All posts tagged: preferred

Montana senator pulls a fast one to boost preferred successor

Montana senator pulls a fast one to boost preferred successor

Published by Sam Flores

For months, the senior U.S. senator from Montana pondered his political future. Or so he said. Wrapping up his second term and facing a glide path to a third, Steve Daines unexpectedly opted this month against seeking reelection, saying in an aw-shucksy video he planned to spend more time back home in Montana and enjoy more cherished moments with his seven grandkids. Notably, after long “wrestling with this decision,” Daines announced his intent a scant two minutes after the deadline passed for candidates to put their names on the ballot. March 4 at 5:02 p.m local time, to be precise. More notable still, Daines’ preferred successor, Republican former U.S. Atty. Kurt Alme, jumped into the race at 4:52 p.m. that very same day. There are relay runners who might learn a thing or two from their timing and coordination. As part of the seamless handoff, Alme was swiftly endorsed by President Trump, Montana’s Republican governor, Greg Gianforte, and its other Republican senator, Tim Sheehy, for all intents settling the GOP contest and, quite likely, choosing …

Trump allies might get their preferred Democratic Senate candidate from Illinois

Trump allies might get their preferred Democratic Senate candidate from Illinois

Published by Sam Flores

In Illinois, Republicans may be about to get their preferred Senate candidates in the Democratic Party primary for Senate, where the early influx of big money has defined the race. In April 2025, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., who was first elected to the Senate in 1996 and is now the second-highest-ranking Democrat, announced his retirement after the 2026 election, setting off a race to fill the seat, the winner of which stands a good chance at serving just as long as Durbin. In May, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., entered the race and quickly established himself as the dominant fundraiser, with more than $21 million in his war chest by July. This cash, most of which came from his House campaign fund, fueled an early wave of TV ads that helped establish name recognition in the state and an early lead in the polls. Sam Weinberg, an Illinois Democratic strategist who most recently worked on Kat Abughazaleh’s House campaign in the state, told Salon that this early fundraising dominance came to define the race. “There’s been …

“People we had in mind are dead”: Trump admits US preferred successors to ayatollah were killed

“People we had in mind are dead”: Trump admits US preferred successors to ayatollah were killed

Published by Sam Flores

Donald Trump‘s plans for regime change in Iran have gone pear-shaped. The president told reporters on Tuesday that his administration’s preferred successors to the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei were killed in recent airstrikes on Iran. In a press conference at the White House, Trump openly worried that the attack on Iran would be for naught. “The worst case would be we do this and then somebody takes over who’s as bad as the previous person, right? That could happen. We don’t want that to happen,” he said. “You go through this and in five years you realize you put somebody in who is no better.” When asked who he would pick to lead the country, Trump admitted that his administration’s top candidates in the Iranian government had been killed.   “Most of the people we had in mind are dead,” he said. Now, we have another group. They may be dead also, based on reports. So I guess you have a third wave coming in. Pretty sure we’re not going to know …

Neanderthal males preferred human females, genetic study finds

Neanderthal males preferred human females, genetic study finds

Published by Jenni Sidey

Thin stretches of the human X chromosome look oddly empty when you scan for Neanderthal DNA. Geneticists even have a name for the gaps: “Neanderthal deserts.” They sit there like blank tape in an otherwise crowded recording. For years, the standard story went like this: Neanderthal DNA landed in our ancestors’ genomes. However, some of it was harmful, especially on the X chromosome. Natural selection, the thinking said, gradually stripped those “toxic” variants away. A new analysis from Sarah Tishkoff’s lab at the University of Pennsylvania argues that the emptiness may say more about who paired with whom than which genes were dangerous. In Science, the team reports a mirror-image pattern inside Neanderthal genomes. Neanderthals carried unusually high levels of modern human DNA on their X chromosomes compared with the rest of their genome. That reversal, they say, makes simple “toxicity” a much harder explanation to defend. The deserts and the old assumption “Along our X chromosomes, we have these missing swaths of Neanderthal DNA we call ‘Neanderthal deserts,’” says Alexander Platt, a senior research …

Here’s What Your Preferred Plane Seat Says About You

Here’s What Your Preferred Plane Seat Says About You

Published by Sam Flores

As I settled in for the 17-hour flight from Australia to the United States, I turned to the vacant seat between my wife and me and smiled. While other passengers might have thought it was a stroke of luck, they didn’t know this was deliberate. It was the result of my seat selection obsession. The ritual starts the moment I book a flight: I check legroom measurements and read seat reviews, then study the airline’s seat map to predict which seats will stay open. There are rules: I go for an aisle seat on the right side of the aircraft, and on wide-body planes with a 3-3-3 configuration, I pick one in the middle section. Even after I’ve locked in my seat, I can’t stop. In the days leading up to departure, I’m refreshing the “Manage My Booking” page, monitoring which seats fill up, debating whether to switch to 12D or stick with 11D. Turns out, plenty of travelers have their own versions of this routine. Some travelers insist on the same side of the …

Assortative mating develops naturally if mate preferences and preferred mate traits are heritable

Assortative mating develops naturally if mate preferences and preferred mate traits are heritable

Published by José Betancourt

A study in Australia ran a computer simulation that showed how assortative mating (the preference for romantic partners similar to oneself) arises spontaneously when heritable traits and heritable preferences for mates become associated through generations. The simulation showed that the heritability of mate preferences and preferred traits is sufficient to produce assortative mating without any other mechanisms. The paper was published in Psychological Science. Assortative mating is the tendency for individuals to choose partners who are similar to themselves in important traits, such as education, height, personality, or values. It is observed in humans and many animal species, making it a widespread pattern in nature. People tend to resemble their partners more than would be expected by chance. While this similarity can make communication and cooperation easier—whereas a large mismatch in vocabulary, cognitive capacities, or interests can make communication difficult—the study suggests these benefits are not necessary for the pattern to emerge. In humans, assortative mating frequently occurs regarding socioeconomic status. It can also happen for psychological traits, such as intelligence or mental health vulnerabilities. …