The New York Times

A bird hopping outside the window lately is the strangest that Shirley and Jeffrey Caldwell have ever seen.

Its left side is the taupe shade of female cardinals; its right, the signature scarlet of males.

Researchers believe that the cardinal frequenting the Caldwells’ bird feeder in Erie, Pa., is a rare bilateral gynandromorph, half male and half female. Not much is known about the unusual phenomenon, but this sexual split has been reported among birds, reptiles, butterflies and crustaceans.

Continue reading “A Rare Bird Indeed: A Cardinal That’s Half Male, Half Female”

Fellowship of the Minds – by Dr. Eowyn

Ross Kemp, 54, is an English actor, author and investigative journalist who has received international recognition as a journalist for the BAFTA Award-winning documentary series Ross Kemp on Gangs on modern gang culture in the UK and around the world. He followed this up with the documentaries Ross Kemp in Afghanistan, Ross Kemp in Search of Pirates, Ross Kemp: Battle for the Amazon and Ross Kemp: Extreme World.  Continue reading “Trafficker of child sex-slaves admits to killing hundreds of children”

AP

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — TransCanada Corp. believes its Keystone pipeline is likely the source of an oil leak near St. Louis that Missouri officials have estimated at 1,800 gallons (6,814 liters), a spokesman for the company said Friday.

Sections of both the Keystone pipeline and Enbridge Inc.’s Platte pipeline were closed as crews sought to find the source of the leak, which was discovered Wednesday in St. Charles County.   Continue reading “TransCanada says Keystone likely source of Missouri oil leak”

Providence Journal – by Patrick Anderson

Untraceable plastic guns have yet to become a problem in Rhode Island, and a state lawmaker wants to keep it that way by banning the creation of 3D printed firearms.

Sen. Cynthia Coyne, a Barrington Democrat, has introduced a bill that would make it illegal to “manufacture, import, sell, ship, deliver, possess, transfer, or receive” any gun that can’t be detected by common airport screenings, or one that is made entirely though 3D printing.   Continue reading “Senate bill would ban 3D-printed guns in R.I.”

End of the American Dream – by Michael Snyder

Almost everyone that goes out to visit one of our major cities on the west coast has a similar reaction.  Those that must live among the escalating decay are often numb to it, but most of those that are just in town for a visit are absolutely shocked by all of the trash, human defecation, crime and public drug use that they encounter.  Once upon a time, our beautiful western cities were the envy of the rest of the world, but now they serve as shining examples of America’s accelerating decline.  Continue reading “Rats, Public Defecation And Open Drug Use: Our Major Western Cities Are Becoming Uninhabitable Hellholes”

MassPrivateI

According to a recently published white paper there is a worldwide effort to restrict the right to travel of everyone. And you will not believe how the U.N. is involved.

A recent article in Papers Please.org warns that the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) wants to check every airline passenger’s background and send airlines an “Authority to Carry” before a passenger is allowed to board a plane.  Continue reading “Worldwide effort to restrict everyone’s right to travel is close to a reality”

Zero Hedge – by Tyler Durden

Move over, Amazon.

After Google-parent Alphabet more than doubled its capex spend in 2018, Google on Wednesday announced plans to spend $13 billion on data centers and office space in 14 states, including Nevada, Nebraska, Ohio, Texas, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Virginia.  Continue reading “Google Announces $13 Billion Plan To Expand Data Centers, Office Space Across US”

Independent

Fatal shootings by police are the rare outcomes of the millions of encounters between police officers and the public. Despite the unpredictable events that lead to the shootings, in each of the past four years police nationwide have shot and killed almost the same number of people – nearly 1,000.

Last year police shot and killed 998 people, 11 more than the 987 they fatally shot in 2017. In 2016, police killed 963 people, and 995 in 2015.   Continue reading “US police shoot almost 1,000 people dead every year, figures show”

PJ Media – by John Ellis

Panera Bread has shuttered the last of its ideologically driven “pay what you want” restaurants. The socialist-tinged ventures were called “Panera Cares” and the higher-ups have finally figured out that “caring” is not synonymous with “viable business model.” On February 15, the final Panera Cares, located in Boston, will close.

The website Eater gives Panera Cares’ history and provides the company’s motivation behind the now-defunct mission:

Continue reading “Panera Bread’s Socialist ‘Pay What You Want’ Experiment Fails Miserably”

Washington Post

The Senate on Tuesday passed the most sweeping conservation legislation in a decade, protecting millions of acres of land and hundreds of miles of wild rivers across the country and establishing four new national monuments honoring heroes including Civil War soldiers and a civil rights icon.

