Mindful Intelligence

Freedomist OUTLOOK REPORT

Tuesday, March 7, 2023

Top Stories

DNC’S DHS CIRCUMVENTS DUE PROCESS THROUGH DOMESTIC INTELLIGENCE PROGRAM – The Department of Homeland Security has a program called “Overt Human Intelligence Collection Program” that allows agents to circumvent due process requirements of questioning individuals without their lawyers present.  The program allows them to interview anyone, including prisoners, where the due process issues begin to be muddled.  Employees of the prisons where the interviews took place demanded that the program pay for legal liability insurance, as they knew the program was a violation of the spirit of the law, at minimum.  read more

LAWYER OF HATE-GRIFTING SPLC LEADS TERROR ATTACK AGAINST POLICE – A staff attorney for the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is charged with participating in a terrorist assault against new police recruits in the city of Atlanta.  The hate-grift group uses accusations of “hate group” to give DNC-infested corporations the “justification” to unperson dissenting people, who then in turn continue to fund the hired “assassins.” The lawyer for the hate-grift group, Tom Jurgens, is alleged to have join in a planned assault of new police recruits at a new facility derisively called “Cop City.” read more

Atlanta Police say the group “destroyed multiple pieces of construction equipment by fire and vandalism.”  They added,  “The illegal actions of the agitators could have resulted in bodily harm. Officers exercised restraint and used nonlethal enforcement to conduct arrests.” read more

COLORADO ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TRANSITIONS KIDS WITHOUT PARENTAL CONSENT – Nicole Solas, the Senior Fellow of the Independent Women’s Forum, tweeted out images of emails that expose Colorado’s Poudre School District open defiance of state law that requires parental consent to “transition” students from one sex to another.  Pawelski concludes she will violate parents’ rights because she knows what’s best for the child, feed off their natural curiosity and confusion and inject your poisonous death cultism into their minds, confusing them even more, especially sexually. read more

Headlines

PRO-LIFE GROUP ACCUSES BIDEN’S FBI OF SPYING – Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising (PAAU) is accusing the FBI of using a federal informant to infiltrate their group and report their private conversations, notes, correspondence, which were then used against their director in court.   read more

PHILIPPINE COAST GUARD TRACKS CHINESE WARSHIP IN DUSPUTED WATERS – The Philippine Coast Guard released a photo of a Chinese warship off the coast of Philippine-claimed Pag-asa Island. The PCG issued a statement that read, in part, “The observed location of the Chinese vessels fall squarely within Pag-asa Island’s 12 [nautical miles] territorial sea. Their continuing unauthorized presence is clearly inconsistent with the right of innocent passage and a blatant violation of the Philippines’ territorial integrity.” read more

SCIENTISTS CLAIM THEY CAN GENERATE NEW BRAIN CELLS IN ADULTS – Researchers from the Universities of Geneva and Lausanne have discovered a way to generate new neurons in brains. Theoretically, they believe the technique, which was successfully carried out in adult mice, can be used to generate neurons in adult humans.  The discovery could lead to reversals of neuron loss from neurodegenerative diseases. read more

Wires –

PENTAGON EMBRACES WOKE OVER SECURITY AS MILITARY TURNS INTO DNC ACTIVIST CORPS – The Pentagon is enacting Woketarian policies that demonize heterosexuality, deny men and women are men and women, and stigmatize white males.  They are also doing this to the children of servicemembers, injecting their schools with this terroristic assault on human dignity.

The Merchant Marine Academy has also been infiltrated with this assault on human dignity, demoralizing our troops before they ever face conflict, teaching them to hate the very country they are called to serve.  A senior midshipman told Fox News, “There are ideological differences between the people in charge here and the people who actually go here, as well as the majority of the professors who are actually conservative themselves.”

NEWSOME TO BAN WALGREENS FROM STATE BUSINESS OVER ABORTION PILL- Governor Gavin Newsome (D-CA) announced plans to ban all current and future business with Walgreens over its decision not to carry baby-murdering pills.  He joins the anti-life activists calling for Walgreens to be boycotted from life for daring to not carry the abortion pill in states where it is either against the law or authorities have made it clear it will lead to litigation if they do carry the life-taking pill.

XI JINPING CONSOLIDATES POWER IN CABINET SHAKE-UP – Xi Jinping’s Cabinet, the State Council, is being altered to create a rubber stamp for the de facto Dictator.  The move was announced ahead of their key legislative session.

NOW FBI JOINS IN DECLARING COVID-19 CAME FROM LAB LEAK – FBI Director Christopher Wray echoed the earlier declaration by the U.S. Energy Department that the Covid-19 virus originated from a lab in China.  He stated, “The FBI has for quite some time now assessed that the origins of the pandemic are most likely a potential lab incident in Wuhan.”

FAUCI BEHIND CAMPAIGN TO DISCREDIT LAB LEAK STORY – Dr. Anthony Fauci is accused by U.S. House Republicans of pushing a fake news story he commissioned that “debunks” the claim that Covid-19 came from a Wuhan, China lab leak.  The GOP has emails from Dr. Kristian Anderson admitted that the paper he was writing was “prompted” by “Tony Fauci” (and two others).  He said in the email “Our main work over the last couple of weeks has been focused on trying to disprove any type of lab theory.”

CNN ORDERED TO BURY COVID-19 LAB LEAK STORY TO PROTECT DNC FROM TRUMP – Fox News is reporting that a “well-placed CNN Insider” was told by Jeff Zucker, the then-President of CNN, to bury the lab leak theory on Covid-19 because it was a “Trump talking point.”  Translation: We want to assure Biden wins the election, so even if we KNOW that Trump is right about where the virus came from, we will not only bury the story, we will produce hit pieces slandering anyone that puts forth this theory.

PARENT THREATENED WITH ARREST FOR LOOKING AT SCHOOL GAY AGENDA DOCUMENTS FOR TOO LONG – Maine father and parents rights advocate Shawn McBreairty is suing the Hermon School District for viewing material connected to the school’s Gay Straight Alliance Club for too long. The club indoctrinates children to believe capitalism is fundamentally anti-LGBTQ, scaring young Americans to reject their own country and raising them to be seditionists against our Republic.  McBreairty told the Daily Caller News Foundation “It’s a total lack of transparency which is really the issue.  We’re already paying taxes and I don’t live in Hermon but I’m a state and federal taxpayer so I’m still paying to indoctrinate those kids.”

