A U.S. Army Infantry Squad Leader moves his team into a mission location in Afghanistan. What they encounter defies any known creature, natural or otherwise!The following account was recently forwarded to me:“I am a member of The United States Army, and I have a personal experience to share that comes from my deployment to Afghanistan. Due to the nature of my service, I can not and will not share anything that will breach any level of OPSEC or INFOSEC in any way, shape, form or reveal any details that will or can be construed as such to compromise any operations myself and other members of The U.S. Military conduct on a daily basis. That being stated, here is my story:I am a U.S. Army Infantry Squad Leader, a Non-Commissioned Officer with ten years in service, and I have 12 soldiers under my command in my squad; ten soldiers and two Non Commissioned Officer Team Leaders. My soldiers are ranked E-3 to E-4 with 18 months experience at the very least, with my Team Leaders having 4 and 5 years experience respectively. All of us have at least 1 combat deployment together with the senior of my soldiers having 2. All of us have enough experience in our service that we are absolutely confident in our abilities and skills as Infantry Soldiers and know what to do and how to do it given any and all combat situations we encounter. So when we are given a mission as a Squad, separate from our Platoon, we did not really give any thought to the nature of the orders or the fact we would be a significant distance from our platoon or any ground assistance whatsoever, separate from any CAS or ARTY we could call on and other assets available.I received the Mission, issued the WARNO, made a plan, initiated movement, gathered recon and completed the plan. I issued the OPORD and we 'Oscar Miked.' All the making and appearance of a usual and routine mission, something we did daily and completed daily. And then we reached the objective, and it all went to what I can only describe as HELL given form. We had vehicles that were specifically designed for being explosive resistant and armored enough to give us an edge in surviving a multitude of situations we would come across.It was dark, and we have NVG's on, approaching a small village (7 buildings) under cover of darkness, being as quiet as possible, ready for anything. We entered and cleared house after house, and found bodies, a LOT of bodies, so many it was hard to enter any dwelling without stepping on any of them. And I have never, in ten years seen anything as disturbing, or as shocking as the condition the bodies were in. And the sheer number was numbing to behold. Some looked as if they were ripped or torn in half (That is no mistake of typing or description, I literally mean TORN or RIPPED) by sheer brute strength. Some looked crushed as if a ton or more of weight was slammed into them and I mean PULPED. I have run other human beings over with my 6 ton vehicle and I know CRUSHED when I see it. And others looked as I would expect if I where to eat a piece of raw meat with my teeth, if I had teeth like a shark or some sort of carnivore. Like something had taken a big damn chunk off of them and kept going, and the rest looked like what I would imagine some sort of mythical monster or something with claws or teeth or sharp anything would have went through them like so much defenseless flesh all at once.We finally reached the end of the village, and met something I can only describe as the closest to demonic as human language can make it. And it was GODDAMN TERRIFYING. Thinking about it as I type this is giving me chills, making my heart feel like it'll burst from my chest and that at any moment that THING will burst from somewhere and do unspeakable things to me before it kills me; ripping me apart like a rag doll full of blood and flesh. I STILL have nightmares about it. First vehicle opened up on it with .50 cal APT and he was going cyclic. Next thing I know I see a 6 ton armored vehicle, that can take up to 80 lbs of explosive force and come back rolling, literally FLY. Not roll, not flip, FLY. It landed in the middle of the freaking village in pieces. 6 damn tons of armor. FLEW. 700 meters.My vehicle was next, and I have never cycled an automatic grenade launcher so damn fast in my whole career! I was linking belt after belt after belt, and I was unjamming it almost as fast as it jammed. I am screaming my head off on the radio at the same time trying to get a hold of my other vehicle, call in CAS or ARTY and ordered my squad to shoot the damned thing with every weapon we have, even though I know for a FACT that we were all doing it anyway, and I am still screaming. I can hear screaming and gunfire and some other sh*t that sounds like it's millions of voices screaming with us, with explosions and tearing metal; absolute chaos is in control here, and I'm screaming, crying and PRAYING. But then,*the craziest shit happened. Everything went absolutely SILENT. No sound. No voices. No gunfire. No explosions. NOTHING. The world went MUTE. And after that, everything slowly came back.My Alpha Team Leader who climbed up to