War of 1812: U.S. President James Madison asks the Congress to declare war on Great Britain on June 08, 1812

U.S. President James Madison asks the Congress to declare war on Great Britain: As Congress debated whether to declare war against Great Britain, President James Madison addressed a message to the Senate and House of Representatives detailing British offenses against the United States.

Madison concluded that Great Britain was already in a state of war against the United States, but left Congress to determine the nation’s response.

On June 19, 1812, the Senate followed the House of Representatives in voting to declare war against Great Britain, the day after President James Madison signs the declaration into law - and the War of 1812 begins. The American war declaration, opposed by a sizable minority in Congress, had been called in response to the British economic blockade of France, the induction of American seaman into the British Royal Navy against their will, and the British support of Indian tribes along the Great Lakes frontier. A faction of Congress known as the “War Hawks” had been advocating war with Britain for several years and had not hidden their hopes that a U.S. invasion of Canada might result in significant territorial land gains for the United States.

In the months after President Madison proclaimed the state of war to be in effect, American forces launched a three-point invasion of Canada, all of which were decisively unsuccessful. In 1814, with Napoleon Bonaparte’s French Empire collapsing, the British were able to allocate more military resources to the American war, and Washington, D.C., fell to the British in August. In Washington, British troops burned the White House, the Capitol, and other buildings in retaliation for the earlier burning of government buildings in Canada by U.S. soldiers.

In September, the tide of the war turned when Thomas Macdonough’s American naval force won a decisive victory at the Battle of Plattsburg Bay on Lake Champlain. The invading British army was forced to retreat back into Canada. The American victory on Lake Champlain led to the conclusion of U.S.-British peace negotiations in Belgium, and on December 24, 1814, the Treaty of Ghent was signed, formally ending the War of 1812. By the terms of the agreement, all conquered territory was to be returned, and a commission would be established to settle the boundary of the United States and Canada.

British forces assailing the Gulf Coast were not informed of the treaty in time, and on January 8, 1815, the U.S. forces under Andrew Jackson achieved the greatest American victory of the war at the Battle of New Orleans. The American public heard of Jackson’s victory and the Treaty of Ghent at approximately the same time, fostering a greater sentiment of self-confidence and shared identity throughout the young republic.

HISTORY STORIES: Things You May Not Know About the War of 1812

History Channel / Wikipedia / Encyclopedia Britannica / Battle Fields.org / Smithsonian Institute.org / Office of The Historian.gov / Library Of Congress.gov / War Museum Canada / USS Constitution Museum.org / Constitution Center.org / Famous Trials / Live Science / War of 1812: U.S. President James Madison asks the Congress to declare war on Great Britain on June 01, 1812 (YouTube)

This Day in History June 01

• 1215 Battle of Zhongdu: Zhongdu (now Beijing), then under the control of the Jurchen ruler Emperor Xuanzong of Jin, is captured by the Mongols under Genghis Khan.

• 1495 John Cor a monk, records the first known batch of Scotch whisky.

• 1533 Anne Boleyn is crowned Queen of England.

• 1670 Third Anglo-Dutch War: Secret Treaty of Dover: In Dover, England, Charles II of England and Louis XIV of France sign the Secret Treaty of Dover, which will force England into the Third Anglo-Dutch War.

• 1779 Court-martial for malfeasance of Benedict Arnold, a general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, begins.

• 1794 French Revolutionary Wars: Glorious First of June is fought, the first naval engagement between Britain and France.

• 1813 Capture of USS Chesapeake..

• 1831 James Clark Ross becomes the first European at the North Magnetic Pole.

• 1861 American Civil War: Battle of Fairfax Court House

• 1862 American Civil War: Peninsula Campaign: Battle of Seven Pines (or the Battle of Fair Oaks) ends inconclusively, with both sides claiming victory.

• 1868 Treaty of Bosque Redondo: is signed, allowing the Navajo to return to their lands in Arizona and New Mexico.

• 1890 United States Census Bureau begins using Herman Hollerith's tabulating machine to count census returns.

