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Ruby-throated hummingbirds are migrating to North America weeks earlier than in decades past, and research indicates that higher temperatures in their winter habitat may be the reason. Researchers say the early arrival could mean less food at nesting time for the tiny birds that feed on insect pests, help pollinate flowers and are popular with birdwatchers. … Jason Courtier of Taylor University said the historical data on hummingbirds is based on government surveys from about 3,000 naturalists around the country who recorded the first spring arrival time of bird species over the decades. About 6 million such records exist and...

Bad backs, dangerous childbirths, sore feet and wisdom teeth pains are among the many ailments humans face from evolution, researchers say. In an evolutionary sense, humans are by far the most successful primates on the planet, with a world population close to 7 billion. Humanity owes this success to a number of well-known adaptations, such as large, complex brains and walking upright on two feet. However, there are downsides to these advances as well.

Lots of people like to think of government as a black hole that sucks in tax dollars and allows nothing of value to emerge. They haven’t taken a look at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. This secretive research arm of the Defense Department has a unique mission: to embrace the most wide-eyed visions of the future and manifest them in the here and now. Founded in 1958 as a shocked and fearful response to Russia‘s launch of Sputnik, the first artificial satellite, Darpa has over 45 years racked up a consistent record of innovation that has utterly transformed contemporary...

Black people, politicians in particular, avoid discussing the problems at the heart of Hadiya Pendleton's death, the heavy toll of black-on-black violence and the moral decay that keeps us trapped.... Empathy and social capital are absent from too many of today's black communities nationwide. In places like Chicago's South Side — where violent teenage gangs have replaced the traditional family — empathy is seen as a weakness and social capital is seen as that warm-and-fuzzy stuff that whites and black traitors practice. Many African-Americans blame urban poverty for this crisis. But poverty does not explain away the lack of a...

When we saw the headline "Four Ways ObamaCare Could Still Fail," our reaction was that it sounded like an unrealistically low estimate. But we were intrigued enough to read the article because of the source: TalkingPointsMemo.com, a news site with a strong (and acknowledged) liberal Democratic slant. Its framing as friendly criticism makes the piece, by congressional reporter Sahil Kapur, a powerful indictment of ObamaCare. To be sure, it's not clear Kapur intends to indict ObamaCare, and if he does, he downplays it, presumably in order to avoid alienating his liberal readers or his liberal editors. In his lead paragraph,...

Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) wants to bring back the military draft and require women to register for the Selective Service. On Friday, Rangel reintroduced the so-called “draft bill,” known officially as “The National Universal Service Act” (H.R. 747), and “The All American Selective Service Act” (H.R. 748), which would require all women between 18 and 25 to register. "Now that women can serve in combat they should register for the Selective Service alongside their male counterparts," Rangel said in a statement. "Reinstating the draft and requiring women to register for the Selective Service would compel the American public to have...

For years I have used a plain Jane set of earmuffs when target shooting, but it's time to step up to the newfangled electronic type. 60 year old ears deserve some pampering. That said, I was hoping that you good folks had some advice, recommendations, or warnings. You guys are the best at this sort of thing.

Melowese Richardson, a longtime Cincinnati Democratic activist admitted that she voted more than once for President Obama this past fall. Though multiple votes are illegal, Richardson vociferously defended her actions. “Having the right man govern our country is more important than abiding by petty rules,” Richardson argued. “In our country’s history many have had to fight and die to secure freedom. If taking up arms on behalf of freedom is the right thing to do, how can taking up an extra ballot be wrong?” Richardson contrasted her “bloodless combat for Obama with the killing done by George Washington in 1776....

A court in Egypt has ordered a TV channel that airs belly dancing clips off the air for showing “sexually explicit” content and operating without a broadcast license. The judge Saturday said that ElTet airs ads that are “offensive” and can “arouse” viewers. …

The photo embargo of Lady M and the Wee Wons enjoying themselves in the exclusive enclave of Aspen has been implemented with magnum force (can I say that?). So instead, how about I share a little more about our romantic Valentine’s dinner at Minibar, the very exclusive D.C. restaurant, just before we left on our our separate butt equal mini-vacays? This is the whole restaurant: looks more like a movie set than a restaurant doesn’t it? Let me begin by explaining that many consider chef/owner José Andrés’ experimental culinary exploits to be high art. These same suckers sophisticates consider Basquait...

