Speaker Johnson Pledges To Stand ‘Shoulder To Shoulder’ For ‘Defense Of Taiwan’
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) met with Taiwan’s US envoy at the US Capitol on Tuesday, after which he vowed to continue supporting the Taiwanese people against Chinese aggression.
“We stand shoulder to shoulder with the Taiwanese people,” Johnson told reporters, adding “We certainly want to help in the defense of Taiwan, which is very important. We want to deter the Chinese Communist Party and any military provocations. The U.S. stands with our friends.“
Johnson met with Envoy Alexander Yui, Taiwan’s de facto ambassador to the United States – a meeting which undoubtedly pissed off CCP authorities in Beijing, particularly after Yui said that he looks forward to “further strengthen[ing] our rock-solid friendship,” to which Johjnson replied: “We have an important relationship, and we want to strengthen that.”
As The Epoch Times notes, the CCP has been harassing Taiwan leading up to the democratic island’s upcoming presidential vote on Saturday – launching several balloons and a rocket containing a satellite over the island’s airspace. Taiwan’s foreign minister described the incidents as part of a larger pattern of aggression designed to sway voters ahead of the election.
Recall in August of 2022 when former Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan, the CCP launched several missiles around Taiwan and cut off all military communications with the United States.
The Chinese Communist Party claims that Taiwan is a rogue province that must be united with the mainland by any means necessary. The regime has never actually controlled any part of the island, however.
For its part, Taiwan is self-governed by a democratic government and oversees one of the world’s most successful market economies. Out of respect for China’s position, the United States does not maintain formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. The United States and Taiwan do share robust informal ties, however, including economically and militarily.
It is unclear at this time what the response will be from Beijing concerning Mr. Johnson’s meeting with Mr. Yui.
“It sure does raise interesting questions about what their intentions are; what their goals are,” said White House National Security Council Spokesperson John Kirby, who added that the Biden administration remains committed to supporting free and fair elections in Taiwan.
“We want to see a free and fair and transparent election, and we’re willing to stand by and work with whoever the people of Taiwan elect to their government.”
BREAKING: UN Planning New Pandemic To Establish Planetary Dictatorship
US Beef Output Slides As Blizzard Disrupts Midwest Meat Plants
A powerful winter storm swept across the country’s midsection on Monday, dumping more than a foot of snow in some areas and shutting down highways in several Midwest states. Adverse weather conditions also closed major meatpacking plants.
Bloomberg reports two major beef packers idled operations in Kansas this week as blizzard conditions left workers unable to traverse roadways.
Cargill Inc.’s Dodge City, Kansas plant suffered a power outage, and 50 workers were stranded on a nearby highway due to road closures.
“We realize that some employees got stuck on the road outside the plant. We are working with local authorities and have hired tow truck drivers to assist them and other motorists,” Cargill said in a statement.
Tyson Foods meatpacking plant in Holcomb, Kansas, canceled shifts on Tuesday, the company said in a statement. On Monday, employees were given hot meals and shelter because roadways were too dangerous for travel.
Fierce winter weather likely impacted the number of cattle slaughtered in the US on Tuesday, coming in at 94,000, compared with figures one year ago of 128,000, according to US Department of Agriculture data. This is also the lowest slaughter number of the new year.
“When meat plants close, protein prices can start surging if supplies run thin. Meanwhile, farmers may face lower prices for their livestock with demand for the animals disrupted,” Bloomberg noted.
This week’s disruption at some major beef plants in Heartland appears to be short-lived. However, a massive shortage of the nation’s cattle herd has driven retail beef prices to record highs.
The beef industry is facing persistent challenges. It may be time for automated plants.
BREAKING: UN Planning New Pandemic To Establish Planetary Dictatorship
UK Parliament Cold, Damp, and Mice-Infested – Politico
Politicians and aides alike “dread” coming to work at Westminster Palace, Politico reported on Tuesday, describing how the crumbling Victorian building is driving them to work elsewhere in order to avoid the cold, the mold, and the rodents.
British lawmakers returned to work at the House of Commons on Monday, as the Met Office warned that freezing temperatures will linger for the next week.
Westminster Palace offers little respite from the winter weather, multiple staffers told Politico, citing persistent heating failures, power cuts, and moldy bathrooms. A report compiled by the GMB trade union – which represents parliamentary aides – in 2022 also noted crumbling masonry and falling glass even in one of the more modern buildings of the complex, as well as an outbreak of the legionella bacteria in showers on the estate.
“If it wasn’t a protected heritage site, there would be absolutely no way – with the current health and safety regulations – that we would be allowed to even set foot in a building this broken and damaged,” a Conservative Party staffer told Politico.
