Category: Tech Media

Poll: Most Americans Believe A.I. Will Lead to More Misinformation in 2024

Virginia Star Staff

A new poll released on Friday shows that a majority of Americans believe that artificial intelligence (AI) will lead to more misinformation being spread on the Internet during the 2024 presidential election.

According to The Hill, the poll from AP-NORC and the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy found that 58% of Americans believe AI will lead to an increase in election misinformation. Among respondents who said they have “heard a lot or some about AI” 61% believed in the threat of more misinformation.

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Nigel Farage on Episode 35 of ‘Tucker on X:’ America is ‘Not Immune’ to ‘Massive Problem’ that Comes with Accepting Anti-Western Refugees

Kaitlin Housler

In episode 35 of his newest production, “Tucker on X,” host Tucker Carlson interviewed the head of the UK Independence Party, Nigel Farage, on the effects “anti-Western” refugees bring to Western countries amid the current conflict in the Middle East.

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Commentary: The Internal Revenue Service’s AI Announcement Is Really About Taxpayer Intimidation

RealClearWire

The IRS commissioner announced last month that the agency will now deploy artificial intelligence in pursuit of “wealthy tax cheats” who are using partnership structures to pay “little to no tax.” But the announcement’s logic doesn’t pass the smell test — the real intent seems to be to intimidate successful small businesspeople away from using legal tax minimization strategies.

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Commentary: Archaeology’s Absurd Woke Trend to Obtain Consent from Someone Who’s Dead to Study Their Bones

Virginia Star Staff

There’s an eerie new theory filling academia’s ivied walls – the living and the dead are the same. This latest argument against the use of human skeletal remains in research and teaching, which I’ve come across in person (from students who attended my talk at Brown University, an elite Ivy League college), proposes that the only ethical treatment of skeletal collections is to treat the dead like the living. I’ve seen this same argument, which is applied to prehistoric and historic anthropological collections used to reconstruct past peoples’ lives, in conference programs and on museum websites.

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Boston Children’s Hospital Received $1.4 Million in Taxpayer Dollars for ‘Gender Transition Services’

Virginia Star Staff

Boston Children’s Hospital was reimbursed $1.4 million by the state of Massachusetts for its “gender transition services” from January 2015 to May 2023, according to documents obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation through a public records request.

Boston Children’s Hospital, which claims to have created the first pediatric and adolescent transgender health program in the country, was hit with heavy backlash in 2022 for performing gender transition surgeries on minors, including vaginoplasty, phalloplasty, chest reconstruction and breast augmentation, according to a since-deleted website. The Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS) of Massachusetts told the DCNF on July 25 that it paid the hospital over $1.4 million for “Gender transition services (i.e., physician’s services, inpatient and outpatient, hospital services, surgical services, prescribed drugs, therapies, etc.)” from January 1, 2015, to May 1, 2023.

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Americans’ Distrust of Corporate Media Climbs to Record High: Poll

Virginia Star Staff

Distrust in corporate media among Americans has soared to a record high, according to polling published by Gallup.

The amount of Americans who trust legacy media “a great deal” or “a fair amount” to cover the news “fully, accurately and fairly” plunged to 32%, tied for the lowest since 2016, according to the poll. The highest ever percentage of Americans — 39%— state they do not trust the media whatsoever, and this figure has consistently risen since 2018.

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Government-Funded News Outlet Orders Staff Not to Call Hamas ‘Terrorists’

Virginia Star Staff

Government-funded news outlet Voice of America (VOA) management has ordered its employees not to refer to Hamas as “terrorists” unless they are quoting statements, National Review reported.

VOA’s guidance originally distributed on Oct. 10 suggests that reporters and editors are allowed to refer to Hamas’ Oct. 7 assault on Israel as terrorist attacks or acts of terror but informed staff they should “avoid calling Hamas and its members terrorists, except in quotes,” according to emails National Review obtained. VOA’s associate editor responsible for news standards conveyed the publication’s guidelines regarding reporting on the initial attacks and the subsequent Israeli retaliation in an email to employees on Friday.

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‘Tucker on X’ Episode 33: Col. Douglas Macgregor Says, ‘Something as Bad or Potentially Even Worse Than 9/11 Could Happen Here’

Kaitlin Housler

In episode 33 of his newest production, “Tucker on X,” host Tucker Carlson interviewed U.S. Army Colonel Retired Combat Veteran Douglas Macgregor on whether the U.S. can engage in war with Iran.

