Horses might be smarter than we give them credit for, a new study has indicated. In the study, horses were rewarded for tapping a target – but their reaction when a time-out penalty was introduced for tapping at the wrong time indicates that horses might have more of an eye for strategy and cost-benefit analysis than their brains were previously thought capable of.“At first we found that horses would just keep touching the card over and over, as they probably realized they would still get a frequent reward with minimal mental effort,” lead researcher Dr Carrie Ijichi of Nottingham Trent University, UK, said in a statement. “There was no cost for indiscriminate hitting, sometimes it paid off, sometimes it didn’t. When we introduced a cost for their errors, however, they could instantly understand and play the game properly.”“This suggests that the horses knew all along what the rules of the game were,” added study co-author Louise Evans.Now, those well-versed in the weird and wonderful history of horse behavior may have just been reminded of Clever Hans, the horse that was purported to be able to do mathematics (but was revealed to simply be observing the responses of those around him, responding accordingly to get a little treat). However, the study authors note that “though it is never possible to rule out a Clever Hans effect when a human is present, such unintended cues would have been present in sessions one to three, where subjects did not demonstrate that they understood the task.”The study involved 20 horses aged between 11 and 22 years old at Nottingham Trent University Brackenhurst Equestrian Centre. They were conditioned to associate a whistle with being given a tasty handful of Ulsakind cubes, and were then tasked with tapping an A3 laminated card with their nose or muzzle, with a whistle and a treat accompanying a correct touch response.Then, a “stop” signal was thrown into the mix, consisting of an LED cyclist’s torch strapped to the trainer’s upper abdomen. When the light was on and the horse tapped the card, a 10-second time-out period began, where the trainer stepped back, looked down, and lowered the target, removing the opportunity to earn a snack. The duration of the stop signal was randomized to ensure “it was the light itself that signalled the No-Go contingency and not predictable intervals.”The researchers wrote that “though some individuals reduced their errors from session three to four more than others, all but one individual reduced errors in response to the introduction of the cost suggesting a remarkably prevalent ability within the group to do so.”“We were expecting horses’ performance to improve when we introduced the time-out, but were surprised by how immediate and significant the improvement was,” Evans explained. “Animals usually need several repetitions of a task to gradually acquire new knowledge, whereas our horses immediately improved when we introduced a cost for errors.”“Horses are not natural geniuses, they are thought of as mediocre, but this study shows they’re not average and are in fact more cognitively advanced than we give them credit for. We now think that horses may be able to use a form of learning called ‘model-based learning’ which was thought to be too complex for them. This will now help us to understand their behaviour and capabilities much better,” Ijichi said. “It’s fascinating because they have a very underdeveloped pre-frontal cortex which is what we typically credit with producing that type of thinking in humans.”“This means they must be using another area of the brain to achieve a similar result and this teaches us that we shouldn’t make assumptions about animal intelligence or sentience based on whether they are ‘built’ just like us.”The study is published in Applied Animal Behaviour Science.

A potentially life-threatening pathogen has just welcomed a new family member, as researchers have identified another distinct group of Candida auris. The discovery brings the number of known clades of the fungus – an emerging multidrug-resistant superbug – to six.C. auris is a type of yeast that can cause severe illness and is often resistant to antifungal medications. Although healthy people typically don’t get sick, it spreads easily among patients in healthcare facilities and can be dangerous for people with weakened immune systems. The yeast can cause a range of conditions from superficial (skin) infections to more severe, life-threatening illnesses, such as bloodstream infections. Because of its multi-drug resistance, it can be difficult – sometimes impossible – to treat. Infections are still relatively rare – however, cases have risen drastically in recent years, and as such the pathogen “poses a serious threat to global public health due to its worldwide distribution, multidrug resistance, high transmissibility, propensity to cause outbreaks, and high mortality,” the authors write.Previously, five geographically distinct clades – or groups – of the fungus had been described: one in South Asia, another in East Asia, and others in Africa, South America, and Iran.The latest clade to join the fold was discovered in April 2023, when doctors from the Singapore General Hospital identified a patient carrying an unusual strain of C. auris as part of a routine screening program. Usually, these cases originate from people who have recently traveled, but this patient had not left the country for two years, which rang some alarm bells.After analyzing the strain’s genetics, the researchers found that it didn’t match any of the five existing clades of the fungus, and so must represent a novel, sixth clade. They then tested strains taken from past patients and found two more isolates of this group of C. auris in Singapore and another in Bangladesh.It is as yet unclear how widespread the new clade is or whether it has the potential to cause invasive infections and outbreaks. Nonetheless, the researchers write, “it is imperative to ensure its early detection and containment for the purpose of patient safety.”"The implications of this discovery extend far beyond the laboratory. Now that we have discovered the sixth Candida auris clade, there is a pressing need to improve surveillance capability or develop new methods to augment current surveillance strategies so that health care facilities can keep a close watch on its emergence and contain the spread once found," Dr Karrie Ko, co-first author of the study, said in a statement.Fortunately, the cases described in the study were still susceptible to all tested antifungals, which should help abate fears of a Last Of Us-style pandemic – but it’s clear the threat of C. auris isn’t going anywhere, hence more needs to be done to identify new strains, track their transmission, and contain any adverse clinical effects.The study is published in The Lancet Microbe.

