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Tulsi Gabbard’s ties to secretive cult may explain her perplexing political journey

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Tulsi Gabbard has staked out extreme positions on LGBT+ rights, spread disinformation about Ukrainian biolabs, and claimed she was being shadowbanned by Big Tech while using her vast social media footprint to label Joe Biden a “warmonger”.

In one breath Gabbard expresses a desire to bring love and aloha from her native Hawaii to the world, in the next she is fanning conspiracy theories on Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show.

This week, Gabbard announced she was leaving the Democratic Party, claiming it had become “an elitist cabal of warmongers driven by cowardly wokeness”.

The decision came as little surprise to anyone who has followed her political trajectory from 2020 Democratic presidential candidate to darling of Russian propagandists and the American far-right.

To understand her ambitions, her aunt Dr Caroline Sinavaiana Gabbard tells The Independent in an interview that it is necessary to look to her upbringing in a secretive cult called the Science of Identity Foundation (SIF) whose members show absolute loyalty to a reclusive guru, Chris Butler.

A former member toldThe Independent the group’s teachings are virulently homophobic, often anti-Islamic and misogynist, and how they were forced to worship Butler, who is considered to be akin to a God.

Sinavaiana Gabbard says her niece’s career is all about the pursuit of power, and her bid for the presidency in 2020 was the culmination of four decades of Butler’s efforts to seek political influence.

Dr Caroline Sinavaiana Gabbard says her niece Tulsi Gabbard is heavily influenced by reclusive Hawaiian guru Chris Butler

(Supplied)

“Once again I find my niece’s apparent penchant for parroting extremist toadies such as Tucker Carlson and vile ‘strongmen’ such as Vladimir Putin, to be problematic and deeply troubling,” Sinavaiana Gabbard, a retired professor of English at the University of Hawaii, told The Independent.

“​It gives me no pleasure to ​note that Tulsi’s single governing principle seems to be expedience, which is in effect no principle at all.”

‘Tulsi, our friend’

In her keynote address to the Conservative Political Action Conference back in February, Tulsi Gabbard described the various ways she had been smeared by her political opponents.

“I’m sure you’ve all heard them before,” Gabbard said. “Russian asset. White supremacist. Bigot. Racist. Extremist. Traitor.”

Gabbard was given several standing ovations by the grandees of the Republican Party for her scattershot attacks on cancel culture, the power elite, and “Biden-Clinton-neocon-neolib foreign policy”.

Gabbard is a veteran who served a tour of Iraq, still serves with the National Guard, and has spoken about how witnessing first-hand the horrors of war led her to take an anti-interventionist stance on US foriegn policy.

In statements after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Gabbard contended that Ukraine was not worth protecting because it “isn’t actually a democracy,” and that the US-funded “biolabs” could result in the release of “dangerous pathogens”.

This baseless claim echoed Russian propaganda that the United States was funding labs in Ukraine to make illegal biological weapons for use against Russia.

Republican Senator Mitt Romney responded by saying Gabbard was spreading “treasonous lies”.

Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democrat congresswoman for Hawaii

(Fox News)

Gabbard was not deterred, telling Jesse Watters on 15 March that freedom of speech in the US was at similar risk to Russia, which has banned all criticism of the government and imprisoned tens of thousands of protestors.

“It is striking when you see Putin propaganda and you line it up against Biden propaganda,” she said.

Politifact rated the statement a “pants on fire” lie.

Her pro-Kremlin talking points led to Russian state-TV introducing her as “Tulsi, our friend.”

After airing part of her Fox interview, a panelist asked: “Is she some kind of Russian agent?”

Gabbard went on to guest host Tucker Carlson’s show in August.

Gabbard’s political donations have also come under scrutiny over her pro-Russian positions.

Forbes revealed earlier this year that Gabbard’s biggest political donor in 2021 is a pro-Putin apologist.

And in March, it was revealed that Elena Branson, a dual US-Russian citizen accused of spying for the Kremlin, donated to her campaign for reelection to Congress in 2019.

