Welfare With No End in Sight Is a Terrible Fate. Let's Help Americans Avoid It.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program is high on the Republican list of programs targeted for reform—and justifiably so.

The program has gone from 17 million enrollees in 2000 to about 43 million today, with outlays up from about $25 billion to more than $70 billion.

The Trump administration’s budget submitted last February includes major reforms to the program, designed to save $216 billion over the next decade. Now the House Agriculture Committee has put forth its own reforms as part of the bill reauthorizing the budget of the Department of Agriculture for the next five years.

The problem with the food stamp program is similar to the problem of the other anti-poverty, welfare programs on which we spend almost 25 percent of the federal budget. That is, what is directed in the spirit of compassion, to provide temporary assistance to those who have fallen on hard times, transforms into a way of life.

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Delaware becomes first state to fully ban child marriage

Delaware has become the first state in the nation to completely ban marriage for anyone under 18.

Democratic Gov. John Carney on Wednesday signed into law the measure that makes it illegal for minors to get married, under any circumstances, even if their parents approve.

Previously, anyone could get married in Delaware at any age with a judge's approval.

'Now that we have closed this loophole in Delaware law, children will be protected from forced marriage and its dangerous consequences,' Rep. Kim Williams (D-Newport) told WDEL.

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The Washington Post Covers 'Nancy' Changes

It's been a whirlwind of a two weeks since Olivia Jaimes took the reins on the nearly 100 years oldNancy comic and let me just stay there's been no shortage of back and forth and name calling and teeth gnashing and wrist slapping and shame-spiraling. And that's just when I'm alone in my office! LOL!

If I could be serious for a moment, it has been a big change and some people don't like it, and I hear where they are coming from. I would ask that they refrain from throwing tomatoes at me ... until lunchtime that is. LOL!

You may know that Michael Cavna does the wonderfully creative Warped! comic here on GoComics, but did you know he's also an award-winning writer for one of the world's great newspapers? Maybe you've heard of The Washington Post?

Michael was one of the first to break the story of Olivia taking over the Nancy pen and he wrote again yesterday about how us folks here at GoComics are having an ongoing and spirited conversation about the changes. Click to see the article here.

Registration is required to read.

Here's one of the better parts of the piece:

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Mossberg Joins Springfield Armory, NSSF in Cutting Ties with Dick’s Sporting Goods

Legendary shotgun maker Mossberg is following in the footsteps of Springfield Armory and the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) by severing ties with Dick’s Sporting Goods.

Breitbart News reported that Springfield Armory severed ties with Dick’s on May 3, after it became known that the sporting goods chain had hired lobbyists to push gun control to Congress. The next day, NSSF canceled Dick’s membership in their organization, thereby expelling the business.

Now Mossberg is following suit.

They announced the end of their relationship with Dick’s via Facebook:

‘Pocahontas’ moves to defuse problem with aid to checkered tribe

She’s never been a gambling fan, but Sen. Elizabeth Warren is pushing federal legislation to help deliver a casino to a tribe with a checkered past as she struggles to neutralize her “Pocahontas” problem.

Her bill, introduced in March with fellow Massachusetts Democrat Sen. Edward Markey, would allow the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe to build a $1 billion gaming resort about halfway between Boston and Cape Cod even though a federal court blocked the project in 2016.

The Senate bill and its House companion have drawn cheers from tribal leaders eager to resume construction on the lavish complex while stirring resentment among locals irritated at the prospect of Congress big-footing the ongoing Interior Department review.

“It’s certainly an end-run on both what’s going on in court and at the agency level,” said attorney David Tennant, who represents 25 East Taunton residents challenging the project.

Ms. Warren’s involvement comes despite a record indicating that when it comes to gaming, she’s not a high roller.

She opposed the state’s 2011 law expanding Las Vegas-style gambling and supported the 2014 repeal effort, which was defeated. Last year, she sponsored a bill to treat gambling addiction in the military.

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WSJ: The FBI Hid A Mole In The Trump Campaign

On Wednesday we reported on an intense battle playing out between House Intel Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA), the Department of Justice, and the Mueller investigation concerning a cache of intelligence that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein refuses to hand over - a request he equated to "extortion."

On Tuesday, the Washington Post reported that Nunes was denied access to the information on the grounds that it "could risk lives by potentially exposing the source, a U.S. citizen who has provided intelligence to the CIA and FBI."

After the White House caved to Rosenstein and Nunes was barred from seeing the documents, it also emerged that this same intelligence had already been shared with Special Counsel Robert Mueller as part of his investigation into alleged Russian involvement in the 2016 US election.

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Reed College Students Demand Removal of White Authors from Humanities Course

Students at Reed College in Portland, Oregon, are demanding the removal of white and European authors from a mandatory humanities course at the college.

Reed College caved to student protesters in April after they demanded that white authors be removed from the college’s Humanities 110 course. Now, the course will focus primarily on ancient Mediterranean authors.

Reed College professors have responded with confusion at the allegation that the Humanities 110 course is “too white.” “The idea that Hum 110 is a ‘white’ course is very strange to me,” Jay Dickson, a professor of English, recently said in a comment to the college’s magazine. “It presupposes that our contemporary racial categories are timeless.”

Despite the changes, the student activists are still concerned that the presence of Greek and Roman works will suggest that those works are superior to all of the works that follow.

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Maxine Waters explodes on House floor: I resent ‘making America great again'!

California Congresswoman Maxine Waters doesn’t want to hear any talk about making America great, especially if it’s coming from a straight white man.

