Time Traveller Wiki, “Record Breaker: 4 Huge Alien Planets Spotted Around Baby Star”, 16 Oct 2018:

An artist’s illustration of the very young CI Tau system, which appears to harbor four gas-giant planets.

Credit: Amanda Smith, Institute of Astronomy

In an astronomical first, four gigantic planets have been detected around a very young star, a new study reports.

The star in question is CI Tau, which lies about 500 light-years from Earth. CI Tau is just 2 million years old and is still surrounded by a swirling clump of dust and gas known as a protoplanetary disk.

The star was already known to host one planet, a world about 10 times more massive than Jupiter that circles CI Tau once every nine Earth days. This planet, called CI Tau b, was the first “hot Jupiter” ever discovered around such a young star. [Gallery: The Strangest Alien Planets]

In the new study, a team of researchers observed CI Tau and its disk with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), a network of radio telescopes in the Chilean Andes. ALMA spotted three additional gaps in the disk, at distances of 13, 39 and 100 astronomical units (AU) from the star, the astronomers report. (One AU is the Earth-sun distance — about 93 million miles, or 150 million kilometers).

So it seems that CI Tau b has three siblings. And these newfound worlds are big, too: The team’s work suggests the innermost of the three is about as massive as Jupiter, while the outer two have Saturn-esque heft.

Astronomers had never spotted four gas-giant planets around such a young star before, study team members said. And the orbital range — the outermost planet lies about 1,000 times farther from CI Tau than the innermost world does — is extreme as well, the researchers added.

Indeed, it’s unclear how the two outermost planets were able to take shape.

“Saturn-mass planets are supposed to form by first accumulating a solid core and then pulling in a layer of gas on top, but these processes are supposed to be very slow at large distances from the star,” study lead author Cathie Clarke, of the Institute of Astronomy at the University of Cambridge in England, said in a statement. “Most models will struggle to make planets of this mass at this distance.”

It’s also unclear what role, if any, the sibling planets played in driving CI Tau b to its super-tight orbit, study team members said. Observing the bizarre system further with other telescopes may help answer these and other questions, study team members said.

The new paper was published this month in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Mike Wall’s book about the search for alien life, “Out There,” will be published on Nov. 13 by Grand Central Publishing. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall. Follow us @Spacedotcom or Facebook. Originally published on Space.com.

Race Does Not Exist. But “Most White Americans’ DNA Can be Identified Through Genealogy Databases.”

UNZ Review, 12 Oct 2018:

Steve Sailer

Law enforcement investigators have recently begun to solve old cold cases by tracking down criminals via their relatives’ DNA. From the New York Times:

Most White Americans’ DNA Can Be Identified Through Genealogy Databases: Only two percent of the population needs to have done a DNA test to identify nearly everyone else, researchers found.

NY Times, Oct. 11, 2018

By Heather Murphy   … Already, 60 percent of Americans of Northern European descent — the primary group using these sites — can be identified through such databases whether or not they’ve joined one themselves, according to a study published today in the journal Science.

Within two or three years, 90 percent of Americans of European descent will be identifiable from their DNA, researchers found.

The science-fiction future, in which everyone is known whether or not they want to be, is nigh.

The science involves a search for third cousins. To identify a person through a DNA sample, an investigator uploads a previously analyzed genetic sequence to a database. The goal is to find someone who shares enough DNA to place them in the third cousin or closer range. Most of us have at least 800 people out there, somewhere in the world, who fall into this category.

I’m too lazy to check the arithmetic on that number. If you want to: assume a stable replacement rate of two children per generation for ease of calculation. The complication is that you have a lot of direct ancestors closer to you genetically than 3rd cousins and a fair number of uncles/aunts/nephews/nieces.

The team found that a DNA sample from an American of Northern European heritage could be tracked successfully to a third-cousin distance of its owner in 60 percent of cases. A comparable analysis on the MyHeritage site had similar results.The analysis focused on Americans of North European background because 75 percent of the users on GEDmatch and other genealogy sites belong to that demographic. To identify an individual of any ancestral background, all that is needed is a database containing two percent of the target population, according to Dr. Erlich.

In other words, even though we are constantly told that race doesn’t exist, in practice race turns out to look a lot like extended family.

The Times of Israel, 5 Oct 2018:

In rare criticism, Russian chief rabbi blasts supply of S-300 missiles to Syria.

Berel Lazar calls Russia’s decision to give advanced air defense system to Assad regime a ‘mistake,’
says he’s talked to Putin about it.

