Shroud of Turin Mystery Deepens as Medieval Dating Found to Be Fundamentally Flawed

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A new French-Italian study on the Shroud of Turin throws doubt on what many thought was the definitive dating of the cloth believed by millions to be the burial cloth of Jesus Christ. . .

In 1988 radiocarbon tests on the Shroud of Turin dated the cloth to between 1260 and 1390. The implication was clear: The shroud was a medieval forgery. After a 2017 Freedom of Information (FOI) request, a new team of researchers gained access to the original data used for the 1988 test. The findings of this new team are that the 1988 test results were unreliable. . .

Only then, after the British Museum acceded to the FOI — something it was legally obliged to do — did Casabianca and his teams gain access to hundreds of unpublished pages from the earlier study. The subsequent examination of the data by the Franco/Italian team found evidence, now published in Oxford University’s Archaeometry, which suggests that the methods employed by the 1988 scientists were flawed. . .

Casabianca’s team found that the 1988 carbon dating was unreliable, as only pieces from the edges of the cloth were radiocarbon tested. It has been long held by some scholars that those sample areas had been affected by exposure to fire in 1532 while the shroud was stored in the Sainte-Chapelle, in Chambéry, France.

“The tested samples are obviously heterogeneous from many different dates,” Casabianca, a convert to Catholicism, told the Register. “There is no guarantee that all these samples, taken from one end of the shroud, are representative of the whole fabric. It is, therefore, impossible to conclude that the Shroud of Turin dates from the Middle Ages.” (Read more from “Shroud of Turin Mystery Deepens as Medieval Dating Found to Be Fundamentally Flawed” HERE)

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New Poll Shows Clear Winner of Second Democratic Debates — and a Very Big Loser

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A new poll from Quinnipiac University shows one candidate clearly gaining from her performance at the second Democratic debates, while another losing a lot of support.

The poll released on Tuesday showed that Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) got a jolt in support from the debate, with an increase of 6 percentage points from 15 percent to 21 percent, putting her in second place.

Former Vice President Joe Biden lost 2 percentage points of support, but still retains the top spot with 32 percent in the Quinnipiac poll.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) also did well, with an increase of 3 percentage points from 11 percent before the debate, to 14 percent after the debate.

The big loser, according to the poll, was Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), who slipped to fourth place after losing 5 percentage points from 12 percent to 7 percent. (Read more from “New Poll Shows Clear Winner of Second Democratic Debates — and a Very Big Loser” HERE)

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WATCH: Chilling New Details Emerge About Dayton Mass Murder

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On Tuesday’s Glenn Beck radio program, Pat Gray and Stu Burguiere (filling in for Glenn this week) discussed emerging new details about the mass murderer who killed nine people early Sunday morning in Dayton, Ohio.

Pat said that the killer’s sister and “best friend,” who drove him to the scene of the massacre, were among the first to be shot.

“His best friend drove him, he and his sister, to the nightclub, and then they were [among] the first ones he shot,” said Pat. “He killed his sister. He shot his best friend. His best friend was also on his hit list when he was in junior in high school … he had a hit list of people he wanted to kill, and he had a rape list of girls he wanted to rape.”

Pat and Stu also noted the killer’s “pornogrind metal band,” which was known for its songs about gore, violence (particularly sexual violence) and necrophilia, his extreme left-wing views, as well as his support for Antifa on social media.

(Read more from “Chilling New Details Emerge About Dayton Mass Murder” HERE)

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Disgraced FBI Agent Peter Strzok, Who Said He Would ‘Stop’ a Trump Presidency, Is Suing the DOJ

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Former FBI Agent Peter Strzok, who was fired in disgrace for his conduct during the 2016 election, has filed a lawsuit against the Department of Justice; demanding back pay in what he says was a wrongful termination. Strzok’s antics during the 2016 election place the FBI in an embarrassing situation and tarnished its reputation as a leading and impartial investigative body. The FBI started the counterintelligence investigation that became the Russia probe headed by now-ex-Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who removed Strzok from the case when he learned of the text messages and its contents. Strzok was a counterintelligence agent who was then reassigned to human resources upon discovery of these texts (via NBC News):

Former FBI agent Peter Strzok filed suit against the Justice Department on Tuesday, arguing he was wrongly fired for sending private text messages that ripped Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign.
Strzok was a senior FBI official who worked on the investigations into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server as secretary of state and any links between Russia interference in the 2016 election and the Trump campaign. Special counsel Robert Mueller had him removed from his investigation into Trump and Russia after the anti-Trump texts emerged publicly.

Strzok was fired from the FBI late last year. His lawsuit says he was fired as a result of a “concerted public campaign to disparage and, ultimately, fire Special Agent Strzok” that “was enabled by the defendants’ deliberate and unlawful disclosure to the media of texts.”

