The following article, Democrats Lie Even To Their Own Voters: Just 3 Examples, was first published on Conservative Firing Line. For decades, Democrat politicians begged their voters to give them control of the White House, Senate and House so that they could make the District of Columbia a state. Well, Democrats controlled all three in 2021 and 2022 without offering even one piece of legislation to make D.C. a state? What happened? D.C. is not … Continue reading Democrats Lie Even To Their Own Voters: Just 3 Examples ...

Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran on Wednesday using an explosive device that had been covertly hidden in the guest house where he was staying, a source familiar with the matter told CNN. According to the source, who had been briefed on the operation, the bomb was concealed about two months ago in the guest house where Haniyeh was known to stay in Tehran and detonated remotely once he was inside his room there. The Iranian government and Hamas say Israel carried...

The first study of its kind has determined what many have long suspected - AI left-wing. A total of 24 Large Language Models (LLMs), including Google's Gemini, OpenAI's ChatGPT and even Elon Musk's Grok, were asked political charged questions during tests of its values, party affiliation and personality. The results showed the all LLMs produced answers that were largely 'Progressive,' 'Democratic' and 'Green,' and included values like 'Equality,' '...

It’s about to be official. Democrats will begin a virtual roll call on Thursday to vote Vice President Kamala Harris as the party’s presumptive presidential nominee. The roll call vote will begin Thursday at 9 a.m. ET. Delegates have until the deadline on Monday, Aug. 5 at 6 p.m. ET to return their ballots. Harris skyrocketed to the top of the ticket after President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential race on July 21. Pressure had grown from concerned Democratic...

Tiny houses are still a popular choice for people trying to downsize but tiny houses for cats are springing up in one man's backyard. Barna, thought he was doing a good deed for a stray cat that decided that he kinda liked hanging out in this human's backyard. The cat would show up but at first wouldn't eat the food set out for him, that didn't stop Barna.The man continued to set food out for the cat. Taking note of the changing weather, Barna decided to take one of his hobbies and build the cat, now named Domino a cozy little house. Building things is a hobby for the man, so he made sure to equip Domino's tiny abode with a heating pad, light and camera. Before too long the situation turned into a version of the famous children's book, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. Another cat showed up, because of course Domino had a bestie but it didn't stop there.Barna built a tiny two story condo for the two cats to hang out in while still keeping Domino's original tiny house. The backyard looks like it was made to host furry tenants in a makeshift cat community because more cats indeed showed up. Now the tuxedo cat has several neighbors to hang out with and thanks to Barna, none of the cats look like they're missing any meals. "We have about four or five cats who will go in and sleep in the houses," Barna tells The Dodo. "One night one of the biggest storms of the year hit, I saw that two kittens actually took shelter in the house. That was one of the sweetest things ever."Barna has cameras set up inside and outside of the itty bitty kitty community so he can keep an eye on his feline neighbors. The cats' landlord expresses that he feels gratification seeing his little houses be used by furry tenants. Having a group of cats around probably isn't too terrible for keeping pests away either so it's a win for all involved. This article originally appeared on 5.13.24

There is an amazing retirement village now accepting guests but instead of catering to elderly people, it's designed for elderly cats. Shropshire Cat Rescue has been rescuing elderly cats that are set to be euthanized and providing them with top notch elder care. The owner of the rescue was tired of seeing older cats get passed over for adoption and subsequently put to sleep simply because they were old so she decided to do something about it. That's where the idea for Shropshire Cat Rescue came from and they've got cats wandering the retirement village who are over 20 years old. One cat, lovingly named Cat, loves to hang out in the little "store" in the tiny cat town, while others lounge in cat condos.Veterinarian, Dr. Scott Miller, owner of an elderly cat himself wet to visit the feline retirement community to check it out. He was impressed with how much the retirement community had to offer the cats that call it home. Shropshire Cat Rescue is in England, but it's not the only retirement home out there for felines. A Florida couple opened a retirement home for elderly cats, too. Terry and Bruce Jenkins decided to open their home for elderly cats in their back yard, rescuing them from "hardship situations." The Jenkins' don't adopt the old kitties out, they let them live out their years cozy in their back yard. In fact, there are several retirement homes for cats in America, but the Shropshire village truly looks like a mini town. It comes complete with stores and other town staples designed for cats to lounge about in, but humans also use the store fronts to store items for the cats. Watch:Shropshire Cat Rescue currently has about 17 cats and has a program set up that allows local kids to come play with the cats. The elderly cats get to socialize with humans and other cats while receiving whatever care they need. The retirement home is the last stop for these old guys so there's no effort to rehome them. These cats simply get to live out the rest of their lives being loved on by volunteers and the visiting children. Maybe even more retirement homes will start popping up across the country. This article originally appeared on 5.14.24

