Nearly One-Third Of Gen Z Steers Clear Of Car Insurance, Survey Finds

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A significant share of American drivers have opted to avoid insuring the vehicles they drive amid the rising cost of living and shifting consumer habits, a recent survey finds.

Around 30% of Generation Z — people born between 1997 and 2012 — admitted to owning or driving an uninsured vehicle within the past six months, according to a survey TransUnion published Tuesday. While the reasoning by respondents vary, key factors involve shifting behaviors by consumers as well as the unpredictability of economic outlooks — including effects of the Iran War — making the true costs of car ownership undesirable.

As perhaps the most commonly experienced cost, the average price of a regular gallon of gasoline in the United States was roughly $4.07 at the time of publication, and $0.92 higher than one year ago, according to AAA.

The research was based “almost exclusively” off of TransUnion’s internal data. The global consumer credit reporting agency did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

“We know affordability is a big challenge for Gen Z, and that certainly helps explain their lapses in coverage,” TransUnion senior director of strategic planning Patrick Foy stated in the report’s accompanying press release. “However, we don’t think that’s the whole story as more indicated that they simply chose not to renew their coverage than were unable to pay.” (Read more from “Nearly One-Third Of Gen Z Steers Clear Of Car Insurance, Survey Finds” HERE)

Harvard Professor Slammed For Allegedly Relying On AI In Anti-Trump Op-Ed

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A star economist at Harvard is taking heavy criticism over accusations that artificial intelligence did most of the work on his anti-Trump column.

Ricardo Hausmann wrote the opinion piece attacking President Donald Trump’s tariffs for the Financial Times, which ran it Thursday. He is the Rafik Hariri Professor of the Practice of International Political Economy at Harvard Kennedy School and director of Harvard’s Growth Lab. The outlet later attached an editorial note to the article conceding that AI had played a role.

“It has come to our attention that AI was used to condense a longer draft of this column prior to submission to the FT and our own editorial involvement,” the note reads, according to the Financial Times. The paper added that its code of conduct bars AI from the writing process.

Readers flagged the column on social media over its wooden prose before the disclaimer appeared. One X user called it the worst AI slop yet seen in a major outlet. Another posted a screenshot from the detection tool Pangram indicating the 841-word piece was 71% AI-generated.

Pangram and its chief executive, Max Spero, have become a frequent authority in disputes over AI authorship, though the tool’s reliability remains contested, according to Slate. The Guardian dismissed one Pangram accusation against a longtime staffer as preposterous. A separate case saw the detector score a novel at 78% AI, a finding that helped sink the author’s book deal even as she denied using the technology, according to Fortune. (Read more from “Harvard Professor Slammed For Allegedly Relying On AI In Anti-Trump Op-Ed” HERE)

Iran Denies Report of ‘Backchannel’ Negotiations with U.S.

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Iran’s Foreign Ministry on Monday dismissed “fabricated” reports in American media of secret “backchannel” negotiations between the U.S. government and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

The report on backchannel communications, published by Axios on Sunday, said that former Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard set up the line of communications in May, using the president of Iraqi Kurdistan, Nechirvan Barzani, as a go-between.

According to the report, Barzani used his ties with the IRGC to get in touch with its leader, Gen. Ahmad Vahidi. Vahidi said he supported the work of Iran’s negotiators, including Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.

Barzani relayed the message back to Gabbard, providing important information at a time when many observers thought the IRGC was working to sabotage negotiations. It was also unclear at the time whether Aragchi, or any other representative of Iran’s secular government, had any real power to make an agreement with the United States.

The report said the Trump administration wanted to open this channel of communication wider, developing Barzani into an intermediary, and possibly even arranging direct talks between American and Iranian representatives in Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan. The Iranians allegedly balked at this proposal, in part because they feared Israel might try to assassinate any representatives they sent to Erbil. (Read more from “Iran Denies Report of ‘Backchannel’ Negotiations with U.S.” HERE)

Marjorie Taylor Greene Claims White House Is “Discussing” Nuclear Weapons Use On Iran

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Marjorie Taylor Greene has made fresh claims alleging that the White House is discussing the possible use of nuclear weapons against Iran as part of strategy meetings.