Gabbard has consistently echoed GOP positions on immigration and LGBT+ issues, and recently claimed that Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill was too moderate.

“When I first heard about Florida’s Parental Rights bill, I was shocked it only protects children K-3. Third grade? How about 12th grade—or not at all,” she said.

In 2015, she flew to Syria to meet with the dictator Bashar al-Assad as he was waging a brutal war against his own people.

She has courted Egyptian president Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, whose regime has killed and imprisoned thousands of subjects since assuming power in a coup in 2014.

And the authoritarian-leaning Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi sent a personal emissary to her 2015 wedding in Hawaii.

She also declined to vote to impeach Donald Trump during his first trial in December 2019, instead registering herself as “present”.

Her defection from the Democrats could pave the way for the 41-year-old to potentially run for the Republican nomination in 2024.

Tulsi Gabbard speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Orlando in February

(REUTERS)

‘They said he could read your mind’

Despite holding trenchant views on all manner of subjects, Gabbard has been vague about her links to the Science of Identity Foundation, and did not respond to several requests for comment for this article.

In an online biography, she describes herself as “interfaith”, and says some of her earliest memories are from the “fragrant aromas of both Christian and Hindu celebrations”.

Science of Identity founder Chris Butler, who Tulsi Gabbard has referred to as her ‘guru dev’, or spiritual leader

(Science of Identity Foundation / YouTube)

But in interviews and speeches, she has acknowledged and defended her links to Butler, referring to him as her “guru dev” – or spiritual leader – in 2015.

Butler is rarely seen in public these days, with the Science of Identity Foundation regularly posting decades old clips of his teachings on YouTube.

The foundation did not respond to a request for comment for this article.

In a 2017 interview with The New Yorker, Gabbard said she had never heard Butler “say anything hateful, or anything mean about anybody”.

“I can speak to my own personal experience and, frankly, my gratitude to him, for the gift of this wonderful spiritual practice that he has given to me, and to so many people.”

Butler gave a rare interview for the same New Yorker article in 2017, saying that he did have disciples, but rejecting claims he was an authoritarian.

Butler, who also goes by the name Jagad Guru, or teacher of the world, said he preferred to think of himself as a follower or student, rather than a teacher or leader.

He described his relationship with his devotees as one of love.

Sinavaiana Gabbard remembers learning some 40 years ago that her brother Mike – Tulsi’s father and longterm Hawaiian state lawmaker – had joined the Science of Identity.

The extended family were gathering for Sunday brunch, a weekly feast and cultural institution in Samoa. When Mike announced he and his family had become strict vegetarians, her mother was deeply upset.

Then seemingly overnight, her nephews, Tulsi’s older brothers, had new Sanskrit names.

She says as a child of the ‘60s, she didn’t find this strange, but it was an “unsettling” adjustment for her parents.

She later learned that the whole family were “prostrating at the feet” of Butler, a “white surfer dude”.

Dr Carolina Sinavaiana Gabbard with her brother Mike Gabbard, a Hawaiian state senator

(Supplied)

Tulsi attended a Science of Identity boarding school in the Philippines, according to several sources, and spent her formative years and schooling sheltered from outside influences, her aunt said.

The Science of Identity Foundation (SIF) was formed in 1977 by Chris Butler as a breakaway sect of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), also known as the Hare Krishna movement.

Its stated aim is to “pass on the ancient teachings of yoga in a scientific, logical, and clear manner so that people can, with intelligence, seriously contemplate upon, consider”.

However, former members have been speaking out about the abusive practices of the Science of Identity Foundation for several years.

‘Degrading language’

Oklahoma woman Robin Marshall, 40, who spent six months at a SIF retreat in Hawaii in the early 2000s, told The Independent recruits were taught to be “highly homophobic”.

“They told us: ‘We don’t associate with f**s’,” using a homophobic slur.

“The hatred, the degrading language, it was just one thing after another.”

Robin Marshall, a mother from Oklahoma, said the Science of Identity Foundation are an abusive cult

(Supplied)

She was played recordings of Butler who she says espoused extreme homophobic views.

