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As things stand now, it’s unclear whether the Ukraine “whistle blower” matter is a serious scandal. In my view, it will become one only if President Trump used American aid as a quid-pro-quo in trying to induce Ukraine to investigate the Bidens or if he significantly delayed the release of such aid because Ukraine hadn’t agreed to investigate. For purposes of discussion, let’s assume this becomes a serious scandal, or at least one that the Democrats and the media firmly believe they can get major mileage from. Who would be hurt more, Donald Trump or Joe Biden? I think Biden...

They have a dark horse. Why isn't Bullock mentioned?

At a 2017 briefing, White House deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said: "If you’re looking for an example of a campaign coordinating with a foreign country or a foreign source, look no further than the DNC, who actually coordinated opposition research with the Ukrainian Embassy." Very few people believed her. For three years, Democrats and the mainstream media have flooded the airwaves with stories about President Trump’s collusion with Russia or his attempts to obstruct the investigation. There were a few voices, very few, who began pointing out the real foreign collusion that occurred throughout 2016. Fox News’ Dan...

The country’s most celebrated soldier has been accused of a shocking act against a handcuffed Afghan soldier. Last night 60 Minutes revealed “the unpalatable truth about a group of men Australians think of as heroes” — including Victoria Cross for Australia recipient Ben Roberts-Smith. The “damning allegations” were the result of an investigation by 60 Minutes, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. The investigation focused on the death of Afghan farmer Ali Jan, who was killed on September 11, 2012 — 11 years after the September 11 terrorist attacks that sparked the war in Afghanistan in the first place....

Facebook will work with law enforcement organizations to train its artificial intelligence systems to recognize videos of violent events, the company said Tuesday. The social media giant's AI systems were unable to detect live-streamed video of a mass shooting at a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand. The effort will use body-cam footage of firearms training provided by U.S. and U.K. government and law enforcement agencies. The aim is to develop systems that can automatically detect first-person violent events without also flagging similar footage from movies and video games. The AI training is part of a broader effort to crack down...

In an interview on "FOX News Sunday," President Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani outlined allegations of corruption against Joe Biden regarding his son's business dealings in Ukraine, China, and elsewhere.

UK local councils and police forces are using personal data they own and algorithms they bought to pre-empt crimes against children, but there are many things that could go wrong with such a system.A new research by Cardiff University and Sky News shows that at least 53 UK local councils and 45 of the country’s police forces are heavily relying on computer algorithms to assess the risk level of crimes against children as well as people cheating on benefits. It has raised many eyebrows on both the method’s ethical implications and its effectiveness, with references to Philip K Dick’s concept of precrime inevitable.The algorithms the authorities...

An Ode to Being Old On the harder-to-measure benefits of age and experience. What age is someone most likely to achieve their peak performance? It's a good question, and a logical place to start is with cognitive flexibility, or the ease with which one can switch between thinking about two different concepts or think about two different concepts simultaneously. Lots of people call this “sharpness,” and research shows it peaks between the ages of 21 and 30. This aligns with the tech-driven narrative that youth is a key determinant of success. In the words of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, “Young...

Colonel James Helms Kasler One of the great heroes of Rolling Thunder was an Air Force F-105D pilot who led the big strike on 29 June 1966… later he was shot down (8 August) and finished the war as a POW…even planned an escape…Colonel James Helms Kasler Colonel James H Kasler Enlisting in the United States Army Air Forces toward the end of World War II, Kasler flew seven missions as a B-29 Superfortress tail gunner. With the end of the war Kasler used his veteran’s benefits to complete his college degree before returning to the newly formed United States...

Affixing blame for the Mountain Meadows Massacre SEPTEMBER 21, 2019 BY DAN PETERSON This is not a photo of the Mountain Meadows Massacre. We have none. So I went for a cheerier note. This is a photo (by James Jordan) of director Mark Goodman working just a few days ago with extras in Old Sturbridge Village, Massachusetts, for the “Witnesses” film project. I note that I’m being accused by a small handful of people of blaming the Mountain Meadows Massacre on “anti-Mormons.” First, two preliminary observations: 1) When I write anything for the public, at least some people will misread...

20 September 2019 Eleven Letters Honor POW’s Hidden Wound Capt. E. Alan Brudno, USAF, a 1958 graduate of NQHS, joined the U.S. Air Force with the hope that he would one day explore Mars as a member of the Astronaut Program. On October 18, 1965, on his 33rd mission over Vinh, North Vietnam, his F-4 Phantom jet was shot down and he became one of the longest held POWs in America’s history. He returned home in February 1973 deeply scarred by his captivity. He was posthumously awarded two Silver Stars, the Legion of Merit, two Bronze Stars, the Distinguished Flying...

