Marjorie Taylor Greene introduces measure to prevent federal mask mandate

From Washington Times.com (Sept. 9, 2023):

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene introduced legislation on Friday that would prohibit the federal government from reviving mask mandates on air travel, public transit and in schools.

The Georgia Republican’s legislation would prevent any federal official, including President Biden, from imposing a mask mandate on flights, public transit, and at schools of every level. The measure also prevents commercial airlines, public transit authorities and educational institutions from denying services to people that do not want to wear a mask.

Ms. Greene’s measure, called the Freedom to Breathe Act, comes as several businesses and schools throughout the country have reimposed mask mandates in the wake of surging COVID-19 cases.

Ms. Greene called out Morris College, a university in Atlanta, for reinstating a mask mandate in August. She said on X, formerly Twitter, that Americans have had enough of “COVID hysteria.”

“Dr. Fauci privately recommended not wearing a mask to his close friends, admitting they weren’t effective, yet he provided nationwide public health guidance stating Americans be required to mask in nearly all social settings, including while on public transit and in schools,” Ms. Greene said in a statement announcing the legislation.

“Even Joe Biden himself declared the pandemic is over! We cannot allow our country to be sucked back into the COVID hysteria that ushered in unscientific and nonsensical health mandates like blanket masking policies,” she added.

The measure would also stop Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra from issuing mask mandates in planes, public transit and classrooms during public health emergencies, and prevent federal funding from being used to impose mask mandates in those places.

The bill picked up numerous cosponsors in the GOP-controlled House. So far, 13 lawmakers have thrown support behind the bill.

Ms. Greene introduced her measure as a companion to a bill from Sen. J.D. Vance, Ohio Republican.

Mr. Vance’s version of the measure was blocked by Sen. Ed Markey, Massachusetts Democrat, on Thursday when the Senate Republican attempted to pass the bill by unanimous consent. *Mr. Markey contended that the bill would inhibit state and local officials from making decisions “about what’s best for their communities.” [source]

Good for her! Now, the Congress needs to put the bill on President Trump’s desk for signing.

*Since when are the Dems for states rights?

Astronauts Return Safely After 9 Months in Space

From Newsmax.com (Mar. 18):

After nine months stuck in space, NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry "Butch" Wilmore splashed down in the Gulf of America shortly before 6 p.m. ET on Tuesday.

In a mission that was supposed to last eight days, Williams and Wilmore were stranded at the International Space Station when their Boeing Starliner suffered thruster problems. NASA opted to bring them home via Elon Musk's SpaceX.

Williams and Wilmore came home via SpaceX Dragon, parachuting down off the coast of Tallahassee in the Florida Panhandle at 5:57 p.m. ET to complete their 17-hour trek home.

After being retrieved and initial safety checks, Williams and Wilmore will be flown to Houston to begin a 45-day rehabilitation program. Challenges such as muscle and bone loss, fluid shifts that can lead to kidney stones and vision issues, and the readjustment of balance upon returning to a gravity environment are well understood and effectively managed.

The Trump administration blamed the Biden administration for marooning Williams and Wilmore, asserting that former President Joe Biden didn't want Musk to get the glory for rescuing the pair.

Wilmore and Williams ended up spending 286 days in space — 278 days longer than anticipated when they launched. They circled Earth 4,576 times and traveled 121 million miles by the time of splashdown.

Joining them on SpaceX Dragon were NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov. [source]

Great news! Happy for them. It's too bad the previous president didn't rescue the astronauts but I guess they weren't a priority for him.

Other articles and videos on the rescue:

• Stranded Astronaut in Space Proclaims Gospel Before Historic Rescue Back to Earth
• Experts reveal how long it will take NASA astronauts to recover after nine months stranded in space
• Elon Musk Confirms That He Offered to Return Astronauts Sooner But Was Turned Down by Biden Admin ‘For Political Reasons’ (VIDEO)
• Trump offers to pay stranded astronauts out of his pocket after finding out how little overtime they are paid
• Federal Judge Orders Astronauts Be Returned To Space Station
• Stranded Astronauts Splash Down to Massive Cheers [video]

Trump establishes a new council to advance U.S. energy dominance

From Washington Times.com (Feb. 14):

President Trump signed an executive order Friday establishing the National Energy Dominance Council.