“They said he could read your mind. They were wholly and fully indoctrinated into this idea that Chris Butler was basically God.”

Marshall says she was aware back then of Tulsi Gabbard as a rising star within the foundation. She said it was “inconceivable” that anyone involved with the group was not being directed by Butler.

“I feel like when you vote for somebody who is heavily tied into SOF, you’re not voting for that person, you’re voting for Chris Butler, as a servant of the servant of God.”

In 2019, the Iowa Informer published an investigation by freelance journalist Christine Gralow that reviewed Butler’s decades of teachings, including the many homophobic references he has made over the years.

In a 2017 Medium post, a woman who has since left SIF described how she was taught that life was an “illusion”, and followers were instructed to only develop a relationship with Butler.

“We were in effect isolated from our parents who did their best to not love us as per his recommendation, and instead looked at him like a surrogate father/messiah figure.”

“What I am concerned about is the control I know Chris Butler has over her, the influence he has over her ability to make decisions, decisions that could become law and impact a whole lot of people,” describing him as an abusive, misogynistic, homophobic, germophobic, narcissistic nightmare.

When Gabbard ran for president in 2020, virtually her entire campaign staff were members of the Science of Identity, Sinavaiana Gabbard told The Independent.

Mike Gabbard is running for reelection to the Hawaiian state senate

(Mike Gabbard / YouTube)

Indeed, her political career has been guided by her father Mike Gabbard, a Hawaiian state senator, and the former “poster boy” of anti-LGBT+ activism in the island state.

Before she was elected to the Hawaii state house of representatives in 2002 at the age of 21 years old, the youngest legislator in the state’s history, Gabbard worked for Mike’s The Alliance for Traditional Marriage, a political action committee that opposed LGBTQ rights legislation.

After 9/11, Gabbard enlisted in the Hawaii National Guard so she could “go after the terrorists who attacked us”.

Gabbard was elected to the US House of Representatives in 2013 at the age of 33, becoming the first Hindu and Samoan-American in Congress.

She quickly became a regular critic of President Barack Obama for his refusal to use the term “radical Islam”, and a favourite of Fox News host Sean Hannity.

Those views align with tapes of Butler’s Islamaphobic teachings that have been widely circulated online.

The Science of Identity Foundation is thought to have just a few thousand members in the US, Philippines, New Zealand and Australia.

But due to its outsize influence on Hawaiian politics, and possible future presidential candidate, Sinavaiana Gabbard said she felt it was important to speak out about the group – and her niece.

“As a historian and lifelong student of eastern philosophies and religions, I find SIF’s role as uncritical cheerleader, if not patron and primary generator, of Tulsi’s checkered political agenda and intemperate, right wing associations to be troubling in the extreme.

“In any case, I feel impelled to state for the record that in no way whatsoever does Tulsi speak for me, nor my family or culture.”

‘Anti-white racism’

In a statement released to Twitter this week, Gabbard claimed the Democrats were trying to “divide us by racialising every issue”, stoking “anti-white racism”, and actively working to undermine “God-given freedoms”.

“President Biden and Democratic Party elites have pushed us to the precipice of nuclear war, risking starting World War III and destroying the world as we know it,” she said, while spouting Republican talking points about “wokeness” and “elites”.

Gabbard also announced the launch of a podcast series on YouTube called “The Tulsi Gabbard Show”. 

She did not respond to a request for comment.



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Science

Debris from most spectacular outburst might explain perplexing comet behavior

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Debris from the most spectacular comet outburst ever is visible from Earth this month and astronomers hope the observations might shed some light on the puzzling event that brightened up the sky in 2007. 

When the faint Comet 17P/Holmes erupted with the brightest cometary burst ever observed in October 2007, astronomers watched in awe. It wasn’t the first time this underwhelming 2.1-mile-wide (3.4 kilometers) comet did it. In fact, the ice ball was only discovered thanks to a similar outburst in 1892. 

