Cynthia Phillips was mesmerized when she saw the latest pictures of her favorite moon. Here at last was a fresh look at Europa, an icy satellite of Jupiter. The moon resembles a truffle drizzled haphazardly with strips of melted white chocolate, as if the universe had rushed to finish a baking-show challenge. The images gave us a new sense of Europa’s topography, its collection of ridges and troughs appearing more intricate than ever. The lighting was different this time, Phillips told me, and the shadows brought out dramatic shapes in the terrain.
The images were taken by a Jupiter-observing spacecraft as it swept past Europa last week, coming within just 222 miles (358 kilometers) of the frozen surface. Phillips, a planetary geologist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, immediately reached for the Europa globe on her desk and began comparing the real-world views with the topography stretched over the plastic orb. The last probe to come this close to Europa was disposed of in 2003, when NASA deliberately plunged it into Jupiter’s atmosphere after the mission started running low on fuel. “We haven’t seen Europa’s surface in this level of detail for 20 years,” Phillips said.
Europa might be the best place to search for life elsewhere in the solar system. Scientists are almost certain that beneath the Jovian moon’s frozen surface is a salty ocean with more water than all of Earth’s oceans combined. And such a watery subsurface environment could provide a comfortable home for small Europan life forms.
[Read: Jupiter’s frozen moon is studded with 50-foot blades of ice]
Two years from now, another NASA spacecraft will depart for the Jupiter system, specifically designed to study Europa. The probe will swing past the moon dozens of times, sometimes coasting just 16 miles (25 kilometers) above the surface. Each pass will bring scientists closer to understanding the workings of this celestial truffle and its mysterious interior. Beneath that frosty coating could be the answer to one of our biggest questions: Is there life anywhere else in the universe?
Europa is enveloped in a thick coat of water ice. (Some other moons in our solar system have ice made of methane and nitrogen—the cosmos is a weird place.) The criss-crossing lines visible in the new pictures are actually cracks and fissures in that frozen exterior. Scientists suspect that they’re caused by the stretching and squashing that Europa experiences as it orbits giant Jupiter. The moon’s terrain is sprinkled with chemical compounds such as sodium chloride and magnesium sulfate—more commonly known to Earthlings as table salt and Epsom salt—and they could indicate briny waters below.
A close-up view of Europa’s textured surface (NASA / JPL-Caltech / SWRI / MSSS
Scientists got their best evidence that a Europan ocean might exist two decades ago, when that earlier NASA spacecraft detected a magnetic connection between Europa and Jupiter that could easily be explained by the presence of a salty, global sea. This deep into the solar system, Europa’s underground ocean wouldn’t feel the warmth of the sun; it would stay liquid because of Jupiter’s gravitational tugging. In recent years, telescopes have detected signs of plumes of water vapor spewing out of the cracks and into space. Scientists believe that Europa’s ocean could be as old as the moon itself, about 4 billion years or so, which would give life plenty of time and a stable environment in which to evolve, Phillips said.
[Read: Europa’s mysterious glow]
The data suggest that Europa has a rocky mantle—the layer between the moon’s crust and core—and when rock and water come together, magical things can happen: Chemical interactions between them are known to produce hydrogen-rich materials for tiny creatures to metabolize. “On our own planet, hydrothermal systems at the seafloor provide energy for communities of microorganisms,” Samantha Trumbo, a planetary scientist at Cornell who studies icy ocean worlds like Europa, told me.
The upcoming NASA mission, named Clipper—a nod to the speedy, lightweight vessels favored by 19th-century merchants—will study nearly every bit of the Europan surface. If it gets lucky, the spacecraft could fly through some plume particles, take a sip, and analyze the contents. Alyssa Rhoden, a planetary geophysicist at the Southwest Research Institute who studies Europa, is most excited about a Clipper instrument designed to detect warmer-than-usual spots on the moon’s surface. “When you look at Europa’s surface, you can see a lot of pits where the surface seems to have dropped down a little bit, places where the surface has been disrupted,” Rhoden told me. “We think that that’s happening from heating coming from below.” That signature could simply indicate the presence of melted bits of ice near the frigid crust—or it could mean a roiling sea has floated toward the surface, perhaps bringing any tiny inhabitants with it.
[Read: Exploring the oceans of the outer solar system]
The Clipper mission is not meant to find definitive proof that life exists on Europa, only explore whether the moon has the right conditions and chemistry to make life possible. Evidence of life will require more missions, guided by Clipper’s data, that could land on the Europan surface and drill into the ice. NASA is also searching for life elsewhere in the solar system, notably on Mars, where a rover is collecting samples from a dried-up river delta. But Europa is a more tantalizing target, and so are the other ocean moons sprinkled across the solar system, such as Enceladus and Titan, which orbit Saturn, and Triton, around Neptune. The Mars mission is designed to search for signs of fossilized life that existed several billion years ago, when water once flowed on the planet. “It’s quite possible that Mars could have had life in the past, in a warmer-weather era, and it’s possible that there are subsurface pockets on Mars that could have remnants of this living biosphere,” Phillips said. “But on somewhere like Europa, life could exist there now.”
