Fast Times at Ridgemont High is a teen coming-of-age comedy directed by Amy Heckerling, written by Cameron Crowe, and released in 1982. The film follows a series of storylines of various characters attending Ridgemont High as they try to navigate through life and their wild experiences as teenagers. The film established many young actors as budding stars, although it was considered to be... Source

Queen Elizabeth II's undeniable grace and impeccable fashion sense made her the epitome of class. Even when she was still a princess, the would-be queen knew how to dress. From her colorful dress suits to her sparkly gowns, these outfits show how the queen's style has evolved over the years. Queen Elizabeth II turned 20 in 1946, which was the year that this photo was taken. The young lady was... Source

Some union leaders are self-destructive idiots. America’s ports have fallen behind. Not a single one ranks in the top 50 worldwide. A big reason is that dock unions stop innovation. This fall, the International Longshoremen’s Association shut down East and Gulf Coast ports, striking for a raise and a ban on automation. They got the raise. Now, union president Harold Daggett says longshoremen will strike again in January if they don’t get that ban on automation. His statement in my new video makes it clear that he knows how badly his strike would damage other Americans. “Guys who sell cars can’t sell cars, because the cars ain’t coming in off the ships. They get laid off,” says Daggett. “Construction workers get laid off because materials aren’t coming in. The steel’s not coming in. The lumber’s not coming in. They lose their job.” Obviously, labor leaders aren’t necessarily “pro-worker,” says Mercatus Center economist Liya Palagashvili. “They’re saying, ‘We don’t care if these other jobs are destroyed as long as we get what we want.’” Daggett is unusually clueless. He doesn’t understand that a ban on automation will also hurt his members. As Palagashvili puts it, “They’ll save some jobs today, but they’ll destroy a lot more jobs in the future.” That’s because today’s shippers have options. Daggett’s union only controls East and Gulf Coast ports. Shippers can deliver their products to ports that accept automation. “We’re going to see less activity in ‘Stone Age’ ports,” says Palagashvili. “Stone Age?” “They want to ban automated opening and closing of port doors,” she points out, requiring workers to pull heavy doors themselves. Weirdly, the union boss makes his demands while also pointing out that dockworker jobs are dangerous. “Very dangerous. … We’ve had 17 people killed in the last three years!” That’s terrible, but it’s an argument for automation! Using machines instead of vulnerable humans protects human workers. Daggett’s arguing against himself! I see why he wouldn’t agree to an interview. “It’s backward,” notes Palagashvili. “[If] you care about the safety of these workers, you should enhance their jobs and make them safer and better. And the only way you can do that is with technological advancements in automation.” Other countries have used automated cranes for years. They’re 80% faster than the human-operated cranes in many American ports. “The best ports,” says Palagashvili, “are Asian and Middle Eastern ports. They allow for innovation and technological advancements. If you look at Chinese ports, they’re actually sitting behind a computer and directing port activity through the screen. That’s a better job.” “I bet there are fewer of them,” I push back. “Some port jobs will definitely be lost,” she says, “but that’s not a bad thing. Look at it historically: We had hundreds of thousands of blacksmiths and candlemakers and watchmakers.” Obviously, those and other jobs were destroyed by new technology. But unemployment didn’t surge. New jobs emerged—jobs people at the time didn’t imagine: programmers, mechanics, electricians, medical technicians … That’s capitalism’s “creative destruction.” It constantly creates new jobs. That makes most everyone richer. The media rarely cover that because it’s a slow, non-exciting, good news story, and the new jobs appear in many different places. By contrast, when a factory closes, the union assembles the media, and we report the tragic story about workers losing their jobs. “That reporter doesn’t follow up with the worker two years later,” says Palagashvili, “but research does, and research shows that that worker gets a new job.” “On average, [a] better job,” I note. “Better jobs,” agrees Palagashvili, “and higher wages.” Higher wages because innovation allows workers to accomplish more. “Bulldozers and crane trucks made construction industry workers better off,” says Palagashvili, “and the real wages of those construction workers increase.” Daggett and his union just don’t get it. They fight to keep American ports dangerous and inefficient. That will hurt their own workers and, eventually, themselves.COPYRIGHT 2024 BY JFS PRODUCTIONS INC. The post This Union Head Is Willing to Save a Few Jobs Today to Destroy Many More in the Future appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Joni Ernst Angst

A new study suggests that animals like goats and dogs could play a crucial role in predicting natural disasters, potentially saving thousands of lives each year. Scientists have long suspected that animals possess a kind of “sixth sense” that allows them to detect subtle signals of impending events such as earthquakes or volcanic eruptions. To test this, researchers plan to tag thousands of animals, including farm animals, and monitor their movements via satellite for signs of unusual behavior. “Ultimately, we aim to launch a fleet of satellites to create a global observation network,” said Martin Wikelski of the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior in Germany. This network would track wildlife movements and health while identifying behavioral patterns linked to natural phenomena. Earlier research on Mount Etna in Sicily revealed that goats became restless and avoided higher pastures before an eruption. “Goats are surprisingly reliable at predicting large volcanic eruptions,” said Wikelski. “They somehow sense what’s coming, though we don’t yet understand how.” Similarly, studies near Rome’s Abruzzo mountains found that dogs and farm animals reacted in ways that accurately predicted earthquakes 7 out of 8 times over 12 years. If scaled globally, such monitoring could offer early warnings, giving communities more time to prepare and potentially saving countless lives. In addition to disaster prediction, the project may also shed light on how animals adapt to environmental changes caused by global warming. “Similarly, we will be able to study animal populations to determine how they are responding to habitat changes triggered by global warming,” Wikelski added. The research offers hope for harnessing animal behavior as a natural early-warning system, blending technology with the instincts of nature. The post Some Animals May Help Predict Natural Disasters, Study Finds appeared first on Anomalien.com.

