'Technology that kills'

They say that dogs are a human's best friend but these people from the past beg to differ. When the rest of the world was spending time training and walking their dogs‚ these historical figures were busy cuddling and admiring their favorite feline friends. While there were a lot of people in history who owned one or two cats‚ these people were bonafide cat aficionados. These writers‚ artists... Source

The military is rightly understood as an apolitical institution‚ managed on the basis of merit‚ yet accountable at the highest level to democratically elected civilians. The Biden administration has demonstrated‚ however‚ the extent to which military affairs are enmeshed with politics‚ to the detriment of national security. Conservative groups and elected officials have caught on to the decay in institutional credibility. Ironically‚ though predictably‚ progressives and the media now decry conservative attempts to preserve the military’s institutional integrity as “politicized.” Of late‚ media outlets like The Washington Post and Yahoo came to the defense of Air Force Col. Ben Jonsson‚ an officer whose promotion Sen. Eric Schmitt‚ R-Mo.‚ is holding up. In Foreign Affairs‚ Marquette political science professor Risa Brooks used Schmitt’s hold on Jonsson’s promotion to warn Americans of the Right’s politicization of the military. Even the NAACP released a statement in support of Jonsson’s promotion. Schmitt’s hold came after two pieces of reporting from The Daily Signal revealed that Jonsson’s leadership tenure has been defined by critical race theory and diversity‚ equity‚ and inclusion‚ to the point where his personnel choices were based on race. As in other domains‚ the Right has become a target for opposing the Left’s 60-year effort to mold the military in its ideological image. But Schmitt’s action regarding Jonsson‚ far from the politicization of military promotion‚ is a modest effort to restore professionalism to a heavily politicized institution. After the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964‚ then-Defense Secretary Robert McNamara explicitly determined that the military would embody the principle of racial proportionality. To McNamara‚ this meant the military would ensure the demographics of the military mirrored that of the nation‚ even if natural processes would not produce such results. Proportional inequality would necessarily indicate the presumption of injustice. In the 1960s‚ this mandate began with a system of expectations for race-based unit and organizational composition. As University of Kansas professor Beth Bailey discusses in her book “An Army Afire‚” this manifested itself throughout the Army officer corps and at critical institutions such as the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. This system of racial quotas has continued in the form of Air Force officer applicant goals‚ and still at West Point in the name of “class composition goals.” No matter the euphemism‚ these policies display how the military has been politicized to serve the prevailing political ideology of equity. But things could have gone differently. Bailey highlights the Army’s implementation of President Harry Truman’s 1948 Executive Order 9981‚ which integrated the Army. In the years between 1948 and the civil rights era‚ the Army pursued radical equal opportunity by eliminating—not foregrounding—race as a category in Army personnel files. And in fact‚ some of the greatest increases in black representation in the officer ranks happened during this era. But that was not enough for those who sought a rapid and radical implementation of the 1964 Civil Rights Act into the whole of American government and society. Policymakers like McNamara embraced the belief that the military must reflect the society it existed to defend. But if McNamara had read Samuel P. Huntington’s 1957 book‚ “Soldier and the State‚” he would have realized how problematic this assumption would become to the integrity of civil-military relations. Since the McNamara Pentagon‚ the military has become increasingly politicized‚ as leadership has adopted policies to mirror the ideologies found across civilian life. Quotas continue as Pentagon policy‚ women have unrestricted opportunities for combat service even as the Army struggles to build gender-neutral physical assessments‚ and the Department of Defense now hosts official “Pride” events. As Alabama Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s holds on military officer promotions revealed‚ the senior ranks of the military have embraced politicization as a fact of service. According to research published by the Center for Renewing America‚ 42% of general and flag officers who received promotions in 2023 have publicly supported ideologies such as DEI and critical race theory. To call military leaders to a higher standard of apolitical military professionalism is not a lurch toward politicization as establishment progressives believe. Steps toward accountability‚ like Sen. Schmitt’s hold on Jonsson’s promotion‚ are important markers in the responsibility elected officials have to oversee and preserve the integrity of the United States