Monthly Archives: February 2021

Collapse of Greenland ice sheet to raise sea level faster than expected – Haaretz

Posted: February 2, 2021 at 7:39 pm

The vast ice sheet on Greenland has become unstable and technology isnt storming to the rescue. The world is not on a trajectory to curb global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius were almost there already. Everybody is asleep. Its like the Titanic, wails sea level rise guru John Englander, an oceanographer and author who has made it his lifes mission to shake the world awake before its too late.

Too late for what? To secure coastlines all over the world ahead of the rising sea, which is pushing coastlines farther inland. To protect property values, to strategize and reorganize economic priorities, to move seaside nuclear reactors, you name it. Life as we know it.

Part of the reason for the global somnolescence is that scientific reports by nature err on the side of caution. Thus, the current sea level rise estimates for 2050 or 2100 (which distract from the fact that sea level rise will continue afterward) are typically conservative, which in this case means they understate the real rise. Its also considered rude to conclude that the world is careening toward hell in a handbasket.

But the world is not on a minimalist trajectory. It is not heading for a mere 40-centimeter (16-inch) increase by 2100 based on the optimistic scenario, which is losing credence. The official (UN-IPCC) high end of forecasts is around 90 centimeters by 2100 but even that is too optimistic in Englanders view, as he warned in a joint paper with other academics in December: Twenty-first century sea level rise could exceed IPCC projections for strong-warming futures.

Sea level rise by 2100 could be 2 meters. It could be 3, or 4 meters, he says. The only thing we know is that we dont know: the situation is fluid, you should excuse the expression. And we know that a lot of the water will come from Greenland.

To warn the general population, however, Englander feels sciences kid gloves are inappropriate at this point. Mounting evidence indicates climate change is accelerating and creating vicious circles that quicken it even more. The destabilization of Greenlands ice sheet is a case in point.

It is hard to reconcile reports of its accelerated melting and destabilization with estimates that it will, nonetheless, take maybe five to six centuries for all Greenlands ice to melt. Englander explains this seeming incongruity.

Ive been there several times, leading expeditions, he tells Haaretz. Its hard to comprehend how vast Greenland is. Its 2,500 kilometers north to south and about 1,000 kilometers east to west, literally from east of the Mississippi in the U.S., and from Maine to Florida i.e., nearly 2.2 million square kilometers.

In Middle Eastern terms, Greenland is about the size of Saudi Arabia. (Israel is about 22,000 square kilometers in area about twice the size of B-15, the biggest-ever iceberg caught on camera, which calved off the Ross Ice Shelf. )

Greenland is covered by a layer of ice 1 to 3 kilometers thick; if it all melts, it will raise global sea levels by over 7 meters. No one thinks that can happen quickly. It will take centuries, at least. The question is what will happen by 2050 and 2100, Englander drives home the point.

Asked if the Greenlandic ice sheets recently reported destabilization could change his vague expectation that the melt should take centuries, Englander offers the only answer he can: maybe. Which is all the more reason to wake up.

Sea level rise cannot be stopped

Even if carbon dioxide emissions were to screen to a halt today, even if cows were to start farting flowers instead of methane, even if every car were to suddenly morph into a tree, further sea level rise is inevitable. Like the Titanic, its direction cannot be diverted anymore, though its momentum might be influenced.

It is time to glance again at John Englanders famous graph of historic correlations between atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, global mean temperatures, and sea level over the last 400,000 years. The graph shows exactly what the problem is:

Atmospheric carbon dioxide has risen to levels last seen millions of years ago, approximately speaking (neither Donald Trump nor the coronavirus changed the trajectory in any meaningful sense). Atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations and temperature are correlated: if the one rises, so does the other. The higher the CO2, the higher the global mean temperature at a lag. Again: at a lag. Temperature has yet to proportionately react to the increase in carbon dioxide levels.

Yes, after CO2 rises, temperature will too but how long the reaction will take depends on a practically infinite array of parameters, so it cannot be predicted with any meaningful accuracy. All we can say is it will happen, and the fact that the globe has experienced year after year of record heat is just the start. Oceans, being vast and dense and saline, take longer to react than the air or shallow lakes, but as the air warms, so does their surface and then their depths. The Arctic has been among the worst affected there are days parts of it are hotter than in Tel Aviv.

Apropos of which, forecasting the future of Israels coast is tricky.

The coastline has moved kilometers inland over the last 50 years, says Dr. (emeritus) John K. Hall of the Geological Survey of Israel, adding that this conundrum tends to be met with massive denial. The beaches are eroding, the cliffs are coming down, he adds. At sea rise levels of 20 to 30 centimeters, it is difficult to draw lines with any accuracy, to say which neighborhoods will be affected and which spared but the key issue is the likelihood of increasingly violent storms smashing into the beaches and cliffs. If sea levels come up, storms will beat the hell out of the coast, Hall predicts.

