1684: No Guff

Starmer used to be head of CPS. Head of prosecuting, sentencing, sending people to prison.

Starmer was top UK official for prosecution of criminal offences in the UK.

He seems perfectly placed to bring in new form of sentencing which amounts to digital identity and Chinese social credit. Strange he arrived as PM exactly as jail system in complete collapse. Also as COVID narrative running out of steam and flu lockdowns looking less realistic.

Think i am coming out of reptile brain and fog is beginning to clear but who knows..

It states "electronic communications which are grossly offensive or indecent, obscene or menacing, or false, for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety to another"

Link

The BOI reports with FinCEN are keeping us very busy--most big accounting and law firms don't want to file them.

No forms from the IRS here. They are filed online with FinCEN. Make sure you get your FinCEN ID

But what is making some people concerned is California Senate Bill SB 1201 which piggybacks off of the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA)

EXCEPT the California law allows the beneficial owner information to be available to the PUBLIC. To become law, the California Assembly would need to approve it and Gov Newsom to sign it by August 31

If you have CTA questions I'm happy to chat and it sounds like you're all taken care of

"We both came out strongly for AI regulation," Marcus wrote. "Little by little, though, I realized that I, the Senate, and ultimately the American people, had probably been played."

The AI expert challenged Altman's claim that he had no equity in OpenAI, citing the CEO's indirect financial ties to the company through his stake in Y Combinator, a startup incubator Altman once led, and Rain AI, a chips startup that made a $51 million deal with the AI company.

A spokesperson for OpenAI did not immediately return a request for comment.

Marcus also questioned Altman's commitment to safety, writing that although the OpenAI says he wants regulation, "the reality is far more complicated."

He cited a 2023 Time magazine article that reported how OpenAI sought to weaken the EU's AI Act in part by removing language that labeled OpenAI's ChatGPT as "high risk," which would have subjected the company to more restrictive laws.

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The police just might be parked in your driveway...

Ford just patented newly developed camera technology that could turn all of their new cars into rolling police informants.

Basically, they submitted a proposal to the US Patent and Trademark Office to equip new cars with cameras and sensors that could detect speeding violations of other drivers…

But it wouldn’t stop there.

The system could (in theory) then automatically share the data with local police.

This Orwellian future is far from reality…

But question remains if it would even be possible to prosecute moving violations without the presence of an officer witness.

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- Due to man made global warming the earth has warmed 1Degree C. thus making storms 12% stronger and 40% more destructive

- It was once thought that the destruction above 159mph winds was the max destruction, but with better construction methods we need to specify a new level of destruction, Cat 6 Hurricanes which have sustained winds above 192 MPH.

I will predict that during hurricanes we will now hear about this new category even if winds are not even close to 192mph, and they will emphasize that it is due to human caused warming.

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After analyzing 39 brands of straws made of various materials such as plastic, paper, glass, stainless steel, and bamboo, the team found that paper straws contain the most perfluoroalkylated and polyfluoroalkylated substances, also known as PFAS. These synthetic substances are considered harmful to humans, animals, and the environment.

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Adam and John,

Boots on the ground from a Minnesotan who has spent years fighting

and continues to fight against Governor Walz going back to before Covid,

to helping lead a recall effort against him during the lockdowns. (The

recall effort was extremely popular in greater

Minnesota, but was stopped on multiple occasions by the Minnesota

Supreme Court.)

First don’t believe the hype that he is “americas dad” or

“Minnesota nice”. Walz is the type that will have his administration

send a lawsuit to a single mother of four wrapped in a bow, right before

Christmas. For simply refusing to go along with his

Covid lockdown.

He is the type of good neighbor that sets up a snitch line for people to report those that are not following his mandates.

He is the type of person that promotes having drag shows in our

state capitol building! He made Minnesota a trans sanctuary for those to

be brought into the state and have the gender reassignment surgery’s

with out the parents consent. He forces all schools

to have tampons in the boys restrooms!

He is the ultimate leftist. You name it he has done it or attempted

to do it here In Minnesota. He has left our state in such a mess

culturally and economically that us in greater Minnesota might not have

any option left but to secede and join South Dakota!

Walz is basically a Teflon man doing anything to hide his

tyrannical tendencies. He will do and say anything to push blame onto

others or get you to like him. When the opportunity is there he will

push the leftist agenda until he runs out of time.

He has had the ultimate media protection here in Minnesota.

Hopefully, the national spotlight will be tougher and can stop him, but

I’m nervous. He is an excellent conman who we haven’t been able to

stop yet. Honestly I’d watch for him to replace Kamala

at the top of the ticket at some point.

Thanks for all you do!

Thomas

Minnesota Free State

Mnfreestate.com

Tim Kaine vs Tim Walz

Soy

Having said that, here is some background on Walz. In 2020, he allowed the city of Minneapolis to burn for days before stopping it, because he agreed with people’s anger toward police. More than 1000 buildings were burned or damaged. Obviously, he is for defunding the police. He is for the gender transitioning of kids (surgical and chemical castration), and for men in women’s sports. He favors sanctuary cities and supports the insane Green New Deal. During Covid, he allowed retail stores half capacity while limiting churches to ten people. He raised taxes on citizens while giving illegals free tuition and driver’s licenses. Much more could be said of his progressive, leftist ideologies but suffice it to say the Harris/Walz ticket is the most progressive, farthest left ticket in America’s history.

Former Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachman,(1) who served with him in Congress, says, “Tim Walz is a radical’s radical.

“I went to Congress with Tim Walz in 2006 and served with him for eight years. On the outside, he looks like an awe-shucks, back-slapping, nice guy politician, when in fact, he is as radical as AOC or more…

“Walz passed the strongest transgender protection bill in the country and the strongest pro-abortion bill in the country…

“He was chosen because the Islamic community pressured Harris to ditch Jewish Shapiro [Governor of PA], who had served in the IDF [Israeli Defense Force] - her Islamic backers wouldn’t have that.”

The brilliant Ben Carson posted to Instagram:(2)

“Tim Walz enabled the burning of Minneapolis. Kamala Harris promoted a bail fund for those who lit the fires. I said yesterday that Kamala=Chaos. Kamala + Walz = Venezuela 2.0”

What does all of this tell us about America? The Democrat Party?

Organized by Rep. Eric Swalwell (CA-14)

Hosted by former Daily Show guy, Paul Mecurio

Jon Hamm

Rep. Eric Swalwell (CA-14)

Donnie (Stand Up NY)

Kathy Griffin

Sia

John Pritzker

Adam Pally

Rep. Maxwell Frost, (FL-10)

Nick Offerman (he did a parody of Lee Greenwood's I'm Proud to be an American)

**22,465 count @ 26 minutes**

Tiffany Haddish (she twerked! Might have been the low point.)

Ike Barinholtz

Mark Hamill

**23,367 count @ 39 minutes**

Lake Bell

John Stamos & Matt Friend (Friend is good impressionist)

Michigan State Senator Mallory McMorrow

Rosie O’Donnell

Ed Helms

Phoebe Robinson

Kathy Griffin (pops in and says she’s matching Ben Stiller’s $20K)

Lisa Ann Walter & Tom Arnold

Kevin Nealon

Rep. Jared Moskowitz (FL-23)

George Wallace

20,927 count @ 80 minutes

Last night, Kamala Harris personally filed an updated Statement of Candidacy (aka Form 2) to designate Tim Walz as her running mate.

Since she used Biden’s personal candidate ID number (P80000722) instead of her own (P00009423), the FEC records are convoluted. Her newly filed Form 2 shows up on Biden's personal FEC page. But if you look at the 2024 election cycle, Biden is erased and replaced with Harris, as if he was never never running for President.

Looking at Biden’s campaign committee’s FEC record, it’s now associated with both Biden’s and Harris’s candidacies for President for the period of 2020-2022. But that makes no sense, because Harris’s Presidential run in 2020 was never linked to Biden’s, and she ceased her campaign for President in 2020 and did not run again until 2024. Now Harris’s personal FEC candidate ID number (P00009423)—which is supposed to follow her for all Presidential campaigns for life—is somehow linked to Biden’s Presidential campaign in 2020. Only her Vice-Presidential campaign was ever linked to Biden’s, but that is separate from any Presidential campaigns.

The current 2023-2024 FEC record for “Biden for President” (aka “Harris for President,” ID number C00703975) is linked to two Presidential candidates. Both are both named “Kamala Harris.” One of these candidates is associated with Harris’s candidate ID number (P00009423), and the other “Kamala Harris” is associated with Biden’s candidate ID number (P80000722).

The Statement of Candidacy that Kamala Harris filed on July 29, using Biden’s personal candidate ID number (P80000722), now shows up under Harris’s ID number. But last night’s filing for that same candidate—number P80000722—shows up for the other “Kamala Harris” who is running for President. (Based on what happened previously, I suspect the FEC will shift these records in the future, to make it seem like there aren’t so many discrepancies between the names and the ID numbers.)

Confused? That’s because these filings from Harris are irregular. If Kamala Harris had used her own candidate ID number, like every other candidate in modern history, this wouldn’t have been so complicated, but then it would have been difficult to make the case that she’s entitled to Biden’s war chest. Undoubtedly, these filings are trying to circumvent those pesky campaign finance laws.

By the way, since Walz has never run for President, he doesn’t have his own FEC candidate ID for a Presidential run. According the the logic of Harris’s supporters, Walz is equally entitled to any funds from the campaign committee associated with ID number C00703975. And, just as Harris felt entitled to file an amended Statement of Candidacy using Biden’s personal candidate ID number because she was the Vice Presidential candidate, Walz could do the same, using Biden’s personal candidate ID number to run for President if he wanted to. The Democrats could pass this campaign down in perpetuity, without even obtaining the formal agreement of the prior candidate.

This reminds me of a system of government that isn’t considered anything like a democracy.

Interestingly, they point out "AI" and regular expressions which is kinda funny.

But the important piece I see here is that they went through one round of testing:

> The new IPC Template Type defined 21 input parameter fields, but the integration code that

invoked the Content Interpreter with Channel File 291’s Template Instances supplied only 20

input values to match against. This parameter count mismatch evaded multiple layers of

build validation and testing,

They then say that:

> On July 19, 2024, two additional IPC Template Instances were deployed. One of these

introduced a non-wildcard matching criterion for the 21st input parameter. These new

Template Instances resulted in a new version of Channel File 291 that would now require

the sensor to inspect the 21st input parameter.

They do not say how why THAT failed testing though. That seems like a glaring omission from this RCA. They seem to have _some_ testing in place, but not full integration testing of their changes. (Speculation: perhaps this new version with non-wildcard matching was an "AI" introduced change?)

According to them, this was an out-of-bounds check caused by supporting 21 inputs instead of the previous 20. This really doesn't answer any of the questions I have (as a profession Software Engineer) and would be very concerned about this report if I was one of their customers.

ITM

Bobby

Link

Link to Article

Archived Version

Thu, 08 Aug 2024 16:59

The Chang'e 6 lunar probe and the Long March-5 Y8 carrier rocket combination sit atop the launch pad at the Wenchang Space Launch Site in Hainan province, China, on May 3, 2024.

Eduardo Baptista | Reuters

China on Tuesday launched its first batch of internet satellites that will form part of a constellation it hopes will rival SpaceX's Starlink.

Known as "Thousand Sails," the constellation is a low-Earth orbit set of more than 15,000 satellites that China has said will create global internet coverage.

A Long March 6A carrier rocket took off from the Taiyuan launch center in the northern Shanxi Province of China to deliver the initial 18 satellites into space, according to the Chinese Academy of Sciences, which called the mission a complete success.

By 2025, China is aiming to deploy 648 satellites in the first phase of the constellation's build-out to create an internet network with global coverage, according to state media CCTV.

China's constellation is known as a low-Earth orbit '-- or LEO '-- set of satellites that aim to provide internet coverage. Two high-profile names in the space are Starlink, developed by Elon Musk's SpaceX, and OneWeb, which is owned by European firm Eutelsat .

The launch of an internet constellation underscores China's big space ambitions and Beijing's bid to dislodge the U.S. dominance in the sector as the technology battle between the two nations expands.

In 2020, China completed the BeiDou network, a set of satellites forming a global navigation system to rival the U.S. government-owned Global Positioning System, or GPS, which is widely used across the world.

China's Chang'e-6 lunar probe returned to Earth on Tuesday, bringing back the first-ever samples from the unexplored far side of the moon. Beijing has also laid out plans to send its first crewed mission to Mars in 2033.

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Archived Version

Thu, 08 Aug 2024 16:08

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Chief of Army Staff of the Bangladesh Army

Waker-uz-Zaman (Bengali: à...'à...¯à...¼à...¾à...•à...¾à...°-à...‰à...'-à...'à...¾à...®à...¾à...¨ ; born 16 September 1966) is a four star general of the Bangladesh Army who is the current Chief of Army Staff (CAS) [ 2 ] of the Bangladesh Army since 23 June 2024. [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ] Prior to his appointment as CAS, he served as the Chief of General Staff (CGS) of the Bangladesh Army. [ 6 ] [ 7 ] [ 8 ] Previously, he served as the 15th Principal Staff Officer of Armed Forces Division. [ 9 ] [ 10 ]

Early life and education

Waker was born in Sherpur District on 16 September 1966. [ 11 ] He graduated from Defence Services Command and Staff College. He studied at the Joint Services Command and Staff College in the United Kingdom. [ 12 ] He holds a master's degree in defence studies from Bangladesh and a Master of Arts in defence studies from King's College, University of London. [ 13 ] [ 14 ]

Career

Waker was commissioned in 20 December 1985 from Bangladesh Military Academy in 13th BMA Long Course in the East Bengal Regiment. [ 12 ]

During his long military career, he taught at the Non-Commissioned Officer's Academy (NCOA), School of Infantry and Tactics (SI&T) and Bangladesh Institute of Peace Support Operation Training (BIPSOT). He served in the United Nations Mission in Liberia and United Nations Angola Verification Mission I. [ 12 ] He served as Deputy Assistant Military Secretary, Assistant Military Secretary and Deputy Military Secretary in Military Secretary's Branch, Army Headquarters. He served in Army Security Unit and Commanded the 17th East Bengal Regiment. He commanded the 46th Independent Infantry Brigade in Dhaka. Waker was appointed as Military Secretary of Bangladesh Army in Army Headquarters twice in 2013 and 2017 subsequently. [ 12 ]

After that he was appointed at 9th Infantry Division as GOC and Area Commander of Savar Area. [ 15 ] On 30 November 2020, Waker was promoted to Lieutenant General and appointed Principal Staff Officer of Armed Forces Division. [ 16 ] He served as the chairperson of Bangladesh National Authority for Chemical Weapons Convention. [ 17 ] He was a member of the governing body of the National Defence College. [ 18 ]

He was appointed as Chief of General Staff (CGS) of Bangladesh Army on 29 December 2023. [ 19 ] General Wakar is also worked as the acting chairman of the Central Coordination Committee of Cantonment Public Schools and Colleges. In 11 June 2024, Government of Bangladesh appointed him as the next chief of army staff. [ 20 ]

Interim government formation

On 5 August 2024, following Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's flight from Bangladesh amidst the 2024 Bangladesh quota reform movement, Waker announced his intention to form an interim government, promising that the military would investigate violence against protesters and hand over power. Members of the interim government led by Nobel laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus will take oath 8th August, three days after the cabinet was dissolved following the resignation of Sheikh Hasina. Army chief, General Zaman said the oath-taking ceremony is likely to be held at 8:00pm in presence of some 400 dignitaries.

He hinted that the interim government may have 15 members for now. He, however, did not disclose their names and the possible tenure of the government. [ 21 ] [ 22 ] [ 23 ]

Personal life

Waker is married to Begum Sarahnaz Kamalika Rahman who is the eldest daughter of late General Mustafizur Rahman and the couple have two daughters. [ 14 ] His father-in-law General Rahman served as the Chief of Army Staff of the Bangladesh Army from 24 December 1997 to 23 December 2000; he was Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's uncle. [ 24 ] [ 25 ] Waker's wife is Hasina's cousin. [ 26 ]

References

^ "Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus Named Chief Advisor Of Bangladesh Interim Government: Updates". NDTV.com. Archived from the original on 7 August 2024 . Retrieved 7 August 2024 . ^ "Chief of Army Staff". Bangladesh Army. Archived from the original on 4 August 2024. ^ "General Waker-Uz-Zaman takes charge as Chief of Army Staff". The Financial Express (Bangladesh). 23 June 2024. Archived from the original on 23 June 2024. ^ "Lt Gen Waker-Uz-Zaman named new army chief". The Daily Star. 11 June 2024 . Retrieved 15 June 2024 . Lieutenant General Waker-Uz-Zaman, OSP, SGP, psc, Chief of General Staff (CGS) has been promoted to general and appointed as the Chief of Army Staff ^ "Lt Gen Waker-Uz-Zaman appointed new army chief". The Business Standard. 11 June 2024 . Retrieved 15 June 2024 . ^ "Lt Gen Waker-Uz-Zaman posted to CGS in army". The Daily Star. 31 December 2023. ^ "Lieutenant General Waker-Uz-Zaman has been appointed as the 18th Chief of Army Staff". The Business Standard. 11 June 2024 . Retrieved 15 June 2024 . ^ "Lt Gen Waker-Uz-Zaman appointed army chief". Dhaka Tribune. 11 June 2024 . Retrieved 15 June 2024 . The government has appointed Lieutenant General Waker-Uz-Zaman as the new army chief of Bangladesh, effective from June 23, the Inter-Services Public Relations (Bangladesh) (ISPR) announced on Tuesday. ^ "Lieutenant General Wakar made PSO". New Age BD . Retrieved 3 November 2021 . ^ "New PSO adorned with Lt Gen rank badge". The Financial Express BD. 1 December 2020. Archived from the original on 23 June 2024. ^ "New army chief Waker-uz-Zaman". RTV (Bangladeshi TV channel). 11 June 2024. ^ a b c d "General Waqar-uz-Zaman promoted, made PSO at Armed Forces Division". bdnews24.com. Archived from the original on 23 June 2023 . Retrieved 31 December 2020 . ^ "General Waker-Uz-Zaman takes over as Army Chief of Bangladesh". Daily Sun. 23 June 2024. ^ a b "Principal Staff Officer (PSO), AFD | Armed Forces Division(AFD)". afd.gov.bd . Retrieved 4 November 2021 . ^ "GOC of Ninth Infantry Division and Commander of Savar Area Major General Waqar-uz-Zaman handing over the championship trophy to Savar Area team, which emerged the champions of the Bangladesh Army Hockey Competition at the Savar Cantonment on Thursday". The New Nation . Retrieved 3 November 2021 . ^ "New PSO adorned with Lieutenant General rank badge". Dhaka Tribune. 30 November 2020 . Retrieved 31 December 2020 . ^ "Honorable Chairman". bnacwcafd.gov.bd . Retrieved 31 December 2020 . ^ "National Defence College". ndc.gov.bd . Retrieved 31 December 2020 . ^ "Lt Gen Waker-Uz-Zaman appointed as new army chief". jagonews24.com . Retrieved 11 June 2024 . ^ "Lt General Waker-Uz-Zaman appointed as new army chief". The Business Standard. 11 June 2024. ^ https://asianews.network/ ^ Alam, Julhas; Pathi, Krutika (5 August 2024). "Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigns and leaves Bangladesh, ending 15-year rule". Associated Press . Retrieved 5 August 2024 . ^ "Who will run Bangladesh's interim govt? I'm taking full responsibility, says army chief". Firstpost. 5 August 2024 . Retrieved 5 August 2024 . ^ "Lieutenant General Wakar made PSO". New Age BD . Retrieved 4 November 2021 . ^ "Former army chief Mustafiz is buried". bdnews24.com . Retrieved 1 August 2023 . ^ "General Waker-Uz-Zaman takes over as army chief". Prothom Alo. 23 June 2024. External links

Media related to Waker-uz-Zaman at Wikimedia Commons

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Archived Version

Thu, 08 Aug 2024 15:02

Jaque Silva | SOPA Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images

Apple could charge its users up to $20 for its advanced artificial intelligence features, analysts told CNBC, as the company looks to boost the growth of its lucrative services business.

The Cupertino giant plans to rollout Apple Intelligence, its forthcoming AI system, across some of its devices later this year.

When Apple announced its AI system in June, the company promised a bolstered Siri voice assistant, as well as features including the ability to automatically generate emails and images. While these features will roll out slowly, with regions such as China and Europe initially not receiving access, Apple could charge a subscription for the more advanced apps, analysts said.

Neil Shah, partner at Counterpoint Research, said investment in AI is expensive and Apple will want to pass that cost onto its users.

"Software and services makes it more lucrative for Apple to pass it on with the Apple One subscription model," Shah told CNBC in an interview last week.

Apple One costs $19.95 a month and gives users access to various Apple services including Apple Music.

Shah said Apple could charge between $10 and $20 for Apple Intelligence, potentially as part of Apple One, for more premium AI features.

Apple's services division brought in $24.2 billion in the June quarter, making it unique as many other hardware firms have not managed to monetize software.

"Apple is one of the few connected devices companies that has successfully monetized the value-added services it offers," Ben Wood, chief of research at CCS Insight, told CNBC this week.

"As a result, it has set a precedent with its users that they have to pay for more premium services. On this basis, it can't be ruled out that Apple may choose to charge for more advanced features within its Apple Intelligence offering."

Wood added that Apple Intelligence could give the U.S. giant an option to launched a bundled subscription service with various services under a single price.

"But equally Apple will be reluctant to dilute revenue from individual products subscriptions," he said.

It is not unusual for technology firms to charge for their AI offerings. OpenAI, for example has a subscription fee for more advanced ChatGPT features and Microsoft charges for its AI Copilot tool.

Apple's biggest rival Samsung, which has already begun rolling out its artificial intelligence services known as Galaxy AI, is still considering various revenue models for its software, its mobile boss told CNBC last month.

For Apple, AI gives the company a chance to further lock in its already loyal customer base, according to Shah, because Apple Intelligence will learn from a user's behavior and become more personalized.

"The beauty of AI is as you use [it] more and more, it learns about you, and you get locked into the model itself because you can't bring your own model from Apple to Android," Shah said.

"That is where you start using more and more, you get used to it more and that is where Apple monetization hits."

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Archived Version

Thu, 08 Aug 2024 14:55

Is The AI Bubble About To Burst?

Adobe StockFollowing a turbulent few weeks in the stock market, there's a lot of speculation that the AI ''bubble'' may be about to burst.

Many companies that are involved in AI have seen the value of their stock rocket dramatically over the past year or so. The most celebrated example is Nvidia, whose stock price has more than tripled since last summer. Others heavily invested in AI, such as Google and Microsoft, have also seen large increases.

Big leaps in stock price'--particularly when they seem difficult to link to the generation of real value'--are sometimes seen by analysts as an indicator that prices are due for a correction.

It's hard to shake the feeling that we've seen all of this before. The hype and excitement around the newly emerged internet, which peaked in early 2000, was swiftly followed by the bursting of the "dot-com bubble." Many companies went out of business, the economy experienced a significant downturn, and many jobs were lost.

So, is this a bubble? While it is said that AI could add around $15 trillion to the value of the global economy, recent earnings reports from the likes of Google and Tesla have been less than stellar, leading to the recent dips in share prices. At the same time, there are reports that the general public is becoming more distrustful of AI and that businesses are finding it difficult to make money from it.

Does this mean that the AI revolution'--touted as holding the solution to problems as diverse as curing cancer and saving the environment'--is about to come crashing down around our ears?

Personally, I don't think so. But even if it does, in the long run, that might not even turn out to be a bad thing for AI adoption.

Is This 2000 All Over Again?There are certainly striking similarities between what we are seeing today and the economic and market conditions that led up to the great dot-com bubble burst of 2000.

Both periods saw huge increases in stock prices and company valuations, seemingly driven by hopes and expectations for the future rather than tangible present-day results.

This has led to big stock indexes like the S&P 500, which heavily consists of tech stocks, mirroring the weighting of internet companies back at the turn of the century.

Just as was the case with the internet back then, all large companies are seeking to increase their valuations by leveraging their commitment to AI, with its promise of unlocking huge profits and growth further down the road.

However, there are also some very important differences. For a start, today's AI leaders'--companies like Microsoft, Nvidia, Alphabet and Meta'--are already hugely profitable. They have proven business models and solid, reliable revenue streams that most likely won't dry up even in the unlikely scenario that all of their AI plans fail.

This simply wasn't the case for many of the hundreds of companies that failed when the dot-com bubble burst'--most of which you've probably completely forgotten about by now.

With ''all their eggs in one basket,'' so to speak, they were just not set up to survive even a temporary dip in the market's enthusiasm for the internet gold rush.

Things are very different today. Even if it turns out we're not quite ready to make the leap to a fully automated, AI-driven society just yet, Google and Meta's advertising services, Amazon's shopping business and Tesla's cars will keep those companies going until we are.

In addition, their huge user bases and vast amounts of proprietary data serve as protection against upstarts hoping to sneak in and launch competing AI services under their noses.

However, it's important to note that even these tech giants aren't immune to external pressures. The ongoing Google antitrust case, for instance, could have far-reaching implications not just for Google, but for other major players in the tech industry as well. Nvidia is already facing two separate antitrust probes from the U.S. Department of Justice, focusing on its acquisition of Run:ai and alleged anti-competitive practices in the AI chip market. These legal and regulatory challenges could potentially reshape the landscape for Big Tech's AI ambitions.

It's also worth mentioning that while the established tech companies have diversified revenue streams, there are newer players like OpenAI and Anthropic that are primarily focused on AI. Unlike many dot-com era startups, these AI-centric companies benefit from the support and partnerships of larger tech firms. Moreover, the AI startup landscape is less crowded than the dot-com boom, with fewer companies gaining significant traction. This more concentrated field of serious contenders might lead to a different outcome than we saw in the early 2000s.

So, Is It Safe For Me To Invest All My Money In AI Stocks?First of all, nothing I say here should be taken as investment advice, as I am not a financial advisor by any means.

But here's my opinion. It's clear that the hugely inflated valuations we've seen in the past year or two are indicative of a bubble; a correction could very well be on the cards and may even be underway right now.

Despite this, however, I believe the mid and long-term prospects for AI are incredibly strong. It certainly has the potential to be just as'--if not more'--transformative than the emergence of the internet in the late 20th century eventually proved to be.

I also believe that part of the reason we haven't seen many companies achieving real tangible value with AI just yet is that many leaders still aren't prepared for the AI revolution. You can read more about my thoughts about that here.

