The Ghost of Ayn Rand as a Climate Activist? – InDepthNH.org

Power to the People is a column by Donald M. Kreis, New Hampshires Consumer Advocate. Kreis and his staff of four represent the interests of residential utility customers before the NH Public Utilities Commission and elsewhere.

By Donald M. Kreis, Power to the People

Remember the time a famous architect secretly designed a public housing project, and then blew the place up because the complex was not built to his specifications?

Of course you dont. It didnt happen.

If the story sounds familiar its probably because you read The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand, likely as a brooding and disaffected teenager. Architect Howard Roarks act of violent civil disobedience is the climax of Rands epic novel about individualism thwarted by a society committed to mediocrity while slouching toward socialism.

Maybe thats why it was the Arthur L. Irving Institute for Energy and Society at Dartmouth College, and not the schools English Department, that sponsored the lecture I heard recently about pressing the teachings of Ayn Rand into service in quest of doing something about climate change.

Calling his talk Ayn Rands Climate Moment, Rutgers University Anthropologist David McDermott Hughes used his Dartmouth gig to propose that climate activists find common ground with people who tend to revere the creator of The Fountainhead. He was referring, of course, to New Hampshires libertarian community.

Hughes has been poking around New Hampshire of late, conducting what he calls speculative ethnography. His speculation has to do with the common ground Hughes envisions between climate activists (particularly the four who were convicted after a jury trial in March of trespassing at the coal-fired Merrimack Station in Bow) and the states ever-more-visible cadre of libertarians.

The anthropologist is not talking about the libertarians in the Legislature. Hughes has no use for the ceaseless contradictions implicit in being elected to a lawmaking body when you basically think we shouldnt have a government.

Instead, Hughes is talking about the kind of grassroots libertarian who does things like the antics in Keene nine years ago. Some libertarian activists figured out where the parking enforcement officers would be so they could walk a few steps ahead of them, feed quarters into expired parking meters, and thus thwart the issuance of parking tickets and with it the muscular exercise of state authority.

According to Hughes, stunts like that are prefigurative. Social scientist Carl Boggs coined the phrase prefigurative politics to describe political acts that are self-executing i.e., as Hughes said, you achieve the goal immediately by doing the thing as opposed, say, to waiting for the Legislature or some regulatory agency to agree with you.

What sort of prefigurative politics does Hughes have in mind when it comes to decarbonization? Exactly the thing that led to the trespassing convictions already mentioned. In that case it involved physically preventing a train from getting to Merrimack Station so it could drop off a load of coal to be burned to generate electricity.

And why, you may be wondering, does this anthropologist care about what libertarians would make of such exploits? As Hughes explained at the Dartmouth lecture, and also in the Boston Review recently, its because of jury nullification.

Juries are the last bastion of true, unimpeded democracy. In a felony case, the lawyers present evidence of what happened, and the judge provides instructions as to the statute that prohibits some kind of behavior (e.g., trespassing). But then the jury can do whatever it wants. In other words, the jury can nullify law with which it disagrees.

So, if the jury thinks it would be unjust to convict the defendant say, because jurors believe it was righteous and even courageous for someone to block the delivery of coal to Merrimack Station then the jury can return a not guilty verdict. And that would be the end of the case, thanks to the no double jeopardy clause of the Fifth Amendment.

Hughes figures that the kind of true libertarian who would run around Keene dispensing quarters in an effort to thwart the local parking authorities would also be amenable to jury nullification of this sort. He stressed that he was under no illusions when it comes to libertarians and climate change.

Rather, according to the anthropologist, a dyed-in-the-wool New Hampshire libertarian would see Merrimack Station and the railway that delivers coal there as, essentially, instrumentalities of the state given the various subsidies and bailouts granted to them. So, Hughes reasons, such a juror would deem the applicable law baloney and vote to acquit.

Thus, the hypothetical libertarian juror finds common purpose with the climate activists. And keep in mind that if only one juror refuses to convict, the defendant is found not guilty and goes home scot-free.

Lets cut to the chase. Why would ratepayers, and thus a ratepayer advocate like me, care?

Because the anthropologists hypothesis is that a de facto alliance between libertarians and climate activists could really shut down every last fossil fuel electricity generator, including those that use natural gas. That, he thinks, is what can happen if this jury nullification thing catches on and people figure out they can commit acts of civil disobedience at places like Merrimack Station with no negative consequences to them.

Thus, Hughes foresees a massive direct-action movement of the type that toppled the Berlin Wall in 1989 at the end of the Cold War. The idea, he says, is to make fossil fuels unprotectable.

I am skeptical. For one thing, the New Hampshire Supreme Court made clear in 2014 that while a jurys power to acquit a criminal defendant for any reason it likes is undisputed, judges are not required to inform jurors of this right.

However, people who care about energy and that should be all of us ought to take note of this argument now that it has been made so publicly in New Hampshire. It suggests the extreme lengths that climate activists are willing to go in the face of what they perceive as the systems intransigence.

Hughes is under no illusions about libertarians; he describes his proposed alliance with them a strategy of last resort. According to Hughes, its not the 1970s anymore, we have lost our opportunity for slow and methodical solutions to climate change, and we have to come up with a solution as risky as the crisis.

After hearing Hughess lecture, I am no longer puzzled by civil disobedience at or near Merrimack Station. The activists are not trying to change anyones mind; theyre doing prefigurative politics because they aim to get activities of this sort to catch on until fossil fuel facilities crumble just like the Berlin Wall did.

Do they care about what judges, or legislators, or utility commissioners, or journalists think of that? No, they do not.

That sends a chill down my spine, and not just because I am a lawyer who is part of state government. Is the social compact really that close to fraying, because so many people are that frustrated by government inaction? If so, thats bad for ratepayers.

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The Ghost of Ayn Rand as a Climate Activist? - InDepthNH.org

Does UCP leader Danielle Smith have a tattoo of a right-wing think tank? Not really – National Post

Danielle Smiths tattoo has caught the attention of the internet, with some arguing on social media that she has the logo for a right-wing libertarian think tank on her forearm.

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The tattoo was done by her stepson, a Calgary tattoo artist. Its an ancient Sumerian cuneiform symbol for liberty or freedom.

That same symbol also happens to feature in the logo for the Liberty Fund, a libertarian think tank headquartered in Indiana.

We believe that the first written reference to the concept of liberty is the ancient Sumerian cuneiform symbol amagi which Liberty Fund uses as its logo, the Liberty Fund website states. The translation of the inscription literally means return to the mother.'

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While the Liberty Fund does clearly use the symbol in its logo, that doesnt mean Smith got the tattoo to represent the group. Just as a person with a tattoo of a maple leaf couldnt be accused of being a Toronto hockey fan, or a supporter of the Liberal Party of Canada, or an Ironman triathlon finisher.

Smith recently told National Post that she learned about the Sumerian word during her days at the Fraser Institute, another libertarian-adjacent think tank, having seen the Liberty Fund logo, and loved the symbol and its history.

I always thought if I ever have a tattoo, thats what it would be, Smith said.

Liberty and freedom has been one of the things that Ive written an awful lot about.

