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Massachusetts Dems Advance Bill To Limit How Far You Can Drive In Your Own Car

Massachusetts lawmakers are barreling ahead with a bill that would force the state to slash the total miles residents drive, all under the banner of cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

The proposal, Senate Bill S.2246, doesn’t slap a hard cap on your daily commute… yet – but it orders the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) to set binding goals for reducing statewide vehicle miles traveled (VMT). It also creates a new government council tasked with pushing people onto public transit whether they like it or not.

A local Boston report highlights the move:

“The bill proposed in Massachusetts would limit how far you can drive in your own car. So lawmakers say it would help reduce the state’s greenhouse gas emissions. Now, while no specific mileage limit was listed, the bill would require MassDOT to set goals to reduce the number of statewide driving miles. It would also establish a new council to find ways to make public transportation more accessible for residents. Now, critics say A cap on personal vehicle miles would directly impact those in rural parts of the state.”

The committee gave it a favorable 4-1 vote and shipped it to the Senate Ways and Means Committee, keeping the radical plan alive on Beacon Hill.

This isn’t some fringe idea cooked up in isolation. It’s part of a broader push to ration mobility under the twin excuses of “climate” and “equity.” Similar thinking powers the 15-minute city concept – the urban planning fad sold as “convenience” but designed to make driving anywhere outside your little neighborhood a bureaucratic nightmare.

Need to visit family across town or haul supplies for a business? Too bad. The goal is fewer cars, fewer miles, and more dependence on government-run transit that’s already unreliable and crime-ridden in blue cities.

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Catholic nuns who look after dying patients lash out against New York gender rules which could see them jailed

Catholic nuns who have been looking after dying patients for decades have sued the state of New York over gender laws which could see the carers jailed.

The Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne filed a lawsuit against Governor Kathy Hochul on Tuesday opposing a bill that requires facilities to assign rooms by gender identity, not biological sex – something the nuns said clashes with their religion. 

Hochul signed the bill into law in November, 2023, which states that long-term care facilities and their staff cannot discriminate against ‘any resident on the basis of a resident’s actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or HIV status.’

‘New York’s seniors should be able to live their lives with the dignity and respect they deserve, free from discrimination of every kind,’ Hochul said on the press release at the time. 

‘LGBTQIA+ and HIV-positive seniors are among our most vulnerable populations, and today we are taking steps to ensure that all New Yorkers- regardless of who they are, who they love or their HIV status – find safety and support in places where they need it most. Hate will never have a place in New York.’ 

However, the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne claim that the bill forces them to choose between their mission and faith and facing fines, license loss or jail time. 

The group takes patients into their care at the 42-bed Rosary Hill Home in Hawthorne, New York and ‘provide comfort and nursing care for patients who are poor or suffering from incurable cancer.’

‘We are consecrated religious Sisters and have one mission,’ Mother Marie Edward OP told Fox News. ‘It is to provide comfort and skilled care to persons dying of cancer who cannot afford nursing care.’

‘We do not take insurance or government funds or money from our patients or families. The care is totally free.’

Mother Edward went on to say that their work is supported by ‘the goodness of our benefactors,’ and it hasn’t discriminated against anyone on the basis of race, religion or sex. 

‘We do it because Jesus taught us that, when the least among us are sick, we should care for them, as if they were Christ himself,’ she told the outlet. 

The religious group claims that the law forces them to assign rooms to patients by gender identity and not biological sex, allow expression, relationships and identity practices, and use preferred pronouns. 

It also requires staff training in gender ideology, post a public notice of compliance with the law and allow opposite-sex bathroom access, a press release stated. 

‘We Sisters have taken care of patients from all walks of life, ideologies and faiths. 

‘We treat every patient with dignity and Christian charity. We have never had any complaints. We cannot implement New York’s mandate without violating our Catholic faith.’ 

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Tech company launches AI Jesus you can talk to for $2 a minute

A tech company has set up a new platform that allows users to have conversations with an AI avatar of Jesus Christ.

Just Like Me is a tech company that creates AI versions of certain celebrities, experts and personalities. According to the company, these “digital twins” are intended to “provide guidance, mentorship, support and friendship” to users of the site.

Users can pay to have “video calls” with AI versions of personalities such as MySpace co-founder Chris DeWolfe, deceased political commentator Charlie Kirk, or fictional characters such as Santa Claus.

How the model was trained

The latest personality to be added to the website is an avatar of Jesus Christ. The AI version of Jesus is said to offer words of prayer and encouragement, speak a variety of languages, and recall prior conversations with Just Like Me users.

