'It does remind me a little bit of eight years ago'

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Four years ago, someone came across an extraordinary find—a juvenile rhino from the Pleistocene ‘mummified’ in the Siberian permafrost. Alerting the relevant authorities, the discovery turned out to be a 4-year-old woolly rhino (Coelodonta antiquitatis) with its fur, skin, and organs intact, offering paleontologists a rare glimpse into the biology of this Ice Age behemoth. […] The post Frozen in Time: 32,000-year-old Woolly Rhino Found with Skin, Fur, and Organs Intact appeared first on Good News Network.

The Beauty, a graphic novel by Jeremy Haun and Jason A. Hurley, is getting a series adaptation helmed by the American Horror Story creator Ryan Murphy and Glee writer Matt Hodgson. According to Deadline, FX has picked up an eleven-episode series order based on the comic, where people become increasingly beautiful via the transmission of a sexually transmitted disease. Unsurprisingly, the good looks come with a deadly cost, which two detectives, Drew Foster and Kara Vaughn, work to uncover. We don’t have details yet on the specific plotline of the television series adaptation, though odds are good at least some elements of the graphic novel will make their way to the small screen. We do know several members of the cast, including Evan Peters (American Horror Story, Quicksilver in the last tranche of X-Men films), Anthony Ramos (Twisters, Ironheart), Jeremy Pope (The Inspection), and Ashton Kutcher (That ‘70s Show). Deadline reports that the show will center on a male and female lead—probably the detectives—and that casting is underway for the female lead. While not confirmed, it’s likely Peters (pictured above) will play the male lead given his history working with Murphy on nine seasons of American Horror Story, as well as starring as the titular serial killer in Murphy’s limited series Dahmer: Monster—The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. Kutcher is reportedly playing a tech billionaire. No news on when the first season of the series will make its way to FX. Production, however, is likely set to start this November. [end-mark] The post <i>The Beauty</i>: Ryan Murphy to Adapt Graphic Novel into Series Starring Evan Peters, Others appeared first on Reactor.

Excerpts paranormal romance Read an Excerpt From Karen Marie Moning’s The House at Watch Hill A young woman moves to Divinity, Louisiana, to inherit a large fortune and a Gothic mansion full of mysteries and ominous secrets… By Karen Marie Moning | Published on September 30, 2024 Comment 0 Share New Share We’re thrilled to share an excerpt from The House at Watch Hill, a new paranormal romance by Karen Marie Moning—publishing with William Morrow on October 1st. Zo Grey is reeling from the sudden death of her mother when she receives a surprising call from an attorney in Divinity, Louisiana, with the news she has been left an inheritance by a distant relative, the terms of which he will only discuss in person. Destitute and alone, with nothing left to lose, Zo heads to Divinity and discovers she is the sole beneficiary of a huge fortune and a monstrosity of a house that sits ominously at the peak of Watch Hill—but she must live in it, alone, for three years before the house, or the money, is hers.Met with this irresistible opportunity to finally build a future for herself, Zo puts aside her misgivings about the foreboding Gothic mansion and the strange circumstances, and moves in, where she is quickly met by a red-eyed Stygian owl and an impossibly sexy Scottish groundskeeper.Her new home is full of countless secrets and mystifying riddles, with doors that go nowhere, others that are impossible to open, and a turret into which there is no visible means of ingress. And the townspeople are odd…What Zo doesn’t yet know is that her own roots lie in this very house and that in order to discover her true identity and awaken her dormant powers, she will have to face off against sinister forces she doesn’t quite comprehend—or risk being consumed by them. “How many people live in Divinity?” I asked my driver, Evander Graham, a burly man with silver hair who looked to be in his early sixties, as I stared out the sedan’s window at the passing landscape. “’Bout twenty-five thousand.” Kellan’s dark head between my thighs. Challenge blazing in his eyes as I gripped fistfuls of his hair, bucking against him as I came. The unbidden image brought a flush to skin that still bore his scent, spicy and intoxicating. There’d been no time for a shower. I needed one, as soon as possible, to wash away all memory of that man. Last night, and well into the day, had been merely a nameless one-night stand, no different from the others, never to be repeated, never thought of again: one of my many unbreakable rules—never take the same lover twice. I’d never wanted to. Until now. Twenty-five thousand was roughly ten thousand more than Frankfort, closer to the size of Brownsburg, where I’d finished high school. It was a comfortable size, large enough to offer amenities, small