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While the symbol is often translated as liberty or freedom, there seems to be some debate among scholars over whether it simply means freedom from a debt and should not be used more broadly.

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Does UCP leader Danielle Smith have a tattoo of a right-wing think tank? Not really - National Post

Opinion: The sky is not falling on the dollar – Idaho State Journal

The day after President Joe Biden announced his run for a second term, Donald Trump responded with a string of false statements. Here is just one of them: The dollar will soon no longer be the world standard, which will be our greatest defeat in over 200 years.

When I searched for the source of this alarming prediction, the first to come up was a precious metals/cryptocurrency website. There are still people (most famously libertarian Ron Paul) who still believe in the gold standard, and the principal goal of the crypto people is to replace the dollar.

Britain survived its currency crisis

Economist Paul Krugman believes that these fears are overblown, but, just for an exercise, he wants us to consider the case of Britain. Until 1949 the British pound ruled the financial world. Until then one would have paid about $5 for 1, but now it costs $1.26. The dollar is now at its highest level against all major currencies since 2014.

To back up the pound after World War II, the Bank of England liquidated assets in the colonies as its empire collapsed. Even so, Britain survived, and its post-war economy was guided competently by both the Labor and Conservative parties.

Since 2010, however, the Conservatives have cut funds to social services, especially universal health care. (Until recently this system produced better results than the U.S. for six major diseases.) As a result, Britain was ill prepared for the pandemic.

London still remains the top financial center in the world, but banks are now leaving the city primarily because of Brexit. The effects of the libertarian-led campaign to quit the European Union are now the greatest threat to the nation.

Among the top seven most wealthy countries, Britain is the only one, according to the International Monetary Fund, that will suffer a recession this year. Incredibly, the IMF predicts that Britains economic prospects are worse than those of sanction-hit Russia.

Japan survived its crisis, too

In the 1980s, Japan was predicted to rise to the top of the worlds economies. Instead, the Bank of Japan raised interest rates too quickly and the result was a real estate and banking crisis. Major banks were nationalized and deficit spending was increased.

When I was on sabbatical in Japan in 1993, the Japanese yen was at a low point. Even so, Japan outpaced Germany and Britain and remained the worlds second largest economy from 1990 to 2010, when a rising China took that spot behind the U.S.

Japan: Worlds highest debt

By 2011, Japans national debt had grown to 100 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). It is now an incredible 266 percent and some economists say that this simply cannot be sustained. This means that Japans debt is 2.66 times what it produces. The U.S. debt now stands at 128 percent.

Three factors are mitigating the effects of this huge debt. 1) Ninety percent of it is owned by the Japanese people (versus 77 percent for Americans). 2) Japans high-quality exports (cars and machinery) will keep hard currency coming into its coffers for the foreseeable future. Japan will also repatriate profits from its American car production. 3) One commentator states: Japan is the world's biggest creditor, holding more than $3 trillion in net assets in foreign currency reserves and direct investment abroad.

Republicans add to the debt, too

Every week I tear out the economic indicators page from The Economist, which has information for 44 nations. Just a quick look at the data for April 22 puts the lie to Trumps claims and predictions, particularly his allegation that high national debt will doom the dollar.

By the way, Trumps budget deficit was -14.4 percent (Bidens is -5.2 percent), and he added $7.9 trillion to our national debt. Unfunded tax cuts, which never improve the economy, and defense increases are major parts of our debt. Even though we were way ahead of the Soviet Union in new weapon systems, Ronald Reagan called for unnecessary defense expenditures that tripled the national debt.

Debt does not destroy economies

Currently, Japans economic statistics are just as good as other rich countries. Economic growth has slowed worldwide. It is only Britain, according to the International Monetary, that is, under conservative mismanagement, predicted to fall into recession. Its lower national debt (81 percent of GDP) presumably, is not a buffer against negative growth.

Europe and Asia

Europe also proves that there is no apparent correlation between slow growth and high national debt. Greece (206 percent) and Italy (156 percent) are doing just as well as low debt countries. In fact, perennial economic powerhouse Germany (60 percent debt) now joins Britain in negative growth for 2023.

Lets look at two economic tigers in Asia: Singapore and Hong Kong. They rank third and fourth as world financial centers. The formers debt is 131 percent while the latters is 42 percent. Their superb economic performance on growth, unemployment, and annual budget deficit is about the same.

Republicans are the main threat

The most immediate threat to the U.S. and world economy is the GOPs refusal to raise the debt ceiling. Because of their intransigence in the battle over the debt ceiling in 2011, the governments credit rating was downgraded for the first time in history. This increased the cost of borrowing, and it also undermined international confidence that the U.S. could pay its debts.

The Republicans were playing a dangerous game then, and McCarthy's tribe is now courting disaster. As Paul Krugman states: Who will trust the currency of a nation that appears to have politically lost its mind?

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Opinion: The sky is not falling on the dollar - Idaho State Journal

Danielle Smith: Alberta’s Public Sector Workers Need To Accept … – PressProgress

Alberta United Conservative Party leader Danielle Smith says reaching out to public sector workers is part of her election strategy, but on a right-wing podcast last year, Smith said public sector workers need to accept austerity and pain.

At a campaign photo-op Thursday, Smith suggested the UCP plans to grow its votes by appealing to workers, including workers in the public sector such as a front-line nurse or other health professional.

Yet in a wide-ranging April 2022 interview on an obscure Canadian libertarian podcast called Rose Bros, Smith advocated cuts to public services and suggested workers in the public sector need to accept austerity and pain.

We do have to have some austerity, Smith told the podcaster.

The kind of pain that private sector workers have gone through in the last seven or eight years, having to go down to part-time, having to downshift, having to do work-sharing, having to take time off.

We havent seen any austerity in the public sector, Smith said. Its just continued to grow, more workers, higher wages.

Unfortunately, for the front-line nurses Smith is counting on voting for her, the UCP leader suggested some of the austerity and pain could be shouldered by the public healthcare system.

Healthcare is going to bankrupt our Canadian system, Smith added. Weve got to create a mechanism to allow people to use more of their own dollars so they can promote their own health on things that the health care system isnt going to cover.

We now have all these new therapies that are coming in, we have the ability to map our own genome and get targeted biologics and targeted medicine, Smith warned. Whos going to pay for that?

Weve got to empower people to spend more of their own dollars on the things that they care about.

While offering few precise details, Smith proposed a health spending account to help Albertans pay for the care that they want to use.

Then you can start changing the system.

The UCP campaign did not respond to requests for comment from PressProgress.

Smith previously pitched her proposed spending account, as a way to normalize healthcare user fees: Once people get used to the concept of paying out of pocket for more things themselves then we can change the conversation on health care.

Ricardo Acuna, executive director at the Parkland Institute, says Smiths claims in the podcast about public sector workers bear little relation to reality.

Danielle Smith is the leader of the party that a few months into the pandemic laid off 20,000 educational assistants via twitter, eliminated funding for speech pathologists and other service providers in the school system, and whose bargaining position resulted in the loss of many health professionals through burn-out and mental health leave, Acuna told PressProgress.

