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Hana the Otter cuddles up to her human dad. Video: 4 minutes, 50 seconds

More Democratic lawmakers, party officials, and voters are expressing their frustration with President Joe Biden and concern over the Republican Party’s momentum heading into the 2022 midterms, according to a new report from The New York Times. As Biden’s approval rating continues to drop into the mid-30s, according to recent polls, some Democrats are doubtful the president can turn the party around after an expected “trouncing” in November. Others don’t want him to run for reelection in 2024. “Midway through the 2022 primary season, many Democratic lawmakers and party officials are venting their frustrations with President Biden’s struggle to advance...

CHICAGO -- Chicago weekend shootings have left at least 21 shot, four fatally, police said. A man was killed and a woman critically wounded in a shooting early Sunday morning in Grand Boulevard on the South Side. Just before 4:00 a.m., officers found the man and woman on the ground in the 4200 block of South State Street, Chicago police said. The man, 23, suffered a gunshot wound to the chest and was transported to the University of Chicago Medical Center where he was later pronounced dead, police said. The woman, 32, was struck in the lower back and taken...

SANTA FE, N.M. (Reuters) -The U.S. government will fund New Mexico's full wildfire response, President Joe Biden said on Saturday, speaking from Santa Fe amid anger from survivors over the blaze that was started by federal officials. "We have a responsibility to help the state recover," Biden told elected officials and emergency responders at an afternoon briefing in New Mexico's capital, where he was reviewing efforts to fight the Southwestern state's biggest blaze in recorded history. "Today I'm announcing the federal government's covering 100% of the cost," the president said, though earlier in the day he had said he would...

Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe told delegates Sunday at the Shangri-La Dialogue that China has made progress in developing a nuclear arsenal but would only utilize the new weapons for self-defense measures. When asked about reports from last year regarding the construction of more than 100 new nuclear missile silos in eastern China, he said the country "has always pursued an appropriate path to developing nuclear capabilities for protection of our country." Last year, the U.S. State Department said China's nuclear development was concerning and that it appeared the Asian country was deviating from decades of nuclear strategy of minimal...

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said no one knows how long the war in his country will last but that Ukrainian forces are defying expectations by preventing Russian troops from overrunning eastern Ukraine, where the fighting has been fiercest for weeks. In his nightly video address, Zelensky said he was proud of the Ukrainian defenders managing to hold back the Russian advance in the Donbas region, which borders Russia and where Moscow-backed separatists have controlled much of the territory for eight years.

Three well-known candidates lead by former Alaska governor and vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin have advanced to the general election in Alaska’s special House race, NBC News projects. Republican Nick Begich, the grandson of former Rep. Nick Begich, D-Alaska, and nonpartisan Al Gross, a surgeon, have also advanced to the general election, according to NBC News’ projection. In August, Alaska voters will rank four candidates to determine who secures the House seat for the final few months of the late Rep. Don Young’s term. Young held the seat for decades and died in March.

Representative Jamie Raskin (D-MD) said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that the House Select Committee investigation into the January 6, 2021 Capitol incident had evidence to back up claims made in the first hearing. Anchor Dana Bash said, “I want to ask you about pardons. You revealed this week that multiple Republican members of Congress sought pardons from President Trump after the insurrection. How many of your colleagues in Congress did that? And what evidence do you have? Because you know that Congressman Scott Perry is denying it.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin is planning to force the West to end its sanctions by causing a widespread famine, Yale historian Timothy Snyder argues. Snyder, a Levin professor of history at Yale University, pointed to Russia's ongoing blockade of Ukrainian grain, which shows no signs of stopping. Ukraine is a major global producer of grain, supplying mainly Middle Eastern and Asian countries. Snyder argues that Putin's plan is not only to destabilize Ukraine by cutting off exports but also destabilize the European Union by generating "refugees from North Africa and the Middle East, areas usually fed by Ukraine." "When the...

New Zealand has long boasted that its relationship with its indigenous population is one of the more enlightened. Not anymore. The brutal imposition of house arrest on residents of the Pacific island of Nukunonu because they have not agreed to be vaccinated has revealed that the New Zealand government is willing to ignore basic citizen rights. A letter late last year from the Office of Council of Nukunonu to the unvaccinated family revealed that extreme pressure was put on them to comply. It set deadlines and saying they are “sad” the family has not complied. It said: “You will remain...

Finally, the Pennsylvania primary is over, which means voters now have a clear sense of what’s at stake on Election Day. Doug Mastriano, the Republican nominee for governor, is one of the leading deniers of the undeniable truth that Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election. Celebrity TV doctor Mehmet Oz, the Republican Senate nominee, has refused to acknowledge that Biden won the 2020 election. Trump endorsed Oz, who in turn voiced support for the 2020 election fraud conspiracies. The longtime New Jersey resident has no political experience. He has been widely criticized for touting medical quackery,...

