Two “Squad” Democrats voted against banning Hamas terrorists from the United States. 

Joe Biden: Israel Has the Right to Defend Itself‚ but I Really Need to Win in Michigan

Two Congresswomen Vote Against Barring Hamas Involved in October 7 Attacks From the U.S.

The test results are in and it’s not a clean bill of health for the US. Statistics released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Tuesday have revealed what’s been described as an “out of control” epidemic of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in the country.The findings come from the CDC’s most recent annual STI surveillance report‚ which compiles data on reported infections in the US. According to the report‚ more than 2.5 million cases of syphilis‚ gonorrhea‚ and chlamydia were reported in the US in 2022. Experts are particularly concerned by the number of reported cases of syphilis‚ which have shot up by 80 percent in the past five years. Syphilis can be picked up during vaginal‚ anal‚ or oral sex when someone comes into contact with syphilis sores‚ but can also be passed from a pregnant person to their unborn baby. This is called congenital syphilis and it’s a problem that experts are keen to highlight‚ with cases having increased by 937 percent over the course of a decade.“Our nation is facing a rapidly deteriorating public health crisis with real lives at stake‚” reads the response of the National Coalition of STD Directors to the report.It’s a sentiment that’s well-supported by the data. “Nearly every state reported having at least one congenital syphilis case. Some states are feeling the impact more than others – Texas‚ California‚ Arizona‚ Florida‚ and Louisiana represented 57 percent of all reported congenital syphilis cases. Tragically‚ these infections resulted in 282 stillbirths and infant deaths in 2022‚” writes Laura Bachmann‚ the CDC Acting Director for STD Prevention‚ in a statement.Syphilis consists of three main stages‚ the first two of which are the most infectious and can be characterized by skin rashes and sores‚ with other symptoms including fever‚ aches‚ and fatigue. Though most untreated cases of syphilis don’t progress beyond this point‚ the infection can sometimes reach the tertiary stage; this can cause damage in multiple organs and lead to death.However‚ syphilis can be curable with antibiotics‚ and if caught in the early stages of the infection‚ can prevent such serious or fatal damage. This may cause some to question why the US is now in the situation it’s in. Bachmann explains: “The STI field has reached a tipping point […] Recent public health emergencies diverted program resources and threatened the health of those already disproportionately affected by STIs.”So what’s the answer? According to the CDC‚ collaboration.“We are calling on all partners‚ particularly healthcare providers‚ to understand who should be tested for syphilis in their community‚ talk with patients about sexual health‚ treat patients and their partners immediately‚ and work with local and state health departments to improve syphilis management and access to care‚” writes Bachmann. “Every case is one too many when we have the tools to prevent it.”

Science’s understanding of a mysterious and rare disorder known as Alice in Wonderland syndrome just got a little bit better thanks to a study that mapped a brain circuit that seems to be involved in the condition. The research‚ which has been posted as a preprint and is yet to be peer-reviewed‚ identified a network encompassing two distinct brain regions: one involved in body perception‚ and one in processing size and scale.In Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland‚ our eponymous heroine follows a frantic white rabbit down his hole and into the topsy-turvy world of Wonderland. She meets a cast of iconic characters‚ from the Cheshire Cat to the decapitation-happy Queen of Hearts – but before any of that‚ she’s faced with a questionable bottle of liquid labeled “Drink Me”. With an almost admirable lack of self-preservation instinct‚ she does so‚ and promptly finds herself shrinking down to a minute size.It’s these events from the book that give Alice in Wonderland syndrome (AIWS) its name. It’s a rare phenomenon‚ with only around 170 cases having been described in the medical literature according to the authors of the recent preprint. Most often‚ people with AIWS report episodes in which they perceive their own body parts‚ others’ bodies‚ or objects as being too large or too small. In recent years‚ there have been calls from some researchers to broaden the umbrella of AIWS to cover other disorders of perception‚ such as tachysensia‚ in which people feel that time is moving faster than it should.With symptoms so unusual‚ and so few well-documented cases‚ it’s been a struggle to determine the cause of AIWS‚ as the authors of the preprint explain: “AIWS has variably been classified as a hallucination‚ an illusory misperception‚ or a disorder of multisensory integration related to body representation.” The most common trigger is migraine‚ but brain damage and tumors have also been implicated in some cases. Brain damage resulting in AIWS has been reported in various different brain regions. To make sense of this‚ the authors of the study performed a technique called lesion network mapping on brain scans from 37 people with AIWS‚ all cases previously documented in the medical literature.The team compared the scans with data from 1‚000 healthy people and 1‚073 lesions associated with 25 different neuropsychiatric disorders. They discovered that while the individual AIWS brain lesions varied in their locations‚ over 85 percent of them were connected to two specific hubs: the right extrastriate body area (EBA) and the left inferior parietal lobe (IPL). The right EBA is part of the brain’s larger visual processing area‚ and is activated when we are observing a body or its parts. Meanwhile‚ the left IPL is activated when we’re trying to determine something’s size. Putting two and two together‚ it starts to make sense that these two regions would be involved in a disorder that makes people’s body parts appear abnormally small or large.“This connectivity pattern was specific to AIWS when compared to lesions causing other neuropsychiatric disorders and aligned with neuroimaging findings in patients with AIWS from other etiologies‚” the authors explain in their paper. Speaking to New Scientist‚ neuropsychologist Joel Frank (who was not directly involved in the study) pointed out that the sample size was small‚ but the methods used are promising. “By identifying the correlated regions in the brain‚ more precise diagnostic tools can be developed‚” Frank said.The study‚ should it be validated in peer review‚ opens up the prospect of more accurate diagnosis and maybe even treatments for AIWS in the future. While the authors highlight that theirs is the “largest study of AIWS lesion locations to date‚” they do accept the limitations of the small sample size and the need for more data to be collected. But it’s a good first step‚ and as Alice herself lamented in the book when waiting for the Mock Turtle to recount his autobiography‚ “I don’t see how he can ever finish‚ if he doesn’t begin.”The preprint‚ which has not been subject to external peer review‚ is posted to medRxiv.

