Monday, March 13, 2017

Best Science Images of the Week...

Amazing Images: The Best Science Photos of the Week

By Livescience.com, staff | March 10, 2017 09:11pm ET

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Each week we find the most interesting and informative articles we can and along the way we uncover amazing and cool images. Here you'll discover 10 incredible photos and the stories behind them.

Going green in Antarctica:

No, Antarctica isn't busting out the green beer for St. Patrick's Day. But a new satellite image of the continent shows strange green ice floating in the Ross Sea.

[Full Story: Strange Green Ice Seen Floating in Antarctica's Ross Sea]

Furry bird-eaters:

Avicularia, a confusing genus of large "birdeater" tarantulas, gets a scientific makeover in a new study.

[Full Story: Bird-Eating Spiders: 3 Massive, Furry Tarantulas Discovered]

Sea arch:

The iconic 'Azure Window' sea arch in Malta collapsed completey into the sea after heavy rainstorms pounded the area.

[Full Story: Malta's Famous 'Azure Window' Collapses]

Bank, the sea turtle:

A sea turtle in Thailand had to undergo an operation to remove 915 coins from its stomach.

[Full Story: Sea Turtle Named Bank Had 915 Coins Removed from Stomach]

Tiny Predator, Amazing eyes:

The robber fly can spot and catch prey from more than 100 body lengths away.

[Full Story: Jaw-Dropping Vision Helps Tiny Flies Snag Prey in Under a Second]

Rare rhino:

A first-of-its-kind killing in a zoo does not surprise some conservationists familiar with rhino poaching.

[Full Story: Rare White Rhino Killed for Coveted Horn at French Zoo]

Smelly feet:

Bumblebees mark the flowers they've visited with smelly footprints, and they can tell the difference between odors from family members' feet and those of strangers.

[Full Story: Bumblebees Leave 'Smelly Footprints' Behind on Flowers]

Celeb species:

What does British naturalist and broadcaster Sir David Attenborough have in common with the Finnish founder of a symphonic metal band?

[Full Story: New Species! Tiny Frog and Fungus Gnat Get Celebrity Names]

A sinking valley:

A new map made with satellite radar data shows the sinking of California's San Joaquin Valley in deceptively tranquil colors.

[Full Story: Sinking of California's San Joaquin Valley Seen from Space]

Lightning from space:

A new weather satellite promises to deliver unprecedented data on Earth's lightning, and it has already captured its first spectacular images of storms from space.

[Full Story: New Satellite Beams Back Its 1st Photo of Lightning from Space]

Guide on where to Retire...

You can retire to Phoenix, Arizona where

1. You are willing to park three blocks away from your house because you found shade.
2. You've experienced condensation on your rear-end from the hot water in the toilet bowl.
3. You can drive for four hours in one direction and never leave town.
4. You have over 100 recipes for Mexican food.
5. You know that "dry heat" is comparable to what hits you in the face when you open your oven door at 500 degrees.
6. The four seasons are: tolerable, hot, really hot, and ARE YOU KIDDING ME??

You can retire to California where...
1. You make over $450,000 and you still can't afford to buy a house.
2. The fastest part of your commute is going down your driveway.
3. You know how to eat an artichoke.
4. When someone asks you how far something is, you tell them how long it will take to get there rather than how many miles away it is.
5. The four seasons are: Fire, Flood, Mud and Drought.

You can retire to New York City where...
1 You say "the city" and expect everyone to know you mean Manhattan.
2. You can get into a four-hour argument about how to get from Columbus Circle to Battery Park, but can't find Wisconsin on a map.
3. You think Central Park is "nature."
4. You believe that being able to swear at people in their own language makes you multilingual.
5. You've worn out a car horn. (IF you have a car.)
6. You think eye contact is an act of aggression

You can retire to Minnesota where...
1. You only have three spices: salt, pepper and ketchup.
2. Halloween costumes have to fit over parkas.
3. You have seventeen recipes for casserole.
4. Sexy lingerie is anything flannel with less than eight buttons.
5. The four seasons are: almost winter, winter, still winter, and road repair.
6. The highest level of criticism is "He is different," "She is different," or "It was different!"

