Artificial intelligence scientist Geoffrey Hinton, known as the “Godfather of AI,” is urging the British government to enforce a universal basic income (UBI) to cope with the impact of AI technology.Universal basic income is a social welfare system in which the government provides every citizen with a standard minimum income. These payments are unconditional and transferred to citizens on a regular basis without any pre-qualification. The concept is in keeping with the Marxist ideal of wealth redistribution and has been proposed by socialist figures such as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT).Hinton&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cnd607ekl99o">told</a> BBC Newsnight that a universal basic income is necessary because he is “very worried about AI taking lots of mundane jobs.” The scientist explained that AI would benefit the rich and not “the people whose jobs get lost.” If wealth is not redistributed, Hinton warned, “that’s going to be very bad for society.”“I was consulted by people in Downing Street and I advised them that universal basic income was a good idea,” he said.<h3>“Software that can think and learn will do more and more of the work"</h3>But Hinton is not the only tech expert using AI to push the idea. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has long been an advocate for a universal basic income, also claiming to be concerned about the future of employment.“My work at OpenAI reminds me every day about the magnitude of the socioeconomic change that is coming sooner than most people believe,” said Altman in 2021. “Software that can think and learn will do more and more of the work that people now do.”The OpenAI CEO believes “that if you could just give people money, they would make good decisions, and the market would do its thing.”But critics say the push for a universal basic income by major tech chiefs is to create a more powerful technocracy. According to one industry source, Altman and his colleagues hope to “become so immensely powerful that they run every non-AI company (employing people) out of business and every American worker to unemployment. So powerful that a percentage of OpenAI’s (and its peers’) income could bankroll UBI for every citizen of America.”The source told&nbsp;CNBC&nbsp;that the tax revenue generated by AI tech giants will be irresistible to politicians, whose popularity will skyrocket off the universal basic income their voters receive.&nbsp;“Sam is no different from any other capitalist trying to persuade the government to allow an oligarchy.”&nbsp;<h4>Universal "high" income?</h4>Neuralink CEO Elon Musk has also said that “[u]niversal income will be necessary over time if AI takes over most human jobs." In November, the serial entrepreneur&nbsp;<a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/elon-musk-predicts-universal-high-160015532.html">changed</a> his prediction to a “universal high income,” though he did not explain the difference between the two concepts.“We won’t have universal basic income. We’ll have universal high income,” Musk said. “In some sense, it’ll be somewhat of a leveler, an equalizer.”&nbsp;

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Technocracy

Tech giants 'trying to persuade the government to allow an oligarchy,' say critics

