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MC Lyte is taking the long way to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fa...
BLACKPRESSUSA—Long before hip-hop was old enough to have a Hall of Fame generation, MC Lyte came out of Brooklyn with a voice too enormous to belong to a teenag...
Diego Moreira brace rescues draw for AC Milan at Lazio
Diego Moreira scored twice in three minutes as AC Milan came from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 at Lazio, who dropped points in Serie A for the first time this season. The hosts were well on top in the first half and led through goals from Matteo Cancellieri and Tijjani Noslin.
The Divine Bovine Community Challenge
Gather your herd and band together to take down Moophisto. End his Mad Cow rage to unlock a reward for all who oppose his reign of udder chaos.
Judge shields more Catholic health providers as Illinois assisted suicide law takes effect
A federal judge on Sept. 11 temporarily blocked Illinois from enforcing the state's physician-assisted suicide law for Catholic entities that challenged it.
ASU suffers many 1st-half miscues at Texas A&M
Two special teams miscues teed up 10 points for the Aggies, which led 17-10 at the half after ASU's defense forced three three-and-outs.
Stuttgart slam VAR as injured Stiller frets over Germany call
VfB Stuttgart have heavily criticized the video assistant referee (VAR) for not helping award them a penalty in Saturday's 2-1 Bundesliga defeat at Hoffenheim. Midfielder Angelo Stiller was struck on the knee in the box by defender Ozan Kabak midway through the first half.
Cambridge United 2-1 Reading: A Tough Loss To Take
The Royals were on the wrong end of a turnaround, after Jack Marriott's first-half opener.
🎥 Paris Brunner's screamer against Strasbourg 🧨
WHAT A BANGER ALERT!A huge clash between Strasbourg and AS Monaco this Saturday in Ligue 1.After the Alsatians opened the scoring early in the second half, ASM equalized thanks to their star striker f...
Tarik Muharemović: We have to be ready
Centre-half Tarik Muharemović has settled into life as a Leeds United player impressively, starring in the heart of defence as Daniel Farke’s side have remained unbeaten in the first three matches ...
Nighttime bathroom trips could reveal hidden health issues
Nocturia affects half of adults over 50, but experts say frequent nighttime urination could signal sleep apnea, diabetes or an enlarged prostate.
Trump asks Smithsonian to install George Washington statues and exhibit
Trump asked for an exhibit beginning now and continuing through Feb. 22, 2032, the 300th anniversary of Washington’s birth. For Constitution Day on Sept. 17, Trump asked the institution to install the 11-foot statue of Washington featured at the recent Freedom 250 IndyCar race in the museum's Flag Hall.
Breece Hall ready for full workload
Jets RB Breece Hall prepared for normal workload despite missing time with injury
Phoenix Suns 2026-27 Player Profile: Collin Gillespie
After a record-breaking shooting campaign, the sharpshooting guard aims for stardom by refining his drive-and-kick game while challenging for a spot in Phoenix’s star-studded starting rotation.
2. Bundesliga: Bochum and Fürth share spoils
VfL Bochum and Greuther Fürth settled for a draw in one of Saturday afternoon’s 2. Bundesliga encounters. Both teams could drop to the bottom half of the standings if results go against them in the...
Divorcing couple fighting over crumbling NYC bakery business
Yoseph Raja and Zohal Azimi Raja, the couple who founded Thin Cookies, are at war with a divorce, business troubles and a new lawsuit.
Teen overcomes health challenges to harvest alligator
Zoe Pell, a 15-year-old from Utica, overcame a disease and partial paralysis to harvest a 12-foot, 4-inch alligator during a Southern Outdoors Unlimited hunt in Gautier in 2026.
Calls for Democrats to be shot go unchallenged at Republican convention
Crowd member repeatedly said some Democrats ‘should be shot’ during Ted Cruz’s speech, without senator responding
World Congress on Nursing and Health Care
The World Congress on Nursing and Health Care is a premier international gathering dedicated to advancing the science, practice, and future direction of nursing and healthcare. Scheduled for April 05-06, 2027, in Singapore, this distinguished event will convene a global community of nursing professionals, healthcare specialists, researchers, educators, clinicians, policymakers, and industry experts to exchange knowledge, share groundbreaking insights, and foster collaborations that shape the future of healthcare.Driven by the theme “Navigating the Future of Nursing through Research, Resilience, and Innovation,” the congress will explore the evolving landscape of nursing and its critical contribution to transforming healthcare delivery. The event will highlight pioneering research, evidence-based practices, innovative care models, and resilient approaches that empower nurses to address emerging healthcare challenges and enhance patient outcomes across diverse populations.
Steelers Super Bowl Champions Challenge Rising 2nd Year Defender
Former Pittsburgh Steelers tackle Max Starks challenged defensive lineman Yahya Black ahead of the season opener. The post Steelers Super Bowl Champions Challenge Rising 2nd Year Defender appeared first on HEAVY.
Keys For Texas Tech's Defense At Oregon State
Texas Tech’s defense gets its first road challenge at Oregon State, where pressure on Braden Atkinson and another dominant night up front could decide the game.
Blizzard Announces Diablo V, Arriving Spring 2029
The action role-playing game is set a half-century after Diablo IV, after Sanctuary has fallen. - Game Informer
Lindsay Clancy mistrial leaves criminal justice students divided over mental health concerns
The Voice of the Seton Hall Community.
Nittany Nation: Penn State travels to Temple
(WHTM) – The Penn State Nittany Lions are on the road for the first time this season, coming off a 45-0 win over Marshall to open the season. It’s the 46th time Penn State has faced Temple; the Nittany Lions have won 32 of the last 33 matchups against their sixth most frequent opponent. The […]
Germany’s Political Tailspin: Your Weekly SPIEGEL Recap
It might be tempting to dismiss the results of last Sunday’s state election in Saxony-Anhalt, in which the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party raked in 43.8 percent of the vote, as a rather unimportant extremist blip in a state that hardly anyone can find on the map. And you wouldn’t necessarily be wrong to do so. The state’s population – around 2.1 million – is a mere 2.5 percent of the German total. And while the state capital of Magdeburg was once the political heart of the Holy Roman Empire back when Otto the Great used to hang out there (more than a millenium … no … milennium … nope … millennium ago), it is today something of a backwater, albeit one with a ginormous cathedral in its center. We wanted to briefly interrupt this week’s newsletter to extend a heartfelt thank you to all of our subscribers, both new and old. And to remind you all that a free subscription gets you access to this newsletter every Saturday. A paid subscription, by contrast, gets you one DER SPIEGEL article every weekday, delivered to your inbox. We strive to select pieces that both demonstrate what Europe’s leading newsmagazine has to offer and provide an international audience – namely, you – with an insight into how Germany and Europe view the world. If you haven’t already signed up for a paid subscription, please consider doing so if you can. Our Substack channel relies entirely on reader support and we are excited to continue offering you the best of DER SPIEGEL. Subscribe But even beyond the fact that a huge percentage of the voters in the state decided to place an X next to a party with an ideological lineage that runs rather directly back to the right-wing extremist soup out of which the Nazi Party was born, the results are a perfect example of a phenomenon that has been plaguing German elections in recent years: the lack of an obvious path to a majority. Call it the Balkanization of German politics. There are a number of developments driving the phenomenon, but for the purposes of this newsletter, here are two of the most salient: Persistent voter frustration with the country’s two (former) big-tent parties – the Christian Democrats (CDU) on the center-right (17.2 percent in Saxony-Anhalt last Sunday) and the Social Democrats (SPD) on the center-left (9.3 percent). The presence of parties on the far left (Left Party), the populist left (the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance – BSW) and the far right (AfD) with which mainstream parties are reluctant to form coalitions. So what happens now? Stories of the Week A Lack of Leadership The answer for many people in the country, and particularly within the CDU, is clear: pin (some of) the blame on Chancellor Friedrich Merz. According to a survey taken directly after the election in Saxony-Anhalt, 88 percent of respondents agreed with the statement that if the federal government in Berlin were doing a better job, the AfD wouldn’t be as strong. And it is true that the predominant impression of the federal government ever since Merz was sworn in on May 6, 2025, is one of ineffectiveness and bickering. His rather unique combination of bumbling-plus-bravado has also not exactly endeared him to the German public. Indeed, his standing in the country is so shaky that his popularity – according to recent polls – has now dropped even below the historic lows associated with his predecessor Olaf Scholz. The situation is such that the CDU even opted to keep him largely out of the campaign ahead of the Saxony-Anhalt vote. And since then, dissatisfied rumblings within the CDU have grown louder. DER SPIEGEL’s Swantje Karich notes that the problems with the CDU go much deeper than Merz. “The center-right has a trust problem. At a press appearance following the devastating election result in Saxony-Anhalt, Friedrich Merz said that the party wanted to ‘reach people more effectively’ through ‘emotional engagement.’ It sounded as though he were announcing a political program. On the basis of that statement, it is difficult to take his empathy seriously.” “The Chancellor’s chastened appearance did, at least, reveal where he stands: with his back to the wall. Elections will be held in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania next week, and the CDU could fare even worse there. The party is polling at between 8 and 10 percent in the state.” “What is at stake is the political tradition that has lent stability to the Federal Republic since 1945: a democratic conservatism that understands what must be preserved, but also how to embrace progress and openness to the world. If the Union continues along its current path, it risks becoming politically irrelevant after the 2029 federal election – and Germany could soon find itself with a government of the far right.” The Trumpification of Political Debate? It is often said in Germany that to understand the political and social trends that will soon be dominant in Europe, one need only look across the Atlantic to the United States. When it comes to political debate, that has certainly proven true. Donald Trump understood early on that triggering mouth-foaming outrage among Democrats is an ideal way to both generate headlines and to secure loyalty among supporters. And he realized that far more quickly than the left side of the political spectrum understood that simply ignoring the old man might be the best recipe. To be sure, there have been signs recently that the US president may be over-relying on the strategy. Earlier this week, in an apparent grandpa-discovers-AI moment, Trump sent out 60 posts in the space of 10 hours, many of them AI-assisted images portraying him as a hero – or showing Iceland as part of the US (outrageous!!!). It was also during that slew of schlock that he explicitly backed the AfD with an “MGGA” post. In Germany, though, the outrage cycle remains in full swing, with much of the focus on those who would dare to vote for the AfD. They are alternately portrayed as being dim-witted, ungrateful, backward, racist or all of the above. That, argues DER SPIEGEL columnist Sabine Rennefanz, is not particularly helpful. “Everywhere on election night, people spoke of a watershed moment, a rupture, a turning point. But what is that supposed to mean in concrete terms? A watershed would imply an interruption, a moment of pause – perhaps even a willingness to rethink and learn. At first, there was little sign of that in the main television panels. Instead, the familiar rituals that had already shaped the election campaign continued: outrage, lecturing and abuse.” “That’s just the tone, one might object. They’re only talk shows. Given that the party’s state branch has been classified by domestic intelligence officials as confirmed right-wing extremist, there are more important problems than hurt feelings on television. Yet although the condescending tone is not the cause of the AfD’s success, it is an expression of the broader mood within the so-called political center – a kind of institutional blindness that too often treats material concerns as a communications problem.” “People have a pretty good sense of whether you like them – whether you approach them with curiosity or merely study, lecture and manage them as a problem group. They notice whether you genuinely want to understand their fears and pain, or whether you are simply waiting for the chance to correct them. They can also tell whether someone still has the energy to change things, or whether they have barricaded themselves behind platitudes and empty phrases.” “Anyone who wants an egalitarian democratic society cannot promise equality only to those whose language, tastes and moral convictions they share. They must also acknowledge the wounds, resentments and fears of those whose political conclusions they consider wrong. Acknowledging them does not mean agreeing with them. But a democracy that communicates with almost half its citizens only through warnings and labels gives up on political debate before it has even begun. An atmosphere must be created in which people can express their opinions without fearing that they will be canceled. We are currently a long way from that.” East-West? One of the clear undercurrents in the election last Sunday was, of course, Germany’s ongoing east-west divide, particularly as it pertains to the success of the AfD. Historically, the party has been far stronger in the former East German states than in former West German states. The fact that this generalization no longer reliably holds is certainly one of the primary concerns that many have about the party’s growth. And yet, there is still a distinct flavor of “stupid easterners, they don’t understand democracy” to the coverage. In the weeks before the vote, there was even a rather interesting back-and-forth in Germany’s culture pages about how ungrateful eastern Germans allegedly are for being pulled out of their pre-reunification backwardness and into the light of the West. DER SPIEGEL’s Jochen-Martin Gutsch has had enough. “Ten years ago, in 2016, elections were also held in Saxony-Anhalt. The AfD won more than 20 percent, which at the time rightly provoked outrage and incomprehension in western Germany. Today, in 2026, the AfD is also polling at around 20 percent in western German states, but this no longer provokes outrage and incomprehension. Instead, it is now regarded as proof of democratic conviction and civilizational resistance. After all, in the east, it’s 40 percent!” “This allows people to continue feeling morally superior to the East, but the wiser course would be to admit: if something doesn’t happen soon, the West will turn AfD-blue too. Or bluish.” “But will anything happen? The truly depressing thing about election night was not so much the AfD leaders intoxicated by their own success. It was the representatives of the other parties, who once again said that they were utterly shocked, needed some time to digest the result and would, of course, not simply return to business as usual. The SPD, a former big-tent party, celebrated its ‘stable’ result of 9.3 percent. Congratulations!” “For 10 years, the AfD has gone from one electoral success to the next. And still, the established parties remain ‘shocked’ and scratch their heads in astonishment. How long can they keep being shocked? Friedrich Merz says he may need to communicate his reform ideas in a more ‘emotional’ way. So the CDU’s political professionals sit down together after the election, mull over a strategy, and in the end come up with this: Fritz, try to be a little more relaxed, charismatic and emotional – or something. Beyond that: no political plan, no defiance, no promise of a future. That is frightening.” What was good, what was bad for democracy? Good: Voter turnout in Saxony-Anhalt was 77.8 percent, the highest ever recorded in the state. Whatever one thinks of the result, that figure is encouraging. Democracy needs citizens to take an interest. Bad: Although a strong AfD result had been expected in Saxony-Anhalt, many politicians from the mainstream parties – including in Berlin – appeared confused, helpless and overwhelmed in their initial reactions. That is not how they will win back voters’ trust. Last Week’s Highlights: 🗳️ Meet the Germans Who Voted for the AfD: Why would voters in a country like Germany, with its Nazi past, vote for a right-wing party? It’s a question only an editor in Berlin could come up with. On the ground, the view is different. 🟦 How the AfD Wants to Expand Its Power Across Germany: The far-right AfD is planning to decimate public broadcasting in Saxony-Anhalt, revamp education and install extremists in positions of power. And it is eyeing victory on the national stage as well. 🕯️ The Continuing Reverberations of September 11: It was a generational shock, and the consequences can still be felt today - from massive surveillance and significant increases in presidential power to violent excesses at ICE. 🤝 “For Europe, Canada Is the Preferred Partner in Trans-Atlantic Relations”: In an interview with DER SPIEGEL, Canadian Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne discusses his country’s failed trade deal with the US and why Canada is looking to Europe. 🏛️ The True Historical Roots of the AfD: During the Weimar Republic in the 1920s, there were numerous parties on the extreme right espousing “Germany first” nationalism. The Nazis may not be the best comparison for today’s AfD. 🌊 AfD in a Landslide: Merz Is the Wrong Leader for Germany: The right-wing Alternative for Germany won in a landslide in Saxony-Anhalt state elections on Sunday. What does that mean for the country at large? Thank you for your continued support and have a wonderful week! Subscribe Share Leave a comment Your SPIEGEL Substack Team Compiled and edited by Charles Hawley
The African roots of three Colorado leaders
Colorado’s political transformation is measured in many ways. A once reliably red state (with asterisks) became purple and is now a rather deep blue. For better or worse, probably the latter, power is ever more consolidated along the Front Range corridor. Counties such as Arapahoe, Jefferson, and Larimer, once Republican strongholds, are now at the […]
Missouri should make medical respite part of its health care infrastructure
Missouri’s healthcare system routinely pays for a hospital stay, a surgery or a course of treatment, then reaches the edge of its own plan when the patient has no home in which to recover. For a person experiencing homelessness, “discharge” can mean returning to a shelter, vehicle or street while managing a wound, infection, cancer […]
After AfD's record result: Voices from Saxony-Anhalt
The far-right AfD won a record result in Saxony-Anhalt. Why are so many voters backing the party, while others fear what comes next? DW travels across the state to hear from voters, business owners, and immigrants.
