On the week of her due date, Elibexis Alvarez, a Venezuelan migrant, was preparing to give birth to her first child far away from her parents and the home country she never thought she’d leave. She and her husband, Johan Jose Medina, have spent the last four months living in temporary shelters in Chicago after fleeing escalating violence in Venezuela. They are part of the tens of thousands of migrants and asylum-seekers who have been bused north after being processed at the southern border...

A new bipartisan bill would direct US assistance to countries that face economic backlash from China for attempting to forge ties with Taiwan. The proposal, which leaders of the House select committee on China plan to introduce on Friday, aims to encourage other countries to strengthen bonds with Taiwan and to aid those who have done so and who are facing economic pressure from Beijing. In recent years, countries like Nauru have severed ties with Taiwan in favor of China. The...

"I wish Pooh were here. It's so much more friendly with two." — Piglet Winnie the Pooh creator A.A. Milne was onto something when he wrote that line, and not just because he tapped into the common human experience of boredom and loneliness. As a viral X thread shows, things are not just more friendly with two, but also more productive. Eli McMann shared how his husband started scheduling his friends to come visit him in shifts while he gardens, and people are praising it as a genuinely effective life hack."My husband has been doing gardening all afternoon and he has been scheduling his friends in shifts to come and sit with him while he does it so he has company," McCann wrote. "He is not asking for their help. He just wants them to be present. He has given each a watermelon popsicle." — (@) He then shared photos of what he means, with his husband doing yard work and a friend just sitting nearby chatting with him. They moved to the backyard. — (@) It's such a brilliantly simple concept that serves multiple purposes. For one, it allows a person to get things done that need to be done while also having some social time. How often do we lament not having time to get together with friends because we have too much to do? Adding friends to our "things to do" that require mostly physical work and not focused attention and brain engagement is a great way to do both.But there's also the idea of "body doubling," which people with ADHD use to help them stay on task. Body doubling might sound like a sci-fi/horror term, but it simply means having another person present while you do something you might normally struggle to stay engaged in. While there's no research yet to prove that it works, people with ADHD swear by the effectiveness of simply having another person present while you work at something. Commenters on Instagram shared:"As someone with ADHD, I feel this so much. I can accomplish so much when someone is around, or when I find out someone's coming over unexpectedly. ? It's true, we need a village.""Body doubling for the win! It’s awesome that he has willing friends too.""Body doubling is the best way to get things done. My ex-husband often asks if I need him to come over and double for me. It’s the best. ?""I love this! I’ve needed to go through a costly storage unit for years, but it’s creepy to go alone. So I haven’t done it. I don’t even want help. Just company ?""We do this in our house. Don’t need help with the chores, just moral support and company for a chat. ♥️"Other people shared how they've used this habit themselves to both get things done and nurture friendships. "Growing up in Vermont my friends and I had a rule—each of us would do our own chores, then move on to the closest house of the friend still doing chores - this way we all got to hang out together while getting things done. We always jumped from house to house until we landed on the friend who was still bogged down in chores - that was Leighton, who lived on a small family farm, and had the heaviest workload tending to stock. We would power through his work until he was free and we could all fish together as group in the nearby stream. 35 years later and those guys are still my closest friends.""My mum in Aus and I in London, clean our kitchen together while on video call... Another way a mum can be there for her child ❤️??""Yes! I’ve asked mom friends to come hang out while I fold so much laundry. Makes it so much more enjoyable.""This is why I talk to my best friend for about an hour a few times a month. Usually one of us has an annoying chore to do and need exactly this. Used to do it with my grandmums but they’ve passed ?""I do this too. Ask friends to hang out with me while I garden, or sometimes other tasks. It's nice to have the company even if they're just sitting there and chatting with me."Here's to friends who make everything easier just by being there.

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Have you ever grilled a steak that made your taste buds tremble with trepidation? If so, then you may have made this big but avoidable mistake.

Ready to think outside the box when it comes to steak toppings? From sweet to savory, creamy to briny, check out these ideas to pair with your next juicy steak.

While safety isn't a strong suit of the Covid shot, neither is efficacy. A recent medical study documented how workers at the Cleveland Clinic who received the Covid vaccination garnered a low level of protection against the virus, yet attained a high level of Covid illness. “The 2023-2024 formula COVID-19 vaccine given to working-aged adults afforded a low level of protection against the JN.1 lineage of SARS-CoV-2, but a higher number of prior vaccine doses was associated with a higher risk of COVID-19,” the study said in the ‘Conclusion’ section. The paper also discussed how vaccine immunity is weaker than natural immunity and how vaccines can lead to a higher risk of infection in the future. “Consistent with similar findings in many prior studies [3,8,10,12,18–20], a higher number of prior vaccine doses was associated with a higher risk of COVID-19. The exact reason for this finding is not clear. It is possible that this may be related to the fact that vaccine-induced immunity is weaker and less durable than natural immunity,” the study said in the ‘Discussion’ section. “So, although somewhat protective in the short term, vaccination may increase risk of future infection because the act of vaccination prevents the occurrence of a more immunogenic event. Thus, the short-term protection provided by a COVID-19 vaccine comes with a risk of increased susceptibility to COVID-19 in the future.” The study claimed that the early Covid vaccination had a high rate of effectiveness against infection, yet failed to mention that many who died in the hospitals were wrongfully marked as a Covid death in order to inflate the Covid death numbers, and most had co-morbidities.Save 10% on ALL storable food and Alexapure Pro Water Filtration Systems! Secure your independence with our delicious kits TODAY to beat the coming demand! Interestingly, the study also discussed how natural immunity took hold and prevented infection, and so because of that a new Covid vaccine was developed in order to maintain the usefulness of vaccination over natural immunity. “Although the original messenger RNA (mRNA) Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines were highly effective early in the pandemic [1,2], their effectiveness decreased as the causative agent of COVID-19, the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV- 2) virus, evolved over time and new variants emerged. Concurrently, the human population developed an increasing level of herd immunity, resulting in a decrease in the number of people who got infected and a substantial decline in the occurrence of severe illness among those who got infected. Newer vaccines were developed in an attempt to overcome diminishing vaccine effectiveness,” the study said in the ‘Introduction’ section. The study also laid out how once a vaccine for a specific Covid lineage was developed and rolled out, the virus had already mutated into a new variant. “Moderna TX Inc. and Pfizer-BioNTech Inc. updated their mRNA COVID-19 vaccines (the updated ones designated as the 2023-2024 formulation) to more closely target circulating variants. Both of these vaccines encoded the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant lineage XBB.1.5 (Omicron XBB.1.5) [4]. These updated vaccines were approved for emergency use by the FDA on 11 September 2023 [5], and the next day the CDC recommended them for everyone 6 months and older [6]. However, by the time these vaccines became available to the public the XBB lineages were already no longer the dominant circulating strains in many parts of the USA, having been supplanted by the HV.1, EG.5, and other lineages [7],” the study said in the ‘Introduction’ section. Other studies showed that Covid vaccination protection is short-lived and moderate in strength. The Covid shots are known to increase in lethality after repeated dose, cause miscarriages as well as cause deadly headaches, seizures and heart inflammation. The CDC recommends all Americans receive their Covid shot, and that young children get extra. BOOM! Covid Shot Causes Highest Kill Rate In History – Warns Top Doctor