The Council will be chaired by Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum and vice-chaired by Energy Secretary Chris Wright. Other members will come from the Cabinet and other governmental agencies.

“We have more energy than any other country, and now we’re unleashing it,” Mr. Trump said in the Oval Office.

“We must expand all forms of reliable and affordable energy production to drive down inflation, grow our economy, create good-paying jobs, reestablish American leadership in manufacturing, lead the world in artificial intelligence, and restore peace through strength by wielding our commercial and diplomatic levers to end wars across the world,” the executive order said.

The order directed the council to advise the president “on how best to exercise his authority to produce more energy to make America energy dominant.”

That includes advising Mr. Trump on improving the processes of handling American energy like critical minerals, creating a “National Energy Dominance Strategy” and facilitating the relationship between the government and private sector energy companies.

Within 100 days, the council is expected to present the president a plan for how to raise awareness of the American energy dominance plan. The council will also advise agencies how to prioritize the plan, including approving new infrastructure such as natural gas pipelines in New England, California and Alaska, reopening closed power plants and turning on small modular nuclear reactors.

The council will also advise the president on energy markets, investments and how to keep the cost of energy down for Americans.

The Biden administration’s restrictions on offshore oil drilling in parts of the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic Oceans also will be lifted.

“President Trump knows that these public lands belong to the public — they don’t belong to Washington bureaucrats from the prior administration,” Mr. Burgum wrote on social media. “We’re going to make sure that we get a return on investment for the American people.”

Mr. Wright also authorized the first liquified natural gas export permit for a project in Louisiana.

“President Trump has outlined a bold agenda for unleashing American energy dominance, and restoring regular order on U.S. LNG export permits is critical for meeting this commitment to the American people,” he said in a statement.

On his first day in office, Mr. Trump declared a national energy emergency, calling for “a reliable, diversified, and affordable supply of energy to drive our Nation’s manufacturing, transportation, agriculture, and defense industries, and to sustain the basics of modern life and military preparedness.”

The emergency declaration criticized the “harmful and shortsighted policies of the previous administration.”

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie applauded the creation of the council, calling it “a strong step toward securing our energy future, and ensuring we have the resources necessary to meet the demands that AI will place on our grid.”

“Energy security is national security. By utilizing our domestic energy resources to create baseload power, we can lower prices, secure our grid, and provide the energy needed to grow manufacturing, heat our homes, and fill our gas tanks,” Mr. Guthrie, Kentucky Republican, said in a statement. [source]

America's back on track again. I like the winning.  Drill, baby, drill! 

Miscellaneous Thoughts 47

• The only person you can put on a pedestal is Jesus Christ. No-one else.
• Drag queens who entertain in front of children are closet pedophiles.
• Oppressor and oppressee are the only two truths the Left believes in. I thought the Left didn’t believe in binary concepts.
• You can change your sex but not anything else like your race. Go figure.
• Peer pressure is only good for a person if the peers are looking out for that person.
• If you are using the pronouns they/them to describe yourself, you are either possessed by demons or have multiple personalities. Either way you need help.
• What if Adam and Eve asked God if the serpent was deceiving them? They had immediate access to Him. They wouldn't even have to explain the conversation to God, He would already know being omniscience.
• The oath at a trial: The Truth, the whole Truth, and nothing but the Truth is the essence of God and Jesus.
• Prediction: AI will eventually replace ghost writers.
• I wonder if Area 51 actually contains inventions from the private-sector the U. S. government classified as top-secret for national security reasons (see H.R. 4687 - Invention Secrecy Act of 1951)?

Controversial new AI app allows you to text with Jesus – and Satan

From NY Post.com (Aug. 23, 2023):

It’s not every day that the spiritual realm intersects with smartphone tech.

But in the era of chatbots and AI, even the biblical figures aren’t immune.

Welcome to the world of “Text With Jesus,” where you’re just a tap away from a conversation with the holy – and, for a price, the not-so-holy.

Deepening faith through ‘Text With Jesus’

For those longing for a more personal connection to their faith, this app might be the digital salvation they’re seeking.

Designed with devoted Christians in mind, “Text With Jesus” promises interaction with figures like Jesus, Mary, Joseph, Peter, and Matthew.

This app wears its spirituality on its screen, guiding you through its queries with responses mined from the depths of the Bible’s rich text.