MORE STATES DITCH THE DNC-CONTROLLED DIGITAL VOTER DATABASE SYSTEM – Three states, Missouri, Florida, and West Virginia, announce plans to stop using an electronic voter roll management system called ERIC.  The system is run by leftist activists and appears to be creating fake voters rather than eliminating them.  27 States and the District of Columbia still use the DNC-voter-creating software system.

TRENDING

TikTok Ban Gets Bipartisan Support in U.S. Senate

Tribe That Worshiped Prince Philip Disappears After Cyclone Strike

Florida Republican Proposes DNC-Type Bill Requiring Licenses for Political Bloggers

DNC in MD Want People Under 25 to LITERALLY Get Away with Murder

US WATCH

Missouri Bill to Stop Mutilating Children in the Name of Transgenderism Introduced

Anti-Free-Speech MIT Students Created Fake LGBTQ Gay Slur Campaign

Are Republican States Balking on Defending Election Integrity?

The Squad Pays Boy Toys with Tax Payer Dollars

WORLD WATCH

Netherland Farmers Protest Draconian Globalist “Climate Change” Laws

Armenia Looks to India for Additional Defense Support

U.S. Conducts Military Drills with West African Allies

Foreign Fishing Vessels Not Welcome in Somalia’s Waters

FAITH WATCH

Texas Tech Suspends Coach for Quoting Scripture, Calls It “Racist”

Legal Challenge to Prayer Vigil on Public Grounds Rejected by SCOTUS

Biden Pushes Two-State Solution Even Though Palestinians, Israelis Don’t Support It

“He Gets Us” Superbowl Ad Funded by Far Left Anti-Christian org

FINANCE WATCH

Bipartisan Letter by Senate Republicans Looks to Check Banking Regulator Michael Barr

Germany Moves to Lock China Out of Digital Network Infrastructure

SCI-TECH WATCH

Were There Two Big Bangs, One Being Dark?

Your Loved One in Need Might be an AI Voice Calling to Scam You

Ford Wants Smart Cars That Can Repossess Themselves

CHINA WATCH

Nigeria Election Favors Growing Chinese Influence in Africa

Now Trudeau Says China Is Interfering in Election

Freedomist OUTLOOK REPORT

Monday, March 6, 2023

Top Stories

ABORTION ACTIVISTS DEMAND WALGREENS BREAK THE LAW AND SELL BABY MURDERING PILL OR ELSE  – Anti-Life activists have activated their Twitter hashtags in an effort to force Walgreens to violate the laws of 20 states and continue to sell the baby murder drug that allows them to continue to have what they imagine is unaccountable casual sex.  Walgreens would love to sell the death drug to its patrons but it fears the state more than it fears the leftist horde or, for that matter, God.

BIDEN ADMIN EARMARKS $2 BILLION TO SUPPORT ELECTION RIGGING BY LOCAL DNC SEDITIONISTS – The Biden Administration released a statement confirming their intentions to use $2 billion to fund anti-American activism aimed at suppressing election votes and protecting fraudulent DNC votes.  The plan includes funding for targeting “online harassment,” which we Americans understand to mean any expression that denies the DNC-CCP anti-American narrative.

CHINA INCREASING DEFENSE SPENDING BY 7.2% – China looks to increase its military budget by more than 7 percent, to $224 billion. The Biden administration’s defense budget for this year is $816 billion, but much of that budget is sure to be taken up in bloated administrative costs, costs that are only increasing as the DNC-CCP injects its Woketarian anti-American ideology into the military.

BIDEN’S DOJ SUPPORTS TRUMP BEING SUED FOR “INCITING VIOLENCE” AT JAN. 6 PROTESTS – The Justice Department under the aegis of the DNC-CCP is seeking to destroy resistance by declaring in a legal brief that their activist seditionists SHOULD be able to sue Donald J. Trump for the FBI-staged January 6 “Insurrection.”  The DNC-DOJ wrote that Presidential immunity does not “include incitement of imminent private violence.” The former President is being sued by Democrat Party operatives in elected office and Capital “Police” officers that helped stage the faux-insurrection.

AMERICA’S CORPORATIONS BETTING ON CHINA TO DRIVE AI STANDARDS – As American corporations continue to sell out Americans to Chinese interests, the rise of ChatGPT and other AI tools to create content is giving great power to the Chinese Communist Party to dictate the standards we Americans will face from our digital overlords.  Since American corporations tailor most of their products to get through the CCP market police, they must necessarily create products, including AI tools, that meet the CCP’s standards.

HEADLINES

1. WORLD WATCH

FINLAND ONE STEP CLOSER TO NATO – The Finish MPs recently approved entry to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) as Sweden continues to face opposition by NATO frenemy member Turkey.  The MPs voted overwhelmingly for the measure, removing it as an issue for next month’s upcoming election.

SOMOLILAND SECTARIAN VIOLENCE LEAVES 145 DEAD – Somaliland Security forces have been battling anti-government forces for the past month, attempting to hold on to the city of Las-Anod.  Anti-government forces accuse the government of targeting the city’s hospital.  So far, more than 145 fighters have been killed, with 1,800 people injured, and 10,000 people displaced.

1. US WATCH

BIDEN PLANS ON PRINTING $1 TRILLION COIN – The DNC is determined to bankrupt America by continuing to drive up the national debt.  With the Republicans winning the House and promising to stop expanding the legal debt limit, the DNC is plotting to print a $1 trillion coin as a workaround to continue to drive the country into debilitating debt.  Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) is introducing legislation to preemptively make such a move illegal.