Top AI figures urge governments to enforce universal income

<h2>Artificial Intelligence generates artificial news</h2>Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a new source of misinformation. AI-generated news is churning out made-up news, including murders and crimes that never occurred.&nbsp;<h3>Popular app publishes fake news reports</h3>Newsbreak, a popular app for local news, has been spreading fake news. The Chinese-affiliated company, which has about 50 million monthly users, has published 40 fake news stories since 2021, as <a href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/top-news-app-us-has-chinese-origins-writes-fiction-with-help-ai-2024-06-05/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">revealed</a> by Reuters. Newsbreak obtains licensed content from major media outlets but also scrapes the internet for local news which it then rewrites with the help of AI, explained author Jim Pearson.<blockquote>It publishes licensed content from major media outlets, including Reuters, Fox, AP and CNN as well as some information obtained by scraping the internet for local news or press releases which it rewrites with the help of AI.&nbsp;</blockquote>AI tools enabled the app to create ten stories from local news sites under fictitious bylines. Internal memos show that the company itself was concerned about its “AI-generated stories." Other documents revealed that it was guilty of copyright infringement:&nbsp;<blockquote>[T}he app's use of AI tools affected the communities it strives to serve, with Newsbreak publishing erroneous stories; creating 10 stories from local news sites under fictitious bylines; and lifting content from its competitors, according to a Reuters review of previously unreported court documents related to copyright infringement, cease-and-desist emails and a 2022 company memo registering concerns about "AI-generated stories."</blockquote>In March, Newbreak added a disclaimer to its homepage, warning that its content “may not always be error-free.”Reuters highlighted a false Newsbreak story that told of a murder in a small New Jersey town on Christmas day. The article, "Christmas Day Tragedy Strikes Bridgeton, New Jersey Amid Rising Gun Violence in Small Towns," was totally false according to police. “The Bridgeton, New Jersey police department posted a statement on Facebook on December 27 dismissing the article - produced using AI technology - as ‘entirely false.’”&nbsp;Newsbreak said the false article came from another news source, findplace.xyz. &nbsp;<blockquote>The company said "the inaccurate information originated from the content source," and provided a link to the website adding: “When NewsBreak identifies any inaccurate content or any violation of our community standards, we take prompt action to remove that content.”The operators of the website, findplace.xyz, did not respond to a request from Reuters for comment. The police declined to provide further comment.</blockquote>Reuters tweeted about the fake news story, including its diagram of the company’s China relationship.&nbsp;<div class="raw-html-embed"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">NewsBreak, a popular app with Chinese roots, published a Christmas Eve New Jersey shooting story that turned out to be false, using AI. When it publishes inaccurate information, the company says it takes swift action to remove it <a href="https://t.co/8JfA0QOV4a">https://t.co/8JfA0QOV4a</a> <a href="https://t.co/cahAkMH7N0">pic.twitter.com/cahAkMH7N0</a>— Reuters (@Reuters) <a href="https://twitter.com/Reuters/status/1798396900841816289?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 5, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><h4>Original source was also AI?</h4>ArsTechnica, in its <a href="https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/06/top-news-app-caught-sharing-fake-ai-news-based-on-ai-summaries/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">report</a> on Reuters' false murder report, leaves the reader wondering if the source Newsbreak's AI picked up was also written by AI. The mysterious journalist who ostensibly wrote the story has no public profile and her image appears to be a stock photo.<blockquote>&nbsp;The content source identified by NewsBreak is an article on a news site called FindPlace.xyz. It was written by a journalist named Amelia Washington, who has contributed most of the site's most recent content. There is no public profile for Amelia Washington outside of the news site, and a reverse image search of the photo used with her bio suggests a stock photo was used. The same photo appeared on a testimonial for a nutritional supplement on Amazon and on posts for foreign freelance sites where her name and background do not match her FindPlace.xyz bio.FindPlace.xyz did not respond to Ars' request to connect with Washington or provide comment.</blockquote><h3>Google AI Overviews “flawed by design”</h3>ArsTechnica&nbsp;author Ashley Belanger pointed out that shortly before Reuters published this story, Google had "admitted its AI Overviews summarizing the Internet were flawed by design after people quickly found the tool spouted inaccurate, misleading, and dangerous answers."<h3>AI “content farms” look like regular news sources</h3>Belanger also referred to a report by The Register which discussed the large number of AI content farms that popped up during the past year, which look like regular news sites but aren't.<blockquote>The Reuters report also follows a spike in AI content farms last year, The Register reported, which look like regular news sites but are entirely AI-generated. Not only do these increasingly common AI content farms not seem to break Google's rules—perhaps increasing the likelihood that they will be surfaced and scraped—but Internet jokesters have also already started pranking these AI sites to intentionally place false information on them.&nbsp;</blockquote><h3>AI turns basketball star into a criminal&nbsp;</h3>Tech.co has been <a href="https://tech.co/news/list-ai-failures-mistakes-errors" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">keeping track</a> of false AI-generated stories, some of which besmirched reputations. One such incident was when Golden State Warriors Guard Klay Thompson was accused of vandalism because X's chatbot didn't recognize sports slang.