News From Around the Web
#10 80% of Americans Test Positive for Chemical Found in Cheerios and Quaker Oats that May Cause Infertility, Delayed Puberty - Shannon Thaler for The New York Post
Four out of five Americans are being exposed to a little-known chemical found in popular oat-based foods — including Cheerios and Quaker Oats — that is linked to reduced fertility, altered fetal growth, and delayed puberty. The Environmental Working Group published a study in the Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology on Thursday that found a staggering 80% of Americans tested positive for a harmful pesticide called chlormequat. The “highly toxic agricultural chemical” is federally allowed to be used on oats and other grains imported to the US, according to the EWG. When applied to oat and grain crops, chlormequat alters a plant’s growth, preventing it from bending over and thus making it easier to harvest, per the EWG...
#9 George Soros Set to Control Second-Largest Chain of Radio Stations - Paul Bois for Breitbart
Billionaire and left-wing philanthropist George Soros has been buying up debt to acquire a controlling stake in the second-largest radio broadcaster in the country, Audacy. Court filings and sources close to the situation told the New York Post that Soros Fund Management has “bought up $400 million of debt in Audacy — the No. 2 US radio broadcaster behind iHeartMedia with stations including New York’s WFAN and 1010 WINS, as well as Los Angeles-based KROQ, according to bankruptcy filings.”
#8 2024 Could Come Down to Who GetsTheir Least Likely Voters to ShowUp - W. James Antle III for The Washington Examiner
The outcome of this November’s elections may hinge on which party can turn out its lower-propensity voters amid broad dissatisfaction with both likely presidential nominees. Democrats are worried that black, Hispanic, Arab American, Muslim, and younger voters may give a lackluster showing for President Joe Biden as he seeks a second term. Some of these voting blocs have been hammered by inflation or think Biden has failed to keep his campaign promises. Others disapprove of Biden siding with Israel against Hamas in the Gaza war. Democrats aged 30 and under are not excited by a president who would turn 82 shortly after winning reelection...
#7 Chinese Communist Party Stealing Secrets, Harassing Students on US Campuses - Rep. Mike Gallagher for Fox News
This week, the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party will be in Boston to discuss a difficult truth: for decades, the CCP has exploited the openness of our academic institutions to fuel the PRC’s military modernization and obtain American technology to enhance its repressive surveillance state. The Chinese government is not shy about this. They even have a phrase for it: "picking flowers in foreign lands to make honey in China." Molson Coors brewing company made a gigantic turnaround in the last year as "significant shifts" in consumer habits catapulted the company's earnings forward. The beer giant reported a very strong fourth quarter compared to the year prior, taking in $103.3 million for the end of 2023. This equated to a nearly $700 million turnaround when compared to a loss of $590.5 million for Q4 2022. That's a difference of 48 cents per share added to start 2024 versus losing $2.73 per share the year prior. The company's market share gains come as consumers shifted away from Bud Light, CNBC reported, with the company claiming that the purchasing shifts will become permanent... New York Times columnist Ross Douthat called on President Joe Biden to drop out of the 2024 race after a bombshell report from Special Counsel Robert Hur described the president as “a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory” who could not remember significant life events. While fellow party members in D.C. have yet to come out against the plan for another Biden term, Biden hasn’t convinced the American people quite yet. According to a recent poll from ABC News/Ipsos, 86 percent of Americans think that Biden is too old to serve another term. The poll, conducted after the special report from Robert Hur was released, is just another blow to Biden’s presidential hopes. Concerns about Biden’s age have appeared to increase since September, when 74 percent of respondents to an ABC News/Washington Post poll believed Biden was too old to be reelected. So, what is plan B if Biden is forced to drop out of the race? A known data leaker posted a new database on a dark web forum. Hundreds of thousands of Facebook Marketplace users have had their personal information stolen and posted on a dark web forum, putting them at serious risk of phishing, identity theft, and other cybercrime. According to a BleepingComputer report, a known data leaker with the alias IntelBroker posted a new thread on an underground forum with 200,000 Facebook Marketplace records. The records contained people’s names, phone numbers, email addresses, Facebook IDs, and Facebook profile information... There were fireworks and bombshells galore Thursday during the marathon hearing over whether Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis should be disqualified from the election fraud case against former President Donald Trump and 14 others due to the romantic affair she had with the special prosecutor she hired for the case. After fighting for weeks to quash a subpoena requiring her to testify, Willis dramatically barged into the courtroom in mid-afternoon, she said, to set the record straight about her relationship with her top prosecutor on the case, Nathan Wade. “It’s highly offensive when someone lies on you,” Willis said angrily... Former President Donald Trump reacted to Russian President Vladimir Putin saying he prefers President Joe Biden over Trump because Biden is "more experienced" and "more predictable" -- which Trump called a "great compliment." "President Putin of Russia has just given me a great compliment, actually," Trump said at a campaign rally in North Charleston, South Carolina, on Wednesday. "He just said that he would much rather have Joe Biden as president than Trump," he continued. "Now that's a compliment. ... And of course, he would say that." An FBI informant has been charged with fabricating a multimillion-dollar bribery scheme involving President Joe Biden, his son Hunter, and a Ukrainian energy company, a claim that is central to the Republican impeachment inquiry in Congress. Alexander Smirnov falsely reported to the FBI in June 2020 that executives associated with the Ukrainian energy company Burisma paid Hunter and Joe Biden $5 million each in 2015 or 2016, prosecutors said in an indictment. Smirnov told his handler that an executive claimed to have hired Hunter Biden to “protect us, through his dad, from all kinds of problems,” according to court documents... Richard Plaud, a Frenchman who has dreamed of building the world's tallest matchstick sculpture, made headlines this week when Guinness World Records rejected his huge model of the Eiffel Tower, saying Plaud broke the rules. "It hurt me," Plaud told TF1 French TV news. News outlets reported on his disappointment that his work was rejected. But after an official review, "it seems that we have been heavy-handed in the application of our rules in this case," Guinness World Records Director of Central Records Services Mark McKinley said in an email to NPR as Guinness announced the reversal.
#6 Molson Coors Makes $700M Turnaround in a Year Amid Bud Light Fiasco - Andrew Chapados for Blaze Media
#5 Democrats Call on Biden to Drop Out of 2024 Race… Could This ‘Shadow Candidate’ Replace Him? - The Freeport Society for Breitbart
#4 Facebook Marketplace Accounts Leaked Online — Thousands of Users Possibly Affected, so Secure your Account Now - Sead Fadilpašić for Tech Radar
#3 'Lies,' Drama, Champagne, and Caviar: Takeaways from Fani Willis Fight in Trump Georgia Case - Josh Meyer and Bart Jansen for USA Today and Simon Ateba
#2 Trump Calls Putin's Comment That He Prefers Biden Over Trump a 'Great Compliment' - ABC News and RSBN
#1 FBI Informant Charged With Lying About Joe and Hunter Biden’s Ties to Ukrainian Energy Company - AP News and PBS Newshour
Another take on this from independent journalist Sharyl Attkisson:
And Now for Something Special 
Reversal: Guinness Awards Record to French Man Who Made Eiffel Tower From Matchsticks - Bill Chappell for NPR
