Poll: Americans Don’t Want a Central Bank Digital Currency

poll from the Cato Institute indicates that, while about half of Americans do not have an opinion regarding whether the Federal Reserve should “begin offering a government-issued digital currency, called a ‘central bank digital currency’ (CBDC),” among those with an opinion on the matter over twice as many — 34 percent of poll participants — oppose the prospect as support it — 16 percent.

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The FBI, Ukraine’s Censorship Assistant

After Elon Musk gained control of Twitter, he made available to a small group of reporters Twitter records known as the Twitter Files. Among the Twitter Files is information regarding efforts by the United States government along with Twitter to censor communication on the social media platform in the time before Musk gained control of Twitter. The newest revelations from the Twitter Files, detailed by Aaron Maté, concern the US government, via the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), having acted as an assistant to the Ukraine government’s main intelligence agency, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), to seek censorship of 163 targeted Twitter accounts — Maté’s included — as well as personal information related to those Twitter accounts.

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The Johnson & Johnson Coronavirus Shot is Kaput

Last week, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) revoked the Emergency Use Authorization for Johnson & Johnson coronavirus shots. Peter Marks, the director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, noted in a Thursday letter that the FDA made the revocation at the request of Janssen Biotech, a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary, that had related that the company would not be updating its shots, the latest “lots” purchased by the US government have expired, and “there is no demand for new lots.”

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“Good Morning Students” … “Good Morning AI Overlord”

In recent years, schools across America, with the help of private companies, have been significantly ramping up surveillance on students, largely in the name of keeping the children safe. Now that there is big buzz about artificial intelligence, or “AI,” it should come as little surprise that peeping adults will increasingly employ AI to aid them in the surveilling of school students.

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The Peace Candidate Versus the Freedom Candidate in the Republican Presidential Primary

Donald Trump continued last week his effort to present himself as the peace candidate in the 2024 Republican presidential primary. Trump took another big step in this this endeavor when, during a Wednesday CNN “town hall” event in New Hampshire, he stated, when asked if as president he would continue the United States government sending money and weapons to the Ukraine government and whether he supports Ukraine winning its war against Russia, that the important thing to do is stop all the killing by settling the war quickly. Trump insisted that as president he could bring about such a settlement “in one day, 24 hours.”

Also last week, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a much-talked-about potential primary competitor for Trump, headlined events on Thursday and Friday at which he signed bills into law and made presentations that could help to define himself as the freedom candidate in the Republican presidential primary should he end up throwing his hat into the ring.

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Ending Marijuana Restrictions for Athletes

In December of 2019, I wrote about Major League Baseball (MLB), along with the Major League Baseball Players Association, announcing that marijuana use by professional baseball players would no longer be verboten. Concluding my discussion of this new development, I commented that “More professional sports organizations will surely follow in eliminating marijuana use prohibitions.”

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