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More than three weeks after the United States completed a chaotic and deadly troop withdrawal and evacuation of Americans and Afghan allies from Afghanistan, President Biden summed it up by deflecting blame — saying there was never going to be a “picture book” ending to the 20-year war. Taking questions from reporters after a speech on the COVID-19 response and vaccination program on Thursday, Biden was asked about the public’s growing concern over his handling of the withdrawal as well as the threat of a government shutdown as even his own party is split on his economic priorities. He said...

Former TV journalist John Stossel has reportedly filed a lawsuit against Facebook seeking at least $2 million in damages, alleging that the company defamed him by adding “fact-check” labels to two videos he posted related to climate change. After Facebook’s labels, the lawsuit claims “his viewership plummeted due to both Facebook’s censorship and the reputational harm caused by the false labels.” Variety reports that former TV journalist John Stossel is suing tech giant Facebook for defamation, seeking at least $2 million in damages after Facebook added fact-checking labels to two videos Stossel posted relating to climate change. A Facebook spokesperson...

The “black swan” event of a solar superstorm directed at earth could prompt an “internet apocalypse” across the entire globe that could last for several months, new research (pdf) has warned. University of California Irvine assistant professor Sangeetha Abdu Jyothi presented the new research, titled “Solar Superstorms: Planning for an Internet Apocalypse,” last month during the Association for Computing Machinery’s annual conference for their Special Interest Group on Data Communication (SIGCOMM). “One of the greatest dangers facing the internet with the potential for global impact is a powerful solar superstorm,” Jyothi wrote in the new research paper. “Although humans are...

Florida’s version of the American dream, which holds that even people of relatively modest means can aspire to live near the water, depends on a few crucial components: sugar white beaches, soft ocean breezes and federal flood insurance that is heavily subsidized. But starting Oct. 1, communities in Florida and elsewhere around the country will see those subsidies begin to disappear in a nationwide experiment in trying to adapt to climate change: Forcing Americans to pay something closer to the real cost of their flood risk, which is rising as the planet warms. While the program also covers homes around...

About 23,000 years ago, a group of children and teenagers left footprints along Lake Otero in what is now southern New Mexico – perhaps they were fetching water for adults hunting a mammoth or the massive ground sloth that roamed the area in those days. This week, a team of researchers from White Sands National Park, the National Parks Service and others published an article in the journal Science, which concludes that those children’s footprints were the oldest known human tracks ever found in North America. Imprints of the tiny toes were found along outcrops of the since-dried-up lake, which...

His name is Muhamnad al-Kurd.Mohammed el-Kurd becomes the Palestine Correspondent for The Nation Jerusalem Post Staff, September 17, 2021 Mohammed el-Kurd and his twin sister, Muna, are well-known Palestinian activists. El-Kurd has also expressed anti-US sentiments, calling the US military a "murderous terrorist organization" and US President Joe Biden a "successful was criminal." In a separate tweet, Mohammed expressed his hope that US troops' "PTSD never heal". ____ Facebook's policy inconsistency puts Israelis at risk. Emily Echrader, JPost, June 28, 2021 Muna El Kurd, the Sheikh Jarrah activist who’s made international headlines with her brother, had at least five...

Coronavirus can now be categorised as one of several respiratory illnesses with seasonal variation, Geir Bukholm, assistant director of the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH), has said. For the past year and a half, Covid-19 has been classed as a generally dangerous disease. However, this could change soon as the assistant director of the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH), Geir Bukholm, has said the coronavirus can now be put in the same category as illnesses such as flu, common colds and RS (respiratory syncytial virus). “We are now in a new phase where we must look at the...

A group in Wisconsin that goes by the name of Wisconsin HOT (Honest Open and Transparent) released a telegram where they ask Wisconsin election officials why over 23,ooo individuals in Wisconsin’s voter roles have the same phone number? Here is their note. Attn: Meagan Wolfe of The Wisconsin Election Commission Tara Coolidge City Clerk of Racine Lisa Tollefson Clerk of Rock County and All SIX Wisconsin Board of Commissioners Sept. 22, 2021 We demand your immediate resignations for lying to us all about the happenings of the November 3, 2020 election. Why are there 23,203 voters registered right now in...

At Schroeder's, the hofbrau and beer hall in San Francisco's Financial District, the typical lunch crowd mostly consists of office workers on lunch breaks, and the evening crowd usually consists of the same workers in search of post-work drinks. "We finally reopened in June when the [COVID] numbers looked good and when we looked at return-to-office plans for Salesforce and other companies," Chun said. "In July, things picked up, but then delta hit, plans got delayed and August was just a disaster." "We reopened at the end of July, and it's cost us $30,000 just to be open in that...