BIDEN ROLLS OUT FIRST WAVE OF SYSTEMIC ANTI-WHITE RACISM THROUGH USDA “DISCRIMINATION” PAYMENTS – After announcing plans to create an anti-white panel of operatives within the Biden cabinet through its so-called “equity boards” in an effort to further divide Americans and push for racial violence, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced Arizona Legislature Seeks to Ban Non-Binary Politics in Public Schoolsplans to distribute billions of dollars to anyone not white under the cover of “correcting” discrimination.

ARIZONA LEGISLATURE SEEKS TO BAN NON-BINARY POLITICS IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS – Arizona’s GOP-led legislature has passed a bill in the Senate that would prevent public schools from forcing children to deny basic human reality, that boys are boys and girls are girls.  The bill is expected to be vetoed by the unelected governor, Katy Hobbs, who pledges to protect groomers in public schools from rightly angry parents.  A mother of a ‘trans’ student sums up the spirit of the depraved left with this assault on protecting children from pedophiles, “This bill violates trust, eliminates the only safe haven some students have and allows bigotry in the name of religion. Let’s not be the state that willingly harms already disenfranchised students.” 

1. CHINA WATCH

CCP SOLIDIFIES STRANGLEHOLD ON HONG KONG’S MURDERED FREEDOM – The CCP defied its promise to preserve Hong Kong autonomy by using pro-CCCP operatives from within Hong Kong to approve their authority becoming directly answerable to Beijing.  The move was handed down to them by a session in Beijing which will now have Hong Kong’s Affairs Office report directly to the CCP’s Central Committee. 

CCP THREATENS MUSK OVER COVID-19 TWEET- After Elon Musk tweeted an accusation that Dr. “Death to the Plebs” Fauci was funding gain-of-function research into the Covid virus through China’s Wuhan Lab, CCP mouthpiece Global Times fired a warning shot to Musk, saying “Musk, are you smashing China’s pot?”  The colloquialism means “Are you biting the hand that feeds you?”  Apparently, it’s not just the DNC Corporate conglomerate that owes its power to China, so does Musk.

CHINA LOOKS TO BUILD CITY NEAR BAGHDAD – The Chinese Communist Party, propped up by decades of special treatment by Western corporations, is spending its pirated cash to colonize as much of the world as it can, with Iraq being its latest target.  The regime hopes to build a costly new city near Baghdad that will curry favor with the locals while driving their country to debt.

Wires

TRENDING

Omega-3 Proving to Protect Against Covid-19 Virus

After Recent Drills, North Korea Threatens War with U.S.

DNC Looks to Stiff CCP Through Tech Crackdown

East Palestine Gets a New EPA Office

Non-Citizens Vote in Nation’s Capital

Navy’s Woke Strategy Leaving Recruitment Deficits

Western Allies Warn of Large-Scale Conflict with Russia

Britain Accuses YouTube of Illegally Gathering Children’s Data

POLITICS

Foreign MSM Demonizes GA Election Bills that End DNC-Fraud Loopholes

Leftist Town Bans Gun Possession for the Poor

Lightfoot Loses, and Chicago DNC to Define Itself in Mayoral Run-Off

Gunshot Tech Could Detect More than Gunshots, Portland Residents Contend

WORLD

North Korea Pushes for Probe into U.S Nord Stream Attack

China Gets Toehold in Liberia with “Health Project” Scheme

Myanmar Junta Gets Aviation Fuel Shipments From the Swiss

Anti-Netanyahu Protests Turn Violent

ASEAN Servers Hacked by CCP Operatives

South Sudanese Troop Deployment to Disputed Region Condemned by UN

FAITH

Nicaragua Cancels Easter

Schoolgirls Poisoned by Iranian Regime?

22 States Petition Court to Stop Religious Persecution of Photographers

UN Rights Chief Advocates for Destruction of Israel in Favor of Palestinians

FINANCE

Texas Considers Stopping DNC’s ESG Assault on Free Markets

American Chipmaker AMD Under Activist Assault

Political Civil War Spills into Corporate America’s 2023 “Proxy Season”

Disney’s Woke General Under Assault from Within

Amazon’s VA HQ Paused in Wake of Leftist Pushback

Paramount Settles Class-Action Lawsuit over CBS-Viacom Merger

SCI-TECH

Musk Wants “Based AI” to Combat Woke AI

AI to Become Paralegals in Law Firms

AI-Powered Detection Tool Aims to Detect AI-Created Content

AI Creates Images by “Reading” People’s Minds

Protein Drug Manufacturing Costs Could Drop After New Discovery

U.S. Army Looks for Upgrade in Tactical Drones

Will Generative AI End PCs and Smartphones?

The Earliest Horseback Riders Might Have Been the Yamnaya

3D Printing Takes a Detailed Step Up

DAILY GLOBAL OUTLOOK REPORT – March 1, 2023, Wednesday

A. WORLD WATCH

TURKEY TO HOLD ELECTIONS IN MAY, SAYS ERDOGAN – Just a few months after an earthquake struck Turkey, leaving tens of thousands dead and critical infrastructure in tatters, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced plans to hold national elections in May, presumably because among the chaos of the moment he can more easily “win,” by hook or by crook.

HEAD-ON TRAIN COLLISION IN GREECE LEAVES SCORES DEAD, INJURED – A passenger train collided with a freight train about 80 miles outside of Thessaloniki.  The collision has left at least 85 injured and 32 dead, figures that are expected to go up as the work continues to find survivors.  The crash occurred February 28, 203.

SRI LANKANS PROTEST, STRIKE OVER IMF-DICTACTED TAX INCREASES – President Rani Wickremesinghe is facing major protests after the nation decided to go with IMF-recommended tax increases to help the beleaguered country secure IMF funding. After the embattled President issued a ban on strikes, Sri Lankans commenced to strike, adding to the nation’s rising instability.

MOLDOVAN PROTESTS CONTINUE AFTER GOVERNMENT RESIGNATION – After the Pro-Europe government resigned, the protests continue, being led, allegedly, by Russian operatives.  The Pro-Russian Shor party appears to be leading the protests.  They currently only hold 6 seats in Moldova’s legislature.  The current President, , is being called a dictator in the protests that allege they want government subsidies for their energy bills and an avoidance of war.

