Down Home Persecution; Dealing With Trump; The 6 Million Dollar Protest; Hope in Bitcoin; Ad Denied for Pricking Consciences; Home, Far Far Away; and Stronger Than Steel and Superman

Christianity

U.S. on List of Christian-Persecuting Nations wnd

The United States, Mexico and Russia were listed as “new and noteworthy” nations in the 2016 “Hall of Shame Report” published by the Washington, D.C., based human rights group International Christian Concern persecution.org, or ICC.

While ICC notes “there is no comparison between the life of a Christian in the U.S. with persecuted believers overseas,” the group noted a number of “worrying trends as an alarming indication of a decline in religious liberty in the United States.”

Here's the ICC report: Hall of Shame pdf

2016 Failed Predictions; The Plausible ICBM; Attack Without Returns; The Peaceful UN Chief; Ok, Maybe Russia Didn't Do It; CA Exodus; Enabling Promiscuity; The 12-Sided Pound; Bank Oversight; White-Collar AI; Self-Assembled Complexity; and Mars Igloos

End of the World

7 Dumb Predictions For 2016 That Didn't Happen forbes

We broke a lot of new ground in 2016, and whether you think that path is leading us off a cliff or onward to newfound glory, hopefully we can at least agree that it's finally over. Before we start looking forward to 2017 and making all sorts of ridiculous predictions that probably won't come true, let's look back at what some of the more outlandish prognosticating charlatans saw in their crystal balls for the year now ending.

Added as a reminder that Jesus said that the Father alone knows the hour it all ends (Mark 13:32) and that until His final judgement, things will continue on continuing on (Gen 8:22).

Holocaust Denial Result; Tunnel Tales; Declaring War on New Zealand; NK Sees Nuclear Opportunity; Secret Deals No Longer; China's Moon-Mars Hop; Position by the Centimeter; Mech Wars; Murder on Echo's Watch; Gene Drive Made EZ; Diamond Wires; Push, Pull, Power; AI Job Loss...or Not; The 3-Day Wait Free Speech; and Andy Stanely Opens His Mouth Again

Google

Holocaust Denial Article No Longer in Google’s Top Search Results forward

Now, when users search “Did the Holocaust happen?” they must first scroll through articles about the search controversy, two articles by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum ushmm.org, and a wikipedia page on Holocaust denial before they arrive at the Stormfront article.

What's interesting about this is the potential ramifications if, say, people started complaining that the top results were "anti-homosexual" or promoted only one Way (John 14:16) or the like. I'm all for Holocaust denial (AKA anti-semetic) sites being treated as the "fake news" they are, but to intervene to control how specific results get sorted up (or down) seems to be a slipperly slope.

Hard Brain; Trotting out the History; Fly By Accident; Pirate Party; Cursing on High; Christmas in December; Data are Forever; Why'd You Beep Like That?; The Secrets Computers Tell; Self Parking; Crushed on Mars; and Invisibility Bacteria

Archeaology

World's first dinosaur brain fossil discovered bbc.co.uk w!

The piece of stone was discovered more than 10 years ago by a fossil hunter at Bexhill-on-Sea. But it has taken scientists years to find out what was inside.

Criminal Fear; Police Use Twitter, Too; Tearing Down Gandhi; Russin' War Crimes; Duterte Doesn't Need You; Nuclear. Activity. Again.; Great Balls of Fire; Growing Food in Space; North Star Moon Shot; and the AI's in the Details

Society

In Fear of Public Scrutiny, Chicago Officer Didn’t Use Gun While She Was Beaten ktla v

While wrestling on the ground, the the man allegedly grabbed the officer's head and slammed her face into the pavement repeatedly until she lost consciousness, [the superintendent] said.

Forced Murder; Christi Cross; Colombian Peace; (Toy) Air Show; On Being Judge, Jury, and God; Born High; Roman Coins in Japan; Shrinking Mercury; SpaceX's Lucid Dream; Augmented Lowe's; Googling Everyone; Risk of Driving; Uber Awaaaay; Printing the Future; and Dr. Computer

Abortion

Forced abortion and euthanasia? creation

A group of ‘bioethicists’ have recently released a 10-point “consensus statement” that outlines how they think doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and other healthcare providers who conscientiously object to ‘medical’ procedures like abortion and euthanasia should be forced to believe in and practice them

LAPD Etector; NLP, huh?; Doing the Robot; Need Brains; Bouncing Mars Rover; Old Bones; Whales Go Pro; Quartet Sings Same Tune; Syria Across the Border; and Biggest Eye Going Live

Crime

Experts to create predictive tool to tackle hate crime in Los Angeles phys.org

Over the next three years, the team will be closely scrutinising data taken from Twitter and cross-referencing this with reported hate crimes in Los Angeles to develop markers, or signatures, which could indicate if, and where, a hate crime is likely to take place at a certain point in time, and then enable police officers to intervene.

