Hate Crusade; Playgrounds in Court; Russian Intercept Deux; Taking the Fight to Abu; Pact Uncertainty Lingers; and Negative Mass

Society

LGBTQ Advocates Seek to Label Conservative Opponents as Hate Groups reuters

The Eliminate Hate Campaign seeks to draw attention to groups it sees as extreme and hateful against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people, accusing them of hiding behind ostensibly Christian or family values.

Trump's Missing Jew; Three Gender California; Bathroom Bowl Pressure; Scientific Sounding Rant; Pro-Life, Ambivalent-Trump; Sovereign California; and Singled Out in Turkey

Holocaust

Trump fails to mention Jews in Holocaust remembrance statement usatoday

In a departure from predecessors on both sides of the political aisle, President Trump’s statement Friday marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day ushmm.org did not mention the deaths of six million Jews — a lapse the head of the Anti-Defamation League adl.org called “puzzling and troubling.”

Also see Statement by the President on International Holocaust Remembrance Day whitehouse.gov

A Government Free New Year; It Was Likely Russia Maybe; Climate Changed; MaTonomy; Getting Rid of the Humans; and Chicken Face

Iceland

Iceland's 'crazy' year ends without a government businessinsider

Iceland is ending an eventful year in a political quagmire, left without a government for two months after the Panama Papers icij.org scandal and a snap election reflecting deep divisions in the island nation.

A Charlie Brown Grinch; Ze Oxford; Macy's Planned Parenthood; Spaghetti Bolognaise to the Rescue!; Venezuela's Currency Yank; Aleppo Falls; Anti-Israel Missiles; Sound Fridge; and Painless Patch

Society

Texas school gets in trouble with [Texas Attorney General] Ken Paxton over 'A Charlie Brown Christmas' dallasnews

The 6-foot poster causing all the fuss was taped to a door at a middle school and shows Linus, Charlie Brown's best friend, citing Scripture about the birth of Christ. [Luke 2:8-12]

Modern's Normalcy; Abolitionist Long Shot; Protesting to Kill; Climate Threshold Met; Burrito Air; Brain Complex; and 12k Suspended Officers

Society

'Modern Family' to feature transgender child actor usatoday

Wednesday's episode will feature transgender actor Jackson Millarker. The 8-year-old Atlanta native will play Tom, a friend of Lily (Aubrey Anderson-Emmons) who comes over for a playdate.

Drug Addict Slaughter; Cold Shake; Kashmir Concerns; Golf Missile; Ironclad Flaky Relationship; Bank In Deutsche; Science Isn't Subjective Enough; Judge Judged a Hater; EU Fast Track to Save the World; Teaming with Creepy Critters; World Watches Rosetta Die; SpaceX's Entry into the Impossible Dream; Yuan in the Basket; Dark Lights; and NASA's Gecko

Philippines

Rodrigo Duterte Condemned After Comparing Philippine War on Drugs With Holocaust wsj

“Hitler massacred three million Jews,” Mr. Duterte told reporters in Davao upon his return from a visit to Vietnam Friday. “Now, there are three million drug addicts [in the Philippines]…. I’d be happy to slaughter them.” In fact, historians estimate that the Nazis murdered six million Jews across Europe in the Holocaust during World War II.

Also see Duterte, Citing Hitler, Says He Wants to Kill 3 Million Addicts in Philippines nytimes

See the Hatred; Netanyahu Speaks of His Dream; The Assassination Backup Plan; Terror or Media Storm?; Golem; Shrine Denied; On Losing Oneself; Regulating Cows Methane Levels; Brexiting is So Hard to Do; AI Balloon; and Charging Heat

Israel

Accept Palestine or face ‘sea of hatred,’ Jordanian king warns Israel timesofisrael

Mentioning only the Christian and Muslim connection to Jerusalem holy sites, Abdullah accused Israel of attempting to alter the identity of the city.

Falling Station; Impossible Cloud; 7% Short of Change; Rise of Salem; Lights Out; Made for Iran; The 28 Website Country; Netanyahu and Obama Play Nice; Future Take Off; To Cure All Disease; AI's Power; AI Talks Too Much; Soccer on a Wall; and Picking Apart Tardigrades

Space

Out of control? China’s Tiangong 1 space station will fall to Earth — somewhere — in 2017 washingtonpost

Chinese officials appeared to admit during a Sept. 14 news conference in Jiuquan that they had lost control of the station.

Also see China's Tiangong-1 space station 'out of control' and will crash to Earth theguardian

Entering Eternity; Unprepared UK; Right-To-Kill Kids; Activated Dome; Uber Fords Ahead; Self-Pushing; Methodist Border Exhibit; Show Us, Iran; and Plastic of Paris

Death

What It Feels Like to Die theatlantic

“Roughly from the last two weeks until the last breath, somewhere in that interval, people become too sick, or too drowsy, or too unconscious, to tell us what they’re experiencing,” says Margaret Campbell, a professor of nursing at Wayne State University wayne.edu who has worked in palliative care for decades. The way death is talked about tends to be based on what family, friends, and medical professionals see, rather than accounts of what dying actually feels like.

