Wednesday, October 22, 2025

What Biden’s Doctor Thinks You’re Not Allowed to Know


From National Review.com (July 10):

On the menu today: Joe Biden’s personal physician, Kevin O’Connor, refuses to answer questions under oath before Congress about his assessment of the former president’s health while he was in office. Elsewhere, progressives ask why the U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement workforce needs to be so large, ignoring the scale of the task before the agency, and wondering about a not-so-long-ago doomsday prediction.

The Biden Health Coverup Continues

The U.S. is not supposed to end up in a situation where it has a doddering old man as president. Many people have a role in ensuring the good physical and mental health of the president, but high among them is the president’s physician.

At the end of February 2024, White House physician Kevin O’Connor declared that Biden “continues to be fit for duty and fully executes all of his responsibilities without any exceptions or accommodations.” This diagnosis came several months after Biden’s inability to remember dates and the sequence of events during his testimony to special counsel Robert Hur.

Subsequently, in books like Original Sin, the American people learned that while in office, the former president was forgetting the names of national security adviser Jake Sullivan and communications director Kate Bedingfield; didn’t recognize DNC chairman Jaime Harrison, Representative Eric Swalwell, or actor George Clooney when he met them despite knowing them for years; was “disoriented” and “out of it,” mouth agape, during his rare cabinet meetings, and so on. Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson wrote, “Biden’s physical deterioration — most apparent in his halting walk — had become so severe that there were internal discussions about putting the president in a wheelchair. . . . The doctor often argued with Biden’s political officials to get more rest time into the president’s schedule. O’Connor sometimes quipped that Biden’s staff members were trying to kill him, while he was trying to keep him alive.”

That certainly makes it sound like O’Connor’s publicly released diagnosis was not accurate, and represented happy-talk that contradicted his private diagnosis.

In fact, according to Original Sin, by February 2024, Biden’s political advisers contemplated having Biden undergo a cognitive exam to dispel the increasingly loud questions about his mental health and acuity. O’Connor reportedly argued against giving Biden one, insisting that he saw the president frequently and never saw any reason for concern.

O’Connor never conducted any media interviews or answered any questions from the media about the president’s health during Biden’s presidency.

The American people have a lot of indisputably fair, overdue questions for Dr. O’Connor. But apparently, he is not interested in answering any of them:

O’Connor invoked his Fifth Amendment rights Wednesday and did not answer questions during a closed-door deposition with the House Oversight Committee.

“It’s now clear there was a conspiracy to cover up President Biden’s cognitive decline after Dr. Kevin O’Connor, Biden’s physician and family business associate, refused to answer any questions and chose to hide behind the Fifth Amendment,” said Oversight Committee chairman James Comer (R., Ky).

“The American people demand transparency but Dr. O’Connor would rather conceal the truth. Dr. O’Connor took the Fifth when asked if he was told to lie about President Biden’s health and whether he was fit to be President of the United States.”

Now, only Joe Biden has the authority to say, “I waive my right to doctor-patient confidentiality.” If there was no coordinated effort to hide the truth about Biden’s health while he was president, you would think Biden would want O’Connor to testify, truthfully and completely. By not waiving doctor-patient confidentiality, Biden is putting O’Connor in a difficult position where he cannot explain and defend his diagnosis of the president’s health, harming the doctor’s reputation.

Biden could have said O’Connor had his permission to answer all questions about his diagnosis of the president’s health. But Biden hasn’t done that.

Recall that for a very short time in April, Biden launched an unofficial “comeback tour” after the opening months of a post-presidency where reportedly he hadn’t reached out to a single member of Congress for a chat at all. When Biden did appear on The View in early May, he continued to insist that if he had stayed in the race, he would have won, and that he “wasn’t surprised” that Kamala Harris lost the 2024 election. His wife Jill finished many of his answers.

Four days before the official publication of Original Sin, the Bidens announced that he had been diagnosed with Stage 4 prostate cancer. The morning after the announcement, oncologist Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel shocked the hosts of MSNBC’s Morning Joe by declaring, “Oh, he’s had this for many years, maybe even a decade, growing there and spreading. ”

While we’re at it, someone should ask O’Connor why he concluded that Biden didn’t need to get a PSA test during his presidency. [read more]

CYA mode activated.

More articles about Biden:

Biden's Former Doctor Refuses to Answer Questions in House Oversight Probe

Tuesday, October 21, 2025

Secret Service suspends 6 agents assigned to protect Trump during Butler assassination attempt

From NY Post.com (July 9):

Six members of the Secret Service have been suspended for failures related to last year’s assassination attempt against President Trump at a rally in Butler, Pa.

The suspensions for the six agents ranged from 10 to 42 days, and they won’t be paid while on leave, Secret Service Deputy Director Matt Quinn told CBS News on Wednesday.

The agents will not be fired, but upon return to work, they will be placed in roles with diminished operational responsibility.

“We aren’t going to fire our way out of this,” Quinn told the outlet. “We’re going to focus on the root cause and fix the deficiencies that put us in that situation.”

Trump was struck in the ear by one of the bullets fired by would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks on July 13, 2024, during a campaign event at the Butler Farm Show grounds, leaving the then-presumptive Republican nominee for president bloodied.

Firefighter Corey Comperatore was killed shielding his family from Crooks’ bullets, and two others were left with severe injuries before the 20-year-old gunman — lying on an unguarded roof with a clear line of sight to Trump — was taken out by a Secret Service sniper.

A scathing Senate report on the assassination attempt released in September determined that “multiple foreseeable and preventable planning and operational failures by [Secret Service] contributed” to Crooks’ ability to carry out the deadly shooting.

“These included unclear roles and responsibilities, insufficient coordination with state and local law enforcement, the lack of effective communications, and inoperable [counter-unmanned aircraft] systems, among many others,” the damning report read.

A second assassination attempt against Trump took place two months later at the president’s Palm Beach, Fla., golf course.

Quinn insisted that the Secret Service is “totally accountable for Butler.”

“Butler was an operational failure and we are focused today on ensuring that it never happens again,” he said.

The official noted that the agency now has a new fleet of drones and mobile command posts that let agents communicate over radio directly with local law enforcement.

The Secret Service did not respond to The Post’s request for comment. [source]

Finally, some accountability.

More articles on the matter:

Monday, October 20, 2025

Ceasefire Goes Into Effect, Gaza, Global Leaders Rejoice


From Newsmax.com (Oct. 9):

The agreement on the first stage of President Donald Trump's plan for ending the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza went into effect Thursday at 0900 GMT, Egyptian state-affiliated TV al-Qahera News reported.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar said Israel has an interest in expanding the circle of peace and normalization in the Middle Eastern region, following the U.S.-brokered deal entering Phase 1.

Celebrations have reportedly broken out in Gaza.

President Donald Trump said Israel and Hamas had reached a deal to end the 2-year-old war in the Palestinian enclave.

The following are comments on the agreement from leaders and officials around the world.

Trump

"This means that ALL of the Hostages will be released very soon, and Israel will withdraw their Troops to an agreed upon line as the first steps toward a Strong, Durable, and Everlasting Peace.

