Biden Takes his Campaign to France

Black holes are weird. Predicted as a result of Einstein's general theory of relativity, they contain an outer region known as the event horizon – from which nothing, even light can escape. As well as this, they are predicted to have an infinitely dense point where our understanding of physics breaks down, and nothing makes any sense.That's before we even get into the black hole information paradox. If a black hole has mass (and they have a lot of it) then they should have a temperature according to the first law of thermodynamics, and in line with the second law of thermodynamics, they should radiate heat. Stephen Hawking showed that black holes should emit radiation – now termed Hawking radiation – formed at a black hole's boundary. "Hawking then pointed to a paradox. If a black hole can evaporate, a portion of the information it contains is lost forever," French astrophysicist Jean-Pierre Luminet explains in a 2016 review. "The information contained in thermal radiation emitted by a black hole is degraded; it does not recapitulate information about matter previously swallowed by the black hole. The irretrievable loss of information conflicts with one of the basic postulates of quantum mechanics. According to the Schrödinger equation, physical systems that change over time cannot create or destroy information, a property known as unitarity."In short, we're probably missing something. Physicists and mathematicians have attempted to come up with ideas that do away with these problems, and ended up with some pretty strange results. Some have even suggested that the universe could be holographic, with the universe we know and love really being the result of interactions at the infinitely distant boundary. We told you black holes were weird.And yet, we have definitely observed objects that appear to have the properties of black holes, including (but far from limited to) the image of the black hole M87*. But what if they don't exist at all?One idea is that black holes are actually "gravastars", a portmanteau of gravity, vacuum, and stars. First proposed in 2002 by Pawel O. Mazur and Emil Mottola, the idea is that at some point during the collapse of a large star the intense gravity transforms its matter into a new state similar to Bose-Einstein Condensate (BEC). BEC occurs when atoms are cooled to such low energy states that they begin acting like a single "super atom". In gravastars, the team suggested that as the star collapses to the point of the event horizon its matter is transformed into a new state, which exerts outward pressure and prevents the star from collapsing into a physics-defying singularity. In gravastars, this heavily-warped (but familiar) spacetime is surrounded by an ultra-thin, ultra-cold, and ultra-dark and virtually indestructible shell."Since this new form of matter is very durable, but somewhat flexible, like a bubble, anything that became trapped by its intense gravity and smashed into it would be obliterated and then assimilated into the shell of the Gravastar," Mottola said in a statement following the first paper on gravastars.  One of the main appeals of gravastars is doing away with messy event horizons and singularities. But though interesting as an idea, they also have to explain what we observe, and we have certainly observed objects that look like black holes. "This shadow is not caused by the trapping of light in the event horizon, but by a slightly different phenomenon called the 'gravitational redshift,' causing light to lose energy when it moves through a region with a strong gravitational field," João Luís Rosa, a professor of physics at the University of Gdask in Poland and author on a new study of gravastars told Live Science. "Indeed, when the light emitted from regions close to these alternative objects reach[es] our telescopes, most of its energy would have been lost to the gravitational field, causing the appearance of this shadow."Like with black holes, things get messy when you add in rotation, and there are (contested) suggestions that gravastars would not be stable as they rotate. And they are a little weird too (hey, this is the universe we're talking about). There are suggestions that the interiors of gravastars could contain a series of thicker shells, known as nestars.They aren't perfect, and there is a lot of work to be done on modeling how they work. It's also possible that both black holes and gravastars exist. A big problem is that it is difficult to distinguish between the two, though some models suggest that they should emit very different gravitational radiation, allowing us to know whether we're looking at gravastars or traditional black holes, and all the headaches they entail.Rosa and colleagues' new study is published in Physical Review D. 

