As I have written multiple times on this site, when I first heard The Cars on the radio back in 1978, I could have sworn the band was from Britain. The Cars just sounded so British to me. It really was in their vocal sound. As the band became popular quickly, we all learned they were from Boston. Ultimately, it didn’t matter because the Cars were a brand new brand, with a very original sound fueled by some fantastic songs. Their first two albums remain two of my favorite albums of the 1970s. So, picking the best song from each The post The Cars’ Best Song On Each Of Their Studio Albums appeared first on ClassicRockHistory.com.

Books Four Non-Fiction Subjects That Will Always Find an SFF Audience Are you an SF author looking to branch out into non-fiction? Here are a few suggestions… By James Davis Nicoll | Published on May 30, 2024 Comment 0 Share New Share From time to time, SFF authors have been known to branch out into non-fiction. Asimov, whose post-Sputnik efforts included works in all but one of the Dewey Decimal classifications, is perhaps the most obvious example1, but contemporaries like Anderson, Le Guin, Russ, and Clarke have also strayed into the realm of non-fiction. An author considering this move might wonder which subjects they should choose. Of course, a correct answer is “those fields in which one is either an expert or prepared to research in depth.”2 However, a more marketing-based answer might be “science fiction (and fantasy) adjacent non-fiction fields that seem to be evergreen, whose readers are always keen for new books, regardless of any lack of progress in those fields.” Might I suggest some subjects that might find an audience? The Coming Age of Airships About once a generation, people rediscover the positive qualities of airships. They are majestic and (compared to heavier-than-air vehicles) comparatively quiet and fuel-efficient. The fuel efficiency appeals for several reasons. When fossil fuels are expensive, less fuel equals savings. Also, less fuel used means airships emit less pollution, which is always a plus. Authors might wonder why, if airships offer so many advantages, we are not now living in a golden age of lighter-than air vehicles. There are a number of reasons: airships were labor-intensive to operate, requiring larger ground crews than equivalent heavier-than-air vehicles; there was a perception that airships are prone to catastrophe; passengers were willing to pay a premium to arrive faster. Automation might address the first issue. The second is less tractable. Improved design can reduce risks3, but the fact is that being lighter than air means having a comparatively low mass to surface area. LTA craft are by their nature kites, more vulnerable than airplanes to the vagaries of weather. The third issue is really a matter of marketing. How should an author’s unwritten book address that? I leave it to marketing specialists to address that issue, although philosophizing about how the journey is more important than the destination seems the logical first step. Note that if the writer is successful, the age of airships will finally arrive. That will put an end to books urging the adoption of airships. Writer beware. Alarmist Books About Population At any given moment population will be static, rising, or shrinking. Also, specific demographics will be a steady fraction of the overall population, an increasing fraction, or a decreasing fraction. Viewed through the correct lens, these are always causes for alarm. Net growth threatens Malthusian collapse and/or ecological doom. Net reduction threatens economic collapse if the employed fraction is too small to support retirees. Steady state… actually, it’s not clear why that’s bad, but I am sure it is. The obvious pitfall in population alarmism is that almost every reason for concern about population boils down to some people being more valuable than others4. It can be challenging to write about population management without a racist, or classist, or some kind of “ist” subtext (or in some cases, overt text). The good news is that this does not seem to have inhibited previous population alarmists. Some appear to have found the prospect positively inspirational… The field is still wide open! Space Colonization Finally, we get to my favorite topic. I own many, many books about space colonization. Humans having established themselves across the entirety of Earth (even such inhospitable regions as Milton, Ontario), it seems only logical that humans should spread to the planets, asteroids, and moons of our solar system…and perhaps beyond. The subject provides ample opportunity for inspirational illustrations and appeals to human destiny. As one might guess from the current striking lack of space colonies, transporting people to space and keeping them alive once they are there is at present difficult and expensive. In many cases it is beyond our current abilities. There is also no compelling reason (at present) to conduct the necessary