Anyway, there is a growing unease in global scientific circles about simultaneously warning and reassuring the public. More and more scientists are warning that sea level will rise faster than previously thought. Which means what?

Forecast: Weasels?

The Greenland ice sheet alone locks up 7 meters of sea level rise, which is bad enough, but Antarctica locks up 65 meters more, Englander explains. All the other glaciers in the world add just 1 more meter. Looking at glaciers from Mount Kilimanjaro [in Kenya] to the Alps, its pocket change he says.

Ergo: the Arctic island of Greenland and southern continent of Antarctica contain about 98 percent of the ice on land, by volume. Yet modelers have been ignoring Antarcticas contribution.

This is why? For one thing, because the dynamics and precise timing of Antarcticas melting ice remain profoundly unclear. As we said, scientists tend to err on the side of caution, lest they be perceived as a pack of yowling Cassandras scorned by policymakers. If you stand on a soapbox shrieking The end is nigh, precious few will listen even as avenging angels begin to arrive.

But the result is that projections of half a meter to just-under-a-meter of sea level rise by the centurys end dont factor in Antarctica, nor do they factor in Greenlands destabilization, Englander explains.

That is bound to end about as well as the Euripides play performed in 408 B.C.E., where the actor Hegelochus meant to say, After the storm I see again a calm sea, but wound up saying, After the storm I see again a weasel. Well, 2,500 years belatedly, the unfortunate thespian may have had a point. Those are not calm seas on our horizon.

The Greenlandic irony

What does Greenland has destabilized even mean? That parts of the ice sheet and major glaciers are already exhibiting sudden break up and collapse. In 2012, the documentary Chasing Ice captured one huge collapse using time-lapse cameras. Meanwhile, Greenland is already the chief contributor to sea level rise today, and it has started to dawn on coastal residents and insurance companies and the like that something will have to be done.

Part of Englanders book due out on April 6, Moving to Higher Ground (The Science Bookshelf), discusses exactly these conundrums.

Why is it only an issue now? The science of climate change has been around for decades. Why is anybody still buying a beachside home?

Englander blames a failure of imagination. At the height of the Ice Age, the average sea level was 120 meters lower than it is now. As the latest Ice Age waned and the ice sheets melted, sea levels gradually rose sometimes more abruptly than at other times. But none of that happened during recorded history.

Civilization as we could recognize it a gradual transition from hunting-gathering to a settled lifestyle seems to have begun around 12,000 years ago, some places earlier, some places later, well after the Last Glacial Maximum 22,000 years ago. People adore living by the coast and always have. Even Neanderthals are thought to have frolicked in the water and dived for shellfish. And the first villages on low-lying shoreland were indeed inundated. Israeli archaeologists, for example, have found the remains of Neolithic villages off todays coast, under the waves of the Mediterranean.

But for the last 7,000 or 8,000 years, sea levels have been stable, near present-day heights, and we are not capable of imagining the situation otherwise, Englander postulates.

Sea levels have been creeping up since the industrial revolution began and some cities have noticed think of Miami and its sunny-day floods. But that is why we simply cannot fathom what a meter or two even mean. Its beyond our scope of experience.

The last time sea level was above present-day levels was 122,000 years ago, when it was some 7 meters above present, he explains.

Even at the accelerated warming rate, most people dont think well get more than a meter out of sea level rise from Greenland this century. But a meter of global sea level rise would be devastating, flooding literally thousands of coastal communities, he points out the obvious.

Three of the biggest cities in the world are in acute danger: Shanghai, Mumbai and Jakarta, and so are hundreds more from Alexandria to Boston to London.

Ironically, Greenlands own coastlines are probably safe. This is because as its ice cover melts, the land is rising, as land does when an enormous weight is lifted. It is the obverse of the situation in Jakarta, where the land is sinking because of groundwater depletion, the heavy buildings and sea level rise. Never mind 2100: the city is expected to be 95 percent underwater by 2050.

The human instinct is to be optimistic, [to hope] technology will come to the rescue. But it doesnt make sense in this context, Englander sums up. The oceans have been warmed almost a degree already and were going to warm them 2 degrees more. The ice is going to melt.