And what might humanity, by way of carefully engineered machines, find on Europa, once we’ve figured out which melty bits to inspect? “I would love for there to be Europan whales swimming around in that ocean,” Phillips said with a laugh. But alien life, if it exists, is likely to be small and simple. Energy sources are limited in the Europan depths, and scientists don’t think the environment can support the development of more complex organisms, Phillips said. Still, even the discovery of a single microbe would mark an explosive event in human history. It would mean that life had managed to spring up in two different places around the same star—in a universe absolutely brimming with stars. If it happened more than once here, in our own solar system, it’s likely happened elsewhere in the cosmos, around someone else’s sun. This is why scientists are so eager to catch a glimpse of Europa, and prepare as much as they can for the exploration to come. “We all want it to be water,” Rhoden said. “We all want it to be a cool plumbing system in the shell with lots of activity, and someday we’ll get down there and find little Europan sea urchins clinging to the bottom of the ice.”
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Facebook oversight board member rips social media giant as ‘inconsistent’ after Trump ban
Former federal judge on board says Facebook’s rules are both “arbitrary” and in “shambles.”
Utah County Censures Mitt Romney for Trump Impeachment Vote
Weber County GOP censured Sen. Mitt Romney Saturday during its convention for the senator’s vote to impeach former President Donald Trump earlier this year.
A Majority of Americans Support ‘Vaccine Passports’ for Some Activities, Poll Finds
by Andrew Trunsky
A majority of Americans support requiring proof of vaccinations when traveling on planes and attending events with large crowds, a Gallup poll released Friday shows.
The survey found that 57% of Americans supported requiring proof of vaccination on airplanes and that 55% supported requiring proof for events like concerts, shows and live sports. Just 43% and 45% of Americans said they were opposed, respectively.
Majorities of Americans, however, rejected “vaccine passports” for dining at restaurants, going to work and staying in a hotel. Just 40%, 45% and 44% of Americans supported requiring proof of vaccination for each activity.
The survey was published as more states plan to lift their coronavirus restrictions in the coming weeks and as more and more Americans get vaccinated, though the daily rate has slowed since April.
“Vaccine passports” became a political lightning rod almost immediately after the idea was floated, with Republicans railing against them and warning that they would infringe on civil liberties and give the government too much power. No more than 28% of Republicans supported requiring proof of vaccination for any of the five activities surveyed.
President Joe Biden’s administration also came out against them, saying that the government had no plans to require or enforce them.
The survey found that at least 62% of Democrats supported requiring proof of vaccination for the activities mentioned, with 85% saying that they supported it for air travel.
“Vaccine passports” have varied by state. Some have either implemented them or allowed private businesses to require them if they so choose, while others, like Florida, Montana and Texas, have passed legislation outlawing them in all forms.
Gallup surveyed 3,731 adults from April 19 to 25, and the poll has a margin of error of 2 percentage points.
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Andrew Trunsky is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation.
The post A Majority of Americans Support ‘Vaccine Passports’ for Some Activities, Poll Finds appeared first on The Georgia Star News.
There Are Simple Reasons Liz Cheney Has To Go
Source: AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
Would you follow that guy into battle? Hell no. Even if you weren’t Irish, Italian, or from California, how could anyone trust him?
Now imagine if you’d found out that Eisenhower, as a side gig, was selling surplus ammunition and weapons to the Germans. “Hey, it’s just sitting around not being used, and they asked if I’d sell it to them,” or some such thing. Would anyone have faith in him?
Absolutely not. Yet, that’s what Liz Cheney has done as House Republican Conference Chair. And that’s why she has to go.
Her failure is not because she doesn’t like Donald Trump, that is the least important part of this whole drama, but because she can’t do the job. Her job is to hold the caucus together and advance the Republican agenda. She can’t do it, and it’s all her fault.
Cheney’s raging case of Trump Derangement Syndrome aside, she has fired down her own trench too many times. Leaders, effective leaders, don’t attack their own troops. They can have differences with individuals, but when the chips are down, everyone has to be pulling in the same direction.
Scarlett Johansson urges boycott of ‘sexist’ Golden Globes unless organizers implement major reforms
Scarlett Johansson calls for boycott of ‘sexist’ Golden Globes after criticism of the HFPA for having NO black members.
- The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) is made up of 90 international entertainment journalists who vote on Golden Globe Award winners
- The organization came under fire earlier this year when it was revealed there was zero black members
- Critics additionally claimed that the HFPA was also less inclusive to women and members of the LGBTQ community
- Earlier this week, the HFPA approved reforms to make their organization more inclusive; they vowed to hire diversity consultants and increase membership
- Scarlett Johansson has now hit out at the HFPA claiming she found the organization ‘sexist’
- She says stars should boycott the HFPA and the Golden Globes unless the reforms are properly implemented
- Fellow A-lister Mark Ruffalo has also hit out at the organization, despite winning a Golden Globe this year
- ‘Honestly, as a recent winner of a Golden Globe, I cannot feel proud or happy about being a recipient of this award,’ he said in a statement
Biden’s new left of racial radicals: Goodwin
The e-mail was short and nasty. After first calling Sen. Tim Scott “the token Uncle Tom” and the N-word, the writer added: “You knuckle dragging conservatives should be sent to the ovens.”
This is how political disagreement is often expressed today.
The writer, Mildred50, if that’s her real name, was one of many on the left who were infuriated that Scott, a black Republican from South Carolina, had the gall to declare that “America is not a racist country” in his rebuttal to President Biden’s address to Congress.
Scott did not duck the unfinished business on race or his experiences of being stopped for no reason by police. He was frank in acknowledging there is more work to do.