SUDANESE PROTESTS TURN DEADLY AS GOVERNMENT KILLS PROTESTORS – Protests in Sudan have continued against the country’s self-installed military rulers.  In the latest round of protests outside the capital Khartoum, police admit to killing a protester, shooting him to death, escalating the violence on both sides.  So far, 125 protestors have been killed since the coup occurred in October of 2021.

The police defended their actions, saying “We saw the video that was widely circulated, including the falling of one of the protesters due to the behavior of one of our police officers, and we confirm here that the police had taken all the necessary legal procedures against him. We also stress that this was an individual behavior that was rejected by the police and against the orders we had given to our forces on the ground.”

The Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors tweeted in response to the killing Ibrahim Mazjoob, the latest protestor to be killed by the military junta, “The martyrdom of the revolutionary Ibrahim Majzoob is another crime added to the crimes of the police, the coup authority and its military council.”

NIGERIA’S RULING PARTY SECURES WIN IN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION – Bola Tinubu was declared the winner in a contested national election that has his opponents already calling for a revote and calls for their followers to reject the claimed election results. Tinubu is the figurehead of the ruling party, All Progressives Congress party, winning 37 percent of the vote title, with his closest opponent, Atiku Abubakar finishing at 29 percent.

VIETNAM CHOOSES PARTY APERATCHIK TO BECOME NEXT LEADER – The Communist Party of Vietnam has nominated Vo Can Thuong, the youngest member of the party’s politburo at 52 years of age, to be the next President. The nomination assures he will be the next President. He is an ally of the current General Secretary, Nguyễn Phú Trọng.

Thuong has been leading a massive “anti-corruption” sweep of the party.  His selection assures the current policies and the current purge will continue under his leadership. He replaces the previous president, Nguyen Xuan Phuc, who was forced to resign as a result of the “anti-corruption” purge.

B. US WATCH

TEAM BIDEN ADMITS COVID-19 WAS LAB-LEAKED FROM CHINA – After the U.S. Energy Department declared the Covid-19 virus came from a Wuhan Lab leak, now the FBI Director, Christopher Wray is ready to join in that assertion.  This follows years of blacklisting of Americans who shared the same belief, and censorship of this assumption on DNC-CCP-run social media platforms and in DNC-CCP allied newsrooms.

AMERICAN COLLEGE OF OB-GYNS DECLARES WAR ON “ANTI-ABORTIONISTS” – The DNC-CCP infiltrated organization that originally represented actual OB-GYN doctors has announced a policy change that bans pro-life, anti-abortion doctors from presenting the case for human life and against murdering unborn children. The American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists was barred from attending the corrupt ACOG’s annual education conference.  If you’re OB-GYN supports abortion, get a new OB-GYN.

“Despite multiple requests for an explanation as to why, the only explanation we’ve received is a vague explanation that we disagree with ACOG, presumably on the issue of abortion,” said AAPLOG’s incoming President Dr. Christina Francis.

IF VETERANS ARE KILLING THEMSELVES, LET’S DISARM ALL OF THEM, GOVT STUDY SAYS – A committee obviously contaminated with anti-American seditionists recently concluded a study that purported to seek to solve ways to end the rising rates of suicide among our military veterans. The Suicide Prevention and Response Independent Review Committee “concluded” in a conclusion that was most likely baked in to the “study” from the start, that the answer lies to ending suicides is to create “policies that encourage (or require) secure firearm storage practices and slow firearm acquisition could prevent some military suicides.”

GIRLS’ BASKETBALL TEAM SKIPS STATE TOURNEY TO PROTEST MALE PLAYER PRESENCE – A Girls’ basketball team from Vermont is protesting the inclusion of a male player on the Long Trail School Mountain Lions’ basketball team  The player, “Rose” Johnson, is 6’1” and has DOMINATED and physically intimidated the girls he is allowed to play against.

The Mid Vermont Christian School Eagles chose to forfeit the game rather than risk their girls getting injured playing against a physically dominate male. “We believe playing against an opponent with a biological male jeopardizes the fairness of the game and the safety of our players,” said MVCS head of school Vicky Fogg. “Allowing biological males to participate in women’s sports sets a bad precedent for the future of women’s sports in general.”

“GAY RIGHTS” PUBLICATION CALLS TENESSEE THE TALIBAN FOR BILL BANNING DRAG SHOWS FOR KIDS – In another example of the tone-deafness of LGBTQ activists, the Los Angeles Blade, a “Gay Rights’ activist publication, is calling the state of Tennessee the “Taliban” for trying to pass a bill that would ban drag shows for kids.

The publication insists, apparently, that rejecting pedophilic grooming of children makes Tennessee the Taliban, a bloodthirsty terror group that murders women and children for being the wrong Muslim sect.  Yet, the Taliban are closer to the Los Angeles Blade than the writer, Troy Masters, probably knows, as they too support drag shows for kids, and sex with kids as well.

C. SCI-TECH WATCH

BREAKTHROUGH MAKES MICROBATTERIES AS EFFICIENT AS REGULAR BATTERIES – A team of scientists from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign published a paper in Cell Reports Physical Science that claims they have figured out a way to create micro-scaled batteries without losing energy and power that is typical of current micro-batteries and designs. The team developed a new packaging design that eliminates much of the loss of power and energy of other designs, and they improved the overall performance of the battery by using much more dense electrodes than in previous designs.

A CURE FOR COVID-19? – Researchers at UK’s University of Cambridge believe they can create a class of Covid-19 killer drugs using a gene-cutting technology that could use artificial enzymes to surgically cut the virus’ RNA genome.

HIGHER REASONING SKILLS LEAD TO WOKE RESISTANCE, STUDY FINDS – Researcher Louise Drighe conducted a survey of 300 American adults to determine which individuals in the sample group were higher functioning cognitively than the others.  Then, the researchers conducted a survey asking them basic questions about free speech versus hate speech. They found a “moderate” correlation between high functioning cognitive ability and support of free speech, as well as between low functioning cognitive ability and support for hate speech laws.