On June 5 at 10:52 am ET, Boeing's Starliner Calypso took to the sky carrying NASA astronauts Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams to the International Space Station (ISS). This was the third and final test for the commercial vehicle and its first crewed test to demonstrate that Starliner is a safe way to ferry astronauts to and from the space station.It was a long road getting here. Boeing had originally planned its first crewed test in 2017 but it was postponed time and time again. The latest delay moved this crewed test from last August to May 2024. This was necessary to resolve issues with the parachute system and wiring harnesses among other less significant issues.   Then the May 6 launch was scrubbed two hours before liftoff. It continued to be delayed due to a helium leak in the service module. Another attempt was planned for Saturday, June 1. The scrubbing took place just 3 minutes and 50 seconds before launch after a faulty power supply caused a computer to register a loss of redundancy.But now Starliner is up in orbit, launched on top of the powerful Atlas V rocket. Wilmore and Williams are expected to be in space for about a week. While on the ISS, Starliner will be tested as a "safe haven" – a protected environment within the space station that could be used in case of emergency. This will be useful in the future when the capsule will stay attached for up to seven months.The plan is for Starliner to fly back down in the American Southwest. During the descent, it will deploy a parachute that will slow the capsule down to 6.4 kilometers (4 miles) per hour. The landing will be cushioned by the deployment of six airbags.Starliner can be reused up to 10 times and will be used just like SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule, to bring people and cargo to the ISS. SpaceX’s first crewed mission was in 2020.

R/P FLIP, the FLoating Instrument Platform, was a true one-of-a-kind, but it now lies in pieces at a undisclosed scrapyard.Measuring 108 meters (355 feet) long, FLIP was an oceanic research platform designed to be towed out to sea horizontally, just like any conventional seafaring vessel. Upon command, it would be partially flooded and flipped by 90 degrees, allowing it to stand vertically in the water with over 90 meters (300 feet) of its body submerged.As you can see in the video of its flipping below, which features some fabulously 80s "muzak," it pulls off this incredible maneuver in just 20 minutes with its crew of hardy scientists onboard. The giant upright instrument was developed in the post-war era by researchers at Scripps' Marine Physical Laboratory and operated by Scripps Oceanography on behalf of the US Navy. Its maiden flip was carried out on July 23, 1962, in a quiet fjord in Washington State. After proving its worth in a series of tests, it was towed to San Diego to start operations in September 1962. The axis-changing platform spent much of its working life in the Pacific, venturing as far as Hawai'i, but it even had one deployment in the Atlantic. FLIP was used for over 60 years to gather vital observations about oceanic and atmospheric phenomena. One of its specialties was acoustic research, uncovering the many ways in which sound waves are influenced by variations in the ocean, such as changes in temperature or salinity. It even helped scientists learn about the depths to which whales dive and the properties of the Earth's ever-changing crust.                   Like many great things, FLIP fell victim to government spending cuts in the wake of COVID-19 and the ensuing global economic downturn. Following some tough financial decisions, the US Navy pulled the plug on the platform.“It would cost about $8 million to make FLIP useable for another five or 10 years, but that funding could be better used elsewhere. We came up with lots of creative ideas, but there wasn’t enough inertia or funding to keep it going,” Rob Sparrock, a Program Officer at the U.S. Navy’s Office of Naval Research, said in 2021, according to Sea Power Magazine.Sparrock added that he hoped FLIP would be put on display in a museum setting, given its scientific and engineering significance. However, it was ultimately scrapped. In August 2023, FLIP made its final journey towards a dismantling and recycling facility where it was taken to pieces.“R/P FLIP has existed for more than half the length of the institution’s entire history,” Scripps Oceanography Director Margaret Leinen said in a statement in 2023 about its retirement.“It was an engineering marvel constructed during an important phase of new technology for ocean exploration following World War II. The many discoveries from FLIP help set the stage for ongoing cutting-edge science to understand our ocean,” added Leinen.RIP FLIP. Gone, but not forgotten.

In a heartwarming tale of courage and compassion, a woman performed a remarkable act of kindness by saving a starving whale using her bare hands. This incredible story highlights the power of human compassion and the special bond that can form between humans and animals. The encounter began when a whale swam up to a... The post Diver sees struggling and choking whale and immediately uses ‘bare hands’ to save him appeared first on Animal Channel.