As the dot-com bubble burst, the companies that didn't survive were those that failed to think strategically about how the internet would impact their business and the opportunities it created.

Meanwhile, those that approached the internet not just as an opportunity to bring an existing business model online but as a way to radically rethink it from the ground up '--Amazon, Google, and Netflix are just three of the most obvious examples'--not only recovered but reached even greater heights.

This is why, even for a firm believer in the potential of AI like myself, acknowledging the likelihood that we are in a bubble of some sort and the fact that there could be some turbulence ahead is important.

Market corrections serve to remind us that the true, transformative potential of revolutionary advances like AI (or, indeed, the internet) lies in their practical applications and the real value they create rather than in speculative excitement and hype.

By refocusing our attention on genuine innovation and its tangible benefits, we become better equipped to recognize this value and make more informed decisions about our investments in the future of AI.

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Archived Version

Thu, 08 Aug 2024 14:41

H as the artificial intelligence bubble burst? The question has been on the lips of many this week as they have watched the stock market slide, with billions wiped off the value of technology companies that had boomed since the arrival of large language models. It was the economist Hyman Minsky who thought Wall Street encouraged too much risk and gulled investors into parting with cash for all the wrong reasons. The result was ruinous boom-and-bust cycles. His model began with ''displacement'', which is when investors get excited about something they don't fully understand '' something like AI.

Last year, OpenAI's ChatGPT chatbot got to 100 million users in two months. What follows displacement, according to Minsky, is boom, euphoria, profit-taking and panic. There's been a boom. It is reported that more than 200 AI startups globally are unicorns '' meaning they're valued at $1bn or more.

There's been plenty of euphoria too. Earlier this year, a report by the Wall Street Journal claimed that the CEO of OpenAI, Sam Altman, was in talks with investors to raise between $5tn and 7tn to reshape the global chip industry and thereby ensure the supply of the necessary computing power. The assumption here is that all that is needed to approach lifelike sentience is to increase computing power and make available the data to crunch. There are surely too many expectations for that bet to be a sure thing.

We could very well be in the stage of profit-taking. This is when there is a Wile E Coyote moment for stocks. When the cartoon character has run off a cliff, he looks down and realises that he's standing on thin air '' and plunges. With markets, investors suddenly clock that prices can't just keep rising '' and need to pull out their cash, causing share prices to crash. That's been happening to semiconductor stocks, particularly Nvidia, which is the only company currently capable of producing the graphics processing unit chips that power AI.

Whether we have reached the stage of Minskyian panic is moot. The bubble bursts as quickly as investors can flee the markets. Amazon's share price tumbled in part because analysts looked at its earnings and saw that the company spent lavishly on AI without much to show for it. Some venture capitalists think the party hasn't even begun. Yet so far the public haven't found much use for the technology. In a poll for the Reuters Institute, 29% of people in the UK said they had used ChatGPT, but only 2% used it daily. Most people who tried the chatbot, wrote the analyst Benedict Evans, ''didn't see how it was useful''.

Those concerns might bother the markets, but humanity has larger things to worry about. If AI's development is not managed carefully, many argue, humanity risks engineering its own extinction. Politicians say the technology is advancing at such a rapid pace that there must be protections for the public. Notably, California is considering a law that would, in the event of misuse of an AI model, hold liable not only the party responsible but the original developer of that model. That pits the state's key industry against many of its lawmakers. If anything ought to bring the AI juggernaut to a halt, then surely societal considerations are better than financial speculation.

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Thu, 08 Aug 2024 13:48

Initially, many saw paper straws as a solution to the plastic straw problem, but they have their own set of issues. They break down easily, making them difficult to use, so manufacturers tried to address this by making them stronger. However, this also makes them harder to recycle. As a result, they haven't gained widespread acceptance.

Recently, researchers have discovered that they have an even more serious issue, which could ultimately lead the public to reject them as a viable alternative.

Toxic. A team of researchers from the University of Antwerp in Belgium, has published a study on paper straws in the journal Food Additives and Contaminants, and it's not good news.

After analyzing 39 brands of straws made of various materials such as plastic, paper, glass, stainless steel, and bamboo, the team found that paper straws contain the most perfluoroalkylated and polyfluoroalkylated substances, also known as PFAS. These synthetic substances are considered harmful to humans, animals, and the environment.

What are PFASs? According to the European Environment Agency, PFASs are known as ''forever chemicals'' because they're extraordinarily persistent. ''They can lead to health problems such as liver damage, thyroid disease, obesity, fertility issues and cancer,'' the EU agency says.

While these substances pose a very low individual risk, on a large scale, they can be an additional exposure factor and lead to increased health problems. In addition to straws, PFAS can be found in packaged foods, fabrics, paints, electronics, and pizza boxes. The most studied PFAS chemicals are PFOA and PFOS (perfluorooctane sulfonate).

Why are PFASs in paper straws? The report found that these PFASs were present in 27 out of 39 tested straw brands. The percentage was even higher for paper straws, as 18 out of 20 brands contained these perfluorinated chemicals. However, it's unclear why this is the case. These substances might be present accidentally due to the manufacturing process, or they could be intentionally added as a waterproof coating to enhance straw durability.

Stainless steel straws are a much better option. While they're more expensive, the report states that glass or stainless steel straws are the best choices. Plastic straws are still the worst option, and paper straws don't seem to be an effective alternative because of to the high PFAS content, despite being marketed as environmentally friendly.

Stainless steel straws aren't harmful to the environment and don't degrade because they're reusable. Although they're currently less popular due to their higher cost, perhaps it's time to consider straws as another piece of cutlery.

This article was written by Enrique P(C)rez and originally published in Spanish on Xataka.

Image | Meghan Rodgers

Related | We've Been Recycling the Trash We Produce for Decades. Experts Say It Hasn't Made a Difference

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Thu, 08 Aug 2024 13:45

President Joe Biden is sitting down for a major interview with CBS News before Vice President Kamala Harris, who has not done any media appearances since launching her presidential campaign.

The White House announced Wednesday that the president filmed an interview with Bob Costa for CBS Sunday Morning and it is set to air on Aug. 11. It will be Biden's first sitdown interview since dropping out of the presidential race. Harris, who the president endorsed upon exiting the race, has held rallies and fundraisers across the country but yet has not done a press conference or interview since becoming the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. (RELATED: Trump Campaign's Simple Plan To Destroy Kamala Harris: Get Her Off-Script)

Per pooler @stevennelson10: VP Harris had ''a roughly 4-minute off-the-record conversation with reporters'' on Air Force Two. There have been a few of these over the last 2 weeks.

Yet, Harris still has not done an on-the-record sit-down interview since launching her campaign.

'-- Reagan Reese (@reaganreese_) August 6, 2024

After notifying the nation he was exiting the race through a letter posted to social media, the president gave an Oval Office address in an attempt to explain his decision. The 81-year-old made no mention of his health but instead spoke about how he stepped down for the sake of ''unity,'' including that it was time to ''pass the torch.''

Previously, in an attempt to save his campaign, the president rushed to do media interviews to prove his fitness for office. Biden, who has traditionally ducked out traditional media appearances, sat down for two TV interviews, the first with ABC News' George Stephanopoulos and then NBC News' Lester Holt. The president also did a solo press conference, his first of the year.

US President Joe Biden (L) and US Vice President Kamala Harris wave after watching the Independence Day fireworks display from the Truman Balcony of the White House in Washington, DC, on July 4, 2024. (Photo by Mandel NGAN / AFP) (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Harris has historically been more available for media than Biden, though a shift in her media strategy began after a sit down interview with Holt in 2021 where she admitted she still hadn't visited the southern border, according to Semafor. Harris' retreat from media appearances in the aftermath of the Holt clip has allowed the clip to continue to circulate and make headlines for years, the outlet reported.

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during an NCAA championship teams celebration on the South Lawn of the White House on July 22, 2024 in Washington, DC. U.S. President Joe Biden abandoned his campaign for a second term after weeks of pressure from fellow Democrats to withdraw and just months ahead of the November election, throwing his support behind Harris. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

More than two weeks into her campaign, the Harris campaign has not put forth a platform on its website. Instead, the website introduces Harris and her running mate, Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

WASHINGTON, DC '' AUGUST 02: U.S. President Joe Biden briefly speaks to journalists as he departs the White House on August 02, 2024 in Washington, DC. Biden is headed to his home in Delaware one day after greeting three Americans, including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who were freed from Russian prison as part of a multinational prisoner swap. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

''Now she is running for President of the United States to continue protecting our freedoms, delivering justice, and expanding opportunity so that every American can not just get by, but get ahead,'' the website reads.

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Thu, 08 Aug 2024 04:01

Rioting breaks out in Bangladesh after prime minister flees country.Massacres and ethnic cleansing of Hindus continued in Bangladesh after what many observers are calling a US-sponsored ''color revolution'', apparently instigated by Former US Ambassador Peter Haas and Assistant Secretary of State Donald Lu. India is evacuating its citizens from Bangladesh as Muslim death squads target Hindus and even their former Communist allies.

America, it's time to wake up and confront the brutal reality unfolding in Bangladesh.

Jihadis are hanging bodies of their ''political opponents'' (non-Muslims) from lampposts and trees. Meanwhile, our open-border left-wing politicians are importing Islamic ''migrants'' with these'... pic.twitter.com/x7rut154Xe

'-- Amy Mek (@AmyMek) August 6, 2024

India began evacuating non-essential diplomatic personnel from Dhaka, flying 400 people from Dhaka to New Delhi on Wednesday August 7, 2024 on special flights.

Hindu houses and businesses were attacked and looted by mobs in at least 27 districts yesterday, The Daily Star reported. Close to 25 people have been killed and over 150 hospitalized in the fire at the Zabeer International Hotel, which was set on fire by protestors on Monday.

In a video, Islamists can be seen encircling a dead victim lying on the ground, checking the victim's private parts for circumcision. ''Shouting 'Hindu, Hindu' over the corpse, the crowd hovering over the dead body laughs, realizing that the man is a Hindu because he is not circumcised,'' OP India reported.

The home of Hindu music star Rahul Ananda, a 140-year-old house in Dhaka, was looted and set on fire by an Islamic mob Monday, destroying his collection of 3,000 handmade musical instruments.

''They're Hindus, kill them all'', Muslim youths said as they attacked a family of 4 Hindus in in Rajkot district.

Muslim radicals Jamaat-e-Islami turned on their former allies of the Communist Party of Bangladesh, killing and mutilating their leaders.

Massive attacks continue against Hindus in Bangladesh'...

The Hindu Voice reports that this video is from the Dinajpur district.

Jihadis attacked a Hindu village named Jayganj, located under the jurisdiction of Khansama Police Station in Dinajpur.

Hindu houses were set on'... pic.twitter.com/N0YI5SD5SR

'-- Amy Mek (@AmyMek) August 6, 2024

While Western globalist media loyal to the Biden Regime portray the violent coup against the elected Prime Minister and Hindu genocide in Bangladesh as some sort of victory of ''democracy'', local observers have identified U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu as the key figure in the bloody color revolution playing out across the world's tenth-most populous country.

As Gateway Pundit reported, the elected Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has openly accused the Biden Regime of seeking to topple her government with a ''color revolution'' for her refusal to allow the US to establish a military base in Bangladesh and to cut ties with Russia and China.

US-backed economist Muhammad Yunus was named unelected ruler of the miliary junta.

''I [do not think it's] credible that a group of students could bring down a government in such a short time'', journalist KJ Noh told Sputnik News. ''We do know that the NED has been pouring millions of dollars to NGO groups in Bangladesh '' $4 million in 2021 alone,'' Noh explained. ''That in itself is necessary, but not sufficient.''

''There seems to be a clear US hand at play in taking advantage of the student protests to topple the democratically-elected government of PM Hasina. The students are an easily influenced group, and sadly in this case, they succumbed to influence from the West in calling for Hasina's ouster,'' Air Marshal M Matheswaran, told Sputnik India.

Matheswaran said the US has had no ''qualms'' in destabilizing any country for its ''selfish interests'', adding that Washington had time and again been guilty of backing ''radicals'' in power in various regions at different points of history.

Donald Lu was US Ambassador to Albania (2015-2018) and Kyrgyzstan (2018-2021), where he was accused of interfering in the politics of other countries, as Pakistan Today reports. In Albania, Lu was accused of threatening Attorney General Adriatik Llalla, who wrote to the Albanian President to complain of the US ambassador's ''brash behavior''

Donald Lu was also apparently involved in the 2015 color revolution in Macedonia that brought down conservative Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski together with Victoria Nuland.

He was promoted the Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs by the Biden administration in September 2021. After the Russian Invasion of Ukraine in Feb 2022, Lu traveled to Bangladesh and India with Undersecretary of State to put those countries under pressure to turn their backs on Russia.

Lu returned to Bangladesh in 2023 and May 2024, promising the US ''respects Bangladesh's sovereignty'' in the face of accusations by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina that a ''white-skinned'' foreign country wants to install an airbase in Bangladesh and is ''conspiring against her government after being rejected.''

Former Pakistani PM Imran Khan has also accused Lu of instigating his ouster in April 2022 after public disagreements with the US administration. ''Lu dismissed these claims as conspiracy theories, '' Pakistan Today writes.

Trending: Streamer with Nearly 30 Million Total Followers Melts Down After Getting Harassed by Kamala Harris' Campaign and Secret Service for Livestream Collaboration: 'I Don't Know Anything About Politics'... I Don't Give a F'--K'

Pay Attention America!

Joe Biden, Obama, and their Globalist buddies are at it again, this time in #Bangladesh

''Do not think what has happened in Bangladesh is specific to Bangladesh. This is what happens when the American Deep State intervenes in any country''

''This is what'... pic.twitter.com/5Gp9bkA9QF

'-- Amy Mek (@AmyMek) August 6, 2024

''The self-anointed Human Rights, democracy and virtue-signalling Police of the World, the United States of America has earned infamy for meddling in the internal affairs of other countries, their election process and their key policy measures in the garb of Human Rights reports and sermons thereof'', OP India wrote. ''Donald Lu is the American equivalent of a 'Chinese wolf warrior'. He had often expressed concerns about Human Rights issues (read warnings to countries that do not toe US dictation) in India under the tenure of the Modi government as well as several other countries around the world.''

Indian observers accuse Lu and the Biden puppet regime of seeking regime change in India as well. ''Geopolitical expert Dr. Anant Bhagwat had said the Biden administration did not want a stable government in India, because during the ten years of the stable Modi government, India followed a strong and independent foreign policy and it was undeterred by external pressures'', OP India writes.

''Donald Lu is a hated figure in India due to his interference attempts in Indian democracy. Last year, he entertained Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi at the White House,'' Bhagwat said.

In 2023, Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi had ''a secret meeting at the US White House'' where he met Donald Lu as well as other officials of the Biden administration, OP India writes. During his US trip, Gandhi ''made several contentious remarks including seeking 'foreign intervention' to restore 'democracy in India' as it was a global public good.''

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Archived Version

Wed, 07 Aug 2024 19:28

Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz has faced multiple lawsuits for allegedly infringing on religious liberty during his time as Minnesota governor.

Walz encountered legal challenges for lockdown policies that religious organizations argued were discriminatory, placing stricter requirements on churches than businesses. He also encountered pushback after signing a law that stripped faith-based schools of funding for a program that offers free college credits to high school students.

Walz determined in a May 13, 2020, executive order that retailers would be allowed to reopen at 50% capacity, but left religious gatherings capped at ten people. After Catholic and Lutheran churches in the state announced plans to resume meeting in-person regardless of the governor's order, he negotiated to allow religious groups to operate at 25% capacity, according to the Star Tribune.

Two churches nevertheless moved forward with their lawsuit over discriminatory treatment. Walz settled in May 2021 after the state's motion to dismiss was denied, agreeing to treat religious gatherings the same as ''the least restricted secular business regulated by the order.''

Three churches backed by the Thomas More Society also filed a lawsuit in August 2020 arguing Walz violated their religious liberties by mandating masks, limiting capacity and requiring social distancing.

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''Governor Walz, a former teacher, gets an F in religious liberties,'' Thomas More Society special counsel Erick Kaardal said in a press release at the time.

The Minnesota Supreme Court upheld in May Walz's declaration of a peacetime emergency in response to COVID-19, according to the Upper Midwest Law Center.

Walz also faced a lawsuit in May 2023 after he signed a law barring schools that require students to affirm a statement of faith from receiving funding from Minnesota's Post Secondary Enrollment Options (PSEO) program, which allows high school students to earn free college credits. Minnesota agreed not to enforce the law while the lawsuit is ongoing.

Becket senior counsel Diana Thomson called the state's decision to exclude faith-based schools ''patently anti-religious.''

Walz did sign legislation clarifying religious exemptions to the Minnesota Human Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination based on categories like race, religion, sex and sexual orientation, in May. Republicans pushed for the bill after the state Legislature added ''gender identity'' as a protected class but did not add a religious exemption, according to the Minnesota Reformer.

In April 2023, Walz signed a bill into law that banned ''conversion therapy,'' defined as any practice that seeks to ''change an individual's sexual orientation or gender identity,'' for clients under 18. At the same time, he signed a bill to make Minnesota a ''trans refuge'' state, which allows the state court to assume ''temporary emergency jurisdiction'' if a child has ''been unable to obtain gender-affirming health care.''

The Harris campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

LifeNews Note: Katelynn Richardson writes for Daily Caller. Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience.

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Wed, 07 Aug 2024 19:06

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404 Media is an independent website whose work is written, reported, and owned by human journalists and whose intended audience is real people, not AI scrapers, bots, or a search algorithm. Sign up to support our work and for free access to this article. Learn why we require this here.Nvidia scraped videos from Youtube and several other sources to compile training data for its AI products, internal Slack chats, emails, and documents obtained by 404 Media show.

When asked about legal and ethical aspects of using copyrighted content to train an AI model, Nvidia defended its practice as being ''in full compliance with the letter and the spirit of copyright law.'' Internal conversations at Nvidia viewed by 404 Media show when employees working on the project raised questions about potential legal issues surrounding the use of datasets compiled by academics for research purposes and YouTube videos, managers told them they had clearance to use that content from the highest levels of the company.

A former Nvidia employee, whom 404 Media granted anonymity to speak about internal Nvidia processes, said that employees were asked to scrape videos from Netflix, YouTube, and other sources to train an AI model for Nvidia's Omniverse 3D world generator, self-driving car systems, and ''digital human'' products. The project, internally named Cosmos (but different from the company's existing Cosmos deep learning product), has not yet been released to the public.

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Archived Version

Wed, 07 Aug 2024 18:21

When it comes to Big Tech giants, they don't get much bigger than Google. A colossal force, the company wields an extraordinary amount of power and influence. Its revenue is so immense that it rivals the GDP of small nations. This dominant position allows Google to control what billions of people see, read, and believe, shaping perceptions of truth and fiction on a global scale. As the primary gateway to the online world, Google acts as a filter for the world's knowledge, granting it unparalleled authority over public discourse.

A significant but often overlooked aspect of Google's vast influence is its subsidiary, Jigsaw, which was designed to combat online extremism, disinformation, and cyber threats. Jigsaw's tools and technologies are presented as essential safeguards for a safer internet. However, their development and deployment pose serious risks to privacy and freedom of expression, particularly in the United States, where political biases and corporate motives intersect in troubling ways.

Jigsaw's new tool, Altitude, exemplifies these concerns. Designed in collaboration with Tech Against Terrorism and the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT), Altitude is a free, open-source, self-hosted tool meant to help online platforms identify and manage terrorist and violent extremist content (TVEC). The practical implications of such a tool are incredibly dangerous.

At first glance (if you happen to be blind), Altitude seems like a benign solution to an actual problem. It allows moderators on various platforms to flag and remove content deemed extremist with a few clicks. This streamlined approach could help smaller platforms struggling to manage harmful content. However, the risk lies in how these tools are used and who decides what constitutes extremist content. This is where things start to become sinister.

Picture a scenario where Jigsaw's algorithms, which are designed to detect extremist content, are repurposed to suppress political speech that challenges the prevailing narratives. In the hands of governments with a specific agenda'--like the current administration, for example'--these tools could be weaponized to censor dissent. If a vocal critic of government policies or a journalist exposing corruption were to have their content flagged and removed under the guise of combating extremism, their ability to speak out would be severely compromised. In this scenario, Altitude doesn't just remove extremist content; it becomes a mechanism for stifling legitimate criticism and political opposition.

The potential misuse of Jigsaw's tools is exacerbated by Google's well-documented political biases. Unless you happen to live under a rock on a distant planet, it will come as little surprise to learn that Google exhibits a pronounced left-leaning bias. In the 2020 election cycle alone, Google's parent company, Alphabet, donated millions to Democratic candidates and committees. This financial support creates a conflict of interest, which would influence the impartiality of a tool like Altitude.

This political bias could manifest in how Jigsaw's tools are applied. Content that aligns with left-leaning views might be less likely to be flagged or removed, while content critical of these views could be targeted more aggressively. This selective application of content moderation could distort public discourse, limiting the range of opinions and perspectives available to users.

Google's past is littered with instances of misconduct and deceit, which cast doubt on its role as an arbiter of truth. The company's track record includes privacy breaches, deceptive practices, and legal battles over data misuse. For instance, Google has faced multiple lawsuits over its data collection practices, including allegations of tracking users' location without consent. These issues highlight a troubling pattern of prioritizing corporate interests over user privacy and ethical considerations.

In light of this history, the idea of Google using its technologies to control information becomes even more concerning. The removal of the "Don't be evil" clause from its code of conduct a few years ago marked a significant shift in the company's priorities, indicating a move towards profit and control at the expense of ethical considerations. This shift raises questions about why Google, with its history of questionable practices, should be trusted to decide what information is valid and what is not.

Jigsaw's development of tools like Project Shield, which aims to protect websites from cyberattacks, also brings privacy concerns to the forefront. While designed to prevent online threats, Project Shield involves extensive monitoring and data collection. This capability can be exploited by state actors to conduct widespread surveillance on citizens under the pretense of security. Data collected through such tools could be used to build detailed profiles of individuals, track their online activities, and target those who oppose government policies. As Edward Snowden showed us, when it comes to surveillance, even seemingly benign information can become a weapon of control, turning every keystroke into a potential threat and every click into a target for those who wield the power to watch, judge, and execute.

Moreover, rather ironically, Jigsaw's Outline, meant to help users bypass censorship, provides a blueprint for how authoritarian regimes could tighten their control over digital communications. By understanding and circumventing these tools, repressive governments could enhance their censorship tactics, making it even harder for citizens to access free and independent information.

It's important to note that Kamala Harris, currently a frontrunner for the presidency, has substantial backing from Silicon Valley. If the cackler-in-chief becomes president, Altitude would likely become a mechanism that potentially suffocates free speech, cutting off the oxygen that allows democratic discourse to thrive.

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Wed, 07 Aug 2024 18:19

Moscow previously said that the now-released WSJ journalist had attempted to gain intel on the national defense industry

RT has obtained an exclusive video showing the moment Russian law enforcement detained Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, as he attempted to hide what appeared to be a flash drive with illegally obtained classified data. The journalist was among those exchanged in last week's historic prisoner swap between Russia and the West.

The previously unpublished clip released on Monday shows Gershkovich's arrest in March 2023 in the Russian city of Ekaterinburg. The journalist is seen sitting in a restaurant with his 'source,' as the pair discuss in Russian how to hand over secret data on the country's defense industry in a way that won't allow the authorities to track the leak.

As Russian operatives swoop in, Gershkovich tries to hide what appears to be a flash drive containing the data under the table before being arrested. Commenting on the incident at the time, the Kremlin said the reporter had been ''caught red-handed,'' while Russia's Investigative Committee claimed he had engaged in espionage on behalf of the CIA.

Gershkovich has denied any wrongdoing and insisted he was merely doing his job as a reporter.

While the administration of US President Joe Biden declared Gershkovich '' the first American reporter arrested on espionage allegations since the Cold War '' as ''wrongfully detained,'' a Russian court sentenced him to 16 years in prison last month.

The journalist, however, was among 16 Western prisoners included in the landmark swap deal last week. In exchange, Russia secured the release of ten of its nationals. Intelligence operative Vadim Krasikov, who was sentenced by a German court for allegedly killing Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, a Chechen separatist with Georgian citizenship, in a Berlin park in 2019, was one of the most prominent Russian figures on the list.

Some of the evidence against Krasikov was provided by German magazine Der Spiegel, US government-funded website Bellingcat, and Russian opposition outlet The Insider.

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Wed, 07 Aug 2024 18:02

The national waiting list for children's gender care in England and Wales rose after the opening of two new specialist hubs, with more than 5,700 under-18s waiting an average of 100 weeks for a first appointment.

The two services, led by London's Great Ormond Street hospital (Gosh) and Alder Hey children's hospital in Liverpool, opened in April following the closure of the gender identity development service (Gids) run by the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust.

The new centres took on a total of 236 patients from Gids, but thousands more children are still awaiting appointments, data obtained by PA Media shows.

The figures have been described by experts as ''concerning'' and ''deeply depressing'', as they emphasised the importance of children and young people having ''timely access to the professional care and support they need''.

NHS England acknowledged the worry and distress long waiting times can cause but said plans due to be set out will help transform gender care services.

When Gids closed at the end of March, the number of children on the national waiting list was 5,560.

This rose to 5,769 by the end of May, and the youngest person on the waiting list at that point was under five years old, according to the freedom of information (FoI) requests by PA.

The exact age was not given as it constitutes personal third party data, NHS England said.

Of the 127 patients transferred from Gids to the Gosh gender service, all had been met for a first appointment by the end of May.

Alder Hey said all 109 patients transferred from Gids to its gender service were scheduled to be seen for a first appointment between its opening and 30 June.

The two new centres, which currently serve patients across England and Wales, have about 40 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff, the figures also showed.

When it opened, the Alder Hey hub had 7.8 FTE staff, a figure which has since risen to 15.7 as of 31 May.

Meanwhile the Gosh hub had 14.63 FTE staff employed upon opening, with the figure increasing to 24.23 by the end of June.

The figures do not refer to headcount of people employed but instead to the number of full-time equivalent positions, which allows the workforce for both clinics to be compared.

In its response to the Cass review in April, NHS England acknowledged that the ''transformation and expansion'' of its gender care service ''will take time to fully deliver, and the pace of progress will continue to be impacted by staffing challenges''.

