Award-winning country singer RaeLynn wrote a powerful pro-life song, which the new mom says really “hits home,” for her newly released album “Baytown.”
Earlier this month, RaeLynn introduced “She Chose Me” to her followers via Instagram. “‘She Chose Me,’ one of the tracks on BAYTOWN, hits close to home for me in many ways,” the singer posted. “This album’s got a lot of sass and bass but I promised you I will always write from the heart and not shy away from the hard subjects. This song is my heart.”
Taste of Country noted that the song outlines “‘a Bible Belt-lovin’ believer’ who gets pregnant after an extramarital affair with a man on Galveston Bay and, the lyrics imply, considers getting an abortion,” but in the end chooses her daughter.
RaeLynn also praises the joy of motherhood in the album. “‘Made for Me to Love,’ a love letter to her infant daughter Daisy, in January, when she was only eight weeks pregnant,” Taste of Country said. “She says she arrived at the writing session feeling ‘super emotional’ and, despite the axiom about waiting to share pregnancy news until after the first trimester, she told her co-writers that she was pregnant before sitting down to write the song.”
View the lyrics to the song, below, via AZLyrics.com:
She was a bible belt lovin’ believer With a twelve year ring on her hand Got a little too close to the fire And started burnin’ for another man One thing lead to another At a motel on Galveston Bay They didn’t know it at the time But more than just love was made That’s one hell of a choice to make
If it went the other way nobody would have blamed her Think of all the small town talk it would have saved her She could have chosen one quick fix To get her out of one big mess She could have tied a different ribbon to the ending of the story Coulda kept her secret, gotten out before it Changed her life, she could’ve changed her mind And changed everything But she chose me
She didn’t quite know how to tell him You try to speak a truth like that She didn’t know where to turn to But she knew a way to take it back She had it written into her schedule Like just another thing to do But that box never got checked off And I’m sittin’ here livin’ proof
If it went the other way nobody would have blamed her Think of all the small town talk it would have saved her She could have chosen one quick fix To get her out of one big mess She could have tied a different ribbon to the ending of the story Coulda kept her secret, gotten out before it Changed her life, she could’ve changed her mind And changed everything But she chose me But she chose me, yeah
Me the daughter, me the sister Me the dreamer with pigtails in pictures Me the wife, my husband loves I’m just thankful because
If it went the other way nobody would have blamed her Think of all the small town talk it would have saved her She could have chosen one quick fix To get her out of one big mess She could have tied a different ribbon to the ending of the story Coulda kept her secret, gotten out before it Changed her life, she could’ve changed her mind And changed everything But she chose me She chose me
As of Sept. 27, 2021 there were 569,294 adverse event reports associated with COVID-19 vaccination in the U.S., according to the federal Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS).
The most common disorders reported after COVID-19 vaccinations in the U.S. include temperature-related issues (226,457), skin problems (174,793), and a category that includes movement, muscle, nerve, neuropathy, numbness, and paralysis (164,200).
That’s according to an original analysis of the federal Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS).
Next in line are non-specified pain-related issues (139,395), feeling abnormal, tired or weak (139,395), injection site reactions (121,538), headaches (111,549), heart events (79,012), and lung or respiratory problems (77,976).
Abdominal problems (40,415), getting COVID-19 after vaccination (34,589), and blood clots or bleeding, including in the heart and brain (32,023), are also common among the VAERS reports.
So are product issues (29,661) and mood or memory problems (31,720).
As of Sept. 27, 2021 there were 569,294 adverse event reports associated with COVID-19 vaccination in the U.S., with a total of 2,433,730 symptoms reported.
Each symptom reported does not necessarily equal one patient. Adverse event reports often include multiple symptoms for a single patient.
Reporting of illnesses and symptoms that occur after COVID-19 vaccination does not necessarily mean they were caused by the vaccine. The system is designed to collect adverse events that occur after vaccination to uncover any patterns of illnesses that were not captured during vaccine studies.
Reports can be made by doctors, patients or family members and/or acquaintances, or vaccine industry representatives.
Scientists have estimated that adverse events occur at a rate manyfold higher than what is reported in VAERS, since it is assumed that most adverse events are not reported through the tracking system.
However, some observers claim COVID-19 vaccine adverse events are not as likely to be underreported as those associated with other medicine, due to close monitoring and widespread publicity surrounding COVID-19 vaccination.
