The Byrds

 

Incongruity

The USA Faces a New Challenge

 Up until a few years ago, the USA and other leading countries were able to decide the fate of the world through, wealth, economic, and military strength and there were basically two sides:  Democracy and Communism.

It was countries like:

• The USA
• Russia
• China
• Great Britain
• The European Union

that decided everything, especially after WWI and WWII and a few smaller wars like Korea and Vietnam where no victory was really achieved on either side.

While we were growing fat, dumb, and happy, a group of people in the middle east after being educated at universities in the USA formed OPEC.  As the world consumed more and more petroleum crude oil, OPEC countries became wealthier and wealthier.

While that was happening the USA was trying to force its brand of Democracy on the rest of the world, especially in the Middle East, South America, and to a lesser degree in Africa which was still living hundreds of years in the past.

RESENTMENT towards the USA grew and it because not just a hatred of the USA but of Christianity versus ISLAM.

One of the most brilliant tactics of the 21st century was the Muslims deciding the send males to countries all over the world but especially in Europe and the USA so that they would marry local women.  They would have families and spread ISLAM throughout the world.

As Christianity started to die out in the USA, Islam grew stronger and stronger among its followers.  And, as the faith of Islam grew so did its populations all over the world.

There are Muslim all over Europe and the USA and these Muslims in the USA are getting elected to Congress so that they can influence the direction of Democracy while pushing a Muslim agenda.  Former President Obama was raised MUSLIM.

It is not just the Middle East that is spreading out its global footprint but India is doing this same thing as well.

Additionally, the illegal immigration from our southern borders have brought 8-10 million illegal immigrants into this country.  This immigration has put more immigrants into the USA and quicker than was done by the Muslims or by the people of India.

It is doubtful that all these immigrants share the same values as most Americans share and as they increase their birth rates, the USA will have the same demographics and the same politics that other countries in the rest of the world share.

We have simply spread out global poverty and no one will really be able to differentiate one country from another country.

This change in the USA will influence:

• commerce
• education
• politics
• education
• professional sports
• entertainment
• economics
• heathcare
• quality of life

In The NEWS

The Food and Drug Administration, for the first time Friday, approved a two-year plan allowing Florida to import certain prescription drugs from Canada at a lower price than in the US. The approval is seen as a step toward reducing the cost of medications for American consumers and paves the way for other states to request permission to import prescription drugs from Canada.



Israeli defense minister outlines plans for Gaza after the war.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant's proposals envision Gaza being run by a Palestinian body under the overall control of Israeli security and include a multinational task force taking charge of rebuilding the enclave. Relatedly, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in the Middle East Friday for talks about postwar plans for Gaza, marking his fourth trip to the region since the war began. See updates on the war here.



US Supreme Court to hear Trump's Colorado ballot disqualification case.
The Supreme Court agreed to review whether former President Donald Trump is ineligible for Colorado's GOP primary ballot. Oral arguments are scheduled for Feb. 8. The high court's move comes two days after Trump appealed the Colorado Supreme Court's December ruling, which disqualified Trump from the state’s ballot under a 14th Amendment clause that bars those supporting government uprising.



NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre steps down ahead of civil corruption trial.
The 74-year-old LaPierre, who led the National Rifle Association for more than three decades, announced his resignation Friday, citing health reasons. The news comes as the gun rights group is set to begin a corruption trial in New York Monday. A lawsuit filed by New York Attorney General Letitia James accused the NRA's leadership of diverting millions of dollars for their personal use. LaPierre and ex-NRA President Oliver North are expected to testify in the trial.

SOURCE:  1440 News

Improving Your Life in 2024

The start of a new year is a time for making changes and resolutions to improve your health and wellbeing. We look at some of the best tips that science has to offer.  With the arrival of another new year, you might be reflecting on what you'd like to achieve and the kind of person you want to be over the next 12 months.