In a post on X, the former Congresswoman wrote that “They are discussing using nuclear weapons on Iran in strategy meetings,” adding that she was not speculating and characterizing the alleged plan as “pure evil.”

Greene further said that U.S. intelligence indicated Iran was “no where near creating a nuclear weapon,” and she also referenced what she described as a repeated Israeli assessment that Iran was only weeks away from producing a nuclear weapon. She argued that after bombing, Iran gained greater leverage in the region, including through what she described as its role related to the Strait of Hormuz.

The remarks also tie into Greene’s criticisms of Donald Trump’s approach to Iran. She highlighted Trump’s statements claiming Iran had been “very badly defeated,” and she pointed to his comments on Truth Social describing the U.S. as capable of controlling whether anything reaches Iran unless a deal—or what he called “Total Surrender”—is achieved.

Greene said Trump has repeatedly maintained that Iran must surrender its enriched uranium stockpiles, which she described in the context of his language about nuclear threats. In her post, she argued that despite Trump’s assurances about avoiding further foreign wars, his administration could be linked to decisions she called a potential “nuclear holocaust,” which she said would likely increase the risk of wider conflict and major humanitarian and economic harm.

Scientist Says Screens are Creating a Stupid Generation: “Our Children are Less Cognitively Capable”

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Jared Cooney Horvath is on a mission. In the wake of global campaigns for smartphone bans in schools and social media restrictions for under-16s, the neuroscientist wants to raise the alarm about educational technology in classrooms.

A former teacher, Horvath believes the use of screens and digital tools in schools is undermining how children learn and develop. “This might be one of the hardest truths our generation has to face,” he writes in his book, The Digital Delusion.

“Our children are less cognitively capable than we were at their age,” he says. “For nearly two centuries, the west experienced steady generational progress. Each new cohort of children grew up, on average, healthier, happier, and better educated than the last. Until now.”

Starting around the year 2000, something changed. “Across the west, IQ scores began to fall – even as time spent in school kept rising,” writes Horvath. Scores in international tests started to drop. Why? “The answer lies in the meteoric rise of educational technology.” . . .

“We’ve been making some incredible strides on the screen-based childhood stuff which even two years ago, I did not think was going to happen as fast as it did,” he said. “But it’s not just about getting rid of screens for entertainment. It’s about reducing them as much as possible for academic learning as well if we want our kids to have deep transferrable knowledge in our heads.” (Read more from “Scientist Says Screens are Creating a Stupid Generation: “Our Children are Less Cognitively Capable” HERE)

Farm Owner had Terse 6-word Response after Being offered $26M to Build Data Centers

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An steadfast “country hick” farmer offered a terse six-word response to an AI company hoping to build a data center on her Kentucky property in exchange for millions of dollars — “Kick rocks and don’t come back.”

Delsia Bare and her mother Ida Huddleston initially agreed to sell their plots in Maysville for a combined total of $26.4 million when approached by representatives of an unknown AI company, the Wall Street Journal reported.

But when the mother-daughter duo, a couple of self-described “country hicks,” learned that the company planned to build data centers on the land to power artificial intelligence bots, they swiftly backed out.

“Kick rocks and don’t come back,” Bare told the reps after she and her mom successfully canned the deal, according to the Journal.

Bare said she’d decided to back out of the deal fearing she’d be “held accountable” by higher powers for selling the family farm just to have it replaced by an AI hub. (Read more from “Farm Owner had Terse 6-word Response after Being offered $26M to Build Data Centers” HERE)

“236-Million Year Old” Mammal Gave Birth to Live Young, Upends Stupid Theories of Mammalian Evolution

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For years, scientists believed that our evolutionary forebear laid eggs much like other reptiles, but direct evidence of how they reproduced remained inconclusive — until now.

However, by analyzing the bones of a Chiniquodon theotonicus individual — which lived during the late Triassic period — scientists determined that they likely birthed live young, winding the clocks back on this reproductive adaptation by a staggering 95 million years.