NHS England has previously said it hopes the two centres will be the first of up to eight specialist centres as part of the north and south hubs over the next two years.

It is understood NHS Wales Joint Commissioning Committee hopes to work with NHS England to consider a regional centre in Wales in the future.

In her final report, Dr Hilary Cass said the length of the waiting list to access gender services had ''significant implications'' for children and their families.

She recommended a care model that was ''holistic and personal'', potentially comprising a wide range of interventions and services, including paediatric and mental health services.

It is understood the NHS plan for implementing the Cass recommendations is expected to be published soon.

Dr Roman Raczka, president of the British Psychological Society, said: ''These latest figures make for concerning reading. It is imperative that children and young people have timely access to the professional care and support they need.

''We must remember that behind the numbers, headlines and often toxic public discourse, there are children and young people who need to access care.

''All too often the issue of gender care which has played out in public has been damaging to the children, young people and families desperately seeking help and this must change.''

Ashley Grossman, an endocrinologist who has been practising for more than 40 years, and who has treated adult transgender patients, described the children's waiting list figures as ''deeply depressing'' but said they ''probably reflect the huge disparity in general between the requirements for mental health services for children and the resources available''.

The emeritus professor of endocrinology at the University of Oxford said: ''There seems to have been a large rise in demand for these services, especially since the isolation and loss of schooling during the pandemic, so I suspect this is a much wider problem than for children with gender dysphoria alone.''

An NHS spokesperson said: ''We know that children, young people and their families are worried and distressed about the time it can take to access treatment and support from gender services.

''NHS England is making good progress on delivering the recommendations of the Cass review '' expanding services with two new specialist centres which opened in April and more to follow, and we will shortly set out further detailed plans for how all of the Cass review's recommendations will be delivered in order to transform the provision of care in gender services.''

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: ''For too long, children and young people who are questioning their gender identity have struggled to get the support they need.

''We are working with NHS England to transform gender identity services to tackle waiting times and ensure everyone receives holistic care, guided by clinical experts, paediatricians and psychologists.''

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Wed, 07 Aug 2024 17:57

Elon Musk's social media platform, X, on Tuesday sued a global advertising alliance and several major companies, including Unilever, Mars and CVS Health, accusing them of unlawfully conspiring to shun the social network and intentionally causing it to lose revenue. The company formerly known as Twitter accused the defendants of a ''massive advertiser boycott''.

X filed the lawsuit in federal court in Texas on Tuesday against the World Federation of Advertisers as well as the companies individually.

''We tried peace for 2 years, now it is war,'' Musk tweeted on Tuesday.

The lawsuit said advertisers, acting through a World Federation of Advertisers initiative called Global Alliance for Responsible Media, collectively and maliciously withheld ''billions of dollars in advertising revenue'' from X. The company said they acted against their own economic self-interests in a conspiracy against the platform that violated US antitrust law.

In a statement on Tuesday about the lawsuit, X's chief executive, Linda Yaccarino, said: ''People are hurt when the marketplace of ideas is constricted. No small group of people should monopolize what gets monetized.''

''The consequence '' perhaps the intent '' of this boycott was to seek to deprive X's users, be they sports fans, gamers, journalists, activists, parents or political and corporate leaders, of the Global Town Square,'' she wrote.

The World Advertising Federation, Unilever, Mars, CVS Health and Orsted did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Ad revenue at X slumped for months after Musk bought the company in 2022. Brands had been wary of rapid changes initiated under Musk's ownership. Watchdog groups have catalogued a sharp rise in antisemitic content on X, including ads running beside posts expressing pro-Nazi sentiments, after Musk gutted the social network's content moderation teams. A suit filed by X against one such organization, Media Matters, is scheduled for trial in April 2025.

The advertising group launched the responsible media initiative in 2019 to ''help the industry address the challenge of illegal or harmful content on digital media platforms and its monetization via advertising''.

X said in its lawsuit that it had applied brand-safety standards that are comparable to those of its competitors and that ''meet or exceed'' measures specified by the Global Alliance for Responsible Media. The company is seeking unspecified damages and a court order against any continued efforts to conspire to withhold ad dollars.

The lawsuit said X had become a ''less effective competitor'' in the sale of digital advertising.

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Wed, 07 Aug 2024 17:57

Downing Street has criticised comments by Elon Musk who posted on X that ''civil war is inevitable'' under a video of violent riots in Liverpool.

Keir Starmer's spokesperson said the violence came from a small minority of people who ''do not speak for Britain'' and said the prime minister did not share the sentiments of the billionaire, who has previously been criticised for allowing far-right figures back on to his social media platform.

''There's no justification for comments like that,'' the spokesperson said. ''What we've seen in this country is organised, violent thuggery that has no place, either on our streets or online.

''We're talking about a minority of thugs that do not speak for Britain, and in response to it, we've seen some of the best of our communities coming out and cleaning up the mess [and] the disruption of those that don't speak for our country, and we've seen the response for people that do speak for our country. I think you can tell from that that the prime minister does not share those sentiments.''

Starmer warned after a Cobra meeting with senior cabinet ministers, police chiefs and Ministry of Justice officials that the police would pursue those organising online incitement.

''If you're inciting violence, it doesn't matter whether it's online or offline,'' he said. ''And therefore I expect, just as in relation to those that are directly participating on the streets, for there to be arrests and charging and prosecution.

''Equally, anyone who has been found to have committed a criminal offence online can expect the same response.''

Riots maps and timelineNo 10 said work was taking place to impress upon social media companies that they already had a duty to remove criminal content. ''The government is working with social media platforms to ensure that they are removing content quickly [and] that their processes are in place, but there is more that they can and should be doing,'' the spokesperson said.

''They have a responsibility to ensure the safety of their users and online spaces, to ensure that criminal activity is not being hosted on their platforms. They shouldn't be waiting for the Online Safety Act for that. They already have responsibilities in place under the law '... They have responsibilities that we will hold them to account for.''

The technology secretary, Peter Kyle, is expected to meet social media bosses in the coming days, the spokesperson said.

''We have seen some action over the last few days by social media companies to ensure that their automated processes are working, that there is rapid response to misleading criminal content online and that that is being suppressed or removed, but as I said, this doesn't go far enough and this is subject to the conversations that the DSIT [Department for Science, Innovation and Technology] secretary continues to have.''

Musk was responding to a video posted on X by the Libs of TikTok account, originally posted by the far-right activist Tommy Robinson, who has been spreading videos of rioting that has targeted mosques and hotels housing asylum seekers.

The X owner criticised Starmer again on Monday night, responding to the prime minister's statement on protecting Muslim communities and mosques.

Musk posted: ''Shouldn't you be concerned about attacks on *all* communities?''

Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, was banned from X in 2018, when it was known as Twitter, but his account was restored by Musk last year under his new ownership. Musk has since interacted with Robinson on the platform, posting exclamation marks under at least one of his posts about the violence.

Musk has amplified a number of accounts posting inflammatory content about the violence, by commenting or posting exclamation marks under the users' posts.

Speaking to reporters after the Cobra meeting, Starmer said a ''standing army'' of specialist public duty officers was being introduced to ensure police could deal with the disorder where needed.

The government has said there are enough prison places to deal with those going through the court system after hundreds of arrests, despite warnings a fortnight ago that prisons capacity was nearing its limit. An extra 70 prosecutors were on duty over the weekend to charge criminals, and more than 60 remand courts were held across 50 locations on Saturday.

Starmer said the blame for squeezed capacity in prisons lay with the previous government and that he was ''appalled'' it was even a consideration, but added: ''We will make this work and ensure that we have got the places that are needed to bring the perpetrators swiftly to justice.''

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Archived Version

Wed, 07 Aug 2024 17:53

In the rush toward recess last week, the Senate moved to correct an oversight that many Americans might not even be aware of when lawmakers passed a bill to designate the bald eagle as the national bird.

Since it was engraved on the Great Seal of the United States in 1782, the eagle has been universally assumed to be the country's national bird, just as the Baltimore oriole is the state bird in Maryland and the robin is so named in Connecticut, Michigan and Wisconsin.

But authors of books on the bald eagle discovered in recent years that Congress never officially designated a national bird, even though it's the only flying creature that adorns U.S. currency, many military insignias and the seals of numerous government agencies, including the departments of Defense and Justice.

''It's kind of astounding to me that no one's ever picked up on this before,'' said Preston Cook, who has collected more than 40,000 pieces of eagle memorabilia over nearly six decades that are now housed in the National Eagle Center, a nonprofit educational organization in Wabasha, Minn.

''But it's one of those little parts of history that I don't want to assume anymore,'' Cook said. ''I want to make sure it's in its rightful place, and that it is our national bird.''

Cook, who wrote ''American Eagle: A Visual History of Our National Emblem'' published in 2019, and Jack E. Davis, a history professor at the University of Florida who authored ''The Bald Eagle: The Improbable Journey of America's Bird'' published in 2022, teamed up this year to persuade lawmakers to make it official. They targeted those from states with some of the largest populations of bald eagles, asking them to introduce legislation declaring it the national bird of the United States.

The Senate bill from Minnesota Democrat Amy Klobuchar and Wyoming Republican Cynthia Lummis passed by unanimous consent on July 29.

''These majestic creatures have long been viewed as the official bird of this country and it is past time we made it official without costing taxpayers a single cent,'' Lummis said in a statement when the bill was introduced in June.

A companion bill sponsored by Rep. Brad Finstad, R-Minn., is expected to see action this fall. ''I am proud to work alongside the National Eagle Center in Wabasha to introduce this legislation which will officially classify the bald eagle as the national bird '-- its proper place of honor as an integral part of our national identity,'' Finstad said.

''There's really very little reason to not support it,'' Cook said. ''It doesn't call for appropriations or change anything, because everybody already thinks it's the national bird.''

From memorabilia to movementCook's lifelong obsession with eagles began when he was growing up in a family of collectors in California in the 1960s. He went to the 1965 movie ''A Thousand Clowns,'' in which the free-spirited Murray Burns, played by Jason Robards, visited an antique store in New York City and bought a statue of an eagle, saying, ''You can't have too many eagles.''

''As I left the theater I said to myself, 'That might be an interesting thing to collect,''' Cook said. A few months later he was drafted and was issued a uniform with brass buttons containing the Army seal, which features an eagle with an olive branch in one talon and 13 arrows in the other. Thus began his collection of more than 40,000 eagle items now on display at the center in Wabasha near Cook's current home on the banks of the Mississippi River.

About 15 years ago, Cook decided to write a book about his memorabilia and wanted to include a chronology of America's connections to eagles, starting with the adoption of the Great Seal of the United States on June 20, 1782, by the Second Continental Congress.

That's when he discovered that the eagle had never been officially designated as the national bird. He shared his findings with the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who had appointed Cook to the housing commission in San Francisco when she was mayor there in the late 1970s. Feinstein wrote to Cook in 2011 that he was correct. He and Davis, his fellow eagle devotee in Florida, used Feinstein's letter to convince Klobuchar and other lawmakers to introduce legislation to make the declaration.

Both Cook and Davis say the story of the bald eagle has some parallels in the history of America itself.

While the bald eagle has long been revered as a stalwart symbol of the nation's strength, it also was long reviled as a fierce predator of smaller animals weighing up to 5 pounds, which the majestic birds can swoop down and carry away, Davis said.

''Americans always loved the image of the bald eagle from 1782 on, but what they didn't appreciate was the species itself. Killing a bald eagle, throughout the 18th and 19th and into the early 20th century, was considered a civic duty'' to protect farm animals, backyard chickens and even babies, though there has never been a documented case of a child being killed by an eagle, he said.

The slaughter caused so much decimation of the bald eagle population that Congress passed a law in 1940 making it illegal to kill the birds or harm their eggs. That allowed the eagles to rebound, until the pesticide DDT was introduced after World War II as the principal method of killing mosquitoes that can spread malaria and other diseases.

Environmental researchers learned that DDT thinned the shells of eagle eggs so that most were destroyed when mother eagles sat on them in the nest. That discovery, made public by the writings of Rachel Carson, led to a ban on DDT in 1973, just after passage of the Endangered Species Act that added more federal protections for eagles.

''We pushed the bald eagle to the brink of extinction twice in the lower 48 states, but we redeemed ourselves twice,'' Davis said. Today there are an estimated 500,000 bald eagles in North America, he said.

''In many ways it does parallel our history,'' Cook said. ''It's a survival story. It's a story of success. For me it's a story of the government being involved with the survival of this bird, because if the government didn't step in then we wouldn't have that bird.''

Lummis said much the same thing when the Senate bill was passed last week.

''For more than 240 years, the bald eagle has been synonymous with American values, yet it is still not officially our national bird,'' she said. ''Today's bipartisan passage brings us one step closer to solidifying the eagle's place as an enduring symbol of our freedom, and I look forward to seeing this legislation pass the House and signed into law soon.''

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Archived Version

Wed, 07 Aug 2024 17:52

I , one of the People, (as seen in the 50 State Constitutions), Republican in Form, Sui Juris, do present you with this notice that you and your agents may provide due care;

Please take notice that the People, exercise our sovereign authority to address breaches of the Constitutional duty. Having conducted thorough study and preparation, are now uniting across the nation in a peaceful and orderly manner to instruct government officials, trustees, and servants to strictly adhere to fundamental principles to preserve liberty and maintain a free government. In America, all constitutions are established by the authority of the people alone, and no one in government has the authority to disregard the expressed written provisions of the original organic Constitution for the United States of America, circa 1787, as amended with the Bill of Rights in 1791. This established the United States as a Constitutional Republic and this Constitution as the supreme Law of the Land.

Your unconstitutional actions, as described herein, clearly demonstrate that you do not act within this Constitution or the Constitutional Republic it created, but instead act outside the Constitution, the supreme Law of this Land, and our Constitutional Republic. You have blatantly evaded your sworn Constitutional duties and unlawfully upheld lesser "laws" as superior to the Constitution. As described above, you are acting outside the Constitutional Republic, outside the Constitution, and beyond your limited delegated authority, which constitutes a war against the Constitution and the people. Thus, you are a domestic enemy to this nation and its Citizens.

According to the self-executing Sections 3 and 4 of the 14th Amendment, you have vacated your office upon committing these crimes. You cannot conduct any official business, and all your actions are null and void, without any legal effect. Additionally, you have forfeited all benefits associated with your former office, including salary and pension. You are constitutionally prohibited from receiving public funds and cannot hold any public office in this nation. Anyone who aids and abets these actions is also a domestic or foreign enemy of the Constitution and subject to removal or prosecution. The authorities cited below are Maxims of law, universally recognized and accepted by all, requiring no proof, argument, or discourse. Id. 67a

Maxim of Law 51k. The law is not to be violated by those in government. Jenk. Cent. 7.

Maxim of Law 11s. One lawfully commanding must be obeyed. Jenk. Cent. 120.

14th Amendment, Section 3: "No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability."

14th Amendment, Section 4: "The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void."

Emmerich de Vattel's The Law of Nations (Book III, Section 30): "To attack the constitution of the state, and to violate its laws, is a capital crime against society; and if those guilty of it are invested with authority, they add to this crime a perfidious abuse of the power with which they are entrusted. The nation ought constantly to repress them with its utmost vigour and vigilance, as the importance of the case requires."

Please take notice that all political power in our republican form of government resides originally in the people and is derived from them, and we are endowed by our Creator with certain natural, essential, inherent, indefeasible, and unalienable rights. We have instituted government to secure our rights as its sole and only legitimate function and every act of usurpation in the government, and consequently treason against the sovereignty of the people, occurs when public officials in a limited government go beyond the bounds that the constitution sets for their powers. The following authorities are cited below:

Maxim of Law 51o All Political Power is inherent in the people by decree of God, thus none can exist except it be derived from them. American Maxim

Objective of government. That the sole object and only legitimate end of government is to protect the citizen in the enjoyment of life, liberty, and property, and when the government assumes other functions, it is usurpation and oppression. Alabama Constitution, Article I, § 3

To secure these rights government is instituted among men deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. -Declaration of Independence

Maxim of Law 51p. The main object of government is the protection and preservation of personal rights, private property, and public liberties, and upholding the law of God. American Maxim.

Tucker Blackstone Vol. 1 Appendix Note B [Section 3] 1803 If in a limited government, the public functionaries exceed the limits which the constitution prescribes to their powers, every act is an act of usurpation in the government, and, as such, treason against the sovereignty of the people.

Maxim of Law 51r. As usurpation is the exercise of power, which another has a right to; so, tyranny is the exercise of power beyond right, which nobody can have a right to. Locke, Treat. 2, 18, 199.

Please take notice that Article VI, Clauses 2 and 3 of the Constitution obligate you, as someone who has taken an oath, to uphold the Constitution as the supreme law of the land. This law overrides any other laws, including federal and state statutes, codes, regulations, rules, and policies. By taking this oath, you have committed to supporting and defending both the national and state Constitutions. This commitment is binding, either through explicit or implicit agreement, to defend the Constitution of the United States and all state Constitutions in a manner that aligns with your conscience against all enemies, whether domestic or foreign. The form of assent'--whether through words, actions, or deeds'--is irrelevant. The failure of attorneys to understand the lawful obligation inherent in the oath of office for public servants, or the presentation of information contrary to the universally admitted authority of fundamental law to any government official or worker, does not excuse the government official or worker from failing to understand their duty, nor does it exempt them from properly performing it. The following authorities are cited below:

Maxim of Law 84a. There is no stronger link or bond between men than an oath. Jenk. Cent. Cas. 126; Id. P. 126, case 54.

Maxim of Law 84b. It is immaterial whether a man gives his assent by words or by acts and deeds. 10 Coke, 52.

U.S. Constitution, Article VI, Clause 2 (Supremacy Clause): "This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding."

U.S. Constitution, Article VI, Clause 3 (Oaths of Office): "The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States."

Please take notice that in a letter from one of the framers of our Constitution, John Jay, to George Washington on July 25, 1787, Jay discussed the importance of restricting the position of Commander in Chief to a natural born citizen. He suggested that it would be wise and timely to implement a strong safeguard against allowing foreigners to participate in the administration of our national government and explicitly stated that, ''the Command in chief of the american army shall not be given to, nor devolved on, any but a natural born Citizen.'' The following authorities are citied below:

''Permit me to hint, whether it would not be wise & seasonable to provide a strong check to the admission of Foreigners into the administration of our national Government, and to declare expressly that the Command in chief of the american army shall not be given to, nor devolved on, any but a natural born Citizen.'' -John Jay

Please take notice that Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution states that, ''No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President'' According to Fundamental Law, such as that expressed by Emer de Vattel in The Law of Nations § 212 (T. & J. W. Johnson & Co. 1852), which the people entrusted Congress to enforce for offenses against it in Article I, Section 8, "The natives, or natural-born citizens, are those born in the country, of parents who are citizens. As the society cannot exist and perpetuate itself otherwise than by the children of the citizens, those children naturally follow the condition of their fathers, and succeed to all their rights."

Please take notice that you, Kamala Devi Harris were born on October 20, 1964, in Oakland, California. At that time, your parents, Donald J. Harris, a Jamaican immigrant, and Shyamala Gopalan, an Indian immigrant, were not UNITED STATES citizens. Therefore, while you are a Citizen as defined under the 14th Amendment, you cannot be considered a "natural born citizen." This distinction is significant concerning eligibility for the office of President of the United States. As stated in the 12th Amendment of the Constitution, ''But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States.'' This expressly states that you, Kamala Devi Harris are not only ineligible to be President of the United States, but you are also not legally qualified to serve as Vice President.

Please take notice that Article I, Section 3, Clause 4 of the original Constitution of 1787 provides that, "The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate." Since you are ineligible to hold the office of Vice President as you are not a natural-born citizen, any tie-breaking votes cast by you are void ab initio, as they would have been conducted without lawful authority.

Please take notice that Article IV, Section 4 mandates that, ''The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence.'' On March 24, 2021, House Resolution 253 designated you the "Border Czar," responsible for leading efforts to manage migration across the United States of America-Mexico border. Since then, the unauthorized entry of millions of migrants through the southern border has posed a threat to national security and sovereignty. Prioritizing the needs of migrants over those of citizens has strained natural resources, weakened the economy, overcrowded urban areas, overburdened the legal and educational systems, and placed excessive demands on emergency shelter and healthcare systems. This situation has resulted in the misuse of public funds and resources, affecting the nation's overall well-being. These points are supported by reports from government agencies, policy institutes, and academic research that examine the economic, social, and infrastructural impacts of immigration. By allowing thousands of undocumented and unvetted migrants to infiltrate our communities, you have unequivocally failed to secure the rights and safety of the people, protect us from invasion and to uphold your oath to the public trust.

Please take notice that every American has been directly harmed by your unlawful occupancy of the Vice Presidency. By your unlawful actions, you have vacated your office which you have unlawfully held, therefore, you must immediately remove yourself from this office, pursuant to the referenced Sections 3 & 4 of the 14th Amendment. Your actions undermine the rule of law, erode trust in public institutions, and violate my right to a government that operates within the bounds of the Constitution. This harm includes, but is not limited to, misallocation of the public resources, the dilution of the legitimate exercise of political power, the breach of the social contract between the government and the people and your un-Constitutional actions by which, pursuant to your oath, you committed dereliction of duties, malfeasance in office, insurrection against the Constitution and treason the sovereignty of the people.

Notice of Liability

Please take notice that all officers and trustees are required to take lawful measures to prevent maladministration and must adhere to all provisions of the Constitution while strictly observing the principles of fundamental law, even in times of crisis and emergency. The thwarting of your duty to correct these issues, will be considered a willful trespass with full knowledge, intent, and malice. However, despite the above-stated factual, lawful positions, your un-Constitutional actions, as described throughout this Notice, clearly demonstrate how you have violated all of the above lawful positions, the Constitutions, your oath of office, acted in maladministration against the public good by violating the public trust and committing sedition and insurrection. Pursuant to your unlawful and unconstitutional actions, you have invoked the self-executing Sections 3 & 4 of the 14th Amendment to the national Constitution, thereby have lawfully vacated your office and forfeited all benefits thereof, including salary and pension.

Furthermore, if you maintain a differing viewpoint and question the legitimacy of any of these statements, or you believe that you are above the law and do not need to strictly observe and adhere to the provisions of the Constitution, you must reply within ten (10) business days through a sworn affidavit under the pains and penalty of perjury. This reply should contain constitutional provisions that justify your authority to infringe upon the People's rights or to disregard our lawful directives. If you fail to specifically rebut, in kind, any of the charges, claims and positions set forth in this notice, then, you tacitly admit to them, and these admissions will be lawfully used against you.

I retain the right to resolve this matter through an arbitrator of my choosing, with the decision being binding. Furthermore, no court shall have the authority to rehear this matter; it shall stand as evidence, truth, and law in all courts of record.

This Notice is sent to you in peace and with the love of our Creator, so that you may provide immediate due care to those in whom all political power is inherent, the People.

To: Kamala Devi Harris in your personal and professional capacity as Acting, Vice President of the United States, Number One Observatory Circle NW, Washington, DC 20008

To: Jamie Harrison in your personal and professional capacity as Acting, Chair of the Democratic National Committee, 430 South Capitol Street SE, Washington, D.C., U.S.

To James Comer in your personal and professional capacity as Acting Chair of the House Oversight Committee, 2157 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515

To: Neil Gorsuch in your personal and professional capacity as Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, 1 First Street, NE, Washington, D.C. 20543

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Archived Version

Wed, 07 Aug 2024 17:50

Willow bud scale, arctic poppy seed, fungal bodies, and rock spikemoss megaspores found in the GISP2 soil sample viewed under a microscope at the University of Vermont. Credit: Halley Mastro/University of Vermont

The story of Greenland keeps getting greener'--and scarier. A new study provides the first direct evidence that the center'--not just the edges'--of Greenland's ice sheet melted away in the recent geological past and the now-ice-covered island was then home to a green, tundra landscape.

A team of scientists re-examined a few inches of sediment from the bottom of a two-mile-deep ice core extracted at the very center of Greenland in 1993'--and held for 30 years in a Colorado storage facility. They were amazed to discover soil that contained willow wood, insect parts, fungi, and a poppy seed in pristine condition.

"These fossils are beautiful," says Paul Bierman, a scientist at the University of Vermont who co-led the new study with UVM graduate student Halley Mastro and nine other researchers, "but, yes, we go from bad to worse," in what this implies about the impact of human-caused climate change on the melting of the Greenland ice sheet.

The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on August 5th, confirms that Greenland's ice melted and the island greened during a prior warm period likely within the last million years'--suggesting that the giant ice sheet is more fragile than scientists had realized until the last few years.

If the ice covering the center of the island was melted, then most of the rest of it had to be melted too. "And probably for many thousands of years," Bierman said, enough time for soil to form and an ecosystem to take root.

"This new study confirms and extends that a lot of sea-level rise occurred at a time when causes of warming were not especially extreme," said Richard Alley, a leading climate scientist at Penn State who reviewed the new research, "providing a warning of what damages we might cause if we continue to warm the climate."

A rocky landscape with tundra plants near the eastern coast of Greenland, similiar to what the interior of the island may have looked like when its massive ice sheet melted away. Credit: Joshua Brown

Sea level today is rising more than an inch each decade. "And it's getting faster and faster," said Bierman.

It is likely to be several feet higher by the end of this century, when today's children are grandparents. And if the release of greenhouse gases'--from burning fossil fuels'--is not radically reduced, he said, the near complete melting of Greenland's ice over the next centuries to a few millennia would lead to some 23 feet of sea level rise.

"Look at Boston, New York, Miami, Mumbai or pick your coastal city around the world, and add 20 plus feet of sea level," said Bierman. "It goes underwater. Don't buy a beach house."

Core AssumptionsIn 2016, Joerg Schaefer at Columbia University and colleagues tested rock from the bottom of the same 1993 ice core (called GISP2) and published a then-controversial study suggesting that the current Greenland ice sheet could be no more than 1.1 million years old; that there were extended ice-free periods during the Pleistocene (the geological period that began 2.7 million years ago); and that if the ice was melted at the GISP2 site then 90% of the rest of Greenland would be melted also. This was a major step toward overturning the longstanding story that Greenland is an implacable fortress of ice, frozen solid for millions of years.

Then, in 2019, UVM's Paul Bierman and an international team reexamined another ice core, this one extracted at Camp Century near the coast of Greenland in the 1960s. They were stunned to discover twigs, seeds, and insect parts at the bottom of that core'--revealing that the ice there had melted within the last 416,000 years. In other words, the walls of the ice fortress had failed much more recently than had been previously imagined possible.

