A Libertarian President!

As the immigration issue begins to panic Democrats and House Republicans push to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas‚ the newspapers and networks channel Democrat objectives and imply that only one party's impeachment efforts are a partisan "sham" with "no evidence." They insist Democrat impeachments are glorious. Managing editor Curtis Houck joins the show to discuss the TV anchor antics. On Tuesday night and Wednesday morning‚ ABC News was the worst‚ with David Muir shaming the action: "With Senate Republicans and Democrats signaling they're the closest in years on an immigration solution‚ the House signaling they're not interested." George Stephanopoulos declared the Republicans didn't have any evidence against Mayorkas. NBC‚ both at morning and evening‚ only offered a few sentences from congressional reporter Ryan Nobles. The Wednesday newspapers buried the House hearings into Mayorkas. The Wall Street Journal was best by merely having any mention on the front page at all -- one paragraph to notify you the story was on page A-4. The New York Times and The Washington Post couldn't even mention it anywhere on the front page. But the Times found space on the front page to investigate "far right" influencers claiming pop singer Taylor Swift's affair with pro football player Travis Kelce was a left-wing "psy-op." Pro-Biden journalists imply the House Republicans have no solutions to offer‚ which irresponsibly omits that the House passed H.R. 2  They ignore that and paint Speaker Mike Johnson as a do-nothing obstructionist‚ when in fact the House was the first to pass legislation addressing the border crisis. They just don't favor it. It's not a "solution" if they hate it.  The Democrats can enforce a narrative on the border far better than they enforce the border. Enjoy the podcast below‚ or wherever you listen to podcasts.   

MSNBC’s resident prime-time racial grievance merchant Joy Reid renewed‚ once again‚ her defamatory smear against U.S. Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX)‚ wherein she compared his resistance to the Supreme Court allowing federal agents to remove razor wire along the southern border to opponents of segregation in the 60s. We didn’t say that this was the smartest smear‚ or even the most congruent. But if you are a hammer‚ every problem is going to look like a nail. And‚ to Reid‚ even a dispute over border security is going to look like racism. Watch: JOY REID: Texas Congressman Chip Roy told Fox last week‚ channeling the old Dixiecrat South’s massive resistance against Supreme Court-ordered desegregation‚ quote: “You tell the court to go to hell‚ you defend yourself and then figure it out later.” Reid aired this smear during a lengthy segment on adherence to the Constitution‚ which was little more than a rehash of disqualification arguments against Donald Trump‚ and which featured three former GOP governors who signed an amicus brief in support of disqualification under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. One has a hard time understanding what purpose this little aside served within the broader segment on disqualification‚ other than to gleefully call Chip Roy a racist. And it’s not the first time‚ either. Reid uttered that very same smear a week ago‚ during a segment on immigration: JOY REID: And very quickly‚ this massive resistance‚ it sounds like the old Southerners who said that we will resist integration by any means necessary‚ that Chip Roy language. How does that read inside of the Latino community?  PAOLA RAMOS: It's very‚ it's very simple‚ no? If you're the Republican party‚ you're allegedly the party of laws and order. And you're essentially telling local authorities to break the law. So I think once again‚ going into this image of‚ you know‚ who is the party of law and order and who is the party for “democracy”. I think that’s where we have to highlight the hypocrisy regardless of the politics. They're essentially telling people to break the law.  When reduced to the absurd‚ Reid’s smear suggests that either you are for an open‚ porous border or you are Bull Connor. There’s no in-between. The unexamined fatal flaw in Reid’s logic is that the federal government has no civil right to refuse to enforce the border. Laughably‚ Reid is airing these bleatings during a segment on adherence to the Constitution.  Exit question: since Reid renewed her racist smear of Chip Roy‚ will Roy renew his call for Reid to pound sand?

