Infants show racial bias toward members of own race and against those of other races

Via R

 

Two studies by researchers at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) at the University of Toronto and their collaborators from the US, UK, France and China, show that six- to nine-month-old infants demonstrate racial bias in favour of members of their own race and racial bias against those of other races.

In the first study, "Older but not younger infants associate own-race faces with happy music and other-race faces with sad music", published in Developmental Science, results showed that after six months of age, infants begin to associate own-race faces with happy music and other-race faces with sad music.

In the second study, "Infants rely more on gaze cues from own-race than other-race adults for learning under uncertainty", published in Child Development, researchers found that six- to eight-month-old infants were more inclined to learn information from an adult of his or her own race than from an adult of a different race.

(In both studies, infants less than six months of age were not found to show such biases).

Racial bias begins at younger age, without experience with other-race individuals

"The findings of these studies are significant for many reasons," said Dr. Kang Lee, professor at OISE's Jackman Institute of Child Study, a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair and lead author of the studies. "The results show that race-based bias already exists around the second half of a child's first year. This challenges the popular view that race-based bias first emerges only during the preschool years." Hear Dr. Lee discuss the research results.

More @ PHYS

The Hard Hand of War

 

A Review of Joseph W. Danielson, War’s Desolating Scourage: The Union’s Occupation of North Alabama, University Press of Kansas, 2012; Charles A. Misulia, Columbus Georgia 1865: The Last True Battle of the Civil War, The University of Alabama Press, 2010.

On Easter Sunday, April 16, 1865, Union forces under the command of General James Harrison Wilson attacked, captured, and sacked Columbus, GA in the last major battle of the War east of the Mississippi. Wilson’s campaign began in North Alabama and quickly moved South.

By this point in the War, Alabama could offer little resistance. Even the great Forrest could not stop Wilson at Selma. The “army” defending Columbus–like Forrest’s army at Selma–was little more than young boys and old men. Hastily constructed forts on the Alabama side of the Chattahoochee River were unmanned.

The Battle of Columbus began well enough for the Confederate defenders. They duped the Union cavalry into trying to cross a bridge packed with oil soaked cotton bales. As the Union charged the position, a Confederate battery overlooking the bridge opened fire and the bails were set ablaze. This temporarily halted the assault, but when the rest of the cavalry showed up later that day, Wilson decided on a night attack.

More @ The Abbeville Institute

Marine Le Pen Calls Out Trump On Major NATO Flip-Flop

Via Billy

Marine Le Pen, presidential candidate for the National Front in France, slammed President Donald Trump for flip-flopping on NATO.

“Undeniably he is in contradiction with the commitments he had made,” Le Pen said Friday during an interview with France Info radio. “I am coherent, I don’t change my mind in a few days. He had said he would not be the policeman of the world, that he would be the president of the United States and would not be the policeman of the world, but it seems today that he has changed his mind.”

Trump made an abrupt reversal of his campaign policies Wednesday as he hosted NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

“I said it was obsolete. It’s no longer obsolete,” Trump said Wednesday, despite affirming the military alliance’s obsolescence repeatedly during his election campaign.

 

Le Pen continued that given Trump’s switch, it’s unclear whether he’ll maintain a coherent “America First” approach in his policy moving forward.

More @ The Daily Caller

2 N. Korean satellites now orbit over U.S.

Comment by Terry on Getting ready: Pentagon to protect electric grid f... "What if the EMP threat is from the satellites they already have in orbit? KMS 3-2 - NORAD 39026  KMS-4 NORAD 41332.There are several websites where you can track them."

Dated

North Korea now has two satellites orbiting over the United States capable of performing a surprise electromagnetic pulse attack at an altitude and trajectory that evade U.S. National Missile Defenses, a national security expert warned in an interview with Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.

Peter Vincent Pry told G2 Bulletin that the satellites can be commanded either to deorbit and hit a target on the ground or explode at a high altitude to create an EMP effect that would knock out the unprotected U.S. national electrical grid system and all life-sustaining critical infrastructures that depend on it.

“The threat,” Pry said, “continues to race, hare-like, at an alarming rate, compared to the tortoise pace of our preparations.”

More @ WND

Graham compares Rice's surveillance scandal to Benghazi lies

Via Billy

Influential Sen. Lindsey Graham said he expects May hearings into allegations former Obama national security advisor Susan Rice ordered the unmasking of names of associates of President Donald Trump and compared her denials to the purposefully wrong claims that the Benghazi embassy attack in 2012 was caused by an anti-Islam video.

