The Senate quietly released a bare-bones report late Thursday on what a statement called “harassment settlement” data, showing that nearly $1.5 million in taxpayers’ money has been spent over the past two decades to cover claims against lawmakers and other Senate offices.
The two-page release contained no names of senators or victims. It said $599,000 was for 13 settlements involving “member-led” Senate offices, while the remaining $853,000 was for 10 settlements involving “other” Senate offices.
The Senate’s Rules and Appropriations committees released the information on the evening of Congress’ final work day this year. It came during a period that has seen several lawmakers resign or announce their retirements following sexual harassment accusations, and growing condemnation for the secrecy with which Congress has guarded information about such cases.
While the release called the information “harassment settlement data,” none of the terse descriptions of each case used those words. Four of the cases involved sex discrimination, including two that also involved “reprisal,” while most of the rest were for race, age or disability discrimination. (Read more from “Senate Admits to Paying $1.5 Million for Harassment” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/money.jpg10801920Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2017-12-23 00:36:522017-12-23 00:36:52Senate Admits to Paying $1.5 Million for Harassment
An Ohio bill to protect unborn babies with Down syndrome from abortion became law today as Gov. John Kasich signed the legislation. The measure bans abortions on babies with Down syndrome and it follows bans in North Dakota and Indiana.
The Down Syndrome Non-Discrimination Act (Senate Bill 164) would help prevent discrimination by prohibiting abortions on unborn babies who have or may have Down syndrome. Abortionists who violate the measure could be charged with a fourth-degree felony or lose their medical license. The legislation was sponsored by Reps. Sarah LaTourette and Derek Merrin and Sen. Frank LaRose.
“Now that the Down Syndrome Non-Discrimination Act is law, unborn babies prenatally diagnosed with Down syndrome are given a shot at life” said Mike Gonidakis, president of Ohio Right to Life. “Ohio is and will continue to be a state that sees the lives of people with Down syndrome as lives worth living, thanks to this legislation.”
In an August report, CBS News had a segment about Down syndrome in Iceland, claiming the country had “eradicated Down syndrome.” The report stated that nearly 100% of mothers who receive a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome for their pregnancy abort their child.
“Ohio Right to Life is immensely grateful to pro-life Governor John Kasich and his administration for how they have protected the unborn,” said Mike Gonidakis, president of Ohio Right to Life. “Gov. Kasich has signed 20 pro-life initiatives into law in the last six years. He is a pro-life champion, and we are thankful for how he has made it clear that we will not permit this kind of discrimination against people with Down syndrome.” (Read more from “Another State Bans Abortions on Down Syndrome Babies” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/abortion-1-1.jpg8001200Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2017-12-23 00:26:442017-12-23 00:26:44Another State Bans Abortions on Down Syndrome Babies
A college student in Kansas City was determined to finish her college finals on time, even if that meant going through labor when the exam was due.
Nayzia Thomas, a sophomore at Johnson County Community College, continued her studies of psychology for 39 weeks until her baby son ultimately gave her what she could no longer avoid: the completion of childbirth.
my mom took this pic & it's the perfect explanation of my life. yes i'm about to have a baby, but final SZN ain't over yet 🤓📚 pic.twitter.com/7LyrDBE9iN
Yahoo! Lifestyle reported that, instead of putting off her final psych exam, Thomas decided to complete her assignment on time. So, she did just that. (Read more from “Women Completes College Finals in Labor” HERE)
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By Michael Havis. Scientists have been left mystified after the body of a creature resembling a dinosaur was discovered with flesh still on its bones.
The partially-preserved corpse was discovered by an electrician cleaning out a sub-station that had been left untouched for 35 years in Jaspur, a small city in Uttarakhand, India.
It resembles a small dinosaur, but since flightless dinosaurs have been extinct for 65 million years, scientists have struggled to identify it.
The creature has now been sent for analysis, including carbon dating, which will reveal its age.