• 1918 World War I: Western Front: Battle of Belleau Wood: Allied Forces under John J. Pershing and James Harbord engage Imperial German Forces under Wilhelm, German Crown Prince.

• 1939 World War II: First flight of the German Focke-Wulf Fw 190 fighter aircraft.

• 1941 World War II: Battle of Crete: ends as Crete capitulates to Germany.

• 1941 World War II: The Farhud, a massive pogrom in Iraq, starts and as a result, many Iraqi Jews are forced to leave their homes.

• 1943 World War II: BOAC Flight 777 is shot down over the Bay of Biscay by German Junkers Ju 88s, killing British actor Leslie Howard and leading to speculation that it was actually an attempt to kill British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

• 1962 Adolf Eichmann is hanged in Israel.

• 2009 General Motors files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. It is the fourth largest United States bankruptcy in history.

• 2011 Space Shuttle Endeavour makes its final landing after 25 flights.

Wikipedia.org

Understanding Military Terminology

Protection

(DOD) 1. Preservation of the effectiveness and survivability of mission-related military and nonmilitary personnel, equipment, facilities, information, and infrastructure deployed or located within or outside the boundaries of a given operational area.

Joint Publications (JP 3-0) Joint Operations

2. In space usage, active and passive defensive measures to ensure that United States and friendly space systems perform as designed by seeking to overcome an adversary’s attempts to negate them and to minimize damage if negation is attempted.

See also Mission-oriented Protective Posture; Space ControL.

Joint Publications (JP 3-14) Space Operations

Protection Of Shipping

The use of proportionate force, when necessary for the protection of U.S. flag vessels and aircraft, U.S. citizens (whether embarked in U.S. or foreign vessels), and their property against unlawful violence.

Joint Publications (JP 3-0) Joint Operations

Joint Publication - Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms

The Old Salt’s Corner

TYPICAL SHIP ORGANIZATION

Navy warships will of course vary in size and function. Most however, have similar organizational structures. For purposes of instruction, we will examine the organizational structure of the modern aircraft carrier as the largest expression of ship administration. Keep in mind that individual ships will incorporate different organizational structures.

A. Carrier Orginization

When fully manned, an aircraft carrier is home to as many as 5,000 personnel - the size of a small city. Thinking of a carrier as a city is a useful way to understand its organization.

At the top and comparable to a city’s mayor is the ship’s Commanding Officer (CO), who is ultimately responsible for the entire ship and the accomplishment of its assigned mission.

Next in line and acting as city manager is the Executive Officer (XO).

From the XO on down, the ship’s individual functions are handled by the ship’s company via different departments. These departments are in turn divided into divisions, each specialized in an area of the ship’s operation and mission.

The carrier battlegroup’s primary mission is power projection to targets ashore and at sea.

The central element of the carrier’s offensive punch is its embarked air wing (CVW). The typical carrier air wing normally consists of nine squadrons, each with individual missions, which join the carrier while it is deployed.

B. Commanding Officer

The Commanding Officer of an aircraft carrier must satisfy two requirements: He must be an unrestricted line officer (which enables him to command at sea) and he must be a naval aviator.

He is always the rank of Captain (O-6). Through his XO (who in most cases is also is a Captain), the CO runs the ship via its various departments.

“I’m Just Sayin”

“God sends meat and the devil sends cooks.”

~ Thomas Deloney

“Thought for the Day”

“Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.”

“Ours not to reason why, ours but to do and die.”

“A smile abroad is often a scowl at home.”

“Dreams are true while they last, and do we not live in dreams?”

“To strive, to seek, to find,

and not to yield.”

“Knowledge comes,

but wisdom lingers.”

“I must lose myself in action,

lest I wither in despair.”

“A lie which is half a truth

is ever the blackest of lies.”

~ Alfred, Lord Tennyson

“What I Learned”

“We forge the chains we wear in life.”

“The pain of parting is nothing to the joy of meeting again.”

“No one is useless in this world who lightens the burden of it to anyone else.”

“A day wasted on others is not wasted on one's self.”

“There is a wisdom of the head, and a wisdom of the heart.”

