Home Blog Page 1312

TikTok: ‘This Is Nothing But Economic Bullying’ – China Blast America

A senior Chinese official has accused the US, which forced the sale of TikTok on national security grounds, of “economic bullying”, while lambasting European Union restrictions on Huawei, in comments highlighting Beijing’s increasing assertiveness against what it sees as unfair treatment from Western governments.

“What has happened with TikTok in the US is a typical act of coercive possession,” the head of the Chinese Mission to the EU, Zhang Ming, said. “Some American politicians are trying to build a so-called clean network under the cover of fairness and reciprocity and blah, blah, blah,” ambassador Zhang said in an interview with Bloomberg TV. “This is nothing but economic bullying.”

The ByteDance-owned company has come under pressure in the US, where President Donald Trump’s ban has forced a sale of TikTok’s American operations. TikTok submitted a proposal to the treasury department over the weekend in which Oracle will serve as the “trusted technology provider”, the software company said.

Zhang’s comments represent an oft-repeated refrain from Beijing, which has accused Washington of targeting Huawei without evidence and called the forced sale of TikTok US “state-sanctioned theft”.

Oracle’s closely watched bid will have to pass a US national security review as well as win the blessing of Trump. Instead of buying the business outright, Oracle will make an investment in a newly restructured TikTok, and at least two shareholders in TikTok’s Chinese parent company, General Atlantic and Sequoia Capital, would take stakes in the new business, according to people familiar with the proposal.

The terms of the deal, which would also require sign-off from China, are still evolving.

“Defending the Nigerian Family against the Culture of Death”

By Brian Clowes, Human Life International

Many people worry about what is happening in Africa and in Nigeria, especially the people who live there.  But worrying is not enough.  It has never accomplished anything.  Even knowledge is not enough.  By itself, knowledge can accomplish nothing.  We must take action on our knowledge.

In order to be informed, so that we can take action, we have to answer four questions in this order;

  1. What is happening to our nation?
  2. How is it happening?
  3. Who is doing these things? and
  4. What can we do about it?

Question 1: What is Happening to Nigeria?

Nigeria has managed to hold off the effects of population control successfully so far, but this may change soon. The United Nations Population Information Network (POPIN) shows that the average Nigerian woman had nearly seven children per family 30 years ago. It is now about six children per woman. But this will rapidly decrease with the contraception and abortion flooding the country; there will be only 3.6 children per Nigerian woman in 30 years, replacement fertility at 2.2 children per woman in 60 years, and far below replacement fertility by 2100.

Why is the number of children per family decreasing so rapidly?

The very rapidly decreasing number of children per family is only one of the many symptoms of an infection by the Culture of Death, the deadliest disease of all. The Culture of Death not only weakens, corrupts and kills individual people, it destroys millions of families and even entire nations and continents, like Europe.

How can you tell if something is from the Culture of Death? See if it weakens the family. Everything the Culture of Death offers to us under the guise of “rights” and “freedoms” attacks and breaks one of the links of the family.

It helps to clarify if we see the family as a group of people linked to each other by chains of love and responsibility. As long as those links stay strong, the family stays strong. First, the husband and wife are linked in marriage, which is the unity of one man and one woman open to life through procreation. The husband and wife in turn have children they love and protect, and they themselves are the children of their own parents, or grandparents in this case. And we must never forget the most important member of every family, God Himself.

To begin with, there are many things the Culture of Death offers us to attack the procreative link between husband and wife. These include all abuses of the reproductive system, such as contraception, sterilization, abortion, masturbation and homosexuality.

To destroy the unitive link between husband and wife, their commitment to each other, the Culture of Death offers us divorce, adultery, pornography and prostitution. The Culture of Death sees all of these evils as “fundamental human rights.”

The Culture of Death attempts to separate children from their parents by trying to force them to have more liberal attitudes. This is done with explicit sexual education, “values clarification,” which is designed to present exercises that direct the child towards secular attitudes, and secret counseling of children deemed troublesome (i.e., who have traditional values).

As the grandparents get older, the Culture of Death claims that they have the right to kill themselves through physician-assisted suicide and “death with dignity.” This is because they are seen as useless and unproductive to society.

Since belief in God is the most powerful antidote to the Culture of Death, it attacks this belief in many ways, including atheism, agnosticism, “New Age” silliness and indifferentism, the strange belief that there are many ways to Heaven other than Jesus Christ.

The final result of all of this is what has happened in North America and Europe. Everybody thinks that they are independent, owe nobody else anything, do not care for anyone else, and just look out for themselves. And, most importantly, you can see from the picture that God has no place among the people any more.

• Everyone believes that they are thinking for themselves;

• Everyone believes they are independent;

• Everyone is a bundle of “rights;”

• Everyone believes they have “choices;”

• Everyone believes that they are free;

• But this is when they are most easily controlled. This is when they become dependent on the government for their living and the media for their opinions.

As the poet and philosopher Johann Wolfgang von Goethe said, “None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.”

Question 2: How is This Happening?

What is the overall agenda of the population control movement?

 The Senegalese novelist Hamodou Kane coined the expression “colonization of the mind.”

 He said that there are basically two ways to control a people.  The traditional method of control is through brute force.  The primary drawback of this method is that, when a nation uses force to subdue others, it must continually restrain the people from resisting and revolting.

A more permanent solution is to get the people to accept new attitudes through a systematic program of targeted corruption and propaganda.  Once the saturation campaign has succeeded, the populace controls itself.  The best part is that the people think that they arrive at important decisions on their own ― when, in reality, they are being manipulated in subtle but powerful ways by outside forces.

We see this happening all over the world today, especially in the Southern Hemisphere.

Of course, “colonization of the mind” must necessarily destroy the identity of the targeted people and make them imitate their conquerors.  In other words, the indigenous population eagerly participates in its own mass absorption into another culture.

While the population controllers talk endlessly about “celebrating diversity,” they are the greatest destroyers of cultural diversity in history as they impose American and European values and practices on the people of Latin America, Africa, the Caribbean and Asia.

Pope Francis is well aware of this deadly trend.  He has said that “This is the ideological colonization:  They enter into a people with an idea that has nothing to do with the people; yes, with a group of people, but not with the people, and they colonize the people with an idea that changes or that wants to change a mentality or a structure. Think of the Balilla (Fascist youth organization), think of the Hitler youth.  They colonized the people, they wanted to do it.  But how much suffering!  The people should not lose their freedom.  The people have their culture, their history; each people have their own culture.”

Now contrast this view with that of Nafis Sadik, the former Executive Director of the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA), one of the three largest population control groups in the world, who has claimed that “If culture and tradition are invoked to hold back change, and we hear this all the time, then culture and tradition must give way.”  This is typical of the imperialistic attitudes of the population controllers — if you do not believe as they do, you will simply be forced to believe as they do.  Your culture, your traditions, your religion, your beliefs do not matter at all, according to these people.

And how about former American Vice President and leading global warming alarmist Al Gore?  He said that “It is the job of global philanthropists to impose fertility management on Africa.”  In the United States, we talk about “managing” the fertility of cattle and insects, never people.  So why does he use this term on Africans?  Does he think that Africans are cattle or insect pests?  And notice the use of the term “impose,” which means that Africans will have no choice in deciding their own fertility.

The “traditional” method of conquering a nation involved taking it over by sheer force of arms, using bombers, tanks, grenades and firearms.  This is no longer acceptable in the eyes of the world, so we have to use different methods.  We occupy the minds of the people partly by making  them hate their God-given gift of fertility.  Our modern-day weapons are condoms, IUDs, Depo-Provera, birth control pills, and Norplant.

In the late 1800s, Europe occupied almost all of Africa.  Seven nations (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom) had carved up most of the continent among themselves and occupied the land for the purpose of pillaging and exporting its natural resources.

These European nations, along with North America, are still pillaging the natural resources of Africa, but can no longer occupy the continent with the use of force. The names of the occupying nations have been replaced by the names of the occupying pharmaceutical corporations, but the situation is still the same.

In 1890, seven European nations occupied almost the entire continent of Africa.  They each had large armies that “kept the peace” in the countries that they had taken over.  The arms manufacturers grew fat and rich as the wars continued.  They had names like Bridesburg, Colt, Enfield, Krupp, Mannlicher, Mauser and Winchester.

In 2015, after more than a century, nothing has changed.  Seven Western nations still occupy almost the entire continent of Africa — The United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Japan, Germany, Sweden and France, which have donated 82 percent of the 102 billion population control dollars that have pouring into Africa since 1995 [Excel spreadsheet F-18-05].  The armies these Western nations are now the population control non-governmental organizations, or NGOs.  There are over one hundred major NGOs involved in population suppression in Africa.  The best-known of these are the single-purpose pro-abortion groups such as Marie Stopes International, the International Planned Parenthood Federation, Pathfinder International, EngenderHealth and the United Nations Population Fund, or UNFPA.  But there are many other NGOs that also participate in large-scale population suppression as a secondary mission.  These include Adventist Development and Relief Agency International (ADRA), Africare, the Global Fund [to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria] Médecins sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders), and the Young Women’s Christian Association, or YWCA.  The “arms manufacturers” now have names like are Lilly Pharmaceuticals, OrthoMcNeil, Pfizer, Upjohn and Wyeth Pharma, and they are growing very fat and rich indeed.

There is another greedy motivation for holding down the populations of developing nations.  There is a lot of money in getting women and men hooked on contraception!  The London Family Planning Summit announced as its goal getting 120 million more women on contraception, most of them in Africa.[v]  If we take the average cost of contraception as $500 per year per woman, that’s sixty billion dollars ― every year![vi]

Part of the objective is to make the entire continent of Africa just a puppet of the huge international pharmaceutical cartel.  This will make sure that Big Pharma continues to get billions of dollars a year from your governments, money which could have been much better spent on authentic economic development.

As Amartya Sen said, “Promoting a “family planning first” strategy can send a message to poor people:  `Wish you weren’t here’.”

The primary weapon of colonization is population control, sometimes referred to as “contraceptive imperialism,” and its tools are anything that will reduce the number of children that women are having.  These tools include abortion, birth control and sterilization, divorce, sex education, and even the encouragement and acceptance of homosexuality.

In developing countries, the Population Council, the International Planned Parenthood Federation, and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), among many, many others, use effective CIA‑like tactics to infiltrate government ministries and the press and entertainment industry, recruit “focus groups” of local people upon which to test their theories, and undermine indigenous values and traditions.

According to Information Project for Africa (IPFA) researcher Elizabeth Sobo, the objective of such intensive programs “… is to literally saturate the media with birth‑control themes, and at the same time to make it appear that these ideas represent nothing more than a spontaneous change in local customs.”

These programs feature not just localized ads, but massive nationwide and even continent‑wide media and propaganda saturation campaigns.

The fact that some cultures might be completely against homosexuality, divorce and abortion, is entirely irrelevant.  The Western model will be imposed by the population controllers, regardless of what the receiving nation’s people think or believe.  The media, which is corrupted early in the takeover of any developing nation, will simply refuse to allow any message to be heard that conflicts with that of the conquerors.

And there are other more secret ways to hold down the population of a nation.

The first of these is the DDT ban, allegedly because it is a harmful carcinogen and weakens bird eggs.  But both of these charges have been disproven, so why is DDT still not allowed?  Why, to hold down the African population, of course!  One environmentalist said that “The mosquitos and malaria in question acted as a natural population control.  After the introduction of DDT into some areas of Africa, the population increased so much that people began starving.  Population control sounds a lot better to me than starvation and the environmental destruction caused by overpopulation.”

Every day, 7,200 more Africans die of malaria (90% of them children).  That is one every 12 seconds.  This adds up to a total of 115,603,927 Africans who have died of malaria due to the DDT ban as of April 15, 2015.

Another sneaky way of holding down a nation’s population is to encourage the people to kill themselves by leaving out a vital fact.  I have seen more than 100 different condom billboards in Africa, and not a single one of them warns that condoms break, tear or slip off one time in 16 uses, according to the “family planner’s handbook,” Contraceptive Technology.  So the people believe that they are perfectly safe if they use condoms.  But if you have an average of 5 or 6 or 7 total condom failures in a single year, how safe from HIV/AIDS are you really going to be?

