The largest Mars rock on Earth is up for auction in NYC

Monisha Ravisetti is Space.com's Astronomy Editor   

— it could be yours for $4 million (or more)

NEW YORK CITY — Tucked away in a building on the corner of 72nd Street and York Avenue in Lenox Hill, an extraterrestrial marvel sits sturdily on a mirrored pedestal. It's the largest Mars rock on planet Earth — and it turns out its 54-pound (25-kilogram), ashy, terracotta structure isn't as priceless as you'd expect.

"This Mars rock is up for auction at Sotheby's in New York City this week, which is why it's currently on display in the Upper East Side. As of now, it's expected to sell for between $2 million and $4 million, but it could very well sell for far more.

" 'At the end of the day, it's the bidders who tell us what things are worth, not me, not anyone else. The estimates are just there to give people an indication," Cassandra Hatton, the vice chairman of science and natural history at Sotheby's, told Space.com. "Last summer, I sold the Stegosaurus 'Apex.' For the Stegosaurus, the estimate was [$4 million to $6 million], and it sold for $44.6 million." . . .

. . . "Because of this journey, Martian atmospheric data is important to consider when verifying whether something is a Mars rock — and thanks to the twin Viking landers that NASA sent to Mars in the '70s, scientists indeed have that atmospheric data.

" 'You'll find little gas pockets in a lot of Martian meteorites," Hatton said. "We've cut those pockets open and compared the gas in those pockets to the gas that we analyzed from the Martian atmosphere — and if they match up, then we know that rock came from Mars.' " . . .

More

Monisha Ravisetti is Space.com's Astronomy Editor. She covers black holes, star explosions, gravitational waves, exoplanet discoveries and other enigmas hidden across the fabric of space and time. Previously, she was a science writer at CNET, and before that, reported for The Academic Times. Prior to becoming a writer, she was an immunology researcher at Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York. She graduated from New York University in 2018 with a B.A. in philosophy, physics and chemistry

I hate to post this but....

BONDI’S ABSURD EPSTEIN EXCUSES;  Ann Coulter  

"I don’t believe Trump had sex with teen girls (or, for that matter, Stormy Daniels or that woman at Bergdorf Goodman), but absent the transparency he promised voters, people are going to come up with wild theories, and some of them may be true."

“The cover-up is worse than the crime” is almost never true — of course the crime is worse — and when the crime is rape of underage girls, I’d say it’s nearly impossible for the cover-up to be worse. But Attorney General Pam Bondi is challenging that presumption with her enraging refusal to release the names of the men who had sex with Jeffrey Epstein’s entourage of minors.

"The single most disturbing fact about the Epstein case is that we know, and have known for the past two decades, that scores of prominent men — renowned, esteemed, allegedly men of character — have no problem being pedophiles.

"But we still don’t know their names.

"We’re now living under the fifth presidency since Epstein’s teen sex ring was busted in 2005. There have been three different prosecutions. At least a dozen girls have testified about their abuse. Epstein’s many properties have been raided and his records and papers carted away. There are flight logs, reams of witnesses, hard drives, photographs, videotapes.

"By now, we should have the names of legions of perps. Some of them should have jumped off buildings already. But every time we’re about to get the names, the public is stonewalled.

"To the astonishment of his voters, the stonewalling now continues under President Trump and his nitwit attorney general.

"Bondi’s letter purporting to explain the cover-up is a collection of straw men, sanctimony and internal contradictions.

"Her headline-making point is that the Justice Department’s “systematic review revealed no incriminating ‘client list.'” Our easily duped media have continued the charade by repeatedly referring to Epstein’s “long-rumored ‘client list.‘”

"I’ve followed this case closely since it first broke two decades ago, and I’ve never heard that rumor. Bondi acts as if we’ve been expecting a leather-bound volume with the words “CLIENT LIST” in gold lettering.

"To be clear, requests for the “client list” are shorthand for “All the names of the rich and powerful men who had sexual relations with teenage girls, courtesy of Jeffrey Epstein.' ” . . .

7 explosive allegations from Virginia Giuffre lawsuit accusing Prince Andrew of abuse - The Mirror    

. . . "Ms Giuffre claims she was regularly abused by Epstein and was lent out by the billionaire to other powerful men for sexual purposes, including Prince Andrew.

