In a call described as “chilling and bizarre,” David DePape, the man accused of thehammer attack on Paul Pelosi from last year, phoned into a television station’s newsroom on Friday to say “you’re welcome.”
DePape, 42, calledKTVUreporter Amber Lee fromSan Francisco County jailin California, where he is being held on charges of attempted murder and elder abuse. He has pleaded not guilty.
DePape’s call to Lee, the news outlet said, was unexpected. He did not allow Lee to challenge his statements, or ask follow-up questions.
During the call, DePape said he wanted to “apologize” for not going further in the attack.
“I’m so sorry I didn’t get more of them. It’s my own fault. No one else is to blame. I should have come better prepared,” he said, according to KTVU.
The attack happened on Oct. 28, while Paul Pelosi, husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, was asleep in the couple’s home. DePape allegedly broke into a glass door near the back of the home. Authorities say DePape forced Paul Pelosi out of bed.
He tried to reach an elevator that contained a phone but was blocked by DePape. Paul Pelosi then managed to make his way into a bathroom and call 911. Realizing that Paul Pelosi had alerted authorities, DePape took him downstairs near the entry of the home, San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said.
When police arrived, they found the two men struggling for control of a hammer. Police say that’s when DePape pulled the hammer away and struck Paul Pelosi with it.
Parents have a new platform to contend with in the battle to keep up with the ever-growing technological advances in their children’s lives: ChatGPT.
The new AI technology has become so popular that some schools have banned it as it makes its way into the lives of K-12 and college students around the U.S. It has made headlines for its humanlike and unique responses to questions, which sparked concern among some educators around cheating and a loss of critical thinking skills.
It is not uncommon for children and young adults to be ahead of the adults in their lives with certain technological advances.
“I would guess that 95 percent of parents have no idea, anything about ChatGPT, haven’t thought about it, or don’t know anything about it. I’m guessing that high school and college kids are starting to figure this out really quickly,” said Matt Albert, former executive director at the Center for Reflective Communities.
Parents not completely in the know may be quick to catch up as school districts take action against ChatGPT. New York City and Seattle public schools have banned the platform from their servers due to concerns about cheating.
“Certainly as school districts engage, whether you’re in Seattle or New York and making policies, parent awareness starts to grow, but it’s not hitting the mainstream just yet,” said Shelley Pasnik, senior vice president for the Education Development Center and former director of the Center for Children and Technology.
Have open conversations with children
There is no stopping the impact AI technology will have going forward, and ChatGPT is likely just the start of this era in education.
Parents are on the front lines in guiding their children through this transition and ensuring their children are aware of the risks and benefits of the technology.
“Parents need to figure out what their child knows about ChatGPT first, so that way they can correct any misinformation they’ve been given on it,” Shawnte Barnes, an education consultant who previously taught K-12 and has twin sons, said.
“First of all, you want to know if what they heard is based in facts, or if they heard something that’s really outlandish. Then you clarify what they heard,” before you talk about what you know about ChatGPT, she added.
Another way to address ChatGPT is for parents to explore the platform with children and work with a child’s curiosity about the new technology.
“That overall approach of curiosity and labeling it as a tool that could be used for many different purposes helps set an expectation of learning and exploration rather than if a parent labels something in a negative way or in a positive way, you miss out on that opportunity of exploration and discovering together what the possibilities are,” Pasnik said.
ChatGPT is similar to other technology, with benefits and concerns that come with it, and parents can largely treat the conversations with their kids in that way.
“The way that parents should be talking to their kids about ChatGPT, just like they should with everything else, is there are really potentially positive ways to use this technology and there are some, you know, unethical and or dangerous ways that the technology can be used,” Albert said.
Albert showed his own daughter ChatGPT and how it could type up an essay for school. He then followed it with a conversation about the platform.
“We had a conversation about cheating, about her ethics, about what kind of person she wanted to be, but we also had a conversation about what is learning, do we care about a grade or do we care about the process, do you know why do we go through the process?” Albert said.