military. Originally published by the Daily Caller The post Biden Is Building a Military Based on DEI And Wokeness. It Needs Merit And Preparedness. appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Where are our wise elders&;#63; Reality TV stars Gerry Turner and Theresa Nist‚ who charmed Americans on “The Golden Bachelor‚” announced Friday that their marriage was over‚ just three months after 7 million watched their emotional wedding. “I truly thought it was going to last forever‚” Nist wrote of her marriage in an Instagram post Monday. “It turns out‚ even at the age of 70‚ you don’t know everything.” What a disappointment. Of course‚ I have no idea what led to Turner and Nist’s divorce—and perhaps their failed marriage says more about the insanity of reality TV marriages than anything else. But for a moment‚ it looked like “The Golden Bachelor” was a different kind of reality TV show. Featuring exclusively contestants aged 60 and older‚ the show suggested that perhaps older Americans would be wiser—and more successful—in love than their younger counterparts. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Theresa Nist (@theresa_nist) Turner had been married for 43 years to his high school sweetheart‚ Toni‚ before she died in 2017. Nist‚ who won Turner’s heart‚ similarly had been married for 42 years to her high school sweetheart before his death in 2015. Turner and Nist may have been teens during the Summer of Love and part of the first generation to grow up amid the rapidly changing mores of the sexual revolution. But their personal lives and seemingly successful long marriages were old-fashioned. Viewers were hooked. Dubbed “fall TV’s biggest hit” by Yahoo Entertainment‚ “The Golden Bachelor” was ratings gold from the beginning‚ including on streaming‚ where younger viewers tend to watch. The show’s finale was the most-watched “Bachelor” episode in four years. But now “Golden Bachelor” has a more ignominious record: Nist and Turner had “the shortest marriage in franchise history‚” according to Vanity Fair. Sure‚ that’s in part because few “Bachelor” franchise contestants rush to the altar. Although virtually every “Bachelor” or “Bachelorette” finale involves an engagement‚ few couples ever make it to the wedding day. Sadly‚ Turner and Nist’s divorce‚ not their long previous marriages‚ may make them more realistic representations of their baby boomer generation. Although Nist had had a long marriage‚ had lived “‘til death do us part‚” many other female contestants on “Golden Bachelor” had experienced divorce. Nor were they outliers. The “gray divorce” phenomenon is real: “Well over a third of people who are getting divorced now are over the age of 50‚” researcher Susan L. Brown told CNN. Brown is co-director of the National Center for Family &; Marriage Research at Bowling Green State University‚ which tracks divorce by age. “Between 1990 and 2021‚ the divorce rate decreased for those aged 15 to 44‚ whereas it increased for those aged 45 and older‚” the center found. Among those 65 and older‚ the divorce rate has tripled since 1990.   Seniors are still divorcing at lower rates than young adults: Among those over 65‚ the divorce rate is 5.5%‚ while for those 25 to 34‚ it’s 19.4%. But seniors are trending toward a higher divorce rate while young adults are moving to a lower rate. Nor do seniors seem to be following old-fashioned mores about sex. Sexually transmitted diseases are on the rise among Americans 55 and older. Between 2012 and 2022‚ “the number of syphilis cases among people ages 55 and up increased sevenfold … while gonorrhea cases increased nearly fivefold and chlamydia cases more than tripled during that time‚” reports NBC News‚ citing data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. None of this suggests the boomers learned much from the aftershocks of the sexual revolution. Yet‚ for a while there‚ “The Golden Bachelor‚” suggested that maybe older Americans could set an example for young and middle-aged Americans about how to get‚ and stay‚ married. After all‚ although it’s immature to assume marriage will lead to a fairy-tale ending‚ it is true that marriage seems to be correlated with happiness. “The odds that men and women are ‘very happy’ with their lives are 151% higher for those who are married‚ compared to those who are unmarried‚ according to the General Social Survey‚” writes University of Virginia sociologist Brad Wilcox in his new book “Get Married.” Yet younger Americans‚ facing an often toxic dating atmosphere and seeing the fallout of older generations’ divorces‚ are shrinking from marriage. A quarter of 40-year-olds have never been married‚ according to a 2021 Pew Research Center survey. That’s up from 20% in 2010 and a mere 6% in 1980. For a moment‚ it looked like “The Golden Bachelor” may have shown Americans of all ages that marriage could be great. Sadly‚ it was just another reality TV mirage. The post ‘Golden Bachelor’ Divorce Par for the Course for Baby Boomers appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Planned Parenthood has refused to produce records that could prove it has irreversibly harmed children without parental consent