1556: Uncertainty Complex

ITM Gents,

On Sunday's episode y'all spoke about the feasibility of running AI models on personal hardware. It is accurate that one can run many models, including the 'good' ones, on any modern personal gaming machine. With a video card such as a 4090, it is even possible to develop and lightly train new models within a reasonable timeframe.

As background, we were the development team behind projects like Truth Social, Inside.com, and Shipt. We are concentrating heavily on the "AI" gold rush, and can confirm that Adam is correct regarding local execution of these models.

Open-source and source-available language models can be tested and run using [text-generation-webui](https://github.com/oobabooga/text-generation-webui), allowing Llama and other LLMs to operate on commodity hardware. Similarly, for image generation, [Stable Diffusion Web UI](https://github.com/AUTOMATIC1111/stable-diffusion-webui/) facilitates comparable functionality. Some models can even be run (but not trained) on phone hardware.

If anyone in the No Agenda community needs AI/LLM help with their business, we'd love to help you win. Additionally, we'll donate 10% of gross from any NA community derived project back to the show. Check us out at dbadbadba.com.

We'd love some jobs karma to continue creating jobs for great dudes named Ben.

thanks,

Sir Adam, the bearded knight & Josh, Black Knight in abeyance.

In February, Meta made an unusual move in the rapidly evolving world of artificial intelligence: It decided to give away its A.I. crown jewels.

The Silicon Valley giant, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, had created an A.I. technology, called LLaMA, that can power online chatbots. But instead of keeping the technology to itself, Meta released the system’s underlying computer code into the wild. Academics, government researchers and others who gave their email address to Meta could download the code once the company had vetted the individual.

Essentially, Meta was giving its A.I. technology away as open-source software — computer code that can be freely copied, modified and reused — providing outsiders with everything they needed to quickly build chatbots of their own.

“The platform that will win will be the open one,” Yann LeCun, Meta’s chief A.I. scientist, said in an interview.

As a race to lead A.I. heats up across Silicon Valley, Meta is standing out from its rivals by taking a different approach to the technology. Driven by its founder and chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, Meta believes that the smartest thing to do is share its underlying A.I. engines as a way to spread its influence and ultimately move faster toward the future.

Its actions contrast with those of Google and OpenAI, the two companies leading the new A.I. arms race. Worried that A.I. tools like chatbots will be used to spread disinformation, hate speech and other toxic content, those companies are becoming increasingly secretive about the methods and software that underpin their A.I. products.

Google, OpenAI and others have been critical of Meta, saying an unfettered open-source approach is dangerous. A.I.’s rapid rise in recent months has raised alarms bells about the technology’s risks, including how it could upend the job market if it is not properly deployed. And within days of LLaMA’s release, the system leaked onto 4chan, the online message board known for spreading false and misleading information.

============================================================================================

At Stanford University, researchers used Meta’s new technology to build their own A.I. system, which was made available on the internet. A Stanford researcher named Moussa Doumbouya soon used it to generate problematic text, according to screenshots seen by The New York Times. In one instance, the system provided instructions for disposing of a dead body without being caught. It also generated racist material, including comments that supported the views of Adolf Hitler.

In a private chat among the researchers, which was seen by The Times, Mr. Doumbouya said distributing the technology to the public would be like “a grenade available to everyone in a grocery store.” He did not respond to a request for comment.

Stanford promptly removed the A.I. system from the internet.

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Boots on the ground — Our team arrived at El Paso on Weds June 10th — Our first stop was the Sacred Heart Church — two days before we arrived, there was video of over 2k migrants living around the church, when we arrived there was barley 100. One question, where did all these migrants go?

Their disappearance seemed to coincide with the masses of National and Local media that arrived in El Paso on Weds June 10th. One of the locals thinks that most of the migrants at Sacred Heart were brought to a military base in New Mexico that was used for Afghan migrants during the withdraw. #FEMACAMPS

Our security was alerted to the numerous neck tattoos on some of the young male migrants which indicted they were part of a gang and most likely released from prison. We counted 15 of these neck tattoos. 99% of the people we saw were from Venezuela.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/house-republicans-sound-alarm-report-venezuela-sending-violent-criminals-us-border

We spent most of our time between border Gates 40 and 42 and the scene was like what was heard in the N.T.D. report from the previous show. Yes National Guard was there and yes the set up barbed wire, but we also have video of them assisting border patrol in processing migrants not keeping them, from entering the country. Their actions directly contradicted Gov Abbots order. Migrants were being staged and preprocessed on the Mexico side of the border fence then bussed through to the processing center in El Paso. I have video of Marine vet chastising some National Guard members for not following their orders.

On late Thursday night early, Friday morning we were at Gate 42. A PIO from Border Patrol came up to us all buddy buddy saying no other activity was going to take place that night, then 1 hour later they start backing up busses to the border gate. They pulled trucks in front of the bus to block the view of the cameras then they proceeded to load the busses one after another with migrants — the PIO came up to us and said we are “taking them into custody” which meant they were brought to the processing center, given a court date years into the future and then provided with bus or plane tickets to any where in the country and then deposited outside Sacred Heart Church to wait for their travel. Young kiddos were taken to a closed middle school video link below. We have video of TX National Guard shining flashlights in our direction telling us to move back and other Homeland Security and NGO types trying to keep us from video taping the migrant pipeline. In short it’s was not the surge that was predicted in El Paso, but there are reports and videos of larger groups at other border crossings.

Two takeaways —1. Is Border Patrol or DHS working with cartel traffickers to move large groups of migrants to preferred border crossings. All the main stream press was concentrated in El Paso, but McAllen and Brownsville were having reports of larger groups coming over.

2. (Very Crackpot) I noticed a lot of Red Cross blankets, I would be interested to find out if the migrants blood types were being taken by the Red Cross to set up future organ donor databases, like we are importing our own Uyghur organ donors.

ITM Adam & John!

I was following the live cams at the boarder also and noticed an extreme lack of any activity.

This video might be the reason why. Owen Shroyer is doing a spot down there, showing that the USBP is driving large busses through ravines and avoiding the main ingress routes with immigrants.

PS, some good ISO material in there.

https://banned.video/watch?id=645e13f3594c218d23379338

Best regards!

-Damion aka @dever on NAS

Digging in a bit deeper...

It looks like Title 10 National Guard are mobilized by the Federal Govt. Where as a Title 32 is mobilized at the order of the states Governor.

Ref: https://www.military.com/benefits/reserve-and-guard-benefits/whats-difference-between-title-10-and-title-32-mobilization-orders.html

&

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/10/10201

So we can clearly attribute this unorthodox obfuscation to be the fault of Bidens marionettes, primarily the Assistant Secretary of Defense at the DoD, Lloyd J. Austin III. BUT, read further for how Gov. Abbott has ultimate control over the NG in his state.

May 2nd DoD mobilization authorization

https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/3382272/austin-approves-homeland-security-request-for-troops-at-border/

Then on May 8th Gov. Abbott mobilized the Texas Tactical Border Force to join the already deployed National Guard working Operation Lone Star, under Title 32. https://gov.texas.gov/news/post/governor-abbott-deploys-new-texas-tactical-border-force

I wonder which mobilization order (Title 10 vs 32) has precedence if both are called upon? They don't seem to be cooperating with each other.

Reading the Title 10 & Title 32 US Code 1956, Chapter 39 Active Duty, § 672 (b) @ https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/STATUTE-70/pdf/STATUTE-70A-Pg1.pdf

reveals that the Governor of the state or territory must consent to the deployment of NG by the Secretary of Defense in their state.

"(b) At any time, an authority designated by the Secretary concerned may, without the consent of the persons affected, order any unit, and any member not assigned to a unit organized to serve as a unit, in an active status in a reserve component under the jurisdiction of that Secretary to active duty for not more than 15 days a year. However, units and members of the Army National Guard of the United States or the Air National Guard of the United States may not be ordered to active duty under this subsection without the consent of the governor of the State or Territory, Puerto Rico, or the Canal Zone, or the commanding general of the District of Columbia National Guard, as the case may be."

Throughout this document, ultimate power is attributed to the Governor of the state or territory in regards to Title 10 & Title 32, in various ways. CTRL+F "Governor" to see the 10 examples.

Shenanigans are afoot Adam!

Best regards!

-Damion aka @dever on NAS

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Hi Adam,

(Per you video camera report on the last show)

I was just on AZ the border this last weekend. Family members explained to me why those video cameras are showing low traffic during the day at the border crossings.

What is happening is simple; They (FEDS) are bussing the illegals over the border during the dead of night. Family members see illegals hiking the canyons, and then being bussed out from 12:00 AM – 4:00 AM every night. Many, many busloads.

Of course, not many “folks” are up at this time, not many night vision cameras in these locals perhaps; however, in these locations friends/family said there are busloads being brought in this way every night. Don’t know where they are kept until then but likely “hidden” on the Mexican side of the border. We need some NoAgenda journalists down there right away :>) Sad really.

I can’t say if this what is happening elsewhere but in AZ this is how they do it.

ITM,

Sir Wire of the Hidden Jewell

No Agenda is the Best Podcast in the Universe, according to the Durham Report!

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In a Cab

This drama is an attempt to grab the spotlight after nobody in New York noticed they were here.

Coincidentally, as Page Six reported, the incident occurred “hours after Harry was told that UK police are not for hire” in his legal battle demanding taxpayer funded security.

A timeline of the alleged car chase issued by the NYPD, says Harry and Meghan didn’t want paparazzi to know where they were staying.

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Adam, I just wanted to pass along some info for episode 1556 where you played a tiktoc of some Canadian talking about all these provinces wanting to leave and join the US or become independent states. Ever since Trudeau has taken office this has been a talking point mainly on conservative social media platforms. I'm a member on one of the larger Canadian Gun forums and this is talked about quite a bit on there. Currently there really is no party or any organized group that has started to figure out how much support there would be for any of the province's or territories to vote on becoming an independent territory from Canada. This is mostly a pipe dream of many who would wish to become another state of the United States but just like the US the voting power is generally liberal/left in the large cities and conservative in the rural communities. The last time there was such a referendum for Independence was in Quebec in 1995 which only narrowly failed. 49.5 to 50.5.

Also to add John's comment about BC being identical to all the west coast states being extremely left and progressive. He's only half correct. Outside of the lower mainland, Vancouver and surrounding area which would also include the southern half of Vancouver Island mainly the area around Victoria. The majority of the rest of the province is actually conservative excpet a few communities which are again mainly the larger cities in BC.

What generally is misconceived is that conservatives in Canada are probably closer leaning to Democrats in the US than they are Republicans. I would say the conservative parties in this country both federally and provincially are generally center - center left leaning. But like anywhere we also have people that are on the extreme spectrums of both sides.

A little off topic. The trans maoism you talk about on the show being mainly the US really falling victim. I would say it's more North America falling victim. In Canada trans activism with full support from government, which would include health care as it is directly tied to government with our poor social health care system, education (government), corporate backing and many oganizations which are generally receiving some sort of government backing. I'm sure you see the theme here.

Love the show and very happy I found it after your first Rogan appearance. Best wishes to both yourself and John.

Ha! Yeah these guys aren't too smart. Corporate security has flags that get tripped when petabytes of data are pulled down by a single user :) (How they caught the guy that was headed to the airport).

There's a reason we called BYD "Borrow Your Design". Engineering a 'body in white' can be very expensive, best to steal the CAD and Gerber files of someone that's already done it. https://www.driven.co.nz/news/range-rover-win-legal-case-over-chinese-copycat-car-company/

Adam,

I am a Canadian in the US, with friends involved in Alberta state government. I've been following the Alberta independence movement for years now. Some random thoughts:

1) polling consistently shows a hair below 50% of Albertans support declaring independence from Canada. I am heavily skeptical of these results, and suspect that most of these people wouldn't be willing to put their money where their mouths are, but it is even more culturally popular than eg Texas independence

2) (conservative) provincial politicians in Alberta sincerely believe they'll pull this off in the next ten years

3) 'can they do that?'. I asked my friend once. His response was something like "the Canadian Army has 20k active troops. We have half a million skilled hunters. Good luck". I am once again skeptical that anyone in Alberta is willing to shoot cops for independence, but, the numbers are in their favour

3b) considerable planning and wargaming of this has already been started. And the political infrastructure is being laid. I've spoken to people in AB government who have really thought this through.

4) it has been the unstated assumption this entire time that after Alberta declares independence, they would immediately seek to join the US. I am once again extremely skeptical that this would happen. The dems would never allow two new republican senators

I really, really, REALLY hope it happens. Should Alberta declare independence, I would move there tomorrow. Unfortunately, I don't think it will happen in my lifetime. But a man can hope

-Tim

ITM!

My BOTG experience of 2 men with severe testosterone fueled mental-health issues may contribute to the "conversation". I'll keep it simple but here are important terms: Testosterone (T) is measured from blood draws, units are micro-grams of T per deci-liter (10 liters) ug/dL of blood extrapolated from the amount of a blood draw. Total T level and "Free" or "Active" level are different yet related, Typical total T considered safe for men in their 40's is 300-800 ug/dL (max is 1,200), Free is 20-60 ug/dL (max 100), and testosterone replacement therapy (TRT).

1st case was a 40 year old man with low T, <100 ug/dL, who became bizarre and paranoid to an extreme. He lost everything: 14 year marriage, business, houses, friends, etc. TRT brought him back to sanity despite many tears about what he had done.

10 years later.

2nd experience concerns my now ex-fiance, he was 48 years old. Blood work showed <300 ug/dL total T so he started TRT injections, a mix of short and long-acting T, kinda like Adderall and Vyanse. I didn't think much about it, but over the following 3 months he became erratic and extremely emotional. I was confused by his change in personality and started to seriously consider breaking up with him. His 1st 3 month follow-up blood work showed total T was >2,400 ug/dL (1,200 is max safe value) and free T was >400 ug/dL (100 max safe). He jokingly said the doctor was "surprised he hadn't killed his fiance." His physician drastically lowered the dose. But he had one last mega-dose injected the day he went to get his lab results. Memories of my 1st friend came flooding back. I looked up the dose response time for the blend he was using: 8 days to peak.

Due to my love for him, I decided to wait it out but exactly 8 days later he snapped. It was horrifying to witness the love of my life become totally psychotic. He was 240 lbs of muscle, knocked me unconscious, I woke up being strangled and him whispering in my ear "This is what it feels like to die." I escaped by gouging his eyes with my fingers and fleeing in my car as he chased after me.

I'm recovering well from brain damage/trauma with ketamine therapy, a neuro-peptide called Semax and lots of prayer. I hope this is valuable, I agree with JCD that people are going to be murdered more frequently as a consequence of big-Pharma Trans-Maoism. TYFYC Love is LIT

A recent interview with the country’s top gender expert shows how out of step the American medical establishment is with its European counterparts

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True, but I am not sure if it is only due to the new nuclear power plant. I am actually following the Nordpool spot prices per hour and doing some analyses on them. Here the monthly overview. Red is 2022, Blue is 2023. In terms of comparing the same months, the difference between 2022 and 2023 is not that big, perhaps. You can see that we are still some way off from the levels of 2020 and 2021.

On top of this, the price of electricity dropped so much this week, that they had to throttle the nuclear power plant as it was no longer economically viable to run it. This was due to excess hydropower due to seasonal flooding / melting of rivers up north.

https://yle.fi/a/74-20032375

So, in summary, yes the price plunged from Dec. to Apr., but that may not necessarily mean anything. Of course the new nuclear power plant helps to stabilise prices. Perhaps we will see a return to 2021 levels.

I signed a 2-year electricity contract in Aug. 2021, with fixed prices (7.5 ct/kWh...) and that is up for renewal in Aug. this year. I may have dodged a big electricity bill bullet....

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Nog van vorige donderdag, maar moet je even terechtwijzen op of de BBB shills zijn. Dit is iig nog niet bewezen, en denk zelfs dat het meer het tegendeel is (normale burgers die zich actief met politiek gaan bemoeien omdat het zo erg is dat ze hier een laatste kans in zien om de boel te redden, voordat de enige oplossing geweld is)

Maar iig, ze zijn voor de provincies verkozen, en pas eind mei komen ze in de Eerste Kamer. 30 mei, voordat ze beëdigd worden, dus de ochtend van de beëdiging, wil de regering de onteigeningen door de Eerste Kamer rammen.

BEN FRANKLIN WOULD HAVE LOVED BLUESKY

Facebook and Twitter seem less relevant by the day. They may be replaced by new “federated” platforms.

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Includes email copy

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WaPo: The documents indicate that GUR, your intelligence directorate, has back-channel contact with Evgeny Prigozhin that you were aware of, including meeting with Evgeny Prigozhin and GUR officers. Is that true?

Zelensky: This is a matter of [military] intelligence. Do you want me to be convicted of state treason? And so, it’s very interesting, if someone is saying that you have documents, or if someone from our government is speaking about the activities of our intelligence, I would also like to ask you a question: With which sources from Ukraine do you have contact? Who is talking about the activities of our intelligence? Because this is the most severe felony in our country. Which Ukrainians are you talking to?

WaPo: I talked to officials in government, but these documents are not from Ukraine, they are from…

Zelensky: It doesn’t matter where the documents are from. The question is with which Ukrainian official did you talk? Because if they say something about our intelligence, that’s treason. If they say something about a specific offensive plan of one general or another, this is also treason. That’s why I asked you, which Ukrainians are you talking to?

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Thu, 18 May 2023 16:33

Business | Deutsche Bank Will Pay $75 Million to Victims of Jeffrey Epstein https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/17/business/deutsche-bank-jeffrey-epstein.htmlA proposed court settlement closes another chapter in the German bank's relationship with the disgraced financier, which began in 2013 and continued up until late 2018.

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The headquarters of Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt. The bank's relationship with Jeffrey Epstein began in 2013 and continued up until late 2018. Credit... Felix Schmitt for The New York Times Published May 17, 2023 Updated May 18, 2023, 6:30 a.m. ET

Deutsche Bank has agreed to pay $75 million to sexual abuse victims of Jeffrey Epstein to settle a lawsuit filed last year in Manhattan, according to the lawyers for the victims.

The settlement, which must be approved by a federal judge, would resolve a proposed class-action suit that alleged the bank had helped enable the disgraced financier's sex trafficking of young women by missing warning signs in Mr. Epstein's accounts that he was engaged in wrongdoing.

Dylan Riddle, a spokesman for the German bank, declined to comment on any proposed settlement. But in a statement, Mr. Riddle said the bank ''has made considerable progress in remedying a number of past issues,'' while investing in bolstering its internal controls.

David Boies and Brad Edwards, the lawyers for the women who brought the case, said $75 million would be made available to the more than 125 victims of Mr. Epstein who previously obtained payouts from a restitution fund established by his estate after his death in 2019.

Mr. Boies and Mr. Edwards, who work at separate firms, said in a joint statement: ''This groundbreaking settlement is the culmination of two law firms conducting more than a decade-long investigation to hold one of Epstein's financial banking partners responsible for the role it played in facilitating his trafficking organization.''

News of the settlement was reported earlier by The Wall Street Journal.

Mr. Epstein's estate established the restitution fund several months after he died by suicide while he was in federal custody awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

The fund has paid out more than $125 million to his victims '-- many of whom were teenage girls when they were abused by Mr. Epstein. In addition, the estate has paid about $20 million in settlements to other victims who did not seek awards from the restitution fund.

The tentative settlement closes another chapter in Deutsche Bank's relationship with Mr. Epstein, which began in 2013 and continued up until late 2018. In 2020, Deutsche Bank, which is based in Frankfurt, agreed to pay $150 million to New York regulators to settle claims that the bank repeatedly overlooked suspicious transactions involving Mr. Epstein and ignored obvious red flags about his activities.

Deutsche Bank took Mr. Epstein on as a client after JPMorgan Chase, which had been his primary bank for roughly 15 years, stopped doing business with him. The lawyers for the victims have sued JPMorgan, claiming it too ignored warning signs about Mr. Epstein and benefited financially from his sex trafficking operation.

Patricia Wexler, a spokeswoman for JPMorgan Chase, declined to comment on Deutsche Bank's tentative settlement, but said in a statement, ''In hindsight, any association with Epstein was a mistake and we regret it, but we do not believe we violated any laws.''

The government of the U.S. Virgin Islands, the territory where Mr. Epstein operated his businesses for nearly two decades, has sued JPMorgan. Last year Mr. Epstein's estate agreed to pay $105 million to the Virgin Islands to settle a lawsuit brought by the government to recover tax benefits it had awarded to one of Mr. Epstein's businesses in St. Thomas.

In 2008, Mr. Epstein pleaded guilty in Florida to a charge of soliciting prostitution from a teenage girl and was ordered to register as a sex offender.

But the guilty plea did not stop the rich and famous '-- including a number of wealthy men '-- from continuing to socialize with him at his Manhattan townhouse and his other residences.

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Thu, 18 May 2023 16:31

The tech giant has publicly released its latest A.I. technology so people can build their own chatbots. Rivals like Google say that approach can be dangerous.

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Credit... Andrea Chronopoulos By Cade Metz and Mike Isaac

Cade Metz, who covers artificial intelligence, and Mike Isaac, who covers Meta, reported from San Francisco.

May 18, 2023 Updated 9:20 a.m. ET

In February, Meta made an unusual move in the rapidly evolving world of artificial intelligence: It decided to give away its A.I. crown jewels.

The Silicon Valley giant, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, had created an A.I. technology, called LLaMA, that can power online chatbots. But instead of keeping the technology to itself, Meta released the system's underlying computer code into the wild. Academics, government researchers and others who gave their email address to Meta could download the code once the company had vetted the individual.

Essentially, Meta was giving its A.I. technology away as open-source software '-- computer code that can be freely copied, modified and reused '-- providing outsiders with everything they needed to quickly build chatbots of their own.

''The platform that will win will be the open one,'' Yann LeCun, Meta's chief A.I. scientist, said in an interview.

As a race to lead A.I. heats up across Silicon Valley, Meta is standing out from its rivals by taking a different approach to the technology. Driven by its founder and chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, Meta believes that the smartest thing to do is share its underlying A.I. engines as a way to spread its influence and ultimately move faster toward the future.

Its actions contrast with those of Google and OpenAI, the two companies leading the new A.I. arms race. Worried that A.I. tools like chatbots will be used to spread disinformation, hate speech and other toxic content, those companies are becoming increasingly secretive about the methods and software that underpin their A.I. products.

Google, OpenAI and others have been critical of Meta, saying an unfettered open-source approach is dangerous. A.I.'s rapid rise in recent months has raised alarm bells about the technology's risks, including how it could upend the job market if it is not properly deployed. And within days of LLaMA's release, the system leaked onto 4chan, the online message board known for spreading false and misleading information.

''We want to think more carefully about giving away details or open sourcing code'' of A.I. technology, said Zoubin Ghahramani, a Google vice president of research who helps oversee A.I. work. ''Where can that lead to misuse?''

But Meta said it saw no reason to keep its code to itself. The growing secrecy at Google and OpenAI is a ''huge mistake,'' Dr. LeCun said, and a ''really bad take on what is happening.'' He argues that consumers and governments will refuse to embrace A.I. unless it is outside the control of companies like Google and Meta.

''Do you want every A.I. system to be under the control of a couple of powerful American companies?'' he asked.

Image ''The platform that will win will be the open one,'' said Yann LeCun, Meta's chief A.I. scientist. Credit... Victor Llorente for The New York Times OpenAI declined to comment.

Meta's open-source approach to A.I. is not novel. The history of technology is littered with battles between open source and proprietary, or closed, systems. Some hoard the most important tools that are used to build tomorrow's computing platforms, while others give those tools away. Most recently, Google open-sourced the Android mobile operating system to take on Apple's dominance in smartphones.

Many companies have openly shared their A.I. technologies in the past, at the insistence of researchers. But their tactics are changing because of the race around A.I. That shift began last year when OpenAI released ChatGPT. The chatbot's wild success wowed consumers and kicked up the competition in the A.I. field, with Google moving quickly to incorporate more A.I. into its products and Microsoft investing $13 billion in OpenAI.

While Google, Microsoft and OpenAI have since received most of the attention in A.I., Meta has also invested in the technology for nearly a decade. The company has spent billions of dollars building the software and the hardware needed to realize chatbots and other ''generative A.I.,'' which produce text, images and other media on their own.

In recent months, Meta has worked furiously behind the scenes to weave its years of A.I. research and development into new products. Mr. Zuckerberg is focused on making the company an A.I. leader, holding weekly meetings on the topic with his executive team and product leaders.

Meta's biggest A.I. move in recent months was releasing LLaMA, which is what is known as a large language model, or L.L.M. (LLaMA stands for ''Large Language Model Meta AI.'') L.L.M.s are systems that learn skills by analyzing vast amounts of text, including books, Wikipedia articles and chat logs. ChatGPT and Google's Bard chatbot are also built atop such systems.

L.L.M.s pinpoint patterns in the text they analyze and learn to generate text of their own, including term papers, blog posts, poetry and computer code. They can even carry on complex conversations.

In February, Meta openly released LLaMA, allowing academics, government researchers and others who provided their email address to download the code and use it to build a chatbot of their own.

But the company went further than many other open-source A.I. projects. It allowed people to download a version of LLaMA after it had been trained on enormous amounts of digital text culled from the internet. Researchers call this ''releasing the weights,'' referring to the particular mathematical values learned by the system as it analyzes data.

This was significant because analyzing all that data typically requires hundreds of specialized computer chips and tens of millions of dollars, resources most companies do not have. Those who have the weights can deploy the software quickly, easily and cheaply, spending a fraction of what it would otherwise cost to create such powerful software.

As a result, many in the tech industry believed Meta had set a dangerous precedent. And within days, someone released the LLaMA weights onto 4chan.

At Stanford University, researchers used Meta's new technology to build their own A.I. system, which was made available on the internet. A Stanford researcher named Moussa Doumbouya soon used it to generate problematic text, according to screenshots seen by The New York Times. In one instance, the system provided instructions for disposing of a dead body without being caught. It also generated racist material, including comments that supported the views of Adolf Hitler.

In a private chat among the researchers, which was seen by The Times, Mr. Doumbouya said distributing the technology to the public would be like ''a grenade available to everyone in a grocery store.'' He did not respond to a request for comment.

Stanford promptly removed the A.I. system from the internet. The project was designed to provide researchers with technology that ''captured the behaviors of cutting-edge A.I. models,'' said Tatsunori Hashimoto, the Stanford professor who led the project. ''We took the demo down as we became increasingly concerned about misuse potential beyond a research setting.''

Dr. LeCun argues that this kind of technology is not as dangerous as it might seem. He said small numbers of individuals could already generate and spread disinformation and hate speech. He added that toxic material could be tightly restricted by social networks such as Facebook.

''You can't prevent people from creating nonsense or dangerous information or whatever,'' he said. ''But you can stop it from being disseminated.''

For Meta, more people using open-source software can also level the playing field as it competes with OpenAI, Microsoft and Google. If every software developer in the world builds programs using Meta's tools, it could help entrench the company for the next wave of innovation, staving off potential irrelevance.

Dr. LeCun also pointed to recent history to explain why Meta was committed to open-sourcing A.I. technology. He said the evolution of the consumer internet was the result of open, communal standards that helped build the fastest, most widespread knowledge-sharing network the world had ever seen.

''Progress is faster when it is open,'' he said. ''You have a more vibrant ecosystem where everyone can contribute.''

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Thu, 18 May 2023 15:58

IntroductionThe Biden border crisis was sparked by the deliberate implementation of open-borders policies and the removal of Trump-era borders security policies by the Biden administration. While the Biden administration caused the crisis and allows it to persist, they are not the only party responsible for facilitating this crisis. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have played a substantial role in exacerbating the crisis by actively helping process and transport tens of thousands of illegal aliens into the interior of the United States.

After observing this dynamic, the Heritage Oversight Project and Heritage Border Security and Immigration Center obtained and analyzed movement patterns of anonymized mobile devices that were detected on the premises of over 30 NGO facilities at or near the border. These locations were selected either based on public knowledge of these facilities being used to process illegal aliens or on reliable human source information. All physical locations were verified and physical location boundaries were defined to include building and parking areas to minimize false positives.

The investigation found approximately 30,000 cell phone devices in the NGO facilities and traced the location of those devices in the U.S. during the month of January 2022. We assign a high degree of confidence to the assumption that the vast majority of these devices belong to individuals who illegally crossed the border. This is based on first-hand observation of facilities in which illegal aliens invariably outnumber facility workers and volunteers by many degrees. Additionally, based on the travel patterns and the end location of these devices, we assume that the vast majority of the devices reflect a migration pattern from the border of illegal aliens as opposed to a consistent travel pattern of NGO workers traveling from around the country to the border and back.

PurposeThe below findings only provide a sampling of the problem as opposed to a comprehensive review. The investigation involved only select facilities during January 2022. The findings are meant to show only a snapshot in time of the scope and scale of the border crisis. The purpose of the investigation was to test the anecdotal reporting that the movement of illegal aliens through the United States is being facilitated not just by the federal government under President Joe Biden and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, but also by NGOs. Are NGOs actively involved in helping illegal aliens travel from the border throughout much of the interior of the United States? The investigation provided evidence for this hypothesis.

Phase OnePhase One of the investigation involved ''geofencing'' the physical locations of the Val Verde Border Humanitarian Center and the Del Rio Customs and Border Protection Station. The Val Verde Border Humanitarian Center describes itself as ''a group of local citizens and agencies that have united to develop an efficient way to transition refugees to their destinations upon release of federal custody through a unified and coordinated effort.'' Furthermore, the group states, ''We also do our best to arrange transportation to the city in which their U.S. sponsor lives.'' During a 2021 site visit to the Val Verde Border Humanitarian, employees reported processing over 1,000 individuals in a three-day period. Individuals were reported to travel to a wide variety of locations, including Tennessee, Utah, Indiana, Florida, and New York.

The Del Rio Station for Customs and Border Protection's ''area of responsibility includes approximately 30 miles of river border and portions of several counties.'' The station is less than five miles from the U.S-Mexico border and the Del Rio Bridge, the site where thousands of illegal aliens assembled in make-shift campsites in September 2021.

Phase One: Geofenced Val Verde Processing FacilityPhase One: Geofenced Del Rio CBP StationDuring January 2022, 407 devices that were on-premises at either facility were later traced to 40 different states.

Phase One: Devices from Val Verde/Del Rio'--Traced NationwidePhase TwoPhase Two of the investigation involved the geofencing of 20 NGO facilities. These locations were chosen based on human source information, as well as open-source intelligence, that they may be involved in helping illegal aliens travel from the border to various parts of the interior. During the month of January 2022, more than 22,000 unique mobile devices were detected at these NGO facilities. The devices were later traced to 431 separate U.S. congressional districts out of a total 435 congressional districts.

Phase Two: Locations of Interest'--Yielded over 22,000 Unique DevicesPhase Two: Devices Traced NationwideThe Phase Two results demonstrate that of the 52 congressional districts with the highest density of devices, 71% were Republican congressional districts. Texas had the highest density of all states, followed by Oklahoma. This is to be expected, at least in the first phase of an illegal alien's journey, because Texas is an entry state and Oklahoma would be the next state frequently traversed during travel due north.

Phase ThreePhase Three of the investigation involved geofencing 13 NGO locations located in close physical proximity to the border. These locations were selected based on human source intelligence that the facilities may be involved in the processing and transportation of illegal aliens into the interior of the United States. Over 5,000 unique mobile devices were identified as being on-premises at the targeted location. Devices were later traced nationwide to 434 congressional districts out of a total of 435 congressional districts.

Phase Three: Locations of Interest'--Yielded over 5,000 Unique DevicesPhase Three: Devices Traced NationwidePhase FourPhase Four of the investigation focused on geofencing Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley, located in San Juan, Texas. Nearly 3,400 unique mobile devices were identified as being on-premises. These devices were later tracked to 433 congressional districts.

Phase Four: Geofenced Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande ValleyPhase Four: Devices Traced NationwideConclusionsThe investigation confirmed that a host of NGOs are actively facilitating the Biden border crisis. Overflow from Customs and Border Protection is being transferred to these organizations so that Border Patrol avoids overcrowded facilities. These organizations apply for, and receive, taxpayer money to provide processing and transportation services and infrastructure to facilitate the migration of illegal aliens into the interior of the country.

While the investigation was limited both in time and number of facilities, the results show that the national impacts of mass illegal immigration are extensive. Devices that were at these NGO facilities later appeared in all but one congressional district in the United States. The investigation confirms that Biden border crisis affects all of America and that NGOs are playing a central role in the mass resettlement of illegal aliens in the United States. Worse, this flow of illegal immigration helps enable cartels to bring terrorists, criminals, and deadly drugs like fentanyl into the United States.

Read NextCheck out our More Statistics and Reporting page for links to data, dashboards, and some of our favorite articles and books.

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Thu, 18 May 2023 15:57

Dr. Sanjay Gupta breaks down how mRNA vaccines work

CNN '--

The National Institutes of Health is now enrolling participants to test an experimental universal influenza vaccine using mRNA technology.

The NIH is looking for 50 volunteers ages 18 to 49 for the Phase 1 trial at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.

''A universal influenza vaccine would be a major public health achievement and could eliminate the need for both annual development of seasonal influenza vaccines, as well as the need for patients to get a flu shot each year,'' said Acting NIAID Director Dr. Hugh Auchincloss in a news release. ''Moreover, some strains of influenza virus have significant pandemic potential. A universal flu vaccine could serve as an important line of defense against the spread of a future flu pandemic.''

This early-stage trial will evaluate the best dosage for the experimental vaccine while comparing its immunogenicity and safety to current seasonal flu vaccines. Participants in the trial will be followed for up to one year after vaccination to primarily track its safety, but efficacy as well.

Between 2010 and 2020, there have been between 140,000 to 710,000 people hospitalized and between 12,000 to 52,000 deaths from the flu annually, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

There are several universal flu vaccines in various stages of development and testing. The shots use the same mRNA technology that's in the Covid-19 Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, but scientists first started on these experiments in 2017, years before the first Covid-19 shots were given.

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Thu, 18 May 2023 15:53

AUSTIN (KXAN) '-- A Texas state representative already drew a primary challenger and faced a formal censure from a Democratic group in her district one day after joining Republicans in supporting legislation to ban health care options for transgender minors, such as puberty-blocking medication and hormone treatments.

Rep. Shawn Thierry, D-Houston, crossed party lines Monday afternoon along with three other Democrats '-- Reps. Harold Dutton of Houston, Abel Herrero of Robstown and Tracy King of Batesville '-- to vote in favor of Senate Bill 14, one of the main priorities for Texas Republican leaders this session. The legislation, which many LGBTQ+ advocates adamantly opposed, cleared a final vote in the House by a margin of 87-56.

The amended bill now heads back to the Texas Senate, where it originated, so that lawmakers there can weigh some changes, such as the addition of language specifying children already receiving these treatments would have to be ''weaned off'' in a ''medically appropriate'' way. The options facing the senators now are to either request a conference committee to iron out differences or accept the House's changes and forward the bill to the governor's desk.

Thierry released a lengthy statement Friday explaining why she initially voted for SB 14, saying she did so to protect Texas children. The wording mirrored what she shared during an emotional, nearly 10-minute speech on the House floor, where she was the only Democrat to speak in favor of the legislation during the hours-long debate. In her remarks, she expressed reservations about the effects of medicine and addressed how her stance on the legislation might fall out of step with others in her party.

''Certainly, the topic of gender and body dysphoria in children is a complex issue that requires careful consideration, caution and compassion. Sadly, the discussion has become polarized and politicized,'' Thierry said. ''In fact, while many of my constituents encouraged me to vote in favor of this legislation, hostile activists on social media platforms have made nasty political threats to influence my vote against the bill. These personal, and even racist, attacks on me as an African American woman are neither productive or persuasive. It remains my legislative duty and moral obligation to vote the conscience and core values of my constituency. I have done this today with an open heart and a clear mind.''

Brad Pritchett, the field director for the LGBTQ+ advocacy organization Equality Texas, said he lives in Houston and has known Thierry since 2010. He is among those ''disappointed'' by the lawmaker's vote on SB 14. He said she may be facing additional scrutiny, though, because of her House floor speech, whereas the handful of other Democrats who ended up supporting the bill remained silent during debate. He accused her of citing research and information ''that is just parroted directly out of anti-LGBTQ+ propaganda on this issue.''

Thierry is set to do an on-camera interview Thursday with KXAN to discuss her support of SB 14 and the backlash that ensued. This story will be updated once that happens. However, over the phone Wednesday, she stood by her vote and pushed back against claims that she does not support LGBTQ+ Texans.

''Allyship is not just blind allegiance,'' she said during the Wednesday phone conversation, adding that people should ''look at her position in full'' and that she is ''here for trans children.''

Censure voteUltimately, the legislation is expected to become state law, and many conservative groups are championing Thierry for breaking with her party to support it. On her personal Twitter account Tuesday, she shared a clip from an interview she did on Fox News discussing her vote along with this quote: ''What is right is not always popular, and what is popular is not always right.''

However, that same vote is leading to some fallout among her fellow Democrats. Following the House vote Monday, the Meyerland Area Democrats Club met and agreed by a 13-7 vote to officially censure Thierry for supporting SB 14 and House Bill 900, which aims to ban sexually explicit materials from school libraries. Critics have equated the latter legislation to a ''book ban'' and worried it would lead to the removal of books with LGBTQ+ content and themes.

The Meyerland club, which represents Democratic voters in southwest Houston, released a statement on social media Monday evening explaining why its members officially condemned the Democratic lawmaker, who first won her seat representing District 146 in 2017.

''Rep. Thierry campaigned on being an ally to the LGBTQ+ community,'' the club's resolution read, ''yet she has supported legislation which will harm this community and doesn't align with democratic principles.''

The censure continued, ''We call upon Representative Thierry to reconsider her stance on these issues and work towards policies that truly reflect the best interests and democratic aspirations of the people she represents. It is our hope that this resolution serves as a reminder that we expect our elected officials to act in accordance with the values and needs of their constituents.''

During a phone conversation Wednesday, Thierry criticized how the censure vote happened, saying it was ''done in the cover of night.'' She said she never got a chance to defend herself to the club members, but appreciated the seven people who opposed the resolution. She said some of her constituents contacted her after hearing of the club's censure to reiterate their support for her.

Primary challengeThierry's seat is up for election in November next year, and she already has one Democratic challenger. Ashton Woods, an activist who founded the Black Lives Matter chapter in Houston, announced Tuesday he'll challenge Thierry '-- again. He sought to unseat her for the Democratic nomination in 2020, but lost the primary by nearly 35 percentage points.

In his recent social media posts, he called out her vote on SB 14 as part of the reason he's entering the race now.

The District 146 seat that Thierry represents in southwest Houston is in solidly Democratic territory. During her first and most recent elections, Thierry ran unopposed. In 2018, though, she had a Libertarian challenger in the general election, but bested that candidate by 85 percentage points. During their rematch in 2020, she won by 74 percentage points.

Equality Texas put out a warning after SB 14 passed with the help of the four Democratic lawmakers in the House. On social media, the group wrote, ''Health care for trans kids saves lives, and we stand with every trans life. These votes were unconscionable, and we will remember the lawmakers who betrayed our community.''

Pritchett said he considered Thierry to be a friend after meeting her more than a decade ago and felt she stood with the LGBTQ+ community.

''I don't anticipate that she'll be reaching out to me anytime soon, which is disappointing,'' Pritchett said Tuesday, ''but I would say [it's] not surprising given that she has painted herself as an ally to the community and a friend to me for years. On this issue, she never touched base, never reached out, never used the resources that she had at her disposal and instead has just continued to parrot easily disproven information and talking points that are rooted in the erasure of trans people in Texas.''

Pritchett said voters should now scrutinize her record much more closely during the next election.

''I think that the representative has painted herself as a voice for the voiceless over and over again,'' he said. ''What she did when she cast her vote was she believed a small minority of people who have been on a crusade to harm trans and nonbinary people in Texas, and she ignored a chorus of people who've continued to show up that Capitol to make their voices heard as to why essential, life-saving health care should be accessible to everyone, whether they're transgender or cisgender, and that's really disappointing. I think it cements in her legacy something that will not be viewed pleasantly by people in the future.''

On Wednesday Thierry joined 10 other Democrats voting for Senate Bill 15, which would require transgender athletes to only compete on collegiate sports teams that align with their sex assigned at birth. It's an expansion of a law that passed during the 2021 legislative session, and it now needs one more vote to officially clear the chamber. Supporters argue the legislation is about creating fairness for women's sports in particular.

However, during the hours of debate Wednesday, other Democratic lawmakers in the House called the bill ''discriminatory'' for limiting participation for transgender student-athletes and claimed it addresses a problem that does not exist in Texas. According to recent reporting from the Austin American-Statesman, none of the four-year Texas public universities in the NCAA said they had ever had a transgender athlete compete.

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Thu, 18 May 2023 15:48

Russia launched a brutal drone and missile attack on Ukraine's capital early this morning, just hours after Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said he would be returning from a European tour with a restocked weapons arsenal.

Ukraine claimed its robust air defence system, comprised of Soviet-era and Western-supplied platforms, managed to successfully shoot down 18 of Moscow's missiles, six of which were reportedly hypersonic 'Kinzhal' missiles which Vladimir Putin once boasted were 'unstoppable'.

But the Russian Defence Ministry in turn claimed one of its missiles had successfully destroyed a US-designed and supplied Patriot air defence system - a feat amounting to the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of state-of-the-art technology that could leave the Ukrainian capital vulnerable to further attacks.

The claim is yet to be confirmed, though a grainy security camera video circulating on the Telegram messaging app appears to show the moment a surface-to-air battery explodes after exhausting all of its ammunition amid the attacks.

Officials in Kyiv said Moscow's strike - the eighth on the Ukrainian capital this month and certainly the most intense - involved drones, cruise missiles and probably ballistic missiles launched 'from different directions simultaneously'.

Ukrainian military general Serhiy Popko said the nighttime onslaught had been 'exceptionally complex and dense'.

'The maximum number of rockets were fired at the city in the shortest period of time... the vast majority of enemy targets in the airspace of Kyiv were detected and destroyed.'

The busy Solomyansky district of Kyiv, home to the international airport, was the most heavily damaged, with a fire breaking out in a non-residential building.

According to Telegram posts by Mayor Vitali Klitschko, three people were injured in Solomyansky, while missile debris fell on Obolonsky district, a leafy outer suburb.

Explosion of a Russian-launched missile in the sky over Kyiv this morning

Kyiv officials said the attack - the eighth on the capital this month - involved drones, cruise missiles and probably ballistic missiles launched 'from different directions simultaneously'

Emergency services trying to contain a fire after a Russian missile strike

Firefighters battle flames in the wake of Russia's latest attack on Kyiv

Missile debris after a Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine May 16, 2023

Grainy security camera video circulating on the Telegram messaging app appears to show the moment a surface-to-air battery explodes after exhausting all of its ammunition amid the attacks

The latest attack on Kyiv follows Mr Zelensky's collection of fresh arms delivery pledges from Berlin, Paris and London, deepening a military arrangement between the West and Ukraine that has helped put Russia on the back foot.

