Twitter Will Likely Play ‘Significant’ Role in Upcoming Elections: Musk

 Twitter will likely play a “significant” part in the 2024 presidential elections and other electoral contests both domestically and internationally, according to CEO Elon Musk.

Musk made the comments in an interview with Fox News host Tucker Carlson that aired in two parts on April 17 and 18.

Musk also admitted that it remains to be seen whether or not purchasing the platform for $44 billion last year was a good idea.

“The goal of new Twitter is to be as fair and even-handed as possible. So not favoring any political ideology but being fair to all,” Musk said, referencing upcoming elections both at home and abroad.

Carlson then asked Musk why Facebook, founded by Mark Zuckerberg, does not take the same stance.

“My understanding is that [Zuckerberg] spent $400 million in the last election nominally in a get-out-the-vote campaign but fundamentally in support of Democrats. Is that accurate or not accurate? Does that sound unbiased to you?” Musk asked Carlson, who replied that it was accurate.

Musk was referencing the $419 million that Zuckerberg and his wife reportedly donated to the Center for Technology and Civic Life and the Center for Election Innovation and Research, ahead of the 2020 election, which helped turn out the vote for Democrats.

‘Some Things Are Priceless’

Elsewhere during his interview, Musk revealed that it is not yet clear whether his decision to purchase Twitter last year was “financially smart” but admitted that “currently, it is not.”

“We just revalued the company at less than half of the acquisition price… But some things are priceless,” Musk said. “Lose money or not, that is a secondary issue compared to ensuring the strength of democracy, and free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy.”

The billionaire businessman also said he was shocked to learn of the government’s alleged ability to access everything on Twitter when he took over the platform last year, including users’ private direct messages.

“The degree to which government agencies effectively had full access to everything that was going on on Twitter blew my mind,” Musk told Carlson. “I was not aware of that.”

Musk was asked by Carlson if this included users’ private messages on the platform, to which he explained it did.

“Yes, because the DMs [direct messages] aren’t encrypted,” Musk replied without elaborating further as to which government agencies allegedly had access to users’ private information on Twitter.

‘Twitter Files’

Musk has previously released internal company documents on Twitter, dubbed the “Twitter files,” to various reporters detailing alleged collusion between Washington and the platform in order to censor free speech on multiple topics, including COVID-19.

The internal files also detailed how Twitter staffers worked to suppress a New York Post article about Hunter Biden’s laptop ahead of the 2020 election and allegedly worked with the CIA on content moderation.

Responding to Musk’s latest revelation, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) told Fox News that he had multiple questions about the government’s alleged ability to intercept and monitor users’ private messages, including whether the “rest of Big Tech” was involved.

“Is Google allowing the federal government to monitor Gmail, is Facebook allowing the federal government to monitor Messenger and WhatsApp?” he said. “Big Tech needs to be accountable: Are they helping the government spy on Americans?” he added.

Musk also touched on the growing threat posed by advanced artificial intelligence, calling it a danger to the public.

Musk founded OpenAI—the creator of the artificial intelligence system ChatGPT—with Sam Altman in 2015 but has in recent months led calls for AI labs to immediately pause training systems that are more powerful than ChatGPT-4 for at least six months, citing concerns over their possible “risks to society and humanity.”

“AI is more dangerous than, say, mismanaged aircraft design or production maintenance, or bad car production in the sense that it has the potential—however small one may regard that probability, but it is non-trivial—it has the potential for civilizational destruction,” Musk told Fox.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/twitter-will-likely-play-significant-role-in-upcoming-elections-musk_5202394.html

Senate Democrats fail to replace Feinstein on Judiciary Committee

 Senate Democrats tried and failed Tuesday to temporarily appoint a replacement for Sen. Dianne Feinstein on the powerful Judiciary Committee, with Republicans objecting to a request that would have allowed Democrats to push through judicial nominations as she recovers from an illness.

The California Democrat has missed dozens of votes since she was diagnosed with shingles and briefly hospitalized in February. Last week, she asked Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to replace her on the Judiciary Committee until she could return to Washington, which she vowed to do "as soon as possible once my medical team advises that it's safe for me to travel." 

Her absence left the Judiciary Committee split along party lines, meaning the panel's Democratic members can't push through President Biden's judicial nominees without Republican support.

