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Ancient ‘female-centered’ society thrived 9,000 years ago in Çatalhöyük

Ancient DNA from Stone Age burials in Turkey has finally put to rest a decades-long debate about whether the 9,000-year-old proto-city of Çatalhöyük was a matriarchal society. The research finally confirms what experts have long suspected: Women and girls were key figures in this agricultural society.

“With Çatalhöyük, we now have the oldest genetically-inferred social organisation pattern in food-producing societies,” study co-author Mehmet Somel, an evolutionary geneticist at Middle East Technical University in Turkey, told Live Science in an email. “Which turns out to be female-centered.”

The new research was published Thursday (June 26) in the journal Science.

Located in south-central Turkey, Çatalhöyük was built around 7100 B.C. and was occupied for nearly 1,000 years. The vast settlement — spread over 32.5 acres (13.2 hectares) — is known for its houses that were entered from the roofs, burials beneath the house floors, and elaborate symbolism that included vivid murals and a diverse array of female figurines.

When archaeologist James Mellaart first excavated Çatalhöyük in the early 1960s, he interpreted the numerous female figurines as evidence of a matriarchal society that practiced “mother goddess” worship, perhaps as a way of ensuring a good harvest following a major economic transition from foraging to cereal-based agriculture.

In the 1990s, Stanford archaeologist Ian Hodder took over excavations at Çatalhöyük, and his research suggested instead that the society was largely egalitarian, without meaningful social or economic differences between men and women.

To further investigate the social organization at Çatalhöyük, in a new study, a team of researchers that included both Somel and Hodder analyzed the DNA of 131 skeletons dated to between 7100 and 5800 B.C. that were buried beneath house floors.

The researchers connected 109 people across 31 buildings and found that all first-degree relatives (parents, children and siblings) were buried together in the same building, while second-degree (uncles, aunts, nephews, nieces and grandparents) and third-degree relatives (such as first cousins and great grandparents) were often buried in nearby buildings. This suggests that nuclear or extended families had a role in structuring Çatalhöyük households, the researchers wrote in the study.

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Democrat Congressman Ro Khanna to Force Vote on FULL Release of Epstein Files to the Public

Rep. Ro Khanna (D‑CA) announced he will introduce an amendment on Tuesday, forcing a House vote to release the full trove of Epstein-related files to the public.

The same party that spent years stonewalling investigations, blocking the release of Epstein’s client list, and downplaying his vast connections to the global elite is now suddenly pretending to care about transparency.

It can be recalled that in 2023, Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) announced that she had filed a subpoena demanding the release of flight logs associated with the late financier Jeffrey Epstein, a figure notorious for his connections with high-profile individuals in human trafficking and sexual abuse.

Ex-Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin (D-IL) blocked Sen. Martha’s request to release the flight logs to pedophile Jeffrey Epstein and to subpoena Justice Sotomayor’s staff.

“This is a sad day in the history of the prestigious Judiciary Committee and further underscores the Left’s two tiers of justice crusade,” Senator Blackburn said in a statement.

“They don’t want to have a conversation about the estate of Jeffrey Epstein to find out the names of every person who participated in Jeffrey Epstein’s human trafficking ring,” she said.

Now, Democrat Representative Ro Khanna announced that he will introduce an amendment to force a vote demanding the full release of Jeffrey Epstein’s files to the American public.

“Why are the Epstein files still hidden? Who are the rich & powerful being protected?” Khanna wrote on Saturday.

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The Hypocrisy Of Most Anti-Trump Crusaders Shouldn’t Be Lost On Us — But There Is A Path Forward

It’s no secret that Donald Trump is a wretched human being both inside and outside of the political arena. He is a narcissistic man-child who bullies anyone in his way, with a history of con artistry, an adjudicated rapist with various accusations of sexual assault, and a several decades long connection to an international sex trafficking, pedophile ring, and blackmail operation via the Jeffery Epstein Network which his administration only recently covered up.

Lifelong constitutional scholars such as the impeccable attorney John W Whitehead, the founder of The Rutherford Institute, confirm that Donald Trump is violating the constitution and the scope of presidential power and ethics at every possible turn. Weaponizing federal law enforcement like a despotic strong man with zero concern for civil liberties, further empowering the American police state and expanding the prison industrial complex. All the while bolstering illegal mass surveillance while marching the nation down the road to technocracy.

