A little-known Texas state representative, James Talarico, is said to be considering a run for the Democrat nomination for a U.S. Senate seat from the Lone Star State. Three other, better-known Texas Democrats are either already in, or considering jumping into, the race. Whoever wins would face off against either Republican incumbent Sen. John Cornyn or Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in the November 2026 general election. Talarico has served in the Texas Legislature since 2018. A former middle school teacher, he is a graduate of Texas’ flagship state college, the University of Texas at Austin, and Harvard University, where he studied education policy. Talarico also attended a seminary in Austin affiliated with the liberal mainline Presbyterian Church (USA) and has been touted as an example of a Democrat Christian in the public square. It’s difficult to avoid a comparison between Talarico and former Biden administration Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who previously served as mayor of South Bend, Indiana. Both are Harvard alumni and Democrats from solidly red states. Both embrace liberal forms of Christianity as a part of their political brand. (Buttigieg is an Episcopalian.) Even Talarico seems to have acknowledged the resume similarities, having taken assistance from Buttigieg campaign staff alumni. But despite his seminarian pedigree, Talarico has opposed forms of faith he doesn’t like in the public square. For example, the state legislator decried a Texas bill that would have mandated putting the Ten Commandments in every public classroom in the Lone Star State.  “This bill to me is not only unconstitutional, it’s not only un-American, I think it is also deeply un-Christian. And I say that because I believe this bill is idolatrous,” Talarico declared to the bill’s sponsor in a social media post. “I believe it is exclusionary. And I believe that it is arrogant, and those three things, in my reading of the Gospel, are diametrically opposed to the teachings of Jesus,” he added. Talarico also appears comforted when his brand of Christianity is endorsed by nonbelievers. “The thing that warms my heart the most is people who say, ‘I’m an atheist, agnostic, or I left the church or I left religion. But this is the kind of Christianity I can believe in,’” Talarico told Politico’s Adam Wren in 2023.  Talarico has not been shy about wading into the most controversial social issues of the day. In 2021, he disputed the idea that there were just two biological sexes.  “The one thing I want us to all be aware of is that modern science obviously recognizes that there are many more than two biological sexes,” Talarico said at a hearing for a Texas bill to ban transgender-identifying males in girls sports. “In fact, there are six, which honestly, Rep. Hefner, surprised me, too,” Talarico contended, addressing the bill’s sponsor, Republican state Rep. Cole Hefner. “The point is that biologically speaking, scientifically speaking, sex is a spectrum, and oftentimes can be very ambiguous,” Talarico asserted. Talarico received a reprimand at the time by Beth Stelzer, the founder of the Save Women’s Sports coalition, who was testifying on behalf of the bill at the hearing. “The other—quote—‘sexes’ mentioned are disorders of sexual development that are variants of XX or XY chromosomes. They are still disorders of male or female,” Stelzer explained.  Talarico has also appeared critical of greater transparency in public schools. Consider the former teacher’s discussion of legislation enacted in 2021 that provisionally required human sexuality education taught in Texas public schools to be an opt-in system approved by parents of students, rather than an opt-out system. Talarico compared the change in policy to allowing students to opt out of a form of science instruction. “And so, my concern is that maybe the theory of evolution will be opt-in, right? Because we have a large segment of the population that has a problem with the theory of evolution … a personal belief that maybe conflicts with what we all agree should be taught in public schools,” Talarico contended at a meeting of the Texas House Public Education Committee in 2022. Talarico did not reply to a request for comment prior to publication of this article. Former Rep. Colin Allred, D-Texas, who lost a 2024 Senate contest to Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, last week announced his candidacy for Cornyn’s Senate seat. Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke and Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, are reportedly also considering jumping into the 2026 race. If Talarico were to win his party’s nomination, he would face a daunting challenge. No Democrat has won election to statewide office in Texas since 1994. The post Texas Democrat Weighs Long-Shot Senate Bid appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Despite its penurious name, the Southern Poverty Law Center has an endowment of more than $700 million, compensates leadership handsomely, and possesses more than $30 million in offshore accounts—likely in the Cayman Islands, its most recent IRS filing reveals. “It’s very odd and frankly raises suspicion that a nonprofit organization would have accounts in places like the Cayman Islands, or as they reported $30 million in Central America,” Mat Staver, founder and chairman of the law firm Liberty Counsel, told The Daily Signal on Tuesday. “The Cayman Islands has always been known as one of these places that people select to hide their money from the government,” he noted. “This is a public charity, and they should explain to the public, why do they find it necessary to have money in these offshore accounts? I don’t think there’s any good explanation.” As I wrote in my book, “Making Hate Pay,” the SPLC gained its reputation by suing Ku Klux Klan groups into bankruptcy, and it publishes an annual “hate map” that includes mainstream conservative and Christian nonprofits alongside Klan chapters. The SPLC uses this map to urge Big Tech and financial companies to blacklist conservatives, to advise law enforcement on “hate” threats, and to urge donors to contribute to its cause of fighting “hate.” Staver is representing the Dustin Inman Society, a nonprofit that opposes illegal immigration, in a defamation lawsuit against the SPLC, which called the society an “anti-immigrant hate group.” This year, the SPLC added Turning Point USA, the largest conservative youth grassroots organization in America, to the “hate map,” along with the Christian nonprofit Focus on the Family and PragerU, which is known for its five-minute videos promoting conservative ideas. In 2019, a former employee called the SPLC the “poverty palace” and described the “hate” accusations as a “highly-profitable scam.” The SPLC’s Cayman Islands interests go back at least 10 years, when the center transferred millions offshore in 2014 and 2015. The IRS Form Nonprofit organizations must file a Form 990 with the IRS, revealing their revenue, grants, and the salaries of top leaders, among other things. The SPLC’s latest filing covers Nov. 1, 2023, to Oct. 31, 2024. During that filing time, the SPLC received $106 million in contributions and $129 million in total revenue (including interest on investments). The organization spent $47 million on salaries and wages, and $94 million on program service expenses. At the end of the tax year, the SPLC had $786.8 million in net assets and $738.4 million in endowment funds. Despite all this cash, the SPLC laid off about a quarter of its staff last fall, and the former employees accused the center of targeting union members in the layoffs. In the Form 990 Part V, the SPLC acknowledged that it had “an interest in, or a signature or other authority over, a financial account in a foreign country,” namely “CJ,” the country code of the Cayman Islands. Form 990 Screenshot In the Form 990 Schedule F, the SPLC wrote that it had $30.7 million in “investments” in “Central America and the Caribbean,” which likely refers to the Cayman Islands. The group also divulged that it has $186,000 in investments in North America outside the U.S.—in either Mexico or Canada. This appears to represent a decrease from the $92.6 million in “non-U.S. equities” the SPLC reported in October 2017. Form 990 Schedule F Screenshot SPLC Leadership Salaries The SPLC compensates its leaders well, far above the median income of Montgomery, Alabama, where the center is based. SPLC President and CEO Margaret Huang enjoyed a base compensation of $466,934, and other benefits accounted for another $55,806. This represents more than eight times the median income of Montgomery County, $60,739 in 2023, according to the Census Bureau. Most of the SPLC leadership earned more than $200,000 during the 2023-2024 fiscal year, with considerable benefits beyond the base pay. Only two leaders, Interim CEO Rebecca Latin and Chief Communications Officer Julian Teixeira, received below the $200,000 mark, at $161,050 and $189,592, respectively. Form 990 Screenshot The SPLC also awards grants through its education program, Learning for Justice, and other programs. The SPLC awarded more than $106,000 total to eight education institutions through Learning for Justice, a program that advocates leftist ideology in education. The SPLC also gave $275,000 to New Venture Fund, a nonprofit founded by Arabella Advisors that allows donors to support projects indirectly. One of New Venture Fund’s projects, Governing for Impact, advised key leaders in the Biden administration. Form 990 Screenshot The New Venture Fund has previously supported the SPLC, sending the center $20,000 in 2022. One of the biggest issues for me has been the weaponization of federal law enforcement against conservatives. At the center of this is the Southern Poverty Law Center, a far-left smear factory that puts mainstream conservative and Christian groups on a "hate map" with the Ku… pic.twitter.com/D9zSmoBQeQ— Tyler O'Neil (@Tyler2ONeil) October 21, 2024 The SPLC did not respond to The Daily Signal’s request for comment about the offshore accounts, the grant to New Venture Fund, and the high compensation for SPLC leadership. The offshore accounts, and the secrecy surrounding them, raise important questions for which the public deserves answers. The post ‘Poverty’ Nonprofit That Smears Conservatives Has Millions in Offshore Accounts, IRS Records Show appeared first on The Daily Signal.