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Supreme Court Takes Up Landmark Government Censorship Case

Virginia Star Staff

The Supreme Court on Friday took up Missouri v. Biden, the free speech case challenging the Biden administration’s efforts to censor content on social media, while issuing a pause on a preliminary injunction granted by a lower court.

Republican attorneys general from Missouri and Louisiana sued the Biden administration over its communications with social media companies related to the suppression of online speech, arguing it violated the First Amendment. District of Louisiana Judge Terry A. Doughty issued an injunction in July blocking certain parts of President Joe Biden’s administration from colluding with social media platforms to censor content online. The Supreme Court paused the injunction, but agreed to take up the case, according to the court order.

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‘Tucker on X’ Episode 32: ‘The Whole George Floyd Story Was a Lie’

Kaitlin Housler

In episode 32 of his newest production “Tucker on X,” host Tucker Carlson declared “the whole George Floyd story was a lie” and discussed with Vince Everett Ellison how the Democratic Party uses men like Floyd to advance its agenda and maintain power.

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Vivek Ramaswamy Discusses How to Prevent WWIII in Latest Episode of ‘Tucker on X’

Kaitlin Housler

In episode 31 of his newest production, “Tucker on X,” host Tucker Carlson continued his conversation with GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy about the next steps forward for the United States amid Hamas’ terrorist attack on Israel on October 7.

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Doctor Asked for Grant to Study Trans Hormones on Rats, Admits ‘Severe Lack’ of Research, Emails Show

Virginia Star Staff

Dr. Walid Farhat, a professor of Urology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, applied in April for a grant to study the impact of cross-sex hormones and puberty blockers on prepubescent rats, acknowledging the research on the potential side effects is “severely lacking,” according to emails obtained through a Daily Caller News Foundation Freedom of Information Act request.

Farhat, who is also chief of the division of Pediatric Urology at the UW’s School of Medicine and Public Health, applied to the Wisconsin Partnership Program (WPP) for a research grant to study the potential side effects of cross-sex hormones and puberty blockers on “prepubertal male and female” rats into adulthood, according to an April email. The application claimed that the study would help close the gap in research on minors receiving transgender hormone therapy, which Farhat maintained was “relatively safe,” and criticized the attempts to withhold access to the medication.

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China Ramps Up Crackdown on American Tech

Virginia Star Staff

Over the past few months, China has escalated its efforts to exert control over American technology companies by implementing new requirements, bans and restrictions.

The Chinese government is clamping down on American technology companies by throttling their already limited access to the country’s massive economy, according to new requirements, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. The country has also challenged American technology dominance by developing rivals to the latest smartphones and artificial intelligence (AI), as well as announcing export limits to key metals in July.

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Biden Challengers Nearly Nonexistent in Google Results

Just the News

Republican presidential candidates’ websites are practically nonexistent in generic Google searches for the party’s 2024 bench, and not much better for the most viable primary challenger to Democratic President Biden, according to tests by a watchdog and Just the News.

For the conservative Media Research Center and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), it’s unmistakable evidence of Google’s bias for the incumbent just as primary voters are seeking more information about the candidates on the debate stage.

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Second GOP Presidential Debate Turns Into a Rhetorical Brawl as Candidates Jockey for Position in Trump-Dominated Race

M.D. Kittle

In a second GOP presidential debate that often seemed more like a disorderly reality TV show, the Babylon Bee’s satirical news headline may have best captured the mood of viewers: ‘Mute Button’ Wins GOP Debate.

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Washington Post Disavows Its Own Poll Showing Trump Up by 10 Over Biden

Virginia Star Staff

The Washington Post cast doubt on its own poll with ABC that showed former President Trump up by 10 points over his likely rival President Joe Biden in the 2024 presidential contest.

Trump leads Biden 52 percent to 42 percent in a hypothetical general election matchup, according to the Post. The outlet suggested that, given other polling showing a closer race, its own poll is “probably an outlier” and appeared to cast doubt on the sample.

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Mozilla Investigation Finds Cars Are Collecting Data on Driving Habits, Routes, and Even ‘Sexual Activity’

Christina Botteri

The Mozilla Foundation recently investigated the privacy practices of 25 major car brands through its ongoing series, *Privacy Not Included. The research uncovered the automotive industry as the worst category the group has looked into yet when it comes to protecting consumer privacy. Across all manufacturers reviewed, excessive collection and…

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Media Fumed over Trump’s Detention of Illegal Immigrants, Now Issue Has Boomeranged on Biden

Just the News
Border surge

Former President Donald Trump attracted intense media scrutiny and criticism over the detention of illegal immigrants. But now the issue has boomeranged on the Biden administration and his party, which is being cited by government watchdogs for poor conditions at  Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities during the surge at the southern border.

