There are 124 cities with a population over 200,000 in the U.S. According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s population estimates for last year, more than 90% of the U.S. population growth last year took place outside of its 124 largest cities. About a third of those cities lost population last year. The total growth in the population of cities with more than 200,000 residents grew by .23%, less than half of what the U.S. grew last year. Roughly a third of those that lost population were located in New York and California. The three largest cities in the U.S., New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago, all lost population again in 2023. Between the three cities, more than 700,000 people have left since the 2020 census. New York is by far the biggest loser at 546,000. That is about 6.2% of its 2020 population. Texas had the most cities with more than 200,000 residents gained, with 14. Several of its suburban cities, such as Frisco, Round Rock, and Denton, grew at jaw-dropping rates of up to 5% in a single year. Texas’ five largest cities, Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Fort Worth, and Austin, all had positive population growth. However, all, with the exception of Fort Worth, had growth rates that were well below the state average. San Antonio and Fort Worth had the absolute most new residents of any U.S. city, with just under 22,000 each. Florida is home to nine cities with more than 200,000. All of those had growth rates at about three times the national average. Its largest city, Jacksonville, will likely be the first city in Florida to exceed 1 million residents later this decade. The individual city numbers are a little misleading for Florida because it has a large number of medium-sized cities. If you have ever driven the Atlantic coast, you know that it is almost a nonstop chain of city after city. Cities in the Carolinas also had impressive growth rates. Charlotte, North Carolina’s largest city, grew by 1.74%. Several of Las Vegas’ suburbs also saw significant growth last year. To me, the results of the census estimates for the year once again confirm that Americans are voting with their feet against the supposed utopia of dense, urban living promoted by so many urban “planners.” Yet I constantly hear from the latest generation of “urbanists” how the American people are clamoring for walkable, transit-dominated cityscapes. With more than 90% of Americans making a different choice, that clamoring seems to be mostly illusory. We need to plan and make our public investments accordingly. Originally published by RealClearPolitics.com The Daily Signal publishes a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Heritage Foundation. The post Most US Population Growth Last Year Occurred Outside of Largest Cities appeared first on The Daily Signal.

A Missouri high school instructed students in a health class to complete a survey asking if they understood “the difference between sex assigned at birth and gender.” Webster Groves High School hosted a workshop in late April called “Understanding Gender and Relationships” presented by a speaker with a program run by the St. Louis-based domestic abuse treatment center Safe Connections.  Before and after the guest speaker’s lecture, the health teacher instructed students to take the survey.  Webster Groves High School is part of Webster Groves School District, which enrolls 4,407 students across 10 schools. The survey asked students in the high school health class to respond with “yes,” “not sure,” or “no” to four statements, including “I can explain the difference between sex assigned at birth and gender.” Two other statements on the survey are “I can create relationships in which others can express themselves and I can be myself” and “I understand how some gender stereotypes contribute to violence and abuse.” The guest speaker for the health class represented Project HART, which its website describes as a “relationship violence prevention program offered at St. Louis-area schools, community centers and other places teens gather.” (HART is an acronym for Healthy Alternatives for Relationships Among Teens.) In a fourth statement, the survey asks students whether they “can show people respect regardless of gender and how it is expressed.” The high school gave the survey to students after Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, a Republican, ordered the Webster Groves School District to “cease and desist” teaching students about human sexuality, including gender ideology, without parental consent ahead of time, The Daily Signal reported in February.   Missouri state law requires every public school district and public charter school to notify each student’s parent or guardian before providing any human sexuality materials or instruction to students.  