President Biden's newly announced pseudo-crackdown on illegal immigration caused the Associated Press to worry if it would help him: "Will Biden’s new border measures be enough to change voters’ minds?" AP reporters Jill Colvin, Stephen Groves, and Adriana Gomez Licon wrote Biden addressed "a major liability for his reelection campaign by taking executive action to significantly restrict asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border." But the labeling was comical:  Biden has shifted far to the right on immigration since his winning campaign four years ago, when he criticized Trump’s immigration priorities and promised he would restore asylum protections. Biden's almost Full MAGA?? And yet, when you are "far to the left" of Trump on border control, you're merely an "immigration advocate" to the AP linguists.  Sue-Ann DiVito, a 61-year-old realtor from the Philadelphia suburb of Jenkintown who became an immigration advocate during the Trump administration, says Republicans have been successful at spreading anti-immigrant messages in communities like hers, making some of her friends who are Democrat worry about the high number of people arriving in the U.S “I think that’s why we see people who would normally support immigrants are now more quiet,” DiVito said. The AP article ends with the "immigration advocate" warning that whatever Biden does on the Border, Trump will be "a million times worse."  Surprise! Sue-Ann is a Democrat donor.  At least the AP trio acknowledges the polling on immigration is brutal for Biden -- 56 percent of Americans say Biden’s presidency has hurt the country on the issue of immigration and border security, according to an AP-NORC poll conducted in April. That’s far higher than the number (37%) who said the same about Trump’s time in office. Even among Democrats, only about 3 in 10 say that Biden’s presidency has done more to help the country on immigration and border security, while about the same share say it has hurt.  Hispanic adults are also more likely to think Trump’s presidency helped the country with immigration and border security, compared to Biden’s. About half of Hispanic adults in March said that Biden’s presidency had done more to hurt the country on immigration and border security — a potentially alarming number as Trump’s campaign works to chip away at Democrats’ advantage with Hispanic voters. Hence, he had to disappoint the radical left open-borders crowd:  “President Biden had no choice. He saw what was going on at the border. The numbers were higher than ever in terms of people trying to come here to seek asylum, and he knew he had to do something,” said Maria Cardona, a Democratic strategist. The radicals were quoted, if not exactly labeled, to highlight splits among Democrats:  Rep. Pramila Jayapal, the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said she was “profoundly disappointed.” During a news conference with immigration advocates outside the Capitol, Jayapal pushed the administration to take action that would provide relief for immigrants already in the U.S.

True to its nature, the Biden administration has been emphasizing the need to combat “misinformation” in the media. But the administration is not alone. The United Nations is also cracking down any narrative that draws its own into question. UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, has adopted a concept in its “Disinformation Primer” called “prebunking.” According to them, “prebunking” is “an offensive strategy that refers to anticipating what disinformation is likely to be repeated by politicians, pundits, and provocateurs during key events and having already prepared a response based on past fact checks.” “Prebunking is drawn from Inoculation Theory, which seeks to explain how an attitude or a belief can be protected against persuasion and people can build up an immunity to mis/disinformation,” the primer explains. Glenn Beck is horrified. “We are dealing with people manipulating every aspect of your mind. This is beyond 4D chess. This is a psychological weapon being developed and promoted by our own government,” Glenn says. “They decide what is true, and then they will inoculate you and manipulate you so if you hear something else that disagrees with that, you’ll dismiss it,” he adds. Those behind the manipulation hope to keep people from adopting “extremist views.” “What are those views? I would imagine views like mine,” Glenn says. “Now, in a sane world you could see how a tool like this might be a good thing in helping to disrupt recruiting efforts by actual terrorists. But no, they’ve redefined what terrorists and what extremists are.” “The real danger here is who gets to decide what needs redirecting or ‘prebunking,’ and after they really master this, will you even know you’ve been manipulated?” Want more from Glenn Beck?To enjoy more of Glenn’s masterful storytelling, thought-provoking analysis, and uncanny ability to make sense of the chaos, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