The South Carolina senator said, "I'm not going to prejudge. But I know, do know during Benghazi which you're well aware of, that she started the storyline of a protest caused by a video. It was always a terrorist attack on day one. They manipulated the information, I think for political reason."

More @ Washington Examiner

Facebook Suspends 30,000 French Accounts 10 days Before Election in Attempt to Censor Le Pen Supporters

Via Billy

Facebook suspended 30,000 French accounts ten days before a hotly contested election.

Critics argue the move is in an attempt to censor Marine Le Pens surging popularity.

Japan Today reported:

Facebook Inc said on Thursday it suspended 30,000 accounts in France as the social network giant steps up efforts to stop the spread of fake news, misinformation and spam.

The move, which comes 10 days before the first round of a hotly contested French presidential election, is among the most aggressive yet by Facebook to move against accounts that violate its terms of service, rather than simply respond to complaints.

More @ The Gateway Pundit

‘No Black Teens Allowed’ Sign in Melbourne Milk Bar Sparks Outrage

Via Billy

A racist sign on the window of a Melbourne milk bar says “black” teens are banned from going inside because they “steal things”.

The appalling note was left on the window of the store on Burleigh Rd, in Melton, in Melbourne’s west, and was sent to radio station 3AW.

As well as the teenagers, “dogs” were also banned from entry.

More @ HEATSTREET

Judicial Watch wants ethics probe widened to Democrats

Via Billy

The conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch is asking the Office of Congressional Ethics to investigate whether two Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee may have violated standards by disclosing classified information.

In the letter that requests the investigation of ranking committee member Rep. Adam Schiff and Rep. Jackie Speier, both of California, Judicial Watch cites other complaints to the OCE which were successful in garnering an investigation of House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif. Nunes stepped aside from leading the committee's Russia investigation after the OCE began their investigation.

"If the standard for filing a complaint or opening an ethics investigation is that a member has commented publicly on matters that touch on classified information, but the member does not reveal the source of his or her information, then the complaints against Chairman Nunes are incomplete insofar as they target only Nunes," Judicial Watch wrote. "At least two other members of the House Intelligence Committee have made comments about classified material that raise more directly the very same concerns raised against Chairman Nunes because they appear to confirm classified information contained in leaked intelligence community intercepts."

More @ Washington Examiner

Former FEC Chairwoman Calls for ‘Regulations’ of Political Speech on the Internet

Via Billy

The former Federal Election Commission chairwoman Ann M. Ravel says that political speech must be controlled on social media. She presented her remarks in a speech at UC Berkeley, calling for regulations against “fake news.”
 

Speaking at an event called “Future of Democracy,” Ravel argued the proliferation of “fake news” and political advertising on platforms like Facebook influenced elections. She warned that the lack of disclosure by the creators of these campaigns was becoming a huge problem.

More @ HEATSTREET

Lois Lerner demands secrecy, blames death threats over IRS tea party targeting

Via Billy

Former IRS senior executive Lois G. Lerner told a federal court this week that she faces the possibility of death threats if her role in the tax agency’s tea party-targeting becomes public, and asked a judge to forever seal her upcoming deposition in a class-action lawsuit brought by hundreds of groups that were targeted.

Mr. Lerner and Holly Paz, another figure from the IRS tea party targeting, told the judge they’ve already faced “harassment and death threats” before, and said they fear another media firestorm if their version of events from the tea party targeting were to become public.

The two women said they are willing to testify, but said they could be putting “their lives in serious jeopardy.”

More @ The Washington Times

Edward Snowden: Latest NSA leak is 'not a drill'

Via Billy

Former NSA contractor Edward Snowden warned on Twitter that "this is not a drill" after a group of hackers released Friday what they claim to be documents detailing the surveillance tools used by the National Security Agency for its hacking program that can break into millions of Microsoft Windows computers and may have been used to break into the Middle East financial network.

The tools, revealed by the Shadow Brokers, are designed to hack into Microsoft Windows operating systems and some of the documents suggest that the agency used them to target the SWIFT banking system, a worldwide network of financial institutions.

Snowden, who was granted asylum in Russia since 2013 after he leaked secret information from the NSA's surveillance programs, tweeted that these NSA "exploits affecting many fully-patched Windows systems have been released to the wild. NSA did not warn Microsoft."

