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SUPER-HIGH LEVELS OF TOXIC ALUMINUM FOUND IN BRAINS OF AUTISTIC PATIENTS

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SUPER-HIGH LEVELS OF TOXIC ALUMINUM FOUND IN BRAINS OF AUTISTIC PATIENTS

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https://www.infowars.com/super-high-levels-of-toxic-aluminum-found-in-brains-of-autistic-patients/

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http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/wounded-grenade-ahead-french-president-visit-51426973

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http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/28/politics/north-korea-missile-launch/index.html

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Russian Bribery Plot during Uranium One Deal
http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/355749-fbi-uncovered-russian-bribery-plot-before-obama-administration

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"This is our proudest moment as gay and lesbian Australians," said Chris Lewis, 60, an artist from Sydney, who waved a large rainbow flag he bought in San Francisco about 30 years ago. "Finally I can be proud of my country."

But many Australians said it was also late in coming.

Annika Lowry, 42, who brought her 4-year-old daughter to the celebration, said the vote revealed a widening gap between Australia's political class and voters who have been demanding same-sex marriage legislation for years.

"It was not just about us," she said. "It's for our kids, so that they know equality is important."

Alex Greenwich, a state lawmaker from New South Wales and the co-chairman of Australian Marriage Equality, an advocacy group, said the vote "shows that Australians have truly come together in support of their gay and lesbian mates and have said that everybody should be able to have the freedom to marry."

In calling for the national survey, Mr. Turnbull sought public backing for a shift in social policy that was opposed by many members of his center-right Liberal Party.

Mr. Turnbull voted yes, and he urged other Australians to do so as a matter of fairness, seeking to blunt opposition from far-right members of his party.

Lucy and I are voting YES because it's fair. Make sure you have your say too by returning your survey form. pic.twitter.com/6xhaDYC7pQ
- Malcolm Turnbull (@TurnbullMalcolm) Sept. 23, 2017

"My commitment was to give every Australian their say," Mr. Turnbull said after the results were announced. "That has been done, they have spoken."

He added: "Now it is up to us, here in the Parliament of Australia, to get on with it - to get on with the job the Australian people have tasked us to do, and get this done, this year, before Christmas."

Dean Smith, a federal senator from the Liberal Party, who is gay, said that he would immediately introduce a bill to legalize same-sex marriage. He said on Tuesday that he believed he had the votes to pass the legislation in the Senate and send it to Parliament's lower house for approval.

Lyle Shelton, a Christian lobbyist who was the "no" campaign's most outspoken advocate, said he would begrudgingly "accept the democratic decision."

"Millions of Australians will always believe the truth about marriage, that it's between one man and one woman," Mr. Shelton said. "It could take years, if not decades, to win that back."

The record of subjecting same-sex marriage to a public vote remains mixed.

In 2015, Ireland was the first country to legalize same-sex marriage by referendum, but the same year, voters in Slovenia rejected a law legalizing such unions.

In the United States, numerous states outlawed same-sex marriage in referendums; in 2012, Maine, Maryland and Washington became the first states to legalize such unions by referendum. The United States Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage across the nation in 2015.

The survey in Australia was controversial, not only because it placed such a thorny issue at the whims of direct democracy but also because of its cost.

As the deadline approached for citizens to mail in their ballots, passions were inflamed by heartfelt pleas and vitriolic attacks.

Many supporters of same-sex marriage opposed the survey, saying that human rights should not be a matter for an up-or-down vote and urging Parliament to decide the matter.

Estimates put the cost of the survey around 122 million Australian dollars, or $97 million. The poll was not a legally required step for changing the law.

Activists in September challenged the survey's legality, arguing that it was an unconstitutional use of tax money, but Australia's High Court allowed the poll to proceed. In the end, the response rate was higher than supporters of same-sex marriage anticipated, showing both frustration with parliamentary inaction and the extent to which mainstream opinion has shifted in support of sexual minorities.

Although legalization is not guaranteed, the results announced on Wednesday make the country's path to same-sex marriage much clearer.

Mr. Greenwich said the outcome delivered "an unequivocal mandate for Parliament to legislate for this bill as soon as possible for a fair bill this year."

Focus has already shifted to that bill, and what form it will take.

"After a cost of 122 million, and over two months of campaigning and years of public discussion, it makes no sense to delay a parliamentary debate," Mr. Smith, the Liberal senator, said in an interview. "Australians upheld their end of the bargain by voting en masse. Now it's time for Parliament to uphold its end of the same deal."

Mr. Smith's bill provides for some religious protections and allows members of the clergy to refuse to solemnize marriages that conflict with their beliefs.

