A Mexican national who has lived in Urbana since 2005, using a stolen identity, has been arraigned on seven federal counts, including four related to voting by an illegal immigrant

Miguel Valencia-Sandoval, 33, who had been using the identity of a Texas man named Ramiro G. Vasquez, pleaded not guilty to the charges before Magistrate Eric Long at U.S. District Court in Urbana. An affidavit accompanying the criminal complaint said that authorities were tipped off to Valencia-Sandoval's real identity in August 2017 when the Piatt County sheriff's office was informed that he had been living under Vasquez's name for about 11 years. Valencia-Sandoval most recently has worked for an Urbana drywall contractor. Recently, Valencia-Sandoval was arrested at the U.S.-Mexico border in Laredo, Texas, when he attempted to re-enter the country with a Texas birth certificate and state of Illinois ID card bearing the name of Ramiro Guerrora Vasquez. During an interview with agents on January 7, 2017 Valencia-Sandoval admitted, according to a federal affidavit, that he was not the true owner of the birth certificate and that in March 2005 he had purchased it from Oscar Guerrero-Vasquez — Ramiro Guerrero-Vasquez's brother — for $50,000. Valencia-Sandoval, also admitted that he did not have Ramiro Guerrero-Vasquez's permission to use his identity; had used the identity to live in Illinois since March 2005; had obtained driver's licenses, bank accounts and loans for vehicles; had opened two restaurants that have since been sold; and had obtained a lawful permanent resident card for his wife. He also acknowledged, the affidavit said, that he is a citizen of Mexico present in the United States without having been legally admitted or paroled. The affidavit also noted that "fingerprint queries" showed that Valencia-Sandoval had twice before been "encountered" by authorities — it didn't say where or when — without having been arrested. The indictment alleges that Valencia-Sandoval made a false statement of U.S. citizenship on a passport application in April 2012. Another charge alleges that he made a false claim of citizenship in order to vote in an election. Two felony charges of aggravated identity theft, one for using Vasquez's identity to get a passport and another for using the identity to vote in an election, were part of the indictment. Lastly, he was charged with three misdemeanor counts of voting in an election by an illegal immigrant, for having voted in general elections in 2012, 2014 and 2016. Asked whether Valencia-Sandoval could be deported, Sharon Paul, the public information officer for the U.S. Attorney's office said, "That's a question for immigration." Valencia-Sandoval faces prison terms of between 10 years and one year for each of the counts, plus fines. Also , a separate indictment charged Salvador Garcia-Lund, 27, with making a false statement of U.S. citizenship and aggravated identity theft in March 2016 on a passport application. He also is charged with possession of a firearm by a prohibited person, an illegal immigrant, on January 4, 2017.

A Mexican woman has been convicted of voter fraud by a Texas jury who also sentenced her to eight years in prison

Prosecutors say that the reason officials at the elections department in Dallas didn’t stop the voter fraud from happening is because Rosa Ortega claimed she was a citizen on her application. Now the Tarrant County D.A.’s office is calling for those claims to be verified before handing out registration cards. Ortega’s attorney said that the mother of four will undoubtedly be deported. Her attorney said that she has a learning disability and was confused about the difference between being a citizen and a legal resident, so she thought she was allowed to vote. “The jury didn’t believe that story. They believed that the defendant knew exactly what she was doing, and they responded accordingly,” Prosecutor Jonathan White said. Prosecutors said whether this case prompts elections officials to verify citizenship is an issue for the legislature. The jury also gave Ortega a $5,000 fine.

A textbook has sparked outrage in India for instructing fourth-graders to suffocate a kitten to show how living beings need air

The experiment described in the environmental science textbook for 9-year-olds tells the students to place two kittens in separate boxes, one of them without air holes, and wait to see the result. The textbook, titled Our Green World, was published by PP Publications, a New Delhi-based publisher of school textbooks. It had been used in hundreds of schools in the Indian capital and the neighboring states of Punjab and Haryana since April 2016. The first chapter, titled "Living Things Breathe," reads: "No living thing can live without air for more than a few minutes. You can do an experiment." That experiment? "Take two wooden boxes," the text continues. "Make holes on the lid of one box. Put a small kitten in each box. Close the boxes. After some time open the boxes. What do you see? The kitten inside the box without holes has died."

Did British colonialism create the Irish Traveler population?

The emergence of Irish Travelers as a distinct group occurred long before the Great Famine, a genetic analysis shows. The DNA study also indicates that while Travelers originally descended from the general Irish population, they are now very distinct from it. The findings provide strong evidence that Travelers should receive some form of ethnic status, said Prof Gianpiero Cavalleri, who conducted the study with colleagues at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and the University of Edinburgh. “We think this is a nice piece of evidence for that complex debate,” he said. The research group “would be supportive of some form of ethnic status”. Travelers are now as genetically different from the settled Irish as are the Spanish, he said. And if the small Traveler population is taken into account, they are still as different from the Irish as are the Scots. “Travelers cluster with the Irish but they are very definitely distinct from the Irish. There is a considerable genetic distance between them.” The far-reaching study sought to understand the genetic connections between Travelers, the settled Irish and people further afield. It involved looking at the DNA of more than 11,000 people including Travelers, Roma Gypsies, settled Irish, British, Continental Europeans and individuals from the rest of the world. It also sought to set a time for when the Traveler community began to form as a distinct and separate population. Today there are between 29,000 and 40,000 Travelers in Ireland, representing 0.6% of the total population. The DNA analysis allowed the researchers to track when and how quickly Travelers arose. This occurred between eight and 14 generations ago, with the best fit suggesting 12 generations or 360 years ago, said Prof Gianpiero, professor of genetics in the department of molecular and cellular therapeutics. The 12 generations would push the emergence of Travelers back to 1657. This significantly predates the Great Famine of 1845-52, an event long thought to have caused the formation of a migratory community that became the Travelers. The research suggests that Traveler origins may in fact date as far back as 420 years to 1597. The Plantation of Ulster began around that time, with native Irish displaced from the land, perhaps to form a nomadic population. The researchers did not try to connect the emergence of Travelers with any one historical event. “We tried to avoid speculating. You could point to Cromwellian times but it is speculation,” Prof Gianpiero said. They did not however have to speculate about the genetics including an important analysis of the interrelatedness of Travelers, something the researchers say could have implications for disease mapping within Ireland. It is common practice for Travelers to marry first and second cousins, leading to a situation where they have some of the highest rates of duplicated DNA in the world. “The isolation and consanguinity (marrying cousins) have in turn led to an increased prevalence of recessive diseases,” the author’s said. The DNA analysis also revealed that there are four “genetic clusters” or subdivisions within the Traveler community. These in turn tend to match up with their social grouping and use of language. One cluster is associated with the “Rathkeale group” of Travelers. Two other clusters are linked to whether the Traveler speaks the Cant or Gammon dialects of the Traveler language Shelta. The study clearly showed that there was no significant genetic contribution made by Roma Gypsies to Traveler DNA. This disproves a view held by some that the two groups were genetically related. Traveler origins have long been a “source of considerable debate” the authors write. There is also a lack of documentary evidence that reveals the history of the Irish Traveler population.

Jew Bill Kristol shows his contempt for white working class Americans

A wide-ranging conversation with Charles Murray took an awkward turn when Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol shared his view that white, working-class Americans should be replaced by immigrants. The conversation took place at an American Enterprise Institute event called “It Came Apart: What’s Next for a Fractured Culture,” at which the pundits discussed how Donald Trump’s rise relates to the white working class’s record low levels of labor-force participation, religiosity, and family formation, which Dr. Murray described in his 2012 book Coming Apart: The State of White America. At one point, Dr. Murray explained how, though he never warmed to Donald Trump, the 2016 election did lead him to adopt a restrictionist position on low-skilled immigration. Dr. Kristol replied that he’d “actually sort of gone the opposite way on immigration.” He explained: "Look, to be totally honest, if things are so bad as you say with the white working class, don’t you want to get new Americans in?"

Britain: Almost half of new homes built in the next five years will go to migrants, government figures have revealed

Soaring immigration means that Britain will need to accommodate as many as 243,000 new households each year for the next 22 years, the Department for Communities and Local Government has said. It is been estimated that an extra 5.3 million new properties could be needed to meet the growth in population, and an extra 2.4 million of the new homes will be needed for migrants alone. This means that one new home needs to be built every five minutes to house Britain's burgeoning migrant population.

The U.S. ended 2016 on a familiar trajectory of roughly 2% economic growth, the lackluster trend that has prevailed through most of the current expansion

Gross domestic product, a broad measure of the goods and services produced across the economy, expanded at an inflation and seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.9% in the fourth quarter. That has made this the slowest expansion since World War II. Growth for all of 2016 clocked in at 1.6%, the slowest since 2011 and down from 2.6% in 2015. That marks the 11th consecutive year that GDP growth failed to reach 3%, the longest period since the Bureau of Economic Analysis began reporting the figure. The fourth quarter also rings out the Obama era with an average annual growth rate of 1.8%, which is right down there with George W. Bush for the lowest among modern Presidents.

In 2016, African Americans accounted for 30% of the overall organ donation waitlist, and 33% of the kidney list, despite being only 13% of the US population

A black organ recipient doesn't have to have a black donor. But they would be more likely to have successful match - based on certain genetic markers and antibodies - if more black donors were available. The percentage of black Americans who donate organs has risen since 1988, but there is still an outsized need.

Trump and immigrants in Argentina

Argentina is so used to celebrating immigration as a cornerstone of society that a 19th-century saying — to govern is to populate — remains in use to this day. But in an abrupt shift coinciding with the immigration restrictions put in place by the Trump administration, President Mauricio Macri has issued a decree curbing immigration to Argentina, with his government declaring that newcomers from poorer countries in Latin America bring crime. The measures announced by Macri in recent days made it much easier to deport immigrants and restrict their entry, prompting irate comparisons to President Trump and igniting a fierce debate over immigration. But opinion polls in Argentina showed widespread support for limiting immigration, and some say that the new decree does not go far enough.

