR LIVES EVEN COUNT OR MATTER? HAVE YOU ALSO NOTICED HOW ALL THE PEDOPHILE AND RITUAL SLAUGHTER REVELATIONS OF CHILDREN HAVE DIS- APPEARED FROM THE PUBLICS EYES ,EVEN WITHIN THE ALT PRESS-I STAND BY MY CLAIM THAT I HAVE SPOKEN CONSISTENTLY FOR THE LAST 5-7 YEARS -THAT BEFORE GOD ALLOWS AMERICA TO BE DESTROYED BY THE RUSSIANS AND CHINESE ,THROUGH A NUCLEAR WAR ,HE WOULD REVEAL THE SINS OF THE NATIONS LEADERS TO THE PEOPLE ,AND THE PEOPLES SINS BEFORE A HOLY GOD- PRESIDENT TRUMP ACTED INITIALLY AS A PROSECUTING ATTORNEY POINTING OUT THE SINS OF THE NATIONS LEADERS AND EVEN DEMANDING HILLARY TO BE JAILED. I SUBMIT THAT THE POLARIZATION IN THIS COUNTRY IS NOW AT ITS MAXIMUM (PRE-CIVIL WAR) IMPACT POINT, AND ALL THAT IS LEFT IS FOR GOD TO ENFORCE HIS DECREE AND CARRY OUT HIS JUDGMENT AS HE HAS IN ALL OF HISTORY. IN MY OPINION ,PRESIDENT TRUMP HAS BEEN CO-OPTED BY THE SECOND MOST POWERFUL FORCE IN THE UNIVERSE, WHICH IS CONTROLLED FROM BEHIND THE SCENES BY THE DRAGON (SATAN) AND HIS REBELLIOUS ANGELS-THERE WILL BE NO MORE MEDIA, WHEN GOD ARISES AND SCATTERS HIS ENEMIES -AND THEN ITS DECISION TIME AS TO WHERE ONE SPENDS ETERNITY! JESUS SAID THE WHOLE WORLD LIES IN EVIL ONE(UNDER SATANS POWER AND AUTHORITY) AND THE ONLY WAY TO OVERCOME THIS IS THROUGH THE POWER OF HIS RESURRECTION AND THE INDWELLING OF HIS HOLY SPIRIT-JESUS STATED IN LUKE 10:19

Luke 10:19 King James Version (KJV)
19 Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.

THE SPIRITUAL NATURE OF WAR IS HERE -THE GATES OF HELL HAVE OPENED-

Right now, Google searches for “World War 3” are at their highest level ever.

Whether the trigger is North Korea, Syria or something else, it is becoming clear that we are entering a very ominous period of time, and the American people will soon learn firsthand about the horrors of modern warfare.

Activists Hope To Turn Trump’s Inauguration On January 20th Into One Of The Biggest Riots In U.S. History

(image: nathanmac87)

Radical leftists are planning to make January 20th the most chaotic Inauguration Day in American history.  Their stated goal is to “disrupt” the Inauguration festivities as much as possible, and they are planning a wide range of “actions” to achieve that stated goal.  Some of the more moderate groups are using terms such as “civil resistance” and “civil disobedience”, but others are openly talking about “blockades”, jumping barricades, throwing projectiles and “citywide paralysis”.  My hope is that all of their efforts will turn out to be a big flop, but it is important to understand that these groups are well funded, highly organized and extremely motivated.  The election of Donald Trump has been perhaps the single most galvanizing moment for the radical left in modern American history, and they are working very hard to turn January 20th into a major political statement.

In fact, just recently one activist group took out a full page ad in the New York Times…

Thousands of activists, journalists, scientists, entertainers, and other prominent voices took out a full-page call to action in the New York Times on Wednesday making clear their rejection of President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence with the simple message: “No!”

“Stop the Trump/Pence regime before it starts! In the name of humanity we refuse to accept a fascist America!” the ad states, followed by a list of signatories that includes scholar Cornel West; author Alice Walker; Chase Iron Eyes of the Standing Rock Sioux; educator Bill Ayers; poet Saul Williams; CNN‘s Marc Lamont Hill; Carl Dix of the Communist Party USA; and numerous others.

The ad pointed people to refusefascism.org, and it asserted that Trump must be stopped whether he was legitimately elected or not…

Trump promises to inflict repression and suffering on people in this country, to deport millions, to increase violence up to the use of nuclear weapons on people across the globe, and to inflict catastrophes upon the planet itself. He has assembled a cabinet of Christian fundamentalist fanatics, war mongers, racists, science deniers. NO! His regime must not be allowed to consolidate. We REFUSE to accept a Fascist America!

