Month: October 2012

Monster drinks are made by Monster Beverage Corp. They come in a 24-ounce can that contains 240 milligrams of caffeine, which is seven times the amount of caffeine in a 12-ounce cola. Monster Beverage Corp. is the largest U.S. energy drink maker, selling approximately $1.6 billion of drinks last year. Since 2006, its drink sales have tripled.

Allegations against Monster energy drinks go back to 2004, though the FDA points out that the medical reports do not necessarily prove the drinks to be the cause of death. No conclusion will be drawn until the investigation is complete.

A Maryland woman has filed a lawsuit against Monster Beverage Corp., claiming the energy drinks killed her 14-year-old daughter. The victim consumed two of the 24-ounce cans within 24 hours. An autopsy revealed that the girl died of cardiac arrhythmia due to caffeine toxicity, but the medical examiner also noted that she had a disorder than can weaken blood vessels.

From 2005 to 2009, emergency room visits involving energy drinks went up 10-fold, increasing to 13,114. About half of those trips were made by patients ranging from 18 to 25 years old and also involved drugs or alcohol. 37 adverse reactions to Monster drinks specifically have been reported to the FDA since 2004. The reports claimed that symptoms of some of the life-threatening illness included heart attack, chest pain, and vomiting.

Monster Beverage Corp. claims it is unaware that its products have been the cause of any fatalities, and it denies that drinking two cans may lead to caffeine toxicity or death.

The amount of caffeine allowed in soda is capped at 0.02 percent, but the FDA does not regulate caffeine amounts in energy drinks, such as Monster and its competitors. Caffeine isn't listed in Monster's proprietary formula, though it notes the presence of the ingredient in the drink, along with guarana (a plant extract) and taurine (an amino acid).

Some states have tried to restrict energy drink sales to minors, though the efforts were unsuccessful. Additionally, some senators have requested that the FDA do further research on the effects of caffeine and other energy drink ingredients in children.

Nutrition researchers know that many children and adults do not attain an ideal intake of essential vitamins and minerals from their diet, but did not fully understand the precise biological link behind poor nutrition and development of chronic illnesses. Researchers from the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University and the OSU College of Public Health and Human Sciences have published the result of a study in the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry that outlines the biological mechanism by which deficiency in the essential mineral, zinc can develop with age.

The scientists found that lack of dietary zinc leads to a decline of the immune system and increased inflammation associated with many health problems, including cancer, heart disease, autoimmune disease and diabetes. The scientists noted that while optimal zinc intake is critical at all stages of life, from adolescence through adulthood, it is especially important for aging adults when absorption is limited and higher levels are required to boost immune response.

Zinc lowers systemic inflammation and promotes optimal immune health
The study team; therefore, concentrated on zinc deficiency in senior adults. The researchers noted "About 40 percent of elderly Americans and as many as two billion people around the world have diets that are deficient in this important, but often underappreciated micronutrient." Prior studies have confirmed that zinc transporters were significantly dysregulated in old animals. They showed signs of zinc deficiency and had an enhanced inflammatory response even though their diet supposedly contained adequate amounts of zinc.

Performing a study using lab animals with similar biochemistry to humans, the researchers determined that when aging animals were supplemented with approximately 10 times their dietary requirement for zinc, the biomarkers of inflammation were restored to those of young animals. Scientists conducting the study confirmed "We've previously shown in both animal and human studies that zinc deficiency can cause DNA damage, and this new work shows how it can help lead to systemic inflammation."

Some degree of inflammation is normal and required to promote wound healing and support metabolic functions and immune response. Poor diet and lifestyle over many years both promote a state of constant systemic inflammation. Zinc has been shown to be an essential mineral required to help squelch the damage wreaked on the delicate lining of our vast vascular network. Adults approaching middle age will want to supplement with zinc (nutrition experts recommend 25 to 50 mg per day) to promote immune health and lower the risk of many chronic diseases.

B Vitamin Complex: B Vitamins are extremely important especially to diabetics but two are of particular help. Daily intake of vitamin B6 can reduce the need for insulin. Dr. John Ellis, M.D. found that a normal blood sugar level was regained when 100 mg of B6 was taken daily. Biotin, another vitamin in the complex, works with insulin in assisting the body in the utilization of glucose. Biotin is also instrumental in preventing or reversing peripheral neuropathy in diabetics. A person can find these in foods such as turkey, dark meat chicken, beef and chicken livers, mushrooms, oats, and avocado to name a few.