A Pennsylvania man posted a video on social media of himself spouting political rhetoric before holding up the severed head of his father after he murdered him‚ according to police. 32-year-old Justin Mohn said in the video he posted that his father was a traitor and in "hell for eternity" because he was a federal employee for 20 years. The two lived in a home in the township of Middletown. The video on was viewed about 5‚000 times on YouTube before it was taken down‚ according to WPVI-TV. Mohn went on an extended political screed before showing the severed head of his 68-year-old father. "It is said that those who commit treason and betray others occupy the lowest pits of hell for all time. The federal government has declared war on America's citizens and the American states‚" he said. "America is rotting from the inside out as far left woke mobs rampage our once prosperous cities‚ turning them into lawless zones. Taxpayer dollars are printed and are used for anything but the taxpayers with little to no accountability‚ which has inflated the economy to near destruction. And has made it so that most Americans can no longer afford the American dream‚" Mohn continued. "Meanwhile a fifth column army of illegal immigrants infiltrates our border‚" he added‚ "and if the traitorous Biden regime is successful in sending America's military overseas to fight for Ukraine and die in a Russian winter‚ just like every other military who has ever fought Russia in the winter‚ then America will be less protected when the fifth column of illegal immigrants strikes Americans on our own soil."He went on to declare himself the "commander of America's national network of militias." The victim's wife came home to find the gruesome scene‚ and she immediately called police. When police arrived at the home‚ they found the father's head in a plastic bag in a kitchen cooking pot. They were able to catch Mohn about two hours away from the home after he drove away in his father's car. Police said he was found inside of the fence of a National Guard training center and was armed at the time of his arrest. Mohn is being held without bail. He has been charged with murder and abuse of a corpse. Here's a news video about the incident: Neighbors react to Justin Mohn video‚ Levittown beheading www.youtube.com Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors‚ sign up for our newsletters‚ and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

It’s surprising for Sinema and others to blast critics for peddling misinformation when they have yet to release the text of what they say they’ve agreed to.

President of El Salvador Dunks on Rep. Ilhan Omar

Joe Biden is Touting an Economic Victory While Americans Still Find Themselves Under Water

Seth MacFarlane Sounds Alarm With Bill Maher Over Reaction to Israel-Hamas Conflict (WATCH)

A long-lost painting of Moses by Italian Baroque master Guercino has been acquired by the Jacob Rothschild Foundation for the permanent collection of Waddesdon Manor. It will make its English debut on March 20th at a new exhibition dedicated to the artist‚ Guercino at Waddesdon: King David and the Wise Women. The exhibition will feature five paintings by Guercino‚ including Waddesdon’s own King David. The painting was rediscovered in November 2022 when it came up for auction in Paris attributed to a nameless painter of the Bologna school. The auction house’s experts hypothesized it may have been the work of a student of Guido Reni’s. Guercino was another possibility‚ based on comparisons with a known work of his‚ Head of an Old Man‚ at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford that has a very similar composition: an old man with a cottony white beard looking up‚ his face bathed in light. There was also a copy of the same Moses by a pupil of Guercino’s‚ Bendetto Zalone‚ that sold at auction in 2001. The presale estimate was a modest €5‚000-6‚000 ($5‚175–$6‚200)‚ but when the hammer fell‚ the buyer had paid 10 times that amount‚ likely rolling the dice that the unattributed work could be a lost work by the Baroque master. Paintings by Guercino don’t come up for auction often‚ and the current record for one of his paintings‚ set in 2010‚ is £5.2 million ($6.6 million)‚ even more than 10 times the €590‚000 ($610‚000) Moses went for. In September 2023‚ Moses re-emerged at the Moretti Fine Art gallery. It turned out that Fabrizio Moretti‚ owner of the gallery and Old Master expert‚ was the mystery buyer. He rolled the dice happily‚ believing at first glance that Moses was an authentic Guercino. In the ten months since the auction‚ the painting was professionally cleaned and thoroughly researched to establish its provenance. Experts Letizia Treves‚ formerly of London’s National Gallery‚ and Keith Christiansen‚ formerly of the Metropolitan Museum of Art‚ conclusively attributed the painting to the Baroque master. Moses is a masterpiece of Guercino’s Prima Maniera – used to describe the paintings he produced in Cento outside Bologna before a sojourn to Rome in 1621-23 – and is datable to about 1618-19‚ a time in which the young Guercino was greatly in demand producing altarpieces for churches in Cento as well as easel paintings for an ever-growing private clientele. The light‚ fluid and painterly touch in Guercino’s Moses may be compared to that in his King David‚ datable to a year or two earlier (c. 1617-18‚ Musée des Beaux-Arts‚ Rouen) and the Head of an Old Man (c. 1619-20‚ Ashmolean Museum‚ Oxford)‚ which shares Moses’s tightly cropped bust-length format. Guercino appears to have used the same model for the painting as the figure of Elijah in Elijah Fed by Ravens (1620‚ National Gallery‚ London)‚ likely using a tracing or cartoon of Moses’s head for the figure of Elijah‚ reversing it in the process and turning it slightly. Moses is first recorded in 1624‚ in the eminent collection of cardinal Alessandro d’Este (1568–1624) in Rome‚ a patron of Guercino who almost certainly knew him during the period the painter resided in the city 1621–23. Although this period post-dates the execution of Moses‚ Guercino may have sold or given the painting to the cardinal to strengthen ties with him and his family. Indeed‚ from 1630 for a period spanning two decades‚ Guercino enjoyed the patronage and support of the Este in the form of the Duke Francesco I d’Este (1610–1658)‚ the cardinal’s nephew. Following the death of cardinal Alessandro d’Este‚ the painting entered the renowned Este ducal collections in Modena and remained there until the Napoleonic era‚ whereupon it was taken to France during the Napoleonic occupation of the Duchy of Modena (1796–97) and all trace of the painting was lost. Prior to its rediscovery‚ Guercino’s Moses was known through seventeenth-century painted copies‚ a drawing and engravings‚ all of which attest to the work’s art historical significance. The painting‚ restored to its former brilliance and to its identity‚ was displayed at Moretti Fine Art’s Paris gallery with a new price tag of €2 million ($2.2 million). The Jacob Rothschild Foundation snapped it up so Moses can keep King David company in the exceptional art collection at Waddesdon Manor‚ the palatial estate purpose-built by Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild in the late 19th century to house his art collection.

