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The legend of fat, matronly Ma Barker and her four gangster sons. J. Edgar Hoover called Ma a "beast of prey", but many historians believe that Ma only cared for her sons and committed no crimes herself.

In a recent breakthrough that could pave the way for novel treatments for anxiety and stress disorders, a team of neurobiologists from the University of California San Diego has uncovered a “fear switch” in the brain. This discovery could alter our approach to understanding and handling fear by mastering control over this neural switch, potentially offering relief to millions suffering from generalized anxiety disorders and PTSD. “Our results provide important insights into the mechanisms involved in fear generalization,” said co-author and professor of neurobiology at UC San Diego, Dr. Nicholas Spitzer. “The benefit of understanding these processes at this level...

Former President Donald Trump filed a defamation lawsuit in federal court Tuesday against ABC News and its network anchor George Stephanopoulos, alleging his reputation was besmirched by Stephanopoulos’s claim that a jury found Trump “liable for rape” in the E. Jean Carroll case.The incident occurred during Stephanopoulos’s interview with Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) on March 10. Stephanopoulos said during the interview, “Judges and two separate juries have found him liable for rape and for defaming the victim of that rape. How do you square your endorsement of Donald Trump with the testimony we just saw?”Neither Stephanopoulos nor ABC News issued...

Brazil’s federal police accused former President Jair Bolsonaro and his closest aides over allegations they falsified their Covid-19 vaccination records to travel to the U.S. at the height of the pandemic, according to a person close to the investigation. The criminal accusations, which could carry a jail sentence of up to 15 years if they lead to a conviction, come as authorities crack down on Bolsonaro and his fellow conservatives in a barrage of criminal cases, angering supporters who have threatened nationwide protests if he is arrested. Bolsonaro and 16 other people, including his former adviser and military official Mauro...

Former Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer criticized his colleagues on the high court over their interpretation of the Constitution. The former justice, who retired in 2022, is set to release a book titled Reading the Constitution: Why I Chose Pragmatism, Not Textualism, laying out an argument critiquing the methods used by many Republican-appointed justices to interpret the Constitution. “Recently, major cases have come before the court while several new justices have spent only two or three years at the court,” Breyer said in the book, according to the New York Times. “Major changes take time, and there are many years...

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to block a Republican-backed Texas law allowing state law enforcement authorities to arrest people suspected of crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally, rejecting a request by President Joe Biden's administration. The administration had asked the justices to freeze a judicial order allowing the Texas law to take effect while the U.S. government's challenge to the statute proceeds in the lower courts. The administration has argued that the law violates the U.S. Constitution and federal law by interfering with the U.S. government's power to regulate immigration. Texas Governor Greg Abbott last December signed the law,...

ASHINGTON—The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to block Texas from implementing its own criminal law against illegal immigration, rejecting an emergency appeal from the Biden administration which argued that states can’t interfere with federal authority over the border.

A powerful congressional committee accused the University of California, Berkeley, of fostering “an environment of pervasive antisemitism” — which included an anti-Jewish “riot.” The Republican-led Committee on Education and the Workforce said Tuesday it was formally investigating the San Francisco Bay Area college as part of an escalating probe into antisemitism. And the committee chair, Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), revealed she had “grave concerns” about Berkeley because of the “inadequacy” of its “response to antisemitism on its campus” even before the October 7 terrorist attacks by Hamas on Israel ignited anti-Jewish demonstrations. The committee outlined a list of antisemitic incidents...

13 March 2024–Seattle may have experienced its own Swift Quake last July, but at an August 2023 concert Taylor Swift’s fans in Los Angeles gave scientists a lot of shaking to ponder. After some debate, a research team led by Gabrielle Tepp of Caltech concluded that it was likely the dancing and jumping motions of the audience at SoFi Stadium—not the musical beats or reverberations of the sound system—that generated the concert’s distinct harmonic tremors. In their study in Seismological Research Letters, Tepp and colleagues show how they were able to identify the seismic signature of individual songs and determine...

President Biden on Tuesday touted the decrease in crime in 2023, citing data from the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI). The FBI data, released on Tuesday found that the U.S. experienced 11 percent less crime in cities over 1 million people compared to 2022, 13 percent fewer murders overall and 6 percent less violent crime. “Across America, families want the same thing: the freedom to feel safe in their community. To know their kids are secure. My Administration is making it a reality,” Biden said in a statement. Biden said that in 2020, before he took office, “the prior administration...

The Supreme Court on Tuesday gave Texas officials permission to jail and prosecute migrants suspected of crossing the U.S. southern border without authorization, greenlighting the enforcement of a state immigration law known as SB4 that the Biden administration has called unconstitutional.Denying a request from the Justice Department, the high court allowed the controversial Texas law, one of Gov. Greg Abbott's signature immigration policies, to take effect while the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit considers the measure's legality.Passed by the Texas legislature last year, SB4 criminalizes unauthorized migration at the state level, making the act of entering the...

