News You Can Use

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Brain implant boosts human memory by mimicking how we learn | New Scientist

A “memory prosthesis” brain implant has enhanced human memory for the first time. The device is comprised of electrodes implanted in the brain, and is designed to mimic the way we naturally process memories, and can boost performance on memory tests by up to 30 per cent. A similar approach may work for enhancing other brain skills, such as vision or movement, says the team behind the work.

“We are writing the neural code to enhance memory function,” says Dong Song of the University of Southern California, who presented the findings at the Society for Neuroscience meeting in Washington DC over the weekend. “This has never been done before.”

The team’s implant gives small electric shocks to the hippocampus, a brain region vital for learning and memory. By releasing bursts of electricity in a pattern that mimics normal, healthy brain activity patterns, it is hoped that the device will help with disorders involving memory problems, such as dementia, and even be adapted for other brain areas, to boost other types of brain function.

Song and his colleagues implanted their device in 20 volunteers who were having electrodes put into their brains anyway, to treat epilepsy.

First, the team used the device to collect data on patterns of activity in the brain when the people were learning. Each volunteer performed a memory test, in which they had to remember which unusual, blobby shapes they had been shown 5 to 10 seconds before. This test measures short-term memory, and people normally score around 80 per cent on this task.

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$15 Million in Taxpayer Money Has Been Paid Out to Settle Congressional Sexual Harassment Suits

"We do know there is about $15 million that has been paid out by the House on behalf of harassers in the last 10 to 15 years," Speier revealed, on Tuesday.

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LISTEN: Curious Robocall Seeks ‘Damaging’ Information on Moore | WKRG

“Hi, this is Bernie Bernstein, I’m a reporter for the Washington Post calling to find out if anyone at this address is a female between the ages of 54 to 57 years old willing to make damaging remarks about candidate Roy Moore for a reward of between $5000 and $7000 dollars. We will not be fully investigating these claims however we will make a written report. I can be reached by email at [email protected], thank you.”

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Alaska urged to prepare for North Korean nuclear attack as residents told to stockpile Prussian Blue anti-radiation pills - Mirror Online

The country will NOT attempt evacuations if North Korea fires a nuclear missile, emergency planners have warned - as families are urged to stock up with emergency rations

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Man Killed In Year’s 600th Homicide Among 5 Shot Tuesday In Chicago « CBS Chicago

CHICAGO (CBS) — A man killed Tuesday — marking the city’s 600th homicide this year — was among five people shot in a 7-hour span of gun violence on the South and West sides.

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New BLACK DEATH strain can kill ‘in just THREE HOURS’, doctor admits | Daily Star

DOCTORS are struggling to keep a new lethal outbreak of the "Black Death" – also known as pneumonic plague – under control as numbers of recorded cases soar.

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https://needtoknow.news/2017/04/whistle ... -underway/

Radio show host Josh Tolley interviewed an unidentified American woman from Missouri who learned about her state’s refugee immigration program by attending UN-sponsored meetings and participating in the programs. She said that refugees are brought into the US in alliance with the UN Refugee Resettlement Organization Offices of Refugee Monitoring out of Washington, DC. In her state, Missouri Social Services administers the refugee programs that provide welfare for housing, food stamps, and medicare, in addition to cash and jobs.

The refugees receive US passports and Social Security numbers so they can receive Social Security benefits. They are screened and, where possible, encouraged to apply for lifetime disability benefits under Social Security.

Many refugees are allowed into the US who have communicable diseases such as tuberculosis, leprosy, and smallpox.

The woman reported that there is ZERO vetting of refugees and that most are “FUNUs” which is an acronym for ‘full name unknown’. Most of them are males aged 15 to 45 instead of women and children.

She said that Trump reduced the number of refugees from Obama’s proposed 110,000 down to 50,000. From October 2016 through February 2017, the US had taken in 34,000. Democrats are not the only supporters of increased refugee immigration. Paul Ryan advocated bringing in 300,000 refugees.

The refugees usually are transported for settlement in the dead of night, not because of the lower air fares, but because that avoids being seen by large crowds at airports.

The federal government is secretive about how many refugees are being resettled in the US, and many governors are totally unaware of how many are in their states. The governors of Texas and Tennessee have refused to accept any more refugees and now are being sued by the US government.

