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Enigmatic human fossil jawbone may be evidence of an early Homo sapiens presence in Europe – and adds mystery about who those humans were

Homo sapiens, our own species, evolved in Africa sometime between 300,000 and 200,000 years ago. Anthropologists are pretty confident in that estimate, based on fossil, genetic and archaeological evidence.

Then what happened? How modern humans spread throughout the rest of the world is one of the most active areas of research in human evolutionary studies.

The earliest fossil evidence of our species outside of Africa is found at a site called Misliya cave, in the Middle East, and dates to around 185,000 years ago. While additional H. sapiens fossils are found from around 120,000 years ago in this same region, it seems modern humans reached Europe much later.

Understanding when our species migrated out of Africa can reveal insights into present-day biological, behavioral and cultural diversity. While we Homo sapiens are the only humans alive today, our species coexisted with different human lineages in the past, including Neandertals and Denisovans. Scientists are interested in when and where H. sapiens encountered these other kinds of humans.

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The Coming War — Time to Speak Up

In 1935, the Congress of American Writers was held in New York City, followed by another two years later. They called on “the hundreds of poets, novelists, dramatists, critics, short story writers and journalists” to discuss the “rapid crumbling of capitalism” and the beckoning of another war. They were electric events which, according to one account, were attended by 3,500 members of the public with more than a thousand turned away. 

Arthur Miller, Myra Page, Lillian Hellman, Dashiell Hammett warned that fascism was rising, often disguised, and the responsibility lay with writers and journalists to speak out. Telegrams of support from Thomas Mann, John Steinbeck, Ernest Hemingway, C Day Lewis, Upton Sinclair and Albert Einstein were read out. 

The journalist and novelist Martha Gellhorn spoke up for the homeless and unemployed, and “all of us under the shadow of violent great power.” 

Martha, who became a close friend, told me later over her customary glass of Famous Grouse and soda:

“The responsibility I felt as a journalist was immense. I had witnessed the injustices and suffering delivered by the Depression, and I knew, we all knew, what was coming if silences were not broken.”

Her words echo across the silences today: they are silences filled with a consensus of propaganda that contaminates almost everything we read, see and hear.  Let me give you one example: 

On March 7, the two oldest newspapers in Australia, the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, published several pages on “the looming threat” of China. They coloured the Pacific Ocean red. Chinese eyes were martial, on the march and menacing. The Yellow Peril was about to fall down as if by the weight of gravity.

No logical reason was given for an attack on Australia by China. A “panel of experts” presented no credible evidence: one of them is a former director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, a front for the Defence Department in Canberra, the Pentagon in Washington, the governments of Britain, Japan and Taiwan and the West’s war industry.

“Beijing could strike within three years,” they warned. “We are not ready.” Billions of dollars are to be spent on American nuclear submarines, but that, it seems, is not enough.”‘Australia’s holiday from history is over”: whatever that might mean. 

There is no threat to Australia, none. The faraway “lucky” country has no enemies, least of all China, its largest trading partner. Yet China-bashing that draws on Australia’s long history of racism towards Asia has become something of a sport for the self-ordained “experts.” What do Chinese-Australians make of this? Many are confused and fearful. 

The authors of this grotesque piece of dog-whistling and obsequiousness to American power are Peter Hartcher and Matthew Knott, “national security reporters” I think they are called. I remember Hartcher from his Israeli government-paid jaunts. The other one, Knott, is a mouthpiece for the suits in Canberra.  Neither has ever seen a war zone and its extremes of human degradation and suffering.  

“How did it come to this?” Martha Gellhorn would say if she were here. “Where on earth are the voices saying no? Where is the comradeship?”

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Liberal Academic Icon Under Fire After Revelations He Hung Out With Epstein

Yet another high-profile liberal icon spent time with Jeffrey Epstein.

Noam Chomsky, the famed linguistics intellectual and political activist, spent time with Epstein on multiple occasions, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday, prompting outrage from critics.

Chomsky, 94, reportedly met with Epstein several times in 2015 and 2016, while he was a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The meetings reportedly happened long after Epstein had registered as a sex offender.