enough to feel cozy and navigable. “Everybody knows everybody, don’t they?” “Pretty much. There’s a lot of history in Divinity. It was settled in the late sixteen hundreds, and we’ve dozens of families that trace their roots back to those early settlers. Folks take pride in our town, work hard to keep it nice. It began as a planned settlement, stayed small until the late eighteen hundreds. Got a lot of fancy houses in the Queen Anne style, some Colonial and Antebellum. Streets are the prettiest I’ve ever seen. No real pollution. In my opinion, it’s the best town in the whole damn country to live. We don’t advertise the fact, though. Towns get attention, they start drawing the wrong kind of folk. Got no crime to speak of, work’s plentiful, though some keep offices in New Orleans. Mostly we stay to ourselves.” Sounded too good to be true. All towns, no matter their size, had dark sides: drugs, homelessness, racism, economic inequity, religious intolerance. Although, when I was younger, I’d hated being constantly uprooted, torn away from new friendships again and again, my sense of loss was ameliorated by the endless discovery of new towns and new people. I hadn’t gotten the best schooling, but I’d acquired resilience, curiosity, and an open mind from our nomadic lifestyle. The only thing I’d missed was my best friend, Este. When Mom let us stay in Brownsburg for two years, I’d been ecstatic, especially since I knew, for reasons beyond my fathoming, Mom didn’t like Este any more than Dalia Hunter liked me. They’d barely tolerated our friendship—and they’d not tolerated each other at all, unwilling to share the same room. Hell, they wouldn’t even occupy the same city block, which had only made me and Este more protective of our friendship. Buy the Book The House at Watch Hill Karen Marie Moning Buy Book The House at Watch Hill Karen Marie Moning Buy this book from: AmazonBarnes and NobleiBooksIndieBoundTarget Este and I had been inseparable from the moment we met in fourth grade, when I was the new kid once again and both of us were outsiders. Me because I was always moving, often hastily, in the dead of night, and Este because she was brilliant, fierce, and—in a town that was 95 percent white in blue-collar jobs— biracial and from an affluent family, a singularity in both grade and high school. I still remembered what I was wearing the day we met, as I sat alone in the cafeteria picking at a greasy corn dog and fries on an orange plastic tray: jeans that I’d grown too tall for, so Mom had sewn bits of a flowered pillowcase to the bottoms, with a faded pink T-shirt that had only the tiniest of tears near the hem. I didn’t look bad. I merely looked what we were: poor. Not Este. Her folks had money, lots of it, and it made her even more of a misfit at school. Casting a glare about the cafeteria that had kids ducking their heads to avoid her withering gaze, nine-year-old Este swaggered to my table, plunked down her tray, flashed me a smile as warm as her cyan glare was icy, and said, Name’s Este Hunter. I’m going to be a famous artist someday, and everyone will know my name. You look like you have the balls to be friends with me. Do you? I was a goner. Only nine years old, and she’d said balls like she owned the word. Este did everything like she owned it. There was no “Zo, like no,” on my lips that day. Este was then and has always been able to blast through my countless barriers. I smiled at the memory, gazing out the window at the passing scenery. Louisiana was subtropical-lush with trees and flowers I’d never seen before. The abundance of greenery was a feast to my winter-starved eyes. It was sunny, the sky cloudless, the temperature seventy-five. I hoped whatever local hotel Mr. Balfour had put me in had a pool, that prior to heading back to New Orleans to catch my return flight, I could have breakfast outside and soak up the sunshine before returning to a town where the only flowers brightening the dreary landscape were listless daffodils, assured of another killing frost, devoting scant effort to their pale blooms. In the Deep South, the foliage exploded with brazen audacity, exotic and wild, while I, feeling too much like those wan Midwestern daffodils, would droop home tomorrow to the same chilly terrain I’d left, with the same bone-deep chill in my heart. For a moment, I imagined living down here, never shoveling snow again, never de-icing my car as I shivered in the early morning gloom, never having to watch the world go colorless and cold around me for six long months, until the relentless gray of the sky was so similar to the roads, I might drive into the horizon without even realizing I’d left the ground. Then I sighed. I couldn’t afford to move. I was so deeply in debt, dreams were beyond my budget. When we passed the sign that announced we were entering Divinity, I sat up straighter, hugging my purse, gripped by a sudden tension and apprehension I attributed to the unknowns of the meeting I was about to have. I wondered if I really did have relatives, if the last one had recently died or if some remained and I might