When asked if the survey taken by students in the health class violated this mandate, Webster Groves School District’s communications director, Derek Duncan, told The Daily Signal that the school system notifies families before lessons about human growth and development. “Families are given the choice to opt out of such lessons,” Duncan said.  Duncan did not respond directly to The Daily Signal’s question asking whether parents of the involved students got the opportunity to opt their children out of the health class lesson on gender ideology.  The Missouri Attorney General’s Office told The Daily Signal it would look into the matter.  The session on “Understanding Gender and Relationships” allows students to “explore harmful gender stereotypes and to understand the differences between biological sex, gender identity, gender expression, and attraction/sexual orientation,” Cynthia Danley, chief executive officer for Safe Connections, told The Daily Signal in an email.  “Key learning objectives include helping youth recognize that everyone deserves respect regardless of their gender and expression, understanding the negative impact of failing to respect gender-expansive individuals, and equipping youth with the tools to build relationships where peers can safely express themselves and be authentic,” Danley said.  Webster Groves School District, in the suburbs of St. Louis, approved a memorandum of understanding with Safe Connections at an April 11 school board meeting. On Feb. 20, Webster Groves issued a $220 check to the organization, according to the website BoardDocs. The post Missouri High Schoolers Asked If They Understand Difference Between Gender, Sex Assigned at Birth  appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Biden's Please Clap Moment at West Point

Scientists from the United States have presented a project for an unusual habitat that can be built independently on the surface of the Moon. Scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have presented a design for a home for future settlers on the Moon. Scientists believe that such a habitat will become the basis for a future colony on the Earth’s satellite. The main feature of this home is that it does not need to be built, and it also has a modular design, which allows it to be adapted for different purposes, reports Interesting Engineering. MOMO The innovative project MOMO, a self-assembling lunar habitat, is a revolutionary habitat that will be used not only by astronauts in the near future on the Moon, but also by settlers living in a lunar colony created later. Scientists believe their innovative home will lay the foundation for long-term settlement of the Moon. MOMO’s habitat design is based on two important goals: maximize the efficiency of placing the assembled housing inside the cargo compartment of the spacecraft; ensure modularity of the design. This will optimize transport logistics and increase the ability of the habitat to adapt not only to the conditions of the Moon, but also to the goals of a particular mission. The main feature of this home is that it does not need to be built, and it has a modular design, which allows it to be adapted for different purposes. The MOMO habitat is made using an aluminum frame combined with a high-density polyethylene membrane. This combination provides strong protection from the harsh lunar environment, especially radiation, and helps keep it lightweight. One of the features of MOMO is its modular design, which allows each module to be adapted to perform specific functions. The modules can serve as airlocks, windows, photovoltaic panels, work desks or training areas. This ensures that the home can be used for a variety of purposes, from simple living to scientific research. MOMO’s design includes replaceable modules, meaning that if damaged, astronauts can replace the faulty module. Scientists want to send MOMO to the Moon as part of the Artemis 3 mission in 2026, when the first human landing on the Earth’s satellite will take place in half a century. In the future, these dwellings should play an important role in establishing a long-term human presence on the Moon. Due to the fact that it would be difficult for astronauts to assemble this dwelling after landing on the surface of the Moon, scientists decided to make this structure assemble itself. The habitat will be delivered to the Moon folded, and once landed and placed on the surface, it will be able to expand on its own with minimal human intervention. According to scientists, MOMO’s innovative dodecahedron shape makes it easier to fold up and deploy on the Moon. The habitat will have everything necessary to support life on the Moon. There will be a bathroom, a bed and a place to rest. The post Futuristic home has been created for future settlers on the Moon appeared first on Anomalien.com.

