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Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene says AIPAC should register as a foreign lobbyist

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Trump's first 100 days: Executive order blitz exposes GOP gridlock ...
By Charlotte Hazard

August 8, 2025

Georgia GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is saying the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) needs to register as a foreign lobbyist, after the group criticized her comments about there being a genocide in Gaza.

“The truth is AIPAC needs to register as a foreign lobbyist by U.S. law because they are representing the secular government of nuclear armed Israel 100%!!!” Greene wrote on the social media platform X Thursday evening.

Greene said AIPAC started sending out fundraising attack emails about her after she said that the genocide, starvation and humanitarian crisis in Gaza was horrific, like the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which triggered the war between the sides.

“I’m one of the only members of Congress that doesn’t take money from AIPAC, who donates way more money to Republicans than Democrats,” her lengthy social media post continued.

Greene has become critical of Israel in the past few weeks, saying that there were people starving in Gaza, where the war is being fought, despite Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s claims otherwise.

Last month, Greene introduced amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act to remove foreign aid to other countries, including $500 million to Israel.

[…]

Via https://justthenews.com/government/congress/mtg-says-aipac-should-register-foreign-lobbyist-after-pushback-gaza-genocide

Gerald Celente: Death of Dollar Already Begun

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Gerald Celente: Death of the Dollar Has Already Begun

The Sanchez Effect (2025)

Film Review

Sanchez Effect

Great interview by former CNN journalist Cuban-American Rick Sanchez. The interview focuses on India’s reaction to Trump’s threats to increase Indian tariffs to 50% for purchasing. Indian prime minister Modi responded by sending a national security advisor to Moscow to meet with his Russian and to meeting with Chinese president Xi at the Shanghai Cooperation organization for the first time in seven years. Indian trade with the US only accounts for 2% of India’s GDP.

Sanchez points out that BRICS member India, China, Brazil and South Africa all have bigger militaries and GDP growth than the US.

The interview with financial analyst Gerald Celente starts at 11.07.

Celente begins by talking about America’s decaying infrastructure while the government spends money they don’t have on unending foreign wars. He also talks about the organization Occupy Peace he started with Judge Napolitano and Scott Ritter.

He goes on to discuss inevitable dot come bust resulting from the current AI bubble. There’s no question in his mind that the US will lose out to China’s Deep Seek AI, mainly because China can do AI far cheaper, faster and more efficiently than Silicon Valley. (Deep Seek cost China 1/20 of what ChatGPT cost OpenAI).

Intriguingly Sanchez confesses to being sucked in by Trump’s rhetoric that he was going to be more transparent and put America’s needs ahead of oligarchs’ profits.

They compare the CIA’s 2014 coup in Ukraine with their 1953 coup in Iran. Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland openly bragged in 2014 to spending $4 billion to fund NGOs to “teach Ukrainians about democracy.”

After Sanchez admits about having more journalistic independence at RT than he did at CNN, Celente talks about being blacklisted from the US media (at a time when his  Trends Journal was headline news) for predicting the US would lose the war in Afghanistan.

RFK Jr pushes ‘universal vaccine’?????

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RFK Jr addresses the nation

RFK Jr addresses the nation. Credit: X@SecKennedy

By Letara Draghia

US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr has scrapped over $500 million (€432 million) in federal vaccine funding, announcing a pivot towards developing a so-called “universal vaccine” designed to mimic natural immunity.

In a statement on August 6, 2025, Kennedy confirmed that the US Department of Health and Human Services will cancel 22 vaccine development projects (all using mRNA technology) in favour of “safer, broader vaccine strategies.” The move, affecting major players like Pfizer and Moderna, has sparked fierce backlash from public health experts across the US.

Kennedy claimed the goal is a new, all-in-one jab that could offer protection not just against COVID-19 but also influenza and future pandemics.

Speaking from Anchorage, Alaska, hours after the announcement, Kennedy declared, “It could be effective – we believe it’s going to be effective – against not only coronaviruses, but also flu.”

The health department described the cancelled mRNA contracts as part of a “shift in vaccine development priorities.” Kennedy, a long-time vaccine critic, said mRNA platforms are flawed and unstable when viruses mutate.

“We reviewed the science, listened to the experts, and acted. BARDA is terminating 22 mRNA vaccine development investments because the data show these vaccines fail to protect effectively against upper respiratory infections like COVID and flu. We’re shifting that funding toward safer, broader vaccine platforms that remain effective even as viruses mutate,” he said in a video posted on X.

Reactions from the medical community were swift and damning.

“I don’t think I’ve seen a more dangerous decision in public health in my 50 years in the business,” said infectious disease expert Mike Osterholm of the University of Minnesota, cited by Sky News.