The discovery of two skeletons at the doomed ancient site of Pompeii has enabled researchers to reconstruct the panicked final moments of those who perished during the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 CE. Identified as a young man and a middle-aged woman, the cursed pair appear to have become trapped in a room in which they sought shelter, before being obliterated by a fast-moving current of scorching volcanic gasses. Alongside the female corpse, archaeologists discovered a hoard of valuable items including precious earrings and a collection of coins, suggesting the woman may have made a dash for her prized possessions in the hope of rescuing them from the impending disaster. In the end, she only succeeded in taking her material wealth with her to the afterlife.The duo were discovered during excavations of a Pompeii city block known as Regio IX and met their end in a room designated "Area 33". The woman, who was between 35 and 45 years of age, was found lying on a bed in the fetal position, while the young male – thought to be no older than 20 – ended up in a crumpled heap beneath a collapsed wall.Because the room was not invaded with pumice, the researchers suspect that the pair may have entered in search of refuge from the rain of lava that battered Pompeii’s open spaces in the aftermath of the eruption. However, as the adjacent room filled with pumice, the two individuals ultimately became trapped.The two bodies as they were found in Area 33.Image credit: Parco Archeologico di PompeiThe presence of a few centimeters of ash on the floor suggests that they probably died as a result of a pyroclastic flow, which is a rapid current of hot gas and volcanic matter. Describing the scene in a new study, the researchers suggest that this deadly torrent probably caused the collapse of the wall, resulting in the death of the young man.As for the older woman, the study authors believe she probably lived for a short while longer and may have laid down on the bed in resignation as she waited for death. Exactly how much longer she lasted is unclear, but you can be pretty sure her drawn-out final moments were not pleasant.Around the woman’s body, archaeologists discovered a set of iron keys, which may have been associated with a chest located nearby. She was also in possession of a collection of gold, silver, and bronze coins, as well as gold and pearl earrings.The woman was found with a pile of coins and other treasures.Image credit: Parco Archeologico di PompeiAccording to the authors, the earrings were of the "crotalia" (meaning "rattle") style, named for the noise produced by the pearls clanging into one another. Among the woman’s other jewels was a pendant in the form of an amulet that may have been intended to bring protection during childbirth.Based on this discovery, the researchers suspect that the woman intended to escape with her treasures, but tragically failed to get out of Area 33.To reconstruct the space itself, the authors poured plaster into the hollows left in the ash, resulting in casts of some of the wooden furniture that once graced the room. In doing so, they were able to identify the ghostly footprints of a bed, an overturned stool, and a wooden table with a marble top.The study is published in the E-Journal of the Excavations of Pompeii.

Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) made his Sunday show debut as the Republican vice presidential nominee this weekend, venturing onto hostile liberal news networks to field questions about his candidacy and blast both Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. Although Vance's interviews on CNN and ABC were punctuated by numerous spirited moments and damning allegations, three in particular stood out.Harris as 'chameleon' Last month, President Donald Trump stated that Harris "was always of Indian heritage, and she was only promoting Indian heritage. I didn't know she was black until a number of years ago, when she happened to turn black, and now she wants to be known as black. So I don't know, is she Indian or is she black?" With Trump's critique in mind, CNN's Dana Bash pressed Vance Sunday for his views on Harris' apparently fluid identity, asking flatly whether he believed she was in fact black. Vance seized on the opportunity to reinforce the fundamentals of his running mate's critique. "I believe that Kamala Harris is whatever she says she is," responded Vance. "But I believe importantly that President Trump is right that she is a chameleon. She pretends to be one thing in front of one audience. She pretends to be something different in front of an another audience." Harris was recently ridiculed for adopting different accents depending on the crowd she was addressing. The Telegraph highlighted that when speaking to a crowd in Georgia, she affected a Southern accent, but then in Michigan, she tried speaking in an entirely different style. Vance told Bash further, "[Harris] only speaks to voters behind a teleprompter. Everything is scripted. She doesn't have her policy positions out there." "I think that's what President Trump is getting at. This is a fundamentally fake person," continued Vance. "She's different depending on who she's in front of." Vance added in a subsequent X post, "Kamala Harris isn't running a presidential campaign. She's producing a movie. Everything is scripted everywhere she goes." Ownership of failure Although Harris has replaced President Joe Biden in the race for president, Vance suggested she has effectively been in the driver's seat from the start and that the current administration's various failures are hers to defend. 'Kamala Harris clearly owns the policies of the Biden-Harris administration.' "I think it's pretty straight forward," Vance told Bash. "We're running against a set of policies that I think have failed the American people, and we're running to a set of policies President Trump's four years in office that I think really succeeded for the American people." Vance claimed that whereas Trump "delivered lower prices, lower inflation, a prosperous and peaceful world, and also a secure border," Kamala Harris' "policies have produced the exact opposite." "Now that was an easier case to make when Joe Biden was in there because people associate Joe Biden with the policies, but I think Kamala Harris clearly owns the policies of the Biden-Harris administration," said Vance. In his interview with ABC News' Jonathan Karl, Vance emphasized Harris' culpability over the border crisis, noting, "We have to start with the fact that we have a wide-open southern border because our border czar actually set a lot of open-border policies." Between October 2023 and June 2024, nearly two million illegal aliens stole across the southern border under Harris' watch. In fiscal year 2023, 2.4 million crossed the border. In the previous two fiscal years, over 2.3 million and 1.7 million stole into the homeland, respectively. Not only have gangs exploited the Harris administration's open-border policies, but illegal aliens have raped and murdered American citizens; siphoned billions of dollars in federal welfare benefits; and tracked in diseases once thought eradicated or controlled. Democrats and their allies in the liberal media have attempted to rewrite history in an effort to rehabilitate Harris' public image, downplaying or denying her fingerprints on the current administration's border initiatives. Axios, for instance, characterized Harris in 2021 as Biden's "border czar" but tried to walk back the title last month after the California Democrat replaced Biden in the race. Karl attempted to join in the effort Sunday, but Vance was having none of it. "[Border czar] is what the media called her. She assumed the title. She had control over a lot of our border policy, at a time when they were suspending deportations," said Vance. "They stopped Donald Trump's Remain in Mexico policy and they re-instituted catch and release. They basically threw open the gates of our country, and now we have a ton of fentanyl, a ton of people suffering." Stolen valor allegations The question of Walz's seemingly ever-changing military record came up in Vance's CNN interview, particularly the Minnesotan's false claim that he carried "weapons of war ... in war." "This is a guy who was captured on video saying, 'I carried a gun in war.' He never went to war," said Vance. "This is a guy who has been captured on video as other people say, 'He is an Afghanistan veteran, he is a veteran of a war,' nodding along in agreement instead of saying, 'No, no, no. I did serve my country, and I