To those who have forgotten the sacrifices the 'Greatest Generation' made to defeat Hitler.

In his 1998 classic, 'The Greatest Generation', famed NBC journalist Tom Brokow examined the lives and experiences of some of the millions of American men and women who fought in the Second World War.

"At a time in their lives when their days and nights should have been filled with innocent adventure, love, and the lessons of the workaday world," Brokow observed, "they were fighting in the most primitive conditions possible across the bloodied landscape of France, Belgium, Italy, Austria, and the coral islands of the Pacific. They answered the call to save the world from the two most powerful and ruthless military machines ever assembled, instruments of conquest in the hands of fascist maniacs. They faced great odds and a late start, but they did not protest. They succeeded on every front. They won the war; they saved the world." Brokow had "come to understand what this generation of Americans meant to history. It is, I believe, the greatest generation any society has ever produced."

I was born in 1961, some two decades after the United States entered the Second World War. By this time, the defeat of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan had receded into the history books, replaced by a new and even more menacing foe, the Soviet Union. My father was a US Air Force officer whose career path up to 1977 looked like a Cold War-era tourist map, with service in Vietnam, Korea, and Turkey. I grew up with the mantra "better dead than red" drilled into my head, convinced that the service my father was providing to our nation was essential for the survival of the free world.

According to Libs of TikTok's Substack, 4-year-olds at Alert Bay, British Columbia, were given a homework assignment discussing where and when to masturbate.

The incident happened at the T'lisalagi'lakw School which is part of First Nation territory. School officials are said to be investigating the matter which was reportedly undertaken by one particular teacher and wasn't indicative of the overall curriculum.


The lesson is adapted from the "Body Smart: Right From the Start" sex-ed program which labels itself as being appropriate for kids ages 3 to 7.

A federal appeals court on Wednesday reinstated a Republican-backed Texas law that prohibits large social media companies from banning users over their political viewpoints.

The decision hands a win to Republicans who have long criticized social media platforms such as Twitter for what they call anti-conservative bias — disapproval that was amplified when President Donald Trump was banned from Twitter for violating the platform's rules on inciting violence during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.

The order did not evaluate the law on its constitutionality but instead allows the law to go back into effect while the case proceeds in district court, according to a statement from one of the plaintiff groups. The ruling came from a three-judge panel on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals — which is often considered the most conservative appeals court in the country — and was not accompanied by a written opinion explaining the decision at the time of publication.

"The government solution to a problem is usually as bad as the problem and very often makes the problem worse." — Milton Friedman

You've been flagged as a threat.

Before long, every household in America will be similarly flagged and assigned a threat score.

Without having ever knowingly committed a crime or been convicted of one, you and your fellow citizens have likely been assessed for behaviors the government might consider devious, dangerous or concerning; assigned a threat score based on your associations, activities and viewpoints; and catalogued in a government database according to how you should be approached by police and other government agencies based on your particular threat level.

If you're not unnerved over the ramifications of how such a program could be used and abused, keep reading.

It's just a matter of time before you find yourself wrongly accused, investigated and confronted by police based on a data-driven algorithm or risk assessment culled together by a computer program run by artificial intelligence.

A few months into the war in Ukraine, appetite for Russian wheat remains strong and there's little sign that exports will fall soon.

After briefly dropping at the start of the war as some traders were impacted by financing and logistics issues, the country's wheat shipments have remained in line with usual volumes. While it's becoming harder to trade grain from there, Russian companies and international merchants like Viterra continue to sell large amounts.

Many foreign firms have left Russia, but a global willingness to keep buying and selling its crops underscores the need for grain — especially with food prices hitting a record after the invasion slashed Ukraine's grain exports. To highlight the strong demand, data provider Logistic OS estimates Russia's April wheat sales tripled from a year earlier, albeit it up from a lower-than-usual amount due to export taxes at the time.

Billionaire Elon Musk appears to have sent somewhat of a warning to one-time friends and associates of the late pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Musk's remarks came as Epstein's confidante and fixer, Ghislaine Maxwell, who has been convicted of sex trafficking young women for his use, his friends, as well as his clients, got some good news from a judge as her case heads to sentencing.