“It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done;

it is a far, far better rest that I go to, than I have ever known.”

“Have a heart that never hardens,

and a temper that never tires,

and a touch that never hurts.”

“Nature gives to every time and season some beauties of its own;

and from morning to night,

as from the cradle to the grave,

it is but a succession of changes so gentle and easy that we can scarcely mark their progress.”

~ Charles Dickens

Second Hand News: Articles from Week 22 - May 31, 2021 - June 06, 2021

Voting rules, f-bombs, and Obamacare: Supreme Court to wrap up with a bang • EXCLUSIVE: Republican National Committee (RNC) launches seven-figure TV ad featuring South Carolina Senator Tim Scott • Senate Democrats propose overhauling energy tax code to combat climate change

Former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows says “more to come with Hunter Biden” • Arizona Republicans boast 1 million ballots counted in Maricopa County audit • California's Corcoran Prison is a who's who of serial killers • Critics slam costly new homeless camp pilot program in Los Angeles

Quotes of the Week: “Are quail more sexually promiscuous on cocaine?” • National Security: Netanyahu's opposition rivals warn of assassination or “God forbid, a civil war” in Israel • Healthcare: Vaccinations lag in the South as health experts push states to reach 40% threshold • Business: Firm aims to cash in on farming robots that move rocks with one click • Editorial: The public school system had stopped teaching children long before the pandemic • Featured:” Newsmakers: Jane Horton, Gold Star widow

MOST READ: Biden received funds from Russia lobbyist before conceding on major pipeline: Report • Court rules Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer recall petitions can proceed • Michael Flynn denies saying Myanmar-like coup “should” happen in United States Washington Examiner

Hide Your Kids, Hide Your Wife: ‘Blue’s Clues’ Is Trans-Propagandizing Preschoolers • Homeschooling Skyrocketed In 2020, As Much As 700 Percent In Some States • New Poll Finds All Those People Moving To Texas Aren’t Going To Be Voting For Democrats

To Defend Its Freedom, Taiwan Must Create A National Guard • U.S. Air-Force Base In Ohio Pushing Leftist Propaganda As “Diversity” • There Will Be Consequences For Government And Big Tech Isolating Americans Through Lockdowns • Government Regulations And Bad Management: Why Have U.S. Infrastructure Projects Become So Painfully Slow And Expensive?

MOST READ: Federal Commission Wrongly Puts “Antietam” On Confederate Names Chopping Block • Gwen Stefani Is Right: Cultural Appreciation Is Not Cultural Appropriation • The United States Began To Fail Abroad 70 Years Ago In The Korean War • What The “Friends” Reunion Says About America’s Cultural Evolution

Fauci In 2012: “Gain Of Function” Research Into Bat Viruses Is Worth The Risk Of A Pandemic • The New York Times Says My Hometown Is Racist. Here’s Why They’re Wrong • Afghan Interpreters Who Saved American Lives Deserve Better Than Deadly Extraction Backlogs • Biden Administration’s Blatant Institutional Racism Gets Rebuke From Sixth Circuit The Federalist

Texas Governor Greg Abbott to Veto Legislature Funding After Democrats Stage Walkout Over Voting Law • 50 Percent of Maricopa County Arizona Ballots Have Been Counted • Pennsylvania Lifts All COVID-19 Restrictions Except Mask Mandate • Major League Baseball (MLB), Players Union Hit With Lawsuit for Moving All-Star Game out of Atlanta

Trump Issues Statement After Alarm Sounds at Fulton County Georgia Ballot Warehouse • Egypt’s Intelligence Chief Holds Truce Talks With Hamas in Gaza • World Health Organization (WHO) Assigns New Names to COVID-19 Variants • On Memorial Day, Parents Pass Down Patriotism at Wall Honoring Fallen Soldiers

Polish Trial Begins in Huawei-Linked China Espionage Case • Southeast Asia Hit Hard by Pandemic as Authorities Battle Variants of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Virus • Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Mouthpiece Says Beijing Needs More Nuclear Weapons After Trade Talks • Fast-Spreading, Deadly COVID-19 Variants See Lockdowns Announced in South China The Epoch Times