Vitamin C: Diabetics tend to be susceptible to infections. Vitamin C's antioxidant powers can help combat that. Also, vitamin C helps the body to form collagen which is important for vascular health delaying or preventing vascular complications. Deficiencies have led to a decreased production of insulin producing cells in the pancreas. Vitamin C can be found in foods such as broccoli, spinach, cabbage, mangoes, asparagus, cantaloupe, and citrus fruits for example.

Vitamin E: Frequently, diabetics suffer from damage to their eyes and kidneys. Vitamin E assists in preventing this damage because it is a powerful anticoagulant which reduces stress to the vascular regions of these vital organs/organelles. The following are foods which contain vitamin E: Spinach, almonds, peanuts, broccoli, mangoes, kiwi fruit and tomatoes.

Magnesium and Potassium: When the body is deficient in these two nutrients, glucose intolerance is likely. This leads to organ and nerve damage. Magnesium serves as a supporter and protector of the cardiovascular system. It helps to widen blood vessels and also reduces circulating cholesterol in the bloodstream. Potassium deficiencies can occur from the insulin support given to diabetics. Ironically, lowered potassium levels lead to poor insulin sensitivity, responsiveness and secretion exacerbating diabetic complications. You can find magnesium in nuts, seeds, whole unrefined grains, and green vegetables like spinach. Potassium can be found in bananas, apricots, dates, chicken, fish, turkey and so on.

Important but lesser known nutrients
Chromium: Whenever glucose or insulin enters the bloodstream, chromium goes right to work unless the body's reserves are low. Chromium deficiency in the average western diet means the body cannot replenish what is lost during the ordinary course of business. Add to that the fact that refined sugars strip the body of chromium adverse health conditions like diabetes is more likely. Chromium helps to normalize blood glucose levels and decreases insulin resistance. It can be found in many foods like beef liver, whole wheat or rye bread, chicken, potatoes and eggs just to name a few.

Alpha-Lipoic acid: Alpha-lipoic acid has been demonstrated to help increase the use of glucose by cells and lower insulin resistance. In fact, alpha-lipoic acid has proven to be so effective for diabetes treatment that it has been prescribed by German doctors for the last 30 years.

There are additional nutrients that are of great benefit to diabetics such as vanadium, zinc, coenzyme Q10 and essential fatty acids. Speak to a trusted healthcare provider to help create a plan that will optimize your health through proper nutrient intake.
 

A much greater threat than so-called global "climate change," the decline in bee populations due to pesticide and herbicide exposure is one of the most serious environmental threats in the world today. Without bees, food crops that rely on these important insects for pollination will wither and die, causing widespread food shortages. For this reason, ecology experts are urging government authorities to rediscover their consciences by standing up against this chemical-induced insect genocide, which has the very real potential to eventually unleash human genocide.

One of the ways in which they are accomplishing this is by drawing attention to studies like the recent Nature study, which clearly illustrates the fact that bees are severely threatened by combined exposures to multiple pesticide chemicals. Since bees encounter potentially hundreds of pesticide chemicals in real-world conditions, studying such exposures in a laboratory setting was the goal of the new research.

"Work in my lab is building on previous work looking at neonicotinoids, the systemic pesticides that are used extensively in agriculture at the moment," said Nigel Raine of Royal Holloway, University of London, author of the study, in a recent video report. "What we're doing is we're looking at the effects of multiple pesticides, not just the neonicotinoids but also pyrethroids, which is the sort of situation that bees are faced with in the field. They visit multiple crop species which may have different pesticides applied to them."

Most bumblebees die after being exposed to both pesticides
After closely monitoring bumblebees exposed to low levels of two different pesticide chemicals for four weeks, Raine and his colleague Richard Gill observed that individual bee performance suffered considerably. Combined exposure to both neonicotinoids and imidacloprid, two common pesticide chemicals, caused worker bees to perform at levels far lower than other bees. And it is precisely the cumulative effect of exposure to both chemicals, which many previous studies involving bees have failed to address, that is the most striking.