Approximately 391 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been given in the U.S. to 185 million people. It’s estimated about 56% of the population is fully vaccinated. This is not believed to include more than one million people who crossed the border illegally so far this year.
According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the benefits of COVID-19 vaccine outweigh the risks for all groups and age categories authorized to receive it.
The following is a summary of health alerts issued in the U.S. or around the world, and how the adverse events reported in the VAERS database fit in. That’s followed by a list broken down into 78 groupings of common categories of side effects reported.
Health concerns raised in the U.S. and around the world:
Functional Neurological Disorder
Researchers in the United Kingdom are studying cases of Functional Neurological Disorder (FND) in women in their 30s who became ill after receiving COVID-19 vaccines. FND Symptoms can include limb weakness, paralysis, tremor, spasms, problems walking, speech problems, tingling, vision loss, seizures, fatigue, anxiety, chronic pain, memory symptoms, and blackouts.
An analysis of the VAERS database shows hundreds of thousands of reports of such symptoms.
Lymphadenopathy: 16,858 reports
Earlier this month, the Pfizer COVID-19 mRNA vaccine was found to be associated with an increased risk of lymphadenopathy, swelling or inflammation of lymph nodes according to a real-world case-control study from Israel.
Facial Paralysis: 5,273 reports
An analysis in Hong Kong showed risk of Bell’s palsy is higher with CoronaVac (Sinovac Biotech) shot, a vaccine formulation not currently used in the U.S. Bell’s palsy is facial paralysis, muscle twitching, or weakness. It may include change in taste and pain around the ear, increased sensitivity to sound known as hyperacusis.
Guillain-Barre Syndrome Paralysis: 696 reports
In July, the FDA added warnings about Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS) paralysis in people who got the Johnson and Johnson/Janssen COVID-19 vaccine. GBS is an autoimmune disorder that damages nerve cells, causing muscle weakness and sometimes paralysis. One in 20 cases is fatal.
The European Union has also reported GBS as a possible side effect from Johnson and Johnson’s vaccine. In the U.K. and India, scientists have also linked Guillain-Barre syndrome to the AstraZeneca vaccine, which is not used in the U.S. A case has also been reported in a patient who got the Pfizer vaccine.
According to CDC, most cases have been reported about two weeks after vaccination in men, many 50 years and older.
A study in Journal of Neurology examined possible links between the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, and acute Central Nervous System (CNS) demyelination, including Multiple Sclerosis (MS).
Demyelination including Multiple Sclerosis (MS): More than 650 reports
Demyelinating diseases damage the protective covering surrounding nerve fibers in the brain, optic nerves and spinal cord, causing neurological problems. Ages ranged from 24 to 64 years old. Four patients were ultimately diagnosed with exacerbation of their stable MS. Two were diagnosed with new cases of MS. One was diagnosed with neuromyelitis optica.
An analysis of the VAERS database shows more than 650 related reports, including MS.
According to CDC, it is investigating reports of the heart disorders myocarditis and pericarditis after COVID-19 vaccine to see if there is a relationship.
The Pfizer COVID-19 mRNA vaccine was found to triple the risk of myocarditis, according to a real-world case-control study from Israel, which found “vaccination had a strong association with an increased risk of myocarditis.”
The FDA added a warning to Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines about risk of heart inflammation.
As of June of 2021, CDC said more than 1,200 cases of heart inflammation (myocarditis or pericarditis) in young people had been reported after Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccination.
More than half were after the second dose.
Most of the injuries are in males under age 30.
However, in August, a new, independent study of medical records found the incidences of myocarditis and pericarditis are more than five times more common than CDC reported.
The Israeli Ministry of Health announced it’s monitoring for heart inflammation after Pfizer’s vaccine due to reports of problems. An Aug. 10 study in JAMA Cardiology confirms the Pfizer vaccine’s previously identified myocarditis (heart inflammation) risk in young boys.
A study of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines published in September finds teenage boys are six times more likely to suffer heart issues from COVID-19 vaccination than from COVID.
Breakthrough COVID cases (lack of immunity): 34,589
Concerns about waning immunity heightened in June 2021 when Israel announced that about half of the adults infected with COVID-19 during its outbreak in the June 2021 time period were fully vaccinated. The fully vaccinated individuals had received the Pfizer shots.