"That bill is obviously manifestly inadequate," said Mr. Shelton, the opponent of same-sex marriage, who added that it focused on wedding ceremonies. "The 'yes' side should make good on its promise that no one else's freedoms would be affected. They've maintained this all along. They've said that our concerns about freedom of speech and freedom of religion are red herrings."

Mr. Shelton said Mr. Smith's bill would affect Muslim and Christian schools that wish to teach that marriage is between one man and one woman. "We're worried about bakers and florists being taken to court, as has occurred in the United States," he added.

An alternative bill, proposed by another Liberal Party senator, James Paterson, has more robust religious protections. His bill would allow service providers like bakers and photographers to refuse service to same-sex couples, without facing legal action. His bill would provide additional anti-discrimination protections for religious people and businesses opposed to gay marriage. Reflecting the national debate that often centered on the well-being of children, Mr. Paterson's bill would allow parents the right to take their children out of classes that "conflict with their values."

However, within hours of the survey's result being revealed, Mr. Paterson took to Facebook to announce that he would be working on Mr. Smith's bill.

"It is clear the majority of senators believe my colleague Senator Dean Smith 's bill is where we should start," Mr. Paterson wrote.

In the dwindling days of the campaign - with "yes" looking more and more likely to prevail - many conservatives on the opposing side pushed for Mr. Paterson's bill, saying that it provided the best protections for free speech and religion. But Mr. Turnbull said he did not believe Mr. Paterson's bill could pass Parliament. "I don't believe Australians would welcome, and certainly the government would not countenance, making legal discrimination that is illegal, that is unlawful, today."

At least seven members of Australia's Parliament have publicly committed to voting against any bill to legalize same-sex marriage, according to a report from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Most lawmakers, however, said they would support such a bill.

"There's no denying that this has been tough for many people. This has been a campaign which has gone on for more than 10 years," said Mr. Greenwich, the same-sex marriage advocate. "This result is a reflection of the leadership that's been shown by everyday Australians during this campaign. It shows that Australians truly did have the opportunity to shape our nation as a fairer and more equal place."

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same-sex marriage  civil unions and domestic partnerships

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Australia Votes for Gay Marriage, Clearing Path to Legalization

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"This is our proudest moment as gay and lesbian Australians," said Chris Lewis, 60, an artist from Sydney, who waved a large rainbow flag he bought in San Francisco about 30 years ago. "Finally I can be proud of my country." But many Australians said it was also late in coming.

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North Korea Fires Unidentified Missile Towards the East-South Korea Joint Chiefs of Staff

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Authorities From U.S. and S. Korea Analyzing the Details, South Korean military says

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http://abc7chicago.com/celebs-join-cause-to-free-sex-trafficking-victim-in-jail-for-2004-killing/2702043/

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http://www.dailywire.com/news/24045/navajo-code-talker-breaks-silence-after-trump-ryan-saavedra

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That meeting between President Trump and the bipartisan leaders of Congress will not be bipartisan after all, since Democratic leaders suddenly pulled out of the get together planned at the White House this afternoon.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi, leader of the House Democrats, announced they would no longer take part after Trump tweeted he doesn't "see a deal" between Democrats and the White House over funding the government past Dec. 8, when current funding is set to expire.

Meeting with "Chuck and Nancy" today about keeping government open and working. Problem is they want illegal immigrants flooding into our Country unchecked, are weak on Crime and want to substantially RAISE Taxes. I don't see a deal!
- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 28, 2017

The Democrats responded in a joint statement that rather than going to the White House for a "show meeting," they will continue to negotiate with Republican Congressional leaders to avert a government shutdown. Schumer tweeted:

Given that @POTUS doesn't see a deal btwn Dems & the White House, we believe the best path fwd is to cont. negotiating w/ our GOP counterparts in Congress instead. Rather than going to the White House for a show meeting, we've asked @SenateMajLdr & @SpeakerRyan to meet this pm.
- Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) November 28, 2017

The statement from Schumer and Pelosi continued:

"If the President, who already said earlier this year that 'our country needs a good shutdown,' isn't interested in addressing the difficult year end agenda, we'll work with those Republicans who are, as we did in April. We look forward to continuing to work in good faith, as we have been for the last month, with our Republican colleagues in Congress to do just that."

Congress has a host of issues to deal with before the end of the year, including a spending bill to keep the government operating past Dec. 8th. Democrats and some Republicans also want to include legislation that would enable the so called Dreamers, people who were brought here illegally as children, to remain in the country.

Congress also needs to agree on reauthorizing the Children's Health Insurance Program, which some states say is already running low on cash. Republicans and Democrats are also at odds over defense spending levels.

All of those issues are complicating negotiations to keep the government open past next week. It's likely that a short term extension could be passed, pushing negotiations closer to Christmas.