CORRUPTION CHRONICLES: Chicago Mayor Sued Over Racist Policy Targeting White Reporter • Judicial Watch Files Civil Rights Lawsuit for Daily Caller News Foundation and Reporter against Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot for Racial Discrimination • U.S. Wastes Billions on Fragmented, Duplicative, Overlapping Government Programs • Planeloads of Illegal Immigrant Minors Relocated Around U.S. in Middle of the Night

“Investigating the Investigators:” Judicial Watch Senior Attorney T. Russell Nobile to Testify before the House Judiciary Committee about the Voting Rights Act • Judicial Watch Sues D.C. for Records about the U.S. Capitol Police Shooting Death of Ashli Babbitt in the Capitol Building on January 6, 2021

Congress’s Scandal-Plagued VIP Air Marshal Program Canceled after Maxine Waters Debacle Judicial Watch

CNN Thinks You're All Stupid, and Too Many of You Watch Fox News • New York Times' Silly David Brooks on DEFUND PBS: “I'm No Progressive”, But I Endorse Biden's $6 Trillion Budget • ABC's Jonathan Karl Struggles to Admit Trump Could Be Right About Lab Leak Theory • New York Times Memorial Day Editorial: Social Gatherings Unpatriotic (Except Protests?)

Another Deranged Trump Vengeance Fantasy from Vanity Fair • Barbra Streisand: Republicans Wants An “Authoritarian State” • Preposterous! New York Times Opinion Editor Denies They're Progressives or Partisans • “Competence Is Actually at the Helm:” MSNBC Regular's Laugh Line of the Day News Busters

Mr. Answer Man Please Tell Us: Why Do Supreme Court Justices Serve for Life?

There are few political appointments quite as important as a nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court. Unlike a cabinet secretary or an ambassador, justices serve for life. In the modern era, that often means more than three decades on the court.

Thanks to increased lifespans, justices appointed in the next century are expected to sit on the Supreme Court for an average of 35 years, compared to the average of around 16 years that judges served in the past.

Because of this shift, some scholars have begun to question whether lifetime appointments are still appropriate, as the definition of “for life” has changed so much since the Constitution was written. But why do justices serve for life, anyway?

The U.S. Constitution doesn’t exactly specify that justices and the court are in a “’til death do us part” relationship. Article III says that judges (of both the Supreme Court and lower federal courts) “shall hold their offices during good behavior”.

So technically, a judge could be removed if they no longer meet the “good behavior” part of the clause, but there are otherwise no limits on their term.

In practice, this means they have their seat for life, unless they are impeached and removed by Congress. Only 15 federal judges in U.S. history have ever been impeached by Congress—all lower court judges—and only eight have been removed from office, though some have resigned before their inevitable removal.

The only Supreme Court justice Congress has tried to impeach was Samuel Chase, who was appointed by George Washington in 1796. Chase was an openly partisan Federalist vehemently opposed to Thomas Jefferson’s Democratic-Republican policies, and he wasn’t afraid to say so—either in his role as a lower court judge or once he was appointed to the Supreme Court.

In 1804, the House of Representatives, at then-president Jefferson’s urging, voted to impeach Chase, accusing him, among other things, of promoting his political views from the bench instead of ruling as a non-partisan judge. However, he was acquitted of all counts in the Senate, and went on to serve as a Supreme Court justice until his death in 1811.

The point of giving justices a seat on the bench for the rest of their lives (or, more commonly nowadays, until they decide to retire) is to shield the nation’s highest court from the kind of partisan fighting the Chase impeachment exemplified.

The Supreme Court acts as a check against the power of Congress and the president. The lifetime appointment is designed to ensure that the justices are insulated from political pressure and that the court can serve as a truly independent branch of government.

Justices can’t be fired if they make unpopular decisions, in theory allowing them to focus on the law rather than politics. Justices might be nominated because a president sees them as a political or ideological ally, but once they’re on the bench, they can’t be recalled, even if their ideology shifts. Some data, for instance, suggests that many justices actually drift leftward as they age.

