Hear about travel to Flanders in Belgium from the Amateur Traveler. I recently traveled to 5 cities in Belgium: Antwerp, Ghent, Ieper, Bruges and Brussels. Each of these historic cities is wonderfully picturesque, even on a grey November day. 

Hear about travel to Turks and Caicos as the Amateur Traveler talks to author Donna Seim about her favorite archipelago.

Hear about travel to Bordeaux, France as the Amateur Traveler talks to Jennifer Dombrowski from luxadventuretraveler.com about her new hometown in one of France's most famous wine regions.

Hear about travel to the German state of Baden-Württemberg as the Amateur Traveler, Chris Christensen, talks about his recent press trip there to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the bicycle. 

Hear about travel to The Hebrides as the Amateur Traveler talks to Matt Higgs about his trip to these remote islands in Scotland.

Hear about travel to Providence, Rhode Island as the Amateur Traveler talks to Tamara Gruber from we3travel.com and the Vacation Mavens podcast about travel other home town.

Hear about travel to Mechelen, Hasselt and Leuven in Northern Flanders (Belgium) as the Amateur Traveler talks to Sofie Couwenbergh from WonderfulWanderings.com about her country.

Hear about travel to Denmark as the Amateur Traveler talks to Joe Trevillion about a country where he has lived at times and where he has traveled recently.

Hear about travel to South Florida (Miami, Everglades National Park, and the Florida Keys) as the Amateur Traveler talks to Erik Smith from onmyfeetorinmymind.com about this diverse region.

Hear about traveling the Dempster Highway as the Amateur Traveler talks to Lisa from TheHotFlashPacker.com about this iconic drive into the Arctic Circle in Canada. 

Hear about travel to Virunga National Park as the Amateur Traveler talks to Niall from Ireland about his visit to this stunning national park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

A newly released Reuters/Ipsos poll evaluating President Donald Trump and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden in a head-to-head matchup shows troubling news for Biden. According to the poll, a lead once enjoyed by Biden has completely “evaporated,” while Trump’s numbers continue to ascend. Reuters/Ipsos said that “Joe Biden’s advantage over President Donald Trump in…

The post Biden’s Lead in Poll Tumbles as Trump Gains Support for Pandemic Response appeared first on The Western Journal.

After three decades of mystery, the cold case murder of a 17-year-old Ohio teen named Barbara Blatnik has been solved thanks in part to DNA genealogical research. The last time anyone saw Blatnik alive was around midnight on Dec. 19, 1987, when a friend dropped her off in Garfield Heights, Ohio. The following day, Blatnik,…

The post 32 Years After Teen’s Body Found Strangled on Side of Road, Suspect Finally Arrested appeared first on The Western Journal.

During times of panic and suffering, it is important to take a step back and remember that “God is always in control.” One NFL star known for proudly displaying his faith made that message quite clear during an episode of the Fox Nation show “Bible Study: Messages of Hope” which debuted this week. Demario Davis,…

The post ‘Man of God’ NFL Star Points Out Things To Be Grateful for During the Pandemic: ‘There’s So Much’ appeared first on The Western Journal.

The World Health Organization is once again facing increased scrutiny and outrage. The renewed public outcry is not, however, directed at the shoddy initial response to the ongoing global coronavirus pandemic, instead coming as a result of unsettling details recently discovered in the organization’s child and adolescent sexual education guidelines. Set forth by global health…

The post WHO Comes Under Fire for Saying Kids Under 4 Should Be Taught About ‘Early Childhood Masturbation’ appeared first on The Western Journal.

A powerful player on Facebook’s new content oversight board infamously mocked Barron Trump during last year’s impeachment hearings, sowing doubt in the social media platform’s promises of unbiased moderation. The selection of Pamela Karlan, a professor at Stanford Law School, was announced Wednesday by Facebook, according to CNBC. Karlan will sit alongside 19 other experts…

The post Academic Who Infamously Mocked Barron Trump Gets Censorship Gig from Facebook appeared first on The Western Journal.

The mainstream media is still a powerful entity in America, even as its influence wanes in favor of social media. The evidence of this has come again in recent polls that show Republican Gov. Rob DeSantis’ slipping poll numbers in Florida versus Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s rising numbers in New York. And the curious part…

The post Media Lies at Work: As NY Deaths Go Up, So Do Cuomo’s Polls – As FL Deaths Go Down, So Do DeSantis’ Polls appeared first on The Western Journal.