For her to then suggest that there were no cuts or job loss in the public sector, therefore, is not accurate.

Acunda added that the UCPs cuts to public services have degraded working conditions.

For those that have remained in fields like health care, education, post-secondary, the stress and overwork have remained, increasingly making burnout and mental health challenges the rule rather than the exception.

Gil McGowan, President of the Alberta Federation of Labour President Gill McGowan says Smiths comments about what she would like seen done to public sector workers are deeply troubling.

It is gratuitous, spiteful and exactly the opposite of what is needed. McGowan told PressProgress. Our services are failing because of past cuts,

It is clear that Smith should not be trusted with our healthcare or education systems.

Smith has long advocated for gutting and privatizing public health care.

In a 2003 Calgary Herald column titled Denied access to private health violates basic human rights, Smith complained that politicians simply dont have the stomach to reform public health care so it will actually work, such as adopting internal markets, allowing private health- care providers to proliferate, charging user fees and implementing co-payment systems.

If its necessary to use the courts to push for a parallel private system so Canadians can get the medical care they need, so be it. Let the litigation begin.

During the podcast, Smith discussed her past at the Fraser Institute and the far-right Reform Party,, describing herself as a libertarian and adherent to the philosophy of Atlas Shrugged author Ayn Rand.

I try to read Atlas Shrugged every few years and Im in the process of trying to build out a broader philosophy, Smith explained.

During the podcast, Smith also suggested the provincial government might reduce its reliance on resource royalties by expanding Bitcoin mining and make Alberta the crypto currency capital of Canada.

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Danielle Smith: Alberta's Public Sector Workers Need To Accept ... - PressProgress

Releases – University of Chicago

A selection of books, films, and recordings by UChicago alumni.

By Lara Langer Cohen, AB99; Duke University Press, 2023

The metaphor of the undergroundan image of clandestine, subversive activitywas popularized in newspaper coverage of the Underground Railroad in the 1840s. Bringing together a variety of 19th-century American textsBlack radical manifestos, anarchist periodicals, sensational city mystery novels, sex-magic manuals, secret society initiation ritesLara Langer Cohen reveals the layers that the image of the underground contained at the time. This expanded notion of the underground, she suggests, can help us imagine new worldviews and modes of political activity today.

By Michael Kugler, PhD94, and Jimmy Kugler; University Press of Mississippi, 2023

What can we learn from an adolescents retelling of World War II? Historian Michael Kugler teases out the influences underlying comics that his father, Jimmy, drew as a small-town Nebraska teen in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Drawing on wartime propaganda, news coverage, radio programming, and movies, Jimmy depicts the Pacific War as a brutal struggle between Frogs and Toads. Kugler shows how Jimmy developed his voice and rebelled against the moral expectations placed on young people at the time through his unexpected interpretation of history.

By Julia Langbein, AM07, PhD14; Doubleday, 2023

High school English teacher Penelope Schleeman quits her job and moves to Los Angeles to write the screenplay of her best-selling novel, American Mermaid. Julia Langbeins debut novel alternates between satirical depictions of Pennys time among Hollywood somebodies and excerpts from her book. As Penny struggles to maintain artistic control over her work, the lines between reality and the fictional world she created begin to blur.

By Betsey Behr Brada, AM05, PhD11; Cornell University Press, 2023

In the early 2000s, Botswana had the highest prevalence rate of HIV in the world. The US government responded with a program that it claimed provided treatment to tens of thousandsa claim denied by personnel on the ground. Working as global healths most ardent critic and its most ambivalent friend, anthropologist Betsey Behr Brada examines the United States involvement in Botswana to understand how global health alters relationships and power dynamics. At the heart of Bradas work lies an ethical question: Is global health a social justice movement or a guise for neocolonialism?

By Andrew Koppelman, AB79; St. Martins Press, 2022

What some Americans understand libertarianism to bea way of thinking that led to firefighters in South Fulton, Tennessee, watching a house burn after the owner failed to pay his annual fee to the fire departmentis a corrupted form of the ideology, argues Andrew Koppelman. A professor of constitutional law, Koppelman aims to show readers what this understanding of libertarianism gets wrong and how moderate libertarianism may be the best means of realizing ideals of both the right and the left.

For additional alumni book releases, use the link to the Magazines Goodreads bookshelf at mag.uchicago.edu/alumni-books.

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Releases - University of Chicago

Heinrich ‘All In’ for Senate re-election bid – New Mexico Political Report

U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich released a campaign video Thursday announcing his run for re-election in 2024.

When I look at Washington these days, I see plenty of fighters, Heinrich, a Democrat, said in the video. The problem is too many are fighting for themselves for their career and their big donors. The way I see it, you hired me to work for you. And I want you to know, Im all in.

Heinrich is seeking his third term in the U.S. Senate. Before winning election to the U.S. Senate in 2012, Heinrich served as a member of Congress for two terms, representing the states 1st Congressional District.

Heinrich won a three-way race for reelection in 2018, defeating Republican construction company owner Mick Rich and former Gov. Gary Johnson, who ran as a Libertarian.

The video, entitled, All In and included a listing of the things Heinrich was all in for in recent years.

These things include how he tried to curb gun violence, expanded veteran health care benefits, helped to get $4 billion to help communities affected by last years wildfires, worked to lower prescription costs and brought more than $1 billion for New Mexicos infrastructure, the video states.

Im running for the Senate again, because we still have more work to do, Heinrich said in the video. We have to take on the challenges that have been written off for too long. We need to diversify New Mexicos economy. We have to continue the transition to clean energy. We have to build upon our historic investment in early childhood education.

He has a background in engineering including a contract with what is now the Air Force Research Laboratory at Kirtland Air Force Base working on directed energy technology.

Democrats currently hold a small majority in the Senate, 51-49, over Republicans. The 2024 elections are considered friendly to Republicans in at least three states currently represented by Democrats.

Cook Political Report, Crystal Ball and Inside Elections all project New Mexico to be a strong Democratic state.

Related

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Heinrich 'All In' for Senate re-election bid - New Mexico Political Report

Republicans in the Legislature don’t think you’re smart enough to … – Daily Montanan

Rep. Kerri Seekins-Crowe thinks youre an idiot. Or clueless.

Maybe both.

But, if its any consolation, she believes that about me, too.

Seekins-Crowe, a representative from Billings, believes that even though a majority of voters rejected the language of Legislative Referendum 131 last year at the ballot box, which supposedly put into law that doctors cant kill babies something already well established before LR 131 that shed just go ahead and enlist some of her Republican buddies to codify the failed referendum in a sort of legislature-knows-best attempt.

On Wednesday, Gov. Greg Gianforte said hed likely sign the legislation.

The voters had their say on the issue last year, and lawmakers didnt respect or like what was said, so they just went ahead and did what they wanted to do anyway, probably a metaphor for the entire legislative session.

Montana voters, liberal and conservative, have repeatedly rejected efforts to restrict abortion and other reproductive issues at the polls because, to put in a way that even arrogant lawmakers can understand, its none of the governments damn business what we do with our bodies.