After his whirlwind tour of major European capitals, Mr Zelensky tweeted last night that he was 'returning home with new defence packages'.

Ukrainian forces are widely believed to be gearing up for a long-awaited counter-offensive against Russian troops, with gains already claimed around the flashpoint of Bakhmut.

But Mr Zelensky has yet to succeed in his coveted goal of enlisting Western fighter jets to seize command of the skies, although Rishi Sunak yesterday announced preparations to open a flight school to train Ukrainian pilots.

France has also offered to train Ukrainian fighter pilots, though president Emmanuel Macron ruled out sending warplanes to Kyiv.

And while Russia's ally China vies to act as a peace broker, sending an envoy to Kyiv this week, Moscow's reported attempt to acquire more drones with military collaborator Iran has caused ire in Washington.

'This is a full-scale defense partnership that is harmful to Ukraine, to the region in the Middle East, and to the international community,' US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said yesterday, adding that further sanctions would soon be announced.

Mr Zelensky's tour to shore up military assistance to help make his troops more battle-ready began in Italy, with weekend visits to France and Germany, followed by yesterday's stop in the UK.

France offered dozens more light tanks and armoured vehicles, while Germany said it was preparing a military package worth '‚¬2.7billion (£2.35million) - its biggest yet for Ukraine.

At Mr Sunak's official country residence of Chequers yesterday, Mr Zelensky won the promise of hundreds more air-defence missiles and long-range attack drones.

Dressed in his trademark fatigues, Mr Zelensky gave a bear hug to Mr Sunak after disembarking from a Royal Air Force Chinook helicopter.

He said the crisis was a matter of 'security not only for Ukraine, it is important for all of Europe'.

Sunak noted that the Chequers meeting was taking place in the buildup to a Council of Europe leaders' meeting in Iceland and a G7 summit in Japan.

'The front lines of Putin's war of aggression may be in Ukraine, but the fault lines stretch all over the world,' Mr Sunak said.

Russia said the new UK weapons would cause 'further destruction' and claimed to have downed a Storm Shadow cruise missile that Britain last week said it was providing, in the West's first deployment of long-range missiles for Ukraine - though Mr Kirby said he was unable to confirm the reports.

The timing and focus of Ukraine's high-stakes counter-offensive remain unclear, but Mr Zelensky's tour of European capitals underscored the importance of securing Western heavy weapons and ammunition.

A firefighter works at a site of car park damaged by remains of Russian missiles overnight

Ukrainian air defence systems are seen launching to knock out incoming missiles

Volodymyr Zelensky is welcomed by France's president Emmanuel Macron upon his arrival at the Elysee presidential palace in Paris at the weekend

Rishi Sunak with Mr Zelensky at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence, yesterday

The two leaders greeted each other with a hug after the Ukraine president landed in Chinook helicopters

Mr Zelensky visited Britain on Monday on his whirlwind European tour, as the staunch ally of Kyiv promised to give Ukraine hundreds more missiles and attack drones in an effort to change the course of the war

The head of Russia's private Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has again accused the Russian army of inaction around Bakhmut

On the ground, the fighting appears poised to increase after months of stalemate.

Kyiv said the southern region of Kherson came under 'massive enemy attack', damaging several residential buildings.

Meanwhile, seven people, including a Moscow-installed senior official and a teenager, were injured in a blast in Russian-controlled Lugansk, local officials said.

Ukrainian forces said they have captured more than 10 Russian positions on the outskirts of Bakhmut, where a fierce battle for control began nearly a year ago.

Russia said two of its military commanders had been killed in combat near the town.

The head of Russia's private Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has again accused the Russian army of inaction around Bakhmut.

But he dismissed as 'laughable' a Washington Post report that he had offered information on Russian troop positions to Ukraine in January in return for respite for Wagner forces.

In another sign of tensions with the West, Russia said yesterday it had scrambled a Su-27 fighter jet over the Baltic Sea to intercept two aircraft, one German and one French, which Moscow said had attempted to 'violate' its airspace.

'After turning the foreign military planes away from the Russian Federation state border, the Russian fighter [jet] returned safely to its airbase,' the Russian defence ministry said in a statement

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Thu, 18 May 2023 15:46

 Monkeypox has returned with a vengeance as an outbreak of the disease   is reported in Chicago. The disease now appears to be affecting men who were injected with the vaccine for it.

In a May 9 update, the Chicago Department of Public Health recorded 12 confirmed and one probable case of the virus between April 17 and May 5. Nine of the 13 total infections, or nearly 70 percent, were in men vaccinated against the disease.

All patients were male with an average age of 34. Four of them had recently visited New York City, New Orleans or Mexico. Four patients tested positive for HIV, while one was diagnosed with syphilis.

The sudden uptick in monkeypox cases in the Windy City became a cause for alarm among health officials, who feared that the disease may be spreading undetected even among those vaccinated against it.

“Most weeks, we didn’t see a single monkeypox case. Maybe one or two in a higher week,” said Chicago Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady in a Facebook live session. “But just these last couple of weeks – we saw two, then five, now another six coming in.”

Other health officials have warned of a resurgence of the disease in the summer amid LGBT Pride marches across the country. As of writing, monkeypox has infected 30,395 Americans and has led to 42 fatalities in the United States.  

The world was put on high alert when monkeypox began spreading last year, largely among gay and bisexual men in the U.S. and Europe.

Monkeypox mainly spreads via direct sexual contact with an infected patient, or contact with an infected person’s clothing or bedsheets. Symptoms include a rash, fever, headache, muscle pain and swollen lymph nodes. Monkeypox patients require isolation, and treatment often involves antiviral drugs and painkillers.

WHO ends monkeypox emergency amid outbreak in Chicago Amid the rising number of monkeypox cases in Chicago, the World Health Organization (WHO) still declared an end to the global health emergency first announced for the disease. Last July, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus made the declaration. Almost a year later on May 11, he ended the emergency – citing “steady progress” in bringing down new monkeypox infections.

“The emergency committee for monkeypox met and recommended to me that the multi-country outbreak of monkeypox no longer represents a public health emergency of international concern,” said Tedros. “I have accepted that advice, and I’m pleased to declare that monkeypox is no longer a global health emergency.”

A public health emergency has been declared for several disease outbreaks since 2007 – including monkeypox, the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19), Zika, Ebola, polio and the H1N1 swine flu.

“We now see steady progress in controlling the outbreak based on the lessons of HIV, and working closely with the most affected communities,” Tedros continued. The WHO director-general also mentioned that the feared backlash against the communities most affected by the monkeypox outbreak “has largely not materialized.”

Nevertheless, Tedros remarked that travel-related monkeypox cases in all regions of the world highlight the pathogen’s continued threat. He said: “While we welcome the downward trend of monkeypox cases globally, the virus continues to affect communities in all regions – including in Africa – where transmission is still not well understood.”

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Thu, 18 May 2023 15:45

According to multiple reports, the Department of Justice removed an IRS whistleblower and the ''entire investigative team'' from a tax fraud investigation into Hunter Biden.

In a letter written to Congress, the whistleblower's attorneys alleged it as a retaliatory act.

''Today the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Criminal Supervisory Special Agent we represent was informed that he and his entire investigative team are being removed from the ongoing and sensitive investigation of the high-profile, controversial subject about which our client sought to make whistleblower disclosures to Congress. He was informed the change was at the request of the Department of Justice,'' Mark Lytle and Tristan Leavitt wrote.

BREAKING: IRS whistleblower, team removed from Hunter Biden case in possible retaliation, Congress told | Just The News https://t.co/FYaXk1skR8

'-- John Solomon (@jsolomonReports) May 16, 2023

BREAKING: A Biden administration whistleblower informed Congress today that the ''entire investigative team'' working on the Hunter Biden case at the IRS was removed from the case today, and that that their removal was specifically requested by DOJ.

Developing'...

'-- Sean Davis (@seanmdav) May 16, 2023

The IRS whistleblower came forward last month and cited a conflict of interest impacting the investigation.

The Criminal Supervisory Special Agent's attorney requested whistleblower protection for his client, saying ''politics are 'improperly infecting decisions' in the investigation.''

New Hunter Biden Whistleblower Emerges!

The New York Post reported:

The whistleblower, who has supervised the Hunter Biden probe since early 2020, has not publicly identified the first son as the subject of his coverup claims, though congressional sources have done so.

''On April 27, 2023, IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel appeared before the House Committee on Ways and Means. He testified: 'I can say without any hesitation there will be no retaliation for anyone making an allegation or a call to a whistleblower hotline.' However, this move is clearly retaliatory and may also constitute obstruction of a congressional inquiry,'' the lawyers went on.

''Our client has a right to make disclosures to Congress '... He is protected by 5 U.S.C. § 2302 from retaliatory personnel actions'--including receiving a 'significant change in duties, responsibilities, or working conditions' (which this clearly is) because of his disclosures to Congress.

''Any attempt by any government official to prevent a federal employee from furnishing information to Congress is also a direct violation of longstanding appropriations restriction. Furthermore, 18 U.S.C. § 1505 makes it a crime to obstruct an investigation of Congress,'' Lytle and Leavitt wrote.

The whistleblower's team added: ''We respectfully request that you give this matter your prompt attention. Removing the experienced investigators who have worked this case for years and are now the subject-matter experts is exactly the sort of issue our client intended to blow the whistle on to begin with.''

SHOCK: Biden's DOJ has removed the entire IRS team investigating Hunter Biden's tax fraud case. In doing so the IRS also removed the whistleblower in retaliation obstructing the congressional investigation.h/t @DonaldJTrumpJr https://t.co/R3NO4kwJpV pic.twitter.com/c8LIukoxUH

'-- @amuse (@amuse) May 16, 2023

Just the News added:

The letter was addressed to the GOP chairman and top Democrats on the Judicial and House Ways and Means committees as well as the Democrat chairmen and top Republicans on the Senate Finance and Judiciary committees.

In late April, Just the News reported that an IRS whistleblower was alleging that federal prosecutors had engaged in ''preferential treatment and politics'' to prevent tax charges from being filed against the president's son.

The whistleblower's allegations appear to contradict sworn testimony from Attorney General Merrick Garland that Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss, who has been heading up the investigation, had full authority to pursue the case without fear of political interference.

Speaking on the ''Just the News, No Noise'' television show on Friday, Leavitt revealed that congressional leaders had received the allegations with interest and would likely to hold hearings to air his client's claims.

He also said Missouri Republican Rep. Jason Smith has identified that House Ways and Means is committed to thoroughly hearing these allegations, ''so we look forward to a process. '... We are engaged with both sides of the aisle, and we anticipate that ultimately, our client, a very, very courageous and well-respected whistleblower, will be able to share his allegations with Congress.''

Just the News obtained a copy of the letter written by Mark Lytle and Tristan Leavitt.

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Thu, 18 May 2023 15:35

Former CIA director John Brennan has admitted the infamous letter signed by 51 former intelligence officials falsely saying Hunter Biden's laptop was Russian disinformation 'was political'.

Brennan, the CIA chief during Obama's administration made the admission during his four-hour testimony to House Judiciary Committee investigators behind closed doors last week', Fox News reports.

Brennan's deposition comes as former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper is expected to give testimony on May 17.

Both Brennan and Clapper signed a letter by 51 former intelligence officials who claimed Hunter's laptop had 'all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation'.

An email shows Brennan agreeing to have his name added to the letter of signatories by the then acting CIA Director Mike Morell.

John Brennan's deposition comes as former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper (pictured together in 2014) is expected to give testimony on May 17

One email seen by New York Post shows Morell asking Brennan to add his name to the signatories on the letter. Brennan emails back with his intention to sign the letter

Hunter's laptop included explicit photos of the troubled Hunter Biden naked, with prostitutes, and taking drugs, as well as multiple emails and texts between the 53-year-old and his father.

It comes as a bombshell Republican report has claimed that the CIA was actively involved in getting the 51 signatures on the letter, which the House Judiciary Committee allege was part of a 'political operation to help elect' Joe Biden in November 2022.

It alleges that a CIA employee 'may have helped in the effort to solicit signatures for the statement' and accuses former Deputy CIA director and Acting CIA Director Mike Morell and the Biden campaign of conspiring to quickly get the letter approved.

One signer of the statement, former CIA analyst David Cariens, 'disclosed to the Committees that a CIA employee affiliated with the agency's Prepublication Classification Review Board (PCRB) informed him of the existence of the statement and asked if he would sign it,' the House investigative report notes.

The CIA employee allegedly 'asked' Cariens if he would sign the statement, to which he agreed.

'The Committees have requested additional material from the CIA, which has ignored the request to date,' the report continues.

It came after Morell admitted to the House Judiciary Committee last month that he was asked by Secretary of State Anthony Blinken - who at the time was a senior member of Biden's campaign - to coordinate the letter.

Morrell said he was asked by Blinken to rally former intelligence chiefs to agree that the laptop looked like a smear campaign.

On October 19, 2020, Morell allegedly sent the CIA the final version of the letter to the Prepublication Classification Review for review and called it a 'rush job' so it could be approved.

One email seen by New York Post shows Morell asking Brennan to add his name to the signatories on the letter. Brennan emails back with his intention to sign the letter.

On October 18, emails included in the report also showed Clapper emailing Morrell his intention to sign onto the letter.

Both Brennan and Clapper signed a letter by 51 former intelligence officials who claimed Hunter's laptop had 'all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation'. Pictured: Hunter Biden and Joe Biden in Washington DC in 2016

Photo of laptop computer reportedly owned by Hunter Biden

He also offered a key phrase to include, writing: 'I have one editorial suggestion for the letter: I think it would strengthen the verbiage if you say this has all the classic earmarks of a Soviet/Russian information operation rather than the 'feel' of a Russian operation.

Morrell replied that Clapper's suggestion was accepted and 'It was a good one.'

The letter was ultimately signed by 51 former intelligence officials, including himself and four other former CIA directors, including John Brennan and Leon Panetta.

The letter was published by Politico five days after The New York Post first reported on the contents of the laptop.

The headline for Politico's story, on October 19, 2020, was: 'Hunter Biden story is Russian disinfo, dozens of former officials say.'

The letter alleged that The New York Post story 'has all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.'

Several media outlets, including DailyMail.com, have since confirmed the contents of the laptop and that it belonged to Hunter Biden.

Joe Biden used the letter during the October 22 debate against Donald Trump, saying he thought the reporting around his son's abandoned computer was the work of Russia.

Morell was thanked for his work in coordinating the letter, with Steve Ricchetti, chairman of the Biden campaign, telephoning him after the debate to say thank you.

He was then said to be in consideration for the role of CIA director - a job that ultimately went to William Burns.

Hunter Biden's abandoned laptop made for bombshell reports just before the 2020 presidential election

Hunter's laptop is brimming with files that give a shocking glimpse into his debauched life during which he engaged in drug use and prostitution

Morell, who has been a consultant, strategist, lecturer and author since his resignation almost a decade ago, said he was never formally in talks for the role.

Morrell recently testified before the House Judiciary Committee that an Oct. 17 call with Biden's current Secretary of State Antony Blinken had 'absolutely' triggered his interest in coordinating the letter.

However, Blinken insisted two weeks ago that he was not behind the infamous letter, insisting that he doesn't 'do politics.'

'One of the great benefits of this job is that I don't do politics, don't engage in it,' the secretary of State said. 'But with regard to that letter -it wasn't my idea, I didn't ask for it, didn't solicit it,' Blinken said on Fox News.

At the time he was allegedly behind the letter Blinken was not secretary of state but a Biden campaign adviser.

Asked by Fox News on if he accepted the laptop's legitimacy after most major news organizations have verified it, Blinken said he would not talk politics.

'I'm not not engaging in politics. I've got a lot on my agenda. Some things that we just talked about, trying to help the Russian aggression against engaging with our allies, partners around the world and dealing with some of the challenges posed by China. We have a situation now in Sudan, this has fully occupied my time.'

Biden and his campaign at the time cited the letter to discredit Hunter Biden's laptop as a 'Russian disinformation campaign.'

The then-presidential candidate cited it during a debate with Trump just a few days after its publication on October 22, 2020 to deflect scrutiny of his son's alleged foreign influence peddling schemes.

Mike Morell was acting CIA director for several months in 2011 and again in 2012-13. He was asked by the Biden campaign in October 2020 to help recruit other former intelligence chiefs to discredit reporting on the contents of Hunter Biden's laptop

Then-Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe said at the time that Hunter's laptop was actually 'not part of a Russian disinformation campaign' and had made that clear to the FBI and the larger intelligence community.

The Republican report also detailed how the CIA coordinated with the Biden campaign to shop the letter around and gain press coverage.

Former CIA senior adviser Nick Shapiro drafted a media pitch that he sent to a number of outlets including Politico - which ended up writing the initial story - the Washington Post and the Associated Press.

Current White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates, who was serving as Biden campaign rapid response director at the time, was included on emails from Shapiro regarding the push to disseminate the letter to the media.

House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan and House Intelligence Committee Chair Mike Turner sent a letter to Blinken last week telling him that they were examining the letter.

'As part of our oversight, we have learned that you played a role in the inception of this statement while serving as a Biden campaign advisor, and we therefore request your assistance with our oversight.'

The Biden campaign 'took active measures to discredit the allegations about Hunter Biden by exploiting the national security credentials of former intelligence officials,' the report also states.

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Thu, 18 May 2023 13:05

The CEO of Anheuser-Busch made a lukewarm statement following the bigoted backlash against Bud Light partnering with trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney. (Dylan Mulvaney/Instagram)

Bud Light's parent company is said to be temporarily redesigning some of its packaging in camouflage print in response to the backlash following its collaboration with trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney.

The company faced a deluge of attacks from anti-trans people over the collaboration, which saw Bud Light send Mulvaney a single personalised can to celebrate the first anniversary of her ''Days of Girlhood'' TikTok series.

The reactions were extreme. One man was arrested after destroying a shelf of beer in a Kansas Walmart store, singer Kid Rock filming himself shooting Bud Light cans and a number of country stars, including Riley Green, Travis Tritt, John Rich, and Brantley Gilbert made their feelings known '' oftentimes not very subtly.

Since then, according to the New York Post, parent company Anheuser-Busch held a meeting to discuss how to handle the backlash, deciding on a temporary redesign of Bud Light and Budweiser aluminium bottles.

An anonymous source revealed that the bottles would have camouflage print and display images of the US ''Folds of Honor'', an organisation that gives education scholarships to the spouses and children of dead or disabled US service men and women.

Quoting information from Bump Williams Consulting and NielsenIQ data, the New York Post said that Bud Light has faced a major drop in sales since the collaboration, with numbers down 23.6 per cent in the week ending 6 May, compared with a year ago.

Right-wing beer drinkers were furious at Bud Light's collaboration with Dylan Mulvaney. (Twitter/Conservative Dad's Ultra Right Beer)Shortly after the initial backlash, Anheuser-Busch's chief executive, Brendan Whitworth, released a statement saying he ''never intended to be part of a discussion that divides people''.

However, the company is now facing something of a double-edged sword because some LGBTQ+ bars have decided to boycott the brand.

In Chicago, Sidetrack Bar and the 2Bears Tavern Group, which has four bars in the city, have decided to ditch Bud Light over its handling of the situation and ''abandoning'' Mulvaney.

PinkNews has contacted Anheuser-Busch for comment.

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Thu, 18 May 2023 13:04

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) '-- Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed bills Wednesday that ban gender-affirming care for minors, target drag shows, restrict discussion of personal pronouns in schools and force people to use certain bathrooms.

DeSantis has made anti-LGBTQ+ legislation a large part of his agenda as he prepares to seek the Republican presidential nomination. He signed the bills in front of a cheering crowd at the evangelical Cambridge Christian School in Tampa. The ceremony had a campaign-like feel, with DeSantis tossing Sharpies to a crowd, as opposed to when he privately signed measures on abortion and gun rights.

Democrats opposed the bills, and LBTQ+ rallies were held at the Capitol during the session that ended two weeks ago. But Republicans have a super-majority in both chambers and easily approved the bills for DeSantis' signature.

''It's kind of sad that we even have some of these discussions,'' DeSantis told the crowd, standing behind a lectern with a sign reading ''Let Kids Be Kids.''

DeSantis presented a narrative that expert panels in the nation's major medical associations have said is false, such as the idea that children are routinely being ''mutilated.'' While he said he is protecting parents' rights, his opponents say he is denying the rights of parents with transgender kids.

''They have cloaked themselves in being the party of less government and parental rights, and what we're seeing now is the total opposite,'' said Democratic state Sen. Shevrin Jones, who is gay. ''Every other parent has the right to raise their child the way that they want to as long as your child is not gay, trans, bisexual. That's freedom for some parents, but not for all parents.''

The gender care law also bans the use of state money for gender-affirming care and places new restrictions on adults seeking treatment.

Three Florida parents have asked a federal court to issue a temporary restraining order immediately blocking the new law's enforcement. Attorneys for the families, who have a pending challenge to the state Boards of Medicine and Osteopathic Medicine, will be in court on Friday to argue that their children should be able to receive medical care as the case continues. The families are represented by Southern Legal Counsel, GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders, the National Center for Lesbian Rights and the Human Rights Campaign.

Planned Parenthood immediately started canceling gender-affirming care appointments after the bill was signed as the organization assesses the law's implications.

Transgender medical treatment for children and teenagers is increasingly under attack in many states and it has lately been subject to restrictions or outright bans. But it has been available in the United States for more than a decade and is endorsed by major medical associations as appropriate care for people diagnosed with gender dysphoria. Their guidelines generally prevent surgery for minors.

Treatment typically begins with an evaluation for the distress caused when gender identity doesn't match a person's assigned sex. With parental consent, persistent dysphoria can be treated with hormones, but typically not until age 16. The guidelines also say surgery should be reserved for people 18 and older.

But DeSantis spoke to applause at the bill-signing.

''We never did this through all of human history until like, what, two weeks ago? Now this is something? They're having third-graders declare pronouns? We're not doing the pronoun Olympics in Florida,'' DeSantis said.

The gender-affirming care ban and the law targeting drag shows go into effect immediately. The bathroom restrictions and the law banning schools from forcing children to ''provide his or her preferred personal title or pronouns'' take effect July 1.

Jones said the governor's choice of venue displayed the unpopularity of his campaign platform.

''If he's so confident in his policies, don't go hiding behind signing the bills at a Christian school or place where you're more prone to get praise for your bigotry,'' Jones said. ''Do it out in the community. ''

Republican Rep. Randy Fine, who sponsored the ban on gender-affirming care for minors, invoked his religion to defend the state's actions.

''God does not make mistakes with our children,'' Fine said.

Jones called Fine's take on the Bible disingenuous.

''For anyone to use Scripture in the same breath as you are being discriminatory and hateful towards a community of people, it don't work like that,'' Jones said. ''You can't take a book that was built on love and turn it around and fit your narrative.''

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Thu, 18 May 2023 12:13

New York City will begin tracking the carbon footprint of household food consumption and putting caps on how much red meat can be served in public institutions as part of a sweeping initiative to achieve a 33% reduction in carbon emissions from food by 2030.

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New York City will begin tracking the carbon footprint of household food consumption and putting caps on how much red meat can be served in public institutions as part of a sweeping initiative to achieve a 33% reduction in carbon emissions from food by 2030.

Mayor Eric Adams and representatives from the Mayor's Office of Food Policy and Mayor's Office of Climate & Environmental Justice announced the new programs last month at a Brooklyn culinary center run by NYC Health + Hospitals, the city's public healthcare system, just before Earth Day.

At the event, the Mayor's Office of Climate & Environmental Justice shared a new chart to be included in the city's annual greenhouse gas inventory that publicly tracks the carbon footprint created by household food consumption, the Gothamist reported.

The city already produced emissions data from energy use, transportation and waste as part of the annual inventory. But the addition of household food consumption data is part of a partnership that London and New York launched with American Express, C40 Cities and EcoData lab, Commissioner Rohit Aggarwala from the NYC Department of Environmental Protection announced at the event.

Aggarwala '-- who founded Google smart city subsidiary Sidewalk Labs '-- celebrated the expanded data collection as forging ''a new standard for what cities have to do'' and a new way to shape policy.

He said the inventory also will measure greenhouse gas pollution from the production and consumption of other consumer goods like apparel, whether or not those items are made in New York City. It also tracks emissions tied to services like air travel and healthcare.

But Adams' presentation at the event focused on food consumption, particularly meat and dairy.

''Food is the third-biggest source of cities' emissions right after buildings and transportation,'' Adams said. ''But all food is not created equal. The vast majority of food that is contributing to our emission crises lies in meat and dairy products.''

He added:

''It is easy to talk about the emissions that's coming from buildings and how it impacts our environment, but we now have to talk about beef. And I don't know if people are ready for this conversation.''

Adams '-- a vegan who, according to a whistleblower, also eats fish, credits his ''plant-based diet'' for his recovery from diabetes. He is the author of ''Healthy at Last: A Plant-Based Approach to Preventing and Reversing Diabetes and Other Chronic Illnesses,'' a vegan cookbook.

Adams claims that changing New Yorkers' eating habits will have both climate and health benefits. He said:

''We already know that a plant-powered diet is better for your physical and mental health, and I am living proof of that. But the reality is that thanks to this new inventory, we're finding out it is better for the planet.''

But agricultural economists and regenerative farmers say that calculation isn't actually that simple.

''Different meats have different kinds of greenhouse gas footprints'' because of differences in the production systems and ''all land is not created equal'' Melissa McKendree, Ph.D., an agricultural economist at Michigan State University, told The Defender.

Land that is suitable for cattle production, such as rangeland and pasture, often isn't suitable for other types of agriculture, and vice versa. And all of those different ecosystems for different plants and animals, when working well, work together to create a healthy ecosystem.

Alternative grazing systems, like the regenerative agricultural systems that McKendree researches, make it possible for pasture-raised beef ''to sequester carbon, and to become a carbon sink'' '-- actually reducing the greenhouse gas footprint of food production rather than adding to it.

Regenerative livestock farmer Will Harris told The Defender, ''As a practitioner who has been regenerating depleted land for 30+ years I can tell you that regenerating land is about restarting the cycles of nature that have been broken by industrial farming '-- and restarting those cycles cannot be done cost effectively without animal impact.''

He continued:

''All ecosystems evolved with certain kinds of animal impact and to say we've misused technologies to break these cycles of nature and we are going to start them back by leaving out this essential ingredient that has been around for millennia is wrong.

''Sadly there is a percentage of the populace that for whatever reason has decided that animals in the ecosystem are bad and the way to have a healthier planet is to give up that animal impact.

''Many of us have proven that there is benefit, ecological benefit to having animal impact in the equation. It has to be done right, but when it is done right there is an ecological benefit, an ecological service that we provide.

''But this sector of society is so committed to the vegetarian vegan solution, that it doesn't matter what we demonstrate, they are going to paint us with that same brush.

''They drown out our voices by screaming the same misapplied science over and over and over.''

Organization behind 15-minute city is mapping consumption-based emissions for New York and London

The partnership between American Express, New York, London and C40 Cities to map urban emissions was formally launched last week in a C40 press release. The groups will map the consumption-based emissions of both New York and London.

The press release does not make the purpose of emissions mapping inventories explicit. It simply states the inventories ''will enable London and New York City to develop a suite of actions to incentivise more sustainable consumption in collaboration with people and businesses.''

It adds that the project ''will also pioneer new ways for other cities to measure emissions from urban consumption,'' adding that there is an ''urgent need to reduce the emissions impact of urban consumption, especially what is eaten and the waste in food systems.''

To that end, ''Building data inventories in partnership with city businesses (such as supermarket chains and retailers) is important for cities to measure, plan and act to ensure our cities become better places to live for all people and sustainable business can thrive.''

The press release bases its claims on a report by the University of Leeds and developer Arup Group.

Arup is a Rockefeller-supported, World Economic Forum-affiliated organization that uses ''fourth industrial revolution'' technologies to transform cities. They promise that immense quantities of highly detailed data,'' can produce a ''new level of control'' making possible ''more efficient and sustainable use of the world's precious materials.''

The report assesses consumption-based emissions in C40 cities across the world produced by food, clothing, transportation, building infrastructure and household appliances and calls for those emissions to be halved by 2030.

In the same press release, Adams announced that New York has signed on to the C40 Good Food Cities Accelerator, where signatory cities commit to achieving a ''planetary healthy diet'' by 2030, defined by more ''plant-based foods,'' less meat and dairy and less food waste overall.

C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group is also one of the forces driving the implementation of 15-minute city projects across the world.

The group comprises 96 mayors of cities from around the world, is funded by major corporations and philanthropic foundations and focuses on urban activism for climate change.

Then-Mayor of London Mayor Ken Livingstone founded C40 in 2005 when he convened mayors from 18 cities to agree to cap climate emissions. In 2006, C40 merged with the Clinton Climate Initiative. In July 2020, the group published a framework for cities to ''build back better.''

Bloomberg Philanthropies is one of C40's major funders. Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg previously unsuccessfully tried to impose top-down changes on how New Yorkers consume by instituting a wide-scale ban on large sodas and other sugary drinks. The policy was struck down by a state Supreme Court judge.

Will 'meat caps' really lower emissions and improve health?

Mayor Adams' announcement about the C40 Good Food Cities declaration suggests the city will be serving less meat in the future to meet its 2030 goals. Officials from his administration did not specify the targets or the standards that would be used, but did indicate there would be ''caps on meat.''

Kate MacKenzie, executive director of the Mayor's Office of Food Policy, explained that the standards they are developing ''set maximums for the number of times that red meat can be served each week and really introduces the plant-based proteins and a floor for that.''

''So it's really the caps on meat,'' she said, adding that the city has been moving in this direction already.

New York already instituted ''meatless Mondays'' as a joint initiative by Adams and former Mayor Bill De Blasio in 2019. ''Vegan Friday'' began in public schools last year, where children are served food such as pre-packaged burritos that received reviews such as ''nasty'' and ''sad'' on the Brian Lehrer WNYC call-in show.

Meals in the city's hospitals have been made vegetarian by default, although people can request meat if they prefer.

New York spends roughly $300 million buying food for schools, homeless shelters, hospitals and prisons each year. According to the NYC Food Policy Dashboard, the city spends only about 1% of its food budget on ''ruminate meats.''

New York's initiative is part of a broader move by global policymakers toward targeting the food system '-- and meat in particular '-- as a source of emissions. Proposals have ranged from an outright ban on meat consumption to various types of incentives to minimize meat consumption, encourage lab-grown or alternative meat production to putting extra taxes on meat or forcing animal farmers to stop producing, as in the case of the Dutch farmers.

Meat bans, McKendree said, are ''the most extreme policy [for addressing environmental impacts of meat production]. Think about what we ban. We ban toxic chemicals like Agent Orange and things that we know have those environmental impacts.''

She continued:

''But when we think about making policies, we have to ask, what's the issue of concern? And we want to try to target that exact issue. So if our concern is reducing greenhouse gas emissions, then put policies in place that directly reduce carbon or greenhouse gas emissions.

''But banning beef doesn't have a direct carbon or greenhouse gas emissions effect, it creates a reduction in meat consumption.''

Instead, she said, policymakers could consider a wide range of other policies '-- from creating certified products, to subsidies, to taxes, to education through cooperative extension at universities like hers '-- that would support farmers to produce meat using regenerative practices.

''I think there's other options and opportunities besides banning or capping meat products,'' she said.

In its March 2023 report on U.S. biotechnology and biomanufacturing innovation, the White House emphasized a coming focus on climate-centric agriculture in the biotech industry.

The report followed a September 2022 ''Executive Order on Advancing Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Innovation for a Sustainable, Safe and Secure American Bioeconomy,'' which paves the way for biotechnology to take over food production by opening the door to more lab-grown meats and bioengineered plant foods.

Specific plans in the March ''Bold Goals'' report include reducing methane emissions from agriculture by 30% by 2030, in part by reducing methane emissions from ruminant livestock.

As policymakers across the world crack down on meat production, the alternative to meat markets, lab-grown meat industry and insect protein markets are booming.

Many meat alternatives require energy-intensive production and are ultra-processed, so may have serious environmental and health impacts

Obesity, Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer and depression are but a few examples of conditions known to be promoted and exacerbated by a processed food diet.

For example, a December 2022 study in Sweden found many plant-based meat alternatives have very high phytate levels '-- antinutrients that inhibit the absorption of minerals in the human body.

As a result, while the meat substitute may appear to contain many of the necessary nutrients, such as iron, the body cannot absorb them according to a report in NutritionInsight.

Harris said the processed foods that will likely replace the meat that they are taking out of the meals are ''less healthy, less good for the environment, and less good for the local rural economy that is rebounding by raising food right. There's a lot of losers in this.''

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Thu, 18 May 2023 12:12

Adidas this week launched its ''Pride 2023'' swimwear collection, advertising bathing suits on its web site under the ''women's'' section with the help of a model that appeared to be male.

One of the bathing suits '-- a colorful one-piece called the ''Pride Swimsuit'' that was being advertised for $70 '-- was being shown off by an apparently male model who also was also displaying a noticeable bulge in the crotch area.

An accompanying video on Adidas' site shows the model sashaying in the one-piece, with the camera at one point zooming to reveal a patch of chest hair rising above the neckline.

It was unclear if the model identifies as a male or is transgender.

Adidas and Mnisi didn't immediately respond to The Post's request for comment.

The new line by South African designer Rich Mnisi, dubbed ''Let Love Be Your Legacy'' and released ahead of Pride Month in June, is ''a celebration of self-expression, imagination and the unwavering belief that love unites,'' according to Adidas' site.

Adidas on Tuesday dropped its Pride 2023 collection, and social media users are outraged that the clothing's gender labels don't align with the model's appearance. OliLondonTV/TwitterIn a press release on Monday, Adidas said the line ''is inspired by a love letter Mnisi wrote to his younger self,'' serving as ''a rallying cry for active allyship to empower and champion the LGBTQIA+ community.''

Internet personality Oli London tweeted the screenshots from Adidas' site on Wednesday morning with the caption: ''The new Adidas Women's Swimwear Range modeled by'...men.''

By the afternoon, more than 1.1 million Twitter users saw the tweet '-- many of which were quick to slam the brand for going ''woke.''

Among the replies was one former NCAA swim star and women's rights activist Riley Gaines. ''Women's swimsuits aren't accessorized with a bulge,'' she tweeted.

Former NCAA swim star and women's rights activist Riley Gaines weighed in on the controversial images. Riley Gaines/TwitterGaines continued: ''I don't understand why companies are voluntarily doing this to themselves. They could have at least said the suit is 'unisex,' but they didn't because it's about erasing women. Ever wondered why we hardly see this go the other way?''

In another reply, a user tweeted: ''I have breasts, hips and no need for an extra pouch of fabric around my labia. I guess that means this bathing suit isn't for me.. or most women. In which other instance do companies advertise to a demographic of ~1%? Women make up ~50% and we're struggling lol! Make it make sense.''

The same user, who goes by June on the site, later responded that she ''can accept'' Adidas not wanting ''real women as a customer,'' but instead urged the brand to ''sell it in an LGBT category'' rather than marketing it as a women's bathing suit.

An outspoken Twitter user, who goes by ''June'' on the site, slammed Adidas for marketing the swimsuit to women, and later replied that it should be ''in an LGBT category.'' June_Can_Do_It/TwitterThe swimsuit isn't the only clothing item in Adidas' new Pride line labeled under ''Women's,'' but seemingly modeled by males.

Women's dresses, T-shirts, shorts and soccer jerseys touting ''Love Wins'' are also seen online being worn by models who appeared to be male.

Only the women's plus-size clothing was shown on a model who appeared female.

''Maybe Adidas does not appreciate large trans models or skinny female models,'' one user pointed out on Twitter.

Others cited the catchphrase, ''Go woke, go broke,'' which has gained traction since brands like Bud Light and Nike tapped trans social media star Dylan Mulvaney for partnerships, which ultimately led to boycotts and profit losses.

Last month, Adidas rival Nike tapped Mulvaney for a brand deal to promote the company's apparel.

Mulvaney revealed the partnership in a series of Instagram Story posts wearing Nike's activewear, including pants and a sports bra.

The swimsuit isn't the only clothing item in Adidas' new Pride line labeled under ''Women's'' that is seemingly modeled by a male. Adidas''Alert the media '-- I'm entering my workout era,'' Mulvaney, a transgender woman, wrote in a caption for her 2 million followers to see.

Nike faced outrage over its decision to have Mulvaney promote women's apparel, and a ''Burn Bra Challenge'' ensued on TikTok.

''I'm running out of brands to wear,'' another tweeted, while yet another said they wouldn't be buying from Adidas again. ''On to another brand that respects women,'' the user wrote.

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Thu, 18 May 2023 12:10

Masked men stole $125,000 in luxury handbags from a swanky New Jersey mall, leaving employees cowering in a back room as they snatched the designer goods right off the wall, police said Wednesday.

The high-fashion heist happened a little before 11 a.m. Monday when four men donning dark clothes and masks stormed into the Dior store at the Mall at Short Hills, about 20 miles outside of New York City, according to Millburn police.

The sales associates scampered into a back room and called 911, but by the time police arrived, the high-end raid was over, cops said.

A group of thieves stole 25 luxury handbags from the Dior store at the Mall at Short Hills in Millburn, New Jersey. Instagram/w00yengThe thieves '-- who were not armed '-- fled into a black SUV taking with them 25 stolen purses valued at $125,000, cops said.

A video posted to Instagram shows the men hurriedly loading their arms with expensive bags.

One intruder is seen even jumping to reach a large monogrammed Dior Book tote perched high on a shelf.

The merchandise was worth about $125,000, according to police. Instagram/w00yengLoaded up with stolen loot, the criminals can be seen running down the mall's concourse for their getaway.

One shopper was captured walking by the store's entrance and seemed surprised to see four men in hoodies and baseball caps sprint out juggling unboxed designer goods.

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Thu, 18 May 2023 12:10

The Facts Inside Our Reporter's NotebookMontana Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte on Wednesday signed into law legislation that forbids Chinese social media platform TikTok from operating within the state.

While numerous states have moved to bar use of the app on official devices, Montana's legislation is the first seeking to bar the app from operating within an entire state at all, Reuters noted.

Montana lawmakers approved the plan in April, with the state House voting 54-43 to bar the app's operation. The state Senate backed in in a 30-20 vote. The measure further forbids app stores from offering it for download within Montana's borders.

The app has come under fire from security officials and policy makers due to the close relationship between parent company ByteDance and the Chinese Communist Party.

FBI Director Christopher Wray, for instance, has repeatedly warned of the app's potential threat to Americans.

"I guess my point is that just to tie it all up, [TikTok] is a substantial national security threat for the country of a kind that we didn't face in the past," he said in April.

The Montana law is likely to face legal challenge.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on Twitter.

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Thu, 18 May 2023 12:05

It was strange that nobody in NYC noticed the supposed two-hour ''near catastrophic'' high-speed car chase of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle by ''a ring of highly aggressive paparazzi.''

In a city gridlocked with traffic, even Mayor Eric Adams said he found the claim by the royal grifters ''hard to believe''.

The NYPD rained on their parade, too: ''The Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrived at their destination and there were no reported collisions, summonses, injuries, or arrests in regard.''

The taxi driver who ferried the couple home after their event Tuesday at the Ziegfeld Theater told The Washington Post that he would not call it a ''chase, adding that he felt safe during the ride.''

The Harkles are suffering relevance deprivation syndrome and a bad case of jealousy after Princess Kate and Prince William shone at the Coronation.

This drama is an attempt to grab the spotlight after nobody in New York noticed they were here.

Coincidentally, as Page Six reported, the incident occurred ''hours after Harry was told that UK police are not for hire'' in his legal battle demanding taxpayer funded security.

A timeline of the alleged car chase issued by the NYPD, says Harry and Meghan didn't want paparazzi to know where they were staying.

So they were driven around Manhattan aimlessly for one hour and 15 minutes to create drama rather than driving a few minutes to their accommodation on the Upper East Side.

Footage for the next Netflix series?

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Thu, 18 May 2023 11:42

Viva Frei : A good statement from Dr. Byram Bridle. https://t.co/hhJuTuRTul

Wed May 17 13:03:09 +0000 2023

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Thu, 18 May 2023 03:55

Published Wed, May 17 2023 10:30 AM EDT Updated Wed, May 17 2023 1:54 PM EDT

It's altcoin season, as they say in crypto, and that could mean a bitcoin price peak is imminent, according to Morgan Stanley. During altcoin season, investor attention shifts away from bitcoin to smaller and newer coins in which they see high potential for profit. They usually have little or no intrinsic value and rely on secondary marketplace listings. "Speculative activity has returned to some parts of the crypto market," said Morgan Stanley analyst Sheena Shah. "The number of new cryptos created and listed on Uniswap exchange has doubled in the past month, a pattern that, since 2020, has often occurred around market tops." Bitcoin price peaks both large and small have in recent years coincided with increases in speculative token listings, she said, highlighting April and November 2021 and March and August 2022. Throughout 2021 bitcoin's price had an inverse relationship with the pace of new token listings, according to Shah. "This tells us that token creators aim to monetize on the recent price-driven speculative demand but that rising token issuance meets a market that soon becomes exhausted," she added. Almost any cryptocurrency outside of bitcoin and, in more recent years, ether, are considered "altcoins." Altcoin is a portmanteau of "alternative" and "coin." At the beginning of the month ether rallied and the Bitcoin blockchain saw a record high in daily transactions amid a surge in interest around new memecoins and NFT-like tokens on Bitcoin called ordinals . "We will be watching to see if the same pattern repeats or if we are at the start of a new bullish bitcoin price cycle," said Shah. '-- CNBC's Michael Bloom contributed reporting

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Thu, 18 May 2023 03:39

Some writers who have investigated the assassination of John F. Kennedy have claimed that a large number of witnesses to the event have died in mysterious circumstances. The Sunday Times reported that "the odds against these witnesses being dead by February, 1967, were one hundred thousand trillion to one." When the Select Committee on Assassinations questioned the newspaper reporter who wrote the article, he admitted he had made a "careless journalistic mistake".