Parents’ concerns with ChatGPT
Parents may have concerns about how their kids are using technology and how it will affect them, especially when it comes to new advances that are not yet broadly understood.
n line with concerns from educators and school districts, some parents are concerned about the cheating threat ChatGPT poses.
“There are a lot of legitimate concerns that parents should have regarding ChatGPT the most obvious is cheating,” said Albert, who is the director at the Teshinsky Family Foundation in California.
OpenAI, the company that created ChatGPT, previously said in a statement it is working with schools to address these concerns.
Another worry may be how much time children could spend on ChatGPT.
A survey last year by Common Sense Media found screen time increased 17 percent between 2019 and 2021 among tweens and teens, taking up hours of their day.
ChatGPT may be another distraction, as children explore what the platform is capable of doing.
“Then there’s the ‘man, you spent the whole hour putting random questions and prompts into ChatGPT and you haven’t cleaned your room, you haven’t come out and said hey,” Barnes said.
Ultimately, one of the biggest fears could be fear of the unknown, as many are still just getting familiar with AI technology.
“We have no idea where AI will go in terms of ethical and moral questions, so that’s a big concern,” Albert said. “Parents need to be concerned as their children are on the internet, who’s on the other side of a particular conversation that they may be having? At this point, it gets to be a question of, well, is it an AI or is it a person, right?”
Here is something you won’t hear anywhere else. It is clear that Joe Biden is being ratted out in the classified document scandal, but by whom? Tucker Carlson is convinced it is a cabal of Democratic Party members who want a new presidential nominee for 2024. Tucker, I love ya, but I don’t think so. I believe foreign actors and their interests may be involved.
Joe Biden has been in politics for 50 years. He’s never had a real job. The only core conviction he has is the self-aggrandizement that comes from being able to have people suck up to him due to the power and vast resources at his disposal. He’s dumber than a doorknob. Yet, with 50 years of experience, he is on automatic pilot when it comes to self-preservation. He simply does what he is told and reads his teleprompter without really knowing what he is reading. Thus, I don’t buy Tucker’s analysis because the “powers that be” controlling him already have a pretty good gig. Why would they want to dump him?
I have great respect for anybody who risks his own money creating a product or service that others want to buy, whether it is a plumber growing his business or a software engineer creating the next new gizmo that charms Menlo Park. But people who sell influence and access to American politicians are despicable.The conspiring politicians are sewer rats. They are fiduciaries of your money, and they use their access to your money to grant favors to others so they will have the benefit of your money and in return they enrich themselves. The nation’s interests take second fiddle to their interests. Yet, the pernicious, indeed the treasonous element of all this is when they sell influence to foreign actors, bad people in charge of powerful governments that are hostile to the United States. It is sick. It is despicable. It is treasonous.
Money is money. It is a force for great good, but can also be a force for evil and corruption. Men of integrity, the type that should be our elected officials know this. They understand that they as humans are corruptible and thus studiously avoid any potential conflict which would compromise their integrity or loyalty to their principal. These are age old truisms that have been in circulation and practiced by those who are serious about preserving their character for at least the past 2,000 years. See Matthew 6:24. “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”
Space is limited for me to list every Biden family “crime” of influence peddling, though Hunter Biden’s laptop is a wealth of information. The Biden family took money from Ukrainian and Russian oligarchs closely associated with their country’s governments. They orchestrated Defense Department money to fund bio-labs in Ukraine to enrich themselves, as they had financial ties to these entities. We know about Burisma, Bobulinski, SinoHawk and no interest forgivable loans. Ever hear of IRS imputed interest? And by the way, forgiveness of debt is taxable as ordinary income. Then there is Hunter’s 2013 trip on Air Force II with his dad where the Biden crime syndicate walked away with $1.5 billion of communist Chinese government funding into an “equity fund” that crack-head Hunter was to manage. I always look to invest my money with crack addicts, don’t you? Then there is CEFC Energy. There were huge fees paid by China to the Bidens to secure cobalt mining in the Congo Republic in order to manufacture Chinese electrical vehicles. Jim Biden secured a $1.5 billion contract to build 100,000 homes in Iraq. He's never driven a nail into a 2 by 4. The Penn-Biden Center, funded almost exclusively by the Chinese government and other “dark” money emanating from China, paid Joe a salary of $900,000 to basically do nothing. His cronies like Anthony Blinken got a “get paid” for doing nothing quasi-job too. By the way, he’s now the Secretary of State. Author Peter Schweizer has done excellent work thoroughly documenting Biden family corruption with hostile foreign governments, but as recent as these works are, they do not even scratch the service of what we now know as each day reveals explosive new stories.