If you go to refusefascism.org, you will discover that the protests that they are organizing in Washington D.C. will begin on January 14th.  They say that they want to “stop the Trump-Pence regime before it starts”, and they hope to have protests going “every day and every night” without interruption through at least January 20th.

Another group that plans to kick things off on January 14th is DisruptJ20.  Of course that is short for “Disrupt January 20th”.  If you go to their official website, you will find a long slate of events that have already been scheduled.

According to Legba Carrefour, a spokesperson for DisruptJ20, one of the goals of the group is to block major transportation routes into and throughout our nation’s capital.  And he is not shy about the fact that they literally want to “shut down the Inauguration”…

“We are planning to shut down the inauguration, that’s the short of it,” he says. “We’re pretty literal about that, we are trying to create citywide paralysis on a level that I don’t think has been seen in D.C. before. We’re trying to shut down pretty much every ingress into the city as well as every checkpoint around the actual inauguration parade route.”

If Carrefour and his fellow conspirators are able to actually accomplish that, it truly would be unprecedented.

And while DisruptJ20 is not publicly advocating violence, they are not exactly discouraging it either…

Carrefour says DisruptJ20 has no publicly announced plans to jump barricades along the inauguration parade route or throw projectiles at the new president, but that autonomous direct actions are encouraged.

“I can’t comment on specific stuff we’re doing like that, mostly because that would be illegal. But, yeah, it will get pretty crazy, I expect,” he says. “‘Have fun!’ I say.”

After the rioting that we have seen in Baltimore, Ferguson, Charlotte and many other communities around the nation in recent years, I hope that authorities are taking these threats quite seriously.

Once Donald Trump won the election, many conservatives seemed to think that the war was won.  But the truth of the matter is that many on the left were completely blindsided by Trump’s surprise victory, and now that they are fully awake they are gearing up for battle like never before.

And these protests are not going to end on January 20th.  In fact, abortion advocates are hoping to get close to a million women into Washington D.C. on the day following the Inauguration to protest for abortion rights.  Filmmaker Michael Moore is hoping that this march will be the beginning of “100 days of resistance” against Trump’s presidency…

Filmmaker and liberal icon Michael Moore has announced his plans to attend the Women’s March on Washington to protest Donald Trump’s inauguration later this month and has called for sore loser liberals to go further — by staging protests acts of resistance through the first 100 days of Trump’s presidency.

In an appearance, this weekend on MSNBC’s The Last Word, the 62-year-old Trumpland and Fahrenheit 9/11 director made a “call to arms” to those opposed to Trump’s presidency to join the Women’s March on Washington scheduled for January 21, the day after the presidential inauguration.

“It’s important that everybody go there,” Moore told MSNBC’s Ari Melber.

Of course it is easy to imagine how all of this could spiral wildly out of control.  If Trump cracks down on these protests really hard in an attempt to restore law and order, that could end up sparking a dramatic backlash against his “police state tactics”.  And if the protests become even bigger and more violent, Trump could respond by cracking down even more harshly.

Let us hope for some really cold weather in D.C. at the end of January so that as many troublemakers as possible get discouraged and stay home.  Violent protests, blockades and riots aren’t going to solve anything, and they could easily open fresh wounds in a nation that is becoming more divided with each passing day.

Get Ready For Civil Unrest: Survey Finds That Most Americans Are Concerned About Election Violence

Could we see violence no matter who wins on November 8th?  Let’s hope that it doesn’t happen, but as you will see below, anti-Trump violence is already sweeping the nation.  If Trump were to actually win the election, that would likely send the radical left into a violent post-election temper tantrum unlike anything that we have ever seen before.  Alternatively, there is a tremendous amount of concern on the right that this election could be stolen by Hillary Clinton.  And as I showed yesterday, it appears that voting machines in Texas are already switching votes from Donald Trump to Hillary Clinton.  If Hillary Clinton wins this election under suspicious circumstances, that also may be enough to set off widespread civil unrest all across the country.

At this moment there is less than two weeks to go until November 8th, and a brand new survey has found that a majority of Americans are concerned “about the possibility of violence” on election day…

A 51% majority of likely voters express at least some concern about the possibility of violence on Election Day; one in five are “very concerned.” Three of four say they have confidence that the United States will have the peaceful transfer of power that has marked American democracy for more than 200 years, but just 40% say they are “very confident” about that.