Debris from the 2007 outburst, which at that time created a coma wider than the sun, still orbits in the central solar system, periodically crossing the trajectory of Earth. This month, it can be visible to amateur telescopes, and a team of scientists from Finland encourages skywatchers to look for it, as the observations might help explain what is so special about 17P/Holmes. The best time to observe Comet 17P/Holmes is after Aug. 22 to avoid interference from the bright moon, amateur astronomers have said.

Related: When to look for Comet 17P/Holmes in the August sky

“This comet is different from other comets because other comets have not produced such outbursts,” Markku Nissinen, a Finnish amateur astronomer who observed the 2007 outburst and has studied Comet 17P/Holmes ever since, told Space.com. “It’s a Jupiter family comet and there are hundreds such comets but none of these has ever done this. There must be something different about this one.”

Jupiter family comets orbit the sun in elliptical orbits with the farthest points between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter and the nearest point close to the star. They usually complete one orbit in about 20 years, brightening up everytime they warm up closer to the sun. Because of these frequent visits to the central solar system, Jupiter family comets gradually become fainter and fainter as the warm environment depletes the volatile materials that are responsible for the creation of their bright cometary tails. 

But 17P/Holmes doesn’t follow this pattern, which, Nissinen says, suggests that the comet might have a different chemical composition than all those other Jupiter-family comets known. 

“It’s possible that this comet formed in a different place of the solar nebula,” Nissinen said. 

Maria Gritsevich, a planetary scientist at the University of Helsinki in Finland, who co-authored several studies about comet 17P/Holmes with Nissinen, told Space.com that strangely, the comet doesn’t produce the outbursts during every visit into the central solar system. 

“[These outbursts] always appear when the comet passes a short distance from the sun, so it seems to be heat-related,” Gritsevich said. “But the outbursts don’t seem to be periodical. They are rather random.”

Gritsevich hopes that observations of the debris streams could start answering some of these questions. From measuring the brightness of the particles, their sizes and distribution, the astronomers can glean insights about their physical and chemical properties. 

Nissinen added that an infrared observatory, such as the James Webb Space Telescope, could easily uncover the mysteries of 17P/Holmes by measuring absorption spectra of the comet’s dust, which would reveal its chemical composition in great detail. 

“The dust is well observable in mid-infrared [wavelengths],” Nissinen said. “If they could observe it from space with the James Webb Space Telescope, that would be really interesting.”

Follow Tereza Pultarova on Twitter @TerezaPultarova. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook. 



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Science

Pandas evolved their most perplexing feature at least 6 million years ago

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But their ancestors, like most bears, ate a much wider diet that included meat, and it was thought that modern pandas’ exclusive diet evolved relatively recently. However, a new study finds that pandas’ particular passion for bamboo may have originated at least 6 million years ago — possibly due to the plant’s wide, year-round availability.

To survive solely on low-nutrient bamboo, modern pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) have developed a peculiar sixth finger, a thumb of sorts that allows them to easily grasp bamboo stalks and strip the leaves.

“Tightly holding bamboo stems in order to crush them into bite sizes is perhaps the most crucial adaptation to consuming a prodigious quantity of bamboo,” said study author Xiaoming Wang, curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, in a statement.

Wang and his team identified much earlier proof of pandas having an extra finger — and thus an all-bamboo diet — in the form of a fossilized digit dating back 6 to 7 million years. The fossil, unearthed in Yunnan Province in southwest China, belonged to a panda ancestor known as Ailurarctos.

The new research published Thursday in the journal Scientific Reports.

While the giant panda’s sixth digit is not as elegant or dexterous as human thumbs, the persistence of this “distinctive morphology” over millions of years suggested that it plays an essential function for survival, the study noted.

Evolutionary compromise

But what was particularly puzzling to the scientists involved in the study was that this fossilized structure was longer than those of modern giant pandas, which have a shorter, hooked sixth finger.

Wang and his colleagues think modern pandas’ shorter sixth digit is an evolutionary compromise between the need to manipulate bamboo and the need to walk and carry their hefty bodies.

