Today's News: March 30, 2018

World News

CHEET-ING DEATH: Incredible moment tourist is left frozen in fear as cheetah leaps inside his safari jeep
THE SUN – AN American tourist was paralysed with fear when a fully grown cheetah jumped into his jeep while on safari in Tanzania.
Terrifying footage shows Britton Hayes sitting perfectly still with a look of silent terror on his face as the beast perches on the seat behind him.
Hayes, who can be seen in the video, said that the group was watching three cheetahs when one of the big cats spotted the vehicle and hopped onto the bonnet.
They were busy watching the animal as a second one decided to hop into the back, News.com.au reported.

Trump: US to Leave Syria ‘Very Soon’ to Let Others Take Care of It
Sputnik – United States President Donald Trump announced on Thursday that the US would be withdrawing forces from Syria “very soon” and “let the other people take care of it” instead.
“We’ll be coming out of Syria, like, very soon. Let the other people take care of it,” Trump said during a speech in Ohio.
There are around 2,000 US troops in Syria, the Pentagon has said.

US May Take Additional Actions in Response to Russia’s Ouster of US Diplomats
Sputnik – US State Department announced Thursday that the US may be taking additional actions in response to Russia ordering the expulsion of 60 US diplomats by April 5.
The State Department noted that there was “no justification” for Russia’s response and that it shouldn’t act “like a victim.”

POPE DECLARES NO HELL?
Drudge – In another interview with his longtime atheist friend, Eugenio Scalfari, Pope Francis claims that Hell does not exist and that condemned souls just “disappear.” This is a denial of the 2,000-year-old teaching of the Catholic Church about the reality of Hell and the eternal existence of the soul.
The interview between Scalfari and the Pope was published March 28, 2018 in La Repubblica. The relevant section on Hell was translated by the highly respected web log, Rorate Caeli.
The interview is headlined, “The Pope: It is an honor to be called revolutionary.” (Il Papa: “È un onore essere chiamato rivoluzionario.”)
Scalfari says to the Pope, “Your Holiness, in our previous meeting you told me that our species will disappear in a certain moment and that God, still out of his creative force, will create new species. You have never spoken to me about the souls who died in sin and will go to hell to suffer it for eternity. You have however spoken to me of good souls, admitted to the contemplation of God. But what about bad souls? Where are they punished?”
Pope Francis says, “They are not punished, those who repent obtain the forgiveness of God and enter the rank of souls who contemplate him, but those who do not repent and cannot therefore be forgiven disappear. There is no hell, there is the disappearance of sinful souls.”

U.S. News, Politics & Government

Noor Salman, widow of Pulse nightclub gunman, found not guilty
Fox News – Noor Salman, the widow of the gunman who killed 49 people at an Orlando nightclub in 2016, was found not guilty of obstruction and aiding and abetting by attempting to provide material support to a terrorist organization.
Salman had faced up to life in prison if she was convicted. The charges she was acquitted of included lying to the FBI and aiding her husband in the attack.
The decision came on the third day of deliberations, after the jury convened for a total of 12 hours.

Sheriffs Call on Congress to Build Trump Border Wall, Take Action on Illegal Immigration
Fox News – 380 sheriffs from 40 states are calling on Congress to take action on building President Trump’s proposed border wall and securing America’s southern border.
“Without border security and immigration reform, more Americans will continue to be victims of crime. Now is the time to act,” said a letter signed by the sheriffs.

Judge Napolitano: Inspector General Michael Horowitz Will Find ‘Treasure Trove’ of FBI Abuses
Fox News – Judge Andrew Napolitano said Thursday that Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz will find a “treasure trove” of abuses by the DOJ and the FBI.
Horowitz announced Wednesday that he will review the potential abuses within both departments following requests from Congress and Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

Larry King: Second Amendment created ‘to ward off slave uprisings’
RT – Larry King said that the Second Amendment, which guarantees the right to bear arms, was created by southern US senators to repel slave uprisings. He added that it no longer serves a purpose in the 21st century.

Trump : ‘Your Second Amendment will always be your Second Amendment’
Daily Mail – President Donald Trump promised his supporters today that their gun rights are safe, so long as he’s appointing judges to the bench.
In an Ohio appearance that was billed as a speech on infrastructure, Trump took another swat at a retired Supreme Court justice who pressed for the repeal of the Second Amendment this week.
‘We’re gonna protect our Second Amendment,’ Trump said Thursday. ‘That’s not gotta happen.’
An audience member said as Trump began his guns spiel that repeal of the constitutional protection would be ‘tyranny,’ to which the president laughed and replied, ‘Could be right about that.’
‘But your Second Amendment will always be your Second Amendment,’ the Republican president pledged. ‘We’re not doing anything to that. Not doing anything.’