You can retire to The Deep South where...
1. You can rent a movie and buy bait in the same store.
2 "Y'all" is singular and "all y'all" is plural.
3. "He needed killin" is a valid defense.
4. Everyone has two first names: Billy Bob, Jimmy Bob, Joe Bob, Betty Jean, Mary Beth, etc.
5. Everything is either: "in yonder," "over yonder" or "out yonder."

6. You can say anything about anyone, as long as you say "Bless his heart" at the end!

You can move to Colorado where...
1. You carry your $3,000 mountain bike atop your $500 car.
2. You tell your husband to pick up Granola on his way home, so he stops at the day care center.
3. A pass does not involve a football or dating.
4. The top of your head is bald, but you still have a pony tail.

You can retire to Nebraska or Kansas where...
1. You've never met any celebrities, but the mayor knows your name.
2. Your idea of a traffic jam is three cars waiting to pass a tractor.
3. You have had to switch from "heat" to "A/C" on the same day.
4. You end sentences with a preposition; "Where's my coat at?"

OR

FINALLY you can retire to Florida where...
1. You eat dinner at 3:15 in the afternoon.
2. All purchases include a coupon of some kind - even houses and cars.
3. Everyone can recommend an excellent cardiologist, dermatologist, proctologist, podiatrist, or orthopedist.
4. Road construction never ends anywhere in the state.
5. Cars in front of you often appear to be driven by headless people.

A Month of Islam and Multiculturalism in Britain: February 2017...

In this mailing:

Soeren Kern: A Month of Islam and Multiculturalism in Britain: February 2017
Raymond Ibrahim: Death and Destruction for Christmas

A Month of Islam and Multiculturalism in Britain: February 2017

by Soeren Kern • March 12, 2017 at 5:00 am

Muslim pupils outnumber Christian children in more than 30 church schools, including one Church of England primary school that has a "100% Muslim population." — Sunday Times.
Six Muslim men shouted "Allahu Akbar" as they were sentenced at Sheffield Crown Court for a total of 81 years for sexually abusing two girls — including one who became pregnant at age 12 — in Rotherham.
"By 2030, one in three people will be a Muslim in the world — that is a huge population." — Romanna Bint-Abubaker, founder of modest fashion website Haute Elan.
A Chatham House survey of more than 10,000 people from ten European countries found that an average of 55% agreed that all further migration from mainly Muslim countries should be stopped.

On February 1 ("world hijab day"), UK Prime Minister Theresa May said that women should feel free to wear the hijab, a traditional Islamic headscarf, stating: "What a woman wears is a woman's choice." Pictured above: Theresa May (then Home Secretary) wears a headscarf while attending an interfaith event at Al Madina Mosque in East London, in February 2015. (Image source: Imams Online video screenshot)

February 1. Jim Walker, a 71-year-old volunteer at Carnforth Station, was banned from the premises after someone complained about an alleged racist comment. Walker, who, for more than a decade, has been winding a famous clock at the station, was overheard discussing a newspaper article about young migrants entering Britain from the French port of Calais. Walker said:

"Carnforth Station Trust received a complaint from a visitor who was not happy about me speaking to somebody about the issue.... What they are doing is outrageous. It is absolutely unbelievable, it is a violation of free speech....

"I must be the only man in Carnforth who has a document saying where he can and can't walk and all for expressing a point of view and quoting an editorial from a newspaper. Now [winding the clock] is no longer possible."

Continue Reading Article

Death and Destruction for Christmas
Muslim Persecution of Christians, December 2016

by Raymond Ibrahim • March 12, 2017 at 4:00 am

"Nothing has been done by Pope Francis or the Bishop of Abu Dhabi to get me released, in spite of contact being made by my captors." — Rev. Tom Uzhunnalil, a Catholic priest who was kidnapped on March 4, 2016 in Yemen, when Islamic terrorists raided a nursing home and killed 16 people, including several nuns and aid workers.
"Christians continue to be the most persecuted believers in the world with over 90,000 followers of Christ being killed in the last year." — Massimo Introvigne, prominent statistician and researcher, interviewed on Vatican Radio.

