Does artificial intelligence threaten to conquer humanity? In recent months, the question has leaped from the pages of science fiction novels to the forefront of media and government attention. It’s unclear, however, how many of the discussants understand the implication of that leap.

In the public mind, the threat either focuses narrowly on the inherent confusion of ever-better deep fakes and its consequences for the job market, or points in directions that would make a great movie: What if AI systems decide that they’re superior to humans, seize control, and put genocidal plans into practice? That latter focus is obviously the more compelling of the two.

While such a nightmare may be possible in theory, it’s remote. The clear and present danger that AI poses will destroy us long before our rebellious automated servants declare themselves our exterminationist overlords. Two critical words summarize the threat: values and authority.

The US and its G7 partners have slapped more than 300 economic sanctions on Russia since the invasion of Ukraine over a year ago. Initially, Washington and Brussels pitched the idea of sanctions as a strategy to paralyze Moscow. However, Western sanctions have backfired as Russian companies are redrawing commodity flows from the West to Asia. 

The latest example of global supply chains being rejiggered comes from Russia's biggest miner MMC Norilsk Nickel PJSC. Bloomberg said the miner recorded 45% of revenue from Asia for the first quarter of 2023. Traditionally, its revenue from Europe is the largest but plunged to 24%. Asia's revenue share has increased from 27% in 2021 to 31% in 2022 to 45% in 2023. 

As we detailed in early May, the transition from testing to regular output last month saw Finland's first nuclear power-plant drive electricity prices dramatically lower.

As yle reports, the Olkiluoto 3 nuclear reactor in Eurajoki, southwest Finland, started regular electricity production in mid-April, about 14 years behind schedule.

Since then prices for power in Finland have continued to plunge as the efficiency of the plant flooded the grid with 'new' energy.

So much in fact that early on Wednesday of last week, the market price for electricity dropped below zero cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh) and for hours after that the price was only 0.3 cents per kWh at its highest, according to the country's grid operator, Fingrid.

That was unacceptable and prompted the plant's owner, Teollisuuden Voima (TVO) to significantly cut back its output...

The US and its NATO partner Norway mounted a show of force aimed at Russia in the North Sea this week, by sailing America's largest aircraft carrier (and also the world's largest)--the USS Gerald R Ford--through the waters where it arrived in Oslo on Wednesday. The allies are expected to conduct naval drills this week.

The nuclear-powered ship entering Oslo's port was a major event, and broadcast live on Norwegian public television, with large crowds gathering to view the spectacle. It was only in May that the US Navy announced it departed Norfolk for its "first combat deployment."

Last week it was President Macron who was rowing back on green measures. In a speech he asserted that Europe has, for now, gone far enough – if it introduces any more regulations without the rest of the world following suit then it will put investment at risk and harm the economy. This week, the European People’s Party – a centre right grouping which includes the German Christian Democrats, the party of Commission President Ursula von der Leyen – seems to be joining in.

The party is reported to be considering withdrawing its support for the European Commission’s Green Deal. That is the set of proposals which includes, for example, an EU-wide target for eliminating net carbon emissions by 2050. Whilst 11 EU countries have already set themselves legally-binding targets to reach net zero by 2050 (or 2045 in the case of Germany and Sweden), if the Green Deal were to go there would be no obligation on the other member states to follow suit.

Germany now seems to be taking over from France as the seedbed of opposition towards zero carbon policies, not least because it has more severe policies – and because its self-imposed, earlier target of reaching net zero by 2045 is increasingly looking out of kilter with reality. 

The COVID-19 pandemic is one of the most manipulated infectious disease events in history, characterized by official lies in an unending stream lead by government bureaucracies, medical associations, medical boards, the media, and international agencies.[3 , 6 , 57]

We have witnessed a long list of unprecedented intrusions into medical practice, including attacks on medical experts, destruction of medical careers among doctors refusing to participate in killing their patients and a massive regimentation of health care, led by non-qualified individuals with enormous wealth, power and influence.

For the first time in American history a president, governors, mayors, hospital administrators and federal bureaucrats are determining medical treatments based not on accurate scientifically based or even experience based information, but rather to force the acceptance of special forms of care and “prevention”—including remdesivir, use of respirators and ultimately a series of essentially untested messenger RNA vaccines.

Apparently, conservatives are having an impact.

Target—no doubt with an eye to the massive losses Bud Light is experiencing after its partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney—announced it’s going to make some changes to its retail stores’ Pride Month product placement and line-up, after significant outcry about its Pride gingerbread houses, onesies, and, oh yes, female swimsuits designed to discreetly hide a penis.

At least in my local Target this past weekend, the Pride Month display was front and center as you entered the store.

