WORLD NEWS
China Calls Its Coronavirus Disaster a ‘Smooth Transition’ Out of Lockdowns
Chinese state media on Monday sought to pass off the huge wave of coronavirus illness and death that swept across the country over the past month as a “smooth transition” to a new era of looser restrictions and renewed economic activity.
The state-run Global Times on Monday claimed China’s “epidemic wave” is over, having ended as abruptly as it began, with no sign of increased infections during the heavy travel of the Lunar New Year holiday season.
ChatGPT Is Coming For The World
As a journalist and commentator, I have closely followed the development of OpenAI, the artificial intelligence research lab founded by Elon Musk, Sam Altman, and other prominent figures in the tech industry. While I am excited about the potential of AI to revolutionize various industries and improve our lives in countless ways, I also have serious concerns about the implications of this powerful technology.
One of the main concerns is the potential for AI to be used for nefarious purposes. Powerful AI systems could be used to create deepfakes, conduct cyberattacks, or even develop autonomous weapons. These are not just hypothetical scenarios – they are already happening. We’ve seen instances of deepfakes being used to create fake news and propaganda, and the use of AI-powered cyberattacks has been on the rise in recent years.
Another concern is the impact of AI on the job market. As AI-powered systems become more sophisticated, they will be able to automate more and more tasks that were previously done by humans. This could lead to widespread job loss, particularly in industries such as manufacturing, transportation, and customer service. While some argue that new jobs will be created as a result of the AI revolution, it’s unclear whether these jobs will be sufficient to offset the losses.
If you aren’t worried yet, I’ll let you in on a little secret: The first three paragraphs of this column were written by ChatGPT, the chatbot created by OpenAI. You can add “columnist” to the list of jobs threatened by this new technology, and if you think there is anything human that isn’t threatened with irrelevance in the next five to 10 years, I suggest you talk to Mr. Neanderthal about how relevant he feels 40,000 years after the arrival of Cro-Magnon man.
My prompt was relatively simple: “Write a column in the style of Frank Miele of Real Clear Politics on the topic of OpenAI.” There was no hesitation or demurral in response even though I thought it might say it didn’t have enough information about Frank Miele to process the request. But it apparently knows plenty about me – and probably about you, especially if you have a social media presence.
Deepfake? Propaganda? You bet. And for the average person, you will never be able to tell the difference. The Philip K. Dick query, “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” is about to be answered. OpenAI not only promises to put the stray columnist out of work, but raises existential questions about the nature of knowledge and consciousness that will shake our reality to its core.
The Global Energy Crisis Is Redrawing Geopolitical Maps
The global energy crisis is redrawing geopolitical maps.
Some experts are saying that the global south is increasingly gaining influence in geopolitics on the world stage as climate change is rewriting the rules of trade and consumption.
While the lesson to be learned from the European energy crisis should be to diversify, diversify, diversify both trade partners and forms of energy,n the global north is instead opting to narrow their trading options even further.
Around 20 per cent of Swedes have stated that they would feel safer in their country if they had the right to self-defence with a firearm, as gang violence and fatal shootings plague the country.
A survey by the firm Novus of 1,043 Swedes between the ages of 18 and 64, found that 20 per cent believed that they would feel safer if they had access to firearms for self-defence purposes. While the amount may seem low by American standards, it resembles a shift in opinion for the historically safe and settled Scandinavian nation.
U.S. NEWS, POLITICS & GOVERNMENT
House Passes Bills Ending COVID-19 Emergency, Health Care Worker Vaccine Mandate
With Republicans back in the majority, the U.S. House of Representatives on Jan. 31 passed a series of bills related to the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccines.
The GOP majority in the lower chamber took up two COVID-19 bills on Tuesday, with many others still on the docket for possible consideration later this year.
The first bill would officially declare an end to the public health emergency of the COVID-19 pandemic. The second bill would end the vaccine mandate for health care workers at institutions that receive federal funding.
During the 117th Congress, the Democrat majority in both chambers largely marched in lockstep with President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 policies, including vaccine mandates.
Arizona Official Demands Investigation of Kari Lake on Potential Felony Charges
Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes has asked Attorney General Kris Mayes to investigate and consider taking enforcement action against gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake for a potential felony offense after her Twitter account shared a graphic containing images of voter signatures on ballots she identified as having been “illegally counted.”
Fontes asked the attorney general in a Jan. 30 letter to “investigate and take appropriate enforcement action against Kari Lake for potential violations of Arizona law committed under her Twitter handle, @KariLake.”
FBI Declines to Comment on Reports of Agents Searching Biden’s Office Months Ago
The FBI on Tuesday declined to comment on reports claiming that agents searched President Joe Biden’s Washington office in November of last year.
