News From Around the Web
#10 Boston City Hall Mistakenly Sends Out 'Electeds of Color' Party Invitations to Entire Council - Misty Severi for The Washington Examiner
"A Boston City Hall official accidentally sent out invitations to an exclusive race-based holiday party, intended only for "electeds of color," to the entire City Council on Tuesday, Denise DosSantos, Democratic Mayor Michelle Wu's director of City Council relations, intended to invite the six councilors of color and a guest each to an event hosted by the mayor on Wednesday. But the email went councilwide, prompting an apology for the error in a follow-up email 15 minutes later. The City Council consists of six councilors of color and seven white councilors."
-That pesky "reply all" 😂
#9 Florida High School Fined More Than $16K for Allowing Transgender Athlete to Play Girls’ Volleyball - Andrew Atterbury for Politico
"Florida officials leveled sanctions — including a fine — on a Broward County high school Tuesday for allowing a transgender female student who was born as a biological male to play on the girls’ volleyball team.Carried out by the Florida High School Athletic Association, the move is a substantial one for the state, marking what appears the be the first time a school has been penalized over the 2021 “Fairness in Women’s Sports Act” touted by Gov. Ron DeSantis that bans transgender women and girls from competing in women’s and girls’ sports."
#8 Starlink Loses Out on $886 Million in Rural Broadband Subsidies - Wes Davis for The Verge and Citizen Free Press
The FCC announced today that it won’t award Elon Musk’s Starlink an $886 million subsidy from the Universal Service Fund for expanding broadband service in rural areas. The money would have come from the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund program (RDOF), but the FCC writes that Starlink wasn’t able to “demonstrate that it could deliver the promised service” and that giving the subsidy to it wouldn’t be “the best use of limited Universal Service Fund dollars.”#7 House Votes to Formalize Impeachment Inquiry into President Joe Biden With Floor Vote - Annie Grayer for CNN
House Republicans voted Wednesday to formalize an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden as their investigation reaches a critical juncture. In a 221-212 vote, all GOP members supported the resolution to formalize the inquiry – including Rep. Ken Buck of Colorado, who had said earlier this week he was leaning against it. “We are very pleased with the vote today,” Comer, a Kentucky Republican, told reporters. “I think that sent a message loud and clear to the White House.”
#6 Lawmakers Link Abortion with Shared Prescription Records & Medical Privacy - Tracy Beanz and Michelle Edwards for The Highwire
For months, legislators have been hyper-focused on investigating the privacy practices of pharmacies related to law enforcement demands for patient records. Disturbingly, their probe reveals that the nation’s largest pharmacy chains have handed over customers’ medical information to law enforcement and federal investigators without a warrant.Of the eight pharmacy giants investigated, the lawmakers noted that Amazon was the only one that said it notified customers when law enforcement demanded its pharmacy records unless there was a legal prohibition, such as a “gag order,” preventing it from doing so. The companies told congressional investigators that they collectively receive tens of thousands of legal demands yearly and that most were connected with civil lawsuits.
#5 Ed Snowden Sounds Alarm Over Warrantless Spying Loophole As Senate OKs Massive $886 Billion NDAA - Tyler Durden for Zero Hedge
Senate voted for passage of the mammoth $886 billion 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). It passed on Wednesday, authorizing funding for the Department of Defense for this next year, in a vote of 87-13. This controversially allows warrantless spying of foreign targets and Americans. The new extension in the NDAA authorizes it further until at least April 19.
#4 Biden’s Green Energy Flop: Ford Cuts Electric Truck Production in Half Over Lack of Demand - John Binder for Breitbart
In another setback for President Joe Biden’s green energy agenda, Ford Motor Co. is cutting production of its all-electric F-150 Lightning pickup truck in half as the auto industry grapples with a lack of demand for Electric Vehicles (EVs). That weekly production total is half what Ford executives had initially planned to produce, suggesting that demand among Americans for EVs is forcing nearly every automaker in the country to cut back.
#3 FDA Approves Sickle Cell Drug That Uses Crispr Gene Editing Tech - Steve Middendorp for The Highwire
The FDA has approved gene-editing technology for the treatment of sickle cell disease. This is the same gene-editing technology expected to be used for various diseases, agriculture seeds, and synthetic, “cell-cultured” meat. The sickle cell treatment is called Casgevy and is being brought to market with partner Vertex Pharmaceuticals. Supporters and advocates have touted this technology as revolutionary, while detractors and studies have raised several concerns.
#2 MAN PILL ‘Holy Grail’ Male Contraceptive Pill That’s ‘99% Effective and 100% Reversible’ is Trialed on BritishBlokes - Sam Blanchard for the U.S. Sun
British men have become the first in the world to enter early trials of a “holy grail” contraceptive pill for blokes.
The pill, named YCT-529, works by blocking the vitamin A supply to the testicles to halt sperm production.
There are currently no male contraceptive drugs, so inventors hope this will one day be a popular alternative to the female pill and condoms.
It is the first candidate not to contain hormones and was found to be 99 percent effective and 100 percent reversible in experiments on mice and monkeys.
Experts are now testing its safety in humans for the first time on a group of 16 men enrolled at a clinic in Nottingham.
#1 Google’s AI Program Lies About Robby Starbuck, Argues He Should Be Killed for Offending People - Savanah Hernandez for the Post Millennial
Just one week after Google released Bard, their AI competitor to ChatGPT, conservatives are raising the alarm after the program is inventing fake articles, videos, and quotes to paint right-leaning figures as “racist,” even going so far as to argue that death could be a viable option for those who “offend people.”
Robby Starbuck, a conservative political commentator and former Republican congressional candidate out of Tennessee, was the first to utilize the new program after sharing that users reached out with “concerns about problems within Bard and how it treated people within the right-wing political sphere.”
And Now for Something Special 
People Are Asking For Help Identifying Cookie Cutters, And The Responses Are So Much Fun
"In the delightful world of baking, where creativity knows no bounds, a charming trend is taking shape on Reddit's "What is My Cookie Cutter" forum.People are sharing their collections of quirky, odd-shaped cookie cutters and seeking the collective wisdom of the online community to unravel the mystery of each unique mold."
Can you guess what this is without looking?