Alexander Hamilton wrote in the Federalist No. 78:

The lack of term limits “is the best expedient which can be devised in any government, to secure a steady, upright, and impartial administration of the laws”.

The judiciary, he believed, “is in continual jeopardy of being overpowered, awed, or influenced by its coordinate branches”, and “nothing can contribute so much to its firmness and independence, as permanency in office.”.

Without lifetime job security, he argued, judges might feel obligated to bow to the wishes of the president, Congress, or the public, rather than confining their work strictly to questions of the Constitution.

While lifetime appointments may be a longstanding tradition in the U.S., this approach isn’t the norm in other countries. Most other democracies in the world have mandatory retirement ages if not hard-and-fast term limits for high court judges.

UK Supreme Court justices face mandatory retirement at age 70 (or 75 if they were appointed before 1995), as do judges on Australia’s High Court. Canadian Supreme Court justices have a mandatory retirement age of 75, while the 31 justices of India’s Supreme Court must retire by the age of 65.

Until her passing at the age of 87 on September 18, 2020, the oldest justice on the current U.S. Supreme Court was Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., the oldest justice in U.S. history, retired in 1932 at age 90.

Though the U.S. Supreme Court has never had term limits before, there have recently been serious proposals to implement them. Term limits, advocates argue, could combat partisan imbalances on the court. Presidents wouldn’t get to appoint justices purely based on whether someone died while they were in office, and the stakes for political parties nominating a justice would be slightly lower, possibly leading presidents and Congress to compromise more on appointments.

One popular suggestion among political analysts and scholars is to impose an 18-year term limit, though critics note that that particular plan does bring up the potential that at some point, a single president could end up appointing the majority of the justices on the court.

In any case, considering such a change would likely require a constitutional amendment, which means it’s probably not going to happen anytime soon. For the foreseeable future, being on the Supreme Court will continue to be a lifetime commitment.

Mental Floss / Wikipedia / Encyclopedia Britannica / Supreme Court of the United States.gov / Judicial Learning Center.org/ / Quora / Why Do Supreme Court Justices Serve for Life? (YouTube)

NAVSPEAK aka U.S. Navy Slang

Smurf: A recruit who is in his first few days of boot camp who hasn't been issued uniforms yet, and thus wears a “Smurf Suit” (see below).

Smurf Suit/Smurfs: Set of blue sweatpants and sweatshirt issued on arrival at boot camp; worn for the first several days and thereafter used mostly for Physical Training.

S.N.A.F.U.: “Situation Normal All Fucked Up”, or “Situation Normal All Fouled Up” if you are talking to your mother.

Snake Eaters: Special Forces personnel such as Navy SEALs, Green Berets, etc...

Snipes: Sailors assigned to the Engineering rates, i.e. Machinists Mates, Boilermen, Enginemen, Pipefitters, Damage Controlman, Hull Technicians, Electricians, Gas Turbine Technicians.

Snivel: To request time off or to not be scheduled, usually for personal reasons. Most schedule writers will have a “snivel log” for such requests, which may or may not be granted based on the needs of the unit and the sniveler's standing with the schedules officer (Skeds-O).

Spooks: Navy Cryptologic Technicians or other service equivalents. May also be applied to civilians from three-letter agencies riding a naval vessel.

S.N.O.B.: Shortest Nuke on Board. Term used to refer to the lucky nuke who gets out of the Navy next. This term usually only applies to nukes who have not re-enlisted (i.e. “first-termers”). In rare cases, the S.N.O.B. voluntarily relinquishes his/her title to a “second-termer” that gets out of the Navy earlier who exhibits extreme disgruntlement and is generally accepted by the “first-termers” as one of their own. This person would be given the title of “Honorary S.N.O.B.”.

Snot Locker: The storage area for snot - a person's nose.

Wiktionary.org

Just for you MARINE

SNAFU: Situation Normal, All Fucked Up. or Situation Now All Fucked Up.