Health care coalition says climate change is a public health crisis
Major medical associations and hundreds of health care professionals called for legislators to treat climate change as a public health crisis.
How a single mom affords NYC working as a broker and makeup artist
Violetta Kruglyak, a single mother and NYC broker, navigates financial challenges and career growth from makeup artistry to real estate.
Country music star on playing the Super Bowl halftime show: ‘I think it’s time’
There is a renewed push for a country music halftime show, and one star sounds interested.
Bayern coach Kompany won't underestimate underdogs Elversberg
Bayern Munich coach Vincent Kompany won't underestimate Sunday's opponents Elversberg, who are making their Bundesliga debut this season and have been the surprise package so far. The underdogs are even two points ahead of the German giants in the standings, with two wins in as many games, while Bayern thrashed VfB Stuttgart in their league opener but were held to a goalless draw by Schalke last weekend.
Young scientists put innovation and science to work on South Africa’s water challenges
South Africa’s next generation of scientists is turning cutting-edge innovation into practical solutions for one of the country’s most urgent challenges: ensuring sustainable water supplies and safe sanitation in the face of climate change. Researchers from across the country will gather at the Academy of Science of South Africa’s (ASSAf) Annual Young Scientist Conference (AYSC), […]
Erie Irish Festival celebrates halfway to St. Patrick's Day
The Erie Irish Festival returns to downtown Erie on Sept. 18-20 in front of St. Patrick's Parish at 130 E. Fourth St. Find authentic food, brews, entertainment, dancing and family fun.
USC vs Louisiana Prediction: Another Chance For the Trojans To Shine
Terrific so far, USC has one more week before it has to take things up another notch. Can Louisiana provide a challenge? Here's the CFN preview and prediction.
The politics and possibilities of ‘AI could kill us all’
I found myself fielding a lot of questions from folks who don’t usually talk much about AI this week. They were mostly along the lines of “do you think AI is going to kill us all?” or “how worried should I be about this human extinction stuff?” Motivating this wave of existential anxiety was the highly dramatic resignation of now-former Anthropic employee Jacob Coxon, who quit his job while publicly sharing his concerns about safety practices at the leading AI companies. More specifically, he declared that almost everyone at OpenAI and Anthropic, the leading AI labs, believes that there’s a decent chance the AI systems they’re producing could “kill us all” by the end of the decade, and the companies aren’t “acting responsibly.” Other AI safety researchers, including those still employed at Anthropic and OpenAI, all confirmed that yes, Coxon is correct, they’re all worried that their company’s products might prove fatal for the entire human race as well. Two more AI employees quit and joined the chorus. Now, the warning shot has been covered everywhere from the Wall Street Journal to Fox News to WIRED to the Guardian. I understand why all this sounds scary, but my response to those who have asked, has generally been: No, you don’t need to worry that AI will kill go rogue and kill us all. But that does not mean we shouldn’t worry, period. Far from it. The companies building AI products are now among the wealthiest and most powerful entities in the world. And they very much are building enormous engines of mass surveillance, extraction, and automation. They can and have allowed their AI systems to carry out felony hacks of other companies, provided the government with autonomously generated kill lists, and sold enterprise technology to firms around the world that is explicitly intended to replace jobs. But “AI” has done these things not because they have all-powerful minds of their own but, ultimately, because people have programmed, calibrated, and directed them to. In other words, it’s not AI we need to worry the most about. It’s the people and corporations working to profit from and gain power by deploying it. The technology is sophisticated, sure, and, especially in cybersecurity contexts, potentially disruptive to plenty of existing systems. But if we want to stop this predatory, profiteering, and extractive form of AI—and it’s worth noting that at this point, most people do—we absolutely can. A quick note/plea: I can only do all of this with the support of readers like you, so if you find value in independent, critical tech journalism and analysis, please consider becoming a paid subscriber. I want to keep as much of this un-paywalled as absolutely possible, and I need your support to do so. Many thanks to all who continue to chip in, it’s very much appreciated. Onward. Subscribe First, some context: AI industry folks like Coxon have been discussing the prospect that AI will destroy humanity for years. Even before the beginning of the AI boom, many working in the industry, from the executive staff to the rank and file researchers, have obsessed over ‘x-risk’, or the possibility that AI will become sentient or semi-sentient and move one way or another to exterminate humanity. This is ostensibly why Elon Musk bankrolled OpenAI in the first place, and is the grounds for his lawsuit alleging OpenAI betrayed its charter by abandoning its nonprofit status to become a commercial enterprise. Many AI engineers and startup founders have calculated their own personal p(doom), or the probability that the tech product they are working on will initiate an actual humanity-extinguishing apocalypse. 10-25% p(doom)s are pretty common. (I wrote about a long weekend I spent among these folks at one of their top conferences here, to give you an idea of their ideas and belief systems.) Sam Altman himself drove the narrative of the imminent rise of a super-powerful AI, or artificial general intelligence, to prominence by declaring that the technology he was building posed an existential risk to humanity. This idea is in other words baked into the DNA of modern AI companies and into the products they engineer. It’s also why the industry is routinely accused, by myself and others, of “doom marketing,” ie, using such proclamations and framings to impart the sheer power of the technology behind your product onto investors, partners, consumers, and the state. Some ambient understanding of this tendency may have helped prevent the press from repeating the claim every time one of the x-risk folks made it over the years, including when they quit their jobs at AI companies while doing so. Yet Coxon’s AI x-risk alarm has broken containment, as they say, and has exposed the idea to the mainstream media once again. This has happened, I think, for a number of reasons. First, when AI CEOs were going around saying AI might kill everyone in 2023, their companies were well-capitalized, but not nearly to the extent they are today. They were more easily dismissed as eccentric geeks of the sort that Silicon Valley is supposed to produce. Now, not only do their products have much greater market saturation, but people are more aware of a) the often unethical ways the executives and companies comport themselves b) the other adverse impacts of AI that have already arrived, and c) the physical cost of building these systems, particularly when it comes to data centers. Finally, toss in the constant stream of headlines in 2026 about AI models going rogue or potentially upending the world’s infrastructure. [ ](https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/with-the-backlash-to-data-centers) [ With the backlash to data centers, Flock and AI glasses, a mass opposition to big tech is underway. Silicon Valley is in denial. ](https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/with-the-backlash-to-data-centers) Brian Merchant · Aug 27 [ Read full story ](https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/with-the-backlash-to-data-centers) As a result, general sentiment was already overwhelmingly skeptical of AI and its overlords, so the table was pretty well set for someone to come along and say ‘just a reminder, the companies that are building the product that promises to take your job and leave a data center in your neighborhood also think that it might exterminate the human race’ and get a strong reaction from the media and the public. The question is: Should we understand this stuff as hype, strategically fanned to feed already swelling valuations? Is it doom marketing? Genuine cause for alarm that the infrastructure that undergirds modern life