find family here. It was strange to be so alone, and I hadn’t wrapped my brain around it. I could feel the awareness of it, far off in the distance—You, Zo Grey, have no family in all the world—but it drifted aimlessly beyond a cyclone of grief. Mr. Graham wasn’t exaggerating. Divinity was the prettiest town I’d ever seen. The streets were immaculate, the centuries-old houses faultlessly maintained behind cast-iron fences, their bright Victorian facades painted in historic shades, some with fluted columns, others with whimsical romantic turrets, lace curtains fluttering in the afternoon breeze. Nearly all had inviting porches and lawns bursting with bougainvillea, crepe myrtles, and magnolias. As we entered the town commons—a one-block square of park hemmed on three sides by shops, with a fountain at the center and benches dotting the hawthorn-hedged green—I gestured to an unusual building that resembled an old-time theater, modernized with a striking cerulean and chrome facade. “What’s that?” “The Gossamer. It’s a popular club with the young folk, live music and such. Then there’s the Shadows at the south end of town, where a more adult crowd gathers.” We passed dozens of quaint businesses, restaurants, a bank, a retro pizzeria, the post office and local gym, two coffee shops, and three bars. Then we were turning off the main thoroughfare and down a maze of cobbled alleys before exiting onto another main road and pulling into the circular drive of the Balfour and Baird Law Firm, which occupied a stately Colonial home, entry framed by tall white columns. “Do you know where I’ll be staying tonight?” Not with Kellan. Never with him again. My unbreakable rules are essential for navigating my life. I’d begun making them young for good reasons. Mr. Graham got out of the car and opened my door. “I imagine Mr. Balfour will be telling you that.” As I stepped out, a sultry breeze lifted my hair and a sudden chill pierced the nape of my neck, burrowing to bone. My spine constricted with a violent shiver, as if an icy airborne dart came concealed within the draft. Later, I would understand I’d begun feeling the house at Watch Hill long before I saw it, the moment we’d entered the intangible but oh so carefully guarded boundaries of Divinity, a cold, disturbing burn in my blood. When I stepped from the car, we got that much closer to each other. I just hadn’t understood what was happening. Some things should never be awakened. Joanna Grey knew that. Home to three centuries of secrets, blood, and lies, the mansion on the hill was a dark, slumbering beast. Come to me. Know me. Live in me. Shivering again, I tipped back my head, feeling irresistibly compelled to glance up and to the east. Beyond gnarled, moss-draped limbs of centuries-old live oaks, an enormous hill hulked over the town of Divinity. At the crest of the hill, behind an ornate black cast-iron fence that was nearly swallowed by vines, crouched a dark, forbidding edifice flanked by turrets at the north and south ends. It peaked at five stories, its west-facing windows blazing like hellfire with afternoon sun, and, despite the brightness of the day, the fortress loomed, a stygian citadel on a high promontory. It appeared to have been added on to multiple times. The vertiginous lines of the roofs soared and fell, veering off at opposing angles, creating heavily gloomed niches between. It was a colossal structure, sweeping from grand porch to tall chimneys, from turret to balcony to rooftop garden, hemmed by oaks twice the size of any I’d ever seen, their long, wandering, moss-fringed branches brushing perilously near windowpanes. Crouching high above Divinity, an uneasy blend of whimsical Victorian and funereal Gothic, painted pewter with ebony trim, it squatted, a venomous spider presiding over the town, studying its meticulously spun web of streets below. The structure fascinated and repelled me in equal measure. I wanted to explore the oddity; I never wanted to set foot inside it. I shuddered, hoping I wasn’t expected to stay there tonight. “Is that a hotel?” Please say no, I willed silently. Mr. Graham laughed softly. “Private residence.” I hadn’t realized I was holding my breath until it exploded in a sigh of relief. I wouldn’t be sleeping there. Good. “That’s a house?” More a mountain of malevolence, watching Divinity with shuttered eyes. “It’s enormous.” “Oldest in town, built on the spot the first settlers chose. The original, centuries-old cabin was incorporated into it. The first families still hold their funerals in the cemetery up there.” I forced my gaze away from the house with reluctance, with relief. The chill retreated as the ordinariness of the day washed back in, and I was suddenly embarrassed by how spooked I’d become. “I didn’t think there were any hills in Louisiana.” This was coastal plain, renowned for its unbroken flatness. “We got a few. Watch Hill’s the tallest in the state at six hundred fifty-four feet above sea level. Divinity’s fifty feet above sea level, then there’s New Orleans at eight feet below, which causes countless problems. We don’t advertise