me, had to slap me, HARD to snap me out of whatever hellish zone I was in. My best guess is shock, but unlike anything ever I heard, experienced or watched. It took hours for me to get it together and start attempting to control the situation, get communications with LT, and come to grips. First priority was the first vehicle; we could not raise them on comms so I sent two to go see if they were alive and needed medical attention. Then I realized we didn’t get a BDA on the thing we just unloaded on. I directed my driver to get closer to the area, and I noticed something right off the damn bat. There was damage EVERYWHERE except for one spot. And in that spot was untouched and pristine like it had never been subject to all the firepower we had directed at it. Not a single impact. There was no sign of that thing anywhere. Not even a footprint.I have been deployed 7 times in 10 years and never have I seen anyone or anything walk away from that much firepower. EVER. I know for a fact that no human on this Earth could. My five soldiers in the first vehicle lived, miraculously due to the cab being reinforced but suffered severe blunt force trauma from impact, enough that all five in the vehicle were immediately given medical discharge and 100% disability a few months later. My other soldiers are all receiving the best psychological care possible. I am undergoing psychological evaluation as well due the report I gave to my command. The treatment given to me and my squad is no surprise. However the way my report of the incident was handled and what happened after is very confusing and very frustrating. No more about this has been mentioned or acknowledged again. I do not care if someone believes me anymore, as every time I am asked about it and answer, I am met with reactions of disbelief or pity and sympathy for my "Damaged Mental State".I am even attempting to be cleared to continue my service, and am forced to lie to my counselors and therapists about my progress in "recovering" from my experiences. I am still haunted by this incident, and it still gives me a racing heart just thinking of it. I am hoping you share this to your channels, and ask to remain anonymous; to be referred to as "Sarge" if anything. Even if you do not, thank you anyway for your time reading this, and thank you for allowing me to send this to you, as I do not get anyone I know outside of my former squad to listen and believe me. Thanks again, S.”NOTE: I am not surprised by this account. There seems to be a variety of unknown beings in Afghanistan, as well as in Iraq, that defy explanation. I have read and heard several bizarre accounts since 2003, many I attribute to possibly stress and battle-related fatigue. But once in a while, an account like this one will surface. Are there actual monstrous creatures roaming the battlefields or could these be manifestations of spiritual or non-terrestrial forces? Lon**********POLL: WHAT DO YOU THINK? Vote & comment on paranormal, cryptid & unexplained mysteries!WEIRDEST OF THE WEIRD 2 - EXPERIENCERS COME FORWARD! | LIVE CHAT | Q & A (REAL EYEWITNESS REPORTS!)LISTEN TO NARRATIONS OF PHANTOMS & MONSTERS REPORTS & CASES - PLEASE SUBSCRIBE, LIKE & SHAREPHANTOMS & MONSTERS RADIO Podcasts on SpotifyPHANTOMS & MONSTERS READING LISTCHICAGO MOTHMAN / O'HARE BATMAN YouTube PlaylistHave you had a sighting or encounter?Contact me by email or call the hotline at 410-241-5974Thanks. LonJOIN AMAZON PRIME - Unlimited Movie/TV Streaming& FREE 2-Day ShippingRegister a SNAP EBT CardTry Audible PlusBigfoot and Other Cryptid Videos on YouTubeLYCANS! - PENNSYLVANIA'S CRYPTID CANINES UPDATE'KILLER BIGFOOT' HUNTED BY U.S. SPECIAL FORCES / GLIMMER MAN / MANTIS HUMANOIDSCRAWLER HUMANOIDS - GRUESOME INVADERS! (REAL EYEWITNESS ENCOUNTERS!)WEREWOLVES: DO THEY EXIST?'DOGMAN IN OUR YARD!' - AN OHIO FAMILY'S 12-YEAR SAGA WITH CRYPTID CANINESHey, folks. Thanks for the congrats on 'The Mothman Revisited' episode on Unsolved Mysteries. As a result, we are receiving more sighting reports and are very excited and grateful for the new information!I want to sincerely thank the Unsolved Mysteries team and Netflix for allowing us to tell the world about this phenomenon.If you have information about this or any other cryptid or unexplained sighting or encounter, please feel free to contact me by email or at 410-241-5974. Thanks again! LonCHICAGO MOTHMAN / O'HARE BATMAN YouTube Playlist----------Become a Phantoms & Monsters Radio member - just $2.99 monthly, and receive these perks. Thanks for your support!-Members-only live chats-Exclusive members-only videos-Priority reply to members' commentsHave perks suggestions? LMK-----YOUR SUPPORT IS APPRECIATED! THANKS

