Some folks from Mississippi and Alabama are not buying the federal report about UFOs that was released on June 25 by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
The report was about Unidentified Aerial Phenomena sighted by members of the military since 2004. It doesn’t deny the possibility of some of the phenomena being extraterrestrial life forms visiting our planet, but neither does it doesn’t suggest the theory as a possibility.
Last June, the House subcommittee overseeing antitrust law issued a comprehensive 450-page report that concluded that four Silicon Valley companies — Facebook, Amazon, Google and Apple — are classic monopolies. It was by far the most in-depth and serious governmental attempt in the U.S. to grapple with the unprecedented and increasingly concentrated power of these tech giants.
The report documented the multiple ways that the centralized power and anti-competitive practices of these four tech companies are damaging both consumers and the broader society. It proposed numerous solutions to address those harms — from breaking them up to legislative and regulatory changes to enable more competition. The report narrated that these “companies that once were scrappy, underdog startups that challenged the status quo have become the kinds of monopolies we last saw in the era of oil barons and railroad tycoons.” And it concluded that “these firms typically run the marketplace while also competing in it — a position that enables them to write one set of rules for others, while they play by another, or to engage in a form of their own private quasi regulation that is unaccountable to anyone but themselves.”
The report, which came to be known as the Cicilline Report after subcommittee Chair David Cicilline (D-RI), was widely praised by antitrust activists and scholars. Yet it highlighted a strange political phenomenon. House Republicans have been flamboyantly waving the anti-Big-Tech banner with increasing passion and aggression, often in response to growing online censorship. Virtually every television appearance or in-district rally by a House Republican entails righteous denunciations of Silicon Valley monopoly power. Yet none of the Committee Republicans was willing to sign onto or support the Cicilline report. It was left to Cicilline and House Judiciary Committee Chair Jerrod Nadler (D-NY) to echo what their Republican colleagues were expressing with words to Fox News audiences or at town halls: “Our investigation leaves no doubt that there is a clear and compelling need for Congress and the antitrust enforcement agencies to take action that restores competition, improves innovation, and safeguards our democracy.”
In sum, there was a huge gap between GOP rhetoric about the evils of Big Tech and the actions of House Republicans, which not only failed to follow through on their fiery language but oftentimes seemed devoted to protecting the interests of the very Silicon Valley giants they were publicly denouncing. But now, one key House Republican — Rep. Ken Buck, who was first elected to represent Colorado’s 4th Congressional District back in 2012, when he ran as a Tea Party conservative, and became a vocal supporter of former President Trump — has changed that dynamic. Using his vital position as ranking member of the subcommittee, Buck has become increasingly outspoken about the need for legislative and regulatory action, rather than just cable-friendly rhetoric, to rein in the abuses of Big Tech, and has been working with a bipartisan coalition he helped assemble to pass consequential legislation.
Among other things, Buck is now a co-sponsor of various legislative measures that would more assertively enforce antitrust laws in order to foster greater competition. He has, as The Denver Post noted last week, been increasingly vocal in his criticism of his GOP colleagues for failing to follow through on what they tell their base. Along with his GOP Senate colleague Mike Lee (R-UT), Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), and Cicilline, Buck announced last week that this bipartisan group is urging new Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan “to pursue antitrust enforcement action against Facebook.”
Another example of Australia’s sometimes draconian Covid restrictions has come to light in reports that say the authorities in New South Wales have banned singing in churches – even if it is for the purpose of being live streamed to a physically distant congregation.
The current rules have been in force since June 26 and are meant to last two weeks amid a fresh round of lockdowns. The Public Health Order states that, “singing by audiences at indoor shows or by congregants at indoor places of worship are not allowed.”
The thinking behind banning singing among groups of people is that the virus is transmitted faster than through the act of speaking; however, the fact that singing on Zoom, i.e., to a camera is also banned, has left some church leaders in Australia upset with the decision.
The New South Wales order, shared with religious leaders in an email, says that the purpose is to protect those who “may be involved in assisting in live streaming,” and also those who “may be in regional communities attending a service.”
A team of Ukrainian archaeologists has almost completed excavations of an ancient kurgan (burial mound, sacred hill) which historians claim is older than the Egyptian pyramids.
The archaeologists state that this “Ukrainian Stonehenge”, an ancient burial ground, is more than 5,300-5,500 years old, dating back to the Bronze Age.
There are numerous kurgans scattered throughout eastern and southern Ukraine and archaeologists and historians are worried that, in many cases, urban sprawl will lead to the destruction of these ancient burial mounds. Thus, they are rushing to excavate as many of them as possible in order to save and preserve priceless items from bulldozers and rapid urbanization.
Such a mound was found near the village of Novooleksandrivka, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. Items and artefacts discovered in this almost eight-meter hill bear witness to the flourishing of Indo-Aryan tribes who developed an elaborate burial tradition used by the entire population. These tombs illustrate unique characteristics, not only in terms of their number, density and scale, but also in terms of details such as burial chambers, burial gifts and mummified bodies.
The mystery of the Phaistos Disc has been “solved by 99 percent” says linguist, archaeologist and coordinator of the program Erasmus of Crete Technological Institute; Gareth Owens.
Owens has devoted 30 years in trying to solve the puzzle. The Minoan goddess of love, Astarte, who is linked to the Eastern goddess Ashtart, is the key figure that unlocks the mystery of the Phaistos Disc, Owen argues.
The Phaistos Disc is a disk of fired clay from the Minoan palace of Phaistos on the island of Crete, possibly dating to the middle or late Minoan Bronze Age (second millennium B.C.).
Zoophiles believe it’s acceptable to be intimate with an animal, and want the LGTBQ+ movement to add a Z to its name. RT spoke to one about their secret world, and with members of the ‘furry’ and ‘therian’ communities.
Pride Month has just come to an end, following four weeks of global parades and celebrations featuring gay, bisexual, queer, trans, de-trans, asexual and other marginalised communities.
But one group not welcome, for the most part, is the zoophile community. In a nutshell, this comprises people who have a sexual attraction to animals, although this may not always necessarily be acted upon.
This exclusion has caused the zoophile community to hold its own Pride celebration, which this year is from July 1 to July 7.
There are also two other related animal-loving identities, those who consider themselves therians or furries. The former are people who feel they have a non-human element, spiritually or psychologically, while the latter have an adoration of only certain animals.
There is a degree of overlap between both groups, and some wear animal suits and masks to celebrate their identity, although to make the situation even more complicated, some therians and furries are also zoophiles.
Many from the three communities shun publicity due to the automatic assumption from outsiders that they enjoy sex with animals.
Those who do engage in sexual intimacy could face criminal charges or violent reprisals from the public should their identities be revealed. Some contemplate suicide or have even killed themselves due to the stress of being relentlessly harassed.
However, one figure in the zoophile community did agree to speak to RT. Toggle is from Pennsylvania, and wanted to put on record that he was contributing only because of his dissatisfaction at how zoophiles are portrayed in the media. He was adamant that they cannot be excluded from Pride, no matter what the masses say.
Hellbound and Down 
You must be logged in to post a comment.