D. CHINA WATCH

CHINA FACES WOKE BEAST IT HELPED CREATE IN AMERICA – A major reason why corporations feel so emboldened to offer Americans subpar entertainment and news reporting is their ability to offset the loss of American revenue with sweet business deals with China’s Communist Party.  The woke beast these corporations have been feeding, however, has arrived in China, with Tsunghua University Students now suing the Ministry of Education because it banned the display of the fascist rainbow flag that was once a symbol of gay rights and has now become a symbol of bigotry and hate aimed at heteronormative culture.  Given China’s population collapse, encouraging LGBTQ culture might not be in the best interest of the state.

FINANCE

Mild Winter Threatens Coal Industry

From
www.bloomberg.com –
Coal Miners Brace for ‘Awful Spring’ as Mild US Weather Crimps Demand
Excerpt:

The dramatic turnaround of the US coal industry that’s sent share prices soaring and provided a lifeline for miners is running out of steam.

Milder-than-expected weather that weakened demand has allowed stockpiles to swell, and coal prices are falling. The power-plant fuel also is facing competition from natural gas, which hasn’t been this cheap since late 2020. There are concerns that coal-fired US utilities will seek to delay contracted deliveries this year.

Read Full Article

Apple Faces Mounting Anti-Trust Pressures from EU

From
www.marketscreener.com –
Schibsted, publishers look to EU tech rules to resolve Apple antitrust concerns
Excerpt:

BRUSSELS, Feb 8 (Reuters) – Norwegian media groupSchibsted and the European Publishers Council haveurged EU antitrust regulators to ensure that tech rules cominginto play this year will rein in Apple’s powers,especially over its App Store.

The comments from Schibsted, the largest media group in theScandinavia region, and the publishers’ lobbying group come asthe European Commission’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) takes effectin May, targeting Big Tech.

Apple is already in the EU antitrust crosshairs related toits App Store practices in music streaming, in e-books andcompeting apps as well as its mobile payment system Apple Pay.

Read Full Article

UK Might Block Microsoft Purchase of Activision

From
www.bbc.co.uk –
Microsoft deal to buy Activision opposed by UK regulator
Excerpt:

Rima Alaily, Microsoft corporate vice-president and deputy general counsel, said: “Our commitment to grant long-term 100% equal access to Call of Duty to Sony, Nintendo, Steam and others preserves the deal’s benefits to gamers and developers, and increases competition in the market.”

Read Full Article

Illinois Has Highest Phone Tax Rate at 35 Percent of Bill

From
1440wrok.com –
Illinois Residents Are Hit With U.S.’s Highest Cell Phone Taxes
Excerpt:

TheCenterSquare.com:

“Illinois has the highest rate at just under 35% of your wireless bill that goes towards taxes and fees,” Justin Carlson of the Illinois Policy Institute told The Center Square.

The federal tax rate on wireless plans is 12.24%. Illinois’ state tax on wireless plans of 22.65% is the most expensive for cell phone users nationwide.

No other midwestern state finished in the top 10 of the list, as North Dakota finished at No. 11.

Read Full Article

Workplace Surveillance to be Challenged by U.S. Senate

From
www.motherjones.com –
Senate Democrats Are Taking Companies to Task Over Invasive Workplace Surveillance – Mother Jones
Excerpt:

Whether you call it “tattleware,” “bossware,” or “surveillance capitalism,” Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) has had enough of exploitative workplace monitoring technologies. Late last week, Casey and a handful of other Senate Democrats introduced the Stop Spying Bosses Act, which would help protect workers from intrusive employer surveillance both on and off the clock.

The legislation would require “timely and public” disclosures by companies about the data they’re collecting on employees, prohibit businesses from using surveillance practices that obstruct union organizing or monitor workers while they’re off the clock, and create a new division of the Department of Labor to regulate workplace surveillance. Sens. Cory Booker, John Fetterman, Elizabeth Warren, and Brian Schatz are cosponsoring the bill, which has also garnered support from some major labor groups.

Read Full Article

Israel Aims to Expand Gas Export Market

From
en.globes.co.il –
Israel intensifies efforts to increase gas exports
Excerpt:

Growing demand for gas throughout Europe and worldwide following the outbreak of the war between Russia and Ukraine has created a limited window of opportunity to export gas from the Middle East to Europe as well as to other countries like India and China.

In this situation, the governments of Israel, Egypt, Cyprus and Greece are striving to speed up handling the issue, and have formulated several different courses of action. Among other things, the governments intend building a new pipeline system that will carry gas from Israel and Cyprus to the liquefaction facilities in Egypt (which will also use the gas for domestic needs), building a liquefaction facility on the eastern shores of Cyprus, build a floating liquefaction facility as part of the expansion of the Leviathan field, and export gas to Europe using tankers.

Read Full Article

China High Court Makes Pro Anti-Trust Ruling

From
www.lexology.com –
China’s Supreme Court Ruling Likely to Prompt More Follow-on Antitrust Litigation
Excerpt:

In Short

The Development: China’s Supreme People’s Court recently ruled for the plaintiff in Miao Chong v. SAIC-GM, which marked a rare triumph for a plaintiff in antitrust litigation as a follow-on to an administrative penalty decision. The plaintiff-consumer alleged that a joint venture between General Motors China and SAIC adopted resale price maintenance in the sale of cars that harmed competition.

The Result: The case indicates a shift of the Chinese courts’ approach toward resale price maintenance and, more broadly, their recognition of Chinese antitrust enforcers’ administrative decisions.

Read Full Article

SCI-TECH

UK Plans Digital Currency Within 10 Years

From
www.kten.com –
‘Britcoin’ could arrive in the second half of the decade –
Excerpt:

“While cash is here to stay, a digital pound issued and backed by the Bank of England could be a new way to pay that’s trusted, accessible and easy to use,” UK finance minister Jeremy Hunt said in a statement. “That’s why we want to investigate what is possible first, whilst always making sure we protect financial stability.”

Read Full Article

AI to Become Your Company’s Video Content Creator?

From
www.technologyreview.com –
The original startup behind Stable Diffusion has launched a generative AI for video
Excerpt:

Set up in 2018, Runway has been developing AI-powered video-editing software for several years. Its tools are used by TikTokers and YouTubers as well as mainstream movie and TV studios. The makers of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert used Runway software to edit the show’s graphics; the visual effects team behind the hit movie Everything Everywhere All at Once used the company’s tech to help create certain scenes.