Just Like Me CEO Chris Breed said their model was trained on both the King James Bible and its understanding of scripture comes from sermons given by various preachers. Visually, the avatar was based on actor Jonathon Roumie’s portrayal of Jesus in the TV show The Chosen.

Just Like Me charges $1.99 per minute to speak to the avatar. Alternatively, a package deal priced at $49.99 gives users 45 minutes with the AI Jesus each month.

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Neanderthals may have hunted and eaten outsiders, chilling cannibalism study finds

A new study of Neanderthal remains from a cave in Belgium is shedding light on a disturbing aspect of prehistoric life. Researchers analyzing human bones from the Troisième caverne of Goyet (Belgium) found evidence that Neanderthals engaged in selective cannibalism between 41,000 and 45,000 years ago. The remains show that adult women and children were the primary victims.

For the first time, scientists were able to build a biological profile of the individuals whose bones were found at the site. Their findings suggest these people did not belong to the local Neanderthal group living in the area. Instead, they likely came from elsewhere and were brought to the cave.

Evidence of Butchering and Consumption

The condition of the bones provides key clues about what happened. Many show marks consistent with cutting, breaking, and processing, similar to the way animals were hunted and prepared for food. In particular, the lower limbs appear to have been selected, and the bones were deliberately broken open to extract nutrient-rich marrow.

This pattern strongly suggests the bodies were not treated in a ceremonial or ritual way. Instead, the evidence points to cannibalism for food. The same techniques used on animal prey were applied to these human victims, indicating they were processed as a source of nutrition.

The research, published in Scientific Reports, was carried out by an international team that included scientists from the CNRS (Culture, Environment and Anthropology unit), l’Université de Bordeaux, and l’Université d’Aix-Marseille, along with researchers from the Environmental Geosciences Research and Teaching Centre (Aix-Marseille Univ/CNRS/INRAE/IRD).

A Violent Time in the Late Middle Paleolithic

These findings come from a period known as the late Middle Paleolithic (a prehistoric era spanning roughly from 300,000 to 40,000 years ago, most commonly associated in Europe with Neanderthals). During this time, Neanderthal groups in Northern Europe displayed a wide range of cultural behaviors, and early Homo sapiens were beginning to appear in nearby regions.

In this context, the targeted nature of the cannibalism is especially striking. The fact that the victims appear to have been outsiders suggests that different groups may have come into conflict. Researchers propose that this behavior could reflect territorial tensions between Neanderthal communities, possibly linked to competition for resources or space.

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Another Wrongful Arrest Based on Faulty Facial Recognition Raises Growing Concerns

Jason Killinger walked into Reno’s Peppermill Casino in September of 2023, later that evening as he was exiting the building he would be arrested. The casino’s facial recognition system had flagged him as a “100 percent match” for an individual that had previously been banned from the property. The only problem? It was completely wrong.

After the system flagged Killinger, casino security would approach him, referring to him as “Mike”, an individual who had been previously removed from the property. Despite his insistence and ability to prove that he was in fact not Mike, security would surround and handcuff Killinger before calling the Reno Police Department. Shortly thereafter rookie Officer Richard Jager would arrive on the scene.

Killinger quickly proved he was not the man identified in the system, as he was carrying three valid forms of identification, including a Nevada Real ID compliant drivers license, his Peppermill player’s card, and a debit card, all with his name on it. When this wasn’t enough he offered to retrieve more from his vehicle, which included a pay stub, vehicle registration, and a medical card. Despite all of this copious documentation proving who he was, Officer Jager declined to investigate further, not bothering to look at any of his other identifying documents. Killinger would be arrested and charged with criminal trespass.

He would then spend 11 hours in police custody, only after a fingerprint check at Washoe County jail confirmed his identity would he finally be released.

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Coast Guard Confiscates Over $33 Million of Cocaine in Major Bust

The U.S. Coast Guard has made a drug bust valued at more than $33 million as part of an interdiction effort launched by the Trump administration last year.

The U.S. Coast Guard cutter Escanaba seized 4,510 pounds of cocaine, worth $33.9 million, while on an Easter Sunday patrol in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, according to a Department of Homeland Security news release.

A U.S. patrol aircraft alerted the Escanaba after it spotted a suspected narco-terrorist vessel, and the crew started throwing suspected contraband overboard.

An MH-65 Dolphin helicopter was launched after the contact off the coast of Ecuador.

The release said that the cutter “deployed its over-the-horizon cutter pursuit boat crew and relaunched the helicopter aircrew to recover the contraband.”

The action was part of Operation Pacific Viper.

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On Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) and Iran

The question on everyone’s mind is if Iran will agree to give up its 440 kilograms of enriched uranium. President Trump recently proclaimed on his Truth Social account that this material lies underneath the rubble of last June Operation Midnight Hammer attack, though no one else seems to believe this assertion.