“First response is that it is none of your business,” Chomsky told the Journal in an email after being asked about his relationship with Epstein. “Or anyone’s. Second is that I knew him and we met occasionally.”

Epstein was found dead in his Manhattan jail cell in August, 2019 before the well-connected and wealthy financier could go on trial for his alleged decades of grooming and sexual abuse, including rape, of young girls in the 1990s and early 2000s.

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U.S. military is tracking another mysterious balloon

The U.S. military is tracking a mysterious balloon that flew over American soil, but it’s not clear what it is or whom it belongs to, according to three U.S. officials. 

The object flew across portions of Hawaii but did not go over any sensitive areas, the officials said.

The U.S. military has been tracking it since late last week and has determined that it poses no threat to aerial traffic or national security and is not communicating signals, one official said.

It’s not clear if it’s a weather balloon or something else, the official said, adding that the U.S. could still shoot it down if it nears land.

The object, which does not appear to have maneuverability, is moving slowly toward Mexico, the officials said.

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Friends Urging Convicted Sex Offender Anthony Weiner to Run for NYC Mayor

Friends of former Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY), a convicted sex offender, are urging him to run for political office again — making a comeback by pitching himself as a moderate Democrat to rebuild New York City.

Curtis Sliwa, the former GOP mayoral candidate for New York City, said he and others are encouraging Weiner to run for office again.

“He has been encouraged to run for office by me and others,” Sliwa said on his 77 WABC radio show which he hosts with Weiner. ” … to be the moderate Democrat, to be what this city needs now to take it back from [Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez]. He knows the moderate path to save the city.”

Weiner’s problems in public life first started in May 2011 when he mistakenly posted a photo of his penis to his Twitter page. Weiner quickly deleted the post and claimed, repeatedly, that he was hacked.

Andrew Breitbart, founder of Breitbart News who died in February 2012, published the deleted post on his website at the time as establishment media took Weiner at his word that he had been hacked.

Breitbart even posted his first-hand account of the scandal.

Then, months later, Breitbart posted a photo of Weiner that he had sent to another woman which prompted the then-congressman to call a press conference. At the press conference, Breitbart spoke to the media and defended his reporting on Weiner’s sexting habits.

When Weiner took to the podium, he admitted that he had, in fact, posted the initial photo of his penis on his Twitter page and was not hacked. Weiner also apologized to Breitbart directly before stepping down from office days later.

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Pro-Lifers Pushed Too Far and Doomed 2 Abortion Bans

In the wake of last year’s U.S. Supreme Court Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision overturning constitutional protections for reproductive rights, moves by conservative states to restrict abortion are running up against the limits of just how much change even many pro-life Americans want. Last week, both Nebraska and South Carolina legislators rejected bills that would have largely banned abortions. And polls find some degree of buyers’ remorse in states that restricted abortion after Dobbs, suggesting that lawmakers misread the room.

Anti-Abortion Bill Meet Unexpected Defeat

“A bill that would ban abortions in Nebraska after six weeks of pregnancy fell one vote short in the Legislature on Thursday,” Nebraska Public Media reported. The bill failed even after the introduction of a compromise amendment “which would change the legislation to ban abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy, instead of the six weeks the legislation called for.”

Almost simultaneously, “the latest push to outlaw nearly all abortions in South Carolina is over for the year, as senators who oppose a ban from conception stood their ground and scuttled the bill,” according to The Post and Courier of Charleston. “And Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey made clear there’s no appetite in the Senate to make another doomed attempt in 2024 for a bill with limited exceptions to an all-out ban.”

Both Nebraska and South Carolina are solidly red states. Republicans hold clear majorities in both South Carolina’s House and Senate and Nebraska’s unicameral legislature. According to a simplistic take on post-Dobbs politics, that’s supposed to indicate a clear path for near-absolute bans targeting abortion. But the bills failed at a time when residents of some states that implemented restrictions after the Supreme Court decision show signs that they think lawmakers went too far. As it turns out, even many Americans who were unhappy with the strong protections for reproductive rights embodied in the Roe v. Wade decision overturned by Dobbs weren’t necessarily looking for total prohibition.