“I would never go in again [if I could],” a Labour Party staffer said. “I think there is a sense that parliament is a very important building, you’re very lucky to be here – but there are basic standards, actually.”
Much of Westminster Palace was built in the 19th Century and has not been renovated since before World War II. Some politicians have been demanding restoration works for years, but a vote authorizing this work will not be held until at least 2025. In the meantime, temporarily fixing problems as they appear is costing the British taxpayer £2 million ($2.54 million) per week, an anonymous official told Politico last September.
“This building is falling down and becoming a hazard to all those who work here,” Scottish National Party MP Pete Wishart said in an address in 2019. “It is so overrun with vermin that even the mice in this place now wear overalls.”
Earlier this year, the Public Accounts Committee warned in a report that there is a “real and rising danger” that the building could be destroyed by a “catastrophic incident” before repairs take place.
Labour leader Keir Starmer has almost completely eschewed working in the palace, multiple officials told the news site. Instead, he chooses to work up to three days per week at the party’s newly-built headquarters in Southwark, around a mile away. “It doesn’t feel as imposing, it’s not freezing cold, and it’s much more modern,” a Labour staffer said of the new building, describing it as “good for morale.”
Despite the litany of complaints, politicians are unlikely to advocate too loudly for renovations these days, a GMP representative told Politico. “I don’t think that the general public have a lot of sympathy for politicians and their staff complaining about being cold at work… when there’s a lot worse things going on in other workplaces,” she said.
Your Vehicle Is Spying On You, And Now They Are Going To Start Installing ChatGPT In New Volkswagen Models
Be careful what you say while you are driving your vehicle, because you are being watched. Today, we live in a giant surveillance prison in which virtually everything that we do is being monitored, tracked, recorded and analyzed. In this day and age, you should just assume that nothing that you do is ever private. When I was much younger, if I really wanted to have a private conversation with someone I thought that taking a long drive with that person was a great way to do that. But those days are long gone. Unless you have a vehicle that was manufactured quite some time ago, it is spying on you. In fact, a report that has been released by the Mozilla Foundation actually states that vehicles are “the official worst category of products for privacy” that Mozilla has ever reviewed…
If you’re wondering which gadgets have the worst user privacy practices, it turns out the answer may be parked outside. According to a report published by the Mozilla Foundation on Wednesday, cars are “the official worst category of products for privacy” that it’s ever reviewed. The global nonprofit found that 92 percent of the reviewed automakers provide drivers with little (if any) control over their personal data, with 84 percent sharing user data with outside parties.
I was stunned when I read that.
Could that possibly be true?
According to Mozilla, automakers are gathering all sorts of data about all of us…
Carmakers have a long list of personal information they say they may track, including employment and purchasing history, education, internet browsing history, location data, music and podcast listening habits, immigration status, religious and philosophical beliefs and health information.
I’m sorry, but there is no way that I want a giant corporation tracking my religious beliefs or my health information.
And I am sure that you feel the same.
But if you plan to purchase a new vehicle, you literally have no choice.
Mozilla examined 25 different vehicle brands, and every single one of them “failed to meet the nonprofit organization’s minimum privacy standards”…
All 25 of the car brands that were researched for the report — including Ford, Toyota, Volkswagen, BMW, and Tesla — failed to meet the nonprofit organization’s minimum privacy standards and were found to collect more personal data from customers than necessary. The kind of information collected varies from personal information like medical data to how drivers are using the vehicle itself — such as how fast they drive, where they drive, and even the music they listen to. Both Nissan and Kia are noted to allow the collection of information regarding a user’s sex life. By contrast, Mozilla claims that 37 percent of mental health apps (which also have a poor reputation for data privacy) had better practices for collecting and using personal data.
Eighty-four percent of the reviewed car brands share personal user data with service providers, data brokers, and potentially sketchy businesses, according to the report, with 76 percent claiming the right to sell that personal data. Fifty-six percent are willing to share user information with the government and / or law enforcement if requested.
Did you know that you are agreeing to all of this when you buy a new vehicle?
Most purchasers of new vehicles just quickly sign whatever forms are put in front of them because they are eager to get the process over with.
Unfortunately, these big corporations simply cannot be trusted.
They are taking advantage of us, and it needs to stop.
Of course I wouldn’t count on that happening any time soon.
Instead, I fully expect various forms of highly intrusive technology to become even more integrated into our vehicles.
For example, Volkswagen just announced that it will be installing ChatGPT in new vehicles later this year…
Volkswagen is jumping on the generative AI bandwagon by announcing plans to install OpenAI’s ChatGPT into its vehicles starting in the second quarter of 2024.