research and development, and no reason to invest in this field. This could be a plus for an author. The field has been static for so long that it will be easy to crib points from earlier books now out of print. Just be sure to erase the fingerprints on the plagiarism inspiration. I note that future historians will be interested in whatever arguments are advanced for space colonization. The arguments tend to be a valuable record of social anxieties at the time of writing5. Pseudoscience Consensus science has a bad habit of demanding study, being subject to correction in light of later evidence, and worst of all, telling us that which we do not wish to hear. Pseudoscience, on the other hand, provides shortcuts, the comfort of certainty—even in the face of contradictory evidence—and the benefits of confirmation bias. There are vast fortunes to be made inventing and promoting ludicrous pseudosciences6. However, a vocal minority believe that bilking the willfully gullible is in some obscure way unethical, even when the target chooses to be a dupe. Happily, there is a more ethical, equally evergreen option: non-fiction texts detailing and decrying various fads and fallacies in the name of science7. The subject matter is abundant and the potential readership of skeptics nearly as abundant. Best of all, your book will have absolutely no effect on the spread of nonsense, guaranteeing a never-ending market for increasingly despairing texts! Those are my top four picks for non-fiction subjects whose lengthy track records suggest that they will not soon be out of fashion. Perhaps I’ve missed some of your favorites. Feel free to make a case for them in the comments below.[end-mark] Asimov is the obvious example for readers of a certain age. Younger readers might not find it obvious. ︎Asking ChatGPT is not researching in depth. ︎Item one for airship safety might be replacing hydrogen with helium, but not only is helium denser than hydrogen, terrestrial supplies are limited and growing more limited every day. Another approach would be to convince major airplane manufacturers to make their products less safe. This turns out to be much easier than I would have expected. ︎A snarky person might assert that the ecological alarmist prioritizes non-humans over humans. However, my contractual obligation to appear marginally reasonable at least once per essay, even if only in a footnote, requires me to point out that if humans destroy the biosphere on which we are entirely dependent, we will soon follow. ︎For example, Cole and Cox writing in the 1960s suggested that space colonies would be a solution to nuclear proliferation. O’Neill, writing in the 1970s, thought space colonies could address resource limitations. The key is to find some way in which space colonies are the solution to whatever the big problem of the day happens to be. ︎It’s said that some con artists deliberately make their cons painfully obvious to weed out all but the most gullible of patsies. ︎Fads and fallacies in the name of science would be a catchy title for some gardener in the fields of human folly. ︎The post Four Non-Fiction Subjects That Will Always Find an SFF Audience appeared first on Reactor.

School choice is coming to Texas. Last year, efforts to pass a school choice bill in the state legislature were stymied by a coalition of anti-school choice Republicans and Democrats in the Statehouse. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, made the bill to create a K-12 education savings account policy a top priority. Although the Texas Senate passed it, the bill failed in the lower chamber when 21 Texas House Republicans joined with all House Democrats to kill it. But GOP primary voters weren’t happy about that. In March, Lone Star State voters replaced six anti-school choice Republican incumbents with Abbott-backed challengers who supported school choice, and sent four others to runoffs. On Tuesday, Republican primary voters finished the job by supporting three of the four Abbott-backed, pro-school choice candidates. Additionally, pro-school choice candidates won in five open-seat races that had been vacated by anti-school choice incumbents, who—likely seeing the writing on the wall—decided not to run for reelection.  “The Texas legislature now has enough votes to pass School Choice,” declared Abbott on Tuesday night on X, formerly Twitter. “Together, we will ensure the best future for our children.” The Texas legislature now has enough votes to pass School Choice.Congratulations to all of tonight‘s winners. Together, we will ensure the best future for our children.— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) May 29, 2024 The victories are a vindication of what “school choice evangelist” Corey DeAngelis calls the “Red State Strategy” in his new book “The Parent Revolution.” For decades, the school choice coalition had pursued a bipartisan strategy that too often meant spending inordinate resources trying to win over liberals while taking conservatives for granted. It also meant making a case for school choice on liberal or libertarian grounds—focusing on how school choice helps the disadvantaged or how competition spurs achievement—while remaining silent about cultural issues that might turn off potential supporters on the Left. Although this strategy led to some incremental gains, it failed to win over many Democrats and too often meant compromising on policy. In 2021, my colleagues Lindsey Burke and Jay Greene at The Heritage Foundation, along with James Paul of the Education Freedom Institute, called for a new strategy: Given this history, the school choice movement should reconsider its strategy. Of course, choice advocates should always welcome support from any quarter where it can be found, but designing choice proposals and supporting language to court Democrats may not be the wisest way to grow the number of new private school-choice programs. After all, more than 15 percent of Republican state legislators have balked at supporting school choice. Giving priority to Republican concerns might win over those reticent Republicans to pass more programs in Red states without sacrificing the coalitions that are already supporting choice since losing some Democratic votes has almost never mattered. More than three-fifths of states are Republican-dominated, so there are plenty of Red states where new programs could be adopted. And demonstrated success in those Red states could eventually be leveraged to make advances in Blue states down the road. In the wake of the teachers unions’ overreach during the COVID-19 pandemic, DeAngelis and like-minded conservatives broke from the establishment strategy to pursue the Red State Strategy. Teachers' unions have overplayed their hands and awakened a sleeping giant. Now, parents everywhere are taking action to take back their children’s education.Learn more about “The Parent Revolution” from @deangeliscorey: https://t.co/BNIN8JESB1 pic.twitter.com/0P62kkAVzR— Heritage Foundation (@Heritage) May 28, 2024 Parents had awakened to the unions’ perfidious influence in schools when they saw the unions hold their children hostage, refusing to reopen schools until their political demands—such as universal health care and tax hikes on the wealthy—were met. Moreover, “Zoom school” gave parents a peek at how radical woke ideology had infiltrated the classroom. When schools finally reopened, the trust the unions had broken was not magically restored. Wary parents kept discovering new and different ways that radicals were indoctrinating their children, from pornographic books to lessons derived from critical race theory to policies that kept parents in the dark about their children being called pronouns that differed from their sex, and more. But those issues didn’t turn frustrated parents into school choice champions overnight. At first, they just wanted their local school administrations or school boards to fix the problems. When they wouldn’t, they turned to state lawmakers to force their hands. But eventually, parents grew tired of playing policy Whac-A-Mole. That’s where the Red State Strategy came into play. As DeAngelis describes in chapter 4 of his book, “the first step to winning on school choice was to show frustrated families that school choice was a solution to their problems.” School choice policies not only gave families an immediate escape hatch from schools that were undermining their values or otherwise not meeting their needs, but it also provided parents who wanted to stay and fix their school with additional leverage. With school choice, they would no longer be a captive audience. The next step was channeling parents’ frustration politically. “If we amplified the voices of frustrated parents and the GOP’s conservative base, then Republican politicians would feel pressure to vote for school choice,” wrote DeAngelis. “Until now, many GOP legislators had only been hearing from union lobbyists and their local superintendents. Now they needed to hear from a host of their actual constituents.” That led to the third step; namely, making school choice a litmus-test issue for Republicans on par with being pro-life or pro-Second Amendment. As DeAngelis explained it: “Despite the pressure, some GOP legislators would probably continue to vote against [school choice]. We needed to let their constituents know who they were so the voters could replace them. We needed to transform the Grand Old Party into the Parents’ Party.” The strategy clearly worked, as the Texas GOP primary demonstrates. In recent weeks, Republican primary voters in Kentucky and Idaho also favored school choice supporters over candidates—including incumbents—who opposed it. BREAKING: The two Kentucky "Republicans" receiving the most money from the teachers unions just lost their elections by more than 40 points tonight.Their opponents who won support school choice.Killian Timoney: Lost by 44 pointsC. Ed Massey: Lost by 48 