Police confer at the site of the December 19, 2016 truck-ramming attack in Berlin, Germany. Anis Amri, a Muslim asylum seeker from Tunisia, murdered a Polish truck driver and 12 shoppers at a Christmas market. (Image source: RT video screenshot)

As in previous years, the month of Christmas saw an uptick in Islamic attacks on Christians — much of it in the context of targeting Christmas festivities and worship.

The one that claimed the most lives took place in Egypt. On Sunday, December 11, 2016, an Islamic suicide bomber entered the St. Peter Cathedral in Cairo during mass, detonated himself, killed at least 27 worshippers, mostly women and children, and wounded nearly 70. A witness said:

"I found bodies, many of them women, lying on the pews. It was a horrible scene. I saw a headless woman being carried away. Everyone was in a state of shock. We were scooping up people's flesh off the floor. There were children. What have they done to deserve this? I wish I had died with them instead of seeing these scenes."

Continue Reading Article

Saturday, March 11, 2017

Weekly Update: Obama IRS Scandal Update...

JW Sues in Obama Russia Leaks Scandal

March 10, 2017: This Week's Headlines

Obama IRS Scandal Continues – JW Forces IRS to Disclose New Documents

JW Files Lawsuit on Obama’s Illegal Russia Leaks

Rutland, Vermont Citizens Oust Mayor Caught in Refugee Dishonesty

Obama IRS Scandal Continues – JW Forces IRS to Disclose New Documents

We have no intention to allow the extra-legal activities of President Obama’s administration to fade into the sunset now that he is out of office. Particularly egregious was his using the might of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to target groups that disagreed with his political views.
And heel dragging at the IRS continues.
This week Judicial Watch reported that the agency informed the U.S. District Court that it located “an additional 6,924 documents of potentially responsive records” relating to our 2015 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit regarding the Obama IRS targeting scandal.
The lawsuit at issue sought records about the IRS selection of individuals and organizations for audits based upon applications requesting non-profit tax status filed by Tea Party and other 501(c)(4) tax-exempt organizations ( Judicial Watch v. Internal Revenue Service (No. 1:15-cv-00220)).
These newly identified records are presumably not the records contained in the so-called “Congressional Database, ” which the IRS created in 2013 to house records responsive to congressional inquiries into the IRS scandal.
The IRS informed JW today that it is producing an additional 694 pages of documents and expects to produce an additional batch by March 24, 2017. However, at this time, the Service still has not provided an estimate regarding when it will complete its review of the potentially responsive documents.
The corruption at the IRS is astounding. Our attorneys knew that there were more records to be searched, but the Obama IRS ignored this issue for years.
Remember that in July 2015 we released Obama IRS documents confirming that the agency used donor lists of tax-exempt organizations to target those donors for audits. The documents also show that IRS officials specifically highlighted how the U.S. Chamber of Commerce may come under “high scrutiny” from the IRS.
In September 2014 another JW FOIA lawsuit forced the release of documents detailing that the IRS sought, obtained and maintained the names of donors to Tea Party and other conservative groups. IRS officials acknowledged in these documents that “such information was not needed.” The documents also show that the donor names were being used for a “secret research project.”
The Obama IRS scandal continues and President Trump needs to clean house at the IRS as quickly as possible.

JW Files Lawsuit on Obama’s Illegal Russia Leaks

Using the IRS to harass political opponents is one thing. Getting the omnipresent apparatus of our spy agencies to target an incoming president is a threat several orders of magnitude greater.
In that regard, we have filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the Central Intelligence Agency, the United States Department of Justice and the Department of the Treasury regarding records related to the investigation of retired United States Army Lieutenant General Michael Flynn’s communications with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak (Judicial Watch v. Central Intelligence Agency et al. (No.1:17-cv-00397)).
The National Security Agency refused to confirm or deny the existence of intelligence records about communications between Gen. Flynn and Amb. Kislyak.
We filed the lawsuit after the agencies failed to respond to our January 25, 2017, FOIA request seeking:

Any and all records regarding, concerning, or related to the investigation of retired Gen. Michael Flynn’s communications with Russian Ambassador to the United States Sergey Kislyak between October 1, 2016 and the present.
This request includes, but is not limited to, any and all related warrants, affidavits, declarations, or similar records regarding the aforementioned investigation.
For purposes of clarification, please find enclosed a CNN report regarding the investigation, which cites information that was provided to CNN by members of the Intelligence Community.