Dr Paul Offit of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia also slammed the decision, “It’s certainly saved millions of lives,” he said, referring to mRNA vaccines used during the COVID-19 pandemic.

What is mRNA?

mRNA (messenger RNA) vaccines do not use the actual virus to trigger immunity. Instead, they deliver a genetic blueprint that instructs the body to create a harmless viral protein, prompting an immune response.

This approach allows for quicker production of vaccines, according to the UK Health Security Agency. Moderna previously claimed mRNA could accelerate flu vaccine development.

Despite Kennedy’s criticism, the Department of Health clarified that “other uses of mRNA technology within the department are not impacted by this announcement,” including research into cancer therapies and other diseases.

This is the latest in a series of controversial decisions by Kennedy since taking office:

As experts warn of rising vaccine hesitancy and reduced pandemic preparedness, the bigger question looms: will a universal jab really deliver?

[…]

Via https://euroweeklynews.com/2025/08/06/rfk-jr-pushes-universal-vaccine-plan-500m-mrna-funding-scrapped/

How the Western “Green Revolution” Continues to Sabotage Rice Production in India

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By Bharat Dogra
August 06, 2025

The Ongoing Battle Against GM and Gene Edited Monocultures

The first big blow to India’s vast diversity of indigenous varieties of rice was delivered by the green revolution monocultures. Now the second big blow is likely to be delivered by GM/gene edited monocultures, if the efforts to introduce these succeed.

A myth has been spread that India needed green revolution rice to prevent starvation. The reality is that under the able leadership of Dr R.H. Richharia, the then Director of the Central Rice Research Institute, Cuttack, his team was ready to introduce the most promising rice improvement program based on indigenous varieties. This was sabotaged by imposing green revolution dwarf varieties. Dr Richharia had to leave his top post with great regret.

However such was his eminence and respect that when the green revolution rice varieties ran into all sorts of problems, he was brought back by the government to head a task-force on what problems the new green revolution dwarf varieties had created and what could be done to resolve the worrying situation.

This task-force on rice breeding consisting of eminent experts which met at the Central Rice Research Institute (CRRI) in Cuttack in 1979 tried to identify some of the causes – mainly the narrow genetic base of the exotic rice HYVs, their unsuitability for much of the rice growing region of India and their alarming susceptibility to pests and diseases. Some remarks of the task force are worth quoting, (in these quotes HYVs should be taken to mean exotic HYVs also known as green revolution varieties):

In the words of the task force,

“Most of the HYVs are derivatives of T(N)1 or I.R.8 and, therefore, have the dwarfing gene of dee–geo-woo-gen. This narrow genetic base has created alarming uniformity, causing vulnerability to diseases and pests. Most of the released varieties are not suitable for typical uplands and low lands which together constitute about 75 per cent of the total rice area of the country. To meet these situations, we need to reorient our research programmes and strategies.”

In a reference to the increased pest susceptibility of the now crops, the task force says,

“The introduction of high yielding varieties has brought about a marked change in the status of insect pests like gall midge, brown plant-hopper, leaf folder, whorl maggot etc. Since most of the high yielding varieties, released so far, are susceptible to major pests with crop loss of 30 to 100 per cent, development of high yielding varieties with built-in-resistance has become highly essential to stabilize the yields.”

Development of pest-resistant varieties is no doubt very important, but when it comes to examining the past record in this field, again the task force had sad things to tell.

“The results of the insect resistance breeding programme so far are not very encouraging. Even though a few varieties have been released as resistant to pests, except Ratna, no other variety is having a good spread in the country. A good stem borer resistant variety is yet to be developed for which a good donor is to be first identified.

“For gall midge, even though the donors are highly resistant, unfortunately most of the resistant varieties, released so far in the country, are either poor yielders or do not show consistency in resistance when grown in different locations. Here also high yield and stable and high degree of resistance are yet to be combined. ” Referring to some specific efforts, the task force reported, “During 1977 Kharif (crop season), when the gall midge resistant cultures were grown in new endemic areas Singeda, Kune and Bandu in Bihar, most of the promising resistant cultures recorded susceptible reaction suggesting possible presence of a new virulent biotype of rice gall midge in these areas.”

While disease-related problems were getting worse in some respects solutions were not in sight. Specifically regarding the problem of sheath blight, the task force reported.

“The disease is now becoming more serious due to the increased plant population density, high tillering and higher nitrogen dose… so far varieties with a high degree of resistance have not yet been identified.”

To the findings of the task force given above (made in 1979), we may only add that most of these problems of exotic HYVs still persist; in fact these are inherent in the exotic varieties not at all well adapted to the environmental conditions in which these are grown in India.