The beauty of Northern and Southern Lights is undeniable‚ and it is always wonderful when they are caught doing something weird – stunning peculiar behavior that hints at the cosmic forces that make these events possible. Have you ever seen the aurorae do little curls? Well‚ now is your chance.Taken by astrophotographer Jeff Dai‚ a stunning green aurora is seen at its zenith – the highest point in the sky – so we are getting a view of the event from below. The curtain of light is seen curling as though vibrations are going through it‚ before straightening out again.Aurorae are caused by the interactions between the electrically charged particles in the solar wind interacting with our planet's magnetic field. The interaction of solar wind and magnetosphere can cause the air above our heads to vibrate like a struck bell‚ and these curls are examples of such vibrations‚ called ultra-low frequency (ULF) waves.          IFLScience is not responsible for content shared from external sites.The aurorae and ULF tend to occur more often during the peak of increased solar activity‚ so it is not surprising that they are getting caught now. The Sun is approaching its maximum‚ the period during which it is at its most active across its 11-year-long cycle. More solar flares‚ geomagnetic storms‚ and auroral activity tend to happen during this period.[H/T: Spaceweather.com] 

MRC Founder and President Brent Bozell blasted the top brass at leftist internet traffic cop NewsGuard for once again trying to malign research exposing its bias rather than addressing its own shortcomings.  NewsGuard co-CEOs Steven Brill and Gordon Crovitz spear-headed their company’s “Social Impact 2023” annual report in which they whined about MRC’s third study exposing that the firm drastically favors leftist media outlets in its ratings. MRC’s latest analysis‚ using the AllSides Media Bias Chart‚ showed how NewsGuard blessed left-leaning media (e.g. The New York Times‚ The Washington Post‚ TIME‚ CNN and Vox) with a stellar average score of 91/100 while slapping right-leaning media (e.g. New York Post‚ The Washington Times‚ Breitbart and Washington Examiner) with an abysmally low 65/100 score.  NewsGuard panned the analysis as “fatally flawed” and arbitrarily accused MRC — AGAIN — of having “cherry-picked” the websites we researched and analyzed using its so-called “apolitical ratings.” That’s despite the fact that the MRC relied on another organization’s list entirely. Bozell blasted Brill and Crovitz in response: “Thank you for recognizing the work of the Media Research Center in your annual report‚ even if it was to mischaracterize our widely recognized study of NewsGuard’s bias.”  He continued‚ calling out the ratings firm co-CEOs for their blatant dishonesty: “Rather than address the obvious flaws in your system‚ you have again attempted to conceal from investors your firm’s demonstrable bias by falsely claiming that our reviewers ‘cherry-picked’ the media outlets analyzed in our work. As explained in the third study‚ which again exposes your organization’s broken ratings system‚ MRC Free Speech America relied on the data provided by an actual independent ratings firm‚ AllSides‚ to evaluate NewsGuard’s work.”   MRC didn’t pre-determine how the results of any of the analyses would turn out. And after three studies‚ the needle of NewsGuard’s leftist bias has barely budged. Bozell pointed out that Brill and Crovitz shouldn’t be in the business of complaining about how misinformation is supposedly threatening democracy‚ given that Brill himself notoriously spread misinformation of his own. Bozell wrote: “For example‚ contrary to your assertion that ‘there’s a high likelihood [the Hunter Biden laptop] story is a hoax‚ and maybe even a hoax perpetrated by the Russians‚’ even the Biden Justice Department now admits that the laptop is Hunter’s and its contents are his. Nevertheless‚ your ratings firm continues to prop up the legacy media outlets that maligned the New York Post’s bombshell reporting on this story while downgrading the firms that exposed the Biden bribery scandal.”  Read Bozell’s entire letter to NewsGuard.   