An evangelical church network in California will ignore Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom’s executive prohibitions this month, opening sanctuary doors for communal worship despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. According to Fox News, California Church United, representing roughly 3,000 churches and 2.5 million congregants statewide, announced Thursday that it will return to conducting in-person services by Pentecost…

The post Huge Group of California Churches Announces Plan To Defy Governor Newsom’s Order appeared first on The Western Journal.

Little Richard, the self-proclaimed “architect of rock ‘n’ roll” whose piercing wail, pounding piano and towering pompadour irrevocably altered popular music while introducing black R&B to white America, died Saturday. He was 87. Pastor Bill Minson, a close friend of Little Richard’s, told The Associated Press that Little Richard died Saturday morning. His son, Danny…

The post Little Richard, Flamboyant Rock ‘N’ Roll Pioneer, Dead at 87 appeared first on The Western Journal.

What one expert called “something out a monster cartoon” has now arrived in the United States. The Asian giant hornet, which can decimate bee colonies and is responsible for 50 deaths a year in Japan, is now in Washington state, according to The New York Times. A new threat reaches the United States: A massive…

The post Giant Asian ‘Murder Hornets’ Spotted in US for First Time appeared first on The Western Journal.

In just under five months, both President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden will, one assumes, step onto a debate stage at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. It’s one heck of an assumption, and for more reasons than one. We don’t know if there are going to be debates…

The post With Debate Months Away, It’s Clear Biden Isn’t Ready for a 1-on-1 with Trump appeared first on The Western Journal.

It’s not good for people to be alone. Quarantining has been difficult for many people who have gotten used to socializing daily, and because of that, some have found ways to follow the rules but feel a little less isolated. Some neighborhoods have decided to be social while maintaining the suggested distance apart, whether that’s…

The post ‘The Voice’ Contestant Alexa Cappelli Treats Neighbors to Weekly Performance in Her Cul-de-Sac appeared first on The Western Journal.

Some House Democrats have decided that the COVID-19 pandemic is an appropriate time to implement a key plank of the campaign of former Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. Reps. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts — who make up the…

The post ‘The Squad’ Pushes for Huge Student Loan Cancellation in Next Relief Bill appeared first on The Western Journal.

By easing distancing measures, the Greater Montreal area could experience a substantial increase in the number of deaths per day due to the coronavirus, according to a new document published by the Institut national de santé publique du Québec (INSPQ) in collaboration with experts from Laval University.

Record-breaking high and low temperatures were recorded in parts of Canada going into the weekend, including the nearly 28 C recorded in the Squamish area of British Columbia and the -4.2 C recorded in Kitchener, Ont.

Changes to a program designed to reunite refugees with family in the U.S. have slowed -- and in some cases outright denied -- legitimate entries into the country.

A year after the Obama administration changed its policy on which undocumented immigrants it would target for deportation, it's not clear who is being sent back.

The Assad government sought to promote regime-sponsored cultural events through a marketing campaign called "Summer in Syria," but the effort didn't exactly go as planned.

By the time Martin Smith reached Syria this past summer, the war was already in its fifth year, but life in regime-controlled areas was still largely a mystery.

A.C. Thompson and Richard Rowley’s search for answers into the killings of five Vietnamese-American journalists took them from cities like Houston and San Francisco, to the jungles of Southeast Asia, to the corridors of power in Washington.

Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has issued a cease-and-desist order to the nation’s two largest daily fantasy sports companies, saying that the betting that takes place on their sites breaks New York's online gambling laws.

As ISIS expands its reach into Afghanistan, it is training children and teenagers to become the next generation of jihadis.

Just days after the attack in Paris, America’s top intelligence official suggested that recent leaks about classified surveillance programs were partially responsible.

For many low income college students, school closures due to COVID-19 has affected the way they feed themselves. Read more...

All it took was a pandemic, but the long-running joke finally became a reality: DEF CON is canceled. 

The annual hacker conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, typically draws tens of thousands of attendees to talk shop, compare notes, and generally cause delightful mischief. One element of that mischief is the constant — and until now false — yearly claim that DEF CON is canceled. The coronavirus changed that, and the organization announced Friday that the in-person conference will not take place this year. 

"The #DEFCONiscanceled meme has crossed over into real life, courtesy of #COVID19," read the announcement. "In early March we had hopes that things would be stable by August. That is no longer realistic." Read more...

Google's video chat app got new features this week. No, the other one. No, the other other one.

