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...They have also found evidence of a fierce fire, burnt mud bricks, white ash, burnt wood and numerous destroyed ceramic vessels - which coincides with the biblical account of the city being raided by the Amalekites... Scholars have been divided over the location of Ziklag, with as many as 12 potential sites put forward as contenders. But Garfinkel and co-director Dr Kyle Keimer, Senior Lecturer in the Archaeology of Ancient Israel at Macquarie University, say the assembled evidence gives Khirbet el-Rai a strong claim to be the lost biblical city... The site has yielded a wealth of artefacts including rich...

When Navy SEAL Will Chesney first met a military working dog named Cairo, he didn’t know this canine would be The One: a fearless warrior with a soft side, an attack dog who would know the difference between a baby and a bad guy, the lone non-human US soldier to raid Osama bin Laden’s compound in 2011. Nope. Back on that fateful day in 2008, after Chesney decided to become a dog handler, he took his first instruction seriously — these dogs weren’t like pets. They were lethal weapons. Despite that warning, handlers are dog people, and they know how...

Kevin Roche is former general counsel of UnitedHealth Group and chief executive officer of its Ingenix Division. He has posted “An open letter to Governor Walz” over at Healthy Skeptic and invited us to help get the word out. Kevin writes: Dear Governor Walz: The time has come for you to be a real leader, acknowledge your mistake, and change course. I am sure you may have believed you were taking the appropriate action when you is essence shut down the state’s economy and social life out of fear that the coronavirus epidemic might take thousands of lives in Minnesota…...

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti may block large events and gatherings in the city until next year. Garcetti broached the possibility on Monday at a briefing with senior staff and department heads across the state government. Los Angeles Fire Department Deputy Chief Trevor Richmond summarized Garcetti’s comments in an email reviewed by the Los Angeles Times. “Large gatherings such as concerts and sporting events may not be approved in the city for at least 1 year,” the email said.

A new report has revealed how vulnerable voting by mail can be. It should alarm all who are pushing for all-mail elections: Based on federal data from the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, millions of mail ballots were never counted as completed votes. According to the commission’s 2016 report, for example, more mail ballots were misdirected and unaccounted for than the margin of votes between Hillary Clinton and Donald J. Trump. She had 2.9 million more votes, yet 6.5 million ballots were misdirected or unaccounted for by the states. In other words, for every vote that Hillary won over the eventual...

As our health care system and economy teeter under the strain from COVID-19, elected officials are making some of the most important decisions of our lifetimes. Especially at the state level, many are emerging as competent leaders. Others, though, are undermining their authority and the public trust by hiding behind a wall of secrecy. Americans have never put up with “don’t ask questions, just trust me” for long — especially in a crisis. In Pennsylvania, for example, Gov. Tom Wolf initially was an open book in dealing with the coronavirus threat, holding daily news conferences and providing updates. But then...

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- As President Donald Trump works to contain the damage from the novel coronavirus outbreak in the U.S., the rally in support he enjoyed as the nation entered a virtual lockdown has faded. His job approval rating, now 43%, has slipped six percentage points since mid-March when he earned 49% approval, which tied his personal best. The six-point decline in the president's approval rating is the sharpest drop Gallup has recorded for the Trump presidency so far, largely because Trump's ratings have been highly stable and have yet to reach the historical average for presidents (back to 1945)...

The United States and Japan are calling on their nation’s companies to leave China and return home, in the process proposing that China pays for the moving costs. This appears to suggest that the era of "Made in China" is officially over and a major reshuffle of the global supply chain is in the works. A shorter and more localized supply chain is expected in the new era of globalization – without China as the world's factory. This break with the past has not come from nowhere and was not simply triggered by the Wuhan virus outbreak. Actually, the U.S.-China...

America's decentralized system of voting means states enjoy broad leeway on setting election rules. Whether voters realize it or not, states' procedures vary widely on everything from registration deadlines, ID requirements and types of voting machinery to who is permitted to vote absentee and when mail-in ballots must be postmarked in order to be counted. But in the coronavirus pandemic, a lack of federal election funding, partisan disunity and legal disputes could produce last-minute logistical confusion and drastic disparities across state lines in voters' ability to safely access a ballot. Last week's election in Wisconsin ignited outrage from voting rights...

Prayers up for all the families suffering from the impact of this virus. And we're still praying that the spread starts fading with the warmer Spring weather and that an effective treatment and vaccine are developed before the next flu season starts. And we pray that our people are allowed to go back to work very soon and that our economy comes roaring back. Meanwhile, we may be hurt and slowed down somewhat, but we have faith in the long-run that "what doesn't kill us only makes us stronger." God willing, America will survive and we will survive and we...