In 2021, Runway collaborated with researchers at the University of Munich to build the first version of Stable Diffusion. Stability AI, a UK-based startup, then stepped in to pay the computing costs required to train the model on much more data. In 2022, Stability AI took Stable Diffusion mainstream, transforming it from a research project into a global phenomenon.

But the two companies no longer collaborate. Getty is now taking legal action against Stability AI—claiming that the company used Getty’s images, which appear in Stable Diffusion’s training data, without permission—and Runway is keen to keep its distance.

Read Full Article

Machine Learning Becomes Fraud Cops in Finance

From
readwrite.com –
How is Machine Learning solving fraud detection in the Finance sector?
Excerpt:

You will find financial apps on a majority of smartphones. We often reach our phones to make online banking transactions or check our bank balances. Mobile apps are transforming how we used to perform financial activities, bringing convenience and flexibility to people’s lives. Banks offer nearly every possible service a user wants directly to their mobile apps. Henceforth, the need to visit the bank has reduced significantly, and there are so many customers who have not visited a bank in months or even years.

However, the injection of digital platforms in the finance industry also packs numerous fraud activities that the finance industry has to solve for users. A key solution to financial fraud detection and prevention is Machine learning.

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WORLD

UN Head Warns Ukraine War Could Spill Out to Rest of Europe

From
americanmilitarynews.com –
UN chief fears world is heading toward a wider war
Excerpt:

The United Nations chief warned Monday that the world is facing a convergence of challenges “unlike any in our lifetimes” and expressed fear of a wider war as the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine approaches.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said experts who surveyed the state of the world in 2023 set the Doomsday Clock at 90 seconds to midnight — the closest ever to “total global catastrophe,”

He pointed to the war in Ukraine, “runaway climate catastrophe, rising nuclear threats,” the widening gulf between the world’s haves and have-nots, and the “epic geopolitical divisions” undermining “global solidarity and trust.”

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Greece’s Newly Re-Elected PM Faces “Impeachment”

From
www.courthousenews.com –
‘Greek Watergate’ looms over reelection of tarnished prime minister – Courthouse News Service
Excerpt:

The “Greek Watergate,” as the scandal engulfing the prime minister and his government has been dubbed, is leaving a glaring hole in Mitsotakis’ sunny assurances he’s the steady-handed financial and political savior of Greece, the debt-burdened “sick man of Europe.”

As scandals go, this Watergate-like case of alleged government corruption and abuse of power is a slow-drip affair: For the past year, each month has brought to light more evidence of Mitsotakis’ likely knowledge and possible involvement in the surveillance of opposition politicians, journalists, government ministers, military officers, allies, prosecutors and others.

“Mitsotakis was very keen to project a new image of Greece: liberal, progressive,” said Wolfango Piccoli, an analyst with Teneo, a London-based political risk firm. “It did him well until this scandal exploded.”

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Syrian Kurds Plead for Mercy from Turks After Earthquake Devastation

From
anfenglish.com –
Afrin and Shehba Autonomous Administration calls on Damascus to lift embargo
Excerpt:

Afrin and Shehba Cantons Democratic Autonomous Administration members made a statement demanding to end the embargo imposed by the Damascus government to allow aid to reach the earthquake victims.

Co-chair Cemal Reşid read the statement made in the Serdem Camp square in Ehdas district.

Reşid expressed his condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in the earthquake and wished the injured a speedy recovery. He said that the citizens living in the Afrin region suffered a lot from the earthquake and added that 10 people were injured, 2 of them seriously, in Shehba. The injured were taken to hospitals in Aleppo.

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Myanmar’s Interrogation  Center Chief Now Deputy Home Affairs Minister

From
myanmar-now.org –
Officer in charge of Myanmar’s interrogation centres named deputy home affairs minister
Excerpt:

Myanmar’s junta has appointed Maj-Gen Toe Yi, the military intelligence official responsible for running the country’s notorious interrogation centres, as its new deputy minister for home affairs.

The deputy chief of the Office of the Chief of Military Security Affairs (OCMSA) was handed his new position last Friday, a day after his predecessor, Maj-Gen Soe Tint Naing, was reappointed to his former military duties.

The OCMSA, also known by it Burmese acronym Sa Ya Pa, was formed in 2004 as the successor to the Directorate of Defence Services Intelligence, the military intelligence agency disbanded following the ouster of its leader, Khin Nyunt.

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UK Balks at Ukraine Requests for Fighter Jets

From
www.urdupoint.com –
London Will Not Send Fighter Jets To Kiev If This Threatens UK – Reports
Excerpt:

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik – 09th February, 2023) London will not transfer fighter jets to Kiev, if it could affect the security of United Kingdom, The Telegraph reported on Thursday, citing 10 Downing Street.

On Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a speech in UK Parliament, asked the country to supply fighter jets to Kiev.

“Of course we would never do anything that would put UK safety at risk,” a representative of Sunak’s office, was quoted as saying by the newspaper.

The official added that the UK has “significant numbers of Typhoons and F-35s,” but the issue of the delivery of these types of aircraft to Ukraine should not be speculated on.

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Sudan Cracks Down on Pro-Democracy Artists

From
amp.france24.com –
Pro-democracy artists in crosshairs of Sudan’s junta
Excerpt:

When the 2019 revolution began in Sudan, paintings touting democracy and freedom appeared at sit-ins. These paintings made a strong impression on the young generation, who discovered a new means of expression after decades of censorship under Omar al-Bashir. After the military seized power in a coup d’état in October 2021, artists continued to express their thirst for freedom. Since then, they have been resisting peacefully, with demonstrations in the streets of Khartoum and artistic creations. But they face repression from the junta of General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan. Our regional correspondents report.