"All Parties will be treated fairly! This is a GREAT Day for the Arab and Muslim World, Israel, all surrounding Nations, and the United States of America, and we thank the mediators from Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey, who worked with us to make this Historic and Unprecedented Event happen. BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS!"

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

"A big day for Israel ... I thank from the bottom of my heart President Trump and his team for their dedication to this sacred mission of freeing our hostages.

"With God’s help, together we will continue to achieve all our goals and expand peace with our neighbors."

Hamas

"We call on President Trump, the guarantor states of the agreement, and all Arab, Islamic, and international parties to compel the occupation government to fully implement its obligations under the agreement and to prevent it from evading or delaying the implementation of what has been agreed upon.

"We affirm that the sacrifices of our people will not be in vain, and that we will remain true to our pledge — never abandoning our people’s national rights until freedom, independence, and self-determination are achieved."

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich

"Mixed emotions on a complex morning: Immense joy for the return of all our abducted brothers! ... Great fear of the consequences of emptying prisons and releasing the next generation of terror leadership, which will do everything to continue spilling rivers of Jewish blood, God forbid. For this reason alone, we cannot join the short-sighted celebrations and vote in favor of the deal.

"A tremendous responsibility to ensure that this is not, God forbid, a deal of 'hostages in exchange for stopping the war,' as Hamas thinks and boasts ... and that immediately after the hostages return home, the State of Israel will continue to strive with all its might for the true eradication of Hamas and the genuine disarmament of Gaza, so that it no longer poses a threat to Israel."

U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres

"I urge all stakeholders to seize this momentous opportunity to establish a credible political path forward towards ending the occupation, recognizing the right to self-determination of the Palestinian people, and achieving a two-state solution that enables Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace and security.

"The stakes have never been higher."

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan

"I would like to express my sincere gratitude to U.S. President Trump, who demonstrated the necessary political will to encourage the Israeli government toward the ceasefire. As Turkey, we will closely monitor the strict implementation of the agreement and continue to contribute to the process."

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer

"This is a moment of profound relief that will be felt all around the world, but particularly for the hostages, their families, and for the civilian population of Gaza, who have all endured unimaginable suffering over the last two years."

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz

"For the first time in a long while, there is a real prospect of peace in the region."

French President Emmanuel Macron

"This agreement must mark the end of the war and the beginning of a political solution based on the two-state solution ... France stands ready to contribute to this goal. We will discuss it this afternoon in Paris with our international partners."

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Wong

"After more than two years of conflict, hostages held and a devastating loss of civilian life, this is a much-needed step towards peace ... We urge all parties to respect the terms of the plan."

New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters

"This is an essential first step towards achieving lasting peace. We urge Israel and Hamas to continue working towards a complete resolution."

European Parliament President Roberta Metsola

"This is a pivotal moment for peace and renewal in the Middle East and opens a path that could finally end the intergenerational cycle of violence, suffering, and terror that has plagued the region."

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus

"WHO stands ready to scale up its work to meet the dire health needs of patients across Gaza, and to support rehabilitation of the destroyed health system.

"The best medicine is peace." [source]

Nice. Good to hear. Hope Hamas gives back all the hostages and the peace lasts. President Trump should get the Nobel Peace prize for the peace deal.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. - Mathew 5:9.

Others articles on the peace deal:

Sunday, October 19, 2025

Why atheists and Christians should never trust themselves

From Christian Post.com (July 14, 2023):

It is purely natural for man to trust himself. He assumes his ideas and conclusions are reliable. But what about when man gets it wrong? Every day we hear stories of people who misled themselves into making some awful decisions.

Christians and atheists are similar in this sense. People in both groups can be and have been wrong on multiple issues in their personal lives. They advanced positions that turned out to be completely inaccurate or engaged in behavior that is unseemly.

Why do such mistakes happen so frequently? The answer is simple. Atheists rely solely upon their fallible brains, while Christians at times pursue a course that flows from their sinful nature rather than from the Holy Spirit and the Word of God.

Let’s start with atheists. John Lennox is a Northern Irish mathematician, bioethicist and Christian apologist who said in an interview:

“As a scientist, the very bottom line for me is that atheism doesn’t even give me a reason to trust the mind with which I do science because it tells me that the mind with which I’m doing science is essentially equal to the brain. And the brain is the end product of a mindless, unguided process. Well, no scientist I have ever asked would trust a computer if he or she thought it was the end product of a mindless, unguided process. So, there’s a big black hole at the bottom of atheism’s thinking when it comes to science.”

And yet most atheists continue to overlook the irrationality of their approach. You see, it is only reasonable to trust your mind if an intelligent Creator produced it. Otherwise, it is utter foolishness to place full confidence in a brain that simply evolved from a mindless process.

Atheists pick and choose which ideas and outcomes to rely upon and which ideas and outcomes to summarily reject. They assume God does not exist and they reject every supernatural claim. In the end, they stake their immortal soul on a faulty assumption rather than on an intelligent investigation of the facts surrounding the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. (Check out the blog post by Rachel Boulos titled, “23 Mind-Blowing Facts About Jesus’ Death and Resurrection You Might Not Know.”)

John Lennox stated: “Of course, I reject atheism because I believe Christianity to be true. But I also reject it because I am a scientist. How could I be impressed with a worldview that undermines the very rationality we need to do science? Science and God mix very well. It is science and atheism that do not mix.”

C.S. Lewis observed:

“Supposing there was no intelligence behind the universe, no creative mind. In that case, nobody designed my brain for the purpose of thinking. It is merely that when atoms inside my skull happen, for physical or chemical reasons, to arrange themselves in a certain way, this gives me, as a by-product, the sensation I call thought. But, if so, how can I trust my own thinking to be true? It’s like upsetting a milk jug and hoping that the way it splashes itself will give you a map of London. But if I can’t trust my own thinking, of course I can’t trust the arguments leading to atheism, and therefore have no reason to be an atheist, or anything else. Unless I believe in God, I cannot believe in thought: so, I can never use thought to disbelieve in God.” 

[read more]

Profound insight.

Friday, October 17, 2025

Similarities Between Prophet Jehu and President Trump

From Grok 4 Fast:

The comparison between the biblical King Jehu (from 2 Kings 9-10) and President Donald Trump has gained traction among some evangelical and Messianic Christian leaders, particularly since Trump's 2024 election victory and inauguration for his second term. Jehu, a military commander anointed by the prophet Elisha to overthrow the idolatrous house of Ahab and purge Baal worship from Israel, is often portrayed as a flawed but divinely appointed disruptor. Proponents like Rabbi Jonathan Cahn see Trump fitting a similar "template" as a bold instrument of reform against perceived moral and political corruption in America. Below is a compiled list of commonly cited parallels, drawn from religious commentaries and analyses.