did it honorably, but I never went to a war zone.'" Bash asked Vance whether he would accept the Harris campaign's recent suggestion that Walz had simply "misspoke." "He 'misspoke'? Another word is that he 'lied' about it, and he didn't correct the record for 15 years until he was put under political pressure because I called it out," responded Vance. "Whatever you want to call it — a 'misspeaking' or a 'lie' — I think that Tim Walz should have to correct the record." Vance is far from the only former service member to blast Walz over how he has presented his record. A former battalion commander of Walz's National Guard unit recently blasted the Democratic governor in a Facebook post. John Kolb, who became lieutenant colonel of the Minnesota unit after Walz threw in the towel, alleged Walz "broke his enlistment contract," failed to "complete the Sergeants Major Academy," and did "not successfully complete any assignment as a Sergeant Major," reported the New York Post. Kolb noted there was a silver lining to Walz's retirement: "He got out of the way for better leadership." Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

American business owners are usually going to have a better idea of what the country needs to survive, and “Shark Tank’s” Kevin O’Leary is no exception. “When we syndicate debt for real estate projects, we don’t care if you’re a Democrat or a Republican. So, I deal with a lot of investors agnostic to politics, and some of them are very big contributors to the Democratic party,” O’Leary told Fox News’ Jesse Watters. O’Leary then revealed to Watters that one of those investors told him that “some of us are having buyer's remorse.” “'We wish we’d run a process because we got so much press in the first nine days of bringing somebody into the party and raised the 200 million plus. Which like a balloon under water, it just wasn’t Biden,'” he continued, explaining what the investor said. “So, that’s starting to crack a little bit,” he added. O’Leary then took aim at Justin Trudeau as an example, telling Watters that “no one cared about his executional skills or what he’s ever done or anything.” “They just thought he was the ‘it’ guy. Look at the country now. It’s wiped out, because it turns out the guy had no executional skills. It would be important to leave aside the politics and ask, ‘What has Kamala Harris actually done, actually achieved?’” While Harris has been vice president for the past three and a half years, it doesn’t seem as if she actually has achieved anything. “The happy talk is going to have to stop, because someone’s going to sit her down and say, ‘Let’s talk inflation, let’s talk border, let’s talk policy on energy, let’s talk policy on foreign affairs,’ and if she doesn’t deliver on that,” O’Leary explained, “the guy that said, ‘I wish we’d run a process,’ is going to be right.” O’Leary didn’t stop there. He also praised Trump. “You might hate Trump, but he has this track record of policy. You might hate him, I get it, but you know, you got to do something,” he finished. “Dave Rubin of “The Rubin Report” is impressed. “Someone on the left said something not completely insane,” he says, shocked. Want more from Dave Rubin?To enjoy more honest conversations, free speech, and big ideas with Dave Rubin, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

Congressional investigators are examining the possibility that the pipe bomb planted outside Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington, D.C., in 2021 was left near a park bench at midday on January 6 — while Vice President-elect Kamala Harris was inside the building for as-yet-unexplained meetings.A senior congressional investigator told Blaze News the latest theory is that the DNC bomb was planted less than 15 minutes before it was discovered at 1:05 p.m. That would mean the bomb was placed near a park bench on the southwest side of the DNC building 22 minutes before Harris was removed — not 17 hours earlier, as long claimed by the FBI.The DNC device was discovered by a plainclothes Capitol Police counter-surveillance officer who was sent to the DNC on Jan. 6 after a pipe bomb was found behind the Capitol Hill Club near the Republican National Committee office at 12:43 p.m. Each bomb was attached to a 60-minute kitchen timer, the FBI has said.The new timeline being explored by congressional investigators raises troubling questions with heavy implications. Why didn’t the U.S. Secret Service find the bomb during two security sweeps on Jan. 6 if the device was actually planted after 7 p.m. the night before, as the FBI insists?The canine sweep inexplicably did not include the bushes where the pipe bomb was later located.If it is possible that the DNC bomb was placed shortly before it was discovered on Jan. 6, why hasn’t the FBI released security video from the southwest side of the DNC building that would identify the culprit and pin down the exact day and time the bomb was placed?The Capitol Hill investigation of the pipe bombs has taken on new life 43 months after Jan. 6 with release of the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General report on the mistakes made by the Secret Service on Jan. 6.The congressional probe has also taken on new urgency with the colossal July 13 Secret Service security failure that led to the near-assassination of former President Donald J. Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.This new information is being generated not from evidence released by the FBI, Secret Service, or other law enforcement but from congressional investigators and independent news media, including Blaze News, Revolver News, and Declassified with Julie Kelly.Two K-9 security sweepsOne of the earliest questions posed since the discovery of the DNC pipe bomb on Jan. 6 was how the Secret Service could have missed the device if it conducted a proper sweep with a bomb-sniffing dog.According to the July 24 report from DHS Inspector General Joseph V. Cuffari, two Secret Service K-9 teams swept the DNC property between 8:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. in preparation for Harris’ arrival on Jan. 6. One team swept the building interior along Harris’ planned walking path.The Secret Service site supervisor, however, “did not instruct the canine teams to sweep any part of the exterior of the building,” Cuffari wrote in his 82-page report. Despite this, one of the canine teams did sweep “certain exterior areas” around the garage entrance but “did not include the bushes where the pipe bomb was located,” the OIG report said. Even with the partial canine sweep along the southwest side of the building, the bomb-sniffing dog came within feet of where the pipe bomb was later discovered. The bomb location was nine feet from the entry door and 20 feet from the center of the driveway where Harris’ motorcade passed just before 11:30 a.m.The FBI determined the Jan. 6 pipe bombs were "viable" explosive devices that could have cost lives and caused extensive property damage. A congressional source told Blaze News that the devices were mostly inert with just enough gunpowder inside to trigger a bomb-sniffing dog.According to the new theory being explored by congressional investigators, the pipe bomb was not present when the security sweep was done or when Harris arrived from the Capitol.Investigators have been hampered by the fact that key U.S. Capitol Police security cameras were intentionally aimed away from the rear of the DNC building at the time — or they would have captured the security sweep and the time the device was actually placed.'This could have been the worst assassination since JFK.'The best vantage point over the DNC garage entrance and the southwest side of the building was U.S. Capitol Police camera 8021, located on the side of the nearby Fairchild Building. According to a review of that camera footage by Blaze News, the device was pointed west, away from the DNC, until five minutes after discovery of the bomb.By the time the camera was moved back to focus on the DNC building, the pipe bomb had been found and the Secret Service vehicles in the driveway were moving to allow Harris’ entourage to drive out through the garage entrance.Another Capitol Police security camera provided a partial view of the DNC garage entrance before and during Harris’ visit. Although camera 3173 did not reach quite far enough to cover the exact pipe bomb location near the park bench, it did reveal clues that have led to suspicion that the bomb was planted at approximately 12:52 p.m. on Jan. 6.According to security camera footage captured by camera 3173, Harris’ entourage of three dark, armored SUVs pulled into the DNC driveway just after 11:25 a.m. We don't know what meetings the vice president-elect was attending at the DNC that day. Nearby, a joint session of Congress was about to meet to take up objections to Electoral College balloting from the 2020 presidential election. Harris was a sitting U.S. senator at the time, and the debate could have had serious bearing on her ability to assume office on Jan. 20 if protests and rioting had not interrupted the session.At 12:03:40 p.m., a Metropolitan Police Department SUV pulled up to the driveway and the driver emerged to speak with Secret Service agents, video showed. About 90 seconds later, two of the Secret Service agents got into the MPD vehicle with the MPD officer and departed.At 12:08:38 p.m., the SUV returned and parked near the DNC driveway. One Secret Service agent got out and opened the hatchback. A heavy-set plainclothes agent walked into view from the sidewalk off camera and removed something from the passenger side of the vehicle and placed it in the back. Congressional investigators want to know more about what took place in this camera's blind spot after an agent exited a Metropolitan Police Department SUV and moved off camera for more than 80 seconds.U.S. Capitol Police CCTVThe driver removed a reflective yellow jacket, a white grocery sack, and what appeared to be a black garbage bag from the back seat and placed those items in the rear cargo area, the video showed. He then retrieved several other small white grocery sacks or fast-food-type bags from the rear seat and placed them in the back of the SUV. The MPD officer then retrieved what appeared to be documents and placed them in the cargo compartment.The MPD officer and one of the plainclothes agents closed the hatchback, got back into the SUV, and drove away at 12:10:47 p.m., security video showed.The same SUV returned at 12:51:39 p.m., and one of the plainclothes agents got out of