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Top Democrats Pull Out Of Planned Meeting With Trump

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That meeting between President Trump and the bipartisan leaders of Congress will not be bipartisan after all, since Democratic leaders suddenly pulled out of the get together planned at the White House this afternoon.

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http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-42160227

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How Social Media Affects the Teenage Mind

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How Social Media Affects the Teenage Mind

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Keeping in touch is no longer about face to face, but instead screen to screen, highlighted by the fact that more than 1 billion people are using Facebook every day.

Social media has become second nature -- but what impact is this having on our brain?

Reward circuitry

In a recent study, researchers at the UCLA brain mapping center used an fMRI scanner to image the brains of 32 teenagers as they used a bespoke social media app resembling Instagram. By watching the activity inside different regions of the brain as the teens used the app, the team found certain regions became activated by "likes", with the brain's reward center becoming especially active.

"When teens learn that their own pictures have supposedly received a lot of likes, they show significantly greater activation in parts of the brain's reward circuitry," says lead author Lauren Sherman. "This is the same group of regions responding when we see pictures of a person we love or when we win money."

The teenagers were shown more than 140 images where 'likes' were believed to from their peers, but were in fact assigned by the research team.

Scans revealed that the nucleus accumbens, a part of the brain's reward circuitry, was especially active when teens saw a large number of likes on their own photos, which could inspire them to use social media more often.

Peer influence

As part of the experiment, participants were also shown a range of "neutral" photos showing things like food and friends, and "risky" photos depicting cigarettes and alcohol. But the type of image had no impact on the number of "likes" given by the teens. they were instead more likely to 'like' the more popular photos, regardless of what they showed. This could lead to both a positive and negative influence from peers online.

Sherman believes these results could have important implications among this age group.

"Reward circuitry is thought to be particularly sensitive in adolescence," says Sherman, "It could be explaining, at least in part, why teens are such avid social media users."

Social learning

Adolescence is a period that is very important for social learning, which could explain why teens are often more tuned in to what's going on in their respective cultures. With the rise of social media, Sherman thinks we may even be learning to read likes and shares instead of facial expressions.

"Before, if you were having a face to face interaction everything is qualitative. You use someone's gestures or facial expressions, that sort of thing, to see how effective your message is," she says.

"Now if you go online, one of the ways that you gauge the effectiveness of your message is in the number of likes, favorites or retweets, and this is something that's really different and unique about online interaction."

However, the study may not be applicable to everyone, according to Dr. Iroise Dumontheil,at Birkbeck University.

"[The study] only has adolescents and so they can't really claim anything specific about whether it's adolescents who react to this differently compared to adults."

Changing the brain

Dumontheil does, however, concur that social media is affecting our brain, particularly its plasticity, which is the way the brain grows and changes after experiencing different things.

"Whenever you learn something new or you experience something, it's encoded in your brain, and it's encoded by subtle changes in the strength of connections between neurons," says Dumontheil.

For example, one study showed that the white matter in an adults' brains changed as they learned how to juggle over a period of several months. "They found that if you scan [the brains of] adults before they learn how to juggle, and then three months later, you can see changes in the brain structure," says Dumontheil.

Time spent on social media could, therefore, also cause the brain to change and grow.

"We might be a bit less good at reading subtle expressions on faces that are moving, but we might be much quicker at monitoring what's going on in a whole group of our friends," says Dumontheil.

So are these new skills a good or a bad thing? Neither, she says. "It's just a way we have of adapting to our environment."

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teens: this is how social media affects your brain - cnn

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Keeping in touch is no longer about face to face, but instead screen to screen, highlighted by the fact that more than 1 billion people are using Facebook every day. Social media has become second nature -- but what impact is this having on our brain?

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http://www.theblaze.com/podcasts/country-singer-neal-mccoys-new-viral-song-take-a-knee-my-a-receives-cheers-and-jeers

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New York Times Contest for kids to express their thoughts on the United States.

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New York Times Contest for kids to express their thoughts on the United States.

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Grace Kiwanuka-Woernle

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2017 Contest Winners

We invited students 13 to 19 years old to submit their original illustrations. Our panel of judges chose seven winners, 12 runners up and 22 honorable mentions. Visit The Learning Network to learn more about our contests and other resources for teaching and learning.

Produced by Michael Gonchar, Jaymin Patel and Aaron Krolik. Art production by Andy Chen. Judging by Adam Zyglis and the Learning Network staff.

One of the winning cartoons has been removed at the student's request.

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Student Winners From Our 2017 Editorial Cartoon Contest

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We invited students 13 to 19 years old to submit their original illustrations. Our panel of judges chose seven winners, 12 runners up and 22 honorable mentions. Visit The Learning Network to learn more about our contests and other resources for teaching and learning. Produced by Michael Gonchar, Jaymin Patel and Aaron Krolik.