Similarity Description Biblical Reference (Jehu) Modern Parallel (Trump)
Outsider Rise to Power Both ascended from non-traditional backgrounds without prior entitlement to leadership. Jehu, a military commander, was unexpectedly anointed king by a prophet, not born royal. Trump, a businessman with no political experience, entered as an outsider and won the presidency in 2016.
Divine Anointing for a Mission Portrayed as chosen by God for a specific, urgent purpose. Anointed by Elisha to execute judgment on Ahab's house (2 Kings 9:6-7). Described as a "trumpet of God" or vessel for restoring America, akin to Jehu's template.
Disruptors of Corrupt Establishments Challenged entrenched powers seen as morally bankrupt. Overthrew Ahab's dynasty, symbolizing the end of corrupt rule. Campaigned to "drain the swamp" in Washington, targeting political elites.
Swift, Aggressive Action Took decisive, rapid steps upon gaining power to enact change. Drove his chariot furiously to confront and kill rivals immediately (2 Kings 9:20). Issued an omnibus executive order on January 20, 2025, rescinding 78 Biden-era policies and firing officials.
War on Idolatry and Immorality Fought against practices viewed as societal evils, including child sacrifice. Destroyed Baal's temple and slaughtered its priests (2 Kings 10:25-28). Opposed abortion (likened to "America's cult of Baal" via Roe v. Wade) and progressive policies on sexuality and family.
Alliance with Religious Leaders Partnered with prophets and conservatives to fulfill their mandate. Allied with Elisha's followers for religious reform. Formed ties with evangelical leaders like Cahn and Ché Ahn for moral and political support.
Confrontation with Prominent Female Adversaries Dealt harshly with influential women embodying opposition. Killed Jezebel, the manipulative queen promoting idolatry (2 Kings 9:30-37). Defeated Hillary Clinton (2016) and Kamala Harris (2024), cast as modern "Jezebels."
Purging Enemies and Systems Systematically eliminated threats to their vision. Wiped out Ahab's descendants, officials, and Baal worshippers. Pursued deportations, declared cartels terrorists, and removed intelligence officials and diversity programs.
Legacy of Upheaval and Division Brought dramatic change but faced resistance and left unfinished work. Eradicated Baal but allowed golden calf worship to continue, leading to instability (2 Kings 10:29-31). Reshaped institutions amid legal battles and opposition, with reforms like border policies under challenge.


These parallels are interpretive and prophetic in nature, emphasizing themes of judgment and restoration rather than literal biography. Critics, including some faith leaders, express concern that such analogies could justify extreme actions by framing opponents as demonic forces.

H/T: The Josiah Manifesto (2023) by Jonathan Cahn.

Thursday, October 16, 2025

11 Assumptions About The Future

From Matt Smith on International Man.com:

If you watch our podcast Doug Casey’s Take, you already know. We’re in the middle of a complex and destructive phase full of unknowns.

Our goal with The Phyle is to focus on solutions. To make progress, we must clearly articulate the problem.

Amidst this chaotic phase, it’s impossible to predict even the near future. The best we can do is form a hypothesis and orient our actions around it.

Today I’m going to lay out my process and conclusions. I hope that they will be as useful to you as they have been to me.

Assumptions

We’ve been taught that assumptions are bad. They make an “ass” out of “u” and “me”. But, that’s not always true. I developed a set of assumptions about the future to build a framework of understanding. I use that framework to identify what IS in my control and what is NOT in my control.

The things outside our control, we can stop worrying about. They’re not up to us. Instead, our concern is what IS in our control and all our energy and resources should be dedicated there.

Before I get to the assumptions I’m operating under. Let me say – They are assumptions not predictions. I could be wrong. Hell – I hope I’m wrong. But with nearly three years of the “Great Reset” under our belt, I bet you’ll agree – they have merit.

None of this should be taken as a blackpill. No problem can be solved without sober identification and acceptance. of the nature of the challenge. That’s all we’re doing here.

With that in mind, here are the 11 assumptions I’m using today to guide my actions.

1. Less Freedom of movement. There will be more effort so to restrict and regulate our freedom of movement. From Vax passports to increased visa requirements and 15-min city initiatives – a grid is being constructed to regulate our freedom of movement.

2. A CBDC is coming. Cash will be eliminated. How restrictive it may end up being, I don’t know. But, CBDC is a foregone conclusion. Timing? BIS publishes estimates of 14 retail CBDC and 9 wholesale by 2030. And there are indications that the major economies are working to be ready to deploy by 2025.

3. The digital ID is already here. Biometrics are the future. If you have a government issued ID associated with your photograph, you are in the system already. How the ID is deployed and enforced is the only question.

4. GFC 2.0 and/or the Greater Depression. Timing is hard. But, can any thinking person imagine how the outcome can be avoided altogether. Simon Hunt suggests a market pullback of up to 30% between now and early 2024 followed by a pump and a deflationary wipeout in 2025.

5. Most of my financial assets will disappear at some point. Inflation, bank bail-in, market wipe out, or Great Taking. I don’t know the cause, but I assume physical assets are where I need to be, ultimately.

6. Increasing crime & disorder. You’ve seen the videos. Whether, driven by economic desperation, mass migration, the inversion of law, or in the name of social justice. Crime and disorder will grow and lead to greater physical threats to our lives and property from our fellow man. This makes urban environments, especially but not exclusively, a real risk.

7. Supply constraints are increasing around all commodities – from food to energy. Tight supplies are showing up everywhere. Live Cattle, long dormant, hit an all-time high recently. Oil Prices are up 30% in the last three months. 40% of Argentina’s wheat crop is in poor to fair condition and protectionist policies are on the rise globally.

8. WW3 is coming. A good case can be made that it’s already begun. The Army War College recently published a study suggesting that the All Volunteer Force had reached the end of its useful life. With the military struggling with recruiting, conscription is likely at some point.

9. Censorship and Digital Control will enter a new phase. Deplatforming, de-banking, shadow banning, and social media account suspensions will increase. Centralized digital services of all kinds should be considered suspect and, very likely, dangerous to use in the future.

10. The US election – regardless of the outcome – is an inflection point and potentially a flash point. IF it happens, the outcome will not be accepted by half of the country. I’ve heard from more than one source, publicly and privately, that there may not be a 2024 election. Who knows? We can be sure of is that running up to and shortly after the election, things could get wild. In advance of the 2020 election we had Covid and BLM. Shortly after, J6 and state overreach. What will 2024 bring

11. There is a war happening today. It’s a war on us. The primary battleground is within the sphere of 5GW – informational/psychological. Where I’ve been wrong in the last three years, it’s been in my assumption that kinetic coercion would be utilized. As we can see, much progress has been made in the Great Reset without the need for kinetic tactics. For most of this cycle, they will rely on this same approach. If/When we see a move toward kinetic force, we should be alarmed because we will have entered a new and more dangerous phase.

Do you disagree with any of my assumptions? Did I miss anything? Let me know.

I see all of the assumptions as “Out of my control”. They may not come to pass, but whether they do or not is not up to me. Of course, I’ll continue to speak out against them. If enough of us do, it may help. Possibly.