Another interesting discovery was the fact that two-thirds of the bees exposed to both chemicals ended up dying, compared to just one-third of those not exposed to both chemicals. This further illustrates the fact that previous studies analyzing the effects of only one pesticide chemical, and for just a few days rather than several weeks, ignore the actual, real-life exposures to multiple pesticide chemicals that many bees throughout the world face.

Many industry-funded studies, after all, which have been used by government regulators to approve these dangerous chemicals in the first place, erroneously conclude that certain pesticide chemicals are safe simply because they did not necessarily elicit immediate harm during the few days in which their effects were studied. Pesticide harm often takes weeks to be observed, which makes Raine's study far more accurate in its assessment of long-term pesticide damage in bees.

Now, years later, the effects of this irresponsible practice are returning to haunt us.

"Lurking (and leaking) beneath the world's oceans are an estimated 200 million pounds of unexploded and potentially dangerous explosives – from bombs to missiles to mustard gas," Fox News reported recently.

That is the conclusion of William Bryant and Niall Slowey, oceanographers from Texas A&M University, who have documented a pair of these dump sites in the Gulf of Mexico. The two researchers put out a conservative estimate that at least 31 million pounds of ordnance can be found in the Gulf of Mexico, as well as off the coastlines of at least 16 states, from New Jersey to Hawaii.

That includes thousands of containers of mustard gas, which lie strewn about the ocean floor off the coast of New Jersey. And, they said, there are seven dump sites on the seafloor of the Gulf, each one measuring approximately 81 square miles

One is located at the mouth of the Mississippi River Delta.

"The amount that has been dumped was unbelievable," Bryant said. "No one seems to have reported seeing explosives in the Gulf. We felt it was our responsibility to report it."

After a half a century on the sea floor…

Now, the two oceanographers admit that the existence of UXO (unexploded ordnance) at sea is no secret. Until relatively recently, it was an acceptable international practice.

"Dumping conventional and chemical munitions captured from enemies – Nazi German, for example – was also an accepted practice," Fox News reported.

For the U.S. anyway, that all changed in 1970 after the Pentagon prohibited the practice. Congress followed up with the Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act of 1972, which generally banned sea disposal altogether.

But after some 50 years or more on the sea floor, the condition of these dangerous munitions is not known.

"Is there an environmental risk? We don't know, and that in itself is reason to worry," Bryant said. "We just don"t know much at all about these bombs, and it's been 40 to 60 years that they've been down there."

The report noted that analysts have suspected for some time that tones of undocumented munitions were "short-dumped," as in, disposed of long before ships reached designated dumping sites, leaving them much too close to shore for comfort.

While conducting their sea floor research, Bryant and his team found two dump sites where they vividly captured decaying canisters of what they believe to be chemical weapons. At one point, they also found themselves floating above a field of munitions that were as large as 500 pounds.

How much is out there, and where is all of it?

In a statement published by Texas A&M, an explosion from a UXO could produce a number of calamities: It could threaten ship traffic, commercial fishing and cruise lines, among other activities. And, of course, the munitions pose a threat to some 30,000 people who work in the oil and gas industry aboard ocean rigs.

Bryant's team said Texas shores are the closest to munitions, some of which lie as little as 50 miles offshore. Louisiana was the second closest, and in particular, the Mississippi River Delta.

Officials at the Defense Department want to know just how lethal these devices still are, so the Pentagon began conducting a massive search effort in 2004 to locate all of the ordnance. Thousands of hours of labor have been spent looking over millions of pages worth of documentation to determine where dump sites are, what type of ordnance was dumped and how much at each site.

The team has presented their findings at the International Dialogue on Underwater Munitions in Puerto Rico recently.

Arpad Pusztai, who is considered to be one of the world's most respected and well-learned biochemists, had for three years led a team of researchers from Scotland's prestigious Rowett Research Institute (RRI) in studying the health effects of a novel GM potato with built-in Bt toxin. Much to the surprise of many, the team discovered that, contrary to industry rhetoric, Bt potato was responsible for causing severe health damage in test rats, a fact that was quickly relayed to the media out of concern for public health.

But rather than be praised for their honest assessment into this genetically-tampered potato, Pusztai and his colleagues were chastised by industry-backed government authorities, including British Prime Minister Tony Blair, whose office was discovered to have secretly contacted RRI just hours after Pusztai and his team announced the results of their study on television. For speaking the truth, Pusztai was immediately fired from his position, and his team dismissed from their positions at the school.

