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When I was a little girl, my mother told me, "Always be grateful you're an American. There's no greater blessing." Mom was right and no one expressed this more beautifully than pioneer Laura Ingalls Wilder in "Little Town on the Prairie" when she described DeSmet's 1882 Independence Day Celebration: Beside the flagpole a man rose up tall above the crowd. He was standing on something. The sound of talking died down, and he could be heard speaking. “Well, boys,” he said, “I’m not much good at public speaking, but today’s the glorious Fourth. This is the day and date when...

Let’s start at the beginning — “1776,” that is. This 1972 musical based on the Broadway show of the same name recounts the events surrounding the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Think “Hamilton” without hip-hop music.

Dozens of shots were fired into the home of an Alabama state senator this week. Neighbors of state Sen. Vivian Davis Figures, a Democrat who has been in office since 1997, heard the fusillade early Thursday, according to local reports. Figures, 64, was not home at the time of the chilling incident, AL.com reported. “At five o’clock that morning, I heard shots ring out and I laid there for a few seconds but I didn’t know whether if I jumped up quick, that a bullet or something may come through the window. I looked out of all the windows to...

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is loosening its ban on protests and rules against athlete expression for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. The IOC's executive board voted to approve guidelines clarifying Rule 50 of the Olympic charter, which prohibits athletes from making any sort of political expression, particularly on medal podiums, in the field of play and at opening and closing ceremonies. Athletes have pushed back on the rule for years and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee took the unprecedented step in December of urging the IOC to "end the prohibition of peaceful demonstrations." The new policy allows athletes...

Taiwan has chosen to get the Novavax Covid-19 vaccine via the COVAX global sharing scheme for lower-income countries, the company said on Friday, which would add much-needed additional shots to the island’s immunization program. Taiwan’s vaccine orders include 4.76 million doses from COVAX, though so far it has only received slightly more than 600,000 from the scheme, all AstraZeneca shots. Novavax, in an emailed statement, said it already had an agreement to supply its vaccine to the COVAX facility. “Taiwan has opted to receive doses of NVX-CoV2373 through COVAX,” it said, referring to the vaccine’s name and without giving details....

The Philippine Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Sunday said it expected to issue emergency use authorization to the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine, which is believed to be effective against coronavirus variants, including the Delta variant. "We are possibly looking to issue EUA to Novavax, one of the vaccines developed in the US and India. It is very promising and it seems to be effective against the Delta variant. They already published their results." "The EUA approval of Novavax is still pending with UK, India and America before they could complete their application here in the Philippines but we are expecting...

White Shark Research Sharks in New England The Northwest Atlantic Ocean is home to a variety of marine species, and sharks are no exception. From the large filter-feeding basking shark to the small bottom-dwelling spiny dogfish, sharks of all shapes and sizes can be found inhabiting the waters of New England. Perhaps the most notorious and charismatic of these fishes, however, is the white shark. White sharks are classified as a highly migratory species, traveling large distances in search of optimal foraging and mating opportunities. Their presence in New England is historically documented, and they are most often observed during...

The Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine is highly effective against the highly transmissible delta variant, the company announced on Thursday (July 1). Though the analysis was conducted on only a small number of participants and hasn't yet been peer-reviewed, it suggests that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, like the Pfizer and Moderna's vaccines, may provide a buffer for the U.S. against the highly transmissible variant. The findings were submitted as two separate studies to the preprint server bioRxiv. The delta variant (B.1.617.2) was first discovered in India in October 2020, and the World Health Organization designated it a "variant of...

When President Biden declares the United States’ “independence” from the covid-19 pandemic on July 4, he should give credit where it’s due: former president Donald Trump and the Trump administration program that made it possible, Operation Warp Speed — which gave us the world’s most effective coronavirus vaccines in record time. In March 2020, life as we knew it abruptly stopped — no church, no family gatherings, no restaurants, no movies, no offices, no sports … and nowhere to go. The pandemic has been devastating. Too many died, and even more fell ill. Within two weeks after a pandemic was...

The Una Voce Federation has taken out an advert in the mass-circulation Italian daily newspaper La Repubblica, appearing today, Sunday 4th July.The English text is as following (for other languages see here):Living the faith, living the future:The Extraordinary Form of the Roman RiteDeclaration of the International Federation Una VoceThe International Federation Una Voce (FIUV), founded in 1965, brings together associations of the lay faithful attached to the Extraordinary Form of the Roman rite (the Traditional Latin Mass).In 2007, the Apostolic Letter Summorum Pontificum recognised the vitality of the traditional liturgy, the freedom of priests to celebrate it, and of the...