Since these unfortunate outcomes are out of my control, I don’t worry about them. And free from the burden of unsolvable problems, I can fully devote my energy and resources to what IS within my control. [read more]

Scary. Along the same lines: 

Wednesday, October 15, 2025

EXCLUSIVE: Major Western Media – CNN, BBC, Reuters, AP – Participated in Chinese Communist Party’s ‘Global Media Summit’

From The National Pulse.com (May 18, 2020):

In 2017, the Chinese Communist Party’s state-owned propaganda networks China Central Television (CCTV) and the China Global Television Network (CGTN) co-hosted a ‘Global Media Summit‘ in China’s Hainan province to address the CCP’s role in global media.

CGTN has existed as a foreign propaganda outlet since 1997, while its parent company CCTV has been around since the 1970s. Even YouTube, owned by Google, demarcates CGTN clips with a disclaimer that reads: “CGTN is funded in whole or in part by the Chinese government”.

But that didn’t stop Western media agencies collaborating in events over the course of 2017 and 2018.

Listed attendees included The Associated Press (AP), Reuters, CNN, Al Jazeera, Russia Today, China Daily, Phoenix Satellite Television, AFP, BBC, Fox, and Google.

At the 2017 summit, five broadcasters from CGTN, CNN, Russia Today, Al Jazeera, and ARD participated in a panel discussion on “media convergence” according to CGTN’s own reports of the event.

The National Pulse has verified the attendance of Reuters’ John Pullman, then-Huffington Post editor (and now NBC editorial director) Jessica Prois, as well as CNN’s Andrew Stevens, the Associated Press’s Managing Editor Brian Carovillano, and the BBC’s Hong Kong Bureau Chief Vivian Wu.

In step with the 2017 conference’s theme ‘A Shared Future’, CGTN Controller Jiang Heping said in his keynote address: “In the media today, only integration can be the king.”

Wary of Chinese Communist Party propaganda and integration with Chinese government-sanctioned entities, the United States Justice Department registered CGTN as a foreign agent in early 2019 by a process known as The Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), originally passed in 1938 to expose covert Nazi-influence campaigns in the United States.

Some have vehemently disavowed CGTN’s parent company – China Central Television (CCTV) – as a “long standing weapon in Beijing’s arsenal of repression.”

Freedom House’s Sarah Cook noted last September:

The broadcaster has achieved a truly global reach, meaning its content has the potential to shape the perceptions of hundreds of millions of people within and beyond China’s borders. The fact that this content is heavily distorted to suit the CCP’s political agenda poses a growing challenge for news consumers, regulators, journalists, advertisers, and others around the world.

Still, CCTV maintains close ties with the Chinese Communist Party and its officials.

CCTV’s President, Shen Haixiong, belongs to the Chinese Communist Party and currently serves as an alternate member of the Central Committee. Prior to his role at CCTV, Shen Haixiong led the Propaganda Department of Guangdong Province. [read more]

A gathering of the like-minded. The media that attended this summit are Commie-sympathizer useful idiots. Nothing’s really changed since then.

Tuesday, October 14, 2025

FBI Jan. 6 report sets off a firestorm: Why did it take 56 months to disclose 274 agents at Capitol?

From DNYUZ.com (Sept. 29):

The disclosure of 274 FBI special agents at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 has set off a firestorm of controversy, with FBI Director Kash Patel insisting that the agents only did “crowd control” and President Donald J. Trump saying he wants to identify all of the agents, who he said were “probably acting as Agitators and Insurrectionists.”

After 56 months of not disclosing the scope of the FBI’s presence at the Capitol on Jan. 6, a Sept. 25 leaked report from the House Select Subcommittee to Investigate the Remaining Questions Surrounding January 6 has turned into an online free-for-all — trying to assign blame and determine what the disclosure really means.

‘This was a mass entrapment scheme that was run and operated by the government.’

“It was just revealed that the FBI had secretly placed, against all Rules, Regulations, Protocols, and Standards, 274 FBI Agents into the Crowd just prior to, and during, the January 6th Hoax,” President Trump wrote on Truth Social. “… I want to know who each and every one of these so-called ‘Agents’ are, and what they were up to on that now ‘Historic’ Day.”

More than 360 FBI special agents and other staff from the Washington Field Office responded to the rapidly developing events at the U.S. Capitol Jan. 6, including 274 special agents and 89 intelligence analysts and support staff, the leaked report says. The professional staff did not deploy to the Capitol. A report issued in December 2024 reported 26 FBI informants at the Capitol on Jan. 6, including four who went into the building.

After that news garnered millions of views on social media, Patel went to Fox News to “clarify” that the 274 agents were only there for “crowd control.”

Crowd control?

“Agents were sent into a crowd-control mission after the riot was declared by Metro Police – something that goes against FBI standards,” Patel told Fox News. “This was the failure of a corrupt leadership that lied to Congress and to the American people about what really happened.”

Metropolitan Police broadcast declaration of a riot over police radio at 2:22 p.m.

Patel’s attempt to tamp down the online furor from former Jan. 6 defendants who tried to get this information in their criminal cases didn’t work, with many saying they don’t believe Patel’s explanation.

“Where is the film of one agent doing crowd control? Where is one affidavit in court?” asked former Jan. 6 defendant Larry Brock Jr. “This story doesn’t fly. You definitely need a better PR team. There are cameras everywhere in D.C. Show us the videos of the Hoover building emptying.”

While there is ample video evidence of SWAT teams from the FBI, ATF, U.S. Marshals, Park Police, and other agencies sweeping the Capitol after 3 p.m. and escorting lawmakers to the subways, that is not the case with plainclothes FBI personnel. Their presence was most noticeable after 6 p.m., when no protesters were left in the Capitol Building.

The Department of Justice Office of Inspector General said there were no FBI undercover agents in the crowds on Jan. 6. That category is distinct from agents who are described as plainclothes. In the field, plainclothes agents would normally wear their badges on a lanyard or their belts. Some wear blue FBI windbreaker jackets with “FBI” stamped in yellow on the back. Agents who patrolled hallways of the Capitol office buildings before Congress reconvened late on Jan. 6 wore body armor with FBI patches.

Patel’s answer seemed a far cry from the expectations he set up in a May 18 interview with Maria Bartiromo on Fox News.

FBI Director Kash Patel promised a “trove of information” about Jan. 6 on May 18, but no report has been forthcoming since.Photo by Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images

“We’ve got answers coming. We just found a trove of information, and it’s on its way to Capitol Hill right now,” Patel said. “And they’ve asked, and they’re getting them, and you’re getting answers on January 6.

“You’re getting answers on what sourcing was utilized, what money was utilized, how many assets were utilized, who made those decisions — you’re getting it,” he said. “We can only control the FBI. But you’re getting it from the FBI.”

When Bartiromo asked, “Were there FBI agents under cover egging people on?” Patel replied, “Like I said, that answer is coming, and it’s on its way to Congress.”

Assistant FBI Director Dan Bongino cautioned that people should make the distinction between FBI agents and “assets.”

“I just hope when people put that information out there, they make the distinction,” Bongino said. “Not that it’s better or worse, but there’s a distinction there.”

No “trove of information” has been released since Patel’s interview May 18.

‘FBI provocateurs in the crowd. Peaceful Americans framed. Lives destroyed.’