News John Wick: Under the High Table Yeah. A John Wick 4 Sequel Series Is In The Works Might we suggest the continuing adventures of Tracker and Dog? By Vanessa Armstrong | Published on August 5, 2024 Credit: Lionsgate Comment 0 Share New Share Credit: Lionsgate The John Wick universe is continuing to expand. Today, Deadline broke the news that a series titled John Wick: Under the High Table is in development, with Keanu Reeves and director Chad Stahelski on board as executive producers. The show takes place immediately after the events of John Wick 4. Reeves is not currently set to act in it, though he apparently will be “very hands-on.” Here’s the synopsis of the series, per Deadline: John Wick has left the world of the High Table in a tenuous position and a collection of new characters will look to make a name for themselves while some of the franchise stalwart characters remain committed to the old-world order. Robert Levine, whose previous credits include the FX series The Old Man, is showrunning and has written the scripts. Stahelski is also on board to direct the pilot. We don’t know what familiar faces we’ll see though, it’s teased that there will be old and new characters involved in the story. This isn’t the first TV series set in the Wick universe. The first was The Continental, which took place in the 1970s. Stahelski wasn’t involved in the development of the prequel, which received mixed reviews. Odds are good given the level of involvement here, however, that Under the High Table will fare better. Stahelski and co. are developing the series under the director’s deal with Lionsgate. They’re currently shopping it around, so no news yet on what network or platform we’ll ultimately see it on. [end-mark] The post Yeah. A John Wick 4 Sequel Series Is In The Works appeared first on Reactor.

Following a Daily Mail report that Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff cheated on his first wife with his children’s nanny, Emhoff acknowledged the affair in a statement to CNN. The story comes as Vice President Kamala Harris, Emhoff’s current wife, has become the Democratic Party’s presumptive presidential nominee. “During my first marriage, Kerstin and I went through some tough times on account of my actions,” Harris’s husband told CNN. “I took responsibility, and in the years since, we worked through things as a family and have come out stronger on the other side.” The statement came after The Daily Mail reported that Emhoff had an affair with Najen Naylor (now 47) in 2006 when she was his children’s nanny as well as his children’s teacher at their “pricey private school,” The Willows, where tuition fees range from $32,525 to $41,535. Emhoff was married to ex-wife Kerstin Emhoff at the time, and the couple had two children, who are now adults, according to the publication. That affair resulted in a pregnancy, The Daily Mail reported, but Naylor allegedly “did not keep the child.” She has not responded to requests for comment from The Daily Signal. Democratic presidential nominee and former US Vice President Joe Biden and his wife Jill Biden (L) wave to his vice presidential running mate, US Senator Kamala Harris, and her husband Douglas Emhoff (R) after their first press conference together in Wilmington, Delaware, on August 12, 2020. (Photo by OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images) The publication did not clarify whether the baby in question was given up for adoption or aborted. The Daily Mail reports that Naylor’s “social media shows a video of a mysterious baby girl named Brook in 2009, the year the baby would have been born.” The Daily Mail approached Naylor at her home in the Hamptons, asking for comment on the story, but she would not comment other than to say, “I’m kind of freaked out right now.” Kerstin Emhoff, the second gentleman’s first wife, told CNN: “Doug and I decided to end our marriage for a variety of reasons, many years ago. He is a great father to our kids, continues to be a great friend to me and I am really proud of the warm and supportive blended family Doug, Kamala, and I have built together.” She also recently defended Harris as “loving, nurturing, fiercely protective, and always present,” in response to Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance’s criticisms, and described Harris as “co-parent with Doug and I.” In a recent social media post, Kerstin Emhoff predicted that Vance and his wife, Usha Vance, would divorce before the next year, writing in an X post in July: “Usha’s going to be in the ex-wives club in 2025. Mark my words.” Usha’s going to be in the ex-wives club in 2025. Mark my words. https://t.co/cu4yOEMfyK— Kerstin Emhoff (@keprettybird) July 31, 2024 The Harris campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Daily Signal. CNN reported that the vetting committees of both Harris and President Joe Biden have known about Emhoff’s affair for the past four years — apparently since Harris was vetted for the running mate process. A person familiar with Biden’s vetting committee conversations reportedly told CNN that Emhoff told Harris about the affair before they were married and that Emhoff’s relationship with Naylor ended years before he began dating Harris. Harris and Emhoff married in 2014, according to CNN. He ended his marriage with his first wife in 2009. News of the affair, and The Daily Mail’s reporting that Naylor did not keep the baby, prompted widespread criticism from conservatives on X. Some, like The Federalist’s Mollie Hemingway, criticized Emhoff for his past