Race gaps on the SATs are especially pronounced at the tails of the distribution.among top scorers — those scoring between a 750 and 800 — 60% are Asian and 33% are white, compared to 5% Latino and 2% black

Meanwhile, among those scoring between 300 and 350, 37% are Latino, 35% are black, 21% are white, and 6% are Asian. There are some limitations to the data which may mean that, if anything, the race gap is being understated. The ceiling on the SAT score may, for example, understate Asian achievement. A standardized test with a wider range of scores, the LSAT, offers some evidence on this front. An analysis of the 2013-2014 LSAT finds an average black score of 142 compared to an average white score of 153. This amounts to a black-white achievement gap of 1.06 standard deviations, even higher than that on the SAT. A 2015 research paper from the Center for Studies in Higher Education at the University of California, Berkeley shows that between 1994 and 2011, race has grown more important than class in predicting SAT scores for UC applicants. While it is difficult to extrapolate from such findings to the broader population of SAT test-takers, it is unlikely that the racial achievement gap can be explained away by class differences across race.

In contrast to Western Europeans, new research finds contemporary East Asians are genetically much closer to the ancient hunter-gatherers that lived in the same region eight thousand years previously

Researchers working on ancient DNA extracted from human remains interred almost 8,000 years ago in a cave in the Russian Far East have found that the genetic makeup of certain modern East Asian populations closely resemble that of their hunter-gatherer ancestors. The study is the first to obtain nuclear genome data from ancient mainland East Asia and compare the results to modern populations. The findings indicate that there was no major migratory interruption, or "population turnover," for well over seven millennia. Consequently, some contemporary ethnic groups share a remarkable genetic similarity to Stone Age hunters that once roamed the same region. The high "genetic continuity" in East Asia is in stark contrast to most of Western Europe, where sustained migrations of early farmers from the Levant overwhelmed hunter-gatherer populations. This was followed by a wave of horse riders from Central Asia during the Bronze Age. These events were likely driven by the success of emerging technologies such as agriculture and metallurgy. The new research shows that, at least for part of East Asia, the story differs - with little genetic disruption in populations since the early Neolithic period. Despite being separated by a vast expanse of history, this has allowed an exceptional genetic proximity between the Ulchi people of the Amur Basin, near where Russia borders China and North Korea, and the ancient hunter-gatherers laid to rest in a cave close to the Ulchi's native land. The researchers suggest that the sheer scale of East Asia and dramatic variations in its climate may have prevented the sweeping influence of Neolithic agriculture and the accompanying migrations that replaced hunter-gatherers across much of Europe. They note that the Ulchi retained their hunter-fisher-gatherer lifestyle until recent times. "Genetically speaking, the populations across northern East Asia have changed very little for around eight millennia," said senior author Andrea Manica from the University of Cambridge, who conducted the work with an international team, including colleagues from Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology in Korea, and Trinity College Dublin and University College Dublin in Ireland. "Once we accounted for some local intermingling, the Ulchi and the ancient hunter-gatherers appeared to be almost the same population from a genetic point of view, even though there are thousands of years between them." The new study also provides further support for the 'dual origin' theory of modern Japanese populations: that they descend from a combination of hunter-gatherers and agriculturalists that eventually brought wet rice farming from southern China. A similar pattern is also found in neighboring Koreans, who are genetically very similar to Japanese. However, Manica says that much more DNA data from Neolithic China is required to pinpoint the origin of the agriculturalists involved in this mixture. The team from Trinity College Dublin were responsible for extracting DNA from the remains, which were found in a cave known as Devil's Gate. Situated in a mountainous area close to the far eastern coast of Russia that faces northern Japan, the cave was first excavated by a soviet team in 1973. Along with hundreds of stone and bone tools, the carbonized wood of a former dwelling, and woven wild grass that is one of the earliest examples of a textile, were the incomplete bodies of five humans. If ancient DNA can be found in sufficiently preserved remains, sequencing it involves sifting through the contamination of millennia. The best samples for analysis from Devil's Gate were obtained from the skulls of two females: one in her early twenties, the other close to fifty. The site itself dates back over 9,000 years, but the two women are estimated to have died around 7,700 years ago. Researchers were able to glean the most from the middle-aged woman. Her DNA revealed that she likely had brown eyes and thick, straight hair. She almost certainly lacked the ability to tolerate lactose, but was unlikely to have suffered from 'alcohol flush': the skin reaction to alcohol now common across East Asia. While the Devil's Gate samples show high genetic affinity to the Ulchi, fishermen from the same area who speak the Tungusic language, they are also close to other Tungusic-speaking populations in present day China, such as the Oroqen and Hezhen. "These are ethnic groups with traditional societies and deep roots across eastern Russia and China, whose culture, language and populations are rapidly dwindling," added lead author Veronika Siska, also from Cambridge. "Our work suggests that these groups form a strong genetic lineage descending directly from the early Neolithic hunter-gatherers who inhabited the same region thousands of years previously."

Jewish politician Anthony Weiner could face child pornography charges — and a minimum 15 years in prison

Weiner allegedly sent a 15-year-old girl shirtless photos of himself, descriptions of sexual acts he wanted to perform with her, and more. Now sources say that federal prosecutors are mulling whether or not to bring child pornography charges against Weiner, with his lawyers — obviously — trying to convince them not to. The most serious charge Weiner could face is production of child pornography for allegedly convincing the girl to send him sexually explicit photos. That charge comes with a 15-year mandatory minimum prison sentence. He could also be charged with receipt of child pornography (a five-year mandatory minimum prison sentence) or possession of child pornography. Weiner resigned from Congress in 2011 after a sexting scandal. Two years later, he was embroiled in another sexting scandal while running for mayor of New York City.

Why do people commonly go out of their way to do something nice for another person, even when it comes at a cost to themselves — and how could such altruistic behavior have evolved?

The answer may not just be in our genes, but also in our microbes. In a new paper, researchers Ohad Lewin-Epstein, Ranit Aharonov, and Lilach Hadany at Tel-Aviv University in Israel have theoretically shown that microbes could influence their hosts to act altruistically. And this influence could be surprisingly effective, with simulations showing that microbes may promote the evolution of altruistic behavior in a population to an even greater extent than genetic factors do. "I believe the most important aspect of the work is that it changes the way we think about altruism from centering on the animals (or humans) performing the altruistic acts to their microbes," Hadany said. It's already well-known that microbes can affect the behavior of their hosts, with a prime example being how the rabies virus increases aggressive behavior in infected individuals. Research has also shown that the microbiome — the community of microorganisms that inhabit our gut — can even manipulate the hosts' social behavior by infecting neurons and altering neurotransmitter and hormone activity. Against this backdrop, the researchers in the new study have proposed that microbes may induce a person to help others because the close physical contact (for example, food-sharing, co-sheltering, and grooming) increases the transmission of the microbes from one person to another. So when someone does something nice for us, we are not just the recipient of a kind act, but also of their microbes. To show that this idea can have a prevailing effect on a population over time, the researchers designed simulations of interacting individuals, some with altruism-inducing microbes, and some without. Then using a prisoner's dilemma payoff scheme, the researchers investigated what happens to this population, its microbes, and its altruistic behavior over many generations. The results showed that, as long as horizontal transmission (between individuals) of microbes is allowed, altruism-inducing microbes can take over the population, leading to microbe-induced altruism. This result occurs even when only a very small percentage of the population initially carries these altruism-inducing microbes. The simulations also revealed that the evolution of altruism is successful because the microbes have a chance to either meet genetically related microbes in the recipient or infect and transform some of the recipient's microbes into relatives. In a variation of this model in which altruism can also be induced by host genes, the researchers found that genetically encoded altruism does not evolve, but microbe-induced altruism continues to evolve whether or not genetic factors are present. Further simulations showed that, although there are some cases in which altruism encoded in genes can persist, microbe-induced altruism persists more often. Overall, the results suggest that microbes may play a dominant and previously overlooked role in the evolution of altruistic behavior.

Natural selection in East Asian populations has favored genetic mutations leading to bigger brains, according to a new study by Chinese researchers that did not find a similar preference in Europe or Africa

The study has shed new light on an issue that has puzzled scientists for decades: why is the average Asian brain bigger than the average European or African one? The world's largest survey of brain sizes, conducted by American scientists three decades ago using more than 20,000 modern human skulls from around the globe, found that the average cranial volume among East Asians was 1,415 cubic centimeters, compared with 1,362 for Europeans and 1,268 for Africans. Subsequent studies have confirmed those results. Among them was a magnetic resonance imaging survey which found that East Asians had a higher cranial vault, which allowed their skulls to house a bigger brain. Researchers proposed a range of hypotheses to explain the differences, with some suggesting that living in a cold climate could lead to a boost in brain size because in such conditions a bigger brain would be better at maintaining a constant temperature at its core, where most thinking took place. But the climate theory could not fully explain differences in the brain sizes of people living in the same latitudes, such as Chinese and Europeans. The Chinese researchers said that a gene called CASC5 – one of eight regulating human brain size – might provide more clues. Unlike most of the other genes, which also regulated the brain sizes of monkeys or early human species such as Denisovans and Neanderthals, genetic mutations of CASC5 in Homo sapiens are relatively young, only occurring after our species left Africa between 50,000 and 100,000 years ago. The researchers, led by Professor Su Bing, from the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Kunming Institute of Zoology, compared CASC5 mutations in different populations for the first time. They found a "high frequency" of four mutations closely related to increased brain size among East Asian populations including Chinese, Japanese and Mongolians. But such mutations rarely occurred in Europe or Africa. "At the population level, our results suggest a selection of CASC5 in East Asian populations, which seems to favor a larger grey matter volume of the brain," the researchers said. "By contrast, no signal of selection was detected in Europeans and Africans."