FBI tactical teams flowed into the Capitol through the Hall of Columns south entrance after the 2:44 p.m. shooting of Ashli Babbitt by Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd.

Security video shows FBI SWAT medics entered the Capitol at 2:49 p.m., turned right, and met a Capitol Police SWAT team that was carrying the mortally wounded Babbitt. The FBI medics set Babbitt on the floor and began lifesaving aid at 2:50 p.m. Babbitt was declared dead at a hospital at 3:15 p.m.

According to Capitol Police CCTV video, an armored vehicle of ATF agents arrived through the Capitol’s south barricade at 2:46 p.m. That ATF tactical team entered the Capitol through the South Doors at 2:48 p.m. [read more]

I hope the agents were only helping with crowd control and not agitating the protestors. I don’t the FBI is trained in crowd control. Somebody was agitating the crowd.

Monday, October 13, 2025

Russia Hoax Conspirator James Comey Indicted For Obstruction, Lying To Congress


From The Federalist.com (Sept. 25):

A grand jury indicted former FBI Director James Comey on Thursday on two counts: false statements within the jurisdiction of the legislative branch and obstruction of a congressional proceeding.

The indictment, which was brought by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia, centers on alleged false testimony Comey provided to Congress in September of 2020 about his handling of the Russia collusion hoax.

“On or about September 30, 2020, in the Eastern District of Virginia, the defendant, JAMES B. COMEY JR., did willfully and knowingly make a materially false, fictitious, and fraudulent statement in a matter within the jurisdiction of the legislative branch of the Government of the United States, by falsely stating to a U.S. Senator during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing that he … had not ‘authorized someone else at the FBI to be an anonymous source in news reports’ regarding an FBI investigation concerning PERSON 1,” the indictment reads.

The indictment alleges such a statement was false since Comey “then and there knew, he in fact had authorized PERSON 3 to serve as an anonymous source in news reports regarding an FBI investigation concerning PERSON 1.”

The indictment further alleges that Comey tried to “influence, obstruct and impede the due and proper exercise of the power of inquiry … by making false and misleading statements before that committee.”

The charges arise from testimony Comey gave in 2020 when Sen. Ted Cruz questioned him about testimony he previously provided in 2017, in which he stated “he did not authorize leaking information regarding the FBI’s investigations into President Donald Trump or former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton,” as described by NBC News. Comey told Cruz he stood by the testimony.

Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe said Comey was made aware of the leak of information to the press and essentially gave it the stamp of approval after the fact, a 2018 Justice Department inspector general’s report found.

Addressing the indictment, Attorney General Pam Bondi said, “No one is above the law” in a statement on X.

“Today’s indictment reflects this Department of Justice’s commitment to holding those who abuse positions of power accountable for misleading the American people. We will follow the facts in this case.”

FBI Director Kash Patel issued a similar statement, saying: “For far too long, previous corrupt leadership and their enablers weaponized federal law enforcement, damaging once proud institutions and severely eroding public trust. Every day, we continue the fight to earn that trust back, and under my leadership, this FBI will confront the problem head-on.”

“Nowhere was this politicization of law enforcement more blatant than during the Russiagate hoax, a disgraceful chapter in history we continue to investigate and expose. Everyone, especially those in positions of power, will be held to account — no matter their perch,” Patel continued. [source]

Couldn't happen to a nicer guy. He better hope there are no more indictments or his lawyer is really good. Then again, if the trial is held in DC, he'll probably get off knowing how much the people there hate President Trump.

Another article on the subject: Fmr FBI Director Comey Pleads Not Guilty in DOJ Case

Sunday, October 12, 2025

Beware the Leaven of the Transsexuals

From Standing for Freedom.com (June 28, 2023):

What does an ingredient used to bake bread and today’s Alphabet People have in common?

Glad you asked.

Leaven in the Bible is one of those fascinating concepts.

God commands the Israelites, for instance, to use unleavened bread to commemorate their exodus from Egypt, yet later He tells them to consume only leavened bread to celebrate another of the Old Testament feasts, the “Feast of Weeks.”

At first glance, this dietary contrast could seem like an archaic practice that doesn’t have any significance for us right now other than to serve as theological fodder to impress the cute girl setting next to you in the church pews.

But that would be incorrect.

Biblically speaking, “leaven” has less to do about an ingredient that causes bread to rise and more to do with the worldview that influences the way we think and act.

It’s why Jesus instructed His disciples to “watch and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”  The disciples initially thought that Jesus was talking about food, but soon realized that “he did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

Leaven, in other words, is a unique way of conveying a system of ideas that impacts the character of a person or society. This system will either give rise to a culture that glorifies Christ in its laws and customs or it will produce the opposite — a way of life that clashes with God’s design for humanity.

As such, we are to choose carefully the “ingredients” — read: ideas — that leaven our surroundings.

For parents, it can be the difference between a child who is vibrantly living in accordance with God’s Word and one who has turned away from the Faith to serve another master.

Which brings us to today’s unhinged transsexual zealotry.

It is a movement determined to get our kids to abandon the Faith and serve that other master.

It is a movement offering its own leaven in the hopes of producing hordes of children who, at best, are confused about basic biological reality and, at worst, are experimented upon like lab rats.

It is a movement, in the end, that has no misgivings about usurping the will of parents and elected leaders to get their way.

The Daily Mail recently published an explosive report chronicling how “dozens of midwestern teachers” conducted a workshop that “traded tips on helping trans students change gender at school without their parents’ knowledge.”

One Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI) bureaucrat for the Royal Oaks Schools in Michigan boasted to her colleagues that “we’re working with our record-keeping system so that certain screens can’t be seen by the parents,” particularly if the child identifies as a different gender in the classroom than they do at home. Around 5,000 students, grades kindergarten through 12th grade, are in this school district.

Another “educator” out of Ohio encouraged the group to work “subversively and quietly sometimes to make sure that trans kids have what they need,” adding that the “stakes are very high for trans youth.”

Her example of a “subversive act,” according to the Daily Mail, is for teachers to be “wary of treating ‘reinforced heterosexuality as the norm’” when discussing “men, women, playground crushes, love, and marriage with youngsters[.]”

This strategy session was organized by the Midwest and Plains Equity Assistance Center, which has branches in at least a dozen states and received a cool $8.5 million from the Department of Education for their partnerships with public schools across the country.

One participant in the online gabfest unintentionally captured the worldview dynamics behind gender ideology when she admitted: “I have my own right code of ethics, and that doesn’t always go along with the law.” [read more]

The far-Left (Marxists) use the trans people as a way to destroy the family. The transsexuals are just political weapons to them. And sometimes real weapons.

Friday, October 10, 2025

Canada Is Not Only Euthanizing Persons but Personhood Itself

From The Public Discourse.com (Dec. 10, 2023):

In 2016, Canada legalized euthanasia for adults suffering severely and incurably near the end of life. Four years later, it legalized euthanasia for adults even if death is not “reasonably foreseeable.” Next year, euthanasia is set to become legal also for adults whose sole medical condition and source of suffering is mental illness. Recommendations have been made to legalize euthanasia for minors whose death is “reasonably foreseeable.” The organization that regulates physicians in the province of Quebec has suggested that euthanasia should be available for infants with severe disabilities or illnesses that render them unlikely to survive.