This past week I was deposed by California and New York lawyers because I publicly ratted out a lawyer who represented both sides in a multi-million-dollar business deal. The deal went south and he was a principal on the “buy side” of the transaction where his client was the seller. Per the Matthew scripture above, one can’t serve two masters. In this instance, as despicable as the lawyer’s actions were, only one individual was harmed. But when the President of the United States serves two masters, the harm is incalculable. Corrupt governments like Ukraine and China know exactly what they are doing when they buy political influence, aka bribe American politicians. They control the politician. The politician does their bidding instead of his nation’s because the politician can be so easily blackmailed.
Why did President Biden withdraw one million barrels of oil out of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to “sell” to Sinopec, a Chinese firm with ties to Hunter Biden?
More importantly, why are we giving $100 billion dollars to Ukraine? I understand that Putin is a bad guy, but Zelensky ain’t exactly Mother Teresa. Ukraine is as notoriously corrupt as Russia as illustrated in this recent news story of brazen thievery. Would the lives of ordinary Ukrainians (not the oligarchs) living in the breakaway republics of Donestsk and Luhansk (both with a majority of ethnic Russians) really be that much different under Russian control? One thing we have learned from this conflict is the mighty Russian armed forces are not the threat to the West that we all thought. So what is the real goal? Once the conflict ends, how will things really change? One can look at the tragedy of many wars and Monday morning quarterback. What did all the death and property destruction solve?
This week, Joe Biden announced further escalation of the war by providing Ukraine with 31 Abrams tanks. This is a massive new commitment of American servicemen, as these Americans will have to train Ukrainians; arm, supply and maintain these vehicles, which means US servicemen in Ukraine fighting Russians. Y’all may want to read Article I, Section 8, Clause 11 of the Constitution. Only Congress can declare war.
So why is the Joe Biden risking nuclear war by escalating this conflict?
Miranda Divine in the New York post printed an April 12, 2014 email off of Hunter Biden’s laptop which Hunter wrote to his business partner Devon Archer (currently in jail for fraud) in which he knew an amazing amount of detailed information about Ukraine, the type of information one might well have learned from reading top secret classified reports given to him by his father to help their influence peddling racket. He clearly implicates his father in their influence peddling and concludes his email in Tony Soprano fashion by instructed Devon to buy a “burner phone.”
So who ratted Joe out? Could it have been the Russians? They have a pretty good intelligence system. They certainly have good reason to rat Joe out and expose his ties to Ukraine. Then again, suppose Zelensky said “Joe, either give me the tanks or I will take you down,” and wanted to fire a shot over Joe’s bow to get him to act? Certainly, Zelensky has a dossier on all the Biden activities in Ukraine and is willing to use it. Our president is bought and compromised. He and his family are scoundrels and traitors. Call me a conspiracy nut, but it is absolutely reasonable to ask such questions when someone has betrayed his country.
I suspect that these classified documents have something to do with Ukraine and exposing the Biden family corruption that has jeopardized the security of the United States and of course put us closer to a nuclear war. Slow Joe’s personal attorneys were trying to nab these files to do what with them? Almost certainly to keep their contents and subject matters from implicating the President in criminal activities. Merrick Garland named a Special Prosecutor. Is he in on the cover up? Watch my friends. He will almost certainly refuse to disclose the content of the files seized and aid the National Archives to evade Congressional subpoenas by claiming “disclosing any information will jeopardize an ongoing criminal investigation.” You can fool the Washington press corps, but you can’t fool Rob Smith.