When reached for comment, the FBI did not comment on the reports and instead, directed The Epoch Times to the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Office of the Special Counsel.
FBI agents searched the Penn Biden Center, a think-tank run by the president, in Washington in mid-November, unnamed sources told Fox News and CBS News. It came after Biden’s personal lawyers found classified documents there on Nov. 2, and it’s not clear if any additional documents were taken by the agents.
Rep. George Santos tells GOP colleagues he won’t serve on House committees
Embattled Republican Rep. George Santos of New York will recuse himself from serving on House committees, he told his GOP colleagues in a closed-door meeting on Tuesday, amid ongoing scrutiny about his background and questions about his future in Congress.
“This was a decision that I take very seriously. The business of the 118th Congress must continue without media fanfare,” Santos said. “It is important that I primarily focus on serving the constituents of New York’s Third Congressional District and providing federal level representation without distraction.”
IRS Reminds Taxpayers of Key Deadline That They Should Know About to Avoid Scams
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has issued a reminder that Jan. 31 is the deadline for employers to file W-2 forms and other wage statements, and that wage earners should be aware of this deadline to help them guard against tax refund scams.
Employers must submit Form W-2 and Form W-3 for the 2022 tax year to the Social Security Administration (SSA) by Jan. 31, with the deadline applicable to both electronic and paper filings.
“Filing these documents timely prevents late-filing penalties for employers, helps employees file their income tax returns and prevents tax fraud,” the IRS said in a statement.
Pompeo: CCP Has Infiltrated ‘Every Major’ US University
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has warned that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has infiltrated into every major U.S. university.
“The Chinese Communist Party’s inside every major American university today with research dollars and with their students,” Pompeo said during the “Sunday Morning Futures” program on Fox News on Jan 29.
He pointed to the University of Pennsylvania, which was in the spotlight recently after classified documents surfaced at its Penn Biden Center. President Joe Biden worked there from mid-2017 through 2019 until he started campaigning for the 2020 election.
“They’re at the University of Pennsylvania, too,” Pompeo said, referring to the invasion of the CCP.
Tennessee Population Grows as Residents Leave More Liberal States
Peace and quiet is still a major draw for people moving to smaller-yet-growing states such as Tennessee from more crowded ones such as New York, but lower taxes, great personal freedom, and conservative politics have been bringing even more people in recent years.
Tennessee surpassed 7 million residents in 2022 for the first time, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates, making it the seventh-fastest-growing state in the United States by population last year.
States such as Tennessee have become attractive to individuals beyond the natural environment, mountains, and rivers. Those interviewed by The Epoch Times who moved from Illinois and New York said lower property taxes, low or no state income tax, and more conservative populations have become attractive reasons to move to the southeast.
MSNBC Anchor Hospitalized With Severe Myocarditis, Pericarditis
An MSNBC anchor revealed in a recent segment that she was hospitalized with heart inflammation in December, leading her to miss work for about a month.
Yasmin Vossoughian said that the health scare started on Dec. 20 when she started to experience chest pains that “waxed and waned over a period of 10 days.” Those pains “continued to get worse” over the coming days, she added.
Watchdog: U.S. Government Issued $5.4 Billion in ‘Potentially Fraudulent Pandemic Loans’
The Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC), a federal watchdog overseeing pandemic-era spending, found that the U.S. government issued $5.4 billion in “potentially fraudulent pandemic loans,” according to a report released Monday.
PRAC identified 69,323 “questionable” Social Security Numbers in connection with the $5.4 billion in loans.
HEALTH
FDA to Ease Restrictions on Gay Men Donating Blood
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued new guidance easing restrictions on gay men donating blood.
After a 60-day public comment period, the rule is expected to take effect.
Can Cell Phones Contribute to Male Infertility? – Past article of mention on yesterday’s show
Just when you thought you were doing something good by using a hands-free cell-phone device, along comes a fertility specialist to put a damper on the party. According to a study published Sept. 19 in the online version of the journal Fertility and Sterility, men who stash their cell phones in their pockets or clip them to their belts while using an earpiece to chat may also be compromising their sperm. The study found that the radiofrequency electromagnetic waves a cell phone emits when it’s in talk mode can lead to higher levels of free radicals in sperm samples from healthy men—free radicals are the rogue molecules that have been implicated in heart disease, cancer and numerous others human diseases—and to a reduction in sperm motility and viability.
We did a study of some 361 men that was published last year and showed that increased cell-phone use is related to a poorer quality of sperm. This was a self-reported study, and that has limitations. But there was a significant relationship between cell-phone use and sperm quality, especially among men who used [cell phones] for more than four hours per day
Top Expert Sounds Alarm on Surge in Antidepressant Use
As society decays and moves away from God, morality, and truth, more and more people — especially children — are being put on dangerous psychiatric drugs such as antidepressants. Meanwhile, a new study confirms once again that there is a strong correlation between school attendance and child suicide. What is going on?