<blockquote>X’s chatbot accuses Golden State Warriors Guard Klay Thompson of vandalizing a string of homes in Sacramento. The story was generated after Grok took social media posts that said Thompson was “shooting bricks” (Basketball slang for “missing his shots”) a little bit too literally.</blockquote>The app mistook the term “shooting bricks,” which in basketball slang means missing shots, for smashing windows with bricks. The app duly reported his “crime” but added that he hadn't injured anyone.<blockquote>“In a bizarre turn of events, NBA star Klay Thompson has been accused of vandalizing multiple houses with bricks in Sacramento,” Grok wrote. “Authorities are investigating the claims after several individuals reported their houses being damaged, with windows shattered by bricks. Klay Thompson has not yet issued a statement regarding the accusations. The incidents have left the community shaken, but no injuries were reported. The motive behind the alleged vandalism remains unclear.”&nbsp;</blockquote><h3>Can't trust Google's Bard AI Chatbot either</h3>Another time, reported Tech.co's Aaron Drapkin, false allegations by Google's Bard AI chatbot against four consulting firms resulted in their being called out during a parliamentary hearing in Australia.<blockquote>A team of academics from Australia apologize after Google’s Bard AI chatbot makes a number of damaging accusations about the Big Four consulting firms and their involvement with other companies. The false allegations are then referenced during a parliamentary inquiry calling for better regulation of the companies.One of the accusations was that consulting giant KPMG was in charge of a Commonwealth Bank audit during a planning scandal, when in reality, KPMG has never audited the bank in question. Several other, similar errors were made about Deloitte during the inquiry.</blockquote><h2>&nbsp;</h2><h3>AI not yet ready for real-time</h3>In another incident, as <a href="https://wach.com/newsletter-daily/new-facebook-ai-chatbot-spread-misinformation-carolina-forest-high-school-bomb-threat-active-shooter-situation-false-information-social-media-rumors-community-concerned-artificial-intelligence-cfhs-meta-horry-county-police-south-carolina-april-25-2024" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">reported</a> by WACH Fox, the Facebook chatbot misinformed Horry County, South Carolina parents, worried about bomb threats at the local high school, that there was a shooting incident with multiple wounded. In its reporting of the AI misinformation, HTC Cybersecurity professor Stan Greenawalt explains that AI is “not great for real-time yet.”<blockquote>'It's not great for real-time yet. We haven't gotten there. . . . So if I'm a parent, I go to other sources. . . . &nbsp;If I want something close to real-time, I'm going to go to a news agency and look for real-time information because they'll vet that information."</blockquote>Watch WACH Fox's video tweet of his warning to parents not to rely on AI for current information:<div class="raw-html-embed"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Amid bomb threats at Carolina Forest High School, Facebook's new AI chatbot was giving parents false information about an "active shooter." For the full story: <a href="https://t.co/8bTh29kWre">https://t.co/8bTh29kWre</a> --<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/news?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#news</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/localnews?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#localnews</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ai?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ai</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/artificialintelligence?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#artificialintelligence</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/chatbot?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#chatbot</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/misinformation?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#misinformation</a> <a href="https://t.co/xH88Stf6Mu">pic.twitter.com/xH88Stf6Mu</a>— WACH FOX (@wachfox) <a href="https://twitter.com/wachfox/status/1784021480163901466?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 27, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>&nbsp;<h2>Real problems with AI beyond real-time news&nbsp;</h2>Greenawalt appears to be correct in his assessment that no one should rely on AI for real-time news. However, considering the magnitude of the problem, one has to wonder what AI can safely be relied upon for in the foreseeable future and how it imagines the news stories it makes up.<h3>GIGO — garbage in, garbage out</h3>Benj Edwards, who <a href="https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2024/05/googles-ai-overview-is-flawed-by-design-and-a-new-company-blog-post-hints-at-why/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">reported</a> on Google's AI Overview's flawed design for ArsTechnica, identified part of the misinformation problem as stemming from Overview's use of Google's faulty algorithm results.<blockquote>Here we see the fundamental flaw of the system: "AI Overviews are built to only show information that is backed up by top web results." The design is based on the false assumption that Google's page-ranking algorithm favors accurate results and not SEO-gamed garbage. Google Search has been broken for some time, and now the company is relying on those gamed and spam-filled results to feed its new AI model.</blockquote><h3 style="margin-left:0px;">Inaccurate conclusions from accurate data</h3><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/aflds/image/upload/v1718342633/image_57ba6caf60.png">Edwards also showed, in the image above, that Google's AI can take accurate information and compile a false report.&nbsp;<blockquote>Even if the AI model draws from a more accurate source, as with the 1993 game console search seen above, Google's AI language model can still make inaccurate conclusions about the "accurate" data, confabulating erroneous information in a flawed summary of the information available.&nbsp;</blockquote>The moral of the story — if you want accurate information do your own homework.&nbsp;AI doesn't seem to be replacing humans any time soon.