To quote young Alice of Wonderland fame, this is getting “curiouser and curiouser.” We don’t know all the answers, but one thing is for absolutely sure, one can’t serve two masters.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has changed the end date for a key study on post-vaccination heart inflammation without notifying the public.
Pfizer was supposed to complete a study on the occurrence of subclinical myocarditis, or heart inflammation, after receipt of its COVID-19 vaccine. The completion date was listed by the FDA in 2021 as June 20, 2022. Pfizer was also supposed to submit the results of the study to the FDA by the end of 2022 as part of a list of requirements the FDA imposed as a condition of approving Pfizer’s jab.
But after the deadline passed, the FDA quietly changed the date.
Under a list of postmarketing requirements for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, the FDA now says the same study has an “original projected completion date” of June 30, 2023.
The current status of the study is listed as “pending.”
The FDA and Pfizer did not respond to requests for comment.
Jessica Adams, a former regulatory review officer at the FDA, said the wording amounts to misinformation.
“By definition, ‘original’ dates can’t change,” she wrote on Twitter, tagging the agency. “Please correct this ‘misinformation.'”
Dr. Vinay Prasad, who has increasingly criticized the FDA over its decisions during the pandemic, said the new timeline “is so slow it will be entirely moot.”
“Another FDA failure,” he said on Twitter.
Study
The study is one of nine Pfizer was to complete to examine post-vaccination adverse events.
The study is designed to “prospectively assess the incidence of subclinical myocarditis” after receipt of a third dose, or a booster, in people aged 16 to 30.
Pfizer submitted a timetable to the FDA stating the company would submit a final protocol by Nov. 30, 2021, and complete the study by June 30, 2022, according to the FDA’s approval letter for the company’s vaccine. The final report was due to the FDA by the end of 2022.
The study was one of several examining myocarditis and pericarditis, a related condition. Both are caused by the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, according to U.S. officials and other experts.
Some of the vaccine-caused myocarditis cases have led to death.
FDA officials expressed concern about the post-vaccination heart inflammation when considering whether to approve Pfizer’s vaccine.
Signal for Myocarditis After New Booster
The bivalent Pfizer vaccine triggered a safety signal for adults aged 18 to 35, Richard Forshee, an FDA official, told the agency’s vaccine advisory committee on Jan. 26.
Regulators cleared that bivalent and one from Moderna in the fall of 2022 despite there being no clinical data for either shot.
The adverse event happened at a concerning rate after a Pfizer bivalent in recent months, according to analyses of data from the FDA’s Biologics Effectiveness and Safety initiative, which pulls from systems such as one managed by CVS Health.
“The only signal we have detected so far is for myocarditis/pericarditis following the Pfizer bivalent vaccine among adults 18 to 35 years old,” Forshee told the panel.
Safety signals indicate a vaccine may cause events but don’t establish causality. But officials have stressed that the bivalents are similar to the original vaccines in defending the authorization without clinical data, and have acknowledged a causal link between the original messenger RNA vaccines and the heart inflammation.
Officials said that the stroke has happened in many people who received a flu vaccine on the same day as a COVID-19 vaccine. They’re studying whether there’s a connection, though they noted there was no signal for the stroke after a flu shot alone.
Dr. Nicola Klein, a Kaiser Permanente researcher who helps the CDC monitor vaccine safety, said that the signal for stroke wasn’t as strong as that for myocarditis.
“This is a cluster but … it doesn’t stand out as extremely striking, unlike some other signals which we have seen,” Klein said. “For example, myocarditis, it’s an extremely strong signal that you can see without doing statistics.”
Panel Notified of CDC Analyses
During the public comment portion of the meeting, any panel members watching were notified that the CDC’s analyses of reports to a different surveillance system concluded hundreds of adverse events met the safety signal threshold, including approximately 500 with a signal larger than that for myocarditis.
Former Obama secretary of Homeland Security, Jeh Johnson,admitted last week that the immigration crisis is 'much bigger' than it was when he was running things.
"Well, the job, first of all, is different than it was when I was in office seven, eight years ago," Johnson told David Lat on the Original Jurisdiction podcast. "The current secretary was my deputy secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas. The job is different. The immigration problem is much bigger than it was."