The 662-page measure, which passed 92 to 8, represented an old-fashioned approach to dealmaking that has largely disappeared on Capitol Hill. Senators from across the ideological spectrum celebrated home-state gains and congratulated each other for bridging the partisan divide.   Continue reading “The Senate just passed the decade’s biggest public lands package. Here’s what’s in it.”

The Hill

Activist David Hogg on Wednesday urged former first lady Michelle Obama to run for president in 2020.

“I wish @MichelleObama would run for president and end this madness already,” Hogg, who survived last year’s mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., said on Twitter.

Continue reading “David Hogg calls for Michelle Obama to run in 2020: ‘End this madness’”

AOL

Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar clashed on Wednesday with Elliott Abrams, President Donald Trump’s new special envoy to Venezuela, at a heated House Foreign Affairs subcommittee hearing about the crisis in the South American country.

The freshman congresswoman from Minnesota and Abrams had the testy exchange after she questioned his truthfulness, his involvement in the Iran-Contra scandal under President Ronald Reagan and his position on the El Mozote massacre in El Salvador in 1981.   Continue reading “Rep. Ilhan Omar, Trump envoy Elliott Abrams clash at Venezuela hearing”

North Jersey

GLEN ROCK – The school district has done an about-face on its decision to skip an annual American Legion coloring contest over a depiction of guns.

On Tuesday, NorthJersey.com and USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey posted a story that Glen Rock was opting not to participate in the 2019 statewide contest for fourth- and fifth-graders.   Continue reading “Facing backlash, Glen Rock reverses decision not to join American Legion coloring contest”

Sara Carter – by Lori Lowenthal Marcus

Look away for a few minutes and you miss the latest jabs. In one corner is Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, spouting and repeating anti-Semitic and anti-Israel smears. In another corner are old-guard Democrats whose younger party members are proudly waving around their anti-Israel and anti-Semitic bona fides, potentially hurting the party with historically stalwart supporters.   Continue reading “Omar Received Tens of Thousands of Dollars from PACs and Lobbyists”

Breitbart – by Pam Key

Tuesday on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports,” gun control advocate David Hogg said he was working to “ban assault weapons” in his home state of Florida.

Discussing working with relatives of some of the 17 people killed at last years mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High, Hogg said, “Sometimes it does have to be state by state. Even at the state level, sometimes they don’t want to work with us. Continue reading “David Hogg on AR-15s: ‘You Are Not Defending Yourself, You Are Hunting a Human Being’”

Zero Hedge – by Tyler Durden

A former US Air Force counterintelligence agent with access to top secret national defense information was charged with spying for Iran after she defected to the Islamic Republic and helped it target her former colleagues, according to a seven-count indictment made public on Wednesday (see below).

According to prosecutors, Monica Elfriede Witt a.k.a. Fatemah Zahra, a.k.a. Narges Witt gave the Iranians the code name and mission of a secret Pentagon program which involved American intelligence operations, reports the New York Times.    Continue reading “US Charges Air Force Counterintelligence Agent With Spying, Committing Cybercrimes For Iran”

Middle East Monitor

A legal battle is underway in the US state of Maryland to reverse an anti-Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) legislation denounced as “unconstitutional”. Syed Saqib Ali – a former Maryland state representative – today filed a civil rights lawsuit against an executive order denying government contracts to businesses that boycott Israel.

The suit – filed in federal court – alleges that the Maryland leaders Gov. Larry Hogan and Attorney General Brian Frosh violated Ali’s First and 14th Amendment rights when Hogan signed an executive order in October 2017 requiring all state contractors to promise they will not boycott Israel.   Continue reading “US ‘unconstitutional’ anti-BDS law challenged in Maryland court”

The American Conservative – by William S. Lind

Several weeks ago, the United States Marine Corps copied its old Japanese adversary and committed seppuku. It did so by relieving its best battalion commander and most promising future senior combat leader of his command, thus terminating his career. As another Marine lieutenant colonel said to me, “The last light shining in the darkness has been put out.”   Continue reading “The Latest Casualty of the Marines’ Surrender to Political Correctness”

The Hill

The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee said Tuesday morning that the U.S. military may have to intervene in Venezuela if Russia places weapons there.

“I think that it could happen,” Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) told the Defense Writers Group. “You’ve got a guy down there that is killing everybody. You could have him put together a base that Russia would have on our hemisphere. And if those things happen, it may be to the point where we’ll have to intervene with troops and respond.”  Continue reading “GOP chairman: US military may have to intervene in Venezuela if Russia does”

Now, you all don’t worry about us.  We have two loaves of  bread, a whole gallon of milk, and flashlight batteries.

This ain’t shit.  Here we call this a little snow.  I’ve seen it in this yard six foot deep.  I am however glad that I made the effort to top off my two propane bottles Monday, as the lights have been flickering on and off this morning, actually quite cozy.   Continue reading “Danger! The Big Storm”