Giant Poison Spiders Set To Parachute Into The Northeastern United States [VIDEO]

The Justice Department is using the Biden administration’s invocation of executive privilege to fight a lawsuit by multiple parties that seek to gain access to the audio from President Joe Biden’s interview with special counsel Robert Hur. Executive privilege is one of the exemptions the Justice Department cited in a motion on Friday to combat a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit by conservative groups and numerous media organizations over the audio recordings of Biden’s interview...

The Department of Justice (DOJ) pushed back against the release of audio recordings of President Biden’s interview with special counsel Robert Hur, citing concerns that “deep fakes” could emerge. DOJ argued, in a Friday night filing, that if the audio were released, it could end up being altered and passed off as an “authentic” recording which would be shared widely.  “The passage of time and advancements in audio, artificial intelligence, and ‘deep fake’ technologies only amplify...

Releasing an audio recording of a special counsel’s interview with President Joe Biden could spur deepfakes and disinformation that trick Americans, the Justice Department said, conceding the U.S. government could not stop the misuse of artificial intelligence ahead of this year’s election. A senior Justice Department official raised the concerns in a court filing on Friday that sought to justify keeping the recording under wraps. The Biden administration is seeking to convince a judge to...

We can all get a little fascinated by doppelgängers and it's fun to find people who look alike. But what do you do when your baby girl looks uncannily like a famous middle-aged man? Mom Dani Grier Mulvenna shared a photo of her infant daughter Cora side by side with a photo of Woody Harrelson on Twitter, with the caption "Ok but how does our daughter look like Woody Harrelson." The resemblance truly is remarkable, and the tweet quickly racked up hundreds of thousands of likes, shares and replies.Naturally, the jokes about Harrelson being the baby's secret father came next, but then Harrelson himself got wind of it.The actor shared a screenshot of Mulvenna's tweet on his Instagram page and included a delightful little poem he called "Ode to Cora." \u201cOk but how does our daughter look like Woody Harreslon\u201d — Dani Grier Mulvenna (@Dani Grier Mulvenna) 1659529434 You're an adorable childFlattered to be comparedYou have a wonderful smileI just wish I had your hairHow adorable and wholesome is that? Not only did he acknowledge his look-alike, but he even made a self-deprecating joke about his receding hairline. See on Instagram People gushed in the comments and Mulvenna shared how tickled her daughter will be someday by the connection."You've made our day ❤️ can't wait to show her this when she's older, you have another fan for life xxx," she wrote. Mulvenna also shared on Twitter that her daughter doesn't always look like Woody Harrelson, but when she does, she really does. \u201cCora says, thank you all so much for the likes and retweets and also that she doesn't always look like Woody Harreslon, it's just that when she does...she really really does xxx\u201d — Dani Grier Mulvenna (@Dani Grier Mulvenna) 1659529434 What a cutie. What's hilarious is that sweet little Cora has no clue about any of this excitement and she won't for many more years. What a fun story her parents will be able to share with her.Social media has created a world where people can connect in ways they never would have before. When these platforms are so often used for negative means, it's lovely to see something so sweet and pure come out of them. This article originally appeared on 08.05.22