CNN’s Jake Tapper traveled over to ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Wednesday to look back at his career and proclaim that “the Bill Clinton era” was “somewhat more reality-based” than the current one. Kimmel asked “how long have you been covering politics in Washington?” and after Tapper replied “like a quarter century‚” Kimmel further wondered‚ “And it started-- it was a different job back then?”     Tapper affirmed that it was‚ or at least he pretended like it was‚ “It was a different job. I mean‚ it started during the Bill Clinton era. But yeah‚ it was -- it was somewhat more reality-based than it is -- than it is today‚ yeah. Clinton was impeached for being a perjurer and fought over the definition of “is.” If anything‚ the Clinton era set the stage for what Tapper and Kimmel lament‚ but Kimmel followed up as if Tapper’s observation was completely normal‚ “That is difficult‚ the fact that it is‚ like‚ that we're in a time now where somebody can -- you can have evidence‚ you can see it on videotape‚ you can hear it with your own ears‚ and people go‚ ‘No‚ that didn't happen.’” Tapper‚ who dated Monica Lewinsky at one point‚ focused on some recent internet silliness: It's bizarre. Like‚ I know you've commented a bunch of timed on this Taylor Swift-Travis Kelce insanity‚ this conspiracy theory and it's so bizarre and one of the reasons I think it happens is because the people on the far-right who come up with this nonsense‚ their incentive structure is‚ come up with nonsense for clicks and then the people downstream from them‚ the politicians‚ don't understand it's a completely different incentive structure. They're supposed to be grounded in facts and reality and things that matter to the American people‚ not deranged conspiracy theories about Tay-Tay.  It is easy to pick on the internet‚ but Tapper claimed in 2019 that “I don't know anybody [from CNN] who got anything wrong” on the Trump-Russia Collusion narrative. Does Tapper watch his own network? Here is a transcript for the January 31-taped show: ABC Jimmy Kimmel Live! 2/1/2024 12:26 AM ET JIMMY KIMMEL: Jake‚ how long have you been covering politics in Washington?  JAKE TAPPER: Oh‚ like a quarter century‚ something like that. KIMMEL: Quarter century.  TAPPER: Late '90s‚ yeah‚ yeah. KIMMEL: And it started-- it was a different job back then?  TAPPER: It was a different job. I mean‚ it started during the Bill Clinton era. But yeah‚ it was -- it was somewhat more reality-based than it is -- than it is today‚ yeah. KIMMEL: That is difficult‚ the fact that it is‚ like‚ that we're in a time now where somebody can -- you can have evidence‚ you can see it on videotape‚ you can hear it with your own ears‚ and people go‚ "No‚ that didn't happen."  TAPPER: It's bizarre. Like‚ I know you've commented a bunch of timed on this Taylor Swift--- KIMMEL: Right. KIMMEL: --Travis Kelce insanity‚ this conspiracy theory and it's so bizarre and one of the reasons I think it happens is because the people on the far-right who come up with this nonsense‚ their incentive structure is‚ come up with nonsense for clicks and then the people downstream from them‚ the politicians‚ don't understand it's a completely different incentive structure. They're supposed to be grounded in facts and reality and things that matter to the American people‚ not deranged conspiracy theories about Tay-Tay. 