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After decades of searching, son finds father through DNA test – WCVB Boston

Posted: at 7:37 pm

A Massachusetts man's decades-long search for his biological father is finally over, thanks to a DNA test.Jason Campbell grew up in Worcester under difficult circumstances and never knew his father. And his dad, Mark Goujon, never knew about him.That was until the past November when the two finally met for the very first time. It was a surprise reunion organized by Jason's wife, Jen. I come down the stairs and I could see two people up there and I see my dad and I just embrace him, gave him a hug. It felt so good to put your arms around your dad and to know he loves you and you love him," Campbell said. His quest to locate his biological father began when Campbell was a teenager but the breakthrough came when he took a DNA test. Goujon's brother had taken the same test and a miracle match more than 40 years in the making was complete. "It was great I mean it was a lot of emotions cause it was like -- Its been 42 years and a DNA test," said Campbell. I cant really explain it other than I just knew. I just knew, said Goujon.Since their first meeting, father and son have spent a lot of time catching up. Both said they're grateful to have found each other. Campbell also learned he has a half-brother and Goujon found out that he's a grandfather of two. "There's no words to explain that feeling to know that you had a dad out there and I wasnt just left behind. He just didnt know about me," said Campbell.

A Massachusetts man's decades-long search for his biological father is finally over, thanks to a DNA test.

Jason Campbell grew up in Worcester under difficult circumstances and never knew his father. And his dad, Mark Goujon, never knew about him.

That was until the past November when the two finally met for the very first time. It was a surprise reunion organized by Jason's wife, Jen.

I come down the stairs and I could see two people up there and I see my dad and I just embrace him, gave him a hug. It felt so good to put your arms around your dad and to know he loves you and you love him," Campbell said.

His quest to locate his biological father began when Campbell was a teenager but the breakthrough came when he took a DNA test.

Goujon's brother had taken the same test and a miracle match more than 40 years in the making was complete.

"It was great I mean it was a lot of emotions cause it was like -- Its been 42 years and a DNA test," said Campbell.

I cant really explain it other than I just knew. I just knew, said Goujon.

Since their first meeting, father and son have spent a lot of time catching up. Both said they're grateful to have found each other.

Campbell also learned he has a half-brother and Goujon found out that he's a grandfather of two.

"There's no words to explain that feeling to know that you had a dad out there and I wasnt just left behind. He just didnt know about me," said Campbell.

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DNA analysts and an Oklahoma County Jail informant testify in trial of accused killer of 94-year-old woman – KFOR Oklahoma City

Posted: at 7:37 pm

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) In the cold case murder trial of Robert Hashagen, investigators say its DNA evidence that finally proved he killed 94-year-old Evelyn Goodall. His attorneys argue the evidence is not even enough to prove it came from him.

Goodall was severely beaten by someone who broke into her home in 2013.

On Thursday, DNA analysts for the state said what could be his DNA was found on a toilet paper roll and in a yellow liquid that may have been urine at the crime scene.

They also allege that what could be his DNA was found on a bra in her home after she was previously attacked by someone in 2010.

I dont agree with the characterization that our DNA is in the home, said Hashagens attorney Clay Curtis. I think that is misstating the nature of the evidence.

The DNA analysts said Hashagen could not be ruled out as the person the DNA samples came from when comparing them to a DNA he provided investigators.

His attorneys argue the DNA found on on those items could have come from any number of people.

However, they also said that because Goodall and Hashagen knew each other, there are other legitimate reasons his DNA might be found around her home, including that he went to her home a couple days after she was attacked to help fix her screen door.

She borrowed our fan, Curtis said. We had been over there numerous times, we know her. Our family knows her.

But in addition to the DNA, the state also called an Oklahoma County Detention Center inmate to testify that Hashagen admitted to the murder during a conversation in jail.

The informant said that Hashagen bragged that some of the DNA evidence was botched. According to the inmate, Hashagen said he got high on meth and went to her home to steal something from her, and that when he went to tie her up, he tore the hide off her wrists. He recalled Hashagen say, Really, she murdered herself.

Defense attorneys suggested the inmate only testified in order to get a better deal with the state to help himself.

On Friday, the detective who picked up the case after it went cold is expected to conclude the states case.

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NYU Dentistry Awarded NIH Grant to Investigate Oral Cancer Pain Treatment Utilizing Co-delivery of DNA and RNA – NYU News

Posted: at 7:37 pm

NYU College of Dentistry clinician-scientists Seiichi Yamano and Brian Schmidt have set out to develop a new class of medicines using gene therapy to effectively and safely treat oral cancer pain. The National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has awarded the researchers a five-year, $2.9 million grant (R01DE029694) to test whether nonviral co-delivery of DNA and RNA will safely alleviate oral cancer pain.

Patients with oral cancer often suffer from severe pain. These patients may find it difficult to eat, drink, or even talk. The opioid medications used to treat oral cancer pain become less effective as patients develop drug tolerance, and cause numerous debilitating side effects.