Conversations go beyond tradition in the app

There’s a certain audacity in allowing you to go beyond the traditional interactions one might expect.

Although the full range of figures and unlimited messaging are only available to premium subscribers, the app is free to download and use on all eligible devices.

By shelling out just $2.99/month, you can embark on a journey through some of the Bible’s more intricate dialogues, like Adam and Eve’s narrative or the dawn of humanity.

The devil is in the details: The app’s most controversial feature

The app’s most controversial feature: conversations with Satan himself.

Expectations can be deceiving, especially in the world of AI.

Satan, historically the symbol of temptation and deceit, dons a surprisingly mellow avatar in this app.

Users anticipating fiery dialogues or cunning deceptions might be left scratching their heads.

Instead, the Prince of Darkness champions love, respect, and understanding — values synonymous with biblical virtues.

As if to ensure a modern flavor, each devilish interaction ends with a “smiling face with horns” emoji.

It’s an odd mix of solemnity and sass, which will undoubtedly spark reactions from traditionalists and tech enthusiasts alike.

Now, whether it’s a deliberate attempt to challenge perceptions or just a programming oversight remains a topic for debate.

Users anticipating fiery dialogues or cunning deceptions might be left scratching their heads.

Instead, the Prince of Darkness champions love, respect, and understanding — values synonymous with biblical virtues.

As if to ensure a modern flavor, each devilish interaction ends with a “smiling face with horns” emoji.

It’s an odd mix of solemnity and sass, which will undoubtedly spark reactions from traditionalists and tech enthusiasts alike.

Now, whether it’s a deliberate attempt to challenge perceptions or just a programming oversight remains a topic for debate.

However, it’s important to note that interaction with Satan is turned off by default and must be manually enabled by you if you choose to engage with this figure.

The app points out that, “the portrayal is rooted in Christian teachings, and users have full control over their engagement with all figures within the app.” [read more]

Don't know if this app is a good idea or not. Texting with Satan? He doesn't speak very much in the Bible and he's a very negative being. Instead how about adding other positive people like Moses (and other prophets), Mother Mary, the Apostles, etc. if you are going to write an app like this.

Another article on the matter: Text with Jesus app: AI deities trivializing Jesus (and Satan)

Researchers can now collect and sequence DNA from the air

From Live Science.com (Apr. 5, 2021):

We leave DNA all over the place, including in the air, and for the first time, researchers have collected animal DNA from mere air samples, according to a new study.

The DNA that living things, human and otherwise, shed into the environment is called environmental DNA (eDNA). Collecting eDNA from water to learn about the species living there has become fairly common, but until now, no one had attempted to collect animal eDNA from the air.

"What we wanted to know was whether we could filter eDNA from the air to track the presence of terrestrial animals," study author Elizabeth Clare, an ecologist at Queen Mary University of London, said in a video abstract for the study, published Mar. 31 in the journal PeerJ. "We were interested in whether we could use this 'airDNA' as a way to assess what species were present in a burrow or a cave where we could not easily see or capture them," she added.

As a proof-of-concept experiment, Clare and her colleagues tried collecting DNA from the air in an animal facility housing a model organism, the naked mole rat. The researchers detected both human and mole rat DNA in air from both the mole rat enclosures and the room where the enclosures are housed. 

"The demonstration that the DNA from relatively large animals can also be detected in air samples dramatically expands the potential for airborne eDNA analysis," said Matthew Barnes, an ecologist at Texas Tech University, in Lubbock, who was not involved in the new study.

In the last decade, the collection and analysis of eDNA to study and manage plant and animal populations has taken off, Barnes said. "The analogy that I use is like the detective at the crime scene, finding a cigarette butt and swabbing it for DNA to place the criminal at the crime scene. We do that with eDNA except for instead of looking for criminals, we're looking for a rare or elusive species," Barnes said. The species might be endangered or an invasive species new to an environment, he said. [read more]

Interesting. If the CSI:Miami TV drama ever comes back on the air, it could use this tech on an episode.

11 Insane Things Your Tax Dollars Paid For Thanks To USAID

From The Federalist.com (Feb. 4):

Democrats on Capitol Hill suffered a meltdown Monday after President Donald Trump moved to rein in the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

The agency, which had been unilaterally established under an executive order by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 and was ostensibly created to offer foreign financial assistance promoting sustainable development. In the nearly 65 years since USAID was created, however, the global welfare agency succumbed to the worst impulses of the administrative state, with bureaucrats exploiting their authority over tax dollars to drive international censorship and regime change.