pro-abortion rhetoric in light of the allegations. “I remember when @KamalaHarris called to tell me about the Supreme Court’s decision on Dobbs,” Emhoff said in an October 7, 2022 X post. “The first thing I thought about was my daughter. As a dad and as a husband, I’m going to do everything I can to speak out and help advance reproductive freedom.” “So your first thought was that if your daughter was used by a man like you used her nanny, you’d want to do everything you could so that man would be able to likewise avoid accountability for what he’d done?” tweeted Hemingway. “FATHER OF THE YEAR, there, Doug.” So your first thought was that if your daughter was used by a man like you used her nanny, you'd want to do everything you could so that man would be able to likewise avoid accountability for what he'd done? FATHER OF THE YEAR, there, Doug.— Mollie (@MZHemingway) August 5, 2024 Others, like The Daily Wire’s Cabot Phillips, pointed out the framing of legacy media outlets like The New York Times, who described the incident as a “long-ago affair” and a “previously undisclosed relationship.” Notice The NY Times framing here — Doug Emhoff impregnates his kid’s teacher in 2009, and it’s brushed off as “a long-ago affair.”Yet they breathlessly report on Trump’s alleged affair from 2006 as if it happened yesterday. pic.twitter.com/RnTQh4xFck— Cabot Phillips (@cabot_phillips) August 4, 2024 The post Kamala Harris’s Husband Acknowledges Cheating on His First Wife With the Nanny appeared first on The Daily Signal.

DAILY CALLER NEWS FOUNDATION—Usha Vance said during an interview that aired Monday that critics of Republican Sen. JD Vance of Ohio focused on a “quip” about childless women to avoid discussing issues and policies that result in parents having a “really hard” time raising children. Democrats attacked Vance over comments about “childless cat ladies” in a Fox News interview and remarks in a July 2021 speech about women who didn’t have children that have resurfaced since former President Donald Trump chose the “Hillbilly Elegy” author to be his running mate. Vance told “Fox & Friends” co-host Ainsley Earhardt that the then-Senate candidate had been explaining the difficulties of being a parent. “I took a moment to look and actually see what he had said and try to understand what the context was and all that, which is something I really wish people would do a little bit more often. And the reality is, he made a quip in service of making a point he wanted to the make that was substantive and it had actual meaning,” Usha Vance told Earhardt. Usha Vance Speaks Out On 'Childless Cat Lady' Controversy pic.twitter.com/OrJAS4xcQE— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) August 5, 2024 “And I just wish sometimes that people would talk about those things and that we would spend a lot less time just sort of going through this three-word phrase or that three-word phrase because what he was really saying it can be really hard to be a parent in this country and sometimes our policies are designed in a way that make it even harder,” Vance continued. “And we should be asking ourselves why is that true? What is it about our leadership and the way that they think about the world that makes it hard sometimes for parents? That’s the conversation that I really think we should have, and I understand why he was saying that.” Vance also pushed back on those who claimed the Republican vice-presidential nominee was trying to offend people with the comments. “JD absolutely at the time and today would never, ever, ever want to say something to hurt someone who was trying to have a family who really, you know, was struggling with that he made that clear at the time,” Vance said. “He has made that clear today and we have lots of friends who have been in that position. It is challenging and never, ever anything that anyone would want to mock or make fun of.” JD Vance made clear he excluded couples struggling with infertility from his criticism of the “childless left” in his 2021 speech, according to Snopes.com. “And I also understand there are a lot of other reasons why people may choose not to have families and many of those reasons are very good,” Usha Vance continued. “I think what I would say is let’s try to look at the real conversation he is trying to have and engage with it and understand for those of us who do have families, for the many of us who want to have families and for whom it’s really hard, what can we do to make it better? What can we do to make it easier to live in 2024?” Trump leads Vice President Kamala Harris by 0.8% in a national head-to-head matchup, according to the RealClearPolling average of polls from July 22 to Aug. 2, with Harris taking a slight lead of 0.2% when Green Party candidate Dr. Jill Stein and independent presidential candidates Cornel West and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are included in surveys. Originally published by the Daily Caller News Foundation The post ‘He Made a Quip in Service of Making a Point’: JD Vance’s Wife Speaks Out About ‘Childless Cat Ladies’ Comments appeared first on The Daily Signal.