But he also put Biden to shame by hailing the enormous progress America has made, in stark contrast to a president who sounds stuck in the past when he compares new voting laws to the Jim Crow era and insists the country remains riddled with “systemic racism.”
For his common sense and optimism, Scott received deserved acclaim and, distressingly, an outpouring of hatred, with the “Uncle Tim” slur trending on Twitter for 12 hours.
Establishment Media Still Fixated on Donald Trump Four Months After Office
The establishment media’s fixation on Donald Trump before and after his astonishing 2016 victory over failed presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton has sustained itself post-presidency.
The media on Saturday compiled the following headlines on their webpages to illustrate the fixation:
CNN:
- The ‘headache’ Trump left behind for Biden on the White House lawn
- Trump Organization must turn over documents to NY attorney general, judge rules
- Fact-checking Trump’s call with Georgia’s secretary of state
- Trump probably can’t pardon himself. He may still try
- How Trump’s fundraising could benefit his post-White House political life
- Cheney plans lengthy fight to turn GOP from Trump
- Trump Justice Dept. secretly obtained Post reporters’ phone records
- Liz Cheney’s months-long effort to turn Republicans from Trump threatens her reelection and ambitions. She says it’s only beginning.
- Trump’s out-of-power agenda: Retribution and GOP domination
- Ohio GOP censures Rep. Gonzalez over Trump vote, calls for his resignation
- Marooned at Mar-a-Lago, Trump Still Has Iron Grip on Republicans
- Justice Dept. Seized Washington Post’s Phone Records
- Inside the Decision on Trump’s Facebook Fate
- Virginia G.O.P.’s Choices for Governor: ‘Trumpy, Trumpier, Trumpiest’
- ‘It’s His Own Damn Fault,’ Top G.O.P. Pollster Says of Trump and Facebook
Asian Parents Rally Against NYC Schools Chancellor
Less than 4 percent of students at the city’s specialized high schools are African American, so the chancellor Meisha Ross Porter wants to get rid of the admissions test altogether.
But over 50 percent of students at the city’s specialized high schools are Asian American. A group of people who attended a rally Friday in Manhattan say they earned their right to be there.
Gordon Chang: Communist China Has Committed ‘Mass Murder’ of Americans
Last year, Congressman Eric Swalwell’s ties to the suspected Chinese spy Fang Fang brought Chinese espionage to the forefront of national discussion. But that was just the tip of the iceberg. And beyond espionage, the Chinese Communist Party has become increasingly belligerent globally—from fueling riots in America to encroaching in Nepali territory to celebrating COVID-19 deaths in India. What is the Chinese leadership hoping to achieve, and why do they believe—according to Chang—that they are running out of time? Furthermore, one year on, over 3 million people have died globally from COVID-19. Beyond covering up the initial outbreak, did China’s communist leaders intentionally spread this virus beyond its borders? And if it did, what does that mean for America and the world? In this episode, we sit down with China analyst Gordon Chang to understand the full scope of Chinese communist subversion. Subscribe to the American Thought Leaders mailing list …
Success Academy requiring all employees get vaccinated for COVID-19
The Success Academy Charter Schools network is requiring all employees to get vaccinated for COVID-19, raising questions whether the mandate is legal and will be imposed on all public schools, The Post has learned.
The network, which has 2,700 employees, runs 47 schools with 20,000 students in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and The Bronx. The schools — publicly-funded, but privately-managed — have kept all instruction remote since the pandemic, while the city Department of Education has offered in-person learning at many schools for up to five days a week.
But the city has not required teachers or other employees to be vaccinated, leaving it a personal decision.
“Starting on Monday, June 14, all employees will be required to be fully vaccinated. As we explained in an email in March, once vaccines were readily available, vaccines would be required,” Aparna Ramaswamy, Success Academy’s chief leadership and human resources officer, announced in a company email issued Friday.
The email continues, “Today, vaccine supply far outstrips demand and getting vaccinated is incredibly easy.”
COVID-19 vaccines are still under emergency use authorization by the US Food and Drug Administration, so mandates are not yet legal, some experts say.
Lockdown ‘has helped to rot kids’ teeth’: Number of children with dental decay is set to soar
Lockdown ‘has helped to rot kids’ teeth’: Number of children hospitalised with dental decay is set to soar due to reduced access to dentists during pandemic and disrupted routines.
- Dental decay is the biggest reason for youngsters being admitted for surgery
- Levels are runnin gmore than double rate for tonsillitis and is set to get worse
- Some 23.4 per cent of five-year-olds across England show signs of tooth decay
As A Mother Grows
This post was originally written in 2012. I have made updates and substantial changes that reflect my own family’s growth, as well as changes in my own experiences and outlook.
In March of 2011, the arrival of a beautiful little girl, daughter of my youngest son and his wife, made me a grandmother for the first time. A little over a year later we welcomed her younger brother, and a few years after that, another little brother.
About the time of the youngest grandson’s birth my middle son introduced us to his future wife, and our soon to be new grandson, who was five when we met him first. A few years after that we welcomed our now youngest grandson into the family.
Along the way, my oldest son met and married a young lady with three more children who became ours to love and enjoy. So, for those who’ve lost count, we now have eight grandchildren.
We adults tend to reflect on this day about our older moms, perhaps even mothers or grandmothers gone from us now, a picture specific to our grown selves, a mature and experienced mother we see in the now moment. I have been thinking of motherhood, the stages of it, for some time now, reflecting on the changes that happened to me as I had each child, as our family grew up, as they left the nest and grandchildren came along, as I watch my daughters in law and sons with their own families, the mothers who struggle so hard with the demands only a young family faces.