If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. Block CEO Jack Dorsey has introduced a new peer-to-peer messaging platform called Bitchat, a Bluetooth-based service that operates without internet access or centralized servers. Now in beta, the project is structured to function entirely through decentralized mesh networking, with privacy and autonomy at its core. Over the weekend, Dorsey shared on X that he had been diving into “Bluetooth mesh networks, relays, store, and forward models, message encryption models, and a few other things.” He described the app as having “IRC vibes,” evoking the minimalist, user-controlled chat systems from the early days of the internet. The technical framework behind Bitchat is laid out in a recently published white paper. The app uses Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) to create a mesh network where each device acts as both a node and a relay. Messages are passed from one device to another across a maximum range of around 30 meters, with bridge devices connecting isolated clusters. This allows communications to move freely without relying on any centralized infrastructure. Rather than tying users to accounts, phone numbers, or email addresses, Bitchat is entirely registration-free. Messages are encrypted, and by default, they live only in temporary device memory and never connect to the internet. For group chats, users can create rooms using hashtags, with optional password protection. The app also supports store-and-forward caching so messages can be delivered later to offline users. Large messages are automatically broken into smaller 500-byte segments. Future upgrades will include WiFi support, which is expected to improve bandwidth and allow for richer communication without sacrificing privacy. This model offers a sharp contrast to how most widely used messaging platforms operate. Services like WhatsApp and Messenger, both owned by Meta, are built around centralized systems that often monetize personal data. In contrast, Bitchat is designed to operate outside of profit-driven ecosystems and avoids harvesting any user information. The white paper outlines several scenarios where Bitchat could be especially useful, including during conferences, in disaster response areas, or anywhere traditional internet service is inaccessible or untrusted. According to the paper, “By combining Bluetooth mesh networking, end-to-end encryption, and privacy-preserving protocols, Bitchat provides resilient communication that works anywhere people gather, regardless of internet availability.” The app is currently in beta. If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The post BitChat, New Offline Messaging App, Uses Bluetooth Mesh, No Internet appeared first on Reclaim The Net.