In a Friday blog post, Google announced some snazzy new features for Duo, one of its three video chat services. Let's get this out of the way early: Duo is the one that's mobile-friendly and resembles FaceTime more than Hangouts and Meet.

The new features make more sense with that in mind. Google added something called "Family Mode" to Duo, in which you can draw silly little doodles on the video feed, presumably to amuse the little ones on the call. There are also AR effects you can use on one-on-one calls on Android and iOS, similar to those available on Facebook's video calls. Read more...

TL;DR: Give a meaningful gift during these difficult times with a Tribute Video Montage for $64.99, a 34% saving as of May 9.

A Zoom happy hour only goes so far.

If you're looking for a way to celebrate and send affection to your loved ones, regardless of the reason, check out Tribute Video Montage as an alternative to those wonky (and sometimes awkward) video calls. 

Sending a Tribute might just be one of the best morale-boosting presents you can send during these trying times. It's a way for friends and family to share their love and appreciation for someone they want to celebrate, whether for a major milestone, like a 50th anniversary or 30th birthday or just because. The platform is super easy to use and breaks a 10-hour process down to just 10 minutes. Read more...

Internet of Yum digs into all the things that make us drool while we're checking our feeds.

The famously sensitive strongman, actor Terry Crews, is screaming at the top of his lungs. In another time and place, you would be sure he was getting tortured. Which, essentially he is — just not as a form of punishment. Instead, the misery is all in the name of promotional entertainment, with Crews' self-inflicted tears generating views for the YouTube series Hot Ones.

Across the centuries, people have watched transfixed as others dare to eat disgusting, torturous, or sickening amounts of food. The specifics change with the venue, but it is a consistent form of entertainment.  Read more...

The coronavirus pandemic has many of us nostalgic for a simpler time — maybe when we were teenagers and/or watching our favorite early oughts sitcoms. 

Actress Cobie Smulders seems to be feeling that itch, and sensed we are too. The former How I Met Your Mother actress decided to recreate her character Robin Scherbatsky's hit song from the series, "Let's Go to The Mall."

For those who need a refresher, "Let's Go to The Mall" was released during Robin's short career as a pop star (under the name Robin Sparkles) in her homeland of Canada. While it has all the flair of an '80s banger — jelly bracelets, worshipping the mall — it was released in the '90s because apparently that's when '80s culture reached Canada.  Read more...

The internet is a scary enough place as it is, and now with the added misinformation and panic surrounding the coronavirus pandemic, it's even scarier. Thanks to the United Nations and dozens of artists, however, the internet just got a little more beautiful. 

In late March, the UN put a call out to artists to help combat the spread of COVID-19. They sought creatives to create content around six areas of WHO and UN priority actions: personal hygiene, social distancing, knowing the symptoms, spreading kindness, myth-busting, and doing more/donating. Tens of thousands of artists answered the call in two weeks, and now the COVID-19 Response Creative Content Hub is available for browsing.  Read more...

Even with a stellar crisis plan, the COVID-19 pandemic presents a set of challenges unprecedented in our lifetimes. We don’t know what’s going to happen, and we’re dealing with something growing exponentially, creating uncertainty on a global scale. I managed a team of 40 in Singapore during SARS. That crisis was different, hitting Singapore and […]

Rita J. King, co-director and EVP for business development at Science House, recently conducted a series of interviews with business leaders, exploring the challenges and hurdles companies face in evolving business landscapes. In this interview, King chats with Craig Lemasters, CEO of Global Executive Group, about what companies face when navigating the digital transformation. They […]

Rita J. King, co-director and EVP for business development at Science House, recently conducted a series of interviews with business leaders, exploring the challenges and hurdles companies face in evolving business landscapes. In this interview, King chats with James Jorasch, founding CEO of Science House, about the importance of innovation and how to inspire and […]

Rita J. King, co-director and EVP for business development at Science House, recently conducted a series of interviews with business leaders, exploring the challenges and hurdles companies face in evolving business landscapes. In this interview, King chats with Jen Bruno, SVP of culture and human capital at LPL Financial, about mobilizing a change-ready workforce, leadership […]

I interviewed four business leaders in late 2019 to get their perspectives on the biggest obstacles and opportunities organizations are facing. Craig Lemasters was the president and CEO of Assurant Solutions. Under his leadership, Assurant Solutions doubled in size to $4B, underwent a digital transformation to expand an offering of risk management solutions in the […]