Waters went off the rails at a recent House debate when Pennsylvania Rep. Mike Kelly had the audacity to suggest the country needed to shift focus from what divides to what unites.

“We are trying to make sure we are making America great every day in every way and the best way to do that is to stop stalking about discrimination and start talking about the nation,” Kelly said Tuesday, directing his comments to Waters. “We’re coming together as a people, in spite of what you say.”

Committee chairman Tom McClintock reminded lawmakers to direct comments to him, rather than each other, before yielding to “the gentlelady from California.” Waters ignored his request and immediately attacked Kelly, pointing to her special double victim status as a black woman.

“Mr. Kelly, please do not leave. Because I want you to know that I am more offended as an African American woman than you will ever be. And this business about making America great again, it is your president that’s dividing this country,” she said.

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Catholic University in Iowa Opens Sex-Segregated Islamic Prayer Space

St. Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa, inaugurated a new prayer space for Muslim students this week, co-designed by the Saudi Student Association.

The new prayer space, which is equipped with sinks for ritual foot-washing and separate areas for male and female worshippers, was built in memory of Father Joe DeFrancisco, a professor of comparative religions who died last July at the age of 69.

At the priest’s “ecumenical” funeral Mass in 2017, fellow Catholic clergy were joined at the altar by a rabbi, an imam, an Anglican priest and a Lutheran chaplain, according to the college’s website.

The school said that the prayer room was named in honor of the priest “as an acknowledgment of his efforts to promote the universality of faiths throughout a 27-year career as a St. Ambrose professor of Theology.”

According to senior Student Government Association President Matthew Mahoney, the idea for a dedicated Islamic prayer space began with a suggestion by DeFrancisco himself, who felt that Muslim students “didn’t really have a substantial enough prayer rooms on campus.”

“This is a truly appropriate way to honor Fr. Joe,” said Sister Joan Lescinski, president of the college. “His openness to all members of the Quad Cities faith community was a living example of the Catholic Intellectual Tradition.”

“Former students still talk about the impact visits to temples and mosques had on them as members of his Comparative Religions class,” she added.

“Being able to say that we’re committed to these Muslim students, and to all students—students of all different faiths—is really outstanding,” Mahoney said.

“It’s uniquely Ambrosian, and it just sort of shows our commitment to all different faiths.”

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Trump at Indiana Rally: 'We Defend the Right to Self-Defense'

During a Thursday night rally in Elkhart, Indiana, Trump warned of Democrats’ relentless attacks on the Second Amendment and made clear that he and Republicans will “defend the right to self-defense.”

Trump said, “We defend the Second Amendment and don’t kid yourself, it is under siege.” He later added, “Never believe that your Second Amendment is not under siege. ”

He said these things to bolster his efforts in juxtaposing Democrats with Republicans, contrasting pro-gun control politicians with those who are fighting to defend the Second Amendment.

Trump said of himself and his party, “We defend the right to self-defense.” This statement gets down to fundamentals, as did so many statements he made last week during his speech at the NRA Annual Meetings in Dallas.

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Mobile Devices destroying Eyesight?

(Natural News) Most parents insist that their children wear sunglasses for a day at the beach, but they give little thought to allowing kids to damage their eyes using electronic devices. In fact, some experts say that using cell phones, TVs and tablets isn’t much different from looking at the sun when it comes to the damage it can cause your eyes.

The blue light that is emitted from the screens of these devices happens to be precisely in the range where it can cause the most damage: around 430 to 440 nanometers. It may have a short wavelength, but its high energy means it penetrates right through the lens of the eye and the cornea to reach the retina in the back of the eye. This can cause macular degenerationand eventually blindness. Doctors warn that Millennials, who tend to spend lots of hours looking at screens all day, risk starting to go blind once they approach 50.

Many people experience frequent headaches as a result of digital eye strain, and it’s not unusual for their vision to become blurry. According to ophthalmologist Dr. Alan Mendelsohn, looking at a screen for more than half an hour a day is risky.

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For Every Woman Who Dies In Childbirth In The U.S., 70 More Come Close

Samantha Blackwell was working her way through a master's degree at Cleveland State University when she found out she was pregnant.

"I was 25, in really good health. I had been an athlete all my life. I threw shot put for my college, so I was in my prime," she says with a laugh.

Though it wasn't planned, Blackwell's pregnancy was embraced by her large and loving family and her boyfriend, who would soon become her husband. Her labor was quick, and she gave birth to a healthy baby boy.

Yet just days after she was discharged, Blackwell was back in the hospital, in a medically induced coma, fighting a runaway infection that left her hovering between life and death.

"It was like 'I fell asleep at that hospital and woke up the next day' kind of thing," she says. She was in a coma for more than a month.

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Real-Time Facial Recognition Is Available, But Will U.S. Police Buy It?

You've seen it in the movies for years: Security cameras find a face in a crowd, and — Enhance! — a computer comes up with a name. In real life, facial recognition was too error-prone to work that quickly, especially with live video streams.

But now the Hollywood fantasy is coming true.

Facial recognition accuracy rates have jumped dramatically in the last couple of years, making it feasible to monitor live video. China recently announced real-time facial recognition covering "16 provinces, cities and autonomous regions," and similar systems are being tried in Russia, India and even the United Kingdom.

"I've been in this industry since the mid-2000s, and I've never seen people gravitate toward face recognition like the past two years," says Benji Hutchinson, a vice president with NEC Corporation of America, a major supplier of the systems. "It's night and day."