Planned Parenthood's 3%; Louisiana's PP Battle; Biblical Zoo is so Anti-Darwin; 20 More Climate Ouis; Another Typhoon; Soaked, Secretive NK; Syria, I Knew Her Well; Waiting On Line; Robot Deputy; AI Car Designer; Stem Cell Lungs; Printing Lenses; Common Rare Diseases; Satellite Tom; and Resurrected Fraud

Abortion

The Numbers That Show Planned Parenthood About Abortion, Not Women’s Health dailysignal v

Planned Parenthood’s own numbers prove that it’s an abortion corporation, focused on abortion, not on women’s health care. The fact is, Planned Parenthood doesn’t perform a single mammogram and performs less than 2 percent of all women’s cancer screenings in the United States. Yet, as America’s largest abortion provider, Planned Parenthood commits over 30 percent of America’s abortions—887 abortions a day, one abortion every 97 seconds, and over 320,000 abortions last year alone.

Chinese War Plans; Useless UN?; Obama and Xi Save the World; The Gay Bishop; Rising the Dead to Sainthood; Jupiter's Complex; and Cortana in the Fridge

War

Are We Ready for War With China? newsweek

China’s improved military capabilities, particularly for anti-access and area denial (A2AD), mean that the United States cannot count on gaining operational control, destroying China’s defenses and achieving decisive victory if a war occurred.

With that in mind, this report rand.org examines alternative paths that a war between the United States and China might take, losses and other effects on both sides, preparations that the United States should make and ways to balance U.S. war aims against costs should war occur.

Iran Doesn't Like Being Told 'No'; Stated Emergency; The UN Vote That Doesn't Count; Not Inclusive - Not Accredited; Hottest Year Ever (maybe); Heritage to the Beginning; Peanut Butter on the Prairie; Invisible, Mystical Dark Matter; Tweet Science; The Breeze Bird; Brat-Bot; and Internet Flight Test

Iran

Iran left with no choice but to confront the US, official warns jpost

Iran's Press TV quoted Larijani nytimes as issuing the warning in light of legislation proposed by US opponents to the Iran nuclear deal to further sanction the Islamic Republic and the UN's first bi-annual report on the deal's implementation released earlier this week which suggested that Iran was not following "the spirit of the deal."

Computers' Human Rights; It Was the Robot; Welcome, =Beep= =Boop=, to Germany; Sweatshops or Roboshops?; Beijing Watches Elderly; Uganda and NK Part Ways; Combating Antisemitism; NYTimes Hearts Palestinians; Gatestone Proclaims Reality; Lieberman is in (Israel); Israel Still Peace-Willing; and Even the Clouds are Climate-Deniers

AI

Computers could develop consciousness and may need 'human' rights, says Oxford professor  telegraph.co.uk w!

Marcus du Sautoy, who took over from Richard Dawkins as Professor for the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University in 2008 said it was now possible to measure consciousness and, in the future, technology could be deemed to be ‘alive.’

The Secret Digital Cash Test; Bitcoin's Questionable Beginnings; Overdue Recession; Nuclear Saber and Cold War 2; China's Rap Recruitment; Extending Settlement Rights; Iran Scolds U.S.; NK's Congress; Travel Ban; Drone Made Badly; AI Dancer; Printing Buildings; Alien Jellyfish; and Relocating a Community

Wall Street discusses secret digital cash test, Iran tells the U.S. to get out of the Persian Gulf, and discovery of a new, glowing jellyfish was announced (there's a video of that!).

Cashless

Inside the Secret Meeting Where Wall Street Tested Digital Cash bloomberg

The event -- announced in a statement this Monday -- marked a key moment in the evolution of blockchain, notable both for what was achieved, as well as how many firms were involved. The technology’s potential has captivated Wall Street executives because it offers a way to free up billions of dollars by speeding transactions that currently can take days, tying up capital. But a huge piece of that puzzle is transforming cash into a digital form. And while some firms have conducted experiments, the Chain event showed a large number of them are now looking jointly at a potential solution.

Pagan Prison; Travelin' Turkey; EU's Climate; Chemical Floods; Albania's Bunkers; Temple's Support; People Bottlenecks; and 3D Printing for War

Pagenism

Pagan prisoners to be allowed robes, incense and tarot cards behind bars ibtimes.co.uk

The guidance is included in a 104-page document, called Faith and Pastoral Care for Prisoners, that sets out provisions for worshippers of all faiths, including Zoroastrianism and Baha'i.