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‘Godfather of AI’ quits Google — and says he regrets life’s work due to risks to humanity

A prominent artificial intelligence researcher known as the “Godfather of AI” has quit his job at Google – and says he now partly regrets his work advancing the burgeoning technology because of the risks it poses to society.

Dr. Geoffrey Hinton is a renowned computer scientist who is widely credited with laying the AI groundwork that eventually led to the creation of popular chatbots such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and other advanced systems.

The 75-year-old told the New York Times that he left Google so that he can speak openly about the risks of unrestrained AI development – including the spread of misinformation, upheaval in the jobs market and other, more nefarious possibilities.

“I console myself with the normal excuse: If I hadn’t done it, somebody else would have,” Hinton said in an interview published on Monday.

“Look at how it was five years ago and how it is now,” Hinton added later in the interview. “Take the difference and propagate it forwards. That’s scary.”

Hinton fears that AI will only become more dangerous in the future — with “bad actors” potentially exploiting advanced systems “for bad things” that will be difficult to prevent.

Hinton informed Google of his plans to resign last month and personally spoke last Thursday with company CEO Sundar Pichai, according to the report. The computer scientist did not reveal what he and Pichai discussed during the phone call.

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Bernie Sanders: Government Should Confiscate All Wealth Over $999 Million

No billionaires at all!

Not American ones, at least.

That’s the newly proclaimed policy of Bernie Sanders, who most definitely is not challenging the Democrats to nominate him for president in 2024, as he did in 2020. Nope, Bernie is perfectly comfortable with the policies being followed by President Biden’s handlers.

Presumably, in exchange for not rocking the boat as he did in 2020, forcing the party’s controllers to pick an already senescent Joe Biden just because he was easy to control with all these bribes that could be exposed when needed (cough! Stay tuned as Biden’s desire for re-election now appears to be a kamikaze mission), Bernie has assurances that the hard left vector will continue no matter who is leading the party as presidential nominee in 2024.

Bernie Sanders’s choice of $999 million as the permissible level of wealth and no more brings to mind Barack Obama’s words: “I mean, I do think at a certain point you’ve made enough money.”

Of course, once such a wealth confiscation is announced, billionaires will depart for friendlier shores, there will be very little left to confiscate, and entrepreneurs will be creating jobs and wealth elsewhere.

That’s what happened when France tried a wealth tax, and that’s why it was repealed. 

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The Number Of Jailed Journalists Reaches Record High

In 2022, more journalists than ever before were imprisoned for doing their job.

As Statista’s Martin Armstrong reports, some 363 journalists were imprisoned in 30 different countries last year, according to data from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

By 2021, the number of detainees had already exceeded 300 – roughly doubling since 2015. An alarming trend that, according to the experts, is a sign of the deterioration of press freedom worldwide.

In 2022, the largest number of journalists were held in an Iranian prison (62 people), in China (43), and Myanmar, where 42 people were locked away at the end of the year.

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Bringing the War on Terror Home to Target Americans for ‘Disinformation’

The U.S. government took the information techniques it learned after 9/11 and has turned them on Americans. America may have lost the Great War on Terror, but our technocratic elites could still win their war against American liberty.

That’s the argument made by Jacob Siegel in a 13,000-word Tablet magazine article titled “A Guide to Understanding the Hoax of the Century,” which seeks to explain “a high-level hoax perpetrated against the American people” by elitists “who believe themselves to be infallible.”

Specifically, Siegel writes, these “infallible” elitists believe they are saving the world from “disinformation,” which is whatever they view as untruths about Russia, Ukraine, Donald Trump, Covid, climate change, election fraud, Brexit, etc. You name a flavor of disinfo, and they want to save us from it. And they’re operating in the State Department and other federal agencies, in numerous foundations and NGOs, and at a hundred academic “centers” that have sprung up like ‘shrooms since 2016.

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