our hill either. Louisiana’s pride, Mount Driskill, is only five hundred thirty-five feet, and folks flock in droves to hike it, litter it up, and spoil the beauty.” One day I would marvel that the largest hill in the state of Louisiana had been kept so secret that only Mount Driskill appeared on maps, but by then it would seem trivial compared to the countless other impossibilities I was facing. When I withdrew some of what remained of my dwindling store of cash—a waitress never fails to tip—he waved away my money, assuring me Mr. Balfour had taken good care of him, and directed me to the door. “Will you be driving me back to New Orleans tomorrow?” “Welcome to Divinity, Ms. Cameron. It’s good to have you here,” Mr. Graham replied, as he got back into the car. “Grey,” I corrected. But the door was closed and he was already driving away. Excerpted from The House at Watch Hill, copyright © 2024 by Karen Marie Moning. The post Read an Excerpt From Karen Marie Moning’s <i>The House at Watch Hill</i> appeared first on Reactor.

Editor’s note: This is a lightly edited transcript of the accompanying video from professor Peter St. Onge. Or, more precisely, why are subsequent generations so poor? This might look mysterious, considering how irresponsible boomers are, compared to their parents. But it turns out the answer’s simple: It’s because they rode the big, beautiful economy they inherited, then they broke it. MSN put out an article trying to figure exactly how boomers got so rich. In short, it comes down to three things—killing economic growth, decades of artificially low interest rates, and soaring prices as cronies abuse the political system to push up the price of everything from college to hospitals. First up, economic growth. In the 1950s and ’60s—before President Richard Nixon killed the gold standard and unleashed permanent inflation, real annual growth in the United States averaged 4.4%. That’s enough for your kids to be three to four times richer than you, which was standard. Post-Nixon—from the ’70s to the ’90s—growth fell to just 3.2%, down by one-third. Then, since 2000, it collapsed to just 2.1%. Half. I’ve talked about the post-2000 productivity collapse in recent videos, but in short, it was driven by surging government spending and regulation—roughly, double the previous level of spending, even worse on job-killing mandates. The growth slowdown has done two things. It slowed wages to a crawl. Kids are no longer three to four times richer than their parents. And it forced companies to ditch benefits they couldn’t afford. Namely, generous defined-benefit retirement plans. So, while boomers pulled the economic ladder up after them, they themselves got rich, thanksto that second reason: cheap interest rates. As bad as low rates are for economic growth, the one thing they do is pump your bags. (Bags being the term for heavy investments in magic internet money, per the UrbanDictionary.) From housing to stocks to collectibles, when interest rates are low, the price goes up. Combine that with the way the Fed prints money, by injecting it into financial markets, and it’s been an absolute bonanza for anybody who owned anything. Which is old people. Finally, the third reason: the cronies. In 1970, tuition at a public university cost $394. Today, according to a study by Self Financial, the average college degree costs $307,658. Of course, health costs are even worse, where you’ll pay $100,000 for leg surgery or the famous $629 Band-Aid at one Connecticut hospital. More than 20 million Americans are carrying medical debt—roughly $220 billion of it, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, and much of it crippling. From college to hospitals, sophisticated lobbyists and their useful activists got hold of a critical industry and used insurance, treatment mandates, and anticompetitive regulations—especially so-called certificate of need laws in hospitals—to drive the prices to nosebleed levels. In the case of education, that’s left subsequent generations starting the race $300,000 in the hole. In the case of medical, it’s meant that, for millions of Americans, if you draw a bad card or get hit by a drunk, you’re out of the game for good. So, what’s next? If boomers made out because of slow growth, artificial rates, and being lucky enough to be born before the cronies, it gives us a very handy road map how to reverse it: First, roll back the taxes, mandates, and regulations that are strangling the golden goose—namely, the ones that punish work and entrepreneurship, and that feed the crony takeovers with government spending and mandates. Second, get the Fed out of the boom-bust inflation-recession cycle. It should either have a single mandate—safeguarding the dollar—or it should be shut down and replaced with gold that actually did the job and did it for free. Read the rest of the article with charts and all the gory details at Profstonge Weekly | Peter St Onge | Substack We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal. The post Why Are Those Darn Baby Boomers So Rich? appeared first on The Daily Signal.

