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X is for... In 1895, the physicist Wilhelm Röntgen discovered X-rays, a groundbreaking moment in medical history which would lead to myriad improvements to people’s health. Perhaps one overlooked benefit though was in relation to mental health, specifically of those tasked with making alphabet books. How did they represent the letter X before X-rays? Xylophones, which have also been a popular choice through the twentieth century to today, are mysteriously absent in older works. Perhaps explained by the fact that, although around for millennia, the instrument didn't gain popularity in the West (with the name of “xylophone”) until the early...

The special counsel who investigated President Joe Biden’s squirreling away of classified documents in Delaware after he stopped being vice president in 2017 found that Biden broke the law but probably wouldn’t be convicted by a jury, largely because he can’t remember enough about it. One of the reasons for not recommending criminal charges against Biden, the report says, is that “at trial, Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.” The report, by Robert K. Hur, dated Monday, February 5...

Some left-wing politicians in Massachusetts are totally in favor of housing illegal immigrants – somewhere else. The latest example: Boston city councilor Julia Mejia, who says she doesn’t want more of them in Boston. So where should they go? “Dedham, Wellesley, Brookline – you know, cities and towns that have so much more resources than the city of Boston. You know, people who actually have more financial support,” Mejia told NBC Boston recently. Now, when it comes to “resources” – public buildings, let’s say – nowhere in the state has more of them than the city of Boston. Yet what...

WASHINGTON—A federal judge on May 19 denied a request for a mistrial from the former Hillary Clinton campaign lawyer who is on trial for allegedly lying to the FBI. U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper, the Obama appointee overseeing the case, agreed to strike certain portions of testimony delivered Wednesday by Marc Elias but rejected the request for a mistrial. Attorneys for Michael Sussmann, the lawyer who allegedly lied to the FBI, said Elias—another former Clinton campaign lawyer—strayed into improper areas, prejudicing the defendant. When Elias was asked by the defense whether Sussmann took information on Clinton rival Donald Trump to...

When the law is used to create and protect monopolies Disney is the result. They will be back at the public trough soon asking for further favors. We can end the corporate monopoly on the underlying characters and let the market decide if the characters created almost a 100 years ago should be woke Neanderthals. Free speech and all that stuff. No law should be used to create a monopoly and then the profits siphoned into some political campaign. "Disney’s copyright for Steamboat Willie will expire on January 1, 2024 and this original iteration of Mickey Mouse will fall into...

The Washington Post, in the person of sobbing wokestress Taylor Lorenz, ran a story the other day about the “Libs of TikTok” account. I said some half-hearted things in defense of it initially. After a second look, I take them all back. If the Columbia Journalism School offered a class called “Dogshit Exposés,” this would be on the prospectus. It may not be first-week material, but it’s in the course. As a general rule, anyone volunteering to enter the public discourse who has influence is fair game for journalists. We have strictures against outing assault victims, jurors, some varieties of...

Five years ago, Ukraine’s Maidan uprising ousted President Viktor Yanukovych, to the cheers and support of the West. Politicians and analysts in the United States and Europe not only celebrated the uprising as a triumph of democracy, but denied reports of Maidan’s ultranationalism, smearing those who warned about the dark side of the uprising as Moscow puppets and useful idiots. Freedom was on the march in Ukraine. Today, increasing reports of far-right violence, ultranationalism, and erosion of basic freedoms are giving the lie to the West’s initial euphoria. There are neo-Nazi pogroms against the Roma, rampant attacks on feminists and...

Legal education is about to undergo a revolutionary change, with the American Bar Association poised to mandate race-focused study as a prerequisite to graduating from law school. ... This race-focused educational mandate is being forced on law schools through the American Bar Association’s Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar (ABA). Much of ABA’s power stems from the federal government. Law students must attend schools whose accreditor is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education to receive federal student loans. The ABA is the only federally recognized law school accreditor. Yet, ABA’s accreditation power doesn’t...

Woke wheels keep on turning Canc'lin folks who got thin skin Spinnin lies about Joe Rogan "He questioned Fauci once again" And they think it's a sin Well I heard Mr. Young hates Joe Rogan Well I heard old Neil pulled his songs down Well I hope Neil Young will remember Spotify don't need him around anyhow See Joe drop the hammer For the red, white and blue See Joe drop the hammer Joe, I'm tuning into you Outside D.C. they love the Donald (boo, boo, boo) Now we all did what we could do Now Russiagate does not bother...

