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Visual effects pioneer Douglas Trumbull, one of the masterminds behind the visual effects on some of the most visually audacious science fiction films of all time, including “2001: A Space Odyssey,” “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” and “Blade Runner,” died Monday from complications from mesothelioma. He was 79.

Japan has confirmed its first case of a new coronavirus from China, the health ministry said Thursday. A Chinese national who has traveled to Wuhan, eastern China, tested positive in Japan, the ministry said. The man in his 30s man lives in Kanagawa Prefecture. He returned from Wuhan on Jan. 6 and was hospitalized on Jan. 10. He has already recovered and was discharged from the hospital on Wednesday, the ministry said. A ministry official said there are no other confirmed cases in Japan. The pneumonia-like virus has infected dozens of people in Wuhan, with preliminary evidence suggesting the outbreak...

SAN JOSE, Calif. — As the Bay Area continues to struggle under the weight of its homelessness crisis, officials and nonprofits are asking local residents to do more than hand out meals or donate spare change. They’re asking them to open up their homes. Nearly 30,000 people are unhoused in the five-county Bay Area, and there isn’t nearly enough room in the region’s existing affordable housing developments. To fill the gaps, service providers increasingly are recruiting private landlords to take in homeless tenants. Some property owners are renting out entire units in exchange for agreements that the government or a...

Rep. Jim Banks heavily criticized House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for her failure to hand over key documents related to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, saying in a Monday interview that Republican lawmakers believe the severity of the riot was due to a “systemic breakdown and failure at the highest levels of the Capitol Police.” The Indiana Republican, who is on a panel of GOP lawmakers that is unofficially investigating the riot, spoke with The Daily Signal following an Axios report headlined “GOP’s shadow Jan. 6 committee targets Capitol Police ‘negligence.’” Banks criticized the article and strongly disputed any implication that...

We have, of course, over the years seen numerous such lone-wolf attacks, especially those consisting of Muslims randomly driving vehicles into people (Nice, France, 2016, with 86 people killed being only the most notorious) or going on stabbing sprees (the London Bridge incident, with two killed, being only the most notorious). But the aforementioned Rocket.Chat communiqués, which appeared in December 2021, had another message: Imagine with me, brothers, if Muslim refugees in Crusader Europe took hostages while the pigs [Christians] celebrate their polytheistic holidays and forced the European crusaders to order their angry dogs to release our sisters from the...

“Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars” (Proverbs 9:1 KJV).

All tow-truck companies on contract with the city have refused to haul away the big rigs that have gridlocked Ottawa's downtown for the second week in a row, the city's manager says. Steve Kanellakos said the consensus among many of the companies seems to be that they don't want to do the work because the heavy truck industry is such a large part of their livelihoods and they don't want to damage that part of their businesses. The city has contracts with 10 companies, which are typically used to tow vehicles during parking bans so city plows can remove snow....

The McCloskeys drew national headlines when they confronted a group of mostly Black protesters who had entered their gated community en route to demonstrate in front of the nearby home of a former St. Louis mayor in June 2020. The Missouri Supreme Court on Tuesday indefinitely suspended the law licenses of two St. Louis attorneys who waved guns at Black Lives Matter protesters in 2020, but it stayed their suspensions and placed them on probation for a year. The orders came after Missouri’s chief disciplinary counsel last year asked the court to suspend the law licenses of Mark McCloskey and...

Elektra was first discovered in 1873, orbiting in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Oblong-shaped and 160 miles across on its longest side, it is a relatively large asteroid and completes an orbit of the sun every five years. In 2003, the first moon was discovered orbiting Elektra, and in 2014 a second. The discoveries were interesting, but not unusual — more than 150 asteroids are known to have one or two moons, in the same way planets can have moons that are gravitationally bound to them. “Multiple moons can be found around large asteroids,” said Bin Yang, an...

A little more than a year after the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, Americans remain deeply divided about the events of that day and the ongoing congressional investigation into what happened. Last year, in the immediate wake of Jan. 6, about half of U.S. adults (52%) said Donald Trump bore a lot of responsibility for the violence and destruction committed by some of his supporters that day. Today, 43% say this. The share of adults who say Trump bears some responsibility has changed little since then, but more Americans now say Trump bears no responsibility for the mayhem...