While she was initially recruited to provide massages this alleged abuse would go on to include engaging in sexual acts, being on call for Epstein for sexual purposes and travelling with him across the US and internationally." . . .

Could Jimmy Kimmel be next?

Unless a Democrat is elected next. TD

Bonchie: Jimmy Kimmel Melts Down Over Colbert Cancellation, and ABC Has the Chance to Do the Funniest Thing Ever

. . ."Well, that's mature. Is he going to cry on air again, too? It's pretty incredible that a guy could go from doing skits in blackface and hosting wet T-shirt contests to being that delusionally arrogant, but here we are. All of this is emblematic of what the late-night scene, aside from Greg Gutfeld, has become. It's just a bunch of far-left activists who abandoned any pretense of comedy long ago. 

"Gone are the days when late-night hosts told jokes that could bring in a broad, national audience. These days, it's just the same, tired lines about Republicans and fascism told in various forms. Getting laughs isn't the point anymore. Instead, it's to generate partisan applause. It's such a far cry from what late-night used to be, even as recently as Jay Leno, who left "The Tonight Show" in 2014. 

"On the other hand, ABC, which owns and airs Kimmel's show, now has the chance to do the funniest thing ever. Given CBS cited financial concerns as the reason Colbert was canceled, it's hard to see how ABC doesn't have those same issues. 

"For one, Kimmel's ratings are worse than Colbert's, with the former lagging by nearly a million viewers. Meanwhile, ABC pays Kimmel a reported $15 million a year to host "Jimmy Kimmel Live," not including bonuses and royalties. Then you have to consider the costs of paying for an entire writing room and all the technical production costs. From the studio to the camera operators, nothing is cheap in Los Angeles. 

"I can't say for sure, but when you consider everything involved, the math isn't really mathing as far as Kimmel's show being financially lucrative. So perhaps he should consider that before popping off, because he could and should be next on the chopping block. I suspect the entire left-wing late-night "comedy" scene's days are numbered. "  

It's been reported that the network was losing about $40 million a year on Colbert's show. Apparently nobody wanted to buy the film rights to "The Vax-Scene."

Babylon Bee

KJP on the outs with Democrats

 

https://rofcbybroc.com/

Jean-Pierre triggers Democratic fury with public split from party  "Democrats are furious with former White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre’s decision to publicly leave the party and announce she’s a political independent while promoting a book." . . .

Democratic operatives, former Biden aides and donors were all miffed by Jean-Pierre’s move to leave the party, particularly as many of them say they still feel misled by the Biden administration and his aides’ insistence that Biden’s mental acuity was above board. 

“The fact that she feels like she can distance herself from the Democratic brand is laughable,” another strategist said. “Democrats are trying to distance themselves from the Biden White House but here we have Karine trying to distance herself from a pissed off Democratic Party. She’s part of the problem. Does she not realize that?” . . .

KJP Reportedly Got Snubbed By ‘The View’ For Co-Hosting Spot – IJR   "Jean-Pierre appeared on “The View” several times throughout her tenure, where she defended Biden’s cognitive abilities, made false claims about Republican South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham’s abortion bill in 2022 and grew emotional after Biden had dropped out of the 2024 race.

"During her time as press secretary, Jean-Pierre defended Biden’s fitness to run for reelection, claiming that he is “sharp” and in great health. She discredited videos that indicted that Biden’s health was declining by branding them as “cheap fakes.”

"The former press secretary further assured reporters that Biden would not pardon his son, Hunter, from his felony gun conviction and tax charges. Biden pardoned Hunter of all actions taken between Jan. 1, 2014 and Dec. 1, 2024.

"Media experts told the Daily Caller in January that Jean-Pierre would likely be hired as an on-air contributor despite her being “unemployable.” . . .

Laid Off State Department Employees No Longer Have to Hide Their Resistance

 The American Spectator

 . . ."Still, whether they’re writing more-in-sorrow op-eds for legacy publications or chanting along in anti-MAGA marches, these former unelected bureaucrats will be around trying to “save” the democracy they abused within their governmental positions."