Establishmentarians are desperate to prevent decorated Army veteran Pete Hegseth from becoming President-elect Donald Trump's defense secretary. Opposition from Democrats, defense lobbyists, and the liberal media is surmountable; however, Hegseth will require the support of most Republicans going into the 119th Congress. Sources close to the Senate confirmed to Blaze News this week that Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa has been actively lobbying against Hegseth's nomination. One source indicated that Ernst is serving as a "useful proxy" for the likes of Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and what remains of the old guard. When looking into possible reasons why Ernst might want to spike the nomination, critics found that Ernst has a disparate vision for the U.S. military — one not so different from the woke and alienating reality that manifested under the current Democratic administration. Turning Point USA CEO Charlie Kirk was among the critics who highlighted an August interview wherein the Iowa senator advocated for the continued presence of medical transvestites in the military and rejected the suggestion that the military is woke. Kirk wrote, "Maybe this is why she's leading the charge against Hegseth?" Ernst, who served for over two decades in the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard, told the titular host of PBS' "Firing Line with Margaret Hoover" in August that "we have transgender people serving in our military. They will bleed red just as the rest of us." The senator, recently touted by ABC News as a possible candidate to replace Hegseth, has long defended permitting medical transvestites to serve in the military on the condition that they can meet physical requirements. Blaze News previously reported that whereas mentally ill recruits, individuals reliant on medications, women with abnormal uterine bleeding, men with deformed genitals, those with chronic anxiety, and those who have committed self-harm are routinely barred from joining the military, similar prohibitions have apparently been relaxed under the Biden administration for those claiming to be "transgender." '[The DOD] committed a Bud Light.' Ernst told Hoover that there are certain situations in which it makes sense not to integrate transvestites, giving the example of keeping a male transvestite who has yet to complete his sex change out of women's barracks. However, the senator signaled continued opposition to Trump's previous and potential blanket bans on transvestic service members, stating, "If they bring value to our unit, if they have specialties that we can use, especially if we want to maintain an all-volunteer force, we want to bring that talent into our services." Significant doubt has been cast in recent years on the corresponding value proposition. Then-Secretary of Defense James Mattis stated in a Feb. 22, 2018, Pentagon memo that in "the Department's best military judgment, the Department of Defense concludes that there are substantial risks associated with allowing the accession and retention of individuals with a history or diagnosis of gender dysphoria and require or have already undertaken a course of treatment to change their gender." Thomas Spoehr, former director of the Heritage Foundation’s Center for National Defense, concluded in 2021 that the Biden administration's "decision to change U.S. military policy and allow unrestricted service by transgender individuals — without regard to whether they suffer from gender dysphoria — will result in a direct negative impact on military readiness linked to service members who are less able to deploy and perform their individual missions." Hegseth may be amenable to a transvestite ban. "I think we're at a 's*** or get off the pot' moment. We are at a tipping point for total institutional corruption, and Trump has a chance to reverse that," Hegseth recently told the "Shawn Ryan Show." "[The DOD] committed a Bud Light. In search of a non-traditional constituency, they offended their core constituency." Hegseth suggested on the "Take It Outside with Jay Cutler and Sam Mackey" podcast that medical transvestites in the military are "not deployable" because they are "reliant on chemicals." Trump's pick for defense secretary has also questioned having female service members on the battlefield, telling Shawn Ryan, "It hasn't made us more effective, hasn't made us more lethal, has made fighting more complicated." 'If you vote against him, primaries will ensue.' Ernst, who has voiced support for requiring women to register for the draft and previously voted to confirm President Joe Biden's defense secretary pick, Gen. Lloyd Austin, has emphasized that "women are perfectly capable of contributing in combat, whether it's combat arms or someone like me that was supporting combat operations with the movement of goods up into combat zones." Ernst similarly pushed back on the suggestion that the military has been "marred with a sentiment of wokeness, some social experimentation," telling Hoover, "Our military is not woke. I would say that there is civilian leadership of thee military that is woke. ... There is a difference between the leadership and those that serve in uniform." Rebecca Grant, vice president of the Lexington Institute, told Bloomberg that Ernst's reluctance to back Hegseth may also have something to do with a 2017 sexual assault allegation against the Fox News host. Even though no charges were ever filed and Hegseth's attorneys have repeatedly stressed that the allegations were false, Grant suggested that the nominee will have to once again rebut the allegations to reassure Ernst, who was reportedly raped in college. After meeting with Hegseth Wednesday, the Iowa senator noted on X, "I appreciate Pete Hegseth's service to our country, something we both share. Today, as part of the confirmation process, we had a frank and thorough conversation." BlazeTV host Liz Wheeler tweeted, "Why is Joni Ernst a GOP Senator? Supports trans in the military. Supports gun control. Supports giving Ukraine more $$. Votes Dem 38% of the time. Voted for Lloyd Austin, Biden Sec Def who oversaw deadly Afghanistan withdrawal. If she won't vote Pete, time to fire Joni." "This is a direct attempt to undermine the President and his voters," wrote Kirk. "Pete Hegseth is the redline. If you vote against him, primaries will ensue." When asked whether she was leading the charge against Hegseth, Ernst told RealClearPolitics, "There is absolutely no campaign against Pete." "I just want to make sure the process is able to play out and that we’re thoroughly vetting him. I do believe that Pete deserves to have a hearing. All the rumblings out there are absolutely false. My role as a senator is to make sure that we are putting to bed any rumors, any anonymous whatever," continued the senator. "We just need to make sure that he is thoroughly vetted and that he has his opportunity to go in front of the committee, recount his service, and rebut any allegations." Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

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