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US News

Technology

AI accused NBA star of vandalizing homes; took basketball slang's 'shooting bricks' literally

AI 'news' apps reporting murders that never happened

Spot the odd one out: Cymbalta, Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft, L &nbsp;sexual dysfunction caused by the drug can persist even after treatment has ceased.Now the FDA is being <a href="https://www.citizen.org/wp-content/uploads/Doc.-1-Complaint-5.20.2024.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">sued</a> for its failure to warn the public of this devastating adverse effect.&nbsp;&nbsp;<div class="raw-html-embed"><iframe width="681" height="383" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/I3IGTri6Dqg" title="What is Post-SSRI Sexual Dysfunction?" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div>&nbsp;Six years and how many thousands of ruined lives?“Now” is misleading, however, because the FDA was first petitioned on this issue (and asked to encourage doctors to issue warnings to their patients) <a href="https://rxisk.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/JRS745-1.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">back in 2018</a>. Six years later and nothing has happened.Prozac's <a href="https://pi.lilly.com/us/prozac.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">patient insert</a> only includes the warning, cautiously phrased, because its manufacturer, Eli Lilly, actually <a href="https://blog.maryannedemasi.com/p/fda-sued-for-not-acting-on-petition" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">asked</a> the FDA to add a few words, back in 2011.&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/aflds/image/upload/v1718345938/prozac_insert_f243dd0837.png"></figure>The FDA complied, but for some reason omitted to draw the logical conclusion that all drugs in the SSRI or SNRI class should have a similar warning attached, even though the dangers of these drugs have been known for decades (as a recent <a href="https://frontline.news/post/my-feelings-are-gone-maybe-forever-what-your-doctor-didn-t-tell-you-about-anti-depressants" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Frontline News</a> article describes) and an estimated one in ten Americans over the age of 12 are taking them.&nbsp;Why is the United States lagging behind the rest of the world?Dr. David Healy and 21 other professionals submitted their original petition not only to the FDA, but also to the European Medicines Agency (EMA). The EMA responded in 2019 with a “New product information wording” which stipulated the language to be used in patient inserts, warning potential users of SSRI and SNRI drugs of “long-lasting sexual dysfunction where the symptoms have continued despite discontinuation” of the drugs.<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/aflds/image/upload/v1718346034/european_ssri_warning_8252b8b7d8.png"></figure>In 2021, <a href="https://dhpp.hpfb-dgpsa.ca/review-documents/resource/SSR00254" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Health Canada</a> followed suit, declaring that it would henceforth “work with manufacturers to update the product safety information” and that it was urging healthcare workers to “inform patients about the potential risk of long-lasting (possibly weeks to years) sexual symptoms persisting after stopping SSRI or SNRI treatment.”Earlier this year, the <a href="https://www.tga.gov.au/news/safety-updates/updated-warnings-about-persistent-sexual-dysfunction-antidepressants#resources" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Australian health authorities</a> also decided to require the amendment of patient inserts, “to reflect the risk of sexual dysfunction persisting in some patients after drug cessation.”The FDA, however, has declined not only to take action but also to answer the petition, even though U.S. law requires it to respond within 180 days of receiving a petition. Patients who submitted case reports to the FDA have not been contacted by the agency.&nbsp;FDA blocking informed consentNow the Public Citizen organization has filed a lawsuit against the FDA, on behalf of Dr. Antonei Csoka, a researcher into PSSD (post-SSRI sexual dysfunction) and a scientific advisor for PSSD Network. The suit alleges that the FDA has behaved unlawfully in failing to act on the petition, and it asks the court to order the FDA to issue a decision.“The FDA needs to act in a timely way to inform the public about the risks associated with use of these drugs,” said Michael Kirkpatrick, an attorney with Public Citizen and lead counsel. “The FDA’s failure to act exposes consumers to potentially life-long harm.”Josef Witt-Doerring, a psychiatrist and former FDA medical reviewer, says he has spoken to dozens of patients with the condition who describe it as “torture.”<div class="raw-html-embed"><iframe width="681" height="383" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fyZhXeNxVRI" title="What is PSSD and Why is No One Talking About it?" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div>“It’s not just the sexual dysfunction that persists for years after stopping the drug, they also feel totally dissociated from life, almost as if they’re watching their life play out on a screen. They can’t feel anything,” explained Witt-Doerring.