Between 2016 and 2022, close to 45,000 Canadians died through what is officially termed “medical assistance in dying,” or MAID. As of 2022, euthanasia was virtually tied with cerebrovascular disease as the fifth-leading cause of death in Canada (with only accidents, COVID-19, cancer, and heart disease causing more deaths). In each of the preceding years starting in 2016, the number of deaths by euthanasia grew significantly. Between 2019 and 2022, the average increase was just over thirty-one percent per year.

These statistics reveal disturbing truths about what happens when a society legalizes euthanasia. Canadians have been told by advocates, legislatures, and courts that euthanasia is a basic good. But in truth, euthanasia teaches that human dignity is degradable rather than enduring. It creates hierarchies of personhood by calling into question the worth and value of certain individuals based on their strengths and abilities—things that, by nature, are mutable. This is always and everywhere a fundamental injustice. In Canada, this injustice is surfacing in deeply damaging ways.

These warnings are not new. When, in 2021, Canada was about to expand euthanasia to scenarios in which death is not near, three UN officials—including the special rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities—wrote to the Canadian government to express concerns about how this step would affect individuals in Canada living with disabilities. The authors noted that if euthanasia is “made available for all persons with a health condition or impairment, regardless of whether they are close to death, a social assumption might follow (or be subtly reinforced) that it is better to be dead than to live with a disability.”

This point is accurate, but it has a broader reach. When euthanasia is legalized, the social assumption that it is better to be dead than to continue living takes hold in all the scenarios in which euthanasia is legal. And one must ask: what factors would lead us to think that it is better to be dead than to continue living in these scenarios? Advocates for euthanasia will point to quality of life, autonomy, dignity, pain, and suffering. But the deeper message embedded in these advocates’ words is that some of us are no longer persons. If we find ourselves eligible for euthanasia, we are not really living anymore. And if that is true, euthanasia seems like a sensible choice. [read more]

Canada has become a death cult. Sad.

Thursday, October 09, 2025

The CIA is building its version of ChatGPT

From Pop Sci.com (Sept. 27, 2023):

The Central Intelligence Agency confirmed it is building a ChatGPT-style AI for use across the US intelligence community. Speaking with Bloomberg on Tuesday, Randy Nixon, director of the CIA’s Open-Source Enterprise, described the project as a logical technological step forward for a vast 18-agency network that includes the CIA, NSA, FBI, and various military offices. The large language model (LLM) chatbot will reportedly provide summations of open-source materials alongside citations, as well as chat with users, according to Bloomberg.

“Then you can take it to the next level and start chatting and asking questions of the machines to give you answers, also sourced. Our collection can just continue to grow and grow with no limitations other than how much things cost,” Nixon said.

“We’ve gone from newspapers and radio, to newspapers and television, to newspapers and cable television, to basic internet, to big data, and it just keeps going,” Nixon continued, adding, “We have to find the needles in the needle field.”

The announcement comes as China’s make their ambitions to become the global leader in AI technology by the decade’s end known. In August, new Chinese government regulations went into effect requiring makers of publicly available AI services submit regular security assessments. As Reuters noted in July, the oversight will likely restrict at least some technological advancements in favor of ongoing national security crackdowns. The laws are also far more stringent than those currently within the US, as regulators struggle to adapt to the industry’s rapid advancements and societal consequences.

Nixon has yet to discuss  the overall scope and capabilities of the proposed system, and would not confirm what AI model forms the basis of its LLM assistant. For years, however, US intelligence communities have explored how to best leverage AI’s vast data analysis capabilities alongside private partnerships. The CIA even hosted a “Spies Supercharged” panel during this year’s SXSW in the hopes of recruiting tech workers across sectors such as quantum computing, biotech, and AI. During the event, CIA deputy director David Cohen reiterated concerns regarding AI’s unpredictable effects for the intelligence community.

“To defeat that ubiquitous technology, if you have any good ideas, we’d be happy to hear about them afterwards,” Cohen said at the time.

Similar criticisms arrived barely two weeks ago via the CIA’s first-ever chief technology officer, Nand Mulchandani. Speaking at the Billington Cybersecurity Summit, Mulchandani contended that while some AI-based systems are “absolutely fantastic” for tasks such as vast data trove pattern analysis, “in areas where it requires precision, we’re going to be incredibly challenged.”

Mulchandani also conceded that AI’s often seemingly “hallucinatory” offerings could still be helpful to users.

“AI can give you something so far outside of your range, that it really then opens up the vista in terms of where you’re going to go,” he said at the time. “[It’s] what I call the ‘crazy drunk friend.’” [source]

I wonder if they have the ChatGPT done or not.

Wednesday, October 08, 2025

BlackRock, Wall Street firms reportedly steered billions to blacklisted Chinese companies

From NY Post.com (Apr. 18, 2024):

A congressional investigation found that Wall Street used billions of dollars of American retirement savings and other investments to buy shares in index funds that included several blacklisted Chinese companies, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

The probe, conducted by a bipartisan House committee empowered to devise strategies for the US to counter China, focused on world’s largest asset manager BlackRock, headed by Larry Fink, and index provider MSCI, the report said.

BlackRock and MSCI did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.

Ties between the US and China, the world’s two largest economies, have been strained in recent years due to issues including Taiwan, the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, allegations of spying, human rights issues and trade tariffs.

The House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party concluded that through investments in index funds, American financial institutions funneled $6.5 billion last year to some 63 Chinese companies flagged by the US, the report said.

The committee could not be immediately reached for a comment. [source]

Of course they did. These corporations don't care about America's national security. They are globalists.

Tuesday, October 07, 2025

How hero cops stopped Baltimore drivers seconds before ship smash: ‘The bridge is down!

From NY Post.com (Mar. 26, 2024):

Hero cops managed to block all traffic from Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge with just seconds to spare before a massive container ship slammed into it — then watched in horror as it crumbled into the frigid waters.

“Hold all traffic on the Key Bridge,” one emergency dispatcher told officers around 1:30 a.m. Tuesday, according to police radio traffic.

“There’s a ship approaching that just lost their steering.”

Two cops who happened to be nearby responded, and stationed themselves at either end of the 1.6-mile span — stopping cars from crossing while the 130,000-ton Dali cargo vessel barreled out of control toward the bridge after apparently losing power.

The cops noted that a pothole repair crew was still on the bridge, apparently on a meal break.

But before they could warn them, the Dali collided with a support beam in the middle of the Patapsco River — causing the entire bridge to collapse within seconds — and throwing eight workers into the water.

“The whole bridge just fell down. Start, start! Whoever, everybody! The whole bridge just collapsed,” one frantic cop radioed in.

“The bridge is down!” another officer shouted.

It took about 90 seconds for the bridge to collapse following the initial mayday call from the Dali crew, giving officers only moments to stop the traffic.