But while roughly a third of us plan to make resolutions or set goals for ourselves in 2024, sticking to them is quite another matter. In previous years, surveys have revealed between 17% and 45% of us abandon these attempts after just the first month. The majority of people quit their resolutions by the middle of the year, according to one study. (Although if a recent YouGov poll is to be believed, Americans were somewhat better at sticking to their resolutions last year, with only 16% of resolution-makers giving up before the end of the year.)

These failures can lead to what some psychologists describe as an annual cycle of "false hope syndrome". Instead, there's some evidence that it might be better to set goals that are more achievable. Research suggests that approach-orientated goals – those that are realistic, specific and where success can be easily measured – tend to be more successful than those that focus on abstaining or avoiding something, such as giving up smoking or drinking.  READ MORE...

Somewhat Political

 

Efficiency of Electric Cars

 

In The NEWS

Oscar Pistorius, the South African former Olympic and Paralympic runner, will be released from prison today after serving half of his over 13-year sentence for the 2013 murder of his model girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp.



“Newly energized cells may provide many more years of healthy life to people'' concludes a recent publication in top scientific journal Nature Metabolism, revealing the critical link between cellular energy and enduring health. As we age, cellular energy production naturally declines and, like a “speed limit,” restricts cellular function setting the stage for diminished health.



ESPN and NCAA sign eight-year, $920M broadcast rights agreement; deal includes rights to broadcast 40 NCAA championships over the next eight years (More)



Glynis Johns, Tony-winning and Oscar-nominated actress known for starring role in "Mary Poppins," dies at 100 (More)

The 81st Golden Globe Awards to be presented Sunday (8 pm ET, CBS); see predictions for each category (More) | Elvis Presley holographic concert to debut in London in November (More)



OpenAI to launch its online store featuring third-party GPTs next week; expected to be similar to Apple Store, with ChatGPT-based programs instead of apps (More) | Google begins phasing out the use of cookies, small autogenerated files that track user history on websites in between visits (More)




New study finds genetic variant associated with male bisexuality also linked to higher rates of self-described risk-taking, fathering more children; findings may suggest the evolutionary advantage of the variant (More)




Alzheimer's drug combined with targeted ultrasound found to be about 30% more effective in attacking brain plaques (More)




US stock markets close mixed (S&P 500 -0.3%, Dow +0.0%, Nasdaq -0.6%); Nasdaq falls for fifth consecutive trading session, its longest losing streak since October 2022 (More) | Peloton shares up 14% after company announces new fitness hub partnership with TikTok (More)




Walgreens beats earnings and revenue expectations; shares close down 5% after drugstore chain nearly halves quarterly dividend payout (More) | Ford reports 7.1% increase in US new vehicle sales in 2023, its best US sales year since 2020 (More) | French grocery giant Carrefour drops PepsiCo products over price hikes (More)




US weekly jobless claims drop to 202,000; figure from last week is lowest level since October (More) | December US private payrolls rose for fourth consecutive month (More)




US airstrike in Baghdad, Iraq, kills commander of Iran-backed militia group, comes amid rising tensions in the Middle East (More) | Islamic State claims responsibility​​​​​ for Wednesday's cemetery bombings in Iran that killed at least 84 people (More) | See previous write-up (More)




Former President Donald Trump's properties and hotels reportedly received at least $7.8M in foreign payments (including $5.7M from China) during his presidency, per new report from House Oversight Committee Democrats (More) | See the report (More)




Weekend storm expected to bring significant snow to the US East Coast, with areas stretching from central Appalachia to the upper Northeast to see between 6 and 12 inches (More)

SOURCE:  1440 News

Survival of the Fittest

 Our WORLD is filled with more people that want war than there are people who want peace.

Why is this.

Years ago, Charles Darwin made the claim that evolution was predicated upon the concept of "survival of the fittest."  By definition, this lays the foundation for WAR not PEACE.

We can see this clearly in our elementary schools where older or bigger students bully the younger or smaller students.  In some cases the teachers try to stop this but in other cases they let it play out because they know it is a normal part of growing up.  It forms for the foundation for mental and physical toughness.

I high school and college we see this play out in sports where the stronger bigger team most always wins both in female and male sports.  Trans athletes who could not win against other biological males and now winning against biological females.  