pointsBloodbath. pic.twitter.com/V7pq4F5e4j— Corey A. DeAngelis, school choice evangelist (@DeAngelisCorey) May 22, 2024 BREAKING: The three "Republicans" with the most support from the teachers unions in the Idaho House just lost their primary elections.Melissa Durrant ??Kenny Wroten ??Sean Coletti ??This is the way. pic.twitter.com/TVi7PZNvgw— Corey A. DeAngelis, school choice evangelist (@DeAngelisCorey) May 23, 2024 In 2024 alone, the American Federation for Children Action Fund and its affiliates have a 65% win rate in races where they backed a challenger against an incumbent in a Republican primary. That’s particularly impressive, considering that incumbents typically win about 94% of the time. Red states are now well into a school choice revolution. Ten states have now passed school choice policies that are or soon will be open to all K-12 students in the state, and Louisiana is on the cusp of becoming the 11th state to do so. More than a quarter of all K-12 students nationwide are eligible for school choice. If Texas were to pass a universal school choice policy, then more than one-third of students nationwide would be eligible. But the Red State Strategy is not confined to red states. That’s just the beginning. Although the strategy is hyperpartisan in the short term, it is bipartisan in the long term. “Success begets success,” DeAngelis observes. If embracing school choice gave Republicans an electoral advantage over Democrats, eventually the Democrats would embrace school choice, too. “When legislators saw that school choice was a winning issue among voters, some of the holdouts would flip their views on the issue or risk being thrown out of office.” We’re already seeing the strategy begin to pay off. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, broke with his party to support school choice during his election campaign. Although he has not yet fulfilled his campaign promise to enact “Lifeline Scholarships”—K-12 Education Savings Accounts for low-income students in low-performing schools—the Pennsylvania legislature may soon give him the opportunity to do so. In February, Shapiro reiterated that the scholarships are “something I support and consider to be unfinished business,” adding that “we’ve left room for the House and Senate to find common ground on this.” In the not-too-distant future, school choice will be the rule, rather than the exception. The post Texas Primary Voters Remove GOP Roadblocks to School Choice appeared first on The Daily Signal.

If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. Ireland’s media regulator (Coimisiún na Meán) has updated the Online Safety Code (part of the Online Safety Framework, a mechanism of the Online Safety and Media Regulation Act), and submitted it to the European Commission for assessment. Considered by opponents as a censorship law that also imposes age verification or estimation (phrased as “age assurance”), the Code aims to establish binding rules for video platforms with EU headquarters located in Ireland. It is expected that the European Commission will announce its position within 3 to 4 months, after which the rules will be finalized and put into effect, the regulator said. Once greenlit by Brussels, the final version of the Code will impose obligations on platforms to ban uploading or sharing videos of what is considered to be cyberbullying, promoting self-harm or suicide, and promoting eating or feeding disorders. But the list is much longer and includes content deemed to be inciting hatred or violence, terrorism, child sex abuse material, racism, and xenophobia. Even though the new rules will inevitably give wide remit to censor video content as belonging to any of these many categories, and even though children are unavoidably mentioned as the primary concern, the Irish press reports that not everyone is satisfied with just how far the new Code goes. One is a group called the Hope and Courage Collective (H&CC), whose purpose is apparently to “fight against far-right hate.” H&CC is worried that the Code will not be able to “keep elections safe” nor protect communities “targeted by hate.” But what it will do, according to the media regulator’s statement, is to use “age assurance” as a way to prevent children from viewing inappropriate content, and do so via age verification measures. The age verification controversy, however, doesn’t stem from (even if only declarative) intent behind it, but from the question of how it is supposed to be implemented, and how that implementation will stop short of undermining privacy and therefore security of all users of a platform. Still, the Irish regulator is satisfied that its new code, along with the EU’s Digital Services Act and Terrorist Content Online Regulation, will give it “a strong suite of tools to improve people’s lives online.” If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The post Ireland Submits “Online Safety Code” for EU Assessment – Pushes Censorship, Digital ID appeared first on Reclaim The Net.