Adele took home three awards at the BRITs at the O2 Arena on Tuesday, including the first ever genderless Artist Of The Year gong after the male and female categories were scrapped. The Easy On Me singer, 33, who also won the award for Song Of The Year and the coveted Album Of The Year, hit back at the 'woke' ceremony as she insisted she 'loves being a female artist', after bosses bowed to calls to rid the awards of gendered categories. Adele also tearfully dedicated her Album Of The Year award for '30' to her son Angelo, nine, and...

A backbench lawmaker from Justin Trudeau’s own caucus is accusing the prime minister of dividing and stigmatizing Canadians by politicizing vaccine mandates and Covid-19 restrictions. Joël Lightbound delivered the stunning, scathing assessment Tuesday in Ottawa... “Both the tone and the policies of my government changed drastically on the eve and during the last election campaign,” said Lightbound, who convened a press conference to deliver his message. "A decision was made to wedge, to divide and to stigmatize. I fear that this politicization of the pandemic risks undermining the public's trust in our public health institutions.” Publicly breaking ranks with one's...

Now he wants to give them crack pipes?

Boys and men across all regions and ethnic groups have been failing, both absolutely and relatively, for years. This is catastrophic for our country. Men now make up only 40.5 percent of college students. Male community college enrollment declined by 14.7 percent in 2020 alone, compared with 6.8 percent for women. Median wages for men have declined since 1990 in real terms. Roughly one-third of men are either unemployed or out of the workforce. More U.S. men ages 18 to 34 are now living with their parents than with romantic partners. More than two-thirds of manufacturing workers are men; the...

Deputy Chief Steve Bell says almost 1/4 of trucks in protest include children Ottawa police say almost 25 percent of the 418 trucks involved in the ongoing demonstration have children in them, which has hampered the force's response and led to concerns about the children's safety. Police provided an update Tuesday afternoon... Bell also turned his focus to the children of protesters. Over the weekend bouncy castles were set up near Parliament to help entertain children who remain. Bell said police are working the Children's Aid Society of Ottawa regarding those children. "It's something that greatly concerns us," Bell said,...

"The sower soweth the word. And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts. And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness; And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word's sake, immediately they are offended. And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the...

Comedian Heather McDonald shared video of the moment that she fainted on stage during a stand-up comedy show that resulted in a fractured skull. The 51-year-old comedian, who rose to fame through her appearances on E!'s Chelsea Lately, was performing at The Tempe Improv on Saturday night when she collapsed on stage after delivering her second joke. She was taken to the hospital where she was treated for a fractured skull, revealing Tuesday on TikTok and Instagram the video of her collapsing on stage. 'I fainted and fractured my skull in front of a sold out show at the @tempeimprov....

As Townhall reported yesterday, the Biden administration — with taxpayer funding from the American Rescue Plan — is funding grants that can be used to provide clean crack pipes under the guise of the president's "equity" agenda. The plan is, of course, nonsense given the rising number of overdose deaths claiming lives in the United States, a problem compounded by President Biden's open border and soft-on-crime policies. As only he can, Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) offered his thoughts on the mind-numbingly absurd program and hints that the Biden administration might approve so-called "safe injection sites" for drug use. "There almost...

Despite the removal of the province's vaccine passport policy, the truckers gathered at the Coutts, Alberta to Sweetgrass, Montana border crossing are demanding all restrictions be removed Rebel News' Kian Simone is reporting that the Coutts, Alberta border crossing is blockaded again following Premier Jason Kenney's announcement of a three-step reopening plan tonight. Speaking at a press conference Tuesday evening, Premier Kenney outlined how the province would follow a three-step plan to remove public health restrictions, beginning with the Restriction Exemption Program at midnight. Despite the removal of the province's vaccine passport policy, the truckers gathered at the Coutts, Alberta...

Project Veritas released a new undercover video today recorded within ESPN that revealed what appears to be a workplace environment full of toxic racist tension. The Whistleblower-recorded audio and video show numerous ESPN employees discussing what they see as a toxic, racist workplace environment which directly contradicts the image that ESPN tries to project. In one clip, a black studio operator discusses, “the racial shit that happens in here all the time.” In another clip, a black woman working as an audio communications specialist says “that’s not how it is” when addressing the difference between ESPN’s workplace environment and social...