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Chinese Robocalls Bombarding The U.S. Are Part Of An International Phone Scam

If you live in a part of the country that has a large Chinese immigrant population, you may have recently received a robocall in Mandarin — or even several of them. The calls seem to be blanketing certain phone exchanges without regard to the national origin of the recipients. Presumably, this is how the New York Police Department ended up on the call list.

NYPD Officer Donald McCaffrey, who works in the Queens grand larceny division, is investigating the calls in New York City. He has also been receiving them on a daily basis.

"I get them also, in the NYPD building," McCaffrey says. "I have an NYPD department cellphone and I get them on the cellphones, also. It is out of control."

Non-Mandarin speakers may find the robocalls baffling — or annoying — and just hang up. But some Chinese immigrants who have followed the robocall's prompts have found themselves sucked into an international phone scam.

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U.S. Embassy In Tel Aviv Prepares A Monday Move To Jerusalem

Come Monday, Jerusalem will be the official home of the U.S. Embassy to Israel.

Near the office, American and Israeli flags line the streets. New road signs, written in Hebrew, Arabic and English, point the way to the embassy. The Friends of Zion Museum has plastered buildings and buses with more than 150 billboards in support of President Trump. And on Twitter, the Tel Aviv handle @USEmbassyTA has gone dormant and @usembassyjlm has taken its place.

The U.S. Embassy had operated on HaYarkon Street in Tel Aviv since the late 1960s. No country has its embassy in Jerusalem because of its contested status — both Israelis and Palestinians see the ancient city as their capital. For decades, U.S. policy refrained from recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital until Israelis and Palestinians settled the matter in a peace agreement.

During his visit to Israel, Vice President Pence said the U.S. would complete its plan to move the embassy by the end of 2019, speeding up a previously announced timeline.

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Man Allegedly Used Change Of Address Form To Move UPS Headquarters To His Apartment

As federal crimes go, this one seems to have been ridiculously easy to pull off.

Dushaun Henderson-Spruce submitted a U.S. Postal Service change of address form on Oct. 26, 2017, according to court documents. He requested changing a corporation's mailing address from an address in Atlanta to the address of his apartment on Chicago's North Side.

The post office duly updated the address, and Henderson-Spruce allegedly began receiving the company's mail — including checks. It went on for months. Prosecutors say he deposited some $58,000 in checks improperly forwarded to his address.

The corporation isn't named in the court documents, but the Chicago Tribune reportsthat it's the shipping company UPS.

In a statement to NPR, UPS said it "was notified that some U.S. mail, intended for UPS employees at the company's headquarters address, was redirected by an unauthorized change of address by a third party. The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) corrected the issue and the USPS Postal Inspector is investigating the incident."

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When Cancer Patients Ask About Weed, Many Doctors Say Go For It

Thirty U.S. states have enacted medical cannabis laws, and all but one of them include cancer in the list of conditions allowed. Such laws give cancer patients across the country access to a substance that remains illegal under federal law.

Anecdotal reports suggest marijuana is helpful in managing symptoms of chemotherapy, like pain and nausea. But it's unlikely curious patients are getting clear guidance from their doctors on whether they should try marijuana, which form might work best and how much to take. A new survey of 237 oncologists from around the country finds that while roughly 80 percent talk with their patients about marijuana, fewer than 30 percent feel they have sufficient knowledge to advise them about its medicinal use.

Despite their shaky knowledge of the drug, nearly half of all oncologists dorecommend medical cannabis to their patients, according to the study, which was published Thursday in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. But more than half of those suggesting it, don't consider themselves knowledgeable to do so, says Dr. Ilana Braun, a cancer psychiatrist at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Mass. and the study's lead author.

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News in Numbers

2020

MAY 11, 2018

The year by which all new homes built in California will have to run on solar power. 

Source: Governing Magazine

91 percent

MAY 10, 2018

The percentage of homes in the Miami area that teachers cannot afford. The county of Miami-Dade has proposed building housing for teachers on school property to deal with the problem.

4.4 percent

MAY 9, 2018

The amount of Washington state's GDP growth in 2017. Due to its expanding e-commerce sector and a host of other factors, the state had the largest GDP increase in the country last year. 

Source: Governing Magazine

26

MAY 8, 2018

The number of homes destroyed as of Sunday in Hawaii's Kilauea Volcano eruption. Five other structures were also destroyed. Residents have been evacuated from two remote, rural neighborhoods on the eastern edge of Hawaii Island where the lava is emerging from the fissures. An estimated 1,800 people live in the affected area, and many have sought housing in shelters, with friends or on surrounding islands. 

Source: http://www.governing.com/topics/transportation-infrastructure/gov-hawaii-volcano-26-homes-destroyed.html

$7 billion

MAY 7, 2018

The amount of Detroit's liabilities it was able to unload in its historic bankruptcy. The city finally emerged from state financial oversight last week, five years after it declared what was then the largest municipal bankruptcy in history. The city plans to start repayments again in 2024 -- but its grasp on financial stability remains fragile. 

Source: Governing Magazine

20 percent

MAY 4, 2018

The total overall pay raise Arizona teachers will be receiving over a two-year period. Teachers in the state have walked out of class all week to protest low pay and low school funding. Late Wednesday night into early Thursday morning, the state legislature finally approved a pay raise deal for some (though not all) teachers. Gov. Doug Ducey signed the deal right away. The deal did not provide for new education funding or raises for non-instructional school staff, frustrating teachers. But most will reportedly end the strike to avoid jeopardizing public support.  