In early September, an analysis of data in Israel showed almost 60% of those hospitalized for COVID were fully vaccinated. “This is a very clear warning sign for the rest of the world,” said Ran Balicer, CIO at Clalit Health Services, Israel’s largest health maintenance organization. “If it can happen here, it can probably happen anywhere.”
With evidence of seriously waning immunity at the five- to six-month mark, and thousands of fully vaccinated patients hospitalized with COVID-19 or dying from the virus, CDC is now recommending a third “booster” shot in some patients.
The VAERS database shows 34,589 reports of COVID-19 after vaccination as well as COVID-19 pneumonia, suspected cases, and complications.
Blood Clots and Disorders: More than 32,000 reports
In late June, the first case of a blood clot disorder called “thrombosis with thrombocytopenia” after an RNA double-dose vaccine was reported in the Annals of Internal Medicine. The case was that of a 65-year-old man who developed symptoms ten days after his second dose of the Moderna vaccine.
The CDC and FDA say they identified 47 confirmed reports of people who “got the J&J/Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine and later developed TTS. Women younger than 50 years old especially should be aware of the rare but increased risk of this adverse event.” The agencies also confirmed two cases after Moderna’s vaccine but say they do not believe there is a link.
An Aug. 10 study in JAMA Cardiology urged caution in giving COVID-19 vaccine to certain high-risk patients due to the vaccine link to thrombocytopenia with thrombosis. “One of the devastating manifestations of this syndrome, termed vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia (VITT), is cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST),” say the study authors. The link involves the AstraZeneca/Oxford and Johnson & Johnson vaccines, according to the study.
An editorial published in the Journal of the American Medical Association recommended women under age 50 avoid the Johnson & Johnson vaccine due to concerns about blood clots. The recommendation discussed 12 case reports of a blood disorder known as cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) with thrombocytopenia following the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
The AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, not used in the U.S., has been linked to a dangerous disorder involving blood clots with low blood platelets. On April 7, 2021, the European Medicines Agency says it made the association after it analyzed 62 cases of cerebral venous sinus thrombosis and 24 cases of splanchnic vein thrombosis reported in the EU drug safety database (EudraVigilance) as of March 22, 2021; 18 of which were fatal.
The Johnson and Johnson COVID-19 vaccine was temporarily removed from the market.
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine was allowed back on the market April 27, 2021 with new warnings about the disorder.
Many countries have restricted vaccines in people under age 65, 60 or 50 due to reports of blood clots in young people. Some countries have halted the Astra Zeneca or Johnson & Johnson shots due to blood clot concerns.
Menstrual-related: 10,318 reports
All brands of COVID-19 vaccines are associated with changes in menstrual cycles of women, according to a British study in September. The more-than-10,000 reports of menstrual issues in the VAERS database includes periods that are abnormally heavy, painful, irregular, short or absent.
Death: 8,164
“Reports of death after COVID-19 vaccination are rare,” according to the CDC.
“Reports of adverse events to VAERS following vaccination, including deaths, do not necessarily mean that a vaccine caused a health problem,” the national public health agency emphasizes. “A review of available clinical information, including death certificates, autopsy, and medical records, has not established a causal link to COVID-19 vaccines.”
CDC says that COVID-19 vaccines are safe for pregnant women and their unborn children. There are more than 1,800 reports of pregnancy-related problems in the VAERS database.
Herpes-related: 6,339 reports
The Pfizer COVID-19 mRNA vaccine was found to be associated with an increased risk of herpes zoster infection, according to a real-world case-control study from Israel.
Anaphylactic reaction or shock: 1,803 reports
According to the CDC, “anaphylaxis after COVID-19 vaccination is rare and has occurred in approximately 2 to 5 people per million vaccinated in the United States.”
The Pfizer COVID-19 mRNA vaccine was found to be associated with increased risk of appendicitis, according to a real-world case-control study from Israel.
President Joe Biden on Monday told Republican senators to “get out of the way” and let Democrats suspend the nation’s debt limit on their own, hoping to keep the U.S. government from coming dangerously close to a credit default as Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell refuses to lend his party’s help.
Biden’s criticism comes as Congress faces an Oct 18 deadline to allow for more borrowing to keep the government operating after having accrued a total public debt of $28.4 trillion. The House has passed a measure to suspend the debt limit, but McConnell is forcing Senate Democrats into a cumbersome process that could drag on for weeks and brush up against a deadline with little margin for error.
