Nineteen U.S. senators are working to destroy free speech and silence dissent, defying the Constitution they swore to defend and uphold. Senators Harry Reid, Tim Kaine, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders and fifteen other Democrats took to the Senate floor last month to demonize their 'enemies list' of fossil fuel companies, think tanks and journalists for having the temerity to disagree with their views. They are also proposing a Congressional Resolution to formally disapprove of the actions of those who disagree with them.

Climate change happens to be the subject of their action, but the topic is irrelevant.

As President Harry Truman, himself a Democrat, said, "Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear."

That path of repressive measures has already been blazed. Seventeen attorneys general representing fifteen states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands formed "AGs United for Clean Power" and are threatening legal action and huge fines against anyone who declines to believe in a scientific theory which remains in dispute among respected scientists.

The Daily Signal reports, "This comes on top of U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch admitting that the Justice Department is discussing the possibility of pursing civil actions against climate change deniers, and that she has already referred it to the FBI to consider whether or not it meets the criteria for which federal law enforcement could take action."

A total of 11 people have now been killed in the devastating Louisiana floods, the governor said on Tuesday, and at least 40,000 homes were damaged.

Giving a stark assessment of the widespread disaster, Gov. John Bel Edwards spoke at a news conference alongside FEMA administrator Craig Fugate, saying 'well over' 20,000 people have been rescued since the flooding began on Friday.

His office later increased that figure to more than 30,000 - which included a 78-year-old woman who spent a night stranded in a tree.

Beginning on Friday, a torrent of about two feet of rain inundated the southern part of the state over a 48-hour period, and days later many homes and businesses were still underwater.

Perched on a plateau surrounded by mountains some 30 miles northeast of Mexico City, the city of Teotihuacán reached its peak between A.D. 200 and 450, when it was home to as many as 100,000 people. In A.D. 600, Teotihuacán was mysteriously abandoned, leaving future generations of scholars to puzzle for centuries over the secrets of the ancient city, its magnificent pyramids and its people. Now, in what may be a major breakthrough in the study of Teotihuacán, one archaeologist argues that the city was likely built around the worship of a single essential substance: water.

For centuries, archaeologists and other scholars have struggled to unlock the secrets of the ancient city of Teotihuacán. After reaching its peak just as the Roman Empire was in decline, the city was largely destroyed around A.D. 600 by fire and looting, perhaps as the result of a civil war or enemy invasion. By A.D. 750, the surviving members of Teotihuacán's population seem to have been absorbed into neighboring cultures, or to have abandoned the once-great city for their ancestral homelands.

Because they had no complex form of writing, relatively little is known about the founders and inhabitants of Teotihuacán. Archaeologists haven't discovered any carved slabs inscribed with characters, or any royal tombs. This lack of artifacts contrasts sharply with the wealth of evidence left behind by the Maya, who also built impressive pyramids in their cities in Central America.

It was the Aztecs who found the ruins of Teotihuacán in the 1300s and gave the city its name, which means "the place where men become gods" in Nahuatl. It was also the Aztecs who linked Teotihuacán's two largest pyramid—the Pyramid of the Sun and the Pyramid of the Moon—to their own story of creation. But according to Verónica Ortega, the Aztecs may have had the story wrong.

Decades-old daily precipitation records have been broken as parts of Moscow were submerged following heavy rain, with hundreds of people having to be rescued.

About 80mm of rain - more than 3 inches of water - fell on Moscow starting on Sunday night, with constant showers continuing all through Monday afternoon and evening.

Usually, it takes a whole month for that amount of rain to fall in the Russian capital. The rainfall has broken the all time single-day precipitation high mark dating back to 1970, as parts of Moscow suffered the worst rainfall since records began.

US President Barack Obama has signed a disaster declaration for flooded Louisiana, where at least five people have died and emergency workers have had to rescue over 20,000 people.

On Sunday, a major disaster was declared in the state's hardest-hit areas, including East Baton Rouge, Livingston, St. Helena and Tangipahoa. Obama's move freed up federal funding, which can now be used to provide additional emergency aid.