Amid speculation surrounding the 762 homicides that took place in Chicago in 2016 – the highest number in two decades – the city's former police superintendent is blaming the Black Lives Matter movement for the murder spike

Garry McCarthy, who held the superintendent position for four years before getting fired in 2015 after his department withheld dash-cam footage of the police shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, said on the "Cats Roundtable" radio show that anti-police brutality protesters have led to a state of lawlessness and a political atmosphere of anti-police sentiment. Chicago, where the homicide rate rose by 58% from 2015 to 2016, is "probably the worst example of something that has happened across the country," McCarthy told host John Catsimatidis. "The simplest way to describe it is that we have created an environment where we have emboldened criminals and we are hamstringing the police," said McCarthy, echoing a widespread notion that the Black Lives Matter movement has driven a deeper wedge between minority communities and law enforcement.

Why the Democrats will continue to lose the support of white voters

Steve Sailer has a post that is both funny and scary in showing the mindset of many in the Democratic party.

Transgender activists are upset that the women’s march against President Trump was not inclusive to biological men who identify as women, as the protest presented an “oppressive message” that having a “vagina is essential to womanhood”

The event to oppose the inauguration of Donald Trump was largely a “white cis women march,” with too many pictures of female reproductive organs and pink hats, according to many trans women and “nonbinary” individuals. A fight is brewing between “trans-exclusionary radical feminists,” or “TERFs,” and transwomen, according to the article, “How the Women’s March’s ‘genital-based’ feminism isolated the transgender community.” The women’s march had an over-reliance on slogans and posters depicting gender norms, like using pink to represent women and girls, said some transgender activists who boycotted the march. “The main reason I decided not to go was because of the pussy hats,” said one transwoman from California. “I get that they’re a response to the ‘grab them by the pussy’ thing, but I think some people fixated on it the wrong way. I believe there’s a lot of inequality that has to do with genitals — that’s not something you can separate from the feminist movement,” the transwoman added. “But I feel like I’ve tried to get involved in feminism and there’s always been a blockade there for trans women.” The “saturation of vagina-related messages and imagery,” such as a giant hand-knit uterus, “set the tone for a march that would focus acutely on genitalia at the expense of the transgender community,” writes Marie Solis. The signs referencing Trump’s infamous comments made on a hot mic during an Access Hollywood taping more than a decade ago were too heteronormative, trans activists said. Signs that said “Pussy grabs back,” “Resistance is Fertile,” and “Pussy Power” sent a “clear and oppressive message to trans women, especially: having a vagina is essential to womanhood.” The article explained that transwomen are weary of “trans-exclusionary radical feminists.” “TERFs” are people who “equate womanhood with having a vagina” or feminists who “argue trans women are actually men in disguise trying to infiltrate their spaces.”

Barack Obama had an average approval rating of 47.9% during his time in office, according to a Gallup poll

That puts him behind Richard Nixon, who resigned, and George W. Bush, who saw his approval rating drop as low as 25% near the end of his term. It puts him ahead of only Gerald Ford (47.2%), Jimmy Carter (45.5%) and Harry Truman (45.4%). Gallup has published the average approval rating for all twelve presidents who have served since World War II. John F. Kennedy ranks highest with an average approval rating of 70.1%. He is followed by Dwight Eisenhower (65.0%), George H.W. Bush (60.9%), Bill Clinton (55.1%), Lyndon Johnson (55.1%), Ronald Reagan (52.8%), George W. Bush (49.4%), Barack Obama (47.9%), Gerald Ford (47.2%), Jimmy Carter (45.5%) and Harry Truman (45.4%). “After his first year,” the Gallup analysis said of Obama’s poll numbers, “he received sustained majority approval only once more during his first term in office. Fortunately for him, that came during his 16th quarter in office - around the time he was re-elected in the fall of 2012. Shortly after his second term began, his support dipped back into the 40s and did not return to the majority level again until his final year in office.”

A 14-year-old Muslim girl who claimed that she was pushed in front of a train simply for wearing a headscarf has been challenged after police checked CCTV tapes

The girl, identified only as Sinem, claimed on social media that she had been called a terrorist and was pushed onto the tracks by a man who had taken offence at her headscarf at a railway station in the Austrian capital of Vienna. She told an online anti-racism forum that she was only saved at the last second by another man who pulled her onto the platform before the S-Bahn train arrived at Wien-Döbling station. The girl, whose parents are originally from Turkey, said that she was taken to hospital with minor injuries and her parents filed a criminal complaint after hearing what had happened. Vienna police spokesman Irina Steirer said that officers had searched through tapes of CCTV cameras on the platform and found no trace of the incident that the girl described. She said: "We have looked through the CCTV and at the time when the incident is alleged to have occurred nothing can be seen on the records. Both the alleged victim and the accused are captured on CCTV, but nothing ever happens and they are both simply seen getting on the train." The original claim was widely reported in the Austrian media and one anti-racism group blamed Austrian Foreign and Integration Minister Sebastian Kurz for having called for a ban on civil servants wearing headscarves.

The genes that predispose people to attain higher levels of education have been in decline over the past 80 years, and researchers are suggesting that they’re now under negative selection, which could have a big impact on our species in the coming centuries

A study involving more than 100,000 people in Iceland found that those who carry the genes for longer education time were less likely to have a big family, which means that the smartest people in the room were actually contributing less to the Icelandic gene pool. "As a species, we are defined by the power of our brains. Education is the training and refining of our mental capacities," said Kari Stefansson, CEO of Icelandic genetics firm deCODE, which ran the study. "Thus, it is fascinating to find that genetic factors linked to more time spent in education are becoming rarer in the gene pool."

If it was only white women who had voted in the past presidential election, Donald Trump still would have won

The only difference would be that he would also have won the popular vote, and by a 12-point margin. Trump garnered 53% of the white female vote, whereas a white woman named Hillary Clinton was only able to rally 41% of her white sisters to pull the lever for her.

A German regional court has ruled that Palestinians who used Molotov cocktails in July 2014 to torch a synagogue were not influenced by anti-Semitism

A Wuppertal judge has upheld a lower court’s 2015 ruling that Palestinians convicted of arson against the city’s synagogue did so merely to “criticize Israel” and “bring attention to the Gaza conflict.” Fire damage caused by 31-year-old Mohamad E., 26-year-old Ismail A. and 20-year-old Mohammad A. (full names withheld by German authorities) totaled almost $850. The court went on to cite Israel’s Operation Protective Edge against Hamas in the summer of 2014 — and the criminals’ consumption of alcohol — as the apparent impetus for the crime. This is not the first time that Wuppertal’s court system has made national news in a story linked to Islam. Its district court judges ruled in November 2016 that gangs of men who harangued citizens in 2014 while wearing “shariah police” vests did not break any laws.

In yet another racial "hate crime" hoax, the Anne Arundel County Police Department in Maryland has charged a 14-year-old African American girl with a juvenile citation for sending out racist tweets

Another black troublemaker using social media to spread anti-white hatred.

From 1980 to 2008, 93% of black murder victims were killed by blacks

White-on-black homicides are much rarer than black-on-white homicides. The vast bulk of interracial violence is committed by blacks. In 2012, blacks committed 560,600 acts of violence against whites, and whites committed 99,403 acts of violence against blacks, according to data from the National Crime Victimization Survey. Blacks, in other words, committed 85% of the interracial crimes between blacks and whites, even though they are 13% of the population. This data accords with the last published report on interracial crime from the Bureau of Justice Statistics; the Bureau stopped publishing its table on interracial crime after 2008, the first year of the Obama presidency.

Is the movie Hidden Figures just another example of fake history?

Movie about black women getting America to the moon is just another piece of politically correct propaganda.

African crime in Australia: Sudanese youths were vastly over-represented in the 2015 data, responsible for 7.44% of home invasions, 5.65% of car thefts and 13.9% of aggravated robberies, despite Sudanese-born citizens making up about 0.11% of Victoria’s population

Black Africans always seem to be good at crime no matter where they live.

Poverty in California: A recent United Way study found that half of all California Latinos, and some 40% of African-Americans, have incomes below the cost of necessities (the “Real Cost Measure”)

Among non-citizens, 60% of households have incomes below the Real Cost Measure, a figure that stretches to 80% below among Latinos. Upward mobility is not particularly promising for the state’s majority Latino next generation. Not only are housing prices out of reach for all but a few, but the state’s public education system ranks 40th in the nation, behind New York, Texas and South Carolina. If California remains the technological leader, it is also becoming the harbinger of something else — a kind of feudal society divided by a rich elite and a larger poverty class, while the middle class either struggles or leaves town. Instead of a role model for the future, the Golden State seems likely to become a cross between Hawaii and Tijuana, a land for the aging rich and their servants.

Upper caste Indians are generally lighter skinned than other Indians, particularly those from tribal groups

I guess this is the South Asian version of white privilege.

African Americans may be less responsive to asthma treatment and more likely to die from the condition, in part, because they have a unique type of airway inflammation, according to a study led by researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine

Airway inflammation is a key component of asthma, and innovations in treatment are becoming more personalized based on the specific type of airway inflammation in a patient, says Dr. Sharmilee Nyenhuis, assistant professor of medicine at UIC and corresponding author on the study. "Emerging evidence suggests that differences in airway inflammation can affect a patient's response to treatment, but whether the patterns of airway inflammation vary across race has, until now, been very unclear," said Nyenhuis, of UIC's division of pulmonary, critical care, sleep and allergy. Black men and women are two to three times more likely than whites to be hospitalized or die from asthma. And while many factors contribute to the burden of asthma in African Americans — such as access to health care and environmental exposures — rates are disproportionate even when social and environmental elements are taken into account. Nyenhuis and her colleagues performed a secondary analysis of more than 1,000 sputum samples obtained from AsthmaNet, a nationwide clinical research network created by the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, and the Asthma Clinical Research Network. Samples of the coughed-up fluids were from past clinical trial participants over the age of 12 with mild or moderate persistent asthma and who had not smoked within the last year. The samples were tested for the presence of eosinophils — a type of white blood cell. The study is one of the largest and most diverse trials conducted in the United States on race and asthma, with 26% of the patients self-identifying as African American. Researchers found that black patients were more likely to exhibit eosinophilic airway inflammation than whites, despite taking comparable doses of asthma medication, such as inhaled corticosteroids. "Our findings of higher numbers of African Americans with this type of airway inflammatory pattern suggests a mechanism that may account for more severe and difficult to control asthma in African Americans," said Nyenhuis. "It follows that the persistence of eosinophilic airway inflammation in African Americans may be associated with asthma exacerbations and an impaired response to corticosteroids." The findings suggest that black patients with eosinophilic airway inflammation may not benefit from increasingly strong corticosteroid treatment — instead, other targeted therapies may need to be considered and researched as a treatment option for those black patients with difficult to control eosinophilic asthma.

