The Supreme Court upheld a funding scheme apparently meant to insulate a powerful federal agency from future congressional oversight. The court ruled 7-2 that the funding scheme for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau does not violate the Constitution’s appropriations clause, which forbids the executive branch from taking money from the federal Treasury except “in consequence of appropriations made by law.” “Under the appropriations clause, an appropriation is simply a law that authorizes expenditures from a specified source of public money for designated purposes,” Justice Clarence Thomas, an appointee of President George H.W. Bush, wrote in the majority opinion. “The statute that provides the bureau’s funding meets these requirements. We therefore conclude that the Bureau’s funding mechanism does not violate the appropriations clause.” Congress created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, passed in response to the 2008 financial crisis. Unlike most federal agencies, the bureau does not have to petition Congress for funding annually, because Congress authorized the bureau to draw funds from the Federal Reserve System. This insulates the bureau from a normal process that allows Congress to check the administrative agencies under the executive branch by refusing to fund them. Thomas wrote the opinion, in which Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett, and Ketanji Brown Jackson joined. Only Justices Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch dissented. Alito cited English and American history, noting that Congress’ power of the purse traces back to debates in England. “In England, Parliament had won the power over the purse only after centuries of struggle with the crown,” he wrote. “Steeped in English constitutional history, the Framers placed the appropriations clause in the Constitution to protect this hard-won legislative power.” “This provision has a rich history extending back centuries before the founding of our country,” he added of the appropriations clause. “Its aim is to ensure that the people’s elected representatives monitor and control the expenditure of public funds and the projects they finance, and it imposes on Congress an important duty that it cannot sign away.” “Unfortunately, today’s decision turns the Appropriations Clause into a minor vestige,” Alito warned. “The court upholds a novel statutory scheme under which the powerful Consumer Financial Protection Bureau may bankroll its own agenda without any congressional control or oversight … . Under this interpretation, the clause imposes no temporal limit that would prevent Congress from authorizing the executive to spend public funds in perpetuity.” The justice cited the French philosopher the Baron de Montesquieu, whose pivotal work “The Spirit of the Laws” informed the U.S. Constitution. Montesquieu warned that a legislature will lose its power of the purse if it passes an appropriation that lasts “forever.” Alito also noted that the court’s interpretation does not “require Congress to set an upper limit on the amount of money that the executive may take.” He also cited the federal government’s argument that an agency may draw funds from private sources, as well as from the Treasury. “In short, there is apparently nothing wrong with a law that empowers the executive to draw as much money as it wants from any identified source for any permissible purpose until the end of time,” Alito warned. Thomas disagreed, citing Congress’ schemes for funding the Customs Service and the U.S. Postal Service, which Congress allowed to assess fees for their funding. Alito argued that the Customs Service and the post office had more limited functions than the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, but Thomas ruled that “to make a valid appropriation, Congress must designate the objects for which the appropriated funds may be used—as it did here.” In 2017, the bureau issued stringent restrictions on small-dollar loans, leading two trade associations, the Community Financial Services Association of America and Consumer Service Alliance of Texas, to sue on constitutional grounds. A district court upheld the bureau’s claim that its funding scheme was constitutional, while the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit found in favor of the associations. “Sadly, the Court has given the green light to Congress to abrogate its own power of the purse,” Iain Murray, director of the Center for Economic Freedom at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, said in response to the ruling. “We can expect future Congresses to come up with ever more inventive ways to allow the executive branch to fund its whims.” “The only hope for responsible government is for Congress to rediscover its own prerogatives and repeal unusual funding mechanisms for executive agencies that exercise more power over American citizens than the post office—starting with the CFPB,” Murray added. The post BREAKING: Supreme Court Upholds Financial Agency’s Funding Scheme, Insulating It From Congress appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Now The Capitol Hill Police Have a Cocaine Scandal

