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