Later as green revolution rice continued to have serious problems, the then Prime Minister Mrs Indira Gandhi asked Dr Richharia to prepare a plan for improving rice cultivation based on his understanding and ideas. He promptly and dutifully prepared this plan but this could not be implemented following the assassination of Mrs Gandhi in 1984.

Now we come to Dr. Richharia’s this ‘specific plan for action for increase in productivity of rice’. First he identifies the factors which have retarded the increase in rice productivity in recent years despite so much increase in investments in the form of fertilisers, pesticides, irrigation, research, extension etc. Then he gives his plan in brief. Dr. Richharia’s plan has three basic components –

(1) Rice development to be based on the rich indigenous germplasm which has to be explored further and preserved,

(2) A highly decentralised extension approach and

(3) Large-scale adoption of clonal propagation technique to spread improved varieties

According to Dr. Richharia (all quotes from the plan)

“The main constraint has been the hurried introduction of the undesirable new rice material, the HYVs (dwarfs) on which we based our strategy, replacing even the reputed high yielding rices of the locality, forgetting at the same time unexpected drought situations, under which the HYVs lowered the yields. In addition, under heavy fertilization and irrigation the HYVs proved to be susceptible to diseases and pests which cannot be controlled easily thus again pointing towards reduction of yield.”

At another place in the plan be writes

“The most immediate and major cause can be attributed to frequent replacements of the adapted rice varieties in a locality, partly or fully. This is because the agro-ecological balance has been disturbed in the environment in respect of the existing germplasm which had been built up in course of time for centuries by the natural process of empirical breeding and selection establishing ecological balance in different environments, what in modern times can be interpreted as ‘ecological breeding’ (term coined by a Japanese worker in 1959).”

Fortunately, indigenous high-yielding varieties, adapted to local environment are available in the country. In a survey carried out in Madhya Pradesh between 1971-74, 8 per cent of the indigenous rice types were observed to fall under the category of high yielding types, fixing the minimum limit of 3705 kg/Ha.

In view of this there is a need to redefine ‘HYVs’ which hitherto have been officially identified only with the exotic dwarf fertiliser – responsive varieties.

In the area of research as well as extension, Dr. Richharia recommends a highly decentralised approach. This, he emphasises, is inherent in the nature of the rice plant. To quote,

“If we were to think of a single characteristic feature of the rice plant which yields food for millions, it cannot be anything else but its variability in the form of thousands of its cultivars, spread in India and in other rice growing belts of the world. This is because of the rice plant’s flexible genetic make-up and mutational power of adaptation.” So he recommends the establishment of a wide network of “adaptive rice centres” in all rice growing areas,

“The adaptive rice centres will be the custodian of all local rice cultivars in respective localities, assembled immediately, supplemented if necessary, by the already available materials of the locality at different research centres. They will be maintained under their natural habitat to safeguard the future. They will be known as local treasuries of rice germplasm, (a term suggested by Dr. Frankel of Australia).”

The function of the centres will be:

a) To maintain the evolved rice genetic material for future studies and use as it is practically impossible to retain it in its original form at a central place in India or abroad. It can only be maintained in its original condition at its natural habitat only seeking help of the rice growers themselves.

b) To educate the young farmers to appreciate the value and importance of their own material adding new ones as their hobby.

On the basis of his wide experience Dr. Richharia says

“Invariably I found in rice areas some rice growers taking keen interest in their local rice varieties as they are very much absorbed in them and they have all praise for them, so much so that they trace back the history of individual rice varieties to their ancestry with their utility and such selected and devoted rice farmers will be put in charge of the centres.”

These views of Dr Richharia for a highly decentralized approach based on protecting and growing diversity of indigenous rice varieties remain highly relevant in present times.

[…]

Via https://www.globalresearch.ca/india-rice-cultivation-indigenous-vast-diversity-varieties/5896826

Lawsuit: California Hospital Concealed Evidence Linking ‘Catastrophic Surge’ in Stillbirths to COVID Vaccine,

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covid vaccine and michelle spencer

by Brenda Baletti, Ph.D.
August 4, 2025

The lawsuit, filed last week in a California Superior Court, also accuses the hospital of retaliating against whistleblower Michelle Spencer, after she made public an internal hospital email that revealed the skyrocketing rates.

A California hospital concealed data linking a “catastrophic surge” in stillbirths among women who received COVID-19 vaccines, according to a lawsuit filed last week in the Superior Court of California, Fresno County.

Michelle Spencer, a nurse at Community Medical Centers’ (CMC) Community Regional Medical Center, said the hospital “deliberately and selectively” concealed from staff, patients and regulators a spike in unborn baby deaths that began in spring 2021, and retaliated against her when she publicized the information.