“Five to six million years should be enough time for the panda to develop longer false thumbs, but it seems that the evolutionary pressure of needing to travel and bear its weight kept the ‘thumb’ short — strong enough to be useful without being big enough to get in the way,” said study coauthor Denise Su, an associate professor at the School of Human Evolution and Social Change and research scientist at the Institute of Human Origins at Arizona State University, in a statement.

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Science

Invisible Walls In Space May Explain a Problem That Has Been Perplexing Scientists

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One of the biggest challenges to our traditional understanding of the cosmos is something called the “satellite disk problem.” In essence, scientists are confused because smaller galaxies orbit larger galaxies in thin, flat planes rather than the messier orbits that would be expected under the Lambda cold dark matter (ΛCDM) model — the “fanastically successful paradigm” that defines how we observe space.

In order to get around this issue, scientists are now positing that particles called “symmetrons” are generating invisible walls in space, which astronomers refer to as “domain walls.” This in turn creates what astronomers Aneesh Naik and Clare Burrage of the University of Nottingham describe as a potential “fifth force” in physics.

Scientists think they may have an explanation for why smaller galaxies orbit larger galaxies on thing, flat planes. Image Credit: NASA Image and Video Library

In a new article found here, as reported by BGR, the pair say they were able to demonstrate the effect using a “simple simulations of a toy model comprising point-like satellites and an infinite domain wall.” The new theory is notable because it explains the satellite disk problem without doing away with dark matter.

Dark matter is a nonluminous material that accounts for approximately 85 percent of the matter in the universe. It can take several forms, from weakly interacting particles to high-energy randomly moving particles created in the wake of the Big Bang.

Dark matter is still not well understood by scientists. Just recently, scientists were baffled by a diffuse galaxy that appeared to be lacking dark matter. Like so much of the rest of the universe, its true nature remains a mystery.

In the meantime, scientists will continue to investigate the potential of “symmetrons” with more detailed simulations. For more science news, check out how NASA is planning to use Unreal Engine 5 to prepare astronauts for Mars, as well as how newly-discovered fossils reveal the ways in which ancient dogs differed from our own faithful companions.

Blogroll Image Credit: NASA Image and Video Library

Kat Bailey is a Senior News Editor at IGN as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.

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Sports

Arizona State president tries to exonerate Herm Edwards from wrongdoing, perplexing many within sport

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TEMPE, Ariz. — Arizona State president Michael Crow seemed to exonerate coach Herm Edwards from wrongdoing Wednesday amid an ongoing NCAA investigation into reported major recruiting violations.

“These are not things he was a part of,” Crow said on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM.

The statement is the most revealing regarding Edwards’ job since the Arizona State scandal broke in June 2021.

Initial reports stated both ASU and the NCAA had been sent a “dossier” detailing evidence of the program bringing in recruits during the extended NCAA dead period due to COVID-19. Among the items reportedly in the dossier is a photo that appears to show Edwards leading a top 100 recruit around the ASU weight room, according to Yahoo Sports.

247Sports’ Chris Karpman further reports that Edwards is known to have met with numerous prospects both on and off campus during the no contact period.

Despite Crow’s assertions, Edwards himself participated in meetings with recruits on ASU’s campus and at off-campus locations including at a rented home in Paradise Valley that was secured specifically for the purposes of recruiting, during a 14-month period when it was not permitted due to the pandemic, three people with direct knowledge of the encounters told Sun Devil Source.

Crow was not asked about those reports during his radio appearance. He told CBS Sports he will not comment further at this time.

Since August, five Arizona State assistant coaches have either been resigned, left for other jobs or been fired. Last week, quarterback Jayden Daniels transferred after initial indications were that he was staying with the program.

College football sources across the country contacted by CBS Sports are incredulous that Edwards has survived while his coaching staff has been gutted.

In the radio interview, Crow was asked by host Dan Bickley why Edwards still has his job.

“Coach Edwards has done an outstanding job of upgrading our program,” Crow said. “We’ve got this collision of people who have decided not to play by the rules relative to recruiting. We’ll be looking at how we can make improvements. … Coach Edwards is responsible for the actions of all of his people. But these are not things he asked them to do. These are not things he was a part of.”

