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ORLANDO, Fla., Dec. 19 (UPI) -- SpaceX launched the company's second spy satellite mission for the U.S. government Saturday morning. The Falcon 9 rocket lifted off at 9 a.m. EST from Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The payload fairing separated about 2 1/2 minutes after liftoff. The reusable Falcon 9 rocket landed at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station about 8 1/2 minutes after liftoff -- the fifth time for this particular booster and the 70th time for a Falcon 9 to date. SpaceX aborted a previous launch attempt Thursday due to a slightly high pressure reading in...

The Chinese Communist Party has expanded its weather modification program to cover an are more than one and a half times the size of India, coupled with a fivefold personnel increase. In early December, the Chinese government revealed it wanted to “extend the artificial rain and snow program to cover at least 2.1m sq miles (5.5m sq km) of land by 2025..”“The long-term plan envisages that by 2035, the country’s weather modification capabilities would reach an “advanced” level and focus on revitalising rural regions, restoring ecosystems and minimising losses from natural disasters,” a summary of the Chinese Communist Party’s goals...

Eureka! We found that gold you hear about in California. And it just left.California lost so many people in the last decade that when the census numbers are all tabulated, it could lose a congressional seat. Even the state’s Rose Bowl game just left for Texas.The San Diego Union-Tribune reports the California Department of Finance says the state grew by only 21,200 residents in the past year, the lowest since 1900.“This is a real sea change in California, which used to be this state of pretty robust population growth,” said Hans Johnson, a demographer at the Public Policy Institute of...

At Princeton, academic freedom is considered just another tool of white supremacy. The ubiquity of race obsession on campuses in the age of Black Lives Matter and George Floyd showed itself at Princeton University, too, so much so that in September its President, Christopher L. Eisgruber, published a self-flagellating open letter in which he bemoaned the fact that “[r]acism and the damage it does to people of color persist at Princeton” and that “racist assumptions” are “embedded in structures of the University itself.” At least one federal agency took Eisgruber at his word and Princeton subsequently received a letter from...

Jill Biden thinks an ed-school advanced degree makes her more important. Does it? Essayist Joseph Epstein stirred up the “woke” commissars with an essay jovially advising Jill Biden from insisting on being called “Dr” because she has a doctorate in education. As Epstein pointed out, usually the demand to be called “Doctor” when one is not an M.D. suggests insecurity or unseemly vanity. After all, according to her husband, she sought out the degree because she was “so sick of the mail coming to Sen. and Mrs. Biden.” No matter. To Epstein’s critics, the “entitled” old white guy was “sexist”...

Reports from Britain and South Africa of new coronavirus strains that seem to spread more easily are causing alarm, but virus experts say it's unclear if that's the case or whether they pose any concern for vaccines or cause more severe disease. Viruses naturally evolve as they move through the population, some more than others. It's one reason we need a fresh flu shot each year. New variants, or strains, of the virus that causes COVID-19 have been seen almost since it was first detected in China nearly a year ago. On Saturday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced new restrictions...

Members of the US‐Israel delegation stand in front of the El Al plane that would carry them from Tel Aviv to Abu Dhabi, at Ben‐Gurion International Airport, Aug. 31, 2020. Photo: Menahem Kahana / Pool via Reuters Members of the US‐Israel delegation stand in front of the El Al plane that would carry them from Tel Aviv to Abu Dhabi, at Ben‐Gurion International Airport, Aug. 31, 2020. Photo: Menahem Kahana / Pool via Reuters. History is being made in 2020, as Israel makes peace throughout the Arab and Muslim world. This is “peace for peace,” which benefits all people, and...

Nadav Shragai writes this week: With Israel’s coronavirus numbers on the rise and the government poised to instate a policy of rigorous restrictions, the worst kept secret in the country is that the Temple Mount as turned into “Corona Mount.” Some 18,000 people crowd into the compound every Friday, many without masks. … Then they go back to their neighborhoods in east Jerusalem or Arab communities in Israel, where they infect many more. In east Jerusalem, 14% of COVID tests are coming back positive. In Issawiya, it’s 17.5%. In Kafr Aqab, 23%, and in the Shuefat refugee camp — 50%....