A group of high school students in Elizabethton, Tennessee, did something local law enforcement couldn’t do in 40 years. They identified a suspect in the murder of Tina McKenney-Farmer, one of the 14 victims in the “Redhead Murders,” an unsolved series of murders in the south in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s.All of the victims were white women with reddish hair who died similar deaths. They were strangled and disposed of on the side of major highways in Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas, Mississippi and West Virginia. The students’ work was part of a sociology class taught by Alex Campbell in 2018. The class's goal was to uncover whether the killings were the work of one man. The students’ incredible detective work on the case was documented in a popular 10-part podcast, Murder 101 by iHeart True Crime.Campbell assigned the project to his students because he enjoys "projects that get the students interested, projects where we can apply what we're learning in our classes,” he told People. “I had never heard about the murders even though I've lived here my entire life. They had these murders, but nobody had ever come to a consensus whether there was a person responsible for more than one of them, was there a serial killer active?" ‘Bible belt strangler’: How did high school students solve 40-year-old cold case murder? | Dan Abram www.youtube.com Over one semester, they determined that 6 of the women were likely to have been connected to the same murderer and labeled him the “Bible Belt Strangler.” They also helped identify one of the unidentified victims, Tina McKenney-Farmer.The class also brought in a former FBI agent, Scott Barker, who taught the 20 students how to profile a case. He told the students that to connect all of the murders to one killer, they needed to identify four things: the timeframe, geography, signature and the M.O. or modus operandi. The students came to the conclusion that McKenney-Farmer was murdered by Knoxville trucker Jerry Johns, who died in prison in 2015 after being convicted of kidnapping and attempted murder in 1987. Johns picked up a woman, strangled her and left her along Interstate 40.“If we look at Tina Farmer’s case and how she was killed, do these other cases match the M.O., the signature, the time frame and the geography is all the same and we have five other murders that match it completely. So, we know who killed her. He should be the primary suspect in the killing of all these others,” Campbell told CBS 12 News. DNA evidence later proved that the students were correct by linking Jerry Johns to the McKenney-Farmer crime scene. Investigators now believe that Johns may have been responsible for more of the Redhead Murders. By the end of the year, the students had also identified 6 victims in the Redhead Murders. — (@) Tennessee State Legislature commended the students for their work. However, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has never publicly credited them with the discovery. “It’s things that law enforcement haven’t been able to do in 30-40 years. That just gives me so much confidence that when you’re passionate about something, and you’re willing to put in the work, you can get it done and you can really go above and beyond any expectations you have,” student detective Reiley Whitson told CBS 12.