So, I would like to write about the stages of motherhood, and perhaps, for the sake of coherence and the story, I will make assumptions about families that may not match everyone’s experience. That does not mean I value your experience less. Families come in a lot of shapes and sizes these days, from foster families, step children, and those made up of “honorary” mom or grandmother who might have stepped into the role to help a child in need. […]
The post As A Mother Grows appeared first on The Last Refuge.
Here’s How You Know Democrats Rigged and Stole the 2020 Election
The fix is in. It’s crystal clear to me now that not only was the election rigged but so is everything post-election. It’s simple psychology. Just look at the absurd reaction, or overreaction, by Democrats.
Would anyone dare ban the right to discuss a possibly racist police killing? Can you imagine the reaction by liberals, black activists and the American Civil Liberties Union? What if the Minneapolis police were to permanently ban any discussion of George Floyd’s death? What if every black American trying to give his or her opinion on Twitter, Facebook or YouTube were banned for life?
Who would react like that? Only guilty people. . .
Nearly 9 out of 10 young adults want a Covid inoculation, survey finds
A poll of almost 17,000 Britons found younger people’s attitudes to vaccination barely differ from those of the middle-aged, with at least 84 per cent looking forward to their jabs.
Minnesota gets creative in COVID-19 vaccine outreach
Dwindling demand forces new approaches to boost immunization numbers.
LEILA NAVIDI • Star Tribune
Health officials are adding a dose of creativity in their push to vaccinate more Minnesotans and slow COVID-19.
In Duluth, they’re offering vaccine shots in the downtown bus depot.
In St. Paul, volunteer physicians are working with a local brewery on a pop-up event that rewards those who get vaccinated with a free beer.
And in the northwest metro, an Elk River clinic is offering shots to patients as they seek help for other health care needs.
Apparently, We See Once Again Everyone Is Vulnerable Except Dominion Voting Systems | “Ransomware Attackers Up Ante as White House Vows Crack Down”
A series of major cyber-attacks in recent weeks has underscored the brazenness of the attackers and the challenges of tackling the problem of ransomware, just as the Biden administration announced plans to take on the issue.
In a matter of days, attacks were revealed against the police department in Washington, D.C. , where the hackers threatened to release information about police informants to criminal gangs; the Illinois Attorney General’s office, which had been warned about weak cybersecurity practices in a recent state audit; and San Diego-based Scripps Health, where medical procedures were canceled and emergency patients diverted to other hospitals.
Then on Saturday, Colonial Pipeline confirmed that it had joined the list of recent ransomware victims in an attack that threatened to upend gasoline and diesel supplies on the East Coast. While few details about the attack are yet known, Colonial shut down the biggest gasoline pipeline in the U.S. as part of an effort to contain the threat.
“The recent ransomware attacks illustrate, by their number severity and range of targets, why we need to treat this problem on the level of a real national security threat both here and around the world,” said Christopher Painter, coordinator for cyber issues at the State Department under President Barack Obama. “Fortunately, people in our government are paying attention.”
The string of attacks came as the Biden administration has vowed to take on ransomware, which Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas last week called “one of our most significant priorities right now.” His agency in March announced a 60-day sprint to address ransomware, and the Department of Justice has created its own ransomware task force.
With Trump On The Sidelines & Biden In | “Jerusalem sees second night of clashes as Israeli security forces block Muslim pilgrims at mosque”
Jerusalem sees a second night of clashes as Israeli security forces block Muslim pilgrims arriving at Al-Aqsa mosque for holiest night of Ramadan – as President Erdogan brands Israel a ‘cruel terrorist’.
- Israeli forces fired a water cannon at Palestinian protesters and blocked busloads of pilgrims in Jerusalem
- Violence broke out as Muslims were heading to the Al-Asqa mosque on the holiest night of Ramadan
- Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan denounced Israel as a ‘cruel terrorist state’ amid the escalation
- Police defended their actions as security moves, but these were seen as provocations by Muslims
Astronomers observe black hole ‘spaghettification’ of a star for the first time
Scientists recently recorded the first known direct observation of the “spaghettification” of a star by a black hole, a process by which the star is pulled apart and devoured by the massive astronomical object.
The international team of astronomers, in a paper recently published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, describe having observed “the inner regions of a cooling accretion disc” from a star’s being drawn into the immense gravity of the black hole.
Stars being pulled apart by black holes can be “spaghettified” by them, a process by which the black hole pulls in a long trail of matter from the celestial body.
The “tidal disruption event” results in an immense output of visible radiation, which the scientists record having spotted in the paper.
Arizona Formally Bans Post-Election Signature Fix for Unsigned Mail-In Ballots
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey signed a law on Friday banning voters from adding signatures on unsigned mail-in ballots after election day.
The measure, Arizona Senate bill 1003 (S.B. 1003), was approved earlier in the state legislature in party-line votes.
The new law codified a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Oct. 6, 2020, within one month of the 2020 election. It also ended disputes over unsigned mail-in ballots between the state Republicans and Democrats.
Current Arizona law allows election officials to contact the voters to fix the signatures on the ballots if the signatures don’t match other signatures from records in the Department of Motor Vehicle, voter registration forms, or previous early ballots. The voters can fix the signatures, if they failed to pass the verification process, within up to five business days after election day.