is facing a novel threat vector? Or reason to be sincerely worried that AI companies are amassing too much power, and that their products are genuinely dangerous? The answer, I’m afraid, is “yes.” Let me try to untangle all of this a bit, because arguments over how to navigate this moment are extremely heated right now, as they are essentially arguments over how to approach the politics of AI at a moment where there may be a unique opening for action. Those sympathetic to AI alignment concerns and x risk arguments—which increasingly includes a faction on the left who want to shut down AI over safety concerns—argue that people who dismiss AI as all hype have their heads in the sand. Meanwhile, critics of the x-risk narrative—which I might note includes a cadre of investors and tech folks on the right, too—argue that it is hype and can be used to further inflate valuations or for pursuing regulatory capture. The challenge is that many feel that dismissing AI as just hype or purely marketing also diminishes the urgency of taking on the AI industry as the novel and threat to labor, civil society, and the public sphere it is; others that by accepting the industry’s own terms, we imbue it with undue power and enable it. But let’s be clear: Declarations that AI is so powerful it might end the world are a kind of marketing, and anyone who says otherwise is just as off base as those who say that’s all that it is. If you don’t think that these sub-trillion dollar companies have higher-ups who noticed that when their founders talked about super-powerful dangerous AI they got spikes in media interest and phone calls from investors, or that those founders didn’t notice that themselves, and lean into certain narratives to advantage their products, then I don’t know what to tell you. Not all marketing is a Pepsi ad campaign with a celebrity spokesperson. Yet confronting the AI industry should certainly be considered an urgent project. Do I share the x-riskers’ fear that out-of-control, super-intelligent AI agents might end the world? I do not. I’ve read a good deal of AI extinction literature over the last couple of years and I have not come across a credible, step-by-step documentation of how exactly AI might move from self-recursively improving AI to killing every single human on the planet. Most of what I’ve read seems predicated on a sort of reverse Ian Malcolmian logic: Eventually, it becomes smart enough and AI, uh, finds a way (to exterminate humanity). Are the AI companies also overstating and dramatizing what their products can do? Yes, pretty much all the time. They’re in a knife fight for market share and are trying to win customers and government contracts before their investors come knocking. And yet. They have concentrated enormous amounts of compute, have extensive data collection and surveillance capacities, have inserted themselves into the state in numerous capacities, including military kill chains, and they are being run by egomaniacal billionaires who are rushing to monopolize an entire new market. The way I think about their most recent frightening-seeming exploits is not as a “swarm of rogue AI agents building a new civilization” or whatever, but as corporations with a hitherto-unimaginable amount of compute at their disposal recklessly experimenting with automation programs, completely unafraid of any repercussions because we have been unwilling or unable to impose any on them. So I think we should welcome any newfound imperative to hold them accountable. I also think that ultimately, the AI critics, Pause AI folks, leftists, doomers, effective altruists, and, honestly, most of the public, want a lot of the same things: legitimate checks and limits on AI companies’ power, actual transparency into what the companies are doing, and for more of AI to be under public control. (Ultimately, a lot of what animates the x-risk fears are rooted in just that: a fear of losing control.) How we move towards all this, exactly, is the question of the day, and while there’s much to be argued over in terms of building a viable political platform to challenge the AI industry’s power, I do want to cast a vote against one particular approach. Not to pick on Chris here, as there are a lot of folks out there proposing stuff like this, and the policy ideas actually stem from AI safety groups. But not only would this be challenging to land politically (I can already hear the ‘China will beat us to AGI’ calls) and all but unworkable in practice, this approach is a) far too limiting, b) fails to address the current harms caused by AI and c) would likely only wind up serving Anthropic and OpenAI; it’s what regulatory capture looks like in action. Full model transparency is the floor for what should be on offer here. If these companies believe their products will kill us, the very least we deserve is to know how. It’s in the public interest. I would also argue we might get a lot of the way to stopping any currently envisioned robot apocalypse simply by forcing AI companies to assume liability, and to submit to the full brunt of the law. If Sam Altman were liable to be charged with a felony for approving the hack on Hugging Face1, if Google was forced to pay defamation fines each time it published a false and injurious AI Overviews, these companies might suddenly find cause to restrain their models’ output, and we might hear less about rogue AI. We would need to introduce new frameworks and available tools for tracking automated lawbreaking, to be sure, but I’d wager that little would frighten the AI companies more than actually being held accountable for what their products enable. To that end, Illinois has passed an AI liability law, which the industry fought tooth and nail, and Florida is considering one. The next steps would be towards moving AI under public control; again, it’s only reasonable, since everyone, not just AI insiders, should get a say over how a technology whose developers say might kill us is developed and deployed. Dismantling the whole industrial project as currently structured should be on the table, too, pending democratic input. But that’s for another post. For now, suffice to say that while I won’t be losing any sleep about an AI-enabled extinction event, Mr. Coxon and co. have given us an opportunity to underscore the urgency of the clear and present damage AI companies are doing, the extreme power they wield and the extent to which they hold themselves unaccountable, and the abundance of political capital there is out there for taking them on. Subscribe 1 Purely speculative! I do not know if he did or not.
Rodrigo’s inaugural Daisy Chain Fields music festival supported women-centered organizations
The weather in Irvine was unusual on Aug. 29. Temperatures rose to a beaming 95 degrees early in the day. Who wouldn’t want to stay indoors in that scorching condition? Fans coming to watch Olivia Rodrigo’s revolutionary Daisy Chain Fields music festival, that’s who. Tickets went live and sold out within the first half hour, […]
HIGHLIGHTS: Monahans vs. Lovington
MONAHANS, Texas (KMID/KPEJ) – The Monahans Loboes have surpassed their win total from last season after defeating Lovington 35-7. With the win the Loboes improved to 2-1. In week four, Monahans is on the road taking on Shallowater. Watch the video above for the highlights.
A win not in the Cards; White Sox fall again
Fourth straight loss, and eighth in 11 games, shrinks the AL Central lead to a half-game
Back to the drawing board for disappointed Tiafoe
Frances Tiafoe left Arthur Ashe Stadium court to a standing ovation on Friday, but he won't be coming back on Sunday.Tiafoe won the ATP grass court title in Halle this year and reached the final of the Cincinnati Masters in the run-up to the Open.
Moderna, 10x Genomics, Oscar Health, and Novavax Shares Are Soaring, What You Need To Know
A number of stocks jumped in the morning session after Morningstar reported that challenging macroeconomic conditions across broader equity markets drove a rotation into healthcare, lifting the sector index by approximately 7% quarter-to-date to reach a 5% valuation premium.
Mizzou tops Kansas 38-21; wins 5th straight Border Showdown
Kansas could not overcome their second half mishaps as mishaps as Mizzou was able to secure a 38-21 victory on Friday night.
Giving Props: Vikings Player Bets for This Sunday
Let’s try to increase everyone’s bankroll, shall we?
Hackler concludes Summer Small Business Lunch & Learn Series with startup workshop
Hackler Hall Event Center will host the final installment of its Summer Small Business Lunch & Learn Series from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 15.