Arnold Schwarzenegger reportedly undergoes emergency heart surgery
Fox News – Arnold Schwarzenegger reportedly underwent emergency open-heart surgery on Thursday due to complications from a related experimental procedure.
According to TMZ, the 70-year-old star went to the hospital for an experimental procedure to replace a catheter valve. Allegedly, he developed complications during the somewhat experimental replacement and doctors quickly decided to perform open-heart surgery. Fortunately, the surgeons were prepared for this eventuality and the outlet reports that he’s in stable condition.
In 1997, he reportedly underwent a different heart surgery to replace an aortic valve. At the time, he said the condition was congenital and had nothing to do with possible steroid use.

36-Year-Old Accountant Called In As Emergency NHL Goalie — And He Crushed It
NPR – Scott Foster is a 36-year-old accountant who lives in Oak Park, Ill. More than a decade ago, he was goalie on Western Michigan’s hockey team. These days he plays in a rec league at a rink called Johnny’s Icehouse.
That rink is just a few blocks east of the arena where the Chicago Blackhawks play — and where, on Thursday night, Foster became a legend.
Just before faceoff against the Winnipeg Jets, the Blackhawks tweeted that they had signed Foster to an amateur tryout contract to be the team’s emergency backup goaltender: EBUG, for short. The team pointed to his .875 save percentage at Western Michigan University and his earlier career for the Petrolia Jets of the Western Ontario Hockey League.

Economy & Business

Tesla issues its largest recall ever voluntarily over faulty Model S steering
The Verge – Tesla said Thursday it was recalling a huge number of its Model S sedans around the world over a power steering issue. It told customers in an email that it was a proactive move and none of the company’s other vehicles were affected.
The automaker said 123,000 Model S vehicles built before April 2016 were affected. No injuries or crashes have been reported in connection with the problem. Before today, its largest Model S recall was when 90,000 of the vehicles were affected in 2015 by a faulty seat belt. And last year, it recalled 53,000 Model S and Model Xs over a parking brake fault.
In the email, Tesla said it had, “observed excessive corrosion in the power steering bolts,” but that the problem was most prevalent in colder climates where road salt is used.

UNDER ARMOUR data breach affects 150 million…
NBC – Shares of Under Armour dropped 3.8 percent, before paring losses, after the active-wear company informed users of its online fitness and nutrition website their data had been compromised.

Under Armour announced on Thursday that the breach affected an estimated 150 million users of its food and nutrition application, MyFitnessPal.
The investigation indicates that affected information may include usernames, email addresses, and hashed passwords.

Trump Attacks Amazon, Saying It Does Not Pay Enough Taxes
Tampa Bay Times – President Donald Trump escalated his attack on Amazon on Thursday, saying the online behemoth does not pay enough taxes — and strongly suggesting that he may try to rein in the e-commerce business.
The commentary was made in a Twitter post in which Trump accused Amazon of putting thousands of local retailers out of business and of using the U.S. Postal Service as “their Delivery Boy.”
“I have stated my concerns with Amazon long before the Election,” Trump wrote. “Unlike others, they pay little or no taxes to state & local governments, use our Postal Service as their Delivery Boy (causing tremendous loss to the U.S.), and are putting many thousands of retailers out of business!”

Conservatives want to #BoycottNetflix after Obama adviser joins company
RT – Netflix’s appointment of Obama-era UN Ambassador Susan Rice to its board has sparked a boycott among users, who are cancelling their subscriptions.
Rice served as Obama’s national security adviser for four years and was accused of downplaying the 2012 attack on the US embassy in Benghazi, Libya, when she framed it as a spontaneous incident that occurred as a result of protests against an anti-Muslim film, rather than a premeditated attack.
She was also the official who “unmasked” the identities of several aides to President-elect Donald Trump before he took office, though she denied doing so for political reasons.
NRA spokesperson Dana Loesch was quick to denounce the appointment, saying Netflix was “the perfect place” for someone who blamed a terror attack on a film. Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton also chimed in, accusing the company of supporting “Obama corruption.”

Energy & Environment

EPA Prepares to Roll Back Rules Requiring Cars to Be Cleaner and More Efficient
NYT – The Trump administration is expected to launch an effort in coming days to weaken greenhouse gas emissions and fuel economy standards for automobiles, handing a victory to car manufacturers and giving them ammunition to potentially roll back industry standards worldwide.
The move — which undercuts one of President Barack Obama’s signature efforts to fight climate change — would also propel the Trump administration toward a courtroom clash with California, which has vowed to stick with the stricter rules even if Washington rolls back federal standards. That fight could end up creating one set of rules for cars sold in California and the 12 states that follow its lead, and weaker rules for the rest of the states, in effect splitting the nation into two markets.
Scott Pruitt, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, is expected to frame the initiative as eliminating a regulatory burden on automakers that will result in more affordable trucks, vans and sport utility vehicles for buyers, according to people familiar with the plan.
An E.P.A. spokeswoman confirmed that Mr. Pruitt had sent a draft of the 16-page plan to the White House for approval.