"When in the course of American events it becomes evident that the federal government has grown too large, too bloated, and too powerful, it is necessary to reform said government to protect the safety and autonomy of the people. It becomes especially necessary when people are warning that the fired federal employees could use the skills they learned at toppling foreign governments against their own.

"This idea came to fruition in the last election, when the American people said “enough” to the wanton spending and politicization of the federal government. This has led to much-needed reductions in force and funding for programs that are not performing well enough for the American people, such as at the State Department, the Department of Health and Human Services, and others. It has also led to blatant political theater by the so-called “Resistance” in their relentless quest to garner sympathy from the American people so they can undermine their will.

"The over-the-top videos of now-former employees crying on their way out of the government’s ever-spinning revolving door are, themselves, a problem, but they belie two greater issues. First is the politicization of the State Department that plays semantic games with charged terms like “fascism,” and the second, and real threat, is of angry former employees using their skills to undermine the change we voted for in November.

"As I’m sure many of us have read on social media, departing State Department employees left signs encouraging the remaining staff to “resist fascism” in their roles while receiving a “clap out” for leaving their taxpayer-paid jobs. While the signs are a lazy, last-minute middle finger to the Trump administration and the American people who duly elected them (and rely on the left’s tired trope of calling everything they disagree with “fascist”), they are a symptom of an overall problem in the federal government: self-important and self-absorbed individuals looking to preserve their jobs by any means necessary. (RELATED: As Trump’s Federal Layoffs Continue, Critics Miss This Crucial Point.)

"Additionally, these same signs included a supposedly ominous leftist warning that these State Department career bureaucrats have been “just released” alongside “hundreds of their colleagues into the wild.” These wailings are nothing more than the prattling of drones who are headed to a cushy, left-leaning think tank job or another six-figure salary now that they are no longer on the taxpayer’s payroll. You would think that this would give these individuals the opportunity to drop the political pretense, but this behavior will likely only continue from their perches in the private sector." . . .

Why Poland is one of the safest countries in Europe

 BareNakedIslam

"It doesn’t allow Muslim immigration. Period."

Jesus and Muhammad, Islam and Christianity: A Side-by-Side Comparison

Islam's Protestant Reformation
I'm a Christian and I Love the Quran'
The Prophet Who Stole Christmas: Why the Jesus of the Quran is Not the Jesus of the Bible
The Muslim Jesus
Are Judaism and Christianity as Violent as Islam?
Islam's Hatred for the Christian Cross
Going to Mosque vs. Going to Church

California Bill Passes to Grab Palisades Land as Trump Envoy Speaks Out

PJ Media

"California Gov. Gavin Newsom claimed that he did not want to bulldoze the remains of burned-down Palisades houses and replace them with low-income housing. But that is apparently exactly what he’s doing now, with the help of the California legislature—and Donald Trump’s special missions envoy is furious.

"Richard Grenell accused Newsom of lying about his fire recovery goals. Newsom had scoffed, “The claim that the Governor wants to bulldoze fire victims’ neighborhoods and replace them with ‘affordable housing’ is absurd.” But he just announced over $100 million for building low-income housing in the area of the Palisades and other burned areas, as a bill moves through the California legislature to allow such housing to be built on burned-down lots. The bill, which passed the state Senate on Wednesday, would change the law to support the governor’s shameful land grab. Trust Democrats to gang up on their citizens. 

"Trump administration special envoy Richard Grenell wrote on X, “@GavinNewsom lied. He said he wouldn’t grab the land where homes burned down in the Palisades to build low-income housing facilities - but he and Karen Bass just did. They are changing the character of the Palisades and Malibu to fit their woke agenda. They don’t care what residents want. They can’t even deliver building permits properly. But this fight is not over.”

"Grenell and Newsom have been at odds for a while, after Grenell advised the president not to send billions of taxpayer dollars for California fire recovery until the Democrats there agreed to reform their fire and water management system, which prioritizes woke climate dogma and thus wastes water, leaving areas vulnerable to dangerous fires. Newsom responded by griping about Grenell’s “audacity.” . . .

