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Scottie Scheffler! The new bad boy of the PGA Tour

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., contends there are grounds to prosecute Dr. Anthony Fauci, the face of the COVID-19 pandemic in America, based on congressional testimony from a top aide to the longtime director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.  “The most important knowledge that we learned is that [Dr.] David Morens, 20-year assistant to Fauci, was purposely evading FOIA, which is the law. More than that, he was also destroying evidence,” Paul told The Daily Signal, referring to the Freedom of Information Act and Morens’ testimony Wednesday before a House select subcommittee. “He was taking emails and destroying them.” Paul said of Morens. “When he was asked about it, he said he didn’t know emails were federal records. Nobody is that stupid.” Paul added later, referring to the veteran government immunologist and his staff: “If Fauci ordered you to destroy these records, I think he could be indicted.” Morens, former senior adviser to Fauci at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, testified before the House Oversight Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic. The select committee said it had evidence that Morens obstructed the House investigation of the origin of COVID-19, deleted related federal records, and shared nonpublic information about the National Institutes of Health with Peter Daszak, president of EcoHealth Alliance, a New York-based nonprofit.   Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced it would cut funding to EcoHealth Alliance. Critics of Fauci have said the NIH used EcoHealth to fund “gain-of-function” research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan, China, which is suspected to have led to the spread of COVID-19. The term “gain of function” describes a risky process of making a pathogen more dangerous or contagious for the purpose of studying a response. For his part, Morens apologized in front of the pandemic subcommittee and said didn’t know that using personal email for work purposes violated the National Institutes of Health’s record retention policy.   “I shouldn’t have done that. That’s wrong,” he told the House panel. During the hearing, Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., asked: “Did you ever delete any official records?” Morens replied: “We are at the issue of defining what’s a federal record. I deleted a lot of emails. I do it every day.” A subcommittee report says that Morens undermined NIH operations by “backchanneling” confidential information to Daszak at his EcoHealth Alliance.  In his comments to The Daily Signal, Paul stressed that Fauci was implicated in Morens’ testimony.  “He said, ‘Well, I also think Tony has deleted his as well,” Paul said. “So he basically, in his email, implicated Tony for destroying records as well.” Fauci, who retired at the end of 2022 after 38 years directing his NIH agency, repeatedly has said the United States never funded gain-of-function research projects at China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology. He also has insisted that he never misled Congress on issues related to COVID-19.  Paul and Fauci have clashed repeatedly during Senate hearings. In one of the more well-known exchanges, the Kentucky Republican accused the immunologist of lying to Congress. Fauci responded: “Sen. Paul, you do not know what you are talking about.” Paul is the author of the recent book “Deception: The Great COVID Cover-Up,” which features Fauci’s image on the cover. Other government staff involved in deleting federal information should be called to testify and answer if such actions were based on following orders, Paul told The Daily Signal. Evading the Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, the law requiring disclosure of federal public records, isn’t a felony. But destroying governments records is a felony, Paul noted, and it looks like that occurred during a federal investigation.  “Disobeying FOIA and using Gmail [instead of a government email account], you can’t put anybody in jail for that; but destroying records is [a felony],” Paul said. “It’s also destroying records in the middle of an investigation. We referred this investigation to the DOJ for the first time over a year ago. So, during what was supposed to be an investigation, they’re destroying records.” Morens sought to explain during the House subcommittee hearing Wednesday that he didn’t know using a Gmail account for government work could violate the Freedom of Information Act. “I realized if a Gmail or an NIH email came to me and I replied to it, for some reason, there was a default where the signature I had on Gmail, which said David Morens of Bethesda, Maryland or something, didn’t go out,” Morens told the House panel. “But the NIH email went out. I don’t know how that happened. I didn’t do it consciously.” During the hearing, Rep. Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, chairman of the select subcommittee, asked Morens: “Are you aware that the destruction or attempted destruction of federal records carries a potential punishment of both imprisonment and a fine?” Morens answered in the negative.   “I was not aware of that, and I was not aware that anything I deleted like emails was a federal record because we have federal records training periodically,” he told Wenstrup. “And the training, you know, that I recall we received, defined a federal record in a very different way than you may be thinking of it. None of it defined it as an email.” From 2014 to 2019, the U.S. government gave almost $600,000 to EcoHealth Alliance, which in turn used the money to pay for coronavirus research at the lab in China.  The National Institutes of Health, which Fauci’s agency is part of, sent a letter to EcoHealth Alliance in July 2020, asking about its relationship with the Wuhan Institute of Virology. NIH also suspended the nonprofit’s grant, pending answers to several questions.  The post Rand Paul: Fauci ‘Could Be Indicted’ for Deleting Records appeared first on The Daily Signal.