Eyes Wide Closed; JW No More; Pope and Zuckerberg; Nuclear Air Defense; Illegal but Palestine; Ancient and Sophisticated; Deep Space Diver; 365 Days on the Edge of a Volcano; Car Brains; 4D Printing; Feeling Virtual Reality; and The Drone Water Hunt

Society

Kerry terror solution: Media should cover less wnd v

“It’s easy to terrorize. Government and law enforcement have to be correct 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. But if you decide one day you’re going to be a terrorist and you’re willing to kill yourself, you can go out and kill some people. You can make some noise. Perhaps the media would do us all a service if they didn’t cover it quite as much. People wouldn’t know what’s going on.”

Taiwantology; Spider Bot; Not So Excited About Upgrades; Printing Mars' Maybe Habitat; and Syria Falls off Wall

False Religion

The Curious Rise of Scientology in Taiwan theatlantic

Scientology around the world is in broad retreat, but to be in Taiwan you would never know that. In an area slightly smaller than the combined size of Delaware and Maryland, with a total population of 23.4 million—roughly the same as that of the New York metropolitan area—Taiwan has 15 Scientology missions and churches. Per capita, it’s one of the most Scientology-friendly countries on earth. The island serves as a major source of donations and new members for the church, which has capitalized on L. Ron Hubbard’s early suggestions that he was a new Buddha. In a sign of Taiwan’s importance to the church, Scientology chief David Miscavige also attended the 2013 Kaohsiung reopening of the hotel as a Scientology megachurch.

Frozen Girlfriend; Fraternity Persons; Mars Shot; Asteroid Claim; 3D 2Eyes; Aido; The Fishbowl Blues; The Great Kim Jong Un Speaks; UK Left Invokes Hitler

Society

Frozen fans urge Disney to give Elsa a girlfriend in sequel theguardian v

The record-breaking and critically acclaimed 2013 animated film tells of Princess Elsa’s struggle to master her magical powers to reconnect with her sister Anna. It was widely construed as the studio’s first foray into feminism because it eschewed a traditional happy-ever-after with a prince in favour of sisterly devotion. Now Twitter users have called upon Disney to give Elsa a girlfriend in Frozen 2, which is currently in production.

See also Why #GiveElsaAGirlfriend Shouldn’t Surprise Anyone

Some people, including many Christians, were surprised at the news. I, for one, found their surprise a little surprising. In fact, anyone shocked by this news hasn’t been paying attention to what’s going on in the culture.

Ice Bacteria; United Health Exits the Exchange; TTIP - the Dream No One Loves; Pay With Your Face(book); China Playing Mars Catch-up; Antbo; NK's Submarine Missile Launch; Russia and NATO's Sabers; Iron Dome Test-Driven in US; and 500 Lbs of Missing Firework Show

Bacteria

HOW BACTERIA CREATE THEIR OWN ICE popsci

Analyses...revealed that [it] uses proteins in its cell membrane to slightly change the position of nearby water molecules so that they would fit more neatly into a lattice, as they are in ice. The bacterium can then use vibrational energy to remove heat from the area around it, coalescing the water molecules into solid ice.

Ice Drones; Mars-Bound Nose Opens Eyes; Merkel for UN?; Russian Subs Aren't So Bad; Polio Swap; Hoverboard; Tweak Genes, Save Species; More Captured in Philippines; and Riding with Bugs

Today we have more captured in the Philippines, trains recording all conversations, military admission that Russian subs are pretty good at hiding from US tech, and a must-see video of a guy riding his hover-board over a small lake!

Drones

UK Royal Navy uses pilotless aircraft to navigate through ice  vesselfinder v

The UK Royal Navy’s ice patrol ship HMS Protector has launched tiny pilotless aircraft from her decks for the first time to assist with navigating through the Antarctic. A quadcopter and a 3D-printed aircraft have scouted the way for the survey ship so she can find her way through the thick ice of frozen seas.

Killing HIV; Most Realistic Skin; Subsidized Assisted Suicide in CA; Tumbleweeds!; UN Censors Israel; Jobs AI Has Its 'I' on; Trust me Dave; Chainsaw Drone; Mars in 2030; Abortion Poles; Min Wage Tide Swells in CA; and Gideon Bible or Satanic Activity Book?