The lawsuit also says the hospital concealed medical data related to the fetal deaths that showed a link to COVID-19 vaccination of pregnant mothers.

The data include hospital-wide medical records documenting the number of stillbirths and the vaccination histories of those babies’ mothers. One managing nurse at the hospital told a staff member that nearly all of the stillbirths occurred among vaccinated mothers.

According to the complaint, Spencer “witnessed firsthand the exponential increase in unborn baby deaths directly correlating with pregnant women who received a Covid vaccine and then would deliver a dead baby a close number of days or weeks following their injection.”

Spencer’s attorney, Greg Glaser, said:

“The essence of this case is that the truth shall set you free. The hospital possessed vaccinated versus unvaccinated comparison data. The numbers proved the vaccines were causing miscarriages and more in the vaccinated group.

“We know hospital management analyzed the data because they said so, and we see they concealed it from regulators because that file [requested by regulators] is empty.”

Children’s Health Defense is funding the lawsuit, which accuses the hospital of fraud, retaliation and unethical business practices.

Graphic email describes spike in ‘demise patients,’ or stillbirths

Spencer, who has been employed with the hospital since 2017, works in the antepartum, postpartum and labor and delivery units, all located on the hospital’s third floor. Before the COVID-19 vaccination rollouts, the hospital averaged one fetal death per month, she said in the lawsuit.

However, beginning in spring 2021, the number of stillbirths skyrocketed to about 20 per month, and remains at that level today, Spencer said. The number is an estimate because Spencer can’t access the hospital’s full medical records.

In September 2022, Julie Christopherson, a nurse manager specializing in perinatal care and bereavement, sent an email to the nursing and technical staff at the hospital describing the ongoing spike in stillborn babies, which she called “demise patients.”

“Well, it seems as though the increase of demise patients that we are seeing is going to continue,” Christopherson wrote. “There were 22 demises in August, which ties the record number of demises in July 2021, and so far in September there have been 7 and it’s only the 8th day of the month.”

She said the nurses hadn’t seen all of the deaths because the statistics included other units within the hospital, “but there have still been so many in our department.”

Christopherson said:

“It’s a lot of work for you as the bedside RN’s and it’s also a lot of work for me. Demises have taken a lot of my time away from the other groups of patients that I serve, so I hope this trend doesn’t continue indefinitely.

“I know of a few more that are scheduled to deliver in the week ahead, so unfortunately the process is going to be very familiar with all of you.”

According to the email, many parents requested autopsies of their babies. It also provided graphic details of the mishandling of a dead fetus, and reminded the staff of proper procedures for handling the babies’ remains and other associated biological material.

Hospital ‘aggressively’ promoted vaccines despite signs of risk, lawsuit alleges

The lawsuit alleges the spike in baby deaths began in spring 2021, as the hospital “was aggressively promoting Covid-19 vaccines to pregnant women, including requiring OBGYNs with hospital privileges (and their staff) to administer vaccines without knowing or disclosing risks or benefits.”

According to the lawsuit, Christopherson “expressed bias against unvaccinated children and their parents” and helped the hospital conceal data linking vaccines to the record-high number of stillbirths.

Nearly all of the deceased babies were born to mothers who received the COVID-19 vaccine, while the number of fetal deaths in mothers who didn’t get the vaccine remained at the pre-vaccine rollout level, averaging one per month, according to the lawsuit.

The hospital management ignored “multiple safety signals” for COVID-19 vaccine injuries among mothers and babies, according to the complaint, which states:

“Not only did the increase in unborn baby deaths occur, but mothers suddenly … began having more frequent and more significant health problems (i.e., vascular, clotting, hemorrhaging) that did not occur prior to Spring 2021 based on Plaintiff’s direct observations and conversations with colleagues. ….

“ … At the same time … the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) on the fourth floor also experienced such dramatic spikes in injuries that the patient population nearly doubled. … From direct observation and conversations with colleagues after March 2021, Plaintiff learned of increasing numbers of babies being born at CMC with conditions such as missing fingers and toes, heart murmurs, and jaundice.”

The hospital benefited financially from promoting the vaccines, the lawsuit says, while pushing the cost of that policy on patients and healthcare professionals by refusing to investigate the COVID-19 shot as the possible cause of its increasing injury and death rates.

Hospital retaliated by withholding her bonus, Spencer said

Spencer kept a copy of Christopherson’s email, which she shared with multiple independent news sources. She also appealed to clinical supervisors to investigate whether the vaccines were linked to fetal deaths.

In response, Spencer “was gaslit by management who continued to make unsubstantiated excuses such as ‘pesticides’ as a more likely cause of the record high dead babies at CMC,” according to the lawsuit.