Elsie Smith is having an estate sale this weekend even though she'd rather not. She needs money to do something very important. And if that means selling all of her belongings to get it done, then so be it. Smith says she had a rough life until she met the love of her life 46 years ago. "I loved that man more than anything in this whole wide world," she said. But Joe Smith suffered from Alzheimer's for the last two years. And last Tuesday, he passed away. Elsie spent Friday looking at everything she owns. She plans to sell...

Even Obama's experts say his gun control policies won't work. According to an internal Department of Justice memorandum, a gun ban, like the one being debated right now in Congress, will not work without a mandatory gun buyback, and "universal" background checks will not work without requiring gun registration. Call Congress at 202-224-3121 and tell them to reject President Obama's gun control agenda -- and to get serious about prosecuting criminals and fixing our broken mental health system.

VIDEO: Dr. Ben Carson appeared on a special edition of the Sean "Hannity" show for one full hour on Feb. 15, 2013.

Explains how Al Jazeera English is violating U.S. law by not registering as "Foreign Agent"

The grandma in maroon velour pants and comfortable shoes came in with a Pathmark paper shopping bag and wearily plunked it down on the table at the Union Baptist Church in Montclair. Inside were three handguns and three full clips. “They were my husband’s,” said the police widow. She was behind the dad with five handguns in a Hickory Farms cardboard box. As he tried to decide which three to hand over for cash, his son — no more than 12 — played a handheld video game. Eventually, he gave up all five. Yes, it was mostly Mr. and Mrs....

That's why you can have polling data that show 55, 60% of the people oppose Obama's agenda and still support him. They don't associate his agenda with the problems in the country. They don't believe, they don't understand, they don't think that Obama's policies have had any of the negative impact on the country. Somebody else did that, other presidents did that. They view Obama as trying to fix it. So this led to a discussion of the theory on Fox News yesterday. Megyn Kelly had a couple of guests. The first is the Talk Radio News Service president, Tony...

Once seen as the future of surveillance, the Long-Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicle has been terminated, InsideDefense.com reports. Is the military airship revival drawing to a close? UPDATE, 6:30pm Thursday: The Army confirmed that the LEMV airship project has been canceled. Here's the statement an Army spokesman emailed us: "The Long Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicle (LEMV), a hybrid air vehicle, is a technology demonstration project administered by the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command. This project was initially designed to support operational needs in Afghanistan in Spring 2012; it will not provide a capability in the timeframe required. Due to technical and...

The Benghazi Report chronicles and analyzes what really happened in Benghazi. You know, what the 'mainstream media' used to do? These two picked up the investigatory weight and carried it all the way here so we can learn the facts. Benghazi is possibly the most important story of the Obama years. I'm going to quote extensively from Blake Miles' published analysis of the book, because there's no point to plowing the same ground twice. Blake, you should know, is Green Beret. Another American man who's been there, done that. Chewed some of the same dirt, sipped some of the same...

Shortly after her move from New Hampshire to Newtown in 1998, Nancy Lanza had good news about her troubled son. "Adam is doing well here, and seems to be enjoying the new school," Lanza wrote to a friend back in Kingston, N.H., in a Feb. 9, 1999, email. But Adam, 6, then diagnosed with a condition that made it difficult for him to manage and respond to sights, touch and smell, eventually struggled in the first grade at his new school — Sandy Hook Elementary. His mother would respond, touching off a 10-year educational shuffle with moves in and out...

The politicians and analysts have been talking for more than a year about the potential winners and losers from Mayor Nutter's property tax reform, and now the lines have been drawn. The results of a citywide reassessment key to Nutter's Actual Value Initiative (AVI) were released Friday, and the data confirm some long-held expectations - wealthier, fast-changing neighborhoods are facing stiff increases, and many large commercial properties will see big drops in their bills. Some hikes are jaw-dropping. --snip-- It amounts to a massive redistribution of the city's property tax burden, and the stakes for both homeowners and politicians could...