'feel like my head's still spinning'

'Faith-based programs are key'

“Cui bono?” asked the ancients, whose wisdom we’d be foolish to toss aside. For by answering the question “Who benefits?” we may ascertain who is committing the crime that ails us. The crime in question is the mayhem being visited on the college campuses and streets of America. Today the cause is Gaza, but our revolutionaries are nothing if not opportunists. This month they will disrupt graduations, but once campuses close for summer, they will head elsewhere and take up other causes. It could be climate change, or police defunding, or the low-hanging fruits of race and sex. These issues all roll into each other now with such ease that they have become an “all-encompassing omnicause.” That’s a term Mary Harrington used at UnHerd, after noting that Greta Thunberg, the Swedish teenager who usually harangues us about the planet, has taken to donning a Palestinian-style keffiyeh. Like thousands of other Americans, I attended a university graduation this week (in my case, at Columbia). I can attest that the demonstrators who disrupted the proceedings were a small minority whose antics were generally met with shouts of “Sit down!” But a determined, small minority can tear society to pieces. The Bolsheviks were a small minority. So who benefits from this destabilization of America across several fronts? Its adversaries, of course. The list is long because of American power and unique (exceptional) attachment to liberty, and it includes foes both foreign and domestic. Unsurprisingly, they often work in tandem. The domestic enemies of the United States and its Constitution are well known. Any organization devoted to the big lie—i.e., that America is “systemically racist,” has a “regime of white supremacy,” or an “oppressive social order”—is by definition in opposition to America as it is presently constituted. Destabilization is one way to obtain the desired change. The above phrases all come from the introduction to “Critical Race Theory: The Key Writings that Formed the Movement,” the foundational textbook of critical race theory. The impact that the discipline of critical race theory has had on how the omnicause is articulated cannot be overstressed. Take Black Lives Matter. The different organizations operating today under that banner—the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation (once the most powerful), BLM Grassroots (probably the most powerful now), the Movement for Black Lives (a vast umbrella), BLM Los Angeles (the first chapter), etc.—were spawned by individuals who were recruited by older, deeply ideological Marxists and trained on destabilizing society. BLM activists express their Marxian analysis of American society—their resentment of the U.S.—in the language of critical race theory. No other organization has done more to dismantle America as it is presently constituted than Black Lives Matter. And to the surprise of no one paying attention, BLM chapters were an early and enthusiastic supporter of Hamas’ terroristic and orgiastic attack on Israel on Oct. 7. Nor should it be surprising that the fiscal sponsors of the groups organizing today’s campus protests, such as Students for Justice in Palestine and Samidoun, are also philosophical and even fiscal backers of the different BLM entities. But U.S. enemies that support and benefit from the street mayhem are not all domestic. China, America’s rising 21st-century adversary, and Cuba, whose sclerotic revolutionary rulers have been consumed with anti-American resentment for more than six decades, are two communist outposts implicated in the protests. A new report by the Network Contagion Research Institute analyzed “the activities and foreign connections” of the Shut It Down for Palestine movement, “an anti-capitalist, anti-police, and anti-government protest movement that emerged after Oct. 7,” the day of the Hamas massacre in Israel. Organizations “operating under the SID4P umbrella are members of the ‘Singham Network’ donor portfolio,” the institute wrote. That network is tied to Neville Roy Singham, a half-Cuban, half-Sri Lankan tech entrepreneur who was born in the U.S. and resides in Shanghai. A former member of radical Marxist groups, he sold his software company for $785 million in 2017 and now donates generously to Marxist causes.  Various publications from The New York Times to The Free Press say Singham has close connections to the Chinese Communist Party—something he denies. But the NCRI report says that three of the Singham Network’s affiliates—the People’s Forum, the International People’s Assembly, and the ANSWER Coalition—“serve as the conduit through which CCP-affiliated entities have effectively co-opted pro-Palestinian activism in the U.S., advancing a broader anti-American, anti-democratic, and anti-capitalist agenda.” One of the leaders of the People’s Forum, the Dominican Republic-born Manolo De Los Santos, has received training in Cuba and meets regularly with the regime’s nominal president, Miguel Diaz-Canel, writes Mary O’Grady at The Wall Street Journal. De Los Santos gave a rousing speech to more than 100 “masked and keffiyeh-clad activists” at the Manhattan office of People’s Forum hours before those activists headed to Columbia University to take over Hamilton Hall, according to Washington Free Beacon reporter Joseph Simonson, who attended via Zoom. De Los Santos urged demonstrators to “give Joe Biden a hot summer” and “make it untenable for the politics of usual to take place in this country.” The activists then were trained on “new methods of resistance” in a breakout session. “A few hours later, activists smashed the windows of Columbia’s Hamilton Hall and barricaded themselves inside,” noted Simonson. We are constantly reminded that peaceful protests are constitutionally protected speech. But we should be equally reminded to ask of those subverting our peace and undermining our institutions: “Cui bono?” It’s not people who wish us well. Originally published by the Washington Examiner The post Who Benefits From Destabilization of America? appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Has Anyone Noticed That Criticism of Hamas Has Vanished In the NY Times?