But leftists, horrified at the idea that conservatives might influence a corporation, are striking back—and showcasing their new playbook when a conservative boycott gains traction.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a top national Democrat, tweeted that Target CEO Brian Cornell was “selling out the LGBTQ+ community to extremists.” Just to recap: In Newsom’s mind, the normal thing is to sell Pride products designed by a company that also makes satanic symbols and the extremist thing is to object to that.

Webmaster addition: I don't think that the average American is an extremist. But men pretending to be women and women pretending to be men, that seems pretty extreme!

House Republicans are threatening to hold FBI Director Christopher Wray in contempt of Congress if he continues to defy their lawful request for documents.

House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) issued a Congressional subpoena on May 3 demanding that the FBI produce “very serious and detailed allegations” made in an internal document describing a criminal bribery scheme involving the then-Vice President Joe Biden and a foreign national.

Comer issued the subpoena after a whistleblower made legally protected disclosures to Senator Chuck Grassley’s (R-Iowa) office. According to the whistleblower, the document is an FBI-generated FD-1023 form and it details an arrangement involving an exchange of money for policy decisions.

Earlier this month, Grassley, a long-time whistleblower advocate said: “We believe the FBI possesses an unclassified internal document that includes very serious and detailed allegations implicating the current President of the United States.”

“What we don’t know is what, if anything, the FBI has done to verify these claims or investigate further,” the senator added. “The FBI’s recent history of botching politically charged investigations demands close congressional oversight.”

To explain the startling number of hate crime hoaxes in America today, it has often been said that the demand for racism in the country exceeds the supply. When it comes to America’s ongoing problem with illegal immigration, there is no need to manufacture tales about the crisis. The truth is bad enough.

The issue of false immigration stories came to light recently when a story originating in the upstate New York town of Newburgh emerged that a group of homeless veterans were evicted from a hotel to make room for the arrival of migrants who illegally entered through our southern border. The story was covered extensively—including in this column—as an example of misplaced priorities by government officials.

Within days of the initial coverage, reports began to surface that cast doubt on the local nonprofit purportedly arranging the housing for the veterans at the hotel. State Assemblyman Brian Maher, who had been supporting the veterans in media interviews and in the New York State Legislature, said he was “devastated and disheartened” after a discussion with the CEO of the nonprofit revealed the story wasn’t true.

Only a country that has lost the will to survive would tolerate the invasion underway all across America. There is no longer a southern border to speak of. From Arizona to Maine, towns are under siege by a relentless, surging mass of humanity. The lowly citizen has been trampled underfoot to make lebensraum for the hallowed “asylum seeker,” whose conquering steps are greeted with suppliant knee. 

These newcomers are an enormous, indefinite strain on public resources, which must provide schooling, housing, healthcare, and food. They bring unnecessary and unwanted violence and crime. Nobody actually wants them in their neighborhoods, including the dopey liberals who vote to bring them here. Life for Americans is challenging enough, with housing affordability at its worst levels in decades, a dearth of good-paying jobs, and a recession looming. 

But as the earth orbits the sun, the Left wrings its hands and plays hot potato with the mess they created. With the end of Title 42, New York City is dumping the problem wherever it can, including on more politically moderate suburbs, like Long Island’s east end that didn’t vote for Joe Biden or open borders. Large stretches of the east end are already unrecognizable to lifetime residents after decades of unwanted Third World colonization. The “great replacement” is a myth, they said? Tell that to the people in Orange County, New Jersey who just had hotel blocks for their wedding parties canceled. 

Imagine if the police caught Ted Bundy and, instead of trying him for his crimes, released a bombshell report detailing his brutality with reams of evidence—but then let him walk free. 

While many are treating the Durham report as the final word on defamatory Russian collusion claims against President Donald Trump, punishment and prosecutions are absent. As illustrated by the Bundy example, exposing wrongdoing, but withholding punishment, is deeply unsatisfying. 

The Durham report explains in great detail what many of us already know: the FBI, the broader intelligence community, various Washington insiders, and the Hillary Clinton campaign conspired to influence the 2016 election with fake claims that Donald Trump had engaged in unlawful Russian collusion. They used these charges to influence his foreign policy, investigate him and his associates, and to encourage widespread disobedience among unelected bureaucrats working for the federal government. 

While this is all terrible and demonstrates lawless unaccountability by our most senior intelligence and law enforcement officials, everyone should have known most of this already. Justice Department’s Inspector General Michael Horowitz had earlier reached a similar conclusion. And various of the particular details had already become public through a combination of court rulings, news reports, and the mostly empty Mueller report. 

If you're wondering about the city's fecal methodology, look no further than a footnote on page 43;

Feces also includes bags filled with feces that are not inside trash receptacles. Feces that are spread or smeared on the street, sidewalk, or other objects along the evaluation route are counted. Stains that appear to be related to feces but have been cleaned are not counted. Bird droppings are excluded.