When asked if he had any advice for Mayorkas - who is facing calls for impeachment over the Biden administration's mishandling (stoking of) the border crisis, Johnson said he just needs to stick to the script.
"So, sometimes, the essence of the job is repeating over and over again one simple, straightforward message that you want people to hear," he said.
Meanwhile, on Thursday 77 Democratic lawmakers sent a letter to President Biden urging him to reverse plans to limit asylum access and eligibility on the US-Mexico border - which follows plans announced in January to significantly decrease illegal border crossings by proclaiming that illegal immigrants from Haiti, Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela will be returned to Mexico under Title 42 if they enter the United States illegally. The plan, under which up to 30,000 migrants from the four countries can apply for asylum protection from their home countries, also provides asylum seekers and migrants with US sponsors.
"We believe that your administration can and must continue to expand legal pathways for migrants and refugees into the United States—without further dismantling the right to seek asylum at our border. This right is a pillar of the post-war international order to which the United States has committed itself," wrote the Democratic lawmakers in their push to encourage illegal immigration. "Instead of issuing a new asylum transit ban and expanding Title 42, we encourage your administration to stand by your commitment to restore and protect the rights of asylum seekers and refugees."
Created as part of the Public Health Service Act under President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1944, Title 42 was designed to prevent the introduction of contagious diseases in the United States.
At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the Trump administration invoked the order to restrict entry into the United States.
In late December 2022, the Supreme Court blocked the termination of Title 42.
In its decision, the court agreed to hear arguments in February about whether a coalition of Republican-led states can challenge a lower court’s ruling that ordered the Biden administration to end Title 42, which remains in place.
The letter’s authors praised the Biden administration’s program that allows American citizens and people with legal status in the United States to sponsor migrants from the four countries. They criticized the strategy because of its reliance on policies implemented by former President Donald Trump.
Migrants from Cuba, Haiti, and Nicaragua weren’t previously included in Title 42, the lawmakers noted. The Biden administration should also decide to not move forward on a proposal that will prevent migrants from asylum if they’re unable to find refuge in third countries before arriving in the United States, which is a measure the Trump administration attempted to enact.
In a press conference on Jan. 26, Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), flanked by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), said, “No matter how many Trump policies the Biden administration resurrects, Republicans will continue to obstruct any effort to actually reform our border processing and modernize our immigration system.
“We recognize that the United States is experiencing a difficult migration challenge at the southern border. But as elected officials, we are duty-bound to propose legal solutions, one that protects asylum seekers while also securing the safe removal of migrants who have no legal claim to stay in the United States.”
The letter to Biden wasn’t signed by Democratic leaders in the House or Senate.
“I haven’t seen the letter but we look forward to, as Democrats and as members of Congress, having a healthy discussion about how we deal with the complexity of issues connected to comprehensive immigration reform and making sure we have a safe, secure, and strong border,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said on Jan. 26.
On Jan. 24, citing that the program violates U.S. immigration law, 20 Republican-led states asked a federal judge to end the sponsorship policy for migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection stated on Jan. 25 that border officials have seen an average of 115 daily encounters with illegal immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela this month. That’s 97 percent less than in early December 2022 when numbers rose to a record high of 3,367 encounters each day.
Illegal immigrants gather outside a migrant shelter in El Paso, Texas, on Jan. 6, 2023. (John Moore/Getty Images)
“These expanded border enforcement measures are working,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said on Jan. 25. “It is incomprehensible that some states who stand to benefit from these highly effective enforcement measures are seeking to block them and cause more irregular migration at our southern border.”
During an address at the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Washington on Jan. 20, Biden said Republicans were trying to score “political points” on the border crisis and criticized them for not supporting his immigration policy proposal.
“The first bill I introduced was a comprehensive reform legislation on immigration. But because of some in the Congress, they refused to consider it. They found it a better issue to campaign on than an issue to solve,” Biden said.
“So, we have a choice. They can keep using immigration to try to score political points, or we can help solve the problem. Immigration reform used to be a bipartisan issue. And we can make it that again, in my view.”
