All Humans Have Some Trace of Neanderthal DNA

DNA contains all the information that makes up all living things, but it also reveals interesting facts about our past. For one thing, all humans share 99.9% of the same genes, with the 0.1% caused by substitutions, deletions, and insertions in the genome (an important tool for understanding diseases). We also know, thanks to DNA, that humans are much less genetically diverse than other animal species. This means that all 8 billion humans today grew from a population of only 10,000 breeding pairs of Homo sapiens, and that our ancestors likely experienced genetic bottlenecks that caused serious population declines.

Amazingly, glimpses into our human lineage are also locked away in our DNA, because every human on the planet has some genetic material adopted from a completely different species of human — Neanderthals. Although Homo sapiens are the only human species on the planet today, the Earth has played host to upwards of 20 different human speciesthroughout millions of years. For a time, Homo sapiens shared the planet with Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis) and even interbred with them. Remnants of those dalliances still live within our chromosomes, passed on from generation to generation. Although Europeans and Asians share the largest percentage of Neanderthal DNA (around 2%), Africans also share a small percentage (which wasn’t discovered until 2020).

Lyle Northey (Silent/Boomer)

People like to talk about conspiracy theories like Tim Walz being programmed by the Chinese all those years ago because they just knew he would be picked up for VP at some time. So now let us talk about a conspiracy that really took place. The ability to call an election in 6 hours after the polls close in the most important election in our lifetime. Should we open this can of worms and find out what kind of fixes were in place for this to happen?
The count was 272 and on that basis you just call it. How many total electoral votes are there and how did that many come together that quickly? All does not seem true, especially when we consider the liar that won. He has never gained anything honestly in his life so why should we believe this would be any different.
Told lies about people eating pets, told lies about an opponent’s email, and lied about assainanation attempts and crowd size and the size of his wealth and everything else so why should we believe this. There is every reason to believe that the little secret he and Johnson had was the fix they put in place to get what he wanted.
The lie he has not yet revealed is the one where he takes all the wealth from his rich backers because he wants to be the richest one of all. The desire to get as much money as he can is what drives the train and it is what will ultimately ruin our country. Scenic vistas, clean water, fields of grain, wild life, or even human life means nothing when there is a chance there is a dollar to be made if you destroy any or all of those things.
Since the race has been conceded and it appears that a no challenge transfer of power is going to occur one has to wonder which side has the lemmings. It seems we are all being guided to jump off the cliff to self destruction. Is George Carlin’s remark that there is no need in voting since the country is already bought and paid for and we are but the labor force that keeps the rich in power.
All the time, energy and money that was spent on the campaigns was for nothing if the fix was so well planned. Half the nation’s votes were never counted. Even with the number of votes Trump was given the rest of us deserve the right to see how this would have come out if all voting was completed. We know that it would not have ended so soon as there are a great many hours between the east coast and Hawaii. This is another example of a very small percentage of the nation getting to choose how the game will be played.
Now only a couple of days after the election and we are seeing the behavior that sickened most of us during his first term has returned with even more brazen obnoxiousness. People getting tex messages that they are to report for slave duty. Signs on campuses identifying women as property. A video of an altercation in a fast food place where the antagonist customer called people names and then reported the situation to the manager and got the employee fired. What a truly deplorable world we have entered.
This nation is a melting pot of people from all over and the differences are to be celebrated not denigrated. When someone decides that they have a right to berate someone else because of ethic values, ask them to show their DNA chart to prove they are so pure and that somehow they are allowed to insult others. Most will find that there are flaws in that chart that take them out of the “superior and put them in the ordinary” as most of us are.
As a society we have been polarized ever since Trump came on the scene in politics and now we are being subjected to even more hate speech because he was reelected. The damage that is being done today may never heal and it could produce even more violence and destruction in

future generations. Our world is a kaleidoscope of battles that have been raging in some cases for centuries. The Jewish people have been targets of hate and torture forever and today they are fighting over land that has changed hands numerous times and should be red because of all the blood that has been spilled into it.
Every group of people that are separated by ethnicity have value and honor and worth. Do not let the attitude of superiority, or the utterances of a tyrant, provide an excuse to berate someone else. People are not property no matter of gender or color or for any other reason that can be thought of just to make someone feel empowered to say stupid things. Every deed, every remark, every negative act has a consequence and many are not positive.
If the urge to berate others strikes, take a moment to put yourself in the picture as the one being berated. Hopefully that will deter creating a problem, if it does not then be prepared for whatever happens next, which may not be favorable to the one that started the fight. In other words “ If the foo shits, wear it”.

Dwain Northey (Gen X)

The incoming malignant tumor, that was somehow re-elected ever after 2 impeachments, 34 felony convictions for business fraud, adjudicated sexual offender, has a day one agenda of deporting 11 plus million ‘undocumented’ immigrants. Anyone remember the child separation policy at the border last time he was in office? Yeah, that policy that they outright said that the cruelty and the optics of that cruelty were the point.