The Wilson-Fish program allows the US government to circumvent state sovereignty in refugee resettlement by funding third-party organizations. She mentioned several third-party organizations that benefit from taxpayer money in this way. They include the Jewish Vocational Services (which also uses the name Jewish Technical Services), Catholic Charities, and Lutheran organizations. They receive $2500 to process each refugee plus block grants to staff offices. She said she believed they are making huge amounts of money above their costs..

Her closing comment was that she believes the refugees are a tool of invasion used by the United Nations under Agenda 2030 to remove national borders. If the UN officially recognizes a group of refugees, then UN ‘Peacekeeper’ soldiers may be placed wherever the refugees are located. She said that there have been sightings of UN trucks in her state. She also said that there is a scheme to remove county sheriffs in order to implement total UN authority in local areas.

She ended the interview by exhorting people to get involved locally to learn what is going on in their communities, to read about their states’ refugee programs on their Social Services websites, and then to meet with local and state lawmakers to stop this covert UN scheme for destruction.

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New report shows how Mexican cartels are infiltrating Texas - Houston Chronicle

Mexican cartels smuggle more drugs into the U.S. than any other criminal group, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration said in a new report.

The 2017 National Drug Threat Assessment released in October lists six cartels as having major influences across the country and Texas.

Cartels' influence in Texas is far-reaching, affecting cities hundreds of miles from the state's border with Mexico.

San Antonio is the only city in the state with a drug trade controlled by the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion, which deals mostly with methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin and marijuana, according to the DEA,


Morgues shut doors as ultra-violent Mexican state is overwhelmed by bodies | World news | The Guardian

Stench of decomposing corpses leads workers to shut down mortuaries in Guerrero where violence has also emptied villages and forced buses off the road

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UC President Janet Napolitano's aides interfered in audit of her office, investigation finds – LA Times

Top aides to University of California President Janet Napolitano interfered with a state audit of her office, suppressing campus criticism of its services and operations, according to findings of an investigation ordered by the UC Board of Regents.

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China is defining the way governments manipulate society via the internet

CHINA’S army of keyboard propagandists have set the standard for manipulating public opinion online — and a growing number of countries are trying the emulate the model.
The iconic image of a man holding his shopping while obstructing the path of a tank in China’s Tiananmen Square in 1989 became the defining image of China’s censorial government. But in the age of the internet, social media has become the front line in the Communist Party’s battle to control and suppress dissent.
The goverment’s so called keyboard army overwhelms social media sites with positive stories about the Communist Party — described by researchers as “cheerleading content” — to control the message and drown out criticism and negative stories about the regime.
The unofficial wing of the Chinese government responsible for the program is known as The 50 Cent Party. It allows just enough critical content to maintain the illusion of dissent while diverting attention towards positive propaganda.
The name reportedly stems from a rumour that the members were each paid 50 cents for every post that helped the government, although there is little evidence to support this theory.

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It's IRS Official: Jared Levandowski Launches First Church of Artificial Intelligence

A former executive at Google has filed paperwork with the IRS to establish an official religion of technology. This religion doesn't just worship scientific progress, but artificial intelligence itself, with the goal of creating a godhead.

The new church of AI will aim "to develop and promote the realization of a Godhead based on artificial intelligence and through understanding and worship of the Godhead [to] contribute to the betterment of society," according to IRS documents.

The non-profit religious organization would be called "Way of the Future" (WOTF). According to the website (wayofthefuture.church), the movement is "about creating a peaceful and respectful transition of who is in charge of the planet from people to people + 'machines.'"

"Given that technology will 'relatively soon' be able to surpass human abilities, we want to help educate people about this exciting future and prepare a smooth transition," the site explains. "In 'recent' years, we have expanded our concept of rights to both sexes, minority groups and even animals, let's make sure we find a way for 'machines' to get rights too."

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Bipartisan deal on gun control unveiled - NBC News

WASHINGTON — A bipartisan group of senators Thursday unveiled legislation that would improve background checks for gun sales.

The bill, crafted by Sens. John Cornyn, R.-Texas, and Chris Murphy, D-Conn., would incentivize states to strengthen the National Instant Criminal Background Check system to ensure all background check information is uploaded.