Once More, From the Top, Joe Biden Is Lying About His Political Origins

A new dark matter detector underneath a mountain in Jeongseon, South Korea, is about to be turned on. The team is attempting to rule out – or perhaps reproduce – puzzling results from a previous detector in Italy.As far as astronomers studying the observable universe can tell, only around 5 percent of it is made up of matter. The rest, or the overwhelming majority of it, is made up of dark matter (around 27 percent) and dark energy (around 68 percent). Dark matter is invisible matter that doesn't emit its own light and only interacts with normal matter through gravity, which we can see evidence for in galaxies and galaxy clusters. But given that there appears to be five times as much of it as regular matter, scientists are of course on the hunt for direct evidence of its existence.One approach to finding it, maybe counterintuitively as dark matter explains what we see in the stars and galaxies, is to head underground.    "On Earth," Hugh Lippincott, Associate Professor of Physics at the University of California, Santa Barbara, explained in a piece for The Conversation, "we are constantly surrounded by low, nondangerous levels of radioactivity coming from trace elements – mainly uranium and thorium – in the environment, as well as cosmic rays from space." "The goal in hunting for dark matter is to build as sensitive a detector as possible, so it can see the dark matter, and to put it in as quiet a place as possible, so the dark matter signal can be seen over the background radioactivity."There are several underground facilities around the world where physicists look for signs of Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs), among other things, such as measuring the impact of neutrinos. The idea is that the WIMPs must be passing through Earth all the time as it moves through space, so to detect them we simply need detectors sensitive enough to capture those weak interactions.So far, essentially, no luck. But in 1997, one team in Italy – the DAMA/LIBRA experiment at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory – reported puzzling results. Their detector uses sodium-iodide crystals, which produce tiny flashes of light when a subatomic particle interacts within a nucleus inside these crystals. The team reported flashes of light, signs that they had been hit by subatomic particles. This is to be expected, with some background events mentioned above making their way to detectors. However, the number of events varied throughout the year, which is what you would expect if some of the events were caused by dark matter. This is because Earth moves through the Milky Way's dark matter halo more quickly during certain parts of its orbit, increasing the number of detections you would expect. As it moves more slowly through the halo, you'd expect detections to be lower too.The results were controversial, particularly as other teams have attempted and failed to replicate the results. But the team continued to see these detections even as they upped their instruments' sensitivity. Muddying the waters still, as the sensitivity of the detector increased, it should have been able to detect lower energy collisions. These would peak at different times of the year, but that wasn't seen in the data.Now, a team in South Korea is attempting to replicate the DAMA/LIBRA experiment at a new facility dubbed Yemilab. The team's previous experiment – COSINE-100 – was unable to replicate the results of the DAMA/LIBRA, despite using a similar setup using the same sodium-iodide crystals. “The initial results carve out a fair portion of the possible dark matter search region drawn by the DAMA signal," Hyun Su Lee, co-spokesperson for COSINE-100 said in a 2016 statement. "In other words, there is little room left for this claim to be from the dark matter interaction unless the dark matter model is significantly modified."The new experiment – dubbed COSINE-200 – uses the same setup but with enhanced sensitivity and more "radiopure" sodium-iodide crystals. Overall, the project – which should be running from August – is also better shielded than the DAMA/LIBRA experiment, hopefully diminishing any background interference that could have taken place in previous experiments. Hopefully, the data collected will tell us whether the previously claimed detection was down to error, other sources (always a possibility, just ask the team who thought they saw faster than light neutrinos), or something truly weird.

At least 10 Native American canoes have been found in Wisconsin’s Lake Mendota, the oldest of which may be up to 4,500 years old.The cache of boats was recently discovered by marine archaeologists from the Wisconsin Historical Society together with members of the Ho-Chunk Nation. Two canoes were first found in 2021 and 2022, but subsequent dives showed the lake was hiding even more artifacts. They’ve now identified a total of 10 unique canoes, although they’re currently studying an ambiguous bunch of submerged wood that could bring that total up to 11.“What we thought at first was an isolated discovery in Lake Mendota has evolved into a significant archaeological site with much to tell us about the people who lived and thrived in this area over thousands of years and also provides new evidence for major environmental shifts over time,” Dr Amy Rosebrough, State Archaeologist for the Wisconsin Historical Society, said in a statement.Experts work together to clean a 3,000-year-old dugout canoe recovered from Lake Mendota in 2022.Image credit: Dean Witter/Wisconsin Historical SocietyRadiocarbon dating and wood type analysis suggest the oldest dugout canoe was built around 2500 BCE using elm. This officially makes it the oldest boat of its kind ever found in the Great Lakes region.The relics were all found along a 240-meter (800-foot) strip that was likely once shoreline that has since become submerged due to environmental shifts in the region.“Seeing these canoes with one’s own eyes is a powerful experience, and they serve as a physical representation of what we know from extensive oral traditions that Native scholars have passed down over generations,” said Bill Quackenbush, Tribal Historic Preservation Officer for the Ho-Chunk Nation.Underwater image of a dugout canoe from Lake Mendota taken in 2021.Image credit: Tamara Thomsen/Wisconsin Historical Society“We are excited to learn all we can from this site using the technology and tools available to us, and to continue to share the enduring stories and ingenuity of our ancestors,” explained Quackenbush.Together with Tribal Historic Preservation Officers, the Wisconsin Historical Society have decided to not recover any more submerged canoes due to their fragile condition. However, the two canoes recovered in 2021 and 2022 were retrieved and are currently undergoing a preservation process at the State Archive Preservation Facility in Madison. This arduous process won’t be finished until 2026.   Equally amazing discoveries of this kind have been made elsewhere in the US. Two boaters stumbled across a huge Native American canoe buried in the mud while sailing down the Red River of Louisiana in 2017.Measuring around 10.2 meters (33 feet) in length and 90 centimeters (3 feet) in width, the vessel was fashioned from a single hollowed tree trunk. This is an ancient style of boat construction that’s been found around the world, from the Americas and Oceania to Africa and Eurasia.

Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy once again alienated "Star Wars" fans after stating that female employees of the franchise sometimes suffer from personal attacks simply due the fact that the fan base is predominantly male.Kennedy was discussing new series "The Acolyte," the first show from the franchise to be created by a woman. Leslye Headland, typically known as a film director, has planned new, major female characters for the franchise. This is made possible by creating a storyline that takes place long before the earliest (chronologically) film in the franchise, "Episode 1: The Phantom Menace."Ahead of the series release, Headland and Kennedy spoke to the New York Times, with the studio president trying to get ahead of any criticism her new director may face."My belief is that storytelling does need to be representative of all people," Kennedy said. "That's an easy decision for me."The new show certainly is following the studio's new woman-first mantra, which features several new, prominent female Jedi while including actress Carrie-Anne Moss as the new "most powerful Jedi in the room" who practices a form of Kung-Fu. This was directly inspired by Moss' character in "The Matrix" franchise.'Anyone who engages in bigotry, racism or hate speech … I don't consider a fan.'Kennedy, keeping up with her insistence of overloading movies with unnecessary, woke characters, once again targeted male "Star Wars" fans for taking issue with her productions."Operating within these giant franchises now, with social media and the level of expectation — it’s terrifying," she said. "I think Leslye has struggled a little bit with it. I think a lot of the women who step into 'Star Wars' struggle with this a bit more. Because of the fan base being so male dominated, they sometimes get attacked in ways that can be quite personal.""As a fan myself, I know how frustrating some 'Star Wars' storytelling in the past has been. I've felt it myself," she continued. "I stand by my empathy for 'Star Wars' fans. But I want to be clear. Anyone who engages in bigotry, racism or hate speech … I don't consider a fan," she added.Kennedy was parodied by "South Park" in late 2023 for wanting to "put a chick" in every Disney project and "make it lame and gay," simply as an effort to pander. Despite her being reportedly upset by her portrayal, Kennedy has gone full speed ahead with more woke projects.Headland being tapped to be showrunner was the second major announcement by Lucasfilm in recent months that involved putting a woman at the forefront of a major "Star Wars" production.In early 2024, Pakistani-Canadian director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy described her female-focused Jedi movie as something "very special.""It's about time that we had a woman come forward to shape a story in a galaxy far, far away," she said, citing that it was justified because of the current year.As for Headland, Blaze TV's Lauren Chen called her "fully unprepared and unqualified to be heading up a 'Star War'' project.”Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Legal expert Jonathan Turley believes several jury requests indicate not-so-good news for prosecutors targeting Donald Trump. Hours after they began deliberations, the 12-person jury deciding Trump's fate in the hush-money case submitted two notes to Judge Juan Merchan. 'That is pretty chilling for people that believe strongly in the criminal justice system and the very high standard of proof that’s required.' In the first note, jurors made four requests related to the testimony of David Pecker and Michael Cohen, two key witnesses at the trial. In the second note, the jury requested to rehear Merchan's complicated instructions, which took more than an hour to read on Wednesday morning. From Turley’s perspective, the note requesting the jury instructions does not bode well for the prosecution. “I’m surprised that some other networks have said, ‘Look, this is really great news that they sent this out.’ I gotta tell you, as a criminal defense attorney, I would not view this as clearly good news for the prosecution,” he said on Fox News. “The only reason why a jury would send out a request to hear the instructions again is if there’s a disagreement about what the instructions are,” he explained. “That indicates that there may be a conflict with jurors in that room about what their standard is, how they are supposed to look at the evidence.” The request for transcripts of Cohen’s testimony, Turley added, could indicate the jury is scrutinizing Cohen’s testimony. This is important because Merchan told the jurors they could disregard his testimony if they believe he lied about any material fact. “I don’t consider this such a clearly positive thing for the prosecution. As a defense attorney, I would welcome this type