DAILY CALLER NEWS FOUNDATION—Retired Border Patrol chief Rodney Scott blew the whistle to the Daily Caller News Foundation on what he calls the Biden-Harris administration’s going to great lengths to hide the illegal immigration crisis from the public, just days after a current sector chief made similar claims. Aaron Heitke, a former chief patrol agent for the Border Patrol’s San Diego sector, testified before a House committee Sept. 18 that the White House ordered agents to hide information on arrests of so-called special interest aliens or SIAs, move masses of illegal migrants out of sight of the press, and give other instructions to disguise the true level of the border crisis. Scott, who led Border Patrol from roughly the last year of the Trump-Pence administration to the first seven months of the Biden-Harris administration, told the Daily Caller News Foundation that he was given similar orders. “There was a gag order put on us literally within minutes of the Biden administration taking office,” Scott said. “The chief of staff for Customs and Border Protection, when she arrived, one of her first orders was to forbid us from talking to the public, or doing press releases, or doing media without the White House clearing our statements,” Scott said. “Not only were they not cleared, when they finally did give us talking points, they weren’t even accurate. They weren’t truthful.” Scott’s tenure as Border Patrol leader overlapped with Biden’s assignment of Vice President Kamala Harris to address the root causes of illegal immigration from Central America. The retired chief confirmed that Harris never once spoke to him, even after her designation as “border czar.” Having worked for the Border Patrol since the early 1990s, Scott experienced multiple changes in presidential administration. The longtime officer said higher-ups’ clamping down on communication to the public was nothing new, but the sheer level of control handed down by the Biden-Harris administration was nothing he had experienced before. “No press conferences were approved, all border tours were shut down,” Scott said. “It was unprecedented. I’ve never seen a gag order that tight.” Scott’s comments follow the testimony given by Heitke, in which the former San Diego sector chief agent said he was prohibited from talking about the rising number of special interest aliens—those who potentially pose a national security risk to the U.S.—unlawfully crossing the border. “Prior to this administration, the San Diego sector averaged 10–15 SIAs per year,” Heitke told the House Homeland Security Committee. “Once word was out that the border was far easier to cross, San Diego went to over 100 SIAs in 2022, way over 100 SIAs in 2023, and more than that this year.” “These are only the ones we caught. At the time, I was told I could not release any information on this increase in SIAs or mention any of the arrests,” Heitke testified. “The administration was trying to convince the public that there was no threat at the border.” Heitke also went into detail about steps he said the Biden-Harris administration took to hide masses of migrants from reporters, accusing the White House of portraying “fiction” to the public. “Each time we asked for help in dealing with a new issue, it fell on deaf ears,” Heitke said. “At times in San Diego, we had 2,000 or more aliens sitting in between the fences asking to turn themselves in. I was told to move them out of sight of the media.” This is not the first time agents have accused the Biden-Harris administration of intentionally trying to cover up the extent of the border crisis from the media. Ahead of Harris’ first trip to the border in El Paso, Texas, in 2021, administration officials gave explicit instructions to clear the area of migrants to put on a “show” for the vice president, according to Border Patrol sources who spoke to the New York Post. Although an executive order issued by President Joe Biden in June led to a steady decline in illegal crossings along the U.S.-Mexico border in recent months, the Biden-Harris administration had overseen a major wave of illegal immigration into the country after issuing a slate of executive orders that largely dismantled the Trump-Pence administration’s border agenda. Border Patrol agents reported encountering more than 7 million migrants illegally crossing into the U.S. since the beginning of the Biden-Harris administration, according to the latest data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The massive wave of illegal migration has strained the resources of major sanctuary cities such as New York City and Chicago, but also smaller towns in the heartland such as Springfield, Ohio. Scott commended his former colleague for speaking out, noting that doing so puts his ability to make an income at risk. Many retired agents don’t speak out because companies and other private contractors that work with the federal government want to avoid the publicity that can come with working with or hiring whistleblowers, according to the retired Border Patrol chief. “I think it’s very problematic that the administration is trying to hide so much relevant information from the public,” Scott said. “I’m very, very grateful that Chief Heitke stepped up and decided to share that information with the public because that really hurts his ability to get contract jobs in the future.” Heitke is “not only taking a risk, he’s knowingly cutting his family’s income by standing up for what’s right,” he said. The Department of Homeland Security and the White House did not respond to a request for comment. Originally published by the Daily Caller News Foundation The post ‘Unprecedented’: Retired Border Patrol Chief Blows Whistle on How Biden-Harris Admin Hid Border Crisis appeared first on The Daily Signal.