A recent study accepted to The Planetary Science Journal investigates how the organic hazes that existed on Earth between the planet’s initial formation and 500 million years afterwards‚ also known as Hadean geologic eon‚ could have contained the necessary building blocks for life‚ including nucleobases and amino acids. This study holds the potential to not only help scientists better understand the conditions on an early Earth‚ but also if these same conditions on Saturn’s largest moon‚ Titan‚ could produce the building blocks of life‚ as well. Here‚ Universe Today discusses this recent study with Dr. Ben K. D. Pearce‚ who is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Morton K. Blaustein Department of Earth &; Planetary Sciences at Johns Hopkins University and lead author of the study‚ regarding the study’s findings‚ potential follow-up research‚ NASA’s upcoming Dragonfly mission to Titan‚ and whether he thinks there’s life on Titan. Dr. Pearce tells Universe Today about how past lab studies involving Carl Sagan discovered that the highest dilution (or addition of a solvent like water) to make the chemical reactions work was 100 micromolar‚ or approximately 10 parts per million (ppm). If the dilution is too strong‚ the molecules in the chemical mixture wouldn’t find each other‚ he says. “After all‚ early Earth was a hazy place‚ much akin to Saturn’s Moon Titan‚” Dr. Pearce tells Universe Today. “This is because over 4 billion years ago‚ Earth had an atmosphere rich in hydrogen‚ methane‚ and nitrogen‚ similar to Titan! What’s interesting about these haze particles‚ is that they are essentially biomolecule snowflakes‚ i.e.‚ big aggregates of life’s building blocks bonded together. When these particles settled onto Earth’s surface‚ over 4 billion years ago‚ and fell into ponds‚ the bonds would break‚ and you could get a pond rich in life’s building blocks. We wanted to know if this source could exceed the 100 micromolar threshold in ponds‚ which could be concentrated enough for them to react and begin the process of forming the first information molecules like ribonucleic acid (RNA).” Artist’s impression of a hazy and ancient Earth. (Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Francis Reddy) For the study‚ the researchers created organic hazes in a laboratory setting under atmospheric conditions containing between 0.5 percent and 5 percent methane and analyzed the hazes for traces of amino acids and nucleobases using a gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer (GC/MS). Additionally‚ they heated samples up to 200 degrees Celsius (392 degrees Fahrenheit) to simulate the samples resting on an uninhabitable surface‚ as well. The team then compared their results to computer models to investigate the number of nucleobases that would be present in these same environments. Artist’s illustration of a very violent early Earth. (Credit: NASA) “When we modeled the pond concentrations of nucleobases from organic hazes (making use of our experimental data)‚ we discovered that this source may be the richest‚ most long-lasting source that we’ve modeled to date‚” Dr. Pearce tells Universe Today. “As a reminder‚ all sources we’ve studied to date (meteorites‚ interplanetary dust‚ and atmospheric HCN) have led to below 100 micromolar concentrations; however‚ now we have finally found a source that breaches up towards this threshold.” In the end‚ the team discovered that nucleobases could exist in “warm little ponds” on Earth during the Hadean geologic eon. With the heating experiment‚ the team ascertained that such samples could not survive on a hot surface. Finally‚ they concluded that organic hazes could produce the building blocks of life only in a methane-rich atmosphere on ancient Earth‚ “but not so rich as to create an uninhabitable surface‚” Dr. Pearce notes to Universe Today. Given these incredible findings‚ what follow-up research is being conducted or planned? “I am presently building a new experimental setup to be used in my laboratory in the Department of Earth‚ Atmospheric‚ and Planetary Sciences at Purdue University‚ which opens this fall 2024‚” Dr. Pearce tells Universe Today. “This lab is called the Origins and Astrobiology Research Laboratory. This experiment will allow my new research group to simultaneously model the atmospheric chemistry (e.g.