I cant think of a better example of Montanas libertarian, govment-git-out mentality, than how state residents generally respond to the idea of state government putting its nose where it doesnt belong.

Seekins-Crowe believes that either Montana residents arent sophisticated, moral or intelligent enough to understand that the premise of LR-131 wasnt about protecting situations that simply dont happen or are already protected by law, she had the audacity to introduce the failed measure even after the voters rejected it. Instead, Id suggest voters may have just seen LR-131 for what it was and voted against it.

If youre not insulted, though, just wait.

Seekins-Crowe didnt just disregard the will of the people the same ones that put her in office. She reintroduced the bill, believing that those same residents who rejected it wouldnt notice.

During legislative discussions about abortion and reproductive rights, Senate Minority Leader Pat Flowers used a precise and exactly accurate analogy about the duplicity of the Republican Party, which continues to pull funding away from social services that would help developmentally disabled people, while insisting that women who are carrying a fetus with these same disabilities must carry them to term.

Sen. John Fuller, R-Kalispell, took exceptional exception his words not mine to Flowers observation.

Keep in mind, Fuller is a one-man discrimination machine who has insisted on legislation that attacks transgender kids and their families.

During the same debate on abortion and funding, Sen. Daniel Emrich, R-Great Falls, said that the legislatures role was protecting those who couldnt protect themselves. But, the last time I checked, there werent a lot of pregnant women with punching gloves. Then again, a woman to the Montana Legislature is only valuable insofar as her uterus. And if Emrich is right that the legislatures proper role is to protect those who cannot protect themselves, then they have a ton of explaining to do about what theyve done to the LGBTQ+ community, which the GOP has seemed to relish marginalizing and ostracizing.

Many of the policies and laws passed during the 2023 session are indeed insulting and dangerous, but heres my ask: Dont try to fool us, Montana Republicans. Take your marching orders from the Freedom Caucus or whatever cultural threat is most pressing from transgender kids to pregnant women to seniors with nearly nothing to lose because theyre already on Medicaid.

Yet give residents enough credit to see that this session gave folks earning $400,000 more money, but Republicans had to be dragged kicking and screaming to put more money to nursing homes. Or, worry about the unborn, but question why we need daycare. We saw that you tried to make it harder on residents who want recreational marijuana, while secretly counting the tax dollars roll in.

The party of freedom continues to talk about medical choice except when it comes to abortion. They suggest arming teachers but dont trust them with the books in elementary school libraries.

No party has cornered the market on doublespeak or being opportunistic. And, by all means, we know tear-filled speeches with words like freedom, liberty and responsibility warm the ears and the hearts of constituents.

All I ask is that you take the votes you need to without playing the rest of us for fools.

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Republicans in the Legislature don't think you're smart enough to ... - Daily Montanan

Opinion: Repulsed by Biden vs. Trump? Tough – Chattanooga Times Free Press

The presidential race sure does seem like it'll wind up coming down to Joe Biden vs. Donald Trump and a whole lot of people would rather have an alternative.

Here's an important early message: Even if you aren't thrilled by the Republican and Democratic options come Election Day, don't vote for anybody else.

We're talking here about the attraction of third parties. So tempting. So disaster-inducing.

The lure is obvious. Trump's terrible and Biden's boring. Much more satisfying to go to the polls and announce you're too far above the status quo to vote for either.

The way so many people did in 2016, when Trump won the presidency, thanks to the Electoral College votes of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. Which Hillary Rodham Clinton would probably have carried if the folks who were appalled by Trump had voted for her instead of the Libertarian or Green Party candidates.

OK, ticked-off swing staters, how did that work for you in the long run?

This brings us to No Labels, a new group that's warning it might launch a third-party candidacy if it isn't happy with the two major party nominees.

"We care about this country more than the demands of any political party," No Labels announces on its website. Its founding chair, Joe Lieberman, told interviewers that his group believes the American people "are so dissatisfied with the choice of Presidents Trump or Biden that they want a third alternative."

Yeah. But let's stop here to recall that Lieberman is a former U.S. senator, D-Conn. Who ran for vice president with Al Gore on the Democratic ticket in 2000, hurt Gore's chances with a terrible performance in a debate with Dick Cheney, then made a totally disastrous attempt to run for president himself four years later.

Hard to think of him as a guy with big answers. And about that business of voters wanting a third choice: A lot of them do, until it turns out that option throws the race to the worse of the top two.

Remember all the chaos in the 2000 Florida vote count? The entire presidential election hinged on the result. In the end, Ralph Nader, the Green Party nominee, got more than 97,000 votes there. In a state that George W. Bush eventually won by 537.

Now Nader had a phenomenal career as a champion of consumer protection and the environment. But this was a terrible finale. His candidacy gave Floridians who felt that Gore was not very exciting a chance to declare their disaffection. It gave them a chance to feel superior. It gave the country a new President Bush. And a war in Iraq.

I talked with Nader about his role much later, and he basically said the outcome was Gore's fault for being a bad candidate. This conversation took place when the country was bearing down on the 2016 election, and Nader vowed not to vote for either Trump or Clinton. "They're not alike," he acknowledged, but added, "they're both terrible."

Think that was the last time I ever consulted Ralph Nader.

The third-party thingy also comes up in legislative races. Remember the 2018 Senate contest in Arizona? No? OK, that's fair.

The Democratic candidate was Kyrsten Sinema, who seemed to be in danger of losing because the Green Party was on the ballot, capable of siphoning off a chunk of her supporters. Even though Sinema had a good environmental record! Well, a few days before the election the Green candidate have I mentioned her name was Angela Green? urged her supporters to vote for Sinema. Who did squeak out a win.

As senator, Sinema became an, um, unreliable Democratic vote. Who you might call either principled or egocentrically uncooperative. In any case, it didn't look like she'd have much chance of being renominated. So now she's very likely to run as ... an independent.

Another senator who frequently drives Democratic leaders crazy is Joe Manchin of West Virginia, who hasn't announced his own plans. But he's started to flirt with a presidential run. On a No Labels ticket? "I don't rule myself in and I don't rule myself out," he helpfully told an interviewer.

Sigh.

Politicians are perfectly well aware of what effect a third option can have on elections. Back in 2020, a group of Montanans who'd signed petitions to put the Green Party on the ballot discovered that the Republicans had spent $100,000 to support the signature-gathering effort undoubtedly in hopes that the Green candidate would take votes away from former Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock when he ran for the Senate. The irate voters went to court, and a judge finally ruled that they could remove their names.

Didn't help Bullock win, but it does leave another message about the way too many options can be used to screw up an election. Really, people, when it comes time to go to the polls, the smartest thing you can do is accept the depressing compromises that can come with a two-party democracy. Then straighten your back and fight for change anyhow.

Don't forget to vote! But feel free to go home after and have three or four drinks.

The New York Times

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Opinion: Repulsed by Biden vs. Trump? Tough - Chattanooga Times Free Press

Democrat Hassan Claims Gen. Bolduc’s Attacker Was Libertarian Activist

Republican Gen. Don Bolduc (R-NH) was physically attacked by a libertarian activist before Wednesdays debate, according to opponent Sen. Maggie Hassans (D-NH) campaign staff.

