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Coronavirus Cases: 49,594 Deaths: 622 The rate of case Growth may be slowing dramatically.

South Carolina voted just five days ago. The week prior — the date I’ve highlighted on the chart — polls seemed to confirm that Biden’s longterm decline in SC had accelerated, maybe into a collapse. Meanwhile, Sanders had been inching up for months. By February 21, the two candidates were in a statistical tie. But that’s not what happened on primary day, not by a longshot. The final result was that Biden did slightly better than his best poll numbers during the entire race, all the way back in November. Texas tells a similar story. In polls there, Biden appeared...

For an advocate, it is a coup when the judge rules that harmful testimony is excluded. But such rulings always come with a warning label: Don’t open the door. That is, don’t do anything that makes the otherwise irrelevant evidence relevant. President Trump’s impeachment trial has a Biden door. Adam Schiff has thrown it wide open.

Hunter Biden's bank account records reveal a $156 million counterfeiting scheme involving Ukrainian gas firm Burisma and the cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, according to a new legal filing in an Arkansas paternity case. The document, filed Friday by the Florida-based private-eye firm D&A Investigations, intends to notify the court of "felonies including Fraud and Counterfeiting." The document names Burisma, the gas company that hired Biden to the board while his father, then-Vice President Joe Biden, was the Obama administration point person on Ukraine, and CrowdStrike, which investigated the hacking of DNC emails in 2016.

IBM research has announced a breakthrough in battery technology that it says could make lithium-ion batteries a thing of the past. The new technology can charge incredibly quickly, has low flammability, and contains no heavy metals, making it far more environmentally friendly than current battery technology. Battery performance complaints are nothing new: Lithium-ion batteries have long been one of the most frustrating parts of modern technology. They go bad, charge slowly, are prone to exploding, and are horrible for the environment. IBM's new battery reportedly eliminates those exact headaches. That faster charging time IBM mentioned is one of the standouts...

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden declined to answer questions on the campaign trail this week about his son's overseas business dealings in countries where the then-vice president was conducting diplomatic work, an issue his political opponents have already begun to wield against him as he wades into the 2020 presidential campaign. More than once, after his father engaged in diplomacy on behalf of the United States in foreign countries, Hunter Biden conducted business in the same country. At two separate campaign stops on Monday, Biden avoided questions about his son while his staff blocked reporters from approaching the candidate. Biden's...

“Minecraft” creator Marcus “Notch” Persson, who sold the title to Microsoft for $2.5 billion in 2014, won’t be part of 10-year anniversary plans for the game because of his “comments and opinions,” Microsoft tells Variety.

Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis’ pick for undersecretary of defense for policy, Anne Patterson, is problematic. Politico briefly explains why: If nominated and confirmed, Patterson would hold the fourth most powerful position at the Pentagon -- and would effectively be the top civilian in the Defense Department, since both Mattis and his deputy, Robert Work, were military officers. As ambassador to Egypt between 2011 and 2013, Patterson worked closely with former Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi and his Islamist government. She came under fire for cultivating too close a relationship with the regime and for discouraging protests against it -- and...

The organizers of Wednesday’s international women’s strike support the “decolonization of Palestine,” the platform published on their website reveals. “Against the open white supremacists in the current government and the far right and anti-Semites they have given confidence to, we stand for an uncompromising anti-racist and anti-colonial feminism,” the platform says. “This means that movements such as Black Lives Matter, the struggle against police brutality and mass incarceration, the demand for open borders and for immigrant rights and for the decolonization of Palestine are for us the beating heart of this new feminist movement. We want to dismantle all walls,...

The relatively unknown singer Joy Villa is getting something out of being associated with President Donald Trump that inauguration performer Jackie Evancho didn’t -- a top 10 album in the Billboard 200.