"Once we made the discovery at Camp Century, we thought, 'Hey, what's at the bottom of GISP2?'" said Bierman, a professor in UVM's Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources and fellow in the Gund Institute for Environment.

Though the ice and rock in that core had been studied extensively, "no one's looked at the 3 inches of till to see if it's soil and if it contains plant or insect remains," he said. So he and his colleagues requested a sample from the bottom of the GISP2 core held at the National Science Foundation Ice Core Facility in Lakewood, Colorado.

UVM graduate student Halley Mastro looking at ancient plant material from Greenland under a microscope. Credit: Joshua Brown/UVM

Now this new study in PNAS provides confirmation that the 2016 "fragile Greenland" hypothesis is right. And it deepens the reasons for concern, showing that the island was warm enough, for long enough, that an entire tundra ecosystem, perhaps with stunted trees, established itself where today ice is two miles deep.

"We now have direct evidence that not only was the ice gone, but that plants and insects were living there," said Bierman. "And that's unassailable. You don't have to rely on calculations or models."

From flowersThe initial discovery that there was intact biological material'--not just gravel and rock'--in the bottom of the ice core was made by geoscientist Andrew Christ who completed his Ph.D. working at UVM and was a post-doctoral associate in Bierman's lab. Then Halley Mastro picked up the case and began to study the material closely.

"It was amazing," she said. Under the microscope, what had looked like no more than specks floating on the surface of the melted core sample, was, in fact, a window into a tundra landscape.

Working with Dorothy Peteet, an expert on macrofossils at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and co-author on the new study, Mastro was able to identify spores from spikemoss, the bud scale of a young willow, the compound eye of an insect, "and then we found Arctic poppy, just one seed of that," she said. "That is a tiny flower that's really good at adapting to the cold."

But not that good. "It lets us know that Greenland's ice melted and there was soil," said Mastro, "because poppies don't grow on top of miles of ice."

More information: Bierman, Paul R., Plant, insect, and fungi fossils under the center of Greenland's ice sheet are evidence of ice-free times, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2024). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2407465121

Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Provided by University of Vermont

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Archived Version

Wed, 07 Aug 2024 17:48

Police relocate what remains of the chassis of the electric vehicle that erupted into flames in the underground parking garage of an apartment in Incheon's Seo District following their joint forensic analysis on Aug. 5, 2024. (Yonhap)

Earlier this year, a banner was hung at an apartment building in Anyang announcing a ban on electric vehicles in its underground parking garage. This came after around 62% of residents approved the measure in a vote, citing concerns about the vehicles presenting a fire hazard.

The apartment in question subsequently positioned all nine of its EV charging spaces aboveground. In a telephone interview with the Hankyoreh on Tuesday, a staffer at the apartment's management office explained, ''There has been a lot of concern about EVs being prone to fires, and many people have insisted that they should be banned from the parking garage.''

''The underground levels are where all the shared plumbing and water supply infrastructure are, so they're in a position to cause bigger problems if a fire occurs,'' they added.

Opposition to underground parking of EVs has been growing in the wake of a fire that occurred on Aug. 1 in Incheon's Cheongna neighborhood. Recently, a restaurant complex in Seoul's Yeouido area banned EVs from its parking tower.

A manager of the parking facility explained, ''We banned the parking of EVs because of the fire risk they present.''

''There have actually been cases of growing disputes with customers due to the ban on EV parking,'' they also said.

A mixed-used office and residential building in Seoul's Sinchon area had a message on its parking tower wall that read, ''Electric vehicles are prohibited from parking in the tower. Please park at ground level.''

Some apartment complexes permit EVs to enter their parking facilities but ban the use of chargers there.

An apartment complex in Namyangju has prohibited the use of its underground EV charging stations since Aug. 1, citing the fire risk. The complex in question currently has a total of 14 EV charging stations installed underground.

Another apartment in Busan has cut off electricity supplies to EV chargers ever since a fire that occurred while an EV was charging in April 2023. An EV owner living in the complex said, ''It's unfair that they still won't let us charge there even after an investigation found that the issue was a defective battery in the vehicle, rather than a charger issue.''

As similar measures spread across the country, there's been growing tension between residents in various areas. A post on an online forum claimed that an EV owner became involved in a shouting match with other residents in their apartment complex during a debate about underground parking for EVs in the wake of the fire in Incheon.

At the same time, some say that the larger problem is that sprinklers were not activated.

Incheon's fire authorities found in their internal investigation into the Cheongna EV fire that the parking garage's sprinklers had not turned on. The authorities continue to look into why they did not activate when the car went up in flames. The Incheon Seobu Police Station has obtained testimony that the apartment parking garage's sprinkler system did not activate at the time of the fire and is carrying out relevant investigations.

''The way I see it, if the sprinklers had worked as they were supposed to, then the fire wouldn't have spread as fast as it did,'' commented an EV owner who has been following the news about the fire in Incheon. ''It's not right to put the blame for everything on electric cars.''

By Lee Seung-wook, staff reporter; Kim Yeong-dong, Busan correspondent

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]

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Archived Version

Wed, 07 Aug 2024 15:52

Chalkboard drawing woman breasts mastectomy | Image by JpegPhotographer/Shutterstock; Quote by Soren Aldaco; Arrangement by Tiffany Chartier/DX

Soren Aldaco, a 22-year-old student at the University of Texas at Austin, is suing an extensive list of medical providers who allegedly enabled her transgender hormone usage and performed a double mastectomy she now regrets.

A Tarrant County judge issued an order in mid-July to reinstate Aldaco's claims against a DFW area medical group and worker in the lawsuit, as first reported by The Dallas Express.

The judge's order ensured that Del Scott Perry, a nurse practitioner, and his employer, Texas Health Physicians Group, would face legal action. Aldaco alleged that Perry initiated the process of putting her on transgender hormones when she was 17 years old.

''[Perry] definitely had an agenda,'' Aldaco recently told DX in an exclusive interview. ''His child is transgender. I don't think anyone is evil, but I do think he was mindless in his prescription of these drugs because of that familial connection that gave him blinders to the vulnerabilities of other children.''

Texas Health Physicians Group's legal team did not respond to a request for comment.

Aldaco said her taking transgender hormones caused her to experience complications, such as vaginal atrophy and joint pain. Still, she said she never encountered any pushback from medical workers during her initial transition.

This purported lack of intervention extended to her decision to get a double mastectomy at '‹'‹the Crane Clinic in Austin when she was 19. She said that medical workers quickly dismissed information about the risks or side effects with assurances that the procedure would be beneficial to her.

''I was not thinking what concretely was going to happen to my body,'' Aldaco told DX. ''I thought about it a lot, but it was more of a fanatic, obsessive thinking.''

Surgeons allegedly botched the surgery, which led Aldaco to seek emergency care at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. She was diagnosed with ''massive bilateral hematomas,'' which required doctors to re-open her incisions to insert drains to evacuate blood and other bodily fluids from her chest cavity. The draining of fluids went on for a week, according to the lawsuit.

Aldaco said medical workers failed to consider how her ADHD and depression may have influenced her gender dysphoria at a young age.

''The connection was ignored all throughout my treatment from age 15 onward,'' she told DX.

Aldaco said she knows many detransitioners who similarly experienced limited curiosity from doctors regarding the relationship between their medical history and the decision to transition genders.

''When you have someone with a history of mental illness, who has a diagnosis such as autism or ADHD, that would imply that their ability to understand concepts is different than your average person,'' she continued. ''You can't just treat them mindlessly as my doctors treated me. You have to be mindful of your approach and how they're interpreting it.''

Aldaco praised Texas' law banning the administration of transgender hormones and other related medical interventions when it comes to minors, adding she hopes the state can develop a clear framework on how to treat gender dysphoria.

''I think Texas is effective in many ways, but I do wish we had a more standardized therapeutic approach for these children who are struggling with reconciling their sex,'' she told DX. ''I do not think people under 18 should be making such permanent medical decisions.''

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) reaffirmed its support for minors being able to obtain transgender hormones or surgeries in a statement last year:

''The AAP and other major medical organizations '-- including the American Medical Association, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the World Health Organization '-- support giving transgender adolescents access to the health care they need. The AAP opposes any laws or regulations that discriminate against transgender and gender-diverse individuals or that interfere in the doctor-patient relationship.''

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Archived Version

Wed, 07 Aug 2024 15:10

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

American attorney (born 1974)

Wesley Bell (born November 5, 1974)[1][2] is an American attorney who currently is prosecuting attorney for St. Louis County, Missouri.[3] In a major upset, he defeated long-time yet controversial county prosecutor Bob McCulloch in the August 2018 Democratic primary election,[1] and became the first Black county prosecuting attorney in St. Louis County history when he took office in January 2019.[4]

On June 7, 2023, Bell announced his candidacy in the 2024 United States Senate election in Missouri.[5] In October 2023, he instead opted to run for the U.S. House seat of Missouri's 1st congressional district, defeating incumbent Cori Bush in the Democratic primary in August 2024.[6][7]

Bell was raised in northern St. Louis County, Missouri. He is the son of a police officer father and civil servant mother. Bell is a graduate of Hazelwood East High School, Lindenwood University, and University of Missouri School of Law.[8]

After graduating from law school, Bell worked as a St. Louis County public defender. He later joined the faculty of Florissant Valley Community College as a professor in the criminology department. Additionally, he also was appointed to be a municipal court judge in Velda City and municipal prosecutor in Riverview. While working as a municipal judge in Velda City, Bell was sued by Arch City Defenders, a local nonprofit, for his role in Velda City's cash bail system.[9]

In 2006, Bell managed the campaign of Mark J. Byrne, a Republican candidate challenging Lacy Clay's seat in Missouri's 1st congressional district. Byrne ran on a conservative platform, including strong opposition to abortion. Byrne described Bell's participation in the campaign as a "friendly favor," saying that Bell did his best to help Byrne win despite their different political views.[10]

In 2015, following the Ferguson Protests, Bell was elected to Ferguson city council, beating out Lee Smith, a first time candidate popular among Ferguson protestors.[11][12]

In 2018, Bell entered the race for county prosecutor. He ran on a platform of community based policing, assigning special prosecutors in homicides by police, pledging to never seek the death penalty, reforming cash bail/bond, and other progressive points. He received significant support from local and national activists and advocacy groups.[1][4][13] The election was also seen as a referendum on incumbent Bob McCulloch, for his decision not to prosecute the white police officer who shot and killed Michael Brown.[1]

In his first hours in office, Bell ordered his assistant prosecutors not to prosecute marijuana cases under 100 grams without evidence of distribution of the drug; however, he still prosecuted marijuana cases where the person possessing the marijuana is armed with a weapon. His office stopped seeking warrants on cases that solely involve the possession of marijuana.[14] Additionally, during his first days in office Bell elected to stop prosecuting criminal child support cases.[15]

Bell was confronted in 2020 with a case from 2018, in which a resident of Jefferson County, Missouri, killed a woman.[16] There was a major public outcry for Bell to seek the death penalty for Bruce, but Bell refused, keeping his campaign promise.[17] Former St. Louis police chief Tim Fitch urged Bell to turn the case over to federal prosecutors so that they could seek the death penalty. However, the family of the victim supported Bell's decision not to seek the death penalty.[18]

Bell reopened the investigation into the killing of Michael Brown in early 2020, and decided not to file any charges against the white officer. Bell ultimately concluded, like his predecessor Bob McCulloch and the United States Department of Justice, that there was not probable cause to criminally charge Darren Wilson.[19] The decision was met with anger from Michael Brown's family who accused Bell of conducting an incomplete investigation.[20]. In response to these accusations, Bell stated that his department "relied heavily on the evidence uncovered by the Department of Justice, an investigation that was extraordinarily comprehensive and included interviews of every significant witness and its own forensic examinations." This Obama-era DOJ investigation which Mr. Bell cites concluded, like both Mr. Bell and his predecessor, that the officer should not be held responsible for the death of Michael Brown.

In 2024, Bell asked to vacate the murder conviction of Marcellus Williams on the basis of ''clear and convincing evidence'' of Williams's innocence. Williams was previously scheduled for execution in 2017, spared by a last minute stay by Eric Greitens, who appointed a board of inquiry later dissolved by Mike Parson.[21]

On October 29, 2020, Susan Petersen, one of Bell's assistant prosecutors, filed a lawsuit under Missouri's Human Rights Act claiming that Bell had fired her and forced out five other female attorneys in favor of male employees. The lawsuit further alleged that Bell had created a hostile work environment for female attorneys at the office. Bell responded by claiming that the prosecutor's attorney was irresponsibly and unethically attempting to litigate her case in the media.[22]

On June 27, 2024, circuit Judge Bruce F. Hilton ruled that Bell would have to answer deposition questions about sexual relations occurring between a supervisor and multiple subordinates in Bell's office and denied the county's motion to delay the Petersen trial.[23] The jury trial was rescheduled for January 27, 2025.[24]

Use of government resources [ edit ] Bell was criticized for his use of government resources while in office. In June 2019, KSDK, a local news outlet, reported that Bell had amassed nearly $800 in parking tickets though he was provided with a parking space.[25] In response, Bell's Chief of Staff informed the public that Bell and other staff members needed their cars adjacent to the office and not parked in the sectioned-off parking spaces'--over one block away'--because Bell, as a prosecuting attorney, needed both him and his agents to have immediate access to their cars in order to best secure justice for the county of which he was responsible. This Chief of Staff further advised that, for Bell and other employees, they could expect up to seven calls a day that would require them to travel to their car, and each of those seven calls would waste taxpayer dollars if they were to park further away from their office. Bell later paid off the parking tickets using his own money.[26]

In October 2019, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch conducted an investigation into Bell's expenditures during the first ten months in office. The investigation uncovered that Bell had spent over $30,000 in government funds on travel and food during his first ten months in office. This included an $816 dinner at an expensive Miami steakhouse and a $300 meal at a Lake of the Ozarks steakhouse. In response, Bell informed the Dispatch that he repaid the Miami dinner immediately and refused to charge his office for any additional expenditures. Bell did not comment on the Ozarks meal directly, but informed the Post-Dispatch that, while he needed to get in the good graces of local law enforcement to perform his duties as prosecutor, Bell recognizes that the meal wasn't a common expense during the previous prosecutor's long tenure. However, Bell noted that he had to simultaneously work with the police and hold them to a higher standard, justifying the expense. Furthermore, the Post-Dispatch also reported on Bell's efforts to hide details of his spending, such as omitting thousands of dollars of charges from requested records, charging the Post to provide requested documents, reimbursing expenditures only after records requests for those expenditures were made, and being nonresponsive to sunshine requests.[27] Under pressure from his supporters, Bell ultimately apologized citing the actions as "missteps" and vowed to spend taxpayer money more appropriately in the future.[28][29]

Campaign for U.S. Congress [ edit ] In 2023, Bell announced a challenge to Josh Hawley for the U.S. Senate, in which he polled higher than fellow Democrat candidate Lucas Kunce.[30] In late October 2023, he dropped from the Senate race to challenge fellow Democratic Cori Bush for Missouri's 1st congressional district seat.[6] Leaked audio confirmed that Bell had previously told Bush he would not run against her.[31] "Don't even think for even a second that that's the case," Bell told Bush. "And I'm telling you right now. I'm telling you on my word I am not running against you. That is not happening."[32]

Politico reported that AIPAC earmarked over $800,000 for Bell's campaign as of April 30, 2024.[33] Campaign ads are funded by United Democracy Project.[34] In May 2024, it was reported that Bell had raised more than $65,000 from donors who also gave to one of Missouri's two Republican senators, Josh Hawley and Eric Schmitt, in their most recent campaigns, or Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, the leading Republican candidate for governor.[35] It has been reported that Bell received support and campaign financing from AIPAC, conservatives and Republicans.[36]

On July 25, 2024, the St. Louis Dispatch, which had previously been critical of Bell,[37][38][27] endorsed him.[39]

^ a b c d Ferner, Matt (August 7, 2018). "St. Louis Voters Oust Prosecutor Who Didn't Bring Charges In Cop Killing Of Michael Brown". HuffPost . Retrieved August 28, 2018 . ^ @wesleybell4stl (November 5, 2018). "Today is Wesley's birthday! 🎉ðŸŽðŸŽ‚ He needs your helping to make his birthday wish come true. Watch to hear how. @clairecmc @McCaskill4MO @nicolergalloway @cortvo" (Tweet) . Retrieved February 2, 2023 '' via Twitter. ^ Jordan, Sandra (November 6, 2018). "Victory night for Wesley Bell, former Ferguson councilman makes history as first black St. Louis County Prosecutor". St. Louis American. ^ a b Levitz, Eric (August 8, 2018). "Progressive Reformer Ousts St. Louis Prosecutor Who Didn't Charge Cop in Michael Brown Case". Intelligencer . Retrieved August 28, 2018 . ^ Hancock, Jason (June 7, 2023). "St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell enters Missouri's U.S. Senate race". Missouri Independent. ^ a b Byers, Christine; Maxwell, Mark (October 30, 2023). "Wesley Bell announces run against Cori Bush for Congress". KSDK . Retrieved October 30, 2023 . ^ "Missouri 1st Congressional District Primary Election Results". The New York Times. August 6, 2024. ISSN 0362-4331 . Retrieved August 7, 2024 . ^ Allen, Ron; Noble Jones, Brittany (August 10, 2018). "Game changer: Wesley Bell ousts Bob McCulloch for prosecutor in St. Louis County". NBC News . Retrieved August 28, 2018 . ^ Reilly, Ryan J.; Stewart, Mariah (April 6, 2015). "Judge In Tiny City Facing Lawsuit Over Its 'Illegal' Bail System Is Running For Ferguson City Council". HuffPost . Retrieved September 3, 2020 . ^ Redden, Molly (June 20, 2024). "He's Running As A Progressive Democrat '-- But Has A Hidden GOP Past". HuffPost . Retrieved June 20, 2024 . ^ Deere, Stephen (May 8, 2015). "Losing Ferguson council candidates in spat with campaign manager". STLtoday.com . Retrieved June 24, 2024 . ^ Deere, Stephen (April 8, 2015). "High voter turnout in Ferguson adds two black council members, for three total". STLtoday.com . Retrieved June 24, 2024 . ^ Stockman, Farah (August 8, 2018). "In Ferguson, a New Prosecutor 'Gives Us Hope' 4 Years After Shooting". The New York Times . Retrieved August 18, 2018 . ^ Wicentowski, Danny (January 14, 2019). "St. Louis County will stop prosecuting marijuana possession under 100 grams". The Riverfront Times. Archived from the original on February 22, 2020 . Retrieved February 22, 2020 . ^ Long, Jacob (January 4, 2019). "Top staffer for Wesley Bell owes ex-wife thousands in back due child support". KSDK. ^ Byers, Christine; Benchaabane, Nassim; Hollinshed, Denise; Holleman, Joe (November 22, 2018). "Jefferson County man charged with murder, sex crimes in Catholic Supply store attack". St. Louis Post Dispatch. ^ Long, Jacob; Cole, Ashley (January 11, 2019). "Wesley Bell won't seek death penalty in Catholic Supply murder". KSDK . Retrieved February 8, 2020 . ^ Byers, Christine (November 28, 2018). "Death penalty should be on the table for Catholic Supply killer, former police chief says". The St. Louis Post Dispatch . Retrieved February 22, 2020 . ^ Currier, Joel (July 31, 2020). "St. Louis County prosecutor reopened Michael Brown shooting case but won't charge Darren Wilson". St. Louis Post-Dispatch . Retrieved August 20, 2020 . ^ King, Chris (July 30, 2020). "Lezley McSpadden says Wesley Bell did not do a 'proper investigation' ". St. Louis American . Retrieved August 20, 2020 . ^ Van Amburg, Lisa (June 28, 2024). "St. Louis County prosecutor thinks Marcellus Williams is innocent. He's still set to be executed". Missouri Independent . Retrieved July 2, 2024 . ^ Currier, Joel (October 29, 2020). "Former prosecutor accuses Wesley Bell of racial, gender and age discrimination". STLtoday.com . Retrieved October 30, 2020 . ^ Holleman, Joe (June 27, 2024). "Holleman: Wesley Bell dogged by questions about hiring and firing practices". STLtoday.com . Retrieved June 27, 2024 . ^ "Trial delayed on discrimination lawsuit against Wesley Bell". web.archive.org. April 12, 2024 . Retrieved August 4, 2024 . ^ Long, Jacob (July 15, 2019). "Using taxpayer-funded SUV, Wesley Bell racks up hundreds of dollars in unpaid parking tickets". KSDK . Retrieved February 22, 2020 . ^ Long, Jacob (August 7, 2019). "Wesley Bell surrenders fight to avoid paying hundreds of dollars in parking tickets on government-funded SUV". KSDK . Retrieved February 22, 2020 . ^ a b The Post Dispatch Editorial Board (October 27, 2019). "Editorial: Bell's lavish meals, travel aren't a good fit for a self-proclaimed reformer". The St Louis Post Dispatch . Retrieved February 22, 2020 . ^ The St. Louis American Editorial Board (October 31, 2019). "Wesley Bell needs to clean up the mess he made". The St. Louis American . Retrieved February 22, 2020 . ^ Bell, Wesley (November 5, 2019). "I cannot allow my missteps to undermine our mission". The St. Louis American . Retrieved February 22, 2020 . ^ Desrochers, Daniel; Bayless, Kacen (October 19, 2023). "Hawley talks a big game on worker rights amid union strike. Do his votes match up?". Kansas City Star. ^ Grim, Ryan. "Leaked Audio: "I'm NOT Running Against You," Cori Bush's Primary Challenger Told Her Months Before Running Against Her". www.dropsitenews.com . Retrieved July 30, 2024 . ^ "Leaked audio reveals Wesley Bell told Cori Bush he wouldn't run against her, she offered to endorse him". ksdk.com. July 29, 2024 . Retrieved August 4, 2024 . ^ Piper, Jessica; Fuchs, Hailey (June 9, 2024). "Bipartisanship or Republican meddling? AIPAC is biggest source of GOP donations in Dem primaries". Politico. ^ "First Alert 4 Fact Check: Cori Bush's attack ad against Wesley Bell". First Alert 4. July 2, 2024 . Retrieved July 2, 2024 . ^ "Prosecutor Challenging A 'Squad' Member Is Raising Big Bucks '-- From Republicans". HuffPost. May 7, 2024 . Retrieved July 8, 2024 . ^ Redden, Molly (May 7, 2024). "Rep. Cori Bush's Democratic Challenger Is Raising Big Bucks '-- From Republicans". Huffington Post . Retrieved August 6, 2024 . ^ "Editorial: New investigation, same disappointing result for Michael Brown's family". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. August 2020 . Retrieved August 20, 2020 . ^ Currier, Joel (October 28, 2019). "Lobster, ribeye: Prosecutor Wesley Bell's office has charged $30,000 in meals, travel to St. Louis County credit cards". The St. Louis Post Dispatch . Retrieved February 22, 2020 . ^ "Editorial: Bell has our enthusiastic endorsement for Missouri's 1st Congressional District". St Louis Dispatch. July 25, 2024 . Retrieved July 29, 2024 . ^ "State of Missouri '' Election Night Results". Missouri Secretary of State . Retrieved August 6, 2024 . Media related to Wesley Bell at Wikimedia Commons

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Archived Version

Wed, 07 Aug 2024 15:09

It's been one of the more closely watched U.S. House races during the 2024 primary season: Second-term Democrat Congresswoman and "Squad" member Cori Bush faced a serious challenge for her seat in Missouri's 1st Congressional District. St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell '-- a progressive himself '-- outraised Bush and led in most polls heading into Election Day.

Now, the race has been called, and Bell has been declared the winner. With 52 percent of the vote reported, Bell leads Bush by 12 points. The signs were there ahead of Tuesday's results.

Sad Trombone Plays for Squad's Cori Bush As More Bad News Hits Ahead of Tuesday Primary

Bad News for Squad Member Cori Bush? New Polling ShowShe Might Be About to Go Down to Defeat

One of the key factors in the race (aside from Bush's penchant for being a sensationalist) was her embrace of the progressive anti-Israel stance following the horrific October 7 attack by Hamas. As I noted at the time Bell announced his entry into the race:

Just Sunday, Bush demonstrated her desperate need for a dictionary as she accused Israel of an "ethnic cleansing" campaign. In short, she's ripe for being primaried by a saner, more competent contender, which, despite his progressive leanings, Bell unquestionably is.

Moreover, Bush has taken heavy criticism for her stance on the Israel-Hamas conflict, something for which Bell provides a welcome contrast.

This time around, Bush would have to face not only local criticism for what some label as being anti-Israel, as opposed to pro-Palestine.

The powerful American Israel Public Affairs Committee '-- a well-funded lobbying group known for directing funds against candidates it deems unfriendly to Israeli interests '-- has publicly lambasted Bush for her recent stances in regards to Israel.

Bush's district includes several municipalities with a substantial Jewish population, including University City, Creve Coeur, Olivette and part of Clayton.

Bell on Monday was sharply critical of Bush's stance on Israel: ''We can't give aid and comfort to terrorists, and Hamas is a terrorist organization.''

None of which is to characterize Bell as a moderate. But given that the First District votes overwhelmingly Democrat (Bush beat her Republican challenger in 2022 by almost 50 points and nearly 60 points in 2020), Bell is likely to be seen as a viable alternative to Bush.

Again, Bell should not be mistaken as a moderate. He is, however, sane and competent and will almost certainly be a better representative for Missouri's 1st Congressional District than Bush has been.

And soon, Bush will join her fellow Squad member, Jamaal Bowman, in the Congressional Alumni Club.

Update - 11:20 p.m. Eastern:

With 95 percent of the vote counted, the race has tightened somewhat, but Bell still retains a solid lead of roughly 5.5 points.

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Wed, 07 Aug 2024 11:56

The mogul, whose public persona has become increasingly right-wing and controversial, officially endorsed Trump last month, on the same day Trump was shot at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.

Following Musk's takeover of X, formerly Twitter, he reinstated Trump's account, which was suspended by the platform's former owners after the Jan. 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol, in 2021.

At a campaign rally on Saturday, Trump appeared to drop his long-held opposition to electric vehicles because of Musk's endorsement.

''I'm for electric cars, I have to be because Elon endorsed me very strongly,'' he said.

Musk has denied reports that he is planning to funnel some of his vast fortune into Trump's re-election campaign, claiming he won't be ''donating money to either candidate'' for president.