A study into men living with obesity in the UK has concluded that combining financial incentives with behavioral text messages can aid people who are trying to lose weight. Participants receiving the promise of money and encouraging messages saw a 5 percent reduction in weight over 12 months, but receiving texts alone wasn't enough to significantly impact weight loss.“One of the most effective incentive strategies in the literature uses ‘deposit contracts’, where people deposit their own money and lose it if they do not meet weight loss goals,” explained study lead Professor Pat Hoddinott, of the Nursing, Midwifery and Allied Health Professions Research Unit at the University of Stirling, in a statement.“This is informed by behavioural economic theory which proposes that people are more motivated by the prospect of losing money than the prospect of gaining money. However, not everyone can afford to deposit their own money, so we designed the Game of Stones trial, which uses an endowment incentive, where the money is put in an account at the start, allowing men on low incomes to join.”The study took a sample of 585 men in Belfast, Bristol, and Glasgow with a Body Mass Index (BMI) of over 30 and divided them into three groups: text messaging with financial incentives, text messaging alone, or waiting list (control).The design of the incentive structure and text message content were informed by men living with obesity. The messages were motivational in nature, and included tips from other men about changing their eating and lifestyle habits (like: Remember Gavin’s tip: the power of meal prep. Helps you stay ahead. Time for another batch prep session?”), as well as links to evidence-based websites.The findings demonstrated that it was the combination of incentive and messages that proved the most effective.“In this randomized trial that included 585 men with obesity, text messaging with behavioral messages combined with a financial incentive resulted in a 5 percent weight loss at 12 months, compared with weight loss of 3 percent for text messaging alone, and 1 percent for the control group,” concluded the authors. “The difference in weight loss was statistically significant for the comparison between text messaging with financial incentives and the control group but not between the text messaging alone and the control group.”The study authors list several limitations, including its generalizability to other groups of people, and that weight regain is common following weight loss and could possibly be greater in the context of financial incentives. The study also used BMI as a measure of obesity, a scale whose limitations have been discussed at length (unsurprising, since it wasn’t even developed by a physician).It’s true that it’s possible to have a weight range that qualifies as obese and be metabolically healthy, while a lower weight range doesn’t guarantee health. That said, it’s also true that an obese weight range can affect the body in lots of different ways, including an association with certain types of cancer and other health conditions.To want to lose weight is one of the most common desires among adults for a myriad of reasons that go beyond physical health, but barriers to a person achieving their personal goals can include less support, both mentally and financially. It’s possible, then, that exploring routes that enforce a multi-pronged approach in supporting someone’s goals could get them past their personal finish line.The study is published in JAMA.

While some people might be less-than-pleased to share the planet with the eight-legged arachnids, spiders actually evolved way before Homo sapiens were roaming around being afraid of them. Now there are around 50,000 spider species but what did the first spiders look like, and how long ago were they crawling and climbing on planet Earth?It is thought that the first ever spiders emerged on land around 400 million years ago, writes the Australian Museum. Before modern-day spiders evolved, thick-waisted ancestors called trigonotarbids roamed the land. They also lacked spinnerets (used to make silk) and had segmented abdomens.One of the earliest spider-like fossils, also known as a proto-spider, dates back 380 million years and is called Attercopus fimbriunguis. Attercopus is not a true spider because the silk glands it possesses are not spinnerets; it is thought the silk was used to wrap eggs, line the burrow, or to smother prey. Attercopus also had a whip-tail similar to some scorpions. A fossil find from Myanmar is thought to date back to the Cretaceous period, named Chimerarachne yingi. The animal is not quite a spider but thought to be a cousin, and the creature also had a tail and spinnerets. It was thought to share a common ancestor with both modern spiders and the Mesothelae, the oldest order of true spiders. "We have known for a decade or so that spiders evolved from arachnids that had tails, more than 315 million years ago," Dr Russell Garwood of The University of Manchester told the BBC.Ancient spiders had their silk-producing organs under their middle rather than underneath their rear ends. These belonged to the order Mesothelae and were most likely ground-dwelling, with silk spinnerets and a venom gland. Different spider or almost-spider fossils have turned up quite a few times. One of the oldest might be an arachnid preserved in iron carbonate for 305 million years. Idmonarachne brasieri did not possess spinnerets, and its abdomen was segmented rather than the fused abdomen seen in modern-day spiders. It’s likely this species was co-exisiting with the ancestors of modern day “true spider” species. Not to be outdone, there is also Germany's largest spider fossil, a similar age to Idmonarachne. Arthrolycosa wolterbeeki lived 310 to 315 million years ago and is the first true spider from the Palaeozoic in Germany. Arthrolycosa wolterbeeki, the first Palaeozoic spider from Germany.Image credit: Jason A. Dunlop via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0)Modern spiders live on every continent on Earth and are successful in almost all habitats across the globe. From highly sophisticated webs to impressive mimicry, spiders have survived for the last 400 million years of Earth's history. They could well continue for 400 million more. 

As long as humanity has kept records of its existence, legends of a serpent race have persisted. These myths tell of a mysterious race of superhuman reptilian beings who descended from the heavens to participate in creating humankind and to teach the sciences, impart forbidden knowledge, impose social order, breed with us, and watch over our development. The serpent-like beings were not alone, but were part of a retinue of super beings thought to be gods by the ancients. Yet, in cultures as widespread and diverse as those of Sumeria, Babylonia, India, China, Japan, Mexico, and Central America, reptilian gods… This premium content is for PLUS+ members only. Visit the site and log in/register to read. The post The Reptilians: Humanity’s Historical Link to the Serpent Race appeared first on Anomalien.com.

The tale of Bubba, a black and white dog who was once a stray, is an eye-opening reflection of the harsh realities faced by many animals. He was found by a woman who could not keep him. Despite this, his journey from uncertainty to hope began with his rescue and the care of those who... The post Lonely dog who’s never felt ‘safe’ can’t contain emotion when he finally gets family of his own appeared first on Animal Channel.