We all know that Americans pay more for healthcare than every other country in the world. But how much more?According an American expatriate who shared the story of his ER visit in a Taiwanese hospital, Americans are being taken to the cleaners when we go to the doctor. We live in a country that claims to be the greatest in the world, but where an emergency trip to the hospital can easily bankrupt someone. Kevin Bozeat had that fact in mind when he fell ill while living in Taiwan and needed to go to the hospital. He didn't have insurance and he had no idea how much it was going to cost him. He shared the experience in a now-viral Facebook post he called "The Horrors of Socialized Medicine: A first hand experience."Bozeat started vomiting one evening and couldn't stop, unable to even keep water down. "My symptoms showed no signs of abating," he wrote. "At this point I had to seek medical treatment, I knew I had to go to the hospital.""I wanted to avoid it," he added. "I had no idea how different Taiwanese hospitals would be, whether I would be able to find an English speaking doctor, or what it would cost me (my US health insurance has lapsed and I don't qualify for Taiwanese NHI)."Taiwan's National Health Insurance (NHI) is a single-payer system that covers all residents of Taiwan. Foreigners can take part in the system immediately upon obtaining a work permit, or after six months of living in the country. Bozeat was a student and hadn't lived there long enough to be eligible yet.But he needn't have worried.Bozeat's bill for his entire hospital stay was a fraction of many insured American's copays for emergency services.And it's not like he received substandard service for what he paid."My Taiwanese roommate called a taxi and took me to the ER at NTU Hospital," Bozeat wrote. "I was immediately checked-in by an English speaking nurse. Within 20 minutes I was given IV fluids and anti-emetics. They took blood tests and did an ultrasound to ensure it wasn't gall stones or appendicitis. From there I was given a diagnosis: a particularly severe case of Acute Viral Gastroenteritis (aka the stomach flu). After about 3 hours on an IV, I began to feel slightly better, my nausea disappeared and my stomach began to calm down."Bozeat was discharged with a prescription for anti-emetics and pain medication, and after a few days he was back to normal. This is when most of us would start panicking as we wait for the hospital bills to start arriving. But Bozeat was pleasantly surprised:"The bill for the ER visit?...US $80.00. Eighty. American. Dollars. Out of pocket. Full cost. No discounts. No insurance. At one of the best hospitals in Taiwan. And if I had NHI, it would have been a fraction of that. This could have easily cost me hundreds or even thousands in the US without insurance. But here in Taiwan I was able to receive speedy, quality care comparable to what I would have gotten in a US hospital for relatively small amount of money."And it's not like he received substandard service for what he paid."My Taiwanese roommate called a taxi and took me to the ER at NTU Hospital," Bozeat wrote. "I was immediately checked-in by an English speaking nurse. Within 20 minutes I was given IV fluids and anti-emetics. They took blood tests and did an ultrasound to ensure it wasn't gall stones or appendicitis. From there I was given a diagnosis: a particularly severe case of Acute Viral Gastroenteritis (aka the stomach flu). After about 3 hours on an IV, I began to feel slightly better, my nausea disappeared and my stomach began to calm down."Bozeat was discharged with a prescription for anti-emetics and pain medication, and after a few days he was back to normal. This is when most of us would start panicking as we wait for the hospital bills to start arriving. But Bozeat was pleasantly surprised:"The bill for the ER visit?...US $80.00. Eighty. American. Dollars. Out of pocket. Full cost. No discounts. No insurance. At one of the best hospitals in Taiwan. And if I had NHI, it would have been a fraction of that. This could have easily cost me hundreds or even thousands in the US without insurance. But here in Taiwan I was able to receive speedy, quality care comparable to what I would have gotten in a US hospital for relatively small amount of money."I did some research, and the cost of living overall in Taiwan is about half what it is here. There is not a hospital that I know of in the U.S. where you can be admitted and discharged for anything close to $160, even for something as simple as a bee sting. (Seriously, an ER visit for a bee sting can set you back $12,000 in the U.S.)Bozeat also pointed out that the taxes that pay for Taiwan's health system are not that high.Responding to the common complaint that we'd have to raise taxes to pay for universal healthcare, Bozeat continued his list:"5: Yes, taxes pay for the healthcare here. No, they are not high. Try for yourself: The formula for the NHI monthly premium contribution for a single employed adult is: [your monthly income] x 0.0469 (4.69%) x 0.3 (30%) = Your monthly out-of-pocket healthcare premium."I did the math for a $60,000 per year income—it comes to $70.53/month. [Sigh.]But Bozeat wasn't done:"6: It's not perfect. Not everything is 100% covered. I had a good experience, but Im sure many people have had [non-financial] medical horror stories here.7: This system exists because the Taiwanese government believes that healthcare is a right for all of its citizens, rather than a privilege for those who can afford it. Those aren't my words, thats what the Ministry of Health said in its English language brochure. Every Taiwanese citizen and foreign permanent resident is entitled to, and required to enroll in the National Health Insurance Program (NHI). Everyone is covered, regardless of employment status, no one is uninsured, no one ever goes bankrupt due to medical bills." And the quality of care does not appear to be compromised in this system, either."I have yet to meet a Taiwanese person who wasn't satisfied with, or even outright proud of their healthcare system," Bozeat wrote. "My expat friends praise it, even those from countries with universal healthcare systems of their own. "But Bozeat wasn't done:"6: It's not perfect. Not everything is 100% covered. I had a good experience, but Im sure many people have had [non-financial] medical horror stories here.7: This system exists because the Taiwanese government believes that healthcare is a right for all of its citizens, rather than a privilege for those who can afford it. Those aren't my words, thats what the Ministry of Health said in its English language brochure. Every Taiwanese citizen and foreign permanent resident is entitled to, and required to enroll in the National Health Insurance Program (NHI). Everyone is covered, regardless of employment status, no one is uninsured, no one ever goes bankrupt due to medical bills."
And the quality of care does not appear to be compromised in this system, either."I have yet to meet a Taiwanese person who wasn't satisfied with, or even outright proud of their healthcare system," Bozeat wrote. "My expat friends praise it, even those from countries with universal healthcare systems of their own."This article originally appeared on 02.28.19