Milwaukee alder says 'days are numbered' for Water Street entertainment district
Milwaukee alders voted to restore a 1 a.m. food truck curfew on Water Street after a lawsuit challenged the city's stricter 10 p.m. restriction
Fitch explodes in first half to down Maple Heights
Austintown Fitch (1-1) will host Butler (PA) in week five.
In rural Wyoming, a first-ever maternal health summit focuses on solutions to fill gaps in care
About half of Wyoming counties don’t have an OB/GYN. At least nine don’t have labor and delivery units.
In rural Wyoming, a first-ever maternal health summit focuses on solutions to fill gaps in care
About half of Wyoming counties don’t have an OB/GYN. At least nine don’t have labor and delivery units.
Colombia to Start Aerial Spraying of Coca Crops Despite Health Worries
The plan — quickly challenged by a local court — came days after Colombia’s president and the U.S. secretary of state, Marco Rubio, discussed stronger measures against drug trafficking.
Chesapeake blue crabs had an unusual rebound after years of decline. Scientists don’t know why
After half a decade of worryingly low numbers, the Chesapeake Bay's blue crab population appears to be fighting its way out of a slump. Scientists still have no clear explanation for why, and say the growth deserves cautious optimism.
A.J. Brown heading to injured reserve, will miss at least 4 weeks with ankle injury, AP source says
New England Patriots wide receiver A.J. Brown will be sidelined for a minimum of four weeks because he's being placed on injured reserve with a right ankle injury, a person with knowledge of the move told The Associated Press on Friday. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the team hadn't announced Brown's status. Brown was injured in the second half of New England’s season-opening 13-10 loss at Seattle on Wednesday night.
Mississippi teen overcomes health challenges to harvest 12-foot alligator
When a 12-foot, 4-inch alligator jumped out of the water, Zoe Pell realized the hunt this year would be much different from the year before.
Iowa public universities see enrollment bump, but challenges loom
Undergraduate enrollment at Iowa’s three state universities increased slightly this fall, a trend that is unlikely to continue because of the anticipated decline in the traditional pool of college-age students. The slight bump in enrollment is partially due to improved retention rates, targeted tuition incentives for out-of-state students and curriculum aligned to workforce needs, university…
‘Halloween: The Game’ Rolls Out Second Patch Update – Here’s the Full List of Changes
Halloween: The Game has been available for a full week at this point, and developers Illfonic have announced a second patch update for the game that will
Gianluca Busio injured for Venezia, dealing blow to USMNT hopes
Venezia midfielder Gianluca Busio was substituted with an injury just before halftime against Fiorentina in a Serie A match on Friday, Sept. 11.
Perspectives on hospitality and entertainment from Randy Barton
“I don’t accept on behalf of myself, but on behalf of all the folks who love arts and culture,” Barton said.
LeadingAge to CMS: Halt the Hospice, Home Health Moratorium
LeadingAge has urged the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to end the temporary hospice and home health moratoria in advance
Click here to watch Tapatío live away to Dorados
Tapatío is already heading into the second half of the 2026 Apertura in the Liga de Expansión, which also brings an unprecedented visit. Their Matchday 8 clash against Dorados will feature a new ven...
Bournemouth v Brentford: Key stats and talking points
Bournemouth are looking for a first Premier League victory over Brentford. Two points from three matches so far probably isn't a fair reflection on how Marco Rose's side have played, but they have developed a habit of crumbling late on in games. In contrast, all of the four league goals scored by Bournemouth have come in the first half.
Performers’ Circle features Putah Creek Crawdads
The Performers’ Circle will celebrate the beginning of fall as the Putah Creek Crawdads playing folk and bluegrass tunes at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 22, at Davis Odd Fellows Hall,
Aware Recovery Care’s Financial Troubles Worsen, Sales Talk Emerges
Financial challenges at Aware Recovery Care have escalated, and new court filings suggest the Connecticut-based addiction
LEGO Challenge among upcoming Jervis library activities
Jervis Public Library in Rome has announced its upcoming activities for the week of Sept. 14, including a LEGO Challenge on Monday, Sept. 14 and a Jigsaw Puzzle Competition on Thursday, Sept. 17.
Moderna, 10x Genomics, Oscar Health, and Novavax Shares Are Soaring, What You Need To Know
What Happened? A number of stocks jumped in the morning session after Morningstar reported that challenging macroeconomic conditions across broader equity ma...
The U.S. Open turned exclusivity into a half-billion-dollar business, and the $23 Honey Deuce is just the beginning
The tournament pulls in more than $500 million a year by selling prestige as much as tennis—from $800 million in luxury renovations to a cocktail that moved 738,459 units.
New traffic rules and food upgrades at The Vaught
OXFORD, Miss. (WJTV) – Ole Miss Athletics announced new adjustments and enhancements to The Grove and Vaught-Hemingway Stadium ahead of the football team’s first home game of 2026 on September 12, 2026. New Grove Traffic Flow With construction ongoing at Jones Hall, portions of Grove Loop will be closed to thru traffic on gamedays. Vehicles […]
FBS vs. FCS Games Need to Be Banned
Enough is enough. FBS teams should not be playing FCS teams anymore. If you need evidence, just look at what happened Thursday night. No. 7 Miami absolutely slaughtered Florida A&M 77-7 , and somehow the final score doesn’t even explain how ugly this game actually was. Miami led 49-0 at halftime and 77-0 at the…
PAHO and The University of the West Indies postgraduate programme strengthens health leadership in the Caribbean
Since 2022, the Postgraduate Diploma and Certificate in Health Policy and Health Systems has helped strengthen regional capacity to address challenges such as health workforce shortages, migration and growing demand for health services.
Bristol life sciences manufacturer delays plant closure, final layoffs until year-end
IDEX Health has delayed the final closure of its Bristol facility and layoffs of up to 15 remaining employees until Dec. 31.
Oklahoma businesses face hiring, sales pressures this fall
Oklahoma businesses face hiring challenges, weaker sales and inflation concerns as small-business optimism slips.
Students encouraged to participate in Science Coalition’s video challenge; deadline is Oct. 30
The Science Coalition is hosting its seventh annual Alyse Gray Parker Memorial Student Video Challenge in which students are encouraged to create videos highlighting the importance of scientific research.
9/11 Pentagon official remembers his survival 25 years later
For Lt. Col. Brian Birdwell of Texas, the Pentagon is more than a workplace, it’s the spot where his life nearly ended. Twenty-five years later, he’s walking its halls again, carrying with him a story of survival and a connection to the day that changed a generation.
Stars of tomorrow — and today
UNLV’s Jazz Ensemble I and Latin Ensemble bands return to Ham Hall on Saturday.
Padres Head To San Francisco With Slim Wild Card Lead
The San Diego Padres are ahead of Arizona by a half-game, and they'll try to at least maintain it against the Giants.
How Major League Baseball Anchored a Nation After 9/11
Major League Baseball has long mirrored the American psyche, but its role in the fall of 2001 transformed the sport from a national pastime into a key tool of national recovery. Following the September 11th terrorist attacks, which resulted in the tragic loss of about 3,000 lives, the country experienced an unprecedented halt in daily …
Hot werewolves, billionaire baby daddies and absurd cliffhangers. Entertainment's trashiest new obsession fits in the palm of your hand.
Vertical dramas are filmed to fit on your phone screen that indulge in cliches and spicy moments like R-rated Hallmark films.
Concerns and refinement but Chelsea are much-improved
Xabi Alonso left his last news conference in a subdued mood and wanting to conduct a "deeper analysis". It came after Alonso made four changes at half-time, introducing Cole Palmer, who scored twice, and Morgan Rogers, who provided four assists.