Gene therapy offers an alternative to opioids for the treatment of cancer pain by reversing cancer-induced epigenetic changes. This approach selectively disrupts pain signaling without the side effects of opioids.

Complete elimination of cancer pain in a patient is exceptionally challenging because there are multiple and redundant pain-signaling mechanisms and pathways, explained Schmidt, who is a professor in the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at NYU College of Dentistry as well as the director of NYUs Bluestone Center for Clinical Research and the NYU Oral Cancer Center.

As a strategy to obstruct these multiple and varied pathways, Yamano and Schmidt created two nonviral vectors that can efficiently deliver DNA and RNA to cells (transfection) with no toxicity: a cell-permeable peptide combined with a cationic lipid for DNA, and a lipopolymer for RNA. They hypothesize that the combination of OPRM1 (mu opioid receptor gene) re-expression and F2RL1 (gene for protease-activated receptor-2, or PAR2) downregulation in the cancer could eliminate cancer pain.

In preliminary studies, Yamano and Schmidt demonstrated that nonviral transfection with OPRM1 DNA led to re-expression of the mu opioid receptor and partial reduction of pain in preclinical cancer models. PAR2was found to be elevated in certain neurons that supply the cancer with nerves and drive pain. Knockdown of the F2RL1 gene partially attenuated pain.

In their newly funded NIH grant, the researchers will test whether the combination of OPRM1 re-expression and F2RL1 downregulation in the cancer can go beyond reducing cancer pain to eliminate it.

Our approach is innovative because delivering DNA and RNA into a cancer with nonviral vectors for the management of pain has not been done before, said Yamano, an associate professor of prosthodontics at NYU College of Dentistry. If we are successful, the knowledge generated through this research could set the stage for a clinical trial and ultimately lead to the development of novel non-opioid medicines for cancer pain.

Yamano and Schmidt have collaborated on this work over the last decade; their efforts have been supported by three previous NIH-funded grants.

About NYU College of DentistryFounded in 1865, New York University College of Dentistry (NYU Dentistry) is the third oldest and the largest dental school in the US, educating nearly 10 percent of the nations dentists. NYU Dentistry has a significant global reach with a highly diverse student body. Visit http://dental.nyu.edu for more.

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Will Applied DNA Sciences (APDN) Report Negative Q1 Earnings? What You Should Know – Yahoo Finance

Posted: at 7:37 pm

Wall Street expects a year-over-year increase in earnings on higher revenues when Applied DNA Sciences (APDN) reports results for the quarter ended December 2020. While this widely-known consensus outlook is important in gauging the company's earnings picture, a powerful factor that could impact its near-term stock price is how the actual results compare to these estimates.

The stock might move higher if these key numbers top expectations in the upcoming earnings report. On the other hand, if they miss, the stock may move lower.

While management's discussion of business conditions on the earnings call will mostly determine the sustainability of the immediate price change and future earnings expectations, it's worth having a handicapping insight into the odds of a positive EPS surprise.

Zacks Consensus Estimate

This DNA-based security technology company is expected to post quarterly loss of $0.55 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of +50.9%.

Revenues are expected to be $1.40 million, up 122.2% from the year-ago quarter.

Estimate Revisions Trend

The consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has been revised 40.54% higher over the last 30 days to the current level. This is essentially a reflection of how the covering analysts have collectively reassessed their initial estimates over this period.

Investors should keep in mind that the direction of estimate revisions by each of the covering analysts may not always get reflected in the aggregate change.

Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Earnings Whisper

Estimate revisions ahead of a company's earnings release offer clues to the business conditions for the period whose results are coming out. Our proprietary surprise prediction model -- the Zacks Earnings ESP (Expected Surprise Prediction) -- has this insight at its core.

The Zacks Earnings ESP compares the Most Accurate Estimate to the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the quarter; the Most Accurate Estimate is a more recent version of the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. The idea here is that analysts revising their estimates right before an earnings release have the latest information, which could potentially be more accurate than what they and others contributing to the consensus had predicted earlier.

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Thus, a positive or negative Earnings ESP reading theoretically indicates the likely deviation of the actual earnings from the consensus estimate. However, the model's predictive power is significant for positive ESP readings only.

A positive Earnings ESP is a strong predictor of an earnings beat, particularly when combined with a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold). Our research shows that stocks with this combination produce a positive surprise nearly 70% of the time, and a solid Zacks Rank actually increases the predictive power of Earnings ESP.