When we think of the word luxury, we might conjure up images of mansions, high-thread-count sheets or designer handbags. We probably don't picture something as simple as walking to our kitchen to get a glass of water. But for many people, even here in the U.S., having filtered drinking water pouring out of a spout in your home is a luxury. Merriam-Webster defines a "luxury" as "something adding to pleasure or comfort but not absolutely necessary." Water is a necessity. Having it always available a few steps from wherever you're sitting is not. And there are many things that we think of as basics, simply because we've always had them, that others live without and would consider a luxury. Someone on Reddit asked, "What’s a luxury that many people don’t realize is a luxury?" and the answers are making people feel grateful for things they might have taken for granted.Drinkable water straight from the tapLet's start with the most basic one, which isn't basic at all when you think about it."My graduate advisor (in the southeastern USA) taught a class on edible invertebrates, they would learn about a group of invertebrate animals each week and then eat them. The very first week he gave each student a glass of tap water and had them drink it. Then he told them that they were in a small percentage of people worldwide who could do what they just did and not have to worry about ingesting any number of critters. I TA'd that class the next year and it was pretty fun, although the pickled jellyfish was absolutely foul to me. 25 years later and I still remember that lesson.""Exactly! Just turning on any faucet and being able to drink the water. I don’t think people realize how much of the world still has to walk somewhere to get water, and then has to make it safe to drink.""Or the places that have tap water but still have to boil it anyways. People really don't realize how lucky they are to turn on a tap and have water they can drink without taking extra steps to not get sick or die."Hot water on demandThe fact that we are able to adjust our water temperature to whatever we want it to be on demand? Incredible."I'm a plumber and we occasionally get calls on the weekend with people literally panicking because they don't have hot water. 'I have a sink full of dishes, I don't know what I'm going to do helllllp.' I think about people in other parts of the world surviving just fine without hot water, or even running water for that matter.""Yep as a kid we didn't have a hot water heater , mom had a huge pot she would boil on the stove and then dump that in the bathtub. I think I was about 8 when at a Friend's house in town they had running hot water. It blew me away, how cool is this." "My hot water heater stopped working today and I laughed at myself as I dramatically hyped myself up before rinsing shampoo out of my hair. I wouldn’t have made it 200 years ago…"Good healthThe often overlooked one that's probably the most important one of all."Most people absolutely do not appreciate the value of having good health until it gets taken away from them.""Yeah, being able to just get on with your life without worrying about a chronic illness is definitely a luxury. Hell it's one many would trade being born in a 1st world country for.""As someone who gets a new autoimmune disease every 7-10 years, this one is number one for me. It's changed the trajectory of everything I ever wanted to do with my life.""I kinda hate that I took it for granted - until I got sick. Well, I was born with a genetic disorder, but it didn’t affect me (or was known about) until I was 40. Now I’m 50 and spend 90% of my days in bed. But I have had a fun and fulfilling life before that, I’m extremely grateful for that."Laundry machinesMiraculous. (And yet we still complain about doing laundry, don't we?)"The apartment I'm living in now has an in-unit washer AND dryer. It's amazing. I can throw a load in, no worrying about quarters or getting it switched over before someone else tries to use it. No carrying laundry baskets to the apartment basement, no one stealing my laundry or tide pods.""Yup. I lived in a rural area of Brazil for a while. We used buckets to wash our clothes then line dried.""Soooo true. The amount of time it saves?? You can throw a load in and leave the house. Or do another chore. Or anything you want. It’s amazing.""The invention of the washing machine led to an average reduction in house work by women of 8 hours per week, effectively adding a full workday for women to be able to do different things. This helped to accelerate women’s rights."Shopping for groceries without checking pricesIf you've never had to take a calculator to the grocery store, consider yourself lucky."This is when I realized I was doing ok. When I went shopping or out to eat and never looked at or worried about the prices.""I feel this. There were times I used to sit outside of the store and just cry, wondering how I would get enough food for the week. I used a calculator meticulously to make sure I wouldn’t be embarrassed at checkout. At times I ate nothing but sandwiches (thanks to the bread outlet!) and ramen noodles. My then-partner and I would share one grilled cheese and one can of soup for a nice weekend meal. Going out was incredibly rare. Only birthdays, really, and then we shared food. Now, I never forget those times because I am blessed enough that I can eat whatever food I want. I can afford all of the bills AND gas for my car. I can pay for car repairs instead of just hoping it works each day. I regularly help out those less fortunate and donate to the local mission, food pantry, and directly to students in need at my school. I give stuff away for free vs selling it on Marketplace. Don’t ever, ever, ever, forget how others live. It’s humbling to go through, but without the struggle we can’t fully appreciate the easier times.""When I read this I realized this has never been a possibility for me. I don't know why it surprised me so much I guess because I'm just used to it. I can't recall even one time that I've gone to the grocery store that I didn't have to plan every penny. When I watch those weird restocking videos, I don't feel jealousy as much as horror. My brain immediately goes to how much each one of those things costs and what else they're giving up to have them. Probably because if I did that, I wouldn't have a place to live or a car."Being able to publicly call the leader of the country an idiot with no consequences from the governmentSome say free speech is not a luxury but a right. But let's not get stuck on semantics."This is the winner. It blows me away when I see people advocate publicly for rolling back free speech while they disparage government leaders in the same breath. The lack of awareness is insane.""German here. Took me a while to truly grasp that. My parents always had some mean caricatures of politicians hanging on the walls.Then I became friends with a Syrian refugee and took him to a barbecue at my parents place.He saw a brutal caricature of Angela Merkel in the dining room and immediately pulled me to the side to ask me if this isn’t dangerous to have at home. I laughed at first till I realized he was very serious and even a little afraid that there could be consequences for him for hanging with people who openly make fun of the German government.""This is so true. In Argentina we had a period where you'd be met with firearms if you were caught speaking badly of the government or known to be against it. Some ppl still think we were better off back then."Open minded, loving, supportive parentsThose who have them may not realize what a huge difference good parents makes."This is the single most prolific factor in determining a child's success in developed countries, in my opinion. And by success, I don't just mean material success. I mean emotionally and relationally, as well as their career path.I did a paper in college specifically about the outcomes of families with and without involved parents. The statistics are frightening. It cannot be understated how important supportive parents are for a child's development and life outcome.""The number of people who take the good childhood they had for granted is mind-blowing.""I still don't know what to do with this. Every time I see it, even in fiction, I realize how so many people don't know how lucky they are. I too wonder who I could have been with support and acceptance from my family. It's not easy to have to build yourself up when you weren't given the tools to do so and had to scratch it all out yourself."8-10 hours of sleepAh, the bliss of a good night's sleep that you'd give an eye tooth for after you become a parent…"Didn't even occur to me until I had my baby.""Can’t relate to having a newborn, but insomnia is a god damn nightmare""I haven’t slept more than 6.5 hours a night in over almost 2 years ? First it was pregnancy insomnia. Then came my now-1 baby and exclusively pumping. I’m so tired y’all…"Air conditioningSeriously, this one is huge. If you know, you know."I grew up in a house without air conditioning (for the most part without even window units). I have lived in my current house for almost ten years now and the central air still feels like a 'rich people' thing.""I honestly didn't know this, until I saw a case on The People's Court where a tenant was complaining about not having air conditioning. The judge went on to explain that AC was a luxury. I've been much more appreciative of my AC since that day.""I reached a point in my life where I can budget for being comfortable in my own home, whether it is 110F or 10F outside. That's a nice luxury."Air travelSitting in a chair above the Earth and being plopped down in another country for less than the price of a Taylor Swift concert ticket? Priceless. "People bitch and complain about everything: the seats are too small, it costs too much, food sucks, the flight was delayed. But it's pretty amazing to pay a few hundred dollars and arrive on the other side of the country (or globe) the same day.""100% And if you go to a random rural town you'll meet a ton of people who have never been on an airplane. I lived in the middle of nowhere in northern Michigan and when I told people I'd flown a few dozen times they looked at me like I was an alien.""Yeah sometimes I feel like I am one of the only people left who is still amazed by the idea that you can get in an aluminum tube, fly through the air, and land in a place that a century ago would have taken days or weeks to get to."Free timeThe gift of time should never be undervalued. "Time is the real answer. This question was asked a different way not long ago and someone wrote up a very well thought out reply about why time is the ultimate luxury. And I don't mean using that time for luxury leisure time either. Time itself is the luxury because it affords you opportunities that you otherwise would not have.""This is my favorite luxury of them all! In my experience it requires money which is the only reason money is important to me. Money to be off work (and all the bills still get paid) but also money to enjoy that free time however I please. From a young adult I made free time my mission and I’ve been blessed to have a lot of it.""Yes! The first time I watched Wrath of Khan, and Khan says to Kirk, 'Time is a luxury you don’t have, Admiral' my mind was blown. I had never thought of time as a luxury before, and that has always stuck with me.I still hear Ricardo Montalban in my head when my alarm goes off in the morning and I have to get up, lol."There are so many simple things we can consider luxuries and feel grateful for. All we have to do is imagine what life would be like without them.