"In California…Richard Grenell: We live on the ocean but our Governor can’t figure out how to get more water - so he spends millions of tax dollars telling people to not water their lawns and to take faster showers. We have 33 million acres of forest land but our Governor can’t figure out how to properly remove dead trees. When you combine Gavin’s water and forest incompetence- you get deadly fires. The Sacramento Democrats still haven’t filled up the water reserves or cleaned up the brush. They are still killing desalination plants and commonsense forest management. The fires will happen again. I’ve told DJT we shouldn’t spend federal money on California if the problems aren’t fixed first. Meanwhile, Gavin is launching his 5th version of a podcast trying to re-brand himself to run for President. He isn’t interested in fixing the problems. I pray the Democrats nominate him. He’s a total and complete fraud - and the swing states will see it instantly."

Violence — The calling card of the Democratic Party

 BPR

"The woke Left leads the charge to destroy civil society,” A.J. Rice wrote in American Greatness. “They believe they’re above and beyond any criticism, and have the right to attack you for questioning them.” Whatever you say that is critical of leftist ideology is called hate speech" . . .

"The Democrat Party has embraced violence as its modus operandi. The party has sent a message to its adherents that anything goes in the pursuit of power—from weaponizing the FBI and IRS against political opponents, to rigging elections, to the use of violence. Democrats will not hesitate to deprive you of your basic rights if it suits their purpose. If that entails violent behavior aimed at you, too bad.

"A classic example of Democratic Party-supported violence is occurring as mobs attempt to intimidate conservative Supreme Court justices by protesting in front of their homes. Although this is expressly prohibited by federal law, you won’t see the Democrat-controlled Justice Department taking action against the protestors. Breaking the law has become acceptable.

"To mask its love of violence, the Democratic Party has used groups like Antifa and Black Lives Matter as surrogates. Mark Levin calls Antifa “the paramilitary wing of the Democratic Party.” They show up everywhere with the intention of shutting down free speech. We don’t hear much about it because the mainstream media is the propaganda wing of the Democratic Party. Hitler used similar tactics in the 1930s. Hitler’s thugs targeted communists and Jews; Antifa vilifies conservatives and Trump supporters. Our liberal mobs believe their mission is to physically assault anyone who happens to be conservative. They feel justified in doing all the things that the Nazi Party did in Germany.

"Antifa is the contemporary version of Hitler’s Brownshirts, whose objective, says Dinesh D’Souza, is to “beat people into obeisance.” With the support of Democrat mayors and governors, violent Antifa mobs have trashed our cities, assaulted Trump supporters, and provided justification for more government control over the individual. What has the DOJ done to stop it? Nothing.

"Black Lives Matter is another ally of the Democrats. BLM is a criminal enterprise using race as an excuse for the violent overthrow of the civil society. Based on the false narrative that cops are killing blacks, BLM places the blame for all the ills of black America on the shoulders of a so-called tradition of white racism. Racism justifies everything, they insist, including the use of violence.

" 'BLM believes in force,” says Fox’s Tucker Carlson. “They flood the streets with angry young people who break things and hurt anyone who gets in the way. Until violence stops working, violence will continue.” A BLM spokesman said, “If this country doesn’t give us what we want, then we will burn down this system and replace it.' ” . . . More

Ed Brodow, is a conservative political commentator and author of THE WAR ON WHITES: How Hating White People Became the New National Sport.

Explosion at LA County sheriff training facility leaves several people dead

"It wasn’t immediately clear how many were injured, or if anyone else was killed. Authorities have not said what caused the blast, but law enforcement sources told the LA Times that a bomb squad had been moving explosives around that time."

Nine Thousand-Plus Words of Anti-Zionist Propaganda

Phyllis Chesler, Substack   "I do not enjoy responding instantly, immediately, to every bit of breaking news, braying about the most immediate, the very latest item to cross my screen. But there are patterns. I cannot help but see them.

"Thus, sometimes, a consistent, even normalized, outrage calls out to me, demanding a response. So here I go, about to repeat myself; I've been doing so for the last 25 years.