"It was all his idea." An offhand suggestion from her boyfriend of two years coupled with her own lifelong love of comic strips like "Calvin and Hobbes" and "Get Fuzzy" gave 22-year-old Catana Chetwynd the push she needed to start drawing an illustrated series about long-term relationships. Specifically, her own relationship. The drawings are refreshingly touching, honest, and instantly recognizable to anyone who's ever had to learn to live with, for, and around a long-term partner.Chetwynd says her goal is to explore the peculiar aspects of relationships at different stages, using her own as the master template.The series combines humor and playful drawings with spot-on depictions of the intense familiarity that long-standing coupledom often brings.The comics are almost too real — and really, really funny.If the following comics capture your relationship to a T, you're most definitely not alone. (All images by Catana Chetwynd.)"When I started doing the comic, we hadn't lived together or anything yet, and now we've done the whole thing of moving in together and meeting the parents and everything," Chetwynd says.The evolution of their relationship provides the creative fuel for the comic strip. Thankfully, her boyfriend John Freed is fully on board with being depicted in (digital) ink — despite having to occasionally awkwardly explain things that appear in the strip to their family and friends.The connection she has built with Freed, Chetwynd says she wouldn't trade for anything — especially now that it inspires her art."The end goal for me was always to have somebody that I could be comfortable with in this way, and I think I got that."You can follow Catana Comics on Facebook and Twitter, and can view the whole series on Chetwynd's website.This article originally appeared on 05.12.17.

When someone you know gets seriously ill, it's not always easy to come up with the right words to say or to find the right card to give. Emily McDowell — a former ad agency creative director and the woman behind the Los Angeles-based greeting card and textile company Emily McDowell Studio — knew all too well what it was like to be on the receiving end of uncomfortable sentiments. At the age of 24, she was diagnosed with Stage 3 Hodgkin's lymphoma. She went into remission after nine months of chemo and has remained cancer-free since, but she received her fair share of misplaced, but well-meaning, wishes before that. On her webpage introducing the awesome cards you're about to see, she shared, "The most difficult part of my illness wasn't losing my hair, or being erroneously called 'sir' by Starbucks baristas, or sickness from chemo. It was the loneliness and isolation I felt when many of my close friends and family members disappeared because they didn't know what to say or said the absolute wrong thing without realizing it." Her experience inspired Empathy Cards — not quite "get well soon" and not quite "sympathy," they were created so "the recipients of these cards [can] feel seen, understood, and loved." Scroll down to read these sincere, from-the-heart, and incredibly realistic sentiments.Emily McDowell StudioEmily McDowell StudioEmily McDowell StudioEmily McDowell StudioEmily McDowell StudioEmily McDowell StudioEmily McDowell StudioEmily McDowell StudioPretty great, right? If you know someone who's in the less-than-ideal position of dealing with a serious illness, you can purchase any of these eight cards to share with them.Visit Emily McDowell Studio's shop to select the card(s) you need. They're $5.00 each.(We're not being paid to share these, nor were we asked to do so. We came across the cards and I loved them, so I reached out to Emily McDowell Studio and asked if I could share them with you. Unfortunately, a lot of us know someone who could use a card like one of these.)This article originally appeared on 05.06.15

When Molly Galbraith posted on Facebook a photo of herself on a beach in a bikini, her caption wasn't your usual "look at me" selfie."This not a before picture. This is not an after picture," she writes.Based in Lexington, Kentucky, Galbraith is the owner and co-founder of Girls Gone Strong, a company that seeks to provide fitness solutions and community not influenced by the juggernaut, multi-billion dollar weight loss industry, and in her caption for the Facebook post, she creating a litany of what her body has experienced and withstood. "This is a body that loves protein and vegetables and queso and ice cream. This is a body that loves bent presses and pull-ups and deadlifts and sleep. This is a body that has been abused with fast food and late nights and stress. This body has been publicly evaluated, judged, and criticized."Galbraith's list goes on, and, so far, the image and caption have spread like wildfire across Facebook, inspiring many others."This is the first year in as long as I can remember that I have made NO resolutions to change the way my body looks," writes Galbraith. "Today this is a body that is loved, adored, and cherished by the only person whose opinion matters — ME."This article originally appeared on 08.18.19