MRC President and Founder Brent Bozell lambasted Big Tech executives over their inexplicable failure to take decisive action against sexually exploitative content all while censoring conservatives. On Thursday‚ Bozell joined WMAL radio host Larry O’Connor to weigh in on the headline-making testimony from five Big Tech CEOs before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Bozell hailed the bipartisan senators who grilled the executives of TikTok‚ Snap‚ Discord‚ META and X (formerly Twitter) over their reluctance to back legislation that would protect children from being exploited on social media platforms. “Josh Hawley pointed out something‚ which is marvelous‚ which was that Facebook has no problem at all censoring conservatives‚” Bozell told O’Connor‚ later recounting how Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act has broadly shielded social media companies from legal liability for criminal acts perpetrated by their users. The senators proposed amending Section 230 to allow victims of exploitative content to file civil lawsuits against Big Tech companies.  You May Also Like! ‘Agreement on The Hill: Bipartisan Senators Grill Big Tech CEOs Over Child Sexual Exploitation’ There was a “lot of chest-thumping” about Section 230‚ Bozell said. “If you amended Section 230‚ you could do it in such a way that they would have all the protections they have right now‚ provided‚ provided they did the most basic things stopping sexual exploitation [and] stopping violent crime‚” Bozell later added. X CEO Linda Yaccarino‚ Snap CEO Evan Spiegel‚ Discord CEO Jason Citron‚ TikTok CEO Shou Chew and META CEO Mark Zuckerberg faced probing questions from senators on what actions – if any – they have taken to protect children from being potentially introduced to drugs and sexual content online. While the CEOs voiced willingness to back legislation to curb some potentially harmful content‚ their openness fell short when discussing amendments to Section 230. “The First Amendment is not all-inclusive‚” Bozell said‚ referring to sexually exploitative content. “If you amended Section 230 to say‚ ‘We'll give you those‚ those protections provided you provide free speech with these‚ these walls that you put up. If you do that‚ then nothing changes. But if you don't do that‚ by gum‚ you lose that 230 protection — and yes‚ Mark Zuckerberg‚ you can be sued.’” Conservatives are under attack! Contact your representatives and demand government agencies and Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency‚ clarity on so-called hate speech and equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored‚ contact us at the Media Research Center contact form‚ and help us hold Big Tech accountable.

  If Donald Trump or George W. Bush had a continuing hostage crisis that had lasted well over 100 days‚ you can bet the leftist media would plaster their shows with criticism of those administrations‚ probably punctuated with on-screen graphics counting how many days the Americans have been held captive. Something like: “Americans Held Hostage: Day 117.” So with six American hostages still being held captive by Hamas how much time (in just the month of January) have the networks aired blaming President Joe Biden and his administration for not having brought them home? Just 28 seconds.  MRC analysts looked at ABC‚ CBS‚ NBC evening‚ morning and Sunday roundtable shows coverage of just the Hamas terrorists holding Americans captive and found the networks spent a total of 18 minutes‚ 6 seconds on the crisis.  Of those 18 minutes‚ only 28 seconds of criticism of Biden or his administration was aired. Even then the critiques weren’t very strong.      [It should be noted that MRC analysts focused on the coverage that mentioned the Americans. Any coverage that only focused on Israeli hostages wasn’t counted.]   On the January 9 edition of NBC Nightly News‚ correspondent Andrea Mitchell gently prodded Secretary of State Antony Blinken for in the following 22 second exchange: “I met with some of them [families of American hostages] after they met with you. They’re angry. ‘Where is the big stick?’ they said. ‘Why can’t you save our six children?’ How do you answer that?” Blinken responded: “Well first‚ no one can put themselves fully in the shoes of the families of the hostages. The hard part is the enemy gets a vote‚ Hamas.” The January 18 edition of NBC’s Today show aired six seconds of the father of one of the Americans putting pressure on the Biden administration: “We are pressing for action‚ from anybody that we see‚ whether it’s State Department or FBI.”  That’s it. That’s the sum total coverage of anything resembling criticism or putting the onus on the Biden administration for the hostages still not being returned. There was no criticism aired on ABC or CBS.  In terms of coverage devoted to the American hostages overall‚ NBC aired the most in January (13 minutes‚ 8 seconds)‚ ABC spent 3 minutes‚ 53 seconds on the captive Americans. CBS only spent 1 minute‚ 5 seconds on the American hostages and their families’ pleas for help.  The ordeal is horrific‚ but make no mistake — if a Republican was in the White House the networks would be exploiting the hostage crisis for partisan reasons. The fact that they’ve been reluctant to criticize Biden demonstrates how much they are in the tank for his re-election.