Still, the fact is and always has been that Trump is merely the naked face of an empire that otherwise keeps itself hidden under a mask. Most so-called leftists would have you believe that Trump’s particular brand of authoritarianism is some exception to the norm, an atypical monstrosity that deviates from the status quo. In reality Trumpianism is just the manifestation of the status quo brought to the forefront for all to see. 

It is the exacerbation of what always has been. Trump is crude and brash with his despotism whereas previous figures like Barack Obama, George W Bush, Bill Clinton and so on were always relatively prudent and well spoken with theirs. The kind of despotism of decades past came with an eloquence that brought with it a kind of acquiescence.

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REPORT: Ghislaine Maxwell Ready to Testify Before Congress — Could Blow Lid Off Epstein Files and Elite Pedophile Network

Convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell is reportedly ready and willing to testify before the U.S. Congress about the full extent of Jeffrey Epstein’s criminal empire — and the powerful men who participated in it.

According to a Daily Mail report, Maxwell, 63, has not been offered a plea deal, nor has she been contacted by any U.S. officials about providing testimony — something she would reportedly “welcome.”

“She would be more than happy to sit before Congress and tell her story,” a source close to Maxwell told the news outlet.

“No one from the government has ever asked her. She remains the only person jailed in connection to Epstein and would welcome the chance to tell the American public the truth.”

Maxwell is currently serving a 20-year sentence in Tallahassee State Prison in Florida, for her role in grooming and trafficking underage girls for Epstein and his network of high-powered friends, which included billionaires, politicians, academics, and royalty. Yet to date, not a single Epstein “client” has been charged.

Earlier this year, Ghislaine Maxwell asked the US Supreme Court to hear her appeal against a 2021 conviction on five counts of aiding convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein in his sexual abuse of young girls.

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NIH Director Bhattacharya warns U.S. taxpayers are funding science journals compromised by China

The National Institutes of Health isn’t just concerned about how much taxpayers are spending to read scientific and medical journals where the published research has already been funded by taxpayers. It wants to know more about publishers’ possible ties to hostile powers.

NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya announced a cap starting this fall on how much journals can charge “NIH-supported scientists to make their research findings publicly accessible” and told investigative journalist Paul Thacker the fees prop up Germany-based publisher Springer Nature, which has a “tremendous investment and interest in the Chinese scientific establishment.”

The 3,000-journal publishing behemoth declined to confirm to Fox News last month the Trump administration terminated one contract and didn’t renew three others, claiming there was “no material change” to its “global business.”

One of its journals is Nature Medicine, which published the “Proximal Origin” paper dismissing a COVID-19 lab leak from China after forcing the coauthors to completely rule out the plausibility of a leak as a condition of publishing it.

The paper was covertly shaped by Bhattacharya predecessor Francis Collins and then-National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci, who funded the research that may have unleashed the pandemic with U.S. taxpayer dollars.

Then-interim U.S. Attorney Ed Martin sought information from Nature Medicine this spring, suggesting it committed a quid pro quo with Collins and Fauci, who soon after gave coauthor Kristian Andersen federal grants, by leaving their names off “Proximal Origin.” 

Springer Nature also publishes Scientific American and Nature, which both endorsed Democrat Joe Biden for president in 2020. The former tried to quash the Chinese lab-leak theory as “xenophobia.”

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America Can’t Afford To Be The Arsenal Of The World Anymore

President Donald Trump was reportedly caught “flat-footed” when the Pentagon abruptly announced it was freezing shipments of critical weapons to Ukraine, including Patriot missile interceptors, precision-guided GMLRS, and artillery rounds.

The rationale for halting shipments of defensive weapons to Ukraine stems from a review that found that the U.S. only has about 25 percent of the Patriot interceptors needed for all Defense Department military plans.

Yet just days later, Trump reversed course. “They’re getting hit very hard now,” he said. “We’re going to send some more weapons — defensive weapons primarily.”

The rapid pivot back to arms transfers to Ukraine illustrates just how deeply embedded interventionist reflexes remain not just in Congress and the Pentagon, but even within Trump’s own orbit.

US Running Low

At the center of this internal tug-of-war is Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby, a leading voice for a more restrained, realist approach to America’s military posture, which is a position that has reportedly frustrated some hawkish members within the Trump administration.

Colby has warned that U.S. weapons stockpiles are running low, defense manufacturing is lagging behind adversaries, and that it is time for Europe to take primary responsibility for Ukraine, while America focuses on shoring up its limited resources by preparing for a far more dangerous geopolitical challenge: China.