Source: The Los Angeles Times

44 percent

MAY 3, 2018

The percentage of dockless shared bikes on the street, as compared to traditional station-based shared bikes. The introduction of dockless bikes into several cities last year more than doubled the number of shared bikes on the street, from 42,000 in 2016 to 100,000 in 2017. But while they were 44 percent of all shared bikes, dockless bikes made up just 4 percent of all shared bike trips last year.  

Source: Governing Magazine

$276,000

MAY 2, 2018

The median home price in previously redlined neighborhoods as of 2017. This is two-and-one-half times less than the median home price in the neighborhoods favored by 1930s federal lending policy.

More than 80 years ago, the government determined which neighborhoods it considered risky for federal mortgage loans, outlining the "riskiest" neighborhoods in red. The determining factor was largely race, regardless of the economic status of the residents. The gap in home values persists today -- and it's actually getting bigger. READ MORE

Source: Governing Magazine

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Meet America's Next Pension Casualty

In 1923, a young Jewish immigrant from a small town in modern-day Ukraine founded a candy company in Brooklyn, New York that he called “Just Born”.

His name was Samuel Bernstein. And if you enjoy chocolate sprinkles or the hard, chocolate coating around ice cream bars, you can thank Bernstein– he invented them.

Nearly 100 years later, the company is still a family-owned business, producing some well-known brands like Peeps and Hot Tamales.

But business conditions in the Land of the Free have changed quite dramatically since Samuel Bernstein founded the company in 1923.

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Ruger Changes No Business Practices - Responds to Stockholder Demands

[Editor Note: We are sending this out in advance of Friday's GunsAmerica This Week digest due to the overwhelming fake news that has spread across the internet regarding Ruger's response to a stockholder demand that they produce a report regarding gun safety and smartgun technology. Blannelberry posted a story on it here. The real story is that Ruger will not be changing any business practices whatsoever. They were forced by law to produce a report, nothing more. Watch for stories this Friday in the Digest regarding the efficacy of smartgun technology, and some insights into the effects of limiting access to firearms to the law abiding. ]

Ruger's official response (posted 5/9/2018 to their Facebook page): 

Please understand that Ruger was obligated by applicable law to include a shreholder's activist resolution with its proxy materials for a shareholder vote. With its passage, the proposal requires Ruger to prepare a report. That's it. A report. What the proposal does not do . . . and cannot do . . . is force us to change our business, which is lawful and constitutionally protected. What it does not do . . . and cannot do . . . is force us to adopt misguided principles created by groups who do not own guns, know nothing about our business, and frankly would rather see us out of business. As our CEO explained, "we are Americans who work together to produce rugged, reliable, innovative and affordable firearms for responsible citizens. We are staunch supporters of the Second Amendment not because we make firearms, but because we cherish the rights conferred by it. We understand the importance of those rights and, as importantly, recognize that allowing our constitutionally protected freedoms to be eroded for the sake of political expediency is the wrong approach for our Company, for our industry, for our customers, and for our country. We are arms makers for responsible citizens and I want to assure our long-term shareholders and loyal customers that we have no intention of changing that."

Gaza: Where Terrorists Are 'Victims' and Terrorism Is 'Resistance'

"One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter" is one of the worst clichés in the English language. Unfortunately the phrase's logic is applied all too often to the ongoing violence at the Israel-Gaza Strip border. Just look at Peter Beinart's recent column on the riots there. "Why are thousands of Palestinians risking their lives by running toward the Israeli snipers who guard the fence that encloses Gaza?" asks Beinart. "Because Gaza is becoming uninhabitable." And why is the Strip becoming uninhabitable? Because Israel is "denying Gaza's people the water, electricity, education, and food they need to live decent lives."

According to Beinart, the ongoing attempts to damage and breach the border security fence to attack Israel, the rocks and firebombs hurled and shots fired at Israeli soldiers, the firebomb-bearing kites that torment Israeli farmers trying to grow crops, the widespread presence ofswastikas at the demonstrations, the anti-Semitic threats against Jews, the horrible ecologicaleffects caused by burning tires to blind Israeli border guards—all actions carried out by Gazans—are reactions of victims motivated by resistance against their oppressors. The fact that most of the rioters who Israelis have killed were terrorist operatives, or individuals affiliated with terrorist organizations, is irrelevant, because it gets in the way of this narrative.

"Hamas is indeed a brutal and destructive force, to both Israelis and Palestinians," acknowledges Beinart. "But Hamas did not force Israel to adopt the policies that have devastated Gaza. Those policies represent a choice—a choice that has not only failed to dislodge Hamas, but has also created the very conditions in which extremism thrives."

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A Cashless Society Looms: Cui Bono?

You love your credit cards, right? Handy and easy, you just whip it out and purchase whatever you want. No cash; no hassle. And everyone makes it so easy for you

Before you bask in all this convenience, consider just who is gaining from this war on cash.

The banks, of course, are charging as many fees as they can think of. More importantly, your cash card leaves a wide data trail detailing your buying preferences, used by merchants and advertisers to entice you into more buying. How convenient. These thoughtful companies even offer reward points every time you use the card. Cash offers the ultimate in privacy. Your cash card might as well be a walking billboard.

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Trump unloads on DHS chief over immigration

President Donald Trump berated Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen in a dispiriting Cabinet meeting on immigration Wednesday, according to three administration officials, but her colleagues denied reports that she has threatened to quit.