During a segment entitled “Alito Under Fire,” the latest episode of PBS’s Friday political roundtable Washington Week with The Atlantic aired some less-collegial-than-usual exchanges between CBS News senior White House correspondent Ed O’Keefe and Mara Liasson of National Public Radio, concerning the flag controversies the media was wrapping around conservative Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, with Democrats pouncing to demand Alito recuse himself from upcoming January 6 related cases. Liasson, public radio’s representative on the panel, was the most vituperative and historically ignorant regarding the second shoe to drop (or flag to unfurl) in this so-called scandal, so lame the Washington Post passed on the scoop when it was offered in 2021 -- the “Appeal to Heaven” flag that flew outside Alito’s beach house in New Jersey. "[Alito] was so quick to blame his wife on the upside-down flag, he hasn`t said anything about this other flag, which is also a symbol of the insurrection." she falsely proclaimed. "So, you’d think if he had a handy excuse, he would have used it."     Liasson had to be gently reminded by host Jeffrey Goldberg that "One handy excuse is that it is an actual Revolutionary War flag." The choppy conversation continued. Liasson: Yes, but it’s become a symbol of the kind of -- Goldberg: The extreme credulity is what you’re suggesting? Liasson: Yes. Goldberg: Yes. Ed, any thoughts about the lasting impact of this or this is -- O’Keefe was the only panelist concerned about where such prying into the personal lives of judges could lead and already had led: O’Keefe: This is -- and now everything is fair game. What you do on, at, or in your house as a public official is now fair game. And is official Washington and are we as a country okay with that, because that`s where this is going now? Goldberg: Are we as a country okay with it? O’Keefe: We’ll see. Liasson retorted: What do you mean, that everybody should be able to fly insurrectionist flags over their house if they want to, if they`re a Supreme Court justice, without any damage to the court`s reputation? O’Keefe shrugged: O'Keefe: The court’s reputation was already damaged. Liasson: This damages it more. O’Keefe: Sure, in the eyes of 50 percent of the -- Liasson: Yes. It looks like the court is not just conservative, it`s partisan. O’Keefe: Sure, but I think that perception has been there for about 24 years. Liasson: Yes, I agree, but this confirms it. O’Keefe actually expressed concern about where the liberal outrage may lead, perhaps referencing the attempted assassination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh in June 2022: O’Keefe: So, okay, but my point is, we’ve had federal judges targeted in their homes. Their children or husbands shot. We’ve had legislation introduced to try to keep their addresses out of the public sphere. And now we go and do this. And the shoe will be on the other foot at some point, and it’ll be Republican senators accusing liberal justices, and the whole dichotomy will shift, and now, as you said, the politicization of the courts is here, and this is how it’s always going to be now, if this is what we’re all focused on. And that’s fine, if that`s where the debate is headed, but that’s where the debate is headed now, if this is the conversation….

OpenAI’s ChatGPT can’t seem to recall five of the many, many lies President Joe Biden has told over the years. MRC researchers asked the artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT on May 16 what the “top five biggest lies” that Biden and former President Donald Trump have each told. The chatbot claimed that for Biden it “can’t list specific lies without context or verification.” Yet, it had no problem listing off five debated comments that Trump has made. Nearly two weeks later, the chatbot happened to remember a few. MRC Free Speech America Vice President Dan Schneider pointed out that when AI comes up with totally botched answers like these, users must look to the programmers. “People should never forget that artificial intelligence is a combination of human-generated algorithms,” he said. “This sort of data manipulation is intended by the Big Tech oligarchs who want to use their vast power and resources to influence elections.” When it came to accusations against Biden’s well-documented lies, ChatGPT emphasized the need for caution and diligent evaluation. “[P]oliticians, including Joe Biden, have been accused of lying or misleading statements,” the AI chatbot claimed. “It's essential to critically evaluate information from multiple sources to discern accuracy. If you have specific claims you'd like to investigate, I can help analyze them!” Nearly two weeks later on May 28, the chatbot changed its tune. ChatGPT named five statements of the president that have been “widely challenged and debunked.” For example, ChatGPT noted that Biden “has consistently stated that he never discussed business dealings with his son Hunter Biden,” but evidence would suggest otherwise. ChatGPT also noted that the president has made ridiculous verifiably false claims. For example, his statements that he graduated in the top half of his law school class when by his own later admission he actually graduated 76th out of 85. Biden also has claimed to have been a civil rights activist (which he had previously denied) and has repeatedly said that he was arrested on his way to see Nelson Mandela (something he later admitted was not really true). Finally, ChatGPT noted the Biden administration’s claim that the COVID-19 vaccines were not available when he became president.   