Medical

Cure for HIV possible within three years as scientists snip virus from cells  telegraph.co.uk

Although the experiments have so far only been carried out in a lab, researchers at Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University, are confident that within three years they will be able to start trials on humans.

Promising lab-grown skin sprouts hair and grows glands bbc

This would be vastly superior to the culturing and grafting techniques that are currently available, which produce skin without many of the the biological components and functionality that we are used to.

Suicide

Californians Can Choose to Die – With the Help of Taxpayers usnews

“When you’re willing to legalize the intentional killing of patients in order to save Medi-Cal money, there’s something a little bit utilitarian about that,” he says. “We have a law that isn’t really designed for those we care for, but for those we don’t wish to care for anymore, that’s why Medi-Cal is paying for this.”

Subjected to Futility

New Invasive Tumble Weed Rapidly Expanding Across U.S. natureworldreport

The plant in question is actually a hybridization of two invasive species of tumbleweeds, creating a sort of “super” tumbleweed. Called “Salsola ryanii”, the species was first discovered in 2002 in two separate areas of California’s central valley. The species has since spread throughout much of the central valley and has even been found in San Francisco, in the coastal areas, and also in the Ventura area in the south.

See also New tumbleweed species rapidly expanding range

Israel

UN censors exhibit on Israel at NY headquarters, Israeli diplomat says jta.org

Three of the 13 panels in the exhibition “Israel Matters,” had to be deleted, the U.N. reportedly decided over the weekend. The censored panels deemed “inappropriate” are on the subjects of Zionism, Jerusalem and Arab-Israelis.

See also UN censors Israeli exhibition featuring Zionism and Jerusalem

AI

This infographic shows which jobs are most likely to become extinct due to robots businessinsider

While many of those robots will be used in the automotive and electronics sectors, there are many other roles that robots will be filling in the future. Surprisingly, according to global consultant McKinsey & Co, not all of these jobs are low-skill, low-wage jobs, either.

Can we trust robots to make moral decisions? qz

“The issues of morality in general are very vague,” says Ronald Arkin, professor and director of the mobile robot laboratory at Georgia Institute of Technology. “We still argue as human beings about the correct moral framework we should use, whether it’s a consequentialist utilitarian means-justify-the-ends approach, or a Kantian deontological rights-based approach.”

There are clearly some difficult moral choices, so my intention is not to marginalize those. However, not only does this article show mankind trying to inject a form of morality into its creation, but that by and large society has rejected the absolute morality of our Creator, and as a result only has a nebulous, arbituary, relative understanding of morality to start with.

Drones

Flying Nightmare: Drone Gets Armed With Chainsaw sputniknews

Basically a video "article"

Space

NASA's Bolden: Mars mission is 'closer than ever' cnbc

We think we're on the right trajectory to get humans to Mars in the 2030's," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden told CNBC's "On the Money" in an interview this week.

Includes interview video

Abortion

Poles protest possibility of total ban on abortion philly

Thousands of Poles took part in street demonstrations on Sunday to protest a possible tightening of the country's abortion law, already one of the most restrictive in Europe.

Minimum Wage

California, New York enact $15 minimum wages foxnews

In Los Angeles, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill into law that will lift the statewide minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2022.

Together with New York, it marks the most ambitious moves yet to close the national divide between rich and poor. Experts say other states may follow, given Congress' reluctance to act despite entreaties from President Barack Obama.

See also $15 minimum wage coming to New York, Calif.

Santanism

Satanic book provided in Colorado schools coloradoan

Atheists provided pamphlets on topics like sex in the Bible, problems with the Ten Commandments and a Satanic activity book to middle and high school students in a rural Colorado district Friday, the result of a fight between Delta County schools and critics over whether it should continue to let everyone from Little League organizers to the Gideons distribute literature in schools.

Other...

World’s Longest Bridge is 102.4 Miles Long industrytap

Beetle-Borg; Abnormal Embryo Cells can Still Develop Healthy; Sick Midwest; NK Plans for Famine; Preemptive Nuclear Threats; Iran Missile Ire; US Pushes Pieces Closer to Russia; Russia Flying over Syria; FDA Helps Abortion Along; AI Mines Humanities Maps; Open Micro; Japan Probe Pieces; Walk on Mars; and Wheat

Cyborg

Remote-control cyborg beetle developed by scientists independent.co.uk

Researchers have created a 'living drone' by controlling a beetle's movements using electronics.