In our complaint we ask the court to order the agencies to search for all records responsive to our FOIA requests and demonstrate that the agency employed reasonable search methods; order the agencies to produce by a specific date all non-exempt records and a Vaughn index of all withheld records; and instruct the agencies to cease withholding all non-exempt records.
On January 23, 2017, CNN, among other media outlets, reported that the government was investigating Flynn, former national security adviser to President Trump:

The calls were captured by routine US eavesdropping targeting the Russian diplomats, according to the intelligence and law enforcement officials. But the officials said some of the content of the conversation raised enough potential concerns that investigators are still looking into the discussions, amid a broader concern about Russian intelligence-gathering activities in the United States.
The officials all stressed that so far there has been no determination of any wrongdoing.

FBI and intelligence officials briefed members of the Obama White House team before President Barack Obama left office about the Flynn calls to the Russian ambassador, sources said.
We then filed yet another related lawsuit this week, this one against the CIA only. Our lawsuit is a simple one, seeking an unclassified report assessing Russia’s interference in foreign elections (Judicial Watch v. Central Intelligence Agency (No. 1:17-cv-00414)).
The CIA failed to respond to our December 14, 2016, FOIA request. (The agency’s response was due by January 24, 2017, at the latest.)
Here’s the background. On December 13, 2016, The Wall Street Journal reported that since 2015 Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH), a member of the House Intelligence Committee, “has been pushing for the unclassified version of a report assessing Moscow’s interference in foreign elections, particularly across Europe.” The Wall Street Journal further reports:

The White House already released a classified version of the assessment but Mr. Turner has been pushing for the unclassified version, which would be releasable to the public, he said. Mr. Turner sent the White House a letter … demanding for the unclassified version of the report.
“The fact that the administration is picking and choosing the information it releases and who they release it to ought to give everybody concern that the administration is manipulating this,” he said.
The report is critical for a better understanding of what Moscow is up to in elections overseas, he said. Mr. Turner said the Obama administration is cherry picking what it releases.

This report about Russia’s influence operations in Europe must not be helpful to the Obama anti-Trump Russia narrative – otherwise we wouldn’t have to sue in federal court to get it.
The illegal secrecy of the Obama administration’s anti-Trump Russia investigations must end.
And let me be clear: President Trump is on to something. The Obama-connected wiretapping and illegal leaks of classified material concerning President Trump and General Flynn are a scandal.
We aim to get to the truth about these crimes, and we hope the Trump administration stands with us in the fight for transparency.
As I mentioned on television this week (see our appearances on Fox and Friends and The O’Reilly Factor), President Trump can get these documents out quickly. The permanent bureaucracies, or “deep state,” will obstruct but he can overcome this obstruction and finally enforce the transparency laws in the Executive Branch. If he does, it could lead to your JW uncovering another terrible abuse and potential crimes by the Obama administration.

Rutland, Vermont Citizens Oust Mayor Caught in Refugee Dishonesty

Last October we reported to you that we had obtained 128 pages of documents from the mayor of Rutland, Vermont, showing a concerted effort by the mayor and a number of private organizations to conceal from the public their plans to resettle 100 Syrian refugees into the small southern Vermont town.

The mayor and resettlement organizations shrouded the plan in such secrecy that not even the town’s aldermen were informed of what was taking place behind closed doors.
Turns out, this may have been the icing on the refugee scandal cake for Rutland citizens.
According to Seven Days VT:

Rutland Mayor Chris Louras, who endured months of withering criticism for his plan to bring Syrian refugees to the city, lost his reelection bid on Tuesday.
In unofficial voting results, David Allaire, a city alderman and leading critic of the resettlement, trounced Louras, a 10-year mayoral incumbent, by a 776-vote margin, according to results cited by the Rutland Herald and WCAX-TV.

Corruption matters and the controversy in Bernie Sanders’ backyard is a small but significant indicator that President Trump’s efforts to place national security above open borders for refugees will be welcome by many Americans.

Until next week...