"Take today's New York Times. It's my hometown newspaper, and I read it every single day, pay for it too. Invariably, on their front page, there is a four-column photo of Palestinian suffering--and there it is, yet again, today. It is not enough. On page 8A, there is an almost full-page story titled "Gazans Face Lethal Risk Getting Food From New Aid Hubs." That's just in case the photo is not enough.

"Anti-semitism is also discussed at the bottom of the front page, one that sympathetically features New York City's anti-Zionist, pro-Palestine, pro-Globalize the Intifada candidate, Zohran Mamdani. This piece continues for a full page on A19--actually, it is two stories, one about Mamdani and the inevitable rift between Jews over his candidacy and another one titled "Young Muslims Got Behind Mamdani, and Their Parents Listened."

"This is still not enough for the Gray Lady. On pages A22 and A 23, there are two opinion pieces, one full-page opinion piece by M. Gessen titled "The Story of Antisemitism Needs to Be Rewritten," and one by David Brooks titled "Netanyahu Was Right on Some Things." Even as Brooks spells it out, he feels he must make sure that you know that he "detest(s) Bibi and Trump...but it would be a catastrophe...if we have to be against everything they are for." I guess Brooks is taking no chances in terms of endangering his bully pulpit.

"And M. Gessen? She/he/they first focuses on how Mamdani, who is a Shia Muslim, has been suffering in a world of Islamophobes, how he has been falsely attacked as an Islamist "fundamentalist." She/he/they then goes on to admit that antisemitism does exist--however she may define it--but nowhere does she mention the Red-Green Alliance, nowhere does she write a single word about how Islam has historically and theologically persecuted, exiled, and murdered infidels, including Jews, in Muslim countries and that, even more importantly, Muslim countries such as Iran and Qatar have donated many billions of dollars over a sixty-year period to brainwash Americans in the media, on campuses, at the United Nations, and to support terrorism against America, against Israel, against their own dissidents, and especially among their own women.

"Where Gessen can, she focuses the reader's attention on alleged Israeli racism, colonialism, and apartheid--but says nothing about Islam's long and still ongoing history of colonialism, imperialism, conversion via the sword, its practice of slavery--and its repeated and ongoing genocides of all infidels, Jews, Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, Baháʼí, Armenian Christians.

"You can't call any of this fair and balanced--no, it is not at all, nor objective, not even "proportionate" in terms of its coverage of this particular burning issue.

"The pro-Mamdani, mis-definitions of antisemitism, and the outright anti-Zionist articles all add up to 9,258 words in this single edition. My God! Compare that to the coverage of Ukraine in their pages, which today constitutes only 2,517 words.

"From this single edition, which is not at all unique, one might conclude that the NYT is endorsing Curtis Sliwa for Mayor--or is it Mayor Adams?" . . .

California remade in Newsom's image

 

Broc Smith

Farewell Fisherman’s Wharf   "San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf is now a sorry, empty shell, awaiting demolition and major changes. This video shows almost all the restaurants and retail shops at the former iconic tourist destination, including Ghirardelli Square, totally empty, even amid a working wharf. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CtYx6OeFUkc. As a native of the San Francisco Bay Area, this video sickens me." . . .

(To my mind, “revitalization” should include hiring and stationing more police in the area.)

 ‘It feels empty’: is Hollywood film and TV production in a death spiral?  "Like the once proud industrial factories of the midwest, the dream factories of southern California are in decline. Last year was the worst for on-location filming in Los Angeles since tracking began 30 years ago apart from pandemic-hit 2020. Of all the TV shows and feature films that North American audiences watch, only one-fifth are now made in California.

"This is because Hollywood is facing intense competition for film production from domestic rivals such as Atlanta and New York, and international challengers such as Australia, Britain and Canada, all offering more aggressive financial incentives. California’s politicians stand accused of resting on their laurels too long." . . .

Huge Fail: Gavin Newsom Uses Taxpayer Resources to Bully, Attempt to Silence a Palisades Fire Victim

Spencer Pratt perceived SB 549 as a proposal that would be typical of the political left, to take advantage of a disaster and turn it to suit their own agenda. He spoke out on the matter. In return, the Governor of the State of California used his official Press Office to try to browbeat a citizen into shutting up.