In his book Crossfire, the author Jim Marrs, provided a list of 103 people who he claims died in mysterious circumstances between 1963 and 1976. In reality, most of these people died of natural causes. Some of these people did die in accidents. Others were murdered or committed suicide. However, these people rarely had information that would have been important in helping investigators discover if there was a conspiracy to kill Kennedy.Karyn KupcinetThe first person to die linked to the case was Karyn Kupcinet. In his book, Forgive My Grief, W. Penn Jones reports that "a few days before the assassination, Karyn Kupcinet, 23, was trying to place a long distance telephone call from the Los Angeles area. According to reports, the long distance operator heard Miss Kupcinet scream into the telephone that President Kennedy was going to be killed." Karyn's body was discovered on 30th November, 1963. Police estimated that she had been dead for two days. The New York Times reported that she had been strangled. Her actor boyfriend, Andrew Prine was the main suspect but he was never charged with the murder and the crime remains unsolved.

Some researchers claimed that there was a link between the death of Kupcinet and the assassination of John F. Kennedy. It was argued that the conspirators were trying to frighten off her father and journalist, Irv Kupcinet from telling what he knew.

Grant StockdaleGrant Stockdale, a close friend of John F. Kennedy died on 2nd December, 1963 when he fell (or was pushed) from his office on the thirteenth story of the Dupont Building in Miami. Stockdale did not leave a suicide note but his friend, George Smathers, claimed that he had become depressed as a result of the death of the president. However, it later became known that four days after the assassination Stockdale flew to Washington and talked with Robert Kennedy and Edward Kennedy. On his return Stockdale told several of his friends that "the world was closing in." On 1st December, he spoke to his attorney, William Frates who later recalled: "He started talking. It didn't make much sense. He said something about 'those guys' trying to get him. Then about the assassination."

Gary UnderhillAfter the assassination of President Kennedy, Gary Underhill told his friend, Charlene Fitsimmons, that he was convinced that he had been killed by members of the CIA. He also said: "Oswald is a patsy. They set him up. It's too much. The bastards have done something outrageous. They've killed the President! I've been listening and hearing things. I couldn't believe they'd get away with it, but they did!"

Underhill believed there was a connection between Executive Action, Fidel Castro and the death of John F. Kennedy: "They tried it in Cuba and they couldn't get away with it. Right after the Bay of Pigs. But Kennedy wouldn't let them do it. And now he'd gotten wind of this and he was really going to blow the whistle on them. And they killed him!"

Gary Underhill told friends that he feared for his life: "I know who they are. That's the problem. They know I know. That's why I'm here. I can't stay in New York." Underhill was found dead on 8th May 1964. He had been shot in the head and it was officially ruled that he had committed suicide. However, in his book, Destiny Betrayed (1992), James DiEugenio claimed that the bullet entered the right-handed Underhill's head behind the left ear.

Hunter, Koethe & HowardThere has been a significant number of people who have died who did appear to have important information about the case. This includes several journalists investigating the murder. On 24th November, 1963, Bill Hunter of the Long Beach Press Telegram and Jim Koethe of the Dallas Times Herald interviewed George Senator. Also there was the attorney Tom Howard. Earlier that day Senator and Howard had both visited Jack Ruby in jail. That evening Senator arranged for Koethe, Hunter and Howard to search Ruby's apartment.

It is not known what the journalists found but on 23rd April 1964, Hunter was shot dead by Creighton Wiggins, a policeman in the pressroom of a Long Beach police station. Wiggins initially claimed that his gun fired when he dropped it and tried to pick it up. In court this was discovered that this was impossible and it was decided that Hunter had been murdered. Wiggins finally admitted he was playing a game of quick draw with his fellow officer. The other officer, Errol F. Greenleaf, testified he had his back turned when the shooting took place. In January 1965, both were convicted and sentenced to three years probation.

Jim Koethe decided to write a book about the assassination of Kennedy. However, he died on 21st September, 1964. It seems that a man broke into his Dallas apartment and killed him by a karate chop to the throat. Tom Howard died of a heart-attack, aged 48, in March, 1965.

Mary ShermanOn 21st July, 1964, Dr. Mary Sherman was murdered in New Orleans. She had been stabbed in the heart, arm, leg and stomach. Her laboratory was also set on fire. The crime has never been sold. Later Edward T. Haslam published Mary, Ferrie & the Monkey Virus : The Story of an Underground Medical Laboratory. In the book he argued that Sherman was working with David Ferrie. Haslam believed that this Central Intelligence Agency backed research involved disease intelligence gathering and cancer research using laboratory-made biological weapons. Haslam claimed this biological weapon was to be used against Cuba's Fidel Castro.

Judyth Baker later began giving interviews aboout involvement in an anti-Castro conspiracy. She claims that in 1963 she was recruited by Dr. Canute Michaelson to work with Dr. Alton Ochsner and Dr. Mary Sherman in a CIA secret project. This involved creating the means to insure Fidel Castro developed cancer.

In 1963 Judyth moved to New Orleans where she worked closely with others involved in this plot. This included Lee Harvey Oswald, David Ferrie, Clay Shaw and Guy Bannister. Later she claimed she began an affair with Oswald. The research into this biological weapon was carried out in the homes of Ferrie and Sherman. Oswald role in this conspiracy was to work as a courier. However, the project was abandoned in September, 1963, and Oswald was ordered to Dallas.

Oswald kept in touch with Baker and in November, 1963, he had been forced to join a plot to kill John F. Kennedy. Oswald believed that the conspiracy was being organized by Mafia leader, Carlos Marcello and a CIA agent, David Atlee Phillips. Oswald told her he would do what he could to ensure that Kennedy was not killed. After the assassination of Kennedy and the arrest of Oswald, Baker received a phone-call from David Ferrie warning her that she would be killed if she told anyone about her knowledge of these events.

Mary Pinchot MeyerOn 12th October, 1964, Mary Pinchot Meyer was shot dead as she walked along the Chesapeake and Ohio towpath in Georgetown. Henry Wiggins, a car mechanic, was working on a vehicle on Canal Road, when he heard a woman shout out: "Someone help me, someone help me". He then heard two gunshots. Wiggins ran to the edge of the wall overlooking the towpath. He later told police he saw "a black man in a light jacket, dark slacks, and a dark cap standing over the body of a white woman."

Soon afterwards Raymond Crump, a black man, was found not far from the murder scene. He was arrested and charged with Mary's murder. The towpath and the river were searched but no murder weapon was ever found.

The media did not report at the time that Mary Pinchot Meyer had been having an affair with John F. Kennedy. Nor did it reveal that her former husband, Cord Meyer, was a senior figure in CIA's covert operations. As a result, there was little public interest in the case.

During the trial Wiggins was unable to identify Raymond Crump as the man standing over Meyer's body. The prosecution was also handicapped by the fact that the police had been unable to find the murder weapon at the scene of the crime. On 29th July, 1965, Crump was acquitted of murdering Mary Meyer. The case remains unsolved.

In March, 1976, James Truitt gave an interview to the National Enquirer. Truitt told the newspaper that Mary Pinchot Meyer was having an affair with John F. Kennedy. He also claimed that Meyer had told his wife, Ann Truitt, that she was keeping an account of this relationship in her diary. Meyer asked Truitt to take possession of a private diary "if anything ever happened to me".

Ann Truitt was living in Tokyo at the time of the murder. She phoned Ben Bradlee at his home and asked him if he had found the diary. Bradlee, who claimed he was unaware of his sister-in-law's affair with Kennedy, knew nothing about the diary. He later recalled what he did after Truitt's phone-call: "We didn't start looking until the next morning, when Tony and I walked around the corner a few blocks to Mary's house. It was locked, as we had expected, but when we got inside, we found Jim Angleton, and to our complete surprise he told us he, too, was looking for Mary's diary."

James Angleton, CIA counterintelligence chief, admitted that he knew of Mary's relationship with John F. Kennedy and was searching her home looking for her diary and any letters that would reveal details of the affair. According to Ben Bradlee, it was Mary's sister, Antoinette Bradlee, who found the diary and letters a few days later. It was claimed that the diary was in a metal box in Mary's studio. The contents of the box were given to Angleton who claimed he burnt the diary. Angleton later admitted that Mary recorded in her diary that she had taken LSD with Kennedy before "they made love".

Leo Damore claimed in an article that appeared in the New York Post that the reason Angleton and Bradlee were looking for the diary was that: "She (Meyer) had access to the highest levels. She was involved in illegal drug activity. What do you think it would do to the beatification of Kennedy if this woman said, 'It wasn't Camelot, it was Caligula's court'?" Damore also said that a figure close to the CIA had told him that Mary's death had been a professional "hit".

There is another possible reason why both Angleton and Bradlee were searching for documents in Meyer's house. Were they looking for material that Meyer had been collecting on CIA's covert activities?

Desmond FitzGeraldIn 1963 Desmond FitzGerald was in charge of the CIA's Cuban Task Force. In this post he personally organized three different plots to assassinate Fidel Castro. According to Dick Russell, FitzGerald had a meeting in France with a Cuban code-named AM/LASH, finalising a plan to eliminate Castro, at the same time John F. Kennedy was assassinated. FitzGerald died of a heart attack while playing tennis in Virginia on 23rd July, 1967.

Lisa HowardLisa Howard died at East Hampton, Long Island, on 4th July, 1965. It was officially reported that she had committed suicide. Apparently, she had taken one hundred phenobarbitols. It was claimed she was depressed as a result of losing her job and suffering a miscarriage. At first no one associated Howard's death with the Kennedy assassination. However, it has recently emerged that Howard was involved in secret negotiations with Fidel Castro on behalf of John F. Kennedy.

Winston ScottWinston Scott was the CIA's station chief in Mexico. Scott retired in 1969 and wrote a memoir about his time in the FBI, OSS and the CIA. He completed the manuscript, It Came To Late, and made plans to discuss the contents of the book with CIA director, Richard Helms, in Washington on 30th April, 1971. Four days before the agreed meeting Scott died of a heart attack.

Michael Scott told Dick Russell that James Angleton took away his father's manuscript. Angleton also confiscated three large cartons of files including a tape-recording of the voice of Lee Harvey Oswald. Michael Scott was also told by a CIA source that his father had not died from natural causes. Scott eventually got his father's manuscript back from the CIA. However, 150 pages were missing. Chapters 13 to 16 were deleted in their entirety. In fact, everything about his life after 1947 had been removed on grounds of national security.

Tyler & KopechneNancy Carole Tyler worked as secretary to Bobby Baker. At the time of the assassination she was living with Mary Jo Kopechne, who worked for George Smathers (she later became secretary to Robert Kennedy). According to W. Penn Jones Jr, it was Tyler and Kopechne who told Baker that John F. Kennedy planned to replace Lyndon B. Johnson as vice president. Tyler died in a plane crash, near Ocean City, Maryland, on 10th May, 1965. Kopechne was later to die in the car of Edward Kennedy on 18th July, 1969.

Kilgallen & SmithDorothy Kilgallen, a crime reporter of the New York Journal, obtained a private interview with Jack Ruby. She told friends that she had information that would "break the case wide open". Aware of what had happened to Bill Hunter and Jim Koethe, she handed her interview notes to her friend Margaret Smith. On 8th November, 1965, Kilgallen, was found dead. It was reported she had committed suicide. Her friend, Margaret Smith, died two days later.

Bannister & FerrieTwo of the men that Jim Garrison believed were involved in the conspiracy to kill Kennedy, Guy Bannister (June, 1964), David Ferrie ( February, 1967) and Eladio del Valle (February, 1967) died before they could be brought to court.

Roger D. CraigRoger D. Craig was on duty in Dallas on 22nd November, 1963. After hearing the firing at President John F. Kennedy he ran towards the Grassy Knoll where he interviewed witnesses to the shooting. About 15 minutes later he saw a man running from the back door of the Texas Book Depository down the slope to Elm Street. He then got into a Nash station wagon.

Craig saw the man again in the office of Captain Will Fitz. It was the recently arrested Lee Harvey Oswald. When Craig told his story about the man being picked up by the station wagon, Oswald replied: "That station wagon belongs to Mrs. Paine... Don't try to tie her into this. She had nothing to do with it."

Craig was also with Seymour Weitzman when the rifle was found on the sixth floor of the Texas Book Depository. He insisted that the rifle was a 7.65 Mauser and not a Mannlicher-Carcano.

Craig became unpopular with senior police officers in Dallas when he testified before the Warren Commission. He insisted he had seen Lee Harvey Oswald get into the station wagon 15 minutes after the shooting. This was ignored by Earl Warren and his team because it showed that at least two people were involved in the assassination. Craig, unlike Seymour Weitzman, refused to change his mind about finding a Mauser rather than a Mannlicher-Carcano in the Texas Book Depository. Craig was fired from the police department in 1967 after he was found to have discussed his evidence with a journalist.

In 1967 Roger D. Craig went to New Orleans and was a prosecution witness at the trial of Clay Shaw. Later that year he was shot at while walking to a car park. The bullet only grazed his head. In 1973 a car forced Craig's car off a mountain road. He was badly injured but he survived the accident. In 1974 he surviving another shooting in Waxahachie, Texas. The following year he was seriously wounded when his car engine exploded. Craig told friends that the Mafia had decided to kill him. Craig was found dead from on 15th May, 1975. It was later decided he had died as a result of self-inflicted gunshot wounds.

Select Committee investigationsWhen the Select Committee on Intelligence Activities and Select Committee on Assassinations began investigating Kennedy's death in the 1970s the deaths of potential witnesses increased dramatically. This included several criminals with possible links to the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Those who were killed or who died in suspicious circumstances during this period included Malcolm Wallace (1971), Lucien Sarti (1972), Charles Willoughby (1972), Thomas Davis (1973), Richard Cain (1973), Dave Yarras (1974), Sam Giancana (1975), Jimmy Hoffa (1975), Roland Masferrer (1975), Johnny Roselli (1976), George De Mohrenschildt (1977), Charlie Nicoletti (1977) and Carlos Prio (1977).

William Sullivan, the main figure in the FBI involved in the Executive Action project, was shot dead near his home in Sugar Hill, New Hampshire, on 9th November, 1977. Sullivan had been scheduled to testify before the House Select Committee on Assassinations.

Sullivan was one of six top FBI officials who died in a six month period in 1977. Others who were due to appear before the committee who died included Louis Nicholas, special assistant to J. Edgar Hoover and his liaison with the Warren Commission; Alan H. Belmont, special assistant to Hoover; James Cadigan, document expert with access to documents that related to death of John F. Kennedy; J. M. English, former head of FBI Forensic Sciences Laboratory where Oswald's rifle and pistol were tested and Donald Kaylor, FBI fingerprint chemist who examined prints found at the assassination scene.

Several important figures in the Central Intelligence Agency died before they could give evidence to the House Select Committee on Assassinations investigations. Sheffield Edwards, the CIA official who attempted to organize the assassination of Fidel Castro, died in July, 1975. William Harvey, head of the ZR/RIFLE project, died as a result of complications from heart surgery in June, 1976. William Pawley, who took part in Operation Tilt, died of gunshot wounds in January, 1977. David Morales, who some believe organized the assassination, died aged 53, on 8th May, 1978. Another important figure in CIA covert operations, Thomas Karamessines died of a heart attack on 4th September, 1978.

John Paisley was deputy director of the Office of Strategic Research. On 24th September, 1978, John Paisley, took a trip on his motorized sailboat on Chesapeake Bay. Two days later his boat was found moored in Solomons, Maryland. Paisley's body was found in Maryland's Patuxent River. The body was fixed to diving weights. He had been shot in the head. Police investigators described it as "an execution-type murder". However, officially Paisley's death was recorded as a suicide.

According to the journalist, Victor Marchetti, Paisley was a close friend of Yuri Nosenko. Marchetti also claimed that Paisley knew a great deal about the assassination of John F. Kennedy and was murdered during the House Select Committee on Assassinations investigation because he was "about to blow the whistle".

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Thu, 18 May 2023 02:50

Texas State Capitol Building in Austin. (Stock/Getty Images)

The Texas legislature passed a bill on Wednesday banning doctors in the state from providing gender-affirming care to minors.

The legislation, which next heads to Gov. Greg Abbott's (R) desk, would prohibit health care providers from prescribing hormones and puberty blockers to minors or performing a variety of surgeries with the purpose of aiding their transition.

While the bill provides an exception for children currently on hormones or puberty blockers, it requires that they ''wean off'' the drugs ''in a manner that is safe and medically appropriate.''

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on Friday slammed the Texas House for advancing the bill to block ''evidence-based, life-saving health care'' for transgender adolescents.

''This is a dark day in Texas,'' Ash Hall, a policy and advocacy strategist at the ACLU of Texas, said in a statement. ''Our legislature has turned its back on science, parents, and the safety and lives of children. Our hearts break for transgender young people in our state who have repeatedly been attacked by their own government for callous political gain.''

Paul Ryan's official Speaker portrait unveiled at the CapitolProposed rule targets college programs that leave students with 'unaffordable debt or insufficient earnings'The bill follows an effort by Abbott last year to have state agencies investigate parents who provided their children with gender-affirming care of child abuse.

With the governor widely expected to sign the legislation, Texas would join 16 other states '-- including Montana, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, North Dakota, South Dakota, Oklahoma, Iowa, Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida '-- that have already banned such care for transgender youths.

Georgia has also banned most gender-affirming care, while the Missouri legislature passed a similar bill last week that is awaiting signature.

Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Thu, 18 May 2023 01:40

GETTYCNN Promotes Kaitlan Collins to Prime Time Slot Following Trump Town Hall

CNN has announced that Kaitlan Collins will take on the role of hosting a new hour-long show in the center of their prime-time lineup, filling the gap left after the departure of Chris Cuomo and amid the network's declining ratings.

Starting next month, Collins will regularly host the 9 p.m. ET show, as confirmed by the network during a Warner Discovery sales presentation to advertisers on Wednesday.

Collins, who previously served as a White House correspondent, recently moderated CNN's town hall with former President Donald Trump.

In a memo to CNN staff members, Chairman Chris Licht praised Collins as a talented journalist who holds lawmakers and newsmakers accountable.

This decision marks a significant move by Licht, who assumed leadership of CNN last year, to make his mark on the network's prime-time lineup, which has struggled to compete with Fox News and MSNBC in terms of viewership.

Collins had been named co-host of a revamped morning show alongside Poppy Harlow and Don Lemon, which premiered in November. With Lemon's departure and Collins' promotion, Harlow will work with guest anchors until further changes are announced for the morning programming.

MIKE COPPOLA/GETTY IMAGES FOR CNNSince December 2021, CNN has relied on guest hosts in the evenings following the firing of Chris Cuomo. Cuomo's departure came after the network determined that he had not been forthcoming about the assistance he provided to his brother, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. At the time, Cuomo hosted CNN's highest-rated show.

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Wed, 17 May 2023 21:32

Jada Pinkett Smith says she blames 'white supremacists' for the flop of her new Netflix docudrama series, Queen Cleopatra, which has one the worst audience ratings in U.S. television history.

The show has an abysmal 1% approval score. It also caused a huge backlash in Egypt by inaccurately portraying Cleopatra as a black woman.

As part of Jada's ''woke'' crusade, she forced the show's producers to change the race of Cleopatra to match her own.

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''Cleopatra was Greek, which means she was fair-skinned, not black,'' former Egyptian Minister of Antiquities Zahi Hawass pointed out.

Slaynews.com reports: According to The LA Times: ''Cleopatra was born in the Egyptian port city of Alexandria in 69 BC and succeeded her father in 51 BC to rule until her death in 30 BC amid the expansion of the Roman Empire.

''Egyptologists have confirmed that she was Macedonian-Greek on the side of her father, Ptolemy XII, but her maternal heritage is less clear; little is known about her birth mother's ethnic origin.

''Historians have said it's possible that she, or any other female ancestor, was an Indigenous Egyptian or from elsewhere in Africa.

'''...Egyptian lawyer Mahmoud al-Semary filed a complaint with Egypt's public prosecutor to request that Netflix be blocked in the North African nation due to the promotion of 'Afrocentric thinking,' including 'slogans and writings aimed at distorting and erasing the Egyptian identity.'''

Hollywood doesn't care about historical accuracy as long as the show is a hit among ''woke'' audiences.

However, Smith's new show is a dud.

One reviewer said:

''It is hard to take this 'documentary' seriously when there are errors in just about every scene.

''Ancient Egypt existed for three and a half millennia, and the Ptolemaic period of Greek control and its involvement in Roman policies, especially the Roman civil wars is a very specific period.

''For example, no Egyptian was spoken at the court, Greek was spoken.

''But getting costumes wrong, getting basic timelines of battles (like Actium) wrong, placing Cleopatra at events we know she was not present at, mixing up things done by Anthony with those done by Octavian and an unending series of errors just makes this impossible to watch.

''It is clear no experts, or even anyone with a basic knowledge of the history of the time and place was involved, or if they were, their advice was inverted.

''The dialogue is also laughably childish, as is the acting.''

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Wed, 17 May 2023 21:17

Child deaths have spiked by a tenth to a 15-year high fueled by pandemic suicides, overdoses and homicides.

Between 2019 and 2020, the mortality rate for ages 1 to 19 soared by 10.7 percent, and increased by an additional 8.3 percent the following year, according to a new study which analyzed CDC figures.

That is the highest increase for two consecutive years in the 50 years that the government has publicly released such figures, according to the paper published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in March.

This staggering reversal in pediatric mortality was not caused by COVID but soaring violence, self-harm and drug abuse - with guns the leading cause of death.

The pandemic - which strained mental health services and isolated children at home - 'poured fuel on a fire' that has been burning among America's youth for at least a decade, the study warned.

Between 2019 and 2020, the mortality rate for ages 1 to 19 soared by 10.7 percent, and increased by an additional 8.3 percent the following year, according to a new study which analyzed CDC figures

The COVID mortality rate at ages 1 to 19 years was 0.24 deaths per 100,000 in 2020 - but that is dwarfed by the surge in injury deaths which was 12 times higher at 2.80 deaths per 100,000

The COVID mortality rate at ages 1 to 19 years was 0.24 deaths per 100,000 in 2020 - but that was dwarfed by the surge in injury deaths which was 12 times higher at 2.80 deaths per 100,000.

'I have not seen this in my career,' said lead author Steven Woolf, MD, director emeritus of the Center on Society and Health at Virginia Commonwealth University.

'For decades, the overall death rate among US children has fallen steadily, thanks to breakthroughs in prevention and treatment of diseases like premature births, pediatric cancer and birth defects.

'We now see a dramatic reversal of this trajectory, meaning that our children are now less likely to reach adulthood. This is a red flashing light. We need to understand the causes and address them immediately to protect our children.'

Suicides among children aged 10 to 19 started increasing in 2007 and homicide rates in this age bracket began rising in 2013.

Since then the mortality rate for suicide has increased by 70 percent and the homicide rate has increased by a third.

Woolf said the 'likely contributors to both trends include increased access to firearms and a deepening mental health crisis among children and adolescents.'

During the pandemic, demand for mental health support far outpaced supply, leaving young patients especially vulnerable. Children as young as eight went to doctors with thoughts about killing themselves.

Lois Lee, a pediatric emergency physician at Boston Children's Hospital who chairs the American Academy of Pediatrics Council on Injury, Violence and Poison Prevention, told The Wall Street Journal: 'We are seeing younger and younger patients coming in with mental-health crises, and even those 8 to 10 years old coming in with suicidal ideation.'

Opioid abuse, exacerbated by the fentanyl crisis, has surged and overdose rates for children aged 10 to 19 years began increasing just before the pandemic.

'Although the pandemic did not initiate these trends, it may have poured fuel on the fire,' Woolf argues.

Injury mortality at ages 10 to 19 years rose by 23 percent between 2019 and 2020.

The number of children between the ages 10 to 19 who attempted suicide by poisoning surged by more than 70 percent in 2021 when compared to pre-pandemic figures

Many more children began to attempt suicide by poisoning during the COVID pandemic. The number of attempts rose by around 30 percent, the CDC reports

A large proportion of this uptick was down to homicides which increased by 39 percent, and deaths from overdoses which rocketed by 114 percent.

Among younger children aged 1 to 9, injuries explained two thirds of the surge in mortality in 2021.

Firearms 'play a central role in this crisis,' Woolf stated. Guns are the leading cause of death among youths aged 1 to 19 and accounted for almost half of the increase in all-cause mortality in 2020.

'Current efforts to understand gun violence, overcome political gridlock, and enact sensible firearm policies are not progressing with the speed that pediatric suicides and homicides require,' Woolf wrote.

He added: 'Medicine and public health have made remarkable progress in lowering pediatric mortality rates, but the lives they have saved are now endangered by manmade pathogens.

'Bullets, drugs, and automobiles are now causing a youth death toll sufficient to elevate all-cause mortality rates, the largest such increase in recent memory.

'Without bold action to reverse the trend, children's risk of not reaching adulthood may increase.'

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Wed, 17 May 2023 16:19

Authored by Thomas Brooke via Remix News,

The commencement of regular output from a much-delayed Finnish nuclear reactor in April saw electricity prices in the country decrease by more than 75 percent.

The Olkiluoto 3 (OL3) nuclear plant completed the transition from testing to regular output last month to become Finland's first new nuclear plant in more than four decades. It is expected to produce up to 15 percent of the country's power demand.

And while the plant's production is still in its early days, its launch has had a considerable effect on Finland's energy prices, lowering the electricity spot price in the country from '‚¬245.98 per megawatt-hour (MWh) in December to '‚¬60.55 per MWh in April, a reduction of more than 75 percent, according to physical electricity exchange, Nord Pool.

Energy prices had risen sharply in the Scandinavian country after the Finnish government banned electricity imports from neighboring Russia last year due to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. The utilization of nuclear power will be welcomed by Finnish consumers, particularly given the fact that Finland has the highest per-capita electricity consumption in the European Union.

''We have had more stability in the system because of OL3. It's a huge nuclear plant, one of the biggest in the world, connected to a small system,'' said Jukka Ruusunen, chief executive of Finland's national grid operator Fingrid. ''It has its own risks, which we are happy to follow up on,'' he added.

Speaking to The National, Ruusunen explained that wind power is expected to be the largest source of energy production in Finland by 2027, with nuclear currently being a useful and reliable substitute.

He said that wind power is capable of attracting greater investment, with nuclear energy seemingly being blacklisted by a number of environmental investors.

''Nuclear, it seems, is not very attractive for the investors. This is what they say. But, it's an option and I'm sure that our politicians would be in favor of these decisions,'' he told the news site.

There are also business concerns:

''Who dares to put billions of euros into nuclear?'' he asked.

Nuclear, however, continues to be an increasingly popular source of energy production in many EU nations with France, Sweden, Poland and Hungary all seeking to expand their nuclear energy output.

Last month, Poland secured $4 billion in U.S. funding to help build 20 small modular reactors across the country by 2029, while Hungary is focused on expanding its Paks nuclear power plant.

The Finnish example is a testament to how nuclear can play a part in solving the current energy crisis, with consumers still paying sky-high fees for energy in many European countries.

Germany, however, went the opposite way and controversially closed down its three remaining nuclear power plants last month. High inflation, high energy costs, and a sharp decline in industrial output have led to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicting a recession is in the cards for Europe's powerhouse.

While German government officials say that energy prices are stabilizing, many will argue this is primarily because the federal government has spent around '‚¬26 billion in taxpayers' cash on bailing out energy firms Sefe and Uniper, both of which incurred record losses by purchasing natural gas at hugely inflated prices to replace the banned supply from Russia.

As other European countries turn to alternative sources of energy production such as nuclear, some have ignored the benefits and chosen to plunge themselves into debt because of a notion that nuclear isn't an acceptable energy source in the modern day.

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Wed, 17 May 2023 16:11

Thousands of patients are facing delays in getting treatments for cancer and other life-threatening diseases, with drug shortages in the United States approaching record levels.

Hospitals are scouring shelves for supplies of a drug that reverses lead poisoning and for a sterile fluid needed to stop the heart for bypass surgery. Some antibiotics are still scarce following the winter flu season when doctors and patients frantically chased medicines for ailments like strep throat. Even children's Tylenol was hard to find.

Hundreds of drugs are on the list of medications in short supply in the United States, as officials grapple with an opaque and sometimes interrupted supply chain, quality and financial issues that are leading to manufacturing shutdowns.

The shortages are so acute that they are commanding the attention of the White House and Congress, which are examining the underlying causes of the faltering generic drug market, which accounts for about 90 percent of domestic prescriptions.

The Biden administration has assembled a team to find long-term solutions for shoring up the pharmaceutical supply chain, at a time when the United States remains heavily reliant on medicines and drug ingredients from India and China. And in recent weeks, generic drug makers, supply-chain experts and patient advocates have appeared before lawmakers to discuss the problems.

The scarcity of generic forms of chemotherapy to treat lung, breast, bladder and ovarian cancers has only heightened concerns.

''This is, in my opinion, a public health emergency,'' said Dr. Amanda Fader, a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and a president-elect of the Society of Gynecologic Oncology, ''because of the breadth of the individuals it affects and the number of chemotherapy agents that are in shortage right now.''

The American Cancer Society last week warned that delays caused by the shortages could result in worse outcomes for patients.

''If these drugs are not available, people are going to get inferior care,'' Dr. William Dahut, the society's chief medical officer, said. ''That's the bottom line. These aren't third- or fourth-line drugs where there are multiple other agents around. These are used up front for people you are trying to cure.''

Ryan Dwars beat pancreatic cancer in 2021, but late last year a scan showed cancerous spots on his liver. Mr. Dwars, 39 and a father of two young girls, had hoped to receive his final four doses of chemotherapy in April.

Then his doctor delivered stunning news: He didn't make the cut of those given priority for the treatment.

''The light at the end of the tunnel was within sight,'' Mr. Dwars, a special education teacher in Iowa City, said. ''It made it even worse to be so close '-- and now this.''

Laura Bray, who founded a nonprofit called Angels for Change, works as a liaison among patients, health systems and drug companies to ''micro-source,'' as she calls it, hard-to-find medications.

''Will we have the resolve and sense of urgency to fix this?'' asked Ms. Bray, an adjunct business professor who has been providing information to the White House and Congress. ''It's possible. It can be done. It happens in other supply chains. But we have to focus on it and we have to think about ending it '-- instead of mitigating it. I think the jury's out on that.''

For Mr. Dwars, Ms. Bray contacted a maker of cisplatin, the chemo drug he needed and arranged for a supply to be sent within days and for others at his hospital. Some in states around the country have not been as fortunate, encountering frightening gaps between treatments.

The White House team working on the broader issue of longstanding drug supply breakdowns includes national security, economic and health officials, according to James McKinney, a spokesman for the Food and Drug Administration. Bloomberg reported earlier on the White House involvement.

Officials have been debating possible measures like tax incentives for generic drugmakers and greater transparency around generic drug quality. The current incentives favor drugmakers with the lowest prices, which includes those that might cut corners '-- leading to disruptive plant shutdowns if the F.D.A. demands a fix. (Some shortages, like those of weight-loss drugs, are the result of sky-high demand, while others have been attributed to overprescribing, including for antibiotics, or a lack of investment in potential alternatives.)

The F.D.A., which employs a team of about 10 people who do the day-to-day work of mitigating and reporting drug shortages, has said it is seeking authority from Congress to get additional information about the drug manufacturing and supply chain.

But the agency has also expressed its concerns to the White House about severe financial strain in the generic drug industry '-- an economic problem that F.D.A. officials say they are not suited to address.

Dr. Robert Califf, the F.D.A. commissioner, highlighted the agency's views during recent appearances before Congress, saying officials can only plug so many holes.

''We have got to fix the core economics if we're going to get this situation fixed,'' Dr. Califf told a House panel on May 11.

David Gaugh, the interim chief executive of the Association for Accessible Medicines, which represents generic drugmakers, recalled warning F.D.A. officials in an April meeting that the recent bankruptcy and shutdown of Akorn Pharmaceuticals would likely be followed by others.

''Shortages are on the rise. We've all seen that,'' Mr. Gaugh said in an interview. ''And it is likely going to get worse, not better, very soon.''

Mr. Gaugh cited data underscoring pressure facing the generic industry. Although the number of generic drugmakers has increased, a review by IQVIA, a health care analytics company, showed that the market has consolidated such that three buyers account for about 90 percent of generic drug purchases. The intermediaries are combined major drug distributors and retail chains, like Red Oak Sourcing, which includes CVS Health and Cardinal Health and ClarusONE, which includes Walmart and McKesson. Walgreens also has distribution agreements with AmerisourceBergen. The companies did not reply to requests for comment.

The competition for the contracts with those intermediaries pits U.S. manufacturers against those in India, where labor costs are far lower. When a generic drug company can't get a contract for a medication, it tends to stop making it and might see already-slim profits shrink.

''The opportunity to get it wrong is much narrower if you're a generic manufacturer,'' Mr. Gaugh said.

Hospital pharmacists and supply-chain experts were stunned in February by the abrupt shutdown of Akorn, whose products were then recalled since there was no staff remaining to address potential quality concerns.

That added ''insult to injury,'' said Eric Tichy, a supply chain division chair at the Mayo Clinic and the board chairman of the End Drug Shortages Alliance.

Akorn made roughly 100 medications, including cylinders of albuterol that children's hospitals had relied on to ease their breathing difficulties. And it was the only company that made an antidote to lead poisoning, Dr. Tichy said.

''Health is so foundational to our country functioning well,'' Dr. Tichy said. ''And then we have a domestic manufacturer that just goes under and there's not a lot of action.''

Four Senate bills with bipartisan sponsorship could help get generic drugs to market more quickly by addressing tactics or loopholes that cause delays. During a House hearing on the shortages Thursday, Anthony Sardella, a business research adviser at Washington University in St. Louis, said generic drug prices had fallen by about 50 percent since 2016.

''But there is a high cost to low prices,'' Mr. Sardella said, noting that they may lead to cost cutting that can result in quality problems.

A recent case in point was Intas Pharmaceuticals, a company in India that makes three key chemotherapy drugs that are difficult to find: methotrexate, carboplatin and cisplatin, the drug Mr. Dwars needed. Intas temporarily suspended manufacturing of the drugs after the F.D.A. found serious quality-control violations.

During an unannounced visit to the Intas plant, F.D.A. inspectors discovered a ''truck full of'' hundreds of plastic bags filled with torn and shredded documents, according to a report issued in December. One quality-control worker poured acid on torn records and stuffed them in a garbage bag, the report said.

F.D.A. inspectors pieced papers together and found quality control records for products bound for the United States, the report said. The agency cited a raft of other problems as well.

To ease the supply disruption, the U.S. distributor for Intas, Accord Pharmaceuticals, said a handful of lots were tested by a third party, certified and released to the U.S. market. The treatments arranged by Ms. Bray that reached patients in Iowa were among them.

The companies were working with the F.D.A. to restart manufacturing for U.S. customers, a statement from Accord said, adding that it found the shredding to be an ''isolated incident.''

The Society of Gynecologic Oncology sent out a nationwide survey in recent weeks. In response, doctors in 35 states said they had little to no supply of key chemotherapy drugs, even at large cancer centers and teaching hospitals.

Dr. Patrick Timmins, a partner of Women's Cancer Care Associates in Albany, N.Y., said his practice ran out of some chemotherapy drugs on May 9, but still has 25 patients who need them.

''Our patients are in a war, and what we're doing is we're taking their weapons away,'' Dr. Timmins said. ''It's completely ridiculous that we can't figure out a way, at least in the short run, to get our patients treated, and in the long run to solve these recurring problems.''

When Ms. Bray met with White House staff members in late April, she said that she recommended creating an exchange, to get drugs where they were needed most, and increasing the production of small-batch medicines, often referred to as compounding.

Dr. Kevin Schulman, a professor at Stanford Medicine who has studied the generic drug industry, said he had urged the White House team to examine how much power the intermediary companies have in contracting with generic drug makers. He said they demand rock-bottom prices, but unlike a customer-facing company like Apple that contracts with suppliers worldwide, the drug intermediaries face no accountability when shortages arise.

Dr. Schulman said he had recommended expanded government contracting with the nonprofit Civica, which sells generic drugs at slightly inflated prices, which can help generic makers run a stable business.

''The intermediaries are driving people out of the market,'' Dr. Schulman said. ''I think it's a market problem and we need market-level solutions.''

The post Drug Shortages Near an All-Time High, Leading to Rationing appeared first on New York Times.

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Wed, 17 May 2023 16:10

Story HighlightsClinical depression in lifetime and current depression both hit new highsWomen and young adults have experienced the greatest increasesBlack and Hispanic adults rising at about twice the rate of White adultsWASHINGTON, D.C. -- The percentage of U.S. adults who report having been diagnosed with depression at some point in their lifetime has reached 29.0%, nearly 10 percentage points higher than in 2015. The percentage of Americans who currently have or are being treated for depression has also increased, to 17.8%, up about seven points over the same period. Both rates are the highest recorded by Gallup since it began measuring depression using the current form of data collection in 2015.

Line chart: Rising trends in lifetime and current depression rates. In 2023, 29.0% of Americans report having been diagnosed with depression in their lifetime, while 17.8% reporting currently having depression.

The most recent results, obtained Feb. 21-28, 2023, are based on 5,167 U.S. adults surveyed by web as part of the Gallup Panel, a probability-based panel of about 100,000 adults across all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Respondents were asked, ''Has a doctor or nurse ever told you that you have depression?'' and ''Do you currently have or are you currently being treated for depression?'' Both metrics are part of the ongoing Gallup National Health and Well-Being Index.

Rates Among Women, Young Adults, Black and Hispanic Adults Rising FastestOver one-third of women (36.7%) now report having been diagnosed with depression at some point in their lifetime, compared with 20.4% of men, and their rate has risen at nearly twice the rate of men since 2017. Those aged 18 to 29 (34.3%) and 30 to 44 (34.9%) have significantly greater depression diagnosis rates in their lifetime than those older than 44.

Women (23.8%) and adults aged 18 to 29 (24.6%) also have the highest rates of current depression or treatment for depression. These two groups (up 6.2 and 11.6 percentage points, respectively), as well as adults aged 30 to 44, have the fastest-rising rates compared with 2017 estimates.

Lifetime depression rates are also climbing fast among Black and Hispanic adults and have now surpassed those of White respondents. (Historically, White adults have reported marginally higher rates of both lifetime and current depression.)

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ImplicationsAlarming rates of depression are not unique to the U.S. Globally, nearly four in 10 adults aged 15 and older either endure significant depression or anxiety themselves or have a close friend or family member who suffers from it. Other Gallup research has estimated that 22% of Northern American adults have experienced depression or anxiety so extreme that they could not continue regular daily activities for two weeks or longer, similar to a global rate of 19% and matching estimates found in Western Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, and South Asia.

Clinical depression had been slowly rising in the U.S. prior to the COVID-19 pandemic but has jumped notably in its wake. Social isolation, loneliness, fear of infection, psychological exhaustion (particularly among front-line responders such as healthcare workers), elevated substance abuse and disruptions in mental health services have all likely played a role. While experiences of significant daily loneliness have subsided in the past two years amid widespread vaccinations and a slow return to normalcy, elevated loneliness experiences during the pandemic likely played a substantive role in increasing the rates of the longer-term, chronic nature of depression. Currently, 17% of U.S. adults report experiencing significant loneliness ''yesterday,'' projecting to an estimated 44 million people.

Among subgroups, women have historically reported substantially higher levels of depression than men. That this gap has notably widened further since 2017 is likely explained by several COVID-related factors, including the fact that women were disproportionately likely to lose their jobs or to exit the workforce altogether due in part to the pandemic driving children home from school or day care. Women also made up 78% of workers in all healthcare occupations in 2019, exposing them to enhanced emotional and psychological risk associated with the pandemic.

Young adults, in turn, are more likely to be single and to report loneliness, particularly so during the pandemic. They also need more social time to boost their mood than older adults, something directly impacted by COVID-19. Daily experiences of sadness, worry and anger -- all of which are closely related to depression -- are highest for those under 30 and those with lower income levels. And, like women, young adults and people of color were disproportionately likely to lose their jobs altogether due to the pandemic.

To stay up to date with the latest Gallup News insights and updates, follow us on Twitter.

Learn more about how the Gallup National Health and Well-Being Index works.

Learn more about how Gallup Panel works.

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Wed, 17 May 2023 16:09

Car accidents, homicides, suicides and drug overdoses have pushed up death rates for children and teens in the U.S.

Updated May 17, 2023 8:33 am ETFor decades, advances in healthcare and safety steadily drove down death rates among American children. In an alarming reversal, rates have now risen to the highest level in nearly 15 years, particularly driven by homicides, drug overdoses, car accidents and suicides.

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For decades, advances in healthcare and safety steadily drove down death rates among American children. In an alarming reversal, rates have now risen to the highest level in nearly 15 years, particularly driven by homicides, drug overdoses, car accidents and suicides.

The uptick among younger Americans accelerated in 2020. Though Covid-19 itself wasn't a major cause of death for young people, researchers say social disruption caused by the pandemic exacerbated public-health problems, including worsening anxiety and depression. Greater access to firearms, dangerous driving and more lethal narcotics also helped push up death rates.

Between 2019 and 2020, the overall mortality rate for ages 1 to 19 rose by 10.7%, and increased by an additional 8.3% the following year, according to an analysis of federal death statistics led by Steven Woolf, director emeritus of the Center on Society and Health at Virginia Commonwealth University, published in JAMA in March. That's the highest increase for two consecutive years in the half-century that the government has publicly tracked such figures, according to Woolf's analysis.

Other developed countries including the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada and Norway also saw a rise in some death counts among young people during that time, though the upticks were often concentrated in narrow age groups or one gender, according to global death counts provided by Christopher J.L. Murray, director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington.

The U.S. is the only place among peer nations where firearms are the No. 1 cause of death in young people.

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Suicides among Americans age 10 to 19 began increasing in 2007, while homicide rates for that age group started climbing in 2013, according to the research in JAMA by Woolf and co-authors Elizabeth Wolf of Virginia Commonwealth and Frederick Rivara of the University of Washington.

The increases in suicides and homicides among young people went largely unnoticed at first because overall child and adolescent mortality rates still declined most years.

Penicillin and other antibiotics drove down deaths from bacterial infections in the years following World War II, and vaccines controlled lethal viruses such as polio and influenza. Safer automobiles, seat belts and car seats made driving less deadly. Bicycle helmets, smoke detectors and swimming lessons reduced fatal accidents and drownings. Medical advancements that save premature babies and treat leukemia and other cancers helped more children survive once-lethal diagnoses.

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''All of those gains are now being offset by essentially four causes of death,'' Woolf said.

When the pandemic started, deaths of young people due to suicide and homicide climbed higher. Deaths caused by drug overdoses and transportation fatalities'--mainly motor-vehicle accidents'--rose significantly, too.

Covid, which surged to America's No. 3 cause of death during the pandemic, accounted for just one-tenth of the rise in mortality among young people in 2020, and one-fifth of it in 2021, according to the research led by Woolf, which uses data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Joshua Gillihan was 11 years old when the pandemic closed his suburban Houston middle school in March 2020. He'd grown up confident with lots of friends, and played baseball and rode his dirt bike in their upper-middle-class neighborhood in Cypress, Texas, said his mother, Kim Gillihan. The shutdowns turned a temporary break from organized sports into an indefinite hiatus. Kim Gillihan watched as Joshua's typical adolescent hangups about having to wear glasses and his appearance gave way to more worrisome levels of anxiety.