A recent analysis by Foreign Affairs aligns with Colby’s assessment, stating that the United States “has low stockpiles of munitions, its ships and planes are older than China’s, and its industrial base lacks the capacity to regenerate these assets. In war games that simulate a conflict in the Taiwan Strait, Washington runs out of key munitions within weeks.”

The U.S. Air Force’s fleet is showing its age, with planes averaging 32 years old, and some exceeding 50 years. Developing new major weapons platforms like these can take more than eight years, however if the F-22 Raptor is any indication, the process could take more than 15 years.

The U.S. Navy is in an equally perilous situation. Though the average U.S. naval vessel is 19 years old, some vessels like cruisers are pushing almost 30 years old. To meet future demand, the Navy may require extending the lives of some non-nuclear surface ships to over 50 years old.

In stark contrast, 70 percent of China’s naval ships have been launched since 2010. China’s annual shipbuilding capacity is an astounding 26 million tons, which is 370 times greater than the United States’ capacity of 70,000 tons. The U.S. industrial capacity is so limited that it cannot even produce a single 100,000-ton Ford-class aircraft carrier annually.

Still, Washington clings to a WWII-era fantasy, believing that it can arm the world while neglecting its own arsenal.

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Harvard ethics professor fired for dishonesty maintains her innocence

A Harvard University professor who lost her tenure due to data fraud maintains she is innocent and said she plans to fight for her reputation in court.

Francesca Gino became the first person since the 1940s to lose tenure at Harvard University after the school investigated allegations she tampered with data. The investigation followed accusations made by a trio of behavioral scientists with the blog Data Colada.

Gino (pictured), a business ethics professor, consistently denied the allegations and is fighting back with a lawsuit against Harvard. A judge previously ruled against her lawsuit against the Data Colada authors. However, the judge ruled Gino’s breach of contract claims can continue. She filed a further response on June 23, while Harvard has filed other motions in the past week.

In an unsigned email to The College Fix, Gino’s team noted several major concerns about the integrity of Harvard’s investigation.

According to Gino’s team, Harvard’s investigation report did not include the underlying data needed to independently verify Harvard’s claims. That is, the school denied the professor a proper forensic evaluation and access to raw datasets.

The response also said the burden of proof was reversed. Harvard’s own policy requires that the university proves misconduct occurred and not place the burden on the accused, but Gino was forced to prove her innocence without the backing of resources. Harvard was also supposed to prove the misconduct was committed “recklessly,” “knowingly,” or “intentionally.”

For example, Gino was reportedly not allowed to question witnesses, including her own co-authors and research assistants. She was also unable to obtain documentation that could potentially show who accessed or edited the data, Gino’s team said.

Gino’s team also noted four of five papers under scrutiny were published more than six years before the investigation, which falls outside the statute of limitations for misconduct investigations set by both Harvard and federal standards.

“The available evidence simply did not allow a thorough audit of the relevant data sets,” the email read.

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Oops: Gavin Newsom’s ‘Strawberry Farmer’ Turns Out to Be a Child Predator

Democrats have been flooding the airwaves and social media with desperate messages trying to paint the ICE raids on a California marijuana farm as proof that the Trump administration is comprised of Nazis who want to punish hard-working, law-abiding crop pickers who are just trying to “feed the nation.”

In reality, many of the illegal alien workers picked up were inadvertently trying to get the nation stoned, and multiple instances of forced illegal child labor were uncovered.

Golden State Gov. Gavin Newsom stayed busy, of course, preening for the cameras as he readies his expected 2028 presidential run. He waxed poetic about the wonderful souls working on the farm and blasted the feds for trying to help clean up the disastrous mess that he helped create.

“Trump calls me ‘Newscum’ — but he’s the real scum.” 

Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott replied to Newsom: “Here’s some breaking news: 10 juveniles were found at this marijuana facility – all illegal aliens, 8 of them unaccompanied. It’s now under investigation for child labor violations.” 

“This is Newsom’s California.”

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The ‘Global War on Terror’ Is Over. Terror Won.

On Sept. 16, 2001, five days after the attacks on New York and Washington, DC, President George W. Bush declared, “This crusade – this war on terrorism – is going to take a while. And the American people must be patient. I’m going to be patient. But I can assure the American people I am determined.”

Four days after that, President Bush declared the “war on terror” to be primarily against al-Qaeda. “Our war on terror begins with al Qaeda,” he said in an address to Congress and the nation, “but it does not end there. It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated.”