Please note that a negative Earnings ESP reading is not indicative of an earnings miss. Our research shows that it is difficult to predict an earnings beat with any degree of confidence for stocks with negative Earnings ESP readings and/or Zacks Rank of 4 (Sell) or 5 (Strong Sell).

How Have the Numbers Shaped Up for Applied DNA Sciences?

For Applied DNA Sciences, the Most Accurate Estimate is the same as the Zacks Consensus Estimate, suggesting that there are no recent analyst views which differ from what have been considered to derive the consensus estimate. This has resulted in an Earnings ESP of 0%.

On the other hand, the stock currently carries a Zacks Rank of #3.

So, this combination makes it difficult to conclusively predict that Applied DNA Sciences will beat the consensus EPS estimate.

Does Earnings Surprise History Hold Any Clue?

While calculating estimates for a company's future earnings, analysts often consider to what extent it has been able to match past consensus estimates. So, it's worth taking a look at the surprise history for gauging its influence on the upcoming number.

For the last reported quarter, it was expected that Applied DNA Sciences would post a loss of $0.59 per share when it actually produced a loss of $0.82, delivering a surprise of -38.98%.

The company has not been able to beat consensus EPS estimates in any of the last four quarters.

Bottom Line

An earnings beat or miss may not be the sole basis for a stock moving higher or lower. Many stocks end up losing ground despite an earnings beat due to other factors that disappoint investors. Similarly, unforeseen catalysts help a number of stocks gain despite an earnings miss.

That said, betting on stocks that are expected to beat earnings expectations does increase the odds of success. This is why it's worth checking a company's Earnings ESP and Zacks Rank ahead of its quarterly release. Make sure to utilize our Earnings ESP Filter to uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they've reported.

Applied DNA Sciences doesn't appear a compelling earnings-beat candidate. However, investors should pay attention to other factors too for betting on this stock or staying away from it ahead of its earnings release.

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Originally published January 28, 2021, 12:32 PM

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When will we hear from Donald Trump again? – Yahoo News

Posted: at 7:36 pm

Millions of Americans 88.7 million of them, to be precise have been waking up for the last three weeks with an unfamiliar sense of emptiness. Reaching for their phones for their accustomed fix of outrage and bemusement, an erratically capitalized, eccentrically punctuated guide to the obsessions and grievances that would drive the days news cycle, they are forced to acknowledge that the once unthinkable has occurred: @RealDonaldTrump is really gone for good from Twitter.

And not just Twitter: The man whose office refers to him as 45th President Donald J. Trump has been almost entirely silent in public since Jan. 20, when he became what the rest of the country knows as former President Trump. No raucous rallies featuring two-minute hates against the media. No impromptu tarmac question-and-answer sessions with reporters. No rambling phone chats with Fox News hosts, the ones that sometimes went on so long the interviewers had to gently cut him off by reminding him of how busy he must be. Even the 2024 campaign that he was widely expected to launch on Jan. 21 hasnt gotten off the ground, except for the part that involves raising money.

The once ubiquitous Trump has been plotting out his political future, Politico wrote not long after he went into his Florida exile. But without a social media loudspeaker through which to tease his plans, few know what to expect next, including his own former aides.

One person who has heard from Trump is the QAnon congresswoman, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who bragged about receiving a GREAT call from Trump on Saturday, as she faced calls for her resignation or removal from Congress in light of conspiratorial and anti-Semitic rantings that keep coming to light. She didnt specify what was great about the call, and Trump hasnt commented publicly.

The obvious explanation for Trumps unaccustomed reticence is that he is busy preparing his defense for his upcoming impeachment trial in the Senate. Part of his preparations involved replacing one set of lawyers over the weekend with new ones, including a former Pennsylvania district attorney best known for declining to prosecute actor Bill Cosby over allegations he drugged and sexually assaulted a woman, allegations that resurfaced years later and resulted in Cosbys conviction.

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Consistent with his refusal to concede defeat, Trump reportedly wants to base his defense on his own bogus claims that he actually won reelection, rather than the procedural argument that his impeachment was mooted when he left office. That is a claim that 45 Republican senators have already signaled they accept, which would give him an automatic acquittal. The case that the election was stolen from him by Democrats was raised in dozens of lawsuits filed by his campaign and other Republican officials in November and December and has been uniformly rejected in the courts. He will almost certainly be acquitted anyway it takes 67 senators for a conviction but for Trumps lawyers to try to make the case could just as easily call attention to how flimsy it was in the first place.