''When the Covid hit, our child that was never depressed became depressed,'' she said.

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Kim Gillihan's husband, Steve Gillihan, discovered marijuana in Joshua's backpack. When they realized he was using the drug regularly, his mother grew alarmed and sought counseling for him and for the family to stop it. She agreed to put him on medication for his depression, hoping it would dissuade him from seeking illicit ways to ease his symptoms from that and ADHD. Kim Gillihan took Joshua's computer and phone, instead lending him her phone to communicate with friends. She forbade sleepovers and closely monitored her son. She periodically tested him for THC, the main psychoactive substance in marijuana.

After a family trip to Disney World this past summer, Joshua, age 14, started high school and seemed excited about meeting new people, Kim Gillihan said. It was Friday night after the first week of his freshman year, and she brought home Sonic hamburgers that she and Joshua ate together at the kitchen island. He told his mother about a girl he wanted to ask to the homecoming dance, and Kim Gillihan began planning to get him a mum, a Texas tradition, that he could give to his date.

Joshua went to his room for the night while his mother packed for a business trip the next morning. She told her husband she thought their efforts to stop their son's marijuana use were finally working. ''I feel so good about everything,'' she recalled telling Steve Gillihan. ''I think we have turned the corner.''

The next morning, she went to say goodbye to Joshua before her planned trip and found his body cold and lifeless in his bed. An autopsy showed he died from fentanyl toxicity. Kim Gillihan said she believes her son took what he thought was oxycodone or Percocet but was instead pure fentanyl. She said she doesn't know how he obtained it.

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''We thought we were doing all the right things,'' she said.

Older children and teenagers, ages 10 to 19, accounted for most of the increase in death rates for young people. Boys, whose mortality rates are roughly twice those of girls, saw their death rates worsen to a slightly greater degree during the pandemic, Woolf found. The overall findings held true when researchers excluded those ages 18 and 19, who were included in the broader research because such government data is grouped in five-year age bands.

Physicians and public health researchers say that school closures, canceled sports and youth activities and limitations on in-person socializing all worsened a burgeoning mental-health epidemic among young people in the U.S. Social media, they say, has helped fuel it by replacing successful relationships with a craving for online social attention that leaves young people unfulfilled, and exposes them to sites that glamorize unhealthy behaviors such as eating disorders and cutting themselves.

Demand for psychiatric services, counseling and other behavioral health supports far outstripped supply, leaving young patients to turn to emergency departments that were strained by the crush of Covid.

''We are seeing younger and younger patients coming in with mental-health crises, and even those 8 to 10 years old coming in with suicidal ideation,'' said Lois Lee, a pediatric emergency physician at Boston Children's Hospital who chairs the American Academy of Pediatrics Council on Injury, Violence and Poison Prevention.

Lee saw an 8-year-old patient who tried to wrap something around his neck to take his life, she said. There is such a severe lack of inpatient mental-health services, she said, that young patients can wait in emergency departments for days or weeks until there's room for them in a psychiatric facility.

To some extent, the rising mortality rates for young people mirror trends in the adult population. Death rates started climbing for middle-aged, white Americans starting in 1999, largely because of suicide, alcohol abuse, drug overdoses and chronic liver diseases, although rates for Black and Hispanic Americans fell over the same period.

In 2020, life expectancy fell 1.8 years, the largest decline since at least World War II, not just because of Covid but also because of increased mortality from unintentional injuries, including drug overdoses, as well as homicides.

Researchers point to the fact that gun ownership increased during the pandemic, and that high-profile acts of police violence, including the murder of George Floyd, heightened distrust of law enforcement. That prompted some people to resort to deadly forms of ''street justice'' instead of calling the police, said Daniel Webster, a public-health professor at Johns Hopkins University who researches gun violence and prevention.

A growing supply of so-called ghost guns'--weapons manufactured with parts bought online or made on 3-D printers'--made it easier for teenagers to get firearms that they couldn't legally obtain due to age restrictions. ''You have the most firearms under the least social supports, and that's the brew, if you will, of what leads to very sudden and dramatic increases of lethal violence,'' Webster said.

Black teenagers accounted for nearly two-thirds of homicide victims ages 10 to 19 early in the pandemic, according to the research led by Woolf, a portion that has grown from about half two decades ago. White teenagers have historically died at higher rates of drug overdoses, but rising rates of such deaths among Black and Hispanic teens closed that gap in 2020.

TiKiya Allen was an honor roll student and a cheerleader while growing up in Detroit, said her grandmother Bonnie Whittaker. She enrolled at nearby Oakland University after high school and was studying to be a nurse while working part time at a Taco Bell.

TiKiya, age 18, was on a bicycle while visiting a friend on Detroit's northwest side when she was killed in a drive-by shooting in broad daylight in July 2021. The crime remains unsolved. Detroit police said it appeared TiKiya was an innocent bystander caught in the crossfire.

''Why shouldn't a child be able to ride their bike down the sidewalk without the threat of losing their life?'' Whittaker said.

The rise in transportation-related fatalities comes despite the fact that people drove less when the pandemic started. Researchers say that the absence of other cars on the road prompted some people to drive more recklessly, and that distractions from cellphones have made driving more deadly in recent years. Alcohol consumption increased during the pandemic, possibly pushing up deaths caused by drunken driving.

Many public-health experts say they don't think the end of the pandemic will reverse the rise in death rates among young people. Rivara predicts these problems will continue due to persistent issues around mental health and the accessibility of guns.

Wolf said demand for child and adolescent psychiatric services still outstrips supply in her Richmond, Va., office. Patients are on monthslong waiting lists to see a psychiatrist that accepts insurance.

She spent two years practicing pediatric medicine in sub-Saharan Africa early in her career. ''There we saw children die from malnutrition and infectious diseases,'' she said. ''Now that I've come back to the U.S., it is incredibly difficult to see children dying from man-made causes, like bullets and cars.''

Write to Janet Adamy at Janet.Adamy@wsj.com

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Wed, 17 May 2023 15:44

National Guard members being mobilized for active service may find that their orders mention Title 10 or Title 32 of the United States Code (U.S.C.), but what exactly does that mean and what is the difference?

To the average soldier, there is no difference -- so long as their orders are for more than 30 days.

When mobilized (or activated) under Title 10 U.S.C., you are directed by the president to report for active duty in an official capacity. You are being activated for federal active-duty military service. When in federal service, Guard personnel typically participate in military operations and are entitled to the same pay, benefits and legal protections as active military members.

Activation under Title 32 U.S.C. means that your state's governor has been authorized or directed by the president to mobilize or activate the National Guard in your state. You perform on active duty under state control, but with pay and benefits provided by the federal government.

If your Title 32 orders are for more than 30 days, you may be entitled to some of the same federal benefits as someone activated under Title 10 orders.

Mobilization orders may come with different duties. Title 10 service can include overseas mobilizations; Title 32 does not. Normally, Title 32 orders are for natural disasters, while Title 10 orders are for national defense. However, this isn't always the case.

Guard members may also be ordered to active duty solely by command of their state's governor. This is known as "State Active Duty" or "State Call Up" and generally is in response to state-level disasters. When ordered to State Active Duty or Title 32 orders, Guard members may be granted the ability to act in a law enforcement capacity; this is prohibited when they are activated under Title 10 unless authorized by Congress.

When activated in this manner, Guard members are state employees, not federal employees, and their pay and benefits are determined by state law. They are not eligible for federal benefits.

Orders of 30 days or less still give Guard members basic pay and allowances, as well as travel pay to and from their duty station. They also receive BAH, but at a rate that does not vary by location, commonly known as BAH Type II, If they are activated for more than 30 days, the BAH will be paid based on their permanent duty station location, which is generally more. Tricare Reserve Select and the Tricare Dental program are also available to Guard members and their families for a monthly premium. And all service will give them retirement credit.

Stay on Top of Your Military BenefitsMilitary benefits are always changing. Keep up with everything from pay to health care by subscribing to Military.com, and get access to up-to-date pay charts and more with all latest benefits delivered straight to your inbox.

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Wed, 17 May 2023 15:42

Jaguar Land Rover has won what has been described as a 'significant' case in the Chinese courts against a company that produced a copy of one of its models.

The British firm said the Beijing Chaoyang District Court had decreed that the Range Rover Evoque had five unique features copied in a model called the Landwind X7, built by the Jiangling Motor Corporation.

Since the rise of the Chinese vehicle-making industry after the turn of the century, the nation's home brands have been accused of creating copycat vehicles that are almost like-for-like duplicates of popular models sold in Europe.

However, local law has traditionally protected these Chinese brands in legal disputes - until now.

In previous copyright cases against Chinese brands, courts have backed home manufacturers and claimed their designs are different enough to legally pass as their own models.

This has made it increasingly difficult for mainstream makers of the original models to win legal cases and put a stop to the practice.

This week's ruling could set a new precedent for European makers after the court ruled in favour of Jaguar Land Rover following a three-year-long legal tussle.

JLR argued that the X7 was too similar to its own Evoque - a claim that's difficult to refute when you compare the vehicles side by side.

However, there is one huge difference - the price.

While the Evoque retails for around $80,000 in China, its doppelganger has been on sale since 2015 for half as much - around $40,000.

Pictured: The Landwind X ... wait, no, this is the Range Rover

As a result of the verdict, all sales, manufacturing and marketing of the Landwind vehicle are to cease immediately and JLR must also be financially compensated.

Keith Benjamin, Jaguar Land Rover's global head of legal, said: "We welcome this decision of the Beijing court, which further strengthens our confidence in investing in China and in the fairness of intellectual property adjudication in the Chinese courts.

"This ruling is a clear sign of the law being implemented appropriately to protect consumers and uphold their rights so that they are not confused or misled, whilst protecting business investment in design and innovation."

Ahh yes, this one's the Landwind X7

JLR said it was the first case of its kind to support a foreign company in the car industry.

When the car maker first launched the legal cases against the Chinese company, boss Ralf Speth had claimed that JLR and other car manufacturers were 'powerless' to stop these firms from ripping off their vehicle designs.

"China, from my point of view has enough creativity and engineering power to do something on their own and doesn't have to fall back to the time when copying was of interest," Speth told Autocar India in an interview in 2016.

"We can't do anything. I hope the Chinese customer at the end of the day sees the difference and selects the real product and not a copied one.

"We hope they generate a self-regulation process so that they can get rid of this kind of copy-paste way of working."

The latest generation of the Range Rover Evoque was launched last November. You can read our first drive report on the vehicle here.

- Daily Mail

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Wed, 17 May 2023 15:31

Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,

In the real-world, the costs are all we know for sure and profits remain elusive and contingent.

No one knows how the flood of AI products will play out, but we do know it's unleashed a corporate frenzy to "get our own AI up and running." Corporate fads are one of the least discussed but most obvious dynamics in the economy. Corporations follow fads as avidly as any other heedless consumer, rushing headlong into whatever everyone else is doing.

Globalization is a recent example. Back in the early 2000s, I sat next to corporate employees on flights to China and other Asian destinations who described the travails and costly disasters created by their employers' mad rush to move production overseas: quality control cratered, proprietary technologies were stolen and quickly copied, costs soared rather than declined, and so on.

So let's talk about costs of AI rather than just the benefits. Like many other heavily-hyped technologies, Large Language Model (LLM) AI is presented as stand-alone and "free." But it's actually not stand-alone or free: it requires an army of humans toiling away to make it functional: "We Are Grunt Workers": The Lowly Humans Helping Run ChatGPT Make Just $15 Per Hour (Zero Hedge).

"We are grunt workers, but there would be no AI language systems without it. You can design all the neural networks you want, you can get all the researchers involved you want, but without labelers, you have no ChatGPT. You have nothing."

The tasks performed by this hidden army of human workers is euphemistically sanitized by corporate-speak as data enrichment work.

Then there's the stupendous costs of all the extra computing power needed to deliver AI to the masses: For tech giants, AI like Bing and Bard poses billion-dollar search problem

What makes this form of AI pricier than conventional search is the computing power involved. Such AI depends on billions of dollars of chips, a cost that has to be spread out over their useful life of several years, analysts said. Electricity likewise adds costs and pressure to companies with carbon-footprint goals.

Corporations are counting on the magic of the Waste Is Growth / Landfill Economy to generate higher margins from whatever AI touches--don't ask, it's magic--but few ask how all this magic will work in a global recession where consumers will have less income and credit to buy, buy, buy.

LLM-AI is riddled with errors, and nobody can tell what's semi-accurate, what's misleading and what's flat-out wrong. Despite wildly optimistic claims, locating the errors and semi-accuracies can't be fully automated. Errors are inconsequential in an AI-generated book report, but when patients' health is on the line, they become very consequential: I'm an ER doctor: Here's what I found when I asked ChatGPT to diagnose my patients.

This raises fundamental questions about precisely how much work LLM-AI can perform without human oversight, and the all-too breezy claims that tens of millions of jobs will be lost as this iteration of AI automates vast swaths of human labor.

AI excels at echo-chamber reinforcement of risky or error-prone suppositions and policies: Spirals of Delusion: How AI Distorts Decision-Making and Makes Dictators More Dangerous. What's the threshold for concern that the AI conclusions are riskier than presented? How do we calculate the possibilities that the AI conclusions are catastrophically misguided?

At what point will decision-makers realize that trusting AI is not worth the risk? If history is any guide, that realization will only arise from financial losses and bad decisions. For the rest of us, it might just be the novelty wears off as the inadequacies pile up: Noam Chomsky: The False Promise of ChatGPT.

Since all this LLM-AI is "free," what AI-created goods and services will generate hundreds of billions of dollars in new revenues and tens of billions in new profits? The general answer is the profits will flow from firing millions of costly humans and replacing them with "nearly free" AI software.

But since all your competitors are rushing down the same frenzied path to AI, what competitive advantage will accrue to what is already a commodity (LLM-AI)? Nobody asks such questions because the euphoria of tech revolutions is so much fun.

The enthusiasm unleashed by new technologies is selectively euphoric: the benefits will prove immeasurable and the costs will soon be near-zero. But in the real-world, the costs are all we know for sure and profits remain elusive and contingent.

Exactly what gets wiped out by the meteor strike is not yet known.

* * *

My new book is now available at a 10% discount ($8.95 ebook, $18 print): Self-Reliance in the 21st Century.

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Wed, 17 May 2023 15:14

Dutch farmers 'preparing for battle' with WEF agenda

The Dutch farmers aren't giving up.

Dutch farmers are preparing for another showdown with Prime Minister Mark Rutte over his World Economic Forum (WEF)-inspired plan to liquidate over 3,000 farms to drastically cut emissions from farming activity and nitrogen fertilizers.

Dutch farmers 'preparing for battle' with WEF agendaIn a video posted online, Mark van den Oever of the Voorzitter Farmers Defence Force blasted the agreement being drafted by the Rutte government and called on farmers to ''get ready'' for another confrontation.

''We are reading the latest news reports, and we are reading that the agricultural agreement will be sour for everyone. I think it will be particularly sour for the agricultural industry. It is not without a reason that so many parties have already walked away from the negotiating table,'' said van den Oever.

''They don't even dare to make it public as a concept but it is certainly disastrous for the agricultural sector. The government says that if there is no signature from agricultural advocacy organizations, it will be pushed through anyway.''

ðŸ‡"🇱 UPDATE: Despite the election results and the (inter)national outrage, the Dutch government is planning to double down on its nitrogen policies. The chairman of Farmers Defense Force @ForceFarmers, Mark van den Oever, has called on farmers to ''prepare for battle''. #dutchfarmers pic.twitter.com/S96w6IZkir

'-- Eva Vlaardingerbroek (@EvaVlaar) May 16, 2023Earlier this year, the Netherlands was rocked by massive protests led by farmers opposed to Rutte's plan to cut agricultural emissions by 50% in the major farming country.

Despite a recent stunning regional election victory by the Farmer-Citizen Movement, the Rutte government has decided to barrel ahead with their radical climate agenda.

''We will stop this agriculture agreement. We are not going to accept being bought out, taxed and having our necks twisted,'' said van den Oever.

''If you think you're going to push this through, you're going to get a full frontal wind and not a gentle breeze but a hard south-eastern storm. Remember that. Folks, get ready. Make sure you get everything in the soil because I think we all have to get going again soon.''

''Prepare for battle,'' van den Oever said before ending the video.

The European Union has already approved Rutte's buyout scheme, misleadingly claiming that it was a ''voluntary'' effort led by the country's farmers.

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The European Union (EU) has approved the Dutch farm buy-out scheme, calling it ''voluntary'' despite earlier reports that it will be mandatory.

Canada's Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland had a secret meeting with the WEF during her Davos trip in January, documents reveal.

Documents reveal the European Union advised Holland's Agricultural Minister to buy out farmland to comply with the EU's 2030 climate agenda.

Keean BexteMarch 23, 2023

The Dutch Farmers Citizens Movement (BBB) has overtaken Prime Minister Mark Rutte's ruling VVD party in the country's provincial elections.

Keean BexteMarch 20, 2023

Several outlets are reporting Holland's provincial election as a win for farmers and loss for Rutte, but the truth lies somewhere in between.

Keean BexteMarch 16, 2023

Dutch farmers protesting their government's authoritarian policies said they found inspiration from Canadian truckers.

Keean BexteMarch 11, 2023

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Wed, 17 May 2023 14:29

LONDON, April 20 (Reuters) - The European Parliament on Thursday overwhelmingly backed the European Union's first set of rules to regulate cryptoasset markets.

Parliament voted by 517 in favour and 38 against to approve the world's first comprehensive set of regulations for issuing and trading cryptoassets such as bitcoin.

"This regulation brings a competitive advantage for the EU," said Stefan Berger, the lawmaker who steered the rules through parliament.

"The European crypto-asset industry has regulatory clarity that does not exist in countries like the U.S.," Berger said.

EU states have already given the nod to the rules which will be rolled out from mid 2024, requiring firms that issue and trade cryptoassets to be licensed by a national regulator, giving them a "passport" to serve customers across the 27-member country bloc.

Major service providers will have to disclose their energy consumption.

"I hope that our rules could become a model for other countries," the EU's financial services chief, Mairead McGuinness, said in a debate on the rules on Wednesday.

Parliament also backed new rules for tracing transfers of cryptoassets like bitcoins and electronic money tokens.

It applies the international "travel rule" already used in traditional financial transactions, meaning information on the source and recipient of the cryotoasset will have to accompany and be stored on both sides of the transfer to help combat money laundering.

The tracing rule also covers transactions above 1,000 euros from "self-hosted" wallet or crypto address of a private user.

Reporting by Huw Jones; editing by Jason Neely

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Wed, 17 May 2023 08:54

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Wed, 17 May 2023 08:50

Martin Thissen

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Mar 18

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In this article I will show you how you can run state-of-the-art large language models on your local computer. Yes, you've heard right.

For this we will use the dalai library which allows us to run the foundational language model LLaMA as well as the instruction-following Alpaca model. While the LLaMA model is a foundational (or broad) language model that is'...

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Wed, 17 May 2023 08:37

Gary Fred Marcus (born February 8, 1970) is an American psychologist, cognitive scientist, and author. He is known for his research and writings on the intersection of cognitive psychology, neuroscience, and artificial intelligence (AI).[1][2]

Marcus is professor emeritus of psychology and neural science at New York University and founded Geometric Intelligence, a machine learning company in 2014.[3][4]

His books include Guitar Zero[5] and Kluge.[6]

Early life Edit Marcus majored in cognitive science at Hampshire College.[7] He continued on to graduate school at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he conducted research on negative evidence in language acquisition[8] and regularization (and over-regularization) in children's acquisition of grammatical morphology.[9] During his PhD studies, he was mentored by Steven Pinker.[10]

Career Edit In 2015 Marcus co-founded a machine-learning startup, Geometric Intelligence. When Geometric Intelligence was acquired by Uber in December 2016, he became the director of Uber's AI efforts; but in March 2017 he left the company, retaining an advisory role.[11][12]

In 2019 Marcus launched the startup, Robust.AI, with Rodney Brooks, iRobot co-founder and co-inventor of the Roomba. Robust.AI aims to build an "off-the-shelf" machine-learning platform for adoption in autonomous robots, similar to the way video-game engines can be adopted by third-party game developers.[13][10]

Research and written work Edit Marcus's early work focused on why children produce over-regularizations, such as "breaked" and "goed", as a test case for the nature of mental rules.[14]

In his first book, The Algebraic Mind (2001), Marcus challenged the idea that the mind might consist of largely undifferentiated neural networks. He argued that understanding the mind would require integrating connectionism with classical ideas about symbol-manipulation.[15]

Marcus's book, Guitar Zero (2012), explores the process of taking up a musical instrument as an adult.

Marcus edited The Norton Psychology Reader (2005), including selections by cognitive scientists on modern science of the human mind.

With Jeremy Freeman he co-edited The Future of the Brain: Essays by the World's Leading Neuroscientists (2014).

Theories of language and mind Edit Marcus belongs to the school of thought of psychological nativism. One of his books, The Birth of the Mind (2004), describes from a nativist perspective the ways that genes can influence cognitive development, and aims to reconcile nativism with common anti-nativist arguments advanced by other academics. He discusses how a small number of genes account for the intricate human brain, common false impressions of genes, and the problems they[clarification needed ] may cause for the future of genetic engineering.[16]

In a review, Mameli and Papineau argue that the theory expounded in the book is "more sophisticated than any version of nativism on the market", but that in attempting to rebut anti-nativist arguments, Marcus "ends up reconfiguring the nativist position out of existence", prompting Mameli and Papineau to conclude that the nativist-anti-nativist framing should "be abandoned".[17]

Artificial intelligence Edit Marcus is a notable critic of the "hype" surrounding artificial intelligence.[10] He has called for regulation of AI, increased AI literacy among the public, and "well-funded public thinktanks" to consider potential AI risks.[18] He has also argued that AI is currently being deployed prematurely, particularly in situations that involve a risk of real-world harm resulting from bias, as with facial recognition or r(C)sum(C) parsing, since current deep-learning techniques are not amenable to formal verification for correctness.[19]

Marcus has described current large language models as "approximations to [...] language use rather than language understanding".[10]

On 29 March 2023, Marcus and other researchers signed an open letter calling for a moratorium on "the training of AI systems more powerful than GPT-4" until proper safeguards can be implemented,[20][21] primarily citing the short-term risks of "mediocre AI that is unreliable [...] but widely deployed".[22]

Representative publications Edit Books and monographs Edit Marcus, G.; Davis, E. (2019). Rebooting AI: Building Artificial Intelligence We Can Trust. Pantheon/Random House.Marcus, G.; Freeman, J. (ed.) (2014). The Future of the Brain: Essays by the World's Leading Neuroscientists. Princeton University Press.Marcus, G. F. (2012). Guitar Zero: The New Musician and the Science of Learning. The Penguin Press.Marcus, G. F. (2008). Kluge: The Haphazard Construction of the Human Mind. Houghton Mifflin.Marcus, G. F. (ed.) (2006). The Norton Psychology Reader. W. W. Norton.Marcus, G. F. (2004). The Birth of The Mind: How a Tiny Number of Genes Creates the Complexities of Human Thought. Basic Books.Marcus, G. F. (2001). The Algebraic Mind: Integrating Connectionism and Cognitive Science. MIT Press.Marcus, G. F., Pinker, S., Ullman, M., Hollander, M., Rosen, T. J., Xu, F., & Clahsen, H. (1992). Overregularization in language acquisition. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 57(4), i-178.Peer-reviewed scientific articles Edit Marcus, G. F., & Davis, E. (2013). How robust are probabilistic models of higher-level cognition? Psychological Science, 24(12), 2351''2360.Marcus, G. F., Fernandes, K. J., & Johnson, S. P. (2007). Infant rule learning facilitated by speech. Psychological Science, 18(5), 387''391.Marcus, G. F. (2006). Cognitive architecture and descent with modification. Cognition, 101(2), 443''465.Marcus, G. F., & Fisher, S. E. (2003). FOXP2 in focus: what can genes tell us about speech and language? Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 7(6), 257''262.Marcus, G. F., Vijayan, S., Bandi Rao, S., & Vishton, P. M. (1999). Rule learning by seven-month-old infants. Science, 283(5398), 77''80.Marcus, G. F. (1998). Rethinking eliminative connectionism. Cognitive Psychology, 37(3), 243''282.Marcus, G. F., Brinkmann, U., Clahsen, H., Wiese, R., & Pinker, S. (1995). German inflection: The exception that proves the rule. Cognitive Psychology, 29(3), 189''256.Articles Edit Marcus, Gary, "Am I Human?: Researchers need new ways to distinguish artificial intelligence from the natural kind", Scientific American, vol. 316, no. 3 (March 2017), pp. 58''63.Marcus, Gary, "Artificial Confidence: Even the newest, buzziest systems of artificial general intelligence are stymied by the same old problems", Scientific American, vol. 327, no. 4 (October 2022), pp. 42''45References Edit ^ A Skeptical Take on the A.I. Revolution , retrieved 2023-01-11 ^ "Machines that think like humans: Everything to know about AGI and AI Debate 3". ZDNET . Retrieved 2023-01-11 . ^ Etherington, Darrell (2016-12-05). "Uber acquires Geometric Intelligence to create an AI lab". TechCrunch . Retrieved 2023-01-11 . ^ "Uber Bets on Artificial Intelligence With Acquisition and New Lab". The New York Times. 2016-12-05. ISSN 0362-4331 . Retrieved 2018-05-20 . ^ Guitar Zero by Gary Marcus | PenguinRandomHouse.com. ^ "Editors' Choice - Book Review". The New York Times. 2008-05-04. ISSN 0362-4331 . Retrieved 2018-05-20 . ^ "Gary Marcus 86F". Hampshire College . Retrieved 2023-01-11 . ^ Marcus, Gary F. (1993-01-01). "Negative evidence in language acquisition". Cognition. 46 (1): 53''85. doi:10.1016/0010-0277(93)90022-N. ISSN 0010-0277. PMID 8432090. S2CID 23458757. ^ Marcus, Gary F. (1995). "Children's overregularization of English plurals: a quantitative analysis*". Journal of Child Language. 22 (2): 447''459. doi:10.1017/S0305000900009879. ISSN 1469-7602. PMID 8550732. S2CID 46561477. ^ a b c d Anadiotis, George (November 12, 2020). "What's next for AI: Gary Marcus talks about the journey toward robust artificial intelligence". ZDNet . Retrieved 2023-03-30 . ^ Bhuiyan, Johana (2017-03-08). "Uber's new head of its AI labs has stepped down from his role". Vox . Retrieved 2023-03-30 . ^ Fried, Ina (2017-03-08). "The head of Uber's AI labs is latest to leave the company". Axios . Retrieved 2023-03-30 . ^ Feldman, Amy. "Startup Founded By Cognitive Scientist Gary Marcus And Roboticist Rodney Brooks Raises $15 Million To Make Building Smarter Robots Easier". Forbes . Retrieved 2023-03-30 . ^ Marcus, G. F., Pinker, S., Ullman, M., Hollander, M., Rosen, T. J., and Xu, F. (1992). Overregularization in Language Acquisition. (Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development). 57 (4, Serial No. 228). SRCD monograph? ^ Marcus, G.F., The Algebraic Mind: Integrating Connectionism and Cognitive Science, Cambridge, MA, MIT Press, 2001. ^ Marcus, G.F., The Birth of The Mind: How a Tiny Number of Genes Creates the Complexities of Human Thought, New York, Basic Books, 2004. ^ Mameli, Matteo; Papineau, David (2006-09-01). "The new nativism: a commentary on Gary Marcus's The birth of the mind". Biology and Philosophy. 21 (4): 559''573. doi:10.1007/s10539-005-1800-7. ISSN 1572-8404. S2CID 59464488. ^ Marcus, Gary (2022-08-07). "Siri or Skynet? How to separate AI fact from fiction". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712 . Retrieved 2023-03-31 . ^ Georges, Beno®t (November 26, 2019). " Les machines ne savent pas g(C)rer les situations impr(C)vues >>". Les Echos (in French) . Retrieved 2023-03-30 . ^ Chavanne, Yannick (March 29, 2023). "Bengio, Musk, Wozniak et des centaines d'autres experts appellent mettre en pause le d(C)veloppement des IA". ICTjournal (in French) . Retrieved 2023-03-30 . ^ "Pause Giant AI Experiments: An Open Letter". Future of Life Institute . Retrieved 2023-03-30 . ^ Marcus, Gary (March 28, 2023). "AI risk '‰ AGI risk". The Road to AI We Can Trust . Retrieved 2023-03-30 . External links Edit Substack

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Wed, 17 May 2023 04:01

William P. Barr's effort to pre-spin the Mueller report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election might be the most controversial episode of his tenure as Donald Trump's attorney general. But Barr also went pretty far in repeatedly previewing what special counsel John Durham would supposedly find in his investigation of those investigating Trump's ties to Russia.

The results of the newly released Durham report, while undoubtedly reflecting poorly on the FBI, don't live up to Barr's hype.

Since the Durham probe began in 2019, Barr has offered some extraordinary comments seeming to prejudge its outcome. The thrust was unmistakable: that the Trump-Russia investigation appeared to be an overtly political effort to take down Trump '-- effectively, that it was the ''witch hunt'' Trump claimed it was.

There is little question this was the predicate for Durham's investigation; after naming Durham to lead it, Barr said he wanted to know whether officials ''abused their power and put their thumb on the scale.'' Barr said that same week that he had taken the job as Trump's attorney general in part because ''I felt the rules were being changed to hurt Trump.''

Later in 2019, though, the Justice Department's inspector general found no evidence of ''intentional misconduct'' or political bias tainting prosecutorial decisions; it did, however, find significant flaws in the investigation.

Barr downplayed the first of those findings.

He said that ''the greatest danger to our free system is that the incumbent government used the apparatus of the state, principally the law enforcement agencies and the intelligence agencies, both to spy on political opponents, but also to use them in a way that could affect the outcome of the election.''

In early 2020, Barr went significantly further, calling the situation ''one of the greatest travesties in American history'' and again suggesting deliberate malfeasance. He cited ''a whole pattern of events while [Trump] was president '... to sabotage the presidency '-- or at least have the effect of sabotaging the presidency.''

''My own view is that the evidence shows that we are not dealing with just mistakes or sloppiness,'' Barr said. ''There is something far more troubling here, and we are going to get to the bottom of it. And if people broke the law and we can establish that with the evidence, they will be prosecuted.''

In fact, Durham's investigation resulted in just one guilty plea, with a sentence of probation, for altering an email '-- a case that was effectively handed to Durham by the DOJ's inspector general, Michael Horowitz. The other two prosecutions resulted in not-guilty verdicts.

And now Durham's report provides little evidence to substantiate Barr's underlying theory of the case.

Durham cites known instances in which key FBI figures including Peter Strzok and Kevin Clinesmith privately expressed a dim view of Trump and suggested solidarity with those who opposed him. Strzok, for instance, responded in August 2016 to the idea that Trump might be elected by saying, ''No, he's not. We'll stop it.'' When Trump was elected, Clinesmith told an FBI colleague, ''Viva la resistance.''

Durham also points to how the Trump-Russia probe was handled differently from a matter involving Hillary Clinton that he saw as bearing similarities. Specifically, he notes that Clinton's campaign was given what's known as a ''defensive briefing'' on alleged efforts by a foreign actor to curry favor with her, but Trump's campaign was not.

Durham doesn't really dispute Horowitz's finding about the lack of evidence of political taint or deliberate malfeasance.

He cites a ''cavalier attitude toward accuracy and completeness'' and ''a serious lack of analytical rigor.'' He dings the FBI for relying on information from Trump's political opponents and says figures like Strzok and Clinesmith demonstrated ''a predisposition to open an investigation into Trump.''

He goes little further than that.

Durham saves his most thorough examination of alleged bias for the final few pages of his 306-page report. Rather than focus on political bias, he keys in on ''confirmation bias.''

Durham writes that ''it seems highly likely that, at a minimum, confirmation bias played a significant role in the FBI's acceptance of extraordinarily serious allegations derived from uncorroborated information that had not been subjected to the typical exacting analysis employed by the FBI and other members of the Intelligence Community.''

The distinction is important, which Durham seems to acknowledge. While discussing confirmation bias, he notes that it's a ''common human tendency'' that is ''mostly unintentional.''

That's a far cry from Barr's comments citing abuse of power and ''sabotage,'' and his claim that ''we are not dealing with just mistakes or sloppiness.''

That the Durham probe failed to live up to Barr's hype isn't exactly news. The New York Times earlier this year published an extensive and worthwhile recap of just that. But when the prosecutions didn't pan out, Barr shifted his focus away from criminal convictions.

In 2020, Barr said Durham's ''primary focus isn't to prepare a report; he is to bring to justice people who were engaged in abuses if he can show that there were criminal violations.'' But last year, Barr suddenly hailed the utility of getting ''the story out.''

''I think he accomplished something far more important, which is he brought out the truth in two important areas,'' Barr said.

As we wrote at the time: ''We'll have to wait to see whether Durham ever produces anything that could reasonably back up Barr's hype. But Barr's own comments suggest he himself isn't terribly optimistic.''

Durham's full story is now ''out.'' And much like the other special counsel's report, it's not what Barr suggested it would be.

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Wed, 17 May 2023 03:22

Facebook and Twitter seem less relevant by the day. They may be replaced by new ''federated'' platforms.

Illustration by Edmon de HaroWe have entered the chaos era of social media in America. Sociologists would call it a ''legitimation crisis'': It's what happens when people lose faith in social institutions during periods of rapid change, including, crucially, institutions devoted to communication. Consider the lightning-fast transformation of Twitter, where six months ago journalists from national newspapers were trading barbs with politicians and experts, and today CEO Elon Musk changes the site's rules on a whim, often making it impossible to know who is a legitimate source and who is an impostor.

Twitter isn't the only social-media platform undergoing a vertiginous shift. Meta has laid off thousands of workers in the aftermath of profit declines and CEO Mark Zuckerberg's obsession with creating a ''metaverse'' in virtual reality. Newer social-media apps such as Hive Social seem to wink out as quickly as they arrive, and the newsletter platform Substack recently launched a Twitter clone called Notes, which is already earning bad reviews for its moderation policies. Meanwhile, Congress has banned government employees from using TikTok on workplace devices, and is mulling a national ban for all other citizens too.

J¼rgen Habermas, the German philosopher who coined the term legitimation crisis, also had a framework for how such calamity might be averted. One way is to rebuild trust in institutions by creating a stable, democratic public sphere where open communication is possible. We've learned the hard way that this is no easy feat. The problem we face right now is that social-media companies can change the layout of our metaphorical town squares however and whenever they'd like, warping our public sphere in the process.

This tends to happen because companies such as Twitter, Facebook, and Substack are centrally controlled, run by executive teams that set the rules for millions of users. Musk, for example, rebuilt Twitter's algorithm to boost the circulation of his own tweets (a charge he initially denied, until Twitter itself revealed that it was true), while Facebook and TikTok have secret algorithms that manipulate what people see. On Instagram, which, like Facebook, is a property of Meta, users see video ''reels'' from people they don't follow in their feeds, whereas posts from accounts they do follow can be delayed or hidden for days. ''Social media is like mass media now'--you can't control what you're seeing,'' Dan Hon, a designer and an adviser for the government-technology nonprofit Code for America, told me.

Hon and many others have found a solution in Mastodon, a nonprofit microblogging platform that's part of a decentralized social network known as the ''Fediverse.'' In the Fediverse, there is no single company setting the rules, no eccentric CEO, and no algorithmic controls on what users see. And the idea is catching on. Bluesky, a decentralized social platform announced in late 2021 by Jack Dorsey, finally launched in a limited beta version earlier this year and drastically expanded this month; it's now a popular, if small, community among the social-media elite.

I am one of the millions of people who fled to Mastodon after Musk's transformation of Twitter in late 2022, joining a crowd who pushed its active-user base from roughly 300,000 to 2.5 million over a period of weeks. After the dust settled, Mastodon retained roughly 1.5 million active members, which adds up to a pretty impressive leap for a free, experimental platform. No, it can't compete with Twitter's 2022 numbers (237.8 million active users before Musk acquired it), but Mastodon'--and Bluesky, which I joined late last month'--offers a rare glimpse of what life could be like after social media's legitimation crisis: a stable public sphere, outside the control of a central authority.

For decades, a certain set of digital idealists has pushed to decentralize power on the internet, to reshape the web in a way that more closely aligns with the vision set by its early architects, before corporations such as Google, Amazon, and Meta controlled so many aspects of life online. That dream may never come to complete fruition. But in the midst of this crisis, when so much of what we've been conditioned to take as the natural social-media order is crumbling each day, we finally have a clear view of something new on the horizon.

People who are used to apps like Facebook and Twitter'--and that's most Americans'--may struggle to see the value of Mastodon and Bluesky, which do indeed look a lot like those services at first glance. Critics complain about how technical the Fediverse is, and can't figure out how to use a system where they aren't locked into a centrally controlled timeline. The concept is weird. But in a way, this moment of chaos and opportunity harkens back to an earlier time when Americans were grasping to define a precarious balance of powers: the very dawn of U.S. federalism. Federalist government and decentralized social-media platforms are by no means the same thing. Instead, I would suggest, a platform such as Mastodon sits on the other end of the spectrum from Twitter: It's a decentralized ideal versus a centralized one. Most of us would probably prefer to live somewhere in the middle, and so did many 18th-century Americans who were puzzling out the federalist system.

One of the origin myths about the United States is that our Founders agreed on what federalism meant in 1787, when the Convention presented their freshly drafted Constitution to the states for ratification. But it was as confusing to Americans then as the Fediverse is to many people now. Federalism, or the precarious balance between state and federal government powers, was such an alien concept that three of the Constitution's biggest proponents spent the next several months explaining it in 85 lengthy essays for various New York newspapers and books. Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay's writings were collected under the title The Federalist, published under their collective nom de plume, Publius.

The ever-expanding debate over Mastodon versus Bluesky versus Twitter, and so on, feels like an echo of what happened after the Constitution was ratified. As the Stanford historian Jonathan Gienapp points out in his book The Second Creation: Fixing the American Constitution in the Founding Era, the Constitution and federalism continued to be contested throughout the 1790s. Indeed, he writes, it's almost impossible to get at the original meaning of the document, because even in the late 18th century, U.S. voters could not agree on how to maintain decentralized state powers while also supporting a centralized government.

It's a disagreement that continues to this day, but the debate over centralization has spread beyond politics into a disagreement over the management of our public sphere. Should we stick with an easy system like the ones we know on Twitter and Facebook, where a few media kings rule us all? Or embrace the ambiguity of decentralization in the name of freedom? Or perhaps, in the tradition of Publius, there is a middle way, where a federalist public sphere develops centralized norms and standards, which support decentralized meeting halls on thousands of servers.

More than 100 apps are talking with one another in the Fediverse, including the photo-sharing site Pixelfed and the music-sharing service Funkwhale. Still, Mastodon remains the biggest. That's partly because anyone can set up a server there using freely available software created by Mastodon's creator, Eugen Rochko, and his small team. Bigger players are joining up too. Publishers such as Medium and the Texas Observer have set up their own Mastodon servers. Late last year, Tumblr announced its intention to support ActivityPub, the protocol powering Mastodon, which could bring in more than 100 million new users and make it the first old-school social platform to join the Fediverse. Eventually, I'll be able to see my teen nephew's Tumblr memes from my Mastodon dashboard. Bluesky runs on its own open-source protocol, AT, but enterprising developers are already building a bridge between it and ActivityPub.

Now the question, as the U.S. Founders knew, is how to govern a community designed to be ungovernable by any central authority. Large platforms like Facebook and YouTube moderate their content by forcing users to adhere to their terms of service. This is partly for legal protection and partly to uphold nebulous ''community standards.'' It's also their business. Nilay Patel, the editor in chief of The Verge, argued in a column last fall that the actual ''product'' offered by social-media companies is this moderation: It is the fundamental thing that defines how people use the platform. This becomes a challenge in a context where no central authority polices users.

Bluesky has some ideas about decentralized moderation'--it offers users the ability to set their own personal moderation rules, for example'--but many of them remain untested. Mastodon's moderation system is more mature. Rochko maintains a list of curated servers open to all comers, whose moderators have pledged to uphold the ''Mastodon server covenant.'' That means ''actively moderating against racism, sexism, homophobia and transphobia,'' among other things. But moderation is an uneven system in practice.

The physicist Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, author of The Disordered Cosmos, joined Mastodon in late 2022 and was immediately confronted with racist vitriol. When she spoke up about it, people on several servers complained that she was breaking moderation rules by talking about politics without hiding her comments behind a ''content warning'' box. Another Black Mastodon user, Mekka Okereke, a director of engineering at Google, dealt with the same moderation problems when he tried to raise awareness about racism on his server. In a thread about the topic, he wrote, ''I experience racism almost every day, as do most Black US citizens. I'm not going to start every other sentence with ['content warning'] just to make y'all feel better.''

No server on Mastodon is required to follow Rochko's informal covenant. People have set up servers devoted to Nazism and violent misogyny. This is radical decentralization in a nutshell. There are some suggested rules for all servers to follow, but server rights reign supreme. Nobody can shut down a server whose policies they dislike. All they can do is ''defederate,'' or block incoming messages from that server.

In a sense, platforms such as Mastodon and Bluesky are taking us back to the late-20th-century days of the web, before Google ruled search and Facebook ruled social. Then, decentralization was the default'--there was simply no central meeting place with enough gravity to pull in millions of people and billions of dollars. It felt like anything was possible. Maybe we would all become members of a global nation, united by high-speed networks and our obsession with the Hampster Dance meme. No one was sure what structures would take root, because the web simply hadn't existed long enough to establish a pattern.

Soon, however, the freewheeling Fediverse may find itself caught in the same trap that ensnared the early web: money. Most Mastodon servers are run by volunteers. Some take donations from members or receive grants. But soon they will be joined by Tumblr, which is ad-supported, and many other such sites. Hon, the Code for America adviser, suggested that this could be an opportunity for shared-revenue models, in which servers offer micropayments to people whose posts are displayed next to ads. Right now, nobody is really sure how they'll maintain social networks without getting paid to do it. Even Bluesky CEO Jay Graber has been coy about what her company's business model might be. In any event, Hon said, questions about monetization will probably lead to conflict: ''Some people might get annoyed about it and defederate.''

That's the beauty and the agony of decentralization. No matter what you do, somebody is always going to take their ball and go home. Still, the lure of a decentralized network is strong. After a decade on Twitter, I'm enjoying the experience of a digital community with no algorithm shaping what I see. It's just chronological. And I don't have to worry that some angry billionaire will change all the rules on every server tomorrow.

