‘Serious Threat’: The National Science Foundation Has Spent Millions on Projects Combating ‘Misinformation’

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The National Science Foundation (NSF) is pouring millions into research and the development of tools to combat online mis- and disinformation, according to a Daily Caller News Foundation review of agency grants.

Since the start of the Biden administration, the total NSF dollars spent on “misinformation” related projects have reached $38.8 million, according to a November report by the Foundation for Freedom Online (FFO). However, NSF has awarded even more grants to combat mis- and disinformation since the release of FFO’s report, the DCNF found. Most grants reviewed by the DCNF, which are ongoing and have past disbursement dates ranging from July 2019 to Dec. 2022, fall under the “Convergence Accelerator Track F: Trust & Authenticity in Communication Systems” or “Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace (SaTC).”

The disinformation industry is growing and increasingly used to inform social media platforms content moderation policies, which seem to disproportionately target conservative speech. Last week, the Daily Caller News Foundation reported that the U.S. State Department helped fund the “disinformation” monitor Global Disinformation Index (GDI), which the Washington Examiner earlier found maintains a blacklist of conservative media groups and websites rated based on disinformation risk that ad companies in turn utilize to defund.

Aaron Terr, Director of Public Advocacy at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), told the Daily Caller News Foundation it is “not a far-fetched scenario” to imagine the government using the technology it is funding through NSF to regulate speech. (Read more from “‘Serious Threat’: The National Science Foundation Has Spent Millions on Projects Combating ‘Misinformation’” HERE)

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U.S. Trying to ‘Demonize Moscow’ With Ukraine Accusations: Russia

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Vice President Harris’ declaration that Russia is committing crimes against humanity is an “attempt to demonize Moscow,” Russia’s ambassador to the US said Sunday — as he blamed America for “fueling” the nearly yearlong crisis.

“We consider such insinuations as an attempt, unprecedented in terms of its cynicism, to demonize Russia in the course of a hybrid war, unleashed against us,” Anatoly Antonov said in a statement posted on the social messaging platform Telegram.

“There is no doubt that the purpose of such attacks is to justify Washington’s own actions to fuel the Ukrainian crisis,” he continued, blasting the US for providing an array of weapons to Ukraine in its defense against Russian forces. ​

Harris at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday accused Russia of carrying out “widespread and systematic” attacks on civilians in the year since President Putin launched the invasion into neighboring Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. (Read more from “U.S. Trying to ‘Demonize Moscow’ With Ukraine Accusations: Russia” HERE)

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

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Former President Jimmy Carter Enters Hospice Care

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Former President Jimmy Carter has decided to enter into hospice care at home after a series of brief hospital visits, the Carter Center announced Saturday.

“After a series of short hospital stays, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter today decided to spend his remaining time at home with his family and receive hospice care instead of additional medical intervention,” the Carter Center said in a statement about the 98-year-old former president’s health. “He has the full support of his family and his medical team.”

Hospice care is provided for people facing terminal illness who are expected to have six months or less to live and focuses on quality of life and reducing pain while attending to the patient’s needs, according to the Mayo Clinic.

(Read more from “Former President Jimmy Carter Enters Hospice Care” HERE)

Photo credit: Flickr

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U.S. Navy Announces ‘Reset’ of Physical Fitness Test Failures

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The U.S. Navy announced Thursday it is granting sailors a “one-time reset” of past physical fitness assessment (PFA) failures in hopes of improving retention, while the Department of Defense (DOD) revealed taxpayer dollars will be used to pay for servicemembers’ abortion travel fees.

A message to Navy units announced “a one-time reset of all [PFA] failures.” for the purposes of reenlistment and promotion, among other “career continuation transitions.”

It added that the “reset is intended to level the playing field and ensure every Sailor with the drive to continue has an opportunity to meet fitness standards.” . . .

The Navy Times noted officials say the “one-time reset” is geared toward improving personnel retention and could allow as many as 1,500 sailors to avoid separation from the service, a problem being experienced in other navies around the world. (Read more from “U.S. Navy Announces ‘Reset’ of Physical Fitness Test Failures” HERE)

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Biden Deploys HHS to Ohio ‘to Conduct Public Health Testing’

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The Biden administration announced Friday that the Department of Health and Human Services and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will deploy a team of medical personnel and toxicologists to East Palestine, Ohio, “to conduct public health testing and assessments” following the Feb. 3 rail derailment.

In addition to HHS, the response effort will loop in the Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Transportation, and Federal Emergency Management Agency.

All 17 members of Ohio’s congressional delegation wrote a letter to FEMA Thursday demanding answers to why the agency denied an aid request from Gov. Mike DeWine (R-OH).

“It is our understanding that Governor DeWine’s Administration has been in communication with your agency about the need for federal support to assist with the cleanup of the Norfolk Southern train derailment and subsequent chemical fire that occurred in East Palestine, Ohio on February 3,” the letter reads.

“Despite the severity of the wreckage, chemical release, and the disruption to the lives of local residents, we have just been informed that Ohio apparently does not meet the eligibility for FEMA assistance at this time,” the lawmakers continued. “We respectfully request that you provide a detailed response as to why the residents of this community do not qualify for assistance from your agency.” (Read more from “Ohio Train Derailment: Biden Deploys Hhs to Ohio ‘to Conduct Public Health Testing'” HERE)

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Judge: Sperm-Donor Baby Belongs With Mother and Father, Not Mom’s Lesbian Ex

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An Oklahoma judge ruled on Thursday that a baby created for a lesbian couple using purchased sperm belongs with his biological mother and father, not his mom’s female ex.

Kris Williams argued that because she helped raise the toddler with her now ex-wife Rebekah Wilson and since she is listed on his birth certificate, she deserves full parental rights. Oklahoma County District Judge Lynne McGuire rejected that claim and said that Oklahoma law detailing parentage trumps the state’s legalization of same-sex marriage.