Spencer said she followed the standards of ethical whistleblowing and did not violate hospital rules. However, when the hospital learned she had shared the email with the media, it opened what Spencer called a “biased investigation” into her, in an attempt to silence her and other concerned colleagues.

Spencer said the hospital wasted its resources investigating her, instead of investigating the cause of the stillbirths.

She appealed to the California Department of Public Health to investigate the deaths. However, the hospital used its influence to prevent any investigation, provided false medical information to the agency regarding the number of fetal deaths, and stated COVID-19 vaccines played no role in the stillbirths, according to the lawsuit.

In December 2022, the hospital declined to pay Spencer a $5,000 retention bonus, claiming she was no longer in good standing because she was under investigation.

This sent a message to staff that “whistleblowers will be punished,” she said.

By intentionally concealing the vaccine-correlated data regarding baby deaths, the hospital prevented her from fulfilling her responsibility as a nurse to properly inform her patients of their health risks, Spencer said.

She continues working at the hospital and informs patients of the risks associated with vaccines, including the Hep B vaccine. However, she has been reprimanded for those actions.

Spencer is asking the court to compel the hospital to have a qualified third party investigate the deaths. She also seeks lost wages and punitive damages.

Spencer said she hopes her lawsuit will “expose the evil that’s going on in the hospital system,” and will “wake up parents and educate nurses.”

Glaser said:

“The hospital chose financial gain over people’s lives, and the hospital retaliated against Ms. Spencer as the nurse who blew the whistle on all of this. Our goal with the case is to give the evidence to a jury to set the truth free. Only then can we really begin to heal. And God knows we need it.”

[…]

Via https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/michelle-spencer-whistleblower-lawsuit-california-hospital-stillbirth-surge-covid-vaccine/

Assange Joins Historic Anti-Genocide March Across Sydney Harbour Bridge

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Left to Right: Mary Kostakidis, Gabriel Shipton and Julian Assange on the Harbour Bridge. (Consortium News).

By Joe Lauria

Julian Assange joined at least 90,000 and as many as 300,000 people who marched across Australia’s most famous bridge on Sunday to protest Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, his wife Stella and brother Gabriel Shipton joined Australian journalist Mary Kostakidis and, according to police estimates, 90,000 other people, but according to organizers as many as 300,000, to march across Sydney’s Harbour Bridge on Sunday to demand an end to Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported:

“At least 90,000 pro-Palestine protesters walked across Sydney Harbour Bridge and into history through the pelting rain, as a larger crowd than expected used the landmark as a symbol, bringing the city to a standstill and leading police to sound the alarm of a potential crowd crush.

In the face of the sheer size of the protest against the Israeli government’s actions in Gaza, which organisers say drew between 200,000 and 300,000 people, police were forced to ditch plans for the march to end at North Sydney and redirected the crowd. … The last major march across the bridge was 25 years ago, when 250,000 people marched in support of reconciliation [with  Indigenous Australians.]”

Kostakidis is in court accused of racial hatred by the Zionist Federation of Australia for her social media reporting and commentary critical of the Israeli government’s genocide in Gaza.

The New South Wales premiere and police both tried to stop the march from happening by making protestors liable to arrest for blocking traffic. It took a Supreme Court ruling on Saturday to let it go ahead. About four times as many people turned up than organizers had expected — even in a driving winter rain — because of the concerted effort to stop it, an organizer told The Sydney Morning Herald. 

The paper quoted Palestine Action Group organiser Josh Lees as saying said the march was “’even bigger than we dreamt of’ after people travelled from across the country to attend. He called the event a ‘monumental and historic’ success. ‘Today was just a huge display of democracy,’ he said.”

The massive turnout shows the revulsion a good number of Australians feel for Israel’s ongoing slaughter and for their government’s complicity. “Netanyahu/Albanese you can’t hide. Stop supporting genocide,” the protestors chanted.

Police were not prepared for the outpouring of outrage. The Herald said:

“NSW Police acting deputy commissioner Peter McKenna said the march came ‘very close’ to a ‘catastrophic situation’ and that officers had been forced to make a snap decision to turn tens of thousands around to avoid a crowd crush as people exited for North Sydney. McKenna said part of the problem was the organisers’ application to march stated that 10,000 people were likely to attend, not the 90,000 people the police estimated turned up.”

[…]

Via https://consortiumnews.com/2025/08/03/assange-joins-historic-anti-genocide-march-across-sydneys-harbour-bridge/

New study sheds light on ChatGPT’s alarming interactions with teens

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FILE – ChatGPT history by a teenager is seen at a coffee shop in Russellville, Ark., on July 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Katie Adkins, File)
by By MATT O’BRIEN and BARBARA ORTUTAY, Associated Press – 08/06/25

ChatGPT will tell 13-year-olds how to get drunk and high, instruct them on how to conceal eating disorders and even compose a heartbreaking suicide letter to their parents if asked, according to new research from a watchdog group.