Among high school seniors, interest in science varies by race and ethnicity

A majority of high school seniors in the U.S. say that they enjoy science and around four-in-ten (44%) would like to have a job in the field, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of the 2015 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). These sentiments, however, tend to vary by race and ethnicity – a pattern that also is reflected in American students’ test scores in science. Overall, 71% of 12th-grade students agree with the statement, “I like science.” While majorities of all major racial and ethnic groups report having a fondness for science, Asian and Pacific Islander high school seniors are the most likely group to say this, while blacks are the least. Similar racial and ethnic differences emerge when 12th-graders are asked whether they want a career in science. Six-in-ten Asian and Pacific Islander high school seniors say that they would like a job that involves science and 64% say it is important that they do well in the subject to get the kind of job they want. By comparison, 45% of whites, 40% of Hispanics and 39% of blacks say that they want a science-related job, and no more than half of these respective groups agree that they need to do well in science to get the kind of job they desire. Recent studies paint a mixed picture of how U.S. students – not just high school seniors – are faring in science. Fourth- and eighth-graders, for example, have made gains since 2009, but test scores among 12th-graders have remained flat, according to the NAEP. And while some racial and ethnic performance gaps have narrowed over time, black and Hispanic students still score considerably lower than their Asian/Pacific Islander and white peers, regardless of grade level.

Black versus Gay: Ellen DeGeneres has announced via Twitter that she has uninvited gospel singer Kim Burrell from performing on her daytime talk show after video began circulating online of an anti-gay sermon Burrell delivered at a Houston, Texas church

In a recent sermon at Liberty Fellowship Church International, Burrell, who is a pastor there, said that “perverted homosexual spirit, and the spirit of delusion and confusion, it has deceived many men and women.”

A Mexican man who raped a 13-year-old girl on a Greyhound bus had been deported 10 times and removed from the United States another 9 times since 2003

Several U.S. senators are demanding to see immigration records for 38-year-old Tomas Martinez-Maldonado, who is charged with a felony in the attack on September 27, 2016 aboard a bus in Geary County, near Kansas City. Martinez-Maldonado had eight "voluntary removals" before his first deportation in 2010. That was followed by another voluntary removal that same year. He was then deported five more times between 2011 and 2013. Martinez-Maldonado was charged with entering the country without legal permission in 2013. Though he was only charged with a misdemeanor, he was subsequently deported in early 2014 after serving his sentence. A few months later he was again deported and then again in 2015 — twice. He was last deported in October 2015 after he had served his second sentence.

Celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain has an idea of who to blame for Donald Trump's presidential victory: people like him

"The utter contempt with which privileged Eastern liberals such as myself discuss red-state, gun-country, working-class America as ridiculous and morons and rubes is largely responsible for the upswell of rage and contempt and desire to pull down the temple that we're seeing now," he says in a new interview with Reason. "I've spent a lot of time in gun-country, God-fearing America. There are a hell of a lot of nice people out there, who are doing what everyone else in this world is trying to do: the best they can to get by, and take care of themselves and the people they love. When we deny them their basic humanity and legitimacy of their views, however different they may be than ours, when we mock them at every turn, and treat them with contempt, we do no one any good. The self-congratulatory tone of the privileged left — just repeating and repeating and repeating the outrages of the opposition — this does not win hearts and minds. It doesn't change anyone's opinions. It only solidifies them, and makes things worse for all of us," he continues. "We should be breaking bread with each other, and finding common ground whenever possible. I fear that is not at all what we've done."

One person was seriously injured when a suicide bomber aged around 10 blew herself up in a New Year's Eve attack in the northeastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri

The girl approached a crowd buying noodles from a food vendor in the Customs area of the city around 9:30 pm on New Year's Eve and detonated her explosives. Although no one has claimed responsibility, the attack bore the hallmark of Boko Haram Islamists who are notorious for using suicide bombers, mostly women and young girls, in attacking civilian targets. "The girl walked towards the crowd but she blew up before she could reach her target," said witness Grema Usman who lives in the area. "She died instantly, while one person was seriously hurt after after he was hit by shrapnel. (Judging) from her corpse the girl was around 10 years old," Usman said. An aid worker involved in the evacuation of the body gave a similar estimate of the bomber's age. "The girl was clearly not more than 10 and this could have made her too nervous, making her to detonate the explosives prematurely," the aid worker suggested. Borno state police spokesman Victor Isuku, meanwhile, said that a second female suicide bomber had been caught and lynched by an angry mob. Her bomb was safely detonated by security forces, he said. In December 2016, two girls aged between seven and eight detonated explosives in suicide attacks on market in the city, injuring 19 people. Authorities blamed the attack on Boko Haram, whose seven-year insurgency has killed 20,000 people and displaced 2.6 million others. The conflict has spilled into Nigeria's northern neighbors.

Rwandan soccer officials have added a new rule to the game: no witchcraft

Under the new rules, players and coaches found to be using witchcraft to try to gain an advantage face fines and penalties. "Juju" has long played a role in African soccer. In fact, the Confederation of African Football previously banned witchcraft after Rwanda's national team was accused of burying a doll behind its net in a 2003 match against Uganda. But a soccer official in the country says that the traditional practice gives the nation a bad image. Hence, the new penalties. “Since there is no scientific way to prove the use of witchcraft, these measures will be based upon reports from match officials and anything that is deemed to incite witchcraft will be put under consideration," he says.

A woman has been beheaded by a group of armed men in Afghanistan after she entered a city without her husband

The horrific act took place in the remote village of Latti in Sar-e-Pul province, which is under Taliban control. Provincial Governor spokesman Zabiullah Amani said that the 30-year-old woman was targeted because she went out alone without her husband, who is in Iran. The woman had gone to the market to shop. Under Taliban rule women are prohibited from leaving their homes unless accompanied by a close male relative. They are also banned from working or education and are forced to wear the burqa.

The US military could soon execute someone for the first time since a soldier was hanged for raping and trying to kill an 11-year-old girl in 1961

Ronald Gray, a black ex-soldier, has been on military death row at Fort Leavenworth since 1988. Gray was convicted of killing five women — a cab driver, an Army private, a university student, a local resident, and a soldier's wife — and raping several others in 1986 and 1987 while stationed at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. A civilian court gave him eight life sentences, but a military court sentenced him to death. All convicts on military death row must have their executions approved by a president. In 2008, George W. Bush authorized Gray's execution, but a federal court gave him a temporary stay. Recently, a judge ruled the stay was no longer in effect and denied any further stays. An execution date for Gray could be set sometime in January 2017. He would be killed by lethal injection. Including Gray, there are currently six former service members on military death row. However, Gray is the only one whose death has been approved by a president.

Capt. Niloofar Rahmani's story seems to sum up the dismal state of women's rights in Afghanistan more than 15 years after the Taliban were forced from power

The 25-year-old is the first female fixed-wing pilot in her country's air force, but says that she has received death threats both from Taliban insurgents and from distant relatives who believe that she has disgraced her family. Rahmani, who became famous in her homeland after graduating from a pilot training program run by the US-led coalition, finished another 15 months of training in the United States and has applied for asylum in the United States, saying that she would love to fly for her country, but that she's scared for her life. Rahmani, who was honored with the State Department's Women of Courage Award in 2015, says that distant relatives outraged by her career choice have tried to kill her brother and have forced her family to move several times. She says that if she's allowed to stay in the United States, she will fly either for the US Air Force or as a commercial pilot. "Everything I went through, all my suffering, was because I really wanted to fly. That was my dream," she says. She also says that she was harassed and treated with contempt by male Afghan colleagues, though a Defense Ministry spokesman accuses her of lying.

The men in the Indian village of Udaipur drink and bathe in cow urine to cure their acne

In Hindu culture, the cow is a sacred animal, and many of its followers believe that any cow byproduct has healing properties. That’s why lots of guys in Udaipur swear by the urine to not just get rid of pimples, but also eliminate all health problems. One man, Hemant Paliwal, has guzzled a warm glass of cow urine every day for the last 4 years, and regularly takes pee baths with his buddies. “I was suffering from acute lung diseases and would catch a cough and cold regularly,” Paliwal said. “I even had acne and pimples on my skin, but once I started applying urine, my face was crystal clear in just a week. Since then, there hasn’t been a single day when I haven’t drunk cow urine.” Personally, I'd rather have the pimples.

Indian police said that they have arrested four men on suspicion of raping an American tourist who came to New Delhi alone earlier in 2016, marking another incident of sexual violence to stir outrage

Police Officer Rakesh Kumar said the suspects - a tour guide and his associate, a car driver and a hotel worker - have been arrested. The woman said in her police complaint that the four men raped her after she was drugged in a New Delhi hotel room in April 2016. They denied the accusations. She also said that the four men had shot a video of the attack and had threatened to make it public if she reported the matter to anyone, police said. The woman went back to the United States and registered a complaint through an email to New Delhi's police commissioner. She returned to the Indian capital earlier in December 2016 to pursue the case because she was dissatisfied with the progress of police investigation. The case highlights the persistent violence against women in India despite tougher laws against sexual assault imposed after the December 2012 death of a young woman who was gang-raped on a bus in New Delhi.

Muslim Family Values: Jihadi mum kisses tiny daughters, aged seven and nine, goodbye - then sends them off on a suicide bomb mission

The seven-year-old girl is understood to have died in a remotely detonated bomb blast inside a Syrian police station.