Over time, trans females will replace most of the biological females in female sports because survival of the fittest results in them always winning.

There is no reason for us to debate this because it is happening whether we like it or not.

In the early years of the United States, Americans showed Native Americans that they were stronger and better able to survive.  The results of WWI and WWII showed the world what countries were in a better position to survive.

Again survival of the fittest.

Russia invades Ukraine because they perceive themselves to be stronger but they encountered such intense resistance that they are now questioning their own ability to conquer.  But, it is not that Ukraine is stronger, it is because other countries came to the aid of Ukraine to help them survive.

SO...  survival of the fittest has changed and is no longer based upon one person against one person or one country against one country but a coalition of countries against a coalition of other countries.  All of whom are trying to have power and control over the weaker coalition.

SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST will never die...  we will always, in some way, want to have power and control over someone else, so that we survive and they do not.

What we fail to see is the potential superior intelligence of those over whom we have power and control...  and, it is just a matter of time before that superior intelligence  defeats the FITTEST...

Mother Panda

 

Self-Control and Will Power

A scientific squabble over how to define self-control draws from an unlikely source: A story from Greek mythology.

Sailing home to Ithaca after the Trojan War, Odysseus longed to hear the Sirens’ legendary song. But he knew that was a very bad idea. The Sirens, the goddess Circe had warned, lured passing sailors to their island to kill them. 

So Circe helped Odysseus form a plan. As his boat approached the Sirens’ island, Odysseus handed crew members balls of wax to plug their ears, and he ordered the men to tie him firmly to the boat’s mast. He told the crew to tie him tighter if he begged and pleaded to heed the Sirens’ call. His plan in place, Odysseus was able to both hear the Sirens and live to tell the tale.

The science is clear. Proverbially tying oneself to the mast — or crafting strategies in advance to thwart temptation — is the optimal way to meet one’s goals. But not all agree that such preemptive strategies constitute self-control.

Social psychologists say Odysseus utilized exemplary self-control. That’s because they tend to distinguish between strategic self-control — that is, the Odysseus approach — and willpower. Willpower would be akin to Odysseus resisting the Sirens’ call in the moment without rope and muscular crewmen.  READ MORE...

Warthogs

 

Help From Friends

 

In The NEWS

At least 95 people were killed and more than 210 wounded yesterday after a pair of bombings at an Iranian cemetery in the southeastern city of Kerman. The attack took place during a memorial near the gravesite of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the former leader of the country's Revolutionary Guard. Soleimani was killed by a targeted US drone strike four years ago.

Names of numerous people who interacted with or had ties to deceased sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein were released yesterday, detailed in newly unsealed documents produced from a 2015 lawsuit.

The gross US national debt surpassed $34T earlier this week for the first time, according to a Treasury Department announcement Tuesday, an increase of $1T since September and $14T since early 2020. The US currently adds roughly $5B to its debt each day, and recent estimates suggest the debt will reach $50T by 2033. See an explainer here.



TV executive Nigel Lythgoe faces two new sexual assault lawsuits just days after Paula Abdul filed a similar lawsuit (More) | Rapper TI and wife Tiny accused in lawsuit of 2005 sexual assault (More)



Francoise Bornet, subject of Robert Doisneau's iconic Kiss by the Hotel de Ville photo, dies at 93 (More) | See history behind the photo (More)



England's Luke Humphries tops 16-year-old Luke Littler to win 2024 World Darts Championships (More)



SpaceX deploys first Starlink satellites with direct-to-smartphone capabilities; company says it will work with carriers to expand coverage, complementing its space-based Wi-Fi service (More)



Neuroscientists find uncommon phrases or complex sentence structures cause the brain's language processing center to fire rapidly, while nonsense phrases generate little to no neural activity (More)



AI models, satellite imagery combine to create the most detailed map of human activity across the Earth's oceans to date (More)



Xerox to cut around 3,000 workers, or 15% of its workforce, amid operational and organizational restructuring (More) | US job openings drop to 8.8 million, the lowest since March 2021 (More)