Hassans campaign communications director Kevin Donohoetweetedthat the assailantwhophysically attacked the general outside last nights debate was a Libertarian activist.

Kate Constantini, Bolduc for Senate spokeswoman, told Breitbart News that law enforcement was quickly on the scene and apprehended the individual.

Prior to the debate, an individual in the crowd gathered outside attempted to punch the General and was quickly apprehended and arrested,Constantiniexplained. We are grateful to the quick response from law enforcement on the scene, she said about theGoffstown police department.

As the General said on stage tonight, its time to lower the temperature of the political discourse in this country,she added.

DERRY, NH OCTOBER 15: Republican senate nominee Don Bolduc shakes hands with attendees during a campaign event on October 15, 2022 in Derry, New Hampshire. Bolduc, and Army General who won the GOP primary will take on Sen. Maggie Hassan (D) in November. (Photo by Scott Eisen/Getty Images)

The attack occurred without mention from the debate moderators or WMUR ABC, even though the attack occurred before the debate. The network asked candidates about the rise in violence against politicians, mentioning January 6 and the attack against Paul Pelosi, but failed to mention the incident that occurred minutes before against the Republican candidate.

The debate took place one hour before President Joe Biden condemned Republicans for political violence in a speech at Union Station in Washington, D.C.

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Democrat Hassan Claims Gen. Bolduc's Attacker Was Libertarian Activist

Democrats, not Republicans, block over-the-counter birth control

Glenn Harlan Reynolds| Opinion columnist

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortezsaysbirth control should be available over the counter.Shes right.

(At least, if by birth control she means birth control pills. I presume no one, least of all the pharmacist at Walgreens, wants pharmaciststo insert IUDs.)

Birth control pills are available over the counter in most other countries. The morning-after pill, better known as Plan B, is already available over the counter in America.

Most American women favor making the birth control pill accessibleover the counter.According to a 2017 Kaiser Family Foundation survey, three-quartersof women of reproductive age support over-the-counteraccess to birth control pills.

So why hasnt it happened? It must be that awful, religious-right-dominated GOP thats standing in the way, right?

Actually, not so much.

Republicans, in fact, have repeatedly tried to make birth control pills available without a prescription, only to face opposition from . . . Democrats and Planned Parenthood.

Yes, you heard that right. Democrats and Planned Parenthood have fought against making it easier for women to get birth control pills. Why? Well, they have their reasons.

In Planned Parenthoods case, its probably, according to Hadley Heath Manning writingin Forbes, because theyd make less money.Planned Parenthoods stance on expanding access to birth control may be illogical in light of their mission statement, but it is perfectly logical when you consider the groups financial interests.Planned Parenthood brings in 1.7 billion dollars in revenue annually according to it's latest financial reportand contraception accounts for 27% of the services they provide.

Read more commentary:

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How Democrats can win the abortion war: Talk about Roe's restrictions as well as rights

Trump administration plan means fewer Americans will have access to family planning

If women are buying their pills at CVS, theres no insurance money rake-off for Planned Parenthood. (And if you want to be ultra-cynical, if fewer women are on the pill thatKaiser surveysays that one in five sexually active women ages 18-44 arent on any birth control then that means more abortion business for Planned Parenthood, which is, as Manning notes, Americas "number one abortion provider.")

Planned Parenthood is also a big donor to Democrats, who have worked to block over-the-counterbirth control pills. And Democrats have fought hard, partly because they and drug companies want birth control pills to be subject to health insurance reimbursement, though only the more privileged among Americans get that.

As Elizabeth Nolan Brown writes in Reason, Even as they ramped up efforts to portray Republicans as the harbingers of a Handmaid's Tale scenario and to portray themselves as hip to the needs of marginalized groups, Democrats sacrificed an opportunity to help women struggling to obtain birth control prevent unintended pregnancies. Instead, at the expense of undocumented immigrants, low-income women, victims of domestic violence, and others, they opted to help middle-class women save $10 a month and prop up insurance providers, pharmaceutical companies, and the Democratic fundraising machine in the process.

So Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is right that birth control pills should be available over the counter, but her ideais being blocked by a largely Democratic coalition thats basicallyworking to protect the interests of big businesses. As Jillian Kay Melchior writes:Womens health-care choices shouldnt be limited by the greed of special-interest groups or the political calculations of jaded congressmen.

Will an un-jaded congresswoman, in the person of Ocasio-Cortez, be able to shake up this coalition and help Republicans pass legislation to free birth control pills from excessive regulation? Or was she just tweeting? Stay tuned to find out.

Glenn Harlan Reynolds, a University of Tennessee law professor and the author of "The New School: How the Information Age Will Save American Education from Itself," is a member of USA TODAY's Board of Contributors.

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Democrats, not Republicans, block over-the-counter birth control

Immigration | Libertarian Party

Libertarians believe that people should be able to travel freely as long as they are peaceful. We welcome immigrants who come seeking a better life. The vast majority of immigrants are very peaceful and highly productive.

Indeed, the United States is a country of immigrants, of all backgrounds and walks of lifesome families have just been here for more generations than others. Newcomers bring great vitality to our society.

A trulyfree market requires the free movement of people, not justproductsand ideas.

Whether theyare from India or Mexico, whether they have advanced degrees or very little education, immigrants have one great thing in common: they bravely left their familiar surroundings in search of a better life. Many are fleeing extreme poverty and violence and are searching for afree and safe place to try to build their lives.We respect and admire their courage and are proud that they see the United States as a placeof freedom, stability, and prosperity.

Of course, if someone has a record of violence, credible plans for violence, or acts violently, then Libertarianssupport blocking their entry, deporting, and/or prosecuting and imprisoning them, depending on the offense.

Libertarians do not support classifying undocumented immigrants as criminals. Our current immigration system is an embarrassment. People who would like to follow the legal procedures are unable to because these procedures are so complex and expensive and lengthy. If Americanswant immigrants to enter through legal channels, we need to make those channels fair, reasonable, and accessible.

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Immigration | Libertarian Party

Manslaughter Case Has a Strange Twist: Tesla That Killed Couple Was on Autopilot

A court case is about to kick off in Los Angeles later this month, involving a fatal crash caused by a Tesla vehicle, which was on Autopilot.

A provocative manslaughter case is about to kick off in Los Angeles later this month, involving a fatal crash caused by a Tesla vehicle that had the company's controversial Autopilot feature turned on.

It's the first case of its kind, and one that could set a precedent for future crashes involving cars and driver-assistance software, Reuters reports.

We won't know the exact defense until the case gets under way, but the crux is that the man who was behind the wheel of the Tesla is facing manslaughter charges — but has pleaded not guilty, setting up potentially novel legal arguments about culpability in a deadly collision when, technically speaking, it wasn't a human driving the car.

"Who's at fault, man or machine?" asked Edward Walters, an adjunct professor at the Georgetown University, in an interview with Reuters. "The state will have a hard time proving the guilt of the human driver because some parts of the task are being handled by Tesla."