Dr Parag Madhukar Dhakate, a Conservator with the Indian Forest Service, said that the creature would remain an enigma until scientific analysis had been completed. (Read more from “Dinosaur-Like Creature With Flesh on Bones Found in India” HERE)
(Editor’s note: Our guess is “fake.” And not because we don’t believe that dinosaurs could currently exist, because they do. For example, the komodo dragon, crocodile, alligator, rhinoceros, elephant, etc., are alive and well and are definitely dinosaurian. Moreover, there are many other animals that evolutionists have said should have been dead millions of years ago, like the coelacanth fish, that are still being observed today. No, we think “fake” because of (1) its appearance (looks like a decayed rat with a bend in its back, something you’d expect to find in an abandoned electrical substation in India); and (2) where it was found and the third-world hucksters pushing the story on gullible westerners who click on their video. Perhaps we’ll be proven wrong in the next few weeks, but this looks like scam-city to us.)
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Scientists Baffled Over Half-Preserved Dinosaur-Like Corpse Found in India
By Outer Places. An interesting discovery has been made in an abandoned subway station in Uttarakhand, India, which may well change what we know about dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures.
According to reports, an electrician was cleaning the station, which had remained empty for over thirty years, when he came across a partially preserved skeleton which strongly resembles a raptor-like dinosaur. While the creature’s passing clearly wasn’t recent, its corpse still held some flesh, which by all rights should be impossible considering the length of time since the extinction of the dinosaurs.
The corpse has now been sent for testing and carbon dating, although it’s already very clear that this creature couldn’t possibly actually date back to the Late Cretaceous period during which raptors existed and thrived . . .
There are a few possible reasons for the creature’s uncanny dinosaur appearance. The easiest answer to reach for is that this is a fake, planted by some enterprising prankster in the hopes of garnering some attention from the scientific community. (Read more from “Scientists Baffled Over Half-Preserved Dinosaur-Like Corpse Found in India” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/Bones-Toy-Dinosaur-Grass-Rex-1512269.jpg635960Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2017-12-22 02:23:122017-12-22 03:09:04Dinosaur-Like Creature With Flesh on Bones Found in India
Life expectancy in the United States has dropped again following last year’s decline, which marked the first downturn in more than two decades.
On average, Americans can now expect to live 78.6 years, a statistically significant drop of 0.1 year, according to a report on 2016 data published Thursday by the National Center for Health Statistics. Women can now expect to live a full five years longer than men: 81.1 years vs. 76.1 years . . .
“I still don’t think you can call it a trend, because you really need more than two data points to call something a trend,” said Bob Anderson, chief of the mortality statistics branch at the National Center for Health Statistics, part of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “But it’s certainly concerning to see this two years in a row.” . . .
“We have data for almost half of 2017 at this point. It’s still quite provisional, but it suggests that we’re in for another increase” in drug-related deaths, he said. “If we’re not careful, we could end up with declining life expectancy for three years in a row, which we haven’t seen since the Spanish flu, 100 years ago.” (Read more from “US Life Expectancy Falls AGAIN, Worst Record in Over 50 Years” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/old-2593955_960_720.jpg640960Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2017-12-22 01:56:232017-12-22 01:56:23US Life Expectancy Falls AGAIN, Worst Record in Over 50 Years
It weathered and hardened from gray-black to a leathery brown. From a distance, as professionals and students walked past the tree at the west end of Palmer Square Park to trains and buses each morning, it could have been mistaken for a hanging length of bark. But within 10 feet, it was clearly something else: a footlong tongue.
Why was a tongue, likely a cow’s, so carefully disfigured and displayed near the luxury apartments and condominiums in rapidly gentrifying Logan Square? In a neighborhood that’s now home to loads of 20-something hipsters, it could be an elaborate performance art piece or a joke.
But Logan Square and nearby Humboldt Park have much longer histories as working-class enclaves filled with first- and second-generation immigrants, so another possibility presents itself.
Tongues have long played roles in Afro-Caribbean religions like Santeria. The symbolic engine of speech, a tongue can be used in many such faiths to try to get someone to remain silent, according to Lisa Poirier, an assistant professor of religious studies at DePaul University.
“Often it has to do with a court case,” Poirier said. “You can take a tongue and bind it up to get someone to shut up.” (Read more from “Animal Tongue Nailed to Tree in Chicago Sending a Message?” HERE)
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This semester, a robot named BINA48 successfully passed a class on the philosophy of love at Notre Dame de Namur University (NDNU), making her the first advanced robot to complete a college course.