Both Biden and McConnell have promised the country will avoid default, yet the public fight and political posturing risks an economic meltdown. The global economy relies on the stability of U.S. Treasury notes, and unpaid debt could crush financial markets and hurl America into recession.
“They need to stop playing Russian roulette with the U.S. economy,” Biden said at the White House. “Republicans just have to let us do our job. Just get out of the way. If you don’t want to help save the country, get out of the way so you don’t destroy it.”
Once a routine vote, the need to raise the nation’s debt limit has become increasingly partisan. It’s become a favorite political weapon of Republicans to either demand concessions or force Democrats into unpopular votes to enable more borrowing. McConnell has tied the vote to Biden’s multitrillion-dollar tax and economic agenda that awaits Congressional approval.
Biden said he planned to talk with McConnell, who dug in with a letter of his own to the president.
“We have no list of demands. For two and a half months, we have simply warned that since your party wishes to govern alone, it must handle the debt limit alone as well,” the Kentucky senator wrote in the Monday letter.
The financial markets have stayed relatively calm with interest rates on 10-year Treasury notes holding just below 1.5%. That rate is slightly higher than the all-time lows set last year as the coronavirus pandemic spread, but it’s still lower than at any time other time over nearly 60 years of data tracked by the Federal Reserve.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has said the government will exhaust its cash reserves on Oct. 18, an event she says would likely trigger a financial crisis and economic recession. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer warned on Monday that it would be hazardous for the economy to come anywhere near that deadline.
“The consequences of even approaching the X date could be disastrous for our economy and devastating to American families, raising the costs of borrowing for average Americans and hampering our economic recovery over the long-term,” Schumer said in a letter to Democratic senators.
Democrats and Republicans are in a standoff over how to handle an extension for the debt ceiling. Republicans are insisting that Democrats go it alone with the same legislative tool that is already being used to try and pass Biden’s plan to boost safety net, health and environmental programs. Democrats say that extending the debt limit has traditionally been a bipartisan effort and that the debt cap was built up under presidents from both parties.
Schumer said that if the debt issue is not resolved this week, the Senate will likely be forced to remain in session during the weekend and possibly the following week when senators were scheduled to be back in their home states.
Schumer also discussed the current state of play with the bipartisan $1 trillion infrastructure bill that has already passed the Senate and is stuck in the House, as well as Biden’s larger, $3.5 trillion effort focused on social programs and the environment that would be offset by tax increases on corporations and the wealthy. He noted that the president visited with House Democrats on Friday to generate support for both measures.
“He encouraged them to stick together, compromise, and find the sweet spot that will allow us to complete our work,” Schumer said. “I agree with his sentiment wholeheartedly – we can get this done, together, if we put aside our differences and find the common ground within our party.”
Biden will be traveling to Michigan on Tuesday to promote his legislative plan as negotiations resume in Washington. Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona have said they won’t back a $3.5 trillion spending bill. And many House Democrats won’t support the smaller bipartisan infrastructure plan until they get an agreement on the larger measure.
It was hard for me to imagine Nancy Pelosi’s political inquisition, more commonly known as the January 6th Committee, could get any more detestable. I should never underestimate the left’s depravity.
The very first amendment to our Constitution explicitly protects the right of Americans to peacefully protest and petition their government:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
The First Amendment is the very foundation of the entire American system. No amendment does more to protect the rights of Americans from a tyrannical government than does the First Amendment, and yet, this week the January 6th Committee launched a full frontal assault on the First Amendment.
This week, the January 6th Committee subpoenaed 11 individuals – absolutely none of them connected in any way whatsoever to the violence that occurred at the Capitol that day. Indeed, most of those subpoenaed are guilty of nothing more than helping to organize a 100% peaceful rally at the Ellipse to hear the President of the United States speak.
This is a total witch-hunt. @GOP leaders need to push back against the ridiculous subpoenas against the young staffers. https://t.co/WZG5IT40xo
I know the President’s speech at the Ellipse because I handled media for Women for America First – the organization that organized that speech (while I have not yet been subpoenaed, much of Women For America First’s leadership has been subject to this political persecution).