Escalation: DHS Subpoenas Harvard Records Over Foreign Student Info

Grok Goes Full Hitler

CosmoCube wants to see the time when the universe had no stars and no galaxies: the "Cosmic Dark Ages".

The heads of the FDA, CDC, and NIH are also named as defendants in the suit.

Observations from Patagonia support previous modeling to indicate we can expect a more volcanic future.

In 2022, NASA's DART spacecraft attempted to deflect an asteroid about the size of the Great Pyramid of Giza. New work tracking the debris has found a few fairly large surprises.

Airport radar systems, similar to those tracking planes, might be accidentally signaling our presence to intelligent alien civilizations, iflscience.com reports. Instead of picking up TV broadcasts—like old episodes of The Simpsons—extraterrestrials could be detecting the powerful radio waves leaking from Earth’s radars, especially military ones. Researchers estimate these signals could be detected up to 200 light-years away. Every time an airport radar scans the sky for aircraft, it sends radio waves into space. With over 40,000 airports worldwide (many equipped with radar), the combined signal is enormous—about 2×10¹⁵ watts. An alien civilization with technology like the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia could potentially detect these emissions. Military radar systems are even more distinctive. They’re highly focused, sweeping the sky like a lighthouse beam. Though they make up only 5% of total emissions, their unique patterns would clearly stand out as artificial to any advanced observers. “Civilizations can actually transmit signals without wanting to do that, unintentionally,” said lead researcher Ramiro Caisse Saide from the University of Manchester. “We have technology here and produce radio emissions. We want to understand if a civilization with enough technology could detect our own radio emission.” Saide’s earlier work found that cell tower signals might be detectable within 10 light-years. Airport radar, however, reaches much farther. The team simulated how these signals would appear from different star systems. Since radar distribution isn’t uniform, the strength would vary depending on Earth’s orientation to an observer. Proxima Centauri, the closest star with a known exoplanet, is just 4.2 light-years away. While 200 light-years may seem small in a galaxy spanning 100,000 light-years, it still contains over 120,000 stars—plenty of potential listeners. “SETI is a field of study which uses scientific methodologies to assess the question whether we are alone or not in the universe; and we use technology as a proxy for intelligence,” Saide explained. “The idea of my research is to try to understand this: if we have a civilization out there with the same capabilities in the radio domain, could they detect our own radio footprint?” The post Earth’s Airport Radars Could Be Seen by Alien Civilizations appeared first on Anomalien.com.