More than four in 10 of Trump supporters say they won’t recognize the legitimacy of Clinton as president, if she prevails, because they say she wouldn’t have won fair and square.

But many on the left are not waiting until after the election to commit acts of violence.  On Wednesday, Donald Trump’s star on the Walk of Fame was smashed into pieces by a man with a sledgehammer and a pick-ax…

Donald Trump took a lot of hits today, and not just in the Presidential race. With less than two weeks to go before America decides if the ex-Apprentice host will pull off a surprise victory over Hillary Clinton, Trump’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was destroyed early Wednesday morning by a man dressed as a city construction worker and wielding a sledgehammer and pick-ax in what looks to be a Tinseltown first.

And there were two other instances earlier this year when Donald Trump’s star was also vandalized.  One came in January, and the other happened in June…

This is of course not the first time the GOP candidate’s star has been attacked or defaced since Trump announced his White House bid in summer 2015. The most extreme measure was a reverse swastika being sprayed on the star at 6801 Hollywood Blvd in late January. In June this summer, a mute sign was painted on Trump’s star in a seemingly protest against the antagonistic language and policies some have accused Trump of promoting and reveling in during the campaign. In both cases, Trump’s star was quickly cleaned and back as new within a day.

We have seen anti-Trump violence on the east coast as well.  Earlier this month, someone decided to firebomb the Republican Party headquarters in Orange County, North Carolina.  On the building next to the headquarters, someone spray-painted “Nazi Republicans get out of town or else” along with a swastika.

There have also been other disturbing incidents of anti-Trump violence all over the nation in recent days.  A recent  Lifezette article put together quite a long list, and the following is just a short excerpt from that piece…

On Oct. 15 in Bangor, Maine, vandals spray-painted about 20 parked cars outside a Trump rally. Trump supporter Paul Foster, whose van was hit with white paint, told reporters, “Why can’t they do a peaceful protest instead of painting cars, all of this, to make their statement?”

Around Oct. 3, a couple of Trump supporters were assaulted in Zeitgeist, a San Francisco bar, after they were allegedly refused service for expressing support for Trump, GotNews reports. “The two Trump supporters were attacked, punched, and chased into the street by ‘some thugs’ that a barmaid called out from the back.” Lilian Kim of ABC 7 Bay Area tweeted a photo of the men, in which one was wearing a Trump T-shirt and the other was wearing a “Blue Lives Matter” shirt.

On Sept. 28 in El Cajon, California, an angry mob at a Black Lives Matter protest beat 21-year-old Trump supporter Feras Jabro for wearing a “Make America Great Again” baseball cap. The assault was broadcast live using the smartphone app Periscope.

There is a move to get Trump supporters to wear red on election day, but in many parts of America that might just turn his supporters into easy targets.  Let’s certainly hope that we don’t see the kind of violent confrontations at voting locations that many experts are anticipating.

Of course there are also many on the right that are fighting mad, and a Hillary Clinton victory under suspicious circumstances may be enough to push them over the edge.

For example, this week former Congressman Joe Walsh said that he is “grabbing my musket” if Donald Trump loses the election…

Former Rep. Joe Walsh appeared to call for armed revolution Wednesday if Donald Trump is not elected president.

Walsh, a former tea party congressman from Illinois who is now a conservative talk radio host, tweeted, “On November 8th, I’m voting for Trump. On November 9th, if Trump loses, I’m grabbing my musket. You in?”

And without a doubt, many ordinary Americans are stocking up on guns and ammunition just in case Hillary Clinton is victorious.  The following comes from USA Today…

“Since the polls are starting to shift quite a bit towards Hillary Clinton, I’ve been buying a lot more ammunition,” says Rick Darling, 69, an engineer from Harrison Township, in Michigan’s Detroit suburbs. In a follow-up phone interview after being surveyed, the Trump supporter said he fears progressives will want to “declare martial law and take our guns away” after the election.

Today America is more divided than I have ever seen it before, and the mainstream media is constantly fueling the hatred and the anger that various groups feel toward one another.

Ironically, Donald Trump has been working very hard to bring America together.  In fact, he is solidly on track to win a higher percentage of the black vote than any Republican presidential candidate since 1960.

If Hillary Clinton and the Democrats win on November 8th, things will not go well for Hillary Clinton’s political enemies.  The Clintons used the power of the White House to go after their enemies the first time around, and Hillary is even more angry and more bitter now than she was back then.

And the radical left is very clear about who their enemies are.  This is something that I discussed on national television earlier this month…

As I write this, it is difficult for me to even imagine how horrible a Hillary Clinton presidency would be.