While Biden is dealing with pushback from lawmakers in his own party, Republicans continue to fight against his border strategy.
On Jan. 24, 20 Republican-led states filed a lawsuit in a Texas-based federal court challenging the Biden administration’s recently announced program to accept 30,000 illegal immigrants per month from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.
The lawsuit contends that the program has no legal authority and that states will suffer from the flood of illegal immigration from the four countries.
“The Biden open borders agenda has created a humanitarian crisis that is increasing crime and violence in our streets, overwhelming local communities, and worsening the opioid crisis,” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in a statement about the lawsuit. “This unlawful amnesty program, which will invite hundreds of thousands of aliens into the U.S. every year, will only make this immigration crisis drastically worse.”
Qiagen N.V. (NYSE:QGEN) is weighing the sale of a minority stake in its bioinformatics division, which could value that business at more than $1 billion, people familiar with the matter said. The company is working with a financial adviser as it explores bringing in an investor, according to the people. Selling a stake in the unit, which provides software for analyzing biological data, could help fund further growth in this business, the people said.
The deal is likely to attract interest from private equity firms, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. Any transaction would see Qiagen keep a majority stake in the bioinformatics business, which is profitable, the people said. Talks are ongoing and no final decisions have been made.
Prosecutors from District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office raised no objection as Candy Nicole, 25, was released on her own recognizance following the Manhattan Criminal court appearance.
An attorney for the Nicole claimed her client was a victim of “unnecessary police force,” during the Friday night protests, which included a man who smashed the windshield of an NYPD patrol car with his foot.
Nicole “maintains her innocence,” lawyer Caroline Glickler said.
Nicole was previously arrested in October, following an alleged “forcible touching” incident in Harlem, where she grabbed her male partner’s testicles during an argument, the NYPD said.
Nicole, who is due back in court March 20 on the Times Square assault charge, was not living at the East 28th Street address she gave police, according to building residents.
One protester smashed in an NYPD vehicle’s windshield Friday night.Fatih Aktas/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Two others were arrested along with Nicole: Manhattan resident Katherine Stone, 34, and Argenis Rivera, 33, a career criminal with a violent past, authorities said.
Rivera was held on $10,000 bail after authorities noted his October arrest for allegedly strangling a mom pushing her 2-year-old in a stroller in Chelsea.
He faces a criminal mischief charge for destroying the NYPD cruiser’s windshield. A lawyer for Rivera asked for house arrest and electronic monitoring if he was released, and a judge agreed.
His parents, who would not give their names, told The Post their son was always “difficult to control” and “always did what he wanted” as a kid.
Rivera has 13 prior arrests, authorities said.
Argenis Rivera was detained after vandalizing the NYPD vehicle.John Lamparski/NurPhoto via ZUMA
In October, he allegedly slugged and choked a mom pushing her 2-year-old in a stroller at a Chelsea park, and then assaulted another woman, cops said.
In that incident, Rivera allegedly punched the mom in the face and began choking her while screaming, “I am not letting go until police come! … I want to die by police.”
He then turned to a woman sitting on a bench nearby, and pressed keys to her throat and said, “Go ahead call the cops I don’t care,” punched and her and pinned her to the ground, the NYPD said Saturday.
Protests erupted in NYC following the release of the body cam footage of the night Tyre Nichols was beaten.Christopher Sadowski for NY Post
Rivera has a history of psychiatric issues, sources said, and in August, he was charged with punching a doorman at a Midtown building but was released because the assault charge is not eligible for bail under the state’s lenient criminal justice reforms.
Stone, who was accused of defacing a cop car, was issued a desk appearance ticket for criminal mischief and possessing graffiti tools, authorities said. She did not return messages.
In 2020, with riots roiling the city after the death of George Floyd, notable arrests sprung from demonstrations in the five boroughs, including that ofClara Kraebber, the wealthy daughter of a Manhattan psychiatrist and architect who was later cleared whenprosecutors dropped the charges, andlawyers Colinford Mattis and Urooj Rahman, accused of tossing a molotov cocktail at an empty NYPD van.