It’s not just conservatives like me who are concerned about this unprecedented attack on the First Amendment, even liberals are expressing concern over this latest round of subpoenas:
“At minimum, there needs to be some distinction between people who actually participated in the attack on the U.S. Capitol and those who were in D.C. lawfully exercising their right to protest,” said Elizabeth Goitein, the co-director of the Brennan Center’s Liberty and National Security Program, fearing a “dangerous precedent.”
For those of you who don’t know, the Brennan Center is one of the nation’s leading left-wing legal think tanks named for famed liberal Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan.
Since its inception, the Jan. 6 committee has taken the shape of a partisan show-trial sought to weaponize the legislative branch against the Democrats’ political dissidents rather than a legitimate probe investigating the breach of the Capitol complex.
Even before this week, Nancy Pelosi’s January 6th committee was an absolute abuse of power. A transparent attempt to demonize political opponents.
After this week, it is clear that not only will Pelosi and company abuse their Congressional authority, they will happily trample on the most basic and fundamental of Constitutional protections to serve their partisan political desires.
Nancy Pelosi and the left know that what makes President Trump powerful is the movement he built. They failed to permanently end his political career with their two impeachment attempts, so now they have turned their attention to persecuting the people who make up Trump’s MAGA movement.
Not a single person charged with insurrection but why let facts get in the way. https://t.co/ntRc9RdEps
The only person who died on January 6th was an unarmed female Trump supporter – Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt. The only people who actually breached the Capitol on that day have been held in solitary confinement, denied a right to a speedy trial, and treated like terrorists.
The media continues to claim that January 6thwas insurrection – despite the fact that not one single individual has been charged with insurrection or anything even remotely close to that.
What happened on January 6th was regrettable, what has happened since January 6th is infinitely worse.
Former US presidential candidate Andrew Yang announced his “strangely emotional experience” of leaving the Democratic Party on Monday, just a day before his new book went on sale, claiming that he feels more like an independent.
In a statement titled “Breaking up with the Democratic Party,” Yang revealed that he’d changed his official voting registration from Democrat to Independent.
“I registered as a Democrat back in 1995 when I was 20 years old to vote for Bill Clinton’s re-election. It was a no-brainer for me,” Yang wrote, noting that he “went to a college that was very liberal” and that everyone he knew in New York City was a Democrat.
“I’ve been a Democrat my entire adult life. And yet, I’m confident that no longer being a Democrat is the right thing,” he continued. “While it was simply a small piece of paperwork, I genuinely felt a shift in my mindset as soon as I signed it.”
Yang explained that one of the major reasons he left the Democratic Party was because the US political system is “stuck” due to “polarization,” and getting worse, and that now he’s “not a member of one party or another,” he “can be even more honest about both the system and the people in it.”
The former presidential candidate also expressed his distaste at having to make “partisan”arguments, describing himself as “not very ideological.”
“I believe I can reach people who are outside the system more effectively. I feel more… independent,” he concluded.
It was a “strangely emotional experience,” he said, but “Breaking up with the Democratic Party feels like the right thing to do because I believe I can have a greater impact this way.”
Though some Americans wished Yang well on his independent future, others accused him of leaving to promote his upcoming book and because of his two recent election primary losses – first during the 2020 Democratic presidential primary, where he dropped out to endorse Joe Biden, and second during his failed 2021 campaign to become mayor of New York City, where he conceded defeat after coming fourth in first-place votes.
For book sales, correct? Not sure how this helps exactly, while we are battling existential threat of current GOP. Further dividing the current Democratic Party is only self serving at this time.
“After reading this, I cannot for the life of me understand the argument for why he’s leaving the party other than he’s lost two races and needs the attention,”tweeted Tim Fullerton, a former staffer for President Barack Obama’s 2008 election campaign. “There’s not a single policy position in this piece. That should tell you all you need to know.”
One person questioned whether it is “called leaving when the voters of the party overwhelmingly rejected you first,” while another wrote, “His new book comes out this week which is purely coincidental.”
Last month, it was reported that the final chapter in Yang’s upcoming book ‘Forward: Notes on the Future of Our Democracy’ would announce the creation of a new third party name ‘The Forward Party’. The book is set to be published on Tuesday.
Despite bringing support for a universal basic income system (UBI) to the political mainstream, Yang’s 2020 and 2021 campaigns were plagued with controversy, from his vehement support for Israel to his poorly thought out statements.