The air crackled with tension in the nation’s capital as U.S. Park Police officers braced themselves at Columbus Circle for what would become a violent showdown against anti-Israel protesters. From my perch on the seventh floor of The Heritage Foundation’s nearby headquarters, I watched with a mixture of disbelief and dread July 24 as a sea of protesters marched down Massachusetts Avenue NE, just blocks from the Capitol. From outside Union Station, their derisive chants about Israel penetrated the building as I glared at their placards expressing rage toward Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who spoke to Congress that day. But it wasn’t until I saw the first lick of flame near the Columbus Memorial Fountain in front of Union Station that I realized the true gravity of what was unfolding. Protesters lowered three American flags outside Washington’s historic train station and burned them alongside an effigy of Netanyahu. This was not the first time I saw an American flag burned in protest, and it probably won’t be the last. Yet it remains a revolting and disheartening sight all the same. Black smoke filled the afternoon sky as nylon withered and melted. I was filled with sorrow and became sick with grief. This wasn’t just about a piece of cloth—it was about everything that flag represented: My grandfather wore Old Glory in the fight against the spread of communism. At home, my father wore a flag patch as he served and protected our community. In the Boy Scouts of America, I retired dozens of American flags with honor and respect, holding each flag close to my heart and treating it with dignity. As both an Eagle Scout and the son and grandson of disabled veterans, Old Glory has come to have a significant place in my heart. The colors red, white, and blue—representative of valor, purity, and vigilance—remind us of the values on which we founded, fought for, and sustained our union. Similarly, the 50 stars and 13 stripes remind us of where we are as a nation, and how we got here. Since our nation’s founding, we have seen the American flag fly throughout war, famine, and disasters. We have seen it escort soldiers and servants alike to the grave. Throughout our history, so much was given for our flag—from the blood shed in combat to the minds shattered through post-traumatic stress disorder. And yet here I was witnessing its desecration right before my eyes. After the anti-Israel protesters finally dispersed, I ventured out with two colleagues to Union Station. There, amid the day’s destruction and chaos, we found her—Old Glory—reduced to ashes and tatters at the base of the pole on which she flew. What is left of one of three American flags lowered July 24 by anti-Israel protesters. (Tim Reynolds/The Daily Signal) Carefully, we gathered what remained of that one flag, vowing that this symbol of our nation would not be trampled under the feet of misguided idealists who fail to count the cost. That night, as I reflected on what transpired before my eyes, I wept for our nation. Today, I carry a fragment of that burned flag in my wallet—a reminder of both the price and the promise of liberty. We don’t let the American flag touch the ground. We retire her with honor. This is Old Glory. And in our hearts and actions, she will live forever. The post Saving Old Glory: Why I Recovered Our Flag After Anti-Israel Protesters Burned It appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Fetterman to Harris: Don't Pick Shapiro; UPDATE: Down to Two?

The Egyptology world has had its feathers ruffled by a contentious new study that claims that a 4,500-year-old pyramid was built using jaw-droppingly sophisticated technology, including a spectacular “hydraulic elevator”. According to the authors, the mind-blowing system enabled enormous building blocks to be floated from the floor to the pyramid's summit via a central shaft, like lava flowing upwards through a volcano - yet archaeologists remain convinced.The oldest of Egypt’s seven monumental pyramids, the Step Pyramid of Djoser stands on the Saqqara Plateau and is surrounded by several enormous ancient structures. Examining the pyramid and its associated infrastructure, the study authors suggest that the unified complex consists of a gigantic dam, a water treatment facility, and a water-powered lift, all of which were employed in tandem to enable the construction of the famous landmark.If correct, this would dramatically transform our understanding of ancient Egyptian engineering, implying a level of ingenuity that could have been applied to later monuments such as the Pyramids of Giza. However, the study’s findings have triggered a backlash from some of the field’s top scholars, which is why it’s important to break them down.Finding Number One: The DamA few hundred meters from the Step Pyramid lies a colossal 2-kilometer-long (1.2 miles) stone wall called Gisr el-Mudir. Considered the world’s oldest monumental stone structure, this mysterious barrier has been hypothesized to have functioned as a fortress, a cattle pen, or a royal celebratory arena, though there is little consensus on its original purpose.Reaching an altogether different conclusion, study author Dr Xavier Landreau from the research institute Paleotechnic told IFLScience that “the first key finding that we have uncovered is that the Saqqara Plateau was built beneath the watershed” for an area of land encompassing 15 square kilometers (5.8 square miles). Using paleoclimate data to calculate the quantity of water that would have flowed into the plateau 4,500 years ago, the researchers concluded that Gisr el-Mudir was well positioned to function as a huge dam.