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AI Researcher Warns Skynet Killer-Robots "Easier To Achieve Than Self-Driving Cars" | Zero Hedge

A group of the world’s leading AI researchers and humanitarian organizations are warning about lethal autonomous weapons systems, or killer robots, that select and kill targets without human control.

The group alleges killer robots now exist and the bulk of these technological developments are military funded in UK, China, Israel, Russia, and the United States. Although, fully autonomous weapons systems have not yet been deployed on the battlefield, the action by the group to ban lethal autonomous weapons is a preemptive ban before the technology falls into the wrong hands. The group calls on the citizens of the world to contact their representatives and for countries to work together to form international treaties, before it’s too late.

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Now I know I'm right when the Pope disagrees with me.

Pope rebukes climate deniers as 'perverse' in Bonn message - San Francisco Chronicle

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis on Thursday rebuked those who deny the science behind global warming and urged negotiators at climate talks in Germany to avoid falling prey to such "perverse attitudes" and instead accelerate efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

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Artificial climate intervention could completely destroy the planet, so we probably shouldn’t do that – BGR

Injecting material into the atmosphere artificially is intended to mimic the effects of volcanic eruptions, which do the same thing naturally. The particles act like a barrier to the sun’s warming rays, blocking them from reaching the surface and resulting in a cooling effect on a short-term basis. This type of geoengineering is still a half-baked idea, and has only been proposed as an absolute last-ditch effort to curb some of the more devastating effects of global warming.

The scientists simulated what would happen if the aerosol injection technique was used in the northern hemisphere, which has been casually proposed as a potential method of reducing the severity of tropical storms. The climate models reveal that the large-scale action would indeed calm things down a bit and potentially reduce the number of North Atlantic cyclones, but it would also have dire effects on other parts of the Earth.

The drop off of tropical storms in one area would actually lead to a spike in drought in parts of Africa, according to the data. If you have even a casual interesting in weather or nature in general, that won’t be much of a surprise, as nature has taught us that messing with one thing inevitably leads to unexpected changes elsewhere. Thusly, the researchers are now calling for strict regulation on geoengineering as a “solution” to climate change. That seems like a good idea.

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Surprise: Unanimous FEC to push for Internet regulation

In a major shift, Republicans on the Federal Election Commission plan to join Democrats Thursday in calling for new Internet regulations on paid digital political ads.

In a statement issued late Wednesday, the three GOP members cited the “thousands of comments” from the public calling for new disclosure rules in light of concerns Russian activists used Internet posts on Facebook to try to influence the 2016 presidential elections.

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Airliners And F-15s Involved In Bizarre Encounter With Mystery Aircraft Over Oregon - The Drive

Something quite out of the ordinary occurred in the skies over Oregon on October 25th, 2017. A mystery aircraft was flying in daylight hours among the steady stream of airliners that traverse from south to north, between locales in California and Nevada and cities like Portland and Seattle and beyond. The incident began, at least as best we can tell, around 4:30pm near the California-Oregon border and resulted in multiple pilot eyewitnesses, recorded air traffic control audio, and eventual confirmations from both the FAA and North American Aerospace Command (NORAD) that it did indeed occur.

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Christians in China Must Replace Jesus With Pictures of Xi Jinping or Lose Social Services

Christians in an impoverished Chinese province have to remove images of Jesus and replace them with pictures of Communist Party Chairman Xi Jinping if they want to receive government assistance, part of a government-sponsored plan to discourage religious practice.

Thousands of Christians in an impoverished region of southeast China have already removed crosses and images of Jesus Christ from their homes and replaced them with pictures of China’s leader, according to a local social media account, participating in a government effort to “transform believers in religion into believers in the party.” The campaign reportedly began in March. 

Around 10 percent of the region’s 1 million inhabitants are Christian, and a similar percentage of the population lives below the poverty line. The Communist Party’s effort to link poverty reduction with the party-sponsored atheism is a coercive part of the government’s effort to control every aspect of Chinese society, critics say. 

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Now I know I'm right when the Pope disagrees with me.