In June, Yang received backlash for declaring that though “mentally ill people have rights,”everyone else has the right to “not fear” that a “mentally ill person is going to lash out at us”on the street.
Over the past year alone, Yang was also heavily criticized for proposing a “barcode” system that would allow New Yorkers to prove their Covid-19 vaccination status; for making a “cringeworthy” and “outdated”appeal to the LGBT community; for publishing a bizarre National Pets Day tweet about a dog he gave away; and for likening the pro-Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement to “fascist,” anti-Semitic hate campaigns.
On Twitter, Facebook communications exec Andy Stone says, “We’re aware that some people are having trouble accessing our apps and products. We’re working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible, and we apologize for any inconvenience.” Mike Schroepfer, who will step down from his post as CTO next year, tweeted, “We are experiencing networking issues and teams are working as fast as possible to debug and restore as fast as possible.”
Inside Facebook, the outage has broken nearly all of the internal systems employees use to communicate and work. Several employees told The Verge they’ve resorted to talking through their work-provided Outlook email accounts, though employees can’t receive emails from external addresses. Employees who were logged into work tools such as Google Docs and Zoom before the outage can still use those, but any employee who needs to login with their work email is blocked.
Facebook engineers have been sent to the company’s U.S. data centers to try and fix the problem, according to two people familiar with the situation. That means the outage, already Facebook’s most severe in years, could be further prolonged.
*Sincere* apologies to everyone impacted by outages of Facebook powered services right now. We are experiencing networking issues and teams are working as fast as possible to debug and restore as fast as possible
A peek at Down Detector (or your Twitter feed) reveals the problems are widespread. While it’s unclear exactly why the platforms are unreachable for so many people, their DNS records show that, like last week’s Slack outage, the problem is apparently DNS (it’s always DNS).
Cloudflare senior vice president Dane Knecht notes that Facebook’s border gateway protocol routes — BGP helps networks pick the best path to deliver internet traffic — have been “withdrawn from the internet.” While some have speculated about hackers, or an internal protest over last night’s whistleblower report, there isn’t any information yet to suggest anything malicious is to blame.
Instagram.com is flashing a 5xx Server Error message, while the Facebook site merely tells us that something went wrong. The problem also appears to be affecting its virtual reality arm, Oculus. Users can load games they already have installed, and the browser works, but social features or installing new games does not. The outage is thorough enough that it’s affecting Workplace from Facebook customers and, according to Jane Manchun Wong, Facebook’s internal sites.
The South Pole recorded its coldest season since climate scientists began tracking temperatures on the continent in 1957, The Washington Post reported.
Antarctica’s average temperature over the last six months was minus 78 degrees, or 4.5 degrees below the average recorded over the previous 30 years, The Washington Post reported. The temperatures were recorded between April and September — Antarctica’s winter months — at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. Temperatures even touched minus 100, at times, University of Wisconsin Scientists Matthew Lazzara told the Post.
Scientists pointed to a major polar vortex that swept through the southern continent as the likely cause for low temperatures, the Post reported.
“Basically, the winds in the polar stratosphere have been stronger than normal, which is associated with shifting the jet stream toward the pole,” National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Scientist Amy Butler said, according to the Post. “This keeps the cold air locked up over much of Antarctica.”
A polar vortex is a mass of low pressure and cold air, according to the National Weather Service. Polar vortices occur on both of Earth’s poles during their respective winter months.
Antarctica’s ice loss slowed considerably, too, National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) data showed. Sea ice extent, or the area where there is at least some recorded ice, reached its fifth-highest recorded level in August while the average pace of ice loss on the South Pole dipped to its 10th lowest level.
Staff arrive to greet former Secretary of State John Kerry as he arrives at McMurdo Station in Antarctica on Nov. 11, 2016. (Mark Ralston/AFP via Getty Images)
“The pace of ice loss for the month was much slower than in recent years but still near the average pace for the reference period of 1981 to 2010, leading to the tenth lowest August of the satellite data record,” the NSIDC said in a blog post in September.
Krzysztof Wargan, a research scientist at National Aeronautics and Space Administration, echoed Butler’s view, saying the temperatures recorded on the ground related to the region’s strong polar vortex, the Post reported. University of Colorado Senior Research Scientist Ted Scambos added that polar vortex conditions can change rapidly, meaning high-speed winds could quickly reverse and give way to warming or rapid ice loss.