If we look at the fifty most populated nations in Africa, we see a curious but very significant trend.  The more Catholics and Muslims there are in a nation, the less HIV/AIDS there is.  This is because, in Africa at least, Catholics and Muslims closely follow their religion’s prohibition on the use of condoms.  So we see, in the nations North of the Sahara, 99 percent Muslim population with almost zero HIV/AIDS.  As the percentage of Catholics and Muslims decreases, the percent of adult HIV/AIDS infection rises dramatically.  In all of the nations with less than a 20 percent Catholic and Muslim population, the minimum rate of adult infection is 15% (one in six), and it goes all the way up to 29 percent (nearly one in three adults).

When not trying to make Africans kill each other while making love, the United States tries to get them to kill each other by making war, in a third way to control the population.

 In 1974, the United States government under President Richard Nixon, published National Security Study Memorandum 201 entitled “Military Assistance and Arms Policy in Black Africa.”  This Memo described how the USA can make money off of both sides in African conflicts by selling both sides the weapons that are the most effective at killing.

For a complete exposé, see the film “NSSM:  Guns, Greed, Genocide,” by Del Walters.

The most effective strategy the population controllers and other anti-lifers have used all over the world is infiltration and subversion.  This means that, over a period of years, they corrupt the decision-makers in the target country with money and propaganda.

The great Chinese general Sun Tzu wrote in his classic book The Art of War that “All warfare is based primarily on the deception of an enemy.  Fighting on a battlefield is the most primitive way of making war.  There is no art higher than to destroy your enemy without a fight ― by subverting anything of value in your enemy’s country.”

There are ten sources of influence in any society, no matter how developed or underdeveloped it may be.  These are divided into the concentrated, or focused, sources of influence, and the diffuse sources of influence.

The eight concentrated sources of influence are organizations or entities where relatively few people influence the morals of an entire nation through mass means of communication.  These individuals create and disseminate the ideas, attitudes and symbols that appeal to the rest of the population.  The moral direction of every country is determined by an elite cadre consisting of about one tenth of one percent of the population, which leads;

1) The United Nations, with more than a score of huge agencies, including the World Bank, the World Health Organization (WHO), UNESCO, UNICEF, and hundreds of thousands of workers, as well as a worldwide annual budget of tens of billions of dollars;

2) The thousands of official non-governmental organizations (NGOs), many of which are involved in population control;

3) The executive branches of the national governments, regions, states and large population centers;

4) The courts, particularly the national court systems;

5) The legislatures at the national, regional and state levels;

6) The leaders and boards of associations with specific missions, including organized medical and legal professionals, foundations, and public interest groups;

7) The media, particularly the entertainment industry (motion pictures, television, radio), the print and news media (newspapers, magazines, book authors and publishers and newscasters) and the arts; and

8) School leaders, from grade school board presidents to the policymakers at medical and legal colleges.

Then there are the two dispersed sources of influence.  These involve millions of people ― primarily parents, clergy and more experienced people ― influencing the morals of many others on a one‑to‑one basis in;

9) The Church; and

10) The family.

In the first step of the revolution, a relatively small group of people gain control of the concentrated organs of influence and then consolidate their position.  In order to complete the process of revolution, they must then exert pressure on the dispersed organs of influence ― the family and the Church ― in order to make them “fall into line.”

Revolutions almost never proceed to this second and final stage ― control of the Church and the family ― because of several reasons.

 To begin with, the Church and family are led by millions of decision‑makers, not just a few thousand, and are therefore vastly more difficult to reach, influence and control.  They can only be contained to a certain degree.  This is the idea behind the anti-life emphasis on the separation of Church and state.

Second, the authentic Christian Church is guided not by the transitory and fickle laws of men, but by the eternal law of God, which is unchangeable.  The true Christian Church holds a constant course, while false religions tailor their messages in a way that follows the latest findings in science and psychology, and are therefore secular in essence and often even in ritual.

 Finally, in a true democracy, it is not the place of the State to substitute for the Church and the family, although it strives mightily to do so in nations with Socialistic systems.

Anti‑life revolutionaries can only hope to succeed by relying upon the process of assimilation, whereby the state does not attack Church and family directly, but bribes them with monetary benefits and tax manipulation into repudiating their own values.  If this happens, the State will simply absorb Church and family, and will transform them into powerless, irrelevant entities that it can manipulate at will.  Anti‑lifers have completed this process in Europe and Canada, have advanced it tremendously in the United States, and are aggressively launching it in Latin America, Asia and Africa.

Question 3: Who is Doing This to Nigeria?

In order to understand who is trying to destroy the families of Africa, we must first know that the primary motivation behind population control is simple greed.

On December 10, 1974, the United States National Security Council promulgated a top secret document entitled National Security Study Memorandum 200 (NSSM-200), also called The Kissinger Report. It was subtitled “Implications of Worldwide Population Growth For U.S. Security and Overseas Interests.” This document was declassified in 1989. It laid out a detailed strategy by which the United States would aggressively promote population control in developing nations in order to regulate (or have better access to) the natural resources of these countries.

In order to protect U.S. commercial interests, NSSM-200 cited a number of factors that could interrupt the smooth flow of materials from lesser-developed countries, LDCs as it called them, to the United States, including a large population of anti-imperialist youth, who must, according to NSSM-200, be limited by population control. The document identified 13 nations by name that would be primary targets of U.S.-funded population control efforts. The named countries were India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nigeria, Mexico, Indonesia, Brazil, the Philippines, Thailand, Egypt, Turkey, Ethiopia and Colombia.

According to NSSM-200, elements of the implementation of population control programs could include: a) the legalization of abortion; b) financial incentives for countries to increase their abortion, sterilization and contraception-use rates; c) indoctrination of children; and d) mandatory population control, and coercion of other forms, such as withholding disaster and food aid unless an LDC implements population control programs.

NSSM-200 also specifically declared that the United States was to cover up its population control activities and avoid possible charges of imperialism by inducing the United Nations and various non-governmental organizations ― especially the International Planned Parenthood Federation, the Pathfunder Fund, and the Population Council ― to do its dirty work.

While the CIA and Departments of State and Defense have issued hundreds of papers on population control and national security, the U.S. government has never renounced NSSM-200, but has only amended certain portions of its policy. NSSM-200, therefore, remains the foundational document on population control issued by the United States government.

The full text of NSSM-200 and a detailed commentary by Human Life International are both contained on The Facts of Life DVD.

The reason NSSM-200 was written in the first place is explained in the document itself: “The U.S. economy will require large and increasing amounts of minerals from abroad, especially from less developed countries. That fact gives the U.S. enhanced interest in the political, economic, and social stability of the supplying countries. Wherever a lessening of population pressures through reduced birth rates can increase the prospects for such stability, population policy becomes relevant to resource supplies and to the economic interests of the United States.”

NSSM-200 does not mention national welfare or the raising of the standards of living of the people of a nation; its only motivation is to allow the United States to get its hands on the natural resources of developing countries.

NSSM-200, Section 30(a), says: “Concentration on Key Countries. … Assistance for population moderation should give primary emphasis to the largest and fastest growing developing countries where there is special U.S. political and strategic interest. Those countries are: India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nigeria, Mexico, Indonesia, Brazil, the Philippines, Thailand, Egypt, Turkey, Ethiopia and Columbia. Together, they account for 47 percent of the world’s current population increase.”

NSSM-200 also says that “No country has reduced its population growth without resorting to abortion.”

Malcolm Potts, a former Medical Secretary of the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), knows more about abortion and population control than anyone else alive. He confirmed this view when he said that “No developed country has brought down its birth rate without a considerable recourse to abortion, and it appears unlikely that developing countries can ever hope to see any decline in their fertility without a massive resort to induced abortion ― legal or illegal.”[xii]

This is certainly true ― All 47 so-called “developed” nations have legalized abortion or have easily accessible abortion, and only two of them are replacing their populations.

Since abortion is still repugnant to the peoples of Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa and parts of Asia and Oceania, we must mask our desire to legalize abortion by pretending to care about the state of women’s health. We do this by saying that we want to eliminate “unsafe abortion.”

The selfish and greedy motivation for population control was freely admitted by governmental officials for years, before it became politically incorrect and counterproductive to the overall strategy to do so.

For example, R.T. Ravenholt, Director of the United States Government’s Office of Population, said at a 1977 meeting of the Population Association of America that “Population control is needed to maintain the normal operation of U.S. commercial interests around the world. … Without our trying to help these countries with their economic and social development, the world would rebel against the strong U.S. commercial presence. The self-interest thing is a compelling element.”[xiii]

Since 1991, the “developed” nations of the world have spent $4.91 billion in Nigeria trying to keep down the population of the people. In 1991, the population controllers spent about $31 million in Nigeria, but this has increased by a factor of more than 30 to more than half a billion dollars a year. This is because Nigeria is becoming too strong and must be kept weak by suppressing its population.[xiv]

Dr. Alan Guttmacher, who did more than anyone else in the history of the world to spread abortion and population control everywhere, said that “If you’re going to curb population, it’s extremely important not to have it done by the dammed Yankees, but by the UN. Because the thing is, then it’s not considered genocide. If the United States goes to the Black man or the yellow man and says slow down your reproduction rate, we’re immediately suspected of having ulterior motives to keep the white man dominant in the world. If you can send in a colorful UN force, you’ve got much better leverage.”[xv]

As Dr. Guttmacher recognized, the “developed” nations can’t just give tens of billions of dollars directly to developing nations and order them to have fewer children. NSSM-200 recognized that this would be perceived as racist and imperialist.

So we go through the middlemen, the giant population control groups, and have them do our dirty work for us. They pay lavish salaries and benefits to some of the target nation’s citizens to give the false impression that they are the ones who are embracing population control for their own country’s good.

There are more than one hundred major population control groups in the world, including those that have successfully convinced us that their good work in other areas should excuse their evil activities. Many of these groups have obscure names that do not hint at their activities. A few of these huge groups, whose primary purpose is population control, and their incomes over the past ten years, include;

• Direct Relief International (DRI) [$2.3 billion];

• DKT International [$1 billion];

• Family Health International (FHI) [$3.2 billion];

• John Snow Research & Training Institute [$1.3 billion];

• Marie Stopes International (MSI) [$1.1 billion];

• PATH (Program for Appropriate Technology in Health) [$3.2 billion];

• Pathfinder International [$1.1 billion];

• Population Council (PC) [$2.1 billion];

• Population Services International (PSI) [$3.3 billion]

• Research Triangle Institute (RTI) [$7.1 billion]

• And, the largest population control group of them all, the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) [$43.3 billion].

   This list is only for North American population control groups, and does not even count European popcon groups or big NGOs like the International Red Cross or Doctors without Borders, which do a lot of population control work in addition to their other activities.

 Aid from the West is poisoned, and will do much more damage than good.  It always has strings attached.  For example, Bishop Emmanuel Badejo of Oyo revealed that “The United States actually said it would help Nigeria with Boko Haram only if we modify our laws concerning homosexuality, family planning, and birth control.”[xvi]

Population controllers tend to look at population densities to determine (in their minds) if a nation is “overpopulated.”  But if they compare African nations to European nations, their ingrained racism becomes evident.

Sub-Saharan Africa has only about 39 people per square kilometer, and the population controllers tell us that this is terrible overpopulation.  But Europe has five times as many people per square kilometer (174), and this is perfectly fine, in their expert opinion.

The same holds true of individual nations.  The population controllers see Nigeria, with 197 people per square kilometer, and shout “overpopulation!”  But in England, the most crowded nation in Europe, where many large population control groups are located (including the International Planned Parenthood Federation and Marie Stopes International), there is a population density more than twice as large — 400 people per square kilometer — and this does not seem to be a problem with them.

Nigerian Bishop Hyacinth Egbobo is not afraid to point out the problem: “Also, please keep in mind that we have more pressing problems here than what is bothering the West, and which you tend to dump on us ― like same-sex marriage or abortion.  We have been told that in order to access Western aid, we have to accept the modern way of doing things.  We don’t want any of that.  But we are dying of lack of food, for lack of very basic things.