The authorities have charged a black man with setting fire to a predominantly African-American church in Greenville, Miss., where “Vote Trump” was found spray-painted on the side of the building

The black man, Andrew McClinton, 45, of Leland, Miss., has been charged with arson of a place of worship in the first degree, a felony, Warren Strain, a spokesman for the Mississippi Department of Public Safety, said. McClinton, who is black, was a member of the church, Hopewell Missionary Baptist, at the time of the fire, Strain said. The church sanctuary was heavily damaged by heat, fire and smoke. The 200-member church has been a fixture for more than 110 years in Greenville, a Mississippi Delta city of about 32,000 that is around 120 miles north of Jackson, Miss. McClinton appeared voluntarily at the Greenville Police Department, where he made statements that implicated him in the crime, Strain said.

Diversity and Neighborhood Satisfaction: More white people, more satisfaction

Researchers investigating the impact of ethnic diversity on individuals’ overall satisfaction with and other aspects of their neighborhood found that a higher white share in the neighborhood raises overall satisfaction with the neighborhood in their sample. The researchers believe that part of the impact of diversity on overall neighborhood satisfaction may be through an effect on a fear of crime and the quality of social life.

Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the Berlin terror attack which killed 12 people and injured nearly 50

The group's Amaq news agency said in a statement that "the person who carried out the truck run over attack in Berlin is a soldier of the Islamic State and carried out the attack in response to calls for targeting citizens of the Crusader coalition." Its claim came as German police released the man that they had arrested because of lack of evidence, meaning the real culprit is still at large and armed and dangerous. Authorities urged people to remain "particularly vigilant" and to report "suspicious movement" to a special hotline.

All human eyes are brown?

It turns out all human eyes are brown — or at least various shades of it. It all comes down to melanin and how much of the pigment we have in our eyes. Blue eyes have the least amount of melanin, which explains why brown-eyed newborns can appear to have blue eyes as their melanin (melanocyte cells) forms, darkening the iris. "Everyone has melanin in the iris of their eye, and the amount that they have determines their eye color," says Dr. Gary Heitling. Melanin levels also determine our skin and hair color. While dark brown in color, melanin absorbs different amounts of light. The more light absorbed, the less light is reflected out, and the browner the iris appears. Reflected light is what we see when we gaze into someone's eyes. Blue reflects less light at a shorter wavelength of the visible color spectrum. If you think your sweetheart's hazel eyes appear amber in the sunset, you're not wrong. Eye color can indeed change depending on the light, and hazel and green eyes are in the middle of the spectrum. "It's an interaction between the amount of melanin and the architecture of the iris itself," Heitling says. This architecture is so unique, he adds, that it can act like a fingerprint. Migration from hotter to cooler climes by our ancestors could explain eye color evolution. (More melanin protects against UV radiation.) Another theory is that a genetic mutation turned off melanin production in blue eyes. But don't bet on two blue-eyed parents having a blue-eyed child; eye color is influenced by several genes. (One study found that blue-eyed people are more likely to be alcoholics.)

According to 2010 Census data, six of the 15 most common surnames in the United States are traditionally Hispanic

The 15 most common surnames in the United States are:

1. Smith: 2.4 million
2. Johnson: 1.9 million
3. Williams: 1.6 million
4. Brown: 1.4 million
5. Jones: 1.4 million
6. Garcia: 1.2 million
7. Miller: 1.2 million
8. Davis: 1.1 million
9. Rodriguez: 1.1 million
10. Martinez: 1.1 million
11. Hernandez: 1 million
12. Lopez: 874,500
13. Gonzalez: 841,000
14. Wilson: 802,000
15. Anderson: 784,000

The African nation of Niger has the highest fertility rates in the world

In Niger, women bear more than seven children on average and hunger is among the worst in the world with about 45% of Niger’s children under 5 suffering from chronic malnutrition. The population of Niger has grown from 5.2 million in 1975 to 19.9 million in 2015.

Over 1000 Muslims took to the streets of London chanting Allahu Akbar and demanding an Islamic caliphate

They also want America to be punished.

A Muslim college student who claimed that she had been attacked by apparent Trump supporters on a Manhattan subway platform on December 1, 2016 has now admitted that she made the whole thing up

Yasmin Seweid claimed that 3 young white men shouted "Donald Trump!" and called her a terrorist, followed her, and then pulled off her hijab before she got away. But after investigators couldn't verify the story or find any witnesses or video of it, Seweid ultimately confessed to fabricating it. Significant NYPD resources were used in the investigation, and Seweid is expected to be charged with filing a false report, which could be either a misdemeanor or a felony. "This isn’t something we normally like to do, but she had numerous opportunities to admit nothing happened and she kept sticking by her story," a police source said. Seweid said that she made up the story to get attention because she was having family trouble at home. "Maybe she was afraid that night. She was running late," her father speculates, adding that she went missing for several days after the incident and was found at a friend's house.

African American women are more likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer before age 45, and are more likely to die from breast cancer at every age than white women

Race isn't just a social construct when it comes to cancer research.

The results of the latest international student tests are out, with Mexican students continuing to languish at the bottom of the list of member countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development

They obtained an average score of 416 points in the Program for International Student Assessment, or PISA, while across the OECD the average is 492. In the three areas assessed — sciences, reading and mathematics — fewer than 1% of students in Mexico achieved a top-performing level 5 or 6, a percentage that has not changed significantly since 2006. Students scored 416 points in science, on average, with a mean performance below the OECD average of 496. In reading, the average national score was 423 points, below the OECD average of 493. In the third subject, mathematics, Mexican students earned the lowest score of all 34 OECD countries with 408 points. The OECD average is 490. In a presentation of the 2016 PISA results, the OECD said “Mexico’s mean performance in mathematics has improved by five points every three years, on average, between 2003 and 2015.” “However, in 2015, Mexico’s mean score was lower than the score attained in 2009,” it said. Fifty-seven per cent of students are considered low achievers in mathematics while in science the percentage is 48 and in reading 42. In a video press conference, OECD Chief of Staff Gabriela Ramos lamented that after 15 years of PISA testing in Mexico the results continue to be disappointing, and the country continues falling behind with no significant variations in its results. “It’s not what the students of Mexico deserve,” she said, adding that the picture is “very negative” with regard to Mexico’s performance, and “not a good one of its education system.”

A teenage Afghan asylum seeker has been arrested in Germany for the rape and murder of the 19-year-old daughter of a senior EU official

Medical student Maria Ladenburger, who volunteered at a refugee home in her spare time, was found dead in the university city of Freiburg, near the border with Switzerland in mid October 2016. Her father is Dr. Clemens Ladenburger, a lawyer who works as the right hand man to the legal director of the European Commission. The suspect has confessed to the murder, according to police. He was arrested and will go before the courts in 2017. Maria was drowned after being raped, her body found in the River Dreisam on October 16, 2016.

Hundreds of terrorists could be using British benefits to fund their extremist activities after the Government admitted that it did not know the true scale of problem

There have been calls for a thorough investigation into the issue after two men were convicted of channeling thousands of pounds of fraudulent housing benefits to the Islamist fanatics behind the Paris and Brussels terrorist outrages. With more than 850 "Britons" thought to be currently fighting in Syria, counter terror experts believe large amounts of taxpayers' money is ending up in the hands of jihadists desperate to wage war on the West. Birmingham City Council has apologized and vowed to review its systems after it emerged that it had paid more than £5,400 to a "Belgian" man while he was fighting in Syria. Anouar Haddouchi moved to Birmingham from Brussels in 2009 along with his wife, Muslim convert , Julie Maes, and their two children. They lived in private rented accommodation and despite being foreign nationals, were legally entitled to child, housing and council tax benefit. Haddouchi even boasted to his friends how he was able to live "very comfortably" on the money he received from the British state. Friend, Azzedine Kaddour, told police that Haddouchi had managed to bank a large amount of cash from his benefit payments and had used the money to fund his journey to Syria where he joined Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isil). He said: "Anouar Haddouchi financed his trip with money he had in his bank account. In essence he emptied his account to go to Syria. A good chunk of that came from the benefits he received in the UK." In an extraordinary blunder Birmingham City Council continued to pay his housing benefit directly into his Lloyds TSB Islamic bank account for 11 months after he had left the country, even though his landlord wrote to officials to say that he was no longer living at the address.

Swedish authorities have charged five teenagers from Afghanistan with aggravated rape for dragging another Afghan boy into a forest, threatening him with a knife and raping him

The assault took place in October 2016 in a forested area in the city of Uppsala, north of Stockholm. Prosecutor Johan Stromback said that the five suspects are 16 and 17 years old, while the boy they assaulted is under 15. Stromback said that all arrived in Sweden as unaccompanied minors seeking asylum. The accused were charged with aggravated rape of a minor, a crime in Sweden that is punishable by at least four years in prison for adults and juvenile detention for minors, he said. The indictment calls for all five to be expelled from Sweden and barred from returning after serving any sentences. According to the indictment, the accused punched the victim in the head, raped him and spat on him. It said that the assault "was planned and lasted for at least an hour" and left the boy with bruises, scrapes and bite marks on his back. The accused filmed parts of the assault and threatened to post clips on social media if the victim went to police.

German premier Angela Merkel called for a ban on the Burka for the first time as she launched a bid to remain in power with a dramatic shift

Sparking a standing ovation from her CDU Party, the German Chancellor threw her weight behind calls to outlaw the burqa and niqab wherever “possible”. She said: “With us, the rule is: show your face, that’s why the full veil is not appropriate, it should be banned.” The CDU party wants to ban the full face veil in courts, schools and universities as well as in road traffic and during police checks.

The graph of 8th graders in math scores on the 2015 TIMSS international test

 Hat tip, Steve Sailer!