(Read more from “Disgraced FBI Agent Peter Strzok, Who Said He Would ‘Stop’ a Trump Presidency, Is Suing the DOJ” HERE)

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Did Texas Democratic Congressman Castro Post a List Targeting Trump Donors?

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Texas Democratic Congressman Joaquin Castro, brother of 2020 candidate Julian Castro, has targeted Trump donors. He’s revealed their names, the ones who have given the maximum allowed in a year, which has some lobbing allegations of doxxing. If it’s not doxxing, it all but leads the left-wing crazies right to these people in order to be harassed. And yet, these people are the ones who constantly peddle more trust in government because no abuse of power will occur. No one will be harmed…unless you support Trump or have an opinion contrary to liberal orthodoxy (via Daily Caller):

Democratic Texas Rep. Joaquin Castro on Monday tweeted the names and employers of 44 San Antonio residents who donated the federal maximum to President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign.

Castro, whose district includes much of San Antonio, claimed the donors “are fueling a campaign of hate that labels Hispanic immigrants as ‘invaders.’” Castro is the twin brother of Democratic presidential candidate Julian Castro and chairs his presidential campaign.

Sad to see so many San Antonians as 2019 maximum donors to Donald Trump,” the congressman wrote, proceeding to name local businesses whose owners gave the maximum to Trump’s campaign. Eleven of the 44 donors shown in Rep. Castro’s post listed their employment as “retired.”

(Read more from “Did Texas Democratic Congressman Castro Post a List Targeting Trump Donors?” HERE)

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California Governor: Mass Shootings Caused by Toxic Masculinity

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Kudos to California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom for finding something upon which to blame mass shootings other than President Trump or the Second Amendment. Unfortunately, Newsom’s scapegoat is just as ridiculous.

During an emergency meeting on gun violence on Monday, Newsom said that the conversation on mass shootings should focus on toxic masculinity, given that such shootings “overwhelmingly, almost exclusively, are [committed by] males, boys, men.”

“I do think that is missing in the national conversation,” Newsom said, according to HuffPost. “If there was anything more obvious, I don’t know what is, why it is that we’ve just come to accept that, that it’s been so normalized and sort of baked in, that it’s not even debated any longer. Why does it have to be, why is it men, dominantly, always?” . . .

“And I think that goes deep to the issue of how we raise our boys to be men, goes deeply to values that we tend to hold dear — power, dominance and aggression, over empathy, care, collaboration,” he continued. “That is a deeper conversation — forgive me — a more difficult one to have, but I want to just introduce that into this debate.”

Newsom, and the leftists who agree with him, fail to understand that traits like aggression and dominance can be deeply important for young men, when correctly directed. For instance, male aggression could be transformed into the courage required to face off against the kinds of toxic men that enact mass shootings. It’s the sort of courage that leads a man to lay down his life for others. Dominance could be transformed into leadership, providing young males an example to follow.

(Read more from “California Governor: Mass Shootings Caused by Toxic Masculinity” HERE)

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It’s Not Guns or Mental Illness. the Problem Is Deeper Than That. (VIDEO)

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In reaction to the horrific mass shootings in Dayton, Ohio, and El Paso, Texas, this weekend, many people on both sides have been engaged in the same game of slogan-shouting and cliche-spewing that always follows these kinds of things. One side says guns are the problem. The other retorts that mental illness is the real culprit. Both agree that extremist ideologies are partially to blame, but they disagree on which extremist ideology is most to blame. Round and round we go. Nothing is accomplished. Nothing changes. And lost in the fog of talking points is the hard reality of these tragedies — the fact that actual, real people are dying.

It is indeed an epidemic. Mass shootings are still exceedingly rare, but the fact remains that 20 of the 27 deadliest mass shootings in American history have happened in the last 15 years. Since the Virginia Tech massacre in 2007, this country has seen 9 of the 13 deadliest shootings in its history. The worst one ever was two years ago. The second worst was the year before that. It’s true that the media tries to grossly (in multiple senses of the word) inflate mass shooting statistics by counting gang violence in the total, but the numbers are still extraordinary even without being manipulated to prove a political point. For some reason, shootings like El Paso and Dayton are way, way more common today than they were 20 years ago or anytime previous. That is not debatable. The only debatable question is why.

As for that question, we never get close to answering it because we are determined to focus the conversation around guns, mental illness, and extremism. Yes, guns obviously are part of the picture. But our existing laws, if enforced, would have prevented many of these slaughters already. We don’t need more laws. We need, rather, to utilize the ones that are already on the books. The Dayton shooter apparently was caught keeping a hit list of classmates he wanted to kill in high school. I think we can all agree that people with hit lists shouldn’t be able to obtain firearms. But that, again, is a matter for better enforcement, not additional laws. Besides, there have always been guns in this country. There have not always been this many mass shootings. . .

