[YouTube] Mark Halparin lays out five clear points on what Trump is trying to achieve with Greenland, and why Europe is rattled but constrained. From NATO burden-sharing to leverage and market pressure, this is the strategy behind the headlines. One of the best, most logical analysis I've heard on the Greenland issue so far.
[USNN World News, h/t Epoch Times premium] President Donald Trump used his first year back in the White House to set the tone for his second presidency, changing the nation and the world in the process.
Through more than 225 executive orders, the president reorganized federal government policy and focus, while advancing his America First agenda.
On the world stage, Trump reset global trade policy, brokered peace deals, and used the U.S. military in several defining moments.
Here are 30 ways the Trump administration has transformed the country and beyond. At least read the 30 headers and delve into categories of interest.
Posted by: Bobby ||
01/21/2026 00:11 ||
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[IsraelTimes] Military officials say they feel a sense of failure for not managing to curb attacks by some 300 Jewish extremists against West Bank Palestinians.
Details at the link, and I hope Grom will put it into perspective for us.
[IsraelTimes] As phase 2 coalesces with Turkey and Qatar in key positions, disarming the Gaza terror group seems increasingly unlikely, but the PM is betting it’s smarter to go along than go against the US president
Very long analysis of where they are and how they got there, but at least the writer doesn’t pretend there were other options.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Groundbreaking study finds multiple mental health conditions have the same cause... transforming treatment options
A wide range of mental disorders share common genetic roots, scientists have found, paving the way for simpler and cheaper treatments.
Currently, mental illnesses like bipolar disorder, depression and anxiety are often treated as completely separate conditions, requiring multiple medications that may target different mechanisms and lead to their own side effects.
However, an international team of researchers discovered that many mental health disorders may be genetically connected. "Mama was a Democrat too"
By mapping the entire human genome, which provides a complete blueprint of human DNA, they identified 101 specific regions on human chromosomes where genetic variations contribute to the risk of suffering from multiple psychiatric conditions at once.
Based on this shared genetic architecture, scientists divided the disorders into five distinct groups, including internalizing disorders, which encompass depression, anxiety, and PTSD, and neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism and ADHD.
One key region on chromosome 11 was connected to eight different conditions, including schizophrenia and depression.
Currently, many patients end up taking multiple medications because the first, second or third drug did not work or caused intolerable side effects. Doctors add or switch medications in an attempt to find a combination that manages symptoms. People may also be taking multiple medications because of multiple diagnoses.
By identifying the correct biological cluster from the start, the first treatment choice has a much higher chance of being effective, potentially preventing the need to add more pills to compensate for an ineffective core treatment.
For the study, disorders were divided into five distinct groups: Substance Use Disorders, such as alcohol and opioid dependence; Internalizing Disorders, including depression, anxiety, and PTSD; Neurodevelopmental Disorders, like autism and ADHD; Compulsive Disorders, encompassing anorexia, OCD, and Tourette's syndrome; and the SB group that included Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder.
The analysis pinpointed hundreds of individual genetic markers. It identified 238 variants linked to at least one of the five major psychiatric risk categories.
It also found 412 distinct variants that help explain clinical differences between disorders.
Internalizing disorders form one of the most genetically interconnected groups identified in the study, published in the journal Nature.
The three conditions showed the highest level of shared genetic risk among all disorders analyzed, meaning that genetic factors that influence susceptibility to one disorder tend to influence the others as well.
This strong overlap helps explain why people diagnosed with one of these conditions frequently meet the criteria for another, either simultaneously or over their lifetime.
Of the five clusters, the schizophrenia and bipolar disorder group showed the most genetic overlap, about 70 percent, suggesting that a large, shared set of genetic risk factors influences a fundamental set of brain functions and development pathways seen in both bipolar and schizophrenia.
This could explain the well-documented clinical overlap, including shared symptoms like psychosis, frequent misdiagnosis and the occurrence of both disorders in families.
Substance-use disorders are characterized by physical and emotional dependence on a substance, like drugs or alcohol.
The shared genetic underpinnings of the addiction disorders likely influence common underlying mechanisms of the disorders themselves, including reward processing, impulse control, response to stress, and, potentially, the metabolic pathways involved in processing the drugs.
The neurodevelopmental disorders cluster encompasses disorders rooted in early brain development. This cluster is primarily defined by a strong shared genetic foundation between autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and ADHD.
This strong genetic overlap suggests that a core set of genes influences early brain development, shaping connectivity, synaptic function, and the regulation of attention and social behavior.
This could explain why, according to findings in the journal Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, autism and ADHD frequently co-occur and why they share symptoms like challenges with executive function and social interaction.
Tourette's Syndrome showed a weaker genetic link to the neurodevelopmental cluster, suggesting it shares some risk factors with ASD and ADHD, likely in motor control and impulse regulation, but is driven more by its own distinct genetic mechanisms.