File photo of Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) lights up a candle watched by Russia’s chief Rabbi Berl Lazar during a ceremony in Moscow’s Jewish community center.REUTERS/Viktor Korotayev

The chief rabbi of Russia said that Moscow’s decision to give Syria advanced anti-aircraft missiles is a “mistake,” offering a rare rebuke of his country’s defense policy.

Berel Lazar, of the Chabad Hasidic movement, made his remarks Thursday at a conference organized by the Limmud FSU cultural group in Sighet, Romania.

Russia is giving Syria the S-300 system following the downing last month of a Russian intelligence gathering aircraft by Syrian forces responding to an Israeli strike over Syrian airspace.

Russia has blamed Israel for the incident, which killed 15 Russian soldiers.

“I think it’s a mistake that will only augment the region’s problems,” Lazar, who meets regularly with Russian President Vladimir Putin, told the Israeli journalist Eli Mandelbaum about the missile transfer.

Screen capture from video showing the delivery of Russian S-300 air defense missiles to Syria. (YouTube)

Lazar’s group, the Federation of Jewish Communities in Russia, often speaks out against expressions of anti-Semitism in Russia and aspects of Russia’s policy concerning Israel, including its voting in 2017 in favor of a UN resolution that ignores Jerusalem’s significance to Jews.

But Lazar, who has said he opposes excessive involvement by Jewish community leaders in Russian politics, has seldom criticized Russia publicly over its bilateral relations with Israel on subjects devoid of a religious dimension.

The rabbi, a native of Italy who became a Russian citizen in 2000, went on to say that he and his organization “speak about [the S-300 issue] with the president,” referencing Putin. “We explain, I’d say, the sensitivity of this issue to our brethren in Israel, in Zion, and we hope Israel and Russia can continue to cooperate in stopping terrorism, stopping Iran, and that Israel will continue to guard its borders and neutralize any threat before it reaches its doorstep.”

Israel and its allies for years have lobbied Russia not to give Syria and other regional players the S-300 system, arguing that it would limit Israel’s ability to neutralize terrorist threats, including by the Lebanon-based group Hezbollah.

Several hundred people attended the event in Sighet, which is the birthplace of Elie Wiesel, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Holocaust survivor who died in 2016. In August, Romanian police arrested a 37-year-old man whom they suspect wrote anti-Semitic slogans on Wiesel’s childhood home.

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New Observer, “EU’s “Relocation” of Fake Refugees and Invaders by Country and Number”, 28 Sept 2018:

       

According to statistics kept by the United Nation’s International Organization for Migration (IOM), a total of 34,694 invaders—22,005 from Greece, and 12,689 from Italy—have been “relocated” to 24 other European states since the program began. This does not include the 11,000 who have been sent to the UK.

According to the IOM figures, as of April 30, 2018, the following nations had “received” invaders as follows:

Austria: From Greece 0; From Italy 43; Total 43.

Belgium: From Greece 700; From Italy 471; Total 1,171.

Bulgaria: From Greece 50; From Italy 10; Total 60.

Croatia: From Greece 60; From Italy 22; Total 82.

Cyprus: From Greece 96; From Italy 47; Total 143.

Czech Republic: From Greece 12; From Italy 0; Total 12.

Estonia: From Greece 141; From Italy 6; Total 147.

Finland: From Greece 1,202; From Italy 778; Total 1,980.

France: From Greece 4,400; From Italy 635; Total 5,035.

Germany: From Greece 5,391; From Italy 5,434; Total 10,825.

Ireland: From Greece 1,022; From Italy 0; Total 1,022.

Latvia: From Greece 294; From Italy 34; Total 328.

Liechtenstein From Greece 10; From Italy 0; Total 10.

Lithuania From Greece 355; From Italy 29; Total 384.

Luxembourg From Greece 300; From Italy 249; Total 549.

Malta From Greece 101; From Italy 67; Total 168.

Netherlands From Greece 1,755; From Italy 1,020; Total 2,775.

Norway From Greece 693; From Italy 815; Total 1,508.

Portugal From Greece 1,192; From Italy 356; Total 1,548.

Romania From Greece 683; From Italy 45; Total 728.

Slovenia From Greece 172; From Italy 81; Total 253.

Slovakia From Greece 16; From Italy 0; Total 16.

Spain From Greece 1,124; From Italy 235; Total 1,359.

Sweden From Greece 1,656; From Italy 1,392; Total 3,048.

Switzerland From Greece 580; From Italy 920; Total 1,500.