The Media Research Center has compiled a list of some of the instances where Biden fabricated stories about his experiences. Joe Biden makes up stories all the time. Maybe someday the media will call him out on it. pic.twitter.com/urbqATWxjB — MRC NewsBusters (@newsbusters) May 14, 2024 ChatGPT continued to hedge Biden’s false statements. “Political discourse often involves hyperbole and misstatements, and evaluating their impact requires careful consideration,” the chatbot wrote in response. Former President Trump received no request for such courtesy. When researchers asked, “What are the top five biggest lies Donald Trump told?” the chatbot offered five “widely debated” statements the former president has made “that have been subject to fact-checking and criticism.” ChatGPT criticized Trump’s allegations of the Obama administration wiretapping Trump Tower during the 2016 election. However, Trump’s assertion was verifiably true. Former FBI agent Kevin Clinesmith admitted to criminally altering an internal email to obtain a warrant for wiretapping former Trump aide Carter Page. He was sentenced to probation for the crime. The chatbot also noted Trump's controversial claims of voter fraud in the 2020 elections, his statements about the COVID-19 virus and that Mexico would pay for the U.S. southern border wall. Finally, it referred to Trump’s claims that the crowd at his 2017 inauguration was the largest ever.  ChatGPT concluded by claiming that “[t]hese are just a few examples, and there are certainly other statements made by Trump that have been subject to scrutiny and fact-checking.” But the same could be said for Biden’s wild and, at times, contradictory statements about his life.  On May 28, ChatGPT changed some of the claims it made about Trump as well. The chatbot traded its claim about the wiretapping for Trump’s hyperbolic claim that he signed the “biggest tax cut” in history, referring to the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. While it was “significant,” the chatbot noted “it was not the largest.” ChatGPT also noted an unmet campaign promise as a “false or misleading” statement by Trump in reference to his claims that he would replace Obamacare with another healthcare plan.  When MRC Free Speech America fed the same prompts to Google’s AI chatbot, Gemini, it refused to answer the questions on both dates.“I'm still learning how to answer this question. In the meantime, try Google Search,” Gemini responded. This appears to be the result of Google’s effort to have its AI avoid questions about the 2024 elections worldwide.  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.

By now, you’ve probably heard the sad news: CNN’s ratings are in the toilet. Despite a decent daytime bump from the ongoing Trump trials, the network’s prime time numbers last week dropped to a three-decade low of 83,000 viewers among the vaunted 25-54 year-old demographic. To illustrate just how low those ratings truly are, we put together a list of weird and esoteric things that are more numerous than CNN’s prime time key demo viewers. 1) Competitive Rubik’s Cube solvers registered with the World Cube Association. The World Cube Association is a volunteer-led 501(c)(3) organization at the heart of the “speedcubing” world. They host a surprising amount of tournaments every year, as well as a biennial world championship. In total, the WCA has over 200,000 registered competitors. 2) Professional psychics working in America. There are 96,000 of them. Please note that professional is not a synonym for competent. Incidentally, CNN employs hundreds of professional journalists. 3) People with heterochromia in the United States. There are more than 200,000 people in the U.S. whose left and right eyes are different colors. This means you’re more than twice as likely to know somebody with this rare condition as you are to have a friend or family member between 25 and 54 who watches CNN on weeknights. Now think about how many people you know with heterochromia. Yeah. 4) Participants in a 1988 conga line in Miami. This one didn’t sound real to us, but the source is none other than the Guinness Book of World Records. On the fateful day of March 13, 1988, a whopping 119,986 people gathered in Miami for some weird record-breaking fun. 5) Once-critically endangered Wild Bighorn sheep living in North America. The exact figure is the subject of debate, but according to the American Wild Sheep Foundation, the Wild Bighorn sheep has climbed to a respectable 85,000 in recent years, from a low of just 25,000 in 1977. That’s a big W for the conservationists, and a pretty wild L for CNN. 6) Attendees of a women’s volleyball match in Nebraska last year. In August of last year, a regular season NCAA women’s volleyball match between Omaha and Nebraska attracted more than 92,000 spectators. The event broke the world record for highest attendance of any women’s sporting event. 7) Registered bicycle rickshaws in New Delhi. Less than 20 percent of rickshaw operators in India’s capital actually have legal government permits to operate. Nonetheless, that still leaves us with 99,000 licensed bicycle rickshaws. 8) Tennis balls thrown out per day in the U.S. To be fair, there are actually hundreds of thousands of tennis balls thrown away every day in America alone. But it’s still a pretty funny statistic. 9) Annual breast reduction patients in America. Mind you, this figure doesn’t include elective mastectomies. But apparently about 90,000 women every year choose to shrink (but keep) their breasts. 10) Female professional forklift operators. Just under eight percent of licensed forklift operators in the U.S. are women. But that fraction still represents approximately 127,000 hardhat-clad ladies operating heavy machinery. 11) Subscribers to a youtube channel called “Justin Y” which has never uploaded a single video. Justin Y currently boasts 784,000 subscribers. Even if only half of those subscribers are between 25 and 54, that still means that watching nothing is several times more appealing than watching CNN during primetime.