The upcoming trial is about a fatal collision that took place in 2019. The crash involved Kevin George Aziz Riad, who ran a red light in his Tesla Model S, and collided with a Honda Civic, killing a couple who were reportedly on their first date.

According to vehicle data, Riad did not apply the brakes but had a hand on the steering wheel. Perhaps most critically, though, the Tesla's Autopilot feature was turned on in the moments leading up to the crash.

Riad is facing manslaughter charges, with prosecutors arguing his actions were reckless.

Meanwhile, Riad's lawyers have argued that he shouldn't be charged with a crime, but have so far stopped short of publicly placing blame on Tesla's Autopilot software.

Tesla is not directly implicated in the upcoming trial and isn't facing charges in the case, according to Reuters.

A separate trial, however, involving the family of one of the deceased is already scheduled for next year — but this time, Tesla is the defendant.

"I can't say that the driver was not at fault, but the Tesla system, Autopilot, and Tesla spokespeople encourage drivers to be less attentive," the family's attorney Donald Slavik told Reuters.

"Tesla knows people are going to use Autopilot and use it in dangerous situations," he added.

Tesla is already under heavy scrutiny over its Autopilot and so-called Full Self-Driving software, despite conceding that the features "do not make the vehicle autonomous" and that drivers must remain attentive of the road at all times.

Critics argue that Tesla's marketing is misleading and that it's only leading to more accidents — not making the roads safer, as Tesla CEO Elon Musk has argued in the past.

In fact, a recent survey found that 42 percent of Tesla Autopilot said they feel "comfortable treating their vehicles as fully self-driving."

Regulators are certainly already paying attention. The news comes a week after Reuters revealed that the Department of Justice is investigating Tesla over Autopilot.

Last year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced an investigation of accidents in which Teslas have smashed into emergency response vehicles that were pulled over with sirens or flares.

This month's trial certainly stands the chance of setting a precedent. Was Riad fully at fault or was Tesla's Autopilot at least partially to blame as well?

The answer now lies in the hands of a jury.

READ MORE: Tesla crash trial in California hinges on question of 'man vs machine' [Reuters]

More on Autopilot: Survey: 42% of Tesla Autopilot Drivers Think Their Cars Can Drive Themselves

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Manslaughter Case Has a Strange Twist: Tesla That Killed Couple Was on Autopilot

This Deepfake AI Singing Dolly Parton’s "Jolene" Is Worryingly Good

Holly Herndon uses her AI twin Holly+ to sing a cover of Dolly Parton's

AI-lands in the Stream

Sorry, but not even Dolly Parton is sacred amid the encroachment of AI into art.

Holly Herndon, an avant garde pop musician, has released a cover of Dolly Parton's beloved and frequently covered hit single, "Jolene." Except it's not really Herndon singing, but her digital deepfake twin known as Holly+.

The music video features a 3D avatar of Holly+ frolicking in what looks like a decaying digital world.

And honestly, it's not bad — dare we say, almost kind of good? Herndon's rendition croons with a big, round sound, soaked in reverb and backed by a bouncy, acoustic riff and a chorus of plaintive wailing. And she has a nice voice. Or, well, Holly+ does. Maybe predictably indie-folk, but it's certainly an effective demonstration of AI with a hint of creative flair, or at least effective curation.

Checking the Boxes

But the performance is also a little unsettling. For one, the giant inhales between verses are too long to be real and are almost cajolingly dramatic. The vocals themselves are strangely even and, despite the somber tone affected by the AI, lack Parton's iconic vulnerability.

Overall, it feels like the AI is simply checking the boxes of what makes a good, swooning cover after listening to Jeff Buckley's "Hallelujah" a million times — which, to be fair, is a pretty good starting point.

Still, it'd be remiss to downplay what Herndon has managed to pull off here, and the criticisms mostly reflect the AI's limited capabilities more than her chops as a musician. The AI's seams are likely intentional, if her previous work is anything to go off of.

Either way, if you didn't know you were listening to an AI from the get-go, you'd probably be fooled. And that alone is striking.

The Digital Self

Despite AI's usually ominous implications for art, Herndon views her experiment as a "way for artists to take control of their digital selves," according to a statement on her website.

"Vocal deepfakes are here to stay," Herndon was quoted saying. "A balance needs to be found between protecting artists, and encouraging people to experiment with a new and exciting technology."

Whether Herndon's views are fatalistic or prudently pragmatic remains to be seen. But even if her intentions are meant to be good for artists, it's still worrying that an AI could pull off such a convincing performance.

More on AI music: AI That Generates Music from Prompts Should Probably Scare Musicians

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This Deepfake AI Singing Dolly Parton's "Jolene" Is Worryingly Good

Greta Thunberg Says UN Climate Conference Is a Scam and She’s Not Attending

The UN's upcoming COP27 climate conference in Egypt is basically a

COP Out

Ever since she lambasted world leaders at a UN conference in 2018 when she was only 15 years old, Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg has had the ear of the international community.

Now, Thunberg says she's skipping out on next week's COP27 UN climate summit in Egypt. Why? Because it's rife with "greenwashing."

"I'm not going to COP27 for many reasons, but the space for civil society this year is extremely limited," Thunberg said at a press event for her book, "The Climate Book," as quoted by The Guardian. "The COPs are mainly used as an opportunity for leaders and people in power to get attention, using many different kinds of greenwashing."

Ultimately, in Thunberg's view, the COP conferences "are not really meant to change the whole system" and instead only promote incremental change. Bluntly put, they're feel-good events that don't accomplish much, so she's bowing out.

Wasted Breath

It's not an unfair assessment. For all the pledges made to drastically cut back emissions and achieve net carbon zero by 2050, very few nations have followed through in the short term. And in Europe, the energy crisis in the wake of the war in Ukraine has further sidelined those climate commitments.

So we can't blame her for not going. But it's a bit disheartening that even a tenacious young spokesperson like Thunberg has given up on convincing world leaders at the biggest climate summit in the world.

Maybe it's indicative of the frustrations of her generation at large. When Thunberg was asked what she thought about the recent wave of Just Stop Oil protests that included activists throwing soup on a Van Gogh painting, she said that she viewed what many detractors perceived as a dumb stunt to be symptomatic of the world's failure to effect meaningful environmental change.

"People are trying to find new methods because we realize that what we have been doing up until now has not done the trick," she replied, as quoted by Reuters. "It's only reasonable to expect these kinds of different actions."

Maybe the real question is: if even a UN climate conference isn't the place to get the message out and change hearts, where's the right place, and what's the right way? If the headlines are any indication, zoomers are struggling to figure that out.

More on Greta Thunberg: Greta Thunberg Thinks Germany Shutting Down Its Nuclear Plants Is a Bad Idea

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Greta Thunberg Says UN Climate Conference Is a Scam and She's Not Attending

NASA Sets Launch Date for Mission to $10 Quintillion Asteroid

After disappointing setbacks and delays, NASA has finally got its mission to an invaluable asteroid made of precious metals back on track.

Rock of Riches

After disappointing setbacks and a delay over the summer, NASA says it's finally reviving its mission to explore a tantalizing and giant space rock lurking deep in the Asteroid Belt.