General Motors sales jump 14% year-over-year in 2023, led by a more than 60% increase in sales of its Buick brand vehicles (More)



Cracking the Case of Seven Doe
Associated Press | Sophia Tareen. How cold case investigators linked the death of an elderly woman with no memory of where she came from to a missing persons report from the 1970s. (Read)



Inner Thoughts Revealed
Undark | Fletcher Reveley. Brain-computer interfaces capable of decoding a subject's thoughts are becoming increasingly sophisticated. In the future, will anything be truly private? (Read)

SOURCE:  1440 News

US Scored Low on Human Rights

Americans like to think their country is exceptional — an unequaled bastion of freedom and opportunity. However, when it comes to human rights, a new report suggests the United States is anything but exceptional. Compiled by the Global Rights Project (GRIP) at the University of Rhode Island and the CIRIGHTS data project, the 2023 GRIP Annual Report assesses and ranks 195 countries on their dedication to 25 individual human rights. 

These are divided into four categories:

• Physical integrity: the right of citizens to not be unnecessarily harmed by state agencies
• Empowerment: the right to live and speak freely
• Worker rights: the right to decent-paying and safe work
• Justice rights: the right to fair laws

READ MORE...

Somewhat Political

 

USA Politics is DEAD

 My first encounter into politics was as a Democrat (because of my parents influence) and I became engaged because of JFK Jr.  He had the right attitude and mentality when he said:  "Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country."

Unfortunately, that is no longer the case.

Politicians on both side of the aisle whether in the House or in the Senate, no longer give a RAT'S ASS about the USA, although that is not what they claim.

Why do I think this?

Because we have the same problems today that we had in the 1960s and all the years in between.  NOTHING HAS CHANGED.  And yet, politicians are re-elected and spend twenty years or more in WASHDC getting nothing accomplished.

In 2024, the only politician that I really trust to do what he says he is going to do is DONALD TRUMP and I don't want him elected again because the Democrats will do everything in their power to DESTROY him and nothing else will get accomplished.

If you have read previous posts by me, you are no doubt aware that I am AGAINST:

• Illegal Immigration
• Increasing the National Debt
• A weak economy
• Ending fossil fuels
• Mandating EV without infrastructure
• Silencing the conservative voice
• Not seeing China as our ARCH ENEMY

I am also against illegal drugs but the reason why there are so many of them coming into our country is because AMERICANS WANT THEM...  Americans are not being forced to use illegal drugs they want to use illegal drugs.  Once the drug desire is there, it is difficult to eliminate.  More often or not they die eventually of an overdose.

American Politicians have fiddle farted around so much, I don't believe that they know how to get anything done, except spend money.  They certainly don't care about blue collar workers since neither side is doing much of anything to STOP ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION.

Why do we keep electing these politicians?

• Are Americans that indifferent/apathetic?
• Are Americans that politically stupid/ignorant?
• Do Americans just want the government to take care of them?

Just Walking

 

Magma Tunnel to Unleash Unlimited Power

ICELAND is one of the most boring countries in the world. That is meant as a compliment, not an insult. The island nation is dotted with thousands of boreholes drilled deep into the rock to extract geothermal energy. They will soon be joined by another, which will be anything but boring. “We are going to drill into a magma chamber,” says Hjalti Páll Ingólfsson at the Geothermal Research Cluster (GEORG) in Reykjavík. “It’s the first journey to the centre of the Earth,” says his colleague Björn Þór Guðmundsson.

Well, not quite the centre. Some magma chambers – underground reservoirs of molten rock – lie just a few kilometres below Earth’s surface, putting them within reach of modern drills. They occasionally leak magma to the surface, where it spews out as lava. That is exactly what was starting to happen, to spectacular and devastating effect, around the town of Grindavík in southern Iceland, as this story went to press. The trouble is, we don’t normally know where magma chambers lie. “No geophysical technique has been shown to satisfactorily locate magma reservoirs,” says John Eichelberger at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.  READ MORE...

The Byrds & Dylan