The US overtook New Zealand in June to become the best place to be during a global pandemic.The latest ranking includes "reopening progress" as a factor, which helped the US rise 13 spots to number one.Several European countries are also in the top 10 thanks to effective vaccination rollouts that have allowed the region to open up to tourists.Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.As vaccination rates go up and masks come off, the US is now the best place to be during the pandemic, according to Bloomberg's monthly Covid Resilience Ranking.The index ranks 53 major economies each month on how...

President Biden appeared to check his notes after being confronted by the press on whether Russia was behind a recent ransomware attack while he was shopping inside a store in Traverse City, Michigan, on Saturday. "With the most recent hack by the Russians, would you say that this means – " a reporter is heard asking about the attack that targeted Miami-based IT software management company Kaseya, before Biden interrupts her to say that they "don't know" yet if it was the Russians.

In 1981, doctors in New York and Los Angeles saw healthy young men sicken and die within months, their immune systems apparently destroyed.The deaths set off a frantic search for the culprit. By 1983 virologists had identified a novel pathogen they would call Human Immunodeficiency Virus.Over the next decade, scientists learned much more about HIV, which early on had a fatality rate close to 100 percent, worse even than Ebola or smallpox. Ultimately they tamed it - perhaps the greatest success for scientific and medical research in the late 20th century.But the political story of AIDS is much trickier. Scientists...

Democratic Congressman André Carson of Indiana said Sunday that he wants Congress to conduct hearings on purported sightings of UFOs in the wake of a Pentagon report examining the so-called "unidentified aerial phenomena" (UAPs). In an interview with "Face the Nation," Carson, who chairs the subcommittee on counterintelligence and counterproliferation on the House Intelligence Committee, said it is his "hope" there will be a "series of hearings," including one that is public, in the "very near future." "The report is inconclusive. What we do know is that ... there have been nearly 150 sightings. Eighty of those sightings have been...

Lieutenant Colonel Allen West announced his candidacy to become Governor of Texas this morning in a 7-minute video that detailed his history, celebrated the heroes of the Texas Revolution, and using comparisons to the Alamo, urged Texans to join him on the “right” side of the “line in the stand” with their vote. “Now it is our time, it is our time to stand up and honor those words of Texas, Our Texas, and to secure the future for our children and our grandchildren, to make sure the growth, the opportunity, and the prosperity, the economic success that you see...

We hear a lot about Critical Race Theory and how America is a systemically racist country. Everything is all about skin color and which group — oppressor or oppressed — you belong to. I hesitate to write this article because to even broach the topic of race these days or to offer an honest critique runs the risk of being labeled a racist and being canceled. We see constant examples of real racism, largely against White people. The evidence is indisputable. Along with the racism comes a colossal double-standard, which should be enough to make your blood boil. In America...

U.S.—According to reports, millions of Americans will be attending 4th of July celebrations today, many of which will feature problematic displays of the American flag and extreme levels of patriotism. "Latest government intelligence says that people who feel proud to live in America are more likely to be insurrectionist Trump supporters or colorblind racists," said Facebook content moderator and CCP party member Xiu Zhao. "We want people to realize they are putting themselves in danger by attending these hotbeds of extremist activity." Facebook will be sending notifications to any user found to have attended a patriotic parade, fireworks show, or...

MOSCOW (AP) — Ukraine’s defense minister is under pressure from members of the government over the decision to have female military cadets wear pumps with heels in an important parade. “The purpose of any military parade is to demonstrate the military ability of the army. There should be no room for stereotypes and sexism,” said a joint statement from three Cabinet members, including Minister of Veterans Affairs Yulia Laputina. The statement followed last week’s announcement about the footwear in the parade planned for Aug. 24, the 30th anniversary of Ukraine’s declaration of independence from the Soviet Union. It noted that...

Montenegro is a tiny nation Balkan nation across the Adriatic Sea from Italy, nestled between Serbia, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Kosovo, Albania, and Croatia, and with a population roughly the size of Vermont’s. It’s in deep trouble because a past government, using a $1 billion loan from a Chinese state bank, entered into a deal with a Chinese state-owned construction company to build a 270-mile-long highway. Now, with only 25-miles extending from nowhere to nowhere built, the debt is coming due and Montenegro has no money with which to pay it. Montenegro’s troubles are waking Europe to the way China has inveigled...

Top infectious disease official Dr. Anthony Fauci on Sunday issued an impassioned warning about the danger of a divided vaccine rollout as a new poll highlighted how hesitancy around the shot has become deeply tied to party affiliation. Senate Help Committee Holds Hearing On Safely Going Back To Work And School During Pandemic KEY FACTS Speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Fauci, who served as President Biden’s chief science officer, deemed it “frustrating” and “tragic” that inoculation rates aren’t higher in the U.S. when the vaccine is so widely available. He said it is particularly “terrible” from the perspective of...