NORFOLK, Va. – Six men have been charged in connection with an eastern Virginia gas pump skimming scheme. The Department of Justice said they men are from southern Florida. They are accused of placing skimming devices on gas pumps located in the Eastern District of Virginia. The skimming devices were capable of recording the credit and debit card numbers, along with PINs of the customers that used their cards at the gas pumps, the The Department of Justice said. In April and May 2018, using the stolen card information, the defendants are accused of traveling between Harris Teeter store locations,...

KKTX-AM - Corpus Christi Vermont City Councilor Considers Disarming The Town's Police Force posted by Bill Galluccio - Aug 27, 2019 If one city councilor in Burlington, Vermont has her way, the police in the town might have to give up their guns. Perri Freeman brought up the idea during a recent city council meeting and says that she hopes to spur a conversation about the expectations and training of police officers in the community. Freeman, who is a progressive Democrat, pointed out that other countries do not have armed police forces. "Realizing that there are actually several countries where...

You can watch the video at the link in the header or the one I put below. Note this teenager is picked up and carried to the vehicle while two small children (hers?) scream and cry and what may be her mother arguing bravely on her behalf. Where is the left when children are REALLY being brutally separated from their mothers? The following text is shown small in the image: NOT JUST #HONGKONG Protests are breaking out ALL OVER #Kazakhstan to oppose #ChineseExpansion. #China‘s imprisoning #Kazakhs in its #ConcentrationCamps (alongside #Uyghurs, et al.) in #EastTurkistan (“#Xinjiang”) & Chinese workers are...

Former Secretary of State and loser to Trump in the 2016 presidential election Hillary Clinton called reports that President Trump had spoken with a Ukrainian leader "collusion with a foreign power to help him win an election." Her charge was sparked by an unconfirmed report that Trump has suggested that Ukraine "take a look at a boast by then Vice-President Joe Biden that his threat to cancel US aid to Ukraine persuaded that government to drop an investigation into a questionable business deal between Biden's son and a Ukrainian company. While it is plausible to posit that evidence of corruption...

Alabama: Muslim Auburn University student says he would execute US soldier if ISIS ordered him to do so SEP 22, 2019 2:00 PM BY ROBERT SPENCER Yet no one at Auburn, or at Southern Union Community College, would have dared ask Nayef Qashou what he thought of jihad and the Islamic State. That would have been “Islamophobic.” “Terror suspect living in Auburn attended Opelika’s Southern Union Community College,” by Elizabeth White, WRBL, September 19, 2019: LEE COUNTY, Ala. (WRBL) – Startling news settling over the east Alabama community as a dual Jordanian and United States citizen living in Auburn and...

Conservative leaders are circulating data to White House staff that claims adults who vape will turn on President Trump if he follows through with his planned ban on flavored e-cigarettes, Axios has learned. Between the lines: The data (shown below) reveals that the number of adult vapers in key battleground states greatly outweighs the margins by which Trump won those states in 2016 — and they argue it could cost him reelection. What we're hearing: "While parents may be concerned about e-cigarettes, the people who genuinely care about vaping as a voting issue so far outweighs the number of people...

Full title: So much for clearing up the planet! Climate change protesters who marched through Manhattan are branded hypocrites for leaving litter strewn across the city Climate change skeptics have branded protesters who marched through Manhattan on Sunday as hypocrites for leaving litter strewn across the city. New Yorkers uploaded images to social media sites showing piles of trash - included ditched paper and cardboard signs - left behind after thousands took part in the People's Climate March. 'Their love for the Earth is so real, they couldn't even use a trash can,' one critic, known as @chelsea_elisa on Twitter,...

A raccoon in southwest Florida was in for a wild ride this week after it managed to hang on to the top of a Wonder Bread delivery truck making its rounds for more than 16-miles. The delivery truck driver said the furry stowaway managed to ride on top of the truck for more than 16 miles at 55 mph. The driver sounded the alarm with 911 once he realized his truck had a stowaway and sounded worried about the raccoon in audio of the call released by WBBH-TV. Dispatcher: "911, what is your emergency?" Driver: "Yeah, I didn't know who...

Two days after the German government announced a €54 billion ($61 billion) package of measures to tackle climate change, Chancellor Angela Merkel and Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer are to fly to the United States in two separate planes, the Bild am Sonntag newspaper reported on Sunday. Two Luftwaffe aircraft will transport the two politicians almost simultaneously to the east coast of the US, the paper said. Merkel is due in New York at the United Nations climate summit on Monday, where she is expected to confirm that Germany is committed to phasing out coal and will help to save the...