An LIRR rider was slashed in the face on a train in Queens on Monday in a horrifying, caught-on-video attack — days after an armed straphanger launched violence that ended with himself shot in the head. Monday’s crime occurred when a 27-year-old man tried to board a Long Island Rail Road train at the Locust Manor station around 3:50 p.m. and a 32-year-old male suspect was blocking the entrance, a witness told ABC. The victim asked the guy to move and was able to eventually board the train. But he was soon approached by the suspect, who asked him if...

Texas will pull some $8.5 billion in investments from BlackRock over its ESG policies, the biggest such divestment after several Republican states have moved to cut ties with firms that conservatives see as privileging liberal goals. Texas State Board of Education Chairman Aaron Kinsey announced the move on Tuesday. A letter was sent to BlackRock the same day notifying the world’s largest money manager. The divestment was done to comply with the state’s anti-environmental, social, and governance law, which prohibits state investment in companies like BlackRock that Republicans say boycott energy companies. “BlackRock’s dominant and persistent leadership in the ESG...

Former President Donald Trump made the claim on Monday that Democrats "hate Israel" and that any Jewish voter who supports Democrats hates their religion. Trump was asked by his own former assistant and current talk show host Sebastian Gorka why Democrats such as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., "hate" Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "I actually think they hate Israel," Trump responded. "And the Democrat Party hates Israel." Trump suggested Schumer, who is Jewish, has become "very anti-Israel" for political reasons, citing large pro-Palestinian protests across the country amid violence in Gaza.

Amid the West's continued support of Ukraine, the threat of nuclear escalation with Russia has been ever-present as the Kremlin tries to deter further NATO involvement. While there is no indication of an impending nuclear clash between Russia and NATO, the results would be catastrophic, according to the "Plan A" simulation published by Princeton's Science and Global Security program, which estimates there would be 91.5 million casualties within hours of a nuclear conflict and many more in the following months and years. A Russian nuclear attack on the U.S. would aim to cut essential command and control communications channels, destroy...

A group of progressive lawmakers is renewing its push to increase taxes on the country’s wealthiest people. The proposal, reintroduced Tuesday, would create a 2 percent tax on households that are worth more than $50 million and a 3 percent tax on households worth more than $1 billion. It would affect the wealthiest 100,000 households in the country, according to the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), USA Today first reported. “Today I’m re-introducing my Ultra-Millionaires Tax so that when someone makes it really big—earning over $50 million—they have to chip in 2 cents on the next dollar,” Warren said...

Bloomberg News reported on Monday, “Trump personally told Ramaswamy he won’t be his vice presidential pick, according to people briefed on the discussion, but is considering him for posts including Homeland Security secretary. Some Trump allies see Ramaswamy as ideal for the job because they say he excels at public speaking and, as an Indian-American son of an immigrant, could neutralize criticism of sweeping immigration restrictions.” Ramaswamy has been a loyal supporter of Trump, even when the two were battling in the Republican primary. After leaving the race, Ramaswamy promptly endorsed and began campaigning for Trump

Alabama Sen. Katie Britt spawned headlines this month for telling a flagrantly misleading anecdote about sex trafficking during the GOP response to President Biden’s State of the Union address. The way she politicized and misrepresented the context and timeline of the story presented was immoral, exploitative and wrong. But the hard truth is that kidnapping, violence and sexual exploitation remain a reality at the border — and in reality, Britt is among a legion of conservative voices whose anti-asylum policy stances would make the situation far worse. While the media has focused on her factual distortions, they haven’t yet fully...

The Synodal Church’s Mission of Unifying Around the Lowest Common Denominator to Serve the GlobalistsWe can see the refined contours of the Synodal Church through four themes considered in the new Synodal document: the need to adapt to the modern world and globalist objectives; proclaiming Christianity of the lowest common denominator; unity in diversity of religious beliefs; and a new relationship with the Bishop of Rome.On March 14, 2024, the General Secretariat of the Synod released a new document with its reflections on “How to be a synodal Church on mission,” adding further evidence that the “Synodal Church” is not...

Former President Donald Trump filed a defamation lawsuit in federal court Tuesday against ABC News and its network anchor George Stephanopoulos, alleging his reputation was besmirched by Stephanopoulos’s claim that a jury found Trump “liable for rape” in the E. Jean Carroll case. The incident occurred during Stephanopoulos’s interview with Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) on March 10. Stephanopoulos said during the interview, “Judges and two separate juries have found him liable for rape and for defaming the victim of that rape. How do you square your endorsement of Donald Trump with the testimony we just saw?” Neither Stephanopoulos nor ABC...