After WNBA star Caitlin Clark was flagrantly fouled by another player, Republican Congressman Jim Banks sent a letter to the commissioner of the WNBA asking what steps the league is taking to curb "excessive physical targeting" of players.The Indiana politician sent the letter to Commissioner Cathy Engelbert stating that he has watched Clark's team, the Indiana Fever, in "admiration" since she was drafted into the league as the first overall pick in 2024.He noted that "as a father," he has been pleased to see his three daughters become more interested in watching the WNBA.The congressman then remarked on Clark having "shattered on court and viewership records for women’s basketball.""Unfortunately, since joining the WNBA, Clark’s exceptionalism has been met with resentment and repeated attacks from fellow players," Banks wrote, per Outkick.'What steps is the WNBA taking to curb excessive physical targeting of specific players?'Banks pointed to Chicago Sky player Chennedy Carter bodychecking Clark to the floor as teammate Angel Reese "visibly cheered."Reese was fined $1,000 by the WNBA for refusing to answer reporter questions after the game. The team itself was fined $5,000 for violating media availability rules, while Carter had her foul upgraded from a regular foul to a flagrant foul.The Chicago Tribune even likened the foul to "an assault" if it were "outside of a sporting contest."Banks then wrote what amounted to an argument about whether or not the individual player or the Chicago Sky team should be further punished for the foul."Indiana is a basketball state. We don’t wince at aggressive defense, but this was not an example of playing 'tough' it was a cheap shot that could have resulted in an injury and should not be tolerated. While the foul was retroactively upgraded to a flagrant, there appears to be no further punishment for Carter or the Chicago Sky organization beyond fines related to a lack of media appearances after the game. "The Republican then suggested that the WNBA "refuses to hold hostile players accountable," stating that it has been a "disservice" to the millions of female viewers who aspire to play in the league.He then positioned four questions to the WNBA commissioner:• "What steps is the WNBA taking to curb excessive physical targeting of specific players?"• "Will individual organizations be held responsible for allowing players with histories of violence to physically target their competitors?"• "Do you believe that WNBA players repeatedly diminishing the talents of their fellow players is beneficial to the leagues’ overall success?" • "Do you believe that it is inspiring to young female athletes to see players like the Indiana’s Caitlin Clark physically targeted for her success?"The congressman then thanked the commissioner for her work to grow women's basketball.The WNBA nor its commissioner has made a public response as of this writing.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Fox News anchor John Roberts is fighting back after the Biden campaign accused him of spreading a "blatant lie."The Biden campaign loves to remind voters that President Joe Biden instituted a $35 price cap on insulin for Americans on Medicare. But this week, Roberts undercut the Biden campaign's message and reminded Fox News viewers that it was then-President Donald Trump who first instituted the $35 price cap in 2020.'There are receipts to dispute the Biden campaign's claim about what I said.'"Maybe I'm misremembering that, but I think it kind of already happened," Roberts said.On Monday, the Biden campaign claimed that Roberts lied."This is a blatant lie. Trump did not cap insulin costs, President Biden did for seniors through the Inflation Reduction Act," the campaign said. "Trump’s Project 2025 wants to repeal it, which would raise insulin costs for over a million Americans." — (@) As it turns out, the Biden campaign — not Roberts — is guilty of spreading falsehoods.On Tuesday, Roberts responded to the Biden campaign's accusation."There are receipts to dispute the Biden campaign's claim about what I said," Roberts pointed out.First, Roberts cited a press release from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in May 2020 announcing the Trump policy. The press released explained the Trump policy would "provide Medicare beneficiaries access to a broad set of insulins at a maximum $35 copay for a month’s supply."Second, Roberts cited Tracey Brown, the then-CEO of the American Diabetes Association, who attended a Rose Garden event announcing Trump's policy. Roberts played a clip of Brown thanking Trump for helping Americans who need insulin. Roberts, moreover, explained that he attended that Rose Garden ceremony.Third, Roberts cited a Washington Post story that reported on Trump's policy. The newspaper reported at the time:The administration has brokered an agreement between insulin manufacturers and some Medicare prescription drug plans that would lower costs for some seniors beginning in 2021 by capping co-pays at $35 for a monthly supply — a figure that administration officials said would lead to roughly a two-thirds drop in out-of-pocket costs and would encourage seniors to continue taking insulin.Finally, Roberts cited a report from the Rand Corporation, a left-leaning think tank, that praised Trump's program."We invited a representative from the Biden campaign to come on the program with us to discuss the issue, but thus far they have made no one available," Roberts concluded.What Roberts did not include in his response is that another Trump order, Executive Order 13937, was designed to lower insulin costs. Biden later canceled it, then had essentially the same $35 insulin price cap developed by the Trump administration placed in the Inflation Reduction Act.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

The protesters caused ‘extensive damage to the interior and exterior of the building,’ campus police said.