South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said his country is being penalized for detecting the latest Covid-19 “variant of concern,” dubbed Omicron, urging other nations to lift travel bans imposed amid alarm over the new strain. Read Full Article at RT.com

Carve out time in an AirBnb somewhere with its odd miscellany of cookware

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters on Tuesday just how much he values Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin. “He’s in a really challenging position and a party that is dominated by sort of East Coast elitism views of what America should look like,” McConnell said. “I pull for him every day and pray for him every night.” Isn’t that special. It’s a widespread feeling among Republicans, apparently, that appreciation for Manchin. So much so that the Coalition to Protect American Workers, a Republican group led by Marc Short, former Vice President Mike Pence’s former chief of staff, is spending in the large six figures on an ad campaign to thank Manchin for fighting against President Joe Biden’s economic agenda. They’re running three ads in the next few weeks. “West Virginians are struggling as out of control inflation is driving up the cost of everything—from gas to groceries,” claims one ad. Ah, inflation. Of course they are using Manchin’s most bullshit argument for opposing helping people. Just like McConnell does. “Fortunately,” the ad continues, “Joe Manchin’s got our backs. He understands the importance of putting West Virginia people ahead of Washington politics. Tell Manchin—keep fighting for us.”

A Black carpenter wrongfully convicted in six murders is suing the city of Philadelphia after being acquitted of two murders and exonerated of four. «Chris Williams is the only person in the US to be exonerated of 6 murder convictions after serving 31 yrs in prison, 25 of which he was on death row!» noted civil rights attorney Ben Crump tweeted on Wednesday, when he also announced that a lawsuit was filed on Williams’ behalf in the U.S. District Court in Philadelphia. Along with the city, defendants include former District Attorney Lynne Abraham, prosecutor David Desiderio, and 17 police detectives, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer. Crump said during a news conference that Williams “is almost like the symbol for wrongful conviction of Black men in America … We have to be better than this,” the attorney added. “We cannot continue to let racism cloud our judgment when it comes to not even just wrongful convictions but administering justice.”

A political science professor at Boise State University recently went viral in the worst possible way: He made comments about women in the workforce that feel straight out of a 1950s conservative handbook, as covered by The Daily Beast. The professor in question, Scott Yenor, made the anti-feminist comments while at the annual National Conservatism Conference in Orlando, Florida, in October, but has only recently gotten backlash on social media. What did Yenor say? At the event, which included keynote speakers like U.S. Senators Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, Yenor suggested that women should focus on “feminine goals” such as having children and being homemakers instead of going to school for medicine, law, and engineering. He attacked “strong, independent” women, Sex and the City, and women who work in fields like human resources and marketing, calling them “agents of the new world, but not new life.” He described these women as the “backbone” of every “left-wing cosmopolitan party” in the Western world, including, of course, the Democratic Party here in the United States. Somehow, that’s not even the worst part of his remarks.

Ex-Man United and Russia footballer Andrei Kanchelskis is seeking criminal action over threats that reportedly involved breaking his legs because of a pay-off, admitting feeling «fear» but insisting he will not be intimidated. Read Full Article at RT.com

From Resident Evil to the fourth season of Stranger Things, the streaming service unveils its slate of upcoming sci-fi and fantasy TV shows.

The social network has faced allegations that it worsens mental health issues for young people.

For his masterpiece A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, the French painter created a new technique that used dots of colors to form an image when viewed from a distance.

Gigi Sohn, a longtime consumer advocate and former FCC official, faces Republican opposition at her Senate confirmation hearing Wednesday.

Jack Dorsey, who is stepping down after six years as Twitter's chief executive, is one of the tech leaders who seem to have grown tired of managing their empires

«If I weren't at Square or Twitter, I'd be working on bitcoin,» Jack Dorsey had said at a packed Miami conference in June

Vice President Kamala Harris chaired the first National Space Council meeting of the Biden-Harris Administration Wednesday, Dec. 1 at the U.S. Institute of Peace in Washington.

U.S. officials confirmed the first U.S. case of omicron in California.