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Wed, 07 Aug 2024 03:40

X, formerly known as Twitter, is "definitely" going to remove the number of "likes" and retweets from feeds, Elon Musk said Wednesday night.

"That is definitely happening," Musk said in response to a post on X about the change. "Just view count, as proxy for the other metrics, will show on the timeline."

An X employee responded to the changes positively, writing: "Feels like we're growing up."

Users may still be able to see the total number of likes and retweets on a post if they click into the post, but those metrics won't be visible when scrolling through X's "For You" and "Following" tabs.

One X poll with over 8,000 votes at time of writing finds that 87% don't want the change to occur, with about 13% voting in favor of hiding the like and retweet counts from feeds.

Since Musk's Twitter takeover, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO has made overall per-post impression counts publicly visible. Previously, only the tweet's creator could view a post's analytics, which would show the overall view count. Musk also enabled the ability to make a user's "likes" tab private, even if their account is public.

Recommended by Our EditorsIt's possible the change to repost and like counts is being made to declutter the platform's visual design. It's also likely an effort to further emphasize views over whether users "liked" a post or not. It's unclear whether reply counts will remain or also disappear from feeds, however.

Social media sites hiding the number of "likes" on content has become more commonplace. Of the major platforms, Instagram and Facebook allow users to manually hide the number of likes from being publicly viewable on their own posts. Threads users can also hide the number of likes and shares on their posts. YouTube users can private their "likes" and hide "like" counts on their videos as well. YouTube has also hidden the number of "dislikes" on videos for everyone, arguing that it's helped reduced harassment on the Google-owned platform.

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Archived Version

Tue, 06 Aug 2024 19:39

CNN '--

Michigan's Alma Cooper, a US Army officer, was named Miss USA on Sunday, becoming the third person to hold the title this year following the shock resignation of 2023's winner.

The 22-year-old, who has a Master's in data science from Stanford University, beat 50 other contestants in a pageant that included swimwear and evening gown competitions. Kentucky's Connor Perry and Oklahoma's Danika Christopherson were named first and second runners up, respectively. Cooper is a second lieutenant who serves as a military intelligence officer, according to her social media.

''As the daughter of a migrant worker, a proud Afro Latina woman and an officer of the United States Army, I am living the American dream,'' she had told judges during a Q&A session at Sunday's finale. ''If there's anything that my life and my mother have taught me, it's that your circumstances never define your destiny: You can make success accessible through demanding excellence.''

Cooper was crowned on stage by previous titleholder, Savannah Gankiewicz of Hawaii, who inherited the tiara in May after Utah's Noelia Voigt stepped down in highly controversial circumstances.

The glitzy televised event capped three months of turbulence for pageant organizers sparked by Voigt's surprise resignation '-- and that of then-reigning Miss Teen USA, New Jersey's UmaSofia Srivastava, just days later. The show featured no explicit references to the controversy, though Gankiewicz described her unexpected three-month stint as Miss USA as ''the most unique reign in history.''

Announcing her decision via Instagram in May, Voigt attributed her resignation to mental health reasons. But social media users quickly spotted that the first letter of the first 11 sentences of her cryptic post spelled ''I am silenced,'' sparking rumors of a strict non-disclosure agreement.

Her resignation letter, later obtained by CNN, alleged delays in receiving prizes and a ''toxic work environment'' that ''at best, is poor management and, at worst, is bullying and harassment.'' Voigt also claimed to have been sexually harassed during a public appearance due the Miss USA organization's failure to provide an ''effective handler.''

Srivastava, who won the Miss Teen USA competition (a companion event, under the same ownership, for contestants aged 14 to 19), meanwhile attributed her resignation to a clash in ''personal values'' with the Miss USA organization. Both women's mothers then appeared on Good Morning America, with Srivastava's mother, Barbara, saying the beauty queens had been ''ill-treated, abused, bullied and cornered,'' and that ''the job of their dreams turned out to be a nightmare.''

Organizers and the pageants' parent company, the Miss Universe Organization, did not respond to CNN's requests for comment at the time of the double resignation. Miss USA president Laylah Rose released a statement at the end of May, reported by the Los Angeles Times, refuting Voigt's allegations.

The evening's proceedings began with an elimination, as the 51 contestants were narrowed down to a top 20 based on judges' scores from Saturday's preliminary competition. The results of a swimwear competition saw the field reduced to 10 ahead of an eveningwear parade.

The final five were then asked the same question: ''How can we bridge the gap between different cultures and foster understanding and respect?''

The televised finale, which was hosted by Garcelle Beauvais from ''The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills'' and E! News presenter Keltie Knight, saw the contest return to California for the first time since 2007.

Judges included shoe designer Jojo Bragais and former Miss USA titleholders Carole Gist and Lu Parker.

Sunday marked the first Miss USA pageant to take place since its owner, the Miss Universe Organization, lifted a longstanding age restriction banning women over 28 from participating. Several finalists benefited from the new rule, including 41-year-old Kristina Johnson of Arizona and contestants from Montana, North Dakota, Maryland and Indiana, who are all in their 30s.

In other firsts, Maryland's Bailey Anne Kennedy became the first transgender contestant from her state to appear at the finals, and Shavana Clarke of Connecticut arrived as the ''first openly lesbian Miss USA state titleholder,'' according to organizers.

Sunday's finale comes three days after Addie Carver of Mississippi was named Miss Teen USA, a title that had remained vacant since Srivastava's resignation (last year's first runner-up, Stephanie Skinner, declined to take on the title). Seventeen-year-old Carver is a dance teacher, cheerleader and choreographer who has used her platform to discuss young people's mental health, telling judges of her own struggles following her father's death. ''As the next Miss Teen USA I want to make it my mission to know that every little girl who is just like me once is never alone,'' she said on stage Thursday evening.

Cooper will now go onto compete in the Miss Universe 2024 contest, which will be held in Mexico later this year.

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Tue, 06 Aug 2024 18:33

Bill Gates was like a 'kid in a candy store' with young pretty Microsoft interns, so much so that they were banned from being alone with him, an upcoming book claims.

Intimate details of the billionaire's relationships with women are set to be exposed by New York Times journalist Anupreeta Das, who writes that Gates' infidelity left his wife Melinda 'seething for a long time.'

Bill's calendar would allegedly include blocks of time which were for unexplained reasons, and his security staff were once overhauled by Melinda because she felt they were 'enabling' him.

In upcoming book 'Billionaire, Nerd, Savior, King: Bill Gates and His Quest to Shape Our World', it is claimed that the Gates' marriage finally hit breaking point in 2019 when his connection to pedophile Jeffrey Epstein came to light.

An upcoming book has opened the lid on billionaire Bill Gates' relationships with women, including the alleged reasons for his divorce from wife Melinda, pictured together in 2018

Gates' ex-girlfriend Ann Winblad allegedly hoped to seduce the magnate into marriage, but on a romantic getaway he was reportedly more interested in reading biographies

The look inside Gates' private life began with how he blew his chance of marrying a tech entrepreneur before he married Melinda by spending a romantic weekend at her cottage reading a biography of Henry Ford.

The book claims that the Microsoft founder bungled his chances with Ann Winblad, an early female tech entrepreneur, even though she tried to court him.

Winblad was 'hoping to plant the marriage seed' in Gates' mind so invited him to her holiday home in North Carolina's Outer Banks with two friends and their two-year-old daughter.

But Gates spent the entire weekend reading the biography of Henry Ford and only took breaks to ride a gun buggy, according to Das' book.

Despite this, Gates persuaded his wife Melinda French Gates to let him visit Winblad alone for one weekend a year at that same cottage.

The bizarre arrangement was one of many occasions when Gates had questionable or inappropriate contact with women, writes Das.

According to the book, Melinda Gates became motivated to divorce her husband after his relationship with pedophile Jeffrey Epstein was exposed

She says that Bill cheated on Melinda many times and was 'like a kid in a candy store' with young women at Microsoft, so much so that young interns were banned from being alone with him.

After Bill's connections to Epstein came to light in 2019 - which he claims were purely for philanthropic reasons - Melinda reportedly began consulting lawyers about splitting up their $150 billion.

She formally filed for divorce in 2021 and called her marriage of 27 years and three children 'irretrievably broken'.

The document revealed that the Gates' did not sign a prenup but did sign a separation agreement covering the distribution of their assets which left Melinda with more than $6 billion.

Melinda and Bill met at Microsoft in 1987 when she was a product manager and Bill was technically her boss.

It wasn't until 1993 that they got engaged, followed by a marriage ceremony in Hawaii the following year.

But before then, Winblad was a potential Mrs. Gates who wanted to 'settle down and start a family', according to the book.

They met in 1984 and dated for three years and Winblad was seen as Bills' mental equal with conversations about bioengineering and physics while they were on vacation together.

Following his divorce, Gates began a relationship with philanthropist Paula Hurd, the widow of former Oracle CEO Mark Hurd

Long before broadband internet, they would watch movies together while in different places by synching up their viewing then calling on the phone about it afterwards.

Winblad, an early investor in Microsoft and one of Silicon Valley's first female tech entrepreneurs, hoped it would lead to a lifelong partnership.

Das writes: 'Hoping to plant the marriage seed in Gates' mind and introduce him to the joys of family life, she invited Mitch Kapor, the Lotus founder, his then wife and their two-year-old baby for a visit to her cottage to the Outer Banks in North Carolina.

'Gates spent the entire weekend immersed in a biography of Henry Ford, although he did take a break or two - to ride a dune buggy'.

Winblad and Bill did remain so close however that he continued spending one weekend with her - alone - each year, an arrangement which continued after his wedding.

He sought Melinda's blessing which she appears to have given, one early concession towards Bill's relations with women which Das writes would leave her steadily more unhappy over the years.

Das claimed that by the time Melinda filed for divorce, she had been 'seething for a long time' about the unequal nature of their marriage.

She had been 'seething' about his numerous infidelities too and upset about how she wasn't treated with respect at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the charitable enterprise that bears both their names

Melinda Gates met Bill in 1987 while she was a young worker at Microsoft, where he was technically her boss

According to the upcoming book, Bill was allowed to spend one weekend a year at his ex-girlfriend's home, as their marriage was described in 'contractual' terms

During meetings Bill could cut Melinda off, leaving her 'quietly fuming'. When Melinda tried to stop Bill from droning on during meetings, he found it 'difficult to take her advice', leading to tense moments that were awkward for everyone in the room.

People who worked with Bill in the early days of Microsoft said it was 'well understood' that he had 'not factored children into his life'.

Bill was 'consumed' by Microsoft and some of his peers 'wondered what kind of husband and father he would make'.

Coworkers were 'tired of his monomaniacal focus on work, joked that married life would slow him down', Das writes.

Bill's early days at Microsoft were marked by parties at strip clubs after work - the all male teams that he worked on were oblivious to how bad it seemed.

Das writes that before his marriage, Bill was often 'besieged' by women who wanted to date him and staff at Microsoft who hoped to catch his eye by wearing 'Marry Me Bill' t-shirts.

A former senior Microsoft employee said he was like a 'kid in a candy store' at the office.

Das writes: 'Well into his marriage it was not unusual for Gates to flirt with women and pursue them, making unwanted advances such as asking a Microsoft employee out to dinner while he was still the company's chairman'....

'...Gates flirted with some of the interns at the Gates Foundation, putting them in the uncomfortable position of having to think about their career prospects while not wanting to be hit on by the boss.

'In one instance a colleague chastised one person for sending a 22-year-old intern to Gates' office by herself, saying: 'She's too young and too pretty'.

Gates' approaches to women were 'clumsy rather than predatory' according to people who saw them firsthand.

He did not 'prey on' women and ask them for sex in exchange for prompting their new career, but instead was 'charming, respectful and just fun', according to a former Microsoft executive.

'He's not Harvey Weinstein'.... I know of no real situation in which anyone got anything for sleeping with Bill', the executive said.

Following her relationship with Gates, Ann Winblad went on to found the venture capital firm Hummer Winblad Venture Partners

Instead Bill displayed a 'certain naivete in his interactions with women, mistaking engaged conversation for mutual interest'.

But Melinda became increasingly unhappy about putting up with it.

According to Das, Bill's 'calendar would include blocks of time that were ostensibly personal meetings into which few people had visibility'.

She writes: 'More than a decade ago, there was a sweep of Gates's personal security team because they were 'enabling him to be places where (Melinda) didn't know he was at'.

Such was Melinda's paranoia about Bill's affairs that she ordered their housekeepers not to give out his direct number when other women called the house.

This led to an awkward moment when a female acquaintance of Bill's called and asked to speak to him - the housekeeper eventually told her the reason she couldn't give it out.

Das says that the Gates' went through marital counseling in the early to mid 2000s after the birth of their youngest child, Phoebe, led them to go through an 'especially rough patch'

But Gates 'assumed his behavior would have no consequences' and did not appear to have changed his ways.

According to Das, the end of their marriage was due to 'different notions about the meaning of a marital contract'.

Melinda felt that she 'genuinely believed being married would make a difference because of her deep belief in its sanctity'.

Bills friends however said that, as Bill saw it, 'love and marriage can often mean two different things'

Das writes: 'One former associate of Gates pointed out the difference between marrying someone and committing to exclusivity in that marriage, comparing it to an arrangement (Warren) Buffet had with his first wife, Susan Buffett, who left him but arranged for a companion for her husband'.

Buffett remained married until Susan's death in 2004.

When the Gates' marriage hit rough patches, a former associate reportedly pointed to the marriage of Warren Buffet, whose wife left him but arranged a companion for her husband

Das writes: 'It was hardly a sparkless or joyless marriage (for Gates). There were plenty of moments of mirth and affection'... that he was unfaithful to her multiple times over the years'.

The book says that while Bill did love Melinda, he 'didn't think he would ever lose her.'

One source said that the divorce had been 'coming a long time', adding that 'Melinda does nothing that isn't intentional'.

Among the other previous allegations against Bill is one from a female Microsoft engineer alleged in a letter to the company's board that she had a sexual relationship over years with him that began in 2000.

The Microsoft board hired an outside law firm to investigate and eventually Bill stepped down from the board of directors.

Speaking to CBS after the divorce, Melinda said that she made it 'very clear' to her former husband that he should part ways with Epstein after she met him in 2013.

He ignored her and it became an intolerable stress when Epstein was arrested in 2019, putting intense focus on his connections to wealthy and powerful men, including Bill.

Melinda said: 'I wanted to see who this man was and I regretted it from the second I stepped in the door.

'He was abhorrent, he was evil personified, I had nightmares about it afterwards. My heart breaks for these young women because that's how I felt and I'm an older woman. My god I feel terrible for those women, it's awful. He was awful'.

In response to the allegations in the book, Gates' representatives told DailyMail.com in a statement that the book relies 'almost exclusively on second- and third-hand hearsay and anonymous sources.'

'The book includes highly sensationalized allegations and outright falsehoods that ignore the actual documented facts our office provided to the author on numerous occasions,' the statement read.

'Mr. Gates has previously stated his deep regret for ever meeting with Epstein, who he met with for discussions regarding philanthropy only.'

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Archived Version

Tue, 06 Aug 2024 16:35

The opening ceremonies of the Paris Olympics were deeply offensive to Christians around the world. Numerous people from across the denominational spectrum have described this event as blasphemous and even demonic.

However, I would like to say something to the non-Christians who may be uneasy about the opening ceremonies but cannot quite explain why. Perhaps the opening ceremony bothers you, but you're not quite ready to align yourself with its Christian critics.

Let me help you with this. The group of people who created this spectacle betrayed the trust that was placed in them. They were given responsibility for an event that should have honored the athletes and the pursuit of excellence. Instead, they used it to put themselves and their agenda at the center of attention. And their conduct creates doubt about some cherished assumptions of the modern secular world.

Pathological Narcissism on DisplayLet's start by giving a moment's thought to the athletes. These world-class athletes have spent years preparing for the opportunity to compete in the Olympics. The athletes deserve to be honored for their dedication and pursuit of excellence. Instead, these men and women who are talented and self-disciplined were upstaged by men and women who are neither.

You don't need to be a Christian to see that something is seriously wrong with this picture.

We've all been told that we are supposed to tolerate and even honor the type of people who created this spectacle. Gay people are oppressed victims, after all. They were born this way, after all. There is nothing wrong with being gay, after all.

Can we agree that pathological self-centeredness is not ''virtually normal?'' Suppose we agree, for the sake of argument, that people are ''born gay,'' (a point I by no means concede). Can we at least agree that wearing garish costumes is not an inborn, immutable trait? Can we agree that having an irresistible urge to ridicule other people's beliefs is not generally a sign of good mental health?

Even if we agree that people do not ''choose to be gay,'' can we agree that these individuals did chose to put on this particularly tasteless display in a wildly inappropriate time and place? They didn't make ''a choice'': They made hundreds of choices over the course of many years that led them to believe what they did was a fine thing to do.

Phony Claims of Inclusion and RegretThe artistic ''genius'' who created this event claimed he wanted to be ''inclusive.'' He expects us to take this claim at face value. He is either delusional about the effects his work would have, or he is lying through his teeth. He knew perfectly well he would offend and disgust many people. He had to have known that even among the people who were not offended for religious reasons, a sizeable number would be bored, turn off their TV, and stop watching the Olympics.

Various individuals and entities associated with the Paris Olympics have issued statements with varying degrees of ''explanation'' and ''apology.'' I'm not going to attempt to catalogue them. I'm not interested, and I will tell you why. Their apologies are phony. These people are not the slightest bit sorry for offending 2.4 billion Christians around the world. They aren't sorry for hogging the stage and detracting from people of authentic achievement.

They are sorry they got caught. They'd do the same again if they thought they could get away with it. They feel entitled to do what they want for their own purposes. They have a vision for society. They believe they are entitled to offend and marginalize the people who stand in their way.

Now, it is an interesting question to ask: who is the relevant ''they'' here? I make no claim to know exactly who is responsible for the opening ceremonies. But someone chose this particular gay man to be in charge. Someone approved the end product. Someone is issuing these ''apologies'' and ''explanations.'' I don't know who these people are. But we can make a general statement without fear of contradiction.

Whoever they are, they have the sanction of some very powerful people: the International Olympic Committee, corporate advertisers, and no doubt, the government of France. The self-identified gays and drag queens are a long way from being ''victims.''

'Live and Let Live' Is OverYou may ask, why can't we just live and let live? Why can't we just tolerate each other? I'm sorry to have to inform you: the ''live and let live'' train left the station a long time ago.

The people who put on this display have the sanction of the global ruling class. This is who they are. What the world witnessed in Paris gives us a glimpse of what they want. This is their plan for you and your family. They think they are entitled to put themselves and their agenda at the center of anything they are in charge of. They are entitled to offend you, and then expect you to go along with the pretense that they didn't really mean it.

Each of us must decide whether this is what we want for ourselves and our families'--and then think, and act, accordingly. You don't have to be a Christian to see that we should stop taking the gay radicals and their handlers at face value.

Jennifer Roback Morse Ph.D. is founder and president of the

Ruth Institute, an international interfaith coalition to defend the family and build a civilization of love.

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Archived Version

Tue, 06 Aug 2024 16:31

STAFF NEWS & ANALYSIS

COVID Roundup: New Zealand Codifies Forced Injections in Martial Law 'Pandemic Plan'

By Ben Bartee - August 05, 2024

Originally published via Armageddon Prose:

COVID Propaganda Roundup: The latest updates on the ''new normal'' '' chronicling the lies, distortions, and abuses by the ruling class.

Under the skin is the final authoritarian frontier; as many have noted before, if you don't have control over what is injected into your body, you don't have freedom in any meaningful sense of the word.

If the Kiwis aren't rioting in the streets of Auckland at this very moment, if this isn't the straw that broke the camel's back '-- either because the information space in New Zealand is so tightly controlled that they don't know what their government is doing to them or because they are too psychologically/spiritually compromised to be bothered to do anything about it '-- all hope of a popular resistance may be lost.

Via New Zealand Pandemic Plan (emphasis added):

''Special powers are authorised by the Minister of Health or by an epidemic notice or apply where an emergency has been declared under the Civil Defence Emergency Management Act 2002. The power to detain, isolate or quarantine allows a medical officer of health to 'require persons, places, buildings, ships, vehicles, aircraft, animals, or things to be isolated, quarantined, or disinfected' (section 70(1)(f)). The power to prescribe preventive treatment allows a medical officer of health, in respect of any person who has been isolated or quarantined, to require people to remain where they are isolated or quarantined until they have been medically examined and found to be free from infectious disease, and until they have undergone such preventive treatment as the medical officer of health prescribes (section 70(1)(h))'...

Section 71A states that a member of the police may do anything reasonably necessary (including the use of force) to help a medical officer of health or any person authorized by the medical officer of health in the exercise or performance of powers or functions under sections 70 or 71.''

Via Vaccines Today (emphasis added):

''Despite decades of awareness, zoonotic diseases '' those transmitted from animals to humans '' continue to pose a significant threat to global health. In the face of the unprecedented COVID-19 crisis, our global lack of preparedness for such outbreaks became starkly apparent'...

As Europe transitions from emergency measures to long-term COVID-19 management, there is a critical opportunity to strengthen resilience and increase preparedness for future health threats. The European Vaccination Beyond COVID-19 (EUVABECO) project seeks to leverage this momentum'...

One key tool that EUVABECO will introduce is the European Vaccination Card (EVC). Scheduled for launch in September 2024, the EVC will initially be piloted in five pilot countries: Latvia, Greece, Belgium, Germany, and Portugal. The card aims to empower individuals by consolidating all their vaccination data in one easily accessible location. It will be available in various formats, including printed cards, mailed copies, and digital versions for smartphones'...

Consider the example of Anna, a 27-year-old nurse who recently moved from Bremaria to Morvania with her family. In her new country, Anna needs to provide her vaccination history to comply with local regulations. Using the European Vaccination Card (EVC), Anna can seamlessly transfer her records. She goes online, creates an EVC account with the provider of her choice, and enters her vaccination data from Bremaria.''

Nurse Anna is a good BDSM techno-whore '-- a model for all of us.

''Oh yessuh, massa,'' says Nurse Anna. ''You done learned me real good wit the whip, fo sho, massa.''

After all, in a civilized society, we must ''comply with local regulations'' that are written by multinational governing bodies like the WHO and WEF beyond any and all means of democratic popular control. That's how Democracy' works; Nurse Anna understands that, which is why she'll be placed in a position of trust in the camps, cattle prod in hand, as an overseer to teach the domestic terrorists and Nazis to Respect The Science'.

Via EUVABECO (emphasis added):

''The [European Vaccination Card] piloted by EUVABECO will use the GDHCN's trust network, allowing Member States to bilaterally verify the authenticity of digital records through an interoperable trust architecture*. While similar to the EU Digital COVID Certificate in being a portable vaccination record, the EVC serves a different purpose. Unlike the certificate, which often fulfilled legal or health mandates, the EVC is specifically designed to empower individuals by granting them control over their vaccination information. This empowerment is crucial for ensuring continuity of care for those crossing borders or transitioning between healthcare systems.''

*WTF does ''trust architecture'' actually mean?

Continuing:

''The EVC will be available in various formats'--produced on-site, mailed, or digitally downloaded to a smartphone'--making it easily accessible and displayable as needed. It will feature comprehensive vaccine history information, including detailed textual records, a scannable QR code, and downloadable embedded metadata. These digital elements, the QR code and metadata, will be securely signed to maintain their authenticity and integrity. Additionally, each vaccine record will be linked to an original master record maintained by a credible health organization, ensuring the data is reliable.

Upon implementation, the EVC will enable individuals to personally manage, access, and control the dissemination of their vaccination data, adhering to privacy regulations that mandate explicit consent for data sharing. Users will have the capability to present the card, which contains their vaccination details, to healthcare professionals and related personnel. Health professionals can then scan the QR code or access the metadata from the card file to include, evaluate, supplement, and confirm vaccination entries within their Electronic Health Record (EHR) system. This process ensures that individuals maintain full control over their health information while preserving the integrity and confidentiality of their medical records.

To realize this ambitious initiative, EUVABECO's partner organizations in Latvia (Riga Stradins University), Greece (University of Thessaly), Belgium (Fratem), Germany (University of Saarland), and Portugal (General Health Directorate) are now working alongside EUVABECO's EVC specialists. The successful rollout of the EVC system will depend on dynamic interactions among various stakeholders and system components, including an electronic Patient Information Leaflet (ePIL) server, a terminology server, a global registries directory, health jurisdiction registry, and a master records repository.''

All that is a long-winded, bureaucratic way of letting the peasants know that their medical records are now the property of the multinational technocratic state and that any ''shareholders'' that would like to use that information to deny services, employment, or housing to the unvaccinated in our new-age apartheid techno-hell are welcome '-- encouraged, even '-- to do so.

Ben Bartee is an independent Bangkok-based American journalist with opposable thumbs.

Follow his stuff via Substack. Also, keep tabs via Twitter.

For hip Armageddon Prose t-shirts, hats, etc., peruse the merch store.

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Archived Version

Tue, 06 Aug 2024 16:31

Mon Aug 5, 2024 - 5:23 pm EDTTue Aug 6, 2024 - 11:05 am EDT

Tell Congress to stop the Biden administration from funding wars in Ukraine and Israel

(LifeSiteNews) '-- Former Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway is drawing attention after accepting a role with a Ukrainian oligarch that will require her to lobby prominent U.S. officials to promote the war-torn country's interests in America.

Conway, a professed Catholic , was one of Donald Trump's closest and longest-serving aides starting in 2017 and lasting up until the 2020 presidential election. Although she spoke at the 2017 March for Life and often warned against feminism during her time at the White House, Conway has grown increasingly liberal in her outlook. Not only did she end up divorcing her husband George in 2023, she praised her lesbian daughter in a speech for the pro-homosexual Log Cabin Republicans last November.

Conway's new position is with the U.K. arm of Ukrainian billionaire Victor Pinchuk's philanthropic foundation that was founded in 2006. A filing with the Justice Department shows that in exchange for ''raising awareness'' about Ukraine's ''fight for freedom'' to U.S. lawmakers and experts, Conway will be paid the hefty sum of $50,000 a month until election day this November. The job requires her to file with the U.S. government as an individual who is acting on behalf of a foreign entity.

Pinchuk served in Ukraine's parliament from 1998 until 2006. He made his fortune in a variety of industries, but especially steel. His net worth is currently an estimated $2 billion dollars. Given that a growing number of individuals on the global stage are calling for peace in Ukraine, including the country's own president Vladimir Zelensky, it may well be speculated that Pinchuk is attempting to lay the groundwork for a political and economic climate in post-war Ukraine that is favorable to his business interests.