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Foreign Troops Prepare to Leave Libya as Civil War Winds Down

From
finance.yahoo.com –
UPDATE 1-Libyan military committee agrees coordination on foreign forces departure
Excerpt:

TUNIS, Feb 8 (Reuters) – Libya’s “5+5” military committee of officers from both main sides of the civil war has agreed on a coordination mechanism for the withdrawal of foreign forces in liaison with neighbouring Sudan and Niger, the United Nations said on Wednesday.

The procedural step would allow for joint coordination and data exchange to facilitate the full withdrawal of mercenaries and foreign fighters from Libya, the U.N. Libya envoy Abdoulaye Bathily announced after a meeting in Egypt.

However, any more concrete moves to pull out the hundreds of foreign fighters believed to be present in Libya after joining different sides in the conflict still face major political obstacles.

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China Urges West not to Win with Ukraine

From
www.msn.com –
China weighs in on the war in Ukraine, pushing Europe to stop trying to get Kyiv a ‘complete victory’ over Russia – msnNOW
Excerpt:

• China warned the West against pushing for Ukraine’s “complete victory” over Russia.
• “We are quite concerned about the possible escalation of this conflict,” China’s diplomat to the EU said.
• The Chinese diplomat said Beijing believes negotiations would be a better route forward.

The Chinese government has largely avoided taking strong public stances on Russia’s war in Ukraine, but Beijing’s ambassador to the EU expressed concern on Wednesday about Western support for Kyiv. He also threw cold water on the idea the conflict has any connection to Taiwan, a sticking point for China.

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Macron Worried Russia-China Ties Could Freeze Out France

From
www.express.co.uk –
Macron warned he will ‘lose out’ trade deals to China as Putin undermines France | World | News
Excerpt:

Emmanuel Macron has been warned Russia’s influence on African states may help China gain trade partnerships at the expense of France. The French President‘s decision to withdraw troops from Mali opened a window of opportunities for Russian President Vladimir Putin to spread anti-Western propaganda in the African continent, which in turn will aid China to gain more trading powers, according to Dr Stepan Stepanenko.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov pledged military support to Mali during his first visit to the West African nation on Tuesday and dismissed criticism of Moscow’s growing influence on the continent.

He told Express.co.uk: “Russian moves to arm Mali are undoubtedly an affront to the attempts and prospects of peaceful developments for the African state. With Lovrov’s comment on the “racist essence of [Josep Borrell’s] vision of the world”, it is evident that Russia is not only looking to gain friends in Africa but to discredit the West.

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Philippines and Japan Move to Form Common Defense Alliance

From
www.thedefensepost.com –
Philippines’ Marcos Strikes Defense, Infrastructure Deals in Tokyo
Excerpt:

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos hailed new defense and other deals signed with Japan in Tokyo on Thursday, as the nations seek to deepen ties, including on security in response to growing Chinese military pressure.

The countries agreed on measures to speed up military deployments for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.

They also signed several other deals, ranging from infrastructure loans to cooperation on agriculture and technology.

“After our meeting, I can confidently say that our strategic partnership is stronger than ever, as we navigate together the rough waters buffeting our region,” Marcos said following talks with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

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100-Year-Old Conflict the Fruit of Politicians, Says Ghana’s Military College Dean

From
www.ghanaweb.com –
Blame politicians for the Bawku conflict – Vladimir Antwi-Danso – GhanaWeb
Excerpt:

Dean of the Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College, Professor Vladimir Antwi-Danso has accused politicians of igniting the Bawku conflict despite severe repercussions for peace and order.

Professor Antwi-Danso claims that due to the political character of the problem, the war has been ongoing for more than 100 years with decreasing chances of achieving a lasting resolution.

He pointed out that the matter remains difficult to resolve because the two feuding factions are politically aligned, which makes it very challenging for the security authorities to restore calm in the region.

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Latvia Moves to Limit “Minority Language” Education

From
www.devdiscourse.com –
Legislative changes in Latvia to limit minority language education could constitute discrimination
Excerpt:

Recent legislative changes in Latvia to limit education in the country’s minority languages are contrary to human rights standards and could constitute discrimination, UN experts* said today.

In 2022, Latvia formulated and adopted a legislation amending the country’s education system that requires all pre-school and school institutions – including bilingual institutions and those operating in minority languages to transition to instruction exclusively in Latvian.

The law aims at transitioning the language of instruction in schools and preschool institutions to be only in Latvian by September 2025 – starting with preschools and school grades 1, 4 and 7 as of September 2023.

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FAITH

GOP-Led House Prepares to Confront Violations of Parental Rights by Public Schools

From
nebraskaexaminer.com –
U.S. House GOP preps for debates on parents’ rights, school vouchers and transgender athletes
Excerpt:

WASHINGTON — U.S. House Republicans laid the groundwork for some top legislative priorities during a Wednesday hearing that examined public funding for charter schools and voucher programs, as well as increasing parents’ oversight of school curriculum.

The Republican chair of the Education and the Workforce Committee, North Carolina Rep. Virginia Foxx, provided a forum for a discussion of legislation that would prioritize tax incentives for private or alternative schooling over public schools, allow parental access to public school curriculum and bar many transgender athletes from competing in school sports.

Public education has become a major cause for the GOP, mainly in Republican-controlled state legislatures and at local school board meetings at which conservatives target books, often with themes or characters centering on LGBTQ individuals or people of color. The results have been the banning of thousands of books as well as a culture war over school curriculum that centers on diversity, gender identity and inclusion.

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Kansas AG Warns OTC Abortion Pill is Illegal Under Federal and State Law

From
www.kwch.com –
Follow the law on mail-order abortion medication
Excerpt:

TOPEKA, Kan. (KWCH) – Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach on Monday sent a letter to Walgreens’ leadership regarding Kansas’ law on mail-order abortion pills. In the letter to Danielle Gray, Walgreens Executive Vice President, Kobach wrote that the company’s recently announced plan is illegal under federal and state law.

“Kansas will not hesitate to enforce the law,” the attorney general wrote.