“One cold winter is interesting but doesn’t change the long term trend, which is warming,” Eric Steig, a professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Washington, told the Post.
While Antarctica has experienced lower temperatures than expected this year, the rest of the world has warmed, according to climate scientist Zack Labe. In addition, the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a report in August, projecting that the world will continue to warm through 2050.
“The alarm bells are deafening, and the evidence is irrefutable: greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel burning and deforestation are choking our planet and putting billions of people at immediate risk,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in a statement. “Global heating is affecting every region on Earth, with many of the changes becoming irreversible.”
Looks like this ‘whistleblower’ is doing less whistling and more blowing.
Facebook “whistleblower” Frances Haugen is a longtime Democrat donor, supporting campaigns for far-left extremists such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. She has also donated money to activist groups actively attempting to derail the U.S. primary process that allows ordinary members of the public to beat out establishment, career politicians, The National Pulse can reveal.
Blowing the Establishment.
Haugen’s “whistleblowing” has been lauded by the corporate media: a sure sign that rather than being a sole actor attempting to call out corporate abuse, she is likely backed by some hefty interests. Haugen first anonymously leaked internal documents before revealing her identity and calling for mass censorship on the Facebook, but only of political ideas she opposes.
The National Pulse has thus far identified 36 donations from Haugen during her time as an employee of Facebook, Pinterest, and Gigster. All of the donations, which total nearly $2,000 since December 2016, have gone to Democrats including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
On January 13th, 2020, Haugen sent money to Ocasio-Cortez’s congressional campaign and a further contribution to her “Courage to Change” Political Action Committee (PAC).
“All endorsees will embody the ideals of racial, social, economic, and environmental justice,” promises the PAC.
Haugen’s most recent donation was August 4th, sending $100 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC).
Anti-Democracy Campaigners.
In-keeping with her wishes to purge political views other than hers from social media, Haugen has also donated to a left-wing “resistance” group which lists as one of its top priorities the dismantling of the U.S. primary process for elections.
America is somewhat unique on the world stage in its commitment to a decentralized process whereby ordinary citizens can become political party candidates. It is perhaps the most democratic part of U.S. elections.
But, in the words of the Haugen-backed “It Starts Today” campaign, “the modern partisan primary—particularly within the GOP—has turned out to have an unintended consequence: extremism in our elected officials and dysfunction in our legislatures.”
There is, of course, far more extremism on the political left in the U.S. Congress than on the political right. But as of June 2021, the group founded by ActBlue’s Jonathan Zucker decided that the way to beat Republicans was not to win the battle of ideas, but rather to stop real conservatives winning primaries.
Haugen donated twice to “It Starts Today,” and curiously claims that it “holds donations” for Democratic primary nominees until the end of the selection process.
Haugen’s loathing of free speech tracks with her disdain for the democratic process. Her previous roles include working at Google, which paid for her degree from the Harvard Business School.
How slippery is that slope? Apparently, not abiding by someone’s “preferred pronouns” is now a human rights violation.
What happened?
Jessie Nelson — whom the CBC described as “a non‐binary, gender fluid, transgender person who uses they/them pronouns” — was hired in 2019 as a server at a restaurant in Gibsons, British Columbia, a town not far from the northern United States border.
In a complaint, Nelson alleged that some of the restaurant staff was hostile. The bar manager Brian Gobelle reportedly refused to use Nelson’s preferred pronouns, instead using “she,” “her,” and other feminine names that are commonly used toward women. The situation reportedly boiled over just several days into Nelson’s employment, resulting in Nelson’s firing just four weeks after beginning work at the restaurant.
The restaurant owner reportedly told Nelson that the server had come off “too strong too fast,” was “militant,” had made people uncomfortable, and were not working well with the existing restaurant team.
Nelson later alleged discrimination on the basis of “gender identity and expression,” the CBC reported.
What did authorities say?
The British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal handed down a decision last month finding the restaurant violated Nelson’s human rights by not intervening quickly enough to ensure that staff used Nelson’s preferred pronouns.
The tribunal also said Gobelle discriminated against Nelson.
In a 42-page ruling, tribunal member Devyn Cousineau said that “pronouns are a fundamental part of a person’s identity.”