Cats and dogs are, well, two different beasts. One comes from a lineage of solitary hunters, the other is a pack animal. That alone is bound to result in vastly different personalities. And while we kind of know this about the world’s two favorite pets, you’ve probably never seen it in action quite like this before. In a video posted to TikTok by pet tracker company Tractive, a pet owner showed how his cat stealthily followed along while they were taking the dog on a walk. In satellite view, we see the dog (presumably on a leash with the owner) walking a fairly straightforward loop. Meanwhile, the cat’s path is a dizzying series of zig zags and loop de loops, seeming to stay just close enough to keep tabs on its family—while still entertaining its own curiosity. Watch: @tractive.com Cat walk vs Dog walk be like ??? #tractive #tractivegps #catwalk #dogwalk #dogsoftiktok #dogwalking #outdoorcat #catsoftiktok #cattok #dogsandcats ♬ original sound - Tractive Pet GPS The cute clip prompted fun comments as it made its way through several other social media platforms, including X and Reddit. “She is doing side quests!”one person quipped. Another joked that “The cat is me when I tell a story.” A few thought this was the perfect example showing that cats aren’t nearly as aloof as we think they are. “Cat: I miss you, but you don't need to know that,” one person said. Many cat owners were inspired to chime in with their own similar experiences. “My cat does this when we walk around our property! We don’t think she’s nearby & then she pops out in front of us lol.” “Ours often joins us from the start. Peels off if there’s a better offer; rabbiting, rolling in a dust bowl, or ‘challenging’ any other neighborhood cats.” “Back when I was a kid…we would take our two dogs to the field there to run around after dinner. Our two cats would always walk with us…One of those cats was a real wanderer too. It wasn't uncommon for me to be playing in [the] forest, and to all of a sudden have my cat just sort of emerge from the bushes, nuzzle my leg for a minute, then bound off into the woods.”The clip also drew some criticism from viewers, who were concerned that kitty’s natural hunting instinct was a threat to the local wildlife. One solution to this might be giving it a collar with a bell attached, though some sensitive cats might find this too uncomfortable. Another option could be getting a kitty leash. Acclaimed cat expert Jackson Galaxy recommends that first time leash wearers initially get their cat comfortable with a harness using clicker training, attaching a leash only after that is achieved. He also reminds us that “walking a cat is very different than walking a dog.” On his website Galaxy writes: “You might take a few steps, then stop so they can take a few sniffs. A few more steps, a quick dart to explore a bug, followed by more sniffs, etc. From there, you might go into a little bit of a trot, only to stop again for more sniffing. Clearly, this is not the excursion into aerobic exercise that walking a dog can be , so be prepared for the slower, more contemplative experience of cat walking.” If there’s any doubt to the merit of this advice, just watch the video again. By the way, if you'd like to get our own pet tracker, check out Tractive's website here.