 “Don’t try to impose your way of life on Africa.  The West is far too interested in what it can get out of Africa ― like our oil or diamonds in the Democratic Republic of Congo ― while only giving us some paltry gifts or selling us weapons we don’t need.  Instead please, help us to stand on our feet and become mature enough so that we could positively contribute to life and the world in general.  Africa is a gift to humanity.  But Africa needs to stand up ― we are dying.”[xix]

 So ― What is the hidden reason that all of this happening?

Meet the man who instituted population control and who ordered the writing of NSSM-200:  President Richard Milhous Nixon.

 On March 30, 1972, he said “I think a majority of people in Michigan are for abortion, I think in both cases, well, certainly in Michigan, they will vote for it because they think what’s going to be aborted generally are the little Black bastards.”

A few days later, on April 3, 1972, he said “As I told you ― we talked about it earlier ― that a hell of a lot of people want to control the negro bastards.  You know what we are talking about ― population control.”[xxi]

 What were the population controllers afraid of in the 1920s, and what are they afraid of now?

 Harvard professor Lothrop Stoddard outlined the primary fear of population controllers in his 1921 book The Rising Tide of Color against White World-Supremacy.  He was worried about “differential fertility,” or the fact that Blacks were outbreeding Whites worldwide.

He wrote that “None of the colored races shows perceptible signs of declining birth‑rate, all tending to breed up to the limits of available subsistence … It can mean only one thing:  A tremendous and steadily augmenting outward thrust of surplus colored men from overcrowded colored homelands … Crossings with the negro are uniformly fatal.  Whites, Amerindians, or Asiatics ― all are alike vanquished by the invincible prepotency of the more primitive, generalized, and lower negro blood. … In ethnic crossings, the negro strikingly displays his prepotency, for black blood, once entering a human stock, seems never really bred out again.”[xxii]

 Note that Stoddard considered Black people to be less than human.

 Why do I quote this hard-core racist and eugencist?

Because he sat on the board of Margaret Sanger’s American Birth Control League for ten years after writing this book, and was one of her closest advisors.  Of course, the American Birth Control League is now known as the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

Stoddard’s book The Rising Tide of Color against White World‑Supremacy showed typical racist stereotypes on its cover ― the spear-carrying African and knife- and sword-wielding Asians menacing White North America.

 The cover of his book The Revolt against Civilization:  The Menace of the Under-Man was even cruder; Black people are depicted as ugly and vicious monkeys throwing Molotov cocktails, and there is even a stereotypical bald, angry-looking hook-nosed Jew in the crowd.

 What the population controllers have always feared is coming to pass:  The “demographic cross” has already occurred.

 In 1950, Europe had 22 percent of the world’s population, while Africa possessed only nine percent.  Europe’s population was still growing at that time, but Africa’s was growing much faster.  In 1950, Europe’s population growth rate was slowing down, while Africa’s remained constant.

 In 1997, two things happened simultaneously:  Europe’s population stopped growing and levelled out, and Africa’s population passed Europe’s like a rocket passing a broken-down horse.  In 1997, for the first time in the history of the world, Africa’s population exceeded that of Europe.

 The greatest fear of the racist population controllers had finally become a reality. Currently, Europe’s population is actually declining by two and a half million people a year, while Africa’s is increasing by 17 million per year.

 By the middle of this century, the continents will have completed the process of switching places.  Africa will have 21 percent of the world’s population, while Europe possesses only eight percent.  Even more interestingly, the average European will be 58 years old in the year 2050, and the average African will be only 29.

So who does the future belong to ― a continent with an old, small population with few natural resources, or a continent with a large, young population with vast natural resources?  If Africa can overcome its corruption and civil wars, it will lead the world in just a couple of decades.

 On a worldwide level, another “demographic cross” occurred just five year ago, in 2010.  In 1950, more than one-quarter of the world’s population was White.  It is currently only 15 percent, and is set to decrease to less than ten percent by the year 2060.  If this trend continues, the last White person will die in about the year 2200.

Meanwhile, the worldwide Black population is increasing rapidly, from only nine percent in 1950 to 25 percent now.

 Further evidence of the ingrained racism of the population controllers is provided by an examination of where population control dollars are spent.  These numbers are current (2015) dollars spent per person during the time period of 1991 to 2015.

 No population control dollars were spent in North America or in Northern or Western Europe.  They aren’t needed, as these nations have abortion on demand and their populations are either declining or stable.

The average Latin American has been the target of about seven dollars of population control expenditures over the past twenty years.  About the same amount has been spent on people in the Middle East.  About four and a half dollars per person has been spent in Asia, which has sixty percent of the world’s population.  About sixty dollars per person has been spent in Oceania, primarily targeting indigenous peoples.

 But Africans have been targeted with $52 per person, and each person in the Caribbean has had nearly $60 of population control money spent on them.[xxiii]

 It is obvious that Africa and the Caribbean, which are largely Black, are the primary targets of the population controllers today.  After all, Africa is largely empty and most of the world’s population is crowded into Asia, so why is twelve times as much money spent on Africans as on Asians?

 This is simple racism translated into policy and action.

 The Facts of Life DVD contains 500 detailed dossiers on groups cooperating with the Culture of Death, including where the groups work, their activities, their publications, quotes by their leaders, and their finances.

Some of the major population control groups that are active in Nigeria today include;

• Advocates for Youth

• Family Health International (FHI)

• Guttmacher Institute

• International Consortium for Medical Abortion (ICMA)

• International Women’s Health Coalition (IWHC)

• Marie Stopes International

• Population Reference Bureau (PRB)

ECOWAS Heads Of State Agree To Reject Forceful Change Of Govt In Mali

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Heads of State have unanimously agreed to reject the forceful change of government in Mali.

Vice President Professor Yemi Osinbajo disclosed this on Tuesday while speaking after representing President Muhammadu Buhari at the extraordinary summit of the ECOWAS on the situation in Mali.

He said the region’s leaders agreed that the transition to democratic rule in Mali must take a maximum of 18 months and the transitional government should be heeded by a civilian.

The Vice President was accompanied by the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Mr Zubairu Dada and is now on his way back to the country from Ghana.

The West African leaders said they hope to see a civilian-led transition government installed in Mali “in days” following the talks with the military junta that seized power in the fragile state last month.

ECOWAS slapped sanctions on the country after the putsch, including closing borders and a ban on trade and financial flows, and has called for elections within 12 months.

“We need a civilian leadership of the transition,” Ghana President Nana Akufo-Addo, who currently chairs ECOWAS, told journalists after hosting the meeting.

“The minute that leadership is put in place through the processes they themselves have agreed upon in Mali, the sanctions that have been placed against Mali will be lifted by ECOWAS.”

Akufo-Addo said that a mediator from the bloc would travel to Bamako in a week and that regional leaders wanted the process finished.

“I’m hoping that by the time he gets there these things would have been completed,” the Ghanaian leader said.

“We’re talking hopefully in days not in weeks.”

ECOWAS had given Mali’s new military rulers until Tuesday to name a civilian president and prime minister to head a transitional government.

The junta missed that deadline but its leader Colonel Assimi Goita, who was appointed interim head of state, attended the talks in Ghana on his first trip abroad since his seizure of power.

Relief for Baba Ijebu, Others as CBN Partially Lifts Ban on Accounts

The Central Bank of Nigeria has partially lifted the freezing of bank accounts of 38 Nigerian companies.

The CBN, in a circular dated September 4, 2020 signed by Bello Hassan, CBN’s Director of Banking Supervision, asked banks to place the accounts of the 38 companies on Post-No-Debit order.

Among the companies listed by CBN is Premier Lotto owned by Adebutu Kessington, Nigerian billionaire known as Baba Ijebu.

The move by the apex bank comes months after the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission launched an investigation into the activities of Adebutu for alleged tax fraud and economic sabotage.

In the new directive by the apex bank jointly signed by Jeremiah Abue, Director, Governors’ Department; and Hassan, the bank said the partial lifting follows the plea by the companies to enable them pay winnings and salaries of staff.

“However, please note that the Post-No-Debit restriction on the accounts is still in place, subject to the identified exceptions.

“Accordingly, no other transaction should be processed for any of the companies during the period of this waiver.

“You are to open a subsidiary account from where payment of winnings, salaries and other restricted operational expenses such as purchase of diesel (other overhead expenses) will be passed into weekly. The debit on the subsidiary account will be vetted by the Central Bank of Nigeria and swept into the main account after approval from the CBN,” the directives by the CBN reads.

The apex bank also directed that a weekly report should be sent to the CBN for approval.(thepodiummedia.)

Alaafin Adeyemi, Bode Thomas, Tinubu, and the Oonirisa

By Bola Bolawole

You may have heard the story of the very unfortunate encounter between Alaafin Adeniran Adeyemi 11 (the father of the present Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi 111) and prominent politician and Action Group deputy leader, Chief Bode Thomas.

According to Wikipedia, Chief Bode Thomas (October 1919 – 23 November, 1953) was a Nigerian lawyer, politician, statesman, and traditional aristocrat. Thomas served with distinction as both a colonial minister of the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria and as a nobleman and privy counsellor of the historic Oyo clan of Yoruba land at a time when Nigeria was just beginning the journey to its independence in the 1960s. He was Nigeria’s first Minister of Transportation and later of Works.

According to //face2faceafrica.com (with slight modifications): The following is the story “of Bode Thomas, the iconic Nigerian lawyer who died barking like a dog for insulting a king:

“Few in Nigeria’s socio-political history rose swiftly on the ladder of prominence yet died not in the evening of their lives but rather in the noon when there was so much more to be done. This was the case of Olabode Akanbi Thomas, popularly known as Chief Bode Thomas.

“Thomas, born in October 1919, died tragically on November 23, 1953, under curious circumstances, aged just 34. The day was also his daughter’s second birthday, thus, bringing joy and pain to the Bode household.

“A day prior, on November 22, 1953, Bode, who had been made the chairman of the Oyo Divisional Council having taken over from Alaafin Adeniran Adeyemi II, had arrived at a meeting of the council with the Oba (king) in attendance as a member.

“The report holds that all the other councillors, except Oba Adeyemi, who was in his 60s, stood to welcome him. Thomas then impolitely told the king “Why were you sitting when I walked in? Why can’t you show me respect?”

“The Alaafin, felt disrespected and asked Thomas: “Se emi l’o n gbo mo baun? Emi l’o n gbo bi aja mo baun?” meaning “Is it me you are barking at like that? Is it me you are barking like a dog at? Keep barking!”

Various accounts further held that Thomas, upon getting home after the meeting in Oyo, started barking throughout the night at his Yaba, Lagos home. He died the following day (November 23, 1953) despite being rushed to Ijebu-Igbo for (spiritual or native) treatment.

“Thomas, being a chief himself, must have known the time-held Yoruba practice of respecting the elderly and traditional authority as he and Alaafin Aderemi II were Yoruba. However, it appears the two, not seeing eye-to-eye, had to do with power-play regarding tax mobilization, political party support and rights of traditional authority.

“Action Group’s political leader, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, had established the Action Group to wrestle power from the British with Thomas as deputy leader. The Alaafin, one of the few highly-placed men of Yoruba extraction, however, threw his weight behind Nnamdi Azikiwe and the National Council of Nigerians and the Cameroons (NCNC).

“There had been a test of power of sorts with Alaafin on the one hand and Awolowo and Thomas on the other. Thomas was the Balogun of Oyo – the title he received in 1949. He was instrumental in the fight for self-rule against the British, serving as a lawyer, politician, statesman, and traditional aristocrat.

“He was born to Andrew Thomas, a wealthy trader and auctioneer who was originally from Oyo but migrated to Lagos. He studied law in London and was called to the bar in 1942. He subsequently returned to Nigeria to establish the law firm “Thomas, Williams, and Kayode” in 1948, together with Chief Frederick Rotimi Williams and Chief Remilekun Fani-Kayode.

“Among his other feats, he became the legal adviser of Egbe Omo Oduduwa in 1946. He was one of the founding members of the Action Group. Prior to joining the Action Group, he was a successful Lagos lawyer and member of the Nigerian Youth Movement.

“With Thomas’ style, he was regarded as brilliant, logical, astute, thoughtful, forward looking and a workaholic. On the downside, he was viewed as arrogant, hot-tempered, and a bully.

“Thomas married Lucretia Shobola Odunsi, having children Eniola and Dapo together. He was chancellor of the African Church of Nigeria and became a member of the Regional House of Assembly in 1951. The popular ‘Bode Thomas Street’ in Surulere is named after him”

What a sad ending to an otherwise illustrious career!

Oba Adeyemi 11 was deposed and banished into exile in July 1955 at the age of 84 years. His 200 wives (yes, 200 wives!) took turns (30 at a time) to be with him in exile, first at Iwo-Oke, then Ilesha and, finally, at 31, Egerton Lane in Lagos. Alaafin Adeyemi 11 died in exile on 14th February, 1960.

The story is also told of another town in Yoruba land whose Oba was dethroned and sent into exile in 1966. A new Oba was enthroned but the community had become polarised between those for and those against the old as well as the new Oba.

At one of the yearly celebrations of the town when the Kabiyesi would dance round the town, stopping at strategic locations to perform the required traditional rites and thereafter receiving gifts and pledges of loyalty from important citizens along his route, he got to the address of an opponent of his enthronement who chose to ignore him. The man reportedly maintained his sitting position even after Kabiyesi had attracted his attention.

To cut the long story short, Kabiyesi laid a curse on him that a wild animal would devour him within seven days. The imprudent man laughed and mocked Kabiyesi, calling him the king of grasshoppers! What would he, a Very Important Personality, be doing in the bush that would give any wild animal the opportunity to tear him into pieces? He further mocked the king!

Kabiyesi left it at that and went his way. A few days after, this man had an important business to transact in the state capital nearby but somewhere on the way, his stomach rumbled and he ordered his driver to pack by the roadside so he could quickly go inside the bush to ease himself. Lo and behold, a warthog or some other wild animal came from nowhere and mauled him to death!

The elders have a saying: A child stones the “Iroko” tree and intermittently casts a glance in its direction; he forgets that it is not the day someone curses the gods that they fight back! Or are we to say those were the days when Obas were Obas?

Yes, standards may have fallen everywhere – not only in education. These days, many of those pounding our streets with strings of certificates are not employable. Many cannot write flawless application letters or speak simple and correct English. Listen to talk shows on radio and witness the terrible grammar that assails one’s ear drums. Common tenses fly at you on the pages of many of our publications.

Many professors today would, at best, be Lecturer 11 or 1 in those good old days. Proliferation of anything leads to the lowering of standards and qualities. The same ills afflict the places of worship. Someone said in the days of Benson Idahosa or Ayo Babalola, we might have found men and women of God daring and confident enough to dare coronavirus rather than the automatic alacrity with which everyone behaved like the tortoise that draws its head into its shell in time of trouble – only to emerge and do “yanga” after danger is averted!

Have you also not seen what traditional institutions have become? Obas that bleach their skin – Yellow Fever or what did Fela call them? Obas that wear jeans, dance disco, and eat in public! Obas that engage in all manner of demeaning matrimonial squabbles! They fight their subjects over land, over women, over business deals! King of hawks who cannot snatch common chicken!

These days, many Obas get enthroned by politicians and through connections and no more by Ifa. They, therefore, bow to politicians and do the bidding of the powers-that-be. How many Obas can beat their chest and say with confidence that they are rightly on the throne of their fore-fathers? These days, not only does Ifa shout “Alleluia” as Yinka Aiyefele crooned, Ifa also defers to Naira and dollars! Many thrones have gone to the highest bidders and those well connected to the powers-that-be.

That said, we must note that the power of customs and traditions, and the collective wisdom of an entire race, cannot be compared to or subsumed under the power of filthy lucre. Grandma taught me that silent rivers – like the Oonirisa – run deeper than empty barrels that make loud noise.

Ugandan poet, Prof. Okot p’Bitek, warns that the pumpkin in the old homestead must not be uprooted. The earth has eyes! Don’t march on them – whoever you think you are! One person, no matter how strong, cannot be stronger than an entire race.

The Yoruba in their collective wisdom say: “Eni t’o ba so ile nu; o so apo iya ko”. He who throws away his origin hangs on his shoulders bags of sorrow and anguish. In due time, he will reap. Bola Ahmed Tinubu is said to have apologised to the Ooni whom he disrespected publicly. Very well! But it has become too often and too cantankerous of Tinubu. “O ti wa n di igba gbogbo Bola Ahmed Tinubu!”

The same Tinubu who bends double before Muhammadu Buhari sits to greet the Ooni! Someone rightly asked if he will try that with the Sultan of Sokoto. Tinubu’s repeated condescending attitude to – and shabby treatment of – the entire Yoruba race has become insufferable, intolerable, and unbearable. (thepodiummedia)

Buhari didn’t just divide Nigeria, he killed her; By Femi Fani-Kayode

In 2015 I said Buhari WOULD divide Nigeria, you didn’t believe me.

In 2017 I said Buhari HAD divided Nigeria, you didn’t believe me.

In 2019 I said Buhari had pushed Nigeria to the BRINK of disintegration, you didn’t believe me.

Today I say unless Buhari retraces his steps and we build bridges between ourselves there will be no Nigeria left by 2023, you do not believe me.

At every point over the last five years my words have proved to be prophetic, I have been proved right and I have been vindicated.

Those that doubt my admonitions, counsel and words do so at their own peril and frankly it takes NOTHING from me one way or the other. It is the message that matters and not what you think of the messenger.

The bitter truth is that the greatest catalyst for the disintegration of Nigeria and the most useful and prized gift to those that believe Nigeria ought to break up into pieces is Muhammadu Buhari. He has done more for their cause than any Nigerian living or dead.

He has served their purpose very well because he has not only totally divided Nigeria and destroyed our country’s sense of national cohesion and unity but he has also butchered her, hacked her into pieces and buried her in many different locations!

A precious egg called Nigeria was placed into his hands in 2015 but he has crushed its shell, broken its spirit and destroyed its soul.

Today you see and hear hundreds of thousands of sons and daughters of the South West, led by men and women like George Akinola and Shola Salako, proudly marching and demonstrating in the streets of the capitals of many of the western powers demanding for the right of self-determination and the establishment of the sovereign and independent state of Oduduwa.

Today you see and hear millions of Igbo youths all over the world, led by titanic warriors and formidable men like Nnamdi Kanu, Tony Nnandi and Ralph Uwazuruikwe., defying the odds, risking their lives and liberty and demanding for a referendum in the South East and the establishment of the Republic of Biafra.

Today you see and hear hundreds of thousands of wild-eyed, fearless, fired-up and angry young men and women all over the South South and in the creeks of the Niger Delta, led by men and women like Asari Dokubo and Anniko Briggs, who are more than ready to take their destiny into their own hands, break free from bondage and march out of Nigeria with all their oil.

Today you see and hear hundreds of thousands of determined, emboldened, fiery and courageous young men and women in the Middle Belt like Obadiah Mailafia, Jonathan Asake and Ibrahim Bunu, fearlessly speaking up for the millions of people in their zone who have been subjected to the indifference, callousness, wickedness, tyranny and subjugation of the Buhari regime.

Today you see and hear millions of the bold and fearless youths of the core north itself, led by a new generation of brave, determined, proud, strong and extremely tough young men like Nastura Asheer Sherrif and Shettima Yerima, speaking out in anger and screaming “enough of this barbaric carnage” that they are witnessing on a daily basis and that has plagued their farms, towns and streets.

If this collective anger is not well managed, if these concerns, challenges and agitations are not handled with sensitivity, understanding, restraint, wisdom and care and if the Buhari administration continues to display its characteristic contempt, impunity and disdain for the concerns, fears and will of the people, we may be pushed over the brink and our country may well be plunged into a long, terrible and catastrophic conflict in which millions will die and no-one will or can win.

Sadly today in Nigeria we are no longer our brothers keeper and the noble concepts and exemplary virtues of love, kindness, charity, mutual respect, peaceful co-existence and treating our neighbours as we would ourselves have become  scarce commodities.

Sadly we have become a failed state of shattered dreams and angry people, sitting on a keg of gunpowder and on the brink of yet another civil war.

For this, coupled with his other numerous atrocities and failures, history will judge President Muhammadu Buhari harshly and posterity will not be kind to him.(sundiatapost)

What To Drink First Thing In The Morning, According To Nutritionists

You’ve finally stopped hitting the snooze button, so good for you. Now, before you do anything else, it’s time to drink something. But what’s the best way to start your day? You may have heard that it’s a big glass of water, or perhaps you’ve been told a hot cup of green tea or coffee is the way to go.

We spoke to nutrition experts to find out what they’re downing at daybreak, and why you should follow their lead.

Drink water, even if you’re not thirsty

Most of the experts who spoke with HuffPost had a clear (pun intended) winner for their morning beverage of choice: water. Even if it seems ho-hum, it’s what your body needs most to rehydrate after a night of sleep.

“You may not necessarily feel thirsty first thing in the morning, but drinking water can be a health habit that you prioritize to stay adequately hydrated throughout the day,” Vicki Shanta Retelny, a registered dietician nutritionist, told HuffPost.THE BEST RECIPES, KITCHEN TIPS AND GENIUS FOOD FACTSSubscribe to HuffPost’s food email.Successfully Subscribed!Recipes and more delivered to your inbox!

But don’t worry — that H2O doesn’t necessarily have to be tepid tap water that’s drunk from a toothbrush holder cup (come on, we aren’t monsters). Experts suggest picking something you like to drink.

“I tend to prefer a can of seltzer first thing, because it’s easy to gauge the amount as a mental cue to finish the entire can before I have any coffee,” registered dietician Barbara Ruhs told HuffPost, adding that you should “always choose seltzer without added sodium,” which means it pays to read labels.

Make it easy on yourself

Not everyone rises in the morning with a song on their lips, but we all deserve to enjoy a crack-of-dawn beverage that promotes minimally civilized behavior for the rest of the day. Registered dietician nutritionist Karen Ansel shared a tip: “To say I’m not a morning person is an understatement, but my workaround is to prepare the makings for a pot of coffee the night before and the coffee maker on a timer. When I wake up, I have a fresh pot waiting to help kick me into gear.”

Avoid fads

While the Bulletproof coffee fad (which combines coffee with grass-fed butter and MCT oil) still holds sway among true keto believers, nutritionists’ reactions to the high-fat drink ranged from “meh” to “bleh.”ADVERTISEMENTContent loading…

“If you absolutely love to put butter or coconut oil into your coffee, go ahead,” Ruhs said. “Personally I am not a fan, and as a dietitian, I can tell you it’s definitely not ‘healthy.’ I recognize that keto fans don’t want to have a slice of toast with butter on it, but adding it to coffee — yuck!”

The so-called science behind this fad is “based on gibberish,” registered dietician nutritionist Amanda Frankeny told HuffPost, adding, “No peer-reviewed studies have supported the idea that drinking hot buttered coffee in the morning sets you up to shed pounds.”

Frankeny also had thoughts about those “detoxifying” drinks that might seem tempting after a night of full-on retoxing.

“Don’t believe any drink that’s claiming to detoxify you,” she said. “Our major organs already are very robust detoxification systems. Your body has the know-how to get rid of the ‘sludge.’ If you nourish it, it can do its job.”

Energy drinks, another popular morning choice, also raised concerns.

“Many energy drinks have a lot of caffeine in them, so if you drink one first thing, you have to be super careful about your caffeine intake throughout the rest of the day,” Amy Gorin, a registered dietician nutritionist, told HuffPost.

And while juices have gotten a bad reputation over the years, Ruhs said the occasional glass of orange juice in the a.m. is just fine, and that ”100% juice is not as terrible as people have come to believe.”

“It’s true that juice doesn’t have all of the fiber of the whole fruit, but it still can be included once in a while as a good source of vitamin C,” she added.

Tea — at any temperature — is a healthy choice

For a fad-free beverage with health benefits, consider adding hot or iced tea to your morning routine.

Registered dietician nutritionist Toby Smithson, who was diagnosed with diabetes at age 8, said she brews a full pitcher of tea every morning to last her the whole day.

“Research has shown health benefits, including for diabetes prevention and management, from drinking tea,” she told HuffPost. “The polyphenols in tea appear to influence insulin activity, and other benefits include improved insulin sensitivity, maintenance of healthy blood pressure, reduction in risk of heart disease and reduction in risks of developing Type 2 diabetes.”

None of the experts we spoke with felt there was any special magic in hot water with lemon as a first-thing-out-of-bed beverage, but they didn’t discourage it, either.

“I can see the attraction of this idea,” Gorin told HuffPost. “Hot water is incredibly soothing, and lemon adds a nice splash of citrus to the water. Personally, if I’m drinking a hot beverage, I prefer to get antioxidants from it, so I suggest having green tea with lemon instead.”

Drink coffee to get things moving

If you’re looking to — as Ruhs put it — “get that business done before leaving the house,” she suggested having a cup of coffee. Frankeny agreed, sharing her own personal routine: “If you want something that helps with regularity, this drinking routine works wonders for me: I chug about 16 ounces of water right away and follow that with a cup of joe.”

For Frankeny, coffee is a year-round choice, no matter what the weather is like. When it’s hot outside, cold brew is her go-to.

“Overnight, I steep two to three heaping tablespoons of coffee grounds with two cups of water, a little cinnamon and a teaspoon of brown sugar,” she said. “The next morning, I strain it and combine with milk. I change it up with fennel seeds and white sugar, which makes it taste like a pizzelle, the traditional Italian waffle cookie, while still keeping a relatively balanced nutritional profile.”

Yes, what you drink matters

No matter what, experts agree that your first sip of the day is important.

“It sets the tone for the whole day,” Ansel said. “The last thing you want to do is start the day off with a sugary, highly processed drink like soda or an energy drink that will flood your system with sugars. These may deliver a quick shot of energy, but that’s guaranteed to be followed by a significant mid-morning low.”

If you can’t shake that Mountain Dew or Mocha Cookie Crumble Frappuccino habit, registered dietician nutritionist Sara Haas has a suggestion to help you reframe your thinking.

“If you start the day with a sugar-loaded, junk-filled beverage, you’ve already told your body you don’t care much about it,” Haas said. “But if you start with water, tea, coffee or something with some nutritional benefit, you’re telling your body, ‘We’ve got this!’ and ‘I care about you!’”

AGF in the eye of the storm over RPC for lawyers

The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), has been under attack for allegedly and unilaterally amending the 2007 Rules of Professional Conduct (RPC) for lawyers which surfaced on social media at the weekend. It has been a battle of words and insinuations by the NBA, as Senior Advocates and lawyers flex muscle on the legality of such amendment. Is it legal and proper for the AGF to tinker with the provisions of the RPC without recourse to the General Council of the Bar ( GCB)? Legal Editor JOHN AUSTIN UNACHUKWU examines the issue.

LAST Saturday, social media platforms were awash with reports that the Attorney-General of the Federation ( AGF), Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN), allegedly and unilaterally amended the Rules of  Professional Conduct (RPC) for the Legal Profession. The reports stated that the amendment to the RPC was carried out  contrary to the provisions of Section 1 of the Legal Practitioners Act ( LPA)  which authorises the 57 members of the General Council of the Bar ( GCB)  to do this.

The RPC for legal practitioners is a very vital document to the practice of law in Nigeria.

The reports stated that, in the amendment, Serial Number S. 1 No. 15 of 2020 contains provisions which purportedly deleted Rules 9(2), 10, 11, 12 and 13 of the Rules of Professional Conduct for Legal Practitioners 2007.  It said the second provision is to the effect that the amended rules are to be cited as the Rules of Professional Conduct, 2020.

Some lawyers however see this as a ploy to whittle down the powers and grip of the Nigerian Bar Association ( NBA) on the profession, others see it as a clandestine move to  pave way for the emergence of a New Nigerian Bar Association (NNBA), whereas some others see it as continuation of the battle against the new President of the NBA, Mr. Olumide Akpata, who is not a member of the Inner Bar.

Composition of GCB

In establishing the General Council of the Bar, Section 1 of the LPA states: “(1) There shall be a body to be known as the General Council of the Bar ( GCB) (in this Act referred to as “the Bar Council”) which shall be charged with the general management of the affairs of the Nigerian Bar Association (subject to any limitations for the time being provided by the constitution of the Association) and with any functions conferred on the Council by this Act or that constitution.

Section 2 provides for the membership of the GCB as follows:

(a) the Attorney General of the Federation, who shall be the president of the Council;

(b) the Attorneys General of the States; and  (c) twenty members of the Association.

(3) The persons mentioned in paragraph (c) of subsection (2) of this section shall

(a) be elected to serve on the Bar Council at elections in which all members of the Association are entitled to vote in such manner as may be provided by the constitution of the Association; and

(b) hold office for such period as may be determined by or under that constitution, and not less than seven of those persons shall be legal practitioners of not less than ten years’ standing.

(4) The quorum of the Bar Council shall be eight, and the Council may make standing orders regulating the procedure of the Council and, subject to the provisions of any such orders, may regulate its own proceedings; and no proceedings of the Council shall be invalidated by any vacancy in the membership of the Council, or by the fact that any person took part in the proceedings who was not entitled to do so” As a result of this, the NBA at its Annual General Meeting of August 27, 2017,  elected the following members  into the GCB for ratification  by the AGM: Augustine Alegeh (SAN); JB Daudu (SAN); Okey Wali (SAN); Adedgboyega Solomon Awomolo (SAN); Chief Niyi Akintola (SAN); R. Lawal-Rabana (SAN); Tayo Oyetibo (SAN); Ferdinand Orbih (SAN); A. B. Mahmud  (SAN); J-K Gadzama (SAN) Prof. Fabian Ajogwu (SAN); Okey Amaechi (SAN); Solomon Umoh (SAN); Dr Garba Tetengi (SAN); Jubrin S. Okutepa (SAN); Mr. Anozie Obi; Mazi Afam Osigwe; Mr. Rasaq Isenalumhe; Mr. Chidi Onyiuke and Mrs. Titi Akinlawon (SAN).

The proposed names were adopted and ratified and the persons so named were deemed elected into the GCB.

No meeting of the GCB has held from that date till now, only for a purported amended version of the RPC by the Attorney-General of the Federation to appear on social media platforms at the weekend.

While some lawyers criticised it for being illegal because the meeting of the Bar Council was not convened prior to the amendment, others said there was nothing strange about what Malami did since it was the same procedure that brought the said provisions in 2007.

Why purported RPC  should be discountenanced

Reacting to the development, a former General Secretary of the NBA and Bencher, Mazi Afam Osigwe, said: “My attention has just been drawn to a document widely circulating in the social media which purports to be the Rules of Professional Conduct for Legal Practitioners (Amendment) Rules 2020.

“The document claimed that in the exercise of the powers conferred on him by Section 12(4) of the Legal Practitioners Act, the Attorney General of the Federation has amended the Rules of Professional Conduct for Legal Practitioners, 2007 by deleting Rules 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13.

“A close look at Section 12(4) of LPA referred to as well as the fact that the Bar Council which has the power to make any such amendment, has never met, shows why the document should be discountenanced.

“Section 12(4) of the Legal Practitioners Act (LPA) vests the power to make Rules regulating the Conduct of Legal Practitioners on the General Council of the Bar.”

Akpata sues for calm

In his reaction, the NBA President, Mr. Olumide Akpata, called on lawyers to remain calm.

He argued that the Rules of Professional Conduct, 2007 is yet to be amended in line with the conditions stipulated by the Legal Practitioners Act. No meeting was convened for the amendment of the Rules and, therefore, the purported amendment could not be said to be true.

Akpata said: “I have seen and read Statutory Instrument No. 15 of 2020 (the “Instrument”), making the rounds on social media and which purports to amend certain provisions of the 2007 Rules of Professional Conduct for Legal Practitioners (RPC). Since the Instrument was released, I have received numerous calls and messages from lawyers across the country seeking clarification and guidance on the purport of the Instrument.

“By virtue of the Instrument, the following provisions of the RPC are to be deemed deleted:

  1. a) Rule 9(2), which relates to default in payment of practising fees;
  2. b) Rule 10, which relates to stamp and seal for legal practitioners;
  3. c) Rule 11, which relates to mandatory continuing professional development;
  4. d) Rule 12, which relates to the Annual Practising Certificate for legal practitioners; and
  5. e) Rule 13, which relates to the obligation to give notice of the commencement of legal practice to the branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (“NBA”) responsible for the jurisdiction in which the practice is located.

He noted that the explanatory note to the Instrument suggested that it was done to bring the RPC in conformity with the Legal Practitioners Act, the Law Officers Act, and the Constitution.

The NBA President further explained that the Legal Practitioners Act (as amended) confers the power to issue Rules of Professional Conduct for Legal Practitioners, and any amendments thereto, on the General Council of the Bar (the “Bar Council”).

Akpata said: “The Bar Council comprises the  Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), the Attorneys-General of the 36 states of Nigeria, and 20 members of the NBA. Consequently, the RPC and any amendments thereto may only be validly issued after it has been deliberated upon and approved at a properly convened meeting of the Bar Council.

“As far as the NBA is aware, no notice convening a meeting of the Bar Council was issued to its elected representatives on the Bar Council and no meeting of the Bar Council was convened and/or held to deliberate on the Instrument.

“To that extent, our position is that no authority or approval was given for the amendment of the RPC. Consequently, the NBA maintains that the RPC has not been amended and enjoins all legal practitioners to remain calm and continue to conduct their affairs in the same manner as they did prior to the issuance of the Instrument.”

The President assured lawyers that he was engaging closely with the AGF on the issue and would provide further updates in the coming days.

He added: “Indeed, as part of the commitment of the current administration of the NBA towards the welfare and capacity building of members and the overall improvement of the Bar, we intend to propose certain amendments to the RPC that will be critical to the attainment of those objectives.

“However, in doing this, we will ensure to carry our members along with a view to getting their buy-in as critical stakeholders”.

RPC amendment condemnation not in good faith

But a member of the Body of Benchers, Mr. J.S Okutepa SAN, took a different view. According to him, the condemnation of Malami’s purported amendment of the Rules of Professional Conduct was belated and not done in good faith.

“I do not think we as members of the legal profession are consistent in our stand and condemnation of illegality and usurpation of functions particularly on the alleged amendments said to have been made to Rules of Professional Conduct in the Legal Profession 2007,” Okutepa said.

He noted that he was yet to confirm the veracity of the news, but that the condemnation was late.

Okutepa said: “I am yet to confirm this. But if the amendments done are indeed at the instance and by the Attorney of the Federation, then I see the condemnation by some legal practitioners as belated and not well rooted in good faith; the reason is simple.

“As lawyers we must be consistent in our stand and positions. I had said before that the appropriate organ saddled with the duty and responsibility to issue and make the Rules of Professional Conduct in the Legal Profession is the General Council of the Bar pursuant to Section 12(4) of the Legal Practitioners Act as amended by Law No 21 of 1994. However, the 2007 Rules was issued by the AGF as it confers more financial advantages on NBA.

“The 2007 Rules was issued by the AGF. Those who care to read the Rules can see the preamble to the Rules wherein it was expressly stated to have been issued by the Attorney-General of the Federation.

“Because that Rules conferred more financial advantages on our Association, NBA, nobody took my stand and few other lawyers’ serious when we spoke that the Rules was not issued in accordance with due process of law.”

He stated that he was among those who led the prosecution of lawyers for unprofessional conduct in the past.

Only 2007 RPC sanctioned by Bar Council

But the views of Prof. Ernest Ojukwu (SAN) differed. Ojukwu clarified that the 2007 RPC was approved by the Bar Council

He said: “Bar Council approved in 2007. The only problem with the 2007 version is how the AGF signed. 2007 and 2020 not the same facts

“It was actually a long history. The National Executive Committee of the NBA had approved the new Rules under OCJ Okocha (SAN) regime in 2001, but the Bar Council did not meet. At the end of 2006, we touched that draft by adding relicensing, stamp and seal, Continuing Legal Education and removing a complicated provision on advertising to keep it simple. The following year, February 2007,  Bayo Ojo (SAN), the then AGF, called the Bar Council on it.”