Pope rebukes climate deniers as 'perverse' in Bonn message - San Francisco Chronicle

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis on Thursday rebuked those who deny the science behind global warming and urged negotiators at climate talks in Germany to avoid falling prey to such "perverse attitudes" and instead accelerate efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

Last week in Eastern Canada and the Eastern States, we actually broke records last week for COLD! Here in BC, we had record amounts of SNOW. Bring on global warming!

Winnipeg sets new low 1 year after basking in record November heat
On this day last year, Winnipeg was 18.8 C. That's a 40-degree swing from Thursday morning

The morning temperature on Thursday, as many people scraped the frost from their car windows, was –21 C with a wind chill that made it feel more like –31.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/ ... -1.4394517

Back-to-Back Cold Records Broken: Keep Those Winter Coats Handy All Weekend
Central Park recorded a low of 24 degrees on Saturday morning and 25 degrees on Friday evening. That broke records set in 1933 and 1924, respectively.

In fact, the National Weather Service said record lows were also set early Saturday at LaGuardia, JFK and Newark airports, and at Bridgeport, Connecticut.

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Baltimore Mayor Reacts To Crime: ‘I Am Deeply Disturbed’ « CBS Baltimore

“This is worse than Detroit in one way and even worse than Chicago,” a South Baltimore resident said. “I know a lot of people that are scared to even come out the building. I would hate to see this city go down.”



Baltimoreans Shelter In Place During Search For Gunman Who Shot Cop « CBS Baltimore

BALTIMORE (WJZ) — A shelter-in-place is in effect for an entire neighborhood of west Baltimore as police continue their search for a gunman who shot and killed a detective Wednesday afternoon.

This shelter-in-place means no one is allowed to come into the Harlem Park neighborhood and no one is allowed out until everything is cleared. The order even applied to a school bus, as a driver was told Thursday morning to turn around at the police perimeter.

Also Thursday morning, police were using megaphones at the scene to try and track down the shooter. Officers have been in the neighborhood since Wednesday at dusk, looking for the suspect from the air and from the ground.

The shooting happened on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. on the 900 Block of Bennett Place while the detective was investigating a murder in the neighborhood with a partner.

When he approached a suspicious man, the man opened fire, police say. The officer was shot in the head. He was then taken to Shock Trauma where he died. The officer is an 18-year veteran of the force. He is also a father of five.

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More Than 200 Arrested in MS-13 Crackdown - WSJ

Law enforcement authorities arrested more than 200 suspected members and associates of MS-13 during a recent six-week operation targeting the violent street gang across the U.S., the Department of Homeland Security announced Thursday.

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Voters Elect Known Killer To School Board « CBS Denver

LA JUNTA, Colo. (CBS4) – An admitted murderer was elected to serve on the East Otero School Board in La Junta.

Thomas Seaba pleaded guilty to murdering a fellow Marine in the 90s. A detective on the case said Seaba shot the victim five times.

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Resistance Royalty: Pelosi, Soros Headline Left's Biggest Dark Money Conference

CARLSBAD, Calif.—A secretive three-day conference where big money liberal donors are plotting the next steps of the "resistance" will be headlined by Friday speeches by billionaire George Soros and Democratic House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, according to internal documents obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

The Democracy Alliance, a donor club of deep-pocketed liberal donors that each pledge to direct hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding to approved left-wing groups, descended on California's posh La Costa Resort on Wednesday morning for its fall donor summit. The group continued its tradition of secrecy, promising all members and guests of the summit their participation would "remain confidential."

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World's first human head transplant a success, controversial scientist claims

The world's first human head transplant has been carried out on a corpse in China in an 18-hour operation that showed it was possible to successfully reconnect the spine, nerves and blood vessels. 

At a press conference in Vienna on Friday morning, Italian Professor Sergio Canavero, director of the Turin Advanced Neuromodulation Group, announced that a team at Harbin Medical University had "realised the first human head transplant" and said an operation on a live human will take place "imminently".

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Gay Sex Scandal Rocks Ohio Statehouse, Rep. Wes Goodman Resigns

House Speaker Cliff Rosenberger said he met with Goodman, 33, Tuesday and confronted him about the allegations of "inappropriate behavior related to his state office." The freshman representative, who is married, confirmed the allegations and resigned his position.