A leading expert in the field who spoke with the Illinois Family Institute, Harvard-trained psychiatrist Dr. Peter Breggin, is sounding the alarm about these escalating crises and the enormous threat they represent. The world-renown author and critics also warned that leaving public schools was now the “only real hope” for families concerned about the horror.
The data from across the Western world paint a troubling picture no matter how you look at it. The numbers consistently show, for instance, that prescriptions for antidepressant drugs have surged in recent years. In fact, data shows more than one in six Americans now take psychiatric drugs, mostly antidepressants, with numbers continuing to rise.
According to data highlighted by the American Psychological Association, the number of Americans on antidepressants surged by almost two thirds in just fifteen years. The rate of suicides among American children is soaring, too. The phenomenon was almost unheard of prior to a few decades ago, and yet now it is a leading cause of death in American children and still surging.
PFAS Are in Every Bite of Freshwater-Caught Fish
Freshwater fish in the U.S. has been rendered so toxic by environmental pollutants that even eating one fish a year could be dangerous
EWG researchers analyzed data from more than 500 fish fillets collected across the U.S. from 2013 to 2015
The fish filets, collected from U.S. streams, rivers and lakes, had a median level of total PFAS of 9,500 nanograms per kilogram
Fish from the Great Lakes were even more toxic, coming in with a median PFAS level of 11,800 nanograms per kilogram
Consuming a single serving of freshwater fish annually equates to a month of drinking water contaminated with PFOS — one type of PFAS — at a concentration of 48 parts per trillion
In addition to freshwater fish, toxic PFAS are widely found in air, surface water, groundwater, drinking water, soil and other types of food, food packaging, personal care products and more
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
Bill Gates Invested In Artificial Eggs Before Mysterious Egg Shortage and Price Hikes
Gates unnatural interest in food includes massive acreage of U.S. farmland, investments in artificial meat companies like Beyond Meat and now an artificial egg company that aims to replace real eggs laid by chickens. With food processing companies burning to the ground and chickens suddenly declining in egg laying, egg prices have gone though the roof. Coincidence?
Breitbart Business Digest: GM Fights the Fed, Wage Gains Soften Again
Softer labor costs and a better-than-expected outlook from General Motors appear to have convinced markets that the crash test dummies of the U.S. economy might emerge relatively unscathed from what until recently looked to be a pretty serious collision with monetary policy.
The employment cost index (ECI), a broad barometer of wages and benefits produced every three months by the Labor Department, rose by just one percent in the fourth quarter, according to figures released Tuesday. This was slightly below the consensus forecast for a 1.1 percent rise and lower than the 1.2 percent rise in the third quarter.
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
WhatsApp hijackers take over your account while you sleep
Late last week, Twitter user Zuk (@ihackbanme) tweeted an issue about WhatsApp that has the potential to turn heads.
He explains that attackers can take advantage of two things: a user’s availability and how identity verification works on WhatsApp.
A user who is not available to respond to verification checks—whether they’re asleep, in-flight, or have simply set their smartphone to “do not disturb”—may be at risk of losing their WhatsApp account. All an attacker needs is their target’s phone number.
Future of Robotics: Shapeshifting Robots That Can Liquify and Regain Shape
Robotics has made incredible advances in recent years, with robots becoming more sophisticated and versatile. One of the most recent advancements in this field is the concept of shapeshifting robots. These robots can change their form or shape to adapt to different environments and perform different tasks. They are designed to be highly fluid and flexible, capable of flowing like liquids through tight spaces or conforming to complex shapes. When necessary, they can harden into a solid state, allowing them to perform tasks such as picking up objects or pushing buttons.
To pull off this melting trick, the researchers heated the bot using magnetic induction, which involves using a moving magnet to create an electrical current inside the robot. The current melted the gallium, and the magnetic elements suspended within drew it to the magnet.
The magnetic particles play a role in making the material responsive to an alternating magnetic field, allowing you to heat up the material and cause a phase change through induction. The magnetic particles, on the other hand, provide the robots with mobility and the ability to move in response to the magnetic field.
The device was inspired by sea cucumbers, which have been observed switching between soft and stiff states to protect themselves from their environment and increase the weight they can carry, according to the researchers.
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
Massive Ice Storm Moves Across the South, Triggering Dangerous Travel Conditions
A massive ice storm is moving across the South, triggering dangerous travel conditions as ice accumulations could reach up to three quarters of an inch from portions of Texas to Tennessee, according to the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center (WPC).
The ice storm is expected to affect portions of the South and mid-South through Thursday as the WPC warns of “significant impacts due to the freezing rain and sleet.”
