A new longitudinal study involving more than 240,000 individuals in the United Kingdom suggests that people who used both psychedelics and cannabis during the COVID-19 pandemic experienced average improvements in symptoms of anxiety and depression over time. Unlike other groups of drug users—who tended to report persistently worse mental health—this group’s mental health scores became comparable to those of individuals who had never used illicit drugs. The findings have been published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology.
Psychedelics are a class of substances that alter perception, mood, and cognitive processes. Classic psychedelics include psilocybin (the active compound in magic mushrooms), lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), and dimethyltryptamine (DMT). These substances are known for producing intense alterations in consciousness, including visual and auditory hallucinations, shifts in thought patterns, and changes in self-perception. Unlike more commonly used substances such as alcohol or cannabis, psychedelics are often used less frequently and in settings intended to foster introspection or emotional insight.
…Military combat self-defence training in the Lithuanian Armed Forces is divided into three levels. At level one, soldiers learn basic techniques and acquire fundamental self-defence knowledge. Level two focuses on counterattacks and more complex combinations.
“At the highest level, tactics come into play – trenches, pits, rooms. Contact training includes fighting one-on-two, three-on-three, how to use a knife, stick, improvised weapons most effectively. All situations where a soldier might not be able to use their firearm and how to respond,” said Šeškevičius, describing level three.
Changes in military training began to influence the sporting side of combat self-defence, especially after the Lithuanian Armed Forces’ combat self-defence tournaments were revived in 2015.
“There was little protection against injury risks; only an eight-point scoring system limited the fights – once you reached those points, the match ended.
With the introduction of a more military-focused approach, we began incorporating technical elements and implementing better protective gear. As injuries and fractures began occurring, commanders became reluctant to send soldiers to compete. So we started refining the rules and adding safety measures. Competent instructors are essential – otherwise, injuries remove soldiers from their core military training, something commanders understandably want to avoid.”
The basic Buddhist take on sexual misconduct is you shouldn’t harm anyone or let yourself be harmed by sexual behavior. Less basic is sexual thought and behavior should not be excessive. ‘Identifying’ your ‘self’ with your ‘sexuality’ is almost anti-Buddhist because Buddhism is all about overcoming the self, which is an illusion, a delusion. Additionally, sexuality is not the most important part of humans. For these reasons seducing children (or adults) into delusive identities based on sexuality is not right conduct. It is sexual and psychological misconduct. It is foisting your own delusions on others, leading others to make the same mistakes you have. ABN
A decade-long infiltration campaign by the Chinese Communist Party has penetrated the Federal Reserve—coercing employees, stealing sensitive data, and compromising America’s financial core.
Most Americans have heard about Chinese spies targeting our military or hacking private companies. But there’s another front in this quiet war, one that’s gone largely unreported—and it may be the most dangerous of all: China’s long game to infiltrate and manipulate the United States Federal Reserve.
A 2022 Senate investigation offered a rare glimpse into this operation, but even that barely scratches the surface. What’s playing out behind closed doors isn’t just a few bureaucratic missteps or naïve collaborations—it’s a full-blown economic espionage campaign.
This is warfare without bullets.
The Fed: A Prime Target for Chinese Espionage
The Federal Reserve is the engine of the U.S. economy. Its decisions move markets, shape global capital flows, and set the tone for the world’s monetary system. Infiltrating the Fed doesn’t just give China intelligence – it gives them influence.
Over at least a decade, the CCP has targeted Fed employees through a mix of coercion, recruitment offers, unauthorized data access, and propaganda partnerships, mostly hidden behind Chinese academic institutions and think tanks.
I mean no offense to anyone, not even the photographer, but this is an example of how bad normal photos were in the pre-cellphone camera days. It can serve as an analogy for how people communicate interpersonally before FIML. Before FIML, our communication will be restricted, unsophisticated, clunky, and though it may be expressive as in this photo, probably not what we meant or deeply wanted to say. You can see the people in this photo definitely do not do FIML: 1) because the technique had not been invented in 1970; and 2) because you can. It is my firm belief that when millions of people do FIML we will enter an age of really good communication, much better than today. Just as most people now having a good camera on them all the time has yielded a massive improvements in photography, so FIML will deeply improve the ways we speak and listen and feel about doing that. Cellphone cameras give us many opportunities to shoot good photos and lots of practice in how to make a good photo. FIML is not quite like a camera, but it is a kind of cerebral technology that results in partners communicating much better. When we understand the FIML technique and use it often, our communication will improve at least as much as photography has improved due to widespread use of cellphone cameras. ABN
First things first. It might not be the popular thing to accept, but it is increasingly clear there is no way to get to any form of accountability or legal exposure for Russiagate or the manufacturing of the Trump-Russia collusion narrative, anywhere near former President Barack Obama. The concentric circles of plausible deniability are just too extensive.
Essentially, despite the evidence of the FBI participating in a manufactured investigation predicted on false pretenses, all now supported with hindsight evidence, the fact that key IC officials, namely CIA Director John Brennan, FBI Director James Comey and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, presented the illusion of credible concern, inoculates President Obama from scrutiny.
As the Supreme Court noted, the President is protected from liability for “official acts” of his office. Yes, we all know these officials knew it was a ruse; however, in 2016 the CIA and FBI were presenting the information to Obama and saying the investigative value was potentially plausible. As such, Obama would have been within his official duty to tell the IC officials to chase down the information (continue investigating it).
Then, the January 5th, 2017, meeting documented by the infamous “by the book” Susan Rice memo, further inoculates President Obama for telling the IC officials to follow careful procedures as they continued investigating whether or not the Trump-Russia collusion was a factual concern. All of these elements lead to various tentacles of plausible deniability. No court is going to find criminal action within the decision-making, regardless of how ridiculous it may look in granular hindsight.
Are all the characters guilty of perpetrating a fraud for the expressed intent of a political narrative, yes. Are they criminally liable for it, extremely unlikely.
American Buddhist Net 