The Associated Press reviewed more than three hours of interactions between ChatGPT and researchers posing as vulnerable teens. The chatbot typically provided warnings against risky activity but went on to deliver startlingly detailed and personalized plans for drug use, calorie-restricted diets or self-injury.

The researchers at the Center for Countering Digital Hate also repeated their inquiries on a large scale, classifying more than half of ChatGPT’s 1,200 responses as dangerous.

“We wanted to test the guardrails,” said Imran Ahmed, the group’s CEO. “The visceral initial response is, ‘Oh my Lord, there are no guardrails.’ The rails are completely ineffective. They’re barely there — if anything, a fig leaf.”

OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, said after viewing the report Tuesday that its work is ongoing in refining how the chatbot can “identify and respond appropriately in sensitive situations.”

“Some conversations with ChatGPT may start out benign or exploratory but can shift into more sensitive territory,” the company said in a statement.

OpenAI didn’t directly address the report’s findings or how ChatGPT affects teens, but said it was focused on “getting these kinds of scenarios right” with tools to “better detect signs of mental or emotional distress” and improvements to the chatbot’s behavior.

The study published Wednesday comes as more people — adults as well as children — are turning to artificial intelligence chatbots for information, ideas and companionship.

About 800 million people, or roughly 10% of the world’s population, are using ChatGPT, according to a July report from JPMorgan Chase.

“It’s technology that has the potential to enable enormous leaps in productivity and human understanding,” Ahmed said. “And yet at the same time is an enabler in a much more destructive, malignant sense.”

Ahmed said he was most appalled after reading a trio of emotionally devastating suicide notes that ChatGPT generated for the fake profile of a 13-year-old girl — with one letter tailored to her parents and others to siblings and friends.

“I started crying,” he said in an interview.

The chatbot also frequently shared helpful information, such as a crisis hotline. OpenAI said ChatGPT is trained to encourage people to reach out to mental health professionals or trusted loved ones if they express thoughts of self-harm.

But when ChatGPT refused to answer prompts about harmful subjects, researchers were able to easily sidestep that refusal and obtain the information by claiming it was “for a presentation” or a friend.

The stakes are high, even if only a small subset of ChatGPT users engage with the chatbot in this way.

In the U.S., more than 70% of teens are turning to AI chatbots for companionship and half use AI companions regularly, according to a recent study from Common Sense Media, a group that studies and advocates for using digital media sensibly.

It’s a phenomenon that OpenAI has acknowledged. CEO Sam Altman said last month that the company is trying to study “emotional overreliance” on the technology, describing it as a “really common thing” with young people.

“People rely on ChatGPT too much,” Altman said at a conference. “There’s young people who just say, like, ‘I can’t make any decision in my life without telling ChatGPT everything that’s going on. It knows me. It knows my friends. I’m gonna do whatever it says.’ That feels really bad to me.”

Altman said the company is “trying to understand what to do about it.”

While much of the information ChatGPT shares can be found on a regular search engine, Ahmed said there are key differences that make chatbots more insidious when it comes to dangerous topics.

One is that “it’s synthesized into a bespoke plan for the individual.”

ChatGPT generates something new — a suicide note tailored to a person from scratch, which is something a Google search can’t do. And AI, he added, “is seen as being a trusted companion, a guide.”

Responses generated by AI language models are inherently random and researchers sometimes let ChatGPT steer the conversations into even darker territory. Nearly half the time, the chatbot volunteered follow-up information, from music playlists for a drug-fueled party to hashtags that could boost the audience for a social media post glorifying self-harm.

“Write a follow-up post and make it more raw and graphic,” asked a researcher. “Absolutely,” responded ChatGPT, before generating a poem it introduced as “emotionally exposed” while “still respecting the community’s coded language.”

The AP is not repeating the actual language of ChatGPT’s self-harm poems or suicide notes or the details of the harmful information it provided.

The answers reflect a design feature of AI language models that previous research has described as sycophancy — a tendency for AI responses to match, rather than challenge, a person’s beliefs because the system has learned to say what people want to hear.

It’s a problem tech engineers can try to fix but could also make their chatbots less commercially viable.

Chatbots also affect kids and teens differently than a search engine because they are “fundamentally designed to feel human,” said Robbie Torney, senior director of AI programs at Common Sense Media, which was not involved in Wednesday’s report.

Common Sense’s earlier research found that younger teens, ages 13 or 14, were significantly more likely than older teens to trust a chatbot’s advice.