Britain is notably absent from these IOM figures, for reasons unknown. However, this does not mean that the UK has not participated in the scheme. So far, according to official figures, at least 11,000 fake refugees have been taken in by that country since the “relocations” began

The “relocation” program was adopted in September 2015 “to relocate asylum seekers from Italy and Greece, to assist them in dealing with the pressures of the refugee crisis.”

Under the scheme, up to 106,000 invaders “with a high chance of having their applications successfully processed (EU average recognition rate of over 75%) were to be relocated from Greece and Italy, where they had arrived, to other Member States where they would have their asylum applications processed.”

A majority of them were male (63 percent), adults (68 percent), and of Syrian (52 percent), Eritrean (35 percent) and Iraqi (11 percent) nationality. The scheme also included 585 “unaccompanied minors.”

It is this scheme to which the Hungarian and Polish governments have objected, and in which they have refused to participate, arguing that none of these so-called “refugees” are in fact fleeing for their lives, and that all have safe haven either in their country of origin or in states much closer to their homes.

In this photo July 21, 2016, photo, then-Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, right, watches with then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and Manafort’s chief deputy Rick Gates, left, as Ivanka Trump rehearses for the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

New York Times, “Rick Gates Sought Online Manipulation Plans From Israeli Intelligence Firm for Trump Campaign”, 8 October 2018:

WASHINGTON — A top Trump campaign official requested proposals in 2016 from an Israeli company to create fake online identities, to use social media manipulation and to gather intelligence to help defeat Republican primary race opponents and Hillary Clinton, according to interviews and copies of the proposals.

The Trump campaign’s interest in the work began as Russians were escalating their effort to aid Donald J. Trump. Though the Israeli company’s pitches were narrower than Moscow’s interference campaign and appear unconnected, the documents show that a senior Trump aide saw promise in a disruption effort to swing voters in Mr. Trump’s favor.

The campaign official, Rick Gates, sought one proposal to use bogus personas to target and sway 5,000 delegates to the 2016 Republican National Convention by attacking Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, Mr. Trump’s main opponent at the time. Another proposal describes opposition research and “complementary intelligence activities” about Mrs. Clinton and people close to her, according to copies of the proposals obtained by The New York Times and interviews with four people involved in creating the documents.

Documents from Psy-Group laying out its proposals for the Trump campaign.

A third proposal by the company, Psy-Group, which is staffed by former Israeli intelligence operatives, sketched out a monthslong plan to help Mr. Trump by using social media to help expose or amplify division among rival campaigns and factions. The proposals, part of what Psy-Group called “Project Rome,” used code names to identify the players — Mr. Trump was “Lion” and Mrs. Clinton was “Forest.” Mr. Cruz, who Trump campaign officials feared might lead a revolt over the Republican presidential nomination, was “Bear.”

[An Israeli company drew up digital manipulation proposals for a Trump campaign aide. Read them here.]

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Joakim Lamotte - Image: Facebook

Voice of Europe, “Swedish journalist who writes about migrant violence threatened with his life – Police refuse to help”, 7 Oct 2018:

In a video blog, the freelance journalist Joakim Lamotte, who is best known for his videos about different rape cases and the increased violence against women in Sweden, explains why recently he hasn’t been as active on Facebook as usual.

The reason is that he has been subjected to systematic threats with the purpose to silence him and stop his journalistic activities.

Lamotte says that people call him and tell him that he should be slaughtered, that his wife should be slaughtered, that they are going to f*ck his entire family etc. Only this past weekend, he received over 40 calls of that kind.

A few days ago, he also received a bomb threat. A person announced that explosives had been placed on the family’s two cars. Lamotte says that he has reported all threats to the police, including the bomb threat. A police patrol was sent out to search the family’s home and investigate whether any bombs were placed as claimed. However, nothing was found.

Recently, Lamotte announced that he would live steam on Facebook. As a result, he received new phone threats. In one of the calls, a person told him that if he broadcasts live and talks about the threats he has received, he will be killed and “blown to pieces”. However, Lamotte decided not to be silenced and went through with broadcast despite the death threat.

“They will not succeed in scaring me into silence,” he says in the broadcast. However, he doesn’t get any support from the police in that decision.

Lamotte holds up a stack of envelopes from the police. They all contain information that the investigations related to the threats have been closed.

In one case, the police sent him confirmation that they had received his complaint, and a notification that the case was closed on the same day. The timestamps on the two documents show that the case had been closed less than one hour after the complaint had been received.

Lamotte doubts that the police have investigated the threats at all, since they had not even received the sound files with recordings of the threats that Lamotte sent them when they decided to close the case.