The Three Amigos Together Again at Biden's State Dinner

The cicadapocalypse is now upon us, with potentially up to a trillion insects set to rise up, make a whole bunch of noise and cicada babies, and then die – all within the space of about a month. But why so noisy? That’s called seduction in Cicadaville, and it turns out we can mimic it.The incessant buzzing that comes with emergence comes from male cicadas in search of a mate. In order to seduce the ladies, they have a specialized organ called a tymbal, which when they flex their muscles, produces a clicking noise. This happens so rapidly that it sounds like buzzing.It might be annoying to us, but it’s basically Barry White to female cicadas. They respond with their own clicking sounds made using their wings, which in turn attracts the males towards them.If you’re curious about nature and don’t value peace and quiet – or fancy an unusual snack, as long as you’re not allergic to shellfish – it’s mimicking the sound of the females that might allow you to get a closer look at one of these peculiar insects.And who better to show you how than the legend that is Sir David Attenborough, who demonstrates the technique in a clip from the 2005 BBC series Life in the Undergrowth.“I can imitate the female’s wing flip with a snap of my fingers,” Attenborough explains, “and that causes them to follow me anywhere, because they’re so determined to find a female.”Unfortunately for Attenborough, the male cicada ends up landing, still loudly calling, right by his ear. Fair play, considering it just spent 17 years underground and emerged to get laid for the first time, only to get trolled on camera.For those wanting to make use of the trick – though maybe take some protection for your ears – the US Department of Agriculture has a handy map that shows where the insects are most likely to pop up.The two broods currently beginning to emerge are set to be seen across 18 different states and should be sticking around until late June, leaving plenty of opportunity to test out your cicada-seducing skills.This noisy event is also something of a rare one, and not just because periodical cicadas like these only come out to play every 13 or 17 years. It’s the first time in 221 years that these two specific broods, Brood XIII and Brood XIX, are set to emerge at the same time.

The latest forecast from the NOAA National Weather Service predicts that the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season will be a freakishly busy one and could even rival 2005 – the year of Hurricane Katrina and Rita.The NOAA forecast says there’s an 85 percent chance of an above-normal season, a 10 percent chance of a near-normal season, and just a 5 percent chance of a below-normal season.They estimated there will be between 17 to 25 total named storms with winds of 62 kilometers (39 miles) per hour or higher. Of those, 8 to 13 are forecast to become hurricanes, with winds of 119 kilometers (74 miles) per hour or higher, plus 4 to 7 major hurricanes with winds of 178 kilometers (111 miles) per hour or higher. The forecasters have a 70 percent confidence in these ranges.“This season is looking to be an extraordinary one in a number of ways," Rick Spinrad, oceanographer and administrator of the NOAA, said in a news conference.The record for the most major hurricanes in a single Atlantic season is seven, seen in both 2005 and 2020. With a maximum of seven major hurricanes forecasted, 2024 has the potential to rival those years."Severe weather and emergencies can happen at any moment, which is why individuals and communities need to be prepared today," FEMA Deputy Administrator Erik A. Hooks warned in a statement. "Already, we are seeing storms move across the country that can bring additional hazards like tornadoes, flooding and hail. Taking a proactive approach to our increasingly challenging climate landscape today can make a difference in how people can recover tomorrow," Hooks added.One of the main forces driving this year’s hurricane season is the El Niño-Southern Oscillation. A powerful El Niño is currently winding down, making way for La Niña conditions, which fuel hurricane activity in the western Atlantic. The aggressive Atlantic hurricane season ahead is also linked to the strong monsoon season predicted in West Africa, which increases wetness and waves off the coast of Africa that can travel across the Atlantic Ocean and foster hurricane activity. Atlantic hurricane season officially starts on June 1 and ends on November 30, with a peak of activity between mid-August and mid-October. Since the 1950s, tropical cyclones have been given names to make it easier to communicate between meteorologists and the public. The theory goes that people are more likely to acknowledge and remember a storm with a personable name, rather than just a list of digits or a date. Each year, the World Meteorological Organization puts together an alphabetical light of names that will be applied to storms. For 2024, the names of storms that originate in the Atlantic Ocean will be as follows: Alberto BerylChrisDebbyErnestoFrancineGordonHeleneIsaacJoyceKirkLeslieMiltonNadineOscarPattyRafaelSaraTonyValerieWilliam

The post 40 pics of animals having a far, far worse day than you appeared first on Animal Channel.