Trump lashed out at his Cabinet, and Nielsen in particular, when told that the number of people arrested for illegally crossing the Mexico border topped 50,000 for the second consecutive month. The blowup lasted more than 30 minutes, according to a person with knowledge of what transpired, as Trump's face reddened and he raised his voice, saying Nielsen needed to "close down" the border.

"Why don't you have solutions? How is this still happening?" he said, adding later, "We need to shut it down. We're closed."

Nielsen battled back, one person said, telling Trump that laws limit some of what she could do to block the flow of undocumented immigrants. Attorney General Jeff Sessions defended her, saying the administration was looking for new ways to deter illegal crossings.

Trump has never viewed Nielsen favorably, and complains to colleagues that she is "not tough enough," according to a senior White House official. He reminds staff that she was a "George W. Bush person" because of her previous tenure as a White House Homeland Security adviser.

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Federal Appeals Court Tosses Union ID Reqs

Dissenting workers do not need to show photo ID to withdraw support

A federal appeals court upheld sanctions against a union that attempted to skirt Michigan's right-to-work law.

A three-judge panel declared that the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers could not force workers to present photo identification in order to withdraw union membership and end dues payments. The decision affirmed a ruling by the National Labor Relations Board, the nation's top federal labor regulator, that the IBEW violated the rights of workers by imposing the restrictive withdrawal procedure.

"We conclude that the Board's determination that Local 58's policy unlawfully restricted its members' rights was reasonable," the ruling says.

IBEW did not respond to request for comment or indicate whether it plans to appeal the decision.

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Conviction of Ryan Holden

No, Democrats Haven't Been Getting More Votes for Their Money Than Republicans

FACTCHECK: Axios analysis omits campaign spending, which completely changes story

An Axios analysis of political spending in special elections that found Democrats to be spending far less per vote than Republicans did not include actual campaign spending, which is how Democrats have been spending most of their money. It dramatically alters the figures presented.

The Axios analysis, which was publishedWednesday morning and immediately showcased on MSNBC'sMorning Joe, was presented as a "big warning for Republicans" and as evidence of a coming "wave." It found that "Democrats got more votes for their money in every competitive special election since President Trump took office."

The results were striking. In Georgia's sixth district, for example, Axios found that Republicans spent $147.01 per vote for Karen Handel, which more than doubles the $62.37 Democrats spent per vote for Jon Ossoff, the loser in the race.

The one problem in the analysis was that Axios decided not to include campaign spending, where Handel's $5.8 million in spending was five times less than the $29.2 million spent by Ossoff, which accounted for about three quarters of the money spent on his behalf.

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The Media Is Killing the Democratic Party

Column: The Democratic message has been reduced to Russia and Stormy Daniels

Ever since April 30, when the New York Times published a list of topics that special counsel Robert Mueller would like to ask President Trump about, cable news and the political press have focused exclusively on the two major legal matters in which the president is entangled.

First, of course, is Mueller's open-ended probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Second is the Southern District of New York's investigation into Trump attorney Michael Cohen's business dealings, including with Stephanie Clifford, aka Stormy Daniels. The coverage has been typically sensationalist and hyperbolic. Each new revelation, personnel change, Tweet, and television interview is greeted as a prelude to Trump's defenestration and exile. Putin, Mueller, Comey, Stormy, Rudy, and the two Michaels, Cohen and Avenatti—these are the only names that seem to matter in American political discourse.

What the Democratic Party has not recognized is that Trump's legal dramas, though good for ratings, have done little to benefit the political opposition. On the contrary: President Trump's approval rating has been on the upswing. He stands at 44 percent approval in the Real Clear Politics average, his highest rating in a year. That number might well be slightly higher, given the existence of "Shy Trump Voters" who are afraid of the stigma attached to approving of the president.

Meanwhile, since December, the Democratic advantage on the congressional generic ballot has been cut in half, from plus 13 points to plus 6.5 points. In a new survey, pollsters for Democracy Corps and Women's Voices Women's Vote Action Fund, while optimistic about Democratic chances in the fall, nonetheless concede that the party's "momentum has stalled in the last few months."

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The Left's Selective, Changing Rules on Cultural Appropriation

The impossibly fickle, selective, and whimsical rules of cultural appropriation are hard to keep straight.

(Oops! I said “straight.” Apologies to whomever. Oops, can I say “whomever”? Zimever? Verselves? Gah.)

According to the white people who run the left-wing Southern Poverty Law Center, eating tacos, drinking tequila, and wearing sombreros on Cinco de Mayo “are textbook examples of cultural appropriation.” Euro-privileged people at Gonzaga University similarly warned “non-Mexican individuals” on campus not to wear costumes insensitive to the “Latinx culture.” No-nos included “serapes” and “fake mustaches.”

An African-American writer at The Root, a website for “Black news, opinions, politics, and culture,” counseled non-Mexican people on behalf of Mexican people to “cut it out with being a culturally appropriating jackass and leave the sombreros home.”

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Five So-Called "Conspiracy Theories" That Are Actually Supported by Mainstream Science

Telling the truth about a scandal that hasn’t been approved by the legacy media and their owners often yields a predictable result: You’ll be labeled a conspiracy theorist — even when there is plenty of evidence to support the truth. Comfortable lies may help some people sleep at night, but the truth is that many supposed “conspiracy theories” are actually real, and are supported by science. Who would have thought? Here are five truths that are widely misrepresented as conspiracy theories, and the evidence which supports them:

1. Atrazine disrupts, damages the endocrine system

Atrazine is on the fast-track to becoming one of the most widely used pesticides in the United States. And because of this, there is a high amount of it in groundwater. It is consistently detected in public water supplies — which in and of itself is really quite concerning. But when the profound potential for this toxic chemical to spur endocrine disruption is taken into account, atrazine becomes downright frightening.