Mind the Drone; Chip of Miracle; Robot Say; Mini-Brain; Printing Spider Bots; Japan Starts Human Gene Editing; UK Scolds Obama; Short Lived Syrian Peace's Death Throws; Genocide Sky-Denied; Atheist Frowns, Cross; US Signs UN Pact; Obama Hints Some States are Just Backwards; What do Jesus and Passover Have in Common, Anyway?; Not-OK Black Mass; BDS-Hate Voted In; Felons are Voters, Too; Hypersonic. Intercontinental. Russia; and US Buys Heavy Water

Today's articles include the signing of the UN sustainability goals, Russia testing a hyper-sonic ICBM designed to slip by even the best missile defenses, and Japan's approval to edit fertilized human embryos (for "studying").

Future Tech

Mind-controlled drones race to the future businessinsider

"Three, two, one ... GO!" the announcer hollers, and as the racers fix their thoughts on pushing the cubes, the drones suddenly whir, rise and buzz through the air. Some struggle to move even a few feet, while others zip confidently across the finish line.

Watch Mind-Controlled Drones Race to the Future v

Sealing the UN Deal; Earth Day Passover; Slaughtering the Type; World To Meet on 2-State (Parties Not Invited); Israel's Red Line in the Sand; Hail to the (Chinese) Chief; China Deploys Troops to NK Border; South Seas Intercontinental Missile Test; Lights Out, Venezula; Aussies Pride-Fund; O Canabis!; Gender-Neutral In LA; 3D 'Iceman' Rises; Mice Livers go Bad in Space; Hubble Bubble; Augmentation Suit; and Real Fake Studymates

Today's major items include Israel telling Russia that the Golan Heights is their 'red line' and France calling a summit on restarting the 2-state 'peace' process without inviting either Israel or the Palestinians. We've also got China preparing for NK's next nuclear test while they flex some muscle of their own with an intercontinental missile test. Oh, and mouse livers going bad in space :)

Climate Change

Milestone events at UN to kick-start action on new sustainability goals, climate pact un.org

“From a historical perspective, this will be a great day for the United Nations,” Selwin Hart, the Director of the UN Secretary-General’s Climate Change Support Team, recently said in reference to this coming Friday, when leaders from more than 160 countries are expected at UN Headquarters to sign the Paris Agreement, adopted last December at the UN climate change conference (COP21).

Flexi-Cam; Stretchy, Self-Healing, and Artificial Muscle; You...Are...Unplugged!; Chinese Military Plane Lands on Reclaimed Land; US Helps Philippines Spy on Someone in South China Sea; Golan Heights Arm Wrestle; Israel and Egypt Find Tunnels; PM vs. UNESCO; Call for Lamb Sacrifice; Face-to-Face Required Before Abortion; Marriage in the Sight of Man's Warped Mind; Registering Activities of Charities in UK; W.H.O. is Sounding the Alarm Again; Antelope Died Because of Climate Change or Something; Measuring Mount Paektu's BOOM Potential; and Rocket-Inspired Building Retrofiting

US, Germany, and Arab League insists Golan Heights is not Israel's; China lands military jet on disputed island; and new, blasphemous low with couple married before friends, family, and the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

Future Tech

THIS FLEXIBLE CAMERA TAKES CRAZY IMAGES digitaltrends v

The camera lens looks vaguely like a flexible solar tile. When bent, it captures an image that may appear altered but is still a high quality full picture. The team used silicone for the prototype sheet camera that lets the focal length of each lens vary with the curvature of the sheet, meaning there is no missing information as the lens deforms.

Tesla Tractor; Hitler Who?; Fly-by Without Bye-Die; NK Prepares Anniversary Launch; US Joins Philippines in South Sea; Religious Police on a Leash; Israel is Real; US Calls Israel a Bully; Obama's Last Israeli Move; The World's Pope; Visual Shock-wave; Stud-d-d-dering Mice; Brainprint; Pestilence Overload Penciled in for 2050; NASA, the Climate Change Defender; and Bible Banned

Amazing Tech

Reconfigured Tesla coil aligns, electrifies materials from a distance phys.org v

The system works by remotely oscillating positive and negative charges in each nanotube, causing them to chain together into long wires. Cherukuri's specially designed Tesla coil even generates a tractor beam-like effect as nanotube wires are pulled toward the coil over long distances.

$100M Alien Hunt; Fighting No Abortion in Poland; Robo Bird; Napster Steels Against Cancer; Man's Arm Controlled by Man's Brain; Rain Cells; Street-Legal AI; Sharia Law Without Discrimination; U.S. Under (Simulated) Attack; Pope Greece's Unity; Indian Jews; and UN Reflects Mankind;

Space

Stephen Hawking announces $100M ‘Breakthrough Starshot’ project to find alien life nydailynews v

The Breakthrough Starshot Project was unveiled Tuesday on the 102nd floor of One World Observatory, where Hawking was joined by Russian billionaire Yuri Milner in announcing the ambitious plan.