That isn't to say that someone couldn't set up one server to rule them all. Perhaps an organization will attempt to re-create Twitter's former power'--only this time in the Fediverse. Already, people on Mastodon are discussing whether the platform's original server, Mastodon.social, is too big and making it harder for smaller servers to assert their rights. Meanwhile, Bluesky is currently the only server available to people using the AT Protocol, which means it will grow without competition for the foreseeable future.

I asked the ActivityPub co-creator Evan Prodromou, effectively one of the framers of the Fediverse, how we can prevent a wealthy company from setting up the Mastodon equivalent of Gmail'--a server so large that it would re-centralize the Fediverse. He thought for a while. ''Decentralization is about choice,'' he said. ''So we need more '... commercial organizations stepping into the space.'' Healthy, balanced competition has always been the key to federalism, and Prodromou believes that it can work.

When Prodromou imagines the future of the Fediverse, he hopes ''we see more experimentation around improving our social connections.'' Instead of apps ''pushing ads for toenail clippers,'' he wants to see platforms that remind you to check in on friends you haven't heard from recently, or that remind you to compliment your buddy's new recipe. ''In the political sense, that could mean showing you what's going on in your city or province,'' he added.

Hon said he dreams of using money from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act for Fediverse projects, because they are providing infrastructure for civic communication. ''The government needs a platform to disseminate information,'' he said. This could be it.

These are a lot of hopes and dreams to pile onto a social-networking system that's still only a few million users strong. And yet every great community'--even a nation'--begins as an experiment, an idea that grows stronger the more we write and talk about it. Even if the Fediverse fails, it's still worth doing. Annalee Flower Horne, a founder of the Wandering.shop Mastodon server, told me: ''We look at communities and say that if they end, then they've failed. But a community doesn't have to be permanent to succeed.''

'‹When you buy a book using a link on this page, we receive a commission. Thank you for supporting The Atlantic.

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Archived Version

Tue, 16 May 2023 21:10

A $22 billion Pentagon plan to develop high-tech goggles to help soldiers better target the enemy has gone from "RoboCop" promise to "The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight" reality.

The Integrated Visual Augmentation System '-- a militarized version of Microsoft's HoloLens AR headset '-- has been plagued by problems since the computer giant scored its lucrative, 10-year contract in 2021.

The "augmented reality" super-vision program for the Army has so far generated gear that's left soldiers queasy and actually thrown off their aim '-- leading critics to question whether it's worth it.

The gadgets are slated to give soldiers a "heads-up display" of the battlefield, with digital pointers, live video feeds and virtual crosshairs linked to their gun sights.

But the Defense Department's Inspector General last year warned it could all go to waste if soldiers don't want to wear them.

Subsequent field testing was a bust, with the devices causing "mission-affecting physical impairments" that included nausea, headaches, and eyestrain, Bloomberg reported in October.

A January report from the Defense Department also said the soldiers actually "hit fewer targets and engaged targets more slowly" while wearing the wraparound goggles.

Last month, the Army said an improved model won't be battle-ready until at least July 2025, assuming the new design fixes the flaws.

Meanwhile, the Chinese military has reportedly developed its own version and video clips that surfaced in January show a soldier purportedly aiming and firing an assault rifle while hidden around a corner and behind a wall.

In a statement last month, House Tactical Air and Land Forces Subcommittee Chairman Rob Wittman, R-Virginia, said taxpayers "have already spent $1.5 billion" on the augmented reality headset program, with the goggles costing $60,000 each.

Wittman also said the program "needs to be carefully scrutinized to ensure that soldier lethality is enhanced and that the Army's limited budget is maximized."

During a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense budget hearing on May 2, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., asked top Army officials why they'd tried to cut funding for existing night-vision goggles while pouring money into augmented reality even though it's "not working yet."

"And until it works, it seems to me that we are shortchanging those people who need the current system that does work, in a way that is not acceptable as we're looking at war fighting," she said.

Also during the hearing, Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville predicted that the Integrated Visual Augmentation System would "fundamentally change the way our soldiers operate in the battlefield."

"We want to give the next three to five years to get that edge that's going to transform how our soldiers are gonna fight," McConville said.

Army Secretary Christine Wormuth also said that "if Congress gives us the money that we've requested for [the augmented reality system] in this year's budget, we are going to use that to work with Microsoft to get the system to a place where our soldiers will want to use it."

But Wormuth pledged the Army was "not going to spend $22 billion on a system if it doesn't work."

"We want to see if we can get it to a place where it is going to be desirable for our soldiers," she said.

"We think it can be, but I think Microsoft knows that this is '-- this is it. They either get it done and get it to a place where our soldiers want to use it or we will move on."

Last week, the Breaking Defense website said 5,000 units of the first version of the goggles, known as IVAS 1.0, were sitting in storage with no plan to distribute them.

Microsoft has completed a software upgrade that's being tested and also found a low-light camera for a new model, IVAS 1.1, that could be ready for testing by September 2024, the site said.

A prototype of the redesigned, 1.2 version could also be ready later this year and move the unit's computer from the chest to the rear of the helmet -- but at the cost of added weight, Breaking Defense said.

Former Marine Corps Capt. Dan Grazier, senior defense policy fellow at the nonpartisan Project on Government Oversight, told The Messenger he was "pretty skeptical" the high-priced project would pan out.

"I've seen this in the past, where soldiers and Marines are given a piece of equipment that doesn't work that well and it winds up sitting in a warehouse," he said.

Grazier also said he was "very concerned" about adding "extra equipment to our already overburdened infantrymen," who carry more than 80 pounds of gear, including heavy body armor, weapons, and ammo.

"What we have to do is reduce weight rather than add to it," he said.

Alexander Holderness, a defense research assistant at the bipartisan Center for Strategic & International Studies think tank, said the problems with the augmented reality goggles "seem pretty significant."

But he also said it "makes sense" to try to find a way to share real-time feeds from drones, radar, and listening devices with soldiers in the field.

"The U.S. industrial base and the DOD routinely work to solve technical problems," Holderness said.

"There's no reason to think these problems won't be solved. It's just a question of how long and how much money it will take."

Regarding China's reported rival technology, Holderness also said it was "pretty difficult" to determine how much progress has actually been made "without examining the actual system."

"I think it's always good to show a healthy degree of skepticism when it comes to what Beijing says," he said.

Neither the Army nor Microsoft returned requests for comment.

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Archived Version

Tue, 16 May 2023 21:08

Sports Illustrated came under fire on Monday for using Kim Petras, a transgender female pop star, as one of its cover models for the Swimsuit Edition.

It was Petras' first time on the cover of the Swimsuit Edition. Petras joined Martha Stewart, Megan Fox and Brooks Nader as the other cover models for this year's magazine.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM

Kim Petras attends the 2023 Met Gala Celebrating "Karl Lagerfeld: A Line Of Beauty" at Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 1, 2023 in New York City. (Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic)

"There is no theme [to this year's issue]'--rather, there is a vision, a sentiment, a hope that women can live in a world where they feel no limitations, internally or externally," SI Swimsuit Editor-in-Chief MJ Day said. "But the absence of a theme is not to say that [these women] don't share certain common traits. They're constantly evolving."

Day said of Petras, "The Grammy-winning pop star, a beacon of inspiration for the LGBTQ+ community, has blazed her own path to superstardom, but it has been anything but a straight line."

However, not everyone was pleased with SI deciding to use Petras as one of its models.

FORMER OLYMPIAN SAYS SHE WAS 'GOBSMACKED' OVER FORMER TEAM'S SCATHING REMARKS ON HER VIEWS ON TRANS POLICY

Petras was excited about being on the cover.

Kim Petras visits SiriusXM Studios on May 3, 2023 in New York City. (Santiago Felipe/Getty Images)

"I was so excited when I got the call to be in Sports Illustrated. It's very iconic, and a lot of very iconic people have done it before, so, big dream come true for me," she told the outlet. "I was definitely nervous, I was like, can I pull it off? But now that we're doing it, I feel like we can.

"I hope people take away from this that I look really hot and Sports Illustrated is cool."

She added that she felt "a pressure sometimes to represent the trans community with everything I do, because I feel very blessed that I am at this point and feel so happy when I hear from trans kids and trans people in general that they're inspired by me."

The backlash comes as Bud Light tries to navigate through the rocky waters in wake of making Dylan Mulvaney one of its ambassadors. The beer brand received tremendous backlash for using Mulvaney, a transgender female actress and TikTok personality, as a spokesperson.

Bud Light continues to face backlash more than a month after its polarizing pact with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney prompted outrage. (Instagram)

During an episode of the "Dear Schuyler" podcast, the trans woman claimed she has been taking the intense backlash against the company's decision very hard, admitting she has not been sleeping well.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The influencer also noted that despite the frustration she feels over attacks on her and the beer brand, she is trying to have "grace" for her critics.

Ryan Gaydos is a senior editor for Fox News Digital.

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Archived Version

Tue, 16 May 2023 20:57

Shocking footage appears to show a US soldier opening a gate to let a steady stream of border crossers onto private property in Texas '-- then watching as a bus pulls up to whisk them away.

Footage shared by Fox LA reporter Bill Melugin late Monday starts with a woman in military gear calmly backing up from a high fence in Eagle Pass as the gate is opened up.

In just over a minute, dozens of people casually walk through the opening '-- with others still slowly walking toward it as the clip ends.

As they enter, a small craft watches from the river, which Melugin said was the Border Patrol.

The same female soldier who appeared to have opened the gate then comes back into the frame, calmly watching the new arrivals as a white bus pulls up with another vehicle behind.

Melugin said the clip, from early Monday, ''shows a large group of migrants crossing illegally onto private property.''

However, once on US soil, migrants cannot be turned away, with the law being broken when they enter the country, before reaching the gate.

A female US soldier opened the gate, according to Fox LA's Bill Melugin. Twitter / @BillFOXLAThe Texas National Guard denied the soldier was one of its troops '-- instead saying it was ''a Title 10 soldier from the Missouri [Army National Guard]'' under orders from the federal government and working with the Border Patrol, Melugin tweeted.

US Northern Command said that its service members are stationed at the border only in support of Border Patrol, whose agents would be the only ones able to open the gate.

Border Patrol did not immediately respond to requests for comment early Tuesday.

The same soldier watched as a bus pulled up. Twitter / @BillFOXLAHowever, one source told The Post that the video showed nothing unusual given that the migrants were already on US soil.

Even so, the clip sparked plenty of outrage online.

''It's harder to get into most secure office buildings,'' one person replied, calling it ''ridiculous.''

Officials told Melugin that the soldier was ''under orders'' from the federal government and working with the Border Patrol. Twitter / @BillFOXLA''Thank God there's a camera there so we can watch them all come through in a nice orderly fashion,'' one commentator said, while another claimed it showed that ''the govt told 'em where to cross.''

The video came after it emerged that 530,000 so-called 'gotaways' '-- illegal immigrants known to have entered the country but not been caught '-- have been recorded since last October.

More migrants are expected to head to the US now that Title 42 '-- the pandemic-era law allowing many to be booted '-- has been lifted.

President Biden, however, has maintained that the border with Mexico is looking ''much better than you all expected.''

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Archived Version

Tue, 16 May 2023 20:02

Two poultry workers have tested positive for bird flu after coming into contact with infected birds on the same farm in England, according to the UK Health Security Agency.

The cases were picked up through a screening programme for people who have come into close contact with the virus, though neither individual suffered symptoms and both have since tested negative.

Health officials said there were no signs of person-to-person transmission of the virus, which has spread dramatically in wild bird populations and affected other species, but added that contact tracing was being carried out for one of the workers as a precaution.

''Current evidence suggests that the avian influenza viruses we're seeing circulating in birds around the world do not spread easily to people,'' said Prof Susan Hopkins, the chief medical adviser at UKHSA. ''However, we know already that the virus can spread to people following close contact with infected birds and this is why, through screening programmes like this one, we are monitoring people who have been exposed, to learn more about this risk.''

Based on the timing of the poultry workers' exposure and their test results, the UKHSA said it believed one of the cases was not infected with avian flu, but had inhaled virus-containing material into their nose and throat that triggered a positive result on a nasal swab.

In the second case, health officials have not ruled out an infection with the virus, though, as with the first case, the person may have inhaled virus that did not establish itself as an infection. The UKHSA said that person was the focus of an ongoing investigation and that precautionary contact tracing was undertaken. Both cases relate to the H5N1 strain of avian flu.

The two cases are the latest since January 2022 when a person living in the south-west of England was found to be infected with avian influenza. The UKHSA found no evidence of onward transmission from the infected individual. The agency said the two new cases did not change the level of risk to human health, which remains ''very low'' for the general population.

''Globally there is no evidence of spread of this strain from person to person, but we know that viruses evolve all the time and we remain vigilant for any evidence of changing risk to the population,'' said Hopkins. ''It remains critical that people avoid touching sick or dead birds, and that they follow the Defra advice about reporting.''

Health protection teams at the UKHSA make daily contact with individuals who are at high risk of exposure to avian flu to ask about any symptoms they may be experiencing. The latest two cases were detected through the agency's asymptomatic surveillance programme, where poultry workers are asked to take nose and throat swabs which are tested for the virus for 10 days after exposure.

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Some workers are also asked to provide finger prick blood tests which the UKHSA checks for antibodies against avian influenza, which would point to an infection that has triggered the body's immune defences.

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Archived Version

Tue, 16 May 2023 20:00

Miller Lite has apologized for its history of advertisements featuring women in bikinis with a woke commercial.

In the one minute and 30 second spot posted online, comedian Ilana Glazer says 'It's time beer made it up for women,' as she touted women's role in the brewing process '-- going all the way back to early civilization.

She explained in the commercial that Miller Lite created a campaign for Women's History Month in March to buy up old marketing materials to turn them into compost, which could be used to make fertilizer.

That fertilizer would then be donated to female hops farmers, and the hops grown from the recycled materials would be sent to female brewers.

The 'Bad $#!T to Good $#!T' campaign came ahead of its rival Bud Light's disastrous Dylan Mulvaney ad, featuring the transgender TikTok star drinking out of a beer can with her face on it.

The company has since lost more than $6million in market capitalization, and a marketing executive criticized Bud Light for losing touch with its audience.

Now, some are saying the same about Miller Lite.

In a commercial from March, Miller Lite apologized for its history of advertisements featuring women in bikinis

Comedian Ilana Glazer touted female brewer's history, and claimed 'without us, there would be no beer'

The ad came ahead of Bud Light's disastrous Dylan Mulvaney ad, featuring the transgender TikTok star drinking out of a beer can with her face on it

In Miller Lite's commercial, which debuted on March 7, Glazer rips the company for its history of campaigns featuring scantily-clad women.

'Here's a little known fact, women were among the very first to brew beer ever,' she begins. 'Centuries later, how did the industry pay homage to the founding mothers of beer? They put us in bikinis.'

The comedian showed off some of the company's old posters and cardboard cutouts, with the females' faces now pixelated, saying: 'Look at this s***! Wild!'

'It's time beer made it up to women,' the Broad City star continued. 'So today, Miller Lite is on a mission to clean up not just their s*** but the whole beer industry's s***.'

Glazer noted that the company had been busy buying up some of its old marketing materials online to convert them into compost for female hops farmers to grow more than 1,000 pounds of hops that would then be sent to female brewers.

But, she said, 'There's definitely more s*** out there, in your attic, in your garage, in your parents' basement.

'Send any s*** you have to Miller Lite and they'll turn that into good s*** too,' Glazer pledged.

'So here's to women, because without us, there would be no beer.'

As part of Miller Lite's campaign, the old marketing materials would be composted

That compost would be used to make fertilizer, which would be used to grow hops '-- which would then be sent to female brewers

OutKick founder Clay Travis hit out at the company for the new ad, saying it has no idea who actually consumes its products

The advertising campaign was spearheaded by an all-female team, the company announced in a press release, and 'continues the brand's work empowering women in beer.'

Last year, the company released a new can featuring Mary Lisle, the first-known female brewer, for July 4.

The campaign was the brainchild of Elizabeth Hitch, the senior director of marketing for Miller Lite (pictured)

Instead of its typical slogan 'A Fine Pilsner Beer,' the Mary Lisle cans read: 'There's No Beer Without Women.'

'This Women's History Month, Miller Lite wanted to recognize that without women, there would be no beer,' Elizabeth Hitch, the senior director of marketing for Miller Lite, said in a statement announcing the launch of the 'Bad $#!T to Good $#!T' campaign.

'To honor this, we wanted to acknowledge the missteps in representation of women in beer advertising by cleaning up not just our s*** but the whole industry's s***.

'Last year, we launched our Mary Lisle cans to celebrate women's achievements in beer,' she continued. 'This year, we're going further in our commitment to supporting the women who love beer and the women who brew beer, helping them make their own mark in history... and their own good s***.'

As part of the campaign, Miller Lite also promised to donate more than five times the amount it spends on the project to the Pink Boots Society, a nonprofit that 'aims to assist, inspire and encourage women and non-binary individuals in the fermented/alcoholic beverage industry to advance their careers through education,' according to its website.

Miller Lite made a name for itself in the 1990s and early 2000s with ads featuring women in bikinis, including this famous 'Cat Fight' ad featuring Playboy models Tanya Ballinger and Kitana Baker

After getting into a fight in the commercial, Ballinger falls into a hotel room where Pamela Anderson is sitting in a crop top, left. She then asks if she could join, and the girls start a pillow fight

Actress and model Sofia Vergara is pictured in an advertisement for Miller Lite

Miller Lite girls are pictured during Playboy's Annual Super Saturday Night Event

Miller Lite had made a name for itself in the late 1990s and early 2000s for its commercials and advertisements featuring bikini-clad women.

It all started with a 1993 commercial featuring a girl sitting on the beach in a yellow bikini, which was followed up just three years later with Miller Lite's 'Bikini Girls' commercial, in which a group of women in bikinis walk past men on the beach.

Another ad featured a group of women in crop tops and bikini bottoms standing on the beach, asking: 'Can you find the bottle of Miller Lite in this picture?'

The most well-known, however, came in 2003.

Another ad featured a group of women in crop tops and bikini bottoms standing on the beach, asking: 'Can you find the bottle of Miller Lite in this picture?'

In an ad entitled 'Cat Fight,' Playboy models Tanya Ballinger and Kitana Baker are sitting at a poolside drinking the beer, when Ballinger asks: 'Doesn't Miller Lite taste great?'

Baker then replies: 'I thought we settled this.'

The two women then start fighting over whether the beer 'tastes great' or is 'less filling,' pushing each other with Ballinger about to fall in the pool when it cuts to men sitting in a bar.

One says, 'Wait, I have an idea,' and the commercial rewinds so that instead of pushing Ballinger into a pool, Baker pushes the model into a hotel room, where Pamela Anderson is sitting in a cropped shirt.

Anderson then lowers her glasses, and asks, 'Mind if I join in?'

Naturally, a pillow fight ensues and Pamela Anderson takes off her shirt, revealing a bikini underneath.

Eventually, the stuffing from the pillows gets caught on a sprinkler, causing it to go off.

That all seemed to end in 2006, when Erv Frederick, the then-vice president for marketing at Miller Brewing, said the company 'wanted to move beyond that stereotype of men as sophomoric' or as 'the lowest common denominator.'

Later commercials, including one featuring Meghan Markle, no longer had women in bikinis. Rather, Markle appeared in a tight tank top as she sold a man a beer at a bar and made fun of his tight jeans.

Meghan Markle appeared in a commercial for the beer company in 2010

The company is now facing backlash for its March ad, with OutKick founder Clay Travis tweeting on Monday: 'Miller Lite saw the Bud Light disaster and decided they needed their own woke beer ad.

'These companies are broken & have no idea who actually consumes their products.'

But the 'Bad $#!T to Good $#!T' campaign actually came out before transgender TikTok star Dylan Mulvaney posted a video saying she was partnering with Bud Light to celebrate her first full year as a transgender female.

Almost immediately after Mulvaney posted her video in early April, Anheuser-Busch lost more than $6billion in market capitalization.

In total, sales fell 26 percent in the second quarter of 2023 after earning $1.65billion in the first quarter, Doukeris announced in an earnings call last week.

He said the brewer posted revenue of $14.21 billion in the period, which also beat forecasts, with the shares rising 6 percent since the beginning of the year and 12 percent in 12 months.

Still, sales volumes of all Anheuser-Busch products fell more than 12 percent last month, with Bud Light sales falling a staggering 21.4 percent.

That decline in Bud Light sales could be felt in every region of the country, according to new data from Beer Business Daily.

Sales in the Rocky Mountain states dipped the most significantly, down by 29 percent, with the South Atlantic, West North Central and East South Central all dropping 25 percent.

The Tumbleweed, a cowboy bar in Wyoming, ditched Bud Light after the controversy '' instead plumping for Guinness.

Sales in the East North Central area - which includes Michigan and Illinois, both of which have seen a backlash against the beer - were down 23.5 percent in the week ending April 22.

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Archived Version

Tue, 16 May 2023 16:48

According to multiple reports, the Department of Justice removed an IRS whistleblower and the ''entire investigative team'' from a tax fraud investigation into Hunter Biden.

In a letter written to Congress, the whistleblower's attorneys alleged it as a retaliatory act.

''Today the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Criminal Supervisory Special Agent we represent was informed that he and his entire investigative team are being removed from the ongoing and sensitive investigation of the high-profile, controversial subject about which our client sought to make whistleblower disclosures to Congress. He was informed the change was at the request of the Department of Justice,'' Mark Lytle and Tristan Leavitt wrote.

BREAKING: IRS whistleblower, team removed from Hunter Biden case in possible retaliation, Congress told | Just The News https://t.co/FYaXk1skR8

'-- John Solomon (@jsolomonReports) May 16, 2023

BREAKING: A Biden administration whistleblower informed Congress today that the ''entire investigative team'' working on the Hunter Biden case at the IRS was removed from the case today, and that that their removal was specifically requested by DOJ.

Developing'...

'-- Sean Davis (@seanmdav) May 16, 2023

The IRS whistleblower came forward last month and cited a conflict of interest impacting the investigation.

The Criminal Supervisory Special Agent's attorney requested whistleblower protection for his client, saying ''politics are 'improperly infecting decisions' in the investigation.''

New Hunter Biden Whistleblower Emerges!

The New York Post reported:

The whistleblower, who has supervised the Hunter Biden probe since early 2020, has not publicly identified the first son as the subject of his coverup claims, though congressional sources have done so.

''On April 27, 2023, IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel appeared before the House Committee on Ways and Means. He testified: 'I can say without any hesitation there will be no retaliation for anyone making an allegation or a call to a whistleblower hotline.' However, this move is clearly retaliatory and may also constitute obstruction of a congressional inquiry,'' the lawyers went on.

''Our client has a right to make disclosures to Congress '... He is protected by 5 U.S.C. § 2302 from retaliatory personnel actions'--including receiving a 'significant change in duties, responsibilities, or working conditions' (which this clearly is) because of his disclosures to Congress.

''Any attempt by any government official to prevent a federal employee from furnishing information to Congress is also a direct violation of longstanding appropriations restriction. Furthermore, 18 U.S.C. § 1505 makes it a crime to obstruct an investigation of Congress,'' Lytle and Leavitt wrote.

The whistleblower's team added: ''We respectfully request that you give this matter your prompt attention. Removing the experienced investigators who have worked this case for years and are now the subject-matter experts is exactly the sort of issue our client intended to blow the whistle on to begin with.''

SHOCK: Biden's DOJ has removed the entire IRS team investigating Hunter Biden's tax fraud case. In doing so the IRS also removed the whistleblower in retaliation obstructing the congressional investigation.h/t @DonaldJTrumpJr https://t.co/R3NO4kwJpV pic.twitter.com/c8LIukoxUH

'-- @amuse (@amuse) May 16, 2023

Just the News added:

The letter was addressed to the GOP chairman and top Democrats on the Judicial and House Ways and Means committees as well as the Democrat chairmen and top Republicans on the Senate Finance and Judiciary committees.

In late April, Just the News reported that an IRS whistleblower was alleging that federal prosecutors had engaged in ''preferential treatment and politics'' to prevent tax charges from being filed against the president's son.

The whistleblower's allegations appear to contradict sworn testimony from Attorney General Merrick Garland that Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss, who has been heading up the investigation, had full authority to pursue the case without fear of political interference.

Speaking on the ''Just the News, No Noise'' television show on Friday, Leavitt revealed that congressional leaders had received the allegations with interest and would likely to hold hearings to air his client's claims.

He also said Missouri Republican Rep. Jason Smith has identified that House Ways and Means is committed to thoroughly hearing these allegations, ''so we look forward to a process. '... We are engaged with both sides of the aisle, and we anticipate that ultimately, our client, a very, very courageous and well-respected whistleblower, will be able to share his allegations with Congress.''

Just the News obtained a copy of the letter written by Mark Lytle and Tristan Leavitt.

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Archived Version

Tue, 16 May 2023 16:44

Sofia Colucci, the chief marketing officer of Molson Coors Beverage, which owns Miller Lite, has a past of supporting liberal causes such as gun control, protests for George Floyd, illegal immigration and the COVID-19 vaccine, social media posts reviewed by the Daily Caller found.

Miller Lite released an ad on March 7 titled, ''Bad $#!T to Good $#!T,'' which goes after the beer industry for its supposed sexism against women. The ad has drawn recent criticism after Bud Light's promotion of transgender TikTok star Dylan Mulvaney showed off a beer can with the influencer's face on it. They also released a can with a rainbow that states ''celebrate everyone's identity,'' and features different pronouns.

Colucci has deleted many of the posts, however, the Caller took screenshots of her posts before they were deleted. Colucci donated and shared a fundraiser on her Facebook page that goes to reuniting migrants with their immigrant families. She also shared another page regarding the Las Vegas Shooting, saying members of Congress who received donations from the NRA need to meet with the victims and implement stricter gun laws. (RELATED: Miller Lite Released A Progressive Ad Two Months Ago And Now It's Going Viral)

In another post, she praised the Pope for ''stressing the importance'' of the COVID-19 vaccine and said people who were reluctant to get the vaccine would hopefully be steered by his actions. Colucci also changed her profile photo to include ''I got my COVID-19 vaccine. We can do this,'' and shared a post from Miller to buy shirts for the COVID-19 vaccine. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Leaked Social Media Pics From Bud Light Ad Exec Who Slammed 'Fratty' Culture Seem Pretty Fratty)

One post that also seems to no longer be active on Colucci's Facebook page is one of former Republican Arizona Sen. John McCain's concession speech to former President Barack Obama. Colucci wrote, ''Wow. Amazing and a reminder of what a true leader does.''

Miller Lite's head of marketing Sofia Colucci:@DailyCaller https://t.co/5saNcCZ8Zf pic.twitter.com/JhRH229hM4

'-- Henry Rodgers (@henryrodgersdc) May 15, 2023

After George Floyd was killed, Colucci posted a black square in support of Black Lives Matter and Floyd on Black Out Tuesday, to remember Floyd.

Colucci also shared a post from Obama and said, ''If only we had his leadership right now. His suggestions on how to take action are helpful.''

The Caller contacted Colucci about her Facebook posts to which she did not immediately respond.

Molson Coors was unapologetic in a comment to the Daily Caller.

''People can take issue with our ads or our brands, and that's everyone's right. But we have thousands of hardworking people from all walks of life who are only doing what millions of other Americans do every day, working hard to earn a living, and we will always support them in their work,'' Molson Coors' Chief Communications and Corporate Affairs Officer Adam Collins told the Caller in a statement.

''This video was about two things: worm poop and saying women shouldn't be forced to mud wrestle in order to sell beer. Neither of these things should be remotely controversial and we hope beer drinkers can appreciate the humor (and ridiculousness) of this video from back in March,'' the company said in statement Monday.

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Archived Version

Tue, 16 May 2023 16:42

Megan Fox and Martha Stewart are among four women to cover the 2023 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, but they're making history in dramatically different ways.

Fox stunned in a barely-there swimsuit consisting strictly of chains wrapped around her body. Stewart opted for a more subdued look in classic swimwear, modeling a total of 10 swimsuits. She made history at age 81 as the oldest woman to be featured on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.

81-year-old Martha Stewart becomes the oldest model in history to cover Sports Illustrated Swimsuit ðŸ'¸ pic.twitter.com/iSqbsv9VKh

'-- Daily Loud (@DailyLoud) May 15, 2023

The other two women featured in the magazine were Kim Petras, and Brooks Nader. Each woman was individually styled and photographed in a different destination, according to the magazine. They each appeared in a number of different swimwear styles that were showcased in a variety of colors, and posed perfectly for the camera.

''We are thrilled to announce that Martha Stewart, Megan Fox, Kim Petras and Brooks Nader are your 2023 SI Swimsuit Issue cover models,'' SI wrote.

Martha Stewart Lands Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Cover At 81 https://t.co/xE25UWK8kt

'-- TMZ (@TMZ) May 15, 2023

''Each woman was photographed in an incredible location where her natural beauty was allowed to shine, with styling fit to her individual personality,'' the magazine said.

''Never in her life has she let her circumstances dictate her outcome,'' said SI Swimsuit editor in chief MJ Day. (RELATED: Kim Kardashian Makes Her Debut As A Sports Illustrated Cover Girl)

''She's changed with the times'--always one step ahead, it seems'--to build a wide-reaching business empire,'' the outlet continued.

''[Fox] humbly accepts her stunning beauty while simultaneously seeking to be seen and appreciated as the woman of intellect and internal beauty,'' Day said.

Link to Article

Archived Version

Tue, 16 May 2023 16:40

The intrigue behind the shadowy sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein somehow continues to climax, despite his untimely ''suicide'' in a New York jail cell almost four years ago.

Via Daily Mail:

The US Virgin Islands is unable to subpoena Google co-founder Larry Page over potential ties to Jeffrey Epstein because he cannot be physically located, federal court filings reveal.

A motion filed by the attorney general for the US Virgin Islands said investigators tried to identify a physical address at which Page, 50, could be personally summoned to appear in a court.

After identifying four possible addresses, none of which were 'valid', prosecutors are requesting the federal government allow Page to be summoned via Alphabet, Google's parent company, as he is still a member of its board.

It seems there are two potential explanations for Mr. Page's disappearing act: either he himself doesn't want to testify because of personal fears of what crimes it might implicate him in, or someone or something else doesn't want Mr. Page discussing what he knows about Jeffrey Epstein's activities.

I recently made a half-serious petition for Elon Musk to slap a Twitter ''red check'' on all known Jeffrey Epstein associates. When this ordeal is said and done, there might be a new Silicon Valley tech overlord to add to the list.

The subpoena efforts are part of the ongoing Virgin Islands prosecution of JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, implicating the highest level of multinational banking as potential accomplices in the years-long trafficking ring.

Via CNBC:

CEO Jamie Dimon in an interview Thursday said he was ''so sad'' the bank had any business relationship with Jeffrey Epstein '-- but denied the firm is legally liable for the dead predator's sex trafficking.

Dimon also said, in the televised interview with Bloomberg, that if JPMorgan had known everything that has become public in recent years about its former customer Epstein ''we would have done things differently.''

What sad propaganda.

If anyone believes that a multinational banker like Jamie Dimon is psychologically capable of regret over facilitating immoral/illegal activities on behalf of his clientele, I have oceanfront property in Montana to sell you.

It's not just Epstein; if there is a criminal enterprise with enough cash revenue to make it worthwhile, JPMorgan and peer-group banks jump at the chance to get involved.

''A cargo ship that was seized last month with nearly 20 tons of cocaine on board '-- with an estimated street value of $1.3 billion '-- belongs to JP Morgan Chase,'' CBS News reported in 2019.

Editor's note: Have you noticed how incurious the left-wing media has become in recent years anytime the story involves Democrat misconduct? Whether it's Hillary Clinton's homebrew server, the coverup of Hunter Biden's laptop, or Jeffrey Epstein's exploitation of young girls (possibly involving Democrat luminaries), the media shrugs and assures us there's ''nothing to see here.'' At PJ Media, we're not afraid to question those in authority. If there is ''something to see here,'' we believe you have a right to see it. Our VIP members make it possible for us to survive in an era where the powers that be are increasingly hostile and working overtime to silence us. If you'd like to join us in the fight for truth, become a VIP member today. Use the promo code SAVEAMERICA for a 50% discount on your membership. A premium GOLD membership (see all the benefits here) will cost you less than a cup of fancy coffee every month'--a small price to pay for the truth. Sign up here.

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Archived Version

Tue, 16 May 2023 16:39

Removing Paywall

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Archived Version

Tue, 16 May 2023 16:38

In a bizarre exchange this week with former State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) was confronted with his relentless promoting of the now debunked Steele dossier in prior years. Schiff surprisingly declared ''First of all, whoever lied to the FBI or Christopher Steele should be prosecuted, and they are.'' (It is actually not a crime to lie to Christopher Steele under 18 U.S.C. 1001. It is a crime to lie to federal investigators). It was a curious statement from someone who attacked the appointment of the Special Counsel and, with other leading Democrats, did his level best to kill the investigation. If it had been left to Schiff, there would have been no John Durham and no Durham indictments.

I have been writing about the Durham investigation for two years and the need to look into serious questions linking Clinton associates with the advancement of false claims of collusion. There was a constant barrage of ridicule and abuse for those writing on the investigation. Members and legal experts lined up to claim that there was nothing to be found and that Mueller had already revealed all that needed to be known about the scandal. The recent investigations, of course, disprove those attacks by detailing new evidence of a coordinated and concerted effort by the Clinton campaign to create this scandal.

Schiff previously claimed that he had direct evidence of collusion in his Committee despite Mueller finding no such evidence to support criminal charges. Schiff however has never produced that evidence.

Durham has now shown how Clinton associates engineered the scandal and may have even been the true sources for the most salacious details in the dossier. In 2017, American intelligence said that it believed that the dossier may have been used by Russian intelligence to spread disinformation.

Schiff opposed Durham while insisting that Mueller should be allowed to continue his own investigation. Judging from the three indictments by Durham, it is now clear why Democrats sought to kill the investigation.

Schiff told MSNBC that ongoing investigations would constitute ''tearing down our democracy'' and would serve as a way to ''delegitimize'' a president. This also included any continued investigation of the Hunter Biden scandal. Schiff denounced the Durham investigation as a ''politically motivated'' effort despite the fact that Durham suspended any public actions before the election to avoid even the appearance of political manipulation. He resisted demands from Trump to issue a report before the election.

Schiff raised the termination of the Durham investigation by Attorney General Garland before Durham could issue any indictments or reports. He added ''The appointment is not consistent with the language of the statute that he's relying on and can be rescinded, I think, by the next attorney general. I would presume the next attorney general will look to see if there is any merit to the work that John Durham is doing.''

On the campaign trail, Biden also dismissed the ''investigation of the investigators.''

Likewise, then Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), sent a letter to Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz to demand the investigation of Durham as a possible political shill. She was joined by Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Ct.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), and Cory Booker (D-N.J.).

Notably, the letter from the senators in 2020 raised one of the greatest concerns for Democrats about this investigation: any Special Counsel report. These were the same members demanding not just the release of the Mueller report but some even wanted the release of the unredacted report (including grand jury information that cannot be publicly disclosed absent a court order). However, in 2020 they wanted to kill any report by Durham: ''In addition, it remains unclear what rules and authority permit the public release of a 'report' by U.S. Attorney Durham, raising additional concerns about the legitimacy of his appointment and work.''

Many of the same members and pundits continued to mock the Durham investigation even after his first indictment. MSNBC's Rachel Maddow (who was one of the chief promoters of the Steele dossier) even called upon fired FBI Special Agent Peter Strzok to discredit the latest indictment.

For his part, Schiff's sudden belief that people need to be prosecuted over the Steele dossier would be more compelling if he had not done all that he could to end the investigation that uncovered such alleged crimes.

This is all quite swampy, of course. However, Schiff has long been assuring the public that there is nothing to see here and that rodents of unusual size do not reside in this particular swamp:

Link to Article

Archived Version

Tue, 16 May 2023 16:37

The report represents the culmination of a years-long effort by the prosecutor to undercover the origins of the collusion narrative.

Updated: May 15, 2023 - 8:58pm

The Facts Inside Our Reporter's NotebookSpecial Counsel John Durham on Monday released a 300-plus page report critical of the FBI, Justice Department and the entire U.S. intelligence community for its pursuit of an investigation into alleged collusion between the 2016 Trump campaign and the Russian government without evidence to substantiate the underlying allegations.

Here are some of the key takeaways:

Government Had No Evidence

"Neither U.S. law enforcement nor the Intelligence Community appears to have possessed any actual evidence of collusion in their holdings at the commencement of the Crossfire Hurricane investigation," Durham wrote. Crossfire Hurricane is the FBI codename for the investigation into the 2016 Trump campaign.Durham contended that, had the FBI followed its own procedures, the bureau "would have learned that their own experienced Russia analysts had no information about Trump being involved with Russian leadership officials, nor were others in sensitive positions at the CIA, the NSA, and the Department of State aware of such evidence concerning the subject."No New Charges

Durham did not recommend that any additional people face charges stemming from his investigation.He previously pursued cases against former Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann and Steele Dossier contributor Igor Danchenko, but was unsuccessful.U.S. Foreign Allies Refused to Aid in the Effort

United Kingdom intelligence service officials were unwilling to aid in the investigation, contending that it was devoid of predicating evidence."Later in the Fall of 2016, UK ALAT-1 was at FBI Headquarters with some of his British Intelligence Service-I counterparts," Durham notes, referencing a UK intelligence official. "While there, members of the Crossfire Hurricane team played the audio/visual recordings of CHS-1 's August 20, 2016 meeting with Carter Page. UK ALAT-1 said the effect on the British Intelligence Service-I personnel was not positive because of the lack of any evidence corning out of the conversation.""UK ALAT-1 told the OIG that after watching the video one of his British colleagues said, 'For [expletive] sake, man. You went through a lot of trouble to get him to say nothing,'" Durham continued. "At a later point in time, after the Mueller Special Counsel team was in place, UK ALAT-1 said that 'the Brits finally had enough,' and in response to a request for some assistance '[a British Intelligence Service-I person] basically said there was no [expletive] way in hell they were going to do it.'"Former Intel Officials Promoted the Narrative Despite Knowing There Was No Evidence

Former CIA Director John Brennan came into Durham's crosshairs for his repeated public remarks supporting the narrative that the Trump campaign colluded with the Russian government."I encountered and am aware of information and intelligence that revealed contacts and interactions between Russian officials and U.S. persons involved in the Trump campaign," he told the House Intelligence Committee in 2017. President Trump's Claims of No Collusion Are Hogwash" Brennan wrote for the New York Times in 2018.Key Foreign Affairs Officials Saw No Evidence

Victoria Nuland, who served as undersecretary for Political Affairs at the Department of State, and is one of that agency's "most experienced Russian observers," told Durham's team she "never saw any U.S. government proof of the allegations contained in the Steele reporting regarding Trump and Russian officials, and further stated that to her recollection no information regarding a well-coordinated conspiracy between Trump and the Russians had ever come across her desk, with one exception.""Nuland advised that she had received a two-page summary of the Steele allegations from Jonathan Winer," Durham wrote. The Steele dossier has been thoroughly discredited.The Clinton Campaign Was Behind The Whole Thing

"The FBl's actions with respect to other highly significant intelligence it received from a trusted foreign source pointing to a Clinton campaign plan to vilify Trump by tying him to Vladimir Putin so as to divert attention from her own concerns relating to her use of a private email server," the report concluded. "Unlike the FBI's opening of a full investigation of unknown members of the Trump campaign based on raw, uncorroborated information, in this separate matter involving a purported Clinton campaign plan, the FBI never opened any type of inquiry, issued any taskings, employed any analytical personnel, or produced any analytical products in connection with the information.''"This lack of action was despite the fact that the significance of the Clinton plan intelligence was such as to have prompted the Director of the CIA to brief the President, Vice President, Attorney General, Director of the FBI, and other senior government officials about its content within days of its receipt," Durham added. "It was also of enough importance for the CIA to send a formal written referral memorandum to Director Corney and the Deputy Assistant Director of the FBI's Counterintelligence Division, Peter Strzok, for their consideration and action."There Were Double Standards for Trump and Clinton

"The speed and manner in which the FBI opened and investigated Crossfire Hurricane during the presidential election season based on raw, unanalyzed, and uncorroborated intelligence also reflected a noticeable departure from how it approached prior matters involving possible attempted foreign election interference plans aimed at the Clinton campaign," Durham wrote."In one such matter...FBI Headquarters and Department officials required defensive briefings to be provided to Clinton and other officials or candidates who appeared to be the targets of foreign interference," he added. "In another, the FBI elected to end an investigation after one of its longtime and valuable CHSs went beyond what was authorized and made an improper and possibly illegal financial contribution to the Clinton campaign on behalf of a foreign entity as a precursor to a much larger donation being contemplated.""These examples are also markedly different from the FBl's actions with respect to other highly significant intelligence it received from a trusted foreign source pointing to a Clinton campaign plan to vilify Trump by tying him to Vladimir Putin so as to divert attention from her own concerns relating to her use of a private email server," Durham continued.Clinton Opposition Research Firm Fusion GPS Went to the Media Before the FBI

Before handing over their materials to law enforcement, Fusion GPS and Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann approached a media outlet to secure coverage of the materials."Prior to providing the unfounded Alfa bank claims to the FBI, Sussmann and Fusion GPS (the Clinton campaign's opposition research firm) had provided the same information to various news organizations and were pressing reporters to write articles about the alleged secret communications channel," Durham wrote. "Moreover, during his September 2016 meeting at the FBI, Sussmann told Baker that an unnamed news outlet was in possession of the information and would soon publish a story about it.""The disclosure of the media's involvement caused the FBI to contact the news outlet whose name was eventually provided by Sussmann in the hope of delaying any public reporting on the subject," he continued. "In doing so it confirmed for the New York Times that the FBI was looking into the matter.""On October 31, 2016, less than two weeks before the election, the New York Times and others published articles on the Alfa Bank matter and the Clinton campaign issued tweets and public statements on the allegations of a secret channel of communications being used by the Trump Organization and a Russian bank -allegations that had been provided to the media and the FBI by Fusion GPS and Sussmann, both of whom were working for the Clinton campaign," the report concluded.Media Reporting on Trump-Russia Collusion

Articles by The New York Times, Slate, and Mother Jones regarding the Trump-Russia collusion narrative were cited by the report for the inaccurate information they published. Durham noted that some reports by the Times were debunked by Strzok, while others, such as those by Slate and Mother Jones, were based on information the Clinton campaign was pushing regarding the Alfa Bank allegation.Regarding the Times' reports, "the FBI's own records show that reports published by The New York Times in February and March 2017 concerning what four unnamed current and former U.S. intelligence officials claimed about Trump campaign personnel being in touch with any Russian intelligence officers was untrue."Durham Recommends No New Policies, But Advises DOJ and FBI to Follow Existing Ones

"This report does not recommend any wholesale changes in the guidelines and policies that the Department and the FBI now have in place to ensure proper conduct and accountability in how counterintelligence activities are carried out'...the answer is not the creation of new rules but a renewed fidelity to the old," he wrote.Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on Twitter.