Mayo Clinic Apologizes For Allowing Professor Emeritus to Say There Are Only 2 Sexes

The daily shower is a more controversial thing than you might think. Are we showering too much? Too little? Is the water too hot, or too cold? What is that rat doing in here anyway?But for some reason, the one that really gets people grimacing is the question of when to shower. If you’re a morning showerer, chances are you couldn’t imagine waiting until bedtime to scrub off the night’s sweat and grime; if you habitually shower in the evening, on the other hand, you likely recoil at the idea of crawling into bed still covered in the dirt and dust of the day.So, who’s in the right? Is it better to start the day sparkling, or wind down with a wash? We looked into the science – and the answer may surprise you.The case for a morning showerAccording to a 2022 Sleep Foundation survey, 42 percent of US adults start their day with a bath or shower. That’s noticeably more than the 25 percent who wash up just before bed, and it even overshadows the 38 percent who report showering or bathing at just some point in the evening.So, there must be something to it, right? “I shower in the morning to really wake up, to feel alive,” Cleveland Clinic dermatologist Alok Vij commented in 2023. “I just don’t feel like myself if I’m starting my day without having a clean, freshly scrubbed face.”There are biological reasons behind this morning boost. Your body relies on certain cues to regulate its circadian rhythm, and a regular shower can serve as a signal that it’s time to wake up and become more alert. The effect may be especially strong if you opt for a cooler shower rather than a hotter one – good advice at any time of day, actually – as colder water can trigger the body to release neurotransmitters such as serotonin, cortisol, dopamine, and norepinephrine, which all play crucial roles in regulating emotions and reducing stress levels.More than that, a daily morning shower – of any length and temperature, so long as it ended with up to 90 seconds of cold water – has been shown in at least one study to reduce a person’s number of sick days by nearly one-third, along with improving reported quality of life and energy levels. And we know: spending a minute or two under the frigid spray first thing in the morning doesn’t sound that fun – but apparently, it’s worth it, since “even though the vast majority of participants reported a variable degree of discomfort during cold exposure, the fact that 91 percent of participants reported the will to continue such routine […] is perhaps the most indicative of any health or work benefit,” the study reported.And then, of course, there’s the ick factor. For many of us, a morning shower is less about hack our biology to harness optimum efficiency in the workplace, and more about feeling less, you know… grimy. “Humans tend to perspire at night,” Gary Goldenberg, a dermatologist in New York and a professor at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, told the New York Times in 2017. “When you wake up in the morning, there’s all this sweat and bacteria from the sheets that’s just kind of sitting there on your skin.”And that’s just the safe-for-work stuff. There’s another major activity that we tend to use a bed for at night, Goldenberg pointed out – and a quick morning shower is perfect “to wash all of that gunk and sweat off that you’ve been sleeping in all night.”“There are so many reasons to shower in the morning,” he said.The case for a nighttime showerDespite being less popular than its earlier cousin, there are quite a few very good reasons to shower in the evening – not least of which is the feeling of washing away the various oils, pollutants, and basic grime that has built up on your skin throughout the day.“A shower helps to wash off all the grit and grime, environmental toxins and pollutants that might negatively impact your skin,” Vij pointed out. “It helps you get in bed with a clean slate.”That’s doubly true if you’re exercising after work or spending your day in physically demanding situations. Then, “obviously you want to shower before you go to bed,” Goldenberg said, “because there’s a lot of sweat – bacteria can cause acne […] And it stinks.”Plus – and perhaps surprisingly, given their reputation for waking us up in the mornings – an evening shower can actually be very beneficial for our sleep hygiene. That’s partly for the same reason as the early showers: it acts as a circadian marker to signal to our bodies to start winding down for the day – this is actually one reason why your parents used to insist on you having bathtime before bed when you were little.But actually, the physiology goes deeper than that. “The body naturally cools down as bedtime approaches, in sync with the circadian rhythm,” clinical psychologist and sleep expert Janet K. Kennedy told the Times. “Showering artificially raises the temperature again and allows for a faster cool down, which seems to hasten sleep.”You don’t want to do it too soon before getting into bed, she clarified – about 90 minutes before should do it. That’s borne out by other research, too: one systematic review of the benefits of warm baths found that soaking for as little as ten minutes an hour or two before bed was related to improved sleep quality and efficiency, as well as significantly quicker dropping off times. In other words, if you’re a bit of an insomniac, try a nice warm bath or shower before bed.