As far as where most of the poo is found, Nob Hill takes the top spot, followed by the Tenderloin and The Mission districts.

Ireland is on the verge of passing the most aggressive hate crime law in the European Union, which includes the first legal protections in the EU for transgender individuals. Government officials say the bill offers necessary protections at a time when immigration is on the rise and traditional ideas about sex and gender are being challenged. 

Critics counter that the bill’s vague language could be used to enforce the increasingly progressive Irish government’s increasingly woke agenda and forcibly muzzle critics of unpopular government policies. 

The legislation, the Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Act, underscores a divide between Ireland’s leaders and many of its people. The bill is making its way through Parliament, winning approval last month in the Dáil Éireann, Ireland’s lower chamber, by a vote of 110-14.  

Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has introduced an amendment that would require the death penalty for anyone caught snuggling fentanyl across the U.S. southern border.

Greene tweeted on Tuesday: “300 Americans are murdered each day by fentanyl. It’s the leading killer of young people, 18-34, in America. Today, I introduced an amendment to H.R. 467 to give the death penalty to criminals who intentionally or knowingly import fentanyl across our Southern border.”

Greene’s amendment comes as several Republican lawmakers have pushed for new legislation to enforce tougher penalties to crack down on the fentanyl crisis.

Gert-Jan Oskam was living in China in 2011 when he was in a motorcycle accident that left him paralyzed from the hips down. Now, with a combination of devices, scientists have given him control over his lower body again.

“For 12 years I’ve been trying to get back my feet,” Mr. Oskam said in a press briefing on Tuesday. “Now I have learned how to walk normal, natural.”

In a study published on Wednesday in the journal Nature, researchers in Switzerland described implants that provided a “digital bridge” between Mr. Oskam’s brain and his spinal cord, bypassing injured sections. The discovery allowed Mr. Oskam, 40, to stand, walk and ascend a steep ramp with only the assistance of a walker. More than a year after the implant was inserted, he has retained these abilities and has actually showed signs of neurological recovery, walking with crutches even when the implant was switched off.

It’s official: the conservative boycott of Bud Light over its decision to celebrate “transgender” influencer Dylan Mulvaney’s “transition” is more than just a flash in the pan. According to NBC, “sales volumes of Bud Light for the week ending May 14 sank 28.4%, extending a downward trend from the 27.7% decline seen the week before.” Bud Light’s parent company declined to comment on this latest news, but since the boycott began, it has placed Alissa Heinerscheid, the head of marketing, as well as her boss Daniel Blake, on leave.  

In a note published to clients this week, JPMorgan analysts stated that even if the spiral stabilizes, “We believe there is a subset [of] American consumers who will not drink Bud Light for the foreseeable future.” According to Harry Schuhmacher, editor of Beer Business Daily: “Nobody imagined it would go on this long. It seems random — it struck a nerve. I’ve never seen anything to compare it to, in all of the [consumer packaged goods] industry. It’s a real shock.”

The names in Ghislaine Maxwell’s “little black book” were kept hidden from the public by the Ghislaine Maxwell trial judge.

According to TIME at the time of the trial, the majority of the contents of Government Exhibit 52 were concealed from court records. Federal prosecutors, on the other hand, claimed in a complaint filed on November 12 that the book includes “compelling proof” of Maxwell’s guilt.

According to the petition, the book has “dozens of pages of relationships, including relatives and acquaintances of the defendant.” The book would also show Maxwell “maintained contact information for essential persons at trial, including victims,” according to the government.

They are “bold, confusing assertions that Ms. Maxwell denies,” according to Maxwell’s counsel. According to Maxwell’s attorneys, the book’s contents are “neither legitimate nor substantial,” and the fact that it didn’t come out until 2009 demonstrates that “there is no significance that can be attributed to the material.”

A 30-ton shipment of ammonium nitrate, a chemical used as both fertilizer and as a component in explosives, has gone missing during a rail shipment between Wyoming and California last month, resulting in four separate investigations.

A California deputy attorney general has been charged in San Diego with possession of child pornography.

Raymond Joseph Liddy, 53, pleaded not guilty on Tuesday, was released on $100,000 bond and placed on house arrest with GPS monitoring.

An investigation into Liddy was launched after an electronic service provider sent a tip to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in January that a user had uploaded an image that appeared to be child porn.

New evidence suggesting public health officials knew early in 2021 that COVID-19 vaccines posed a heightened risk of myocarditis in young men — but withheld that information from the public — raises questions about whether federal health agencies violated any laws.

According to Dr. Meryl Nass, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) knew about the myocarditis safety signal in February 2021, but “hid it until they got the vaccine authorized for 12-15-year-olds in May 2021,” and then “kept pushing” the vaccine on the highest-risk groups.”