<blockquote>Even though the risk of PSSD may be rare, the condition is severe enough to sway someone’s decision to take the drug. They might have mild depression and decide they’ll do talk therapy instead of taking the small risk of permanent sexual dysfunction. It’s important for people to have informed consent.</blockquote>&nbsp;Not just anti-depressantsAccording to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUVq21ar0MI" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Dr. Healy</a>, the widely prescribed drugs Accutane (which treats acne) and finasteride (taken to treat hair loss) can also cause PSSD. He stresses that the numbing effects (both physical and emotional) of the drugs can be felt as soon as 30 minutes after taking them, although many people will fail to recognize the symptoms. He also notes that PSSD can become worse after the drug is stopped, and that in some cases, an “opposite” condition can result where the person experiences persistent heightened feelings.In 2021, Public Citizen sued the FDA for ignoring a petition (filed four years previously) calling for finasteride's withdrawal, after it was linked to depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation. It took the FDA another nine months to respond, at which time it declined to withdraw finasteride (plus its generic forms) and instead required patient inserts to warn patients that there had been reports of “suicidal behavior” in people using the drug.&nbsp;Brain DeathPSSD researchers frequently stress that the cognitive and particularly the emotional effects are described by sufferers as more debilitating than the physical effects. Dr. Healy's theory is that the underlying cause for all the various adverse events is a “loss of reactivity.”<blockquote>This is why [SSRIs] are good with OCD [obsessive-compulsive disorder]. People aren't as reactive to [triggers] … they're not as bothered…But it's the emotional numbness that people talk about, where their sensations aren't lighting the brain up as they should. There seems to be less imput to the brain; it's like the brain is dead, not processing things the way it should do.</blockquote>Dr. Witt-Doerring concurs, adding that,<blockquote>The people I talk to tell me things like, "I'll hug my mom or my dad or my child and I won't feel those same feelings that I used to feel. I'll listen to my favorite album from childhood that usually brings back nostalgia and memories and joy and it's just blunted.</blockquote>&nbsp;Doctors don't know?The original petition to the FDA demands not only that manufacturers alter the wording of patient inserts but also that they alert healthcare providers, via “Dear Doctor” letters, to the fact that the drugs they prescribe “pose a significant public health concern.”&nbsp;Commenting on the latest lawsuit, Maryanne Demasi, PhD said,<blockquote>This should force the FDA to rule on whether it believes there is evidence that SSRIs can, in some cases, cause PSSD and update the label; it's important for sufferers that the condition is acknowledged, but may also be important for establishing whether people receive informed consent - and may even have legal consequences.</blockquote>Multiple patient accounts report how their doctors knew nothing about PSSD. Even when doctors do have some knowledge of the symptoms, they can be dismissive of the suffering they cause, seeing them as minor tradeoffs for the greater benefit of depression relief. Others assume that loss of feeling is a result of the “underlying depression,” and that the answer could be a higher dose of the drug.The answer provided by many sufferers has been to end it all, as Dr. Healy describes:<blockquote>Many people who are left with PSSD conclude that if they're going to feel this way for the rest of their lives, what's the point in living?</blockquote>&nbsp;Where is justice?According to <a href="https://www.lawsuit-information-center.com/ssri-malpractice-opinion.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Lawsuit Information Center</a>, Dr. Healy has been the “single most powerful voice” behind SSRI-based lawsuits over the past few decades.<blockquote>He … was willing to take on the pharmaceutical industry 20 years ago … [which] led to the FDA conducting a review of clinical trial data and issuing a black box warning for all antidepressants, including SSRIs, for the risk of suicide … the strictest warning the FDA can require for prescription drugs…</blockquote><blockquote>This effectively ended litigation [against the SSRI manufacturers] because this was the warning Dr. Healy was saying was needed. But there are still SSRI malpractice lawsuits for failing to see the signs of SSRI-induced suicide.</blockquote>Although thousands, and potentially millions, of people have been harmed, often irreversibly, by these drugs, legal experts are pessimistic regarding the chances of victims obtaining compensation, or justice.<blockquote>Could this lead to a potential SSRI sexual dysfunction class action lawsuit? Probably not.&nbsp; But this is something to keep an eye on.</blockquote>