Known as 16 Psyche, the NASA-targeted asteroid comprises a full one percent of the mass of the Asteroid Bet, and is speculated to be the core of an ancient planet. But Psyche's size isn't what intrigues scientists so much as its metal-rich composition, believed to be harboring a wealth of iron, nickel, and gold worth an estimated $10 quintillion — easily exceeding the worth of the Earth's entire economy. Although, to be clear, they're not interested in the metals' monetary value but rather its possibly planetary origins.

Back On Track

Initially slated to launch in August 2022, NASA's aptly named Psyche spacecraft became plagued with a persistent flight software issue that led the space agency to miss its launch window that closed on October 11.

But after surviving an independent review determining whether the mission should be scrapped or not, NASA has formally announced that its spacecraft's journey to Psyche will be going ahead, planned to launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket as early as October 10, 2023.

"I'm extremely proud of the Psyche team," said Laurie Leshin, director of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in a statement. "During this review, they have demonstrated significant progress already made toward the future launch date. I am confident in the plan moving forward and excited by the unique and important science this mission will return."

Although the new launch date is only a little over a year late, the expected arrival at the asteroid Psyche is set back by over three years — 2029 instead of 2026 — due to having to wait for another opportunity to slingshot off of Mars' gravity.

Peering Into a Planet

Once it arrives, the NASA spacecraft will orbit around the asteroid and probe it with an array of instruments, including a multispectral imager, gamma ray and neutron spectrometers, and a magnetometer, according to the agency.

In doing so, scientists hope to determine if the asteroid is indeed the core of a nascent planet known as a planetesimal. If it is, it could prove to be an invaluable opportunity to understand the interior of terrestrial planets like our own.

More on NASA: NASA Announces Plan to Fix Moon Rocket, and Maybe Launch It Eventually

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There’s Something Strange About How These Stars Are Moving, Scientists Say

Astronomers are puzzled by the strange behavior of a crooked cluster of stars, which appears to be following an alternative theory of gravity.

Astronomers are puzzled by the strange behavior of certain crooked clusters of stars, which appear to be violating our conventional understanding of gravity.

Massive clusters of stars usually are bound together in spirals at the center of galaxies. Some of these clusters fall under a category astrophysicists call open star clusters, which are created in a relatively short period of time as they ignite in a huge cloud of gas.

During this process, loose stars accumulate in a pair of "tidal tails," one of which is being pulled behind, while the other moves ahead.

"According to Newton’s laws of gravity, it’s a matter of chance in which of the tails a lost star ends up," Jan Pflamm-Altenburg of the University of Bonn in Germany, co-author of a new paper published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, in a statement. "So both tails should contain about the same number of stars."

But some of their recent observations seemingly defy conventional physics.

"However, in our work we were able to prove for the first time that this is not true," Pflamm-Altenburg added. "In the clusters we studied, the front tail always contains significantly more stars nearby to the cluster than the rear tail."

In fact, their new findings are far more in line with a different theory called "Modified Newtonian Dynamics" (MOND).

"Put simply, according to MOND, stars can leave a cluster through two different doors," Pavel Kroupa, Pflamm-Altenburg's colleague at the University of Bonn and lead author, explained in the statement. "One leads to the rear tidal tail, the other to the front."

"However, the first is much narrower than the second — so it’s less likely that a star will leave the cluster through it," he added. "Newton’s theory of gravity, on the other hand, predicts that both doors should be the same width."

The researchers' simulations, taking MOND into consideration, could explain a lot. For one, they suggest that open star clusters survive a much shorter period of time than what is expected from Newton's laws of physics.

"This explains a mystery that has been known for a long time," Kroupa explained. "Namely, star clusters in nearby galaxies seem to be disappearing faster than they should."

But not everybody agrees that Newton's laws should be replaced with MOND, something that could shake the foundations of physics.

"It’s somewhat promising, but it does not provide completely definitive evidence for MOND," University of Saint Andrews research fellow Indranil Banik told New Scientist. "This asymmetry does make more sense in MOND, but in any individual cluster there could be other effects that are causing it — it’s a bit unlikely that would happen in all of them, though."

The researchers are now trying to hone in on an even more accurate picture by stepping up the accuracy of their simulations, which could either support their MOND theory — or conclude that Newton was, in fact, correct the first time around.

More on star clusters: Something Is Ripping Apart the Nearest Star Cluster to Earth

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There's Something Strange About How These Stars Are Moving, Scientists Say

Scientists Use Actual Lunar Soil Sample to Create Rocket Fuel

A team of Chinese researchers claim to have turned lunar regolith samples brought back by the country's Chang'e 5 mission into a source of fuel.

Fill 'Er Up

A team of Chinese researchers say they managed to convert actual lunar regolith samples into a source of rocket fuel and oxygen — a potential gamechanger for future space explorers hoping to make use of in-situ resources to fuel up for their return journey.

The researchers found that the lunar soil samples can act as a catalyst to convert carbon dioxide and water from astronauts' bodies and environment into methane and oxygen, as detailed in a paper published in the National Science Review.

"In situ resource utilization of lunar soil to achieve extraterrestrial fuel and oxygen production is vital for the human to carry out Moon exploitation missions," lead author Yujie Xiong said in a new statement about the work. "Considering that there are limited human resources at extraterrestrial sites, we proposed to employ the robotic system to perform the whole electrocatalytic CO2 conversion system setup."

That means we could have a much better shot at carrying out longer duration explorations of the lunar surface in the near future.

Set It, Forget It

According to the paper, which builds on previous research suggesting lunar soil can generate oxygen and fuel, this process can be completed using uncrewed systems, even in the absence of astronauts.

In an experiment, the team used samples from China's Chang'e-5 mission, which landed in Inner Mongolia back in December 2020 — the first lunar soil returned to Earth since 1976.

The Moon soil effectively acted as a catalyst, enabling the electrocatalytic conversion of carbon dioxide into methane and oxygen.

"No significant difference can be observed between the manned and unmanned systems, which further suggests the high possibility of imitating our proposed system in extraterrestrial sites and proves the feasibility of further optimizing catalyst recipes on the Moon," the researchers conclude in their paper.

Liquified

But there's one big hurdle to still overcome: liquifying carbon dioxide is anything but easy given the Moon's frosty atmosphere, as condensing the gas requires a significant amount of heat, as New Scientist reported earlier this year.

Still, it's a tantalizing prospect: an autonomous machine chugging away, pumping out oxygen and fuel for future visitors. But for now, it's not much more than a proof of concept.

READ MORE: Scientists investigate using lunar soils to sustainably supply oxygen and fuels on the moon [Science China Press]

More on lunar soil: Bad News! The Plants Grown in Moon Soil Turned Out Wretched

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Scientists Use Actual Lunar Soil Sample to Create Rocket Fuel

Twitter Working on Plan to Charge Users to Watch Videos

According to an internal email obtained by The Washington Post, Musk wants to have Twitter charge users to view videos posted by content creators.