The new law didn’t change anything about the grace period for the signed ballots.
However, it ended the state Democrats’ efforts to add a similar grace period to unsigned ballots.
Trump planned Qassem Soleimani’s assassination from 2017 and wanted to wipe out a ‘list of folks’
Trump’s team ‘began planning Qassem Soleimani’s assassination in 2017 and wanted to wipe out a ‘whole list of folks that day’, claims new report: Donald approved $15m extra security for Pompeo on leaving office.
- New details have emerged about the January 2020 strike in Iraq
- Mike Pompeo started discussions when he became CIA director in January 2017
- The plot reportedly escalated throughout 2018 and 2019 driven by the US’s withdrawal from the Iran Nuclear Deal and the killing of a US contractor in Iraq
- Donald Trump then gave it the go-ahead because he wanted to take credit for it in his reelection campaign, officials said
- Former Acting Secretary of Defense Chris Miller said the plan was to take out several senior Iranian military and intelligence operatives not just Soleimani
- Other targets were Quds Force’s top commander in Yemen Abdulreza Shahlai and members of the Iran-backed militia Popular Mobilization Forces
- Pompeo and other senior US officials including Brian Hook are now at risk of ‘no-bulls**t threats’ of a revenge assassination by Iran
- In his final White House days Trump set aside £15 million to protect them
Feminist Author Naomi Wolf: Democrats Are ‘In An Embrace With Big Tech’ To ‘Consolidate Power’ | Video: 5 Minutes 1 Second
Feminist author Naomi Wolf criticized Democrats’ “embrace with Big Tech” to impose censorship on conservatives and others with differing opinions during a Wednesday night appearance on Fox News’ “Tucker Carlson Tonight.”
Wolf told Fox News host Tucker Carlson that she had since been suspended twice from Twitter and once from several other major platforms.
“I’ve been talking about all kinds of things for years on social media and have never had this problem until I talked to a conservative about how left and right should unite to save the Constitution,” Wolf said.
WATCH:
POLICE STATE: Watch the moment a SWAT team arrests a Canadian pastor | Video: 2 Minutes 58 Seconds
They hunted him down like he’s a terrorist.
Police cars swarmed him as he drove home from his church. They ordered him out of his car and made him kneel down on a busy highway.
Heavily-armed SWAT police arrested him. But he’s not a terrorist. He’s Artur Pawlowski, a Christian pastor. And he’s now in jail.
Watch this shocking police attack for yourself.
And hear a pre-recorded message from Pastor Artur too.
For more details on the arrest, click here.
UMass Amherst students suspended for partying outside without masks
Three Massachusetts college students were suspended after school administrators saw a photo of the trio at an off-campus party, outside and unmasked, according to reports.
“There was a photo sent to the administration of these girls outside off-campus on a Saturday. This is why they lost a whole semester of their schooling,” one parent told CBS’s Boston affiliate, WBZ-TV.
It’s unclear when the photo was taken and whether the young women had been vaccinated at the time they attended the party.
The freshman were cut off from virtual learning after being suspended and barred from taking their finals, meaning they will have to redo the semester, their parents griped.
From Peaceniks of 1960s to the Social Justice Warriors of 2020s: Some Cultural and Spiritual Insights
Source: Townhall Media/Julio Rosas
Growing up in the 60s (I was born in 1955), I lived through the anti-war movement. But for me, being a few years younger than the activists, that era was all about rock music and drugs. Giving the “peace” sign was just something we hippies did.
“Peace, man,” we would say while holding up two fingers. Our mantra was, “Make love not war.”
As for being anti-war, that was hardly a philosophical issue for me. It was simply pragmatic: I was getting high and playing drums in a rock band. Why on earth would I want to go to Vietnam to be killed in battle?
But for others, there really were serious philosophical issues, and deep questions were being asked.
Pope Francis Calls for ‘Temporary Suspension’ of Property Rights to Vaccines During ‘Vax Live’ Concert
Pope Francis called Saturday for universal access to coronavirus vaccines and “the temporary suspension of intellectual property rights.”
Violent Crime Surged in These Cities After Mass Black Lives Matter, Anti-Police Protests
by Thomas Catenacci
Violent crime surged in several U.S. cities that saw massive Black Live Matter and anti-police protests in the wake of George Floyd’s death last summer.
The upswing of violent crime, including homicides, coincided with the protests, increased anti-police sentiment among Americans and declining morale in police departments, which have since struggled to recruit new officers. The number of murders alone increased by 36.7% in 2020 compared to 2019, according to public information compiled by data analytics reporter Jeff Asher.
“We are definitely at a critical manpower shortage here,” Louisville police union spokesperson Dave Mutchler told the Daily Caller News Foundation last week. “The climate that we all find ourselves in right now is a lot more demanding and stressful on officers.”
“Morale is basically in the toilet,” he continued.
In the wake of the death of George Floyd, who died after former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin kneeled on his neck for about 10 minutes in May 2020, thousands of protests and riots took place across the country. Chauvin was found guilty of second-degree and third-degree murder last month.
Protests, in which demonstrators alleged widespread police brutality, occurred in about 1,700 different U.S. municipalities and cities within the span of just a few weeks in June 2020, USA Today reported. Overall, the protests and riots caused about $1 billion in damage.
In addition to property damage, violent crime increased rapidly last summer. These cities were particularly hit hard by the crime surge.