One of Conway's duties is to convince U.S. lawmakers, experts, and opinion makers to attend Pinchuk's annual Yalta European Strategy meeting in Kyiv this September. The conference has been held every year since 2004 and features an array of business, political, media, and civic leaders. Past attendees include globalists such as Hillary Clinton, Boris Johnson, Condoleezza Rice, Fareed Zakaria, and homosexual Jewish atheist Yuval Harari. Pinchuk reportedly gave $13.1 million to the Clinton Foundation between 2006 and 2014. He also attended Bill Clinton's 65th birthday party.

News of Conway's hiring comes as reports that there are concerns in the GOP over Trump's picking J.D. Vance as his running mate. Conway, who has not been shy about her efforts to get Florida Senator Marco Rubio on the ticket, has reportedly been the source of what some are calling ''a smear campaign.''

''Nobody has any respect for her,'' a person close to the Trump campaign told NOTUS . ''(Vance) has been the most vocal person about ending the war; now we find out she's on (Ukraine's) payroll,'' the person also said. ''She's a part of the rest of the neocon machine.''

While Vance and Conway may hold different views on the Ukraine conflict, both appear to have similar positions on abortion. In recent years, Conway has encouraged Republicans to embrace contraception as a campaign message and has also advised them to stop pointing out that Democrats support abortion until birth . Vance has endorsed chemical abortion pills being legally available and, like his running mate Donald Trump, opposes any federal limits on abortion.

LifeSite contributor Matt Lamb has written that Conway should not receive the Eucharist at Mass due to her public support for homosexuality and birth control, as both are condemned by the Catholic Church. Other public figures, including canon lawyer Fr. Gerald Murray of the Archdiocese of New York and Judie Brown of American Life League have expressed similar comments.

Tell Congress to stop the Biden administration from funding wars in Ukraine and Israel

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Archived Version

Tue, 06 Aug 2024 15:52

After two years of pre-trial litigation, and a year of trial in front of U.S. District Judge Amit Mehtata, the court has determined that Google is factually a monopoly operation in the business of online search engine use and advertising. Google is violating section 2 of the Sherman Antitrust Act by running a monopoly business model.

The court highlighted the results of Judge Mehtata review in a 286-page opinion '' SEE HERE. A key excerpt is provided below:

COURT RULING pdf '' ['...] ''Google has not achieved market dominance by happenstance. It has hired thousands of highly skilled engineers, innovated consistently, and made shrewd business decisions. The result is the industry's highest quality search engine, which has earned Google the trust of hundreds of millions of daily users.

But Google also has a major, largely unseen advantage over its rivals: default distribution. Most users access a general search engine through a browser (like Apple's Safari) or a search widget that comes preloaded on a mobile device. Those search access points are preset with a ''default'' search engine. The default is extremely valuable real estate.

Because many users simply stick to searching with the default, Google receives billions of queries every day through those access points. Google derives extraordinary volumes of user data from such searches. It then uses that information to improve search quality. Google so values such data that, absent a user-initiated change, it stores 18 months-worth of a user's search history and activity.

The distribution agreements benefit Google in another important way. More users mean more advertisers, and more advertisers mean more revenues. As queries on Google have grown, so too has the amount it earns in advertising dollars. In 2014, Google booked nearly $47 billion in advertising revenue. By 2021, that number had increased more than three-fold to over $146 billion. Bing, by comparison, generated only a fraction of that amount'--less than $12 billion in 2022.

For years, Google has secured default placements through distribution contracts. It has entered into such agreements with browser developers, mobile device manufacturers, and wireless carriers. These partners agree to install Google as the search engine that is delivered to the user right out of the box at key search access points.

Google pays huge sums to secure these preloaded defaults. Usually, the amount is calculated as a percentage of the advertising revenue that Google generates from queries run through the default search access points. This is known as ''revenue share.'' In 2021, those payments totaled more than $26 billion. That is nearly four times more than all of Google's other search-specific costs combined.

In exchange for revenue share, Google not only receives default placement at the key search access points, but its partners also agree not to preload any other general search engine on the device. Thus, most devices in the United States come preloaded exclusively with Google. These distribution deals have forced Google's rivals to find other ways to reach users.

Google's dominance eventually attracted the attention of antitrust enforcers'--the U.S. Department of Justice and nearly every state's Attorney General. They homed in on Google's distribution agreements and in late 2020 filed two separate lawsuits alleging that the agreements and certain other conduct violate Section 2 of the Sherman Act. According to their complaints, Google has unlawfully used the distribution agreements to thwart competition and maintain its monopoly in the market for general search services and in various online advertising markets.

The proceedings that followed have been remarkable. Discovery began in December 2020 and concluded in March 2023.

['...] After having carefully considered and weighed the witness testimony and evidence, the court reaches the following conclusion: Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly. It has violated Section 2 of the Sherman Act.

Specifically, the court holds that (1) there are relevant product markets for general search services and general search text ads; (2) Google has monopoly power in those markets; (3) Google's distribution agreements are exclusive and have anticompetitive effects; and (4) Google has not offered valid procompetitive justifications for those agreements. Importantly, the court also finds that Google has exercised its monopoly power by charging supracompetitive prices for general search text ads. That conduct has allowed Google to earn monopoly profits.'' (read more)

This is only one facet to the Google monopoly enterprise. There are other lawsuits challenging the Advertising rules and regulations enforced by Google that block funds from online content providers. Google is a leftist control operation, with comprehensive totalitarian alignment.

Don't think that our U.S. Government is against this monopoly just because they were forced to respond to it with a lawsuit. DHS and the IC love having a single control point they can exploit and compromise. Monopolies are useful for the interests of the government who corrupts and utilizes them.

Within the Public/Private Technocracy system that Barack Obama helped to build between Big Tech and Government, they both collaborate on the benefits of singular power structures. A pox on all of them!

MSM '' Kent Walker, Google's president of global affairs, said the company intends to appeal Mehta's findings.

''This decision recognizes that Google offers the best search engine, but concludes that we shouldn't be allowed to make it easily available,'' Walker said.

For now, the decision vindicates antitrust regulators at the Justice Department, which filed its lawsuit nearly four years ago while Donald Trump was still president, and has been escalating it efforts to rein in Big Tech's power during President Joe Biden's administration.

''This victory against Google is an historic win for the American people,'' said Attorney General Merrick Garland. ''No company '-- no matter how large or influential '-- is above the law. The Justice Department will continue to vigorously enforce our antitrust laws.''

The case depicted Google as a technological bully that methodically has thwarted competition to protect a search engine that has become the centerpiece of a digital advertising machine that generated nearly $240 billion in revenue last year. Justice Department lawyers argued that Google's monopoly enabled it to charge advertisers artificially high prices while also enjoying the luxury of not having to invest more time and money into improving the quality of its search engine '-- a lax approach that hurt consumers. (MORE)

Google lost!Good!

F**k Evil!

Link to Article

Archived Version

Tue, 06 Aug 2024 15:51

Governor of Minnesota since 2019

Tim Walz

Walz in 2024

Assumed office January 7, 2019LieutenantPeggy Flanagan Preceded by Mark Dayton In office January 3, 2017 '' January 3, 2019 Preceded by Mark Takano (acting) Succeeded by Phil Roe In office January 3, 2007 '' January 3, 2019 Preceded by Gil Gutknecht Succeeded by Jim HagedornBornTimothy James Walz

( 1964-04-06 ) April 6, 1964 (age 60) West Point, Nebraska, U.S.Political partyDemocraticSpouseChildren2EducationChadron State College (BS)Minnesota State University, Mankato (MS)Allegiance United StatesBranch/serviceYears of service1981''2005RankCommand Sergeant MajorUnit1st Battalion, 125th Field Artillery Regiment[1]AwardsWalz ahead of oral arguments in the Supreme Court

Janus v. AFSCME case.

Recorded February 26, 2018

Timothy James Walz ( "walls"; born April 6, 1964) is an American politician, former U.S. Army non-commissioned officer, and retired educator who has served as the 41st governor of Minnesota since 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he is its presumptive nominee for vice president in the 2024 United States presidential election. He was a member of the United States House of Representatives from 2007 to 2019, representing Minnesota's 1st congressional district .

Born in West Point, Nebraska, Walz grew up working on his family's farm. He joined the Army National Guard and worked a blue-collar manufacturing job after high school. He later graduated with a teaching degree from Chadron State College in Nebraska before moving to Minnesota in 1996. Before running for Congress, he worked as a social studies teacher and football coach in the Mankato school district. He was elected to the United States House of Representatives for Minnesota's 1st congressional district in 2006, defeating six-term Republican incumbent Gil Gutknecht. He was reelected five times, resigning in 2019 after being elected governor. Walz represented a large, mostly rural section of southern Minnesota situated along the border with Iowa.

Walz was elected governor of Minnesota on November 6, 2018, defeating the Republican nominee, Hennepin County commissioner Jeff Johnson.[2] He was reelected in the 2022 Minnesota gubernatorial election, defeating Republican nominee Scott Jensen.[3] On August 6, 2024, Vice President Kamala Harris announced her selection of Walz as her running mate in the 2024 U.S. presidential election.[4][5]

Early life and education

Timothy James Walz was born on April 6, 1964,[6] in West Point, Nebraska, to Darlene Rose (n(C)e Reiman),[7] a homemaker, and James F. Walz, a public school administrator.[8] Walz and his three siblings grew up in Valentine, Nebraska, a rural community in the northwestern part of the state, where they would help with the work on their family farm during summers off from school.[9][10][8] While Walz was in high school, his father was diagnosed with lung cancer.[9] His family moved to Butte, Nebraska in his sophomore year to be closer to his parents' relatives.[11]

Walz graduated from Butte High School in 1982 with a class of 25 students.[12][9] In 1983, his father died.[8] In 1989, he earned a Bachelor of Science in social science education from Chadron State College.[8][13] In 1995, he was arrested for a driving under the influence charge, and has been a teetotaler ever since.[14] In 2001, Walz earned a Master of Science in educational leadership from Minnesota State University, Mankato.[13]

Career

Teaching

After high school, Walz worked in manufacturing and served in the National Guard.[15][8] He subsequently went to college to get a teaching degree like his father.[7] After graduating from Chadron State College, he accepted a teaching position for a year with WorldTeach in China.[8][16] After returning, Walz took a job teaching and coaching in Alliance, Nebraska, where he met his wife, Gwen Whipple, a fellow teacher.[9] He and Gwen married in 1994, and moved two years later to Mankato in Minnesota, his wife's home state,[9] where he worked as a geography teacher and coach at Mankato West High School.[8] He coached the football team to its first state championship in 1999.[17] In 1999, Walz agreed to be the faculty advisor of the first gay-straight alliance at Mankato West High School.[8] Walz and his wife also ran Educational Travel Adventures, which organized summer educational trips for high school students to China.[18]

Military service

Walz during basic training for the Army National Guard in the summer of 1981 at Fort Benning, GeorgiaWith his father's encouragement, Walz enlisted in the Army National Guard when he turned 17.[8][10] His father had served in the Korean War and paid for his education degree with the G.I. Bill,[10] and wanted his son to have the same opportunity.[10]

Walz served in the National Guard for 24 years after enlisting in 1981.[19] During his military career, he had postings in Arkansas, Texas, the Arctic Circle, New Ulm, Minnesota, and elsewhere.[19] He trained in heavy artillery.[19] During his service, he worked in disaster response postings following floods and tornadoes and was deployed overseas on active duty for months, though he never saw combat.[19] In 1989, he earned the title of Nebraska Citizen-Soldier of the Year.[20] He was deployed post-9/11 for half a year to Europe to support Operation Enduring Freedom.[19] His decorations included the Army Commendation Medal and two Army Achievement Medals.[21][22] Walz attained the rank of command sergeant major near the end of his service,[23] but retired as a master sergeant in 2005 for benefit purposes because he did not complete coursework at the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy.[19]

U.S. House of Representatives

Elections

Walz volunteered for John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign, and was soon appointed the campaign's coordinator for his county as well as a district coordinator of Vets for Kerry.[24] In 2005, Walz completed the two-and-a-half-day campaigns and elections course at Camp Wellstone, a program run by Wellstone Action, the nonprofit organization Mark and David Wellstone created to carry on the work of their parents, Paul Wellstone and Sheila Wellstone.[25][26] Walz subsequently announced his candidacy for Congress in 2006.[27][28] He had no opponent for the Minnesota Democratic''Farmer''Labor Party (DFL) nomination in the September 12 primary election.[29] He beat incumbent Republican Gil Gutknecht in the general election on November 7, and took office on January 3, 2007. After the election, Politico described Gutknecht as having been caught "off guard", and Walz as having "resolved never to get caught like that himself.... He packaged himself as a moderate from Day One, built an office centered on constituent service and carved out a niche as a tireless advocate for veterans."[30]

Walz was reelected in 2008 with 62% of the vote, becoming only the second non-Republican to win a second full term in the district. He won a third term in 2010, defeating state representative Randy Demmer with 50% of the vote. He was reelected again in 2012, 2014, and 2016.[31]

Tenure

Walz freshman portrait (110th Congress), 2006Upon his swearing in, Walz became the highest-ranking retired enlisted soldier ever to serve in Congress,[32] as well as only the fourth Democrat/DFLer to represent his district. The others were Thomas Wilson (1887''1889), William Harries (1891''1893), and Tim Penny (1983''1995). Walz served on the House Agriculture Committee,[33] Committee on Veterans' Affairs, and the Armed Services Committee. Along with fellow Minnesota Democrat Keith Ellison, Walz opposed President Bush's plan to increase troop levels in Iraq.[34] In his first week as a legislator, Walz cosponsored a bill to raise the minimum wage, voted for stem cell research, voted to allow Medicare to negotiate pharmaceutical prices, and voiced support for pay-as-you-go budget rules, requiring that new spending or tax changes not add to the federal deficit.[35]

Even as he represented a district that had usually voted Republican, pundits described Walz's policy positions as ranging from moderate to liberal.[36] He voted against the act to Prohibit Federally Funded Abortion Services[37] and to advance the Affordable Care Act out of the House.[38] He also voted to continue funding for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan,[39] and against the 2008 TARP bill, which purchased troubled assets from financial institutions.[40]

Walz received a 100% rating from Planned Parenthood in 2012, from the American Civil Liberties Union in 2011, from the American Immigration Lawyers Association in 2009''2010, from the AFL-CIO in 2010, from the International Brotherhood of Teamsters in 2009''2010, and from the National Organization for Women in 2007. He also received single-digit ratings from the National Taxpayers Union, Citizens Against Government Waste, Americans for Tax Reform, and FreedomWorks. The United States Chamber of Commerce gave him a 25% rating in 2010.[41] Walz was ranked the 7th-most bipartisan House member during the 114th Congress (and the most bipartisan member from Minnesota) in the Bipartisan Index created by the Lugar Center and the McCourt School of Public Policy, which ranks members of Congress by measuring how often their bills attract co-sponsors from the opposite party and how often they co-sponsor bills by members of the opposite party.[42]

Committee assignments

Committee on AgricultureAgriculture Subcommittee on ForestryAgriculture Subcommittee on Commodity Markets, Digital Assets, and Rural DevelopmentCommittee on Veterans' Affairs (ranking member, 115th Congress)Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial AffairsSubcommittee on Economic OpportunityCaucus memberships

Chair, Congressional EMS Caucus[43]Co-Chair, National Guard and Reserve Component Caucus[44]Co-Chair, Congressional Sportsmen's Caucus[45]Co-Chair, Congressional Veterans Jobs Caucus[46]Member, LGBT Equality Caucus[47]Congressional Arts Caucus[48]Governor of Minnesota

Elections

2018

Walz campaigning in Bemidji, Minnesota, October 2018Walz announced he would run for governor after Mark Dayton, the incumbent Democratic governor, chose not to seek a third term. On November 6, 2018, Walz was elected governor, defeating the Republican nominee, Hennepin County commissioner Jeff Johnson.[2]

During the campaign, two senior NCOs of the Minnesota National Guard falsely accused Walz of fabricating facts about his service and lying about his military rank.[49] The allegation about his military rank was debunked.[50]

2022

Walz sought reelection in 2022.[51] He won the August 9 Democratic primary and faced Republican nominee Scott Jensen in the November general election. On November 8, 2022, Walz defeated Jensen, 52.3% to 44.6%. Though Jensen fared better than Walz's opponent had in 2018 and made gains against Walz in Greater Minnesota, he did not overcome Walz's lead in the Minneapolis''Saint Paul metropolitan area.[52][53]

Tenure

Tim Walz's swearing-in as Minnesota's 41st governor with his family by his side in 2019Walz was sworn in as governor of Minnesota on January 7, 2019, at the Fitzgerald Theater in Saint Paul. Walz took the oath of office alongside incoming lieutenant governor Peggy Flanagan, Minnesota secretary of state Steve Simon, Minnesota state auditor Julie Blaha, and Minnesota attorney general Keith Ellison, all Democrats.[54] Walz spoke about education and healthcare reform in his inauguration speech.[55]

Police reform and protest response

On May 26, 2020, the day after the murder of George Floyd, Walz and Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan demanded justice and called the video of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on George Floyd's neck "disturbing".[56] Walz elaborated, "The lack of humanity in this disturbing video is sickening. We will get answers and seek justice".[56]

Walz's initial response to the widespread protests following Floyd's murder was criticized by political opponents and other groups.[57][58] He later responded to the murder by ordering the Minnesota legislature to reconvene for special sessions on legislation for police reform and accountability.[59] After police reform failed to pass the first special session in June,[60] a second special session was held in July.[61] On July 21, the legislature passed major police reform legislation.[62] The new compromise law included a limited ban on police from using chokeholds so long as the officers are not at greater risk.[62] It banned the old warrior training program, which was regarded as dehumanizing people and encouraging aggressive conduct.[62] It required training peace officers to deal with people with autism or in a mental health crisis and deescalation training for situations that could turn volatile.[62] It also created a special independent unit at the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension for investigations of fatal police encounters and a community relations advisory council to consult with the Police Officers Standards and Training Board on policy changes.[62] Walz signed the legislation into law on July 23, 2020.[63]

NPVIC

On May 24, 2023, Walz signed an omnibus appropriations bill into law that included a section that adjoined Minnesota to the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact.[64][65]

2023 legislative session

The 93rd Minnesota Legislature, in session from January to May 2023, was the first legislature to be fully Minnesota Democratic''Farmer''Labor Party-controlled since the 88th Minnesota Legislature in 2013''15. It passed several major reforms to Minnesota law, including requiring paid leave, banning noncompete agreements, cannabis legalization, increased spending on infrastructure and environmental issues, tax modifications, codifying abortion rights, universal free school meals, and universal gun background checks.[66] The Star Tribune called the session "one of the most consequential" ever in Minnesota; Walz called it the "most productive session in Minnesota history".[66] While Walz signed almost all legislation passed by the legislature, he vetoed a bill intended to increase pay for rideshare drivers, his first veto as governor, saying that it did not strike the right balance.[67][68]

2024 vice presidential campaign

On July 22, 2024, Walz endorsed Vice President Harris following incumbent president Joe Biden's withdrawal from the 2024 presidential race.[69] Walz quickly made Harris's reported shortlist for vice president,[70] and on August 6, 2024, Harris officially selected Walz as her running mate.[71] This followed a selection process in which Kentucky governor Andy Beshear, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, Arizona senator Mark Kelly, Illinois governor J. B. Pritzker, and Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro were also reported to be on the Harris campaign's shortlist prior to Walz's selection.[72]

Political positions

Cannabis

Walz at the signing ceremony for House File 100 legalizing recreational cannabis. He was joined by Minnesota's 38th governor, Jesse Ventura.Walz advocated for the legalization of recreational cannabis as governor of Minnesota.[73][74][75] As a candidate for governor in 2017, he said: "We have an opportunity in Minnesota to replace the current failed policy with one that creates tax revenue, grows jobs, builds opportunities for Minnesotans, protects Minnesota kids, and trusts adults to make personal decisions based on their personal freedoms."[76] In 2022, he proposed the creation of a Cannabis Management Office to develop and implement the "regulatory framework for adult-use cannabis" in Minnesota.[77][78] On May 30, 2023, he signed into law House File 100 to legalize recreational cannabis in Minnesota, which went into effect on August 1, 2023.[79][80]

Economic issues

During the economic crisis in 2008, Walz repeatedly spoke out against using taxpayer money to bail out financial institutions; in late September, he voted against the $700 billion TARP bill, which purchased troubled assets from these institutions.[81] Walz released a statement after the bill's passage, saying, "The bill we voted on today passes the buck when it comes to recouping the losses taxpayers might suffer. I also regret that this bill does not do enough to help average homeowners, or provide sufficient oversight of Wall Street."[82] For the same reasons, in December 2008, he voted against the bill that offered $14 billion in government loans to bail out the country's large automobile manufacturers.[83] In June 2009 Walz introduced a bipartisan resolution calling on the federal government to "relinquish its temporary ownership interests in the General Motors Company and the Chrysler Group, LLC, as soon as possible" and stated that the government must not be involved in those companies' management decisions.[84]

Walz talking with workers at the Massman Automation manufacturing plant, February 2024Despite his votes against bailout bills that loaned taxpayer money to large banks and auto manufacturers, Walz did vote with his Democratic colleagues to support the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. As a member of the House Transportation Committee, Walz saw the stimulus bill as an opportunity to work "with his congressional colleagues to make job creation through investment in public infrastructure like roads, bridges and clean energy the cornerstone of the economic recovery plan".[85] Walz has focused heavily on job and economic issues important to his southern Minnesota district, which has a mix of larger employers like the Mayo Clinic along with small businesses and agricultural interests. In July 2009, he voted for the Enhancing Small Business Research and Innovation Act, which he described as "part of our long-term economic blueprint to spur job creation by encouraging America's entrepreneurs to innovate toward breakthrough technological advancements".[86][87] Walz also urged assistance for hog and dairy farmers who struggled with lower prices for their commodities in 2008 and 2009.[88]

Education

Walz visiting Lake Middle School, November 2022Walz was a public school teacher for 20 years. He opposes using merit pay for teachers.[89] Voting in favor of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Walz pointed to its strong provisions in support of public school buildings.[90][91] He is on record supporting legislation to lower tuition costs.[92] In a February 12, 2009 speech, he said that the most important thing to do "to ensure a solid base for [America's] economic future '... is to provide the best education possible for [American] children."[93] Walz has received strong backing for these policies from many interest groups, including the National Education Association, the American Association of University Women and the National Association of Elementary School Principals.[94]

Guns

While in Congress, Walz was a strong supporter of gun rights and was endorsed by the NRA Political Victory Fund (NRA-PVF) multiple times, receiving an A grade from the organization.[95][96] Following the Parkland high school shooting in 2018, he denounced the NRA in a Star Tribune opinion piece, and announced that he would donate the equivalent of all of the campaign contributions the NRA-PVF had given him'--$18,000'--to the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund.[97] As governor, Walz expressed support for gun regulation.[98] In 2023, he signed into law a public safety bill that establishes universal background checks and red-flag laws in Minnesota.[99]

Labor and workers' rights

In 2023, Walz signed a law banning captive audience meetings and non-compete clauses.[100][101] The law also mandated paid sick leave for employees and increased safety inspections, as well as ergonomics requirements to reduce the risk of repetitive strain injuries for warehouse, meatpacking, and healthcare facility workers.[101] The law also added granted construction workers stronger protections against wage theft.[101]

LGBT rights

Walz supports LGBTQ rights, including federal anti-discrimination laws on the basis of sexual orientation.[89] In a 2009 speech, he called for an end to the Don't ask, don't tell policy. Walz voted in favor of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act and the Sexual Orientation Employment Nondiscrimination Act. In 2007, he received a 90% grade from the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest LGBT rights organization.[41] In 2011, Walz announced his support for the Respect for Marriage Act.[102] As governor, Walz has signed a number of bills that support the LGBTQ community. In 2023, he signed a bill that banned the practice of conversion therapy and another that protected gender-affirming care in Minnesota.[103]

Israel''Hamas war

Walz condemned Hamas's October 7 attacks in Israel and ordered flags to be lowered to half mast in the following days.[104] After the 2024 Minnesota Democratic presidential primary, in which 19% of voters cast "uncommitted" ballots, Walz took a sympathetic view toward those doing so to protest President Biden's handling of the war in Gaza, calling them "civically engaged".[105]

Of the protests against U.S. funding of the war in Gaza, Walz said: "This issue is a humanitarian crisis. They have every right to be heard... These folks are asking for a change in course, they're asking for more pressure to be put on'... You can hold competing things: that Israel has the right to defend itself, and the atrocities of October 7 are unacceptable, but Palestinian civilians being caught in this'... has got to end." Walz also said he supports a ceasefire in Gaza.[106]

Veterans' issues

Walz greeting President Joe Biden, 2023Having served 24 years in the Army National Guard, as a freshman in Congress Walz was given a rare third committee membership when he was assigned to the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs.[107] Walz has championed enhanced veterans benefits since taking office in 2007. In May of that year, the House unanimously passed his "Traumatic Brain Injuries Center Act" to set up five centers around the nation to study traumatic brain injuries and develop improved models for caring for veterans suffering from such injuries.[108]

Walz also supported the GI Bill of 2008, which expanded education benefits for veterans and in some cases allowed them to transfer education benefits to family members.[109] In 2009, Walz gave the keynote address at the American Legion National Convention in Louisville. He spoke about the need for the VA and Department of Defense to work together to make sure that returning service men and women "do not fall through the cracks when they transition to civilian life".[110]

Walz was the lead House sponsor of the Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for American Veterans Act, which directs the Veterans Administration to report on veteran mental health care and suicide prevention programs. It also gives the VA permission to provide incentives to psychiatrists who agree to join the VA medical system.[111] In 2018, Walz introduced a bill that would amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow for a tax credit for employees who are deployed in the military.[112]

Women's issues

Walz supports abortion rights,[89] and has a 100% rating from Planned Parenthood.[41] The National Right to Life Committee gave him a rating of zero.[41] In early 2009, Walz voted for the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.[113]

Personal life

Walz and his wife, Gwen, married in 1994. They lived in Mankato, Minnesota, for nearly 20 years before moving to Saint Paul with their two children upon his election as governor.[114] Walz is Lutheran.[115][116]