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore praised the cops for their quick work in making sure no vehicles were traveling on the bridge when it fell.

“They undoubtedly saved numerous lives last night,” Moore said during a press briefing Tuesday.

A review by Maryland transportation officials also confirmed that there were no vehicles driving on the bridge at the time of the incident.

Two of the workers on the bridge were rescued, with one hospitalized and another refusing treatment.

One of the first responders at the scene told The Post the uninjured man, who has yet to be publicly named, was shaken up and just wanted to go home.

“He brushed his clothes off and wanted to see his family,” the first responder said. “He was shaken up a little bit but nothing major. I guess the good lord was on his side.”

Moore said Tuesday afternoon that the search and rescue operation was still underway for the six workers who were missing.

The MV Dali, a Singapore-flagged container ship, had apparently “lost propulsion” as it was leaving the Port of Baltimore after 1:00 a.m., at which time crew members warned officials of a possible collision, according to a report from the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency obtained by ABC News.

Officials in Singapore confirmed there were 22 Indian crew members and two local harbor pilots aboard the ship. All members of the crew were reported safe.

Officials said the Dali’s lights suddenly went out around 1:25 a.m., with video of the scene showing black smoke billowing from the ship’s chimney. [read more]

God bless those cops! They prevented many more deaths with their quick response. That's how you protect the public.  Nice job!

More on the tragedy:

Ship that obliterated Baltimore bridge was involved in a previous collision; managed by DEI-captive company

Monday, October 06, 2025

Sen. Marshall to Newsmax: Golden Dome Would Give Military 'Big Advantage' Over Chinese

From Newsmax.com (May 21):

Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., said Wednesday on Newsmax that President Donald Trump's Golden Dome missile defense system would give the United States military a "big advantage" over China.

"This would give us a big advantage if we can shoot down all the Chinese nuclear warheads and their warp speed missiles that they have as well," Marshall told "National Report." "That would just put our military at a big, big advantage. But to me, this is a defensive weapon as far as the United States has been concerned. Look, we don't want to rule the world. We just want to make sure our families are safe and secure. I think this will be a great investment. $175 billion is what the president's going to spend on this probably. Think about this. We spent $200 billion in Ukraine and I don't know what that did for the safety of American citizens."

Beijing is reportedly "seriously concerned" about the U.S. Golden Dome missile defense shield and the Chinese foreign ministry called on Washington to abandon development of the $175-billion project that Trump announced on Tuesday.

"This takes me back to my boyhood, when they announced the shot for the moon, going to the moon," Marshall said. "And this is something that Americans can rally around together, that we can cheer for together. We don't have the technology to complete this yet. It looks next to impossible. I would put this way ahead of any purpose of going to Mars for America right now. So, I think this is a good investment. It's going to make Americans safer. That's what President Trump promised us. He said he's going to make our families safer and more secure, so I'm behind it. I'm excited about the technology. There'll be so many other benefits from this technology going forward as we develop this."

Marshall also weighed in on the budget reconciliation package Republicans are trying to push through the House, saying the bill "is not perfect," but "we're getting there." He called the legislation "the first step towards a balanced budget."

"If, when we pass this bill, it's going to mean $1,000 per month more money in hardworking Americans' pockets, that's a big deal," he said. "You live on $60,000, $80,000 a year, and I'm going to give you $1,000 more each month to help feed your family … maybe get a new fishing boat eventually as well. That's always been my dream, is to have a nice fishing boat. I thought about this this weekend during a baseball game: If this was a baseball game, the House is going into the seventh inning and we're going to have to bring our closer in sooner than expected, so we're going to bring in Donald Trump. … If it wasn't for President Trump, this doesn't happen. But I do believe in Speaker Johnson, President Trump. They'll get it across the finish line, send it over here and we'll make the bill even better." [source]

The Iron Dome works for Israel so, hopefully ours will protect America. And if it makes China nervous all the better.

Another article on the Dome:

Exclusive-Pentagon Golden Dome to have 4-layer defense system, slides show

Sunday, October 05, 2025

12 Principles of Economic Wisdom

From Economic Wisdom.org:

Our vision of economic wisdom is summarized in twelve “elements” that provide starting points for thoughtful, biblically informed understanding of contemporary opportunities and challenges.

……..

Stewardship and Flourishing

We were given stewardship over the world so our work would make it flourish for his glory.

1. We have a stewardship responsibility to flourish in our own lives, to help our neighbors flourish as fellow stewards, and to pass on a flourishing economy to future generations. (PDF) (one-pager)

2. Economies flourish when people have integrity and trust each other. (PDF) (one-pager)

3. In general, people flourish when they take responsibility for their own economic success by doing work that serves others and makes the world better. (PDF) (one-pager)

Value Creation

Through economic exchange, we work together and create value for one another.

4. Real economic success is about how much value you create, not how much money you make. (PDF) (one-pager)

5. A productive economy comes from the value-creating work of free and virtuous people. (PDF) (one-pager)

6. Economies generally flourish when policies and practices reward value creation. (PDF) (one-pager)

Productivity and Opportunity

Economic systems should be grounded in human dignity and moral character.

7. Households, businesses, communities and nations should support themselves by producing more than they consume. (PDF) (one-pager)

8. A productive economy lifts people out of poverty and generally helps people flourish. (PDF) (one-pager)

9. The most effective way to turn around poverty, economic distress and injustice is by expanding opportunity for people to develop and deploy their God-given productive potential in communities of exchange, especially through entrepreneurship. (PDF) (one-pager)

Responsible Action

Economic systems should practice and encourage a hopeful realism.

10. Programs aimed at economic problems need a fully rounded understanding of how people flourish. (PDF) (one-pager)

11. Economic thinking must account for long-term effects and unintended consequences. (PDF) (one-pager)

12. In general, economies flourish when goodwill is universal and global, but control is local and personal knowledge guides decisions. (PDF) (one-pager) [read more]

Nice. H/T: “12 Principles of Economic Wisdom” table podcast from voice.dts.edu.

Friday, October 03, 2025

Scientists should report results with intellectual humility. Here’s how

From Sujata Gupta on Science News.org (Oct. 28, 2021):

In the children’s chapter book series Zoey and Sassafras, which my own two kids adore, young Zoey has to work out how to save magical creatures with mysterious injuries and ailments. Zoey’s scientist mother teaches her the basics of running an experiment: Observe, hypothesize, test and conclude. Throughout the series, Zoey learns that failed experiments, while disappointing, are simply part of the scientific process.

Schoolteachers similarly encourage most budding scientists to be open to making mistakes and refining ideas — to be like Zoey. In theory, then, this humble thinking should remain foundational as students become established scientists. Yet, in an October 28 commentary in Nature Human Behaviour, psychologists Rink Hoekstra and Simine Vazire argue that the practice of science, particularly the process of publishing findings in scientific journals, is far from this “tell it as it is” style. It’s more arrogant.

“I think implicitly we are taught to brag about our results,” says Hoekstra, of the University of Groningen in the Netherlands.