All of these frauds are appalling https://t.co/AIgtsuAvv2— Mark R. Levin (@marklevinshow) December 21, 2020

Hungarian-born scientist Katalin Kariko’s obsession with researching a substance called mRNA to fight disease once cost her a faculty position at a prestigious US university, which dismissed the idea as a dead end. Now, her pioneering work — which paved the way for the Pfizer and Moderna Covid-19 vaccines — could be what saves the world from a 100-year pandemic. “This is just kind of unbelievable,” she told AFP in a video call from her home in Philadelphia, adding she was unused to the attention after toiling for years in obscurity. It shows why “it’s important science should be supported...

At the request of Gov. Andrew Cuomo, British Airways has agreed to test passengers for a new coronavirus mutation before they board a flight to Kennedy airport. In an effort to keep New York free of the highly contagious strain that has shut down London, Cuomo asked airline officials to take the proactive measure, the governor said on Monday.

We are all aware at some very shady business in the Presidential election, but the Democrats aren’t even hiding their attempt at stealing the vote down in Georgia. In fact, they are flaunting it. Box trucks advertising a message “Vote Democrat. Get $1200” were spotted and photographed all around Georgia.

Breaking with President Donald Trump, outgoing Attorney General William Barr said Monday he saw no reason to appoint a special counsel to look into the president’s claims of election fraud or the tax investigation into the son of President-elect Joe Biden. In his final press conference, Barr also undercut Trump as he reinforced the belief of federal officials that Russia was behind the cyberespionage operation targeting the U.S. government. Trump had suggested without evidence that China could be responsible. Barr said the investigation into Hunter Biden’s financial dealings was “being handled responsibly and professionally.” “I have not seen a reason...

Axios must like propping up Democratic senators as crusaders against fossil fuel special interests while ignoring their own deep ties to special interests, including dark money. Axios climate and energy reporter Amy Harder praised how Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) was “calling on the incoming Biden administration to have the Justice Department investigate organizations that fossil-fuel companies have in the past funded.” Harder said Whitehouse was accusing these organizations of “propagating ‘climate denialism and climate obstruction and political ownership of the Republican Party.’” Harder herself took aim at the conservative Heartland Institute, reportedly a Whitehouse target, and attacked it as “an...

got kind of heated earlier, several arrested

Muddy roads, rusted cars, makeshift shelters and piles of garbage: The desolate images at the beginning of German director Milo Rau’s new film, The New Gospel, show how farm workers live near the southern Italian city of Matera. Most of them are African refugees. They have no residence permit and work for hours under the scorching sun or in the freezing cold for a pittance in the tomato fields and orange plantations. They are hired and supervised by Italian foremen, the “caporali.” The mafia controls the agricultural economy in the Matera region; there is no way around their contact men....

Former Democratic presidential candidate Rep. Tulsi Gabbard blasted young members of Congress for taking the coronavirus vaccine before American seniors — and declared she wouldn’t receive the vaccine until the elderly could. The Hawaii congresswoman made the remarks in a Monday morning tweet as members of Congress receive the Pfizer drug as part of a “continuity of governance” plan, vaulting them to the front of the line before at-risk seniors and other frontline workers. On Friday, NY Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-Bronx) recorded herself receiving the vaccine live on Instagram and encouraged her millions of followers to ask questions about the...

New York City restaurant owners imposed lifetime bans on the patronage of Gov. Andrew Cuomo because his lockdowns have destroyed the city’s dining industry, The Washington Examiner reported. Restaurant owners on the Facebook group NYC Restaurants Open, which shares information about open restaurants, hours, and takeout options, expressed their frustrations with Cuomo’s business shutdown orders. They told him that he would not be served at their small businesses. “He can eat at some s—- roadside diner outside of Albany but he will not be served anywhere in New York City, known universally as the world’s greatest dining destination! If he...

Black Lives Matter protesters in Wisconsin hijacked and crashed a Christmas charity event for kids with cancer. Nothing is sacred to the woke left, including Christmas or helping kids with cancer. Residents of a Milwaukee suburb hold an annual event called Candy Cane Lane to benefit childhood cancer research. Students decorate trees in a section of West Allie, Wisconsin to look like red and white candy canes to designate the route. Houses are festively lit up with lights to celebrate the season.

​President-elect Joe Biden’s nominees for Cabinet positions will have to “run the gauntlet” if the GOP controls the Senate next year, the third-ranking Republican in the chamber said. “So it’s not going to be a garden party if the Republicans are in the majority. These nominees are going to have to run the gauntlet,” Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming said on “Fox News Sunday.”