U.S. District Judge Alison J. Nathan denied Ghislaine's request for a new trial but he did rule that three conspiracy counts can be charged as the same crime so she can only be sentenced for one of them. He noted in his ruling:

"This legal conclusion in no way calls into question the factual findings made by the jury. Rather, it underscores that the jury unanimously found — three times over — that the Defendant is guilty of conspiring with Epstein to entice, transport, and traffic underage girls for sexual abuse."

That said, even though the counts against Ghislaine have been reduced from five to three, that will only shave around 10 years off her sentence, according to one export, meaning she will still likely get over 40 years behind bars, which is essentially a life sentence for her.

However, as the MAGA Conservatives site notes, "one big thing remains":

There is "credible" information that Russian prisoners of war have been mistreated by Ukrainian forces since the beginning of the Russian invasion in February, a United Nations official said.

The evidence suggests that Russia is not the only country willing to break international norms during war, as the U.N. reports that Ukrainian forces have subjected Russians under their watch to treatment that violates international law, Matilda Bogner, head of the U.N. Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, said Tuesday.

"We have received credible information of torture, ill-treatment and incommunicado detention by Ukrainian Armed Forces against prisoners of war from Russian armed forces and affiliated armed groups. We continue to see the publication of videos, which show inhumane treatment, including prisoners from both sides being coerced to make statements, apologies and confessions, and other forms of humiliation."

The mistreatment from both sides is considered a violation of international humanitarian law, as the U.N. continues to investigate and document egregious violations since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24.

"Ukraine and Russia must promptly and effectively investigate all allegations of torture and ill-treatment of prisoners of war. They must also effectively control and instruct their forces to stop any further violations from occurring."

Americans are reeling from surging gas prices, food prices, and the price of rent - all of which have steadily risen since the start of the pandemic. US President Joe Biden has chosen to blame Russian President Vladimir Putin for the situation, dubbing it "Putin's price hike" - but people aren't buying it.

In addition to mile-high inflation, the US economy risks stagnating as consumers are unable to pay the higher costs of basically everything from gas to essential groceries. The logistical supply chain crisis and shortage of transportation workers - already serious issues exacerbated by pandemic-era lockdowns and movement restrictions - haven't helped matters.

Biden, who ran on the promise to "always choose to unite rather than divide," is trying to unite Americans in common cause against Russia, which he blames as the source of all of the problems ailing the United States - even ones that cropped up well before the conflict in Ukraine, and ahead of Biden's sanctions on the Russian economy.

Whether by sanctioning Moscow or delivering arms to Kiev, Western leaders have thrown their full support behind Ukraine in response to Russia's military operation there. However, as the conflict nears its third month, their citizens are increasingly focused on domestic issues.

How important is Ukraine for people around the world?

Regardless of whether their leaders have sided with Ukraine or not, citizens of 26 out of 27 countries surveyed by the Ipsos International Research Center put "inflation" as their number one concern in an April survey. These include countries that have taken a hard line against Russia (like the US, UK, Canada, and Poland), and those that haven't condemned Moscow (like India, South Africa, and Saudi Arabia).

Poverty, unemployment, crime, and corruption made up the four most worrying issues behind inflation, with "military conflict between nations" coming in at a distant 11th, between climate change and immigration control.

Citizens of Poland are most worried about the conflict over their eastern border, with 38% ranking it the most important issue facing the world. Only 20% of Americans rated it their number one issue, while just 13% of Hungarians, who also share a border with Ukraine, rated it top.

A brutal murder in the Polish capital, Warsaw, last weekend has sparked outrage in the country. A man was stabbed to death during a fight with several assailants, after reportedly confronting a group who were harassing a young woman. Many believe the perpetrators were migrants.

The incident happened early on Sunday morning on New World Street, an historic thoroughfare in the center of Warsaw. On Thursday, city police released images of one of the suspects taken from a CCTV camera and called on the public to help with the investigation.

The fatal brawl and its aftermath were apparently also filmed by a bystander. One purported video of the incident shows a man engaged in a fight with at least three different opponents. He is shown being tackled to the ground and kicked by the assailants as people watched on or simply passed by.