At bottom, the answer is that we have become a country filled with numb, detached, and desensitized people. Mass shootings are the ultimate manifestation of that detachment. Our reaction to them — rhetorically slinging dead bodies at each other to score points in a political argument — is a slightly less severe but very much related manifestation. A survivor of the El Paso shooting reports that the shooter casually smirked before unloading on a crowd of innocent people. This echoes many other reports from many similar shootings. The killer is always smirking like he’s slightly amused, or else he’s blank-faced and emotionless. Rarely do you get a picture of someone running around enraged and screaming. We call these acts of “hate,” but they are much more acts of brutal, murderous indifference. These are empty, numb, detached people slaughtering their fellow humans because they are bored and frustrated with their meaningless lives. (Read more from “It’s Not Guns or Mental Illness. the Problem Is Deeper Than That.” HERE)

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New York Times Proves Once and for All That It Takes Marching Orders from the Liberal Elite

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. . .If you were looking for proof — real, solid proof — that the once-great New York Times takes its marching orders from the liberal elite in the Democratic Party, look no further.

After two mass shootings within hours left 32 dead and 52 wounded, President Trump delivered a somber statement from the White House on Monday. He laid out several avenues as potential solutions, called for unity and bipartisanship, soothed Americans as the comforter-in-chief and loudly denounced racism and white supremacy. . .

The New York Times captured the essence of the president’s speech with a headline for its first print edition that read: “TRUMP URGES UNITY VS. RACISM.” The headline carried no bias for either Left or Right, simply summing up the expansive message Trump had delivered.

But the Left went nuts — absolutely nuts. How dare The Times not bash Trump as a racist?!

Former Rep. Robert “Beto” O’Rourke, a candidate for the presidential nomination in 2020, found it “unbelievable” and said so as he rewteeted a post from Nate Silver, a former New York Times writer.

(Read more from “New York Times Proves Once and for All That It Takes Marching Orders from the Liberal Elite” HERE)

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Trump’s Ambassador to Russia Is Resigning and Reportedly Looking at a Gubernatorial Run

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President Donald Trump’s top representative to the Kremlin is stepping down this fall, according to a resignation letter sent to the president Tuesday morning.

As reported by the Salt Lake Tribune, Jon Huntsman sent a letter to the president on Tuesday in which he says that he plans to leave the job effective Oct. 3 and return home to the United States.

“American citizenship is a privilege and I believe the most basic responsibility in return is service to country,” Huntsman’s letter begins. “To that end, I am honored by the trust you have placed in me as the United States ambassador to Russia during this historically difficult period in bilateral relations.”

Voicing appreciation for the team he’s worked with, the ambassador adds that the Mission Russia team “is first-rate and every American would be proud of their work. Their efforts away from loved ones, in one of the world’s most forbidding environments, are nothing short of inspiring. They deserve our endless gratitude.”

“Yet,” he later explains to the president, “as I have shared with you and Secretary [Mike] Pompeo, our desire is to return to the United States after two years to reconnect with our growing family and responsibilities at home.”

He also says that he hopes that giving the White House also two months’ notice on his departure “will allow sufficient time for a successor to be nominated and confirmed.”

Huntsman is a former Utah governor who served as ambassador to China under the Obama administration. Before that, Huntsman served as deputy U.S. trade representative under George W. Bush and was the ambassador to Singapore under George H.W. Bush. Huntsman was confirmed to his current role in September 2017 by a unanimous vote of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee followed by a voice vote on the Senate floor.

The Salt Lake Tribune now says that Huntsman may make a move to return the Utah governor’s mansion “according to those close to him.”

Meanwhile, the Beehive State’s next race for governor in 2020 has already been shaping up. Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox has already announced a campaign and businessman Jeff Burningham is “exploring a run” according to a website run by “Jeff Burningham for Governor.” Retiring Republican Rep. Rob Bishop is also considering a run. (For more from the author of “Trump’s Ambassador to Russia Is Resigning and Reportedly Looking at a Gubernatorial Run” please click HERE)

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Gun Control Gaining Republican Momentum After Texas and Ohio Shootings

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The following is an excerpt from Blaze Media’s daily Capitol Hill Brief email newsletter:

In the aftermath of the weekend’s shootings, the push for gun control is getting stronger. During a formal address from the White House yesterday, President Donald Trump voiced his support for “red flag” gun confiscation laws, which are intended to strip gun rights away from people deemed to be threats to public safety. Congressional Democrats responded to that address by calling for the Senate to come back from recess to pass a background check bill that wouldn’t have done anythingto prevent the weekend’s shootings.

At the same time, Sens. Joe Manchin and Pat Toomey are teaming up to bring back a background check bill that failed in the Senate after the Sandy Hook massacre, and Lindsey Graham says he’s working on a “red flag” bill with anti-gun Democrat Richard Blumenthal. A Republican House member, Adam Kinzinger, also announced his support for “red flag” laws.

The problem with searching for a magical policy solution to mass shootings is that the numbers don’t support one. (For more from the author of “Gun Control Gaining Republican Momentum After Texas and Ohio Shootings” please click HERE)

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