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Violent crime increased 17% in low-income communities and 30% in high-income neighborhoods in Minneapolis, the site of some of the earliest and most violent protests last year, the Star Tribune reported in September. Some neighborhoods experienced as much as 36% more violent crime.
Homicides, assaults, shootings and robberies all ticked up, according to the Star Tribune. Overall, murder in the city increased 72.3% in 2020 compared to 2019, according to Asher. . . .
New York City, New York
New York City also saw a steep increase in violent crime last summer, according to The New York Times.
Between May and August, the New York Police Department reported 791 shootings, or 140% more than the same period in 2019, and 180 murders, a 51% increase compared to 2019, the NYT reported. By August and with four months remaining in the year, the city had already surpassed the number of shootings that occurred every year since 2015.
Murder increased by 39.2% in 2020 compared to 2019 overall, according to Asher’s database. . .
Chicago, Illinois
Chicago reported more than 500 homicides between January 2020 and August 2020, according to WTTW-TV. The number represented a sharp increase compared to 2019, which saw 495 murders through the entire year.
“This has been an unprecedented year in policing, as coronavirus, civil unrest and violence have all converged in Chicago and in cities throughout the country,” Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown said, WTTW reported.
In the first eight months of 2020, shootings increased 52%, the number of shooting victims increased 56% and total homicides increased 49% compared to the same period in 2019, WTTW reported. Chicago concluded 2020 with a 55% total murder increase compared to 2019, according to Asher’s database. . .
Washington, D.C.
In December, Washington, D.C., reached 187 homicides, the highest number of murders in the city since 2005, according to the Washingtonian. Homicides, assault from a dangerous weapon and motor vehicle theft all increased.
Murders increased 19.4% overall in 2020 compared to 2019, according to Asher’s database. Former Metropolitan Police Department Chief Peter Newsham blamed the increase in crime to “repeat violent gun offenders being released back into our community,” the Washingtonian reported. . .
Atlanta, Georgia
Last year was Atlanta’s deadliest year in more than two decades, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The city reported 150 murders in 2020, a whopping 58% increase compared to 2019.
“It’s ridiculous that now, even during this pandemic, we got more gun violence going on than ever before,” local activist Columbus Ward told the AJC. . .
– – –
Thomas Catenacci is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation.
To read full post, go here Violent Crime Surged in These Cities After Mass Black Lives Matter, Anti-Police Protests. This article appeared first on The Georgia Star News.
Gwyneth Paltrow drank whiskey ‘every night’ during COVID-19 lockdown
Gwyneth Paltrow hit the bottle “every night” during the pandemic, in addition to gaining 14 pounds.
The actress, who is well known for her wellness and lifestyle brand Goop, concocted a lot of quinoa whiskey cocktails to help her get through the lockdown, according to The Mirror.
“I was drinking seven nights a week and making pasta and eating bread. I went totally off the rails,” Paltrow, 48, said, according to the article.
The Civics Secures Democracy Act Is a Neo-Marxist Trojan Horse
How can you know, beyond any reasonable doubt, that the Civics Secures Democracy Act is a neo-Marxist Trojan horse to proliferate critical race theory (CRT) “anti-racist” dogma to public schools? There are at least two completely unambiguous tell-tale signs this is the case. First, Google is aggressively advocating for this bill. It offers a patina of legitimacy because its stated objective is enhancing history and civics education in public school classrooms. However, Google is fully “woke,” and anything they lobby in favor of must be treated with a healthy dose of skepticism, as their motives are very likely in direct opposition to a healthy, functional democracy. Second, if you read the recent Department of Education proposed rulemaking, you will see that the objective is to create a federally funded superhighway for proliferating CRT propaganda. The following is taken from the Department of Education proposed rulemaking, available online on the Federal …
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Bannon’s War Room | Saturday Edition Hour 1 | Recorded May 8, 2021 | Video: 48 Minutes 23 Seconds
Episode 932 – Fauci’s Fall Guy … Absolute Cover Up About Wuhan and Nov. 3. “This is a coordinated attack by the globalists against those who want to be able to collect information and find out actually what is going on,” Yore said. “Number one with the virus, and number two with the vaccine.” Guests are: Dave Ramaswamy, Mike Lindell, Dr. Peter Navarro, Liz Yore, Dr. Yan.
Bannon’s War Room | Saturday Edition Hour 2 | Recorded May 8, 2021 | Video: 48 Minutes 18 Seconds
Episode 933 – The Great Reckoning … Walls Close in on Dr. Fauci and New Evidence of Voter Fraud. “There’s a shift underway, principally on the Wuhan lab and also the vote,” said Stephen K. Bannon. Guests are: Dave Ramaswamy, Dr. Peter Navarro, Raheem Kassam, Matthew DePerno.
CDC Changes Rules for Counting Breakthrough Cases, as More Fully Vaccinated People Test Positive
As more reports surface of breakthrough COVID cases, in and outside the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today said it will change how breakthrough cases are reported, effective May 14.
According to a statement on the CDC’s website, the agency said to help “maximize the quality of the data collected on cases of greatest clinical and public health importance” it will stop reporting weekly COVID breakthrough infections unless they result in hospitalization or death.
The news followed another change, announced late last month, in how PCR tests should be administered to the fully vaccinated.
Both changes will result in lower overall numbers of reports of breakthrough cases in the U.S.
A breakthrough case is recorded if a person tests positive for SARS-Cov-2 two weeks after receiving the single-dose Johnson & Johnson (J&J) shot or completing the two-dose Moderna or Pfizer vaccination.
