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Last November, the voters of Washington State shocked their betters in board rooms, editorial offices, university administrations, and the leadership of both parties by rejecting Referendum 88, an attempt by state Democrats to bring back affirmative action, which had been prohibited in a 1998 referendum. This new, revived affirmative action, they claimed, would not permit quotas or preferential treatment. Referendum 88 disingenuously defined preferential treatment as using race, sex, or ethnicity “as the sole qualifying factor to select a less qualified applicant over a more qualified applicant” in public education, employment, or contracting. This would have offered an open door...

DES MOINES, Iowa—The thing about a victory speech, generally, is that it requires a victory. But when this year’s Iowa caucus didn’t quickly produce one, Pete Buttigieg claimed the win as his anyway. The other candidates who spoke last night mumbled about the mess, proclaimed “on to New Hampshire!,” and said all the other things you’re supposed to say when results are up in the air. Buttigieg strutted onstage, smiling confidently as his well-prepped supporters chanted “BOOT-EDGE-EDGE” behind him, and in his very first sentence declared that “an improbable hope became an undeniable reality. “We don’t know all the results,”...

Archaeogenetic analyses provide new insights into social inequality 4000 years ago: nuclear families lived together with foreign women and individuals from lower social classes in the same household. Social inequality already existed in southern Germany 4000 years ago, even within one household, a new study published in the journal Science finds. Archaeological and archaeogenetic analyses of Bronze Age cemeteries in the Lech Valley, near Augsburg, show that families of biologically related persons with higher status lived together with unrelated women who came from afar and also had a high status, according to their grave goods. In addition, a larger number...

Even as the Iowa Democratic Party was trying to sort out the chaos in its reporting system, a party official announced that turnout was “on pace” with what they had seen in 2016. In other words, it was mediocre. About 170,000 people participated in the 2016 Iowa Democratic caucuses, far short of the unprecedented 240,000 voters who turned out in 2008 and launched Barack Obama on his way to the White House. What was so exciting a dozen years ago was not only how many Iowans showed up, but who they were: young people, first-time caucusgoers, an ethnically diverse mix...

A masked man sprayed Lysol on produce and other products inside a suburban Walmart while wearing a sign on his back that read “Caution I have the Coronavirus,” authorities said. Police in Joliet were called to a Walmart in the 1400 block of Route 59 after two suspects entered the store and one of them put on a yellow medical mask before spraying “a substance (later determined to be Lysol) on produce, clothing and items of health and beauty,” the department said. The masked man also had a handmade sign on his back that read “Caution I have the Coronavirus,”...

Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D., N.J.) expressed frustration with her Democratic colleagues at a recent town hall, admitting they block legislation because they "don't want to give the president a win." Speaking at a Livingston, New Jersey, town hall on Thursday, Sherrill revealed the "shockingly different mindset" of congressional Democrats who prioritize resisting President Donald Trump over passing legislation that could help their constituents.

The day The Donald socked it to the impeachment of the congress USA

“Somebody told me that Nadler and Schiff and those guys are going to be right in front which will freak him out! He’s going to be freaked!” she gushed. Behar bashed Trump as unable to be presidential, while touting her “prayer” that Trump loses it:

A Bronze Age painting on a Greek island shows a monkey from thousands of kilometres away in Asia. The finding suggests that ancient cultures separated by great distances were trading and exchanging ideas. The artwork is one of several wall paintings in a building at Akrotiri on the Greek island of Thera (Santorini) in the Aegean Sea. Akrotiri was a settlement of the Minoan civilisation in Bronze Age Greece that was buried by ash from a volcanic eruption in around 1600 BC. Many of the paintings show monkeys, yet there were no monkeys in Greece at the time. Most of...

In time for the SOTU speech. I remade the Nessum Dorma that was blocked on my channel by the singer, after YouTube’s automatic acceptance. This one is done to Pavarotti, so cross your fingers it will stay up. If you can, would appreciate up-arrows on Anything Trump. It’s, of course, a story video. And if you want to follow the details of the story, you can read the Italian and translation of lyrics at: Nessum Dorma Lyrics The video can be downloaded from my website. Maybe that way it won't disappear again.

President Trump's State of the Union Address on 2/4/2020.

I will be far from the first to observe that football in America has a sort of religious cast. If “liturgy” means a “work of the people,” then football is its clearest manifestation in our culture. When a team wins, there is a deep, abiding sense within its fans that “we won.” The constant use of “we” through public discussions indicates that we experience this sport as something in which we “participate” – it is an act of communion. To some degree, it is the most profound act of communion within our culture. Though it is true that far more...

This is the shocking moment an Iowa caucus member demands to change her vote after she realizes Pete Buttigieg is gay and married to a man. Former South Bend mayor Buttigieg declared himself victor of the Iowa caucus just after 11pm Central time on Monday, even though there are no official results. But as this clip shows one unidentified woman tried to get her vote back after hearing the news he is married to his partner of five years, Chasten. In the footage she asks Buttigieg precinct captain, Nikki van den Heever: 'Are you saying that he has the same-sex...

President Trump predicted Tuesday that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will challenge Sen. Chuck Schumer for his New York seat and that she will “kick his ass.” Trump made the pot-stirring remark during a traditional pre-State of the Union luncheon for TV news personalities. The relaxed off-the-record lunch featured bass and leek soup in the White House state dining room, just hours before Trump delivers the annual address on Capitol Hill. “I think she will kick his ass,” Trump said in a remark that he placed on the record.

South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg has hired Michael Halle — a close adviser to former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe who most recently ran Richard Cordray's failed 2018 campaign for Ohio governor — as a senior strategist, the Buttigieg campaign confirmed to Axios. It is unclear when his official start date is. Why it matters: Halle, who also ran Hillary Clinton’s 2016 battleground-state strategy, has impeccable connections to the Democratic establishment and extensive experience working on major campaigns. His hire is the latest in a steady drumbeat of big names that Buttigieg has brought on, with the campaign telling Axios to...

The massacre happened in Uruapan, in the western Mexican state of Michoacan, on Monday, according to the state’s attorney general’s office. Four people walked into the amusement arcade, asked questions of some patrons and began firing with military-grade weapons, the attorney general’s office said in a statement. The attackers were apparently searching for specific targets, but then opened fire indiscriminately on customers, the Associated Press reported.

Mike Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York City and contender for the Democratic presidential nomination, released an anti-Trump campaign advertisement that included footage of caged migrants in 2014 — during the Obama era. The Bloomberg campaign released an ad that was meant to highlight unflattering events that have occurred during the Trump administration, such as the white nationalist march in Charlottesville, Virginia, the aftermath of a Florida school shooting, the Brett Kavanaugh hearings, and immigration enforcement at the U.S.-Mexico border. “America demanded change and change is what we got,” a narrator said in the ad, which then led to a montage...

Conquering Romans relied on resources from near and far to sustain their forces against the native tribes in Wales, according to new research by Cardiff University archaeologists... Using strontium isotope analysis to analyse the bones of domestic animals from the fortress, the researchers identified a mix of sources. Significantly, the diverse pattern of results does not suggest a centralised supply chain from near or far ñ results that challenge existing theories. While the majority of livestock are consistent with origins in the local area, analysis found that at least one quarter of the pigs, cattle and caprines (sheep/goats) originated outside...

CNN’s John King reports that the Biden campaign may seek a court injunction to halt this afternoon’s release of the Iowa Caucus results. https://twitter.com/SteveGuest/status/1224757883293880327