SNCO: Staff Non-Commissioned Officer, Enlisted Marines of a rank having a pay grade of E-6 or higher: Staff Sergeant, Gunnery Sergeant, Master Sergeant, First Sergeant, Master Gunnery Sergeant and Sergeant Major.

SNCOIC: Staff Non-Commissioned Officer In Charge, a SNCO responsible for a group of Marines, but without the authority of a commissioned officer; sometimes also the senior enlisted Marine acting with the officer in charge. See also NCOIC & OIC.

Snap In: Conduct sighting in or aiming exercises with an unloaded weapon.

SNM: Said Named Marine. Used in written communications to avoid having to repeatedly type the Marine's rank and name after the first instance.

SNO In: Said Named Officer. Used in written communications to avoid having to repeatedly type the Marine's rank and name after the first instance.

Snow Job: Misleading or grossly exaggerated report; sales talk.

Snuffie or Snuffy: Junior Marine, Lance Corporal and below.

Wikipedia.org

Naval Aviation Squadron Nicknames

HSM-60 Helicopter Maritime Strike (HSM) Squadron SIX ZERO - nicknamed the “Jaguars”

United States Navy - Marine Corps Commander, Commander, Maritime Support Wing - U. S. Navy Reserve Squadron - Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Florida, Expeditionary Squadron / HSL-60 April 01, 2001 - July 2015 / HSM-60 July 2015 - present

Where Did That Saying Come From?

“A cat may look at a king:”

Meaning: An inferior isn't completely restricted in what they may do in the presence of a superior.

History: The origin of this proverb is unknown. What is known is that it is found first in print in a famous early collection of English proverbs,

“A Dialogue conteinyng the nomber in effect of all the Prouerbes in the Englishe tongue, 1562:”

“Some hear and see him whom he heareth nor seeth not

But fields have eyes and woods have ears, ye wot

And also on my maids he is ever tooting.

Can ye judge a man, (quoth I), by his looking?

What, a cat may look on a king, ye know!

My cat's leering look, (quoth she), at first show,

Showeth me that my cat goeth a caterwauling;

And specially by his manner of drawing

To Madge, my fair maid.”

In 1713, Oswald Dykes published English proverbs with moral reflexions. This used various well-known proverbs as a starting point for Dykes' to pronounce his political and social values. In this extract it isn't clear which king he was protecting, as Queen Anne was the British monarch at the time:

“Tis very true, Kings do not use to call Cats to an Account for their looks, or their undistinguishing Boldness:

But there are many Cats of this Kind, which are too much made of, indulg'd, and encourag'd, 'till they fly at last in the Face of sacred Majesty.

In this Sense, it is a true-blue Protestant-Proverb.

I do not know whether it was calculated for the Rabble or not; to pur and mew like Cats about a Throne, 'till at length they scratch the Hand that strokes them, and mob their Protector.

However, there has been ill use made on't; and it has often been extravagantly misapply'd to Outrage and Violence upon a King's Person, as well in Print, as in some Peoples Mouths.

Phrases.org.uk

Science & Technology

FEATURED: Changes in ocean chemistry show how sea level affects global carbon cycle • California's diesel emissions rules reduce air pollution, protect vulnerable communities

Researchers reveal cost of key climate solution • On-chip torsion balance with femtonewton force resolution at room temperature

Where do the gender differences in the human pelvis come from? • New light on baryonic matter and gravity on cosmic scales Phys.org / MedicalXpress / TechXplore

FEATURED: This rabbit walks on its ‘hands’ - Scientists think they’ve found the genetic reason why • What can ants, bees, and other social insects teach us about aging?

Tiny differences in plumage and song have split two nearly identical birds into different species • After more than 2 decades of searching, scientists finger cause of mass eagle deaths

Fly-eyed lens array captures dim objects missed by giant telescopes • Octopuses, like humans, sleep in two stages Science AAAS

Bizarre News (we couldn’t make up stuff this good - real news story)

What if humans didn't have an appendix?

That organ may not be a useless artifact of evolution after all.

The series “Imaginary Earths” speculates what the world might be like if one key aspect of life changed, whether related to the planet or humanity.