Walz's brother Craig died after being hit by a falling tree during a storm in 2016. He was survived by his wife Julie and their son Jacob, who suffered severe injuries.[117][118]

Electoral history

See also

United States congressional delegations from MinnesotaList of United States representatives from MinnesotaReferences

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Marijuana Moment. Archived from the original on January 11, 2023 . Retrieved January 11, 2023 . ^ "Rep. Tim Walz Wants Recreational Marijuana Legalized In Minnesota". Southern Minnesota News. September 7, 2017. Archived from the original on November 9, 2018 . Retrieved January 11, 2023 . ^ "Gov. Walz calls for recreational marijuana legalization in Minnesota". KMSP. January 26, 2022. Archived from the original on January 11, 2023 . Retrieved January 11, 2023 . ^ "Governor Walz, Lieutenant Governor Flanagan Announce Plan to Protect Minnesotans' Health and Safety" (Press release). St. Paul, Minnesota: mn.gov. January 26, 2022. Archived from the original on January 11, 2023 . Retrieved January 11, 2023 . ^ Ahmed, Trisha (May 30, 2023). "Minnesota governor signs bill legalizing recreational marijuana starting in August". Associated Press . Retrieved July 16, 2023 . ^ Jaeger, Kyle (May 30, 2023). "Minnesota Governor Signs Marijuana Legalization Bill Into Law". Marijuana Moment. 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'Tim' Walz '-- Walz Votes to Create Millions of Jobs Through House Economic Recovery Plan". Votesmart.org. January 28, 2009. Archived from the original on December 3, 2021 . Retrieved July 12, 2010 . ^ "Project Vote Smart '-- Representative Timothy J. 'Tim' Walz '-- Rep. Tim Walz Votes to Create Small Business Jobs, Spur Economic Growth". Votesmart.org . Retrieved July 12, 2010 . [permanent dead link ] ^ "Roll Call 486 | Bill Number: H. R. 2965". clerk.house.gov. Archived from the original on November 10, 2020. ^ "Project Vote Smart '-- Representative Timothy J. 'Tim' Walz '-- Walz Urges Swift Action to Assist Dairy Producers". Votesmart.org . Retrieved July 12, 2010 . [permanent dead link ] ^ a b c "Project Vote Smart '-- Representative Timothy J. 'Tim' Walz '-- Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)". Votesmart.org. Archived from the original on October 30, 2010 . Retrieved July 12, 2010 . ^ "Project Vote Smart '-- Representative Walz on HR 3221 '' Student Aid Program Modifications". Votesmart.org . Retrieved July 12, 2010 . ^ "Project Vote Smart '-- Representative Walz on HR 1 '' Appropriations, Tax Law Amendments, and Unemployment Benefit Amendments ("Stimulus Bill")". Votesmart.org . Retrieved July 12, 2010 . ^ "Project Vote Smart '-- Representative Timothy J. 'Tim' Walz '-- Rep Walz Announces New Program to Make College More Affordable". Votesmart.org . Retrieved July 12, 2010 . ^ "Project Vote Smart '-- Representative Timothy J. 'Tim' Walz '-- School Funding". Votesmart.org. February 12, 2009. Archived from the original on August 6, 2024 . Retrieved July 12, 2010 . ^ "Project Vote Smart '-- Representative Timothy J. 'Tim' Walz '-- Interest Group Ratings". Votesmart.org. May 14, 2010. Archived from the original on July 5, 2011 . Retrieved July 12, 2010 . ^ "Walz picks up NRA endorsement over Quist". October 2, 2012. Archived from the original on January 6, 2022 . Retrieved January 6, 2022 . ^ "NRA-PVF Endorses Tim Walz for U.S. House of Representatives in Minnesota's 1st Congressional District". Archived from the original on January 6, 2022 . Retrieved January 6, 2022 . ^ Walz, Tim (February 24, 2018). "OPINION EXCHANGE | Tim Walz: Please understand my full record on guns". Star Tribune. Archived from the original on June 5, 2023 . Retrieved June 5, 2023 . ^ " 'Keep choosing the right fights': Gov. Walz delivers annual State of the State Address". kare11.com. April 19, 2023. Archived from the original on August 6, 2024 . Retrieved July 19, 2023 . ^ "Gov. Walz signs public safety bill, including new gun control measures". kare11.com. May 19, 2023. Archived from the original on August 6, 2024 . Retrieved June 5, 2023 . ^ Nesterak, Max (May 3, 2024). "Lawsuit challenges Minnesota's ban on captive audience meetings '-- and other labor news". Minnesota Reformer. Archived from the original on August 6, 2024 . Retrieved August 6, 2024 . ^ a b c Nesterak, Max (May 17, 2023). "Minnesota lawmakers approve 9 major worker-friendly changes". Minnesota Reformer. Archived from the original on June 5, 2023 . Retrieved August 6, 2024 . ^ Ameigh, Sarah. "North Carolina's Anti-LGBT Measure: A Reactionary's Response to Progress". American Humanist. Archived from the original on September 30, 2011 . Retrieved September 25, 2011 . ^ Villarreal, Daniel (April 27, 2023). "Minnesota governor signs conversion therapy ban & law protecting trans healthcare rights". LGBTQ Nation . Retrieved August 6, 2024 . ^ "Minnesota governor orders flags at half-staff to honor victims of Hamas' attack on Israel". WCCO-TV. October 11, 2023. Archived from the original on August 6, 2024 . Retrieved August 6, 2024 . ^ Wurzer, Cathy; Stockton, Gracie (March 7, 2024). "Gov. Walz says Minnesota's 45,000 uncommitted voters are 'civically engaged' ". MPR News. Archived from the original on August 6, 2024 . Retrieved August 6, 2024 . ^ "Where Kamala Harris's top potential VP picks stand on Israel and Gaza". Business Insider. Archived from the original on August 3, 2024 . Retrieved August 4, 2024 . ^ "Project Vote Smart '-- Representative Timothy J. 'Tim' Walz '-- Walz Receives Rare Third Committee Appointment". Votesmart.org. January 18, 2007 . Retrieved July 12, 2010 . [permanent dead link ] ^ "Project Vote Smart '-- Representative Timothy J. 'Tim' Walz '-- Walz's TBI Legislation Unanimously Passes House". Votesmart.org. May 24, 2007. Archived from the original on December 3, 2021 . Retrieved July 12, 2010 . ^ "Project Vote Smart '-- Representative Walz on HR 2642 '' GI Bill, Funding for Midwest Flood Cleanup, Extension of Unemployment Benefits, and Other Provisions". Votesmart.org. Archived from the original on December 3, 2021 . Retrieved July 12, 2010 . ^ "Project Vote Smart '-- Representative Timothy J. 'Tim' Walz '-- Congressman Walz Gives Keynote Address At American Legion National Convention". Votesmart.org. August 26, 2009. Archived from the original on December 3, 2021 . Retrieved July 12, 2010 . ^ 114th Congress (2015) (January 7, 2015). "H.R. 203 (114th)". Legislation. GovTrack.us. Archived from the original on March 8, 2021 . Retrieved June 18, 2016 . Clay Hunt SAV Act {{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) ^ "Walz Introduces Bill to Help Guard Members and Reservists Earn and Keep Jobs While Deployed". October 16, 2018. Archived from the original on January 2, 2019. ^ "Final Vote Results for Roll Call 37: On passage of Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009". Archived from the original on July 7, 2010 . Retrieved November 24, 2019 . ^ "Full Biography". Honorable Tim Walz. December 11, 2012. Archived from the original on December 21, 2018 . Retrieved August 15, 2018 . ^ "Elections 2008". Chicago Sun-Times. October 23, 2008. Archived from the original on July 16, 2011 . Retrieved October 24, 2008 . ^ Wormald, Benjamin (January 5, 2015). "Faith on the Hill: The Religious Affiliations of the 114th Congress". Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project. Archived from the original on September 23, 2021 . Retrieved October 3, 2021 . ^ Sederstrom, Noel. "Walz family gathers at St. Mary's in Duluth as rescued teen faces multiple surgeries". Archived from the original on August 16, 2018 . Retrieved August 15, 2018 . ^ "Obituary: Craig Walz". Norfolk Daily News. July 2, 2016. Archived from the original on July 29, 2024 . Retrieved July 29, 2024 . ^ "Minnesota Secretary of State '' 2018 General Election Results". www.sos.state.mn.us. Archived from the original on April 10, 2020. ^ "2022 GENERAL ELECTION RESULTS". Minnesota Secretary of State. Archived from the original on December 1, 2022 . Retrieved November 30, 2022 . ^ "- Election Results". Archived from the original on December 2, 2022 . Retrieved November 30, 2022 . External links

Governor Tim Walz official government websiteTim Walz for Governor campaign websiteTim Walz at CurlieAppearances on C-SPANBiography at the Biographical Directory of the United States CongressFinancial information (federal office) at the Federal Election CommissionLegislation sponsored at the Library of CongressProfile at Vote Smart

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Tue, 06 Aug 2024 15:44

Artificial intelligence may not be as intelligent as it's made out to be, according to Goldman Sachs's Jim Covello.

The bank's global head of equity research, Covello is a technology industry veteran who has witnessed 30 years of transformative shifts such as the invention of the internet, the e-commerce revolution, the adoption of smartphones, and much more.

And to him, AI doesn't exhibit the signs of a truly groundbreaking innovation like the ones he's seen before.

In an interview with Business Insider, Covello explained the two reasons he's an AI skeptic '-- and how to invest when the rest of the market is buying into the AI hype.

AI comes with a trillion-dollar price tagIt's no secret that AI technology isn't cheap. Goldman Sachs estimates that data centers, utilities, and other infrastructure buildout costs will accumulate to over a trillion dollars in the next few years.

To Covello, the high cost of AI should raise some concerns.

Most noticeably, it's created an anticompetitive, winner-take-all market where only the largest mega-caps are able to invest in and develop the technology. Investors who have been following the meteoric rise of Nvidia are likely aware of how the chipmaker and other members of the Magnificent Seven have come to dominate the returns of the S&P 500.

AI buildout comes with intensive capital requirements that only the biggest companies can afford. Covello doesn't see any company that could come remotely close to challenging Nvidia's GPU production ability. He also points to the Netherlands-based ASML, which holds a monopoly on the lithography tools needed to produce chips.

Without competition, future costs of AI are likely to remain high. High barriers to entry mean that the technology landscape surrounding AI is unlikely to see new players anytime soon, giving the existing winner little incentive to lower prices. This contrasts dramatically with the environment that led to flourishing internet or e-commerce businesses, which Covello saw as much more democratized.

"I think there's probably too much complacency that the costs are just going to come down dramatically over time when you have some companies that are so incredibly well entrenched with their technology position," Covello said.

Covello also points out that AI use cases are replacing low-cost jobs with very costly technology '-- the opposite of other developments he's seen. "Most technology transitions in history have been a less-expensive solution replacing a costly solution," Covello said. He points to the e-commerce revolution, where Amazon was able to rapidly take market share away from traditional brick-and-mortar retailers due to lower storefront costs.

Covello sees call centers, a popular AI use case, as a prime example of a high-cost AI solution replacing a low-cost one. SoftBank and CVS are just two examples of companies developing an AI-enabled call center solution in an initiative to improve customer service experiences.

"A lot of people say, 'Well, we'll be able to replace call centers with AI,'" Covello said. "Even if you were to believe that, that's a very expensive technology where the world's going to spend a lot of money to build out AI capabilities over the next couple of years alone, to potentially replace relatively lower cost workers."

The 'fundamental misconception' about AIIf AI were truly transformative, then the trillion-dollar price tag itself wouldn't be such an issue. Generative AI is touted as something that could automate a quarter of all jobs, dramatically boost GDP, and function as some sort of superintelligence.

Covello doesn't think AI technology is as groundbreaking as it's hyped up to be. In his experience covering the technology industry, AI's influence pales compared to other actually life-changing innovations.

"I covered semiconductor stocks when the internet was invented, when the cellphone or smartphone was invented, when the laptop came out," Covello said. "Those things fundamentally changed the way that we lived our life. They allowed us to do things that we've never done before."

The potential use cases of these technologies were apparent from their inception, but Covello sees no comparable roadmap for applications of AI today. At best, Covello sees AI as a tool that can make existing tasks easier or more efficient. And at worst, it's a hallucinating virtual assistant (Remember pizza glue?).

While some technologists might believe that AI's hallucinations are a kink to be ironed out as the technology improves, Covello views hallucinations as a feature, not a bug, of AI.

AI is skilled at providing answers to familiar questions that it's been trained on. However, once it encounters unfamiliar situations outside its training set, AI doesn't have the ability to reason like humans do. In these situations, it makes up inaccurate information or predictions. Covello likens it to how you might make up words or hum along when you don't know the lyrics to a song.

One example is self-driving cars, which have garnered significant attention in the AI wave. However, the technology has repeatedly failed to perform when the cars come across an unfamiliar situation or outlier. When two Waymo vehicles encountered an improperly towed pickup truck on the road last December, their software malfunctioned and led to a collision.

At the end of the day, the technology isn't truly autonomous or trustworthy '-- it needs constant human supervision. Pizza glue might be a relatively innocuous mistake, but a self-driving Tesla crashing into a jet definitely isn't.

To those who argue that AI will become smarter through further training, Covello points out that these models have already consumed copious amounts of data and are quite far along in their training. In fact, Big Tech is actually rapidly running out of data to train it on.

Technology that is highly skilled at analyzing historical data but unable to apply it to new situations won't dramatically change our everyday lives or replace any high-value jobs. If AI doesn't actually have the ability to conduct higher-order reasoning, it won't leave a trillion-dollar impact on the economy.

In Covello's opinion, "there's a fundamental misconception of what AI is and what AI does."

How to prepare for a bubble popBeing bearish on AI isn't a popular stance to take, perhaps partially because it means betting against the monster rally of the S&P 500 this year.

Covello has some good news for those who've bought into the AI trade or have benefited from the Big Tech buzz: in his experience, bubbles can take a long time to burst.

For now, the best bet is still to invest in the picks and shovels that are building out AI infrastructure. The winners of the AI boom so far have been high-quality, well-capitalized companies with strong fundamentals. If the AI skeptics are proven wrong, then Big Tech and other chipmakers, data centers, and utilities providers will continue to perform exceptionally well. And if AI falls flat of expectations, then these AI infrastructure companies will have the financial capability to adapt.

Covello also recommends monitoring corporate profitability, especially as companies report their second-quarter results. Corporate profitability can reveal the extent to which AI technologies are actually monetized and predict future AI spending.

"There are going to be a lot of companies that are reporting increased AI expenses that are going to hurt the P and L, but there's no revenue yet," Covello said. If these costly capital expenditures don't lead to increased revenue in the next 12 - 18 months, Covello anticipates that investors will begin raising eyebrows at the efficacy of AI.

When corporate profitability is robust, companies have more money to experiment on riskier projects such as AI. Covello doesn't think companies will pull back on AI spending until their bottom lines start to shrink and the economy enters a downturn. Given that the Fed is on track to guide the economy to a soft landing, this situation is highly unlikely.

For now, strong earnings mean the AI bubble will likely continue growing for a while longer.

"We're going to just keep monitoring the data as it comes in," Covello said. "If the facts change, then we will change our view. If there are some killer applications that come in over the next couple of years, then obviously AI is going to be a lot more valuable than I currently believe."

But for now, Covello remains a skeptic about truly transformational AI use cases: "I haven't seen any yet, and I don't anticipate there's going to be any."

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Tue, 06 Aug 2024 14:02

This piece shall describe both the shortcomings and the successes of the recent protests in two separate sections. Anyone who takes issue with it should address both sections in a fair manner. It is also worth repeating what is said elsewhere, that this piece is addressed as much to those who wish to defend the British state, as a speculative exercise, from which they might draw profitable lessons about its weakness. It is a piece of analysis and not normative argument.

We shall begin by pointing out how right I am about everything

She spurns your suit? O-ho! O-ho!

I told you so, I told you so

-HMS Pinafore

All J'accuse predictions are coming true. From December 2023

This is the opening salvo of the Starmer purge. The signs are all there. Days before the attacks, Tommy Robinson, a confirmed state agent, held a giant rally in London as a 'dress rehearsal' and to prime the image of 'far-right thugs' in people's minds. The UAE, a country intimately linked to British intelligence, issued a travel warning days before rioting started. The attacker in Southport was, like most school shooters who are never seen again, connected to child acting and various SIS front organisations. While the Southport protests, and some others (we'll get to this later) appear to be legit, the one outside Downing Street was clearly staged having zero connection to the attack.

Starmer has responded by promising a new Gendarmerie to 'tackle' violent disorder, here we see it described in a classical example of Starmerian oratory:

''And so, to that end, I can announce today that, following this meeting, we will establish a national capability across police forces to tackle violent disorder'.... These thugs are mobile, they move from community to community. We must have a policing response that can do the same. Shared intelligence, wider deployment of facial recognition technology and preventative action, criminal behaviour orders to restrict their movements, before they can even board a train. In just the same way that we do with football hooligans''

The injustices of anti-hooligan legislation have been described elsewhere, by other people, better than I shall attempt. Essentially, if you attend more than one protest of anything classified as an 'extremist group' (anti-ULEZ, anti-lockdown, free speech, pro-Palestine) you will be added to a Beaver Shield database and your movements tracked for the rest of your life. If the Starmtroopers think you might be about to do something naughty, or during periods of civil disorder, you will get slammed with some form of specialised, illegal restraining order for which the police will not need ordinary warrants and which will confine you to your home with 3+ year jail sentences for disobeying. It is an egregious attack on the freedom to protest and a powerful weapon in the armoury of a state sliding into economic recession and war. The database won't be tied to actual records of violence but membership of any group considered 'extremist', which will begin with the 'actual Nazis' and rapidly swell to include anyone opposing the fake-peace of Starmerism.

Secondly, the riots are going to become an event in 'national memory', more important than Grenfell, to be invoked for years to come. I expect we are due for a few more days of it, until a particularly graphic case of 'far right terror' happens, possibly a political assassination. A scapegoat will be found to make an example of and establish a new standard for what mainstream journalists and politicians are allowed to say. Most likely, this will be Farage. The grumblings of the anti-terror honcho are a prelude to some new deployment of the 'Standards Committee' which will see him, essentially, forced to admit his culpability in the riots or be suspended indefinitely from Parliament. Farage is in a tough position. The more moderate he gets, the easier he looks as a target; had he turned up to one of these rallies and addressed the crowds, the system would be desperately trying to keep him out of the headlines. If this happens, Farage will be castrated for the rest of his time in Parliament. The precedent will be used throughout the Starmerreich to intimidate increasingly boozier news outlets into refraining from increasingly mundane commentary on immigration. G.B News will also, likely, get hit by this at a later date.

This article is not about Reform, a topic which has been done to death, yet let it be known that Farage can, at any PMQs, demand Starmer answer his 'questions'. He can attend the numerous sessions in which the Home Secretary gives statements to the House. As an M.P, he has access to the HoC library and may summon any police official or public servant before a select committee to answer his 'questions'. Farage could very easily use some simple OSINT to get the identities of all the armed Muslim counter-protesters and read them out in Parliament, simultaneously publishing a video explaining the methodology and Starmer would have no response. That he does not do this but contents himself instead with acting like a <100k follower right-wing spam account must be noted. It is hypocritical for people who spent two years insisting that Neill'O Vaccines, in his capacity as under-secretary for Health, declare a Schmittian emergency in the channel and deport every refugee, not to hold their representative to higher standards.

The final, and most ambitious, goal of the operation is some kind of Internet censorship. This has been a goal of the British state for a long time and it is unlikely to succeed this time. It will be darkly amusing to watch the same people who harp on about 'Imperial nostalgia' and 'British exceptionalism' foam with rage when billionaire space-coloniser Elon Musk tells Beaver Shield Winner from The Woodman, Sir Keir Starmer, to get lost. M.Ps and civil servants are simply too incompetent to build a native system of web censorship outside bullying American companies to do it for them. What might happen, in light of the aforementioned scapegoating exercise, is that M.Ps and journalists are effectively forbidden from posting about ongoing emergencies by an expansion of hate speech or anti-terror laws. Labour frontbenchers have been muttering darkly about 'role of X'

Let this serve as a vindication of what was written last year, there is a world of difference between rule by incompetents and rule by your enemies who actively plot to destroy you. It is not simply business as usual, managed decline. The deep state can now proactively shape events, in concert with the state broadcaster, to achieve desired outcomes of greater censorship. If the riots had happened under Sunak, they would've been reduced to whining about it online and getting their fake charities to put out 'research' endorsing this outcome. The right-wing are entirely unprepared for a government which simply doesn't care about them and relishes the prospect of making them suffer. There is no reason for Sir Keir to listen to your 'concerns'. As was said in the past, the danger is that, after eight years of this, the same people who demanded zero seats will become passionate Conservatives; Farage will do nothing for four years '-- they will vote Reform 2028, hence killing any immigration sceptic Conservative Party as well '-- and then ensure someone like Rory Stewart gets in out of desperation in the next election. Only People's Action offers an alternative.

The British Maidan

Nonetheless, to completely dismiss the protests would be foolish and immoral. It is understandable that no mainstream commentator can endorse violence but let us be clear, where your conscience must stand. The police have waged a generation-long campaign of intimidation against working-class white people: the fathers of girls groomed by rape gangs were intimidated by threats of imprisonment, BLM were allowed to vandalise historical monuments to be let off by rigged juries, more people have been arrested for hate speech in Britain than people in Russia for criticising the SMO, day-in-day-out stories are read in the papers of people who are only in the country due to incompetence (every party agrees they shouldnt be here) committing Medieval acts of violence against innocents: who have been systematically robbed of all ability to defend themselves by an army of CCTV cameras and hardhat goons.

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Tue, 06 Aug 2024 13:21

Harris had been the party's presumptive nominee since Friday.

Vice President Kamala Harris has officially gotten the vast majority of delegate votes in the virtual roll call that nominates her as the Democratic presidential nominee, the Democratic National Committee said in a statement released late Monday.

The roll call, which concluded on Monday evening, still needs to be certified by Convention Secretary Jason Rae, according to the statement, but the announcement makes Harris's historic nomination effectively official.

"With the support of 99% of all participating delegates in the virtual roll call, Vice President Harris has historic momentum at her back as we embark on the final steps in officially certifying her as our Party's nominee. We thank the thousands of delegates from all across the country who took seriously their responsibility throughout this process to make their voices '' and the voices of their communities '' heard," party chair Jaime Harrison and Democratic National Convention Committee Chair Minyon Moore said in a statement.

Harris received 4,567 votes from delegates, according to the Democratic National Committee.

Harris is the first Black and South Asian woman to lead a major party ticket.

Harris had effectively been the party's nominee since Friday, when Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison announced on a livestream call that Harris had earned enough Democratic Party delegate votes in a virtual roll call to secure the party's nomination.

Vice President Kamala Harris arrives to speak during a campaign rally, July 30, 2024, in Atlanta.

John Bazemore/AP

Harris was the only competitive candidate that launched a campaign to succeed President Joe Biden after his withdrawal from the race, and the only candidate that received enough delegate signatures to progress to the virtual roll call.

Convention delegates have been virtually voting by email or phone since 9 a.m. ET on Thursday in a virtual roll call set up by the Democratic National Committee. Delegates had until Monday at 6 p.m. ET to vote in the nomination process.

Jaime Harrison, chair of the Democratic National Committee, speaks during the DNC summer meeting in National Harbor, Md., Sept. 8, 2022.

Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images, FILE

The DNC initially decided in May to hold a virtual roll call because of uncertainty over deadlines to get on the ballot in Ohio. The state legislature eventually rectified the issue, but the DNC has argued that Republican lawmakers in Ohio are acting in bad faith and that the Democratic candidate needs to be nominated earlier than the convention to avoid legal issues. Ohio leaders have denied this allegation.

ABC News' Gabriella Abdul-Hakim, Fritz Farrow and Will McDuffie contributed to this report.

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Mon, 05 Aug 2024 03:52

Angle down icon An icon in the shape of an angle pointing down. Gary Marcus, left, who founded a machine learning company, argued in a recent column for The Guardian that Sam Altman can't be trusted and that AI is headed in the wrong direction. Patrick Semansky/AP Gary Marcus, founder of Geometric Intelligence, testified before the Senate with Sam Altman in 2023.Once hopeful of Altman, Marcus now says that the OpenAI CEO can't be trusted.The AI expert also wrote in The Guardian that we're on the wrong path to AI.Sam Altman, as the CEO of OpenAI and poster boy for artificial intelligence, has made many calls for an AI that will benefit humanity and regulations to ensure the world will get there.

But a leading AI expert says the CEO's actions contradict his public pronouncements, and the current path to AI is headed in the wrong direction.

In a Saturday column for The Guardian, Gary Marcus, founder of machine learning company Geometric Intelligence and former head of Uber's AI lab, argued that Altman has repeatedly misled the public about his financial stake in OpenAI and questioned how genuine the CEO is when he calls for regulations.

Once hopeful of Altman, Marcus wrote in the column that the OpenAI leader "seemed genuine" and appeared to share the same concerns about AI regulation when they both testified before lawmakers about the technology in May 2023.

"We both came out strongly for AI regulation," Marcus wrote. "Little by little, though, I realized that I, the Senate, and ultimately the American people, had probably been played."

The AI expert challenged Altman's claim that he had no equity in OpenAI, citing the CEO's indirect financial ties to the company through his stake in Y Combinator, a startup incubator Altman once led, and Rain AI, a chips startup that made a $51 million deal with the AI company.

A spokesperson for OpenAI did not immediately return a request for comment.

Marcus also questioned Altman's commitment to safety, writing that although the OpenAI says he wants regulation, "the reality is far more complicated."

He cited a 2023 Time magazine article that reported how OpenAI sought to weaken the EU's AI Act in part by removing language that labeled OpenAI's ChatGPT as "high risk," which would have subjected the company to more restrictive laws.

Marcus also mentioned issues with transparency at OpenAI, where employees were asked to sign restrictive NDAs and former colleagues have accused Altman of lying to the board.

"Presumably Altman doesn't want to live in regret and infamy. But behind closed doors, his lobbyists keep pushing for weaker regulation, or none at all," Marcus wrote.

Beyond Altman, Marcus added that the direction of AI is headed down the wrong path as companies try to catch up to OpenAI.

"Unfortunately, many other AI companies seem to be on the path of hype and corner-cutting that Altman charted," Marcus wrote.

The AI expert also argued that generative AI tools like ChatGPT are "unlikely ever to be safe" and won't provide useful solutions in areas like medicine or climate change.