ExtraVehicular (EVA) Status: Due to a late debris notification Monday night, the P1 SASA R&R EVA was deferred today. The USOS crew was provided an uplinked list of activities to work from in lieu of the scheduled timeline. These activities were accelerated from later in the week to accommodate the open time on today’s plan.  …

Ancient footprints reveal a mysterious relative of humans may have lived at the same time and in the same area as the famous human ancestor «Lucy» in Tanzania.

Paleontologists in Chile have found the remains of an ankylosaur that represents a new dinosaur lineage.

A pair of supermassive black holes that will soon become one has been discovered hiding in a nearby galaxy.

What happens when a pair of curious (and hungry) rats find themselves in a kitchen of potions, tonics, and jars of strange preservatives? “Experiment” is a short film by Zoé Berton-Bojko and Susana Covo Perez—they produced the piece as part of their graduation project at the School of New Images—that follows two dueling rodents as they spar over a single dried mushroom. Once they each finally take a bite of the magical fungi, glass-shattering, fiery chaos ensues in a manner that’s as graceful as it is humorously bizarre. More

A column of metallic type scales the former Zenger Transformer Substation in Prague, melding the historic venue with the visual identity of the new art institution housed in its space. Conceived by the Czech Republic-based Studio Najbrt, the uniquely positioned logo wraps vertically around the corner of the Kunsthalle Praha building and is based on a typeface by German designer Jan Tschichold, who created it in the 1930s around the time the station was built. More

Coinciding with the rise of repurposed fabrics and visible mending, the Amsterdam-based design studio Peterson Stoop is combatting waste in one vector of the fashion industry. The company, which was founded by Jelske Peterson and Jarah Stoop in 2013, salvages worn shoes otherwise destined for landfills—it’s estimated that a single pair of trainers can take 1,000 years to break down—and repurposes them into mules, high-tops, and loafers. Combined with cork, leather, and other natural materials for support, the new shoes highlight the original logos and tattered fabrics through a patchwork of thick seams. More

President Biden is reportedly considering stricter requirements on travelers entering the U.S. as he preps a Thursday speech on ways to stave off a winter COVID-19 spike and deal with the omicron threat. The draft proposals, first reported by The Washington Post, would require all travelers to be tested within ...

In the first edition of “Arrivals”—a monthly column dedicated to new voices in photography—Wesley Verhoeve introduces us to Erinn Springer’s latest project; a tender meditation on family life set in the Midwest.

TOKYO (AP) — Japan continued its aggressive stance against a new coronavirus variant on Wednesday, asking international airlines to stop taking new reservations for all flights arriving in the country until the end of December in a further tightening of already strict border controls. The transportation ministry said the request ...

Mark Titus and Tate Frazier believe that the Purdue Boilermakers can win the National Championship this season after their dominant victory over the Florida State Seminoles. They discuss how smoothly Jaden Ivey moves across the floor, how good Zach Edey is for being so large and the depth of the rest of the team.

The Xavier Musketeers grab a huge lead early in the first half, going 6-for-7 from the 3-point line to start the game.

There’s a decent chance that the small-market Oakland Athletics will head to the Las Vegas desert at some point within the next few years.

Following the news that the U.S. Air Force has pulled its support for the #20 car which oval specialist Ed Carpenter shares with a road/street course driver, former IndyCar champion and Indy 500 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay’s candidacy for the ride has looked weaker. It has freed team owner Carpenter to look at several non-American drivers.One of these is Aitken, the 26-year-old Briton who has ...Keep reading

The Dallas Cowboys have been struggling, losing three of their last four games and will play the New Orleans Saints in Week 13 for Thursday Night Football. Mike McCarthy will not be on the sidelines due to a positive COVID-19 test. However, Amari Cooper will return. Dak Prescott says the need for a win is urgent and added that quote: 'This is a team that's hungry and pissed off.' Emmanuel Acho explains why he believes 'Dak is good enough to carry the Cowboys.'

Marcellus Wiley chimes in to theorize the events that has led to Russell Wilson's recent tough stretch. Wiley turns the clock all the way back to the offseason and the moments leading up to the Seattle Seahawks Week 12 defeat at the hands of WFT. The loss is the 3rd straight for Seattle, who currently rest in 4th place in the NFC West division.