Crow added that resolution of the case might be 10-12 months away.

The dead period began in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and lasted for more than a year to June 1, 2021. It was a frustration for a lot of coaches who could not meet recruits face to face. However, most adhered to the rule during the pandemic. Tennessee is also being investigated for alleged violations similar to those allegedly committed by Arizona State.

CBS Sports determined that the NCAA has been interviewing ASU recruits since at least August after the story broke.

Even if the school contends Edwards did not know meeting recruits in person was against the rules, the NCAA could still claim he violated the coach responsibility bylaw (11.1.1). That bylaw states a head coach is “presumed to be responsible” for the actions of his assistant coaches and is responsible for “promoting an atmosphere of compliance”.

In the last two days, Edwards, Crow and Arizona State athletic director Ray Anderson have all been asked about the investigation by Arizona Sports 98.7 FM. Any information revealed publicly about an NCAA investigation could be in violation of the confidentiality procedures.

“The NCAA process is in control here; we do not control it,” Anderson said. “It can be glacial by any standards. … We’ve got to be patient as required. We’re going to do that before we make any final determinations of our program, who leads it.

“I certainly, personally. don’t believe any rush to judgement is justified here in this case at ASU.”

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Business

Perplexing jobs report raises concerns about absent workers

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The perplexing December jobs report is raising concerns about how many Americans may have permanently left the labor force because of the COVID-19 pandemic.  

The U.S. added 199,000 jobs last month, well below economists’ expectations, but the unemployment rate dropped sharply to 3.9 percent, the Labor Department reported Friday. Wages also rose 0.6 percent last month while labor force participation stayed flat, a sign of growing demand for workers before the omicron variant took off in the U.S.

Employers have struggled for months to hire and retain workers, who have enjoyed new leverage in pandemic-restrained economy.  

There were more than 10 million open jobs posted in November, according to Labor Department data released Tuesday, and more workers voluntarily left their jobs — likely to take new ones at higher pay — than ever before. Jobless claims have also lingered below pre-pandemic levels since mid-November with businesses desperate to avoid layoffs of scarce workers.

Even so, the intense need for labor has not drawn roughly 1.7 million Americans who left the labor force in 2020 — and thus aren’t counted in the unemployment rate — back into the job hunt.  

“The unemployment rate is now only 0.4 percentage point higher than it was prior to the pandemic. But with 1.7 million fewer people in the labor force than would be expected given the state of the economy, the labor market is less recovered than the unemployment rate would suggest,” wrote Jason FurmanJason FurmanManchin’s ‘intervention’ may have saved the Democratic Party — for now Liberal economists got the memo: Build Back Better couldn’t possibly worsen inflation Biden should signal to the Fed that it’s okay to raise rates next year MORE, a top economic advisor in the Obama White House, and Wilson Powell III of Harvard University, in a Friday analysis.

Meager labor force participation can limit economic growth and productivity while leaving more Americans out of the full benefits of the post-pandemic recovery. Bringing more Americans back to work is also key for reducing pressure on supply chains and consumer prices, which rose in November at the fastest annual pace in four decades.  

Economists expected COVID-19 vaccines, the end of federal pandemic jobless aid, and school reopenings to help draw Americans back to labor force last year. It is not yet clear how the omicron variant will affect the economy, but many economists fear it could keep many of those workers out of the labor market—if they ever planned to come back.

Surging cases have spurred many schools and service-sector businesses to limit or eliminate in-person interaction. And while omicron appears to be less severe for those who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, health experts say it is still likely to overwhelm hospitals with sick patients.

“These less than stellar numbers were recorded before the omicron variant started to spread significantly in the United States. Hopefully the current wave of the pandemic will lead to limited labor market damage,” explained Nick Bunker, research director at Indeed, in a Friday analysis.

“The labor market is still recovering, but a more sustainable comeback is only possible in a post-pandemic environment,” he continued.