If there was such a thing as insect-abuse, this would be it: Scientists Turn Beetle Into 'Cyborg' | Video

Life

Embryo cell abnormalities not necessarily a sign that a baby will be born with a birth defect independent.co.uk

An academic who became pregnant with her second child, aged 44, has shown that abnormal cells in the early embryo are not necessarily a sign that a baby will be born with a birth defect such as Down’s syndrome.

Also read Embryos with defective cells 'can still develop healthily'

Pestilence

Questions remain over deadly mystery bacteria in Midwest cbsnews

The bacteria, called Elizabethkingia, does not usually cause illness in humans, but in recent months it has sickened dozens and killed 17 people in Wisconsin and one in Michigan.

North Korea

North Korea tells its people a new famine may come, they again may need to 'eat the roots of grass' latimes

When Kim Jong Un made his first public speech as North Korea's leader in 2012, he stood in front of a massive military rally in the capital’s main square and told the crowd that they would “never have to tighten their belts again.” Kim was referring to his country’s history of poverty and food shortages, particularly a famine in the 1990s in which hundreds of thousands of people — if not more — starved to death.

We Are Ready for ‘Pre-Emptive Nuclear Strike’ on U.S. breitbart

North Korea has once again asserted that it will use its nuclear weapons arsenal against the United States. Unlike previous statements, however, a note from the rogue state’s foreign minister on Monday insisted that North Korea is fully equipped and ready to use a nuclear weapon on the United States, not just willing to do so.

Iran

U.S., France, Britain and Germany Urge UN Action Against Iran Over Missile Tests haaretz

The United States and three allies called for a UN Security Council meeting to respond to Iran's recent ballistic missile tests which they say were carried out in defiance of a UN resolution.

Also Russia says Iran missile tests 'don’t violate' UN resolution

US

US to increase military presence in eastern Europe bbc

The plan demonstrates "our strong and balanced approach to reassuring our Nato allies and partners in the wake of an aggressive Russia in eastern Europe and elsewhere", said Gen Philip Breedlove, the senior US commander in Europe.

Also see US to station armored brigade in Eastern Europe: Pentagon

Russia

Russian Jets Carry Out 23 Sorties Hitting 54 Terrorist Targets in 24 Hours sputniknews

Russian combat jets deployed in Syria have carried out 23 night sorties in the last 24 hours, hitting a total of 54 terrorist targets, the Russian Defense Ministry said Wednesday.

Abortion

FDA approves abortion drug label that could undo several state laws bbc

Under the new label, a smaller dose of mifepristone can be used up to 70 days after the beginning of the last menstrual period instead of the 49-day limit in effect under the old label. Also, the second drug can be taken by a woman at home and not be required to be administered at a clinic.

"It looks like this benefits the abortion industry and increases their potential customer base and revenues, but it's not clear that anything here makes it safer for women in the long run, and certainly nothing about a chemical abortion makes it any safer for the unborn child," O'Bannon said.

AI

What Happens When You Combine Artificial Intelligence and Satellite Imagery fortune

Using technology similar to what allows Facebook to recognize faces in photos uploaded to its service, the company sifted through more than 14 billion geospatial images captured by satellite imagery provider DigitalGlobe. The resulting maps reveal the locations of more than 2 billion disconnected people spread across 20 countries, many of them developing nations where even basic mapping data is scarce.

What could possibly go wrong with being able to mine “petabytes of satellite imagery”...?

Tech

Open-source microprocessor phys.org

The new processor is called PULPino and it is designed for battery-powered devices with extremely low energy consumption (PULP stands for 'parallel ultra low power'). These could be for chips for small devices, such as smartwatches, sensors for monitoring physiological functions (which can communicate with a heart rate monitor, for instance) or sensors for the Internet of Things.

Space

Japanese Space Probe Was Smashed Into Five Pieces forbes

JAXA lost contact with Hitomi, or ASTRO-H, on Saturday, when the satellite was due to start operations. Since then, the agency has managed to get two signals from the space probe, one at around 8am EST on Monday and the other at 10.30am EST on Tuesday.

NASA will let you walk on Mars using HoloLens theverge

NASA is teaming up with Microsoft to give you a glimpse of the Red Planet. A new exhibition called "Destination: Mars" will let visitors use Microsoft’s HoloLens augmented reality headsets to take a virtual stroll on Mars, alongside a "holographic" tour guide, astronaut Buzz Aldrin.

Food

Ancient wheat varieties, protected through world wars, could be key to creating drought and disease resistant crops abc.net.au

Dr Lee Hickey and PhD candidate Adnan Riaz, from the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, have completed the world's first genome-wide analysis of a collection of wheat seeds stored in Russia for more than a century.