“When you examine the cross-section of the wall, you see that it has the technical signature of an open check dam with its transition filters,” says Landreau. “Show it to an Egyptologist and they will probably say ‘no, it’s just a classic wall’. But just show it to a hydraulics student in their second or third year and they would say ‘yes, of  course, it’s obvious [that it’s a dam]’.”Well, we showed it to one of the biggest names in Egyptology – Dr Zahi Hawass, the former Egyptian Minister of State for Antiquities Affairs – and he reacted just as Landreau expected. “I’ve been excavating in Gisr El-Mudir for the last 12 years,” Hawass told IFLScience. “I found a new pyramid there, I found Old Kingdom tombs, I found statues. I just finished the excavation last May. There is not one single piece of evidence that I saw in my excavation to prove [that it was a dam].”How the Saqqara Plateau hydraulic system may have functioned. Image credit: Paleotechnic/PLOS ONEFinding Number Two: The Water Treatment FacilityWithin a moat surrounding the Djoser complex sits yet another extraordinary ancient feature known as the Deep Trench. Cut entirely out of the rock, this 400-meter-long (1,312 feet), 27-meter-deep (89 feet) channel represents another Egyptological mystery, yet the study authors say it displays all the characteristics of a water treatment plant.Interpreting these elements as a sedimentation basin, a retention basin, and a water purification system, the researchers suspect that Gisr el-Mudir and the Deep Trench may have been used in combination to deliver clean drinking water to the Saqqara Plateau while also providing hydropower for construction projects.Once again, Landreau insists that while this idea would likely seem “new to the Egyptological world, it’s actually extremely common in the field of hydraulics and water filtering, and we can find quite similar structures in the Roman world.”How the hydraulic system may have worked. Image credit: Paleotechnic/PLOS ONEFinding Number Three: The Hydraulic ElevatorThe most significant claim made by the study authors is that the water flowing out of the Deep Trench may have been used to cyclically fill and drain one of two shafts running up through the center of the Djoser pyramid, as a means of vertically transporting huge building blocks. “Below the Djoser complex there is a quite spectacular network of pipes,” explains Landreau. “There are seven kilometers of pipes entirely cut in the rock at a depth of 28 meters below the ground.”“We don’t know who dug it, when or how,” he says, although the researchers claim to have discovered that water could be transferred into this underground labyrinth from the Deep Trench in “at least three possible locations”. “If the water comes from the Deep Trench and reaches the central shaft, then the water will meet a stone blockage,” causing 28 meters worth of pressure to build up, Landreau says. The lithic impediment to which he refers is a large granite box, topped with a 2.7-tonne lid, and represents the key to this entire controversy.A reconstruction of the pyramid's underground pipes and central shaft. Image credit: Paleotechnic/PLOS ONEIndeed, it was Hawass who first discovered this box, concluding that it was the sarcophagus of Djoser – the pharaoh for whom the pyramid was built. With no mummy to be found inside, however, the famous Egyptologist and his colleagues assumed that the body had been stolen by tomb raiders – an all-too-common occurrence at ancient Egyptian sites.However, Landreau and his team's idea is drastically different, suggesting that the box was never a coffin but was instead a kind of plug that could be opened or closed to fill and drain the shaft. “The granite box’s architecture and its removable plug surrounded by limestone clay-bound blocks present the technical signature of a water outlet mechanism,” they write in their study.The central shaft of the Djoser Pyramid. Image credit: Paleotechnic/PLOS ONECalculating that the flow of water from Gisr el-Mudir and the Deep Trench would have been strong enough to power this hydraulic system, Landreau says “we have evidence that there was the possibility of a filling and draining cycle in this giant shaft – but why?”The most logical answer, he concludes, was to allow ancient architects to “load stones at the ground level and unload them at the top, and build the pyramid like a volcano from the center.”The proposed hydraulic lift in action. Image credit: Paleotechnic/PLOS ONEHawass thinks very strongly otherwise. “The shaft is a burial chamber. I discovered the sarcophagus in this burial chamber,” he says. “If you say the shaft was used for water you should see evidence now of water. But there is no evidence at all. It is a burial chamber shaft.”Like other archaeologists, Hawass also points to the fact that no historical sources mention the invention of such an elaborate system during the building of any Egyptian pyramid. “In the 26th dynasty, they restored the burial chamber. We discovered inscriptions telling us about that, and they never mentioned water at all,” he says.What The Egyptologists SaySeveral leading Egyptologists refused to be interviewed about this study, with one top scholar saying she didn’t want to speak on record about it as “no archaeologists think it’s plausible.” Echoing this statement, Hawass bluntly states that the team's “theory is completely wrong,” and that “there is no evidence at all that any pyramid in Egypt used water for transporting stones.”However, leaning on his paleoclimate data and hydraulic calculations, Landreau insists that everything reported in the study checks out, theoretically at least. Ultimately, he and his team don’t have the historical evidence to say that this really was how the Step Pyramid was built, but their observations indicate that “there is a possibility.” “For the progress of knowledge and science, we have to study such a possibility,” says Landreau.In response, Hawass bristles that “'maybe' can’t be used in archaeology. Archaeology depends on evidence.” Yet Landreau sticks to his guns, insisting that “the most important people to give their opinion on this article will be hydraulic engineers as they will be able to confirm the possible path of water - and I truly believe they will be in accordance with our findings.”The study is published in the journal PLOS ONE.