Now that Tesla CEO Elon Musk has taken over Twitter, the billionaire has been frantically shuffling through ambitious plans to turn the ailing social media platform into a revenue-driving business.

Case in point, according to internal email obtained by The Washington Post, Musk is plotting for Twitter to charge users to view videos posted by content creators and take a cut of the proceeds — a highly controversial idea that's already been met with internal skepticism.

The team of Twitter engineers has "identified the risk as high" in the email, citing "risks related to copyrighted content, creator/user trust issues, and legal compliance."

In short, Musk is blazing ahead with his infamously ambitious timelines — a "move fast and break things" approach that could signify a tidal change for Twitter's historically sluggish approach to launching new features.

Musk has already made some big structural changes to Twitter, having fired high-up positions at the company and dissolved its board of directors.

The company will also likely be facing mass layoffs, according to The Washington Post.

The new feature detailed in the new email, which is being referred to as "Paywalled Video," allows creators to "enable the paywall once a video has been added to the tweet" and chose from a preset list of prices, ranging from $1 to $10.

"This will also give Twitter a revenue stream to reward content creators," Musk tweeted on Tuesday, adding that "creators need to make a living!"

But whether Twitter users will be willing to pay for stuff that was previously free remains anything but certain.

Musk has already announced that he is planning to charge $8 a month for Twitter users to stay verified, which has been met with derision.

The billionaire CEO is facing an uphill battle. Now that the company is private, he has to pay around $1 billion in annual interest payments, a result from his $44 buyout, according to the WaPo.

Compounding the trouble, Reuters reported last week that Twitter is bleeding some of its most active users.

Meanwhile, Musk's chaotic moves are likely to alienate advertisers, with the Interpublic Group, a massive inter-agency advertising group, recommending that its clients suspend all paid advertising for at least the week.

That doesn't bode well. It's not out of the question that a paywalled video feature may facilitate the monetization of pornographic content, which may end up scaring off advertisers even further — but Twitter's exact intentions for the feature are still unclear.

According to Reuters, around 13 percent of the site's content is currently marked not safe for work (NSFW).

It's part of Musk's attempt to shift revenue away from advertising on the platform. In a tweet last week, he promised advertisers that Twitter wouldn't become a "free-for-all hellscape."

But that hasn't stopped advertisers from already leaving in droves.

All in all, a paywalled video feature could mark a significant departure for Twitter, a platform still primarily known for short snippets of text.

For now, all we can do is watch.

READ MORE: Elon Musk’s Twitter is working on paid-video feature with ‘high’ risk [The Washington Post]

More on Twitter: Elon Musk Pleads With Stephen King to Pay for Blue Checkmark

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Twitter Working on Plan to Charge Users to Watch Videos

Scientists Found a Way to Control How High Mice Got on Cocaine

A team of neuroscientists at the University of Wisconsin claim to have found a way to control how high mice can get on cocaine.

A team of neuroscientists at the University of Wisconsin claim to have found a way to control how high mice can get on a given amount of cocaine.

And don't worry — while that may sound like a particularly frivolous plot concocted by a team of evil scientists, the goal of the research is well-meaning.

The team, led by University of Wisconsin neuroscientist Santiago Cuesta, was investigating how the gut microbiome can influence how mice and humans react to ingesting the drug.

The research, detailed in a new paper published this week in the journal Cell Host & Microbe, sheds light on a vicious feedback loop that could explain cases of substance abuse disorders — and possibly lay the groundwork for future therapeutic treatments.

In a number of experiments on mice, the researchers found that cocaine was linked to the growth of common gut bacteria, which feed on glycine, a chemical that facilitates basic brain functions.

The lower the levels of glycine in the brain, the more the mice reacted to the cocaine, exhibiting abnormal behaviors.

To test the theory, the scientists injected the mice with a genetically modified amino acid which cannot break down glycine. As a result, the behavior of mice returned to normal levels.

In other words, the amino acid could curb cocaine addiction-like behaviors — at least in animal models.

"The gut bacteria are consuming all of the glycine and the levels are decreasing systemically and in the brain," said Vanessa Sperandio, senior author, and microbiologist from the University of Wisconsin, in a statement. "It seems changing glycine overall is impacting the glutamatergic synapses that make the animals more prone to develop addiction."

It's an unorthodox approach to treating addiction, but could be intriguing — if it works in people, that is.

"Usually, for neuroscience behaviors, people are not thinking about controlling the microbiota, and microbiota studies usually don't measure behaviors, but here we show they’re connected," Cuesta added. "Our microbiome can actually modulate psychiatric or brain-related behaviors."

In short, their research could lead to new ways of treating various psychiatric disorders such as substance use by adjusting the gut microbiome and not making changes to the brain chemistry.

"I think the bridging of these communities is what's going to move the field forward, advancing beyond correlations towards causations for the different types of psychiatric disorders," Sperandio argued.

READ MORE: How gut bacteria influence the effects of cocaine in mice [Cell Press]

More on addiction: Study: Magic Mushrooms Helped 83% of People Cut Excessive Drinking

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Scientists Found a Way to Control How High Mice Got on Cocaine

Scientists Spot "Stripped, Pulsating Core" of Star Caused By Horrific Accident

In a

Core Dump

Scientists studying a group of stars made an astonishing but "serendipitous" discovery when they realized that Gamma Columbae, a fairly average celestial body, might actually be the "stripped pulsating core of a massive star," according to a study published this week in Nature Astronomy.

If true, that means Gamma Columbae is missing the envelope, or vast shroud of gas, that hides a star's nuclear fusion powered core.

What caused the stripping of this atmospheric envelope is not definitively known, but the scientists posit that Gamma Columbae running out of hydrogen could've caused its envelope to expand and swallow up a nearby star, likely its binary partner. But in the middle of that relatively common process, something appears to have horrifically gone wrong and ejected the envelope — and possibly even led to the two stars merging.

Naked Core

Before the disaster, the scientists believe Gamma Columbae could have been up to 12 times the mass of our Sun. Now, it's a comparatively meager 5 stellar masses.

Although a naked stellar core missing its envelope has been theorized to exist, it's never been observed in a star this size.

"Having a naked stellar core of such a mass is unique so far," said study co-author Norbert Pryzbilla, head of the Institute for Astro- and Particle Physics at the University of Innsbruck, in an interview with Vice.

Astronomers had an idea of what the cores of massive and low mass stars looked like, Pryzbilla continued, but there wasn't "much evidence" for cores of masses in between.

Star Power

It's an exceedingly rare find because the star is in a "a short-lived post-stripping structural re-adjustment phase" that will only last 10,000 years, according to the study.

That's "long for us humans but in astronomical timescales, very, very short," Przybilla told Vice. "It will always stay as a peculiar object."

The opportunity to study such a rarely exposed stellar core could provide scientists an invaluable look into the evolution of binary star systems. And whatever astronomers learn from the star, it's a fascinating glimpse at stellar destruction at a nearly incomprehensible scale.

More on stars: Black Hole Spotted Burping Up Material Years After Eating a Star

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Scientists Spot "Stripped, Pulsating Core" of Star Caused By Horrific Accident