Since 2010, the northeast has comprised 4% of the UK population, contributed just 3% of the country’s gross value added (GVA), and accounted for only 2% of the economy’s new jobs

Those figures are 11%, 9%, and 7%, respectively, in the northwest; and 8%, 6.5%, and 6%, respectively, in Yorkshire and Humberside. By contrast, London and the southeast have accounted for 26.8% of population, 37.7% of GVA, and 39% of new jobs. In fact, since 2010, half of all new jobs were created in London, the southeast, and the east. A 2016 study by University of Groningen economist Philip McCann found that the UK’s regional income gaps rival the worst in Europe. Average disposable household income in the Greater London area is 60% higher than in most other regions of England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Moreover, according to the latest Eurostat data, average per capita GDP (in terms of purchasing power parity) in the Welsh and Tees Valleys is, respectively, 69% and 74% lower than the EU average, placing them below Lithuania, Slovakia, and Slovenia. Overall, North England, Wales, and Northern Ireland’s per capita GDP levels are lower than Mississippi and West Virginia’s.

California has still not finished counting the votes from Election Day 2016!

Could California's slow counting skills have anything to do with its large Hispanic population?

Ohio State attacker has been identified as teen refugee from Somalia

The FBI has joined the investigation into the car-and-knife attack at Ohio State University that left nine people injured and the assailant dead. The suspect is Abdul Razak Ali Artan, an 18-year-old Somali refugee who attended the school. He reportedly left Somalia in 2007 with his family, moved to Pakistan, and came to the United States in 2014. Witnesses say that a car plowed into a group of students and the assailant then got out with a butcher knife and began stabbing people. A campus police officer fatally shot him within a minute. Federal law enforcement officials have been worried about precisely this kind of an attack because of a recent wave of extremist propaganda online encouraging the strategy. One of the victims was critically injured. "I thought it was an accident initially until I saw the guy come out with a knife," says one student. The attack happened outside Watts Hall where students were congregating outside because of a reported gas leak in the building. It was unclear whether the report of the leak was related to the attack. Another witness said that the assailant had a "crazy look in his eyes." He says that the responding officer shot the assailant because the "stabber clearly wasn't stopping."

Donald Trump won the presidency with less support from black and Hispanic voters than any president in at least 40 years

Trump was elected with 8% of the black vote, 28% of the Hispanic vote and 27% of the Asian-American vote, according to the Reuters/Ipsos Election Day poll. Among black voters, his showing was comparable to the 9% captured by George W. Bush in 2000 and Ronald Reagan in 1984.

The 10 poorest countries in the world are all in Africa

Many Americans make more in a week than residents in some of the poorest countries earn in an entire year, according to a ranking of the poorest countries in the world based on gross national income (GNI). GNI includes residents' net incomes as well as the country's gross domestic product. Here are the 10 poorest countries by GNI per capita:

Democratic Republic of Congo: $680

Liberia: $683

Burundi: $691

Niger: $889

Guinea: $1,058

Malawi: $1,073

Mozambique: $1,098

Togo: $1,262

Madagascar: $1,320

Comoros: $1,361

Chicago police said that charges could be announced soon in the fatal shooting of a black congressman's grandson following an argument over a pair of basketball shoes

"First-degree murder charges are expected," a police representative said. Officer Michelle Tannehill said that two juveniles are in custody and are considered suspects in the killing of 15-year-old Javon Wilson, who was shot in the head at his home in Chicago. Javon is the grandson of longtime US Rep. Danny Davis. Police said that the shooting stemmed from a dispute over basketball shoes. Javon knew his attackers and they may have been friends at some point. Davis said that a 15-year-old boy had traded slacks for shoes with Javon's 14-year-old brother, but thought better of the trade and went to Javon's house with a 17-year-old girl. He said that the pair forced their way in the house and argued with Javon before the boy pulled a gun and fired.

Oberlin fires black professor over anti-Semitism

Oberlin College has dismissed Joy Karega, an assistant professor of rhetoric and composition, following an investigation into anti-Semitic and anti-Israel statements she made on social media - including her assertion that ISIS is really an arm of Israeli and U.S. intelligence agencies and that Israel was behind the Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris. The college initially affirmed Karega’s right to academic freedom when her inflammatory statements surfaced earlier in 2016, but placed her on leave in August, pending an investigation into her conduct. Beyond concerns about anti-Semitism, which fit into larger complaints about escalating anti-Jewish rhetoric on campus, Karega’s case has raised questions about whether academic freedom covers statements that have no basis in fact. Oberlin’s Board of Trustees ultimately voted to dismiss Karega for “failing to meet the academic standards that Oberlin requires of its faculty and failing to demonstrate intellectual honesty,” the college said in a statement. The vote followed “extensive consideration and a comprehensive review of recommendations from multiple faculty committees,” and from President Marvin Krislov. Karega’s dismissal is effective immediately. Karega said that she intends to "challenge the college's decision and assault on my substantive rights through all the avenues I have available to me." She said that her Facebook posts were taken out of their original contexts and "grossly misrepresented" for political purposes. "Since the publication of the posts, I have been inundated with hundreds of hatemail filled with slurs (racial, misogynist, classist), harassment and threats," she said. "To add insult to injury, for the last eight months, Oberlin has campaigned to implicate my professional fitness using arbitrary, inequitable and discriminatory practices. Indeed, the college launched an assault on my substantive rights."

England and Wales: Black men were over three times more likely to be arrested than white men in 2014

Black individuals account for about 3% of the total population of England and Wales yet make up about 9% of defendants prosecuted for indictable offenses. Twice as many black women were jailed for drug offenses in 2014, comparative to the rate of white women, while young black males were more than 10 times more likely than young white males to be arrested for robbery. Men from black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds were also more than 16% more likely than white men to be remanded in custody.

An Hispanic police officer who shot and killed a black man during a traffic stop in suburban St. Paul, Minnesota has been charged with second-degree manslaughter

Ramsey County Attorney John Choi said that St. Anthony police officer Jeronimo Yanez, who is Latino, was not justified in using deadly force when he fired seven shots at Philando Castile on July 6, 2016. Castile's death led to massive protests and dozens of arrests.

A new study into male and female reactions to childhood trauma has revealed an interesting difference between the sexes

The anterior circular sulcus — a region of the brain associated with emotional awareness and empathy — was larger in boys who had experienced trauma versus a control group who hadn't, while in girls who had experienced trauma, the same region was actually smaller than the control group. The researchers said their findings emphasized that the sexes experienced post-traumatic recovery in different ways. The study was conducted by researchers at Stanford Medical School. The researchers used structural magnetic resonance imagining (sMRI) to examine the brains of 59 children (29 in the control group, 30 in the test group) between the ages of nine and 17. With such a small, broad group, the researchers were hesitant to draw any firm conclusions, saying that further, more specific research was needed to prove a causation. Says the lead author: "Our findings suggest it is possible that boys and girls could exhibit different trauma symptoms and that they might benefit from different approaches to treatment."

U.S. Rep. Stephen F. Lynch says that it’s time for the Democratic Party to get back to its roots and refocus on speaking about the issues facing white, blue-collar workers now that the Republican Party has seized control of the White House and retained both the House and Senate

“This is a rebuilding year, I think we have to look at the results and where our weaknesses are,” an introspective Lynch said, three days after President-elect Donald Trump cruised to a surprise victory over Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. “We are very, very progressive and sometimes we overlook that there are people in this country who struggle who happen to be white,” Lynch said. “They are going to work every day and they haven’t had a raise in a long, long time, but the Democrats don’t talk much about them.” White voters, who made up roughly 70% of the electorate, overwhelmingly supported Trump over Clinton by 21 points, according to exit polling data. Clinton also underperformed among black, Hispanic and young voters compared to Barack Obama, data shows. “We lost a lot of the white, blue-collar vote, and that’s troubling, that’s my base,” the South Boston Democrat said. “I think we need to talk about them a little bit.” Lynch said that he is not sure who will replace interim Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Donna Brazile, but said that he expects a national search in the hopes of finding a good person. Lynch lamented critical missteps by the Clinton campaign, including failing to put resources into Wisconsin and only mounting a last-minute push in Michigan, two states in Clinton’s so-called “firewall” that ended up going to Trump. “I don’t know who is responsible for identifying those critical states, but we missed the picture in Michigan, we missed it again in Wisconsin,” Lynch said. “Everybody has 20/20 vision in hindsight.” Lynch was one of several Bay State pols who took part in get-out-the-vote efforts for Clinton in New Hampshire, a state that she narrowly won.

Barack Obama didn't improve the lives of black Americans

Even some blacks are willing to admit that Obama was a bad president.

Michael Moore defends Donald Trump's voters

Says that it is wrong to call them racists.

Journalist Monisha Rajesh calls for Donald Trump's assassination

Will she be arrested?

Trump beat Hillary amongst white voters in New York State

Both candidates live in liberal New York, but Trump defeated Clinton by six points among whites in the Empire State. Among white men, Trump crushed Hillary 59%-36% in the state of New York.

African-Americans have more rigidity of the aorta, the major artery supplying oxygen-rich blood to the body, than whites and Hispanics, according to a study by UT Southwestern Medical Center cardiologists

The finding is important because African-Americans are the group at greatest risk of high blood pressure and organ damage caused by high blood pressure, and aortic rigidity is associated with high blood pressure. The study examined data from some 2,500 participants in the Dallas Heart Study, a multi-ethnic population-based cohort. The researchers used two methods to assess stiffness of the aorta, which is the largest artery in the body, running from the top of the left ventricle in the heart down to the abdomen. Both systems of measurement found greater stiffness in the aortas of African-Americans. "Our demonstration of ethnic differences in arterial stiffness is an important step in understanding the mechanisms that mediate ethnic differences in cardiovascular disease," said Dr. Wanpen Vongpatanasin, Professor of Internal Medicine at UT Southwestern Medical Center, and co-senior author of the study. Hispanics in the study had an intermediate level of aortic stiffness, greater than whites, but less than that of African-Americans. The study found that both African-Americans and Hispanics had smaller diameter aortas, after adjustments were made for weight. "This finding suggests that there may be a mismatch between aortic diameter and adiposity, which contributes to the increased rigidity," said Dr. Vongpatanasin, who holds the Norman and Audrey Kaplan Chair in Hypertension and the Fredric L. Coe Professorship in Nephrolithiasis in Mineral Metabolism. Other possible mechanisms underlying the increased levels of aortic stiffness in African-Americans and Hispanics include greater sodium intake among African-Americans and Hispanics, lower intake of potassium, and genetic differences in collagen content. Collagen is a protein fiber that is a key component of connective tissue such as bone and artery walls. According to figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 43% of African-American men and 45.7% of African-American women have hypertension, or high blood pressure, compared with 33.9% of white men and 31.3% of white women. "Hypertension is strongly associated with heart attack and stroke. Our study provides a potential explanation for excess risk of hypertension and resultant organ complication in African-Americans, who are at particularly high risk of cardiovascular disease," said Dr. Vongpatanasin.