The chatbot will be available across VW’s lineup, including in Tiguan, Passat, and Golf as well as the automaker’s ID family of electric vehicles.
No thank you.
I certainly don’t want super intelligent AI technology interacting with me and gathering information about me while I drive.
To me, what they have planned sounds incredibly creepy…
Volkswagen unveiled its first vehicles with a voice assistant that uses the artificial intelligence (AI) technology behind ChatGPT at the CES electronics trade show in Las Vegas on Monday.
The new feature will enable drivers to have researched content read to them while they’re driving Volkswagen models that are equipped with the “IDA” voice assistant, which the automaker says can answer general knowledge questions while also having the ability to control the car’s infotainment, navigation and air conditioning systems.
The company says that in the future, AI will provide additional information in response to questions that go beyond those functions as its capabilities continue to expand. This could include receiving vehicle-specific information as well as interacting in intuitive language, clearing up questions and helping enrich conversations.
A lot of consumers will eagerly embrace this “cool new feature”, but where is all of this ultimately leading?
In the not too distant future, artificial intelligence could literally be all around us every moment of every day.
How will we have any privacy at all once that day arrives?
I have repeatedly warned my readers of the coming “AI invasion”, but the truth is that it is already here.
Given enough time, artificial intelligence really would turn our society completely upside down, and right now only a very small portion of the population is concerned about this looming threat.
Michael’s new book entitled “Chaos” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can check out his new Substack newsletter right here.
Pfizer Attempts To Dismiss Texas Lawsuit That Accused It of Working To Censor Vaccine Criticism
It is no exaggeration to say that one of Big Pharma’s biggest players, Pfizer, has had an excellent pandemic – over $100 billion in revenue in 2022 alone.
The rate at which this growth has been declining since Covid apparently made a disappearing act and the number of people willing to be vaccinated against it decreased dramatically, speaks clearly to how important the jab it produced in record time has been to Pfizer.
It logically follows that the giant would plausibly have done a lot of marketing “cackling” to protect this “golden goose.” And that is what a lawsuit brought by Texan authorities pretty much alleges – that Pfizer went as far as to use false and deceptive marketing to sell its vaccine and pushed for online censorship of criticism.
The lawsuit was filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, and now Pfizer is engaging in maneuvering to deal with the accusations – evidently hoping it has a better chance before a federal court than it does before the 99th Judicial District Court for Lubbock County.
Just days before the end of 2023, Pfizer’s attorneys asserted that the Lubbock-based court had no jurisdiction in the case, and asked that it be moved to the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas.
And while at it, they naturally want the whole lawsuit dismissed, citing things like shielded liability thanks to the PREP (Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness) Act – but also invoking speech protections that are supposed to be guaranteed by the First Amendment.
This last curious bit of legal gymnastics has to do with Pfizer acting on behalf of the federal government to produce the vaccine, adding that the corporation therefore seeks “immunity” – i.e., lack of liability – from the accusations listed in the filing.
“Pfizer is not liable because Pfizer did not make any statement nor take any action that had the capacity or tendency to deceive consumers,” is specifically how the US multinational phrased it in the motion to move, and dismiss the case.
Pfizer reacted fairly swiftly to the Texas AG lawsuit filed on the last day of November, which claims that false, misleading or deceptive claims had been made by the company concerning its Covid vaccine.
The goal, according to AG Paxton? An attempt to “intimidate and censor critics of the vaccine” which “violated the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act in marketing claims the company made about the efficacy, duration of protection and ability of its Covid-19 vaccine to prevent transmission.”
On censorship, the lawsuit states:
“One of the persons Pfizer sought to intimidate and silence was journalist Alex Berenson. Throughout early 2021, Berenson maintained a highly active Twitter page with hundreds of thousands of followers where he explained his findings and views concerning COVID-19, Pfizer’s vaccine, and other related issues. Many of Berenson’s claims were true at the time he made them and have been corroborated by subsequent data and analyses. Indeed, it recently has been revealed that Pfizer had reason to know of the veracity of Berenson’s claims when he made them and that the company nonetheless plotted to silence Berenson and eliminate his speech from public discourse.”
The lawsuit states how Pfizer board member Scott Gottlieb flagged journalist and Covid vaccine critic Alex Berenson’s tweet to Twitter.
Is Vivek Ramaswamy the Top Pick for VP in 2024?
Owen Shroyer breaks down the latest clip of Vivek Ramaswamy calling out the lying mainstream media, and goes down the list of top potential Donald Trump vice presidential running mates for 2024.
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