Hoekstra and Vazire, of the University of Melbourne in Australia, propose scientists should be willing to acknowledge that they might be wrong, what psychologists call “intellectual humility.” This humble approach extends beyond transparency, the authors write. “Owning our limitations … entails a commitment to foregrounding them, taking them seriously, and accepting their consequences.”

Psychologists have shown that intellectual humility helps people learn for the sake of learning, has the potential to reduce political polarization and encourages people to interrogate news stories for misinformation.

A humble approach could also help restore faith in the social sciences. The field has been in a state of crisis for about a decade as researchers have repeatedly tried and failed to replicate original research. That ongoing crisis has prompted soul-searching among many scientists. In 2016, personality psychologist Julia Rohrer launched the Loss-of-Confidence Project, which asked researchers to submit work they no longer believed in, along with a detailed explanation for their changed position. While publicly discrediting one’s own work is retroactive, intellectual humility in science would be proactive — a way for researchers to avoid common pitfalls from the get-go, says Rohrer, of the University of Leipzig in Germany.

Because scientists’ careers often hinge on publishing research papers in top-tier journals, Hoekstra says, they can feel pressure to exaggerate their findings. Scientists might hype the novelty of a study, tinker with statistics to obscure uncertainties in the data, gloss over failed experiments or imply that theoretical results are closer to real-life application than they actually are. Problematically, Hoekstra says, the publication process rewards this behavior. Journal editors and paper reviewers who green-light studies tend to prioritize clear narratives over more nuanced ones.

Change needs to start with those gatekeepers, Hoekstra and Vazire argue. Reviewers especially can contribute to the solution without risking their careers. “Reviewing is one of the few positions in academia where you can freely say whatever you want,” Hoekstra says.

Below Hoekstra explains to Science News how each component of a scientific paper — from the abstract that sets up the work to the discussion that points to conclusions — can be imbued with intellectual humility. [read more]

Wisdom follows humility. No-one is omniscience. Scientists (and everyone for that matter) should be curious. Always learning. Always correcting their theories to fit their observations. They should also know their limitations and biases as much as possible. Own their mistakes and move on. Don’t politicize science either. Learning about God’s universe is a journey. Enjoy it.

Thursday, October 02, 2025

Robot grabs then brutally slaughters worker, allegedly mistaking him for a box of paprika

From The Blaze.com (Nov. 10, 2023):

An industrial robot brutally slaughtered a South Korean robotics technician Tuesday, allegedly mistaking him for just another container of organic material in need of stacking.

The victim, a man in his 40s, was attempting to diagnose an issue with a pick-and-place robot's sensor at the Donggoseong Export Agricultural Complex in the southern county of Goseong, as there was an equipment test planned for later in the week, reported the Register.

The paprika-sorting robot, reportedly created and installed by the victim's employer, spotted the man with its sensor, figured him for a box of vegetables, then seized him using its arms and tongs. After grabbing the technician, the robot apparently smashed him against a conveyor belt.

According to the Korean-language Yonhap News Agency, the victim's face and chest were crushed. He was taken to a hospital, where he later died.

An official from the agricultural complex said the company has come to rely upon robots more and humans less and that the accident occurred after the facility attempted to make robots more efficient. The official added that "a precise and safe system must be established."

On account of South Korea's dwindling workforce, robots, smart and dumb, have become ubiquitous.

Nikkei Asia reported last year that a rising minimum wage and a dearth of workers have made robots price-competitive in a variety of industries. For instance, robot waiters and robot chefs, introduced four years ago, are now in restaurants across the country. Robotic chefs can apparently fry 50 chickens an hour or cook up spicy rice cakes for five people in under 10 minutes. Fleshy and inspirited concierges are also fast being replaced by silicon and steel, although doesn't seem their charm has yet been replicated.

According to the International Federation of Robotics, South Korea, the fourth-largest robot market in the world, has 1,000 robots installed per 10,000 employees, such that as of 2021, the country had the highest industrial robot density in the world by a giant margin.

Kang Jin-gi, lead investigator at the Goseong Police Station, indicated the South Korean worker's killer "wasn't an advanced, artificial intelligence-powered robot, but a machine that simply picks up boxes and puts them on pallets," reported the Washington Post.

An unnamed police official suggested that the victim may have had a box in his hands at the time of the incident, which might explain why the robot snatched him up.

"It's clearly not a case where a robot confused a human with a box — this wasn't a very sophisticated machine," said the official.

In February, the American Journal of Industrial Medicine revealed that between 1992 and 2017, 41 people were reportedly killed by robots; 85% of the victims were men, the plurality falling between the ages of 35 and 44. [source]

I hate it when robots go bad. I think I seen this story in a sci-fi/horror movie.

Wednesday, October 01, 2025

AI models frequently ‘hallucinate’ on legal queries, study finds

From The Hill.com (Jan. 11, 2024):

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) models frequently produce false legal information, with so-called “hallucinations” occurring between 69 percent to 88 percent of the time, according to a recent study.

Large language models (LLMs) — generative AI models, like ChatGPT, that are trained to understand and produce human language content — have previously been known to “hallucinate” and generate false information.

However, the “pervasive” nature of legal hallucinations raises “significant concerns” about the reliability of using LLMs in the field, the authors from Stanford University’s Institute for Human-Centered AI and Regulation, Evaluation, and Governance Lab noted in a blog post.

When asked direct, verifiable questions about federal court cases, the study found the model behind ChatGPT, GPT-3.5, hallucinated 69 percent of the time, while Google’s PaLM 2 gave incorrect answers 72 percent of the time and Meta’s Llama 2 offered false information 88 percent of the time.

The models performed worse when asked more complex legal questions, such as the core legal question or central holding of a case, or when asked about case law from lower courts, like district courts.

They also frequently failed to contradict false premises in legal queries and tended to overstate their confidence in their responses, the study found.

“Today, there is much excitement that LLMs will democratize access to justice by providing an easy and low-cost way for members of the public to obtain legal advice,” the authors wrote in the blog post published Thursday. “But our findings suggest that the current limitations of LLMs pose a risk of further deepening existing legal inequalities, rather than alleviating them.”

“Ideally, LLMs would excel at providing localized legal information, effectively correct users on misguided queries, and qualify their responses with appropriate levels of confidence,” they added. “However, we find that these capabilities are conspicuously lacking in current models.”

The consequences of such hallucinations have already been seen in the legal field. A federal judge sanctioned two lawyers in June after one used fake case citations that were generated by ChatGPT.

Michael Cohen, former President Trump’s ex-fixer and personal lawyer, also admitted last month to giving his attorney fake case citations after using Google Bard, which ran on PaLM 2 until recently.

In his annual year-end report, Chief Justice John Roberts warned about the potential drawbacks of using AI in the legal field, even as he suggested that the technology could significantly affect judicial work in the future.

“Any use of AI requires caution and humility,” he noted. “One of AI’s prominent applications made headlines this year for a shortcoming known as ‘hallucination,’ which caused the lawyers using the application to submit briefs with citations to non-existent cases. (Always a bad idea.).” [source]

88 percent is a big percentage of fake data. AI should only be used as a tool, not the final say especially concerning legal content.

More articles on AI: