Study shows no brain injury in Havana Syndrome victims – National & International News – MON 18Mar2024

Study shows no brain injury in Havana Syndrome victims.

Trump unable to pay $454 million bond in NY fraud case, risking asset seizures.

Study shows no brain injury in Havana Syndrome victims

The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) has published the results of two 5-year studies of Havana Syndrome patients by the National Institutes of Health. In one study, the brain scans of 81 Havana Syndrome sufferers, all either current or former US government employees, were compared with 48 healthy control patients. The scans showed no significant differences between the Havana Syndrome sufferers and the control group in terms of differences in brain volume, structure or white matter (which would indicate injury).

In the second study, the Havana Syndrome group and a 30 “vocationally matched control participants” underwent tests of their auditory, vestibular (balance), cognitive, visual function, and blood biomarkers. The tests of these two groups also showed no significant differences. However, the Havana Syndrome group self-reported greater rates of fatigue, stress and depression. Self-reported trouble with balancing was confirmed through testing.

Energy weapon or mass hysteria?

The term “Havana Syndrome” was first coined in 2016 when several US Embassy staff in Havana, Cuba, suffered anomalous health events. These included dizziness, nausea, headaches, sensations of pressure in the brain, and cognitive disfunction. Employees noted that these sensations came on suddenly, accompanied by an unusual sound. 

Since 2016, hundreds of US government employees – especially diplomatic staff and members of the military – have suffered Havana Syndrome-like incidents. These attacks were also described as being accompanied by piercing “directional noise”. 

In 2018, scientists conducted a US government-sponsored study suggested that some sort of directed energy or microwave weapon could be to blame. Statements from government officials lent credence to the possibility that hostile powers such as China and Russia could be using these weapons against US personnel. The bulk of self-reported cases date to after this study was widely publicized. This report was also met with widespread criticism in the scientific community.

A less widely publicized government-sponsored study found that the source of the “directional noise”, at least that reported by the patients from Cuba, was most likely a native cricket.

Mixed signals, lasting harm

Last year, US intelligence reported the results of a years-long assessment that concluded that an energy weapon of the type postulated likely didn’t exist. This assessment suggested that stress and possibly social contagion (sometimes called mass psychogenic illness or, more commonly, mass hysteria) were the most likely causes of Havana Syndrome. However, just a few weeks after that assessment was published, a declassified document circulated which seemed to re-open the door to the possibility that such a weapon could exist.

The matter remains very controversial both in official and scientific circles. The scientists who conducted the newly-published NIH study emphasized that, whatever the cause, the symptoms experienced by patients are real and have had serious effects on their quality of life and ability to work. It is possible that some of the messaging around this is designed to spare embarrassment for sufferers. However, some experts have raised concerns that the seemingly conflicting messages from the US government, as well as the apparent lack of a scientific consensus, could hamper patients’ recovery and possibly generate new cases through social contagion.

Neuroscientist Douglas Fields of the University of Maryland noted that, “People who were told by trusted authorities that they suffered brain damage from a secret weapon will likely dismiss the NIH report as a government cover-up”. However, Fields says the NIH create “an excellent scientific study, with conclusions that are well supported by data, and the study will be viewed as highly credible by scientists”.

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Further reading: The Salem Witch Trials, Havana Syndrome, and the politics of hysteria.

Trump unable to pay $454 million bond in NY fraud case, risking asset seizures

Last month, a New York civil court ordered former President Trump to pay $454 million in damages following a tax and business fraud case brought by the state attorney general’s office. Judge Arthur Engoron gave Trump 30 days (until March 25) to post cash or a bond. Otherwise, the state may seize some of the Trump Organization’s assets in New York to collect the judgment. 

Trump, his adult sons Eric and Don, Jr., and other Trump Organization executives have approached over 30 companies seeking backing for the bond payment. In the event that Trump loses his appeal of the case and is unable to pay the judgement, any company that agrees to back his bond would be stuck having to pay the amount. So far, Trump and his associates have been turned down by every company they’ve approached.

In an attempt to stave off potential asset seizures, Trump’s attorneys filed a request today with a state appeals court to delay enforcement of the judgment. The attorneys said that securing a bond of that size was “a practical impossibility” and asked that bond be reduced to $100 million while Trump appeals the ruling.

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