Water War Looms in the West: Cailfornia vs. Everyone over Colorado River
A major conflict is brewing between western states that rely on the Colorado River for their water supply, with California holding out against an agreement by six other states to share the burden of drought more equitably.
The context: an ongoing drought amid increasing water use demand that has left many states’ reservoirs at dangerously low levels. Environmentalists blame climate change; whatever the cause, the crisis is real.
Dead, 35-foot humpback whale washes ashore at Nassau County’s Lido Beach
A massive 35-foot-long male humpback whale washed up on the shore of a Long Island beach early Monday morning.
The whale was found around 6:30 a.m. Monday at Lido Beach West Town Park, located in the town of Hempstead, Nassau County police said.
By the time crews arrived, the whale was dead, Hempstead Town Supervisor Don Clavin told News 12.
While beached whales are common enough — the Jersey Shore has seen seven in about a month — the town of Hempstead hasn’t seen one in several years, according to Clavin.
“This is by far the largest,” he noted. “The crews that have been here for almost two decades have never seen a whale this size.”
COVID RELATED NEWS
How COVID Patients Died for Profit
By May 2020, it had become apparent that the standard practice of putting COVID-19 patients on mechanical ventilation with ventilators was a death sentence
Between 50% and 86% of COVID patients placed on life support ended up dying
By May 2020, doctors had also found that high-flow nasal cannulas and proning led to better outcomes than ventilators
The World Health Organization promoted the use of ventilators as a way to purportedly curtail the spread of virus-laden aerosols, thereby protecting other patients and hospital staff. In other words, suspected COVID patients were sacrificed to “protect” others
The matter becomes even more perverse when you consider the fact that many “COVID cases” were patients who merely tested positive using faulty PCR testing. Hospitals also received massive incentives to diagnose patients with COVID and put them on a vent
These Benefits Will Disappear When US Ends COVID Public Health Emergency in 3 Months
A number of Americans will soon have to pay for COVID-19 testing and treatment after the Biden administration signaled the end of the pandemic public health emergency.
The White House issued a statement Monday announcing it will oppose House GOP-backed bills to end the pandemic-related emergencies, but it stated that the emergency and public health emergency would instead end on May 11.
“The COVID-19 national emergency and public health emergency were declared by the Trump Administration in 2020,” the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) said in a statement (pdf). “They are currently set to expire on March 1 and April 11, respectively. At present, the administration’s plan is to extend the emergency declarations to May 11, and then end both emergencies on that date. This wind-down would align with the administration’s previous commitments to give at least 60 days’ notice prior to termination of the [public health emergency].”
Long-COVID Chest Pain: Main Causes, Ways to Relieve
Long COVID, or post-COVID conditions, are evolving terms, and as time passes, we’re learning more about the aftereffects of COVID-19 infection. One of the most common symptoms that have been observed is chest pain, which affects up to 22 percent of patients two months after acute infection.
“It’s very common with patients that experienced significant cough during their COVID infection, but can also be a sign of something more troubling,” Dr. Thomas Gut, medical director of the Post-COVID Recovery Center at Staten Island University Hospital, part of Northwell Health in New York, told The Epoch Times.
And if history is any indication …
COVID Conflicts: Asymptomatic Testing, Lack of Danger to Kids
Ivor Cummins interviews Dr. Reid Sheftall about the many inconsistencies surrounding SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, and related mitigation measures
SARS-CoV-2 has an infection mortality rate that is equal to or less than the flu, making school closures unnecessary because they’re not closed down for flu, which is a much deadlier disease than COVID-19 in that age group
Asymptomatic people are being tested for COVID-19 at unprecedented rates, a waste of resources that goes against good medical practice
Sheftall studied mask usage extensively and found mask mandates did not noticeably change the number of cases or deaths the way they should if they actually reduce transmissibility
Countries that used minimal masks and did not have mandated lockdowns were not worse off than neighboring countries with mask mandates and mandatory lockdowns
“There’s clearly, in plain sight, huge worldwide organizations who need this crisis and who are fermenting panic for eight months now,” Cummins said. “Why they’re doing it you can argue but the fact that they’re doing it is plain and obvious”
GOOD NEWS
A Job Opening?
ICYMI
Give-Send-Go Account for COVID-19 Rally Donations
Remember the Victims of the C19 Hospital Protocols Rally
Hosted by: The FormerFedsGroup Freedom Foundation and C19 Widows/Widowers for Justice
Where: Travis Park, The Alamo Plaza, San Antonio, Texas
Date: March 25, 2023
Time: 9am-4:30pm
Why are we hearing something that made news 3 years ago being pandered as NEW news?
Yesterday’s News on Health Ranger (Yesterday? This was almost 3 years ago!)
Hear the sound clip from Dr. Carol Baker that started the whole fracas, on The Power Hour!
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