Research led by Dr. Tyrone Hayes, a scientist from the University of California at Berkeley, has shown that in frogs, atrazine is capable of causing lasting endocrine damage. In males, the disruption to endocrine function can be so severe that it results in chemical castration. In one study, Hayes exposed 40 tadpoles to water tainted with atrazine, at a concentration of 2.5 parts per billion — well within the EPA’s allotment for drinking water.

Nearly one-tenth of the tadpoles that were reared in the atrazine-laden water became “functionally female,” according to Hayes. Despite reportedly being born male, they ended up producing eggs.

And as sources report, “After being exposed to atrazine, many of the 36 male-presenting frogs reportedly showed decreased testosterone, reduced breeding gland size, poor laryngeal development, suppressed mating behavior, and reduced fertility. Similar effects have been seen in other amphibious creatures.”

Studies from Purdue University and other esteemed research teams have found similar results regarding atrazine’s potential to disrupt the endocrine system — even at amounts regarded by federal agencies as “safe.” Indeed, it would seem they are emphatically notsafe. Perhaps that’s why Europe banned atrazine. So, why is it still used in the U.S.?

2. Cellphones cause brain tumors

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Murder Of 16-Year-Old Marks Baltimore’s 100th Homicide This Year

BALTIMORE (WJZ) — Two teenagers have been shot to death on Baltimore’s streets–the latest a 16-year-old boy–as the city surpasses 100 murders for the first time this year.

The 16-year-old, who friends told WJZ Investigator Mike Hellgren went by Streetz or Jordan, was shot near a basketball court at the Mary Rodman Recreation Center in the southwest part of the city Tuesday around 8:20 p.m.

They plan a candlelight vigil Monday night at New Era Academy in Cherry Hill where he once attended classes.

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Nancy Pelosi Knew About Enhanced Interrogation Before Gina Haspel

The airtight case for Haspel as CIA Director

I was anxious about Gina Haspel's confirmation hearing. Here is a woman who has spent her life purposefully in the shadows, brought before a committee whose members bask in the spotlight. Here is a career intelligence officer, a keeper of secrets, an agent of dissimulation whose professional future depends, at least in part, on her ability to speak directly and persuasively in a public forum. And close to the entirety of her life remains classified, making her job all the more difficult.

But my fears were misplaced. Haspel played a tough hand extremely well. The headline will be her promise that the CIA won't restart enhanced interrogation during her tenure. But her best moments occurred during questioning. She exposed Dianne Feinstein in a misstatement, defended her integrity against Martin Heinrich's virtue signaling, left Jack Reed speechless, and described the perfidy of Khalid Sheikh Mohamed and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri. KSM was the architect of the 9/11 attack and the murderer of Daniel Pearl, and al-Nashiri was behind the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole, in case you've forgotten.

Many have. Indeed, Haspel noted that the debate surrounding rendition, detention, and enhanced interrogation, and society's condemnation of these policies, took place after the sense of constant threat Americans felt in 2001 and 2002 dissipated. It is one thing to pronounce judgment on Haspel and her agency after the laws have been changed and practices investigated. It is another to imagine how one would have acted in her shoes, working to prevent another mass casualty attack in a confusing, turbulent, and dangerous moment.

Ask Nancy Pelosi. She was one of the first Americans outside the Agency to learn of the enhanced interrogation program. Did she resign in protest? Leak to the media? Loudly condemn the practice upon learning of it?

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Breast Cancer Info Scrubbed From Government Website

A webpage that focused on breast cancer was reportedly scrubbed from the website of the Department of Health and Human Services's (HHS) Office on Women's Health (OWH).

The changes on WomensHealth.gov — which include the removal of material on insurance for low-income people — were detailed in a new report from the Sunlight Foundation's Web Integrity Project and reported by ThinkProgress.

A spokesperson for HHS told ThinkProgress the page was removed Dec. 6, 2017 "because content was not mobile-friendly and very rarely used."

“Before we update any of the information … we engage in a comprehensive audit and use analysis process that includes reviewing other federal consumer health websites to ensure we are not duplicating efforts or presenting redundant information," the spokesperson said.

According to the report, content about mammogram breast cancer screening remains on the site.

But "informational pages and factsheets about the disease, including symptoms, treatment, risk factors, and public no- or low-cost cancer screening programs, have been entirely removed and are no longer found elsewhere on the OWH site," the report said.

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Psychedelic drug provides relief for veterans with PTSD

A psychedelic party drug continues to show promise as a treatment option for patients with chronic post-traumatic stress disorder, a new study shows.

The study, published in the Lancet Psychiatry journal earlier this month, found that MDMA, the main ingredient in ecstasy or molly, dramatically reduced PTSD symptoms in study participants.

Doctors treated 26 first responders during two, day-long psychotherapy sessions that featured full doses of MDMA. The majority of the study’s participants were combat veterans.

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Disney Workers Forced to Train Their Foreign Replacements End Legal Battle

American Disney workers who were laid off and forced to train their foreign replacements have ended their legal battle after years of attempting to hold the corporation accountable.

In a press conference with Sara Black from Protect U.S. Workers — the attorney who represented the fired American workers — announced that after multiple legal fights, the workers would be giving up.