of request. They were only in there for a few hours, and they asked to hear the instructions again, and they asked to hear core testimony,” Turley explained. Still, there remains a problem for Trump, Turley said: Merchan’s controversial instructions. “They are very one-sided, and they have converted this into something of a canned hunt. What Judge Merchan has said is that you could divide four, four, four. You could have three groups of jurors who view the facts materially differently. They could disagree as to what crime was behind this effort to falsify business records, and Merchan will still treat that as a unanimous verdict,” he explained. “That is pretty chilling for people that believe strongly in the criminal justice system and the very high standard of proof that’s required.” Court resumed on Thursday just after 9:30 a.m.After the jury was re-empaneled, Merchan re-read his instructions, prompting some jurors — including one of the panel's two attorneys — to write diligent notes. Afterward, the court began re-reading the requested witness testimony. The jury is expected to restart deliberations after all requested testimony is re-read. Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu (D) expressed support for a number of soft-on-crime, progressive policies, including backing a do-not-prosecute list and terminating the Boston Police Department's gang database, according to the "2021 Boston Mayoral Candidate Questionnaire" from the nonprofit Progressive Massachusetts recently reviewed by Fox News Digital.The organization's survey asked Wu about her policies regarding many issues, including whether she would "support shuttering the Boston Police gang database," to which Wu responded, "Yes." She also stated that she backed noncitizens voting in local elections, Fox News Digital reported.'Boston deserves better.'Former Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins enacted a do-not-prosecute list, which included a list of charges she declined to prosecute while in office. Some of those offenses included trespassing, shoplifting, larceny, disorderly conduct, driving with a suspended license, breaking and entering, wanton or malicious destruction of property, threats, drug possession, drug possession with intent to distribute, and resisting arrest.Wu was asked by the nonprofit, "Do you support the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office's do-not-prosecute list and expanded approach to dealing with such low-level offenses? YES/ NO?"The mayor again responded, "Yes."Fox News Digital reported that Wu also declared that the police should be "demilitariz[ed]" and prohibited from using tear gas, rubber bullets, and attack dogs."Do you believe that affiliation or sympathies with white supremacist organizations among officers is a problem with BPD? YES/ NO If so, what measures would you take as mayor to combat that issue?" the organization's survey asked.Wu replied, "Yes. I have advocated for terminating any [Boston Police Department] employees who were involved with the January 6th Capitol insurrection.""We must ensure that contract language enables the sharing of data with the public on officers' use-of-force and misconduct and allows disciplinary records to be made publicly accessible, in accordance with privacy laws," Wu stated, referring to publicizing personnel files regarding the department's "use-of-force."Wu did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.Wu has yet to confirm whether she plans to run for re-election in Boston's 2025 mayoral race, but some are already considering challenging her.Rumors have been swirling that philanthropist Josh Kraft, the son of the New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, is being urged by Boston's business community to challenge Wu in the upcoming election. He has not yet announced whether he will do so.Jorge Mendoza Iturralde, a North End restaurant owner, reportedly plans to run against Wu in 2025 if she seeks re-election. He is part of a group of restaurateurs suing the city over the mayor's restrictions on outdoor dining.Mendoza Iturralde told the Boston Globe, "I love Boston, I grew up in Boston, I grew up in the North End.""But I also believe that Boston deserves better. Boston deserves somebody who is going to work for the people of Boston, not for their political career," he said."I'm a small fish in a big pond, but I think that at the very least, with my campaign, I can bring up some of the issues that are affecting Boston and perhaps remind the people of Boston that it is our city, not the politicians' city, and when the politicians get out of hand we need to let them know that we don't agree with what they're doing and they are not doing the job we pay them for," Mendoza Iturralde told the Boston Globe.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!