Vice Presidential candidate JD Vance appears to have touched a nerve in the news media, because the talking heads on CNN and MSNBC are still obsessing over his 2021 comments about “childless cat ladies” with thinly-veiled rage. Corporate journalists have a habit of discussing their own reporting as though they’re talking about the weather. Back during the Stormy Daniels saga in 2018, for example, hosts on CNN and MSNBC would routinely remark how, for some reason, the story just wouldn’t go away. The same phenomenon is very much at play here. It’s been weeks now, and journalists still aren’t finished shrieking about the phrase “cat ladies.” On August 2, for example, MSNBC host Joy Reid laughed that Vance was “trying to squirm out of the cat ladies thing.” And just this Monday, longtime Washington Post writer Eugene Robinson called Vance’s remarks “the gift that keeps on giving” for the Harris campaign. Here’s a sampling of the media’s ongoing fixation on Vance’s remarks:  

Supreme Court justices rarely sit for news interviews....unless it’s to promote a book. Such was the case on Monday’s CBS Mornings with Justice Neil Gorsuch set to release one on Tuesday about how overregulation has harmed ordinary Americans.  Naturally, Gorusch was hit with the usual smears that come with being a conservative jurist, such as being too grounded in “ideology” as opposed to being “fair and impartial,” the reason why Americans of differing views hate each other, and refusing to rule so as to confer with “public perception” to avoid “real-world ramifications” (e.g. on abortion and affirmative action).     Co-host Gayle King even started the labeling before going to chief Washington correspondent Major Garrett’s interview: “Gorsuch was the first of three justices nominated by President Donald Trump that have established a solid conservative majority on the Court. Now, that conservative majority has ushered in monumental decisions on issues like abortion rights and presidential immunity.” Garrett started with the book and how Gorsuch “throws the book at the law.” The justice explained the book came about as he’s witnessed for nearly two decades how “ordinary Americans — decent, hard-working Americans” have been “caught up in the legal system”. He explained not only have “[f]ederal crimes have maybe doubled in our lifetime” and there are “more people serving life sentences today than we had serving any sentence in 1970 or thereabouts,” but “it would take years just to read” aloud the number of possible federal crimes. The justice argued this could have to do with the lack of “trust” between Americans, adding he’s “worr[ied]” that “more and more Americans think that people in the other political party are not just wrong — fine — but are evil. I worry when we are unable to speak to one another and listen to one another.” Instead of agreeing, Garrett implied right-leaning individuals are to blame: “But in a recent poll, 70 percent say Gorsuch and the other current justices contribute to that problem, deciding cases on ideology rather than being fair and impartial. On that, Gorsuch dissents respectfully.” Gorsuch pointed out a reality that goes far too often unacknowledged that he agreed in the last term with the liberal justices “something like 45 percent of the time.”  Garrett hit back by invoking abortion: But there are people who watch this right now and say I thought I understood what Roe v. Wade meant in our country. I thought I understand what affirmative action in college admission meant, and this court told me I didn’t understand what that meant and I wrongly relied on things that I thought were settled. What would you say to those? Gorsuch went back and forth with Garrett on both abortion and affirmative action, showing conservatives how to calmly demolish claims of the conservative thought being a scourge on America (click “expand”): GORSUCH: I would say those are deeply complex legal questions on which reasonable minds can, of course, and do disagree. And that when it comes to Roe v. Wade, for example, what did the court decide? Decided that we the people should answer that question, not nine people sitting in Washington, D.C. GARRETT: How about affirmative action? GORSUCH: Much the same thing. What did we decide? We decided that all people are created equal, that it’s not acceptable in this country to discriminate on the basis of race. GARRETT: And, for those who would say but I feel something’s been ripped away from me, you would say? GORSUCH: I would say that we’re taking it back to you. In a democracy, you’re in the driver’s seat. You’re the sovereign. Those famous three first words of the Constitution empower you. Do you really want me deciding everything for you? GARRETT: And for a woman in a state where she no longer has the rights she once relied on, is that cold comfort? GORSUCH: Major, all I can say is I don’t know better than you do on these questions. And that most major western democracies have decided these questions through the ballot box. As part of a brief aside on the left’s push to implement control