Generative AI tools "are recalcitrant, and opaque by nature '-- so-called 'black boxes' that we can never fully rein in," Marcus wrote.

"That said, I don't think we should abandon AI. Making better AI '-- for medicine, and material science, and climate science, and so on '-- really could transform the world," he wrote. "Generative AI is unlikely to do the trick, but some future, yet-to-be developed form of AI might."

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Thu, 08 Aug 2024 14:21

With Tim Walz joining Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris on the campaign trail as her newly selected running mate, critics are blasting the Minnesota governor for what they claim was his failure to prevent a massive COVID-19 fraud scheme that has ensnared the state government.

According to federal charges filed over the past couple of years, at least 70 people were part of a wide-ranging criminal conspiracy that exploited two federally-funded nutrition programs to fraudulently obtain more than $250 million in one of the largest COVID-era fraud schemes anywhere in the nation.

The defendants allegedly used a Minnesota-based nonprofit organization called Feeding Our Future to avoid tough scrutiny from the Minnesota Department of Education, which was supposed to be conducting oversight of the programs.

On Tuesday, shortly after Walz was announced as Harris' running mate, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune newspaper published a story saying the case was one of the leading "vulnerabilities for Walz." By then, the pro-Trump group MAGA Inc. had already blasted out an email calling Walz "an incompetent liberal" for, among other things, "allow[ing] one of the largest fraud schemes to happen under his watch."

"Governor Walz and the people he directly hired and oversaw lost half a billion dollars to fraud in a few short years as governor," Joe Teirab, a pro-Trump Republican and former federal prosecutor running for Congress in the Minneapolis suburbs, posted to X on Monday night, just hours before Harris picked Walz. "Imagine fraud at that scale nationwide."

So far, more than 20 people have pleaded guilty or been convicted for their roles in the fraud scheme. None have been sentenced yet. Two of those charged were found not guilty, and most are still awaiting trial.

"Defendants falsified documents, they lied, and they fraudulently claimed to be feeding millions of meals to children in Minnesota during COVID," Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson said at a press conference in June, after the first trial in the case concluded. "This conduct was not just criminal. It was depraved, and brazen."

In this Nov. 18, 2020, file photo, Governor Tim Walz spoke to Minnesotans from the Governors Reception room at the State Capitol, to discuss the latest steps in his response to COVID-19.

Glen Stubbe/Minneapolis Star Tribune via Getty Images, FILE

But it may have also been preventable, according to a state audit released in June.

"[T]he failures we highlight in this report are symptoms of a department that was ill-prepared to respond to the issues it encountered with Feeding Our Future," said the 103-page report, detailing the findings of a limited "special review" by Minnesota's Office of the Legislative Auditor.

The state agency not only "failed to act on warnings signs known to the department prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and prior to the start of the alleged fraud," but its "actions and inactions created opportunities for fraud," the auditor said.

The report said that while officials inside the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) had at times expressed concerns about the nonprofit, they felt hamstrung in acting on their concerns due to "operational challenges" during the pandemic, including limited ability to visit sites in person, and due to a "litigation and public relations campaign" from Feeding Our Future that included allegations of discrimination.

"While we acknowledge these factors created challenges for the department, we also believe MDE could have taken more decisive action sooner in its relationship with Feeding Our Future," the audit report said.

According to the report, after laundering tens of millions of dollars, the fraudsters allegedly used shell companies to buy luxury cars, boats and jewelry, to travel and pay off debts, and to purchase properties in Minnesota and around the world.

After the report's release, Walz said his administration can always "do better," and said, "We certainly take responsibility" for any failures that took place.

The report, which hardly mentions the governor at all, does not find any specific fault with Walz or his immediate office. But Teirab and other critics say Walz still deserves at least some of the blame for the massive fraud.

"He owns what happens within his administration," said Jim Schultz, a Minnesota business advocate and outspoken Republican who two years ago narrowly lost a race to become the state's next attorney general.

"There was this massive fraud under his watch," Schultz told ABC News on Tuesday. "To this day, he has never fired anybody, nobody's been rebuked."

Walz has said there have been leadership changes within state government, including at MDE, since the fraud occurred.

Teirab, who says he "helped investigate and prosecute the Feed Our Future fraudsters" when he was still a prosecutor at the U.S. attorney's office in Minnesota several years ago, wrote on X last week, "Tim Walz was asleep at the wheel, allowing a quarter-BILLION in fraud."

A few weeks after five of the defendants were convicted of federal fraud charges in June, the Justice Department indicted five individuals for allegedly trying to bribe a member of the jury in the midst of deliberations, saying they offered the jury member $120,000 in exchange for a not guilty verdict.

One of those who allegedly took part in the bribery scheme was one of the defendants acquitted during the trial.

The Feeding Our Future case is not the only fraud scheme that has impacted Walz's administration.

In June, another audit found that a second state agency failed to adequately oversee a program to pay frontline workers impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Auditors reportedly estimated that more than $200 million may have been paid to people committing fraud or otherwise ineligible to receive payments from the program.

"This wasn't malfeasance," Walz said in response to both audits in June, according to Minneapolis-St. Paul ABC News affiliate KSTP-TV . "Both of these cases, there's not a single state employee that was implicated doing anything that was illegal. They simply didn't do as much due diligence as they should have."

According to Teirab's campaign, a number of Medicaid-related programs have also suffered from fraud and waste under Walz.

A spokesperson for the Harris-Walz campaign did not respond to a request for comment from ABC News.

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Archived Version

Thu, 08 Aug 2024 13:58

This article originally appeared on Infowars and was republished with permission.

Guest post by Jamie White

A Pakistani national allegedly tied to Iran has been arrested and charged in connection with a foiled plot to assassinate former President Donald Trump, according to the Justice Department.

Asif Raza Merchant, 46, was accused by the DOJ of a murder-for-hire scheme to assassinate a ''politician or U.S. government official on U.S. soil,'' with one U.S. official clarifying that Trump was one of the intended targets.

Prosecutors say Merchant was seeking men to commit the actual assassinations, a woman to do ''reconnaissance,'' and about 25 people ''who could perform a protest as a distraction after the murder occurred.''

From CNN:

Merchant arrived in New York City in April, prosecutors say, and aimed to hire a hit man who would carry out assassinations against officials on US soil. Although Merchant is a Pakistani national, prosecutors say he spent time in Iran and has family there.

Once in the United States, Merchant allegedly contacted someone who he believed would assist him in the murder-for-hire plot. That person, however, contacted the FBI and began working for investigators as a confidential source.

Merchant met with the confidential human source in early June, prosecutors say, and said that he wanted he wanted to find people in New York to do three things: steal documents or USB drives from one victim's home, plan protests at political rallies and carry out assassinations. Merchant allegedly told the confidential human source that the work was not a one-time opportunity and made a ''finger gun'' motion with his hand.

Merchant was arrested trying to leave the U.S. shortly after meeting the purported hitmen he thought would carry out the assassination but who turned out to be undercover officers.

Notably, Merchant was arrested on July 12 '-- the day before the attempted assassination of Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania '-- but prosecutors say he had no connection to that incident.

According to court documents, Merchant wanted to target individuals he believed were ''hurting Pakistan and the world, [the] Muslim world,'' adding that ''these are not just normal people.''

A lawyer for Merchant denied that he was cooperating with authorities, calling the claim ''inaccurate'' and ''irresponsible.''

The top leadership of the DOJ and FBI released statements Tuesday condemning Merchant's alleged plot to kill Trump.

''For years, the Justice Department has been working aggressively to counter Iran's brazen and unrelenting efforts to retaliate against American public officials for the killing of Iranian General Soleimani,'' said Attorney General Merrick Garland.

''The Justice Department will spare no resource to disrupt and hold accountable those who would seek to carry out Iran's lethal plotting against American citizens and will not tolerate attempts by an authoritarian regime to target American public officials and endanger America's national security.''

FBI Director Christopher Wray likewise stated, ''This dangerous murder-for-hire plot exposed in today's complaint allegedly was orchestrated by a Pakistani national with close ties to Iran and is straight out of the Iranian playbook.''

''A foreign-directed plot to kill a public official, or any U.S. citizen, is a threat to our national security and will be met with the full might and resources of the FBI,'' he added.

This comes as the intelligence agencies have been repeatedly warning that Iran may try to retaliate for Trump's 2020 drone strike that killed the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Gen. Qasem Soleimani by trying to kill Trump or his former advisers.

Infowars founder Alex Jones cautioned against taking the DOJ's arrest of Merchant at face value, asserting, ''This is cover for the next deep state attack.''

Read the DOJ's criminal complaint:

24-Mj-467 Asif Merchant Com'... by Jamie White

Copyright 2024 Infowars

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Archived Version

Thu, 08 Aug 2024 04:02

''Georgia owes President Trump an Apology'' says election integrity expert Joe Rossi in Fulton County. More evidence came out recently summarizing the corruption and fraud in the 2020 Election in Georgia.A hearing will take place this morning in Georgia to discuss the corrupt acts that occurred in Fulton County in the 2020 Election.

IMPORTANT

GA State Election Board will discuss SEB2023-025 this morning

17,852 votes counted with no ballot images

20,713 original votes from tabulators out of thin air

3,930 duplicates counted and inserted via intentional human intervention.

a.k.a. FRAUD pic.twitter.com/gh1VtL9VBr

'-- Liz Harrington (@realLizUSA) August 7, 2024

''Georgia owes President Trump an apology'''--Joe Rossi discusses the fraud uncovered in Fulton County during the 2020 Election. Instead of apologizing, the corrupt politicians in Georgia are covering up their crimes and working with the corrupt DA Fani Willis to indict President Trump for claiming that the election in the state was stolen.

WATCH:

How 3,930 duplicate votes were fraudulently added to the 2020 Election results in Fulton County

''Who in the room thinks that's accidental?'' pic.twitter.com/xjQ2xjF7QW

'-- Liz Harrington (@realLizUSA) August 7, 2024

Here is the chart Joe Rossi is referring to. This shows that ballots were double-counted in Fulton County and intentionally covered up.

This chart shows how the double-counted ballots were taken from the original batches and the doubling occurred. The incredible confusion of this chart shows that it's impossible that it was accidental. Someone was trying to disguise the duplication. pic.twitter.com/xV8H4ZLu1h

'-- Mad Liberals (@mad_liberals) August 7, 2024

President Trump is being sued for claiming the 2020 Election in Georgia was stolen and the Gateway Pundit is being sued for reporting on the election steal in Fulton County, Georgia.

Here is the information on the steal in Georgia and the case against The Gateway Pundit, with Jim and Joe Hoft with Lara Logan and attorney and former professor David Clements.

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Archived Version

Thu, 08 Aug 2024 03:56

Joe Biden sat down for a pre-recorded interview with CBS News reporter Robert Costa.

The interview was conducted on Sunday and will air in full on Sunday, August 11.

Joe Biden has not been seen in public in more than 3 days.

CBS played a clip from Biden's interview with Robert Costa.

''Are you confident that there will be a peaceful transfer of power in January 2025?'' CBS News reporter Robert Costa asked Biden.

''If Trump wins, no, I'm not confident at all,'' Biden said before correcting himself: ''I mean if Trump loses, I'm not confident at all. He means what he says. We don't take him seriously. He means it, all the stuff about, 'If we lose, there'll be a bloodbath, it'll have to be a stolen election.'

Biden said the quiet part out loud before correcting himself.

''Look what they're trying to do now in the local election districts where people count the votes,'' Biden said, ''or putting people in place in states that they're going to count the votes, right?''

WATCH:

"Are you confident that there will be a peaceful transfer of power in January 2025?"

BIDEN (cooked): "If Trump wins, no, I'm not confident at all." pic.twitter.com/3KS9wXzM1o

'-- RNC Research (@RNCResearch) August 7, 2024

The Democrats are not going to let go of their power.

Democrat Rep. Jamie Raskin earlier this year said Congress will stop Trump on January 6, 2025 and create ''civil war conditions.''

The February 2024 video of Raskin was making the rounds on Monday.

Raskin said Congress will use the insurrection clause to stop Trump from taking office even if he wins the 2024 election.

''What can be put into the Constitution can slip away from you very quickly and the greatest example going on right before our very eyes is section three of the 14th Amendment which they're just disappearing with a magic wand as if it doesn't exist even though it could not be clearer what it's stating,'' Raskin said earlier this year at author Rick Hasen's book talk and reading at Politics and Prose book store in Washington, D.C.

Raskin then said Congress will stop Trump on January 6, 2025 and issued a thinly veiled threat to US Supreme Court Justices.

''And then they want to kick it to Congress so it's going to be up to us on January 6, 2025 to tell the rampaging Trump mobs that he's disqualified and we need bodyguards for everybody in civil war conditions all because the nine justices '' not all of them but these justices who have not many cases to look at every year, not that much work to do '' a huge staff, great protection, simply do not want to do their job and interpret what the great 14th Amendment means,'' Raskin said.

WATCH:

Rep Jamie Raskin says Congress will stop Donald Trump on J6 using the 14th Amendment and create ''civilwar conditions''

These uniparty snakes are the greatest threat to our country that's ever existed

And they won't give up power without a fight

pic.twitter.com/BZWOCBP1pA

'-- DC_Draino (@DC_Draino) August 5, 2024

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Archived Version

Thu, 08 Aug 2024 03:54

Kamala Harris and Tim Walz held a rally in Detroit, Michigan on Wednesday evening after attending a Bon Iver concert in Wisconsin.

Democrat Governor Gretchen Whitmer and United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain joined Harris and Walz at the rally held at a hangar at Detroit Metropolitan Airport.

MLive reported:

Vice President Kamala Harris, her freshly-announced running mate and a lineup of familiar Michigan political figures will rally supporters at Detroit Metropolitan Airport during her Wednesday, Aug. 7, Michigan visit.

Harris will address the crowd at 7 p.m. during an outdoor event at one of the airport's hangars, campaign officials said.

Among the latest updates provided by the Harris camp: Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, co-chair of the vice president's campaign, will deliver remarks before Harris takes the stage.

Other planned speakers include a lineup of Democrats from the state as well as a top labor union leader.

U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow; U.S. House Reps. Shri Thanedar, Hillary Scholten, Haley Stevens, Dan Kildee, Elissa Slotkin, and Debbie Dingell; Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist; United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain; Michigan Democratic Party Chair Lavora Barnes; Wayne County Executive Warren Evans; and Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan will deliver remarks, officials said.

A group of far-left protestors heckled Kamala Harris.

''You know what? If you want Donald Trump to win, then say that. Otherwise, I'm speaking!'' Harris shouted.

WATCH:

Things are going well at Kamala's rally pic.twitter.com/vPHAgQJAgw

'-- Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) August 8, 2024

Additional footage of the protestors:

Protestors shouting about genocide in Gaza interrupt rally. At first @VP waits patiently and talks about democracy. Then she gets fed up and says this: "You know what? If you want Donald Trump to win, then say that, otherwise I'm speaking." pic.twitter.com/yCh6aL4ist

'-- Jeff Mason (@jeffmason1) August 8, 2024

''I am here because we believe in democracy. Everyone's voice matters. But I am speaking now. I am speaking now,'' Harris said.

Everyone's voice matters except for the 15 million people who voted for Joe Biden in the presidential primary.

WATCH:

Kamala Harris responds to heckler: I am here because we believe in democracy. Everyone's voice matters. But I am speaking now. I am speaking now. pic.twitter.com/BYmzOmqAhQ

'-- Acyn (@Acyn) August 8, 2024

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Archived Version

Wed, 07 Aug 2024 19:27

On Tuesday, a leak revealed who Vice President Kamala Harris has chosen as her running mate for the November presidential election.

Many were shocked to learn Harris opted not to pick Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a more moderate-appearing candidate who could have helped Democrats carry Pennsylvania and other key swing states.

Instead, Harris opted to go with Minnesota's radical Democrat Gov. Tim Walz.

That pick is already coming back to haunt her as Walz's radical policies are brought to light.

Perhaps no video is more damning of the Walz pick than the following from March 2023, when the far-left governor signed a bill giving illegal immigrants the right to receive driver's licenses in Minnesota.

VP pick Minnesota Governor Tim Walz previously signed a bill into law that will allow residents to get a driver's license no matter their immigration status. pic.twitter.com/vcnWxPW38T

'-- Breaking911 (@Breaking911) August 6, 2024

According to CBS News, Walz signed the bill back in March of 2023.

As of September 2023, the law went into effect, giving illegals unfettered access to legal documentation.

Illegals weren't even required to complete the necessary testing for a license in English.

According to CBS News, driver tests in the state are offered in English, Spanish, Somali, Hmong, Vietnamese, Russian and Karen.

Obviously, the act alone is immoral on its face for rewarding those who break the law to enter the country.

But beyond that, many Minnesota Republicans grew concerned over how the bill '-- in conjunction with automatic voter registration for all driver's license recipients '-- might give illegals in the state free rein to vote in elections.

Though doing so is still technically illegal, it's unclear how Minnesota authorities would be able to enforce such a restriction, given the way both laws operate.

The Center of the American Experiment, a Minnesota public policy think tank, elaborated on the problem in a 2023 report.

''Democrats supporting both bills brushed off concerns that illegal immigrants receiving driver's licenses would be able to register and vote,'' the report noted.

''The driver's license bill specifically prohibits the Department of Public Safety from sharing this information with any other agency, including the Secretary of State, preventing the cross-checking of new licensees with the voter database.

''House Democrats are relying completely on the honor system to prevent a non-citizen from canceling out your vote.''

In blue states like Minnesota, Democrats like Walz appear to be doing everything in their power to give the illegal immigrants pouring over the southern border the ability to vote in elections.

And now, the chief architect behind that scheme is Kamala Harris's running mate.

Trending: BREAKING: We Called It!'... Far-Left Squad Member Cori Bush Loses in Missouri Primary

This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.

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Archived Version

Wed, 07 Aug 2024 19:16

By Eyewitness News Wednesday, August 7, 2024 1:17PM

Tanya Rivero has the latest in Nassau County.

NASSAU COUNTY, Long Island (WABC) -- Nassau County lawmakers on Monday approved a bill making wearing a mask or any facial covering in public a misdemeanor.

The Republican majority passed the bill with all 12 voting in favor and seven Democrats abstaining.

People who wear masks for health and religious reasons are exempt to the measure, and violators of the law could face up to $1,000 in fines or even jail time.

Lawmaker Mazi Pilip proposed the bill.

"Terrorist supporters around the country and especially in New York are hiding behind the mask and terrorizing the Jewish community," Pilip said.

Democrats say they wanted a version of the bill that more carefully protects individual liberty.

"I see the rise of antisemitism, I see the rise of hate," Seth Koslow said. "And as a Jewish man it concerns me, but I did not see the need to rush this bill through."

In response, the Nassau County Democratic Legislative Minority introduced emergency legislation that specifically targets individuals who use masks to conceal their identity while committing a crime, enhancing the punishment by increasing the offense severity, while at the same time protecting civil liberties of the general public's right to wear masks for legitimate reasons.

"Our bill respects individual freedoms by not imposing blanket prohibitions on wearing masks in public. Law-abiding citizens could wear masks for health, safety, religious, or celebratory purposes without fear," said Minority Leader Delia DeRiggi-Whitton. "Unlike the broad and punitive Republican bill, our approach avoids unconstitutional overreach and respects personal liberties."

Civil liberties groups also acknowledged the problem with the mask ban is it creates the danger of selective prosecution. They also have concerns at how the ban will be enforced.

The bill is expected to be signed into law by Nassau County Executive Brue Blakeman imminently.

READ MORE: Nassau County lawmakers approve lease for Las Vegas Sands casino

----------* More Long Island news* Send us a news tip* Download the abc7NY app for breaking news alerts * Follow us on YouTube

Copyright (C) 2024 WABC-TV. All Rights Reserved.

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Wed, 07 Aug 2024 18:54

Support trulyindependent journalismOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.

Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.

Adam Peaty has claimed that athletes at Paris 2024 have found worms in their food at the Olympic Village as he insisted the offering ''isn't good enough''.

The Team GB swimmer concluded his involvement at the Games on Sunday with participation in the men's medley relay having taken individual 100m breaststroke silver last week.

Peaty tested positive for Covid shortly after securing his sixth Olympic medal and admitted that the illness had contributed to the ''worst week'' of his life.

But the 29-year-old was also left extremely disappointed by the food offering available to athletes staying in the Village, which he felt fell some way below that of his previous two Olympic participations.

Team GB were forced to send out a chef to Paris amid complaints over ''inadequate'' food early in the Olympics, and Peaty feels that the organisers' drive for a more sustainable Games has contributed to a situation that fell short of his expectations.

''The narrative of sustainability has just been punished on the athletes,'' Peaty told inews after Paris 2024 pledged to make 60 per cent of meals at the Olympics meat-free. ''I want to eat meat, I need meat to perform and that's what I eat at home, so why should I change?

''I like my fish and people are finding worms in the fish. It's just not good enough. The standard, we're looking at the best of the best in the world, and we're feeding them not the best.

Adam Peaty was disappointed by the food offering at Paris 2024 (PA Wire)''I just want people to get better at their roles and jobs. And I think that's what the athletes are the best sounding board for. The catering isn't good enough for the level the athletes are expected to perform. We need to give the best we possibly can.

''Tokyo, the food was incredible, Rio was incredible. But this time around ['...] there wasn't enough protein options, long queues, waiting 30 minutes for food because there's no queuing system.''

A number of British athletes had eschewed the Olympic Village in favour of Team GB's performance lodge in Clichy at the start of the Paris Games.

Around 40,000 meals are prepared each day for athletes and team personnel at the Village, with 3,300 seats in the main restaurant.

French president Emmanuel Macron sampled the food in the Olympic Village alongside athletes (POOL/AFP via Getty Images)Supplier Sodexo promised to up their daily order of popular items and adjust to complaints after earlier criticism, though Peaty's comments suggest that the issues were not promptly solved.

A Paris 2024 spokesperson told inews: ''We are listening to the athletes and take their feedback very seriously.

''Since the opening of the Village, our partner Sodexo Live! has been working proactively to adapt supplies to the growing use of the Olympic Village restaurants, as well as to the actual consumption by athletes observed over the first few days.

''As a result, the quantities of certain products have been significantly increased and additional staff have been deployed to ensure that the service runs smoothly.''

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Archived Version

Wed, 07 Aug 2024 17:59

1:19:52Benny Johnson3 hours ago

Trump Declares He WILL Debate Kamala In New Interview, DARES Her to Accept | 'She's TERRIFIED'83.9K

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Archived Version

Wed, 07 Aug 2024 15:06

CNN's Van Jones suggested Tuesday that presumptive Democrat presidential nominee Kamala Harris caved in to the ''darker parts'' of the Democratic Party while selecting her running mate.

Jones said Republicans were ''chewing their fingernails down to the knuckle'' at the thought of Harris picking Democratic Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who is Jewish, as her potential vice president. Harris announced Tuesday morning that Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz would join her on the Democratic Party's 2024 ticket.

Jones told CNN anchor Jim Acosta that antisemitism has become ''marbled'' in the Democratic Party. He suggested its sway with parts of the electorate may have been a factor in Harris choosing Walz over Shapiro.

''Here's the challenge you've got in this party. People don't want to talk about it, we've got to talk about it,'' Jones said. ''On the one hand, you have a lot of young people who are concerned about Gaza. You have a lot of Muslims and Arabs and others. They have not felt seen by the Biden administration. You started hearing that 'Genocide Joe.' That was building. That was building.''

''And so, those folks needed to have a candidate they could feel comfortable with. This helps it in that regard,'' he continued. ''But you also have antisemitism that's gotten marbled into this party. You can be for the Palestinians without being an anti-Jewish bigot. But there are some anti-Jewish bigots out there.'' (RELATED: Trump Delivers Two-Word Response To Kamala Picking Tim Walz As VP)

''And there's some disquiet now, and there has to be. How much of what just happened is caving in to some of these darker parts in the party? So, that's gonna have to get worked out. That's gonna have to get talked through,'' Jones said.

On Friday, Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker was believed to have leaked Harris' vice presidential pick as Shapiro when she posted a hype video on X that appeared to indicate the Pennsylvania governor's selection. The tweet did not directly say Shapiro was Harris' VP pick. Parker's office was reportedly not scheduled to post the video until Monday, according to Philly Mag's Ernest Owens.

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Archived Version

Wed, 07 Aug 2024 14:59

After a relatively disciplined campaign launch, Kamala Harris continues to prove that she is indeed still Kamala Harris. The picking of Tim Walz to be her running mate was a reminder that despite the full-court press to pretend she's a great politician, she's just not.

SEE: After a Week of Speculation, Kamala Harris Selects Her Running Mate

That's been largely hidden because the mainstream media have not only sung her praises, but they've sat by as Harris has refused to answer a single question regarding her run for the presidency. All the backroom dealings and throwing out of primary votes that got her to this point might as well not exist. Still, it was just a matter of time before Harris' worst instincts bubbled back up.

Case in point? Harris released this video of her "calling" Walz to ask him to be her vice presidential nominee.

Vice-President Harris calls Governor Tim Walz to ask him to be her running mate. pic.twitter.com/q9UHC1AN7t

'-- Yashar Ali 🐠(@yashar) August 6, 2024This is one of those instances where transcribing the video is pointless. I could type out what is said, but anyone who can't hit play isn't going to see what makes it so incredible. The cackling? It's there. The weird tone that Harris often falls into as if she's addressing a child? It's there. The dead giveaway that she's reading a script about halfway through the video? That's there too. Walz's performance isn't much better, with him sitting on a porch in a camouflage hat, clearly way too hard to signal he's "working class."

RELATED: MN Gov. Tim Walz Accused of Cowardice and Embellishment of Army Service By Former Peers

It's so inauthentic and overproduced that many people online wondered if it was a parody at first. After all, with the proliferation of AI, anything is possible. But no, it's real, and it's not spectacular. It's just pure cringe and a reminder of just how fake Harris is.

With that said, who on her campaign team keeps thinking these videos are a good idea? Do they think we can't tell that they are professionally shot, heavily scripted, and focus-grouped to the hilt? Are we supposed to believe cameras were randomly present as she made the call? Heck, I'm not sure Saturday Night Live could make something funnier if they tried.

With three months left until Election Day, the real Harris is going to be shown. She can't hide who she is, no matter how much her handlers try to keep her under wraps. That's good news for Republicans, or at least it should be if they can take advantage of it. That's, as always, an open question.

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