Mr. Rafiu Lawal Rabana (SAN) corroborated Ojukwu’s stance.

Rabana said: “I do not want to join in the chorus of issuing statements for the sake of it. I was the General-Secretary in 2007 when the RPC was drafted and presented to the GCB for approval.

“There was a full meeting of the Council and I did the presentation on behalf of the NBA. I emphasise it was not a unilateral document made by Chief Bayo Ojo (SAN), the AGF at the material time. Prof. Ernest Ojukwu (SAN) who coordinated the draft can bear witness.

“Since the NBA has issued a statement, we all should allow the NBA to address the issue.”

But Chairman of the Caretaker Committee of  Egbe Amofin Oodua, Asiwaju Adeniyi Akintola (SAN), who is also a member of the GCB, said there were consultations leading to the amendment of Rules of Professional Conduct for Lawyers, RPC, carried out by  Malami (SAN), but whether such consultations were wide enough, I don’t know

“The AGF is the chairman of the GCB of which I am a member. If you are a member and you don’t attend meetings, can you blame the other members who take decisions? You can consult members of the GCB.

“ The removal of stamp and seal was a good intention but it was making too much money available to the national and branch officers. Because of the money, some lawyers have stopped going to court. If there is anything that will stem this tide, at least, it should be welcomed.”

Remove stamp and seal from rules

Former President of the West African Bar Association and civil society activist Mr. Femi Falana (SAN) supported the removal of the stamp and seal from the Rules.

He said: “Having paid practising fees why should lawyers be made to pay for stamp and seal? It is akin to double taxation. As far as I am concerned, it is good riddance to bad rubbish.

“In dialetics, what has just taken place is called the negation of negation. The NBA is a victim of the impunity it nurtured to grow and develop. I have always opposed the stamp and seal because it was meant to restrict access to the temple of justice.

“Why must every court process be stamped by a lawyer when litigants have the constitutional right to either appear for themselves or be defended by legal practitioners of their choice? In the Second Republic, the late Prof Ayodele Awojobi, a mechanical engineer, was the leading public litigator in the country. As a layman he prepared and argued his own cases from the High Court up to the Supreme Court. Notwithstanding the stamp and seal requirement, I have had cause to apply to courts to waive payment of filing fees for pro bono cases under the doctrine of in forma pauperis provided in the laws establishing our courts.

“However, I agree with some of my colleagues who have argued that the amendment is illegal as it was not enacted by the General Council of the Bar. With respect, the argument is rather contradictory because the NBA was very happy when the 2007 RPC were enacted by the then AGF on behalf of the General Council of the Bar without any meeting. That was how every lawyer was compelled to affix the stamp and seal to all processes signed by lawyers. It had nothing to do with enhancing the quality of justice but designed to enrich the NBA.”

A house divided against itself

Falana condemned any disunity in the NBA along ethnic lines.

He said: “Our colleagues must stop playing the ethnic card of the reactionary elite. Has any branch in the North declared support for the NNBA? A few branches in the North decided to boycott the last NBA conference in solidarity with Governor Nasir el Rufai. None of the four branches in Kaduna State boycotted the conference. Did the proponents of conspiracy theories draw any lesson from the principled stand of the lawyers in Kaduna State?

“Instead of fighting impunity oozing out of the office of the AGF we are accusing the North of a hidden agenda. Years before the appointment of Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN) as AGF, the NBA had abandoned the GCB. Since nature abhors any vacuum, the incumbent AGF has always usurped and exercised the powers of the Council. Whereas Section 1(2) of the Legal Practioners Act provides that the NBA shall have 20 members in the Council. The members of the NBA shall be:

(i) elected to serve on the Bar Council at elections in which all members of the

Association are entitled to vote in such manner as may be provided by the con

stitution of the Association;

(ii) hold office for such period as may be determined by or under that constitution,

(iii) not less than seven of those persons shall be legal practitioners of not less than10 years’ standing.

“Instead of electing the NBA representatives the NBA President, Mr Austin Alegeh (SAN) nominated the 20 members in the 2015 AGM. And without any election whatsoever the President announced that his nominees had been ratified and “deemed to have been elected.”.

“Assuming without conceding that they were properly elected, neither the NEC nor the AGM has ever demanded to be briefed about the activities of the Council since 2015. The Council has never met for over five years. Yet our representatives claim to be members of the Council. They have  no fixed tenure as required by the Legal Practitioners Act. Contrary to the law which prescribes that ‘not less than seven of those persons shall be legal practitioners of not less than 10 years’ standing’ all the 20 members are senior lawyers of several decades’ standing.”

NBA pressured Supreme Court to approve of stamp, seal?

The rights activist said “without any fear of contradiction, that the General Council of the Bar did not impose the stamp and seal on Nigerian lawyers. It was done by the AGF Bayo Ojo SAN on behalf of the General Council of the Bar in 2007.

“It is on record that following the decision of the Supreme Court to the effect that the law did not require processes filed by lawyers to have stamp and seal affixed on them, the NBA leaders mounted pressure on the apex court. Hence, the Court reversed itself in another judgment.

“But out of sheer negligence, the NBA has been unable to make the stamp and seal readily available to lawyers. Hence, the courts have bent over backwards to accept mere receipts of payment for the stamp and seal. Up till now, it has never occurred to the NBA to requisition the meeting of the Council to ratify the stamp and seal.

AGF runs Bar Council with members’ consent

Falana further explained that the AGF has been acting for the Bar Council with the members’ tacit approval.

He said: “The General Council of the Bar does not meet. In fact, it has never met since 2015 when the NBA appointed its members in the Council. So, the Council is run by the AGF with the consent and knowledge of the members and the NBA. But for the removal of the repeal of the sections relating to the stamp and seal the NBA would have protested the usurpation of the powers of the General Council of the Bar,” Falana stated.

New RPC fraught with irregularities

However, for former Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Prof. Chidi Odinkalu, the purported amendment of RPC by the AGF, was fraught with irregularities because it was done without the requisite power under the law.

He said: “Nigeria’s Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Malami ( SAN), claims to have amended Rules of Professional Conduct (RPC) in the Legal Profession under powers conferred by s.12(4l) of Legal Practitioners Act. There’re no such powers? We have a HAGF (that) can’t do basic due diligence.

“The power to prepare, and from time to time revise, a statement as to the kind of conduct which the Council considers to be infamous conduct in a professional respect” created in Section 11(4) of the Legal Practitioners Act, belongs to the GCB and not to the AGF.

“The  BarCouncil is a statutory body created by Section 1 of the Legal Practitioners Act. It comprises 57 persons, made up of AGF as president; all States Attorneys-General; 20 representatives  of the NBA

“No meeting of the Bar Council has been called to amend the RPC and so, the purported amendment of the RPC by Malami (SAN) is as dud as a bounced cheque because he claims to have acted under a section of the law that gives him no such powers. Even if he acted under the right provision, he can’t usurp the role of the Bar Council and he knows it.

“The only way to go is to totally disregard and ignore this alleged amendment by AGF Malami ( SAN) of the RPC. It does not exist and did not happen”.

Rape, attempted abortion: Appeal Court upholds seven years jail term for Pastor

The Court of Appeal, Abuja on Tuesday upheld the conviction and sentencing of a clergy, Basil Princewill, for raping a 14-year-old girl and attempting to abort the pregnancy.

Justice Stephen Adah, while reading a unanimous judgment of a panel of three, held that the appellate court found nothing wrong with the judgment given on June 25, 2019 by Justice Hussein Baba-Yusuf of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Justice Baba-Yusuf had, in that judgment, convicted Princewill, Founder and General Overseer of the Mountain Mover Fire Ministry International, Nyanya, Abuja, on two counts of the four counts contained in the charge on which he was tried.

Princewill, who was sentenced to seven years for rape and five years for attempting to procure abortion, however, appealed the decision in a suit marked: CA/A03c/2020, at the Court of Appeal.

Justice Adah, in the judgment, dismissed the clergyman’s appeal.

He noted that Counsel to the police, Simon Lough, effectively discharged the burden of proof placed on it by the law.

He held: “The sole issue, identified for determination, is resolved against the appellant.

“Having gone through the record before the court and the argument of counsel to the parties, we found that the trial court did not do anything wrong in convicting the appellant and sentencing him to seven years.

“This appeal hereby fails.

“The conviction and sentencing of the appellant is affirmed.”

Justice Adah also dismissed the cross-appeal filed by the prosecution, who had sought a longer term of imprisonment for Princewill.

Justice Adah held that it was the discretion of the trial judge and added that under the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015, a first offender cannot be given the total term of imprisonment provided by the law.

NAN reports that the case was filed by the police on June 4, 2012, with the prosecution closing its case on December 9, 2016, after calling five witnesses. (NAN)

50 Unhealthiest Drinks on the Planet

Soda has been named public enemy number one when it comes to an easy change you can immediately make in hopes to lose weight and shed belly fat, so it’s only logical to assume if we all stay away from Coca-Cola, Sprite, and Dr. Pepper, the pounds will melt away. However, there’s one big problem: Very few of us are swapping soda for plain ol’ H2O. Instead, we’re looking to other beverages like juices and flavored waters to fill the void and while many of these soda alternatives market themselves as the “healthier choice,” that’s not always the case.

That’s why we ventured to beverage aisles, restaurants, and coffee shops near and far, with the goal of uncovering the unhealthiest drinks on the planet. Read on to get in the know, as we rounded up 50 popular drinks that are truly unhealthy. Be sure to toss out any junky drinks that are lingering in your kitchen! And while you’re at it, uncover What Happens to Your Body When You Drink a Smoothie Every Day.1

Cranberry Juice Cocktail

Cranberry juice cocktail
Shutterstock

Did you know that cranberries are the fruit that is lowest in sugar? It’s true! So how can something so good for you turn bad? Easy. Let the juice industry get a hold of it. Because cranberries are so tart, Ocean Spray (the cranberry juice company) even wrote in an official letter to the FDA that, “cranberries … are naturally low in sugar, giving them a distinctly tart, astringent, and even unpalatable taste.” Because of their “unpalatable taste,” companies load up their cranberry juice with sugar—and lots of it. One cup of Ocean Spray cranberry juice cocktail contains 25 grams of sugar.

Drink This! Instead: The 100% Cranberry Juice from Ocean Spray isn’t much better (it has 28 grams of sugar per serving), the only difference is that cocktail is sweetened with cane sugar and the other is sweetened with fruit juices. To really cut back on the sweet stuff, we recommend diluting your serving with an equal amount of water.2

Chocolate Milk

Chocolate milk
Shutterstock

Unless you’re downing a glass of chocolate milk as a post-workout drink after a heart-thumping, sweat-inducing workout, be aware that chocolate milk isn’t the innocuous lunchbox treat we came to love as kids. One 8-ounce bottle of Nesquik has 21 grams of sugar (plus artificial flavors).3

Orange Drinks

Sunny d tangy original
Courtesy of SunnyD

Just how Velveeta isn’t real cheese, Sunny D isn’t actual juice; it’s just a mix of water, high fructose corn syrup, and a few token dribbles of juice concentrates, canola oil, and chemicals. Their tagline may be “When life gives you oranges, make Sunny D,” but don’t be fooled, there’s hardly any oranges in the bottle—which is why it has zero nutritional benefits.4

Tomato Juice

Tomato juice
Shutterstock

Tomatoes may be an antioxidant-rich fruit, but any benefits they may provide to you are lost once they’re juiced and bottled. Regular tomato juices aren’t really flavorful on their own, so brands have to load them up with sodium—680 milligrams worth in every Campbell’s cup. That’s 30 percent of your daily value of sodium in just one glass.5

Shelf-Stable Cold-Pressed Juices

Juice cleanse plastic bottles
Shutterstock

Why are cold-pressed juices so cherished? It’s because the cold-press process preserves the delicate, good-for-you antioxidants and micronutrients found the fruits and vegetables you’re pulverizing. Juices are already on our naughty list, as they tend to be high in sugar and low in digestion-slowing, blood-sugar-balancing fiber; however, juices get even worse when they’re shelf-stable. To make juices shelf-stable, companies pasteurize the product, which kills off any remaining semblance of a healthy drink.6

Chocolate Drinks

Yoo hoo chocolate drink
Courtesy of Yoo-Hoo

You might think, “hey, isn’t that the same as chocolate milk?” But the answer, dear reader, is no. Brands like Yoo-Hoo are not chocolate milk by the FDA’s definition of the term because it’s not really milk. The first ingredient listed is water, followed by high fructose corn syrup and then isolated whey protein (from milk). The rest of the shelf-stable drink is some cocoa powder, dry milk powder, artificial flavors, corn syrup solids, and palm oil. If you’re not turned off by the ingredients, maybe the 19 grams of corn syrup (in a smaller-than-average 6.5-ounce serving) will deter you from sipping one of these drinks again.7

Shelf-Stable Kombucha

Kombucha
Shutterstock

Kombucha is a probiotic drink that’s teeming with live probiotic cultures that are beneficial for gut health. But if you buy your kombucha off a shelf—and not from the refrigerator—that’s a sign that what you’re about to drink isn’t the real stuff. These pasteurized drinks, like those from búcha, kill off all those naturally-occurring beneficial bacteria, and then further dilute the fermented drink by adding carbonated water.