Why the changes matter
In April, the CDC issued new guidance to laboratories recommending reducing the RT-PCR CT value to 28 cycles — but only for those fully vaccinated individuals being tested for COVID.
In an RT-PCR test — the gold standard for detecting SARS-CoV-2 — RNA is extracted from the swab collected from the patient. It is then converted into DNA, which is then amplified.
CT, or cycle threshold, is a value that emerges during RT-PCR tests. A CT value refers to the number of cycles needed to amplify viral RNA to reach a detectable level.
According to the Indian Council of Medical Research, a patient is considered positive for COVID if the CT value is below 35. In other words, if the virus is detectable after 35 cycles or earlier, then the patient is considered positive.
Dr. Anthony Fauci recommends a CT value of 35. Globally, the accepted cut-off for CT value for COVID ranges between 35 and 40, depending on instructions from manufacturers of testing equipment.
“If the benchmark were to be lowered to 24 it would mean that CT values in the range 25-34 would not be considered positive,” according to the Indian Council of Medical Research, as reported by The Indian Express. “A benchmark of 35, therefore, means that more patients would be considered positive than we would get if the benchmark were 24.”
In other words, lowering CT threshold parameter may lead to missing infectious persons.
CDC won’t report new breakthrough numbers this week
Because the change in how the CDC will report breakthrough cases is still being implemented and won’t take effect until May 14, the CDC did not report new numbers this week . . .
Woman In Mali Expecting Seven Babies Gives Birth To Nine
A Malian woman gave birth to nine babies after only expecting seven, the Ministry of Health of Mali announced Wednesday.
Halima Cisse, 25, gave birth to the babies Tuesday by cesarean section in a hospital in Casablanca, Morocco, according to the Associated Press. The nonuplets were born prematurely at 30 weeks, but all five girls, four boys and the mother are “doing well,” the health minister of Mali said in a statement.
Hundreds Of Children Were Shot In 2020 and Into 2021. Many Of Their Assailants Have Not Been Caught
Children have continued to be victims of shootings in 2021 after a record-breaking year for gun-violence deaths in 2020
Across the country, children as young as one year old were shot, sometimes fatally, while simply being children — playing outside with friends, or even playing inside their own homes.
Seven-year-old Reagan Grimes was shot Saturday during a spray of gunfire in Washington, D.C. while she was playing with a new friend, according to Fox 5. She is reportedly expected to make a full recovery. No arrests were yet reported.
Nearly 300 children were shot and killed in 2020, a 50% increase from 2019, and more than 5,100 children aged 17 and younger were killed or injured last year, Gun Violence archive data showed, according to the Washington Post.
In many of these cases, investigators were still searching for the person or people responsible for the shootings. While some suspects turned themselves in, or were eventually arrested in connection to the shooting of children, many remained at large. In Philadelphia, the Inquirer reported that only 18% of the shootings involving child victims resulted in an arrest. . .
Exclusive—Josh Hawley Keeps His Children off Social Media: ‘Their Business Model Is Addiction’
Appearing Friday on SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Daily with host Alex Marlow, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), author of The Tyranny of Big Tech, explained how he and his wife do not allow their young children to utilize social media due to concern over what he described as the platforms’ addictive features.
Rutgers to enroll 200 kids to take part in Pfizer COVID vaccine trial
New Jersey’s Rutgers University will enroll as many as 200 children between the ages of 6 months and 11 years to take part in a COVID-19 vaccine trial for Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech.
The college announced Thursday it has been selected as a clinical trial site for Pfizer-BioNTech’s global research study “to evaluate the efficacy” of the companies’ two-dose COVID-19 vaccine in children.
The Pediatric Clinical Research Center at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick is one of several clinical trial sites for the pediatric study and the only trial site in the Garden State.
Rutgers said it will enroll up to 100 children ages 5 to 12, 50 children ages 2 to 5 and 50 kids ages 6 months to 2 years in the trial.
In total, 4,644 children are slated to take part in the program worldwide, according to the university.
Trial participants will be randomly selected to receive two doses of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine or a placebo.
Six months after the second dose, participants will be “unblinded” and “the vaccine will be offered to those who received the placebo,” the school said.
Apparently, Only Americans Are To Be Stalked By U.S. Government ‘Leaders’ | “Biden Order Rescinds Trump Plan to Collect Facial Scans, DNA From Immigrants”
President Joe Biden’s administration on Friday rescinded a Trump-era plan to collect facial scans and DNA from immigrants when they apply to enter the United States.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said it has “withdrawn a proposed rule that would have expanded department authorities and requirements for collecting biometrics by removing age restrictions; requiring submission of biometrics for every applicant, petitioner, sponsor, beneficiary, or other individual filing for or associated with any immigration or naturalization benefit or request unless DHS waives or exempts the biometrics requirement.”
Former President Donald Trump last year proposed the expansion of collecting facial scans, eye scans, and voice data for individuals seeking entry, which would then be used to verify people who had left the country. The rule would have also allowed the federal government to collect information from younger children, including DNA and scans.
DHS, meanwhile, said that its move to rescind the proposal is designed “to reduce barriers and undue burdens in the immigration system,” adding that “DHS will continue to require submission of biometrics where appropriate and remains committed to national security, identity management, fraud prevention, and program integrity.”
Krista Kafer: Will vaccine requirements set precedent we will regret?