of the court under the guise of an ethics code “in response in part to pricey travel paid for by Republican donors” (but nothing liberal justices have done), Garrett asked if Gorsuch and his colleagues to act more “to understand and care about its public perception.” Gorsuch gave a fascinating answer: You raise a really interesting question about the place that unelected judges have in a democracy. An independent judiciary, our founders fought a revolution for it because they knew what it was like to have a judiciary that was responsive to the crown, to a whimsical king. They didn’t want that for this country. And the truth is, when you’re the man on the dock, you don’t want it either. A few minutes later and back live, Garrett huffed to the co-hosts that the justice didn’t “appear at all troubled by the decline in public confidence in the Supreme Court or the real-world ramifications of overturning decades of legal precedent.” Signaling his support for the packing the court crowd, Garrett huffed that such “[c]omfort with such contradictions, of course, is one of the things that comes with a lifetime”.     “Yeah, many people are questioning whether it should be a lifetime appointment,” King replied. Featured co-host Vladimir Duthiers flashed his progressive stripes (and given he’s married to a lead producer for far-left, Clarence Thomas-hating HBO host, John Oliver) (click “expand”): DUTHIERS: Yeah, Major, I appreciate you pushing back on those issues because I thought it was sort of telling that the associate justice said, do you want me deciding everything for you? If you’re a woman, you will say — but you have decided. Even though you’re suggesting that you’re sending it back to the people, the Court made those decisions that had been precedents for over 50 years, Major. GARRETT: And what was once relied upon can no longer be. That’s the change. DUTHIERS: That’s right.  DUNCAN: Mmmmm. DUTHIERS: All right — DUNCAN: Prescient. DUTHIERS: — Major Garrett for us. DUNCAN: Great interview. To see the relevant CBS transcript from August 5, click here.

On his Saturday show, CNN host Michael Smerconish displayed video from a CBS reporter in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, who went to a black barbershop and discovered there were black men there who questioned if Kamala Harris was authentically black.Oh no, they sound like Trump voters!  It was never this controversial when Biden said in 2020 "You ain't black" if you wouldn't vote for him.  Smerconish underlined Trump's inaccurate trolling comments before the National Association of Black Journalists convention about how Harris decided late in her career to identify as black. Smerconish wondered if Trump did this because "Harris's rollout has gone so well that he wanted to take control of the news cycle, even if he had to do so with a negative story." You could have just as easily suggested he did this to get out of the seemingly endless "Vance said childless cat lady" cycle.  His second theory was Trump was "narrowcasting in the black community" about Harris's "code switching" of racial identities. She's black sometimes, and Indian sometimes, even if she's both.  Next, Smerconish explained: "A Harrisburg Pennsylvania CBS network anchor went to a central Pennsylvania barbershop seeking some candid conversation among the revelations that some of the black men that he interviewed did not regard Harris as black." It turned out disappointing for Team Harris.   CBS REPORTER: Is Kamala going to make you a little more likely or less likely to vote Democrat? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hold on. Wait. Is Kamala black, yes or no? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going to let her speak on it. But to me, no. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, is Kamala black, yes or no? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I share that same view. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is Kamala blac, yes or no? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I heard she was. I heard she's half black and half Asian. Smerconish: "When I played that audio on my SiriusXM radio program on Thursday, many callers who self-identified as African American were quick to tell me that those men were the exception, not the rule. Some describe them as low-information voters no different than you'd find among whites." The CNN host pointed out Trump is outperforming other Republican presidential candidates for the black vote. Recent polling by the New York Times and Siena College shows him "capturing" 23 percent of the black vote, compared to just six percent for Mitt Romney in 2012, back when Joe Biden said Romney would "put y'all back in chains." When he turned to pundits, Tara Setmayer sounded her usual note: "Donald Trump has been a bigot and has an issue with people of race his entire career. So that's why he didn't go into that audience. He felt that he was in a hostile environment once they got aggressive questioning....that's why he went there. So I just wanted to make that very clear."