The death toll from the disaster climbed to five on Sunday when an emergency crew discovered the body of a man who had reportedly been swept away in the water on Friday, said Ronda Durbin, a spokeswoman for Tangipahoa Parish, as quoted by Reuters.

Rain brought by the Southwest Monsoon has been affecting parts of the Philippines since 08 August.

The country's National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) say that the rain has caused flooding in several regions, including Metropolitan Manila, Central Luzon and Calabarzon.

At least 5 deaths have been reported, with 3 of the fatalities in Manila. A further 6 people have been injured and 1 person is still missing.

NDRRMC report that the flooding has affected 80,467 people so far, and forced 50,592 people to evacuate their homes to stay in the 104 relief centres set up. Over 20 houses have been severely damaged and 12 houses completely destroyed.

The evacuations took place in Metropolitan Manila (18,000), Central Luzon (17,000, with over 11,000 in Bataan and 4,400 in Bulacan) and Calabarzon (almost 15,000).

U.S. President Barack Obama issued a disaster declaration on Sunday for flood-ravaged Louisiana, where at least five people have died and emergency crews have rescued more than 7,000 people stranded by historic flooding.

Governor John Bel Edwards said residents had been pulled from swamped cars, flooded homes and threatened hospitals across the southern part of the state. The already soaked region is expected to get more rain from a storm system stretching from the Gulf Coast to the Ohio Valley.

While the brunt of the storm that brought torrential rains was moving west toward Texas, Louisiana residents should remain cautious, the governor said at a news conference.

"Even with the sunshine out today intermittently, the waters are going to continue to rise in many areas, so this is no time to let the guard down," Edwards said, calling the flooding unprecedented.

Obama issued the disaster declaration after speaking with Edwards, the White House said in a statement.

The initial declaration makes federal aid available in the parishes of East Baton Rouge, Livingston, St. Helena and Tangipahoa. Edwards said in a statement that other parishes could be added to the list.

Emergency officials still were working on strategies to rescue an undetermined number of people trapped by the waters.

It's said that elephants never forget -- and one Indian mammoth swept by flood waters all the way to Bangladesh should have no trouble remembering this dramatic adventure.

The four-ton female was separated from its herd in floods in northeast India in late June. It is thought to have traveled around 620 miles, a journey that included crossing the mighty Brahmaputra River, on its way to northern Bangladesh. The animal first became separated from the herd in Assam, India. The weak and exhausted beast spent several weeks stranded in a flooded area and nearly drowned in a rescue attempt Thursday. But Friday -- World Elephant Day -- the pachyderm finally set its feet back on dry land.

At least three people have died and thousands have been rescued after "historic" flooding swamped the US state of Louisiana.

The National Guard and emergency teams have used helicopters to rescue people stranded in their homes or cars.

Searches are continuing for missing people, as the rain is expected to continue over the weekend.

The heavy rainfall started on Friday where some areas received more than 17ins (43cm) of rain.

The neighbouring states of Alabama and Mississippi are also experiencing severe weather.

Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards declared a state of emergency on Friday. On Saturday he said: "This is an ongoing event. We're still in response mode."

He and his family were relocated after water flooded their basement.

"This is a flood of epic proportions," JR Shelton, the mayor of Central City told The Advocate newspaper. "When we talk about floods now, we'll talk about the great flood of 2016. everything else pales in comparison."

Heavy rain expected to stay through Friday and into the weekend has prompted historic flooding in the Baton Rouge area, forcing people from their homes, snarling traffic and closing schools throughout southeast Louisiana.

In Central, flooding is forcing several hundred people to get things out of their homes in the face of rising water, according to Central Mayor Jr. Shelton.

"Virtually every road now in the city has some kind of water problem," he said, with many roads closed.

"We've never seen anything like this before."

Andrew Simar, 25, of Hooper Road in Central, was getting gas in his car around 11 a.m. after just barely getting out of his flooding home with his wife and three-year-old son.

The couple started packing Friday morning after his wife returned home from LSU because of cancelled classes and the news reported the possibility of flash flooding.