“An evening shower can be a relaxing part of a pre-bed routine,” Michael Grandner, director of the Sleep and Health Research Program at the University of Arizona, told Time Magazine in 2017.“[It] might also have the benefit of giving you some time to think and wind down before bed,” Grandner added, “rather than distract[ing] yourself in front of the TV.”The verdictListen: if showering in the morning or evening made that much of a difference, we wouldn’t need an explainer article to decide which was better. The truth is, there’s not all that much in it either way.“There’s no definitive answer for the global population on whether to take an evening vs. morning shower,” Vij said. “But for each individual, there tends to be a right answer. And it’s all based on preference.”Of course, there may be specific reasons that convince you one way or the other: if you need to wash your hair, for example, and can’t dry it in the hour or so before bed, then you may prefer a morning shower, since sleeping on wet hair genuinely isn’t good for your barnet. If, on the other hand, you suffer from eczema or dermatitis, you might want to wait until the evening to scrub up: “it’s recommended that you apply your daily moisturizers and any topical prescription or over-the-counter products twice a day,” Vij explained. “It’s not necessarily better to shower at night or morning, as long as you’re using gentle cleansers, moisturizers and prescription products as recommended,” he confirmed – but the fact is that most of us have less time for this kind of routine in the morning than the evening.Overall, then, what’s the verdict? Well, if we had to come down on one side or the other, we’d say the nighttime showerers have the edge – but ultimately, it’s up to you. As long as you’re clean, it doesn’t really matter when you’re washing: “Experiment to find your favorite version of yourself – if you’ve always showered in the morning, maybe try the opposite for a week and see how it makes you feel,” Vij suggested. “And if it makes you feel awesome, then stick with it. And if not go back,”“There’s no right time to shower,” he concluded. “It’s whatever makes you feel your best. It’s such a personal choice that you should do what suits you and do what makes you happy.”

“Happy International Day Against homophobia, biphobia, & transphobia” … said no right minded person ever. Though May 17 may be a regular day for you and me, for the left, May 17 marks International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia. Since the gays apparently need ANOTHER made-up holiday, the left, our administration especially, celebrated the occasion on social media.  On May 17, 1990, the World Health Organization (WHO) decided that homosexuality is no longer classified as one of the items on the International Classification of Diseases (ICD). Apparently now, the alphabet mafia has taken it over to celebrate themselves and fight back against anyone who disagrees with their delusional sense of identity. Taking over Easter and celebrating Transgender Day of Visibility seemingly wasn't enough for the White House. Starting off strong, our very own President Joe Biden said, “On the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia, my Administration stands in solidarity with LGBTQI+ people around the world as they seek to live lives free from hate-fueled violence and discrimination." He also noted that "It’s a matter of human rights, plain and simple” on Friday afternoon. Funnily enough, someone brought up Biden’s past statements where he indicated, using his “devout Catholic” beliefs, that “marriage is between a man and a woman.”       Vice President Kamala Harris, an alleged Christian, shared essentially the same thing as her boss adding, “Everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and accepted for who they are.” The U.S. Department of State shared an image of the Pride flage and wrote, “LGBTQI+ persons deserve recognition of their universal human rights and human dignity. On #IDAHOBIT and every day, the United States stands with LGBTQI+ persons around the world." The department's head, Secretary Antony Blinken, insisted that he supports “promoting the safety and dignity of LGBTQI+ persons” and noted that it’s a “key component of advancing our nation’s interested.” Sure, sir, as long as the nation’s interests are to promote delusion and confusion and make the idea of a nuclear family cease to exist. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security shared a graphic with a giant rainbow on it and wrote that it plans to defend “DHS employees and each one of our citizens, promoting equality, dignity, and respect for all, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.” While I don’t think that any one of us wants to conduct any harm or have any malicious intent towards people who don’t agree with us, I can’t help but wonder what was not being done in our country while our administration was so heavily focused on a made up holiday for gender and sex? Don’t we have huge things to worry about, like the border, abortion and the economy to name a few? Not to mention two wars raging overseas?!  Geez louise, our country’s gotta get our priorities (and our people) straight.