Kari MacRae is trying to make the best of a less-than-ideal situation. The Republican from Bourne who serves on her town’s school committee got fired from her teaching position at Hanover High School less than one month into the school year over a Tik Tok video in which she expressed conservative views; there is also an ongoing recall effort in Bourne to try to oust her from the school committee. Now, she’s running for the Massachusetts Senate in the Plymouth & Barnstable District. MacRae told NewBostonPost she’s running for state Senate because of the outpouring of support she has received...

CARACAS, May 18 (Reuters) - Venezuelan officials and soldiers inspected a warehouse of U.S. agribusiness giant Cargill Inc [CARGIL.UL] on Wednesday as part of a crackdown on alleged hoarding and price-gouging with foodstuffs. ... With Venezuelans complaining of oil, flour, meat and other shortages in recent days, Chavez over the weekend urged ministers to hunt speculators and said he would have no hesitation in expropriating any companies found guilty. Government officials, together with armed National Guard members, found 148 tonnes of food oil at the Cargill warehouse in Caracas during Wednesday’s operation. “We are checking how oil reaches black market...

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We fully expected the Times to make excuses for Biden. And at first, it looks as though that is what Irwin is going to do, writing that “presidents have less control over the economy than headlines might suggest.” But then he adds that “the current situation is an exception to the rule.” And even more remarkable is what comes next. Irwin writes: "You can draw a direct line from a specific policy decision that Biden and congressional Democrats made this past winter to some of the inflation happening now. "In designing the stimulus that Congress passed in March, Biden’s administration...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (Nov. 2, 2020) To help meet the unprecedented level of need this holiday season, Walmart and The Salvation Army are working together to make it even easier for people to help others this Christmas. Building upon a 40-year relationship of supporting people in need during the holiday season, Walmart and The Salvation Army are bringing hope and joy to families through the expansion of programs like Angel Tree and Red Kettles, which will be out earlier, and, for the first time ever, round-up donations to The Salvation Army in-store and online. The economic fallout of the ongoing health...

Excerpt 1: But one constant focus of this movement has been the need for sweeping criminal justice reform. Americans were introduced to the slogan "Defund the Police,” with some activists making clear they meant that literally, while leading progressives in Congress chanted along. Prison abolition and the evils of "the "carceral state” became mainstream progressive positions. Last May, The New Yorker heralded what it called “The Emerging Movement for Police and Prison Abolition,” noting that while some activists merely want incremental reform, for many these events "confirmed that the institution of policing should be abolished completely. Excerpt 2: Yet a...

This is the sixth in a series of articles analyzing the federal grand jury indictment charging lawyer Michael Sussmann with making a materially false statement to the FBI’s General Counsel. The indictment spelled out Sussmann’s involvement in a thus-far uncharged conspiracy to create a false narrative that was calculated to demonstrate a secret channel of internet communications between the Trump Organization and the Russian Alfa-Bank. Recently Sussmann’s lawyers moved for a bill of particulars alleging that the indictment lacks sufficient detail and clarity for their client to prepare his defense. Special Counsel John Durham’s brief in opposition pointed out that...

As the party began trying to piece together its big social-spending and climate package, a split emerged between lawmakers who wanted to pass fewer programs (but do them well) and those who wanted to pass more programs (even if it means doing them poorly). A big part of this argument boiled down to how long policies should be funded for. The less-is-more crowd, dominated by party moderates, wanted to set policies in place permanently. The more-for-less brigade, dominated by progressives, wanted to fund programs temporarily in order to make their budget math work, essentially rolling the dice on the idea...

For a political press hopelessly addicted to speculation about the next big election, there are precious few data points to obsess over during the first year of a president’s term. New York City elects a mayor during this off-off-year, but it’s an election that’s typically too chaotic and too particular to really tell us much of anything about national trends. New Jersey elects a governor, but the Garden State has become so reliably blue that it hardly registers as a point of interest: Its days of electing gruff Republicans seem to be long gone. And so it must be periwinkle-hued...

A British Conservative MP has died after being stabbed multiple times on Friday when meeting members of the public in his constituency. Sir David Amess, 69, who represented Southend West in Essex, was fatally attacked at Belfairs Methodist Church in Leigh-on-Sea. The father-of-five is the second sitting MP to be killed in such circumstances in five years, following the death of Labour MP Jo Cox in 2016 as she attended a constituency surgery. According to Sky News, a man walked into the meeting place and “stabbed him multiple times.” ... According to the BBC, Amess was known as a social...

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll, sponsored by The ANTIFA by Jack Posobiec, for Wednesday shows that 44% of Likely U.S. Voters approve of President Biden’s job performance. Fifty-five percent (55%) disapprove. The latest figures include 25% who Strongly Approve of the job Biden is doing and 46% who Strongly Disapprove. This gives him a Presidential Approval Index rating of -21. (see trends)