“It looks like some cynodonts were in fact very similar to present-day mammals,” exclaimed lead author Dr. Leandro Gaetano, a paleontologist at the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET) in Argentina.

The researchers came upon this revelation by accident while examining the bones of a fully grown C. theotonicus, and finding that they had “embryonic tissue,” Gaetano told Gizmodo. “This is very weird, I have never seen this,” he said.

By analyzing data from living species, the scientists deduced that the mark was a neonatal line, a distinct growth ring found in bones or teeth that forms following the post-birth growth spurt. (Read more from “236-Million Year Old” Mammal Gave Birth to Live Young, Upends Stupid Theories of Mammalian Evolution” HERE)

Photo credit: Leandro Gaetano

Massive Tooth of Megalodon — Largest Shark to Ever Live — Discovered on Jersey Shore

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. . .A massive tooth from a prehistoric megalodon — the largest shark to ever live, popularized in horror movie lore — was discovered along the Jersey Shore by a vacationing father-son duo from Pennsylvania.

Michael Bowers, 42, said he discovered the fossil from the 3.6 million-year-old beast while visiting Sea Isle City with his son Bo, 11, last Tuesday.

“I always seem like I find crazy stuff in the water,” Bowers told NJ.com. “I never in a million years would have guessed that we would have found something like this. My son was speechless.”

The duo from Monongahela, Pennsylvania, were walking along a jetty when they spotted the tooth in a narrow opening.

Bowers wasn’t able to fit his hand through the crack to pull out the timeworn tooth, but his son Bo was able to grasp it and pull it out with ease.

“It’s on my bucket list of stuff to find,” Bowers told the outlet. “My knees were shaking.” (Read more from “Massive Tooth of Megalodon — Largest Shark to Ever Live — Discovered on Jersey Shore” HERE)

Photo credit: Facebook/Cape May Whale Watch and Research Center

Trump instructs Pentagon to Reduce Military Exercises with South Korea

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President Donald Trump said on Sunday he had instructed the Pentagon to substantially reduce joint military exercises with South Korea in a social media post that also mentions Seoul’s refusal to take part in actions against Iran.

Trump said in a post on his Truth Social site that, although it was too late to cancel the exercises entirely, he was “not happy” that the United States had previously agreed to participate.

The president also cited his “very good relationship” with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

“These exercises are not only costly… but send a signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile, to a Country that, as long as Donald J. Trump has been President, has been unthreatening and respectful,” he wrote.

Trump also pointed to South Korea’s stance on the US-Israeli conflict with Iran.

U.S. President Donald Trump has instructed the Pentagon to substantially reduce joint military exercises with South Korea, he said on Sunday in a social media post that also mentioned Seoul’s refusal to take part in actions against Iran. (Read more from “Trump instructs Pentagon to Reduce Military Exercises with South Korea” HERE)

Fauci was Privately Informed about Questions over COVID-19 Vaccines and Miscarriages, New Texts Show

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Dr. Anthony Fauci was privately informed in January 2021 that the initial studies on COVID-19 vaccination did not include women in the first trimester of pregnancy because of miscarriage risk, according to new texts released by Sens. Rand Paul and Ron Johnson.

“I am corrected on pregnancy studies. Initial Studies [sic] avoid vaccination in first trimester due to possible fever and higher rates of miscarriage in first trimester,” Dr. John Mascola texted Fauci on Jan. 25, 2021.

Mascola was serving as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases’ (NIAID) Vaccine Research Center at the time.

After Mascola’s message, Fauci said there was a theoretical risk that COVID-19 vaccinations during pregnancy could cause miscarriages due to the potential for a fever.

“Since many people have significant cytokines storm and fever after the 2nd dose, this theoretically could be associated with miscarriage in the 1st trimester,” Fauci wrote.

Cytokines storm refers to a severe autoimmune response in which the body produces too many peptides signaling infection, leading the body to attack itself. (Read more from “Fauci was Privately Informed about Questions over COVID-19 Vaccines and Miscarriages, New Texts Show” HERE)