Following a meeting of the Senate Democratic leadership on Tuesday, Schumer said he wanted Sen. Ben Cardin, a Democrat of Maryland, to temporarily replace Feinstein on the committee. 

On the Senate floor, Schumer requested unanimous consent to make the switch, which prompted an objection by GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.

"With all due respect to my colleague Sen. Schumer, this is about a handful of judges that you can't get the votes for," Graham said. 

Over the past two days, Senate Republicans were adamant that they would oppose Democrats' plan to replace Feinstein, citing their objections to the president's judicial nominees as well as the seemingly unprecedented nature of the request.

"Let's be clear: Senate Republicans will not take part in sidelining a temporarily absent colleague off a committee just so Democrats can force through their very worst nominees," Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday, calling Feinstein a "titanic figure" and a "stateswoman."

Graham, the ranking member on the Judiciary Committee, noted earlier that he did not think there was an "appetite" among his Republican colleagues to appoint a temporary replacement. 

"I don't think this is a good precedent for the Senate," he said. "I doubt if any Republican would do that." 

A handful of House Democrats have called on Feinstein to resign due to her long absence from the Senate, including California Rep. Ro Khanna, who wrote on Twitter that Feinstein "can no longer fulfill her duties" and should step down.

California Rep. Pete Aguilar, a member of the House Democratic leadership, said Tuesday that Feinstein should operate under her own timeline to decide when to resign. But Aguilar noted that House Democrats need every senator available as the debate over the debt ceiling continues.

"I will say that our expectation as House Democrats is that every senator is going to need to participate," Aguilar said. 

Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin explained that Democrats were trying to give Feinstein "an opportunity to return as quickly as possible," and that the committee will continue to do its work to advance judicial nominees. 

"We'll keep doing our work, but whether we can produce the nominees from the committee is really the challenge," he said. 

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mitch-mcconnell-dianne-feinstein-senate-judiciary-committee-replacement/

Some Americans Shouldn’t Get Another COVID-19 Vaccine Shot, FDA Says

 by Zachary Steiber via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Some Americans cannot receive another COVID-19 vaccine dose, U.S. regulators said on April 18, as they made sweeping changes to the vaccine system.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced the changes, including replacing the old Pfizer and Moderna vaccines with updated bivalent shots that had previously only been available as boosters.

Regulators are also scaling back the number of recommended doses for most individuals, including people who haven’t received a shot.

Key changes include:

• Most unvaccinated Americans are still being encouraged to get a COVID-19 vaccine but only need a single dose of a bivalent, the FDA said. The exception is young children. Children aged 6 months through 5 years can receive two doses of Moderna’s bivalent while those aged 6 months through 4 years can get three doses of Pfizer’s bivalent.

• Americans who have received a primary series of a COVID-19 vaccine and one of the bivalent boosters still cannot get an additional dose, unless they’re in certain groups.

• Any individual 65 years old or older can receive a bivalent dose, even if they’ve already received one, provided four months or more has elapsed since their last shot.

• People aged 5 and older and deemed immune compromised can get another bivalent at least two months after their last shot, even if it was a bivalent, and can get additional doses “at the discretion of, and at intervals determined by, their healthcare provider.”

A college student gets a COVID-19 vaccine at the California State University–Long Beach in Long Beach, Calif., on Aug. 11, 2021. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)

Little Data to Support Bivalents

The FDA authorized the original vaccines in late 2020 based on clinical trial efficacy data. The original vaccines targeted the Wuhan virus strain, which hasn’t circulated since 2020.

The updated bivalents target the Wuhan strain and the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants of the Omicron strain. The subvariants were displaced in 2022.

Regulators authorized the bivalents as boosters in 2022 despite no clinical trial data being available. In letters formally announcing the bivalents as replacing the old vaccines, the FDA made clear that scientists aren’t sure whether the bivalents protect against COVID-19.

“Based on the totality of the scientific evidence available, FDA concluded that it is reasonable to believe that Pfizer-BioNTech COVID‑19 Vaccine, Bivalent may be effective in individuals 6 months of age and older for the prevention of COVID-19,” the letter to Pfizer states. The same language was used for Moderna’s shot.