the rear passenger door and walked into one of the camera's blind spots — where the pipe bomb was later found. The SUV pulled forward and backed into the DNC driveway, replacing an MPD squad car that was previously in the spot.The plainclothes agent walked back from the camera's blind spot at 12:53:18 p.m. and proceeded to get back into the MPD vehicle that was now parked in the DNC driveway, the video showed.A Capitol Hill source told Blaze News that some investigators suspect the pipe bomb was placed during this time frame. Without the superior view offered by camera 8021 or the DNC security video held by the FBI, it is far from certain, however, who placed the device.The timing suggested by this theory could be significant, since the first breach of the Capitol grounds by protesters occurred at 12:53 p.m. The growing crowd of hundreds of protesters moved quickly from the Peace Fountain through a lightly defended police line to the Capitol. By 1:06 p.m. — when Capitol Police opened fire with crowd-control projectiles — protesters occupied most of the West Plaza.Inspector General Cuffari’s report said the Secret Service should have done a canine sweep of the bushes along the DNC’s southwest side. Agents failed to arrange for an explosives ordnance disposal team to be on site during the sweeps. A specialist site coordinator should have been brought to the bomb site, which the OIG report said would have prevented the failure of canine teams to sweep the bushes for explosives, the report said.The Secret Service also failed to define and record the Jan. 6 pipe bomb as an “Unusual Protective Event” as required by its own regulations, Cuffari wrote. The nonchalant demeanor of Secret Service agents after discovery of the DNC pipe bomb caught the attention of U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), who released a video in July 2023 showing a distinct lack of urgency. Massie said it appeared the Secret Service agents and the MPD officer finished eating their lunches before exiting the vehicles to investigate the pipe bomb.Every investigator and law enforcement official contacted by Blaze News over the past year said the Secret Service broke several protocols on Jan. 6, including lack of effective use of bomb-detection dogs, failure to establish a safe perimeter and prevention of pedestrian access to the bomb site, and a neglect to stop rail traffic on the trestle that runs alongside the DNC building.The OIG report said that after discovery of the pipe bomb, the Secret Service detail leader “decided to evacuate the building immediately.” However, it took 11 minutes from discovery of the bomb until Harris' motorcade rolled out of the DNC garage, traveled around the block to the building entrance, and retrieved Harris, security video showed.The Secret Service originally planned to return Harris to the Capitol at 1:30 but were talked out of it by an MPD officer who heard reports of violence between police and protesters. The congressional investigator said this is an example of "siloed" communications, where Harris' Secret Service team was not in contact with Vice President Mike Pence's security detail or other agents at the Capitol.Poor communication has already emerged as a factor in the near-assassination of former President Trump. The Secret Service did not stage an agent in the command center of state and local police and missed crucial radio broadcasts indicating that a man was on a nearby roof with a rifle. As a result, U.S. Sens. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said poor communication nearly got Trump killed by would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks.Mysterious hooded bomberSince shortly after the discovery of the pipe bombs, the FBI said a mysterious hooded individual placed the pipe bombs at the RNC and DNC the night of Jan. 5. Security video was released showing a suspect moving between the two sites. Grainy security video from the DNC — captured at a barely workable five frames per second — showed the suspect sitting on a park bench behind the DNC. The video did not show the actual placement of a bomb. Kyle Seraphin, a former FBI special agent assigned to do surveillance on a person of interest in the pipe bomb case, said he was told in a March 2021 FBI briefing that the pipe bombs were not a threat. “They were not viable devices," Seraphin said in an Aug. 2 interview with Blaze News. "‘Inoperable.’ ‘Looked very bomb-like,’ was the quote that I remembered.”“We have a lot of people that worked for the FBI who are willing to fudge the truth or use shaded versions or definitions of the word ‘viability,'" he said.Seraphin's surveillance team was brought in to gather intelligence on someone thought to be connected to the hooded Jan. 5 stranger. "When you work surveillance, you want to know some things about your target," Seraphin said. "Is this a witness? Is it someone who's not a threat to us? Oh, is this an MS-13 gang member? Have they allegedly hacked people up with a machete? I want to know that. Like, what is my threat?"Seraphin and his team were abruptly pulled off the case without explanation after tracking a vehicle and a D.C. Metrorail card. The person being surveilled in that case did not match the physical description of the hooded suspect.Seraphin's name came up in a June 7, 2023, transcribed interview with Steven D'Antuono, former head of the FBI's Washington field office, with two members of the House Judiciary Committee. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) asked D'Antuono about Seraphin's contention that the pipe bombs were not "viable" explosives."All I know is that we, at the Washington field office, received a report from the lab division, which are the bomb experts — I don't know what Kyle's expertise in bomb-making is — that they were viable devices," D'Antuono said. "So the only thing I could go by is what my lab said, and not what Kyle says."Seraphin said he spent 100 hours on demolition training in the U.S. military and has used commercial and military-grade dynamite. He has done electric and non-electric demolitions, he said."That's one of those quirky things, why would you bring my name up to specifically discredit it?" Seraphin asked. "Unless that was an actual threat to what was the lie that they were telling.""To me, having seen what they have done recently, I know they don't have a problem lying to Congress," Seraphin added. "As long as they think they're not going to get caught."The Jan. 6 pipe bombs case is a "catastrophic failure," given the FBI's vast resources and more than 43 months with no arrests, he said."The idea that they would have all of those resources — and it's the biggest case the FBI has ever worked," Seraphin said. "The fact that they didn't catch the most terroristic person on that day … that will forever live in infamy. It’s absurd to me on every level. It defies credulity."Deleted texts and blinded camerasMassie expressed amazement at what he saw as the lack of curiosity by the now-defunct Jan. 6 Select Committee about the DNC bomb and what it could have meant for the country. In a February 2024 House Rules Committee hearing, Massie upbraided the former committee's co-chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), for the lack of pipe-bomb details in the committee’s final report.“So you’re in charge of the entire investigation of what happened on January 6 and what led up to January 6 and you don’t know that the vice president … the incoming vice president was in the DNC when that pipe bomb was sitting there?” Massie asked. “If this bomb had gone off just a few feet from her, this could have been the worst assassination since JFK.”The investigation has been frustrated by the Secret Service's decision to wipe all of its agents' phones after Jan. 6, despite admonition from four congressional committees to preserve all Jan. 6 information and a warning from the inspector general not to delete digital information related to Jan. 6.In February 2022, the Secret Service notified Cuffari that it had wiped "all phones" when it updated software between January and April 2021 and "did not have backup files." Thus it was unable to provide emails or text messages between agents on Jan. 6.The Secret Service told the OIG that the system migration was planned before Jan. 6, although employees were sent information on how to use screen captures to maintain copies before the deletion dates, the report said. Just as the Capitol Police bomb squad prepared to deploy its bomb robot at 1:44 p.m. on Jan. 6, camera 8020 was turned away from the scene. It was the third camera manipulated that day so as not to capture response to the DNC pipe bomb.U.S. Capitol Police CCTV“If four committees of Congress gave a preservation notice and the Secret Service deleted those communications, that’s obstruction of Congress," Massie said. "I think we should still be looking into that, regardless of when we found out about it and, frankly, regardless of who the president is."The Secret Service response to the DNC pipe bomb, coupled with Capitol Police's manipulation of CCTV security cameras at key moments on Jan. 6, continues to generate questions 43 months into the investigation.Pedestrians were allowed to traverse the sidewalk just feet from the bomb. Vehicles continued driving past the DNC building before Harris was extracted from the building, and Capitol Police deployed a bomb robot to destroy the device. According to the federal Office for Bombing Prevention, the minimum evacuation zone for a pipe bomb is a 70-foot radius. The preferred evacuation zone is at least 1,200 feet.Even the DNC bomb-squad response was shrouded in mystery. A third Capitol Police security camera was turned away from the scene just as the bomb squad moved in, according to a review of CCTV footage by Blaze News. Camera 8020 — located high on the Fairchild Building — was capturing the assembly of the bomb squad on E Street Southeast when it was directed away from the scene at 1:44 p.m. and pointed at a distant highway overpass for the next 2.5 hours.Camera 8021 — which was turned away from the DNC earlier and missed the 1:05 p.m. discovery of the pipe bomb — was turned away again just before 2:21 p.m. as a bomb technician prepared to use the robot's water cannon to disrupt the device.

Take the L, BRO! Brian Krassenstein Says Trump's Campaign Has 'Collapsed' So He Does ANOTHER Poll and LOL

Election Year Gun Sales Usually Trend Up - but Not This Year. Why?

Disney's Live-Action Snow White Trailer Dropped and It Went As Horrible As You'd Expect