Tomorrow, Earth will have a relatively close encounter with one of the largest known space rocks in the potentially hazardous asteroid class. It is known as 2011 UL21 and it is classed as a "planet-killer" in size. With a mass estimated to be about 21 billion tons, like a small mountain, it is speeding through the solar system at 25 kilometers (16 miles) per second.If that were to hit us, it would be really bad – but we do not have to worry about that for a long time. It was discovered in 2011, and at that time it had an estimated one-in-a-million chance of hitting the Earth by 2029. Further observations were able to reduce the uncertainty of its orbit pretty quickly. Just a few weeks after the first detection, the chance of it hitting before the end of this decade was dropped to one in 71 million. Now, the chance of it hitting our planet over the next century is basically nil.Tomorrow’s flyby will bring this space rock about 6.6 million kilometers (4.1 million miles) from our planet. That is 17 times the average Earth-Moon distance. The object is usually described as having a diameter of 2.3 kilometers (1.4 miles), but there are uncertainties on its size and it could be as small as 1.7 kilometers and as large as 3.9 kilometers (1.05 to 2.4 miles). This close approach might help astronomers refine the size.“The term ‘Potentially Hazardous Asteroid’ (PHA) is a precise formal definition, referring to minor planets larger than approximately 140 meters [459 feet] that can come within 7.5 million km [4.6 million miles] from the Earth,” Gianluca Masi, astrophysicist and scientific director of the Virtual Telescope Project, said in a statement. “In other words, only the largest asteroids capable of approaching close enough to our planet are flagged as PHAs, which does not mean they are going to hit the Earth, but they nonetheless warrant a better monitoring.”Using data from the Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Masi estimated that 2011 UL21 is going to be in the top 10 largest asteroids to have come within 7.5 million km (4.6 million miles) of our planet since January 1, 1900. The closest approach of a bigger object in the last several decades was asteroid Toutatis in 2004, but still over a million kilometers (0.6 million miles) away.2011 UL21 is actually going to get closer than tomorrow's flyby in 2089, but still far away enough to not give any worry to scientists. Despite the horizon looking relatively safe, NASA and other space agencies remain concerned about space threats. A recent tabletop exercise has shown significant gaps in our preparedness.This Sunday is Asteroid Day, which aims to raise awareness of this risk and the things we can do to be ready in the event of such a threat.

One of the anti-socialist stories that has gone around the internet is that socialism has already been tried in the United States, by the settlers of the Plymouth colony. The post A Socialist Model for Survival? appeared first on Survivopedia.

Has the left forgotten what democracy means? A recent Associated Press story headlined, “Conservative-backed group is creating a list of federal workers it suspects could resist Trump plans,” describes the American Accountability Foundation’s project of identifying and building a list of rotten bureaucrats in the Department of Homeland Security. Of course, the left and public-sector unions don’t like this at all. To accuse those who expose the unelected leftist bureaucrats of working to “undermine our democracy” is a staggering feat of brazen duplicity. “The effort … has stunned democracy experts and shocked the civil service community in what they compare with the red scare of McCarthyism,” reports the AP. Skye Perryman, CEO of the advocacy group Democracy Forward, is quoted as saying, “They’re seeking to undermine our democracy. … They’re seeking to undermine the way that our government works for people.” There is nothing particularly surprising about the left’s over-the-top opposition to our project. We aim to clear the Department of Homeland Security of leftists who will obstruct future presidents’ efforts to secure the southern border, which would be a massive setback for the left’s open-borders agenda. Their actual statements, however, are disturbing indeed, and reveal something truly dark about the modern American left. Abraham Lincoln described government in America as “of the people, by the people, for the people.” America is a representative republic, in which government derives its authority from the people. That is why our laws are written in Congress by representatives whom we elect and executed by a president who is chosen every four years by “we the people.” Now, as we work to expose radical leftist bureaucrats who use their positions to obstruct and undermine the person chosen by the American people, the left has taken to a different, utterly un-American, political philosophy. To them, the American people are too dumb and “unenlightened” to decide who should govern and what they should do. Instead, the left wants these unelected liberal bureaucrats to rule. To then accuse those who expose the unelected leftist bureaucrats of working to “undermine our democracy” is a staggering feat of brazen duplicity. Bureaucrats who sabotage the elected president and act with their own agendas are the ones undermining democracy, not those who hold them accountable! Leftists may like to call this “democracy,” but they’re fooling no one. This is authoritarianism. This is tyranny. And the fact that this vision of government is now the left’s credo is terrifying. The left loves to tell us how “democracy dies in darkness,” and indeed, the darkest place in Washington, D.C., is a bureaucrat's hidden office in the bowels of his agency.