A young Muslim woman claimed that she was attacked and robbed of her headscarf and wallet by two men, one of whom wore a Trump hat, but police are now saying that it was a hoax

The attack supposedly took place in Louisiana where the woman is a student. I guess we will be seeing more of this type of hoax now that Donald Trump has been elected president.

A review of vote totals in the past two elections reveals that Trump 2016 would have defeated Obama 2012 in the electoral college

Apparently, Trump's success was not entirely due to the fact that Hillary Clinton was such an awful candidate.

Black journalist blames white women for Hillary Clinton's defeat

Accuses white women of being racists.

Poll: 70% of Jewish voters favored Hillary Clinton in the presidential election, with only 25% opting for Donald Trump

The national survey, which was commissioned by J Street, the liberal Jewish Middle East policy group, again showed a community that trends more Democratic than the general population. “American Jews remain a bedrock Democratic constituency, with overwhelming disdain for Donald Trump,” J Street President Jeremy Ben Ami said. Jim Gerstein, the pollster, said that Jews continued to remain unstinting in their support of the Democratic party. “They voted for Clinton more than Hispanics did, more than any other religious group, including no religion,” Gerstein said. Trump’s percentage was less than the 30% garnered in 2012 by Mitt Romney in his loss to Barack Obama, but commensurate with the 24% won by George W. Bush in 2004. The group’s national results also comported with national exit polls carried out by a consortium of major media outlets showing Jews favoring Clinton over Trump 71%-24%.

Hillary Clinton failed to win enough black and Hispanic voters

By comparing Clinton's performance to Obama's in 2012 it is easy to see that she failed to appeal to a number of key voter groups. Groups that it was predicted she would have more support from. In 2012, a majority of over-50s backed Romney for the presidency, while Obama got the support of three in five of those aged under 30. In 2016, polling was showing that Trump's support among older sections of society had improved on Romney's figure - with 49% of over-65s supporting him, compared to 29% of 18 to 39-year-olds. This was hugely positive for Trump in the key swing state of Florida. Worth 29 electoral college votes, Florida's high over-65 population was expected to back the Republican candidate leaving Clinton in need of a solid turnout among younger voters if she was to win the state. However, the exit polls showed that Clinton's popularity among younger voters was much lower than Obama's. Of those voters aged under 30 years of age, only 55% backed Clinton compared to Obama's 60% in 2012. This might have proved enough to swing Florida towards Trump and it could also be a factor behind his victory in Pennsylvania - something which there was less expectation of. Exit polls show that Clinton's support among Hispanic voters was just 65%, down from Obama's 71% in 2012 while among black voters support was down from 93% to 88%. Meanwhile support among Hispanic voters was actually higher for Trump, at 29%, compared to the 27% Romney secured four years ago.

President Trump?

It looks as if Donald Trump has won the election but there has not been any official announcement as of this time.

Update (2:36 AM): Trump now has 276 electoral college votes making him officially the winner of the 2016 presidential election.

Hispanic uncle charged in the death of a child found in a well was in the United States illegally

Smith County Sheriffs have confirmed that Gustavo Zavala-Garcia, 24, has been charged with Capital Murder for the death of Kayla Gomez-Orozco, 10. “He’s given us information from him, and we’ve been able gather enough evidence in our investigation to charge him with that crime,” said Smith County Sheriff Larry Smith. A relative of the slain little girl, Zavala-Garcia was the lone suspect in the case. He illegally entered the United States on an unknown date and at an unknown location. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers first encountered and lodged a detainer on Zavala-Garcia on October 10, 2014, after he was convicted in Smith County for assaulting a family member, which caused injury. He entered ICE custody on October 21, 2014 and was released on bond the same day. Deputies found Kayla’s body at a well that sits outside Garcia’s rental house. Kayla was last seen at a church in Bullard, 100 miles southeast of Dallas. An Amber Alert was issued for her after she disappeared from a Bullard Church that evening. A $60,000 reward was offered for her return and FBI agents organized a search party with the help of community members. They gathered in the parking lot at Bullard High School to look for Kayla. Volunteers wore bright-colored clothing during their search. The Amber Alert for the missing girl was discontinued after her body was found. Smith declined to release a cause of death or a possible motive, pending charges.

Magic and superstition in India leads to 4-year-old girl being dismembered

Recently, a 4-year-old girl went missing from her home in the Charaideo district of upper Assam, a mostly tribal state in northeast India. Then the child’s body was found in a forest about 75 to 90 yards from the Ratanpur tea estate where she lived with her parents. She had been decapitated and her arms had been severed. Both her arms and her head were found scattered near the body on the forest floor. The horrific dismembering was allegedly the result of a 14-year-old girl, who lived in the same village, losing her mobile phone. Wanting it back, her parents — Hanuman Bhumij and his wife, Many Bhumij — turned to black magic, police said. As Prasanta Phukan, an inspector in charge of the Sonari Police Station in Assam, said, many in the remote tribal area are uneducated and steeped in superstition. They conducted a prayer ritual that Phukan said was performed by Gul Mhammad Ali, also known as Gulam, a tantric, or black witch priest, in the village. With Gulam were his nephew Hajrat Ali and another assistant, Ariful Haqmulla. Part of the prayer ritual to retrieve the mobile phone included sacrificing the 4-year-old girl. On October 24, 2016 they allegedly kidnapped her and proceeded to horribly disfigure her, eventually killing her. Police have arrested Hanuman and Many, along with the two assistants in the ritual. Gulam, though, has fled. The 14-year-old who originally lost her phone was not arrested, since she is a minor. The family of the victim and the family that took part in the prayer ritual knew each other from living together in the same small village. Everyone involved, including the deceased child, are Adivasis, descendants of indigenous people in India who have been the objects of discrimination and exploitation in India for years. These communities tend to be poor and uneducated, generally working as laborers. Many of them tend to be deeply superstitious, and their belief systems can involve goddesses and witches. Crimes, particularly forms of ritual human sacrifice, stemming from these occult beliefs are not unheard of in more rural parts of India. One woman who was having night terrors abducted a 3-year-old on the advice of a “holy man.” She and two other men allegedly cut the boy’s nose, ears and hands off after covering him in ghee and sandalwood. They left his bleeding body in front of an image of Kali. In June 2016, to offer a more recent example, a 55-year-old man in a rural village in Jharkhand, a state in eastern India, was beheaded in what was allegedly a ritualistic sacrifice. The offering was meant to bring about a better harvest and more timely rains, police said. Police believe that the crime was carried out by the Orkas or Mudkatwa, which is an occultist group that buries human heads in paddy fields for better rains and harvest. Sometimes, though, beliefs are used to potentially cover up other motives. A week prior to the 55-year-old’s beheading, a 5-year-old was beheaded on the Rangapara Tea Estate in Assam. People living in the area blamed the crime on a tantric named Kali Puja. A mob lynched him, supposedly for this crime, though police later said that the child was killed over a monetary dispute and the lynched person was Nanu Mirdha, who was not a tantric. Meanwhile on the other side, those accused of being witches or black magic priests are often hunted and killed. In places where superstition and vigilantism overlap and small rumors can turn deadly, nearly 2,100 people accused of witchcraft have been killed between 2000 and 2012. This, though, might not come close to showing the breadth of the problem. “Like the proverbial tip of a very deep iceberg, available data hides much of the reality of a problem that is deeply ingrained in society,” stated New Delhi-based Partners for Law in Development. “It is only the most gruesome cases that are reported — most cases of witch-hunting go unreported and unrecorded.” This fear of black magic runs deeply through the community. In 2006, for example, a family of five — a tea plantation worker and his four children — were beheaded when several members of the Adivasi community at the Sadharu tea plantation became ill and died. “A trial was held to prove if Munda and his family were involved in casting evil spells in the tea garden that led to a bout of epidemics in the area,” police officer D Das said. “They said the killings would appease the gods.”

The German Interior Ministry wants to stop migrants ever reaching Europe's Mediterranean coast by picking them up at sea and returning them to Africa

In what would be a huge shift for a country with one of the most generous asylum policies, the ministry says that the European Union should adopt an Australian-style system under which migrants intercepted at sea are sent for processing at camps in third countries. The ministry's proposal calls for migrants picked up in the Mediterranean - most of whom set off from conflict-torn Libya - to be sent to Tunisia, Egypt or other north African states to apply for asylum from there. In related news, a 12-foot high barrier - higher than the Berlin Wall - is being erected in the German city of Munich to protect locals from young refugees who are set to move into the area. Locals campaigned for the wall, in the suburb of Neuperlach Süd, after authorities decided that some 160 young unaccompanied migrants will move into a large shelter which is less than 100 meters from a residential estate. Critics say that the wall is further proof of the alienation voters feel with Chancellor Angela Merkel's refugee policy.

White children in Britain should be bussed into schools dominated by ethnic minorities to halt the rise of racial segregation, says report

Bussing was largely a disaster in the United States but leftists want to see the policy adopted in Britain.