Benjamin Netanyahu claimed in February that the Iranian’s not only still had their hands on the material, but would soon enrich it to weapons grade and use it to attack the US and Israel.

Several of my friends—including a couple of Israeli friends—have written to assure me that the US and Israel must obtain this material at all costs, as they believe the Iranians will certainly fashion it into a nuclear weapon and go on the offensive with it.

A few months ago, one of my favorite pen pals assured me that the Iranian regime is an irrational actor and will not recognize or be constrained by the Cold War doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD).

It’s a fascinating twist of history that the current negotiations are taking place in Islamabad, Pakistan, because the same proclamations were made about Pakistan when it was working to acquire an atomic bomb. A Grok query about this episode yielded the following.

Pakistani rhetoric supporting Palestinian causes and its self-image as a defender of the Islamic world led Israeli officials to view a nuclear Pakistan as a potential supplier to Arab states or terrorists hostile to the Jewish state. As early as 1979, Prime Minister Menachem Begin warned allies of the “threat posed by Pakistan’s nuclear program.” Israeli intelligence, Mossad, responded with covert operations. Between 1979 and 1981, suspected Mossad-orchestrated sabotage targeted European suppliers of centrifuge technology and dual-use equipment to Pakistan, including parcel bombs and assassinations of key intermediaries. Israeli planners even considered direct military action: in the mid-1980s, the Israeli Air Force reportedly rehearsed strikes on Pakistan’s Kahuta enrichment facility using F-15s and F-16s, possibly with Indian assistance or basing. U.S. intelligence reportedly tipped off Pakistan about these plans, averting escalation, as Washington balanced its alliances. Assassination plots against A.Q. Khan himself were allegedly prepared but never executed.

Despite these multifaceted efforts—diplomatic pressure, sanctions, intelligence sharing, and covert sabotage—Pakistan achieved nuclear capability by the mid-1980s and conducted overt tests in May 1998. The program succeeded through clandestine procurement, Chinese assistance, and domestic resilience. U.S. and Israeli actions delayed progress but were undermined by competing strategic interests: America’s Afghan priorities and Israel’s logistical limits against a distant target. Today, Pakistan maintains an estimated 170 warheads.

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NATO and the Bar Fight: A Bar Tab Europe Expects America To Pay Forever

I’ve been in bar fights. Real ones. The kind where you find out very quickly who your friends actually are.

Here’s the code every veteran, every operator, every person who has ever had to make a split-second decision about loyalty understands at a bone-deep level: you show up. Whether your buddy started it or not. Whether he’s right or wrong. Whether the odds are good or bad. You get off your barstool, you stand beside him, and you sort out the details after the fists stop flying. That’s not bravado. That’s the foundational contract of any alliance worth the name.

For seventy-five years, America has honored that contract with NATO. Every time. Without conditions. We showed up in Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf, Libya, and most recently Ukraine, where I personally and so many other Americans helped integrate supply chains, equipment, and logistics after Russia came across the border. Not as a government official. As an American who understood what the moment required and had the relationships to act.

Europe, now, has largely watched from the barstool.

The frustration is not new. And it is not partisan. I remember standing aboard Air Force One, waiting for President Trump to board, with Secretary James Mattis shortly after he returned from a NATO meeting where he had delivered the Trump administration’s blunt message: pay your fair share. I asked him, “What did you say to them?” He looked at me and said simply: “I asked them, who is going to care more about your kids than you?”

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Massive Attack’s Robert Del Naja and 87-year-old among more than 500 Palestine Action supporters arrested at mass demo in London

Massive Attack musician Robert Del Naja has been arrested with over 500 supporters of banned group Palestine Action during a major protest in central London Today. 

The singer-songwriter from Bristol was seen being spoken to by officers as he took part in the march against the group’s ban in Trafalgar Square. 

Del Naja was among hundreds of demonstrators who sat with sings reading ‘I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action’. 

He was later carried away by three officers and arrested on suspicion of showing support for a proscribed organisation.

The Metropolitan Police said 523 people aged between 18 and 87 had been arrested at the mass event. 

Protesters gathered in the central London landmark from 1pm and held up their placards, despite police warning any individuals engaging in such criminal activity would be arrested. 

The group, which organisers Defend Our Juries said consisted of some 500 people, initially sat silently as around 100 police officers moved in to make arrests.

But some later started chanting ‘shame on you’ at officers as they carried protesters who refused to walk to police vans away. 

Proscription makes it a criminal offence to belong to or support Palestine Action, punishable by up to 14 years in prison. 

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