He described the enemy thus:

This group and its leader — a person named Osama bin Laden — are linked to many other organizations in different countries, including the Egyptian Islamic Jihad and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan.  There are thousands of these terrorists in more than 60 countries.

Bush was correct in his assessment of the group.

One of those countries into which al-Qaeda jihadists implanted themselves was Syria, where from 2011 – with the support of the Obama Administration – they attempted to overthrow the secular leader, Bashar al-Assad, using terrorist tactics they had been well-trained in.

They soon changed their name – but not their stripes – and became the Al-Nusra Front, headed up by an experienced jihadist who fought against US troops in Iraq by the name of Abu Mohammad al-Jolani. His group was known for chopping off heads. Perhaps even American heads.

Last December Jolani’s jihadists – with support from the US, Turkey, and Israel – finally brought down the Assad government and quicker than you can say “Washington PR makeover” he clipped his beard, switched out his tactical military watch for a $90,000 Patek Philippe World Time Chronograph, and declared himself president.

The “civilized world” cheered the re-emergence of democracy in Syria!

At their first meeting earlier this year in Saudi Arabia, President Trump praised jihadist Jolani as “a young, attractive fellow” and “a tough guy, a fighter, with a very strong background. He has a lot of potential, he’s a real leader.”

This was a US-designated global terrorist with a $10 million bounty placed on his head by the US authorities. His “wanted” poster STILL remains on the X account of the US Embassy in Syria!

This week, President Trump “removed sanctions on Jolani’s Syria at (Israeli Prime Minister) Netanyahu’s request,” and just yesterday Secretary of State removed Jolani’s old al-Qaeda affiliate (which had gone from al-Nusra to HTS over the years) from the US terrorist list.

As one observer on X quipped:

The history of the GWOT (Global War on Terror) began in 2001 with the US invading Afghanistan to dig out Al Qaeda. It ends twenty-four years later with the US recognizing an AQ affiliate as the new ruler of Syria.

According to Brown University’s Cost of War Project, the “Global War on Terror” cost the American people at least eight trillion dollars. It also took the lives of perhaps a million people.

And what did we get for all this blood and treasure? In Afghanistan, the Taliban were after 20 years of US military action replaced by the Taliban, and in Syria a fierce opponent of al-Qaeda was replaced by… al-Qaeda!

As Jake Sullivan, then right hand to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, wrote to the Secretary in 2012, “al-Qaeda is on our side in Syria.” He wasn’t joking!

That was the shot… here’s the chaser:

In the same week the United States removed sanctions on al-Qaeda ruled Syria, it placed sanctions on… UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese!

Who is Albanese? She is the fearless defender of human life in a Gaza where it is slowly being extinguished by Israel with the backing (and weapons) of the US government.

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FBI opens ‘grand conspiracy’ probe on weaponization, opening door to special prosecutor

The FBI has quietly launched an investigation into a decade of Democratic party and deep-state antics from Russia collusion to Jack Smith, opening the door for the appointment of a special prosecutor to examine whether the well-documented episodes amount to a criminal conspiracy to meddle in three U.S. elections to the benefit of Democrats and the detriment of President Donald Trump, Just the News has learned.

The “grand conspiracy” case was opened several weeks ago after new FBI Director Kash Patel took over, and it could get a significant boost if Trump were to declassify two secret tranches of evidence that identify a potential ignition point to the alleged conspiracy in the summer of 2016, according to several people directly familiar with the inquiry, who spoke to Just the News on a condition of anonymity.

The first piece of evidence is a classified annex to a years-old inspector general probe of Hillary Clinton’s improper email server sought by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley. That annex is believed to show that credible information about possible wrongdoing was intentionally ignored by the FBI.

The second tranche of evidence was identified by former Russiagate Special Counsel John Durham in his final report. The evidence was dubbed in the report as the “Clinton plan intelligence,” and it was also placed in a classified annex kept from the American public and even many members of Congress.

Excerpts from the publicly-available and unclassified Durham report show that U.S. spy agencies were aware that Clinton’s 2016 campaign was concocting a bogus Russia collusion narrative to harm Trump’s election chances before the FBI opened its now-discredited Crossfire Hurricane probe, in part using evidence created by the Clinton campaign or offered by Clinton associates.

Both pieces of evidence have remained sealed from public view for nearly a decade and are highly classified because they reveal sensitive intelligence-gathering methods, officials said.

The FBI declined comment.

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