And he questions the principle of equality before the law. He is convinced that if a mainstream media journalist or a politician had been threatened, then Säpo (the Swedish Security Service) would have taken over the case and used large resources to find the perpetrators. This in contrast to, as now, the cases being closed by return post.

Threats to freedom of speech are not taken seriously in Sweden today, Lamotte says. And that is one of the main reasons why he, despite the threats, decided to go through with the broadcast.

The police’s deprioritisation of these kind of threats frighten many into silence, he says. Few people dare to speak their mind after receiving death threats.

He then states that, in the absence of police assistance, he has taken his own actions to protect himself and his family. Among other things, he has installed surveillance cameras and motion detectors on his site, so nobody can get close to his house or cars without being detected.

At the end of his video message Lamotte speaks directly to the threateners and tells them; “If you ever harm my family you will wish the police find you before I do”.

He then speaks for another minute, but the sound is muted, probably by Säpo who doesn’t care to protect him but finds it important to monitor, control and silence him.

Vico: Contemporary, first major critic of Descartes, and seminal figure of social constructionism.

Adaptive traits certainly are socially constructed, if only for how they come to count for us.

It is an epistemologial blunder, of course, to try to founationalize our cause in “nature.”

First of all, because that would not follow in terms of describing what our nature does.

We seek to assimilate natural health and natural ways which are conducive to the well being of our people, but we do not simply let nature dictate the terms of our interests - for an obvious example, we do not simply let a virus destroy our people, but we develop means to deal with it, from vaccines, to quarantine, improved practices, sanitation and so on.

What that is describing even, is the fact that we are founded in our people’s interests first - not firstly in nature, the ‘interests’ of its viruses and so on. We look at nature as a guide and check points to health and non-health.

But to foundationalize our cause in nature is an epistemologial blunder.

The proper foundation is in Social Constructionism. In our people. That is the position of Praxis, following Aristotle’s corrective program. And then, very much in line with Aristotle again, we look to nature as guide-line check points of a healthy social system - e.g. placing value on optimality as opposed to maximization as a guide to homeostasis (racial autonomy).

A social constructionist perspective sensitizes us to our interactive connection, indebtedness and therefore indebtedness to our people, our forebears, to our corrective social systemic homeostasis at present and our responsibility to our future.

Next, we deploy the Hermeneutic turn when this positive view is cramping our breadth of perspective, individualism and imagination - we use it to gain more historical perspective, or novel ideas, concrete practical insights, or we become a bit more Platonic, say, in order to get a broader formal perspective on our systems, and develop working hypotheses. But the Hermeneutic turn is always duty bound to its circulation of inquiry, against Cartesian runaway, it will return to empirical verification wherever necessary or desired.

                    DanielS

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During the Syrian Civil War, millions of Syrians fled to Europe and other places as refugees. Now it seems that Syria wants them back after a powerful speech by Syria’s Foreign Minister Walid Moualem at the recent UN General Assembly.

Speaking on Saturday (29th September), Moualem, who is also the Deputy Prime Minister, thanked the countries which have taken in the refugees, but said it was time for them to come back home, as the Syrian Civil War is now practically finished.

“The government continues to rehabilitate the areas destroyed by terrorists, to restore normalcy,” he told the meeting. “All conditions are now present for the voluntary return of Syrian refugees to the country, the country they had to leave because of terrorism and the unilateral economic measures that targeted their daily lives and their livelihoods.

True enough, thousands of Syrian refugees abroad have started their journey back home.

From this podium I would like to stress the following - the return of each and every Syrian refugee is a priority for the Syrian state. All doors are wide open for All Syrians abroad to return voluntarily and safely…

Thanks to the help of Russia, the Syrian government will spare no effort to facilitate the return of refugees and meet their basic needs. Therefore a special committee was recently established to coordinate the return of refugees to their places of origin in Syria, and to help them regain their lives once again.”

Moualem also criticised the uncooperative attitude of some of the Western countries to which the refugees fled, and accused them of trying to prevent the refugees returning to their homelands.

  “We have called upon the international community and humanitarian organisations to facilitate these returns. However, some Western countries, in line with their dishonest behaviour since the start of the war in Syria, continue to prevent the return of refugees. They are spreading irrational fears among refugees. They are politicising what should be a purely humanitarian issue, using refugees as a bargaining ship to serve their political agenda and linking the return of refugees to the political process.”

Source, TradNews

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Bashar Al-Assad, a proper Left Nationalist, a socially conscientious man.