The U.S. Department of Education had millions of phone calls from families to its call center go unanswered and had technical glitches plague its student-aid application processing. Nearly 75% of calls seeking help went unanswered more than five months, and understaffed call-center representatives told families to “try again later” in what was part of a series of glitches of the new Free Application for Federal Student Aid program, according to a government watchdog agency. Last week, Government Accountability Office experts Marisol Cruz Cain and Melissa Emrey-Arras offered devastating testimony before the House Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development. They exposed glaring failures in the Biden-Harris administration’s rollout of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid—a mess that could have been avoided had the Department of Education been focused on its core responsibilities instead of pushing for student loan cancellation. 9.24.24 GAO_fafsa_hearing_emery-arras_witness_testimonyDownload The numbers speak for themselves: 4 million calls to the department’s call center went unanswered in the first five months of the rollout from January through May 2024 because officials didn’t anticipate the surge in inquiries or hire appropriate staff. Forty known technical issues plagued the application process, leaving families stranded without clear guidance or solutions. Some problems took months to fix, and worse yet, more than 20 issues remain unresolved as of this month. For example, some parents can’t get past the first section of the form, parents’ signatures have disappeared after returning to their saved online applications, and graduate students are wrongly told they are eligible for Pell Grants. This is not just a glitch; it’s a systemic failure. According to the GAO, the Education Department didn’t have a comprehensive plan to keep applicants informed about the status of their applications or provide updates on fixes, which is still the case. Colleges, too, were blindsided. The department missed its promised deadlines to deliver essential Free Application for Federal Student Aid data to schools, leaving administrators in the lurch when crafting financial aid packages. The delays have been staggering. It took the department 305 extra days to process paper forms, 197 extra days to allow students to make corrections to their submissions, and 161 days before the department began processing students’ electronic forms. The form wasn’t available until 90 days after the initial release date, and even then, it was plagued with technical issues. The department also never bothered to inform more than 500,000 students that their aid eligibility was recalculated due to earlier errors. The result? At least 120,000 students received inflated aid offers and may now face reduced financial support in the next academic year—after likely choosing a college based on the false promise of more aid. The GAO’s findings were clear: These issues were avoidable. Experts testified that the department’s leadership was in disarray with six different chief information officers since 2021, a critical position for managing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid system. Without consistent leadership or proper oversight, the new system was destined for failure. In addition to all the problems that GAO discovered, experts revealed that it took them five months to receive any documents they requested from the Department of Education about the rollout of the new Free Application for Federal Student Aid program. Congress finally had to step in and submit a subpoena to get the department to respond fully to GAO’s requests. This lack of accountability became even more evident in early June when senior staff from the GAO and the Department of Education had to shift their meetings from monthly to weekly to ensure the department adequately responded to information requests. Yet, the Department of Education’s absolute failure lies in its misplaced priorities. While it bungled this critical task, it was preoccupied with the legally dubious push to cancel student loans. Meanwhile, students and families were left in the dark, unable to make informed decisions about their educational futures. Millions of students and families wouldn’t have been caught in this disaster if the department had focused on its primary mission—ensuring access to higher education by properly administering financial aid programs. The GAO’s recommendations for improvement are a step forward, but it’s clear that the department’s failures have already caused untold harm. The Biden-Harris administration must be held accountable for this disaster. Instead of chasing political headlines, they should prioritize the everyday needs of students and families—starting with fixing this program. The post Biden-Harris Education Department’s Financial Aid Form Failures Have Left Students, Families in Lurch appeared first on The Daily Signal.