Research out of Egypt finds similar results – GMOs cause severe, long-term health damage
As reported recently in Egypt Independent, similar research by Hussein Kaoud from Cairo University's Faculty of Veterinary Hygiene also made some fascinating, though politically incorrect, discoveries about the effects of GMOs on the body. After feeding nine groups of rats varying combinations of GM soy, corn, wheat, and canola, Kaoud and his team observed that these genetic poisons clearly obstructed the normal function of the animals, affirming Pusztai's research.

"I recorded the alteration of different organs, shrinkage of kidneys, change in the liver and spleen, appearance of malignant parts in the tissues, (and) kidney failure and hemorrhages in the intestine," said Kaoud about the effects of GMOs as observed in the test rats. "The brain functions were touched as well, and the rats' learning and memory abilities were seriously altered."

In Kaoud's case, his groundbreaking findings will soon be published in the respected journals Neurotoxicology and Ecotoxicology. But it remains to be seen whether or not the scientific community at large, which is heavily influenced by biotechnology interests, and the political structures that control it will accept the results as valid, or pull a similar character assassination on Kaoud and his team as punishment for defying the status quo.

What all this clearly illustrates, of course, is that modern science can hardly be considered the independent, truth-seeking, "gold standard" of interpreting and understanding reality that many people mistakenly think it is. The truth about GMOs, as uncovered by mounds of independent research, is that they are inadequately safety tested, at best, and deadly at worst. But this fact remains shrouded in deception, thanks to the corporatized, pro-GMO culture of mainstream science.

We search for design and pattern and structure and system, in order to reach the highest kind of knowledge about existence.

We need to add a different platform.

Design, structure, system, and shape are not the end of the voyage. They are objectives that serve lesser goals. They are real and very useful and fine and good – but they are limited.

People who are obsessed with What Exists don't see that. They think the structure and system are the grandest end-points.

This obsession is a deep part of human programming. When operating at full-bore, it obscures the farther shore.

It absorbs people with magnetic force.

It limits power.

When the goal of discovering-what-exists takes over to the point of obsession, it forms a mesh of reality that surrounds us.

It is the meta-program that allows the matrix to have strength.

It is the input that keeps the whole matrix humming.

It's interesting to reflect on those three famous Matrix films, and how they disintegrate step by step, from the discovery of the reality-prison—and the rush of adrenaline which ensues—on to the mindless war—as if that kind of struggle will actually free anyone.

The collapse of the storyline mirrors what happens when the impulse to see through to the Final Structure tries to continue past that point: there is nowhere to go.

Why? Because the heroes are really only armed with the all-consuming desire to uncover What Exists. Beyond that, they are clueless.

There is something about that voyage that degrades like an element with a very short half-life. It sputters out. The heroes revert back to older, more basic programming. Fight, conquer territory, defend, attack.

One: the thrill of profound discovery. Two: then the feeling of vacuum and confusion. Three: then the reversion back to primitive hatreds. With that sequence—now you are talking about the real Matrix.

In the arena of genetic research, there is the hope that, someday, we will find a gene which will somehow "wake up" all the dormant circuits in the brain—and then we will gain back fantastic insight and power. But based on what scientists have so far unearthed, is there any reason to believe this? Or is it just one more illusion which propels us forward on the voyage of discovery?

Literature, plays, films, and television are littered with stories that contain a mystery – and at the end comes the payoff, when the mystery is solved, when we find out What Exists.

For a moment, the audience is absorbed, and then there is the let down.

It's as if a voyage through a rich forest suddenly ended in a vacuum, in a Nothing.

As long as the secret and the mystery can be prolonged, as long as What Exists can be postponed, you have the audience with you. But when the solution is revealed, all you have is the thirst for another mystery. "Tell us more! Tell us another one! Give us another puzzle!"

An ancient manuscript, an unexplored cave, a probe sent to a distant planet…there is a powerful desire to come to the punch line…and then…boredom edges in.

I once had a conversation with a modern guru in the field of self-improvement. He is a very successful author and lecturer. At one point, he said, essentially: You know, I have nothing left. I've written these books, I've told my audiences what they need to know. They keep wanting more. The next book, the next lecture. I'm tired. I don't have any more secrets. They don't really want to know what works in their lives. They want stories. They want the thrill of the hunt for the next big thing. But when they get it, I can see them go over the edge into depression…

It's a paradox. People want to massage a secret, they want it to be solved and yet, when it's solved, they don't care anymore. But if you give them a real secret, one that doesn't resolve, one that challenges them in a different way, they throw up their hands and give up. They claim they "don't understand."