But theres not much evidence of activity on that front. Where are the investigators fanning out across the country looking for the legendary hordes of deceased citizens who cast votes on Nov. 3? The subpoenas for the Dominion voting machines that in Trumps fantasies were rigged against him? (His bulldog defender, Rudy Giuliani, has been sued for defamation by Dominion for an eye-catching $1.3 billion, which might largely have foreclosed that line of inquiry.) Indeed, Trumps insistent claim that the election was stolen from him which his supporters took as signifying license to steal it back by invading the Capitol is central to the case against him. Raising it as a defense runs the paradoxical risk of making the accusation seem more credible.

Another possible explanation for Trumps silence is that he is, belatedly, discovering the virtues of discretion particularly now that he no longer enjoys the immunities and perks of office, such as having the Department of Justice to do his bidding. The writer E. Jean Carroll, who claims Trump raped her in a New York department store dressing room years ago, is suing him for defamation because in denying her accusation he called her a liar. Under Attorney General William Barr, the Department of Justice undertook to defend the suit, but the Biden administration might not be so compliant.

Or maybe its just that Trump hasnt yet found a form of expression as convenient and congenial as Twitter. It is no exaggeration that Trumps political career owes as much to Twitter as to The Apprentice. He understood, better than any other political figure, that he could use that platform to reach voters directly, without the expense of buying TV commercials or the inconvenience of media fact-checkers or the awkward constraints of grammar or logic. It was a venue for him to feed his insatiable desire for approval (Do you think Putin will be going to The Miss Universe Pageant in November in Moscow - if so, will he become my new best friend? he tweeted on June 18, 2013) and to boast about his television ratings, approval ratings, IQ, money, golf game (Just won The Club Championship at Trump International Golf Club in Palm Beach) and even his hair (retweeting a fan who wrote that his hair is magnificent. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.)

But above all, Twitters staccato, telegraphic style is the perfect medium for Trumps preferred form of discourse, the insult that gains force by sheer repetition, rather than, say, plausibility. Trump gleefully pursued grudges and resentments against enemies including Barack Obama, who was the subject of fully 1,686 of his posts nearly one out of 30 as recently as Dec. 30; Hillary Clinton (887, of which 366 refer to her as Crooked Hillary); Rosie ODonnell (66); and Fox News (348, which sequentially chart his delight at being interviewed on air, appreciation for their obsequious coverage and, more recently, outrage toward anchors he considered insufficiently fawning). The New York Times has compiled a comprehensive list of the hundreds of people, organizations, places and ideas Trump insulted on Twitter from when he declared his candidacy, in 2015, through Jan. 19, 2021, running alphabetically from ABC News (knowingly have a sick and biased AGENDA) through Kim Jong-un (I would NEVER call him short and fat), to media proprietor Mort Zuckerman (a dopey clown). You cant put out a press release under the letterhead of 45th President Trump just to insult Whoopi Goldberg (never had what it took), or maybe you can, but it lacks the emotional satisfaction of sending out a tweet and watching the likes and retweets pile up by the thousands.

In fact, as with so many things about Trump, an explanation rooted in the mans personality may be the simplest and closest to the truth, the implicit point of Mary Trumps biography of her estranged uncle, Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the Worlds Most Dangerous Man. Mary Trump, a mental health professional herself, describes the 45th president as unstable, cruel, vain, greedy and as numerous armchair psychologists have discerned narcissistic, a personality type that reacts with rage and/or hurt withdrawal to any form of rejection. And what could be a greater rejection than losing a presidential election?

Author Laurence Leamer, a Palm Beach resident who wrote the 2019 book Mar-a-Lago: Inside the Gates of Power at Donald Trumps Presidential Palace, told the Associated Press that Trumps interest since leaving Washington is having sycophants stroke his ego.

He goes through his days and people tell him hes fantastic, hes great, hes unbelievable thats what he wants, Leamer said.

Its worth remembering that during the campaign Trump promised that if he lost, youll never see me again. Not many people believed him, but maybe we should have taken him at his word.

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Originally published February 2, 2021, 11:14 AM

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Leaders of Florida town declare first week of February ‘Donald J. Trump week’ | TheHill – The Hill

Posted: at 7:36 pm

City leaders in Frostproof, a small town in Florida where officials boast former President TrumpDonald TrumpGraham shoots down request for Merrick Garland confirmation hearing Feb. 8 Trump lawyer to make First Amendment case at impeachment trial Biden faces crossroads on virus relief bill MORE has previously enjoyed an overwhelming amount of support from local voters, have declared the first week of February Donald J. Trump week.

According to a local NBC affiliate station, the citys leaders decided to greenlight the declaration, under which the first six days of Black History Month will fall under the new designation, at a meeting on Monday.

The town has a population of roughly 3,180 people, of which more than 90 percent belong to non-Hispanic white and Hispanic white ethnic groups, according to 2018 figuresprovided byData USA.