France's interior minister has ordered the closure of four mosques that espoused a radical ideology, the latest such shutdowns among dozens since the November 13, 2015 Paris attacks

A state of emergency in France allows for the closing of places of worship where the preaching risks provoking hate, violence or acts of terrorism. Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve ordered the mosques in the Paris region closed. "Under cover of religion, these places held meetings that in reality were aimed at promoting a radical ideology," the statement said. Dozens of mosques where radicalism thrived have been closed and non-citizens, including imams, expelled since the attacks that killed 130 people.

Sweden is on the brink of becoming a lawless state as the police force is losing the battle against unprecedented levels of crime and violence amid a growing migrant crisis

The Scandinavian country is facing an existential crisis with on average three police officers handing in their resignations a day. If the alarming trend continues, and police officers continue to resign more than 1,000 officers will have quit the service by New Years. Since the migrant crisis began last summer, Sweden has been hit by a series of brutal crimes and violent incidents. In 2015 alone Sweden, with a population of 9.5 million, received over 160,000 asylum applications and the country is expected to take as many as 190,000 refugees, or 2% of the population, by the end of 2016. Since the Second World War Sweden has prided itself on helping migrants who cross their borders despite some moves to the political right in recent years. But police have now admitted the force has reached breaching point as more than 50 areas in the country have now been placed on a “no-go zone” list. In February a report from Sweden's National Criminal Investigation Service announced there were 52 areas where officers would not cope with the levels of crime being committed. Sex assaults, drug dealing and children carrying weapons were just some of the incidents mentioned in the report. In September, Swedish officials were forced to add another three areas to the list. Now the Police Association have said they need at least 200 new officers to regain control in the south-east of the country. Thomas Stjernfeldt, from the region's police association, said: “We are missing extremely many officers in the operational sector, right now we need 200 more officers to be added to the force to establish a reasonable working environment in the southeast of Götaland.” Götaland is one of the regions in the country that has been hit hard by the car fire attacks, which have been occurring throughout Sweden. a number of the arsonist attacks in the city of Växjö, in Götaland, had been committed by frustrated migrants. Currently there are more than 6,000 suspected crimes that are unsolved in the area and 400 of these cases are suspected to be rapes, murder or attempted murder. Stjernfeldt said that the figures are alarming and police officers are constantly forced to work overtime in an attempt to solve the reported crimes. The Police Association admitted that it fears the public will lose faith in the force and their ability to protect citizens if the situation is not resolved. The union’s call for more resources echoes National Police Commissioner Dan Eliasson’s February warning, where he said he needed a further 4,100 officers and specialist staff to reestablish law and order in Sweden.

More than two-thirds of people in the Republic would vote for a united Ireland, a new poll has revealed

The Sunday Business Post / Red C opinion poll found that there has been a slight rise in support for a united Ireland, with a similar survey from July 2016 showing that 65% were in favor of an end to partition. In the latest survey 67% of respondents said that they would like to see Irish unity as a by-product of Brexit. The findings represent a 10% jump in support for a united Ireland since Red C first posed the question for the Sunday Times in 2010. The shock Brexit result in June 2016 sparked a renewed debate about a referendum on the Irish border.

Germany: Chancellor Angela Merkel is facing catastrophe over her failed migrant policy, according to a new report

During the first six months of 2016, migrants committed 142,500 crimes, according to the Federal Criminal Police Office. And the country has been hit by a spate of horrendous violent crime including rapes, sexual and physical assaults, stabbings, home invasions, robberies, burglaries and drug trafficking. Adding to the country's woes is the fact that thousands of people have gone missing after travelling to the country on invitation from the country's leader. Germany took in more than 1.1 million migrants in the past year and parts of the country are crippled with a lack of infrastructure. Now the true reality is hitting home ahead of next year's elections as the far right surges in the polls threatening to topple the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) leader Merkel. According to a report by the international policy council the Gatestone Institute, local police in many parts of the country admit that they are stretched to the limit. The report states: "The rape of a ten-year-old girl in Leipzig, the largest city in Saxony, has drawn renewed attention to the spiraling levels of violent crime perpetrated by migrants in cities and towns across Germany."

Hillary Clinton's staffers knew as early as 2011 that Anthony Weiner had been messaging an underage girl, but they did nothing about it, according to WikiLeaks emails

John Podesta - now chair of Clinton's presidential campaign - and Neera Tanden, another adviser, were forwarded news of an investigation into Weiner's online contact with a 17-year-old Delaware high school student by Jennifer Palmieri, the current campaign communications director, in June 2011. At the time he was married to Huma Abedin, another member of Clinton's inner circle, who is now at the center of fresh FBI investigation into the handling of classified material while Clinton was in office. The email detailed lurid claims of private messages to an underage girl being investigated by police.

Pudgy older fathers live longer, are more attractive to the opposite sex and are better at passing on their genes than their leaner counterparts, scientists have claimed

Becoming fatter after fatherhood due to decreasing testosterone levels may not fit the “macho” ideal, but it actually prolongs lives and strengthens immune systems, according to Richard Bribiescas, professor of anthropology and deputy provost at Yale University. There is evidence that these men are less likely to suffer from heart attacks and prostate cancer, while a study in 2008 found that men with high metabolisms were around 50% more likely to die in a given year than those whose bodies burned up less energy at rest.

Happy Halloween!

2015’s 12% increase in homicides reported to the FBI is the largest one-year homicide increase in nearly half a century

The primary victims have been black. An additional 900 black males were killed in 2015 compared with 2014, resulting in a homicide victimization rate that is now nine times greater for black males than for white males. The brutality of these killings can be shocking. Over the weekend of September 16, 2016 a 15-year-old boy in Chicago was burned alive in a dumpster. More police are being killed in 2016 too. Gun murders of police officers are up 47% nationally through October 21, 2016 compared with the same period in 2015. In Chicago gun assaults on officers are up 100%. In New York City attacks on officers are up 23%. Recently, four California officers have been deliberately murdered. Officers are second-guessing their own justified use of force for fear of being labeled racist and losing their jobs, if not their freedom. On October 5, 2016 a female officer in Chicago was beaten unconscious by a suspect in a car crash, who repeatedly bashed her face into the concrete and tore out chunks of her hair. She refrained from using her gun, she said, because she didn’t want to become the next viral video in the Black Lives Matter narrative. The Chicago Police Department now wants to institutionalize such dangerous second-guessing. Its proposed guidelines for using force would require police to consider the “impact that even a reasonable use of force may have on those who observe” it. The Black Lives Matter narrative about an epidemic of racially biased police shootings is false: Four studies published in 2016 showed that if there is a bias in police shootings, it works in favor of blacks and against whites. Officers’ use of lethal force following an arrest for a violent felony is more than twice the rate for white as for black arrestees, according to one study. Another study showed that officers were three times less likely to shoot unarmed black suspects than unarmed whites. No government agency is more dedicated to the proposition that black lives matter than the police. If the next administration continues to disregard that truth in favor of a false narrative about systemic law-enforcement racism, the next four years will see more urban violence and race riots, and more dead police officers.

The strain of H.I.V. responsible for almost all AIDS cases in the United States, which was carried from Zaire to Haiti around 1967, spread from there to New York City around 1971

From New York, it spread to San Francisco around 1976. H.I.V. was carried from Kinshasa to Haiti in the 1960s — most likely by one of the thousands of Haitian civil servants recruited by the United Nations to work in the former Belgian Congo after colonial rule collapsed. Africa has a dozen H.I.V. groups, and Haiti’s epidemic came from one of those.

Researchers have identified two new genetic risk factors for Alzheimer's disease (AD) among African Americans

Despite the fact that AD is more common in African Americans than whites, the AD genetic risk profile for African Americans is more poorly understood. While more than 20 genes have been identified as risk factors for AD in whites, fewer than five have been identified for African Americans. In 2013, a genome-wide association study of AD in more than 5,500 African Americans identified two genetic risk factors for AD. This study looked at genetic variants across subjects' entire genome and compared their frequency in cases versus controls. Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) used these same subjects, but added additional AD risk information (smoking status, diabetes status, education level) to their statistical modeling to increase the power of the study. By doing so they were able to identify two new genes (COBL and SLC10A2) associated with risk of AD in African Americans. "There are currently no medications for AD that slow or stop the progression of the disease. Genes that increase risk for AD are potential targets for new disease-modifying AD drug therapies. Our study identifies two potentially "drugable" targets," explains corresponding author Jesse Mez, MD, MS, assistant professor of neurology at BUSM and associate director of the Boston University Alzheimer's Disease & CTE Center Clinical Core. According to the researchers the methodology they employed for this study allowed them to make an important discovery without investing more money in genotyping or more effort to recruit volunteers. They believe that a similar methodology could be used for many other diseases to make new genetic discoveries without new large investments.

Two studies may explain why people of African descent respond more strongly to infection, and are more prone to autoimmune diseases

DNA acquired from breeding with Neanderthals may explain why people of European descent respond differently to infection than those of African descent, two studies suggest. The findings might also offer insight into why people of African descent are more prone to autoimmune diseases caused by an overactive immune system.

A team of scientists has identified MNX1 as a new oncogene - a gene than can cause cancer - that is more active in African American prostate cancer than in European American prostate cancer

The finding suggests that genetic factors can contribute, at last in part, to the higher incidence of prostate cancer among African American men compared with men of other ethnic groups. "African Americans have about one-and-a-half times the incidence and twice the mortality associated with prostate cancer of European Americans, and the reasons for this are not clear," said senior author Dr. Michael Ittmann, professor of pathology & immunology at Baylor College of Medicine and the Michael E. DeBakey Department of VA Medical Center. Most scientists think that some of the health disparities among ethnic groups can be explained by differences in biology. The scientists discovered that, compared with normal prostate tissues, both African American and European American prostate cancer have MNX1 genes that are more active and produce more of the MNX1 protein. However, MNX1 is significantly more active in African American prostate cancer than in European American prostate cancer. In summary, in African American prostate cancer androgen and the AKT signaling pathway can increase the activity of MNX1, which in turn increases lipid metabolism. Increased lipid metabolism is a hallmark of aggressive prostate cancer, which is more common in African American men.