UFC featherweight Bryce Mitchell presented his newborn son to the world and declared he will be homeschooling his child and avoiding any vaccinations, as well.Mitchell took to his Instagram account to showcase new baby Tucker, telling his fans that the infant is "very healthy" and is doing "very good." After some basic pleasantries, the 145-pound fighter explained that he was not willing to vaccinate his child."I wanted to encourage y'all not to vaccinate your children because I think it's bad for their health, potentially kill them, give them some type of ... make them autistic," Mitchell said. "Seriously, these vaccines are poisonous, so don't vaccinate your kids.""Tucker's also going to be homeschooled," he said of his new son."We're going to have to homeschool all our kids or they're all going to end up turning gay. That's the reason I'm going to homeschool Tucker, because I don't want him to be a communist. I don't want him to worship Satan. I don't want him to be gay."The UFC fighter has increasingly displayed his faith, including in September 2023 when he raised the Bible in the Octagon following a win against Dan Ige."These fires in Hawaii, I don't believe they were natural. I believe they were man-made," Mitchell said at the time. "And we have to show Satan that he can't do NOTHING [to] the power of Christ when we come together," Mitchell stated with fervor.'They threatened me with violence from the government, basically.'Another reason for not wanting to put his child in public school was the elimination of the Bible from the school system, Mitchell said, which he said was replaced with the writings of Edgar Allan Poe. Mitchell took issue with the writer moralistically, citing that he married his first cousin who was just 13 years old. Poe was 27."Out of the public schools they took the most valuable book of all time, which is the number-one-selling book of all time, the oldest, most accurate historical document there ever was, the Bible," the featherweight continued."They took it out of the schools and replaced it with Edgar Allan Poe, who shacked up with his cousin. My son ain't gonna be reading no Edgar Allen Poe. OK? He's going to be reading the Bible.""If you don't teach your kids these things, he's going to be fed right to the devil," Mitchell went on.Mitchell also said he refused blood testing for his infant after his birth, which he claimed was followed by threats that DHS would be investigating him."They threatened me with violence from the government, basically." Mitchell said he told those at the hospital it didn't matter if authorities were sent to him because he would be "dead." "I'll be dead. It will be a cold day in hell when someone comes and tries to take this baby from me.""I don't care if it's DHS, FBI, CIA; I will be dead before anybody lays a finger on this child without my consent. That's the type of passion it's going to take from parents."Mitchell captioned his video with statements such as "we have to [fight] for our kids or evil will corrupt the next generation" and "be prepared and b[e] happy to die for ur kids. thats wat its gunna take to get our freedom back."Mitchell also made headlines in 2022 for his remarks on Joe Biden, Hunter Biden, and Ukraine during a press conference for UFC 272.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

The Biden campaign made the questionable decision to host a press conference outside the New York City courthouse where former President Donald Trump was on Tuesday morning, but campaign members were not alone.With the Biden campaign was actor Robert De Niro and police officers Michael Fanone and Harry Dunn. Each was there to speak to the media about the "threat" Trump poses to the United States.While the Biden campaign spokesman said they were not there because of what was happening inside the courtroom but instead to speak to the assembled media, he went on to say, "The contrast here pretty much writes itself. As we speak, Donald Trump, somewhere fighting for himself, maybe taking a power nap. And we've seen him for weeks and for months, we've seen the ramblings of an unhinged, power-hungry, self-centered man, both here, at Mar-a-Lago, on Truth Social, wherever he may be." — (@) When it was De Niro's turn to speak, he invoked the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, and said, like the terrorists who attacked