Evidence? Joe Scarborough don't need no stinkin' evidence. On today's Morning Joe, the Biden phone buddy and informal adviser felt entitled to make a very grave--and entirely evidence-free--accusation against Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito. Thus it was that in a segment devoted to a New York Times story skewering Alito for permitting the flying at his home of an upside-down American flag, Scarborough accused Alito of having leaked the draft of the Dobbs opinion [which Alito wrote], overturning Roe v. Wade. This flag defense was an odd take from this show -- which not too long ago let their contributor Mara Gay complain it was "disturbing" to see so many American flags (flown by Trump supporters) when she visited Long Island on D-Day.  That wasn't his only slam of Sam Alito. As Scarborough—who went from having perfect pro-life ratings as a congressman from Florida's conservative panhandle to sounding like a Planned Parenthood fanboy now that he's at MSNBC—put it: "For a Supreme Court Justice, and I will say—my opinion only—but the guy most likely to have had something to do with the leaking of the Dobbs decision. Leaking it to the Wall Street Journal, or somebody connected to him leaking it to the Wall Street Journal, because he wanted to keep Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett frozen in place. I think history will show that." Scarborough later said that with respect to both Alito's explanation of the flag flying, and his denial of being responsible for the leak of the draft Dobbs decision, "nobody believes him." Perhaps "nobody believes" Alito in the liberal cocoon of MSNBC, or amongst Scarborough's summering buddies on liberal-elitist Nantucket. But Joe, you need to get out more. Let's play a thought game. Alito has said that he had no involvement in flying the flag, and that it was his wife who did so in response to objectionable and personally insulting language on yard signs that a neighbor had put up.  Now imagine that the wife of a conservative Justice is a liberal. In response to a pro-life sign put up by a conservative neighbor, she puts an "Our Bodies Our Choice--Hands Off Roe!" sign in their front yard -- only to have her husband order her to take it down.  Which would be the more likely reaction from liberals?  Would they applaud the Justice for standing up for judicial independence? Or would they condemn the Justice for patriarchal infringement on his wife's freedom of expression and accuse the Justice of attempting to turn his wife into a Handmaid, and his home into a mini-Gilead [labels with which MSNBCers have slurred Justice Amy Coney Barrett]? Note: Alito has said that he thinks he knows who leaked the Dobbs draft. But unlike Scarborough, given the lack of evidence, he didn't point a finger at any individual. Alito did make a good case, though, as to the motivation behind the leak: He said he was sure the leak “was a part of an effort to prevent the Dobbs draft … from becoming the decision of the court. And that’s how it was used for those six weeks by people on the outside — as part of the campaign to try to intimidate the court.” Alito said the theory that the draft was leaked by someone on the right to lock in the five votes necessary to overturn Roe “is infuriating to me.” “Look, this made us targets of assassination,” Alito told his interviewers. “Would I do that to myself? Would the five of us have done that to ourselves? It’s quite implausible.” Here's the transcript. MSNBC Morning Joe 5/17/24 6:03 am EDT JOE SCARBOROUGH: I will tell you, growing up, one of my friend's fathers was a federal judge! I had no idea until I got older whether he was Republican or Democrat. And that was the case in northwest Florida, a very conservative place. The federal judges kept themselves beyond reproach. They never talked politics, ever. In the privacy of their homes, if you ask their opinion, they would just say, not my job, right? I'm a judge. They actually took their oaths seriously! And for a Supreme Court Justice, and I will say—my opinion only—but the guy most likely to have had something to do with the leaking of the Dobbs decision. MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Yeah. SCARBOROUGH: Leaking it to the Wall Street Journal, or somebody connected to him leaking it to the Wall Street Journal, because he wanted to keep Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett frozen in place. I think history will show that.  But that aside, for a guy who is a Supreme Court Justice, that let that happen at his own home, in one of the most fraught times in American history since, since the Civil War, it's just, it's just sad. And it shows how little respect he has for the institution. It shows how little respect he has for the law. It really does. It's disgusting. . . . WILLIE GEIST: I had no involvement whatsoever in the flying of the flag, Justice Alito said in an emailed statement to the Times. It was briefly placed by Mrs. Alito in response to a neighbor's use of objectionable and personally insulting language on yard signs. Joe, there you have it. MIKA: Wait. Wait a minute. SCARBOROUGH:  So you're going to hate on America because of something a neighbor did? MIKA: You're going to blame your wife? SCARBOROUGH:  Blame your wife? MIKA: And make up that excuse? SCARBOROUGH: What, what is this? MIKA: My wife was mad at a neighbor. SCARBOROUGH: Blaming wives. Anybody care to jump in here? MIKA: Bu I want to know, what, what person, let alone woman, wife, would do that in response to a problem with a neighbor. SCARBOROUGH: Eugene, a neighbor, a neighbor upsets me, comes outa, makes fun of me because the Rays beat the Red Sox last night. And the Red Sox really suck. And so, I'm mad. I'm not gonna hang my flag upside down. EUGENE ROBINSON: Right. Right. SCARBOROUGH: None of this -- this is dumb as what I heard about the Dobbs leak. Nobody believes him.