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Psychiatric Drug

Too many people — and their doctors — have no idea that SSRIs can rob them of their feelings, sometimes permanently

FDA sued for failing to warn that anti-depressants can cause sexual dysfunction

The Biden administration’s electric vehicle (EV) plans are being held up by the administration’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) agenda.<h2>Seven EV stations built in 2 ½ years</h2>In November 2021, Joe Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law earmarked $7.5 billion in taxpayer funds to build a network of 500,000 EV charging stations across the country. To date, the Department of Transportation (DOT) has built seven stations.This holdup may be due — at least in part — to DEI initiatives,&nbsp;<a href="https://freebeacon.com/biden-administration/white-house-equity-requirements-holding-back-ev-charging-station-construction-internal-docs-show/">according</a> to the&nbsp;Washington Free Beacon.&nbsp;Shortly after occupying the Oval Office, for example, Biden signed an&nbsp;<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/environmentaljustice/justice40/">executive order</a> for a program called Justice40. The initiative requires that 40% of the benefits from certain federal programs go to “disadvantaged communities.” This includes grants and contracts.<h2>‘This all just slows down construction’</h2>In a 110-page&nbsp;<a href="https://www.transportation.gov/sites/dot.gov/files/2023-11/Promising%20Practices%20for%20Meaningful%20Public%20Involvement_2023Update_FINAL.pdf">memo</a>, the DOT explains that applicants for government grants and contracts must "demonstrate how meaningful public involvement, inclusive of disadvantaged communities, will occur throughout a project’s life cycle."&nbsp;“Achieving meaningful public involvement requires the creation and implementation of equitable programs and plans using a diverse and inclusive range of communications and outreach tools and methods throughout the project or program lifecycle,” said the report.For “equity,” the DOT recommends prospective grant recipients attend fairs, neighborhood block parties, and local events to foster “meaningful public involvement.” When doing so, they should “be mindful of cultural norms for engaging audiences of diverse backgrounds” and “provide multilingual staff or interpreters to interact with community members who use languages other than English.”"This all just slows down construction," Jim Meigs, a policy expert and senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, told the&nbsp;Free Beacon. "These ‘public involvement’ requirements are impossible to quantify and even open builders up to lawsuits by members of the community where an electric vehicle charging station is set to be constructed."<h2>DEI requirements ‘handcuff professionals’</h2>According to internal memos, candidates who want to win government contracts must submit lengthy reports detailing how they will promote “equity” throughout the project. This includes involving “minority-owned businesses” and a commitment to “focus on women, people of color, and others that are underrepresented in infrastructure jobs."&nbsp;"These onerous diversity, equity, and inclusion requirements handcuff professionals from making proper evaluations and prevent the government/public from funding the most deserving projects, instead funneling money towards less qualified applicants," said a senior DOT official.<h2>Project less about EV charging, more about votes</h2>Meigs said the Biden administration’s ultimate goal is not to install EV charging stations, but to satisfy Democrat constituencies. The EV project, like some other federal programs, is a strategy to secure votes for the Democratic Party by funneling funds and jobs to certain communities.Despite falling woefully short on an EV infrastructure, however, the Biden administration still intends to force the auto industry to transform into an EV market. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in March issued tight emissions standards that will&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/epa-electric-vehicles-emissions-limits-climate-biden-e6d581324af51294048df24269b5d20a">require</a> 56% of new vehicle sales to be fully electric by 2032, with an additional 13% required to be hybrids.