“We lost because what Disney did is legal. It is acceptable in this nation,” Blackwell said of the H-1B visa program which was used by the Disney Corporation to lay off Americans and replace them with young, male Indian nationals.

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Officer of the deck during fatal Fitzgerald collision pleads guilty at court-martial

A junior officer who oversaw navigation of the destroyer Fitzgerald when it collided with a hulking merchant vessel on June 17, killing seven sailors, pleaded guilty to a dereliction of duty charge during a special court-martial Tuesday.

Lt. j.g. Sarah Coppock received a punitive letter and will forfeit half a month’s pay for three months as part of her sentence, according to a Navy statement.

“The Navy will not accept complacency, negligence, or other behaviors contrary to its core values,” the release states.

As part of her pretrial agreement, Coppock waived her right to an administrative discharge board, where a panel would have decided whether she would stay in the Navy or not.

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Congressional Hearing: Iranian Sleeper Cells Threaten U.S.

It has been said that the first step to solving a problem is to acknowledge the existence of the problem. It has also been said that where there is a will, there is a way.

The nexus between immigration and terrorism is well established, however, the currently fashionable denial of that nexus by globalists from both parties has prevented the application of remedies to address the vulnerabilities in the immigration system that terror sleeper cells are known to exploit -- particularly the lack of resources for the interior enforcement of our immigration laws.

On April 17, 2018 the House Committee on Homeland Security, Counterterrorism and Intelligence Subcommittee, chaired by Congressman Peter King of New York, conducted a hearing on the topic, "State Sponsors Of Terrorism: An Examination Of Iran’s Global Terrorism Network."

The Subcommittee’s website posted this paragraph in announcing the hearing:

Iran, a State Sponsor of Terrorism, continues to invest in proxy terrorist and militant organizations that threaten the Homeland and US interests and engage in activities that impede US counterterrorism goals. This hearing will examine trends in Iran’s external operations and capabilities and consider the near-term and long-term security implications of Iranian support for Shia militants and terrorist groups operating in the Middle East, Afghanistan and Latin America.

The prepared testimony of one of the witnesses, Dr. Emanuele Ottolenghi of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, included this excerpt:

Disney World Cancels ‘Night of Joy’ Christian Music Festival

A spokesperson for Walt Disney World has confirmed to the Orlando Sentinel that last year was the final event.

The event began in 1983, and was largely held at the Magic Kingdom. During its decline over the past two years, it was moved to the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex. Among the many Christian artists featured were Steven Curtis Chapman, Amy Grant, Jars of Clay, Newsboys, Casting Crowns, Chris Tomlin, Kirk Franklin, Michael W. Smith, CeCe Winans, Stryper, Debby Boone, Toby Mac, and MercyMe.

The Disney spokesperson said that the decision was made in order to “continually [change] our offerings,” but has yet to announce any alternative religious event.

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Scout Me In

Disney Stripped ‘A Wrinkle in Time’ of Christianity and Lost $100 Million

Walt Disney, the studio that, on top of its own stellar brands, owns the Star Wars, Pixar, and Marvel franchises, is a money-printing hit machine, but thanks to director Ana DuVernay’s A Wrinkle in Time, it is not a flawless one.

Despite the presence of the some of the biggest stars in the world (Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, Chris Pine), despite coming from a children’s novel beloved for decades, despite the second-to-none marketing machine that is the Magic Kingdom, the movie was an economic catastrophe.

Globally, not just here in North America, but worldwide, Wrinkle grossed just $127 million. After tanking out at $96 million domestically, a Disney movie starring Oprah Winfrey was only able to gross an additional $31 million in 20-plus other countries.

With a production and advertising budget that reports peg at somewhere between $150 million and $250 million, that means the red ink landed somewhere between $86 million and $186 million, according to Yahoo News.

As Breitbart News reported at the time, the crucial mistake the filmmakers and Disney made was removing the Christianity from what is essentially a Christian children’s book.

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Detectives Conducting Homicide Investigation-Bridgeville

Bridgeville (19933) - The Delaware State Police are conducting an investigation into a homicide that occurred Friday evening.

The preliminary investigation has revealed that on Friday, May 11, 2018, at approximately 8:20 p.m., Troopers were dispatched to the 21000 block of Mill Park Drive, for a report of a shooting. Upon their arrival, Troopers observed a male subject on the side of the road with apparent gunshot wounds. The 41-year-old male victim was transported to a local hospital by EMS, where he was pronounced deceased.

This incident continues to remain under investigation by the homicide unit and further information will be released as it becomes available.

If anyone has any information in reference to this incident, they are asked to contact Detective M. Csapo at 302-741-2729. Information may also be provided by calling Delaware Crime Stoppers at 1-800-TIP-3333, via the internet atwww.delaware.crimestoppersweb.com.

NYT: It's Wasteful to Prosecute Criminals for Gun Crimes

Seeking to inflate the problem of gun violence as a major political issue rather than recognize the wisdom in enforcing existing laws, The New York Times ran an article questioning the effectiveness of increased prosecutions of “low-level” criminals who illegally purchase or possess firearms — an effort spearheaded by President Donald Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions. The Times suggests that this ramped-up prosecution of firearms-related crimes is essentially a misplaced focus. The article states, “Mr. Sessions’ approach has touched off a debate about whether he is making the country safer from violent crime, as he and President Trump have repeatedly vowed to do, or devoting resources to low-level prosecutions that could instead be put toward pursuing bigger targets like gun suppliers.”