More than a few have pointed out the logistical and enormous cost of such an endeavor and also the colossal hit the economy will take. Supply chains will be destroyed, if you think the price of produce and meat is high now, just wait till crops are rotting in the fields and there aren’t workers in meat processing plants… I suppose the plus will be that more cows, pigs, and chickens will get to live.

The man who thinks he know everything is convinced that those that are seeking asylum are people summarily released from prisons and mental institutions and dropped on our boarder, not that these people are trying to escape something that threatens their very existence. Sadly, even though international laws have asylum provisions it is evident that going forward The United States won’t have to abide by those international laws.

My question is who will get caught up in these deportation raids, there has already been proposals ending birth right citizenship so that that anyone born here that didn’t have parents that were citizens at the time of their birth would been deported to a country that they have never been in and may not even speak that language. I can guarantee that if you are from England, Australia, South Africa, Sweden, that list goes on, and you are WHITE you will not be caught up in any raid. Now if you are any shade of brown darker that off white, you will certainly have to walk around with your birth certificate and any other documentation proving that you are a citizen and that may not stop you from being locked up and slated for deportation.

Apes go through a midlife crisis.

Humans are members of the great ape family Hominidae, and the physical similarities between us and our primate cousins are clear. We have the same arrangement of internal organs and roughly the same number of bones, we lack external tails, and we even get the same diseases. So it only makes sense that we share some psychological similarities as well. A 2012 study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciencesreported that chimpanzees and orangutans experienced a midlife crisis similar to that of humans.

The study analyzed the behavior of 508 chimps and orangutans in captivity at zoos in five different countries, and found that these animals’ well-being hits its nadiraround their mid-20s or early 30s (the equivalent of middle age for chimps and orangutans). Of course, scientists couldn’t directly ask the chimpanzees how they felt, but instead relied on zookeeper questionnaires to assess the animals’ overall mood, level of joy in social situations, and how successful they were in achieving particular goals. Although the dataset is subjective, its sheer size highlights an overall trend that’s remarkably human, since we also tend to experience a dip in happiness and well-being around midlife. It’s just another trait that entwines us with our primate brethren. 

(The following is a repost of something I wrote for The Banter yesterday.)

Bob Cesca
WASHINGTON, DC – I can’t stop thinking about the people of Ukraine. Imagine having zero say in an election thousands of miles away – an election that will determine whether your country will be taken over by an authoritarian kleptocrat after so many of your friends and family have been killed in the effort to fight back. 
Due to the selfishness, hate, and nihilism of 72 million very stupid American voters, Ukraine is faced with the inevitable fate of being seized and annexed by Russia, which could employ battlefield nukes in the process – with the full-throated support and encouragement of the incoming American president.
The feeling of helplessness and obvious fear among the people of Ukraine is breaking my heart today. The same goes for everyone here who will be steamrolled by Donald Trump’s Project 2025 agenda, his economically devastating tariffs, his mass deportations, his maniacal retribution against anyone who speaks out against him, and, worst of all, the mounting effects of the climate crisis. 
This isn’t just any election loss, this loss will mean the erosion if not elimination of our democratic norms, torn down by an addled mad man who possesses nothing but seething disrespect for anything that actually makes this country great. But that’s why we have no choice but to hold fast to those values and protect them from extinction by reminding people what it really means to live in a pluralistic society built on freedom and inclusion.
Our instinct will be to turn away so we don’t have to witness the atrocities. Many of us will consider abandoning politics or leaving the country. But we can’t do that. We can’t let them force us from our homes and lives and what’s important. That’s what they want. They want to make things so shitty that we flee and leave the hollowed out carcass of the nation for them to fully colonize. No matter what, this country still belongs to all of us. And we have an obligation to stand our ground and protect it from the ungainly idiocrats.
Like you, I’m grieving today. I might be grieving tomorrow and the next day, too. But soon my grief will dissipate. Yours will, too. Don’t force it. Let it run its course. Take some personal time. Reconnect with non-political things you love. Enjoy your family during the holidays. Once you’ve recovered, lean forward, crack your knuckles, and prepare to defend the values and institutions we all cherish.
One of the realities that’s getting me through the day is knowing that second terms don’t usually go very well for presidents. Just ask Ronald Reagan, who faced the Iran-Contra scandal. Ask Bill Clinton, who faced impeachment. Ask George W. Bush, who faced his vice president shooting a guy in the face, the catastrophe of Hurricane Katrina, a worsening insurgency in Iraq, and a major economic collapse. Events have a way of stacking up against second termers, and what’s abundantly clear to anyone paying attention: while Donald Trump is a fascist menace, he’s also horrendously incompetent and stupid, surrounded by a rogues gallery of equally incompetent and stupid people.
Once people realize, no, he’s not returning prices to 2019 levels, and as Donald’s tariffs and mass deportations spike inflation – or trigger another deep recession or both – people will abandon him. The 2026 Senate map is already favorable to the Democrats, and we all know how midterms go for the party in power. Combine that with anger over the incompetence and tyrannical overreach and suddenly the pushback begins to take shape.
That optimism aside, this will be a painful era. I’m fully cognizant of my privilege as a white man, but that doesn’t supersede my empathy for so many other vulnerable friends and non-friends alike who will be on the front lines – whether they’re activists facing down the possibility of military crackdowns on peaceful protests, or our LGBTQ friends who will face a Supreme Court that could overturn their freedoms, or our Hispanic friends who could be inadvertently swept up in Donald’s mass deportations. We need to remain vigilant and aware. We need to keep informing people of what’s going on. We have to be the sentinels, warning our non-political friends about incoming emergencies – pandemics, raids, or financial calamities. 
The first Donald Trump term was a dark ride, and this next one will be even darker. And that means we have work to do.
Back in 2016, I borrowed a story from an episode of The West Wing, told by Leo McGarry, the White House chief of staff, to Josh Lyman who was experiencing PTSD from an assassination attempt.
This guy’s walking down a street when he falls in a hole. The walls are so steep, he can’t get out. A doctor passes by, and the guy shouts up, “Hey you, can you help me out?” The doctor writes a prescription, throws it down in the hole and moves on. Then a priest comes along, and the guy shouts up “Father, I’m down in this hole, can you help me out?” The priest writes out a prayer, throws it down in the hole and moves on. Then a friend walks by. “Hey Joe, it’s me, can you help me out?” And the friend jumps in the hole. Our guy says, “Are you stupid? Now we’re both down here.” The friend says, “Yeah, but I’ve been down here before, and I know the way out.”
Sadly, we’ve been here before. So, let’s use it – let’s all be that friend who knows the way out