Polk County,where the city lies, went for Trump heavily in the 2016 presidential election, with 55.4 of the countys voters backing the Republican.

The proclamation claimed Trump won more than 75 percent of the town's vote.

Former President Donald J. Trump was overwhelmingly supported, and received 76.43% of the votes in Frostproof, Florida, Precinct 537, won the state of Florida twice and received more votes than any incumbent in United States History, the proclamation states, according to a copy obtained by the local outlet.

The brief measure also boasts of employmentnumbers under the previous administration and growth in manufacturing jobs.

Austin Gravley, a member of the Frostproof City Council, told the news station the proclamationis the"first of its kind and said he was proud to be a part of the effort.

According to the outlet, the move comes weeks after a GOP state representative, Anthony Sabatini, also drew attention for proposing to rename the U.S. Highway 27 in Florida to President Donald J. Trump Highway.

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The US media organisations loyal to Donald Trump could struggle to find the same oxygen under President Joe Biden – ABC News

Posted: at 7:36 pm

After the invasion of the US Capitol by a mob, the certification of the election and Joe Biden's inauguration, you'd think it would be hard to find media organisations still peddling fake claims about a stolen election.

Almost everyone at Fox News has distanced themselves from the claims, even if some hosts persisted right up until the Capitol riots.

But that isn't the case at two of America's fringe news organisations, One America News Network (OAN) and Newsmax.

Guests and hosts on those networks have still been pushing the election misinformation backed by former president Donald Trump.

Covering a Biden Presidency presents a huge challenge for these media outlets, which at times promoted an alternate reality.

But the 'MAGA'-aligned cable news upstarts a nod to Donald Trump's oft-used slogan "make America great again" will be keen to find a way to continue the spectacular rise in audience and influence they've seen in the past 12 months.

In March last year, there was an extraordinary question asked to then-president Trump in the White House Press Briefing room:

"Is it alarming that major media players, just to oppose you, are siding with foreign state propaganda, Islamic radicals, and Latin gangs and cartels, and they work right here out of the White House with direct access to you and your team?"

This question, asked by a journalist holding a legitimate press pass, brought a smile to the face of Mr Trump.

It was not, however, a surprise to him, given the source: Chanel Rion, White House correspondent for OAN.

At the time she was building a reputation for taking Trump's side on every issue, and providing the President with opportunities to sound off at his political enemies while he was meant to be answering questions.

At a subsequent briefing she asked Mr Trump this question:

"Two-thousand, four-hundred and five Americans have died from coronavirus in the last 60 days. Meanwhile, you have 2,369 children who are killed by their mothers through elective abortions each day. That's 16-and-a-half thousand children killed every week... Do you agree with states who are placing coronavirus victims above elective abortions?"

It was the first time many Americans had heard of OAN, which launched in 2013.

Despite its low budget, it had distinguished itself by amplifying every pro-Trump conspiracy theory it could find.

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Mr Trump assisted their reach by amplifying their stories on Twitter at any opportunity.

He also took a particular interest in Newsmax, which despite a history of being a reputable news network had become known as a landing ground for news personalities unable to find work at Fox.

By 2020, they were running shows by ex-Fox News host Bill O'Reilly and ex-ABC News America political editor Mark Halperin, who were both exiled due to sexual misconduct scandals.

They were also the home of Spicer & Co, hosted by the bumbling former Trump press secretary Sean Spicer.

As the 2020 election approached, Mr Trump began tweeting regularly that his followers should abandon Fox News for Newsmax and OAN, who up until this point had mainly found audiences on YouTube.

It wasn't particularly effective.

Fox News has an average primetime audience of 3.6 million Americans, meanwhile Newsmax was struggling to break 100,000 viewers (OAN has said it can't afford to sign up to get viewership data from TV ratings companies).

Though their content leaned further to the right than Fox News, they struggled to differentiate themselves enough to gain an audience.

While Fox News remained tethered in some sense to the reality that Joe Biden had defeated President Trump, OAN and Newsmax attached themselves to the conspiracy theory spread by Mr Trump and his attorney, Rudy Giuliani, that the election had been stolen by massive fraud.

Newsmax's top host, Greg Kelly, reached an audience of more than a million in his primetime slot, briefly out-rating Fox News.

OAN claimed to have seen a 40 per cent rise in viewership following the election.

It wasn't confined to traditional linear television though.

Their web content reached an even larger audience, posted on outlets like YouTube and Facebook and shared farther and wider than ever before.

Their reach became so significant that YouTube decided to censor some of their reports, arguing that they were spreading dangerous misinformation.

While the frenzy of post-election conspiracy theories seems to have cooled, bringing down their audience penetration with it, they successfully announced themselves as the home of unabashedly pro-Trump news content.