Several years ago, I went to the Vatican, to the Sistine Chapel, to see the Michelangelo fresco. I sat in the room with several hundred other visitors. We all craned our necks, looking at the famous ceiling. I'm sure that for many of those people, it was the fulfillment of a dream: to finally witness the greatness of one of the most famous works of art on the planet.

Afterwards, outside in the corridor, I watched them leave. What I saw on their faces was a neutrality tinged with boredom.

The mystery was solved. They had seen the thing in person, finally. They had found out What Exists. It was the end.

I'm sketching here the anatomy of The Voyage to Discover What Exists.

It is one of the great enduring passions. But it has a vast and gaping downside. The payoff melts into a sagging passivity. "Well, that's over. What's next?"

Remember the Mike Nichols film, The Graduate? In that middle-class drama, the young Benjamin goes to extreme lengths to win Elaine, the daughter of Mrs. Robinson. He storms into Elaine's wedding; she deserts her fiancee. Outside the church, Ben and Elaine catch a bus and take their seats in the back. As the film ends, Ben just sits there. He has captured the prize. He stares vaguely at nothing. No joy. Only a blank.

Here is a statement attributed to Nobel Laureate Albert Szent- Gyorgyi (1937 Prize for Physiology and Medicine): "In my search for the secret of life, I ended up with atoms and electrons, which have no life at all. Somewhere along the line, life has run out through my fingers. So, in my old age, I am now retracing my steps…"

Something that appears so right and so real and so entrancing, the attempt to nail down What Exists, has such a strange result.

What is going on?

How many seekers after the grand conspiracy behind all conspiracies become bogged down in their own journey, especially after they believe they have the answers to their ultimate questions? How many travelers along this road decide their findings add up to a portrait of a hopeless locked-down future, from which no one can escape—and then give up the whole enterprise in disgust and disillusionment?

How many people will fall into a weary swamp after December 21, 2012 (the fabled end of the Mayan calendar), passes and the revelation, the secret they have been chasing, doesn't yield up the kind of personal illumination they were counting on?

Many years ago, a friend told me about a UFO cult that had existed somewhere in the Midwest, in the 1920s. The leader informed her followers that a great ship was coming to take them all away to a better place, a wonderful planet. The date and time were set. The leader had been receiving instructions from alien ET guides.

On this basis, all the members of the cult sold their houses and belongings (as if money would be useful on Planet X?). On the appointed date, the group was sitting in room, waiting for the ship to arrive. After several delays, the leader emerged from another room and said the UFO guides had just told her they weren't coming after all, because the catastrophe that was supposed to decimate Earth had been sidetracked and avoided.

So there they were, sitting in a room, all dressed up with nowhere to go (and nowhere to live).

The result? The effort at recruiting new members expanded, and the cult grew! The leader told them a new story about what was coming in the wonderful years ahead – a new mystery was in progress.

THE OBSESSION TO DISCOVER WHAT EXISTS.

What Exists is, on a significant level, the greatest con game ever invented.

Everyone wants to chase down WHAT EXISTS and reveal it.

If Jesus really survived the crucifixion or was never hung on the cross, and escaped the Middle East, and if he married and had children, and if those children had children, and if that bloodline still exists…

Ten or 20 years after this "great secret is exposed"…how many of the millions of people who were originally galvanized by it still care or think about it….it's old hat…we want another story…tell us another story….

Well, here is a different story:

The human being was placed in a universe that appeared to beg for discovery of its secrets.

The die was cast. Humans would forever try to satisfy that hunger.

They would never suspect there was another way. They would never graduate, through a fundamental shifting of gears, up on to another echelon.

They would never guess that you have to game the system that is rigged to defeat you.

You have to turn the con around.

If things (life) are designed to subvert you…BECOME A DESIGNER.

If What Exists proves to be an endless labyrinth, landing you, finally, back at the starting gate…INVENT WHAT EXISTS.

If reality is created to gobble you up in a voyage for answers and solutions…CREATE REALITY.

