The people who call themselves the “mainstream media” have a remarkable tendency to take the minority position on an 80-20 issue, most recently on requiring voters to show a photo ID at the polls. House Republicans have passed the “SAVE Act,” while Democrats have almost unanimously opposed it. But the American people do not. Gallup pollsters report 84 percent of Americans support requiring photo ID to vote – 98 percent of Republicans, 84 percent of independents, and 67 percent of Democrats. Large majorities of blacks and Latinos back it. Separately, 83% support the SAVE Act requiring proof of citizenship when registering to vote for the first time. When presented with this information, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) could only toss that old Biden smear out, that the SAVE Act was “Jim Crow 2.0.” So a majority of blacks favor the return of Jim Crow? How, precisely, is asking voters for an ID comparable to segregated schools and neighborhoods and bathrooms and water fountains? Obviously, they’re comparing Republicans here to racist Southern Democrats who tried to deny blacks the right to vote. That was Jim Crow 1.0. Sadly, CNN political reporter Zach Wolf demonstrated how united Democrats are in pushing this blatant lie, except for Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania: “I think Fetterman is the most off-message Democrat in the chamber right now….I think most Democrats would get on board with what Schumer was saying.” Among the Democrats allowing this smear are the groups calling themselves the “independent fact-checkers.” PolitiFact has never evaluated Biden or Schumer for this “Jim Crow 2.0” nonsense. But Democrats can count on PolitiFact to attack Republicans. Amy Sherman put together an article asking “Does the US have stricter ID rules for buying beer than voting?”  Rep. Bryan Steil (R-Wis.) pointed out he has to show an ID to buy beer, but Democrats oppose an ID at the polls. "I think it's nuts that we protect our beer in this country more than our ballots in jurisdictions," Steil said. Sherman retorted: “Comparing ID rules for purchasing alcohol and casting a ballot is about as satisfying as a warm beer on a hot day.” Why? Sherman unloaded her carefully selected Democrat experts to lecture against the Republican. The right to vote and the right to drink beer are not the same. "Voting is a right and is a public act," said Barry Burden, University of Wisconsin political scientist. "Purchasing alcohol is a private activity." This gets everything backwards: if voting is an important public act, more important than buying a bottle of Pabst Blue Ribbon, then why shouldn’t the voting-integrity measure of an ID requirement be more important? Then she added the proof-of-age law doesn't exist to "protect" beer, according to Derek Clinger, a staff attorney at the University of Wisconsin law school. It is meant to prevent underage drinking. “Voter fraud is far more rare than youth alcohol consumption,” she says. Voter fraud isn’t real. “Jim Crow 2.0” is real. Sherman also thinks it’s fine if you call Trump “Hitler.” But she did pounce on Trump on October 23, 2024 for saying on social media that Kamala Harris called him Hitler. She only quoted former Trump aide John Kelly claiming Trump admired Hitler.  The very next day, Harris tweeted: “Donald Trump is out for unchecked power. He wants a military like Adolf Hitler had, who will be loyal to him, not our Constitution.” PolitiFact didn’t update anything. They should be honest and call their site PartisanFact. 

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Black Gold: Sumerian Bitumen Recipes Worked Like Asphalt, 4,000 Years Ago Sumerian craftspeople in Mesopotamia didn’t simply scoop up natural bitumen and slap it on boats or bricks. A new materials study suggests they followed repeatable “recipes” that controlled strength, flexibility, and waterproofing in ways that look surprisingly familiar to modern asphalt engineering. The research focuses on Abu Tbeirah in southern Iraq and shows that additives such as plant fibers and mineral inclusions were not random contamination, but part of deliberate composite design. That finding helps explain how Sumer’s cities and trade networks functioned in a landscape of marshes, waterways, and mudbrick architecture.Why was Ancient Middle Eastern Bitumen Discovered in an Anglo-Saxon Boat Burial?4,000-Year-Old Mesopotamian Boat Near Uruk Rescued A study that reads bitumen like an engineerThe underlying substance is Sumerian bitumen: a naturally occurring petroleum material (often called an asphalt-like “black goo”) long associated with waterproofing and adhesion, and even with far-reaching trade. Readers may already know how bitumen shows up in unexpected places, from Mesopotamian rivercraft to later “bitumen trade networks.”  Gary Manners 19 February, 2026 - 23:47 Section Ancient Technology Artifacts News History & Archaeology

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A resurfaced campaign clip is dogging New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani after he warned of a potential property tax increase that critics say contradicts his earlier promises. According to the New York…