No one would work minimum wage jobs if they were not subsidized by government. The profits of Walmart and other corporations come largely from the fact there workforce is subsidized by the welfare state. Companies should be paying their own workforces not pocketing profits that only exist from the fact their employees are being supported by the taxpayers. Who actually benefits from this? This is something I think the left and right should agree on. The left hates billionaire corporations and the right hates the welfare state and wasteful spending. Subsidizing Walmart workers costs the US taxpayers about 8 billion...

House Democrats have ramped up their investigation of the Washington Commanders football team and owner Dan Snyder, relying on a familiar "Me Too" playbook to do it. Reps. Carolyn Maloney (D., N.Y.) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D., Ill.) have invited Snyder and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to testify before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on June 22 as part of their sprawling probe into the football team. Democrats opened the investigation last year after the NFL fined the team $10 million for workplace harassment issues. The probe has expanded to include sexual misconduct allegations against Snyder himself and an...

Representatives for George Soros no longer want to be associated with disgraced prosecutor Chesa Boudin now that he's been rebuked by the liberal voters of San Francisco, the Washington Free Beacon has learned. Hours after Boudin was recalled by double-digits on Tuesday, representatives for the liberal billionaire contacted the Free Beacon to reject its characterization of Boudin as a "George Soros darling." The Soros representatives from public relations firm BerlinRosen say he never contributed to Boudin, and that it is wrong to label Boudin a "Soros prosecutor." "We disagree with any analysis that labels any prosecutor as a ‘Soros prosecutor'—each...

(video) In 2020 I became immersed in the marvelous world of quadrupedal robots. Viewing YouTube videos of robots such as SPOT by Boston Dynamics, and the MIT Mini Cheetah has inspired me to make my very own. These cleverly crafted bots are known for their dynamic movements and realistic appearances. Over the past year, I've made it my personal goal to create my very own affordable quadrupedal robot. One that could function similar to the high-end quadrupeds. Here I present ARES, a fully 3D printed 12 DOF robot dog capable of omni directional travel as well as many other maneuvers....

As the mournful notes of the cello brought the four minutes of The Dying Swan to a close at The Hague on January 24, 1931, the audience was in tears. Throughout the performance, there had been no dancer — only a moving spotlight emphasizing the absence of Anna Pavlova, the ballerina the world loved. She had died the day before, of a mysterious lung infection that began almost immediately after her train had left Paris. She'd told doctors she suspected she'd been poisoned. Unable to reach a diagnosis, they treated her symptoms but failed to save her. For Soviet émigrés...

Today’s supply-chain policy challenges are a consequence of forgetting that other considerations besides economic efficiency matter, and that hands-on craft knowledge cannot be transmitted online. Unfortunately, problems that have been four decades in the making cannot be solved overnight. CAMBRIDGE – Starting in the 1980s, transnational production enabled the expansion of global trade and low prices for goods, contributing significantly to economic growth. But the shocks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the Ukraine war have shown firms that the efficiency gains implied by the global division of labor – and just-in-time production – come at the cost of resilience....

On April 5, 2022, the JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) Network Open published a study attempting to find a reduction in firearms fatal and non-fatal injuries associated with the very aggressive implementation of a “Red Flag” law, also known as a gun violence restraining order or GVRO, in San Diego County, California. The results surprised and appear to have shocked them. No statistical association existed, although the data was the most comprehensive to date, and the study was designed to find such an association.No such association existed.The study was funded by various contributions from philanthropic and government sources....

Florida Rep. Ted Deutch, D- Boca Raton, didn’t make many waves when he was in the house, but he caused a tsunami by leaving. Deutch announced in February that he would be retiring from congress to become the CEO of the American Jewish Committee. I wrote on February 28: It just got a lot more exciting here in Palm Beach County as there will undoubtedly be a massive brawl in both parties between everyone who wants to take a shot at this seat. Rumors true: Ted Deutch to retire from Congress.

Stop trying to pretend this isn't treason. It is. Stop trying to pretend this isn't the purposeful, intentional destruction of America. It is. Stop trying to pretend this is "politics as usual" or a "political disagreement." It's not. Stop trying to pretend everything is going to be all right. It's not. America is in a dire situation. I believe we are in the worst situation in the history of America. We are hanging by a thread. It isn't over just yet. But it's the ninth inning, and we're down 8-0, with two outs. The situation is that dire. We are...