In many respects, the obstacle course confronting Caitlin Clark in the WNBA is more difficult than the path Jackie Robinson traveled integrating Major League Baseball in 1947. Let me clarify. Robinson had good reason to fear for his physical safety. He traveled the country with the Brooklyn Dodgers during an era of enforced segregation and public, anti-black racial hostility. He received numerous credible death threats. He risked his life to play a game. I don’t see a path to success for Clark. Caitlin Clark is not risking her life. She is, however, risking her sanity. She is combatting a normalized and insidious form of racial idolatry. Woke culture has turned Clark into the avatar for “white savior syndrome.” Black leftists have been programmed to believe that when white people acquiesce to demands from black leftists to help black people overcome “oppression,” white people are doing so to act as a white savior. And everybody knows white saviors are racist. Are you following the confusion? It’s a no-win situation for white people. If they ignore the “suffering” of black people, they’re racist. If they take action to limit the “suffering” of black people, they’re racist, too. White savior syndrome is really just a tactic that Marxists use to convince black people that Christianity is racist. It’s all part of a convoluted argument that Christianity is the white man’s religion. Caitlin Clark’s sanity cannot survive the racial, sexual, and political blender participation in the WNBA will cause. She’s a 22-year-old white woman with a boyfriend raised in the Catholic faith. She plays on a bad basketball team that has started the season 0-5. She’s playing in a league that is hostile to virtually everything about her – skin color, sexuality, and faith. That’s why, in terms of mental health, I think it’s fair to compare Clark to Robinson. The mental health challenges facing her are every bit – if not more – as strenuous as Robinson’s burden nearly 80 years ago. As of today, if I had to bet, I think Clark’s WNBA peers are going to break her. I’m not alone in that thought. Charles Barkley, LeBron James, and countless others can see what I see. The level of pressure on Clark to rescue the floundering league combined with the amount of jealousy, racism, and anti-heterosexual bigotry directed at Clark combined with the incompetence of the Indiana Fever organization are going to permanently destroy Clark. I don’t see a path to success for Clark. The sympathy appeals from Barkley and James will not lessen the animus showered on Clark. There’s a willful ignorance that defines the discussion of Clark, an ignorance that social media platforms and YouTube reward. “The one thing that I love that she’s bringing to her sport: more people want to watch,” James said on his podcast with J.J. Redick. “More people want to tune in. I saw, for the first time, they had a chartered plane. For the first time in their league history, they flew private. That should be celebrated in its own right. That should be celebrated, and it’s because of Caitlin Clark. Don’t get it twisted. Don’t get it f***ed up. Caitlin Clark is the reason why a lot of great things are going to happen for the WNBA.” Barkley scolded Clark’s peers on the set of "Inside the NBA": “You women out there, y’all are petty, man. Y’all should be thanking that girl for getting y’all private charters, all the money and visibility she’s bringing to the WNBA.” Shortly after Barkley’s televised lecture, WNBA player and ESPN broadcaster Chiney Ogwumike responded via Twitter. “Charles and Inside the NBA team are the GOATs of the industry, so respectfully I’ll offer my perspective with love. Every WNBA player I know supports the rookie class and are grateful for the spotlight & money that Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese and Co., are bringing to the W!” She’s being dishonest. Barkley did not make a single comment about the “rookie class” or Angel Reese. He talked about Caitlin Clark. These WNBA players do not want to admit that Clark alone is the primary reason there is significant interest in the WNBA. If they acknowledged that fact, they would be admitting a white girl is saving the league. They’re so controlled by their racial idolatry that they are forced to be jealous, petty, and racist toward Clark. Angel Reese’s embrace of femininity has helped the WNBA market itself to non-LGBTQ fans. But Reese is also part of the problem. Her brand was built on hating and trolling Caitlin Clark. Reese still struggles to conceal her jealousy of Clark. Reese recently complained that all WNBA teams should be getting “the same PUBLICITY it ain’t just one team.” But let me circle back to Clark and Robinson. Jackie Robinson was 28 during his rookie season in Major League Baseball. That’s six years older than Clark. He joined a team that finished 96-60-1 the year before. No one was all that surprised that the Dodgers advanced to the World Series in Robinson’s rookie year. Clark joined the worst team in the WNBA. No matter how much abuse Robinson suffered, at least he knew he was playing for a winner and playing meaningful games. Athletes love to win. Winning is the reward for suffering and sacrifice. As a baseball player, particularly as a batter, Robinson could single-handedly control his level of individual success. Clark’s success as an individual depends on the other four players on the court with her. She can’t pass herself the ball. She can’t catch her own passes. She can’t set screens for herself.So far, the defenses deployed against the Fever are solely designed to stop Clark. Defenders pick her up full court, and she’s blitzed and double-teamed virtually every time she initiates offense at the top of the key. Clark is going to struggle offensively and her team will struggle to win games all summer. She’s going to be miserable and isolated all season. And she’s going to hear idiots who know nothing about basketball dissect her play and racist idiots dissect her personality and impact. This is unprecedented. The WNBA is a floundering league. Jackie Robinson wasn’t tasked with “saving” professional baseball. He just needed to save himself. Clark is carrying the WNBA. When Larry Bird entered the NBA in 1979, he shared the burden of elevating the NBA with Magic Johnson. Bird wasn’t a white savior. He was the great white hope. Hope is a far lighter load than savior. Saviors get rejected, persecuted, and crucified. When the angry feminists and racists finish killing Caitlin Clark, she will not rise again three days, three months, three years, three decades, or even three centuries later. Her career will be dead right alongside the WNBA.