More @ Washington Examiner

Fear of Trump Makes Migrants Disappear From Mexican Border

Via Billy

In the 35 years Gilda and Juan Francisco Loureiro have been running a shelter in northern Mexico for undocumented immigrants, they’ve never seen a week like this one.

The shelter, called Albergue San Juan Bosco, is perched on a steep hillside looking over the busy border town of Nogales, Mexico. Its walls are painted bright turquoise and tangerine, and its wide-open double doors look west over low hills and Highway 15. Since they opened it, upward of 1 million people have slept there on their way to the U.S. But on the day I visited, it was almost empty.

More @ The Daily Beast

Getting ready: Pentagon to protect electric grid from massive attack

Via Billy

 It won't be ready until 2020.

Amid warnings that North Korea and Iran have plans to take out parts of the U.S. electric grid through a cyber attack or atmospheric nuclear blast, the Pentagon is taking steps to both protect the nation's communications and power lifeline.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has charged BAE Systems to map a system that can detect a cyber attack and gin up an alternative communications network for military and civilian use if the grid is fried, according to Defense Systems, the online newsletter.

Former CIA Director James Woolsey has been warning for years that the grid is extremely vulnerable, and recently the Pentagon and some states have taken the warning seriously. Woolsey and former EMP Commission chief of staff Peter Vincent Pry have pointed a finger at North Korea, which is now threatening the U.S.

More @ Washington Examiner

Justice Dept. drops ‘bathroom bill’ suit against North Carolina after HB2 repeal

Via Billy

The Justice Department on Friday dropped its lawsuit accusing North Carolina of discrimination against transgender people following the state’s repeal of its controversial “bathroom bill.”

The move, overseen by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, reverses action taken by his predecessor Loretta Lynch.

Lawyers for North Carolina and DOJ filed a joint notice to dismiss the lawsuit, citing recently adopted legislation that rolled back the controversial law. The agreement comes after Republican lawmakers and Democrat Gov. Roy Cooper agreed last month on a compromise that replaced House Bill 2 (HB2), which regulated access to public restrooms and locker rooms on the basis of biological sex.

More @ The Washington Times

Conflict could break out ‘at any moment’ over North Korea, Chinese foreign minister warns

Via Billy

 

There can be no winners if war occurs, Wang Yi says, as fears mount Pyongyang may carry out a new nuclear test

A conflict over North Korea could break out “at any moment”, China’s foreign minister Wang Yi said on Friday, warning there would be “no winner” in any war as tensions soar with the US.

The sharp language came after US President Donald Trump said the North Korea problem “will be taken care of”, as speculation mounts that the reclusive state could be preparing another nuclear or missile test.

“Lately, tensions have risen ... and one has the feeling that a conflict could break out at any moment,” Wang said. “If a war occurs, the result is a situation in which everybody loses and there can be no winner.”

More @ South China Morning Post

He knows he can't win but it would be an unimaginable humiliation for him to back down: In a deadly game of dare, Kim Jong-un will take the suicide option, says MARK ALMOND

Via Billy

As millions of North Koreans celebrate the Day of the Sun today, marking the birth of their cruel dynasty’s founding dictator, Kim Il-sung, his grandson’s nuclear ambitions have put the nation’s fate on a knife-edge and threatens peace throughout East Asia.

The chubby young tyrant, Kim Jong-un, has enjoyed playing the unpredictable despot ever since he inherited power in 2011. Now he is playing with fire.

This is a leader who would willingly take his small, poverty-stricken country to the brink of war with the world’s only superpower.

More @ Daily Mail

WHY THE CLAIMS ABOUT SYRIA AND CHEMICAL WEAPONS ARE BULL

Via Bill

The official story is that the White House is certain that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons against women and children near Damascus on August 21st. The White House is very certain of this, just as certain as they were that Saddam Hussein has nuclear weapons.

And because the White House is certain that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons against women and children near Damascus, this grants the United States a right to invade Syria.

I wouldn't be too sure.

On February 28, 1993, the BATF raided the church of the Branch Davideans in Waco Texas. This led to an embarrassing sand of which ended when the FBI gassed the church, filled with women and children, with CS gas. CS gas is actually illegal to use on enemy troops in time of war. (Why, I do not know)

More @ What Really Happened