Liberal and moderate Republicans joined forces with former President Donald Trump to oust House Freedom Caucus Chairman Bob Good in last week’s Virginia primary, with the long slog appearing to end Monday with Good still 373 votes behind his challenger, John McGuire. His scalp didn’t come cheap. A conservative stalwart who won his last election by 15 points, Good had the backing of House and Senate conservatives as well as grassroots activists. ‘This was a targeted assassination.’ Republican groups spent $5.9 million to oust the safe incumbent in the lead-up to a 2024 election in which congressional Democrats have outraised Republicans by 25% — and hold a 20% cash-on-hand advantage. Main Street PAC, the political arm of the liberal Republican Main Street Caucus, spent $451,990 on the race — or just over 20% of all the money the PAC has raised for 2024 so far. American Patriots, a super PAC funded by pro-Nikki Haley megadonors Paul Singer and Ken Griffin, spent more than anyone in the race, sending $3.4 million against Good and for his opponent, John McGuire. Major Republican and Trump donor Marjorie Buckley set up Virginians for Freedom PAC to weigh in from out of state, putting another $762,000 toward knocking Good out of Congress. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, meanwhile, remained on the sidelines — a contrast with his support for other embattled incumbents, including liberals like Rep. Tony Gonzales (Texas), conservatives like Rep. William Timmons (S.C.), and scattershot members like Rep. Nancy Mace (S.C.). Ron DeSantis also stayed out of the race, even though Trump’s ire at Good was largely due to Good’s endorsement of the Florida governor’s presidential bid. Good wasn’t lacking in Republican allies so much as he was rich in Republican enemies. Conservatives in the House, Senate, and grassroots mustered more than $4.8 million in his defense, keeping the race close despite Trump’s vocal support for McGuire. The reality is that Good’s opponents were determined to make an example of the rabble-rouser. In an environment where voters’ weariness of infighting has created a surprisingly safe year for incumbents, he was both a more prominent and a weaker target than other Republicans who had gone against then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy (Calif.), or who sided with DeSantis, or who went against liberal Republicans in their own primaries, or who opposed further spending on the foreign wars in Israel and Ukraine. “You’ve got to fight fire with fire,” Main Street Caucus member Rep. Don Bacon (Neb.) told reporters after endorsing McGuire. Good had endorsed Bacon’s opponent in his own primary. “This was a targeted assassination,” one GOP staffer told Blaze News. Sign up for Bedford’s newsletter Sign up to get Blaze Media senior politics editor Christopher Bedford's newsletter. IN OTHER NEWS The Squad’s Jamaal Bowman goes down in fiery N.Y. primary Squad Democrats tempted to toast Good’s downfall might be mindful for whom the bell tolls: In New York’s 16th Congressional District, it tolls for thee. Left-wing Democrat Rep. Jamaal Bowman lost a heated primary Tuesday night to Westchester County Executive George Latimer. Latimer was backed by millions from the powerful American Israel PAC, as well as by former presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, former New York Democrat Govs. David Paterson and Andrew Cuomo, and former Rep. Eliot Engel (D), whom Bowman defeated in 2020. The Squad first hit the stage in 2018, backed by a surge of Trump derangement. In the years since, they’ve spent Democrats’ political capital freely on radical experiments like “defund the police” and “abolish ICE,” successfully pressuring the broader party into compliance or at least lip service. These utopian schemes grew unpopular with the voters when the results became clear, however, leaving Democrats holding the bag and Squad members increasingly unpopular with their colleagues. By the time Bowman sided with Hamas after the Oct. 7 attack, even his liberal constituents had had enough. Bowman tried to beat back accusations that he was more interested in the cause and the fame than the district by, ironically, holding a cringeworthy, R-rated rally outside his district with Squad leader Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). “We’re going to show f***ing AIPAC the power of the motherf***ing South Bronx," Bowman told the crowd. Trump, for his part, drew nearly 10 times the roughly 1,200 attendees the Squad drew. Also, Bowman does not represent the South Bronx — his district begins nearly 10 miles to the north of where the rally was held. With $25 million spent for and against Bowman, it’s become the most expensive primary in House of Representatives history. No matter. You can start your watches (and start taking bets) for how long it takes New York 16’s outgoing congressman to call his constituents racist. Liberal Republican wins race to succeed Mitt Romney Utah saw its own mini-drama Tuesday night, with Rep. John Curtis besting Riverton Mayor Trent Staggs in the race to replace retiring Sen. Mitt Romney, a liberal Republican and frequent Trump critic. Curtis, a Democrat turned liberal Republican, is best known for founding the House’s Conservative Climate Caucus, which seeks to paint over liberal policies with Republican paint. He heavily outraised Staggs, who was endorsed not only by Trump but by Utah’s senior senator, Mike Lee. The fire rises: The Transom: Democrats Believe Abortion Will Save Them in 2024 — but Will It? Tuesday may have marked the two-year anniversary of the end of Roe v. Wade, but it also marked the beginning of two years of steady Democrat gains. Since the Dobbs ruling, the pro-life movement has proven itself unprepared, Republicans have struggled to unify on a stand, and Democrats have capitalized, turning out voters to defend vulnerable incumbents and take difficult seats. Polling shows the fire in the belly may be cooling, however, as the initial confusion fades and the wildest Democrat rhetoric goes unrealized. Ben Domenech reports: ...There’s no question abortion was central in the 2022 midterms: Gallup found it was the second most important issue for voters the week before the election, with many Republicans caught off guard and incapable of putting out good messaging on the subject. But now, things have changed. In Gallup’s more recent polling, just 3 percent list it as a top issue. It may now have more be shifting to have an impact along the lines of gun politics — a motivator for the Democratic base, but with less appeal to independents and swing voters as a deciding factor. It’s hard to read the numbers above and see any significant portion of lost votes for Republicans at the moment...

WOOF! Gretchen Whitmer Tweets a Dog-Themed Campaign Ad and the Cringe Is Fatal

Mayorkas Says There's No Evidence People ISIS-Affiliated Group Smuggled Into the US Intend Any Harm

Barrack Obama Has Anxiety Over Biden Reelection, Holds Meetings With Joe on How to Win

More voters in six key swing states say they trust former President Donald Trump to do a better job than President Joe Biden handling threats to democracy in the U.S., according to a poll by The Washington Post.

Pope Francis spoke out Wednesday against the legalization of drugs and denounced drug traffickers as "assassins," while also calling for help and support for addicts.

Many states are failing to track how frequently children in foster care facilities are abused, sexually assaulted or improperly restrained, leaving them vulnerable to mistreatment, the U.S. Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General said in a report Wednesday.