Turn the tables.

Move beyond only discovering What Exists, and recognize that voyage was the primary reason you kept yourself in the dark about your own creative power.

Understand, once and for all, that every system is another version of What Exists…they are murals you attach yourself to like barnacles on a ship.

Freedom is the platform from which imagination can spread out infinitely.

The universe is waiting for imagination to revolutionize it down to its core.

…I call them the SOB People. In this case, SOB stands for State of Being. You may recall that the verb "to be" and all its forms is labeled "the state of being" verb. It expresses no action.

It's about Is. It's about What Exists.

The SOB People love What Exists. They pray at that altar every day.

The SOB People look at imagination as an activity like the re-arranging of deck chairs. For them, nothing new ever occurs. Invention merely puts together what is already known. Invention takes ideas and images and fits them together in different ways. The present is only a redistribution of the past.

They are married forever to What Exists. They stake out their territory there. "Nothing new under the sun." They take pride in this view. They think it makes them very wise.

Actually it deteriorates their lives and energy one drop at a time.

In their graves and beyond, they keep mouthing, "What Already Exists, What Already Exists, What Already Exists."

A conversation with an SOB Person can be like talking to a meat grinder. When you emerge at the other end, you want to jump into a pool and drown.

Teachers in writing classes and seminars often tell their students, "Write about what you know." This pearl has stalled large numbers of aspiring authors. I would tell them, "Write about anything you want to—especially what you don't know."

From the perspective of ordinary reality, imagination is all about what is impossible. If that sounds like a koan, chew on it for a while.

Imagination is that faculty that can raise the dead.

Imagination can give rise to the spontaneous creation of what has never been before.

Imagination shifts the whole emphasis of living from the discovery of What Exists to the creation of something new, a new reality(ies).

Imagination decimates the entire library of human programming.

With imagination, you aren't buying a story; you're inventing countless numbers of stories.

But this invention isn't just aimless ruminating – you create something new, you express something new, and you propel it into the world.

Without that, you float in a sea of gauze.

Of course, there is fear of the New.

People think something terrible might happen if they invent something new. Their friends might ridicule them. The whole universe might suddenly collapse. Their minds might shred.

This is where human programming really bites hard. This programming assumes and asserts that, with enough voyaging, with enough discovery, one can find the Ultimate, one can find "everything that needs to be found."

Whereas the truth is: you can create infinitely.

AND WHAT YOU CREATE IS NEW.

Jon Rappoport
The author of an explosive collection, THE MATRIX REVEALED, Jon was a candidate for a US Congressional seat in the 29th District of California. Nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, he has worked as an investigative reporter for 30 years, writing articles on politics, medicine, and health for CBS Healthwatch, LA Weekly, Spin Magazine, Stern, and other newspapers and magazines in the US and Europe. Jon has delivered lectures and seminars on global politics, health, logic, and creative power to audiences around the world. You can sign up for his free emails at www.nomorefakenews.com

Since price control efforts have largely failed thus far, as have austerity measures aimed at reviving the nation's economy, the Greek government is grasping at straws to maintain some illusion of normalcy in a country where the unemployment rate has now breached 25 percent overall, and more than 54 percent among the youth population aged 15 to 24.

"We are sinking in a swamp of recession and it's getting worse," Dimitris Asimakopoulos, Head of the Greek small business and industry association GSEVEE, is quoted as saying by phillyBurbs.com. "180,000 businesses are on the brink and 70,000 of them are expected to close in the next few months."

As far as the expired food situation is concerned, products with both a month and day expiration date will be permitted to sell for an additional week, while products with a "best before" date that contains only a month and year marker will be permitted to sell for an additional month. Food products with only a year indicator will be allowed to sell for an additional quarter year, under the new law.

Because virtually all aspects of the Greek economy are unraveling, though, the measure is unlikely to make much of a difference in reducing overall food costs, as demand will still likely outpace supply. And repeated efforts to bail out the nation at the EU level continue to spark massive protests and labor strikes, which is only exacerbating the problem even further.

In defiance of proposed austerity measures that would further increase taxes on Greece's already-struggling private business sector, 70,000 protesters in Athens and at least 17,000 protesters in the town of Thessalonika recently took to the streets. The protests resulted in massive public service shutdowns, grounded flights, hospital and business closures, and public transport failures.