Drink This! Instead: For the best brews, don’t miss our list of the best kombuchas.8

Sweet Tea

Arnold palmer
Shutterstock

Word to the wise: if a drink has the word “sweet” in its name, it’s probably not going to be great for you. Some bottled sweet teas, like Gold Peak’s Sweet Tea, contain 48 grams of sugar (or 96 percent of your daily value of added sugars) in one bottle. Meanwhile, grab a Large Sweet Tea at Sonic, and expect to slurp down 78 grams of the sweet stuff. Your blood sugar will be through the roof after downing that.9

Supersized Coffees

Sugar free coffee
Unsplash

While a cup or two of coffee can do your body good, you may want to think twice before sizing up to a large or indulging in a fourth cup of Joe. The reason: Doing so may make your bone brittle. “I try to avoid excessive caffeine,” says Dr. Mamta M. Mamik, Assistant Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Science at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. “An adult can safely consume up to 400 milligrams of caffeine a day (which is equivalent to four 8-ounce cups of coffee), but drinking any more than that can cause calcium excretion, which, over time, may lead to osteoporosis. Avoiding excess caffeine also helps to ward off uncomfortable withdrawal symptoms like lethargy, insomnia, headaches, and irritability,” she adds.10

Diet Soda

Diet coke on ice
Shutterstock

What do cancer-causing artificial colors, flame retardants, and fat-causing fake sugars all have in common? They’re all in your favorite diet fizzy drinks. Shove all that into a bottle laced with BPA, a chemical that’s been linked to obesity, and you’ve pretty much got one of the worst drinks ever. Nearly all popular diet sodas contain aspartame, an artificial sweetener that was initially developed to aid weight loss, but that has recently been found to have the opposite effect.

“Sugar substitutes like aspartame are designed to promote weight loss and decrease the incidence of metabolic syndrome, but a number of clinical and epidemiologic studies have suggested that these products don’t work very well and may actually make things worse,” says Richard Hodin, MD, lead author of a recent study on the matter. So what should you be sipping instead?

Drink This! Instead: Water is always a safe choice, as are these healthy soda alternatives.11

Ginger Beer

low cal cocktails moscow mule
Shutterstock

Sorry, Dark ‘n Stormy fans, but ginger beer isn’t good news for your waistline. In fact, it’s one of the most calorie-dense carbonated drinks on the market. An average 7-ounce serving has 171 calories, which brakes down to about 24 calories per ounce. For comparison, a typical vending machine soda has 14 calories per ounce. To learn more about how all your favorite colas stack up, don’t miss our report, most popular sodas ranked.

Drink This! Instead: Looking for ginger? Try ginger tea! Boil a cup of water with an inch of sliced ginger. You’ll reap the digestion-boosting benefits of ginger without the sugar.12

Bottled Smoothies

Bottled orange smoothie
Shutterstock

Busy mornings and grab-and-go breakfasts are practically synonymous—so it’s easy to see the appeal of store-bought smoothies. They seem like the best way to get what you crave in a pinch. But the timesaving drinks have a downside: Compared to fresh-made drinks, most of them fall short on nutrition and are so calorie- and sugar-filled that you’d have to spend hours on the treadmill to burn them off.

Drink This! Instead: Play it safe by blending up one of these best smoothie recipes for weight loss instead—all of them can be made in 5 minutes or less, compliments of Zero Belly Smoothies. Test panelists lost up to 16 pounds in 14 days!13

Pumpkin Spice Latte

Starbucks pumpkin spice latte
Shutterstock

That’s right—you’re not only basic, but you’re also sipping on an unhealthy drink. Starbucks may have pioneered the pumpkin spice latte, but they’re not the only culprit of these sugar bombs. Their grande size has a staggering 50 grams of sugar when you order it with whipped cream, and copycats from other brands aren’t much better.14

Piña Colada

Pina colada
Shutterstock

If you like Piña Coladas, you must like sugar-heavy frozen cocktails that aren’t doing your waistline any favors. Piña Colada mixes, like those from Mr. and Mrs. T, have a gut-busting 42 grams of sugar in just 4 ounces. That’s the sugar equivalent of eating 9 Oreo cookies.15

ICEES

Icee drinks in snow
Courtesy of ICEE

You know a beverage is bad if the first ingredient is high fructose corn syrup, followed by water. If you’re unfamiliar, ICEES are frozen, carbonated beverages in fruit and soda flavors. The infamous Blue Raspberry flavor has 24 grams of sugar in 6 fluid ounces (or 32 grams of sugar in the more standard 8-ounce serving).16

Root Beer Float

Root beer float
Shutterstock

Soda is one thing, but then you go ahead and add a scoop of sugary ice cream on top? Thank you, next. This drink is best left for a unique treat. Let’s just say we’re not too upset that old-school Stewart’s drive-thrus aren’t around much anymore.17

Caffeinated Alcohol

Red bull vodka cocktail
Shutterstock

If you’re feeling too tired to drink, take a hint from your body and maybe take the night off. What you don’t want to do is try to rally by combining caffeinated energy drinks with booze. According to the CDC, “when alcohol is mixed with caffeine, the caffeine can mask the depressant effects of alcohol, making drinkers feel more alert than they would otherwise. As a result, they may drink more alcohol and become more impaired than they realize, increasing the risk of alcohol-attributable harms.” That Red Bull and vodka doesn’t sound so good now, does it?18

Bubble Tea

Bubble tea caramel
Shutterstock

Bubble tea is a popular drink that’s popping up in stores across the country. It’s typically a sweetened tea with popping tapioca balls, called “boba,” that rest on the bottom. While the good news is that each tea can be personalized to your taste, the default order is often high in sugar, which you should be cautious of if you’re already following a high-sugar diet. Too much sugar in your diet can lead to metabolic disorders and weight gain.

Bloody Marys

Bloody mary
Johann Trasch/Unsplash

They might be a brunch staple, but beware of making your hair of the dog a Bloody Mary. Like tomato juice, bloodies are often soaked in sodium, climbing upwards of 1,000 milligrams per large glass. Because hangover symptoms are often amplified when you’re dehydrated, consuming a sodium-heavy drink isn’t going to do your body many favors.20

Probiotic-Infused Drinks

Pouring orange juice
Shutterstock

High-sugar diets are consistently associated with a high ratio of bad bacteria to good bacteria, as shown in a Neuroscience study. That means that if you want to improve your gut health, you’ll have to cut back on sugar first, as well as add probiotics to your diet. Unfortunately, many probiotic drinks are actually loaded with sugars, which defeats the benefits of probiotics. For example, a single serving of Tropicana Essentials Pineapple Mango Probiotics juice has a staggering 29 grams of sugar. And while that sugar isn’t from any added sources, fruit sugar will act the same way as cane sugar in your body.

Drink This! Instead: If you want probiotics, your best bet is to get them from natural sources such as kombucha, yogurt, sauerkraut, or kimchi.21

Long Island Iced Tea

Long island iced tea
Shutterstock

If you ever try to read a recipe for a Long Island Iced Tea, you’ll soon realize it’s just a list of every alcohol you find on your bar cart: vodka, tequila, light rum, triple sec, and gin. It’s all topped off with a splash of soda (not tea). And while we’re typically concerned with the amount of sugar in soda, in this case, it’s really just a splash. Long Island Iced Teas are on our list of unhealthiest drinks because the glass gives the appearance that you’re drinking tea when you’re really just drinking a tall pint of alcohol, making it easier to overdo it.22

Apple Cider

Apple cider jugs in a tub
Shutterstock

Nothing says fall like a doughnut and apple cider, right? The only problem is that this ritual involves sipping on at least 28 grams of sugar—and that doesn’t include the sugar-dipped doughnut. Like our usual advice, limit your serving size of cider to half a cup or dilute it. Better yet, grab an apple and munch on that instead. The water and fiber from the whole fruit will help keep your blood sugar levels stable, keeping you fuller longer.23

Bottled or Canned Coffee

Bottled iced coffee drink
Shutterstock

Allow us to state the obvious: you should always read the label of any bottled drink before you buy it. In the case of cold-brew coffees, many companies will load up their bottles with milk and sugar to cut the bitterness of the antioxidant-rich brew. What you’re left with is a bottle of 20 grams of added sugars, mostly milk, and a little bit of coffee.

Drink This! Instead: To find our favorite bottled cold brew, check out our guide to the best and worst bottled coffees.24

Sangria

Red wine fruit sangria
Shutterstock

While drinking red wine as part of a Mediterranean diet has been associated with a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and some cancers, according to an Advances in Nutrition study, don’t expect to get the same benefits if you’re sipping on sangria. This fruity beverage is a classic summer hit, but the added sugar isn’t going to do your next-day hangover any favors.

Drink This! Instead: Forget the extra sugar and opt for one of these wines for weight loss.25

Thai Iced Tea

Thai iced tea
Shutterstock

We’re big fans of tea, but this drink isn’t what we had in mind when we touted the benefits of an antioxidant-rich beverage. Thai iced teas are typically sweetened with condensed milk, which may taste great, but just a quarter cup of it contains a whopping 44 grams of sugar.26

Beverage Concentrates

Liquid water enhancer
Shutterstock

Considering most of these beverage-flavoring agents are made with sketchy artificial sweeteners like acesulfame and sucralose, we advise you to stay away. While acesulfame is believed to have carcinogenic properties, sucralose is a sweetener that’s been found to mess with your body’s satiety signals. What’s more, they’re filled with potentially harmful dyes like red 40 and yellow 6, which are contaminated with known carcinogens—no wonder they’re considered to be some of the 23 Worst Food Additives in America!27

Vitamin-Enhanced Waters

Crushed vitaminWater
Eat This, Not That!

While they may have “water” in their name, these bottled beverages are 120 calories each, and every single one of those calories comes from sugar. And it’s not just a little bit of sugar, either. There are 31 grams in a 20-ounce bottle of Vitaminwater, which is 7 and ¾ teaspoons of the sweet stuff.

Drink This! Instead: If you want to infuse some flavor and nutrients into your water, ditch the bottled stuff and make one of these 50 Best Detox Waters for Fat Burning and Weight Loss instead.28

Fast Food Iced Tea

Iced tea
Shutterstock

Spiked with propylene glycol alginate, fast food iced tea is a definite no-go in our book! Propylene glycol alginate is a food thickener, stabilizer, and emulsifier that can cause cardiovascular or neurotoxic issues. (It’s also not too far off from propylene glycol—also known as automobile antifreeze.) But that doesn’t stop Dunkin’ Donuts and other fast food joints from adding it into their iced tea.

Drink This! Instead: Our suggestion: Whip up a pitcher of the stuff at home, using one of these best teas for weight loss.29

Liquid Coffee Creamer

Coffee creamer
Shutterstock

Coffee creamer and sunblock have more in common that you might think. They both contain titanium dioxide, an ultraviolet radiation blocker that doubles as a whitening agent. The additive has been proven to cause liver and tissue damage in mice, and may also have health implications in humans, according to a recent review of the chemical. Coffee creamer is also typically sprinkled with trans fats, often hiding under its lesser-known name: mono and diglycerides. Aside from its connection to compromised heart health, the ingredient that has been shown to diminish memory in adults under 45 years old. Many brands also use TBHQ in their recipes, which is a form of butane. Yuck!