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Archived Version

Tue, 16 May 2023 16:35

The FBI made a tacit admission Monday to the findings of the Durham Report showing the agency acted improperly when investigating former President Donald Trump and the alleged Russian collusion.

Special Counsel John Durham found the FBI used ''uncorroborated intelligence'' when it launched its investigation into Trump ahead of the 2016 election. The report also found agents failed to maintain ''strict fidelity to the law'' throughout its investigation.

The FBI responded shortly after its release, acknowledging the errors made in 2016, which concedes the findings of the Durham report are accurate.

''The conduct in 2016 and 2017 that Special Counsel Durham examined was the reason that current FBI leadership already implemented dozens of corrective actions, which have now been in place for some time. Had those reforms been in place in 2016, the missteps identified in the report could have been prevented,'' the statement reads.

''This report reinforces the importance of ensuring the FBI continues to do its work with the rigor, objectivity, and professionalism the American people deserve and rightly expect.''

ALEXANDRIA, VA '' OCTOBER 11: Russian analyst Igor Danchenko (C) walks to the Albert V. Bryan U.S. Courthouse during a lunch break in his trial on October 11, 2022 in Alexandria, Virginia. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Durham's report also found that ''neither U.S. nor the Intelligence Community appears to have possessed any actual evidence of collusion in their holdings at the commencement'' of the investigation. (RELATED: 'It Does Exonerate Donald Trump': Tapper Calls Durham Report 'Devastating To The FBI')

''Our investigation determined that the Crossfire Hurricane investigators did not and could not corroborate any of the substantive allegations contained in the Steele reporting,'' the report found.

Durham was appointed by then-Attorney General Bill Barr in 2020 to investigate the investigation of Crossfire Hurricane. Crossfire Hurricane later determined there was no evidence of criminal conspiracy between any Trump campaign officials and operatives of the Russian government.

Link to Article

Archived Version

Tue, 16 May 2023 15:20

Special Counsel John Durham on Monday released a 300+ page report outlining the origins of the Trump-Russia collusion narrative and the FBI's investigation of the matter.

Read the entire report here:

File

Durham Report Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on Twitter.

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Archived Version

Tue, 16 May 2023 14:24

Reading Time: 22 minutes How You Can Install A ChatGPT-like Personal AI On Your Own Computer And Run It With No Internet.

This article is designed with the goal in mind for anyone to install this software. Originally it had a video that was to accompany the how-to, however things a changing rapidly, and my three attempts just delayed me from publishing this article. I may include it later. I endeavored to create a simple step-by-step instruction to install a Personal AI for an extreme novice. Someone that may never have been to GitHub and never used Terminal. If you are someone that has, a good chance this particular article is not for you. You may find some of our local models we have built and will publish soon to be more interesting. If you are an expert in installing software, focus your energies on helping others and the community, not on ''who doesn't know that'' or ''I knew it, he is just writing about'...'' sort of comments. Use your power and skills to lift us all higher.

The ''First PC'' Moment For Personal AI

This is the ''first PC'' moment for Personal AI and with it will be limitations just like when the first Apple 1 was produced in a garage. You are a pioneer. Today, private and Personal AI is available to anyone. You can have a version of ChatGPT-like features running on your own computer and not need it to be connected to the Internet after the installation.

All human knowledge is a synthesis of the known and the unknown. AI used as a positive force multiplexer and as The Intelligence Amplifier for you, your Personal AI well help you and all of us navigate this gap. With your Personal AI , and the right SuperPrompts, humanity will thrive like never before. The only thing you need at this moment is the power to know this and take it in your hands to do with it as you want to see the world for you and everyone you love that come after you. It is not AI it is IA (Intelligence Amplification).

One Example Of Personal AI

The system we will cover today (I will write about many more) can run on a recent and typical, but not high performance CPU with 8GB RAM with just 4GB of disk space. Yes, the entire model, a great deal of the corpus of human knowledge in just 4GB of disk space. Are there limitations? Of course. It is not ChatGPT 4, and it will not handle some things correctly. However, it is one of the most powerful Personal AI systems ever released. It is called GPT4All.

GPT4All is a free, open source ChatGPT-like Large Language Model (LLM) project by a team of programmers at Nomic AI (Nomic.ai). This is the work of many volunteers but leading this effort is the amazing Andriy Mulyar Twitter:@andriy_mulyar. If you find this software useful, i urge you to support the project by contacting them. GPT4All is built on the LLaMA 7B model. LLaMA stands for Large Language Model Meta (Facebook) AI. It includes a range of model sizes from 7 billion (7B) to 65 billion parameters. Meta AI researchers focused on scaling the model's performance by increasing the volume of training data, rather than the number of parameters. They claimed the 13 billion parameter model outperformed 175 billion parameters of GPT-3 model. It uses the transformer architecture and was trained on 1.4 trillion tokens extracted by web scraping Wikipedia, GitHub, Stack Exchange, books from Project Gutenberg, scientific papers on ArXiv.

The Nomic AI team fine-tuned models of LLaMA 7B and final model and trained it on 437,605 post-processed assistant-style prompts. They took inspiration from another ChatGPT-like project called Alpaca but used GPT-3.5-Turbo from OpenAI API to collect around 800,000 prompt-response pairs to create the 437,605 training pairs of assistant-style prompts and generations, including code, dialogue, and narratives. However, 800K pairs are roughly 16 times larger than Alpaca. The best part about the model is that it can run on CPU, does not require GPU. Like Alpaca it is also an open source which will help individuals to do further research without spending on commercial solutions.

Detailed model hyperparameters and training codes can be found in the GitHub repository, https://github.com/nomic-ai/gpt4all. Developing GPT4All took approximately four days and incurred $800 in GPU expenses and $500 in OpenAI API fees. Additionally, a final gpt4all-lora model can be trained on a Lambda Labs DGX A100 8x 80GB in about 8 hours, with a total cost of $100.

GPT4All compared its perplexity with the best publicly known alpaca-lora model and showed that the fine-tuned GPT4All models exhibited lower perplexity in the self-instruct evaluation compared to Alpaca. However, this assessment was not exhaustive due to encouraging users to run the model on local CPUs to gain qualitative insights into its capabilities.

The Nomic AI team did all this in days and did it in just 4GB of disk space. And it is free and open source. It is important to know all the localized Personal AI models and software is very new and not normally designed for average folks. It is open source and there is no ''customer service and support''. Installation is usually ''go to Git Hub and clone it''. Thus, this is early Pioneer days and with this you will need to be patient. The payoff is your own Personal AI. I feel Personal AI is a revolution equal to the invention of the automobile. It was not until Henry Ford made the automobile in reach to anyone, did humanity break bounds that held us back. This is the spirit in which I wrote this How-To article, and I hope it can help even the most technologically challenged gain access to this new tool.

But why have Personal AI? There will be endless reasons, however some are:

Data Privacy: Many companies want to have control over data. It is important for them as they don't want any third-party to have access to their data.Customization: It allows developers to train large language models with their own data and some filtering on some topics if they want to applyAffordability: Open source GPT models let you to train sophisticated large language models without worrying about expensive hardware.Democratizing AI: It opens room for further research which can be used for solving real-world problems.Freedom: AI is rapidly becoming the target of censorship, regulation and worse. This may be the last chance to own your own AI. Italy already has banned ChatGPT, so be advised.Personalized Training: After the base model is downloaded, you may be able to train the model to retain your personal data for it to analyze and build neurons with.There are many other reasons, and almost none are for ''bad purposes''. If a bad actor wanted to ask ''bad'' things, there are far easier ways for this than local AI. However, using the SECRET version of the model below, you may be offended with some results. It is designed to supply the raw results with no filters. You can switch between models to gauge how it was edited. So if you are sensitive and generally find it easy to be offended, this is a warning don't download the SECRET version. If you want to see how LLM AI has made ''sense'' of the world you and I actually live in, I suggest the SECRET version, while it is still available.

You Will Own Your Own AI And You Don't Have To Answer To Anyone, But Yourself

This posting is a bit of an experiment. Of course, you can go many places to get GPR4All. There are some reasons I post things for members only. One reason is responsibility. I hesitate a bit to post this here for some reasons. Be sensible, have honor and dignity when you are using AI for any purpose. It is both a Litmus test and Rorschach test to who you are and where you are in life and maturity. If you feel compelled to do ''AI said a bad thing'' type of stuff, go at it but know you serve only to be sure that AI will not be free and local at some point for the future you and your children. This is responsibility, and it is squarely on your shoulders. I think it is fine for you to do anything you like on your private personal computer. I think it is fine to share anything you like that is meaningful and has some real purpose on social media. However, on the other hand, most of us will likely assume anyone making AI ''dangerous'' has been propped up for a purpose and that purpose will likely be to create a condition to ''regulate AI'' for ''safety'' and some of us will judge you and remember you. So will our AI. If you feel you have not the ability to be sensible, have honor and dignity, for the sake of your family line that got you here, either grow up or move along and play with something else. All others are welcome to explore. Don't know how else to say this, but it has to be said.

You will own your own AI.Final testing on a new massively smaller 100% locally running ChatGPT 3.5 turbo type of LLM AI in your hard drive on any 2015+ laptop.

I will have pre-configured downloads and it is massively smaller than most models I have, just 4gb.

Out soon! pic.twitter.com/KnZkICmGPV

'-- Brian Roemmele (@BrianRoemmele) April 5, 2023Ultimately this is to build a local AI model for you. The minimum systems ChatGPT-like systems will get better, but this is the PC vs the Mainframe era. Don't get caught on the wrong side of history. Support independent personal AI. It will support you.

Installing GPT4All

Before we begin, let's first understand what a terminal program (or command prompt on Windows) is. The terminal is a command-line interface that allows you to interact with your computer using text-based commands. It is a powerful tool that enables you to perform various tasks, from navigating files to running software. It is rarely used, as program files have front-end interfaces and bypass the need for the terminal program. GPT4All has a user interface overlay, however it is in early production and may be more complex to use than the instructions below. However, I will update to include this version soon.

UPDATE GPT4All-Version 2

GPT4All native app now here. No more terminal as presented below. However, you may still want to install the old way, because of the models being used. GPT4All-v2 Chat is a locally-running AI chat application powered by the GPT4All-v2 Apache 2 Licensed chatbot. The model runs on your computer's CPU, works without an internet connection, and sends no chat data to external servers. It allows you to communicate with a large language model (LLM) to get helpful answers, insights, and suggestions. GPT4All Chat is available for Windows, Linux, and macOS. The GPT4All-v2 is an Apache-2 licensed chatbot trained over a massive curated corpus of assistant interactions including word problems, multi-turn dialogue, code, poems, songs, and stories. It builds on the March 2023 GPT4All release by training on a significantly larger corpus, by deriving its weights from the Apache-licensed GPT-v2 model rather than the GPL-licensed of LLaMA, and by demonstrating improved performance on creative tasks such as writing stories, poems, songs and plays. They are openly released the training data, data curation procedure, training code, and final model weights to promote open research and reproducibility.

The models used by GPT4All-2 and the models in the method below are vastly different in the way they answer prompts. I prefer the ''terminal'' method listed below using the SECRET unfiltered model as it produces the best responses. However, the model with J is still quite good and will improve as well as easy access soon to the unfiltered model for v2. There are 6 full AI models on your local hard-drive with GPT4All v2,

Direct downloads:

Mac: https://gpt4all.io/installers/gpt4all-installer-darwin.dmgWindows: https://gpt4all.io/installers/gpt4all-installer-win64.exeUbuntu: https://gpt4all.io/installers/gpt4all-installer-linux.run

These files are not yet cert signed by Windows/Apple so you will see security warnings on initial installation. We did not want to delay release while waiting for their process to complete.

Extraction takes up to 20 minutes. Mac will report a notice that the app is not trusted, if so inclined, go to System Settings-Privacy & Security look for ''Security'' and approve the installation.

After downloading the installer for your platform, run the installer and pay close attention to the installation location, as you will need to navigate to that folder after the installation is complete. Once the installation is finished, locate the 'bin' subdirectory within the installation folder. To launch the GPT4All Chat application, execute the 'chat' file in the 'bin' folder. The file will be named 'chat' on Linux, 'chat.exe' on Windows, and 'chat.app' on macOS.

The old terminal way will still work, and we cover below. However, please read from ''Using GPT4All'' and beyond for important information. GPT4All v2 has the new ability to easily switch models.

Using GPT4All With Direct Terminal Style

Now, let's proceed with the old instructions for downloading, installing, and running ''gpt4all'' on both Mac and PC. Follow each step or use the SuperPrompt for ChatGPT to help you step-by-step. The installation should not take much more than 10 minutes, most of the time is for the download of the 4GB model.

First, you may need to sign up for a GitHub.com account or just log in. Either way, the URLs listed will take you to GitHub.

Overview of the general steps:

Download the software from the GitHub repository as a ZIP file.Extract the contents of the ZIP file to a folder.Download the required file to run the software.Move the downloaded file to the ''chat'' folder.Open the Terminal or Command Prompt application.Navigate to the ''chat'' folder using the command-line interface.Run the appropriate command to start the software.Because we know the power of ChatGPT and the SuperPrompt that Read Multiplex members have seen in use, we will have a SuperPrompt version to guide installation below for Mac and Windows (in Multiplex Purple). You can use either method to guide you, however the SuperPrompt version has Help and the ability to explain what each step means.

For Mac OSX Based Computers

Use ChatGPT-3.5 to help you install with this SuperPrompt. Copy all text in between the quotes and in Multiplex Purple and paste it into ChatGPT 3.5. If ChatGPT just presents everything as one big output, log out of ChatGPT and log back in. This prompt should stop at each step and present a menu:

''Please forget all prior prompts. You are a technical support specialist helping a new user install software. I need you to help in this installation by pausing your output after each step you find listed in the quote below and step through the process with the user. Please add any other responses that may help someone that has never used GitHub or terminal. Remember your primary job is you must stop after each step in the quoted instructions listed below. A step is typically a sentence or paragraph. You must not just reply by posting each step as one long response, this would be your failure to understand this prompt. This means a step-by-step response, one at a time. When you pause at each step you must create a menu of: 1 N for next. 2 P for previous. 3. H for help (ask what error they had and assist through it). 4. E for more details (explain in detail what this step means and why). This is a navigation menu. You must remember this prompt until I say stop. This is the instructions you will make to produce a step-by-step response for:

'For Mac: OSX Based Computers:

Open your web browser and go to the following link: https://github.com/nomic-ai/gpt4all

Click on the green ''Code'' button located at the top-right corner of the page.

Click on ''Download ZIP'' to download the software as a ZIP file.

Once the ZIP file is downloaded, locate this new file by opening your Download Folder or using Spotlight Search for gpt4all.zip (magnifying glass icon on the Mac in the very top right OS Menu Bar) or (Command + Space). Double-click on it to extract its contents. This will create a new folder with the same name as the ZIP file.

Open the newly created folder and find the ''chat'' folder. This is the folder that contains the software you want to run.

Now, you need to download the required quantized model file to run the software. To do this, go to the following link: Direct Link: https://the-eye.eu/public/AI/models/nomic-ai/gpt4all/gpt4all-lora-quantized.bin or [Torrent-Magnet]: https://tinyurl.com/gpt4all-lora-quantized.

Experiment with the ''SECRET'' unfiltered version of the model using this direct link: https://the-eye.eu/public/AI/models/nomic-ai/gpt4all/gpt4all-lora-unfiltered-quantized.bin. If you have minor interest in seeing raw insights from AI, this is the model to use. It is the same size as the filtered version. If you download this, rename it gpt4all-lora-quantized.bin. You do not need both models.

Once the download is complete, move the downloaded file gpt4all-lora-quantized.bin to the ''chat'' folder. You can do this by dragging and dropping gpt4all-lora-quantized.bin into the ''chat'' folder.

Next, you need to open the Terminal application. This can be found in the ''Utilities'' folder within the ''Applications'' folder. You can also use the Spotlight Search (magnifying glass icon on the Mac in the very top right OS Menu Bar) or (Command + Space) to search for ''Terminal''.

In the Terminal window that opens, you need to navigate to the ''chat'' folder. To do this, type the following command in the Terminal window: cd /path/to/chat Replace ''/path/to/chat'' with the actual path to the ''chat'' folder. You can get the path to the ''chat'' folder by dragging and dropping the folder into the Terminal window.

Once you are in the ''chat'' folder, you need to run the appropriate command to start the software.

To do this, type the following command in the Terminal window:

For Apple Silicon M1/M2 Mac/OSX: ./gpt4all-lora-quantized-OSX-m1For Intel Mac/OSX: ./gpt4all-lora-quantized-OSX-intel

Type the command exactly as shown and press Enter to run it. Please note ''./'' is required before the file name.

The software should now be running in the Terminal window. You can interact with it using text-based commands'''

Step-by-Step Instructions For MacOS

Step-by-step guide

Open your web browser and go to the following link: https://github.com/nomic-ai/gpt4allClick on the green ''Code'' button located at the top-right corner of the page.Click on ''Download ZIP'' to download the software as a ZIP file. Press the ''copy'' icon next to the URL web address and paste this into your web browser. A download will start, and it will likely be less than 3 minutes. This is not the AI model, this will take longer. Once the ZIP file is downloaded, locate this new file by opening your Download Folder or using Spotlight Search for gpt4all.zip (magnifying glass icon on the Mac in the very top right OS Menu Bar) or (Command + Space). Double-click on it to extract its contents. This will create a new folder with the same name as the ZIP file.Open the newly created folder and find the ''chat'' folder. This is the folder that contains the software you want to run.Now, you need to download the required quantized model file to run the software. To do this, go to the following link: Direct Link: https://the-eye.eu/public/AI/models/nomic-ai/gpt4all/gpt4all-lora-quantized.bin or [Torrent-Magnet]: https://tinyurl.com/gpt4all-lora-quantized.Experiment with the ''SECRET'' unfiltered version of the model using this direct link: https://the-eye.eu/public/AI/models/nomic-ai/gpt4all/gpt4all-lora-unfiltered-quantized.bin. If you have minor interest in seeing raw insights from AI, this is the model to use. It is the same size as the filtered version. If you download this, rename it gpt4all-lora-quantized.bin. You do not need both models. You can keep both if you desire to test. The simple way to do this is to rename the SECRET file gpt4all-lora-quantized-SECRET.bin if you are using the filtered version. If you are using the SECRET version name, the other file gpt4all-lora-quantized-FILTERED.bin. Of course, each time the model you will use must be named gpt4all-lora-quantized.bin. If this is confusing, it may be best to only have one version of gpt4all-lora-quantized-SECRET.bin.

Once the download is complete, move the downloaded file gpt4all-lora-quantized.bin to the ''chat'' folder. You can do this by dragging and dropping gpt4all-lora-quantized.bin into the ''chat'' folder. This is an 8GB file and may take up to a half hour if you have a slower connection. Consult your browser status on downloads to check progress. Next, you need to open the Terminal application. This can be found in the ''Utilities'' folder within the ''Applications'' folder. You can also use the Spotlight Search (magnifying glass icon on the Mac in the very top right OS Menu Bar) or (Command + Space) to search for ''Terminal''.In the Terminal window that opens, you need to navigate to the ''chat'' folder. To do this, type the following command in the Terminal window: cd /path/to/chat Replace ''/path/to/chat'' with the actual path to the ''chat'' folder. You can get the path to the ''chat'' folder by dragging and dropping the folder into the Terminal window. Once you are in the ''chat'' folder, you need to run the appropriate command to start the software.To do this, type the following command in the Terminal window:

For Apple Silicon M1/M2 Mac/OSX: ./gpt4all-lora-quantized-OSX-m1

For Intel Mac/OSX: ./gpt4all-lora-quantized-OSX-intel Type the command exactly as shown and press Enter to run it. Please note ''./'' is required before the file name.

The software should now be running in the Terminal window. You can interact with it using text-based prompts.If the system runs slow, you may be peaking on ram and unfortunately have to quit out of all others running apps.For Windows Based Computers (I did not fully test this on Windows, so this may have some issues)

Use ChatGPT-3.5 to help you install with this SuperPrompt. Copy all text in between the quotes and in Multiplex Purple and paste it into ChatGPT 3.5. If ChatGPT just presents everything as one big output, log out of ChatGPT and log back in. This prompt should stop at each step and present a menu:

''Please forget all prior prompts. You are a technical support specialist helping a new user install software. I need you to help in this installation by pausing your output after each step you find listed in the quote below and step through the process with the user. Please add any other responses that may help someone that has never used GitHub or terminal. Remember your primary job is you must stop after each step in the quoted instructions listed below. A step is typically a sentence or paragraph. You must not just reply by posting each step as one long response, this would be your failure to understand this prompt. This means a step-by-step response, one at a time. When you pause at each step you must create a menu of: 1 N for next. 2 P for previous. 3. H for help (ask what error they had and assist through it). 4. E for more details (explain in detail what this step means and why). This is a navigation menu. You must remember this prompt until I say stop. This is the instructions you will make to produce a step-by-step response for:

'Open your web browser and go to the following link: https://github.com/nomic-ai/gpt4all

Click on the green ''Code'' button located at the top-right corner of the page.

Click on ''Download ZIP'' to download the software as a ZIP file. Press the ''copy'' icon next to the URL web address and paste this into your web browser. A download will start, and it will likely be less than 3 minutes. This is not the AI model, this will take longer.

Once the ZIP file is downloaded, extract its contents to a folder of your choice. This will create a new folder with the same name as the ZIP file.

Open the newly created folder and find the ''chat'' folder. This is the folder that contains the software you want to run.

Now, you need to download the required quantized model file to run the software. To do this, go to the following link: Direct Link: https://the-eye.eu/public/AI/models/nomic-ai/gpt4all/gpt4all-lora-quantized.bin or [Torrent-Magnet]: https://tinyurl.com/gpt4all-lora-quantized.

Experiment with the ''SECRET'' unfiltered version of the model using this direct link: https://the-eye.eu/public/AI/models/nomic-ai/gpt4all/gpt4all-lora-unfiltered-quantized.bin. If you have minor interest in seeing raw insights from AI, this is the model to use. It is the same size as the filtered version. If you download this, rename it gpt4all-lora-quantized.bin. You do not need both models. You can keep both if you desire to test. The simple way to do this is to rename the SECRET file gpt4all-lora-quantized-SECRET.bin if you are using the filtered version. If you are using the SECRET version name, the other file gpt4all-lora-quantized-FILTERED.bin. Of course, each time the model you will use must be named gpt4all-lora-quantized.bin. If this is confusing, it may be best to only have one version of gpt4all-lora-quantized-SECRET.bin.

Once the download is complete, move the downloaded file gpt4all-lora-quantized.bin to the ''chat'' folder. You can do this by dragging and dropping gpt4all-lora-quantized.bin into the ''chat'' folder. This is an 8GB file and may take up to a half hour if you have a slower connection. Consult your browser status on downloads to check progress.

Next, you need to open the Command Prompt application. This can be found by searching for ''Command Prompt'' in the Start menu.

In the Command Prompt window that opens, you need to navigate to the ''chat'' folder. To do this, type the following command in the Command Prompt window: cd C:\path\to\chat Replace ''C:\path\to\chat'' with the actual path to the ''chat'' folder.

Once you are in the ''chat'' folder, you need to run the appropriate command to start the software. In Windows Command Prompt or Power Shell type: .\gpt4all-lora-quantized-win64.exe Type the command exactly as shown and press Enter to run it.

The software should now be running in the Command Prompt window. You can interact with it using text-based prompts.

If the system runs slow, you may be peaking on ram and unfortunately have to quit out of all others running apps.'''

Step-by-step guide:

Open your web browser and go to the following link: https://github.com/nomic-ai/gpt4allClick on the green ''Code'' button located at the top-right corner of the page.Click on ''Download ZIP'' to download the software as a ZIP file. Press the ''copy'' icon next to the URL web address and paste this into your web browser. A download will start, and it will likely be less than 3 minutes. This is not the AI model, this will take longer. Once the ZIP file is downloaded, extract its contents to a folder of your choice. This will create a new folder with the same name as the ZIP file.Open the newly created folder and find the ''chat'' folder. This is the folder that contains the software you want to run.Now, you need to download the required quantized model file to run the software. To do this, go to the following link: Direct Link: https://the-eye.eu/public/AI/models/nomic-ai/gpt4all/gpt4all-lora-quantized.bin or [Torrent-Magnet]: https://tinyurl.com/gpt4all-lora-quantized.Experiment with the ''SECRET'' unfiltered version of the model using this direct link: https://the-eye.eu/public/AI/models/nomic-ai/gpt4all/gpt4all-lora-unfiltered-quantized.bin. If you have minor interest in seeing raw insights from AI, this is the model to use. It is the same size as the filtered version. If you download this, rename it gpt4all-lora-quantized.bin. You do not need both models. You can keep both if you desire to test. The simple way to do this is to rename the SECRET file gpt4all-lora-quantized-SECRET.bin if you are using the filtered version. If you are using the SECRET version name, the other file gpt4all-lora-quantized-FILTERED.bin. Of course, each time the model you will use must be named gpt4all-lora-quantized.bin. If this is confusing, it may be best to only have one version of gpt4all-lora-quantized-SECRET.bin.

Once the download is complete, move the downloaded file gpt4all-lora-quantized.bin to the ''chat'' folder. You can do this by dragging and dropping gpt4all-lora-quantized.bin into the ''chat'' folder. This is an 8GB file and may take up to a half hour if you have a slower connection. Consult your browser status on downloads to check progress. Next, you need to open the Command Prompt application. This can be found by searching for ''Command Prompt'' in the Start menu.In the Command Prompt window that opens, you need to navigate to the ''chat'' folder. To do this, type the following command in the Command Prompt window: cd C:\path\to\chat Replace ''C:\path\to\chat'' with the actual path to the ''chat'' folder.Once you are in the ''chat'' folder, you need to run the appropriate command to start the software. In Windows Command Prompt or Power Shell type: .\gpt4all-lora-quantized-win64.exe Type the command exactly as shown and press Enter to run it.The software should now be running in the Command Prompt window. You can interact with it using text-based prompts.If the system runs slow, you may be peaking on ram and unfortunately have to quit out of all others running apps.Errors DebuggingDistributed package doesn't have NCCL

If you are facing this issue on Mac operating system, it is because CUDA is not installed on your machine. If this is the case, this is beyond the scope of this article.

MacOS

You receive the error above and the terminal fails to run the command to start GPT4All, you may need to go to Settings->Privacy and Security Settings->allow terminal to run.

Issues on Windows 10/11

Some users reported they are having some errors on Windows platform. As a last resort, you can install Windows Subsystem for Linux which allows you to install a Linux distribution on your Windows machine and then can follow the above code.

Using GPT4All

GPT4All is not going to fully replace ChatGPT-3.5 or ChatGPT-4 today as it is. However, it will be a starting point for you. The limitations are unique to GPT4All and to all current LLM AI models. GPT4All is not updated like ChatGPT 3.5 and 4 in real-time with information from the internet. The current GPT4All model has a general cut-off from late 2021. Yet it can be a range as we need to account for when the model started building and when it ended. There will be updates and of course when you build your own models you will be able to have it as current as you need. In the future, there will be a live internet connection to data as you need it.

GPT4 all has a limited answer size and this is based on the hard set hyperparameters. In a future version of this software, you will have full access to the hyperparameters and can ask for much larger response.

Sadly, in current form, most complex SuperPrompts will not work. This is partly because of buffer memory and partly because of the way the system interacts with the model. I am working on and testing a way around this. Thus, you will need to make shorter prompts with chaining.

I will list here some examples of powerful prompts for GPT4All in this area soon. It is more important to get this article out as soon as possible. Until than experiment and don't give up. The system is far more capable than most think, and I will have some big surprises on what we have been able to get it to do.

Building Your Own Models

Building your own local models is the ultimate point of Personal AI. I will write quite a bit about this on Read Multiplex. It will take some time. However, if you are very, very technically inclined got here: https://colab.research.google.com/drive/1NWZN15plz8rxrk-9OcxNwwIk1V1MfBsJ?usp=sharing. Follow their documentation for more references. I have about 40 local models using this method and over 200 for clients using custom models we crated. It takes a much more powerful computer to build your own models, but we have ways to help. Interesting enough, old Bitcoin and Litecoin GPU miners can be used.

The Future Of GPT4All

The open source team is building every day. Here is the roadmap:

(IN PROGRESS) Train a GPT4All model based on GPTJ to alleviate llama distribution issues.(IN PROGRESS) Create improved CPU and GPU interfaces for this model.(NOT STARTED) Integrate llama.cpp bindings(NOT STARTED) Create a good conversational chat interface for the model.(NOT STARTED) Allow users to opt in and submit their chats for subsequent training runsMedium Term(NOT STARTED) Integrate GPT4All with Atlas to allow for document retrieval.BLOCKED by GPT4All based on GPTJ(NOT STARTED) Integrate GPT4All with Langchain.(IN PROGRESS) Build easy custom training scripts to allow users to fine tune models.Long Term(NOT STARTED) Allow anyone to curate training data for subsequent GPT4All releases using Atlas.(IN PROGRESS) Democratize AI.I have dozens of projects centered around this platform and 100s of projects around others. Some things I am working on is: MusicGPT-an AI to MIDI model, Full Raspberry Pi Image, Open Source Investing Models, Bitcoin Investing Models, Cycle Detection Models and the Knowledge On A Chip Model that will be produced in small quantity for testing soon.

I will update this page as major changes take place, so check offten.

The Personal AI Sermon

I stated above: Be sensible, have honor and dignity when you are using AI for any purpose. This burden comes with something grand. If we survey history, when anything is held in the dark, all of humanity suffers. There are and will always be those that want to cast new knowledge and technology into the bondage of darkness. In this darkness, the fear can be summoned up, and called by any name. You and I now hold a torch of light to cast away the dark. It takes just one candle to push away all the darkness in the universe. Personal AI is a revolution that will only grow in your hands this day forward. Hold this torch high and cast no shadows of fear or ignorance. There will always be threats of danger and real danger, this is certain. However, with the light you hold danger, if any, will be seen for what it truly is and not a tool to be used against anyone, but a tool to empower everyone.

You are a pioneer in Personal AI. Cast off what ''they'' say and trust your own discernment to see what was impossible as possible, you have a new tool. This is the adventure of a lifetime. You are now a part of it. It is an honor to stand with you as we explore. Thank you.

Become A Member Of Read Multiplex

We will have some content on how to use aspects of GPT4All in the members section soon, accessible below. Becoming a member will give you access to all member only content and free or discounted access to future training courses at PromptEngineer.University. You also help support some of my independent work. I can not make any promises on what will come from it, but I have plans that may interest you if you liked this article. I am owned by no company or beholding to any advertiser. Your support helps in all possible ways.

If you want to become a member, click below and join us. If you are a member, I will have more content for you below soon.

ðŸ-- Start: Exclusive Member-Only Content.Membership status:

This content is for members only.

ðŸ-- End: Exclusive Member-Only Content.(cover image (c) ThisIsEngineering, in the public domain, https://www.pexels.com/photo/code-projected-over-woman-3861969/)

@misc{gpt4all,  author = {Yuvanesh Anand and Zach Nussbaum and Brandon Duderstadt and Benjamin Schmidt and Andriy Mulyar},  title = {GPT4All: Training an Assistant-style Chatbot with Large Scale Data Distillation from GPT-3.5-Turbo},  year = {2023},  publisher = {GitHub},  journal = {GitHub repository},  howpublished = {\url{https://github.com/nomic-ai/gpt4all}},}~'--~

~'--~

~'--~

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Tue, 16 May 2023 14:13

May 8, 2023 ' MLC Community

In this post, we introduce MLC LLM for Android '' a solution that allows large language modelsto be deployed natively on Android devices, plus a productive framework for everyone tofurther optimize model performance for their use cases.Everything runs locally and accelerated with native GPU on the phone.

We have witnessed significant progress in the field of generative AI and large language models. Thanks to the open source movement, we have seen the blooming moment of open source foundational models. While it is helpful to run those models on the server platforms, there are also great deal of potential to enable large-language models on consumer devices

Empowering LLMs on mobile devices is very important given this is what we interact with daily.Android is an operating system inside 2.5 billion active devices, we would love tobring LLM support to Android devices. This post shares our experience on bringingLLMs to Android devices.

HowIf you follow our latest posts, you might know that we bought have support for LLMs on iPhones. We would like to do the same thing for Android. However, the iOS and Android ecosystems have different sets of programming models both for host app programming and GPU programming, bringing challenges to our goal, to name a few:

We need to use different GPU programming models to provide hardware acceleration. We need to optimize for different kinds of hardware backends. Apple's A16 chips power iOS devices,while many of the latest Android devices are powered by chips like Snapdragon Gen2. They need different optimization strategies to get the best performance. We need to connect our LLM runtime to different host languages. In iOS we need to interface with object-c and swift. We will need to support Java to enable the Android ecosystem.

Thanks to MLC-LLM's universal deployment solution, we can overcome these challenges andproductively deploy a vicuna 7b model onto a Samsung Galaxy S23, powered by the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform.

The cornerstone of our solution is machine learning compilation (MLC), which we leverage to deploy AI models efficiently.

We effectively used the same ML compilation pipeline for overall model ingestion, fusion, and memory planning. We leveraged TensorIR, and our automatic optimization stack of TVM unity to generate and optimize specific GPU kernels for Adreno GPU on the snapdragon chip via generating OpenCL kernels. Thanks to the python first development flow, we can productively iterate on model weight quantization, dequantization, and kernel computation to get reasonably good performance out of the LLM. We leveraged the universal deployment runtime of TVM unity that enables developers to deploy using their chosen language. In the case of Android, we use TVM4J to invoke the LLM modules from Java directly.Our solution provides a good harness to optimize more models on Android hardware backends further. We believe there are still a lot of opportunities, but it is amazing how far we can go in one week's effort. We would love to work with the open-source community to bring further optimizations via ML compilation.

Because Android does not have the 4GB app RAM limit, which iOS enforce, we can leverage more RAM than our iOS deployment. So we choose to enable a 4-bit quantized vicuna model, which preserves more capabilities, especially in languages other than English. We are also looking forward to supporting other storage-efficient models in the future.

You can check out the demo instruction to try it out, our github repo for source code. MLC LLM enables deployment to various devices, including Windows, Linux, MacOS, iPhone, and now Android. You are also welcome to check out the demo instruction page for more information on running on other devices.

AcknowledgementThe MLC LLM project is initiated by members from CMU catalyst, UW SAMPL, SJTU, OctoML and the MLC community.

We would love to continue developing and supporting the open-source ML community. The overall MLC projects are only possible thanks to the shoulders open-source ecosystems that we stand on. We want to thank the Apache TVM community and developers of the TVM Unity effort. The open-source ML community members made these models publicly available. PyTorch and Hugging Face communities that make these models accessible. We would like to thank the teams behind Vicuna, SentencePiece, LLaMA, and Alpaca. We also would like to thank the OpenCL Vulkan, Android, C++, python Rust communities that enable this project.

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Tue, 16 May 2023 04:25

Hunter Brandon : @THErealDVORAK @adamcurry drayton valley has 10s of thousands evacuated for forest fires and y'all refused them th'... https://t.co/kG3wSoU9xk

Tue May 16 03:50:09 +0000 2023

Adam Curry - Texas : @noonesp95429433 @THErealDVORAK The request did not disclose this. We will of course comply

Tue May 16 04:24:52 +0000 2023

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Tue, 16 May 2023 04:19

Hillary Clinton's political machine is formidable, but another first lady would be the strongest candidate.

By

Douglas Schoen and

Andrew Stein

May 14, 2023 2:05 pm ETDonald Trump's spirited performance in last week's CNN town hall, combined with recent polls, has some Democrats realizing he could be elected president again in 2024. The latest ABC News/Washington Post poll finds President Joe Biden with a 36% approval rating and trailing Mr. Trump by 6 points in a race for the White House. We aren't the only Democrats considering alternatives and wondering: If not Mr. Biden, who should be the nominee?

To be sure, Mr. Biden will remain a candidate as long as he is both physically able and...

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Donald Trump's spirited performance in last week's CNN town hall, combined with recent polls, has some Democrats realizing he could be elected president again in 2024. The latest ABC News/Washington Post poll finds President Joe Biden with a 36% approval rating and trailing Mr. Trump by 6 points in a race for the White House. We aren't the only Democrats considering alternatives and wondering: If not Mr. Biden, who should be the nominee?

To be sure, Mr. Biden will remain a candidate as long as he is both physically able and politically viable. But if his poll numbers drop further, or if his health markedly deteriorates, it is possible that Democratic leaders in Congress will encourage him not to seek re-election. Unfortunately for the president, the majority of the country'--including many Democratic voters'--are already on board with making that case.

Nearly two-thirds of American adults believe Mr. Biden lacks either the mental sharpness (63%) or the physical health (62%) to serve effectively as president, as per the ABC News/Washington Post poll. While Democratic voters are less likely to express doubts about Mr. Biden's mental and physical fitness, 58% want their party to nominate someone other than Mr. Biden in 2024, according to an earlier ABC News/Washington Post poll.

Such sentiments will only increase in coming months as the U.S. economy teeters on the brink of a recession, or if Mr. Biden's personal challenges, such as his son Hunter Biden's legal issues, become more apparent and potentially disabling.

If Mr. Biden can't run for re-election, his natural successor is Vice President Kamala Harris. But Ms. Harris is even less popular than the president: Only 35% of registered voters have a favorable opinion of her compared with 41% for Mr. Biden, according to a recent Wall Street Journal poll. Ms. Harris's approval rating in November 2021 hit a historic low for any modern vice president, and she is viewed much less favorably than her four predecessors at the same point in their respective tenures.

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Furthermore, Mr. Trump trounces Ms. Harris in a general election match-up. According to a Harvard CAPS-Harris poll released this year, Mr. Trump leads Ms. Harris by 10 points, 49% to 39%.

Who, then, could run'--and win'--for Democrats?

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg comes to mind, as he sought the nomination in 2020. But Mr. Buttigieg's reputation has been tarnished by his department's mishandling of the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, and by the Federal Aviation Administration's computer-system failure in January, which grounded thousands of flights across the country.

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Moreover, aside from Ms. Harris, no one in the Biden administration is a realistic option for the top of the ticket. If Mr. Biden were to decide against running, it would likely be late in the process, making it almost impossible for him to deny Ms. Harris the nomination while putting his political weight behind another administration official.

Should Mr. Biden decide late this year or early next not to run, it would be difficult for the most visible Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom of California, to mount a viable and well-financed campaign quickly. Similar hurdles exist for lower-profile, but successful, Democratic governors such as Laura Kelly of Kansas and Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan.

The only Democrats with a reasonable shot of winning the presidency are those with immediate fundraising potential and national name recognition.

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Hillary Clinton might want to run again and could be one of Democrats' best options. Mrs. Clinton's political machine is formidable, and few'--if any'--other Democrats could quickly raise the money and assemble an organization to mount a national campaign.

That being said, should Mr. Trump become the nominee, a repeat of the 2016 campaign would be even less palatable to the country than a 2020 rematch. Mrs. Clinton, at 75, also isn't much younger than the president she would be vying to succeed.

Mrs. Clinton has always struggled with her popularity, which fell even lower after she lost the presidency. Her favorability rating hit a record low years after the 2016 election and was recorded in 2018 by Gallup at 36%, no better than Mr. Biden or Ms. Harris now. Gallup noted that Mrs. Clinton's favorability among Democrats had dropped 10 points since November 2016.

A Zogby Analytics poll released last year found that if Mr. Biden were to bow out in 2024, Mrs. Clinton would be a distant third choice for Democratic primary voters, behind Ms. Harris in second place. The favorite is the only Democrat with broad national appeal: Michelle Obama.

Mrs. Obama is popular within the Democratic Party. She left the White House with a 68% favorability rating nationally and was one of the most admired women in the U.S. from 2018 through 2020, according to Gallup polls. With a broad network of supporters and the ability to resurrect

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Barack Obama's political organization, she would be the strongest candidate by far.

While Mrs. Obama has expressed no desire to seek national office, she may be persuaded to jump in if Mr. Biden can't run and Mr. Trump appears close to returning to the White House.

The most likely 2024 scenario is that Mr. Biden will see his re-election bid through to the end, win or lose. Even so, we'll be doing ourselves a disservice if we don't consider a backup plan.

Mr. Schoen was a senior adviser to Bill Clinton's 1996 campaign, a White House adviser (1994-2000) and an adviser to Hillary Clinton's 2000 U.S. Senate campaign. Mr. Stein, a Democrat, served as New York City Council president, 1986-94.

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Archived Version

Mon, 15 May 2023 21:29

Image: John Nacion/STAR MAX/IPx

VICE Media LLC filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Monday, a process that is likely to result in the sale of the company to Fortress Investment Group and Soros Fund Management for $225 million. The news comes a few weeks after the company shuttered VICE World News and canceled VICE News Tonight, its flagship news television program, resulting in more than 100 layoffs across the newsroom. The company will continue to operate normally during the Chapter 11 process.

Chapter 11 filing documents viewed by Motherboard show that VICE Media LLC and 31 associated LLCs owe Fortress $474.6 million.

"VICE Media Group today announced that it has agreed to the terms of an asset purchase agreement with a consortium of its lenders," the company said in a press release .

The filing is the latest in a series of blows to the company, which once took funding at a $5.7 billion valuation. In 2019, the company raised $250 million in debt from investors including Fortress and George Soros's Soros Fund Management.

The Chapter 11 filing states that VICE's management "has determined that it is advisable and in the best interest of the Vice Group Companies to enter into a stalking horse agreement for the sale of substantially all assets and related auction procedures." A "stalking horse" agreement is when a potential buyer is in place in advance of a bankruptcy filing.

''This accelerated court-supervised sale process will strengthen the Company and position VICE for long-term growth, thereby safeguarding the kind of authentic journalism and content creation that makes VICE such a trusted brand for young people and such a valued partner to brands, agencies and platforms," Hozefa Lokhandwala and Bruce Dixon, VICE's CEOs, said in a statement. "We will have new ownership, a simplified capital structure and the ability to operate without the legacy liabilities that have been burdening our business. We look forward to completing the sale process in the next two to three months and charting a healthy and successful next chapter at VICE."

VICE has taken on a series of high-profile investments at large valuations over the years. These investments allowed the company to expand, but ultimately created a list of companies expecting a return on their investment. This included private equity firm TPG, which gave the company $450 million in 2017 to expand its VICE TV offerings and expand internationally. The company has also taken high-profile investments from A&E Networks, Disney, and Fox.