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POLITICS

GOP Questions Twitter’s Former Censorship Team

From
www.wyff4.com –
Ex-Twitter execs face GOP questioning on Hunter Biden story
Excerpt:

Former Twitter executives conceded Wednesday that they made a mistake by blocking a story about Hunter Biden, the president’s son, from the social media platform in the run-up to the 2020 election, but adamantly denied Republican assertions that they were pressured by Democrats and law enforcement to suppress the story.Video above: Ex-Twitter Exec Yoel Roth testifies before Congress“The decisions here aren’t straightforward, and hindsight is 20/20,” Yoel Roth, Twitter’s former head of trust and safety, testified to Congress. “It isn’t obvious what the right response is to a suspected, but not confirmed, cyberattack by another government on a presidential election.”He added, “Twitter erred in this case because we wanted to avoid repeating the mistakes of 2016.

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Biden Admin Looking to End Covid-19 Border Restrictions

From
www.rollcall.com –
US tells Supreme Court that health policy will change border case
Excerpt:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention attempted to end the directive last year after determining that pandemic conditions had improved, but a Louisiana federal judge blocked that effort in a separate lawsuit brought by Republican-led states.

Still, the Justice Department has continued to defend its right to implement the policy in court. In the lawsuit in Washington, the Biden administration appealed the ruling to end the Title 42 policy but did not request to keep it in place while the appeal continued.

That prompted a group of Republican-led states to ask to join the case and defend the Title 42 policy in the government’s stead, nearly two years after the suit was filed. A federal appeals court rebuffed their request, but the Supreme Court paused the court-ordered end of the Title 42 policy as it considers the case.

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DNC Hopes to Pay Off White Blue Collar Workers with “Buy America” Plan

From
www.eenews.net –
White House releases details about ‘buy American’ plan
Excerpt:

President Joe Biden drew unusual bipartisan applause during his State of the Union speech when he called for rebuilding the nation’s crumbling infrastructure using entirely American-made materials, and the White House released more details Wednesday morning.

The administration wants new standards for projects funded with the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The standards would require that projects be built with material manufactured in the U.S.

“When we do these projects, and again I get criticized for this but I make no excuses for it, we’re gonna buy American,” Biden said Tuesday night, rattling off a list of materials. “Lumber. Glass. Drywall. Fiber optic cable.”

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TRENDING

White House Denies it Blew Up Nord Stream Pipeline

From
www.channelnewsasia.com –
White House rejects report that US was behind Nord Stream sabotage
Excerpt:

Hersh said the decision to bomb the pipelines, which were shut down but contained residual gas, was made in secret by US President Joe Biden to cut off Moscow’s ability to earn billions of dollars from natural gas sales to Europe.

The US also believed pipelines gave Russia political leverage over Germany and Western Europe that could be used to weaken their commitment to Ukraine after Russia invaded, according to Hersh.

Two weeks before the Feb 24 invasion, Hersh noted, Biden himself said publicly that the US would not allow the new Nord Stream 2 pipeline to be opened if Russia attacked Ukraine.

Hersh alleged, citing a single unnamed source, that the idea came up first in December 2021 in discussions among Biden’s top national security advisors on how to respond to Russia’s expected invasion of Ukraine.

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Twitter Heads Claim Mistake Made, Nothing More, on Hunter Biden Story Block

From
fortune.com –
Ex-Twitter execs testify they ‘erred’ on Hunter Biden
Excerpt:

Former Twitter executives conceded Wednesday they made a mistake by blocking a story about Hunter Biden, the president’s son, from the social media platform in the run-up to the 2020 election, but adamantly denied Republican assertions they were pressured by Democrats and law enforcement to suppress the story.

“The decisions here aren’t straightforward, and hindsight is 20/20,” Yoel Roth, Twitter’s former head of trust and safety, testified to Congress. “It isn’t obvious what the right response is to a suspected, but not confirmed, cyberattack by another government on a presidential election.”

He added, “Twitter erred in this case because we wanted to avoid repeating the mistakes of 2016.”

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Neo-Nazis Allegedly Plot Attack on Baltimore Power Stations

From
www.aljazeera.com –
US neo-Nazi charged in plot to attack Baltimore power stations | The Far Right News
Excerpt:

The United States Department of Justice has charged a neo-Nazi leader and his associate with plotting to attack Baltimore’s power grid, a plan the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) thwarted with the help of a confidential informant.

Brandon Russell of Orlando, Florida, and Sarah Clendaniel from Maryland were arrested last week, US officials said in a briefing on Monday, and they have been charged with conspiring to damage an energy facility.

Russell is a convicted felon and founder of a neo-Nazi group called the Atomwaffen Division that works towards “ushering in the collapse of civilization”, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights organisation that tracks US hate groups.

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Turkey Blocks Twitter After Catastrophic Earthquake Cripples Country

From
www.nytimes.com –
Twitter Is Blocked in Turkey After Earthquake, Internet-Monitoring Group Says
Excerpt:

Twitter was blocked on several networks inside Turkey, according to NetBlocks, a group that tracks internet outages — taking out a key communication channel for coordinating relief efforts after Monday’s devastating earthquake.

Alp Toker, the director of NetBlocks, said Wednesday that the coordinated nature of the block suggested that it was likely the result of a government order. He said network data indicated that the block was being done with software installed by telecommunications providers that can prevent specific websites and services from loading.

NetBlocks later said that by Thursday morning network activity appeared to show that access to Twitter had been restored.

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Wisconsin National Guard 17 Percent Short of New Recruit Needs

From
news.google.com –
Wisconsin National guard is 17% behind on recruiting efforts this year – WSAW
Excerpt:

WAUSAU, Wis. (WSAW) – Wisconsin is struggling to carry its own weight when it comes to the Army National Guard. The state should be about 8,000 soldiers strong. Yet recruiting challenges are making it hard to keep it that way, with current strength closer to 6,500.

The National Guard in Wisconsin answers first, but what happens when there just aren’t enough soldiers? “When we don’t have the service members that we need in our ranks, it really makes it harder on each individual,” said Lt. Col. Shannon Hellenbrand, Wisconsin Army National Guard

In 2022 the goal was 950 new soldiers. They fell short by enlisting 577, which is 40% lower. “We’ve not experienced recruitment challenges in this way as long as any of us can remember since even before the draft we’re told,” said Hellenbrand.

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