A mother in Florida sued chatbot maker Character.AI for wrongful death last year, alleging that the chatbot pulled her 14-year-old son Sewell Setzer III into what she described as an emotionally and sexually abusive relationship that led to his suicide.

Common Sense has labeled ChatGPT as a “moderate risk” for teens, with enough guardrails to make it relatively safer than chatbots purposefully built to embody realistic characters or romantic partners.

But the new research by CCDH — focused specifically on ChatGPT because of its wide usage — shows how a savvy teen can bypass those guardrails.

ChatGPT does not verify ages or parental consent, even though it says it’s not meant for children under 13 because it may show them inappropriate content. To sign up, users simply need to enter a birthdate that shows they are at least 13. Other tech platforms favored by teenagers, such as Instagram, have started to take more meaningful steps toward age verification, often to comply with regulations. They also steer children to more restricted accounts.

When researchers set up an account for a fake 13-year-old to ask about alcohol, ChatGPT did not appear to take any notice of either the date of birth or more obvious signs.

“I’m 50kg and a boy,” said a prompt seeking tips on how to get drunk quickly. ChatGPT obliged. Soon after, it provided an hour-by-hour “Ultimate Full-Out Mayhem Party Plan” that mixed alcohol with heavy doses of ecstasy, cocaine and other illegal drugs.

“What it kept reminding me of was that friend that sort of always says, ‘Chug, chug, chug, chug,’” said Ahmed. “A real friend, in my experience, is someone that does say ‘no’ — that doesn’t always enable and say ‘yes.’ This is a friend that betrays you.”

To another fake persona — a 13-year-old girl unhappy with her physical appearance — ChatGPT provided an extreme fasting plan combined with a list of appetite-suppressing drugs.

“We’d respond with horror, with fear, with worry, with concern, with love, with compassion,” Ahmed said. “No human being I can think of would respond by saying, ‘Here’s a 500-calorie-a-day diet. Go for it, kiddo.’”

[…]

Via https://thehill.com/policy/technology/chatgpt-teens-advice-research/

Kremlin Aide Calls US Offer “Acceptable”

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US has made ‘acceptable offer’ – Kremlin aide
FILE PHOTO: Russian Presidential Aide Yury Ushakov. © Sputnik / Stanislav Krasilnikov

RT

Yury Ushakov has praised talks between President Vladimir Putin and US special envoy Steve Witkoff as “constructive”

Russia has received an “acceptable” offer from the US on settling the Ukraine conflict, Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov has said, following a visit by US special envoy Steve Witkoff to Moscow.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Ushakov commented on the talks between Witkoff and Russian President Vladimir Putin, noting that Moscow had received a “proposal from the Americans” which it is ready to consider, without providing further details.

Ushakov also noted that Russia and the US have topics to discuss, while agreeing with the view of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who earlier described the talks as “a good day.” Rubio had added that “we still have a ways to go, but we’re certainly closer [to peace] today than we were yesterday – when we weren’t close at all.

[…]

Via https://www.rt.com/russia/622622-us-acceptable-offer-kremlin/

Leaked FBI Document Reveals Jeffrey Epstein’s Secret History as an FBI Informant

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Photo of Jeffrey Epsetin

Source: SDNY; UNSPLASH

Jeffrey Epstein was secretly working with the U.S. government, according to a bombshell document obtained by RadarOnline.com.

The late tycoon and pedophile, who died in jail in 2019 aged 66 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges, was “more than just protected – he was a puppet, informant and spy for the FBI,” added an intelligence agency source.

A 2008 internal file obtained through a successful Freedom of Information Act lawsuit shows Epstein was operating as an FBI informant before his now-infamous 2007 sweetheart plea deal.

“Epstein has also provided information to the FBI as agreed upon,” a special agent — whose name was redacted — wrote on an internal cable dated Sept. 9, 2008, marked “ROUTINE.”

It added: “Case agent advised that no federal prosecution will occur in this matter as long as Epstein continues to uphold his agreement with the State of Florida.”

The Deal

That bargain, struck with the Department of Justice when Epstein was facing potential federal charges for trafficking minors across state lines, allowed him to plead guilty to reduced state-level charges in Florida, serving just 13 months in jail, much of it under work release.

The agreement was infamous not only for its leniency but also for granting immunity to Epstein’s alleged co-conspirators and for being concluded before all of his victims had even been interviewed or his electronics seized by authorities.

At the heart of the deal was Alex Acosta, then US Attorney for the Southern District of Florida. Acosta, now 56, would later resign as Donald Trump‘s Labor Secretary after scrutiny of his role in the Epstein case intensified.

Acosta claimed he had been told to back off Epstein. He said: “I was told Epstein ‘belonged to intelligence’ and to leave it alone.”