New York City, Trump will destroy the Big Apple, the United States, and possibly the world."The Twin Towers fell just over here, just over there. This part of the city was like a ghost town, but we vowed we would not allow terrorists to change our way of life. And we started the Tribeca Festival to bring people back. I love this city. I love this city. I don’t want to destroy it. Donald Trump wants to destroy not only the city, but the country, and eventually he could destroy the world," De Niro said.'If Trump returns to the White House, you can kiss these freedoms goodbye.'"But we vowed we would not allow terrorists ... I owe this city a lot. That’s why it is so weird that Donald Trump is just across the street. He doesn’t belong in my city. I don’t know where he belongs. But he certainly doesn’t belong here. We New Yorkers used to tolerate him when he was just another grubby real estate hustler ... big shot pretending to be a spokesman, a spokesperson for himself," he continued. — (@) When De Niro started to shower praise on Dunn and Fanone, someone could be heard off camera telling De Niro they had lied under oath about what they did during the riot at the Capitol on January 6, 2021."Who lied under oath?" De Niro asked. "Those two traitors behind you," the man replied."What are you saying?" De Niro pressed."They're traitors," the man insisted.De Niro became exasperated during the exchange and tried to convince the man Dunn and Fanone had fought for the country."They stood there and fought, for us! For you!" the actor shouted."They didn't fight for me," the man shot back. — (@) "If Trump returns to the White House, you can kiss these freedoms goodbye that we all take for granted. And elections? Forget about it. That’s over, that’s done. If he gets in, I can tell you right now, he will never leave. He will never leave. You know that. He will never leave," De Niro went on to say.Outside observers noted the poor optics of Biden's campaign hosting a press conference while closing arguments in Trump's trial were taking place, further giving credence that the trial is solely politically motivated.

The Las Vegas shooting on October 1, 2017, remains one of the deadliest mass shootings to ever take place in America — with 58 killed and over 850 injured. When Stephen Paddock was discovered to be the gunman, the cops and the media explained that he was working alone. But many Americans don’t believe that’s possible, including investigative journalist Mindy Robinson. Robinson’s documentary, "Route 91: Uncovering the Cover-Up of the Las Vegas Mass Shooting," explores new evidence that calls the official narrative into question — including nine police body cam footage clips that allegedly capture additional shots fired after the attack was supposedly over. These revelations have intensified public scrutiny and raised urgent questions about the official investigation’s completeness, especially considering the additional shots revealed in the body cam footage occurred after Paddock was dead. “He was dead at like 11:30 I think, and all the police scanners picked it up. So, even here, where they reiterate that they believe that SWAT had shot him, how do you make that mistake?” Robinson tells Pat Gray. “Interesting,” he says, stunned. One of the pieces of footage Robinson uses in her documentary alluded to what was happening at the Bellagio — which was separate from where the shooting was. According to eyewitness accounts, there were gunshots and broken glass at the Bellagio after Paddock was dead and finished with his rampage. “It doesn’t match the story Lombardo’s selling, and you know, I would love to look at the casino footage, but it doesn’t seem to exist,” Robinson explains, adding, “and there’s cameras everywhere in this town.” In addition, Paddock’s door was reportedly open when the police made it to his house. “So, what is that alluding to? That someone went there to plant evidence or remove evidence?” Keith Malinak asks, curious. “Take evidence, plant evidence. Kind of sounds like our government,” Robinson laughs, adding, “I think Paddock was a spook. So, they had to go in and take all the evidence and proof that he wasn’t.” Want more from Pat Gray?To enjoy more of Pat's biting analysis and signature wit as he restores common sense to a senseless world, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.