CHINA must make the first nuclear strike against the US if Joe Biden continues to defend Taiwan, a top Chinese diplomat says. Beijing's former ambassador to the UN, Sha Zukang said the country's long-standing promise to only use nukes in retaliation should be re-examined in response to the new alliances forming in the region. He said: "The unconditional no first use is not suitable . . . unless China-US negotiations agree that neither side would use [nuclear weapons] first, or the US will no longer take any passive measures to undermine the effectiveness of China’s strategic forces. "The strategic pressure...

The USDA has announced it will establish an Equity Commission to address historical discrimination and disparities in the ag sector. The announcement is an important step toward implementing President Biden’s commitment to address racial equality issues within USDA and its programs. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack says this is just the first step in dismantling barriers historically underserved communities have faced in accessing USDA programs and services.

Norway will end all COVID-19-related restrictions starting Saturday, Sept. 25, the government announced, joining a growing list of countries and states that have removed pandemic curbs. “It is 561 days since we introduced the toughest measures in Norway in peacetime … Now the time has come to return to a normal daily life,” Prime Minister Erna Solberg told a news conference on Friday. The virus can now be considered as one of several respiratory illnesses with seasonal variation, said Geir Bukholm, the assistant director for the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, according to local media. In Norway, COVID-19 has been...

Hospitals and nursing homes in New York are bracing for the possibility that a statewide COVID-19 vaccine mandate for health care workers could lead to staff shortages when it takes effect Monday. Doctors and nurses — and also support staff, like food service workers and cleaners — have been given until Sept. 27 to get at least their first vaccine shot in one of the nation's most aggressive plans to protect patients. With just days left to go before the deadline, many still hadn't. That left the prospect of potentially thousands of health care workers being forced off the job...

[Catholic Caucus] New head of JPII marriage institute suggests Church must change its definition of familyMonsignor Philippe Bordeyne claims that 'theologians cannot continue to assert certainties about the family when we see the transformations it is undergoing today.'(LifeSiteNews) — Weeks after taking up his post as new president of the former John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family, Monsignor Philippe Bordeyne made a remarkable statement in a revealing interview with La Croix International, the English-language daily edited by La Croix, unofficial daily of the French episcopate, saying, “We theologians cannot continue to assert certainties about the family when we...

A group of federal workers and contractors filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government over COVID-19 vaccination mandates that were announced earlier this month by President Joe Biden. The lawsuit, filed Thursday in Washington district court, is asking a court to declare unlawful Biden’s executive order and a Department of Defense memorandum in August mandating all military members get the vaccine. Lawyers argue that members of the Christian faith are required “to refuse a medical intervention, including a vaccination, if his or her informed conscience comes to this sure judgment,” and it further stipulates that “naturally acquired immunity provides greater...

A hand recount of Maricopa County's 2020 presidential election vote has reiterated official results that showed Joe Biden won, an election audit draft report has said. Auditors in Arizona found that the county's election had not been stolen from Donald Trump, as some of his supporters had claimed, and that the former president had lost by more votes than earlier official results declared. The hand count found Trump won 45,469 fewer votes than Biden, whereas earlier county results showed he lost by 45,109—a relatively small discrepancy of 360. It also gave Biden an extra 99 votes—up from 1,040,774 to 1,040,873.

The photographer behind images depicting Border Patrol agents on horseback told KTSM things are not exactly what they seem when it comes to the photos. The photographs, which were taken Sunday, appear to show agents on horses with a whip in hand. The photos caused outrage because from certain angles, it appears to show Border Patrol whipping migrants, but photographer Paul Ratje said he and his colleagues never saw agents whipping anyone. “Some of the Haitian men started running, trying to go around the horses,” Ratje said. “I’ve never seen them whip anyone,” Ratje said. “He was swinging it, but...

ZURICH (Reuters) - A potential lurch to the left in Germany's election on Sunday is scaring millionaires into moving assets into Switzerland, bankers and tax lawyers say. If the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), hard-left Linke and environmentalist Greens come to power, the reintroduction of a wealth tax and a tightening of inheritance tax could be on the political agenda. "For the super-rich, this is red hot," said a German-based tax lawyer with extensive Swiss operations. "Entrepreneurial families are highly alarmed." The move shows how many rich people still see Switzerland as an attractive place to park wealth, despite its efforts...

PHOENIX (AP) — A draft report of the election review in Arizona’s largest county by supporters of former President Donald Trump found that President Joe Biden did indeed win the 2020 presidential contest there, an embarrassing end to a bizarre quest to find evidence supporting Trump’s false claim that he lost because of fraud. The final report was scheduled to be released Friday afternoon, the result of a months-long partisan review funded in part by taxpayers. The draft document began to circulate Thursday night showing the results of the review’s chaotic hand count of all 2.1 million ballots in Maricopa...

MSNBC “Morning Joe” host Joe Scarborough on Friday sounded off on four aides for former President Donald Trump being subpoenaed by the select committee in charge of investigating the riot at the U.S. Capitol on January 6. Trump has said he would invoke executive privilege if he were subpoenaed in the investigation. Scarborough warned Trump that “there is no executive privilege for treason” nor sedition.