For years there has been speculation about whether a post-presidency Donald Trump may seek to gain a more permanent foothold in news media.

With his significant following across America, a Trump-branded TV network has been discussed, with the idea floated of a takeover or partnership between Mr Trump and either OAN or Newsmax.

Robert Herring Sr, the owner of OAN, denied the Trump family had been in talks with him about a partnership or acquisition.

Chris Ruddy, the owner of Newsmax, said that he has not closed the door on such a possibility.

But Mr Trump may be more interested in going it alone, reportedly suggesting that a Trump-branded subscription streaming service may be the best way of capitalising on his enormous national support.

Since leaving office, Mr Trump has been uncharacteristically quiet.

Despite his permanent ban from Twitter, he still has the option of calling friends at Fox, OAN or Newsmax to give his perspective on politics yet he has largely resisted flooding the airwaves just yet.

OAN and Newsmax may or may not be looking to do a deal with Mr Trump to give them exclusive access to his thoughts, feelings and supporters, but they are almost certainly hoping that he will break his silence soon.

They need something to talk about.

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The US media organisations loyal to Donald Trump could struggle to find the same oxygen under President Joe Biden - ABC News

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Tom Brady dodges question about getting pass for supporting Trump because he is white – USA TODAY

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SportsPulse: USA TODAY Sports' Nancy Armour asks Tom Brady if he thinks Black athletes have an equal amount of leeway when broaching political and controversial topics as white athletes do. USA TODAY

Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady evaded a question about whether he's gotten a pass from criticism forsporting a Donald Trump hat in his locker in 2015 because he is white.

In a Jan. 26segment on Fox Sports, analyst Shannon Sharpe was critical of Brady's brief support of Trump. The six-time Super Bowl champion later backpedaled on his support of Trump, dismissing any political-oriented questions during the former president's campaign trail and presidency over the last four years. But Sharpe said Brady was given a pass as a white athlete that a Black athlete like LeBron James wouldn't have gotten.

"Lets just say for sake of argument, LeBron James says my friend is Minister (Louis) Farrakhan," Sharpe said, referring to the controversial Nation of Islam leader."How would America react? Blacks have always had to be very, very quiet about who our friends are. ...LeBron James can never say, a prominent black athlete can never say, Minister Farrakhan is just my friend. Theyd try to cancel anybody with the just mere mention of Mister Farrakhans name. Because we like Tom Brady."

Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady playing against the Kansas City Chiefs in November.(Photo: Kim Klement, USA TODAY Sports)

Brady, in response to a question by USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on a Super Bowl news conference Monday, dodged a direct answer.

"I'm not sure how to respond to hypothetical like that," Brady said over Zoomduring Super Bowl media availability. "I hope everyone canwe're in this position like I am to, again, try to be the best I can be every day as an athlete, as a player, as a person in my community, for my team and so forth, so yeah, I'm not sure what else."

In Sharpe's initial comments on Fox Sports, he said: "I understood what Tom was for a very, very long time. He put that hat in there for a reason. 'Letting you know that I support my friend, Donald Trump, and no matter what he says, I support him.' ... If we like somebody, were more forgiving of their actions. Were more forgiving of their words, their deeds. If we dont like you, we will go to heaven and earth, well go back 15 years."

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Tom Brady dodges question about getting pass for supporting Trump because he is white - USA TODAY

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Dolly Parton Says That She Twice Turned Down Medal Of Freedom From Donald Trump, But Not For Political Reasons – Deadline

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Dolly Parton said in an interview on NBC News Today that she twice turned down receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Donald Trump, but the reasons were not political.

I couldnt accept it because my husband was ill, and then they asked me again about it, and I wouldnt travel because of the Covid, Parton said.

Barack Obama has said that he wishes he awarded Parton with the honor, and said that he would recommend that President Joe Biden offer the award to her. But Parton said that now if I take it I will feel like I am doing politics, so I am not sure.

Parton donated $1 million to fund coronavirus research at Vanderbilt University, and the money was used to help develop the Moderna vaccine. She also has donated to literacy programs via Dolly Partons Imagination Library.

Trump awarded the Medal of Freedom to figures such as Tiger Woods, Rush Limbaugh and. posthumously, to Elvis Presley. After the siege on the Capitol, one intended recipient, New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, declined to accept the honor.

The Medal of Freedom was established by President John F. Kennedy and is regarded as the highest civilian honor, along with the Congressional Gold Medal.

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Dolly Parton Says That She Twice Turned Down Medal Of Freedom From Donald Trump, But Not For Political Reasons - Deadline

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