... The Professor of Communication and Information Science, Jeffrey Hancock, who Mr. Rosen mentions above, has a history of working with the U.S. military, specifically the Minerva Institute. ... A US Department of Defense (DoD) research program is funding universities to model the dynamics, risks and tipping points for large-scale civil unrest across the world, under the supervision of various US military agencies. The multi-million dollar program is designed to develop immediate and long-term “warfighter-relevant insights” for senior officials and decision makers in “the defense policy community,” and to inform policy implemented by “combatant commands.” Launched in 2008 – the...

My colleague Kashmir Hill just reported that Facebook conducted their news feed manipulation four months before the term “research” was added to their data use policy, she writes: However, we were all relying on what Facebook’s data policy says now. In January 2012, the policy did not say anything about users potentially being guinea pigs made to have a crappy day for science, nor that “research” is something that might happen on the platform. Four months after this study happened, in May 2012, Facebook made changes to its data use policy, and that’s when it introduced this line about how...

EPIC Challenges Facebook's Manipulation of Users, Files FTC Complaint EPIC has filed a formal complaint to the Federal Trade Commission concerning Facebook's manipulation of users' News Feeds for psychological research. "The company purposefully messed with people's minds," states the EPIC complaint. EPIC has charged that the study violates a privacy consent order and is a deceptive trade practice. In 2012, Facebook subjected 700,000 users to an "emotional" test with the manipulation of News Feeds. Facebook did not get users' permission to conduct this study or notify users that their data would be disclosed to researchers. In the complaint, EPIC explained...

Two years ago, on the morning of the 2012 election in the United States, I got an email with an urgent subject line: "You should write the story of how Facebook blew an opportunity to turn out 300k voters." The sender, a veteran progressive online activist who would prefer to remain anonymous, was upset for good reason. The election was bound to be close, and as of 10am that morning he hadn't yet seen an "I'm Voting" button on his Facebook page, nor had another colleague of his. Nor was one on my own Facebook page. Given that when Facebook...

Heres where you can make a real difference. Fund a real serious primary challenger for John Boehner so that he remembers who is his boss..

As Speaker John A. Boehner (R.-Ohio) struggles with the budget crisis, a Troy, Ohio schoolteacher and Tea Party activist announced Sept. 30 he will challenge Boehner in the 2014 GOP primary. Joseph D. “J.D.” Winteregg, who is a founder of the Ohio Accountability Project, a grassroots organization in Ohio-8, a congressional district bordering Indiana, said he is motivated by the gulf between the interests and values of the district and Boehner.

What is DHS doing in Waco Texas hours before the explosion? Video blogger engages in speculation about some connection to Boston but is clueless what will happen 42 minutes after this was uploaded.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says congressional lawmakers are discussing taking some action in response to the Koran burnings of a Tennessee pastor that led to killings at the U.N. facility in Afghanistan and sparked protests across the Middle East, Politico reports.Sen. Lindsey Graham said Congress might need to explore the need to limit some forms of freedom of speech, in light of Tennessee pastor Terry Jones’ Quran burning, and how such actions result in enabling U.S. enemies.

The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) has expressed concern at the appointment of Rabbi Richard Jacobs as head of the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ). Included among our concerns is the fact that Rabbi Jacobs is a member of the Rabbinic Cabinet of J Street, the extremist, George Soros-funded lobby group that takes positions to the left of the Israeli Labor and far-left Meretz parties, recently opposed sanctions on Iran, and urged President Barack Obama not to veto a U.N. Security Council resolution condemning as “illegal” Jewish homes and communities in Judea, Samaria and eastern Jerusalem. Jacobs is also a...

Upon Governor Palin’s arrival Israelis will be celebrating the festivities of Purim. Purim is the day Jews celebrate the story of Esther. It’s a very festive day. Kids dress up and food gifts are distributed to family and friends. People are very joyous and its common to see lots of singing and dancing in the streets. It’s customary to drink lots of wine on Purim. It is also a day of giving a lot of money to charity. Everywhere in the world, including most of Israel, Purim began at sundown on Saturday night and ends after sundown on Sunday night....