The appendix is often thought of as a useless artifact of evolution, much like the remnants of hind leg bones seen in whales. In fact, about 1 in 100,000 people are born without an appendix, according to a report in the journal Case Reports in Surgery. What might life be like then if everyone lacked an appendix?

The appendix is a small worm-shaped dead-end sac that juts out from the cecum, the beginning of the large intestine. Slightly more than 1 in 20 people get appendicitis, the potentially deadly inflammation of the appendix, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Charles Darwin suggested the appendix was a vestigial organ from ancestors that ate leaves, potentially helping them digest food. As these ancestors evolved to rely on a fruit-based diet that was easier to digest, Darwin speculated the appendix no longer served a function, much like the small triangular coccyx bone at the base of the human spine, a remnant of tail bones found in our distant ancestors.

However, “if Darwin knew then what scientists know now about the appendix, he would have never suggested it was a worthless vestige of evolution”, William Parker, an associate professor of surgery atDuke University School of Medicine in Durham, North Carolina, told Live Science.

In 2007, Parker and his colleagues found the appendix may serve as a reservoir of useful gut bacteria, the kind that help the body to digest food, they reported in the Journal of Theoretical Biology. When diseases flush both good and bad microbes from the gut, good bacteria can emerge from the safe harbor of the appendix to help restore the gut to a healthy state.

In addition, the appendix possesses a high concentration of lymphoid tissue. This tissue generates white blood cells known as lymphocytes that help mount immune system responses to invading germs, suggesting the appendix may help make, direct and train these immune cells, evolutionary biologist Heather F. Smith at Midwestern University in Glendale, Arizona, told Live Science.

When Smith, Parker and their colleagues investigated when the appendix evolved in the animal kingdom, they found the appendix has been around in mammalian evolution for at least 80 million years, much longer than expected if the appendix really was a vestige, they reported in 2009 in the Journal of Evolutionary Biology. Moreover, they also discovered the appendix evolved independently at least 32 times among mammals, in species as diverse as orangutans, wombats, platypuses, beavers, koalas, porcupines and manatees, they wrote in 2013 in the journal Comptes Rendus Palevol.

“When we looked in species that have an appendix, we didn't find any commonalities in diet or how social they are or where they lived, but species that did have an appendix had a concentration of immune tissue there, so given this common theme, one might presume a common function”, Smith said.

So what might happen “if you waved a magic wand and the appendix suddenly vanished?” Parker said. "That might depend on when in history it happened.”

If the appendix disappeared in a hunter-gatherer society "and a scientist from a spaceship or something watched what happened, you'd see a lot more people dying of infectious diseases than they would otherwise”, Parker said. “Then, over a long time, over millions of years, I think something would slowly evolve that worked the same as an appendix so that people wouldn't die so much.”

If the appendix vanished in a society with agriculture after people started living in settlements, “I think more people would die”, Parker said.“"People would have started living in crowded areas, and with poor sanitation, disease would spread more.”

If the appendix disappeared in a modern society after the Industrial Revolution, people would have antibiotics to help them survive, Parker said. However, without an appendix, people would not have the appendix's reservoir of helpful bacteria to help them recover from harmful infections. “When that happens, we may need to give people fecal transplants”, Parker said.

Yes, that's right, fecal transplants. These increasingly common procedures transfer feces from healthy people into the guts of patients with intestinal problems, via a tube or capsule placed down one's throat or up one's bottom. The idea is that the transplant will bring healthy bacteria into guts overrun by harmful microbes. Bodies overrun with harmful microbes may become more common as antibiotics get overused and germs evolve resistance against these drugs. “Fecal transplants don't encourage antibiotic resistance”, Parker said.

One potential upside of a world without appendixes is the disappearance of appendicitis.

Globally, “there are more than 10 million cases of appendicitis every year, and up to 50,000 people a year die from it”", Smith said. Appendectomies, or surgical removal of the appendix, “is one of the most frequently performed abdominal surgeries. If we didn't have the appendix in the first place, you wouldn't have people dying from appendicitis, and not costs from surgery and hospitalization.”