Most of the data supporting Pfizer’s expanded authorization comes from the old vaccines and a bivalent that has never been used in the United States. The only trial data for the available bivalent showed that children had higher levels of neutralizing antibodies when they received a bivalent. Antibodies are thought to protect against COVID-19.

https://www.zerohedge.com/covid-19/some-americans-shouldnt-get-another-covid-19-vaccine-shot-fda-says

China can 'blight' US food production

 China's influence on the U.S. agriculture industry has become a heightened concern, particularly in the aftermath of a Chinese spy craft flying across the country earlier this year. 

"We definitely need to be worried about Chinese investment into our agricultural sector," Gatestone Institute senior fellow and China expert Gordon Chang said on "Mornings with Maria" Wednesday. "You remember a couple of years ago, China was sending in invasive species seeds into the United States, unsolicited. Now, if the Chinese were to own more and more agriculture, they could very well plant those seeds and actually blight America's food production."

The surveillance aircraft's dayslong flight across the country in February 2023 re-energized concerns among experts and lawmakers over China's ongoing efforts to buy land across the U.S., with some voices observing a pattern of suspected espionage activities near American military sites.

As of April, 11 states have considered banning Chinese investments into U.S. farmland with four states – Arkansas, Idaho, Utah and Virginia – passing restrictions. Lawmakers in North Dakota and Montana have also passed bans to protect national security. 

North Carolina, however, may join that list after the world's largest pork producer with operations across Hog Country has come under new scrutiny for ties to a Chinese company. 

Smithfield Foods, headquartered in Smithfield, Va., was acquired 10 years ago by WH Group, a Chinese meat and food processing company. 

Sources revealed that there are numerous concerns over national security with the acquisition, especially given the increasingly tense relations between China and the U.S. The deal was financed by the Bank of China, which is the Chinese Communist Party's government-back bank. Another concern was China's national intelligence laws which require all Chinese citizens and entities to cooperate with the communist country's authorities.

FOX Business' Lydia Hu reported that many national security experts, including the former adviser to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, fear the deal has left Smithfield "vulnerable."

The pork and meat producer, however, has denied any notion that the Chinese Communist Party has an influence over their company. 

Smithfield defended its position highlighting it employs 40,000 workers, owns 500 U.S. farms, and works with more than 2,000 local hog farmers. In addition, the company estimates only 30% of its pork product is exported back to China annually. 

video

World’s largest pork producer facing scrutiny for ties to Chinese company

FOX Business’ Lydia Hu reports on China’s growing influence on American farmland as Smithfield Foods comes under new scrutiny for its ties to a Chinese company.

"If you look at the investment in Smithfield from our parent company WH Group, over the last 10 years, our US employment has grown," Smithfield Foods Vice President Jim Monroe told Hu. "Our profitability has grown steadily. Their investment in capital projects to improve our farms, our manufacturing platform, all of those things have improved. That's good for U.S. Agriculture."

When asked about a "contingency plan" should China and the U.S. ever engage in conflict, Smithfield declined to speculate. 

Questions remain about what could happen to America's pork production and thousands of jobs if there were a conflict between the U.S. and China.

https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/china-blight-us-food-production-expert-warns

UK labour union Unite says GSK employees to strike in May

UK labour union Unite said on Wednesday that its members employed by pharmaceutical company GSK Plc will stage a series of walkouts throughout May in a dispute over pay.

Unite said its 750 members voted for strike action, having rejected the company's "significantly below inflation rate pay offer" of a 6% pay increase and a one-off lump sum of 1,300 pounds ($1,614.7).

https://www.marketscreener.com/quote/stock/GSK-PLC-9590199/news/UK-labour-union-Unite-says-GSK-employees-to-strike-in-May-43541097/

US announces new military aid package for Ukraine Wednesday

 The United States announced a new military aid package for Ukraine on Wednesday to help the Ukrainian military in its war against Russia.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the package will include more ammunition and artillery rounds. It is the 36th security package since the war began in February 2022, she told reporters.

https://www.marketscreener.com/quote/currency/US-DOLLAR-RUSSIAN-ROUBL-2370597/news/US-announces-new-military-aid-package-for-Ukraine-Wednesday-43545157/

Tenet: J.P. Morgan initiated coverage with a recommendation of overweight

 

• . PT set to $72.

https://www.marketscreener.com/quote/stock/TENET-HEALTHCARE-CORPORAT-11877509/