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Climate Change

'Equity' requirements ‘handcuff professionals’

DEI crippling EV agenda, documents show

A&nbsp;<a href="https://judiciary.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/republicans-judiciary.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/2024-06-11%20Climate%20Control%20-%20Exposing%20the%20Decarbonization%20Collusion%20in%20Environmental%2C%20Social%2C%20and%20Governance%20(ESG)%20Investing.pdf">report</a> published by the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday revealed that a “climate cartel” is forcing American corporations to comply with environmental, social, and governance (ESG) mandates.<h2>What is ESG?</h2>ESG is a form of grading companies and countries on how well they conform to prevailing narratives on environmental and social issues. For example, the more “environmentally friendly” or “racially inclusive” a company purports to be, the more virtuous it is and thus more worthy of investment, according to the cartel. If a company’s ESG score is below certain thresholds, they are not to be invested in at all.&nbsp;<h2>Who is in the climate cartel?</h2>According to the congressional report, companies are being forced to comply with ESG by a conglomerate of environmental groups, investment firms, and the world’s most powerful corporations.&nbsp;This cartel includes BlackRock, State Street, and Vanguard, who together own 21.9% of companies on the S&amp;P 500 and have nearly 25% voting power. It also includes investment firms such as Arjuna Capital, Trillium Asset Management, Engine No. 1 LP, and Aviva Investors Americas. Other members of the cartel include Climate Action 100+, nonprofit climate groups like Ceres, state pension funds like the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), and stockholder engagement service providers like As You Sow.<h2>‘The climate cartel is waging a Global World War’</h2>Together, these entities strong-arm American corporations into making commitments to “decarbonize” and achieve certain net-zero goals by 2050. Companies who refuse are considered to be on “the wrong side of climate history” and are punished by the cartel. Such punishments include voting against managers who do not comply, filing shareholder resolutions to force ESG, and replacing board members.“The climate cartel has declared war on the American way of life,” says the report. “The climate cartel is waging ‘a Global World War’ for net zero against disfavored American companies, including those in the fossil fuel, aviation, and farming industries that allow Americans to drive, fly, and eat.”The House Judiciary Committee reviewed over 270,000 documents from cartel members and more than 2.5 million pages of related information. The data suggest that cartel members view themselves as engaged in a holy war which has “only just begun.”&nbsp;They refer to themselves in militant terms, claiming to be in a “Global World War.”&nbsp;“[The cartel] has described Climate Action 100+ as ‘the global Navy,’ and compared Ceres’s efforts to ‘the Army ground troops’ and 'an ‘air cover’ strategic and silent bombing campaign by a newly funded division of the Air Force,’” the report added.Some goals of the cartel include reducing the number of total flights by 12% to curb greenhouse gas emissions, with airplane travel “capped at 2019 levels.” They also include reducing “food demand growth” and slashing beef consumption by half of current US consumption levels.<h3>Net zero or no investment</h3>Another tactic used by the cartel to coerce companies into ESG compliance is to make investments contingent on climate pledges. A syndicate of 23 venture capital firms called Venture Climate Alliance (VCA), for example,&nbsp;<a href="https://frontline.news/post/venture-capital-firms-join-to-strong-arm-startups-into-net-zero-emissions/preview">requires</a> startups to pledge their commitment to eliminating all their carbon emissions by 2050 to “combat climate change.”

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