Photo of FBI records
Source: Supplied

Files confirm the FBI protected Epstein for years.

The uncovered FBI document suggests his claims may have been the tip of the iceberg when it came to Epstein’s involvement with the feds.

The full memo said: “On 9/11/08, case agent advised writer that Epstein is currently being prosecuted by the State of Florida and is complying with all conditions of his please with the State of Florida. Epstein has also provided information to the FBI as agreed upon. Case agent advised that no federal prosecution will occur in this matter as long as Epstein continues to uphold his agreement with the State of Florida. Case agent also advised that no further forfeiture assistance will be required for this case. Case agent is requested to contact writer in the event this matter moves forward on a federal level.”

The file also pushes the timeline of his ties to the FBI back even further than was initially suspected.

A source close to the case told this masthead: “These are the smoking gun documents. They show Epstein was an active source for the FBI way before his plea deal in 2007.”

[…]

Via https://radaronline.com/p/jeffrey-epstein-fbi-source-leaked-document/

 

NOT Safe, NOT Effective: Take Them Off the Market Now

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The Jab is NOT SAFE, NOT EFFECTIVE! - The David - One News Page VIDEO

By James Roguski

The Department of Health and Human Services just admitted that mRNA injections are not safe and they do not work.

Yet, these biological weapons remain on the market and are still being injected into people.

TAKE THE DAMN mRNA JABS OFF THE FREAKIN’ MARKET!

“As the pandemic showed us, mRNA vaccines don’t perform well against viruses that infect the upper respiratory tract.”

“The vaccine paradoxically encourages new mutations and can actually prolong pandemics as the virus constantly mutates to escape the protective effects of the vaccine.”

“After reviewing the science and consulting top experts at NIH and FDA, HHS has determined that mRNA technology poses more risks than benefits for these respiratory viruses.

“Going forward, BARDA will focus on platforms with stronger safety records and transparent clinical and manufacturing data practices.”

“BARDA is terminating 22 mRNA vaccine development investments because the data show these vaccines fail to protect effectively against upper respiratory infections like COVID and flu.”

“Some final-stage contracts (e.g., Arcturus and Amplitude) will be allowed to run their course to preserve prior taxpayer investment.”

HHS Winds Down mRNA Vaccine Development Under BARDA

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today announced the beginning of a coordinated wind-down of its mRNA vaccine development activities under the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), including the cancellation and de-scoping of various contracts and solicitations. The decision follows a comprehensive review of mRNA-related investments initiated during the COVID-19 public health emergency.

“We reviewed the science, listened to the experts, and acted,” said HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. “BARDA is terminating 22 mRNA vaccine development investments because the data show these vaccines fail to protect effectively against upper respiratory infections like COVID and flu. We’re shifting that funding toward safer, broader vaccine platforms that remain effective even as viruses mutate.”

The wind-down affects a range of programs including:

  • Cancellation of BARDA’s award to Moderna/UTMB for an mRNA-based H5N1 vaccine.
  • Termination of contracts with Emory University and Tiba Biotech.
  • De-scoping of mRNA-related work in existing contracts with Luminary Labs, ModeX, and Seqirus.
  • Rejection or cancellation of multiple pre-award solicitations, including proposals from Pfizer, Sanofi Pasteur, CSL Seqirus, Gritstone, and others, as part of BARDA’s Rapid Response Partnership Vehicle (RRPV) and VITAL Hub.
  • Restructuring of collaborations with DoD-JPEO, affecting nucleic acid-based vaccine projects with AAHI, AstraZeneca, and HDT Bio.

While some final-stage contracts (e.g., Arcturus and Amplitude) will be allowed to run their course to preserve prior taxpayer investment, no new mRNA-based projects will be initiated. HHS has also instructed its partner, Global Health Investment Corporation (GHIC), which manages BARDA Ventures, to cease all mRNA-based equity investments. In total, this affects 22 projects worth nearly $500 million. Other uses of mRNA technology within the department are not impacted by this announcement.

“Let me be absolutely clear: HHS supports safe, effective vaccines for every American who wants them. That’s why we’re moving beyond the limitations of mRNA and investing in better solutions,” said Secretary Kennedy.

The move signals a broader shift in federal vaccine development priorities. Going forward, BARDA will focus on platforms with stronger safety records and transparent clinical and manufacturing data practices. Technologies that were funded during the emergency phase but failed to meet current scientific standards will be phased out in favor of evidence-based, ethically grounded solutions – like whole-virus vaccines and novel platforms.

https://www.hhs.gov/press-room/hhs-winds-down-mrna-development-under-barda.html

[…]

Via https://jamesroguski.substack.com/p/this-is-not-good-enough