as part of its booming transgender business‚ possibly in collusion with the Biden administration‚ Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey revealed this week. Numerous transgender clinics in Missouri‚ including those affiliated with Planned Parenthood‚ have failed to comply with court orders supporting the state attorney general’s probe of the transgender industry‚ which began after a whistleblower uncovered serial irregularities targeting vulnerable minors. Bailey‚ a Republican‚ invoked the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act‚ which empowers his office to investigate any good or service that “[p]resents a risk of‚ or causes‚ substantial injury to consumers.” However‚ Planned Parenthood said it couldn’t release the documents because of a U.S. law called the Health Insurance Portability Accountability Act‚ or HIPAA. St. Louis Circuit Judge Michael Stelzer ruled Thursday that Bailey has “broad investigative powers when the consumer is in possible need of protection‚” since he is “investigating possible dishonesty by [Planned Parenthood] in their medical and billing practices.” Therefore‚ Stelzer ruled‚ Planned Parenthood of St. Louis must “produce any and all documents not protected by HIPAA.” Despite an unbroken string of legal victories against transgender facilities (including two Planned Parenthood affiliates)‚ only one facility has turned over documents: Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City. “We anticipate that there’s going to be negative findings from our investigation into Planned Parenthood‚” Bailey said Tuesday on “Washington Watch with Tony Perkins.” “We have reason to believe that the Biden administration intervened with some of these agencies and asked them to look at HIPAA as an excuse to not have to turn over the records‚” Bailey said. “What’s most troubling about it is that several of the clinics had initially agreed to turn over the records we had subpoenaed. There were other clinics involved in addition to Planned Parenthood‚ and then they suddenly changed course after they had communicated with agents of the federal government.” They may have had other reasons to fear exposure‚ the Missouri attorney general said. “The other clinics in the state of Missouri have a very poor history of informing parents about the dangers and the negative consequences associated with the … prescription of life-altering‚ powerful puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones when there are zero FDA approvals for use of those medications in the treatment of gender dysphoria‚” Bailey told Perkins. Clinics also engaged in “denial of certain patients’ access to mental health assessments and traditional forms of mental health treatment like psychology or psychiatry‚” he said. Whistleblower Jamie Reed‚ who describes herself as a left-wing lesbian and political supporter of Sen. Bernie Sanders‚ I-Vt.‚ revealed that other medical personnel at the Washington University Pediatric Transgender Center ignored known mental and psychological illnesses to fast-track minors into the medical pipeline. “[N]early all children who came to the center here presented with very serious mental health problems‚” including autism‚ ADHD‚ depression‚ anxiety‚ PTSD‚ trauma histories‚ OCD‚ and serious eating disorders‚ Reed wrote in The Free Press. She described how doctors would pressure parents who had reservations about signing their child up for a lifetime of cross-sex hormone injections‚ falsely telling them that their child likely would commit suicide without “gender-affirming hormone treatment.” Missouri legislators passed legislation called the SAFE Act to protect minors from puberty blockers‚ cross-sex hormone injections‚ and gender conversion surgeries. The Washington University Pediatric Transgender Center subsequently announced that it had ceased distribution of such hormones to those of any age. Reed’s allegations fit broadly with the Cass Review‚ a comprehensive review of transgender medical and social procedures undertaken over four years for the British government by Hilary Cass‚ a world-renowned pediatric specialist. “The evidence that we have uncovered through our investigation into numerous clinics operating in the shadows across the state of Missouri is consistent with the evidence that came forth when the whistleblower swore out an affidavit [in February] making very specific and credible accusations about a clinic in Saint Louis‚” Bailey said‚ adding: There’s no medicine or science to back up these life-altering procedures‚ and that these clinics raced towards these procedures to achieve a social objective. There were no clinical assessments done on the front end to determine whether the children would be better suited receiving more traditional mental health services‚ and certainly no tracking of the negative outcomes from these dangerous [drugs]. Bailey said he based his belief that the transgender facilities stonewalled his request on the fact that Planned Parenthood‚ the nation’s largest abortion provider‚ demonstrated questionable ethics regarding abortion. “The behavior of Planned Parenthood in the abortion context is to consistently place their desire to terminate and end human life ahead of the health and welfare of patients. And we believe that that’s going to be true in this context‚ the transgender context‚ as well‚” Bailey told Perkins. Planned Parenthood sued to prevent parents from learning the details of their teenage girl’s sexual molestation. In 2003‚ 21-year-old soccer coach John Haller began abusing a 13-year-old eighth grader. After he got her pregnant at the age of 14‚ Haller took the middle schooler to Planned Parenthood‚ posing as both her stepbrother and her father to authorize an abortion.  