News From Around the Web
#10 ROBO COP NYPD Ditches its $12,500 Times Square SubwayPolice Robot After Only Four Months – Alexa Cimino for the US Sun
The New York Police Department has parked its subway robot just four months after introducing it to the public. Mayor Eric Adams first announced the AI-backed security robot in April 2023 to combat rising crime rates in New York City. At a press conference in September, Adams described the robot as "part of the fabric" of the future of subway safety and "a good investment." The 420-pound, 5 foot 3 inch egg-shaped K5 police robot patrolled the 42nd Street subway station, but its Times Square deployment has ended. “The K5 Knightscope has completed its pilot in the NYC subway system,” a spokesman for the NYPD told The New York Times. The publication shared photos of the robot parked in an empty storefront in the station, gathering dust...
#9 Feds Charge New Jersey Political Operative with Mail-in Ballot Fraud - Stephen Dinan for The Washington Times
Federal prosecutors announced charges Thursday against a New Jersey political operative they say orchestrated a mail-in ballot fraud scheme in the 2022 election, casting ballots in the name of people who never actually voted. Authorities say Craig Callaway paid ballot harvesters to request ballots from election officials, purportedly on behalf of valid voters. Mr. Callaway collected the ballots, and the voters never saw them — but they were still cast and counted, indicating that someone fraudulently filled them out and submitted them. The FBI, which investigated the case, reported on four specific fraudulent ballots, but prosecutors said there were “many.”
#8 'World's Coolest Dictator' Set to Win Election by Massive Landslide, Declares Victory - Jack Davis for The Western Journal
El Salvador President Nayib Bukele, who has dubbed himself the “world’s coolest dictator,” was elected to a second term Sunday. “Today, El Salvador has broken all the records of all the democracies in the world. Since democracies have existed, never has a project won with the quantity of votes that we have won today,” Bukele said in proclaiming victory Sunday night, according to CNN. “El Salvador went from being the most unsafe (country) to the safest. Now, in these next five years, wait to see what we are going to do,” Bukele said, according to Reuters... Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) admitted the controversial bill that will allegedly stymie the border crisis won't actually close the border. On Sunday, the Senate released the full text of the bipartisan Emergency National Security Supplemental Appropriations Act, which would cost taxpayers $118 billion. More than half of that money ($60 billion, which is more than the entire budget of the U.S. Marine Corps) would be sent to Ukraine, while just $20 billion would be spent on the border crisis. The most controversial and debated provisions of the bill center on how many migrants can be allowed into the U.S. before the president can "shut down" the border. Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), who helped co-author the bill with Murphy and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.), denied the bill would allow 5,000 migrants to enter the U.S. per day. Rather, he argued the bill "is designed to close the border" and turn away migrants... The NFL is already winning big with the Super Bowl even as it has not yet been played, with the league reaping a whopping $7 million for every 30-second product ad played between the football action. The advertisers are also banking on some big-name stars to sell their wares, including Taylor Swift, Star Trek’s Sir Patrick Stewart, Ben Affleck, Jennifer Lopez, Jeremy Renner, Steve Martin, John Travolta, Jason Sudeikis, Tina Fey, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and more.“Star power is pretty important. It is the one time when big, big, big-name celebrities pick up the phone. They love a good Super Bowl ad,” said marketing expert Keith Cartwright.... The growing distance between Fetterman and the left of his party came to a head in December. “I’m not a progressive, I’m just a regular Democrat,” Fetterman wrote on X that same month... Rep. Victoria Spartz is reversing her retirement decision, telling POLITICO she plans to seek her seat in Congress again. The Indiana Republican announced she would leave Congress early last year. But in recent months, she began waffling on that decision. Republicans in the state increasingly began to suspect a run for reelection last week, pointing to signs of a campaign getting underway. She, however, remained non-committal until now. “I will file this week. The country is too much in trouble,” Spartz told POLITICO on Monday morning. In a statement later Monday morning, she added: "As someone who grew up under tyranny, I understand the significance of these challenging times for our Republic, and if my fellow Hoosiers and God decide, I will be honored to continue fighting for them." Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said “the U.S. is on an unsustainable fiscal path” in a “60 Minutes” interview with Scott Pelley released Sunday. “The U.S. federal government is on an unsustainable fiscal path. And that just means that the debt is growing faster than the economy. So, it is unsustainable. I don’t think that’s at all controversial,” Powell said when asked if the national debt is a danger to the economy. The U.S. national debt topped $34 trillion for the first time ever in early January, just over three months after surpassing the $33 trillion mark, according to data released by the U.S. Treasury... Kellyanne Conway, a former senior adviser to former President Trump, posited in an op-ed published Monday that he should choose a person of color to be his running mate upon clinching the Republican nomination. Conway, who was Trump’s 2016 campaign manager and later his counselor in the White House, listed Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) among the options. And Now for Something Special A Massachusetts police K9 followed her nose to help find a 12-year-old who went missing in frigid temperatures last week, tracking the child’s scent for over two miles, authorities said. K9 Biza, a female German shepherd, was called on to help after officers learned the child left their home at around 10:30 p.m. Wednesday and was last seen in the Pakachoag Hill area of Auburn, the Auburn Police Department said. The child had left the home without a cellphone or their mother’s permission, the Worcester Telegram and Gazette reported.
#7 Top Senate Democrat Lets the Truth Slip About the So-called Border Bill: 'The Border Never Fully Closes' - Chris Enloe for Blaze Media
#6 $7 Million for 30 Seconds: NFL Already Big Winner with Super Bowl Ad Rates - Warner Todd Huston for Breitbart
#5 John Fetterman: Progressive Senator Perhaps Not That Progressive After All - Adam Gabbatt for The Guardian
The Pennsylvania Democrat’s support for Israel and for migrant restrictions at the border has irritated many on the left. There was a time when John Fetterman, the rough-and-ready Pennsylvania senator, was a budding star of the left. Endorsed by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in his 2022 Democratic race, Fetterman had supported the democratic socialist Bernie Sanders for president in 2016. On the campaign trail, Fetterman said he would fight for an increased minimum wage, while he had previously suggested he wanted to see the implementation of universal healthcare. But in recent months, Fetterman has come under attack from the left for his enthusiastic support for Israel and continued US funding of its war in Gaza. The criticism has come alongside praise from Republicans for Fetterman’s chiding of some Democrats over what he has called a “crisis at our border.”
#4 Spartz Will Seek Another Term, Reversing Retirement Plans - Adam Wren and Olivia Beavers for Politico
#3 Powell: ‘The US is on an Unsustainable Fiscal Path’ - Taylor Giorno for The Hill
#2 Mozilla Accuses Microsoft Of Unfair Practices In Pushing Use Of Edge Browser - David Sloat for The Tech Wire
Mozilla, in its recent report titled “Over the Edge: How Microsoft’s Design Tactics Compromise Free Browser Choice,” accuses Microsoft of employing “dark patterns” to steer Windows users toward its Edge browser. The report highlights manipulative design patterns that coerce users into selecting Edge over alternative browsers. This isn’t the first time Mozilla has raised such concerns, as previous reports also addressed competitive barriers imposed by major tech platforms. The focus on Microsoft Edge underscores alleged design tactics aimed at limiting browser choice. Mozilla contends that such practices hinder competition and undermine user autonomy...
#1 Kellyanne Conway Suggests Trump Pick Person of Color for VP - Brett Samuels for The Hill
Massachusetts Police K9 Tracks Scent for Over 2 Miles to Find Missing 12-Year-Old in Freezing Cold - Stephen Sorace for Fox News
K9 Biza tracked the missing child's scent for over two miles in frigid temperatures.
(Auburn Police Department)