“It’s been run by a bunch of radical lunatics, and we’re getting them out,” Trump told reporters Sunday.

Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., complained at a press conference of congressional Democrats that USAID could no longer be leveraged to engage in overseas nation-building.

“I am exceptionally upset about USAID,” she said, characterizing the agency as America’s vehicle of “soft power.”

In an interview with Fox News, however, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the agency had become filled with “rank insubordination.”

“They just think they’re a global entity and that their master is the globe and not the United States. And that’s not sustainable,” Rubio said.

Rubio told reporters on his first foreign trip to Latin America he is now the acting director of USAID after employees and congressional Democrats were locked out of the headquarters this week.

“There are a lot of functions of USAID that are going to continue, that are going to be part of American foreign policy, but it has to be aligned with American foreign policy,” Rubio said in El Salvador.

A review of its recent priorities reveal the agency had more to do with far-left social engineering overseas than responsible diplomacy. Here’s a look at what USAID has been funding with American tax dollars:

DEI Initiatives Abroad

Last week, the Daily Mail reported on a myriad of programs supported by USAID which will now lose funding after Trump’s executive orders “sealed the spigot of U.S. taxpayer dollars flowing to DEI projects abroad.” Items include $70,000 for a “DEI musical” in Ireland, $47,000 for a “transgender opera” in Colombia, $32,000 for a “transgender comic book” in Peru, and $1.5 million for an LGBT jobs program in Serbia.

The Daily Caller also reported in September USAID delivered a $2 million grant to Guatemalan activists “to help organizations led by transexuals perform sex changes in the country.” The program was scheduled to begin in April and run until 2027.

Electric Vehicles In Vietnam

According to the Daily Mail last week, USAID “awarded $2.5 million for electric vehicles for Vietnam” under President Biden.

“Since the huge investment of U.S. taxpayer dollars there has been at least one battery station built, avoiding a total of 260 gallons of gas, according to the USAID website,” the Daily Mail reported. “An average semi-truck holds roughly, by comparison, holds about 130 gallons of gas.” [read more]

America's hard earned tax money hard at work--being wasted. Just awful. 

The rest of things your tax dollars paid for:

1. Egyptian Infrastructure
2. Group Allegedly Linked To Terrorism
3. Meals For Terrorists
4. EcoHealth Alliance
5. Personalized Contraception
6. Afghan Opium
7. Fake HIV Prevention Workshop To Engineer Regime Change
8. Global Censorship
9. British Broadcast Media

More article and videos on USAID:

• The Most Outrageous, Horrific Things USAID Did With Your Tax Dollars
• 5 of the Worst USAID Scandals in History
• USAID helped fund the ‘Soros prosecutors’
• Before it was shuttered, USAID routed funds to Soros-aligned causes, terrorists and drag queens
• More Proof: USAID ‘Care Packages’ Found with Hezbollah Weapons in Lebanon
• USAID reportedly bankrolled al Qaeda terrorist's college tuition, unearthed records show
• Trump: Dems Used USAID Money as 'Payoff' to Media
• Conservative Hungarian PM Orbán Vows To Uncover and Punish Globalist NGOs and Parties Receiving USAID Funding To Subvert His Government
• These are the schools built by USAID in Pakistan
• Trump administration takes USAID off its building lease
• Transgender opera in Colombia? 10 SHOCKING ways USAID spent your tax dollars.
• Shutdown: Marco Rubio Cancels 83% of USAID Programs
• USAID official tells staffers: Shred and burn your documents
• Why Ending USAID Is Huge, Even If It’s a Small Part of the Budget
• Supreme Court Denies Trump Admin Request To Halt $2 Billion In Foreign Aid
• 3 stories that prove USAID is a criminal organization
• Why Trump SHOULD Dismantle USAID [video]
• Unpacking SCOTUS's Latest EMBARRASSING Decision On USAID Funding [video]
• Did USAID Really Fund Chelsea Clinton’s Wedding? Here's the FACTS [video]
• DOGE Agents Take On Insane Corruption At USAID [video]