Nearly 300,000 VW diesels are sitting in lots across the U.S.
Fox News – Stunning aerial photos have captured the scale of Volkswagen’s diesel buyback program.
The images show a fenced-in lot at Southern California Logistics Airport in Victorville filled with thousands of cars stuck in a sort of automotive limbo.
The dirt patch in the Mojave desert is one of 37 facilities across the country that are being used by the automaker to hold nearly 300,000 cars that need to be updated to meet emissions standards before they can be resold, according to Reuters.

2,400 animals dead, 100s of residents evacuated after Colombia oil spill (VIDEOS, PHOTOS)
RT – An estimated 2,400 animals have been killed while hundreds of residents were evacuated following a major oil spill in rural Colombia. The government is preparing sanctions against the oil well operator Ecopetrol for negligence.
Ecopetrol’s Lisama 158 well began leaking on March 3 but has yet to be fully contained. The situation is so bad that a specialist 60-ton “Snubbing Unit” was sent from Houston in the US to help engineers to permanently seal the well. The Snubbing Unit team was specifically hired to determine the exact cause of the leak, according to Edgar Mora, head of the department for development and production at Ecopetrol.

Science & Technology

Microsoft Warns Customers: Watch What You Say When Using Our Products — or Else
The Daily Sheeple – We can now add a new Microsoft policy of punishing account users who use “offensive language” while logged into one of their products or services to the growing list of draconian measures employed by tech companies to police online content.
In a release summarizing the new policy, which will go into effect May 1, Microsoft stated:
“In the Code of Conduct section, we’ve clarified that use of offensive language and fraudulent activity is prohibited.”
Microsoft stated that they may temporarily suspend or boot offending users permanently from their products. They also reserve the right to search through user content.
The company’s code of conduct was written to crack down on spam, the transmission of malware, child exploitation, and illegal activity. So far, Microsoft has not been explicit about what will constitute offensive language.

The countdown begins! Out-of-control Chinese space station’s fiery crash to Earth is due on Easter Sunday (but scientists still don’t know where it will land)
Daily Mail – Out-of-control Chinese space station, Tiangong-1, is predicted to reenter Earth’s atmosphere at 11:30am BST (6:33am ET) on Easter Sunday.
The space craft is carrying highly toxic chemicals and could crash into a number of highly populated areas, researchers claim.
Areas that could be hit include New York, Barcelona, Beijing, Chicago, Istanbul, Rome and Toronto.
When the station does eventually enter the atmosphere it could unleash a ‘series of fireballs’ that will be seen by observers.
Scientists still do not yet know where the satellite fragments are likely to land.

Some Frogs May Be Developing a Chytrid Fungus Resistance
Wired – The dreaded chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis horrifies even the most sober-minded scientists. It grows on a frog’s ultra-sensitive skin, disrupting the organ’s ability to absorb water and air. Considering the number of species the fungus impacts and its ability to rapidly drive them to extinction—as it’s done to hundreds of species so far—it’s considered “the worst infectious disease ever recorded among vertebrates.”
Which makes a new study out today in the journal Science both surprising and exhilarating: Populations of certain frog species in Panama are rebounding after the fungus invaded their territory over a decade ago. And that probably isn’t because the fungus got any less deadly—it’s that the frogs may be developing a resistance the pathogen, perhaps on an evolutionary level. That could change the way conservationists think about saving the rainforest’s vulnerable species.

Health

Vaccination MADNESS: Idaho Shakespeare Festival sings a song to brainwash children in grades K-6
NaturalHealth365 – Over 30,000 children in more than 100 schools are set to receive a heavy dose of vaccination propaganda in the coming months. An updated version of the classic work “80 Days Around the World” is set to be performed by the Idaho Shakespeare Festival (ISF). This musical, penned for Youth Company Performances, includes a very strangely tacked on five minutes of vaccine propaganda that ought to have every parent very concerned. (to say the least!)
The song section, in question, talks about vaccines you “have to” receive in order to travel and depicts administering vaccines, calling it “not a big deal” and saying that receiving them “doesn’t hurt.” The play also invokes Elon Musk as a “super-smart scientist friend who says vaccines are safe!”
As expected, there is never a mention of the possible (negative) vaccine side effects in the lyrics.

Why do knuckles crack? The answer might be in a mathematical equation
USA Today – The reason why knuckles pop or crack when stretched is largely a mystery, but a recent study claims it’s because of popping fluid bubbles.
When these bubbles collapse or even partially collapse in a joint, the result is a cracking sound, according to a series of mathematical equations in a study published Thursday in the peer-reviewed journal Scientific Reports.
Three equations in the study aim to explain pressure variations, size variations of the bubbles and how bubble size might impact sound.
Theories on the sound of knuckle cracking have been annoying scientists for years, who have theorized the crack comes from everything from tissue vibrations to the tightening of joint capsules to fluid bubbles, Live Science reports.
The idea that a bubble collapse causes the cracking sound was first introduced in 1971, according to the BBC. But Reuters reports the first scientific study on the topic of knuckle cracking published in 1947.