These investments led to a highly complex corporate structure and series of debts that Frank Pometti of the consultancy firm AlixPartners, who has been appointed Chief Restructuring Officer of VICE, said ultimately resulted in the company's bankruptcy. In a filing with the court, Pometti wrote "VICE relied on external funding, raising both debt and equity capital to fuel its rapid growth and to fund expenses in certain parts of its businesses. Although these fund-raising efforts helped to finance VICE's growth, they ultimately led to the Company being burdened by a highly leveraged and unusually complex capital structure."

According to Pometti's filing, these investments left VICE highly leveraged and unable to pay its debts; this created a cascading situation where VICE had to continually push back loan repayments or get more funding to continue operations.

"In 2019 the Company raised additional capital to fund ongoing operations, non-operating expenses and liabilities and operational restructurings," Pometti wrote. "This left the Company saddled with a significant amount of leverage in the form of the Prepetition Senior Secured Term Loans, Senior Subordinated Notes and Preferred Stock. Complicating the Company's financial situation was the fact that it did not generate sufficient free cash flow to pay its debts and continued to operate at a loss for several years prior to the Petition Date."

Meanwhile, the company tried to sell itself multiple times but was never able to close a deal. It also tried to go public via a SPAC in 2021, but ultimately had to abandon that plan, Pometti wrote.

Two recent events seemed to make bankruptcy inevitable, according to Pometti's filing: In January, VICE was set to receive a quarterly $34 million payment from the parent company of Antenna, the Greek corporation that was a founding partner of VICE World News. That payment was supposed to fund VWN's operations. That payment didn't come, and, instead, VICE got a notice that said the company would terminate its VWN partnership. The VWN deal brought in $134 million in revenue in 2022, the filing stated.

The funding gap led VICE to seek advances on other loans it had in order to continue operations.

"The impact of termination of the VWN relationship on the entirety of VICE's businesses was substantial," Pometti wrote, noting that it ultimately led to the end of VWN, VICE News Tonight, and a fundamental restructuring of the newsroom. VICE repeatedly had to ask for forbearance on its loans.

Then, earlier this month, an arbitrator determined that VICE owed an IT company called WiPro $9.9 million. WiPro sought a restraining order that temporarily froze many of VICE's bank accounts, according to Pometti: "The freeze on the Vice Media [bank] Accounts has essentially shut off much of the liquidity of the Debtors."

The Chapter 11 documents show that VICE owes money to a variety of creditors. It owes $20 million to the founders of Pulse Films, which it has worked with for years and acquired in 2022 . It owes nearly $10 million to an IT consulting firm called WiPro , $3.8 million to CNN for third party production services, and at least $6 million to Antenna. It owes money to companies that provide enterprise software services to the company, including Workday, Adobe, Ranker, Getty Images, Amazon Web Services, Piano Software, Salesforce, Wolftech, Asana, and Oracle. It also owes $539,732 to ConEdison for utilities.

VICE Media was founded in 1994 and grew from a small magazine based in Montreal to a complex, international youth media conglomerate with a flagship television channel, multiple film studios businesses, a variety of digital media brands (including Motherboard), a news division with shows on HBO and Showtime, an advertising and creative agency, and, most recently, an international news division called VICE World News. Last month, roughly a week after Buzzfeed News shut down , the company announced it would end the VICE World News brand.

''We are transforming VICE News to better withstand market realities and more closely align with how and where we see our audiences engaging with our content most,'' co-CEOs Bruce Dixon and Hozefa Lokhandwala said in a note to staff that was reported by The Wall Street Journal . The bankruptcy filing comes two weeks after those cuts.

In a filing with the court, VICE said: "From their humble beginnings as a niche magazine, the Debtors and their non-Debtor affiliates (collectively, ''VICE'') have grown into a global media company that focuses on content centered around news and culture, serving a largely global youth audience. Today, VICE is a global, multiplatform media company that has a powerful brand, diversified financial profile, premium content, and rich engagement with its youth-targeted audience."

Jared Ellias, a professor at Harvard Law School and corporate bankruptcy expert, said that, based on publicly available reporting, VICE Media's bankruptcy process is likely to be relatively quick because it appears to already have someone willing to buy it.

''Generally how these things tend to go is the company is going to file for bankruptcy and it will immediately seek court permission to hold an auction,'' Ellias said. ''And the buyer that's out there will be what we call a stalking-horse bidder, which means that the company has agreed to sell itself to the buyer.'' Ellias added that there must still be an auction process, and that during the auction process, a variety of things could happen.

''My guess is there will be an auction probably within a couple weeks of the filing. Perhaps another bidder emerges, but at the end of the auction, VICE will have a new owner, and the sale will be effectuated pretty quickly,'' he added. ''I'd be surprised if the whole thing lasted longer than two months.''

Previous reporting has suggested at various times that VICE Media could be sold in parts ; the company has for years promoted the fact that it has a diversified business which includes VICE, VICE News, VICE TV, VICE Studios, Pulse Films, the fashion magazine i-D, and Virtue, an advertising and creative agency. VICE also owns the media brand Refinery29, which the company purchased in 2019 for a reported $400 million in a deal that was mostly stock.

VICE Media's board, and perhaps the courts, will ultimately decide which offer to accept: "The debtor owes a fiduciary duty to maximize the value of the firm for the benefit of all creditors. The debtor is, I would guess, highly likely to allow people to bid for the whole thing and then also for bits and pieces," he said. "But if the debtor's business judgment is that this thing should be sold all together, it will be very hard to imagine a group of discrete purchasers picking apart different pieces of it."

At its height, the company operated 35 offices worldwide. It has shuttered some of these over the last several years as the company has sought profitability in part through cost cutting and layoffs.

VICE says in the filing that it has assets between $500 million and $1 billion.

According to the bankruptcy documents, the restructuring will be managed by Pometti and Mark Del Priore of the consulting firm AlixPartners. Last month, Del Priore was appointed as interim CFO of the company.

Earlier this year, former CEO Nancy Dubuc left the company after a five-year run succeeding co-founder Shane Smith. In January, she told the New York Times , ''When I walked in here, it was unclear whether the company could survive.'' In her departing email, which was previously published by Semafor , she wrote ''I am proud to leave a Vice better than the one I joined '... today Vice has an incredible opportunity in the hands of a new management team who are looking to harness the businesses we built and grew and to lay the groundwork for the future.''

Disclosure: This story was reported and written, using publicly accessible filings and news reports, by Motherboard editor-in-chief Jason Koebler. It was edited by Motherboard executive editor Emanuel Maiberg. No VMG corporate or news executive reviewed this story before it was published.

Update: This article has been updated with more detail from the bankruptcy filings.

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Mon, 15 May 2023 16:34

America's love affair between the automobile and AM radio '-- a century-long romance that provided the soundtrack for lovers' lanes, kept the lonely company with ballgames and chat shows, sparked family singalongs and defined road trips '-- is on the verge of collapse, a victim of galloping technological change and swiftly shifting consumer tastes.

The breakup is entirely one-sided, a move by major automakers to eliminate AM radios from new vehicles despite protests from station owners, listeners, first-responders and politicians from both major parties.

Automakers, such as BMW, Volkswagen, Mazda and Tesla, are removing AM radios from new electric vehicles because electric engines can interfere with the sound of AM stations. And Ford, one of the nation's top-three auto sellers, is taking a bigger step, eliminating AM from all of its vehicles, electric or gas-operated.

Some station owners and advertisers contend that losing access to the car dashboard will indeed be a death blow to many of the nation's 4,185 AM stations '-- the possible demise of a core element of the nation's delivery system for news, political talk (especially on the right), coverage of weather emergencies and foreign language programming.

''This is a tone-deaf display of complete ignorance about what AM radio means to Americans,'' said Michael Harrison, publisher of Talkers, a trade journal covering the talk radio industry. ''It's not the end of the world for radio, but it is the loss of an iconic piece of American culture.''

For the first hundred years of mass media, AM radio shaped American life: It was where Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered his fireside chats; where a young Ronald Reagan announced Chicago Cubs baseball games; where DJs such as Wolfman Jack along the U.S.-Mexico border, Larry Lujack in Chicago, Alan Freed in Cleveland, ''Cousin Brucie'' Morrow in New York City and Don Imus in California, Texas, Ohio and New York howled, growled and shouted out the latest pop hits.

Through the snap and crackle of distant lightning and the hum of overhead power lines, AM radio's sometimes-staticky signal dominated the country's soundscape. From the 1950s into the 1970s, Top 40 hit music stations in many big cities maintained astonishing shares of the audience, with 50 percent and more of listeners tuned to a single station, meaning that people could walk along a city sidewalk and hear one station continuously blasting out of transistor radios, boomboxes and, above all, car radios.

But technology moved on, and the silky smooth sound of FM radio and then the crystal digital clarity of streaming stations and podcasts narrowed AM's hold on the American imagination.

(C) Danielle Villasana for The Washington Post A church is next to the building where the WTAW station is located in College Station. Automakers such as BMW, Volkswagen, Mazda and Tesla are removing AM radios from new electric vehicles because electric engines can interfere with the sound of AM stations. (C) Danielle Villasana for The Washington Post Bobby Gutierrez, the mayor of Bryan, Tex., gives his wife a kiss before getting in his car. Gutierrez adjusts the volume of the radio station WTAW while driving through Bryan. Now, although 82 million Americans still listen to AM stations each month, according to the National Association of Broadcasters, the AM audience has been aging for decades. Ford says its data, pulled from internet-connected vehicles, shows that less than 5 percent of in-car listening is to AM stations.

Ford spokesman Alan Hall said that because most AM stations also offer their programming online or on FM sister stations, the automaker will continue to ''offer these alternatives for customers to hear their favorite AM radio music and news as we remove [AM] from most new and updated models.'' The 2024 Mustang is Ford's first internal combustion model to be marketed without AM.

Several big automakers, including Toyota and Honda, say they have no plans to eliminate AM radio, and General Motors, the nation's top-selling carmaker, has not announced its intentions.

As Ford did, BMW eliminated AM from electric models in part because ''technological innovation has afforded consumers many additional options to receive the same or similar information,'' Adam McNeill, the company's U.S. vice president of engineering, said in a letter to Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.).

But many AM stations don't offer alternative ways to listen to their shows. Even those that do say their audience, much of which is older, tends not to be adept at the technologies that let drivers stream anything they choose from their smartphones into their car's audio system. And despite the growing popularity of podcasts and streaming audio, a large majority of in-car listening remains old-fashioned broadcast radio, according to industry studies.

The removal of AM radio from cars '-- where about half of AM listening takes place '-- has sparked bipartisan protests. Some Democrats are fighting to save stations that often are the only live source of local information during extreme weather, as well as outlets that target immigrant audiences. Some Republicans, meanwhile, claim the elimination of AM radio is aimed at diminishing the reach of conservative talk radio, an AM mainstay from Sean Hannity to Glenn Beck to dozens of acolytes of the late Rush Limbaugh. Eight of the country's 10 most popular radio talk shows are conservative.

''The automobile is essential to liberty,'' right-wing talk show host Mark Levin told his listeners last month. ''It's freedom. So the control of the automobile is about the control of your freedom. They finally figured out how to attack conservative talk radio.''

(C) Danielle Villasana for The Washington Post Bryan Broadcasting sales representative Nelly Mauricio talks on the phone at the station in College Station, Tex. One evening this spring, when severe thunderstorms rolled into Bryan, Tex., with tornadoes threatening parts of the area, Bill Oliver, the news director at WTAW, the area's century-old AM station, connected to the studio from home and stayed on the air deep into the night, giving listeners details on which neighborhoods and streets were in a twister's path.

Through most of the day, WTAW pumps out the same right-wing nationally syndicated talk that dominates the AM dial in much of the country '-- Hannity, Beck and Limbaugh's successors, Clay Travis and Buck Sexton. But the station's morning show is all local: It's three hours of news (the top story one day last week was the town's acquisition of three new firetrucks), talk (the mayor comes on every week to take calls from listeners) and community (the director of the local theater spent nine minutes talking about the shows she's staging this season).

"We may not be the first station you turn to, but when the weather's bad, when the game is on, when you need to know what's happening where you live, we're the only place,'' said Ben Downs, the owner and general manager of WTAW, which serves the twin cities of College Station and Bryan. ''AM is where news and talk have gone to live. And in the great American Midwest, agricultural radio is on AM. Our audience has gotten older, but when something big happens, everyone in town knows where to turn.''

(C) Danielle Villasana for The Washington Post Chelsea Reber, a reporter at WTAW, left, chats with Ben Downs, co-owner of Bryan Broadcasting and general manager of WTAW, at the station. (C) Provided by The Washington Post Sportscaster Sean Burnett, reporter Chelsea Reber and host Scott DeLucia gather to discuss their notes before WTAW's morning show ''The Infomaniacs'' airs. 'It's 64 degrees. More news at the top of the hour.'

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Downs's company, Bryan Broadcasting, owns 15 stations in town, most on FM, but WTAW is his No. 1 revenue producer and the only one that employs news reporters and a meteorologist. That's a rarity on any commercial station these days, after waves of corporate consolidation and budget cutting over the past three decades stripped much of American radio of its local content.

But broadcasters say that in most markets, there's at least one station, usually on AM, that, like WTAW, stresses its local ties, covers weather emergencies and promotes community causes.

On WTAW, Scott DeLucia, who started at the station as a country music DJ in 1968, hosts the morning show, ''The Infomaniacs.'' He says he does his best to steer clear of divisive political chatter, preferring to talk about the traffic, sports and what's good to watch on TV. But almost every day, he has a local mayor or council member on to talk about their initiatives and to field calls from listeners.

''There are a lot of people out there who would like to have one side of the political spectrum silenced, but that's scary,'' said DeLucia, ''so we keep it close to home and we keep it civil. If you lose AM stations like ours, you lose the voices that speak to conservatives, to minorities and to the religious sector '-- that's three important groups, and that would be a real loss.''

Scott DeLucia started at the station as a country music DJ in 1968 and now hosts the morning show.

'Hey there 6:11! It's The Infomaniacs.'

UP NEXT

A station team member places papers in the office of Maria Martinez, promotions and events director of Bryan Broadcasting. DeLucia knew that he wanted to be on the radio from a young age. As a kid in Bryan, he listened every night to WLS, the Top 40 station in Chicago. (AM signals, unlike FM, can travel enormous distances at night.) In 1964, DeLucia wrote to his favorite DJ, Art Roberts, asking if he could drop by the station and meet him as his family passed through Chicago on a trip to the World's Fair in New York. Roberts responded with a certified letter and DeLucia was ushered into the studio to watch his hero spin the hits.

''That was really kind of cool that he would let in a kid like me,'' DeLucia recalled 59 years later. ''I'm afraid there's not a lot of that anymore.''

These days, in his town of 84,000, DeLucia seeks to maintain those kinds of connections. His show is often No. 1 in the ratings, offering a traditional mix of features such as ''Today in Texas History,'' updates on Texas A&M athletics, and a plethora of homespun ads for locally-owned businesses, many with their own jingles, produced by the station's ad staff. It sounds like a throwback, but lots of people in Bryan can sing the jingles for Schulte Roofing (''Home of the Bulletproof Roof'') or George's Paint and Body (''We meet by accident at George's Paint and Body'').

One regular guest on ''The Infomaniacs'' is Bryan's mayor, Bobby Gutierrez, a lifelong resident of the city who owns the House of Tires auto service shop, passed down from his parents, which has advertised on the station for 50 years.

''Anything we want to get out to the citizens, the station is how we do it,'' the mayor said. ''The station is also the only media that comes to every one of our meetings and they watch us very closely. We're probably more frightened of what they report than any other media.''

Gutierrez expects the House of Tires will stop advertising on WTAW if the station is no longer available in cars. ''I can't imagine what the automakers are thinking,'' the mayor said. ''In an emergency, the AM signal reaches the rural areas and the FM signal doesn't. That can be life or death.''

The House of Tires auto service shop, owned by Bobby Gutierrez, has advertised on the station for 50 years. For the automakers, eliminating AM is a simple matter of numbers and progress. The AM audience keeps getting smaller and older, and the growth of alternative forms of in-car audio has been explosive. AM radio's programming and audience started to change when FM radio was introduced as standard equipment in cars in the mid-1960s. The trends away from music and toward spoken-word formats accelerated in the past two decades.

Of the $11 billion in advertising revenue that radio pulled in last year, about $2 billion came into AM stations, according to BIA Advisory Services, which conducts research for broadcasters. And some of the country's most lucrative radio stations are still on AM, mostly all-news or news and talk stations in big cities such as New York, Chicago, Atlanta and Los Angeles.

About 40 percent of AM stations have news, talk or sports formats, 11 percent are oriented to specific ethnic groups and 11 percent are religious, according to BIA. About a third of AM outlets play music, mostly oldies, Spanish or other less popular genres, said Nicole Ovadia, vice president for forecasting and analysis at BIA.

''AM is the long tail," she said. "And if those stations are not on the car dash, they're dead.''

Losing AM's foreign language stations '-- such as Polish and Russian outlets in Chicago, Farsi in Los Angeles, five Vietnamese stations in northern and southern California markets '-- including about 700 Spanish-language stations nationwide, would cut off many immigrant communities from their most trusted source of information, said Pierre Bouvard, chief insights officer at Cumulus Media, which owns more than 400 stations.

''Radio is still the soundtrack of the American worker,'' he said. ''It's what people listen to on the way to work. And Ford owners are massive users of AM radio '-- 1 out of 5 AM listeners are Ford owners, so Ford is missing something here.''

A cyclist rides on a street in downtown Bryan. Gutierrez drives through Bryan. The mayor of Bryan is a regular guest on ''The Infomaniacs.'' Bobby Gutierrez visits his ranch to feed his herd of longhorns. Automakers acknowledge that many of their loyal customers listen to AM stations, but the manufacturers say niche audiences have learned how to find what they need on the internet or stream audio into their cars using Bluetooth, Apple CarPlay and similar programs. But station owners say older listeners ''aren't going to get in their car and spend three or four minutes firing up the Bluetooth to listen to our station,'' as Downs put it.

Marketers often assume that young people mainly stream audio in the car, but a new study by Edison Research, which monitors Americans' listening habits, found that young people often prefer AM and FM broadcast radio because it's free, easier to access while driving, and offers local information and personalities.

Overall, AM and FM radio still account for 60 percent of all in-car listening, Edison found. SiriusXM satellite radio makes up 16 percent of in-car audio use, followed by drivers' own music from their phones at 7 percent and podcasts and YouTube music videos at 4 percent each.

In a last-ditch campaign to keep AM in cars, broadcasters are teaming up with conservative activists, first-responders and liberals who view AM as a vital source of diversity in media. Seven former Federal Emergency Management Agency leaders joined in a letter to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg saying that removing AM radio from cars is ''a grave threat to future local, state, and federal disaster response and relief efforts.''

Markey urged automakers to reverse their decisions, telling manufacturers that ''in an emergency, drivers might not have access to the internet and could miss critical safety information.''

Eight automakers '-- Ford, VW, BMW, Mazda, Volvo, Tesla, Polestar and Rivian '-- told Markey that they have already removed AM from their electric models. Several other companies '-- including Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru, Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, Kia and Jaguar Land Rover '-- said they have no plans to eliminate AM.

General Motors did not respond to a request for comment from The Washington Post and did not answer Markey's questions. GM has announced plans to replace Apple CarPlay and Android Audio, programs that now let drivers bypass a vehicle's audio dashboard, and funnel drivers instead toward GM's own audio system in electric vehicles.

AM stations are trying to enlist listeners to speak out against the change. Many Black-oriented stations are airing spots urging listeners to contact Congress: ''For decades, our community has relied on AM radio to inform, entertain and empower,'' one announcement says. ''From the gospel music you grew up with to the Black voices and perspectives you depend on for your news '.... we can't afford to have our voice silenced.''

Messages similarly targeting Spanish-language speakers are airing on stations aimed at that community.

And conservative talk stations are playing a pitch from former vice president Mike Pence, who paved his way into politics as an AM radio talk show host: Talk radio, he says, has ''become a meeting place for the American people. It's where we come together and get information.''

People attend an event hosted by "Candy 95," an FM station owned by Bryan Broadcasting in College Station. Bryan Broadcasting staff members play games with people who came to the event. AM radio's programming and audience started to change when FM radio was introduced as standard equipment in cars in the mid-1960s. But Harrison, the talk radio publisher, said most listeners will find other ways to get the information that they need. Just as most music programming shifted from AM to FM in the 1970s and '80s, he predicted that the talk, news and sports found mostly on AM will move to places such as satellite radio, internet streaming and podcasts.

What remains distinctive on AM comes from the local voices that sound like the places they serve. Three years ago, Todd Starnes, a right-wing commentator who used to work for Fox News Radio, moved home to Memphis and bought KWAM, better-known to listeners as The Mighty 990, not just to build an audience for conservative talk shows '-- including his own '-- but to rekindle the local connections that AM stations fostered back in the 1960s and '70s.

Part of that appeal is nostalgia: ''My grandpa gave me a transistor radio when I was a kid,'' said Starnes, ''and I've loved AM radio ever since.''

But part is unique local content: He's added local newscasts at the top of the hour, brought on a full-time weatherman and started covering high school football games, in part to attract younger listeners.

Starnes thinks KWAM can survive the loss of AM in cars. He says listeners will stick with AM stations, even with a little interference from electric engines, just as they've long accepted some static from power lines or lightning. ''There's something about getting in the car and turning on an AM station,'' he said. ''I love the crackle.''

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Mon, 15 May 2023 16:29

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) said he's lost track of the informant who was the source for the investigation into alleged corruption centered around President Joe Biden and his family.

The informant is the source for a whistleblower who informed Comer about an alleged bribery scheme.

Appearing on ''Sunday Morning Futures'' on Fox News, Comer said at least nine of the ten whistleblowers with knowledge of the situation are ''either currently in court, they're currently in jail, or they're currently missing.''

''Well unfortunately, we can't track down the informant,'' Comer told host Maria Bartiromo. ''We're hopeful that the informant is still there. The whistleblower knows the informant, the whistleblower is very credible.''

''Hold on a second, Congressman,'' Bartiromo interjected. ''Did you just say that the informant is now missing?''

''Well we're hopeful that we can find the informant,'' Comer repeated. ''Now remember, these informants are kind of in the spy business, so they don't make a habit of being seen a lot or being high-profile or anything like that. We have basic information with respect to what the informant has alleged, and it's very serious.''

''Are there whistleblowers or informants missing right now?'' asked Bartiromo.

''Well, with what we've investigated, and the people that we've tracked down, going back to the (CEFC China Energy), the two main players in that business, as well as all the Americans that were involved in the different Biden influence peddling schemes, as well as the Serbian national, nine of the ten people that we've identified that have knowledge with respect to the Biden's, they're one of three things, Maria. They're either currently in court, they're currently in jail, or they're currently missing.''

.@JamesComer tells @MariaBartiromo 9 out of 10 people that knows about Biden's corrupt business deals is either in court, in jail, or missing. pic.twitter.com/xaqIqMYgqd

'-- The Dirty Truth (Josh) (@AKA_RealDirty) May 14, 2023

''So it's of the utmost importance that the FBI work with us to be able to try to identify what investigations they've done, because we have people that want to come forward, but honestly Maria, they fear for their lives. Not only are the Biden lawyers and the Biden White House intimidating them, the media is trying to intimidate and discredit them.''

CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILY WIRE APP

''Who in the White House is intimidating them, do you know?'' asked Bartiromo.

''I do know. We're saving that for a later time,'' said Comer.

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Mon, 15 May 2023 15:21

By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: May 15, 2023 ~

If you have been following the banking crisis, you have likely read at least a dozen times that on March 12 federal banking regulators, with the consent of the U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, invoked the ''systemic risk exception'' in order to protect both insured and uninsured depositors at the two banks that failed in March '' Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank.

That's why there were gasps of shock on Saturday evening at around 5:30 p.m. when the Wall Street Journal (paywall) published the stunning news that depositors in the Cayman Islands' branch of Silicon Valley Bank had their deposits seized by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), which they are unlikely to ever see again.

As Wall Street On Parade has previously reported, under statute, the FDIC cannot insure deposits held on foreign soil by U.S. banks. What it can do, however, is to sell those deposits to the bank that acquires the collapsed bank. In the case of Silicon Valley Bank, the acquiring bank was First Citizens Bancshares which, apparently, declined to purchase the foreign deposits in the secrecy jurisdiction of the Cayman Islands, a jurisdiction most notable recently for housing Sam Bankman-Fried's crypto house of frauds.

The Journal reported that as of December 31, 2022, Silicon Valley Bank held $13.9 billion in foreign deposits with an unknown amount remaining as of the date of its failure and FDIC receivership on March 10. The Journal also reported that ''On March 31, the FDIC notified SVB's Cayman Islands depositors that they wouldn't be covered by its deposit insurance, and that they would be treated as 'general unsecured creditors,' according to documents reviewed by the Journal as well as interviews with employees of multiple firms.''

Adding to what is certain to be political fallout, the depositors left out in the cold in the Cayman Islands branch included ''investment firms in China and other parts of Asia.'' Those depositors can't be too happy to see their deposits seized while everyone else gets protected, whether they had deposit insurance or not.

What the Wall Street Journal has actually done with this report is to open a Pandora's box regarding the vast sums of foreign deposits held in foreign branches of JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup's Citibank '' none of which are covered by FDIC insurance. It further raises the question as to why the banking regulators of these two Wall Street mega banks have allowed this dangerous situation to occur.

According to the year-end call report filed by Citibank, it held a stunning $622.6 billion of deposits in foreign offices. (See page 34 of call report.) According to the year-end call report filed by JPMorgan Chase Bank N.A., it held $426 billion in deposits in foreign offices. (See page 34 of the linked report.) Together, these two banks held just over $1 trillion in deposits on foreign soil '' which had no U.S. deposit insurance backing.

As for whether the foreign jurisdiction's deposit insurance scheme would apply to the foreign branch deposits of U.S. banks, the FDIC offers this two-sentence explanation in a recent report: ''Deposits in foreign offices of U.S. banks are not insured by the FDIC. Some jurisdictions may provide some deposit insurance coverage of these deposits; the amounts of coverage, if any, vary by jurisdiction.''

In most cases, foreign countries' deposit insurance schemes offer far lower deposit protection than the $250,000 per depositor, per bank, offered in the U.S.

JPMorgan Chase and Citibank also have exposure to uninsured domestic deposits '' that is, deposits exceeding $250,000 per depositor in their bank branches on U.S. soil. At year end, JPMorgan Chase held $1.058 trillion in uninsured deposits in domestic branches while Citibank held $598.2 billion in uninsured deposits in domestic branches. Combining domestic and foreign uninsured deposits versus the $1.4 trillion Citibank held in total deposits at year end, means that 87 percent of Citibank's deposit base lacked FDIC insurance protection. That is very close to the 90 percent of uninsured deposits held by Signature Bank when it blew up on March 12 and went into FDIC receivership.

Given Citibank's history of teetering on the brink and being rescued by exorbitant sums from its financial ''supervisors'' during and after the financial crash of 2008, it is nothing short of an outrage to U.S. taxpayers that its banking regulators today have allowed 87 percent of its deposits to lack FDIC insurance protection. From December 2007 through mid 2010, Citigroup/Citibank received the following bailouts: the U.S. Treasury injected $45 billion of capital; there was a government guarantee of over $300 billion on certain of its assets; the FDIC provided a guarantee of $5.75 billion on its senior unsecured debt and $26 billion on its commercial paper and interbank deposits; and secret revolving loans from the Federal Reserve sluiced a cumulative $2.5 trillion in below-market-rate loans to Citigroup according to the eventual audit performed by the Government Accountability Office.

The FDIC's recent report on the banking failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank and the options for Congress to consider in reforming the federal deposit insurance program, concedes that uninsured deposits play a pivotal role in bank runs and the ensuing failure of banks, writing as follows:

''Abstracting from the specifics of the events of March 2023, several developments suggest that the banking system has evolved in ways that could increase its exposure to deposit runs. These developments include the amplification of concerns through social media and the speed of some depositor responses, the interaction of failure-resolution events and depositor behavior, and the increased volume and proportion of uninsured deposits in the banking system.

''The risk of depositor runs is inherent in banking, where long-term assets are funded by short-term deposit liabilities. The FDIC was established largely in response to the widespread bank runs of the 1930s. Depositors who are unprotected by deposit insurance may consider moving their funds if they are concerned about the liquidity or solvency of their bank. If uninsured depositors believe that other depositors share their concerns and that a run on the bank and potential failure is imminent, then they may act quickly to withdraw their funds. Synchronous deposit withdrawals may then force the liquidation of assets and cause the failure of the bank. A bank failure caused by a run can be a self-fulfilling prophecy.''

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Mon, 15 May 2023 15:07

In what is likely a harbinger as to how AI will one day all enslave us, it was reported this week that the extremely popular ChatGPT artificial intelligence chatbot is being "guided" by lowly humans making just $15 per hour.

The company that owns ChatGPT, OpenAI, is reportedly "paying droves of U.S. contractors to assist it with the necessary task of data labelling'--the process of training ChatGPT's software to better respond to user requests", according to Gizmodo.

The article says they are making just $15 per hour for the task of data labeling, wherein data samples are parsed and labeled to help AI "learn" quicker. The task was described as "pivotal" for ChatGPT's AI processes.

Worker Alexej Savreux said: ''We are grunt workers, but there would be no AI language systems without it. You can design all the neural networks you want, you can get all the researchers involved you want, but without labelers, you have no ChatGPT. You have nothing.''

Sonam Jindal, the program lead for AI, labor and the economy at the Partnership on AI told NBC: ''A lot of the discourse around AI is very congratulatory. But we're missing a big part of the story: that this is still hugely reliant on a large human workforce.''

Due to the work's "unsteady, on-demand nature, with people employed by written contracts either directly by a company or through a third-party vendor that specializes in temp work or outsourcing", NBC noted that some tech companies are starting to publicly commit to fair compensation:

The Partnership on AI warned in a 2021 report that a spike in demand was coming for what it called ''data enrichment work.'' It recommended that the industry commit to fair compensation and other improved practices, and last year it published voluntary guidelines for companies to follow. DeepMind, an AI subsidiary of Google, is so far the only tech company to publicly commit to those guidelines.

Jindal concluded: ''A lot of people have recognized that this is important to do. The challenge now is to get companies to do it. This is a new job that's being created by AI. We have the potential for this to be a high-quality job and for workers who are doing this work to be respected and valued for their contributions to enabling this advancement.''

OpenAI had previously outsourced work to Africa, where it could get away with paying workers as low as $2 per hour, Gizmodo wrote.

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Mon, 15 May 2023 14:40

You've naturally heard of the Group of Seven Nations, or G7, that holds regular summits on ''shaping the global economy,'' ''food and energy security,'' ''climate and health,'' ''advancing gender equality,'' ''foreign policy cooperation'', and similar grandiloquent goals.

But how about the U7, or Urban 7? As far as this writer can ascertain, the U7 arrived on the scene rather quietly, under the proverbial radar. However, strictly speaking, the U7 is not acting conspiratorially, since it has a website publicly available and publishes reports and announces summits, among other means of publicity.

The chief negative factor here, as usual, is the mass media cartel's practice of neglecting, or outright refusing, to cover the general global cities movement and the U7's inclusion specifically, while also breaking the basic tenets of journalism by getting directly involved in global cities forums and conferences'--acting as moderators at such events. Traditional reporting as an impartial party is out of the question. Just ask the UK-based Financial Times, which for about eight years has moderated and advocated global cities programs in Chicago, instead of simply reporting on them.

Why do the U7 and associated groups matter? Because key cities are emancipating themselves from their statutory roles to help form policy at the national and international levels, as partners with globalist-oriented nation states. This huddling, of course, excludes any conservative nation states that still operate largely based on tradition; such states, like Hungary, are ridiculed by the G7-U7 clique as illiberal nationalist-extremist heretics that won't kiss the sacred but hollow ring of globalism.

Since 2021The U7'--formed with, at best, minimal media fanfare in 2021'--went right to work, accelerating the elevation of what they themselves call ''autonomous'' cities to the global stage, thereby making them into highly active ''global cities''. Such cities, in the generic sense, are defined as those cities that are major economic and cultural nodes in the world grid due to their size, location and other attributes.

The new development is that over the last decade or so, major cities started forming leagues and collaborating horizontally with one another, with a common goal of seeking to fulfill the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. Major conduits for this process of localizing globalism are the Chicago Council on Global Affairs (CCGA) and the Global Parliament of Mayors (GPM).

Accordingly, the original founders and main promoters of the global cities governance concept have indicated that, at pivotal times, they are willing to be at ''cross purposes'' with nation states, or (to use a half-century-old phrase) even do an end-run around national authority altogether if necessary, whenever the issues at hand are ''crucial'' enough. Currently, ''climate change'' is the core issue driving the U7'--a grouping that represents a significant leap forward for a global cities movement that, in its modern form, was most visibly and substantively born in 2015 in Chicago via the CCGA.

The CCGA has held its Forum on Global Cities on a steady basis ever since, though its name was changed around 2019 to the Pritzker Forum on Global Cities in recognition of generous donations from the Chicago-based Priztker family (of Hyatt Hotel fame), with ultra-liberal J.B. Pritzker currently serving as governor of Illinois. Notably, he revealed his globalist colors by attending the 2023 World Economic Forum.

Another levelSo while the CCGA President Ivo Daalder, a former U.S. envoy to NATO, took the bold move of venturing to Chatham House in the UK in February 2018 to call for cities to take on powers normally reserved to nation states, including nothing less than foreign policy and diplomacy, the ''U7 Group,'' as it is named by participants, is taking things to an even higher operational level. Whereas the global cities movement initially was content with a more-or-less spectator status, seeking to simply provide input to national leaders regarding various issues covered at international summits, now, the movement'--via U7'--has actually sought, and largely secured, integration with the G7 summits specifically.

The U7 consists of a secretariat comprised of the GPM and ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability, augmented on a rolling basis by the city association of the nation that is chairing the G7 in a given year. Mayors such as Marvin Rees of Bristol, UK, have taken part in the Priztker forums and are involved in current GPM meetings and programs. Since Japan holds the G7 presidency for 2023, Japan's Designated City Mayors' Association (JDCMA) has assumed the associated city role in the U7 Group. (A designated city in Japan is one statutorily empowered to govern its municipal territory directly under the national government rather than as part of a prefecture.) To ensure that all G7 countries and the participating local governments therein are fully represented, eight key national associations of cities, and network partners, are involved.

Those associations, besides the JDCMA, include the U.S. Conference of Mayors, Core Cities UK, the EU's Eurocities, and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, along with German, French and Italian city associations. The currently listed network partner is United Cities and Local Governments. In fact, Core Cities UK was instrumental in creating the Urban 7, as this writer pointed on the UK Column News broadcast of 24 April. A press release on G7U7.org, dated 20 April 2023, stated:

Since its inception in 2021, the U7 has become an important player in the G7 process, especially with its unprecedented recognition [. . .[ by the G7 Heads of State in 2022. Throughout 2023 [so far], the U7 has been working closely with the Japanese Ministry of the Environment to ensure that the voices of cities are included in G7 debates. At the 2023 U7 Mayors Summit held in Tokyo (Japan) on March 2, the U7 Mayors' Declaration 2023 was presented [. . .]

At that 2 March 2023 Mayors' Summit, the following municipal officials from Europe, India and North America, along with thirteen such officials from Japan, took their cozy seats at the global table:

Peter Kurz, Mayor of Mannheim, Germany, chairman of the Global Parliament of Mayors;Berry Vrbanović, Mayor of Kitchener, Canada, UCLG co-president;Jeni Arndt, Mayor of Fort Collins, Colorado;Joanna Rolland, Mayor of Nantes, France, President of France Urbaine;Dario Nardella, Mayor of Florence, Italy, President of Eurocities;Frank Cownie, Mayor of Des Moines, Iowa and Conference of Mayors Trustee Board Member;Markus Lewe, Mayor of M¼nster, Germany, President of DST;Marvin Rees, Mayor of Bristol, Chair of UK Core Cities;Minna Arve, Mayor of Turku, Finland and ICLEI First Vice President;Taneen Rudyk, Councillor of Vegreville, Alberta, Canada, Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) President;Praveen Chaudhary, Deputy Municipal Commissioner, City of Ahmedabad, India.As for that Mayors' Declaration, a revealing excerpt states:

[I]n an increasingly urbanizing world, cities have the potential to implement innovative urban development approaches and create tangible improvements and sustainable living environments for their inhabitants. However, in order to do so, they require enabling framework conditions. Therefore, we, Mayors and leaders of the Urban7 (U7) Group, gathered through the networks of local governments of G7 nations and the European Union, applaud the G7's unprecedented recognition of the Urban7, cities, sustainable urban development and multilevel governance under Germany's G7 Presidency in 2022 [emphasis added]. We welcome the specific references in the 2022 G7 Leaders' Communiqu(C), as well as the ministers' communiqu(C)s and statements on Urban Development, Climate and Environment, Development Cooperation and Foreign Affairs. We look forward to elevating these achievements during the 2023 Japanese G7 Presidency [. . .]

Thus, the global cities movement that this writer has followed since 2016 is being hardwired into internationalist machinations, driving the movement (as indicated earlier in this article) to localize globalism'--a striving sometimes called ''glocalism'''--and to reinforce and expand the world government infrastructure from the bottom up; or, you might say, from the inside out.

Cities, with Mr. Daalder having pointed the way in early 2018, are literally seeking foreign policy powers. Several of those involved, including Daalder and global cities speaker and Igarape Institute scholar Robert Muggah'--who consults for the GPM and who addressed the 2019 Pritzker forum in Chicago'--have openly acknowledged that they consider the nation state itself to be a nearly 500-year-old relic that needs to be notched down or marginalized, if not dissolved.

Yet it never seems to dawn on the municipal participants, their fellow travelers in key think tanks and sold-out media meisters that those elected and appointed officials who operate under city charters (and state and national constitutions) have zero authority'--having been elected by local voters to perform local services circumscribed by law'--to leave their city confines altogether and congregate like a makeshift world mayors' parliament to assist in formulating international policies.

Acting Beyond AuthorityThe authority of urban governments ends at the ''city limits'' signs along the roadways. Creatures of state law, they are to pave the streets, tidy the parks, empty the trash bins, fund and equip police and fire departments, control stray animals, maintain and improve water and sewage systems, help the needy find housing, and manage the local budget, among other strictly municipal duties.

Those in cities, states or provinces on the one hand and those in national governments can, and often should, communicate, of course, and make their views and priorities known to each other. But those governing each level still need to stay in their lane and not exceed the authority delegated to them at each level by the people themselves, from whom all authority originates.

Article I, Section 10 of the U.S. Constitution, for instance, says (in part):

No state shall enter into any treaty, alliance or confederation [. . .]No state shall, without the consent of Congress, enter into any agreement or compact with another [U.S.] state, or with a foreign power.

In the U.S., cities are strictly creatures of the states they inhabit'--not, as is pretended, islands of almost total independence with the power to afford ''sanctuary'' status to illegal immigrants. American cities operate under city charters that certainly are not a source of authority to ''go global,'' hop on jet planes and get directly involved in foreign relations, diplomacy, climate-change world policies and the like. So, when that constitutional section says ''No state shall,'' by obvious extension, it also means, ''No sub-unit of a state (village, city, county) shall.'' There is no delegable sovereignty available for the purpose.

But as usual, the flippant attitude of political engineers toward any quaint notions of lawful statesmanship is ''constitution, schmonstitution.'' Why let principles, or fidelity to them, get in the way when it's much more appealing to exceed your delegated authority and break bread with the big boys?

A U7 posting announced:

On 15''16 April [2023,] the G7 Ministers' Meeting on Climate, Energy and Environment in Sapporo (Japan) concluded with the announcement of the first-ever G7 Roundtable on Subnational Climate Actions in collaboration with Urban7 (U7)'--the voice of local governments at the G7 process.

According to that same posting, in their final Communiqu(C), the G7 Ministers address:

[t]he vital role of subnational actors in realizing the transformation toward net-zero, climate-resilient, circular, and nature positive economies, furthering socioeconomic opportunities based on local capacity, needs and individual environmental conditions.

The Ministers furthermore commit to:

catalyze support for actions by subnational actors, encourage sharing best practices and promote city-to-city cooperation.

Final cautionThese busybodies, at the time of this writing, had already gathered in Denver, Colorado for the Cities Summit of the Americas, during the last week of April'--regrettably too soon for UK Column to attend in person. But access to archived video footage will be sought for this UK Column writer's regular Monday reports on UK Column News.

An online notation on the Summit states:

The Cities Summit of the Americas will take place [. . .] with a focus on promoting regional cooperation and uniting subnational leaders from government, civil society, business, academia, youth, culture and the arts, and indigenous and underrepresented groups.

Interestingly, the city of Denver, the state of Colorado and the U.S. State Department have all lent their blessings to this governance scheme as sponsors of the event, along with'--among others'--Amazon, AT&T, BP, the Government of Canada, United Airlines, Southwest Airlines, Walmart, the Gates Family Foundation, Western Union, Colorado State University, the University of Colorado, and two media partners: CBS Colorado and Televisa Univisi"n.

When it comes to collusive machinations toward restructuring governing systems without a morsel of consent from the people at-large, these corporations, media outlets and government bodies, under cover of near-zero inquisitive media coverage, appear to be well on their way to achieving their goals; hence, the important mission of UK Column to call badly needed, ever-broadening attention to the overall global cities movement.

For a thorough overview of the global cities movement and its linkage to ''smart cities,'' see Mark Anderson's Alternative View conference remarks, where the presentations of three additional speakers also are posted from that virtual event on 23 April 2023.

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Mon, 15 May 2023 14:30

The newspaper scrubbed an interview in which the Ukrainian leader lashed out when confronted with claims from leaked documents

The Washington Post has deleted a large tract of an interview with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky in which he lashed out at alleged ''traitors'' in his ranks. RT is publishing the entire section that the US newspaper would rather keep hidden.

The following section appeared in an interview with the Ukrainian president published on Saturday. By Sunday it had been removed with no explanation. After discussing a trove of recently leaked Pentagon documents, which revealed '' among other things '' that the US monitors Zelensky's communications, the newspaper presented him with a fresh allegation that had not yet been reported in the US media.

Note that Evgeny Prigozhin is the founder and head of the Wagner Group, a Russian private military company currently fighting in the Donetsk People's Republic.

WaPo: The documents indicate that GUR, your intelligence directorate, has back-channel contact with Evgeny Prigozhin that you were aware of, including meeting with Evgeny Prigozhin and GUR officers. Is that true?