The Times also notes that the anti-gun agitating Brady Campaign objects. The organization’s co-president Avery Gardiner argued, “It’s a good idea to enforce the existing gun laws. That’s something prosecutors should do. But going only after the people who are purchasing the guns illegally is only part of the story.” And they are a huge part of the story that both the previous administrations essentially chose to ignore, as The Washington Post reported in 2013, “Neither the Bush administration nor Obama administration ever prosecuted even one-quarter of one percent of the people who failed to pass a criminal background check.”

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Bobcats mistaken for domestic kittens brought into Texas home

Three people in Texas were bitten when the kittens they thought they were handling turned out to be bobcats.

"Hey listen," wrote the city's Animal Care Services on Facebook. "Wildlife really should remain IN THE WILD and it's up to us to help make that happen! These bobcat kittens are now orphaned and under quarantine with our partners at Wildlife Rescue & Rehabilitation because someone thought they looked like house cats. Several people were bitten."

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http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/05/09/bobcats-mistaken-for-domestic-kittens-brought-into-texas-home.html

Socialists Call For Abolishing Prisons

Some self-described socialist candidates running within the Democratic Party “advocate more extreme changes, such as abolishing the prison system,” the New York Times reports.

Sure enough, the Boston Chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America has a “Prison Abolition Working Group” that meets monthly. The national DSA Twitter account has tweeted “we need to abolish the prison system.” A resolution favoring the abolition of prisons reportedly passed last year at the DSA’s annual convention.

The Times report, which came in the form of a news article about increasing numbers of Democratic candidates embracing the socialist label, made me chuckle.

The chuckle wasn’t about the adverse political consequences this platform might have for the socialists. Those consequences will become clear once their opponents begin talking about the risks of violent rapists, murderers, wife beaters, and terrorists who now populate our prisons being unleashed on American cities. It would be an invitation to update attacks of the sort that were leveled back in the 1980s against Michael Dukakis for having furloughed Willie Horton.

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The 'Russian Collusion' Trial Is On, And Mueller May Be The First Casualty

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Lawyers for Russian company Concord Management and Consulting, LLC, formally entered a “not guilty” plea in federal court Monday in a case special counsel Robert Mueller probably never thought would happen.

Mueller, weathering significant criticism that his Russian collusion case was thin, unveiled a grandiose indictment Feb. 16 against 13 Russian nationals and three Russian companies. The 13 Russians in question were charged with waging “information warfare” in the United States, interfering with the 2016 presidential election, and conspiracy to defraud the United States.

Mueller generated headlines with the February indictment, safe in the knowledge the 13 Russians were beyond U.S. jurisdiction. Therefore, there would be no trial — only sensational Russian collusion accusations.

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Amazon Bars Christian Group From Charity Program Because Southern Poverty Law Center Says So

Amazon has barred prominent Christian legal group Alliance Defending Freedom from participating in its Amazon Smile charitable program, which allows nonprofits to recoup a small fraction of the money their supporters spend through Amazon.

Alliance Defending Freedom, which specializes in First Amendment law and has won cases at the U.S. Supreme Court, is barred from Amazon Smile on account of the left-wing Southern Poverty Law Center, which labeled Alliance Defending Freedom a “hate group.”

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Women Supporting Women to host the Your Healthiest You Conference at the WY&CC

SALISBURY, Md. – Women Supporting Women will be hosting the Your Healthiest You Conference at the Wicomico Youth & Civic Center on Saturday, May 19, from 9 a.m.-3 p.m.

Attendees are invited to participate in a day of health and wellness education with a holistic approach. The event will feature vendors from women's health, genetics, herbal teas and nutrition to reiki, acupuncture and more.

Breakout sessions on various topics will include discussions on medical marijuana, preventative health, living a holistic lifestyle, relaxation and guided imagery and will be held throughout the day.

Darryle Pollack, author of “I Never Signed Up for This...: Finding Power in Life's Broken Pieces,” will be a featured guest speaker.

Genetic testing, courtesy of Myriad, will also be available to participants at the event and fees may apply.

Admission is free and preregistration is encouraged.

Register at http://womensupportingwomen.org/event/healthconfwsw/.

High Sugar Intake Is Causing More High Blood Pressure Than High Salt Intake

For more than a century, many have pointed their fingers at salt as the main culprit in high blood pressure or hypertension that leads to kidney damage, stroke, and heart attack. But the problem is actually sugar.

Some have even described salt as “the single deadliest ingredient in your pantry.” And many doctors insist on eliminating salt entirely from one’s diet to reduce the number of cases of hypertension and save lives. But turns out salt is not the real villain. In fact, limiting salt in the diet can raise your chances of developing a fatal heart problem, especially if the salt comes from a healthy source.

Researchers from Saint Luke’s Mid America Heart Institute in Kansas City and Montefiore Medical Center in New York believe the benefits of doing away with sodium is “debatable” since the relationship between salt and heart disease is murky. A meta-analysis by the non-profit Cochrane Collaboration revealed that moderate amounts of salt can’t lower the risk of dying from or developing cardiovascular disease, as reported byNatural News.

The study authors also stressed that most dietary salt is derived from processed foods, which are also the biggest source of added sugar.The researchers cited population studies and clinical trials that showed sugar has a negative effect on blood pressure. In particular, researchers point to fructose, which many studies point to as the reason for a damaged cardiovascular system.

Quitting sugar, on the other hand, can help with a number of ailments not just cardiovascular health. Sugar actually is inflammatory to the body and can be hidden villain in our pantry. But that’s all thanks to the money-driven sugar industry:

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