Can a university, business, or school require staff and customers to receive a COVID-19 vaccination? Should they? The answer to both of these questions is not clear.
Let’s start with higher education. Normally, universities can require certain vaccinations. Under Colorado state law, students attending Colorado colleges and universities must be vaccinated against measles, mumps, and rubella unless they take a personal, medical or religious exemption. Vaccination against meningitis is also required for new students in student housing unless they sign a waiver.
Colorado State University, the University of Colorado, the University of Northern Colorado and Metropolitan State University just announced that they will require students, faculty, and staff to receive COVID-19 vaccinations before attending this fall joining the University of Denver, Fort Lewis College, and Colorado College, which made similar announcements earlier in the year. Individuals will have the option to request an exemption.
That seems simple enough. Not so fast. Since all three available COVID-19 vaccines are authorized by the Food and Drug Administration under “emergency use authorization” (EUA) people must be notified “of the option to accept or refuse administration of the product.” If people have the right under federal law to refuse a provisionally authorized vaccine, can an institution of higher education require it?
What about primary and secondary schools? The state currently requires entering students to have been vaccinated against several communicable diseases. As with higher education, medical, personal, and religious exemptions are available. Currently the Pfizer COVID vaccine is approved for people 16 years and older and will soon be available for children as young as 12. It’s only a matter of time before lawmakers consider K-12 mandates. But again, the vaccines’ EUA status complicates the legality of such a potential obligation.
What about other employers? According to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, employers can mandate COVID vaccinations with medical and religious exemptions but “the employer must show that an unvaccinated employee would pose a direct threat due to a significant risk of substantial harm to the health or safety of the individual or others that cannot be eliminated or reduced by reasonable accommodation.” Once again, how does the EUA status of the vaccines impact the requirement? It would seem that until full FDA approval, any such requirement would have to be a strongly worded recommendation. . .
In-person school should be ‘mandatory’ for CPS students in the fall, CPS CEO says (Chicago)
Mayor Lori Lightfoot also expressed confidence in the way the pandemic is headed — particularly with vaccines expected to be approved for some children soon.
Students should be required to attend full-time, in-person school in the fall as long as they don’t have medical conditions that make them vulnerable to COVID-19, outgoing Chicago schools chief Janice Jackson said this week.
Speaking at a virtual parent town hall alongside Mayor Lori Lightfoot, Jackson was asked what she expects next school year to look like and whether parents will have the option to keep their kids remote.
“Given where we are with vaccinations and guidance from the CDC, and our desire just to see our kids back in school knowing that this last year has taken a toll on some of our students academically, we want a return to full daily instruction in our schools,” Jackson said at the event Thursday. “We want to move away from the hybrid. And so that’s what we’re focused on and that’s what we’re marching towards.
WATCH: Michelle Obama Claims That Black Lives Matter is ‘Taking to the Streets Because They Have To’
Former first lady Michelle Obama told Gayle King on Friday’s episode of “CBS This Morning” that Black Lives Matter is “taking to the streets because they have to.”
Former first lady Michelle Obama told Gayle King on Friday’s episode of “CBS This Morning” that Black Lives Matter is “taking to the streets because they have to.”
Obama also claimed that she is afraid every time her daughters get into a vehicle.
Following the conviction of Minneapolis Police officer Derek Chauvin over the death of George Floyd, former President Barack and Michelle Obama said in a joint statement that “true justice is about much more than a single verdict in a single trial.”
During the interview on Friday, King asked Obama about the statement.
“The goal is to let leaders lead. But in certain times, people, you know, look to us often. ‘Well, what do you think? How do you feel?’ We know that while we’re all breathing a sigh of relief over the verdict, there’s still work to be done. And so we, we can’t sort of say, ‘Great. That happened. Let’s move on.’ I know that people in the Black community don’t feel that way because many of us still live in fear as we go to the grocery store, or walking our dogs, or allowing our children to get a license,” Obama said.
King responded by asking if Obama’s girls are driving.
“They’re driving, but every time they get in a car by themselves, I worry about what assumption is being made by somebody who doesn’t know everything about them,” Obama said. “The fact that they are good students and polite girls, but maybe they’re playing their music a little loud, maybe somebody sees the back in their head and makes an assumption. I, like so many parents of black kids, have to — the innocent act of getting a license puts fear in our hearts.”
She added, “So, I think we have to talk about it more, and we have to ask our fellow citizens to listen a bit more and to believe us and to know we don’t wanna be out there marching. I mean, all those Black Lives Matters kids, they’d rather not have to worry about this. They’re taking to the streets because they have to. They’re trying to have people understand that we’re real folks, and the fear that many have of so many of us is irrational, and it’s based on a history that is just — it’s sad, and it’s dark, and it’s time for us to move beyond that.”
The post WATCH: Michelle Obama Claims That Black Lives Matter is ‘Taking to the Streets Because They Have To’ appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
More than 2,100 migrant children abandoned relatives to cross border alone after Biden took office
More than 2,100 migrant children who were thrown out of the US with their families then abandoned their relatives to cross the border ALONE after Biden took office.
- The children were expelled with their families due to COVID rules
- More than 2,100 returned alone without their relatives
- Unaccompanied children, unlike adults, are not deported from the U.S.
- They are held in custody until relatives in the country can be located for care
- More than 400 migrant children continue to arrive at the border every day
- At the peak, in February, 16,000 unaccompanied migrants were being held