But at this point that appears to be the most likely outcome.

Out of all the candidates that we could have chosen, the American people are about to put the most evil one by far into the White House.

Perhaps Donald Trump can still pull off a miracle and we can avoid that fate, but time is rapidly slipping away and November 8th will be here before we know it.

Could Air Pollution Be Causing More Traffic Accidents?

Poor weather, cell phones, radios, alcohol, and jerks: we think of these as some of the most common causes of car accidents. However, scientists at the London School of Economics say that air pollution, of all things, should be added to that list.

Researchers say they looked at 5 years’ worth of data and found that when levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) rose just a microgram per cubic meter, the number of car crashes increased by 2%. [1]

You might be tempted to look at the information and think, well, that proves nothing. There might have just been more traffic, and therefore more crashes and more pollution. But the researchers found that the increase remained even when adjusting for the extra traffic.

Sager and his colleagues used data from NASA satellites and other sources to isolate the precise effects of pollution alone rather than other factors. [2]

Their theory: air pollution impairs drivers’ fitness, and causes distracting physical symptoms like watery eyes and an itchy nose. [1]

A previous study backs up this theory. In that study, scientists discovered that air pollution inside a car can be more than double that on the outside because the NO₂ builds up in a small space.

Furthermore, lead researcher Lutz Sager of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), said:

“There is research that shows that students do worse on tests when there are higher amounts of air pollution in the rooms where they have their test sites.” [2]

This study is the first of its kind to examine how toxins in the air affect a person’s ability to operate a vehicle. Sager explained:

“Although it has already been shown that air pollution adversely affects human health and the ability to carry out mental tasks, this is the first published study that assesses the impact on road safety.

The analysis identifies a causal effect of air pollution on road accidents, but I can only speculate about the cause of the link.

My main theory is that air pollution impairs drivers’ fitness. However, other explanations are possible such as air pollution causing physical distractions, perhaps an itching nose, or limiting visibility.”

Read: Toxic Nanoparticle Air Pollution Found in Human Brain Tissue

Air pollution can contain many other toxins besides than NO₂, among them carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide, ozone, and small particulate matter. Nitrogen dioxide, however, seems to have the biggest impact. [1]

Translating the Data

For the study, Sager divided the U.K. into a grid of 32 areas, each covering about 4,784 square miles, and mapped accidents to the level of air pollution between 2009 and 2014 as stated by the Department for the Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra). [2]

Just one microgram of NO₂ per cubic meter above the daily average proved to be enough to increase the number of accidents by 2%. Unsurprisingly, cities felt the biggest effect of this.

Based on Sager’s calculations, in the area containing west London, which is home to some of the highest levels of air pollution, a cut of approximately 30% in the concentration of NO₂could cut the number of car accidents by nearly 5% per day.

Read: Thousands of American Lives Could Be Saved by Stricter U.S. Air Pollution Standards

The most polluted areas of the city sometimes have levels of NO₂ higher than 97 micrograms per cubic meter on average. And with 150,000 crashes involving injuries each year, preventing just 2% of collisions would protect thousands of people from harm. [1]

Source: Kings Cross Environment

Sager went on:

“Whatever the exact mechanisms responsible, the robust finding of a significant effect of air quality on road safety is important given the high cost of road traffic accidents through damage to vehicles and deaths and injuries to people every day.

Although this analysis has used data for the United Kingdom, I think my findings are relevant to other parts of the world. These additional costs from traffic accidents strengthen the case for reducing air pollution, particularly in congested cities.

My analysis suggests that the causal effect of air pollution on road traffic accidents measured in this study more likely stems from nitrogen dioxide or other pollutant gases rather than particulate matter.”

All Talk, No Action

The ClientEarth environmental law firm has been fighting to secure U.K. compliance with the E.U. air quality standards for the past six years, and will return to court this month to continue the battle. [2]

The U.K. Supreme Court had ordered the government (which had already missed a 2010 deadline) to develop plans to bring U.K. air pollution within legal levels as soon as possible. However, the government’s proposals didn’t visualize compliance in the worst affected areas until 2025.

Sources:

[1] The Telegraph

[2] Financial Times

Image Sources:

Kings Cross Environment

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About Julie Fidler:
	Julie Fidler is a freelance writer, legal blogger, and the author of Adventures in Holy Matrimony: For Better or the Absolute Worst. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and two ridiculously spoiled cats. She occasionally pontificates on her blog.