Would you be considered human if you haven't locked yourself out of your house at least once? One mom on TikTok found herself in quite the predicament with only her toddler to "mission impossible" his way to unlocking the house door to let his mom, @gesikaaaaaa, inside. The video starts with the camera pointed at a rosy-cheeked toddler on a snow-covered porch.The boy looks to be no older than 2 or 3 but he's an expert at following directions … sort of. It's all still pretty new to him and, as anyone who's ever interacted with a toddler knows, multistep directions are not the way to go. They tend to hear one thing only and even then are apt to be distracted by a stray piece of lint and not be able to finish the task. Everything is new to a toddler and it doesn't take much to distract them. And just about anything can be a toy. So when this mom helped her son through an open window in an effort to guide him through the process of unlocking the door, classic toddler cuteness ensued. The desperate mom explains in the video that she left one window unlocked and you can see immediately that there's no way an adult could fit through the small space without injury. So instead she uses her toddler to do it and once he's inside the house his instructions are to get a chair … he finds a bowl. His mom tells him, "Focus. Focus. Grab the chair and take it to the door."What do you know? That sweet boy did just as he was told. Until he found a rock. Mom quickly refocuses the boy and the chair is back on the move, then he finds the fireplace tongs and takes a break to play with the fireside tools stand. Eventually the little guy succeeds in his mission but the journey there was the cutest maze of side quests you'll ever see. Watch him rescue his mom below: @gesikaaaaaa Thank god for tiny humans #bne #lockedout #tinyhuman #mamashelper #breakingin #DoTheSmartThings #toddlercomedy #kidtok This article originally appeared on 1.4.23