Nass said the new evidence suggests the CDC and FDA may have violated the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act (PREP Act) when they withheld knowledge about myocarditis safety signals from the public and from fact sheets included with the COVID-19 vaccines.

The man accused of ramming a U-Haul truck into barriers near the White House earlier this week isn't a U.S. citizen or a lawful, permanent resident, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Sai Varshith Kandula, a 19-year-old from suburban St. Louis, wore an orange jail-issued jumpsuit in his brief courtroom appearance when prosecutors requested pre-trial detention.

The government also revealed that Kandula is not a citizen or lawful permanent resident — though his national origin wasn't mentioned in court.

A college student who was on the same high school track team with Kandula told NBC News on Tuesday that they're both members of the sizable Indian American community in Chesterfield, Missouri.

The veterans’ advocate who claimed that homeless former service members were ousted from a New York hotel to accommodate migrants has been stripped of her Women of Distinction honor just one week after it was conferred.

Sharon Toney-Finch, director of the Yerik Israel Toney Foundation (YIT), was nominated for the New York state Senate honor by Sen. Rob Rolison (R-Poughkeepsie) on May 16. Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Yonkers) informed Rolinson by letter on Tuesday that the award was rescinded.

In a copy of the missive, which was obtained by The Post, Stewart-Cousins cites “distressing” allegations that Toney-Finch recruited homeless men to pose as unhoused veterans who were kicked out of Newburgh’s Crossroads Hotel to make room for migrants.

House Judiciary Committee Republicans are blaming the Biden administration's "failure to enforce U.S. immigration law" for the release of a 16-year-old illegal immigrant and suspected MS-13 gang member, who is now charged with the murder and sexual assault of a 20-year-old autistic woman in Maryland.

The interim report, which will be published on Tuesday, states that "a tragic example of the failure to enforce U.S. immigration law under Secretary [Alejandro] Mayorkas’ watch is the murder and sexual assault of 20-year-old Kayla Hamilton in Aberdeen, Maryland in July 2022."

The suspect, who was arrested in January, is an illegal immigrant and alleged MS-13 gang member, who police said entered the U.S. via Rio Grande City, Texas as an unaccompanied child in March 2022 and was transferred to a woman identified as his aunt in Frederick, Maryland.

Amid growing concerns of security risks to members of Congress, more than 50 senators have been issued satellite phones for emergency communication, people familiar with the measures told CBS News. The devices are part of a series of new security measures being offered to senators by the Senate Sergeant at Arms, who took over shortly after the assault on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

The satellite phone technology has been offered to all 100 senators. CBS News has learned at least 50 have accepted the phones, which Senate administrative staff recommend senators keep in close proximity during their travels. 

In testimony before the Senate Appropriations Committee last month, Senate Sergeant at Arms Karen Gibson said satellite communication is being deployed “to ensure a redundant and secure means of communication during a disruptive event.”  

Gibson said the phones are a security backstop in the case of an emergency that “takes out communications” in part of America. Federal funding will pay for the satellite airtime needed to utilize the phone devices.

Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen, a Republican, signed a combination bill Monday protecting minors from gender transitions and protecting unborn babies after 12 weeks’ gestation.

The measure provoked several extremely pro-trans Democratic senators to engage in an unprecedented filibuster of the entire legislative session and barrage the bill with unserious procedural motions designed to bog the process down.

“Protecting our children is critically important,” state Sen. Kathleen Kauth, a Republican, said at the bill signing. “I brought LB 574 because we have too many kids who are being swept up in what is a social contagion, and being told that … if they just switch their gender, they’ll be fine, everything will be great. That’s not true.”

A group of former officials who served in the Trump administration are planning to support Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024.

The group of at least 100 people calls itself “The Eight-Year Alliance,” according to Fox News, saying they want a candidate who can serve for eight years, which would be two terms in office.

The group said it wants to avoid former President Donald Trump “immediately becoming a lame-duck president.”

The government shouldn’t prevent Americans from expressing their religious beliefs. But that’s exactly what the state of Washington is trying to do.

Brian Tingley is a licensed marriage and family counselor. For the past 20 years, Tingley’s deeply held religious beliefs have been the source of the guidance he offers his clients, who come to him voluntarily.

Many come seeking Tingley’s advice because his religious beliefs are consistent with their own, and they seek help to align their lifestyle with biblical teachings.

Washington state, however, wants to intervene in these private conversations and rewrite Tingley’s beliefs by telling him what he can and cannot say. State legislators passed a law that restricts counselors from helping people who are wrestling with gender dysphoria.

The state’s counseling censorship law prohibits counselors from engaging in conversations that might encourage a “change in an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity.”