The Lightbulb 

Thomas Edison is often — and incorrectly — given all the credit for inventing the lightbulb. But the lightbulb was actually the result of a processthat began before Edison was even born. In 1802, English chemist Humphry Davy used a voltaic pile(invented by Alessandro Volta, after whom the volt is named) to create the first “electric arc lamp” between charcoal electrodes. His rudimentary lamp was too bright and burned out too quickly, but it was nonetheless an important breakthrough. Other scientists worked to refine the lightbulb, but problems with filaments and batteries made these early bulbs impractical for everyday use. In 1860, English physicist Joseph Swan developed a primitive electric light that utilized a filament of carbonized paper in an evacuated glass bulb. Lack of a good vacuum and an adequate electric source ultimately made it inefficient, but it did pave the way for later innovations, including those by Edison. Edison purchased some of his predecessor’s patents, improved upon them, and came up with his own lightbulb, which, while not the first overall, was the first to be commercially viable. 

Lyle Northey (Silent/Boomer)

The Constitution has a provision that disqualifies anyone that engaged in an insurrection from holding office. Trump has been found guilty of that by trials and yet he ran for and won the highest office in the country. The Supreme Court kept one state from removing his name from the ballot by saying he may not hold office but you can’t keep him off the ballot.
This court is by it’s actions staffed by some of the dumbest well educated people on the planet. Six are conservative and of the same religion, and none of them seem to be able to think clearly or at least not in accordance with the Constitution. Their presence on the court is a major waste of time and money, not to mention that they know nothing of the law.These justices have openly supported Trump knowing that he should not be allowed to hold office and should be removed from the court.
Will Congress or the current President make the effort to invoke the disqualification? It needs to occur and it needs to be upheld. In the current congress there are members that supported the insurrection and they should also be removed from those positions immediately. The lack of any beneficial legislation during the last 4 years because of the loyalty to Trump by the republican members of both houses is enough to remove the majority of them on the basis of the 14th Amendment.
As for the rank and file of MAGA let them know that violence will not serve them well. Putting threats on the net or showing up armed in the street will only mean that they are willing to forfeit all they have for a cause that is collapsing around them. Take away voting rights, homes, benefits such as social security and VA benefits. If you are willing to go into the street and possibly kill someone because they do not agree with your point of view then you must be willing to have all that you hold dear taken from you in support of your belief.
Sound mean and ugly? But then the leader of the cult wants to take people, some of whom have lived here for years, that are undocumented and put them in camps taking everything they have away from them. The need to get people documented or removed may be necessary but there are ways to do things that save face as they say in Japan.
Many people come here to experience freedom as did your ancestors. We are all immigrants in our past. Those earlier immigrants took this land from people that had been here before us and then created a nation under a concept that was different from the norm. That experiment is just a few hundred years old and it has been doing very well, so why do we have so many in our midst that wish to revert back to a dictatorship? The answer is because freedom takes work and effort and far too many have become the generation of the hand out. The give me generation and don’t ask me to do anything to get it, and they think this is going to be better and they are wrong. This is not going to work in anyone’s favor except Trump the biggest give me culprit on the planet.