Drink This! Instead: So what should you put into your morning cup instead? Plain ol’ cow’s milk, or if you’re looking for a hint of flavor, stick with a tablespoon of one of Coffee Mate’s Natural Bliss creamers. Unlike conventional brands, they’re all made from nonfat milk, heavy cream, sugar and natural flavors.30

Margarita

frozen margarita
Shutterstock

While whipping up a frozen marg at home isn’t quite as bad as getting it from a bar (400 calories vs. 700), it’s still the worst cocktail for your waistline. Made with a sugar-spiked neon mix and tequila, the summer staple will overload your system with more sugar than you’d find in nine Dunkin’ Donuts Apple n’ Spice Donuts! Other frozen beverages aren’t much better, either. The average strawberry daiquiri, for example, has about 280 calories and 44 grams of sugar per serving. Not to mention, it’s also 99 percent high fructose corn syrup.

Drink This! Instead: Switch to a glass of bubbly with muddled strawberries and lemon slices to get your fruity fix for a fraction of the waist-widening calories.31

Orange Juice

orange juice
Shutterstock

Sure, it’s natural and overflowing with vitamin C, but it’s loaded with sugar—and totally void of any nutrients like fiber or protein to help slow the sugar spike. An average glass packs 36 grams of sugar —or about what you’d get from popping 4 Krispy Kreme glazed donuts into a blender and hitting frappe. What’s more, most of the sweetness in orange juice comes from fructose, a type of sugar associated with the development of belly fat.

Drink This! Instead: A better drink for citrus lovers? Water flavored with fresh slices of oranges, lemon, and grapefruit. For added benefits, keep the peels on. Citrus peels contain the antioxidant d-limonene, a powerful compound that helps flush out stored visceral fat.32

Conventional Skim Milk

milk
Shutterstock

While skim milk may be lowest in calories, many of its vitamins are fat-soluble, which means you won’t get all the benefits of the alphabetical nutrients listed on your cereal box unless you opt for at least 1%. Why’s it important to opt for grass-fed, organic cartons over the conventional stuff? Not only does it taste better and stay fresh longer, when the herds graze on grass instead of feed, but their milk also has higher levels of omega-3s and CLA (conjugated linoleic acid), a nutrient that boosts immunity, improves bone mass, and even reduce body fat—gotta love that!

Drink This! Instead: To learn more about the best cereal and coffee additions for your health, don’t miss our report, best and worst milk and milk alternatives.33

Canned Energy Drinks

Red bull energy drink
Shutterstock

These overpriced chemical cocktails may give you a surge of energy, but they’re riddled with harmful sweeteners (many of which made our list of these Best and Worst Popular Sweeteners) and are even more corrosive to your teeth than regular soda. Just say no to these icky drinks!34

Energy Shots

5 hour energy
Shutterstock

The majority of these little shooters are made up of chemicals, one of which is sodium benzoate. In one study of the effects of sodium benzoate on living yeast cells, researchers found benzoate to be damaging to mitochondria, an important area of DNA. Eek! What’s more, these bad boys rely on waist-widening artificial sweeteners to achieve their sweet flavor.

Drink This! Instead: To amp up your energy the healthy way, stock your kitchen with these healthy energy drinks.35

Fancy Coffee Drinks

starbucks frapps
Courtesy of Starbucks

In terms of sugar, a 12-ounce can of Coke = 16 Hershey Kisses. Think that’s bad? The majority of your favorite coffee drinks are far sweeter. Take Dunkin’s frozen french vanilla swirl coffee Coolatta, for example. Even if you request it with skim milk, it still packs 300 calories and 70 grams of sugar—in a small! Warm drinks are just as bad. McDonald’s McCafe mocha has 340 calories and 42 grams of the sweet stuff while Starbucks’ eggnog latte has 450 calories and 52 grams of sugar. And in case you were curious, that’s the equivalent of 16 mini candy canes! To see how even more specialty drinks stack up in terms of nutrition (so you know which ones to stay away from!), don’t miss our report coffee drinks with more sugar than a soda.36

Slushies

slushies
Shutterstock

You probably already know that slushies were sugar mines, but we bet you had no clue they’re often filled with mold! Totally gross, we know, yet totally true! According to numerous fast food and convenience shop workers, the machines that store and blend slushies are rarely—if ever—cleaned. “The amount of mold in those machines would crush your childhood into a pulp,” a former gas station worker admitted on Reddit. If the calorie and sky-high sugar counts weren’t enough to turn you off of the sips, maybe those bits of information will.

Drink This! Instead: To whip up a homemade version at home, freeze, then blend watermelon chunks into a sweet and satisfying slushy.37

Sports Drinks

sports drinks
Shutterstock

Whoever invented the Gatorade Dunk—the tradition in which winning sports teams dump coolers of the stuff on their coaches—was really on to something. One scan of the nutrition label and it’s clear: The sports drink is better off seeping into the sidelines than your stomach. (Yes, even their reformulated ones.) Sure, it provides critical post-workout electrolytes, like sodium and potassium, but it also serves up a hearty helping of calories and sugar. In fact, there are 56 grams of the sweet stuff (which is more than a day’s worth) in a 32-ounce bottle. What’s more, the beverage is teeming with stomach-churning additives like wood rosin and artificial dyes.

Drink This! Instead: A better—and safer—way to replenish the electrolytes and water lost after a tough workout: coconut water or any of these healthy sports drinks.38

Milkshakes

milkshake
Shutterstock

A long time ago, milkshakes had two ingredients: milk and ice cream. But as time went on, restaurants starting filling their shakes with everything from candy to chemicals, transforming them into potentially dangerous 1,000+ calorie concoctions! In fact, some of the lowest-cal restaurant milkshakes still have over 800 calories—in a small!

Drink This! Instead: If you want something cold and sweet, you’re better off indulging in a scoop or two of actual ice cream or making a chocolate- or peanut butter-filled smoothie.39

Conventional Bottled Nutrition Shakes

Premier Protein
Shutterstock

The bulk of bottled protein shakes are bad news for your body—despite the fact that are they are advertised as being the exact opposite. If they’re not sugar mines, they’re doused with artificial sugar and likely colored with carcinogen-containing chemicals, too.

Drink This! Instead: Are there grab-and-go protein shakes that contain no artificial sweeteners, high-fructose corn syrup, or hydrogenated oils? Sure! (And you can find them in our report on the best and worst protein shakes.)40

Bottled Water

bottle water
Shutterstock

The water isn’t the problem here; it’s the BPA in the bottle. BPA is a hormone-mimicking chemical found in nearly all food packaging plastics, and it’s potentially bad news. According to some pools of research, the chemical may promote cancer and render people infertile. To stay hydrated on the go, buy a BPA-free refillable bottle.

Drink This! Instead: We’re big fans of S’well bottles, which come in a wide array of fashionable patterns and colors.41

Cola

coca cola soda ice
Shutterstock

Eat This, Not That! has been after Coca-Cola’s chemical- and sugar-filled colas since our inception. Not only do they contribute to weight gain and obesity-related diseases like diabetes, but their acidity is also bad news for your digestive system and tooth enamel. The bad news keeps on coming: The caramel color in soda contains an artificially-created phosphorus that can be bad for long-term bone health, cautions Isabel Smith, MS, RD, CDN, of Isabel Smith Nutrition. Plus, caramel color has been found to contain carcinogens, according to Johns Hopkins researchers.42

Fruity Sodas

citrus soda
Shutterstock

It may have images of brightly colored fruit on the can, but that doesn’t mean it carries any health benefits or actual fruit. What they do contain, however, is as much sugar as three Snickers Ice Cream bars and stomach-churning chemicals like red 40, sodium benzoate, and BVO, a chemical used in rocket fuel and flame retardants that can negatively affect thyroid hormones. Curious what other strange things may be messing with your body’s ability to trim down? Don’t miss our special report, ways you messed up your metabolism today.43

Sweetened Milk Alternatives

Almond milk
Shutterstock

Sweetened milk alternatives aren’t just spiked with additives like stomach-irritating carrageenan, they’re typically low in protein and a concentrated source of sugar. (A combination that will leave your stomach rumbling!) An 8-ounce serving can easily carry as much of the sweet stuff as a half a can of soda, none of which is naturally occurring. Cow’s milk, on the other hand, gets all of its sweetness from naturally occurring lactose, a sugar present in milk.44

Bottled Alcoholic Mixers

sugary mixers
Shutterstock

Most people mix up a cocktail to boost their mood and cut loose. But if you typically combine the stiff stuff with a bottled mixer you may be doing more hard them good—and not only when it comes to your waistline. “[Cocktail mixers are] a lot like soda drinks when it comes to their sugar content,” celebrity nutritionist and health consultant Mikaela Reuben tells us. “The effect of their high sugar content is the same; the sugars will be released into the bloodstream, allowing an energy boost to take place but ultimately ends in a low point, leaving one to feel fatigued, irritable, and depressed.”

Drink This! Instead: To mix a better-for-you cocktail, stick with things like flavored seltzer and freshly squeezed lime juice. Prefer something store-bought? These healthy low-calorie mixers are about to become your new favorites.45

Eggnog

holiday eggnog

With or without added liquor, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that traditional eggnog is on the “naughty” list: the primary ingredients are milk, cream, and eggs. To save 200 calories make yours with organic unsweetened almond milk instead of milk and cream. For even more ways to nix unnecessary cals from your diet, don’t miss these ways to cut calories.46

Commercial Hot Cocoa

hot chocolate

While it’s true that packets of hot cocoa are all “meh” in terms of nutrition, the kind you get from restaurants and coffee joints are far worse. A 16-ounce Starbucks hot chocolate with 2% milk, for example, has half a day’s saturated fat, 400 calories, and 43 grams of sugar which is two and half times as much as you’ll find in the brand’s make-at-home packets.

Drink This! Instead: Because no matter what we say you’ll likely still indulge in the drink on occasion, at least use our trusty report, best and worst hot cocoa mixes so you can make an educated choice about your indulgent drink.47

Mudslides

Mudslide cocktail
Shutterstock

Vodka, Kahlua, Baileys Irish Cream, milk, and chocolate syrup, combine together to create this fatty concoction that’s bound to not only leave you “chocolate wasted,” but severely bloated, too. An average cocktail has a staggering 750 calories!48

Lemonade

Glasses of lemonade
Shutterstock

For many of us, lemonade evokes memories of cute kids sitting at a stand the end of their driveway. And while the littles pushing the drink may be innocent enough, the beverage itself is not. Teaming with 120 calories and nearly 30 grams of sugar per cup, the only thing we like about this drink is it’s fairly harmless list of ingredients. While water, sugar, and lemon juice won’t make you sick, drinking it in excess could bring on a metabolic condition that will.

Drink This! Instead: Throw a couple of lemon slides in some water for a refreshing sip.49

Certain Bottled Teas

Bottled iced tea
Shutterstock

In its purest form tea is one of the best weight loss allies you’ll find. It contains antioxidants which have been found to help rev your metabolism, block the formation of new fat cells, fight off diseases, and lower risk of stroke. But not all teas are created equal—especially those sold in bottles. In fact, a recent study found that you’d have to drink 20 bottles of store-bought tea to get the same amount of antioxidants present in just one home-brewed cup. Plus, the bulk of the bottles brews get their brown hue from caramel color (instead of actual tea) and are packed with more sugar than you’d find in a handful of Chips Ahoy cookies.

Drink This! Instead: To learn which ones are safe to sip and which are better to skip, skim our report, worst bottled tea products.50

Powdered Fruit Drinks

Powdered fruit drink mix grape kool aid
Shutterstock

Tang, Kool-Aid, and other drink powders are little more than a mix of sugar and artificial coloring. If you wouldn’t pour food dye and cups of sugar straight into your mouth, you’re better off saying “no” to these waist-widening drinks.

eatthis

TIPS