“Using correct pronouns communicates that we see and respect a person for who they are,” Cousineau wrote. “Especially for trans, non‐binary, or other non‐cisgender people, using the correct pronouns validates and affirms they are a person equally deserving of respect and dignity.”
“When people use the right pronouns, they can feel safe and enjoy the moment,” Cousineau added. “When people do not use the right pronouns, that safety is undermined and they are forced to repeat to the world: I exist.”
Cousineau also awarded Nelson $30,000 in damages, one-third of which would be paid by Gobelle; the other two-thirds would be paid by the restaurant owners.
Cousineau also ordered “mandatory training for all staff and managers about human rights in the workplace” for the restaurant and told restaurant owners to update their employee policies to include a statement “that affirms every employee’s right to be addressed with their correct pronouns.”
Are pronouns fundamental to identity?
Perhaps someone should lend Cousineau a basic linguistics textbook.
Despite Cousineau claiming that “pronouns are a fundamental part of a person’s identity,” pronouns are merely grammatical devices used in language to refer to nouns or noun phrases that have either been stated already or are assumed by context.
Pronouns, in fact, almost always have an antecedent, which is made clear by the context in which the pronoun is used.
In theory, languages do not need personal pronouns (I, me, you, he, him, she, her, it, we, us, they, them), the type of pronoun in contention here (as opposed to demonstrative or interrogative pronouns, for example). Many highly inflected languages, in fact, mostly use personal pronouns for emphatic purposes because verbal morphology encodes person and number (1st, 2nd, 3rd person and singular or plural). Using a personal pronoun becomes redundant.
English used to be highly inflected (Old English), but grammatical gender, cases, and complex verb conjugation dropped from the language over time. Because English verbs no longer encode person, it has thus become necessary to regularly use personal pronouns to clarify agency.
Personal pronouns, then, are not “fundamental” to a person’s identity, dignity, or human rights.
Far-left activists harassed Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) on Sunday, following her into a bathroom, yelling at her, and recording her while she went into a stall.
The far-left activists threatened Sinema that if she did not pass Democrat President Joe Biden’s agenda, they would get her removed from office.
Among the things that they demanded was a pathway to citizenship for millions of illegal aliens.
Due to the very private nature of the footage, it will not be included in this report.
Things that the far-left activists said to Sinema while she was in the bathroom included:
“We need a Build Back Better plan right now.”
“We need solutions in the Build Back Better plan, need to pass the solutions that we need.”
“We knocked on doors for you to get you elected. And just how we got you elected, we can get you out of office if you don’t support what you promised us.”
“We need the Build Back Better plan right now.”
The incident comes after Sinema issued the following statement on Saturday slamming Democrat congressional leadership for the games that it has played over the $3.5 trillion social spending bill and the bipartisan infrastructure bill:
The failure of the U.S. House to hold a vote on the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is inexcusable, and deeply disappointing for communities across our country. Denying Americans millions of good-paying jobs, safer roads, cleaner water, more reliable electricity, and better broadband only hurts everyday families.
Arizonans, and all everyday Americans, expect their lawmakers to consider legislation on the merits — rather than obstruct new jobs and critical infrastructure investments for no substantive reason. What Americans have seen instead is an ineffective stunt to gain leverage over a separate proposal. My vote belongs to Arizona, and I do not trade my vote for political favors — I vote based only on what is best for my state and the country. I have never, and would never, agree to any bargain that would hold one piece of legislation hostage to another.
Congress was designed as a place where representatives of Americans with valid and diverse views find compromise and common ground. That is why, when President Biden asked me to continue bipartisan infrastructure negotiations, I agreed and helped deliver the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act — a historic, broadly popular plan that reflects a key priority of President Biden’s. My commitment to delivering lasting results is also why I have engaged for months in direct, good-faith negotiations over the separate budget reconciliation proposal.
Good-faith negotiations, however, require trust. Over the course of this year, Democratic leaders have made conflicting promises that could not all be kept — and have, at times, pretended that differences of opinion within our party did not exist, even when those disagreements were repeatedly made clear directly and publicly. Canceling the infrastructure vote further erodes that trust. More importantly, it betrays the trust the American people have placed in their elected leaders and denies our country crucial investments to expand economic opportunities.
Canceling the U.S. House vote on the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act denies Americans millions of new good-paying jobs and hurts everyday families.