If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. California Governor Gavin Newsom has vetoed an artificial intelligence “safety” bill, not because of potential threats to free speech (it does) but because he believes the proposed regulations do not go far enough in their current form. The bill, SB 1047, was designed to regulate the use of large-scale AI models by imposing stringent requirements on their development and deployment. However, Newsom critiqued the bill for its narrow focus on only the most sizable and costly AI models, neglecting what he believes are the varied risks presented by smaller AI systems involved in critical sectors such as healthcare and energy management. This legislative effort, which was poised to set a precedent for AI regulation across the nation, drew intense scrutiny and debate. California’s status as a tech hub meant the bill’s implications could extend well beyond state lines, influencing nationwide policy at a time when federal regulation remains stagnant, and gives California control over what AI tools are released – all in the name of “safety.” The bill imposes heavy governmental control over AI development, mandating extensive protocols approved by the attorney-general, and obligating developers to report “safety” incidents and comply annually. These stringent regulations are feared to lead developers to self-censor to avoid legal consequences. Yet, despite the potential for establishing a regulatory framework, the governor opted for a veto, signaling his intention to collaborate with AI experts to develop more comprehensive, stricter legislation. Governor Newsom articulated his concerns in a veto message, pointing out that the bill’s focus was too narrow, only targeting the largest AI models without considering their actual application in high-stakes or low-risk environments. We obtained a copy of Governor Newsom’s letter for you here. “While well-intentioned, SB 1047 does not take into account whether an AI system is deployed in high-risk environments, involves critical decision-making or the use of sensitive data,” Newsom wrote. “Instead, the bill applies stringent standards to even the most basic functions — so long as a large system deploys it. I do not believe this is the best approach to protecting the public from real threats posed by the technology.” If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The post Governor Newsom Rejects Controversial AI Bill, Not Over Censorship Fears But for Not Going Far Enough appeared first on Reclaim The Net.

If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. United Nations (UN) Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications Melissa Fleming’s focus is “disinformation” and “toxic information systems” – and she presents those as standing in the way of the UN’s sustainable development goals (SDGs). SDGs are the UN’s plan that opponents say is “toxic” in itself since it seeks to promote such controversial things as censorship and digital ID and, to make matters worse, that’s supported by major countries. Now, Fleming seems to be keen to add to the avalanche of pressure on Big Tech – even though the term she no doubt carefully uses instead is “domination of public discourse” in places where this alleged disinformation is most present. Coincidentally or not this is coming right before a US presidential election, but Fleming is framing her parroting of the “disinformation” narrative in terms of the social platforms, as purely an “SDGs and UN” issue. She is even trying to link this with the UN’s purpose, which is (rather, should be) peacekeeping and humanitarian missions, but from which the world organization has been disconnecting for a while. Responding to a question lumping disinformation, climate change, and conflict resolution into one, Fleming asserted that there is no proof beyond anecdotal (she doesn’t quite explain this assertion) that disinformation and “toxic information systems” are damaging humanitarian and peacekeeping efforts, not to mention SDGs. Fleming’s official UN bio says one of her roles is “far-reaching efforts to address mis- and disinformation, and hate speech,” while supposedly simultaneously promoting “free and independent media.” However, she started her career with an outlet that’s anything but free and independent: Fleming used to work for “Radio Free Europe,” funded by the US authorities (originally through the CIA). Now, no doubt thanks to Fleming, the UN has something called DG Media Zone and it is there and during this year’s UN General Assembly that Fleming sounded her alarm bells, going as far as to say that “every single one” of UN’s proprieties is these days under threat due to disinformation. (“Climate change” is now proudly listed among those priorities, in case you missed that.) Fleming’s solution: collusion. This time (and publicly) “merely” with “civil society and people” who need to “work on our information ecosystems together.” A word of warning about “civil society,” though: it’s often a moniker behind which group implementing censorship through “fact-checking” etc, like to hide. If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The post UN Official’s Battle With “Toxic Information” Raises Censorship Fears Ahead of US Election appeared first on Reclaim The Net.