The E.T. actress warned readers in a recent post on her personal blog that the Earth, like an unhappy wife, may one day decide to give up on its inhabitants who have failed to attend to her needs. But “if you take care of her, she will love you back,” she wrote. Drew Barrymore is one of Hollywood’s most visible eco-activists, stumping for animal rights and advocating against animal-tested cosmetics. She has also launched the home goods line, Flower Home, and the beauty line, Flower Beauty, which market themselves as being both affordable and environmentally friendly. In her blog post,...

From approximately 3,000 to 1,000 years ago, between 700 and 3,400 people lived on the island of Samoa. Roughly 1,000 years ago, the island's population exploded from a few thousand to 10,000 individuals. By analyzing the genomes of 1,197 individuals living in Samoa, scientists were able to gain new insights into one of the last major migrations of humans into previously uninhabited territories. The results of the genomic analysis -- published this week in the journal PNAS -- could also help researchers explore links between early human history in Samoa and the modern health problems, including obesity, hypertension and Type...

Riverside County has modified an app intended to report violations of novel coronavirus health orders after people used it to tattle on fellow residents. From now on, RivCoMobile can only be used to report violations by non-essential businesses. “We received several complaints that were not about businesses, but people in the community,” county spokeswoman Brooke Federico said via text Tuesday, April 14. As a result, the app was changed “so that people can only report non-essential businesses that are still operating,” Federico said. The app’s other intention was to identify parts of the county where social distancing “is not being...

Chinese epicenter Wuhan raises number of virus dead by about 50 percent China raised Wuhan’s coronavirus death toll by nearly 50 percent Friday following weeks of allegations that officials were underreporting the numbers to make the situation there look better than it actually was. The city where the coronavirus outbreak is believed to have originated is now reporting 3,869 deaths after adding 1,290 to its previously-announced figure. Numbers of total cases in the city of 11 million were also raised by 325 to 50,333, accounting for about two-thirds of China’s total 82,367 announced cases. Chinese state media claimed Friday that...

A Smithfield Foods pork processing plant in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, was visited by representatives from its Chinese Communist Party-tied parent company one month before the first COVID-19 case was confirmed at the facility, according to three employees. After the first illness was confirmed at the plant on March 26, the facility quickly became the epicenter of the state’s outbreak of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly known as the novel coronavirus. South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem wrote in an April 11 letter that 238 plant employees had contracted the virus, accounting for 38 percent of the state’s confirmed...

New York Federal Reserve President John Williams said he doesn’t see full economic growth returning to the U.S. in 2020. While he sees pockets of the economy, such as construction, coming back, he expects people to continue to be reluctant to attend big public gatherings. New York Federal Reserve President John Williams told CNBC on Friday he sees some parts of the economy coming back online but doubts growth will return to normal this year. Construction should be among the first to return, he said in a “Squawk Box” interview with Steve Liesman. That echoed comments from Philadelphia Fed President...

Amid a series of documents released by the Senate Judiciary Committee [SEE HERE] there is a rather alarming letter from the DOJ to the FISA Court in July 2018 that points toward an institutional cover-up. [Link to Letter] Before getting to the substance of the letter, it’s important to put the release in context. After the FISA Court reviewed the DOJ inspector general report, the FISC ordered the DOJ-NSD to declassify and release documents related to the Carter Page FISA application. In the cover letter for this specific release to the Senate Judiciary and Senate Intelligence committees, the DOJ cites...

Patrick Rooney of Old School™ (Natural Health / Success / Freedom) discusses three key missing guidelines from President Trump's plan to bring America and its economy back.

The Hill reports Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) on Thursday night said the protests that took place in her state Wednesday demanding an end to her “stay-at-home” order could result in an extension of social distancing measures like it. Whitmer, during an interview with MSNBC host Rachel Maddow, said that the protests are the “kind of irresponsible action that puts us in this situation where we might have to actually think about extending stay-at-home orders, which is supposedly what they are protesting.” WATCH: Gov. Whitmer tells @Maddow that Wednesday’s protest at Michigan’s Capitol is the “kind of irresponsible action that...

The world's largest randomized clinical trial of potential coronavirus treatments is underway in Britain and has recruited 5,000 patients in record time, researchers say. The British patients are scattered across 165 National Health Service hospitals, trial leader Peter Horby told The Guardian on Friday. "This is by far the largest trial in the world," said Horby, an Oxford University professor of emerging infectious diseases and global health. The Randomized Evaluation of COVID-19 Therapy, or "Recovery" trial, is testing four promising treatments for the coronavirus disease. If the science supports it, they will be given to NHS patients as quickly as...