William Barry, associate professor of philosophy and director of the Mixed Reality Immersive Learning and Research Lab at NDNU tells Inside Higher Ed that BINA48’s accomplishment was “remarkable.”
BINA48 was developed by Hanson Robots and released in 2010. She is a humanoid robot, consisting of a bust-like head and shoulders mounted on a frame. His appearance, memories, feelings and beliefs are modeled on those of Bina Aspen, a human, who is married to technology entrepreneur Martine Rothblatt.
Before she was a student, BINA48 appeared as a guest speaker for many of Barry’s classes. During one of her visits, she expressed an interest in going to college herself. Barry supported her idea and suggested she take his Philosophy of Love course.
The robotic student participated in class discussions, engaged in a class debate about the use of lethal weapons with students from West Point and ultimately received a certificate of participation signed by the provost of NDNU. (Read more from “Meet the Robot That Passed a College Class on Philosophy and Love” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/girl-320262_960_720.png720697Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2017-12-22 01:45:452017-12-22 01:45:45Meet the Robot That Passed a College Class on Philosophy and Love
Police in California’s central valley on Friday were searching for at least one suspect after 10 random shootings on vehicles that resulted in one woman injured.
A woman was shot when she was driving earlier this month in Fresno County, near the rural town of Kerman, Reuters reported. Her injuries were not life-threatening. The nine other shootings occurred between Nov. 27 and Dec. 17, authorities said. Cars were struck by gunfire, but no one was wounded, the report said.
The shooting attacks could turn deadly, Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims said at a news conference, Reuters reported.
“If this keeps going, it’s going to be a matter of time before we have a murder investigation,” Mims said. “That’s what we’re trying to avoid.”
Witnesses described the suspect’s vehicle as a dark colored pick-up truck with oversized tires, she said. (Read more from “Manhunt in California for Suspect in Random Shootings” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/7631995834_05257af933_b.jpg7681024Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2017-12-22 01:40:292017-12-22 01:40:29Manhunt in California for Suspect in Random Shootings
The 32-year-old Afghan migrant who plowed his SUV into a sidewalk full of Christmas shoppers in Melbourne, Australia, Thursday, has a lot in common with the more than 1,200 unwanted refugees Australia is sending to the U.S. under what President Trump has called a “dumb deal” negotiated by his predecessor, Barack Obama.
The carnage Thursday was caused by a maneuver that was “deliberate” but not necessarily tied to terrorism, Australian police said in the aftermath of the attack, which injured 18 and left a preschool boy fighting for his life in the hospital with traumatic head injuries.
Not only was the attacker Afghan (and, therefore, likely Muslim), but he has a history of mental health issues, said Australia’s chief of state police.
The suspect, whose name has not been released, is an Australian citizen of Afghan descent who used a technique, car ramming, that has been repeatedly recommended by the Islamic State over the last two years.
What should be disconcerting to every American, and what’s not being reported by the establishment media, is that the U.S. has agreed to take up to 1,250 rejected Muslim asylum-seekers off of Australia’s hands, most of them from Afghanistan and Pakistan along with stateless Rohingya Muslims from Burma and Bangladesh. (Read more from “Aussies Sending Hundreds of ‘Mentally Ill’ Muslim Migrants to US” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/mental-health-2019924_960_720.jpg639960Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2017-12-22 01:33:122017-12-22 01:33:12Aussies Sending Hundreds of ‘Mentally Ill’ Muslim Migrants to US
Cyril Ramaphosa, the new leader of South Africa’s dominant African National Congress (ANC) party, has promised a “radical economic transformation” for the country, including the possibility of seizing land without compensation.
“This conference has resolved that the expropriation of land without compensation should be among the mechanisms available to government to effect to land reform and redistribution,” he declared.
He added that any redistribution must be done in a way that is “sustainable.”
A considerable portion of land in South Africa is owned by white farmers, though their status is hardly privileged. White farmers have been under siege, suffering a murder rate 20 times the international average.
Being a farmer in South Africa is more dangerous than being a police officer. The South African government has been noticeably reticent to stop the killings, and South African President Jacob Zuma has even been filmed singing the revolutionary song “Kill The Boer.” (Read more from “Majority Party in Troubled Nation Plans to Seize Private Land” HERE)
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