“[The act] does not take into account same-sex marriage, and there is no presumption that the wife of the mother is automatically presumed the parent of a child born during the marriage,” McGuire wrote.

Williams, McGuire said, “was able to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that she acted in a parental role during her marriage” but ultimately, “there was no evidence presented regarding the length of time it would take to establish a ‘meaningful emotional relationship with the child.’”

That meant giving Harlan Vaughn, the couple’s sperm supplier who is now in a relationship with Wilson, full parental rights. McGuire said Williams, who never legally adopted the child nor birthed him, did not qualify for a “mother–child relationship” under state law. (Read more from “Judge: Sperm-Donor Baby Belongs With Mother and Father, Not Mom’s Lesbian Ex” HERE)

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Poll: Less Than Half Of Americans Support Shipping Our Weapons To Ukraine (VIDEO)

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As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine nears its one-year anniversary on Feb. 24, many Americans’ patience is wearing thin. A new poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that American support for shipping weapons and tax dollars off to Ukraine is declining.

Less than half of Americans, 48 percent, now say they favor the U.S. providing weapons to Ukraine, with 29 percent opposed and 22 percent neither in favor nor opposed. This is a decline from May 2022, when less than three months into the conflict 60 percent of U.S. adults were in favor of sending weapons to Ukraine.

Americans are equally divided on whether to send cash. Thirty-seven percent favor it, 38 percent are opposed, and 23 percent are neither in favor nor opposed.

For a war with no end in sight that has already cost U.S. taxpayers about $113 billion in less than one year, it makes sense that public support for funding the conflict is waning, especially as Americans are more concerned about how they’ll foot their wildly inflated grocery bill or handle declining wages, due in part to the influx of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border. Meanwhile, a fentanyl crisis — thanks to truckloads of illegal drugs smuggled into the country via the same disastrous border policies — is wreaking havoc on poor, blue-collar communities. More than 107,000 Americans died from drug overdoses in 2021 alone.

Americans seem to increasingly want the Biden administration to focus on issues at home. This is why almost half of them want Biden to help Ukraine negotiate a peace settlement with Russia. Perpetual funding of a proxy war overseas is simply not a priority for the average American, whether Democrat or Republican, which is probably why Biden administration officials reportedly warned Ukraine quietly that Americans have limited patience for endless wars.

(Read more from “Poll: Less Than Half of Americans Support Shipping Our Weapons to Ukraine” HERE)

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Poll: Majority of Black Americans Believe Gender Is ‘Determined by Sex Assigned at Birth’

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A Pew Research poll for February 2023 reveals that over two-thirds of black Americans believe gender is “determined by the sex assigned at birth.”

The poll, titled “Black Americans’ views on transgender and nonbinary issues,” asks about gender, discrimination, and transgender issues.

When asked if a person is determined to be a man or a woman “by the sex assigned at birth” or if people can be different from the sex they were “assigned at birth,” 68% of all black adults said a person’s gender is the same as the sex at birth, with 31% saying it can change.

For those who agree that gender is determined by sex at birth, more college-educated and degree recipients say the same (72% and 70%), as opposed to 64% of high school-educated individuals.

Conservatives agree with the statement at a 70% rate, with moderates at 75%, and liberals at just 51%. (Read more from “Poll: Majority of Black Americans Believe Gender Is ‘Determined by Sex Assigned at Birth’ HERE)

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Hobbyists Fear ‘UFO’ Shot Down by US Military Might Have Been One of Their Balloons

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Balloon enthusiasts in Illinois fear one of the unidentified objects shot down by the United States military near Alaska on Feb. 11 was one of their own.

The Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade, a group of hobbyists ranging from 11-years-old and up, is missing a balloon. While the group is not making any accusations, it fears the U.S. military shot it down, Aviation Week reported. The brigade’s silver coated “pico balloon”, which it had been tracking via ham radio, disappeared mysteriously off the west coast of Alaska the same day an F-22 shot down an unidentified object in the same area, the outlet stated.

Far from having nefarious purposes, the balloon brigade’s hobby involves the enthusiasts tracking a balloon’s movement as it makes its way across the country and sometimes even the world. The Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade boasts 25 balloons, eight of which crossed the nation and three that almost spanned the globe. To do this, the club uses inexpensive pico balloons, ranging in cost from $12-180, and tether it with a GPS tracking device, the outlet stated. From there, the balloon broadcasts its position through HF and VHF/UHF radio links using amateur radio software known as WSPR, the outlet stated. (Read more from “Hobbyists Fear ‘UFO’ Shot Down by US Military Might Have Been One of Their Balloons” HERE)

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US Troops Wounded in Operation to Take Out ISIS Leader

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An explosion wounded four U.S. Army troops and a working dog during an operation that resulted in the death of a senior Islamic State leader, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement Friday.

A helicopter raid Thursday evening, conducted with Syrian Democratic Forces partner militia in northeastern Syria, killed Hamza al-Homsi, whose role CENTCOM did not specify but served in a senior position in the ISIS terrorist organization, according to a statement. The injured servicemembers and military working dog are receiving treatment at a medical facility in Iraq, the statement said.

“An explosion on target resulted in four U.S. servicemembers and one working dog wounded,” CENTCOM said, adding that the targeted leader was killed. . .

In a Feb. 10 raid, coalition forces killed Ibrahim Al Qahtani, a senior ISIS leader who helped execute prison breaks of militants sympathetic to the terrorist organization in Syria.

U.S. forces in Syria captured two ISIS militants during a raid conducted jointly with an unnamed Syrian resistance group in late January. (Read more from “US Troops Wounded in Operation to Take Out ISIS Leader” HERE)

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