Planned Parenthood sued all the way to the Ohio Supreme Court to deny the teen’s parents the right to view redacted medical records‚ which would have revealed whether the abortion business contacted authorities under applicable law. The records also would have shown whether Planned Parenthood has a history of covering up abuse.  Planned Parenthood began transitioning sharply to carrying out transgender procedures both before and after the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision threatened its abortion-focused business model. Planned Parenthood’s most recent annual report‚ released this week‚ doesn’t specifically disclose how many transgender procedures the abortion franchise carried out in the past fiscal year‚ lumping its transgender business among 177‚237 so-called other procedures. The report reveals that 45 of Planned Parenthood’s 49 affiliates performed transgender procedures in 2022—up from 41 the previous year and 30 in the 2020-2021 fiscal year. Richard Muniz‚ interim president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri‚ called Bailey’s investigation a “sham” that constituted an “ongoing assault on Missourians’ health care.” Bailey‚ however‚ promised: “My team will get to the bottom of how this clandestine network of clinics has subjected children to puberty blockers and irreversible surgery‚ often without parental consent. There is no more important fight than to ensure Missouri is the safest state in the nation for children.” Originally published by The Washington Stand The post Missouri AG Predicts ‘Negative Findings’ in Probe of Planned Parenthood’s Transgender Business appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Today‚ most people think of pirates as the characters from the Pirates of the Caribbean films or Blackbeard with his beard on fire. While these interpretations of the swashbuckling outlaws may not be completely wrong‚ they barely skim the surface of what it was really like to be a pirate. In reality‚ pirates were a lot less glorified than they are in popular culture‚ with them being made out to... Source

When Yer Bumpin' Up Against the Bucks for a Super Duty F250 Limited for ONE Year of College...&;#63;

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The U.S. Senate voted on Wednesday to put the kibosh on the impeachment push targeting Department of Homeland Security Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas.Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer raised a point of order for each of the impeachment articles‚ claiming that they did not allege activity that reached the level of constituting a high crime or misdemeanor and were consequently unconstitutional. Both points of order were voted to be &;quot;well taken‚&;quot; with all Democrats and independents scrapping the articles as unconstitutional.Republicans unanimously voted against Schumer's point of order on the second article of impeachment. GOP senators were almost unanimous in voting against Schumer's move to scrap the first article‚ with the lone exception of GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska‚ who voted present. The House had voted to impeach Mayorkas back in February‚ but House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) just signed the articles of impeachment on Monday‚ and the House impeachment managers delivered the articles to the Senate on Tuesday.&;quot;By voting unanimously to bypass their constitutional responsibility‚ every single Senate Democrat has issued their full endorsement of the Biden Administration’s dangerous open border policies. Secretary Mayorkas alongside President Biden has used nearly every tool at his disposal to engineer the greatest humanitarian and national security catastrophe at our borders in American history‚&;quot; Johnson‚ House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.)‚ House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.)‚ and House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) said in a joint statement. &;quot;Tragically‚ Senate Democrats don't believe this catastrophe merits their time or a discussion on the Senate floor. Instead‚ they’re signaling to millions demanding accountability that the cabinet official directly responsible for this disaster – who has ignored the law and misled Congress repeatedly – is above reproach. The American people will hold Senate Democrats accountable for this shameful display‚&;quot; the lawmakers added. — (@) Like Blaze News&;#63; Bypass the censors‚ sign up for our newsletters‚ and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here&;#33;