The Crisis of Antisemitism on Campus and Where It’s Coming From

 

The Crisis of Antisemitism on Campus and Where It’s Coming From    "On October 7, 2023, crossing the Gaza border during a ceasefire, Hamas and other Islamic terror groups slaughtered 1,200 Israelis and took 240 hostage. The magnitude of this unprovoked act should have ignited widespread outrage and solidarity with Jews and Israel. Instead, students and professors on many university campuses celebrated Hamas, vilified Israel, and expressed virulent antisemitism that had built up over the years, through slurs, flagrant discrimination, and even assaults.

"Prof. Russell Rickford, who teaches history at Cornell, described the Hamas attack as “energizing” and “exhilarating,” and called it a “symbol of resistance.” He later defended his comments, saying he was referring to Hamas’s breaking through a “wall of apartheid” — whatever that means. Five days after the attack, student groups at Cornell justified it and blamed Israel for it. Similar displays of anti-Israel sentiment and blatant antisemitism appeared on other campuses as well. Jewish students and professors reported feeling unsafe, facing hate speech and unprovoked heckling.

"An April report by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) revealed 1,694 antisemitic incidents in 2024, marking an 84% increase from 2023." . . .

Mein Kampf 100th Anniversary: Has the World Learned Anything?

Keep all this in mind when laughing at memes mocking intelligence-challenged politicians such as New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Texas Representative Jasmine Crockett, or New York’s Communist-Democrat mayoral candidate Zohan Mamdani. One of them might soon be writing a book called “My Struggle.” 

"Sales of the two volumes continued to be slow as many Germans viewed Hitler as more of a comic (funny moustache, short, feminine speaking mannerisms, etc.). At first, they didn’t take him or his left-wing National Socialist German Workers’ Party (NSDAP) seriously. In “Hitler Was Incompetent and Lazy—and His Nazi Government Was an Absolute Clown Show,” Tom Phillips writes about how many viewed Hitler as a fool:

In fact, this may even have helped his rise to power, as he was consistently underestimated by the German elite. Before he became Chancellor, many of his opponents had dismissed him as a joke for his crude speeches and tacky rallies. Even after elections had made the Nazis the largest party in the Reichstag, people still kept thinking that Hitler was an easy mark, a blustering idiot who could easily be controlled by smart people.

In Hitlerland, Andrew Nagorski discusses the American media’s early impressions of Hitler and the Third Reich:

Yet you had Americans meeting Hitler and saying, ‘This guy is a clown. He’s like a caricature of himself.’ . . .

Joy Reid Loses Her Race-Baiting Mind After Piers Morgan Points Out She's Always Race-Baiting

RedState  

"Reid would later slam Morgan for ambushing her in the interview and suggesting he was race-baiting for his “very white audience.” Pot, meet kettle."

"It was your Shtick"

"Piers Morgan and former MSNBC personality Joy Reid got into a tense exchange when the former accused her of playing "the race card" and pointed out she was likely fired from her job for being boring.

"And, as evidence that we are living in Bizarro World right now, Reid fired back by claiming any suggestion that she is a race-baiter is, in itself, race-baiting.

"The heated back-and-forth kicked off when Morgan played recent clips of Reid saying she got canned by MSNBC for saying Americans care more about the plight of Ukrainians than Palestinians because of their skin color, and later claiming President Trump doesn't like her because she's a black woman.

" 'Joy, I mean, let’s be honest. I don’t think you were fired after all those years because of your skin color or because you’re a black woman. I think you were fired because your show just got increasingly unpopular," Morgan said. "Why play the race card?"

" 'I love the fact that your ‘play the race card’ is your version of the race card. You literally are so fixated on trying to racialize conversations with me, Piers, I find it actually quite charming ..." Reid fired back.

"Morgan interjected, "You racialized more conversations in your tenure at MSNBC than any host in history."

"The fireworks were something to behold.". . .

Reid, of course, was unceremoniously fired by MSNBC back in February when, to Piers' point, the recent election results made it clear that people were tired of the race-baiting and false accusations that every time a liberal is criticized, it's because the critic is racist.

Reid's show, “The ReidOut," had been a staple of insanity on the network for five years, which worked well in the era of Biden's presidency, but wasn't going to translate once the adults were back in the room.