Commission approves Griffin Museum of Science and Industry plans to build visitor welcome hall
The Griffin Museum of Science and Industry will soon be sporting a new look.
Commission approves Griffin Museum of Science and Industry plans to build visitor welcome hall
Chiefs will put Broncos coaches to the test
Davis Webb and Vance Joseph know the Chiefs will challenge them from both sides of the ball and on the sideline.
Hall ‘really proud’ after signing new contract with Newcastle
Lewis Hall has signed a new long-term contract with Newcastle United which runs until 2031.The 22-year-old has made 107 appearances for the Magpies since initially joining from Chelsea on loan in Augu...
Hughes optimistic after challenging transfer window
Portsmouth sporting director Richard Hughes is "optimistic" about the squad he has helped to build following the completion of the transfer window.
Meta's AI program prompted internal revolt, program suspended
Meta's elite AI unit sought employee data to train models. A leak and worker revolt brought it to a halt.
Bipartisan Data Science and Literacy Act to Prepare Students for Data-Driven Economy Introduced
Today, Reps.Haley Stevens (D-MI), Jim Baird (R-IN), Don Beyer (D-VA), and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) introduced the Bipartisan Data Science and Literacy Act, to expand access to data science education and make sure Michigan students have the skills needed to compete in an increasingly data-driven economy.
Enflame Technology soars after IPO as China backs Nvidia challengers
Tencent-backed Enflame is riding China's AI chip boom as US export curbs accelerate Beijing's semiconductor ambitions.
Chandigarh University's Computer Science Engineering Students Develop AI-Powered Platform to Detect Fraudulent Apps
Chandigarh University's Computer Science Engineering (CSE) students have once again proven their brilliance on the national stage by securing second position in the national-level CyberShield Hackathon, organized by Bank of India in collaboration with IIT Hyderabad to solve AI, cybersecurity and banking-fraud challenges, winning a prize of Rs 3 lakh by providing innovative solution for harnessing Generative AI for automated reverse engineering, static and dynamic analysis and risk scoring of fra
New anti-gun legislation is about preventing firearm ownership, not safety
By Ava Flanell It’s been a little more than a month since the most radical anti-gun legislation went into effect in Colorado history: Senate Bill 25-003. Originally intended as an “assault weapons ban,” Colorado Democrat sponsors settled for a complicated half-measure they wrongly believed would be a more tolerable violation of Coloradans’ Second Amendment rights. […]
Clemson's AI Essentials for Business helps leaders turn AI potential into practical strategy
Artificial intelligence is becoming part of everyday business, but for many leaders, understanding where it can create real value remains a challenge.
Postpartum politics: What it means to run for government as a new mum
Victorian Greens candidates Nina Crawley and Lini Fernando reflect on their experiences running a political campaign just months after giving birth. From the challenges and compromises to the support networks that wrapped around them, and why showing up vulnerably in public space matters. Subscribe In 2024, when my second child was four months old, I decided to run for local government. Fast forward two years, I am again four months postpartum, with my third child, and this time running in the state election. But this time has hit differently. Going through pregnancy, birth and postpartum while being a political candidate has had a more profound and personal impact than I ever expected. I reached out to my fellow Greens candidate for the state election, Lini Fernando, who gave birth 20 days before me, and her experience closely mirrored mine. Postpartum has its own unique challenges that we’ve not seen reflected in stories about women running for office. When people discuss the “juggle”, they’re usually talking about the practical mechanics of looking after small children - childcare arrangements, pumping schedules and logistics. As mums of multiple children, we were both aware of the logistical changes and difficulties that accompany giving birth and the months after. We assumed that combining this with running for election would be hard, but that we could organise our way out of any problems. What neither of us anticipated was the intense vulnerability that comes with putting yourself into the spotlight of a state election campaign at a time when you are physically exhausted and navigating things like breastfeeding and feeling like a stranger in your own body. There have been challenges that neither of us anticipated. Firstly, needing to buy new clothes because the supportive leggings that are a staple of the postpartum wardrobe weren’t going to cut it for community events. Lini held her first fundraiser - a trivia night - just three weeks postpartum. A business-casual wardrobe, several sizes bigger than pre-baby, was needed, and fast. As women, how we look is closely scrutinised, and the internalised fatphobia is loud. We are conditioned from our earliest days to believe that our appearance is tied to our worth, and taught how we are allowed to show up in public. Women who dare to put themselves into the spotlight also receive more abuse than their male counterparts, including criticism of their appearance. To stand in front of members of your community and try to convince them that you’re the best person to represent them in parliament is a challenge in and of itself. To do it with leaking breasts, a pelvic floor that could betray you at the first sign of a sneeze, a body that still feels unfamiliar, and with half your hair falling out (hello postpartum hair loss!) is another thing altogether. It requires courage, allowing yourself the grace to be vulnerable in public, and the belief that showing up, however imperfectly, matters. And the vulnerability isn’t just physical; it also includes factors like having to ask a campaign team to accommodate the realities of having a baby. Asking for help is hard, and it’s a skill that both new parents and hopeful political candidates need to become comfortable with. Parents understand the disappointment that comes when a call for help or connection is rebuffed, like a friend cancelling a much-needed coffee. That rejection is amplified for political candidates calling dozens of people each week. Many people don’t realise running for Parliament, when you aren’t the incumbent, is a volunteer role supported largely by other volunteers who have to squeeze volunteering in around their paid work. Calls need to be made and meetings held after work hours - usually during “witching hour” (5-8 pm), that special time of night when babies cry for no reason. I found that I was struggling to make these commitments, or having to tap out and ask for them to be rearranged. When I spoke to Lini, we realised that she had had a similar experience, this push-pull of being the candidate and wanting to show our faces at meetings and help recruit new volunteers at ‘calling parties’, but also being the only people who could settle our newborns. Sometimes we could merge the two worlds; Lini and I realised that we had both attended 7:30pm meetings online, sitting in a dark room, struggling though breastfeeding and settling our babies. Although we’re both committed to breaking the stigma around breastfeeding, it can be hard to keep your composure while trying to feed a young baby as they try to latch, spew and fuss. Ultimately, Lini and I agreed that showing up vulnerably in public space matters. Leaders should possess empathy and understanding for those who feel raw and in transition; from the dad who just got evicted to the teen who acquired a disability - anyone who feels they aren’t the version of themselves they expected right now. The patriarchy tries to tell us otherwise, but women shouldn’t have to wait until they’re ‘recovered’, no longer vulnerable, before they feel entitled to participate in public life. In fact, we could all benefit from our leaders being a little more vulnerable. *This piece was cowritten, but has been presented in the first person for the sake of style. About the authors Nina Crawley is former teacher and community organiser who now works in human rights and inequality advocacy for a non-profit. She’s a mother of three keen to get back to running as soon as her pelvic floor allows! She’s contesting the seat of Ivanhoe for the Greens in this year’s state election. Lini Fernando is a lawyer working in diverse areas of law including anti corruption and public law. She’s a mother of two and a gardening and good policy enthusiast. She is currently contesting the seat of Croydon for the Greens in this year’s state election. Thanks for reading Cheek Media Co. ! This post is public so feel free to share it. Share
Fact check: Trump, RFK Jr. and others make false claims on night 2 of GOP convention