More than six million immigrants have illegally entered the United States during Joe Biden’s presidency. The influx appears to have placed considerable strain on facilities intended to accommodate fresh arrivals. Federal agencies are seemingly unable to provide adequate service in the face of the sheer volume.

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Researchers Question One-Size-Fits-All COVID Booster Strategy as FDA Circumvents Advisors

Just the News

Federal health officials face a growing hurdle in their quest to persuade Americans of all ages and risk profiles to get updated COVID-19 boosters: strong proponents of vaccination.

From New England to the Bay Area, researchers voiced concerns to mainstream science and health publications in recent days that the one-size-fits-all model may be backfiring.

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IRS Set to Use AI to Target Tax Cheats, Say They Will Limit to ‘High Income Earners’ and ‘Large Corporations’

The Center Square

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced new enforcement initiatives Friday to crack down on 1,600 millionaires and 75 large companies it said owe hundreds of millions in unpaid taxes.  

IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel said the agency will use Inflation Reduction Act funding to focus on high-income earners, partnerships, large corporations and promoters. He said the IRS won’t increase audit rates for those earning less than $400,000 a year.

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Rachel Alexander on Bannon’s WarRoom: The Left Is Going After Constitutional Scholar John Eastman ‘As a Precedent to Scare Conservative Attorneys from Ever Challenging Elections’

Admin

Arizona Sun Times lead journalist Rachel Alexander appeared on WarRoom Friday to detail the unprecedented prosecution of Constitutional scholar and attorney John Eastman by the California State Bar over his involvement with former President Donald J. Trump’s contest of the 2020 elections in several states.

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Commentary: The Rise of Unapologetically Partisan News Reporting

Virginia Star Staff

The Huffington Post was envisioned from its inception as a progressive answer to conservative talk radio and various right-leaning voices being amplified by new technology. Most specifically, it was designed as a counterpoint to the Drudge Report, a widely read and highly profitable website with populist sensibilities. The players involved in planning the new venture belonged to a select clique of Hollywood liberals and political activists in Arianna Huffington’s orbit.

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Commentary: Parents Must Teach Their Kids Discernment

Virginia Star Staff

Entertainment today is extremely accessible. We can watch videos and read articles whenever we want. Each of these pieces of media, however, has its own ideology. But often, we do not even notice this ideology that is being presented to us, or the underlying assumptions of the creators.

As Frances Schaeffer explained: “The results of [people’s] thought world flow through their fingers or from their tongues into the external world. This is true of Michelangelo’s chisel, and it is true of the dictator’s sword.” Everything people create is the product of their worldview, so being able to recognize the underlying beliefs in media and entertainment is an important skill.

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Commentary: Since When Did the RTD Become TMZ?

Admin

The Richmond Times-Dispatch was given a clip of David Owen — Republican candidate for House of Delegates — where he tells an audience of like-minded souls that he is, indeed, pro-life. Charlotte Rene Woods over at the RTD decides to do the work of Democratic campaign operatives in what could only be viewed as an in-kind donation.

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Meta’s Oversight Board Rules That Company Stifled Speech by Removing Posts About Abortion

Virginia Star Staff

Meta’s Oversight Board ruled Wednesday that Facebook and Instagram showed “patterns of censorship” by removing posts about abortion that the social media platforms claimed constituted death threats.

The board had been weighing a series of posts that were initially taken down by Meta, Facebook and Instagram’s parent company, for potential death threats against both pro-abortion and pro-life advocates before being reinstated after appeals from the users. The board took up the case in June and announced this week that Facebook had erred by removing the posts, according to the ruling.

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Meta’s Epidemic of Chinese ‘Spamouflage’ Propaganda

Virginia Star Staff

Meta recently took “what appears to be the largest known cross-platform covert influence operation in the world,” off its platforms, according to the company’s quarterly Adversarial Threat Report released this week.’

The social media accounts that made up the covert influence operation — collectively dubbed “Spamouflage” — were active all over the world, including in America, major U.S. allies, Taiwan, and the Chinese diaspora.

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Commentary: AI Is Coming for Art’s Soul

Virginia Star Staff

While AI-based technology has recently been used to summon deepfakes and create a disturbing outline for running a death camp, the ever-pervasive digital juggernaut has also been used to write books under the byline of well-known authors.

The Guardian recently reported five books appeared for sale on Amazon that were apparently written by author Jane Friedman. Only, they weren’t written by Friedman at all: They were written by AI. When Friedman submitted a claim to Amazon, Amazon said they would not remove the books because she had not trademarked her name.

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