‚ HCN and organic haze production) and pond chemistry of early Earth. Our initial goal will be to use this to demonstrate the production of the first information molecules of life‚ such as RNA‚ in a simulated early Earth environment.” This study comes as NASA is planning to send its Dragonfly mission to Titan‚ which currently has a planned launch date of July 2028 and landing on Titan’s surface sometime in 2034 in the “Shangri-La” dune fields. Dragonfly is a quadcopter whose goal will be to “hop” around Titan searching for evidence of Titan’s potential habitability‚ and currently has a planned mission timeline of 10 years with the science phase comprising 3.3 years. Its scientific payload will consist of a mass spectrometer‚ gamma-ray and neutron spectrometer‚ geophysics and meteorology package‚ and a suite of microscopic and panoramic cameras. Dragonfly is slated to operate during the Titan day and remain on the ground at night‚ with each lasting approximately 8 Earth days or 192 hours. It is currently hypothesized that Dragonfly will be capable of flying up to 16 kilometers (10 miles) on a single battery charge‚ with its batteries consisting of a Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (MMRTG) that will charge during the night. MMRTGs have a successful history on space missions‚ as they are currently used to power NASA’s Curiosity and Perseverance rovers on Mars. But how will Dragonfly contribute to or refute this study’s findings? Artist’s impression of NASA’s Dragonfly quadcopter exploring the surface of Titan. (Credit: NASA) Dr. Pearce tells Universe Today‚ “Given that there are tons of organic haze on Titan‚ we could expect that the surface contains preserved organic haze particles rich in life’s building blocks. Dragonfly will contain a mass spectrometer and will be able to characterize the building blocks of life in these particles to potentially validate our laboratory studies.” Titan has a rich history of exploration‚ as numerous spacecraft over several decades have allowed us to gain greater insights into this mysterious world‚ which is not only the second-largest moon in the entire solar system but the only moon with a thick atmosphere. While the cameras onboard NASA’s Pioneer 11‚ Voyager 1‚ and Voyager 2 spacecraft were unable to image Titan’s surface due to the moon’s thick and hazy atmosphere‚ NASA’s Cassini spacecraft successfully used its infrared cameras to image Titan’s surface for the first time. It was these images that confirmed previous hypotheses that Titan possessed lakes of liquid methane and ethane that can only exist in extremely cold temperatures‚ with Titan’s surface temperature being minus 179 degrees Celsius (minus 290 degrees Fahrenheit). Images of Titan obtained by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft on April 16‚ 2005: natural color composite (left)‚ monochrome (center)‚ and false-color composite (right). (Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute) Cassini carried with it the European Space Agency’s Huygens probe‚ which detached from the orbiting spacecraft and landed on Titan’s surface‚ sending back surface features of rounded rocks that could have only formed under liquid conditions. But‚ given that Titan could resemble an early Earth with its methane atmosphere and liquid lakes‚ will we find life on Titan? “The only habitable environment on Titan is deep in the subsurface‚ which is not easy to get to without a drill or a geyser spewing stuff onto the surface‚” Dr. Pearce tells Universe Today. “Thus‚ I’m not sure we will even be looking in the best places for decades beyond Dragonfly. It is also hard for me to imagine an origin of life on Titan‚ given that our current best hypotheses involve wet-dry cycles of ponds that would not be available on -180 C Titan. However‚ if I have learned anything from science in the past decade‚ it’s that we are often proven wrong by new findings‚ and I absolutely welcome it! It’s always better to look‚ just in case!” How will this recent study contribute to finding life on Titan‚ and what will Dragonfly teach us about Titan’s habitability in the coming years and decades? Only time will tell‚ and this is why we science! As always‚ keep doing science &; keep looking up! The post How Did Life Get Started on Earth? Atmospheric Haze Might Have Been the Key appeared first on Universe Today.