(CNN) — President Donald Trump delivered another rapid-fire series of false claims on the second night of Republicans’ midterm convention on Thursday. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. did his own barrage of wrongness. And various other speakers uttered statements that were untrue, misleading or missing critical context.Here is a fact check of some of the assertions from the final day of the convention. This is not intended as a comprehensive list of Thursday’s falsehoods.Trump’s many false claimsTrump made numerous false claims, some of which he also made in his longer speech Wednesday.Trump claimed that there were “no empty seats” in the Dallas arena as he spoke Thursday, which was visibly untrue. CNN White House correspondent Alayna Treene, who was there, wrote in a live chat right after Trump made the claim that “I’m looking at rows of empty seats” and that “the idea that there are ‘no empty seats’ is just laughably untrue,” though she also said the room was mostly full. Trump has for years made false claims about supposedly never having had an empty seat.Trump further inflated one of his favorite fictional figures, claiming Thursday that “$22 trillion” in investment has come into the US; on Wednesday, he had put it at “over $20 trillion,” and even that lower figure has no apparent basis in reality. As of the time he spoke Thursday, the White House’s own website claimed there had been “$11.2 trillion” in “major investment announcements” this term, not “over $20 trillion,” and the White House figure was itself a major exaggeration of actual investment.Trump, talking about elections, lied that “there’s never been bigger cheaters” than Democrats; there is no basis for broadly describing Democrats as election cheaters. For the second straight night, Trump falsely claimed that the Biden administration allowed “25 million people” to pour into the country, though that number is nowhere close to correct. Trump again falsely claimed that former President Joe Biden and other Democrats “created the worst inflation in American history,” though even peak Biden-era inflation, 9.1% in June 2022, was far from the all-time record of 23.7%; it was a 40-year high, but the rate then fell sharply before Trump returned to office.Trump also baselessly claimed that Democrats would “defund the police” and give “voting rights and welfare to 25 million illegal aliens” if they won the midterms. Republicans will still control the White House in 2027 and 2028 and the president would be in position to veto any such changes if a Democratic-controlled Congress sought to make them, but there is no indication that Democrats want to do so. Also, even groups favoring strict immigration policies estimate that the total undocumented population is far less than “25 million” or even 20 million.As he did Wednesday, Trump claimed the US now has the world’s lowest prescription drug prices. The assertion is so broad that it is unclear what exactly Trump is referencing. But experts told CNN they highly doubt that the prices for brand-name drugs in the US are generally less than they are in other countries, and the Trump administration has not provided details to prove the claim.“It’s tough to claim that you’re getting the lowest prices anywhere in the world and then also not have any evidence to support that,” said Andrew Mulcahy, a senior health economist at RAND, while Diederik Stadig, senior healthcare economist at financial institution ING, said, “To say that the US now has the lowest drug prices in the world is at this moment not true.”And as he did Wednesday, Trump said “more Americans are working today than ever before” – which is true but nearly meaningless, since the number of people working in the US generally rises over time simply because the population rises over time.“There are more Americans working because there are more Americans. That’s the entire analysis,” Justin Wolfers, a University of Michigan professor of public policy and economics, wrote in his newsletter in August.RFK Jr.’s false claims on the pandemic, Trump’s record and moreFalse claim about Democrats and the 2024 electionKennedy unsuccessfully ran for the 2024 Democratic presidential nomination before withdrawing to run as an independent and then eventually endorsing Republican candidate Donald Trump. In Kennedy’s Thursday convention speech, he complained of how the Democrats handled the nomination race.At one point, he said, “For the first time in history, they cancelled their own convention. No voter ever cast a primary ballot for Kamala Harris, no elected delegate was ever consulted; the party of ‘No Kings’ simply anointed a queen.”Kennedy is entitled to express unhappiness about how quickly Democratic leaders coalesced around then-Vice President Harris after Biden unexpectedly dropped out of the race in July 2024, after the primaries were over and less than four months from Election Day. But it’s not true that the party canceled its convention or that delegates didn’t get any say.The convention was held; it was a four-day event in Chicago in August 2024. Democratic convention delegates officially nominated Harris in a virtual roll call vote in advance of the convention. It’s true that Harris was the only candidate on the roll call ballot, but that’s because she was the only candidate who gathered enough delegate signatures to appear on the ballot.It’s clear that party elites’ backing of Harris played a key role in the unusual nomination process. But Kennedy’s specific allegations that the convention was abandoned and delegates were cut out of the process are not true.False claim that Democrats closed ‘every church’ during the Covid-19 pandemicWhile attacking Democrats, Kennedy claimed that, during the Covid-19 pandemic, “They closed every church in our country for a year.”It’s not true that every church in the country was closed for a year, nor even that every church in a Democratic state was closed for a year.Every state issued some type of guidance or order about social distancing during the Covid-19 pandemic, but many states – including some led by Democrats and some led by Republicans – incorporated religious exemptions into those limitations on social interactions.According to a Pew Research Center analysis from April 2020, 15 states allowed religious gatherings to continue without a limit on their size. That set of states included Colorado, Michigan and Pennsylvania, which all had Democratic governors. And at least two states with Republican governors, Alaska and Idaho, were among the states that prohibited religious gatherings at least briefly.False claim that Trump ‘ended nine wars’Trump has repeatedly claimed that he has ended “eight wars.” Kennedy went one higher on Thursday, declaring, “President Trump has ended nine wars.”That’s false. Trump hasn’t even ended eight wars.Trump’s list of eight includes two situations that were never actually wars during his tenure: a diplomatic dispute between Egypt and Ethiopia and a mysterious supposed situation between Serbia and Kosovo. The list also includes a war, involving Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, that hasn’t actually ended despite a peace agreement brokered by the Trump administration.In addition, the list includes the war between Israel and Hamas, but Israel continues to conduct frequent attacks in Gaza despite a US-brokered ceasefire agreement. And it includes the brief 2025 conflict between Israel and Iran, though Israel proceeded to join the US in starting another war against Iran in 2026.Claim about reversing a decline in longevityKennedy speaking of the Trump administration, claimed Thursday: “We have now reversed a 30-year decline in longevity. “Kennedy referenced preliminary data that he said he had received from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this week, but it’s unclear what metric of longevity he’s referring to.CDC data shows that US life expectancy had been steadily increasing for decades before a sharp drop during the Covid-19 pandemic. Life expectancy had already started to rebound in 2022, under the Biden administration, and reached a new record high in 2024 before Trump’s second term began.Preliminary data shared by the CDC in July suggests that life expectancy probably hit another record high in 2025.CNN has reached out to HHS for clarification on Kennedy’s comments.Claim that Democrats ‘lost 360,000 children’Speaking about Democrats, Kennedy said: “They somehow lost 360,000 children and they turned our federal government into the biggest child trafficking operation in world history.”Trump and other Republicans have made similar claims. But there’s no basis for the assertion that Democrats “lost” so many children or that the federal government was engaged in human trafficking.A 2024 report from the inspector general for the Department of Homeland Security said Immigration and Customs Enforcement had reported that more than 32,000 unaccompanied migrant children failed to appear as scheduled for immigration court hearings after being released or transferred out of custody between fiscal years 2019 and 2023 – a period that, notably, includes two years and four months under the first Trump administration. The report also said that 291,000 unaccompanied migrant children during this period were not given notices to appear in court.The report said that ICE had “no assurances” these children “are safe from trafficking, exploitation, or forced labor.” But it did not say all the children were actually “lost” and did not definitively assert that any of them were trafficked – let alone that the government was somehow involved in a trafficking operation. And, again, the report spanned parts of both a Republican administration and a Democratic administration.Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, told CNN in 2024: “Long story short, no, there are not 320,000 kids missing. 32,000 kids missed court. That doesn’t mean they’re missing, it means they missed court (either because their sponsor didn’t bring them or they are teenagers who didn’t want to show up). The remaining 291,000 cases mentioned by the (Office of the Inspector General) are cases where ICE hasn’t filed the paperwork to start their immigration court cases.”Vance on inflation, crime and taxes on Social SecurityA false claim about the media and Biden-era inflationVice President JD Vance mocked the media during part of his speech on Thursday. But he made a false claim about Biden-era inflation while lampooning how the media supposedly challenged him over another false claim on that subject.Vance said: “The president and I would go during a campaign, we’d say, ‘You know, inflation is as high as it’s been in 100 years,’ and the fake news would say, ‘No, no, no, it’s as high as it’s been in 68 years.’ That ain’t good, ladies and gentlemen.”Mainstream journalists, at least, wouldn’t say that inflation under Biden was as high as it had been “in 68 years.” Rather, CNN and others noted that peak inflation under the Biden administration, 9.1% in June 2022, was the highest in about 40 years.Vance is entitled to make his general point that this correction still doesn’t make Biden-era inflation sound good, but his specific number was, again, wrong. And he didn’t acknowledge that inflation fell sharply under Biden after hitting the 40-year high, declining to 2.9% in Biden’s last full month in office, December 2024, and 3.0% in January 2025, when Trump and Vance were inaugurated.The rate was 3.4% in July 2026, the most recent month for which data is available.Trump didn’t end taxes on Social SecurityVance claimed, “We’ve ended taxes on Social Security.” Several other convention speakers, including Rep. Lisa McClain of Michigan, Rep. Ryan Mackenzie of Pennsylvania and Ohio House candidate Derek Merrin, similarly said the administration has achieved “no tax on Social Security.”It hasn’t. The big domestic policy bill Trump signed in 2025 did create an additional, temporary $6,000-per-year tax deduction for individuals age 65 and older (which phases out for individuals earning $75,000 per year or more), but as the White House has implicitly acknowledged, millions of Social Security recipients will continue to pay taxes on their benefits even before the temporary new deduction expires after 2028.The Social Security Administration said in 2025 that “the bill ensures that nearly 90% of Social Security beneficiaries will no longer pay federal income taxes on their benefits.Claim about violent crime rate under BidenWhile criticizing the Biden administration, Vice President JD Vance claimed Thursday that the US “became a country where violent crime exploded, unless, of course, you could afford private security.”But violent crime did not explode under Biden. In fact, as FactCheck.org reported last month, data collected and published by the FBI shows that the national violent crime rate was at a lower level in 2023 and 2024, the last two full calendar years of Biden’s term, than it was in 2020, the last full calendar year of Trump’s first term. The year 2020 was highly unusual in many ways – violent crime jumped amid the Covid-19 pandemic – but Biden nonetheless left office with violent crime lower than it was when he took over. In fact, the 2024 violent crime rate was even lower than the 2019 rate under Trump before the pandemic.There was an increase in violent crime during the earlier part of Biden’s term. But given the subsequent decline, it’s misleading at best to claim violent crime “exploded” with no further context.Asked earlier this month about Trump’s similar previous claims to have reversed a Biden-era upswing in violence, crime data expert Jeff Asher said in an email: “No, crime began dropping significantly in 2023 during the Biden administration. Murder fell at record rates in 2023, 2024 and 2025 and, while 2026 may not feature a record decline nationally, it is still on track to see a sizable double-digit decline this year. Violent crime similarly fell nationally in 2023 and 2024, though the drops were more muted than the decline that was recorded by the FBI in 2025.”Other GOP speakersMike Johnson’s false claim about the inflation Republicans inherited from BidenSome other speakers at the convention took aim at inflation under Biden. House Speaker Mike Johnson claimed that “Republicans inherited from the Biden administration record-high inflation.”That’s not true. The inflation rate was 2.9% in Biden’s last full month in office, December 2024, and 3.0% in January 2025, when Trump took over. That’s lower than the most recent rate, 3.4% in July 2026, and nowhere close to the all-time record of 23.7%, which was reached in 1920, or the highest point of Jimmy Carter’s presidency, 14.8%, which was reached in 1980.Johnson correctly said moments later that inflation reached “a 40-year high of 9.1% inflation” under Biden. But a 40-year high is not an all-time record. More importantly, Johnson didn’t explain that 9.1% was much higher than the rate Trump inherited or that the 9.1% rate occurred in June 2022, with roughly two-and-a-half years left in Biden’s term.The cumulative increase in prices from the beginning of the Biden administration to the end was also not the highest in US history. Federal figures show that beginning-to-end inflation under Biden was less than half of that during Carter’s term.What Johnson left out of his claim about a congressional resolutionWhile attacking Democrats as extreme, Johnson said: “Just last week, nearly every Democrat in the House of Representatives voted against condemning socialism and Marxism. They voted against it.”But the resolution didn’t use the word “Marxism.” And Johnson didn’t mention that the resolution wasn’t only about condemning socialism. Rather, it contained other language that Democratic leadership said was the focus of the party’s opposition to the resolution.The resolution’s first provision said it “condemns and denounces socialism in all its forms, including the Democratic Socialists of America, and opposes the implementation of socialist policies in the United States.” But its fifth provision said it “calls for enactment of the SAVE America Act,” Trump’s favored elections bill, which contains various provisions opposed by many Democrats.So while it’s very possible many Democrats would have opposed the resolution even without its expression of support for the SAVE America Act, the call to pass this elections bill served as a poison pill that ensured most Democrats wouldn’t support it.“House Resolution 1490 explicitly calls for enactment of the so-called SAVE America Act, which is the top legislative priority of far-right extremists,” Democratic House leader Hakeem Jeffries said in a statement last week.A New Mexico candidate left out key context in an attack on his opponentGreg Cunningham, a Republican House candidate in New Mexico, used some of his Thursday speech to criticize his Democratic opponent, Rep. Gabe Vasquez. Cunningham said of Vasquez: “He even voted against a resolution honoring the sacrifices and service of the brave men and women in law enforcement who protect, every day, our communities.”But Cunningham left out important context about the resolution. While its focus was expressing support for law enforcement, its preamble contained statements praising the Trump administration and criticizing “leftist activists,” “progressive politicians” and “sanctuary city policies” for allegedly making law enforcement less safe.In other words, a House member might vote against such a resolution, as the vast majority of Democrats did, because they disagreed with conservative components of it, not the general expressions of support for law enforcement. (CNN has reached out to Vasquez’s campaign and House office for comment on his vote.) It’s common for parties to write resolutions in a way that would make it difficult for opponents to support but would open those opponents to campaign attacks if they voted “no.”An Ohio candidate’s misleading attack about Democrats and votingMerrin, the Republican candidate running against Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur for a House seat in Ohio, claimed in his speech, “While Democrats talk about letting illegal immigrants vote in our election, Republicans fight for proof of citizenship, photo ID and fair elections.”It’s a big country, so it’s possible some Democrat somewhere is talking about letting undocumented people vote in some election. But Merrin’s claim is misleading at best. There is no proposal from Democrats in Congress to let undocumented people vote in the 2026 midterms – the election Merrin appeared to be referring to when he said “our election” – or vote in future federal elections.CNN has reached out to Merrin’s campaign for an explanation of his claim.House Majority Leader Steve Scalise invoked a similar theme in his speech Wednesday, claiming that Democrats had voted last week “to allow illegals to vote in our federal elections.” But there was no congressional vote on letting undocumented immigrants vote in any elections.Rather, there was a vote on the non-binding Republican resolution that included multiple provisions, including one that “reiterates the notion that American elections are for American citizens only,” one supporting Trump’s favored elections bill and one denouncing socialism.Opposing that multi-clause resolution doesn’t necessarily mean someone supports voting by any non-citizens, let alone non-citizens in the country illegally.This article has been updated with additional items.CNN’s Deja Oliver contributed to this report.The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
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