The compulsive disorders cluster has a shared genetic component for disorders centered on intrusive thoughts and repetitive behaviors. This group is defined by a strong link between anorexia and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
Past research has indicated this overlap suggests that inherited biological pathways related to cognitive control, perfectionism, behavioral rigidity and reward processing contribute to both the ritualistic behaviors seen in OCD and the restrictive, compulsive eating patterns central to anorexia.
In the future, a simple blood test could reveal a person's genetic risk for mental health conditions. By analyzing a patient's genetic profile, doctors could pinpoint their specific risk patterns, like a high genetic tendency for depression, anxiety or PTSD.
Doctors could use this result to choose a medication or therapy that is most likely to work for them right away, instead of guessing.
Developing a patient's genetic profile can pinpoint the root of severe anxiety, for example.
If a patient's genetic profile links their anxiety to the Internalizing cluster, it would point a doctor toward one set of preferred treatments.
If, however, their anxiety is genetically tied to the Compulsive cluster, it would indicate a completely different approach.
The most applicable tests available today are pharmacogenetic tests such as GeneSight or Genomind, which are often offered by psychiatrists.
These analyze how one’s genes affect their metabolism of specific psychiatric medications, helping to predict which drugs they may tolerate better or process poorly, thereby reducing side effects and shortening the trial-and-error period.
So far, no test can say whether someone’s depression is biologically of the ‘Internalizing’ type or the ‘SB’ type. That level of biological subtyping is still in the early research phase.
#4
Skidmark - it turns out that Lucy was not an ancestor rather a co-species that spent most of their time in the trees. What we thought were the children of the Lucies turned out to be alive almost 2 million years before... so we are much older than thought.
#5
As to Momma was a Democrat too... that behavior seemed to start at the melting of Europe about 12000 years ago... oh and beer was started before agriculture as people wanted to get drunk.... esp the women.
#6
What if we are devolving rather than evolving? Wouldn't that put a new light on the whole "unburdened by what has been" mantra?
The following are the results from a Copilot Search for "Sanford genetic entropy".
Genetic entropy, a concept introduced by John C. Sanford, posits that the genomes of living organisms are degenerating due to the accumulation of harmful mutations, which natural selection cannot effectively counteract.
Overview of Genetic Entropy
John C. Sanford, a geneticist and former professor at Cornell University, argues in his book "Genetic Entropy & the Mystery of the Genome" that the human genome, along with those of other organisms, is deteriorating over time. He claims that this degeneration is primarily due to the accumulation of slightly harmful mutations that escape the purifying effects of natural selection. Sanford estimates that humans acquire approximately 100 new mutations per generation, most of which are near-neutral or slightly deleterious.
Key Arguments
Mutation Accumulation: Sanford asserts that while natural selection can eliminate some harmful mutations, it is not efficient enough to prevent the overall accumulation of these mutations in the genome. He argues that this leads to a gradual decline in genetic fitness and, ultimately, extinction if the process continues unchecked.
Critique of Neo-Darwinism: Sanford's theory challenges the traditional neo-Darwinian framework, which posits that evolution is driven by beneficial mutations and natural selection. He claims that beneficial mutations are exceedingly rare and that the majority of mutations are harmful, undermining the foundation of evolutionary theory.
Mendel's Accountant: Sanford and his colleagues developed a computational model called Mendel's Accountant, which simulates the accumulation of mutations in digital populations. This model supports his claims about genetic degeneration and the limitations of natural selection.
Implications and Critiques
Sanford's ideas have sparked significant debate within the scientific community. While some proponents of intelligent design support his arguments, many evolutionary biologists criticize them as misinterpretations of genetic data and population genetics. Critics argue that Sanford's conclusions do not account for the complexities of genetic variation and the potential for beneficial mutations to arise.
Conclusion
The concept of genetic entropy presents a controversial perspective on genetics and evolution, suggesting that the human genome is on a path of decline due to mutation accumulation. While Sanford's work has garnered attention, it remains a topic of heated discussion and critique within the broader scientific discourse on evolution and genetics. For those interested in the intersection of genetics and evolutionary theory, Sanford's "Genetic Entropy" offers a provocative viewpoint that challenges conventional understanding.
#7
Supposedly Homo sapiens was reduced to a thousand individuals in Kenya or thereabouts at one point, from which we expanded to the present population, which suggests as a species we can survive an awful lot of challenges before the lights go out forever.
On the other hand, because of fairly easily available abortions and a rejection of close cousin marriage in a much more heterogeneous population, things like Down Syndrome and recessive mental and physical handicaps used to be much more common in Western society than they are now. We can see how much less when we compare to the Somalis and Pakistanis among us.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Through more than 225 executive orders, the president reorganized federal government policy and focus, while advancing his America First agenda.