However, prior work has suggested that appendicitis may be due to cultural shifts linked with industrialized society and improved sanitation, Parker said. The idea goes that these shifts left our immune systems with too little work, opening up the possibility that they could go haywire without the appendix.

All in all, a world without an appendix might leave humanity struggling with germs more often. The idea that the appendix is an organ whose time has passed may have itself become a notion whose time is over.

Science Daily (03/27/2021)

Second Hand News: Articles from Week 22 - May 31, 2021 - June 06, 2021

CHINA MUST REVEAL COVID TRUTH: China warns Biden-ordered probe into Wuhan lab leak theory could be America's “Waterloo” and compares new COVID investigation to search for WMDs in Iraq • If China buries the truth on Wuhan lab, it could be the death of us all

China accused of “Worst Cover-up In Human History” and “more likely than not” COVID came from Wuhan lab - as ex-FDA commissioner says leaks “Happen All The Time” • World Health Organization (WHO) renames Indian variant “Covid Delta” with UK strain now “Alpha” as mutant bugs are rebranded with Greek alphabet letters to lose the “stigma” of geographic titles

Biden urges Americans to reflect on the “roots of racial terror in our nation” on Tulsa Massacre's 100th anniversary: 107-year-old survivor and victims' families gather amid their push for reparations • Biden's wants to let in MORE migrants: Documents reveal president's plan to reverse Trump's border policies by expanding eligibility to foreign farm workers, American Indians and asylum seekers

White House gives Republicans one week deadline to reach a deal with Democrats on $1.7T “infrastructure” bill or Biden will “go it alone” • Biden's Budget will “Drown Americans in Debt and Inflation:” Republicans tear into plan to use Tax Hikes to fund a 25% Increase in Spending, $36Billlion in “Climate Investments”, $2.1Billion for Gun Violence and $831Million to the “Root Causes” of Migration

Back to normal (almost): TSA says air travel increased 500% this Memorial Day weekend over the same time last year and AAA estimates 37M Americans hit the road • Worlds biggest meat supplier JBS is hit by cyberattack that shuts down plants in Australia and Canada - just weeks after Colonial Pipeline operations were halted by Russian infrastructure hack

SUV driven by three masked men who killed two and injured 23 after opening fire on Miami rap concert line is found abandoned in canal: City police chief warns of “long, bloody summer” • Off-duty NYPD officer is wounded after gunmen open fire on her home in attack “targeting her sister's MS-13 gang boyfriend” • Shocking moment black man sucker punches Asian woman in the face in New York City's Chinatown amid skyrocketing violent crime • Jeffrey Epstein prison guards who slept while he “committed suicide” planned to tell court that falsifying records was ROUTINE before striking plea deal Daily Mail

China’s State-Run Global Times After Biden Calls For Pandemic Probe: China Must Prepare For Nuclear War With U.S. • Senator Tom Cotton: “All Evidence Points Toward Those Labs In Wuhan” As Source Of COVID-19 Virus • Senator Rand Paul “Very Worried” U.S. Funding Being Used For Chinese “Frankenstein Super-Virus” Bioweapons

“Engrossed In Confrontation”, Creating An “Acute And Instable Situation”: North Korea Reacts To U.S.-South Korea Missile Agreement • Moscow To Biden: Russia To Send “A Number” Of “Uncomfortable” Signals To U.S. In Coming Days • Biden Uses Memorial Day Speech To Push Diversity; Argues That Democracy Is Under Attack, Should Be Fueled By “Empathy”

U.N. Watchdog Says It Has Been Unable To Access Iran’s Nuclear Program Data Since February • Syria Elected To World Health Organization Executive Board Despite Human Rights Abuses • Democrat Lawmaker: Holding Olympics In China “In Some Ways Worse Than” Holding 1936 Olympics In Nazi Germany

Education Insanity: Top 10 Stories Of The Week (Vol. 17) • World Health Organization (WHO) Renames COVID-19 Variants To Avoid Stigmatizing Countries • Portland Homicide, Gun Violence Rates Skyrocket After City Axes Gun Violence Reduction Team, Defunds Cops Daily Wire