Leftist billionaire George Soros is “behind an all-out effort to shut down” free speech in the United States, MRC President Brent Bozell declared on Thursday. Bozell’s scorching remarks came in response to an MRC report that exposed Soros as one of the financiers of an anti-free speech cartel beseeching Big Tech platforms to censor Americans ahead of the 2024 presidential election. “I think Americans really need to be worried about this man,” Bozell said during an interview on Fox Business’s Varney & Co. “I think he's the greatest threat to democracy — not just in this country, but worldwide — and the things he's doing are frightening.” Read the Bombshell! George Soros Fueled $80M Into Groups Calling for Big Tech Censorship in Lead-Up to 2024 Elections At the center of Bozell’s warning is a media group’s letter pressuring social media platforms to censor content under the auspice of “implement[ing] election-integrity policies to protect democracy worldwide.” The letter, which Bozell lambasted for its “really fascistic attitude toward democracy,” was signed by over 200 groups and was led by the Soros-funded media group Free Press (not to be confused with journalist Bari Weiss’s The Free Press). In it, these groups pressed for “swift action” to allegedly protect democracy by keeping a “safe and healthy” environment for users. That is, by suppressing content that goes against their ideologies. But here’s the kicker: MRC research found that a large portion of these anti-free speech cartel non-profits have been bankrolled by none other than Soros.  “Of those 200 organizations, 45 of them were funded by George Soros … to the tune of $80 million — 45 that we know of. It’s probably more than that,” Bozell declared.  Reiterating the MRC’s findings, Bozell warned that these left-wing organizations “went to everybody in Big Tech whether it was Meta, TikTok, Google, YouTube” to call for the censorship of “conservatives, censor faith-based groups, censor Donald Trump yet again, shut down any, any debate over climate change.” More on Soros: Is He Buying Universities’ Silence on Anti-Semitic Agitators? Conservatives are under attack. Contact your representatives and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on hate speech and equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us using CensorTrack’s contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.

The first Chuck E. Cheese location opened on May 17, 1977, in San Jose, California, offering screaming children and their patient parents pizza, arcade games, ball pits, and animatronic entertainment. There are now 400 locations in the United States and hundreds more across 17 other nations, including Egypt and Australia. One of the chain's distinguishing features is its resident band, Munch's Make Believe Band, comprising Chuck E. Cheese, an anthropomorphic chicken named Helen Henny, a purple monster named Mr. Munch, a dog named Jasper T. Jowls, a mustachioed chef named Pasqually, and, in more recent years, a rabbit named Bella Bunny. This motley crew first took the stage in 1989. Curtains would rise and the animatronic animals would jitter in time with pre-recorded music. Atari co-founder and Chuck E. Cheese founder Nolan Bushnell indicated in a 2017 interview that he was inspired in part by the Tiki Room at Disneyland, stating, "Aha. There's no theater organist here. ... They've got the flowers singing. Yeah, we can do that. We've got the Tiki gods chanting away. Yeah, we can do that." After spending 35 years unnerving children, the band is set to break up. The New York Times reported that by year's end, the band will stop performing in all but two locations: one in Los Angeles and the other in Nanuet, New York. The rodent-led band's eradication is part of a broader facelift — what Chuck E. Cheese CEO David McKillips has described as the "most aggressive transformation." According to the Times, this upheaval was hastened by the pandemic, which prompted the temporary closure of numerous locations as well as the company's filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2020. Keen to stay afloat, the company is now appealing to a more screen-oriented generation, swapping out the bands for virtual entertainment, digital dance floors, and trampoline zones. "Kids are consuming entertainment differently than they were 10, 20 years ago," said McKillips. "Kids, really of all ages, are consuming their entertainment on a screen." In a mock November press conference, the titular rodent announced, "We are going to be performing here on a regular basis here in North Ridge, California." Munch interjected, saying, "It's called a residency." "We thought we should let you know officially," Cheese said. "Especially all you super fans out there that want to know where to find us." Bushnell said in a corresponding release, "It's great that the original animatronic band will remain in residency at the Northridge location while the other locations offer experiences and create memories with the new vision." In response to the Times report, the chain tweeted, "We hear you guys, truly [heart emoji.] We believe in the power of play and the joy of being a kid, and will always stay true to being a place Where a Kid Can Be A Kid!" Chuck E. Cheese then invited fans to share their memories of the shifty-eyed band. — (@) Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

If we’re talking about the greatest PC shooters ever, a few names will always come to mind. Half-Life is probably the easiest call. Counter-Strike definitely gets a mention. Go a little further back, and we have Doom to thank for basically the entire genre. But despite its devoted cult following, beaming reviews, and peerless reputation for bloodshed, one FPS game is often overlooked. With a new sequel on the way and updates coming to a close, this underexposed classic is briefly available to play for absolutely nothing, and you can buy and keep it forever for an extremely low price. Continue reading Brutal but legendary PC shooter is temporarily free to play MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Best FPS games, Best co-op games, Best zombie games

BOMBSHELL --> Michael Cohen's Former Attorney Just Spilled the Beans and HOO BOY It's Not Good for Cohen