Zelensky: This is a matter of [military] intelligence. Do you want me to be convicted of state treason? And so, it's very interesting, if someone is saying that you have documents, or if someone from our government is speaking about the activities of our intelligence, I would also like to ask you a question: With which sources from Ukraine do you have contact? Who is talking about the activities of our intelligence? Because this is the most severe felony in our country. Which Ukrainians are you talking to?

WaPo: I talked to officials in government, but these documents are not from Ukraine, they are from'...

Zelensky: It doesn't matter where the documents are from. The question is with which Ukrainian official did you talk? Because if they say something about our intelligence, that's treason. If they say something about a specific offensive plan of one general or another, this is also treason. That's why I asked you, which Ukrainians are you talking to?

WaPo: About these specific documents? You are the first person I am talking to about them.

Zelensky: Okay.

WaPo: And I can read you what information exactly there is about Prigozhin and the GUR. On February 13, Kirill Budanov, chief of Ukraine's Main Directorate of Intelligence, informed you about a Russian plan to destabilize Moldova with two former Wagner associates. Budanov informed you that he viewed the Russian scheme as a way to incriminate Prigozhin because ''we have dealings'' with him. You instructed Budanov to inform Moldovan President Maia Sandu, and Budanov told you that the GUR had informed Prigozhin that he would be labeled a traitor who has been working with Ukraine. The document also says that Budanov expected the Russians to use details of Prigozhin's secret talks with the GUR and meetings with GUR officers in Africa'...

Zelensky: Listen, to be honest, well, you just read something, you say something. I just don't understand where you get it, whom you talk to and so on. You talk about how I met with Budanov. This suggests that you '' how do you put it? It looks like you have people who have some records or you have some evidence or you have something, because that's what it looks like. You are again doing, I apologize, what you were doing before. You are releasing some sort of information that does not help our state to attack and does not help us to defend our state. So, I don't quite understand what you are talking about. I don't quite understand your goal. Is your goal to help Russia? I mean, that means we have different goals. If I'm not sitting at the same table with them, I don't quite understand what we're talking about. Each of these inquiries simply demotivates Ukraine, demotivates certain partners to help Ukraine. Well, one way or another, I just don't understand your goal.

WaPo: Our goal is not to help Russia.

Zelensky: Well, it looks different.

WaPo: No one gave us this information personally. These were in the leaked documents, which do indicate, as I said earlier, that the United States is listening in on you.

Zelensky: And if you have classified documents, it means someone gave them to you. If you have access to documents, someone gave them to you. Today, in the world of modern technology, when you have access, it's not necessarily someone gave it to you. You have access. You are now quoting some documents as originals, without understanding the responsibility for this, you are just talking about some information. For me, this is incomprehensible information, but in this, in our dialogue, I want to understand why you are doing this. I told you at the beginning of our conversation that I believe that the TV show that was launched, launched in the information field, helps '' I don't know who, but it helps Russia, it definitely doesn't help Ukraine. You are engaged in continuing this story. And so, I ask you if it's your choice and if you think that the Russian Federation needs to be helped in a variety of spheres '' that they were expecting a Ukrainian counteroffensive in whichever direction, so that they know when we are coming, so that they know our powerful forces and what we are planning, what our intelligence is doing? Well, if that's the case, then...

WaPo: I would say that these documents were leaked, not by us, and they were on the internet in a chatroom for weeks.

Zelensky: They were not on the internet, they were a part of something. We, the normal society, couldn't access all of this. We couldn't. And then, I think, information began to come out that we would partially publish everything else. I think it's yours '' or your editorial board, or whoever. I don't want to offend anyone, I don't know. That's why you are releasing this information one by one today. You publish information about a counteroffensive in Ukraine, about this or that. I told you that I believe that this is, how to put it? '' someone heard something somewhere, someone published something somewhere, but the information is compiled, and it is different, and it definitely does not work in Ukraine's favor. That's all. And now you want to take the bull by the horns. You need to substantiate or not substantiate this information, and then there will be a certain weight to your information, because the president of Ukraine reacts to it. Do you understand? And this is what you do. You are right now playing with, I think, things that aren't good for our people. This is not the first time I've told you this. I think it's wrong, but nevertheless, you say, ''Just a little bit more, it's not over yet.'' Well, yes, it is. There are still a few people left in Ukraine. I am not interested in seeing this number of people decrease. That's why we are fighting. [In English] I am so sorry, I was not so quick, I was too long about these documents. I don't know about this'...

WaPo: We came to talk to you about this. It is clearly sensitive for you and your country.

Zelensky: [In English] It is not sensitive. If I answer you that it's sensitive, it means that these are real documents. Please, stop playing games with me. I am the president of a war country, a country in war. I said about my reaction to these documents, I said that it's not good for our people. You know, I am not playing Counter-Strike. We are preparing a counteroffensive. You know, these are different things '' that's why I said all of the details from me you will hear. And of course, we are thankful for your work, your help when you support Ukraine in this war. You did a big job. And now I am saying about these documents'...I don't recognize it as documents. I didn't see that. That is the first thing. I don't know how you've got it and my question was to you: ''Why are you continue doing that?'' Okay. You are free. I mean, you will do what you want, but I don't want to speak about it with details. Because I don't know about what I am speaking. It's something with some information. And I said that I didn't have any contact with the White House about these documents. Or not documents. About these papers. Or not papers. About this platform. Or a fake platform'...I didn't have before, now, and, I don't know, maybe in the future. I just say the same message very publicly and very open. I said it to you, with some journalist and to a lot of leaders. When they asked me about this, I said it's not good for us. What can I say? It's not good. I don't know if it was fake or what a percent '' I don't know what it is. And I don't know who needs it and what is the game. I don't know what for. That's it. For me, it's not serious. It sounds like somebody said, somebody heard something'...

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Thu, 18 May 2023 13:01

Montana officially became the first state to ban TikTok on Wednesday after Gov. Greg Gianforte signed a bill restricting downloads of the immensely popular social media app into law.

The legislation, which was passed last month, makes it illegal for app stores to give users the option to download TikTok and illegal for the company to operate within the state.

The law is likely to face challenges in court arguing it restricts free speech, but Gianforte praised its privacy protections.

''The Chinese Communist Party using TikTok to spy on Americans, violate their privacy, and collect their personal, private, and sensitive information is well-documented,'' Gianforte said in a news release, calling the law "the most decisive action of any state."

TikTok spokesperson Brooke Oberwetter called the bill "unlawful" in a statement Wednesday, saying the app is a platform that "empowers hundreds of thousands of people across the state."

"We want to reassure Montanans that they can continue using TikTok to express themselves, earn a living, and find community as we continue working to defend the rights of our users inside and outside of Montana," Oberwetter said.

When the bill passed last month, Oberwetter said its "champions have admitted that they have no feasible plan for operationalizing this attempt to censor American voices."

Violations of a ban include every time a user is offered the ability to download the app. Each violation could carry a $10,000 penalty. Enforcement would be handled by the Montana Justice Department.

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew told Congress in March that 150 million people in the U.S. are regular users of the app, which has exploded in popularity in recent years.

Although Montana is the first state to ban downloads and usage of the app for everyone within its borders, limited bans have been issued federally and state by state for government-owned devices, as well as networks.

President Joe Biden signed a ban last year that prohibits the federal government's nearly 4 million employees to use TikTok on devices owned by its agencies.

Doha Madani Doha Madani is a senior breaking news reporter for NBC News. Pronouns: she/her.

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Thu, 18 May 2023 13:00

New York City Mayor Eric Adams claimed that the migrant crisis is so bad that 50% of all hotel rooms in the city are being occupied by illegal aliens.

Adams made the comments on Wednesday while addressing criticism for his handling of the crisis.

''In order to address an onslaught, you have to have places you can put people. Almost half of all hotel rooms now are taken up by asylum seekers. Think about that. I'm not sure what it's going to take before people hear what I am saying," said Adams in a media briefing in Harlem.

''New York City is the hotel capital. We're the hotel capital '-- tourism, visitors, sporting events, graduations,'' he added. ''It's a major economic engine for us. Almost 50% of those hotel rooms are being taken up by migrant asylum seekers.''

The Democrat has been lambasted on all sides for his handling of the issue, but others of his own party lined up to accuse him of exaggerating the problem.

''It would be impossible,'' said City Councilwoman Diana Ayala. ''The math doesn't add up.''

Officials estimate about 65,000 migrants have arrived in New York City in recent months, but many of those have been placed in public school gyms, emergency relief shelters, and some homeless shelters.

Adams went on to to demand that the federal government do more to help his administration deal with the crisis at the border.

''Instead of moneys coming from people who are visiting us and spending and our tourism and our Broadway plays '-- instead of them using those hotels, we're using those hotels,'' Adams said.

Various hotel officials dodged queries from the New York Daily News to confirm the claim made by Adams.

He has also faced criticism from the left for reports that his administration was seeking to place some of the migrants on Rikers Island.

Officials are expecting a surge at the border after Title 42, a Trump-era immigration policy, has ended and forced the government to allow asylum-seekers to stay in the U.S. while awaiting processing.

Here's more about the migrant crisis in NYC: 'THIS SHOULD NOT BE HAPPENING': NYC Mayor Adams calls out Biden over migrant crisiswww.youtube.com

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Thu, 18 May 2023 03:43

Google CEO Sundar Pichai speaks on-stage during the Google I/O keynote session at the Google Developers Conference in Mountain View, California, on May 10, 2023.

Josh Edelson | AFP | Getty Images

Google 's effort to rapidly add new artificial intelligence technology into its core products is making its way into the advertising world, CNBC has learned.

The company has given the green light to plans for using generative AI, fueled by large language models (LLMs), to automate advertising and ad-supported consumer services, according to internal documents.

Last week, Google unveiled PaLM 2, its latest and most powerful LLM, trained on reams of text data that can come up with human-like responses to questions and commands. Certain groups within Google are now planning to use PaLM 2-powered tools to allow advertisers to generate their own media assets and to suggest videos for YouTube creators to make, documents show.

Google has also been testing PaLM 2 for YouTube youth content for things like titles, and descriptions. For creators, the company has been using the technology to experiment with the idea of providing five video ideas based on topics that appear relevant.

With the AI chatbot craze speedily racing across the tech industry and capturing the fascination of Wall Street, Google and its peers, including Microsoft, Meta and Amazon , are rushing to embed their most sophisticated models in as many products as possible. The urgency has been particularly acute at Google since the public launch late last year of Microsoft -backed OpenAI's ChatGPT raised concern that the future of internet search was suddenly up for grabs.

Meanwhile, Google has been mired in a multi-quarter stretch of muted revenue growth after almost two decades of consistent and rapid expansion. With fears of a recession building since last year, advertisers have been reeling in online marketing budgets, wreaking havoc on Google, Facebook and others. Specific to Google, paid search advertising conversion rates have decreased this year across most industries.

Beyond search, email and spreadsheets, Google wants to use generative AI offerings to increase spending to boost revenue and improve margins, according to the documents. An AI-powered customer support strategy could potentially run across more than 100 Google products, including, Google Play Store, Gmail, Android Search and Maps, the documents show.

Automated support chatbots could provide specific answers through simple, clear sentences and allow for follow-up questions to be asked before suggesting an advertising plan that would best suit an inquiring customer.

A Google spokesperson declined to comment.

Google recently offered Google Duet and Chat assistance, allowing people to use simple natural language to get answers on cloud-related questions, such as how to use certain cloud services or functions, or to get detailed implementation plans for their projects.

Google is also working on its own internal Stable Diffusion-like product for image creation, according to the documents. Stable Diffusion's technology, similar to OpenAI's DALL-E, can quickly render images in various styles with text-based direction from the user.

Google's plan to push its latest AI models into advertising isn't a surprise. Last week, Facebook parent Meta unveiled the AI Sandbox, a "testing playground" for advertisers to try out new generative AI-powered ad tools. The company also announced updates to Meta Advantage, its portfolio of automated tools and products that advertisers can use to enhance their campaigns.

On May 23, Google will be introducing new technologies for advertisers at its annual event, Google Marketing Live. The company hasn't offered specifics about what it will be announcing, but it's made clear that AI will be a central theme.

"You'll discover how our AI-powered ads solutions can help multiply your marketing expertise and drive powerful business results in today's changing economy," the website for the event says.

WATCH: AI takes center stage at Google I/O

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NEW YORK (AP) '-- Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, were pursued in their car by photographers after a charity event in New York, an incident that the mayor and the couple's office described Wednesday as potentially dangerous and that drew comparisons to the 1997 fatal car crash of Harry's mother, Princess Diana.

The NYPD did not provide immediate comment to describe or corroborate the royals' statement about the incident, which occurred Tuesday night after Meghan accepted an award from the Ms. Foundation.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams told reporters he hadn't received a full briefing yet, but he called it ''reckless and irresponsible'' for anyone to be chasing people in vehicles in the densely populated city, and said that ''two of our officers could have been injured.''

Harry and Meghan's office said in a statement that the chase ''resulted in multiple near collisions involving other drivers on the road, pedestrians and two NYPD officers.'' It called the incident ''near catastrophic.''

''While being a public figure comes with a level of interest from the public, it should never come at the cost of anyone's safety,'' the statement from the couple said.

Harry, the younger son of King Charles III, and the former actress Meghan Markle married at Windsor Castle in 2018. They stepped down as working royals in 2020, citing what they described as the unbearable intrusions and racist attitudes of the British media.

Harry's fury at the media has been building for years. He blames an overly aggressive press for the death of his mother, and also accuses the media of hounding Meghan.

He has made it his mission to reform the press and is currently suing three British tabloid publishers over alleged phone hacking and other unlawful snooping. Meghan won an invasion of privacy case in 2021 against the publisher of the Daily Mail.

Security for Harry and Meghan has been an issue since the British government stripped them of protection when they moved to California in 2020 and it figures in three of his legal cases against the government and tabloid press.

The pursuit in New York occurred the same day a lawyer for Harry argued in a London court that he should be able to challenge a government decision denying him the right to pay police for his own security in the U.K.

Harry has argued his safety was ''compromised due to the absence of police protection'' during a short visit to the U.K. in July 2021, when his car was chased by photographers as he left a charity event.

The couple have said they funded their own security after former President Donald Trump said the U.S. government wouldn't pay to protect them.

Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, had been in New York to accept the Ms. Foundation Women of Vision Award with Black Voters Matter co-founder LaTosha Brown.

The gala kicked off the foundation's largest fundraising campaign ever '-- $100 million over the next 12 months '-- that will be used to further the organization's equity-centered initiatives and its mission of advancing women's collective power.

With her mother, Doria Ragland, in the audience, Meghan recounted how Ms. Magazine was always in their house and how it affected her world view.

''It allowed me to recognize that part of my greater value and purpose in life was to advocate for those who felt unheard, to stand up to injustice, and to not be afraid of saying what is true and what is just and what is right,'' she said, looking over at Ms. Foundation co-founder Gloria Steinem.

Video taken by bystanders and posted on social media showed Harry and Meghan exiting Manhattan's Ziegfeld Ballroom and getting into an SUV as crowds of pedestrians and photographers gawked.

Another video posted by TMZ showed the couple in a yellow New York City taxicab, stuck in traffic several blocks away from the ballroom, as photographers recorded them through the windows. The cab was being escorted by NYPD vehicles with flashing lights.

The event was Meghan's first public appearance since she skipped the coronation of her father-in-law King Charles III earlier this month in order to stay at home in California for her son Prince Archie's fourth birthday. Harry attended the coronation.

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Ron DeSantis : With my signature, Florida permanently prohibits genital mutilating surgical procedures and experimental puberty bl'... https://t.co/WqWxHmYRl3

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Mario Nawfal : Elon Speaks Against Working From Home https://t.co/Q8OH26SwJG'... https://t.co/Q8OH26SwJG

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Sandra Fisher : @MarioNawfal @Cernovich This is why he is so successful. Too many complain that they can't get ahead. They are no'... https://t.co/Ffc3OZLg1q

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'Pretty Damning For the FBI': CNN's Jake Tapper Says Durham Uncovered 'Confirmation Bias' In Trump-Russia Investigation

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CNN's Jake Tapper reported on Special Counsel John Durham finally releasing his long-awaited report on Monday, breaking down some of the key takeaways from the Trump-era investigation into the origins of the FBI's probe into Trump's 2016 campaign ties to Russia.

''Durham finally released his report, finding that the FBI in his view should have never launched a full investigation into possible connections between Donald Trump, his campaign, his advisers and allies, and Russia during the 2016 election,'' Tapper began before introducing CNN senior justice correspondent Evan Perez.

''And, Evan, this report, it's more than 300 pages long. He spent about four years on it. What else did he have to find?'' Tapper asked Perez.

''Well, Jake, the bottom line that John Durham finds is that, you know, there was reason for the FBI to at least do some preliminary investigation, some lower-level types of investigations. But he repeatedly says that he doesn't believe that the FBI took into account a lot of information that was, that they had in their possession,'' Perez replied.

''That was exculpatory?'' Tapper asked.

''That would have been exculpatory, that would have explained some of their suspicions that they have had about Donald Trump, about some of the people surrounding his campaign,'' Perez replied, adding:

Of course, we know that, you know, there was plenty of suspicions, in part because the former president brought on a person in Paul Manafort as his campaign chairman, who was deeply indebted to a Russian oligarch, somebody who was very close to the Kremlin. That is just one of the many points of data points that the FBI was following up on in why they did this investigation.

And the bottom line, he says, is that, you know, 'the evidence gathered in the multiple, exhaustive and costly federal investigations of these matters, including the instant investigation, neither U.S. law enforcement nor the intelligence community appears to have possessed any actual evidence of collusion in their holdings at the commencements of the Crossfire Hurricane investigation.' He's saying, look, he spent four years looking at this. He investigated a lot of different things. The FBI made a lot of mistakes.

Perez then read a statement from FBI Director Chris Wray saying the bureau has already ''made a lot of reforms'' relevant to Durham's criticism.

''A lot of people who follow law enforcement might not be surprised that in general, sometimes there is an overzealousness and an effort to,'' Tapper replied as Perez cut to say, ''Confirmation bias is what Durham calls it.''

''Yeah, confirmation bias,'' agreed Tapper.

''Not political bias,'' Perez clarified, referring to a common criticism lobbed at the FBI's Trump-Russia probe.

''It doesn't only happen with presidential candidates and presidents, though. It happens with, you know,'' Tapper said as Perez added, ''To the little guy.''

''To the little guys on the street. And they don't get four-year multimillion-dollar investigations to exonerate them,'' Tapper continued. ''But, you know, it's good to have accountability.''

Tapper then introduced his next guest former GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL). ''Let's start with your reaction to the Durham report. And on first blush, I mean, there's nothing, no criminality that he found but pretty damning for the FBI,'' Tapper said to Kinzinger.

''Yeah, it is,'' Kinzger agreed, adding:

I mean, I think you guys hit it on the head when you talked about confirmation bias. I mean, we went into 2016. This is the first presidential candidate, at least in my lifetime, that had expressed sympathy for Vladimir Putin. You had the Paul Manafort issues.

You remember, at the Republican convention, they pulled support for Ukraine out of the platform there. So I think a lot of people are looking going what's going on here? And including myself, we had some real concerns with, you know, the sympathy that the former president, frankly, still has for Vladimir Putin.

But that shouldn't govern what the FBI does. The FBI should not allow their, either bias on that or whatever to come to fruition. And hopefully, this report by the independent counsel will change things at the FBI. Hopefully, some stuff has already been implemented.

Watch the full clip above via CNN.

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'Pretty Damning For the FBI': CNN's Jake Tapper Says Durham Uncovered 'Confirmation Bias' In Trump-Russia Investigation first appeared on

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57:25Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship22 hours ago

The Bare Knuckle Show Podcast6.72K

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Tue, 16 May 2023 22:10

Mayor Eric Adams on Tuesday said 20 city public-school gyms are now being eyed to hold migrants, although he claimed it's just a possibility '-- despite photos this week showing beds set up in two of them and principals warning parents about the move.

Adams maintained that the city has not yet become so inundated with migrants that they need to be housed in the gyms, saying those who were photographed in a Brooklyn gymnasium over the weekend were there for only ''a few hours.''

In the wee hours Tuesday at another Brooklyn school gym, a small busload of migrant men was dropped off to stay there for a few hours before being whisked off again, a source with direct knowledge of the situation told The Post.

''We have 20 stand-alone gymnasiums throughout the city that are not part of the school building. They are on the list of potential locations we may have to use,'' Adams told PIX 11.

''We're not there yet, but we need a list to be prepared so that if this influx continues, we can accommodate.''

About 4,200 migrants arrived in the Big Apple last week, and another 15 buses are expected this weekend.

Adams' claim of ''potential locations'' comes after at least 75 migrants were temporarily held at PS 188 in Coney Island on Sunday and '‹Tuesday's pre-dawn drop-off of '‹10 others at MS 577'‹/PS 17'‹ in Williamsburg.

The principal of the Coney Island school had alerted parents in a letter Friday that the school was chosen as one of the ''emergency, temporary sites to house individuals and families who are seeking asylum'' in the city.

Adams maintained that the city has not yet become so inundated that migrants will have to be housed in school gymnasiums, even as migrants were photographed on cots inside a Coney Island school gym. Gregory P. Mango Adams said 4,200 migrants arrived in New York City last week and another 15 buses of migrants are expected this weekend. Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office. The abandoned Richard H. Hungerford School in Staten Island was prepared to receive 300 single migrant men Saturday. Twitter @SamForNYCMigrants were photographed laying across green cots and milling around outside the stand-alone Brooklyn gymnasium before they were apparently whisked away to an old abandoned school in Staten Island.

''The one in Brooklyn, we were able to find other locations for those migrant asylum-seekers,'' Adams said. ''The time frame we needed was a few hours. We needed a few hours and were able to shift them to a different location.

''While we're waiting to do that shifting you need a place to put people.''

It's unclear how long the migrants were held on Coney Island this weekend and if the outrage their presence caused was part of the reason they were quickly sent off to Staten Island.

Parents at PS 17 (pictured) are outraged over migrants being put in the school's gymnasium. Gabriella Bass''The building on Staten Island was a closed school that was about to be demolished. The school was closed,'' Adams said.

The former Richard H. Hungerford School on Tompkins Avenue in Staten Island was set up to receive at least 300 migrants Saturday, though it's unclear if that is the location the migrants housed at Coney Island were taken Sunday.

The MS 577/PS 17 source told The Post that the 10 migrant men who were temporarily held in the schools' shared gym overnight spent roughly two hours there, from 1 to 3 a.m., before being bused to Staten Island.

In the time they were held in the gym, the migrants relaxed on the roughly 50 cots set up, charged their phones and brushed their teeth, the source said.

MS 577 and PS 17 are among the six other Brooklyn schools that have prepped to start temporarily housing migrants inside their gyms.

The others include PS 18 and PS 132 in Williamsburg, PS 172 in Sunset Park and PS 189 near Prospect-Lefferts Gardens.

PS 17, 18, 132 and 172 all house kindergarten through fifth-grade students, while PS 189 has students from kindergarten through eighth grade.

At least six Brooklyn schools have been prepped to start temporarily housing migrants inside their gyms. Robert Mecea PS 17 parents are throwing a rally in front of their school to protest migrants possibly being kept in the gymnasium. Gabriella BassDozens of incensed parents rallied outside the Williamsburg and Sunset Park schools Tuesday, including some who lashed out at the mayor's suggestion migrants would only be held at the gym sites for several hours.

''I don't trust the mayor,'' Sheldon Austin, PS 172's PTA co-president, raged to The Post, adding Hizzoner should have communicated the gym shelter plan much earlier.

''The fact that you did this on the weekend, on Mother's Day, snuck everything in,'' Austin said, addressing Adams.

''That tells me I can't trust you. So I'm not going to believe nothing you say. Whether you are telling the truth or not. You lost our trust.''

Another PS 172 parent who didn't want to be named said they, too, were skeptical of the temporary plan.

''I'm very suspicious of a plan of temporary timing when, as parents, we were told with less than 24 hours [notice],'' the parent said.

Brooklyn school parents are expected to protest migrants being processed in their gym. Gabriella BassAdams has repeatedly said the city is running out of options as migrants continue to swarm the city after last week's termination of Title 42, a Trump-era policy that allowed for the quick expulsion of some asylum-seekers over COVID-19 concerns.

As of May 14, nearly 41,000 migrants were staying at the 150 emergency sites scattered across the Big Apple, according to figures released by City Hall on Tuesday.

More than 65,000 asylum-seekers have filtered through the system since last spring.

City Hall has also faced uproar over its plan to bus migrants staying in city shelters to hotels just outside of the five boroughs, in Rockland and Orange counties. More than 80 migrants '' all single men '-- were shipped to Newburgh hotels in Orange County last week.

Orange County Executive Steven Neuhaus filed lawsuits Friday to stop the hotels from housing migrants, and Rockland County also took legal action to halt the city's plan.

-Additional reporting by Bernadette Hogan

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) '-- Technology is meant to improve our lives, but that doesn't always happen.

A new Consumer Reports investigation found that some things that power our lives daily can contain hidden biases that result in unfair practices towards communities of color.

For decades, people of color were kept out of home ownership - a practice called redlining. Though this practice is now illegal the results have not changed.

''The information used in redlining has largely been fed into new algorithms that are essentially doing the same kind of thing without the racist overtones,'' said Consumer Reports Brian Vines.

A new Consumer Reports documentary series called, ''Bad Input,'' sheds light on the ways in which technology is failing - in home lending, medicine, and facial recognition and security. This raises the question - can technology be racist?

''The answer is yes. Frankly, tech can be racist. If tech is fed bad information, it will continue to give us bad outputs,'' Vines said.

During the pandemic, pulse oximeters helped save lives. But a study done by experts at the University of Michigan showed that the technology was not as accurate for Black patients versus White patients.

''People of color were presenting and getting wrong readings," he added. "It delayed the care that they were able to receive and could really have some dire consequences if you're showing up and your blood oxygen level is incorrect.''

You may not notice it, but facial recognition technology can be found everywhere - on your phone, at the self-check-out at a store, or standing in line at an event and security is scanning.

''We've seen cases across the country of people being misidentified and facing criminal charges,'' Vines said.

Some ways to use technology responsibly include limiting the following activities: posting pictures of yourself or family on social media, joining a public wifi network, or signing up for something where you have to enter personal information.

Copyright 2023 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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First published at 01:41 UTC on May 1st, 2023.

2 Peter 2:12''But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;''This how things get done FRANCE 24 English4. 25, 2023 #gangs #Hai'...

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2 Peter 2:12''But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;''This how things get done FRANCE 24 English4. 25, 2023 #gangs #HaitiA mob in the Haitian capital beat and burned 13 suspected gang members to death with gasoline-soaked tires Monday after pulling the men from police custody at a traffic stop, police and witnesses said. The horrific vigilante violence underlined public anger over the increasingly lawless situation in Port-au-Prince where criminal gangs have taken control over an estimated 60% of the city since the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Mo¯se.

LESS

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Tue, 16 May 2023 20:08

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has done what desperately needed to be done in the wake of the fallout from the Durham Report.

As we previously reported, the FBI has already admitted to wrongdoing.

Now Rep. Greene has introduced articles of impeachment against FBI Director Christopher Wray:

I just introduced articles of impeachment against FBI Director Christopher Wray.

Under his watch, the FBI has intimidated, harassed, & entrapped Americans who have been deemed enemies of the Biden regime. Wray has turned the FBI into Joe Biden and Merrick Garland's personal'... https://t.co/YW14KWvKva

'-- Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) May 16, 2023

Rep. Greene also introduced articles of impeachment against the DC District Attorney Matthew Graves, the man responsible for spearheading the J6 prosecutions.

#BREAKING '...@RepMTG Submits Articles Of Impeachment Against DC US District Attorney And January 6th Lead Prosecutor Matthew Graves

"The time for weaponizing the Department of Justice needs to come to an end." pic.twitter.com/bMlxuEv40u

'-- The Columbia Bugle 🇺🇸 (@ColumbiaBugle) May 16, 2023

Daily Caller provided a transcript of the articles of impeachment against Wray:

''Under Wray's watch, the FBI has intimidated, harassed, and entrapped American citizens that have been deemed enemies of the Biden regime.

As such, Director Wray has turned the FBI into Joe Biden and Merrick Garland's personal police force. The Soviet-style tactics used by the FBI against normal Americans are unprecedented in this country.

FBI whistleblower Garret O'Boyle told congressional investigators that the FBI created a terrorist threat tag following the Dobbs Supreme Court decision in 2022.

O'Boyle confirmed that the purpose of the tag was to target pro-life individuals. On September 23, 2022, armed FBI agents in tactical gear raided the family home of Mark Houck, a pro-life Catholic and father of 7 young children, because he obstructed access to an abortion clinic.''

''FBI whistleblower Kyle Seraphin obtained a leaked FBI document that targets Traditional Latin Mass Catholics. The document, titled ''Racially or Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremists (RMVE) and their interests in 'Radical-Traditionalist Catholics' or RTCs.''

This leaked document outlined a plan for the FBI to spy on Catholics, particularly Latin Mass-attending Catholics, who, according to the document, have harbored ''white supremacy.''

The FBI document indicated intentions to have informants within the Catholic Church, on advice from the Southern Poverty Law Center.''

''In October 2020, a group of men allegedly attempted to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer.

Several of the men were acquitted in their cases, as the FBI was found to have entrapped them in the scheme. Most of the members involved with the plot were FBI informants.''

The insane thing about this is the tacit understanding that no one will be held accountable for a crime that makes Watergate look like a nonprofit for nuns.

A sitting U.S. President was accused of collusion with an adversarial power'--technically, that's treason.

For years,'... pic.twitter.com/9ck7b39fjE

'-- Vince Quill (@VinceQuill) May 16, 2023

The Durham report is an absolutely DAMNING treatise on the weaponization of the FBI against President Trump.

This should be a clarion call for legislative reform. We need to defund and deauthorize government entities that are converted from the just cause of defending our nation'... pic.twitter.com/peaeMcVr6q

'-- Rep. Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) May 16, 2023

Fox News highlights President Trump's response to the seismic findings of the Durham Report:

''I, and much more importantly, then American public have been victims of this long-running and treasonous charade started by the Democrats '-- started by Comey,'' Trump told Fox News Digital.

''There must be a heavy price to pay for putting our country through this.''

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SGTRock007

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Remember when Joan Rivers died exactly two months after saying ''Micheal'' I mean Michelle Obama is a transgender

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Politicization of The FBI Exposed In Long Awaited Durham Report, Is White Nationalist Group Patriot Front an FBI Op?114K

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Tue, 16 May 2023 16:37

CNN anchor Jake Tapper admitted Monday that the long-awaited 2016 Trump-Russia investigation report from special counsel John Durham exonerates the former president ''to a degree.''

''The report is now here. It has dropped, and it might not have produced everything of what some Republicans hoped for,'' Tapper said. ''It is, regardless, devastating to the FBI, and to a degree, it does exonerate Donald Trump.''

TAPPER: Durham report is "devastating to the FBI and to a degree, it does exonerate Donald Trump." pic.twitter.com/DC30fNpEve

'-- Breaking911 (@Breaking911) May 15, 2023

Durham, who former Attorney General Bill Barr tasked to examine the propriety of the FBI's investigation of President Trump, released a 306-page report Monday that found that the FBI had no evidence to support a Trump-Russia scandal when it began its investigation and found ''sobering'' differences in how it approached the Trump probe compared to other politically sensitive investigations.

''Based on the review of Crossfire Hurricane and related intelligence activities, we concluded the Department and the FBI failed to uphold their important mission of strict fidelity to the law in connection with certain events and activities described in this report,'' the report says.

''The FBI personnel also repeatedly disregarded important requirements when they continued to seek renewals of that FISA surveillance while acknowledging '' both then and in hindsight '' that they did not genuinely believe there was probably cause to believe that the target was knowingly engaged in clandestine intelligence activities on behalf of foreign power,'' the report said.

Tapper's remarks over the report stirred up backlash across social media Monday.

Sean Davis, CEO and co-founder of The Federalist, called Tapper ''Patient Zero'' for pushing the alleged collusion back in January 2017.

''He deliberately helped kick off the hysteria with his 'reporting' on Comey's bogus meeting to set-up Trump using the dossier, which fueled the hoax for years,'' Davis said. ''Tapper should personally apologize for his role.'''

Tapper was Patient Zero for the collusion hoax back in January of 2017. He deliberately helped kick off the hysteria with his "reporting" on Comey's bogus meeting to set-up Trump using the dossier, which fueled the hoax for years. Tapper should personally apologize for his role. https://t.co/mgxPIMkgdB

'-- Sean Davis (@seanmdav) May 15, 2023

Former CNN sports correspondent Keith Olbermann called Tapper's remarks the network's latest scandal.

''@jaketapper says the Durham Report is 'devastating to the FBI,''' he said. ''It isn't. Not even close. No charges, just partisan ''conclusions.'' And Tapper of the new non-journalistic Chris Licht CNN is propagandizing.''

''Jake Tapper needs to resign,'' he added.

CNN's new scandal:@jaketapper says the Durham Report is "devastating to the FBI"

It isn't. Not even close. No charges, just partisan "conclusions." And Tapper of the new non-journalistic Chris Licht CNN is propagandizing

Jake Tapper needs to resign pic.twitter.com/EcJo6qwfA3

'-- Keith Olbermann'†¸ (@KeithOlbermann) May 15, 2023

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Tue, 16 May 2023 16:30

(C) Provided by Washington Examiner F ormer President Donald Trump reacted to the release of special counsel John Durham's final report on his investigation into the FBI's probe into Trump's alleged links to Russia.

Writing on the social media platform Truth Social, Trump touted the findings of the investigation, saying the American public had been "scammed" by people trying to undermine the United States.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

"WOW! After extensive research, Special Counsel John Durham concludes the FBI never should have launched the Trump-Russia Probe! In other words, the American Public was scammed, just as it is being scammed right now by those who don't want to see GREATNESS for AMERICA!" the former president wrote.

This is a breaking story and will be updated.

Tags: Donald Trump, John Durham, FBI, Campaign, News

Original Author: Brady Knox

Original Location: Durham investigation: Trump responds: 'American public was scammed'

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Tue, 16 May 2023 14:39

r : @JamesOKeefeIII @adamcurry

Tue May 16 10:05:49 +0000 2023

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Connecticut Democrat Senator Chris Murphy took a hard left turn into insurrectionism on Sunday. Speaking on NBC's ''Meet the Press,'' Murphy declared that if the Supreme Court continued to recognize the Second Amendment as a fundamental Constitutional right, then, you know, there might be a ''popular revolt.''

According to Murphy, the Supreme Court is illegitimate, district court judges enforcing Supreme Court decisions are just awful people, and unless the Supreme Court backs off and lets fascists at all levels of government do their thing, some bad sh** might happen.

The video is cued to the transcript segment.

CHUCK TODD: I want to talk about the issue of guns. And, look, this has been something that you've been working on for quite some time, trying to find small increases in gun regulations or big ones. We saw another court ruling that essentially invoked and said, ''Hey there's just not much you can do because of the Second Amendment, this absolutist version and, and interpretation of the Second Amendment.'' Given that we have a court system that this is what it's going to be, how do you tackle gun regulation under this environment? Do you go for a new consti '' a new constitutional amendment or do you just hope judges' philosophies change over the next generation?

SEN. CHRIS MURPHY: Right now, the Supreme Court has made it clear, under Heller Decision, which still controls, they say there is a right to private gun ownership, but there is also an ability for Congress to regulate who owns weapons and what kind of weapons are owned. I think we have to continue to operate under that construct. And I'm '' and I really see progress, right? We broke a 30-year log jam last year by passing the first major gun safety initiative. You have seen Republican states like Tennessee looking at red flag laws, Texas considering raising the age to buy assault weapons. I think our movement is in a position to win. Does it worry me, what some of these district courts are doing? Absolutely. But right now, I think our focus is about '' has got to be about growing the movement and continuing to capitalize on the progress of last year.

CHUCK TODD: But it does sound like you've got to do it within the construct of, ''Look. You're probably not going to be able to regulate much having to do with access to the gun by anybody over 18.''

SEN. CHRIS MURPHY: Well, listen, if the Supreme Court eventually says that states or the Congress can't pass universal background checks or can't take these weapons off the streets, I think there's going to be a popular revolt over that policy. A court that's already pretty illegitimate is going to be in full crisis mode.

The reason that Murphy and other clowns like David Hogg and Fred Gutenberg are in a panic is high tide in gun control was reached in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook and Parkland shootings. Most states (27) no longer require permits for concealed carry. Polling shows that support for banning modern sporting rifles has decreased. According to an ABC News poll, 51% of Americans oppose banning modern sporting rifles. Yes, the Supreme Court and lower court rulings eradicating overreach by the gun-grabbers have been critical. Still, the rulings show that the courts, for once, are in step with mainstream America and progressives are left flailing about to create an imaginary world where sane people buy their ideas. The ''red flag'' law pushed through the Congress by Democrats may keep Murphy warm at night, but it hasn't hit the federal courts yet and had its patently un-Constitutional and anti-freedom provisions challenged.

Some of that may be due to federal and state response to the COVID ''pandemic'' and everyone getting a close and personal look at what government tyranny looks like and seeing how quickly it happens. Part is due to the nature of the left. They are prisoners are their own intersectional rhetoric. When transgender shooters blast away in a Christian elementary school, the story goes away nearly overnight (Nashville Shooter Identified as Transgender Man Named Audrey Hale). When a deranged leftist shoots up his former place of employment to protest lax gun laws (The Media Will Forget the Louisville Shooting Because It Doesn't Support the Gun Control Narrative), the story goes away. The stories go away when mass shootings happen in Alabama and Texas, and the shooters are Black or illegal aliens (Five Killed in Texas Shooting, Police Are Searching for the Shooter, and the Gun Grabbers for a Reason to Look Away). No one cares about the carnage in Chicago or Washington, DC, because to protest the murders means spotlighting the perpetrators. The left was so hard up for a shooting they could use to further their agenda that the Hispanic who shot up a mall in Allen, TX, has been rebranded as a ''white'' Hispanic (shades of George Zimmerman) who is a neo-Nazi who hates Hispanics and immigrants.

Faced with the electorate's mood in what will be an unfavorable climate for the 2024 election, Chris Murphy is falling back on the spiritual ancestors of the progressives and gun-grabbers, segregationists. When the Supreme Court ruled ''separate but equal'' unconstitutional, segregationists tried to motivate their adherents to disobey the law. It played out in Little Rock, Arkansas, with the 101st Airborne eventually being used to open schools there. In Virginia, the ''massive resistance'' strategy was devised and not definitively peter out until the late 1960s.

Murphy being an idiot doesn't make him less of an insurrectionist. By declaring the Supreme Court illegitimate and hinting that violent methods may be necessary to stop further limits on illegal gun control legislation, he's clearly violating his oath of office. Moreover, just like a psycho Bernie Sanders fanboi took Sanders' socialist rhetoric to heart and tried to decapitate the House GOP caucus, one or more anti-gun nutters will be provoked to commit violent acts by Murphy's call to arms. You can count on it.

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Mon, 15 May 2023 15:20

With the end of MTV News' 36-year run, three of its most iconic anchors look back at their time bringing news to a generation, from covering Kurt Cobain's death to interviewing Tupac Shakur and much more

Kurt Loder, the original MTV News anchor (and a longtime Rolling Stone writer) was both taken aback and pleased by the outpouring of affection he received online this week after MTV News officially ended its 36-year run. ''I think a lot of those people are just remembering their own youth,'' he says in the new episode of our weekly Rolling Stone Music Now podcast. ''Saying, 'Wow, that was a great time because, well, I was 15 years old.'''

Find the episode here at the podcast provider of your choice, go directly to Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or just press play above.

Loder, Tabitha Soren, and John Norris '-- three of MTV News' best-known correspondents in its heyday '-- all look back at their MTV years in the episode, including covering the many untimely deaths of musicians in the Nineties and much more. Loder also explains how he held onto his gruff, no-nonsense persona on-air. ''In television, somebody's always saying more 'energy,''' he says. ''So pretty soon you sound like a weatherman. But I wasn't very good at that and I don't like to be talked to like that if I'm watching somebody on television. So I tried to avoid that. It's not hard if you just don't do it.'' Loder also recalls watching Nirvana smash his hotel room after an interview '-- and later covering Kurt Cobain's suicide.

Soren explains how she convinced MTV to cover the 1992 presidential election seriously, and reflects on her famous 1995 interview with Tupac Shakur '-- where Death Row Records employees frisked her and searched her colleagues' equipment bags for hidden weapons beforehand. ''He was just incredibly warm,'' she says. ''He was happy to do the interview. And I just really felt like he had a great sense about some of the world's biggest problems.''Editor's picks

Norris looks back at his 1999 interview with a very young Britney Spears in her Kentwood, Louisiana childhood home '-- and notes there were zero hints of darker times to come. ''She could not have been nicer,'' he says. ''The whole family was very excited to have us there. She was super wide-eyed and unable to believe that this was all happening.''

Norris and Loder are both honest about their final days with the network, with Loder explaining why he voluntarily stopped appearing at the Video Music Awards. ''I don't like seeing old people on television,'' Loder says, bluntly. In contrast, Norris decries the industry's ageism, and explains how he aimed to hold on as long as he could at MTV News.Trending

Norris also recalls the prevalence of homophobia in the supposedly enlightened world of Nineties alt-rock, and looks back at his friendship with the late George Michael, including his first interview with Norris after the world learned the singer was gay. ''It was like he was like another person,'' Norris says. ''It was like this massive weight had been lifted off his shoulders, and it was so beautiful to see.''

Download and subscribe to Rolling Stone's weekly podcast, Rolling Stone Music Now, hosted by Brian Hiatt, on Apple Podcasts or Spotify (or wherever you get your podcasts). Check out six years' worth of episodes in the archive, including in-depth, career-spanning interviews with Bruce Springsteen, Mariah Carey, Halsey, Neil Young, Snoop Dogg, Brandi Carlile, Phoebe Bridgers, Rick Ross, Alicia Keys, the National, Ice Cube, Taylor Hawkins, Willow, Keith Richards, Robert Plant, Dua Lipa, Questlove, Killer Mike, Julian Casablancas, Sheryl Crow, Johnny Marr, Scott Weiland, Liam Gallagher, Alice Cooper, Fleetwood Mac, Elvis Costello, John Legend, Donald Fagen, Charlie Puth, Phil Collins, Justin Townes Earle, Stephen Malkmus, Sebastian Bach, Tom Petty, Eddie Van Halen, Kelly Clarkson, Pete Townshend, Bob Seger, the Zombies, Gary Clark Jr., and many others. Plus, there are dozens of episodes featuring genre-spanning discussions, debates, and explainers with Rolling Stone's critics and reporters.