With no end to the pandemic in sight, the Fed is facing difficult choices about how to best position the economy to keep expanding without boosting pressure on employers.

The Fed last month announced it would reduce its monthly bond purchases at a faster pace and hinted toward an interest rate hike as soon as March. While the Fed had been wary of pulling back on stimulus and limiting future job growth, the bank has since pivoted to staving off higher and broader inflation.

“The reality is we don’t have a strong labor force participation recovery yet, and we may not have it for some time,” Fed Chair Jerome PowellJerome PowellThe FOMC minutes are a wakeup call for investors Biden faces time crunch to pick financial watchdogs Can the Federal Reserve engineer a soft landing for the US economy? MORE told reporters after the bank’s monetary policy committee met last month.

“At the same time, we have to make policy now and inflation is well above target, so this is something we need to take into account,” he continued.

Fed officials acknowledge that a deep omicron-driven downturn could weaken the economy enough to take pressure off inflation at the cost of fewer job gains. But some economists insist the Fed should not hike in March even if demand for workers remains high.

Adam Ozimek, chief economist at Upwork, said the U.S. may actually be gaining more jobs than the monthly employment report indicates. The Labor Department has made substantial upward revisions to previous monthly job gains, which are calculated through a survey of businesses, and added 114,000 to October and November’s totals in the latest report.

“The establishment data makes it look like job growth is slowing down. And if job growth is slowing down while labor demand is high, that would suggest that a lot of people have permanently or semi-permanently excellent labor force. And if you throw the high inflation in with that, it begins to look like a coherent story. But I really don’t believe it,” Ozimek said.

He added that a lack of significant uptake in Social Security collection and a deep need for lower-paying jobs means the Fed should be patient in allowing the economy to recover.

“They really need to see what’s happened to underlying job growth, and the signals are just too murky there to conclude that it’s slowed down,” Ozimek said.



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Science

Gripping Ripples: NASA Stunned by Perplexing Stripes Dotting Russia’s Arctic Siberia in Satellite Pics

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Waves and creases along the banks of Siberia’s Markha River appear to look more like stripes in recently published images, yet it remains unknown if the geological build-up is solely responsible for the weird pattern.

NASA researchers have unveiled what has been deemed as a quintessentially Siberian curiosity, posting a slew of satellite images of a remarkably wrinkled landscape in the vicinity of the Markha River in Arctic Siberia.

Captured with a Landsat 8 satellite over several years, the series of photos show the land on both sides of the Markha River creased with alternating dark and light stripes, irrespective of the season, although it becomes more obvious in winter when the whiteness of snow makes the contrast in the “texture” of the landscape much starker.


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Magical Blue Eye of Siberia: Changing Seasons on Lake Baikal

One of the suggested explanations for the phenomenon lies in inherent geological features. According to the space agency, this region of the Central Siberian Plateau is covered in permafrost for the lion’s share of the year, though it occasionally – albeit briefly – thaws.

Those stretches of land that repeatedly freeze, thaw, and freeze anew have been known to take on strange circular or stripy shapes, making the nearby ground peculiarly pattered, scientists reported in a study published in January 2003 in the journal Science. The pattern occurs when soils and stones sort themselves in a natural way during the freeze-melt intervals.

Another possible explanation is erosion, scientists believe. Thomas Crafford, a geologist with the US Geological Survey, told NASA that the stripes resemble a pattern in sedimentary rocks commonly referred to as layer cake geology. These patterns occur when melted snow or rain trickles downhill, cutting and flushing pieces of sedimentary rock into piles. The process can reveal slabs of sediment that resemble slices of a layer cake, Crafford explained, with the darker stripes representing steeper sretches of land while the lighter stripes point to flatter areas.

As follows from the images provided by NASA, this type of sedimentary layering stand out more during the cold season, when white snow stays on flatter areas longer, making them appear to be lighter. Crafford added though that this naturally crafted design fades in areas closer to the river, where sediment piles up more uniformly along the banks, and where increased erosion by water has been taking place for millions of years.



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