An illegal alien has allegedly raped two Southern California women in as many days, yet officials have not yet clarified whether the suspect faces an immigration detainer as a result.At around 10 p.m. on Monday, deputies arrested Eduardo Sarabia, a 40-year-old Mexican national reportedly in the U.S. illegally, after he was caught inside a white 2015 Ford Transit van parked along a remote stretch of Highway 39 near Azusa, about 20 miles east of L.A., as Blaze News previously reported.Neither the bulletin nor the press release from the DA's office mentioned Sarabia's immigration status or a possible immigration detainer.A 26-year-old woman was also allegedly found inside the van, which deputies described as a "rape dungeon on wheels" and "disgustingly outfitted for rape." Through their investigations, deputies discovered that Sarabia had allegedly sexually assaulted another woman in the same van parked at about the same spot just 24 hours earlier.The "outfitted" van and other evidence have convinced investigators that Sarabia likely assaulted other women as well. "Based on the nature of the allegations, detectives believe there may be additional unidentified victims," said a bulletin about Sarabia's arrest from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office."I want to emphasize that this is an ongoing investigation, and there may be additional victims who have yet to come forward," added a statement from Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón. "I urge anyone who has been affected by similar incidents to contact law enforcement and seek available resources."The bulletin from the sheriff's office described the suspect as "Hispanic," but neither the bulletin nor the press release from the DA's office mentioned Sarabia's immigration status or a possible immigration detainer.Sarabia, who has been called a suspected "serial rapist," was arrested and charged with one count of forcible rape and one count of forcible oral copulation, both felonies. If convicted, he would face life in prison. He remains in custody without bail and has an arraignment hearing scheduled for June 27."As District Attorney, it is my solemn duty to pursue justice for victims of violent crimes, especially those involving sexual assault," Gascón's statement added. "The horrific and violent sexual assault that these two survivors endured by the alleged suspect is deeply troubling and incomprehensible. Our thoughts are with the victims during this tremendously difficult time."Blaze News reached out to the ICE field office in Los Angeles to find out whether an immigration detainer has been assessed against Sarabia, but the agency did not respond to our call.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

When Jase Anderson was a young buck, he once ran into a little bit of trouble. When he befriended a girl who had a boyfriend, he thought they were just friends — but she thought differently. Then, the boyfriend caught wind of it. “She asked me to come over for the Bible study, and next thing you know, I’m dragged and whooped over basically my faith because I was there for a Bible study,” Jase explains, adding, “But the good news is he came to the Lord a couple weeks later. The girl, she got alienated, and we went on about our merry way.” “I was at the wrong place at the wrong time, but I was there at the right time to bring him to the Lord,” he says. “You took a beating for the gospel,” Zach laughs. “I did not fight back. Only in words and in the Spirit,” Jase says while Zach continues poking fun. “You didn’t give him the right hand of fellowship,” Zach jokes. “I decided to preach the Gospel to him, thinking that would avoid the beating, but that didn’t materialize. But it did work out. It was a weird phenomenon that happened in my life,” Jase says. Now, the two are friends — and his former attacker has even helped him out with his ministry. “We’re friends; we’re brothers,” Jase says. Want more from the Robertsons?To enjoy more on God, guns, ducks, and inspiring stories of faith and family, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.